Bread and Wine and Alms being out of use the Priest could apply the word Offer to no other thing but the offering of Christ's Body and Bloud Thus have you seen as briefly as I could the Practice of the ancient Church in their offering of Praise afore the Sacrament for after this was done as ye have heard then came the Sacrament and then the Communion of the same NOW it remains I should shew What ground and reason they had for this Custom which I will do briefly The First ground they seem to have had is from the Office of the Peace-offering or Eucharistical Sacrifice because they were both of the like nature and same end the Iews in the Eucharistical Sacrifice having communion with him who was to come by eating of their Sacrifice as we in this Sacrament have with him who is already come by eating of his Mystical Body and Bloud under the forms of Bread and Wine And because of this affinity they framed the office of the one like unto the office of the other For in every Peace-offering there was first a Terumah of Praise and Thanksgiving both of animalia and cibaria secondly A part of this being reserved for the Priest's use the rest was made a Sacrifice by sprinkling of bloud and burning some part thereof upon the Altar as a Memorial of the whole And in the third place That which was saved from the fire was eaten both of Priest and people This may be seen in the Law of Peace-offerings and the offerings of Consecration and Purification all being of the same Law According to this Pattern was framed the Office of the Sacrament for in this also was first offered a Terumah of Praise and Prayer some part of which being kept for some other holy use the rest was consecrate into a Sacrament and then eaten both of Priest and People The Second reason they have is from the first celebration of this Sacrament by Christ and his Apostles which the Evangelists record thus That Christ took Bread 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is having made a blessing and a thanksgiving he said Take eat This is my body which is broken for you and then likewise of the Cup and to both adds Do this in remembrance of me In these words of the Story we see three acts plainly expressed 1. A Blessing or Thanksgiving 2. A Consecration of a Sacrament This is my Body c. 3. A Communion or Receiving of the same Take and eat Now because after all this Christ adds Do this in remembrance of me or As often as ye do this do it in remembrance of me it may be a question whether he means that all these acts should be done in remembrance of him or only some one of them The Singular number may argue he meant of some one and then it is a Question which of the three whether he would have the Blessing and Thanksgiving or the Consecration or the Eating done in remembrance of him It may seem not to be meant of the Eating or Communion for the words seem to be spoken before it was and besides the words seem to be spoken of something himself had done which were the two first acts only To be short The most ancient Fathers Iustin Martyr Irenaeus with others if I understand them they understand these words of that first act of Blessing and Thanksgiving as if Christ had said Whereas heretofore in this act of Blessing and Thanksgiving you made a chief remembrance or chiefly gave thanks to God for passing by you when he slew all the first-born of Egypt henceforth in lieu of this ye shall do it in remembrance of me that is you shall give thanks to God for my Incarnation and coming into the world to save mankind for my precious Death and Passion for my glorious Ascension and all the Benefits ye have from me And so the meaning of S. Paul's words expounding the words of Christ As often as ye eat of this bread and drink of this cup ye declare the Lord's death until he come is to be construed after the same manner viz. Not by eating this bread or by drinking this cup but at the eating of this bread and at the drinking of this cup ye use to make a thankful remembrance of the Lord's death meaning that this remembrance or declaration is neither the Form nor the Effect of the Sacrament it self but a Connexum or thing joyned unto it or used at the same time with it For the Form of the Sacrament is a Sign and Communion of the Lord's body the End and Effect the Confirmation of our Faith neither of which seems to be meant by remembring of his death Howsoever it be upon this Exposition the Fathers ground their Oblation of Prayer and Thanksgiving before the Sacrament as a thing injoyned by Christ himself Irenaeus expresly saith That Christ in this his taking bread and giving thanks Novi Testamenti novam docuit oblationem did teach and appoint the New Oblation of the New Testament and that by so doing he taught his disciples Primitias Deo offerre ex suis creaturis non quasi indigenti sed ut ipsi nec infructuosi nec ingrati sint to offer unto God an Heave-offering of his creatures not for that God had any need thereof but that they might not shew themselves ungrateful and unprofitable servants and that of this Malachi prophesied when he saith In every place Incense shall be offered unto my Name and a pure Offering If you wonder how it could be so taken I will make it plain as I conceive it thus Where it is said that Christ took bread and gave thanks or made a blessing it may be understood either that he gave thanks to God for the Bread or with the Bread If with the Bread he made an Oblatory thanksgiving or blessing as I have shewed the Ancients did And in this sense the Fathers take the words and Beza himself leans the same way quoting the words of Theophylact That he gave not thanks for the bread but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon the bread that is he did an act of Oblatory praise by addressing Bread and Wine to the Lord's use in the Sacrament And that such should be the meaning of the words this reason made great appearance because it is like that Christ used the same kind of Blessing and the same kind of Thanksgiving which the Iews used in the Passeover only changing the End thereof Now their Thanksgiving was by way of Oblation for the Passeover was a kind of Peace-offering in which I have shewed that which was to be a Sacrifice was first offered a Terumah of Thanksgiving whereof the whole Sacrifice was called Eucharistical Whether this be the meaning of the words or no I will not say The End of all this Discourse of Offerings hath been to help my self and others to understand the Fathers rightly and to know the difference of the Romish Mass
words of the Chaldee Paraphrast Ionathan upon Exod. 38. 8. concerning the women that assembled at the door of the Tabernacle The Women saith he which came 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to pray stood at the door of the Tabernacle by their Oblation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and they praised and confessed afterwards they returning to their husbands brought forth righteous children It is further confirmed for Invocation in general by that which the Scripture so often reports of Abraham and Isaac That they built Altars where they came and there they called upon the name of the Lord But the Altar was a place for Sacrifice In stead therefore of the slaying of Beasts and burning of Incense whereby they called upon the Name of God in the Old Testament the Fathers I say believed our Saviour ordained this Sacrament of Bread and Wine as a Rite whereby to give thanks and make supplication to his Father in his Name The mystery of which Rite they took to be this That as Christ by presenting his Death and Satisfaction to his Father continually intercedes for us in Heaven so the Church on Earth semblably approaches the Throne of Grace by representing Christ unto his Father in these holy Mysteries of his Death and Passion Veteres enim saith Cassander in hoc mystico sacrificio non tam peractae semel in Cruee oblationis cujus hîc memoria celebratur quà m perpetui Sacerdotii jugis sacrificii quod quotidie in Coelis sempiternus Sacerdos offert rationem habuerunt cujus hîc Imago per solennes Ministrorum preces exprimitur The Ancients did not in this mystical Sacrifice so much consider and respect the Oblation once made upon the Cross the memory whereof is here celebrated as the everlasting Priesthood of Christ and the perpetual Sacrifice which he our High-Priest for ever doth continually offer in Heaven the resemblance whereof is here on earth exprest by the solemn prayers of God's Ministers This a Reverend and famous Divine of blessed memory once of this Society and interr'd in this place saw more clearly or exprest more plainly than any other Reformed Writer I have yet seen in his Demonstratio Problematis and Title de Sacrificio Missae where he speaks thus Veteres Coenam Domini seu totam coenae actionem vocârunt Sacrificium variis de causis quia est commemoratio adeâ—que repraesentatio Deo Patri sacrificii Christi in cruce immolati The ancient Fathers used to call the Supper of the Lord or the whole action of the Supper a Sacrifice and that for divers reasons Because it is a Commemoration and also a Representation unto God the Father of the Sacrifice of Christ offered upon the Cross. He goes on Hoc modo fideles etiam inter orandum Christum offerunt Deo Patri victimam pro suis peccatis dum scilicet mente affectúque ad sacrificium ejus unicum feruntur ut Deum sibi habeant faciántque propitium In this sense the Faithful in their prayers do offer Christ as a Sacrifice unto God the Father for their sins in being wholly carried away in their minds and affections unto that only and true Sacrifice thereby to procure and obtain God's favour to them That which every Christian doth mentally and vocally when he commends his prayers to God the Father through Iesus Christ making mention of his death and satisfaction that in the publick service of the Church was done by that Rite which our Saviour commanded to be used in Commemoration of him These things thus explained Let us now see by what Testimonies and Authorities it may be proved the ancient Church had this meaning I will begin with S. Ambrose because his Testimony is punctual to our explication Offic. lib. 1. cap. 48. Antè saith he Agnus offerebatur offerebatur Vitulus nunc Christus offertur sed offertur quasi homo quasi recipiens passionem offert seipsum quasi sacerdos ut peccata nostra dimittat hîc in imagine ibi in veritate ubi apud Patrem pro nobis quasi advocat us intervenit Heretofore under the Law was wont to be offered a Lamb and a Bullock Exod. 29. But now under the Gospel Christ is offered but he is offered as a man and as one that suffered and he also as a Priest offers himself for the forgiveness of our sins Here on earth this is done in a resemblance and representation there in Heaven in truth where he as our Advocate intercedes for us with his Father An Author which Cassander in his Consultations quotes without name expresses this mystery fully Non impiè à nobis saith he Christus occiditur sed piè sacrificatur hoc modo mortem Domini annunciam us donec veniat hoc enim hîc per eum humiliter agimus in terris quod pro nobis ipse potenter sicut filius pro sua reverentia exaudiendus agit in Coelis ubi apud Patrem pro nobis quasi advocatus intervenit cui est pro nobis intervenire carnem quam pro nobis de nobis sumsit Deo Patri quodaemmodo pro nobis ingerere Christ is not wickedly slain by us but piously sacrificed and thus we shew the Lord's death till he come For we by him do that here on earth in a meaner way which he as a Son to be heard for his reverence or piety doth for us in heaven powerfully and prevailingly where he as our Advocate mediates for us with the Father whose office it is to intercede for us and to present that flesh which he took for us and of us to God the Father in our behalf My next Author shall be Eusebius Demonstrat Evangel lib. 1. cap. 10. where mentioning that of the 23. Psalm Thou hast prepared a Table before me c. Thou anointedst my head with oyl Herein saith he are plainly signified the Mystical unction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the venerable Sacrifices of Christ's table he means the Symbols of the Body and Bloud of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereby propitiating God we are taught to offer up all our life long unto the Lord of all unbloudy and reasonable Sacrifices most acceptable to him by his most glorious High-Priest Iesus Christ. Here Eusebius affirms that Christians are taught to offer unto God reasonable and unbloudy sacrifices that is Prayer and Thanksgiving 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 propitiating or finding favour with God through the venerable mysteries of Christ's Table For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is litare i. e. propitiare or placare Numen votum impetrare 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gratum facere Next I produce Cyril of Ierusalem or more likely Iohn his successor Author of those five Catecheses Mystagogicae In the last of which relating and expounding the meaning of that which was said or done in the celebration of the Eucharist according to the use of his time amongst other things he says thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after that Spiritual Sacrifice that unbloudy
place Incense shall be offered to my Name and a pure Sacrifice Now how this Incense and Sacrifice which the Prophet saith the Gentiles should offer to the Name of God may be expounded Offered by the Name of God to wit by Christ Origen lib. 8. contra Cels. will inform us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We worship saith he as we are able with our Prayer and Supplications the one God and his only Son the Word and Image of God Iesus Christ offering to the God of the Vniverse our Prayers by his only-begotten Son TO WHOM WE FIRST OFFER THEM beseeching him that he being the Propitiation i. Propitiator for our sins would vouchsafe as our High-Priest to present our PRAYERS and SACRIFICES and INTER CESSIONS to God most High The summe whereof is this That which we offer to the Father by Christ we offer first to Christ that he as our High-Priest might present it to his Father More passages hath Origen in the same Books of this kind But I will not weary you too much in this rugged way Only I will add that out of this which we have hitherto discoursed and proved may be understood the meaning and reason of that Decree of the third Council of Carthage and Hippo namely Vt nemo in Precibus vel Patrem pro Filio vel Filiumpro Patre nominet Et cum Altari assistitur N. B. semper ad Patrem dirigatur oratio That none in their Prayer should name either the Son for the Father or the Father for the Son And that when they stand at the Altar they ought always to direct their Prayers to the Father The reason Because the Father is properly the Object 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to whom the Son only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by whom in this Mystical service and therefore to direct here our Prayers and Thanksgivings to the Son were to pervert the order of the Mystery which is as hath been proved An Oblation of Praise and Prayer to God the Father through the Intercession of Iesus Christ represented in the Symbols of Bread and Wine CHAP. VII The Fourth Particular That the Commemoration of Christ in the Creatures of Bread and Wine in the Eucharist is a Sacrifice according to the style of the ancient Church How Sacrifices are distinguished from all other Offerings A Sacrifice defined The universal Custom of mankind to contract or confirm Covenants and Friendship by eating and drinking together This illustrated from Testimonies of Scripture and humane Authors Sacrifices were Federal Feasts wherein God and men did feast together in token of amity and friendship What was God's Messe or portion in the Sacrifices The different Laws of Burnt-offerings Sin and Trespass-offerings and the Peace-offerings Burnt-offerings had Meat and Drink-offerings annexed to them and were regularly accompanied with Peace-offerings That Sacrifices were Feasts of amity between God and men proved by four Arguments The reason of those phrases Secare foedus and Icere foedus That in those Sacrificial Feasts and also in the Eucharist God is to be considered as the Convivator and Man as the Conviva This cleared by several passages in this as also in the following Chapter THE Fourth Particular propounded was this That the Sacrament of the Body and Bloud of Christ or Lord's Supper or the Commemoration of Christ in the Creatures of Bread and Wine is also a Sacrifice according to the style of the ancient Church It is one thing to say That the Lord's Supper is a Sacrifice and another to say That Christ is properly sacrificed therein These are not the same For there may be a Sacrifice which is a representation of another Sacrifice and yet a Sacrifice too And such a Sacrifice is this of the New Testament a Sacrifice wherein another Sacrifice that of Christ's death upon the Cross is commemorated Thus the Papists gain nothing by this Notion of Antiquity and our asserting the same For their Tenet is That Christ in this Sacrifice is really and properly sacrificed which we shall shew in due time that the Ancients never meant To begin with this That the Lord's Supper or Mystical Rite of the Body and Bloud of Christ is a Sacrifice As in the Old Testament the name of Sacrifice was otherwhile given to the whole Action in which the Rite was used sometimes to the Rite alone so in the Notion and Language of the ancient Church sometimes the whole Action or Christian Service wherein the Lord's Supper was a part is comprehended under that name sometimes the Rite of the Sacred Supper it self is so termed and truly as ye shall now hear The resolution of this Point depends altogether upon the true Definition of a Sacrifice as it is distinguished from all other Offerings Which though it be so necessary that all disputation without it is vain yet shall we not find that either party interessed in this question hath been so exact therein as were to be wished This appears by the differing Definitions given and confuted by Divines on both sides The reason of which defect is because neither are deduced from the Notion of Scripture but built upon other conceptions Let us see therefore if it may be learned out of Scripture what that is which the Scripture in a strict and special sense calls a Sacrifice Every Sacrifice is an Oblation or Offering but every offering is not a Sacrifice in that strict and proper acception we seek For Tithes First-fruits and all other called Heave-offerings in the Law and whatsoever indeed is consecrated unto God are Oblations or Offerings but none of them Sacrifices nor ever so called in the Old Testament What Offerings are then called Sacrifices I answer Burnt-Offerings Sin-offerings Trespass-offerings and Peace-offerings These and no other are called by that name Out of these therefore must we pick the true and proper ratio and nature of a Sacrifice It is true indeed that these Sacrifices were Offerings of beasts of beeves of sheep of goats of fowls but the ratio or essence of any thing consists not in the matter thereof as the Gowns we wear are still the same kind of apparel though made of differing stuffs These Sacrifices also were slain and offered by Fire and Incense but neither is the modus of any thing the ratio or essential Form thereof That therefore may have the nature and formale of a Sacrifice which consists of another matter and is offered after another and differing manner Those we call Sacraments of the Old Testament Circumcision and the Passeover were by effusion of bloud ours are not and yet we esteem them nevertheless true Sacraments So it may be here To hold you therefore no longer in suspence A Sacrifice I think should be defined thus An Offering whereby the offerer is made partaker of his God's Table in token of Covenant and Friendship with him c. or more explicately thus An Offering unto the Divine Majesty of that which is given for the Food of man that the offerer partaking
Resurrection from the dead as also of the glorious Ascension into Heaven of the same Christ thy Son our Lord Offer unto thy excellent Majesty of thy own Gifts a pure Sacrifice a holy Sacrifice an immaculate Sacrifice the holy Bread of eternal life and the Cup of everlasting Salvation Note here also Memores offerimus Being mindful of or Commemorating we offer Which Ivo Carnotensis explains thus Memores offerimus Majestati tuae id est oblatam commemoramus per haec dona visibilia hostiam puram sanctam immaculatam c. Et hanc veri sacrificii commemorationem postulat sacerdos ita Deo Patri fore acceptam sicut accepta fuerunt munera Abel c. Remembring or being mindful we offer to thy Majesty a pure holy and immaculate Sacrifice that is saith he we commemorate the same offered unto God by these visible Gifts And the Priest accordingly prays that this Commemoration of the true Sacrifice may in like manner be acceptable to God the Father as the Gifts of Abel were accepted of him Thus he Memores therefore in the Latin Canon is Commemorantes which the Greek expresses better 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the sense whereof that we may not doubt hear the explication of that great Council of Ephesus in this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shewing forth the Death of the only begotten Son of God that is of Iesus Christ as also confessing his Resurrection and Ascension into heaven we celebrate in our Churches the unbloudy Sacrifice or Service 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Commemorating therefore is Shewing forth and Confessing But unto whom should we confess but unto God To him therefore and not unto our selves is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Commemoration to be made which Christ commended to his Church when he said Do this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for my Commemoration or in remembrance of me In this Council of Ephesus Cyril of Alexandria was chief Actor and President and it is to be noted that the Liturgie of the Church of Alexandria usually called S. Mark 's hath in stead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the self-fame words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shewing forth and confessing which I now quoted out of the Council for an explication of the same which argues as I take it Cyril to have been the pen-man of the Decree of the Council and the Liturgie of his Church to have then run in this form I shall need alledge no more of the Latin Liturgies there is no material difference amongst them so that if you know the form of one you know of all I will add only out of S. Ambrose an Explication following those words of the Institution Do this in remembrance of me exprest in this manner Mandans dicens ad eos Quotiescunque hoc feceritis toties commemorationem mei facietis Mortem meam praedicabitis Resurrectionem meam annuntiabitis Adventum sperabitis donec iterum adveniam Commanding and saying to them As often as ye shall do this ye shall commemorate me declare my Death shew forth my Resurrection express your hope of my Coming until I come again This may suffice for Liturgies Now let us hear the Fathers speak I quoted heretofore a passage out of Iustin Martyr affirming a twofold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Commemoration to be made in the Eucharist the one of our Food dry and liquid as he speaks that is of our meat and drink by agnizing and recording him the Lord and Giver of the same the other an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the same Food 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Passion of the Son of God The first of these Commemorations is made unto God for to whom else should we tender our thankfulness for the Creature Ergo the second the Commemoration of the Passion of the Son of God is made to him likewise My next Father is Origen Homil. 13. in Lev. cap. 24. where comparing the Eucharist to the Shew-bread which was every Sabbath â—et for a Memorial before the Lord Ista est saith he meaning the Eucharist commemoratio sola quae propitium facit Deum hominibus That 's the only Commemoration which renders God propitious to men Where note that both this Commemoration is made unto God as that of the Shew-bread was and that the end thereof is to make him propitious to men According to that of S. Augustine l. 9. c. 13. Illa quae in coena Christus exhibet Fides accepâ—a interponi inter peccata nostra iram Dei tanquam satisfactionem propitiationem Those things which Christ exhibits in his Supper Faith having received them interposeth them as a Satisfaction and Propitiation between our sins and Gods wrath My next witness is Eusebius Demonst. Evan. lib. 1. cap. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 After all other things done saith he speaking of Christ he made that so wonderful an Oblation and excellent Sacrifice to God for the Salvation of us all appointing us to offer continually unto God a Remembrance thereof in stead of a Sacrifice And again toward the end of that Chapter having cited this place of Malachi which I have chosen for my Text and alluding thereunto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We offer the Incense spoken of by the Prophet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We offer Sacrifice and Incense while we celebrate the remembrance of the Great Sacrifice according to the mysteries given to us by him and offer the Eucharist with holy Hymns and Prayers to God for the Salvation of our Souls as also in that we consecrate our selves wholly unto him and dedicate our selves both Soul and Body to his High Priest the Word But above all other S. Chrysostome speaks so full and home to the point as nothing can be more to wit Hom. 17 an Epist. ad Hebraeos upon these words cap. 9. v. 26. But now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What then saith he Do not we offer every day He answers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We offer indeed but it is by making a Commemoration of his death And this Sacrifice is one and not many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But how is it one and not many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Because it was once offered not as that which was carried into the Holy of holies That was the figure of this and this the Truth of that And a little after O 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that is Christ is our High-Priest who offered that Sacrifice which purifieth us The same do we also offer now that then was offered and is yet unconsumed This is done in remembrance of that which was then done For Do this saith he in remembrance of me We offer not another not a different Sacrifice as the Iewish High-Priest did of old but still one and the same or rather we perform the remembrance of a Sacrifice
error as it happened in the Miracles at the Shrines and Sepulchres of the holy Martyrs which were interpreted to be for confirmation of the opinion of their Power Presence and notice of humane affairs after death and to warrant and encourage men to have recourse unto them by prayer and invocation as unto Mediators and to give that honour unto their Reliques which was due unto God alone The like is to be said of the Miracles of Images and of the Host which though they smelt strong of Forgery or Illusion were supposed by a divine disposition to be wrought for the like end and purpose All which was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the power of seduction or strong delusion to make the world believe a Lie as S. Paul speaks 2 Thess. 2. 11. Concerning the Hypocrisie of fabulous Legend-writers of the Acts of Saints and Martyrs you know what it means as also the last which was named Counterfeit Authors under the name of Antiquity as approving those Errors which Latter times devised I shall not need here to use any further explication And thus you see what is comprehended under 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the hypocrisie counterfeiting or feigning of Liers I should now come to display the truth of this particular of this Prophecy in the Event But I will first unfold the next imputation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the hypocrisie of those who have their conscience seared which though it might be exemplified in other things yet I mean to instance only in that afore-mentioned and so must give you the story of both together 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Through the hypocrisie of those who have seared consciences For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as I said before is to be repeated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies both the place seared and the mark printed by the searing with an hot iron 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to cauterize to sear with an hot iron or cut off with searing as Chirurgions do rotten members now that which is seared becomes more hard and brawny and so more dull and not so sensible in feeling as otherwise In this sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies those who have a hard and a brawny Conscience which hath no feeling in it In the other sense as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to cut off by searring it must signifie those who have no conscience left There is not much difference but I follow the first a hard and unfeeling Conscience And whether those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereof we spake before to use no other instances were not of such metal for their conscience I think no man can deny Who could have coined or who could have believed such monstrous stuffe as the Legends are stored with but such as were cauterized If they had had any feeling or tenderness not only of Conscience but even of Sense they could never have believed or vented such stuffe as there is As that the Virgin Mary should draw out her breasts and milk in I know not what Clerk's mouth That she played the Mid-wife to an Abbess got with child by her Cater and sent the Bastard by two Angels to a certain Eremite to be brought up Idem ibid. c. 86. That she came and lay the first night in the midst between a certain Bridegroom and his Bride Idem lib. 7. cap. 87. Caesarius in his seventh book chap. 34. reports That the Virgin Mary for twelve whole years together did supply the place of a certain Nun called Beatrice while the Nun lay in the Stews till at length returning she freed the Virgin from standing Sentinel any longer And lib. 7. cap. 33. That she said to a certain Souldier I will be thy wife come and kiss me and made him do so That she took a Monk about the neck and kissed him In an Italian book called The Miracles of the Blessed Virgin printed at Milane 1547. A certain Abbess being great with child the holy Virgin willing to cover her crime did in her stead present her self before the Bishop in form of an Abbess and shewed by ocular demonstration that she was not with child But that which Ioannes de Nicol. in his Reformed Spaniard tells that he read taken out of Trithemius is the more worthy to be remembred as being a principal Motive in his Conversion who was till then extremely addicted to the Idol-worship of the Blessed Virgin which was much cooled when he read That she came into the chamber of Frier Allen a Dominican that made her Rosary made a ring of her own hair wherewith she espoused her self unto him kissed him let him handle her breasts and conversed as familiarly with him as a Bride is wont with her Bridegroom Whether think you not that these fellows were seared in their conscience what block could have been more senseless Melchior Canus speaking of the Golden Legend as they call it a Book fraught with such stuffe as you have heard methinks almost expresses the meaning of a cauterized conscience Hanc homo scripsit saith he ferrei oris plumbei cordis a fellow of an iron mouth and leaden heart as if he had said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of a brawny and unfeeling conscience CHAP. III. That the Worship of Saints and their Reliques was brought in and promoted by the Hypocrisie of Liers or by Lying Miracles No mention of Miracles done by the Bodies or Reliques of Martyrs in the first 300 years after Christ Nor was the Mediation of Martyrs believed in the first Ages of the Church That the Gentiles Idolatry of Daemons was advanced by Lying Miracles proved out of Eusebius Tertullian and Chrysostom BUT now I come to shew how this Prediction of our Apostle hath been accomplished How 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The cousenage and feigning of Liers was the Means whereby the Doctrine of Daemons was advanced in the Church I mean the Deifying and worshipping of Saints and Angels the adoring and templing of Reliques the bowing down to Images the worshipping of Crosses as new Idol-columns the worshipping of the breaden God or any other visible thing whatsoever upon supposal of any Divinity therein all which I have proved to be nothing else but the Gentiles Idolatrous Theologie of Daemons revived among Christians The first of these The Deifying and invocating of Saints and adoring Reliques is the most ancient for time of all the rest and began to appear in the Church presently after the death of Iulian the Apostate who was the last Ethnical Emperor The grounds and occasions whereof were most strange reports of Wonders shewed upon those who approached the Shrines of Martyrs and prayed at their Memories and Sepulchres Devils charmed Diseases cured the Blind saw the Lame walked yea the Dead revived and other the like which the Doctors of those times for the most part avouched to be done by the power and prayers of the glorified Martyrs and by the notice they took of mens devotions at their Sepulchres though at the beginning those devotions were
Octob. 8. 1629. from Christ's Hospital London THE ground of the expectation of the coming of Christ and his Kingdom was say you the near expiration of Daniel's Seventy weeks The expectation of Simeon Anna and others of the Magi and them of the East was seventy years before the end of Daniel's Seventy weeks according to your opinion For you hold that the Seventy weeks end at Ierusalem's overthrow which was after Christ's Birth seventy years Therefore it could not be any mark for the looking for of Christ. 2. At the end of the Seventy weeks according to your judgment the City and Sanctuary was to be destroyed sacrifice ended and desolation brought on the Iews Therefore the Seventy weeks according to your Tenet is a mark of other matters not of Christ's or the Saints Kingdom but rather of Vespasian's as Iosephus saith which ensued just upon the end of the Seventy weeks But in truth Daniel's Seventy weeks end at Christ's death and seeing Christ was expected to be King of the Iews all that truly kept account of the Seventy weeks might rightly conceive that Christ about thirty years before the expiration of the Seventy weeks should be born and so about thirty years old which are years fit for publick charge should enter upon that Kingdom Of this reason I forbore to write formerly because I saw that we should differ about the beginning and end of Daniel's Seventy weeks which would bring on a new controversie between us That Christ's Kingdom was as you affirm to be revealed in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Fourth Kingdom I see no Text that proves it nor that Christ's Kingdom should be consummated at the end of the Roman Kingdom At the end of the Fourth Kingdom in Daniel it was to begin Chap. 7. And that it was perfected in Christ Iesus is evident for he overcame the Devil Death Hell and all and teaches that all power is given him in heaven and earth that all things bow to him and that he led captivity captive Further I have good ground for to say that the extirpation of the Fourth Kingdom was one sâ—re mark of Christ's coming and his Kingdom for that only is the mark of the same Chap. 2. and 7. where that Kingdom is mentioned You will not admit the Greeks any Rule after Antiochus Epiph. death because the Holy Ghost ends their Kingdom in him I say the Holy Ghost ends the domineering violence and persecution of the Saints in him but there were to be clayie feet after him Stories shew that many Kings of the Greeks ruled after him and in the end Cleopatra a woman as Iosephus saith of chief Nobility in those times even Caesar at first umpired between her and her brother in matters of difference between them She had the revenue of Iericho and Arabia and other parts she killed all her kindred that might stand in her wayâ— and desired Antonie to do the like by them of chief bleâ—d in Syria that she in right of the Greeks might have all She with the rest after Epiphanes were sufficient to express the clayie legs And that Rule is sufficient and all that I stand for Besides the Stone as cut out not as growing to a Mountain is to fall on the toes So that if by the legs the Romans be understood Christ was not to come in their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but at their fall Evident it is that Christ's Kingdom took place as frequent mention of it in the New Testament shews at his first coming and so began at the beginning of the Roman persecutions not at the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of them they were abundant and manifold afterward The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of their Empire hath nothing to do here You hold still that the Roman Kingdom was revealed to Daniel but not according to the distinct Fates and Times as to Iohn I shewed that the Fourth Kingdom in Daniel was revealed to him most distinctly for the original proceeding strength acts persecution sufferings fall All the 〈◊〉 are revealed to Iohn about the Roman Kingdom Now if they should both speak of the Roman Kingdom but in these points 〈…〉 it be true in Iohn that this Book was opened by none as you limit it according 〈…〉 distinct Fates before by Christ Therefore the limitation propounded by you cannot hold I say not that the Iews after the Apostles times brought in or invented the opinion That the Romans were Daniel's Fourth Kingdom but that they endeavoured to perswade it whoever were the brochers of it Ionathan Ben Uziel or any other surely some of their stamp And the rather they then did and now do perswade to it because some Christians by assenting to them give them advantage therein If Porphyrie an enemy to Christians overcome by the evidence of truth confessed it that is a greater confirmation of the truth The Devil confessed Christ to be the Son of the living God though the Devil be a liar commonly yet now he spake that which was most true Besides in S. Ierome it appears that Porphyrie was not alone in that opinion but that divers others held the same And in the eleventh chapter S. Ierome goes along with Porphyrie in most things but addeth this That Antichrist and his doings were there typed And in points in which S. Ierome crosseth Porphyrie his arguments are sometimes but his own bare assertion sometimes weak If you please to set the best edge on them that may be we will try them And Porphyrie had Suctorius his Author To the writing in a different hand You hold Christ's Kingdom to be double First Regnum Lapidis while the times of the Four Kingdoms lasted I say it cannot be in the time of the three former Kingdoms for it was preached by Christ and the Apostles to be at hand in the time of the Romans Antiochus Epiphanes his time whom you make the last of the Greeks being past well-near or full hundreds of years before Besides I object That if Christ's Kingdom be set up in the Fourth Kingdom 's time it must be set up in the three formers time also For it confounded the gold silver brass iron as well as fell on the clayie legs Again if you make the Sâ—one to continue a Stone from Christ's time till ours and some years after God knows how long to smite the feet of the Image you will make the legs and feet of the Image above 1600 years long three times and more as long as all the body The Second Kingdom of Christ you hold to be Regnum montis that shall fill the whole earth to arise when the Image shall be utterly destroyed 1. I say This division of Christ's Kingdom is no where in Scripture plainly expressed though this Kingdom be most frequently handled If such a thing had been it would in one place or other in the various handling of it have been plainly taught 2. The Stone spreads it self over the whole earth presently
Wâ—â—â— Dorchester and Mr. T. of Sarisbury and others all of us have been exceedingly taken with them And it raiseth in me suspicions that you have many conceptions of the like nature for the clearing of divers passages of Holy Scripture and vindicating them from vulgar and erroneous interpretations and inflames me with a desire to be partaker of them I read to them somewhat also of your Mahuzzims which not only ravished them but wrung from them a protestation that none but your self could have found that out But modestie pacifies my importunity and forbids me to urge you too far having so extraordinary experience of your freeness this way All which I have returned with my best care so I trust they shall arrive safely in your hands And now taking your last Letter into my hands I find how by occasion of tidings from the East and from the North you fall upon this very place of Dan. 12. 11 12. which you acknowledge to be obscure and dark yet such light as you meet with you are pleased to communicate wherein I rest satisfied for the present and would not have you trouble your self any more for me thereabouts I have found some working upon Iulian's days when all hope of re-edifying the Temple was taken away but I find no colour of any Abomination of Desolation committed there but rather Abomination of Restauration yet from thence they think may be reckoned a determining of the daily Sacrifice But all along you carry me with you and where you make a stand there I make a stand I pitie I profess your neighbours in Cambridge that make so little use of your labours in searching those precious Mysteries especially when our selves are fallen upon the latter end of the accomplishment of them In answer to my Question I am glad your resolution was not to pass it over in silence and that you open your self in such manner Whereas you conceive I may perhaps have heard something that way you touch upon truly I never did but somewhat I have heard another way which hath made me recount my own fortunes in resemblance unto yours For sometimes I have been censured for a Puritan sometimes for a good fellow My preaching as in opposition to Popery was opportune to undergo the one censure before persons Popishly affected and my free conversation in the enjoying of my friends yet I thank God without all scandal hath exposed me to the other and that from the same mouths not judging indifferently but upon particular and those unjust distasts practising to disgrace me I see your fortunes have not been much unlike I trust we shall love mutually so much the more 1. I willingly subscribe to the difference you put between Imago and Locus or Signum praesentiae 2. Both your Rule and Instances of worshipping towards Locum praesentiae I approve 3. The reason of the difference mentioned between the use of a Creature per modum Objecti in Divine worship and the use of a Creature per modum Circumstantiae of Place Posture or Instrument I find likewise no cause to dislike the Lord having prescribed the one not the other but expresly forbidden it 4. That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Altar was ever in Christian Oratories accounted as Solium Christi I profess ingeniously it is a new thing unto me and most willingly do I communicate unto you my thoughts that have had their course hereupon That the Sanctuary at first and Temple afterwards might well be accounted Solium Dei I see this ground because the Sanctuary at first was made by God's appointment that he might dwell among them and so the Temple afterwards and chiefly the Ark there the Lord being said to dwell between the Cherubins Now I find not the like ground for the Table of the Lord to be so called 2. If so then the Table where and when these Rites of the New Covenant were first instituted was to be so accounted as much as any and that as well in reference to the participation of the Paschal Lamb that went before as of the Bread and Wine which followed after 3. And so it seems the Table whereon the Iews did eat the Paschal Lamb was to be so accounted 4. And why not the Altar for the Burnt-offering also 5. And are not the Mysteries of Christ's Death yea and Resurrection too represented in Baptism as Prudentius calls it Fontis ara as Mr. S. observes Yet I doubt not of Christ's presence there to the faithful receiver so he is to every faithful hearer of the Word and faithful petitioner God being a Sanctuary unto us in all places wheresoever we come and accordingly Solium praesentiae ejus Christi in every place to be found But as Sacraments are not Sacraments any longer than in the use of them of the same condition to my thinking for the present should the Lord's Table be conceived Like as we heard not long since D. B. should preach that Temples were holy only in respect of the holy use of them and it was thought he should be called in question for it but he was not I confess I am no more versed in things of this nature than as some occasional opportunity doth set my thoughts on work But fearing degenerate times coming on upon us and Superstition to encrease we may well be the more wary And we find by experience that albeit when any is urged thereunto sometimes it is carried only in the style of Genuflexio versus altare yet in common speech most call it Bowing to the Altar And a Iesuite sometimes meeting with a Friend of mine an intelligent Gentleman at Antwerp and offering him the kindness of having him to the great Church after he had shewed him other things bringing him up to the high Altar he pulled out the Pyx from behind the Arras and shewed it him saying This is the reason why we bow to the Altar otherwise saith he it were Idolatry 5. As for the Prayers and Devotions of the Church there offered unto God I find nothing amiss therein if the place be so ordered that it be convenient for the Congregation assembled to hear as it is fit they should And I find it alledged out of Iewel against Harding Altaria apud veteres non semper ubique in extrema Templorum parte quam vulgò Chorum vocamus sed in medio posita fuisse and divers Testimonies of Antiquity alledged for proof thereof And therefore that all things may be done to edification I find it nothing strange that in the Reformation our Fathers in the Church of England as well as in other Churches have altered that course when they found how miserably the Service of God was deformed Superstition from ancient times first creeping in and afterwards increasing more and more and no great matter where Latin Service was performed when the people understood it not 6. I make no question but it is lawful to invocate and call upon God at or towards the
Sacrifice is sanctified or offered and the Place where it is eaten Every Sacrifice was to be offered and sanctified at the Altar where the Bloud was sprinkled and the Memorial burned but that done it was eaten in another place those which were eaten only by the Priests in the Chambers of the Temple those which the people were partakers of as the Peace-Offerings out of the Temple Of this nature was the Passeover the Lamb being first to be offered and slain in the Temple and the Bloud sprinkled on the Altar according unto the Law Deut. 16. and the practice 2 Chron. 35. 1 2 6 10 11. that done to be eaten where they would provided it were in loco mundo in a clean place And thus was the Paschal Lamb whereof our Saviour ate prepared and sanctified yea by proportion of all other Sacrifices the Bread and the Wine whereof the Holy Supper was instituted for they were the Minchah or Meat and Drink-offering of the Passeover such as all other Sacrifices had annexed unto them And to what end else was the Law so strict that they should bring all their Sacrifices and Offerings unto the Place which the Lord should chuse to put his Name there but that they might be sanctified and hallowed at the Lord's Altar before they feasted with them whence perhaps that custom of the ancient Church was derived to offer the Bread and Wine unto God upon the Holy Table before it was consecrated to be the Body and Bloud of Christ because they supposed that at the first institution they had been so offered at the Altar in the Temple But as the Iews used not to eat their Sacrifices where they offered them no more did the ancient Christians think themselves bound to eat the Eucharist where it was consecrated insomuch that they carried it sometimes to their houses and ordinarily sent it to those which were absent And if it be well observed in the practice of our own Church there is a difference commonly between the place of consecration and the place of eating though both be in the Church True it is that at the first Institution though perhaps not the first hallowing of the Bread and Wine for the Passeover yet the consecration thereof to be the Symbols of the Body and Bloud of Christ was in a common room and that out of the necessity of the connexion which the materials thereof had with the viands of the Passeover Yet I suppose not the House to have been of the condition of our Inns but only for such Sacred entertainments as this was of which sort Ierusalem must needs have had very many for the accommodation of such as came to feast before the Lord as the whole Nation was to do three times in a year If all that hath been yet said will not satisfie this Objection yet I hope what I shall now say will do it fully What needed there any Altar or Place of relative presence where the Son of God the Heavenly Altar and Holy of Holies was himself present in person Is not the Temple of God there where he is and what Altar was so holy as his Sacred hands 5. Why in the posture of our adoration of the Divine Majesty more respect should be had to the Altar or Holy Table than either to the Font or Pulpit seeing they are also Places of God's presence as well as the other Suppose they be so yet when there are many why should not that which hath the principality draw this respect unto it A man is present where any part of him is yet when we salute him or speak unto him we are wont to direct our selves unto his Face as that wherein his presence is most principal and erected not to his Backer parts or to his Shoulders though the organ of hearing be that way Perhaps it was this principality which that Doctor or whatsoever he be whom you mention intended when he said that Hoc est Corpus meum was more with him than Hoc est Verbum meum But I think for my part first that the comparison of the Pulpit with the Sacraments and their places is heterogeneal Secondly that neither the Pulpit nor the Place of the Sacrament of Baptism are in this point or for this purpose we speak of of the same nature with the Altar For it ought to be considered though it be a thing now-a-days in a manner quite forgotten that the Eucharist according to the meaning of the Institution is the Rite of our address unto God the Father in the New Testament wherewith we come before him to offer unto his Divine Majesty our thanksgivings supplications and praises in the Name of his Son Iesus Christ crucified for us that is It is not only a Sacrament but as the ancient Church used to speak a Sacrifice also For that Sacrifices were Rites whereby they invocated and called upon God is a Truth though perhaps not so vulgarly taken notice of yet undeniable as on the Gentiles behalf may be seen in Homer in divers places where he describes the manner of offering Sacrifices on the Iews behalf by that speech of Saul 1 Sam. 13. 12. when Samuel expostulating with him for having offered a Burnt-offering I said saith he the Philistins will come down upon me to Gilgal and I have not made supplication to the Lord. I forced my self therefore and offered a Burnt-offering See also 1 Sam. 7. 8 9. Ezra 6. 10. Baruch 1. 10 11. 1 Mac. 12. 11. 2 Chron. 7. 12 sequentia Hence of Abraham and Isaac it is said when they built Altars that there they called upon the name of the Lord but Altars were the place for Sacrifice In stead therefore of the slaughtering of Beasts and the Sacrifices offered by fire and incense whereby they called upon the name of God in the Old Testament the Fathers and primitive Christians believed that our Saviour ordained this Sacrament of Bread and Wine as a Rite whereby to give thanks and make supplication to his Father in his Name in the New The mystery of which Rite they took to be this That as Christ by presenting his Death and Satisfaction to his Father continually intercedes for us in Heaven so the Church on earth semblably approaches the Throne of Grace by representing his Death and Passion to his Father in these holy Mysteries of his Body and Bloud Veteres enim saith Cassander in hoc mystico Sacrificio non tam peractae semel in Cruce oblationis cujus hîc memoria celebratur quà m perpetui Sacerdotii jugis Sacrificii quod in coelis sempiternus Sacerdos offert rationem habuerunt cujus hîc Imago per solennes Ministrorum preces exprimitur This that reverend and learned Divine Mr. Perkins once Fellow of our Society saw more clearly or expressed more plainly than any other Reformed Writer that I have yet seen in his Demonstrat Problem titulo de Sacrificio Missae Veteres inquit Coenam Domini seu totam coenae
blessed the Congregation which stood in the outward Court 2 Chron. c. 6. v. 12 3. and they sacrificed that day and all the time of the Feast viz. in the Courts though the Priests could not enter the Covered Temple for the glory of the Lord which filled it * Viz. the Trumpets * Chap. 8. 10. See before in Chap. 2. Sect. 6 * See before in Chap. 3. Sect. 1. * Chap. 7. * Chap. 14. 1. * Chap. 13. 11. * Chap. 14. 4. * Vers. 15. * Vers. 18. * Vers. 20. * Decemb. 27. * Num. 2. 2. a Ch. 3. 4. ch 6. 11. ch 7. 13. b Ch. 2. 11. ch 20. 6. 14. ch 21. 8. * The Lxx. have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Israil is often in the Psal. and elsewhere in Scripture called God's inheritance * Vers. 4. * Vers. 4. * 〈…〉 Vide Commâ—ns Apocal ad cap. 8. vers 8. * The Caesars were Pontifices maximi as well as Augusti and received the Pontifical Stole at their inauguration yea Constantine and his sons received the Stole and bore the Title though they executed not the Office Gratian was the first that refused both * The Demi-Caesars kept their Court at Ravenna never at Rome The Numbers of Times in Dan. 12. have also been taken definitely by those who yet differ about their Epocha * This is more fully demonstrated in the next Chapter * Roma meretrix rides the Beast under his last Head * Chap. 9. v. 5. * Vers. 15. * Chap. 16. 12 c. Dan. 10. 2â— * Targum Hierosolym Targum Ionâ—thanis * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * This is the Author 's own Argument to what follows See the meaning of those days in the Author 's learned Discourse De Nuâ—heris Danielis c. which is the last Discourse in this Third Book * Compare Dan. 11. 31. Chap. 12. 11. See page 531. * See pag. 534. * See in Book V. the words of Gaius out of Eusebius with the Author's Animadversions Thâ—s was wroté before his Comment on the Apocal. and so were the other Tracts in these Râ—mains except that in Chap. 9. be of a later date Dan. 7. 13. Zach. 12. 10. See in Book V. the Author 's short Tract styled The Mystery of S. Pauls Conversion or The Type of the Calling of the Iews Revel 20. 4. Chap. 20. 6. * See in Book IV. the Authors 2d Letter to D. Meddus where this is largely treated of See also above in this Book in the Appendix to the Apocal. his Epist. ad Amicum De Resurrectionâ— Prima c. ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Vid. Act. Concil Niceni apud Gelas. Cyzicen l. 1. c. 23. â—l 24. ‖ In Catech. 14. * Hades is properly the place of Separate Souls whether good or bad after death * Ezek. 38. 15. chap. 39. 2. a If that which S. Peter here describeth were foretold by the old Prophets then must S. Peter be so expounded as it may be shewn in them and agree with them a This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or last days should seem to be the time of the Churche's Apostasie under Antichrist according to that of S. Paul 1 Tim. 4. 1. In the latter times some shall depart from the Faith giving heed to spirits of error and doctrines of Daemons For as the times of the fourth and last of Daniel's Kingdoms were the last times in general during which Christ was to come and found his Church and Kingdom so the latter times of the Fourth Kingdom being that period of a Time times and half a time wherein the wicked Horn should domineer are the latmost times of the last times or last times in special b I take Promise here for Res promissa the thing promised the Antithesis implying that to be the meaning viz. The scoffers say Where is the Promise of his coming Nevertheless we look for a New heaven and New earth according to his Promise But here is somewhat Reader in the application wherein thou mayest erre but be not thou uncharitable in thy censure nor think I am For although the crying down and condemning of the opinion of the Chiliasts will be found to be near upon the beginning of the times of the Antichristian Apostasie which I suppose to be called the last times and that the utter burying of that Opinion falls within these times yet thou must know 1. That there is not the like reason of the first Authors of crying down a Truth and of those who led by their authority take it afterward without further examination for an Error 2. To scoff is one thing and barely not to believe is another 3. 'T is one thing to deny a promise simply and another to deny or question the manner thereof as also to reject a Truth sincerely propounded and when it is intangled with errors as that of the later Chiliasts may seem to have been c I take Promise here for Res promissa the thing promised the Antithesis implying that to be the meaning viz. The scoffers say Where is the Promise of his coming Nevertheless we look for a New heaven and New earth according to his Promise But here is somewhat Reader in the application wherein thou mayest erre but be not thou uncharitable in thy censure nor think I am For although the crying down and condemning of the opinion of the Chiliasts will be found to be near upon the beginning of the times of the Antichristian Apostasie which I suppose to be called the last times and that the utter burying of that Opinion falls within these times yet thou must know 1. That there is not the like reason of the first Authors of crying down a Truth and of those who led by their authority take it afterward without further examination for an Error 2. To scoff is one thing and barely not to believe is another 3. 'T is one thing to deny a promise simply and another to deny or question the manner thereof as also to reject a Truth sincerely propounded and when it is intangled with errors as that of the later Chiliasts may seem to have been As touching the Iews and the impeachment of this Opinion amongst them in the latter times I find amongst the Doctors of the Gemara or Gloss of their Talmud which was finished about 500 years after Christ a Tenet of one R. Samuels often mentioned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That there was to be no difference between the present state of the world and the days of Messiah but in respect of the bondage under the Kingdoms of the Gentiles only thereby opposing the more ancient opinion and tradition of the Renovation of the World After this time there appears to have been amongst the Iews a Sect of the followers of the opinion of this R. Samuel which at length was greatly advanced by the authority of that learned Maimonides who having drunk too deep of the Philosophy of Aristotle wherein he was admirably skilful became a
and endeavouring to follow his steps Besides since he took this yoke of obedience upon him out of love to us how can we chuse but offer our necks thereto our selves out of duty to him If he hath done so much to make our yoke easie which before was so unsupportable should we now think much to put it on Nay it is the very character of God's chosen ones to carry in them a conformity and resemblance of Christ. For whom saith S. Paul Rom. 8. 29. he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son that he might be the first-born among many brethren And this duty of conforming unto Christ consists not only in doing as he did but suffering also as he hath done 1 Pet. 2. 20. If when you do well and suffer for it ye take it patiently this is acceptable with God ver 21. For even hereunto were ye called because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an Example that we should follows his steps See also 1 Ioh. 3. 17. And this conformity and sampling as I may say of Christ extends not only to those Acts of his which he did as man where the imitation is plain and direct but in a certain sort to those supereminent ones which exceed the nature of a mere man and were done by the concurrence and power of his Godhead which because otherwise unimitable we must express by way of a mystical resemblance Thus are we to imitate his expiatory Death and Burial by our dying unto sin Shall we continue in sin saith S. Paul Rom. 6. 1. that grace may abound v. 2. God forbid How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein v. 3. Know ye not that so many of us as are baptized into Iesus Christ were baptized into his death To the same purpose 1 Pet. 4. 1. Forasmuch saith he as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh arm your selves likewise with the same mind for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin c. So likewise in suffering one for another Eph. 5. 1. Be ye followers of God as dear children v. 2. And walk in love as Christ hath also loved us and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God In the like manner must we imitate his Resurrection and Ascension S. Paul Rom. 6. 4. Therefore saith he we are buried with him into death that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newness of life Accordingly Col. 3. 1. If then ye be risen with Christ seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God All which you see are grounded upon this one Principle Learn of me Some Physiognomers conceit the Head of a man to be the model of the whole Body and where there is any spot wart or like mark about the Face or other part of the Head that there is another answerable to it in some sutable part of the Body and upon this ground they will adventure to discover some hidden mark in the unseen parts of the Body But whatsoever it be in the natural Body I am sure it is true in the mystical Body of Christ That every character in the Head Christ must have something answerable to it in his Body the Church THUS much for the general We must learn of Christ. But what is that here in my Text which Christ would have us learn of him It followeth I am Meek and Lowly in heart And this we must learn of him this is that yoke of his he would have us wear that we may find rest unto our souls For under these two words our Saviour comprehends the whole Habit of Obedience they being two such dispositions of the mind aâ— make it â—actable and pliable to put on and wear the yoke he speaks of As if he had said I am wholly qualified to obedience I am fitted for this yoke learn of me to put it on for I am meek and lowly Now though Lowliness and Meekness are of very near affinity and such as both of them do dispose a man for the duties of both Tables of God's Commandments yet hath Lowliness as I take it a prerogative in our devotion to Godward and Meekness is more proper for the duties we owe to our neighbours I will therefore construe them here as others have done before me as dividing the whole Decalogue between them Lowliness as a mother including the Duties of the First and Meekness those of the Second Table Which are the two parts of that Yoke which Christ wore for us and which every one that cometh to him must learn to put on In the handling whereof I will therefore rather chuse to follow the order of the Decalogue and first begin with Lowliness though it be last placed in the words Lowliness therefore as I said stands here for the whole duty of the First Table which is Cultus Dei religious service or devotion towards God or as the Scriptures phrase is The fear of the Lord Which as it is founded upon the acknowledgment of the Superlative and Transcendent Excellency of God in his Soveraignty of Power Wisdom and Goodness so the first and mother-disposition and affection of the Heart to his Worship and Service is Humiliation of the Soul and Lowliness of Mind For all Eminency is worshipped with humility reverence and submission that is as we sometimes and rightly speak By keeping a distance And the Soveraign or Supreme Excellency of God must be adored with the lowest demission of mind and with the greatest stoop the Soul can make We find by experience that that disposition of the Eye which fitteth it to behold the visible Sun makes a man blind when he looks down upon himself So here the apprehension of the transcendent Excellency of God ten thousand times brighter than the Sun if truly admitted into our hearts must needs darken all overweening conceit of any worthiness in our selves The greater we would apprehend his Power the more sensible we must be of our own Weakness The greater we acknowledg and adore his Goodness the less Goodness must we see in our selves The more we would apprehend his Wisdom the less we are to be pussed up with our own knowledg As in a pair of scales the higher we would raise the one scale the lower we pull down the other so the higher we raise God in our hearts the lower we must depress our selves Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven And this is that Lowliness of heart which Christ would have us learn of him Who being in the form of God made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant And being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross Phil. 2. 6 7 8. Hence it comes That the
humblest nature and the humblest condition are the fittest for devotion For humble natures experience shews them the most religious whereas those which the world so much commendeth for high and brave spirits of all others do buckle the worst unto devotion God seeth not as man seeth It is not the tallest Eliab but the humblest David who is the man after God's own heart He that humbleth himself as a little child the same is the tallest and goodliest Soul in the kingdom of heaven The Stars in the firmament howsoever they here seem small to us yet are bigger than the Earth So he that is despicable and small here in the eyes of men is there a great one in the eyes of God As the humblest nature so the humblest estate and condition is best fitted for Religion as the poor rather than the rich Therefore Agur desired of God not to give him riches more than food convenient for him lest being full he should deny him and say Who is the Lord Such likewise is the state of adversity and affliction being a state of lowliness and an estate wherein our hearts are taken down and therefore more fit to bring us home to God than that of prosperity whence you know that David saies Psal. 94. 12. Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest O Lord and Psal. 119. 67 71. Before I was afflicted I went astray But now I have kept thy word It is good for me that I have been afflicted For diseases say the Physicians must be cured by contraries It was Pride which caused the disloyalty and rebellion both of Men and Angels against their Creator whence is that of the Son of Sirach Ecclus. 10. 12. The beginning of Pride is when one departeth from God and his heart is turned away from his Maker ver 13. Pride is the beginning of sin and he that hath it shall pour out abomination If Pride then be the beginning of our rebellion against God then must Lowliness be the proper disposition of those who fear and worship him And Tanto quisque est vilior Deo quanto est pretiosior sibi The higher any one is in his own esteem the lower he is in God's Now from this near affinity and inseparable dependance between a Religious devotion and an Humble and Lowly mind it is that the Scripture useth them as equipollent terms Prov. 22. 4. By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches honour and life Prov. 3. 33. The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked but he blesseth the habitation of the Iust. Ver. 34. Surely he scorneth the scorners but he giveth grace or sheweth favour unto the lowly Where scorners and the wicked on the one part and the lowly and the just on the other are interchangeably used for one and the same In like manner speaks the son of Sirach Ecclus. 12. 4 5. Give to the godly man and help not a sinner Which in the next words he altereth thus Do well unto him that is lowly but give not to the ungodly In the same notion of Humility and Lowliness S. Paul tells the Ephesian Elders at Miletus that he had served the Lord with all humility of mind Acts 20. 19. I have dwelt the longer upon this point To shew that Lowliness of mind is the proper disposition for devotion and the mother of a religious fear because the present occasion if you examine it is nothing else but the exercise of what I speak of For the End of Fasting is to beget Lowliness and humbleness of mind that so we might be rightly disposed and affected to approach the Divine Majesty and tender our supplications unto him Especially at such times when his dreadful rod is shaken over us to bid us down and cry for mercy lest we perish Are they not some of the first words we uttered this day O come let us humble our selves and fall down before the Lord with reverence and fear Hence Fasting and Humbling a mans self go in Scripture for equipollent terms My clothing was sackeloth saith David Psal. 35. 13. I humbled my self with fasting So Ahab humbled himself and thereby deferred his judgment 1 King 21. 29. Hezekiah humbled himself both he and the inhabitants of Ierusalem 2 Chro. 32. 26. Manasseh likewise besought the Lord and humbled himself greatly before the God of his Father 2 Chron. 33. 12. If we take a view of the Ceremonies of this Discipline which the Ancients used and we in some part continue they imply nothing else but Lowliness either to express it if we be already so affected or to work and beget it in our hearts if as yet we have it not They are reducible to three heads 1. of Habit 2. of Gesture 3. of Diet. For Habit it was anciently Sackcloth and Ashes By the coursness of Sackcloth they ranked themselves as it were amongst the meanest and lowest condition of men By Ashes and sometimes Earth upon their heads they made themselves lower than the lowest of the creatures of God For the lowest of the Elements is the Earth than which we use to say a man cannot fall lower Qui jacet in terra non habet unde cadat For Gesture they sate or lay upon the ground which in the Primitive Church was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 humicubatio a natural ceremony both to express and ingenerate or increase this disposition of Lowliness and abjection of our selves and as frequently practised among the Christian Fathers as it is seldom or never used among us It were a thing most comely and undoubtedly most profitable if either these Ceremonies or some other answerable to them were reviv'd amongst us at such times as these If we were all of us this day attired if not in Sackcloth for perhaps it sutes not with the custom of our Nation yet in the dolefullest habit of mourners if we lay all groveling upon the ground would not such a ruful spectacle would not the very sight of such an uncouth Assembly much affect us The mournful hue of Funeral solemnities we know by experience will often make them to weep who otherwise had no particular cause of sorrow how much more when they have But the Principal ceremony and which we retain is Abstinence from meat and drink from which this whole exercise hath the name of Fasting the End thereof being to bring down our Bodies thereby the better to humble our Souls or to express so much I mean to express our sorrow and dejection if we be already so affected Mores animi sequuntur temperamentum corporis If the Body be full and lusty the Mind will be lofty and refractary and most unfit to approach the Divine Majesty with reverence and fear How uncomposed is that Heart to sue to God for mercy and aversion of his judgments which is fraught with rebellious unclean proud and lustful thoughts like so many dogs barking within it But these are all engendered and cherished by full feeding and
would consider it to adventure the Conscience upon the least violence if it endure but a scratching once or twice it is secretly and before a man is aware hardned to endure a wound O let us be then tender to keep our Conscience tender else we are undone Is it therefore indeed so with thee that thou canst take thy sinful liberty and yet find no scruple check thee Canst thou cast off the yoke of Christ and yet thy heart be at rest within thee or at the worst if it pants a little it will soon have done O rouse it up in time else the time will come when thy Conscience will be so awaked that all the world cannot quiet and still it The longer it hath been smothered the more dreadful and unquenchable will the flame be when it once breaketh out No tongue of mortal man is able to express the terrors which then shall overwhelm thee In the day-time we know Spirits and Hobgoblins usually walk not but in the night-time when darkness covereth the face of the earth So in the brightness and Sun-shine of health and proâ—perity what marvel though this terrible Fiend an evil Conscience doth not much haunt a dull and stupid heart but in the darkness of sickness in the midnight of death when the black times of calamity shall surprise thee then will this grifly and gastly Spirit begin to affright and scare thee then will he roar in the chamber of thy soul and most hideously rattle his chains about thine ears As the blows and bruises received in the flower of our youth though then we feel them not will pain us in the decay of our strength in our declining years So the blows and bruises given the Soul by sin in the days of our jollity and prosperity will most grievously torment us when by sickness fear of death or other calamity our wonted mirth and transitory contentment shall be eclipsed Then as the carkass of him that is slain though it seemed stark and stiff is said to bleed afresh at the presence of the murtherer So when our former and unfelt sins whereby the Soul was wounded and murthered shall present themselves unto our view as at such times they use to do then our stark and benummed Conscience will gush out streams of bloud and be in danger to bleed unto eternal death What would a man then give for this Rest unto his soul even all the gold of Ophir all the riches of the East and West Indies yea he would be content never to have had ease never to have enjoyed any contentment no not lawful in these worldly and transitory things all the days of his life so he might have but one dram of that comfortable quietness of Soul which a good conscience bringeth A good conscience therefore from a life well led is a Iewel unvaluable for which a man should undergo the hardest task and forgo all the contentments of the world if it could not otherwise be gotten Which is the Second thing I here observe For our Saviour we see propounds it as a Reward and Prize such as he thought sufficient to allure any reasonable man even to abandon his liberty and freedom and to enter a bondage and to take a yoke upon his neck a yoke the sweetest that ever was worn and far surpassing the greatest liberty in the world A good conscience saith Solomon Prov. 15. 15. is a continual Feast that is an everlasting Christmas The twelve-days-Feast of our Blessed Saviours Nativity how is it longed for before-hand how welcomed when it comes and yet it lasts but a short time But a good conscience is a Feast that lasts all the year yea all a mans life long and that too without satiety without fulness without the least wearisomness There are three things in a Feast which make it so pleasing and desirable Mirth good Company and good Chear In this Feast all three of them are superlative 1. For Mirth all the merriment and Musick all the wine and good chear in the world will not make a man's heart so light and merry as the wine which is drunk at the Feast of a good conscience This is no superficial matter but rooted in the very Centre of the Soul Whereas your Wine-mirth is but the smothering sometimes if not drowning of a deeper grief like the lustick fit in some Countries of such as are going to execution Give strong drink saith Solomon unto him that is ready to perish and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts 2. For Society and Company what Feast in the world can afford the like this doth For it hath not only exceeding good but all suitable and homogeneal where is no admixture of ill Here you shall have no unruly persons blaspheming God or men to make themselves or others pastime no unsavoury communication to stain and pollute by degrees the purity of the Soul and make a reckoning unsupportable when the day shall come wherein we must give accompt of every idle word But a good Conscience hath ever good Company and so good as will admit no ill For the Father is with it that great and mighty God who made us The Son is with it even Christ himself who redeemed us they sup and feast together The Holy Ghost is with it who chears up and sanctifies the hearts of all who come to this Table What Feast in the world can shew so honourable so loving so chearful company as this 3. And for the last thing which makes a Feast desirable good Chear it is a Table richly furnished with all Varieties and Dainties a collection of all the Rarities and Delicacies not which Sea and Land only but which Heaven it self affords Who would not come upon any invitation to partake of such a Feast as this DISCOURSE XXXIII ACTS 10. 4. And he said unto him Thy Prayers and thine Alms are come up for a memorial before God or as it is ver 31. are had in remembrance c. WHEN the Iews had crucified our Blessed Saviour the Lord and Prince of Life though their impiety were most horrible and such as might seem to admit of no expiation or atonement yet would not God for that reject them but after he was risen from the dead his Apostles and Messengers were sent to offer and tender him once more unto them if so be they would yet receive him as their Messiah and Redeemer which was promised to come telling them that what they had formerly done unto him God would namely according to our Saviour's prayer upon the Cross Father forgive them for they know not what they do pass by it as done of Ignorance on their part whilest himself was by the disposition of his Providence fulfilling that which was long before spoken by the mouth of all his Prophets That Christ or Messiah should suffer death All which you may read in the Sermon which S. Peter preached unto them in the Temple Acts 3. 12 c. Thus the Lord
shewed himself according to his style A God gracious and merciful long-suffering and slow to anger But when these Iews notwithstanding this second tender not only continued in their former obstinacy refusing to accept him for their Redeemer but also misused and persecuted his Ambassadors sent unto them this their ingratitude was so hideous and hainous in the eyes of God that he could bear with them no longer but resolved thenceforth to cast them off and chuse himself a Church among the Gentiles To prepare a way whereunto he sent a Vision much about the same time both to Peter who was then by reason of the Iews persecution fled to Ioppa and to Cornelius a Gentile Captain of the Italian Band living at Caesarea upon that coast ordaining the one Peter to be the Messenger and Preacher and the other Cornelius to be the first Gentile which should be partaker of the Faith of Christ. Therefore accordingly Peter's Vision was to admonish him not to make scruple as all Iews did of conversing with a Gentile as unclean signified by a sheet let down from heaven wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth and wild beasts and creeping things and fowls of the aire that is of all both clean and unclean wherewith came also a Voice saying Rise Peter kill and eat Whereunto when Peter answered Not so Lord for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean the Voice replies What God hath cleansed that call not thou unclean Now as this Vision was to give Peter commission to go unto Cornelius so was Cornelius his Vision to command him to send for Peter For he saw in a Vision at the ninth hour of the day an Angel of the Lord coming unto him and saying Cornelius Whom when Cornelius beholding and being afraid said What is it Lord The Angel said unto him Thy Prayers and thine Alms are come up for a memorial or had in remembrance before God And now send men to Ioppa and call for one Simon whose surname is Peter and he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do And thus have I brought the Story as far as my Text which is as you see a part of this Message of the Angel to Cornelius namely his Report And he said unto him Thy Prayers and thine Alms c. Wherein I will consider two things First Who was the man and what was the condition of this person to whom the Angel spake namely Cornelius And the Angel said unto him Secondly What the Message or Report he brought importeth Thy Prayers and thine Alms-deeds are come in remembrance before God To begin with the First The man here spoken to as you may read in the beginning of the Chapter and as I have in some part already told you was Cornelius a Gentile Captain of the Italian Band at Caesarea and so no doubt himself of that Nation To understand which ye must know that at this time the Land of Iury like as most other Nations were was under the Roman Empire and ruled by a President of their appointing which President had his Court and Seat at Caesarea a great and magnificent City upon the Palestine coast some seventy miles from Ierusalem where was continually a guard of Souldiers both for the President 's safety and awing the subdued Iews and among these was our Cornelius a Commander being Captain of the Italian Band. But howsoever he were by race and breeding a Gentile yet for Religion he was no Idolater but a worshipper of the true God the God of Israel or God the Creator of heaven and earth For the Text tells us that he was a devout man and one that scared God with all his house who gave much alms to the people and prayed to God alway which is as much as to say he was a Proselyte for so were those converted Gentiles called who left their false Gods and worshipped the true Yet was he not circumcised nor had taken upon him the yoke of Moses Law and so was not accounted a member of the Church of Israel wherefore according to the Ordinances of the Law he was esteemed unclean and so not lawful for Peter or any other circumcised Iew to company with him had not God given Peter and Item that he should thenceforth call no man unclean forasmuch as that badge of separation was now dissolved For the better understanding of this we must know there were while the Legal worship stood two sorts of Proselytes or converted Gentiles One sort which were called Proselytes of the Covenant These were such as were circumcised and submitted themselves to the whole Mosaical Pedagogy These came into the Court of Israel to worship being accounted Iews and as freely conversed with as if they had been so born But there was a second sort of Proselytes inferior unto these whom they called Proselytes of the Gate These were not circumcised nor conformed themselves to the Mosaical Rites and Ordinances only they were tied to the obedience of those Commandments which the Hebrew Doctors call the Commandments of Noah that is such as all the sons of Noah were bound to observe Which were 1. To worship God the Creator 2. To disclaim the service of Idols 3. To abstain from Bloud namely both from the effusion of man's bloud and 4. from eating flesh with the bloud therein 5. To abstain from Fornication and all unlawful conjunction 6. To administer Iustice and 7. To abstain from Robbery and do as they would be done to And such Proselytes as these howsoever they were reputed Gentiles and such as with whom the Iews might not converse as being no free denizons of Israel yet did the Iewish Doctors yield them a part in the life to come Such a Proselyte was Naaman the Syrian and of such there were many in our Saviour's time and such an one was our Cornelius Hence it was that when afterward there arose a Controversie in the Church Whether or no the Gentiles which believed were to be circumcised and so bound to observe the Ordinances and Rites of Moses S. Peter in the Council of the Apostles at Ierusalem determined It was the will of God they should not and that upon this ground Because Cornelius the first believing Gentile was no circumcised Proselyte but a Proselyte of the Gate only and yet nevertheless when himself was sent as ye have heard to preach the Gospel of Christ to him and his house the Holy Ghost came down upon them as well as upon the Circumcision Whereby it was manifest that God would have the rest of the Gentiles which believed to have no more imposed upon them than Cornelius had and accordingly the Council concluded that no other burthen should be laid upon them but only those Precepts given to the sons of Noah To abstain from pollutions of Idols from bloud from things strangled and from fornication and the rest which they had received already