is the first mention in the Scripture of any House to be built to the honour of Gods Name Afterwards God bid Moses and Aaron build him an Ark and told them it should be the Covenant and Pledge that he would go along with them and that they should have his presence amongst them and so it was performed accordingly When the Philistines had taken it it plagued them their God Dagon fell before it then they returned it and when Obed-Edom had it the Lord blessed the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite and all that appertained to him because of the Ark of God After this David seriously considered with himself that he dwelt in an house of Cedar but the Ark of God was only under a Tent and he vowed a Vow unto the Lord that he would prepare a place for it The very instinct of nature told him it was a shame that his own house should be handsomer than the Publick place of Gods Worship and so it should teach us at this day He prepares with all his might a stupendious quantity of materials for the House of God 1 Chron. 29.4 Three thousand Talents of Gold of the Gold of Ophir and seven thousand Talents of refined Silved to over-lay the Walls of the House withal and Brass and Iron without weight and Marble stones and other Materials without number for he considered that the House was not for man but for God Peaceful Solemon builds this House and consecrates it and God accepts of it and heard the Prayers of his People that were put up in it against Plague Famine Mildew blasting or when the Enemy afflicted them within the Gates when Nebuchadnezzar burnt this house and carried away all the goodly Vessels belonging to it to Babilon Nehemiah rebuilds it and God stirreth up the spirit of Cyrus the Persian to send back again to this Temple five thousand four hundred Vessels of Gold and Silver which Nebuchadnezzar had taken away and put them in the House of his Gods so the Temple was built and beautified and reverenced as Gods Sanctuary as it ought to be But in our Saviour's time men were grown to that height of prophaneness that they brought Sheep and Oxen into that holy place to be sold they made a Market place of it to sell Doves and to change Money but the zeal of Gods House did even eat our Saviour up that is made him seem to forget his mild and gentle nature and use a Rod instead of the spirit of meekness he with a Scourge drove out the Oxen overthrew the Tables of the Money changers and said to them that sold Doves Take these things hence and would not suffer any to carry a Vessel through the Temple because it was an holy place and left a lasting Lesson to us highly to esteem of places dedicated to Gods Worship But here three Questions may arise 1. How comes one place to be more holy than another 2. What kind of holiness is a place capable of 3. Whether if it be granted that a place was so under the Law it be so still under the Gospel To the first I answer a place comes to be holy by being separated from common use and dedicated to the service of God Exod. 13.12 Thou shalt set apart all that openeth the Matrix unto the Lord. Now St. Luke speaking of the same thing in Chap. 2.23 renders it thus Every Male that openeth the womb shall be called holy unto the Lord So that if a thing be set apart for the Lord upon that setting it apart it becomes holy The Israelites were called a holy people because God separated them from all other Nations to be his own peculiar 1 Kings 8.53 And when he would consecrate the Levites to his service from among all the Children of Israel He says thus to Moses Thou shalt separate the Levites from among the Children of Israel and the Levites shall be mine Num. 8.14 so that when a place is separated from common use and dedicated to the service of God that place is a Sanctuary a holy place and till the relation it hath to God for his service is abolished it is to be accounted Sacred So that the notion of Holiness consists in this in being separated and set apart for God The Religious person whilst he is separated from sin and sinners from the allurements of a wicked world and the sinful lusts of the flesh he makes his Soul and Body a Temple for the Holy Ghost 2. If demanded what kind of holiness a place is capable of I answer a place is not capable of any inherent holiness as mans Soul is but only of a Relative holiness and if you will shew so much reverence to a Prince as to be uncovered in his Presence Chamber certainly you ought to shew as much to God to be uncovered in his Sanctuary If it be said true under the Law we grant things had a Relative holiness but how do you prove they have so under the Gospel I answer Time and Place are receptive of holiness alike We know that all times are his for he makes all our days all things are his for the Earth is the Lords and the falness thereof But now if under the Gospel some time may be more peculiarly his than as all time is his and some things may be more peculiarly his than as all things are his then those things which are so peculiarly his may have a Relative holiness in them under the Gospel as well as under the Law for the Relative holiness consists in this peculiar separation to Almighty God Now that some Times may be peculiarly his is plain by St. John's calling the first day of the Week the Lords Day Rev. 1.10 that is set apart for his service by the Apostles and the Church instead of the Jewish Sabbath and some Things may be peculiarly his as doth appear by St. Peters speech to Ananias Whilst it remained was it not thine own c. Acts 5.4 but to keep back what was dedicated to God was a robbing of God A lying unto God and not unto men so that you see God may have a peculiarity in things under the Gospel as well as under the Law And if it be in a Day ye ought to keep it holy if in a House God would have you keep your foot when you enter into the house of the Lord. We have a Generation amongst us that cry up the holiness of the Sabbath and the strict observance of it as if in its minute Appendages it bound us almost as much as it did the Jew and yet these very men will cry down the holiness of the Sanctuary and account themselves very holy in so doing Whereas in Lev. 19.30 God joyns them both together saying Ye shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my Sanctuary If the fourth Commandment of the Decalogue bind us now according to the Letter as they contend why doth their practice in kindling their fire in dressing their food contradict their
to love God and to give him thanks to hate God is so intrinsically evil that it is impossible but that it should be forbid If it were possible for this not to be forbid it were possible for this to be lawful for where there is no Law there is no Transgression but it is utterly impossible it should be lawful therefore it must be granted there is an evil in order of nature before the prohibition of it and so some things must needs be good in their own nature as bearing a resemblance of the Image and goodness of God before any external Law pass upon them These things premised my answer is Although the Will of God be a rule of justice to us yet it is not a rule of justice to himself but his justice is rather a rule of his Works and of his Will and he works all things according to the Counsel of his Will and that Counsel adviseth nothing rashly or unmercifully unreasonably or unjustly but according to the greatest Equity and Chancery in the world and therefore cannot without the greatest violence to Reason and Religion be thought to make irrespective Decrees to torture for ever the greatest part of mankind chiesly for the pleasure of his Will Again they say Omnipotent Power authorizes all actions Now if God will make Vessels of wrath what hath any one to do with it May he not do what he pleases with his own Creatures My answer is we must not magnifie Gods Power so much as to eclipse his goodness or his truth which doth assure us that he is loving unto every man and that he delights not in the death of any sinner These men make God a Tyrant rather than a King and attribute such Prerogatives to God as are broadly inconsistent with his nature Acts of Power are not good in themselves but as they are accompanied with Justice and Mercy otherwise they are bad and lay a mans honour in the dust we must not so magnifie one Attribute in God as to justle out all the rest The Lord proclaimes his name to Moses Exod. 34.6 after this manner The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long suffering and abundant in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity transgression and sin Now Gods name is every ways agreeing to his nature which is rather than his Creature should perish to forgive iniquity transgression and sin and not to decree everlasting fire to it without the intuition of sin Let us not therefore entertain any hard thoughts of Almighty God Rev. 20.12 13. when the earth and the Sea gave up their dead they were all judged according to what was found in the Books and those Books were written only according to their works Conscience is one of those Books which shall be opened at the last day and it will acquit God of all hard dealing towards men that perish When Moses prayed thus Exod. 32.32 Either forgive this People or blot we out of the Book which thou hast written The Lord said Whosoever sins against me him will I blot out of my book Where you see sin only blots out of Gods Book and not any Fatal Decree If it should happen to men according to their Lots to be under such or such a Decree and not according to their Works there would nothing be remaining for us to do but only patiently to obey Fate for if an irrespective Decree do shut up the most of men under Condemnation can any one of those men by all his industry alter his Destiny Surely no unless he were stronger than he that made that Decree To what purpose then were all his endeavours or to what purpose should we beat the air and persuade him to impossiblities Yes to good purpose say the Abettors of such a Decree because no particular man knows under which Decree he is I confess this answer is the best they have to give but it nothing enervates the Argument for it is not the knowing of a Decree or the being ignorant of a Decree makes any thing to the altering of a Decree for neither if I know it will it be repealed neither if I be ignorant of it will it cease to be accomplished Now then although no particular man knows under which Decree he is yet he must needs know he is under one of them if there be such Decrees and under which soever he be he is bound with an Adamantine Chain unto it and his end is fixt by reason of it as unalterably as the Laws of the Medes and Persians Who then believing this can believe that his fasting weeping or mourning renting heart or garment can avail any thing to the altering of that Decree under which it was his Lot to be born So that he that hath imbibed this Doctrine hath cut the Sinews of all industry if he acts consequentially to what he himself doth believe Nay but the means are ordained as well as the end may some say True they are so But to the far greatest part of men if their opinion were true God should command them to seek his face in vain for those means could never attain the end for which men should use them namely the Salvation of their souls For never any man from the foundation of the world under that Decreo was sav'd neither indeed can be though Moses and Samuel should pray for him or an Angel from heaven preach unto him he could not believe To what purpose now was the means ordained to these or the use of them Nay to what purpose should God wish the conversion of such sinners send his Embassadors to intreat and beseech them expostulate the case with them Why will ye die swear unto them As I live I had rather you should live if in the mean while he hath decreed their death before they did good or evil and in order to that Decree was resolved never to afford them power to perform any one act of saving grace Now whether there be insincerity in these Expressions or in their Opinions judg ye Nay let God be true and every man a liar Let us heartily believe that every mans destruction is wholly from himself and not from any fatal Decree of God Lastly it is objected the seventeenth Article of the Church of England says God hath decreed before the foundations of the world were laid by his Counsel secret to us to deliver from Curse and damnation those whom he hath chosen in Christ out of mankind From whence they thus argue Before the foundations of the world were laid no man could do good or evil but even then some were chosen and consequently some not therefore those that were not chosen were rejected before they had done good or evil To this I answer as some were chosen in Christ and consequently others not chosen before the foundations of the world were laid so known unto God were all things before the foundations of the world were laid He knew the first man would fall
Prophet told him he would Why those that usurp the Sword as little know their own hearts as he and therefore are as little to be trusted For Argument sake let us suppose it just in the beginning yet to alter or change a Government men must be forc'd to take such violent courses as would render their actions unjust in the end though just at first But to resist thus the lawful power is to do evil that good may come on it and I am sure that is neither good nor just first or last Secondly To honour the King as the Father of our Country Suppose then any weakness in a Father should a Son discover any nakedness C ham was cursed for it it is a part of that honour we owe to a King to cover it when ever we find it not to curse him in our bed-chamber but always to speak honourably of him the taking away a Kings honour and esteem amongst his Subjects is but a preparative to the taking away of his life Thirdly To pray for him both in Publick and in Private it is a weighty matter to govern so as to serve so many interests and if any be not served they will be angry and waspish Moses complained he was not able to bear the burthen of Government and yet he was well-spirited for it by Almighty God He hath need enough of our Prayers and we have need enough to pray for him if but for our own sakes for in his peace we shall have peace and in his trouble we shall have trouble enough If God commanded the Jews to pray for the life of the King of Babylon and to seek the peace of that City whether they were carried Captive How much more should we pray for our own King and seek the peace of our Native Country Fourthly To pay Tribute without murmuring proportionably to our Estates most men mistake the Liberty of the Subject which is the true cause of complaining in this point 'T is not in having such a property in our goods as to exclude our Sovereign by Parliament from laying a Tax for our own defence but only in excluding any Forein Power or any fellow-Subject from invading our rights Should it consist in the former the Kingdom might sink for want of necessary support 'T is not enough for a man to labour to build his house but he must do something to defend his labours Now in regard a private man cannot defend himself against some mighty Nimrods he must be content to pay Tribute to those that can Render therefore to all their dues tribute to whom tribute is due custom to whom custom c. Fifthly To obey him and his good Laws where Laws are good passive obedience is not enough for such as will not obey for Conscience sake but only for wrath bring an evil report upon his good Government for by suffering they shew what an opinion they have of his Laws and what they would have others think of them namely that they are not good and that godly men cannot live without persecution under his Government This must needs tend much to the dishonour of the King Some others will obey the King only provided he be a godly King that is in their sense of godliness one of their own Church But Temporal right to Dominion is not founded in grace The Scripture makes no such distinction of Kings but commands obedience to them whether Saul be King or David King whether Nero be Emperour or Constantine Emperour O King live for ever said Daniel to Darius who cast him into the Lions Den. If any thing be amiss in the Chief Magistrate Advice Prayers and Patience are the most Christian remedies for all Judges under him are but his Deputies and all the power his Lieutenants have of the Sword is the Kings and it can never stand with reason that his Authority should be used to depose his Person Nothing can bring tyranny sooner into a Kingdom than the taking of an ungodly course to keep it out Solomon says Against a King there is no rising up If objected It was so indeed in Israel but the Politick Laws of England differ from those of Israel My answer is We are not for that Arbitrary Government of a King mentioned in the eighth Chapter of the first Book of Samuel but where the Laws of England command and prescribe obedience there we may safely urge it upon the Conscience and there every Subject of England ought to yield obedience to it When the Law of the Land says It is not lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take up Arms against the King then we urge that of the Apostle Be subject to every Ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether to the King as Supream and that of St. Paul Whosoever resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God For although men set the bounds yet God curses those that remove the Land-marks and invade anothers rights And blessed be God that he hath even in our days overturned overturned all Rebels and Usurpers of Government till he came whose right it was to govern us and he hath given it him Now what remains but that we bless God that there is a King again in England and that every one doth not what is right in his own eyes that Ashur a stranger is not our King but a perfect Englishman lineally descended of so many famous Ancestors a nursing Father of the Church and a Defender of the Laws and Liberties of his People one that looks on us as David on the Tribe of Judah to be his own bone and his own flesh and that we earnestly pray that God would still long continue his gracious Reign over us that we may lead quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty Vulgar Errors CONCERNING Gods House and his Worship in it Removed ALmighty God who according to his nature is infinite and incomprehensible dwells not in Temples made with hands as it is written Heaven is my Throne and Earth is my footstool yet this infinite God is pleased to condescend so low as to behold the things which are in Heaven and in Earth and to dwell with the Children of men and though he hath given us all that we have and all that we are yet he accepts of any thing we shall in way of gratitude give back again to him to honour his Holy Name and to make his praise to be glorious Jacob knowing this vowed a Vow when sent away by his Parents for fear of his Brother Esau Gen. 28.20 Saying if God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go and will give me bread to eat and rayment to put on so that I come again unto my Fathers house in peace then shall the Lord be my God and this stone which I have set for a Pillar shall be Gods house and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee We read of several Altars before but here