Church before we joine with the congregation For we should say they rather heare and listen to what the Minister is reading or speaking as Solomon here bids us than at such a time to betake our selves to any private devotion which say they is but the sacrifice of fooles But I would themselves who thus argue were as wise as they should be For if they were they would consider both that Solomon according to the time wherin he spake must needs meane of another kinde of Sacrifice than what so loose a notion importeth namely of such as were then used in the Temple he had built and besides that this sense of theirs directly thwarts the purport and meaning of the words going before which is that we ought to use some signe of reverence when we come into the house of God such as according to the custome of the West is this But though none of these things were yet would this text be nothing to their purpose Forasmuch as by Hearing in this place is not meant auricular hearing but practicall that is obedience to Gods commandments according as the Vulgar hath Melior est obedientia quà m victimae stultorum For it is the same with that proverbial sentence of Scripture Obedience is better than sacrifice which Samuel used in that bitter reproofe of K. Saul for sparing Agag and the best of the spoile of the Amalekites upon a pretence of sacrificing to the Lord in Gilgal Hath the Lord saith he as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord behold to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams The word here twice rendered obey is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the same which is in my text and it is an ordinary signification thereof in Scripture The case is cleere But was not the offering of Sacrifice will some man say part of the obedience due unto the divine Law How come they then to be thus opposed one to the other Give mee leave therefore before I give my full explication of this passage to enquire and consider of some others of much more difficultie in this respect yet their meaning conducing to the understanding of this There are divers places in Scripture disparaging and vilifying sacrifices yea so farre as if sacrifice were a service which God neither appointed nor approved As Psal 51. Thou desirest not sacrifice saith David else would I have given it thee but thou delightest not in burnt-offerings The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit a broken and contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise Hosea 6. 6. I will have mercy and not sacrifice Michah 6. vers 6 7 8. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow my selfe before the most High shall I come before him with burnt-offerings with calves of a yeare old 7. Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams and with ten thousands of rivers of oyle shall I give my first borne for my transgression the fruit of my body for the sin of my soule 8. He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God Nay Ier. 7. ver 21 22. he seemes to say expresly that he never commanded them Put saith he your burnt-offerings unto your sacrifices and eat flesh For I spake not unto your Fathers nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Aegypt concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices But this thing commanded I them saying Obey my voice and I will be your God and ye shall be my people and walke ye in the wayes that I have commanded you that it may bee well with you Yet nothing is more plaine than that God ordained Sacrifices at Mount Sinai How then shall this difficulty be resolved Some and those of the ancients too have affirmed that these ordinances of Sacrifice were not given to Israel at first nor prima intentione Dei but were as they call them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 superinducta afterwards imposed upon them when they had committed idolatry in making and worshipping the golden Calfe But the contrary to this is also apparant For to passe by Cain and Abels sacrifices and the sacrifices of Noah and Abraham when the Lord pronounced the Decalogue from Mount Sinai he added this as it were an appendix thereto Ye shall not make with me gods of silver neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold Onely an Altar thou shalt make unto me and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings and thy peace-offerings thy sheep and thine oxen c. and this before Moses came downe from the Mount or the Calfe was yet made Nay more than all this when Moses and Aaron were sent unto Pharaoh the effect of their Embassie was The God of the Hebrewes saith Let my people go that they may sacrifice unto me three dayes journey in the wildernesse And when Pharaob would have given them leave to have sacrificed to their God in the Land No saith Moses we will go three dayes journey into the wildernesse and there sacrifice to the Lord our God as he hath commanded us What shall we answer then to those passages of Scripture where God disclaimeth sacrifice saying hee required no such service at his peoples hands yea that hee commanded them no such thing when hee brought them out of the Land of Aegypt For the assoyling of this difficultie according to the differing qualitie of the passages which are or may be produced to this purpose I lay downe these three propositions 1. That according to the proprietie and genius of the Hebrew tongue a Comparative sense is often expressed after the forme of an Antithesis As in that of Ioel Rent your hearts and not your garments that is more or rather than your garments Prov. 8. 10. Receive my instruction and not silver that is rather than silver as the words following teach us to construe it And knowledge rather than choice gold Likewise in the New Testament Lay not up treasures for your selves on earth but lay up for your selves treasures in heaven i. Treasures in heaven rather than treasures on earth have more care to lay up the one than the other According to this construction onely without more adoe some of the aforesaid passages will be discharged of their difficulty as namely that of Hosea I desired mercy and not sacrifice .i. more or rather than sacrifice as the following words give us to understand which are And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings and according as the same sense is elsewhere expressed as Prov. 21. 3. To do justice and judgement is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice But all will not be thus salved Wherefore I lay down this second proposition That antecedenter it is true that God commanded not sacrifice should be offered unto him neither when the Law was given nor before but
so he hath ordained not that we should doe them at hap hazard and without order but at certaine determined daies times Where also by whō he will have them executed himself hath defined according to his supreme will But where hath the Lord defined these things unlesse he hath left us to the Analogy of the Old Testament It followes in the text alledged There I will come unto thee and blesse thee In the Place where the Lords Memoriall is where his Colours as I may so speak are displayed and set up there in a speciall manner he vouchsafes his presence with the sons of men to blesse them or to speak rotundè Where his memoriall is there His 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 SHECINAH or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is as the Hebrew Masters terme it that is His GLORY The Gentiles ascribed the presence of their gods to the places where Images and Statues were erected consecrated for them But such personall similitudes the God of Israel abhorres and forbids to be made unto Him yet promiseth his presence in every place where the Memoriall or record of his Name shall be but of his owne appointment not of mans devising For thus I suppose is the text there to be understood and to be construed by way of Antithesis or opposition You shall not make with me gods of silver nor gods of gold An Altar onely of earth or of stone shalt thou make unto me to offer thy Sacrifices upon For in every place where I shall record my Name I will come unto thee and blesse thee And here take notice that for this reason the Tabernacle of the Lord was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Tabernacle of meeting not of mens meeting together as is commonly supposed when we translate it Tabernacle of the Congregation but of Gods meeting there with men I have a good author for it For so the Lord himself gives the reason of the name in three severall places of the Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Tabernacle of meeting where I will meet with you See Exod. 29. 42. ‑ 30. ‑ 36. Num. 17. 4. and Masius in Ios c. 18. SECTION 2. THus WE have seene what is the condition and property of that Place which in my Text is called Gods House But before I proceed to speak of the Duty of those who come thither which was the second thing I propounded there is one thing yet to be cleared concerning that which I last mentioned namely How God is said to come unto to be present with men in one place more than another seeing his Presence fils every place heaven being his throne and the whole earth his footstoole For although we read often in holy Scripture of such a SHECINAH or specialitie of the divine presence and have it often in our mouthes yet what it is and wherein the Ratio thereof consisteth is seldome if at all enquired into When we speak of Churches we content our selves to say that Gods speciall presence there is in his Word and Sacraments But though it be true that the Divine Majesty is there specially present where his Word and Sacraments are yet seemes not this speciality of presence to be the same with his Word and Sacraments but a diverse relation from them This may be gathered in some sort out of those words of Exodus whereupon we have so long dwelt as where the recording of Gods Name and his coming thither are spoken of as two but is more strongly evinced by such instances of Scripture where the Lord is said to have been specially present in places where this Record of his Word and Sacraments was not as for example to Moses in the Bush to Iaacob at Bethel and the like The true Ratio therefore of this SHECINAH or Speciality of divine presence must bee sought and defined by something which is common to al these and not by that which is proper to some onely Well then to hold you no longer in suspense this Specification of the divine presence whereby God is said to be in one place more than another I suppose under correction to consist in his traine or retinue A King is there where his Court is where his traine and retinue are So God the Lord of Hosts is there specially present where the heavenly Guard the blessed Angels keep their sacred station and rendevous That this is consonant to the revelation of holy Scripture I shew first from the collection of inference which the Patriarch Iacob makes upon that divine vision of his at Bethel where having seen a ladder reaching from heaven to earth and the Angels of God ascending and descending upon it Surely saith he the Lord is in this place and I knew it not How dreadfull is this place It is no other but the House of God even the gate of heaven that is Heavens Guildnall Heavens Court namely because of the Angels For the Gate was wont to be the Judgement Hall and the Place where Kings and Senators used to sit attended by their guard and ministers Secondly I prove it from that interpretative expression used in the New Testament of the Lords descent upon Mount Sinai when the Law was given intimating that the specification of the presence of the Divine Majesty there also consisted in the Angelicall retinue there encamping For so St. Steven Act. 7. 53. You who have received the Law by the disposition of Angels and have not kept it St. Paul twice First Gal. 3. 19. The Law was added because of transgressions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ordained by Angels in the hand of a mediator And againe Heb. 2. 2. hee cals the Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word spoken by Angels Howbeit in the story it selfe we find no such thing expressed but onely that the Lord descended upon the Mount in a fiery and smoking cloud accompanied with thunders and lightnings with an earthquake and the voice of a trumpet VVhence then should this expression of St. Steven and the Apostle proceed but from a supposition that the speciall presence of the Divine Majesty wheresoever it is said to be consisted in the encamping of his sacred retinue the Angels for that of himself hee who filleth the heaven and the earth could not descend nor be in one place more than another Yea all the Apparitions of the Divine Majesty in Scripture are described by this retinue That of the Ancient of dayes coming to judgement Dan. 7. 10. Thousand thousands ministred unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him to wit of Angels VVhence we reade in the Gospell that Christ our Saviour shall come in the glory of his Father that is with an host of Angels as the Holy Ghost himselfe in the same places expounds it For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Glory here signifies the presence of the Divine Majesty In the same style of the same Appearing prophecieth Enoch the seventh from Adam in the Epistle of St. Iude. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
in that place upon which his Name is called or which is called by his Name as the Scripture speakes that is which is dedicate to his worship and service but there is some more speciall thing intended here namely the Memoriall or Monument of Gods Name is that token or Symbole whereby he testifieth his Covenant and commerce with men Now although the Ark called the Ark of the Covenant or Testimonie wherein lay the two Tables â—i the Book or Articles of the Covenant and Manna the Bread of the Covenant were afterwards made for this purpose to be the standing Memoriall of Gods Name and presence with his people yet cannot that be here either onely or specially aimed at because when these words were spoken it had no being nor was there yet any commandement given concerning the making thereof Wherefore the Record here mentioned I understand with a more generall reference to any Memoriall whereby Gods Covenant and commerce with men was testified Such as were the Sacrifices immediately before spoken of and the seat of them the Altar which therefore may seeme to be in some sort the more particularly here pointed unto For that these were Rites of remembrance whereby the Name of God was commemorated or recorded and his Covenant with men renewed and testified might be easily proved Whence it is that that which was burned upon the Altar is so often called the Memoriall as in Leviticus the 2. 5. 6. and 24. chapters Accordingly the son of Syrach tels us c. 45. 16. that Aaron was chosen out of all men living to offer Sacrifices to the Lord incense and a sweet savour for a Memoriall to make reconciliation for his people Adde also that Isay 66. 3. Qui recordatur thure quasi qui benedicat Idolo He that without true contrition and humiliation before the Lord recordeth or maketh remembrance with incense is as if he blessed an Idol But I must not stay too long upon this You will say What is all this to us now in the time of the Gospell I answer Yes For did not Christ ordaine the holy Eucharist to be the Memoriall of his Name in the New Testament This saithe he is my Body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Doe this for my commemoration or in Memoriall of me And what if I should affirme that Christ is as much present here as the Lord was upon the Mercy-seat between the Cherubins Why should not then the Place of this Memoriall under the Gospell have some semblable sanctitie to that where the Name of God was recorded in the Law And thogh we be not now tyed to one onely Place as those under the Law were and that God heareth the faithfull prayers of his Servants wheresoever they are made unto him as also hee did then yet should not the Places of his Memoriall be promiscuous and common but set apart to the sacred purpose In a word all those sacred Memorials of the Jewish Temple are both comprehended and excelled in this One of Christians the Sacrifices Shew-bread and Ark of the Covenant Christs Bodie and Bloud in the Eucharist being all these unto us in the New Testament agreeably to that of the Apostle Rom. 3. 25. God hath set forth Iesus Christ to bee our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 through faith in his bloud that is our Propitiatory or Mercy seat for so it is called in the Greek both of the old and new Testament nor is the word I think ever used but in that sense unlesse in Ezech. 43. for the Settle of the Altar But you will say This Christian Memoriall is not alwaies actually present in our Churches as some one or other at least of those in the Law were in the Temple I answer It is enough it is wont to be as the Chaire of estate loses not its relation and due respect though the King be not alwaies there And remember that the Ark of the Covenant was not in Jerusalem when Daniel opened his windows and prayed thitherward yea that it was wanting in the Holy Place I meane that sacred Cabinet made by Moses all the time of the second or Zorobabels Temple and yet the place esteemed notwithstanding as if it had been there You will yet except and say That in the Old Testament those things were appointed by divine Law and Commandment but in the New we finde no such thing I answer in things for which we finde no new Rule given in the New Testament there we are referred and left to the analogy of the Old This the Apostles proof taken from thence for the maintenance of the Ministers of the Gospell 1 Cor. 9. viz. Thus were they Ergo so God hath ordained that we will give us to understand likewise the practice of the Church in baptizing Infants derived surely from the analogie of Circumcision The hallowing of every first day of the week as one in every seven from the analogie of the Jewish Sabbath and other the like St. Hierome witnesseth the same in that saying of his Vt sciamus traditiones Apostolicas sumptas ex Vet. Test quod Aaron Filii ejus at que Levitae in Templo fuerunt hoc sibi Episcopi Presbyteri at que Diaconi vendicant in Ecclesia That we may know saith he that the Apostolick traditions were derived from the Old Testament that which Aaron his Sons and the Levites were in the Temple the same doe Bishops Priests and Deacons claime in the Church For we are to consider that the end of Christs coming into the world was not properly to give new lawes unto men but to accomplish the Law already given and to publish the Gospell of reconciliation through his Name to those who had transgressed it Whence it is that we finde not the style of the New Testament to carry a forme of enacting Lawes almost any where but those vvhich are there mentioned to be brought in occasionally onely by vvay of proofe of interpretation exhortation application or the like and not as by vvay of constitution or re-enacting Meane vvhile lest I should be mistaken mark vvell that I said not the Old Testament vvas to be our rule simply in the case mentioned but the Analogy thereof onely that is this regulation is to be made according to that proportion vvhich the difference of the two Covenants and the things in them admits and no further the more particular application and limitation of vvhich Analogy is to be referred to the judgement and prudence of the Church There comes here very fitly into my minde a passage of Clemens a man of the Apostolick age he whose name St. Paul saith was written in the Book of life in his genuine Epistle Ad Corinthios lately set forth pag. 52. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is All those duties which the Lord hath commanded us to doe wee ought to doe them regularly and orderly Our Oblations and divine Services to celebrate them on set and appointed times For