instrument of sin and iniquity and beeing giuen vnto man as an excellencie aboue other creatures doth make him much woorse than any brute beast De interiori domo Cap. 50. They will forbid reading and diuersity of study because as S. Bernard noteth Prolixa lectio memoriam legentis obliterat Ouer much reading hurteth the memory of the reader not considering with S. Bernard that often times Crimen non est in rebus Ibid. sed in vsu agentis the fault is not in the things but in him that vseth them nor with S. Aug. de doct châ— lib. 3. cap. 12. Austin that In multis non vsus rerum sed libido vtentis in culpa est In many things not their vse but the disorder of him that vseth them must be blamed nor that the rule is not Arist topic 1. Cuius abusus malus est ipsum quoque malum est but Cuius vsus malus est id est per se malus est ipsum quoque malum est that which may bee abused is euill but that which cannot be well vsed which is the same which the Canonists haue Nauarus enchir cap 14. Si vsus principalis alicuius rei sit mortifer mortiferam quoque rem ipsam efficiet that is if the principall vse of any thing be deadly it shall make the thing it selfe of like nature Now our Sauiour here teacheth them another lesson not to pull downe Churches for the abuse of them or the abuse of the Priest but reforme the abuse and retaine the good vse And although our Sauior when the Iewes were incorrigible and would not be reformed nor repent them of that sinne of sinnes the putting to death to shamefull death that innocent Lambe the very Sonne of God our Sauior Christ Iesus threatned the destruction of the Temple and the miserable captiuity of the whole Nation and perfourmed it So that Ierusalem became as Iericho was an execrable thing for although Iulian Iosua 6. and the Greacians and the Iewes endeuoured to repaire it and build it againe yet it was impossible by reason of earthquakes and fires from heauen which consumed the stuffe and troubled the workmen as Theoderet reporteth yet this was but a remoouing of their candlesticke as I may call it Theod lib. 5. ca. 10. not the putting out of the Candle a remoouing of the Temple of God and the Priesthood to another Nation that is to the Gentiles not an vtter subuersioÌ„ of Churches ecclesiasticall State or to vse our Sauiors words in this same Chap. Ver. 43. A taking away of the Kingdome of God from them and giuing it to a Nation that should bring foorth the fruites thereof as when Saul became incorrigible and abused his State Samuel said not the Lord hath rent away the kingdome from Israel this day and will haue no more Kings but Iudges c. but The Lord hath rent the kingdome of Israel from thee this day and hath giuen it to thy neighbour 1. Sam. 15. who is better than thou that is hath remooued the insufficient from the place of gouernment and put in his roome one more sufficient To teach vs that as for the sinnes of Princes and abuse of their State the manner of gouernment is not altered by God nor their priueledges abrogated but the Office translated to a fitter person so for the abuse of Churches and Church-men neither the Churches ought to bee defaced and ruined nor the state of the Cleargie to bee disgraced and villified but those that are disordered must bee displaced and their honours bestowed vpon better men For this is a lesson set downe in the rules of the law as an axiome or maxime in nature not in a law positiue or humaine constitution 6. decrâ—t de â—eg iuris that Semel Deo dedicatum non est ad vsus humanos vlterius transferenduÌ„ That which hath beene once dedicated to God is not any more to bee transferred to the vses of men And it seemeth to bee so euident by the light of Nature that children acknowledge it as Plato confesseth who speaking of a truth as euident as he tooke it as that two and two make foure Nos dicimus saith he quod pueri solent Quae rectè data sunt Plat. Phileb eripi non licet We say as children vse to doo Thinges well giuen must not be taken backe againe and therfore no meruaile if it were a case ouer-ruled by the more ancient sort of heathen Phylosophers in their Courts of iustice Plin. 2. Epist lib. 10 Epist 74. and 75. Si facta aedes sit licèt collapsa sit iam religio tamen eius occupauit solum If an house hath bene once dedicated to God though it be fallen down and vtterly decayed yet the soyle is holy and the ground religious and not to bee imployed to ciuill or prophane vses The fift circumstance The fifth circumstance in the Fact is the manner how our Sauiour performed this reformation Hee cast out them that sold and bought c. An extraordinary course is vsed by our Sauiour and therefore the more obseruable For whereas in all other places and against all other sinnes hee vseth wordes and reproofes and reprehensions and those also tempered with humility mildnes and gentlenes Heere he vseth force and execution and externall discipline and present correction by casting them out of the Temple by making a whippe of small cordes Iohn 2. and so whipping theÌ„ out by ouerthrowing the tables of the money-changers and the seates and chaires of them that sold doues and whereas he saith of himselfe that hee was sent into the world not to iudge the vvorld but that the worlde might bee saued by him Iohn 3. yet in this case in this sinne in this abuse and prophanation of the Temple as it were forgetting his accustomed gentlenesse and the end of his comming hee exerciseth punishment striketh with a whippe ouerthroweth the tables casteth abroad the money and to conclude casteth them out of the Temple and that by himselfe alone and with his owne hands If her excellent Maiestie beeing famous and renowned for her singular clemency shoulde come to this Citty and with her own hands punish a fault or misdemeanor it were a good argument that that kind of sinne were most odious vnto her here our Sauior the Prince of peace and fountaine of mercy commeth to Ierusalem and with his owne hands doth punish the abuses and the prophanations of the temple of GOD. Adam sinned Gen. 3. and hee sent his Angels or Cherubins to cast him out of Paradise The wicked Sodomites sinned and hee sent his Angels Gen. 19. and it rayned fire from heauen and consumed them The whold world corrupted their way vpon earth Gen 7. and hee sent raine from heauen and destroyed them with a flood Pharaoh would not harken to his voyce to let the people goe Exod 8. and he sent Frogs and Grashopers c.
A Sermon preached at Paules Crosse the 4. of December 1597. Wherein is discoursed that all buying and selling of Spirituall promotion is vnlawfull By IOHN HOVVSON Student of Christes-Church in Oxeford AT LONDON Printed for Th. Adams 1597. ⧠A Sermon preached at Paules Crosse the 24. of December 1597. by Iohn Howson Student of Christs-Church in Oxford The text And Iesus went into the Temple of God and east out all them that sold and bought in the Temple ouerthrew the Tables of the money-changers and the seates of them that sold doues And said to them it is written mine house shall be called the house of prayer but yea haue made it a denne of theeues Mat. 21.12 13. IT is affirmed by them that haue best laboured and euen spent their spirites to discouer the profound mysteries of the holy scriptures that the text contextus the webbe of it is so cunningly and so skilfully wouen by the holy spirit of God that it is omnibus accessibilis but paucissimis penetrabilis Aug. Epist 5. that is to be handled felt of any man but few eies can pierce to the ground-worke of it Which truth wrought this confession in Chrysologus an ancient learned and deuout Writer so called for the golden sentences which proceeded from him that Singula scripturae verba si libris singulis mandarentur c. Serm. 64. which is If there were a booke written a particular booke of euery particular word almost in the holy Scriptures yet the misteris of them could not by that meanes bee sufficiently discouered to vs. Wherefore right Honourable c. it is not to bee expected at my handes that in this short time limited to the measure of my strength and your patience I should deliuer vnto you whatsoeuer is noteable or noted alreadie by so many reuerend and learned Fathers old and new of the litterall historicall morall or allegoricall sense of this scripture nor to make application according to the variety and abundance of sense which the spirit of God hath imparted to you most reuerend Fathers and learned Diuines for I doe not presume to speake that quod potissimum dicendum esset which is indeed most fitte to bee spoken seeing it is a great matter and aboue the common and ordinary reach nihil dicere quod dicendum non est Hug in Ecclesiast Hom. 1. to say nothing which were not better vnsaid than spoken Wherfore as Saint Luke diuided his first Sermon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 1. his Ghospell which comprehended the whole life of our Sauiour Christ into two partes into those things quae coepit Iesus Facere Act. 1. Docere which hee did and which hee taught into his Dooings and into his Sayings so doo I diuide this Text in Factum Dictum into a Deed of his and into a Speech of his into an Action of his and the Reason of it The Action in these wordes And Iesus went into the Temple of God and cast out all them that sold and bought in the Temple c. The Reason And said vnto them it is written c. The Action The Action was a reformation of certaine abuses or prophanations of the Temple of God In which I obserue these circumstances First the Author vvho secondly the Time vvhen thirdly the Place vvhere fourthly the Matter vvhat and fiftly the Manner how this reformation was performed 1. The author For the first the Author of this reformation is our Sauiour Christ Iesus who performed it not as a man onely or the true sonne of the blessed Virgin Mary or the supposed sonne of Ioseph not as hee was factus sub lege Galath 4. made vnder the law nor to suffer in the flesh 1. Pet. 4. nor to bee crucified concerning his infirmitie 2. Cor. 13. but as the onely begotten of God the chiefe Priest and the King of Kinges whose dominion is from sea to sea and from the riuer to the endes of the land Psal 72. whose office and authority that is his Kingdome and Priesthood was prefigured by the two crownes the siluer and the golden crowne which were hung vp in the Temple Zach. 6. Now in this Author of this reformation Two thinges required in a reformer I obserue for this present two things which are required in al good reformers One is his authority that hee is a King and a Priest the other his conditions and qualities that hee is without fault him-selfe that reformeth other Without the first that is authority there can bee no reformation without the second hardly any good reformation That it was performed by our Sauiour who was King and Priest it argueth how conuenient the counsell and knowledge of the Priest is for the ciuill magistrate in reforming the Temple for as the Priest may attempt nothing no alteration without the prince and therefore Saint Paul when hee came to Athens though hee saw Idols and Altars Act. 27. and one ignoto Deo to the vnkowne GOD yet hee offered no violence but preached vnto them the GOD which they knew not and though hee saw Idols and Idolatry in the Temple of Diana yet hee offered no violence Acts. 19. but preached only they were not Gods that were made with handes and pulled not downe the signe of Castor and Pollux in the shippe of Alexandria that carryed him to Rome Acts. 28. so it is conuenient that the Princes and ciuill Magistrates in their reformations of the Church and Religion take counsaile and aduise of the Priestes and the Prophets and therefore King Dauid when he would haue built the Temple 2. Sam. 7. hee sent for the Prophet Nathan and tooke counsaile of him 4. Reg. 12. And Ioas did nothing amisse in the presence of God so long as he was informed by Iehoiada the Priest And Ezechias did the thing that pleased the Lord and remained stedfastly in the waies of Dauid his father Eccles 48. while Esay the great Prophet and faithfull in his vision commanded him And God stirred vp the spirit of Zorobabel the Prince of Iudah Agg. 2. and the spirit of Iehosua the high Priest that they ioyntly together might restore the building of the Temple all which argue that the wisdome and knowledge of the Priest is to be ioyned with the authoritie of the Prince in establishing or reforming the Church of God 2. Heb 7. 1 â—et 2. 2 Cor 5. 1 Ioh 3. 8. Iohn Secondly that it was performed by our Sauiour Christ who was holy harmelesse vndefiled who did noe sin as Saint Peter saith who knew no sinne as Saint Paul saith who hadde no sinne in him as Saint Iohn saith and therefore might safely say which of you can rebuke me of sinne It argueth that they which are reformers of Churches yea and of Common-wealths should be holy harmelesse vndefiled and vncorrupt as much as may bee least vnder the colour of reformation they bring in a deformation and where they
as Moyses was commaunded to make the Tabernacle Heb. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the example or patterne that was shewed him in the mount that is according to the example of the old law for we refuse the carnall obseruations of the law and such types and figures as represent our Sauiours comming in the flesh or those benefits and blessings which were proper and peculiar vnto the Iewes yet as the Iewes had a King though their kingdome be now abolished so we haue a new King Vbi est qui natus est rex Iudaeorum Math. 2. a King which is borne both to Iewes and Gentiles And as they haue an old Testament so wee haue a new Testament 2. Cor. 3. and as they had the spirit so we haue a new Spirit I will giue vnto you a new heart and a new Spirit Ezech. 36. and as they had Commaundements so wee haue a new Commaundement A new Commaundement Giue I vnto you Iohn 13. and as they had an inheritance promised them the land of Canaan so wee haue a new inheritance promised vs Apoc. 21. I saw a new heauen and a new earth and as they had their Temple so we haue our Churches and as they had their Sacraments so we haue our Sacraments and as they had their Sabboth so wee haue our Sunday And as they had their Feastes so wee haue our Feastes and new Holydaies to put vs in minde of those blessings we haue receiued of the bounty of God one feast to remember his Natiuity another to put vs in minde of his Passion another of his Resurrection another of his Ascention another of other spirituall blessinges either performed to vs by our Sauiour Christ or his blessed Apostles And no doubt if some ceremonies were necessary to bee obserued among Gods people to retaine the memory of blessinges receiued and maintaine the hope and expectation of the Messias to come seeing wee that are Christians are as vnthankfull and forgetfull of the manifold blessings of God as they were it is as hard a matter as miraculous to vs to beleeue that which is past 1600. yeres since as for theÌ„ to beleeue that which was to come seeing neither they nor wee are eye-witnesses of it but giue credit to other they to their Prophets whom in things to come they firmely beleeued we to our Euangelists Apostles whome we cannot deny or suspect in things that are past wee haue as good vse of our rites and ceremonies as they had of theirs I giue this breefe note the rather because as S. Basil complained of his time Basil ep 70. it is reckoned a great fault and euen superstition amongst vs. Si quis paternas traditiones diligenter obseruet if a man obserue dilligently the rites and ceremonies commaÌ„nded by the Church and receiued from all antiquity And yet heere wee finde that our Sauiour Christ according to the ancient custome of the Iewes goeth vp yearely to Ierusalem to celebrate the Passeouer and satisfie the lawe and the ceremonies of the lawe that reached not to him and suffered him-selfe to bee circumcised which needed not euen by the reason of the lawe because he was intacta matre natus and his mother fulfilled the ceremony of purification which was not necessary because she was not comprehended vnder the lawe for non suscepto semine conceperat shee conceiued not as other women did Luke 1. but was ouershadowed by the holy Ghost and he was subiect to his parents which was not subiectio necessitatis Lyra. but pietatis not matter of necessity but rather example of piety and obedience and here we find him not onely obseruing the sabboth but other sollemne feasts to teach vs Super. Ioh. 2. saith Marlorat to come to Church on holidaies as well as on Sundaies A great negligence or rather contempt by little and little crept in amongst vs I meane not them that are irreligious and little regard any seruice of GOD but euen of such who haue euen in their mouthes though not templum Domini the temple of the Lord for they regard not the place yet â—abbatum Domini the Lords Sabboth but thinke no day holy or lawfull to be deuoted to the seruice of God but the seauenth day onely But as the Iewes beeing too much affected to the letter of the law or misled by the Pharisies the interpreters of it thought the fift Commaundement to be violated onely by murther and slaughter of a man and the 6 coÌ„maundement broken onely by actuall adultery but our Sauiour playing the interpreter telleth them Verely verely I say vnto you that hee that is vnaduisedly angry doth murther and hee that looketh after a woman to lust after her doth commit adultery Math. 5. though there be difference in the sins so we say vnto you who thinke the violating of the seauenth day to bee onely against the fourth commandement we say that the breach and prophanation not only of the greater sollemnities viz. Christmas Easter Whitsontide c. are the breach of the Sabboth but also the prophanation of the smaller feastes which are appointed for the seruice of God and the memory of those blessings we haue receiued by the meanes of his seruants is the breach of the Sabboth And therefore in the holy Scriptures we finde not only the seauenth day called the Sabboth but al other feasts holy daies either appointed by God or the lawfull Magistrate as in the 23. of Leuit. where the first day of the seuenth moneth Leuit. 13. and many other feasts are called the Sabboth And least you shoulde thinke that these feastes had the name onely of a Sabboth and not the sollemnization you may reade that Hester Mardocheus in remembrance of the deliuerance of the Iewes proclaimed a feast or holydaie to be obserued yearely and added this law Nulli liceat hos duos dies absque solemnitate transigere that it should be lawfull for no man to passe ouer those daies but in great sollemnity and the new feast instituted by Iudas Machabaeus Eneauia Ioh. 10. our Sauiour obserued as wee read in the Gospell and walked not in the streetes but came In porticum Solomonis into the house of God into that place where in all probability hee did vse to teach when it is said he came into the Temple and thus far by occasion of the second circumstance The third circumstance Chrysost in opere imperfecto The third circumstance is the place where he began this reformation and that was in the Temple of God and Iesus went into the Temple of GOD. S. Chrisosotome in opere imperfecto or the author whosoeuer noteth it to bee the property of a good sonne first to visit his fathers house when hee commeth to towne and performe that duety and honour which is due vnto him And here wee see our Sauiour Christ when he commeth to Ierusalem first to visit his fathers house Templum Dei the
called Sanctum the holy place where there was the Altar of incense the Table and the Candelsticke and the other was Sanctum sanctorum the holy of holyest where was the Arke of the Testament and the two Cherubins into that part that was called Sanctum the Priests onely entred to offer incense and none other into the Sanctum sanctorum the high Priest entred only and that but once a yeare Sometimes the Temple is taken more largely and signifieth a certaine quadrangle compassed in with a wall before the Temple and it was called Atrium Sacerdotum the Priestes Court where there was an altar for burnt offerings and into this not onely the Priests did enter but the Leuites also who did helpe them to flea and wash the sacrifices now at the gate of this Court the common people stood and offered their sacrifices to the Priestes Into none of these places came our Sauiour not into the Sanctum sanctorum because he was not high Priest not into the Sanctum because he was no Priest not into the Priests Court because he was neither Priest nor Leuite But beside these there were two other places to pray in sub diuo abroad in the aire in one the men praid in the other the women praid and these Atria or Courts were called by the name of the Temple as in the Actes it is said that Peter and Iohn went into the Temple about the ninth hower to pray Act. 3. And this is the place which is noted heere by the name of the Temple Lyra super 21. Matt. and to be thus grossely abused by the meanes of the Priests Now our Sauiour to shew his zeale to his Fathers house and his authority togither with his power as also to informe vs that no temporall or base gaine ought to be exercised in Gods house but to bee reckoned foule and vnhonest whatsoeuer faire pretence it may carry with it finally to shew that nothing was fitte for that place but holynes and prayers and deuotion he cast out the buyers and sellers and the money-changers and the seates of them that sold doues out of the Temple Now out of this fourth circumstance among many things worthy the obseruation they that haue to doo with the reformation of the Church or Common-wealth may learn not to take away the vse of good things because they be abused but to remoue the abuse and restore the thing to his proper nature and first institution For our Sauiour finding these grosse abuses in the Temple doth not offer to pul downe the Temple or perswade the Magistrates to turne it to prophane vses or to build them goodly pallaces or courts of the ruines of it Erasm to conuert the vessels of gold and siluer to their owne pleasures as Baltasar did or to the maintenance of their lawfull warres or vnlawfull delights but he taketh away the abuses of it he driueth out the buyers and the sellers and the money-changers and that which was appointed for a house of prayer and seruice of God hee restoreth againe to the first institution For seeing all the estates of the world the estate of Princes the estate of Priestes and the estate of the Nobility yea and the estate of the people where they haue any estate à paruis initijs ad maiora proficiunt doe by degrees enlarge their authorities and of small beginnings grow into greatnes donec in vitium vsque luxurient and at last run ryot and abuse their authority when it is at the highest If in our reformations we should not follow this patterne of our Sauiour but remoue good thinges for the abuse of them many strange many dangerous and vnnaturall alterations would ensue both in the Church and Common-wealth And wee finde by experience that this argument Ab abusu ad non vsum From the abuse of good things to the abolishing of them as it hath bred heresies and schismes in the Church so also rebellions and treasons in the Commonwealth The Manichees altogether condemned Christianity because there were found many ill Christians to whome Saint Austen answered Contra Faustum lib. 5. cap. 11. Vestrum oculum maleuolus error in solam paleam nostrae segetis ducet nam triticum ibi citò inderetur si esse velletis Your malicious errour carrieth your eye to the chaffe onely of our corne you might as easily perceiue the wheat if you were so disposed The Donatists refused the Sacraments because the Priests were wicked which administred them to whom Saint Austen said Necesse est vt semper erretis quamdiu propter hominum vitia Dei sacramenta violatis Contra litt Petil. lib. 2. cap. 30. You can neuer possibly be free from errour so long as you violate the sacraments of God for the faults of men The Anabaptists would remooue Princes and Magistrates because many haue abused their authority and gouernment to whome we answere though Mali abutuntur rebus bonis Euill men abuse good ordinances yet if a kingdome were not a lawfull state and calling holy Dauid Iosias and the like would not haue bin Kings for Boni non vtuntur rebus malis those that are good meddle not with bad matters And wee finde that the rent in the kingdome of Israel was because 3. Reg. 12. Rehoboam abused his gouernement and the alteration of the state of the Romans vnder the Kings was because Quae honestè habere licebat Salust in Cat. per turpitudinem abuti properabant For the common people by reason of their ignorance inuincible ignorance beeing not able to discerne between the true vse of that which is good and the abuse of it nor between that fault that proceedeth ex natura facti Th. 1. ques 41. art 6. out of the nature of the fact it selfe because it is malum simpliciter simply euill and that which proceedeth ex abusu boni from the abuse of that which is good which is malum per accidens euill but by an accident will allow of a tyranny as Saint Austin noteth which is the woorst state of Gouernement De bono coniugals cap. 14. si regia clementia subditos tractet If hee handle the subiects with the clemency of a King and condemne a Monarchy the best kinde of gouernement Si rex crudelitate tyrannica saeuiat if being a King he shew the cruelty of a tyrant beeing not able to discerne betweene the iust vse of an vniust authoritie and the vniust vse of a iust authority They will with Lycurgus roote out all the Vines in a Countrey because men will be drunke and euen mad with wine whereas Plutarch saith they should rather digge welles and fountaines neere vnto them and as Plato counselleth Insanum Deum alio sobrio repressum castigare that is take away the abuse by mixing some quantity of water with it They will with Cotta Viues de Concord lib. 4. as Cicero reporteth condemne reason knowledge in men because oftentimes it is the cheefest