A SERMON Preached before the Queenes Maiestie at Hampton Courte the 19. of February laste paste By VVilliam Iames Doctour of Diuinitie ¶ Imprinted at London by Henry Bynneman Anno Domini 1578. Aprilis 24. A Sermon preached at Hampton Court Ezrae 4. BVT the aduersaries of Iudah and Beniamin hearde that the children of the captiuity builded the tēple vnto the lorde God of Israel 2 And they came to Zerubbabel and to the chiefe fathers said vnto them we wil builde with you for we seeke the Lorde your God as ye do and we haue sacrificed vnto him since the time of Esar Haddon king of Asshur which brought vs vp hither 3 Then Zerubbabel and Iesua and the rest of the chiefe fathers of Israel saide vnto them it is not for you but for vs to builde the house vnto our God for we our selues togither vvil builde to the Lorde God of Israel as king Cyrus the king of Persia hath commaunded vs. GOd that first created man to his owne image and placed him as Lorde of Paradise that after his fall recomforted him that the séede of the woman should bruse the Serpentes head that with most gratious promises blessed Abraham and his posteritie that ledde his people through the wildernesse by the hande of Moyses and Aaron that sente them faythfull Iudges and zealous Priests to execute iustice and maintayne truthe that after long contempt of his mercyfull call by many of his Prophets gaue them ouer to be schooled by the king of Babilon that suffered their temple to bee raced and themselues moste miserably to be entreated that God that at no tyme can forget his faithfull people but remembreth them when they are in trouble and rescueth them in the perillous tyme bycause he will not suffer Virgam peccatorum super sortem iustorum Psal 100 at once worketh thrée strange wonders Fyrst he inflameth King Cyrus with an earnest desire not only to dimisse the people helde in captiuitie but also to restore vnto them all suche vessells treasures as Nabuchadnezer hadde before taken out of the Temple Secondly he rayseth vp thrée notable guydes thrée excellent and rare men for the preseruation of hys people nowe after their returne from babylon Zorobabell Ezra and Nehemias Thyrdly he encourageth the people with all earnestnesse to trauaile in the worke of the house of God so that neyther the wearinesse of the captiuitie whiche they had endured nor the true seruice of God of a long season vnfrequented nor the pleasures whiche Babylon offered coulde once wythdrawe these weake and féebled persons The summe is the snare is broken Israell is deliuered Zorobabel Ezra Nehemias the people al apply their businesse desiring in hearte no one thyng so muche as to erect the Temple of the Lorde to aduāce the glory of their despised God But sée the aduersaries of Iudah Beniamin came not of any cōscience but craftily to supplāt these workmen It so falleth out that if God haue a Church the Diuel if he cānot hinder it yet wil looke to haue an oare in it if Moses worke wonders Pharaos soothesayers will vse an apishe imitation The Apostles Peter Paule Barnabas shal no sooner testifye the trueth of Iesus Christ than Simon and Elymas the sorcerers wil be at ynches to peruerte the ryght wayes of the Lorde If Paul preache at Athens or at Ephesus then shall he surely finde either Stoikes Epicures or Iewes or some secte of miscreants ready to misse-leade Gods people The enuious mā that when the seruants sléepe soweth tares to choake the wheat that plucketh the word of God out of the harts of the hearers ne crederent seruarentur that somtime like a roaryng Lion séeketh whō he may deuoure and at another time can turn himselfe into an Angel of light that so shook that consciences of Caine Iudas that they thought their sins greater than coulde be forgiuen that so cunningly bleared Saules eies with the counterfaite shape of Samuel and made Ananias and his wife to lye to the holye Ghoste That man of sinne as a Spirite sawe the intente of Israell and as an enimy by all possible meanes goeth about to hinder the building of the house of God The diuel and the superstitious Samaritans saw that so long as Kyng Cyrus fauoured the Iewes and the reedifying of the Temple that so lōg it was vnpossible openly to hurt thē or hinder it and therefore nowe after that frowning wyll not serue he vseth a far more cunning shifte he beginneth now to flatter and speake faire You haue a long time endured trouble your treasure is wasted your bodies weakned the work is heauy your strēgth is féeble the charge greate your substance small we Zorobabell and you the reste of the chiefe of Israel we wil ioyne with you in this worke distruste vs not for wee séeke the Lord your God as you do and we haue sacrificed vnto hym since the tyme of Esar Haddon whyche brought vs vppe hither Whome might not these sugred speaches haue deceyued we will builde we séeke the Lorde with you wee sacrifice to him as you do But that God that euen in that same houre instructeth his what to answere and that hathe lefte to hys seruantes iudgement to discerne the sprytes whether they be of God or no here in a trice teacheth Zorobabell Iosua and the rest of the Elders to answeare It is not for you and vs to builde togither I will not stande heere to discusse why thys Booke and the nexte of Nehemias are accompted Canonical neither why the other of Esdras are refused I purpose onelye at thys tyme briefly to reste on these two pointes the aduersaries comming and Zorobabel Ieshua and the rest of Israelles reiecting of thē Of these that I may so speake as maye redounde to gods glory I most humbly craue your Christian ayde in earneste prayer These Iewes nowe returned from seauentie yeares captiuitie and nowe in hand with reedifying the house of God and desirous euery man to abide by his tackling at the first are set vpō wyth these suttle Samaritanes Let vs build with you this they sayd intending nothyng more than indéede to pull downe They sawe thus much with Scribes Phacifies that as if new Christ were suffered to grow vp that then al the people wold go after hym and that if Paul myghte be allowed to preache at Ephesus that then Diana should haue a great downe fall so if the buylding of the tēple might go forwarde that then the Idols of Samaria would be but little set by There are in these superstitious Idolaters two things worth the consideration their consent agréement vniuersallye to hinder Zorobabel and the rest and that in these wordes let vs build c when they intended to supplāt The other is their lying Hipocrisie we seke as you we sacrifise as you and firste it is strange to sée the agréement of the godlesse Againste true Mycheas the whole rabble of false prophetes prophesied
vp to heauen he is there if wée go downe to Hel he is there if we take the wings of the winde he is there present for himselfe hath sayde beholde I am with you to the ende of the world The house of God hath sometimes bene in a ship on the Seas as with our sauiour sometimes in a poore house with his disciples sometymes in the market place at Athens in a parlor at Troas on the shoare with Paul and the faithfull Where two or thrée are gathered togyther in my name I am in the middest of them and where Christ is there may we be assured is Christs Church Tertul in exhorta ad castitatem Ecclesia est vbi duo aut tres sunt licet laici sunt the churche is where two or thrée be together although they be lay men But God to the intente he mighte haue a peculiar place for his people where they might vse prayer thankesgiuing offer sacrifice first raised Salomon to builde and these to redifye a house for his owne honour In the bookes of kings and Chronicles we reade that in the foure hundreth and foure scoure yeare after the children of Israell were come oute of Egipte dyd Salomon builde the house of the Lorde of thrée scoure cubites long in Ierusalem in mounte Moriah whiche had bene declared vnto Dauid his father in the place which Dauid prepared in the thresshing floore of Ornan the Iebusite It is wel worth consideration that neyther Salomon in his first nor these in their new buylding do eyther builde to any other than to the Lord or once herein thinke of buyldyng to themselues Salomon builded not to Abraham although he wer the father of the faithful nor to Isaac although in him the séede were called nor to Iacob although of hym came the twelue Trybes not to Moyses nor Elyas nor Aaron not to anye Prieste not to anye Iudge not to any Prophete but to the Lorde God of Israel onely But we haue forsaken SalomoÌ„ and folowed the Samaritans we haue not builded one teÌ„ple to that Lord but many temples to Idols As that Iewes in old time built vp high places in euery citie and erected altars in euery high hill euery nation made themselfe a God and put them in the highe places whiche the Samaritanes had made euen so did we where was there any then that buylded vnto the God of Israel They buylded Temples they erected Altars they carued Images they appoynted certaine feasts they washed themselues at their entrie into the churche they fell down before their Gods they kindled lights and burned Frankensence seuerall Gods had seuerall Priestes and was it not so in poperie Might not we coÌ„playne with Ieremie accordyng to the number of thy cities was thy Gods O Iâ—hudaâ— and accordyng to the number of the streates haste thou erected Altars of confusion to sacrifice to Baal And was not this true in poperie In euery great Town how many Temples and till of late not one dedicated to Christe Whereas the virgin Mary had euerye day hir Masse many Sainctes manye Masses then was Christe onelye on the Fryday that but in Cathedrall churches only remembred That which was true while he liued on earth that birdes of the aire haue nestes the foxes dens that may much more truly be spoken of such seruices as were done to hym here on earth Euery where hath Peter a churche Mary Paule Dunston Aldate Gyles George Scythe and Katherine but the sonne of Man hath not where to hyde his head Tertul. li. 1. contra Marcionem said truly Inuenio plane ignotis Dijs aras prostitutas sed attica idololatria est item incertis Dijs sed Romana superstitio est I find Altars erected to vnknowen Gods but it is the Idolarye of Athens and to vncertayne Gods but it is the superstition of Rome Austin feared not to saye that there were temples builded to them on earth whose soules laye buryed in Hell Wel might therfore that prophetical Spirite in Ieremy complaine and wel may we that the people haue channged the true God and sought for that that proâ—â—teth not that they haue forsaken the fountaine of the water of life and haue digged themselues cesterues that can hold no water nay as Dauid saith their Idolles are multiplyed after the whiche they make so great haste Superstition hathe no hoe nothing too hotte nothing too heauy The Iewes offred their owne children to Moloch The priests of Baal did cut and launce themselues The people to make a Calfe and an Ephad offered all their richest iewells Againe these Iews build not to themselues they build not houses call them after their own names They dydde not with the Agregentines build as though they woulde liue for euer and liue as though they woulde dye for euer but they builded as men by theyr liues destrous to set vp the glory of the true God They to builde Gods house spared nothing but we to builde our owne nestes plucke from Gods house If Zorobabel Iosue the rest of the chiefe fathers were not more carefull thaÌ„ some of the feet be both learning with out which we are like brute beasts and religion without which we nothing differ from Infidels would spéedily perish I feare me there are that wish as he did of the Romains that they had al but one heade that he might cut off al at once so that wish that many Churches were but one church that it might at once be ouerturned But will you liue alone vpon the earth what profiteth it a man to win the whole worlde if hee loose hys own soule Quid prosunt ista cùm caro datur vermibus anima daemonibus The last thing is the warrant as King Cyrus king of Persia hath commauÌ„ded vs. The warrant wherby the work weÌ„t forward was not of Zorobabel althogh he wer their guide homward nor of Esdras although he were a learned scribe and was to reforme both their religion and maners nor of Nehemias although he was to finish the walls and to deliuer them from oppression It was not at the commaundement of any Patriarche of any Prophet not by the direction of any Prieste but of King Cyrus King of Persia God by whome Kyngs do raigne and that hath not gyuen theÌ„ the sword for nought that hathe promised to raise them vp as nursing fathers and nursing mothers to hys churche doth herâ— stir vp Cyrus to further his own cause to set forwarde she buylding of his house It is worthe the marking God doth not this worke by anye that were as it may séeme of hys owne couenante hee doth not fetch either Saul from kéeping of Asses or Dauid froÌ„ kéeping Shéepe or Elizeus from the plowe or Amos froÌ„ the hearde But as the deliueraunce is altogither miraculous so is the meanes ordinary by a Kyng by K. Cyrus king of Persia It is wonderful to sée that Gods people in reedifying the holy TeÌ„ple did so willingly obey a K. in al
purse Purgatory we preach that the bloud of Iesus Christe doth clense vs from all sinne For your many mediatours your poore helps we teach that there is but one mediatour betwene God and men Iesus Christe bothe God Man For your Trentals of Masses your Bulles of lead your Lambes of waxe we preache the Lion of the tribe of Iehudah that Christ by one oblation of himself once for al hath perfitted them that be sanctified that the Lambe of god taketh away the sinnes of the world For your wodden Gods your lay-mens bookes we deliuer the worde of God which is a Lanterne to the féete and alight vnto the steppes To coÌ„clude this part if we haue not departed froÌ„ you vntil you haue departed froÌ„ God if we haue not sucked this of our own fingers but draweÌ„ it out of your fouÌ„taines if for traditions of men we preache the truth of the Gospell if for very triâ—â—es and trashe wée declare the infallible worde of life then aryse O ye Samaritanes séeke the Lorde while he may be founde walke whyle there is light nowe is the axe layde to the roote of the trée awake oh ye Samaritanes it is no shame to amende your maners tast and sée how swéete and pleasaunte the Lord is But if neyther your owne consciences nor the testimonies of your owne doctours nor the difference of the Doctrines which we deliuer nor any oure requestes may once moue you behold we answere It is not for you and vs to build togither The second thing in this answere is but we our selues togither wil buylde Zorobabel Iosue and the rest of the elders as they woulde admit none but themselues so woulde they suffer none to buylde by hymselfe but altogither The Phylosophers holde diuerse faÌ„tasies of their summum bonum of the end but these Isralites had al but one end one temple of the Lorde and herein they 〈◊〉 all togither Behold it is good pleasant sâ—â—th 〈◊〉 Prophete brethren to dwell togyther in â—â—â—tie Austen saith Ita duleâ—â— est sonus vt qui Psalterum nisciunt ipsum tamen â—â—â—sum cantent the sounde is â—o â—wéete that they whiche neuer knew the Psalter yet sing that Psalme There is nothing more acceptable to God thaÌ„ vnitie nothing more hateful thaÌ„ dissentioÌ„ God is loue Christe is the prince of peace his testanient is a couenant and league of peace his Angels are messengers of peace his Apostles were preachers of peace their whole life was an example of peace Origen sayde that no sense without the scriptures howe excelleÌ„t soeuer it séemed to be was more to be receiued than that golde to be accounted holy whiche was without the teÌ„ple but I say that there is no worke nor labour of any maÌ„ any whitte to be estéemed vnlesse he obserue the vnitie of the spirite in the bonde of peace I néede not stand to declare the incoÌ„ueniences of dissention the two eyes of Gréece Lacedemon Athens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thâ—â— holde not togither made Gréece a pray to hir enimies The dissention of Hanno and Hanniball raced Carthage The vnbrotherlike warres betwéen Etheocles and his brother Poleniâ—es decayed that flourishing state of Thebes While Aristobulus and Hyrcanus doe striue they suffer their cittie to bée spoyled and their temple to bée raced Scipio Africanus hauing ouercome yâ— Numantines asked Tyrestas how it hapned that NumaÌ„tia before so inuincible was at the laste with great ease ouercome He answered bragge not Scripio our coÌ„corde before made vs victors but our discorde hath bred our distruction Olde Micipsa on his death bedde dyd sing his last cygnaea caÌ„tio By coÌ„cord smal things increase by discorde the greatest come to nothing It is much to builde togither for as virtus vnita fortior so many hands make light worke Surely the dissentioÌ„ about the building of Gods house did neuer good for 〈◊〉 how shal the day laborers do wheÌ„ the maister workermâ—n do dissent Clemens Alexanâ—iâ—â—trom sayth the heathens were wont this to obicâ— you Christians doe dissent among your selues and 〈◊〉 so many sectes which although they do euery one chalenge the title of Christianity yet euery one doth hate and condemne Another Chrisostome complayned that in his tyme the Iews were wont thus to say I woulde ben Christian but I knowe not whiche parte to cleaue vnto surely for this cause sayth he we are become rediculous to the Iewes and the Gentiles whyle the Church is rente into a thousand partes The dissention betwéene Peter and Paul the departure of Paule and Barnabas the holding of some of Paul of some of Apollo of some of Cephas no doubt vexed the godly in the first primatiue Church The quarrels betwéene Theophilus and Epiphanius Austen Ierome Ierome and Ruffinus opened manye gappes to wicked Heretickes The question betwéene Luther and Zwinglius aboute the supper of the Lorde no doubt hardened at this day hardneth many in the error of popery The contention among vs aboute round square aboute white blacke about sitting standing walking knéeling at that coÌ„munion maketh both parts of lesse credite and encourageth none but sworne aduersaries to both We al agrée of the holsomenesse of the meate why do we fall out for the dishe it skilleth not whether it be Pewter Tinne Siluer Golde or a tréen dishe And as long as we accompt the medicine to be soueraigne why do we take exception to the bore of wood or stone It is the Deuils policie to deuide vs that he at our breach may the more easily enter in Stragling Souldiers are soone swalowed vp The mouse and the frogge may striue so long vntill the Kite deuoure both warriers Sylurus sonnes shal be a terrour to all their enimies so long as they abide in the fagotte bonde of true friendship if once they separate themselues they shal be an easie pray to their aduersaries Aristotle sayde truely that in a ciuill dissention one enimie armed within the Citie is more able to hurte than many without but we may say it muche more truly of the church Let vs my brethren séeke those things Quaesunt ad pacem Hierusalem as the Prophet fayth Let vs pray that as in the actes of them that beléeued there was but one harte one soule so that we may buylde al togither that as all things may be done to edifying so all things may be done deceÌ„tly in order The thirde thing in this their answere is what they wil build a house to the Lorde God of Israell These Israelites do in reedifying folow Salomon in his first buylding for as he firste buylded the temple before he medled with hys owne house so these at the first desire to erect a house to buylde a temple to the Lorde their God But what doth the God of Israell delite to dwell in temples made with handes Albeit that euery place is méete for Christians to make prayers in for as Austen sayeth there is no place where God is not if we goe