riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing Yea the 24. Elders which are the Christian Presbytery expressing ch 4. 11. the very argument and sum of that Hymnologie which the Primitive Church used at the offering of Bread and Wine for the Eucharist worship God saying Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created TAKING therefore for granted that which the Practice of the Church of God in all ages yea I think I may say the Consent of mankind from the beginning of the world beareth witness to that among those duties of the Sanctification of God's Name wherewith his Divine Majesty is immediately and personally glorified of which I have before spoken this is one and a principal one to agnize and confess his peerless Soveraignty and dominion over the creature by yielding him some part thereof toward his worship and service of which we renounce the propriety our selves and that accordingly there are both Things and Persons now in the Gospel as well as were before the Law was given in this manner lawfully and acceptably set apart and separated by the devotion of men unto the Divine Majesty and consequently relatively Holy which is nothing else but to be God's by a peculiar right I say that these are likewise to be done to according to their degree of sanctity in honour of him whose they are not to be worshipped with divine worship or the worship which we give unto God communicated to them far be it from us to defer to any creature the Honour due unto the Divine Majesty either together with him or without him but yet habenda cum discrimine to be regarded with a worthy and discriminative usance that is used with a select and differing respect from other things as namely if Places not as other places if Times not as other times if Things by way of distinction so called not as other things if Persons set apart unto the service and worship of God neither to be used by others nor they to carry themselves in their fashion of life as other persons for that which in other things sacred is their use in persons sacred is their conversation demeanour or carriage of themselves But all to be sanctified with a select appropriate or uncommon usage that as they are God's by peculiar relation and have his Name called upon them so to be separate as far as they are capable from common use and imployed as instruments and circumstances of his worship and service which is the highest and most singular honour that any creature is capable of Nay as I have said before even this is to the honour of God That as himself is that singular incommunicable and absolutely Holy One and his service and worship therefore incommunicable so should that also which hath his Name thereon or is coasecrated to his service be in some proportion incommunicably used and not promiscuously and commonly as other things are They are the words of Maimonides the Iew but such as will not misbecome a Christian to make use of concerning that Law Levit. 5. 15. If a soul commit a trespass and sin through ignorance in the holy things of the Lord then he shall bring unto the Lord for his â—respass a Ram c. Behold saith he how great weight there is in the Law touching sacrilegious transgression And what though they be wood and stone and dust and ashes when the Name of the Lord of all the world is called upon things they are sanctified that is made holy And whoso useth them to common use he transgresseth therein and though he do it through ignorance he must needs bring his atonement Yea it is a thing worthy to be taken special notice of that that so presumptuous and most dreadfully vindicated sin of Korah Dathan Abiram and their company in offering Incense unto the Lord being not called thereunto did not discharge their Censers of this discriminative respect due unto things Sacred For thus the Lord said unto Moses after that fire from heaven had consumed them for their impiety Speak unto Eleazar the Son of Aaron the Priest that he take up the Censers out of the burning and scatter thou the fire yonder for they are hallowed The Censers of these Sinners against their own souls let them make them broad plates for a covering of the Altar for they offered them before the Lord therefore they are hallowed or holy Now that by this discriminative usance or sanctification of Things sacred the Name of God is honoured and sanctified according to the tenor of our petition is apparent not only from Reason which tells us that the honour and respect had unto ought that belongs unto another because it is his redounds unto the owner and Master but from Scripture which tells us that by the contrary use of them his Name is prophaned Hear himself Lev. 22. 2. Speak unto Aaron saith he and his sons that they separate themselves from the Holy things of the children of Israel and that they prophane not my Holy Name in the things which they hallow unto me Also in the Chapter next before v. 6. the Priest that should not discriminate himself according to those singular observations or differing rules there prescribed him is said to prophane the Name of his God Again Ezek. 22. 26. when the Priests prophaned God's holy things by putting no difference between the Holy and Prophane I saith the Lord am prophaned amongst them Likewise chap. 43. 7. Together with other abominations there mentioned the Lord saith that his Holy Name had been polluted or prophaned by the carkasses of their Kings that is of Manasseh and Amon buried in the King's Garden hard by the walls of the Temple for so by the Hebrews and others that place is understood See 2 Kings 21. 18 26. By the pollution of the Temple the Lord esteemed his own Name prophaned Take in also if you will that of Malachi ch 1. where the Lord saies of those who despised and dishonoured his Table or Altar by offering thereon for sacrifice the lame blind and sick which the Law had made unclean and polluted that they had prophaned his Holy Name But if the Name of God be prophaned by the disesteem and misusage of the things it is called upon then surely it is sanctified when the same are worthily and discriminatively used that is as becometh the relation they have to him I HAVE already specified the several Kinds of Sacred things which are thus to be sanctified yet lest something contained under some of them might not be taken notice of by so general an intimation it will not be amiss a little more fully and particularly to explicate them than I have yet done Remember therefore that I ranged all Sacred things under four heads First of Persons Sacred such as were the Priests and Levites in the Old Testament and now in the
blemish in the Consecration makes the act it self void It appears in the story of Korah Dathan and Abiram in that oblation of Incense made by the two hundred and fifty Princes of the Congregation whose service though it were so displeasing unto the Lord that he sent fire from heaven to consume them yet when all was done he gave this commandment to Moses Speak saith he unto Eleazer the son of Aaron the Priest that he take up the censers out of the burning and scatter thou the fire yonder for they are hallowed The censers of those sinners against their souls let them make of them broad plates for a covering of the Altar for they offered them before the Lord therefore they are hallowed Numb 16. 37 38. Mark here Though they were offered by sinful men and in a sinful manner and were not to be used any more for Censers yet must they be applied to some other holy use because they were become sacred by having been offered unto the Lord. So Rabbi Solomon Iarchi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vnlawful for common use because they had made them vessels of Ministery My last Observation is raised from the Iudgment which befel Ananias That it must needs be a hainous sin which God so severely punished namely with death For there is no Example to be found again in the whole New Testament of so severe a Punishment inflicted by the mouth of the Apostles for any sin whatsoever But this was the first Consecration of goods that ever was made unto Christ our Lord after he was invested to sit at the right hand of God and this transgression of Ananias and Sapphira the first Sacriledge that ever was committed against him Wherefore it was requisite that by the severity of the punishment thereof he should now manifest unto men what account he made of and how hainous he esteemed that Sin that it might be for an Example to the world's end unto all that should afterward believe in his name to beware thereof So saith S. Hierome Ananias Sapphira quia post votum obtulerunt quasi sua non ejus cui semel ea voverant praesentem meruere vindictam non crudelitate Sententiae sed correctionis exemplo Ananias and Sapphira most worthily deserved to be so severely punished viz. with death because that after their vow they presented the price of their estate as if it had been their own and not God's to whom they had given it and withal kept back and reserved to themselves part of that which was no more theirs but anothers viz. God's Nor was this an over-severe and cruel sentence but an useful exemplary Severity that others might amend and beware of offending in the like kind For the First in every kind is the Measure of that which follows and though Sacriledge be not since punished by God as often as it is committed by such a visible death yet was it his purpose that by this First punishment we should take notice how great that Sin was and how displeasing in his sight which was a punishment by the greatest visible judgment that could be The like severe Example to this and for the like end was that upon him who at first proâ—aned the Sabbath-day in the Wilderness by gathering sticks Numb 15. 32 c. who by the sentence of God himself was put to death and stoned by the whole Congregation that the Iews hereby might know that howsoever the like were not ordinarily afterward to be inflicted for the like sin yet the gravity thereof in the eyes of God was still the same which that First severity intimated Furthermore it is worthy to be noted that we find three Examples of such a kind of coactive jurisdiction if I may so term it exercised either by our Saviour when he was here on earth or by his Apostles and all three for the profanation of that which was sacred The first two by our Saviour himself against those that profaned his Temple by buying and selling therein as a common place For which at the first Passeover after his beginning to preach the Gospel he made him a whip and whipped such profaners out of it saying Make not my Father's house a house of Merchandise Iohn 2. 16. Another time which was at his last Passeover He overthrew the Tables of the Money-changers and the seats of them that sold Doves and would not suffer any to carry a Vessel through the Temple telling them that his house was made for an house of prayer but they had made it a den of Thieves Matt. 21. 12. Mark 11. 15. Luke 19. 45. The third Example is this which the Apostle Peter exercised upon Ananias and Sapphira for Sacriledge Whereby it should appear that how small account soever we are now-a-days wont to make of these sins yet in God's esteem they are other manner of ones than we take them for Another argument of the hainousness of the sin of Sacriledge is That there was no Sacrifice appointed in the Law to make atonement for the same if it were committed willingly and wittingly but only if it were ignorantly done For so we have it Levit. 5. 15 16. If a soul commit a trespass and sin through ignorance in the holy things of the Lord he shall bring for his trespass unto the Lord a Ram without blemish out of the flock And he shall make amends for the harm that he hath done in the holy thing and add the fifth part thereunto And the Priest shall make an atonement for him and it shall be forgiven him Thus if it were done ignorantly but if wittingly and presumptuously there was no atonement appointed for it though for other sins there be even to Perjury it self For as it is in Mal. 3. 8. Will a man rob his God Another proof and testimony of the hainousness of this Sin is that so ancient a custom in Dedications to lade it with a Curse Which to be no late custom as some may suppose taken up among Christians but used both by Iew and Gentile before Christ was born may appear by that Decree of King Darius for the building of the Temple of Ierusalem which concludes with this Execration The God that hath caused his Name to dwell there destroy all Kings and people that shall put to their hand to destroy this House of God which is at Ierusalem I Darius have made a Decree let it be done with speed Ezra 6. 12. From this custom it came that Anathema signifies both a Donary given unto a Temple and an accursed thing or that which hath a curse with it So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Hebrew a thing cursed and destined to destruction and also a kind of offering or consecration which had a curse laid upon it namely a curse to him that should meddle with it Which kind of Consecration had this peculiar that even the very individual might never be altered changed or redeemed upon any terms Leviâ— 27. 28. whereas other offerings
which is given for the relief of the poor the Orphan and the Widow which is called Alms. For not only our Tithes but our Alms are an Offering unto Almighty God So Prov. 15. 17. He that hath pity on the poor lendeth to the Lord and Chap. 14. 31. He that hath mercy on the poor honoureth his Maker And our Saviour will tell us at the day of Iudgment that what was done unto them was done unto him This then is the Reason why we must give Alms because they are the Tribute of our Thanksgiving whereby we acknowledge we are God's Tenants and hold all we have of him that is of the Mannor of Heaven without which duty and service we have not the lawful use of what we possess Whence our Saviour tells the Pharisees who stood so much upon the washing of the Cup and Platter left their meat and drink should be unclean Give alms saith he of such things as you have and behold all things are clean unto you Luke 11. 41. Now that this Acknowledgment of God's Dominion was the End of the Offerings of the Law both those wherewith the Priests and Levites were maintained and those wherewith the poor the Orphan and the Widow were relieved appears by the solemn profession those who pay'd them were to make Deut. 26. where he that brought a basket of first-fruits to the house of God was to say I profess this day unto the Lord that I am come unto the Country which the Lord sware unto our Fathers for to give us And when the Priest had taken the basket he was to say thus verse 5 c. A Syrian ready to perish was my Father and he went down into Egypt and sojourned there with a few and became there a Nation great mighty and populous And the Egyptians evil intreated us c. And the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand and out-stretched arm c. And brought us into this place and hath given us this land even a land that floweth with milk and honey And now behold I have brought the first-fruits of the land which thou O Lord hast given me And thou shalt set it saith the Text before the Lord thy God and worship before the Lord thy God This was to be done every year But for Tithes the profession was made every third year because then the course of all manner of Tithing came about For two years they pay'd the Levite's Tithe and the Festival Tithe the third year they pay'd the Levite's Tithe and the poor man's Tithe So that year the course of Tithing being finished the party was to make a solemn profession When thou hast made an end saith the Lord of Tithing all the Tithes of thine increase the third year which is the year of Tithing that is when the Tithing course finisheth and hast given it to the Levite the Stranger the Fatherless and the Widow that they may eat within thy Gates and be filled Then thou shalt say before the Lord thy God I have brought away the hallowed thing out of mine house and also have given it to the Levite and to the Stranger to the Fatherless and to the Widow according to all the Commandments which thou hast commanded me Look down from thy holy habitation from heaven and bless thy people Israel and the land which thou hast given us as thou swarest to our Fathers a land that floweth with milk and honey What we have seen in these two sorts is to be supposed to be the End of all other Offerings for pious uses which were not Sacrifices namely To acknowledge God to be the Lord and Giver of all As we see in that royal Offering which David with the Princes and Chieâ—tains of Israel made for the building of the Temple 1 Chron. 29. 11 c. where David acknowledgeth thus Thine O Lord is the Kingdom and thou art exalted as Head over all Both riches and honour come of thee and thou reignest over all and in thine hand is power and might and in thine hand it is to make great and to give strength unto all Now therefore our God we thank thee and praise thy glorious Name For all things come of thee and of thine own have we given thee For this Reason there was never time since God first gave the Earth to the sons of men wherein this Acknowledgment was not made by setting apart something of that he had given them to that purpose In the state of Paradise among all the Trees in the garden which God gave man freely to enjoy one Tree was Noli me tangere and reserved to God as holy in token that he was Lord of the garden So that the First sin of Mankind for the species of the fact was Sacriledge in prosaning that which was holy For which he was cast out of Paradise and the Earth cursed for his sake â—ecause he had violated the sign of his Fealty unto the great Landlord of the whole Earth Might I not say that many a man unto this day is cast out of his Paradise and the labours of his hands cursed for the same sin But to go on After man's ejection out of Paradise the first service that ever we read was erformed unto God was of this kind Abel bringing the best of his flock and Cain of the fruit of his ground for an Offering or Present unto the Lord. The first spoils that ever we read gotten from an Enemy in war paid Tithes to Melchisedâ—k the Priest of the most High God as an Acknowledgment that he had given Abraham the Victory Melâ—hisedck blessing God in his name to be the possessor of heaven and earth and to have delivered his enemies into his hand To which Abraham said Amen by paying him Tithes of all Iacob promiseth God that if he would give him any thing for at that time he had nothing he would give him the Tenth of what he should give him which is as much to say as he would acknowledge and profess him to be the Giver after the accustomed manner For the Time of the Law I may skip over that it is well enough known no man will deny it But let us come to the Time of the Gospel which though it hath freed us from the bondage of Typical Elements yet hath it not freed us from the profession of our Pealty unto God as Lord of the whole Earth 'T were strange methinks to affirm it I am sure the ancient Church next the Apostles thought otherwise I will quote for a witness Irenaeus who tells us that our Saviour when he took part of the Viands of his last Supper and giving thanks with them consecrated them into a Sacrament of his body and bloud set his Church an example of dedicating part of the creature in Dominicos usus Dominus saith he dans discipulis suis consilium Primitias Deo offerre ex suis creaturis non quasi indigenti
here described to be one upon whom God bestowed a special favour or grace a special 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the grace of the holy Ministery for so S. Paul calls this power of Order a grace or favour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Eph. 3. 8. Vnto me who am less than the least of all Saints is this grace given to preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. And of Timothy the same Apostle speaketh Neglect not that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or grace in thee which was given by prophecy with the imposition of hands With this grace was Levi graced with this favour was he highly favoured and well might be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God's highly favoured one And thus the issue will be all one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this sense will fall out to be God's holy one in the last sense For to be specially favoured of God is to have a special relation to God-ward to be God's more especially and this is to be holy with a Relative holiness Now which soever of these we take to be here meant we see that that is in special given to Levi which otherwise was common to all the other Tribes If you take it in the first sense for Holiness in life as it were to put Levi in mind how it behoved him above all to be holy were not all the Tribes as holy as Levi and yet Levi alone is called God's holy one If you take it in the second sense for a Relative holiness were not all the Tribes of Israel thus holy unto God were not all his own people his peculiar people and a chosen Nation and yet Levi alone is called God's holy one If you take it in the last sense for God's favoured one were not all Israel a Nation favoured of God above all Nations and yet Levi alone is especially called God's favoured one 1. We therefore whom God hath set apart to minister about holy things we who are holy unto the Lord and God's own in a peculiar manner we who have a special relation unto God we who have received a special favour from God We must remember we owe a special thankfulness unto him We who are God's peculiars must demean our selves peculiarly both toward God and man We are unto God as other men are not and therefore may not always do as other man do We cannot reason from others to our selves no not in things of themselves lawful Why should not we do as every man may do For all that is lawful for others will not be seemly for us for we are the houshold-servants of the most High we are special men of whom God requires a special demeanour in life and actions This was one cause why God enjoyned the Iews so many peculiar Rites and special Observations differing from the fashions of other people because they were his peculiar people an holy Nation because they were toward him as no other was though all the world were His and therefore he would have their manners differ from the fashion of all other Nations as a badge and acknowledgment of that special relation they had to him above others Levit. 20. 24 25 26. I saith God am the Lord your God which have separated you from other people Ye shall therefore put difference between clean beasts and unclean unclean fowls and clean c. And ye shall be holy unto me For I the Lord am holy and have severed you from other people that you should be mine This was also a cause why God restrained the Priests of the Law from that which was lawful for the rest of the people They might drink no Wine they might not mourn for their kin they might not marry a divorced woman the reason of all this is given because they were holy unto the Lord that is with a Relative holiness as being God's men in a special manner and therefore he required they should specially demean themselves in their lives These Observations indeed were Ceremonial but there is something Moral in them And therefore in the New Testament we hear of some special things required in a Minister as that he should have a good report of those who were without this was not required in every one who was to be a Christian. Again S. Paul requires in a Bishop that he should be the husband of one wife this was not in those times required of every one who was to be a Christian. I shall not need to tell you what special demeanor the ancient Church bound her Clergy unto But it came to pass at last this Rule was over-practised by them for hence it was that a Bishop might not marry at all that Priests and Deacons might not marry being once in Orders and at last marriage was quite forbidden them all Thus our Fathers erred on the right hand but we go aside on the left They restrained their Clergy from that which was lawful for and beseemed all men we think almost that lawful for us which is lawful for no man at least we think that which any man may do we may do also But there is a golden Mean between these Extreams happy is he that finds it for he alone shall demean himself like himself like a Levite like God's holy one 2. From this special title given to Levi we may note how causlesly some are offended to hear those who minister about holy Things distinguished from others by names of holiness and peculiarity to hear them called Clerus and Clerici The Clergy as it were the Heritage of God for so saith S. Ierome Clerus dicimur quia sors Dei sumus We are called Clerus or the Clergy because we are the lot and portion of God But say they are not the People also God's Heritage Doth not S. Peter call them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when he forbids Presbyters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to domineer over God's heritage I confess he doth But those who reason after this manner come too near the language of Dathan and Abiram Numb 16. 3. Moses and Aaron you take too much upon you Is not all the Congregation holy every one of them and is not the Lord among them why then lift ye your selves above the Congregation of the Lord If this reasoning had been good wherein had these Rebels offended It could not be denied them that all the People were an holy People for they might have alledged the testimony of God himself avouching them to be his peculiar People and an holy People unto the Lord their God All the earth saith he Exod. 19. 5. is mine but you shall be my 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my peculiar people a Kingdom of Priests and an holy Nation But it might be answered them Though all the people were God's peculiar people and therefore his holy ones yet Levi was his peculiar Tribe of his peculiar people and therefore comparatively his
only holy one All the Land of Canaan was the Lord's The Land is mine saith he and therefore it could not be alienate beyond the year of Iubilee and yet for all this there were some parts of the Land specially called Holy unto the Lord. All the increase of corn all the increase of wine all the fruit of the field was the Lord's and yet the Offerings alone were called Holy unto the Lord. God himself calls them his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his inheritance and therefore gave them unto that Tribe alone which alone he had made his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Tribe of his inheritance So the offered Tribe lived of God's offerings the holy Tribe on the holy things Again why may we not call our Clergy God's inheritance when God himself calls the Levites his Levites Thou shalt saith he Num. 8. 14. separate the Levites from among the children of Israel and the Levite shall be mine that is my 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my Clergy Why may not we call the Ministers of Christ his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or inheritance when he himself calls them the gift his Father gave him out of the world for so he saith Ioh. 17. 6. I have declared thy name unto the men thou gavest me out of the world thine they were and thou gavest them me and again ver 11. Holy Father keep them in thy name even them whom thou hast given me If you say he speaks here of all his Elect the words following v. 12. prove the contrary for those saith he whom thou hast given me I have kept and none of them is lost but the child of perdition Here he plainly affirms he lost one of those his Father gave him wherefore he speaks not of his Elect ones for those no man can take out of his hands Again ver 18. As thou didst send me into the world saith he so I sent them into the world but I hope all the Elect are not sent as Christ was sent by his Father I conclude therefore So long as God in the Law says specially of the Levites They are mine So long as Christ in the Gospel of his Apostles They are mine O Father which thou hast given me out of the world it is neither arrogancy nor injury to stile those who minister about holy things by the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the inheritance of the Lord. WHAT LEVI was and what is meant by this Title God 's Holy one we have now shewed sufficiently It remains we should come unto the words containing the Blessing it self which is called Vrim and Thummim the words themselves signifie Light and Perfection Illumination and Integrity good endowments certainly whosoever shall enjoy them But because they are not only Appellative words but also Proper names of certain things we must enquire further what is meant by them and that in a twofold consideration First specially and properly as they are names of certain things belonging in special unto the High Priest Then generally as they are applied by Moses unto the whole Tribe of Levi. The first again shall be twofold What they were in the High Priest personally or what they signified in him typically himself being also a Type For the first What is meant by these things as they belong unto the High Priest personally is a matter full of controversie and therefore that we may the better proceed we will first see the Generals wherein all or the most agree and after come unto the particulars wherein they disagree The first wherein all agree is that this Vrim and Thummim was something put in the Breast-plate which was fastned to the Ephod over against the Heart of the High Priest And thus much the Scripture witnesseth Exod. 28. 30. where God saith to Moses And thou shalt put in the Breast-plate of Iudgment the Vrim and the Thummim and they shall be on Aaron's heart when he goeth in before the Lord. And for this cause as most think was the Breast-plate made double that the Vrim and Thummim might be enveloped therein The second thing wherein all agree is That this Vrim and Thummim was a kind of Oracle whereby God gave answer to those that enquired of him and from hence the Septuagint call the whole Breast-plate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which some turn Rationale but might more truly be turned Orationale for an Oracle is as it were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the voice of God though this Voice or Revelation were of divers kinds for at sundry times and in divers manners saith S. Paul God spake in old time to our Fathers The Iews therefore make four kinds of Divine Revelation First 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Prophecy which was by Dreams and Visions The second 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Holy Ghost as was in Iob David and others The third Urim and Thummim which was the Oracle The fourth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Voice from heaven which was usual in the second Temple after the Oracle had ceased as Matt. 3. 17. at Christ's Baptism there came a Voice from heaven saying This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased and Ioh. 12. 28. when Christ said Father glorifie thy name There came a Voice from heaâ—â—â— like thunder saying I have both glorified it and will glorifie it again But to return again to our purpose That Urim and Thummim was an Oracle of God besides the consent of Iews and others it is plain by Scripture Num. 27. when God had commanded Moses to put his hands upon Ioshua and to set him over the congregation in his stead he addes Vers. 21. And he that is Ioshua shall stand before Eleazar the Priest who shall ask counsel for him by the judgment of Urim before the Lord. So 1 Sam. 23. when David was to ask counsel of the Lord he called for the Ephod wherein the Oracle was and whereas before he had once or twice asked counsel of the Lord concerning Keilah to prevent the objection how the Lord answered it follows in the next by way of a Prolepsis That Abiathar then Priest when he fled to David to Keilah brought the Ephod with him vers 6. Lastly in the second of Ezra when certain of the Priests which returned from Captivity could not find their names written in the Genealogies it is said vers 63. that the Tirshatha commanded they should not eat of the most holy things till there rose up a Priest with Urim and Thummim that is till God should by Oracle reveal whether they were Priests or no whereby it also appears that this Oracle had then ceased And for more light to that we have in hand it will not be amiss to observe that Teraphim among the Idolaters was answerable to the Urim and Thummim of the holy Patriarchs Both were ancient For Rachel is said to have stollen away her Father 's Teraphim and Urim and Thummim seems to have been used among the Patriarchs
as we should For as corporal food doth rather hurt than nourish a body abounding with evil humors So the Soul being fraught with vices this heavenly food rather killeth than comforts it As Adam in the state of his Integrity might freely take and taste of all the Trees in the Garden one only excepted but after his transgression he was justly restrained So doth the Lord admit us unto his Table if we come worthily otherwise we are no welcome guests unto him Therefore as it was said to Moses when he came near the presence of God Pluck off thy shooes for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground So let all of us put off the shooes of our corruptions and then we may approach with comfort to the holy Table of the Lord. DISCOURSE XLVII DEUTERONOMY 16. 16 17. Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall chuse in the Feast of Vnleavened bread and in the Feast of Weeks and in the Feast of Tabernacles and they shall not appear before the Lord empty Every man shall give as he is able according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee THESE words are a commandment for the observation of the great and chiefest Festival times of the Law not only here mentioned but elsewhere injoyned in the Books of the Law as I think in three several places Exod. 23. 14. and again 34. 23. and also Levit. 23. The words I read consist of two parts First The Observation it self 2. A special duty required thereat The Observation it self comprehends four things 1. The Work or Action commanded which is To appear before the Lord 2. The Persons who every Male all thy Males 3. The Place where in a select place in the place which the Lord shall chuse 4. The Time when Three times in the year In the Feast of Vnleavened bread in the Feast of Weeks and in the Feast of Tabernacles The second part A special duty required at this solemn service and that is a duty of real thanksgiving viz. a holy present or oblation to be given unto God and that expressed First in the kind They shall not appear before the Lord empty Secondly in the measure Every one shall give as he is able c. Of these I am to speak in order and first of the first The Action enjoyned To appear before the Lord. To appear before the Lord is in an Holy Assembly to perform a Religious service unto him For in every such Assembly and Service he is present after a special and peculiar manner according to that of our Saviour in the Gospel Where two or three are gathered in my Name there am I in the midst of them And as when one man speaks unto another or hears another speaking unto him either is said to be in others presence So he that comes to speak unto God in Confession Prayer and Thanksgiving and hath God likewise speaking unto him either in the publishing of the Law in the promises of his Gospel in the receiving of his Sacraments and ministerial benediction is truly said to appear or come into the presence of the Lord. To appear therefore in God's presence is to be assembled in his publick Worship where there is as it were a mutual entercourse between him and us and in this it is differing from private Devotion where the one part only is acted and not the other Every day is a day of private Devotion yea every hour if occasion serveth but a Holyday's work is the publick service of God in a Holy Convocation Seeing therefore as often as we come together for the Worship of God in the Holy Assembly of the Church we appear in the presence of the Majesty of God himself it may admonish us of the reverence we are to use in such Assemblies If when we come into the presence of a Prince we think an awful fear and a more than ordinary reverence doth best beseem us in whatsoever we speak or do much more is this required of us when we approach the presence of the King of Kings and Lord of Hosts No gesture we use no word we speak no action we do but should be framed to express the awe and regard we owe unto so great and high a presence If Order be any where required it is here If idle and vain words be in a far less presence taken as contemptuous in this they cannot be less than merely blasphemous If any unseemly or unsutable gesture if any neglectful or regardless demeanour be elsewhere culpable here it is abominable when we are in his presence who is the God of Order and Beauty and gives us an express command to perform all points of his Service 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to order and with comeliness This makes him say to Moses when he appeared in the Bush Pluck off thy shooes from off thy feet for the place whereon thou standest is Holy ground Whence Solomon borrows his speech Eccles. 5. 1. Keep thy foot or look unto thy feet when thou enterest into the House of God This being as much as if he had â—aid Behave thy self in God's presence reverently Which in the words following he enlarges saying Be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of Fools v. 2. Be not rash with thy mouth and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God for God is in Heaven and thou upon Earth c. And hither belongs that of S. Paul 1 Cor. 11. 4 5 c. requiring a seemly habit and gesture of men and women in the Holy Assemblies the woman to pray covered in token of her subjection the man uncovered as a sign of his head-ship and superiority over the woman according to the use of those times and places And it is specially to be observed which he speaketh in the 10. Verse For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head that is the ensign of power to which she is subject because of the Angels i.e. because of the presence of God attended with multitudes of Angels For these are the Train of the Almighty and as it were the Guard attending and ministring unto his presence wheresoever he keeps his station they pitch round about him When Daniel saw him in the Vision thousand thousands ministred unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him Revel 5. 11. I beheld saith S. Iohn and I heard the voice of many Angels round about the Throne and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands So when God appeared to Iacob going to Padan-Aram he saw the Angels of God descending and ascending upon a Ladder Whence it appears that wheresoever God keeps his Court his Train is with him and perhaps it were no error to affirm That the peculiarity of God's presence in one place more than another
be made by God's appointment at Mount Sinai but was much more ancient Noah built an Altar as soon as he came out of the Arkâ— Abraham Isaac and Iacob wheresoever they came to pitch their Tents erected Places for Divine worship that is Altars with their septs and enclosures without any special appointment from God Iacob in particular vowed a place for Divine worship by the name of God's House where he would pay the Tithes of all that God should give him Gen. 28. 19 c. Lo here a Church endowed Yea Moses himself Exod. 33. 7. before the Ark and that glorious Tabernacle were yet made pitched a Tabernacle for the same purpose without the Camp whither every one that sought the Lord was to go And all this was done tanquam recepti moris as a thing of custom and as mankind by Tradition had learned to accommodate the Worship of their God by appropriating some Place to that use Nature teaching them that the work was honoured and dignified by the peculiarness of the place appointed for the same and that if any work were so to be honoured there was nothing it more beseemed than the Worship and service of Almighty God the most peculiar and incommunicable act of all other Nay more than this It was believed in those elder times That that Country or Territory wherein no Place was set apart for the Worship of God was unhallowed and unclean Which I think I rightly gather from that Story in the Book of Iosua of the Altar built by Reuben Gad and the half Tribe of Manasseh upon the bank of the River Iordan which Iosua and the Elders as their words intimate supposed they had done lest the land of their possession being by the River Iordan cut off from the land of Canaan where the Lord's Tabernacle was and so having no place therein consecrated to the worship of their God might otherwise be an unclean and unhallowed habitation Hear the words of Phinehas and the Princes sent to disswade them Iosua 22. 19. and judge whether they import not as I have said If the land say they of your possession be unclean then pass ye â—ver unto the land of the possession of the LORD where the LORD'S Tabernacle dwelleth and take possession amongst us but rebel not against the LORD nor against us in building you an Altar besides the Altar of the LORD your God Now concerning the condition and property of Places thus sanctified or hallowed what it is whence can we learn better than from that which the Lord spake unto Moses Exod. 20. immediately after he had pronounced the Decalogue from Mount Sinai where premising that they should not make with him gods of gold and gods of silver but that they should make himâ— an Altar of earth as namely their ambulatory state then permitted otherwise of stone and thereon sacrifice their burnt-offerings and peace-offerings he adds in all places where I record my Name I will come unto thee and bless thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In every place where the remembrance or memorial of my Name shall be or Wheresoever that is which I have or shall appoint to be the remembrance or memorial of my Name and presence there I will come unto thee and bless thee Lo here a description of the Place set apart for Divine worship It is the Place where God records his Name and comes unto men to bless them Two things are here specified The Monument Record or Memorial of God's Name secondly His coming or meeting therewith men Of both let us enquire distinctly what they mean I know it would not be untrue to say in general That God's Name is recorded or remembred in that place upon which his Name is called or which is called by his Name as the Scripture speaks that is which is dedicate to his worship and service But there is some more special thing intended here namely the Memorial or Monument of God's Name is that token or Symbole whereby he testifieth his Covenant and commerce with men Now although the Arkâ— called the Ark of the Covenant or Testimony wherein lay the two Tables namely the Book or Articles of the Covenant and Manna the Bread of the Covenant were afterwards made for this purpose to be the standing Memorial of God's Name and Presence with his people yet cannot that be here either only or specially aimed at because when these words were spoken it had no being nor was there yet any commandment given concerning the making thereof Wherefore the Record here mentioned I understand with a more general reference to any Memorial whereby God's 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 seem 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 Memorial as in Leviticus the 2. 5. 6 and 24. chapters Accordingly the son of Sirach tells us chap. 45. 16. that Aaron was chosen out of all men living to offer Sacrifices to the Lord incense and a sweet savour for a Memorial to make reconciliation for his people Add also that Esay 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 Gospel I answer Yes For did not Christ ordain the holy Eucharist to be the Memorial of his Name in the New Testament This saith he is my Body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Do this for my Commemoration or in Memorial of me And what if I should affirm that Christ is as much present here as the Lord was upon the Mercy-seat between the Cherubims Why should not then the Place of this Memorial under the Gospel have some semblable sanctity to that where the Name of God was recorded in the Law And though we be not now tied to one only Place as those under the Law were and that God heareth the faithful prayers of his Servants wheresoever they are made unto him as also he did then yet should not the Places of his Memorial be promiscuous and common but set apart to that sacred purpose In a word All those sacred Memorials of the Iewish Temple are both comprehended and excelled in this One of Christians the Sacrifices Shew-bread and Ark of the Covenant Christ's Body and Bloud in the Eucharist being all these unto us in the New Testament agreeable to that of the Apostle Rom. 3. 25. God hath set forth Iesus Christ to be our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 through faith in
the next verse But the first Fathers took it otherwise and besides it proves it not For the question is not whether the time be long or short in respect of God but whether it be long or short in respect of us otherwise not only a thousand but an 100 thousand years are in the eyes of God no more than one day is to us and so it would not seem long to God if the Day of Iudgment should be deferred till then 3. Let the judicious consider it whether this passage so prone to be taken in the exposition I have given yea and alledged to that purpose were not some part of a motive to the zelotical Anti-chiliasts whereof Eusebius whom we trust was none of the least to be so willing and ready to question the authority of this Epistle as they did also at the same time of the Apocalypse The pretence against this Epistle was because it wanted the testimony of allegation by the first Fathers But Dies Domini sicut mille anni quoted both by Iustin Martyr and Irenaeus is not out of the ninetieth Psalm as they took for granted for there are no such words but out of this Epistle of Peter who applies it to the Day of Iudgment which he calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Day of the Lord. Consider it Verse 9. And though this Day be long deferred yet is not the Lord slack concerning his promise as some men account slackness as if he had alter'd his purpose or meant never to perform it but the cause of this delay is his long-suffering towards us a S. Peter speaks and writes in this Epistle to his brethren the Iews as appears by the first verse of this chapter of the seed of Israel not willing that any should perish at that day but that our whole Nation should come unto repentance b Therefore the same S. Peter in his first publick Sermon to his Nation in the Temple after the sending of the Holy Ghost Acts 3. 19 c. exhorts them to repent and be converted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the washing away of their sins That so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those times of refreshing and restitution of all things which God had spoken by the mouth of all his holy Prophets might come which till then were to be suspended Object But God could have hastened the Iews conversion if it had pleased him Resp. But it stood not with the oeconomy of his Iustice when the Iews had rejected Christ their expiation to grant them this grace until they should have fulfilled a time of penance for all the sins of their Nation even from the first time they were a people until the last destruction of Ierusalem For since they would none of their pardon and attonement by Christ with respect unto whose coming God had so long spared them for all their expiation by Sacrifice looked unto him God would not bate them an ace of the judgment they had merited but would visit all the former sins of their Nation upon them from the golden Calf until their crucifying and final rejecting of their Messiah which if that Day should surprise them in their unbelief must inevitably perish with the rest of the enemies of Christ. Verse 10. But as for the manner of the coming of this great Day of the Lord it shall be suddenly and unawares as a thief in the night in which the a What these Heavens are and why I render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the host of them and how this Conflagration is to be understood I will shew when I have done my Paraphrase Heavens with a crackling noise of fire shall pass away and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a What these Heavens are and why I render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the host of them and how this Conflagration is to be understood I will shew when I have done my Paraphrase or host of them shall melt with fervent heat the Earth also and the works therein shall be burned Verse 11 12. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness to make our selves fire-proof and such as may abide the day of refining As namely becometh those who by faith look for and hasten the coming of the Day of the Lord wherein the Heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the host of them melt with fervent heat For our life and conversation ought to be sutable to our faith and we are so to walk as if that were always present which by faith we look for Verse 13. But this Conflagration ended whatsoever those Scoffers say who question the promise of Christ's second coming we look according to his promise Isa. 65. 17 66. 22 for a New heaven and a New earth that is a new and refined state of the World wherein righteousness shall dwell according as the same Prophet saith chap. 60. 20 21. The Lord shall be thine everlasting light and the days of thy mourning shall be ended Thy people also shall be all righteous they shall inherit the land or earth for ever Verse 14 15 16. Wherefore beloved seeing that ye look for such things at his coming be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless and account the long-suffering of God in the delay thereof to be for salvation Even as our beloved Paul also one of the Apostles of our Lord who confirmeth these words of the holy Prophets according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you enforcing the like exhortation unto holiness of life from this our faith and expectation of the Lord Iesus his appearing to judgment which we now make unto you namely Heb. 12. 14 28 29. As also in all his Epistles speaking in them of these things viz. Rom. 2. 4 5 6 7. ‑ 1 Cor. 1. 7 8. 3. 13. ‑ 2 Cor. 5. 9 10 11. initio 7. 1. ‑ Phil. 1. 10. 2. 15 16. also 3. 20 c. ‑ Coloss. 3. 4 5. ‑ 1 Thess. 2. 12. 3. 13. denique 5. 23. ‑ 2 Thess. 1. 8 c. 1 Tim. 6. 14 15. ‑ Tit. 2. 12 13. Verse 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Amongst which things concerning the Second coming of Christ are somethings hard to be conceived which those which are unlearned and not well setled in the Faith like unto these Scoffers stumble at as they do at other Scriptures taking occasion thereby to stagger and doubt of the truth of God so perverting the Scriptures from their right end by making them the means of their own destruction which were given by God as a means whereby they might believe and be saved How this Conflagration of the World whereof S. PETER speaks and especially of the Heavens is to be understood FOR resolution of this Question I must premise some things to make the way thereto the more easie 1. That in the old Hebrew language wherein the
the Camp whither every one that sought the Lord was to go and called it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Tabernacle of meeting viz. of meeting with God not of Mens meeting together as we mean when we turn it Tabernacle of the Congregation Of which perhaps more hereafter Now for the nature of these Places we can no where learn it better than from that of the Lord to Moses Exod. 20. immediately after he had pronounced the Decalogue from Mount Sinai where premising that they should not make with him whom they had seen talking with them from Heaven Gods of silver and Gods of gold and that they should make his Altar namely whilst they were there in the Wilderness of earth and sacrifice their sacrifices thereon he adds In all places where I record my Name I will come unto thee and will bless thee Here is contained the definition of the Place set apart for Divine Worship 'T is the Place where God records his Name and communicates himself to men to bless them Exod. 20. 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In every place where the Memorial I appoint of my Name shall be or In every place set apart for the Memorial of my name The Memorial of God's Name is any token or symbol whereby he testifies his Covenant and as it were commerceth with Men. And though the Ark were afterward made for this purpose as the standing Memorial of his Name and therefore called The Testimony and the Ark of the Covenant yet could not that here be specially pointed at as which yet was not in being nor any commandment concerning the making thereof yet heard of And so the words to be taken generally for any such as were the Sacrifices immediately before mentioned and the Seat of them the Altar and therefore may seem to be more particularly referred unto for that these were Federal Rites whereby the Name of God was remembred and his Covenant testified may be easily proved whence that which was burned upon the Altar is so often called The Memorial See Levit. chap. 24. 7. c. 2. c. 5. c. 6. And the Son of Sirach tells us Ecclus. 45. 16. that Aaron was chosen out of all men living to offer Sacrifices to the Lord incense and a sweet savour for a Memorial to make reconciliation for his People Add Esay 66. 3. Qui recordatur thure quasi qui benedicat idolo But I must not stay too long in this Now I ask Did not Christ ordain the Holy Eucharist to be the Memorial of his Name in the New Testament Hoc saith he est corpus meum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And there be those that will not stick to say That Christ is as much present here as the Lord was upon the Mercy-seat between the Cherubims Why should not then the Places appointed for the Station of this Memorial under the Gospel have some semblable Sanctity to that where the Name of God was recorded in the Law And though we be not now tied to one only Place as under the Law and that God hears the faithful prayers of his Servants wheresoever they are made unto him as also he did then yet should not the Place of his Memorial be promiscuous and common but set apart to that sacred purpose You will say This Christian Memorial is not always there present as at least some one or other of those in the Law were I answer It is enough it is wont to be as the Chair of Estate loseth not its relation and due respect though the King be not always there And remember that the Ark of the Covenant or Testimony was not in Ierusalem when Daniel opened his windows and prayed thitherward and that it was wanting in the Holy place all the time of the Second Temple the Seat thereof being only there You will say In the Old Testament these things were appointed by Divine law and commanded but in the New we find no such thing I answer In things for which we find no new Rule given in the New Testament there we are referred to the analogy of the Old witness the Apostles proofs taken thence for the maintenance of the Ministery 1. Cor. 9. and the like and the practice of the Church ab initio in Baptizing Infants from the analogy of Circumcision in hallowing every First day of the Week as one in Seven from the analogy of the Iewish Sabbath For it is to be seriously considered That the end of Christ's coming into the world was not to give new Laws but to fulfil the Law already given and to preach the Gospel of reconciliation through his Name to those who had transgressed it Whence we see the Style of the New Testament not any where to carry the form of enacting Laws but such as are there mentioned to be mentioned only occasionally by way of allegation of interpretation of proof of exhortation and not by way of re-enacting There comes now very fitly into my mind a passage of Clemens a Man of the Apostolical Age whose name S. Paul says was written in the Book of Life in his genuine Epistle ad Corinthios lately set forth page 52. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Omnia ritè ordine facere debemus quaecunque Dominus peragere nos jussit What doth he command 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. praestitutis temporibus oblationes liturgias obire neque enim temere vel inordinatè voluit ista fieri sed statutis temporibus horis V B I etiam A QVIBVS peragi velit ipse excelsissimâ suâ voluntate definivit But where hath the Lord defined these things unless he hath left us to the analogy of the Old Testament 4. Concerning the Objection of our Saviour's eating the Passeover and first Institution of the Holy Supper in a Common place in an Inne Against the supposed Sanctity or Dignity to be ascribed to the Holy Table or Altar as the place where the Memorial of the Body and Bloud of Christ is represented you object the Table and place of the first Institution which was an ordinary Table and a common Inne whereby it should seem that the Table whereon it was afterwards to be celebrated should no otherwise be accounted of First I answer It follows not and that from the parallel of the Institution of the Passeover which though at first it were killed in a private house and the bloud stricken upon the door-posts yet afterwards it might not be so but was to be offered in the place which the Lord should chuse Deut. 16. 5 6. to place his Name there according to the Law given for all Offerings and Sacrifices in general Deut. 12. à versu 4. ad 14. inclusivè with a triple inculcation in one continued Series of speech This Answer seems to me sufficient for the Objection of the first Institution But there is one thing more yet to be considered That there is not the same reason of the Place where the
Bent of the Times the Rule of his Opinion For being free from any aspiring after Applause Wealth and Honour and from seeking Great things for himself he was consequently secured from Flattery and Temporizing the usual artifice of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those that will be rich that are resolved to make it their chief design and business to be great and wealthy in the world their heart is wholly upon it they are dead to the World to come and relish not the things above and are alive only to this present world being as eagerly intent and active about earthly things as if their portion were to be only in this life But such was the excellency of his spirit that he could not but abhor all Servile obsequiousness whatsoever as accounting it a certain argument of a Poorness of spirit either to flatter or to invite and receive Flatteries and withal considering that if those of Power and high degree were men of inward worth and excellent spirits they would shew themselves such in their valuing him not the less but rather more for his not applying himself to those ignoble arts and course policies proper to Parasites and ambitious men who speak not their own words nor seem to think their own thoughts but wholly enslave themselves to the thoughts and words the lusts and humors of those by whom for this pretended doing honour to them they seek to be advantaged Besides he might well think that he should rather undervalue and lessen them if he suppos'd they would regard him the more for those or the like Instances of an officious flattery as if they were not able to discern that Frankness and Openness of Spirit and Conversation Singleness of Heart and a Cordial readiness to serve others in love out of a pure heart is truly Christian Generous and Manly and on the contrary that Flattery and Fawning is Dog-like Base and Mercenary and lasts not long for though Parasites pretend to serve their Masters with great devotion a devotion so great as if they thought themselves rather their Creatures than God's yet in truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they rather serve their own belly and when their Masters cease to be in a capacity of serving them these men also cease to regard them and value them no more than an useless Tool or to use the Prophet's expression a broken Vessel wherein there is no pleasure Other particulars might be added but these may suffice to shew how Free he was from that which is apt to tempt men to judge amiss For it appears from the nature of the things themselves that Partiality Prejudice Pride and Passion Self-love Love of the World Flattery and Covetous Ambition do importunely sollicite men to make a false judgment corrupt their Affections wrong their Understandings enfeeble their Faculties unhappily dwarf their growth in useful Learning and keep them back from such an excellent improvement in Knowledge especially Divine Knowledge as otherwise they might attain And therefore had not Mr. Mede been free from the power of these Lusts he could never have perform'd so well as he hath done in any of his Tracts or Discourses especially upon the more abstruse and mysterious passages of H. Scripture Those therefore that are not of such a free and enlarged spirit but are fondly addicted either to themselves or Parties and are enslaved to Honour Wealth and particular narrow Interests and are under the power of Pride Passion serving divers Lusts and Pleasures they must needs be less excellent less improved in their studies less succesful in their Intellectual adventures than otherwise they might have been had they been established with a Free spirit Nor had some Authors of great reading and fame for Learning ever fallen into such mistakes but their Writings had been freer from imperfections and a greater respect they had secured to their Memories had they been less Passionate less Envious Proud and Self-conceited more Free and unbiassed more Humble and Modest as also more faithful to that excellent Rule of S. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is somewhat of that great deal more which might be observed of the Author's Largeness and Freedom of spirit which yet in him was not accompanied with any unbecoming reflexions upon others as if he design'd to lessen the due esteem of what was laudable in their performances much less with any irreverence and opposition to the established Articles of Religion and prejudice to the Peace of the Church or State but on the contrary was an innocent ingenuous peaceable Freedom of enquiring into such Theories only as do not at all clash with the Doctrine established and was ever attended with a sweet Modesty a singular Sedateness and Sobriety of spirit and a due regard to Authority And whosoever would read the Author with most profit and judgment must read him also with a free unpassionate and unprejudiced spirit That Saying Omnis Liber eo spiritu legi debet quo scriptus est is true as well of every useful Book as of the Divinely-inspired Books of Holy Scripture Thus much of the Fourth Help or Instrument of Knowledge I shall mention but one particular more but it is a very weighty and important one of singular use and absolute necessity for the gaining the Best Knowledge wherein I might be as large as in the foregoing but because I would hasten to conclude the Preface I shall dispatch it in fewer lines V. The Fifth and Last Means whereby the Author arrived at such an Eminency of Knowledge was His faithful endeavour after such a Purity of Soul as is requisite to fit it for the fuller and clearer discerning of Divine Mysteries The necessity of such a Purity of Heart and Life in order to this End appears by several express places of Scripture as where it is said The Secret of the Lord is with them that fear him Psalm 25. The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the knowledge of the holy ones is Understanding Prov. 9. their way of knowing is Knowledge and Understanding indeed and again The pure in heart shall see God Matth. 5. But none of the wicked shall understand says the Angel to Daniel concerning the Mysteries mentioned in Chap. 12. And agreeable to these and many such passages of H. Scripture is that in the Book of Wisdom chap. 1. Into a malicious Soul Wisdom shall not enter nor dwell in the Body that is subject unto sin The same Truth is plainly acknowledged by the Best and more Divine Philosophers and accordingly they frequently discourse of their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Purgative Vertues as necessary to prepare the Soul for the knowledge of the most Excellent and Highest Truths as the Mystical or Contemplative Divines speaking of the way to Divine knowledge place the Via Purgativa before the Via Illuminativa and it is a known Maxime of Plato in his Phaed◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 implying that
it had been ere this well-nigh extinguished But experience tells us the contrary that this Fancy is not only still living but begins as it were to recover and get strength afresh In which regard my Discourse at this time will not be unseasonable if taking my rise from these words of our Saviour I acquaint you upon what grounds and example this practice of the Christian Church hath been established and how frivolous and weak the Reasons are which some of late do bring against it To begin therefore You see by the Text I have now read that our Blessed Saviour delivered a set Form of Prayer unto his Disciples and in so doing hath commended the use of a set Form of Prayer unto his Church Thus therefore saith he pray ye Our Father which art in Heaven c. Is not this a set Form of Prayer and did not our Saviour deliver it to be used by his Disciples They tell us No. For Thus say they in this place is not thus to be understood but for in this manner to this effect or sense or after this pattern not in these words and syllables To this I answer It is true that this form of Prayer is a Pattern for us to make other Prayers by but that this only should be the meaning of our Saviour's Thus and not the rehearsal of the words themselves I utterly deny and I prove it out of the eleventh Chapter of S. Luke where the same Prayer is again delivered in these words O 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When ye pray say Our Father which art in Heaven that is do it in haec verba For what other phrase of Scripture is there to express such a meaning if this be not Besides in this of S. Luke the occasion would be considered It came to pass saith he as Iesus was praying in a certain place that when he ceased one of his Disciples said unto him Lord teach us to pray as Iohn also taught his Disciples From whence it may not improbably be gathered that this was the custom of the Doctors of Israel to deliver some certain Form of Prayer unto their Disciples to use as it were a badge and Symbolum of their Discipleship at least Iohn Baptist had done so unto his Disciples and thereupon our Saviour's Disciples besought him that he also would give them in like manner some Form of his making that they might also pray with their Master's spirit as Iohn's Disciples did with theirs For that either our Saviour's or Iohn's Disciples knew not how to pray till now were ridiculous to imagine they being both of them Iews who had their certain set hours of prayer which they constantly observed as the third sixth and ninth It was therefore a Form of Prayer of their Master's making which both Iohn is said to have given his Disciples and our Saviour's Disciples besought him to give them For the fuller understanding whereof I must tell you something more and the rather because it is not commonly taken notice of and that is That this delivery of the Lord's Prayer in S. Luke is not the same with that related by S. Matthew but another at another time and upon another occasion That of S. Matthew in that famous Sermon of Christ upon the Mount whereof it is a part that of S. Luke upon a special motion of the Disciples at a time when himself had done praying That of S. Matthew in the second that of S. Luke in the third year after his Baptism Consider the Text of both and you shall find it impossible to bring them into one and the same Whence it follows that the Disciples when it was first uttered understood not that their Master intended it for a Form of Prayer unto them but for a pattern or example only or it may be to instruct them in special in what manner to ask forgiveness of sins For if they had thought he had given them a Form of Prayer then they would never have asked him for one now Wherefore our Saviour this second time utters himself more expresly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When ye pray say Our Father which art in Heaven Thus their inadvertency becomes our confirmation For as Ioseph said to Pharaoh The dream is doubled unto Pharaoh because the thing is established by God so may we say here the delivery of this Prayer was doubled unto the Disciples that they and we might thereby know the more certainly that our Saviour intended and commended it for a set Form of Prayer unto his Church Thus much of that set Form of Prayer which our Saviour gave unto his Disciples as a precedent and warrant to his Church to give the like Forms to her Disciples or members a thing which from her infancy she used to do But because her practice is called in question as not warranted by Scripture let us see what was the practice of the Church of the Old Testament than whose example and use we can have no better rule to follow in the New First therefore we find two set Forms of Prayer or Invocation appointed by God himself in the Law of Moses One the Form wherewith the Priests were to bless the people Num. 6. 23 24 25 26. On this wise saith he shall Aaron and his sons bless the children of Israel saying unto them The Lord bless thee and keep thee The Lord make his face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace Is not this a set Form of Prayer For what is to bless but to pray over or invocate God for another The second is the Form of profession and prayer to be used by him who had paid his Tithes every third year Deut. 26. 13. O Lord God I have brought away the hallowed things out of mine house and also have given them unto the Levite and unto the stranger and fatherless and unto the widow according to all thy commandments which thou hast commanded me I have not transgressed thy Commandments nor have I forgotten them 14. I have not eaten thereof in my mourning neither have I taken away thereof for an unclean use c. 15. Look down from thy holy habitation from heaven and bless thy people Israel and the Land which thou hast given us as thou swarest to our Fathers a Land that floweth with milk and honey But what need we seek thus for scattered Forms when we have a whole Book of them together The Book of Psalms was the Iewish Liturgy or the chief part of the Vocal service wherewith they worshipped God in the Temple This is evident by the Titles of the Psalms themselves which shew them to have been commended to the several Quires in the same To Asaph To the sons of Korah To Ieduthun and almost forty of them To the Magister Symphoniae the Prefect or Master of the Musick in general The like we are to conceive of those which have no Titles as for example of
called or which were called by his Name Deut. 28. 10. Dan. 9. 19. and elsewhere that is were his peculiar and holy people as is said in like manner and with like meaning of the Church of the New Testament Iames 2. 7. Acts 15. 17. I represent not these places of Scripture at large because I know that every ear that is acquainted with Scripture can bear witness unto them And for the meaning of this expression of God's Name to be called upon a thing or a thing to be called by his Name that it is all one as to say it to be His besides the evidence of the matter whereabout it is used appears by the same phrase used in two other places of the like relation of men to that which is theirs as Gen. 48. 16. where Iacob blessing Ioseph's sons saith The Angel which redeemed me from all evil bless the lads and let my name be called upon them that is let them be mine namely as Reuben and Simeon are mine as he saith a little before for they are words of adoption Again in the 4. of Esay 1. where it is said that seven women should take hold of one man and say We will eat our own bread and wear our own apparel only let thy Name be called upon us to take away our reproach that is Do thou own us or let us be thine that it may not be a reproach unto us that we have no husband The Ancients were wont to set the Names of the Owners upon their houses and other possessions which they called Tituli Titles Chrysologus Serm. 145. Sicut dominos praediorum liminibus affixi Tituli proloquuntur As the Titles fixed to doors do speak the owners of the possessions S. Augustine in Psal. 21. Quando potens aliquis invenerit Titulos suos nonne jure rem sibi vendicat dicit Non poneret titulos meos nisi res mea esset When any great man shall spy his own Titles does he not justly challenge the goods and say No man would put my Titles to it unless the thing were mine Whether this phrase of Scripture of God's Name to be called or named upon a thing hath reference unto any such custom I cannot affirm but surely the meaning is the same to wit that God is the Lord and Proprietary of them And thus ye have heard what is this Name of God we pray here to be sanctified to wit a twofold Name first his Name and Majesty which we call upon secondly that also which is called by his Name The first we may call his Personal the other his Denominative or Participated Name HAVING learned what Nomen Dei importeth and so cleared the Object of what we pray for let us next enquire what that is which the word Sanctifie or To be sanctified implieth being that which our vote witnesseth ought to be done thereunto And this I intended for the main and principal Argument of my present Discourse being a matter not so well traced as the former and perhaps not altogether freed of obscurity and difficulty to be understood For our more certain and assured discovery whereof we will first examine the abstract thereof Sanctity and find out the true notion of it namely what is the ratio formalis the formal state or nature of that which the Scripture entituleth in the general 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Holy not regarding what notion the Greeks or Latines had respect to in their Languages but what the Holy Scripture properly intendeth under that name For because to be sanctified can have but these two senses either to be made holy or to be used and done unto according to or as becometh its holiness and that the Majesty of God which is the prime object of this Act is not capable of the first sense viz. to be made holy but of the second only if we therefore once rightly understand what is the condition and property of Sanctity according to the notion of Scripture we shall not be long ignorant what it is either for the Name or Majesty of God or that which is called by his Name to be hallowed or sanctified namely to be done unto according to their Holiness Now R. David Kimchi upon the 56 of Esay ver 2. Blessed is the man that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it hath these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To sanctifie the Sabbath is to separate or distinguish it from other days 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Because all words of Sanctity import a thing separated or divided from other things by way of preeminence or excellency Thus the Rabbi And that this which he saith is true namely That Sanctity consists in a discretion and distinction from other things by way of exaltation and preeminence may appear by these instances and examples which I shall now produce out of Scripture And first from that Law touching the Holy oyl Exod. 30. 31. where after the composition thereof described This saith the Lord shall be an holy anointing Oyl unto me What is that why it follows v. 32. Vpon mans flesh shall it not be poured neither shall ye make any other like it after the composition thereof It is Holy therefore it shall be Holy unto you That is As this Oyl is holy and discrete from other Oyls so shall it accordingly by you be used with difference and discrimination For the Text goes on v. 33. Whosoever compoundeth any like it or putteth any of it upon a stranger that is upon any besides those it was appropriated to shall be cut off from his people What else means all this but that this Oyl should be a singular or peculiar Oyl set apart and distinguished from all other Oyls both in its composition and use and that to be such was to be Holy or Sacred The like we shall find in the 35. verse of the same Chapter concerning the Holy Persume there described Thou shalt make it saith he to wit the ingredients he afore mentioned a persume a consection after the art of the Apothecary tempered together pure and Holy Verse 37. You shall not make to your selves that is not for your own use according to the composition thereof It shall be unto thee Holy for the Lord. Ver. 38. Whosoever shall make the like unto it to smellthereto shall be cut off from his people But above all others this notion of Sanctity or Holiness is most expresly intimated and taught us in those divine Periphrases or circumloâ—â—tions which the Lord himself more than once makes of an Holy People as Lev. 20. 24. speaking on this manner I am the Lord your God which have separated you from other people Ver. 26. And ye shall be Holy unto me for I the Lord am Holy and have severed you from other people that ye should be mine Mark here that to separate is to make Holy and that to be Holy is to be separated from others of the same rank Again Deut. 26. 18
19. The Lord hath avouched thee to wit Israel this day to be his peculiar or appropriate people as he hath promised thee And to make thee high above all nations which he hath made in praise in name and in honour namely that thou may est be an Holy people unto the Lord thy God as he hath spoken Now what is this but Rabbi Kimâ—hi's definition almost verbatim that to be sacred or Holy is to be separated or set apart from other things by way of excellence or which is all one to be set in some state of singularity or appropriatedness whereby it is advanced above the common condition of things of the same order He that will may compare also two other passages Deut. 7. 6. 14. 2. parallel to those I have produced where to be an Holy and to be a Peculiar people are made one and the same or the one expounded by the other It may be yet further confirmed by comparing Deut. 19. 2 7. with Ioshuah 20. 7. For whereas in the former of these places it is said concerning the Cities of refuge Thou shalt separate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 three Cities for thee in the midst of thy land in Ioshuah where this commandment is put in execution we read in stead of separated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. they sanctified three Cities Kedesh Shechem and Hebron Where that the one is equivalent to the other the Seventy so well understood that even in this place of Ioshuah for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is Sanctificârunt they sanctified they rendred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 separârunt or discreverunt they separated or set apart The same notion of Holiness may be gathered from the Antithesis or opposite thereunto to wit Vnholy or Vnclean which the Scripture is wont to express by the name of Common So S. Peter in his Vision Acts 10. 14. Lord saith he I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For know that because that which is Holy ought to be kept pure and clean or rather because Cleanness imports a separation from filth as Holiness doth from common thence Clean and Holy and so also Vnholy and Vnclean are used the one for the other whence 1 Cor. 7. 14. Vnclean and Holy are opposed But to go on the voice from heaven answers S. Peter in the same language v. 15. What God hath cleansed that is sanctified 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 account not thou common So in 1 Mac. 1. 47. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are unclean beasts and v. 62. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to eat unclean things The like Antithesis of Holy and Common is to be found Heb. 10. 29. where the Apostle saith of a Believer or Christian that lives an ungodly and wicked life He hath troden under foot the Son of God and counted the bloud of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a common thing that is he had profaned it Our translation rendreth it an unholy thing the opposition thereof to sanctified witnessing that to be the meaning Now then if to be Vnholy or Vnclean be to be Common surely it follows by the Law of opposition that to be Holy is to be separated from the common or to be singular and appropriate in some manner or other Lastly it is to be observed that whereas in the Law given Numbers 6. concerning the Vow of Nazarisme which word signifies separation of Nazar to separate the words to separate and separation come very often in the Text the vulgar Latin renders for them above ten times consecrare consecratio sanctificare and sanctificatio which shews that this notion namely that Holiness consists in a state of separation is no new conceit but such as Antiquity took notice of The nature of Holiness wherein it consisteth according to the idiome of Scripture being thus found out and cleared that which was aimed at in this inquisition to wit what the same meaneth by to sanctifie and to be sanctified will be no hard matter to resolve For Sanctity and to sanctifie being Conjugates or Denominatives as Logicians call them the one openeth the way to the knowledge of the other If therefore Sanctity or Holiness be a condition of discretion and distinction from other things as we have shewed it to be then to sanctifie must either be to put a thing into that state which we call to consecrate or if it be such already to use and do unto it as becomes the sanctity thereof that is haberè cum discriminâ— to put a difference between it and other things by way of excellency or in a dignîfying wise by appropriating and severing it in the use thereof from things of ordinary and common rank or which is all one to use it singularly appropriately and in a word uncommonly For not to use it so it being such were to abuse it which the Scripture cals to prophane to sanctifie and to prophane being opposites Whence Ezek. 22. 26. to prophane is expounded by not putting a difference The Priests saith the Lord have violated my Law and have prophaned my holy things they have put no difference between the holy and prophane This to be to sanctifie all the places almost which I have alledged out of the Law for the notion and nature of sanctity do apparently proclaim for the one is so nearly linked to the other that they could not well be separated Thus was Israel God's holy people to sanctifie themselves by a discriminative manner of living or usance because the Lord their God had discriminated or separated them from other people So Lev. 20. 24 25 26. I am the Lord your God which have separated you from other people Ye shall therefore put difference between clean beasts and unclean and between unclean fowles and clean And ye shall not make your souls abominable by beast or by fowl or by any manner of living thing that creepeth on the ground which I have separated from you as unclean But ye shall be holy unto me for I the Lord am holy and have severed you from other people that ye should be mine After the same manner were the Holy Oyntment and the Holy Perfume or Incense to be sanctified by a discriminative singular appropriate usance of them and not to be used as other Oyntments and Perâ—umes to wit the one not to be poured upon mans flesh nor the other used for mans smelling unto yea none of the like composition to the one or the other to be made for any prophane or common use upon pain of his being cut off from his people who should dare to do it That is not the particular or Individuum only but even the whole kind of that composition was to be accounted sacred otherwise this caution needed not since for the Individual all sacred things ought to be appropriate and incommunicable in their use And to this notion it is not altogether improbable but the Apostle may allude 1 Cor.
11. 29. when he expresseth the prophanation of the Holy Supper in coming to it and using it as a common banquet by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not differencing the Lord's body that is not sanctifying it or using it as became so holy a thing HITHERTO I have considered the words of my Text apart but now let us put them again together and see How the Name of God ought to be Sanctified in the manner now specified both in it self and in the things which it is called upon as in the beginning I distinguished For the better understanding of which we are to take notice of a twofold Holiness one Original Absolute and Essential in God the other Derived or Relative in the things which are His properly according to the use of the Latin called Sacra Sacred things Both these have their several and distinct Sanctifications belonging unto them For whatsoever is Holy ought to be sanctified according to the condition and proportion of the Holiness it hath To speak of them distinctly The first Original or Absolute Holiness is nothing else but the incommunicable Eminency of the Divine Majesty exalted above all and divided from all other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Eminencies whatsoever For that which a man takes to be and makes account of as his God whether it be such indeed or by him fancyed only he ascribes unto it â—in so doing a condition of Eminency above and distinct from all other Eminencies whatsoever that is of Holiness Hence it comes that we find the Lord the God of Israel and the only true God in Scripture so often styled Sanctus Israelis the Holy One of Israel that is Israel's most Eminent and Incommunicable One or which is all one His God as namely Psal. 89. 18. The Lord is our defence the HOLY ONE of Israel is our King Esay 17. 7. At that day shall a man look unto his Maker and his eyes shall have respect to the HOLY ONE of Israel Habak 1. 12. Art not thou from everlasting O Lord my God mine HOLY ONE Agreeably whereunto the Lord is said also now and then to swear by his HOLINESS that is by Himself as in the Psalm before alledged v. 35. Once have I sworn by my HOLINESS that I will not lie unto David c. Amos 4. 2. The Lord God hath sworn by his HOLINESS that lo the dayes shall come upon you that he will take you away with hooks c. According to this sense I suppose also that of Amos 8. 7. isâ— to be understood The Lord hath sworn by the Excellency of Iacob that is Iacob's most Eminent and Incommunicable One or by Iacob's HOLY ONE Surely I will never forget any of their works c. For indeed the Gods of the Nations were not properly and truly Holy because but partially and respectively only forasmuch as the Divine eminency which they were supposed to have was even in the opinion of those who worshipped them common to others with them and so not discriminated from nor exalted above all But the God of Israel was simply and absolutely such both in himself and to them-ward who worshipped him as who might acknowledge no other and therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and by way of distinction from all other Gods called Sanctus Israelis The Holy One of Israel that is that sole absolute and only incommunicable One or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Author of the Book of Wisdome calls him chap. 14. 21. That God exalted above all and divided from all without pareil there being no other such besides him There is none holy as the Lord saith Hannah for there is none besides thee Lxx. none Holy besides thee neither is there any Rock like our God Wherefore it is to be observed that although the Scripture every where vouchsafes the Gentiles Daemons the name of Gods yet it never I think calls them Holy Ones as indeed they were not Thus you see that as Holiness in general imports a state of eminency and separation so this of God as I have described it disagrees not from that general notion when I affirm it to consist in a state of peerless or incommunicable Majesty for that which is such includes both the one and the other But would you understand it yet better Apply it then to his Attributes whereby he is known unto us and know that The Lord is Holy is as much as to say He is a Majesty of peerless Power of peerless Wisdom of peerless Goodness and so of the rest Such a one is our God and such is his Holiness Now then to Sanctifie this peerless Name or Majesty of his must be by doing unto him according to that which his Holiness challengeth in respect of the double importance thereof namely to serve and glorifie him because of his Eminency and to do it with a singular separate and incommunicated worship because he is Holy Not to do the former is Irreligion and Atheism as not to acknowledg God to be the Chief and Soveraign Eminency not to observe the second is Idolatry For as the Lord our God is a singular and peerless Majesty distinguished from and exalted above all things and eminencies else whatsoever so must his Worship be singular incommunicable and proper to him alone Otherwise saith Ioshnah to the people Ye cannot serve the Lord. Why For saith he He is an Holy God He is a jealous God that can endure no corrival He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins Iâ— ye forsake the Lord and serve strange gods c. Whence in Scripture those who communicate the Worship given unto him with any besides him or together with him by way of Object that is whether immediately or but mediately are deemed to deny his incomparable Sanctity and therefore said to prophane his Holy Name See Ezek. 20. 39. and chap. 43. 7 8. Levit. 18. 21. In a word All that whole immediate Duty and Service which we ow unto God whether inward or outward contained under the name of Divine Worship when either we confess praise pray unto call upon or swear by his Name yea all the Worship both of men and Angels is nothing else but to acknowledg in thought word and work this peerless preeminence of his Power of his Wisdom of his Goodness and other Attributes that is His Holiness by ascribing and giving unto him that which we give and ascribe to none besides him that is to sanctifie his most Holy Name This is that the Holy Ghost would teach us when describing how the Seraphims worship and glorifie God Esay 6. 3. he brings them in crying one unto another Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God of hosts the whole earth is full of his glory that is Sanctifying him From whence is derived that which we repeat every day in the Hymne To thee all Angels cry aloud the heavens and all the powers therein To thee Cherubim and Seraphim continually do cry Holy Holy Holy Lord God
of Sabbaoth Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty of thy Glory And because the pattern of God's holy worship is not to be taken from Earth but from Heaven the same Spirit therefore in the Apocalyps expresseth the Worship of God in the New Testament with the same form of hallowing or holying his Name which the heavenly Host useth For so the four Animalia representing the Catholick Church of Christ in the four quarters of the world are said when they give glory honour and thanks to him that sitteth upon the throne and liveth for ever and ever to do it by singing day and night this Trisagium Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come that is the sum of all that they did was but to agnize his Sanctity or Holiness or which is all one to Sanctifie his holy Name When therefore the same four Animalia are afterwards brought in chanting Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing and again Blessing and honour and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the Throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever all is to be understood as comprehended within this general Doxologie as being but an exemplification thereof and therefore the Elogies or blazons mentioned therein to be taken according to the style of Holiness in an exclusive sense of such prerogatives as are peculiar to God alone And according to this notion of sanctifying God's Name which I contend for would the Lord have his Name sanctified Esa. 8. 12 13. when he saith Fear ye not their Fear that is the Idolaters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Gods for so Fear here signifies to wit the thing feared neither dread ye it but sanctifie the Lord of Hosts himself and let him be your Fear and let him be your Dread that is your God Again chap. 29. 23. They shall sanctifie my Name saith he even sanctifie the Holy One of Iacob and shall fear the God of Israel The latter words shew the meaning of the former The like we have in the first Epistle of S. Peter chap. 3. vers 14 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. Gentilium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Fear ye not their Fear nor be in dread thereof that is Fear not nor dread ye the Gods of the Gentiles which persecute you But sanctifie the Lord God in your hearts that is Fear and worship him with your whole hearts For that this passage howsoever we are wont to expound it ought to be construed in the same sense with that of Esay 8. before alledged and the words to be rendred sutably I take it to be apparent for this reason because they are verbatim taken from thence as he that shall compare the Greek words of S. Peter with the Lxx. in that place of Esay will be forced to confess Besides this evident and express use of the word Sanctifie in the notion of religious and holy worship and fear of the Divine Majesty there is yet another expression sometimes used in Holy Scripture which implieth the self-same thing that namely to worship God with that which we call holy and divine worship is all one with to agnize his holiness or to sanctifie his Name Those speeches I mean wherein we are exhorted to worship the Lord because he is Holy As Psal. 99. 5. Exalt ye the Lord our God and worship at his foot-stool for he is Holy Again in the end of the Psalm Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his holy hill for the Lord our God is Holy The same meaning is yet more emphatically expressed by those that sing the Song of victory over the Beast Apoc. 15. 3 4. Great say they and marvellous are thy works Lord God Almighty just and true are thy wayes thou King of Nations Who shall not fear thee O Lord and glorifie thy Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for that I believe is the true reading not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou only art Holy therefore all the Nations shall come and worship before thee that is they shall relinquish their Idols and plurality of Gods and worship thee as God only For this was the Doctrine both of Moses in the Old Testament and of Christ Iesus the Lamb of God in the New That one God only that made the heaven and the earth was to be acknowledged and worshipped and with an incommunicable worship In respect whereof as I take it these Victors are there said to sing the Song of Moses and the Lamb that is a gratulatory Song of the worship of one God after that his Ordinances were made manifest For otherwise the Ditty is borrowed from the 86. Psalm the 8 9 and 10. verses where we read Among the gods there is none like unto thee O Lord neither are there any works like unto thy works All Nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee O Lord and shall glorifie thy Name For thou art great and dost wondrous works Thou art God alone that is Thou only art Holy Compare Ier. 10. ver 6 7. I have one thing more to adde before I finish this part of my Discourse lest I might leave unsatisfied that which may perhaps seem to some to weaken this my explication of the sanctification of God's Name For the word to sanctifie or be sanctified is sometimes used of God in a more general sense than that I have hitherto specified namely as signifying any way to be glorified or to glorifie as when he saith He will be sanctified in the destruction of his enemies or in the deliverance of his people and that before the Heathen and the like that is he would purchase him glory or be glorified thereby I answer It is true that to be sanctified is in these passages to be glorified but yet alwayes to be glorified as God and not otherwise Namely when God by the works of his Power of his Mercy or Iustice extorts from men the confession of his great and holy Godhead he is then said to sanctifie or make himself to be sanctified amongst them that is to be glorified and honoured by their conviction and acknowledgment of his Power and Godhead For although men may be also said to glorifie or purchase honour unto themselves when by their noble acts they make their abilities and worth known unto the world yet for such respect to be said to be sanctified is peculiar unto him alone whose Glory is his Holiness that is unto God THUS we have learned How the Name or Majesty of God is to be sanctified personally or in it self which is the chiefest thing we pray for and ought so to be in our endeavour namely To worship and glorifie him incommunicably according to his most eminent and unparallel'd Holiness and so ô Lord Hallowed be thy Name But there is another Sanctification or
Hallowing of God's Name yet behind which must be joyned therewith which is To sanctifie him also in the things which have his Name upon them that is are separate and dedicate to his service or in a word which are His namely by a peculiar relation For otherwise it is true The whole earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof the World and those that dwell therein But there are some things His not as other things are and so as they are no longer Ours such as according to the style of Scripture as I have already noted are said to be called by his Name or to have his Name called upon them These are things sacred Therefore I told you before of a twofold Sanctity or Holiness the one Original Absolute and Essential in God the other Derived or Relative in that which is set apart to be in a peculiar and appropriate manner His. For whatsoever belongeth unto him in this manner is divided from other things with preeminence whether they be Things or Persons which are so separated For in such separation we shewed the nature of Sanctity in general to consist Now as the Divine Majesty it self is separate and holy so know it is a part of that honour we owe unto his most Sacred Name that the Things whereby and wherewith he is served should not be promisenous and common but appropriate and set apart to that sacred end It is an honour which in some degree of resemblance we afford unto Kings Princes and other persons of dignity of infinite less eminency than God is to interdict the use of that to others which they are wont to use sometimes the whole kind sometimes the individual only As we know in former times to wear purple to subscribe with the Ink called Encaustum of a purple colour and other the like which the diligent may find were appropriate to the use of Kings and Emperors only In the Book of the Kings we read of the King's Mule so appropriate to his use as to ride upon him was to be made King 1 Kings 1. 33 44. In the Book of Esther Chap. 6. 8. of the Horse that King Ahasucrus used to ride upon put in the same rank with the Crown and royal apparel which none but the King might wear And of individual Utensils thus appropriated and as it were dedicated to the alone use of persons of eminency our own times want not examples Whence natural Instinct may seem to prompt unto us that such appropriation is a testimony of honor and respect Sure I am that Almighty God hath revealed it to be a part of that Honor we owe unto him Thus all the Utensils of the Tabernacle and Temple were sacred and set apart to that use and not the Utensils of the Altar only but even the Instruments of Musick which David ordained to praise the Lord with in the Temple were not common but consecrated unto God for that end whence they are called 1 Chron. 16. 42. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Instrumenta musica Dei the musical Instruments of God that is sacred ones and 2 Chron. 7. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the musical Instruments of the Lord. Agreeably whereunto those who sung the fore-alledged song of victory over the Beast are said to have had in their hands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the harps of God that is not prophane or common but sacred Harps the Harps of the Temple for there they sung this their Antheme standing upon the great Laver or Sea of glass which was therein Nay our Blessed Saviour Mark 11. 16. would not suffer a prophane or common vessel to be so much as carried through his Father's House accounting it as great a prophanation as to buy and sell there And yet was not this abuse which is a thing well to be marked within those Septs of the Temple which the Iews accounted sacred but in the outmost Court called Atrium gentium immundorum the place whither together with such as were unclean the Gentiles and uncircumcised were admitted to pray as that of the Prophet cited by our Saviour rightly rendred intimates My house shall be called a house of Prayer to or for ALL NATIONS Consider Esay 56. 6 7. This Court therefore the Iews made no other account of than as of a prophane place but our Saviour proved by Scripture that this Gentiles Oratory was also part of his Father's house and accordingly not to be prophaned with common use Lastly There was never any age of the Christian Church till of late wherein it was not commonly believed that God was to be honoured by such appropriation or consecration as we speak of that is that God's Name was in this manner to be sanctified But are there any will you say now that deny it Yes there are some in our age so far carried away into a contrary extreme to that they flie from that they hold no oblation or consecration of things unto God by the devotion of men in the New Testament whether of Utensils Goods Times or Places ought to be esteemed lawful but that all distinction between sacred and prophane in external things by virtue of such consecration excepting only the Sacraments is flat superstition Yet to him that seriously considers it it cannot chuse methinks but seem strange and absurd to affirm as this assertion doth that men now in the time of the Gospel are exempted and freed from agnizing God to be Lord of the creature by giving some part thereof unto him than which no part of Divine Worship is more natural and which hath been used by mankind ever since the beginning of the world Yea in the state of Paradise among all the Trees in the Garden which God gave man freely to enjoy one Tree was Noli me tangere and reserved to God as Holy in token he was Lord of the Garden So that the first sin of Mankind for the species of the fact was Sacriledge in prophaning that which God had made holy They say It is true that in the Old Testament this way of honouring and acknowledging God was warranted by the Divine Law but in the New we find no precept given concerning it nor confirmation of that which was before Now God is not to be worshipped with any worship but what he hath himself prescribed in his Word I answer What though there be no particular precept in the New Testament for this no more than for divers other duties which a Christian is bound to yet if a general warrant be the particular needs not But our Saviour saith in his Gospel in that Evangelical Sermon he preached upon the Mount that he came not to dissolve the Law and the Prophets but to fulfil and perfect them Think not saith he that I am come to dissolve the Law and the Prophets that is to take away the obligation of that Rule of the duty of man to God and his neighbour given first by Moses in the Law and afterwards repeated and inculcated
New the Christian Clergy or Clerus so called from the beginning of Christian Antiquity either because they are the Lord 's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Portion which the Church dedicateth unto him out of her self namely as the Levites were an offering of the Children of Israel which they offered unto him out of their Tribes or because their inheritance and livelihood is the Lord's portion I prefer the first yet either of both will give their Order the title of Holiness as doth also more especially their descent which they derive from the Apostles that is from those for whom their Lord and Master prayed unto his Father saying Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sanctisie them unto or for thy Truth thy Word is Truth that is Separate them unto the Ministery of thy Truth the word of thy Gospel which is the truth and verification of the promises of God It follows As thou hast sent me into the world so have I also sent them into the world this is the key which unlocks the meaning of that before and after And for them I sanctifie my self that they might be sanctified for thy Truth that is And forasmuch as they cannot be consecrated to such an Office without some sacrifice to atone and purifie them therefore for their consecration to this holy function of ministration of the new Covenant I offer my self a Sacrifice unto thee for them in lieu of those legal and typical ones wherewith Aaron and his sons first and then the whole Tribe of Levi were consecrated unto thy service in the old An Ellipsis of the first Substantive in Scripture is frequent So here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 only is put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Truth for the Ministery of Truth Now that the Christian Church for of the Iewish I shall need say nothing hath alwayes taken it for granted that those of her Clergy ought according to the separation and sanctity of their Order to be distinguished and differenced from other Christians both passively in their usance from others but especially actively by a restrained conversation and peculiarness in their manner of life is manifest by her ancient Canons and Discipline Yea so deeply hath it been rooted in the minds of men that the Order of Church-men binds them to some differing kind of conversation and form of life from the Laity that even those who are not willing to admit of the like discrimination due in other things have still in their opinions some relick thereof remaining in this though perhaps not altogether to be acquitted of that imputation which Tertullian charged upon some in his time to wit Quum excellimur inflamur adversùs Clerum tunc unum omnes sumus tunc omnes Sacerdotes quia Sacerdotes nos Deo Patri fecit Quum ad peraequationem Disciplinae Sacerdotalis provocamur deponimus insulas impares sumus When we vaunt and are puffed up against the Clergie then we are all one then we are all Priests for he made us Priests to God and his Father But when we are called upon to equal in our lives the example of Priestly Discipline then down go our Miâ—res and we are another sort of men Another sort of things Sacred which I named was Sacred Places to wit Churches and Oratories as the Christian name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 implieth them to be that is the Lord's A third Sacred Times that is dedicated and appointed for the solemn celebration of the worship of God and Divine duties such are with us for those of the Iews concern us not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Lord's dayes with other our Christian Festivals and Holy-dayes Of the manner of the discrimination from common or sanctifying both the one and the other by actions some commanded others interdicted to be done in them the Canons and Constitutions of our Church will both inform and direct us For holy Times and holy Places are Twins Time and Place being as I may so speak pair-circumstances of action and therefore Lev. 19. 30. and again 26. 2. they are joyned together tanquam ejusdem rationis Keep my Sabbaths and reverence my Sanctuary The fourth sort of Sacred things is of such as are neither Persons Times nor Places but Things in a special sense by way of distinction from them And this sort containeth under it many particulars which may be specified after this manner 1. Sacred Revenues of what kind soever which in regard of the dedication thereof as they must not be prophaned by sacrilegious alienation so ought they to be sanctified by a different use and imployment from other Goods namely such a one as becometh that which is the Lord's and not man's For that Primitive Christian Antiquity so esteemed them appears by their calling them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they did their Place of Worship 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and their Holy day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all of the Lord as it were Christening the old notion of Sacred by a new name So Can. Apostol XL. Manifestae sint Episcopi res propriae si quidem res habet proprias manifesta sint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. res Dominicae Let it be manifest what things are the Bishop's own if he have any things of his own and let it be manifest what things are the Lord 's Author constitut Apost Lib. 2. c. 28. al. 24. Episcopus ne utatur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dominicis rebus tanquam alienis aut communibus sed moderatè Let not the Bishop use the things that are the Lord's as if they were another's or as if they were common but moderately and soberly See also Balsamon in Can. 15. Concilii Ancyrani and the Canon it self 2. Sacred Vtensils as the Lord's Table Vessels of ministration the Books of God or Holy Scripture and the like Which that the Church even in her better times respected with an holy and discriminative usance may be learned from the story of that calumnious crimination devised by the Arrian Faction against Athanasius as a charge of no small impiety namely that in his Visitation of the Tract of Marcotis Macarius one of his Presbyters by his command or instinct had entered into a Church of the Miletian Schismaticks and there broken the Chalice or Communion-Cup thrown down the Table and burnt some of the Holy Books All which argues that in the general opinion of Christians of that time such acts were esteemed prophane and impious otherwise they could never have hoped as they did to have blasâ—ed the reputation of the holy Bishop by such a slander Touching the Books of God or Holy Scripture which I referred to this Title especially those which are for the publick service of God in the Church I adde this further That under that name I would have comprehended the senses words and phrases appropriated to the expression of Divine and Sacred things which a Religious ear cannot endure to
hear abused with prophane and scurrilous application 3. Under this fourth head of Things Sacred I comprehend Sacred Acts such as are the Acts of God's holy worship and administration of his Sacraments For albeit these Acts are duties of the first and personal Sanctification of God's Name whereof the immediate object is God yet are the Acts themselves Sacred things and therefore have some sanctification due to them also as other Sacred things have of which although it be most true that the unseigned devotion of the Heart as before him who alone knoweth the Hearts of the children of men be the main and principal requisite yet unless even in the outward performance they be for the manner and circumstances discriminated from common acts by a select accommodation befitting their holiness their sanctification is defective and by such defect if voluntary God's Name is prophaned even then when we are worshipping him How much more when our carriage therein cometh short even of that wonted reverence wherewith we come before an earthly Potentate May not God here justly use the same expostulaâ—ion with us that he did with those in the Prophet Malachi who presented themselves before him with such an offering as was in regard of the blemishes unworthy of and unbefitting so great a Majesty and therefore to be accounted rather an affront than an act of honour and worship Ye have saith he despised and prophaned my Name Offer it now unto thy Governour will he be pleased with thee or accept thy person yet I am a great King saith the Lord of hosts And this is the document or lesson which this place naturally and unavoidably ministreth to us That to come before the Divine Majesty with less reverent and regardful deportment than we do before earthly Kings and Potentates is to despise and prophane his holy Name And not that which some would shelter under this Text and lean too much upon namely That the Acts of God's external worship ought to be wholly conform to the use of the semblable actions performed unto men and not differ from them and upon this ground charge the Christian Liturgies with absurdity in their forms of praying and praising God with responsals singing by turns and speaking many together For this principle is directly repugnant to the nature of Sanctification which consists in discrimination and difference And therefore though the material of our gestures and other expressions vocal or visible be borrowed from the use and custom of men yet for the formality of them not only they may but ought to be differenced from them Moreover touching this reproof of the Prophet take notice that it is grounded upon the Law Levit. 22. where we are taught that when that is not observed concerning the Rites of God's service which the Sanctity of them requireth as in other particulars so in this of a not defective or unblemished offering his Name is thereby prophaned See verse 32. with the rest of the Chapter foregoing it And if so then by the contrary it is sanctified Lastly Unto this head of Sacred Acts I reduce Oaths and sacred Covenants that is such as are made either with God or between men God's Name being called upon which therefore 1 Sam. 20. 8. are styled Covenants of the Lord. For that the observance due touching both is a sanctifying of them as things upon which the Name of the Lord is called is apparent forasmuch as when they are violated by falshood they are said to be prophaned as Levit. 19. 12. Psalm 55. 20. Ier. 34. 15 16. Thus together with my Explication of these several sorts of Sacred Things I have briefly and in general pointed at that also wherein the proper Sanctification of each consisteth which though far short of such a tractation as the matter requireth yet if it may serve only but to give occasion to others who are better able to bend their thoughts upon this Argument which perhaps the Times call for I shall fully attain the end I aimed at For mine own part to descend to particulars would be a task too high for me and as I suspect not very acceptable For it is ten to one if the grounds I have laid be true but that the most of us would be found faulty in some things and some of us in all Well the summ of my argumentation hath been this Is there any thing in the New Testament God's by a peculiar right To say there is not is absurd and against the perpectual tradition of Christianity If there be then it is holy if holy then to be sanctified if sanctified then to be discriminated in the usance and respect thereof from that which is of common condition NOW out of this Discourse which I have hitherto made you may see and take notice that contrary to the vulgar opinion the Prohibition of Idolatry and the discriminative observance of things sacred not to prophane them by a promiscuous and common use are derived both of them from one and the same principle namely God's Incommunicableness which derives a shadow and resemblance upon the things which have his Name called upon them to wit a staâ—e of appropriateness and singularity Wherefore the Apostle Rom. 2. 22. not without good reason compares together the transgressions of the one and the other kind as parallel sins or sins of affinity Thou that hatest Idols saith he dost thou commit Sacriledge Where by Sacriledge understand not only the usurpation of things sacred but the violation of that which is sacred in general And it is as if he had said Thou hast mended the matter well indeed for still thou dashest against the same principle For it is one of the exemplifications of that he saith in the beginning of the Chapter He that judgeth or condemneth another and doth the same or the like himself is inexcusable By this it appears how much they are mistaken who under pretence of avoiding Idolatry and Superstition cannot endure that any distinction should be made between things Sacred and Common Is not this to unhallow God's Name one way that so we might not prophane it another Far be it from me to be a patron of Idolatry or Superstition in the least degree yet I am afraid lest we who have reformed the worship of God from that pollution and blessed be his name therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as S Basil speaks that is by bending the crooked stick too much the other way have run too far into the contrary extreme and taken away some of us all difference in a manner between Sacred and Prophane and by this our transgression in doing God's work made our selves lyable to that upbraid of the Apostle In qui idola abominaris sacrilegium admittis Thou that abhorrest Idols dost thou commit Sacriledge that is prophanest thou God's Name by violating that which is sacred Let no man think it strange or incredible that such an enormity should be committed or an occasion at least given thereof in the
openeth the womb shall be called Holy unto the Lord Ergo To be the Lord's and to be Holy are Synonyma's Though therefore the Gentiles Court had no sanctity of legal distinction yet had it the sanctity of peculiarity to God-ward and therefore not to be used as a common place The Illation proceeds by way of Conversion My House shall be called the House of Prayer to all Nations or People Ergo The House of Prayer for all Nations is my Father's House And the Emphasis lies in the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which our Translators were not so well advised of when following Beza too close they render the words thus My House shall be called of all Nations the House of Prayer as if the Dative Case here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were not Acquisitive but as it is sometimes with passive verbs in stead of the Ablative of the Agent for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which sense is clean from the scope and purpose of the place whence it is taken as he that compares them will easily see and I shall make fully to appear in the next part of my Discourse which I tendred by the name of an Observation To wit That this fact of our Saviour more particularly concerns us of the Gentiles than we take notice of Namely we are taught thereby what reverent esteem we ought to have of our Gentile Oratories and Churches howsoever not endued with such legal sanctity in every respect as was the Temple of the Iews yet Houses of Prayer as well as theirs This Observation will be made good by a threefold Consideration First of the Story as I have related it secondly from the Text here alledged for warrant thereof and thirdly from the circumstance of Time For the Story I have shewed it was acted in the Gentiles Court and not in that of the Iews because it is not credible that was thus prophaned It cannot therefore be alledged that this was a place of legal sanctity for according to legal sanctity it was held by the Iews as common only it was the place for the Gentiles to worship the God of Israel in and seems to have been proper to the second Temple the Gentiles in the first worshipping without at the Temple-door in the holy Mountain only Secondly The place alledged to avow the Fact speaks expresly of Gentile-worshippers not in the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 only but in the whole body of the context Hear the Prophet speak Esay chap. 56. ver 6 7. and then judge The sons of the stranger that joyn themselves to the Lord to serve him and to love the Name of the Lord to be his servants every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it and taketh hold of my Covenant namely that I alone shall be his God Even them will I bring to my holy Mountain and make them joyful in my House of Prayer their burnt-offerings and sacrifices accepted upon mine Altar Then follow the words of my Text For my House shall be called that is shall be it is an Hebraism a House of Prayer for all People What is this but a Description of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Gentile-worshippers And this place alone makes good all that I have said before viz. That this vindication was of the Gentiles Court Otherwise the allegation of this Scripture had been impertinent for the Gentiles of whom the Prophet speaks worshipped in no place but this Hence also appears to what purpose our Evangelist expressed the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 namely as that which shewed wherein the force of the accommodation to this occasion lay which the rest of the Evangelists omitted as referring to the place of the Prophet whence it was taken those who heard it being not ignorant of whom the Prophet spake Thirdly the circumstance of Time argues the same thing if we consider that this was done but a few days before our Saviour suffered to wit when he came to his last Passeover How unseasonable had it been to vindicate the violation of Legal and typical sanctity which within so few days after he was utterly to abolish by his Cross unless he had meant thereby to leave his Church a lasting lesson what reverence and respect he would have accounted due to such places as this was which he vindicated DISCOURSE XII S. IOHN 4. 23. But the hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and Truth For the Father seeketh such to worship him THEY are the words of our Blessed Saviour to the Woman of Samaria who perceiving him by his discourse to be a Prophet desired to be resolved by him of that great controverted point between the Iews and Samaritans Whether Mount Garizim by Sichem where the Samaritans sacrificed or Ierusalem were the true place of worship Our Saviour tells her that this Question was not now of much moment For that the hour or time was near at hand when they should neither worship the Father in Mount Garizim nor at Ierusalem But that there was a greater difference between the Iews and them than this of Place namely even about That which was worshipped For ye saith he worship that ye know not but we Iews worship that we know Then follow the words premised But the hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and Truth It is an abused Text being commonly alledged to prove that God now in the Gospel either requires not or regards not External worship but that of the Spirit only and this to be a characteristical difference between the worship of the Old Testament and the New If at any time we talk of external decency in rites and bodily expressions as sit to be used in the service of God this is the usual Buckler to repel whatsoever may be said in that kind It is true indeed that the worship of the Gospel is much more spiritual than that of the Law But that the worship of the Gospel should be only spiritual and no external worship required therein as the Text according to some meus sense and allegation thereof would imply is repugnant not only to the practice and experience of the Christian Religion in all Ages but also to the express Ordinances of the Gospel it self For what are the Sacraments of the New Testament are they not Rites wherein and wherewith God is served and worshipped The consideration of the holy Eucharist alone will consute this Gloss For is not the commemoration of the Sacrifice of Christ's death upon the Cross unto his Father in the Symbols of Bread and Wine an external worship And yet with this Rite hath the Church in all Ages used to make her solemn address of Prayer and Supplication unto the Divine Majesty as the Iews in the Old Testament did by Sacrifice When I say in all Ages I include also that of the Apostles For so much S. Luke testifieth of that first Christian society
example many other of the Iews of the best rank having married strange wives likewise and loth to forgo them betook themselves thither also Sanballat willingly entertains them and makes his son-in-Law Manasse their Priest For whose greater reputation and state when Alexander the Great subdued the Persian Monarchy he obtained leave of him to build a Temple upon Mount Garizim where his son-in-Law exercised the office of High Priest This was exceedingly prejudicious to the Iews and the occasion of a continual Schism whilst those that were discontented or excommunicated at Ierusalem were wont to betake themselves thither Yet by this means the Samaritans having now one of the sons of Aaron to be their Chief Priest and so many other of the Iews both Priests and others mingled amongst them were brought at length to cast off all their false gods and to worship the Lord the God of Israel only Yet so that howsoever they seemed to themselves to be true worshippers and altogether free from Idolatry nevertheless they retained a smack thereof inasmuch as they worshipped the true God under a visible representation to wit of a Dove and circumcised their Children in the name thereof as the Iewish Tradition tells us who therefore always branded their worship with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or spiritual Fornication Iust as their predecessors the Ten Tribes worshipped the same God of Israel under the similitude of a Cals This was the condition of the Samaritan Religion in our Saviour's time and if we weigh the matter well we shall find his words here to the woman very pliable to be construed with reference thereunto You ask saith he of the true place of worship whether Mount Garizim or Ierusalem which is not now greatly material forasmuch as the time is at hand when men shall worship the Father at neither But there is a greater difference between you and us than of Place though you take no notice of it namely even about the Object of worship it self For ye worship what ye know not but we Iews worship what we know How is that Thus Ye worship indeed the Father the God of Israel as we do but you worship him under a corporeal representation wherein you shew you know him not But the hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and Truth In Spirit that is conceiving of him no otherwise than in Spirit and in Truth that is not under any corporeal or visible shape For God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and Truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not fancying him as a Body but as indeed he is a Spirit For those who worship him under a corporeal similitude do beli◠him according as the Apostle speaks Rom. 1. 23. of such as changed the glory of the Incorruptible God into an Image made like to corruptible Man Birds or Beasts They changed saith he the truth of God into a lie and served the creature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 juxta Creatorem as or with the Creator who is blessed for ever v. 25. Hence Idols in Scripture are termed Lies as Amos 2. 4. Their Lies have caused them to erre after which their Fathers walked The Vulgar hath Seduxerunt eos Idola ipsorum Their Idols have caused them to erre And Esay 28. 15. We have made Lies our refuge And Ier. 16. 19 20. The Gentiles shall come from the ends of the earth and shall say Surely our Fathers have possessed the Chaldee hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 have worshipped a lie vanity wherein there is no profit Shall a man make Gods unto himself and they are no Gods This therefore I take to be the genuine meaning of this place and not that which is commonly supposed against external worship which I think this Demonstration will evince To worship what they know as the Iews are said to do and to worship in Spirit and Truth are taken by our Saviour for one and the same thing else the whole sense will be inconsequent But the Iews worshipped not God without Rites and Ceremonies who yet are supposed to worship him in Spirit and Truth Ergo To worship God without Rites and Ceremonies is not to worship him in Spirit and Truth according to the meaning here intended DISCOURSE XIII S. LUKE 24. 45 46. Then opened he their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures And said unto them Thus it is written and thus it behoved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day OUR Blessed Saviour after he was risen from the dead told his Disciples not only that his Suffering of death and Rising again the third day was foretold in the Scriptures but also pointed out those Scriptures unto them and opened their understanding that they might understand them that is he expounded or explained them unto them Certain it is therefore that somewhere in the Old Testament these things were foretold should befall Messiah Yea S. Paul 1 Cor. 15. 3 4. will further assure us that they are I delivered unto you saith he first of all that which I also received how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures And that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures Both of them therefore are somewhere foretold in the Scriptures and it becomes not us to be so ignorant as commonly we are which those Scriptures be which foretell them It is a main point of our Faith and that which the Iews most stumble at because their Doctors had not observed any such thing foretold to Messiah The more they were ignorant thereof the more it concerns us to be confirmed therein I thought good therefore to make this the Argument of my Discourse at this time to inform both you and my self where these things are foretold and if I can to point out those very Scriptures which our Saviour here expounded to his Disciples Which that I may the better do I will make the words fore-going my Text to be as the Pole-star in this my search These are the things saith our Saviour which I spake unto you while I was yet with you That all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalms concerning me Then follow the words I read Then opened he their understanding c. These two events therefore of Messiah's death and rising again the third day were foretold in these Three parts of Scripture In the Law of Moses or Pentateuch in the Nebiim or Prophets and in the Psalms and in these Three we must search for them And first for the First That Messiah should suffer death This was fore-signified in the Law or Pentateuch First in the story of Abraham where he was commanded to offer his son Isaac the son wherein his seed should be called and to whom the promise was entailed That in it should all the Nations
to Moses but as solennia verba in that Case to her Child whom she circumcised it remains I should now tell you how they are so construed I say therefore Tu mihi sponsus sanguinum in Zipporah's meaning is as much as Sis mihi initiatus circumcisione Be thou my Bloud-son or the like It is well known how Tropically those words of relation of kindred Father Mother Sister Son are used in the Hebrew Tongue and Son besides other notions to be often the circumlocution of our vox concreta as Filius percussionis the Son of striking is he that is stricken or worthy to be beaten Filius foederis the Son of the Covenant is he that is in Covenant or to whom the Covenant belongs Filius mortis the Son of death he that is condemned to die or worthy of death and the like And why may not then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gener sanguinum that is as the Holy Ghost expounds it circumcisionis be as much as circumcisus and Gener sanguinum tu mihi es for so I told you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies be as much as I pronounce thee circumcised As if the circumcised person by being married to Circumcision were made the Circumciser's Son-in-law and Circumcision's Bridegroom as Es or Sis mihi in generum desponsatus circumcisioni Now thou art or Be thou my Son-in-law being espoused to Circumcision Or if Bloud or Circumcision note the Instrument the Formula may be thus explicated That the person circumcised becomes God's Son-in-law as being wedded and joyned to his Church by the Bloud of Circumcision as with a Ring and then the pronoun 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mihi must not be taken relatively to Zipporah as before but efficienter only in this sense Per me factus es gener Deo per sanguinem circumcisionis By me thou art made God's Son-in-law by the bloud of Circumcision or Feci te generum Deo I have made thee God's Son-in-law or if you like better the notion of Sponsus I have espoused thee to the Church of God by this rite of Circumcision or Thou art or Be thou espoused to the Church of God c. Thus as you see may the Formula be either way explicated to one and the same sense But the first I like the best because of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mihi the relative to Zipporah Tu mihi in generum es desponsatus circumcisioni Now thou art my Son-in-law being espoused to Circumcision Now lastly to free my Interpretation from novelty the sense I have given of these words is that which both the Septuagint and the Chaldee Paraphrast directly aim at the Paraphrast expounding it thus In sanguine circumcisionis istius datus est sponsus or gener mihi the Septuagint as we now read thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Stetit sanguis circumcisionis filii mei where the Text is corrupted and I believe the Septuagint translated not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sit hic sanguis circumcisionis Filii mei a Periphrastical but evident sense with the change of one letter only From the sense of this place thus proved I will point at two Observations and so conclude The First is That it is lawful to use some fitting form of words in the exhibition of a Sacrament though not expresly ordained by God at the institution thereof as appears by this Form that Zipporah used no doubt ex more according to the custom then whatsoever the Form were after that time The Second is That the neglect of the Circumcision of a child then and so consequently of Baptizing it now makes not so much the Child as the Parents liable to the wrath of God As here the Angel sought not to kill the Child who was uncircumcised but Moses the Father who should have circumcised it Both which Observations I mean to amplifie no farther but leave them to your exacter meditations and so I conclude DISCOURSE XV. EZEKIEL 20. 20. Hallow my Sabbaths and they shall be a sign between me and you to acknowledge that I Iehovah am your God THIS Commandment with the End thereof the Lord bids Ezekiel tell the Elders of Israel that he gave it to their Fathers in the Wilderness And it is recorded in the Law so that I might have taken it thence But I rather chose to make these words in Ezekiel my Text as expressed more plainly and so a Comment to those in the Law The place there is Exod. 31. 13. where this which my Text containeth is expressed thus Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations to acknowledge that I Iehovah am your sanctifier that is your God as the expression in Ezekiel tells us For to be the Sanctifier of a People and to be their God is all one whence also the Lord is so often called in Scripture the Holy One of Israel that is their Sanctifier and their God That which I intend at this time to observe from these words is the End why God commanded this Observation of the Sabbath to the Israelites to wit That thereby as by a Symbolum or Sign they might testifie and profess what God they worshipped Secondly out of this ground to shew How far and in what manner the like Observation binds us Christians who are worshippers of the same God whom the Iews worshipped though not under the same relation altogether wherein they worshipped him All Nations had something in their Ceremonies whereby they signified the God they worshipped So in those of the Celestial Gods as they termed them and those which were Deified Souls of men were differing Rites whereby the one was known from the other Those Gods which were made of men having Funeral rites in their services as Cogniâ—ances that they were Souls deceased and each of them some imitation of some remarkable passage of the Legend of their lives either of some action done by them or some accident which befel them as in the ceremonies of Osyris and Bacchus is obvious to any that reads them And indeed it is a natural Decorum for servants and vassals by some mark or cognisance to testifie who is their Lord and Master In the Revelation the worshippers of the Beast receive his mark and the worshippers of the Lamb carry his mark and his Father 's in their Fore-heads Hence came the first use of the Cross in Baptism as the mark of Christ the Deity to whom we are initiated and the same afterwards used in all Benedictions Prayers and Thanksgivings in token they were done in the name and merits of Christ crucified So that in the Primitive Church this Rite was no more but that wherewith we conclude all our Prayers and Thanksgivings when we say Through Iesus Christ our Lord and Saviour though afterward it came to be abused as almost all other Rites of Christianity to abominable Superstition To return therefore unto my Text. Agreeably to this Principle and this
are the Apodosis Know ye not saith the Apostle that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those that minister about holy things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do eat of the holy thing or as we turn it of the things of the Temple and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they which wait at the Altar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are fellow-sharers with the Altar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the Gospel should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those who were imployed about holy things are the Levites who lived 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the holy thing or if you had rather it should be a Substantive of the Temple that is of that which belonged thereto namely of the Tithes which belonged to the Temple but were no offering of the Altar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they who did incumbere or assidere altari wait at the Altar were the Priests whose proper office it was to offer sacrifices thereon and had part of the same for their proper maintenance as the breast and right shoulder before it was burnt and after so much as was reserved from burning so they did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostle speaks they were fellow-sharers with the Altar the Altar having one part of the Offering they another Thus you see the Apostle in both sutes the maintenance with the Office The Office of the Levites was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be imployed about holy things their maintenance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the holy thing or the revenue of the Temple 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they eat of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Office of the Priests 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to wait at the Altar their maintenance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to share with the Altar Now then must not the Apodosis answer the Protasis what manner of similitude what analogy will there be else Ergo as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to preach the Gospel is the Office of the Ministers of the Gospel so is their maintenance noted by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Those therefore who so interpret these words as if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the last place were taken in no other sense than it was in the first namely to note the Function or Calling of the Ministers as if the sense were no other but that the Ministers of the Gospel whose Calling it is to preach the Gospel should get their living by their Calling of preaching the Gospel make S. Paul the Author of a lame and inconsequent Similitude whose Apodosis answers not unto his Protasis For what a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what an Even so or analogy would this be The Levites lived of the Holy portion or revenue of the Temple as their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or wages Even so the Ministers of the Gospel must live by their Calling and Function The Priests were maintained out of the share they had of the Ofâ—erings of the Altar Even just so the Ministers of the Gospel must live by their Function of Preaching the Gospel May not any one see that the Apodosis answers not the Protasis For that speaks of the wages this of the service for which the wages is due Well therefore as in the Protasis the wages was compared with the work so must it be in the Apodosis too and consequently 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must here express the wages as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth the work But now here is the Quaere If 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 note not the Function but the wages and maintenance due to the Evangelick Ministers in what notion then is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here to be taken and how to be expounded Oecumenius would have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this last place to signifie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the believers of the Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the meaning to be That those who preach the Gospel should be maintained by those which believe the Gospel But this would make our Apodosis to answer the Protasis little better than the former For that speaks of the wages and maintenance of the Levites and Priests not a word of the maintainers Besides to speak properly 't is not true that the people maintain the Ministers they are not their Ministers but God's and he maintains them out of his own revenue and not at mens charges Quis militat suis stipendiis saith our Apostle at his entrance upon this Argument Who goeth to war at his own charges Now I ask Cujus stipendiis militat qui militat nonne Imperatoris At whose charges is it that any one goes to war is it not at the Sovereign's charges To which purpose note also by the way that it is not said here as we translate it So hath God ordained that those which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel but So hath God appointed or given order to those that preach the Gospel that they should live of the Gospel that is Non dicit Dominum mandâsse aliis ut eos alerent sed mandâsse ipsis ut ex Evangelio viverent But to return again to the interpretation of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which others therefore had rather take here for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for that which in the Gospel is consecrate to God viz. As the Priests and Levites had their maintenance out of that which was offered unto God in the Law so God had ordained that the Ministers of the Gospel should be maintained of that which is consecrate to him in the Gospel And this sense is straight and good But what need we flie to a Trope when the natural sense of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will serve our turn yea do it much better For howsoever in the New Testament it most commonly signifies good tidings yet in other Greek Writers the more usual signification in the singular number is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 praemium quod datur laetum afferenti nuncium the gift or reward wont to be given for good tidings Homer Odyss 14. brings in Ulysses in a poor traveller's disguise stipulating with his servant Eumaeus what his reward should be for the good news he promised to tell him of his Master's life and speedy return 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let this be my 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Reward saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A cloak a coat and other good garments To whom Eumaeus answers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â— Neither am I able to give such an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Reward neither will Ulysses ever come home again Plutarch in his De gloria Atheniensium relates that the Lacedaemonians to one that brought them tidings of the victory at Mantinâ—a having been no actor but a spectator only sent for an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 only a dish of meat from one of their common suppers called Phiditia the words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The same Author within three or four
illustrate that of S. Paul's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I now speak of But Prov. 28. 27. is a place not capable of this exception He that giveth to the poor shall not lack but he that hideth his eyes shall have many a curse THUS we have seen how the Righteous man is in remembrance with God Now let us see how the same is and ought to be in remembrance with men And it may be inferred from the former For why should not we remember those whom God doth The practice in the Church of God hath been accordingly The Iews when they make mention of any of their deceased Worthies are wont to do it with this Encomium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let his memory be blessed Otherwise with this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be his memory blessed to eternity And of their Rabbies in general when they mention them they say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Our Rabbies whose memory be blessed Which encomiastical Scheme is taken from that of Solomon Prov. 10. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â— The memory of the righteous is blessed which therefore they sometimes use unaltered to the purpose aforesaid sometimes with addition as Let the memory of the just be blessed to eternity sometimes Let the memory of the just and holy be with blessing These formulae are frequent in their writings Nor hath this commemorative Scheme been taken up by them as some perhaps may suppose since the coming of our Saviour in the time of their dispersion but was used long before as may appear Ecclus. 45. 1. where Moses is thus remembred Moses beloved of God and men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose memorial is blessed And in the next Chapter like mention is made of the Iudges of Israel namely The Iudges every one by name whose heart went not a whoring nor departed from the Lord. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let their memory be in benediction So of Iudas Maccabaeus 1 Mac. 3. 7. He grieved many Kings and made Iacob glad with his acts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 His memorial is or Let his memorial be blessed for ever But what is the meaning of this Formula what is it for the memory of the righteous to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or with blessing The Septuagint's Translation of that Prov. 10. 7. whence as I told you this Form of honourable remembrance is taken will soon resolve us for they in stead of the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The memory of the just is with blessing have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The memory of the just is with praises To make mention therefore of the righteous by way of benediction is to praise them For the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to bless in Scripture hath a treble notion First to speak well of secondly to speak well for thirdly to do well unto To speak well of is to praise So we are said to bless God when we praise and glorifie him Benedic anima mea Domino Bless the Lord O my Soul that is praise him Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that is praised Bless the Lord all ye Nations that is praise him and so every where in the Psalms The second notion To speak well for is to pray for So the Priest is said to bless the people when he prayes for them The Lord bless you and save you The Lord make his holy countenance to shine upon you and be merciful unto you So other blessings of the like kind are prayers for those over whom they are pronounced The third notion of blessing is To do good unto to bestow some gift or good upon Thus God is said to have blessed man when he said unto him Increase and multiply replenish the earth and subdue it that is He endowed him with these gifts In thy seed shall all the Nations of the world be blessed that is receive some great benefit So God is said to have blessed the Patriarchs when he made them to thrive and gave them wealth and riches according to that of Solomon Prov. 10. 22. The blessing of the Lord maketh rich and he addeth no sorrow with it namely such as is wont to accompany riches gotten without God's blessing Hence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Blessing in Scripture signifies a gift or present bounty or beneficence The Present of cattel which Iacob provided for his brother Esau when he went to meet him is all that Story through call'd his Blessing The Presents which David sent of his prey to the Elders of Iudah 1 Sam. 30. 26. are there call'd Blessings And in the New Testament 2 Cor. 9. the collection at Corinth for the poor Saints at Ierusalem is thrice called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their blessing which we translate Bounty I thought good to be a little diligent in this explication that we might be the better able to discern what kind of remembrance of righteous men deceased is commended unto us in that Scripture The memory of the righteous is with blessing whence not the Iew only as you have heard but the Christian also seem to have derived their practice in that particular which I am now to shew For the Christian in this point hath been no whit short of the Iew but exceeded him rather not in the later only but in those better and Primitive times witness those anniversary remembrances of the Martyrs and Saints deceased the appointing of Festival days for their memorial the custome to assemble at their Sepulchres to make Panegyrick orations in their honour and above all that ancient and so long-continued custome without known beginning to commemorate at the Holy Table when the Encharist was celebrated the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Evangelists Martyrs and Confessors All which tended to this That the memory of the righteous might be with blessing In the extent of which Blessing the Christian went beyond the Iew For of that threefold notion of Blessing I now speak of first to speak well of or to praise secondly to speak well for or to pray for thirdly to do well unto the Iews â—eem not anciently but only of late to have used any but the first in their Commemorations namely that of praise But the Christian added the second of prayer and good wishes for the Saints departed namely for their publick acquital and consummation at the day of Resurrection which had it continued in the first and original meaning could not be disliked but having proved in time the Mother of many Superstitions and Errours and kindled the fire of Purgatory it was thought fit by the Authors of our Reformation to be disused and the blessing of the Dead to be confined to that of praise only namely of praising and commending them by recounting their worthy deeds and then secondly of praising God for them And this is the duty we are now assembled to perform to our blessed Founders and Benefactors DISCOURSE XXIII S. MATTHEW
the Books written after the Captivity he is styled Deus coeli the God of Heaven as in Ezra Nehemiah Daniel in which Books together with the last of Chronicles the title of Deus Sabaoth The Lord of Hosts is not to be found but the title of Deus Coeli The God of Heaven only which as may seem was taken up for some reason in stead of the other But to return to what we have in hand It was the Angelical Host as ye hear who sang this Song of joy and praise unto the most High God And wherefore For any restitution or addition of Happiness to themselves No but for Peace on Earth and Good-will towards men He that was now born took not upon him the Nature of Angels but of men He came not into the world to save Angels but for the salvation of men Nor was the state of Angels to receive advancement in glory by his coming but the state of men and that too in such a sort as might seem to impeach the dignity and dim the lustre of those excellent creatures when an inferiour Nature the nature of Man was now to be advanced unto a throne of Divine majesty and to become Head and King not only of men but of the Heavenly Host it self O ye blessed Angels what did these tidings concern you That ruined mankind should be restored again and taken into favour whereas those of your own Host which fell likewise remained still in that gulf of perdition whereinto their sin had plunged them without hope of mercy or like promise of Deliverance What did it add to your eminent Dignity the most excellent of the creatures of God that the Nature of man should be advanced above yours that at the Name of Iesus every knee should bow of things in Heaven and things in Earth and things under the Earth The Observation therefore which this Act of the Angels first presents unto us is The ingenuous goodness and sweet disposition of those immaculate and blessed Spirits in whose bosomes Envy the Image of the Devil and deadly poison of Charity hath no place at all For if any inclination to this cankered passion had been in these Heavenly creatures never such an occasion was offered nor greater could be to stir it up as now But Heaven admits of no such passion nor could such a torment consist with the blissful condition of those who dwell therein It is the smoke of that bottomless pit a native of Hell the character and cognisance of those Apostate Angels which kept not their first estate but left their own habitation and are reserved for chains of everlasting darkness These indeed grieve no less at the Happinâ—ss of men than the Angels joy witness the name of their Prince Satan which signifies the Fiend or malicious one who out of Envy overthrew mankind in the beginning out of Envy he and all his fellow-fiends are so restless and indefatigable to seduce him still The Use of this Observation will not be far to seek if we remember the admonition our Saviour hath given us in the Prayer left unto his Church which is To make the Angels the pattern of our imitation in doing the will of our heavenly Father for so he teacheth us to pray Let thy will be done in earth as it is done in heaven that is Grant us O Lord to do thy will here as thy holy Angels do it there And as we should imitate them in all things else so in this affection towards the happiness and prosperity of others And good reason I think if we mean at all to approve our selves unto God our Father why we should endeavour rather to be like unto them than unto Devils But in nothing can we be more like them than in this to rejoyce for the good and not repine at the happiness of our Brethren Hoc enim Angelicum est This is the Character of the Angelical nature and consequently of those who one day shall have fellowship with them To be contrarily affected Diabolicum est is the badge and brand of Devils and Fiends and those who wear their Livery reason good they should keep them company Let every one therefore examine his own heart concerning this point that he may learn upon what terms he stands with God and what he may promise himself of the Blessedness to come Do the gifts of God doth his favour or blessing vouchsafed to thy brother when thou â—eest or hearest of them torment and crucifie thy soul dost thou make their happiness thy misery is thine eye evil to thy Brother because God's is good If this be so without doubt thy heart is not right before God nor doth his Spirit but the spirit of Devils and Fiends reign therein But if the contrary appear in any reasonable measure with a desire to encrease it for we must not look to attain the perfection of Angels in this life but in some measure and degree only if thou canst rejoyce at anothers good though it concerns not thy self the Spirit of God rests upon thee For emulations and envyings saith the Apostle Gal. 5. 19. c. are the fruits of the flesh but the fruits of the Spirit are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 kindness and goodness So he calls the opposite vertues to those former vices But as any good that betides our brother ought to affect us with some degree of joy and not with grief and envy so chiefly and most of all his Spiritual good and that which concerns his Salvation ought so to do This was that the holy Angels praised God for in my Text on the behalf of men That unto them a Saviour was born who should save them from their sins and reconcile them unto God Which sweet disposition of those good and blessed spirits our Saviour himself further witnesseth when he saith Luke 15. 7 10. There is joy in heaven namely among the holy Angels for one sinner that repenteth But is there any man will you say such a son of Belial as he will not do this will not imitate the holy Angels in this Iudge ye There is an evil disease which commonly attends upon Sects and Differences in opinion That as men are curiously inquisitive into the lives and actions of the adverse party so are they willing to find them faulty and rejoyce at their falls and slips hear and relate them with delight namely because they suppose it makes much for their own side that the contrary should by such means be scandalized and the Patrons and followers thereof disreputed But should that be the matter of our grief whereat the Angels joy or that the matter of our joy whereat the Angels grieve How is this to do our Father's will on earth as the Angels do in heaven Nay if this be not to put on the robes of darkness and to shake hands with hellish Fiends I know not what is O my Soul come not thou into their secret unto
unto the Lamb for ever and ever In which we may observe the whole Glorification to consist in the acknowledgement of these Three soveraign prerogatives of the Divine Majesty his Power his Wisdom his Goodness The two first Power and Wisdom are express and Riches and Strength belong to Power the third is contained in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Blessing or Thanksgiving which is nothing else but the Confession of the Divine Goodness Hence it is that the Septuagint and Vulgar Latine commonly render the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifie to praise and glorifie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 confiteor Confitemini Domino quoniam bonus quoniam in seculum misericordia ejus Confess unto the Lord for he is good for his mercy is for ever Psal. 106. 1. 107. 1. 136. 1. Confitebor tibi Domine in toto corde meo quoniam audisti verba oris mei I will confess unto thee O Lord with my whole heart for thou hast heard the words of my mouth So the Vulgar Latin in Psal. 137. Confitemini Domino invocate nomen ejus Confess unto the Lord and call upon his name Psal. 105. 1. and the like And in the 148. Psal. 13. Confessio ejus super coelum terram that is His glory is above the heaven and the earth The Holy Ghost in the New Testament useth the same language Matth. 11. 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes where we have I thank thee O Father Beza and Erasmus read â—loriam tibi tribuo I give glory unto thee which I think is the better So Luke 2. 38. it is said of Anna 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 she confessed to the Lord or she gave praise and thanks unto the Lord. So Heb. 13. 15. By him therefore that is by Christ let us offer the Sacrifice of Praise to God continually that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the fruit of our lips confessing to his Name By all which it is evident That to Praise and give Glory unto God whether by Praise at large or Prayer and Thanksgiving in special is nothing else as I have said but to confess and acknowledge his peerless Majesty over all and in all which the Scripture calls his Glory And if ever there were a Work of God wherein all these peerless Prerogatives of Power Wisdom and Goodness all together appeared in the highest degree it was undoubtedly in this wonderful Work of the Incarnation of the Son of God for man's redemption well therefore might the heavenly Host sing Gloria in excelsis Deo Glory be to God on High The Power the Wisdom and Goodness of the Glorious God be acknowledged by the holy Angels and all the Host of heaven for ever and ever This is the meaning of the Doxology COME we now to the Gratulation which contains the cause thereof Glory be to God on high for ô factum bene O happy news there is peace on earth good-will towards men One and the same thing two ways expressed for it is an Apposition or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the latter words declaring the meaning of the former Peace on earth that is Good will towards men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to wit in imitation of the Hebrew construction where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Verbs which signifie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Noun signifying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are construed with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek and accordingly both the Septuagint and New Testament express the same But the Vulgar Interpreter reads here Pax in terris hominibus bonae voluntatis Peace on earth to men of good-will as if the Greek were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as now all our Copies constantly read and I believe ever did Yet Beza seems here to favour the Vulgar Latin expounding Homines bonae voluntatis Men of good-will of those whom God wills well to to wit of the Elect to whom this Peace by Christ belongeth and from the conveniency of this sense inclines to believe that the Greek anciently read so quoting to this end Irenaeus Origen and Chrysostome as he saith in divers places But he trusted too much the Latin Translation of Chrysostome for the Greek Chrysostome hath no such matter but both in those places Beza points to and in divers others reads constantly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as our Copies do And so I make no question Irenaeus and Origen did too in the Greek Originals if we had them to look into But the Latin Translators thought not fit to alter the words of the Hymn so ordinarily sung in the Liturgy and so expressed it in Latin as the Latin Church used And for the meaning I believe the Vulgar Latin aim'd at no other sense than what the Greek implies namely That this Peace was no earthly Peace but the Peace of God's good-will to man referring the Genitive Case voluntatis not to hominibus but to Pax. Pax in terris what Pax Pax bonae voluntatis hominibus That which makes me think so is because Origen or his Translator in the place Beza quotes for this reading expresly expounds it so And so there will not be a pin to chuse save that the Greek expresseth this sense by way of Apposition more naturally the Latin by way of Rection somewhat harshly and yet perhaps the Translator thought less ambiguously Well then This Peace on earth is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God's good-will or favour to men and God's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Good-will to men is the Peace on earth the Angels gratulate namely the Reconciliation of God to men in Christ. For by reason of sin Heaven and Earth God and Man were till now at enmity but by Christ this enmity is taken away and man by the forgiveness of his sin restored unto peace and favour with God And as by this Nativity God and Man became one Person so by this conjunction Heaven and Earth Angels and Men become one Fellowship one City and Kingdom of God the Kingdom of Satan that Prince of the powers of the Air who by reason of sin had captivated and brought under his service the whole Earth and thereby held the same at open war and enmity with Heaven being now by degrees to be destroyed and rooted out And this is that admirable Mystery of our Redemption by Christ which the Angelical Host here gratulates by the name of Peace on earth and Good-will towards men And that we may not doubt but we have hit the meaning That this Peace on earth is God's Good-will to men and therefore expounded by it besides that in the Old Testament Peace is often taken for God's favour and mercy to men as in that of Esay 54. 10. The mounâ—ains shall
root nor branch c. he addeth Behold saith the Lord I will send you Elijah the Prophet before the coming of that great and dreadful day of the Lord And he shall turn or restore the heart of the Fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their Fathers lest I come and smite the earth with a curse If we will not admit the Day here described to be the Day of Iudgment I know scarce any description of that Day in the Old Testament but we may elude For the phrase of turning or as I had rather translate it restoring as the LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the heart of the Fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their Fathers the meaning is That this Elias should bring the refractory and unbelieving posterity of the Iewish nation to have the same heart and mind their holy Fathers and Progenitors had who feared God and believed his promises that so their Fathers might as it were rejoyce in them and own them for their children that is he should convert them to the faith of that Christ whom their Fathers hoped in and looked for lest continuing obstinate in their unbelief till the great day of Christ's Second coming they might perish among the rest of the enemies of his Kingdom Therefore the son of Syrach in his praise of Elias the Thisbite paraphraseth this place after this manner Who hast ordained saith he an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or type for so it may be turned for the times to come to pacifie the wrath of the Lord's judgment before it break forth into fury and to turn the heart of the Father unto the Son and to restore the tribes of Israel Ecclus. 48. 10. Which explication also the Angel warrenteth Luke 1. 17. in his message to Zachary concerning his son He shall go saith he before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elias to turn the hearts of the Fathers to the Children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just this is in stead of reducing the hearts of the children to their Fathers to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. For the better understanding of this first Reason we must know That the old Prophets for the most part spake of the coming of Christ indefinitely and in general without that distinction of First and Second coming which we have more clearly learned in the Gospel For this reason those Prophets except Daniel who distinguisheth those comings and the Gospel out of him speak of the things which should be at the coming of Christ indefinitely and all together which we who are now more fully informed by the revelation of his Gospel of this distinction of a Twofold coming must apply each of them to its proper time Those things which befit the state of his First coming unto it and such things as befit the state of his Second coming unto his Second and that which befits both alike as this of an Harbinger or Messenger may be applied to both My Second Reason for the proof hereof is from our Saviour's own words in the Gospel Matth. 17. 10 11. where his disciples immediately upon his Transfiguration asking him saying Why then say the Scribes that Elias must first come Our Saviour answers Elias truly shall first come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and shall restore all things These words our Saviour spake when Iohn Baptist was now beheaded and yet speaks as of a thing future 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Elias shall come and shall restore all things How can this be spoken of Iohn Baptist unless he be to come again Besides I cannot see how this Restoring of all things can be verified of the ministry of Iohn Baptist at the First coming of Christ which continued but a very short time and did no such thing as these words seem to imply for the Restoring of all things belongs not to the First but to the Second coming of Christ if we will believe S. Peter in his first Sermon in the Temple after Christ's ascension Acts 3. 19 c. where he thus speaks unto the Iews Repent saith he and be converted for the blotting out of your sins that the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord And that be may send Iesus Christ which before was preached unto you Whom the heavens must receive until the times of the Restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy Prophets since the world began The word is the same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If the time or Restoring all things be not till the Second coming of Christ how could Iohn Baptist restore all things at his First If the Master come not to restore all things till then surely his Harbinger who is to prepare his way for restoring all things is not be lookt for till then These are the Reasons which have induced me to think that the opinion which the Church hath held as far as I know from her Infancy of an Elias which should be the Harbinger of Christ's Second coming hath some matter of truth in it But that this Elias should be Elias the Thisbite who was taken up into Heaven I confess I believe not no more than that he should be slain by Antichrist as some fable For that which the Prophet saith Behold I will send you Elijah the Prophet proves no more that it should be Elijah in person than that which is said of Messiah And David my servant shall rule over them proves Christ should be David in person It is much more like if it be one that comes again it should be Iohn Baptist himself who was the Harbinger of the First coming That as Christ himself the Master hath two comings so should his Harbinger have And as it shall be the same Christ which comes the second time that came the first so should his Harbinger be the same And to this both the words of the Angel to Zachary the father of the Baptist and the words of our Saviour in the place before quoted would not be unpliable The Second coming of Christ is the time of the Resurrection and in that respect it would not be unsuitable for the Harbinger thereof to be one risen from the dead But as for Elias the Thisbite's coming I find no ground at all but the contrary Howsoever though I compare probabilities I will not determine any thing lest some perhaps should say that while I reject old fables I coin new ones I rather conclude with that Iewish Proverb Cùm Elias venerit solvet nodos When that Elias comes he shall dislolve hard questions AND thus much of the circumstance of Time when our Saviour first began his solemn prophecy or preaching of the Gospel namely not till his Harbinger Iohn had done and finished his preparation Now I come to the Second circumstance namely of the Place which was Galilee Iesus came into Galilee c. A circumstance curiously noted
had provided for his Priesthood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to take away from them out of whose labours this maintenance did accrue all occasion of upbraiding those who by Godâ—s assignment were to receive it he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The people were commanded to bring their offerings first to the Temple that thence the Priests might fetch them It being not unworthy God himself in token of gratitude for his infinite bounty and benefits to take some part back again from him upon whom he had conferred so great benefits and seeing himself the Giver of all good gifts stood in need of nothing it pleased him to transfer that honourable maintenance which was so returned him by way of thankfulness upon those that served at his Altar and ministred about holy things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he gives the reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because they the Priests might take that their provision without being ashamed as not coming from men but from God the Giver of all good gifts to every one For they are his Ministers and not the people's and therefore to receive their wages from their own Master who imploys them and not from them The stating of the Question thus would make the way to the resolution of the controversie more easie and less invidious whilst we should plead for God and not for our selves For it is not needful that all which is given unto God should be spent upon his Ministers though it be true that their maintenance should be out of his Revenue and that honourable and competent But there are many other uses for the imployment of bona sacra the sacred Revenues if there be more than is competent for them and theirs building of Churches defraying of such as are sent to Synods and imployed upon other occasions of the Church furnishing of treasures for a Holy War the relief of the poor the Orphan the Widow the Captive and the distressed All which belong to Christ's provision Thus much of the First Observation Now I come to the Second That that which is consecrated to God may not be alienated to other uses The Reasons whereof are 1. Because none can alienate but he that hath the propriety and is Owner Dominium transferre non potest qui ipse Dominus non est But in things consecrate to God none hath the propriety but God For certainly a man cannot be said to have given that unto God wherein he still reserves the Title to himself as the Owner He that gives transfers the Dominium from himself unto him to whom the gift is made If therefore that which is given to God be God's then must those who go about to alienate it dispose of that which is none of theirs which whether it be just or not let any man judge 2. To alienate that which is given unto God is a Breach of Vow or Promise made unto him a lying unto him as my Text speaks And if it be a Sin not to perform what was vowed in the purpose of the Heart only as we see it was in this Story of Ananias much more is it to revoke a Vow already performed Nor will it serve turn to say This reason may indeed concern the person himself that vowed that he should not revoke again what he hath vowed but doth not take away from the Commonwealth or publick Magistrate their power to dispose of things subject to them For howsoever it be true That every private person and his goods are under the tuition of the Publick and the interest the Publick hath in either cannot be given away by the sole act of a private person yet in this case that Rule hath place which is given by Almighty God Numb 30. 3 c. concerning a Maiden's vow in her Father's house or a Woman's vow under covert That if the Father or the Husband hear the Vow and the bond wherewith she bound her soul and disallow it not but shall hold his peace then the vow shall stand So when the Commonwealth or publick Magistrate consents to and allows what is done as in this case it is supposed they do the vow and dedication is also irrevocable on their part Hence in Scripture it is made an inseparable property of that which is Sacred or God's not to be alienable As in Ezek. 48. 14. it is said of the portion of land to be laid out for the Levites They shall not sell it neither exchange nor alienate the first-fruits of the land mark the reason for it is holy unto the Lord. This was the reason likewise why a Iew might not sell out-right his possession in the land of Canaan but only for fifty years term or until the year of Iubilee because the whole land was holy and God's land and they but Vsnfructâ—aries So saith God Levit. 25. 23. The land shall not be sold for ever or out-right for the land is mine for ye are strangers and sojourners with me therefore v. 24. in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land Where he saith ye are strangers and sojourners with me the meaning is That as the Gentiles who became Proselytes had no inheritance in the land but dwelt therein as sojourners So was all Israel in the sight of God who would have none accounted Proprietaries of that land but himself having acquired it by his own powerful conquest from the Canaanite For although in the same land some part were yet in a more special manner the Lord's land yet comparatively and secundum quid the whole land was Sacred and His. As all Israel was a peculiar and holy people though the Tribe of Levi were in a more special sort the holy Tribe Now if that which was but in a more general sense holy and the Lord's might not be alienâ—ted what shall we say of that which is holy and His in the most special manner of all I speak all this while of that which is dedicate unto God absolutely and not with limitation or for term of time only for such Dedications I suppose there may be Now if any shall ask me whether this Assertion That things dedicate to God are unalienable admits not of some limitations I answer It may and that in two cases If either it can be proved that the Donation made unto God were a nullity or shewed that God hath relinquished the right which once he had But here the water begins to grow too deep for my wading yet I hope I may say thus much That whosoever he be that shall plead either of these Cases to acquit himself of Sacriledge had need be sure in a point of such moment that his evidence be good and such as he can shew good warrant for out of God's own Book To go upon bare conjectures will not be safe And for direction and caution in this Case I will add further That not every sinfulness of the person who is the Donor nor every default or
Gospel was also spred among the Gentiles the Apostles were so careful to make Collections in all the Churches for the relief of the poor Saints at Ierusalem even those who at the first had disfurnished themselves of all and at whose charges as may be supposed the Gospel was at the beginning preached among the Gentiles Rom. 15. 26 27. 1 Cor. 16. 1. 2 Cor. ch 8 and ch 9. And seeing I have entred thus far into the question of Monkery I will take leave to examine two more Examples which they bring to that purpose though not so near to the matter of my Text as the former Thirdly therefore The Patrons of Monkery alledge the Example of the Rechabites of whom we read Ier. 35. 6 7. that according to an Ordinance wherewith their Father Ionadab bound them they drank no wine built no houses sowed no seed neither planted nor possessed vineyards or fields but lived in tents all their days Which singularity of life seems not only to resemble but to warrant that of Monkery in those two main points of forsaking possessions and abstaining from meats seeing God himself in that place commended those Rechabites for observing this Ordinance of Ionadab their Father But I answer This of the Rechabites was no matter of Religion as that of Monks is but a mere civil Ordinance grounded upon a National custome For the Rechabites were of the race of the Family of Hobab the Kenite Moses's Father-in-law as you may read 1 Chron. 2. 55. Now the Kenites were Midiâ—nites and the Midianites were dwellers in Tents from the beginning This I prove 1. Becauâ—e the Arabiâ—ns of those parts were such both then and still are at this day 2. The Ishmaelites and Midianites dwelt together insomuch that their names are consounded in Scripture or interchangeably used the one for the other For Gen. 37. 25 28. those Merchants to whom Ioseph was sold are promiscuously called sometimes Ishmaelites sometimes Midianites as if they were both one people as indeed they both descended of Abraham the one by his handmaid Hagar the other by his second wife Keturah So Iudg. 8. 24. the Midianites which Gideon vanquished are called Ishmaelites They had saith the Text golden ear-rings for they were Ishmaelites Now it is apparent in Scripture that the Ishmaelites or Hagarens used to dwell in Tents whence 1 Chron. 5. 10. it is said the Reubenites in the daies of Saul made war with the Hagarites who fell by their hand and they dwelt in their tents throughout all the East-land of Cilead Besides of the Ishmaelites were those famous Scenite-Arabians mentioned in Scripture so oft under the name of the Tents of Kedar Such therefore as the Ishmaelites were may we deem the Midianites also to have been who dwelt with them and to put it quite out of doubt we have so much told us in Scripture in the prayer of Habakkuk cha 3. 7. I saw saith he the Tents of Cushan or Arabia in affliction and the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble This custome of their Nation and Countrey did that Midian Tribe of the Kenites of which was the Father-in-law of Moses still observe after they came to live in Canaan with the Israelites So we read Iud. 4. 11. that Hober the Kenite which was of the children of Hobab the Father-in-law of Moses severed himself from the Kenites and pitched his tent unto the plain of Zaanaim which is by Kedesh See 1 Chron. 2. 55. according to Hierome And this manner of living they seem to have retained partly for to be a Badge and Cognizance of the Nation whence they were descended and partly to live the more securely in the land where they were strangers either from the envie of the Iews at home or danger of enemies abroad to whom by this means they should be the less subject as having neither houses to fire nor lands to be taken from them but only cattel wherewith they lived and tentsâ— which they removed hither and thither as opportunity served for pasture to feed them Even as Abraham lived while he sojourned as a stranger in the land of Canaan and in imitation of whom being their Ancestor perhaps this custome was derived to the Midianites his children Howsoever at length it seems these Kenites allured by the more pleasant living of the Israelites began to change this custome of their Ancestors which occasioned Ionadab the son of Rechab a famous Kenite to renew it again and bind his posterity to observe it and to that end he forbad them altogether to drink any Wine lest desire thereof might occasion them to plant Vineyards and so to build Houses as the Iews did and so to forsake the custome of their Nation as perhaps licorousness of Wine before had caused many of them to do For certain it is that Ionadeb renewed but that which their Ancestors had observed long before he was born And thus you see it was no order of Religion which they bound themselves unto but a maintenance of a Civil custome And therefore the wild Arabians and Tartars who at this day live in like manner are as good a Pattern to warrant Monkery by as they But there is another Example yet wherein they put great confidence as being established by God himself and that is of the Nazarites in the Law who bound themselves by a solemn vow to a singularity of life not much unlike that of Monks especially those of the ancient form as to separate themselves unto the Lord to drink neither wine nor strong drink nor suffer a razor to come upon their heads and to be accounted in a special manner holy unto God above other men I answer If this be the sample from which Monkery is derived there needs no other Argument utterly to overthrow it and therefore it is as ill chosen as could be For this Law of Nazarism is one of the things expresly named which the Apostles decreed at the Council of Ierusalem should not be imposed upon the Gentiles who believed in Christ. Look Acts 21. where S. Paul having made a Nazarite's Vow at Cenchrea for a certain time according to the manner Iames and the Elders of the Church at Ierusalem advised him to joyn himself with four others who had the like Vow upon them and the time thereof also as Paul's was then to be fulfilled for they were seldom perpetual and to take and purifie himself according to the Law with them that the Iews might take notice he was conformable to the Laws and Orders of his own Nation till God should dissolve the same But as touching the Gentiles saith Iames verse 25. we have written and concluded that they observe no such thing Is not this plain enough If therfore Law of Nazarites be the Pattern of Monkish Orders the Apostles decreed the Gentiles should observe no such thing And for the Iews God hath now also dissolved their Temple and all their Legal Worship THUS much for the first Observation
examine our actions past to amend our lives lest as bad if not a worse thing befal us or ours And if at any time we see an Example of this upon one of God's own children as we heard of David before a man after God's own heart let us learn to fear and tremble and say If such things befal those whom God most loveth what shall become of us if we sin likewise Again when we see God thus punishing sin in the eyes of the world let us acknowledge his All-seeing Providence and say with those Rev. 15. 3 4. Great and marvellous are thy works Lord God Almighty just and true are thy ways thou King of Saints Who shall not fear thee O Lord and glorifie thy Name when thy judgments are made manifest and with David Psal. 9. 16. and Psal. 11. 7. The Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth for the righteous Lord loveth righteousness AND thus I come to the second thing I observed namely That God often forbears and defers his punishments As I did long ago saith Adonibezek yea again and again seventy times one after another so long and so often that I thought God had either not seen or quite forgotten me yet now I see he requiteth me How true this Observation is is sufficiently witnessed by their experience who have little less than stumbled and staggered hereat This made Cato a Heathen man to cry out Res divinae multum habent caliginis The disposals of Divine providence are not a little cloudy and dark This made David a man after God's own heart to confess and say My feet were almost gone my steps had well-nigh slipped This made Ieremy cry out from the bottom of an amazed soul Righteous art thou O Lord when I plead with thee yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper why are they happy that deal very treacherously Yea those Martyred Saints Rev. 6. 10. are heard to cry from under the Altar How long O Lord holy and true dost thou not judge and avenge our bloud on them that dwell upon the earth Now as these forenamed have stumbled at God's delaying and forbearing his judgments so others there are who have been quite deceived verily believing that with God Quod differtur ausertur what was forborn was also forgotten Such as one was Adonibezek here who having escaped so long thought to have escaped ever And such were those whereof David spake Psal. 10. 6. Who say in their hearts We shall never be moved we shall never be in adversity Such an one is the great Whore of Babylon that sings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I sit like a Queen and am no widow and shall see no sorrow Such an one was Pherecydes Syrius master of Pythaegoras and a famous Philosopher and one that is said to have been the first Philosopher that taught among the Greeks the Soul to be immortal and yet among all his knowledge had not learned this one Principle The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom For as AElian reports he used among his scholars to vaunt of his irreligion after this manner saying That he had never offered sacrifice to any God in all his life and yet had lived as long and as merrily as those who had offered several Hecatombs But he that thus impiously abused the long-suffering of God came at length to an end as strange as his impiety was unusual for so they report of him that he was stricken like Herod by the Angel of the Lord with such a disease that Serpents bred of the corrupt humors of his body which eat and consumed him being yet alive But that we may neither distrust the righteous ways of God nor prevent his unsearchable counsels with our over-hasty expectation let us a little consider of the Ends why God oftentimes deâ—ers and prolongs his Iudgments These Ends I suppose may be referred unto four heads 1. For the sake of godly ones for whom God useth to forbear even multitudes of sinners So had there been but ten righteous persons in Sodom Sodom had never been destroyed I will not destroy it saith God for tens sake So for good Iosiah's sake God deâ—erred the plagues he had decreed to bring upon that people that Iosiah might be first gathered unto his fathers in peace and his eyes might not see all the evil that he was to bring upon that place as it is 2 Kings 22. 20. For as the new wine saith the Lord Esa. 65. 8. is found in the cluster and one saith Destroy it not for a blessing is in it even so will I do for my servants sakes that I may not destroy them all That is I will spare a whole cluster of men even for one or two blessed servants of mine which I shall find therein This is the first End and this is most if not only found in publick judgments and common sins such as concern whole societies of men for in such properly doth God for the sake of godly ones forbear a multitude of sinners 2. The second End is To give time of repentance and amendment For the Lord is long-suffering not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance as it is 2 Pet 3. 9. This is shewed by the parable of the Fig-tree Luke 13. 7. Three years the husbandman came to seek fruit and found none and the fourth year he expected before he would cut it down An hundred and twenty years the old world had given them before the Floud came And Ionah proclaimed not Yet one day but Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be destroyed This End concerns such punishments as deprive men of life and of the means of salvation and of amendment of life For such as these only can God be said to forbear to give time of repentance For as for other punishments not the forbearance but the hastening of them rather would cause repentance seeing men then use to remember and call upon God when they are in misery and affliction 3. The third End of God's deferring his punishments is The opportunity of example by them unto others and of manifesting his own glory God is Lord of Times and as he created them so he alone knows a fit Time for all things under the Sun He therefore who knows all occasions when he seeth a fit Time for his Iudgments to profit other men by example and most of all to set forth his own glory then he sends them forth and till then he will defer them 4. The fourth End or Reason hath some affinity with this and it is When God intending some extraordinary judgment suffers mens sins to grow unto a full ripeness that their sin may be as conspicuous unto the world as his purpose is their punishment shall be Thus God punished not the Canaanites in Abraham's time but deferred it till Israel's coming out of Egypt and that as
which God sends for any special sin but it hath one of these marks in it Come therefore to Adonibezek and let us learn of him by God's stamp in our punishment to find out what sin he aims at If we would once use to read this Hand-writing of God in our crosses and afflictions what a motive would it be to make us leave many a sin wherein the Devil nuzzles us the greatest part of our life without sense and feeling For if any thing would rouze us and scare us from sin sure this would to hear word from God himself what the sin is he plagues us for and so sharply warns us to amend Whensoever therefore any cross or calamity befals us or any of ours either in body goods or name or in the success of any thing we take in hand let us not rebel against God with an impatient heart or fret at the occasion or author of our misery but let us take a just account of our life past and thus reason with our selves This is surely none other but the very Finger of God I am punished therefore have I sinned I am punished thus and thus in this or that sort in this or that thing in this or that place or time therefore God is angry with me for something I have done the same with that I suffer or something like unto it or because I sinned in this thing or at this time or in this place when and where I now am punished As I have done so surely God hath requited me Therefore I will not look any longer upon any other cause or occasion of this misery of this cross or calamity but look unto my sin and give glory unto God who sent the hand which hath done all this unto me Thus did the sons of Iacob having no doubt learned of their good father to make this use of their crosses and afflictions For when they saw themselves so roughly entertained in Egypt being challenged for spies of the countrey when their brother Simeon was to lie in prison in a strange land and not only this brother but another brother so dearly beloved of his father must needs be taken from him and come into the like jeopardy when all this distress fell still upon the head of a brother and nothing but a brother they presently discovered the Hand-writing of God and cried out We are guilty and therefore is this evil come upon us Behold the Finger of God All this evil still lights upon one or other of our brethren for we are verily guilty concerning a brother our brother Ioseph in that we saw the anguish of his soul when he besought us and we would not hear therefore is this distress come upon us Ah! said Reuben I told you I spake unto you that you should not sin against the child but you would not hear therefore behold his bloud is now required Yea this writing of God is yet more evident for we sinned in the dearly-beloved of our Father Ioseph and now are we distressed about our brother Benjamin the child whom our Father loveth As we have done so God hath requited us This is the last point I observed in these words and it contains the Use of all the former Verbum sapienti one word is enough to him that is wise and one Example is sufficient for him that is willing to follow it DISCOURSE XXXI S. MATTHEW 11. 28 29. Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls I SHALL not need trouble you with prefacing of the coherence The words I have read are an intire sense of themselves without dependence on what went before For the matter they are such as I might call them an Epitome or Brief summe of the whole Gospel containing in few words the compleat method of Salvation and as in a small map a full view of the way to the gates of Eternal life whither he is most unworthy to come who will not learn so small a Catechism as this They are propounded unto us by way of an Invitation consisting of Three parts 1. The Thing 2. The Persons 3. The Benefit 1. The Thing invited to which is double to wit Christ and his yoke Come unto me saith he and take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly 2. The Persons invited Those that labour and are heavy laden Come all ye that labour and are heavy laden 3. The Benefit to those who embrace the invitement Rest and Ease which you shall find in every corner of this Invitation I will give you rest or I will ease you again Ye shall find rest unto your souls and in conclusion My yoke is easie and my burthen is light A Benefit so transcendent as might allure any car that is not wholly stopped up with spiritual deafness to listen after the means whereby it is attained Let us therefore consider these Three points in order and first that which must first be known and learned The quality of the persons invited Those that labour and are heavy laden Which before I tell you what they mean I must first tell you how to construe them viz. by the Figure called Hendiadis understanding the conjunction and causally and so contriving the two things named into one in this manner labour and heavy laden into labouring of being heavy laden As if it had been said Come unto me all ye that labour of or by being heavy laden All you that are toiled with and weary of your heavy burthen come unto me and I will ease you For after this manner are many things in Scripture which are uttered conjunctionwise to be understood I will multiply thy sorrow and thy conception saith God unto the woman Gen. 3. 16. that is I will multiply thy sorrows of conception or the sorrows which come of conception You shall find often in Scripture Do judgment and righteousness that is Do judgment according to righteousness Do such judgment as proceeds from justice and righteousness Psal. 116. 1. I love the Lord because he hath heard my voice and my supplication that is the voice of my supplication Ier. 29. 11. The Lord promiseth his people to give them an end and expectation that is the end of their expectation or the end they look for In this Gospel saith S. Iohn Baptist chap. 3. verse 11. He that cometh after me shall baptize you with the holy Ghost and with fire that is with the fire of the holy Ghost So in my Text weary and heavy laden is weary of being heavy laden such as labour such as are toiled and tired out by the weight of their loading And thus are the words to be construed Now to the meaning of them Those that labour of being heavy laden are such as grieve and groan under the burthen of
brother that there may be given you a blessing this day This Blessing here spoken of is our Vrim and Thummim the blessing of Sacred Order So bountifully did God reward them who were so forward to be on his side when Moses called them that himself vouchsafed to call them unto his side for ever Whence first we may learn whom we are chiefly to prefer unto this holy Function namely Those who are zealous for the Lord of Hosts who prefer the glory of God above all worldly respects whatsoever This got Phinehas the son of Eleazar the High-Priesthood this got all the sons of Levi the guerdon of Vrim and Thummim the blessing of Holy Orders Secondly We may see by the advancement of this Tribe how merciful our God is We know that Levi's fury did once as much offend him as his sons zeal now pleased him and yet for this one action he forgot the sin of their Father in the bloudy slaughter of the Sichemites He remembred not the curse of Iacob Into their secret let not my soul come My glory be not thou joyned with their assembly Cursed be their wrath for it was fierce and their rage for it was cruel Gen. 49. 6 7. Nay he turned the very curse of Iacob into a blessing by dividing them in Iacob and scattering them in Israel Here Mercy and Truth met both together and Iustice and Peace kissed each other Lastly Here God verified his own description of himself That though he be a jealous God and visits the sins of the Father upon the children unto the third and fourth generation yet he is also a merciful God and shews mercy even unto the thousandth generation of them that love him and keep his Commandments AND thus have you seen why of Levi Moses said this Blessing And of Levi he said Now I come to The description of this blessed Tribe in these words God's Holy one Let thy Vrim and thy Thummim be with thy Holy one How is Levi here called Holy how is this Title given to him above the rest of his Brethren Are not all the Lord's people holy Certainly whatsoever is meant hereby it is something more specially belonging to Levi than to any other Tribe Which that we may the better find we must take notice of a Threefold Holiness Essential Habitual Relative Essential Holiness is the Holiness of God all one with God himself and this is a glorious Holiness Who saith Moses is like unto thee O Lord among the Gods who is like unto thee glorious in holiness Exod. 15. 11. Habitual I call an Inherent Holiness such as is the holiness of righteous men integrity of life or righteous holiness whereof Abraham Iob David and all the Patriarchs are called Saints and Holy men This is that which the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Latines Sanctimonia Relative Holiness I define a special relation or relation of peculiarity which a thing hath unto God either in regard of propriety of possession or speciality of presence That which is holy after this manner the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Latines Sacrum The first of these three is proper to God alone for he only is essentially holy The second is proper to reasonable creatures for they are only habitually holy or endued with holy qualities But the last is common to all manner of things For all things animate or inanimate are capable of relative holiness or peculiarity towards God Persons Things Times Places Persons So the Nazarites of the Law are called holy thus was Sampson thus was Samuel holy from their Mother's womb Things So the Offerings of the Law yea and of the Gospel too are holy things The Censers of Korah and his company were holy because saith the Text they offered them before the Lord. Times So the Sabbath-day and other Festival days are holy days Places So the Temple of the Lord is an holy Place Mount Sion an holy Mount yea the ground about the Bush where God appeared to Moses is called Holy ground And of these four Persons Things and Times are holy because of God's peculiar propriety in them in that they are his Persons his Things and his Times But Places are holy in another regard because of God's special manner of Presence in them Now let us see in which of all these three ways Levi may be said to be holy Essentially holy he cannot be for he was not God but the holy one of God Habitually holy the event shews he was not more than the rest though he should have been The Tribe of Levi was always Tribus sacra holy unto the Lord but was not always righteous before the Lord. It was not always true of Levi that he walked before God in peace and equity and turned many from iniquity but often yea too often they were gone out of the way and caused many to stumble at or in the Law Phinehas the son of Eli was not like Phinehas the son of Aaron Annas and Caiaphas high Priests as holy as any for their order as unholy as any in life and conversation It should therefore seem that Levi should be only called Holy by a Relative holiness namely because he was God's peculiar one because his offered one because his peculiar of peculiars that is his peculiar Tribe of his peculiar people for in this Levi had a priviledg above the rest in the other none And this Ezra gives unto him chap. 8. 28. when he delivered unto the Levites the holy vessels Ye are holy saith he unto the Lord and these Vessels are holy also that is Ye are holy as the Vessels are for he saith not they were holy before the Lord for so he had meant holy in life but holy unto the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which always implies a Relative Holiness But though this be true that Levi was Holy after this manner yet the word which in my Text is turned Holy seems scarce to admit of this construction for the word here used is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies favourable and gracious and in Religion charitable and godly All which leans to an Habitual not to a Relative holiness But because Levi was not in this sort holy above other as I said before it may seem therefore it should be thus construed that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is taken Actively or Passively Actively it signifies favourable benigne and gracious Passively he that is favoured or graced And thus Iunius expounds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this place virum tuum quem beneficio prosequeris Let thy Thummim and thy Vrim be with thy favoured one not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Septuagint but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which word and sense the Angel useth in his salutation to the blessed Virgin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hail thou highly-favoured one Hail thou whom God hath especially graced to be the Mother of his only Son So Levi is
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is joyned themselves together and made a word which as I cannot conceive how it should be so I think it less probable And thus hitherto have you heard the diverse Opinions of the matter and manner of this Oracle of Vrim and Thummim Here is variety enough I leave to every one to make his own choice which he will believe only give me leave to add thus much in way of censure of them which is That they all seem against reason and likelihood to confound Vrim with Thummim in making them one and the same thing called by diverse names in regard of diverse effects and uses which I can the less believe because I find Vrim alone used in matter of consultation with God whereby it seems Thummim had some other use In the 27. of Num. 21. Moses commands Ioshua in all business to consult the High Priest by the judgment of Vrim before the Lord but no speech of Thummim Again 1 Sam. 28. 6. it is said that Saul asked counsel of Lord when he was to go against the Philistines but the Lord answered him not neither by dreams nor by Vrim nor by the Prophets Here also is Vrim spoken of but no word of Thummim If I may therefore speak what I think I would say That Vrim and Thummim were a twofold Oracle and for a twofold use And that Vrim was the Oracle or part of the Oracle whereby God gave answer to those who enquired of him in hard and doubtful cases therefore called Vrim or Lights because as ignorance is called darkness so is all knowledg a kind of illumination or enlightning and that which bringeth knowledg is fitly called a Light because it dispels the darkness of our minds But Thummim was that Oracle or mean whereby the High Priest knew whether God did accept the Sacrifice or no therefore called Thummim that is Integrity because those whose Sacrifice God accepted were accounted Thummim that is just and righteous in the eyes of God because their Sacrifice was a shadow of Christ's Sacrifice by acceptation whereof we are justified and made righteous before God For without doubt the Patriarchs and Legal Church had some ordinary mean to know when their Sacrifice was accepted else had they been behind the Gentiles for they had a sign to know when they did Litare that is when their false Gods accepted their false sacrifice and as the Devil was God's Ape in giving Oracles so I verily believe he was in this also Nay Iosephus expresly affirms it of the Iews though for the particular I suppose he is mistaken For he saith that whensoever God did accept the Sacrifice the Onyx-stone on the Priests left shoulder shone with an admirable splendor but this saith he ceased 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 two hundred years before his time And no wonder for when the Sun of righteousness drew near unto his rising those dimmer Vrim and smaller stars must needs lose their light Now that which Iosephus affirms of the Onyx-stone on the left shoulder I suppose was mistaken for the Thummim on the left part of the Breast-plate And lastly as I said before of Vrim so I think of Thummim That it was in use among the Patriarchs of old and that by some such means as this Abel knew that God accepted his Offering and Cain that his was refused And thus much of Vrim and Thummim considered Personally in the High Priest now I come to consider it Typically for as the High Priest himself was a Type of Christ so must these Adjuncts of his also be Types of something in Christ. Which we shall not be long a finding out if we remember again the signification of the words and the use of the things themselves Vrim is Light and Illumination Thummim Integrity and Perfection By Vrim the Iews were ascertained of the counsel and will of God by Thummim of his favour and good will towards them All this agrees to Christ both in himself and in regard of us In himself His Breast is full of Vrim full of Light and Understanding In him are hid all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledg as S. Paul saith He is the Wisdom of the Father by which the world it self was made His heart is also endowed with Thummim with all kind of Perfections He was conceived without Original sin lived without Actual sin fulfilled the whole Law of God which is the Law of Thummim the Law of all Perfection Thus to Christ himself agrees both Vrim and Thummim and so it doth also in regard of us for he is an Vrim and Thummim both to us and for us To us he is Vrim a Light which enlightneth every one which cometh into the world He is the Light which shone in darkness but the darkness could not comprehend it He was that Light by which the people as it is said in Matthew 4. 16. which sat in darkness saw great light And of this Light Iohn came to bear witness that all might believe in him Iohn 1. 7. In sum Christ is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Patris the Word and Oracle of his Father by whom we know and learn the Father's will for so S. Iohn saith ch 1. 18. No man hath seen God at any time the only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father he hath revealed him unto us Neither is Christ only an Vrim but also a Thummim to us For as by Thummim the Iews were ascertained of God's favour toward them in accepting their Sacrifice so by Christ coming in the flesh is revealed the unspeakable Mercy of God to Mankind in that he would accept his Sacrifice once offered for the expiation of the sins of the whole world This is that Good-will toward men which the Angels sung of as soon as he was born Glory be to God on high Peace on earth and Good-will towards men Yea Glory be to God on high for this Peace on earth and for this Good-will towards men Thus we see Christ an Vrim and Thummim to us now let us see how he is the same for us and that is when his Wisdom and Righteousness is made ours by imputation So his Vrim becomes our Vrim his Thummim our Thummim that is his wisdom is made ours his righteousness and favour with God made ours for This is my well-beloved Son said a Voice from Heaven in whom I am well pleased In brief S. Paul comprehends both these together where he saith Christ Iesus is made unto us Wisdom Sanctification and Redemption And so Lord Let thy Vrim and thy Thummim be with thy Holy One. AND thus much for the special consideration of this Vrim and Thummim both Personally and Typically Now I come unto the general meaning thereof as it concerns not the High Priest only but the whole Tribe of Levi for this is the Blessing of that whole Tribe And in this large respect the meaning cannot
these heavens As the War was long so the Victory was not gotten all at once but by certain degrees as it were beginning with Constantine Anno 300. and ending in Theodosius about as I said the year 390. And though it be hard to pitch the time of this Trophee exactly yet I doubt not but it falleth in some part of the time included in the foresaid limits Thus then have we seen the Truth and Power of God in fulfilling of this Prophecy for so much as is already past and may say with David Psal. 48. 8. As we have heard so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts in the city of our God God will establish it for ever But who would have believed this at the time when the words were spoken when the worshippers of the most high God were at so low an ebbe Hence therefore must we learn to believe the Promises of God be they never so unlikely to humane Reason For he it is that says Esay 46. 11. I have spoken and I will bring it to pass It is he that says Ier. 32. 27. I am the God of all flesh and there is nothing too hard for me Though Abraham be never so old and Sarah's womb be dead yet if the Lord says it he shall be Father of many Though Nations Gideon be the least of the house of Manasses yet if the Lord says it by him shall Israel be delivered from the Midianites Though David follow the sheep yet if God promise he shall be King of Israel Be the famine in Samaria never so extreme that women eat their own children yet if God say it within twenty four hours shall corn be so cheap that a measure of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel in the gates of Samaria Let us take heed therefore we say not with him on whose hand the King leaned If God would make windows in heaven it could not be nor with the Israelites when the spies brought them news of the strength of the Inhabitants of Canaan of chariots of iron and the giant-like sons of Anak let us not say with them we shall not enter For that Lord who set humane reason against the Word and Promise of God never eat of the abundance of Samaria and the Iews which distrusted God never entred the land of Canaan But let us know for a conclusion that God is faithful and true and his Promises yea and amen HITHER TO we have spoken of the accomplishment of this Prophecy for so much as is already past now let us see What that is which we expect as yet to come For though in regard of former times when Ethnicisme was so large and the worshippers of the living God so small a scantling the Extent of the Church be now at this day a goodly and large portion of the world yet if we consider the numbers of nations yet Pagans or not Christians it will seem to scant as yet to be the accomplishment of this and other Prophecies concerning the Largeness of Christ's Kingdom before the end of the world For one hath well observed That Christianity at this day is not above the sixth part of the known world whereas the Mahumetans have a fifth and all the rest are Ethnicks and Pagans So that if we divide the World into thirty parts Christianity is but as five in thirty Mahumetanism as six and Ethnicism as nineteen and so is Christianity the least part of all and plain Heathenism hath far above the one half of the known world and the better part of the other is also Mahumetans And though Christianity hath been embraced in former times where now it is not yet it is now spred in those places where in those times it was not And therefore all laid together we may account Christianity at this day as large I think as ever it was since the Apostles time But that this is not that Vniversal Kingdom of Christ that flourishing and glorious estate of the Church which yet we expect and hope for my Reasons are these First Those frequent places of Scripture which intimate that the Lord should subdue all people all kingdoms all nations and all the ends of the earth unto himself and that all these should one day worship and acknowledge him Psal. 22. 27. All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before him for the Kingdom is the Lord's and he is governour among the nations And Psal. 47. 1. 2 3. Clap your hands all ye people for the Lord is a great King over all the earth He shall subdue the people under us and the nations under our feet And again v. 7 8. God is King of all the earth and reigneth over the Heathen Psal. â—6 1 c. Make a joyful noise unto God all ye lands Through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee All the earth shall worship thee and sing of thee they shall sing unto thy Name The whole 67. Psalm which we read every day is as it were a Prophecy and Prayer for this great Kingdom That the may of God may be known upon earth and his saving health among all nations Let the people praise thee O God let all the people praise thee Then shall the earth yield her increase c. God shall bless us and all the ends of the earth shall fear him And Psal. 86. 9 10. All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee O Lord and shall glorifie thy Name For thou art great and dost wondrous things Thou art God alone And Esay 2. 18. which is a Prophecy of Christ's kingdom it is said that the Idols the Lord shall utterly abolish or as some read the Idols shall utterly pass away So Esay 54. 5. speaking of the Amplitude of the Church of the Gentiles Thy Redeemer saith the Prophet the holy One of Israel the God of the whole earth shall he be called Certainly this constant style of Vniversality implies more than this scantling which yet is it being but one of the least parts of the whole earth Secondly The same conclusion may be gathered from 1 Cor. 15. 25 26. compared with Heb. 2. 8. Christ must reign saith S. Paul in the first place quoted till he hath put all his enemies under his feet The last enemy which shall be destroyed is death Hence it follows that Christ shall subdue all his enemies whereof the Prince of this world is the chief before the last rising of the dead For the subduing of death that is the rising of the dead shall not be afore the rest shall be done the vanquishing of death being the last act of Christ's reigning which done he shall yield up the Kingdom unto his Father In the other place Heb. 2. 8. the Apostle speaking of the same thing alledgeth that
unruly and obvious to be surprised for such things we are wont to keep and so much therefore is implied in that they are to be kept else they needed no keeping This is therefore the condition of our Hearts 1. They are untrusty The heart is deceitful above all things Ier. 17. 9. Therefore it stands in hand to watch it to suspect it and deal with it as we would with a notable Iugler or with an untrusty and pilfering servant to have a jealous and a watchful eye over it For if our eye be never so little off it will presently break out into some unlawful liberty or other 2. It is an unruly thing if it be once lost a man cannot recover it again without much time and labour For it is like unto a wild horse if the bridle be once let go he will be gone and not gotten again in haste yea it may be we shall be forced to spend as much time in recovering him as would have served to have dispatched our whole journey So if the bridle of watchfulness be once let go and our Hearts get loose they will not easily be regained it will ask us no small time to temper and tune them again for the service of God Lastly our hearts are continually liable to surprise we walk in the midst of snares encompassed with dangers on every side What is that almost which will not entice and allure so fickle a thing as the Heart from God We can be secure of it at no time neither sleeping nor waking in no place neither house not street neither bed nor board not in our Closet no not in the Church and Pulpit THUS much shall suffice to have been briefly observed by way of implication from the Act Keep Now I come to the Object it self The Heart Keep thy Heart By Heart we must understand the inward thoughts motions and afâ—ections of the Soul and Spirit whereof the Heart is the Chamber But not a natural man's Heart for that is not worth a keeping but such a Heart as lives to God-ward a good and gracious heart which consists in two properties in Purity and Loyâ—lty This is the state and temper we must keep our Hearts in I will speak of them in order And first of Purity and Cleanness We must keep our Hearts in Purity and Cleanness For Blessed are the pure in Heart for they shall see God and none but such shall ever see him It behoves us therefore to know what this Cleanness is the having or not having whereof concerns us so nearly Know then A clean or pure Heart is that which loaths sin and loves righteousness For the better understanding whereof we must further know That an absolute cleanness and pureness of the heart and soul from sin is not attainable in this life Prov. 20. 9. Who can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sin Yet is there a cleanness of heart which must be had and without which we shall never see God as you heard before Such was that which David prays for Psal. 51. 10. Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me And 2 Tim. 2. 22. true Christians are described to be such as call upon the Lord out of a pure heart 1 Tim. 1. 5. The end of the Commandment saith the Apostle is charity out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and of faith unfeigned And himself 2 Tim. 1. 3. thanks God whom he served from his forefathers with a pure conscience But if this Purity of the heart were no other than a total freedom thereof from all unclean thoughts and sinful motions and desires in such sort as a man should never be troubled and defiled with them alas who then should see God who should be saved That Claenness therefore that measure of Purity which God requires to be in the heart of every one who shall see him and with whom he will vouchsafe to dwell is as I told you the loathing of sin and the love of righteousness that is an accepted Cleanness through Faith when the hate of impurity and love of cleanness in the heart is accepted with God for cleanness and pureness it self Though not a cleanness of all our affections yet at least and what can God require less an affection to all cleanness For God accepts the will for the deed If we love if we desire if we delight heartily in that which is clean and pure in the eyes of God if we hate and abhor if we loath in our selves all sinful impurities and pollutions both of flesh and spirit howsoever we find in our selves a great want of the one and our hearts much and often vexed and troubled with the other yet is this affection of our hearts accepted with God for a pure and cleansed heart indeed And where this disposition is the heart cannot chuse but grow cleaner and cleaner even with real and formal cleanness For a man cannot but cherish that which he loveth and rid himself as much as may be of what he loatheth So he that loveth and affecteth cleanness of heart will cherish and make much of every good motion which the Spirit of God shall put into it and if he indeed loath and abhor unclean and sinful thoughts will do his best to stifle them and remove them far from him This Cleanness and Purity of Heart is that which the Scripture slyleth Holiness even that Holiness without which S. Paul tells us Heb. 12. 14. no man shall see the Lord. For in the Law the legal cleansing washing and purging of that which any way belonged to God or was prepared for his presence and service is called sanctifying or hallowing Exod. 19. 10. When the Lord was to come down upon Mount Sinai Go unto the People saith he to Moses and sanctifie them to day and to morrow and let them wash their clothes 2 Chron. 29. 5. Hezekiah saith to the Levites Sanctifie now your selves and sanctifie the house of the Lord God of your fathers and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place And accordingly in the 16. ver the Priests go in to cleanse it which cleansing in the next verse is called their sanctifying it In Deut. 23. 14. where a law is given for cleanness and neatness in the Camp the reason is rendred in these words For the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of the Camp to deliver thee and to give up thine enemies before thee therefore shall thy Camp be holy that he see no unclean thing in thee and turn away from thee The same expression S. Paul applies to spiritual cleansing 2 Cor. 7. 1. Let us saith he cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God Here with S. Paul also Holiness is Cleansing and Cleansing is Holiness So Eph. 5. 26. That he might sanctifie and cleanse it c. As therefore under the Law that
place was not fit to entertain the presence of God nor any thing duly prepared to approach or come near him which was not thus externally cleansed and sanctified Such is the case of the inward cleansing of the heart unless it be sanctified with purity and cleanness God will never dwell in it nor suffer ought from it as acceptable to come near him Wherefore it is not without good reason we pray in our Liturgie O Lord make clean our hearts within us And take not thy holy Spirit from us For God's Spirit will not dwell in a sty it is a clean Spirit and will have a clean habitation That which S. Paul speaks of the whole man 2 Cor. 6. 16 17. Ye are the Temple of the living God wherefore touch no unclean thing and I will receive you is principally true of the heart and spirit The rest of the Body is but as the Court of the Temple but the Seat of his presence in the spiritual man as the Holy place is the Heart even as it is also the Seat of life in the natural primum vivens ultimum moriens the first that lives and the last that dies But by what means should a man get and keep such a Heart as this How is this Holiness and Cleanness of heart to be come by I answer The General means on our part to obtain this and all other Graces of God is faithful and devout Prayer But this being common to all Graces is not proper to be spoken of in this place Let us therefore see a means more special and peculiar for obtaining this Cleanness and Purity of heart such a one as though it may have some use for other Graces yet I think is more proper unto this than unto any other whatsoever and that is For a man always to possess his heart with the apprehension of God's presence and to walk before him as in his eye Wheresoever thou art there is an Eye that sees thee an Ear that hears thee and a Hand that registreth thy most secret thoughts For the ways of man saith Solomon Prov. 5. 21. are before the eyes of the Lord and he pondereth all his goings How much ashamed would we be that any one we loved and honoured should surprise us in our corporal uncleanness to see and behold any nasty pollution either of our bodies or chambers How would a man blush and be confounded to be taken and seen in the manner as we speak But every unclean thought wicked desire and motion of our heart is more open and revealed to the eyes of God than the works themselves if we should put them in execution could be visible to the eyes of men Yea and these thoughts and desires wherewith our hearts are besmeared are as foul ugly and loathsom in his sight as the works themselves would appear shameful in the eyes of men if we should commit them openly in the street and in the fight of the Sun Nay suppose that men could see our hearts as well as they may our out-works would we not be as much ashamed they should behold the foulness of the one as see the shamefulness of the other Consider it What if such a Patron such a Friend such a one to whom I desire to approve my self should know what I now ruminate in my heart what unchast pollution what other abhorred desire and thought it now wallows and delights in should I not blush and be ashamed What horrible Atheism doth this argue That the presence of man yea sometimes of a little child should hinder us from that wickedness which God's presence cannot If we did throughly and indeed believe this Ubiquity of God's Eye and let it make a firm impression in our minds how would it quash the first rising of evil thoughts in our hearts The eye of man draws from us a care of our outward behaviour why then should not the All-seeing Eye of God if we loved him if we honoured him if we desired at all to approve our selves unto him draw from us a care of the inward behaviour of the Heart since he sees thy Heart better than man sees thy Face and understands thy Thoughts better than any man thy Works and Words Little children when in the midst of their disorders they spie once their Father's eye they are hushed presently So should it be with us when through forgetfulness of this All-seeing Eye of our Heavenly Father continually overlooking us our Hearts begin to break loose and to sport themselves in vain and idle thoughts and desires then should we consider that all this while God looked upon us and beheld our misbehaviour then should we cry him mercy with Iacob at Bethel Surely God was here and I was not aware And thus I come to the second requisite of that gracious Temper a good Heart must be kept unto which is Loyalty unto God We must keep a loyal heart The Loyalty of the heart to God consisteth in an universal purpose of obedience and resolution against all sin without Reservation and Exception Sceptra non ferunt socium Kings can endure no copartners Nor can a purpose of obedience mingled with Exceptions and Reservations stand with a true faith and allegiance to Christ our Lord. In anima in qua peccatum regnaverit non potest Dei regnare regnum saith S. Ierome In the Soul where sin reigns and has got dominion God's Kingdom can never be set up nor established For how can he be a faithful servant of Christ who still holdeth correspondence with and is a Pensioner to his Arch-enemy the Devil Even such an one is he who hath any sin which he holds so dear that he hath no purpose nor will to part with it What will it profit thee to keep thy Heart at all unless thou keepest it loyal Will God accept a piece of thy Heart No he will have a whole Heart and a whole Soul or none Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart and whole mind otherwise thou keepest not thy heart to God but betrayest it unto the Devil For one breach in the walls of a City exposeth it to the surprise of an enemy one leak in a Sâ—â—p neglected will sink it at last unto the bottom of the Sea 1. If thou wilt therefore have a Loyal heart know that such a heart cherisheth no darling sin no Herodias no boâ—om-sin such a dead fly as this will mar the whole box of oyntment 2. A Sound and Loyal heart is not that which boggles and scruples at small sins but makes no conscience of greater like the I harisees straining at a Gnat and swallowing a Camel nor the contrary whose conscience is only for the greater matters of the Law Mercy and Iudgment without any regard of Mint or Anise A Loyal heart is like unto the Eye troubled with the least mote 3. A Loyal heart as it hates all sins so at all times Sometimes the unsound heart will hate sin
purpose are your sacrifices and burnt-offerings saith the Lord your oblations and incense are abomination Your New Moons Sabbaths calling of Assemblies even the solemn meeting I cannot away with it is iniquity Would you know what was the matter see the words following Learn to do well seek judgment relieve the oppressed judge the fatherless plead for the widow Lo here a want of the duties of the second Table Such is that also of Hosea 6. 6. I desired mercy and not sacrifice which is twice alledged by our Saviour in the Gospel against the Pharisee's hypocritical scrupulosity in the same duties of the first Table with a neglect of the second But here perhaps some may find a scruple because that if Sacrifice in this or the like places be opposed to the duties of obedience required in the second Table it should hereby seem that the duties of the second Table which concern our neighbour should be preferred before the duties of the first which concern the Lord himself forasmuch as it is said I desired mercy and not sacrifice that is rather Mercy which is a duty of the second Table than Sacrifice which is of the first I answer The holy Ghost's meaning is not to prefer the second Table before the first taking them singly but to prefer the duties of both together before the service of the first alone Be more ready to joyn mercy or works of mercy with your sacrificing than to offer sacrifice alone To go on The duties of the first Table are by a special name called duties of Religion those of the second Table come under the name of Honesty and Probity Now as a man can never be truly Honest unless he be Religious So cannot that man what shew soever he makes be truly religious in God's esteem who is not honest in his conversation towards his neighbour Religion and Honesty must be married together or else neither of them will be in truth what it seems to be We know that all our duty both to God and our neighbour is comprehended under the name of Love as in that Summe of the Law Love God above all things and thy neighbour as thy self This is the Summe of the whole Law contained in both Tables But S. Iohn tells us 1 Ep. 4. 20. If a man say I love God and hateth his brother he is a liar which is as much as if he should say He that seems religious towards God and is without honesty towards his neighbour he is a liar there is no true religion in him If you would then know whether a man professing Religion by diligent frequenting Gods service and exercises of devotion keeping sacred times and hearing Sermons be a sound Christian or not or a seeming one only this is a sure and infallible note to discover him and for him to discover himself by For if notwithstanding his care of the duties of the first Table he makes no conscience to walk honestly towards his neighbour if he be disobedient to Parents and lawful Authority if he be cruel and uncharitable if he be unjust in his dealings fraudulent an oppressor a falsifier of Covenants and Promises a backâ—â—ster a slanderer or the like his Religion is no better than an Hypocrite's For such was the Religion of many of the Pharisees whom therefore our Saviour termeth Hypocrites Wo unto you Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites They were scrupulous in the duties of the first Table they paid tithe even of mint and anise they fasted twice a-week they were exact observers of the Sabbath and other ceremonies of Religion but judgment mercy and saith in their conversation towards men our Saviour tells them they regarded not Besides our Saviour's woe denounced against such there are Two dangerous Effects which accompany this evil disease which should make us beware thereof 1. Those who are addicted to Religion without any conscience of Honesty are easily drawn by the Devil to many intolerable acts under colour and in behalf thereof as they imagine We see it in the Papists and Iesuits whose preposterous zeal to their Religion makes them think Treasons Murthers Rebellions or any other such wicked acts are lawful and excusable so they be done for the good of the Catholick cause as they call it And if we search narrowly amongst our selves we shall light upon some examples of indirect and unlawful courses undertaken otherwhile on the behalf of Religion and all through want of this conscionable care of maintaining Honesty towards our neighbour together with our zeal for Religion towards God Even as we see an Horse in some narrow and dangerous passage whilest he is wholly taken up with some bugbear on the one side of the way which he would eschew and in the mean time mindeth not the other side where there is the like danger he suddenly slips into a pit or ditch with no small danger to himself and rider So is it here with such as look only to the first Table and mind not the second whilest they go about as they think to advance the duties of the one they fall most foully in the other 2. The second evil is a most dangerous Scandal which follows profession of Religion without honest conversation towards men It is a grievous stumbling-block and stone of offence making men out of love with Religion when they see such evil Effects from it and those who seem to profess it Those who are not yet come on are scared from coming resolving they will never be of their Religion which they see no better fruits of Those who are entred are ashamed and discouraged forsaking the duties of Religion that they might shun the suspicion of hypocrisie and dishonesty But woe be unto them by whom scandal cometh Let us all therefore take heed to adorn and approve our profession by bringing forth fruits not only of Piety and Devotion towards God but of works of Righteousness and Charity to our neighbour DISCOURSE XL. GENESIS 3. 13. And the Lord God said unto the woman What is this that thou hast done And the woman said The Serpent beguiled me and I did eat THE Story whereof the words I have read are part is so well known to all that it would be needless to spend time in any long Preface thereof Who knows not the Story of Adam's Fall who hath not heard of the Sin of Eve our Mother If there were no Scripture yet the unsampled irregularity of our whole nature which all the time of our life runs counter to all order and right reason the woâ—ul misery of our condition being a Scene of sorrow without any rest or contentment this might breed some general suspicion that ab initio non suit ita from the beginning it was not so but that he who made us Lords of his creatures made us not so worthless and vile as now we are but that some common Father to us all had drunken some strange and devilish poison wherewith the whole race
the Serpent and what the Heel of the Woman's seed Those who understand The seed of the woman singularly of the person of Christ only make his Head to be the Godhead against which the Serpent could prevail nothing but his heel to be the Manhood which the Serpent so bruised at his Passion that the grave became his bed for three days together This indeed is true and no marvel for the Head is as it were the whole Bodie 's Epitome But we who have expounded The seed of the woman collectively of Christ and his Members must also in this mystical Body find a mystical Head and a mystical Heel and so in like manner for the Serpent and his seed The Head therefore or if you had rather Headship is nothing else but Soveraignty The Serpent's head is the Devil's Soveraignty which is called Principatus mortis the Soveraignty of death namely both objectivè and effectivè that is such a Soveraignty as under which are only such as are liable to Death both temporal and eternal and such a Soveraignty whose power consists not in saving and giving of life but in destroying and bringing unto Death both of body and soul. Under the name also of Death understand as the Scripture doth all other miseries of mankind which are the companions of this double Death I speak of This is that damnable Head of the Serpent the Devillish Soveraignty of Satan Now the Sword whereby this Soveraignty was obtained the Sceptre whereby it is maintained or as S. Paul speaks the Sting of this Serpent's head is Sin This is that which got him this Kingdom at the first and this is still the right whereby he holds the greatest part thereof Imperium iisdem artibus conservaâ—ur quibus acquiritur By the same arts and methods is an Empire conserved by the which it was at first obtained This Soveraignty of the Devil which once overwhelmed â—igh all the world the Woman's seed should break in pieces and destroy which according to this Prophecy we see already performed in a great measure and the grounds laid long ago for the destruction of all that remaineth As saith S. Iohn Ep. 1. c. 3. v. 8. The Son of God was manifested for this purpose that he might destroy the works of the Devil And Christ himself said that the time was come that the Prince of this world should be cast out and bade his Disciples be of good chear for he had overcome the world If you would see what a wonderful victory he hath long ago gotten of the Serpent when after a terrible battel he overcame and destroyed the Soveraignty of the Serpent in the Roman Empire see it described in the 12. of the Revelation v. 7 8. where Michael that is Christ and his Angels fought against the great Dragon and his Angels till the Dragon with all his Army was discomfited and their place found no more in heaven that is he utterly lost his Soveraignty in that state whence there was a voice in heaven v. 10. Now is come salvation strength and the Kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ. And what he will at the length do with the remainder yet of the Devil's Soveraignty you may find in the 19. and 20. chapters of the Revelation For he must reign as S. Paul saith until he hath put all his enemies under his feet until he hath destroyed all power rule and authority adverse unto him And then last of all destroying Death by giving immortality to our raised bodies shall surrender up his Kingdom unto his Father as it is 1 Cor. 15. 25 c. But Satan saith my Text shall prevail something against him for the Serpent shall bruise his heel What is this Heel Those who understood the seed of the woman singularly as I told you made it Christ's Manhood But now we expound the seed Christ's Mystical Body what shall we make the Heel thereof I could say that by it were only meant a light wound or the Devil 's assaulting the Body of Christ ex insidiis at unawares for that is his fashion since the great overthrow which our Michael gave him to work his feats underhand and to undermine our Lord in his members But this though true is not full enough It may seem therefore the fittest to make hypocritical Christians who profess Christ outwardly but inwardly are not his to make these the heel of his Mystical Body for against such the Devil we know prevaileth somewhat and by them annoyeth the rest of the Body with his venome though he be far enough yet from impeaching our Lord's Headship and Soveraignty But will you give me leave to utter another conceit If the Blessed souls in heaven be the upper part of Christ's mystical Body the Saints on earth the lower part of the same may not the Bodies of the Saints deceased which lye in the earth be accounted for the heel For I cannot believe but they have relation to this mystical Body though their Souls be severed from them and yet must that relation be as of the lowest and most postick members of all If you will admit this then it will appear presently what was this hurt upon the heel when Christ had once mauled the Devil's head for the Text seems to intimate that the Devil should give this wound after his head was broken I will hold you in suspence no longer Read the 13. of the Revelation and see what follows upon Michael's Victory over the Dragon what the Devil did when he was down He forms a new Instrument of the wounded Roman Empire by whose means under a pretence of the Honour given to the precious Reliques of the Saints and Martyrs he conveyed the poyson of Saint-worship and Saint-invocation into the Kingdom of Christ with which wound of the heel the Devil coming on the blind side the true Church had been long annoyed and limpeth still DISCOURSE XLIII 2 PETER 2. 1. But there were false Prophets also among the people even as there shall be false Teachers among you who privily shall bring in damnable Heresies even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction MANY are the Prophesies in Scripture wherein the Holy Ghost forewarns us of a great and solemn Defection and Corruption of Faith which should one day overspread the visible Face of the Catholick Church of Christ and eclipse the light of Christian Verity and Belief S. Paul 2 Thes. 2. 3. foretels us that there should be an Apostasie or Falling away of Christians and the Man of sin be revealed before the coming of the day of the Lord. The same Apostle 1 Tim. 4. 1. tells us that though the great Mystery of Godliness spoken of chap. 3. 16. were then preached among the Gentiles and believed on in the world yet the Spirit spake expresly that in the latter times some should depart from the Faith giving heed to seducing Spirits and doctrines of Devils or Daemons S. Iohn tells
fulfilled amongst us Christians the new people of God There were false Prophets among the people of Israel even so saith my Text were there to be false Teachers among Christians who should bring in damnable Heresies Which that you may the better do Know first that the Israelites did at no time altogether renounce the true and living God not in their worst times but in their conceit and profession they acknowledged him still and were called his people and he their God though they worshipped others besides him So Christians in their Apostasie neither did nor were to make an absolute Apostasie from God the Father and Christ their Redeemer but in outward profession still to acknowledge him and to be called Christians Secondly There are two main Apostasies of Israel recorded in Scripture The First is styled The sin of Ieroboam the son of Nebat as a principal establisher thereof And this was to worship the true God himself under an Image For he set up Calves at Dan and Bethel and consecrated them in this manner Behold Israel the Gods which brought thee out of the land of Egypt For those are Calves indeed which here think he took the Calves themselves to be Gods The truth was Because he would not have the people go to the Temple of Ierusalem where the Ark the pledge of God's presence was therefore he made these Calves in stead thereof supposing as the Gentiles did of their Gods that the true God would have yielded his presence to an Image made in honour of him And therefore they used when they came to make vows or oaths at the Calf to swear Iehovah liveth as Hosea 4. 15. When therefore our Papists worship God the Creator under an Image and Christ their Redeemer in a Cross Crucifix or in a piece of Bread this is the very same Apostasie with that of Ieroboam the son of Nebat who made Israel to sin And as false Prophets taught Israel that so have false Teachers brought into Christendom the very same as you see was prophesied The Second main Apostasie of Israel is called The way of Ahab not because he was the first bringer in but the chief establisher thereof And this was not only to worship the true God idolatrously in an Image as Ieroboam did but to worship other Gods besides him namely Baal-gods or Baalim supposing either by these to have easier access unto the Lord of Hosts the Soveraign God or that these he might resort unto at all times and for all matters as being nearer at hand and not of so high a Dignity whereas the Soveraign God Iehovah the God of Israel either managed not smaller and ordinary matters or might not be troubled with them For such as I told you was the conceit of the Heathen as that the Souls of some great ones after death had the honour to be as Agents betwixt the Soveraign and Superior Gods and men as being of a middle nature between them which in Greek are called Daemons in the Scriptures Baalim When therefore those who are called Christians and have given their faith to Christ Iesus to be their only Mediator and royal Agent between them and his Father when these do worship and invocate Saints or Angels whether with Images or without to be as under-Mediators with God for them or of themselves to bestow some favour upon them those who do this as you know who do are fallen into the Apostasie of Ahab and are worshippers of Baalim For the Idolatry of Saints is altogether the same with that of Baalim HAVING therefore thus seen the verity of S. Peter's Prophecy for the first mark to know of what kind of Heresie should be the Christian Apostasie even like unto that of Israel now let me tell you what use to make of S. Peter's comparison and thus coupling the one by the other First That wheresoever you read in Scripture of the Idolatry of Ieroboam's Calves and of Ahab's Baalim you think of what I have told you and know that whatsoever God speaks against those things there the same he speaks of the Apostate Christians under Rome whose case is in all respects the same If therefore other points be hard and such as you cannot understand yet this of Idolatry is an easie mark for you to know the true Church from the false by and almost every leaf in the Scripture will help you Bless the Lord therefore and never cease to bless him who hath delivered us from those woful abominations and Idolatries wherewith the Church was so long overwhelmed and hath restored unto us the sincerity of his Gospel Secondly Seeing the Holy Ghost hath taught us here to compare the Christian's Apostasie with that of Israel we may hereby learn also what was the state and condition of true Christian Believers under the Apostasie of Antichrist namely the same with the true Israelites under the Apostasie of Israel Where was the true Church in Ahab's time was it not covered so under the Apostate Israelites that Elias himself who was one of it could scarce find it 1 Kings 19. 10. Where was the company of true worshippers in Manasses time the worst time of all or had the Lord no Church at all Yes he had a Church even then even hidden in the body of that Idolatrous Nation yea a strong party though not seen as appeared presently upon Manasses death when Iosiab came to reign who at eight years of age a very child yet was able to reform all again When therefore the Papists shall ask us where our Church was before Luther let us answer She was as the true Israelites were then buried under the Apostate body of Christendom she was even there whence God in his good time called her out viz. she was in the Spiritual Babylon If Rome now be Babylon and your Mother-Church that ancient Spouse of Christ which hath been so long an abominable Strumpet committing Fornication with strange Gods as we are sure she is we cannot chuse but know where ours was in the mean time until it pleased God to call her thence even amongst you she was then and where she is now you know and shall one day feel until you bite your tongues for pain But how could the faithful company of Christ live in the midst of Idolaters and have means of Salvation I answer Even as the true Israelites lived in the midst of the Apostasie of Israel But you may ask further When the face of the Church and the whole visible worship therein was so universally stained with abominable Idolatries how and whereby should a man gather that there were any such sincerer company amongst them who had not defiled their garments I might tell you that Histories though written by our enemies do mention many such discovered at several times But I will give you another sign to know it namely The light of God's word and some other Divine Truths still remaining For it was not so much
to is That the unworthy Receivers of the Sacraments are in the number of those men with whom God is not well pleased Of unworthy Receiving and Receivers I make two the one à parte antè by undue preparation the other à parte pòst by unholy demeanour and conversation afterward The former is unworthy to approach this Table at all the other to have approached it And of both these were the Fathers in the Wilderness guilty For Manna being both their ordinary and sacred Food their unholy and lustful demeanor upon the former eating made them continually unprepared Receivers for the future And so it is with us An unholy life upon the first receiving is a great part of our unworthiness for the second yea more unworthy are we then made than we had been upon the like conversation at the beginning For to have broken so solemn a Promise to God as we bound our selves in at the first time doubles our sin and to have already abused so precious and gracious a gift which God then gave us makes us doubly unworthy ever to find the like favour any more As in Physick for the body a Preparative is required before and a good and careful diet to be observed after so is it here as also a distempered diet after Physick received will do more hurt than it would before so is it here Now because it is Sin which makes us lose the favour of God and it alone which makes him not well pleased with us that we may behold how justly God's displeasure is kindled by this unworthy Receiving let us a while consider wherein the Sin thereof consisteth which will appear 1. In the correspondence of the Receiver and the thing received It is written Deut. 22. 9 10. Thou shalt not sow thy Vineyard with diverse kinds of seeds Thou shalt not plough with an Ox and an Ass together Whereby it appears That God Almighty loves not to have things unsutable and incompatible joyned together it is an unpleasing spectacle unto him But what fellowship hath light with darkness what agreement between the holy Sacrament and a prophane heart who will put precious water into filthy vessels or wholesome wine into foul casks It is the ground of Ioshua's speech Iosh. 24. 19. to the children of Israel You cannot serve the Lord saith he for he is a holy God that is whilst you are wicked the Righteous Lord who loveth Righteousness will not accept of your services Again Almighty God hath ever required a correspondence between his holy Ordinances and those who were to be partakers of them Thus the Shew-bread was appointed only for Aaron and his Sons because they were holy the Trespass and Sin-offering must be eaten in the holy Place because it was most holy The same thing is implied by our Saviour's proverbial precept Give not that which is holy unto the Dogs And which of us all would not be offended at a Dog if we should see him devour the meat appointed for our Childrens Diet Even such in God's account and no better are wicked persons Beware of Dogs beware of Evil-workers saith S. Paul Phil. 3. 2. and Apocal. 22. 15. Without the City of God are Dogs Sorcerers Whoremongers c. Now we know Exod. 19. 13. that no Beast might touch the Mountain when the Lord appeared on Mount Sinai So none of those whom God accounts in the number of Beasts as all who have beastly affections may approch in Christ's presence or come unto his Table Wherefore as God saith Be ye holy because I am holy so may it be said unto all communicants Be ye holy because the Sacrament is holy Whence it was a worthy custome in the ancient Churches for the Bishop or Deacon to proclaim at the holy Communion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Holy things for them that are holy holding in his hand the holy Sacrament And good reason why For where this holiness is not there in stead of comfort the Heart is more and more corrupted Even as the Spider gets strength of poison from the sweetest herbs and flowers so the prophane Heart is strengthened in wickedness by receiving this holy and heavenly Food 2. The hainousness of this sin is aggravated in respect of the thing received for our Apostle elsewhere saith The unworthy receiver becomes guilty of the Body and Bloud of Christ that is he is guilty of offering contumely injury and indignity unto him S. Paul when he disswades Husbands from misusing their Wives gives this for a reason No man ever yet hated his own flesh And may not I reason thus Let no man offer injury unto Christ because he is flesh of our flesh yea he is our Head and a wound or maim given to the Head is more odious and dangerous than to another part To offer violence to a common person is a fault to strike a Magistrate a greater but to wound a King who is the Lord 's Anointed is a sin in the highest degree O what a hainous sin is it then to offer violence to and as much as in us lies to strike and wound the Son of God the King of Kings and the Lord of Glory To be guilty of death and shedding of the bloud of any innocent man is a fearful sin and this made David cry out Deliver me O Lord from bloud-guiltiness How fearful is it then to be guilty of the Body and Bloud of Christ Whose heart is not moved against the Iews when he hears or reads their villanies and violence offered to our Blessed Saviour But Chrysostome gives us a good Take-heed Take heed saith he lest thou be guilty in the like kind by unworthy receiving of the blessed Sacrament He that defiles the King's body and he that tears it offend both alike The Iews tore it thou defilest it Here are saith the same Father diversa peccata sed par contumelia some difference of the sin but none of the contumely therein offered Ioseph and Nicodemus their pious devotion in begging and embalming the Body of Christ is worthily recorded and commended to all generations Mary Magdalene in bestowing that box of precious oyntment upon his holy head hath gained to her self endless honour in stead of her former infamy So if receive and handle worthily this Mystical Body of Christ our portion shall be with honourable Ioseph and pious Mary Magdalene our memories shall be as theirs blessed and our Souls as theirs to receive unspeakable comfort but if we come unworthily we joyn with Iudas and the Iews and are guilty as they were of the Body and Bloud of Christ. AND thus much of the first thing I propounded The state of unworthy Receivers of these holy Mysteries that they are men in whom God hath no pleasure and therefore woful and lamentable The second thing now to be spoken of is The danger of such unworthy Receivers in regard of the Punishment which followeth them which as concerning the
Fathers my Text saith was That they fell or were overthrown in the Wilderness In the back or outside of which words appeareth only a Temporal Punishment which kind seemeth not so appliable in the times of the Gospel as it was in time of the Law Howsoever we see in the general That it is true that the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his Name in vain Iudgment shall selfe either here or at least hereafter upon all prophaners and misreceivers of those Sacred pledges upon which is called the Name of Christ our Saviour and Redeemer But for the kinds of these punishments whether Temporal only or Eternal or both I answer The Fathers under the Law had Temporal as well as Eternal we in the Gospel chiefly Eternal and yet sometimes Temporal That ours are chiefly eternal or of the life to come the words of our Apostle elsewhere shew evidently Whosoever eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh his own damnation This is certain and this is more than all the torments pains and miseries that this world hath though Phalaris and his Craftsmaster were alive again to invent new ones No tongue is able to express no heart is able to conceive the woe and miseries which the damned Soul in Hell is subject unto which are as endless as they are easeless And though this be great enough yet hath not nor is the unworthy Receiver always been freed from suffering something even in this life We know the Apostle would have the Corinthians take notice of the Wrath of God upon divers of them for receiving the Sacrament unworthily For this cause saith he are many sick and weak amongst you and many are fallen asleep Indeed Fathers correct not their children at riper years after the same fashion they did when they were young and little So hath God not the same Discipline under the Gospel which he had under the Pedagogiâ— of the Law as Chrysostome saith he doth not so often scourge offenders with the rods of Temporal chastisements but rather reserves for them Eternal torments yet who doubts but the hand of God is upon many unworthy Communicants even by sorrow sickness death and sundry other chastisements of this life But for the times under the Law the words of my Text speaking of being overthrown in the Wilderness would seem to imply there was no further thing which befell the unworthy eaters of Manna in the Wilderness and so our Apostle's argument from hence should infer no more to us in the times of the Gospel For answer hereunto I must call to mind something which I have spoken heretofore namely That under the Law Spiritual blessings were enwrapped in corporal and conveyed under and with them as it were in pledges which made the Iew so highly to esteem of worldly prosperities and of those who enjoyed them as accounting them God's special Favorites So also were Spiritual and Everlasting plagues hidden under the curtains of Temporal judgments which were to those upon whom they fell as woful pledges of them and therefore made the Iew account them accursed who were overwhelmed with worldly adversities To come therefore to the words of my Text Canaan was a Type and Pledge of the Heavenly habitation The Wilderness signified our Pilgrimage in this wild ragged rocky and barren world To fell in the Wilderness was a wofull sign of falling short of the Heavenly Canaan and deprival of Eternal life those who fell there especially upon occasion of sin being such as to whom God sware in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest as it is in the Psalm we say every morning Thus we see how the unworthy eaters of the holy Mysteries in the Wilderness were not only liable to plagues in this life but that those plagues served them as Seals of their condemnation in the world to come and therefore if we also eat the same Spiritual meat and drink the same Spiritual drink unworthily we shall eat and drink our own condemnation Having thus seen the wretched condition and woful danger of those who come unworthily to this Spiritual Table the serious consideration hereof may stand up like the Angel with the flaming sword to keep every Adam from eating of the tree of Life It should make every one tremble who approacheth the Lord's Table with unwashed hands I mean a foul conscience whose hearts are full of wickedness whose heads full of ungodly imaginations and their hands defiled with wicked actions how unworthy are they to come at this holy Banquet As Iehu said to Iehoram What hast thou to do with peace So may I say here What have those to do with the Sacrament the Mystery of peace Indeed the Sacrament is a Robe to cover the repenting sinner but no cloak to a prophane Receiver of it such a one shall find it like the forbidden fruit of Paradise the bane of the Eater and like a fair bait swallowed with a deadly hook the death of the Receiver Who being guilty would drink of that cursed water Numb 5. 22. which made the thigh to rot and the belly to swell and who being guilty of gross sin will dare without Repentance to take that Sacrament which shall make him guilty of the Body and Bloud of Christ and become an occasion of his condemnation It is a pitiful thing when the Psalmist's curse befalls any Let their Table be a snare But that this holy Table should become a snare to a Christian soul is more than lamentable Our Saviour said of Iudas It had been good for him if he had never been born and so may we say of such It had been better they had never been Receivers of this holy Sacrament for alas they have eaten and drank their own damnation they had better have eaten some venemous thing or drank some deadly poison for it would only have killed the body but by eating and drinking the Sacrament unworthily they have damned and destroyed both soul and body for ever Lastly This danger may admonish every one of us to come worthily unto this Sacrament For as Manna was unto evâ—â—y man's taste according to his will as S. Austin will have it so is the Sacrament to every one according to his worthiness As therefore the Chamber was trimmed wherein our Saviour kept his Passeover and ordained his holy Manna so should be Chamber of every Christian soul be cleansed from wickedness and adorned with Grace that comes to receive Christ in this Sacrament The washing of the Disciples feet afore Supper what doth it else call for but a cleansing of our hearts before we communicate We are unwilling that men should see us come to this Table with foul hands and should we not be more careful lest God should see us come with foul hearts It will not be enough to say to our Saviour with them in the Gospel We have eaten and drank in thy company we have been at thy Table We must come thither
22. 8. and so he did indeed I shall need gather no more Examples Let no man therefore be discouraged for fear of danger to do his duty in that calling and vocation wherein God hath set him If God hath bid thee hope thou likewiâ—e he will protect thee But if thou neglect his commandment so to avoid what thou fearest be sure then that thou fearest or a worse will come upon thee take heed thou goest not out of God's blessing into the warm Sun Let Saul's example be our warning who to prevent as he thought the scattering of the people from him and the evil which longer delay might occasion if he should stay for Samuel presumed to offer Sacrifice himself but he was called a fool for his labour and made to know at length that Obedience was better than Sacrifice And so shall every one that makes so ungodly an experience find his policy in the end plain foolery and Obedience to God's Commandment better than all the Policy in the world AND thus I come to the third thing considerable viz. The place where every Male was to appear In the place the Lord shall chuse namely in the place where the Ark and Tabernacle of God should be which at the first was at Shiloh in the Country of Samaria and Tribe of Ephraim afterwards at Ierusalem in the Tribe of Iudah where David first pitched a new Tabernacle for the Ark of the Covenant after it had been taken by the Philistins and returned home again and in the same place his son Solomon built that glorious Temple which was the Beauty of the whole earth Of these two places spake the Samaritan woman in the Gospel to our Saviour Iohn 4. 20. Our Fathers said she worshipped in this Mountain and ye say that Ierusalem is the place where men ought to worship By Our Fathers she means the old Ephraimites from whom the Samaritans falsly vaunted they were descended upon which ground she likewise calls Iacob Our Father Iacob v. 12. For they were indeed the off-spring of those strange Nations which Shalmaneser transplanted into the Cities of Samaria when he had carried Ephraim and the rest of Israel captives into Assyria as we read 2 Kings 17. 24. By this Mountain she means Mount Ephraim where Shiloh was and the Ark and Tabernacle of God in ancient time had been For when Manasses the brother of Iaddus the High Priest was excommunicated and driven from the Priesthood because he had married the daughter of Sanball at the Horonite as it is in the last of Nehemiah v. 28. he with his faction to vex his own Nation procured a Temple to be built in Gerizim on Mount Ephraim whereof himself was the High Priest and to draw a company of Transgressors like himself from the Temple at Ierusalem unto this it was coloured as if this were the only place which the Lord had chosen because the Tabernacle was first pitched at Shiloh in Mount Ephraim and not at Sion on Mount Moriah and this was the bone of everlasting division and capital hatred between the Iews and Samaritans Thus we have seen where This place was first and last which the Lord had chosen Now let us further consider why it is thus called The place which the Lord shall chuse First therefore these words imply That the place for holy Assemblies was a select place For they were not to assemble in every place as occasion and opportunity served but to have a choice and select place for that purpose Secondly This place for Legal worship was to be one only place and no more and therefore here the singular number is used I say there was but one only place for Legal worship meaning Sacrifices and the Service accompanying them for otherwise they had many Synagogues for heaâ—ing the Law read and expounded Ierusalem it self had four hundred and in those the Scribes bore rule as the Priests did in the Temple But the reason why there was but one Temple and place of Sacrifice and Prayer was for a Type of that one only Mediator Iesus Christ in whom alone our sins are expiated and our prayers and thanksgivings accepted before God So that in the time of the Law to build an holy Altar or offer Sacrifices any where but here though it were unto the true God was a Typical Idolatry because it implied a multiplicity of Mediators of whose Oneness the one only place of worship and the one Altar was a sign which was the reason why it was so unlawful to sacrifice in the high places though it were unto the Lord their God And yet because it was but a ceremonial sin God did in the confused times of that Church sometimes pass by it as it were because of the hardness of their hearts as our Saviour saith in another kind But he that did dispense with an irregularity in figure because of the state of the times will never allow Idolatry in deed such as is that of the Church of Rome who fulfil the very substance of that whereof the Iewish sin was but a Type whose Mediators are so many that they are not easily numbred and though they for excuse subordinate them all to Christ as the chief and derive their Mediatorship from the virtue of his merits yet is this but like unto that of the erring Church of the Law which notwithstanding God's commandment to the contrary had a conceit that they might sacrifice in any high place so it were unto the Lord their God only The third and last thing which these words imply is That this select and only place should be of the Lord 's own chusing The place he shall chuse But how should the Lord chuse it it seems by giving some extraordinary sign of his allowance in accepting their Sacrifice or it may be they did consult him in this case by the Oracle of Vrim and Thummim For of the first place in Shiloh we have nothing expressed but only read Ioshua 18. 1. That the whole Congregation of Israel assembled together at Shiloh and set up the Tabernacle of the Congregation there But of the second place in Mount Sion we read That the Angel of God commanded Gad to say to David that he should set up an Altar in the threshing-floor of Ornan and that when David offered thereon burnt-offerings and peace-offerings the Lord answered him from heaven by fire upon the Altar of burnt-offering and that David hereupon designed that place for the Tabernacle and future Temple saying This is the house of the Lord God and this is the Altar of the burnt-offering for Israel 1 Chron. 22. 1. Now to make some application of this to the times of the Gospel The two last circumstances of this place concern us not For that of one place was a Type and so is gone the second of God's immediate choice seems to be so also and to be a figure of that which the Angel Gabriel said to the blessed Virgin
Hail thou highly favoured the Lord is with thee blessed art thou amongst Women where God chuses the womb of Mary wherein to erect that pure Altar and Temple whereof the Legal were but shadows Thus these two circumstances seem no ways to bind us But the first That there should be select places for holy Assemblies and the publick worship of God this is that which was before the Law was given and yet remains in force now the Law is ended As long as it is required of the Church to appear before the Lord in publick Assemblies so long is it also required to have chosen and select places for that purpose Adam and his Sons had places whither to bring their Sacrifices the Patriarchs used Altars Mountains and Groves to the self-same purpose from the very beginning of Christianity Christians have had their select Oratories 1 Cor. 11. 22. S. Paul speaking of the Assemblies of the Church and some abuses therein as eating and drinking Have ye not saith he Houses to eat and drink in or despise ye the Church of God Here it appears that the place of holy Assemblies was not an ordinary place where men eat and drink but a place select and set apart for holier purposes which he yet more confirms when he addeth v. 34. If any man hunger let him eat at home It follows hence That the place of Holy Assemblies was no man's home but a place hallowed unto God for the common use of the Church howsoever these in the times of persecution so secret as not to be discovered by the Gentiles What hath been the practice since in all Ages he hath no eyes that sees not and if there be any who cannot behold them without a desire to have them levelled it were better their eyes were plucked out than so many monuments of our Forefathers piety should be thrown down and ruined and God so unseemly and disorderly served as he should be if as Beggers do for lodging so his Assemblies were every week or month to seek a place of entertainment We are therefore as well as the Israelites to appear before the Lord in a chosen place But here is the difference that they were to have but one we have liberty to have many there God chose a place for himself but we in the Gospel have liberty to chuse a place for God where we will Nevertheless it is to be observed that the Leaders of the Primitive Church howsoever they acknowledged this liberty yet they used to select for their Assemblies such Places as God had any way dignified or honoured either by some work of mercy or the glorious sufferings of his Martyrs whereupon the most ancient Monuments of the Christian Churches do mention the Assemblies of Christians In Coemeteriis Martyrum at the Coemeteries and Monuments of their Martyrs For howsoever God did not immediately select the place of his worship then as he did in the time of the Law yet they thought he had made these places of a choicer fitness than other though none of necessary obligation which I for my part would be loth to condemn as an error seeing to follow the order of the Church of Israel byâ— way of direction and not obligation is no abridgment to Christian liberty so it be only so far and in those things only whereof Christianity is capable as I think this we speak of was though I know it was afterward an occasion of damnable Idolatry use of erecting Temples unto Saints and Angels But what is there which the corrupt nature of man will not make an occasion of sin Even as an unclean body of the best nourishment will breed evil humors So out of the most wholsome ordinances our wicked hearts will contrive superstition DISCOURSE XLVIII DEUTERONOMY 16. 16 17. In the Feast of Vnleavened bread and in the Feast of Weeks and in the Feast of Tabernacles and they shall not appear before the Lord empty Every man shall give as he is able according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee IN these words being a commandment for the observation of the three solemn and principal Feasts of the Law were Four things considerable 1. The Work or action To appear before the Lord 2. The Persons who All Males 3. The Place where In the place the Lord shall chuse 4. The Time when Thrice in the Year In the Feast of unleavened bread In the Feast of Weeks and in the Feast of Tabernacles Of the three first the Action the Persons and Place I have spoken Now therefore I come to speak of the Time The Feast of unleavened bread c. The Feast of unleavened Bread is that which is otherwise called The Feast of the Passeover consisting of seven days from the fifteenth of March until the twenty first On the Even before this solemn Feast the fourteenth day of the first month was killed and eaten the Paschal Lamb on the seven days following were offered the Paschal Sacrifices and no other Bread but unleavened eaten the first and last days being days of holy Assemblies or Convocations The Feast of Weeks was a Feast kept at the end of seven Weeks or a Week of Weeks after the second day of the Passeover or fifty days after the first day of the Feast of unleavened bread and therefore called The Feast of Weeks that is a Feast to be kept a Week of Weeks after the Passeover and Pentecost because the first day thereof was the fiftieth day after the first of the Passeover as now our Whitsunâ—ide is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the fiftieth day after Easter This Feast was likewise of seven days continuance all spent in multitude of Sacrifices but the first and last specially in keeping of holy Assemblies The Feast of Tabernacles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was a Feast of eight days continuance in the seventh month or September from the fifteenth day thereof to the two and twentieth all whereof had their proper Sacrifices and the first seven days they dwelt in Booths or Tabernacles made of Willow Palm Myrtle and Citron boughs whence it hath the name of the Feast of Tabernacles The first and the last or eighth day were here also days of an holy Convocation wherein no servile work might be done Thus having in brief described the Time Continuance and Service of these Three solemn Feasts now let us also see what was the End of their institution The End of these Feasts was partly for Remembrance of things past and partly for Types and Figures of things to come which I will shew in them severally The Feast of the Passeover was for a thankful Remembrance of their great deliverance out of Egypt when for hast they were forced to carry their dough unleavened upon their shoulders and the evening before the Lord having slain all the first-born of Egypt yet passed by them because of the bloud of the Paschal Lamb which he saw upon the door-posts of their houses For this
after the first of which Sabbaths S. Luke calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whereby it may seem that the Pharisees reproved the Disciples not so much for breaking any Sabbath's rest as for eating the ears afore it was lawful for if it were lawful upon a Sabbath-day to reach meat from a Table why should it not be as lawful to pluck ears of Corn to ear them without breach of the Sabbath But I leave this Secondly At this Feast also I suppose they paid their Firstlings and Tithes of Cattel for God was to have of the best which was as I told you the Breed of the Spring at this time ready And this is the reason that where this Feast is commanded there follow presently some Precepts of the Firstlings of the Cattel because namely it concerned the same time Now at the Feast of Pentecost when Harvest was ended they are commanded to bring two wave-loaves of their new Corn for a second First-fruits of their Harvest At which time also they paid Tithes of Corn so much as was threshed and a Tribute also of a Free-will-offering of their hand as it is called in the 10. of this Chapter And this Feast ending their Harvest is a reason why at the mentioning thereof you shall find precepts of not gathering their Lands clean but that they should leave something for the poor to glean which also was a secondary Offering unto God himself Lastly At the Feast of Tabernacles they offered First-fruits and Tithes of Wine and Oyl which was the Offering of that season and besides the remainders of their Tithes of the floor or of threshed corn which is the reason why this Feast is called Exod. 34. The Feast of gathering in at the years end and in this Chapter afore my Text The Feast of gathering in of the Floor and the Winepress For at this time all their Corn was threshed and the Vintage done and other Fruits were gathered and so an Offering of them given unto God seasonably therefore in the commandment of this Feast you shall find a precept of not gathering their Grapes and Fruits clean in behalf of the Poor also Thus you see the Offering of Cattel was at Easter of Bread and Breadcorn in part at Pentecost of Wine and Oyle and the remainder of Corn at the Feast of Tabernacles whereupon we read 2 Chron. 31. 7. that the people which paid their Tithes there at Hezekiah's command began to lay the foundation of the heaps in the third month that is at Pentecost and finished them in the seventh month namely at the Feast of Tabernacles NOW having shewed what was the Iews practice let us also see our duty in imitation of them which I will only at this time shew briefly and generally Certainly we are bound also not to appear before the Lord with empty hand It is not enough to give at other times but it is a piece of the Worship required at that time For we must know that the actions of Men in holy Assemblies are not like their private actions at other times For all the actions here are not the actions of several men but to be accounted as one action of the whole body which makes S. Paul use the phrase when ye come together 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be as it were one and the same every prayer here is not many prayers if many but one prayer of all as one whether we say I in the singular or We in the plural all is one for I here expresses one made of many and We many made into one Whatsoever worship God requires therefore of any one alone the same he requires also of all met together as one for he is God as well of the body of the Church as a body as of any one in the Church as a Christian and therefore requires some of them in both kinds that is Confession Prayer Thanksgiving and an Offering of the hand too of the body of the Church assembled as well as of any one at any other time S. Paul ordained so in the Churches on the Lord's day the day of holy Assembly the day when many came together as one Every first day of the Week let every one lay by him in store as God hath prospered him The Primitive Christians practised the same in all their Assemblies alledging these words of my Text for the same as we may see in Iustin Martyr Irenaeus and others Nay they used to offer at the Lord's Table some handful of those Offerings and Tithes to which they would entitle the Lord whence the ancient Liturgies run 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Remember O Lord those who offer of their fruits and encrease in thy holy Churches We have also in our Liturgy a Service for the Offertory and many places of Scripture at the same read to move our devotion every Sunday and a Prayer to God at the end thereof That he would accept our Alms and Prayers when we seldom bring him any Our Blessed Saviour though he had nothing in this world but the contribution of good People in a Bag yet that he might in this also fulfil the Law of God he used at these solemn times to give unto the Poor which we may gather from the story of his Last Supper for the Text saith when he bade Iudas do quickly what he had to do his Disciples thought he had bid him give something unto the Poor because he carried the Bag which they would not have thought unless he had wont to do so at such times DISCOURSE XLIX GENESIS 10. 5. By these the Isles of the Gentiles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were divided 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in their lands every one after his tongue after their families 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in their nations WHENAS after the great Deluge of waters the sons of Noah began to multiply upon the earth it is said That they came from the East into the land of Shinar the pleasant plain of Shinar where God at the beginning had placed the first Father of mankind our Father Adam But when they saw that their numbers were like to be great and that so small a plot of ground would not contain them all yet that they might continue within the Body of one Society and have as it were a common right in this place of Paradise they agreed to build them a Citie which should have been the Metropolis of an Vniversal Monarchy and an exceeding high Tower that they might be famous and renowned among posterity But this vain purpose of man's imagination seemed evil in the eyes of God and therefore it is said That he came down from heaven to overthrow the counsel of the sons of men And because they were so loth to break Society it pleased God to cut from them the common Bond of one Society and to make them speak with many languages For as Speech is termed the Bond of Society Oratio saith the Philosopher est Societatis
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Rheginenses who were inhabitants of a City called Rhegium on the Sea-coasts of Italy over against Sicilia but this is too far out of our walk and breaks our Fourth Rule amain by rending Askenaz quite from the house of his father and placing him so far from his brethren and it is against Iosephus his own testimony who saith that the Gomeraei were inhabitants of Asia and I am sure Gomer could be founder of no Nations but those his Sons were fathers of But if I might be bold with Iosephus I would for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and understand the Rhaetii or Rhaetians a German people and so he should agree with the opinion of the modern Iews who call the Germans Askenazim from Askenaz but this must be understood of some ensuing Colonies not of this Original Seat The third and last portion is Pontus and Bithynia which remains for the Third Son Riphath witness Iosephus who affirms that the Paphlagones who dwelt in these parts were called Riphathaei and the Histories of Heathen men place here their Riphaei and Arimphaei and Iunius thinks that the Amazones who were called AEorpatae were a Colonie from these quarters and besides there is a river in these parts called Parthenius corruptly as it should seem for Riphathenius And this portion lies only open to the Euxine Sea in ancient time called Pontus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it was unfrequented by the Greek Nations which opportunely shews the reason why of those Three only Riphath is never spoken of afterward because it lay out of the walk either of Iews Tyrians or Egyptians And thus much for Gomer THAT which remains of Asia we must divide between Meshech Tubal and Magog For it is certain out of Ezekiel that Magog was seated in the North because it is said that Gog of the land of Magog shall come out of his Northern quarters and out of the same Chapter we gather that Tubal and Meshech were his neighbours in that he is called chief Prince of Meshech and Tubal and these two Meshech and Tubal are both here and elsewhere always joyned together To Meshech therefore following the received opinion we allot Cappadocia the inhabitants whereof were once called Meschini Moschi Mossyni and Mosynoeci witness Iosephus Epiphanius Pliny and Carmen Argonauticum Also the chief City of Cappadocia was called Mazaca even to Tiberius his time who called it Caesarea and it was afterward the Episcopal See of the learned Basilius Magnus Now for Thubal because he is neighbour to Meshech we must allot that which lies on the South-East of the Euxine Sea which contained the people Albani Chalybes and Iberi who Iosephus saith were anciently called Thebeli and Ptolemy places here a City called Thabilaca And some think that Chalybes is a name corrupted from Thabyles by losing the first letter and after supplying ◠in stead thereof for in Homer's time they were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when he saith that the Halizones came 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from Alybe where are mines of silver and from this Alybe I suppose came the name Albania And all this is agreeable to the opinion of most Writers but that some having mistaken the name Iberi in Iosephus will have the Spaniards to be of Thubal but we can yield them no more than this that perhaps the Spanish Iberi were a Colony of the Iberians of Asia And so we come to Magog Whom with the consent of all men we place North of Thubal and make him the father of those Seythians that dwelt on the East and North-East of the Euxine Sea and besides we have this argument from the report of Pliny in that Scythopolis and Hierapolis which these Scythians took when they overcame Syria were ever after by the Syrians called Magog And hence we may soon learn who is that tyrant Gog whereof Ezekiel prophesied namely the Scythian Ottoman of the East who at this day usurps a great part of Israel of our Israel of the Gentiles This is that Gog of the land of Magog chief Prince of Meshech and Thubal As for the name Gog it signifies the very same with Magog for Mem is but an Hemantick letter and it pleased the Spirit of God to take away this first syllable to distinguish between the people and the land of the people calling the people Gog and the land the land of Magog And it is to be marked that he doth not call this Gog Prince of Magog but rather Gog of the land of Magog for so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be turned and chief Prince of Meshech and Thubal For those who have done us all this evil were no Princes in the land of Magog but mere Vagabonds and mercenaries whom their Country spewed out because they could not live at home And yet these Savages at the first coming out made themselves Lords of Meshech and Thubal of Cappadocia and Iberia and here they contained themselves long before they attempted the conquest of the rest of Asia witness those who write the History of their beginning I would to God we might live to see that joyful time which the same Ezekiel speaketh of when the Lord shall make him fall upon the mountains of Israel and smite the bow out of his left hand and cause his arrows to fall out of his right hand when he shall send a fire upon Magog and among them that dwell carelesly in the Isles that they might know that he is the Lord our God even the Holy one of Israel There remain yet of the sons of Iaphet Madai and Tiras and of the plot we first laid out Thracia and Macedonia If then the Thracians be of Tyras as it is agreed they are both because the name Thrax is little changed and because they worshipped one Odrysus who was no other than this Tiras then it must needs follow that Macedonia is left for Madai or else we must leave it empty because we can assign it to none of the rest without great inequality of portions nor yet find any other place for Madai Let therefore Macedonia be the lot of Madai witness the ancient name AEmathia as Lucan sings Bella per AEmathios plus quam civilia campos If any man question how AE came in I could ask him likewise how Eu came into Euphrates which the Hebrews and those of Mesopotamia call Perath or how AE into AEgyptus which themselves and their neighbours the Arabians call Cuphti or how AE into Ethiopia which some think to be so called of Theops or Theophi It may be that of the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying regio the Greeks formed their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 terra and so Aimathia is as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Madai the land of Madai and AEgyptus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cuphti the land of Cuphti and AEthiopia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
priviledge that whatsoever ships come to their shores should be theirs And again Cilicia where the Roman navy used to lie was the lot of Tarshish not of Cittim for Strabo says the Cetii or Cetians lay West from Cilicia where we placed them Another Colony of Cittim Balaam will tell us of in Numb 24. 24. where he says that ships shall come from the coasts of Chittim and shall afflict the Assyrians and shall afflict the Hebrews which is meant of Alexander King of Macedonia whereby it seems that the Macedonians were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the mixture of the sons of Madai and Cittim as it were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even as for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so Macedonia is called from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Maccetims for an en in are terminations plural in diverse languages And that ye may fully believe that a Colony of Cittim went into Macedonia ye shall read in 1 Maccab. 8. 5. Perseus king of Macedonia expresly called King of Cittim which reading Iunius would fain change if he had any authority to make his opinion good that those ships also are called ships from the coasts of Cittim because they came out of the havens of Cilicia And thus much of the Colonies of the Cittaeans Now to speak a word or two of the Colonies of the rest Of the off-spring of Gomer who were of him called Cimmerii and had a City in their lot called Cimmeris of these Cimmerians or Gomerians Thogarmah lies only open by the AEgean Sea to the Mediterranean and therefore sent his ancient Colonies that way and gave original to the old Gaules whom the Grecians called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and contractly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cimbri and of these Gaules proves Cambden came our ancient Britans who yet retain the name of their Grandfire Gomer and call themselves Cumrah Askenaz another family of these Cimmerians lies open to the North-west and therefore sent his Colonies that way and gave name to Cimmerius Bosphorus and going along by Danubius gave beginning to the Germans whom Diodorus Sicâ—lus affirms to have their Original from the Cimmerians and the Iews to this day call them Askenazim of Askenaz and themselves retain the name of their Grandsire Gomer both in Cimbri and calling themselves Germen that is Gomeraeans as the Syrians call the Aramaeans Armin of which the Greeks form their Armenia so of Gemren or Germen the Latines formed Germania for en is a German plural and it is no harder thing to form of Gomer Gemren than of Brother Brethren for we English are the Germans brethren and therefore also the sons of Askenaz Riphath lies only open to the Euxine Sea Northward and West to Askenaz and therefore sent his Colonies something Westward but North of Askenaz and so he gave beginning first to those Riphaei above the Euxine Sea and after to the Rutheni and Prutheni both which found of Riphath for Pruthen is that but contractly for Riphathen that is Riphathaeans for en as I said is a termination plural We call them Prussians and Russians and their language is the Polonian tongue or a dialect thereof not the Askenazim or Dutch Meshech also lies only open Northward and therefore sent his Colonies beyond Palus Maeotis who are of him called Muskovians Tubal lies on the North-west of the Euxine Sea and therefore sent his ancient Colonies by it but whither it is hard to say but it is like Northward upon the East of the Muskovite Magog lies open to the North and hath scope enough and might go if he would he and Tubal both even as high as Nova Zembla There remain Tiras and our Iaphetian Madai and Madai lies open both to the Adriatick Sea and to the confines of Illyricum and Moesia but it is not like he went by Sea so long as he might by land and therefore I think he gave beginning to the Illyrians and to the Moesians for so Pliny calls them which methinks comes near to Maethians for â— and â— are changeable one for the other as we see in Rutheni and Prutheni whom we call Russians and Prussians and Russia and Prussia for Ruthia and Pruthia Tiras lies open both to the North and the West but I think he went no further Northward than a River on the edge of Russia which of him is called Tyras his other Colonies went more Westward and gave beginning to the Dacians and Geâ—ae and their off-spring And thus we have seen the First Seats of the Off-spring of Iaphet and also whither they have been since scattered over the face of this Western world And now we have occasion to consider the Blessing of Iaphet That God would enlarge him into the tents of Sem and that Cham should be his servant For there hath never yet been a son of Cham that hath shaken a sceptre over the head of Iaphet Sem hath subdued Iaphet and Iaphet subdued Sem but Cham never subdued either And this Fate was it that made Hannibal a child of Canaan cry out with the amazement of his soul Agnosco fatum Carthaginis See Livy in l. 27. in fine The Saracens indeed once spoiled us but they were no Chamites but Arabians of the seed of Ishmael and yet because a great number of their kind were after of the Moors and Chamish Arabians we see they were in a moment shaken off by Iaphet and made to keep themselves within their African limits And we may see likewise how God hath enlarged Iaphet into the tents of Sem and how he that was once the God of Sem is now the Blessed God of Iaphet For almost only the Off-spring of Iaphet yea and all the Off-spring of Iaphet are at this day Christians only Magog except whom he seems to have reserved as he did some of the Canaanites in the land of Israel to prove and punish us withal But let us desire him That he would at length deliver us from this Belial and that he would daily enlarge us more and more into the tents of Sem that he would remember the Blessing and never forget his Promises so often made to the Isles of the Gentiles Hear O Lord the groanings of those who are in bondage and let their cry come up unto thy Holy Seat Why should the Heathen any longer rage and gather themselves together against thy Christ How long Lord how long wilt thou be angry with them for ever It is enough Lord it is enough Arise and send them an Ezra send them now an Helper and make thine Holy Name known in the midst of thy people DISCOURSE LI. PSALM 50. 14. Offer unto God praise and pay thy Vows unto the
need of Beasts for Types but Meats and Drinks for godly works are as it were Meat and Drink to preserve that life which is according to Godliness This Corban we turn the Meat-and-Drink-offerings others Munus the Gentiles called it Libum But I said This Offering was commonly adjoyned to the Zebach or Bloudy Sacrifice for sometimes it is separate from it For to this Mincha I refer the holy Incense which was within the Temple which figured that continual sweet favour and Incense of the Merits and Obedience which Christ presents unto his Father in a Temple not made with hands that is in Heaven Again both Zebach and Mincha the Bloudy Sacrifice with its Meat-and-Drink-Offering were of differing kinds and for differing Ends. For either kind was Simple or Diverse Simple I call that which all of it was most holy and the whole was to shadow out the Satisfaction of Christ. And this was either for Internal sins or for External For Internal sins that is the sins of our Hearts Thoughts and Affections was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Holocaust or Burnt-offering For External sins or evil deeds were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Sin-offering and the Trespass-offering as we call them the one if I am not deceived for Sins against the First Table to wit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Trespass-offering the other for sins of the Second Table But because our Internal sins or sins of Infirmity are peccata jugia continual and daily sins therefore the Holocaust or Burnt-offering was continual and daily offered the Sin-offering and Trespass-offering were not so and yet whensoever they were offered they were offered with a Burnt-offering to shew that our Evil works cannot be expiated and made pure unless the Heart the fountain whence they spring be also purged A Diverse Sacrifice or Varium Sacrificium I call that which was not wholy most Holy neither was all of it to figure the Offering of Christ to come So that it was partly holy and partly most holy Such a one was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Peace-offering which I define A Corban part whereof was burnt upon the Altar as in other Sacrifices but the remainder and greater part was eaten by the faithful people who brought it that so their Sacrifice by being turned into their bodies nourishment might be a Sign of their incorporation into Christ to come who was the true Sacrifice for sin Here that which was eaten by the People was not most Holy for then had it belonged only to the Priest but it was a Sacrament and a Communion of that Sacrifice which was offered and signified Christ whose Bloud was to be shed and Body broken for their atonement Rightly therefore was it called a Sacrifice of Peace as being a Ceremony or Sacrament of Peace and Communion with Christ Iesus and by him with God the Father The Greeks commonly call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Eucharistical sacrifice it being to be celebrated with both oral and real Thanksgiving to God as for the same reason our Sacrament of Peace is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Eucharist which our Saviour Christ hath ordained in stead of that Eucharistical Sacrifice under the Law And of this kind were the ordinary Sacrifices of the Gentiles of which the Christians were forbidden to eat because they who in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper had communion with Christ already come as the Iews in the Peach-offerings had communion with Christ who was to come might have no peace and communion with Devils as the Greeks had in their sacrifice as S. Paul after he had compared these three together concludes 1 Cor. 10. 21. Ye cannot drink the Cup of the Lord and the Cup of Devils ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's Table and of the Table of Devils Out of which place and the Epistle to the Hebrews you may gather all that I have said hitherto of the Vse and Ends of the Corbanim or most Holy Offerings This affinity of the Eucharistical sacrifice with the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper moved the ancient Christians to frame the Office of the Lord's Supper as near as could be unto the Office of the Eucharistical Sacrifice as might be easily shewn in most particulars BUT now will I leave The most holy Offerings and come to Those which had but a single holiness which I said before were called Terumoth or Heave-offerings more seldom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tenuphoth or Wave-offerings both from the manner of offering them which was not by Fire as in the most Holy but by holding up or shaking them before the Lord. A Terumah therefore or Heave-offering I define thus An Offering made unto God of that we have received in way of thankfulness or acknowledgement of his dominion over the whole earth or thus more shortly An Offering made only unto the praise and honour of God and therefore it is Levit. 19. 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sanctum laudationum an holy thing of praise or an offering of praise And to this purpose are those words of David unto God 1 Chron. 29. 11 12 13 14. whenas himself and the Princes of Israel had offered an huge Terumah of Gold and Silver for the building of the Temple Thine O Lord saith he is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and majesty for all that is in heaven and in earth is thine Thine is the Kingdom O Lord and thou art exalted as Head above all Both riches and honour come of thee and thou reignest over all Now therefore our God we thank and praise namely by this Heave-offering thy glorious Name For all things come of thee and of thine own hand we have given thee Now the Terumah or Heave-offering was either Definite or Indefinite A Definite Heave-offering was the Tenth of all increase and this alone was certain both in regard of the things to be offered and the measure according to which they were to be offered The Indefinite Terumah was either Commanded or Free That which was Commanded was either General as the First-fruits or Special as the Heave-offering of the breast and shoulder of the Peace-offerings and of one loaf of the Meat-offering of the same and these the Greeks call fitly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Freewill-offering or voluntary Heave-offering was either more or less solemn The most solemn and usual was that which the Hebrews call Terumah-gedola which indeed was ordinary but I think no where absolutely commanded Voluntary Heave-offerings less usual were the Offerings of Gold Silver Land and whatsoever else they might give unto the use of the Lord his Temple and Ministers AND thus have we seen all the Kinds of the Offerings in the Law both holy and most holy and I think there is no Offering to be found but it belongs to some of these I have named either
Offering is presently exhibited De futuro when we bind our selves then to do it when we obtain our suit And this is called a Vow differing from the other not in nature but in time and this special kind because usual my Text puts for the whole kind Pay thy vows c. Further here is to be noted that as Thanksgiving is joyned with Prayer so is the Gift for Thanksgiving joyned with a Gift for Prayer Or the same Gift is first applied to Thanksgiving and then to Prayer that so as Thanksgiving is a mean to obtain by Prayer so a Present of Thanksgiving for a former Benefit is a mean to obtain of God a favour Herein then consists the Nature of an Offering addressed to Prayer not to merit the thing we ask but to be an argument before God that he would hear us because he hath promised in Christ to hear them who honour him This is not then orare satisfactoriè as the Papists do in their Mass but only oblatorié To pray satisfactoriè or meritoriè is to offer a price worth the thing we ask for To pray only oblatoriè is to offer a motive or condition in regard of God's promise in Christ to obtain our suit that is to make as it were a visible or real Prayer And such a Prayer were the Alms of Cornelius Acts 10. of whom it is said v. 4. That his Prayers and Alms were come up for a memorial before God Now before this Offering Euctical or Eucharistical can be complete it must consist of three degrees or parts Cordis Oris Operis the Offering of the Heart of the Mouth and of the Hand The Offering of the Heart is a Sursum Corda the lifting up of our Hearts to God either to praise him or to pray unto him The Offering of our Mouth is to express the same with our tongues and is called The Calves of our lips The Offering of our Hand which is properly call'd an Offering is a Testimony of what our Heart conceives or Tongue can express by honouring God with a Present of our substance The first of these is the formalis ratio or that whereby the two last are sanctified without it they are no Offerings no Thanksgiving no Prayer But the last is hallowed by the two former for a Sursum corda the lifting up of our Hearts and the profession of our Mouths is that which makes our Gift an Offering which without this Consecration is no Offering at all Hence it is that this kind of Offerings in regard of other Offerings is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not as some have thought from the thing offered as though nothing were offered but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rationes or orationes but from the manner of hallowing it which was as Iustin Martyr speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by way of Prayer and Thanksgiving For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not as some have thought opposed to a material offering but to an offering earthly and terrenely sanctified as were the Typical Sacrifices of the Law by Fire and Bloud but this Offering is offered by no other Fire but the Fire of the Spirit by no other Bloud than the precious drops of Prayer and Thanksgiving In brief 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is an Offering spiritually offered not an offering only of the Spirit it is opposed to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to a material and real offering as it is easily to be seen in Iustin Martyr Irenaeus and the ancient Liturgies who call the material offering of Bread and Wine for the Sacrament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a reasonable and unbloudy Sacrifice As the most Holy offerings were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fiery offerings not because they offered only fire but because that which was offered was done by fire so are all these Heave-offerings called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because they were offered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meaning the manner not the matter of the offering To come therefore to a conclusion That the Heave-offerings were such Offerings as I have now described it appears plainly in three principal sorts of them First-fruits Tithes and Voluntary Heave-offerings In First-fruits it appears by the Confession which every one was to make who offered them Deut. 26. 6 c. When the Egyptians evil intreated us and afflicted us and when we cried unto the Lord God of our fathers the Lord heard our voice and brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand and out-stretched arm and he hath brought us into this place and hath given us this land even a land that floweth with milk and honey And now behold I have brought the First-fruits of the Land which thou O Lord hast given me And so saith the Text thou shalt set them before the Lord thy God and worship before the Lord thy God Whither tend all these words but to a thankful acknowledgment and remembrance of the Blessings they had received from God in giving them so good a Land and doing so great things for them And for Tithes you may see in the same place what he was to say that offered them namely I have brought away the hallowed things out of mine house and also have given them unto the Levite and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow according to all thy Commandments which thou hast commanded me Look down therefore from thy holy habitation from heaven and bless thy people Israel and the Land which thou hast given us as thou swarest to our fathers a Land that floweth with milk and honey Here is an Euctical offering an offering applied to Prayer as if they had said We honour thee O Lord with this part of our substance that thou seeing our Obedience mightest in mercy vouchsafe to look down from thy holy habitation and bless us thy people and the Land which thou hast given us I come now to the voluntary Heave-offering of which we have a noble Pattern in that great Terumah of Gold and Silver which David and his Princes offered for the building of the Temple in 1 Chron. 29. Where we shall find first Praise or Thanksgiving that is an acknowledgment of God's Dominion Power and Goodness from which comes all the good we have Thine O Lord saith David ver 11. is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the Majesty for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine ver 12. Both riches and honour come of thee and thou reignest over all ver 13. Now therefore our God we thank thee and praise thy glorious name And afterwards he comes to Prayer ver 18 19. O Lord God of Abraham Isaac and Israel our fathers Give unto Solomon my son a perfect heart to keep thy Commandments thy Testimonies and Statutes I will add for a conclusion that of Nehemiah 13. 14. who being the Head and Ruler of his brethren when he commanded
Eleemosyna or Alms. The first is done to God immediately and is when we give ought to the use and maintenance of his Worship The Second is done to our Neighbour immediately as when we supply his wants out of our abundance and this is done to God only mediately unless it be done unto the stranger fatherless and widow for they in the old Law were in a special manner Cura Dei God's care together with the Levite Of these two kinds I have hitherto extended the first though I exclude not Alms so far as God is worshipped by the good we do unto our brother I COME now unto the last point I proposed namely The Practice of the ancient Church in the use of this Offering or Oblatory Praise and Thanksgiving at the celebration of the Lord's Supper and here I will shew first What their custom was secondly What ground and reason they had for the same To begin with the first Among the ancient Christians the whole Office of this Sacrament I mean the whole Body of Rites and Actions about the same consisted of three parts namely as they are distinguished by Ignatius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was an act of Oblatory praise and prayer by addressing or applying Bread and Wine unto the use of the Sacrament and other Gifts to the use of God's service 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Sacrifice the consecration or mystical changing of Bread and Wine thus sanctified into the Body and Bloud of our Lord Iesus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was the eating or receiving of the same in sign of Communion with Christ and all the fruits of his Incarnation whence Nazianzen defines this Sacrament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Communion of the Incarnation of God To these three acts answer three words To 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Oblation hallowed Bread and hallowed Wine but no more To 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Consecration the Body and Bloud of the Lord To the third the Communion of the Body and Bloud of the Lord. The first act of common Bread and Wine made holy and sanctified Bread and Wine called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the Bread and Wine of Blessing and Thanksgiving The second act of holy Bread and Wine made most holy that is holy signs of the Lord's Body and Bloud The third of holy signs in general holy signs in special applied to the soul of each receiver The first was done by being used to Prayer and Thanksgiving The second by pronouncing the words of Institution at the breaking of the Bread and pouring of the Wine The third by receiving it with Amen or So be it The first and last were acts of Priest and People the second of the Priest alone Thus was there as it were a mutual commerce between God and the People the People giving unto God and God again unto his People the People giving a small Thanksgiving but receiving a great Blessing offering Bread but receiving the Body offering Wine but receiving the mystical Bloud of Christ Iesus I know that the names of these are often confounded all being used for the whole and often one for another but especially the Sacrament it self is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Oblation or Offering by a Metonymic of the matter because the matter was offered Bread and offered Wine For the same reason is it called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Eucharist because the matter of it was Eucharistia Bread of Blessing and Thanksgiving not as some think because the End thereof is Thanksgiving It is called also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Sacrifice I think of the matter also which was taken out of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though some will have it so called because it was a sign of Christ's sacrifice But I return again unto the Oblation which as you have seen was as it were a Prologue unto the Sacrament and had the full nature of the Heave-offering which I have so long spoken of First it was in every part complete having all the degrees or parts of a true offering namely of the Heart of the Tongue and of the Hand all formally expressed in the ancient Liturgies For when the people began to bring their Offering unto the Altar the Priest was to say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lift up your hearts to which they answered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We lift them up unto the Lord This was the use of those Versicles in ancient time When this was done then came the calves of their lips offered both to Praise and Prayer 1. To Praise and Thanksgiving When the Priest cried 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let us give thanks unto the Lord the people answered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is meet and just we should do so and so they went on to give God thanks or to make a thankful remembrance of the Creation of the World and all things therein for the use of man for the Providence of God in governing the same for the Oeconomy of his Church afore the Law and in the Law recounting in brief as they went the principal Histories of the Bible in all these particulars This part of Oblatory Thanksgiving is now called the Preface in the Mass though something diverse from the ancient But because Christ had commanded that in this service they should chiefly remember him they made in the next place a large Thanksgiving unto God that he so loved the world as to give his own Son for the same that the Son of God would abase himself so low as to take upon him the nature of sinful man and by his death and passion to redeem us out of the jaws of death and pit of hell And this is now for the greater part called The Hymn and here ended The offering of Praise and Thanksgiving 2. Next comes the Offering of Prayer or Prayer with an Offering for Kings and Princes the whole Catholick Church and so along as we have it in our Litany or in the Prayer for the whole state of Christ's Church both which are beaten out of that mint And our Prayer for the whole state of Christ's Church is yet Oblatory if the Rubrick were observed which enjoyns the Church-wardens to gather the Alms of the people and then to make this Vniversal Prayer and in the very beginning thereof we desire Almighty God to accept our Alms and to receive our Prayers In no other sense did the ancient Church use their word Offer so often repeated in those Prayers but that God would accept of their Obedience in thus honouring him and so according to his promise in Christ to hear their Prayers And hence it is that sometimes they say We offer sometimes We beseech thee one expounding the meaning of the other But this is now made to be the Canon of the Mass and all this Offering of Prayer is turned into an Offering of Expiation for the quick and the dead For this offering of
should get Faith and know Christ to be their Redeemer But they would have some new things taught them these common things are tedious the Minister must teach them something they never knew before or if they must have the old things still their stomachs are so queasie that they must needs have them drest and set out with delicious words and gay shews of Learning that so they may go down the better that is They would have Gold to be gilded and find want of knowledge in the noblest piece of Learning in the world These men are like unto the Israelites Num. 11. who when God gave them Manna from heaven and fed them with the food of Angels after they had a while been used to it they began to murmure and said Our souls loath this Manna what nothing but Manna what still Manna every day Manna Manna O that we had the flesh-pots of Egypt our onions and our cucumbers I As if they had said What though this Manna be an heavenly Manna we had rather have that which comes from the Earth so it be rare and geason we regard not the goodness of the meat but the variety of fare But what befel these dainty-mouthed murmurers Many they had their wish they had flesh of the best the flesh of Quails sent them but while the meat was in their mouths the wrath of the Lord came upon them and they died not because it was unlawful for them to eat flesh but because they made more account of this grosâ—â—r food because 't was rare then of the Manna which fell from heaven Take heed therefore you that are too-too choice in hearing and had rather hear rare and new things than profitable things because you hear them often The Knowledg of Christ is this Manna which came from heaven If the Minister of God feed you with this it is the best food he can give you What more soveraign Diet can be unto your souls than that which makes them live for ever What more pleasing News can you hear than Tidings that God will be at peace with men This made the very Angels of heaven to sing for joy at the birth of Christ Glory be to God on high and peace amongst men Account not that common which so few men tast of account not that tedious which the best of you all have need of and which if you could once but relish the sweetness of you would think you never had enough of I speak not all this as quite disallowing a moderate shew of Learning in Sermons but because I would have you know that in respect of the Manna it self they are but leeks and cucumbers the onions and garlick of Egypt AND so I come to the next thing I observe out of the First part of my Text and that is from these words we are sure or we know as in the Greek it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but it comes all to one for he that knows he knoweth Christ is sure he knows he that knows he hath a thing is sure he hath it Mark then from hence That a man may be sure he shall be saved he may be sure that the Benefits of Christ's death belong unto him For to know Christ I told you was to know him to be our Redeemer that is to have Faith in him or to believe him to be our Christ. If every one therefore that knows him aright and believes in him truly shall be saved he that is sure he knows him he that knows he believes truly in him this man must needs know also and be assured of his Salvation But you see the words of my Text do plainly imply that a man may be sure he knows Christ or else in vain should the Apostle tell us of the means how to get that which was impossible to be gotten But if the words of my Text be not sufficient to persuade you then call to mind the firm Assurance of S. Paul who was perswaded that neither life nor death neither principalities nor powers nor any thing else in the world could sever him from the love of God Call to mind again the words of Iob who saith he was sure that his Redeemer liveth and that his eyes should see him But perhaps you will say that these were extraordinary men Apostles and Prophets might know so much by special inspiration but every man must not look for that which they had All are not Apostles all are not Prophets and therefore all must not look to be like unto Apostles and Prophets But mark again the words of my Text We are sure or we know that we know him He says not I Iohn am or may be sure or that the other Apostles might be sure but we know or we are sure we know him that is I and you both not I alone who am an Apostle but all you also to whom I write who have believed through the preaching of the Apostles and Disciples of the Lord Iesus we all of us may be sure or know we know him if we keep his Commandments And surely if this be not so why doth S. Peter 2 Ep. chap. 1. 10. bid us endeavour to make our calling and election sure why is the Spirit of God called the Earnest and Seal of our Salvation The Seal we know confirms and makes a thing sure and he that hath given earnest is bound to stand to his bargain whosoever then doth feel the Spirit of God to be within him as every one may and must do before they shall be saved this man hath God's promise sealed unto him and God hath given him the Earnest of his Salvation and certainly God useth not to break covenants he will not break promise with us if we keep promise with him for he is not as the sons of men that he should be changed the Lord hath sworn and it shall not repent him the counsel of the Lord remains for ever and his decree from generation to generation Wouldest thou then have comfort in thy misery wouldest thou have joy in all thy sorrows wouldest thou find rest in the greatest troubles of thy life wouldest thou entertain Death as a messenger of joy wouldest thou welcome the Lord Iesus at his coming O labour then to make thy election sure never cease till thou hast gotten the seal and earnest of thy Salvation renounce all kind of peace till thou hast found the peace of conscience discard all joy till thou feelest the joy of the Holy Ghost Do this and there is no calamity so great but thou mayest undergo no burthen so heavy but thou mayest easily bear it Do this and thou shalt live in the fear dye in the favour and rise in the power of God the Father and help to make up the heavenly Confort singing with the Saints and Angels Hallelujah Hallelujah All glory and honour and praise be ascribed to the Lamb and to him that sitteth upon the throne for
may be gathered in some sort out of those words of Exodus whereupon we have so long dwelt as where the recording of God's 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 Iacob at Bethel and the like The true Ratio therefore of this SHECINAH or Speciality of Divine Presence must be sought and defined by something which is common to all these and not by that which is proper to some only Well then to hold you no longer in suspence 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 train or retinue A King is there where his Court is where his train 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 rendezvous That this is consonant to the revelation of holy Scripture I shew first from the collection or 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 dreadful is this place It is no other but the House of God even the gate of Heaven that is Heaven's Guild-hall Heaven's Court namely because of the Angels For the Gate was wont to be the Iudgment-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 Lord's 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 Angelical retinue there encamping For so S. Steven Acts 7. 53. You who have received the Law by the disposition of Angels and have not kept it S. Paul twice first Gal. 3. 19. The Law was added because of transgressions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ordained by Angels in the hand of a Mediator and again Heb. 2. 2. he calls the Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word spoken by Angels Howbeit in the story it self we find no such thing expressed but only 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 Whence then should this expression of S. Steven and the Apostle proceed but from a supposition that the Special 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 He 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 days coming to judgment Dan. 7. 10. Thousand thousands ministred unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him to wit of Angels Whence we read in the Gospel that Christ our Saviour shall come in the glory of his Father that is with an Host of Angels as the Holy Ghost himself 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 prophesied Enoch the seventh from Adam Iude verse 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold the Lord cometh with his holy Myriads or ten thousands for so it ought to be rendred and not as we have it with ten thousand of his Saints Wherefore here the vulgar Latine comes nearer which hath Ecce venit Dominus in sanctis millibus suis. A like expression whereunto of the Divine presence we shall find in Moses Blessing Deut. 33. 2. The Lord saith he came from Sinai unto them i. unto Israel and rose up from Sâ—ir unto them he shined forth from mount Paran he came with his holy ten thousands or holy Myriads for so it should be translated then it follows from his right hand went a fiery law for them From whence perhaps that notion of the Iewish Doctors followed by S. Steven and the Apostle That the Law was given by Angels had its beginning And thus you have heard out of Scripture What that is whereby the Special presence of the Divine Majesty is as I suppose defined that is wherein it consists namely such as is appliable to all places wherein he is said to be thus present even to Heaven it self his Throne and Seat of glory the proper place as every one knows of Angelical residence Now according to this manner of presence is the Divine Majesty to be acknowledged present in the Places where his Name is recorded as in his Temple under the Law and in our Christian Oratories or Churches under the Gospel namely that the heavenly Guard there attend and keep their rendezvous as in their Master's House according to that vision which the Prophet Esay had thereof Esay 6. 1. I saw the Lord saith he sitting upon a Throne high and lifted up and his train filled the Temple Septuagint and Iohn 12. 41. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the Angels and Seraphims his stipatores as may be gathered from that which immediately follows verse 3. where it is said The Seraphims cried one unto another Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God of hosts the whole earth is full of his Glory This King Agrippa in Iosephus intimates in that Oration he is said to have made unto the Iews a little before that fatal siege dehorting them from rebelling against the Romans where speaking to the people hard by and in view of that sacred Temple he hath these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I call to witness your sacred Temple and the holy Angels of God namely which encamp there The â—ame is implied in that of the 138. Psalm ver 1 2. according to the translation of the Septuagint and Vulgar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In conspectu Angolorum psallam tibi Adorabo ad Templum sanctum tuum confitebor Nomini tuo Before the Angels I will sing praise unto thee I will worship towards thy holy Temple and praise thy Name And according to this sense I understand that of Solomon in this Book of Ecclesiastes within two or three verses of my Text concerning vows to be made in God's House When thou vowest a vow defer not to pay it Better it is thou shouldest not vow than vow and not pay Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin neither say thou BEFORE THE ANGEL It was an error that is Let not such a foolish excuse come from thee in the
house of God before the holy Angels For note that the word Angel may be taken collectively for more than one For this cause all the curtains of the Tabernacle were filled with the pictures of Cherubims and the walls of Solomon's Temple within with carved Cherubims the Ark of the Testimony overspread and covered with two nighty Cherubims having their faces looking towards it and the Mercy-seat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with their wings stretched forth on high called Heb. 9. 5. The Cherubims of glory that is of the Divine Presence All to signifie that where God's sacred Memorial is the enâ—ign of his Covenant and commerce with men there the blessed Angels out of duty give their attendance Nor is it to be over-passed that the Iews at this day continue the like opinion of their modern Places of worship namely that the blessed Angels frequent their assemblies and praise and laud God with them in their Synagogues notwithstanding they have no other Memorial of his there than an imitative one only to wit a Chest with a Volume or Roll of the Law therein in stead of the Ark with the two Tables For thus speaks the Seder Tephilloth or Form of prayer used by the Iews of Portugal O Lord our God the Angels that supernal company gathered together with thy people Israel here below do crown thee with praises and altogether do thrice redouble and cry that spoken of by the Prophet Holy Holy Holy Lord God of hosts the whole earth is full of his glory They allude to Esay's Vision of the Glory of God above mentioned You will say Such a presence of Angels perhaps there was in that Temple under the Law but there is no such thing in the Gospel No why Are the Memorials of God's Covenant his Insignia in the Gospel less worthy of their attendance than those of the Law or have the Angels since the nature of man Iesus Christ our Lord became their Head and King gotten an exemption from this service Surely not S. Paul if we will understand and believe him supposes the contrary in his first Epistle to the Corinthians chap. 11. verse 10. where treating of a comely and decent accommodation to be observed in Church-assemblies and in particular of womens being covered or veiled there he enforces it from this presence of Angels For this cause saith he ought the woman to have a covering on her head 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because of the Angels namely which are there present For otherwise the reason holds not that she should more be covered in the Place of Prayer than any where else unless the Angels be more there than elsewhere This place much troubleth the Expositors but see what it is to admit a truth for now there is no difficulty in it And that the ancient Fathers conceived no less venerably of their Christian Oratories in this particular than the Iews did of their Temple appears by S. Chrysostomâ— who is very frequent in urging an awful and reverent behaviour in God's house from this motive of Angelical presence As in his Homily 36. in 1 Corinth where reproving the irreverent behaviour of his Auditory in that Church in talking walking saluting and the like which he saith was peculiar unto them and such as no Christians elsewhere in the world presumed to do he enforces his reproof with words that come home to our purpose Non tonstrina inquit neque unguentaria officina neque ulla alia opiâ—icum qui sunt in â—oro taberna est Ecclesia sed Locus Angelorum Locus Archangelorum Regia Dei ipsum Coelum The Church saith he is no Barber 's or Drug-seller's shop nor any other crafts-mans or merchants workhouse or warehouse in the market-place but the place of Angels the place of Archangels the Palace of God Heaven it self And in his 4. Homily De incomprehensibili Dei natura towards the end Cogiâ—a apud quem proximè stas quibuscum invoces Deum sâ—il cum Cherubim cum Seraphim cum omnibus coeli Virtutibus animadverte quos habeas socios satis hoc tibi sit ad sobrietatem cùm recorderis te corpore constantem carne coagmentatum admitti cum Virtutibus incorporeis celebrare omnium Dominum Think near whom thou standest with whom thou invocatest God namely with Cherubims and Seraphims and all the Powers of Heaven consider but what companions thou hast let it be sufficient to perswade thee to sobriety when thou remembrest that thou who art compounded of flesh and bloud art admitted with the incorporeal Powers to celebrate the common Lord of all But all this you will say the Angels may do in Heaven Well let it be so yet is it not altogether out of our way but the next places I shall bring will not be so eluded Namely that in his 15. Homily upon the Epistle to the Hebrews against those that laughed in the Church Regiam quidem ingrediens habitu aspectu incessu omnibus aliis te ornas componis Hîc autem verè est Regia planè hîc talia qualia coelestia rides Atque scio quidem quòd tu non vides Audi autem quòd ubique adsunt Angeli maximè in Domo Dei adsistunt Regi omnia sunt impleta incorporeis illis Potestatibus When thou goest into a King's Palace thou composest thy self to a comeliness in thy habit in thy look in thy gate and in all thy whole guise But here is indeed the Palace of a King and the like attendance to that in Heaven and dost thou laugh I know well enough thou seest it not But hear thou me and know that Angels are every where and that chiefly in the House of God they attend upon their King where all is â—illed with these incorporeal Powers The like unto this you shall find in his 24. Homily upon the Acts of the Apostles Knowest thou not that thou standest here with Angels that with them thou singest with them thou landest God with Hymns and dost thou laugh See the rest I will alledge but one passage more of his lest I should grow tedious and that is out of his 6. Book de Sacerdotio not very far from the beginning where speaking of the time when the holy Eucharist is celebrated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Then the Angels stand by the Priest and the whole Quire resounds with celestial Powers and the place about the Altar is filled with them in honour of him who is laid thereon that is of his Memorial Compare with it a like passage in his 3. Hom. De incomprehensibili Dei natura Item Hom. 1. De verbis Isaiae S. Ambrose acknowledgeth the same in c. 1. Luc. Non dubites assistere Angelum quando Christus assistit Christus immolatur Yea Tertullian in whose time which was within two hundred years after Christ some will scarcely believe that Christians had any such Places as Churches
Nations of the Orient especially that Rite of Discalceation or putting of their shoes still used and continued amongst them unto this day when they come into their Temples and Sacred places Which that I affirm not without good warrant in case any one shall doubt thereof these Testimonies following will sufficiently evidence First That Symbole of Pythagoras 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 OFFER SACRIFICE AND WORSHIP WITH THY SHOES OFF. What mystical or symbolical sense he intended I enquire not but it is plain his expression alludes to some such custom then used by those who came to worship in the Temples of their Gods Wherein that my collection fails me not Iustin Martyr will bear me witness in his second Apology where he tells us That those who came to worship in the Sanctuaries and Temples of the Gentiles were commanded by their Priests 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to put off their shoes which their Gods learned saith he by way of Imitation from that which the Lord spake to Moses out of the flaming Bush Loose thy shoes from off thy feet for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground This Testimony for the antiquity of the practice is without exception Yet by the Father's good leave I am prone to think that those words unto Moses gave not the first beginning unto it but were an admonition only of the Divine presence thereby commanding the Rite then accustomed in places so hallowed and that therefore it was rather as other Religious Rites derived unto the Gentiles by Tradition from the Patriarchs before Moses of whom both the Iews and those Nations of the Orient which agreed with them in this custom were descended Concerning whose present custom Drusius in his Notes upon Iosua affirmeth Quòd etiam nunc apud plerasque Orientis Nationes piaculum sit calceato pede Templorum pavimenta calcâsse That even to this day among most of the Nations of the Orient it is reputed a piaculary crime to tread upon the pavements of their Temples with their shoes on their feet For the Iews in particular that this Rite of Veneration was anciently used by them in Places sanctified by the Divine Presence Maimonides puts us out of doubt telling us in his Beth Habbechirah chap. 7. That it was not lawful for a man to come into the Mountain of God's House with HIS SHOES ON HIS FEET or with his staffe or in his working garment or with dust on his feet and the like The same hath Rabbi Solomon upon the 19. of Levit. ver◠30. It is further confirmed by their modern practice in their Synagogues even here in these Western and colder parts of the world where though no such custome be in use as in the Orient nor our manners with conveniencie capable thereof yet they still observe it as far as the guise of the West will permit them an argument it descends unto them by a strong and rooted Tradition from their forefathers My Author is Buxtorf Synagog Iudaic. lib. 5. c. 5. where he hath these words Ante Synagogam vel scholam ipsorum ferrum quoddam habent immuratum ad quod quilibet calceos immundos aut coenosos abstergere tenetur idque Solomonis authoritate qui Custodi ait pedem tuum Quisquis crepidis indutus est is eas immundas de pedibus suis detrahere tenetur prout scriptum est Solve calceamenta tua de pedibus tuis c. that is Before their Synagogues they have a certain iron fastned in a wall whereat every one is bound to make clean his foul or dirty shoes and that by the authority of Solomon who saith Look to thy foot c. Whosoever hath slippers on is bound they being foul to put them quite off viz. before he enters into the Synagogue according as it is written Loose thy shoes from off thy feet c. And for the Mahumetans what they do in their Mosquees Bartlemew Georgivez who was a long time a captive amongst them can best inform us in his Book De ritu ceremoniis Turcarum Quicunque saith he veniunt ad vrationem debent abluere manus pedes c. postremò ter spargunt aquam super capita recitando haec verba ELHEMDV LILLAHI i. gloria Deo meo Deinde exutis calceamentis Patsmagh dictis iisque ante januam Templi relictis introeunt alii NVDIS PEDIBVS alii habentes munda calceamenta Mesth dicta That is Such as come to pray their duty is first to wash their hands-feet c. at last they sprinkle water over their heads thrice repeating these words ELHEMDV LILLAHI that is Glory be to my God Then putting off their shoes called Patsmagh and leaving them before the door of the Temple they enter some barefooted others having a clean kind of Sandal which they call Mesth namely as the custom is with us when we pull off our hats to wear a cap. Lastly That we may not want an instance among Christians Zaga Zabo an AEthiopian Bishop sent Ambassador from David King of the Abyssines to Iohn the third King of Portugal above an hundred years since in his description of the Religion and Rites of the Abyssine Christians thus informs us Prohibitum est apud nos saith he nè aut gentes aut canes aut alia hujusmodi animalia in Templa nostra intrent Item non datur potestas nobis adeundi Templum nisi NVDIS PEDIBVS neque licet nobis in ipso Templo ridere obambulare aut de rebus prophanis loqui neque spuere aut screare in ipso Templo Quia Ecclesiae AEthiopum non sunt similes terrae illi ubi populus Israel comedit Agnum Paschalem decedens ab AEgypto in quo loco propter terrae pollutionem jussit eos Deus comedere indutos calceamentis zonis accinctos sed similes sunt monti Sinai ubi Dominus locutus est Mosi dicens Exue calceamentatua de pedibus tuis quoniam terra quam pedes tui premunt sancta est That is it is prohibited amongst us that either Pagans or dogs or any other beasts should come into our Churches Moreover it is not permitted to us to go into the Church but BARE-FOOTED nor is it lawful for us in the Church to laugh or to walk up and down or to speak of secular matters no not to spit hank or hem in the Church Because the Churches of AEthiopia are not like unto that Land where the people of Israel ready to depart out of Egypt ate the Paschal Lamb where because of the pollution of the countrey God commanded them to eat it with their shoes on their feet and their loins girded but they are like unto Mount Sinai where God spake unto Moses saying put off thy shoes from thy feet for the ground whereon thy feet tread is holy Thus Zaga Zabo of the Abyssine Christians whereof he was a Bishop And till the contrary be shewed me I am prone to believe that some other Christians of
before God without that inward devotion requisite be a sin yet to confess and acknowledge by what our outward gesture importeth the duty we owe unto him but are defective in I hope is not no more than the confession of any other sin For our worship in such a case if we will so intend it is an act of Repentance and as the modern Greeks are wont to call their Adorations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Repentances so may we in this case make ours to be namely as if we said Lord I ought to come before thee with that religious sear humble reverence and lifting up of Heart which the gesture the posture I here present importeth but Lord be merciful to me a sinner If a mans Heart be so prophane and irreligious as not to acknowledge thus much I yield that such a one might better spare his labour and not come into the presence of God at all Otherwise I conclude still with our Blessed Saviour's determination in the like case Those greater things we ought to do and not to leave the other undone THE CHRISTIAN SACRIFICE MALACHI 1. 11. Ab ortu Solis usque ad occasum magnum erit Nomen meum in Gentibus in omni loco offeretur Incensum Nomini meo Munus purum quia magnum erit Nomen meum in Gentibus dicit Dominus exercituum From the rising of the Sun even unto the going down of the same my Name shall be great among the Gentiles and in every place Incense shall be offered unto my Name and a pure Offering for my Name shall be great among the Heathen saith the Lord of hosts CHAP. I. The Text a Prophecy of the Christian Sacrifice according to the judgment of the ancient Fathers in the Second Third and Fourth Centuries The difficulty of explaining the Christian Sacrifice The Reasons of this difficulty The Method and Order propounded for this Discourse THIS place of Scripture howsoever now in a manner silenced and forgotten was once and that in the eldest and purest times of the Church a Text of eminent note and familiarly known to every Christian being alledged by their Pastors and Teachers as an express and undoubted Prophecie of the Christian Sacrifice or Solemn Worship in the Eucharist taught by our Blessed Saviour unto his Disciples to be observed of all that should believe in his Name and this so generally and grantedly as could never have been at least so early unless they had learned thus to apply it by Tradition from the Apostles For in the Age immediately succeeding them being the second hundred of years after Christ we find it alledged to this purpose by Iustin Martyr and Irenaeus the Pillars of that Age the former of them flourishing within little more than thirty years after the death of S. Iohn and the latter a Disciple of Polycarp S. Iohn's Scholar In the Age following or third Seculum it is alledged by Tertullian Zeno Veronensis and Cyprian in the fourth Seculum by Eâ—sebius Chrysostome Hierome and Augustine and in the after-Ages by whom not Nor is it alledged by them as some singular opinion or private conceit of their own but as the received Tradition of the Church whence in some Liturgies as that of the Church of Alexandria commonly called the Liturgy of S. Mark it is inserted into the Hymn or Preface which begins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is truly meet and right the conclusion of the Hymn or Laud there being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Giving thanks we offer unto thee O Lord this reasonable and unbloudy Service even that which all Nations from the rising of the Sun to the going down of the same offer unto thee for thy Name shall be great among all Nations and in every place Incense is offered unto thy holy Name and Sacrifice and Oblation Thus you see the antiquity of Tradition for the meaning and application of this Prophecy But for the Christian Sacrifice it self whereunto it is applied What the ancient Church understood thereby What and Wherein the Nature of this Sacrifice consisted is a point though most needful to be known yet beyond belief obscure intricate and perplext He that shall make trial will find I say true A reverend and learned Prelate of ours acknowledges as much Apud veteres Patres saith he ut quod râ—s est liberè fateamur de sacrificio corporis Christi in Eucharistia incruento frequens est mentio quae dicâ— vix potest quantâ—pâ—re quorundam alioqui doctorum hominum ingenia exercuerit torserit vexaverit To speak the plain truth In the Writings of the ancient Fathers there is frequent mention of The unbloudy Sacrifice of the Body of Christ in the Eucharist a point which hath beyond expression puzzled and vext the minds of several men otherwise not unlearned The reason of this obscurity hath grown partly from the changing of the Notion of the Church thereabout in following times partly by the violence of the Controversies of this last Age whilst each part finding the knot and studying not so much the right way of untying it as how to give the least advantage to the adverse party have infinitely intangled the same and made it more indissoluble than before I have acquainted my self long with this Argument and spent many a thought thereabout using the best means I could conceive to be inform'd namely Not so much to relie upon the opinions of modern Writers as to peruse and compare the passages of the Ancients themselves and their Forms and Liturgies out of which I was assur'd the Truth might be learned if I were but able to understand them What I have sound and learned I desire to give an account of in this place as I shall have occasion the Argument being such as befits no other Auditorie but the Schools of the Prophets Nor will the Discourse be unprofitable for such as mean to be acquainted with the Writings of the Fathers and Antiquities of the Church there being nothing in them so like to stumble the Reader as this To come then to the matter where I will chalk out my Discourse in this order First I shall premise as the ground thereof A Definition of The Christian Sacrifice as the ancient Church meant it Secondly Explain the meaning of my Text by application thereto Thirdly Prove each part of the Definition I shall give by the Testimonies of the Fathers Councils and Liturgies of the first and best Ages interlacing therewith such passages as may make for the better understanding either of the Testimonies I bring or of the matter it self for which they are brought CHAP. II. The Christian Sacrifice defined and briefly explained The two parts or double Object of this Sacrifice What meant by Sacrificium Quod what by Sacrificium Quo. TO begin with the First The Definition of the Christian Sacrifice Under which name first know That the ancient Church understood not as many suppose the mere Sacrament of the Body and Bloud of
Christ but the whole Sacred Action or Solemn Service of the Church assembled whereof this Sacred Mysterie was then a prime and principal part and as it were the Pearl or Iewel of that Ring no publick Service of the Church being without it This observed and remembred I define the Christian Sacrifice ex mente antiquae Ecclesiae according to the meaning of the ancient Church in this manner An Oblation of Thanksgiving and Prayer to God the Father through Iesus Christ and his Sacrifice commemorated in the Creatures of Bread and Wine wherewith God had first been agniz'd So that this Sacrifice as you see hath a double object or matter first Praise and Prayer which you may call Sacrificium Quod secondly The commemoration of Christ's Sacrifice on the Cross which is Sacrificium Quo the Sacrifice whereby the other is accepted For all the Prayers Thanksgivings and Devotions of a Christian are tendred up unto God in the name of Iesus Christ crucified According whereunto we are wont to conclude our Prayers with Through Iesus Christ our Lord. And this is the specification whereby the Worship of a Christian is distinguisht from that of the Iew. Now that which we in all our Prayers and Thanksgivings do vocally when we say Through Iesus Christ our Lord the ancient Church in her publick and solemn Service did visibly by representing him according as he commanded in the Symbols of his Body and Bloud For there he is commemorated and received by us for the same end for which he was given and suffered for us that through him we receiving forgiveness of our sins God our Father might accept our service and hear our prayers we make unto him What time then so sit and seasonable to commend our devotions unto God as when the Lamb of God lies slain upon the holy Table and we receive visibly though mystically those gracious Pledges of his blessed Body and Bloud This was that Sacrifice of the ancient Church the Fathers so much ring in our ears The Sacrifice of Praise and Prayer through Iesus Christ mystically represented in the Creatures of Bread and Wine But yet we have not all there is one thing more my Definition intimates when I say Through the Sacrifice of Iesus Christ commemorated in the Creatures of Bread and Wine wherewith God had first been agnized The Body and Bloud of Christ were not made of common Bread and common Wine but of Bread and Wine first sanctified by being offered and set before God as a Present to agnize him the Lord and Giver of all according to that The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof and Let no man appear before the Lord emptie Therefore as this Sacrifice consisted of two parts as I told you of Praise and Prayer which in respect of the other I call Sacrificium Quod and of the Commemoration of Christ Crucified which I call Sacrificium Quo so the Symbols of Bread and Wine traversed both being first presented as Symbols of Praise and Thanksgiving to agnize God the Lord of the Creature in the Sacrificium Quod then by invocation of the Holy Ghost made the Symbols of the Body and Bloud of Christ in the Sacrificium Quo. So that the whole Service throughout consisted of a reasonable part and of a material part as of a Soul and a Body of which I shall speak more fully hereafter when I come to prove this I have said by the Testimonies of the Ancients CHAP. III. The words of the Text explained and applied to the foregoing Definition of the Christian Sacrifice Incense denotes the rational part of this Sacrifice Mincha the material part thereof What meant by Mincha purum Two Interpretations of the Purity of the Christian Mincha given by the Fathers a third propounded by the Author AND this is that Sacrifice which Malachi foretold the Gentiles should one day offer unto God In every place Incense shall be offered unto my Name and a pure Mincha for my Name shall be great among the Heathen saith the Lord of hosts Which Words I am now according to the order I propounded to explicate and apply to my Definition Know therefore that the Prophet in the foregoing words upbraids the Iews with despising and disesteeming their God forasmuch as they offered unto him for sacrifice not of the best but the lame the torn and the sick as though he had not been the great King Creator and Lord of the whole World but some petty God and of an inferiour rank for whom any thing were good enough Vers. 6 7. If I be a Father where is mine honour If I be Dominus where is my fear saith the Lord of Hosts unto you O Priests that despise my name and ye say Wherein have we despised it Ye offer polluted bread upon mine Altar and ye say Wherein have we polluted thee I 'le tell you In that ye say The Table of the Lord is contemptible or not so much to be regarded that is you think so as appears by the baseness of your Offering for the Present shews what esteem the giver hath of him he honoureth therewith But you offer that to me which ye would not think fit to offer to your Prorex or Governour under the King of Persia which shews you have but a mean esteem of me in your hearts and that you believe not I am He that I am It may be because you see me acknowledged of no other Nation but yours and that ye have been subdued by the Gentiles and brought into this miserable and despicable condition wherein you now are you imagine me to be some Topical God and as of small jurisdiction so of little power But know that howsoever I now seem to be but the Lord of a poor Nation yet the days are coming when from the rising of the Sun to the going down of the same my Name shall be great among the Gentiles and in every place Incense shall be offered to my Name and a pure Offering for my Name shall be great among the Heathen saith the Lord of Hosts it follows though you have prophaned it in that ye say The Table of the Lord is contemptible whereas I am a great King and my Name shall be dreadful among the Heathen This is the coherence and dependence of the Words Now to apply them Incense as the Scripture it self tells notes the Prayers of the Saints It was also that wherewith the remembrance was made in the Sacrifices or God put in mind Mincha which we turn Munus a Gift or Offering is Oblatio farrea an Offering made of meal or flower baked or fried or dried or parched corn We in our English when we make distinction call it a Meat-offering but might call it a Bread-offering of which the Libamen or the Drink-offering being an indivisible concomitant both are implied under the name Mincha where it alone is named The Application then is easy Incense here notes the
could gather out of the Institution that our Saviour did as hath been shewed I answer They believed that he did as the Iews were wont to do But they did thus How will you say doth this appear I answer It may appear thus The Passeover was a Sacrifice and therefore the Viands here as in all other holy Feasts were first offered unto God Now the Bread and Wine which our Saviour took when he blessed and gave thanks was the Mincha or Meat-offering of the Passeover If then he did as the Iews used to do he agnized his Father and blessed him by oblation of these his Creatures unto him using the like or the same Form of words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Blessed be thou O Lord our God the King of the world which bringest forth Bread out of the earth and over the Wine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Blessed be thou O Lord our God the King of the world which createst the fruit of the Vine Moreover the Church ab initio applied that Precept of our Saviour Matt. 5. 23. If thou bring thy Gift to the Altar c. to the Eucharist for they believed that he would not enact a new Law concerning Legal Sacrifices which he was presently to abolish but that it had reference to that Oblation which was to continue under the Gospel The other Question is If all this be so how is not our celebration of the Eucharist defective where no such Oblation is used I answer This concerns not us alone but all the Churches of the West of the Roman Communion who as in other things they have depraved this mystery and swerved from the Primitive patern thereof so have they for many Ages disused this Oblation of Bread and Wine and brought in in lieu thereof a real and Hypostatical oblation of Christ himself This blasphemous Oblation we have taken away and justly but not reduced again that express and formal use of the other Howsoever though we do it not with a set ceremony and form of words yet in deed and effect we do it so often as we set the Bread and Wine upon the Holy Table For whatsoever we set upon God's Table is ipso facto dedicated and offered unto him according to that of our Saviour Matt. 23. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Altar sanctifies the gift that is consecrates it unto God and appropriates it to his use In which respect it were much to be wisht that this were more solemnly done than is usual namely not until the time of the administration and by the hand of the Minister in the name and sight of the whole Congregation standing up and shewing some sign of due and lowly reverence according as the Deacon was wont to admonish the people in Ancient Liturgies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let us stand in an upright posture before God to offer with fear and trembling CHAP. IX The Sixth Particular That Christ is offered in the Eucharist Commemoratively only and not otherwise This Commemorative Sacrifice or the Commemoration in the Eucharist explained That Christ is offered by way of Commemoration only was the sense of the ancient Church This proved from ancient Liturgies and Fathers The Conclusion containing an elegant description of the Christian Sacrifice out of the History of S. Andrew's Martyrdom THE Sixth and last thing to be proved was That Christ is offered in this Sacrifice Commemoratively only and not otherwise Though the Eucharist be a Sacrifice that is an Oblation wherein the Offerer banquets with his God yet is Christ in this Sacrifice no otherwise offered than by way of Commemoration only of his Sacrifice once offered upon the Cross as a learned Prelate of ours hath lately written objectivè only not subjectivé And this is that which our Saviour himself said when he ordained this sacred Rite 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This do in commemoration of me But this Commemoration is to be made to God his Father and is not a bare remembring or putting our selves in mind only as is commonly supposed but a putting of God in mind For every Sacrifice is directed unto God and the Oblation therein whatsoever it be hath him for its Object and not Man If therefore the Eucharist be Sacrificium Christi Commemorativum a Commemorative Sacrifice of Christ as ours grant then must the Commemoration therein be made unto God And if Christ therein be offered objectivè that is as the Object of the Commemoration there made as that learned Bishop speaks if the Commemoration of him be an Oblation of him to whom is this Oblation that is Commemoration made but unto God Well then Christ is offered in this Sacred Supper not Hypostatically as the Papists would have him for so he was but once offered but Commemoratively only that is By this Sacred Rite of Bread and Wine we represent and inculcate his blessed Passion to his Father we put him in mind thereof by setting the Monuments thereof before him we testifie our own mindfulness thereof unto his Sacred Majesty that so he would for his sake according to the tenour of his Covenant in him be favourable and propitious unto us miserable sinners That this and no other Offering of Christ in the blessed Eucharist the Ancient Church ever meant or intended I am now to shew by authentical Testimonies First by the constant Form of all the Liturgies in which after the reciting of the words of Institution is subjoyned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 commemorantes or commemorando offerimus Commemorating or by Commemorating we offer Clemens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Therefore commemorating his Passion and Death and Resurrection from the dead and ascension into Heaven we offer to thee our King and God this Bread and this Cup. Mark here Commemorating we offer that is We offer by Commemorating But this Commemoration is made unto God to whom we offer This is the tenour of all the Greek Liturgies save that some in stead of We offer unto thee this Bread and this Cup have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We offer unto thee this dreadful and unbloudy Sacrifice as that of Ierusalem called S. Iames his Liturgie others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this reasonable and unbloudy Service as that of S. Chrysostome others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thine own of thine own as that of Basil and of Alexandria called S. Mark 's but all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Commemorantes offerimus Commemorating we offer In the same form runs the Ordo Romanus Memores Domine nos servi tui sed Plebs tua sancta ejusdem Christi Filii tui Domini Dei nostri tum beatae Passionis nec non ab inferis Resurrectionis sed in Coelum gloriosae Ascensionis Offerimus praeclarae Majestati tuae de tuis donis ac datis hostiam puram hostiam sanctam hostiam immaculatam panem sanctum vitae aeternae calicem salutis perpetuae We O Lord thy servants as also thy holy people being mindful both of the blessed Passion and
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
there placed by the name of ALTARE and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet these Authors afore-named when the Gentiles object Atheism to the Christians as who had no Templa no Arae no Simulacra are wont in their Apologies to answer by way of Concession not only that they had none but more that they ought not to have What should this mean why this They answer the Gentiles according to the notion wherein they objected this unto them to wit that they had no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no Idol-stools or Simulacrorum scabella not that they had no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Therefore the word which Origen there useth is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And in all those passages you shall ever find Arae Simulacra to go together Origen O 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Celsus ait nos Ararum Statuarum Templorúmque fundationes fugere Minutius Felix Cur nullas Aras habent Templa nulla nulla nota Simulacra Arnobius In hac consuéstis parte crimen nobis maximum impietatis affigere Quòd non Deorum alicujus simulacrum constituamus aut formam non Altaria fabricemus NON ARAS Lactantius Quid sibi Templa quid Arae volunt quid denique ipsa Simulacra c And as for Temples their meaning was they had no such claustra Numinum as the Gentiles supposed Temples to be and to which they appropriated that name viz. Places whereunto the Gods by the power of spels and magical consecrations were confined and limited and for the presencing of whom a Statue was necessary places wherein they dwelt shut up as Birds in a cage or as the Devil confined within a circle that so they might be ready at hand when men had occasion to seek unto them That Christians indeed had no such dwellings for their God as these for that their God dwelt not in Temples made with hands But not that they had not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For such the stories and monuments of those times expresly inform us they had and the Gentiles themselves that objected this defect knew it too well as may appear by their Emperors Rescripts for demolishing them and sometimes for restoring them when the Persecution ceased All which he that will may find in Eusebius his Ecclesiastical History before either Arnobius or Lactantius wrote Whither I refer them that would be more fully satisfied yea to Arnobius himself in the end of his 4. Book adversùs Gentes where he speaks of the burning of the Christians sacred Books and demolition of their Places of assembly And thus I conclude my Discourse PSALM CXXXII VII We will go into his Tabernacle we will worship towards his Footstool SO the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is rightly rendred and those who say Before his Footstool imply the same if it be rightly construed The LXX hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Toward the Place where his feet stand which is a Periphrasis of a Footstool THE LORD'S FOOTSTOOL here mentioned was either the Ark of the Testimony it self or the place at least where it stood called DEBIR or the Holy of Holies towards which the Iews in their Temple used to worship The very next words following my Text argue so much Arise O Lord into thy rest thou and the Ark of thy strength And it is plain out of 1 Chron. 28. 2. where David saith concerning his purpose to have built God an House I had in mine heart to build an House of rest for the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord and for the FOOTSTOOL of our God Where the Conjunction and is Exegetical and the same with that is According to this expression the Prophet Ieremy also in the beginning of the second of his Lamentations bewaileth that The Lord had cast down the beauty of Israel that is his glorious Temple and remembred not his FOOTSTOOL that is the Ark of his Covenant in the day of his wrath This to be the true and genuine meaning of this phrase of worshipping the Lord towards his Footstool besides the confessed Custom of the time is evidently confirmed by a parallel expression of this worshipping posture Psalm 28. 2. Hear the voice of my supplication when I cry unto thee when I lift up mine hands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 towards thine HOLY ORACLE that is toward the most Holy place where the Ark stood and from whence God gave his answers For that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 DEBIR which is here translated ORACLE was the Sanctum Sanctorum or Most holy place is clear out of the 6. and 8. Chapters of the first Book of Kings where in the former we read that Solomon prepared the ORACLE or DEBIR to set the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord there in the latter that the Priests brought in the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord unto his place into the Oracle of the House to the most holy place even under the wings of the Cherubims Wherefore the Authors of the Translation used in our Liturgy rendred this passage of the Psalm When I hold up my hands toward the Mercy-seat of thy holy Temple namely having respect to the meaning thereof Thus you see that one of the two must needs be this Scabellum pedum or FOOTSTOOL of God either the Ark or Mercy-seat it self or the Adytum Templi the Most holy place where it stood For that it is not the whole Temple at large though that might be so called but some thing or part to those that are within it the first word◠of my Text We will go into his Tabernacles do argue If then it be the Ark whose Cover was that we call the Mercy-seat it seems to have been so called in respect of God's sitting upon the Cherubims under which the Ark lay as it were his Footstool whence sometimes it is described The Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of Hosts which sitteth upon the Cherubims If the Ark with the Cover thereof the Mercy-seat be it self considered as God's Throne then the place thereof the DEBIR may not unfitly be termed his Footstool Or lastly if we consider Heaven to be the Throne of God as indeed it is then whatsoever place or monument of Presence he hath here on Earth is in true esteem no more but his Footstool Thus the meaning of the Text is plain which I thought good to make choice of for the Argument of my Discourse at this time for our better information concerning the lawfulness of that practice of worshipping God towards the holy Table or Altar For it becomes not us who live in such places as these where Knowledge is taught and should be derived to other parts of the Church to be ignorant of the reason and quality of any thing especially concerning the Worship of God which either we do our selves or see others do lest in
the first we be guilty of Imprudence in the other of Uncharitableness in miscensuring others And in this particular Information is so much the more needful because many scruple at this kind of posture in God's Worship esteeming it little better than Idolatry as being of like nature with worshipping God by an Image wherein how much they are deceived I shall make now to appear Know therefore That to worship God by an Image and to worship him towards some place or monument of his Presence are things of a differing nature For the first is absolutely forbidden by the Divine Law the latter we find continually practised by the people of God in the Old Testament and that with his allowance and approbation Thus in the Wilderness they worshipped him towards the Cloud as the sign or monument of his Presence going with them Exod. 34. 5 8. In the Tabernacle and Temple they directed their posture toward the Ark of the Covenant or most Holy place as my Text and that parallel place now alledged out of Psalm 28. for confirmation witnesseth namely as to the place of his Throne and Footstool Unto which I add for a third Testimony that of Psalm 99. 5. Exalt ye the Lord our God and worship towards his Footstool There goes before it in the beginning of the Psalm The Lord reigneth let the people tremble he sitteth between or upon the Cherubims The same thing is meant or implied by that expression of worshipping the Lord toward his holy Temple in the 5. and 138. Psalms in the first whereof v. 7. I will come into thine House saith David in the multitude of thy mercy and in thy fear will I worship toward thy Holy Temple Mark I will come into thine House and then worship c. This form the Iews at this day are wont to pronounce in the Adoration which they make at their entrance into their Synagogues turning themselves at the same time toward an Ark or Cabinet wherein they lay the Book of the Law made and placed in imitation of the Ark of the Covenant with the Two Tables In the other Psalm likewise v. 1 2. the Psalmist saith Before the Gods that is the Angels will I sing praise unto thee I will worship towards thy holy Temple that is toward the place of the Ark or Mercy-seat For we are to take notice that the people or Layety came no nearer than into the Courts of the Temple only and the Priests themselves entred no farther but when they were to order the Lamps and burn Incense evening and morning or renew the Shew-bread otherwise they also stood and officiated without in the Court appointed for them called the Priests Court so that both the people especially standing in the Courtâ— when they worshipped they directed their faces toward the Temple or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 strictly so called where the Ark and Mercy-seat were Hence comes this expression of worshipping the Lord toward his holy Temple as much as to say We will come into thy Courts and worship thee toward the place where thy memorâ— or monument of thy Presence is With these places may be compared that of the 134. Psalm where the Levites standing namely in the Priests Court are exhoâ—â—â—d to lift up their hands toward the Sanctuary LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Targ. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 toward his holy seat and to bless the Lord. Besides this when they were absent from the Temple yea though in a strange and forein Country and that far remote yet when they prayed or worshipped they turned their faces thitherward as appears by 1 Kings 8. 44 c. in the prayer of Solomon at the dedication thereof and the example of Daniel Dan. 6. 10. who opened his windows towards Ierusalem and kneeling upon his knees three times a day prayed and gave thanks before his God as he was wont yea even then when the Temple and holy City were burnt and destroyed and the Ark of the Testimony not then there but only the place where it was wont to be Zorobabel also 3 Esd. 4. 58. lifted up his face to heaven toward Ierusalem and praised the King of Heaven And this custom the Iews in their devotions still observe unto this day Yea all this may seem for ought that can be shewed to the contrary to have been done out of the use of mankind without any special Precept to that purpose which is no where to be shewn For as for the prayer of Solomon besides that Precepts are not wont to be given in prayers it is there presupposed only as a rite of custom Nature it seems having taught mankind as in their addresses unto men to look unto their Face so in their addresses unto the Divine Majesty to look that way or toward that place where his Presence is more demonstrated than elsewhere whether 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if I may so speak as in the Heavens or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in Temples and like sacred places where his Name and Presence either is or is wont to be recorded Hence it appears that to worship God versùs locum praesentiae towards the place where any sign or specification of his Presence is is no Idolatry nor forbidden by the Second Commandment For surely that which was no Idolatry in the Old Testament is no Idolatry in the New whatsoever fault otherwise it might have The reason of this difference between worshipping God by an Image and worshipping him towards some place where his Presence is specified is this Because in the first the Creature is used objectively to the act of Divine worship that is as the thing worshipped but in the other as a local circumstance of worship only For we are to know that a Creature may be used in the act of Divine worship by way of Object by way of Local circumstance or by way of Instrument The first by way of Object that is as that to which the Act of worship is directed and terminated upon without question is Idolatry For the Lord our God is a jealous God and cannot endure that any created thing should partake with him by way of Object in the Act of his worship But he that useth an Image in the act of Divine worship as an Image that is interposing it in the same as the representation of that he worshippeth makes it not the term of his posture only as any other Creature might be and some always will be but the Butt as I may so speak or Object of his Act. For in the act of worship to look or attend unto any thing as that which representeth unto him the Object unto which he is tendering his act is to make it an Object representative and consequently such as in part and as by way of intervention receiveth the Act which by it is tendred to the Prototype Which although it be no more but to be only relatively worshipped and for the examples sake and not absolutely and for it self yet is
that overcometh saith Christ I will give him to sit with me in my Throne even as I have overcome and sate with my Father in his Throne Here is mention we see of two Thrones of which my Throne that is Christ's Throne is the condition of a glorified man in this Throne his Saints shall sit with him But my Father's Throne is the Power of Divine Majesty wherein none may sit but God and the God-Man Iesus Christ. These grounds laid I say That the Honour of being prayed to in Heaven and before the Throne of presence is a Prerogative of Dextra Dei and to receive our devotions there a Flower of Christ's sitting at the Right hand of God as S. Paul Rom. 8. 34. conjoyns them saying Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is at the Right hand of God and who makes intercession for us For by right of this his Exaltation and Majesty he comes to be a Priest after the order of Melchisedech as appears Psalm 110. 1. The Lord said unto my Lord Sit thou on my Right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool then follow the effects thereof ver 4. The Lord hath sworn and will not repent Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech And by the same right also he becomes the Only and Eternal Priest which hath to do in the most Holy place the Heavens For as the High Priest only entred the most Holy place beyond the veil in the earthly Tabernacle so Christ Iesus our only High Priest through his Body as the first Tabernacle by his own bloud entred into the second Tabernacle or Holy place not made with hands as was the figure but into Heaven it self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there to appear in the presence of God for us All this you have in the same words at large Heb. 9. 7 11 12 24. Now in the Tabernacle of this world as was in the first Tabernacle we may haply find many Priests whom to imploy as Agents for us with God But in the second Tabernacle which is Heaven there is but one Agent to be imployed but one who hath Royal commission to deal between God and men that Angel of the presence as Isaiah calls him ch 63. 9. and one only Mediator Iesus Christ the Lord of glory who in this prerogative is above Saints and Angels For to which of the Saints or Angels said God at any time Sit on my Right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool Heb. 1. 4 9 13. Neither will this Demonstration admit that vulgar Exception to be of any force namely That Expiatory mediation or Meritorious intercession in heaven should indeed appertain to Christ alone but Favourable intercession to pray for us not so and therefore for this we may without derogation to Christ solicite either Saints or Angels I could say that this ragge is too-too narrow and short to cover their nakedness who lay hold of it in whose Supplications to Saints and to God too in their names nothing is more usual than the express mention of their Merits Bloud and Sufferings as Motives to God to hear them But we shall not need this Answer For we have demonstrated that as in the Law none but the High Priest alone was to do office in the Holiest place so Christ Iesus now is the only Agent for whatsoever is to be done for us in the holiest Tabernacle of Heaven Besides we read that none but the High Priest alone was to offer Incense or to incense the most Holy place when he entred into it But Incense is the Prayers of the Saints sent thither from this outward Temple of the militant Church as in the Law was fetched from without the veil This therefore none in Heaven but Christ alone must receive from us to offer for us And this is that Angel with the golden Censer Rev. 8. 3. who there offers the Incense of the prayers of the Saints there given him to offer upon the golden Altar before the Throne alluding expresly to the golden Altar before the Testimony For the fuller understanding and farther confirmation of what hath been spoken take this also That notwithstanding the man Christ Iesus in regard of his Person being God as well as Man◠was from his first incarnation capable of this Royalty and Glory not only for the incomparable sufficiency of his Person which by reason of his twofold Nature is alwaies and in all places present both with God and men and so at one instant able and ready at every need to present to the one what he should receive from the other but chiefly and most of all for that by being very God himself his Father's jealousie which could never have brooked the communication of this Glory to any other which should not have been the self-same with himself was by this condition of his Person prevented and secured Nevertheless and notwithstanding all this capability of his Person it was the will of his Father in the dispensation of the Mystery of our redemption not to confer it upon him but as purchased and attained by suffering and undergoing of that Death which no creature in heaven or in earth was able to undergo but himself being a suffering of a Death whereby Death it self was overcome and vanquished to the end that none by death save Iesus Christ alone might be ever thought or deemed capable of the like Glory and Sublimity but that it might appear for ever to be a peculiar right to him And this I think is not only agreeable to the tenour of Scripture but express Scripture it self Heb. 2. 9 10. But we see Iesus who was made a little lower than the Angels by the suffering of death crowned with glory and honour For it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing many sons to glory to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings Phil. 2. 8. And being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross and v. 9 10. Wherefore God hath also highly exalted him and given him a name above every name That at the name of Iesus every knee should bow Heb. 10. 12. But this man after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever sate down on the Right hand of God Rom. 14. 9. For to this end Christ both died rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and living See besides Acts 5. 30 31. Rom. 8. 34. Ephes. 1. 20. 1 Pet. 1. 11. Lastly for that particular parcel of this Glory of Christ viz. To be that only Name in which we are to ask at the hands of God whatsoever we have to ask is not this also ascribed and annexed to his triumph over death Iohn 14. 12 13. I go unto my Father viz. through death And whatsoever ye ask in my name that will I do Iohn
time of the Fourth Kingdom of Daniel So Antichrist and his Mystery of impiety was to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the latter times of those Last times that is as I shall better shew hereafter in the Last times or Last Scene as I may so speak of the Fourth Kingdom of Daniel When Christ came the Sceptre was to depart from Iudah and that Common-wealth to be dissolved So when Antichrist was to come the Roman Empire was to fall and He that hindered was to be taken out of the way 2. Thess. 2. 7. The Iews expected Christ to come when he did come and yet knew him not when he was come because they had fancied the manner and quality of his coming like some temporal Monarch with armed power to subdue the earth before him So the Christians God's second Israel looked the coming of Antichrist should be at that time when he came indeed and yet they knew him not when he was come because they had fancied his coming as of some barbarous Tyrant who should with armed power not only persecute and destroy the Church of Christ but almost the World that is they looked for such an Antichrist as the Iews looked for a Christ. Wherefore as Christ came unto his own and his own received him not so Antichrist came upon those who were not his own and yet they eschewed him not But yet as some Iews though few knew Christ when he came and received him so did some Christians though but few keep themselves from the pollution of Antichrist Lastly as the Iews ere long shall acknowledge and run unto him whom they pierced as not knowing him So hath the Christian Church for a great part discovered that Son of perdition whom a long time they had ignorantly worshipped because they knew him not O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of GOD how unsearchable are his judgment and his ways past finding out But for our part seeing our case is so like unto that of the Iews let their lamentable and woful error in mistaking their Messiah by wrongly fancying him be a warning and caveat unto us that we likewise upon like conceits and prejudice mistake and misdeem not the Man of sin TINE ' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 SOME CHAP. X. The Second Particular in the Description of the Great Apostasie viz. The Persons Apostatizing exprest by TINE ' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 SOME The Great Apostasie was to be a General one That the word TINE ' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 SOME doth not always imply a Few or a Small number proved by several passages in Scripture The true Church of Christ was never wholly extinguish't Wherein we and the Papists differ about the Churche's Visibility In what respects our Church was Visible and in what it was Invisible under the Apostasie and Reign of Antichrist This is further cleared by the parallel state of the Israelitish Church under the Apostasie of Israel NOW I come unto the Second point expressed in this Description of the Great Apostasie namely The Persons Revolters They should not be all but TINE ' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 SOME 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some shall Apostatize Some that is not as we in our English do often use it a Few but Some that is not All yet Some that is So many as that the whole visible Church should be said thereof to be Apostatized So many as should like a Cloud over-spread the face of the Christian Firmament in such sort as the Stars and Lights therein should not easily be discerned For the Great Defection so much prophesied of was to be a Solemn and General one such a one as wherein the chiefest of the Churches honoured as a Mother in Israel should become a Babylonish Whore a Mother of Harlots and of the abominations of the Earth Revel 17. such a one as whereby the Outmost Court of the Temple of God should not only be prophaned but troden down by Gentilism Revel 11. such a one as the World is said to wonder after the Beast and to worship him and such a one as should not only make war with the Saints but overcome them Rev. 13. Otherwise if our Apostle here and S. Iohn there should mean no more but the Errours of some particular ones and their Revolt from the Faith of the Church they should make either no Prophecy at all or at the best but a needless one For who knows not that in S. Paul's S. Iohn's and the Apostles own times were many Heresies and Hereticks grown up as weeds in the Wheat-field of Christ but as yet the wheat overtopped them and the visible body of the Church disclaimed them If these had been the worst the Church should look for the Apostles should seem to prophesie of things present and not as they do of things to come yea and more than this they should foretell of a thing as proper and peculiar to the Last-times which was no Novelty in their own times We must take notice therefore that the Apostasie and Corruption of Faith so much prophesied of was another manner of one than that which was so frequent in those first times such a kind of one as should not be disclaimed by the Visible body of the Church but should surprise eclipse and overcloud the beautiful face thereof which manner of Desection never had been before nor should the like be after it Now that the word TINE ' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or SOME useth in Scripture to imply no small number but only serves to intimate an exception of some particulars though there were but two or three to be excepted I will make manifest by a few examples lest ou◠English use might deceive us First Iohn 6. 60. Many of the Disciples saith the Text when they heard this said This is an hard saying and v. 66. Many of his Disciples from that time went back and walked no more with him Nevertheless concerning these many Christ himself saith v. 64. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But there are Some of you which believe not Here we see that Some is a great many So Rom. 11. 17. S. Paul there saith of the rejection of the Iews Some of the branches are broken off Now what a Some this was appears in the same Chapter v. 32. when he saith God hath included them ALL in unbelief that he might have mercy upon ALL. But to seek no further the 1 cor 10. will store us with examples as v. 7. Neither be ye Idolaters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Some of them were this was a great Some for Moses saith of it Exodus 32. 3. And ALL the people brake off their golden Ear-rings and brought them to Aaron In v. 8. Neither let us commit fornication as Some of them which were so many Numb 25. 4. that the Lord said unto Moses Take ALL the heads of the people and hang them up before the Lord that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned
whereof the Lord had said In this House and in Ierusalem will I put my name for ever even in this House this holy House were Idols and graven Images erected and in both Courts thereof Altars to Baalim the Sun the Moon and the whole host of heaven the like whereof never had been until that time Besides who is able to name the man for almost fifty years together that remained a Faithful servant and True worshipper of the Living God in the midst of this hideous profanation Nor is it easie to be conceived how it was possible all that time to offer any Legal sacrifice without Idolatry when God's own Temple and House was made a den of Idols nay his Altar the only Altar of Israel destroyed to make room for Altars erected to Idols as may be gathered 2 Chron. 33. 15 16. Where was the true Church of Israel now or had the Lord no Church at all Yes certainly he had a Church and a Company which defiled not their garments a Company I say but not visibly distinguished from the rest of their Nation but hidden as it were in the midst of that Apostate body and yet known together with the rest to be Israelites and people of Iehovah but known to God alone and themselves to be true Israelites and faithful servants to Iehovah their God And that such a Company there was and a strong party too though not seen appeared presently upon the death of Manasses and his wicked son when Iosiah began to reign at eight years of age For they then prevailed even in the Court it self and so brought up the King that even while he was yet young in the eighth year of his reign he began to seek after the God of David his father and in the twelfth year to make a publick and powerful Reformation such as the like was never done before him Could all this have been done so soon and by a King so young in years and to carry all before it like a torrent unless there had been a strong party which now having a King for them began quickly to shew themselves and to sway the State though before they were hardly to be seen When therefore our Adversaries ask us where our Church was before Luther we see by this what we have to answer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 CHAP. XI The Third Particular or The Time of the Apostasie That the Last Times in Scripture signifie either a Continuation of Time or an End of Time That the Last Times simply and in general are the Times of Christianity the Last Times in special and comparatively or the Latter Times of the Last Times are the Times of the Apostasie under Antichrist That the Times are set out to us to be as Marks to inform us when the Things to fall out in them should come to pass and not the Things intended for signs to know the Times by This Observation illustrated from Dan. 8. OF the two first Particulars of the Four whereby the Great Apostasie of Christian Believers is here decyphered I have spoken sufficiently viz. First for the Quality and kind thereof it should be a new Doctrine of Daemons Secondly that for the Persons revolting they should not be All but Some Now I am to speak of the Third The Times when 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the Latter Times For the easier understanding whereof we must know that speeches of Last Times in Scripture mean sometimes a Continuation or Length of time sometimes an End of time A Continuation of time I mean as when we say that Winter is the Last time or season of the year or old age the Latter time of life neither of them being the very End but a space of time next the end which therefore in respect of some whole System of time whereof it is the Last part is truly termed the Last time thereof Man's life is a Systeme of divers ages the Last space whereof is the Last time of life The Year is a Systeme of four seasons and therefore the Last season thereof Winter may be called the Last time of the year But by an End of time I mean the very expiring of time as the Last day of December is the End or last time of the year the moment when a man dies is the Last time that is the End of his life Now in the New Testament when by mention of Last time is meant an End or Terminus temporis I observe it to be exprest in the Singular number as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Last day being four times mentioned in the sixth of Iohn and once in the eleventh is in every one of them meant of the Day of the Resurrection at the End of the world I will raise him up saith our Saviour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the last day Iohn 6. 39 40 44 54. And Martha of her brother Lazarus I know saith she he shall rise again in the Resurrection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at the Last day Iohn 11. 24. So 1 Pet. 1. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the last time is used in the self-same sense being spoken of the incorruptible inheritance reserved in heaven and to be revealed saith the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Last time In all which is meant the End of the world But in 1 Iohn 2. 18. we have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Last hour Little children it is the Last hour where no doubt he meaneth an End of some time but not the End of the world which was then far off but an End of their time to whom he then wrote his Epistle that is an End of the Iewish State and Religion which was then at the very door which Exposition I will make more plain hereafter But when a Continuation or Longer space of time is signified then I find the Plural number to be used as 1 Pet. 1. 20. of the Incarnation of Christ it is said that he was fore-ordained before the foundation of the world but was made manifest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Last times which times have continued these 1600 years at the least So Heb. 1. 2. God saith S. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in these Last days hath spoken unto us by his Son And 2 Tim. 3. 1. This know also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that in the Last days perillous times shall come Again Acts 2. 17. In the Last days I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh In the 2 Pet. 3. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the Last days shall come scoffers And so in my Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the Latter times some shall revolt from the Faith and give heed to Doctrines of Daemons Whatsoever the validity of this observation be for the rest I make no question but it will be granted That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in my Text means some Continued space of time and not Terminus temporis or the very End of time which therefore presupposed I approach
whosoever shall remember thy name and this my conflict no pestilent disease may enter upon his house nor any other of those evils which may bring damage or troubles to the bodies of men She had no sooner spoken saith he but a voice was miraculously heard from heaven calling her and her fellow-Martyr Iulian to the heavenly pâ—aces and promising also that those things which she had asked should be accomplished In Saint Blasius who suffered saith Baronius under Licinius our Simeon tells us That when a woman came unto him to cure her son who had a fish-bone sticking in his throat he prayed in this manner Thou O Saviour who hast been ready to help those who called upon thee in truth hear my prayer and by thy invisible power take out the bone which sticks in this child and cure him And whensoever hereafter the like shall befall men children or beasts if any one then shall remember my name saying O Lord hasten thy help through the intercession of thy servant Blasius do thou cure him speedily to the honour and glory of thy holy Name Again he tells us That while they were carrying him before the President he restored to a poor widow a Hog her only Hog which a Wolf had taken away from her And when as afterward in sign of thankfulness she brought the Hog's head and feet boiled to the Martyr in prison he blessing her spake in this manner Woman in this Habit celebrate my Memorial and no good thing shall ever be wanting in thine house from my God yea and if any other imitating thee shall in like manner celebrate my Memorial he shall receive an everlasting gift from my God and a blessing all the days of his life When he comes to suffer he makes him pray to God thus Hear me thy Servant and whosoever shall have recourse to this thine Altar he means himself and whosoever shall have swallowed a bone or prickle or be vexed with any disease or be in affliction or necessity of persecution Grant Lord to every one his heart's desire as thou art gracious and merciful for thou art to be glorified now and evermore When he had thus prayed saith he Christ descended from heaven as a cloud and overshadowed him and our Saviour said unto him O my beloved Champion I will not only do this but that also which thou didst request for the widow and I will bless also every house which shall celebrate thy Memory and I will fill their store-houses with all good things for this thy glorious Confession and thy faith which thou hast in me Saint Catharine whom he calls AEcatharina a Martyr of Alexandria under Maximianus he makes to pray thus at her Martyrdom Grant unto those O Lord who through me shall call upon thy holy Name such their requests as are profitable for them that in all things thy wondrous works may be praised now and evermore But above all the rest Marina's prayer whom we Latines call Saint Margaret is compleat and for the purpose she suffered under Diocletian and thus she prayed if you dare believe Simeon And now O Lord my God whosoever for thy sake shall worship this Tabernacle of my Body which hath fought for thee and whosoever shall build an Oratory in the name of thy handmaid and shall therein offer unto thee spiritual sacrifices oblations and prayers and all those who shall faithfully describe this my conflict of Martyrdom and shall read and remember the name of thy handmaid Give unto them most holy Lord who art a lover of the good and a friend of Souls remission of sins and grant them propitiation and mercy according to the measure of their faith and let not the revenging hand come near them nor the evil of Famine nor the curse of Pestilence nor any grievous scourge nor let any other incurable destruction either of Body or Soul betide them And to all those who shall in faith and truth adhere to my house her Oratory or Chappel or unto my name and shall unto thee O Lord offer glory and praise and a sacrifice in remembrance of thine Handmaid and shall ask salvation and mercy through me Grant them O Lord abundant store of all good things for thou alone art good and gracious and the giver of all good things for ever and ever Amen While she was thus praying with her self saith Simeon behold there was a great earthquake c. yea and the Lord himself with an host and multitude of holy Angels standing by her in such sort as was perceptible to the understanding said Be of good chear Marina and fear not for I have heard thy prayers and have fulfilled and will in due time fulfill whatsoever thou hast asked even as thou hast asked it Thus saith Simeon who nevertheless in the very entrance to this his tale of Marina or Margaret complains much forsooth that not a few of these Narrations of the Acts of Martyrs were at the beginning forged yea profaned as he faith more truly than he was aware of evidentissimis Daemoniorum doctrinis Besides he calls I know not what Narration of this Virgin 's Martyrdom in that sort corrupted Dictio Daemoniaca but for his own part he would reject all counterfeit fables and tell us nothing but the very truth Which how honestly he hath performed and what touchstone he used let the Reader judge Baronius I am sure is quite ashamed of him who though he can be sometimes content to trade with not much better ware yet this of Simeon's he supposes will need very much washing and cleansing before it be merchantable CHAP. V. An useful Digression concerning the time when Simeon Metaphrastes lived and the occasion of his writing That his living within the time of the great Opposition against Saint-worship moved him to devise such Stories as made for the credit and advantage of that Cause then in danger A brief historical account even out of the Records left by the Adversaries of the great Opposition in the Greek and Eastern Churches against worshipping of Images and of Saints When it began how long it lasted and under what Emperors Of the Great Council held at Constantinople under Constantinus Copronymus against Idolatry An attempt to foist in two Canons in favour of Saint-worship frustrated Several Slanders and Calumnies fastened upon the Council and the Emperor by the idolatrous faction The Original of these Slanders That they were notorious Lies proved from the Decrees of the Council BUT for the better understanding of this Mystery of iniquity and what necessity there was of such desperate shifts when time was ye shall know that this superstitious Simeon lived towards the end of that time of great and long Opposition against Idolatry in the Greek and Eastern Churches by divers Emperors with the greatest part of their Bishops Peers and People lasting from about the year of our Lord 720 till after 840 that is a 120 years which was not against Images only though they bare
of Christ then may we give it the largest sense and yet say That it is not needful that the Resurrection of those which died in Christ should be all at once or altogether but the Martyrs first in the First resurrection then after an appointed time the rest of the dead in the Last resurrection afterward when the Resurrection shall be thus compleat those which remain alive at Christ's coming shall together with those which are risen be caught up into the clouds to meet the Lord in the Aire and from thenceforth be eternally with him And so the reason why those which Christ found alive at his coming were not instantly translated should be in part that they might not prevent the dead but be consummate with them 3. Both these Interpretations suppose the Rapture of the Saints into the Clouds to be for their present translation into Heaven But suppose that be not the meaning of it for the words if we weigh them well seem to imply it to be for another end namely To do honour unto their Lord and King at his return and to attend upon him when he comes to judge the World Those saith the Text which sleep in Iesus will God bring with him he saith not carry away with him Again They and those which are alive shall be caught up together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the Aire to meet the Lord's coming hither to Iudgment not to follow him returning hence the Iudgment being finished Besides it is to be noted that although in the Hebrew notion the Aire be comprehended under the name of Heaven yet would not the Apostle here use the word Heaven but the word Aire as it were to avoid the ambiguity lest we might interpret it of our translation into Heaven If this be the meaning then are those words We shall ever be with the Lord thus to be interpreted After this our gathering together unto Christ at his coming so the Apostle calls this Rapture 2 Thess. 2. 1. we shall from henceforth never lose his presence but always enjoy it partly on earth during his reign of a 1000 years and partly in Heaven when we shall be translated thither For it cannot be concluded because the Text saith the Saints after their rapture on high should thenceforth be ever with the Lord Ergò they shall from thenceforth be in Heaven for no Heaven is here mentioned If they must needs be with Christ there where they are to meet him it would rather follow they should be ever with him in the Aire than in Heaven which I suppose none will admit And otherwise the Text will afford no more for Heaven than it will for Earth nay the words he shall bring them with him make most for the latter 4. I will add this more namely what may be conceived to be the cause of this Rapture of the Saints on high to meet the Lord in the Clouds rather than to wait his coming to the Earth What if it be that they may be preserved during the Conflagration of the earth and the works thereof 2 Pet. 3. 10. that as Noah and his family were preserved from the Deluge by being lift up above the waters in the Ark so should the Saints at the Conflagration be lift up in the Clouds unto their Ark Christ to be preserved there from the deluge of fire wherein the wicked shall be consumed There is a Tradition of the Iews founding this way which they ascribe unto one Elias a Iewish Doctor whose is that Tradition of the duration of the World and well known among Divines Duo millia Inane duo millia Lex duo millia dies Messiae viz. Sex mille annos duraturus est Mundus He lived under the second Temple about the first times of the Greek Monarchy so that it is no device of any latter Rabbies but a Tradition anciently received amongst them whilst they were yet the Church of God I will transcribe it because it hath something remarkable concerning the 1000 years It sounds thus Traditio domûs Eliae Iusti quos resuscitabit Deus non redigentur iterum in pulverem He means of the First and Particular Resurrection before the General which the Iews acknowledge and talk much of See Wisdom chap. 3. ab initio ad finem v. 8. Si quaeras autem Mille annis istis quibus Deus Sanctus Benedictus renovaturus est mundum suum de quibus dicitur Et exaltabitur Dominus solus in die illo Es. 2. 11. quid justis futurum sit sciendum quòd Deus Sanctus Benedictus dabit illis alas quasi aquilarum ut volent super facie aquarum unde dicitur Psal. 46. 3. Propterea non timebimus cùm mutabitur terra At fortè inquies erit ipsis dolori seu afflictioni Sed occurrit illud Esa. 40. 31. Exspectantibus Dominum innovabuntur vires efferentur alâ instar aquilarum The Hebrew words are in Gemara Sanhedrin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Tradition of the house of Elias The just whom God shall raise up viz. in the First Resurrection shall not be turned again to dust Now if you ask How it shall be with the just in those Thousand years wherein the Holy Blessed God shall renew his world whereof it is said Esa. 2. 11. And the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day you must know that the Holy Blessed God will give them the wings as it were of Eagles to fly upon the face of the waters whence it is said Psal. 46. 3. Therefore shall we not fear when the Earth shall be changed But perhaps you will say it shall be a pain and affliction to them Not at all for it is said Esa. 40. 31. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings as Eagles I have no more left Mr. Doctor may adde this to my Placita Iudaeorum Thus with my best respects to your self and him I rest Yours c. I. M. Post-script Adde unto this that of our Saviour Where the body is there shall the Eagles be gathered together EPISTLE XXIII Dr. Twisse his Third Letter to Mr. Mede touching some obscure passages in Daniel Worthy Sir I Am sorry you are offended to have those your learned Discussions of that difficult place in Daniel touching the LXX weeks communicated I confess I travell'd not a little for the gaining of them first at Oxford where I first discovered some track of them then at London by my good friend Dr. Meddus his means first with Mr. Mason my good friend and ancient acquaintance than with Mr. D. What account soever you make of them I assure you I shall make never a whit the less reckoning of your learned pains Good reason your account should proceed according to the exactness of your own judgment in these Studies but to me truly they are rare notions The rather because I perceive your care is equal in maintaining congruity both with the Hebrew Text and
rest when it comes to be the Throne of Christ's Kingdome like as it was the glory of all Lands when the children of Israel were brought to inherit it Your Doctrine of Daemons whereof I have tasted even to the Answer of the second Objection Why invocation of Saints should be made choice of to set out Antichrist thereby as a principal Character of him doth so affect me that withal considering these degenerate times I could heartily wish you would give way to the printing of it You know what Spalatensis mentioneth of one of his Prebends that should profess if he were sure Angels heard him he would use that Collect Angele Dei qui custos es mei c. And who it is that taketh it upon him to have been the man meant and justifies it When I read your Discourse of that Thou shalt have no other Gods before my face it makes me willing to know what you think of Genuflexio versus Altare which now grows rife and begins to challenge subscription thereto as licita like as genuflexio at the name of Iesus as pia ceremonia and where we shall end I know not I cannot but take notice as you wish me of the vile depravation of the opinion of the Ancients concerning Millennium For all these I cannot sufficiently give you thanks and must study how to express my thank fulness Mr. S. is a man of very good parts but withal I doubt he hath his vanities as well as other men for I cannot believe but that Dr. L. related unto me the truth of what he heard The beginning of the week hath been a very busie time with me and I must make haste desiring you may understand with the first the safe landing of your precious commodities I nothing doubt but the Lord will perfect the good work he hath begun in you and by you to whose gracious direction I commend all your ways and shall ever rest Newbury May 5. 1635. Yours in all due respects infinitely obliged Will. Twisse EPISTLE LVI Mr. Mede's Answer to Dr. Twisse's Question about Genuflexio versus Altare His freedom from self-ends in this and all other his opinions SIR FOR your question about Genuflexio or Adoratio versus Altare I was in some pause whether to answer to it or to pass it by in silence I confess I have not been unacquainted with speculations in things of this nature they were my eldest thoughts and studies full twenty years ago and the argument of my Concio ad Clerum when I commenced Batchelor of Divinity and before I was any proficient in the Apocalyps And it may be I have had so many Notions that way as would have made another man a Dean or a Prebend or something else ere this But the point of the Pope's being Antichrist as a dead fly marred the savour of that ointment And besides I am no Practitioner nor active but a Speculator only But I am afraid there are others as much in fault which practise before they know I suppose you have heard something this way and thence took occasion to move this Question to me which is the reason I have told you this long tale by way of Preface lest you might think I had as some men use to do made the bent of the Times the rule of my opinions But if I did so I should quickly renounce my Tenet of the Apocalyptical Beast which I know few men here so hardy with us as to profess they believe yea or would fain do But alas that I am so ill advised I cannot do with all And I thank God I never made any thing hitherto the caster of my resolutions but Reason and Evidence on what side soever the advantage or disadvantage fell Besides it fell out happily that the Times when my thoughts were exercised in those Speculations I spake of were times of better awe than now they are which preserved me from that immoderation which I see divers now run into whether out of ignorance or some other distemper I cannot tell Haec omnia dixi in antecessum now I will answer your Question briefly 1. We must distinguish between Imago and Locus or Signum praesentiae To pray or worship toward the First with respect thereto is Idolatry but not toward the Second 2. The Israelites in the Wilderness bowed and worshipped the Lord toward the Cloud wherein he manifested his presence in the Temple toward the Ark and the most Holy place as Solium Dei When they were absent from it though in a strange Country yet they turned themselves and spread out their hands toward it when they prayed as Daniel in Babel Ergò to worship toward Locum praesentiae is no Idolatry or if it were we should commit it as often as we lift up our hands and eyes to Heaven in our prayers as to the place of God's special Presence Yet our Saviour taught us to say Pater nostâ—r quies in coelis and to look that way when we prayed 3. The reason of this difference between Imago and Signum or Locus praesentiae in the point of Divine worship is this 'T is one thing adhibere creaturam in cultu Dei per modum Objecti another per modum circumstantiae Loci aut Sitûs or as Instrumentum The First is Idolatry for God is a jealous God and cannot endure that the worship we give to him should look towards any thing as an Object but Himself But unless the Second be lawful we must not look toward any created thing when we pray not to Heaven nor turn our selves towards the Table where God's blessings are when we say Grace or the like not lawful to invocate God in his Temple not lawful to pray unto him with a Book not use the Communion-Table as a place to give praise and thanks unto him Name In all which Res creata adhibetur tantùm either as Circumstantia cultûs ubi quo-versùs or as Instrumentum quo utimur ad invocandum as a Prayer-Book but not as Objectum cultûs But an Image in the nature of the thing if it be used in Divine worship as an Image cannot but be used as an Object that is as a Representation of the thing worshipped For to look to a thing as it is the Representation of the Object whereto we address our Prayers and Services what is it else but to make it Objectum mediatum relativum I must desire you to supply my meaning where my expression is defective I should do better corà m by pen â—tis tedious to me 4. Now the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Altar for they are but Synonyma's as I take it was ever in our Christian Oratories accounted as Solium Christi as being the place where the Mysteries of his Body and Bloud the Rites of the New Covenant are exhibited unto us 5. All the Prayers and Devotions of the Church were there offered unto God and no where else for many hundred years and still are in all
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
Exue calceamenta tua de pedibus tuis locus enim in quo stas terra sancta est 2. Of Propriety when a thing being dedicated or consecrated to the Divine Majesty the propriety thereof becomes so his as it is no longer ours For thus to be God's is to be his in a peculiar manner and not as other things are For otherwise it is true The whole Earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof the world and those that dwell therein Of this Holiness any thing is capable that is capable of peculiar Relation unto God Persons Places Time and Things and is that which the Greek properly calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Latine Sacrum whence we say Loca sacra Tempora sacra Personae sacrae Res sacrae Loca sacra as the place above-said where God communicated himself to Moses as Temples and Churches in which N. B. both these relations concur both of Divine Presence and Divine Propriety for it is both God's House as being dedicated to his Name and the place also where God is wont to be present with the Sons of men in his Word and Sacraments Tempora sacra as the Lord's Day and other holy and Festival times Personae sacrae as our Priests and Clergy Res sacrae any thing besides these which we offer and dedicate unto God If any shall except that in the Old Testament indeed this Holiness had place but in the New there is no such thing I would encounter him thus If any place under the Gospel may be more peculiarly the place of Divine Presence than every place if any thing under the Gospel may be more peculiarly God's than every thing Then hath this kind of Holiness place in the New Testament as well as in the Old Sed verum prius Ergó By this you may judge what I think of D. B. his assertion That Temples were holy only in the holy use of them If his meaning be they are holy no longer than during such use would he say that Ministers are sacred Persons only whilst they are officiating in preaching praying and celebrating the Sacraments and at other times nothing differing from Lay-men would he say that the Lord's Day is Holy only for the time that Divine Service continues and no longer Par enim est ratio I confess I heard one not long since preach so in our S. Mary's Pulpit you may guess to what end But he was not aware that by this assertion he blew up the foundation of his own Tenet concerning the reverence due to Churches and Altars Eadem enim est ratio Loci Temporis sacri quia utrumque sanctum est neutrum prophanandum sed omnino sanctè habendum est i. e. prout convenit sanctitati But it is ordinary with men who make passion and studium partium the rule of their Iudgments thus to cut the throats of their own principles Here therefore I would desire you to consider and weigh this Proposition That a Place may be said to be Holy in respect of relation to Divine Presence not only where God is in such peculiar manner actually present but where he is wont to be yea or had wont to be therefore Daniel prayed toward Ierusalem etiam cùm jam dirutum concrematum jaceret Templum neque Arca foederis ampliùs ibi exstaret yea even there where he hath once been in some illustrious and extraordinary manner Witness Mount Tabor which only for the glorious Transfiguration of Christ thereon having never had any other Divine relation is by S. Peter 2 Epist. 1. 18. termed the Holy Mount This voice saith he which came from Heaven we heard when we were with him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be it so that Sacraments are no longer Sacraments than in the use of them yet are they Holy as long as they are for that use 2. Whether 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be rightly called Solium Christi I expected no scruple at that speech For if the Holy Table be Sedes corporis sanguinis Christi why not Solium Christi what is Solium but Sedes nempe Regia And is not the Body of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hence Antiquity called the Holy Table 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the place where it stood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The first in that place you mention for Altars standing in the middle of the Quire It is in a Panegyrick Oration made at the dedication of a sumptuous and magnificent Church built at Tyre in the days of Constantine recorded by Euseb. Hist. Eccl. lib. 10. cap. 4. Editione Graeco-lat p. 282 283. the structure and garnishing whereof the Panegyrist there at large describing and amongst the rest the Seats erected in the Quire for the honour of the Clergy he adds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and having placed the most Holy Altar in the midst 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it might not be accessible to the multitude 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he compassed it about reticulati operis cancellis ex ligno fabricatis adeò ad summum solertis artificii elaboratis ut mirabile intuentibus praebeat spectaculum That of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the place where the Holy Table stood is to be found in Theod. Histor. Eccles. lib. 5. cap. 17. in that famous story of Theodosius and S. Ambrose where Theodosius after his absolution coming up into the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and there staying after he had offered to receive the holy Eucharist as he used to do at Constantinople for this was at Milane S. Ambrose admonisheth him to go out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. Quoniam interiora ista ô Imperator solis sunt Sacerdotibus pervia reliquis verò omnibus inaccessa neque tangenda These two places I thought not unfit to cite that it might appear how far the conceit of the Ancients and ours differ in this point 3. How in the New Testament God or Christ our Lord can be said to have his Throne or place of Presence in our Churches and Oratories when they are not by Divine as were the Tabernacle and the Temple in the Old Testament but Humane appointment and without any such Symbolum as the Ark there was I answer To erect or set apart a Place for Divine Worship and the exercise of the Rites of Religion is juris naturae and approved by God from the beginning It began not with that Tabernacle or Temple made by God's special appointment to Moses Abraham Isaac and Iacob erected places of Divine Worship wheresoever they came and pitched their Tents without any special appointment from God tanquam nimirum ex recepta consuctudine generis humani Noah buâ—lt an Altar so soon as he came out of the Ark. Iacob vowed a Place for Divine Worship by the name of God's House where he would pay the Tithes of all that God should give him Moses Exod. 33. 7. before the Ark and that glorious Tabernacle were yet made pitched a Tabernacle for the same purpose without
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
actionem formulam vocârunt Sacrificium tum aliis de causis tum quia est commemoratio adeóque repraesentatio Deo Pâ—tri Sacrificii Christi in Cruce immolati He goes on Hoc modo saith he fideles etiam inter orandum Christum offerunt Deo Patri victimam dum scilicet mente affectúque ad Sacrificium ejus unicum feruntur ut Deum sibi habeant faciántque propitium that is What 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 and solemn service of the Church was done by that Rite which our Saviour ordained to be used in commemoration of him in whose death and Passion is founded the New Covenant of God with Men. For here take notice that all those bloudy Sacrifices of the Law were Federal Rites or Epulae foederales as the Eucharist also is namely that they were Oblations wherein the Offerer either by himself or his proxy the Priest banquetted or ate and drank with his God in token of covenant and reconcilement with him So that to approach God with this Rite was to do it by way of commemoration or renewing of a Covenant with him and as much as to say Remember thy Covenant which is the foundation of all Invocation For what hath Man to do with God to beg any favour at his hands unless he be in Covenant with him Whereby appears the reason why Mankind from the beginning of the world used to make their address unto their God by this Rite of Sacrificing viz. Ritu foederali And this is that which the Ancient Church did and supposed our Lord intended they should do in the holy Eucharist of his Death and Passion which therefore they called the New or Christian Sacrifice A definition whereof as it consists of the Rite and Action both together may be framed out of those words of Mr. Perkins An Oblation of Thanksgiving and Prayer to God the Father through Iesus Christ and his Sacrifice upon the Cross commemorated and represented in Bread and Wine This is a point of great moment and consequent worthy to be looked farther into by all the Learned of the Reformed Religion lest whilst we have deservedly abolished that prodigious and blasphemous Sacrifice of the Papists wherein Christ is again hypostatically offered to his Father we have not or but very implicitly and obscurely reduced that ancient Commemorative Sacrifice of Christians wherein that one Sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross was continually by that sacred Rite represented and inculcated to his Father his Father put in mind thereof by those monuments set before him wherein we also testified our own mindfulness thereof unto his sacred Majesty that so he would for his sake according to the tenour of the New Covenant in his Bloud be favourable and propitious unto us miserable Sinners But to clear this point and to remove all scruples objections and prejudices against it is not for a Letter but a Volume This is enough for the end I intended which was to shew how the Eucharist is the Sacrament of our address unto God and therein of a different nature from Baptism which is not so but the Rite only of our New Birth whereby we become the Sons of God and are admitted to be members of his Church not the Sacrament whereby we exercise the functions of this new life in worshipping invocating and glorifying God our Father through Iesus Christ. These premisses considered the Answer to your demand 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 is plain and easie namely because Adoration is an act of address and of tender of honour unto God and therefore most fitly to be performed at or toward the place of our address which is the Altar whereat anciently as the Sacrament of the Eucharist so the whole Devotions of the Church were performed and presented to the Divine Majesty The Pulpit is the place where God speaks to us not we to him The Font the place where he reaches his favour unto us in accepting us to be his Servants not where being initiated we offer our spiritual sacrifice and service to him You must understand me here to speak according to the ancient manner of the Church Whereas you seem to question Whether the Iews had any such respect unto the Altar of Burnt-offering I answer they had for it was so placed that when they turned and worshipped toward the Mercy-seat they worshipped toward it also but the denomination of their posture is from the Ark as the principal memorial of the Divine presence yet sometimes from the Altar also as 1 Kings 8. 22 31. 2 Chron. 6. 12. Vide 2 Kings 18. 22. cum locis parallelis 2 Chron. 32. 12. Isai. 36. 7. Also Ecclus. 47. 9. we have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 instead of that which is 1 Chron. 16. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But the Altar of Incense better befits our Holy Table than the Altar of Burnt-offering though it may not untruly be affirmed if rightly taken that the Sacrament of the Body and Bloud of Christ is to us Christians both Arca foederis Incensum Holocaustum being the commemoration of him who is all these unto us AND thus far I have adventured to discover my thoughts in this nice and doubtful argument presuming upon the experience I have formerly had of your judgment freedom and ability of discerning especially of your affection and good opinion of my self You may guess my thoughts have not been a stranger to things of this nature You will admire perhaps they were no hinderance to my Apocalyptical Speculations and how I could so easily being possessed with such Tenets believe the Popedom to be the Beast and Rome the Whore of Babylon seeing in the apprehension of the most these things accord not well together But this seeming incompetibility will soon vanish if you consider that in all my meditations I make the Apostasie of the Visible Church to consist not in Iudaism but in Gentilism the constant character of the Apocalyptical Allegories warranting and first suggesting this conceit where namely I observed Iudaism to bear the Type of the true Church and Gentilism of the false Secondly Altiùs hoc animo meo insedit That the Reformed Churches out of extream abomination of Idolatry have according to the nature of men incurred some guilt before God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by taking away the distinction almost generally between things Sacred and Prophane and that they shall one day smart for it But the prejudices hereabout are so great that I have little hope to perswade others to my opinion Yet I could say much for it and if it be well observed the present Iudgments of God upon the Reformation do insinuate some such thing Let the godly wise consider it Divine Iudgments have usually
rise from the dead Resurrectione primâ ii praeerunt viventibus tanquam Iudices You see he puts a difference between those who shall be then living and those who shall rise from the dead The last shall live vitam coelestem Angelicam even on earth without marrying or giving in marriage but not the first He saies indeed the one shall generare but of the other only that praeerunt viventibus tanquam Iudices and presently in the words following describes that Regnum to be the Mille anni coelestis Imperii in quo Iustitia in orbe regnabit But of gormundizing ingluvies gula I find no word unless you think it must needs follow upon the taking away the curse of the creature and the restitution thereof to the perfection it lost through mans sin For Lactantius means no more but that such as then lived should live the life that Adam should have done in Paradise had he not sinned but those that should then rise from the dead should live in a far more Heavenly and Angelical condition even the life of the Blessed Spirits in Heaven But S. Ierom is wont to relate the opinion as if those who rose again should generare and give themselves to feasting and gormundising Besides you say S. Austin intimates that some held some such carnal Beatitude I answer So he intimates that some did not and that himself was once of that opinion and that to hold so was tolerable Quae opinio esset utcunque tolerabilis si aliquae deliciae spiritales in illo Sabbato affuturae Sanctis per Domini i. Christi praesentiam crederentur Nam nos etiam hoc opinati fuimus aliquando De Civit. Dei Lib. 20. c. 7. But where can I shew Cyprian to be a Chiliast You see it is tedious to answer a Question in writing which may be asked in a few words Yet I will say something I say therefore he shews himself plainly a Chiliast to such as know the mystery of that Opinion Lib. de Exhortatione Martyrii In the Preface whereof he speaks thus Desiderâsti Fortunate charissime ut quoniam persecutionum pressurarum pondus incumbit in fine atque consummatione mundi Antichristi tempus infestum appropinquare nunc coepit ad praeparandas coroborandas Fratrum mentes de divinis Scripturis hortamenta componerem quibus milites Christi ad coeleste spiritale certamen animarem paulò pòst Sex millia annorum jam penè complentur Si imperatum invenerit Diabolus militem Christi c. But he that as you see expected the coming of Antichrist should be at the end of the sixth thousand year which he supposed then near at hand yet thought the world should last 7000. viz. a thousand years after the destruction of Antichrist ut patet ex iis quae disserit cap. 11. in these words Quid verò in Maccabaeis septem fratres natalium pariter virtutum sorte consimiles Septenarium numerum perfectae consummationis implentes Sic Septem fratres in Martyrio cohaerentes ut primi in dispositione divina Septem dies annorum Septem millia continentes ut consummatio legitima compleatur c. This to him that knows Chiliasm is plain Chiliasm Look and compare your Austin cap. 7. lib. 20. de Civit. Dei from those words Qui propter haec hujus Libri verba primam Resurrectionem c. Compare also what Câ—prian hath in the end of that Book out of the Gospel Mark 10. 29 30. and Apocalyps 20. and you will acknowledge him to be as he was wont to profess himself Tertulliani Discipulum But I must not follow you too far in this kind of answering 't is tedious I send you some more Papers and so with my love I rest Christ's College Novemb. 16. Yours Ios. Mede EPISTLE LXV Dr. Twisse's Twelfth Letter to Mr. Mede containing Seven Quaere's relating partly to Iewish and Christian Antiquities and partly to some difficult places of Scripture Worthy Sir I Have been a stranger from you too long I come now to renew my acquaintance I presume you are acquainted with Dr. Heylin's Book of the History of the Sabbath Do you know the Author whom he opposeth about the Precepts of Noah for making the Commandment of the Sabbath one of them though he name him not Yet the question is not whether it be one of them but whether not comprehended under one of them But he allegeth Rambam to the contrary out of Ainsworth I have read enough in Cocceius to discredit Rambam and I pray let me know whether Aben Ezra upon Exod. 20. on those words the stranger within thy gates doth not maintain that it was one of them coupling it with that of Nakedness and Shedding of Bloud And though you doubted whether Solomon Iarchi on Gen. 26. 5. did deliver that which he doth of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 two of them as out of his own opinion yet Dr. Heylin confesseth that Abulensis and Mercerus testifie that the Rabbins upon that place are opinion that Abram kept the Sabbath I pray what think you both of his and Dr. White 's opinion concerning Synagogues that the Iews had none before the Captivity and their Inference thereupon That the Sabbath was nowhere observed save in the Temple by any publick congregation but only in private Dr. Andrews was of another opinion as hath been shewed me in some Notes of his and his ground in my judgment is fair Levit. 23. 3. The Seventh day is a Sabbath of rest an holy Convocation it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings The holy Convocation here mentioned seems to be in reference to all their dwellings whereas the other Feasts and holy Convocations belonging thereto were to be celebrated at Ierusalem But I have not yet consulted any Rabbines about this Then I pray What think you of Dr. Heylin saying That Evening-prayer on the Lord's-day is but a late invention Yet I find it in the Iewish Synagogue and Nocturnae after Vespertinae like as I find the like in one of Austin's Epistles de Tempore and in Cassian it appears that the Sabbath-Solemnity was not ended until the time of their Evening-repast corporal Doth your plough stand still in the Revelation and such like passages of a mysterious nature I hope it doth not Is not that Matth. 25. spoken of the last period of the Day of Iudgment It seems it is for the Resurrection is general both of Sheep and Goats yet to the Sheep it is said Receive the Kingdom Shall they receive a Kingdom when Christ resigns his unto his Father and in Heaven it seems there are none for them to reign over Or is it a Figure of speech representing the glory of that State when God becomes all in all by the greatest glory that we are acquainted with which is the glory of a Kingdom I pray what think you of that in Esa. 66. 23. From Sabbath to Sabbath shall all flesh come to worship
that of Israel's Mora in deserto an estate and condition externally better than what they came from in Egypt but inferiour to that they should in time attain unto Yea besides this general the Allusion is most fit for many particular Correspondencies Moses brought the Israelites out of the Egyptian bondage into the Wilderness a place where they might worship and sacrifice unto the Lord safely where the Law was given Tabernacle built Ordinances both Sacred and Political enacted c. So did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Great Constantine deliver the Apostolical Woman and brought her into the like condition wherein she might worship Christ safely the Laws of the Church were established Tabernacles for Christian Worship erected Tâ—thes and Revenues assigned c. And had not this Christian Wilderness a Calf too made of the Ear-rings stoln from the Egyptians Was there not here found a Korah among the Sons of Levi with his partakers men of renown to rebel against Moses and Aaron and to offer strange fire unto the Lord Was there not here a Balaam to deceive and a Baal-Peor to be worshipped was there not a Marah and a Meribah Yea was there not here also as well as there those who brought an evil report upon the Land whither they were to go Farther might not God say of the times of this Christian Wilderness as he did of the abode of Israel there Psal. 95. 10. Forty years long was I grieved c. and Amos 5. 25 26. Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years O house of Israel But ye have born the Tabernacle of your Moloch c. CHAP. 17. 14. and they that are with him are called and chosen and faithful i.e. The Lamb and those called and elect and chosen ones which are with him shall overcome the Beast So I understand it These are that Virgin-Company Chap. 14. which follow the Lamb whither soever he goeth and shall now accompany him in this Exploit This therefore will serve for a Character Synchronistical That that Virgin-Company continues in time to the end of Babylon and the Beast and for an intimation of whom that Vision meaneth viz. such as faithfully adhere unto the Lamb while the Beast reigneth and the rest of men admire and worship him CHAP. 19. 15. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword that with it he should smite the Nations So it was prophesied of him by Esay chap. 11. 4. that he should smite the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips should shay the wicked and in 2 Thess. 2. 8. he shall consume that Wicked one viz. Antichrist with the Spirit of his mouth Christ our General nor fights nor conquers by force of Arms but by the power of his Word and Spirit He does all nutu verbo As it is said Psal. 33. God made the world by his word and by the breath of his mouth in like manner doth Christ overcome his enemies and enables his Ministers to overcome them also Verbo Spiritu oris Agreeable hereunto is that in Hos. 6. 5. I have hewed them by my Prophets and slain them by the words of my mouth CHAP. 20. 6. Blessed and Holy is he that hath part in the First Resurrection What is meant by the First Resurrection see in The Remains upon the Apocalyps Book III. pag. 604. and in Book IV. Epistle 20. Vers. 14. And Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire This is the Second Death Nothing is hereby meant but that Death was now quite vanquished and that there should be no more Death of Body or Separation of Soul but only the Second Death As if it had been said Death and Hades were now confined only to the lake of fire which is the Second Death The Death of Bodies in the grave should be no more nor the state of Separate Souls in Hades CAP. XI Commentationes Minores in Apocalypsin CAP. 1. vers 3. Tempus enim prop è est i.e. Iam adest tempus quo verba Prophetiae hujus impleri coeperint indies magìs magÃsque implebuntur Vers. 4. ab eo qui est qui erat qui venturus est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eadem habentur verba vers 8. cap. 4. 8 cap. 11. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Venturus idem est quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Futurus ut ex cap. 16. 5. manifestum est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 utì locum hunc restituit Beza ex vetusto bonae fidei manuscripto codice Seculum Futurum Haebraeis est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Unde Marc. 10. 30. Luc. 18. 30. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephes. 2. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vide Psal. 71. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Esa. 27. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Venturis sub diebus id est Posthac Imposterum Esaiae 44. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vulgat Ventura quae futura sunt Dan. 9. 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Populus Principis venturus id est futurus Et à septem Spiritibus qui in conspectu throni ejus sunt Per Spiritus hos intelligit Angelos Aretas in locum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cornelius à Lapide pro eadem sententia Iunium laudat sed fallitur Fortè Drusium dicturus fuisset nam ille sic sentit ad hunc locum ubi inter alia habet Septem Archangelos esse qui stant coram Deo etiam Ionathan prodidit Sed ubi non commemorat Locus est Gen. 11. 7. Dixit Dominus Septem Angelis qui stant coram eo Venite nunc c. Cum istis facit Th. Beza Quòd inquit Septem hos spiritus nonnulli pro Spiritu Sancto acceperunt cujus septiformis ut loqunutur sit gralia manifestè refelli potest vel ex eo quod scribitur infrà 5. 6. Et paulò pòst Vt nemo de hoc possit ambigere iidem isti Septem Spiritus infrà cap. 5. 6. Agni cornua oculi id est ministri dicuntur Accedit quòd in cap. 8. 2. expressè dicuntur Angeli Vidi inquit Ioannes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Septem Angelos qui adstant coram Deo Confer cap. 4. 5. Septem lampades ante Thronum quae sunt septem Spiritus Dei Cap. 5. 6. Agnum stantem tanquam occisum habentem cornua septem oculos septem qui sunt septem Spiritus Dei missi in omnem terram Zach. 4. 10. Septem isti oculi sunt Domini qui discurrunt per universam terram Videsis etiam Tobiae 12. 15. Ego sum unus ex septem Angelis qui astamus ante Dominum Cypr. adversus Iudaeos lib. 1. 20. Hilar. in Psal. 118 vel 119. Psal. 129. vel 130. Adde Clem. Alex. lib. 6. Strom. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id est Septem quidem sunt quorum est maxima potentia primogeniti Angelorum principes Sed de Septem hisce Angelis
sufficeret Herodian Frumenti summam primus adauxit Lampridâ— de Alexandro Oleum quod Severus populo dederat quódque Heliogabalus imminuerat integrum restituit c. The colour of the Horse Black fits the severity and strictness of Iustice yea Severus his person both for countrey and quality Sed non est tanti The Fourth State was remarkable for concurrence of War Famine Pestilence This for ten years together as it is plain in Story The Index the Fourth Beast the first Emperour of this State Maximinus Thrax being of his Quarter Imperator ab Aquilone Thus the first Four Seals of the Six as being of unequal times and easy for their qualities to be confounded in the accommodation it pleased the Holy Ghost therefore to distinguish them by their several references to the Four Beasts but the other Two have no such need the Character of their qualities will sufficiently serve to sever them The Fifth State therefore which we may count from Aurelian Ann. 270 or 268. for thereabouts the former ended unto Constantine is notable for the Tenth Persecution by Diocletion the greatest that ever the Ethnick Caesars raised against the Saints of Christ in regard whereof the rest were but as Flea-bitings This is typified by the Cry of the Souls under the Altar How long O Lord Holy and True dost thou not judge and avenge our bloud on them that dwell on the earth And they had promise of present hearing as soon as their Fellow-servants which were yet behind should come in which was not to be long after The Sixth Seal is Terrae-motus a great Earth-quake That intestine Change of the Roman State begun with Constantine and was fully settled with the death of Iulian about the year 364. For an Earthquake implies not a Destruction but an extraordinary Alteration and Change of the face of things As an Earthquake changeth the positure of the Earth by exalting Valleys and depressing Hills turning the Chanels and courses of Rivers and such like And was there not here the whole Politick Government as well as Religion altered the Imperial Seat removed the distribution of Provinces Offices and Governments new moulded c Was not the former State of the Empire turned topsie-turvy when the low and trampled Valleys arose into Mountains and the haughty Mountains were laid as low as the Valleys And if the Roman Gods be any of the Stars or Hills here mentioned we need not go farther for an Exposition of this Earthquake and the shock it caused in the world The SEVENTH SEAL or Seven Trumpets The Seventh Seal or Seal of Trumpets brings forth the Ruine and miserable Downfall of the Roman State This is that which the Martyred Saints in the Fifth Seal prayed for How long O Lord Holy and True dost thou not judge and avenge our bloud upon this cruel Empire They were answered that some more of their Brethren must yet suffer as they had done When they were once come in then should the cry of their bloud be avenged upon that bloudy State This now comes to be accomplished And therefore when the Seventh Seal was opened and the Trumpets were to sound Christ the Angel of the Covenant offereth those Prayers of the Martyrs in a golden Censer upon the golden Altar before the Throne that they might come into remembrance before God And no sooner was the Incense of their Prayers ascended but instantly the Seven Angels come forth with their Seven Trumpets to sound alarm for the Empire 's Dissolution For though Iosiah were a good King and made a Reformation yet must the bloud shed by Manasseh needs be avenged upon the Kingdom of Iudah So although the Roman Emperors were now become Christians yet would not God forget their former slaughters of his Servants but require their bloud at the hands of that Empire The Epocha or beginning of these Trumpets was about the year 365. Now was the Censer wherein the Martyrs Prayers were offered thrown down to the Earth and there were Thundrings and Lightnings and an Earthquake the meaning whereof may be otherways expounded but was here even literally fulfilled in that stupendious Earthquake described by Ammianus Marcellinus l. 26. c. 14. Horrendi tremores per omnem Orbis ambitum grassati sunt subitò quales necfabulae nec veridicae nobis antiquitates exponunt Paulò post lucis exortum densitate praviâ fulgurum acriùs vibratorum tremefacta concutitur omnis terreni stabilitas ponderis c. Now the Trumpets began to sound which Ammianus c. 5. tells so happily as if he meant to be an Expositor Hoc tempore saith he velut per universum Orbem Romanum Bellicum canentibus Buccinis excitae saevissimae Gentes limites sibi proximos persultabunt Gallias Rhaetiásque simul Alemaâ—ni populabantur Sarmatae Pannonias Thracias diripiebant praedatorii globi Gothorum c. Of these Seven Trumpets the first Four are lesser ones and fall chiefly upon the West and made way for the rising of the Antichristian State of the Beast or Kingdom of the False-Prophet The last Three are greater and more terrible and more lasting and therefore distinguished from the former by the name of WOES verse 13. The First Trumpet which lights upon the Earth was that terrible furious and bloudy Hail-storm of the Nations of the North which Ammianus told us of even now without intermission harrying spoiling burning and wasting the inhabitants and Citizens of the Empire great and small young and old from the year 365 almost 45 years but not yet by setling therein impairing or diminishing the Roman Dition The Second which fell upon the Sea was the bloudy rending and destruction of the Amplitude of the Roman Iurisdiction in the West from the time viz. Ann. 410. when Alaricus sacked Rome and was occasioned by the swelling and burning ambition of Stilico who called in the Goths hoping when the waters were thus troubled to have made his Son an Emperor The Third Trumpet brought Lapsus Hesperi the fall of the Western Caesar which after the death of the third Valentinian When Gensericus with his Vandaels had again sacked Rome fell by degrees out of the Orb of Sovereignty though blazing a little as a Candle before extinction By the fall of this Star the Rivers and Fountains suffered the power of the Roman Presidents Ministers and Courts of Iustice failing in the West for want of their wonted influence from that Star the Western Caesareate being extinct in Augustulus resembled by reason of the then bitterness and sorrows by a falling Star called Wormwood vers 11. The Fourth Trumpet brings darkness upon the Roman Firmament by an Eclipse of the Sun Moon and Stars in the third part thereof when in the Wars of the Greek Emperors with the Kings of the Goths in Italy the remaining light of Rome's Majesty in the West was quite put out after the year 542 the long-continued succession of the Roman Consuls ceasing the Roman
City taken by Totilas and a third part thereof demolished and the rest left for a while memorandum Fortunae ludibrium without an inhabitant and lastly the Ostrogothish Kingdom which a while as a blaze continued the light of the dying Caesars in Italy by Narses utterly extinguished WOE WOE WOE The Fifth Trumpet is the First Woe and brings the Saracen Locusts upon the world proceeding out of the smoaky and darkning Seduction of Mahomâ—t conjured up by the Angel of the bottomless pit who though a warlike people and well armed yet had not power to destroy either the State of Caesars in New Rome or the Papal Principality sprung out of the Empire 's ruine in the Old but only Scorpion-like to torment and vex them as their Tail or hindermost Troups out of Africk did Italy and Western Rome 150 years The Sixth Trumpet is the Second Woe and brings upon the Roman Provinces the barbarous and dreadful â—nâ—ndation of the Turks loosing them from the great River Euphrates where they had been long before prepared and now let go as a plague for the Idolatry of Christians 〈◊〉 only as the Saracen Locusts to plague and torment the Roman State buâ— in part tâ— utterly slay and destroy it as they have done in the Empire of Greece which the Saracens had no power to do The Seventh and Last Trumpet is yet to come the entrance whereof is the Last Woe wherein all the Reliques of the Roman Beast with the last Principality of the City of Rome yet surviving shall together with the rest of the enemies of Christ be utterly abolished in the Great Day of Armagedden that all the Kingdoms of the world may become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. Ch. 11. 15. Note that when the Angel comes at the Seventh Trumpet because the Event thereof is the common issue to both Prophecies he therefore suspends it a while till he hath fetch'd up Chap. 11. a transcurrent and through-running Vision of the Second Prophecy unto it and then joyns them together in one and the same close The Kingdoms of the world are become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. The Second Prophecy The Opened Book containing Fata Ecclesiae I. By the Inmost and Measured Court of the Temple I understand the Church in her Primitive Purity whenas yet the Christian Worship was unprophaned and answerable to the Divine Rule revealed from above By the War between Michael and the Dragon about the Woman 's manly Off-spring contemporary with the Measured Court I understand that long and bloudy Combate which Christ our Lord animating with his Spirit his undaunted Souldiers fought with the Devil possessing and reigning in the Ethnick Roman State that is the Times of the Primitive Persecution by the Heathen Emperors a War lasting long and costing the lives of many a valiant Martyr yet at 300 years end when a Christian was installed in the Imperial Throne the old Dragon was dismounted and overthrown and the Souldiers of Christ our Lord prevailed For they overcame him by the bloud of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony and loved not their lives unto the death Note that the Description of this Vision is double in the Text 1. more General The Dragon's endeavour to destroy the Woman's Off-spring from ver 1. to the 7. verse 2. more Particular of his Battel with Michael the Woman's Champion For that these two Descriptions are of the same thing and same time is manifest in that one and the same Event The Woman's escape into the Wilderness is the Consequent to them both II. 1. By the Second or Outward Court trampled by the Gentiles and not to be measured I understand the Apostasie under the Man of Sin when the Visible Church being possessed by Idolaters and Idolatry like that of the Gentiles became so inconformable and unapt for Divine measure that it was to be cast out and accounted as prophane and polluted For the Apostasie of the Church is Ethnicismus Christianus 2. By the Witnesses in sack-cloth I understand the mournful Prophecy of God's true Ministers during all that time who when toward the end of their days of mourning they should be about to put off their sack-cloth and leave their lamentation seeing the Truth they witnessed beginning to take place by publick Reformation the Beast which ascends out of the Abyss shall slay them and rejoyce over them as dead three days and an half that is so many years 3. By the Woman in the Wilderness Ch. 12. I understand the condition of the true Church in respect of her Latency and Invisibility to the eyes of man As the Israelites when they had escaped the rage and gotten out of the reach of the Egyptian Pharaoh yet lived a long time after but in a Wilderness an infrequent and barren place where they could not have lived without being extraordinarily fed with Manna from Heaven Such was the condition of the Apostolical Woman and Church of Christ when she had escaped the rage and fury of the Dragon persecuting in the Seven-headed Empire 4. By the Virgin-Company of the 144000 Sealed ones I understand the opposite State of the unstained Church unto the Kingdom of Apostasie in their sincerity of Service and faithful adherence to their Lord and Master whilst the rest worshipped the Beast and his Image These are those who when the Trumpets were to sound were secured by the Mark of Divine protection lest their Society should have been extinguished in those Calamities which then fell upon the Empire How could this Holy Company else but have perished in such Confusions In that place they were represented by the Tribes of Israel for the present Church of the Gentiles is but Israel surrogatus and so by God accounted until the Fulness of the Gentiles come in 5. By the Seven-headed Ten-horned Beast the Two horned False-Prophet and Babylon the Mother of Harlots I understand the State and Kingdom of Apostasie according to three subordinate parts thereof 1. The Body 2. the Head 3. the Seat For Kingdoms especially of the ancient form consisted of three parts Regnum Rex Metropolis Regni So in the Kingdom of Apostasie for such it was to be are Regnum Apostaticum Rex Apostaticus Metropolis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Kingdom of Apostasie was to be the Roman Empire upon a deadly wound of the Caesarean Sovereignty shivered into a Plurality of Kingdoms yet all joyntly as one Body anew acknowledging the Motherdom of the Roman City This is that Seven-headed Beast with Ten crowned Horns upon the Seventh Head whereof S. Iohn speaks Chap. 13. whose description there I understand as if he had said I saw a Beast with Seven Heads and Ten Horns with Diadems which upon the recovery of a deadly wound in one of his Heads arose out of the Sea and succeeded in the Throne Power and
shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel p. 234 Verse 16. I will multiply thy sorrow and thy conception p. 150 Chap. 10. 5. By these were the Isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands every one after his tongue after their families in their nations p. 271 276 Chap. 27. 36. Well may he be called Iacob for he hath supplanted or beguiled me these two times p. 226 Chap. 28. 16 17. Surely 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 p. 343 Chap. 29. 27. Fulfil her week p. 599 Chap. 46. 26. All the souls that came with Iacob into Egypt which came out of his loins p. 35 Chap. 48. 16. The Angel which redeemed me from all evil bless the lads and let my name be named on them p. 5 Chap. 49. 10. The Scepter shall not depart from Iudah nor a Law-giver from between his feet until Shiloh come and unto him shall the gathering of the people be p. 34 EXODUS Chap. 1. 5. And all the souls that came out of the loyns of Iacob p. 35 Chap. 3. 5. Put off thy shoes from off thy feet for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground p. 348 Chap. 4. 25. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her Son and cast it at his feet and said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sponfus sanguinum tu mihi es p. 52 Chap. 13. 2. Sanctifie unto me all the first-born p. 402 Chap. 19. 5. Then ye shall be unto me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a peculiar treasure Lxx. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a peculiar people above all people p. 125 Chap. 20. 24. In all places where I record my Name I will come unto thee and bless thee p. 341 Chap. 29. 42. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Tabernacle of meeting p. 343 Chap. 30. 36. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Tabernacle of meeting p. 343 Chap. 30. 31 32. This shall be an holy anointing Oyl unto me It is holy therefore it shall be holy unto you p. 6 LEVITICUS Chap. 2. 13. the Salt of the Covenant of thy God p. 371 Chap. 19. 30. Ye shall reverence my Sanctuary p. 398 Chap. 25. 3. The land shall not be sold for ever for the land is mine for ye are strangers and sojourners with me p. 121 Chap. 27. 26. Only the first-born of the beasts which should be the Lord's no man shall sanctifie it it is the Lord's p. 402 NUMBERS Chap. 2. 2. Every one of the children of Israel shall pitch by his own Standard with the Ensign of their fathers house about the Tabernacle of the congregation shall they pitch p. 594 Chap. 14. 22. Those men which have seen my glory and my miracles which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness and have tempted me now these ten times p. 118 Chap. 17. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Tabernacle of meeting p. 343 DEUTERONOMY Chap. 4. 28. And there ye shall serve Gods the work of mens hands p. 707 Chap. 16. 16. Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall chuse in the Feast of Vnleavened bread◠and in the Feast of Weeks and in the Feast of Tabernacles And they shall not appear before the Lord empty p. 260 269 Verse 17. Every man shall give as he is able according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee p. 265 Chap. 28. 64. And there thou shalt serve other Gods which neither thou nor thy fathers have known p. 667 Chap. 33. 2. The Lord came from Sinai unto them he came with his holy Myriads from his right hand went a fiery Law p. 344 Verse 8. And of Levi he said Let thy Thummim and thy Vrim be with thy holy one p. 177 IOSHUA Chap. 5. 15. See Exod. 3. 5. Chap. 7. 1. Achan took of the accursed thing p. 117 Chap. 24. 26. And Ioshua took a great Stone and set it up there under the Oak which was by the Sanctuary of the Lord. p. 65 IUDGES Chap. 1. 7. As I have done so hath God requited me p. 140 I SAMUEL Chap. 26. 19. They have drives me out this day from abiding in the inheritance of the Lord saying Go serve other Gods p. 668 II. SAMUEL Chap. 9. 10. Thou and thy sons and thy servants shall till the land for him and thou shalt bring in the fruits that that he may have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 food to eat pag. 689 I. KINGS Chap. 8. 64. The same day did the King hallow the middle of the Court that was before the House of the Lord for there he offered burnt-offerings and meat-offerings p. 402 Chap. 11. 4. And his heart was not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perfect with the Lord his God p. 202 Chap. 15. 34. And he walked in the way of Ieroboam and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin p. 242 243 II. KINGS Chap. 25. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 808 I CHRONICLES Chap. 16. 42. Musical instruments of God p. 11 II CHRONICLES Chap. 16. 9. The eyes of the Lord run to and fro through the whole Earth to shew themselves strong in the behalf of them whose hearts are perfect towards him p. 43 Chap. 20. 21. He appointed Singers unto the Lord that should praise the Beauty of holiness and to say Praise the Lord for his mercy endureth for ever p. 59 Chap. 29. 3. He walked also in the ways of the house of Ahab p. 243 EZRA Chap. 1. 10. Thirty basons of gold and other vessels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thousands p. 700 Chap. 2. 63. Till there rose up a Priest with Vrim and Thummim p. 183 Chap. 6. 10. That they may offer Sacrifices of sweet savour unto the God of heaven and pray for the life of the King and of his Sons p. 379 Chap. 9. 1. The people of Israel◠have not separated themselves from the people of the lands according to their Abominations p. 708 NEHEMIAH Chap. 13. 14. Remember me O my God concerning this and wipe not out my good deeds that I have done for the House of my God and for the offices thereof p. 173 Verse 22. Remember me O my God concerning this and spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy p. 173 ESTHER Chap. 7. 5. Where is he whose heart hath filled him to do so p. 116 IOB Chap. 26. 5 6. Gigantes gemunt sub aquis qui habitant cum eis Nudus est Infernus coram illo nullum est operimentum perditioni p. 32 PSAI. MS. Psal. 1. 1. that hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly p. 206 Psal. 8. 2. Out of the mouths of Babes and Sucklings thou hast ordained strength because of thine Enemies that thou mightest still the Enemy and Avenger p. 36 Psal. 28. 2. when I lift up my hands toward thy Holy Oracle p. 394
Psal. 37. 21. but the Righteous sheweth mercy and giveth and vers 25 Yet have I not seen the Righteous forsaken p. 80 Psal. 40. 6. Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire mine ears hast thou bored c. p. 896 Psal. 44. 16. By reason of the Enemy and Avenger all this is come upon us p. 38 Psal. 50. 14 Offer unto God praise and pay thy Vows unto the most High p. 284 Vers. 16. Vnto the wicked God saith What hast thou to do to declare my Statutes and take my Covenant in thy mouth p. 371 Psal. 51. 16 17. Thou desirest not Sacrifice else would I give it thou delightest not in burnt-offering The Sacrifices of God are a broken Spirit c. p. 353 Psal. 68. 9 10. Thou O God didst send a plentiful rain whereby thou didst confirm thine inheritance when it was weary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Animalia tua dwelt therein p. 438 594 Psal. 74. 7 8. They have cast fire into thy Sanctuary They have burnt up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the land p. 69 Psal. 89. 18. The Holy one of Israel is our King p. 8 Psal. 104. 4. He maketh his Angels Spirits his ministers a flaming fire p. 28 Vers. 19. He appointeth the Moon for seasons p. 492 Psal. 110. 3. Thy people in the day of thy power shall be a people of free presents p. 115 Psal. 112. 6 The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance p. 80 Psal. 116. 13. I will take the cup of Salvation and call upon the Name of the Lord. p. 380 Psal. 132. 7. We will go into his Tabernacle we will worship towards his Footstool p. 393 Psal. 138. 1 â— Before the Gods will I sing praise unto thee I will worship towards thy holy Temple p. 394 PROVERBS Chap. 4. 23. Keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life p. 199. Chap. 8. 10. Receive my instruction and not silver p. 352 Chap. 11. 4. Righteousness delivereth from death p. 81 Chap. 15. 11. Hell and destruction are before the Lord. p. 32 Chap. 21. 16. The man that wandreth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the Congregation of the dead p. 31 Chap. 30. 8 9. Give me neither Poverty nor Riches feed me with food convenient for me Lest I be full and deny thee and say Who is the Lord or lest I be poor and steal and take the name of my God in vain p. 124 ECCLESIASTES Chap. 5. 1. Look to thy foot when thou comest to the House of God and be more ready to obey than to offer the Sacrifice of fools p. 340 Vers 4. 5 6. When thou Vowest a Vow defer not to pay it c. Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin neither say thou before the Angel It was an error p. 345 Vers. 14. he begâ—tâ—eth a Son and there is nothing in his hand pag. 119 CANTICLES Chap. 7. 10. I am my beloved's and his desire is towards me p. 668 ESAY Chap. 2. 2. And it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the tâ—p of the mountains c. and all Nations shall flow unto it p. 135 Chap. 4. 1. Only let thy name be called upon us to take away our reproach p. 5 Chap. 6. 1. I saw the Lord sitting upon a Throne high and lifted up and his Train filled the Temple p. 344 Chap. 7. 14. and shall call his name Emmanuel p. 465 Chap. 8. 12 13. Fear ye not their Fear neither dread ye it Sanctifie the Lord of hosts himself and let him be your Fear and let him be your Dread p. 9 Chap. 9. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quoniam non est obscuratio ei qui angustiae est ipsi p. 457 Vers. 1 2 3. As the first time he made vile or debased the land of Zebulâ—n and the land of Naphtali so in the latter time he shall make it glorious The way of the Sea by Iordan Galilce of the Gentiles the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light c. Thou hast multiplied the Nation and encreased the joy thereof p. 101 457 Vers. 6. And his name shall be called Wonderful Counseller The mighty God c. p. 465 Chap. 11. 15. And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the AEgyptian Sea c. p. 529 Chap. 17. 7. to the Holy one of Israel p. 8 Chap. 19. 5. And the waters shall fail from the Sea p. 463 Chap. 24. 23. The Moon shall be confounded and the Sun ashamed when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Sion p. 448 Chap. 26. 19. Thy dead men shall live my dead bodies shall arise p. 578 Chap. 30. 31 33. Through the voice of the Lord shall the Assyrian be beaten down For Tophet is ordained of old yea for the King it is prepared the pile thereof is fire and much wood the breath of the Lord like a stream of brimstanc doth kindle it p. 31 Chap. 40. 15. He taketh up the Isles as a very little thing p. 273 Chap. 42. 4. The Isles shall wait for this Law Ibid. Chap. 45. 14. The labour of Egypt and merchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabeans c. p. 578 Vers. 20. Assemble your selves and come draw near together ye that are escaped of the Nations p. 915 Chap. 51. 15 16. I am the Lord thy God that divided the Sea whose waves roared And I put my words in thy mouth and covered thee in the shadow of my hand that I might plant the Heavens and lay the Foundation of the Earth and say unto Sion Thou art my people p. 616 448 Chap. 53. 1 2. Who hath believed our report and to whom is the Arm of the Lord revealed For he shall grow as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground p. 38 Chap. 55. 7. Let the wicked for sake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him p. 206 Chap. 66. 19. I will send those that escape of them unto the Nations and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles p. 915 Vers. 23. From one New-Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another shall all flesh come to worship before me p. 841 IEREMY Chap. 2. 10. Poss over to the Isles of Chittim p. 273 Vers. 11. my people have changed their Glory p. 5 Chap. 8. 20. The harvest is past the summer is ended and we are not saved p. 520 Chap. 10. 11. Thus shall ye say unto them The Gods that made not the Heavens and the Earth even they shall perish from the Earth and from under these Heavens p. 187 Chap. 34. 18 19. And I will give the man which have not performed the words of the Covenant which they had made before me when they cut the â—alf in twain and passed between the parts thereof I will give them into the hand of
Verse 25. Vntil the fulness of the Gentiles be come in p. 197 Chap. 16. 5. Salute the Church at their house p. 324 I CORINTHIANS Chap. 4. 1. Let a man so account of us as of the Ministers of Christ p. 25 Chap. 8. 5 6. Though there be that are called Gods whether in heaven or in earth as there be Gods many and Lords many Yet to us there is but one God the Father of whom are all things and we to him and but one Lord Iesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him p. 628 Chap. 9. 14. Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel p. 77 Verse 23. This I do for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that I might be partaker thereof with you p. 79 Chap. 10. 3 4. And they did all â—at the same spiritual meâ—t and did all drink the same spiritual drink For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them and that Rock was Christ. p. 245 Vers. 5. But with many of them God was not well pleased for they were overthrown in the wilderness p. 255 Vers. 20. The things which the Gentiles Sacrifice they sacrifice to Daemons and not to God Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the Cup of Daemons p. 636 Vers. 21. Ye cannot be partakers of the Table of the Lord and the Table of Devils p. 375 Vers. 31. whether therefore ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do do all to the glory of God p. 171 Chap. 11. 5. Every woman praying or prophesying with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head p. 58 Vers. 10. For this cause ought the woman to have a covering on her head because of the Angels p. 345 346 Vers. 16. But if any man seem to be contentious we have no such custome nor the Churches of God p. 61 Vers. 22. Have ye not houses to eat and drink in or despise ye the Church of God p. 319 Vers. 29. not differencing the Lord's body p. 8 Chap. 13. 5. Charity seekâ—th not her own p. 177 Chap. 15. 23. But every man in his own order Christ the first-fruits afterward they that are Christ's at his coming p. 775 802 Chap. 16. 19. See Romans 16. 5 EPHESIANS Chap. â— 2. the Prince of the power of the Aire p. 23 24 Vers. 8 9 10. By grace ye are saved through faith not of works lest any man should boast For we are his workmanship created in Christ Iesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them p. 112 215 Vers. 14. and hath broken down the partition wall between us p. 20 COLOSSIANS Chap. 2. 8 9. Beware lest any man spoil you through Philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men after the rudiments of the world and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godbeaa bodily and ye are complete in him p. 628 Chap. 4. 15. See Romans 16. 5. I THESSALONIANS Chap. 4. 16. The dead in Christ shall rise first p. 519 Vers. 17 18. Afterwards we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the Air and so we shall ever be with the Lord. p. 775 776 II THESSALONIANS Chap. 2. 3. Vnless that Apostasie come first p. 625 Vers. 7. Only he who now letteth will lett until he be taken out of the way p. 656 Vers. 8. that wicked one whom the Lord shall destroy at the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of his coming p. 763 I TIMOTHY Chap. 4. 1. Howbeit the Spirit speaketh expresly That in the latter times some shall revolt from the Faith attending to erroneous Spirits and Doctrines of Daemons p. 623 Vers. 2. Through the hypocrisie or feigning of Liers having their conscience seared p. 675 Vers. 3. Forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats p. 688 Chap. 5. 17. Let the Elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour especially they that labour in the word and doctrine p. 70 Vers. 21. elect Angels p. 42 Chap. 6. 19. Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation p. 82 II TIMOTHY Chap. 2. 19. The foundation of God standeth sure having this Seal The Lord knoweth them that are his And Let every one that nameth the Name of Christ depart from iniquity p. 82 TITUS Chap. 3. 5. By the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost p. 62 PHILEMON Vers. 1 2. To Philemon odr dearly-beloved and fellow-labourer And to Apphia our beloved and Archippus our fellow-souldier and to the Church at thy house p. 324 HEBREWS Chap. 1. 6. And when he bringeth again the first-begotten into the world p. 577 Chap. 2. 5. For unto the Angels hath he not put in subjection the World to come whereof we speak p. 577 Chap. 9. 5. the Cherubims of glory p. 345 Vers. 29. in the end of ages p. 655 Chap. 10. 5. a Body hast thou prepared me p. 897 Vers. 25. as ye see the Day approching p. 664 Vers. 29. and hath counted the bloud of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified a common thing p. 7 Vers. 37. For yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry p. 664 Chap. 11. 16. But now they desire a better countrey that is an heavenly p. 801 Chap. 12. 27. This Yet once more signifies the removing of things that are shaken p. 166 IAMES Chap. 5. 3. Ye have heaped up goods for the last daies p. 664 Vers. 7 8. the coming of the Lord. p. 708 I PETER Chap. 3. 14 15. Fear ye not their Fear nor be in dread thereof But sanctifie the Lord God in your heart p. 9 Chap. 4. 7. The end of all approcheth Be ye therefore sober and watch unto prayer p. 664 Chap. 5. 13. The Church that is at Babylon saluteth you p. 76 II PETER Chap. 2. 1. But there were false Prophets among the People even aâ— there shall be false Teachers among you who privily shall bring in damnable Heresies even denying the Lord that bought them p. 238 Vers. 4. For if God spared not the Angels which sinned but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto Iudgment p. 23 Vers. 6. making them an Ensample unto those that after should live ungodly p. 33 Chap. 3. from vers 3. to Vers. 16. p. 609 c. I IOHN Chap. 1. 9. he is faithful and just to forgive p. 175 Chap. 2. 3. Hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his Commandments p. 303 Vers. 18. Antichrist many Antichrists Chap. 4. 3. 2 Ep. Vers. 7 p. 663 900 IUDE Vers. 6. See 2 Peter 2. 4. Vers. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 914 Vers. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 344 APOCALYPS Besides several whole Chapters and parts of Chapters of the Apocalyps explained from pag. 419. to p. 605. and from pag. 905 to the end there are several passages explained
in some other Treatises in these Volumes viz. Chap. 1. 4 5. Grace be unto you and peace from him which is and which was and which is to come and from the seven spirits which are before his throne and from Iesus Christ. p. 42 Vers. 6. And hath made us Kings and Priests unto God and his Father p. 113 Chap. 5. 1. And I saw a Book sealed with seven Seals p. 791 Chap. 9. 20. And the rest of the men repented not of the works of their hands that they should not worship Daemons and Idols of gold and silver and brass and stone and of wood p. 636 Chap. 11. 7. The beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit shall make war with them and overcome and kill them p. 766 Vers. 9. They shall see their dead bodies three daies and un half p. 761 Chap. 13. 7. And it was given unto him to make war with the Saints and to overcome them p. â—66 Chap. 15. 2. having the harps of God p. 11 Vers. 3. 4. And they sing the Song of Moses and the Song of the Lamb saying Great and marvellous are thy works Lord God Almighty Who shall not fear thee O Lord and glorisie thy Name for thâ—n only art holy therefore all the Nations shall come and worship before thee for thy Ordinances are made manifest p. 10 Chap. 20. 4 5. and they lived and reigned with Christ a 1000 years But the rest of the dead lived not again until the 1000 years were finished This is the First resurrection p. 771 Chap. 21. 24. And the Nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it p. 772 Vers. â—6 And they shall bring the glory and honour of the Nations into it p. 72 Places of Scripture differently read or pointed from the ordinary Translation GEn. 3. 14. pag. 231 12. 6. p. 65 15. 9. p. 371 49. 10. p. 36 Exod. 4. 25 26. p. 54 Deut. 33. 2. p. 344 1 Chron. 1. 6 7. p. 279 Ezra 1. 10. p. 700 Nehem. 13. 6. p. 701 Esth. 7. 5. p. 116. Psal. 110. 3. p. 115 Prov. 21. 16 p. 32 Eccles. 5. 1. p. 340 351 Isa. 9. 1. p. 101 456 11. 15 16. p. 529 Dan. 2. 45. p. 744 750 7. 9. p. 532 762 12. p. 780 781 24. p. 657 778 9. 25. p. 697 9. 26. p. 704 27. p. 706 c. 11. 35 36 37 38 39. p. 667 797 41 43. p. 674 12. 8. p. 816 Mal. 4. 6. p. 98 Tob. 14. 3 c. p. 579 c. 1 Macc. 12. 31. p. 470 Matt. 11. 25. p. 93 19. 28. p. 85 27. 10. p. 786 Mar. 11. 17. p. 45 Luke 1. 72. p. 801 6. 12. p. 67 Acts 2. 5. p. 74 42. p. 364 46. p. 322 5. 3. p. 117 16. 13 16. p. 67 17. 4. p. 20 24. 16. p. 871 1 Cor. 15. 41 42. p. 85 1 Tim. 4. 1 2 3. p. 623 624 675 6. 19. p. 216 Heb. 2. 6 8. p. 577 2 Pet. 2. 4. p. 23 1 Iohn 2. 18 22. p. 900 Iude vers 6. p. 23 14. p. 344 Rev. 11. 7. p. 483 760 12. 18. vel 13. 1. p. 420 13. 1 2 3. p. 423 14. p. 506 4. 1. p. 511 5. p. 514 8. p. 517 15. 4. p. 10 910 17. 8. p. 524 The Second TABLE containing the Authors quoted in this Edition A ABarbenel Aben Ezra Aberdoniens Episc. R. Abraham Sebah Achmetis Oneirocrit Acta Pudentis Acta Stephani monachi apud Damascen Surium Adrichomius AElian AEmilius Sura ap Paterc AEschines AEschyli interpres Ainsworth Alâ—azar Aldi N. T. Grac. Alstedius S. Ambrose Ammianus Marcell Andraeas Caesarieus Bp. Andrews Anonymus ap Cassandr Apollinarius Apomasar Apuleius Aretas Arislotle Arnobius R. Asche Asterius S. Athanasâ—us Athenaeus Athenagoras S. Augustine Aulus Gellius Aurelius Victâ—r Aureolus Author imperfecti Operis in Matthaeum B BAlduinus Bale Balsamon Baronius Barthol Georgivez S. Basil Bede S. Benedicti Regula Benjamin Tudelens S. Bernard Berosus ap Ioseph Card. Bessarion ap Meurs Beza Biblioth Patrum Bigneus Bishop of Meath Blondus Flavius Brightman Broughton Bucer Budaeus Busbequius Buxtors C CAEsarius Callimachus Calvin Calvisius Cambden Camerarius Cameron Canon Apostol Carmen Argonaut Carpentarius in Platon Alcinoum Casaubonus Cassander Cassianus Castellio Catalogus Test. Verit. per Illyricum Cato Cedrenus Celsus ap Origen Centuriatores Chalcocondylas Chald. Paraphr Chazkuni Lib. Hebr. Chemnitii Examen Chronic. Alexandrin Chrysologus S. Chrysostome Cicero S. Clemens Alexandr S. Clemens Romanus Cocceius Codex Complutens Codex Regius Concilium Carthaginens 3. Chalcedonens Constantinopol Eliberitan Ephesin Gangrens Hipponens Laodicen Lateranens Nicen. 1. 2. Rhemens Trâ—dentin Constantinus Manasses Constitut. Apostol Continuatio Belli sacri Cosmas Megalianus Dr. Crakenthorp Câ—esias Cujacius S. Cyprian Ejus Vita per Pontium S. Cyrill Alexandr Hierosolym D DAmian a Goes Bp. Davenant De Dieu Diodorus ap Euseb. Diodorus Sic. Dion S. Dionys. Areopagita Dioscorides Dounam de Antichristo Drusius Durant de Rit Eccles. E K. EDward's Catechism Elias in Tishbi R. Eliezar Elmachinus Ennius Ephrem Syrus S. Epiphanius Erasmus Erpenius Euagrius Eucherius Eunapius Eusebius Altkircherus Eusebius Caesariens Eusebius Pamph. Euslathius Eutropius F FAgius Paulus Fasciculus Temporum Fasti Siculi Festus Flacius Illyricus Florus Forbes Forsierus Fox Martyrol Fructuosi decret ap Gratian. Fulleri Miscell Funccius G. GAius ap Euseb. Galatinus Petrus Gelasius Cyzicenus Gemara Talmud Geneva Translat Gennadius Geograph Arab. Gerhard Glassius Gothosredus in Tertull. Gotthish Missal Graserus Gratian Gregentii Disput. cum Herbano S. Greg. Nazianzen Nyssen Gregor Thaumaturg Gregor Turonens Grotius Gualter Brutus ap Fox H HEinsius Helvicus Hemingius Hentenius Hermes Trismeg Herodian Herodotus Hesiod Hesychius S. Hierome S. Hilarie Hippocrates Hippolytus Homer Homilies Horace Hospinian Hyperius I IAlkut Lib. Hebr. Iamblicus Ieremias Patriarch Bp. Iewell S. Ignatius Antioch Episc. Ignatius Antiochen Patriarch ap Scalig. Ioannes Curopalata Ioannes de Nicol Iornandes Iosephus Ioseph Gorionides Ioseph Vicecomes Iâ—anaus Isengrinius Isidorus Hispalens Pelusiot Isocrates Iuchasin Lib. Hebr. R. Iuda ap Drusium Iulius Capitol Iulius Front Iunius Ivo Carnotens Iustin hisioric Iustin Martyr Iuvenal K R. D. K. Imchi Kircheri Concord L LActantius Lampridius Langus interp Iustin. M. a Lapide Latini interpp N. T. Legenda aurea Leo magnus R. Levi Leunclavius Lexicon ret Gr. Lat. Linacer Lipsius Liturgia S. Basilâ— S. Chrysâ—st S. Clementis S. Iacobi Hierosol S. Marci Alexandr Lucan Lucian Luther Lutheranus anonym de Rebus in noviss di Lyranus M. MAcrobius Maginus Maimonides Manuser Alexandr in Biblioâ—h Pâ—lygloâ—t Mâ—râ—ialiâ— Mart. Heracleâ—â— Martiâ—â— Iâ—xic Mâ—rtyriâ—â— Omeritarâ—m ap Barâ—n Martyrolug Roman Masiâ—s Melanchâ—hâ—n Melchiâ—r Canus Mâ—â—der ap Iust. M. Menolog Graec. Methodius Meursius Micyllus Iacob Midrash Teâ—illim â—ib Heb. Mincha Chadascha Lib. Heb. Minutius Felix Miracles of the B. V. â—n Italian Molinaeus de Morte Mosis liber Bp. Morton Moses Bar-Cephas R. Mases de Kotsi ap Drus. Munsler N. R. M. NAchmanides Napier Nicephorus Callistus
35 Schism the evil and danger of it 876 Scripture The Holy Scripture is not to be kept in an unknown tongue 190. whether the silence of Scripture be an argument sufficient to conclude against matter of fact 840. an account of some Idioms or Forms of speech in Scripture 161 and 347 349 380 285 and 352 Sea what it signifies in the Prophetick style 462 The Sealing of the 144000 in Apocal. 7. what it means 584 Seed of the Woman meant of Christ's person and Christ mystical 236 Serpent why the Devil took this shape 223 289. the Curse was pronounced upon both the Serpent and the Devil 229. what kind of Serpent was accursed 230. how God could in Iustice punish the brute Serpent 229 230 his Curse was To go upon his Breast and not only on his Belly 231 232. as also To feed on dust 233 234. Enmity between Man and the Serpent 234. The Serpents Seed meant of the Devil and wicked men 236. The Serpents Head or Headship is Principatus mortis 237 Set Forms See Prayer Seven eyes of the Lord are the seven Archangels 41 43 Seven Heads of the Beast signifie both 7 Hiâ—s and 7 Successions of different sorts of Governours 524 Seven Seals in Apocal. 6. what is meant thereby 441 917 c. Seven Trumpets See Trumpets Seven Vials See Vials Seventy Weeks See Daniels Weeks Seventy years See Years Shechinah or Gods special presence in a place is where the Angels keep their station 343 c. Sheep set at Christs right hand 841 Shiloh the name of Messiah 34 it signifies a Peace-maker 35 Silence in holy offices was a point of Religion 458 Simeon Metaphrastes his fabulous Legends 682 c. his design therein 683 c. Sin compared in Scripture to an Heavy Burthen in respect of the Weight of Punishment and of Loathsomness 151. the reason of Sins Loathsomness 152. Conformity between the Sin and Punishment in 4 particulars 144. the hainousness of a Sin to be estimated from the hearts election 350. Commission of one Sin makes way for another 135. what it is to forsake Sin 207. Rules to know whether our purpose to forsake Sin be real 152 153 Sin-offering what 287 Sincerity of Heart what it is how it may be known and attain'd 217 218 Sitting at Gods right hand what it signifies 638 639. that it is a priviledge appropriate to Christ. ibid. Some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word doth not always in Scripture imply a small number 648 c. Socinian Tenets censured 869 883 Son of man whence Christ is so called 764 788 Spirit sometimes in Scripture signifies Doctrine 626 Spirit and truth See Worship in spirit and truth Spirits Good or Evil how they appear and converse with men 223 224 Spiritual blessings were veiled in Earthly Promises under the Law 249 250 Stealing is either by Force or by Fraud both forbidden in the 8 Commandment 132. See more in Theft Sun Moon and Stars what they are according to the Prophetick style in the Political world 449 450 466 615 Synagogues how they differ'd from Proseucha's 66. their antiquity 839 Synchronisms what 491. their usefulness 431 581 T. TAbernack of meetingâ— so call'd from God's meeting there with men 343. Feast of Tabernacles wherein it was a Figure of Christ 266. how it was neglected to be kept from Iosua's time to Nehemiah's 268. what this Omission may seem to imply 268 Table sometimes in Scripture put for Epulum or the Meat it self 386. Table of the Lord in 1 Cor. 10. why so called 375. the name Table not used in any Ecclesiastical Writer before 200 years after Christ 860. Table and Altar how they differ 389 Holy Table Name and Thing 844 Temple what the Gentiles Notion of a Temple was 335 336. why the primitive Christians for the most part abstain'd from the name Temple 336 337 Temple at Ierusalem it s 3 Courts in our Saviours time 44 45. it was the Third or Gentiles Court that was prophaned by the Iews and vndicated by our Saviour 45 46. This Temple is called in Scripture Gods Throne 438 439 917. In what respects it was a Type of Christ. 48 407 263 Temples of the Heathen why they are said by the ancient Fathers to be nothing else but the Sepulchres of dead men 633 Ten Horns signifie in Dan. and the Apocal. Ten Kingdoms into which the Roman Empire was shivered 661. that they belong to the Seventh or Vppermost Head of the Beast 499 737 Ten Kings See Ten Horns Teraphim what they were and how they answered to Vrim and Thummim 183 Terumah or Heave-offering defined 288 the Terumoth or Heave-offerings were either First-fruits or Tithes or Frâ—e-will-offerings 290 Theft in no case lawful 133. the trial of it in doubtful cases was in the Iewish Polity by the parties Oath Hence Perjury and Theft are forbidden together in Scripture 133 Three Kings whom the Little Horn should depress to advance himself 779 Throne to be taken up to Gods Throne what 494 Thummim See Vrim Thunder See Bath Kol Time Times and half a Time what 497 656 744. Times of the Gentiles 753. Times put for Things done in time 737 Tithes How the question of the due of Tithes is to be stated 120 Tituls why Houses and Churches were so called 5 327 328 Tobit's prophesie of the Iews Captivity and Restauration explain'd 579 Transubstantiation promoted by lying Miracles 688 Trees what they signifie in the Prophetick style 460 Trespass-offering how it differed from the Sin-offering 287 Tribes why the 12 Tribes are in Apocal 7. reckoned in a different order than elsewhere in Scripture 455 c. Tribute See Rent Trumpets Seven Trumpets their meaning 595 Turks why described in Apocal. 9. by the army of Horsemen 473 Twelve why each of the 24 Courses or Quires of Singers in the Temple consisted of Twelve 3 Typical speeches often true in the Type and Antitype 285. when what is attributed to the Type belongs to the thing typified 468 V. VEspers See Even-song Vials Seven Vials their meaning 585 923. the agreement between the 7 Vials and 7 Trumpets 585 Vintage what it means in the Propherick style 521 c. Visions Apocalyptick whether represented in the Seven-sealed Book to be seen or to be read by S. Iohn 787 An Vnrepentant Sinner is an Insidel 153 Vnworthy receiving See Sacraments Vows The 3 Vows common to all Monks viz. Vow of Chastity Poverty and Abstaining from meats the Fourth Vew viz. of Obedience not common to all nor so old 689 Vrim and Thummim what they signifie 183. they were a Divine Oracle ibid. the Matter thereof and the Manner of enquiring thereby 184 185. How Vrim and Thummim did typisie something in Christ. 185 186 W. WAldenses See Albigenses White To walk in white To be clothed with white raiment what meant thereby in the Apocalyps 909 Whore and Whoredom meant according to the Prophetick style of Idolatry 645 646. Whoe of Babylon in Apocal. 17. why this Vision only of all
the Apocalyptick Visions is expounded by the Angel 432 582. why she is said to have a golden cup in her hand and her Name written in her forehead 525 Wilderness Israel's being in the Wilderness and the Churche's abode in the Wilderness compared 906 907 Wing signifies in Dan. 9. an Army the fitness of the word to signifie thus 707. Wing of abominations is an Army of Idolarrous Gentiles ibid. How the Roman Army was the Army of Messiah 708 Witnesses why Two and in sackcloth 480 481. the two Wars of the Beast against them 765. their Slaughter how far it extends 760 761. their Death and Resurrection how to be understood 484 Women Why the Corinthian women are reproved for being unveiled or uncovered in the Church 61. how they are said to prophesie 58 59 Works Good Works 3 qualifications of them 217 c. 3 Reasons for the necessity of them 215 c. God rewards our Works out of his mercy not for any merit in them 175 World Heaven and Earth put according to the Hebrew idiom for World 613. That the World should last 7000 years and the Seventh Thousand be the Beatum Milleunium was an ancient Tradition of the Iews 892. World sometimes in Scripture put for the Roman Empire 705 Worship External worship required in the Gospel 47. Four Reasons for it 349 350. The Iews worshipped versus Locum praesentiae 394. That such Worshipping is not the same with worshipping God by an Image 395 To worship God in spirit and truth what 47. 48. The Worship directed to God is Incommunicable and why 638 639 Y. YEars That the Antichristian Times are more than 3 single Years and an half proved by 5 Reasons 598. The 70 years Captivity of the Iews in Babylon whence to be reckoned 658 Z. ZAchary The 9 10 and 11 Chapters in his Book seem to befit Ieremy's time better 786 833 c. Zebach or The bloudy Sacrifice defined 287 Zipporah deferred not the circumcision of her child out of any aversation of that Rite 52. her words in Exod. 4. 25. vindicated from the common misconstruction 53 c. ERRATA Page 481. line 3. read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. 790. l. 14. for Page r. Figure pag. 495. l. 10. r. Angelo pag. 496. l. antepenult r. legibus pag. 498. l. 1. r. crudelitate l. 41. r. Caesarum imperium A Catalogue of some Books Reprinted and of other New Books Printed since the Fire and sold by Richard Royston viz. A Paraphrase and Annotations upon all the Books of the New Testament by H. Hammond D. D. in Fol. Third Edition Ductor Dubitantium or the Rule of Conscience in Five Books in Fol. by Ier. Taylor D. D. and late Lord Bishop of Down and Gonnor The Practical Catechism together with all other Tracts formerly Printed in 4 o in 8 o and 12 o his Controversies excepted now in the Press in a large Fol. By the late Reverend H. Hammond D. D. The Great Exemplar or the Life and Death of the Holy Iesus in Fol. with Figures suitable to every Story Ingrav'd in Copper By the late Reverend Ier. Taylor D. D. Phraseologia Anglo Latina or Phrases of the English and Latine Tongue By Iohn Willis sometimes School-master at Thistleworth together with a Collection of English Latine Proverbs for the use of Schools by William Walker Master of the Free-School of Grantham in 8 o new The Whole Duty of Man now Translated into the Welch Tongue at the command of the four Lord Bishops of Wales for the benefit of that Nation By Io. Langford A. M. in 8o. The Christian Sacrifice a Treatise shewing the necessity end and manner of Receiving the Holy Communion together with suitable Prayers and Meditations for every Month in the Year and the Principal Festivals in memory of our Blessed Saviour in 8 o By the Reverend S. Patrick D. D. Chaplain in Ordidinary to his Sacred Majesty A Friendly Debate between a Conformist and a Non-conformist in 8o. Peace and Holiness in three Sermons upon several occasions the First to the Clergy Preached at Stony-Stratford in the County of Buoks being a Visitation-Sermon published in Vindication of the Author The Second preached to a great Presence in London The Third at the Funeral of M rs Anne Norton by Ignatius Fuller Rector of Sherrington in 8 o new A Discourse concerning the true Notion of the Lords Supper to which are added two Sermons by R. Cudworth D. D. Master of Christs-Colledge in Cambridge in 8o. The Works of the Reverend and Learned Mr. Iohn Gregory sometimes Master of Arts of Christ-Church in Oxon. 4o. The Sinner Impleaded in his own Court to which is now added the Signal Diagnostick by Tho. Pierce D. D. and President of St. Mary Magdalen-Colledge in Oxon. in 4o. Also a Collection of Sermons upon several occasions together with a Correct Copy of some Notes concerning Gods Decrees in 4o. Enlarged by the same Author Christian Consolations drawn from Five Heads in Religion I. Faith II. Hope III. The Holy Spirit IV. Prayer V. The Sacrament Written by the Right Reverend Father in God Iohn Hacket late Lord Bishop of Leichfield and Coventry and Chaplain to King Charles the First and Second in 12 o new A Disswasive from Popery the First and Second Part in 4 o by Ier. Taylor late Lord Bishop of Down and Connor The Principles and Practises of certain several Moderate Divines of the Church of England also The Design of Christianity both which are written by Edward Fowler Minister of Gods Word at Northill in Bedfordshire in 8o. A Free Conference touching the Present State of England both at home and abroad in order to the Designs of France in 8 o new to which is added the Buckler of State and Iustice against the design manifestly discover'd of the Universal Monarchy under the vain Pretext of the Queen of France her pretensions in 8o. Iudicium Vniversitatis Oxoniensis à Roberto Sandersono S. Theologiae ibidem Professore Regio postea Episcopo Lincolniensi in 8o. The Profitableness of Piety open'd in an Assize Sermon preach'd at Dorchester by Richard West D. D. in 4 o new A Sermon preached at the Funeral of the Honourable the Lady Farmor by Iohn Dobson B. D. Fellow of St. Mary Magdalen-Colledge in Oxon. in 4 o new THE END * All of them except some few mentioned at the end of this Preface * None of which were number'd among the Errata * Pag. 109. lin 21. ‖ These the Author a little before calls the Two parts of Repentance Aversion from sin the first Conversion to God the second part ‖ See p. 280. lin ult ‖ See p. 276 279 281. * Luk. 6. * Chap. 4. 15. * Chap. 2. ‖ Rev. 10. 9. * See a particular account both of the Enlargements and of the Additiâ—nals at the end of this Preface * See a particular account both of the Enlargements and of the Additiâ—nals at the end of this Preface * See Epistle 97. p. 881. * p.
be eaten at home when thy Fast is ended And thus both shall be salved thou mayest partake of the Sacrifice and withal go on in the performance of thy Devotions * If a Soul be conscious of its guilt and thereupon Conscience be ashamed how shall it dare to pray at the ALTAR Cyprian An. 250. Sect. I. a Being mindful of our common honour and dignity and regardful of the Sacerdotal gravity and holiness we have utterly rejected all that was raked up against you in a Writing that was sent us full of a deal of provoking and reproachful stuff seriously considering and weighing with our selves that in so full and religious an assembly of the Brethren God's Priests being set and the ALTAR placed it was no way fit such libellous criminations should be either read or heard b What then remains but that the Church should yield to the Capitol and that the Priests withdrawing themselves and taking away the Lord's ALTAR Images and Idol-Gods together with their Altars should succeed and take possession of the place proper to the sacred and venerable Bench of our Clergy * Consessus here notes the place as in Gr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c Whenas he ought to make due satisfaction and with earnest supplications prayers and tears both day and night intreat God's mercy does he as yet dare to claim the Sacerdotal dignity which he had betrayed as if it were a fit thing for one to come immediately from the Devil's Altars to the Altar of God d We ought to use our utmost care and industry that such lapsâ—d and apostatiz'd persons do not return again to their charge to the defiling of the ALTAR and the infecting of the Brethren e And moreover we are to consider that as the Eucharist so the Oile also wherewith the baptized ones are anointed is consecrated on the ALTAR But how can any such consecrate the Creature of Oile as have neither ALTAR nor Church And therefore there can be no spiritual unction amongst the Hereticks since it is evident that neither can the Oile be consecrated nor the Eucharist celebrated by such as are Hereticks f But withall the Holy Ghost by Solomon doth foreshew the Type of the Lord's Sacrifice the Oblation there offered and the Bread and Wine as also makes mention of the ALTAR and the Apostles saying Wisdom hath built her self an house and hath set it upon seven pillars She hath killed her Sacrifices she hath mingled her Wine in her Cup she hath also prepared her table and sent forth her servants calling with a loud voice and inviting all unto her Cup saying c. Prov. 9. â— c. * LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * â—XX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a That Christ is the Wisdom of God as also concerning the mystery of his Incarnation and of his Passion and Cup and the ALTAR and the Apostles who being sent preached the Gospel there is a plain Testimony in Solomon's Proverbs viz. Wisdom hath built her self an house and set it upon seven pillars She hath killed her Sacrifices she hath mingled her wine in her cup and prepared her table c. * As Athanasius likewise doth Disp. cont Arâ—um in Con. Nic p. 90. To. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—quit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zeno Veronensis An. 260. b Happily nourished and brought up not in ill-sented cradles but within the pleasant Septs of the holy ALTAR Euseb. histor Eccles. l. 10. c. 4. c And placing the most holy ALTAR in the middle that the multitude might be hindred from pressing too near it he compassed it about with a wooden rail of net-work of so curious an artifice as was admirable to behold d Who else besides our Blessed Saviour did ever teach and appoint his Friends and followers to offer Unbloudy and Reasonable Sacrifices such as were to be performed by prayer and the mystical service of blessing and praising God And hence it was that ALTARS were erected and Churches also consecrated throughout all the world as also Intellectual and Reasonable Sacrifices were by all Nations offered up to God the King of the whole world But as for the bloudy and smoaky Sacrifices they are by a secret and invisible power quite extinguished and are no more in use * Gr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eusebius means the praising of God appears by other passages in this Book and elsewhere where he saith That the Invisible Powers or Angels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. Deo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Gr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ‖ Gr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Demon. adv Iudaeos Gent. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Edit Saâ— Tom. 6. p. 635. * Psal. 78. 19. Can God furnish a TABLE in the wilderness See the verse after where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Flâ—sh or Food is rendred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mensa a TABLE by the LXX and Vulgar So is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bread or Food rendred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a TABLE by the LXX twice in 1 Sam. 20. 23 26. al. 24 27. And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Meat is rendred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 four times in Dan. 1. Sect. 2. * Canones Apost a If any Bishop or Presbyter shall bring to the ALTAR any thing besides what is appointed by our Lord concerning the Christian Sacrifice that is to say besides Bread and Wine be it Honey or Milk or in stead of Wine strong Drink prepared with all possible cost and art or Fowls or any other Creatures besides what is appointed by our Lord let him be deposed Nor let it be lawful to offer any thing at the ALTAR in the time of the holy Oblation or Eucharist besides new corn parched or baked and grapes in their season except it be Oile for the Candlestick and Incense * Gr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tritici grana fricta aut â—osta Laâ—inâ— Graneas dixere De significatione 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vid. LXX Lev. 2. 14 16. ca. 23. 14. Casaub in Athenaeum lib. 14. 16. Malè hîc Balsamon alii Legumina Couser Can. Syn. Carthag quaehabet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 b Whether Oile for the Candlestick or Incense a That it is not lawful to offer any thing but Bread and Wine mingled with water at the time of celebrating the holy Mysteries Let nothing else besides the Lord's Body and Bloud be offered as our Lord himself hath ordained that is to say Bread and Wine mingled with water But as for the First-fruits whether of Honey or Milk let them be offered as the manner is upon one solemn and accustomed day at the Baptism of Infants And though these viz. Honey and Milk more especially offered at the ALTAR yet they are to have their proper and peculiar benediction different and apart from the blessing of the Bread and Wine or the consecration of the Lord's Body and Bloud Nor let there be any thing presented as a
one Christian may not be limited or regulated by the spirit of another especially the spirit of a particular man in the publick worship by the Spirit of the Church whereof he is a member For doth not the Apostle tell us 1 Cor. 14. 29 30. that even that extraordinary Spirit of prophecy usual in his time might be limited by the spirit of another Prophet Let the Prophets saith he speak two or three and let the other judge If any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by let the first hold his peace Is not this a limiting He gives a reason v. 32. For the spirits of the Prophets saith he are subject to the Prophets Besides are not the spirits of the people as well limited and determined by a voluntary Prayer when they joyn therein with their Minister as they are by a set Form True the spirit of the Minister is then free but theirs is not so but tied and led by the spirit of the Minister as much as if he used a set Form But to elude this they tell us that the Question is not of limiting the spirit of the people but of the Minister only For as for the people no more is required of them but to joyn with their Minister and to testifie it by saying Amen but the spirit of the Minister ought to be left free and not to be limited But where is this written that the one may not be limited as well as the other We heard the Apostle say even now The spirit of the Prophets is subject to the Prophets If in prophesying why not in praying And what shew of Reason can be given why the spirit of a particular Minister in the publick worship of the Church may not yea ought not to be limited and regulated by the spirit of the Church Representative as well as the spirit of a whole Congregation by the spirit of a particular Minister For every particular Minister is as much subordinate to the spirit of the Church Representative as the spirit of the Congregation is to his So much for this Objection There remaineth yet a third which may be answered in two or three words No set Form of Prayer say they can serve for all occasions What then yet why may it not be used for all such occasions as it serves for If any sudden and unexpected occasion happen for which the Church cannot provide the spirit of her Ministers is free Who will forbid them to supply in such a case that by a voluntary and arbitrary form which the Church could not provide for in a set Form And this is what I intended to say of this Argument DISCOURSE II. MATTHEW 6. 9. LUKE 11. 2. Sanctificetur Nomen tuum Sanctified or Hallowed be thy Name ALthough I make no question but that which we so often repeat unto Almighty God in our daily prayers is for the general meaning thereof by the most of us in some competent measure understood yet because by a morefull and distinct explication the knowledge of some may be improved and the meditations of others occasioned to a further search I hope I shall not do amiss nor be thought to have chosen a Theme either needless or not so fit for this Auditory If I shall enquire What that is we pray for in this first Petition of the Prayer our Lord hath taught us when we desire that God's Name may be sanctified For perhaps we shall find more contained therein than is commonly taken notice of The words are few and therefore shall need no other Analyse than what their very number presents unto us viz. God's Name and the sanctifying thereof Sanctificetur Nomen tuum I will begin first with the last in order but first in nature Nomen tuum God's Name By which according to the style of Holy Scripture we are to understand in this place First of all God himself or His sacred Deity to wit abstractly expressed according to the style of eminency and dignity that is Dei 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Divine Majesty as we are wont for the King to say His Majesty or the King's Majesty and of other persons of honour and eminency their Highness their Honour his Excellency and the like so of God His Name and sometimes with the self-same meaning His Glory as Ier. 2. 11. Hath any nation changed their Gods which yet are no Gods but my people have changed their Glory that is their God for that which is good for nought So Psalm 106. 20. of the Calf made in the wilderness They changed their Glory into the similitude of an Oxe that eateth grass And S. Paul Rom. 1. 23. They changed the Glory that is the Majesty of the incorruptible God into an Image made like to corruptible man c. Such is the notion but much more frequent of God's Name In a word Nomen Dei in this kind of use is nothing else but Divinum Numen Whence it is that in Scripture to call upon the Name of God to blaspheme the Name of God to love his Name to swear by his Name to build a Temple to his Name for his Name to dwell there and in the New Testament to believe in the Name of the Lord Iesus to call upon the Name of the Lord Iesus these I say and the like expressions have no other meaning than to do these things to the Divine Majesty to the Lord Iesus whose is that Name above every name whereat every knee must bow Accordingly here Sanctisicetur Nomen tuum Hallowed be thy Name is as much as to say Sanctificetur Numen tuum Sanctified be thy Divine Majesty Secondly Under the Name of God here to be sanctified or hallowed understand besides the Majesty of his Godhead that also super quod invocatum est Nomen ejus whereupon his Name is called or that which is called by his Name as we in our Bibles commonly express this phrase of Scripture that is all whatsoever is God's or God is the Lord and owner of by a peculiar right such as are Things sacred whether they be Persons or whether Things by distinction so called or Times or Places which have upon them a relation of peculiarness towards God For such as these are said in Scripture to have the Name of God called upon them or to be called by his Name that is to be His. Thus we read in Scripture of an House which had the Name of God upon it or which was called by his Name that is God's House 1 Kings 8. 43. Ier. 7. 10 c. Of a City upon which the Name of God was called or named to wit the Holy City Ierusalem the City of the great King the Lord of hosts Ier. 25. 29. Dan. 9. 18. Of an Ark upon which the Name of God the Lord was called 1 Chron. 13. 6. 2 Sam. 6. 2. that is the Lord's Ark or the Ark of his Covenant as it is elsewhere named Of a People upon which the Name of the Lord was
make thereof was with out Blessed Saviour Alpha and Omega the first and last of his care ubi incipit ibi desinit The consideration of which how momentous it is I leave to your selves to judge Thus much by way of Preface NOW for understanding the words I have chosen I will divide my Discourse into a Question and an Observation The Question is In what part of the Temple this Market was kept A thing not commonly by Expositors enquired after much less defined The Observation is That this fact of our Saviour more particularly concerns us of the Gentiles than we take notice of For the first In what part of the Temple this Market was kept The Iews Religion and scrupulosity to keep their Temple from prophanation was such as might seem to make this story incredible Those who were so chary that no uncircumcised or unclean person should come therein who trod the pavement thereof with so much religious observance and curiosity who would not suffer as Iosephus relates any other building no not the Palace of Agrippa their King to have any prospect into it lest it should be polluted by a prophane look how unlikely is it they would endure it to be made a place of buying selling and bartering yea a Market for sheep and oxen as Iohn 2. 14. it is expresly said to have been Neither will it serve the turn to excuse it by saying it was to furnish such as came thither with offerings For the sheep and oxen whilst they were yet to be bought to that purpose were not sacred but prophane and so not to come within the sacred limits You see the difficulty But I answer that this Market was kept in the Third or Gentiles Court which was the outmost of the Temple For the Temple in our Saviour's time had Three Courts each surrounding one another First the inmost or Priests Court wherein stood the Temple and the Altar of burnt-offering Into this none but the Priests and Levites came Secondly the middle or great Court which surrounded that of the Priests whereinto the Iews of all sorts and circumcised Proselytes came to worship Without this was a third Court for the Gentiles which surrounded the Israelites Court as that did the Court of the Priests The two first Courts they accounted sacred calling them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into which therefore none might enter but such as were circumcised and clean according to the Law The third was without the sacred limits and so accounted prophane and common which may be learned out of Iosephus who tells us of certain little pillars or columns placed by the Lorica or Septum which severed this Court from the rest whereon was inscribed in Greek and Latin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Atrium sanctum transire alienigenam non debere That no stranger pass within the sacred limits 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the second part of the Temple was called Holy implying that the Outmost was not so Into this Court therefore which had no legal sanctity and was without the 〈◊〉 limits the Gentiles were admitted and had their station together with such 〈◊〉 Iews as were in their uncleanness further they might not go By Gentiles 〈…〉 mean such which though uncircumcised yet worshipped the God of Israel and were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For as I have told you heretofore the Iews had two sorts of Proselytes which worshipped their God and frequented his Temple One of such as were circumcised and took upon them the observation of the whole Law of Moses These were accounted as Iews bound to the same observances and partakers of the same priviledges with them they worshipped together in the same Court and differed nothing from Iews but that they were not so born But besides these there was a second sort of Gentiles which embraced the worship of the God of Israel and the hope of the life to come which were not circumcised nor conformed to the Ordinances of the Mosaical Law but were tied only to the observation of those commandments which the Iewish Doctors call The Precepts of the Sons of Noah Of this Order was Cornelius and divers other mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles where they are known by the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Worshippers and though they were true worshippers yet were they still but Gentiles and such as no Iew might converse with as we see in the example of Cornelius These were those that came no further than the Outmost Court not accounted within the limits of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Sacred Septs as themselves were accounted Vnclean because Uncircumcised and so no members of the Commonwealth of Israel In this Court therefore the Iews made no scruple of doing prophane and secular acts being in their opinion no better than a common place Nay it is very probable that to shew their despiciency of the poor Gentiles according to that in the Apocalyps 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without are Dogs and to pride themselves in their prerogative and discretion from them they affected to have such acts there done And hence it came to pass that they permitted a Market of Oxen and Sheep Doves and other bartery to be kept there for the use of the Temple and those who came thither to worship And thus the poor Gentiles or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were stabled amongst Oxen Sheep and stalls of Money-changers and in that tumultuous place fain to offer up their devotions and prayers unto the most High God whom they had chosen But our Blessed Saviour who came to redeem not the Iews only but the Gentiles also and to make them a principal part of his sold would not suffer them to be thus neglected but in this act of his gave them a praeludium of his further favour intended toward them and he that was to vindicate their Souls from death and take away the partition-wall between them and the Iews first vindicates their Oratory from prophanation alledging for his warrant this place of the Prophet Esay concerning the same Oratory My House shall be called a House of Prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He did not say My Father's House is holy for the Iews would soon have replied that the Gentiles Court was without the sacred limits But It is written saith he My House shall be called a House of Prayer for all the Nations Ergo The place of Prayer for all Nations is a part of my Father's House If my Father's House then holy and not to be thus prophaned For whatsoever is his is holy Relative Holiness being nothing else but the peculiarity a thing hath to God-ward Of this if any man doubt that Quotation by S. Luke concerning that which first openeth the womb will put him out of doubt For whenas the Law saith Every male that openeth the womb is mine that is the Lord's S. Luke utters it chap. 2. v. 23. Every male that
kind of First-fruit-offering there viz. at the Altar at the time of celebrating the holy Mysteries but Grapes and Corn. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ignat. Ep. Antioch b I write unto you and warn you that you use one Faith one Doctrine one Eucharist For there is one Flesh of our Lord Iesus Christ one Bloud of the same our Lord Iesus Christ which was shed for us one Bread broken for us and one Cup distributed to all one ALTAR to every Church and one Bishop with the Presbytery and Deacons my fellow-Servants * P. 236. Exer. 6. in Epist. Ad Ephesios c Whosoever therefore separates himself from these and joyns not with the Council of the Clergy whose office it is to celebrate the Christian Sacrifices nor with the Church of the First-born which are enrolled in heaven Heb. 12. 23. Whosoever is thus in schism and discord with them is a Woolf in a Sheeps skin pretending meekness under that disguise a Reverence the Bishop as ye do Christ as the blessed Apostles have commanded us He that is within the ALTAR is clean and therefore obeys the Bishop and Presbyters But he that is without is he that does any thing without the Bishop Presbyters and Deacons and such a one hath a defiled Conscience and is worse than an Infidel * Yea and in form and fashion too See Maimon apud Ainsworth upon Lâ—â— 19. 30. For both Sanctity and Sanctification consist in Discrimination * 〈…〉 * Chap. 1. 11. Verse 20. Verse 17. Sect. 3. * Except only Siracidâ—s and the 2. Book of Maccab. whose style gentilizeth * al. 62. * De vit Mosis i. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mosâ—s nâ—mpe graecissan◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mark here who they are that have turned the Christians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into the Gentiles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Odyss H. * See Sect. 1. of this Treatise pag. 384. * Or as this part of the Church is termed in a story of the same time in Euseb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the name whereby the LXX call the Sanctuary in the Old Test. Hist. Eccles. l. 7. cap. 18. de Marino Martyre Adductum ad Ecclesiam statuit intus prope 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Celsus affirms that we Christians decline the building or setting up of Altars Images and Temples b Why have the Christians no Altars no Temples no Images c Herein ye are wont to charge us with hideous impiety and irreligion viz. that we do not make any Image or Representation of any God nor build any kind of Altars at all * Perhaps he adds this by way of correction of his word Altaria d What can Temples and Altars mean what do Statues signifie * According to which style S. Hierome Ep. ad Râ—parium saith de Iul. Apostat Quod sanctorum Basilicas destruxerit aut in Templa converterit Ep. 10. e Worshipping-places Houses of Prayer Churches a Galienus in ed. ap Eus. l. 7. c. 12. Gr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 b Apud eund Hist. l. 7. c. 1 2. c Eus. de laud. Constant. d Idem Hist. l. 7. c. 3. * See this passage of Arnobius in the Discourse on 1 Cor. 11. 22. pag. 338 Verse 1. * As Isa. 60. 7. 64. 11. Psal. 96. 6. * Verse 19. * Verse 6. 1 Sam. 4. 4. Psal. 132. 7. * Plutarch in Aristide de Paulania Lâ—crymis opplâ—â—us converâ—it se ad â—anum Iunonis maniâ—sque ad coelum tendens precatur Citheroniam Iunâ—nem c. Varro l. 4. de lingua Lat. de Cuâ—io se deâ—ovente Ad Concordia sub aedem conâ—ersul c. Sic emendat Scalig quem vide in Collestaneis quae ibidem ex Livio adducit ad haâ—â— rem facâ—ntia * â— Chron. â— 6. ch 29. â— 27. * See 1 King ch 8 v 31. Iurantes Aras 〈…〉 bant Câ—â—er Plautus Rudent Virg. 12. AEneid Iuven. Sat. 14. Iustin. l. 24. Vid. Pont. p. 3. p. 146. * Orat. Paneg. ap Euseb. Hist. lib 10. cap. 4. Diâ—nys At. ep 8 ad Demophilum * May not our order of setting the Ten Commandments over the Communion Table have had some reference this way See Orders Anno 1565. 7. Eliz. Artic. 7. Matt. 10. 12. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 3. 25. the name whereby the Mercy-sâ—at is called in the old Testament The Israelites worshipped towards the place of their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which was a Type of ours why may not we worship in like manner toward the place of our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Truth of theirs * See the Author Quaest Respâ—â—d orthod in Iustin. Mart Quaest. 118. Clem. Alex. Strom. 7. ants Med. Tertul Apol. c. 16. item ad nationes l. 1. â— 13. Origen Hom. 5. in Numer cap. 4. p. 210. * Dionys. Arcop de Ecclesiast Hier 6. 2. * Lib. 5. Histâ—r Eccles. c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Namely that meat no time turned hee back â—pon the Altar that is not so much as oâ—t of the time of worship * Apud Meursium in Not iâ— Pontanâ— ad Protovestiarium Levit. 19. 30. Sanctitatis tripleâ— netio Sanctitatis Relatiâ—e definitio * 2 Chro. 6. 2. * 2 Cor. 6. 16. An Evangelium agnoscat Loca Sacra * Matt. 18. 2â— â—v 11. â—ec diâ—is 〈◊〉 Sâ—mma dictorâ—m Object Cap. 1. 11. * 1 Ep. 2. 8. Sohâ— Cap. 2â— Veneratio definita Veneratio duplex Interna Externa Utraque triplex Religiosa Sacra Civilis Veneratio Sacra definita illustrata Sâ—nctâ—ficatio duplex * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Câ—nfirmatur Venerationis sacrae Defiâ—rio Veneratio sacra duplex Interna Externa Utraque illustrata Externa Veneratio duplex Personatis Realis Uâ—â—aque explicata De Externa Veneratione 4. Consectaria Altera Divisio Venrationis Sacrae scil in Venerationem Personarum Rerum Locorum Temporum Locorum Sacrâ—rum Reverentia explicatur secundùm ejus modos genera Loc. Sacr Reverentia probatnt Ratione Praeceptis Exemplis * Buxtorf Syn. Iud cap. 5. * Bart. Georgivâ—â— de Turcarum moribus Gen. 28. Gr. Nazianz. in Orat. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ultimó dividi tur Loc. Sacr. Rever in Reverentiam Nudâ—m Ornatum Ornaâ—ûs Tâ—mplarâ—â— 2. Species Magnificentia Mundâ—â—â— Malac. 1. Object contrà Templâ—um Magnificentiam solvuntur 1 Chron. 29â— 2 Chron. 2 Dâ—n 3. Pars I. * Nam proculdubio legen dum cum Latinis omnibus Graeâ—o Aldi anno 1518. Syro interprete qui ex Graeco vertit Et stetit non ut hodie habent exemplaria Graeca 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Et slâ—â—i In Bibl. Polyglott MS. Alexandrin habet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Et stetit Cap. 13. * Cap. 7. 9. * Lib. 5. cap. 28. al. 23. huic quoque lectioni astipulatur tâ—xtus apud Andream Caesariensem in Codice Augustano nec non Syrus Interpres qui nuper editus est Iâ—â—o apud Latinos Primasius illud vidi