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 Gods 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 consecrated to his service be in some proportion incommunicably used and not promiscuously and commonly as other things are They are the words of Maymonides the Jew but such as will not misbecome a Christian to make use of concerning that Law Levit. V. 15. If a soule commit a trespasse and sin through ignorance in the holy things of the LORD then he shall bring unto the Lord for his trespasse a Ram c. Behold saith hee 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 i. made holy And who so useth them to common use he transgresseth therein and though he doe it through ignorance he must needs bring his atonement Yea it is a thing worthy to be taken speciall 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 of them broad plates for a covering of the Altar for they offered them before the Lord therefore they are hallowed or holy Num. 16. 37 38. Now that by this discriminative usance or sanctification of things sacred the Name of God is honoured and sanctified according to the tenour of our petition is apparent not onely from reason which tels 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 tels us that by the contrary use of them his name is prophaned Hear himself Lev. XXII 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 is said To prophane the Name of his God Again Ezek. XXII 26. When the Priests prophaned Gods holy things by putting no difference between the Holy and Prophane I saith the Lord am prophaned amongst them Likewise Chap. XLIII ver 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 Manasse and Amon buried in the Kings Garden hard by the walls of the Temple for so by the Hebrews and others that place is understood See 2 Kings XXI ver 18 26. by the pollution of the Temple the Lord esteemed his own Name prophaned Take in also if you will that of Malachi Cha. 1. where the Lord says of those who despised and dishonoured his Table or Altar by offering thereon for sacrifice the lame the blinde 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 becommeth the relation they have to him I have already specified the severall 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 generall an intimation it will not be amisse a little more fully and particularly to explicate them then I have yet done Remember therefore that I ranged all sacred things under four heads 1. Of Persons Sacred such as were the Priests and Levites in the Old Testament and now in the New the Christian Clergy or Clerus so called from the beginning of Christian Antiquity either because they are the Lords 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 Lords portion I preferre the first yet either of both will give their Order the title of Holinesse 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sanctifie 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 their sakes I sanctifie my self that they might be sanctified for thy Truth that is And for as much 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 legall and typicall 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 onely is put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Truth for the Ministery of Truth Now that the Christian Church for of the Jewish I shall need say nothing hath always taken it for granted that those of her Clergy ought according to the
DIATRIBAE DISCOVRSES ON DIVERS TEXTS OF SCRIPTVRE Delivered upon severall occasions BY JOSEPH MEDE B. D. late Fellow of Christs Colledge in CAMBRIDGE Printed by the Authors own Copy The Contents you shall finde in the next leafe LONDON Printed by M. F. for JOHN CLARK and are to be sold at his Shop under S. Peters Church in Cornhill M DC XLII The Contents of the severall Texts of Scripture delivered in this Treatise S. MATTH 6. 9. Thus therefore pray ye Our Father c. pag. 1. MATTH 6. 9. LUKE 11. 2. Sanctified or hallowed be thy Name p. 17. ACTS 17. 4. There associated themselves to Paul and Silas of the worshipping Greeks a great multitude p. 82. 2 PETER 2. 4. For if God spared not the Angels which sinned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darknesse to be reserved unto Iudgement c. so we translate it To which of S. Peter answers that of S. Iude as almost that whole Epistle doth to this verse 6. And the Angels which kept not their first estate or principality but left their own habitation he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darknesse unto the Iudgement of the great Day p. 99. 1 COR. 4. 1. Let a man so account of us as of the Ministers of Christ and Stewards of the Mysteries of God p. 108. S. IOHN 10. 20. He hath a Devill and is mad p 120. PROVERBS 21. 16. The Man that wandreth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the Congregation of the Dead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in coetu Gigantum p. 132. GEN. 49. 10. The Scepter shall not depart from Iudah nor a Law-giver from between his feet untill SHILOH come and unto him shall the gathering of the People be p. 144. PSALME 8. 2. Out of the Mouth of Babes and Sucklings thou hast ordained strength because of thine enemies that thou mightest quell the Enemy and the Avenger p. 155. ZACH. 4. 10. These seven are the Eyes of the Lord which run to and fro through the whole earth p. 172. S. MARK 11. 17. Is it not written My House shall be called a House of Prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to all the Nations p. 187. S. JOHN 4. 23. But the hour commeth and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth For the Father seeketh such to worship him pag. 197. S. LUKE 24. 45. Then opened he their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures 46. And said unto them Thus it is written and thus it behoved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day p. 210. EXOD. 4. 25. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the fore-skin of her son and cast it at his feet and said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sponsus sanguinum tu mihi es pag. 222. EZEKIEL 20. 20. Hallow my Sabbath and they shall be a sign between me and you to acknowledge that I Iehovah am your God pag. 234. 1 COR 11. 5. Every woman praying or prophecying with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head p. 246. TITUS 3. 5. By the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost p. 262. IOSH. 24. 26. And Ioshâ—…ah took a great stone and set it up there viz. in Sichem under the Oak which was in the Sanctuary of the Lord Alii by the Sanctuary Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. 274 1 TIM 5. 17. Let the Elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour especially they that labour in the Word and Doctrine p. 296. ACTS 2. 5. And there were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sojourning at Ierusalem Iows devout men out of every Nation under heaven p. 311. 1 COR. 9. 14. Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. 324. Three other Treatises by the same Author formerly Printed which may be added viz. 1. The Name ALTAR or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. CHURCHES that is Appropriate Places for Christian Worship 1 COR. 11. 22. Have ye not houses to eat and drink in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Or despise ye the CHVRCH of God 3. The Reverence of GODS HOVSE ECCLESIASTES 5. 1. Look to thy foot or feet when thou commest to the House of God and be more ready to obey then to offer the sacrifice of fools for they know not that they doe evill Errata FOlio 9. line 10. testimonies in r. testimonies In. fol. 24. l. 16 28. the Hebrew words are false printed and misplaced fol. 87. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the words inverted fol 88. line 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fo 125. line 19. the Hebrew words are inverted line 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fol. 130. line 14. siqui r. siquis fol. 150. line 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fol. 162. ult 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fol. 184. in the margin the Hebrew is amisse fol. 229. the Hebrew is transposed and mis-printed fo 273. line 14. imitation r. initiation so 284 line 3. Actâ— 21. r Acts 16. fol. 334. line 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 DISCOVRSES ON DIVERS TEXTS of SCRIPTURE S. MATTHEW 6. 9. Thus therefore pray ye Our Father c. IT was well hoped after the question about the lawfulness and fitness of a set forme of Prayer had been so long debated in our Church that the sect of those who opposed it had been ere this well-nigh extinguished but experience tels us the contrary that this fancy is not onely 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 practise of the Christian Church hath been established and how frivolous and weak the reasons are which some of late doe 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 Saviours Thus and not the rehearsall 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whē you pray say Our Father which art in heaven that is doe it in haec Verba For what other phrase 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 passe 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 custome 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 Saviours Disciples besought him that he also would give them in like manner some forme of his making that they might also pray with their Masters spirit as Iohns Disciples did with theirs For that either our Saviours or Iohns Disciples knew not how to pray till now were ridiculous to imagine they being both of them Jews who had their certaine set houres of prayer which they constantly observed as the third sixt and ninth It was therefore a forme of prayer of their Masters making which both Iohn is said to have given his Disciples and our Saviours 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 Lords 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 speciall motion of the Disciples at a time when himselfe had done praying That of S. Matthew in the second that of S. Luke in the third yeare after his Baptisme Consider the Text of both and you shall finde 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 forme of prayer unto them but for a pattern or example onely or it may be to instruct them in speciall in what manner to ask forgiveness of sins For if they had thought he had given them a forme of prayer then they would never have asked him for one now wherefore our Saviour this second time utters himselfe 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 dreame is doubled unto Pharaoh because the thing is established by God so may wee 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 forme 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 doe 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 then whose example and use wee can have no better rule to follow in the New First therefore wee 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 blesse the people Num. 6. 23. On this wise saith he shall Aaron and his sons blesse the children of Israel saying unto them The Lord blesse thee and keepe 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 forme of Prayer For what is to blesse but to pray over or invocate God for another The second is the forme of profession and prayer to be used by him who had paid his Tithes every third yeare 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 to the Fatherlesse and unto the widow according to all thy commandements which thou hast commanded me I have not transgressed thy Commandements neither have I forgotten them 14. I have not eaten thereof in my mourning neither have I taken away ought thereof for any uncleane use c. 15. Look downe from thy holy habitation from heaven and blesse thy people Israel and the Land which thou hast given us as thou swarest to our Fathers a Land that floweth with Milke and honey But what need we seek thus for scattered Formes when wee have a whole booke of them together The Booke of Psalmes was the Jewish Liturgie or the chiefe part of the vocall service wherewith they worshipped God in the Temple This is evident by the Titles of the Psalms themselves which shew them to have beene commended to the severall Quires in the same to Asaph to the sonnes of Korah to Ieduthun and almost forty of them to the Magister Symphoniae in generall The like wee are to conceive of those which have no titles as for example of the 105 and 96 Psalmes which though they have no such Inscription in the Psalme-booke yet wee finde 1 Chron. 16. 7. That they were delivered by David into the hands of Asaph and his Brethren for formes to thanke the Lord. This a man would think were sufficient to take away all scruple in this point especially when 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 solve◠and all the reformed Churches use to sing the same Psalmes not onely as set formes but set in Meeter that is after a humane composure Are not the Psalmes set formes of Confession of Prayer and of Praising God And in case there had been no prayers amongst them yet what reason could be given why it should not bee as lawfull to pray unto God in a set forme as to praise him in such a one What therefore doe they say to this Why they tell us that the Psalmes are not sung in the Church unto God but so rehearsed for instruction of the people onely namely as the Chapters and Lessons are there read and no otherwise But if either wee doe ought or may sing the Psalmes in the Church with the same end and purpose that the Church of the old Testament did and it were absurd to say wee might not this exception will not subsist for what is more certaine then that the Church of Israel used the Psalmes for Formes of praising and invocating God What mean else those formes Cantemus Domino Psallite Domino and the like so frequent in them But there are more direct
Sicut dominos praediorum liminibus affixi Tituli proloquuntur S. Augustine in Psal. 21. Quando potens aliquis invenerit Titulos suos nonne jure rem sibi vendicat dicit Non ponere◠titulos meos nisi res mea esset Whether this phrase of Scripture of Gods Name to be called or named upon a thing hath reference unto any such custome I cannot affirme but surely the meaning is the same to wit that God is the Lord and Proprietar 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 Personall 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 principall 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 find out the notion of it namely what is the ratio formalis the formall state or nature of that which the Scripture entitleth in the generall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 Holinesse 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 onely 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 Holinesse 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 The sanctification of the Sabbath saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to separate or distinguish it from other dayes because every word of Sanctity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports 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 discretion and distinction from other things by way of exaltation and preeminence may appeare by these instances and examples which I shall now produce out of Scripture And first from that Law touching the holy oyle Exod. 30. 31. where after the composition thereof described This saith the Lord shall be an holy anointing oyl unto me what is that it follows Vpon mans flesh shal it not be poured neither shal ye make any other like it after the composition thereof It is Holy therefore it shall be Holy unto you that is As this Oyle is Holy and discrete from other Oyles so shall it accordingly by you be used with difference and discrimination For the Text goes on 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 Oyle should be a singular or peculiar Oyle set apart and distinguished from all other Oyles both in its composition and use and that to be such was to be Holy or Sacred The like we shall finde in the 35. verse of the same Chapter concerning the Holy perfume there described Thou shalt make it saith he to wit with the the ingredients he afore mentioned a perfume a confection after the art of the Apothecary tempered together pure and Holy verse 37. You shall not make to your selves i. not for your own use according to the composition thereof It shall be unto you holy for the Lord. ver 38. Whosoever shall make the like unto it to smell thereto shall be cut off from his people But above all others this notion of sanctity or holinesse is most expressely intimated and taught us in those divine periphrases or circumlocutions which the Lord himself more then 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 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 maist be an Holy people unto the Lord thy God as he hath spoken What is this but Rabbi Kimchi's definition almost verbatim That to bee 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 appropriatednesse 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. parallels 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 thee In Ioshuah where this commandement is put in execution we read in stead of separated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they sanctified three Cities Kedesh Shechem and Hebron Where that the one is equivalent to the other the Septuagint so well understood that even in this place of Ioshuah for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is Sanctificarunt they rendred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 separarunt or discreverunt The same notion of Holinesse may be gathered also from the Antithesis or opposite thereunto to wit unholy or unclean which the Scripture is wont to expresse by the name of Common So S. Peter in his Vision Acts 10. Lord saith he I have never eaten any thing
in the Kingdome of heaven The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. loose or dis-binde as he doth both that abrogates and that observes it not much more he that affirmeth it unlawfull to be observed Nay how dare we disbind or loose our selves from the tie of that way of agnizing and honouring God which the Christian Church from her first beginnings durst not doe Irenaeus witnesse of that age which next succeeded the Apostles is plain Lib. 4. c. 34 Offerre oportet Deo saith he primitias creaturae ejus sicut Moses ait Non apparebis vacuus ante conspectum Domini Dei tui Et non genus oblationum reprobatum est oblationes enim illic sc. in V. T. oblationes autem hic sacrificia in populo sacrificia in Ecclesia sed species immutata est tantum quippe cum jam non à servis sed à liberis offeratur Vnus enim idem Dominus proprium autem character servilis oblationis proprium liberorum uti per oblationes ostendatur indicium libertatis It behoveth us saith he to offer unto God a present of his creature as also Moses saith Thou shalt not appear before the Lord thy God empty For offerings in the generall are not reprobated there were offerings there viz. in the Old Test. there are also offerings here in the Church but the specification only is changed For asmuch as offerings now are not made by bond but free men For there is one and the same Lord still but there is a proper character of a bond or servile offering and a proper character of free-mens that so even the Offerings may shew forth the tokens of freedome Now where in Scripture he beleeved this doctrine and practise to be grounded he lets us know in the XXVII chap. of the same Book Et quia Dominus naturalia legis per quae homo justificatur quae etiam ante legisdationem custodiebant qui fide justificabantur placebant Deo non dissolvit sed extendit sed implevit ex sermonibus ejus ostenditur i. That our Lord dissolved not but enlarged and perfected the naturall precepts of the Law whereby a man is just which also before the Law was given they observed who were justified by faith and pleased God is evident by his words Then hee cites some of the passages of that his Sermon upon the Mount Mat. V. 20. c. And a little after addes Necesse fuit auferre quidem vincula servitutis quibus jam homo assueverat sine vinculis sequi Deum superextendi verò decreta libertatis augeri subjectionem quae est ad Regem ut non retrorsus quis renitens indignus appareat ei qui se liberavit Et propter hoc Dominus pro eo quod est Non moechaberis nec concupiscere praecepit pro eo quod est Non occides neque irasci quidem pro eo quod est Decimare omnia quae sunt pauperibus dividere i. It was needful that those bonds of servitude which man had before been inured to should be taken off that so he might without Gives follow God but that the laws and ordinances of freedome should be extended and his subjection to the King encreased lest that drawing backward he might appear unworthy of him that freed him And for this reason our Lord in stead of Thou shalt not commit adultery commands not so much as to lust in stead of Thou shalt not kill not so much as to be angry in stead of to Tith to distribute all we have to the poore c. All which saith he in the same place are not solventis legem sed adimplentis extendentis dilatantis not of one that dissolves the Law but fulfils extends and enlarges it alluding still to that in our Saviours Sermon upon the Mount Besides those who are acquainted with Antiquity can tell that the Primitive Christians understood the holy Eucharist to be A commemoration of the sacrifice of Christs death upon the crosse in an oblation of bread and wine T is witnessed by the Fathers of those first ages generally Whereupon the same Irenaeus also affirmeth That our Saviour by the institution of the Eucharist had confirmed oblations in the new Testament Namely to thanksgive or blesse a thing in way to a sacred use he took to be an offering of it unto God And was not Davids Benediction and thanksgiving at the preparation for the Temple an Offertory Where note well that as he upon that occasion blessed the Lord saying Thine O LORD is the greatnesse the power and the glory all that is in heaven and earth is thine thine is the Kingdome Both riches and honour come of thee Ergo because all things come of thee of thine own have we given thee So doe Christs redeemed in their Euangelicall Song Apâ—â— 5. ascribe no lesse unto him saying Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive Power and Riches and Wisdome and strength and honour and glory and â—…g Yea the 24. Elders which are the Christian Presbytery expressing ch 4. ult the very argument and summe of that Hymnology 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 practise of the Church of God in all ages yea I think I may say the consent of mankinde from the beginning of the world beareth witnesse to that among those duties of the Sanctification of Gods Name wherewith his Divine Majesty is immediately and personally glorified of which I have before spoken this is one and a principall one to agnize and confesse his peerlesse Soveraignty and dominion over the creature by yeelding 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 Gods by a peculiar right I say that these are likewise to be done unto 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 farre be it from us to deferre 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
little lower then the Angels and hast crowned him with glory and honour 6. Thou hast made him to have dominion over the works of thine hands thou hast put all things under his feet Again 1 Cor. 15. 23. Christ saith he shall deliver up the Kingdom to God the Father when he shall have put down all rule authority and power 25 For he must raign till he hath put all enemies under his feet 26. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death 27. For he hath put all things under his feet This is the quotation for it follows presently When he saith all things are put under him it is manifest that he is excepted which did put all things under him How principall a part of the Argument of this Psalm what is in these two places cited by S. Paul contains every man may see that reades and compares them But how it should be consonant to the meaning of the Psalm seems somewhat difficult to apprehend For he that reades the whole Psalm would think it were nothing else but a description of mans excellency whom God had made next to the Angels in dignity given him dominion over all things he hath made For so after those words Thou hast put all things under his feet it follows immediately All sheep and Oxen yea and beasts of the field the fowls of the air and the fishes of the Sea and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the Sea But what is the dominion over these to subduing of enemies which the Apostle cites it for or how is that which is a description of mankinde in generall a Prophecy of Christ in speciall Some therefore as in other citations of the Old Testament so here also betake themselves to the covert of an Allusion namely that the Apostle onely borrows the words of the Psalmist to expresse his own and not the Psalmists meaning But howsoever this may have place in some other allegations of the Old Testament which are for Illustration or Exornation onely yet when the testimony is brought for proof and demonstration as this is it can in no wise be admitted For how can that testimony be of force to conclude any thing where not the Authors meaning is brought but his words onely made use of Others therefore say that whatsoever is spoken of the Dignity and Excellency of Man in generall is to be understood by way of eminency of Christ the chief of the sons of men This indeed is something but not enough For what is the dignity of man in regard of his Dominion and Lordship over the creature to conquering and subduing of enemies which is that the Apostle seeks to demonstrate thence Well to hold you no longer in suspence the key of the interpretation of this Psalm and the ground of S. Pauls accommodation of that passage Thou hast put all things under his feet to Christs victory is to be sought in the words I have now chosen Out of the mouth of Babes and Sucklings c. which being first alledged by our Saviour in the Gospel in defence of that acclamation given unto him by his followers Hosanna that is Save now to the son of David which the Pharisees thought too high an attribute to be deferred to flesh and blood this application thereof by Christ to himself gave the Apostle good warrant to interpret the Psalm as he did and to ground a Demonstration thereon I shall therefore divide my discourse into two parts First I will shew the meaning of the words as they stand in the Psalm And secondly make it appear that our Saviour in the Gospel cites them according to that meaning The whole drift therefore of the Psalm is to praise and glorifie God for the dignity wherewith he hath invested Man What is man saith he that thou art mindefull of him or the son of man that thou visitest him For thou hast made him little lower then the Angels and hast crowned him with glory and honour This glory and honour is exemplified in two particulars First that God hath ordained man even that weak and feeble creature Man to subdue and conquer his enemies which is that my Text expresseth in the words before named Out of the mouth of Babes and Sucklings thou hast ordained strength because of thine enemies that thou mightest quell the Enemie and the Avenger Secondly that he hath made man the Lord of all his Creatures Thou hast made him saith he to have dominion over the works of thine hands then follows as it were the summing up of both in a word Thou hast put all things under his feet For having ordained him both the Champion to conquer thine enemies and made him at his Creation the Lord and Ruler of the works of thine hands Quid reliquum est what honour couldst thou have given him which thou hast not Lord therefore what is man that thou art mindefull of him or the son of man that thou visitest him Where is to be observed that the Corollarie Thou hast put all things under his feet comes in before his time namely before the description of this exemplification of mans dominion over the creature was fully ended as if the Prophet out of admiration could hold no longer from telling us the summe of that Dignity wherewith man was invested Thou hast made him saith he to have Dominion over the works of thine hands and so one way or other Thou hast put all things under his feet Then follows the other part of the Description All Sheep and Oxen over these thou hast made him have Dominion The Beasts of the field the Fowles of the air and the Fish of the Sea whereas in direct order it should have stood thus Thou hast made him have Dominion over the works of thine hands over all Sheep and Oxen the Beasts of the Field and Fowles of the Air and Fish of the Sea And so in the upshot Thou hast put all things under his feet For this last particular of mans dignity to have Dominion over the Creatures is so plainly and evidently intended in the Psalm that I shall need speak no more of it I return therefore to the former to make it clear also That God ordained man not onely to exercise Dominion over the visible creatures but to be the Champion to conquer and subdue his Enemies which is the drift of the words I have chosen for my text Out of the mouth of Babes and Sucklings saith he that is of mankinde who springs from so weak and poor a beginning as of Babes and sucklings namely out of the mouth of babes not in sensu composito but diviso Of such whose condition is to be babes and sucklings not that they should exercise this strength he speaks of To quell the enemy and the Avenger while they were babes but that this power should be given to those whose condition was to be such And this is marvellous enough that God should advance so weak a creature and of so despicable a
of worship in speciall which was confessed by both sides to be tied to one certain place onely that is of worship by Sacrifice and the appendages In a word of the typicall worship proper to the first Covenant of which see a description Heb. 9. This Iosephus expresly testifies Lib. 12. Antiq. cap. 1. speaking of the Jews and Samaritans which dwelt together at Alexandria They lived saith he in perpetuall discord one with the other whilest each laboured to maintain their Country customes those of Ierusalem affirming their Temple to be the sacred place whither sacrifices were to be sent the Samaritans on the other side contending they ought to be sent to Mount Garizim For otherwise who knows not that both Jews and Samaritans had other places of worship besides either of these namely their Proseucha's and Synagogues wherein they worshipped God not with internall onely but externall worship though not with sacrifice which might be offered but in one place onely And this also may seem to have been a type of Christ as well as the rest namely that he was to be that one and onely Mediator of the Church in the Temple of whose sacred body we have accesse unto the Father and in whom he accepts our devotions and services according to that Destroy this Temple and I will rear it up again in three daies He spake saith the Text of the Temple of his Body This sense divers of the Ancients hit upon Eusebius Demon. Euang. Lib. 1. Cap. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not by Symbols and Types but as our Saviour saith in Spirit and Truth Not that in the New Testament men should worship God without all externall services for the New Testament was to have externall and visible services as well as the Old But with such as should imply the verity of the promises already exhibited not by types and shadows of them yet to come we know the Holy Ghost is wont to call the figured Face of the Law the Letter and the Verity thereby signified the Spirit As for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both together they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but once found in holy Writ to wit onely in this place And so no light can be borrowed by comparing of the like expression any where else to expound them Besides nothing hinders but they may be taken one for the exposition of the other that to worship the Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the same with to worship him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But howsoever this Exposition be fair and plausible yet me thinks the reason which our Saviour gives in the words following should argue another meaning God saith he is a Spirit therefore they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and Truth But God was a Spirit from the beginning If therefore for this reason he must be worshipped in Spirit and Truth he was so to be worshipped in the Old Testament as well as in the New Let us therefore seek another meaning For the finding whereof let us take notice that the Samaritans at whom our Saviour here aimeth were the off-spring of those Nations which the King of Assyria placed in the Cities of Samaria when he had carried away the ten Tribes captive These as we may reade in the second Book of the Kings at their first comming thither worshipped not the God of Israel but the gods of the Nations from whence they came Wherefore he sent Lyons amongst them which slew them which they apprehending either from the information of some Israelite or otherwise to be because they knew not the worship of the God of the Countrey they informed the King of Assyria thereof desiring that some of the captiv'd Priests might be sent unto them to teach them the manner and rites of his worship which being accordingly done they thenceforth as the Text tels us worshipped the Lord yet feared their own gods too and so did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Saint Chrysostome speaks mingle things not to be mingled In this medly they continued about two hundred years till toward the end of the Persian Monarchy At what time it chanced that Manasse brother to Iaddo the High Priest of the returned Jews married the daughter of Sanballat then Governour of Samaria For which being expelled from Jerusalem by Nehemiah he fled to Sanballat his Father in Law and after his example many other of the Jews 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 Jews and the occasion of a continuall 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 Jews 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 onely Yet so that howsoever they seemed to themselves to be true worshippers and altogether free from Idolatry neverthelesse they retained a smack thereof in as much 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 Jewish Tradition tels us who therefore always branded their worship with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or spirituall Fornication Just as their predecessors the ten Tribes worshipped the same God of Israel under the similitude of a Calf This was the condition of the Samaritan Religion in our Saviours time and if we weigh the matter well we shall finde 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 so greatly materiall for as much as the time is at hand when men shall worship the Father at neither But there is a greater difference between you and us then of place though you take no notice of it namely about the object of worship it self For ye worship what ye know not but we Jews worship what we know How is that Thus Ye worship indeed the Father the God of Israel as we doe but you worship him under a corporeall representation wherein you shew you know him not but the houre commeth and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and Truth In spirit that is conceiving of him no otherwise then in spirit And in truth that is not under any corporeall or visible shape For God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and Truth that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
Peace on earth Good will towards men For the conjunction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not to bee taken here for a copulative but as Vau is frequently in the Hebrew for a conjunction causall or for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Glory to God in the highest for that there is Peace on earth Good-will towards men Or if we retain the copulative sense yet we must understand the words following as spoken by way of gratulation Glory be to God on high and welcome peace on earth good-will towards men Or both causally and gratulatorily thus Glory be to God in the highest for ô factum bene there is peace on earth and good-will towards men To begin with the first the Doxology or praise Glory be to God in the Highest that is Let the Angels glorifie him who dwels on high for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to be referred to Glory and not to God the sense being glorified be God by those on high and not God who dwels on high be glorified This may appear by the like expression in the 148. Psalm whence this Glorification seems to be borrowed Praise ye the Lord from the heavens praise him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—ratâ—e ye him all his Angels praise ye him all his Host. Therefore Iunius for Praise ye the Lord from the Heavens hath Laudate cum coelites The Chaldee for Laudate eum in excelsis Laudate eum Angeli excelsi In like manner here Gloria in excelsis â—eo are the words of the Angelicall Quire inciting themselves and all the Host to give glory and praise unto God for these wonderfull tidings Now therefore let us see what this Glory is and how it is given to God To tell you every signification of the word Glory in Scripture might perhaps distract the hearer but would inform him little Nor will it be to purpose to reckon up every signification it hath when it is spoken of God I will therefore name only the two principall ones And first Glory when it is referred to God often signifies the Divine Presence or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in this Chapter a little before my Text when it is said The Glory of the Lord shone round about the Shepheards and they were sore afraid But this is not the signification in my Text but another which I shall now tell you For Glory besides signifies in Scripture the high and glorious Supereminency or Majesty of God which consisteth in his threefold Supremacy of Power of Wisdome and of Goodnesse And as words of eminency and dignity with us as Majesty Highnesse Honour Worship are used for the persons themselves to whom such Dignity belongeth as when we say His Majesty his Highnesse his Honour his Worship so in the Scripture and among the Hebrews His Glory or the Glory of the Lord is used to note the Divine Essence or Deity it self As in 2 Pet. 1. 17. There came a voice saith S. Peter from the excellent Glory that is from God the Father This is my welbeloved Son in whom I am well pleased Rom. 1. The Gentiles are said to have changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likenesse of things corruptible As it is said in the 106. Psal. ver 20. of the Israelites in the Wildernesse That they changed their Glory into the similitude of an Oxe that eateth grasse S. Iohn cap. 1. 14. of his Gospel says of the Son We beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten Son of God According to which sense he is called Heb. 1. The brightnesse of his Fathers glory and the expresse Image of his person where the latter words are an exposition of the former Image expounding brightnesse and person or substance expounding glory If Glory therefore signifie the Divine Majesty or Greatnesse to glorifie or give glory unto God is nothing else but to acknowledge this Majesty or greatnesse of His namely his supereminent Power his Wisdom and Goodnesse for in the peerlesse supereminency of these three under which all his other Attributes are comprehended his glorious Majesty consisteth Take this withall That all the religious service and worship we give unto God whether we praise him pray or give thanks unto him is nothing else but the acknowledging of this glory either in deed or word namely by confessing it or doing some act whereby we acknowledge it To come to particulars By our Faith we confesse his Wisdome and Truth by our thanksgiving his Goodnesse and Mercy when we pray we acknowledge his Power and Dominion and therefore the form of prayer our Saviour taught us concludes For thine is the kingdome power and glory In praise we confesse all these or any of them according to that in the Hymne of the Church Te Deum laudamus Te Dominum confitemur We praise thee O God we acknowledge thee to be the Lord. All which is evident by those forms of glorification set down in the Apocalypse which are nothing else but expresse and particular acknowledgements of the greatnesse or Majesty of God and his peerlesse prerogatives When the four Wights are said to have given glory honour and thanks to him that sate upon the Throne what was their Ditty but this Thou art worthy ô Lord to receive glory and honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created When the Lamb opened the book with 7. Seals the Wights the Elders and every creature in heaven in earth and under the earth sung Worthy is the Lamb to receive power and riches and strength and honour and blessing And again Blessing honour glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne and 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 Wisdome his Goodnesse The two first Power and Wisdom are expresse 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 goodnesse Hence it is that the Septuagint and Vulgar Latine commonly render the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifie to praise and glorifie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 confiteor Confitemini Domino quoniam bonus quoniam in saeculum misericordia ejus Psal. 106. 107. 136. Confitebor tibi Domino in toto corde meo quoniam audisti verba oris mei Psal. 138. Confitemini Domino invocate nomen ejus Psal. 105. and the like And in the 148. Psal. 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 Luc. 11. 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes where we have I thank thee ô Father Beza and Erasmus read
and to the Widow according to all the Commandements which thou hast commanded me Look down from thy holy habitation from heaven and blesse 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 in pios usus which were not sacrifices namely to acknowledge God to be the Lord and giver of all As we see in that royall Offering which David with the Princes and Chieftains of Israel made for the building of the Temple 1 Chron. 29. where David acknowledgeth thus Thine ô 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 hand have we given thee For this reason there was never time since God first gave the Earth to the sons of men wherein this acknowledgement was not made by setting apart of 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 Mankinde for the species of the fact was Sacriledge in profaning that which was holy For which he was cast out of Paradise and the Earth cursed for his sake because he had violated the signe 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 mans ejection out of Paradise the first service that ever we read was performed unto God was of this kinde 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 Melchisedek the Priest of the most high God as an acknowledgement that he had given Abraham the Victory Melchisedek 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 professe 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 typicall Elements yet hath it not freed us from the possession of our Fealty unto God as Lord of the whole earth 'T were strange me thinks to affirm it I am sure the ancient Church next the Apostles thought otherwise I will quote for a witnesse Irenaeus who Lib. 4. cap. 32. tels 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 blood 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 sed ut ipsi nec infructuosi nec ingrati sint eum qui ex creatura panis est accepit gratias egit c. Et novi Testamenti novam docuit oblationem quam Ecclesia ab Apostolis accipiens in universo mundo offert Deo ei qui alimenta nobis praestat primitias suorum munerum in novo Testamento But this is no proper occasion to follow this argument any further I will therefore leave it and adde a second reason why God requires Alms and such like offerings at our hands Namely that we might not forget God our blessed Saviour Mat. 6. and Luk. 12. 33 c. speaking of this very matter of alms Lay not up saith he for your selves treasures upon earth but â—ay up for your selves treasures in heaven For where your treasure is there will your heart be The proper evill of abundance is to forget God and our dependence upon him the remedy whereof most genuine and naturall is to pay him a rent of what we have So shall we always think of our Landlord and lift up our hearts to heaven in whatsoever we receive and enjoy Yea when this service is so acceptable to God that he promiseth a great reward to those who thus honour and acknowledge him how can it choose but detain our hearts in heaven in that respect also when we shall so often think of God not onely as the Lord and giver of what we have but as the rewarder also of the acknowledgement we perform PSAL. 112. 6. The Righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance A Word fitly spoken saith Solomon is like Apples of Gold in pictures of Silver that is gracefull and comely so is a Text of Scripture fitly chosen and rightly applied to the occasion Such an one as I take it is this I have now read not chosen by me but appointed by order to be used at these times of commemoration I shall need no other preface to commend it to your attention Let us therefore see what is the sense and meaning thereof The Righteous that is the bountifull shall be in everlasting remembrance In remembrance with God in remembrance with men with God in the world to come and in this world with men how and in what manner These are the severall heads I shall treat of and first of the first the Subject The Righteous or the bountifull man Righteousnesse in a speciall sense in the Hebrew and the rest of the Orientall Tongues of kinde to it signifies Beneficence or Bounty both the Virtue and the work and therefore by the Hellenists or Septuagint is it translated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word so frequent in the New Testament for that we call Alms. 'T is a known place Dan. 4. according both to the Septuagint and vulgar Latine Peccata tua Eleemosynis redime iniquitates tuas misericordi is pauperum where in the Originall for Eleemosyna is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iustitia as we in our English render it Break off thy sins by righteousnesse and thine iniquity by shewing mercy to the poor This notion of righteousnesse is to be found thrice together in the 12. of Tobit ver 8. Prayer saith old Tobit
he that supports and enables a Prophet for his duty hath an interest in his work and consequently in the reward that belongs unto it This appears by the contrary because he that maintains and abets those who commit an evil act makes himself guilty of their sin and so of the punishment due to the same An example whereof we have in that of the Benjamites in the Book of Judges who by abetting the men of Gibeah who committed that foul abomination with the Levites Wife made themselves guilty of their sin and brought that hideous judgement which at first was deserved only by a few sons of Beliall upon the Heads of the whole Tribe It is a known story Now it is par ratio for a man to entitle himself to anothers good works as to his ill But there is a modification in the Text whereupon this reward we speak of depends otherwise not to be looked for And that is This good office must be done in nomine Prophetae not for any other respect then as he is and because he is a Prophet He that receiveth a Prophet in nomine Prophetae shall receive a Prophets reward not he that receives him onely for some personall or by-respect because he is his kinsman friend or friends ally or which is the ground of the most respect the Prophet gets among the most now adays because he is one of their own side and faction but setting all such respects aside eo nomine quia Prophet◠with meer respect to their office and calling or because they are as Valens and Valentinian in their Rescript apud Theodoretum cals them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Procuratores magni Regis I may tell you that this is no ordinary thing now adays we may perhaps finde some that can be content to make much of the Prophet for some personall qualities of his or perhaps because he hath abilities above ordinary or because it may be he is like to further the way they wish good luck to or that they may gain repute among some sort of men or other respects of like nature But are there many which regard them in nomine Prophetae How then comes it to passe that their courtesies are so appropriate to the persons of some that they shew no respect or esteem to the calling in others Whence comes that Unchristian or indeed Atheisticall language A base Priest A paultry Priest It would never have grieved me if any other had served me thus but to be served thus by a base Priest who can endure it Tell me in good earnest is this to honour a Priest or a Prophet in nomine Prophetae or not rather point-blank unto it to reproach and dishonour him under that reverend Name that is to despise and reproach the Calling it self For can a man honour that condition the name whereof he thinks to be a reproach Is any man wont to say A base Lord A base Knight A base Gentleman A base Christian No And why because he accounts them all terms and titles of honour Judge then by this what account they make of Gods Ambre who turn the very title of their Calling into a name of reproach and what reward by proportion they are like to merit at Christs hands Not a Prophets I am sure and whether a Christians or not themselves may judge 'T is often and too often true indeed that for our persons we are unworthy of any better respect but even then it best appears whether a man hath respect to the Calling eo nomine when there is nothing in the Person to move him to it But there is another sort of men who honour not a Prophet in the name of a Prophet yet behinde namely such as rob and spoil them of their livelihood and daily bread and not onely themselves give nothing to enable and encourage them the better to perform their Ministery but take from them severall ways that which the piety and bounty of their Ancestors hath allotted them yea to many if not to the most no gain or theft is more sweet then that which is gotten out of the Priests portion But whether it will prove so at that day when the just God shall reward every man according to his works may be greatly feared I told you a little before that the reason why he that receives a Prophet in the name of a Prophet shall be partaker of a Prophets reward is because he that supports and enables a Prophet to do his duty hath thereby an interest in his work and consequently to the reward due to the same If this be so what can they look for who by subtracting their daily bread from them hinder and disenable them from the free and chearfull performance of their duty by distracting them with the cares of providing for their bodily life Do they not derive upon themselves the guilt of whatsoever impediment comes hereby to the propagation of the Kingdom of Christ Shall not the losse of every soul that perisheth for want of due provision to maintain an able Minister be cast in their account at the last day I will speak nothing now of the burden which Sacriledge it self being a robbing of God carries with it see Prov. 20. 25. It is a snare to the man who devoureth that which is holy and after vows to make enquiry nor of those dreadfull execrations which the Donors of such things were wont antiquo ritu to lay upon the heads of all such as should divert them to profane uses wherewith these men willingly and wilfully involve themselves But for a close let us join in an humble and hearty acknowledgement of Gods goodnesse and mercy and say Blessed be God our heavenly Father who notwithstanding the malignity of many hath not left us destitute but in every age hath raised up some to shew kindnesse unto the Prophets and to provide entertainment for them Witnesse the goodly structures and liberall endowments in our two Seminaries for the entertainment and education of Prophets and Prophets Sons being the bounty of those Worthies the fruits of whose Piety and Devotion the whole Church of God by his Divine goodnesse doth enjoy To whose blessed Names as their deserts challenge from us let all due honour and thankfulnesse be for ever rendred DEUT. 33. 8. And of Levi he said Let thy Thummim and thy Vrim be with thy Holy One. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THis verse is part of that blessing wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death and these words are part of the blessing of Levi a blessing which much exceeds those that went before it and is far above all that come after it For as S. Paul proves Melchisedec to be greater then Abraham because he blessed Abraham and worthier then Levi because he tithed Levi in the loins of Abraham so may we say of this blessing that it is the greatest of all because it is the blessing of him who by his Office was
acknowledgement of that speciall relation they had to him above other Levit. 20. 25. 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 holinesse as being Gods men in a speciall manner and therefore required they should specially demean themselves in their lives These observations indeed were ceremoniall but there is something morall in them And therefore in the Gospel we hear of some speciall 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 speciall demeanour the ancient Church bound her Clergy unto but it came to passe 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 lawfull for and beseemed all men we think almost that lawful for us which is lawfull 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 extremes happy is he that finds it for he alone shall demean himself like himself like a Levite like Gods holy one Secondly from this speciall 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 holinesse and peculiarity to hear them called Clerus and Clerici as it were the Heritage of God for so saith S. Hierome Clerus dicimur quia sors Dei sumus But say they are not the People also Gods heritage Doth not S. Peter call them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when he forbids Presbyters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to domineer over Gods heritage I confesse he doth But those who reason after this manner come too near the language of Dathan and Abiram Num. 16. 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. is mine but you shall be my Segulla my peculiar people a Kingdome of Priests and an holy Nation But it might be answered them Though all the people were Gods 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 Lords The Land is mine saith he and therefore it could not be alienate beyond the year of Jubilee 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 Lords and yet the offerings alone were called holy unto the Lord. God himself cals 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 Gods offerings the holy Tribe on the holy things Again why may we not call our Clergy Gods inheritance when God himself cals the Levites his Levites Thou shalt saith he Num. 8. separate the Levites from among the children of Israel and the Levites shall be my Levites that is my 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my Clergy Why may not we call the Ministers of Christ his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when he himself cals them the gift his Father gave him out of the world for so he saith Ioh. 17. 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 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 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 send 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 ô Father which thou hast given me out of the world it is neither arrogancy nor injury to style those who minister about holy things with the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the inheritance of the Lord. What Levi was and what is meant by this Title Gods 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 speciall 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 â—s that this Vrim and Thummim was some thing put in the Brest-plate which was fastened 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 shall put in the Brest plate of Iudgement the Vrim and the Thummim which shall be on Aarons heart when he goeth in before the Lord. And for this cause as most think was the Brest-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 kinde of Oracle whereby God gave answer to those that enquired of him and from hence the Septuagint call the whole Brest-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 Jews therefore make four kinds of Divine Revelation First 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Prophecy which was by dreams and Visions The second 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 afflatus Spiritus sancti as was in Iob David and others The third Vrim and Thummim which was the Oracle The fourth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 filia vocis which was usuall in the second Temple after the Oracle had ceased as Mat. 5. at Christs Baptism there came a voice from heaven saying This is my welbeloved son in whom I am well pleased and Ioh. 12. when Christ said Father glorifie thy name There came a voice like thunder saying I have both glorified it and will glorifie it again But to return again to our purpose That Vrim and Thummim was an Oracle of God besides the consent of Jews 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 And he that is Ioshua shall stand before Eleazar the Priest who shall ask counsell for him by the judgement of Vrim before the Lord. So 1 Sam. 23. when David was to ask counsell of the Lord he called for the Ephod wherein the Oracle was and whereas before he had once or twice asked counsell 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 ver 6. Lastly in the second of Ezra when certain of the Priests which returned from Captivity could not finde their names written in the genealogies it is said that Ezra commanded they should not eat of the most holy things till there rose up a Priest with Vrim 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 amisse to observe that Teraphim among the Idolaters was answerable to the Vrim and Thummim of the holy Patriarchs Both were ancient for Rahel is said to have stollen away her Fathers Teraphim And Vrim and Thummim seems to have been used among the Patriarchs before the Law was given because the making of it is not spoken of among other things of the Ephod And because God speaks of it to Moses demonstratively 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Vrim and the Thummim Both also were Oracles for the Jews and others agree Teraphim were small Images made under a certain constellation which they used to consult both in things doubtfull and things future supposing they had a power to this effect received from heavenly influence much like to puppets made of wax and like matter which our Wizzards still use unto like purpose And therefore Ezek. 21. we reade that the King of Babel among other divinations consulted also of Teraphim And the King of Babel saith the Text stood at the head of the two ways to use divination consulting with Teraphim he looked in the liver And Zac. 10. 2. Surely saith the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Teraphims have spoken vanity and the Soothsayers have seen a lie and the Dreamers have told a vain thing Besides from this like use of Teraphim with the holy Vrim and Thummim we may reade Ephod and Teraphim joyned both together as things of like kind as Hosea 3. The children of Israel saith the Lord shall remain many days without a King and without a Prince and without an Offering and without an Image and without an Ephod and Teraphim Yea of so near a nature was this Teraphim unto the Vrim and Thummim that Micah he that had an house of Gods when he had made an Ephod because he had no Vrim and Thummim he put Teraphims in stead thereof as we may gather Iudg. 17. 18. where we may see also that when the children of Dan enquired of the Lord concerning their journey it pleased him to give answer by the Idolish Teraphim So we may gather likewise that the Israelites after Ieroboams schism having no Vrim and Thummim used Teraphim in the Ephod and therefore it is that Hosea threatens that they shall be without Ephod and Teraphim Having hitherto shewn how far it is agreed about Vrim and Thummim in the next place the points of difference ought to be considered which are either about the matter whereof it was made or in the manner how God answered by it For the matter some will have it to be nothing else but the writing or carving of the great name Iehovah which was put within the folding of the brest-plate and that it was called Vrim and Thummim because by the knowledge of the mystery of Iehovah in the Trinity our minds are enlightned and understandings made perfect Some other there are of the same opinion but they will have it called Vrim and Thummim because by the virtue of that name written Sacerdos verba sua illustrabat perficiebat And moreover they say the brest-plate was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the brest-plate of judgement because by it the Lord gave as it were sentence and judgement what was to be done in hard and doubtfull matters And this is the opinion of Rabbi Shelomo Some other will have it called the brest-plate of judgement because that by it the judgement of the Judges if it were amisse was hereby as it were pardoned because the High Priest was to bear the sins of the people The Authors of this opinion are mentioned by R. Shelomo Aben Ezra saith it was so called because by it the judgement and decrees of the Lord were known And he thinks also that
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 powerfull conquest from the Canaanite For although in the same land some part were yet in a more speciall manner the Lords land yet comparatively 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 speciall sort the holy Tribe Now if that which was but in a more generall sense holy and the Lords might not be alienated what shall we say of that which is holy and His in the most speciall 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 be 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 two 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 Gods own book To go upon bare conjectures will not be safe And for direction and caution in this case I will adde further That not every sinfulnesse of the person who is the Donor nor every default or blemish in the consecration makes the act it self void It appears in the story of Corah 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 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 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 Num. 16 37 38. Mark here though they were offered by sinfull men and in a sinfull 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 Solomo Iarchi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Unlawfull for common use because they had made them vessels of Ministery My last observation is raised from the judgement which befell 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 and how hainous he esteemed that sin that it might be for an example to the worlds end unto all that should afterward beleeve in his name to beware thereof So saith S. Hierome Ananias Sapphira quia post votum obtulerunt quasi sua non ejus cui semel eavoverant praesentem manere vindictam non crudelitate Sententiae sed correction is exemplo For the first in every kinde is the measure of that which follows 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 judgement that could be The like severe example to this and for the like end was that upon him who at first profaned the Sabbath day in the Wildernesse by gathering sticks Num. 15. 32 c. who by the sentence of God himself was put to death and stoned by the whole Congregation That the Jews hereby might know that howsoever the like were not ordinarily afterward to be inflicted for the like sin yet that 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 finde three examples of such a kinde 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 Fathers house a house of Merchandise Ioh. 2. 13. 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 Theeves Mat. 21. 12. Mark 11. 15. Luk. 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 adays wont to make of these two sins yet in Gods esteem they are other manner of ones then we take them for Another argument of the hainousnesse 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 onely if it were ignorantly done For so we have it Levit. 5. 15. If a soul commit a trespasse and sin through ignorance in the holy things of the Lord he shall bring for his trespasse 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 adde the fifth part thereunto And the Priest shall make an atonement for him and it shall be forgiven him Thus if
even to continue him in that accursed and vile condition to which he had dejected him For food is for the repairing and preservation of nature and the goodnesse and badnesse thereof doth make the temper of the body better or worse Hence according to the degrees of excellency in the creatures their food is finer or courser Plants suck the moisture of the earth beasts live most upon plants but man of the flesh of cattell fowl and fishes Since therefore the Serpent was to have no better fare then the dust of the earth as it argues the basenesse of his nature which can with such food be nourished so doth it necessarily imply his continuance in that his dejection and vilenesse whereas otherwise it were not impossible because his nature for the essence is still the same it was if his diet were as it had been for him to improve himself more near to his primitive temper then now he is But God who had decreed he should ever remain under this malediction appointed also the means to retain him therein VERSE 15. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman c. THE third and last particular remains to be treated of I will put enmity between thee and the woman c. This no doubt intendeth in some things more directly the spirituall Serpent then the brute yet for the generall it may and ought as well as the rest to be expounded of the brute Serpent as a glasse wherein to behold the malice and destiny of the other the Devil It containeth two parts The Enmity and the Event and managing thereof For the enmity how it is verified concerning the brute Serpent experience telleth It is some part of the happinesse of the creature to be the favourite of man who is the Lord thereof what honour could betide it greater then this But between the Serpent and Man is the most deadly enmity and the strongest antipathy that is amongst the beasts of the field Such an one as discovereth it self both in the naturall and sensitive faculties of them both For the first their humours are poison each to other the gall of a Serpent is mans deadly poison and so is the spittle of man affirmed to poison the Serpent For the sensitive antipathy it appears in that the one doth so much abhorre the sight and presence of the other mans nature is at nothing so much astonished as at the sight of a Serpent and like enough the Serpent is in like manner affected at the sight of man And that more especially as the Naturalists affirm of a naked man then otherwise As though his instinct even remembred the time of his malediction when he and naked man stood before God to receive this sentence of everlasting enmity And whereas the words of the Text do in speciall point out the woman in this sentence of enmity the Naturalists do observe that is greater and more vehement with that sex then with the male of mankinde Insomuch that Rupertus affirmeth that if but the naked foot of a woman doth never so little presse the head of a Serpent before he can sting her both the head and body presently dieth which no cudgell or other weapon will do but that some life and motion will still remain behinde Hoc saith he ita est ipsorum qui per industriam exploraverunt fide relatione comperimus Lib. 3. de Trin. c. 20. You know my Author The remaining words of my Text do expresse the managing and event of this enmity which is far more dangerous and unlikely on the Serpents part then on Mans for man is able to reach the Serpents head where his life chiefly resideth and where a blow is deadly but as for the Serpent he shall not be able to prevail against man otherwise then privily and unawares and that but in his lowest part namely when he shall passe him unseen to sting him by the heel And that this is the nature of a Serpent it appeareth in the words of Dans blessing Gen. 49. Dan shall be a Serpent by the way an Adder in the path that biteth the horse heels so that his rider shall fall backward And to make an end of this discourse also it is a thing to be observed in the nature of a Serpent that assoon as he perceiveth man ready to throw or strike at him he will presently roul his body for a buckler to save his head even as though he had some impression of that doctrine which God here read him in my Text Ipse conteret tibi caput Beware thy head And thus hitherto I have considered these words as they are the curse of the brute Serpent now I am to go over with them again to shew how they are propounded unto us by God as a glasse wherein to behold the Devils malediction the Serpent being made now the discovery of his vilenesse which once he abused for a mask to hide it from the woman As therefore the Serpent is the most accursed of all the cattell and beasts of the field so is the Devil the most accursed spirit amongst all orders and degrees of spirits namely of the highest of Angels become the abjectest of spirits more base accursed then the most cursed damned soul having little or nothing left him of that good which was sutable to a spirituall condition and this is the state of the Devil for the generall answerable to that of the Serpent Now for the particulars The first is Vpon thy brest shalt thou go How doth this befit the Devil The Devil hath no bodily brest to go upon But as I shewed in the Serpent that this groveling signified the abasement of his whole nature from his primitive excellency so in the Devil it signifies his stooping down and falling from his most sublime and glorious condition A wonderfull stoop this was when that which had been advanced as high as heaven was made to fall down as low yea lower then the earth it self This is the Devils going upon his brest this the groveling of that once so highly reared posture according to that description of Iude ver 6. who cals them the Angels that kept not their first estate but left their own habitation agreeable to that of S. Peter 2 Ep. c. 2. v. 4. God spared not the Angels that sinned but cast them down to hell The second particular is The dust of the earth shalt thou eat all the days of thy life The food wherewith spirits are fed is analogicall spirituall and not corporall we must therefore here seek out that which in them hath the fittest resemblance with corporall food The life of Angels consists in the continuall contemplation of the excellent greatnesse wonderfull goodnesse and glorious beauty of the essence of God both as it is in it self and as it is communicated unto his creatures This is that which our Saviour intimates Mat. 18. 10. Their Angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven The
according to that Domini est terra plenitudo ejus 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 sacrificum quod Then by invocation of the Holy Ghost made the symbols of the Body and Blood of Christ in the sacrificium quo So that the whole service throughout consisted of a reasonable part and of a materiall 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 SECTION 2. ANd this is that Sacrifice which Malachi foretold the Gentiles should one day offer unto God In omni loco offeretur incensum Nomini meo Mincha purum quoniam magnum erit Nomen meum in Gentibus dicit Dominus exercituum 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 Jews with despising and disesteeming their God forasmuch as they offered unto him for sacrifice not 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 inferior rank for whom any thing were good enough 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 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 basenesse of your offering For the Present shewes 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 shewes you have but a mean esteem of me in your hearts and that you beleeve not I am He that I am 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 Topicall 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 dreadfull among the Heathen This is the dependence and coherence of the words Now to apply them Incense as the Scripture it self tels notes the Prayers of the Saints It was also that wherewith the remembrance was made in the sacrifices or God put in minde Mincha which we turn Munus is oblatio farrea an offering made of meal or flower baked or fryed or dryed 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 implyed under the name Mincha where it alone is named The Application then is easie Incense here notes the rationall part of our Christian sacrifice which is Prayer Thanksgiving and Commemoration Mincha the materiall part thereof which is oblatio farrea or a present of Bread and Wine BUT this Mincha is characterised in the Text with an attribute not to be overpast Mincha purum in omni loco offeretur incensum nomini meo Mincha purum The meat-offering which the Gentiles should one day present the God of Israel with should be munus purum or as the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let us learn if we can what this Purity is and wherein it consisteth or in what respect the Gentiles oblation is so styled Some of the Fathers take this Pure offering to be an offering that is purely or spiritually offered The old sacrifices both of the Jew and Gentile were offered modo corporali by slaughter fire and incense but this of Christians should be offered onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Iustin Martyr expresses it whence it is usually called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a reasonable and unbloody sacrifice namely of the manner of offering it Not that there was no materiall thing used therein as some mistake for we know there was Bread and Wine but because it is offered unto God immaterially or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 onely which the Fathers in the first Councell of Nice call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be sacrificed without sacrificing rites This sense of Pure sacrifice is followed by Tertullian as may appear by his words ad Scapulam where speaking of the Christian Liturgie Sacrificamus saith he pro Imperatore sed quomodo praecepit Deus pura prece Non enim eget Deus Conditor Vniversitatis odoris aut sanguinis alicujus Also in his third Book against Marcion cap. 22. In omni loco offertur incensum Nomini meo sacrificium mundum that is saith he gloriae relatio benedictio hymni which he presently cals munditias sacrificiorum The same way go some others But this sense though it fitly serves to difference our Christian sacrifice from the old sacrifices of the Jews and Gentiles and the thing it self be most true yet I cannot see how it can agree with the context of our Prophet where the word Incense though I confesse mystically understood is expressed together with Munus purum For it would make the literall sense of our Prophet to be this In every place Incense is offered to my Name and an offering without Incense And yet this would be the literall meaning if Pure here signified without Incense Let us hear therefore a second Interpretation of this Puritie of the Christian Mincha more agreeable to the dependence of the words and that is a conscientia offerentis from the disposition and affection of the offerer according to that of the Apostle Tit. 1. 15. To the pure all things are pure but unto them that are defiled and unbeleeving is nothing pure but even their minde and conscience is defiled They professe they know God but in their works
they deny him The Jews offering was prophane and polluted because it proceeded not out of a due beleef and a conscience throughly perswaded of the greatnesse of their God that he was the Creator and Lord of the whole earth but rather some petty and particular god like the gods of other Nations But the Gentiles who should see him not onely the God of one Nation but universally acknowledged over all the earth should have no such reason to doubt but firmly beleeve him to be the Great God Creator of heaven and earth and worship him as such and so their offering be a pure offering not polluted with unbelief And it is to be observed that all the ancient Christian Liturgies begin with this acknowledgement For the summe of the Eucharisticall Doxologie when the Bread and Wine is first presented before God is comprehended in that of the Apocalypse Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glorie honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created And to this way of interpreting the purity of the Christian sacrifice to wit from the conscience and affection of the offerers the Fathers mostly bend Irenaeus lib. 4. cap. 34. Sacrificia non sanctificant hominem non enim indiget Deus sacrificio sed conscientia ejus qui offert sanctificat sacrificium pura existens Quoniam igitur cum simplicitate Ecclesia offert justè munus ejus purum sacrificium apud Deum deputatum est And a little after Oportet enim nos oblationem Deo facere in omnibus gratos inveniri fabricatori Deo insententia pura fide sine hypocrisi c. Neither is Tertullian whom I alledged before for the other interpretation averse from this for in his fourth Book Con. Marc. c. 1. Sacrificium mundum that is saith he simplex oratio de conscientia pura But this conscientious purity they seem to restrain at least chiefly to freedom from malice as that singular puritie whereby this Christian sacrifice is differenced from that of the Jew because none can offer it but he that is in charity with his brother according to that in the Gospel When thou bringest thy gift unto the Altar and remembrest thy brother hath ought against thee go first and be c. And therefore in the beginning of this Christian service the Deacon was anciently wont to cry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let no man have ought against his brother and then followed osculum sanctum the kisse of reconciliation Thus the Fathers of the first Councell of Nice took Sacrificium purum as appears Can. 5. where they expound 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which is offered omni simultate deposita But according to this exposition the puritie of the Christian sacrifice will not be opposite to the pollution of the Iewish in the same kinde as it would if more generally taken but in another kinde and so the sense stands thus You will not offer me a pure offering but the Gentiles one day shall and that with a puritie of another manner of stamp then that my Law requires of you And thus I have told you the two wayes according to which the ancients understood this puritie and I prefer the latter as I think they did But there is a third Interpretation were it backt by their Authority which I confesse it is not which I would prefer before them both and I think you will wonder with me they should be so silent therein Namely that the title of Puritie is given to the Christian Mincha in respect of Christ whom it signifies and represents who is a sacrifice without all spot blemish and imperfection This the Antithesis of this sacrifice to that of the Jews might seem to imply For the Jews are charged with offering polluted Bread upon Gods Altar whereby what is meant the words following tell us If you offer the blind for sacrifice is it not evill And if you offer the lame and sick is it not evill And in the end of the Chapter Cursed be the deceiver who hath in his flock a male and voweth and sacrificeth to the Lord a corrupt thing Now if the sacrifice of the Gentiles be called pure in opposition to this is it not so called in respect of that most perfect unblemisht and unvaluable sacrifice it represents Iesus Christ the Lamb of God I leave it to your consideration SECTION 3. HAving absolved the two first things I propounded given you a definition of the Christian sacrifice and explained the words of my Text I come to the third and longest part of my task to prove each particular contained in my Definition by the testimonies and authorities of the Fathers and writers of the first Ages of the Church The Particulars I am to prove are in number six First That this Christian service is an Oblation and expressed under that Notion by the utmost Antiquity Secondly That it is an Oblation of Thanksgiving and Prayer Thirdly An Oblation through Iesus Christ commemorated in the creatures of Bread and Wine Fourthly That this Commemoration of Christ according to the style of the ancient Church is also a Sacrifice Fiftly That the Body and Blood of Christ in this mysticall Service was made of Bread and Wine which had first been offered unto God to agnize him the Lord of the Creature Sixtly That this Sacrifice was placed in Commemoration onely of Christs sacrifice upon the Crosse and not in a reall offering of his Body and Blood anew When I shall have proved all these by sufficient Authority I hope you will give me leave to conclude my Definition for true That the Christian sacrifice ex mente antique Ecclesiae was 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 agnized SECT I. LEt us begin then with the first That this Christian service is an Oblation and under that Notion expressed by all Antiquitie The names whereby the Ancient Church called this Service are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. Oblatio Sacrificium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a word if rightly understood of aequipollent sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sacrificium Mediatoris sacrificium Altaris Sacrificium precis sacrificium Corporis sanguints Christi It would be infinite to note all the Places and Authors where and by whom it is thus called The four last are S. Augustins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are to be found with Iustin Martyr and Irenaeus whose antiquitie is the Age next the Apostles But you will say the Fathers even so early had swarved from the style of the Apostolick Age during which these kinde of terms were not used as appears by that we finde them not any where in their Epistles and writings But what if the contrary may be evinced that this language was used even while the Apostles yet lived For grant they are neither found in