it had been ere this well-nigh extinguished But experience tells us the contrary that this Fancy is not only still living but begins as it were to recover and get strength afresh In which regard my Discourse at this time will not be unseasonable if taking my rise from these words of our Saviour I acquaint you upon what grounds and example this practice of the Christian Church hath been established and how frivolous and weak the Reasons are which some of late do bring against it To begin therefore You see by the Text I have now read that our Blessed Saviour delivered a set Form of Prayer unto his Disciples and in so doing hath commended the use of a set Form of Prayer unto his Church Thus therefore saith he pray ye Our Father which art in Heaven c. Is not this a set Form of Prayer and did not our Saviour deliver it to be used by his Disciples They tell us No. For Thus say they in this place is not thus to be understood but for in this manner to this effect or sense or after this pattern not in these words and syllables To this I answer It is true that this form of Prayer is a Pattern for us to make other Prayers by but that this only should be the meaning of our Saviour's Thus and not the rehearsal of the words themselves I utterly deny and I prove it out of the eleventh Chapter of S. Luke where the same Prayer is again delivered in these words O 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When ye pray say Our Father which art in Heaven that is do it in haec verba For what other phrase of Scripture is there to express such a meaning if this be not Besides in this of S. Luke the occasion would be considered It came to pass saith he as Iesus was praying in a certain place that when he ceased one of his Disciples said unto him Lord teach us to pray as Iohn also taught his Disciples From whence it may not improbably be gathered that this was the custom of the Doctors of Israel to deliver some certain Form of Prayer unto their Disciples to use as it were a badge and Symbolum of their Discipleship at least Iohn Baptist had done so unto his Disciples and thereupon our Saviour's Disciples besought him that he also would give them in like manner some Form of his making that they might also pray with their Master's spirit as Iohn's Disciples did with theirs For that either our Saviour's or Iohn's Disciples knew not how to pray till now were ridiculous to imagine they being both of them Iews who had their certain set hours of prayer which they constantly observed as the third sixth and ninth It was therefore a Form of Prayer of their Master's making which both Iohn is said to have given his Disciples and our Saviour's Disciples besought him to give them For the fuller understanding whereof I must tell you something more and the rather because it is not commonly taken notice of and that is That this delivery of the Lord's Prayer in S. Luke is not the same with that related by S. Matthew but another at another time and upon another occasion That of S. Matthew in that famous Sermon of Christ upon the Mount whereof it is a part that of S. Luke upon a special motion of the Disciples at a time when himself had done praying That of S. Matthew in the second that of S. Luke in the third year after his Baptism Consider the Text of both and you shall find it impossible to bring them into one and the same Whence it follows that the Disciples when it was first uttered understood not that their Master intended it for a Form of Prayer unto them but for a pattern or example only or it may be to instruct them in special in what manner to ask forgiveness of sins For if they had thought he had given them a Form of Prayer then they would never have asked him for one now Wherefore our Saviour this second time utters himself more expresly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When ye pray say Our Father which art in Heaven Thus their inadvertency becomes our confirmation For as Ioseph said to Pharaoh The dream is doubled unto Pharaoh because the thing is established by God so may we say here the delivery of this Prayer was doubled unto the Disciples that they and we might thereby know the more certainly that our Saviour intended and commended it for a set Form of Prayer unto his Church Thus much of that set Form of Prayer which our Saviour gave unto his Disciples as a precedent and warrant to his Church to give the like Forms to her Disciples or members a thing which from her infancy she used to do But because her practice is called in question as not warranted by Scripture let us see what was the practice of the Church of the Old Testament than whose example and use we can have no better rule to follow in the New First therefore we find two set Forms of Prayer or Invocation appointed by God himself in the Law of Moses One the Form wherewith the Priests were to bless the people Num. 6. 23 24 25 26. On this wise saith he shall Aaron and his sons bless the children of Israel saying unto them The Lord bless thee and keep thee The Lord make his face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace Is not this a set Form of Prayer For what is to bless but to pray over or invocate God for another The second is the Form of profession and prayer to be used by him who had paid his Tithes every third year Deut. 26. 13. O Lord God I have brought away the hallowed things out of mine house and also have given them unto the Levite and unto the stranger and fatherless and unto the widow according to all thy commandments which thou hast commanded me I have not transgressed thy Commandments nor have I forgotten them 14. I have not eaten thereof in my mourning neither have I taken away thereof for an unclean use c. 15. Look down from thy holy habitation from heaven and bless thy people Israel and the Land which thou hast given us as thou swarest to our Fathers a Land that floweth with milk and honey But what need we seek thus for scattered Forms when we have a whole Book of them together The Book of Psalms was the Iewish Liturgy or the chief part of the Vocal service wherewith they worshipped God in the Temple This is evident by the Titles of the Psalms themselves which shew them to have been commended to the several Quires in the same To Asaph To the sons of Korah To Ieduthun and almost forty of them To the Magister Symphoniae the Prefect or Master of the Musick in general The like we are to conceive of those which have no Titles as for example of
one Christian may not be limited or regulated by the spirit of another especially the spirit of a particular man in the publick worship by the Spirit of the Church whereof he is a member For doth not the Apostle tell us 1 Cor. 14. 29 30. that even that extraordinary Spirit of prophecy usual in his time might be limited by the spirit of another Prophet Let the Prophets saith he speak two or three and let the other judge If any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by let the first hold his peace Is not this a limiting He gives a reason v. 32. For the spirits of the Prophets saith he are subject to the Prophets Besides are not the spirits of the people as well limited and determined by a voluntary Prayer when they joyn therein with their Minister as they are by a set Form True the spirit of the Minister is then free but theirs is not so but tied and led by the spirit of the Minister as much as if he used a set Form But to elude this they tell us that the Question is not of limiting the spirit of the people but of the Minister only For as for the people no more is required of them but to joyn with their Minister and to testifie it by saying Amen but the spirit of the Minister ought to be left free and not to be limited But where is this written that the one may not be limited as well as the other We heard the Apostle say even now The spirit of the Prophets is subject to the Prophets If in prophesying why not in praying And what shew of Reason can be given why the spirit of a particular Minister in the publick worship of the Church may not yea ought not to be limited and regulated by the spirit of the Church Representative as well as the spirit of a whole Congregation by the spirit of a particular Minister For every particular Minister is as much subordinate to the spirit of the Church Representative as the spirit of the Congregation is to his So much for this Objection There remaineth yet a third which may be answered in two or three words No set Form of Prayer say they can serve for all occasions What then yet why may it not be used for all such occasions as it serves for If any sudden and unexpected occasion happen for which the Church cannot provide the spirit of her Ministers is free Who will forbid them to supply in such a case that by a voluntary and arbitrary form which the Church could not provide for in a set Form And this is what I intended to say of this Argument DISCOURSE II. MATTHEW 6. 9. LUKE 11. 2. Sanctificetur Nomen tuum Sanctified or Hallowed be thy Name ALthough I make no question but that which we so often repeat unto Almighty God in our daily prayers is for the general meaning thereof by the most of us in some competent measure understood yet because by a morefull and distinct explication the knowledge of some may be improved and the meditations of others occasioned to a further search I hope I shall not do amiss nor be thought to have chosen a Theme either needless or not so fit for this Auditory If I shall enquire What that is we pray for in this first Petition of the Prayer our Lord hath taught us when we desire that God's Name may be sanctified For perhaps we shall find more contained therein than is commonly taken notice of The words are few and therefore shall need no other Analyse than what their very number presents unto us viz. God's Name and the sanctifying thereof Sanctificetur Nomen tuum I will begin first with the last in order but first in nature Nomen tuum God's Name By which according to the style of Holy Scripture we are to understand in this place First of all God himself or His sacred Deity to wit abstractly expressed according to the style of eminency and dignity that is Dei 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Divine Majesty as we are wont for the King to say His Majesty or the King's Majesty and of other persons of honour and eminency their Highness their Honour his Excellency and the like so of God His Name and sometimes with the self-same meaning His Glory as Ier. 2. 11. Hath any nation changed their Gods which yet are no Gods but my people have changed their Glory that is their God for that which is good for nought So Psalm 106. 20. of the Calf made in the wilderness They changed their Glory into the similitude of an Oxe that eateth grass And S. Paul Rom. 1. 23. They changed the Glory that is the Majesty of the incorruptible God into an Image made like to corruptible man c. Such is the notion but much more frequent of God's Name In a word Nomen Dei in this kind of use is nothing else but Divinum Numen Whence it is that in Scripture to call upon the Name of God to blaspheme the Name of God to love his Name to swear by his Name to build a Temple to his Name for his Name to dwell there and in the New Testament to believe in the Name of the Lord Iesus to call upon the Name of the Lord Iesus these I say and the like expressions have no other meaning than to do these things to the Divine Majesty to the Lord Iesus whose is that Name above every name whereat every knee must bow Accordingly here Sanctisicetur Nomen tuum Hallowed be thy Name is as much as to say Sanctificetur Numen tuum Sanctified be thy Divine Majesty Secondly Under the Name of God here to be sanctified or hallowed understand besides the Majesty of his Godhead that also super quod invocatum est Nomen ejus whereupon his Name is called or that which is called by his Name as we in our Bibles commonly express this phrase of Scripture that is all whatsoever is God's or God is the Lord and owner of by a peculiar right such as are Things sacred whether they be Persons or whether Things by distinction so called or Times or Places which have upon them a relation of peculiarness towards God For such as these are said in Scripture to have the Name of God called upon them or to be called by his Name that is to be His. Thus we read in Scripture of an House which had the Name of God upon it or which was called by his Name that is God's House 1 Kings 8. 43. Ier. 7. 10 c. Of a City upon which the Name of God was called or named to wit the Holy City Ierusalem the City of the great King the Lord of hosts Ier. 25. 29. Dan. 9. 18. Of an Ark upon which the Name of God the Lord was called 1 Chron. 13. 6. 2 Sam. 6. 2. that is the Lord's Ark or the Ark of his Covenant as it is elsewhere named Of a People upon which the Name of the Lord was
of Sabbaoth Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty of thy Glory And because the pattern of God's holy worship is not to be taken from Earth but from Heaven the same Spirit therefore in the Apocalyps expresseth the Worship of God in the New Testament with the same form of hallowing or holying his Name which the heavenly Host useth For so the four Animalia representing the Catholick Church of Christ in the four quarters of the world are said when they give glory honour and thanks to him that sitteth upon the throne and liveth for ever and ever to do it by singing day and night this Trisagium Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come that is the sum of all that they did was but to agnize his Sanctity or Holiness or which is all one to Sanctifie his holy Name When therefore the same four Animalia are afterwards brought in chanting Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing and again Blessing and honour and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the Throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever all is to be understood as comprehended within this general Doxologie as being but an exemplification thereof and therefore the Elogies or blazons mentioned therein to be taken according to the style of Holiness in an exclusive sense of such prerogatives as are peculiar to God alone And according to this notion of sanctifying God's Name which I contend for would the Lord have his Name sanctified Esa. 8. 12 13. when he saith Fear ye not their Fear that is the Idolaters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Gods for so Fear here signifies to wit the thing feared neither dread ye it but sanctifie the Lord of Hosts himself and let him be your Fear and let him be your Dread that is your God Again chap. 29. 23. They shall sanctifie my Name saith he even sanctifie the Holy One of Iacob and shall fear the God of Israel The latter words shew the meaning of the former The like we have in the first Epistle of S. Peter chap. 3. vers 14 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. Gentilium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Fear ye not their Fear nor be in dread thereof that is Fear not nor dread ye the Gods of the Gentiles which persecute you But sanctifie the Lord God in your hearts that is Fear and worship him with your whole hearts For that this passage howsoever we are wont to expound it ought to be construed in the same sense with that of Esay 8. before alledged and the words to be rendred sutably I take it to be apparent for this reason because they are verbatim taken from thence as he that shall compare the Greek words of S. Peter with the Lxx. in that place of Esay will be forced to confess Besides this evident and express use of the word Sanctifie in the notion of religious and holy worship and fear of the Divine Majesty there is yet another expression sometimes used in Holy Scripture which implieth the self-same thing that namely to worship God with that which we call holy and divine worship is all one with to agnize his holiness or to sanctifie his Name Those speeches I mean wherein we are exhorted to worship the Lord because he is Holy As Psal. 99. 5. Exalt ye the Lord our God and worship at his foot-stool for he is Holy Again in the end of the Psalm Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his holy hill for the Lord our God is Holy The same meaning is yet more emphatically expressed by those that sing the Song of victory over the Beast Apoc. 15. 3 4. Great say they and marvellous are thy works Lord God Almighty just and true are thy wayes thou King of Nations Who shall not fear thee O Lord and glorifie thy Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for that I believe is the true reading not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou only art Holy therefore all the Nations shall come and worship before thee that is they shall relinquish their Idols and plurality of Gods and worship thee as God only For this was the Doctrine both of Moses in the Old Testament and of Christ Iesus the Lamb of God in the New That one God only that made the heaven and the earth was to be acknowledged and worshipped and with an incommunicable worship In respect whereof as I take it these Victors are there said to sing the Song of Moses and the Lamb that is a gratulatory Song of the worship of one God after that his Ordinances were made manifest For otherwise the Ditty is borrowed from the 86. Psalm the 8 9 and 10. verses where we read Among the gods there is none like unto thee O Lord neither are there any works like unto thy works All Nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee O Lord and shall glorifie thy Name For thou art great and dost wondrous works Thou art God alone that is Thou only art Holy Compare Ier. 10. ver 6 7. I have one thing more to adde before I finish this part of my Discourse lest I might leave unsatisfied that which may perhaps seem to some to weaken this my explication of the sanctification of God's Name For the word to sanctifie or be sanctified is sometimes used of God in a more general sense than that I have hitherto specified namely as signifying any way to be glorified or to glorifie as when he saith He will be sanctified in the destruction of his enemies or in the deliverance of his people and that before the Heathen and the like that is he would purchase him glory or be glorified thereby I answer It is true that to be sanctified is in these passages to be glorified but yet alwayes to be glorified as God and not otherwise Namely when God by the works of his Power of his Mercy or Iustice extorts from men the confession of his great and holy Godhead he is then said to sanctifie or make himself to be sanctified amongst them that is to be glorified and honoured by their conviction and acknowledgment of his Power and Godhead For although men may be also said to glorifie or purchase honour unto themselves when by their noble acts they make their abilities and worth known unto the world yet for such respect to be said to be sanctified is peculiar unto him alone whose Glory is his Holiness that is unto God THUS we have learned How the Name or Majesty of God is to be sanctified personally or in it self which is the chiefest thing we pray for and ought so to be in our endeavour namely To worship and glorifie him incommunicably according to his most eminent and unparallel'd Holiness and so ô Lord Hallowed be thy Name But there is another Sanctification or
riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing Yea the 24. Elders which are the Christian Presbytery expressing ch 4. 11. the very argument and sum of that Hymnologie which the Primitive Church used at the offering of Bread and Wine for the Eucharist worship God saying Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created TAKING therefore for granted that which the Practice of the Church of God in all ages yea I think I may say the Consent of mankind from the beginning of the world beareth witness to that among those duties of the Sanctification of God's Name wherewith his Divine Majesty is immediately and personally glorified of which I have before spoken this is one and a principal one to agnize and confess his peerless Soveraignty and dominion over the creature by yielding him some part thereof toward his worship and service of which we renounce the propriety our selves and that accordingly there are both Things and Persons now in the Gospel as well as were before the Law was given in this manner lawfully and acceptably set apart and separated by the devotion of men unto the Divine Majesty and consequently relatively Holy which is nothing else but to be God's by a peculiar right I say that these are likewise to be done to according to their degree of sanctity in honour of him whose they are not to be worshipped with divine worship or the worship which we give unto God communicated to them far be it from us to defer to any creature the Honour due unto the Divine Majesty either together with him or without him but yet habenda cum discrimine to be regarded with a worthy and discriminative usance that is used with a select and differing respect from other things as namely if Places not as other places if Times not as other times if Things by way of distinction so called not as other things if Persons set apart unto the service and worship of God neither to be used by others nor they to carry themselves in their fashion of life as other persons for that which in other things sacred is their use in persons sacred is their conversation demeanour or carriage of themselves But all to be sanctified with a select appropriate or uncommon usage that as they are God's by peculiar relation and have his Name called upon them so to be separate as far as they are capable from common use and imployed as instruments and circumstances of his worship and service which is the highest and most singular honour that any creature is capable of Nay as I have said before even this is to the honour of God That as himself is that singular incommunicable and absolutely Holy One and his service and worship therefore incommunicable so should that also which hath his Name thereon or is coasecrated to his service be in some proportion incommunicably used and not promiscuously and commonly as other things are They are the words of Maimonides the Iew but such as will not misbecome a Christian to make use of concerning that Law Levit. 5. 15. If a soul commit a trespass and sin through ignorance in the holy things of the Lord then he shall bring unto the Lord for his â—respass a Ram c. Behold saith he how great weight there is in the Law touching sacrilegious transgression And what though they be wood and stone and dust and ashes when the Name of the Lord of all the world is called upon things they are sanctified that is made holy And whoso useth them to common use he transgresseth therein and though he do it through ignorance he must needs bring his atonement Yea it is a thing worthy to be taken special notice of that that so presumptuous and most dreadfully vindicated sin of Korah Dathan Abiram and their company in offering Incense unto the Lord being not called thereunto did not discharge their Censers of this discriminative respect due unto things Sacred For thus the Lord said unto Moses after that fire from heaven had consumed them for their impiety Speak unto Eleazar the Son of Aaron the Priest that he take up the Censers out of the burning and scatter thou the fire yonder for they are hallowed The Censers of these Sinners against their own souls let them make them broad plates for a covering of the Altar for they offered them before the Lord therefore they are hallowed or holy Now that by this discriminative usance or sanctification of Things sacred the Name of God is honoured and sanctified according to the tenor of our petition is apparent not only from Reason which tells us that the honour and respect had unto ought that belongs unto another because it is his redounds unto the owner and Master but from Scripture which tells us that by the contrary use of them his Name is prophaned Hear himself Lev. 22. 2. Speak unto Aaron saith he and his sons that they separate themselves from the Holy things of the children of Israel and that they prophane not my Holy Name in the things which they hallow unto me Also in the Chapter next before v. 6. the Priest that should not discriminate himself according to those singular observations or differing rules there prescribed him is said to prophane the Name of his God Again Ezek. 22. 26. when the Priests prophaned God's holy things by putting no difference between the Holy and Prophane I saith the Lord am prophaned amongst them Likewise chap. 43. 7. Together with other abominations there mentioned the Lord saith that his Holy Name had been polluted or prophaned by the carkasses of their Kings that is of Manasseh and Amon buried in the King's Garden hard by the walls of the Temple for so by the Hebrews and others that place is understood See 2 Kings 21. 18 26. By the pollution of the Temple the Lord esteemed his own Name prophaned Take in also if you will that of Malachi ch 1. where the Lord saies of those who despised and dishonoured his Table or Altar by offering thereon for sacrifice the lame blind and sick which the Law had made unclean and polluted that they had prophaned his Holy Name But if the Name of God be prophaned by the disesteem and misusage of the things it is called upon then surely it is sanctified when the same are worthily and discriminatively used that is as becometh the relation they have to him I HAVE already specified the several Kinds of Sacred things which are thus to be sanctified yet lest something contained under some of them might not be taken notice of by so general an intimation it will not be amiss a little more fully and particularly to explicate them than I have yet done Remember therefore that I ranged all Sacred things under four heads First of Persons Sacred such as were the Priests and Levites in the Old Testament and now in the
a creature and of so despicable a beginning to such a power as to grapple with the Enemy and overcome him But behold there is yet something more admirable namely that this should not be done by the strength of his Arm but by the breath and power of his Mouth Out of the mouth of Babes and Sucklings thou hast ordained strength because of thine Enemies c. What Enemies Thine saith the Psalmist and such too as are Vltores Avengers the Enemies of both God and Mankind And who are those but Satan and his Angels those Principalities and Powers of the Air those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Rulers of the Darkness of this world as S. Paul speaks For when Mankind is the one party what can the other be but some Power that is not of Mankind Besides who are the Enemies both of God and Mankind but these and of mankind especially I will put Enmity saith God to the Serpent between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed hence he is called Satan the Adversary or Fiend and the Enemy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold I give you power saith our Saviour to the seventy Disciples Luke 10. 19. to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the Enemy Your Adversary the Devil saith S. Peter And this is he as I conceive who is here called the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Enemy and the Avenger man's tormentor which words being found again in the 44. Psalm v. 16. may for ought I know by warrant of this place be taken for the same Enemy and the usual distinction altered and the place read thus By reason of the Enemy and the Avenger all this to wit the Calamity and confusion he spake of before is come upon us that is by the malice of Satan Now that such Enemies as these should be subducd by an Arm yea by a Mouth of flesh is a thing which might justly make the Prophet cry out Lord what is man c. Now that this which I have given is the true meaning of this place may be gathered from S. Paul's inculcating the word Enemy when 1 Cor. 15. 24. c. he demonstrates out of this Psalm that Christ before the end shall abolish 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all rule and all authority and power For he must reign saith he till he hath put all Enemies under his feet The last Enemy which shall be destroyed is Death and then he alledges for his proof that Corollary in this Psalm For he hath put all things under his feet But in all this Psalm there is no mention of Enemies or subduing them but only in the Verse I have in hand which unless it be thus expounded S. Paul's allegation from hence will be too narrow to prove what he intendeth HAVING thus cleared the words I chose for my Theme I shall not need spend much time to shew you how directly and literally the purport of them was fulfilled in our Blessed Saviour's Incarnation You have in part heard such Scriptures already as do evince it The sum is this The Devil by sin brought mankind under thraldom and became the Prince of this world himself with his Angels being worshipped and served every where as Gods and the service and honour due to the great God the Creator of heaven and earth cast off and abandoned and all this to receive at last for reward eternal woe and everlasting death To vanquish and exterminate this Enemy and redeem the world from this miserable thraldom the Son of God took upon him not the nature of Angels which might have been the Enemies matches but the nature of weak and despicable Man that grows from a babe and suckling Who saith Esay in that famous Prophecy of Messiah hath believed our report and to whom is the Arm of the Lord revealed namely that works such powerful things by weak means For he shall grow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a tender plant or sucker it is the very word here used in my Text for a sucking child and translated by the Seventy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and as a root out of a dry ground that is a small and little one This is that whereof S. Paul discourses so divinely in the Epistle to the Hebrews To which of the Angels said he at any time Sit thou on my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool For unto the Angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come whereof we speak but unto him of whom it is said What is man that thou art mindâ—ul of him c Again We see Iesus who was made little lower than the Angels that is was made man that 's the meaning for the suffering of death crowned with Glory and Honour what can be so plain as this It is the Son of man by whom in part we are and more fully shall be delivered out of the hands of our enemies that we might serve the true God without fear as Zachary sayes in his Benedictus It is the Son of man that delivered us from the power of darkness Col. 1. 13. The Son of man that spoiled Principalities and Powers and made a shew of them openly Col. 2. 15. It was no Angel that did all this but the Son of man even as was prophesied from the beginning when the Devil first got his Dominion that the Seed of the Woman should break the Serpent's head Nor is this all For this Son of man enables also other Sons of men his Disciples and Ministers to do the like in his name The seventy Disciples in the Gospel returned with joy saying Lord even the Devils are subject to us through thy name Yea not these only but as many as fight under his Banner against these Enemies have promise they shall at length quell and utterly subdue them yea at that great Day shall sit with their Lord and Master to judge and condemn them Do ye not know saith S. Paul that the Saints shall judge the world know ye not that we shall judge Angels Lastly This victory as for the event so for the manner of atchieving it is agreeable to our Prophecy Forasmuch as Christ our General nor fights nor conquers by force of Arms but by the power of his Word and Spirit which is the power of his Mouth according to my Text Out of the mouth of Babes c. Hence in the Apocalyps Christ appears with a sword going out of his mouth In the 2 Thess. 2. 8. it is said He shall consume that wicked one that is Antichrist with the Spirit of his mouth Esay prophesies Chap. 11. 4. that the Branch of Iesse should smite the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips should slay the wicked that is he does all nutu verbo by his word and command as God made the world By the word of the Lord were the Heavens made and all the Hoast
votes are tendered Secondly He praies for Grace and Peace from them not as Authors but as the Instruments of God in the dispensation thereof Are they not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of Salvation And if it be no Idolatry to pray unto God to give Grace and Peace from the outward Ministery of his Word no more is it to pray unto him for it from the invisible Ministery For certainly it is lawful to pray unto God for a blessing from an Instrument which he is wont to give us by an Instrument Secondly It may be said it being a Salutation that the words Grace and Peace need not be taken in that special and strict sense but in the large and general wherein Grace sounds favour at large and Peace all manner of prosperity In which sense no man will deny but the blessed Angels have an interest in the dispensation of the favours and blessings of God to his Church and so God may be prayed to to give them as he is wont by their Ministery Grace and Peace from him which is which was and is to come as the Author and Giver and from the Seven Spirits as the Instruments and from Iesus Christ as the Mediator There is yet one place more in the Apocalyps to confirm this Tradition Chap. 8. 2. I saw saith S. Iohn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Seven Angels which stood before God Is not this as plain as Tobit Why should then the one be accounted Magical rather than the other I add moreover that these Angels are those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Principes primarii or chief Princes mentioned in the 10. of Daniel 13. Michael one of the chief Princes saith the Angel there came to help me Now Michael we know is one of the Arch-angels and why therefore may not these chief Princes be those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereof S. Paul speaks in his adjuration to Timothy I charge thee saith he before God and the Lord Iesus Christ and the Elect Angels not the good Angels at large but those Angeli eximii the Seven Arch-angels which stand before the Throne of God And it may not without reason be conjectured that those Seven chief Princes famed in the Persian Monarchie took their beginning from hence namely that Daniel who in respect of his account for wisdom and of his power under Darius the Mede had a main stroke in the moulding and framing the Government of that State caused the Persian Court to resemble that of Heaven ordaining Seven chief Princes to stand before the King Of which we find twice mention in Scripture as in the Book of Esther where they are recorded by name and styled the seven Princes of Media and Persia who saw the King's face and sate first in the kingdom and in the Commission granted to Ezra by Artaxerxes Ezra 7. 14. they are called the King's seven Counsellors Forasmuch as thou art sent by the King and his seven Counsellors c. And it may be the Church of Ierusalem when they chose Seven Deacons to minister unto their Bishop had an eye the same way HITHERTO of the Number of these Arch-angels now a word or two of their Office And that is First to be the universal Inspectors of the whole world and the Rulers and Princes of the whole Angelical host which appears in that they are called Principes primarii 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 chief Princes and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Archangels i. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chief of the Angels their universal jurisdiction is meant by the words sent forth into the whole world whereas the rest are limited to certain places Secondly to have the peculiar Charge and Guardianship of the Church and affairs thereof whilst the rest of the world with their Polities Kingdoms and Governments is committed to the care of subordinate Angels who according to their several charges may seem to carry those names of Thrones Principalities Powers and Dominions That the charge of the Church quà talis belongs thus peculiarly and immediately to the Seven Arch-angels may appear by S. Iohn's saluting the Churches with a Benediction of Grace and Peace from their ministery and the typing of them by the Seven Eyes and Horns of the Lamb as Powers which the Father since he exalted Him to be Head of his Church hath annexed to his Iurisdiction Hence it comes to pass that we find these Angels peculiarly both before and in the Gospel to have been employed about the Church-affairs In the Old Testament the Angiel Gabriel one of the Seven revealed to Daniel the time of the restauration of the Iewish State and coming of Messiah and the Angel Michael one of the chief Princes was his assistant when he strengthened Darius the Mede who founded the Monarchy which should restore them and is in special termed Dan. 12. 1. the Prince that stood for Daniel 's people In the Gospel we find the same Angel Gabriel imployed both to Zachary and the Blessed Virgin with the Evangelical Tidings and that Zachary might take notice that he was one of the Seven he says unto him I am Gabriel that stand in the presence of God Likewise in the Churches combate with the Dragon Apocal. 12. 7 c. Michael and his Angels are said to be her Champions and in her quarrel to have cast the Dragon and his Angels down to the Earth And in this Prophecy of Zachary it is said that these Seven eyes of the Lord took care of one stone which Zorobabel laid for the foundation of the Temple and therefore the work could not be disappointed but should certainly at length be finished So as by this time we may guess the meaning of that which Hanani the Seer told King Asa 2 Chron. 16. 9. The Eyes of the Lord that is these Seven Eyes run to and fro through the whole Earth to shew themselves strong in the behalf of those whose hearts are perfect towards him DISCOURSE XI S. MARK 11. 17. Is it not written My House shall be called a House of Prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to all the Nations THEY are the words of our Blessed Saviour when he cast the Buyers and Sellers and Money-changers out of the Temple and forbad to carry any vessels through it Concerning which story it is worth observâ—â—â—on that our Saviour whilst he was upon earth never exercised any Kingly or coactive Iurisdiction but in vindicating his Father's House from prophanation And this he did two several times Once at the first Passeover after he began his Prophesie whereof you may read Iohn 2. 14 c. and now again at his last Passeover when he came to give his soul a sacrifice for sin This is that which S. Mark relates in this place as do also two other of the Evangelists S. Matthew and S. Luke The vindication of God's House from Prophanation how little account soever we are wont to
example many other of the Iews of the best rank having married strange wives likewise and loth to forgo them betook themselves thither also Sanballat willingly entertains them and makes his son-in-Law Manasse their Priest For whose greater reputation and state when Alexander the Great subdued the Persian Monarchy he obtained leave of him to build a Temple upon Mount Garizim where his son-in-Law exercised the office of High Priest This was exceedingly prejudicious to the Iews and the occasion of a continual Schism whilst those that were discontented or excommunicated at Ierusalem were wont to betake themselves thither Yet by this means the Samaritans having now one of the sons of Aaron to be their Chief Priest and so many other of the Iews both Priests and others mingled amongst them were brought at length to cast off all their false gods and to worship the Lord the God of Israel only Yet so that howsoever they seemed to themselves to be true worshippers and altogether free from Idolatry nevertheless they retained a smack thereof inasmuch as they worshipped the true God under a visible representation to wit of a Dove and circumcised their Children in the name thereof as the Iewish Tradition tells us who therefore always branded their worship with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or spiritual Fornication Iust as their predecessors the Ten Tribes worshipped the same God of Israel under the similitude of a Cals This was the condition of the Samaritan Religion in our Saviour's time and if we weigh the matter well we shall find his words here to the woman very pliable to be construed with reference thereunto You ask saith he of the true place of worship whether Mount Garizim or Ierusalem which is not now greatly material forasmuch as the time is at hand when men shall worship the Father at neither But there is a greater difference between you and us than of Place though you take no notice of it namely even about the Object of worship it self For ye worship what ye know not but we Iews worship what we know How is that Thus Ye worship indeed the Father the God of Israel as we do but you worship him under a corporeal representation wherein you shew you know him not But the hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and Truth In Spirit that is conceiving of him no otherwise than in Spirit and in Truth that is not under any corporeal or visible shape For God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and Truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not fancying him as a Body but as indeed he is a Spirit For those who worship him under a corporeal similitude do beli◠him according as the Apostle speaks Rom. 1. 23. of such as changed the glory of the Incorruptible God into an Image made like to corruptible Man Birds or Beasts They changed saith he the truth of God into a lie and served the creature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 juxta Creatorem as or with the Creator who is blessed for ever v. 25. Hence Idols in Scripture are termed Lies as Amos 2. 4. Their Lies have caused them to erre after which their Fathers walked The Vulgar hath Seduxerunt eos Idola ipsorum Their Idols have caused them to erre And Esay 28. 15. We have made Lies our refuge And Ier. 16. 19 20. The Gentiles shall come from the ends of the earth and shall say Surely our Fathers have possessed the Chaldee hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 have worshipped a lie vanity wherein there is no profit Shall a man make Gods unto himself and they are no Gods This therefore I take to be the genuine meaning of this place and not that which is commonly supposed against external worship which I think this Demonstration will evince To worship what they know as the Iews are said to do and to worship in Spirit and Truth are taken by our Saviour for one and the same thing else the whole sense will be inconsequent But the Iews worshipped not God without Rites and Ceremonies who yet are supposed to worship him in Spirit and Truth Ergo To worship God without Rites and Ceremonies is not to worship him in Spirit and Truth according to the meaning here intended DISCOURSE XIII S. LUKE 24. 45 46. Then opened he their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures And said unto them Thus it is written and thus it behoved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day OUR Blessed Saviour after he was risen from the dead told his Disciples not only that his Suffering of death and Rising again the third day was foretold in the Scriptures but also pointed out those Scriptures unto them and opened their understanding that they might understand them that is he expounded or explained them unto them Certain it is therefore that somewhere in the Old Testament these things were foretold should befall Messiah Yea S. Paul 1 Cor. 15. 3 4. will further assure us that they are I delivered unto you saith he first of all that which I also received how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures And that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures Both of them therefore are somewhere foretold in the Scriptures and it becomes not us to be so ignorant as commonly we are which those Scriptures be which foretell them It is a main point of our Faith and that which the Iews most stumble at because their Doctors had not observed any such thing foretold to Messiah The more they were ignorant thereof the more it concerns us to be confirmed therein I thought good therefore to make this the Argument of my Discourse at this time to inform both you and my self where these things are foretold and if I can to point out those very Scriptures which our Saviour here expounded to his Disciples Which that I may the better do I will make the words fore-going my Text to be as the Pole-star in this my search These are the things saith our Saviour which I spake unto you while I was yet with you That all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalms concerning me Then follow the words I read Then opened he their understanding c. These two events therefore of Messiah's death and rising again the third day were foretold in these Three parts of Scripture In the Law of Moses or Pentateuch in the Nebiim or Prophets and in the Psalms and in these Three we must search for them And first for the First That Messiah should suffer death This was fore-signified in the Law or Pentateuch First in the story of Abraham where he was commanded to offer his son Isaac the son wherein his seed should be called and to whom the promise was entailed That in it should all the Nations
Prophet in the name of a Prophet yet behind namely such as rob and spoil them of their livelihood and daily bread and not only themselves give nothing to enable and encourage them the better to perform their Ministery but take from them several 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 than that which is gotten out of the Priest's 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 Prophet's reward is because he that supports and enables a Prophet to do his duty hath thereby an interest in his work and consequently in 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 chearful 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 loss of every Soul that perisheth for want of due provision to maintain an able Minister be cast to their account at the last day I will speak nothing now of the burthen which Sacriledge it self as 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 dreadful execrations which the Donors of such things were wont antiquo ritu to lay upon the heads of all such as should divert them to prophane uses wherewith these men willingly and wilfully involve themselves I will I say not speak of these for the present occasion calls upon me and tells me that I came not hither to curse but to bless I therefore change my note 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 kindness unto the Prophets and to provide entertainment for them Witness the goodly Buildings and liberal Endowments in our two Seminaries for the entertainment and education of Prophets and Prophets Sons more particularly the Bounty of those Worthies the fruits of whose Piety and Devotion we our selves here assembled by the Divine goodness enjoy Whose blessed names therefore as their deserts challenge at our hands let us remember with all due honour and thankfulness After the mention of the Names of the College-Benefactors this followes in the Authors own Manuscript These are the Names of our pious Founders and Benefactors let their Memory be blessed for ever And when Christ our Lord shall come in his Glory to render every one according to his works and their Bones flourish again out of their graves let all the benefit and enlargement which shall redound to the Church of God by this their Bounty be cast in their account and we with them and they with us hear that comfortable voice Come ye blessed inherit the Kingdom prepared from the foundation of the World DISCOURSE XXIV S. LUKE 2. 13 14 And suddenly there was with the Angel a multitude of the heavenly Host praising God and saying Glory be to God on high or in the highest and on earth Peace Good-will towards men AT the Creation of the world when God laid the foundations of the Earth and stretched out his line thereon the Stars of the morning as God himself describes it Iob 38. 7. sang together and all the Sons of God that is the holy Angels shouted for joy This in my Text is so like it that a man would think some new Creation were in hand nor were it much wide of truth to affirm it for if ever there were a day wherein the Almighty Power the incomparable Wisdom the wonderful Goodness of God again the second time appeared as it did at the World's Creation it was this day whereof S. Luke our Evangelist now treateth when the Son of God took upon him our Flesh and was born of a Virgin to repair the breach between God and man and make all things new The news of which Restauration was no sooner heard and made known to the Shepherds by an Angel sent from heaven but suddenly the heavenly Host descended from their celestial mansions and sung this Carol of joy Glory be to God on high and welcome Peace on earth Good-will towards men A Song renowned both for the singularity of the first example for until this time unless it were once in a Prophetical Vision we shall not find a Song of Angels heard by men in all the Scripture and from the custom of the Church who afterward took it up in her Liturgy and hath continued the singing thereof ever since the dayes of the Apostles unto these of ours Yet perhaps it is not so commonly understood as usually said or chaunted and therefore will be worth our labour to enquire into the meaning thereof and hear such Instructions as may be learned therefrom Which that we may the better do I will consider First the Singers or Chaunters The heavenly Host Secondly the Carol or Hymn it self Glorid in excelsis Deo Glory be to God on high c. For the First The Heavenly Host here spoken of is an Army of holy Angels For the Host of heaven in the language of Scripture is twofold Visible or Invisible The Visible Host are the Stars which stand in their array like an Army Deut. 4. 19. Lest thou lift up thine eyes saith the Lord there unto heaven and when thou seest the Sun Moon and Stars even all the Host of heaven shouldst be driven to worship and serve them The Invisible Host are the Angels the heavenly Guard according to that of Micaiah 1 King 22 19. I saw the Lord sitting upon his Throne and all the Host of Heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left So. Psal. 103. 20 21. Bless the Lord ye his Angels that excel in strength that do his Commandments Bless the Lord all ye his Hosts ye ministers of his that do his pleasure Where the latter words do but vary that which is expressed in the former From this it is that the Lord Iehovah the true and only God is so often styled the Lord or God of Sabaoth or of Hosts that is King both of Stars and Angels according to that Nehem. 9. 6. Thou art God alone and the Host of Heaven worshippeth thee By which Title he is distinguished from the Gods of the Nations who were some of the Host to wit of the Stars or Angels but none of them The Lord of Hosts himself For the same reason and with the same meaning and sense in
depart and the hills be removed but my kindness shall not depart from thee neither shall the Covenant of my peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee so if we examine the use thereof in the New Testament 〈◊〉 shall find it in special applied to this our Reconciliation to God in Christ by reâ—â—â—sion of sin S. Peter to Cornelius Acts 10. 36. describes the Gospel thus The word which God sent to the children to Israel preaching peace by Iesus Christ. And S. Paul Col. 1. 19 20. It pleased God the Father that in Christ all fulness should dwell And having made peace through the bloud of his Cross by him to reconcile all things unto himself What can be plainer than this The same as I take it he means Eph. 2. 17. when he tells us that Christ came to preach peace both to those that were afar off and to them that were nigh that is both to Iew and Gentile But what peace namely that through him we both might have access by one Spirit unto the Father Hence the Gospel is called The Gospel of peace and God so often in the New Testament The God of peace that is of reconcilement and favour and the Evangelical salutation is Grace mercy and peace from God our Father and Iesus Christ our Lord. The meaning of this Angelical Gratulation being thus cleared let us see now what may be learned and observed therefrom Where my first Observation shall be this S. Peter tells Cornelius that to Christ give all the Prophets witness that through his Name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins Our Saviour after his Resurrection expounding the Scriptures to his Apostles says the same Luke 24. 46 47. Thus it is written saith he and thus it behoved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day And that remission of sins should be preached in his Name among the Nations But where is this Publication of remission of sins by Christ written for in those formal words we shall hardly find it Let us take here the Angels Key and we shall for they tell us that Peace on earth is this Good-will towards men Now do not the Prophets speak of some Peace on earth which Messiah should bring with him when he comes Yes surely Well then let us look for this Publication of remission 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under that name and we shall find it Esay 9. 6. Vnto us a Child is born unto as a Son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his Name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor The mighty God The Father of eternity The Prince of peace that is of peace not between men and men but between God and men and of the increase of his government and peace shall be no end Esay 52. 7. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings that publisheth peace that bringeth good tidings of good that publisheth salvation that saith unto Zion Thy God reigneth Which place S. Paul Rom. 10. 15 interprets of the publication of the Gospel of Christ Esay 53. 5. The chastisement of our peace was upon him that is he suffered for the remission of our sins Esay 57. 19. quoted by S. Paul to the Ephesians chap. 2. 17. Peace to him that is afar off and to him that is near saith the Lord and I will heal him Ezek. 34. 24 25. I the Lord will be their God and my servant David King Messiah a Prince among them And I will make a Covenant of peace with them So Chap. 37. 26. Hag. 2. 9. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former saith the Lord of Hosts and in this place will I give peace saith the Lord of Hosts Zech. 9. 9 10. Shout O daughter of Ierusalem behold thy King cometh unto thee and he shall speak peace unto the Heathen and his Dominion shall be from Sea to Sea and from the River unto the end of the earth Thus much of the Use to be made of the Angels expression in this heavenly Carol Now I shall propound to your consideration another and that taken from the argument it self namely That if Almighty God our Heavenly Father be so graciously disposed to us-ward as to be reconciled unto us by forgiving us our trespasses then ought we semblably to be reconciled to our brethren and forgive them their trespasses when they have wronged or offended us Leo Serm. 6. de Nativit Natalis Domini natalis est pacis c. The Birth-day of our Lord is the Birth-day of peace and therefore let all the faithful offer up unto God their Father the united affections of peaceable-spirited children The Illation is good we have the authority of the Apostle S. Iohn to back it 1 Ioh. 4. 10 11. God saith he so loved us that he sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins What follows Beloved saith he If God so loved us we ought to love one another So say I If God be so gracious to forgive and be reconciled to us we ought as it were to eccho this his loving-kindness and to forgive and be reconciled one to another This Congruity or semblableness of our Actions and Affections one towards another with God's Favour and Mercy towards us is the Rule and Reason not only of this but of many other duties he requires at our hands Thus the Iews were every seventh year to manumise their servants as an act of Congruity and Thankfulness to God who had delivered them when they were servants out of the land of Egypt and house of bondage They were bidden to use a stranger kindly because themselves had been strangers and God when they were oppressed had been compassionate and kind towards them and redeemed them from their thraldom Likewise we read in the Gospel Luke 6. 36. Ee ye merciful as your Father also is merciful and Matth. 5. 7. Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy In a word God hath revealed he will shew mercy to none but such as appear before him with this Congruity Iames 2. 13. He shall have judgment without mercy that hath shewed no mercy And therefore the tenour of our Sentence at the last Iudgment runs Come ye Blessed and be partakers of mercy because ye have shewed it But Go ye Cursed without all mercy into Hell-fire because ye have shewed no mercy Thus we see how God requires this Congruity in general And as for the particular of reconcilement and forgiving our brother it is written in capital letters and urged in such sort as it might not unfitly be termed The Livery of Christianity Insomuch that if we consider it duly it cannot but breed astonishment that the evidence and necessity should be so apparent and the practice among those who look for the benefit of Christ and call upon his Name so little regarded whenas I dare boldly pronounce there is no remission of sins to be looked
thy self to Christ become a disciple and a member of his Kingdom S. Paul likewise taught the Gospel in like manner for himself tells us so Acts 20. 21. that he testified both to Iews and Gentiles Repentance toward God and Faith toward our Lord Iesus Christ. Repentance therefore and the Gospel cannot be separated If Repentance includes newness of life and good works the Gospel doth so For Christ is the way of Repentance without Repentance there is no use of Christ and without Christ Repentance is unavailable and nothing worth for without him we can neither be quit of the sins we forsake nor turn by a new life unto God with hope of being received He is the blessed Ferry-man and his Gospel is the Boat provided by the unspeakable mercy of God for the passage of this Sea As therefore in Repentance we forsake sin to serve God in newness of life so in the tenour of the Gospel Christ delivers us from sin that we might through Faith in him bring forth the fruits and works of a new life acceptable to our heavenly Father Hence it is that we shall be judged and receive our sentence at the last day according to our works Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world For I was hungry and ye gave me meat I was thirsty and ye gave me drink I was a stranger and ye took me in naked and ye clothed me I was sick and ye visited me I was in prison and ye came unto me Forasmuch as ye have done these things unto the least of my brethren ye have done them unto me Lord how do those look to be saved at that day who think good works not required to Salvation and accordingly do them not Can our Saviour pass this blessed sentence upon them No assuredly he will not But if the case be thus in the Gospel What is the reason will some men say that the Apostle tells us that we Christians are no longer under the Law nor justified by the works of the Law but under Grace and justified by Faith only I answer It is true that we are justified that is freed and acquitted from sin by Faith only But besides Iustification there is a Sanctification with the works of piety towards God and righteousness towards men as the Fruits yea as the End of our Iustification required to eternal life For therefore we are justified that we might do works acceptable to our heavenly Father through the imputation of the Righteousness of Christ which of our selves we could not and so obtain the reward he hath promised the doers of them As for the Law it is to be considered either as a Rule and so we are bound to conform and frame our actions to it for who dare deny but a Christian is bound to fear God and keep his Commandments or the Law may be considered as it is taken for the Covenant of works The Apostle when he disputes of this argument by the Law means the Covenant of works which he also calls The Law of works and by Faith and the Law of Faith he understands the Covenant of grace the condition whereof is Faith as will easily appear to him that shall diligently read the third and fourth chapters of the Epistle to the Galatians where he expresly changeth those terms of Law and Faith into the equivalent appellations of the Two Covenants Now as the Law is taken for the Covenant of works the Seal whereof was Circumcision 't is true we are not under it For the Covenant of works called by the Apostle the Law is that Covenant wherein Works are the condition on our part which if we perform in every point as the Law requires we are justified before God as keepers of his Covenant otherwise if we fail in the least thing we are condemned as guilty of the breach thereof Under this Covenant we are not for if we were and were to be judged according to it alas who could be saved For all saith the Apostle have sinned and come short of the glory of God There is none righteous no not one But the Covenant we are under is Believe and thou shalt be saved the Covenant of Grace the condition of which Covenant on our part is not the doing of works which may abide the Touch-stone of the Law but Faith in Iesus Christ which makes our works though of themselves insufficient and short of what the Law requires accepted of God and capable of reward This is that S. Iohn saith 1 Ep. 5. 3 4. That to love God is to keep his commandments and his commandments now under the Gospel are not grievous For whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world and this is the victory that overcometh the world even our Faith c. Whence our Saviour also saith that his yoke the yoke of the Gospel was easie and his burthen light The condition of the first Covenant was that which we could not do the condition of the second Covenant is that which enableth us to do and makes accepted what we can do and this is the Covenant of the Gospel a Covenant of savour and grace through Iesus Christ our Lord. And thus we have seen what the Apostle's meaning is when he saith we are not under the Law but under Grace Not as though a Christian were not bound to walk after God's commandments but that the exact fulfilling of them is not the condition whereby we are justified in the New Covenant but Faith in Iesus Christ in whom whosoever cometh unto the Father is accepted be his offering never so mean so it be tendered with sincerity and truth of heart Most unworthy therefore should we be of this so great and unspeakable favour of Almighty God our heavenly Father offered us in the Gospel if when he hath given us his only Son to make the yoak of our obedience easie and possible to be born we contemning this superabundant grace should refuse to wear and draw therein Far be it from the heart of a Christian to think it possible to have any benefit by Christ as long as he stands thus affected or ever to win the prize of eternal life without running the race appointed thereunto Shall we sin that grace may abound saith S. Paul God forbid THUS much of the Gospel Now of Faith whereby we are partakers of the grace therein being the condition of the New Covenant which God hath struck with men Faith is to believe the Gospel that is to attain Salvation through Christ. But there is a three-fold Faith wherewith men believe in Christ. 1. There is a false Faith 2. there is a true Faith but not a saving and 3. there is a saving Faith A false Faith is to believe to attain Salvation by Christ any other way than God hath ordained as namely to believe to attain Salvation through him without works of obedience to be accepted of
blemish in the Consecration makes the act it self void It appears in the story of Korah Dathan and Abiram in that oblation of Incense made by the two hundred and fifty Princes of the Congregation whose service though it were so displeasing unto the Lord that he sent fire from heaven to consume them yet when all was done he gave this commandment to Moses Speak saith he unto Eleazer the son of Aaron the Priest that he take up the censers out of the burning and scatter thou the fire yonder for they are hallowed The censers of those sinners against their souls let them make of them broad plates for a covering of the Altar for they offered them before the Lord therefore they are hallowed Numb 16. 37 38. Mark here Though they were offered by sinful men and in a sinful manner and were not to be used any more for Censers yet must they be applied to some other holy use because they were become sacred by having been offered unto the Lord. So Rabbi Solomon Iarchi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vnlawful for common use because they had made them vessels of Ministery My last Observation is raised from the Iudgment which befel Ananias That it must needs be a hainous sin which God so severely punished namely with death For there is no Example to be found again in the whole New Testament of so severe a Punishment inflicted by the mouth of the Apostles for any sin whatsoever But this was the first Consecration of goods that ever was made unto Christ our Lord after he was invested to sit at the right hand of God and this transgression of Ananias and Sapphira the first Sacriledge that ever was committed against him Wherefore it was requisite that by the severity of the punishment thereof he should now manifest unto men what account he made of and how hainous he esteemed that Sin that it might be for an Example to the world's end unto all that should afterward believe in his name to beware thereof So saith S. Hierome Ananias Sapphira quia post votum obtulerunt quasi sua non ejus cui semel ea voverant praesentem meruere vindictam non crudelitate Sententiae sed correctionis exemplo Ananias and Sapphira most worthily deserved to be so severely punished viz. with death because that after their vow they presented the price of their estate as if it had been their own and not God's to whom they had given it and withal kept back and reserved to themselves part of that which was no more theirs but anothers viz. God's Nor was this an over-severe and cruel sentence but an useful exemplary Severity that others might amend and beware of offending in the like kind For the First in every kind is the Measure of that which follows and though Sacriledge be not since punished by God as often as it is committed by such a visible death yet was it his purpose that by this First punishment we should take notice how great that Sin was and how displeasing in his sight which was a punishment by the greatest visible judgment that could be The like severe Example to this and for the like end was that upon him who at first proâ—aned the Sabbath-day in the Wilderness by gathering sticks Numb 15. 32 c. who by the sentence of God himself was put to death and stoned by the whole Congregation that the Iews hereby might know that howsoever the like were not ordinarily afterward to be inflicted for the like sin yet the gravity thereof in the eyes of God was still the same which that First severity intimated Furthermore it is worthy to be noted that we find three Examples of such a kind of coactive jurisdiction if I may so term it exercised either by our Saviour when he was here on earth or by his Apostles and all three for the profanation of that which was sacred The first two by our Saviour himself against those that profaned his Temple by buying and selling therein as a common place For which at the first Passeover after his beginning to preach the Gospel he made him a whip and whipped such profaners out of it saying Make not my Father's house a house of Merchandise Iohn 2. 16. Another time which was at his last Passeover He overthrew the Tables of the Money-changers and the seats of them that sold Doves and would not suffer any to carry a Vessel through the Temple telling them that his house was made for an house of prayer but they had made it a den of Thieves Matt. 21. 12. Mark 11. 15. Luke 19. 45. The third Example is this which the Apostle Peter exercised upon Ananias and Sapphira for Sacriledge Whereby it should appear that how small account soever we are now-a-days wont to make of these sins yet in God's esteem they are other manner of ones than we take them for Another argument of the hainousness of the sin of Sacriledge is That there was no Sacrifice appointed in the Law to make atonement for the same if it were committed willingly and wittingly but only if it were ignorantly done For so we have it Levit. 5. 15 16. If a soul commit a trespass and sin through ignorance in the holy things of the Lord he shall bring for his trespass unto the Lord a Ram without blemish out of the flock And he shall make amends for the harm that he hath done in the holy thing and add the fifth part thereunto And the Priest shall make an atonement for him and it shall be forgiven him Thus if it were done ignorantly but if wittingly and presumptuously there was no atonement appointed for it though for other sins there be even to Perjury it self For as it is in Mal. 3. 8. Will a man rob his God Another proof and testimony of the hainousness of this Sin is that so ancient a custom in Dedications to lade it with a Curse Which to be no late custom as some may suppose taken up among Christians but used both by Iew and Gentile before Christ was born may appear by that Decree of King Darius for the building of the Temple of Ierusalem which concludes with this Execration The God that hath caused his Name to dwell there destroy all Kings and people that shall put to their hand to destroy this House of God which is at Ierusalem I Darius have made a Decree let it be done with speed Ezra 6. 12. From this custom it came that Anathema signifies both a Donary given unto a Temple and an accursed thing or that which hath a curse with it So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Hebrew a thing cursed and destined to destruction and also a kind of offering or consecration which had a curse laid upon it namely a curse to him that should meddle with it Which kind of Consecration had this peculiar that even the very individual might never be altered changed or redeemed upon any terms Leviâ— 27. 28. whereas other offerings
a comparative prayer as if he had said Rather than either Poverty or Riches Give me O Lord if it be thy will the Mean between both Feed me with Food convenient for me For though all three estates be indifferent yet comparatively and for choice the middle is the best and happiest condition Such speeches by way of Opposition or Antithesis yet implying in their sense a choice or Protimesis are frequent in Scripture I will have mercy and not sacrifice not to be understood as though God forbade Sacrifice but thus I had rather have mercy than sacrifice So in S. Matthew Lay not up for your selves treasures upon earth but lay up for your selves treasures in heaven not to be understood as a plain prohibition to lay up earthly treasures but by way of choice or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rather lay up treasures in heaven than treasures upon earth Have a greater care of the one than of the other And many the like for it is a frequent expression Thus having made the way plain and open to my Text I come now to consider the several parts thereof and First The Request or Thing prayed for where of the two ways whereby it is expressed I must for the more easie unfolding thereof begin with the Affirmative Feed me with Food convenient for me For if this be understood we cannot be long ignorant of the other If we know the Mean once which Agur chuseth we shall soon guess what he understands by Riches and Poverty the Extremes which he refuseth Feed me saith he with Food convenient for me This convenient food is in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Panis dimensi mei The bread of my competent allowance The Septuagint turns it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Things fit and sufficient Symmachus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Competent diet The Chaldee Paraphrast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bread or Food sufficient for me for so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies for it is the word for Sufficit in the 15. verse of this Chapter Four things say not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sufficit It is enough it is the word for Sufficient Exod. 36. 7. where it is said of the offering for the Tabernacle that which was offered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was sufficient for all the work and in 2 Sam. 24. 16. where God says of the plague 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sufficit It is enough Now by Bread or Food the Hebrew understands All provisions for the use of life so competent Food is a competent Maintenance Which to be the true meaning of this Panis dimensi Agur's deprecation of Poverty on the one side and of Riches on the other is a firm demonstration For what else can it be but a state of Competency which he begs as the Mean between Want and Superfluity And this is even that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that daily bread which Christ our Lord in his Prayer hath taught us all to pray for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or as S. Luke hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Give us day by day our daily bread Where the meaning in general is indifferently well agreed upon but much ado there is what this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should signifie But not to trouble you with the rehearsal of so many varieties of interpretation as the singularity of this word hath begotten some nearer some altogether wide of the mark the plain truth is That as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a word like unto this was first devised by the Septuagint so was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this prayer made by the Evangelists in imitation thereof neither of both being any where to be found but in Scripture only For the Septuagint of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying Abundantia Exuperantia abundance and superfluity formed the Adjective 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to express the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Peculiar people rendred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Supernumerary people a people wherein God had a Superlative propriety and interest above and besides his common interest to all the Nations of the world For so he saith Exod. 19. 5. Thou shalt be unto me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Peculiar people above all people for all the earth is mine as if he should say But you shall be mine in a degree above the rest According to the Example and Analogy of this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I say the Evangelists here formed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies an Abundance or Superfluity of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Being and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ultra or super as it were an Over-Being so would 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifie a Sufficiency as it were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which is adequate to Being or as Suidas hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fit for our Being and Supportance Therefore as of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Abundance the Septuagint made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Abounding so the Evangelists of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Sufficiency made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sufficient And this is agreeable to the Syriack Translation the Language our Saviour spake which hath here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The bread we have need of Thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Sufficient bread and opposed to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Superfluous and Superabounding bread All which will appear most clearly and elegantly if we do but parallel these two words in the Petition by way of Antithesis in this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Superfluous and Superabounding bread but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Sufficient bread give us O Lord this day And thus we have seen that this Prayer of Agur in my Text is the self-same with that our Saviour taught us in the Gospel which Tremellius well observing in his most elegant Hebrew Catechism renders that petition in these very words of Agur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as though our Saviour had reference to them Now for the right understanding of this Sufficiency we are to pray for we must know that a Competency is twofold Either in regard of Nature which sufficeth to support a man in his natural life and health or secondly a Competency in regard of a mans condition which is sufficient to support and maintain him in that condition order degree and calling wherein God hath placed him Both these degrees of Sufficiency are meant in the Prayer our Saviour taught us Give us this day our daily bread and in this of Agur Feed me with food convenient for me namely for Agur. For perhaps that may not be sufficient for Agur's condition which might suffice for another But if Agur's condition were such as some mans is that he needed no more than was convenient to maintain himself in his natural life and health then the Competency he must pray for is no more than a Competency
obnoxious to the rage of troublesome times being looked upon aâ— a booty by such as are able and find advantage to seise upon them Only the Mean estate is most free from such perillous Extremities being as below Envy so above Contempt If then our good and gracious God hath given us a convenient measure of means to maintain our condition let us think our line hath fallen unto us in a pleasant place as the Psalmist speaks Psal. 16. 6. and that we have a goodly heritage He that hath once a Competency let him be assured he hath all the Contentment which is to be found in these temporary things and Experience will tell him Though Riches may encrease yet after a Sufficiency once attained Contentment will encrease no more though Riches encrease never so much THUS much of that which Agur requested Now follows The Reason of his Request Lest I be full and deny thee and say Who is the Lord c. Out of which before we come to handle them particularly let us make this General Observation That the Rule of our desires and endeavours in the getting and enjoying of these outward things ought to be our Spiritual welfare and the bettering of us to God-ward This was Agur's Rule He desires such a measure of outward means as might neither through fulness make him forget God nor through want tempt him to sin both against him and his neighbour This is the Compass we ought to sail by if we would avoid shipwrack This is the Pole-star and Heavenly mark whereon our eyes in all our thriving courses should be fixed and by it our desires and aims measured That proportion of outward things and provisions for this life which may the besâ— stand with our improvement to God-ward which may the most further and enable us and the least endanger and hinder us in our religious devotions to God and charitable duties to our neighbours this should be the stint of all our worldly desires and endeavours under the Sun More than may stand with this is so far from being wished or sought for that we ought with Agur to pray against it and say Lord lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil But alas we set the Cart before the Horse we make not the Worship of God and our Spiritual advantage the Rule of our aims in getting and enjoying of these Temporal things But on the contrary we use to serve God and keep his Commandments so far as may stand with our profit with our covâ—tous and ambitious desires and no farther And this was Ieroboam's sin who forsooth would serve the God of his Fathers so as he thought might stand with the safety of his kingdom but no farther But alas what would it profit a man to win the whole world and lose his own soul But Ieroboam lost his kingdom too which else God had promised to entail unto his posterity But let us be wiser and as S. Paul bids us whether we eat or drink or whatsoever we do else let us do all to the glory of God Let this be the End of all our actions and then we shall be sure to thrive here and be blessed for ever in the world to come So much for the General Observation Now to the particular handling of the words Lest I be full and deny thee and say Who is the Lord The words are plain and their meaning of Impiety and Irreligion Give me not Riches lest I become ungodly and irreligious For as to know God in Scripture is to worship and serve him with fear and reverence so to deny him is to be devoid of Religion toward him to live as if there were no God So it is said of the sons of Eli that they were sons of Belial they knew not the Lord that is they acknowledged him not by love fear and obedience but lived as if they had said Who is the Lord Now that men who abound in Wealth and Superfluity are much subject to this malady is so manifest by other places of Scripture that Agur's fear was not without a cause Deut. 6. 12. is a Caution given to Israel when God should bless them with Prosperity When thou shalt have eaten and be full them beware lest thou forget the Lord which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt Again Deut. 8. 10 c. When thou shalt have eaten and be fullâ— Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God in not keeping his Commandments and Iudgments and his Statutes Lest when thou hast eaten and art full and hast built goodly houses and dwelt therein And thy herds and thy flocks multiply and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied and all that thou hast is multiplied Then thine heart be lifted up and thou forget the Lord thy God which brought c. Vers. 17. And thou say in thine heart My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth Whence it appears not only how dangerous Prosperity is to Piety but what it is to forget God which is in my Text to deny him and to ask Who he is namely to break his Commandments Statutes and Iudgments to be unthankful for his Blessings and to attribute all to our own power and wisdom Again in Deut. 32. 15. Moses prophetically sings of Israel Iesurun waxed fat and kicked Thou art saith he waxed fat thou art grown thick thou art covered with fatness Then he forsook God which made him and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation Vers. 16. They provoked him to jealousie with strange gods with abominations they provoked him to anger And Hosea 13. 6. the Lord complains of the event of this prediction According to their pasture saith he so were they filled and their hearts were lifted up therefore they have forgotten me Rarae fumant felicibus arae I think it is sufficiently proved and Experience doth every where make it good 1. The cause hereof is the weakness of our Nature through sin not able to wield the Blessings of God if they abound Even as the Physitians say that a Plethora or full state of body is dangerous in respect of health even though it be without impurity of bloud because Nature if weaker then it cannot wield it or if a while she be of equal strength yet is soon and sometimes suddenly overturned Even such is the case here with our life and health spiritual 2. Religious Devotion springs from Humility and Lowliness of mind but Abundance usually pusseth up with pride as the Lord even now complained in Hosea that the heart of his people was exalted and therefore they forgot him So in the quotation Deut. 8. 10 c. Lastly A full belly is unfittest for Devotion and Prayer and therefore in our devoutest Supplications we use Fasting Even as it is in plenteous feeding so is it in the very outward injoyment of plenty whence ye heard even now the Spirit of God to express this Abundance of outward things by Feeding
here described to be one upon whom God bestowed a special favour or grace a special 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the grace of the holy Ministery for so S. Paul calls this power of Order a grace or favour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Eph. 3. 8. Vnto me who am less than the least of all Saints is this grace given to preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. And of Timothy the same Apostle speaketh Neglect not that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or grace in thee which was given by prophecy with the imposition of hands With this grace was Levi graced with this favour was he highly favoured and well might be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God's highly favoured one And thus the issue will be all one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this sense will fall out to be God's holy one in the last sense For to be specially favoured of God is to have a special relation to God-ward to be God's more especially and this is to be holy with a Relative holiness Now which soever of these we take to be here meant we see that that is in special given to Levi which otherwise was common to all the other Tribes If you take it in the first sense for Holiness in life as it were to put Levi in mind how it behoved him above all to be holy were not all the Tribes as holy as Levi and yet Levi alone is called God's holy one If you take it in the second sense for a Relative holiness were not all the Tribes of Israel thus holy unto God were not all his own people his peculiar people and a chosen Nation and yet Levi alone is called God's holy one If you take it in the last sense for God's favoured one were not all Israel a Nation favoured of God above all Nations and yet Levi alone is especially called God's favoured one 1. We therefore whom God hath set apart to minister about holy things we who are holy unto the Lord and God's own in a peculiar manner we who have a special relation unto God we who have received a special favour from God We must remember we owe a special thankfulness unto him We who are God's peculiars must demean our selves peculiarly both toward God and man We are unto God as other men are not and therefore may not always do as other man do We cannot reason from others to our selves no not in things of themselves lawful Why should not we do as every man may do For all that is lawful for others will not be seemly for us for we are the houshold-servants of the most High we are special men of whom God requires a special demeanour in life and actions This was one cause why God enjoyned the Iews so many peculiar Rites and special Observations differing from the fashions of other people because they were his peculiar people an holy Nation because they were toward him as no other was though all the world were His and therefore he would have their manners differ from the fashion of all other Nations as a badge and acknowledgment of that special relation they had to him above others Levit. 20. 24 25 26. I saith God am the Lord your God which have separated you from other people Ye shall therefore put difference between clean beasts and unclean unclean fowls and clean c. And ye shall be holy unto me For I the Lord am holy and have severed you from other people that you should be mine This was also a cause why God restrained the Priests of the Law from that which was lawful for the rest of the people They might drink no Wine they might not mourn for their kin they might not marry a divorced woman the reason of all this is given because they were holy unto the Lord that is with a Relative holiness as being God's men in a special manner and therefore he required they should specially demean themselves in their lives These Observations indeed were Ceremonial but there is something Moral in them And therefore in the New Testament we hear of some special things required in a Minister as that he should have a good report of those who were without this was not required in every one who was to be a Christian. Again S. Paul requires in a Bishop that he should be the husband of one wife this was not in those times required of every one who was to be a Christian. I shall not need to tell you what special demeanor the ancient Church bound her Clergy unto But it came to pass at last this Rule was over-practised by them for hence it was that a Bishop might not marry at all that Priests and Deacons might not marry being once in Orders and at last marriage was quite forbidden them all Thus our Fathers erred on the right hand but we go aside on the left They restrained their Clergy from that which was lawful for and beseemed all men we think almost that lawful for us which is lawful for no man at least we think that which any man may do we may do also But there is a golden Mean between these Extreams happy is he that finds it for he alone shall demean himself like himself like a Levite like God's holy one 2. From this special title given to Levi we may note how causlesly some are offended to hear those who minister about holy Things distinguished from others by names of holiness and peculiarity to hear them called Clerus and Clerici The Clergy as it were the Heritage of God for so saith S. Ierome Clerus dicimur quia sors Dei sumus We are called Clerus or the Clergy because we are the lot and portion of God But say they are not the People also God's Heritage Doth not S. Peter call them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when he forbids Presbyters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to domineer over God's heritage I confess he doth But those who reason after this manner come too near the language of Dathan and Abiram Numb 16. 3. Moses and Aaron you take too much upon you Is not all the Congregation holy every one of them and is not the Lord among them why then lift ye your selves above the Congregation of the Lord If this reasoning had been good wherein had these Rebels offended It could not be denied them that all the People were an holy People for they might have alledged the testimony of God himself avouching them to be his peculiar People and an holy People unto the Lord their God All the earth saith he Exod. 19. 5. is mine but you shall be my 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my peculiar people a Kingdom of Priests and an holy Nation But it might be answered them Though all the people were God's peculiar people and therefore his holy ones yet Levi was his peculiar Tribe of his peculiar people and therefore comparatively his
only holy one All the Land of Canaan was the Lord's The Land is mine saith he and therefore it could not be alienate beyond the year of Iubilee and yet for all this there were some parts of the Land specially called Holy unto the Lord. All the increase of corn all the increase of wine all the fruit of the field was the Lord's and yet the Offerings alone were called Holy unto the Lord. God himself calls them his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his inheritance and therefore gave them unto that Tribe alone which alone he had made his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Tribe of his inheritance So the offered Tribe lived of God's offerings the holy Tribe on the holy things Again why may we not call our Clergy God's inheritance when God himself calls the Levites his Levites Thou shalt saith he Num. 8. 14. separate the Levites from among the children of Israel and the Levite shall be mine that is my 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my Clergy Why may not we call the Ministers of Christ his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or inheritance when he himself calls them the gift his Father gave him out of the world for so he saith Ioh. 17. 6. I have declared thy name unto the men thou gavest me out of the world thine they were and thou gavest them me and again ver 11. Holy Father keep them in thy name even them whom thou hast given me If you say he speaks here of all his Elect the words following v. 12. prove the contrary for those saith he whom thou hast given me I have kept and none of them is lost but the child of perdition Here he plainly affirms he lost one of those his Father gave him wherefore he speaks not of his Elect ones for those no man can take out of his hands Again ver 18. As thou didst send me into the world saith he so I sent them into the world but I hope all the Elect are not sent as Christ was sent by his Father I conclude therefore So long as God in the Law says specially of the Levites They are mine So long as Christ in the Gospel of his Apostles They are mine O Father which thou hast given me out of the world it is neither arrogancy nor injury to stile those who minister about holy things by the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the inheritance of the Lord. WHAT LEVI was and what is meant by this Title God 's Holy one we have now shewed sufficiently It remains we should come unto the words containing the Blessing it self which is called Vrim and Thummim the words themselves signifie Light and Perfection Illumination and Integrity good endowments certainly whosoever shall enjoy them But because they are not only Appellative words but also Proper names of certain things we must enquire further what is meant by them and that in a twofold consideration First specially and properly as they are names of certain things belonging in special unto the High Priest Then generally as they are applied by Moses unto the whole Tribe of Levi. The first again shall be twofold What they were in the High Priest personally or what they signified in him typically himself being also a Type For the first What is meant by these things as they belong unto the High Priest personally is a matter full of controversie and therefore that we may the better proceed we will first see the Generals wherein all or the most agree and after come unto the particulars wherein they disagree The first wherein all agree is that this Vrim and Thummim was something put in the Breast-plate which was fastned to the Ephod over against the Heart of the High Priest And thus much the Scripture witnesseth Exod. 28. 30. where God saith to Moses And thou shalt put in the Breast-plate of Iudgment the Vrim and the Thummim and they shall be on Aaron's heart when he goeth in before the Lord. And for this cause as most think was the Breast-plate made double that the Vrim and Thummim might be enveloped therein The second thing wherein all agree is That this Vrim and Thummim was a kind of Oracle whereby God gave answer to those that enquired of him and from hence the Septuagint call the whole Breast-plate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which some turn Rationale but might more truly be turned Orationale for an Oracle is as it were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the voice of God though this Voice or Revelation were of divers kinds for at sundry times and in divers manners saith S. Paul God spake in old time to our Fathers The Iews therefore make four kinds of Divine Revelation First 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Prophecy which was by Dreams and Visions The second 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Holy Ghost as was in Iob David and others The third Urim and Thummim which was the Oracle The fourth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Voice from heaven which was usual in the second Temple after the Oracle had ceased as Matt. 3. 17. at Christ's Baptism there came a Voice from heaven saying This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased and Ioh. 12. 28. when Christ said Father glorifie thy name There came a Voice from heaâ—â—â— like thunder saying I have both glorified it and will glorifie it again But to return again to our purpose That Urim and Thummim was an Oracle of God besides the consent of Iews and others it is plain by Scripture Num. 27. when God had commanded Moses to put his hands upon Ioshua and to set him over the congregation in his stead he addes Vers. 21. And he that is Ioshua shall stand before Eleazar the Priest who shall ask counsel for him by the judgment of Urim before the Lord. So 1 Sam. 23. when David was to ask counsel of the Lord he called for the Ephod wherein the Oracle was and whereas before he had once or twice asked counsel of the Lord concerning Keilah to prevent the objection how the Lord answered it follows in the next by way of a Prolepsis That Abiathar then Priest when he fled to David to Keilah brought the Ephod with him vers 6. Lastly in the second of Ezra when certain of the Priests which returned from Captivity could not find their names written in the Genealogies it is said vers 63. that the Tirshatha commanded they should not eat of the most holy things till there rose up a Priest with Urim and Thummim that is till God should by Oracle reveal whether they were Priests or no whereby it also appears that this Oracle had then ceased And for more light to that we have in hand it will not be amiss to observe that Teraphim among the Idolaters was answerable to the Urim and Thummim of the holy Patriarchs Both were ancient For Rachel is said to have stollen away her Father 's Teraphim and Urim and Thummim seems to have been used among the Patriarchs
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is joyned themselves together and made a word which as I cannot conceive how it should be so I think it less probable And thus hitherto have you heard the diverse Opinions of the matter and manner of this Oracle of Vrim and Thummim Here is variety enough I leave to every one to make his own choice which he will believe only give me leave to add thus much in way of censure of them which is That they all seem against reason and likelihood to confound Vrim with Thummim in making them one and the same thing called by diverse names in regard of diverse effects and uses which I can the less believe because I find Vrim alone used in matter of consultation with God whereby it seems Thummim had some other use In the 27. of Num. 21. Moses commands Ioshua in all business to consult the High Priest by the judgment of Vrim before the Lord but no speech of Thummim Again 1 Sam. 28. 6. it is said that Saul asked counsel of Lord when he was to go against the Philistines but the Lord answered him not neither by dreams nor by Vrim nor by the Prophets Here also is Vrim spoken of but no word of Thummim If I may therefore speak what I think I would say That Vrim and Thummim were a twofold Oracle and for a twofold use And that Vrim was the Oracle or part of the Oracle whereby God gave answer to those who enquired of him in hard and doubtful cases therefore called Vrim or Lights because as ignorance is called darkness so is all knowledg a kind of illumination or enlightning and that which bringeth knowledg is fitly called a Light because it dispels the darkness of our minds But Thummim was that Oracle or mean whereby the High Priest knew whether God did accept the Sacrifice or no therefore called Thummim that is Integrity because those whose Sacrifice God accepted were accounted Thummim that is just and righteous in the eyes of God because their Sacrifice was a shadow of Christ's Sacrifice by acceptation whereof we are justified and made righteous before God For without doubt the Patriarchs and Legal Church had some ordinary mean to know when their Sacrifice was accepted else had they been behind the Gentiles for they had a sign to know when they did Litare that is when their false Gods accepted their false sacrifice and as the Devil was God's Ape in giving Oracles so I verily believe he was in this also Nay Iosephus expresly affirms it of the Iews though for the particular I suppose he is mistaken For he saith that whensoever God did accept the Sacrifice the Onyx-stone on the Priests left shoulder shone with an admirable splendor but this saith he ceased 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 two hundred years before his time And no wonder for when the Sun of righteousness drew near unto his rising those dimmer Vrim and smaller stars must needs lose their light Now that which Iosephus affirms of the Onyx-stone on the left shoulder I suppose was mistaken for the Thummim on the left part of the Breast-plate And lastly as I said before of Vrim so I think of Thummim That it was in use among the Patriarchs of old and that by some such means as this Abel knew that God accepted his Offering and Cain that his was refused And thus much of Vrim and Thummim considered Personally in the High Priest now I come to consider it Typically for as the High Priest himself was a Type of Christ so must these Adjuncts of his also be Types of something in Christ. Which we shall not be long a finding out if we remember again the signification of the words and the use of the things themselves Vrim is Light and Illumination Thummim Integrity and Perfection By Vrim the Iews were ascertained of the counsel and will of God by Thummim of his favour and good will towards them All this agrees to Christ both in himself and in regard of us In himself His Breast is full of Vrim full of Light and Understanding In him are hid all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledg as S. Paul saith He is the Wisdom of the Father by which the world it self was made His heart is also endowed with Thummim with all kind of Perfections He was conceived without Original sin lived without Actual sin fulfilled the whole Law of God which is the Law of Thummim the Law of all Perfection Thus to Christ himself agrees both Vrim and Thummim and so it doth also in regard of us for he is an Vrim and Thummim both to us and for us To us he is Vrim a Light which enlightneth every one which cometh into the world He is the Light which shone in darkness but the darkness could not comprehend it He was that Light by which the people as it is said in Matthew 4. 16. which sat in darkness saw great light And of this Light Iohn came to bear witness that all might believe in him Iohn 1. 7. In sum Christ is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Patris the Word and Oracle of his Father by whom we know and learn the Father's will for so S. Iohn saith ch 1. 18. No man hath seen God at any time the only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father he hath revealed him unto us Neither is Christ only an Vrim but also a Thummim to us For as by Thummim the Iews were ascertained of God's favour toward them in accepting their Sacrifice so by Christ coming in the flesh is revealed the unspeakable Mercy of God to Mankind in that he would accept his Sacrifice once offered for the expiation of the sins of the whole world This is that Good-will toward men which the Angels sung of as soon as he was born Glory be to God on high Peace on earth and Good-will towards men Yea Glory be to God on high for this Peace on earth and for this Good-will towards men Thus we see Christ an Vrim and Thummim to us now let us see how he is the same for us and that is when his Wisdom and Righteousness is made ours by imputation So his Vrim becomes our Vrim his Thummim our Thummim that is his wisdom is made ours his righteousness and favour with God made ours for This is my well-beloved Son said a Voice from Heaven in whom I am well pleased In brief S. Paul comprehends both these together where he saith Christ Iesus is made unto us Wisdom Sanctification and Redemption And so Lord Let thy Vrim and thy Thummim be with thy Holy One. AND thus much for the special consideration of this Vrim and Thummim both Personally and Typically Now I come unto the general meaning thereof as it concerns not the High Priest only but the whole Tribe of Levi for this is the Blessing of that whole Tribe And in this large respect the meaning cannot
utmost with meditation prayer and practice But on the contrary we must resist and crush every exorbitant thought which draws to sin at the first rising Tutissimum est It is most safe saith S. Austin Epist. 142. for the Soul to accustom it self to discern of its thoughts ad primum animi motum vel probare vel reprobare quid cogitat ut vel bonas cognationes alat vel statim extinguat malas and at the first motion thereof either to approve or else to disallow what the Mind is thinking of and so either to cherish and improve the thoughts and motions of the Mind if goodâ— or presently to extinguish them if evil 3. Lastly Let him that will indeed guard his Heart as it should be take heed of familiar and friendly converse with lewd prophane and ungracious company There is a strange attraction in ill company to poison and pervert even the best dispositions He that toucheth pitch saith the Son of Sirach shall be defiled therewith Can a man take fire in his bosom saith Solomen and his clothes not be burnt For believe it when a man is accustomed once and wonted to behold lewd and ungodly behaviour there steals upon him insensibly first a dislike of sober courses next a pleasing approbation of the contrary and so presently an habitual change of affections and demeanour into the manners and conditions of our companions It is a point that many will not believe but few or none did ever try but to their cost It was wise counsel had it not been in a sinful business which Ieroboam advised If this people saith he go up to sacrifice at Ierusalem then shall the heart of this people turn again to their lord even to Rehoboam king of Iudah and they shall kill me and go again to Rehoboam king of Iudah O that some men would be as wise for their good as he was for his sin THUS I have done with the first part of my Text The Admonition Keep thy heart with all diligence or above all keeping Now I proceed to the Motive For out of it are the issues of life that is All spiritual life and living actions issue from thence All living devotion all living service and worship of God issues from the Heart from those cleansed and loyal affections and dispositions of the Soul and inward man whereof I spake before Where such a Heart is not the Fountain there no action to God-ward liveth but is spiritually dead how gay and glorious soever it may outwardly seem No outward performance whatsoever be it never so conformable and like unto a godly man's action yet if it be not rooted in the Heart inwardly sanctified it is no issue of spiritual life nor acceptable with God Even as Statues and Puppets do move their eyes their hands their feet like unto living men yet are they not living actions because they come not from an inward Soul the fountain of life but from the artificial poise of weights and device of wheels set by the workman So is it here with heartless actions they are like the actions of true Christians but not Christian actions because they issue not from a Heart sanctified with purity and loyalty in the presence of God who tries the heart and reins but from the poise of vain-glory from the wheels of some external respects and advantages from a rotten heart which wrought not for the love of God but for the praise of men As therefore we judge of the state of natural life by the Pulse and beating of the Heart so must we do of spiritual No member of the body performs any action of natural life wherein a Pulse derived from the Heart beats not So is it in the spiritual man and the actions of Grace That lives not which some gracious and affectionate influence from the Heart quickens not Now this Issuing of our works and actions from the Heart is that which is called Sincerity and Truth so much commended unto us in Scripture For this Sincerity and Truth which is said to be in the works and actions of all such as fear and serve the Lord with acceptance is nothing else but an agreement of the outward work seen of men with the inward and sutable affection and meaning of the heart which God and our selves alone are privie to For as our words and speeches have truth in them when we speak as we think so our works and actions are done in sincerity and truth when they are done according to our heart's affection Sincerity therefore and Truth is the life of all our works of devotion and obedience unto God without this they are nothing but a carkase they are dead they live not neither doth God accept them For he desireth truth in the inward parts Psal. 51. 6. that is truth which proceedeth or issueth from the inward parts The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him that call upon him in truth Psal. 145. 18. For God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth Iohn 4. 24. Whatsoever ye do saith S. Paul Col. 3. 23. do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men Our faith must be unfeigned 1 Tim. 1. 5. that is in truth and in sincerity Also our Love must not be in speech and tongue only but in deed and truth 1 Iohn 3. 18. And this is the highest Perfection attainable in this life for which God accepteth of our obedience as perfect which springeth from it though it be stained with much corruption and full of imperfection That which is wanting in the measure of obedience and holiness is made up in the truth and sincerity thereof If it have not this whatsoever it be it is good for nothing because it wants the Issue of life And such Actions are all the Actions of Hypocrites For Hypocrisie is the contrary to Sincerity and wheresoever Sincerity and Truth is not there Hypocrisie is being nothing else but a counterfeiting and falsehood of our actions when they come not from a Heart sutably affected and therefore is otherwise in Scripture understood by the name of Guile when those who serve God in sincerity and truth are said to be without guile that is without hypocrisie So Nathanael Iohn 1. 47. is called an Israelite indeed in whom there was no guile And of the Virgin-Saints Rev. 14. 5. it is said that in their mouth was found no guile for they are without fault before the Throne of God that is they served God without hypocrisie in sincerity and truth and therefore God accepted of their obedience as if it were without fault and imperfection as he is wont to do the works of those who serve him in that manner If therefore Sincerity be the life of our obedience and that which makes it graceful in the eyes of God then is Hypocrisie the death thereof which makes him loath and abhor it as a stinking carkase Hitherto have I
purpose are your sacrifices and burnt-offerings saith the Lord your oblations and incense are abomination Your New Moons Sabbaths calling of Assemblies even the solemn meeting I cannot away with it is iniquity Would you know what was the matter see the words following Learn to do well seek judgment relieve the oppressed judge the fatherless plead for the widow Lo here a want of the duties of the second Table Such is that also of Hosea 6. 6. I desired mercy and not sacrifice which is twice alledged by our Saviour in the Gospel against the Pharisee's hypocritical scrupulosity in the same duties of the first Table with a neglect of the second But here perhaps some may find a scruple because that if Sacrifice in this or the like places be opposed to the duties of obedience required in the second Table it should hereby seem that the duties of the second Table which concern our neighbour should be preferred before the duties of the first which concern the Lord himself forasmuch as it is said I desired mercy and not sacrifice that is rather Mercy which is a duty of the second Table than Sacrifice which is of the first I answer The holy Ghost's meaning is not to prefer the second Table before the first taking them singly but to prefer the duties of both together before the service of the first alone Be more ready to joyn mercy or works of mercy with your sacrificing than to offer sacrifice alone To go on The duties of the first Table are by a special name called duties of Religion those of the second Table come under the name of Honesty and Probity Now as a man can never be truly Honest unless he be Religious So cannot that man what shew soever he makes be truly religious in God's esteem who is not honest in his conversation towards his neighbour Religion and Honesty must be married together or else neither of them will be in truth what it seems to be We know that all our duty both to God and our neighbour is comprehended under the name of Love as in that Summe of the Law Love God above all things and thy neighbour as thy self This is the Summe of the whole Law contained in both Tables But S. Iohn tells us 1 Ep. 4. 20. If a man say I love God and hateth his brother he is a liar which is as much as if he should say He that seems religious towards God and is without honesty towards his neighbour he is a liar there is no true religion in him If you would then know whether a man professing Religion by diligent frequenting Gods service and exercises of devotion keeping sacred times and hearing Sermons be a sound Christian or not or a seeming one only this is a sure and infallible note to discover him and for him to discover himself by For if notwithstanding his care of the duties of the first Table he makes no conscience to walk honestly towards his neighbour if he be disobedient to Parents and lawful Authority if he be cruel and uncharitable if he be unjust in his dealings fraudulent an oppressor a falsifier of Covenants and Promises a backâ—â—ster a slanderer or the like his Religion is no better than an Hypocrite's For such was the Religion of many of the Pharisees whom therefore our Saviour termeth Hypocrites Wo unto you Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites They were scrupulous in the duties of the first Table they paid tithe even of mint and anise they fasted twice a-week they were exact observers of the Sabbath and other ceremonies of Religion but judgment mercy and saith in their conversation towards men our Saviour tells them they regarded not Besides our Saviour's woe denounced against such there are Two dangerous Effects which accompany this evil disease which should make us beware thereof 1. Those who are addicted to Religion without any conscience of Honesty are easily drawn by the Devil to many intolerable acts under colour and in behalf thereof as they imagine We see it in the Papists and Iesuits whose preposterous zeal to their Religion makes them think Treasons Murthers Rebellions or any other such wicked acts are lawful and excusable so they be done for the good of the Catholick cause as they call it And if we search narrowly amongst our selves we shall light upon some examples of indirect and unlawful courses undertaken otherwhile on the behalf of Religion and all through want of this conscionable care of maintaining Honesty towards our neighbour together with our zeal for Religion towards God Even as we see an Horse in some narrow and dangerous passage whilest he is wholly taken up with some bugbear on the one side of the way which he would eschew and in the mean time mindeth not the other side where there is the like danger he suddenly slips into a pit or ditch with no small danger to himself and rider So is it here with such as look only to the first Table and mind not the second whilest they go about as they think to advance the duties of the one they fall most foully in the other 2. The second evil is a most dangerous Scandal which follows profession of Religion without honest conversation towards men It is a grievous stumbling-block and stone of offence making men out of love with Religion when they see such evil Effects from it and those who seem to profess it Those who are not yet come on are scared from coming resolving they will never be of their Religion which they see no better fruits of Those who are entred are ashamed and discouraged forsaking the duties of Religion that they might shun the suspicion of hypocrisie and dishonesty But woe be unto them by whom scandal cometh Let us all therefore take heed to adorn and approve our profession by bringing forth fruits not only of Piety and Devotion towards God but of works of Righteousness and Charity to our neighbour DISCOURSE XL. GENESIS 3. 13. And the Lord God said unto the woman What is this that thou hast done And the woman said The Serpent beguiled me and I did eat THE Story whereof the words I have read are part is so well known to all that it would be needless to spend time in any long Preface thereof Who knows not the Story of Adam's Fall who hath not heard of the Sin of Eve our Mother If there were no Scripture yet the unsampled irregularity of our whole nature which all the time of our life runs counter to all order and right reason the woâ—ul misery of our condition being a Scene of sorrow without any rest or contentment this might breed some general suspicion that ab initio non suit ita from the beginning it was not so but that he who made us Lords of his creatures made us not so worthless and vile as now we are but that some common Father to us all had drunken some strange and devilish poison wherewith the whole race
for the Apostate Faction as for the sake of some chosen ones that this blessing was continued Had there been nothing but Egyptians there darkness should wholly have surprised them but for Goshen's sake for a few righteous in Sodom God would not take this blessing from them He that espies any day-light will conclude the Sun is in our Heaven though for the clouds he see her not If we should see a candle hang up in a room and see it full of blind men yet would we say surely there is some amongst them can see why else hangs the candle there So must we reason from the day-light and candle-light of Divine Truths still appearing and hung up in the Church For as S. Paul said What if some did not believe shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect Rom. 3. 3. And Rom. 9. 4 c. when the body of the Iewish Nation refused Christ yet he reckons their priviledges as many as Rome could ever challenge Whose is saith he the Adoption and the Glory and the Covenants and the giving of the Law the service of God and the promises whose are the Fathers c. Not as though saith he the word of God had taken none effect For they are not all Israel which are of Israel c. NOW I come to the second mark here laid down in my Text to know what manner of Heresies should be in the great Apostasie of the Christian Faith Even denying the Lord that bought them They should give up their names as Christ's servants as his purchase and yet deny their Lord and Master For Servants in times past used to be bought with a price and so were as their Masters proper possession Christ buys his servants with his bloud The meaning therefore is they should profess themselves his servants and yet deny him to be their Master What Heresies should these be Even the very same the first mark told us of Christian Idolatry For as a Wife who hath given her faith to one Husband if she commit adultery with others denies him to be that she calls him though she call him Husband never so much So the Church the Spouse of Christ having given her faith to him alone to be her only Lord and Mediator in whom and through whom alone she would approach the Throne of Majesty in Heaven if she bows down her self to other Mediators whether Saints or Angels if she invocates and worships the Father in any other thing save Christ alone the only Image we must worship the Image of the Father and the only Agent we must imploy to God before the Throne in Heaven she commits Spiritual Adultery that is Idolatry and denies the Lord which bought her That this should be the meaning here let this one reason serve the turn That that is always the meaning of the like Phrase in the Old Testament where in stead of the Lord that bought we have the Lord that brought them out of the land of Egypt Let us compare them I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt Thou shalt have none other Gods but me In the New Testament thus saith Christ I am Christ the Lord which bought thee Thou shalt have no other Christ but me Are not these alike So when the Israelites fell to Idolatry and to worship Idols and strange Gods hear how the Lord speaks then Deut. 32. 15 16. Ieshurun waxed fat forsook God which made him and lightly esteemed the Rock of his Salvation they provoked him to jealousie with strange gods So may we say the Christian Mother waxed fat forsook God which redeemed her c. Iudges 2. 12 13. They forsook the Lord God of their Fathers which brought them out of the land of Egypt and followed other gods and served Baal and Ashtaroth and this expression is frequent Psal. 81. 10 11. 1 Kings 9. 9. 2 Kings 17. 7. Iust so might the Lord speak of Christians They forsook the Lord which brought them out of the Spiritual Egypt and worshipped Saints and Angels I meant to have spoken much more of this but the time will not suffer me I desire we may observe from this twofold mark of the Christian Apostasie What that is among so many Corruptions both now and heretofore overwhelming the Church of Christ wherein the Holy Ghost placeth the essence and which he accounteth as the Soul of the great Apostasie under the man of sin and would have us to make the Pole-star of our discovery thereof Not every Error not every Heresie how gross soever but Idolatry and Spiritual Fornication As for other Heresies though accompanying this yet are they but accidental and not of the essence of the great Apostasie which was to come Even as Whores are seldom without other foul faults which yet are no parts of Whoredom so hath the Spiritual Whore many other Heresies but her Whoredom is Idolatry Idolatry is the only Character and Note whereby the great Apostasie of the visible Church is discovered and distinguished from all other Blasphemies Seditions and Heresies of what age or time soever Which is the reason why Babylon is intituled in the Revelation of S. Iohn not the Liar of Babylon nor the Tyrant of Babylon nor the Heretick of Babylon nor the Murtheress of Babylon though she be all these but the Whore of Babylon yea the Great Whore and the Mother of the Fornications and Abominations of the Earth Chap. 17. DISCOURSE XLIV 1 COR. 10. 3 4. And they did all eat the same Spiritual meat And did all drink the same Spiritual drink For they drank of that Spiritual Rock that followed them and that Rock was Christ. THE first part of this Chapter is a Comparison of some Sacramental Types in the old Law with the two Sacraments of the new and that in two respects namely 1. For the same nature or substance of the Mysteries in both and 2. For the same condition of the Receivers if either they abuse them or walk unworthy of them The words which I have now chosen are in special an agreement of some of the foresaid Types of the Law with the Eucharist or Lord's Supper First in substance of the Mystery And they that is the Fathers in the Wilderness all ate the same Spiritual meat and all drank the same Spiritual drink Secondly in the dangerous condition of unworthy Receivers either of this or the other Sacrament in these words But with many of them God was not well pleased for they were overthrown in the Wilderness And first I will speak of the first of these which you may see is also double first concerning our Spiritual meat and secondly concerning our Spiritual drink in both which the Apostle affirms those of the old Fathers to have been the same with ours For the understanding whereof we will first speak of the Spiritual meat as the words lie and then of the Spiritual drink and in both first what is required to be
to the Corbanim the most Holy or to the Terumoth which were simply holy Concerning this last which we translate Heave-offerings there remain two things to be treated of 1. Their Morality 2. The practice of this kind by the ancient Church in the Office of the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper Concerning their Morality or Moral condition I will shew three things 1. That they were not Typical 2. That they were Offerings Eucharistical and Euctical that is addressed or used to Thanksgiving and Prayer according to the meaning of my Text. 3. That this kind of Offering is required at the hands of Christians For the First That Heave-offerings were not Typical I argue 1. From their distinction from the rest as being always simply holy never holy of holies The force of this Argument I frame thus If all the Oblationes ignitae or Fire-offerings are therefore called Sanctae sanctarum Holy of holies because they were not only consecrate to God but further Signs and Types of holy things to come and so had a double Holiness one of Sanctification another of Signification then the Heave-offerings which never are nor ought to be so called were only simply holy but no Types of Holy things to come But the first is true neither can other reason be given of this distinction Therefore Heave-offerings were no Types of things to come 2. My second Reason shall be from the differing usage of Terumoth from the most Holy offerings For the most Holy Offerings were to be eaten only of Priests by condition of Males by sex and in no place but the Holy place and that because Christ whose Types they were was to be a Priest no ministring Levite a Male no Female and was to offer and make his own Body a Sacrifice for sin in no other part of the world but the Holy city of Ierusalem But as for Heave-offerings not only Priests but every Levite Singer and Door-keeper not only Males but the Wives and Daughters of the Levites not only Virgins but even Widows and divorced women not only free Israelites but even their Slaves and Bondmen who were not of the Sons of Israel and not only in the Holy place but in every place they ate them The truth hereof is certain and obvious through all the Law of Moses without any one little crossing it I will not trouble you therefore with quotations but frame my second Reason after this manner If none may eat of the most Holy Offerings but only Priests only Males and only in the Holy place because only Priests only Males and of all places only the Sanctuary or holy place were Types of Christ then surely those Offerings which every under Levite ate of every Levite's wife and daughter widows and divorced women every Levite's slave and bondman and that in every place those Offerings doubtless cannot be Typical or Signs of Christ or any thing proper to him unless we affirm That every Levite Levite's Wife Daughter Widow divorced woman yea Slaves and Bondmen and every corner in the Land of Canaan were Types of Christ. 3. To this we may add in the third place That there is no one word to be found in the whole Scripture concerning the abolishment of Terumah or the Heave-offering but of the most Holy in express terms it is said Dan. 9. 27. That the Messias 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should cause to cease the Zebach and Mincha that is all the Offerings of fire or Holy of holies And S. Paul Heb. 9. 9 10. that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sacrifices and Gifts were ordained 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 until the time of reformation he saith not so of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which word the LXX use almost every where for the simply holy Terumah or Heave-offering whereas by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they translate Corban Zebach and Mincha according to S. Paul's own quotation out of Psalm 40. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zebach and Mincha thou wouldest not that is no Offering of fire no Corban or most Holy and more specially of the several kinds A burnt-offering and an offering for sin thou requiredst not 4. And hence it is in the fourth place That God no where rejects the Heave-offering or any one kind thereof but Zebach and Mincha almost as often as they are named in the Prophets or Psalms As in this 50. Psalm ver 8 13. I will not reprove thee for thy Zebachim nor thy burnt-offerings Will I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the bloud of goats And in Psalm 40. 6. which S. Paul before quoted for the abolishment of Typical Offerings Zebach and Mincha thou wouldest not a burnt-offering and an offering for sin thou requiredst not And Ier. 7. 21 c. Put your burnt-offerings unto your Zebachim For I spake not unto your fathers nor commanded them in the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt concerning Holocausts and Zebachim But this I commanded them Obey my voice and I will be your God and ye shall be my people and walk ye in all the ways I commanded you that it may be well with you He that will may look further in Psal. 51. 16. Esay 1. 11 c. Ier. 6. 20. Hos. 6. 6. Amos 5. 22. where we may hear God still rejecting and disdaining Holocausts Zebachim and Mincha Shâ—lamim or Peace-offerings the whole rabble of Corbanim or most holy offerings but no word of Terumah What force of reason this may bear with those who consider that these appellations of Offerings are never confounded in the whole Law of Moses or History of Israel and therefore not like to be in these places only I know not I am sure Terumah is about sixty times found in the Bible and no where taken for an Offering of fire or most Holy Nor can it any where be shewn that Zebach and Mincha are put for any other Offerings but Offerings of fire whereof I have already shewn Zebach was one part and Mincha the other And therefore I dare conclude That Heave-offerings called Terumoth and simply holy howsoever many of them might be Ecclesiastical or Iudicial sacred in regard of some circumstance yet in their proper nature and principal end they were no Types of things to come AND so I come to the Second thing I propounded to shew That these Offerings were Eucharistical and Euctical that is their formalis ratio and essence consisted in Thanksgiving and Prayer For an Offering is then Eucharistical when we give something unto the Lord's use in way of Thankfulness for Blessings received an Offering is then Euctical when we give something to the Lord's use to the end that he seeing our Obedience and Thankfulness in honouring him might grant us a further Blessing we sue for And this is either de praesenti or de futuro De praesenti when our
Bread and Wine and Alms being out of use the Priest could apply the word Offer to no other thing but the offering of Christ's Body and Bloud Thus have you seen as briefly as I could the Practice of the ancient Church in their offering of Praise afore the Sacrament for after this was done as ye have heard then came the Sacrament and then the Communion of the same NOW it remains I should shew What ground and reason they had for this Custom which I will do briefly The First ground they seem to have had is from the Office of the Peace-offering or Eucharistical Sacrifice because they were both of the like nature and same end the Iews in the Eucharistical Sacrifice having communion with him who was to come by eating of their Sacrifice as we in this Sacrament have with him who is already come by eating of his Mystical Body and Bloud under the forms of Bread and Wine And because of this affinity they framed the office of the one like unto the office of the other For in every Peace-offering there was first a Terumah of Praise and Thanksgiving both of animalia and cibaria secondly A part of this being reserved for the Priest's use the rest was made a Sacrifice by sprinkling of bloud and burning some part thereof upon the Altar as a Memorial of the whole And in the third place That which was saved from the fire was eaten both of Priest and people This may be seen in the Law of Peace-offerings and the offerings of Consecration and Purification all being of the same Law According to this Pattern was framed the Office of the Sacrament for in this also was first offered a Terumah of Praise and Prayer some part of which being kept for some other holy use the rest was consecrate into a Sacrament and then eaten both of Priest and People The Second reason they have is from the first celebration of this Sacrament by Christ and his Apostles which the Evangelists record thus That Christ took Bread 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is having made a blessing and a thanksgiving he said Take eat This is my body which is broken for you and then likewise of the Cup and to both adds Do this in remembrance of me In these words of the Story we see three acts plainly expressed 1. A Blessing or Thanksgiving 2. A Consecration of a Sacrament This is my Body c. 3. A Communion or Receiving of the same Take and eat Now because after all this Christ adds Do this in remembrance of me or As often as ye do this do it in remembrance of me it may be a question whether he means that all these acts should be done in remembrance of him or only some one of them The Singular number may argue he meant of some one and then it is a Question which of the three whether he would have the Blessing and Thanksgiving or the Consecration or the Eating done in remembrance of him It may seem not to be meant of the Eating or Communion for the words seem to be spoken before it was and besides the words seem to be spoken of something himself had done which were the two first acts only To be short The most ancient Fathers Iustin Martyr Irenaeus with others if I understand them they understand these words of that first act of Blessing and Thanksgiving as if Christ had said Whereas heretofore in this act of Blessing and Thanksgiving you made a chief remembrance or chiefly gave thanks to God for passing by you when he slew all the first-born of Egypt henceforth in lieu of this ye shall do it in remembrance of me that is you shall give thanks to God for my Incarnation and coming into the world to save mankind for my precious Death and Passion for my glorious Ascension and all the Benefits ye have from me And so the meaning of S. Paul's words expounding the words of Christ As often as ye eat of this bread and drink of this cup ye declare the Lord's death until he come is to be construed after the same manner viz. Not by eating this bread or by drinking this cup but at the eating of this bread and at the drinking of this cup ye use to make a thankful remembrance of the Lord's death meaning that this remembrance or declaration is neither the Form nor the Effect of the Sacrament it self but a Connexum or thing joyned unto it or used at the same time with it For the Form of the Sacrament is a Sign and Communion of the Lord's body the End and Effect the Confirmation of our Faith neither of which seems to be meant by remembring of his death Howsoever it be upon this Exposition the Fathers ground their Oblation of Prayer and Thanksgiving before the Sacrament as a thing injoyned by Christ himself Irenaeus expresly saith That Christ in this his taking bread and giving thanks Novi Testamenti novam docuit oblationem did teach and appoint the New Oblation of the New Testament and that by so doing he taught his disciples Primitias Deo offerre ex suis creaturis non quasi indigenti sed ut ipsi nec infructuosi nec ingrati sint to offer unto God an Heave-offering of his creatures not for that God had any need thereof but that they might not shew themselves ungrateful and unprofitable servants and that of this Malachi prophesied when he saith In every place Incense shall be offered unto my Name and a pure Offering If you wonder how it could be so taken I will make it plain as I conceive it thus Where it is said that Christ took bread and gave thanks or made a blessing it may be understood either that he gave thanks to God for the Bread or with the Bread If with the Bread he made an Oblatory thanksgiving or blessing as I have shewed the Ancients did And in this sense the Fathers take the words and Beza himself leans the same way quoting the words of Theophylact That he gave not thanks for the bread but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon the bread that is he did an act of Oblatory praise by addressing Bread and Wine to the Lord's use in the Sacrament And that such should be the meaning of the words this reason made great appearance because it is like that Christ used the same kind of Blessing and the same kind of Thanksgiving which the Iews used in the Passeover only changing the End thereof Now their Thanksgiving was by way of Oblation for the Passeover was a kind of Peace-offering in which I have shewed that which was to be a Sacrifice was first offered a Terumah of Thanksgiving whereof the whole Sacrifice was called Eucharistical Whether this be the meaning of the words or no I will not say The End of all this Discourse of Offerings hath been to help my self and others to understand the Fathers rightly and to know the difference of the Romish Mass
be made by God's appointment at Mount Sinai but was much more ancient Noah built an Altar as soon as he came out of the Arkâ— Abraham Isaac and Iacob wheresoever they came to pitch their Tents erected Places for Divine worship that is Altars with their septs and enclosures without any special appointment from God Iacob in particular vowed a place for Divine worship by the name of God's House where he would pay the Tithes of all that God should give him Gen. 28. 19 c. Lo here a Church endowed Yea Moses himself Exod. 33. 7. before the Ark and that glorious Tabernacle were yet made pitched a Tabernacle for the same purpose without the Camp whither every one that sought the Lord was to go And all this was done tanquam recepti moris as a thing of custom and as mankind by Tradition had learned to accommodate the Worship of their God by appropriating some Place to that use Nature teaching them that the work was honoured and dignified by the peculiarness of the place appointed for the same and that if any work were so to be honoured there was nothing it more beseemed than the Worship and service of Almighty God the most peculiar and incommunicable act of all other Nay more than this It was believed in those elder times That that Country or Territory wherein no Place was set apart for the Worship of God was unhallowed and unclean Which I think I rightly gather from that Story in the Book of Iosua of the Altar built by Reuben Gad and the half Tribe of Manasseh upon the bank of the River Iordan which Iosua and the Elders as their words intimate supposed they had done lest the land of their possession being by the River Iordan cut off from the land of Canaan where the Lord's Tabernacle was and so having no place therein consecrated to the worship of their God might otherwise be an unclean and unhallowed habitation Hear the words of Phinehas and the Princes sent to disswade them Iosua 22. 19. and judge whether they import not as I have said If the land say they of your possession be unclean then pass ye â—ver unto the land of the possession of the LORD where the LORD'S Tabernacle dwelleth and take possession amongst us but rebel not against the LORD nor against us in building you an Altar besides the Altar of the LORD your God Now concerning the condition and property of Places thus sanctified or hallowed what it is whence can we learn better than from that which the Lord spake unto Moses Exod. 20. immediately after he had pronounced the Decalogue from Mount Sinai where premising that they should not make with him gods of gold and gods of silver but that they should make himâ— an Altar of earth as namely their ambulatory state then permitted otherwise of stone and thereon sacrifice their burnt-offerings and peace-offerings he adds in all places where I record my Name I will come unto thee and bless thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In every place where the remembrance or memorial of my Name shall be or Wheresoever that is which I have or shall appoint to be the remembrance or memorial of my Name and presence there I will come unto thee and bless thee Lo here a description of the Place set apart for Divine worship It is the Place where God records his Name and comes unto men to bless them Two things are here specified The Monument Record or Memorial of God's Name secondly His coming or meeting therewith men Of both let us enquire distinctly what they mean I know it would not be untrue to say in general That God's Name is recorded or remembred in that place upon which his Name is called or which is called by his Name as the Scripture speaks that is which is dedicate to his worship and service But there is some more special thing intended here namely the Memorial or Monument of God's Name is that token or Symbole whereby he testifieth his Covenant and commerce with men Now although the Arkâ— called the Ark of the Covenant or Testimony wherein lay the two Tables namely the Book or Articles of the Covenant and Manna the Bread of the Covenant were afterwards made for this purpose to be the standing Memorial of God's Name and Presence with his people yet cannot that be here either only or specially aimed at because when these words were spoken it had no being nor was there yet any commandment given concerning the making thereof Wherefore the Record here mentioned I understand with a more general reference to any Memorial whereby God's Covenant and commerce with men was testified such as were the Sacrifices immediately before spoken of and the seat of them the Altar which therefore may seem to be in some sort the more particularly here pointed unto For that these were Rites of remembrance whereby the Name of God was commemorated or recorded and his Covenant with men renewed and testified might be easily proved Whence it is that that which was burned upon the Altar is so often called the Memorial as in Leviticus the 2. 5. 6 and 24. chapters Accordingly the son of Sirach tells us chap. 45. 16. that Aaron was chosen out of all men living to offer Sacrifices to the Lord incense and a sweet savour for a Memorial to make reconciliation for his people Add also that Esay 66. 3. Qui recordatur thure quasi qui benedicat Idolo He that without true contrition and humiliation before the Lord recordeth or maketh remembrance with incense is as if he blessed an Idol But I must not stay too long upon this You will say What is all this to us now in the time of the Gospel I answer Yes For did not Christ ordain the holy Eucharist to be the Memorial of his Name in the New Testament This saith he is my Body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Do this for my Commemoration or in Memorial of me And what if I should affirm that Christ is as much present here as the Lord was upon the Mercy-seat between the Cherubims Why should not then the Place of this Memorial under the Gospel have some semblable sanctity to that where the Name of God was recorded in the Law And though we be not now tied to one only Place as those under the Law were and that God heareth the faithful prayers of his Servants wheresoever they are made unto him as also he did then yet should not the Places of his Memorial be promiscuous and common but set apart to that sacred purpose In a word All those sacred Memorials of the Iewish Temple are both comprehended and excelled in this One of Christians the Sacrifices Shew-bread and Ark of the Covenant Christ's Body and Bloud in the Eucharist being all these unto us in the New Testament agreeable to that of the Apostle Rom. 3. 25. God hath set forth Iesus Christ to be our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 through faith in
though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow c. and that in Esay the last To this man will I look to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit He that killeth an ox namely otherwise is as if he slew a man he that Sacrificeth a lamb unless he comes with this disposition as if he cut off a dog's neck he that offereth an oblation as if he offered bloud he that burneth incense as if he blessed an Idol And surely he that blesseth an Idol is so far from renewing a Covenant with the Lord his God that he breaks it So did they who without conscience of Repentance presumed to come before him with a Sacrifice not procure atonement but aggravate their breach According to one of these three senses are all passages in the Old Testament disparaging and rejecting Sacrifices literally to be understood namely when men preferred them before the greater things of the Law valued them out of their degree as an antecedent duty or placed their efficacy in the naked Rite as if ought accrued to God thereby God would no longer own them for any ordinance of his nor indeed in that disguise put upon them were they I will except only one Passage out of the number which I suppose to have a singular meaning to wit that of David in the 51. Psalm v. 16 17. which the ancient translations thus express Quoniam si voluisses sacrificium dedissem utique sed holocaustis non oblectaberis vel holocaustum non acceptabis Sacrificium Deo spiritus contribulatus c. If thou wouldst have had a Sacrifice I would have offered it but thou wilt accept no burnt-offering c. For this seems to be meant of that special case of Adulterie and Murther which David here deploreth for which Sins the Lord had provided no Sacrifice in his Law Wherefore David in this his Penitential confession tells him That if he had appointed any Sacrifice for expiation of this kind of sin he would have given it him but he had ordained none save only a broken spirit and a contrite heart which thou O God saith he wilt not despise but accept that alone for a Sacrifice in this case without which Sacrifice in no case is accepted Now out of this Discourse we are sufficiently furnished for the understanding of this Caution of Solomon in my Text Be more ready to obey than to offer the Sacrifice of fools or as the words in the Original import Be more approaching God with a purpose and resolution of obedience to his Commandments than with the Sacrifice of fools that is Have a care rather to approach the Divine Majesty with an offering of an obediential disposition than with the bare and naked Rite But the sense is still the same namely The House of God at Ierusalem was an House of sacrifice which they who came thither to worship offered unto the Divine Majesty to make way for their prayers and supplications unto him or to find favour in his sight Solomon therefore gives them here a caveat not to place their Religion either only or chiefly in the external Rite but in their readiness to hear and keep the Commandments of God without which that Rite alone would avail them nothing but be no better than the sacrifice of fools who when they do evil think they do well For without this readiness to obey this purpose of heart to live according to his Commandments God accepts of no Sacrifice from those who approach him nor will pardon their transgressions when they come before him He therefore that makes no conscience of sinning against God and yet thinks to be expiate by Sacrifice is an ignorant fool how wise and religious soever he may think himself to be or appear unto men by the multitude or greatness of his Sacrifices The reason Because the Lord requires Obedience antecedently and absolutely but Sacrifice consequently only and then too not primariò or chiefly and for it self but secondarily only as a testimony of Coutrition and a ready desire and purpose in the offerer to continue in his favour by Obedience This is Solomon's the Preacher's meaning Wherein behold as in a glass the condition of all external Service of God in general as that which he accepteth no otherwise than secondarily namely as issuing from a Heart respectively affected with that devotion it importeth For God as he is a living God so he requires a living worship But as the Body without the Soul is but a carkass so is all external and bodily worship wherein the pulse of the Heart's devotion beats not But if this be so you will say it were better to use no external worship at all of course as we do the worship of the Body in the gestures of bowing kneeling standing and the like than to incur this danger of serving God with a dead and hypocritical service because it is not like the Heart will be always duly affected when the outward worship shall be required I answer Where there is a true and real intent to honour God with outward and bodily worship there the act is not Hypocrisie though accompanied with many defects and imperfections Here therefore that Rule of our Saviour touching the greater and lesser things of the Law must have place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These things that is the greater things of the Law we ought to do and not to leave the other though the lesser undone For otherwise if this reasoning were admitted a man might upon the same ground absent himself from coming to Church upon the days and times appointed or come thither but now and then alledging the indisposition of his Heart to joyn with the Church in her publick worship at other times or if he came thither act a mute and when others sing and praise God be altogether silent and not open his mouth nor say Amen when others do For all these are external services and the service of the voice and gesture are in this respect all one there is no difference But who would not think this to be very absurd We should rather upon every such occasion rouse and stir up our Affections with fit and seasonable meditations that what the order and decency of ◠Church-assembly requires to be done of every member outwardly we may likewise do devoutly and acceptably These things we ought to do and not leave the other undone But you will say What if I cannot bring my Heart unto that religious fear and devotion which the outward worship I should perform requireth I could say that some of the outward worship which a man performs in a Church-assembly he does not as a singular man but as a member of the Congregation But howsoever I answer Let the worship of thy Body in such a case be at least a confession and acknowledgment before God of that love fear and esteem of his Divine Majesty thou oughtest to have but hast not For though to come
there placed by the name of ALTARE and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet these Authors afore-named when the Gentiles object Atheism to the Christians as who had no Templa no Arae no Simulacra are wont in their Apologies to answer by way of Concession not only that they had none but more that they ought not to have What should this mean why this They answer the Gentiles according to the notion wherein they objected this unto them to wit that they had no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no Idol-stools or Simulacrorum scabella not that they had no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Therefore the word which Origen there useth is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And in all those passages you shall ever find Arae Simulacra to go together Origen O 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Celsus ait nos Ararum Statuarum Templorúmque fundationes fugere Minutius Felix Cur nullas Aras habent Templa nulla nulla nota Simulacra Arnobius In hac consuéstis parte crimen nobis maximum impietatis affigere Quòd non Deorum alicujus simulacrum constituamus aut formam non Altaria fabricemus NON ARAS Lactantius Quid sibi Templa quid Arae volunt quid denique ipsa Simulacra c And as for Temples their meaning was they had no such claustra Numinum as the Gentiles supposed Temples to be and to which they appropriated that name viz. Places whereunto the Gods by the power of spels and magical consecrations were confined and limited and for the presencing of whom a Statue was necessary places wherein they dwelt shut up as Birds in a cage or as the Devil confined within a circle that so they might be ready at hand when men had occasion to seek unto them That Christians indeed had no such dwellings for their God as these for that their God dwelt not in Temples made with hands But not that they had not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For such the stories and monuments of those times expresly inform us they had and the Gentiles themselves that objected this defect knew it too well as may appear by their Emperors Rescripts for demolishing them and sometimes for restoring them when the Persecution ceased All which he that will may find in Eusebius his Ecclesiastical History before either Arnobius or Lactantius wrote Whither I refer them that would be more fully satisfied yea to Arnobius himself in the end of his 4. Book adversùs Gentes where he speaks of the burning of the Christians sacred Books and demolition of their Places of assembly And thus I conclude my Discourse PSALM CXXXII VII We will go into his Tabernacle we will worship towards his Footstool SO the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is rightly rendred and those who say Before his Footstool imply the same if it be rightly construed The LXX hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Toward the Place where his feet stand which is a Periphrasis of a Footstool THE LORD'S FOOTSTOOL here mentioned was either the Ark of the Testimony it self or the place at least where it stood called DEBIR or the Holy of Holies towards which the Iews in their Temple used to worship The very next words following my Text argue so much Arise O Lord into thy rest thou and the Ark of thy strength And it is plain out of 1 Chron. 28. 2. where David saith concerning his purpose to have built God an House I had in mine heart to build an House of rest for the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord and for the FOOTSTOOL of our God Where the Conjunction and is Exegetical and the same with that is According to this expression the Prophet Ieremy also in the beginning of the second of his Lamentations bewaileth that The Lord had cast down the beauty of Israel that is his glorious Temple and remembred not his FOOTSTOOL that is the Ark of his Covenant in the day of his wrath This to be the true and genuine meaning of this phrase of worshipping the Lord towards his Footstool besides the confessed Custom of the time is evidently confirmed by a parallel expression of this worshipping posture Psalm 28. 2. Hear the voice of my supplication when I cry unto thee when I lift up mine hands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 towards thine HOLY ORACLE that is toward the most Holy place where the Ark stood and from whence God gave his answers For that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 DEBIR which is here translated ORACLE was the Sanctum Sanctorum or Most holy place is clear out of the 6. and 8. Chapters of the first Book of Kings where in the former we read that Solomon prepared the ORACLE or DEBIR to set the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord there in the latter that the Priests brought in the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord unto his place into the Oracle of the House to the most holy place even under the wings of the Cherubims Wherefore the Authors of the Translation used in our Liturgy rendred this passage of the Psalm When I hold up my hands toward the Mercy-seat of thy holy Temple namely having respect to the meaning thereof Thus you see that one of the two must needs be this Scabellum pedum or FOOTSTOOL of God either the Ark or Mercy-seat it self or the Adytum Templi the Most holy place where it stood For that it is not the whole Temple at large though that might be so called but some thing or part to those that are within it the first word◠of my Text We will go into his Tabernacles do argue If then it be the Ark whose Cover was that we call the Mercy-seat it seems to have been so called in respect of God's sitting upon the Cherubims under which the Ark lay as it were his Footstool whence sometimes it is described The Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of Hosts which sitteth upon the Cherubims If the Ark with the Cover thereof the Mercy-seat be it self considered as God's Throne then the place thereof the DEBIR may not unfitly be termed his Footstool Or lastly if we consider Heaven to be the Throne of God as indeed it is then whatsoever place or monument of Presence he hath here on Earth is in true esteem no more but his Footstool Thus the meaning of the Text is plain which I thought good to make choice of for the Argument of my Discourse at this time for our better information concerning the lawfulness of that practice of worshipping God towards the holy Table or Altar For it becomes not us who live in such places as these where Knowledge is taught and should be derived to other parts of the Church to be ignorant of the reason and quality of any thing especially concerning the Worship of God which either we do our selves or see others do lest in
time of the Fourth Kingdom of Daniel So Antichrist and his Mystery of impiety was to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the latter times of those Last times that is as I shall better shew hereafter in the Last times or Last Scene as I may so speak of the Fourth Kingdom of Daniel When Christ came the Sceptre was to depart from Iudah and that Common-wealth to be dissolved So when Antichrist was to come the Roman Empire was to fall and He that hindered was to be taken out of the way 2. Thess. 2. 7. The Iews expected Christ to come when he did come and yet knew him not when he was come because they had fancied the manner and quality of his coming like some temporal Monarch with armed power to subdue the earth before him So the Christians God's second Israel looked the coming of Antichrist should be at that time when he came indeed and yet they knew him not when he was come because they had fancied his coming as of some barbarous Tyrant who should with armed power not only persecute and destroy the Church of Christ but almost the World that is they looked for such an Antichrist as the Iews looked for a Christ. Wherefore as Christ came unto his own and his own received him not so Antichrist came upon those who were not his own and yet they eschewed him not But yet as some Iews though few knew Christ when he came and received him so did some Christians though but few keep themselves from the pollution of Antichrist Lastly as the Iews ere long shall acknowledge and run unto him whom they pierced as not knowing him So hath the Christian Church for a great part discovered that Son of perdition whom a long time they had ignorantly worshipped because they knew him not O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of GOD how unsearchable are his judgment and his ways past finding out But for our part seeing our case is so like unto that of the Iews let their lamentable and woful error in mistaking their Messiah by wrongly fancying him be a warning and caveat unto us that we likewise upon like conceits and prejudice mistake and misdeem not the Man of sin TINE ' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 SOME CHAP. X. The Second Particular in the Description of the Great Apostasie viz. The Persons Apostatizing exprest by TINE ' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 SOME The Great Apostasie was to be a General one That the word TINE ' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 SOME doth not always imply a Few or a Small number proved by several passages in Scripture The true Church of Christ was never wholly extinguish't Wherein we and the Papists differ about the Churche's Visibility In what respects our Church was Visible and in what it was Invisible under the Apostasie and Reign of Antichrist This is further cleared by the parallel state of the Israelitish Church under the Apostasie of Israel NOW I come unto the Second point expressed in this Description of the Great Apostasie namely The Persons Revolters They should not be all but TINE ' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 SOME 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some shall Apostatize Some that is not as we in our English do often use it a Few but Some that is not All yet Some that is So many as that the whole visible Church should be said thereof to be Apostatized So many as should like a Cloud over-spread the face of the Christian Firmament in such sort as the Stars and Lights therein should not easily be discerned For the Great Defection so much prophesied of was to be a Solemn and General one such a one as wherein the chiefest of the Churches honoured as a Mother in Israel should become a Babylonish Whore a Mother of Harlots and of the abominations of the Earth Revel 17. such a one as whereby the Outmost Court of the Temple of God should not only be prophaned but troden down by Gentilism Revel 11. such a one as the World is said to wonder after the Beast and to worship him and such a one as should not only make war with the Saints but overcome them Rev. 13. Otherwise if our Apostle here and S. Iohn there should mean no more but the Errours of some particular ones and their Revolt from the Faith of the Church they should make either no Prophecy at all or at the best but a needless one For who knows not that in S. Paul's S. Iohn's and the Apostles own times were many Heresies and Hereticks grown up as weeds in the Wheat-field of Christ but as yet the wheat overtopped them and the visible body of the Church disclaimed them If these had been the worst the Church should look for the Apostles should seem to prophesie of things present and not as they do of things to come yea and more than this they should foretell of a thing as proper and peculiar to the Last-times which was no Novelty in their own times We must take notice therefore that the Apostasie and Corruption of Faith so much prophesied of was another manner of one than that which was so frequent in those first times such a kind of one as should not be disclaimed by the Visible body of the Church but should surprise eclipse and overcloud the beautiful face thereof which manner of Desection never had been before nor should the like be after it Now that the word TINE ' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or SOME useth in Scripture to imply no small number but only serves to intimate an exception of some particulars though there were but two or three to be excepted I will make manifest by a few examples lest ou◠English use might deceive us First Iohn 6. 60. Many of the Disciples saith the Text when they heard this said This is an hard saying and v. 66. Many of his Disciples from that time went back and walked no more with him Nevertheless concerning these many Christ himself saith v. 64. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But there are Some of you which believe not Here we see that Some is a great many So Rom. 11. 17. S. Paul there saith of the rejection of the Iews Some of the branches are broken off Now what a Some this was appears in the same Chapter v. 32. when he saith God hath included them ALL in unbelief that he might have mercy upon ALL. But to seek no further the 1 cor 10. will store us with examples as v. 7. Neither be ye Idolaters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Some of them were this was a great Some for Moses saith of it Exodus 32. 3. And ALL the people brake off their golden Ear-rings and brought them to Aaron In v. 8. Neither let us commit fornication as Some of them which were so many Numb 25. 4. that the Lord said unto Moses Take ALL the heads of the people and hang them up before the Lord that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned
the Camp whither every one that sought the Lord was to go and called it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Tabernacle of meeting viz. of meeting with God not of Mens meeting together as we mean when we turn it Tabernacle of the Congregation Of which perhaps more hereafter Now for the nature of these Places we can no where learn it better than from that of the Lord to Moses Exod. 20. immediately after he had pronounced the Decalogue from Mount Sinai where premising that they should not make with him whom they had seen talking with them from Heaven Gods of silver and Gods of gold and that they should make his Altar namely whilst they were there in the Wilderness of earth and sacrifice their sacrifices thereon he adds In all places where I record my Name I will come unto thee and will bless thee Here is contained the definition of the Place set apart for Divine Worship 'T is the Place where God records his Name and communicates himself to men to bless them Exod. 20. 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In every place where the Memorial I appoint of my Name shall be or In every place set apart for the Memorial of my name The Memorial of God's Name is any token or symbol whereby he testifies his Covenant and as it were commerceth with Men. And though the Ark were afterward made for this purpose as the standing Memorial of his Name and therefore called The Testimony and the Ark of the Covenant yet could not that here be specially pointed at as which yet was not in being nor any commandment concerning the making thereof yet heard of And so the words to be taken generally for any such as were the Sacrifices immediately before mentioned and the Seat of them the Altar and therefore may seem to be more particularly referred unto for that these were Federal Rites whereby the Name of God was remembred and his Covenant testified may be easily proved whence that which was burned upon the Altar is so often called The Memorial See Levit. chap. 24. 7. c. 2. c. 5. c. 6. And the Son of Sirach tells us Ecclus. 45. 16. that Aaron was chosen out of all men living to offer Sacrifices to the Lord incense and a sweet savour for a Memorial to make reconciliation for his People Add Esay 66. 3. Qui recordatur thure quasi qui benedicat idolo But I must not stay too long in this Now I ask Did not Christ ordain the Holy Eucharist to be the Memorial of his Name in the New Testament Hoc saith he est corpus meum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And there be those that will not stick to say That Christ is as much present here as the Lord was upon the Mercy-seat between the Cherubims Why should not then the Places appointed for the Station of this Memorial under the Gospel have some semblable Sanctity to that where the Name of God was recorded in the Law And though we be not now tied to one only Place as under the Law and that God hears the faithful prayers of his Servants wheresoever they are made unto him as also he did then yet should not the Place of his Memorial be promiscuous and common but set apart to that sacred purpose You will say This Christian Memorial is not always there present as at least some one or other of those in the Law were I answer It is enough it is wont to be as the Chair of Estate loseth not its relation and due respect though the King be not always there And remember that the Ark of the Covenant or Testimony was not in Ierusalem when Daniel opened his windows and prayed thitherward and that it was wanting in the Holy place all the time of the Second Temple the Seat thereof being only there You will say In the Old Testament these things were appointed by Divine law and commanded but in the New we find no such thing I answer In things for which we find no new Rule given in the New Testament there we are referred to the analogy of the Old witness the Apostles proofs taken thence for the maintenance of the Ministery 1. Cor. 9. and the like and the practice of the Church ab initio in Baptizing Infants from the analogy of Circumcision in hallowing every First day of the Week as one in Seven from the analogy of the Iewish Sabbath For it is to be seriously considered That the end of Christ's coming into the world was not to give new Laws but to fulfil the Law already given and to preach the Gospel of reconciliation through his Name to those who had transgressed it Whence we see the Style of the New Testament not any where to carry the form of enacting Laws but such as are there mentioned to be mentioned only occasionally by way of allegation of interpretation of proof of exhortation and not by way of re-enacting There comes now very fitly into my mind a passage of Clemens a Man of the Apostolical Age whose name S. Paul says was written in the Book of Life in his genuine Epistle ad Corinthios lately set forth page 52. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Omnia ritè ordine facere debemus quaecunque Dominus peragere nos jussit What doth he command 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. praestitutis temporibus oblationes liturgias obire neque enim temere vel inordinatè voluit ista fieri sed statutis temporibus horis V B I etiam A QVIBVS peragi velit ipse excelsissimâ suâ voluntate definivit But where hath the Lord defined these things unless he hath left us to the analogy of the Old Testament 4. Concerning the Objection of our Saviour's eating the Passeover and first Institution of the Holy Supper in a Common place in an Inne Against the supposed Sanctity or Dignity to be ascribed to the Holy Table or Altar as the place where the Memorial of the Body and Bloud of Christ is represented you object the Table and place of the first Institution which was an ordinary Table and a common Inne whereby it should seem that the Table whereon it was afterwards to be celebrated should no otherwise be accounted of First I answer It follows not and that from the parallel of the Institution of the Passeover which though at first it were killed in a private house and the bloud stricken upon the door-posts yet afterwards it might not be so but was to be offered in the place which the Lord should chuse Deut. 16. 5 6. to place his Name there according to the Law given for all Offerings and Sacrifices in general Deut. 12. à versu 4. ad 14. inclusivè with a triple inculcation in one continued Series of speech This Answer seems to me sufficient for the Objection of the first Institution But there is one thing more yet to be considered That there is not the same reason of the Place where the
that of Israel's Mora in deserto an estate and condition externally better than what they came from in Egypt but inferiour to that they should in time attain unto Yea besides this general the Allusion is most fit for many particular Correspondencies Moses brought the Israelites out of the Egyptian bondage into the Wilderness a place where they might worship and sacrifice unto the Lord safely where the Law was given Tabernacle built Ordinances both Sacred and Political enacted c. So did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Great Constantine deliver the Apostolical Woman and brought her into the like condition wherein she might worship Christ safely the Laws of the Church were established Tabernacles for Christian Worship erected Tâ—thes and Revenues assigned c. And had not this Christian Wilderness a Calf too made of the Ear-rings stoln from the Egyptians Was there not here found a Korah among the Sons of Levi with his partakers men of renown to rebel against Moses and Aaron and to offer strange fire unto the Lord Was there not here a Balaam to deceive and a Baal-Peor to be worshipped was there not a Marah and a Meribah Yea was there not here also as well as there those who brought an evil report upon the Land whither they were to go Farther might not God say of the times of this Christian Wilderness as he did of the abode of Israel there Psal. 95. 10. Forty years long was I grieved c. and Amos 5. 25 26. Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years O house of Israel But ye have born the Tabernacle of your Moloch c. CHAP. 17. 14. and they that are with him are called and chosen and faithful i.e. The Lamb and those called and elect and chosen ones which are with him shall overcome the Beast So I understand it These are that Virgin-Company Chap. 14. which follow the Lamb whither soever he goeth and shall now accompany him in this Exploit This therefore will serve for a Character Synchronistical That that Virgin-Company continues in time to the end of Babylon and the Beast and for an intimation of whom that Vision meaneth viz. such as faithfully adhere unto the Lamb while the Beast reigneth and the rest of men admire and worship him CHAP. 19. 15. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword that with it he should smite the Nations So it was prophesied of him by Esay chap. 11. 4. that he should smite the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips should shay the wicked and in 2 Thess. 2. 8. he shall consume that Wicked one viz. Antichrist with the Spirit of his mouth Christ our General nor fights nor conquers by force of Arms but by the power of his Word and Spirit He does all nutu verbo As it is said Psal. 33. God made the world by his word and by the breath of his mouth in like manner doth Christ overcome his enemies and enables his Ministers to overcome them also Verbo Spiritu oris Agreeable hereunto is that in Hos. 6. 5. I have hewed them by my Prophets and slain them by the words of my mouth CHAP. 20. 6. Blessed and Holy is he that hath part in the First Resurrection What is meant by the First Resurrection see in The Remains upon the Apocalyps Book III. pag. 604. and in Book IV. Epistle 20. Vers. 14. And Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire This is the Second Death Nothing is hereby meant but that Death was now quite vanquished and that there should be no more Death of Body or Separation of Soul but only the Second Death As if it had been said Death and Hades were now confined only to the lake of fire which is the Second Death The Death of Bodies in the grave should be no more nor the state of Separate Souls in Hades CAP. XI Commentationes Minores in Apocalypsin CAP. 1. vers 3. Tempus enim prop è est i.e. Iam adest tempus quo verba Prophetiae hujus impleri coeperint indies magìs magÃsque implebuntur Vers. 4. ab eo qui est qui erat qui venturus est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eadem habentur verba vers 8. cap. 4. 8 cap. 11. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Venturus idem est quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Futurus ut ex cap. 16. 5. manifestum est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 utì locum hunc restituit Beza ex vetusto bonae fidei manuscripto codice Seculum Futurum Haebraeis est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Unde Marc. 10. 30. Luc. 18. 30. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephes. 2. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vide Psal. 71. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Esa. 27. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Venturis sub diebus id est Posthac Imposterum Esaiae 44. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vulgat Ventura quae futura sunt Dan. 9. 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Populus Principis venturus id est futurus Et à septem Spiritibus qui in conspectu throni ejus sunt Per Spiritus hos intelligit Angelos Aretas in locum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cornelius à Lapide pro eadem sententia Iunium laudat sed fallitur Fortè Drusium dicturus fuisset nam ille sic sentit ad hunc locum ubi inter alia habet Septem Archangelos esse qui stant coram Deo etiam Ionathan prodidit Sed ubi non commemorat Locus est Gen. 11. 7. Dixit Dominus Septem Angelis qui stant coram eo Venite nunc c. Cum istis facit Th. Beza Quòd inquit Septem hos spiritus nonnulli pro Spiritu Sancto acceperunt cujus septiformis ut loqunutur sit gralia manifestè refelli potest vel ex eo quod scribitur infrà 5. 6. Et paulò pòst Vt nemo de hoc possit ambigere iidem isti Septem Spiritus infrà cap. 5. 6. Agni cornua oculi id est ministri dicuntur Accedit quòd in cap. 8. 2. expressè dicuntur Angeli Vidi inquit Ioannes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Septem Angelos qui adstant coram Deo Confer cap. 4. 5. Septem lampades ante Thronum quae sunt septem Spiritus Dei Cap. 5. 6. Agnum stantem tanquam occisum habentem cornua septem oculos septem qui sunt septem Spiritus Dei missi in omnem terram Zach. 4. 10. Septem isti oculi sunt Domini qui discurrunt per universam terram Videsis etiam Tobiae 12. 15. Ego sum unus ex septem Angelis qui astamus ante Dominum Cypr. adversus Iudaeos lib. 1. 20. Hilar. in Psal. 118 vel 119. Psal. 129. vel 130. Adde Clem. Alex. lib. 6. Strom. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id est Septem quidem sunt quorum est maxima potentia primogeniti Angelorum principes Sed de Septem hisce Angelis
called or which were called by his Name Deut. 28. 10. Dan. 9. 19. and elsewhere that is were his peculiar and holy people as is said in like manner and with like meaning of the Church of the New Testament Iames 2. 7. Acts 15. 17. I represent not these places of Scripture at large because I know that every ear that is acquainted with Scripture can bear witness unto them And for the meaning of this expression of God's Name to be called upon a thing or a thing to be called by his Name that it is all one as to say it to be His besides the evidence of the matter whereabout it is used appears by the same phrase used in two other places of the like relation of men to that which is theirs as Gen. 48. 16. where Iacob blessing Ioseph's sons saith The Angel which redeemed me from all evil bless the lads and let my name be called upon them that is let them be mine namely as Reuben and Simeon are mine as he saith a little before for they are words of adoption Again in the 4. of Esay 1. where it is said that seven women should take hold of one man and say We will eat our own bread and wear our own apparel only let thy Name be called upon us to take away our reproach that is Do thou own us or let us be thine that it may not be a reproach unto us that we have no husband The Ancients were wont to set the Names of the Owners upon their houses and other possessions which they called Tituli Titles Chrysologus Serm. 145. Sicut dominos praediorum liminibus affixi Tituli proloquuntur As the Titles fixed to doors do speak the owners of the possessions S. Augustine in Psal. 21. Quando potens aliquis invenerit Titulos suos nonne jure rem sibi vendicat dicit Non poneret titulos meos nisi res mea esset When any great man shall spy his own Titles does he not justly challenge the goods and say No man would put my Titles to it unless the thing were mine Whether this phrase of Scripture of God's Name to be called or named upon a thing hath reference unto any such custom I cannot affirm but surely the meaning is the same to wit that God is the Lord and Proprietary of them And thus ye have heard what is this Name of God we pray here to be sanctified to wit a twofold Name first his Name and Majesty which we call upon secondly that also which is called by his Name The first we may call his Personal the other his Denominative or Participated Name HAVING learned what Nomen Dei importeth and so cleared the Object of what we pray for let us next enquire what that is which the word Sanctifie or To be sanctified implieth being that which our vote witnesseth ought to be done thereunto And this I intended for the main and principal Argument of my present Discourse being a matter not so well traced as the former and perhaps not altogether freed of obscurity and difficulty to be understood For our more certain and assured discovery whereof we will first examine the abstract thereof Sanctity and find out the true notion of it namely what is the ratio formalis the formal state or nature of that which the Scripture entituleth in the general 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Holy not regarding what notion the Greeks or Latines had respect to in their Languages but what the Holy Scripture properly intendeth under that name For because to be sanctified can have but these two senses either to be made holy or to be used and done unto according to or as becometh its holiness and that the Majesty of God which is the prime object of this Act is not capable of the first sense viz. to be made holy but of the second only if we therefore once rightly understand what is the condition and property of Sanctity according to the notion of Scripture we shall not be long ignorant what it is either for the Name or Majesty of God or that which is called by his Name to be hallowed or sanctified namely to be done unto according to their Holiness Now R. David Kimchi upon the 56 of Esay ver 2. Blessed is the man that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it hath these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To sanctifie the Sabbath is to separate or distinguish it from other days 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Because all words of Sanctity import a thing separated or divided from other things by way of preeminence or excellency Thus the Rabbi And that this which he saith is true namely That Sanctity consists in a discretion and distinction from other things by way of exaltation and preeminence may appear by these instances and examples which I shall now produce out of Scripture And first from that Law touching the Holy oyl Exod. 30. 31. where after the composition thereof described This saith the Lord shall be an holy anointing Oyl unto me What is that why it follows v. 32. Vpon mans flesh shall it not be poured neither shall ye make any other like it after the composition thereof It is Holy therefore it shall be Holy unto you That is As this Oyl is holy and discrete from other Oyls so shall it accordingly by you be used with difference and discrimination For the Text goes on v. 33. Whosoever compoundeth any like it or putteth any of it upon a stranger that is upon any besides those it was appropriated to shall be cut off from his people What else means all this but that this Oyl should be a singular or peculiar Oyl set apart and distinguished from all other Oyls both in its composition and use and that to be such was to be Holy or Sacred The like we shall find in the 35. verse of the same Chapter concerning the Holy Persume there described Thou shalt make it saith he to wit the ingredients he afore mentioned a persume a consection after the art of the Apothecary tempered together pure and Holy Verse 37. You shall not make to your selves that is not for your own use according to the composition thereof It shall be unto thee Holy for the Lord. Ver. 38. Whosoever shall make the like unto it to smellthereto shall be cut off from his people But above all others this notion of Sanctity or Holiness is most expresly intimated and taught us in those divine Periphrases or circumloâ—â—tions which the Lord himself more than once makes of an Holy People as Lev. 20. 24. speaking on this manner I am the Lord your God which have separated you from other people Ver. 26. And ye shall be Holy unto me for I the Lord am Holy and have severed you from other people that ye should be mine Mark here that to separate is to make Holy and that to be Holy is to be separated from others of the same rank Again Deut. 26. 18