that wee may take with us the full meaning without addition or diminution Observing this rule that what agreeth not to the Type must be meant of the thing typified and what is not fulfilled at one time must be fulfilled of the Church at another time First of all it cannot be denyed that he points in some sort at the restitution of the Temple worship of God and City of Jerusalem after the captivitie as a type of the Church of Christ for though many things in the vision do not agree to that time as hath been proved yet some things doe agree this as it is least intended in the Vision so it is not fit for me at this time to insist upon it But he that would understand the forme of the Temple of Jerusalem the severall parts and excellent structure thereof will find enough b written of that subject Secondly this and other prophecies of building againe the Temple may well be applyed to the building of the Christian Church by the Master-builders the Apostles and by other Ministers of the Gospel since their dayes Let us heare but two witnesses of the Apostles themselves applying those prophecies to the calling of the Gentiles the one is Paul 2 Cor. 6. 16. For ye are the Temple of the living God as God hath said I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people The other is James who applyeth to the converted Gentiles that prophecie of Amos After this I will return and will build again the Tabernacle of David which is fallen down and I will build again the ruines thereof and I will set it up Act. 15. 16. But there is a third thing aimed at in this prophesie and that more principally then any of the other two which is the repairing of the breaches and ruines of the Christian Church and the building up of Zion in her glory about the time of the destruction of Antichrist and the conversion of the Jewes and this happinesse hath the Lord reserved to the last times to build a more excellent and glorious Temple then former generations have seen I meane not of the building of the materiall Temple at Jerusalem which the Jewes doe fancie and look for But I speak of the Church and people of God and that I may not seeme to expound an obscure Prophesie too conjecturally which many in these dayes doe I have these Evidences following for what I say 1. If Paul and James in those places which I last cited doe apply the prophesies of building a new Temple to the first fruits of the Gentiles and to their first conversion then they are much more to be applyed to the fulnesse of the Gentiles and most of all to the fulnesse both of Jewes and Gentiles which we wait for Now if the fall of them x saith the Apostle speaking of the Jewes be the riches of the world and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles how much more their fulnesse And y again If the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead Plainly insinuating a greater encrease of the Church and a larger spread of the Gospel at the conversion of the Jewes and so a fairer Temple yea another world in a manner to be looked for 2. The Lord himselfe in this same chapter vers. 7. speaking of the Temple here prophesied of saith The place of my Throne and the place of the soles of my feet where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever and my holy name shall the house of Israel no more defile neither they nor their Kings c. Which as it cannot be understood of the Jewes after the Captivity who did againe forsake the Lord and were forsaken of him as Hierome noteth upon the place so it can as ill be said to bee already fulfilled upon the Christian Church but rather that such a Church is yet to be expected in which the Lord shall take up his dwelling for ever and shall not be provoked by their defilements and whoredomes againe to take away his Kingdom and to remove the Candlestick 3. This last Temple is also prophesied of by z Isa. 2. 2. And it shall come to passe in the last dayes that the mountaine of the Lords house shall be established in the top of the mountaines even as here Ezekiel did see this Temple upon a very high mountaine chap 40. 2. and shall be exalted above the hils and all Nations shall flow unto it c. a And they shal beat their swords into Plough shares and their speares into pruning books nation shall not lift up sword against nation neither shall they learn war any more Here is the building of such a Temple as shall bring peaceable and quiet times to the Church of which that Evangelicall Prophet speaketh in b other places also And if we shall read that which followeth Isa. 2. 5. as the Chaldee Paraphrase doth And the men of the house of Jacob shall say Come yee c. then the building of the Temple there spoken of shall appeare to be ioyned with the Jewes conversion But howsoever it is ioyned with a great peace and calme such as yet the Church hath not seen 4. We find in this vision that c when Ezekiels Temple shall be built Princes shall no more oppresse the people of God nor defile the name of God chap. 45. 8. and 43. 7. which are in like manner ioyned Psal. 102. 15 16. The heathen shall fear the name of the Lord and all the Kings of the earth thy glory when the Lord shal build up Zion he shall appeare in his glorie verse 22. when the people are gathered together and the Kingdomes understand here also Kings as the Septuagints doe to serve the Lord Which Psalme is acknowledged to be a Prophesie of the Kingdome of Christ though under the type of bringing back the Captivity of the Jewes and of the building again of Zion at that time The like Prophesie of Christ wee have Psal. 72. 11. All Kings shall fall down before him all nations shall serve him But I aske have not the Kings of the earth hitherto for the most part d set themselves against the Lord and against his Christ And how then shall all those Prophesies hold true except they be co-incident with Revel 17. 16 17. And that time is yet come when God shall put it in the hearts of Kings to hate the whore of Rome and they shall make her desolate and naked and shall eate her flesh and burne her with fire It is foretold that God shall doe this great and good work even by those Kings who have before subiected themselves to Antichrist 5. That which I now draw from Ezekiels vision is no other but the same which was shewed to John Rev. 11. 1 2. a place so
of the Beasts reign about the time of that Councel the end of it will fall in at this very time of curs But I dare not determine so high a point Gods work will ere it be long make a clearer Commentary upon his word Only let this bee remembred we must not think it strange if after the end of the 1260 yeares Antichrist be not immediately and utterly abolished for when that time is ended he makes warre against the Witnesses yea overcommeth and killeth them But that victory of his lasteth only three dayes and a halfe and then God makes as it were a resurrection from the dead and a tenth part of the great City fals before the whole fall See Revel. 11. 3. 7. 11. 13. Whether this killing of the Witnesses which seemeth to be the last act of Antichrists power be past or to come I can not say God knowes But assuredly the acceptable yeare of Israels Jubilee and the day of vengeance upon Antichrist is comming and is not farre off But now is there no other application to be made of this point Is all this said to satisfie curious wits or at the best to comfort the people of God Nay there is more then so it must be brought home to a practicall use As the assurance of salvation g doth not make the child of God the more presumptuous but the more humble neither doth it make him negligent h but deligent in the way of holinesse and in all the acts of his spirituall warfare so that i every man that hath this hope in him purisieth himselfe So answerably the assurance of the new Temple and of the sweet dayes to come serveth for a twofold practicall use even as David also applieth Gods promise of Solomons building the Temple 1 Chron. 22. 10. for thus hee speaketh to the Princes of Israel ver. 19. Now set your heart and your soule to seek the Lord your God arise therefore and build yee the sanctuary of the Lord God And this is beside the charge which he giveth to Solomon First then yee must set your heart and your soule to seek God forasmuch as you know it is not in vaine to seek him for this thing k When Daniel understood by books that the 70 yeares of Jerusalems desolation were at an end and that the time of building the Temple againe was at hand then he saith I set my face unto the Lord God to seek by prayer and supplications with fasting and sackloth and ashes O let us doe as he did O let us l Cry mightily unto God and let us with all our soule and all our might give our selves to fasting and prayer Now if ever m the effectuall fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much Secondly and the more actively you must goe about the bunesse n Be yee stedfast unmoveable alwayes abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as yee know that your labour is not in vaine in the Lord What greater motive to action then to know that you shall prosper in it o Arise therefore and bee doing And so I am led upon the third and last part of the Text of which I shall speak but very little The Doctrine is this Reformation ends not in contemplation but in action The pattern of the house of God is set before us to the end it may be followed and the ordinances thereof to the end they may be obeyed p Give me understanding saith David and I shall keep thy law yea I shall observe it with my whole heart q If yee know these things saith Christ happy are yee if yee doe them The point is plaine and needeth no proofe but application Let me therefore Honourable Worthies leave in your bosomes this one point more Many of the Servants of God who have stood in this place and could do it better then I can have been calling upon you to go on in the work of Reformation O be s not slothfull in businesse and forget not to do as you have been taught Had you begun at this work and gone about the building of the House of God as your first and chiefe businesse I dare say you should have prospered better It was one cause among others why t the children of Israel though the greater number and having the better cause too did twice fall before Benjamin because while they made so great a businesse for the villany committed upon the Levites Concubine they had taken no course with u the graven Image of the children of Dan a thing which did more immediately touch God in his honour But I am confident errours of this kinde will be now amended and that you will by double diligence redeem the time I know your trouble is great and your cares many in managing the warre and looking to the safety of the kingdom yet mark what David did in such a case Behold in my trouble a sayth he I have prepared for the House of the Lord an hundred thousand talents of Gold and a thousand thousand talents of silver and of brasse and iron without weight David did manage b great wars with mighty enemies the Philistines Moabites Ammonites and Syrians beside the intestine warre made first by Abner and afterward by Absolon and after that by Sheba Notwithstanding of all this in his trouble and poverty the word signifieth both he made this great preparation for the House of God and if God had given him leave he had in his trouble built it too for you well know he was not hindered from building the Temple by the warres or any other businesse but only because God would not permit him Set before you also the example of the Iewes when the Prophets of God did stirre them up to the building of the Temple Ezra 5. 1. 2. they say not we must first build the walles of Ierusalem to hold out the enemy but the Text saith they began to build the house of God f They were not full foure years in building the Temple and finished it in the sixth yeare of Darius Now all the rest of his reigne did passe and all Xeâ—…xes reiâ—…re and much of Artaxerxes Loâ—…manus his reigne before the Walls of Ierusalem were built a for about that work was Nâ—…hemiah from the twentieth yeare of Artaâ—…s to the two and thiâ—…tieth yeare And if b great Chronologers bee not very farre mistaken the Temple was finished fourescore and three years before the Wals of Jerusalem were finished It is farre from my meaning to coole your affection to the Iawes Liberties Peace and safety of the Kingdome I desire onely to warm your hearts with the zeale of Reformation as that which all along you must carry on in the first place One thing I cannot but mention The Reverend Assembly of â—…ivines may lament as Augustine in another case Heu heu quam trade jestino Alas alas how slowly doe I
A SERMON Preached before The Honourable House OF COMMONS At their late solemne Fast Wednesday March 27. 1644. BY GEORGE GILLESPIE Minister at Edinburgh Published by Order of the House PSAL. 102. 6. When the Lord shall build up Zion he shall appeare in his glory LONDON Printed for Robert Bostock dwelling at the Kings head in Pauls Church-yard Anno 1644. TO THE READER DIvine providence hath made it my â—…ot and a Calling hath induced me who am lesse then the least of all the servants of Christ to appeare among others in this Cloud of publike Witnesses The scope of the Sermon is to endevour the removall of the obstructions both of Humiliation and Reformation two things which ought to lye very much in our thoughts at this time Concerning both I shall preface but little Reformation hath many unfriends some upon the right hand and some upon the left While others cry up that detestable indifferencie or neutrality abjured in our solemne Covenant in so much that a Gamaliel and b Gallio men who regarded alike the Iewish and the Christian Religion c are highly commended as examples for all Christians and as men walking by the rules not onely of Policy but of Reason and Religion Now let all those that are either against us or not with us doe what they can the right hand of the most High shall perfect the glorious begun Reformation Can all the world keep downe the Sunne of Righteousnesse from rising or being risen can they spread a vaile over it And though they digge deep to hide their counsels is not this a time of Gods over-reaching and befoolling all plotting wits they have conceived iniquity and they shall bâ—…ing forth vanity d they have sowne the wind and they shall reap the whirlewind Wherefore wee e will wait upon the Lord that hides his face from the house of Iacob and will look for him And f though he slay us yet will we trust in him g The Lord hath commanded to proclaime and to say to the daughter of Zion Behold thy salvation commeth h Rejoyce with Ierusalem all yee that mourn for her For i behold now is the accepted time behold now is the day of salvation But I have more to say Mourn O mourne withâ—…erusalem all yee that rejoyce for her k This day is a day of trouble and of rebuke and of blasphemy for the children are come to the birth and there is not strength to bring forth It is an interwoven time warped with mercies and woofted with judgements Say not thou in thine heart the dayes of my mourning are at an end Oh wee are to this day an unhumbled and an unprepared people and there are among us both many cursed Achans and many sleeping Jonahs but few wrestling Jacobs l even the wise Virgins are slumbring with the foolish Surely unlesse wee bee timely awaked and more deeply humbled m God will punish us yet seven times more for our sinnes and if he have chastised us with whips he will chastise us with Scorpions and he will yet give a further charge to the Sword n to avenge the quarrell of his Covenant In such a case I cannot say according to the now Oxford Divinity That Preces Lachrymae Prayers and Teares must be our only one shelter and fortresse and that wee must cast away defensive armes as unlawfull in any case whatsoever against the supreame Magistrate that is by interpretation they would have us doe no more then Pray to the end themselves may do no lesse then Prey Wherein they are contradicted not only by Pareus and by others that are eager for a Presbytery as a o Prelate of chiefe note hath lately taken I should say mistaken his marke but even by p those that are eager Royalists Pardon me that I give them not their right name I am sure when all is well reckoned we are better friends to royall authority then themselves Yet herein I doe agree with them that Prayers and Tears will prove our strongest weapons and the onely tela divina the weapons that fight for us from above q O then fear the Lord ye his Saints O r stirre up your selves to lay hold on him s Keep no silence and give him no rest till he establish and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth O that we could all t make Wells in our dry and desertlike hearts that we may u draw out water even buckets full to quench the wrath of a sin-revenging God the fire which still burneth against the Lords inheritance God grant that this Sermon be not as water spilt on the ground but may x drop as the raine and distill as the dew of heaven upon thy soule A SERMON PREACHED Before the Honourable House of COMMONS At the late solemne Fast March 27. 1644. EZEK. 43. 11. And if they be ashamed of all that they have done shew them the forme of the House and the fashion thereof and the goings out thereof and the commings in thereof and all the formes thereof and all the Ordinances thereof and all the formes thereof and all the lawes thereof and write it in their sight that they may keep the whole forme thereof and all the Ordinances thereof and doe them IT is not long since I did upon another day of humiliation lay open Englands disease from that Text 2 Chron. 20. 33. Howbeit the High Places were not taken away for as yet the people had not prepared their hearts unto the God of their Fathers Though a the Sunne of Righteousnesse be risen with healing in his wings yet the land is not healed no not of its worst disease which is corruption in Religion and the iniquity of your holy things I did then shew the symptomes and the cause of this evill disease The symptomes are your high Places not yet taken away many of your old superstitious ceremonies to this day remaining which though not so evill as the High-places of Idolatry in which Idollâ—… were worshipped yet are parallel to the High-places of Will worship of which we reade that the people thinking it too hard to be tied to goe up to Jerusalem with every sacrifice did b sacrifice still in the High places yet unto the Lord their God only pleading for their so doing antiquity custome and other defences of that kinde which have been alledged for your Ceremonies But albeit these be foule sports in the Churches face which offend the eyes of her glorious Bridegroome Jesus Christ yet that which doth lesse appeare is more dangerous and that is the cause of all this evill in the very bowells and heart of the Church the people of the land great and small have not as yet prepared their hearts unto the Lord their God mercy is prepared for the land but the land is not prepared for mercy I shall say no more of the disease at this instant But I
have now chosen a Text which holds forth a remedy for this malady a cure for this case That is that if we will c humble our uncircumcised hearts and accept of the punishment of our iniquity If we be d ashamed and confounded before the Lord this day for our evill wayes if we judge our selves as guilty and put our mouth in the dust and cloath our selves with shame as with a garment If wee repent and abhorre our selves in dust and ashes then the Lord will not abhorre us but take pleasure in 〈◊〉 to dwell among us to reveale himself unto us to set before us the right patterne of his owne House that e the Tabernacle of God may be with men and pure Ordinances where before they were defiled and mixed f He will cut off the names of the Idolls out of the land and cause the false Prophet and the unclean spirit to passe out of the land and g the glory of the Lord shall dwell in the land But withall we must take heed h that we turn not againe to folly that our hearts start not aside i like a deceitfull bowe that we k Keep the wayes of the Lord and doe not wickedly depart from our God Thus you have briefly the occasion and the sum of what I am to deliver from this Text The particulars whereof I shall not touch till I have in the first place resolved a difficult yet profitable question You may aske what House or what Temple doth the Prophet here speak of and how can it be made to appeare that this Scripture is applicable to this time I answere l some have taken great paines to demonstrate that this Temple which the Prophet saw in this vision was no other then the Temple of Solomon and that the accomplishment of this vision of the Temple City and division of the Land was the building of the Temple and City againe after the captivity and the restoring of the Leviticall worship and Jewish Republike which came to passe in the dayes of Nehemiah and Zorobabel This sense is also most obvious to every one that readeth this Prophecie But there are very strong reasons against it which make other Learned Expositers not to embrace it For 1. The Temple of Solomon was 120. cubits high The Temple built by Zorobabel was but 60. cubits high Ezra 6. 3. 2. The Temple of Zorobabel m was built in the same place where the Temple of Solomon was that is in Jerusalem upon mount Moriah But this Temple of Ezekiel was without the City and n a great way distant from it Chap. 48. verse 10. compared with verse 15. The whole portion of the Levites and a part of the portion of the Priests was betwixt the Temple and the City 3. Moses his greatest Altar the Altar of Burnt-offerings was not half so big as Ezekiells Altar o compare Ezek 43. 16. with Exod. 27. 1. So is Moses Altar of Incense much lesse then Ezekiells Altar of Incense Exod. 30. 2. compared with Ezek. 41. 22. 4. There are many new ceremoniall Lawes different from the Mosaicall delivered in the following part of this vision Chap. 45. and 46. as p Interpreters have particularly observed upon these places 5. The Temple and City were not of that greatnesse which is described in this Vision for the measuring Reed containing sixe cubits of the Sanctuary not common cubits Chap. 40. 5. which amount to more then 10. foot the utter wall of the Temple being 2000. Reeds in compasse Chap. 42. 20. was by estimation foure miles and the Citie chap. 48. 16. 35. six and thirty miles in compasse 6. The vision of the holy waters chap. 47. issuing from the Temple and after the space of 4000. reeds growing to a river which could not be passed over and healing the waters and the fishes cannot be literally understood of the Temple at Jerusalem 7. The Land is divided among the twelve Tribes chap. 48. and that in a way and order different from the division made by Joshua which cannot be understood of the restitution after the captivitie because the twelve Tribes did not return 8. This New Temple hath with it a New Covenant and that an everlasting one Ezek. 37. 26 27. But at the return of the people from Babylon there was no new Covenant saith q Irenaeus onely the same that was before continued till Christs comming Wherefore we must needs hold with r Hierome s Gregory and other latter Interpreters that this vision of Ezekiel is to bee expounded of the spirituall Temple and Church of Christ made up of Jewes and Gentiles and that not by way of allegories only which is the sense of those whose opinion I have now confuted but according to the proper and direct intendment of the vision which in many materiall points cannot agree to Zorobabels Temple I am herein very much strengthned while I observe t many parallel passages betwixt the vision of Ezekiel and the Revelation of Iohn and while I remember withall that the Prophets doe in many places fore-tell the institution of the Ordinances Government and Worship of the New Testament under the termes of Temple Priests Sacrifices c. and do set forth the deliverance and stability of the Church of Christ under the notions of Canaan of bringing back the captivity c. God speaking to his people at that time so as they might best understand him Now if you aske how the severall particulars in the vision may be particularly expounded and applyed to the Church of Christ I answer the Word of God the River that makes glad the Citie of God though it have many easie and knowne Foords where any of Christs Lambs may passe thorow yet in this Vision and other places of this kind it is a great deep where the greatest Elephant as he said may swim I shall not say with the Jewes that one should not read the last nine Chapters of Ezekiel before he be thirty yeers old Surely a man may be twice thirty yeers old and a good Divine too and yet not able to understand this Vision Some tell us that no man can understand it without skill in Geometry which cannot be denyed but there is greater need of Ecclesiometry if I may so speak to measure the Church in her length or continuance through many generations in her breadth or spreading through many Nations her depth of humiliation sorrowes and sufferings her height of faith hope joy and comfort and to measure each part according to this pattern here set before us Wherein for my part I must professe as Socrates in another case Scio quod nescio I know that there is a great mystery here which I cannot reach Only I shall let forth unto you that little light which the father of â—…ights hath given me I conceive that the Holy Ghost in this Vision hath pointed at foure severall times and conditions of the Church
like to this of Ezekiel that we must take speciall notice of it and make that serve for a Commentary to this And there was given me saith Iohn a Reed like unto a Rod and the Angeâ—…stood saying Rise and measure the Temple of God and the Altar and them that worship therein But the Court which is without the Temple leave out and measure it not for it is given unto the Gentiles and the holy City shall they tread under foot forty and two moneths This time of two and forty moneths must be expounded by Revel. 13. 5. where it is said of the Beast power was given unto him to continue forty and two moneths which according to the Computation of Egyptian yeares reâ—…koning thirty dayes to each moueth make three yeares and a halfe or 1260. days and that is e the time of the witnesses prophecying in Sackcloth and of the womans abode in the wildernesse Now lest it should bee thought that the treading downe of the holy City by the Gentiles that is the treading under foot of the true Church the City of God by the tyranny of Antichrist and the power of his complices should never have an end in this world the Angel gives Iohn to understand that the Church the house of the living God shall not lye desolate for ever but shall be built again for the measuring is in reference to building that the Kingdome of Antichrist shall come to an end and that after 1260 yeares counting dayes for yeares as the Prophers doe It is not my purpose now to search when this time of the power of the beast and of the Churches desolation did begin and when it ends and so to find out the time of building this new Temple onely this much I trust I may say that if we reckon from the time that the power of the Beast did begin and withall consider the great revolution and turning of things upside downe in these our dayes certainly the work is upon the wheele the Lord hath pluckt his hand out of his bosome he hath whet his sword he hath bent his bow he hath also prepared the instruments of death against Antichrist so saith the Psalmist of all Persecutors Psal. 7. 12 13. but it will fall most upon that capitall enemy Whereof there will be occasion to say more afterward Let me here only adde a word concerning a fourth thing which the holy Ghost may seeme to intend in this Prophesie and that is the Church triumphant the new Ierusalem which is above unto which respect is to bee had as Interpreters iudge in some parts of the vision which happily cannot bee so well applyed to the Church in this world Even as the new Ierusalem is so described f in the Revelation that it may appeare to be the Church of Christ reformed beautified and inlarged in this world and fully perfected and glorified in the world to come and as many things which are said of it can very hardly bee made to agree to the Church in this world so other things which are said of it câ—…n as â—…dly be applyed to the Church glorified in heaven as g where it is said Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men having come downe from God out of heaven and hee will dwell with them and they shall bee his people and God himselfe shall be with them and be their God h Againe And the nations of them that are saved shall walke in the light of it and the Kings of the earth doe bring their glory and honour into it But now I make haste to the severall particulars contained in my Text I pray God i saith the Apostle your whole spirit and soule and body be preserved blamelesse And what he there prays for this Text rightly understood and applied may work in us that is gracious affections gracious mindes gracious actions In the first place a change upon our corrupt and wicked affections If they be ashamed of all that they have done saith the Lord Secondly a change upon our blind minds Shew them the forme of the house and the fashion thereof c. Thirdly a change also upon our actions That they may keep the whole forme thereof and all the Ordinances thereof and doe them For the first k the word here used is not that which signifieth blushing through modesty but it signifieth shame for that which is indeed shamefull filthy and abominable so that it were impenitency and an aggravation of the fault not to be ashamed for it I shall here build onely one Doctrine which will be of exceeding great use for such a day as this If either we would have mercy to our selves or would doe acceptable service in the publike Reformation we must not onely cease to doe evill and learne to doe well but also be ashamed confounded and humbled for our former evill wayes Here is a two-fold necessity which presseth upon us this duty to loath and abhorre our selves for all our abominations to bee greatly abashed and confounded before our God First without this we shall not find grace and favour to our owne soules Secondly wee shall else miscarry in the worke of Reformation First I say let us doe all the good we can God is not pleased with us unlesse we be ashamed and humbled for former guiltinesse Be zealous and repent l saith Christ to the Laodecians be zealous in time comming and repent of your former lukewarmnesse What fruit had yee then in those things whereof now yee are ashamed m saith the Apostle to the Saints at Rome of whom n he saith plainly that they were servants to righteousnes and had their fruit unto holinesse but that is not all they were also ashamed while they looked back upon their old faults which is the rather to bee observed because o it maketh against the Antinomian error now a foot It hath a cleare reason for it for without this God is still dishonoured and not restored to his glory O Lord p saith Daniel righteousnesse belongeth unto thee but unto us confusion of faces Those two go together We must be confounded that God may be glorified Wee must bee judged that God may be iustified our mouthes must be stopped and laid in the dust that q the Lord may be just when he speaketh and cleare when he judgeth And as r the Apostle teacheth us that if we judge our selves we shall not be judged of God and by the rule of Contraries if we judge not our selves we shall be judged of God So say I now if wee give glory to God and take shame and confusion of faces to our selves God shall not confound us nor put us to shame But if we will not be confounded and ashamed in our selves God shall confound us and powre shame upon us If we loath not our selves God shall loath us Nay let me argue from the manner of men as s the Prophet doth offer it now unto
the Governuor will he bee pleased with thee or accept thy person Will thy Governour nay thy neighbour who is as thou art after an injury done to him bee pleased with thee if thou doe but leave off to doe him any more such injuries VVill he not expect an acknowledgement of the wrong done Is it not t Christs rule that he who seven times trespasseth against his brother seven times turne again saying I repent u David would hardly trust Ittai to goe up and downe with him who was but a stranger how much more if hee had done him some great wrong and then refused to confesse it And how shall wee think that it can stand with the honour of the most high God that wee seem to draw neare unto him and to walk in his wayes while in the mean time we do not acknowledge our iniquitie and even accuse shame judge and condemne our selves Nay x be not deceived God is not mocked This is the first necessity of the duty which this Text holdeth forth The Lord requireth of us not onely to doe his will for the future but to be ashamed for what we have done amisse before The other necessity of it which is also in the Text is this that except we be thus ashamed and humbled God hath not promised to shew us the pattern of his house nor to reveale his will unto us Which agreeth well with that Psal. 25. 9. The meek will he teach his way and vers. 12. What man is he that feareth the Lord him shall he teach in the way that he shall chuse and vers. 14. The secret of the Lord is with them that feare him and hee will shew them his Covenant There is sanctification in the affections and here is humiliation in the affections spoken of as necessary means of attaining the knowledge of the will of God Let the affections be ordered aright then light which is offered shall be seen and received but let light be offered when disordered affections doe overcloud the eye of the minde then all is in vaine In this case a man shall be y like the deaf Adder which will not be taken by the voice of the charmers charming never so wisely Let the helme of reason be stirred as well as you can imagine if there be a contrary winde in the sailes of the affections the ship will not answere to the helme It is a good argument hee is a wicked man a covetous man a proud man a carnall man an unhumbled man Ergo he will readily miscarry in his judgement So Divines have argued against the Popes infallibility The Pope hath been and may be a profane man Ergo he may erre in his judgement and decrees And what wonder that they who receive not the love of the truth be given over z to strong delusion that they should beleeve a lie It is as good an argument Hee is a humbled man and a man that feareth God Ergo in so far as he acteth and exerciseth those graces the Lord shall teach him in the way that he shall choose I say in so farre as he acteth those graces because when he grieves the spirit and cherisheth the flesh when the child of God is more swayed by his corruptions then by his graces then he is in great danger to be given up to the counsell of his own heart and to be deserted by a the holy Ghost which should leade him into all truth But we must take notice of a seeming contradiction here in the Text God saith to the Prophet in the former verse Shew the house to the house of Israel that they may be ashamed of their iniquities And Jerem. 31. 19. Ephraim is first instructed then ashamed And here it is quite turned over in my Text If they be ashamed shew them the House I shall not here make any digression unto the debates and distinctions of School-men what influence and power the affections have upon the understanding and the will I will content my self with this plain answer Those two might very well stand together light is a help to humiliation and humiliation a help to light As there must be some work of faith and some apprehension of the Love of God in order before true Evangelicall repentance yet this repentance helpeth us to beleeve more firmly that our sinnes are forgiven The soul in the pains of the new birth is like b Tamar travelling of her twins Pharez and Zarah faith like Zarah first putting out his hand but hath no strength to come forth therefore draweth backe the hand againe till repentance like Pharez have broken forth then can faith come forth more easily Which appeareth in that woman Luke 7. 47 48. shee wept much because she loved much she loved much because shee beleeved and by faith had her heart enlarged with apprehending the rich grace and free love of Christ to poore sinners this faith moves her bowells melts her heart stirres her sorrow kindles her affection Then and not till then she gets a prop to her faith and a sure ground to build upon It is not till shee have wept much that Christ intimates mercy and saith Thy sins are forgiven thee Just so is the case in this Text Shew them the House saith the Lord that they may be ashamed Give them a view of it that they may think the worse of themselves that they want it that they may be ashamed for all their iniquities whereby they have separate betwixt their God and themselves so that they can not c behold the beauty of the Lord nor enquire in his Temple And if when they begin to see it they have such thoughts as these and humble themselves and acknowledge their iniquities then goe to and shew them the whole Fabrick and Structure and all the gates thereof and all the parts thereof and all things pertaining thereto I suppose I have said enough for confirmation and cleering of the Doctrine concerning the necessitie of our being ashamed and confounded before the Lord I have now a fourefold application to draw from it The first application shall be to the malignant enemies of the Cause and People of God at this time who deserve Jeremiahs black mark to be put upon them d Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination nay they were not at all ashamed neither could they blush When he would say the worst of them this is it e Thou hadst a whores forehead thou refusedst to be ashamed There are some sonnes of Belial risen up against us who have done some things whereof I dare say many Heathens would have been ashamed yet they are as farre from being ashamed of their outrages as Caligula was who said of himself that he loved nothing better in his own nature then that hee could not be ashamed nay f their glory is their shame and if the Lord doe not open their eyes to see their shame their end will
here arise I shall first explaine the particulars mentioned in this part of the Text so as they may agree to the spirituall Temple or Church of Christ which in the beginning I proved to be here intended First wee finde here the forme and fashion of a house in which the parts are very much diversified one from another there are in a formed and fashioned house doores windowes posts lintels c. There is also a multitude of common stones in the walls of the house Such a house is the visible ministeriall Church of Christ the parts whereof are partes dissimilares some Ministers and Rulers some eminent Lights others of the ordinary rank of Christians that make up the walls If God hath made one but a small pinning in the wall he hath reason to be content and must not say why am not I a post or a corner stone or a beame Neither yet may any corner stone despise the stones in the wall and say I have no need of you Secondly the Prophet was here to shew them the goings out of the house and the commings in thereof These are not the same but different gates it is plaine chap. 46. 9. When the people of the land shall come before the Lord in the solemne feasts hee that entreth in by the way of the north-gate to worship shall goe out by the way of the south-gate c. he shall not returne by the way of the gate whereby hee came in And that not only to teach us order and the avoiding of confusion occasioned by the contrary tides of a multitude but to tell us further that s no man having put his hand to the plough and looking back is fit for the kingdome of God Wee must not goe out of the Church the way that we came in that were a doore of defection but hold our faces forward till we go out by the doore of death Thirdly the Text hath twice all the formes thereof which I understand of the outward formes and of the inward formes which two I finde very much distinguished by those who have written of the forme and structure of the Temple The Church is exceedingly beautified even outwardly with the Ordinances of Christ but the inward formes are the most glorious t For behold the kingdome of God is within you and it commeth not with observation u The Kings daughter is all glorious within yet even her clothing is of wrought gold x When the Angel had made an end of measuring the inner house then hee brought forth Ezekiel by the east-gate which was the chiefe gate by which the people commonly entred and measured the utter wall in the last place Gods method is first to try the heart and reines then to give to a man according to his works Ier. 17. 10. So should we measure by the â—…eed of the Sanctuary first the inner house of our hearts and minds and then to measure our utter walls and to judge of our profession and externall performances Lastly the Prophet is commanded to write in their sight all the ordinances thereof and all the lawes thereof for the Church is a house not only in an Architectonick but in an Oeconomick sense It is Christs Family governed by his own Lawes and a y Temple which hath in it them that worship it hath the owne proper lawes of it by which it is ordered Aliae sunt leges Caesarum aliae Christi z saith Hierom Caesars lawes and Christs lawes are not the same but diverse one from another a Schoolmen say that a law properly so called is both illuminative and impulsive illuminative to informe and direct the judgement impulsive to move and apply the will to action And accordingly there are two names in this Text given to Christs lawes and institutions b one which importeth the instruction and information of our minds c another which signifieth a deep imprinting or engraving and that is made upon our hearts and affections such as a pen of iron and other instruments could make upon a stone It is not well when either of the two is wanting for the light of truth without the engraving of truth may bee extinguished and the engraving of truth without the light of truth may be obliterate All these I shall passe and only pitch upon two Doctrines which I shall draw from this second part of the Text One concerning the will of Gods commandement what God requireth of Israel to doe Another concerning the will of Gods decree what he hath purposed himselfe to doe The first is this God will have Israel to build and order his Temple not as shall seeme good in their eyes but according to his owne patterne only which he sets before them Which doth so evidently appeare from this very Text that it needeth no other proofe for what else meaneth the shewing of such a patterne to be kept and followed by his people Other passages of this kinde there are which doe more abundantly confirme it The Lord d did prescribe to Noah both the matter and fashion and measures of the Ark To Moses he gave a patterne of the Tabernacle of the Ark of the Mercy-seat of the Vaile of the Curtaines of the two Altars of the Table and all the furniture thereof of the Candlestick and all the instruments thereof c. And though Moses was the greatest Prophet that ever arose in Israel yet God would not leave any part of the work to Moses his arbitrement but straitly commandeth him e look that thou make them after their patterne which was shewed thee in the Mount When it came to the building of the first Temple Solomon was not in that left to his owne wisedome as great as it was but f David the man of God gave him a perfect patterne of all that he had by the Spirit The second Temple was also built g according to the commandement of the God of Israel by Haggai and Zachariah And for the New Testament Christ our great Prophet and only King and Law-giver of the Church hath revealed his will to the Apostles and they to us concerning all his holy things and we must hold us at these unleavened and unmixed ordinances which the Apostles from the Lord delivered to the Churches h I will put upon you saith he himselfe none other burthen but that which ye have already hold fast till I come I know the Church must observe rules of order and conveniency in the common circumstances of Times Places and Persons but these circumstances are none of our holy things they are only prudentiall accommodations which are alike common to all humane Societies both Civill and Ecclesiasticall wherein both are directed by the same light of nature the common rule to both in all things of that kinde providing alwayes that the generall rules of the Word bee observed i Doe all to the glory of God k
Let all things be done to edifying l It is good neither to eat flesh nor to drink wine nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth or is offended or made weak m Let every man bee fully perswaded in his owne minde To him that esteemeth any thing to be uncleane to him it is uncleane The Text giveth some clearing to this point There is here shewed to the house of Israel a patterne of the whole structure and of the least part thereof and all the measures thereof yet no patterne is given of the kinde or quantity or magnificence of the severall stones or of the instruments of building The reason n because the former is essentiall to a house the latter accidentall the former if altered make another building the latter though altered the building is the same Therefore where we have in the Text the formes thereof the Septuagints read {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the substance thereof But to cleare it a little further I put two characters upon those circumstances which are not determined by the word of God but left to be ordered by the Church as shall be found most convenient First they are not things sacred nor proper to the Church as hath beene said they are of the same nature they serve for the same end and use both in sacred and civill things for order and decency the avoiding of confusion and the like are alike common to Church and Commonwealth Secondly I shall describe them as o one of the Prelates hath done who tells us that the things which the Scripture hath left to the discretion of the Church are those things which neither needed nor could be particularly expresse They needed not because they are so obvious and they could not both because they are so numerous and because so changeable I will not insist upon questions of this kinde but will make a short application of the Doctrine unto you Honourable and Beloved you may plainly see from what hath beene said that neither Kings nor Parliaments nor Synods nor any power on earth may impose or continue the least Ceremony upon the consciences of Gods people which Christ hath not imposed Therefore let neither antiquity nor custome nor conveniency nor prudentiall considerations nor shew of holinesse nor any pretext whatsoever plead for the reservation of any of your old Ceremonies which have no ground nor warrant from the word of God Much might have beene said for the high places among the Jewes as I hinted in the beginning and much might have beene said p by the Pharisees for their frequent washings which as they were ancient and received by the traditions of the Elders so they were used to teach men purity and to put them in minde of holinesse Neither was their washing contrary to any Commandement of God except you understand q that Commandement of not adding to the word which doth equally strike against all Ceremonies devised by man r A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump and a little leak will endanger the ship Theeves will readily digge through a house how much more will they enter if any posterne be left open to them s The wilde beasts and boares of the forrest will attempt to break downe the hedges of the Lords Vineyard how much more if any breach be left in the hedges If therefore you would make a sure Reformation make a perfect Reformation lest Christ have this controversie with England Neverthelesse I have somewhat against thee Rev. 2. 4. And so much of our duty The second Doctrine concerneth Gods decree and it is this It is concluded in the Counsell of heaven and 〈◊〉 hath it in the thoughts of his heart to repaire the brâ—… of his house and to build such a Temple to himselfe as is shadowed forth in this vision of Ezekiel For the comparing of this verse with vers. 7. in this same Chapter and with Chap. 37. 26 27. will easily make it appeare that this shewing of the patterne and all this measuring was not only in reference to Israels duty but to Gods gracious purpose towards Israel According to that Zechar. 1. 16. Therefore thus saith the Lord I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies my house shall bee built in it saith the Lord of Hostes and a line shall be stretched forth upon Ierusalem Now this vision cannot be said to be fulfilled in Zorobabels Temple as I proved before Only here take notice that the second destruction of the Temple by the Romans was worse then the first by the Babylonians That desolation was repaired but this could never be repaired though t the Iewes did attempt the building againe of the Temple first under Adrian the Emperour and afterward under Iulian the Apostate the hand of God was seene against them most terribly by fire from heaven and other signes of that kinde And about the same time to observe that by the way the famous Delphick Temple was without mans hand by fire and earthquake utterly destroyed and never built againe To tell the world that neither Judaisme nor Paganisme should prevaile but the Kingdome of Iesus Christ Where then must we seek for the accomplishment of Ezekiels vision I meane for the new Temple in which the Lord will dwell for ever and where his holy Name shall be no more polluted Surely we must seek for it in the dayes of the Gospel as hath beene before abundantly proved But that the thing may be the better understood let us take with us at least some few generall observations concerning this Temple of Ezekiel as it representeth what should come to passe in the Church of Christ First of all there is but one Temple not many shewed to him which is in part and shall bee yet more fulfilled in the Church of the new Testament according to that Zech. 8. 9. And it shall be in that day that living waters shall goe out of Ierusalem Which is the same that we have Ezech. 47. 1. Then followes And the Lord shall be King over all the earth in that day shall there be one Lord and his name one The like promise we finde elsewhere u I will give them one heart and one way It is observed that for this very end of uniformity the Heathens also did erect Temples that they might all worship the same Idoll God in the same manner The plague of the Christian Church hitherto hath beene Temple against Temple and Altar against Altar x But thou O Lord how long Secondly Ezekiels Temple and City are very large and capacious as I shewed in the beginning and y the City had three gates looking toward each of the foure quarters of the world All this to signifie the spreading of the Gospell into all the earth Which is also signified by z the holy waters issuing from the threshold of the Temple and rising so high that they were waters to swimme in God hath said to his
Church a Enlarge the place of thy Tent and let them stretch forth the curtaines of thine habitations spare not lengthen thy cords and strengthen thy stakes for thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left b A great encrease of the Church there was in the Apostles times but c a farre greater to be yet looked for d Though the enemy did come in like a flood the spirit of the Lord hath lift up a standard against him e The Sea saw it and fled Jordan was driven back But when the Gospel commeth like a noise of many waters as the Prophet calls it vers 2. signifying an irresistible encrease it is in vaine to build bulwarks against it God will even break open f the fountaines of the great deep and open the windowes of heaven and the Gospel will prove a second flood which will over-flow the whole earth though not to destroy it as Noahs did but to make it glad g for the earth shall bee filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the Sea Thirdly in this Temple beside the Holy of Holies h were three Courts the Court of the Priests the Court of the people commonly called Atrium Israelis and without both these Atrium Gentium the Court of the Heathen so called because the Heathen as also many of those who were legally uncleane might not only come unto the mountaine of the house of the Lord but also enter within the utter wall mentioned Ezech. 42. 20. and so worship in that utter Court or Intermurale Unto which did belong as we learne from i Josephus the great East porch which kept the name of Solomons porch in which both Christ himselfe did preach Io. 10. 23. and the Apostles after him Act. 5. 12. by which meanes the free grace of the Gospel was held sorth even to Heathens and Publicans and uncleane persons who were not admitted into the Court of Israel there to communicate in all the holy things k For the sonne of man came to seek and to save that which was lost This utter Court of the Temple is meant when l it is said that the Pharisees brought a woman taken in adultery into the Temple and set her before Christ Now all this will hold true answerably of the spirituall Temple For first as m the uncircumcised and the uncleane were not admitted into the Temple among the children of Israel so all that live in the Church of Christ are not to be admitted promiscuously to every ordinance of God especially to the Lords Table but only those whose profession knowledge and conversation after triall shall be found such as may make them capable thereof yet as Heathens and uncleane persons did enter into the utter Court and there heare Christ and his Apostles so there shall ever be in the Church a doore of grace and hope open to the greatest and vilest â—…nners who shall seek after Christ and n ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward Secondly there shall be also somewhat answerable to the Court of the children of Israel o God can raise up even of the stones children to Abraham he will not want a people to trade in the Courts of his house and to enquire in his Temple Thirdly and as in the Typicall Temple there was a Court for the Priests so hath the Lord promised to the Church p Thy teachers shall not be removed into a corner any more but thine eyes shall see thy Teachers And againe q I will give you Pastors according to my heart which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding Fourthly and as there was a secret and most holy place where the Ark was and the Mercy-seat and where the glory of God dwelâ—… so Christ hath his owne r hidden ones s the children of the marriage chamber t who with open face beholding as in a glasse the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord There is also a time comming when God will open the secrets of his Temple and make the Ark of his Testament to be seene otherwise then yet it hath beene which shall be at the sounding of the seventh trumpet Revel. 11. 15 19. The fourth thing wherein Ezekiels Temple representeth the Church of Christ is in regard of the great strength thereof u It stood upon a very high mountaine The materiall Temple also in Ierusalem as it is described by Iosephus was a very strong and impregnable place Interpreters think that Cyrus was jealous of the strength of the Temple and for that cause gave x order that it should not be built above threescore cubits high whereas Solomon had built it sixscore cubits high The Romans afterward when they had subdued Iudea had a watchfull eye upon the Temple and placed a strong garrison in the Castle Antonia which was beside the Temple the Commander whereof was called y the Captaine of the Temple And all this for feare of sedition and rebellion among the Jews when they came to the Temple Now the invisible strength of the spirituall Temple is clearly held forth unto us by him that cannot deceive us Upon this rock z saith he meaning himselfe will I build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevaile against it The Princes and powers of the world are more jealous then they need of the Churches strength and yet which is a secret judgement of God they have not beene afraid to suffer Babylon to be built in her full strenth a There were they in great feare where no feare was for when all shall come to all it shall be found that the Gospel and true Religion is the strongest bulwark and chiefe strength for the safety and stability of Kings and States Lastly the glory of this Temple was very great insomuch that b some have undertaken to demonstrate that it was a more glorious peece then any of the seven miracles of the world which were so much spoken of among the Ancients But the greatest glory of this Temple was that the glory of the God of Israel came into it and the earth shined with his glory vers. 2. Christ c the brightnesse of his fathers glory walking d in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks is and shall be more and more the Churches glory Therefore it is said to her e Arise shine for thy light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee Surely as it was said of the new materiall Temple in reference to Christ so it may be said of the new spirituall Temple which yet we look for f The glory of this latter house shall be greater then of the former saith the Lord of hosts and in this place will I give peace saith the Lord of hosts Christ will keep the g best
wine till the end of the feast and h he will blesse our latter end more then our beginning That which I have said from grounds of Scripture concerning a more glorious yea more peaceable condition of the Church to be yet looked for is acknowledged by i some of our sound and learned Writers who have had occasion to expresse their judgement about it And it hath no affinity with the opinion of an earthly or temporall kingdome of Christ or of the Jewes their building againe of Jerusalem and the materiall Temple and their obtaining a dominion above all other Nations or the like I shall now bring home the point There are very good grounds of hope to make us think that this new Temple is not farre off And for your part that Christ is to make a new face of a Church in this Kingdome a faire and beautifull Temple for his glory to dwell in And hee is even now about the work For first the set time to build Zion is come when the people of God take pleasure in her stones and favour the dust thereof Psal. 102. 13 14 16. The stones which the builders of Babel refused are now chosen for corner stones and the stones which they choosed doe the builders of Zion now refuse Ier. 51. 26. They shall not take of thee a stone for a corner nor a stone for foundations Those that have any thing of Christ and of the Image of God in them begin to creep out of the dust of contempt and to appeare like starres of the morning Nay to go further then that the old stones the Iewes who have beene for so many ages lying forgotten in the dust those poore k Outcasts of Israel have of â—…ate come more into remembrance and have beene more thought of and more prayed for then they were in former generations Secondly are there not great preparations and instruments fitted for the work Hath not God called together for such a time as this the present Parliament and the Assembly of Divines his Zorobabels and Iehoshua's and Haggaies and Zachariahs Are there not also hewers of stones and bearers of burdens much wholsome preaching much praying and fasting many petitions put up both to God and man the Covenant also going through the Kingdom as the chief preparation of materials for the work Is not the old rubbish of Ceremonies daily more and more shovelled away that there may bee a clean ground and is not the Lord by all this affliction humbling you that there may be a deep and a sure foundation layd Thirdly the work is begun and shall it not be finished God hath layd the foundation and shall he not bring forth the head stone Zechar. 4. 7. 9. Christ hath put Antichrist from his utterworks in Scotland and he is now come to put him from his inner works in England His work is perfect l saith Moses I am alpha and omega m saith Christ the beginning and the ending n Shall I bring to the birth and not cause to bring forth sayth the Lord shall I cause to bring forth and shut the womb sayth thy God I may adde three other signes whereby to discern the time from Revel. 11. 1. the place before cited First Is there not now a measuring of the Temple Ordinances and worshippers by a reed like unto a rod the reed of the Sanctuary in the Assemblies hand and the rod of Power and Law in your hand are well met together Secondly there is a Court which before seemed to belong to the Temple left out and not measured o from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which hee hath The Samaritans of this time who p serve the Lord and serve their own Gods too and do after the manners of Idolaters have professed as they of old to the Jewes Ezra 4. 2. that they would build with you that they will bee for the true Protestant Religion as you are that they will also consent to the reformation of abuses for the ease of tender consciences But God doth so alienate and separate betwixt you and them by his overruling providence discovering their designes against you and their deep engagements to the Popish party as if he would say unto them you have no portion nor right nor memoriall in Ierusalem Neh. 2. 20. Or as it is in the Parable concerning those who had refused to come when they were invited yea had taken the servants of Christ and entreated them spitefully and killed them the great King hath said in his wrath that they shall not taste of his supper and hee sends forth his Armies to destroy those Murtherers and to burn up their City Mat. 22. 6. 7. Luk. 14. 24. Surely a what they have professed concerning Reformation is scarce so much as the Pope did acknowledge when Reformation did begin in Germany However as it is our hearts desire and prayer to God for them that they may be saved so we are not out of hopes that God hath many of his own among them unto whom he will give b repentance to the acknowledging of the truth Lastly the time seemeth to answer fitly The new Temple is built when the 42 Moneths of the Beasts raigne and of the treading down the holy City that is by the best Interpretation 1260 yeares come to an end This computation I conceive should begin rather before the foure hundreth yeare of Christ then after it both because the Romane Emperour whose falling was the Popes rising was brought very low before that time by the warres of the Gothes and other barbarous Nations and otherwise which will appeare from History And further because c Pope Innocentius who succeeded about the yeare 401 was raised so high that he drew all appeals from other Bishops to the Apostolicall Sea according to former Statutes and Customes as hee saith I cannot pitch upon a likelier time then the yeare 383 at which time according to the common calculation 〈◊〉 generall Councell at Constantinople though Baronius and some others reckon that Councell in the yeare 381 d did acknowledge the Primacy of the Bishop of Rome only reserving to the Bishop of Constantinople the second place among the Bishops Did not then the Beast receive much power when this much was acknowledged by a Councell of 150 Bishops though setting in the Fast and moderated by Nectarius Archbishop of Constantinople Immediately after this Councell it is aknowledged by e one of our great Antiquaries that the Bishop of Rome did labour mightily to draw all causes to his own Consistory and that he doth scarce read of any Heretick or Schismatick condemned in the Province where he lived but straight he had his recourse to the Bishop of Rome f Another of our Antiquaries noteth not long before that Councell that Antichrist did then begin to appear at Rome and to exalt himselfe over all other Bishops Now if wee should reckon the beginning