Sicut dominos praediorum liminibus affixi Tituli proloquuntur S. Augustine in Psal. 21. Quando potens aliquis invenerit Titulos suos nonne jure rem sibi vendicat dicit Non ponere◠titulos meos nisi res mea esset Whether this phrase of Scripture of Gods Name to be called or named upon a thing hath reference unto any such custome I cannot affirme but surely the meaning is the same to wit that God is the Lord and Proprietar of them And thus ye have heard what is this Name of God we pray here to be sanctified to wit a twofold Name First His Name and Majesty which we call upon Secondly that also which is called by his Name The first we may call his Personall the other his Denominative or participated Name Having learned what Nomen Dei importeth and so cleared the object of what we pray for let us next enquire What that is which the word Sanctifie or To be sanctified implieth being that which our vote witnesseth ought to be done thereunto And this I intended for the main and principall Argument of my present Discourse being a matter not so well traced as the former and perhaps not altogether freed of obscurity and difficulty to be understood For our more certain and assured discovery whereof we will first examine the abstract thereof Sanctity find out the notion of it namely what is the ratio formalis the formall state or nature of that which the Scripture entitleth in the generall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Holy not regarding what notion the Greeks or Latines had respect to in their Languages but what the holy Scripture properly intendeth under that name For because to be Sanctified can have but these two senses either To be made holy or To be used and done unto according to or as becometh its Holinesse and that the Majesty of God which is the prime object of this Act is not capable of the first sense viz. to be made holy but of the second onely if we therefore once rightly understand what is the condition and property of Sanctity according to the notion of Scripture we shall not be long ignorant what it is either for the Name or Majesty of God or that which is called by his Name to be hallowed or Sanctified namely to be done unto according to their Holinesse Now R. David Kimchi upon the 56 of Esay ver 2 Blessed is the man that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it hath these words The sanctification of the Sabbath saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to separate or distinguish it from other dayes because every word of Sanctity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports a thing separated or divided from other things by way of preeminence or excellency Thus the Rabbi And that this which he saith is true namely that sanctity consists in discretion and distinction from other things by way of exaltation and preeminence may appeare by these instances and examples which I shall now produce out of Scripture And first from that Law touching the holy oyle Exod. 30. 31. where after the composition thereof described This saith the Lord shall be an holy anointing oyl unto me what is that it follows Vpon mans flesh shal it not be poured neither shal ye make any other like it after the composition thereof It is Holy therefore it shall be Holy unto you that is As this Oyle is Holy and discrete from other Oyles so shall it accordingly by you be used with difference and discrimination For the Text goes on Whosoever compoundeth any like it or putteth any of it upon a stranger that is upon any besides those it was appropriated to shall be cut off from his people What else means all this but that this Oyle should be a singular or peculiar Oyle set apart and distinguished from all other Oyles both in its composition and use and that to be such was to be Holy or Sacred The like we shall finde in the 35. verse of the same Chapter concerning the Holy perfume there described Thou shalt make it saith he to wit with the the ingredients he afore mentioned a perfume a confection after the art of the Apothecary tempered together pure and Holy verse 37. You shall not make to your selves i. not for your own use according to the composition thereof It shall be unto you holy for the Lord. ver 38. Whosoever shall make the like unto it to smell thereto shall be cut off from his people But above all others this notion of sanctity or holinesse is most expressely intimated and taught us in those divine periphrases or circumlocutions which the Lord himself more then once makes of an Holy People as Lev. 20. 24. speaking on this manner I am the Lord your God which have separated you from other people And ye shall be Holy unto me for I the Lord am Holy and have severed you from other people that ye should be mine Mark here that to separate is to make Holy and that to be Holy is to be separated from others of the same rank Again Deut. 26. 18 19. The Lord hath avouched thee to wit Israel this day to be his peculiar or appropriate people as he hath promised thee And to make thee high above all Nations which he hath made in praise in name and in honour namely that thou maist be an Holy people unto the Lord thy God as he hath spoken What is this but Rabbi Kimchi's definition almost verbatim That to bee sacred or Holy is to be separated or set apart from other things by way of excellence or which is all one To be set in some state of singularity or appropriatednesse whereby it is advanced above the common condition of things of the same order He that will may compare also two other passages Deut. 7. 6. 14. 2. parallels to those I have produced where to be an holy and to be a peculiar people are made one and the same or the one expounded by the other It may be yet further confirmed by comparing Deut. 19. 2 7. with Ioshuah 20. 7. For whereas in the former of these places it is said concerning the Cities of refuge Thou shalt separate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 three Cities for thee in the midst of thee In Ioshuah where this commandement is put in execution we read in stead of separated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they sanctified three Cities Kedesh Shechem and Hebron Where that the one is equivalent to the other the Septuagint so well understood that even in this place of Ioshuah for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is Sanctificarunt they rendred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 separarunt or discreverunt The same notion of Holinesse may be gathered also from the Antithesis or opposite thereunto to wit unholy or unclean which the Scripture is wont to expresse by the name of Common So S. Peter in his Vision Acts 10. Lord saith he I have never eaten any thing
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 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 ultores avengers the enemies both of God and mankinde And who are those but Satan and his Angels those Principalities and Powers of the Air those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Rulers of the Darknesse of this world as Saint Paul speaks For when mankinde is the one party what can the other be but some Power that is not of mankinde Besides who are the Enemies both of God and mankinde but these And of mankinde especially I 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 Devill saith S. Peter And this is he as I conceive who is here called the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Enemy the Avenger mans tormentor which words being found again in the 44. Psalm may for ought I know by warrant of this place be taken for the same Enemy and the usuall 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 subdued 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. Paulâ— inculcating the word Enemy when 1 Cor. 15. he demonstrates out of this Psalm that Christ before the end shall abolish 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For He must raign saith he till he hath put all enemies under his feet The last Enemy which shall be destroyed 〈◊〉 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 onely in the verse I have in hand which unlesse it be thus expounded S. Pauls allegation from hence will be too narrow to prove what he intendeth Having thus cleered the words I chose for my Theme I shall not spend much time to shew you how directly and literally the purport of them was fulfilled in our blessed Saviours incarnation You have in part heard such Scriptures already as do evince it The summe is this The Devill by sin brought mankinde 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 eternall wo 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 growes from a babe and suckling Who saith Esay in that famous Prophecy of Messiah hath beleeved our report and to whom is the Arm of the Lord revealed namely that works such powerfull 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 childe 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 anytime 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 mindefull of him or c. Again We see Iesus who was made little lower then 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 darknesse 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 Devill first got his Dominion That the Seed of the woman should break the Serpents 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 return with joy saying Lord even the Devils are subject to us through thy name Yea not these onely 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 Prophesie For as much as Christ our Generall 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 Apocalypse Christ appears with a sword going out of his mouth In the 2 Thess. 2. it is said He shall consume 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 stay the wicked That is he does all nuâ—â— verbo as God made the world By the word of the Lord were the Heavens made and all the Hoasts of them by the breath of his mouth Psal 33. 6. So doth Christ vanquish his enemies and enable his Ministers to vanquish them Verbo Spiritu oris according to that Hos. 6. 5. I have
joyn themselves to the Lord to serve him and to love the Name of the Lord to be his servants every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it and taketh hold of my Covenant namely that I alone shall be his God even them will I bring to my holy Mountain and make them joyfull in my House of Prayer their burnt offerings and sacrifices accepted upon mine Altar Then follow the words of Text For my House shall be called shall be it is an Hebraism a House of Prayer for all People What is this but a Description of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Gentile worshippers And this place alone makes good all that I have said before That this vindication was of the Gentiles Court Otherwise the allegation of this Scripture had been impertinent for the Gentiles of whom the Prophet speaks worshipped in no place but this Hence also appears to what purpose our Euangelist expressed the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 namely as that which shewed wherein the force of the accommodation to this occasion lay which the rest of the Euangelists omitted as referring to the place of the Prophet whence it was taken those who heard it being not ignorant of whom the Prophet spake Thirdly the circumstance of time argues the same thing if we consider that this was done but a few dayes before our Saviour suffered to wit when he came to his last Passeover How unseasonable had it been to vindicate the violation of legall and typicall sanctity which within so few dayes after he was utterly to abolish by his Crosse unlesse he had meant thereby to leave his Church a lasting lesson what reverence and respect he would have accounted due to such places as this was which he vindicated JOHN 4. 23. But the hour commeth and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth For the Father seeketh such to worship him THey are the words of our Blessed Saviour to the woman of Samaria who perceiving him by his discourse to be a Prophet desired to be resolved by him of the great controverted point between the Jews and Samaritans whether Mount Garizim by Sichem where the Samaritans sacrificed or Ierusalem were the true place of worship Our Saviour tels her that this question was not now of much moment For that the houre or time was near at hand when they should neither worship the Father in Mount Garizim nor at Ierusalem But that there was a greater difference between the Jews and them then this of place namely even about that which was worshipped For ye saith he worship that ye know not But we Jews worship that we know Then follow the words premised But the houre commeth and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and Truth It is an abused Text being commonly alledged to prove that God now in the Gospel either requires not or regards not externall worship but that of the Spirit onely And this to be a characteristicall difference between the worship of the Old Testament and the New If at any time we talk of externall decency in rites and bodily expressions as fit to be used in the service of God this is the usuall Buckler to repell whatsoever may be said in that kinde It is true indeed that the worship of the Gospel is much more spirituall then that of the Law But that the worship of the Gospel should be onely spirituall and no externall worship required therein as the Text according to some mens sense and allegation thereof would imply is repugnant not onely to the practice and experience of the Christian Religion in all ages but also to the expresse Ordinances of the Gospel it self For what are the Sacraments of the New Testament are they not rites wherein and wherewith God is served and worshipped The consideration of the holy Eucharist alone will confute this Glosse For is not the commemoration of the sacrifice of Christs death upon the Crosse unto his Father in the Symbols of Bread and Wine an externall worship And yet with this rite hath the Church in all ages used to make her solemne addresse of Prayer and Supplication unto the Divine Majesty as the Jews in the Old Testament did by Sacrifice when I say in all Ages I include that of the Apostles For so much Saint Luke testifieth of that first Christian society Acts 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They continued in breaking of Bread and in Prayers As for bodily expressions by gestures and postures as standing kneeling bowing and the like our blessed Saviour himself lift up his sacred eyes to heaven when he prayed for Lazarus fell on his face when he prayed in his agony Saint Paul as himself saith bowed his knees to the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ He and Saint Peter and the rest of the beleevers do the like more then once in the Acts of the Apostles What was imposition of hands but an externall gesture in an act of invocation for conferring a blessing and that perhaps sometimes without any vocall expression joyned therewith Besides I cannot conceive any reason why in this point of Euangelicall worship Gesture should be more scrupled at then Voyce Is not confessing praising praying and glorifying God by voyce an externall and bodily worship as well as that of Gesture why should then the one derogate from the worship of the Father in Spirit and Truth and not the other To conclude there was never any society of men in the world that worshipped the Father in such a manner as this interpretation would imply And therefore cannot this be our Saviours meaning but some other Let us see if we can finde out what it is There may be two senses given of these words both of them agreeable to reason and the analogy of Scripture let us take our choice The one is That to worship God in Spirit and Truth is to worship him not with types and shadows of things to come as in the Old Testament but according to the verity of the things exhibited in Christ according to that The Law was given by Moses but Grace and Truth came by Iesus Christ. Whence the mystery of the Gospel is elsewhere by our Saviour in this Euangelist termed Truth as Cap. 17. ver 17. and the Doctrine thereof by Saint Paul The word of truth See Ephes. Cap. 1. ver 13. Rom. 15. ver 8. The time therefore is now at hand said our Saviour when the true worshippers shall worship the Father no longer with bloody sacrifices and the Rites and Ordinances depending thereon but in and according to the verity of that which these Ordinances figured For all these were types of Christ in whom being now exhibited the true worshippers shall henceforth worship the Father This sense hath good warrant from the state of the Question between the Jews and Samaritans to which our Saviour here makes answer which was not about worship in generall but about the kinde
not so much the child as the Parents liable to the wrath of God as here the Angel sought not to kill the child who was uncircumcised but Moses the Father who should have circumcised it Both which observations I mean to amplifie no farther but to leave to your exacter meditations and so I conclude EZEKIEL 20. 20. Hallow my Sabbaths and they shall be a signe between me and you to acknowledge that I Iehovah am your God THis Commandement with the end thereof the Lord bids Ezekiel tell the Elders of Israel that he gave to their Fathers in the Wildernesse And it is recorded in the Law so that I might have taken it thence but I rather chose to make these words in Ezekiel my Text as expressed more plainly and so a Comment to those in the Law the place is Exod. 31. where this which my Text containeth is expressed thus Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep for it is a signe between me and you throughout your generations to acknowledge that I Iehovah am your sanctifier that is your God as the expression in Ezekiel tels us For to be the Sanctifier of a People and to be their God is all one whence also the Lord is so often called in Scripture the Holy One of Israel that is their Sanctifier and their God That which I intend at this time to observe from these words is the end why God commanded this observation of the Sabbath to the Israelites to wit that thereby as by a Symbolum they might testifie and professe what God they worshipped Secondly out of this ground to shew how far and in what manner the like observation binds us Christians who are worshippers of the same God whom the Jews worshipped though not under the same relation altogether wherein they worshipped him All Nations had something in their ceremonies whereby they signified the God they worshipped so in those of the celestiall Gods as they termed them and those which were Deified souls of men were differing rites whereby the one was known from the other Those gods which were made of men having funerall rites in their services as cognisances that they were souls deceased and each of them some imitation of some remarkable passage of the Legend of their lives either of some action done by them or some accident which befell them as in the ceremonies of Osyris and Bacchus is obvious to any that reads them And indeed it is a naturall Decorum for servants and vassals by some mark or cognisance to testifie who is their Lord and Master In the Revelation the worshippers of the Beast receive his mark and the worshippers of the Lamb carry his mark and his Fathers in their Fore-heads Hence came the first use of the crosse in Baptisme as the mark of Christ the Deity to whom we are initiated and the same afterwards used in all Benedictions Prayers and Thanksgivings in token they were done in the name and merits of Christ crucified so that in the Primitive Church this rite was no more but that wherewith we conclude all our Prayers and Thanksgivings when we say Through Iesus Christ our Lord and Saviour though afterward it came to be abused as almost all other rites of Christianity to abominable superstition To return therefore unto my Text Agreeably to this principle and this custome of all Religions of all Nations of all vassals the Lord Iehovah Creator of heaven and earth ordained to his people this observation of the Sabbath day for a sign and cognisance that he should be their God and no other It is for a sign saith he between me and you that I Iehovah am your God In the place I quoted before in the 31. of Exod. are these words The Children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations for a perpetuall Covenant it is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever for in six dayes the Lord made heaven and earth and on the seventh day he rested As if he had said it is a sign that the Creatour of heaven and earth is your God But for the distinct understanding of this signification we must know that the Sabbath includes two respects of time First the quotum one day of seven or the seventh day after six days labour Secondly the designation or pitching that seventh day upon the day we call Saturday In both the Sabbaticall observation was a sign and profession that Iehovah and no other was the God of Israel the first according to his attribute of Creator the second of Deliverer of Israel out of Egypt For by sanctifying the seventh day after they had laboured six they professed themselves vassals and worshippers of that only God who created the heaven and the earth and having spent six days in that great work rested the seventh day and therefore commanded them to observe this sutable distribution of their time as a badge and livery that their religious service was appropriate to him alone And this is that which the fourth Commandement in the reason given from the Creation intendeth and no more but this But seeing they might professe this acknowledgement as well by any other six days working and a sevenths resting as by those they pitched upon there being still what six days soever they had laboured and what seventh soever they had rested the same conformity with their Creator let us see the reason why they pitched upon those six days wherein they laboured for labouring days rather then any other six and why they chose that seventh day namely Saturday to hallow and rest in rather then any other And this was that they might professe themselves servants of Iehovah their God in a relation and respect peculiar and proper to themselves to wit that they were the servants of that God which redeemed Israel out of the Land of Egypt and out of the house of bondage and upon the morning watch of that very day which they kept for their Sabbath he overwhelmed Pharaoh and all his Host in the Red Sea and saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians This I gather from the repetition of the Decalogue Deut. 5. where that reason from the worlds Creation in the Decalogue given at Horeb being left out Moses inserts this other of the Redemption of Israel out of Egypt in stead thereof namely as the reason why those six days rather then any other six for work and that seventh day rather then any other seventh for rest were pitched upon as Israel observed them Remember saith he thou wert a servant in the Land of Egypt and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and a stretched out arm therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath Day Not for the quotum of one day of seven for of that another reason was given the example of God in the Creation but for the designation of the day But whether this day were in order
the seventh from the Creation or not the Scripture is silent for where it is called in the Commandement the seventh day that is in respect of the six days of labour and not otherwise and therefore whensoever it is so called those six days of labour are mentioned with it The seventh day therefore is the seventh after six days of labour nor can any more be inferred from it The example of the Creation is brought for the quotum one day of seven as I have shewed and not for the designation of any certain day for that seventh Neverthelesse it might fall out so by disposition of Divine Providence that the Jews designed seventh day was both the seventh in order from the Creation and also the day of their deliverance out of Egypt But the Scripture no where tels us it was so howsoever most men take it for granted and therefore it may as well be not so Certain I am the Jews kept not that day for a Sabbath till the raining of Manna For that which should have been their Sabbath the week before had they then kept the day which afterward they kept was the fifteenth day of the second month on which day we reade in the 16. of Exodus that they marched a wearisome march and came at night into the wildernesse of Sin where they murmured for their poor entertainment and wished they had died in Egypt that night the Lord sent them Quails the next morning it rained Manna which was the sixteenth day and so six days together the seventh which was the two and twentieth it rained none and that day they were commanded to keep for their Sabbath now if the two and twentieth day of the month were the Sabbath the fifteenth should have been if that day had been kept before but the Text tels us expresly they marcht that day and which is strange the day of the month is never named unlesse it be once for any station but this where the Sabbath was ordained otherwise it could not have been known that that day was ordained for a day of rest which before was none And why might not their day of holy rest be altered as well as the beginning of the year was for a memoriall of their comming out of Egypt I can see no reason why it might not nor finde any testimony to assure me it was not And thus much of the Jews Sabbath how and wherein it was a sign whereby they professed themselves the servants of Iehovah and no other God Now I come to the second thing I propounded to shew how far and in what manner the like observation binds us Christians I say therefore that the Christian as well as the Iew after six days spent in his own works is to sanctifie the seventh that he may professe himself thereby a servant of God the Creatour of Heaven and Earth as well as the Jew For the quotum therefore the Jew and Christian agree but in designation of the day they differ For the Christian chooseth for his Holy day that which with the Jews was the first day of the week and cals it Dominicum that he might thereby professe himself a servant of that God who on the morning of that day vanquished Satan the Spirituall Pharaoh and redeemed us from our Spirituall thraldome by raising Iesus Christ our Lord from the dead begetting us in stead of an earthly Canaan to an inheritance incorruptible in the Heavens In a word the Christian by the day he hallows professes himself a Christian that is as S. Paul speaks To beleeve on him that raised up Iesus from the dead so that the Jew and Christian both though they fall not upon the same day yet make their designation of their day upon the like ground the Jews the memoriall day of their deliverance from the temporall Egypt and temporall Pharaoh the Christians the memoriall of their deliverance from the spirituall Egypt and spirituall Pharaoh But might not will you say the Christian as well have observed the Jewish for his seventh day as the day he doth I answer No he might not For in so doing he should seem not to acknowledge his Redemption to be already performed but still expected For the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt by the Ministery of Moses was intended for a type and pledge of the spirituall deliverance which was to come by Christ their Canaan also to which they marched being a type of that heavenly inheritance which the redeemed by Christ do look for Since therefore the shadow is now made void by the comming of the substance the relation is changed and God is no longer to be worshipped and beleeved in as a God foreshewing and assuring by types but as a God who hath performed the substance of what he promised And this is that which S. Paul means Colossians 2. 16 17. where he saith Let no man judge you henceforth in respect of a Feast day New Moon or Sabbath days which were a shadow of things to come but the body is of Christ. 1. CO◠〈◊〉 5. Every woman praying or prophecying with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head I Have chosen this of the woman rather then that of the man going before it for the Theme of my Discourse First because I conceive the fault at the reformation whereof the Apostle here almeth in the Church of Corinth was the womens only not the mens That which the Apostle speaks of a man praying or prophecying being by way of supposition and for illustration of the unseemlinesse of that guise which the women used Secondly because the condition of the sex in the words read makes something for the better understanding of that which is spoken of both as we shall see presently What I intend to speak upon this Text shall consist of these two parts First of an enquiry what is here meant by prophecying a thing attributed to women and therefore undoubtedly some such thing as they were capable of Secondly what was this fault for matter and manner of the women of the Church of Corinth which the Apostle here reproveth To begin with the first and which I am like to dwell longest upon Some take prophecying here in the stricter sense to be foretelling of things to come as that which in those Primitive times both men and women did by the powring out of the Holy Ghost upon them according to that of the Prophet Ioel applied by S. Peter to the sending of the Holy Ghost at the first promulgation of the Gospel I will powre out my Spirit upon all flesh and your sons and daughters shall prophecy and your young men shall see visions And that such Prophetesses as these were those four Daughters of Philip the Euangelist whereof we read Acts 21. 9. Others take prophecying here in a more large notion for the gift of interpreting and opening Divine mysteries contained in holy Scripture for the instruction and edification of the hearers especially as it was then inspired and
call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Latines Sacrum The first of these three is proper to God alone for he only is essentially holy The second is proper to reasonable creatures for they are only habitually holy or endued with holy qualities But the last is common to all manner of things for all things animate or inanimate are capable of relative holinesse or pecularity towards God Persons Things Times Places Persons so the Nazarites of the Law are called holy thus was Sampson thus was Samuel holy from their Mothers womb Things so the Offerings of the Law yea and of the Gospel too are holy things The censers of Korah and his company were Holy because saith the Text they offered them unto the Lord. Times so the Sabbath day and other Festivall days are holy days Places so the Temple of the Lord is an holy Place Mount Sion an holy Mount yea the ground about the bush where God appeared to Moses is called Holy ground And of these four Persons Things and Times are holy because of Gods peculiar propriety in them in that they are his Persons his Things and his Times But Places are holy in another regard because of Gods speciall manner of Presence in them Now let us see in which of all these three ways Levi may be said to be holy Essentially holy he cannot be for he was not God but the holy one of God Habitually holy the event shews he was not more then the rest though he should have been The Tribe of Lâ—vi was always Tribus sacra holy unto the Lord but was not always righteous before the Lord. It was not always true of Levi that he walked before God in peace and equity and turned many from iniquity but often yea too often they were gone out of the way and caused many to fall by the Law Phinehas the son of Eli was not like Phinehas the son of Aaron Annas and Caiaphas high Priests as holy as any for their order as unholy as any in life and conversation It should therefore seem that Levi should be only called holy by a Relative holinesse namely because he was Gods peculiar one because his offered one because his peculiar of peculiars that is his peculiar Tribe of his peculiar People for in this Levi had a priviledge above the rest in the other none and this Ezra gives unto him cap. 8. 28. when he delivered unto the Levites the holy Vessels Ye are holy saith he unto the Lord and these Vessels are holy also that is Ye are holy as the Vessels are for he saith not they were holy before the Lord for so he had meant holy in life but holy uâ—to the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which always implies a Relative holinesse But though this be true that Levi was holy after this manner yet the word which in my Text is turned Holy seems scarce to admit of this construction for the word here used is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies favourable and gracious and in Religion charitable and godly All which leans to an habituall not to a respective holinesse But because Levi was not in this sort holy above other as I said before It may seem therefore it should be thus construed That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is taken actively or passively Actively it signifies favourable benigne and gracious Passively he that is favoured or graced And thus Iunius expounds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this place Let thy Thummim and thy Vrim be with thy favoured one not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Septuagint but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which word and sense the Angel useth in his salutation to the blessed Virgin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hail thou highly favoured one Hail thou whom God hath especially graced to be the Mother of his only Son So Levi is here described to be one upon whom God bestowed a speciall favour or grace a speciall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the grace of holy Ministery for so S. Paul cals this power of Order a grace or favour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Eph. 3. 8. Vnto me who am lesse then the least of all Saints is this grace given to preach among the Gentiles investigabiles divitias Christi And of Timothy the same Apostle speaketh Neglect not that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or grace in thee which was given by prophecy and imposition of hands With this grace was Levi graced with this favour was he highly favoured and well might be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gods highly favoured one And thus the issue will be all one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this sense will fall out to be Gods holy one in the last sense for to be specially favoured of God is to have a speciall relation to God-ward to be Gods more especially and this is to be holy with a relative holinesse Now which soever of these we take to be here meant we see that that is in speciall given to Levi which otherwise was common to all the other Tribes If you take it in the first sense for holinesse in life as it were to put Levi in minde how it behoved him above all to be holy were not all the Tribes as holy as Levi and yet Levi alone is called Gods holy one If you take it in the second sense for a relative holinesse 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 Gods holy one If you take it in the last sense for Gods favoured one were not all Israel a Nation favoured of God above all Nation and yet Levi alone is especially called Gods favoured one We therefore whom God hath set apart to minister about holy things we who are holy unto the Lord and Gods own in a peculiar manner we who have a speciall relation unto God we who have received a speciall favour from God we must remember we owe a speciall thankfulnesse unto him we who are Gods 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 men 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 lawfull for others will not be seemly for us for we are the houshold servants of the most High we are speciall men of whom God requires a speciall demeanour in life and actions This was one cause why God injoyned the Jews so many peculiar rites and speciall 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 would have their manners differ from the fashion of all other Nations as a badge and
according to that Domini est terra plenitudo ejus And Let no man appear before the Lord emptie Therefore as this sacrifice consisted of two parts as I told you of Praise and Prayer which in respect of the other I call sacrificium quod and of the commemoration of Christ crucified which I call sacrificium quo so the symbols of Bread and Wine traversed both being first presented as symbols of Praise and Thanksgiving to agnize God the Lord of the creature in the sacrificum quod Then by invocation of the Holy Ghost made the symbols of the Body and Blood of Christ in the sacrificium quo So that the whole service throughout consisted of a reasonable part and of a materiall part as of a Soul and a Body of which I shall speak more fully hereafter when I come to prove this I have said by the testimonies of the Ancients SECTION 2. ANd this is that Sacrifice which Malachi foretold the Gentiles should one day offer unto God In omni loco offeretur incensum Nomini meo Mincha purum quoniam magnum erit Nomen meum in Gentibus dicit Dominus exercituum Which words I am now according to the order I propounded to explicate and apply to my Definition Know therefore that the Prophet in the foregoing Words upbraids the Jews with despising and disesteeming their God forasmuch as they offered unto him for sacrifice not the best but the lame the torn and the sick as though he had not been the great King Creator and Lord of the whole World but some petty god and of an inferior rank for whom any thing were good enough If I be a Father where is mine honour If I be Dominus where is my fear saith the Lord of Hosts unto you O Priests that despise my name and ye say wherein have we despised it Ye offer polluted bread upon mine Altar and ye say Wherein have we polluted thee In that ye say The Table of the Lord is contemptible or not so much to be regarded that is you think so as appears by the basenesse of your offering For the Present shewes what esteem the giver hath of him he honoureth therewith But you offer that to me which ye would not think fit to offer to your Prorex or Governour under the King of Persia which shewes you have but a mean esteem of me in your hearts and that you beleeve not I am He that I am because you see me acknowledged of no other Nation but yours and that ye have been subdued by the Gentiles and brought into this miserable and despicable condition wherein you now are you imagine me to be some Topicall god and as of small jurisdiction so of little power But know that howsoever I now seem to be but the Lord of a poor Nation yet the days are coming When from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles and in every place incense shall be offered to my name and a pure offering for my name shall be great among the Heathen saith the Lord of Hosts it follows though you have prophaned it in that ye say the Table of the Lord is contemptible whereas I am a great King and my Name shall be dreadfull among the Heathen This is the dependence and coherence of the words Now to apply them Incense as the Scripture it self tels notes the Prayers of the Saints It was also that wherewith the remembrance was made in the sacrifices or God put in minde Mincha which we turn Munus is oblatio farrea an offering made of meal or flower baked or fryed or dryed or parched corn We in our English when we make distinction call it a meat-offering but might call it a bread-offering of which the Libamen or the drink-offering being an indivisible concomitant both are implyed under the name Mincha where it alone is named The Application then is easie Incense here notes the rationall part of our Christian sacrifice which is Prayer Thanksgiving and Commemoration Mincha the materiall part thereof which is oblatio farrea or a present of Bread and Wine BUT this Mincha is characterised in the Text with an attribute not to be overpast Mincha purum in omni loco offeretur incensum nomini meo Mincha purum The meat-offering which the Gentiles should one day present the God of Israel with should be munus purum or as the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let us learn if we can what this Purity is and wherein it consisteth or in what respect the Gentiles oblation is so styled Some of the Fathers take this Pure offering to be an offering that is purely or spiritually offered The old sacrifices both of the Jew and Gentile were offered modo corporali by slaughter fire and incense but this of Christians should be offered onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Iustin Martyr expresses it whence it is usually called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a reasonable and unbloody sacrifice namely of the manner of offering it Not that there was no materiall thing used therein as some mistake for we know there was Bread and Wine but because it is offered unto God immaterially or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 onely which the Fathers in the first Councell of Nice call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be sacrificed without sacrificing rites This sense of Pure sacrifice is followed by Tertullian as may appear by his words ad Scapulam where speaking of the Christian Liturgie Sacrificamus saith he pro Imperatore sed quomodo praecepit Deus pura prece Non enim eget Deus Conditor Vniversitatis odoris aut sanguinis alicujus Also in his third Book against Marcion cap. 22. In omni loco offertur incensum Nomini meo sacrificium mundum that is saith he gloriae relatio benedictio hymni which he presently cals munditias sacrificiorum The same way go some others But this sense though it fitly serves to difference our Christian sacrifice from the old sacrifices of the Jews and Gentiles and the thing it self be most true yet I cannot see how it can agree with the context of our Prophet where the word Incense though I confesse mystically understood is expressed together with Munus purum For it would make the literall sense of our Prophet to be this In every place Incense is offered to my Name and an offering without Incense And yet this would be the literall meaning if Pure here signified without Incense Let us hear therefore a second Interpretation of this Puritie of the Christian Mincha more agreeable to the dependence of the words and that is a conscientia offerentis from the disposition and affection of the offerer according to that of the Apostle Tit. 1. 15. To the pure all things are pure but unto them that are defiled and unbeleeving is nothing pure but even their minde and conscience is defiled They professe they know God but in their works
and expresse testimonies In the 1 Chron. 25. it is expresly said of Ieduthuâ— and his soâ—â—es that their office was to prophesie with a Harpe to give thanks and to praise the Lord. In the second of Chron. 30. 21. wee read that the Levites and Priests praised the Lord day by day singing with loud Instruments unto the Lord. And as ye heard even now out of 1 Chron. 16. that David at the time when he brought up the Ark unto Jerusalem then first delivered the 105. and 95 Psalms into the hands of Aâ—… and his sonnes to confesse or give thanks unto the Lord. And lastly to leave no place for farther doubt wee read Ezra 3. 11. That the Levites the sonnes of Asaph were set with Cymbals to praise the Lord after the ordinance of David King of Israel And that they sung together by course in praising giving thanks unto the Lord because he is good for his mercy endureth for ever For this reason the foure and twenty Courses or Quires into which the singers of the Temple were divided by King David to serve in their turnes consisted each of them of twelve according to the number of the tribes of Israel that so every Tribe might have a mouth and voyce to praise and to give thanks unto God for him in the Temple Thus we have seene what warrant to pray and call upon God in a set forme hath from the practice of the Church of God in the old Testament And if reason may have place in the publike service of God where one is the mouth of many there is none so proper and convenient For how can the Minister be said properly to be the mouth of the Congregation in prayer unto God when the Congregation is not first made acquainted and privy to what he is to render unto God in their names which in a voluntary and extemporary Prayer they are not nor well can be I am sure neither so properly nor conveniently as in a set forme which both they and the whole Church have agreed upon and offer unto God at the same time though in severall places in the self-same forme and words And this may be a second reason I meane from Vniformity For how can the Church being a mysticall Body better testifie her unity before God then in her uniformity in calling upon him especially our Saviour telling us that if but two or three shall agree together on earth as touching anything that they shall ask it shall be done unto them of his Father which is in heaven So prevailable with Allmighty God is the power of consent in prayer Let us now in the last place see what reasons they bring who contend altogether for voluntary prayer and would have no set formes used First they say it is the ordinance of God that the Church should be edified by the gifts of her Ministers as well in praying as preaching Ergo their prayers should be extemporary or voluntary because in reading a set forme this gift cannot be shewn To this I answer First that there is not in this point the same reason for Prayer and for Preaching for in prayer I meane Publique the Minister is the mouth of the Church unto God and therefore it were convenient they should know what he puts up to God in their names but in preaching he is not so Secondly Why should not the Pastours and Ministers of the Church edify the Church by their gift of prayer as well in composing a set forme of prayer for her use by generall agreement as in uttering a voluntary or extemporary prayer in a particular Congregation Thirdly Are not the members of the Church to be edified as well by the Spirit of the Church as the Church or some part thereof by the Spirit of a member But how can the Church edifie her members by her gift of prayer otherwise then by a set form agreed upon by her consent Fourthly Ostentation of gifts is one thing but edification by them another Ostentation of the gift of prayer is indeed best shewn in a voluntary or extemporary prayer but the Church may be edified as well by a set forme Yea such a forme in the publique service of God is more edificative then a voluntary And that both because the Congregation is first made acquainted therewith and secondly because they are better secured from being ingaged in ought that might be unfit to speak unto God either for matter or manner or such as they would not have given their consent to if they had been aware of it For now that extraordinary assistance of the Holy Ghost which was in the Primitive and Apostolicall times is long since ceased And all men to whom that office belongeth to speake to God for others are not at all times discreet and well advised when they speake to him at will and extempore but subject to miscariage Lastly I answer That the Church is to be edified by the gift of her Ministers in voluntary prayer loco tempore in fit place and upon fit occasions not in all places and upon all occasions And thus much to this objection But they object secondly that the Spirit ought to be free and unlimited and that therefore a Book or set forme of prayer which limits the spirit in praying is not to be tolerated or used To this I answer it is false that the acting of the Spirit in one Christan may not be limited or regulated by the Spirit of another especially the spirit of a particular man in the publike worship by the spirit of the Church whereof he is a member For doth not the Apostle tell us 1 Cor. 14. that even that extraordinary spirit of Prophecy usuall 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 judg 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 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 joyne therein with their Minister as they are by a set forme 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 forme But to elude this they tell us that the Question is not of limiting the spirit of the people but of the Minister onely For as for the people no more is required of them but to join 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 prophecying why not in praying And
ONE of â—srael Habak 1. 12. Art not thou from everlasting O LORD my God mine HOLY ONE Agreeably whereunto the Lord is said also now and then To swear by his HOLINESS that is by himself as in the Psalm before alledged v. 35. Once have I sworn by my HOLINESS that I will not lie unto David c. Amos 4. 2. The Lord God hath sworn by his HOLINESS that lo the days shall come upon you that he will take you away with â—ooks c. According to this sense I suppose also that of Amos 8. 7. is to be understood The LORD hath sworn by the Excellency of Iacob that is Jacobs most eminent and incommunicable One or by Iacobs HOLY ONE Surely I will never forget any of their works c. For indeed the Gods of the Nations were not properly and truly Holy because but partially and respectively onely Forasmuchas the Divine eminency which they were supposed to have was even in the opinion of those who worshipped them common to others with them and so not discriminated from nor exalted above all But the God of Israel was simply and absolutely such both in himself and to them ward who worshipped him as who might acknowledge no other and therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and by way of distinction from all other Gods called Sanctus Israelis The Holy One of Israel i. That sole absolute and onely incommunicable One or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Author of the Book of Wisdome cals him chap. 14. v. 21. that God exalted above all and divided from all without pareil there being no other such besides him There is none Holy as the Lord saith Hannah for there is none besides thee The Septuagint none Holy besides thee neither is there any ROCâ— like our God Wherefore it is to be observed that although the Scripture every where vouchsafes the Gentiles Daemons the name of Gods yet it never I think cals them Holy Ones as indeed they were not Thus you see that as Holinesse in generall imports a state of eminency and separation so this of God as I have described it disagrees not from that generall notion when I affirm it to consist in a state of peerlesse or incommunicable Majesty for that which is such includes both the one and the other But would you understand it yet better Apply it then to his attributes whereby he is known unto us and know that The Lord is Holy is as much to say He is a Majesty of peerlesse Power of peerlesse Wisdome of peerlesse Goodnesse and so of the rest Such a one is our God and such is his Holinesse Now then to Sanctifie this peerlesse Name or Majesty of his must be by doing unto him according to that which his Holinesse challengeth in respect of the double importance thereof namely To serve and glorifie him because of his eminency and to doe it with a singular separate and incommunicated worship because He is Holy Not to doe the former is Irreligion and Atheisme as not to acknowledge God to be the chief and Soveraign eminency not to observe the second is Idolatry For as the Lord our God is a singular and peerlesse Majesty distinguished from and exalted above all things and eminencies else whatsoever so must his worship be singular incommunicable and proper to him alone Otherwise saith Ioshuah to the people You cannot serve the Lord. Why For saith he He is an Holy God he is a jealous God that can endure no corrivall he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins if ye forsake the Lord and serve strange gods c. Whence in Scripture those who communicate the worship given unto him with any besides him or together with him by way of Object that is whether immediately or but mediately are deemed to deny his incomparable Sanctity and therefore said to prophane his Holy Name See Ezek. 20. 39. 43. 7 8. In a word all that whole immediate Duty and service which we owe unto God whether inward or outward contained under the name of Divine worship when either we confesse praise pray unto call upon or swear by his Name yea all the worship both of men and Angels is nothing else but to acknowledge in thought word and work this peerlesse preheminence of his power of his wisdome of his goodnesse and other attributes that is His Holinesse by ascribing and giving unto him that which we give and ascribe to none besides him that is To sanctifie his most Holy Name This is that the Holy Ghost would teach us when describing how the Seraphims worship and glorifie God â—sa 6. he brings them in crying one unto another Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God of hosts the whole earth is full of his glory that is Sanctifying him From whence is derived that which we repeat every day in the Hymne To thee all Angels cry aloud the heavens and all the powers therein To thee Cherubim and Sâ—raphim continually doe cry Ho ly Holy Holy Lord God of Sabaoth Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty of thy Glory And because the pattern of Gods holy worship is not to be taken from earth but from heaven the same Spirit therefore in the Apocalypse expresseth the worship of God in the new Testament with the same form of hallowing or holying his Name which the heavenly Hoste useth For so the 4. Animalia representing the Catholique 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 doe 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 summe of all that they did was but to agnize his Sanctity or Holinesse or which is all one to Sanctifie his holy Name When therefore the same 4. Animalia are afterwards brought in chanting Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power riches wisdome and strength and honour and glory and blessing And again Blessing honour glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the Throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever all is to bee understood as comprehended within this generall Doxologie as being but an exemplification thereof and therefore the Elogies or blazons mentioned therein to be taken according to the style of Holinesse in an exclusive sense of such prerogatives as are peculiar to God alone And according to this notion of sanctifying Gods name which I contend for would the Lord have his Name Sanctified Esa. 8. 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
separation and sanctity of their Order to be distinguished and differenced from other Christians both passively in their usance from others but especially actively by a restrained conversation and peculiarnesse in their manner of life is manifest by her ancient Canons and Discipline Yea so deeply hath it been rooted in the minds of men that the Order of Church-men binds them to some differing kinde of conversation and form of life from the Laity that even those who are not willing to admit of the like discrimination due in other things have still in their opinions some relique thereof remaining in this though perhaps not altogether to be acquited of that imputation which Tertâ—llian charged upon some in his time to wit Quod quum excellimur inflamur adversus Clerum tunc unum omnes sumus tunc omnes Sacerdotes quia Sacerdotes nos Deo Patri fecit Quum ad per equationem Disciplinâ— Sacerdotalis provocamur deponimus infulas impares sumus When we vaâ—nt and are puffed up against the Clergy then we are all one then we are all Priests For he made us Priests to God and his Father But when we are called upon to equall in our lives the example of Priestly Discipline then down goe our Mitres and we are another sort of men Another sort of things sacred which I named was Sacred PLACES to wit Churches and Oratoriâ—s as the Christian name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 implieth them to be that is The Lords A third Sacred Times i. dedicated and appointed for the solemne celebration of the worship of God and Divine duties such are with us for those of the Jews concern us not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Lords days with other our Christian Festivals and holy days Of the manner of the discrimination from common or sanctifying both the one and the other by actions some commanded others interdicted to be done in them the Canons and Constitutions of our Church will both inform and direct us For holy Times and holy Places are Twins Time and Place being as I may so speak pair-circumstances of action and therefore Lev. XIX 30. And again XXVI 2. they are joyned together tanquam ejusdem rationâ—s Keep my Sabbaths and reverence my Sanctuary The fourth sort of Sacred things is of such as are neither Persons Times nor Places but Things in a speciall sense by way of distinction from them And this sort containeth under it many particulars which may be specified after this manner 1. Sacred Revenue of what kinde soever which in regard of the dedication thereof as it must not bee prophaned by sacrilegious alienation so ought to be sanctified by a different use and imployment from other Goods namely such a one as becommeth that which is the Lords and not mans For that Primitive Christian Antiquity so esteemed them appears by their calling them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they did their Place of Worship 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and their Holy day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all of the Lord as it were Christening the old notion of Sacred by a new name So Can. Apâ—stol XL. Manifestae sint Episcopi res propriae si quidem res habet proprias manifesta sint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. res Dominicae Author Constitut. Apost lib. 2. c. 28. al. 24. Episcopus ne utatur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dominicis rebus tanquam alienis aut communibus sed moderate See also Balsamon in Can. 15. Concilii Ancyrani and the Canon it self Secondly Sacred Vtensils as the Lords Table Vessels of ministration the Books of God or Holy Scripture and the like Which that the Church even in her better times respected with an holy and discriminative usance may be learned from the Story of that calumnious crimination devised by the Arrian Faction against Athanasius as a charge of no small impiety namely that in his Visitation of the Tract of Mareotis Macarius one of his Presbyters by his command or instinct had entered into a Church of the Miletian Schismatiques and there broken the Chalice or Communion Cup thrown down the Table and burnt some of the Holy Books All which argues that in the generall opinion of Christians of that time such acts were esteemed prophane and impious otherwise they could never have hoped as they did to have blasted the reputation of the holy Bishop by such a slaunder Touching the Books of God or holy Scripture which I referred to this title especially those which are for the publique service of God in the Church I adde this further That under that name I would have comprehended the senses words and phrases appropriated to the expression of Divine and Sacred things which a Religious â—are cannot endure to hear abused with prophane and scurrilous application Thirdly under this fourth head of things Sacred I comprehend Sacred Acts such as are the Acts of Gods holy worship and administration of his Sacraments For albeit these Acts are duties of the first and personall Sanctification of Gods Name whereof the immediate object is God yet are the Acts themselves sacred things and therefore have some sanctification due to them also as other sacred things have of which although it be most true that the unfained devotion of the heart as before him who alone knoweth the hearts of the children of men be the main and principall requisite yet unlesse even in the outward performance they be for the manner and circumstances discriminated from common acts by a select accommodation befitting their holinesse their sanctification is defective and by such defect if voluntary Gods Name is prophaned even then when wee are worshipping him How much more when our carriage therein commeth short even of that wonted reverence wherewith we come before an earthly Potentate May not God here justly use the same expostulation with us that he did with those in the Prophet Malachi who presented themselves before him with such an offering as was in regard of the blemishes unworthy of and unbefitting so great a Majesty and therefore to be accounted rather an affront then an act of honour and worship Yee have saith he despised and prophaned my Name Offer it now unto thy Governour will he be pleased with thee or accept thy person yet I am a great King saith the Lord of hosts And this is the document or lesson which this place naturally and unavoydably ministreth to us That to come before the Divine Majesty with lesse reverent and regardfull deportment then we doe before earthly Kings and potentates is to despise and prophane his holy Name And not that which some would shelter under this text and lean too much upon namely That the acts of Gods externall worship ought to be wholly conform to the use of the semblable actions performed unto men and not differ from them and upon this ground charge the Christian Liturgies with absurdity in their forms of praying and praising God with responsals singing by turns and speaking many together For this
observation of those precepts whch the Hebrew Doctors call the precepts of the sons of Noah namely such as all the sons of Noah were bound to observe These precepts are in number seven recorded in the Talmud Maymonides and others under these following titles First the precept 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to renounce Idols and all Idolatrous worship Secondly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to worship the true God the Creator of Heaven and Earth Thirdly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bloodshed to wit to commit no murder Fourthly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 detectio nuditatum not to be defiled with fornication incest or other unlawfull conjunction Fiftly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rapina against theft and robbery Sixtly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concerning administration of Justice The seventh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Membrum de vivo so they call the Precept of not eating the flesh with the blood in it given to Noah when he came out of the Ark as Maymonides expresly expounds it and addes besides Quicunque haec sep tem praecepta exequenda susceperit ecce is est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ex piis gentium mundi habetque partem in seculo futuro Note that he saith ex piis Gentium for this kinde were still esteemed Gentiles and so called because of their uncircumcision in respect whereof though no Idolaters they were according to the Law unclean and such as no Jew might converse with wherefore they came not to worship into the Sacred Courts of the Temple whither the Jews and circumcised Proselytes came but onely into the outmost Court called Atrium Gentium immundorum which in the second Temple surrounded the second or great Court whereinto the Israelites came being divided there-from by a low wall of stone made battlement-wise not above three Cubits high called saith Iosephus from whom I have it in the Hebrew Dialect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Lorica close by which stood certain little pillars whereon was written in Latin and Greek Letters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In atrium sanctum transire alienigenam non debere And this I make no question is that which Saint Paul Ephes. 2. alluded unto when he saith That Christ had broken down the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the partitionwall namely that Lorica which separated the Court of the Gentiles from that of the Circumcision and so laying both Courts into one hath made the Jews and Gentiles Intercommoners whereby those that were sometime far off were now made nigh and as near as the other unto the Throne of God But in Solomons Temple this Court of the Gentiles seems not to have been but in the second Temple onely the Gentiles formerly worshipping without at the door and not coming within the Septs of the Temple at all This second kinde of Proselytes the Talmudists call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Proselyti portae or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Proselyti inquilini because they were under the same condition with those Gentile strangers which lived as inquilini in the land of Israel For all Gentiles dwelling within the Gates of Israel whether they were as servants taken in war or otherwise were bound to renounce their false Gods and to worship the God of Israel but not to be circumcised unlesse they would nor farther bound to keep the Law of Moses then was contained in those precepts of the sons of Noah These are those mentioned as often elsewhere in the Law so in the fourth Commandment by the name of the Stranger within thy gates whereby it might seem probable that the observation of the Sabbath day so far as concerneth one day in seven was included in some one or other of those precepts of the sons of Noah namely in that of worshipping for their God the Creator of heaven and earth and no other whereof this consecration of a seventh day after six dayes labour was a badge or livery according to that The sabbath is a signe between me and you that I Iehovah am your God because in six dayes the Lord made heaven and earth the sea and all that in them is and rested the seventh day vide Exod. 31. 16 17. Ezek. 20. 20. From the example of these inquilini all other Gentiles wheresoever living admitted to the worship of the God of Israel upon the same terms were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Proselyti Portae or Proselyti inquilini of which sort there were many in all Cities and places of the Gentiles where the Jews had Synagogues and used to frequent the Synagogues with them though in a distinct place to hear the Law and the Prophets read and expounded But in the New Testament they are found called by another name to wit of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Worshippers so often mentioned though not observed in the Acts of the Apostles For first these are those meant in that of the Acts 17. 4. alleadged at my entrance into this discourse where it is said that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a great number of the worshipping Greeks beleeved and adhered to Paul and Silas which the Vulgar rightly translateth de colentibus Gentilibus multitudo magna taking the name of Greeks here as elsewhere in the New Testament to be put for Gentiles in generall And this place will admit of no evasion For that they were Gentiles the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 betokeneth expresly being given them by way of distinction from the Jews then and there present also That they were worshippers of the true God the God of Israel their coming into the Synagogue their name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their capablenesse of S. Pauls discourse which was to prove out of the Scriptures that Messiah was to suffer death and that Iesus was he argues sufficiently yea abundantly For who could have profited by such a Sermon as this but those who already had knowledge of the true God and beleeved the reward of the life to come This place therefore may serve as a key to all the rest of the places in this Book where these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are mentioned To that in the same Chapter ver 17. where it is said that Saint Paul in the Synagogue at Athens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 disputed with the Iews and the worshippers To that Acts 16. 14. where Saint Paul preaching the Gospel in the Jews Proseucha or Oratory at Philippi a woman named Lydia a seller of purple of the City Thyatira 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A proselyte worshipper was converted unto the faith and baptized with all her houshold In the like manner to Acts 18. 4. when S. Paul is said at Corinth to have reason'd in the Synagogues every Sabbath and to have perswaded the Jews and the Greeks For these Greeks were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what did they in the Synagogues else so regularly every Sabbath day True the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is here wanting But it
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therefore and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were all one as men then conceived Note here that these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were taken to be the souls of men deceased and that not among the Gentiles onely but as may seem among the Jews also For Iosephus in his seventh Book De Bello Iudaico Cap. 25. mentioning these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon occasion of a certain herb supposed to be good for them saith expresly by way of Parenthesis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sc. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Spiritus sunt pessimorum â—omâ—num vivis immersi I tell not this meaning to avouch it for true but only that you might understand how Iustin Martyrs argument proceeds to prove that souls have existence after Death from Daemoniaâ—i My last proof is taken from those Energumeni which are all one with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so often mentioned in the Church Liturgies in the ancient Canons and in other Ecclesiasticall writings many ages after our Saviours being on earth and that not as any rare and unaccustomed thing but as ordinary and usuall They were wont to send them out of the Church when the Liturgie began as they did the Poenitentes Auditores and Catechumeni which might not be partakers of the holy Mysteries If those were not such as we now adayes conceive of no otherwise then as mad-men surely the world must be supposed to be very well rid of Devils over it hath been which for my part I beleeve not Nay that these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were such as I speak of Balsamon and Zonaras both in their Scholia upon the Canons of the Church will I think inform us For to reconcile two Canons concerning these Energumeni which seem contradictory one called of the Apostles in these words Si quis Daemonem habet ne fiat Clericus sed neque cum fidelibus precetur Another of Timotheus quondam Patriarch of Alexandria speaking thus Si qui fidelis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 debet esse sanctorum mysteriorum particeps To reconcile these I say they affirm the former which admits them not to be meant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of him that is continually and alwayes mad ne forte quid mali aut inhonesti agat aut Daemoniac as voces emittat ita ut populum Dei conturbet atque divinum officium impediat But that of Timotheus which admits them to be understood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of him that is mad but by fits and hath his Lucida intervalla And thus I have acquainted you with what I have observed to confirm me in this opinion and make no doubt but there are more passages yet to be found this way then I have met with PROVERBS 21. 16. The Man that wandreth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the Congregation of the Dead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in coetu Gigantum IT is a question sometimes moved amongst Divines and worth resolving How and by what name the place and condition of the damned which in the Gospel is called Gehenna was termed or expressed in the Old Testament before the Captivity of Babylon and whilst the first Temple stood For presently after the Return the afore-mentioned name Gebenna began to be frequented as appears both by the second of Esdras the Chaldee Paraphrast and other Jewish writings where that name is often found as also by the Gospel where our Saviour useth it as then vulgarly known amongst the Jews But it is as certain that before the Captivity or second Temple for so the Jews call the time of their state after their return this name was not in use both because it is no where to be found in the Canonicall Scriptures of the old Testament which were all written within that time and especially because the ground and occasion thereof was not till about that time in being which was the pollution of the valley of the sons of Hinnom or Tophet by King Iosiah and the dreadfull execution of divine vengeance in that Place Hence it became to posterity to be a name of execration and applyed to signifie the place of eternall punishment For this valley of Hinnom Gehinnom or as afterward they pronounced it Gehenna was a valley neer Jerusalem in a place whereof called Tophet the children of Israel committed that abominable Idolatry in making their children to passe through the fire to Moloch that is burnt them to the Devil For an eternall detestation whereof King Iosiah polluted it and made it a place execrable ordaining it to be the place whither dead Carkasses Garbage and other unclean things should be cast out For consuming whereof to prevent annoyance a continuall fire was there burning Yea not man onely but the Lord himself as it were consecrated this place to be a place of execration by making it the field of his vengeance both before and after For first this was the place where the Angel of the Lord destroyed the host of Senacherib King of Assyria where one hundred and eighty thousand of their Carkasses were burnt according to that Esay 30. Through the voyce of the Lord shall the Assyrian be beaten down For Tophet this was a place I told you in the valley of Hinnom is ordained of old yea for the King it is prepared he hath made it deep and large the pile thereof is fire and much wood the breath of the Lord like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it This was also the place where the Idolatrous Jews were slain and massacred by the Babylonian armies when their City was taken and their Carkasses left for want of room for buriall for meat to the fowles of heaven and beasts of the field according to the word of the Lord by the Prophet Ieremy in his seventh and nineteenth Chapters The children of Iudah have built the high places of Tophet which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire which I commanded them not neither came it into my heart Therefore behold the dayes come saith the Lord that it shall be no more called Tophet nor the valley of the son of Hinnom but the valley of slaughter For they shall bury in Tophet till there be no place And the carkasses of this people shall be meat for the fowls of heaven and the beasts of the field and none shall fray them away Hence as I said this place being so many wayes execrable for what had been done therein especially having been as it were the gate to eternall destruction by so remarkable judgements and vengeance of God there executed for sin it came to be translated to signifie the place of the damned as the most accursed execrable and abominable place of all places the invisible vallâ—y of Hinnom For such was the property of the Jewish Language to give Denominations unto things unseen from such analogicall and borrowed expressions of things
second place which foretels that Christ should suffer is that in the ninth of Daniel who pointing ou◠the time of Messiah's comming by seventy weeks limits his account not at his birth but at his suffering as the most principall moment of his story From the going out of the commandement saith he to restore and build Ierusalem unto Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks and sixty two weeks and after sixty 〈◊〉 weeks shall Messiah be cut off what can be more plain then this A third place in the Prophets is to be found Zachary 12. 10. where at the time when the Jews shall be converted Christ is brought in speaking in this manner I will poure out saith he upon the House of David and upon the inhabitants of Ierusalem the spirit of grace and supplication and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced Hence it follows that the Jews should have pierced Messiah before they received him to be their Redeemer And that this place also was one of those applied by the Apostles to this purpose appears by S. Iohns twice alledging it Once in his Gospel when a Souldier with a Spear pierced our Saviours side Then saith he was fulfilled that Scripture which saith They shall look upon him whom they have pierced Again in the beginning of his Revelation Behold saith he he commeth in the clouds and every eye shall see him and they also which pierced him Now for the third division of Scripture the Psalms the principall place there which I dare warrant is that of the 16. Psalm quoted both by S. Peter and S. Paul in the Acts of the Apostles My flesh shall rest in hope for thou wilt not leave my soule in the grave neither suffer thine Holy One to see corruption For David as S. Peter and S. Paul say was buried and his body saw corruption therefore it cannot be spoken of him but of Messiah in the person of David as a type in whose loyns Messiah was Now then if Messiahs body were to be laid in the grave it follows he was to die and to be in the state of the dead And thus I have done the first part of my task and proved that Messiah was to suffer death according to the Scriptures namely foretold in that threefold division of Scripture mentioned here by our Saviour The Law the Prophets and the Psalms Now I come to prove the other part that it behoved him also to rise again the third day according to the Scriptures And this was first foreshewn in the same story of Isaac wherein his sacrifice or suffering was acted For from the time that God commanded Isaac to be offered for a burnt offering Isaac was a dead man but the third day he was released from death This the Text tels us expresly that it was the third day when Abraham came to Mount Moriah and had his son as it were restored to him again which circumstance there was no need nor use at all to have noted had it not been for some mystery For had there been nothing intended but the naked story what did it concern us to know whether it were the third or the fifth day that Abraham came to Moriah where he received his son from death Now that I have not misapplied this figure S. Paul is my witnesse who expresly makes this release of Isaac from slaughter a figure of the Resurrection For thus he speaks of this whole story Hebrews 11. By faith Abraham when he was tried offered up Isaac and he that received the promises offered up his onely begotten Sonne Of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy seed be cal led Accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead from whence also he received him in a figure The same was foreshewn by the Law of sacrifices which were to be eaten before the third day some sacrifices were to be eaten the same day they were offered but those which were deferred longest as the Peace-offerings were to be eaten before the third day The third day no sacrifice might be eaten but was to be burnt If it were eaten it was not accepted for an atonement but counted an abomination To shew that the sacrifice of Messiah which these sacrifices represented was to be finished the third day by his rising from the dead and therefore the type thereof determined within that time beyond which time it was not accepted for atonement of sin because then it was no longer a type of him Thus far the Law as for the Prophets I finde no expresse prediction in them for the time of Christs rising for that of the Prophet Ionah I take to be rather an allusion then a Prophecie onely in generall it is implyed that Christ should rise again both in that famous Prophecie of Esay the 53. and that of Zachary 12. In the former it is said that after he had made his soul a sacrifice for sin He should see his seed and prolong his dayes and the pleasure of the Lord should prosper in his hand And again that the Lord should divide him a portion with the great and that he should divide the spoile with the strong because he had poured out his soul unto death which argues that he should not onely live again but be victorious after he had died In that of Zachary it is said the Iews should look upon or see him whom they had formerly pierced and that in that day he would powre upon them the spirit of grace and supplication therefore he was to live again after they had pierced him I come to the Psalms where not onely his rising again is prophesied of but the time thereof determined though at first sight it appears not so namely in that fore-alledged passage of the sixteenth Psalm Thou wilt not leave my soul in Hell nor suffer thine Holy One to see corruption All men shall rise again but their bodies must first return to dust and see corruption But Messiah was to rise again before he saw corruption if before then the third day at farthest for then the body naturally begins to see corruption this may be gathered by the story of Lazarus in the Gospel where Iesus commanding the stone to be rolled from his Grave Martha his sister answered Lord by this time he stinketh for he hath been dead four daies Also by that rule given by the Masters of Physick that those who die of the Apoplexie suffocation of the Mother or like sudden deaths should not be buried till seventy two hours were past Because within that time they might revive and examples are given of those who have done so They give also a reason of it in nature because say they in that time the humours of the body make their revolution the flegme in one day or twenty four hours the choler in two dayes or forty eight hours the melancholy in three dayes which is seventy two hours and this to be the reason why an Ague
for ever that is they should sing the one hundred and sixth Psalm or one hundred thirty sixth which begin in this manner and were both of them not unfit for such an occasion And when they began to sing and praise saith the Text the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon Moab and Mount Seir which were come against Iudah and they were smitten A second place where such kinde of Prophets and prophecying as we speak of is mentioned is that in the first of Samuel in the story of Sauls election where we reade That when he came to a certain place called the Hill of God he met a company of Prophets comming down from the high place or Oratory there with a Psaltery a Tabret and a Pipe and a Harp before them and they prophecied and he with them Their Instruments argue what kinde of Prophecy this was namely praising God with spirituall songs and melody In what manner is not so easie to define or specifie But with an extemporary rapture I easily beleeve And if we may conjecture by other examples one of them should seem to have been the Praecentor and to utter the verse or ditty the rest to have answered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the extremes or last words of the verse For after this manner we are told by Philo Iudaeus that the Essens who were of the Iewish Nation were wont to sing their Hymnes in their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or worshipping places And after the self-same manner Eusebius tels us did the Primitive Christians having in all likelihood learnt it from the Jews whose manner it was the same is witnessed by the Author Constitutionum Apostolicarum in his second Book and fifty seventh Cha. where describing the manner of the Christian service after the reading of the Lessons of the Old Testament saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let another sing the Psalms of David and the people succinere or answer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the extremes of the verses Some footsteps of which custome remain still with us though perhaps in somewhat a different way when in those short versicles of Liturgy being sentences taken out of the Psalms the Priest says or sings the first half and the People answer the latter quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As for example in that taken out of Psal. 51. 17. the Priest says O Lord open thou our lips The People or Chorus answer And our mouth shall shew forth thy praise But whatsoever the ancient manner of answering was thus much we are sure of that the Iews in their divine lauds were wont to praise God after this manner in Antiphones or Responsories as to let passe other testimonies and the use of their Synagogues to this day derived from their Ancestors we may learn by two speciall Arguments one from the Seraphims singing Esay the sixth where it is said that the Seraphims cried one unto another saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Hosts the whole earth is full of his Glory Note they cryed one unto another Secondly from the use of the Hebrew verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in the proper and native signification thereof being to answer is also used for to sing as in the Psalm where we translate Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving sing praise upon the Harp unto our God in the Hebrew it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Answer unto the Lord in thanksgiving sing praise upon the Harp unto our God And Isay 27. 2. In that day sing ye unto her a vineyard of red wine In the Hebrew Answer ye unto her And Numbers 21. in Israels song of the Well Spring up O Well sing ye unto it In the Hebrew it is Answer unto it And Moses speaking of those that were worshipping the golden Calf Exodus 32. 18. It is not the voyce of them that shout for mastery nor the voyce of them that cry for being overcome but the noise of them that sing do I heare In the Hebrew the voyce of them that answer one another And so in other places But to put all out of doubt look Ezra 3. 11. where it is expresly said The Levites the sons of Asaph sung together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord because he is good for his mercy endureth for ever Hence was derived the manner of praying and praising God in the Christian service alternis vicibus in a musicall way and as it were by way of prophecying and versifying even though we do but speak it only as you know the Poet says Amant alterna Camaenae Thus I have taken occasion somewhat to enlarge this particular That we our selves might the better understand the reason of what we do and what precedents and whose example we follow therein And thus much of prophecying I come now to the second thing I propounded to speak of namely what was that fault among the Corinthians which the Apostle here taxeth For the right understanding whereof I say two things First for the offenders that they were the women and not the men That which the Apostle speaketh concerning men being by way of supposition only and to illustrate his Argument against the uncomly guise of the women à pari this appears because his conclusion speaks of women only and nothing at all of men Secondly for the quality of the fault it was this that the women at the time of praying and prophecying were unveiled in the Church notwithstanding it was then accounted an unseemly and immodest guise for women to appear open and bare-faced in publique How then will you say should it come to passe that Christian women should so much forget themselves as to transgresse this decorum in Gods House and service which they observed other where I answer from a phantasticall imitation of the manner of the she-Priests and Prophetesses of the Gentiles when they served their Idols as their Pythiae Bacchae or Maenades and the like who used when they uttered their Oracles or celebrated the rites and sacrifices of their Gods to put themselves into a wild and extaticall guise having their faces discovered their hait dishevelled and hanging about their ears This these Corinthian women conceiting themselves when they prayed or prophecied in the Church to be acting the parts of she-Priests uttering Oracles like the Pythiae or Sibyllae or celebrating sacrifice as the Maenades or Bacchae were so fond as to imitate as that sex is prone to follow the fashion and accordingly cast off their veils and discovered their faces immodestly in the Congregation and thereby as the Apostle speaks dishonoured their heads that is were unseemly accoutred and dressed on their head which he proveth by three Arguments partly from Nature which having given women their hair for a covering taught them to be covered as a sign of subjection the manner of this covering being to be measured by the custome of the Nation Lastly by an Argument à pari from men
Now for Synagogues the common opinion is that they were not before the Captivity of Babylon and that necessity first taught the Jews the use of them in that Captivity which afterward they brought with them at their return into their own Country The reason why men so think is I suppose the absolute silence of them in Scripture untill the time of the second Temple but though the name were not it is possible the thing might be howsoever because it is most received that they were not we will let it passe for currant But as for Proseucha's such as we have described them none that I know have affirmed or determined ought of their antiquity it may be not taken it into consideration either because they had no occasion to think of any such matter or because they confounded them altogether with Synagogues The matter therefore being free and undecided I will make bold to affirm that if Synagogues were not yet Proseucha's that is open places for Prayers were a long time before the Captivity yea even from the dayes of Ioshuah the son of Nun. And though the Jews had or were to have but one Altar or place of Sacrifice that namely which the Lord should choose to place the Ark of his Covenant there the Tabernacle or Temple yet had they other places for devotion and religious use And that this Sanctuary of God here mentioned in my Text at Sichem which was a Leviticall City was such a one my reasons are these First because it is incredible that the Israelites having but one Temple for the whole Nation whereat they were bound to appear and those the males onely but thrice a year should have no other places of prayer nearer their dwellings whither they might resort on Sabbath dayes the Temple or Tabernacle being from some of them above an hundred miles distant at the least Secondly because as I have already shewed this sanctuary at Sichem could not be the Tabernacle which was then at Shiloh not at Sichem and yet must have some stable and fixed place because the situation of the Oak is designed by it yea must have been still there when this story of Ioshuah was written which is thought to have been long after his death surely this Chapter was written after it where both his death and buriall are recorded wherefore to say the Ark was brought thither upon this occasion will not serve turn Thirdly this place should be a Proseucha because of that circumstance of trees growing in it which as it proves it not to have been the Tabernacle where no such thing was lawfull to be so seems it to be a Characteristicall note of a Proseucha For though it were not lawfull to have trees near the Altar of God that is in or about the Court of the Tabernacle Yet was it not so with Proseucha's yea they seem to have been ordinarily garnished and beset with them This may be gathered from a passage of Philo Iudaeus where relating the barbarous outrage of the Gentiles at Alexandria against the Jews there dwelling in the time of Caius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of some of the Proseucha's they cut down the Trees others they demolished to the very Foundations The same is implied by that of Iuvenal speaking of a Jewish Wizard or Fortune-teller conducta sub arbore conjux And again in his sixth Satyre Arcanam Iudaea tremens mendicat in aurem Interpres legum Solymarum magna sacerdos Arboris ac summi sida internuncia coeli Interpres legum Solymarum that is of Moses Lawes Magna Sacerdos Arboris because of the Trees in their Proseucha's or Places of worship The same appears also out of those verses of his third Satyre complaining that the once sacred Grove of Fons Capenus where Numa used to meet with the Goddesse AEgeria was then let out to the beggerly Jews for a Proseucha and that every Tree such were the times must pay rent to the people by which means the woods which formerly had been the habitation of the Muses were become dens for beggerly Jews to mutter their Orizons in hear his words Hic ubi nocturne Numa constituisset amicae Nunc sacri Fontis nemus delubra locantur Iudaeis quorum cophinus foenumquâ— supellex Omnis enim populo mercedem pendere jussa est Arbor ejectis mendicat sylva Camoenis Whence comes this connexion of Iews and Trees but from their having trees in their Proseucha's unto which their situation without the Cities conduced as also it did for privacy and retirement Thus you see how well the description and mark of a Proseucha agrees to this Sanctuary in my Text. And that the Jews had many other such in other places as well as at Sichem even in those elder times as at Mispah Bethel and Gilgal I make little doubt which we reade to have been places of Assembly for the people and the two last sanctified of old by Divine apparition as Sichem was Of Mispah the Author of the first of Maccabees in his third Chapter if I understand him testifieth as much when he tels us that whilst the holy City lay desolate and the Sanctuary was trodden down by the tyranny of Antiochus Epiphanes Iudas Maccabaeus and those of the people which adhered unto their God assembled together at Maspha to make there their supplications unto their God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because at Maspha or Mispah had been a place of prayer in former time for Israel as much as to say there had been a Proseucha of old And do we not reade in that story of the â—…jamiticall war in the Book of Iudges That the Iabernacle being at Shiloh as appears by the last Chapter yet in the Chapter going before it is said that the whole Congregation of Israel was gathered together as one man unto the Lord in Mispah and that in the twenty sixth verse is mention of an house of God there where the people prayed and fasted It is said indeed that the Ark of the Covenant was upon that extraordinary occasion brought thither but it being certain out of the next Chapter that the Tabernacle was still at Shiloh this House of God could be none of it Nay perhaps we may hence learn that when the Ark upon occasion of such a generall and extraordinary assembly was to be removed they used to bring it to such places as these which were as holy Courts ready prepared for it and that then it was lawfull but not else to sacrifice in them Of these Courts for prayer we may understand that also in the seventy fourth Psalm They have cast Fire into thy Sanctuary they have burnt up all the Conventicula Dei in the Land namely in the Captivity by Nebuchadnezzar who destroyed both their Temple and their Proseucha's For if we understand it of the persecution of Antiochus as some do it must then follow that some Canonicall Scripture was written after Malachi and the
22. he saith unto them Ye men of Israel hear these words Iesus of Nazareth a man approved of God among you c. Him being delivered by the determinate counsell and fore-knowledge of God ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain Men of Israel and such as had slain their Messias surely those were no Gentiles Likewise when at the hearing of this they were pricked in their hearts he saith unto them Repent and be Baptized every one of you in the Name of Iesus Christ for the remission of sins For the Promise is made unto you and your children and to all that are afarre off even as many as the Lord shall call The Promise saith he is made unto you and your children were these then any others then Iews or Israelites of the seed of Abraham Lastly we finde that of these Parthians Medes and Elamites and of the rest named with them there were added unto the Church by this Sermon of S. Peter three thousand souls But it is certain that Cornelius the Centurion was the first Gentile that was converted unto the Faith Therefore these first Converts were no Gentiles Perhaps you will say they were Proselytes of these severall Nations and therefore called Iews I say not so neither because Proselytes are by name rehearsed among them when it is said of those Romani advenae verse the tenth that they were Iews and Proselytes Ergo the rest were Iews by race and not by Religion onely But what need I to have heaped together all these proofs when my Text alone is sufficient to evince it I come now therefore to a more particular illustration thereof according to what I have thus in generall premised And first for the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which I translate sojourning rather then dwelling for so I understand it that they were not proper dwellers but such as came to worship at Jerusalem from those far Countries at the Feasts of the Passeover and Pentecost and so had been continuing there some good time It is true that in the usuall Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifie a durable mansion But with the Hellenists in whose Dialect the Scripture speaketh they are used indifferently for a stay of a shorter or longer time that is for to sojourn as well as to dwell as these two examples out of the Septuagint will make manifest one Gen. 27. 44. where Rebecca sayes to her younger son Iacob Son arise and flee unto Laban thy brother to Haran 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and tarry with him a few dayes untill thy brothers fury turn away 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is here to tarry but a few dayes Another is in the first Book of Kin. 17. 20. where Eliah cries unto the Lord saying O Lord my God hast thou also brought evill upon the widow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with whom I sojourn by slaying her son here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to sojourn onely In a word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 answer to the Hebrew verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies any stay or remaining in a place Next for the persons here specified Iews out of every Nation under heaven for the right understanding thereof we are to know that before the last dispersion of the Iews by the Romans after their Temple and City were destroyed by Titus which at the time of this story was not nor many years after it there had been already two Captivities and great dispersions of that Nation besides some smaller scatterings The first was of the ten Tribes by Salmanassar King of Assyria who is said to have planted them in Hala and Habor by the river of Gozan and in the Cities of the Medes and these never I mean any considerable part of them returned to dwell again in their own Countrey of these therefore we are chiefly to understand to have been those which the story here cals Parthians Medes and Elamites Elamites that is Persians of the Province of Elymais For in those Countries which these names comprehend were the ten Tribes placed by the Assyrian and there still dwelt or thereabouts in our Saviour and his Apostles time and long after S. Hierome upon those words in the third of Ioel Et Filios Iuda Filios Ierusalem vendidistis Filits Graecorum which he understands of the Captivity by Vespasian and Titus tels us thus much Filit saith he Iuda Ierusalem nequaquam Israel decem Tribuum qui usque hodie in Medorum urbibus montibus habitant The second Captivity was by Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon of the two Tribes Judah and Benjamin more then a hundred years after that of the ten Now a good part of these at seventy years end returned again under Cyrus and his successors to dwell again in their own land re-edified the Temple and City of Jerusalem re-erected their Common-wealth which continued till our Saviours time and a little after Notwithstanding all those that were Captives in Babylon returned not it may be not much more then the half of them certain it is that a great number of them stayed there still those especially which were rich and so well accommodated having no mind to stir whence in our Saviours and the Apostles times there were an innumerable company of them in those parts where they flourished with Academies and Schools and had Doctors not inferiour to those of Jerusalem it self Yea from them proceeded the Chaldee Paraphrase and that great Doctor and Patriarch of Rabbies R. Hillel Of these therefore we have reason to think were those which are here enumerated by the name of dwellers in Mesopotamia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where note by the way that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are comprehended in the number of those whom my Text saith were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which confirms my interpretation that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there signifies sojourning and not dwelling for that they could not be said to dwell in both places These two dispersions beyond the river Euphrates how numerous they were in our Saviour and the Apostles times we may gather from those words of King Agrippa in Iosephus in that Oration he made unto the Iews before that fatall siege disswading them from rebelling against the Romans their party being too much too weak to maintain themselves against that mighty Empire Quos igitur saith he ex orbe non habitato socios in Bellum assumetis Siquidem omnes qui in orbe habitabili degunt Romani sunt Nisi fortè quis vestrum spes suas ultra Euphratem porrigat in Adiabenorum Regione Gentiles suos aestimet adjuturos Adiabenorum Regio is that of Assyria he goes on Verum nec illi propter irrationabilem causam tanto se Bello implicabunt nec si tam probroso operi assensum darent Parthus tamen sineret Mark then that they were under the dominion of the Parthians Iosephus himself testifieth as much in his Prologue to his
Then his Lord was wroth and said O thou wicked servant shouldst not thou have had compassion on thy fellow servant even as I had pity upon thee And he delivered him unto the tormentors till he should pay all that was due to him The Application is terrible So likewise saith our Saviour shall my heavenly Father doe unto you if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses We are this Servus nequam if when our heavenly Father forgives us thousands of Talents we stand with our brethren for an hundred pence There is no proportion between the offences wherewith we offend God and the offences wherewith our brother offends us And therefore we have no excuse hath our brother wronged us never so often never so much never so hainously For whatsoever it be or how unworthy or undeserved soever our sin our ingratitude to Almighty God is and hath been infinitely greater even much more then ten thousand Talents surpasse an hundred pence To these two testimonies adde a third and that also as the former out of our blessed Saviours own mouth Mat. 5. If thou bring saith he thy gift to the Altar and there remember that thy brother hath ought against thee leave there thy gift before the Altar and goe thy way First be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word whereby the Septuagint constantly render that which the Law cals Corban and the Gospel concurres with them Mar. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now Corban in the Law is in speciall used for those offerings which were made for atonement of Sin as the Burnt-offering Sin-offering Trespasse-offering and Peace-offering call'd Offerings by Fire or Sacrifices So that this precept of our Saviours here is the same in effect with the former when thou commest to offer an offering unto God for an atonement of thy sin Go thy stay first and be reconciled unto thy brother for without this thy sin shall not be forgiven thee I shall not need tell you that now in the Gospel Christ is the Sacrifice is the gift which a Christian by faith offers unto God for the propitiation of his sin and that this sacrifice is commemorated sealed and communicated unto us in the blessed Sacrament of the Lords Supper whereby it will easily appear how this precept of our Saviours uttered after the style of the legall worship is appliable to the Euangelicall Hence in the ancient Church when they assembled to celebrate this Sacrament the Deacon was wont to proclaim 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ne quis contra aliquem Let no man have ought against his brother And then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Salute one another with an holy kisse which accordingly they did first the Bishop and Clergy then the Laity the men apart by themselves and the women by themselves and this was a profession of friendship and reconciliation and therefore called Osculum pacis the kisse of peace In after-times the Priest gave this kisse of peace unto the Deacon and he to the chief of the Congregation and so it was given from one to another In stead of which at length was brought in that foolish ceremony still used among the Romanists for the Priest to send a little guilded or painted Table with a Crucifix or some Saints picture thereon to be kissed of every one in the Church before they receive the Holy Bread which they call the kissing of the Pax. So oftentimes profitable and usefull Ceremonies degenerate into toyes and superstitions Our Church though she useth no ceremony retains the substance when the Priest in his exhortation to the Communicants saith If any of you be in malice or envy or any other grievous crime bewail your sins and come not to this holy Table and by the Rubrick the Priest if he know any such is to turn them back unlesse they will be reconciled Lastly the necessity of this duty is testified by that pious and generally received custome amongst Christians to exhort those that are dying to forgive all the world that so themselves may finde mercy and forgivenesse at the hands of God Is it needfull at the hour of death and not as needfull in the time of our health Is there no forgivenesse to be expected at the hands of God without it when we are dying and is there while we are living No certainly All times are alike here and there is no time wherein God will forgive us unlesse we forgive our brother What then remains but that we do every day as we would do if we were to die the next It is a blessed disposition to have a becalmed heart to those who have wronged us and not to let the Sun go down upon our wrath To be able to come before God with confidence and say Lord forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespasse against us MAT. 7. 21. Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdome of heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in heaven THere are three sorts of men in the world some which call not Christ their Lord as Turks Jews and Infidels some which call him Lord as all Christians but not all in like manner for there are two sorts of them some which call him Lord and that is all others which both call him Lord and doe the will of his Father the administration whereof is committed to him The first of those three sorts those who do not so much as call Christ their Lord it is plain they cannot be saved for there is no other name to be saved by but the name of Christ onely For the second sort those who call Christ their Lord that is are Christians and professe to beleeve in Christ and hope to be saved by him and yet do no works of obedience unto God though such as these may think themselves in a good estate yet our Saviour here expresly excludes them from entring into the Kingdome of heaven But the third sort which doe not onely call Christ their Lord but doe the will of his Father these are the onely true Christians for these there is hope but for none other Not every one saith our Saviour that saith unto me Lord Lord c. Our Saviour foresaw there would be among those who beleeved on his Name such as should think their faith sufficient and that as for works they might be excused having him for their Lord and Captain of their salvation who himself had both undergone the punishment due for their sins and fulfilled that obedience which they should have done So that now there remained nothing on their part for to obtain salvation but to trust and rely upon him without any endeavour at all to please God by works as being now become unusefull to salvation If ever there were a time when Christians thus deceived themselves that time is now as both our practice sheweth plainly by a generall
not out of respect of profit or fear or praise of men For such as do so are hypocrites Not every one saith our Saviour that saith unto me Lord Lord but he that doth the will of my Father Now it is the will of our heavenly Father that we serve him in truth and uprightnesse of heart I know saith David 1 Chr. 29. 17. that thou my God triest the heart and hast pleasure in uprightnesse And so he said to Abraham Gen. 17. 1. I am the Almighty God walk before me and be thou upright or be thou sincere This manner of serving God Ioshuah commended to the Israelites Iosh. 24. 14. Fear the Lord saith he and serve him in sincerity and truth and the Prophet Samuel 1 Sam. 12. 24. Onely fear the Lord and serve him in truth with all your heart This sincerity uprightnesse and truth in Gods service is when we do religious and pious duties and abstain from the contrary out of conscience to Godward out of an heart possessed with the love and fear of God It is otherwise called in Scripture perfectnesse or perfectnesse of heart For it is a lame and unperfect service where the better half is wanting as the heart is in every work of duty both to God and men And therefore it is called perfectnesse when both go together when conscience as the soul enlives the outward work as a body And indeed this is all the perfection we can attain unto in this life to serve God in truth of heart though otherwise we come short of what we should and therefore God esteems our actions and works not according to the greatnesse or exactnesse of the performance but according to the sincerity and truth of our hearts in doing them As appears by the places I have already quoted and by that 1 King 15. 14. where it is said that though Asa failed in his reformation and the high places were not taken down neverthelesse his heart was perfect with the Lord his God all his days A note to know such a sincerity and truth of heart by is If in our privacy when there is no witnesse but God and our selves we are carefull then to abstain from sin as well as in the sight of men If when no body but God shall see and know it we are willing to do a good work as well as if all the world should know it He that findeth himself thus affected his heart is true at least in some measure but so much the lesse by how much he findeth himself the lesse affected in this manner When we are in the presence and view of men we may soon be deceived in our selves and think we do that out of conscience and fear of God which indeed is but for the fear or praise of men either lest we should be damnified or impair our credit or the like but when there is none but God and us then to be afraid of sin and carefull of good duties is a sign we fear God in truth and sincerity and not in hypocrisy The speciall and principall means to attain this sincerity and truth of heart is to possesse our selves with the apprehension of Gods presence and to walk before him as in his eye wheresoever thou art there is an eye that seeth thee an eare that hears thee and a hand that registreth thy most secret thoughts For the ways of man saith Solomon Prov. 5. 21. are before the eyes of the Lord and he pondereth all his doings How much ashamed would we be that men should know how much our hearts and our words and actions disagreed How would we blush that men should see us commit this or that sin or neglect this or that duty what horrible Atheisme then doth this argue that the presence of man yea sometimes of a little child should hinder us from that wickednesse which Gods presence cannot This having of God before our eyes and the continuall meditation of his all-seeing presence would together with devout prayer for the assistance of Gods grace be in time the bane of hypocrisie and falshood of heart and beget in stead thereof that truth and sincerity which God loveth Another property of such obedience as God requires is universality we must not serve God by halfs by doing some duties and omitting other but we must with David Psal. 119. 6 20. have respect to all Gods Commandements to those of the second Table as well as to those of the first and to those of the first as well as those of the second The want of which universality of obedience to both Tables is so frequent as the greatest part of Christians are plunged therein to the undoubted ruine of their souls and shipwrack of everlasting life if they so continue For there are two sorts of men which think themselves in a good estate and are not The one are those who make conscience of the duties of the first Table but have little or no care of the duties of the second And this is a most dangerous evill by reason it is more hard to be discovered those which are guilty thereof being such as seem religious but their Religion is in vain Such were those in the Church of Israel against whom the Prophet Esay declaimeth Chap. 1. from the 10. ver to the 17. To what purpose are your sacrifices and burnt offerings saith the Lord your oblations and incense are an abomination Your new Moons Sabbaths calling of Assemblies even the solemne meeting I cannot away with it is iniquity Would you know what was the matter see the words following Learn to do well seek judgement relieve the oppressed judge the fatherlesse plead for the widow Lo here a want of the duties of the second Table Such is that also of Hosea Chap. 6. I desired mercy and not sacrifice which is twice alledged by our Saviour in the Gospel against the Pharisees hypocriticall scrupulosity in the same duties of the first Table with a neglect of the second But here perhaps some may finde 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 desire mercy and not sacrifice that is rather mercy which is a duty of the second Table then sacrifice which is of the first I answer The holy Ghosts meaning is not to preferre the second Table before the first taking them simply but to perform 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 then to offer sacrifice alone To go on The duties of the first Table are by a speciall name called duties of Religion those of the second Table come under the name of Honesty and probity Now as a man can never
Cornelius his Vision to command him to send for Peter For he saw a Vision at the ninth hour of the day an Angell of the Lord comming unto him and saying Cornelius Whom when Cornelius looked on being afraid he said What is it Lord The Angel said unto him Thy prayers and thine almes are come up for a memoriall or had in remembrance before God And now send men to Ioppa and call for one Simon whose sirname is Peter and he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to doe And thus have I brought the Story as far as my Text which is as you see a part of this Message of the Angel to Cornelius namely his Report And he said unto him Thy prayers and thine almes c. Wherein two things are to be considered First who was the man and what was the condition of this person to whom the Angel spake namely Cornelius And the Angel said unto him Secondly what the Message or Report he brought importeth Thy prayers and thine almesdeeds are come in remembrance before God To begin with the first The man here spoken to as you may read in the beginning of the Chapter and as I have in some part told already was Cornelius a Gentile Captain of the Italian Band at Caesarea and so no doubt himself of that â—…tion To understand which ye must know that at tâ—… 〈◊〉 the Land of Jury like as most other Nations were was under the Romane Empire and ruled by a President of their appointing which President had his Court and Seat at Caesarea a great and magnificent City upon the Palestine coast some seventy miles from Jerusalem where was continually a guard of Souldiers both for the Presidents safety and awing the subdued Jews And among these was our Cornelius a Commander being Captain of the Italian Band. But howsoever he were by race and breeding a Gentile yet for Religion he was no Idolater but a worshipper of the true God the God of Israel or God the Creator of heaven and earth For the Text tels us that he was a devout man and one that feared God with all his house who gave much almes to the people and prayed to God alway which is as much as to say he was a Proselyte for so were those converted Gentiles called who left their false Gods and worshipped the true Yet was he not circumcised nor had taken upon him the yoke of Moses Law and so was not accounted a member of the Church of Israel wherefore according to the Ordinances of the Law he was esteemed unclean and so not lawfull for Peter or any other circumcised Jew to accompany with him had not God given Peter an Item that he should thenceforth call no man unclean for as much as that badge of separation was now dissolved For the better understanding of this we must know there were while the legall worship stood two sorts of Proselytes or converted Gentiles One sort which were called Proselytes of the Covenant These were such as were circumcised and submitted themselves to the whole Mosaicall paedagogy These were counted as Jews and conversed with as freely as those which were so born But there was a second sort of Proselytes inferiour unto these whom they called Proselytes of the Gate These were not circumcised nor conformed themselves to the Mosaicall Rites and Ordinances onely they were tyed to the obedience of those Commandements which the Hebrew Doctors call the Commandements of Noah that is such as all the sons of Noah were bound to observe which were first to worship God the Creator Secondly to disclaim the service of Idols Thirdly to abstain from blood namely both from the effusion of mans blood and fourthly from eating flesh with the blood therein Fifthly to abstain from fornication and all unlawfull conjunction Sixtly to administer justice and seventhly to abstain from robbery and do as they would be done to And such Proselytes as these howsoever they were accounted Gentiles and such as with whom the Jews might not converse as being no free denizens of Israel yet did they yeeld them a part in the life to come Such a Proselyte was Naaman the Syrian and of such there were many in our Saviours time and such an one was our Cornelius Hence it was that when afterward there arose a controversie in the Church Whether or no the Gentiles which beleeved were to be circumcised and so bound to observe the Ordinances and rites of Moses S. Peter in the Councell of the Apostles at Jerusalem determined It was the will of God they should not and that upon this ground because Cornelius the first beleeving Gentile was no circumcised Proselyte but a Proselyte of the Gate only and yet neverthelesse when himself was sent as ye have heard to preach the Gospel of Christ to him and his house the Holy Ghost came down upon them as well as upon the Circumcision whereby it was manifest that God would have the rest of the Gentiles which beleeved to have no more imposed upon them then Cornelius had and accordingly the Councell concluded that no other burden should be laid upon them but onely those precepts given to the sons of Noah To abstain from pollutions of Idols from blood from things strangled and from fornication and the rest which they had received already in becomming Christians and so needed not to be expresly mentioned Now that I may not seem to have held you with so long a story without some matter of instruction Let us observe by the example of this Cornelius how great a favour and blessing of God it is to live and dwell within the pale of his Church where opportunity and means of salvation is to be had If Cornelius had still dwelt among his Countrimen the Italians where he was bred and born or in any other Province of that Empire he had in all likelihood never come to this saving and blessed knowledge of the true God but dyed a Pagan as he was born But by this occasion of living at Caesarea within the confines of the land of Israel where the Oracles and worship of the most high God were dayly resounded and professed he became such an one as ye have heard a blessed Convert unto the true God whom with all his house he served and worshipped with acceptation If this be so then should we our selves learn to be more thankfull to God then most of us use to be for that condition wherein by his Providence we are born for we might if it had pleased him have been born and had our dwelling among Pagans and Gentiles who had no knowledge of his word and promise and such our Nation once was But behold his goodnesse and mercy we are born of Christian Parents and dwell in a Christian Country and so made partakers of the name and livery of Christ as soon as we were born How great should our thankfulnesse be for his mercy Nay wee might have been born and bred in a Christian Nation too and yet
such an one where Idolatry false worship and Popery so reigned as there had been little hopes or means to have been saved But behold we are born bred and dwell in a reformed Christian State where the worship of God in Christ is truly taught and practised where no God is worshipped but the Father and in no other Mediator but his Son Jesus Christ. How should we then magnifie our good God for his so great and abundant mercy towards us Luther or some other tels a story of a German pesant who on a time beholding an ugly Toad fell into a most bitter lamentation and weeping that he had been so unthankfull to Almighty God who had made him a man and not such an ugly creature as that was O that we could in like manner bewail our ingratitude towards him who hath made us to have our birth and habitation not among Pagans and barbarous Indians a people without God in the world but in a beleeving and Christian Nation where the true God is known and the means of salvation is to be had Thankfulnesse for a lesse benefit is the way to obtain a greater To acknowledge and prize Gods favour towards us in the means is the way to obtain his grace to use them to our eternall advantage whereas our neglect of thankfulnesse in the one may cause God in his just judgement to deprive us of his blessing in the other Consider it And thus much concerning the person to whom the Angel spake Cornelius And he said unto him Now I come to the message it self Thy prayers and thine almes are come into remembrance before God Where before I make any further entrance there is an Objection requires to be answered namely how Cornelius his service could be accepted of God as it is said to be when as he had no knowledge of Christ without whom no man can please God I answer Cornelius pleased God through his faith in the promise of Christ to come as all just men under the Law did which faith God did so long accept after Christ was come till his comming and the mystery of Redemption wrought by him were fully and clearly made known and preached which had not been to Cornelius till this time for though he had heard of his preaching in Galilee and Judaea and that he was crucified by the Jews yet he had not heard of his Resurrection from the dead and Ascension into glory or was not assured of it till it was now confirm'd unto him by one sent from God himself And it is like that having heard somewhat of the Apostles preaching and of the Jews opposing their testimony and so knowing not what to beleeve he had earnestly besought God in his Devotions to lead him in the way of truth and make known unto him what to doe This being premised I return again unto the Angels words wherein I will consider three things First the conjunction or coupling of Almesdeeds with Prayer Thy Prayers and thine Almes Secondly the efficacy of power they have with God Thy Prayers and thine Almes are come up into remembrance before God Thirdly I will adde the reasons why God so much accepteth them which are also so many Motives why we should be carefull and diligent to practise them For the first the joyning of Almesdeeds with prayer Cornelius we see joyn'd them and he is therefore in the verses before going commended for a devout man and one that feared God And by the Angels report from God himself we hear how graciously he accepted them giving us to understand that a Devotion thus arm'd was of all others the most powerfull to pierce into his dwelling place and fetch a blessing from him Therefore our Saviour likewise Mat. 6. joyns the precepts of Alms and Prayer together teaching us how to give alms and how to pray in one Sermon as things that ought to goe hand in hand and not to be separated asunder It was also the Ordinance of the Church in the Apostles times that the first day of the week which was the time of publike prayer should be the time also of Alms. So saith S. Paul 1 Cor. 16. 1. Now concerning the collection for the Saints saith he as I have given order to the Churches of Galatia even so do ye 2. Vpon the first day of the week that is upon the Lords day let every one of you lay by himself in store as God hath prospered him that there be no gatherings when I come Which institution seems to be derived from the Commandement of God in the Law twice repeated Let no man appear before the Lord empty For the words annexed to that Law Deut. 16. where it is applied to the three great feasts when all Israel was to assemble to pray before the Lord in his Tabernacle the words I say there annexed sound altogether like unto these of S. Paul concerning the Lords day Three times a year saith the Text there shall all the males appear before the Lord and they shall not appear before the Lord empty Every one shall give as he is able according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee Is not this the same in sense with S. Pauls Let every one lay by himself in store as God hath prospered him The Primitive Church after the Apostles followed the same president and our own Reformed Church hath ordained the same in her Service-book were it accordingly practised as was intended For after the Epistle and Gospel she appoints divers choice sentences of Scripture to be read which exhorts us to Almes and other Offerings to the honour of Almighty God and then as supposing it to be done in the Prayer for the whole estate of Christs Church We humbly beseech him most mercifully to accept our Almes and receive our prayers which we offer unto his Divine Majesty Shall I now need to exhort Christians thus to furnish and strengthen their prayers which they daily offer unto God to couple them with Almesdeeds to come before God with a present and not empty-handed Whom neither Gods Commandement the practice of his Church the example of his Saints nor the acceptance of such prayers as the hand which dealeth Almes lifteth up to him whom these will not move no words of mine will do it But some may say Would you have us always give Alms when we pray No I say not so but I would not have you appear before the Lord empry that is such as are not wont to give them nor mean to do for you may give them before or second your prayers with them after you may have set and appointed times for the one as you have for the other or when the Law of man injoyns you any thing in this kinde do it heartily faithfully and with a willing minde without grudging that so God may accept it as a service done to him Or lastly thou maist doe as the holy men of Scripture were wont vow and promise unto God if
to procure a blessing from him Now I come to the third thing propounded The reasons why God requires them and why they are so pleasing unto him which reasons when they are known will be also strong motives to us why we should frequent them For though indeed their efficacy alone were a motive sufficient to invite any reasonable man to do them yet will these reasons adde a further enforcement thereunto To begin then with prayer the reasons why God requires this duty at our hands I will name but the chief are these First that we might acknowledge the property he hath in the gifts he bestows upon us otherwise we would forget in what tenure we hold those blessings we receive from his hands Though therefore he be willing to bestow his benefits upon us yet he will have us ask them before he doth it Even as Fathers do with their children though they intend to bestow such things upon them as are needfull yet they will have their children to ask them Unlesse therefore we ask of God the things which are his to give as we shall not receive what we have not so we cannot lawfully use any thing we have Secondly Another reason is that we might be acquainted with God Acquaint now thy self with God saith Eliphaz Job 22. 21. and be at peace thereby good shall come unto thee Now acquaintance we know grows amongst men by conversing together by intercourse and speaking to one another So it is here by accustoming to speak to God in prayer we grow acquainted with him otherwise if we grow strangers to him and he to us we shall not dare to behold him Thirdly Prayer is the way to keep our hearts in order For to come often into the presence of God breeds an holy awe in our hearts It makes us to call our sins to remembrance with sorrow and shame and to be afraid to commit them we may know it by experience men are afraid to offend those into whose presence they must often come to ask and sue for favours and if they have offended they are presently ashamed and the first thing they do will be to sue for pardon These are the reasons for prayer Now let us see the reasons also why Alms are required which are near of kinde to those for prayer For first we are to offer Alms to testifie our acknowledgement of whom we received and of whom we hold what we have For as by prayer we ask Gods creatures before we can enjoy them so when we have them there is another homage due for them namely of thanksgiving without which the use of the creature which God gives us is unclean and unlawfull to us Every creature of God saith S. Paul 1 Tim. 4. is good if it be received with thanksgiving not else And the same Apostle 1 Cor. 10. tels us that even those things which according to the manner of the Gentiles were offered unto Idols that is to Devils a Christian might lawfully eat so it were done with thanksgiving to the true and onely God for so he should professe he eat not meat of the Devils gift or Devils Table but of the Lords whose of right was the earth and the fulnesse thereof Whether therefore saith he ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do else do all to the glory of God that is give him the glory of the Lordship of his creature by your thanksgiving Now our thanksgiving to God for his creature must not expresse it self in words only but it must be also in work and deed that is we must yeeld him a rent and tribute of what we enjoy by his favour and blessing which if we doe not we lose our Tenure This Rent is twofold either that which is offered unto God for the maintenance of his worship and Ministers or that which is given for the relief of the poor the Orphan and the Widow which is called Alms. For not onely our riches but our Alms are an offering unto Almighty God So Prov. 19. 17. He that hath pity on the poore lendeth to the Lord and Chap. 14. 31. He that hath mercy on the poor honoureth his Maker And our Saviour will tell us at the day of Judgement that what was done unto them was done unto him This then is the reason why we must give Alms because they are the tribute of our thanksgiving whereby we acknowledge we are Gods Tenants and hold all we have of him that is of the Mannor of heaven without which duty and service we have not the lawfull use of what we possesse Whence our Saviour tels the Pharisees who stood so much upon the washing of the Cup and Platter lest their meat and drink should be unclean Give alms saith he of such things as you have and behold all things are clean to you Luke 11. 41. Now that this acknowledgement of Gods Dominion was the end of the Offerings of the Law both those wherewith the Priests and Levites were maintained and those wherewith the poor and the Orphan and the Widow were relieved appears by the solemne profession of those who paid them were to make Deut. 26. where he that brought a basket of first-fruits to the house of God was to say I professe this day unto the Lord that I am come unto the Country which the Lord sware unto our Fathers for to give us And when the Priest had taken the basket he was to say thus A Syrian ready to perish was my Father and he went down into Egypt and sojourned there with a few and became there a Nation great and mighty and populous And the Egyptians evil intreated us c. And the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand and out-stretched arm c. And brought us into this land and hath given us this land even a land that floweth with milk and honey And now behold I have brought thee the first-fruits of the land which thou 〈◊〉 Lord hast given me and thou shalt set it saith the Text before the Lord thy God and worship before the Lord thy God This was to be done every year But for Tithes the profession was made every third year because then the course of all manner of Tithing came about For two years they paid the Levites Tithe and the Festivall Tithe the third year they paid the Levites Tithe and the poor mans Tithe So that year the course of Tithing being finished the party was to make a solemne profession When thou hast made an end saith the Lord of Tithing all the Tithes of thine increase the third year which is the year of Tithing that is when the Tithing course finisheth and hast given it to the Levite the Stranger the Fatherlesse and the Widow that they may eat within thy gates and be filled Then thou shalt say before the Lord thy God I have brought away the hallowed thing out of mine house and also have given it to the Levite and to the Stranger to the Fatherlesse
there to his son is good with fasting and with alms and righteousnesse A little with righteousnesse is better then much with unrighteousnesse It is better to give alms then to lay up gold 9. For alms doth deliver from death and shall purge away all sin Those that exercise alms and righteousnesse shall be filled with life Here in the Greek copy alms and righteousnesse are exegetically put the one to expound the other but in the Hebrew there is but one word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for them both that being the word in that language for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hence in the Syriack Translation of the New Testament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is rendred by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iustitia and so in the Arabick Hence Mat. 6. 1. for Take heed that you do not your alms before men as we reade it the vulgar Latine and some Greek Copies have Attendite ne justitiam vestram faciatis coram hominibus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Namely as the word charity with us though in the larger sense it signifies our whole duty both to God and man is restrained to signifie our liberality to the poor so is the word Righteousnesse in the Orientall Languages If Righteousnesse therefore signifie Beneficence and Bounty then is the righteous according to this notion the bountifull man or as we speak the charitable And that it is so taken in my Text both the generall scope of the Psalm and the connexion with the words before and after is proof sufficient for before goes this A good man sheweth favour and lendeth he will guide his affairs with judgement Surely he shall not be moved for ever Then come the words of my Text The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance After it follows this He hath dispersed he hath given to the poor his righteousnesse remaineth for ever which S. Paul alledgeth 2 Cor. 9. to promote their collection for the poor Saints at Jerusalem For illustration of this and our further information it will not be amisse I hope to commend to your observation some other places of Scripture where the word righteous is thus taken as namely Psal. 37. 21. The wicked borroweth and payeth not again but the righteous sheweth mercy and giveth Again Psal. 25. 26. I have been young and now am old yet have I not seen the righteous for saken nor his seed begging their bread He is ever mercifull and lendeth and his seed is blessed Here the righteous is the mercifull and bountifull to whom namely this blessing that his seed shall not want is proper and peculiar The same use is Prov. 10. 2. Treasures of wickednesse profit nothing but righteousnesse delivereth from death The same is repeated again cap. 11. 4. Riches profit not in the day of wrath but righteousnesse delivereth from death Where righteousnesse to be taken for alms is apparent out of Tobit 12. where it is so applied and rendred namely Alms doth deliver from death I could adde also another place Prov. 21. 28. but these shall be sufficient Hence appears their error who conceive of the nature of Alms as of an arbitrary thing which they may do if they will or not do without sin as that which carries no obligation with it but is left freely to every mans discretion And this makes some contend so much to have the Priests maintenance granted to be eleemosynary that so they might be at liberty to give something or nothing as they listed But if that were so yet if Alms be Iustitia in the Hebrew tongue and the language which our Saviour spake If our Saviour call'd them Iustitia when he mentioned them who dare affirm then that Iustitia implies no obligation or that a man may leave it undone without sinne So much for the subject The Righteous The next is the Praedicate shall be in everlasting remembrance In remembrance I said with God and men with God in the life to come and this life Let us consider the first The world to come It is certain that at the day of Judgement we shall receive our doom according to our works of charity and mercy and that of all the works that a Christian man hath done these alone have that peculiar priviledge to bee then brought in expresse remembrance before God Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdome prepared for you from the foundation of the world For I was an hungred 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 c. For asmuch as ye have done thus unto the least of these my brethren ye have done it unto me Matth. 25. What doth my Text say The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance God remembers our good deeds when he rewards them as he doth our prayers when he hears them If to remember then be to reward an everlasting reward is an everlasting remembrance 'T is remarkable that this priviledge which the works of Bounty and Mercy shall have at the day of Judgement was not unknown to the Jews themselves for so we read in the Chaldee Paraphrast upon Ecclesiastes Futurum est ut Dominus mundi dicat omnibus justis ante se constitutis Vade gusta cum gaudio panem tuum ut statutum est pro pane quem dedisti pauperibus obscuris qui esuriebant bibe corde bono vinum quod repositum est tibi in horto Eden id est Paradiso pro vino quod miseuisti pauperibus obscuris qui sitiebant quia ecce modò accepta sunt opera tua bona coram Domino The reason of this prelation of works of mercy at that great day is because all we can expect at the hands of our heavenly Father is meerly of his mercy and bounty we can hope for nothing but mercy without mercy we are undone according to that of Nehemiah in his last Chap. Remember me ô Lord concerning this and spare me according to the greatnesse of thy mercy Now in those that are to be partakers of mercy the divine wisdome requires this congruity that they may be such as have been ready to shew mercy unto others judging them altogether unworthy of mercy at his hands who have afforded no mercy to their brethren for so the Scripture tels us that they shall have judgement without mercy that have shewn no mercy The tenour of our Petition for forgivenesse of sins in the Lords Prayer runs with this condition As we forgive them that trespasse against us And who can reade without trembling the Parable of the unmercifull servant in the Gospel to whom his Lord revoked the Debt he meant to have forgiven him because he shewed no mercy to his fellow-servant who owed him a far lesse Debt Shouldst thou not saith he have shewed compassion to thy fellow-servant as I shewed compassion unto thee
This rule of congruity I say is the reason why at the day of our great account we shall be judged according to our works of mercy and bounty To do as we would be done to hath place not onely between man and man but between God and men Nor is this I speak of manifest by the form of our last sentence onely but by other Scriptures beside what else means that of our Saviour Luke 16. Make unto your selves friends of the unrighteous Mammon that is of these slippery and deceitfull riches for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Scriptures Dialect is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting Tabernacles Or what means that of S. Paul 1 Tim. 6. 17. Charge them that be rich in this world that they trust not in uncertain riches but in the living God That they do good that they be rich in good works laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold on eternall life Laying up a good foundation c. in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Here it is observable that works of Beneficence are said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the foundation of the reward we shall receive in the life to come If any but S. Paul had said so we should have gone near to have excepted against it for an error Works the foundation of eternall life No that shall not need but the foundation of that blessed sentence we shall receive at the last day for them and that is evident by the form thereof which we have alledged whatsoever is meant a great priviledge sure is hereby implied that these works have above others A like place to this we have in the old Testament with application particularly to Alms or works of mercy Tobit 4. 9. For thou layest up for thy self a good treasure against the day of necessity in the Greek it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. which answers to the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Here give me leave to tell you what a late sacred Critick hath observed concerning the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in that place of Timothy namely that the signification thereof there is not Vulgar but Hellenisticall agreeable to the use of the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereto it answers for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies as it doth Radix or fundamentum but besides this in the Rabbinicall Dialect it is used for Tabula contractus a Bill of contract a Bond or Obligation whereby such as lend are secured their loan again That therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which answers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the first sense doth answer the same likewise in the second and accordingly the Apostles meaning to be that those who exercise these works of beneficence do provide themselves as it were of a Bill or Bond upon which they may at that day sue or plead for the award of eternall life Vi pacti but not Vi meriti In the same sense he takes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Tim. 2. 19. The foundation of God standeth sure having this seal The Lord knoweth them that are his And let every one that nameth or calleth upon the name of Christ depart from iniquity The mentioning of a Seal here implies a Bill of contract for Bils of contract had their Seals appendent to them each side whereof had his Motto the one suiting with the one party contrahent the other with the other That to this S. Paul alludes Gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he standeth sure that is Gods Bill of contract or his Chirographum having a Seal according to the manner the one side whereof carrieth this Motto The Lord knoweth them that are his the other this Let every one that calleth upon the Name of Christ depart from iniquity Thus God remembreth the Righteous or charitable man in the world to come He remembreth him also in this For that which the Apostle saith of godlinesse that it hath the promise of this life as well as of that to come is most properly and peculiarly true of this righteousnesse of bounty and mercy other righteousnesse indeed must not look for reward till hereafter but this is wont to be rewarded now For spirituall blessings we have the example of Cornelius who for his Almesdeeds found favour with God to have S. Peter sent unto him to instruct him in the saving knowledge of Christ Thy prayers and thine Almesdeeds said the Angel are come up in remembrance before God Now therefore send to Joppa and inquire for one Simon Peter c. For temporall blessings hear what David says Psa. 37. 25. quoted before I was young saith he and now am old yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging their bread He is ever mercifull and lendeth therefore his seed is blessed This blessing is the mercifull and charitable mans peculiar that his children shall not want who was liberall and open-handed to supply the want of others But think not that God remembers the charitable man with a temporall blessing in his posterity onely for he remembers him also in his own person Thus the same David Psal. 41. 1. Blessed is he that considereth the poore the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble 2. The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive and he shall be blessed upon the earth and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies 3. The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing c. And doth not his Son King Solomon say the same Prov. 19. 17. He that hath pâ—ty upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord and that which he hath given he will pay him again But this perhaps some will think may be applied to the reward in the life to come If it be it would much illustrate that of S. Pauls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I now spake of But Prov. 28. 27. is a place not capable of this exception He that giveth to the poor shall not lack but he that hideth his eyes shall have many a curse Thus we have seen how the righteous man is in remembrance with God Now let us see how the same is and ought to be in remembrance with men And it may be inferred from the former for why should not we remember those whom God doth The practice in the Church of God hath been accordingly The Jews when they make mention of any of their deceased Worthies are wont to do it with this Encomium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id est Memoria ejus sit in benedictione Otherwhile with this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Memoria ejus sit ad vitam futuri seculi And of their Rabbies in generall when they mention them they say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Magistri nostri quorum memoria sit ad benedictionem Which encomiasticall scheme is taken from that of Solomon Pr. 10. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
to expound it works of mercy but where there is no relation to Alms or Beneficence at all Whence I gather that by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Septuagint meant not as we commonly take it works of mercy but rather works whereby we finde mercy at the hands of God I will give you a place which me thinks is very pregnant Deut. 6. 24 25. where we reade thus And the Lord commanded us to do all these Statutes you may see there what they are to fear the Lord our God for our good always that he might preserve us alive as at this day And it shall be our Righteousnesse if we observe to do all these Commandements before the Lord as he hath commanded us Here the Septuagint for And it shall be our Righteousnesse have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and it shall be our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that whereby we shall finde mercy at the hands of God if we observe to do all these Commandements c. This place will admit no evasion for there is no reference to Alms here And indeed all our Righteousnesse is nothing else but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that whereby we finde mercy at the hands of God and no marvell if works of mercy as to relieve the poor and needy be specially so called for they above all other are the works whereby we shall finde mercy and receive the reward of Blisse at the last day And so much of my second Observation I come now to my third That it is lawfull to doe good works Intuitu mercedis It is plain that Nehemiah here did so Remember me ô my God concerning this c. So did Moses of whom it is said Heb. 11. That he chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches then the treasures of AEgypt for saith the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aspiciebat vel intuebatur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He had respect unto the recompence of Reward And I confesse it seems an unreasonable thing to me that that which is made the end though but in part of the Action should not be at all looked unto by the Agent when as Finis is principium Actionis and that which God hath promised unto us as an encouragement to make us work with the more alacrity should not be thought on nor looked to in our working Do not they who would perswade this go the way to discourage men from good works by removing out of their sight the encouragement which God hath given them But they object The obedience of Gods children ought to be filiall that is free and not mercenary as that of hirelings I answer Obedience which is only for reward without all respect or motive of love and duty is the obedience of an Hireling not that which acknowledgeth the tie of obedience absolute and the reward no otherwise due then of his Fathers free love and bounty as every true childe of God doth and ought to do They object again that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 13. 5. Charity seeks not her own now say they the works of Gods children must proceed from love and charity I answer what though Charity seeks not her own may not a charitable man so much as look or hope for his own or have an eye to what is promised him But this place is altogether misapplied and abused For that property of charity now mentioned as some also of the rest of that Chapter concerns only our charity towards men and not our charity towards God the meaning thereof being That a charitable man will sooner lose his own then by seeking or contending for it break the band of charity To conclude The Use that follows from all this Discourse shall be only this That if Almighty God remember them who have done good deeds unto his House and the Offices thereof much more ought we who are partakers of the comfort and benefit of such bounty to remember and honour them with a thankfull celebration of their Names MAT. 10. 41 He that receiveth a Prophet in the name of a Prophet shall receive a Prophets reward OUR blessed Saviour giving his Apostles their mission to preach the Gospel unfurnished with outward things and forewarning them what harsh and unkinde usage they and their successors were like to finde amongst men for the better encouragement of such as should entertain and minister unto them he pronounceth That whosoever received them received him and he that received him received him that sent him Whereby it appeareth how honourable an office it was to afford them entertainment and such as the noblest need not be ashamed of But because the hope of reward is the most forcible spur to all undertakings he addeth that too in the words of my Text He that receiveth saith he a Prophet in the name of a Prophet shall receive a Prophets reward that is he that receiveth a Prophet not for any respect but quatenus talis because he is a Prophet shall have a Prophets reward Which words contain in them evidently these two Propositions First that there is some speciall and eminent degree of reward due unto a Prophet above other men Secondly That he that shall entertain a Prophet and do any good office unto him under that name that is for his office sake shall be partaker of that Reward Of these two I intend to treat beginning with the first the more generall That there shall be differing degrees of Reward in the life to come is evident by sundry places of Scripture As first from that so often iterated passage wherein God is said to reward every man according to his works which is not to be understood only of the differing quality of our works good and evill which God rewards accordingly the one with everlasting blisse the other with eternall fire as some here except but also of the differing works of just men compared together as is manifest by that 1 Cor. 3. 8. where the Apostle comparing his own and Apollo's work together saying He had planted and Apollo watered addes That both should receive their reward according to their work that is as their work differed so should their reward do In the second place the same is represented by that Parable Luke 19. of the ten servants who received of their Lord being to go into a far Countrey ten pounds to trade with till his return At what time he that had increased his pound to ten pounds was made ruler over ten Cities He that had gained but five pounds over five Cities and so the rest according as they had improved the stock given them A third place is that 1 Cor. 15. 42. There is one glory of the Sun another of the Moon and another glory of the Stars for one star differeth from another in glory So also is the Resurrection of the dead Here is the full stop and not the words to be referred
same speech used by our Saviour Luk. 13. They shall come saith he from the East and from the West and from the North and from the South and shall sit down in the Kingdom of God And behold there are last which shall be first and there are first which shall be last What means this Out of the eighth of S. Matthew where the same passage is related we shall hear it expounded for there the words run thus Many shall come from the East and West and shall sit down with Abraham Isaac and Iacob in the Kingdom of heaven But the children of the Kingdom that is the whole generation of Israel who received not the Gospel at the Preaching of Christ and his Apostles and all the generations since who have continued in unbeleef shall be cast out into utter darknesse And here by the way because the Parable useth the notion of a day to signifie a time of many ages it will not be altogether unseasonable to note that the Metaphor may appear the easier how that the Scripture often elsewhere cals the whole time of mans pilgrimage in this world by the name of a Day As To day if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts S. Paul Heb. 3. 13. Exhort one another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every day whilest it is called to Day where we say Day to include every day And I beleeve we are thus to understand Day in the Lords Prayer in that Petition Give us this day our daily Bread that is the whole time we live in hoc seculo For in stead of S. Matthews This Day spoken after the Hebrew notion Saint Luke hath in the same Petition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is every day Therefore S. Matthews Hodie must comprehend S. Lukes Every day if the sense of the Petition in both of them be the same as I beleeve it is Nay more then this The world to come even seculum aeternitatis or eternity it self is likewise termed a day 2 Pet. 3. ult Domino nostro saith he servatori Iesu Christo sit gloria nunc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in diem aeternitatis A long Day indeed But this obiter Thus having cleared my Proposition in thesi or in generall That there shall be differing degrees of glory in the reward to come It remains that I make it good in the hypothesis concerning a Prophet namely that to them who instruct others in the ways and will of God which is the Office of a Prophet there belongs a preheminence of reward above and besides that which is common to all Saints This preheminence of glory the Schoolmen term Aureola that is an Additament of felicity to that essentiall glory in the Vision of God which they term Aurea This Aureola or Coronet to be added to the Crown of glory they ascribe to three sorts of persons To Virgins to Martyrs and to Doctors or Prophets The two first are out of my scope The third of Prophets let us see how it is proved out of Scripture First therefore it is apparent from my Text He that receiveth a Prophet in the name of a Prophet shall receive a Prophets reward Ergo there is some speciall or peculiar reward belonging to a Prophet and that too an eminent one otherwise our Saviours speech will have no enforcement in it as he that considers thereof may easily see The second is Dan. 12. 3. where the Angel prophesying of the Resurrection to be at the end of Time and saying That many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt he addes And those that be wise that is have learned the true wisdome which consists in the fear of God shall shine as the brightnesse of the firmament But those that turn many unto righteousnesse that is the Teachers and Instructers as the stars for ever and ever Here the difference between those that teach and are taught is as much as between the light of the Stars and the brightnesse of the Firmament Some will have the whole sentence to speak of the eminency of glory laid up for Prophets Translating 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the first place not docti or intelligentes but Doctores The Teachers shall shine as the brightnesse of the firmament and they that turn many unto righteousnesse as the stars for ever and ever but I have followed that interpretation which our Translators thought most likely Thirdly to this eminency of glory the Angel seems also to have respect in the end of that Chapter when he says But go thy way Daniel till the end be for thou shalt rest and stand up in thy lot at the end of days in sorte tua i. in sorte Prophetarum And this perhaps may be that too which our Saviour intends Mat. 5. Qui fecerit docuerit magnus vocabitur i. erit in regno coelorum The reason of all this is because those who teach convert others to righteousness have an interest and a kind of title to all the good works which they shall do How then can their reward but be great and eminent when not onely their own works but the works of their converts and disciples shall be brought into their account A matter if we consider it of no small encouragement and comfort unto us whom God hath placed in this condition to be Teachers and Instructers of others if so be we bury not our Talent in a Napkin but imploy it for the advantage of our Lord and Master For it is not the habit or faculty but the work which shall reap the reward we speak of Happy are we therefore if we neglect not this opportunity of blisse which God hath given us And thus having done with the first Proposition I undertook I come unto the second which is That he that receiveth a Prophet in the name of a Prophet shall be partaker of a Prophets reward He that receives that is doth any good office or deserves well of a Prophet For this to be the meaning may appear by that which follows He that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous mans reward where righteous is to be taken by way of eminency for one of eminent sanctity such as among the Jews had therefore the sirname of Iusti as Simeon Iustus Iacobus Iustus and other the like Then in the next words the expression is varied Whosoever shall give to drink to one of these little ones a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple shall not lose his reward whence I say we may gather what good office the word receiving before used intimated to us namely to relieve maintain support and the like He therefore that thus receives a Prophet shall be partaker saith our Saviour of a Prophets reward that is have an eminent reward or of the quality of a Prophet though himself be none The reason is because
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. 4. Will a man rob his God Another proof and testimony of the hainousnesse of this sin is that so ancient a custome in Dedications todade it with a curse which to be no late custom as some may suppose taken up among Christians but used both by Jew and Gentile before Christ was born may appear by that Decree of K. Darius for the building of the Temple of Jerusalem 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 custome it came that Anathema signifies such 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 kinde of offering or consecration which had a curse laid upon it namely a curse to him that should meddle with it Which kinde of consecration had this peculiar that even the very individuall might never be altered changed or redeemed upon any terms Levit. 27. 28. whereas other offerings might so that a valuable thing or better were given for them Such a consecration I mean a Cherem or consecration under pain of a curse in the very individuall was that of the City Iericho as the First-fruits of the conquests of Canaan To these Arguments I will adde two or three examples to this of Ananias of the punishment of this sin and so conclude To begin then with the beginning of all Was not the first sin of Mankinde for which himself his posterity and the whole earth was accursed a great and capitall sin But this if we look well into it was no other for the species and kind of the Fact then Sacriledge Such the ancient Jews conceived Adams sin to have been namely a species of theft as may be gathered out of the Book De morte Mosis where Moses is brought in deprecating death and answering God that his case was not such as Adams for he transgressed by stealing and eating what God forbad him to meddle with and so was justly condemned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But who could Adam steal from save from God only And therefore I say the first sin of mankinde for the Fact was the sin of Sacriledge For whereas among all the trees of the Garden which God gave man freely to enjoy there was one Noli me tangere which he had reserved unto himself as holy in token he was Lord of the Garden Man by eating of this as common violated the sign of his Fealty unto the great Landlord of the whole Earth and committed Sacriledge for which he was cast out of Paradise and the whole earth accursed for his sake Might I now say that to this day many a son of Adam is cast out of his Paradise and the labours of his hands accursed for medling with this forbidden fruit But to go on Achan for nimming a wedge of gold and a Babylonish garment of the devoted thing of Iericho aforementioned brought a curse both upon himself and the whole Congregation of Israel For the Sacriledge of Eli's sons who not content with those offerings which God allowed them for their maintenance robbed him of his Sacrifices to furnish their own Tables God gave not only his people but even the Ark of his Covenant into the hands of the Philistins For the Sacriledge of the seventh or Sabbaticall year God caused his people to be carried captive and the land lie waste 70. years By the Law of Moses every seventh year the whole land was sacred unto the Lord so that no man that year might challenge any right of propriety either to sow his field or prune his vineyard or reap that which grew of it self or gather the fruits of his vineyard undressed only he might eat thereof in the field as at other times any might of that which was none of his as he travelled by otherwise every mans field and vineyard was that year free as well to the Servant as the Master to the Stranger as the Owner to beasts as well as to men The same year also were all servants and all debts sacred unto the Lord and so to be released whence that year was called The Lords Release See Exod. 21. Levit. 25. Deut. 15. This consecration being as much as the forgoing of the seventh part of every mans profits the covetous Jews for many years neglected the observation thereof For which sin the Lord as himself professeth caused them to be carried captive and the land to lie waste seventy years without Inhabitant till it had fulfilled the years of Sabbath which they observed not For their Idolatry he gave them into the hands of the Gentiles their enemies for their Sabbaticall Sacriledge hee added this unto it that they should beside their bondage be carried captives into a strange Countrey and their land lie desolate 70. years For the Sacrilegious profanation of Belshazzar in causing the Vessels of Gods House to be made his Quaffing-bowls for himself and his Lords his Wives and his Concubines to carouse in was the hand writing upon the wall sent which did so affright him that the Text says His countenance was changed and his thoughts troubled him so that the joynts of his loyns were loosed and his knees smote one against another And the same night Gods vengeance light upon him Dan. 5. Lastly in the days of the Greek Kings God gave his own Temple and worship to be profaned and his people to be trodden under foot by Antiochus Epiphanes a Gentile King because they themselves had a little before profaned the same with sacrilegious hands having betraid the Treasures and Offerings of the same unto a Gentiles coffers and sold the sacred Vessels to the Cities round about them 2 Mac. 3 4. 5. cap. JOEL 2. 17. Let the Priests the Ministers of the Lord weep between the Porch and the Altar and say Spare thy people ô Lord and give not thine heritage to reproach THese words are part of a description of a Fast as the Context before and after will tell you and they contain a Rite or Custome wont to be used in such solemne deprecations namely for the Priests of the Lord who are to be the Intercessors and Mouth of the Congregation not then as at other times to enter into the Temple to offer and sanctifie with Incense the prayers of the people at the Golden Altar before the vail but to prostrate themselves without the door between the Porch and the Altar of burnt-offering as unworthy to approach the Throne of the Divine Majesty or come over his Threshold and therefore
that is common or unclean 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For know because that which is Holy ought to be kept pure and clean or rather because cleannesse imports a separation from filth as Holinesse doth from common thence clean and holy so also unholy and unclean are used the one for the other whence 1 Cor. 7. 14. Unclean and Holy are opposed But to goe on The voice from heaven answers S. Peter in the same language What God hath cleansed that is sanctified 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 account not thou common So in 1 Mac. Chap. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are unclean beasts and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to eate unclean things The like Antithesis of holy and common is to bee found Heb. 10. 29. where the Apostle saith of a Beleever or Christian that lives an ungodly and wicked life He hath trodden under foot the Son of God and counted the bloud of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a common thing that is he hath profaned it Our translation rendreth it an unholy thing the opposition thereof to sanctified witnessing that to be the meaning Now then if to be unholy or unclean be to be common surely it follows by the Law of opposition that to be holy is to be separated from the common and to be singular and appropriate in some manner or other Lastly it is to be observed that whereas in the Law given Numbers 6. concerning the Vow of Nazarisme which signifies separation of Nazar to separate the words To separate and separation come very often in the Text the vulgar Latine renders for them above ten times Consecrare consecratio sanctificare and sanctificatio which shews that this notion namely that Holinesse consists in a state of separation is no new conceit but such as Antiquity took notice of The nature of Holinesse wherein it consisteth according to the idiome of Scripture being thus found out and cleared that which was aimed at in this inquisition to wit what the same meaneth by To sanctifie and to be sanctified will be no hard matter to resolve For sanctity and to sanctifie being Conjugates or Denominatives as Logicians call them the one openeth the way to the knowledge of the other If therefore Sanctity or Holinesse be a condition of discretion and distinction from other things as we have shewed it to be then To sanctifie must either be to put a thing into that state which we call To consecrate or if it be such already To use and doe unto it as becomes the sanctity thereof that is Habere cum discrine to put a difference between it and other things by way of excellency or in a dignifying wise by appropriating and severing it in the use thereof from things of ordinary and common rank or which is all one To use it singularly appropriately and in a word uncommonly For not to use it so it being such were to abuse it which the Scripture cals to prophane to sanctifie and to prophane being opposites Whence Ezek. 22. 26. To prophane is expounded by not putting a difference The Priests saith the Lord have violated my Law and have prophaned my holy things they have put no difference between the holy and prophane This to be to sanctifie all the places almost which I have alledged out of the Law for the notion and nature of sanctity doe apparently proclaim for the one is so nearly linked to the other that they could not well be separated Thus was Israel Gods holy people to sanctifie themselves by a discriminative manner of living or usance because the Lord their God had discriminated or separated them from other people So Lev. 20. 24 25 c. I am the Lord your God which have separated you from other people Ye shall therefore put difference between clean beasts and unclean and between unclean fowls and clean and ye shall not make your souls abominable by beast or by fowl or by any manner of living thing that creepeth on the ground which I have separated from you as unclean But ye shall be holy unto me for I the Lord am holy and have severed you from other people that ye should be mine After the same manner were the Holy Ointment and Holy Perfume or Incense to be sanctified by a discriminative singular appropriate usance of them and not to be used as other Ointments and Perfumes to wit the one not to be poured upon mans flesh nor the other used for mans smelling unto yea none of the like composition to the one or the other to be made for any prophane or common use upon pain of his being cut off from his people who should dare to doe it That is not the particular or Individuum onely but even the whole kinde of that composition was to be accounted sacred otherwise this caution needed not since for the Individuall all sacred things ought to be appropriate and incommunicable in their use And to this notion it is not altogether improbable but the Apostle may allude 1 Cor. 11. 29. when he expresseth the prophanation of the Holy Supper in comming to it and using it as a common banquet by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by not differencing the Lords body i. not sanctifying it or using it as became so holy a thing HITHERTO I have considered the words of my Text apart but now let us put them again together and see how the Name of God ought to bee Sanctified in the manner now specified both in it self and in the things which it is called upon as in the beginning I distinguished For the better understanding of which we are to take notice of a twofold Holinesse One originall absolute and essentiall in God the other derived or relative in the things which are His properly according to the use of the Latine called Sacr◠Sacred things Both these have their severall and distinct Sanctifications belonging unto them for whatsoever is Holy ought to be sanctified according to the condition and proportion of the Holinesse it hath To speak of them distinctly The first originall or absolute Holinesse is nothing else but the incommunicable eminency of the divine Majesty exalted above all and divided from all other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Eminences whatsoever For that which a man takes to be and makes account of as his God whether it be such indeed or by him fancied onely he ascribes unto it in so doing a condition of eminency above and distinct from all other eminencies whatsoever that is of Holinesse Hence it comes that we find the LORD the God of Israel and the onely true God in Scripture so often styled Sanctus Israelis The Holy One of Israel that is Israels most eminent and incommunicable one or which is all one His God as namely Psal. 89. 18. The Lord is our defence the HOLY ONE of Israel is our King Esay 17. 7. At that day shall a man look unto his MAKER and his eyes shall have respect to the HOLY
through him and yet not to apply and buckle our selves thereto were indeed to beleeve what is true but yet no saving faith because we embraced not the thing we beleeved as we beleeved it Thou sayest then thou hast faith and beleevest that Christ is the atonement to God for the sins of all such as leave and forsake their sins by repentance Why then repent thee of thy sins that Christ may be an atonement for thee Thou sayest thou hast this faith that God in Jesus Christ will accept thy undeserving works and services unto eternall life why then embrace thou Christ and rely upon him for this end that thou mayest do works of piety towards God and charity towards men that so God in Christ may accept thee and them unto eternall life Now if this be the faith which is saving and unites us unto Christ and no other then it is plain that a saving faith cannot be severed from good works because no man can embrace Christ as he is promised but he must apply himself to do them For out of that which hath been spoken three reasons may be gathered for the necessity of them First it is the end of our faith and justification by Christ yea the end why he shed his blood for us that we being reconciled to God in him might bring forth fruits of righteousnesse which else we could never have done This is no speculation but plain Scripture S. Peter 1 â—p 2. 24. telleth us that Christ his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousnesse S. Paul Tit. 2. 11 12 13 14. The grace of God saith he that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men wherefore teaching us that denying ungodlinesse and worldly lusts we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world looking for that blessed hope the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Iesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works These words contain the summe of all I have hitherto told you That Christ is therefore given us to be a propitiation for our sins and to justifie us that in him we might walk before God in newnesse of life so to obtain a Crown of righteousnesse in the world to come Answerable is that place Ephes. 2. 10. where the Apostle having told us we are saved by grace through faith and not of works lest any man should boast he addes presently lest his meaning might be mistaken as it is of too many that we are Gods workmanship created in Iesus Christ unto good works which God hath before ordained 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that we should walk in them as if he should say Those works of obedience ordained by God aforetime in his law for us to walk in which we could not perform of our selves now God hath as it were new moulded us in Jesus Christ that we might perform them in him namely by way of acceptation though they come short of that exactnesse the Law requireth And thus to be saved is to be saved by grace and favour and not by the merit of works because the foundation whereby our selves and our services are approved in the eyes of God and acquitted of guilt which the Scripture calleth to be justified is the meer favour of God in Jesus Christ and not any thing in us And this way of salvation excludes all boasting for what have we to boast of when all the righteousnesse of our works is none of ours but Christs imputed to us whereby onely and not for any merit in themselves they become acceptable and have promise of reward But that men should be saved by Christ though they be idle and doe nothing I know no such grace of God revealed in Scripture Now that in Christ we may perform works of righteousnesse which God will accept and crown is plain by the tenour of Scripture S. Paul Philip. 1. 11. desires that the Philippians might be filled with the fruits of righteousnesse which are by Iesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God And the same Apostle tels the Romanes Rom. 6. 22. that being made free from sin and become servants to God they have their fruit unto holinesse and the end everlasting life that is as the Syriack turns it Sunt vobis fructus sancti they have holy fruits whose end is life eternall And if we would seriously consider it we should finde that the more we beleeve this righteousnesse of faith in Christ the more reason we have to perform works of service and obedience unto God then if we beleeved it not For if our works would not be acceptable with God unlesse they were compleat in every point as the Law required if there were no reward to be looked for at the hands of God unlesse we could merit it by the worthinesse of our deeds who that considers his own weaknesse and insufficiency would not sooner despair then go about to please God by works He would think it better to do nothing at all then to endevour what he could never hope to attain and so lose his labour But we who beleeve that those who serve God in Christ have their failings and wants covered with his righteousnesse and so their works accepted as if they were in every point as they should be why should not we of all men fall to work being sure by Christs means and merit we shall not lose our labour A second motive why we should do good works is because they are the way and means ordained by God to obtain the reward of eternall life without which we shall never attain it Without holinesse no man shall see God Heb. 12. 14. Look to your selves saith S. Iohn Ep. 2. ver 8. that ye lose not those things ye have wrought for but that ye may receive a full reward The Angels message from heaven to devout Cornelius was Thy prayers and thine alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God whereupon S. Peter inferred that in every Nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousnesse is accepted with him Acts 10. Hence it is that we shall be judged and receive sentence at the last day according to our works Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdome 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 For in as much as ye have done these unto one of the least of my brethren ye have done it 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 passe this blessed sentence on them think they
he can If he should they might truly say indeed Lord we have done no such matter nor did we think our selves bound unto it we relied wholly upon our faith in thy merits and thought we had been freed from such services What doe they think Christ will change the form of his sentence at that great day No certainly If the sentence for Blisse will not fit them and be truly said of them the other will and must for there is no more Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels For when I was hungry ye gave me no meat c. This must be their doome unlesse they suppose the righteous Judge will lie for them And it is here further to be observed that the works named in the sentence of Judgement are works of the second Table works of mercy and charity Feeding the hungry clothing the naked visiting the sick all Almesdeeds which men are now a-days so much afraid of as if they looked toward Popery and had a tang of meriting For now a-days these costly works of all others are most suspicious but will it be so at the day of Judgement True it is they merit not the reward which shall be given them but what then Are we so proud we will doe no works unlesse we may merit Is it not sufficient that God will reward them for Christs sake though they have no worth in themselves The third and last motive to works of righteousnesse is because they are the only sign and note whereby we know our faith is true and saving and not counterfeit For 1 Iohn 1. 8. If we say we have fellowship with Christ and walk in darknesse we lie and doe not the truth Chap. 2. ver 3. Hereby we know that we know him viz. to be our Advocate with his Father and the propitiation for our sins if we keep his Commandements And Chap. 3. 7. Little children let no man deceive you He that doeth righteousnesse is righteous even as Christ is righteous The same almost you may finde again Chap. 2. 29. For if every one that beleeveth in Christ truly and savingly beleeves that salvation is to be attained by obedience to God in him and not otherwise and therefore embraceth and layeth hold upon him for that end How can such an ones faith be fruitlesse how can he be without works who therefore lays hold on Christ that his works and obedience may be accepted as righteous before God for his sake and so rewardable It is as possible for the Sun to be without his light or the fire to want heat as such a faith to be without works Our Saviour therefore himself makes this a most sure and never failing note to build our assurance of salvation upon Luke 6. 46. where the mention of the words of my Text gives the occasion Why call ye me Lord saith he and doe not the things which I say 47. Whosoever commeth to me and heareth my sayings and doth them I will shew you to whom he is like 48. He is like a man which built an house and digged deep and laid the foundation on a rock And when the floud arose the stream beat vehemently upon that house and could not shake it for it was founded upon arock 49. But he that heareth and doth not is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth against which the stream did beat vehemently and immediately it fell and the ruine of that house was great Whom these three motives or reasons will not perswade to good works let not my soul ô Lord be joyned with theirs nor my doome be as theirs must be A second observation out of these words and near a-kin to the former is That it is not enough for a Christian to live harmlesly and abstain from ill but he must do that which is good For our Saviour excludes not here those onely who do against the will of his Father but those who do not his Fathers will It is doing good which he requireth and the not doing evill only This is an error which taketh hold of a great part of men even of those who would seem to be religious He is a reformed man and acquits himself well who abstains from fornication adultery who is no theef no couzener or defrauder of other men who will not lie or swear or such like But as for doing any works of piety or charity they think they are not required of them But they are much deceived For God requires some duties at our hands which he may reward not out of any merit but out of his mercifull promise in Christ. But not doing ill is no service rewardable A servant who expects wages must not onely do his Master no harm but some work that is good and profitable otherwise the best Christian would be he that should live altogether idlely For none doth lesse harm then he that doth nothing at all But Mat. 25. 30. He that encreased not his Masters Talent though he had not mis-spent it is adjudged an unprofitable servant and cast into utter darknesse where is weeping and gnashing of treth So also Mat. 3. The tree that beareth no good fruit is hewn down though it bore none that was evill The axe is laid to the root of the tree every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire Mat. 21. 19. The sig-tree is cursed for having no fruit not for having evill fruit And the sentence of condemnation as you heard before is to passe at that great day for not having done good works not for doing ill ones Goe ye cursed for when I was hungry ye fed me not c. Thus having let you see how necessary it is for a Christian to joyn good works with his faith in Christ I will now come to shew you how you must do them hoping I have already perswaded you that they must needs be done First therefore we must doe them out of faith in Christ that is relying upon him onely for the acceptance and rewarding of them for in him alone God is well pleased with us and with what wee doe and therefore without faith and reliance upon him it is impossible to please God We must not think there is any worth in our works for which any such reward as God hath promised is due For alas our best works are full of imperfections and far short of what the Law requires Our reward therefore is not of merit but of the mercifull promise of God in Christ which the Apostle means when he says We are saved by grace and not by works That is it is the grace and favour of God in Christ which makes our selves acceptable and our works rewardable and not any desert in them or us Having laid this foundation the next thing required is sincerity of heart in doing them we must doe them out of the fear of God and conscience of his Commandements