will not vouchsafe that name but sties of vncleane beasts cages of filthy birds and rudiments of Babilon Thus they vexe themselues aboue measure in seeking Ministers callings people of God and Churches and because they cannot finde a man in the market they seperate from our assemblies To which I answer that though it be not the condition of our or any Church to be free from all blemish and spotte yet is hee as blinde as a Mole and palpably deluded that can espy no beautie therein What is our Mother so black as shee hath no comlinesse or because perhaps she wants some beautie hath shee lost her face sure I am that where there is the face of God in the midst of his people there is a face of the Church and where God is present there is the house of God But in our assemblies wee haue God present teaching his people yea wee haue Christ present in the word and Sacraments euen crucified before our eyes who is the image of his Father Wee haue the presence of the blessed spirit of God which they cannot deny enlightning the vnderstandings softning the hearts comforting the consciences powring forth his graces of faith of hope of loue and that in aboundant manner in this his owne ordinance vpon many thousand soules which are dayly added vnto the Church and therefore whatsoeuer wee yet want let vs thankfully acknowledge that wee want not the presence of God nor the house of God nor the face of God before which his people present themselues with liberty and protection ioyning together in the pure worship of his name to his endlesse praise and their owne vnspeakable comfort Howsoeuer therefore Sathan worketh according to his accustomed craft to trouble our sight let vs bee more wise and wary then to bee ledde from the beholding of the face of God and so wilfully depart from this our reioysing And let such as are so readye to bee mislead acknowledge with thankfulnesse their spirituall father that begat them to God their Mother the Church that bare them her brests the Testaments that gaue them milke and that shee is not since their birthe so weakened but that shee is as able to preserue them as to bring them forth and to feede them with stronger meate so to bring them to their tallnesse in Christ. 2. An other sorte of them who wilfully by excommunicating themselues out of our assemblies deliuer them-selues to Sathan are Popish minded persons who because they cannot see neither their little breaden God in our Sacraments nor their wooden guilded Gods in our worshippe and because they cannot heare GOD speake Latin in our Churches nor our Ministers inuocating Saints and Angels in our Prayers therefore sure heere are no foote-steppes of GOD nor so much as the rudements of his worshippe and seruice hence they refuse all communication with vs in worde Sacraments Prayers and Church seruice and ioyne themselues in a worshippe wherein they neede not bee at the paines to seeke a God sitting so high as in the heauens seeing they can haue him at home in a boxe who if hee chance to putrifie or corrupt or bee deuoured of Mice they can haue a new one made by the Priest and Baker together euery day A worshipp in which if they haue no knowledge no faith of their owne the knowledge and faith of the Church will besteede them nay if they can beleeue as the Church beleeues although they knowe not what the Church dooth beleeue a worshippe wherein if they neyther can praye them-selues nor yet gette CHRIST to bee an intercessor for them yet they canne procure a thousand Mediatours besides of Saints Angels and if these should faile they haue the Virgin Mary at a dead lift to command her sonne in the right of a Mother to clemencie A worship wherein if they can neither abstaine from sinne nor yet repent of it in truth yet if they can pay well a little pennance shall acquit them A worship wherein if they neuer were good nor did good yet their Church hath a treasurie which vpon another condition can supply them of good workes which some man who in his life time was too good bequeathed to such purposes Oh vaine worship and full of delusion not more plausible to the corrupt nature of man then dishonorable to the high Maiestie of God! And were these things true who could blame him that hath resolued to liue and dye a Papist but alas that poore soules should bee held in such chaines of darknesse and death The Lord in his good time open the prison doores and strike off the boults from so many as belong to him that they may see them-selues set free from such woefull estate as wherein they laye bound by Sathan and his instruments euen vnder damnation And yet more fearefull is the condition of such of them as haue had their error discouered by the cleere sunne-shine of the Gospell and yet are setled vpon their lees vpon no better ground then like so many Barzillaes that they haue beene so long accustomed to the worse that they despise the better their sences are past them they cannot taste the truth they cannot see the wisdome of GOD shining round about them they cannot heare the voyce of the charmer in Gilead they will dye before they will choose to liue in Ierusalem in superstition they began they continue in error they will dye in wilfull blindnesse and will bee buryed in the graues of the idolatrie of their fore-fathers The Lord once appeared to Iacob but hee was not aware of it the reason was because hee was a sleepe the Text saith Then Iacob awooke out of his sleepe and said surely the Lord is in this place and I was not aware and this is the case of many a superstitious person God appeareth vnto his Israell in Bethel in his house but they are not aware of him they see him not they will not beleeue hee is among vs. But what is the reason not because hee is not there but because they are a sleepe and in their dreames but if euer GOD awaken them they will bee able to vtter Iacobs confession and vpon better aduise to say How fearefull is this place It is no other but the house of God and this is the gate of heauen 3. Others are more prophane and secure then wilfull and refractarie and though not so much hatred yet little more loue bewrayeth it selfe in them then in former sortes and least they should seeme also to bee madde with-out reason they are not without sundry coulours and pretenses which they thinke are reasonable inough to absent them-selues from our assemblies And therefore they aske What can wee not bee Christians vnlesse wee trotte so often to Church haue wee not the Scriptures and other good bookes at home to reade vppon can wee not praye at home Ans. They may aswell aske Can wee not haue an haruest vnlesse wee haue a seede
continue each time in his worshippe together many daies preuenteth all their obiections for they might say but wil not this giue great aduantage to the enemy to watch such times to win their coūtries again Which in any one of those three times in our so long absence from our houses leauing none to defend thē but women childrē they might easily enter vpō Or were it not fit if there must be three such meetings y t the people of one prouince should assemble at one of them they of another at the second and so in the third then to leaue the whole coūtry at once without men and strength exposed to such certaine danger No saith the Lord come before me euery man thrise a yeare for no man shall desire thy land when thou shalt appeare before the LORD Exodus 34. 24 himself would be the strength of it at y t time so watch it as the enemy should not so much as desire it the like we may obserue in their gathering of Mannah euery day in y e morning w c was not only an obediēce vnto gods cōmandemēt but a special resemblance and shadow of seeking Iesus Christ in y e parts of his worship Now herein seemed to lie no smal danger towards them For either the enimies w c were continually troublesom vnto thē might take their camps whilst the whole host was abroad gathering Mannah or else they might lye in ambush in the wildernes for the host about y e place wher the Mannah fell yet for al their danger notwithstanding they had many skirmishes in y e wildernes wee neuer read y t this was any disaduantage vnto thē The Lord so watched them theirs that neuer by their gathering of Mannah nor in that time and place they wer disparaged no nor set vpon for the eye of the Lord is most vpon them y t ar nearest vnto him Set thy selfe to gather Mannah in the ministry thou shalt not faile of Gods protection And this the Prophet Dauid in the second place teacheth in the vers following For God is the Sun and shield And hereby he prouoked himself often into the presence of God in the assemblies and the rather in that now he was so hunted out of euery corner and euery day brought him more danger then other that there was often but a step between him and death hee had great cause to long after that defence and safety which the Lord reacheth out to such as haue libertye with good heartes to worship before him in his Temple Thirdly strong consolation for al conditions of life euen such as otherwise would be most vncōfortable For when the people of God are compassed with such iudgements and terrors whether without or within them as they cannot tell what way to turne them when changes of sorrowes come thicke and threefold one in the neck of an other when whole armies of temptations besiege them so as they see no way of issue escape here are they incouraged to set their eies vpon y e Lord who pittying them as a father the child which he loueth wil not suffer them to sink in their sorrow but holds them vp by the chin that they perish not in their trouble For heere come they to know 1. that the Lords manner is first to giue strength and then the burden w c shal not bee aboue that strength 2. that the Lord must rule in his house and necessarily must administer out of his iustice as wel correction as reward and draw euen his deare ones vnto him as well by the rods of men as by the cords of loue which is a singular prop vnto their patience So as they can be wel contented vnder it 3. y t though their troubles be neuer so great yet he will deliuer them out of al in due seasō 4 that he wil make these afflictions soueraign and wholesom vnto them and turn euen their sufferings to their best all things fall out to the best to them that loue God Thus the Lord maketh good his promise to such as conscionably seeke him in his ordinance as one whom his mother comforteth so shall you in Ierusalem Whereas if the word were not their comfort they were sure to perish in their trouble Besides here the people of GOD reape the comfort of their prayers for as a King receiueth petitions at the Court or as a maister of a family is ready to heare and receiue all the complaintes and requestes of his children and seruantes euen so the LORD in this house giueth free accesse vnto him-selfe and for their incouragement herein freely promiseth that hee will bee ready to heare their prayers behold their sighs put their teares into his bottle send no man awaie emptie and cast none in the teeth for his importunity so it bee guided aright Seeing thererfore that heere are such consolations to bee attayned as the whole Worlde besides cannot giue nor take away so certaine so seasonable so spirituall so perpetuall Which of vs haue not as much reason to wish the fruition of such a gratious presence of GOD were it but for one day aboue all other all our dayes as Dauid did This holy man well knewe that one day was but short in comparison of many dayes But yet their reioycing with the Church in the Church assemblyes for one daie was worthily to bee preferred before the reioycing of many dayes without the Church in that the waight of this ioy recompensed the shortnes of it self counteruailed the length of the other being vnspeakably glorious This third priuiledge is that w c he in the third place mentioneth as a steele spur to his affection where in the next vers he addeth that the Lord is not onely the Sun shield but grace in his church that is gratiously accepteth in his Christ 1. the persons and then the prayers of such as are assembled in spirit truth to worship him and call vppon his name Fourthly Blessednes and saluation w c is not ordinarily out of these assemblies to be attained A true saying it is that none can haue God his father that hath not the church for his mother neither can any testifie himselfe a childe of the Church but by the dutiful acknowledgment of hir whensoeuer God shewes hir face Whē Iacob was awake out of his sleepe in which the Lord had appeared vnto him Hee said This is the house of GOD this is the gate of heauen in like manner may wee conceiue and speake of these places in which it pleaseth the LORD so gratiously to appeare vnto vs this is no other then the gate these are surely the suburbes of heauen Out of the Church is no saluation whosoeuer remained without the Arke a tipe of the visible Church was drowned The Lord sauēth none whom he first addeth not vnto the Church And the Scriptures attribute saluation but yet ministerially to the wombe brests and lappe of the Church which
pillows to lay her head on they alleadge it is an vnreasonable wearisome thing to bee tyed to two sermons euery Sabboth day and perhaps to one beside in the weeke day they know those whom they trust to God come to heauen and yet haue sermons but once a moneth at the most or once in the quarter and one sermon well learned were farre better then all this preaching Answ. To which I answer first if such men and women conceiued aright of this ordinance of God and that in it the Lord of this great house had appointed vs his stewards to breake vnto his family the bread of life they would bee farre enough from such prophane reasonings sauouring so rankely of the flesh For did wee euer heare a man in his wittes reason thus madly why I hope wee may liue with a great many fewer meales then two euery day I hope to eate meate once in a moneth or once in a quarter were very sufficient and one meale well eaten were better then all these meales Now if wee would thinke him mad that in earnest should thus reason against his life how can wee thinke him any better that vpon no other ground is resolued to starue his soule being his better part which yet no lesse needeth his dayly bread then the bodye doth The Iewes must go forth euery morning to seeke Mannah and to gather it which they did cheerefully for although they some-times vnthankfully fell out like children with their meate yet it seemes they grudged not their labour of gathering it dayly nay whereas they were commanded to gather it only on the sixe dayes and in the sixt day double for it selfe and the seauenth yet they runne out the seauenth day too against the commandement to gather it God might haue giuen them an haruest of Mannah once a yeare as hee doth of graine vnto vs or once a quarter or once a moneth but his wisdome saw it good to put them to more paines to gather it once a day And wherefore not onely because hee would haue them depend vpon him for their daily bread but also because it was a type of Christ himselfe who is that true bread which came downe from heauen whome both they and all beleeuers were dayly to hunger after and dayly to seeke in such means as himselfe hath appointed as whose obtaining and finding is well worth our dayly paines and industry And surely the very Iewes shall rise vp in iudgement against all such Christians who will bee at no paines to seeke and finde Iesus Christ the true bread of life of whom whosoeuer tasteth hee shall liue for euer whereas the other were so painfull without reasonings to meete with that foode which was but a shadow leading vnto him and of which our Sauiour saith Your Fathers eate Mannah in the wildernesse and are dead Secondly consider whether the ancient beleeuers came to heauen so easily as our daintie Protestants meane to doe Wee read that those who were to worship in the old Testament must rise and get them out of their houses and build altars vnto the Lord they must bee both at paines and costes in the seruice of their God So did Abraham Isaac Iacob and the Patriarches and after them all the while that the ceremoniall law stood in force euery male must thrice a yeare appeare before the Lord at Ierusalem were his dwelling neuer so remote or distant from the temple yea they could goe marching forward with-out fainting through droughts and droppes and would not giue ouer vntill they mette the Lord in Sion Now if they tooke so much paines to seeke Christ in shadowes and obscurity in comparison it is surely worth our double paines to enioy the substance truth and shining brightnesse of Christ as at this day wee doe through the blessing of GOD in admirable euidence and clearenesse But although the Lord hath granted vs liberty to make shorter cuttes and neede not so tire out ourselues in wearie pilgrimage to seeke his face this is our condemnation that wee will not scarce goe out of our doores to meete with our GOD. The Queene of Saba that measured so many miles to heare the wisdome of Salomon shall certainely rise vppe in iudgement against our people who hauing a greater then Salomon here are so farre from admiring that they despise and contemne his wisdome But not to goe further in this point where bee the spirits of the faithfull martyrs of the former age who haue passed the fire and water and sword and banishment and all to enioy our liberties which a number of vs their posteritie count so slightly of as of the paring of our nailes Yea where are become our home-borne and ancient professors who in the beginnings of the Gospell haue accounted foure sixe tenne or more miles a small Sabboth dayes iourney to heare a Sermon such sweetnesse they found in the word such a sweete face of God they beheld in his house that they would haue gone a foote nay bare-foote rather then haue missed of that comfort Surely the Lord hath either taken away ancient professors without succession or else our eyes doe see a fearefull apostacie Thirdly consider here whether euer any idolaters were so idle and secure in the worshippe of their false Gods as many Christians professing the worshippe of the true GOD. And heere I might marshall the rankes of olde and latter ones to whome no labours no paines no losses were accounted tedious or burdensome euen while they offered their sweat and bloud also in sacrifice to the Diuell What shall I speake of those who mingled the pittifull cryes of their tender children with their Musicke while they were cast into the fire to bee burnt vp in sacrifice vnto the idoll Molec what of the trauells and paines of the Scribes and Pharisies that would compasse sea and land to make a Proselite What of Baals Priests lancing and cutting their flesh before their idoll The blinded Papists at this day whip them-selues make their faces leane with fasting waste and consume their bodies with tedious pilgrimages to see some dead and rotten bones and visit some apish idolls shall now these satanicall seruices bee so auaileable to harden the vnbeleeuer against any crosses and bitternesse that they will refuse no paine to goe to hell and shall not the Lords owne ordinances and true religion carry so much power with them as to bring those who professe them-selues his people out of their gates to knowe the right waye to heauen Fourthly what doth this heauinesse vnto these ordinances argue but hearts out of heart with the best desires for what we loue and desire no paines seemeth painfull for it Many of these same persons will bee well content to toyle day by day fare hard breake their sleepe eate the bread of carefulnesse all to lay a little money and wealth together and some-times they scarce knowe for whome and yet all this paines from day to day is but a
was a King yet became such an humble companion of all them that feared the Lord that hee thought it no disgrace to bee called by his people to y e Tabernacle Some great Kings would haue thought it no great pollicy to haue giuen answer to such popular motions or if hee had seene his people go it were ynough as for himselfe he might haue greater matters in hand But oh how doth religion beate downe high conceits And maketh euen Kings take the Kingdome of God like little children Dauid disdained not but reioiced when they said to him Come let vs go to the house of the Lord. He lost no honor no it was his truest honor in the eies of God and hearts of his people y t he gaue them contentmēt and incouragement in such an honorable motion as y t was Faith in the heart will not so retire it selfe but it will bee kindling calling on others whence it is that we read in so many places of the Prophers y t when people are conuerted to the faith these voices should be soūded from thē Up let vs go pray before the Lord seek the Lord of hoasts I wil go also And vp let vs go to the mountaine of the Lord to the house of the God of Iacob he wil teach vs his waies and wee wil walk in his paths but especially it forceth vs to bring our own families carefully to y e place of worship as those for whom we must bee more countable it bringeth vs to y t holy resolution of Ioshua that although none wil ioin with vs in such waies let them at their perill do as seemeth them good our selues and our housholds wil serue the Lord. Vse 4. If our chief delight be in the assemblies of Gods people then wee cannot but prefer a meane outward estate with the fruition of the exercises of religion before a wealthy and glorious conditiō in the want of them as our Prophet here preferred the meanest office euen of doore-keepers who were to be first last in y e tabernacle before a glorious and easie life in the Pallaces of the mighty in which hee should bee deteyned from the places of Gods worship Euen so whosoeuer would carry such an heart as Dauid who was a man according vnto the Lords owne heart must esteeme of a poore life vnder a powerfull Ministry more happy and comfortable then a rich condition in places of ignorance which want the meanes of their spiritual consolation Moyses was of this minde he would rather suffer aduersity want reproch with the people of GOD then inioy the treasures of Egypt by forsaking them It was also alwaies a mark of y e people of God to follow him into the places of his true worshippe where hee went before If in Shiloh if in Ierusalem thither do all the Tribes repaire euen such as set their face to seeke the Lord. But how do men proclaime that this reioycing neuer entred into their hearts who with Lot chuse Sodom before Canaan and delight rather in the Mountains of Samaria then in Sion hil which indeed is the fruitfull part of the earth Some choose habitations for friends ayre waters woods walkes fruitfulnesse and some other speciall commodities and hence commend them and there seate themselues and set downe their staffe although Gods habitation be not there the Ministrie is counted as an hang-by if that bee there they count it neuer the better if it be absent it is neuer a whit the worse they care but a little too liue in the common ayre of Gods people the familiaritie of Gods friends the pleasures of Gods house the sweete fruites of the spirit of God are not enquired after nor tasted Others retaine to atheists scorners papists swearers and if Peter can warme himselfe still by Caiphas fire hee can sweare and forsweare as they doe They neuer aske themselues that question which the Lord asked Eliah What doost thou here Eliah they say not what doe I here in this caue this is not a place where I should bee to liue where the Diuell dwelleth or where God dwelleth not they heare not the Lords voyce speaking to them as vnto Eliah Vp get thee to Sarepta I haue appointed there one to feed thee They are well content to be fed by Rauens still But here is a fearefull brand vpon such who are contented to make exchange of heauen for earth and haue resolued that they will be gainers in the world though it bee to the losse of their soules Whosoeuer therfore thou art y t hast any care of thy soule neuer liue if it be possible vnder an idoll but where the worde is setled and the ministery duly discharged Buy the truth whatsoeuer it cost yea with the losse of many outward things be a meanes to thy abilitie to procure a standing Ministry to thy selfe thine what comfort couldst thou haue to liue and dwell in a wildernesse among wild beasts without men or other comforts in such a barren soile as no paines can ouer-come the inuincible stifnesse of the ground and yet in such a place were it more comfortable for a godly heart to liue then amongst a wicked people wanting meanes of grace and instruction And if thou wouldst dwell in the loueliest part of the earth choose such a place as which the Lord hath chosen to manifest his presence in and wherein hee hath set his tabernacle The tribe of Beniamin was of all the tribes the beloued of the Lord as Beniamin himselfe was the dearest to his father But wherein consisted this louelinesse in this that the Lord should dwell betweene his shoulders In which Metaphor the whole possession of Beniamin is compared to a body and the metropolitane which was Ierusalem to the head set betweene two shoulders in which the Lord delighted to dwell If any place therefore in earth should draw our affections aboue others it is that in which the Lord in his ordinances draweth nearest vnto vs and if our delights bee in the places where the Lord delighteth not to shew the presence of his grace our affections come short of our example here commended vnto vs. The face of God shining in his ordinance must be our Naomi to which we must say Where thou goest I will go and where thou dwellest I will dwell FINIS Ephe. 5. 15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ruth 1 20 Cant. 2. 1 Verse 3. Vers. 4. 5. Vers. 7. 8. The meaning Exo. 29. 45 Psal. 27 8. Gen 4. 14 Luk. 9. 33. 1. Chr. 9. 17 cap. 26. 1 Doctr. 1. The want of the word most lamentable of al wants Lamen 1. 4. Josephus antiq Iud. lib. decimo cap. decimo Ier. 52. 6. 11. 13. Dan. 9. 1. 2. 16. Psal. 137. 1. 5. 9. Why a good heart so esteemeth it Vse 1. Vndervaluers of the word reproued Vse 1. Vse 2. Lament the want of the word abroad Psal. 79. 1. 10 74. 1. 2.