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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A01379	Fiue sermons preached vpon sundry especiall occasions Viz. 1 The sinners mourning habit: in Whitehall, March 29. being the first Tuesday after the departure of King Iames into blessednesse. 2 A visitation sermon: in Christs Church, at the trienniall visitation of the right reuerend father in God the lord bishop of London. 3 The holy choice: in the chappell by Guildhall, at the solemne election of the right honorable the lord maior of London. 4 The barren tree: at Pauls-Crosse, Octob. 26. 5 The temple: at Pauls-Crosse. August 5. By Tho: Adams.	Adams, Thomas, fl. 1612-1653.; Adams, Thomas, fl. 1612-1653. Barren tree. aut; Adams, Thomas, fl. 11612-1653. Temple. aut	1626 (1626)	STC 115; ESTC S115603	103,732	219

be putrefyed what shall season it A sweet Singer delights vs all but Quis medebitur cantatori a Serpente percusso If a Serpent hath stung him who shall recouer his voice If the eye be blind what shall looke to the eye Ad nihilum valet quod non valet ad finem suum It is good for nothing that is not good for the end it was made If a knife bee not good to cut we say it is good for nothing yet may some other vse be inuented for it If a Plough be not good to breake the ground we say it is good for nothing yet it may stop a gap If a hound be not good to hunt we say he is good for nothing yet may he in the night giue warning of a theefe But if a Fig-tree a Professor be not good for fruit he is indeed good for nothing The refuse of other things haue their vses sowre Wine will make Vineger olde Rags make Paper Lees are for Dyers Soile is good to fat the Land Potsheards and broken tiles to mend high waies all good for somewhat yea they offer to sel the combings of haires Ladies and Gentlewomen know whether they be good for any purpose or no. But the fruitlesse vine the sauourlesse Salt the lightlesse Lampe the Fig-lesse Figge-tree the gracelesse Christian is good for nothing We all haue our Stations in the Vineyard to bring foorth fruits but what bee those fruits It was a smart Inuention of him that hauing placed the Emperour and the Pope reconciled in their Maiestick Thrones he brought the States of the world before them First comes a Counseller of State with this Motto I Aduise you two then a Courtier I Flatter you three then a Husbandman I Feed you foure then a Merchant I Coussen you fiue then a Lawyer I Robbe you sixe then a Souldier I Fight for you seuen then a Physician I Kill you eight Lastly a Priest I absolue you all nine This was his Satyre But in the feare of God as our Soueraigne doth gouerne vs in Truth and Peace So let the Counseller aduise the Iudge censure the Husbandman labour Merchant trafficke the Lawyer plead the Souldier beare armes the Diuine preach all bring forth the fruites of righteousnesse that this Kingdome may flourish and bee an exemplary encouragement to our neighbours that our Children may bee blessed after vs our Enemies conuinced Aliens conuerted Satan confounded the Gospell honoured the Lord glorified and our owne soules eternally saued Which grace the happy fruit of the Gospell and glory the happie fruit of Grace God the Father grant vs all for his mercies sake God the Sonne for his merits sake God the Holy Ghost for his Names sake to whom three Persons and one most glorious God he rendred all honour and obedience now and for euer Amen FINIS THE TEMPLE A Sermon Preached at PAVLS Crosse the fifth of August 1624. BY THO. ADAMS LONDON Printed by A. Mathewes for Iohn Grismand and are to bee sold at his Shop in Pauls Alley at the Signe of the Gunne 1624. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE SIR HENRY CAREY Lord HVNSDON Viscount Rochford MY LORD AMong the many absurdities which giue vs iust cause to abhorre the Religion of the present Roman Church this seemeth to me none of the least that they haue filled all the Temples vnder the commaund of their politike Hierarchy with Idols and changed the glory of the Inuisible God into the worship of visible Images They inuocate the Saints by them yea they dare not serue the Lord without them As if God had repealed his vnchageable Law and in stead of condemning all worship by an Image would now receiue no worship without an Image I haue obserued this one among the other famous markes of that Synagogue that they striue to condemne that which God hath iustified and to iustifie what he hath condemned For the former He hath precisely directed our Iustification only by faith in the merits of Christ this they vehem●ntly dispute against For the other He hath not without mention of his Ie●ousie for bidden all worship that hath the least tang of Idolatry this they eagerly maintaine What large Volumes haue they written against the Second Commaundement as if they were not content to expunge it out of their Catechismes vnlesse they did also Dogmatice 〈◊〉 it to the whole world They first set the people vpon a plaine rebellion then make shew to fetch them off again with a neat distinction Thus doe they pumpe their wits to legitimate that by a distinction which God hath pronounced a Bastard by his definitiue sentence as if the Papall Decrees were that law wherby the world should bee iudged at the last day But who will regard a house of magnificent structure of honourable ancient memory when the plague hath infected it or theeues possesse it And who in their right senses will ioyne themselues to that Temple which after pretence of long standing stately building and of many such prerogatiues and royalties is foūd to be be smeared with superstitions and profaned with innumerable Idols Why should wee delight to dwell there where God hath refused to dwell with vs. I publish this argument as no new thing to your Lordship but wherein your well experienced knowledge is able to informe mee Onely I haue beene bold through your thrice honoured Name to transmit this small Discourse to the world emboldened by the long proofe I haue had of your constant loue to the Truth and the gracious Pietie of your most noble Mother the best encouragement of my poore labours on earth The best blessings of God bee still multiplied vpon her your selfe your religious Lady and your honorable Family which is continually implored by Your Lordships humble Seruant THO. ADAMS THE TEMPLE 2. COR. 6.16 What agreement hath the Temple of God with Idols IT is not fit they should bee too familiar o● neare together in this world whose portions shall be so farre asunder in the world to come The Sheepe and Goates are indeed now blended promiscuou●ly and none can distinguish them here but hee that shall separate them hereafter the right and left hand of the last Tribunall shall declare them But they that be alien or opposite to vs in Faith and Profession are manifest and we haue a frequent charge De non commiscendo Now the neerer this ill match'd coniunction the more intolerable the same boord ill the same bed worse worst of all the same Temple So the Apostle begins his dehortation Bee not vnequally yoked with vnbeleeuers so he ends it What agreement hath the Temple of God with Idoles Diuers seeds of graine in one ground diuers kinds of beasts in one yoke diuers sorts of cloth in one garment were expressely forbidden vnder the Law and shall seuerall Religions bee allowed in one Church vnder the Gospell The absurdnes of such a mixture is here illustrated by many oppositions the sound of all which is Interrogatiue the sense Negatiue Righteousnesse

FIVE SERMONS PREACHED Vpon sundry especiall Occasions Viz. 1 The Sinners mourning habit In Whitehall March 29. being the first Tuesday after the departure of King IAMES into Blessednesse 2 A Visitation Sermon In Christs Church at the Trienniall Visitation of the right Reuerend Father in God the Lord Bishop of London 3 The holy Choice In the Chappell by Guildhall at the Solemne Election of the Right Honorable the Lord Maior of London 4 The barren Tree At Pauls-Crosse Octob. 26. 5 The Temple At Pauls-Crosse August 5. By THO ADAMS Sine merito non sine commodo LONDON Printed for IOHN GRISMAND 1626. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE AND TRVly Noble Lord WILLIAM Earle of PEMBROKE BY your Honours fauour I had a place in the sad Court of Whitehall this last Lent and it was so disposed by our blessed Maker that I know not whether my Text was a Comment vpon the Occasion or the Occasion vpon my Text they met together with such vnhappy happinesse As this Sermon tooke Birth in the highest Sphere of our Kingdome so there learning to presume on the helpe of your Noble wing it hath aduentured to flie abroad And whither iustly should it take the first flight but to your Honours Protection from whom it receiued Breath and Motion I haue beene bold also to send a paire of Seruants to wayt vpon it which were produced by other solemne occasions I humbly beseech your Lordsh. to giue them all your Passe and then I feare not but that for your Noble Names sake not their owne merite wheresoeuer they light they shall find kind entertainment and doe yet some more good to the Church of God Which successe together with your Honours happinesse is still prayed for by Your Lordships humbly deuoted and ready to bee commanded THO ADAMS THE SINNERS MOVRNING HABITE IOB CHAP. 42. VER 6. Wherefore I abhorre my selfe and repent in dust and ashes THis is in many deare regards a mourning and penitentiall season therefore I thought best to accommodate it with a penitentiall Sermon I abhorre my selfe c. Affliction is a winged Chariot that mounts vp the soule toward heauen nor doe wee euer so rightly vnderstand Gods Maiestie as when wee are not able to stand vnder our owne miserie It was Naamans leprosie that brought him to the knowledge of the Prophet and the Prophet brought him to the sauing knowledge of the true God had he not beene a leper hee had still beene a sinner Schola crucis schola lucis there is no such Schoole instructing as the crosse afflicting If Paul had not beene buffeted by Satan hee might haue gone nigh to buffet God through danger of being puffed vp with his reuelations The Lord hath many messengers by whom he solicites man He sends one health to make him a strongman another wealth to make him a rich man another sicknesse to make him a weake man another loss●s to make him a poore man another age to make him an old man another death to make him no man But among them all none dispatcheth the busines surer or sooner then affliction if that faile of bringing a man home nothing can doe it He is stil importunate for an answere yea hee speakes and strikes Doe wee complaine of his incessant blowes alas hee doth but his office he waites for our Repentance let vs giue the messenger his errand and hee will be gone Let him take the proud man in hand he will humble him he can make the Drunkard sober the Lascinious chast the Angry patient the Couetous charitable fetch the Vnthrift Sonne backe againe to his Father whom a full purse had put into an itch of trauelling the only breaker of those wild Colts Ier. 5. the waters of that Deluge which though they put men in feare of their liues beare them vp in the Arke of Repentance higher toward heauen It brought the brethren to the acquaintance of Ioseph and makes many a poore sinner familiar with the Lord Iesus Iob was not ignorant of God before while he sate in the Sun-shine of peace but resting his head on the bosome of plenty hee could lye at his ease and contemplate the goodnesse of his Maker But as when the Sunne shines forth in his most glorious brightnesse we are then least able to looke vpon him wee may solace our selues in his diffused rayes and comfortable light but wee cannot fixe our eyes vpon that burning Carbuncle These outward things do so engrosse vs take vp our consideration and drowne our contemplatiue facultie in our sense that so long wee onely obserue the effects of Gods goodnesse rather then the goodnesse of God it selfe Necessitie teacheth vs the worth of a friend as Absynthium wormewood rubbed vpon the eyes makes them smart a little but they see the clearer Therefore Iob confesed that in his prosperity hee had onely as it were heard of God but now in his tryall hee had seene him I heard of thee by the hearing of the eare but now mine eye seeth thee that is he had obtained a more cleare and perspicuous vision of him the eye being more apprehensiue of the obiect then the eare Segniiùs irritant animos dimissa per aures When wee heare a man described our Imagination conceiues an Idea or forme of him but darkely if wee see him and in tentiuely looke vpon him there is an impression of him in our minds wee know his stature his gesture his complection his proportion Sic oculos sic ille manus sic or a ferebat Such a more full and perfect apprehension of God did calamity work in this holy man and from that speculation proceedes this humiliation Wherefore I abhorre my selfe and repent in dust and ashes Where wee may consider three degrees of mortification the Sicknesse the Death and the Buriall of Sinne. I abhorre my selfe there sinne is sicke and wounded I repent there it is wounded and dead In dust and ashes there it is dead and buried To denie ones selfe maimes concupiscence that it cannot thriue to repent kills it that it cannot liue in dust and ashes buries it that it cannot rise vp againe I throw it into the Graue I couer it with mould I rake it vp in dust and ashes But I will not pull the Text in peeces only I follow the manuduction of the words for there is not a superfluous word in the verse as the Psalmist said of the Army of Israel There was not one feeble person among them It beginnes as high as the glory of Heauen and ends as low as the basest of Earth The first word Therefore respects an infinite God the last words Dust and ashes declare an humbled man The meditation of the former is the cause of the latter and the condition of the latter is the way to the former To study God is the way to make an humble man and an humble man is in the way to come vnto God Such a consideration will cast vs down to dust and ashes such a

that wee are and when she sees vs proud and forgetfull of our selues shee thinkes with her selfe Why should not shee that is descended as well as we beare vp her plumes as high as ours Therefore she so often borrowes wings of the winde to mount aloft into the ayre and in the streets and high wayes dasheth herselfe into our eyes as if shee would say Are you my kinred and will not know me will you take no notice of your owne mother To taxe the folly of our ambition the dust in the street takes pleasure to bee ambitious The Iewes in their mourning vsed to rend their garments as if they would bee reuenged on them for encreasing their pride and keeping them from the sight of their nakednesse Then they put on sackcloth and that sackcloth they sprinkled ouer with dust and ouerstrawed with ashes to put God in minde that if hee should arme his displeasure against them he should but contend with dust and ashes and what glory could that bee for him Shall the dust praise thee O God or art thou glorified in the pit Nay rather how often doth the Lord spare vs because hee remembers wee are but dust To shew that they had lifted vp themselues aboue their creation and forgot of what they are made now by by Repentance returning to their first Image in all prostrate humility they lay in the dust confessing that the wind doth not more easily disperse the dust then the breath of God was able to bring them to nothing Thus Dust is not onely Materia nostra or Mater our Mother or matter wherof we are made for our foundation is in the dust But Patria nostra our Countrey where we shall dwell Awake yee that dwell in the dust We are no better then the dust wee shake off from our feete or brush off from our clothes O therefore let vs turne to God in dust before hee turne vs into dust Yea Saint Augustine goes further and sayes that not onely the bodies of all men but euen the soules of some men are no better then dust They are so set vpon earth and earthly things that they are transformed into earth and dust and so become the food of that old Serpent whose punishment was to eate the dust For Ashes they are the Embleme or representation of greater misery Dust onely shewes vs that wee haue deserued the dissolution of our bodies Ashes put vs in mind that wee haue merited also the destruction of our Soules Ashes are the leauings of the fire the offalls of consumed substances When God shall giue vp the largest buildings of Nature to the rage of that Element it shall reduce them to a narrowe roome the remnants shall bee but ashes This was all the Monument of those famous cities Sodome Gomorra and the rest heapes of ashes Ecce vix totam Hercules impleuit vrnam sayes the Poet that great Gyant scarce makes a pitcher of ashes For this cause the Ancients vsed to repent in Ashes remonstrating to themselues that they deserued burning in endlesse fire more then those Ashes wherein they wallowed Yea if Abraham compared himselfe to dust and ashes I may compare my soule to a sparke hid in the Ashes which when sickenesse and death shall stirre vp like fire shee takes her flight vpwards and leaues the heauy fruitlesse ashes of my bodie behind her In both wee haue a L●sson of our owne mortalitie The finger of GOD hath written the Epitaph of man the condition of his bodie like Characters printed in the Dust. Mans body so well as the yce expounds that Riddle the gignit filia matrem the daughter begets the mother Dust begot a bodie and a bodie begets Dust. Our bodies were a● first strong Cities but then wee made them the Forts of Rebels our offended Liege sent his Serieant Death to arrest vs of high Treason And though for his mercies sake in Christ hee pardoned our sinnes yet hee suffers vs no more to haue such strong houses but le ts vs dwell in paper Cottages mudde walles mortall bodies Methusalem liued nine hundred sixtie nine yeares yet hee was the sonne of Enoch who was the sonne of Iared who was the sonne of Malaleel who was the sonne of Cainan who was the sonne of Enos who was the sonne of Seth who was the sonne of Adam who was the sonne of Dust. Aske the woman that hath conceiued a childe in her wombe Will it bee a Sonne Peraduenture so Will it bee well formed and featured Peraduenture so Will it be wise Peraduenture so Will it be rich Peraduenture so Will it be long-liued Peraduenture so Will it be mortall Yes this is without peraduenture it will die Euen a Heathen when hee heard that his son was dead could say without changing countenance Scio me genuisse mortalem I know that I begot a mortall man An olde man is said to giue Alexander a little Iewell and tolde him that it had this vertue so long as hee kept it bright it would out-value the most fine golde or precious stone in the world but if it once tooke dust it would not bee worth a feather What meant the Sage but to giue the Monarch an Embleme of his owne body which being animated with a Soule commanded the world but once fallen to dust it would be worth nothing for a liuing dog is better then a dead Lyon I conclude I call you not to casting Dust on your heads or sitting in Ashes but to that sorrow and compunction of Soule whereof the other was but an externall Symbole or testimonie Let vs rend our hearts and spare our garments humble our soules without afflicting our bodies It is not a corps wrapp'd in Dust and Ashes but a contrite heart which the Lord will not despise Let vs repent our sinnes and amend our liues so God will pardon vs by the merites saue vs by the mercies and crowne vs with the glories of Iesus Christ. A SERMON PREACHED AT THE TRIENNIALL Visitation of the Right Reuerend Father in God the Lord Bishop of LONDON in Christ-Church BY THOMAS ADAMS LONDON Printed by Aug. Matthewes and Iohn Norton 1625. A VISITATION SERMON ACTES 15.36 And some dayes after Paul said vnto Barnabas Let vs goe againe and visite our Brethren in euery Citie where wee haue preached the Word of the Lord and see how they doe THere bee certaine royall Lawes which Christ and his Apostles made for eternal vse to the obseruation whereof all Christian Nations and persons are vnchangeably bound And there be some ritual things which were at the first conuenient but variable according to the difference of times and places Strictly to impose all these circumstances on vs were to make vs not the sonnes but the slaues of the Apostles That is a fond scrupulositie which would presse vs in all fashions with a conformitie to the Primitiue times as if the Spouse of Christ might not weare a lace or a border for which shee

wounds searched while they are greene then to haue our limbes cut off for being festered Descend wee then into the depth and corners of our owne hearts let vs begin our visitation there mortifying all our rebellious lusts and subduing our affections to the will of our Maker So onely shall wee passe cleare and vncondemned by the great Bishop of our Soules Iesus Christ. I haue done Deo gloria vobis gratia mihi venia Amen THE HOLY CHOICE A SERMON PREACHED in the Chappell by GVILDHALL at the Solemnitie of the Election of the Right Honourable the Lord Maior of London BY THO ADAMS LONDON Printed by Aug. Matthewes and Iohn Norton 1625. THE HOLY CHOICE ACTES 1.24 And they prayed and said Thou Lord which knowest the hearts of all men shew whether of these two thou hast chosen THe businesse of the day is an Election an election into one of the most Noble Offices of the Kingdome the gouernment of this Honourable Citie which let not enuie heare it hath no parallel vnder the Sunne The businesse of my Text is an Election too an election into the highest office in the Church to be an Apostle and Witnesse of Iesus Christ. If you please to spare the paterne in foure circumstances as 1. This office is spiritual yours temporall 2. This place was voyd by Apostasie or decession yours is supplied by succession 3. This election is by Lots yours is by Suffrages 4. This choice was but one of two it may be your number exceeds the rest will sute well enough and the same God that was in the one be also present in the other by the assistance of his holy spirit The argument of the Text is a prayer to God for his direction in their choice yea indeed that hee would chuse a man for them including a strong reason of such a request because he doth know the hearts of all men They begin with prayer this was the vsuall maner in the Church of God So Moses prayed for the choice of his Successor Let the Lord the God of the spirits of all flesh set a man ouer the Congregation Christ sent not his Apostles to that holy work without a prayer Sanctifie them through thy truth In the chusing of those seuen Deacons they first prayed and then laid their hands vpon them Thus were Kings Inaugurated with Sacrifice and Prayer It is not fit he that is chosen for God should bee chosen without God But for this Samuel himselfe may be mistaken and chuse seuen wrong before hee hit vpon the right In this I cannot but commend your religious care that businesses of so great a consequence be alwayes sanctified with a blessing Those which in a due proportion must represent God to the world ought to be consecrated to that Maiestie which they resemble by publike deuotions Euery important action requires Prayer much more that which concernes a whole citie When Samuel came to Bethlehem to annoynt Dauid he calls the whole Citie to the Sacrifice Indeed the Family of Iesse was sanctified in a more speciall manner this businesse was most theirs and all Israels in them The feare of God should take full possession of all our hearts that are this day assembled but those with whom God hath more to doe then with the rest should bee more holy then the rest The choice of your Wardens and Masters in your seuerall Companies hath a solemne forme and it is the honour of your greatest Feasts that the first dish is a Sermon Charitie forbid that any should think you admit such a Custome rather for conuenience then deuotion as if Preaching were but a necessary complement to a Solemnitie as Wine and Musicke I am perswaded better things of you but if there should be any such peruerse spirits that like the Gouernor of a people called Aequi when the Romans came to him Iussit c●s ad quercum dicere bade them speak to the Oake for he had other businesse but they replied Et h●c sacrataquercus andiat f●dus a v●bis violatum let this Oake beare witnesse that you haue broke the league which you haue couenanted So when we come to preach to your soules if you should secretly bid vs speake to the walls loe euen the very walls will be witnesses against you at the last day Though Saul be King ouer Samuel yet Samuel must teach Saul how to bee King Wee may instruct though wee may not rule yea wee must instruct them that shall rule Therefore as wee obey your call in comming to speake so doe you obey Gods command in vouchsafing to heare Let vs apply our selues to him with deuotion and then hee will bee graciously present at our Election This Prayer respects two things Quem the person whom they intreat things Quid the matter for which they intreat The Person is described by His Omnipotence Lord. His Omniscience That knowest the hearts of men Omnipotence Lord. Wee acknowledge thy right thou art fit to bee thine owne chuser Lord there bee many on earth called Lords but those are Lords of earth and those Lords are earth those Lords must returne to earth This Lord is Almightie raising out of the dust to the hon●ur of Princes and laying the honour of Princes in the dust Lord of what nay not qualified not Lord of such a Countie Barony Seigniorie nor Lord by vertue of Office and Deputation but in abstracto most absolute His Lordship is vniuersall Lord of heauen the owner of those glorious mansions Lord of earth disposer of all Kingdomes and Principalities Lord of hell to locke vp the old Dragon and his crew in the bottomlesse pit Lord of Death to vnlocke the graues hee keepes the Key that shall let all bodies out of their earthy prisons A potent Lord whither shall we goe to get out of his Dominion To heauen there wee cannot misse him To hell there wee cannot bee without him In ayre earth or sea in light or darknesse wee are sure to finde him Whither then except to Purgatory That Terra incognita is not mentioned in his Lordship the Pope may keepe the key of that himselfe But for the rest hee is too sawcie exalting his vniuersal Lordship and hedging in the whole Christian world for his Diocesse Stretching his arme to heauen in rubricking what Saints he lift to hell in freeing what prisoners hee lift on earth in setting vp or pulling downe what Kings hee list but that some haue cut short his busie fingers To the Lord of all they commend the choyce of his owne seruants Euery mortall Lord hath this power in his owne Family how much more that Lord which makes Lords who is so fit to chuse as he that can chuse the fit Who so fit to chuse as hee that can make those fit whom he doth chuse It is He alone that can giue power and grace to the elected therefore not to be left out in the election How can the Apostle preach or the Magistrate gouerne without

house defends vs God defends his house our house comprehends vs God comprehends his house Wee are onely within our houses and they are without vs God is so within his house that hee is also without it elsewhere euery where yea his house is within him When we are abroad we cannot keepe our houses yea when wee are in them asleepe they serue to keepe vs. God can neuer be absent from his nor doth the keeper of this Temple euer sleepe Now euery materiall Temple wherein the Saints are assembled the truth of the Gospell is preached and professed the Holy Sacraments duely administred and the Lords Name is inuocated and worshipped is the Temple of God Why is it called His Temple but for the testification of his presence When Cain stood excommunicated for murdering his brother and might not come to the place appointed for Gods seruice he is said to be cast out from the presence of the Lord. Some haue interpreted the like of Ionahs flying from his presence that he fled from the place where the Prophets vsed to stand ready to be sent of God Nadab and Abihu dyed before the Lord that is before the Altar of the Arke or Altar in the Tabernacle or Temple was said to be done coram D●mino And yet too many come to the Temple with so little reuerence as if they thought God were not at home or did not dwell in his owne house But the Lord is present in his Temple in vaine shall wee hope to finde him elsewhere if we do not seek him here I will bee in the midst of you gathered together in my Name not any where not euery where but here Indeed no place excludes him but this place is sure of him hee fills all places with his presence hee fills this with his gracious presence Heere hee both heares vs and is heard of vs Audit orantes docet audientes hee heares our prayers and teacheth vs our lessons No place sends vp faithfull prayers in vaine no place hath such a promise of hearing as the Temple It is the Lords Court of Audience his Highnesse Court of Requests There humble soules open their grieuances from thence they returne loaden with graces Why are many so voyd of goodnesse but because they are negligent of the publike deuotions They seek not the Lord where hee may bee found therefore deserue to misse him where they pretend to seek him Why should they thinke to finde God in their Closets while they care not to seeke him in his Temples When wee need the helpe of our friend do we tarry till we meet him by chance or till hee come to vs or shall wee not rather go home to his house Peter and Iohn went vp into the Temple at the houre of Prayer they thought it no sufficient to pray in their priuate chambers but ioyne themselues with the Congregation as a Nauy Royall to transport their holy Merchandise to heauen Lift vp your hands in the Sanctuary and blesse the Lord. Pure hands are accepted in euery place but especially in the Sanctuary What followes The Lord that made heauen and earth blesse thee out of Sion Hee sayes not the Lord that made heauen blesse thee vpon earth nor the Lord that made earth blesse thee out of heauen but the Lord that made heauen and earth blesse thee out of Sion Blessings come originally from heauen mediately through Sion In the Temple let vs seeke in the Temple wee shall finde those precious treasures and comforts of Iesus Christ. This Temple is not without some enemies Besides those prophane Polititians that thinke with one Eustathius that there is no vse of Temples or those Massilians who as Damascen reports did adde to other Heresies Templorum contemptum or those Pseudo-Apostoli that laughed at a Temple full of Suppliants as a house full of fooles Or those that bee of Ieroboams mind who to settle himselfe in the kingdome of Israel diuerts the people from Gods house at Ierusalem In stead of that snowy glittering Temple they shall haue two golden representations Sion is too farre off these shall bee neere home that is a tedious way of deuotion these both compendious and plausible As Iosephus brings him in perswading them My good people and friends you cannot but know that no place is without God and that no place doth containe God wheresoeuer we pray he can heare vs wheresoeuer we worship hee can see vs therefore the Temple is superfluous the iourney needlesse God is better able to come to you then you are to goe to him Beside these the Temple of God hath two kinds of foes 1. The Anabaptists tell vs that the old superstition hath made those houses fitter for Stables then for Churches that they ought no more to be called Templa Dei but Templa Idolorum as they pretend the Passeouer was called in those corrupt times not Pascha Dei but Pascha Iudaeorum By the same reason they would haue remoued all Princes because some haue abused their gouernments But we say though euill men abuse good things yet if a kingdome were not a lawfull State Dauid and Iosias would neuer haue been Kings for good men doe not vse euill things The Temple in Christs time was become a denne of theeues yet euen then and there did hee send vp deuout and holy Prayers It is a grosse ignorance that cannot distinguish betwixt a fault that proceeds ex natura facti and that which proceeds ex abusu boni the former is malum simpliciter the other is but malum per accidens No man pulles downe his house because vncleanesse hath been committed in one of the chambers Let offenders be remoued from the Temple not the Temple demolished because of offences The Kingdome of God shall be taken from you saith Christ not quite taken away but onely taken from the Iewes When GOD threatned the like to Saul he did not meane to haue no more Kings or to reduce it to the former state of Iudges no onely the kingdome shall lose Saul but Israel shall not lose the kingdome It is a Maxime in nature Things dedicated to God are not to bee transferred to the vses of men a principle in Philosophy Quae rectè data sunt eripi non licet and a prouerbe among our children To giue a thing and take a thing is fit for the Deuils darling 2. The Sacrilegious to whom God is beholding if they let his Temple stand but for the maintenance of it they will bee so bold with him as either to share halfe or leaue him none There bee many that pray in the Temple who yet also prey on the Temple as if a thiefe should doe homage to that house in the day which hee meanes to robbe in the night But alas why should I touch that sore which is all dead flesh or speake against Sacriledge In orbe sacrilego among them that delight in it Where Lawyers are feeed