therefore as none could be a Priest but of the Tribe of Levi so long there could be no Church but of that people whereof Levi was a Tribe A point of sacred Policy so to order the choice of Ministers as shall be most fit to uphold the present state of an established Church The other question we propounded was Why God chose Levi before any other Tribe And of this many reasons may be given As first for Moses sake whom God would honour by advancing the house of his Father to the highest pitch of dignity that mortall man could attain to for what greater honour then to be Embassadour of the Lord of Hosts to be admitted unto the inspection of his most secret mysteries to be Gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his proper and peculiar portion Would God they either knew or beleeved this who think their house disgraced and their blood stained if any of their Kin become of the Clergy It was not so in Gods opinion no nor Moses his neither for had it been Levi of all Tribes should not have been Gods holy one The second Reason was the Nobility of this Tribe for Levi was enabled both generally as being the son of a lawfull Wife and not the son of an Handmaid and specially as being of kin to Moses the Prince of the Congregation In the first respect he was nobler then many of his brethren in the second more noble then any of them This example of Gods own choice of men for his holy Service if we would look unto we would not sin the sin of Ieroboam to make Priests almost of no other but of the lowest of the people I speak not only of the lowest for externall condition but of the lowest for the gifts of their minde for I know it is true which the Virgin hath in her Magnificat That God often puts down the mighty from their seats and exalteth them of low degree 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I know it is true that he often filleth the hungry with good things and the rich he sends empty away but we should know that whensoever we offer unto him he requireth the best thing in our hands and therefore for this worthy Calling we are to give unto him as far as may be the worthiest among the sons of men Another reason why God chose this Tribe afore other may be the smalnesse thereof being not above the sixtieth part of the people A number which God in his wisdome saw fit for that Church as being both sufficient for instructing the people and discharge of the duties of their order and not too great to live of Gods ordinary his Tithes and the other offerings of the Altar whereas the least of the other Tribes were as big as three of it But the last Reason and as it seems one of the chiefest is that which Moses intimates in the very verse following my Text speaking thus of Levi that he said unto his Father and to his Mother I have not seen them neither did he acknowledge his brethren nor knew his own children but observed Gods word and kept his Covenant In which words Moses alludes unto their forward zeal to avenge the Lord of the people which worshipped the golden Calf Exod. 32. where it is said that Moses stood in the gate of the camp and cried Whosoever is on the Lords side let him come unto me And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves unto him Then said Moses Thus saith the Lord God of Israel Put every man his sword by his side and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the Camp and slay every man his brother and every man his companion and every man his neighbour And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses c. For Moses had said so it follows in the Text Consecrate your selves unto the Lord this day even every man upon his son and upon his brother that there may be given you ablessing this day This blessing here spoken of is our Urim and Thummim the blessing of Sacred Order So bountifully did God reward them who were so forward to be on his side when Moses called them that himself vouchsafed to call them unto his side for ever Whence first we may learn whom we are chiefly to preferre unto this holy Function namely those who are zealous for the Lord of Hosts who preferre the glory of God above all worldly respects whatsoever This got Phinehas the son of Eleazar the High Priesthood this got all the sons of Levi the guerdon of Urim and Thummim the blessing of holy Orders Secondly we may see by the advancement of this Tribe how mercifull our God is We know that Levi's fury did once as much offend him as his sons zeal now pleased him and yet for this one action he forgot the sin of their Father in the bloody slaughter of the Sichemites He remembred not the curse of Iacob Into their secret let not my soul come My glory be not thou joyned with their assembly Cursed be their wrath for it was fierce and their rage for it was cruell Gen. 49. 6 7. Nay he turned the very curse of Iacob into a blessing By dividing them in Iacob and scattering them in Israel Here mercy and Truth met both together and Justice and Peace kissed each other Lastly here God verified his own description of himself That though he be a jealous God and visits the sins of the father upon the children unto the third and fourth generation yet he is also a mercifull God and shews mercy even unto the thousandth generation of them that love him and keep his Commandements And thus have you seen why of Levi Moses said this Blessing And of Levi he said Now I come to the description of this blessed Tribe in these words Gods holy one Let thy Vrim and thy Thummim be with thy holy one How is Levi here called Holy how is this Title given to him above the rest of his Brethren Are not all the Lords people holy certainly whatsoever is meant hereby it is something more specially belonging to Levi then to any other Tribe Which that we may the better finde we must take notice of a threefold holinesse Essentiall Habituall Relative Essentiall holinesse is the holinesse of God all one with God himself and this is a glorious holinesse Who saith Moses is like unto thee ô Lord among the Gods who is like unto thee glorious in holinesse Exo. 15 11. Habituall I call an inherent holinesse such as is the holinesse of righteous men integrity of life or righteous holinesse whereof Abraham Iob David and all the Patriarchs are called Saints and holy men This is that which the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Latines Sanctimonia Relative holinesse I define a speciall relation or relation of peculiarity which a thing hath unto God either in regard of propriety of possession or speciality of presence that which is holy after this manner the Greeks
DIATRIBAE DISCOVRSES ON DIVERS TEXTS OF SCRIPTVRE Delivered upon severall occasions BY JOSEPH MEDE B. D. late Fellow of Christs Colledge in CAMBRIDGE Printed by the Authors own Copy The Contents you shall finde in the next leafe LONDON Printed by M. F. for JOHN CLARK and are to be sold at his Shop under S. Peters Church in Cornhill M DC XLII The Contents of the severall Texts of Scripture delivered in this Treatise S. MATTH 6. 9. Thus therefore pray ye Our Father c. pag. 1. MATTH 6. 9. LUKE 11. 2. Sanctified or hallowed be thy Name p. 17. ACTS 17. 4. There associated themselves to Paul and Silas of the worshipping Greeks a great multitude p. 82. 2 PETER 2. 4. For if God spared not the Angels which sinned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darknesse to be reserved unto Iudgement c. so we translate it To which of S. Peter answers that of S. Iude as almost that whole Epistle doth to this verse 6. And the Angels which kept not their first estate or principality but left their own habitation he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darknesse unto the Iudgement of the great Day p. 99. 1 COR. 4. 1. Let a man so account of us as of the Ministers of Christ and Stewards of the Mysteries of God p. 108. S. IOHN 10. 20. He hath a Devill and is mad p 120. PROVERBS 21. 16. The Man that wandreth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the Congregation of the Dead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in coetu Gigantum p. 132. GEN. 49. 10. The Scepter shall not depart from Iudah nor a Law-giver from between his feet untill SHILOH come and unto him shall the gathering of the People be p. 144. PSALME 8. 2. Out of the Mouth of Babes and Sucklings thou hast ordained strength because of thine enemies that thou mightest quell the Enemy and the Avenger p. 155. ZACH. 4. 10. These seven are the Eyes of the Lord which run to and fro through the whole earth p. 172. S. MARK 11. 17. Is it not written My House shall be called a House of Prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to all the Nations p. 187. S. 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 pag. 197. S. LUKE 24. 45. Then opened he their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures 46. And said unto them Thus it is written and thus it behoved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day p. 210. EXOD. 4. 25. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the fore-skin of her son and cast it at his feet and said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sponsus sanguinum tu mihi es pag. 222. EZEKIEL 20. 20. Hallow my Sabbath and they shall be a sign between me and you to acknowledge that I Iehovah am your God pag. 234. 1 COR 11. 5. Every woman praying or prophecying with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head p. 246. TITUS 3. 5. By the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost p. 262. IOSH. 24. 26. And Ioshâ—…ah took a great stone and set it up there viz. in Sichem under the Oak which was in the Sanctuary of the Lord Alii by the Sanctuary Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. 274 1 TIM 5. 17. Let the Elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour especially they that labour in the Word and Doctrine p. 296. ACTS 2. 5. And there were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sojourning at Ierusalem Iows devout men out of every Nation under heaven p. 311. 1 COR. 9. 14. Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. 324. Three other Treatises by the same Author formerly Printed which may be added viz. 1. The Name ALTAR or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. CHURCHES that is Appropriate Places for Christian Worship 1 COR. 11. 22. Have ye not houses to eat and drink in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Or despise ye the CHVRCH of God 3. The Reverence of GODS HOVSE ECCLESIASTES 5. 1. Look to thy foot or feet when thou commest to the House of God and be more ready to obey then to offer the sacrifice of fools for they know not that they doe evill Errata FOlio 9. line 10. testimonies in r. testimonies In. fol. 24. l. 16 28. the Hebrew words are false printed and misplaced fol. 87. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the words inverted fol 88. line 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fo 125. line 19. the Hebrew words are inverted line 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fol. 130. line 14. siqui r. siquis fol. 150. line 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fol. 162. ult 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fol. 184. in the margin the Hebrew is amisse fol. 229. the Hebrew is transposed and mis-printed fo 273. line 14. imitation r. initiation so 284 line 3. Actâ— 21. r Acts 16. fol. 334. line 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 DISCOVRSES ON DIVERS TEXTS of SCRIPTURE S. MATTHEW 6. 9. Thus therefore pray ye Our Father c. IT was well hoped after the question about the lawfulness and fitness of a set forme of Prayer had been so long debated in our Church that the sect of those who opposed it had been ere this well-nigh extinguished but experience tels us the contrary that this fancy is not onely still living but begins as it were to recover and get strength afresh In which regard my discourse at this time will not be unseasonable if taking my rise from these words of our Saviour I acquaint you upon what grounds and example this practise of the Christian Church hath been established and how frivolous and weak the reasons are which some of late doe bring against it To begin therefore You see by the Text I have now read that our blessed Saviour delivered a set form of prayer unto his Disciples and in so doing hath commended the use of a set form of prayer unto his Church Thus therefore saith he pray ye Our Father which art in heaven c. Is not this a set form of prayer and did not our Saviour deliver it to be used by his Disciples They tell us No. For Thus say they in this place is not thus to be understood but for in this manner to this effect or sense or after this pattern not in these words and syllables To this I answer It is true that this form of prayer is a pattern for us to make other prayers by but that this only should be the meaning of our Saviours Thus and not the rehearsall of the words themselves I utterly deny and I prove it out of the eleventh Chapter of S. Luke where the
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
One of Iacob and shall fear the God of Israel The latter words shew the meaning of the former The like we have in the first Epist. of S. Peter ch 3. v. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 OBON 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. Gentilium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Fear ye not their Fear nor be in dread thereof that is Fear not nor dread ye the gods of the Gentiles which persecute you but sanctifie the Lord God in your hearts that is Fear and worship him with your whole hearts For that this passage howsoever we are wont to expound it ought to be construed in the same sense with that of Esay 8. before alledged and the words to be rendred sutably I take it to bee apparent for this reason because they are verbatim taken from thence as he that shall compare the Greek words of S. Peter with the Septuagint in that place of Esay will be forced to confesse Besides this evident and expresse use of the word Sanctifie in the notion of religious and holy worship and fear of the Divine Majesty there is yet another expression sometimes used in holy Scripture which implieth the self-same thing that namely to worship God with that which wee call holy and divine worship is all one with to agnize his holiness or to sanctifie his Name Those speeches I mean wherein we are exhorted to worship the Lord because he is Holy As Psal. 99. 5. Exalt ye the Lord our God and worship at his foot-stoole for he is holy Again in the end of the Psalm Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his holy hill for the Lord our God is holy The same meaning is yet more emphatically expressed by those that sing the song of victory over the Beast Apoc. 15. Great say they and marvellous are thy works Lord God Almighty just and true are thy ways thou King of Nations Who shall not fear thee O Lord and glorifie thy Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for that I beleeve is the true reading not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for thou onely art Holy therefore all the Nations shall come and worship before thee i. they shall relinquish their Idols and plurality of Gods and worship thee as God onely For this was the Doctrine both of Moses in the Old Testament and of Christ Jesus the Lamb of God in the New That one God onely that made the heaven and the earth was to be acknowledged and worshipped and with an incommunicable worship In respect whereof as I take it these Victors are there said to sing the Song of Moses the Lamb that is a gratulatory Song of the worship of one God After that his Ordinances were made manifest For otherwise the Ditty is borrowed from the 86. Psalm the 8 9 10. verses where wee reade Among the gods there is none like unto thee O Lord neither are there any works like unto thy works All Nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee O Lord and shall glorifie thy Name For thou art great and dost wondrous works Thou art God alone that is Thou onely art Holy Compare Ier. 10. ver 6 7. I have one thing more to adde before I finish this part of my Discourse lest I might leave unsatisfied that which may perhaps seem to some to weaken this my explication of the sanctification of Gods Name For the word to sanctifie or be sanctified is sometimes used of God in a more generall sense then that I have hitherto specified namely as signifying any way to be glorified or to glorifie as when he saith He will bee sanctified in the destruction of his enemies or in the deliverance of his people and that before the Heathen and the like that is he would purchase him glory or be glorified thereby I answer it is true that to be sanctified is in these passages to be glorified but yet always to be glorified as God and not otherwise Namely when God by the works of his power of his mercy or justice extorts from men the confession of his great and holy Godhead he is then said to sanctifie or make himself to be sanctified amongst them that is to be glorified and honoured by their conviction and acknowledgement of his power and Godhead For although men may be also said to glorifie or purchase honour unto themselves when by their noble acts they make their abilities and worth known unto the world yet for such respect to be said to be sanctified is peculiar unto him alone whose Glory is his Holinesse i. unto God THUS we have learned how the Name or Majesty of God is to be sanctified personally or in it self which is the chiefest thing we pray for and ought so to be in our endeavour namely to worship and glorifie him incommunicably according to his most eminent unparalleld Holiness and so O Lord Hallowed be thy Name But there is another sanctification or hallowing of Gods Name yet behind which must be joyned therewith which is To sanctifie him also in the things which have his Name upon them that is are separate and dedicate to his service or in a word which are His namely by a peculiar relation For otherwise it is true The whole earth is the Lords and the fulnesse thereof the World and those that dwell therein But there are some things his not as other things are and so as they are no longer ours such as according to the style of Scripture as I have already noted are said to be called by his Name or to have his Name called upon them These are things sacred Therefore I told you before of a twofold sanctity or Holinesse The one originall absolute and essentiall in God the other derived or relative in that which is set apart to be in a peculiar and appropriate manner His. For whatsoever belongeth unto him in this manner is divided from other things with preeminence whether they be things or persons which are so separated For in such separation we shewed the nature of sanctity in generall to consist Now as the Divine Majesty it self is separate and holy so know it is a part of that honour we owe unto his most Sacred Name that the things whereby and wherewith he is served should not be promiscuous and common but appropriate and set apart to that sacred end It is an honour which in some degree of resemblance we afford unto Kings Princes and other persons of dignity of infinite lesse eminency then God is to interdict the use of that to others which they are wont to use sometimes the whole kinde sometimes the individuall onely As we know in former times to wear purple to subscribe with the Ink called Encaustum of a purple colour and other the like which the diligent may finde were appropriate to the use of Kings and Emperours onely In the Book of the Kings we reade of the Kings Mule so appropriate to his use as to ride
unto the service and worship of God neither to be used by others nor they to carry themselves in their fashion of life as other persons for that which in other things sacred is their use in persons sacred is their conversation demeanour or carriage of themselves but all to be sanctified with a select appropriate or uncommon usage that as they are Gods by peculiar relation and have his Name called upon them so to be separate as far as they are capable from common use and imployed as instruments and circumstances of his worship and service which is the highest and most singular honour that any creature is capable of Nay as I have said before even this is to the honour of God that as himself is that singular incommunicable and absolutely Holy One and his service and worship therefore incommunicable so should that also which hath his Name thereon or is consecrated to his service be in some proportion incommunicably used and not promiscuously and commonly as other things are They are the words of Maymonides the Jew but such as will not misbecome a Christian to make use of concerning that Law Levit. V. 15. If a soule commit a trespasse and sin through ignorance in the holy things of the LORD then he shall bring unto the Lord for his trespasse a Ram c. Behold saith hee how great weight there is in the Law touching sacrilegious transgression And what though they be wood and stone and dust and ashes when the Name of the Lord of all the world is called upon things they are sanctified i. made holy And who so useth them to common use he transgresseth therein and though he doe it through ignorance he must needs bring his atonement Yea it is a thing worthy to be taken speciall notice of that that so presumptuous and most dreadfully vindicated sin of Korah Dathan Abiram and their company in offering incense unto the Lord being not called thereunto did not discharge their Censers of this discriminative respect due unto things Sacred For thus the Lord said unto Moses after that fire from heaven had consumed them for their impiety Speak unto Eleazar the Son of Aaron the Priest that he take up the Censers out of the burning and scatter thou the fire yonder for they are hallowed The Censers of these Sinners against their own souls let them make of them broad plates for a covering of the Altar for they offered them before the Lord therefore they are hallowed or holy Num. 16. 37 38. Now that by this discriminative usance or sanctification of things sacred the Name of God is honoured and sanctified according to the tenour of our petition is apparent not onely from reason which tels us that the honour and respect had unto ought that belongs unto another because it is his redounds unto the owner and Master but from Scripture which tels us that by the contrary use of them his name is prophaned Hear himself Lev. XXII 2. Speak unto Aaron saith he and his Sons that they separate themselves from the Holy things of the children of Israel and that they prophane not my Holy Name in the things which they hallow unto me Also in the Chapter next before v. 6. The Priest that should not discriminate himself according to those singular observations or differing rules there prescribed is said To prophane the Name of his God Again Ezek. XXII 26. When the Priests prophaned Gods holy things by putting no difference between the Holy and Prophane I saith the Lord am prophaned amongst them Likewise Chap. XLIII ver 7. together with other abominations there mentioned the Lord saith that his Holy Name had been polluted or prophaned by the carkasses of their Kings that is of Manasse and Amon buried in the Kings Garden hard by the walls of the Temple for so by the Hebrews and others that place is understood See 2 Kings XXI ver 18 26. by the pollution of the Temple the Lord esteemed his own Name prophaned Take in also if you will that of Malachi Cha. 1. where the Lord says of those who despised and dishonoured his Table or Altar by offering thereon for sacrifice the lame the blinde and sick which the Law had made unclean and polluted that they had prophaned his Holy Name But if the Name of God be prophaned by the disesteem and misusage of the things it is called upon then surely it is sanctified when the same are worthily and discriminatively used that is as becommeth the relation they have to him I have already specified the severall kinds of Sacred things which are thus to be sanctified yet lest something contained under some of them might not be taken notice of by so generall an intimation it will not be amisse a little more fully and particularly to explicate them then I have yet done Remember therefore that I ranged all sacred things under four heads 1. Of Persons Sacred such as were the Priests and Levites in the Old Testament and now in the New the Christian Clergy or Clerus so called from the beginning of Christian Antiquity either because they are the Lords 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Portion which the Church dedicateth unto him out of her self namely as the Levites were an offering of the Children of Israel which they offered unto him out of their Tribes or because their inheritance and livelihood is the Lords portion I preferre the first yet either of both will give their Order the title of Holinesse as doth also more especially their descent which they derive from the Apostles that is from those for whom their Lord and Master prayed unto his Father saying Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sanctifie them unto or for thy Truth thy Word is Truth that is Separate them unto the Ministery of thy Truth the word of thy Gospel which is the truth and verification of the promises of God It follows As thou hast sent me into the world so have I also sent them into the world this is the key which unlocks the meaning of that before and after And for their sakes I sanctifie my self that they might be sanctified for thy Truth that is And for as much as they cannot be consecrated to such an Office without some sacrifice to atone and purifie them therefore for their consecration to this holy function of ministration of the new Covenant I offer my self a Sacrifice unto thee for them in lieu of those legall and typicall ones wherewith Aaron and his sons first and then the whole Tribe of Levi were consecrated unto thy service in the old An Ellipsis of the first Substantive in Scripture is frequent So here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 onely is put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Truth for the Ministery of Truth Now that the Christian Church for of the Jewish I shall need say nothing hath always taken it for granted that those of her Clergy ought according to the
presently follows when the Jews opposed Paul there testifying Jesus to be Christ and blasphemed that he shook his rayment and said Your blood be on your own heads From henceforth I will go to the Gentiles And he departed thence saith the text and entred into the house of one Iustus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Gentile-worshipper whose house joyned hard to the Synagogue But above all that narration Acts 13. deserves our consideration and attention There ver 43. it is said that Saint Paul having preached the Gospel in the Jews Synagogue at Antioch of Pisidia there followed him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many of the Jews and worshipping Proselytes and vers 42. That when the Jews were gone out of the Synagogue the Gentiles that is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 besought the Apostles that the same things might be preached unto them the next Sabbath which being accordingly done and many of the other Gentiles who were not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon the same of such a new Doctrine unwontedly assembling with them it is said that the Iews when they saw the multitude were filled with envy contradicted and blasphemed That then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and said It was necessary that the word of God should first be spoken unto you but seeing you put it from you and judge your selves unworthy of eternall life Lo we turn to the Gentiles as the Lord saith I have set thee to be a light to the Gentiles c. 48. That when the Gentiles heard this they were glad and glorified the word of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who were already in procinctu and in the posture to eternal life The Jews blasphemed the rest of the Gentiles were uncapable onely the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who were already Candidati vitae aeternae having been instructed in the worship of the true God and hoping for the reward to come they beleeved Yet perhaps not all of them neither the words require not so much but that none but such And it follows that the Jews found out some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 worshipping women such as were of fashion who yet perhaps had not been at the Apostles Sermon by whose means they stirred up the chief men in the City and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas This I take to be the true and genuine meaning of this passage upon which no charge of Pelagianism can be fastened nor needeth it any spinous Criticisms for its explication The use of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 de acie collocatione Militum de ascriptione in ordinem vel classem in which signification the passive is most frequent is well enough known 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Xenophon In cam classem me ascribo Plutarch in Solone 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In pauperum ordinem se redigit inter pauperes se numerat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dicuntur milites unde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 appellantur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est in numerum virorum ascribi Compare the 1 Cor. 16. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 According to which sense and notion the words might be rendred Crediderunt quotquot nomina suae dederant vitae aeternae or per Ellipsin Participii Qui de agmine classe fuerant sperantium vel contendentium ad vitam aeternam otherwise Qui in procinctussabant ad vitam aeternam or most fitly sensu modò militari Quotquot ordinati fuer ant ad vitam aeternam De re tota judicent viri docti à studio partium alieni Besides it will not be impertinent as a Mantissa to these quotations for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to note that the same persons are otherwise namely twice characterised by the title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As first of Cornelius concerning whom there is no question but he was a Gentile worshipper The Text saith There was a man in Caesarea called Cornelius a Centurion of the Italian Band 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Again in that 13. of the Acts whereon we have dwelt so long S. Paul speaking at first to that mixt multitude assembled in the Synagogue consisting partly of Jews and partly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he compellates them verse 16. both distinctly in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By the former meaning the Jews by the latter the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Gentile worshippers Of this kinde of Converts as I have in part already intimated were in our Saviour and his Apostles time very many in every Nation and City where the Jews lived and had their Synagogues yea far more in number then of that other sort of Proselytes which were circumcised The reason being because it was the more easie condition and not so prejudiciall to their outward liberty as the other in as much as they might notwithstanding still live and converse with their friends kindred and Countrymen bear office and enjoy honours among them as Naaman the Syrian did who was of this kinde which the other might not do These impediments being out of the way the hope of the Resurrection from the dead and the reward of the life to come were powerfull inducements to draw many to the worship of that God who onely among the Gods at that time promised this reward to such as worshipped and served him and no other which was the bait wherewith the Jews allured them and that to their own no small emolument this kinde as it were to recompence their want of Circumcision seeming to be very bountifull towards their Nation as may be gathered both from Cornelius who is said to have given much alms to the people namely of the Jews And the Story of that Centurion Luke 7. whom the Jews besought our Saviour so instantly for alledging that he loved their Nation and had built them a Synagogue and therefore deserved that favour they sued for on his behalf Now out of this discourse besides the clearing of the passages afore-mentioned we may learn two things One how so many of the Gentiles by the preaching of the Apostles could so soon and so readily be converted to the faith of Christ. It was because they had already embraced the principles which led thereunto For we are to take notice that the foundation of the Church among the Gentiles was laid of these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who had already embraced the worship of the true God had knowledge of his promises beleeved and hoped for the life to come For was not S. Peter to whom the instructions for this Embassage were first given sent first to Cornelius a Centurion a Gentile the first of this order wherefore but that this might be for a pattern for them with what kinde of men they were first to deal in this great work namely with such as were idonei Auditores Euangelii those which were puri puti Gentiles being not so as who knew nothing of the principles requisite thereto This
come toward my Text a like instance to this I take to be that of the Daemoniack so often mentioned in the Gospel For I make no question but that now and then the same befals other men whereof I have experience my self to wit To marvel how these Daemoniacks should so abound in and about that Nation which was the people of God whereas in other Nations and their writings we hear of no such And that too as it should seem about the time of our Saviours being on earth onely because in the time before we finde no mention of them in Scripture The wonder is yet the greater because it seems notwithstanding all this by the Story of the Gospel not to have been accounted then by the people of the Jews any strange or extraordinary thing but as a matter usuall nor besides is taken notice of by any forrain Story To meet with all these difficulties which I see not how otherwise can be easily satisfied I am perswaded till I shall hear better reason to the contrary that these Daemoniacks were no other then such as we call mad-men and Lunaticks at least that we comprehend them under those names and that therefore they both still are and in all times and places have been much more frequent then we imagine The cause of which our mistake is that disguise of another name and notion then we conceive them by which makes us take them to be diverse which are the same That you may rightly understand this my Assertion before I acquaint you with the reasons which induce me thereunto you must know that the Masters of Physick tell us of two kindes of Deliration or alienation of the understanding One ex vi morbi that namely which is with or from a Fever called Delirium or Phrenitis the latter being a higher degree then the former Another kinde sine Febre when a man having no other disease is crased and disturbed in his wits And this they say is either simple dotage proceeding from some weaknesse of the brain or intellective faculty or Melancholia and Mania which they describe and distinguish thus Both of them to be when the understanding is so disturbed that men imagine speak and do things which are most absurd and contrary to all reason sense and use of men But their difference to be in this that melancholia is attended with fear sadnes silence retirednesse and the like symptomes Mania with rage raving and fury and actions sutable which is most properly styled madnesse Now then I say that those Daemoniacks in the Gospel were such as we call mad-men understand me to mean not of Deliration ex vi morbi or of simple dotage but of these two last kindes Melancholici and Maniaci whereunto adde morbus Comitialis or the falling sicknesse and whatsoever is properly called Lunacy Such as these I say the Jews beleeved and so may we to be troubled and acted with evill Spirits as it is said of Sauls Melancholy That an evil Spirit from the Lord troubled him and therefore passing by all other causes and Symptomes they thought fit to give them their Name from this calling them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An occasion of the more frequent use of which expression in our Saviours time and the ages immediately before him then formerly had been or may seem to have been given by the sect of the Sadduces which after the time of Hyrcanus had much prevailed and affirmed as S. Luke tels us that there was no resurrection neither Angel nor Spirit To affront and cry down whose errour it is like enough the Pharisees and the rest of the right-beleeving Jews who followed them affected to draw their expressions wheresoever they could from Angels and Spirits as presently they did in the Acts when Saint Paul awakened their faction in the Councell saying I am a Pharisee and the son of a Pharisee c. We finde no evill say they in this man but if a Spirit or an Angel hath spoken unto him let us not fight against God Having thus sufficiently stated and explicated my assertion now you shall hear what grounds I have for the same First therefore I prove it out of the Gospel it self and that in the first place from this Scripture which I have chosen for my text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he hath a Devil and is mad Where I suppose the latter words to be an explication of the former Secondly I prove it out of Mat. 17. 15. where it is said There came to our Saviour a certain man kneeling down to him and saying Lord have mercy on my son 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because he is Lunatick and sore vexed For oft times he falleth into the Fire and oft into the water That this Lunatick was a Daemoniack it is evident both out of the 15. ver of this Chapter where it is said Our Saviour rebuked the Devill and he departed out of him and the childe was cured from that very hour As also out of the 9. of the Gospel of Saint Luke where it is said of the self-same person Lo a spirit taketh him and he cryeth out and it teareth him that he foameth again and bruising him hardly departeth from him By comparing of these places you may gather what kinde of men they were which the Scripture cals 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now I come to other Testimonies And first take notice that the Gentiles also had the like apprehension of their mad-men whence they called them Larvati and Cerriti where Larvati is as much as Larvis id est Daemonibus acti so Festus Larvati saith he furiosi mente moti quasi Larvis exterriti And for Cerriti they were so called quasi Cereriti hoc est à Cerere percussi And therefore you may remēber that when Menechmus in Plautus fains himself mad and talks accordingly the Physitian who was sent for to cure him asks the old man who came to fetch him whether he were Larvatus or Cerritus If the Gentiles thought thus of their mad-men should we think it strange the Jews should I could tell you here that the Turks conceit of their madmen is not unlike this but that they suppose the spirit that works in them to be a good rather then an evill one But I let this passe My next testimony shall be out of Iustin Martyr who in his second Apology ad Antoninum to prove at least to a Gentile that the souls of men have existence and sense after death brings for an argument their Necyomantia and their Evocationes Mortuorum together with other the like in the last place this of Daemoniacks where by his descriptiō of them we may easily gather what kinde of people they were which were so taken to be Item illi saith he qui à mortuorum manibus corripiuntur for such were these Daemonia taken to be atque humi abjiciuntur homines 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which all call Daemoniacks and mad-men
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
little lower then the Angels and hast crowned him with glory and honour 6. Thou hast made him to have dominion over the works of thine hands thou hast put all things under his feet Again 1 Cor. 15. 23. Christ saith he shall deliver up the Kingdom to God the Father when he shall have put down all rule authority and power 25 For he must raign till he hath put all enemies under his feet 26. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death 27. For he hath put all things under his feet This is the quotation for it follows presently When he saith all things are put under him it is manifest that he is excepted which did put all things under him How principall a part of the Argument of this Psalm what is in these two places cited by S. Paul contains every man may see that reades and compares them But how it should be consonant to the meaning of the Psalm seems somewhat difficult to apprehend For he that reades the whole Psalm would think it were nothing else but a description of mans excellency whom God had made next to the Angels in dignity given him dominion over all things he hath made For so after those words Thou hast put all things under his feet it follows immediately All sheep and Oxen yea and beasts of the field the fowls of the air and the fishes of the Sea and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the Sea But what is the dominion over these to subduing of enemies which the Apostle cites it for or how is that which is a description of mankinde in generall a Prophecy of Christ in speciall Some therefore as in other citations of the Old Testament so here also betake themselves to the covert of an Allusion namely that the Apostle onely borrows the words of the Psalmist to expresse his own and not the Psalmists meaning But howsoever this may have place in some other allegations of the Old Testament which are for Illustration or Exornation onely yet when the testimony is brought for proof and demonstration as this is it can in no wise be admitted For how can that testimony be of force to conclude any thing where not the Authors meaning is brought but his words onely made use of Others therefore say that whatsoever is spoken of the Dignity and Excellency of Man in generall is to be understood by way of eminency of Christ the chief of the sons of men This indeed is something but not enough For what is the dignity of man in regard of his Dominion and Lordship over the creature to conquering and subduing of enemies which is that the Apostle seeks to demonstrate thence Well to hold you no longer in suspence the key of the interpretation of this Psalm and the ground of S. Pauls accommodation of that passage Thou hast put all things under his feet to Christs victory is to be sought in the words I have now chosen Out of the mouth of Babes and Sucklings c. which being first alledged by our Saviour in the Gospel in defence of that acclamation given unto him by his followers Hosanna that is Save now to the son of David which the Pharisees thought too high an attribute to be deferred to flesh and blood this application thereof by Christ to himself gave the Apostle good warrant to interpret the Psalm as he did and to ground a Demonstration thereon I shall therefore divide my discourse into two parts First I will shew the meaning of the words as they stand in the Psalm And secondly make it appear that our Saviour in the Gospel cites them according to that meaning The whole drift therefore of the Psalm is to praise and glorifie God for the dignity wherewith he hath invested Man What is man saith he that thou art mindefull of him or the son of man that thou visitest him For thou hast made him little lower then the Angels and hast crowned him with glory and honour This glory and honour is exemplified in two particulars First that God hath ordained man even that weak and feeble creature Man to subdue and conquer his enemies which is that my Text expresseth in the words before named Out of the mouth of Babes and Sucklings thou hast ordained strength because of thine enemies that thou mightest quell the Enemie and the Avenger Secondly that he hath made man the Lord of all his Creatures Thou hast made him saith he to have dominion over the works of thine hands then follows as it were the summing up of both in a word Thou hast put all things under his feet For having ordained him both the Champion to conquer thine enemies and made him at his Creation the Lord and Ruler of the works of thine hands Quid reliquum est what honour couldst thou have given him which thou hast not Lord therefore what is man that thou art mindefull of him or the son of man that thou visitest him Where is to be observed that the Corollarie Thou hast put all things under his feet comes in before his time namely before the description of this exemplification of mans dominion over the creature was fully ended as if the Prophet out of admiration could hold no longer from telling us the summe of that Dignity wherewith man was invested Thou hast made him saith he to have Dominion over the works of thine hands and so one way or other Thou hast put all things under his feet Then follows the other part of the Description All Sheep and Oxen over these thou hast made him have Dominion The Beasts of the field the Fowles of the air and the Fish of the Sea whereas in direct order it should have stood thus Thou hast made him have Dominion over the works of thine hands over all Sheep and Oxen the Beasts of the Field and Fowles of the Air and Fish of the Sea And so in the upshot Thou hast put all things under his feet For this last particular of mans dignity to have Dominion over the Creatures is so plainly and evidently intended in the Psalm that I shall need speak no more of it I return therefore to the former to make it clear also That God ordained man not onely to exercise Dominion over the visible creatures but to be the Champion to conquer and subdue his Enemies which is the drift of the words I have chosen for my text Out of the mouth of Babes and Sucklings saith he that is of mankinde who springs from so weak and poor a beginning as of Babes and sucklings namely out of the mouth of babes not in sensu composito but diviso Of such whose condition is to be babes and sucklings not that they should exercise this strength he speaks of To quell the enemy and the Avenger while they were babes but that this power should be given to those whose condition was to be such And this is marvellous enough that God should advance so weak a creature and of so despicable a
beginning to such a power as to grapple with the Enemy and overcome him But behold there is yet something more admirable namely that this should not be done by the strength of his Arm but by the breath 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
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
of Ezekiel Thou wast not washed with water nor salted with salt that of putting on the white garment to resemble swadling All these were anciently especially the first used in the Sacrament of our Spirituall birth out of reference to that which was done to Infants at their naturall birth Who then can doubt but the principall rite of washing with water the onely one ordained by our blessed Saviour was chosen for the same reason to be the element of our initiation and that those who brought in the other did so conceive of this and from thence derived those imitations JOSH. 24. 26. And Joshuah took a great stone and set it up there viz. in Sichem under the Oak which was in the Sanctuary of the Lord Alii by the Sanctuary Hebr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THE Story whereupon these words depend is this Ioshuah a little before his death assembled all the Tribes of Israel at Shechem or Sichem there to make a solemne Covenant between them and the Lord to have him alone for their God and to serve no other Gods besides him which they having solemnely promised to do saying The Lord our God will we serve and his voice will we obey Ioshuah for a testimony and monument of this their stipulation erects in the place a great stone or pillar under an Oak which was by or as the Hebrew hath it in the sanctuary of the Lord. Of this Oak or rather collectively Querceâ—um or Oaken-holt of Sichem is twice mention made elswhere in Scripture For this was the place where Abraham first sate down and where the Lord appearing unto him he erected his first Altar in the Land of Canaan after he came out of Haran thither as we reade Gen. 12. 6. in these words And Abraham passed through the Land unto the place of Sichem unto the Oak or Oak-grove of Morch where the Lord appeared unto him saying Vnto thy seed will I give this Land and there he builded an Altar unto the Lord who appeared unto him And what place more fit for Abrahams posterity to renew a Covenant with their God then that where their God first made his Covenant with Abraham their Father Again it was this place where in the after-times of the Judges one hundred and seventy years after the death of Ioshuah the Sichemites made Abimelech the base son of Ierubaal or Gideon King as we read Iudg. 9. 6. That all the men of Sichem gathered together and all the House of Millo and went and made Abimelech King by the Oak of the Pillar which was in Sichem The words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even the Oak where Ioshuah here in my Text set up this great stone for a witnesse to Israel For the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the other two places signifie one and the same thing to wit either an Oak Terebinth or some other kinde of tree as the Septuagint perpetually render them Yea that of Iudges must of necessity so be rendred by comparing it with this of my Text to which it hath reference Neverthelesse our last Translation in the first of these places Gen. 12. concerning Abraham chose rather to follow S. Hierome wherefore I know not who follows not himself and translates it a plain not an Oak to wit the plain of Morch by which Translation the identity of that place with the other two where it is translated Oak is obscured and made the lesse observable If there be any difference between the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it should rather be this that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should signifie a tree and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a grove holt or wood of such trees as the Septuagint in that place of the ninth of Iudges have expresly rendred it namely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Quercetum Oak toft or holt in Sichem And so I beleeve it ought to be understood in the other places that is to be taken collectively of which we shall hear more hereafter But this is no great matter of difficulty that which follows is namely how this Oak or Oaken-holt of Sichem is said here in my Text to have been in for the Hebrew is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or by the Sanctuary of the Lord. For how comes the Sanctuary of the Lord to be at Sichem when as the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Testimony were at Shiloh there set up by Ioshuah himself and so remained as the Scripture elswhere tels us untill the time of the Captivity of the Land which without doubt was not till after Ioshuah was dead and buried and is usually understood of that time when the Ark was taken captive by the Philistims And yet is not onely here a Sanctuary mentioned at Sichem but in the beginning of the Chapter the Elders and Officers of the Tribes are said upon Ioshuahs summons to have presented themselves there before the Lord which speech useth to imply as much If we say the Ark of God was taken out of its place at Shiloh and brought to Sichem by the Levites upon occasion of this generall Assembly yet the difficulty will not be removed For first how could the Ark alone give dâ—â—oininâ—tion to the place where it stood to be called the Sanctuary of the Lord Or secondly if the Altar were there with it how was the Law of God observed which saith Thou shalt not plant a Grove of any trees or any tree neer unto the Altar of thy God which thou shalt make thee Neither shalt thou set up a pillar which the Lord thy God hateth when as here are both an Oak or Quercetum in the Sanctuary of God and a Pillar or Statue erected under it Thirdly this Sanctuary whatsoever it was must be something which had a constant and fixed station and was not temporary or mutable because the Oak under which this pillar was erected by Ioshuah is here designed and appointed out by it as by a constant and standing mark else to what purpose had it been to sign out the Oak by it if it were such as would be here to day and not to morrow For these reasons it appears that this Sanctuary could not be the Tabernacle where the Ark and Altar for Israel were but that it was somthing else And what that should be is to be enquired I answer it was a Proseucha or praying place which the Israelites at least those of Ephraim in whose lot it was after the Country was subdued unto them had erected in that very place at Sichem where God first appeared to Abraham and where he built his first Altar after he was come into the Land of Canaan The place where God said unto him Vnto thy seed will I give this Land For the understanding whereof you must take notice that the Jews besides their Tabernacle or Temple which was the onely place for sacrifice had first or last two sorts of places
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ob tot successus bis quidem sacrificavimus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Xenophon in his Hellanica 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To conclude it is apparent by these examples that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a gift or tribute due for good tidings whether as an offering to the Gods the Authours or as a reward to men the messengers and bringers Now the most blessed happy tidings that ever came to the ears of the sons of men is salvation by Jesus Christ our Lord whereof his Priests and Ministers are the daily messengers Is there not then an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 due for this And is not this that our Apostle meaneth when he says The Lord hath ordained that they who preach the Gospel should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So that which of old was required only for acknowledgement of the Divine Dominion under the bondage of the Law is now turned into the nature of an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the liberty of the Gospel I mean that which we offer now unto God for the maintenance of the Euangelicall Ministery and other uses of his service The sense is most fit and agreeable and makes the Apostles expression if so understood passing elegant But you will say What probability is there the Apostle should use 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this notion For though prophane Authors do so yet the Scriptures meaning both here and elswhere is to be measured by its own Dialect Have therefore the Hebrew the Chaldee the Septuagint any such notion as this I answer Yes all three of them For in the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the onely word for good tidings signifies also Praemium boni nuncii Yea being not above five times found in the Old Testament some will have it thrice taken in that signification and twice will be easily yeelded them Likewise in the Chaldee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifie as well the one as the other both nuncium and nuncii praemium As for the Septuagint the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is but thrice found with them and once so apparently in this signification as leaves no place for contradiction It is 2 Sam. 4. 10. where they have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cui oportet me dedisse Euangelia They are the words of King David when Rechab and Baanah brought Ishbosheths head unto him When one told me saith he Behold Saul is dead thinking he had brought good tidings I took hold of him and slew him in Ziklag when I should have given a reward for his tidings The Hebrew word rendred here reward for good tidings is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Septuagint as I said before have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Vulgar or S. Hierome mercedem pro nuncio The Chaldee Paraphrast Donum boni nuncii Thus you see this notion was familiar to all the Languages that S. Paul was brought up in Why should it then be improbable he should use it when he had occasion And no marvel it is to be found no oftner For unlesse it be in this Chapter in the whole New Testament the thing it self reward for good tidings is never mentioned intimated or alluded to How then could the word be used But in this Chapter me thinks I hear it used a second time ver 23. I will only propound it to your consideration and so conclude The matter stands thus S. Paul though he received no reward at the hands of the Corinthians for his pains in making known the glad tidings of salvation unto them but did it gratis to them-ward yet he looked for an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from God stored up in the heavens for all his faithfull Messengers and to be received at the great Day In expectation whereof he not only preached the Gospel to them freely but endured all things and made himself a servant to all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this I doe for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that I might be partaker thereof What 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should it be that Paul here aimed to be partaker of Surely it should seem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here notes some Proemium even by that which immediately follows Know ye not that they which run in a race run all but one receiveth the brabeum So run that ye may obtain I leave it to your better meditations and so conclude FINIS DIATRIBAE OR A continuation of certain DISCOVRSES ON SUNDRY TEXTS OF SCRIPTURE Delivered upon severall occasions BY JOSEPH MEDE B. D. late Fellow of Christs Colledge in CAMBRIDGE Never before published being exactly printed according to the Authors own Manuscripts LONDON Printed by M. F. for JOHN CLARK and are to be sold at his Shop under S. Peters Church in Cornhill MDCXLVIII The Texts newly added LUKE 2. 13 14. AND suddenly there was with the Angel a multitude of the heavenly Host praising God and saying Glory be to God on high or in the highest and on earth peace good-will towards men pag. 241 MATTH 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 264 ACTS 10. 4. And he said unto him Thy prayers and thine Almes are come up for a memoriall before God Or as it is verse 31◠are had in remembrance 285 PSALM 112. 6. The Righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance 311 NEHEM 13. 14 22. Remember me O my God concerning this and wipe not out my good deeds Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that I have done for the house of my God and for the offices thereof And spare me according to the greatnesse of thy mercy 324 MATTH 10. 41. He that receiveth a Prophet in the name of a Prophet shall receive a Prophets reward 356 DEUT. 33. 8. And of Levi he said Let thy Thummim and thy Vrim be with thy Holy One. 350 ACTS 5. 3 4 5. But Peter said Ananias why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost and to purloin of the price of the land Whiles it remained was it not thine own and after it was sold was it not in thy power why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart Thou hast not lied unto men but unto God And Ananias hearing these words fell down and gave up the Ghost c. 379 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 404 GEN. 3. 13 14 15. And the Lord God said unto the woman What is this that thou hast done And the woman said The Serpent beguiled me and I did eat And the Lord God said unto the Serpent Because thou hast done this thou art cursed above all cattell and above every beast of the field upon thy belly shalt thou go and dust shalt thou eat all the days
of thy life And I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed It shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel 414 MALACH 1. 11. For from the rising of the Sun even unto the going down of the same my Name shall be great among the Gentiles and in every place Incense shall be offered unto my Name and a pure offering for my Name shall be great among the Heathen saith the Lord of Hosts 471 Four other Treatises by the same Author formerly Printed viz. 1. The Name ALTAR or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THPION 2. CHURCHES that is Appropriate places for Christian Worship 1 COR. 11. 22. Have ye not Houses to eat and drink in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Or despise ye the CHVRCH of God 31. B. 3. The Reverence of GODS HOVSE ECCLESIASTES 5. 1. Look to thy foot or feet when thou commest to the House of God and be more ready to obey then to offer the sacrifice of fools for they know not that they doe evill 81. B. 4. Daniels WEEKS DAN 9. 24 25 26 27. 24. Seventy Weeks are allotted for thy people and for thy holy City to finish transgression and make an end of sins and to make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousnesse and to fulfill Vision and Prophecy and to anoint the most Holy 140. B. 25. Also know and understand that from the going forth of the Commandement to cause to return and to build Ierusalem unto MESSIAH the PRINCE shall be Sevens of Weeks even threescore and two Weeks the street shall be built again and the Wall even in a strait of Times 146. B. 26. And after threescore and two weeks shall MESSIAH be cut off but not for himself and the people of the Prince that shall come shall destroy the City and the Sanctuary and the end thereof shall be with a floud and unto the end of the Warre Desolations are determined 158. B. 27. And he shall confirm the Covenant with many for one Week and in the midst of the Week he shall cause the Sacrifice and the Oblation to cease and for the overspreading of Abominations he shall make it desolate even untill the consummation and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate 163. B. A CONTINVATION OF CERTAIN DISCOVRSES ON Sundry Texts of SCRIPTURE LUKE 2. 13 14. 13. And suddenly there was with the Angel a multitude of the heavenly Host praising God and saying 14. Glory be to God on high or in the highest and on earth peace good will towards men AT the Creation of the world when God laid the foundations of the earth and stretched out his line thereon the stars in the morning as God himself describes it Iob 38. 7. sang together and all the sons of God that is the holy Angels shouted for joy This in my Text is so like it that a man would think some new Creation were in hand nor were it much wide of truth to affirm it for if ever there were a day wherein the Almighty Power the incomparable Wisdom the wonderfull Goodness of God again the second time appeared as it did at the worlds Creation it was this day whereof S. Luke our Euangelist now treateth when the Son of God took upon him our flesh and was born of a Virgin to repair the breach between God and man and make all things new The news of which restauration was no sooner heard and made known to the Shepheards by an Angel sent from heaven but suddenly the heavenly Host descended from their celestiall mansions and sung this Carol of joy Glory be to God on high welcome peace on earth good-will towards men A Song renowned both for the singularity of the first example for untill this time unlesse it were once in a Propheticall Vision we shall not finde a Song of Angels heard by men in all the Scripture and from the custome of the Church who afterward took it up in her Liturgy and hath continued the singing thereof ever since the days of the Apostles untill these of ours Yet perhaps it is not so commonly understood as usually said or chaunted and therefore will be worth our labour to inquire into the meaning thereof and hear such instructions as may be learned therefrom Which that we may the better do I will consider first the Singers or Chaunters The heavenly Host Secondly the Caroll or Hymne it self Gloria in excelsis Deo Glory be to God on high c. For the first the heavenly host here spoken of is an Army of holy Angels For the Host of Heaven in the language of Scripture is twofold Visible and Invisible The Visible Host are the Stars which stand in their array like an Army Deut. 4. 19. Lest thou lift up thine eies saith the Lord there unto heaven and when thou seest the Sun Moon and Stars even all the Host of heaven shouldst be driven to worship and serve them The Invisible Host are the Angels the heavenly Guard according to that of Micaiah 1 King 22. 19. I saw the Lord sitting upon his Throne and all the Host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left So Psal. 103. Blesse the Lord ye his Angels that excell in strength that do his Commandements Blesse the Lord all ye his Hosts ye ministers of his that do his pleasure Where the latter words do but vary that which is expressed in the former From this it is that the Lord Jehovah the true and only God is so often styled the Lord or God of Sabaoth or of Hosts that is King both of Stars and Angels according to that Nehem. 9. Thou art God alone and the Host of Heaven worshippeth thee By which Title He is distinguished from the Gods of the Nations who were some of the Host to wit of the Stars or Angels but none of them the Lord of Hosts himself For the same reason and with the same meaning and sense in the Books written after the Captivity he is styled Deus coeli the God of heaven as in Ezra Nehemiah Daniel in which Books together with the last of Chronicles the title of Deus Sabaoth is not to be found but the title of Deus Coeli only and as may seem taken up for some reason in stead of the other But to return to what we have in hand It was the Angelicall Host as ye hear who sang this Song of joy and praise unto the most High God And wherefore For any restitution or addition of happinesse to themselves No but for Peace on Earth and Good-will towards men He that was now born took not upon him the Nature of Angels but of men He came not into the world to save Angels but for the salvation of men Nor was the state of Angels to receive advancement in glory by his comming but the state of men and that too in such a sort as might seem to impeach the dignity and dimme the lustre of those
Peace on earth Good will towards men For the conjunction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not to bee taken here for a copulative but as Vau is frequently in the Hebrew for a conjunction causall or for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Glory to God in the highest for that there is Peace on earth Good-will towards men Or if we retain the copulative sense yet we must understand the words following as spoken by way of gratulation Glory be to God on high and welcome peace on earth good-will towards men Or both causally and gratulatorily thus Glory be to God in the highest for ô factum bene there is peace on earth and good-will towards men To begin with the first the Doxology or praise Glory be to God in the Highest that is Let the Angels glorifie him who dwels on high for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to be referred to Glory and not to God the sense being glorified be God by those on high and not God who dwels on high be glorified This may appear by the like expression in the 148. Psalm whence this Glorification seems to be borrowed Praise ye the Lord from the heavens praise him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—ratâ—e ye him all his Angels praise ye him all his Host. Therefore Iunius for Praise ye the Lord from the Heavens hath Laudate cum coelites The Chaldee for Laudate eum in excelsis Laudate eum Angeli excelsi In like manner here Gloria in excelsis â—eo are the words of the Angelicall Quire inciting themselves and all the Host to give glory and praise unto God for these wonderfull tidings Now therefore let us see what this Glory is and how it is given to God To tell you every signification of the word Glory in Scripture might perhaps distract the hearer but would inform him little Nor will it be to purpose to reckon up every signification it hath when it is spoken of God I will therefore name only the two principall ones And first Glory when it is referred to God often signifies the Divine Presence or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in this Chapter a little before my Text when it is said The Glory of the Lord shone round about the Shepheards and they were sore afraid But this is not the signification in my Text but another which I shall now tell you For Glory besides signifies in Scripture the high and glorious Supereminency or Majesty of God which consisteth in his threefold Supremacy of Power of Wisdome and of Goodnesse And as words of eminency and dignity with us as Majesty Highnesse Honour Worship are used for the persons themselves to whom such Dignity belongeth as when we say His Majesty his Highnesse his Honour his Worship so in the Scripture and among the Hebrews His Glory or the Glory of the Lord is used to note the Divine Essence or Deity it self As in 2 Pet. 1. 17. There came a voice saith S. Peter from the excellent Glory that is from God the Father This is my welbeloved Son in whom I am well pleased Rom. 1. The Gentiles are said to have changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likenesse of things corruptible As it is said in the 106. Psal. ver 20. of the Israelites in the Wildernesse That they changed their Glory into the similitude of an Oxe that eateth grasse S. Iohn cap. 1. 14. of his Gospel says of the Son We beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten Son of God According to which sense he is called Heb. 1. The brightnesse of his Fathers glory and the expresse Image of his person where the latter words are an exposition of the former Image expounding brightnesse and person or substance expounding glory If Glory therefore signifie the Divine Majesty or Greatnesse to glorifie or give glory unto God is nothing else but to acknowledge this Majesty or greatnesse of His namely his supereminent Power his Wisdom and Goodnesse for in the peerlesse supereminency of these three under which all his other Attributes are comprehended his glorious Majesty consisteth Take this withall That all the religious service and worship we give unto God whether we praise him pray or give thanks unto him is nothing else but the acknowledging of this glory either in deed or word namely by confessing it or doing some act whereby we acknowledge it To come to particulars By our Faith we confesse his Wisdome and Truth by our thanksgiving his Goodnesse and Mercy when we pray we acknowledge his Power and Dominion and therefore the form of prayer our Saviour taught us concludes For thine is the kingdome power and glory In praise we confesse all these or any of them according to that in the Hymne of the Church Te Deum laudamus Te Dominum confitemur We praise thee O God we acknowledge thee to be the Lord. All which is evident by those forms of glorification set down in the Apocalypse which are nothing else but expresse and particular acknowledgements of the greatnesse or Majesty of God and his peerlesse prerogatives When the four Wights are said to have given glory honour and thanks to him that sate upon the Throne what was their Ditty but this Thou art worthy ô Lord to receive glory and honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created When the Lamb opened the book with 7. Seals the Wights the Elders and every creature in heaven in earth and under the earth sung Worthy is the Lamb to receive power and riches and strength and honour 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 In which we may observe the whole glorification to consist in the acknowledgement of these three soveraign prerogatives of the Divine Majesty his Power his Wisdome his Goodnesse The two first Power and Wisdom are expresse and Riches and Strength belong to Power The third is contained in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Blessing or thanksgiving which is nothing else but the confession of the Divine goodnesse Hence it is that the Septuagint and Vulgar Latine commonly render the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifie to praise and glorifie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 confiteor Confitemini Domino quoniam bonus quoniam in saeculum misericordia ejus Psal. 106. 107. 136. Confitebor tibi Domino in toto corde meo quoniam audisti verba oris mei Psal. 138. Confitemini Domino invocate nomen ejus Psal. 105. and the like And in the 148. Psal. Confessio ejus super coelum terram that is His glory is above the heaven and the earth The Holy Ghost in the New Testament useth the same language Luc. 11. 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes where we have I thank thee ô Father Beza and Erasmus read
neglect of such duties of piety and charity which amongst our Fore-fathers were frequent as also our open profession when being exhorted to these works of piety to God and of charity towards our brethren we stick not to alledge we are not bound unto them because we look not to be saved by the merit of works as they but by faith in Christ alone as though faith in Christ excluded works and not rather included them as being that whereby they became acceptable unto God which of themselves they are not or as if works could no way conduce unto the attaining of salvation but by way of merit and desert and not by way of the grace and favour of God in Christ as we shall see in the handling of this Text. We greatly now a days and that most dangerously mistake the errour of our forefathers which was not in that they did good works I would we did so but because they knew not rightly the end why they did them nor where the value of them lay they thought the end of doing them was to obtain eternall life as a reward of Justice due unto them whereas it is onely of grace and promise in Christ Jesus They took their works to have such perfectness in them as would endure the touchstone of the Law of God yea such worth and value as to merit the reward they looked for whereas all the value and acceptablenesse of our works issueth from the merit of Christ and lieth onely in his righteousnesse communicated unto us and them by faith and no otherwise But setting aside these errours of the end and of the value of works we must know as well as they That not every one that saith unto Christ Lord Lord c. but he that doth the will of his Father c. Now for the Explication of the words To call Christ Lord is to beleeve in him to acknowledge him to look for salvation by him or as the Scripture expresseth it Luke 6. to come unto him every one saith our Saviour there explaining this very Text we have in hand Every one saith he that commeth unto me and heareth my words and doth them I will shew you who he is like where to come unto Christ is put in stead of that which in the former was to say unto him Lord. The doing of his Fathers will is the doing of those works of obedience which his Father hath commanded in his Law and now committed to his Son whom he hath made the head and King of his Church to see executed and performed by those he bringeth to salvation But how and in what manner we shall see by and by The Text consists of two parts The one negative Not every one that saith unto Christ Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdome of heaven The other affirmative But those who doe the will of his Father shall onely enter thither But these are so nearly linked together that they cannot be handled asunder And the observations which I shall draw thence depend on the whole Text the first and chiefest whereof is this That faith in Christ without works of obedience and amendment of life is not sufficient for salvation and consequently not that faith whereby a Christian is justified For if it were it would save us If it be not sufficient to save us it cannot justifie us This floweth directly from the Text and cannot be denied if ye remember what I said before that to call Christ Lord is to beleeve in him For the better understanding of this you must take notice that there is a threefold faith whereby men beleeve in Christ There is a false faith There is a true faith but not saving and thirdly there is a saving faith A false faith is to beleeve to attain salvation through Christ any other way then he hath ordained as namely to beleeve to attain salvation through him without works of obedience to be accepted of God in him which is a faith whereof there is no Gospel A true faith is to beleeve salvation is to be attained through obedience to God in Jesus Christ who by his merits and righteousnesse makes our selves and our works acceptable to his Father A saving and justifying faith is to beleeve this so as to embrace and lay hold upon Christ for that end To believe to attain salvation through obedience to God in Christ so as to apply our selves and rely upon Christ for that end namely to perform those works of obedience which God hath promised to reward with eternall life For a justifying faith stayeth not onely in the brain but stirs up the will to receive and enjoy the good beleeved according as it is promised This motion of election of the will is that which maketh the difference between a saving faith which joyneth us unto Christ and that which is true indeed but not saving but dogmaticall and opinionative onely And this motion or applying of the will to Christ this embracing of Christ and the promises of the Gospel through him is that which the Scripture when it speaks of this faith calleth comming unto Christ or the receiving of him Joh. 1. 12. As many as received him to them he gave power or priviledge to be the sons of God even to them that beleeve on his Name where receiving and beleeving one expound another So for comming Come unto me saith our Saviour all ye that are heavy laden and I will ease you The last is very frequent Iohn 5. 40. Ye will not come to me saith our Saviour that ye might have life And Chap. 6. 37. All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me ver 44. No man can come unto me unlesse the Father draw him 45. Every man that hath heard and learned of the Father commeth unto me and such like All which expresse the specification of a saving faith which consists in the embracing receiving and applying of the will to the thing beleeved What this embracing receiving or applying unto Christ is I will farther make plain thus He that beleeveth that Christ is an atonement to God for the sins of all repentant sinners and surely he is an atonement for none else must repent and turn from all his sinnes that so Christ may be an atonement for him else he embraceth not what he beleeveth He that beleeves that God in Christ will accept and reward our obedience and works of piety though short of perfection and of no worth in themselves must apply himself accordingly to doe works of Religion and Charity that God in Christ may accept and reward them For our beleef is not that saving beleef untill we apply our selves to what we beleeve To beleeve to attain salvation through Christ without works of obedience to be accepted in him is as I have already said a false faith whereof there is no Gospel no promise To beleeve the contrary that Christ is given of God to such only as shall receive him to perform acceptable obedience to God
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
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
prayer for the house of Onesiphorus for like good service done to the Offices of Gods House The Lord saith he grant unto him that he may finde mercy of the Lord in that day that is the day of Judgement which is Tempus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when every one shall receive according to his work The controversie therefore between the Romanists and us is not whether there be a reward promised unto our works we know the Scripture both of the Old and New Testament is full of testimonies that way and encourageth us to work in hope of the reward laid up for us We know that in keeping of Gods Commandements there is great reward Psa. 19. 11. And that unto him that soweth in righteousnesse shall be a sure reward Prov. 11. 18. We know our Saviour saith Mat. 5. 12. Blessed are ye when men revile and persecute you for great is your reward in heaven Also that he that receiveth a Prophet in the name of a Prophet shall receive a Prophets reward And whosoever shall give a cup of gold water only to one of his little ones in the name of a Disciple shall not lose his reward Mat. 10. Again we read Luk. 6. 35. Love your enemies Do good and lend and your reward shall be great and ye shall be the children of the Highest we know also what S. Iohn saith 2 Ep. v. 8. Look to your selves that ye lose not those things which ye have wrought but that ye may receive a full reward But the Question is Whence this Reward commeth whether from the worth or worthinesse of the work as a debt of Justice due thereto or from Gods mercy as a recompence freely bestowed out of Gods gracious bounty and not in justice due to the worth of the work it self Which Question me thinks Nehemiah here in my Text may determine when he saith Remember me ô Lord for my good deeds according to thy great mercy And the Prophet Hosea Chap. 10. 12. when he biddeth us Sow to our selves in righteousnesse and reap in mercy And S. Paul Rom. 6. 23. where though he saith that the wages of sin is death yet when he comes to eternall life he changeth his style But saith he eternall life is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the gracious gift of God through Iesus Christ. For as for our works they are imperfect and whatsoever they were we owed them to him in whom we live and have our being whether there were any reward or not promised for them Neither do we hereby any whit detract from that Axiome That God rewardeth every man according to his work For still the question remaineth the very same Whether there may not be as wel merces gratiae as merces justitiae that is Whether God may not judge a man according to his works when he sits upon the Throne of Grace as well as when he sits upon his Throne of Justice And we think here that the Prophet David hath fully cleared the case in that one sentence Psa. 62. 12. With thee ô Lord is mercy for thou rewardest every one according to his work Nay more then this we deny not but in some sense this reward may be said to proceed of Justice For howsoever originally and in it self we hold it commeth from Gods free bounty and mercy who might have required the work of us without all promise of reward for as I said we are his creatures and owe our being unto him yet in regard he hath covenanted with us and tied himself by his word and promise to conferte such a reward the reward now in a sort proveth to be an Act of Justice namely of Iustitia promissi on Gods part not of merit on ours Even as in forgiving our sins which in it self all men know to be an Act of Mercy he is said to be Faithfull and Iust 1 Ioh. 1. 9. namely of the faithfull performance of his promise for promise we know once made amongst honest men is accounted a due debt But this argues no more any worthinesse of equality in the work towards the obtaining of the reward then if a promise of a Kingdome were made to one if he should take up a straw it would follow thence that the lifting up of a straw were a labour of a work worth a Kingdome howsoever he that should so promise were bound to give it Thus was Moses carefull to put the children of Israel in minde touching the Land of Canaan which was a type of our eternall habitation in heaven that it was a Land of promise and not of merit which God gave them to possesse not for their righteousnesse or for their upright heart but that he might perform the word which he sware unto their Fathers Abraham Isant and Iaacob Whereupon the Levites in this book of Nehemiah say in their prayer to God Thou madest a Covenant with Abraham to give to his seed the Land of the Canaanites and hast performed thy word because thou art just that is true and faithfull in keeping thy promise Now because the Lord hath made a like promise of the Crown of life to them that love him S. Paul sticks not in like manner to attribute this also to Gods Justice Henceforth saith he 2 Tim. 4. 8. is laid up for me a crown of righteousnesse which the righteous Iudge shall give me at that day and not to me only but to all them that love his appearing Upon which S. Bernard most sweetly as he is wont Est ergo quam Paulus expectat corona Iustitiae sed justitiae Dei non suae Iustum quippe est ut reddat quod debet debet autem quod pollicitus est Lastly for the word merit It is not the name we so much scruple at as the thing wont now adays to be understood thereby otherwise we confesse the name might be admitted if taken in the large and more generall sense for any work having relation to a reward to follow it or whereby a reward is quocunque modo obtained In a word as the correlatum indifferent either to merces gratiae or justitiae For thus the Fathers used it and so might we have done still if some of us had not grown too proud and mistook it since we think it better and safer to disuse it even as Physitians are wont to prescribe their Patients recovered of some desperate disease not to use any more that meat or diet which they finde to have caused it And here give me leave to acquaint you with an Observation of a like alteration of speech and I suppose for the self-same cause happening under the old Testament namely of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 changed into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Righteousnesse into that which findeth mercy for so the Septuagint and the new Testament with them render the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iustitia not only when it is taken for beneficience or alms as in that Tongue it is the ordinary word in which use we are wont
to blesse all the rest and the worthiest of all because by it the party blessed is enabled to blesse the rest of his Brethren 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Always that by which another is that thing it self is more then the other In the words themselves we will consider first the subject blessed and then the quality of the blessing it self The subject blessed is expressed both by name and by description by name Levi by description Gods Holy One. The blessing it self is contained in words few in substance plentifull Vrim and Thummim nay more then so Thy Thummim and Thy Vrim that we might know whence this blessing comes how that it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a divine thing the gift of God who is the Author and giver of all good things And of Levi he said Let thy Thummim c. To begin first with the Subject Levi What Levi was is so well known that it were needlesse to say much to make it better known Only this that Levi was the Tribe which God had especially bequeathed to himself and set apart for the Ministery of the Altar Concerning whose name though observations drawn from names are like an house raised upon the sand yet because of old and among the Patriarchs Names were given by the Spirit of Prophecy it will not be altogether unworthy our speculation to remember the reason why this Name Levi was imposed which we shall see as truly verified in that Function to which God did advance his posterity as it was by his Mother fitly given to himself upon the good hope she conceived at his birth For Levi signifies a Conjoyner an Uniter or maker of union for thus said Leah when she bare him Now at this time will my husband be joyned to me because I have born a third son And she called his name Levi. She called him Levi but for ought we reade in regard of her self she found him no Levi as she hoped but she prophecied of that sacred office whereby all the sons of Levi became conjoyners became makers of union not between Iacob and Leah but between God and Man between Christ and his Spouse between the spirituall Iacob and his deformed Leah For as truly as ever Leah spake might the Church then and may the Church now affirm when she hath born these sons unto her husband Now I know my heavenly husband my Lord my God will be joyned to me because I have born him these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these sons of Union these Ministers of reconciliation Plato could say a Priest was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A friend-maker between God and men Nay his whole office is nothing but the service of peace and that not only between God and man but between man and his brother for how can he love God who loves not his brother or how can he be at peace with God who is at variance with his brother Needs must he therefore that is Minister of the one be Minister of the other also and he that is so nay he alone that is so is a right Levite and a true son of Union How unworthy then of this holy name how unworthy to succeed in the holy Order of Levi are those who are Ministers of division who by their lives doctrine example or any other way divide God and his Church and the Church within it self who neither have peace with God themselves nor will suffer others to have it who neither agree themselves with others nor suffer others to agree among themselves Beati pacifici Blessed are the peace-makers especially in the sons of Peace This Christ prayed for in his Apostles Ioh. 17. saying Holy Father keep them through thy name that they may be one as we are one Christ is so one that he makes all one who are one in him so should every son of Levi be one In summe the Ministers of God are called Angels and therefore should sing a song like unto that song of Angels Glory be to God on high peace on earth and good will amongst men That Church which hath such a Levite such a Minister such a son of Union may truly take up the words of Micah Iudg. 17. and say Now I know the Lord will do me good seeing I have a Levite to my Priest And thus much of the name Levi Now I come unto the Tribe it self concerning which there may be two things asked First why God did confine the Priesthood to one Tribe alone and not suffer it to be common to all as it was before the Law and is now since the Law Secondly why Levi was chosen to this holy Function rather then any other Tribe To the first why God did limit this holy Function to one Tribe only some of the Jews make this answer That one of the sons of Israel with his whole posterity was due unto God by virtue of Jacobs vow Gen. 28. which was that if God would be with him in his journey and bring him back again unto his Fathers house of all that thou shalt give me saith he I will give the tenth unto thee Now because God gave children as well as beeves and sheep therefore they also must fall within compasse of his Vow And that there might be no difficulty about tithing the odde children because there were more then ten they devise this way to make all even for first say they the full number of Iacobs children was fourteen because that Iosephs two sons Ephraim and Manasseh go in the number of Iacobs sons for Iacob Gen. 48. said unto Ioseph Thy two sons which are born unto thee in the land of AEgypt before I came into AEgypt shall be mine as Reuben and Simeon are mine but thy lineage which thou begettest after them shall be thine Now of these fourteen four were the Lords by his right unto the first-born for so many there were which first opened the womb of their four Mothers Rahel and Leah Bilhah and Zilpah Iacobs two Wives and his two Concubines Now of the remainder being ten one fals to Gods share for Tithe as being comprized within their Fathers Vow This reason though it be as you see handsomely framed yet hath no great likelihood because men use not to be tithed and therefore this extent of the Vow is beyond the intent of the Vower And whereas they urge the words of all that thou shalt give me they seem to forget that God gave unto Iacob besides his sons great store of man-servants and maid-servants and yet we reade not that any of these were dedicate unto God or that he challenged any of their posterity The only or chief cause if I am not deceived why God restrained the Priestly Function to one Tribe was for a sign and band of restraint of his Church to one people For as the Church cannot be without the sacred Function of holy Ministery so likewise the condition thereof must follow the condition of the Ministery As long
Vrim and Thummim were something made by the hand of the craftsman But Nehemanides and R. Shelomo say it was opus divinum and given to Moses in the Mount or at least that God shewed him how to make it Some think it was nothing but the stones in the brest-plate by the shining whereof God did annuere by the not shining abnuere But Kimchi confutes this because it is spoken of as a differing thing in the same place where the stones are described But he himself says it is not certainly known what it was Nehemanides saith it was certain sacred names by the virtue whereof the letters of the brest-plate were enlightned and ordered so that the Priest might read the answer of God and that which caused shining was called Vrim that which made them legible Thummim The summe of these Opinions laid together is That this Oracle was either the stones of the brest-plate themselves or something in the folding of the brest-plate which by a divine virtue did cause the stones to shine and by the letters of the Tribes names in them as it were to expresse the answer of God For concerning the manner of this Oracle the Talmudists report thus much First no private man might consult with Vrim and Thummim but either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he that was King or chief of the Consistory or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Consistory or Judges themselves and that in matters difficult and of great importance Secondly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he that enquired must stand with his face looking full upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Priest whom he asked and the Priest stood with his eyes fixed upon his brest where was the Vrim and Thummim Thirdly the voice was to be a soft still voice and not above one thing to be asked at one time But if they asked two things at once the answer was only unto the first but in case of extremity unto both and such was Davids case 1 Sam. 30. when he asked concerning the Amalekites who had burnt Ziklag Shall I follow this company saith he and shall I overtake them The Lord answers Follow for thou shalt surely overtake them and recover all Now if you ask how the Priest knew the answer of the Lord First you must remember there were twelve stones in the brest-plate and in those stones the twelve names of the sons of Israel either set or carved and that there might be a full Alphabet of letters there was also say they written upon the brest-plate Abraham Isaac and Iacob and these two words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Tribes of Israel or Jeshurun Now when the Lord answered the letters expressing the answer by the divine virtue of the Vrim and Thummim became 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. prominentes that is shewed forth themselves with a splendor that the Priest might read the answer of God As 2 Sam. 2. when David asked the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shall I ascend into any of the Cities of Iudah the letter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Shimeon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Levi and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Iehudah put themselves forth or shone forth with a splendor that the Priest might read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ascend Though some of the Jews say the letters became 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is joyned themselves together and made a word which as I cannot conceive how it should be so I think it lesse probable And thus hitherto have you heard the divers opinions of the matter and manner of this Oracle of Vrim and Thummim Here is variety enough I leave to every one to make his own choice which he will beleeve only give me leave to adde thus much in way of censure of them which is that all seem against reason and likelihood to confound Vrim with Thummim in making them one and the same thing called by divers names in regard of divers effects and uses which I can the lesse beleeve because I finde Vrim alone used in matter of consultation with God whereby it seems Thummim had some other use In the 27. of Numb Moses commands Ioshuah in all businesse to consult the High Priest by the judgement of Vrim before the Lord but no speech of Thummim Again 1 Sam. 28. it is said that Saul asked counsell of the Lord when he was to go against the Philistims but the Lord answered him not neither by dreams nor by Vrim nor by the Prophets Here also is Vrim spoken of but no word of Thummim If I may therefore speak what I think I would say that Vrim and Thummim were a twofold Oracle and for a twofold use And that Vrim was the Oracle or part of the Oracle whereby God gave answer to those who enquired of him in hard and doubtfull cases therefore called Vrim or lights because as ignorance is called darknesse so is all knowledge a kinde of illumination or enlightening and that which bringeth knowledg is fitly called a light because it dispels the darknesse of our minds But Thummim was that Oracle or mean whereby the High Priest knew whether God did accept the Sacrifice or no therefore called Thummim that is Integrity because those whose Sacrifice God accepted were accounted Thummim that is just and righteous in the eyes of God because their Sacrifice was a shadow of Christs Sacrifice by acceptation whereof we are justified and made righteous before God For without doubt the Patriarchs and legall Church had some ordinary mean to know when their Sacrifice was accepted else had they been behinde the Gentiles for they had a sign to know when they did Litare that is when their false Gods accepted their false sacrifice and as the Devil was Gods Ape in giving Oracles so I verily beleeve he was in this also Nay Iosephus expresly affirms it of the Jews though for the particular I suppose he is mistaken For he saith that whensoever God did accept the Sacrifice the Onyx stone on the Priests left shoulder shone with an admirable splendor but this saith he ceased certain hundred years before his time and no wonder for when the Sun of righteousnesse drew near unto his rising those dimmer Vrim and smaller stars must needs lose their light Now that which Iosephus affirms of the Onyx stone on the left shoulder I suppose was mistaken for the Thummim on the left part of the brest-plate And lastly as I said before of Vrim so I think of Thummim that it was in use among the Patriarchs of old and that by some such means as this Abel knew that God accepted his Offering and Cain that his was refused And thus much of Vrim and Thummim considered personally in the High Priest now I come to consider it typically for as the High Priest himself was a type of Christ so must these Adjuncts of his also be types of something in Christ which we shall not be long a finding out if we remember again the signification of the words and
the use of the things themselves Vrim is Light and Illumination Thummim Integrity and Perfection By Vrim the Jews were ascertained of the counsell and will of God By Thummim of his favour and good will towards them All this agrees to Christ both in himself and in regard of us In himself his brest is full of Vrim full of Light and Understanding in him dwell all the treasures of Wisdome and Knowledge as S. Paul saith He is the Wisdome of the Father by which the world it self was made His heart is also endowed with Thummim with all kind of Perfections He was conceived without Originall sin lived without Actuall sin fulfilled the whole Law of God which is the Law of Thummim the Law of all Perfection Thus to Christ himself agrees both Vrim and Thummim and so it doth also in regard of us for he is an Vrim and Thummim both to us and for us To us he is Vrim a light which enlightneth every one which commeth unto the world He is the light which shone in darknesse but the darknesse could not comprehend it He was that light by which the people as it is said in Matthew 4. which sate in darknesse saw great light And of this Light Iohn came to bear witnesse that all might beleeve in him Ioh. 1. In summe Christ is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Patris the Word and Oracle of his Father by whom we know and learn the Fathers will for so S. Iohn saith cap. 1. No man hath seen God at any time but the Son who is in the bosome of the Father he hath revealed him unto us Neither is Christ only an Vrim but also a Thummim to us For as by Thummim the Jews were ascertained of Gods favour toward them in accepting their Sacrifice so by Christ comming in the flesh is revealed the unspeakable mercy of God to mankind in that he would accept his Sacrifice once offered for the expiation of the sins of the whole world This is that Good-will toward men which the Angels sung of assoon as he was born Glory be to God on high peace on earth and good-will towards men Yea glory be to God on high for this peace on earth and for this good will towards men Thus we see Christ an Vrim and Thummim to us now let us see how he is the same for us and that is when his wisdome and righteousnesse is made ours by imputation So his Vrim becomes our Vrim his Thummim our Thummim that is his wisdome is made ours his righteousnesse and favour with God made ours for this is my welbeloved Son said a voice from heaven in whom I am well pleased In brief S. Paul comprehends both these together where he saith Christ Iesus is made unto us Wisdome Sanctification and Redemption And so Lord let thy Vrim and thy Thummim be with thy holy one And thus much for the speciall consideration of this Vrim and Thummim both personally and typically Now I come unto the generall meaning thereof as it concerns not the High Priest only but the whole Tribe of Levi for this is the blessing of that whole Tribe And in this large respect the meaning cannot be proper for so it belongs unto the High Priest to have Vrim and Thummim nor typicall because the Priests only and not the under Levites were types of Christ but the sense must be analogicall signifying some endowments common to all Levites which resemble the Vrim and Thummim upon the brest of the High Priest Now what these are the words themselves import namely Light of understanding knowledge this is their Vrim and Integrity of life this is their Thummim The first makes them Doctores the second Ductores populi He that wants either of these two wants the true ornament of Priesthood the right character of a Levit. For though these endowments may well beseem all the Tribes of Israel yet Moses specially prays for them in Levi because by him they were to come to all the rest and the want of them in him could not but redound to all the rest It a populus sicut sacerdos the Priest cannot erre but he causeth others to erre also the Priest cannot sin but he causeth others to sin also And this is it that Malachi saith from the Lord unto the Priests of his time Ye are gone out of the way and have caused many to fall by the Law But the Levites of old saith the same Prophet The Law of Truth was in their mouth and iniquity was not found in their lips they walked with God in peace and equity and turned many from iniquity Here you see when the Levites erre the people erre also when the Levites walk in equity the people are turned from iniquity The Ministers of Christ must be Lux mundi the light of the world Vos estis lux mundi ye are the light of the world ye are the worlds Vrim saith Christ unto his Apostles for the lips of the Priest should preserve knowledge and they should learn the Law at hâ—s mouth This light of knowledge this teaching knowledge is the Vrim of every Levite and therefore Christ when he inspired his Apostles with knowledge of heavenly mysteries he sent a new Vrim from above even fiery tongues tongues of Vrim from heaven He sent no fiery heads but fiery tongues for it is not sufficient for a Levite to have his head full of Vrim unlesse his tongue be a candle to shew it unto others There came indeed no Thummim from heaven as there came an Vrim for though the Apostles were secured from errors they were not freed from sin And yet we who are Levites must have such a Thummim as may be gotten upon earth for S. Paul bid Titus in all things to shew himself an example of good works and this is a Thummim of Integrity But besides this Thummim the Ministers of the Gospel have received from God more especially another Thummim like unto that which was proper to the High Priest namely the power of binding and loosing which is as it were a power of Oracle to declare unto the people the remission of their sins by the acceptance of Christs Sacrifice And this directly answers to Thummim in the first sense ACTS 5. 3 4 5. 3. But Peter said Ananias Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the holy Ghost and to purloin of the price of the Land 4. Whiles it remained was it not thine own and after it was sold was it not in thy power why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart Thou hast not lied unto men but unto God 5. And Ananias hearing these words fell down and gave up c. IN the 110. Psalm where our Saviour is Prophetically described in the person of a King advanced to the Throne of Divine Majesty glorious and victorious The Lord said unto my Lord Sit thou on my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool
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
keeping a distance as it is said also of the Publicane in the Gospel that when he came into the Temple or Courts thereof to pray he stood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 afarre off saying God be mercifull to me a sinner For ye are to know that the great or brasen Altar called the Altar of burnt-offering whereon the sacrifices were offered stood not within or under the roof of the Temple but sub dio over against the door or Porch thereof in the middle of the Priests Court For at the entrance into the Temple or House of God Solomon built a large vestibulum or Porch on each side whereof stood those two famous Pillars of brasse the one called Iachin and the other Boaz Between this Porch and the great brazen Altar which stood without it the Priests the Ministers of the Lord are here commanded to weep and say Spare thy people ô Lord and give not thine heritage to Reproach This Rite of humiliation we finde mentioned in two other places of the Book of Scripture As first in that humiliation of Ezra for the peoples marrying of strange wives Ezra 9. Chap. 10. 1. where having rent his garment and mantle he cast himself down saith the Text before the House of the Lord viz. before the door or Porch thereof weeping and confessing and said Lord I am ashamed to lift up my face to thee my God for our iniquities are encreased over our head and our trespasse is grown up unto the heavens Another mention we have thereof in 1 Mac. 7. 38. when Nicanor proudly threatned that unlesse Iudas Maccabeus and his host were delivered into his hand if ever he returned in safety he would burn up the House of God Then the Priests saith the Text entred in namely into the Courts of Gods House and stood between the Altar and the Temple weeping and praying Which passage the Greek Interpreter of that Book did not well understand when he rendred it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before the Altar and the Temple For Ioseph Ben Gorion hath expresly in the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very words of Ioel in my Text between the Porch and the Altar A like custome whereunto and as is probable taken up in imitation thereof is that of ours To read the Letany or our Parce Domine parce populo tuo kneeling at a low desk in the body of the Church before the Chancell door as was ordered by the first Injunctions of our Reformation when Procession was taken away or at the bottome of the steps or ascent unto the Altar as is used in the Cathedrall and Collegiate Churches And this may suffice for explication of the Rite which the Prophet here describeth Now the Lesson we are to learn from hence is That the nature of a right and religious Fast consists in an humble demission and abjection of our selves before Almighty God out of the apprehension of the greatnesse of his Majesty and our unworthinesse to finde any favour at his hands whom we have so much provoked by our sins For this to have been the meaning of that Ceremony besides the naturall signification of the deportment it self appeareth by the Exordium I but now quoted of Ezra's confession when he thus cast himself down before the Porch of the House of the Lord weeping Lord I am ashamed saith he and blush to lift up my face to thee my God For our iniquities are increased over our head and our trespasse is grown up to the heavens Besides thus to humble and bring us down is the end why God sendeth his judgements of Plague Famine or the like for the aversion whereof these solemne supplications and assemblies are ordained And therefore rightly at the beginning of our publique worship of God are we admonished to be humble by some of the first words we are to utter O come let us humble our selves and fall down before the Lord with reverence and fear Hence fasting and humbling a mans self go in Scripture for equipollent terms My cloathing was sackcloth saith David Psal. 35. 13. I humbled my self with fasting So Ahab humbled himself and thereby deferred his judgement 1 King 21. 29. Hezekiah humbled himself both he and all the Inhabitants of Jerusalem 2 Chron. 32. 26. Manasseh is said likewise to have besought the Lord and humbled himself greatly before the God of his Fathers 2 Chr. 33. No disposition fit so and apt for devotion as humility no more powerfull means to prevail with God and appease his wrath then this abjection of our selves Satis est prostrasse Leoni Let me with reverence apply it unto the Majesty of God For all Eminency is worshipped with humility reverence and submission that is as we are wont and rightly to speak by keeping a distance Therefore the soveraign or supreme Excellency of God must be adored with the lowest demission and greatest stoop the soul can make We finde by experience that that disposition of the eye which fitteth us to behold the visible Sun maketh a man blinde when he looketh down upon himself So here the apprehension of the transcendent excellency of God ten thousand times brighter then the Sun if truly admitted into our hearts will darken all our overweening conceit of any worthinesse in our selves The greater we would apprehend his power the more sensible must we be of our own weaknesse The greater we acknowledge his goodnesse the lesse goodnesse must we see in our selves The more we would apprehend his wisedome the lesse we are to be puffed up with our own knowledge As in a pair of skales the higher we would raise one skale the lower we pull down the other so the higher we raise God in our hearts the lower we must depresse our selves Hence we find the humblest natures and the most humbled condition to be the fittest for devotion I say the humblest natures are the most pliable and aptest to Religion whereas those which the world is wont to commend for brave spirits of all others buckle the worst thereto But let the world fancy what it will God seeth not as man seeth It is not the tallest Eliab but the humblest David who is the man after Gods own heart He that humbleth himself as a little childe the same is the tallest and goodliest soul for the Kingdome of God The Stars in the Firmament howsoever they here seem small to us yet are bigger then the earth so he that is despicable and small here in the eyes of men is there a great one in the eyes of God Let those therefore that think all worth resides in a lofty and brave spirit remember that the Devil was a braver fellow then any of them all and that his high and lofty spirit was the cause of his downfall and Apostasie from his Creator and so of that damnation to everlasting fire prepared for him and his Angels And as the humblest nature so the humblest or most humbled state and condition is the fittest also for
despising of others be cropped and withered and these I can tell you will quite spoil a garden where many good flowers grow If after this manner we be affected then are we humbled If not we are not sufficiently taken down all our service is hypocrisie nor will our devotions be accepted of that all-seeing Majesty who resisteth the proud but giveth grace to the humble GEN. 3. 13 14 15. 13. And the Lord God said unto the woman What is this that thou hast done And the woman said The Serpent beguiled me and I did eat 14. And the Lord God said unto the Serpent Because thou hast done this thou art cursed above all cattell and above every beast of the field upon thy belly shalt thou go and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life 15. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel THE Story whereof the words I have read are part is so well known to all that it would be needless to spend time in any long preface thereof Who knows not the story of Adams fall who hath not heard of the sin of Eve our Mother If there were no Scripture yet the unsampled irregularity of our whole nature which all the time of our life runs counter to all order and right reason the wofull misery of our condition being a scene of sorrow without any rest or contentment This might breed some generall suspition that Ab initio non fuit ita but that he who made us Lords of his creatures made us not so worthlesse and vile as now we are but that some common Father to us all had drunken some strange and devillish poyson wherewith the whole race is infected This poyson saith the Scripture was the breach of Gods commandement in Paradise by eating of the forbidden fruit for which Adam being called to an account by the great Judge and laying the fault upon the woman which God had given him for an helper God vouchsafes as ye hear in my Text to examine the Woman saying What is this that thou hast done And she answers The Serpent beguiled me and I did eat These words contain in them two parts First Gods Inquisition accusing Secondly the womans Confession excusing her fact The first in the first words And the Lord said unto the woman c. The second in the last words And the woman said The Serpent c. For the first words which God speaks being considered absolutely are an indictment for some crime as they are interrogative they are an inquisition concerning the same and therefore I call them an Inquisition accusing So the second are a Confession as the woman says I have eaten but with an excuse when she says The Serpent beguiled me and therefore I call them a Confession excusing In the Inquisition are two things to be considered First the Author and Person who makes it which is the Lord God himself So saith my Text And the Lord God said unto the woman Secondly the Inquisition it self What is this that thou hast done In the Person who comes and makes this Inquest being the Lord God himself we may observe and behold his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his wonderfull goodnesse and unspeakable love to mankinde which here reveals it self in four most remarkable circumstances First in his forbearance And the Lord said When said the Lord namely not till Adam had accused her she who was first in the sin was last questioned for the same and that too because her husband had appealed her God knew and observed well enough the first degree and every progresse of her sin he needed no information from another yet as though he were loth to take notice thereof as though he were loth to finde her guilty yea as though he were loth to denounce the punishment which his Justice required he comes not against her untill now and that as though he were unwilling to come at all If we look back into the story we shall yet finde a further confirmation thereof How long did God hold his hand before he stripped the woman especially of that glorious beauty of her integrity and made her with opened eies to see her shamefull nakednesse She had at the first onset of her conference with the Serpent sinned a sin of unbeleef of God and yet God spared her In the progresse she sinned more in her proud ambition of being like to God himself and to be wise above what was given her and God yet spared her She sinned when she coveted and longed once to eat of the forbidden fruit when it began to seem more pleasing and desirable unto her then obedience to Gods Commandement and God yet spared her At last she takes and eats thereof and so came to the heighth and consummation of her sin and yet behold and see the clemency and longanimity of our good God he paused yet a while untill she had given unto her husband also and then and not till then he opened their eyes to see their wofull misery A lesson first to us men if so be we think the example of God worthy our imitation to bear long with our brother as God bears with us to admonish him as it is in the Gospel the first second and third time before we use him like an Heathen or a Publican to forgive him seven times yea as Christ says to Peter if he repent and ask forgivenesse seventy times seven times Secondly this may be a cordiall of spirituall comfort unto us sinners though we make a shift to keep our selves from the execution of sin yet we finde our hearts full of sinfull thoughts ungodly desires and unclean lusts and such like sinfull motions from the infirmity of our flesh which notwithstanding we cannot ever expell or be rid of yet let us hope that God out of his mercy will bear with our weaknesse and passe by our infirmities who bore with the sin of our first Parents untill it came to execution The second circumstance is the temper of his Justice in that he vouchsafes first to enquire of the offence and examine the fact before he gives sentence or proceeds to execution The like example we have Gen. 11. where it is said The Lord came down to see the City and Tower which the children of men had builded afore he would confound their language or scatter them abroad from that ambitious Babel upon the face of the earth Again Gen. 18. the Lord says I will go down and see whether they of Sodâ—me have done altogether according to the cry of it which is come unto me and if not I will know He from whom no secrets are hid he that formed the heart of man and knows all the works we do he that trieth and searcheth the heart and reins even he will first examine the fact will first hear what miserable man can say for himself before his sentence shall
passe upon him not out of ignorance of what was done for how should the omniscient God be ignorant but out of his wonderfull clemency and unspeakable moderation towards man I say towards man for to him alone he shews this favour for as for the Serpent we see he vouchsafes not to ask him one question nor to expect what he could say for himself but presently without examination proceeds to judgement against him Doth the great God the Almighty Creator of heaven and earth deal with so unspeakable a temper with his creature and is vile man a base earth-worm so austere unto his brother It was the heighth of Eves whole ambition to be like unto God but her off-springs ambition is to be most unlike unto him He glories in mercy and clemency we in rage and rash austerity He hears his creature speak before he condemns him we condemn our brother before we hear him speak Be wise and learned ye Judges of the earth let this great example of God be the pattern of your imitation yea let no private man condemne another rashly untill he hath heard what he may say for himself as God himself here vouchsafed to go before us The third circumstance is Gods condescent unto man in that he sends neither Angels nor Ministers to examine our first Parents and to make inquisition of their offence but he comes himself in person to take notice thereof When men are offended especially great men they will not deign to look upon or to admit into their presence those that have offended them How great therefore is this indulgence of Almighty God who deigns here his presence to our most wretched and most naked Parents who had so grievously sinned against him How happily graced would a poor offender think himself if he might be admitted to the presence of his Prince there to say what he could either for his defence or excuse or else to sue for mercy and move compassion By how much therefore God is greater then the greatest Monarch of the world even as much as they are greater then nothing so much is this indulgence of God here expressed in my Text to Eve as before to her husband surpassing all the favour and condescent of men who sent not for man but came himself unto him yea who vouchsafed then to seek them out when they ran away from him Now all this is spoken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after the fashion of men and therefore not so much to expresse what God himself did as what men ought to do Let it be a lesson therefore to those who are set over others not to be too hard of accesse to such as are obnoxious unto them If God himself vouchsafed so far unto his creature so wretched much more should man unto his brother The fourth circumstance is the manner of his speech to Eve in that he that was the Lord God should so mildly speak unto her What is this thou hast done The Lord God said it saith my Text but who would not think it rather the speech of a familiar and condoling friend then of so great a Judge so greatly offended here is no word of asperity but of lenity no menacing no upbraiding terms but only What is this thou hast done And should not we learn hence not to insult over such whose offences make them liable either to us or others should we upbraid rail triumph and vomit our impotency upon them certainly we seem not to remember what a gentle and commiserating Judge God is or that our selves are men and have to deal with humane frailty and mans miserable condition which we ought to behold with pity and not handle with bitternesse THE next thing is the inquisition it self What is this thou hast done Some reade Why hast thou done this expounding 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But Eves answer following where she saith I have eaten plainly argues the question was what she had done and not why she had done it And therefore I take the words as our Translation hath them and understand this manner of asking by God to be a scheme of admiration and to imply an exaggeration of the womans sin as if he had said O what an horrible sin is this thou hast committed How grievously hast thou transgressed O what hast thou done And therefore God enquiring of her sin with exaggeration she makes answer with diminution Indeed she had offended because she had eaten but yet the offence was the lesse for the Serpent had deceived her This then being the meaning of the words let us behold in them the greatnesse of the sin of our first Parents which made the Lord God himself to say What is this thou hast done The greatnesse of this sin I will first consider as it concerns them both in generall and then as in particular The greatnesse of the sin in generall appears in these four considerations First it was a transgression of such a Law as was given only to prove man whether he would be under God or no For the morall Law which was written and engraven in the hearts of our first Parents and was for the doing of things simply good and abstaining from things simply evill such things as a good man would do were there no commandment and such things as he would not do were there no prohibition so that in these there was no triall whether man would obey God or no only because he commanded him and meerly for obedience sake And therefore had God ordained this Symbolicall Law prohibiting a thing in it self neither good nor evill neither pleasing nor displeasing unto God but indifferent that mans observance thereof might be a profession and testimony that he was willing to submit himself to Gods pleasure only because it was his pleasure And that it might yet the more appear God made not choice of such a thing as man cared not for but of a pleasant and desirable thing whereunto the more his inclination was carried the more by his abstaining might his willing subjection be approved The violating therefore of this Law was an open profession that he would not be under God and renouncing of him to be his Lord. And this is the first respect wherein appears the greatnesse of Adams sin The second consideration arguing the same is that he on whom God had bestowed so many glorious endowments whom he had as it were stuffed with so many excellent abilities and adomed with so many precious graces that he should sin against him and set so light by his commandment for of those to whom God had given so much he might justly require and expect much Therefore those whom God hath furnished with the best gifts either of knowledge or other abilities they if they sin sin most grievously so that in this respect the sin of Adam and Eve exceeded the sins of their posterity as much as their integrity did our corruption The greater the person the greater his
always some one wherein they demurre whether they should resolve to yeeld to or not if occasion should be offered Many will fortify themselves very strongly against the assaults of bribery of covetousnesse of theft of promise-breaking of drunkennesse but as concerning their lust they are unresolved what to do if a temptation should assault them so in others there is some other inclination but slenderly guarded when for the rest they could glory how strongly they are fortified But we must know that when the Devil comes to assault us he will passe by us where we are strength and attempt us only there where our weaknesse lies and then we shall find all our labour lost and all our other strength to have stood us in little stead For what wil it boot to guard the wals of our City never so strongly if but one part be left unguarded for the enemies to enter Is not all the enemies A Ship though in other parts never so sound will sink if but one leaking hole be left unstopped Let us therefore survey our hearts diligently and finding where we lie exposed to danger there most to strengthen our selves with resolution And thus I come to the second respect why the Devil made choice of the woman namely because of the vehemency of her husbands affection towards her so that to have gained her was to have gotten him also for he seemed to think that her strength in her husbands affection was more powerfull to prevail with him then his subtile motives were to overcome him and indeed the event prov'd he was not much deceiv'd Hence we are to observe that the Devil taketh advantage of the vehemency of our passions to work our overthrow if he once finde these to fasten his hold by he then thinks he may lead us whither he list To have gained our affections is as it were to have gotten a party within which is a dangerous advantage to further the invasion of an enemy especially when most of our passions are our favorites which we can deny nothing they ask and if they be once bribed will work us wholly to the dispose of our arch-enemy That we may not therefore afford the Devil this advantage and as it were reach him a rope to hang us withall it behoves us so to govern and temper our passions and affections that they transport us not into the Devils jurisdiction which that we may the better do it will not be unfit to set down some rules for performance thereof First therefore it is best to resist our passions at the beginning and to use the same policy which Pharaoh did with the Israelites that they might not over-run his Country in killing all their infants as soon as they were born While the sore is green Surgeons seldom despair but festered once they hardly cure it So it is with the passions of our minde when they are first growing they are soon curbed but being a little entertained they will hardly be subdued The second means is to inure our selves to crosse our passions when there is no danger and to bridle our selves sometimes from ordinary and lawfull desires that we may do it with more ease when we are in danger for how can he hope to be able to master his passions when dangerous temptations assault him who never used them to it in the time of his security We know that men who would fit themselves for the Wars will practice in the time of peace when there is no enemy near and will toil and labour when they might be at rest will lie hard when they may command a soft bed will watch when they might sleep and all to make themable to indure the like when they shall have need the like must we do that we may get an habit to crosse and subdue our passions when we shall have need The third means is to fly occasions which may incense the passions whereunto we are inclined Occasiones faciunt latrones saith the Proverb Occasion makes him a theef which else might have been an honest man wherefore he that commits himself to Sea in a boisterous tempest is worthy to suffer shipwrack and he that willingly puts himself in the company of infected persons may blame himself if he fall into their diseases Lastly but chiefly when thy passions are most vehement then seek for succour from heaven fly under the wings of Christ as the chickens under the hen when the kite seeks to devour them beat at the gates of mercy and crave grace to overcome thy misery He is thy Father and will not give thee a Serpent if thou ask him Fish humble thy self before him open thy sores and wounds unto him and the good Samaritan will pour in both wine and oyl and thy passions shall melt and fall away as clouds are dispelled and consumed by the Sun VERSE 14. And the Lord said unto the Serpent c. THese words contain in them the Serpents doom and destiny pronounced upon him by the great Lord of Heaven and Earth They contain in them two parts First the reason of this sentence in the words Because thou hast done this Secondly the sentence it self in the words following Thou art cursed above all cattell c. The reason of this heavy doom is Because he had done this What This namely because he had beguiled the man and woman which God had made and caused them to transgresse his great commandment He therefore that is the cause and occasion of anothers sin is as hatefull to God as the door and is liable to as great or rather a greater punishment then he for the Serpent here for causing hath this doom as well as the man and woman for doing Nay which is to be observed his doom is the first read unto him as if he were the archoffender and not to the man or woman till he was done with What should this mean but that his fault being the mover was more grievous in the eyes of God then theirs which is the reason also why the woman comes in the next place to have her sentence because she had been a sin-maker and was guilty not only of her own personall sin but of her husbands also whence the man who had sinn'd only himself and not caused others to sin had his judgement last of all I might also confirm the same from the quality of their severall judgements in that the Serpent alone is doom'd to be accursed and no such word spoken either of the man or the woman But I shall not need to tarry here to prove how horrible and fearfull a thing it is to be the author of anothers sin We know they are the words of our Saviour Mat. 18. 6 7. Wo unto the world because of scandals and woe unto the man by whom a scandall commeth it were better for him that a milstone were hanged about his neck and that he were drowned in the depth of the Sea And S. Paul 1 Cor. 8.
would eat no meat as long as the world lasteth rather then make his brother to offend Would they would consider this who are not content alone to sin themselves but play the Devil in corrupting others It seems they long to be double damn'd I would also they would think of this who make no conscience at all by extremities and vexations and other grievances to drive a man to perjury and other grievous sins and yet think themselves free when they should know that he that is the author of anothers sin makes anothers guilt his own and shall share in the punishment every whit as deep as he But this shall suffice to have observed in the first part the reason of the Serpents doom Now I come to the second the doom it self wherein the words as you see have all relation to the Serpent for the Lord said unto the Serpent Thou are cursed c. Thou shalt go upon thy brest c. But because this Serpent was more then a brute Serpent the Devil himself being the chief agent in this his instrument it is a thing much controverted upon which of these this curse is here pronounced Some would have it spoken only of the brute Serpent because here is a comparison made with cattell and beasts of the field thereby accounting the Serpent one of that number Besides Satan they say was accursed before this time and some of the words in this curse cannot well be applied to any but the brute Serpent as that he should eat the dust of the earth c. Others would have this curse pronounced only upon the spirituall Serpent the Devil because the brute Serpent was only an instrument abused by the Devil and neither knew what was done nor could do withall and why should it therefore be punished Others would divide the controversie applying the first part of the curse in the 14. verse to the brute Serpent the latter in the 15. verse to the Devil or spirituall Serpent because as the latter of the promised seed of the woman which should destroy the Serpent and his seed must needs be meant of Christ and Satan so the former words are most fitly appliable to the brute Serpent only But against this may be said that the same Thou and Thee spoken of in the first part of the curse is all one with the Thou and Thee in the latter and therefore of whatsoever the first is meant of the same is also meant the latter There is therefore a fourth opinion that this curse is throughout pronounced upon both both upon the Serpent and the Devil In which though there be some difference about the manner how yet I imbrace it as the truest as not only conceiving it may be so by the fitnesse of all the parts so applied to both but think moreover that this only ought to be the meaning and no other if it be conceived as I am now to shew For in the first place the Devil when he beguiled man came not as a naked spirit but in the shape and figure of a Serpent as I have shew'd heretofore and therefore that his punishment in the manner might be sutable and answerable to his offence he was to receive his doom likewise under the figure of a Serpent and the style thereof framed unto a Serpents condition for it is the constant method of the all-wise God to brand the punishment with the stamp of the sin that the offender thereby might not only know what he felt but also read why he suffered Why was Adonibezeks thumbs and great toes cut off but that he might read therein as he did his former cruelty Threescore and ten Kings having their thumbs and toes cut off gathered meat under my Table As I have done so God hath requited me Why was Pharaoh with his Host rather drowned in the Sea then slain in the field but that all the world might read it was for his cruell Edict to drown all the male children of the Hebrews Why did Absalom lie with Davids Concubines but to put David in minde that he had lien with Vriahs wife And why was the curse of the Devil shaped here in and unto the condition of the Serpent but because he had beguiled man in a Serpents shape Secondly for the Serpent The fashion excellency and subtilty of the Serpent above all the beasts which God had made the Devil had abused to gain credit with the woman that he was an excellent and a most sagacious spirit and therefore might be able to pry farther into Gods meaning then she could which was the cause of her attention and so of her ruine For I have shewed heretofore that the woman in the state of integrity knew well enough that as it was the law of spirits in their commerce with men to present themselves under the shape of some visible thing so it must be likewise under the shape of some such thing as may more or lesse resemble their condition And that as the glorious spirits might take no other shape but of man the glory of visible creatures so the fallen spirits could not then afore mans fall take any other shape but of a beast thereby to bewray his abasement yet because the Devil here took upon him the shape of the most wise and most excellent of beasts he so bleared the womans eyes with an opinion of his excellency and sagacity that in a manner she forgot or regarded not that he was one of the evil and abased spirits which was the ground of her miserable ruine and overthrow Now because the excellency and sagacity of the Serpent had thus been the occasion of mans confusion by being made the lying counterfeit of the Devils excellency and wisdome and the mask whereby he so covered his vilenesse that the woman took him not to be as he was indeed Therefore God in his wisdome thought good to change the copy and henceforth to blurre and deface that unhappy physiognomicall letter and by abasing the Serpent for the time to come to make him an everlasting embleme and monument wherein man might hieroglyphically read the malice vilenesse and execrable basenesse of that wicked spirit which had beguiled him to hate him as now we do the Serpent with mortall hatred and by his unlucky and brained fortune to expect the Devils destiny In a word that which was once used for a mask to cover the Devils knavery should for the future be a glasse wherein to behold his villany These being the reasons which have led me to understand this curse in an equall sense both of the brute Serpent and the Devil and in the literall applied unto the Serpent yet therein shaping out the malediction of the Devil as truly as the Devil had taken upon him the Serpents shape Let us now come to the particular handling of the words and first consider them as they are the curse of the unreasonable Serpent Secondly as they include the Devils malediction But for the better understanding
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
they deny him The Jews offering was prophane and polluted because it proceeded not out of a due beleef and a conscience throughly perswaded of the greatnesse of their God that he was the Creator and Lord of the whole earth but rather some petty and particular god like the gods of other Nations But the Gentiles who should see him not onely the God of one Nation but universally acknowledged over all the earth should have no such reason to doubt but firmly beleeve him to be the Great God Creator of heaven and earth and worship him as such and so their offering be a pure offering not polluted with unbelief And it is to be observed that all the ancient Christian Liturgies begin with this acknowledgement For the summe of the Eucharisticall Doxologie when the Bread and Wine is first presented before God is comprehended in that of the Apocalypse Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glorie honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created And to this way of interpreting the purity of the Christian sacrifice to wit from the conscience and affection of the offerers the Fathers mostly bend Irenaeus lib. 4. cap. 34. Sacrificia non sanctificant hominem non enim indiget Deus sacrificio sed conscientia ejus qui offert sanctificat sacrificium pura existens Quoniam igitur cum simplicitate Ecclesia offert justè munus ejus purum sacrificium apud Deum deputatum est And a little after Oportet enim nos oblationem Deo facere in omnibus gratos inveniri fabricatori Deo insententia pura fide sine hypocrisi c. Neither is Tertullian whom I alledged before for the other interpretation averse from this for in his fourth Book Con. Marc. c. 1. Sacrificium mundum that is saith he simplex oratio de conscientia pura But this conscientious purity they seem to restrain at least chiefly to freedom from malice as that singular puritie whereby this Christian sacrifice is differenced from that of the Jew because none can offer it but he that is in charity with his brother according to that in the Gospel When thou bringest thy gift unto the Altar and remembrest thy brother hath ought against thee go first and be c. And therefore in the beginning of this Christian service the Deacon was anciently wont to cry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let no man have ought against his brother and then followed osculum sanctum the kisse of reconciliation Thus the Fathers of the first Councell of Nice took Sacrificium purum as appears Can. 5. where they expound 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which is offered omni simultate deposita But according to this exposition the puritie of the Christian sacrifice will not be opposite to the pollution of the Iewish in the same kinde as it would if more generally taken but in another kinde and so the sense stands thus You will not offer me a pure offering but the Gentiles one day shall and that with a puritie of another manner of stamp then that my Law requires of you And thus I have told you the two wayes according to which the ancients understood this puritie and I prefer the latter as I think they did But there is a third Interpretation were it backt by their Authority which I confesse it is not which I would prefer before them both and I think you will wonder with me they should be so silent therein Namely that the title of Puritie is given to the Christian Mincha in respect of Christ whom it signifies and represents who is a sacrifice without all spot blemish and imperfection This the Antithesis of this sacrifice to that of the Jews might seem to imply For the Jews are charged with offering polluted Bread upon Gods Altar whereby what is meant the words following tell us If you offer the blind for sacrifice is it not evill And if you offer the lame and sick is it not evill And in the end of the Chapter Cursed be the deceiver who hath in his flock a male and voweth and sacrificeth to the Lord a corrupt thing Now if the sacrifice of the Gentiles be called pure in opposition to this is it not so called in respect of that most perfect unblemisht and unvaluable sacrifice it represents Iesus Christ the Lamb of God I leave it to your consideration SECTION 3. HAving absolved the two first things I propounded given you a definition of the Christian sacrifice and explained the words of my Text I come to the third and longest part of my task to prove each particular contained in my Definition by the testimonies and authorities of the Fathers and writers of the first Ages of the Church The Particulars I am to prove are in number six First That this Christian service is an Oblation and expressed under that Notion by the utmost Antiquity Secondly That it is an Oblation of Thanksgiving and Prayer Thirdly An Oblation through Iesus Christ commemorated in the creatures of Bread and Wine Fourthly That this Commemoration of Christ according to the style of the ancient Church is also a Sacrifice Fiftly That the Body and Blood of Christ in this mysticall Service was made of Bread and Wine which had first been offered unto God to agnize him the Lord of the Creature Sixtly That this Sacrifice was placed in Commemoration onely of Christs sacrifice upon the Crosse and not in a reall offering of his Body and Blood anew When I shall have proved all these by sufficient Authority I hope you will give me leave to conclude my Definition for true That the Christian sacrifice ex mente antique Ecclesiae was An Oblation of Thanksgiving and Prayer to God the Father through Iesus Christ and his sacrifice Commemorated in the creatures of Bread and Wine wherewith God had first been agnized SECT I. LEt us begin then with the first That this Christian service is an Oblation and under that Notion expressed by all Antiquitie The names whereby the Ancient Church called this Service are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. Oblatio Sacrificium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a word if rightly understood of aequipollent sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sacrificium Mediatoris sacrificium Altaris Sacrificium precis sacrificium Corporis sanguints Christi It would be infinite to note all the Places and Authors where and by whom it is thus called The four last are S. Augustins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are to be found with Iustin Martyr and Irenaeus whose antiquitie is the Age next the Apostles But you will say the Fathers even so early had swarved from the style of the Apostolick Age during which these kinde of terms were not used as appears by that we finde them not any where in their Epistles and writings But what if the contrary may be evinced that this language was used even while the Apostles yet lived For grant they are neither found in
what part of the Temple this was done The Jews Religion and scrupulosity to keep their Temple from prophanation was such as might seem to make this story incredible Those who were so chary that no uncircumcised or unclean person should come therein who trod the pavement thereof with so much religious observance and curiosity who would not suffer as Iosephus relates any other building no not the Palace of Agrippa their King to have any prospect into it lost it should be polluted with a prophane look how unlikely is it they should endure it to be made a place of buying selling and bartering yea a Market for sheep and Oxen as Iohn 2. it is expresly said to have been Neither will it serve the turn to excuse it by saying it was to furnish such as came thither with offerings For the sheep and oxen whilst they were yet to be bought to that purpose were not sacred but prophane and so not to come within the sacred limits You see the difficulty But I answer that this market was kept in the third or Gentiles Court which was the outmost of the Temple For the Temple in our Saviours time had three Courts each surrounding one another First the inmost or Priests Court wherein stood the Temple and the Altar of burnt offering Into this none but the Priests and Levites came Secondly the middle or great Court which surrounded that of the Priests whereinto the Jews of all sorts and circumcised Proselytes came to worship Without this was a third Court for the Gentiles which surrounded the Israelites Court as that did the Court of the Priests The two first they accounted sacred calling them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into which therefore none might enter but such as were circumcised and clean according to the Law The third was without the sacred limits and so accounted prophane and common which may be learned out of Iosephus who tels us of certain little pillars or columns placed by the Lorica or Septum which severed this Court from the rest whereon was inscribed in Greek and Latin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That no stranger passe within the sacred limits 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The second part of the Temple was called Holy as implying that the outmost was not so Into this Court therefore which had no legall sanctity and was without the sacred limits the Gentiles were admitted and had their station together with such of the Jews as were in their uncleannesse further they might not go By Gentiles here I mean such which though uncircumcised yet worshipped the God of Israel and were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In this Court therefore the Jews made no scruple of doing prophane and secular acts being in their opinion no better then a common place Nay it is very probable that to shew their despiciency of the poor Gentiles according to that in the Apocalypse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without are Dogs and to pride themselves in their prerogative and discretion from them they affected to have such acts there done And hence it came to passe that they permitted a Market of Oxen and Sheep Doves and other bartery to be kept there for the use of the Temple and those who came thither to worship And thus the poor Gentiles or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were stabled amongst Oxen Sheep and stals of Money-changers and in that tumultuous place fain to offer up their devotions and prayers unto the most high God whom they had chosen But our blessed Saviour who came to redeem not the Jews onely but the Gentiles also and to make them a principall part of his fold would not suffer them to be thus neglected but in this act of his gave them a praeludium of his further favour intended toward them and he that was to vindicate their souls from death and take away the partition-wall between them and the Jews first vindicates their Oratory from prophanation alledging for his warrant this place of the Prophet Esay My House shall be called a House of Prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He did not say My Fathers House is holy For the Jews would soon have replied That the Gentiles Court was without the sacred limits But It is written saith he My House shall be called a House of Prayer for all the Nations Ergo the place of prayer for all Nations is a part of my Fathers House If my Fathers House then holy and not to be thus prophaned For whatsoever is his is holy Relative Holinesse being nothing else but the peculiarity a thing hath to God-ward Though therefore the Gentiles Court had no sanctity of legall distinction yet had it the sanctity of such peculiarity and therefore not to be used as a common place The illation proceeds by way of conversion My House shall be called the House of Prayer to all Nations or People Ergo The House of Prayer for all Nations is my Fathers House And the emphasis lies in the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which our Translators were not so well advised of when following Beza too close they render the words thus My House shall be called of all Nations the House of Prayer as if the Dative Case here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were not acquisitive but as it is sometimes with passive verbs in stead of the Ablative of the agent for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which sense is clear from the scope and purpose of the place whence it is taken as he that compares them will easily see and I shall make fully to appear in the next part of my discourse which I tendred by the name of an Observation Which was that this fact of our Saviour more particularly concerns us of the Gentiles then we take notice of Namely we are taught thereby what reverent esteem we ought to have of our Gentile Oratories and Churches howsoever not endued with such legall sanctity in every respect as was the Temple of the Jews yet Houses of prayer as well as theirs This observation will be made good by a threefold Consideration First of the story as I have related it Secondly from the Text here alledged for warrant thereof And thirdly from the circumstance of time For the story I have shewed it was acted in the Gentiles Court and not in those of the Jews It cannot therefore be alledged that this was a place of legall sanctity For according to legall sanctity it was held by the Jews as common onely it was the place for the Gentiles to worship the God of Israel in and seems to have been proper to the second Temple the Gentiles in the first worshipping without at the Temple door in the holy Mountain onely Secondly the place alledged to avow the fact speaks expresly of Gentile worshippers not in the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 onely but in the whole body of the context Hear the Prophet speak Isa. cap. 56. vers 7 8. and then judge The sons of the stranger that
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