to is That the unworthy Receivers of the Sacraments are in the number of those men with whom God is not well pleased Of unworthy Receiving and Receivers I make two the one à parte antè by undue preparation the other à parte pòst by unholy demeanour and conversation afterward The former is unworthy to approach this Table at all the other to have approached it And of both these were the Fathers in the Wilderness guilty For Manna being both their ordinary and sacred Food their unholy and lustful demeanor upon the former eating made them continually unprepared Receivers for the future And so it is with us An unholy life upon the first receiving is a great part of our unworthiness for the second yea more unworthy are we then made than we had been upon the like conversation at the beginning For to have broken so solemn a Promise to God as we bound our selves in at the first time doubles our sin and to have already abused so precious and gracious a gift which God then gave us makes us doubly unworthy ever to find the like favour any more As in Physick for the body a Preparative is required before and a good and careful diet to be observed after so is it here as also a distempered diet after Physick received will do more hurt than it would before so is it here Now because it is Sin which makes us lose the favour of God and it alone which makes him not well pleased with us that we may behold how justly God's displeasure is kindled by this unworthy Receiving let us a while consider wherein the Sin thereof consisteth which will appear 1. In the correspondence of the Receiver and the thing received It is written Deut. 22. 9 10. Thou shalt not sow thy Vineyard with diverse kinds of seeds Thou shalt not plough with an Ox and an Ass together Whereby it appears That God Almighty loves not to have things unsutable and incompatible joyned together it is an unpleasing spectacle unto him But what fellowship hath light with darkness what agreement between the holy Sacrament and a prophane heart who will put precious water into filthy vessels or wholesome wine into foul casks It is the ground of Ioshua's speech Iosh. 24. 19. to the children of Israel You cannot serve the Lord saith he for he is a holy God that is whilst you are wicked the Righteous Lord who loveth Righteousness will not accept of your services Again Almighty God hath ever required a correspondence between his holy Ordinances and those who were to be partakers of them Thus the Shew-bread was appointed only for Aaron and his Sons because they were holy the Trespass and Sin-offering must be eaten in the holy Place because it was most holy The same thing is implied by our Saviour's proverbial precept Give not that which is holy unto the Dogs And which of us all would not be offended at a Dog if we should see him devour the meat appointed for our Childrens Diet Even such in God's account and no better are wicked persons Beware of Dogs beware of Evil-workers saith S. Paul Phil. 3. 2. and Apocal. 22. 15. Without the City of God are Dogs Sorcerers Whoremongers c. Now we know Exod. 19. 13. that no Beast might touch the Mountain when the Lord appeared on Mount Sinai So none of those whom God accounts in the number of Beasts as all who have beastly affections may approch in Christ's presence or come unto his Table Wherefore as God saith Be ye holy because I am holy so may it be said unto all communicants Be ye holy because the Sacrament is holy Whence it was a worthy custome in the ancient Churches for the Bishop or Deacon to proclaim at the holy Communion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Holy things for them that are holy holding in his hand the holy Sacrament And good reason why For where this holiness is not there in stead of comfort the Heart is more and more corrupted Even as the Spider gets strength of poison from the sweetest herbs and flowers so the prophane Heart is strengthened in wickedness by receiving this holy and heavenly Food 2. The hainousness of this sin is aggravated in respect of the thing received for our Apostle elsewhere saith The unworthy receiver becomes guilty of the Body and Bloud of Christ that is he is guilty of offering contumely injury and indignity unto him S. Paul when he disswades Husbands from misusing their Wives gives this for a reason No man ever yet hated his own flesh And may not I reason thus Let no man offer injury unto Christ because he is flesh of our flesh yea he is our Head and a wound or maim given to the Head is more odious and dangerous than to another part To offer violence to a common person is a fault to strike a Magistrate a greater but to wound a King who is the Lord 's Anointed is a sin in the highest degree O what a hainous sin is it then to offer violence to and as much as in us lies to strike and wound the Son of God the King of Kings and the Lord of Glory To be guilty of death and shedding of the bloud of any innocent man is a fearful sin and this made David cry out Deliver me O Lord from bloud-guiltiness How fearful is it then to be guilty of the Body and Bloud of Christ Whose heart is not moved against the Iews when he hears or reads their villanies and violence offered to our Blessed Saviour But Chrysostome gives us a good Take-heed Take heed saith he lest thou be guilty in the like kind by unworthy receiving of the blessed Sacrament He that defiles the King's body and he that tears it offend both alike The Iews tore it thou defilest it Here are saith the same Father diversa peccata sed par contumelia some difference of the sin but none of the contumely therein offered Ioseph and Nicodemus their pious devotion in begging and embalming the Body of Christ is worthily recorded and commended to all generations Mary Magdalene in bestowing that box of precious oyntment upon his holy head hath gained to her self endless honour in stead of her former infamy So if receive and handle worthily this Mystical Body of Christ our portion shall be with honourable Ioseph and pious Mary Magdalene our memories shall be as theirs blessed and our Souls as theirs to receive unspeakable comfort but if we come unworthily we joyn with Iudas and the Iews and are guilty as they were of the Body and Bloud of Christ. AND thus much of the first thing I propounded The state of unworthy Receivers of these holy Mysteries that they are men in whom God hath no pleasure and therefore woful and lamentable The second thing now to be spoken of is The danger of such unworthy Receivers in regard of the Punishment which followeth them which as concerning the
brother that there may be given you a blessing this day This Blessing here spoken of is our Vrim 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 prefer unto this holy Function namely Those who are zealous for the Lord of Hosts who prefer 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 Vrim and Thummim the blessing of Holy Orders Secondly We may see by the advancement of this Tribe how merciful 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 bloudy 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 cruel 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 Iustice 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 merciful God and shews mercy even unto the thousandth generation of them that love him and keep his Commandments 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 God's 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 Lord's people holy Certainly whatsoever is meant hereby it is something more specially belonging to Levi than to any other Tribe Which that we may the better find we must take notice of a Threefold Holiness Essential Habitual Relative Essential Holiness is the Holiness of God all one with God himself and this is a glorious Holiness Who saith Moses is like unto thee O Lord among the Gods who is like unto thee glorious in holiness Exod. 15. 11. Habitual I call an Inherent Holiness such as is the holiness of righteous men integrity of life or righteous holiness 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 Holiness I define a special 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 call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Latines Sacrum The first of these three is proper to God alone for he only is essentially holy The second is proper to reasonable creatures for they are only habitually holy or endued with holy qualities But the last is common to all manner of things For all things animate or inanimate are capable of relative holiness or peculiarity towards God Persons Things Times Places Persons So the Nazarites of the Law are called holy thus was Sampson thus was Samuel holy from their Mother's womb Things So the Offerings of the Law yea and of the Gospel too are holy things The Censers of Korah and his company were holy because saith the Text they offered them before the Lord. Times So the Sabbath-day and other Festival days are holy days Places So the Temple of the Lord is an holy Place Mount Sion an holy Mount yea the ground about the Bush where God appeared to Moses is called Holy ground And of these four Persons Things and Times are holy because of God's peculiar propriety in them in that they are his Persons his Things and his Times But Places are holy in another regard because of God's special manner of Presence in them Now let us see in which of all these three ways Levi may be said to be holy Essentially holy he cannot be for he was not God but the holy one of God Habitually holy the event shews he was not more than the rest though he should have been The Tribe of Levi was always Tribus sacra holy unto the Lord but was not always righteous before the Lord. It was not always true of Levi that he walked before God in peace and equity and turned many from iniquity but often yea too often they were gone out of the way and caused many to stumble at or in the Law Phinehas the son of Eli was not like Phinehas the son of Aaron Annas and Caiaphas high Priests as holy as any for their order as unholy as any in life and conversation It should therefore seem that Levi should be only called Holy by a Relative holiness namely because he was God's peculiar one because his offered one because his peculiar of peculiars that is his peculiar Tribe of his peculiar people for in this Levi had a priviledg above the rest in the other none And this Ezra gives unto him chap. 8. 28. when he delivered unto the Levites the holy vessels Ye are holy saith he unto the Lord and these Vessels are holy also that is Ye are holy as the Vessels are for he saith not they were holy before the Lord for so he had meant holy in life but holy unto the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which always implies a Relative Holiness But though this be true that Levi was Holy after this manner yet the word which in my Text is turned Holy seems scarce to admit of this construction for the word here used is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies favourable and gracious and in Religion charitable and godly All which leans to an Habitual not to a Relative holiness But because Levi was not in this sort holy above other as I said before it may seem therefore it should be thus construed that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is taken Actively or Passively Actively it signifies favourable benigne and gracious Passively he that is favoured or graced And thus Iunius expounds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this place virum tuum quem beneficio prosequeris Let thy Thummim and thy Vrim be with thy favoured one not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Septuagint but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which word and sense the Angel useth in his salutation to the blessed Virgin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hail thou highly-favoured one Hail thou whom God hath especially graced to be the Mother of his only Son So Levi is
prevail with him than 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 find these to fasten his hold by he then thinks he may lead us whither he lift 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 withal it behoves us so to govern and temper our Passions and Affections that they transport us not into the Devil's 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 Chirurgeons seldom despair but festered once they hardly cure it So it is with the Passions of our Mind 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 cross our Passions when there is no danger and to bridle our selves sometimes from ordinary and lawful 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 them able to endure the like when they shall have need The like must we do that we may get an habit to cross 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 thief 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 DISCOURSE XLI GENESIS 3. 14. And the Lord God said unto the Serpent Because thou hast done this thou art cursed above all cattel and above every beast of the field upon thy belly shalt thou go and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life THESE words contain in them the Serpent's 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 cattel c. The Reason of this Heavy doom is Because thou hast done this What This namely Because he had beguiled the Man and Woman which God had made and caused them to transgress his great Commandment He therefore that is the cause and occasion of anothers sin is as hateful to God as the doer and is liable to as great or rather a greater punishment than 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 Arch-offender 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 than 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 personal sin but of her husband 's also whence the Man who had sinn'd only himself and not caused others to sin had his judgment last of all I might also confirm the same from the quality of their several judgments 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 fearful a thing it is to be the Author of another's sin We know they are the words of our Saviour Matt. 18. 6 7. Wo unto the world because of scandals and wo unto the man by whom a scandal cometh 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. 13. would eat no meat as long as the world lasteth rather than 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 another's sin makes another's 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 Serpent's 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 art cursed c. Thou shalt go upon thy breast c. But because this Serpent was more than a brute Serpent the Devil himself being the chief Agent in this his Instrument it is a thing much controverted Vpon which of these this curse is here pronounced 1. Some would have it spoken only of the brute Serpent because here is a comparison made
the Serpent and what the Heel of the Woman's seed Those who understand The seed of the woman singularly of the person of Christ only make his Head to be the Godhead against which the Serpent could prevail nothing but his heel to be the Manhood which the Serpent so bruised at his Passion that the grave became his bed for three days together This indeed is true and no marvel for the Head is as it were the whole Bodie 's Epitome But we who have expounded The seed of the woman collectively of Christ and his Members must also in this mystical Body find a mystical Head and a mystical Heel and so in like manner for the Serpent and his seed The Head therefore or if you had rather Headship is nothing else but Soveraignty The Serpent's head is the Devil's Soveraignty which is called Principatus mortis the Soveraignty of death namely both objectivè and effectivè that is such a Soveraignty as under which are only such as are liable to Death both temporal and eternal and such a Soveraignty whose power consists not in saving and giving of life but in destroying and bringing unto Death both of body and soul. Under the name also of Death understand as the Scripture doth all other miseries of mankind which are the companions of this double Death I speak of This is that damnable Head of the Serpent the Devillish Soveraignty of Satan Now the Sword whereby this Soveraignty was obtained the Sceptre whereby it is maintained or as S. Paul speaks the Sting of this Serpent's head is Sin This is that which got him this Kingdom at the first and this is still the right whereby he holds the greatest part thereof Imperium iisdem artibus conservaâ—ur quibus acquiritur By the same arts and methods is an Empire conserved by the which it was at first obtained This Soveraignty of the Devil which once overwhelmed â—igh all the world the Woman's seed should break in pieces and destroy which according to this Prophecy we see already performed in a great measure and the grounds laid long ago for the destruction of all that remaineth As saith S. Iohn Ep. 1. c. 3. v. 8. The Son of God was manifested for this purpose that he might destroy the works of the Devil And Christ himself said that the time was come that the Prince of this world should be cast out and bade his Disciples be of good chear for he had overcome the world If you would see what a wonderful victory he hath long ago gotten of the Serpent when after a terrible battel he overcame and destroyed the Soveraignty of the Serpent in the Roman Empire see it described in the 12. of the Revelation v. 7 8. where Michael that is Christ and his Angels fought against the great Dragon and his Angels till the Dragon with all his Army was discomfited and their place found no more in heaven that is he utterly lost his Soveraignty in that state whence there was a voice in heaven v. 10. Now is come salvation strength and the Kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ. And what he will at the length do with the remainder yet of the Devil's Soveraignty you may find in the 19. and 20. chapters of the Revelation For he must reign as S. Paul saith until he hath put all his enemies under his feet until he hath destroyed all power rule and authority adverse unto him And then last of all destroying Death by giving immortality to our raised bodies shall surrender up his Kingdom unto his Father as it is 1 Cor. 15. 25 c. But Satan saith my Text shall prevail something against him for the Serpent shall bruise his heel What is this Heel Those who understood the seed of the woman singularly as I told you made it Christ's Manhood But now we expound the seed Christ's Mystical Body what shall we make the Heel thereof I could say that by it were only meant a light wound or the Devil 's assaulting the Body of Christ ex insidiis at unawares for that is his fashion since the great overthrow which our Michael gave him to work his feats underhand and to undermine our Lord in his members But this though true is not full enough It may seem therefore the fittest to make hypocritical Christians who profess Christ outwardly but inwardly are not his to make these the heel of his Mystical Body for against such the Devil we know prevaileth somewhat and by them annoyeth the rest of the Body with his venome though he be far enough yet from impeaching our Lord's Headship and Soveraignty But will you give me leave to utter another conceit If the Blessed souls in heaven be the upper part of Christ's mystical Body the Saints on earth the lower part of the same may not the Bodies of the Saints deceased which lye in the earth be accounted for the heel For I cannot believe but they have relation to this mystical Body though their Souls be severed from them and yet must that relation be as of the lowest and most postick members of all If you will admit this then it will appear presently what was this hurt upon the heel when Christ had once mauled the Devil's head for the Text seems to intimate that the Devil should give this wound after his head was broken I will hold you in suspence no longer Read the 13. of the Revelation and see what follows upon Michael's Victory over the Dragon what the Devil did when he was down He forms a new Instrument of the wounded Roman Empire by whose means under a pretence of the Honour given to the precious Reliques of the Saints and Martyrs he conveyed the poyson of Saint-worship and Saint-invocation into the Kingdom of Christ with which wound of the heel the Devil coming on the blind side the true Church had been long annoyed and limpeth still DISCOURSE XLIII 2 PETER 2. 1. But there were false Prophets also among the people even as there shall be false Teachers among you who privily shall bring in damnable Heresies even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction MANY are the Prophesies in Scripture wherein the Holy Ghost forewarns us of a great and solemn Defection and Corruption of Faith which should one day overspread the visible Face of the Catholick Church of Christ and eclipse the light of Christian Verity and Belief S. Paul 2 Thes. 2. 3. foretels us that there should be an Apostasie or Falling away of Christians and the Man of sin be revealed before the coming of the day of the Lord. The same Apostle 1 Tim. 4. 1. tells us that though the great Mystery of Godliness spoken of chap. 3. 16. were then preached among the Gentiles and believed on in the world yet the Spirit spake expresly that in the latter times some should depart from the Faith giving heed to seducing Spirits and doctrines of Devils or Daemons S. Iohn tells
22. 8. and so he did indeed I shall need gather no more Examples Let no man therefore be discouraged for fear of danger to do his duty in that calling and vocation wherein God hath set him If God hath bid thee hope thou likewiâ—e he will protect thee But if thou neglect his commandment so to avoid what thou fearest be sure then that thou fearest or a worse will come upon thee take heed thou goest not out of God's blessing into the warm Sun Let Saul's example be our warning who to prevent as he thought the scattering of the people from him and the evil which longer delay might occasion if he should stay for Samuel presumed to offer Sacrifice himself but he was called a fool for his labour and made to know at length that Obedience was better than Sacrifice And so shall every one that makes so ungodly an experience find his policy in the end plain foolery and Obedience to God's Commandment better than all the Policy in the world AND thus I come to the third thing considerable viz. The place where every Male was to appear In the place the Lord shall chuse namely in the place where the Ark and Tabernacle of God should be which at the first was at Shiloh in the Country of Samaria and Tribe of Ephraim afterwards at Ierusalem in the Tribe of Iudah where David first pitched a new Tabernacle for the Ark of the Covenant after it had been taken by the Philistins and returned home again and in the same place his son Solomon built that glorious Temple which was the Beauty of the whole earth Of these two places spake the Samaritan woman in the Gospel to our Saviour Iohn 4. 20. Our Fathers said she worshipped in this Mountain and ye say that Ierusalem is the place where men ought to worship By Our Fathers she means the old Ephraimites from whom the Samaritans falsly vaunted they were descended upon which ground she likewise calls Iacob Our Father Iacob v. 12. For they were indeed the off-spring of those strange Nations which Shalmaneser transplanted into the Cities of Samaria when he had carried Ephraim and the rest of Israel captives into Assyria as we read 2 Kings 17. 24. By this Mountain she means Mount Ephraim where Shiloh was and the Ark and Tabernacle of God in ancient time had been For when Manasses the brother of Iaddus the High Priest was excommunicated and driven from the Priesthood because he had married the daughter of Sanball at the Horonite as it is in the last of Nehemiah v. 28. he with his faction to vex his own Nation procured a Temple to be built in Gerizim on Mount Ephraim whereof himself was the High Priest and to draw a company of Transgressors like himself from the Temple at Ierusalem unto this it was coloured as if this were the only place which the Lord had chosen because the Tabernacle was first pitched at Shiloh in Mount Ephraim and not at Sion on Mount Moriah and this was the bone of everlasting division and capital hatred between the Iews and Samaritans Thus we have seen where This place was first and last which the Lord had chosen Now let us further consider why it is thus called The place which the Lord shall chuse First therefore these words imply That the place for holy Assemblies was a select place For they were not to assemble in every place as occasion and opportunity served but to have a choice and select place for that purpose Secondly This place for Legal worship was to be one only place and no more and therefore here the singular number is used I say there was but one only place for Legal worship meaning Sacrifices and the Service accompanying them for otherwise they had many Synagogues for heaâ—ing the Law read and expounded Ierusalem it self had four hundred and in those the Scribes bore rule as the Priests did in the Temple But the reason why there was but one Temple and place of Sacrifice and Prayer was for a Type of that one only Mediator Iesus Christ in whom alone our sins are expiated and our prayers and thanksgivings accepted before God So that in the time of the Law to build an holy Altar or offer Sacrifices any where but here though it were unto the true God was a Typical Idolatry because it implied a multiplicity of Mediators of whose Oneness the one only place of worship and the one Altar was a sign which was the reason why it was so unlawful to sacrifice in the high places though it were unto the Lord their God And yet because it was but a ceremonial sin God did in the confused times of that Church sometimes pass by it as it were because of the hardness of their hearts as our Saviour saith in another kind But he that did dispense with an irregularity in figure because of the state of the times will never allow Idolatry in deed such as is that of the Church of Rome who fulfil the very substance of that whereof the Iewish sin was but a Type whose Mediators are so many that they are not easily numbred and though they for excuse subordinate them all to Christ as the chief and derive their Mediatorship from the virtue of his merits yet is this but like unto that of the erring Church of the Law which notwithstanding God's commandment to the contrary had a conceit that they might sacrifice in any high place so it were unto the Lord their God only The third and last thing which these words imply is That this select and only place should be of the Lord 's own chusing The place he shall chuse But how should the Lord chuse it it seems by giving some extraordinary sign of his allowance in accepting their Sacrifice or it may be they did consult him in this case by the Oracle of Vrim and Thummim For of the first place in Shiloh we have nothing expressed but only read Ioshua 18. 1. That the whole Congregation of Israel assembled together at Shiloh and set up the Tabernacle of the Congregation there But of the second place in Mount Sion we read That the Angel of God commanded Gad to say to David that he should set up an Altar in the threshing-floor of Ornan and that when David offered thereon burnt-offerings and peace-offerings the Lord answered him from heaven by fire upon the Altar of burnt-offering and that David hereupon designed that place for the Tabernacle and future Temple saying This is the house of the Lord God and this is the Altar of the burnt-offering for Israel 1 Chron. 22. 1. Now to make some application of this to the times of the Gospel The two last circumstances of this place concern us not For that of one place was a Type and so is gone the second of God's immediate choice seems to be so also and to be a figure of that which the Angel Gabriel said to the blessed Virgin
most High THE Book of Psalms is a Book of Prophecies witness the frequent citing of them by our Lord and his Apostles witness the Surname of King David who being the penman of no other but this Book is styled the Prophet David I say the Psalms are Prophecies and that both Concerning Christ himself and also the Church which should be after him Concerning Christ himself it needs must be Saith he in the Gospel Luke 24. 24. These are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you That all things must be fulfilled which were written of me in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the PSALMS and more especially concerning his Beginning S. Paul quotes the words of the Psalm speaking in the Person of God Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee and again concerning his Office Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedek Now for the Church of the Gospel and calling of the Gentiles as many parts of many Psalms do foretel thereof so is this whole Psalm a description of the same 1. What manner of one it should be 2. What worship God would establish therein For the first it should be Catholick and gathered out of all Nations The God of Gods saith the beginning of the Psalm v. 1 2. even the Lord hath spoken and called the Earth from the rising of the Sun to the going down thereof Out of Sion the perfection of beauty hath God shined Agreeable to the words of the Gospel it self That it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his Name among all Nations beginning at Ierusalem and that it did begin at Ierusalem where Christ himself began where the Holy Ghost came down in cloven tongues So out of Sion God shined our God came and kept not silence for a fire came before him and a tempest moved round about him Now for the Worship and service which Christ would establish in his new reformed Church it concerns either the First or the Second Table For the First Table it tells us What Offerings God would abolish namely all Typical Offerings or all the Offerings of fire and then What Offerings he would accept to wit the Offerings of Praise and Prayer Offer unto God Praise and pay thy Vows unto the most High For the Second Table it commands a right and upright conversation from the 16. verse unto the last and the last is the Summe or a brief summary of both Tables He that offereth Praise shall glorifie me and to him that disposeth his way aright will I shew the Salvation of the Lord. But to return again to the reformation of the First Table whereof my Text is the Affirmative part where as I said we are told both What Offerings God will not have offered and What Offerings he requireth He will no longer have any Typical Offerings any Offerings of fire or bloudy Sacrifices For I will not saith he reprove thee for thy Sacrifices or thy burnt-offerings I will take no bullock out of thine house nor goats out of thy folds For all the beasts of the forrests are mine and the beasts on a thousand hills If I were hungry I would not tell thee for the world is mine and all that therein is Will I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the bloud of goats Nevertheless he still requireth Offerings of Thanksgiving and a Present when we come to pray unto him so faith my Text Offer unto God Praise c. And so here is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as S. Paul saith in a like case He taketh away the first that he may establish the second But as in Typical Speeches it often comes to pass that the things which are spoken are true both in the Type and Antitype as that in Hosea 11. 1. Out of Egypt have I called my Son was in some sense true both of Christ and Israel and that in Exod. 12. 46. Thou shalt not break a bone thereof was true literally both of Christ and the Paschal lamb and that in Psal. 22. 18. They parted my garments among them was true figuratively in David and literally in Christ Even so it comes to pass in Prophecies and namely in this That it so foretells of things to come that it concerned also the time present it foretells the estate of the Church in the Gospel and yet meant something that concerned the present Church of the Law To which purpose we must frame the sense after this manner That God even then did not so much regard the Offerings of fire and Expiatory sacrifices as he did the Offerings of Praise and Thanksgiving because the first were Ceremonial the other Moral the first their End was changeable the other everlasting So that in respect of the Catholick Church the words of my Text are an Antithesis or Aphaeresis with the former I will in no sort have any Typical and Bloudy Offerings but only Offerings of Praise and Prayer But in respect of the Legal Church or the Church of the Law they are a Protimesis or Estimation I require not so much any Typical offerings as I do that you should offer unto me Praise and pay your Vows unto the most High For so when God saith elsewhere I will have mercy and not sacrifice it is no Antithesis but a Protimesis that I had rather have mercy than sacrifice So again Matth. 6. 19. Lay not up for your selves treasures upon earth but lay up for your selves treasures in heaven this is no Antithesis or Aphaeresis as though Christ would not have us at all provide for things of this life but a Protimesis he would not have us take so much care for this life as for the life to come The Scope therefore of my Text is to shew What kind of Offerings God did chiefly accept under the Law and doth only require in the Gospel to wit two sorts of Offerings Eucharistical and Euctical or Votal Eucharistical Offerings are such whose End is Thanksgiving to God for Benefits received which are here termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Offerings of Praise Euctical I call such as are made to God upon occasion of suit we have unto him that is when we come to pray before him that he might accept our supplications and we find favour in his sight And this is performed two manner of ways either by promise if God shall hear us and grant our petition which is called a Vow or by actual exhibition at the time we do pray unto him An example of the first kind is that of Iacob If the Lord shall be with me and bring me back again of all I have the Tenth will I give unto him The second was much used in the first times of the Christian Church and of it in the Law we understand
Psal. 37. 21. but the Righteous sheweth mercy and giveth and vers 25 Yet have I not seen the Righteous forsaken p. 80 Psal. 40. 6. Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire mine ears hast thou bored c. p. 896 Psal. 44. 16. By reason of the Enemy and Avenger all this is come upon us p. 38 Psal. 50. 14 Offer unto God praise and pay thy Vows unto the most High p. 284 Vers. 16. Vnto the wicked God saith What hast thou to do to declare my Statutes and take my Covenant in thy mouth p. 371 Psal. 51. 16 17. Thou desirest not Sacrifice else would I give it thou delightest not in burnt-offering The Sacrifices of God are a broken Spirit c. p. 353 Psal. 68. 9 10. Thou O God didst send a plentiful rain whereby thou didst confirm thine inheritance when it was weary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Animalia tua dwelt therein p. 438 594 Psal. 74. 7 8. They have cast fire into thy Sanctuary They have burnt up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the land p. 69 Psal. 89. 18. The Holy one of Israel is our King p. 8 Psal. 104. 4. He maketh his Angels Spirits his ministers a flaming fire p. 28 Vers. 19. He appointeth the Moon for seasons p. 492 Psal. 110. 3. Thy people in the day of thy power shall be a people of free presents p. 115 Psal. 112. 6 The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance p. 80 Psal. 116. 13. I will take the cup of Salvation and call upon the Name of the Lord. p. 380 Psal. 132. 7. We will go into his Tabernacle we will worship towards his Footstool p. 393 Psal. 138. 1 â— Before the Gods will I sing praise unto thee I will worship towards thy holy Temple p. 394 PROVERBS Chap. 4. 23. Keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life p. 199. Chap. 8. 10. Receive my instruction and not silver p. 352 Chap. 11. 4. Righteousness delivereth from death p. 81 Chap. 15. 11. Hell and destruction are before the Lord. p. 32 Chap. 21. 16. The man that wandreth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the Congregation of the dead p. 31 Chap. 30. 8 9. Give me neither Poverty nor Riches feed me with food convenient for me Lest I be full and deny thee and say Who is the Lord or lest I be poor and steal and take the name of my God in vain p. 124 ECCLESIASTES Chap. 5. 1. Look to thy foot when thou comest to the House of God and be more ready to obey than to offer the Sacrifice of fools p. 340 Vers 4. 5 6. When thou Vowest a Vow defer not to pay it c. Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin neither say thou before the Angel It was an error p. 345 Vers. 14. he begâ—tâ—eth a Son and there is nothing in his hand pag. 119 CANTICLES Chap. 7. 10. I am my beloved's and his desire is towards me p. 668 ESAY Chap. 2. 2. And it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the tâ—p of the mountains c. and all Nations shall flow unto it p. 135 Chap. 4. 1. Only let thy name be called upon us to take away our reproach p. 5 Chap. 6. 1. I saw the Lord sitting upon a Throne high and lifted up and his Train filled the Temple p. 344 Chap. 7. 14. and shall call his name Emmanuel p. 465 Chap. 8. 12 13. Fear ye not their Fear neither dread ye it Sanctifie the Lord of hosts himself and let him be your Fear and let him be your Dread p. 9 Chap. 9. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quoniam non est obscuratio ei qui angustiae est ipsi p. 457 Vers. 1 2 3. As the first time he made vile or debased the land of Zebulâ—n and the land of Naphtali so in the latter time he shall make it glorious The way of the Sea by Iordan Galilce of the Gentiles the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light c. Thou hast multiplied the Nation and encreased the joy thereof p. 101 457 Vers. 6. And his name shall be called Wonderful Counseller The mighty God c. p. 465 Chap. 11. 15. And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the AEgyptian Sea c. p. 529 Chap. 17. 7. to the Holy one of Israel p. 8 Chap. 19. 5. And the waters shall fail from the Sea p. 463 Chap. 24. 23. The Moon shall be confounded and the Sun ashamed when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Sion p. 448 Chap. 26. 19. Thy dead men shall live my dead bodies shall arise p. 578 Chap. 30. 31 33. Through the voice of the Lord shall the Assyrian be beaten down For Tophet is ordained of old yea for the King it is prepared the pile thereof is fire and much wood the breath of the Lord like a stream of brimstanc doth kindle it p. 31 Chap. 40. 15. He taketh up the Isles as a very little thing p. 273 Chap. 42. 4. The Isles shall wait for this Law Ibid. Chap. 45. 14. The labour of Egypt and merchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabeans c. p. 578 Vers. 20. Assemble your selves and come draw near together ye that are escaped of the Nations p. 915 Chap. 51. 15 16. I am the Lord thy God that divided the Sea whose waves roared And I put my words in thy mouth and covered thee in the shadow of my hand that I might plant the Heavens and lay the Foundation of the Earth and say unto Sion Thou art my people p. 616 448 Chap. 53. 1 2. Who hath believed our report and to whom is the Arm of the Lord revealed For he shall grow as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground p. 38 Chap. 55. 7. Let the wicked for sake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him p. 206 Chap. 66. 19. I will send those that escape of them unto the Nations and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles p. 915 Vers. 23. From one New-Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another shall all flesh come to worship before me p. 841 IEREMY Chap. 2. 10. Poss over to the Isles of Chittim p. 273 Vers. 11. my people have changed their Glory p. 5 Chap. 8. 20. The harvest is past the summer is ended and we are not saved p. 520 Chap. 10. 11. Thus shall ye say unto them The Gods that made not the Heavens and the Earth even they shall perish from the Earth and from under these Heavens p. 187 Chap. 34. 18 19. And I will give the man which have not performed the words of the Covenant which they had made before me when they cut the â—alf in twain and passed between the parts thereof I will give them into the hand of
Cor. 11. 22. Have ye not Houses to eat and drink in or despise ye the Church of God and verse 34. If any man hunger let him eat at home c. c In answer to that Question Whether may the Holy Oblation or Eucharist be celebrated in a common house he affirms That as the Word doth not allow that any common vessel or utensil should be brought into places that are Sacred carried through the Temple Mark 11. 16. so likewise doth it forbid that the Holy Mysteries should be celebrated in a common house For neither would the Old Testament permit any such thing to be done nor our Lord who said There is here one greater than the Temple Matth. 12 6. nor the Apostle saying Have ye not Houses to eat and drink in c. Whâ—nce we may learn That we ought not to take our common supper in the Church nor should we dishonour the Lord's Supper by eating it in a private house But if one be necessitated to communicate in private let him then chuse out the most clean and decent house or room for such a purpose and withal see that he do it in the fittest and most seasonable time d Despise ye the Church of God e Making it a place for common feasts and banquettings f Behold a fourth charge That not the poor only but also the Church it self is injur'd For as hereby thou makest the Lord's Supper a private Supper so thou dealest no better with the Place in that thou usest the Church as a private and ordinary house g If ye come together to feast it do this in your own Houses for to do thus in the Church is a manifest contempt a plain dishonour done to the Church For how can it but seem a thing wholy indecorous and absurd for you to fare deliciously in the Temple of God where the Lord himself is present who hath prepared for us a common table when at the same time those Christians that are poor are hungry and out of countenance by reason of their poverty * Isidorus Pâ—lusiota lib. 2. Ep. 246. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whâ—â—â— note that of two câ—p 〈…〉 place the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈…〉 Copy are deficient in the first them but to bâ— supplied out of this the second or repetition of the same thing as the Reader that considers it will observe the Antithesis requires * Coenacula dicuâ—tur ad quae sâ—â—â—â— ascenditur lest Inde Ennio Coenacula maxima coeli a The Upper room of Sion * For these Traditions see Adricomius ex Nicephor c. and 〈…〉 infra de locis sanctis Iohn 20. 6. Acts 6. Acts 15. Epist. 27. Psal. 87. 1 2. a Her foundations are in the holy mountains the Lord loveth the gates of Sion more than all the dwellings of Iacob Acts 4. 34 35. b In the upper plain of Mount Sion there are cells of Monks encompassing that great Church which was founded there as they say by the Apostles because that there they received the Holy Ghost and there also is to be seen the venerable place of the institution and first celebration of the Lord's Supper 〈…〉 c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The breaking of the Eucharist 1 Cor. 10. 16. a And he came down to Caesarea and went up into the House of the Christians that is the Church and saluted them and departed thence to Antioch Hist. Eccl. l. 2. cap. 17. b Philo having described what kind of habitations they had proceeds to speak of their Churches which were frequently to be met with in several places of their Country How that the Sacred House was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Worshipping-place and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Monastery wherein these solitary livers perfomed the Mysteries of a severely-religious life bringing in thither not meat nor drink nor any other necessaries for the use of the Body but the Books of the Law the Prophets the Psalms or Hymns and the like things of Sacred use whereby Divine knowledge and Piety might be encreased and advanced to great perfection * 〈◊〉 Const. 〈…〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. 〈…〉 David 〈◊〉 canat populus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 extremitates versuum non versuum initia ut male interpres Bovius * He mentions it Hist Eccl. l. 5. cap. 1. * Lib. 7. c. penult a They were so eminently religious as that they converted their own House into a Church Or else it is said The Church at their House because all of their houshold were Believers and faithful Christians so that their House or Family was a little Church b He was a person of great esteem for he turned his House into a Church * Or whosoever else were the Author thereof under Trajan whose then fresh success in subduing the Parthians and Arabians contrary to the unlucky presages of some his scope seems to have been to gratulate See Iacobus Miâ—yllus in Argumento a We passed through iron gates and over brazen thresholds and by many winding ascents we came at last to the house or room whose roof was overlaid with gold not unlike to what Homer makes Menelaus his house to have been And now I beheld and observ'd all things therein but I could see no Helena there but on the contrary a company of persons with their bodies bowed down and pale countenances * Pag. 52. See this of Clemens quoted in Greek and translated by the Author in the next Discourse Sect. 1. toward the end Ab Ann. 100 ad 200. a This passage out of Ignatius is thus translated by the Author in another M S. copy of this Discourse All of you meet together for prayer in one place let there be one prayer common to all one mind one hope in love in the immaculate faith in Iesus Christ than whom nothing is better All of you as one man run to the Temple of God as to one Altar to one Iesus Christ the High-Priest of the unbegotten God b One Altar to every Church and One Bishop with the Presbytery Deacons my fellow-servants 1 Tâ—m 2. 5. c On Sunday all that live in towns or in the country meet together in one place d To set up another Altar e One Altar to all the Church and One Bishop with the Presbytery and Deacons a Let the Door-keepers stand at the entries of the men looking well to them the Deaconisses at the doors where the women were to enter * Holy Porches * Lib. 6. c. 14. al. 21. Vid. Graec. a In Graeco 27. b In Graeco 12. a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vid. Epiphan Exposit Eidâ—i cathol c. 21. De duobus ulâ—imis Const. Apol. l. 8. c. 24 26. b See Act. 11. 26. Sâ—cr lib. 6. c. 8. Tâ—â—od l. 2. c. 24. 2. * In Tom 1 Biblioth Patrum edit Parisâ—â—ns ex Ardâ—ivo Viennensi * The word Missa seems to have been long used in Italy before it was elsewhere a As in