Sabbath and the Christians Satterday and Sunday too because the Sabboth is called Pactum sempiternum Exod. 31. for to that any of Saint Augustines Answeres will serue either that it is called euerlasting because it signified an euerlasting rest where be pleased to note by the way that Holy dayes Sabbaths are not onely instituted for Order but they haue their Mystery and their Signification for Holy dayes Col. 2.16 as the Text calls them there and New Moones and the Sabboth were but shadowes of things to come or else the Sabboth was called euerlasting to them because it bound them euerlastingly and they might neuer intermit it as some other ceremonies they might But their Sabboths bind not vs we depart from them who thinke so and so we doe from them who think we are bound to no Festiualls at all or at least to none but the Sabboth For God requires as much seruice from vs as from the Iewes and to them hee enlarged his Sabboths and made them diuers But those were of Gods immediat institution but all that the Iewes obserued were not so and that 's our next consideration Festiualls instituted by the Church Sine Mandato At first when God was alone it is but Faciamus let vs vs the Trinity make man This was when God was as we may say in Coelibatu But after God hath taken his spouse maried the Church then it is Capite nobis vulpes Cant. 2.15 doe you take the little Foxes you the Church for our vines haue grapes the vines are ours yours and mine sayes Christ to the Church and therfore do you looke to them as well as I. The Tables of the law God himselfe writ and gaue them written to Moses he left none of that to him not a power to make other Lawes like those lawes but for the Tabernacle which concern'd the outward worship of God that was to be made by Moses Exod. 25.9 Iuxta similitudinem according to the paterne which God had shewed him God hath giuen the Church a paterne of Holy dayes in those Sabboths which hee himselfe instituted and according to the paterne the Church hath instituted more and Recte festa Ecclesiae colunt Aug. qui se Ecclesiae filios recognoscunt They who disdaine not the name of sonnes of the Church refuse not to celebrate the daies which are of the Churches institution There was no immediate commandement of God for that Holy day which Mordechai by his letters establish'd Ester 9.23 but yet the Iewes vndertooke to do as Mordechai had written to them There was no such commandement for this Holy day in the Text and yet that was obserued as long as they had any beeing And where the reason remaines the practise may The Iewes did we may institute new Holy dayes And not onely transitory daies for a present thanks giuing for a present benefit but Anniuersaries perpetuall memorials of Gods deliuerances And that 's our next step Anniuersaria Both the Holy dayes which we named before which were instituted with out speciall Commaundement from God were so That of Mordechai he commanded to be kept euery yeare for two dayes and this in the Text Iudas Maccabeus commanded to be kept yearely for eight dayes which was more then was appoynted to any of the Holy dayes instituted by God himselfe for the Festiuall alone According to which paterne Felix one Bishop of Rome ordained that the Festiuals of the Dedication of Churches should bee yearely celebrated in those places Greg. and another extended the Festiuall to eight dayes at least at the first dedication thereof if not euery yeare that God might not onely be put into the possession of the place but setled in it God by Moses made the children of Israel a Song because as hee sayes Deut. 31.19 howsoeuer they did by the Law they would neuer forget that Song that Song should be his witnesse against them Therefore would God haue vs institute solemne memorialls of his great deliuerances that if when those dayes come about we doe not glorifie him that might aggrauate our condemnation Euery fift of August the Lord rises vp to hearken whether we meet to glorifie him for his great deliuerance of his Maiesty before he blest vs with his presence in this Kingdome and when he finds vs zealous in our thankes for that he giues vs farther blessings Certainly he is vp as early euery fift of Nouember to hearken if we meet to glorifie him for that deliuerance still and if hee should finde our zeale lesse then heretofore hee would wonder why Gods principall his radicall Holy day the Sabboth had a weekly returne his other Sabbaths instituted by himselfe and those which were instituted by those paternes that of Mordechai that of the Maccabees those of the Christian Church They all return once a yeare God would keepe his Courts once a yeare and see whether wee make our apparances as heeretofore that if not hee may know it Feastes in generall Feastes instituted by the Church alone Feasts in their yearely returne and obseruation haue their vse and particularly those Feasts of the Dedication of Churches which was properly and literally the Feast of this Text. It was the Feast of Dedication Encania As it diminishes not preiudices not Gods Eternitie that wee giue him his Quando certaine times of Inuocation God is not the lesse yesterday Temple and to day and the same for euer because wee meet here to day and not yesterday so it diminishes not preiudices not Gods Vliquitie and Omnipresence that wee giue him his Vbi certaine places for Inuocation That 's not the lesse true that the most High dwells not in Temples made with handes Acts 7.48 though God accept at our hands our dedication of certaine places to his seruice manifest his working more effectually more energetically in those places then in any other for when we pray Our Father which art in Heauen Chrysostome It is not sayes Saint Chrysostome that wee deny him to bee heere where wee kneele when we say that Prayer but it is that we acknowledge him to be there where he can graunt and accomplish our prayer It is as Origen hath very well expressed it Origen Vt in melioribus mundi requiramus Deum That still wee looke for God in the best places looke for him as he heares our petitions here in the best places of this world in his House in the Church looke for him as he graunts our petition in the best place of the next world at the right hand and in the bosome of the Father Deut. 30.13 When Moses sayes that the word of God is not beyond Sea he addes It is not so beyond Sea as that thou must not haue it without sending thither When he sayes there it is not in heauen he adds not so in heauen as that one must goe vp before hee can haue it The word of
so euident and so remarkable blessings to mens Preaching Consider more particularly that which he hath done now His Maiestie hath accompanied his most gracious Letter to the most Reuerend Father in God my Lords Grace of Canterbury with certaine Directions how Preachers ought to behaue themselues in the exercise of that part of their Ministerie These being deriued from his Grace in due course to his reuerend Brethren the other Bishops our worthy Diocesan euer vigilant for the Peace and vnitie of the Church gaue a speedy very speedy intimation thereof to the Clergie of his Iurisdiction so did others to whom it appertain'd so to doe in theirs Since that his Maiestie who alwayes taking good workes in hand loues to perfect his owne works hath vouchsafed to giue some Reasons of this his proceeding which being signified by him to whom the State and Church owes much The right Reuerend Father in God the Bishop of Lincolne Lord Keeper of the great Seale and after by him also who began at first his Maiesties pleasure appearing thereby as he is too Great and too Good a King to seeke corners or disguises for his actions that these proceedings should be made publique I was not willing only but glad to haue my part therein that as in the feare of God I haue alwaies preached to you the Gospell of Christ Iesus who is the God of your Saluation So in the testimony of a good Conscience I might now preach to you the Gospel of the Holy ghost who is the God of peace of vnitie and concord These Directions then and the Reasons of them by his Maiesties particular care euery man in the Ministery may see write out in the seuerall Registers Offices with his owne hand for nothing and for very little if hee vse the hand of another Perchance you haue at your conuenience you may see them When you do you shall see That his Maiesties generall intention therein is to put a difference between graue and solid from light and humerous preaching Origen does so when vpon the Epistle to the Romanes he sayes There is a great difference Inter praedicare docere A man may teach an Auditory that is make them know something that they knew not before and yet not Preach for Preaching is to make them know things appertaining to their saluation But when men doe neither neither Teach nor Preach but as his Maiestie obserues the manner to bee To soare in poynts too deepe To muster vp their owne Reading To display their owne Wit or Ignorance in medling with Ciuill matters or as his Maiestie addes in rude and vndecent reuiling of persons this is that which hath drawen downe his Maiesties piercing Eye to see it and his Royall care to correct it Hee corrects it by Christs owne way Quid ab initio by considering how it was at first for as himselfe to right purpose cites Tertullian Id verum quod primum That is best which was first Hee would therefore haue vs conuersant in Antiquitie For Nazianzen askes that question with some scorne Quis est qui veritatis propugnatorem vnius diei spatio velut e luto statuam fingit Can any man hope to make a good Preacher as soone as a good Picture In three or foure dayes or with three or foure Books His Maiesty therfore cals vs to look Quid primum what was first in the whole Church And againe Quid primum when we receiued the Reformation in this Kingdom by what meanes as his Maiestie expresseth it Papistry was driuen out and Puritanisme kept out and wee deliuered from the Superstition of the Papist and the madnesse of the Anabaptists as before hee expresseth it and his religious and iudicious eye sees clearly That all that Doctrine which wrought this great cure vpon vs in the Reformation is contained in the two Catechismes in the 39. Articles and in the 2. Bookes of Homilies And to these as to Heads and Abundaries from whence all knowledge necessarie to saluation may abundantly be deriu'd hee directs the meditations of Preachers Are these new wayes No way new for they were our first way in receiuing Christianity and our first way in receiuing the Reformation Take a short view of them all as it is in the Catechismes as it is in the Articles as it is in the Homilies First you are called backe to the practise of Catechising Remember what Catechising is it is Institutio viua voce And in the Primitiue Church when those persons who comming from the Gentiles to the Christian Religion might haue beene scandalized with the outward Ceremoniall and Rituall worship of God in the Church for Ceremonies are stumbling blockes to them who looke vpon them without their Signification and without the reason of their Institution to auoyd that daunger though they were not admitted to see the Sacraments administred nor the other Seruice of God performed in the Church yet in the Church they receiued Instruction Institution by word of mouth in the fundamentall Articles of the Christian Religion and that was Catechising The Christians had it from the beginning and the Iewes had it too for their word Chanach is of that signification Initiare to enter Traine vp a child in the way he should goe Pro. 22.6 and when he is olde hee will not depart from it Traine vp sayes our Translation in the Text Catechise say our Translators in the Margin according to the naturall force of the Hebrew word And Sepher Chinnuch which is Liber Institutionum that is of Catechisme is a Booke well knowne amongst the Iewes euery where where they are now Their Institution is their Catechisme And if wee should tell some men That Caluins Institutions were a Catechisme would they not loue Catechising the better for that name And would they not loue it the better if they gaue me leaue to tell them that of which I had the experience An Artificer of this Citie brought his Childe to mee to admire as truly there was much reason the capacitie the memory especially of the child It was but a Girle and not aboue nine yeares of age her Parents said lesse some yeares lesse wee could scarfe propose any Verse of any Booke or Chapter of the Bible but that that childe would goe forward without Booke I began to Catechise this child and truly shee vnderstood nothing of the Trinitie nothing of any of those fundamentall poynts which must saue vs and the wonder was doubled how she knew so much how so little The Primitiue Church discerned this necessitie of Catechising And therefore they instituted a particular Office a Calling in the Church of Catechisers Which Office as wee see in Saint Cyprians 42. Epistle that great man Optatus exercised at Carthage and Origen at Alexandria When S. Augustine tooke the Epistle and the Gospell and the Psalme of the day for his Text to one Sermon did he thinke you much more then paraphrase then Catechise When Athanasius makes one Sermon and God knowes a
yet that was to receiue another influence an inanimation a quickening by another Consecration Oportet denuo nasci holds euen in the children of Christian parents when they are borne they must be borne again by Baptisme when this place is thus giuen by you for God oportet denuo dari it must be giuen againe to God by him who receiues it of you It must there seems a necessitie to be implied because euen in Nature there was a consecration of holy places Iacob in his iourney Gen. 28.20 before the Law consecrated euen that stone which he set vp in intention to build God a House there In the time of the Law Num. 7.1 this Feast of Dedication was in practise first in the Tabernacle that and all that appertain'd to it was annointed and sanctified So was Salomons Temple after so was that which was reedified after their return from Babylon and so was this in the Text after the Heathen had defiled and profan'd the Altar thereof and a new one was erected by Iudas Maccabeus Thus in Nature thus in Law and thus far thus in the Gospell too that as sure as wee are that the people of God had materiall Churches in the Apostles first times so sure we are that those places had a Sanctitie in them If that place of Saint Paul 1 Cor. 11.22 Despise yee the Church of God be to be vnderstood of the locall of the materiall Church and not of the Congregation you see there is a rebuke for the prophanation of the place and consequently a sanctity in the place But assoone as the Church came euidently by the fauour of Princes to haue liberty to make lawes and power to see them practised it was neuer pretermitted to consecrate the places Before that we find an ordinance by Pope Hyginus he was within 150. after Christ and the eighth Bishop of that See after Saint Peter euen of particulars in the Consecrations But after Athanas Athanasius in his Apologie to Constantius makes that protestation for all Christians That they neuer meet in any Church till it bee consecrated And Constantine the Emperour least hee should be at any time vnprouided of such a place as we read in the Ecclesiasticall story in all his warres carried about with him a Tabernacle which was consecrated In Nature in the Law in the Gospell in Precept in Practise these Consecrations are established Vsus This they did But to what vse did they consecrate them not to one vse only and therfore it is a friuolous contention whether Churches be for preaching or for praying But if Consecration be a kind of Christning of the Church that at the Christning it haue a name wee know what name God hath appoynted for his House Domus mea Domus orationis vocabitur My House shall bee called the House of Prayer And how impudent and inexcusable a falshood is that in Bellarmine That the Lutherans and Caluinistes doe admit Churches for Sermons and Sacraments Sed reprehendunt quod fiant ad orandum They dislike that they should be for Prayer when as Caluin himselfe who may seeme to bee more subiect to this reprehension then Luther for there is no such Liturgie in the Caluinists Churches as in the Lutheran yet in that very place which Bellarmine cites sayes Conceptae preces in Ecclesia Deo gratae and for singing in Churches which in that place of Caluin cannot be only meant of Psalmes for it was of that manner of singing which being formerly in vse in the Easterne churches S. Ambrose in his time brought into the Church of Millan and so it was deriud ouer the Western churches which was the modulation and singing of Versicles and Antiphons and the like this singing sayes Caluin was in vse amongst the Apostles themselues Et sanctissimum saluberimum est institutum l. 3.20 § 32. It was a most holy and most profitable Institution Still consider Consecration to be a Christning of the place and though we find them often called Templa propter Sacrificia for our sacrifices of praier and of praise of the merits of Christ and often called Ecclesiae ad conciones Churches in respect of congregations for preaching and often call'd Martyria for preseruing with respect and honor the bodies of Martyrs and other Saints of God there buried often often by other names Dominica Basilica and the like yet the name that God gaue to his house is not Concionatorium nor Sacramentarium but Oratorium the House of Prayer And therefore without preiudice to the other functions too for as there is a vae vpon me Si non Euangelizauero If I preach not my selfe so may that vae be multiplied vpon any who would draw that holy ordinance of God into a dis-estimatiō or into a slacknesse let vs neuer intermit that dutie to present our selues to God in these places though in these places there bee then no other Seruice but Common prayer For then doth the House answere to that name which God hath giuen it if it be a house of Prayer Modus Thus then were these places to receiue a double Dedication a Dedication which was a Donation from the Patron a Dedication which was a consecration from the Bishop for to his person and to that ranke in the Hierarchy of the Church the most ancient Canons limited it and to those purposes which wee haue spoken of of which Prayer is so farre from being none as that there is none aboue it A little should be said before wee shut vp this part of the manner the forme of Consecrations In which in the Primitiue Church assoone as Consecrations came into free vse they were full of Ceremonies And many of those Ceremonies deriu'd from the Iewes and not vnlawfull for that The Ceremonies of the Iewes which had their foundation in the prefiguration of Christ and were types of him were vnlawfull after Christ was come because the vse of them then implyed a deniall or a doubt of his being come But those Ceremonies which though the Iewes vsed them had their foundation in Nature as bowing of the knee lifting vp the eyes and hands and many very many others which either testified their deuotion that did them or exalted their deuotion that sawe them done are not therefore excluded the Church because they were in vse amongst the Iewes That Pope whom we named before Hyginus the eighth after Saint Peter he instituted Ne Basilica sine Missa consecretur That no Church bee consecrated without a Masse If this must binde vs to a Masse of the present Romane Church it were hard and yet not very hard truely for they are easily had But that word Masse is in Saint Ambrose in Saint Augustine in some very ancient Councels and surely intends nothing to this purpose but the Seruice the Common Prayer of the Church then in vse there And when the Bishop Panigarola sayes in his Sermon vpon Whitsunday that the Holy Ghost found the blessed
Virgin and the Apostles at Masse I presume hee meanes no more then that they were mett at such publique Prayer as at those times they might make Sure Pope Clemens and Pope Hyginus meane the same thing when one sayes Missa consecretur and the other Diuinis Precibus One sayes Let the Consecration bee with a Masse the other with Diuine Seruice the Liturgie the Diuine Seruice was then the Masse In a word a constant forme of Consecrations wee finde none that goes through our Ritualls the Ceremonies were still more or lesse as they were more or lesse obnoxious or might bee subiect to scandalize or to be mis-interpreted And therefore I am not heere either to direct or so much as to remember that which appertaines to the manner of these Consecrations onely in concurring in that which is the Soule of all humble and heartie prayer that God will heare his Seruants in this place I shall not offend to say that I am sure my zeale is inferiour to none And more I say not of the first Part The Holy place and but a little more of the other though at first it were proposed for an equall part The Holy Person That at the Feast of the Dedication Iesus walked in the Temple in Salomons Porch 2. Part. In this second part wee did not spread the words nor shed our considerations vpon many particulars the first was Jesus in Temple that euen Iesus himselfe had recourse to this Holy place In the new Ierusalem in Heauen there is no Temple Apo. 21.22 I saw no Temple there sayes Saint Iohn for the Lord God Almightie and the Lambe are the Temple of it In Heauen where there is no danger of falling there is no need of assistance Heere the Temple is called Gnazar 2. Paral. 4.9 that is Auxilium A Helper the strongest that is needs the helpe of the Church And it is called Sanctificium by Saint Hierom Psal 78.69 a place that is not onely made holy by Consecration but that makes others holy by GOD in it And therefore Christ himselfe whose person and presence might consecrate the Sanctum Sanctorum would yet make his often repayre to this Holy place not that hee needed this subsidie of Locall holinesse in himselfe but that his example might bring others who did neede it and those who did not and that euen his owne Preaching might haue the benefite and the blessing of Gods Ordinance in that place hee sayes of himselfe Math. 26. Quotidie apud vos sedebam docens in Templo and Semper docui in Synagoga in Templo as in the Actes the Angell that had deliuered the Apostles out of prison sends them to Church Actes 5. Stantes in Templo loquimini plebi The Apostles were sent to preach but to preach in the Temple in the place appropriated and consecrated for that holy vse and employment Tempus He came to this place and he came at those times which no immediate command of God but the Church had instituted Facta sunt Encaenia sayes the Text It was the Feast of the Dedication Wee know what Dedication this was That of Salomon was much greater A Temple built where none was before That of Esdras at the returne was much greater then this An intire reedification of that demolished Temple where it was before This was but a zealous restoring of an Altar in the Temple which hauing beene prophaned by the Gentiles the Iewes themselues threw downe and erected a new and dedicated that Salomons Dedication is called a Feast 2 Chr. 5.3 a Holy day by the very same name that the Feast of vnleauened bread and the Feast of the Tabernacle is called so often in Scripture which is Kag The Dedication of Ezra Ezra 6.16 is sufficiently declared to bee a solemne Feast too But neither of these Feastes though of farre greater Dedications were Anniuersarie neither commanded to be kept euery yeare and yet this which was so much lesser then the others the Church had put vnder that Obligation to bee kept euery yeare and Christ himselfe contemnes not condemnes not disputes not the institution of the Church But as for matter of doctrine hee sends euen his owne Disciples to them who sate in Moses Chayre so for matter of Ceremony he brings euen his owne person to the celebrating to the authorizing to the countenancing of the Institutions of the Church and rests in that Now it was Winter sayes the Text Etsi Hyems Christ came etsi Hyems though it were Winter so small an inconuenience kept him not off Beloued it is not alway colder vpon Sunday then vpon Satterday nor at any time colder in the Chappell then in Westminster Hall A thrust keepes some off in Summer and colde in Winter and there are more of both these in other places where for all that they are more content to be Remember that Peter was warming himselfe and hee denyed Christ They who loue a warme bed let it bee a warme Studie let it bee a warme profit better then this place they deny CHRIST in his Institution That therefore which CHRIST sayes Pray that your flight bee not in the Winter Mat. 24.20 nor vpon the Sabboth we may apply thus Pray that vpon the Sabboth I tolde you at first what were Sabboths the Winter make you not flie not abstaine from this place Put off thy shooes Exod. 35. sayes God to Moses for the place is holy ground When Gods ordinance by his Church call you to this holy place put off those shoes all those earthly respects of ease or profit Christ came Etsi Hyems But then Quia Hyems Quia Hyems Because it was Winter Hee did walke in Salomons Porch which was couered not in Atrio in that part of the Temple which was open and expos'd to the weather We doe not say that infirme and weak men may not fauour themselues in a due care of their health in these places That he who is not able to raise himselfe must alwayes stand at the Gospell or bow the knee at the name of Iesus or stay some whole houres altogether vncouered heere if that increase infirmities of that kinde And yet Courts of Princes are strange Bethesdaes how quickly they recouer any man that is brought into that Poole How much a little change of ayre does and how well they can stand and stand bare many houres in the Priuy Chamber that would melt and flowe out into Rhumes and Catarrs in a long Gospell heere But Citra Scandalum a man may fauour himselfe in these places but yet this excuses not the irreuerent manner which hath ouertaken vs in all these places That any Master may thinke himselfe to haue the same libertie heere as in his owne house or that that Seruant that neuer puts on his hat in his Masters presence all the weeke on Sunday when hee and his Master are in Gods presence should haue his hat on perchance before his Masters
Christ shall make Master and Seruant equall but not yet not heere nor euer equall to himselfe how euer they become equall to one another Gods seruice is not a continuall Martyrdome that a man must bee heere and here in such a posture and such a manner though hee dye for it but Gods House is no Ordinary neither where any man may pretend to doe what he will and euery man may doe what any man does Christ slept in a storme I dare not make that generall let all doe so Christ fauoured himselfe in the Church I dare not make that generall neither to make all places equall or all persons equall in any place T is time to end Basil Saint Basill himselfe as acceptable as hee was to his Auditory in his second Sermon vpon the 14. Psalme takes knowledge that hee had preached an houre and therefore broke off I see it is a Compasse that all Ages haue thought sufficient But as we haue contracted the consideration of great Temples to this lesser Chappell so let vs contract the Chappell to our selues Et facta sint Encaenia nostra let this be the Feast of the Dedication of our selues to God Christ calls himselfe a Temple Soluite templum hoc Iohn 2.19 Destroy this Temple 1 Cor. 3.16 6.19 And Saint Paul calls vs so twice Know ye not that ye are the Temples of the Holy Ghost Facta sint Encaenia nostra Encaenia signifies Renouationem a renewing Aug. and Saint Augustine sayes that in his time Si quis noua tunica indueretur Encaeniare diceretur If any man put on a new garment hee called it by that name Encaenia sua Much more is it so if wee renew in our selues the Image of God and put off the Olde man and put on the Lord Iesus Christ This is truly Encaeniare to dedicate to renew our selues Nazian and so Nazian in a Sermon or Oration vpon the like occasion as this calls Conuersionem nostram Encaenia our turning to God in a true repentance or renewing our dedication Let mee charge your memories but with this note more That when God forbad Dauid the building of an House Because hee was a man of blood at that time Dauid had not embrued his hands in Vriahs blood nor shed any blood but lawfully in iust warres yet euen that made him vncapable of this fauour to prouide God a house Some callings are in their nature more obnoxious and more exposed to sinne then others are accompanied with more tentations so retard vs more in holy duties And therefore as there are particular sinnes that attend certaine places certaine ages certaine complexions and certaine vocations let vs watch our selues in all those and remember that not only the highest degrees of those sinns but any thing that conduces therunto prophanes the Consecration and Dedication of this Temple our selues to the seruice of God it annihilates our repentance and frustrates our former reconciliations to him Almighty God worke in you a perfit dedication of your selues at this time that so receiuing it from hands dedicated to God hee whose holy Office this is may present acceptably this House to God in your behalfes and establish an assurance to you that God will be alwayes present with you and your Succession in this place Amen THE FIRST SERMON PREACHED TO KING CHARLES At Saint IAMES 3o. April 1625. By IOHN DONNE Deane of Saint Pauls London LONDON Printed by A. M. for THOMAS IONES and are to bee sold at his Shop at the Signe of the Blacke Rauen in the Strand 1625. PSALME 11.3 If the Foundations be destroyed what can the righteous doe WEe are still in the season of Mortification in Lent But wee search no longer for Texts of Mortification The Almightie hand of God hath shed and spred a Text of Mortification ouer all the land The last Sabboth day was his Sabboth who entred then into his euerlasting Rest Be this our Sabboth to enter into a holy and thankfull acknowledgement of that Rest which God affords vs in continuing to vs our Foundations for If foundations be destroyed what can the righteous doe I scarse know any word in the Word of God in which the Originall is more ambiguous and consequently the Translations more various and therfore necessarily also the Expositions more diuers then in these words There is one thing in which all agree that is the Argument and purpose and scope of the Psalme And then in what sense the words of the Text may conduce to the scope of the Psalme wee rest in this Translation which our Church hath accepted and authorized and which agrees with the first Translation knowen to vs by way of Exposition that is the Chalde Paraphrase If Foundations bee destroyed what can the righteous doe The Church of God euer delighted herselfe in a holy officiousnesse in the Commemoration of Martyrs Almost all their solemne and extraordinarie Meetings and Congregations in the Primitiue Church were 〈◊〉 that for the honourable Commemoration of Martyrs And for that they came soone to institute and appoynt certaine Liturgies certaine Offices as they called them certaine Seruices in the Church which should haue reference to that to the Commemoration of Martyrs as wee haue in our Booke of Common Prayer certaine Seruices for Marriage for Buriall and for such other holy Celebrations And in the Office and Seruice of a Martyr the Church did vse this Psalme This Psalme which is in generall a Protestation of Dauid That though hee were so vehemently pursued by Saul as that all that wished him well sayd to his Soule Flie as a Bird to the Mountaine as it is in the first verse Though hee saw That the wicked had bent their Bowes and made ready their Arrowes vpon the string that they might priuily shoot at the vpright in heart as it is in the second verse Though he take it almost as granted that Foundations are destroyed And then what can the righteous doe as it is in the third verse which is our Text yet in this distresse he findes what to doe For as hee begunne in the first verse In thee Lord put I my trust So after he had passed the enumeration of his dangers in the second and third verses in the fourth he pursues it as he begun The Lord is in his holy Temple the Lords Throane is in Heauen And in the fifth hee fixes it thus The Lord tryeth the Righteous he may suffer much to be done for their triall but the wicked and him that loueth violence his soule hateth This then is the Syllogisme this is the Argumentation of the righteous Man In Collaterall things in Circumstantiall things in things that are not fundamentall a righteous Man a constant Man should not bee shaked at all not at all Scandalized That 's true But then in a second place sometimes it comes to that That Foundations are destroyd and what can the Righteous doe then Why euen then this is a question not
should declare what should bee Heresie and hauing declared that to bee Heresie which opposed or retarded the dignitie of that Church now they call in Brachium Spirituale All those Sentences of Fathers or Councells that mention Heresie and they call in Brachium Saeculare all those Lawes which punish Heresie and whereaâ— these Fathers and Councells and States intended by Heresie Opinions that destroyed Foundations they bend all these against euery poynt which may endammage not the Church of God but the Church of Rome nor the Church of Rome but the Court of Rome nor the Court of Rome but the Kitchin of Rome not for the Heart but for the Bellie not the Religion but the Policie not the Altar but the Exchequer of Rome But the Righteous lookes to Foundations before hee will bee scandalized himselfe or condemne another When they call Saint Peter their first Pope and being remembred how hee denied his Master say then that was but an Acte of Infirmitie not of Infidelitie and there were no Foundations destroyed in that wee presse not that euidence against Saint Peter wee forbeare and wee are quiet When wee charge some of Saint Peters imaginary Successors some of their Popes with actuall and personall Sacrificing to Idoles some with subscribing to formall Heresies with their owne hand many with so enormous an ill life as that their owne Authors will say that for many yeares together there liued not one Pope of whose Saluation any hope could bee conceiued and they answere to all this that all these were but Personall faults and destroyed no Foundations wee can bee content to bury their faultes with their persons and wee are quiet When wee remember them how many of the Fathers excused officious Lyes and thought some kinde of Lying to bee no Sinne how very many of them hearded in the heresie of the Millenarians That the Saints of God should enioy a thousand yeares of temporall felicity in this world after their Resurrection before they ascended into Heauen And that they say to all this The Fathers said these things before the Church had decreed any thing to the contrary and till that it was lawfull for any man to say or thinke what hee would wee do not load the memory of those blessed Fathers with any heauier pressings but wee are quiet Yet wee cannot chuse but tell them that tell vs this that they haue taken a hard way to make that saying true that all things are growen deare in our times for they haue made Saluation deare Threescore yeares agoe a man might haue beene sau'd at halfe the price hee can now Threescore yeares agoe he might haue beene saued for beleeuing the Apostles Creed now it will cost him the Trent Creed too Euermore they will presse for all and yeeld nothing and there is indeed their Specification there 's their Character that 's their Catholique their Vniuersall To haue all As in Athanasius his time when the Emperour pressed him to affoord the Arrians one Church in Alexandria where hee was Bishop and hee asked but one Church in Antioch where the Arrians preuayled not doubting but hee should draw more â—o the true Church in Antioch then they should corrupt in Alexandria yet this would not bee granted It would not be granted at Rome if we should aske a Church for a Church In a word wee charge them with vncharitablenesse and Charitie is without all Controuersie a Foundation of Religion that they will so peremptorily exclude vs from Heauen for matters that doe not appertaine to Foundations For if they will call all Foundations that that Church hath or doth or shall decree wee must learne our Catechisme vpon our Death-bedd and inquire for the Articles of our Faith when wee are going out of the world for they may haue decreed something that Morning No one Author of theirs denied Pope Ioane till they discerned the Consequence That by confessing a Woman Pope they should disparage that Succession of Bishops which they pretend And this Succession must bee Foundation No Author of our side denied Saint Peters beeing at Rome till wee discerned the Consequence That vpon his personall being there they grounded a Primacie in that Sea And this Primacie must bee Foundation Much might bee admitted in cases of Indifferencie euen in the Nature of the things Much in cases of Necessitie for the importance of Circumstances much in cases of Conueniency for the suppling of boysterous and for the becalming of tempestuous humours but when euery thing must be called Foundation we shall neuer knowe where to stop where to consist If wee should beleeue their Sacrificium incruentum their vnbloody Sacrifice in the Masse if wee did not beleeue their Sacrificium Cruentum too that there was a power in that Church to sacrifice the Blood of Kings wee should bee sayde to bee defectiue in a fundamentall Article If wee should admitt their Metaphysiques their transcendent Transubstantiation and admitt their Chimiques their Purgatorie Fires and their Mythologie and Poetrie their apparitions of Soules and Spirits they would binde vs to their Mathematiques too and they would not let vs bee saued except wee would reforme our Almanackes to their tenne dayes and reforme our Clockes to their foure and twentie for who can tell when there is an ende of Articles of Faith in an Arbitrarie and in an Occasionall Religion When then this Prophet sayes If Foundations bee destroyed what can the righteous doe hee meanes that till that the righteous should bee quiet Except it were in fundamentall Articles of Faith our selues should not bee so bitter towards one another our Aduersarie should not bee so vncharitable against vs all And farther wee need not extend this first Consideration The second is 2. Part. to Suruay some such Foundations as fall within the frayltie and suspition and possibilitie of this Text that they may bee destroyed for when the Prophet sayes If they bee they may bee Now Fundamentum proprie de aedificijs dicitur sayes the Lawe when wee speake of Foundations wee intend a house and heere wee extend this House to foure Considerations for in foure Houses haue euery one of vs a dwelling For first Ecclesia Domus the Church is a House it is Gods house and in that House wee are of the householde of the faithfull if as it is testified of Moses wee bee faithfull in all his House Hebr. 3.5 as Seruants You see there is a faithfulnesse required in euery man in all the house of God not in any one roome a disposition required to doe good to the whole Church of God euery where and not onely at home Secondly Respublica Domus The Commonwealth the State the Kingdome is a House and this is that which is called so often Domus Israel The house of Israel the State the Gouernment of the Iewes And in this House God dwells as well as in the other In the State as well as in the Church For these words The Lord hath chosen Sion Psa 132.13
of this House the foundation is the Law And therefore Saint Hierome referres this Text in a litterall and primary signification to that to the Law for so in his Commentaries vpon the Psalmes he translates this Text Si dissipatae Leges Hee makes the euacuating of the Law this destroying of foundations Lex communis Reipub. sponsio sayes the Law it selfe The Law is the mutuall the reciprocall Suretie betweene the State and the Subiect The Lawe is my Suretie to the State that I shall pay my Obedience And the Lawe is the States Suretie to mee that I shall enioy my Protection And therefore therein did the Iewes iustly exalt themselues aboue all other Nations That God was come so much nearer to them then to other Nations by how much they had Lawes and Ordinances more righteous then other Nations had Now as it is sayd of the Foundations of the other House the Temple The King commaunded in the laying thereof the King had his hand in the Church so is it also in this House the State the Common-wealth the King hath his hand in and vpon the foundation here also which is the Lawe so farre as that euery forbearing of a Lawe is not an Euacuating of the Law euery Pardon whether a Post-pardon by way of mercy after a Lawe is broken or a Prae-pardon by way of Dispensation in wisedome before a Lawe bee broken is not a Destroying of this foundation For when such things as these are done Iuo Non astu Mentientis sed affectu compatientis not vpon colourable disguises nor priuate respects but truely for the Generall good all these Pardons and Dispensations conduce and concurre to the Office and contract the Nature of the Foundation it selfe which is that the whole Bodie may bee the better supported But where there is an inducing of a super-Soueraigne and a super-Supremacie and a Sea aboue our foure Seas and a Horne aboue our Head and a forraine Power aboue our Natiue and naturall Power where there are dogmaticall Positiue Assertions that men borne of vs and liuing with vs and by vs are yet none of vs no Subiects owe no Allegeance this is a wrinching a shrinking a sinking an vndermining a destroying of Foundations the Foundation of this second House which is the State the Law The third House that falles into our present Suruay Domus Domicilium is Domus quae Domicilium Domus habitationis our Dwelling house or Family and of this house the foundation is Peace for Peace compacts all the peeces of a family together Husband and Wife in Loue and in Obedience Father and Sonne in Care and in Obedience Master and Seruant in Discipline and in Obedience Still Obedience is one Ingredient in all Peace there is no Peace where there is no Obedience Now euery smoke does not argue the house to bee on fire Euery domestique offence taken or giuen does not destroy this Foundation this Peace within doores There may bee a Thunder from aboue and there may bee an Earth-quake from below and yet the foundation of the House safe From aboue there may bee a defect in the Superiour in the Husband the Father the Master and from below in the Wife the Sonne the Seruant There may bee a Iealousie in the Husband a Morositie in the Father an Imperiousnesse in the Master And there may bee an inobsequiousnesse and an indiligence in the Wife there may bee leuitie and inconsideration in the Sonne and there may bee vnreadinesse vnseasonablenesse in a Seruant and yet Foundations stand and Peace maintayned though not by an exquisite performing of all duties yet by a mutuall support of one anothers infirmities This destroyes no Foundation But if there bee a windowe opened in the house to let in a Iesuiticall firebrand that shall whisper though not proclaime deliuer with a non Dominus sed Ego that though it bee not a declared Tenet of the Church yet hee thinkes that in case of Heresie Ciuill and Naturall and Matrimoniall duties cease no Ciuill no Naturall no Matrimoniall Tribute due to an Heretique Or if there bee such a fire kindled within doores that the Husbands iealousie come to a Substraction of necessary meanes at home or to Defamation abroad or the Wiues leuitie induce iust Imputation at home or scandall abroad If the Fathers wastfulnesse amount to a Disinheriting because hee leaues nothing to bee inherited Or the Sonnes incorrigiblenesse occasion a iust disinheriting though there bee enough If the Master make Slaues of Seruants and macerate them or the Seruants make prize of the Master and prey vpon him in these cases and such as these there is a wrinching a shrinking a sinking an vnderming a destroying of Foundations the Foundation of this third House which is the family Peace Domus Dominus There remaines yet another House a fourth House a poore and wretched Cottage worse then our Statute Cottages for to them the Statute layes out certaine Acres but for these Cotages wee measure not by Acres but by Feete and fiue or sixe foote serues any Cottager so much as makes a Graue makes vp the best of our Globe that are of the Inferiour and the best of their Temporalties that are of the Superiour Cleargie and the best of their Demeanes that are in the greatest Soueraigntie in this world for this house is but our selfe and the foundation of this House is Conscience For this proceeding with a good Conscience in euery particular action is that which the Apostle calles 1 Tim. 6.19 The laying vp in store for our selues a good foundation against the time to come The House comes not till the time to come but the Foundation must bee layde heere Abraham looked for a Citie Heb. 11.10 that was a future expectation but sayes that Text it was a Citie that hath a foundation the foundation was layd alreadie euen in this life in a good Conscience For no interest no mansion shall that Man haue in the vpper-roomes of that Ierusalem that hath not layd the foundation in a good Conscience heere But what is Conscience Conscience hath but these two Elements Knowledge and Practise for Conscientia presumit Scientiam Hee that does any thing with a good Conscience knowes that hee should doe it and why hee does it Hee that does good ignorantly stupidly inconsiderately implicitely does good but hee does that good ill Conscience is Syllagismus practicus vpon certaine premisses well debated I conclude that I should doe it and then I doe it Now for the destroying of this foundation there are sinnes which by Gods ordinary grace exhibited in his Church prooue but Alarums but Sentinells to the Conscience The very sinne or something that does naturally accompany that sinne Pouertie or Sickenesse or Infamie calls vpon a man and awakens him to a remorse of the sinne Which made Saint Augustine say That a man got by some sinnes some sinnes helpe him in the way of repentance for sinne and these sinnes doe not destroy the
foundation But there are sinnes which in their nature preclude repentance batter the Conscience deuastate depopulate exterminate annihilate the Conscience and leaue no sense at all or but a sense of Desperation And then the case being reduc'd to that Sap. 17.11 That wickednes condemned by her owne wickednes becomes very timerous so as the Conscience growes afrayd that the promises of the Gospell belong not to her And as it is added there beeing pressed with Conscience alwayes forecasteth grieuous things that whatsoeuer God layes vpon him heere all that is but his earnest of future worse torments when it comes to such a Feare as as it is added in the next verse Betrayes the succours that Reason offers him ver 12. That whereas in reason a man might argue God hath pardoned greater sinnes and greater sinners yet hee can finde no hope for himselfe this is a shrinking a sinking an vndermining a destroying of this Foundation of this fourth House the Conscience And farther wee proceed not in this Suruay Wee are now vpon that which we proposed for our last Consideration 3. Part. Till foundations are shaked the righteous stirres not In some cases some foundations may be shaked if they be what can the righteous doe The holy Ghost neuer askes the question what the vnrighteous the wicked can doe They doe well enough best of all in such cases Demolitions and Ruines are their raisings Troubles are their peace Tempests are their calmes Fires and combustions are their refreshings Massacres are their haruest and Destruction is their Vintage All their Riuers runne in Eddies and all their Centers are in wheeles and in perpetuall motions the wicked do well enough best of all then but what shall the righteous do The first entrance of the Psalme in the first verse seemes to giue an answere The righteous may flie to the Mountaine as a Bird he may retire withdraw himselfe But then the generall scope of the Psalme giues a Reply to the Answere for all Expositors take the whole Psalme to bee an answere from Dauid and giuen with some indignation against them who perswaded him to flie or retire himselfe Not that Dauid would constitute a Rule in his Example that it was vnlawfull to flie in a time of danger or persecution for it would not bee hard to obserue at least nine or ten seuerall flights of Dauid but that in some cases such circumstances of Time and Place and Person may accompany and inuest the action as that it may bee inconuenient for that Man at that Time to retire himselfe As oft as the retyring amounts to the forsaking of a Calling it will become a very disputable thing how farre a retyring may bee lawfull Saint Peters vehement zeale in disswading Christ from going vp to Ierusalem Mat. 16.21 in a time of danger was so farre from retarding Christ in that purpose as that it drew a more bitter increpation from Christ vpon Peter then at any other time So then in the Text we haue a Rule implyed Something is left to the righteous to doe though some Foundations bee destroyed for the words are words of Consultation and consultation with God when Man can afford no Counsayle God can and will direct those that are his the righteous what to doe The words giue vs the Rule and Christ giues vs the Example in himselfe First hee continues his Innocencie and auowes that the destroying of Foundations does not destroy his Foundation Innocence still hee is able to confound his aduersaries Ioh. 8.46 with that Which of you can conuince mee of sinne And then hee prayes for the remoouing of the persecution Transeat Calix let this Cup passe When that might not bee hee prayes euen for them who inflicted this persecution Pater ignosce Father forgiue them And when all is done hee suffers all that can bee done vnto him And hee calls his whole Passion Horam suam it spent nights and dayes his whole life was a continuall Passion yet how long soeuer he calls it but an Houre and how much soeuer it were their act the act of their malignitie that did it yet hee calls it his because it was the act of his owne Predestination as God vpon himselfe as Man And hee calles it by a more acceptable Name then that hee calles his Passion Calicem suum his Cup because hee brought not onely a patience to it but a delight and a ioy in it for for the ioy that was set before him Hebr. 12.2 hee endured the Crosse All this then the righteous can doe though Foundations bee destroyed Hee can withdrawe himselfe if the duties of his place make not his residence necessarie If it doe hee can pray and then hee can suffer and then hee can reioyce in his sufferings and hee can make that protestation Our God is able to deliuer vs Dan. 3.17 and hee will deliuer vs but if not wee will serue no other Gods For the righteous hath euermore this refuge this assurance that though some Foundations bee destroyed all cannot bee for first The foundation of God stands sure 2 Tim. 2.19 and hee knowes who are his Hee is safe in God and then he is safe in his owne Conscience Pro. 10.25 for The Righteous is an euerlasting foundation not onely that he hath one but is one and not a temporary but an euerlasting Foundation So that foundations can neuer bee so destroyed but that hee is safe in God and safe in himselfe Domus Ecclesia For such things then as concerne the foundation of the first House the Church Bee not apt to call Super-Edifications Foundations Collaterall Diuinitie Fundamentall Diuinitie Problematicall Disputable Controuertible poynts poynts Essentiall and Articles of Faith Call not Super-Edifications Foundations nor call not the furniture of the House Foundations Call not Ceremoniall and Rituall things Essentiall parts of Religion and of the worship of God otherwise then as they imply Disobedience for Obedience to lawfull Authoritie is alwayes an Essentiall part of Religion Doe not Anti-date Miserie doe not Prophesie Ruine doe not Concurre with Mischiefe nor Contribute to Mischiefe so farre as to ouer-feare it before nor to mis-interprete their wayes whose Ends you cannot knowe And doe not call the cracking of a pane of glasse a Destroying of foundations But euery man doing the particular duties of his distinct Calling for the preseruation of Foundations Praying and Preaching and Doing and Counsailing and Contributing too Foundations beeing neuer destroyed the Righteous shall doe still as they haue done enioy God manifested in Christ and Christ applyed in the Scriptures which is the foundation of the first House the Church For things concerning the Foundation of the second House Respub Domus the Common-wealth which is the Lawe Dispute not Lawes but obey them when they are made In those Councells where Lawes are made or reformed dispute but there also without particular interest without priuate affection without personall relations Call
not euery entrance of such a Iudge as thou thinkest insufficient a corrupt entrance nor euery Iudgement which hee enters and thou vnderstandest not or likest not a corrupt Iudgement As in Naturall things it is a weakenesse to thinke that euery thing that I knowe not how it is done is done by Witch-craft So is it also in Ciuill things if I know not why it is done to thinke it is done for Money Let the Law bee sacred to thee and the Dispensers of the Law reuerend Keepe the Lawe and the Lawe shall keepe thee And so Foundations being neuer destroyed the Righteous shall doe still as they haue done enioy their Possessions and Honours and themselues by the ouershadowing of the Lawe which is the Foundation of the second House the State For those things which concerne the Foundations of the third House Domus Domicilium the Family Call not light faults by heauie Names Call not all sociablenesse and Conuersation Disloyaltie in thy Wife Nor all leuitie or pleasurablenesse Incorrigiblenesse in thy Sonne nor all negligence or forgetfulnesse Perfidiousnesse in thy Seruant Nor let euery light disorder within doores shut thee out of doores or make thee a stranger in thine owne House In a smoakie roome it may bee enough to open a Windowe without leauing the place In Domestique vnkindnesses and discontents it may bee wholesomer to giue them a Concoction at home in a discreete patience or to giue them a vent at home in a moderate rebuke then to thinke to ease them or put them off with false diuertions abroad As States subsist in part by keeping their weakenesses from being knowen so is it the quiet of Families to haue their Chauncerie and their Parliament within doores and to compose and determine all emergent differences there for so also Foundations beeing kept vndestroyed the righteous shall doe as they should doe enioy a Religious Vnitie and a Ciuill Vnitie the same Soule towards God the same heart towards one another in a holy and in a happy Peace and Peace is the foundation of this third House The Family Domus Dominus Lastly for those things which concerne the Foundations of the fourth House Our selues Mis-interprete not Gods former Corrections vpon thee how long how sharpe soeuer Call not his Phisicke poyson nor his Fish Scorpions nor his Bread Stone Accuse not God for that hee hath done nor suspect not God for that hee may doe as though God had made thee onely because hee lacked a man to damne In all scruples of Conscience say with Saint Peter Domine quo vadam Lord whither shall I goe thou hast the Word of eternall life And God will not leaue thee in the darke In all oppression from potent Aduersaries say with Dauid Tibi soli peccaui Against thee O Lord onely haue I sinned And God will not make the malice of another man his Executioner vpon thee Crie to him and if hee haue not heard thee crie lowder and crie oftner The first way that God admitted thee to him was by VVater the water of Baptisme Goe still the same way to him by Water by repentant Teares And remember still that when Ezechias wept Vidit lachrymam God saw his Teare His Teare in the Singular God sawe his first teare euery seuerall teare If thou thinke God haue not done so by thee Continue thy teares till thou finde hee doe The first way that Christ came to thee was in Blood when hee submitted himselfe to the Lawe in Circumcision And the last thing that hee bequeathed to thee was his Blood in the Institution of the Blessed Sacrament Refuse not to goe to him the same way too if his glorie require that Sacrifice If thou pray and hast an apprehension that thou hearest God say hee will not heare thy prayers doe not beleeue that it is hee that speakes If thou canst not chuse but beleeue that it is hee let mee say in a pious sense doe not beleeue him God would not bee beleeued in denouncing of Iudgements so absolutely so peremptorily as to bee thought to speake vnconditionally illimitedly God tooke it well at Dauids hands that when the Prophet had tolde him The childe shall surely die yet hee beleeued not the Prophet so peremptorily but that hee proceeded in Prayer to God for the life of the childe Say with Dauid Thou hast beene a strong Tower to mee Psal 61.4 I will abide in thy Tabernacle 62.7 Et non Emigrabo I will neuer goe out I know thou hast a Church I know I am in it and I will neuer depart from it and so Foundations beeing neuer destroyed the righteous shall doe as the righteous haue alwayes done enioy the Euidence and the Verdict and the Iudgement and the Possession of a good Conscience which is the Foundation of this fourth House First gouerne this first House Thy selfe well and as Christ sayde hee shall say againe Thou hast beene faithfull in a little take more Hee shall enlarge thee in the next House Thy Family and the next The State and the other The Church till hee say to thee as hee did to Ierusalem after all his other Blessings Et prosperata es in Regnum Now I haue brought thee vp to a Kingdome A Kingdome where not onely no Foundations can bee destroyed but no stone shaked and where the Righteous know alwayes what to doe to glorifie God in that incessant Acclamation Saluation to our God who sits vpon the Throne and to the Lambe And to this Lambe of God who hath taken away the sinnes of the world and but changed the Sunnes of the world who hath complicated two wondrous workes in one To make our Sunne to set at Noone and to make our Sunne to rise at Noone too That hath giuen him Glorie and not taken away our Peace That hath exalted him to Vpper-roomes and not shaked any Foundations of ours To this Lambe of God the glorious Sonne of God and the most Almightie Father and the Blessed Spirit of Comfort three Persons and one God bee ascribed by vs and the whole Church the Triumphant Church where the Father of blessed Memorie raignes with God and the Militant Church where the Sonne of blessed Assurance raignes for God All Power Praise Might Maiestie Glory and Dominion now and for euer Amen FINIS Errat Pag. 12. l. 17. for Cause read Lawes pa 43. l. 20. for Syllagismus r. Syllogismus A SERMON PREACHED TO THE KINGS M tie AT WHITEHALL 24. Febr. 1625. By IOHN DONNE Deane of Saint Pauls London And now by his Maiestes commandment Published LONDON Printed for THOMAS IONES dwelling at the Blacke Rauen in the Strand 1626. TO HIS SACRED MAIESTIE MOST GRATIOVS SOVERAIGNE AMongst the many comforts of my Ministery to the embracing wherof Almightie God was pleased to mooue the heart of your Maiesties blessed Father of holy memory to mooue mine this is a great one That your Maiesty is pleasd some times not only to receiue into your selfe but to returne vnto
consecrated himselfe who is a Temple of the Holy Ghost before hee came to assist or to testifie the consecration of this place of the Seruice of God Bern. Ser. 1. Nostra festiuitas haec est quia de Ecclesia nostra sayes Saint Bernard This Festiuall belongs to vs because it is the consecration of that place which is ours Magis autem nostrâ—… quia de nobis ipsis But it is more properly our Festiuall because it is the consecration of our selues to Gods seruice For Sanctae Animae propter inhabitantem Spiritum your Soules are holy by the inhabitation of Gods holy spirit who dwells in them Sancta corpora propter inhabitantem animam Your Bodies are holy by the inhabitation of those sanctified Soules Sancti parietes propter Corpora Sanctorum These walles are holy because the Saints of God meet here within these walls to glorifie him But yet these places are not onely consecrated sanctified by your comming but to bee sanctified also for your comming that so as the Congregation sanctifies the place the place may sanctifie the Congregation too They must accompany one another holy persons and holy places If men would wash sheep in the Baptisterie in the Font those sheep were not christned If prophane men or idolatrous men pray here after their way their prayers are not sanctified by the place Neither if it be after polluted doth the place retain that sanctitie which is this day to be deriued vpon it and to bee imprinted in it Diuisio Our Text settles vs vpon both these considerations The holy place and the holy person It was the Feast of the Dedication there 's the holinesse of the place And the holy person was holinesse it selfe in the person of Christ Iesus who walked in the Temple in Salomons Porch These two will bee our two parts And the first of these wee shall make vp of these pieces First we shall see a lawfull vse of Feasts of Festiuall dayes And then of other Feasts then were instituted by God himselfe diuers were so this was not And thirdly not only a festiuall solemnizing of some one thing at some one time for the present but an Anniuersary returning to that solemnitie euery yeare And lastly in that first part this Festiuall in particular The Feast of the Dedication of the Temple that sanctified the place that shall determine that part In the second part The holinesse of the person we shall carry your thoughts no farther but vpon this That euen this holy person Iesus himselfe would haue recourse to this place thus dedicated thus sanctified And vpon this that hee would doe that especially at such times as hee might countenance and authorise the Ordinances and Institutions of the Church which had appointed this Festiuall And this sayes the Text he did in the Winter First Etsi Hiems though it were Winter hee came and walked in the Porch a little inconuenience kept him not off And Quia Hiems because it was Winter he walked in the Porch which was couered not in the Temple which was open So that heere with modestie and without scandall he condemned not the fauouring of a mans health euen in the Temple And it was at Ierusalem the Feast of the Dedication and it was Winter and Iesus walked in the Temple in Salomons Porch In our first part Holy places 1. Part. Festa wee looke first vpon the times of our meeting there Holy dayes The root of all those is the Sabboth that God planted himselfe euen in himselfe in his owne rest from the Creation But the root and those branches which grow from that root are of the same nature and the same name And therefore as well of the flower as of the root of a Rose or of a Violet we would say This is a Violet this is a Rose so as well to other Feasts of Gods institution as to the first Sabboth God giues that name hee cals those seuerall Feasts which he instituted Sabboths enioynes the same things to be done vpon them inflicts the same punishments vpon them that breake them Leuit. 23. So that there is one Moralitie that is the soule of all Sabboths of all Festiualls howsoeuer all Sabboths haue a ceremoniall part in them yet there is a Morall part that inanimates them all they are elemented of Ceremonie but they animated with Moralitie And that Moralitie is in them all Rest for if Adam could name creatures according to their nature God could name his Sabboth according to the nature of it and Sabboth is Rest It is a Rest of two kindes our rest and Gods rest Our rest is the cessation from labour on those dayes Gods rest is our sanctifying of the day for so in the religious sacrifice of Noah when hee was come out of the Arke Genes 8. God is said to haue smelt Odorem quietis the sauour of rest vpon those dayes we rest from seruing the world and God rests in our seruing of him And as God takes a tenth part of our goods in Tythes but yet he takes more too he takes Sacrifices so though he take a seuenth part of our time in the Sabboth yet he takes more too he appoints other Sabboths other Festiualls that he may haue more glory and we more Rest for all wherin those two concurre are Sabboths Vacate videte quoniam ego sum Dominus sayes God First vacate Psal 46.10 rest from your bodily labours distinguish the day and then videte come hither into the Lords presence and worship the Lord your God sanctifie the day And in all the Sabboths there is still a Cessate Leuit. 23. and a Humiliate animas bodily rest and spirituall sanctifying of the day Holy dayes then that is dayes seposed for holy vses and for the outward publike seruice of God are in Nature and in that Morall Law which is written in the heart of man That such dayes there must be is Morall and this is Morall too that all things in the seruice of God bee done in order and this also that obedience be giuen to Superiours in those things wherein they are Superiors And therfore it was to the Iewes as well Morall to obserue the certaine dayes which God had determined as to obserue any at all Not that Gods commandement limitting the dayes infused a Moralitie into those particular dayes for Moralitie is perpetuall and if that had been Morall it must haue been so before and it must bee so still Gods determining the dayes did not infuse not induce a Moralitie there but it awakened a former Moralitie that is an obedience to the commandement for that time which God had appoynted that for them for this Obedience and Order is perpetuall and so Morall We depart therfore from that error which those ancient Heretiques the Ebionites begun and some laboured to refresh in Saint Gregories time and which continues in practise in some places of the world still To obserue both the Iewes