joyn themselves to the Lord to serve him and to love the Name of the Lord to be his servants every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it and taketh hold of my Covenant namely that I alone shall be his God even them will I bring to my holy Mountain and make them joyfull in my House of Prayer their burnt offerings and sacrifices accepted upon mine Altar Then follow the words of Text For my House shall be called shall be it is an Hebraism a House of Prayer for all People What is this but a Description of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Gentile worshippers And this place alone makes good all that I have said before That this vindication was of the Gentiles Court Otherwise the allegation of this Scripture had been impertinent for the Gentiles of whom the Prophet speaks worshipped in no place but this Hence also appears to what purpose our Euangelist expressed the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 namely as that which shewed wherein the force of the accommodation to this occasion lay which the rest of the Euangelists omitted as referring to the place of the Prophet whence it was taken those who heard it being not ignorant of whom the Prophet spake Thirdly the circumstance of time argues the same thing if we consider that this was done but a few dayes before our Saviour suffered to wit when he came to his last Passeover How unseasonable had it been to vindicate the violation of legall and typicall sanctity which within so few dayes after he was utterly to abolish by his Crosse unlesse he had meant thereby to leave his Church a lasting lesson what reverence and respect he would have accounted due to such places as this was which he vindicated JOHN 4. 23. But the hour commeth and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth For the Father seeketh such to worship him THey are the words of our Blessed Saviour to the woman of Samaria who perceiving him by his discourse to be a Prophet desired to be resolved by him of the great controverted point between the Jews and Samaritans whether Mount Garizim by Sichem where the Samaritans sacrificed or Ierusalem were the true place of worship Our Saviour tels her that this question was not now of much moment For that the houre or time was near at hand when they should neither worship the Father in Mount Garizim nor at Ierusalem But that there was a greater difference between the Jews and them then this of place namely even about that which was worshipped For ye saith he worship that ye know not But we Jews worship that we know Then follow the words premised But the houre commeth and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and Truth It is an abused Text being commonly alledged to prove that God now in the Gospel either requires not or regards not externall worship but that of the Spirit onely And this to be a characteristicall difference between the worship of the Old Testament and the New If at any time we talk of externall decency in rites and bodily expressions as fit to be used in the service of God this is the usuall Buckler to repell whatsoever may be said in that kinde It is true indeed that the worship of the Gospel is much more spirituall then that of the Law But that the worship of the Gospel should be onely spirituall and no externall worship required therein as the Text according to some mens sense and allegation thereof would imply is repugnant not onely to the practice and experience of the Christian Religion in all ages but also to the expresse Ordinances of the Gospel it self For what are the Sacraments of the New Testament are they not rites wherein and wherewith God is served and worshipped The consideration of the holy Eucharist alone will confute this Glosse For is not the commemoration of the sacrifice of Christs death upon the Crosse unto his Father in the Symbols of Bread and Wine an externall worship And yet with this rite hath the Church in all ages used to make her solemne addresse of Prayer and Supplication unto the Divine Majesty as the Jews in the Old Testament did by Sacrifice when I say in all Ages I include that of the Apostles For so much Saint Luke testifieth of that first Christian society Acts 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They continued in breaking of Bread and in Prayers As for bodily expressions by gestures and postures as standing kneeling bowing and the like our blessed Saviour himself lift up his sacred eyes to heaven when he prayed for Lazarus fell on his face when he prayed in his agony Saint Paul as himself saith bowed his knees to the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ He and Saint Peter and the rest of the beleevers do the like more then once in the Acts of the Apostles What was imposition of hands but an externall gesture in an act of invocation for conferring a blessing and that perhaps sometimes without any vocall expression joyned therewith Besides I cannot conceive any reason why in this point of Euangelicall worship Gesture should be more scrupled at then Voyce Is not confessing praising praying and glorifying God by voyce an externall and bodily worship as well as that of Gesture why should then the one derogate from the worship of the Father in Spirit and Truth and not the other To conclude there was never any society of men in the world that worshipped the Father in such a manner as this interpretation would imply And therefore cannot this be our Saviours meaning but some other Let us see if we can finde out what it is There may be two senses given of these words both of them agreeable to reason and the analogy of Scripture let us take our choice The one is That to worship God in Spirit and Truth is to worship him not with types and shadows of things to come as in the Old Testament but according to the verity of the things exhibited in Christ according to that The Law was given by Moses but Grace and Truth came by Iesus Christ. Whence the mystery of the Gospel is elsewhere by our Saviour in this Euangelist termed Truth as Cap. 17. ver 17. and the Doctrine thereof by Saint Paul The word of truth See Ephes. Cap. 1. ver 13. Rom. 15. ver 8. The time therefore is now at hand said our Saviour when the true worshippers shall worship the Father no longer with bloody sacrifices and the Rites and Ordinances depending thereon but in and according to the verity of that which these Ordinances figured For all these were types of Christ in whom being now exhibited the true worshippers shall henceforth worship the Father This sense hath good warrant from the state of the Question between the Jews and Samaritans to which our Saviour here makes answer which was not about worship in generall but about the kinde
what shew of reasoÌ„ can be given why the spirit of a particular Minister in the publick worship of the Church may not yea ought not to be limited and regulated by the spirit of the Church representative as well as the spirit of a whole Congregation by the spirit of a particular Minister For every particular Minister is as much subordinate to the spirit of the Church representative as the spirit of the Congregation is to his So much for this objection There remaineth yet a third which may be answered in two or three words No set forme of prayer say they can serve for all occasions What then Yet why may it not be used for all such occasions as it serves for if any sudden and unexpected occasion happen for which the Church cannot provide the spirit of her Ministers is free Who will forbid them to supply in such a case that by a voluntary and arbitrary forme which the Church could not provide for in a set forme And this is what I intended to say of this argument THE SANCTIFICATION OF GODS NAME MATTH 6. 9. LUKE 11. 2. Sanctificetur nomen tuum Sanctified or hallowed be thy Name ALthough I make no question but that which we so often repeat unto Almighty God in our daily prayers is for the generall meaning thereof by the most of us in some competent measure understood Yet because by a more full and distinct explication the knowledge of some may be improved and the meditations of others occasioned to a further search I hope I shall not doe amisse nor be thought to have chosen a theame either needlesse or not so fit for this Auditory if I shall inquire what that is we pray for in this first Petition of the prayer our Lord hath taught us when we desire That Gods Name may be sanctified For perhaps we shall find more contained therein then is commonly taken notice of The words are few and therefore shall need no other Analyse then what their very number presents unto us viz. Gods Name and the sanctifying thereof Sanctificetur Nomen tuum I will begin first with the last in order but first in nature Nomen tuum Gods Name By which according to the style of holy Scripture we are to understand in this place first of all God himself or his sacred Deity to wit abstractly expressed according to the style of eminency and dignity 〈◊〉 Dei 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Divine Majesty as we are wont for the King to say His Majesty or the Kings Majesty and of other persons of honour and eminency Their Highnesse Their Honour His Excellency and the like So of God His Name and sometimes with the self-same meaning His Glory as Ier. 2. 11. Hath any Nation changed their Gods which yet are no Gods but my people have changed their Glory i. their God for that which is good for nought So Psalme 106. 20. of the Calf made in the Wildernesse They changed their Glorie into the similitude of an Oxe that eateth grasse And S. Paul Rom. 1. 23. They changed the Glory i. the Majesty of the incorruptible God into an Image made like to corruptible man c. Such is the notion but much more frequent of Gods Name In a word Nomen Del in this kinde of use is nothing else but Divinum Numen Whence it is that in Scripture To call upon the Name of God To blaspheme the Name of God To love his Name To sweare by his Name To build a Temple to his Name for his Name to dwell there And in the New Testament To beleeve in the Name of the Lord Iesus To call upon the Name of the Lord Iesus these I say and the like expressions have no other meaning then to doe these things to the Divine Majesty to the Lord Jesus whose is that Name above every Name where at every knee must bow Accordingly here Sanctificetur Nomen tuum Hallowed be thy Name is as much as to say Sanctificetur Numen tuum Sanctified be thy Divine Majesty Secondly under the Name of God here to be sanctified or hallowed understand besides the Majesty of his Godhead that also super quod invocatum est Nomen ejus whereupon his Name is called or that which is called by his Name as we in our Bibles commonly expresse this phrase of Scripture that is all whatsoever is Gods or God is the Lord and owner of by a peculiar right such as are things sacred whether they be persons or whether things by distinction so called or Times or Places which have upon them a relation of peculiarnesse towards God For such as these are said in Scripture To have the Name of God called upon them or To be called by his Name that is To be His. Thus we read in Scripture of an House which had the Name of God upon it or which was called by his Name that is of Gods House 1 Kings 8. 43. Ier. 7. 10. c. Of a City upon which the Name of God was called or named to wit the Holy City Jerusalem the City of the great King the Lord of hosts Ier. 25. 29. Dan. 9. 18. Of an Ark upon which the Name of God the Lord was called 1 Chro. 13. 6. 2 Sam. 6. 2. that is the Lords Ark or the Ark of his Covenant as it is elsewhere named Of a people upon which the Name of the Lord was called or which were called by his Name Deut. 28. 10. Dan. 9. 19. and elsewhere that is were his peculiar and holy people as is said in like manner and with like meaning of the Church of the New Testament Iames 2. 7. Acts 15 17. I represent not these places of Scripture at large because I know that every eare that is acquainted with Scripture can beare witness unto them And for the meaning of this expression of Gods Name to be called upon a thing or a thing to be called by his Name that it is all one as to say it to be His besides the evidence of the matter wherabout it is used appeares by the same phrase used in two other places of the like relation of men to that which is theirs as Gen. 48 16. Where Iacob blessing Iosephs sons saith The Angell which redeemed me from all evil blesse the lads and let my name be called upon them That is let them be mine namely as Reuben and Simeon are mine as he saith a little before for they are words of adoption Again in the fourth of Esay where it is said That seven women should take hold of one man and say We will eat our own bread and weare our own apparel onely let thy Name be called upon us to take away our reproach That is Doe thou own us or let us be thine that it may not be a reproach unto us that we have no husband The Ancients were wont to set the Names of the Owners upon their houses and other possessions whâ—ch they called Tituli Titles Chrysologus Serm. 145.
will appear if we consider well the tenor of the Apostles Sermons to such Gentiles as they converted which we shall observe to presuppose that they already knew the true God and the promise of eternall life to such as worshiped him and so had no more to learn but the way and means now revealed by God for attainment thereof which was by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The other thing we may learn is what was the true state of the Question which the Apostles met to decide in the Councell at Jerusalem whether the Gentiles which beleeved in Christ were to be circumcised or not and so bound to keep the whole Law It was this to resolve that whereas all such as embraced the worship of the God of Israel conformed to one of these two kindes of Proselytes to whether of them the Gentiles which had or should receive the Gospel of Christ were to conform themselves whether to the Proselytes of the Covenant or to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Proselytes of the Gate Saint Peter standing up in the Councell demonstrates it to be the will of God that they should conform to the latter and not to the first and that upon this ground because that Cornelius the first Christened Gentile unto whom himself was sent by Divine Commission was no circumcised Proselyte but a Proselyte of the Gate or a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 onely yet received he no Commission to circumcise him Yea the holy Ghost as he was Preaching fell upon him and his houshold being uncircumcised as it did upon those of the Circumcision whereby it appeared that God would have the rest of the Gentiles which embraced the faith to be after the pattern of Cornelius and to have no more imposed upon them then He had And accordingly the Councel defines That no other burden should be laid upon them but onely to abstain from pollution of Idols from blood from things strangled and from fornication and as some copies have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To do as they would be done to that is they should as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 observe the praecepta Filiorum Nohae which here by a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are briefly reckoned up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 PETER 2. 4. For if God spared not the Angels which sinned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darknesse to be reserved unto Iudgement c. so we translate it To which of S. Peter answers that of S. Iude as almost that whole Epistle doth to this verse 6. And the Angels which kept not their first estate or principality but left their own habitation he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darknesse unto the Iudgement of the great Day THese two places are brought to prove that the Devils or evil spirits are now in Hell before the day of Judgement Which I cannot see how it can possibly stand with the rest of the Scripture which testifies every where that they have their mansion in the Air and here about the earth where they tempt seduce and do all the mischief they can to mankinde hence their Chieftain Satan is styled The Prince of the power of the Air that is of the airie Dominion or Princedom Therefore hither they were with their Prince exiled from Heaven and no further nor shall be untill the Day of Judgement And of this I shall speak at this time First to clear these Texts which seem to make for the contrary Secondly to enquire what was the opinion of the Ancients about this point As for this place of S. Peter and that imitation thereof in the Epistle of Iude I can beleeve the translation of neither Piscator not conceiving how that of S. Iude especially because of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eternall could be reconciled with other Scripture and experience which shews us that the Evill spirits are not yet bound with eternall chains having so much liberty of gadding about supplies in the Text vinciendos as if there were an Ellipsis reading it thus Iudicio magni illius Diei vinculis aeternis vinciendo reservâsse In that of S. Peter if I understand him he takes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not for Dativus instrumenti with chains of darknesse but as Dativus acquisitionis for chains of darknesse and construes it with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if it were He delivered them for chains of darknesse namely supposing a trajection of the words But for my part I take both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in S. Peter and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in S. Iude to be neither of them Dativus instrumenti but both Acquisitionis or Finis and governed the one of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the other of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As in the Hebrew the preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 serves for the proposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and for the Dative Case whose propriety the style of the Greek Testament every where imitates and why not in this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therefore and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nay among the Greek Grammarians we finde observed that the Dative Case is sometimes put for the Accusative with the proposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As in this example 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 much more in the sacred Greek which so frequently imitates the Hebrew Construction Next for the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in S. Peter it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so not bound by any use or example to the signification we here give it to wit throwing down to hell I would therefore render it ad poenas tartareas damnavit to wit thus Angelos qui peccaverunt cum ad tartari supplicium damnasset catenis caliginis servandos tradidit ad Diem Iudicii For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as S. Iude hath it So also Mat. 12. 24. The Queen of the South shall rise in judgement with this Generation that is in or at the Day of Judgement Or I would render it not casting down to hell but casting down to hell ward So the meaning in both places will be That the wicked Angels were cast down from heaven to this lower orb there to be reserved for chains of darknesse at the Day of Judgement which sense the ninth verse in this Chapter of Peter plainly intimates by way of reddition Novit Dominus pios in tentatione eripere as he did Noah and Lot Injustos verò in diem Iudicii cruciandos servare as he doth the wicked Angels Moreover verse 17. where the same hellish darknesse is spoken of it is said to be reserved for the wicked 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to whom that hideous darknesse is reserved for ever
whence it is probable that S. Peter in the foregoing passage of Angels referred also those chains of darknesse to reserving and not to delivering that is not that the evill Angels were now already delivered to chains of darknesse but reserved for them at the day of Judgement And thus much for clearing of the words of these two parallel Texts now what hath been anciently the current opinion of this point And first for the Jews it is apparent to have been a tradition of theirs that all the space between the earth and the firmament is full of troops of Evill spirits and their Chieftains having their residence in the air which I make no doubt S. Paul had respect to when he cals Satan the Prince of the power of the air Drusius quotes two Authors one the Book called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Munus novum another one of the Commentators upon Pirke Aboth who speak in this manner Debet homo scire intelligere à terra usque ad firmamentum omnia plena esse turmis praefectis infra plurimas esse Creaturas laedentes accusantes omnesque stare volare in aere neque à terra usque ad firmamentum locum esse vacuum sed omnia plena esse praepositis quorum alii ad pacem alii ad bellum alii ad bonum alii ad mulam ad vitam ad mortem incitant By praepositi I suppose he means such among the Spirits as are set as Wardens over severall charges for the managing of the affairs of mankinde subject to their powers This was the opinion of the Iews which they seem to have learned by tradition from their ancient Prophets For in the Old Testament we finde no such thing written and yet we see S. Paul seems to approve it Now for the Doctors of the Christian Church S. Hierome upon the sixth of the Ephesians tels us that their opinion was the same T is the opinion of all the Doctors saith he that Devils have their mansion and residence in the space between the heaven and the earth And that the Fathers of the first 300 or 400 years nor did nor could hold the evill Angels to have been cast into Hell upon their sin is evident by a singular Tenet of theirs For Iustn Martyr one of the most ancient hath this saying that Satan before the coming of Christ never durst blaspheme God and that saith he because till then he knew not he should be damned The same is approved by Irenaeus in his fifth Book and twentysixt Chapter Praeclarè saith he dixit Iustinus quod ante Domini adventum Satanas nunquam ausus est blasphemare Deum quippe nondum sciens suam damnationem Post adventum autem Domini ex sermonibus Christi Apostolorum ejus discens manifestè quoniam ignis aeternus ei praeparatus sit per hujusmodi homines he means those Heretiques who blasphemed the God of the Law blasphemat eum Deum qui judicium importat Eusebius 4. Hist. Cap. 17. cites the same out of both with approbation So doth Oecumenius upon the last Chap. of the first of S. Peter Epiphanius against Heresie 39. gives the same as his own assertion almost in the same words with Iustin and Irenaeus though not naming them Ante Christi adventum saith he nunquam ausus est Diabolus in Dominum suum blasphemum aliquod verbum loqui aut contra elationem cogitare expectavit enim Christi adventum put avitque se misericordiam aliquam assecuturum esse I will not enquire how true this Tenet of theirs is but onely gather this that they could not think the Devils were cast into Hell before the comming of Christ. For then how could they but have known they should be damned if the execution had already been done upon them Saint Augustine as may seem intending to reconcile these places of Peter and Iude with the rest of Scripture is alledged to affirm that the Devils suffering some hell-like torment in their aiery Mansion the Air may in that respect in an improper sense be called Hell But that the Devils were locally or actually in Hell or should be before the day of Judgement it is plain he held not and that will appear by these two passages in his Book de Civitate Dei First where he saith Daemones in hoc quidem aere habitant quia de Coeli superioris sublimitate dejecti merito irregressibilis transgressionis in hoc sibi congruo velut carcere praedamnati sunt Lib. 8. Cap. 22. The other where he expounds that of the Devils Mat. 8. Art thou come to torment us before the time that is saith he ante tempus Iudicii quo aeternâ damnatione puniendi sunt cum omnibus etiam hominibus qui eorum societate detinentur Lib. eodem Cap. 23. in fine The Divines of later times the Schoolmen and others to reconcile the supposed Contrariety in Scripture divide the matter holding some Devils to be in the Air as Saint Paul and the History of Scripture tels us some to be already in Hell as they thought Saint Peter and S. Iude affirm'd which opinion seems to be occasioned by a Quaere of Saint Hieroms upon the sixth of the Ephesians though he speaks but obscurely and defines nothing But what ground of Scripture or reason can be given why all the Devils which sinned should not be in the same condition especially Satan the worst and chief of them should not be in the worst estate but enjoy the greatest liberty It follows therefore that these places of Saint Peter and Saint Iude are to be construed according to the sense I have given of them namely that the evill Spirits which sinned being adjudged to hellish torments were cast out of Heaven into this lower Region there to be reserved as in a prison for chains of darknesse at the Day of Judgement 1 COR. 4. 1. Let a man so account of us as of the Ministers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Christ and Stewards of the Mysteries of God A Man would think at first sight that this Scripture did exceedingly warrant our use of the word Minister in stead of that of Priest and leave no plea for them who had rather speak otherwise Howsoever I intend at this time to shew the contrary and even out of this text that we have very much swarved herein from the Apostles language and abuse that word to such a sense as they never intended nor is any where found in Scripture I fayour neither superstition nor superstitious men yet truth is truth and needfull to be known especially when ignorance thereof breedeth errour and uncharitablenesse My discourse therefore shall be of the use of the words Priest and Minister wherein shall appear how truly we are all Ministers in the Apostles sense and yet how abusively and improperly so called in the ordinary prevailing use of that word I will begin thus All Ecclesiasticall persons or Clergy men may be considered in a
beginning to such a power as to grapple with the Enemy and overcome him But behold there is yet something more admirable namely that this should not be done by the strength of his Arm but by the breath power of his Mouth Out of the mouth of Babes and sucklings thou hast ordained strength because of thine enemies c. What Enemies Thine saith the Psalmist and such too as are ultores avengers the enemies both of God and mankinde And who are those but Satan and his Angels those Principalities and Powers of the Air those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Rulers of the Darknesse of this world as Saint Paul speaks For when mankinde is the one party what can the other be but some Power that is not of mankinde Besides who are the Enemies both of God and mankinde but these And of mankinde especially I put enmity saith God to the serpent between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed Hence he is called Satan the adversary or Fiend and the enemy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold I give you power saith our Saviour to the seventy Disciples Luke 10. 19. to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the Power of the Enemy Your Adversary the Devill saith S. Peter And this is he as I conceive who is here called the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Enemy the Avenger mans tormentor which words being found again in the 44. Psalm may for ought I know by warrant of this place be taken for the same Enemy and the usuall distinction altered and the place read thus By reason of the Enemy and the Avenger all this to wit the Calamity and confusion he spake of before is come upon us that is by the malice of Satan Now that such Enemies as these should be subdued by an arm yea by a mouth of flesh is a thing which might justly make the Prophet cry out Lord what is man c. Now that this which I have given is the true meaning of this place may be gathered from S. Paulâ— inculcating the word Enemy when 1 Cor. 15. he demonstrates out of this Psalm that Christ before the end shall abolish 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For He must raign saith he till he hath put all enemies under his feet The last Enemy which shall be destroyed 〈◊〉 Death and then he alledges for his proof that Corollary in this Psalm For he hath put all things under his feet But in all this Psalm there is no mention of Enemies or subduing them but onely in the verse I have in hand which unlesse it be thus expounded S. Pauls allegation from hence will be too narrow to prove what he intendeth Having thus cleered the words I chose for my Theme I shall not spend much time to shew you how directly and literally the purport of them was fulfilled in our blessed Saviours incarnation You have in part heard such Scriptures already as do evince it The summe is this The Devill by sin brought mankinde under thraldom and became the prince of this world himself with his Angels being worshipped and served every where as Gods and the service and honour due to the great God the Creator of heaven and earth cast off and abandoned and all this to receive at last for reward eternall wo and everlasting death To vanquish and exterminate this enemy and redeem the world from this miserable thraldom the Son of God took upon him not the nature of Angels which might have been the enemies matches but the nature of weak and despicable man that growes from a babe and suckling Who saith Esay in that famous Prophecy of Messiah hath beleeved our report and to whom is the Arm of the Lord revealed namely that works such powerfull things by weak means for he shall grow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a tender plant or sucker it is the very word here used in my Text for a sucking childe and translated by the Seventy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and as a root out of a dry ground that is a small and little one This is that whereof S. Paul discourses so divinely in the Epistle to the Hebrews To which of the Angels said he at anytime Sit thou on my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool For unto the Angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come whereof we speak but unto him of whom it is said What is man that thou art mindefull of him or c. Again We see Iesus who was made little lower then the Angels that is was made man that 's the meaning for the suffering of death crowned with Glory and Honour what can be so plain as this It is the Son of man by whom in part we are and more fully shall be delivered out of the hands of our enemies that we might serve the true God without fear as Zachary sayes in his Benedictus It is the Son of man that delivered us from the power of darknesse Col. 1. 13. The Son of man that spoiled Principalities and Powers and made a shew of them openly Col. 2. 15. It was no Angel that did all this but the Son of man even as was prophesied from the beginning when the Devill first got his Dominion That the Seed of the woman should break the Serpents head Nor is this all for this Son of man enables also other sons of men his Disciples and Ministers to do the like in his name The seventy Disciples in the Gospel return with joy saying Lord even the Devils are subject to us through thy name Yea not these onely but as many as fight under his Banner against these enemies have promise they shall at length quell and utterly subdue them Yea at that great Day shall sit with their Lord and Master to judge and condemn them Do ye not know saith S. Paul that the Saints shall judge the world know ye not that we shall judge Angels Lastly this victory as for the event so for the manner of atchieving it is agreeable to our Prophesie For as much as Christ our Generall nor fights nor conquers by force of Arms but by the power of his Word and Spirit which is the power of his mouth according to my Text Out of the mouth of Babes c. Hence in the Apocalypse Christ appears with a sword going out of his mouth In the 2 Thess. 2. it is said He shall consume Antichrist with the Spirit of his mouth Esay prophesies Chap. 11. 4. That the Branch of Iesse should smite the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips should stay the wicked That is he does all nuâ—â— verbo as God made the world By the word of the Lord were the Heavens made and all the Hoasts of them by the breath of his mouth Psal 33. 6. So doth Christ vanquish his enemies and enable his Ministers to vanquish them Verbo Spiritu oris according to that Hos. 6. 5. I have
of the Saints and so translated accordingly This tradition is farther testified by Ionathan ben Vziel the Chaldee Paraphrast Gen. 11. 7. where the Lords words spoken in the plurall number Venite descendamus confundamus linguam eorum are paraphrased in this manner Dixit Dominus septem Angelis qui stant coram eo Venite nunc c. Whether rightly or fitly in this place it matters not The testimony is sufficient for the Jewish tradition of seven Arch-angels that stand before the Throne of God This tradition Iunius saith is magicall and not a little triumphs therein as an undoubted Argument to evince the Book of Tobit not to be Canonicall But whatsoever the Book of Tobit be I hope to shew this tradition to have firm ground and footing in Scripture and not so rashly to be rejected The chief and most clear place is that I have now read which gives us to understand that these seven Angels were represented by that Candlestick of Seven Lamps which continually burned in the Temple before the vail over against the Mercy seat which was the Throne of God For in the beginning of the Chapter the Prophet being shewed this Seven-lamped Candlestick in a Vision and two Olive-branches on each side ministring oyle to the Lamps thereof The Angel asketh him if he knew what these meant The Prophet answers No my Lord Then the Angel discoursing a little by way of Preface tels him what they were These seven saith he that is the seven Lamps are the seven eyes of the Lord which run to and fro through the whole earth that is those Seven Vigiles or prime Ministers of his Providence the seven Arch-angels As for the two Olive-trees on each side These are saith he two anointed ones which stand before the Lord of the whole earth that is Zorobabel and Iesua the Prince and Priest at that time which should be Gods two instruments on earth whereby his Church signified by the Candlestick should be re-established and his Temple builded and that not by force or strength as he saith in his Preface but by the Spirit of God working with them as the olive trees here conveyed oyle to the Candlestick not after a naturall and usuall but a supernaturall and secret manner This interpretation of the latter hath the suffrage of the best Expositors both Jews and Christians and so I shall need say no more of it but betake my self to make good the first concerning the words I chose for my Text That those seven eyes of God signified by the seven Lamps are seven Angels That this is so I prove out of two places in the Apocalypse derived from hence where as well the Seven Lamps before the Throne as the Lambs Seven eyes are said to be the Seven Spirits of God I saw saith Saint Iohn cap. 4. 5. Seven Lamps before the Throne which are the Seven Spirits of God And again cap. 5. 6. I saw in the midst of the Throne and of the four Beasts as we translate it and of the four and twenty Elders a Lamb as if he had been slain having seven horns and seven eyes which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth Here first we have Zacharies very words Seven eyes sent forth into all the earth Secondly That these seven eyes are the seven Spirits of God Thirdly that these seven Spirits were represented by the seven Lamps burning before the Throne If this be not sufficient to make my interpretation of Zacharie good I know not what can be For who can now but think that the Jews derived their tradition of these seven Angels from this place of Zachary and the Apocalypse from them both And that indeed the Jews supposed some such thing meant by the seven Lamps in the Temple appears by the report of Iosephus though depraved and fashioned unto the capacity of the Gentiles For he tels us both in his Antiquities Lib. 3. cap. 7. and in his De Bello Iudaico Lib. 6. cap. 14. that the seven Lamps signified the seven Planets and the most holy place within the vail ibid. cap. 5. the heaven of God or heaven of Glory and that therefore the Lamps stood slopewise as it were to expresse the obliquity of the Zodiack Now it is true that the Jewish Astrologians savouring of Gentilism make these seven Angels the prefects of the seven Planets which they seem to have learned in part from the Greek Philosophy which conceit howsoever it be vain and groundlesse yet may be as a key to understand the meaning of this of Iosephus And one thing more If the visible things of God may be learned as Saint Paul sayes from the Creation of the world why may not the invisible and intelligible world be learned from the Fabrick of the visible the one it may be being the pattern of the other But to let this passe and return again to the Apocalypse Where concerning the places alledged there may be two things objected First That the seven spirits there mentioned are and may be expounded of the Holy Ghost thus represented in respect of those seven-fold that is manifold Graces he communicates unto the Church I answer that many indeed have so taken it but besides the uncouthnesse of expressing one spirit by seven there is a reason in the Text why they cannot be so taken namely because not onely the seven Lamps are said to be those seven Spirits of God but the seven Eyes and seven Horns of the Lamb also to be the same Now it will be very hard and harsh to make the Holy Ghost the Horns and Eyes of Christ as he is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world that is as he is a Man Above Angels indeed the Man Iesus is exalted and that too for the suffering of death that is as the Lamb but not above the Holy Ghost This made not onely Drusius but even Beza himself in his Notes upon this place to affirm it could not be meant of the Holy Ghost but of seven created Spirits A second scruple is how if they be created spirits Iohn could pray for Grace and Peace from them Grace be unto you saith he and peace from him which is which was and is to come and from the seven spirits which are before his Throne and from Iesus Christ the faithful witnesse c. would he pray for Grace and peace from Angels I answer Why not For first he prayes not to them but unto God unto whom such votes are tendered Secondly he prayes for Grace and Peace from them not as Authors but as the Instruments of God in the dispensation thereof Are they not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sent forth to minister for them who are heirs of salvation And if it be no Idolatry to pray unto God to give Grace and Peace from the outward Ministery of his word no more is it to pray unto him for it from the invisible Ministery For certainly it is lawfull to
of worship in speciall which was confessed by both sides to be tied to one certain place onely that is of worship by Sacrifice and the appendages In a word of the typicall worship proper to the first Covenant of which see a description Heb. 9. This Iosephus expresly testifies Lib. 12. Antiq. cap. 1. speaking of the Jews and Samaritans which dwelt together at Alexandria They lived saith he in perpetuall discord one with the other whilest each laboured to maintain their Country customes those of Ierusalem affirming their Temple to be the sacred place whither sacrifices were to be sent the Samaritans on the other side contending they ought to be sent to Mount Garizim For otherwise who knows not that both Jews and Samaritans had other places of worship besides either of these namely their Proseucha's and Synagogues wherein they worshipped God not with internall onely but externall worship though not with sacrifice which might be offered but in one place onely And this also may seem to have been a type of Christ as well as the rest namely that he was to be that one and onely Mediator of the Church in the Temple of whose sacred body we have accesse unto the Father and in whom he accepts our devotions and services according to that Destroy this Temple and I will rear it up again in three daies He spake saith the Text of the Temple of his Body This sense divers of the Ancients hit upon Eusebius Demon. Euang. Lib. 1. Cap. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not by Symbols and Types but as our Saviour saith in Spirit and Truth Not that in the New Testament men should worship God without all externall services for the New Testament was to have externall and visible services as well as the Old But with such as should imply the verity of the promises already exhibited not by types and shadows of them yet to come we know the Holy Ghost is wont to call the figured Face of the Law the Letter and the Verity thereby signified the Spirit As for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both together they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but once found in holy Writ to wit onely in this place And so no light can be borrowed by comparing of the like expression any where else to expound them Besides nothing hinders but they may be taken one for the exposition of the other that to worship the Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the same with to worship him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But howsoever this Exposition be fair and plausible yet me thinks the reason which our Saviour gives in the words following should argue another meaning God saith he is a Spirit therefore they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and Truth But God was a Spirit from the beginning If therefore for this reason he must be worshipped in Spirit and Truth he was so to be worshipped in the Old Testament as well as in the New Let us therefore seek another meaning For the finding whereof let us take notice that the Samaritans at whom our Saviour here aimeth were the off-spring of those Nations which the King of Assyria placed in the Cities of Samaria when he had carried away the ten Tribes captive These as we may reade in the second Book of the Kings at their first comming thither worshipped not the God of Israel but the gods of the Nations from whence they came Wherefore he sent Lyons amongst them which slew them which they apprehending either from the information of some Israelite or otherwise to be because they knew not the worship of the God of the Countrey they informed the King of Assyria thereof desiring that some of the captiv'd Priests might be sent unto them to teach them the manner and rites of his worship which being accordingly done they thenceforth as the Text tels us worshipped the Lord yet feared their own gods too and so did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Saint Chrysostome speaks mingle things not to be mingled In this medly they continued about two hundred years till toward the end of the Persian Monarchy At what time it chanced that Manasse brother to Iaddo the High Priest of the returned Jews married the daughter of Sanballat then Governour of Samaria For which being expelled from Jerusalem by Nehemiah he fled to Sanballat his Father in Law and after his example many other of the Jews of the best rank having married strange wives likewise and loth to forgo them betook themselves thither also Sanballat willingly entertains them and makes his son in Law Manasse their Priest For whose greater reputation and state when Alexander the Great subdued the Persian Monarchy he obtained leave of him to build a Temple upon Mount Garizim where his son in Law exercised the office of High Priest This was exceedingly prejudicious to the Jews and the occasion of a continuall Schism whilst those that were discontented or excommunicated at Ierusalem were wont to betake themselves thither Yet by this means the Samaritans having now one of the sons of Aaron to be their Chief Priest and so many other of the Jews both Priests and others mingled amongst them were brought at length to cast off all their false gods and to worship the Lord the God of Israel onely Yet so that howsoever they seemed to themselves to be true worshippers and altogether free from Idolatry neverthelesse they retained a smack thereof in as much as they worshipped the true God under a visible representation to wit of a Dove and circumcised their Children in the name thereof as the Jewish Tradition tels us who therefore always branded their worship with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or spirituall Fornication Just as their predecessors the ten Tribes worshipped the same God of Israel under the similitude of a Calf This was the condition of the Samaritan Religion in our Saviours time and if we weigh the matter well we shall finde his words here to the woman very pliable to be construed with reference thereunto You ask saith he of the true place of worship whether Mount Garizim or Ierusalem which is not so greatly materiall for as much as the time is at hand when men shall worship the Father at neither But there is a greater difference between you and us then of place though you take no notice of it namely about the object of worship it self For ye worship what ye know not but we Jews worship what we know How is that Thus Ye worship indeed the Father the God of Israel as we doe but you worship him under a corporeall representation wherein you shew you know him not but the houre commeth and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and Truth In spirit that is conceiving of him no otherwise then in spirit And in truth that is not under any corporeall or visible shape For God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and Truth that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
sin The sin of a Prince greater then the sin of a vulgar person and therefore in the Law there was a greater Sacrifice to be offered for the sins of the Prince and Priest then of the people The third circumstance aggravating his sin was the easinesse of the commandment and the easinesse man had to keep the same both in regard of himself whom no itching concupiscence urged as being altogether free therefrom and not as we his off-spring are continually vexed with the boiling thereof Secondly in regard of the thing it self he was to abstain from being onely one fruit in so great a liberty of all the garden besides How easily might he have abstain'd from one to whom God had given the use of all saving this one he wanted not to feed him he wanted no variety of food he had even enough to surfet on only to approve his obedience to Him who had given all the rest unto him he was to abstain from one and yet he would not Quanta fait saith S. Aug. iniquitas in peccando ubi tanta erat non peccandi facilitas The fourth circumstance aggravating this sin was the place which was Paradise as it were in Gods own presence even afore his face for as heaven above other parts of the world is the place of Gods speciall presence so was Paradise above other parts of the earth as it were an heaven upon earth the place wherein he singularly revealed himself and therefore an holy place and the Temple of God Do not men otherwise giving the loose rein to wickednesse yet abhorre to commit it in Gods Temple How impudently contumelious was this sin therefore which was committed in Gods very Presence-chamber All these aggravations are common to both our Parents which all laid together makes their sin as great as ever any was saving the sin against the holy Ghost for so the best Divines do think But Eve addes one aggravation more to her weight in that she was not content to sin her self alone but she allured and drew her husband also into the like horrible transgression with her whereby she was not only guilty of her own personall sin but of her husbands also And this added so much unto her former summe that S. Paul 1 Tim. 2. 14. speaks of her as if she had been the only transgressour Adam was not deceived but the woman being deceived was in the transgression So great and horrible a thing it is in the Eye of God to be cause or mover of anothers sin woe be unto them who by any means are the cause of anothers fall And justly might God say to Eve for this respect though there had been no more What is this that thou hast done Now I come to the womans excuse The Serpent beguiled me In which words are three things considerable The author the Serpent The action Guile The object Me. Concerning the author the Serpent two things are inquirable first what the Serpent was indeed secondly what Eve supposed him to be For the first I think none so unreasonable as to beleeve it was the unreasonable and brute Serpent for whence should he learn or how should he understand Gods commandment to our first Parents Or how is it possible a Serpent should speak and not only so but speak the language which Eve understood For though some there be who think that beasts and birds have some speech-like utterings of themselves yet none that a beast should speak the language of man It remains therefore that according unto the Scriptures it was that old deceiver the Devil and Satan who abused the brute Serpent either by entring into him or taking his shape upon him The last of which I rather incline unto supposing it as you shall hear presently to be the law of spirits when they have intercourse or commerce with men to take some visible shape upon them as the Devil here the Serpents whence he becomes styled in Scripture The old Serpent Now for the second question what Eve took him to be whether the Serpent or Satan If we say she thought him to be the brute Serpent how will this stand with the perfection of mans knowledge in his integrity to think a Serpent could speak like a reasonable creature who would not judge her a silly woman now that should think so and yet the wisest of us all is far short of Eve in regard of her knowledge then Again if we say she knew him to be the Devil I will not ask why she would converse at all with a wicked spirit who she knew had fallen from his Maker but I would know how we should construe the meaning of the Holy Ghost in the beginning of this Chapter where he saith The Serpent was the subtillest of all the beasts of the field which God had made and so implies the womans opinion of the Serpents wisdome was the occasion why she was so beguiled otherwise to what end are those words spoken unlesse to shew that Satan chose the Serpents shape that through the opinion and colour of his well-known wisdome and sagacity he might beguile the woman For the assoiling of which difficulty I offer these propositions following First I will suppose there is a law in the commerce of spirits and men that a spirit must present himself under the shape of some visible thing For as in naturall and bodily things there is no entercourse of action and passion unlesse the things have some proportion each to other and unlesse they communicate in some common matter so it seems God hath ordained a Law that invisible things should converse with things visible in a shape as they are visible which is so true that the conversing presence of a spirit is called a Vision or Apparition And experience with the Scriptures will shew us that not only evil Angels but good yea God himself converseth in this manner with men And all this I suppose Eve knew Secondly I suppose further that as spirits are to converse with men under some visible shape so is there a law given them that it must be under the shape of some such thing as may lesse or more resemble their condition For as in nature we see every severall thing hath a severall and sutable physiognomy or figure as a badge of the inward nature whereby it is known as by a habit of distinction so it seems to be in the shapes and apparitions of Spirits And as in a well governed Common-wealth every sort and condition of men is known by some differing habit agreeable to his quality so it seems it should be in Gods great Commonwealth concerning the shapes which spirits take upon them And he that gave the law that a man should not wear the habit of a woman nor a woman the habit of a man because as he had made them divers so would he have them so known by their habits so it seems he will not suffer a good and a bad spirit a noble and ignoble one