Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A40758
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A sermon preach'd in the Cathedral Church at the triennial visitation of the right reverend ... Seth, Lord Bishop of Sarum ... by Samuel Fyler.
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Fyler, Samuel, 1638-1703.
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1682
(1682)
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Wing F2568; ESTC R24044
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25,174
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34
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A SERMON Preach'd in the Cathedral Church at the Triennial VISITATION OF The Right Reverend Father in God SETH Lord Bishop of SARUM Chancellor of the GARTER By Samuel Fyler A. M. Rector of Stockton in the County of Willts Septemb. 13. 1680. LONDON Printed by E. T. and R. H. For Thomas Flesher at the Angel and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1682. To the Right Reverend Father in God Seth Lord Bishop of Sarum Chancellor of the Garter My Lord YOUR Command to Preach and your Incouragement to Print this Sermon have given me the Confidence thereunto to prefix your Name and more especially yours for that Respect you have to Truth Loyalty and Peace the Promoting of which is my sole Aim in casting this Mite into the Treasury of the Church I am fully satisfied it will meet with a multitude of Enemies because the Church hath many but I look on 't as a shame for that matter to concern my self after its Consecration by the Blood of so many Martyrs especially that Royal one King Charles the First who hath given us an Example not to be Paralell'd but in one only in that of our Blessed Saviour I pray God grant when his forty Years of Patience shall be expired and so long he waits to see if a People will Repent this Nation may not suffer for that Prodigious Wickedness as we have just Cause to Fear the like things that Jerusalem did for Crucifying Him But my Hope is it will not and that for this Reason because it was not the Clergy of the Church of England nor was it any thing in her Doctrine or Liturgy that brought our most Gracious and Religious King to the Block but Rebells Murderers Traytors Spirited by Achitophel's Chaplains who if they might have had Leave given 'em would by this time near hand have Prayed all Christianity out of this into another World God Almighty preserve his Sacred Majesty that now is from the Divinity and Mercy of such Men and then I doubt not but he will ever as he hath done proceed to Protect that Liturgy joyfully which directs us to Pray for him so devoutly shewing it self in that Respect as well as many others to be truly Apostolical My Lord It would be Libellous for me to Recommend these things to your Wisdom and Care because 't is to move you to that which you already eminently do I shall only therefore Pray for your Lordships Health and that God would be pleased to continue his Blessings to the Church and to this whole Nation and so give off only begging the Honour to Subscribe my self Your Lordships Most Humble And Obedient Servant Samuel Fyler MATTHEW 6. 9. After this manner therefore Pray ye MAny are the Sins of England at this day which have even shaken and seem still to threaten the Remotion of the Candlestick from us which God avert Among the rest one and that a great one that stands in need of an Elijah a St. John Baptist another Word made Flesh to reform it I think I may truly say in the general and wretched Neglect and Contempt of God's Worship and Service some in all places almost refusing to come to his House to Worship him there Atheists and they that seperate others that come doing it 't is to be fear'd for Fashion's sake only like the Jews of whom God complains by his Prophet drawing nigh with their Lips while their Hearts are far from him And I wish this were all to be said but the more 's the Pitty the Service bears the Blame Men are Schismatical and Faulty and then that they may excuse themselves they are ready to say God is not serv'd after the right and due manner What an heavy Charge this is to our spotless Mother which was once look'd upon as the Beauty and Glory of all the Churches in Christendom is easie to say but the Mischief is to wipe it off is not so easie I question whether the Spirit of Prophesie or a Voice from Heaven will do the turn such is the Prejudice men have taken against so Excellent and Holy a thing as the â—hurches Service is For the Remotion of which I wish the weight of so great a Task were laid on abler Shoulders of one that 〈◊〉 sufficient for these things but however I â—hall offer to the Châ—â—â—â—es Corban as I am able as appearing here purâ—ly in Obedience and Duty in Performance of which if I do any thing acceptably I shall hold my self very well Content as having no other Aim then to serve the interest of the Church which I pray God continue unto us with Truth and Peace In pursuance of this Design now as it is but rational that I should pitch on some Words of Christ himself he being the Churches Lawgiver as well as Saviour therefore call'd not only the High Priest but also the great Apostle of our Profession so I have accordingly done For these Words that I have read are a part of that divine Law which he delivered on the Mount Monti Sinaitico superstructo as Dr. Hamond in his Book against Dalleus about Confirmation say's built not by but upon the top of Mount Sinai whereby he would intimate that he intended not the Abolition of the Law of Moses and of solemn Services then in use but only the Reformation and Perfection of them as 't is true he did not And here I take my rise on which to build my insuing Discourse For that this is the full design of our blessed Saviour in this Sermon of his not to destroy put aside Typicals what was well set before but to reform what was amiss by reason either of the false Glosses or ungrounded Traditions and Practices of the Scribes and Pharisees that sate at that time in Moses Chair will appear in all its parts as you may see both in the precedent and also in the present Chapter In the precedent when he speaks to the Letter of the Law in this where he speaks to the main parts of God's Worship as particularly to Fasting Almsgiving and Prayer For 't is not Fasting he Condemns in any but doing it as Hypocrites for Ostentation and Shew nor is Almsgiving blamed by him but gâ—vâ—ng of Alms with sound of Trump and to be seen of men So for Prayer we are to account that his end was at no hand to tâ—ke away a publick Service or Liturgy-way used by them in those days in their Prayer-places and Synagogues no in that the Jews had a Liturgy a set known manner of Service then consisting of Tehillim and Tephillim Praises and Prayers which that they had Mr. Gregory makes appear too evidently to be denyed this he disapproves not there is nothing to that purpose to be gathered from this Prayer of his or any Circumstance therein or thereabouts 'T is true as it relates to the Pharisees so their Battologies and their making long Prayers and that openly in the corners of the Streets for a shew and in pretext of Holiness
I affirm It is apparent here that an House belongs to God which Christ calls his House therefore not a Private one and likewise that it is not so much â—â— House of Preaching as of Prayer to which his People are to that end to Resort and Congregate themselves in Correspondence to which the Tabernacle of old was stil'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ohel Mognèd the Tabernacle of the Congregation My House I observe 't is call'd that is distinctly God's House and why but because there we are to seek his Face for that he is there present and there his Honour dwelleth Most certain it is that there we have more than his Presence of Essence which is every where for there we have his Presence of Grace or Habitation For this Reason is he called among the Rabbins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hashekijnah for his dwelling with us I mean his special Presence in Consecrated Places where he ingageth himself to be Attentive to the Prayers of his People as for his Nature and Essence he is Stil'd Jehova a Name that imports the Eternity and Necessariness of his Existence so that when we come to his own House conclude we may that he is there and that he will be in the midst of us True he does not manifest himself now as he did when the Temple stood sometimes in a Cloud sometimes by a still Voice sometimes by Angels all call'd the Glory at that time Nor did he then alwayes neither but only upon Occasion yet acknowledg we must as did they even then when they saw no visible Appearance that he is indeed present tho invisibly yet truly by his Holy Spirit by his Angels in his Word and Sacraments which is his Face that is to say his assumed Face and that we are to seek it there as the Jews did at his Tabernacle of Old The Truth is 't was ever so ever was there a publick Place where God would be met withal In Paradise it self an assigned Place we read of even there whether betwixt the Sacramental Trees or somewhere near the Tree of Life I determine not but I infer it from those Words Gen. 3. 18. where 't is said Adam and Eve hid themselves from the Presence of the Lord God From his Omnipresence they could not did not flie 't was from his Presence therefore of Appearance where they were wont to meet him or where he had met them before the Phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mippenc Jehovah is taken I find in that Sence as the Talmud says After the Fall Cain and Abel had a peculiar Place where they offered Sacrifice Gen. 4. After the Flood Abraham had an Altar made Gen. 12. 8. And afterwards a â—â—ove Gen. 21. 32. Where he called upon the Name of the Lord. Jacob laid the first Stone of an House for God Gen. 28. 22. and Ch. 35. 7. He went up to Bethel and finished his Purpose there calling the Place El-Bethel as much as the God of the House of God After this in the Wilderness the Jews had an Ambulatory Sanctuary in Solomon's Days a fixt Temple In David's time we read of many Houses of God in the Land in the Son of David's besides the Temple of many Synagogues Hammidrasches Bethhakkeneseth's and Prouseucha's and Gnatyôth or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all dedicated to Holy Uses and Offices And let no Man Think that our Saviour Christ did discountenance these Places or that his Holy Apostles did despise them for it is no such matter How often is Christ found in the Temple and in the Synagogues Wist ye not said he to his Father and Mother when they sought him that I should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is in my Father's House if rightly Interpreted rather than about my Father's Business Luc. 2. 49. And what of his Apostles St. Luke tells you that they were after Christ's Death continually in the Temple praising and blessing God Ch. 24. 53. and in the beginning of the Acts where he carries on the Story he tells us Ch. 1. 13. that they went up into an upper Room where they continued unanimously in Prayer and Supplication which is to be understood doubtless of some Room belonging to the Temple of which were many for that end as Beth-haêben the House of the Stone and Beth-hattebijtah the House of Washing and several more I know it is said Act. 2. 46. that they continued with one Accord in the Temple and breaking Bread from House to House but as our Criticks observe 't is not so well Translated there for that they should not go from House to House was given in Charge before and therefore according to the Hellenists Greek adapted to the Hebrew where the Prepositions are few and signifie differently by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we are to understand rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the House and consequently it must relate to the Temple or one of the Gnalijôth or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thereunto belonging It is granted that 't is said of St. Paul when at Rome that he dwelt two whole Years in an hired House and received all that came to him preaching the Kingdom of God Act. 28. 30. But what of that I cannot speak positively 't is true but in Probability methinks he might not stray from this Rule For why might there not be a Proseucha there or a Jewish Oratory near at hand it is undoubted that there were many at that time in all Places where the Jews did come one at Neapolis of which Josephus and Eusebius speak and that there were divers at Rome we learn from Juvenal a Poet of theirs so that for all we know he might place himself near one of them But there is a place yet which may seem to Justifie the Field-Conventicles it may be said and that is Luke 6. 12. Where we read of our Saviour himself that he went into a Mountain to Pray and continued all Night in Prayer to God what may be said to this Truly consult we the Original and that I presume will help us out For it is certain that there 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to God but of God and therefore by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we are to understand rather Domus Orationis as it is taken in other places of the New Testament an House of Prayer and then the Translation will be That he continued all Night in a certain Prayer-Place or Oratory which were wont to be built some on Mountains some on Rivers sides and yet if he did spend the Night in Prayer upon the Mountain it was private Prayer 't is to be observed and so makes nothing at all for them Indisputable it is that there were at that time Houses many Synagogues and Oratories set apart to God's Service and that the Apostles when they met together to Pray and break Bread usually frequented and made choice of them And then who will question but that they would have the same practised by the insuing Churches but that