and the whole People are tax'd 1 Kings 3. 2 3. And you need not doubt the Priests were there too for be the place where it would none by Moses Law could sacrifice but the Priests Nay not only Solomon's but the succeeding Records of all their good Kings still runs with this abatement He walkt in the ways of David his Father but the High Places were not taken away the People still offer'd Sacrifice in the tops of the High Places It 's thus said of no less than Seven Solomon and Asa Jehosaphat Jehoash Amaziah Azariah and Jothan Cardinal Cajetan thinks this gross Corruption was as general as if the Jews resolv'd to make null Moses Law by an Hebrew Custom to the contrary and they had don 't without doubt were our Sins as well able to abrogate a Law as we well know they are to break it This is plain that the Cardinal conceiv'd this Abuse was grown into a Custom National which had there spread it self over all sorts and kind of Persons So that it found no open no constant Opposition at all from any body of men then considerable Had it 't is clear enough That Customs thus oppos'd can put Humane Laws in no danger But I need not quote such Authorities the very word there us'd where the Text speaks of those Kings infers this Truth strongly enough But the High places were not taken away the People still offer'd Sacrifice in the High Places For that Word the People when it 's put singly and without opposition implies without doubt the whole Nation which it points at Thus when God commands Moses Speak now in the ears of the people Or in those Words to Pharaoh Let my people go No doubt but that Word did point at each several Jew and though sometime it may well bear a sence less general yet it then implies so much the far greater Number that commonly what remains is neither a part eminent nor considerable Nay to go no farther than my Text 't is plain enough from these Words of Rabshakeh who having taken so many Cities had now spent some good time in Jewry that this Corruption was so universally spread without any visible any noted part to oppose it that he conceived it the only true Service of the God of Israel With what Face else could He have told the Jews They had no hopes in their God because their King had quite overturned his Religion Had there indeed been any Number of Note that had oppos'd this Corruption is 't at all probable it would have been conceal'd in these Hebrew Histories Their Pen-men we know were all Zealous enough to preserve the Honour of Judea and yet in this particular we find a still total silence And if any man will needs hold the contrary they who call so much for Catalogue of Names might in Justice demand of this grand Undertaker to shew a List of those Jews who from Age to Age whilst this Corruption held did not at all worship in High Places But you 'l demand perhaps For how long a time was the Hebrew Church thus corrupted And indeed Learned Men differ here Some think this abuse began in the times of Othoniel and Ehud Judges Others plac'd it in the days of Gideon admit either of these conjectures and 't will be plain in Chronology that this forbidden worship held no less than six hundred Years for all agree Hezekiah was the first who durst be so good in those bad times as to reform this corruption But grant we do abate of this since great Clerks conceive that from the time that the Ark was parted from the Tabernacle which was no less than ninety years from the days of Eli the Priest when the Ark went Captive to Philistia until they both met again in the Temple of Solomon 't was lawful to sacrifice at more than one only altar because God had promised his more immediate Presence as well before the Ark as before the Tabernacle For this reason I say though perhaps it hold not grant we abate of that time what I find established by common consent will prove large enough to support all my whole intention For no man dares deny the Text is so plain in that Catalogue of Kings I related that this corruption held from the days of Solomon unto the Reign of King Hezekiah and so no less than upon the Point of three hundred years as is plain by the computation of Arias Montanus and by the most exact in Chronology So then three things are here very considerable first the Nature of this Corruption 't was in the Censure of Gods Law no less than the sin of Murther and in the Censure of the Jews it deserved no less than the Revenge of a plain Civil War. Secondly the Extent of this Corruption it had spread it self throughout the whole face of Judea so that all that was at that time God's Visible Church was at once involv'd in this Error For I need not now speak of the Ten Tribes their high places were made waste as is plain enough from the Calves of Dan and of Bethel Thirdly the Continuance of this Corruption it held probably for six but no man can deny that it remained in the Church of Jewry upon the point of three Centuries of years Hence 't will follow clearly The whole Visible Church may be so far corrupted that though she forsake not God and so run in Non Ecclesiam to be no Church at all yet for a long time she may do Publick Worship in a most gross forbidden manner and this kind of Abuse may be so dangerous that upon its full discovery both Prince and People may be in conscience bound to embrace Reformation Has God's Church of the Law been so foully blemished and may that of the Gospel boast of a more constant Beauty Are the Promises of this kind more large to us than they were to that Church wherein God's own Son was born She in as plain Terms was then call'd the Spouse of God I will betroth thee unto me for ever saith the Lord Hos. 2. His People and his Flock We are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hands Psal. 95. Yea his Sons and his Daughters Thou shalt call me my Father saith the Lord and shalt not depart from me Jer. 3. 19. True the Gates of Hell shall not so prevail but Christ will still have a Church and could the Gates of Hell prevail against her that was betrothed God's own Spouse for ever That is at least till Christ came No they could not prevail to make her run in non Ecclesiam to become no true Church at all and yet they might prevail to make her run in Corruptam Ecclesiam into a Church so much corrupt in her Publick Worship that she might much need a Reformation And indeed 't is a strange thing that any Christian Church which God has plac't among Gentiles should be so puffed up with a thought of her own strength that she cannot fail in this particular For 't is a Truth clear in the Text that there 's no Church of
Gentiles but like a Branch from the Vine it may be quite cut from Christianity And which is worth observing St. Paul has indited this self-same Truth to the Romans in the 11th chap. verse 21. Be not high minded but fear for if God spar'd not the natural branches take heed lest he spare not thee And that this Text implies the Christian Gentiles may be all cut off quite from Christ is here the Conclusion of Stapleton and of the Remists Notes on that Text and of divers of their way And to say the plain truth that Text I named can well bear no other comment unless we 'l fondly affirm that St. Paul warns the Gentiles to take heed of that mischance which yet indeed could not possibly fall out And then I beseech you observe if that same Church which boasts most of strength may yet run in Non Ecclesiam may become no Church at all she may much more run in Corruptam Ecclesiam into a Church so corrupt in her Publick Worship that she may now need a Reformation I say she may run into a corrupt Church and do but consider her new claim of Infallibility and you 'l easily yield 't is a Victory to prove that Rome may be conquered to make this appear She may err is enough to convince her of no little part of her Errors If you ask me to shew more I shall beg leave to reply That 't is an Argument I affect not for I had much rather be employed in discourses of good life than in these of controversies as holding that in all kind of Contentions to be the most fit Christian Prayer Give peace in our time O Lord. Yet since I here meet with such Disputes and Waverings in some I 'le think out of Conscience in others either out of Vanity to entertain their time or that under pretence of searching Christian Truths they may indeed drive a Trade I must hence hold it a Duty I owe unto most of those that now hear me yea a Duty I owe to that venerable Church that baptiz'd us all though our now poor afflicted Mother to keep the Fruit of her own Womb from thus trampling on her to keep them as much as in me lies from being gull'd and cheated from her Unity and withal from communicating too deeply in sin with those who have now cast her on the ground If you ask then for the corruptions of the Western Church suppose I instance but in one alone She took the Cup from the People An Abuse set up against as clear Text as e're the High Places were Drink ye all of this saith our Saviour St. Mat. 26. And again as they interpret that Text Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood ye have no life in you in that 6 th chap. o St. John. Mark ye have no life in you I know they defend this and make no question at all but some witty Scribe might have been as well able to defend the Jews who for ought I know might have said as they do That the Hebrew Church had power over the Sacraments and Sacrifices are no more or by their new Doctrine of Concomitance they might maintain much more probably that their High Places and Altars were but only us'd as Parts as Appurtenances as Concomitants of the Tabernacle than these that Shed-blood lies in the Host. For Shed-blood it must be This is my very Blood which is shed for you So that to tell us of Blood in the Body of Blood running in the Veins is indeed to shew forth the Lord's Life but not as he commands to shew forth his death till he comes Nâ—y admit the Doctrine of Concomitance which yet in this point is but a meer perfect fiction yet Christ enjoyns Drink ye all of this And I appeal to your own Sences themselves whether to eat Christ's Blood be to drink it Their Publick Service in an unknown Tongue is it not as clearly against the Doctrine of St. Paul 1 Cor. 14. How saith he shall the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks seeing he understands not what thou say'st in the 16 th verse of that chapter Two things you see the Apostle there takes for granted first that the unlearned ought to say Amen at God's Publick Service Secondly they cannot joyn that consent of theirs but to those words they understand I might instance in many more particulars as in the Adoration of Images of Saints of the Eucharist in the Doctrine of Purgatory and those other Articles of the New Creed of Trent whereof some are of dangerous practise nay as Learned men amongst themselves have confess'd Gerson Espensaeus and many others they are of practice among the Vulgar at least some doubt not to add and among the Learned too no less than Idololatrical Others again are made Articles of Faith which yet for ought appears either in the Text or in Antiquity are indeed not so much as probable Opinions So that to say truth there are store of men who have not Ignorance enough to believe such Articles And yet the Western Church has forced many Souls into the Faith of this New Creed both by the Prison and the Stake And in this Tyranny hath shewed her self far worse than e're old Judah did For though we read of no visible conspicuous number that did avoid the High Places yet in Charity we may think there were some few that did so and yet in this regard we read not so much as one either punished or disgraced by an Hebrew Magistrate 'T is true then that God's Church yea his Christian Church may be stained with some gross foul Corruptions But what Because she may thus err shall each giddy Brain be allow'd to controul or each private Hand to reform her Admit this Disorder once and let a Church be indeed most Apostolick yet you may be assured she shall ne're want Reformers if she have either Sons to be employ'd in Rebellion or Lands to be enjoyed by Sacriledge A Corah then will dare to tell Moses to his face That all the Congregation is holy as holy as himself or the best employ'd in the Tabernacle all Kings and Priests then and all this stir is rais'd not so much that he dislikes the Order of Aaron but that indeed he likes his Revenue And therefore in my Text there 's care had of this A Reformation follows but you 'l find it brought in by no less than by the Power Royal whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away and hath said to Judah c. This part affords Varieties and I must therefore divide it Here 's then first the Prime Agent in this Reformation I nam'd Hezekiah the King. Secondly the Extent of the Reformation 't was only brought into his own Territories Judah and Jerusalem Thirdly the manner how he setled it
who was once Rabshakeh was since some tart Pen-man of this latter Century I 'le speak first of that Tax the reproach of Novelty And I beseech you mark how Rabshakeh has here fram'd his Words He strives to lay all upon this Present King Hezekiah took away and Hezekiah said No mention that this Fact was enjoyn'd by Moses aud practis'd too by the Hebrew Church whilst she was the Primitive Thus let but Rabshakeh once tell the tale and a Church larely reform'd shall indeed appear to be but a late founded Church Ignorance may perhaps excuse this Commander here in my Text but some Learned men in our times are more extreamly to blame for you 'l soon see how fond are their main Exceptions do but suppose their Words put into the Mouth of Rabshakeh when as here in my Text at Jerusalem he be-spake the besieg'd men upon the Wall Hear O ye Jews will your aged Synagogue at length turn Novelist Your Fathers worshipp'd in these High Mountains but ye now say Jerusalem's the place where was the Church before Hezekiah Was 't no where or invisible Were your Predecessors blinded with one joint consent Or are ye only become more clear of sight what than Solomon the wise or Asa the religious Does your God sometime forsake his Church or will for Hundreds of Years suffer it to be so constantly obscur'd Let not this pure Prince deceive you still with these fond upstart toys for 't is your Judah's greatest Fame that she 's thought very Ancient What Jew I wonder could this speech move unless 't were to laughter Where was their Church before Hezekiah In the same place and among the same People and 't was still the very self-same Church I say the same in truth of essence for so 's a Thief a True man but not in condition or in quality for formerly it was corrupt now reform'd by the Law of Moses formerly it had heen dangerously diseas'd but 't was now cured by Hezekiah Let them ask Naaman too where was he before Elisha had heal'd him Would he not divide the Question He was long before but he was withal Leprous And Palestine had still a Church but God knows 't was a corrupt one So then he who calls a reform'd Church new because 't is newly reform'd might as well call Naaman a child too because after his cure the Text plainly says his flesh came again like a child's But in earnest is our Age to be accounted from our recovery Or is a man no Older than his Health By this Philosophy they might perswade the Leper that he bore Office in the Syrian Court before he was a year Old. Let therefore the Modern Rabshakeh's cease to upbraid us with such known petty Cavils our Church was no more invisible than that of Judah and might as well be before Luther was as theirs before Hezekiah Secondly They tax us of Schism which is questionless a great sin being in frequent Texts very sharply condemn'd in Scripture 'T is then committed when there is a Scissure a Breach an uncharitable Division made betwixt those men especially which in point of Religion were once joyn'd aud linkt together So that where this Rupture is there is sin without doubt all the Question is on which side the Crime must lie sometimes it may lie on both but it ever lies on him that gives just cause of Division not ever on him that divides Abraham did divide from his Idolatrous Kindred and so did St. Paul from his old friends the Jews The Orthodox Christians were forc'd to do the like when Arrianism did prevail and yet in the opinion of these Rabshakehs themselves neither Abraham nor St. Paul nor those old Christians were Schismatical Thus when Hezekiah once had reform'd the Church of Judea no man can think a Conscientious Jew would at all communicate in the service of these High Places he did divide from it without doubt although before either by custom or ignorance or the like he did it frequently without Scruple And yet might such a Jew be held guilty of Schism no more sure than Hezekiah who both did and enjoyn'd the like and yet the Holy Ghost in this History here does in express terms commend him in the fourth verse of this Chapter he commends him as much for reforming the Church as he does for being like David So that to tax him were indeed to affirm that the Spirit of God commends a Schismatick himself for the very act of his schism Thus then they are not still they who divide but they who give or continue the just cause of Division who are guilty of that sin we speak of But yet since in Church-controversies 't is not so easie to judg what makes that just cause I nam'd and that no wise man can think it fit it should be left to each private judgment since in such divisions as these men are extreamly apt to forget all bonds of Peace and for possession sometimes of a little suppos'd truth quit indeed their whole Estate of Charity therefore the Ancients do oft define schism by these two grand notes or Characters First when men make Divisions in point of Religion against the consent of their lawful Pastors 't is so defined by St. Cyprian and St. Jerom and others Secondly when men cast out of the Church Catholick and so damn to Hell all that hold not their opinions And this St. Austin doth oft times call schism in the Donatists And now take Schism in what sense under what note you please our Mother Church is guiltless of that imputation First takē it for a Division in Gods publick Service She did no more in that point than what was here done by Hezekiah since she had as clear Text and so as just cause To give the Cup to the People to turn their Devotions into a language they understood as this King here had to bring the Jews from their Old Mass in high places unto that one Altar at Jerusalem Nay the cause we had was more just than that of Judah because the corruptions of the Western Church were all backt by Tyranny Men were constrain'd into Errors when yet we read not at all that if a pious Jew would have kept himself unto that one Altar at Jerusalem he was either checkt by their Kings or opprest by their Priests or condemn'd to Tophet by their Sanhedrim Secondly Take Schism for an opposition made against our lawful Pastors and our Church you 'l find was not guilty in this matter neither For at that time when the Reformation was made we were under our own Synods only and with what readiness they joyn'd in this grand Work you have heard in my second General 'T is true that for some hundreds of years we had been under a known Foreign Power but yet such a Power as came not amongst us but by the breach of a great General Councils as is clear from the last Canon of the first of Ephesus A Power I say