sins of the Temple for he Whipped and Scourged them who had Prophan'd it saying My House shall be called the House of Prayer The words present to us the Institution and Prophanation of the Church of God My House c The Institution will entertain your Meditations with three Particulars What it must be For whom And for what end We resume the First It must be an House First Though the Earth is the Lords and the Fulness thereof Though God be the Supreme Governour of all the World and cannot be circumscribed but replenish every Corner and part thereof with his Presence yet still he hath ever confined himself to some one particular place set apart for his Adoration and Worship Though as St. Paul speaketh Men ought to Pray continually and in every place Nevertheless in all Ages of the World God hath appointed some more peculiar Place for his Royal Court and Refidence on Earth where Men shall offer Sacrifices of Prayer and Praises to him Thus when Religion was but in its Infancy God was resorted to in a remote Mountain or some neighbouring Grove where being absent from the noises of the World men might elevate their Souls in the most pleasant Contemplations of Eternity where they may be freed from all Avocations having no incumbrances to Indispose their Minds from setting their Affections on things above It was in this Melancholly Solitude and Holy Retirement from the World that Abraham Solicited God by Invocation Gen. 21.33 But when Religion began to flourish these Groves being abused by Gentile Superstition God removed himself into a Tabernacle and journey'd along with Moses and the Children of Israel and would not be publickly spoke withall until Solomon's time When these Pilgrims had compleated their Travels God no longer dwelt in a Tabernacle or Travelling Temple but had an House Erected that He and the Ark of his Strength might enter therein and Solomon was the first who built this House where Men should make their Addresses to the Throne of Grace Nor ever read I any denying him a place to rest in till there started up a late Generation of men who would make God but their In-mate and out of Civil Courtesie grant him a Lodging like the poor Levite in Micha's House or the man of God in the Shunamites little Chamber But Sirs God commands me to declare That he who provides us an House to secure us against the ruggedness of the Air and fierceness of Beasts will have an House Dedicated to himself that he may dwell therein yea and Blessed be God we have found out an Habitation for the Lord of Hosts But Thanks to the Devotion of our Fore-fathers For we are more ready to pull down than to build and if so how great is our backwardness to Beautify and Adorn good Works are even Antiquated and that Religion adjudged most acceptable to God which is the least chargable to man 'T is strange men should be so basely nigardly in promoting the Glory of God Either there must be less Religion in the World or not the same Obligation the last is impossible for the Glory of God which prompted our Fore-fathers hath the same force and Argument upon us it must therefore proceed from our low esteem of an Omnipotent Being that we imagine a Granary or Stable or some Spiritual Weavers Parlour spacious enough to entertain the King of Glory and all his retinue of Celestial Courtiers We are censured Superstitious if we be not direct Antipodes to the Pious Sense of former Ages We are presently concluded devoted to the See of Rome if we be but so Curious as to make Gods House Handsomer than our own But if this be Superstition I wish from the bottom of my Soul all men were thus Superstitious and zealous of good Works If this be Superstition how had it over-spread and corrupted Primitive Christianity For they thought no Service so acceptable as to do something for Gods House For what is more plain men have but small respect for Religion who adorn their Houses with Marble and Ivory Cedar and Tapestry and see Gods House lie unprovided for and neglected Whatever men think the Royal Prophet I am sure was of another Judgement and Perswasion For saith he to Nathan see now I dwell in a House of Ceder but the Ark of God resteth within Curtains He thought it great Ir-religion and Impiety that even the Kings Pallace should be more Glorious than Gods House This was the primary reason Antiquity Christened their Churches by the Name of Basilicae not because they there Sacrificed to the King of Heaven and Earth but because of their Beauty and Frame How Magnificent and Noble was the Temple which Constantine Erected and yet how far surpassed by that vast one Constantius his Son built at Alexandria He succeeded his Father not only in possessing the same Religion but also in his great Care and Reverence for the House of God For they two are inseparable Companions he can't have any high regard for Religion who dis-regarded the House of the Lord let that fall and Religion cannot stand let that decay and will not Religion perish He who hath any respect for his Master can't patiently behold his House surmounted by an Hospital or Almes-House for Beauty and Ornament Can my Devotions be Elevated and Pure when I see the place where he dwels more like a Bridewel or Pest-house than the Pallace of my God Can we conceive it the presence-Chamber of Heaven where God and his whole train of Blessed Spirits are more immediately present to hear and observe us when we see it more like a Stye or a Stable rather than the Mansion of so Glorious a Being And this I fear is no small occasion men demean themselves so unhandsomsly and rudely therein because an ordinary Cottage out-vies it in Spruceness and Neatness But indeed the most Graceful Ornament of an House is the Peace and Unity therein And for this Cause I presume the Church is not stiled Curia but Domus not a Court where Divisions and Envy are nourished but an House where Righteousness and Truth meet together and Love and Peace even Kiss each other 'T is no easie Province to maintain perfect Unity in a State but is it so laborious to preserve it in an House The Disturbances and Commotions of a Kingdom may prove Dangerous and Fatal but are not the Divisions of an House far more opprobrious and shameful When men are not of one mind in an House but the Father opposing the Son and the Son studious to controll the Father The Church ought to be an House in respect of the Unity and Order maintained therein but not an House divided against it self where the Pastor is against the People and the People endeavouring to oppose the Shepherd and both joyn hand in hand to oppugne their Bishop and Ordinary They who consented to the perswasion of Pythagoras were of opinion that there was but one God and two Devils because he first
SEVERAL SERMONS Some PREACHED in ENGLAND And some in the Island of BARBADOES IN AMERICA Upon several Occasions By Robert Scamler M. A. and Rector of Taverham in the County of Norfolk Lord whilst I Preach unto others let not my self be a cast away Printed by Nathaniel Thompson for the Author 1685. TO HER Grace MARY Dutchess OF BEUFORT Madam HAd I been affected with that Itching Humour of Ambition to raise an Obelisk to my Memory and leave behind me some Tokens that I once Liv'd and had a Being and Existence upon Earth How could I have contrived a more Glorious method for the Erecting this Eternal Monument than by fixing Your Graces Name to these my poor weak Endeavours For who seeing Your Honoured Name set before the Book will not be invited by the Fairness of such a Frontispiece to look into the Sermons and even practice the Duties intimated therein Madam I confess it high Presumption and I humbly beg your Graces Pardon for borrowing your Name and Patronage because it looks like a design in me that if there be no other worth in the Discourses yet at least they may have the Virtues and Advantages of a Burning-Glass which borrowing a Flame from the Great Eye of Heaven Shines and Burns not of it self but by the Rays and Emanations of its Bright Patron and Benefactor I will not pretend to vindicate my self from so Holy a Suspition though something more Enobled my Desires to present Your Grace with this humble Dedication For I do confidently avow not to Affront the Modesty so Innate to Your Temper or come within the Sphere of Flattery so repugnant to my Genius that the Noble Perfections wherewith Heaven hath Accomplished You have render'd You so Publickly Acquainted to the World that he must not only be a Stranger to himself but even to all Humane Society and Converse who converse who have not been sensibly surpriz'd in the Admiration of Your Virtues Virtues which you Suckled in even with Your Milk and have Thrived with so dayly an Encrease in the Sequel of Your Life that they might Justly Challenge Shrines and Altars from us if Your Humility did not signifie unto us a Reprimand These are such Truths that I dare not proceed to say any thing further concerning your Graces Perfections because it is impossible for me had I the Tongue of Angels to express my self in a method proportionable to my Theam I might it is possible suggest and hint to present and future Ages that Your Natural and Particular Inclinations are those Virtues yes and in a much more Eminent Degree which Deified far less Deserving Persons Nay further if some most Sweet and Angelical Tongue does not contrive some new Language to Posterity wherein to Celebrate and Proclaim Aloud the Embellishments and Graces wherewith Heaven hath Endowed You it must Silently Content it self to Reverence the Name and Adore the Memory of the most Virtuous and Illustrious Lady MARY Dutchess of Beufort without presumption of Speech of Your Actions because they transcend Expression as well as Imitation What need I to repeat the Immortality of Your Augustick Family the Sun shall sooner be displaced from its Orbe the Stars forget their Motions than Mankind forget to Celebrate the most Heroick Loyal and Glorious Atchievments of the most Generous and Honourable Capel And Madam You being one of the Noble Branches proceeding from that Loyal Stem to whom can I Address my self more properly in a Sermon on the Thirtieth of January then unto Your Grace For not only Charles the First but likewise the Honourable Capel fell Sacrifices to a Usurping Power and both died Glorious Martyrs in Defence of Church and State May it please Your Grace then to accept these Discourses though presented by a mean Hand for they are intended for no other purpose then to convince unreasonable and Wicked men of their Damnable and Hellish Practices against the Church and State and what Indefatigable Labours they Groan under to effect their Diabolical Designs But God grant that all our Nobility may Unanimously Resolve a perfest Conquest and Subjection of these Engineers of Satan and Builders of Babel that the Peace and Happiness Truth and Justice Religion and Piety may be Establish'd amongst us and all succeeding Generations which is Incessantly Pray'd for by Your Graces most Humbly Devoted Servant R. SCAMLER ERRATA IN the Epistle Dedicatory Page 2. l. 13 and 14. dele who converse p. 4. l. 5. dele the In the Book p. 1. l. 2. r. Show l. 6. r. pearly p. 4. l. 27. r. constituted p. 7. l. 21. dele the p. 9. l. 13. r. at his own Royal door l. 18. r. pearly l. 21. r. more mild and Gentile p. 11. l. 2. r. and a great p. 12. l. 17. dele the p. 14. l. 12. r. Feats p. 15. l. 27. r. contemn p. 19. l. 2. r. bgin at is the House of God l. 7. r. that Queen p. 21. l. 28 r. For were they strict l. 32. dele of p. 25. l. 1. r. professing p. 26. l. 25. r. as is too p. 28. l 13. r. conceive p. 34. l. 13. r. light of l. 21. dele if l. 23. r. attributed to us p. 36. l. 11. r. sure the polluted l. 18. r. ereeps l. 25. r. is called p. 43. l. 14. r. as it did l. 15. r. Massah l. a 7. r. nothing is more p. 44. l. 8. r. in excuses aud denyals l. 20. an hour hence p 45. l. 3. dele thin p. 46. l. 1. dele pure p. 47. l. 25. r. Now p. 50 l. 2. r. accepted l. 31. r. but much p. 51. l. 19. r. seem p. 54. l. 16. r. my Wickedness and be p. 56. l. 8. r. the next Festival p. 57 l. 1. r. as the early l. 16. dele the l. 22. r. Zylander l. 25. r. ten Attick p. 58. l. 1. r. them one p. 62. l. 14. r. irrecoverable l. 25. r. Natural propentions p. 64. l. 16. r. Fomes l. 23. dele the p. 65. l. 20. dele it p. 66. l. 4. r. Flattering p. 67. l. 12. as a mo p. 68. l. 19. r. good dwells p. 79. l. r. of a Timorous A SERMON Preached on the Martyrdom of King CHARLES the I. The Thirtieth of January 2 Sam. 1st 12th And they Mourned and Wept and Fasted until Even for Saul and for Jonathan his Son and for the People of the Lord and for the House of Israel because they were fallen by the Sword THey Mourned And where is that sullen Stoick Shew me the Man that can condemn this their Pious Mourning Who can deny a Tear at such a sad Solemnity Where is that flinty breast that can forbear to Sorrow in such a case No Loyal Subject to the Thron of Saul can be so base as to deny a yearly Subsidy when Princes Hearses claim it as its due Natural Affection will break forth into Sighs and Tears at the Corruption of what we Love when that grim Serjeant of Nature Death hath snatcht from us any link'd unto us
an Internal Worship be manifested better than by an External Deportment All Nations not only Jews but Gentiles had Rites in the Adorations of their supposed Deities All meeting in this as a Principle of Nature that Divine Worship cannot be rightly Celebrated without some Outward Solemnity Did not God command the use of Ceremonies unto the Jews Now the Moral and Ceremonial Law were not promulgated at different times but both together And those whom God hath joyned let no man put asunder Will it not cause a Dis-respect to hear the Service of God hudl'd over as a Scrivener reads a Bond or an Indenture Are we so great Enemies to Innocency that a Surplice should afright us from attending the Ordinances of God That the Priest should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was so general a practice in all Ages of the Church that none did Officiate in Holy Offices but he was clad in Raiment White as Snow They are not the Embroideries of Religion I so admire as to have its Garment too heavy and weighty nor such a plainness as to abhor all Decency and Comliness For let us suppose the worst that there are some Spots which may be spared cou'd they be handsomly taken out yet what Because of this must I rend my Garment in pieces and be naked Or shall I suffer rude Hands to cut and tear it in pieces as they please to the great injury and Perturbation of the Church Ceremoniae tanquam Cerei They are as Lights which give Lustre and Brightness to Gods House and the Services performed there and one way to make it a Den is to extinguish this Light that it may not give Light to them entring the House of Prayer Secondly As the Church can't but be dark without Ceremonies so if the Life of Doctrine requir'd in the Priest be not a Lamp unto our Feet and Light unto our Paths to guide us into the wayes of Peace The Blessed Jesus himself hath stiled the Preachers of the Word not only the Lights of the World but also the Salt of the Earth a City set upon a Hill they are not only Stars but Angels chosen Vessels men of a thousand their Feet are stiled Beautiful and they themselves the Glory of Christ good reason then if our Lights should shine before men for seeing we are called to this Eminent Function having the Title of Light attributed us we cannot think it sufficient we have Lamps unless furnished with Oyl that our Doctrine may promote the Glory of God and save both our own and the Souls of them committed to our Care The House of Prayer may be a Den if the Flames therein be not real but Painted Thus St. Paul chargeth Timothy To take heed unto himself and his Doctrine and put them in remembrance to stir up the Gift of God 'T is not enough to fill the Golden Candlestick of the Temple unless they give Light to those that enter in otherwise what are they more than prettily contrived Antickes under a Building who seem to groan under the oppression of that which doth support them 'T was our Saviours Command That we should always have our Loyns girt that is with the Girdle of Sincerity and Truth or with other Expositors by External Conformity in our Habits we must be Pillars of Fire to guide others out of the night of Ignorance and wilderness of Errour For are not the Priests Lips to preserve Knowledge and are not we to enquire of them what concerns our Souls for they are the Messengers of the Lord of Hosts I shall conclude this only minding you of that Solemn Oath at our Installment into this Sacred Office That we would give Faithful diligence to Minister the Doctrine and Discipline of Christ For if the Lights of the Church be darkened how great is that Darkness And what will be the House of Prayer but a Den c. Thirdly As there must be the Light of Doctrine so also of Conversation in the Priest yes and it must be Perspicuous too that Religion and the Doctors thereof may have a good Report amongst all men of whatever Sect or Perswasion that they may find no occasion to Revile or Blaspheme us Blaspheme us I say for in doing it unto us they do it unto Christ we have Motives sufficient to incite us to a circumspect walking For waving the express command of our Saviour let us consider how many Enemies we have in the World who watch for our Halting and are so quick-sighted that they discern the least Lint hanging on a Black-Gown No Cloath so subject to be discoloured as that of ours Men are not like that Pious Emperour who would cover the Nakedness of his Clergy with his own Royal Robe but joyful to embrace every little occasion to render us Contemptible This then should awaken us but if this will not do let us consider how absurd it is to undo that on the Week-day which we Preached on the Lords Shall we be diligent in Instructing of others and we our selves remain Ignorant and Foolish Shall we speak brave flourishing words in commendation of Religion and reclaim Rhetorically against Vice yet make it our Trade and Practice The Vrim and Thummim were both put into Aaron's Breast-Plate that he might be a Living Sermon as well as a Preacher of Sound Doctrine He who wanted an Eye Hand Foot or had any blemish in his Body was forbidden by God to attend at his Altar then much more sure polluted in Soul They who bear the Vessels of the Lord must be Clean Ye have made it a Den of Theeves was a great aggravation of the Churches Prophanation Secondly I descend to the Theeves or Persons defiling Gods House The first of them is he who crept into the Ministry without Commission thus the Saviour of the World tells us He who creeps into an House by the Window the same is a Theef and a Robber And if so what can he be stiled less who thrusts himself into the Priest-hood and not by the door of Lawful Authority Thus to run without Commission is an Usurpation of that which none should take upon him but he that was called of God as was Aaron by an External as well as Internal call The Apostles were trained up a long time before Christ sent them on that Employ they were not sent to Preach the Word so soon as they were Enrolled into the number of his Disciples like hasty Births with Shells upon their Heads but they attended and waited for a full Authority and Commission But alas Authority is now so much slighted and trampled on that men fancy if they can but spare so much time from their Shops they have Authority enough to skip into the Office of the Priest but are they not Theeves and Robbers who force themselves into the Ministry without License or Abilities they pretend indeed to a large share of Spiritual Influences which they resume will supply all other Defects and adapt them fit Ministers of the Gospel