before they knew of it as to Mr. Boys Mr. Fuller c. And I can never forget with what a Gusto that Brave Sir William Boswell was wont to relate this among the infinite more observable Passages in the Happy Reign of Q. Elizabeth That she gave a strict Charge and Command to both the Chancellors of both Her Vniversities to bring Her a Iust True and Imparâ—ial List of all the Eminent and Hopeful Students that were Graduates in each Vniversity to set down punctually their Names their Colledges their Standings their Faculties wherein they did eminere or were likely so to do Therein Her Majesty was exactly obeyed the Chancellors durst not do otherwise and the use She made of it was That if She had an Ambassador to send abroad then She of Her self would nominate such a Man of such an House to be his Chaplain and another of another House to be his Secretary c. When She had any places to dispose of fit for Persons of an Academical Education She would Her self consign such Persons as She judged to be pares Negoâ—iis Sir William had gotten the very individual Papers wherein these Names were listed and marked with the Queen 's own hand which he carefully laid up among his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now as Sir William pursued this could not be long concealed from the young Students and then it is easie to be imagined or rather it is not to be imagined how this Consideration that their Sovereign's Eye was upon them and so Propitious upon the Deserving among them how this I say would switch and spur on their Industries I end these Additionals to Mr. Mede's Character with that plain ordinary Vote wherein yet I believe I shall have very many joyn with me Sic mihi contingat vivere sicque mori God grant we may all in some proportion live as humbly as faithfully as fruitfully and Christianly and then die as peaceably and comfortably as he did Amen THE END If any one should scruple my Fidelity in relating some speeches of Mr. Mede's because spoken so many years since he may please to satisfie himself with this That it was my Custom presently when I went from Mr. Mede's Chamber to set down in writing what I conceived observable which writings I have yet by me and consulted with them in these my Narratives DIATRIBAE THE FIRST BOOK OF THE WORKS OF The Pious and Profoundly-Learned Ioseph Mede B.D. SOMETIME Fellow of CHRIST'S Colledge in CAMBRIDGE Containing as many DISCOURSES On Several Texts of SCRIPTURE as there are Sundays in the Year Corrected and Enlarged according to the Author 's own Manuscripts August de Doctr. Christ. l. 2. c. 6. in Psal. 140. Praefat. Spiritus Sanctus magnificè ac salubriter ità Scripturas modificavit ut locis apertioribus fami occurreret obscurioribus autem fastidium detergeret Si nusquam aperta esset Scriptura non te pasceret Si nusquam occulta non te exerceret THE CONTENTS OF THE FIRST BOOK DISCOURSE 1. â— Page 1 S. Matthew 6. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Thus therefore pray ye Our Father c. DISC. II. pag. 4 S. Matthew 6. 9. S. Luke 11. 2. Sanctificetur Nomentuum Sanctified or Hallowed be thy Name DISC. III. pag. 19 Acts 17. 4. There associated themselves to Paul and Silas of the worshipping Greeks a great multitude DISC. IV. pag. 23 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 darkness to be reserved unto Iudgment c. so we translate it To which of S. Peter answers that of S. Iude as almost that whole Epistle doth to this vers 6. And the Angels which kept not their first estate or principality but left their own habitation he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the Iudgment of the great Day DISC. V. pag. 25 1 Cor. 4. 1. Let a man so account of us as of the Ministers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Christ and Stewards of the Mysteries of God DISC. VI. pag. 28 S. Iohn 10. 20. He hath a Devil and is mad DISC. VII pag. 31 Proverbs 21. 16. The man that wandreth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the Congregation of the Dead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in coetu Gigantum DISC. VIII pag. 34 Genesis 49. 10. The Scepter shall not depart from Iudab nor a Law-giver from between his feet untill SHILOH come and unto him shall the gathering of the People be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 DISC. IX pag. 36 Psalm 8. 2. Out of the mouth of Babes and Sucklings thou hast ordained strength â— because of thine Enemies that thou mightest quell the Enemy and the Avenger DISC. X. pag. 40 Zachariah 4. 10. These Seven are the eyes of the Lord which run to and fro through the whole earth DISC. XI pag. 44 S. Mark 11. 17. Is it not written My House shall be called a House of Prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to all the Nations DISC. XII pag. 46 S. Iohn 4. 23. But the hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and Truth For the Father seeketh such to worship him DISC. XIII pag. 49. S. Luke 24. 45. Then opened he their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures 46. And said unto them Thus it is written and thus it behoved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day DISC. XIV pag. 52. Exodus 4. 25. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the fore-skin of her son and cast it at his feet and said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sponsus sanguinum tu mihi es DISC. XV. pag. 55. Ezekiel 20. 20. Hallow my Sabbaths and they shall be a sign between me and you to acknowledge that I Iehovah am your God DISC. XVI pag. 58. 1 Cor. 11. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Every woman praying or prophesying with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head DISC. XVII pag. 62. Titus 3. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost DISC. XVIII pag. 65. Ioshua 24. 26. And Ioshua took a great stone and set it up there viz. in Sichem under the Oak which was in the Sanctuary of the Lord Alii by the Sanctuary Hebr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 DISC. XIX pag. 70. 1 Tim. 5. 17. Let the Elders that rule well be counted worthy of double Honour especially they that labour in the Word and Doctrine DISC. XX. pag. 74. Acts 2. 5. And there were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sojourning at Ierusalem Iews devout men out of every Nation under Heaven DISC. XXI pag. 77. 1. Cor. 9. 14. Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 DISC. XXII pag. 80. Psalm 112. 6. The Righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance DISC. XXIII pag. 84. S. Matthew 10. 41.
openeth the womb shall be called Holy unto the Lord Ergo To be the Lord's and to be Holy are Synonyma's Though therefore the Gentiles Court had no sanctity of legal distinction yet had it the sanctity of peculiarity to God-ward and therefore not to be used as a common place The Illation proceeds by way of Conversion My House shall be called the House of Prayer to all Nations or People Ergo The House of Prayer for all Nations is my Father's House And the Emphasis lies in the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which our Translators were not so well advised of when following Beza too close they render the words thus My House shall be called of all Nations the House of Prayer as if the Dative Case here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were not Acquisitive but as it is sometimes with passive verbs in stead of the Ablative of the Agent for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which sense is clean from the scope and purpose of the place whence it is taken as he that compares them will easily see and I shall make fully to appear in the next part of my Discourse which I tendred by the name of an Observation To wit That this fact of our Saviour more particularly concerns us of the Gentiles than we take notice of Namely we are taught thereby what reverent esteem we ought to have of our Gentile Oratories and Churches howsoever not endued with such legal sanctity in every respect as was the Temple of the Iews yet Houses of Prayer as well as theirs This Observation will be made good by a threefold Consideration First of the Story as I have related it secondly from the Text here alledged for warrant thereof and thirdly from the circumstance of Time For the Story I have shewed it was acted in the Gentiles Court and not in that of the Iews because it is not credible that was thus prophaned It cannot therefore be alledged that this was a place of legal sanctity for according to legal sanctity it was held by the Iews as common only it was the place for the Gentiles to worship the God of Israel in and seems to have been proper to the second Temple the Gentiles in the first worshipping without at the Temple-door in the holy Mountain only Secondly The place alledged to avow the Fact speaks expresly of Gentile-worshippers not in the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 only but in the whole body of the context Hear the Prophet speak Esay chap. 56. ver 6 7. and then judge The sons of the stranger that 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 joyful in my House of Prayer their burnt-offerings and sacrifices accepted upon mine Altar Then follow the words of my Text For my House shall be called that is 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 viz. 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 Evangelist expressed the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 namely as that which shewed wherein the force of the accommodation to this occasion lay which the rest of the Evangelists 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 days before our Saviour suffered to wit when he came to his last Passeover How unseasonable had it been to vindicate the violation of Legal and typical sanctity which within so few days after he was utterly to abolish by his Cross unless 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 DISCOURSE XII S. IOHN 4. 23. But the hour cometh 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 that great controverted point between the Iews and Samaritans Whether Mount Garizim by Sichem where the Samaritans sacrificed or Ierusalem were the true place of worship Our Saviour tells her that this Question was not now of much moment For that the hour 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 Iews and them than this of Place namely even about That which was worshipped For ye saith he worship that ye know not but we Iews worship that we know Then follow the words premised But the hour cometh 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 External worship but that of the Spirit only and this to be a characteristical difference between the worship of the Old Testament and the New If at any time we talk of external decency in rites and bodily expressions as sit to be used in the service of God this is the usual Buckler to repel whatsoever may be said in that kind It is true indeed that the worship of the Gospel is much more spiritual than that of the Law But that the worship of the Gospel should be only spiritual and no external worship required therein as the Text according to some meus sense and allegation thereof would imply is repugnant not only to the practice and experience of the Christian Religion in all Ages but also to the express 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 consute this Gloss For is not the commemoration of the Sacrifice of Christ's death upon the Cross unto his Father in the Symbols of Bread and Wine an external worship And yet with this Rite hath the Church in all Ages used to make her solemn address of Prayer and Supplication unto the Divine Majesty as the Iews in the Old Testament did by Sacrifice When I say in all Ages I include also that of the Apostles For so much S. Luke testifieth of that first Christian society
example many other of the Iews 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 Iews and the occasion of a continual 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 Iews 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 only Yet so that howsoever they seemed to themselves to be true worshippers and altogether free from Idolatry nevertheless they retained a smack thereof inasmuch 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 Iewish Tradition tells us who therefore always branded their worship with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or spiritual Fornication Iust as their predecessors the Ten Tribes worshipped the same God of Israel under the similitude of a Cals This was the condition of the Samaritan Religion in our Saviour's time and if we weigh the matter well we shall find 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 now greatly material forasmuch as the time is at hand when men shall worship the Father at neither But there is a greater difference between you and us than of Place though you take no notice of it namely even about the Object of worship it self For ye worship what ye know not but we Iews worship what we know How is that Thus Ye worship indeed the Father the God of Israel as we do but you worship him under a corporeal representation wherein you shew you know him not But the hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and Truth In Spirit that is conceiving of him no otherwise than in Spirit and in Truth that is not under any corporeal or visible shape For God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and Truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not fancying him as a Body but as indeed he is a Spirit For those who worship him under a corporeal similitude do beli◠him according as the Apostle speaks Rom. 1. 23. of such as changed the glory of the Incorruptible God into an Image made like to corruptible Man Birds or Beasts They changed saith he the truth of God into a lie and served the creature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 juxta Creatorem as or with the Creator who is blessed for ever v. 25. Hence Idols in Scripture are termed Lies as Amos 2. 4. Their Lies have caused them to erre after which their Fathers walked The Vulgar hath Seduxerunt eos Idola ipsorum Their Idols have caused them to erre And Esay 28. 15. We have made Lies our refuge And Ier. 16. 19 20. The Gentiles shall come from the ends of the earth and shall say Surely our Fathers have possessed the Chaldee hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 have worshipped a lie vanity wherein there is no profit Shall a man make Gods unto himself and they are no Gods This therefore I take to be the genuine meaning of this place and not that which is commonly supposed against external worship which I think this Demonstration will evince To worship what they know as the Iews are said to do and to worship in Spirit and Truth are taken by our Saviour for one and the same thing else the whole sense will be inconsequent But the Iews worshipped not God without Rites and Ceremonies who yet are supposed to worship him in Spirit and Truth Ergo To worship God without Rites and Ceremonies is not to worship him in Spirit and Truth according to the meaning here intended DISCOURSE XIII S. LUKE 24. 45 46. Then opened he their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures And said unto them Thus it is written and thus it behoved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day OUR Blessed Saviour after he was risen from the dead told his Disciples not only that his Suffering of death and Rising again the third day was foretold in the Scriptures but also pointed out those Scriptures unto them and opened their understanding that they might understand them that is he expounded or explained them unto them Certain it is therefore that somewhere in the Old Testament these things were foretold should befall Messiah Yea S. Paul 1 Cor. 15. 3 4. will further assure us that they are I delivered unto you saith he first of all that which I also received how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures And that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures Both of them therefore are somewhere foretold in the Scriptures and it becomes not us to be so ignorant as commonly we are which those Scriptures be which foretell them It is a main point of our Faith and that which the Iews most stumble at because their Doctors had not observed any such thing foretold to Messiah The more they were ignorant thereof the more it concerns us to be confirmed therein I thought good therefore to make this the Argument of my Discourse at this time to inform both you and my self where these things are foretold and if I can to point out those very Scriptures which our Saviour here expounded to his Disciples Which that I may the better do I will make the words fore-going my Text to be as the Pole-star in this my search These are the things saith our Saviour which I spake unto you while I was yet with you That all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalms concerning me Then follow the words I read Then opened he their understanding c. These two events therefore of Messiah's death and rising again the third day were foretold in these Three parts of Scripture In the Law of Moses or Pentateuch in the Nebiim or Prophets and in the Psalms and in these Three we must search for them And first for the First That Messiah should suffer death This was fore-signified in the Law or Pentateuch First in the story of Abraham where he was commanded to offer his son Isaac the son wherein his seed should be called and to whom the promise was entailed That in it should all the Nations
22. 32. I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Iacob God is not the God of the dead but of the living p. 801 Chap. 23. 19 the Altar that sanctifies the Gift p. 376 Verse 39. Ye shall not see me henceforth till ye shall say Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. p. 519 Chap. 24. 14. And the Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world p. 705 and then shall the End come p. 36 Verse 20. Pray that your flight be not in the winter nor on the Sabbath-day p. 841 Verse 29. Immediately after the tribulation of these days shall the Sun be darkned and the Moon shall not give her light and the Stars shall fall from heaven p. 615 753 Verse 34. This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled p. 752 Chap. 25. 33 34. And he shall set the Sheep on his right hand but the Goats on the left Then shall the King say to them on his right hand Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom c. p. 841 Chap. 27. 34. They gave him vineger to drink mingled with gall p. 518 S. MARK Chap. 1. 14. Now after that Iohn was put in prison Iesus came into Galilee preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God pag. 97 Verse 15. And saying The time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand Repent ye and believe the Gospel p. 106 Chap. 11. 17. Is it not written My house shall be called a House of Prayer to all the Nations p. 44 Chap. 15. 23. And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrhe p. 518 S. LUKE Chap. 1. 28. Hail thou highly-favoured one p. 181 Verse 72. To shew mercy or kindness to our Fathers p. 801 Chap. 2. 1. that all the World should be taxed p. 705 13 14. And suddenly there was with the Angel a multitude of the heavenly Host praising God and saying Glory be to God in the highest c. p. 89 Chap. 6. 12. he continued all night 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 67 Chap. 7. 47. Her sins which are many are forgiven therefore she loved much p. 766 Chap. 16. 9. Make to your selves friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness c. p. 170 Chap. 18. 28. Lo we have left all and followed thee p. 120 Chap. 21. 24. Vntil the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled p. 709 753 Verse 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Then shall be Signs c. p. 744 753 Chap. 22. 20. This Cup is the New Covenant in my bloud p. 372 Chap. 24. 45 46. Then opened be their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures And said unto them Thus it is written and thus it behoved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day p. 49 S. IOHN Chap. 1. 14. And the Wâ—rd was made flesh and tabernacled in us p. 266 Chap. 4. 20. Our Fathers worshipped in this Mountain p. 263 Verse 22. Ye worship what ye know not we worship what we know p. 49 Verse 23. But the hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and Truth p. 46. Chap. 7. 37. As the Scripture saith out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water p. 62 Chap. 10. 20. He hath a Devil and is mad p. 28 Chap. 12. 28. Then came there a voice from heaven The people therefore that stood by and heard it said that it thundred p. 459 Chap. 17. 17. Sanctifie them unto or fâ—r thy Truth thy Word is Truth p. 14 Verse 19. And for them I sanctifie my self that they might be sanctified for thy Truth ibid. Chap. 18. 36. My kingdom is not of this world if my kingdom were of this world then would my servants fight p. 103 Chap. 21. 22. If I will that he stay till I come p. 708 ACTS Chap. 2. 5. And there were sojourning at Ierusalem Iows devout men out of every Nation under heaven p. 74 Verse 42. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 364 Verse 45. See Chap. 4. 34 Verse 46. And they continuing daily with one accord in the Temple and breaking bread 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the House ate their meat with gladness and singleness of heart p. 322 Chap. 3. 19. Repent and be converted c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that so the times of refreshing may come p. 612 Chap. 4. 34 35. As many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them and brought the prices of the things that were sold and laid them down at the Apostles feet p. 127 Chap. 5. 3 4. And Peter said Ananias why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the holy Ghost and to purloin of the price of the land c. p. 115 Chap. 10. 1 2. There was a certain man in Caefarea called Cornelius a Centurion of the Italian band a devout man and one that feared God c. p. 165 Verse 4. Thy Prayers and thine Alms are come up for a memorial before God p. 164 Chap. 13. 48. And there believed as many as were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to eternal life p. 21 Chap. 14. 15. Who in times past suffered all Nations to walk in their own ways p. 515 Chap. 15. 16 17. After this I will return and will build again the Tabernacle of David which is fallen c. That the residuc of men might seek after the Lord and all the Gentiles upon whom my Name is called p. 455 Chap. 16. 13. And on the Sabbath we went out of the city by a river-side where there was taken or where was famed to be a Proseucha and Verse 16. It came to pass as we went to the Proseucha p. 67 Chap. 17. 4 There associated themselves to Paul and Silas of the worshipping Greeks a great multitude p. 19 Verse 18. He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange Gods because he preached unto them Iesus and the Resurrection p. 635 Chap. 18. 22. And he sailed from Ephesus and when he had landed at Caesarea having gone up and saluted the Church he went down to Antioch p. 323 Chap. 24. 16. ' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For this cause do I exercise my self to have always a conscience void of offence toward God and men p. 871 ROMANS Chap. 1. 23. They changed the Glory of the incorruptible God into an Image c. p. 5 Verse 25. Who changed the truth of God into a lie and served the creature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 49 Chap. 8. 20. For the creature was made subject to vanity Because the creature it self also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God p. 230 812 Chap. 9. 1. my Conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost p. 118 Chap. 11. 11 15. Through their fall Salvation is come unto the Gentiles for to provoke them to jealousie For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world p. 455
Acts 2. 42. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 S. Paul as himself saith bowed his knees to the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ He and S. Peter and the rest of the Believers do the like more than once in the Acts of the Apostles What was Imposition of hands but an external gesture in an act of invocation for conferring a blessing and that perhaps sometimes without any vocal expression joyned therewith Besides I cannot conceive any reason why in this point of Evangelical worship Gesture should be more scrupled at than Voice Is not confessing praising praying and glorifying God by Voice an external 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 Saviour's meaning but some other Let us see if we can find 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 Evangelist termed Truth as Chap. 17. ver 17. and the Doctrine thereof by S. Paul the word of Truth See Ephes. Chap. 1. ver 13. Rom. 15. 8. The time therefore is now at hand said our Saviour when the true worshippers shall worship the Father no longer with bloudy 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 Iews and Samaritans to which our Saviour here makes answer which was not about worship in general but about the kind of worship in special which was confessed by both sides to be tied to one certain place only that is of worship by Sacrifice and the appendages in a word of the Typical 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 Iews and Samaritans which dwelt together at Alexandria They lived saith he in perpetual discord one with the other whilst each laboured to maintain their Country customs 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 Iews and Samaritans had other places of worship besides either of these namely their Proseucha's and Synagogues wherein they worshipped God not with internal only but external worship though not with Sacrifice which might be offered but in one place only 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 only Mediator of the Church in the Temple of whose sacred body we have access unto the Father and in whom he accepts our service and devotions according to that Destroy this Temple and I will rear it up again in three days He spake saith the Text of the Temple of his Body This sense divers of the Ancients hit upon Eusebius Demon. Evang. 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 external services For the New Testament was to have external and visible services as well as the Old but such as should imply the verity of the promises already exhibited not be 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Spirit and Truth both together they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but once found in holy Writ to wit only 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 here taken one for the exposition of the other namely that to worship the Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the same with to worship him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But howsoever this exposition be fair and plausible yet methinks 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 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 read in the second Book of the Kings at their first coming thither worshipped not the God of Israel but the gods of the Nations from whence they came wherefore he sent Lions 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 Country 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 tells us worshipped the Lord yet feared their own Gods too and so did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as S. Chrysostome speaks mingle things not to be mingled In this medley they continued about three 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 Iews married the daughter of Sanballat then Governour of Samaria for which being expelled from Ierusalem by Nehemiah he fled to Sanballat his Father in Law and after his
the nature and grounds of what they practised lest for want thereof they might cherish some unsafe conceit And notwithstanding I preached for Bowing as you say to Altars yet I have not hitherto used it my self in our own Chappel though I see some others do it If I come into other Chappels where it is generally practised I love not to be singular where I have no scruple But you would not have me have any hand in killing the Witnesses God forbid I should I rather endeavour they might not be guilty of their own deaths And I verily believe the way that many of them go is much more unlikely to save their lives than mine I could tell you a great deal here if I had you privately in my chamber which I mean not for any mans sake to commit to paper Siracusae vestrae capientur in pulvere pingitis As for Bowing at the name Iesus 't is commanded by our Church And for my self I hold it not unlawful to adore my Saviour upon any Cue or hint given Yet could I never believe it to be the meaning of that place of the Philippians nor that it can be inferred thence otherwise than by way of a general and indefinite consequence I derive it rather from the Custom of the World in several Religions thus to express some kind of Reverence when that which they acknowledge for their God is named as we find the Turks do at this day Besides I conceive to do this reverence at the name Iesus only is proper to the Latine Church and it may be of later standing For if some Greeks have not deceived me the custom of the Orient is to bow the head not only at the name Iesus but at the name Christ and sometimes though not so frequently at the name God And if that were the fashion of the elder Christianity that out of S. Hierom would found more to the purpose Moris est Ecclesiastici Christo genu-flectere This is all I can say to this point having had fewer Notions thereabout than about any of the rest That the worship of the Inward man is that which God principally requires and looks at I think no Christian man denies But what then Doth not our Saviour's rule hold notwithstanding in such a comparison 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And consider that the Question is not here as most men seem to make it between Inward worship and Outward worship seorsim for in such case it is plain the Outward is nothing worth but whether the Inward worship together with the Outward may not be more acceptable to God than the Inward alone As for that so commonly objected Scripture in this question Of worshipping the Father in spirit and truth as the Characteristical difference of the Evangelical worship from the Legal I believe it hath a far different sense from that it is commonly taken to have and that the Iews in our Saviour's sense worshipped the Father in spirit and truth But my work grows so fast that I must let it pass and be content with that vulgar answer viz. That under the Old Testament God was worshipped in types and figures of things to come but in the New men should worship the Father in spirit and truth that is according to the verity of the things presignified not that they should worship him without all gestures or postures of Body to which purpose it is wont to be alledged But all this while my mind is upon another matter which at length I am gotten unto viz. your strange construction and censure of the pains I took in opening my thoughts so freely unto you concerning these matters of reverential posture and gesture in respect of that interlaced piece wherein I intimated the Eucharist to have in it ratio sacrificii For 1. Because in the close of my Letter I expressed my fear of some Iudgment to befall the Reformed Churches because out of the immoderation of their zeal they had in a manner taken away all Difference between Sacred and Prophane you will needs suspect I aimed to make the present Iudgments of God upon Christendom to be for neglect of that Sacrifice which I had spoken of a thing I never thought of nor thought so plain an expression of my meaning could ever have been so mistaken I pray let me intreat you to read over those papers once again and then tell me with whom the fault is For why Is not to esteem the Eucharist a Sacrament to account it a Sacred thing unless it be accounted a Sacrifice 2. It seems strange to you that a matter of so great importance as I seem to make this Sacrifice to be should have so little evidence in God's Word and Antiquity and depend merely upon certain conjectures As for Scripture if you mean the name of Sacrifice neither is the name Sacrament nor Eucharist according to our Expositions there to be found no more than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Yet may not the thing be But when you speak of so little Evidence to be found in Antiquity I cannot but think such an Affirmation far more strange than you can possibly my Opinion For what is there in Christianity for which more Antiquity may be brought than for this I speak not now of the Fathers meaning whether I guessed rightly at it or not but in general of their Notion of a Sacrifice in the Eucharist If there be little Antiquity for this there is no Antiquity for any thing Eusebius Altkircherus a Calvinist printed Neustadii Palatinorum 1584. 1591. De mystico incruento Ecclesiae Sacrificio pag. 6. Fuit haec perpetua semper omnium Ecclesiasticorum Patrum concors unanimis sententia Quòd instituta per Christum passionis mortis suae in Sacra Coena memoria etiam Sacrificii in se contineret commendationem Bishop Morton in Epist. Dedicator prefixed to his Book of the Eucharist Apud veteres Patres ut quod res est liberè fateamur de Sacrificio Corporis Christi in Eucharistia incruento frequens est mentio quae dici vix potest quantopere quorundam alioqui doctorum hominum ingenia exercuerit torserit vexaver◠aut è contrà quà m jactanter Pontificii de ea re se ostentent And that in the Age immediately following the Apostles the Eucharist was generally conceived of under the name and notion of a Sacrifice to omit the Testimonies of Ignatius and Iustin Martyr take only this of Irenaeus Lib. 4. cap. 32. Dominus discipulis suis dans consilium primitias Deo offerre ex suis creaturis eum qui ex creatura Panis est accepit gratias egit dicens Hoc est Corpus meum Calicem similiter qui est ex ea creatura quae est secundùm nos suum Sanguinem confessus est Novi Testamenti novam docuit Oblationem quam Ecclesia ab Apostolis accipiens in universo mundo offert Deo c. And chap. 34. Igitur Ecclesiae Oblatio quam
Discourses the First is added in this Edition all but the Second of them were made by him in his younger days and all of them but the Last are elaborate and argue his great reading and study The Last which is plainer than the rest was added because the latter part thereof especially is a fit Supplement to Discourse 39. and withal because the whole is a pregnant proof of his freedom from Vaingloriousness and Affectation a Disease to which Young men are most subject and that he knew as to discourse learnedly before capable Hearers and to prepare strong meat for those of full age so likewise to become weak to those that were weak in imitation of the Great Apostle of the Gentiles and when he was to speak before a Country-Auditory to express himself in a very plain and familiar way Which ability and readiness of condescending to the meanest capacity was a Vertue and Perfection in him worthy of praise and imitation rather than an unseemly debasement and lessening of himself The Great S. Augustine was pleas'd to humble himself to a yet lower condescension he would speak sometimes broken and barbarous Latine before some sort of Hearers so it were better understood by them as Ossum for Os c. upon the mentioning of which instance he adds Melius est ut nos reprehendant Grammatici quam ut non intelligant populi In general His Style is every where grave and proper and fitly expressive of his sense an argument that he was Master of his Notions and did fully comprehend them Nor is it easie to find many Writers that in treating upon Prophetical and Obscure Scriptures of any other Abstruse arguments have either illustrated them with that clearness that easie and punctual accommodation of them to their proper Events or represented their Notions so handsomely and advantageously as he hath done To be short In his Discourses and Sermons there is nothing that is light humorous and trifling no little pieces of Wit or slight Phancy no high-flown nor affected Modes of expression no needless Quotations of the meaner and less-significant Sentences out of Authors with which some such especially who are less acquainted with the inward sense and relish of Better things endeavour to make their Discourses look very fine and as they think wondrous learned hoping thereby to gratifie some weak and Childish minds and by them to be had in admiration whose Applause yet is in the esteem of Wise men a Disparagement No His great care was to make his Discourses rather substantial and solid sit to entertain such as are of a more Manly and serious spirit than gawdy and quaint and pleasing only to those that are but Children and not grown to be Men in Understanding as being well assured that to men of judgment as Petronius hath well observ'd Nihil esset magnificum quod pueris placeret His Generous Soul could not stoop so low as to humor these such a Pedantick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Affectation being in his account a certain sign of a Poorness and Narrowness of spirit a Littleness of Mind when it can thus vacare rebus tam exiguis his interesse ut suis. In a word what is related in the Life of Padre Paolo that Oracle of Venice the famous Author of the History of the Council of Trent and for his scarcely-parallel'd Accomplishments both Intellectual and Moral the Glory and Wonder of that Age Il miracolo di questo secolo as the learned and excellent Vincentius Pinellus of Padua did love to style him may with equal truth be said of Mr. Mede and his Writings viz. That here was an happy conjunction of those Excellencies which rarely meet in one and the same Subject Scienza humilita prudenza e mansuetudine ritir atezza officiosita seriosita e dolcezza brevita e chiarezza soavita e sodezza Knowledge and Humility Prudence and Meekness Retiredness and Officiousness Seriousness and Pleasantness Brevity and Clearness Sweetness and Solidity I might add a word concerning some other Tracts of his and particularly such as besides his Clavis Apocalyptica refer to the Apocalyps and make the three last Chapters in Book V. But concerning these there is an Advertisement there prefixed And for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Remains upon the Apocalyps this in short may suffice to be intimated That they were only an Additional Supplement to the first Draught of his Synchronisms privately communicated to some Friends and were not written after but before his Clavis Commentationes Apocalypticae which were his Last labours upon that mysterious Book and by these his Last Thoughts upon the Apocalyps should be farther cleared and rectified whatsoever may seem in those former Papers less perfect and satisfying Concerning other Tracts of his there are particular Advertisements inserted where thore was need in their proper places And thus much concerning the Author and his Writings I proceed to the last Head of Advertisements III. Advertisements touching the Methods and Helps whereby the Author arrived at such an eminent degree of skill in the more abstruse parts of Knowledge And because it is and ever was the General sense of all Wise and Vertuous persons in the World That the Divine Presence and Assistence is absolutely necessary and therefore to be implor'd in all weighty undertakings that which deserves first to be numbred amongst those Helps to knowledge is I. His humble and fervent Prayer to Almighty God the Father of lights to guide him into all Truth and to give him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a good understanding in all things This was S. Iames his advice If any man lack Wisdom let him ask of God and it shall be given him This was that memorable counsel that a venerable unknown person gave to Iustin Martyr in his Solitude after he had pass'd through the several Philosophies then in being the Stoick Peripatetick Pythagorean and Platonick as a preparation to his receiving the best Philosophy that is the Christian That he would study the Writings of the Holy Prophets and for his better success therein saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he should first and above all things pray unto God that the Gates of light might be opened unto him and in the following of this counsel this great Philosopher became an eminent Christian faithful unto death This was Daniel's practice Daniel whose Prophecy is much-what of the like colour and complexion with S. Iohn's Apocalyps he sets himself and engages the Three Children his companions to do the like to desire mercies of the God of Heaven concerning that Secret of Nebuchadnezzar's Vision of the Four Kingdoms represented by the Image of Four differing mettals And to mention only one Example more but such a one as is most pertinent on this occasion S. Iohn is said to have wept much that none was found that could open the Apocalyptick Book sealed with
New the Christian Clergy or Clerus so called from the beginning of Christian Antiquity either because they are the Lord 's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Portion which the Church dedicateth unto him out of her self namely as the Levites were an offering of the Children of Israel which they offered unto him out of their Tribes or because their inheritance and livelihood is the Lord's portion I prefer the first yet either of both will give their Order the title of Holiness as doth also more especially their descent which they derive from the Apostles that is from those for whom their Lord and Master prayed unto his Father saying Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sanctisie them unto or for thy Truth thy Word is Truth that is Separate them unto the Ministery of thy Truth the word of thy Gospel which is the truth and verification of the promises of God It follows As thou hast sent me into the world so have I also sent them into the world this is the key which unlocks the meaning of that before and after And for them I sanctifie my self that they might be sanctified for thy Truth that is And forasmuch as they cannot be consecrated to such an Office without some sacrifice to atone and purifie them therefore for their consecration to this holy function of ministration of the new Covenant I offer my self a Sacrifice unto thee for them in lieu of those legal and typical ones wherewith Aaron and his sons first and then the whole Tribe of Levi were consecrated unto thy service in the old An Ellipsis of the first Substantive in Scripture is frequent So here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 only is put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Truth for the Ministery of Truth Now that the Christian Church for of the Iewish I shall need say nothing hath alwayes taken it for granted that those of her Clergy ought according to the separation and sanctity of their Order to be distinguished and differenced from other Christians both passively in their usance from others but especially actively by a restrained conversation and peculiarness in their manner of life is manifest by her ancient Canons and Discipline Yea so deeply hath it been rooted in the minds of men that the Order of Church-men binds them to some differing kind of conversation and form of life from the Laity that even those who are not willing to admit of the like discrimination due in other things have still in their opinions some relick thereof remaining in this though perhaps not altogether to be acquitted of that imputation which Tertullian charged upon some in his time to wit Quum excellimur inflamur adversùs Clerum tunc unum omnes sumus tunc omnes Sacerdotes quia Sacerdotes nos Deo Patri fecit Quum ad peraequationem Disciplinae Sacerdotalis provocamur deponimus insulas impares sumus When we vaunt and are puffed up against the Clergie then we are all one then we are all Priests for he made us Priests to God and his Father But when we are called upon to equal in our lives the example of Priestly Discipline then down go our Miâ—res and we are another sort of men Another sort of things Sacred which I named was Sacred Places to wit Churches and Oratories as the Christian name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 implieth them to be that is the Lord's A third Sacred Times that is dedicated and appointed for the solemn celebration of the worship of God and Divine duties such are with us for those of the Iews concern us not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Lord's dayes with other our Christian Festivals and Holy-dayes Of the manner of the discrimination from common or sanctifying both the one and the other by actions some commanded others interdicted to be done in them the Canons and Constitutions of our Church will both inform and direct us For holy Times and holy Places are Twins Time and Place being as I may so speak pair-circumstances of action and therefore Lev. 19. 30. and again 26. 2. they are joyned together tanquam ejusdem rationis Keep my Sabbaths and reverence my Sanctuary The fourth sort of Sacred things is of such as are neither Persons Times nor Places but Things in a special sense by way of distinction from them And this sort containeth under it many particulars which may be specified after this manner 1. Sacred Revenues of what kind soever which in regard of the dedication thereof as they must not be prophaned by sacrilegious alienation so ought they to be sanctified by a different use and imployment from other Goods namely such a one as becometh that which is the Lord's and not man's For that Primitive Christian Antiquity so esteemed them appears by their calling them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they did their Place of Worship 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and their Holy day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all of the Lord as it were Christening the old notion of Sacred by a new name So Can. Apostol XL. Manifestae sint Episcopi res propriae si quidem res habet proprias manifesta sint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. res Dominicae Let it be manifest what things are the Bishop's own if he have any things of his own and let it be manifest what things are the Lord 's Author constitut Apost Lib. 2. c. 28. al. 24. Episcopus ne utatur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dominicis rebus tanquam alienis aut communibus sed moderatè Let not the Bishop use the things that are the Lord's as if they were another's or as if they were common but moderately and soberly See also Balsamon in Can. 15. Concilii Ancyrani and the Canon it self 2. Sacred Vtensils as the Lord's Table Vessels of ministration the Books of God or Holy Scripture and the like Which that the Church even in her better times respected with an holy and discriminative usance may be learned from the story of that calumnious crimination devised by the Arrian Faction against Athanasius as a charge of no small impiety namely that in his Visitation of the Tract of Marcotis Macarius one of his Presbyters by his command or instinct had entered into a Church of the Miletian Schismaticks and there broken the Chalice or Communion-Cup thrown down the Table and burnt some of the Holy Books All which argues that in the general opinion of Christians of that time such acts were esteemed prophane and impious otherwise they could never have hoped as they did to have blasâ—ed the reputation of the holy Bishop by such a slander Touching the Books of God or Holy Scripture which I referred to this Title especially those which are for the publick service of God in the Church I adde this further That under that name I would have comprehended the senses words and phrases appropriated to the expression of Divine and Sacred things which a Religious ear cannot endure to
Good spell that is the good speak or say the good tidings the word of good news Under which name it was revealed by the Angel to the Shepherds who were watching their flock in the fields the night our Saviour was born Behold saith the Angel I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people For unto you is born this day a Saviour which is Christ the Lord Luk. 2. 10 11. I call it the glad tidings of Salvation to be attained by Christ for so much the name of Saviour implies And saith S. Paul 1 Tim. 1. 15. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation That Iesus Christ came into the world to save sinners Neither is there saith S. Peter Acts 4. 12. Salvation in any other for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved The next words I used shew the way and manner how and whereby Christ purchased this Salvation unto men and the means whereby it is attained through him namely by cancelling of sin by his alonement made he reconciles us to his Father that we through him might turn unto God and perform works of obedience acceptable unto eternal life All which was foretold by Daniel chap. 9. 24. where prophesying of the time of Messiah's coming he said Seventy weeks were determined upon the people and upon the holy city to finish transgression and to make an end of sin and to make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousness To prove in particular that Christ dyed for sin I shall not need No man that ever read the Gospel but knows it That by the atonement he made for sin by death he hath reconciled us to his Father is as evident by what S. Paul tells us 2 Cor. 5. 19. That God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses to them That the ministery of the Gospel is the Ministery of reconciliation v. 18. whose Ministers as Embassadors for Christ beseech men in Christ's stead to be reconciled unto God v. 20. For by reason of Sin all mankind is at enmity with God and liable to eternal wrath Christ by taking our sins upon him abolished this enmity and set us at peace with God his Father according to that the Quire of Angels sang at his blessed Birth Glory be to God on high and on earth Peace Good-will towards men that is Glory be ascribed to God forasmuch as Peace was come upon earth and Good-will towards men All this is plain But that which the greatest part of men as may be guessed by their practice seem to make question of is that last parcel of my Description That therefore Christ took away sin and reconciled us to his Father that we might through him whose righteousness is imputed to us perform works of piety and obedience which God should accept and crown with eternal life But that this is also a part of the Gospel as well as the former is plain and evident First by that of S. Peter 1 Ep. ch 2. ver 24. where he tells us That Christ his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sin might live unto righteousness Secondly by that of the Apostle Paul to Titus ch 2. 11 c. The grace of God saith he that bringeth Salvation hath appeared unto all men Wherefore Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Looking for that blessed hope the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Iesus Christ Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Is not this plain Thirdly by that of the same Apostle Eph. 2. 10. where the Apostle having told us v. 8 9. that we are saved by grace through faith and not of works that is not according to the Covenant of works wherein the exact performance was required lest any man should boast namely that he was not beholden to God for grace and favour in rewarding him he adds presently lest his meaning might be mistaken That we are God's workmanship created in Christ Iesus unto good works which God hath before ordained 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that we should walk in them As if he should say Though of our selves we are no ways able to perform those works of obedience ordained by God aforetime in his Law for us to walk in yet now God hath as it were new created us in Christ that we might perform them in him namely by way of acceptation though they come short of that exactness which the Law requireth And thus to be saved is to be saved by grace and favour and not by the merit of works because the foundation whereby our selves and services are approved in the eyes of God and have promise of reward is the mere favour of God in Iesus Christ and not any thing in us or them Agreeable to these Scriptures is that in the Revelation where glory is ascribed to Iesus Christ who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own bloud and hath made us Kings and Priests unto God his Father that is that he might make us kings and Priests unto God his Father For and is here to be taken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for that Kings to subdue the world the flesh and the Devil Priests to offer Sacrifices of prayer thanksgiving works of mercy and other acceptable services to our heavenly Father Moreover and besides these express Scriptures this Truth may be yet further confirmed by Demonstration and Reason Repentance is a forsaking of sin to serve God in newness of life Now the Gospel includes Repentance as the subject wherein it worketh as the Body which it enliveneth as a Soul Or to use a similitude from weaving Repentance is the warp of the Gospel and the Gospel the woof of Repentance Repentance is as the warp which the Gospel by the shuttle of Faith runs through as the woof whence proceeds the web of Regeneration Therefore is Repentance everywhere joyned with the Gospel Both Iohn Baptist and our Saviour so published it Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand Repent and believe the Gospel Our Saviour in his last words or commission to his Disciples tells them Luk. 24. 47. that Repentance and Remission of sins which is the Gospel should be preached in his Name among all Nations beginning at Ierusalem All which is elsewhere comprised in the sole name of preaching the Gospel which argues that the Gospel of Christ and consequently our Faith in the same supposeth Repentance as the ground to do its work upon So S. Peter in his first Sermon Acts 2. 38. conjoyns them Repent saith he and be baptized in the name of Iesus Christ for the remission of sins as if he had said Repent and that thy Repentance may be available betake
thy self to Christ become a disciple and a member of his Kingdom S. Paul likewise taught the Gospel in like manner for himself tells us so Acts 20. 21. that he testified both to Iews and Gentiles Repentance toward God and Faith toward our Lord Iesus Christ. Repentance therefore and the Gospel cannot be separated If Repentance includes newness of life and good works the Gospel doth so For Christ is the way of Repentance without Repentance there is no use of Christ and without Christ Repentance is unavailable and nothing worth for without him we can neither be quit of the sins we forsake nor turn by a new life unto God with hope of being received He is the blessed Ferry-man and his Gospel is the Boat provided by the unspeakable mercy of God for the passage of this Sea As therefore in Repentance we forsake sin to serve God in newness of life so in the tenour of the Gospel Christ delivers us from sin that we might through Faith in him bring forth the fruits and works of a new life acceptable to our heavenly Father Hence it is that we shall be judged and receive our sentence at the last day according to our works Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world For I was hungry and ye gave me meat I was thirsty and ye gave me drink I was a stranger and ye took me in naked and ye clothed me I was sick and ye visited me I was in prison and ye came unto me Forasmuch as ye have done these things unto the least of my brethren ye have done them unto me Lord how do those look to be saved at that day who think good works not required to Salvation and accordingly do them not Can our Saviour pass this blessed sentence upon them No assuredly he will not But if the case be thus in the Gospel What is the reason will some men say that the Apostle tells us that we Christians are no longer under the Law nor justified by the works of the Law but under Grace and justified by Faith only I answer It is true that we are justified that is freed and acquitted from sin by Faith only But besides Iustification there is a Sanctification with the works of piety towards God and righteousness towards men as the Fruits yea as the End of our Iustification required to eternal life For therefore we are justified that we might do works acceptable to our heavenly Father through the imputation of the Righteousness of Christ which of our selves we could not and so obtain the reward he hath promised the doers of them As for the Law it is to be considered either as a Rule and so we are bound to conform and frame our actions to it for who dare deny but a Christian is bound to fear God and keep his Commandments or the Law may be considered as it is taken for the Covenant of works The Apostle when he disputes of this argument by the Law means the Covenant of works which he also calls The Law of works and by Faith and the Law of Faith he understands the Covenant of grace the condition whereof is Faith as will easily appear to him that shall diligently read the third and fourth chapters of the Epistle to the Galatians where he expresly changeth those terms of Law and Faith into the equivalent appellations of the Two Covenants Now as the Law is taken for the Covenant of works the Seal whereof was Circumcision 't is true we are not under it For the Covenant of works called by the Apostle the Law is that Covenant wherein Works are the condition on our part which if we perform in every point as the Law requires we are justified before God as keepers of his Covenant otherwise if we fail in the least thing we are condemned as guilty of the breach thereof Under this Covenant we are not for if we were and were to be judged according to it alas who could be saved For all saith the Apostle have sinned and come short of the glory of God There is none righteous no not one But the Covenant we are under is Believe and thou shalt be saved the Covenant of Grace the condition of which Covenant on our part is not the doing of works which may abide the Touch-stone of the Law but Faith in Iesus Christ which makes our works though of themselves insufficient and short of what the Law requires accepted of God and capable of reward This is that S. Iohn saith 1 Ep. 5. 3 4. That to love God is to keep his commandments and his commandments now under the Gospel are not grievous For whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world and this is the victory that overcometh the world even our Faith c. Whence our Saviour also saith that his yoke the yoke of the Gospel was easie and his burthen light The condition of the first Covenant was that which we could not do the condition of the second Covenant is that which enableth us to do and makes accepted what we can do and this is the Covenant of the Gospel a Covenant of savour and grace through Iesus Christ our Lord. And thus we have seen what the Apostle's meaning is when he saith we are not under the Law but under Grace Not as though a Christian were not bound to walk after God's commandments but that the exact fulfilling of them is not the condition whereby we are justified in the New Covenant but Faith in Iesus Christ in whom whosoever cometh unto the Father is accepted be his offering never so mean so it be tendered with sincerity and truth of heart Most unworthy therefore should we be of this so great and unspeakable favour of Almighty God our heavenly Father offered us in the Gospel if when he hath given us his only Son to make the yoak of our obedience easie and possible to be born we contemning this superabundant grace should refuse to wear and draw therein Far be it from the heart of a Christian to think it possible to have any benefit by Christ as long as he stands thus affected or ever to win the prize of eternal life without running the race appointed thereunto Shall we sin that grace may abound saith S. Paul God forbid THUS much of the Gospel Now of Faith whereby we are partakers of the grace therein being the condition of the New Covenant which God hath struck with men Faith is to believe the Gospel that is to attain Salvation through Christ. But there is a three-fold Faith wherewith men believe in Christ. 1. There is a false Faith 2. there is a true Faith but not a saving and 3. there is a saving Faith A false Faith is to believe to attain Salvation by Christ any other way than God hath ordained as namely to believe to attain Salvation through him without works of obedience to be accepted of
when there is no benefit by it but if it chance to be once beneficial to our selves then we love it Here is the trial of a Loyal heart to God to prefer vertue before vice then when in humane reason vertue shall be the loser vice the gainer This note discovered Iehu who destroyed the worship of Baal with a great shew of zeal but when it came to Ieroboam's Calves he dispensed with them lest it might prove dangerous to his Kingdom if the Israelites should go worship at Ierusalem 4. To conclude A Loyal heart is that which the Scripture calls in the old Testament A perfect heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not perfect in respect of degrees for such a perfection is not attainable in this life but perfect in respect of parts Cor integrum a heart wherein no part is wholly wanting howsoever weak and a great deal short of due proportion 1 Kings 11. 4. when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other Gods and his heart was not perfect with his God as was the Heart of David his Father not because he served not the Lord at all but that he served him not only and intirely Ioshua 24. 14. Now therefore saith he fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and truth Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in perfectness and truth and put away the Gods which your Fathers served which was as much as to say Serve the Lord wholly and quite renounce all service to others 2 Kings 20. 3. Hezekiah prayes in his sickness Lord I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight He saith not he had done perfect Actions or performed perfect service for who can do such but yet that he walked with a perfect heart that is with a loyal heart before God So 1 Kings 15. 14. it is said That though Asa failed in his Reformation and the high places were not removed nevertheless his heart was perfect that is loyal with the Lord all his dayes THUS much shall suffice to have spoken of the Act Keep and of the Heart the Object of our keeping which are the two first things I considered in this Admonition The Third remains which is the Manner or Means how our heart is to be kept viz. with all diligence or above all keeping saith the Text that is with the best the surest the chiefest kind of keeping which is not only now and then to look unto it but to set a continual guard about it Nature hath placed the Heart in the most fenced part of the body having the Breast as a natural Corslet to defend it If the Heart be in fear or danger all the bloud and spirits in the body will forsake the outward parts and run to preserve and succour it If Nature be so provident for that which is but the Fountain of a natural life what care should the spiritual man have to keep his heart and soul guarded and fortified against all annoiances spiritual The life we lose if this be wounded or poisoned is inestimable the other of Nature is of no great value Yea but perhaps a natural man's heart is liable to more natural dangers than the heart of a man that lives to God-ward is to spiritual annoiances I answer The contrary is true For the Heart we speak of whence the Issues of the life of grace proceed is like a City every moment liable both to inward commotion and outward assault Within the fountain of original Impurity is continually more or less bubbling with rebellion Without the World and the Devil continually either assault it or lye in Ambuscado to surprise it The world batters it with three great and dangerous Engines of Pleasures Riches and Honours wherewith she endeavoureth to lay it waste and rob it of all heavenly treasure The Devil watcheth every opportunity to hurl in his fiery darts to cast all into a combustion and thereby farther to invenome and enrage the already-too-much impoisoned vitiousness and impetuousness of our corrupt nature How needful a thing is it therefore to follow this precept of Solomon to keep our hearts with all diligence or above all keeping to keep them with a continual guard to keep a continual watch and ward left the enemies surprise them Watch and pray saith our Saviour Matt. 26. 41. that ye enter not into temptation Watch in all things saith S. Paul to Timothy 2 Tim. 4. 5. Be sober be vigilant saith S. Peter 1 Pet. 5. 8. because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour If the heart be to be kept with all diligence or above the keeping of any thing else then is this Watch we hear commanded and this Guard of Prayer and this is a strong Guard to be chiefly and above all applied unto it But for a more particular direction of this guarding of the Heart we must be careful to observe this order following 1. As those who keep a City attempted or besieged by an Enemy have special care of the Gates and Posterns whereat the Enemie may get in So must we in this Guard of the Heart watch especially over the Gates and Windows of the Soul the Senses and above all the Eye and the Ear whereat the Devil is wont to convey the most of those pollutions wherewith the Heart is wasted First concerning the Eye David's example may warn the holiest men to the world's end to keep a watchful jealousie over it What a number of Cut-throats did one idle glance upon Bathsheba let in who made that Royal Heart whose uprightness God so much approved to become a sty of uncleanness and robbed it of those heavenly ornaments wherewith it was so plentifully adorned For the Ear take heed of obscene and wanton talk which by those Doors or Windows entring like Balls of Wild-fire inflame the Heart with lust We must beware also of the slanderer's mouth and backbiters tongue whose lying reports and malicious tales if they get in would sow in thine heart the seeds of heart-burning spight and mental murther which in that sinful soil will fructifie very rankly And think them no small sins which make thee guilty of innocent bloud for thine heart and tongue may kill thy brother as well as thy hand 2. As those who keep and defend a City make much of such as are faithful trusty and serviceable and if any such come will entertain and welcom them with much kindness but a Traitor or one of the enemie's party they presently cut short as soon as they discover him So must we make exceedingly much of all good motions put into our hearts by God's Spirit howsoever occasioned whether by the Word of God mindfulness of death good Admonition some special cross or extraordinary mercy any way at any time These are our Hearts friends we must cherish encrease and improve them to the
utmost with meditation prayer and practice But on the contrary we must resist and crush every exorbitant thought which draws to sin at the first rising Tutissimum est It is most safe saith S. Austin Epist. 142. for the Soul to accustom it self to discern of its thoughts ad primum animi motum vel probare vel reprobare quid cogitat ut vel bonas cognationes alat vel statim extinguat malas and at the first motion thereof either to approve or else to disallow what the Mind is thinking of and so either to cherish and improve the thoughts and motions of the Mind if goodâ— or presently to extinguish them if evil 3. Lastly Let him that will indeed guard his Heart as it should be take heed of familiar and friendly converse with lewd prophane and ungracious company There is a strange attraction in ill company to poison and pervert even the best dispositions He that toucheth pitch saith the Son of Sirach shall be defiled therewith Can a man take fire in his bosom saith Solomen and his clothes not be burnt For believe it when a man is accustomed once and wonted to behold lewd and ungodly behaviour there steals upon him insensibly first a dislike of sober courses next a pleasing approbation of the contrary and so presently an habitual change of affections and demeanour into the manners and conditions of our companions It is a point that many will not believe but few or none did ever try but to their cost It was wise counsel had it not been in a sinful business which Ieroboam advised If this people saith he go up to sacrifice at Ierusalem then shall the heart of this people turn again to their lord even to Rehoboam king of Iudah and they shall kill me and go again to Rehoboam king of Iudah O that some men would be as wise for their good as he was for his sin THUS I have done with the first part of my Text The Admonition Keep thy heart with all diligence or above all keeping Now I proceed to the Motive For out of it are the issues of life that is All spiritual life and living actions issue from thence All living devotion all living service and worship of God issues from the Heart from those cleansed and loyal affections and dispositions of the Soul and inward man whereof I spake before Where such a Heart is not the Fountain there no action to God-ward liveth but is spiritually dead how gay and glorious soever it may outwardly seem No outward performance whatsoever be it never so conformable and like unto a godly man's action yet if it be not rooted in the Heart inwardly sanctified it is no issue of spiritual life nor acceptable with God Even as Statues and Puppets do move their eyes their hands their feet like unto living men yet are they not living actions because they come not from an inward Soul the fountain of life but from the artificial poise of weights and device of wheels set by the workman So is it here with heartless actions they are like the actions of true Christians but not Christian actions because they issue not from a Heart sanctified with purity and loyalty in the presence of God who tries the heart and reins but from the poise of vain-glory from the wheels of some external respects and advantages from a rotten heart which wrought not for the love of God but for the praise of men As therefore we judge of the state of natural life by the Pulse and beating of the Heart so must we do of spiritual No member of the body performs any action of natural life wherein a Pulse derived from the Heart beats not So is it in the spiritual man and the actions of Grace That lives not which some gracious and affectionate influence from the Heart quickens not Now this Issuing of our works and actions from the Heart is that which is called Sincerity and Truth so much commended unto us in Scripture For this Sincerity and Truth which is said to be in the works and actions of all such as fear and serve the Lord with acceptance is nothing else but an agreement of the outward work seen of men with the inward and sutable affection and meaning of the heart which God and our selves alone are privie to For as our words and speeches have truth in them when we speak as we think so our works and actions are done in sincerity and truth when they are done according to our heart's affection Sincerity therefore and Truth is the life of all our works of devotion and obedience unto God without this they are nothing but a carkase they are dead they live not neither doth God accept them For he desireth truth in the inward parts Psal. 51. 6. that is truth which proceedeth or issueth from the inward parts The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him that call upon him in truth Psal. 145. 18. For God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth Iohn 4. 24. Whatsoever ye do saith S. Paul Col. 3. 23. do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men Our faith must be unfeigned 1 Tim. 1. 5. that is in truth and in sincerity Also our Love must not be in speech and tongue only but in deed and truth 1 Iohn 3. 18. And this is the highest Perfection attainable in this life for which God accepteth of our obedience as perfect which springeth from it though it be stained with much corruption and full of imperfection That which is wanting in the measure of obedience and holiness is made up in the truth and sincerity thereof If it have not this whatsoever it be it is good for nothing because it wants the Issue of life And such Actions are all the Actions of Hypocrites For Hypocrisie is the contrary to Sincerity and wheresoever Sincerity and Truth is not there Hypocrisie is being nothing else but a counterfeiting and falsehood of our actions when they come not from a Heart sutably affected and therefore is otherwise in Scripture understood by the name of Guile when those who serve God in sincerity and truth are said to be without guile that is without hypocrisie So Nathanael Iohn 1. 47. is called an Israelite indeed in whom there was no guile And of the Virgin-Saints Rev. 14. 5. it is said that in their mouth was found no guile for they are without fault before the Throne of God that is they served God without hypocrisie in sincerity and truth and therefore God accepted of their obedience as if it were without fault and imperfection as he is wont to do the works of those who serve him in that manner If therefore Sincerity be the life of our obedience and that which makes it graceful in the eyes of God then is Hypocrisie the death thereof which makes him loath and abhor it as a stinking carkase Hitherto have I
and cast into the fire Matth. 21. 19. The fig-tree was cursed for having no fruit not for having evil fruit And the Sentence of condemnation as you heard before is to pass at that great day for not having done good works not for doing ill ones Go ye cursed for when I was hungry ye sed me not c. Matth. 25. 41 c. THUS having let you see how necessary it is for a Christian to joyn good works with his Faith in Christ I will now come to shew you How you must do them hoping I have already perswaded you that they must needs be done First therefore We must do them out of Faith in Christ that is relying upon him only for the acceptance and rewarding of them for in him alone God is well pleased with us and with what we do and therefore without saith and reliance upon him it is impossible to please God We must not think there is any worth in our works for which any such reward as God hath promised is due For alas our best works are full of imperfections and far short of what the Law requires Our reward therefore is not of merit but out of the merciful promise of God in Christ which the Apostle means when he says We are saved by grace and not by works that is It is the grace and favour of God in Christ which makes our selves acceptable and our works rewardable and not any desert in them or us Having laid this foundation The next thing required is Sincerity of heart in doing them We must do them out of the fear of God and conscience of his Commandments not out of respect of profit or fear or praise of men for such as do so are Hypocrites Not every one saith our Saviour that saith unto me Lord Lord but he that doth the will of my Father Now it is the will of our heavenly Father that we serve him in truth and uprightness of heart I know saith David 1 Chr. 29. 17. that thou my God triest the heart and hast pleasure in uprightness And so he said to Abraham Gen. 17. 1. I am the Almighty God walk before me and be thou upright or be thou sincere This manner of serving of God Ioshua commended to the Israelites Iosh. 24. 14. Fear the Lord saith he and serve him in sincerity and truth and the Prophet Samuel 1 Sam. 12. 24. Only fear the Lord and serve him in truth with all your heart This sincerity uprightness and truth in God's service is when we do religious and pious duties and abstain from the contrary out of conscience to God-ward out of an heart possessed with the love and fear of God It is otherwise called in Scripture Perfectness or Perfectness of heart For it is a lame and unperfect service where the better half is wanting as the Heart is in every work of duty both to God and men And therefore it is called perfectness when both go together when conscience as the Soul enlivens the outward work as a Body And indeed this is all the perfection we can attain unto in this life To serve God in truth of heart though otherwise we come short of what we should and therefore God esteems our actions and works not according to the greatness or exactness of the performance but according to the sincerity and truth of our hearts in doing them as appears by the places I have already quoted and by that 1 Kings 15. 14. where it is said that though Asa failed in his reformation and the high places were not taken down nevertheless his heart was perfect with the Lord his God all his days A note to know such a sincerity and truth of heart by is If in our privacy when there is no witness but God and our selves we are careful then to abstain from sin as well as in the sight of men If when no body but God shall see and know it we are willing to do a good work as well as if all the world should know it He that findeth himself thus affected his Heart is true at least in some measure but so much the less by how much he findeth himself the less affected in this manner When we are in the presence and view of men we may soon be deceived in our selves and think we do that out of conscience and fear of God which indeed is but for the fear or praise of men either lest we should be damnified or impair our credit or the like But when there is none but God and us then to be afraid of sin and careful of good duties is a sign we fear God in truth and sincerity and not in hypocrisie The special and principal means to attain this sincerity and truth of heart is To possess our selves always with the apprehension of God's presence and to walk before him as in his eye Wheresoever thou art there is an Eye that sees thee an Ear that hears thee and a Hand that registreth thy most secret thoughts For the ways of man saith Solomon Prov. 5. 21. are before the eyes of the Lord and he pondereth all his goings How much ashamed would we be that men should know how much our hearts and our words and actions disagreed How would we blush that men should see us commit this or that sin or neglect this or that duty What horrible Atheism then doth this argue that the presence of man yea sometimes of a little child should â—â—nder us from that wickedness which God's presence cannot This having of God before our eyes and the continual meditation of his All-seeing presence would together with devout Prayer for the assistance of God's grace be in time the bane of hypocrisie and falshood of heart and beget in stead thereof that truth and sincerity which God loveth Another property of such obedience as God requires is Vniversality we must not serve God by halfs by doing some duties and omitting others but we must with David Psal. 119. 6 20. have respect to all God's Commandments to those of the second Table as well as to those of the first and to those of the first as well as those of the second The want of which Vniversality of obedience to both Tables is so frequent as the greatest part of Christians are plunged therein to the undoubted ruine of their fouls and shipwrack of everlasting life if they so continue For there are two sorts of men which think themselves in a good estate and are not The one are those who make conscience of the duties of the first Table but have little or no care of the duties of the second And this is a most dangerous evil by reason it is more hard to be discovered those which are guilty thereof being such as seem religious but their Religion is in vain Such were those in the Church of Israel against whom the Prophet Esay declaimeth Chap. 1. from the 10. verse to the 17. To what
to Martyrs Who among the faithful while the Priest was standing at the Altar built for the honour and worship of God nay though it were over the holy body of the Martyr I say who ever heard the Priest to say thus in Prayer To thee O Peter or O Paul do I offer Sacrifice Here Sacrificium is expounded by Preces and Preces put for Sacrificium And Lib. 22. cap. 8. concerning one Hesperius a man of quality in the City whereof Austin was Bishop who by the affliction of his cattel and servants perceiving his Country-Grange liable to some malignant power of evil spirits Rogavit nostros saith S. Austin me absente Presbyteros ut aliquis eorum illò pergeret cujus orationibus cederent Perrexit unus obtulit ibi sacrificium corporis Christi orans quantum potuit ut cessaret illa vexatio Deo protinus miserante cessavit He entreated our Presbyters in my absence that some one of them would go to the place through the prevalency of whose Prayers he hoped the evil spirits would be forced away Accordingly one of them went thither and offered there the Sacrifice of Christ's Body praying earnestly with all his might for the ceasing of that fore affliction and it ceased forthwith through God's mercy The Priest was entreated to pray there he went and offered sacrifice and so prayed For this reason the Christian Sacrifice is among the Fathers by way of distinction called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sacrificium laudis that is of Confession and Invocation of God namely to difference it from those of Bloud and Incense Augustine Lib. 1. contra Adversarium Legis Prophetarum cap. 20. Ecclesia immolat Deo in corpore Christi sacrificium laudis ex quo Deus Deorum locutus vocavit terram à Solis ortu usque ab occasum The Church offereth to God the Sacrifice of praise ever since the fulfilling of that in Psalm 50. The God of Gods hath spoken and called the earth from the rising of the Sun to the going down thereof Again Epist. 86. Sacrificium laudis ab Ecclesia toto orbe diffusa diebus omnibus immolatur The Sacrifice of Praise is continually offered by the Christian Church dispersed all the world over And elsewhere And amongst the Greek Fathers this term is so frequent as I shall not need to quote any of them Now this joyning of the Prayers of the Church with the mystical commemoration of Christ in the Sacrament of his Body and Bloud was no after-Invention of the Fathers but took its original from the Apostles times and the very beginning of Christianity For so we read of the first believers Acts 2. 42. that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Vulgar Latine turns Erant autem perseverantes in doctrina Apostolorum communicatione fractionis panis orationibus And they persevered in the doctrine of the Apostles and in the communication of the breaking of bread and Prayers but the Syriack Perseverantes erant in doctrina Apostolorum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 communicabant in oratione fractione Eucharistiae They persevered in the doctrine of the Apostles and communicated in Prayer and in breaking of the Eucharist that is They were assiduous and constant in hearing the Apostles and in celebrating the Christian Sacrifice Both which Translations teach us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Breaking of Bread and Prayers are to be referred to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Communion as the Exegesis thereof namely that this Communion of the Church consisted in the Breaking of Bread and Prayers and so the conjunction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be Exegetically taken as if the Greek were rendred thus Erant perseverantes in audienda doctrina Apostolorum in communicatione videlicet fractione panis orationibus And who knows not that the Synaxis of the ancient Christians consisted of these three parts Of hearing the Word of God of Prayers and Commemoration of Christ in the Eucharist Our Translation therefore here is not so right which refers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and translates it The fellowship of the Apostles The Antiquity also of this conjunction we speak of appears out of Ignatius in his Epistle to the Ephesians where speaking of the damage which Schismaticks incur by dividing themselves from the communion of the Church he utters it in this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let no man saith he deceive himself unless a man be within the Altar he is deprived of the Bread of God And if the prayer of one or two be of that force as to set Christ in the midst of them how much more shall the joynt-prayer of the Bishop and whole Church sent up unto God prevail with him to grant us all our requests in Christ These words of Ignatius directly imply that the Altar was the place as of the Bread of God so of the Publick Prayers of the Church and that they were so nearly linked together that he that was not within the Altar that is who should be divided therefrom had no benefit of either CHAP. VI. The Third Particular That the Christian Sacrifice is an Oblation of Thanksgiving and Prayer through Iesus Christ Commemorated in the Creatures of Bread and Wine Sacrifices under the Law were Rites to invocate God by That the Eucharist is a Rite to give thanks and invocate God by proved from several Testimonies of the Fathers and the Greek Liturgies A passage out of Mr. Perkins agreeable to this notion What meant by that usual expression of the Ancients speaking of the Eucharist Through Iesus Christ the great High-Priest By Nomen Dei in Mal. 1. Iustin Martyr and Irenaeus understood Christ. Why in the Eucharist Prayers were to be directed to God the Father THE second Particular thus proved the Third comes next in place which is I That this Oblation of Thanksgiving and Prayer was made through Iesus Christ commemorated in the creatures of Bread and Wine Namely they believed that our Blessed Saviour ordained this Sacrament of his Body and Bloud as a Rite to bless and invocate his Father by in stead of the manifold and bloudy Sacrifices of the Law For That those bloudy Sacrifices of the Law were Rites to invocate God by is a Truth though not so vulgarly known yet undeniable and may on the Gentiles behalf be proved out of Homer and other Authors on the Iews by that speech of Saul 1 Sam. 13. 12. when Samuel expostulated with him for having offered a burnt-offering I said saith he The Philistines will come down upon me to Gilgal and I have not made supplication to the Lord I forced my self therefore and offered a burnt-offering upon which place Kimchi notes that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sacrifice was a Rite or Medium whereby Prayer was usually presented unto God The same is likewise true of their Hymns and Doxologies as is to be seen 2 Chron. 29. 27. and by the
unto Him as this Of the practice of Antiquity THAT the ancient Christians worshipped towards the East that is the same way they did their first homage to God in their Baptism is manifest to all that have but looked into Antiquity That their Altars also were usually placed toward the same in their Churches is a Truth that can hardly be questioned It follows therefore that when they worshipped they turned themselves or looked toward the Altar also If it be asked Which of the two they respected in this their posture I answer they respected both and therefore placed the Altar accordingly to the Eastward that both might be observed even as the Iews placed their Altars both of Incense and Burnt-offering toward the West because they worshipped that way But if they could not observe both then they preferred the Altar as in that Church at Antioch where if Socrates say true the Altar or place thereof the Chancel for so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes signifies stood toward the West contrary as he there acknowledgeth to the manner of other Churches Now he that considers well the Custome of Antiquity and remembers that which Gregory Nazianzen testifies of his mother Nonna will not think it credible they should either turn their backs upon the Altar or their faces from the Priest whilest he officiated thereat as then he always did which yet they must needs do if notwithstanding that situation of the Altar they had worshipped toward the East Howsoever if the nature of the things be considered there can be no difference given for the point of lawfulness between the one and the other nor why this should more intrench upon impiety and Superstition than that Thus much we find of the Christians posture in general when they worshipped God But what reverential Guise Ceremony or Worship they used at their ingress into God's House in the Ages next to the Apostles and some I believe they did is buried in silence and oblivion The Iews before them from whom the Christian Religion sprang used as I have already shewn to bow themselves down with their faces toward the Testimony or Mercy-Seat The Christians after them in the Greek and Oriental Churches have time out of mind and without any known beginning thereof used to bow in like manner with their posture toward the Altar or Holy Table saying that of the Publican in the Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God be merciful to me a sinner as appears by the Liturgies of S. Chrysostome and S. Basil and as they are still known both Laitie and Clergie to do at this day Which custome of theirs not being found to have been ordained or established by the Decree or Canon of any Council and being â—o agreeable to the use of God's people of the Old Testament may therefore seem to have been derived unto them from very remote and ancient Tradition Nothing therefore can be known of the use of those first Ages of the Church farther than it shall seem probable they might imitate the Iews God's people before them or have given beginning to the custome of the Churches after them And if kneeling bowing or inclination of the head could be proved or for want of testimony may be supposed to have been their gesture at their ingress surely there were no reason why we should not believe they bowed kneeled or inclined their heads the same way then which they used to pray and worship at other times In the Latin Church this gesture of bowing towards the Altar may seem to have been proper to the Clergy in their approaches to it and recess from it at least to such as came into the Quire the Laity at their first entrance into the Church kneeling only Card. Bessarion a Greek in his Epistle to the Tutor of the Sons of Thomas Palaeologus instructing them how to carry and behave themselves among the Latines In Ecclesiam Latinorum saith he cùm ingredientur in genua procumbentes preces dicant ut Latinis mos est When they shall enter into any Church of the Latines let them kneel down and say their prayers as the manner of the Latines is For in Greece as is aforesaid their manner was to bow Yet whether they used not some other gesture in Spain would be enquired because of those words of Isidorus Hispalensis De Ecclesiasticis officiis lib. 1. c. 10. concerning those that came into the Church after the Service or Lessons were begun Si superveniat quisque saith he cùm Lectio celebratur adoret tantum Deum praesignatâ fronte aurem solicitè accommodet If any shall come into the Church when the Lesson is a reading let him only adore God and crossing his forehead attend diligently to what is read I will add here two the most ancient Testimonies I think extant of a Reverential respect used to be given to the Holy Table or Altar and that as I conceive if not both of them one at least of a more direct nature than that wherewith the same is honoured by being made the term only of our posture when we worship God One is out of Dionysius called Areopagita or whosoever were the Author for sure ancient he is Ecclesiast Hierarch cap. 2. De mysterio Baptismi where he saith That after the Hymn accustomed was sung the Priest or Bishop 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having saluted or kissed for either way may 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be rendred the Holy Table he goes thence and questions the party to be baptized c. The other is of S. Athanasius in fine Sermonis adversùs eos qui Humanae in Christo Domino Naturae confessores spem suam in Homine defigere dicunt Edit Commel tom 2. pag. 255. in these words Quid quòd nunc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui ad sanctum Altare accedunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 illúdque amplectuntur cum timore laetitia salutant velosculantur non in lapidibus aut lignis sed in Gratiâ per lapides aut ligna piis commemoratâ animo insistunt Understand here by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or GRATIA the holy EVCHARIST for so the Fathers are wont to call it See Casaubon Exercit. 16. § 46. The meaning therefore is That those who when they approach the holy Altar do with fear and joy embrace and kiss it as the manner then was attend it not as wood and stones but as that whereby the Body and Bloud of Christ is commemorated to his holy Ones CONCIO AD CLERVM DE SANCTUARIO DEI SEU DE SANCTITATE RELATIVA LEVITICI 19. 30. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sanctuarium meum reveremini QUALEM Philosophi Virtuti sedem posuerunt ab Extremis utrinque remotam talem quoque Sacrae Scripturae stylus Pietatis laudat semitam Viam nempe mediam quâ neque dextrorsum iter neque sinistrorsum Hanc qui tenent viam rectam insistere perfectè coram Deo ambulare qui
hence it is that the Primitive Fathers which write against the Gentiles do so often upbraid them That their Temples were nothing else but the Sepulchres of dead men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Clem. in his Protreptie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They were indeed called by the specious and plausible name of Temples but were in truth nothing but Sepulchres that is the very Sepulchres of dead men were called Temples He goeth on speaking to the Gentiles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be ye therefore at length perswaded to forget and relinquish your Daemon-worship and be ashamed to worship the Sepulchres of dead men To the like purpose Arnobius l. 6. advers Gent. Quid quòd multa ex his Templa quae tholis sunt aureis sublimibus elata fastigiis autorum conscriptionibus comprobatur contegere cineres at que ossa functorum esse corporum sepulturas Nonne patet promptum est aut pro Diis immortalibus mortuos vos colere aut inexpiabilem fieri Numinibus contumeliam quorum Delubra Templa mortuorum superlata sunt bustis Where he tells them that many of their Temples famous for their high and golden roofs were nothing but the Sepulchres of the deceased covering dead bones and ashes and that it was very evident that for the immortal Gods they worship'd men that were dead or that they were guilty of doing an horrible dishonour to the Gods whose Temples were built over the burying-places of dead men I might further add to these Oecumenical doctrines of Daemons that monstrous one of the AEgyptians for which their fellow-Gentiles derided them who worshipped living brute Beasts yea Onions and Garlick and Water it self with Divine worship as supposing some Daemon or other to dwell in them Such were their Cow-god Apis and their Bull-god Mnevis and their Water-god Nilus which it shall be enough to have only named to make the former compleat and that from it and the rest of that kind of abominations we may gather this Conclusion once for all That since the Sovereign and Celestial Gods as you heard before might not be approached nor polluted by these earthly and material things but kept always immovably without change of place or presence their heavenly stations therefore the adoring or worshipping of any visible or material thing for any supposed presence or other relation of a divine power therewith is to be accounted amongst the Doctrines of Daemons CHAP. VI. A Recapitulation or Summary of the Doctrines of Daemons How the Severals thereof are revived and resembled in the Apostate Christian Church That the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is sometime in Scripture taken according to the Theology of the Gentiles and not always for an Evil Spirit That it is so to be taken in the Text was the judgment of Epiphanius an observable passage quoted out of him to this purpose AND thus have you seen the Theology of Daemons 1. For their Nature and degree to have been supposed by the Gentiles an inferiour and middle sort of Divine Powers between the Sovereign and Heavenly Gods and mortal men 2. Their Office to be as Mediators and Agents between these Sovereign Gods and men 3. Their Original to be the Deified Souls of worthy men after death and some of an higher degree which had no beginning nor ever were imprisoned in mortal bodies 4. The way to worship them to find and receive benefits from them namely by consecrated Images and Pillars wherein to have and retain their presence at devotions to be given them 5. To adore their Reliques and to Temple them Now therefore judge impartially whether S. Paul's Prophecy be not fulfilled already amongst Christians who foretold that the time should come that they should Apostatize and revive again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Doctrines of Daemons whether the deifying and worshipping of Saints and Angles whether the bowing down to Images whether of men or other things visible breaden Idols and Crosses like new Daemon-Pillars whether the adoring or templing of Reliques whether these make not as lively an image of the Gentiles Theologie of Daemons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as possibly could be expressed and whether these two words comprehend not the whole pith and marrow of Christian Apostasie which was to consist in Spiritual fornication or Idolatry as appears by that name and denomination thereof given by S. Iohn in his Revelation The Whore of Babylon Is not she rightly termed the Babylonish whore which hath revived and replanted the Doctrines of Daemons first founded in the ancient Babel And is not this now fulfilled which S. Iohn foretells us Apoc. 11. That the second and outmost Court of the Temple which is the second state of the Christian Church together with the holy City should be trodden down and overtrampled by the Gentiles that is overwhelmed with the Gentiles Idolatry forty two months But perhaps I am yet too forward in my Application some things in our way must first be cleared For howsoever the resemblance indeed be evident yet First the Text seems not to intend or mean it because the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is in the Scripture never taken in the better or indifferent sense howsoever prophane Authors do so use it but always in an evil sense for the Devil or an Evil Spirit Now the signification of words in Scripture is to be esteemed and taken only according to the Scripture's use though other Writers use them otherwise Secondly For the charge of Idolatry though much of that wherein we have instanced may be granted to be justly suspected for such indeed yet nevertheless that whereupon this Application mainly relieth namely The praying to Saints glorified as Mediators and Agents for us with God should not seem to deserve so foul a name For suppose it were a needless yea and a fruitless Ceremony yet what reason can be given why this should be more tainted with Idolatry than is the like honour given to Saints and holy men whilst they live on earth whom then to desire to mediate and pray to God for us was never accounted so much as an unlawful matter When these two Scruples are answered I will return to continue my former Application To the First therefore for the use of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Scripture I say That because those which the Gentiles took for Daemons and for Deified Souls of their Worthies were indeed no other than Evil Spirits counterfeiting the Souls of men deceased and masking themselves under the names of such supposed Daemons under that colour to seduce mankind therefore the Scripture useth the name Daemons for that they were indeed and not for what they seemed to be For no blessed Soul or good Angel would admit any honour which did derogate from the honour of the only true God who made them neither do the glorified Saints in heaven or the blessed Angels though Apostate Christians now invocate and worship them accept of this honour hear their prayers or condescend
after so many hundred years And if your self in this difference follow Mr. Broughton's way you may as soon perswade me there is no Sun in heaven as make me believe it And though it mattereth not much what I think or think not yet in this I dare say that all the Learned men of note in Christendom are of my mind And for my part I cannot but think it a prodigium that any man should think otherwise and I suppose your self are so far of my judgment 4. If you make the Fourth Beast hornless before his destruction you will make Daniel both at odds with himself and the Angel his interpreter If the Horn continue until the Ancient of days comes to give Iudgment to the Saints of the most High and until the time came that the Saints possessed the Kingdom verse 22. or if he continue until the Iudgment sit and they take away his dominion and the Kingdom be given to the people of the Saints of the most High verse 26 27. how was he Hornless when the Ancient of days sat in Iudgment to destroy him and give his body to the burning flame This I should have taken notice of in another place but I then forgat it yet I said there that which was sufficient to overthrow it I would not have such an Evasion in my Opinion 5. Though all the Four Kingdoms have respect to the Iews as those who were all that time to be in bondage under them yet it doth not follow that the beginning of each Kingdom should be counted from the time they were first possessed of Palaestine but from the time the Caput regni should be given unto the people which were next to succeed Nor is that Observation solid That those Kingdoms were called Beasts for the beastly usage of God's people the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies naturally Animal And you will not I know say so of the quatuor Animalia in the Apocalyps though we translate them also four Beasts The congregation of Israel as we translate it Ps. 68. 10. is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies Coetus Caterva that notion may be applied to Kingdoms and States also So the type is so much the more concise by reason of the ambiguity of the word in those languages But whether it be this or that I affirm nothing nor is it much to the purpose either way And thus I think I have not left any thing of moment unanswered I had no other end in all this but to let you see I have sufficient grounds to be perswaded of my Tenet and to be averse from yours Whether others can be perswaded by them or not that I know not nor do I arrogate so much ability to my self as to perswade others what I am perswaded of my self There is more goes to perswasion than Reasons or Demonstrations and that is not in my power I desire not you should make any Reply but the contrary for I am now resolved to answer no more whatsoever you should send You know as much of my Opinion and my grounds for the same as I would desire of any mans and I think I perfectly understand yours and where your chief strength lies Why should then either of us both spend our time any further to no purpose Thus desiring the Father of lights to guide us in the way of Truth and to open our eyes to see where we see not I rest and remain still Your very loving Friend Ioseph Mede Christ's Colledge Octob. 21. EPISTLE XIII Dr. Twisse's First Letter to Mr. Mede Good Mr. Mede AMongst many fruits of my acquaintance with Dr. Meddus this hath been one of the chiefest that he hath brought me acquainted with your self though not de facie yet de meditationibus and that in the opening of Mysteries I was so happy as to light upon two Copies of your Clavis Apocalyptica thereby to gratifie both my self and my friend I was beholden to Dr. Meddus for the one and to Mr. Briggs for the other Since that I have seen divers Manuscriptpieces of yours whereof I make precious accompt Your distinction of Fata Imperii Fata Ecclesiae the one contained in the Seals the other in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth exceedingly affect me as a Key of great use for the opening of these Mysteries Your interpretation of the Seals proceeds in my judgment with great evidence of illustration And in the last place your Exposition of the Trumpets hath taken me quite off from the Vulgar opinion that formerly hath been so common For all which I most heartily thank you And did it become me to profess so much who am nothing worth I should be apt to say you are as dear in my affection as to any friend you have I beseech you go on to perfect the good work you have begun in the Revelation and in other mysterious passages for the clearing whereof I well perceive by the blessing of God you have attained to a very singular faculty I seem to discern a providence of God in causing the opinion of a Thousand years Regnum Sanctorum to be blasted as an Error by the censure passed upon the Chiliasts to take men off from fixing their thoughts too much on that in those days when the accomplishment was so far removed but with purpose to revive it in a more seasonable time when Antichrist's kingdom should draw near to an end Concerning which I have something to propose in searching after more particular satisfaction But I know not whether yet I may be so bold with you and besides I fear to divert you from your so weighty and so profitable studies yet they are such as withall I have thought with my self of accommodating an Answer But though my heart serve me not to communicate them to you at this time yet surely I shall make them known to Doctor Meddus A friend of mine also hath this day given into my hands certain Disputations upon divers mysterious points in Daniel and the Revelation In one of them he disputes of this Thousand years Regnum Sanctorum with variety of Reasons pro con but inclining rather to the contrary A very ingenuous man he is and a great student in Mr. Brightman If I may have liberty to communicate these things unto you and that it might be without offence to your more weighty studies I would so use this liberty as not to nourish my self in idleness but withal to imploy my self in answering what soever I find therein to the contrary At this time give me leave to propose to your consideration Whether that fear of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 almost of our Protestant profession may not be avoided and the three days and an half Rev. 11. not signify a space of time succeeding the continuance of those Witnesses but intermixed with it My Reason is this The two Witnesses signifie all the Witnesses giving
The third day Herbanus required to end the controversie that if Iesus of Nazareth were indeed living and reigning in Heaven and if those who worshipped him had any power with him that he would upon their prayers manifest himself from Heaven and they would then believe in him Thereupon all the multitude of Iews cried out in derision Ostende nobis Christum tuum Vae quia fiemus Christiani c. The conclusion was that Christ Iesus after a dreadful Thunder and Lightning appeared from Heaven with beams of glory walking upon a purple cloud with a Sword in his hand and a Diadem of inestimable beauty upon his head and over the Assembly uttered a voice Appareo vobis in oculis vestris ego crucifixus à Patribus vestris Which having spoken the cloud took him presently out of their sight The Christians shouted Domine miserere the Iews were all stricken blind and received not their sight till they were all baptized This Story whereof I tell you but the brief hath been long unknown to these Western parts and was brought in our time from the Eastern among divers other Greek Manuscripts and published in Greek and Latin by Nicolaus Gulonius in octavo under the name of Gregentii Archiepiscopi Tephrensis Disputatio cum Herbano Iudaeo The beginning is imperfect In the end is the Story I have related I have seen and used that Book but could not be owner of it But the Latin translation is inserted into the Bibliotheca Patrum of the edition of Colen in the fifth Tome pag. 919. which if you read I could wish you would joyn with it the Story of the Martyrium Omeritarum published by Baronius out of a Vatican Manuscript in his sixth Seculum about the middle It is worthy your reading and supposed to have happened a little before this Conversion of the Iews I speak of which Baronius nevertheless then knew not of as being published after he had written that Tome The Persecution was raised by Dunaan a Iew who had gotten the Kingdom of the Omerites and meant to extinguish the Christian City and Dition of Nargan which was subject as many other small Reguli were to that Kingdom c. If this Story be true it makes much for a probability of such a conjecture for the future If it be counterfeit at least it argues that some many ages ago thought such a mean not unlikely For Poets themselves are wont to feign Verisimilia So howsoever I am not the first that thought of such a matter That which you say of S. Paul's miraculous Conversion that by it he had Apostolical authority immediate and independent as having his Mission from Heaven and not from Men I acknowledge it But that this should be the only end of his so being converted I suppose it is not necessary For it might have pleased God to have converted him by an ordinary mean and yet have given him a Mission for his Apostleship by an immediate and extraordinary way The immediateness of Apostolical Mission depended not upon such a miraculous Conversion though it pleased God at one and the same time by one and the same miraculous manifestation both to convert him to the Faith of Christ and send him to be an Apostle to the Gentiles But it is now time to give over I have been tedious and troublesome I know and perhaps not well busied in spending so many words and paper about a wavering and uncertain Speculation But because in my first Letter I had unawares discovered my fancy I was somewhat solicitous till I had more fully explained my self lest I might seem to believe much upon very little reason or be supposed to be more confident in this conceit than I am But he that seeks for that which is yet to find must be poring as well where it is not as where it is God Almighty the Father of Lights direct us in the search of his Truth and give us grace when we find it to use it to his Glory and our own Salvation To whose protection I commend your self not forgetting my best respect who am Your assured Friend Ioseph Mede Christ's Colledge Decemb. 2. 1629. I shall bid you farewel for this year and write shorter Letters the next that so I may hold out I have made a saltus in my Meditations by these Discourses of the Great Day I am not come to it yet I have much to think of and bring to more perfection which is preceding to it The Witnesses Dragon Beast c. EPISTLE XVIII Mr. Mason's Letter to Mr. Mede touching the Millenaries Good Mr. Mede I Think my self much indebted unto you that you do so freely communicate unto me your learned Writings I wish I had been more conversant in studies of this nature that I might in some sort be able to talk with you in your own language But you have had the happiness to follow these studies with good leisure and much opportunity and I to say nothing of other wants have been hindred both with businesses of my place and weakness of my body that I have scarce had time to think on any thing but what hath been necessary for my present imployment and so it happeneth to me in my studies as to poor men in getting of their living we have nothing but from hand to mouth The consciousness of these wants maketh me to write so seldom and so slightly Else if I had any thing in my thoughts that might be fit for your reading I would be as free in communicating my studies with you as you are in imparting yours unto me especially in this business wherein you have travelled with such success I only now can say that I wish I may see the full finishing of your intended Work and so do others abroad also but yet I had rather stay your leisure till you have concocted all according to your mind than to hasten you forward before the time Dr. Potter hath read your former Papers which you committed to Mr. D. and by occasion thereof hath proceeded to read others of the same Argument which when I understood I desired him to peruse two Writings of Dr. Gerhard of the same Argument both purposely intended against the Millenaries the one is in the second part of his Disputationes Theologicae Disp. 3. de novis Fanaticis the other in the ninth Tome of his Common Places Loc. de Consummatione seculi cap. 7. p. 442 c. Vpon the reading of those Treatises he sent a Letter expressing his mind and judgment concerning them which I received this evening And because I know you desire to hear the opinion of Learned men I have sent down inclosed herein so much of his Letter as concerneth that business Which I did the rather also because I suppose this may give you ocâ—â—sion to answer such grounds as Gerhard hath laid to the contrary Perhaps if you consider him well you may find a tacit Answer to that which you object against S. Hierome for
will see ere long by his own in answer his time hitherto having been taken up by being President in a Provincial Synod of Holland and publishing his Annotations upon the Acts of the Apostles It was sufficient for me to receive many thanks for the conveiance and that which was better better than Musick to hear innumerable commendations of so near a Friend though I knew them due for 't is no small pleasure to see debts paid where we think our selves to have Interest At my coming last into England I lay above three weeks wind-bound in the Briel where I enjoyed the company of the Minister Author of the inclosed which I have gained by my acquaintance and send it for your affection to the Argument by this bearer son of Desiderius Heraldus whose works and worth you know of old that you may for the Father's and my sake give him now and them conference and advice about such studies as he pursues wherein himself will open his own mind It will be a great kindness if Doctor Ward whom I pray salute from me will give him countenance and access at his times of leisure which you may procure and thereby oblige both him and me and his Father my old and singular friend You may see by this and that title how glad I should be to meet opportunities of doing any thing for your self that might assure you with what truth and readiness of serving you I shall ever be Your most affectionate Friend as of old William Boswel Hague Sept. 1634. EPISTLE XXXVII Monsieur Testard his Letter to Mr. Brooks about his translating Mr. Mede ' s Clavis Apocal. into French as also concerning the Number of the Beast's Name SIR I Have translated into French that I might communicate it to divers friends the Book you sent upon the Revelation which seems to me worthy admiration and full of comfort to those that expect the consolation of Israel I desire earnestly if it may be obtained the opinion of the Author touching a conceit came into my mind whilst I was reading the Book particularly that which he remarks upon the number of 144000 and upon 666 the name of the Pseudoprophetical Beast with the Reason he gives of the composition of the name all of 6 which is That the number of 666 ariseth from the multiplication of 3 Vnites joyned together making up the number of III. That these three Vnites set forth the three Offices of Christ which pertain to him incommunicably and distributively and conjoyntly considered All which the Pseudoprophetical Beast usurps conjoyntly in which consists particularly his Antichristianism And this multiplication produceth the number of 666 as also the multiplication of 12 by 12 which is the Apostolical number produceth the 144000. That for this reason the number of 666 is called the number of a man in the singular number because it is in one only man whereas the number of 144000 is a number of men in the plural number and drawn from the number of men If the Author hath set forth any other Treatises I desire earnestly you would send them to me From Bloys in France Iune 1634. P. Testard EPISTLE XXXVIII Mr. Brook's Letter to a Friend DOE me the favour as to request Mr. Mede to give some satisfaction to the request of this Gentleman my especial friend and to suffer some Manuscripts which he hath not yet published to be copied out to be sent him either in Latin or English I will satisfie his pains that shall undertake it with promise that nothing shall be communicated but to private friends Your assured Friend Ioh. Brooks Westminster 23. Feb. 1634. EPISTLE XXXIX Reverendo Doctissimo Viro D. D. Mede Paulus Testardus S. P. D. QVantâ me laetitiâ totum perfuderint Vir Reverende Doctissime quas ab amplissimo Viro D. Ioh. Brooks accepi literas quae singularem tuam erga me non modò immeritum sed ignotum humanitatem testantur desunt mihi verba voces quibus significem vix profectò eam capit animus Etenim non modò eae mihi exhibuerunt quae in mei gratiam dignatus es de mysterio Numeri Nominis Bestiae scripto explicare sed etiam de optatissimi ad tuam Dignitatem accessûs facultate mihi per eum facta certum fecerunt Isto V. R. D tanquam salvo conductu securus non diutiùs haesi quin ad te istas transmitterem quibus gratias quantas possum maximas R. tuae pro eximio isto beneficio referrem primùm ut ex animo refero tum Quaestionis quae ad te perlata fuit occasione descriptâ rem ipsam genuinam meam mentem ampliùs aperirem quod sic cum bona D.T. venia facio Praeteriit jam ferè triennium ex quo D. Brooks cum quibusdam Anglicè scriptis libris Clavim tuam Apocalypticam cum Commentariis pro liberali suo ergae me affectu misit Opus sine nomine sed invitante materiâ mittentis commendatione statim perlegi deinde saepius saaviter trahente Rationum turunt pondere atque industriae expositionis elegantiâ concinnitate relegi non tantùm Dei donum in te saepius miratus sed aliquid tibi assidenti ut loqueris alicubi revelatum addam extra ordinem facilè persuasus Dicam verbo Nihil unquam mihi visum in Apocalypsin non dicam quod cum Clavi tua Expositione aequandam veniat sed quod ad eas propè accedat Atque ut ità sumus naturâ comparati ut ejus boni cujus nos maximè oblectat fruitio cognitionem cum aliis facilè communicemus nec verò duntaxat cognitionem Bonorum spiritualium salutarium sed ipsam etiam tanta est eorum praestantia fruitionem horas aliquot quando sivit perpeâ—uus muneris mihi à Deo misericorditer demandati labor versioni Scripti tui in linguam Gallicam impendi ut pretiosissimi istius ac divini the sauri fruendi copiam amicis meis facerem si sine eorum quibus sine summa necessitate displicere est nefas offensa licuisset Publico etiam Versionem typis vulgandam curando suavissimam utpote proculdubio futuram consolationem iis omnibus qui Israelis Dei ut scitè vocas subrogati consolationem exspectant Regnúmque illud Christi Septimae Tubae deinceps aequè 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Possúmque procul adulationis arte D. T. sincerè profiteri animum meum singulis tuis Expositionibus tam plenum praebuisse assensum quà m praeberi potest ab eo qui non caeco impetu sed ratione ducitur atque in re ut agnoscis ipse non parum difficili Ipsámque adeo rationem quam reddis Numeri nominis Bestiae Bicornis visam mihi convenicntissimam Nec enim quicquam in literis meis ad D. Brooks tanquam illud Expositioni tuae adversum patarem proponere unquam mihi fuit animus sed quod maximè ei
locorum seriem multiplo accipiantur factum ex datis non fore ut tu supponis Sexcenta sexaginta sex sed tantùm Octodecim Quippe quia si data Unitatum Trias cum Senario composita Sexcenta sexaginta sex conficere debeat Unitates istas omnino pro CXI numero non verò pro simplis unitatibus reputandas esse Alioquin enim tres istos Senarios ex iis factos non nisi pro simplis quoque Senariis habendos Hic scrupulus si eximi potuisset reliqua quae adduxerim tanti fortè futura non essent quò minùs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tuum calculo meo comprobarem praesertim si usquam in S. Scriptura quod tamen non memini officia illa Christi Triade signarentur Alioquin enim ad S S. Trinitatem potiùs retulerim cujus nempe cum cultu Bestiae sexti capitis daemonolatriam Pseudopropheta nefario temperamento commiscuit Neque enim prorsus absque suspicione sum posse in numero isto Trium Unitatum aliquid mysterii latere quod mihi nondum eruere datum est Haec habui Vir Doctissime quae ad Quaesitum tuum responderem Fecit autem tua erga Scriptum meum benignitas affectus ut alias quasdam chartulas meas Domini Brokaei rogatu tecum communicare non dubitârim Harum unâ mysterium calculi istiu◠Angelici apud Danielem cap. 12. com 11 12. jam ante septennium vestigare sum conatus quousque verò assecutus sum necdum scio Alteris duabus Epistolâ ad Amicum Conjecturâ de Gogo Magogo Apocalyptico sententiam meam de beato Millennio paulò pleniùs aperio Plura non addo nisi ut sanctissimis tuis studiis faveat benignissimus Deus c. Mense Ianuario Anno 1635 6 Ios. Medus EPISTLE XLI Mr. Mede's Answer to some Enquiries of Dr. Twisse touching the meaning of Ezekiel 38. 17. and Daniel 11. 35 36. Worthy Sir WHen I received your last I was full of business and therefore deferred my answer thereto till some time of better leisure and freedom which now I have attained But for that of yours which in particular concerns my self I will say only this that my friends conceive me to be a man of far greater abilities than I am Believe me I am far unfit for such undertaking as they think me Ingenium habeo tardum cunctabundum and though perhaps my Fancy be a little pregnant for notions yet for expression I am very unready and write nothing either in Latin or English without much pains and difficulty Such a disposition is not fit for the wars but for peaceable and retired meditations Besides for the introducing and perswading a new and unfrequented Truth the choice of a seasonable time is half the work without which a man shall sooner damnifie than promote it We see it by experience what a wound sometimes a Truth gets by an error in this kind If the time therefore be not seasonable and likely private communication and insinuation is most safe publick avouching is dangerous even to the cause it self lest it be condemned before it be understood and so never fecible again till that generation be gathered to their fathers if then A Truth therefore not yet admitted must be urged very warily and tenderly for fear of incurring such a dangerous prejudice by an overpotent opposition For the sons of men are untoward creatures that talk much of Reason but commonly stear by another Compass as of Passion Faction or Affection c. I thank God for that portion of knowledge hath been pleased hitherto to give me in these Mysteries and the opportunity he hath vouchsafed me to make it known to others so far as I have done I deserved neither of them and for the latter never intended it but was catcht as it were at a running pull If it be his pleasure I shall proceed further he will afford me those opportunities and inducements which yet I find not And thus much for that matter Now for the rest I perceive what it is that most pincheth you in the Millenarian Prophecy to wit that of Gog and Magog Wherefore I send you enclosed herewith my Conjecture thereof How you will approve it I know not Howsoever you may gather thereby and by what I formerly sent you my whole conceit of that Mystery and that my thoughts are still now and then reflecting upon their accustomed subject AS for your Quaere about the meaning of that Ezek. 38. 17. Thus saith the Lord Art not thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the Prophets of Israel which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them I suppose you would know by what Prophets and where any such Enemy as that Gog was prophesied of before Ezekiel I answer by Esay chap. 27. 1. with the two last verses of the foregoing Chapter by Ieremy chap. 30. 23 24. by Ioel chap. 3. 1 c. by Micah chap. 5. vers 5 6 9 15 In all which places is mention of some terrible Enemy which should come against Israel at the time of their Return whom the Lord should destroy with a hideous and dreadful slaughter This Enemy is that Army of Gog of the land of Magog chief Prince of Meshech and Tubal of which Ezekiel prophesieth formerly mentioned by the Prophets which were before him but never so punctually and particularly described by the place of his habitation nation and name as by him The nearest unto him comes Micah who prophesies of him under the name of the Assyrian a Nation to the Northward And He that is the Ruler to come forth of Bethlechem shall be the peace when the Assyrian shall come into our land c. Not as though this should be his Original Nation but as the Province from whence he should fall into the land of Israel For the Prince of Magog and Tubal cannot come into the Land of Israel till he be first master of the Land of Ashur which lies between them And the Prophet describes him by this Name rather than by that of his own Nation because the Name of Ashur was at that time so terrible to the Iews and the Invasion of Salmanasser and Sennacherib still fresh in their minds and perhaps those Nations were then at the devotion of the Assyrian and no small part of his Army as they used to be of the Saracens when they ruled in those parts Howsoever by this name he pointed to a Northern Enemy whatsoever the Nation should be that should then Empire it in those parts as the Assyrian did when he prophesied For Assyria is described by that situation Esay 14. 31. Ier. 1. 13. and ch 4. 6. Zachary 2. 6. and I believe our Geographical Tables are not so true and exact herein as they should be in that they place Saroh as they say Assyria is now called too much to the Eastward I see I
some brand or stamp upon them which points at the Sin for which they are inflicted you may call it a Sin-mark If the passages and ground of the continuance of this German War be well considered would not a man think they spake that of the Apostle Thou that hatest Idols dost thou commit Sacriledge But I dare go no further it may be I have said too much already For I well know the way that I go pleaseth neither party the one loves not the Pope should be Antichrist nor the other to hear that these things should not be Popery Thus you see I have at length brought both ends together and end where I began Pardon me this one Letter and I will trouble you no more with this Theme your Reply to my short Answer to your Quere occasioned it I forget not my best respect unto your self nor my prayers to the Almighty for blessing to you and yours Thus I rest Christ's Coll. Iuly 15. 1635. Your assured Friend Ioseph Mede I sent by Mr. B. 4. or 5. Exercises upon passages of Scripture such as I had in separate papers and fit to be communicated For those that were in Books joyned with other things I could not and some that were apart for some Reasons I would not expose to danger of censure I hope those which I sent are safely arrived with you EPISTLE LIX Dr. Twisse's Ninth Letter to Mr. Mede thanking him for his pains in the foregoing Letter and desiring his resolution of a Doubt concerning the 7 Lamps signifying the 7 Angels in Zach. 4. Right dear and Right worthy Sir I AM somewhat of a more chearful spirit than when I wrote my last I have gotten more liberty of spirit to consider your large Discourse savouring of great Learning no less Iudgment and a distinctive Apprehension of things of good importance and that not in my judgment only but in the judgment of others though all require serious and further consideration And for mine own particular I cannot but reflect upon my self how deeply I am beholden unto you for intrusting me in so liberal a manner with these your Speculations We can never offend in putting difference between the Holy and Prophane neither can we offend in presenting our selves too reverently at the Lord's Table Never was the Mercy-seat so well known in the days of the Old Testament as in these days of the New We now behold the glory of the Lord with open face and accordingly our Saviour tells us the Lord requires the true worshippers should worship him in spirit and in truth in distinction from worshipping him either at Ierusalem or in the Mount the woman spake of And in this kind of worship we cannot exceed But as for outward Gestures I doubt I shall prove but a Novice as long as I breath and we affect not to make ostentation of our Devotion in the face of the world the rather because thereby we draw upon our selves the censure of Hypocrisie and sometimes if a man lifts up his Eyes he is censured for a P. and I confess there is no outward Gesture of Devotion which may not be as handsomly performed by as carnal an heart as breaths I am confident you are far from studia partium so should we be all and be ambitious of nothing but of the love and favour of God and of our conformity unto him in truth and holiness I heartily thank you for all and particularly for these Pieces which now I return I hope they will arrive safely in your hands What I wrote the last time I have almost utterly forgotten saving the clearing of one Objection concerning the Seven Angels standing before the Throne represented by the Seven Lamps which I much desired it arising from the Text it self the Lamps being maintained by the Oile which drops from the Two Olive-trees which are interpreted to be Zorobabel and Ieshua But I have troubled you so much that I fear the aspersion of immodesty in troubling you any further I cannot sufficiently express my thankfulness for that I have already received I desire ever to be found Newbury Iuly 27. 1635. Yours in the best respect Will. Twisse EPISTLE LX. Dr. Twisse's Tenth Letter to Mr. Mede desiring him to reveal unto him those Pluscula in Zach. chapters 9 10 11. which fit not so well Zachary's time as Ieremy's as also to resolve a Doubt about the 7. Lamps in Zach. 4. with some reflexions upon Mr. Mede's large Letter about Temples and Altars and the Christian Sacrifice Worthy Sir DO you not miss your Letter ad Ludovicum de Dieu And do you not find it strange it is not returned with the rest I assure you I took no notice of it till Wednesday last two days after the last week's Letter I wrote unto you In every particular it was welcome unto me as all yours always are But your Variae lectiones concerning the Old Testament and the pregnant evidences thereof which you alledge do astonish me and above all your adventure to vindicate unto Ieremy his own Prophecy which so long hath gone under the name of Zachary I never was acquainted with any better way of reconciliation than that which Beza mentions of the likeness of abbreviations of each name which might cause a mistake by the Transcribers O that you would reveal unto me those Pluscula which in those three Chapters of Zachary 9 10 11. do more agree as you observe to the time of Ieremy than to the time of Zachary Why may you not have a peculiar way also to reconcile the Genealogie in the LXX with that in the Hebrew where Kainan is found in the one which is not in the other Thus I make bold to put you to new trouble but I presume it is no more trouble to you than the writing like as that other whereabout I moved you How the Seven Lamps are maintained by the oyl derived from the two Olive-Trees if by the Seven Lamps are meant the Seven Angels that stand before the Throne of God Yet have I not done with your large Letter concerning Temples and Altars Since the writing of my last while I was reading that large Letter of yours to some Divines who were much taken with admiration at the Learning contained therein in an Argument wherein we had been so little versed I say in the reading of it I observed one thing which in all my former readings I took no notice of and that is in these words This is a point of great moment and consequent worthy to be looked into by all the Learned of the Reformed Religion lest while we have deservedly abolished the prodigious and blasphemous Sacrifice of the Papists wherein Christ is again hypostatically offered to his Father we have not but very implicitely and obscurely reduced that ancient Commemorative Sacrifice of Christians wherein that one Sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross was continually by that sacred Rite represented and inculcated to his Father his Father
Dominus docuit offerri in universo mundo purum Sacrificium reputatum est apud Deum acceptum est ei c. The evidence of this was such as forced Hospinian Hist. Sacrament lib. ◠c. 6. to say Iam tum primo illo seculo viventibus adhuc Apostolis magis huic Sacramento quà m Baptismo insidiari ausus sit Daemon homines à prima illa forma sensim adduxit and Sebastianus Francus Statim post Apostolos omnia inversa sunt Coena Domini in Sacrificium transformata est Now Sir if I was loth to pass so harsh a censure as some do upon the First Fathers and Church Christian and could not be perswaded but that which the Catholick Church from her infancy conceived of the Eucharist should have some truth in it and accordingly endeavoured to find out that ratio Sacrificii therein such as might be consonant both to the Principles of the Reformed Religion and unto the Scripture of the New Testament yea perhaps found therein not quoad rem only but quoad nomen also did I merit to be irrided for having found out I know not what Mystery of a Sacrifice now-a-days a Mystery in my sense to all the Christian world When all men are at a seek and one cries I think I have found it shall he be chidden therefore Sir I can remember when you understood me more rightly and interpreted my freedom with much more candour To tell you true therefore I am somewhat suspicious lest the air of Cambridge did you some hurt But let that pass That which I wrote to you concerning this Mystery especially in my Second Reply was for the most part little other than Testimony of matter of Fact If it were false testare de mendacio if true cur caedor Yet one thing more It is no time now to slight the Catholick consent of the Church in her First ages when Socinianism grows so fast upon the rejection thereof nor to abhor so much the notion of a Commemorative Sacrifice in the Eucharist when we shall meet with those who will deny the Death of Christ upon the Cross to have been a Sacrifice for sin Verbum intelligenti There may be here some matter of importance Lastly You may remember how much I desired to be spared from any farther writing or answering upon this argument because I knew it was a nice and displeasing theme and such as I should have no thanks for Now I see I am become a Prophet and that when I looked not for it And thus I have done with this business which hath made me so much work The Censure I gave of the Declaration of the Palsgrave's Churches was not in respect of the matter but the manner of handling as the term of laxe shewed And before I had seen it I heard that Censure given of it by one that wishes the Palsgrave's Churches and their Doctrine as well as I know any Is I erred in my judgment there is an end I use not to be often faulty in rashness that way And this shall teach me to be more wary hereafter If I had had any suspicion of misconstruction I could in this kind have held my tongue with as much ease as any man What my Lord of Armagh's opinion is of the Millennium I know not save only that I have not observed him neither when I gave him my Synchronisms nor in discourse thereabout after he had considered them to discover any opposition or aversation to the Notion I represented thereabout The Like Mr. Wood told me of him after he had read his papers nay that he used this complement to him at their parting I hope we shall meet together in Resurrectione prima But my Lord is a great man and thinks it not fit whatsoever his opinion be to declare himself for a Paradox yet the speeches I observed to fall from him were no wise discouraging He told me once he had a Brother si bene memini who would say He could never believe but the 1000 years were still to come Now for Mr. Potter's Discourse I confess I came to the reading thereof with as much prejudice as might be having been cloyed with so many vain and fancisul Speculations about that mystical Number that I had no stomack to any more of them Which was the reason to tell you true that I shewed no more desire or eagerness to have a sight of your Exscript notwithstanding your commendations and offer of the same For I was loth to be put to give my Censure which I doubted according to former experience must be in sequiorem partem But when I was a little entered thereinto◠and began to perceive the Grounds whereon he meant to build I found my self presently to altar and to anticipate in my mind with much content what he aimed at before I could come to read it and longed not a little to find it well proved and to fall out accordingly That which wone me was the way to reduce Ezekiel's and S. Iohn's so differing measures of the New Ierusalem unto the same and so as both should allude to the Measures of the Ierusalem that was in being As soon as I found this I was not a little glad to see that made fecible which I before took for desperate and as it is ill halting with Criples I began presently to wish O that the Number of the Beast might have the like success for the designing of his See of Rome Concerning which and the compleat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of both Numbers when I found such Testimonies produced you may guess how I was affected namely That if it be not a Truth which I was very willing to believe it is the most considerable Probability that ever I read in that kind And thus with many thanks for your kind communication thereof unto me even when you had found me not to long for a sight of it I commend you and your learned meditations to the Divine blessing and so I rest Christ's Coll. Aprill 1637. Yours Ioseph Mede Diversum sentire bonos de rebus iisdem Incolumi licuit semper amicitiâ Eusebius De laudibus Constantini p. 492. Edit 1612. Quis praeter Christum Servatorem cunctis totius Orbis terrarum incolis sen terrâ seu mari illisint praescripserit ut singulis septimanis in unum convenientes Diem Dominicum sestum celebrarent I know not whether the Tractators of this argument have observed this passage or not Graeca sic habent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See the Vanity of man's life When I began this Letter Dr. Whaley your good and religious Friend was in health Before I had finished intermitting some few days I heard he was fallen suddenly sick and soon after that he was recovering Now when I was about to seal my Letter upon the opportunity of a Friend 's going to London I hear he is departed this life and the Bells are yet ringing out for him I expected not to have been the
herein f I wonder sacred Fathers that ye demur so long about opening and consulting the Sibyll's books as if ye were treating or debating this matter in the Christians Church and not in the Temple of all the Gods * Hist. Eccl. l. 7. c. 29. Gr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Thus was Paulus with great disgrace cast out of the Church by the Secular power b How shall any one be able to express those infinite multitudes of Christians assembling in every city those famous meetings of theirs in their Oratories or Churches and therefore they not being content with those smaller Churches which before they had those their ancient Edifices not being large enough to receive so great a number took care to erect from the very foundations fairer and more spacious ones in every city * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c The Penitents the Hearers the Catechumens or Learners and Probationers in Christianity and the Believers Wheresoever Ten men of Israel were there ought to be built a Synagogue Maiâ— in Tâ—phillah c. 11. Object 1. Answer Object 2. * No Temples Altars Images a Celsus saith Origen affirms that Christians decline the building or setting up of Altars Images and Temples * Lib. 8. contra Celsum b We do indeed saith Origen decline the building of Temples not for the reason which the Gentiles suppose but because we having learnt by the doctrine of Iesus Christ How God is to be worshipped and served we think our selves obliged in conscience to avoid and abstain from all such things as under a prerence and colour of Piety do make men really impious namely those who have erred and gone astray from the true way of worshipping God by Iesus Christ who alone is the way of worshipping God aright according to that most true saying of his I am the Way the Truth and the Life c Why do the Christians keep such ado to conceal and hide that whatsoever it be which they worship Why have they no Altars no Temples no Images unless that which they worship and keep so close were either worthy of punishment or shameful a Do you think that we conceal what we worship because we have neither Temples nor Altars But I beseech you What Image should I make for God whenas if we well consider it Man himself is the lively Image of God What Temple should I build for him whenas the whole world made by him is not able to contain him And whenas I who am but a man have a large habitation and room enough to be in shall I think to enclose and confine so Great a Majesty within one little House Tell me Is not God better sanctified in our Mind and Heart and where can we better prepare an habitation and consecrate a place for God than in the bottom of our Souls in the inmost of our inward man * Al. laxiú◠* Advers Gent. l. 6. b Herein ye are wont to charge us with most hideous impiety and irreligion viz. That we neither build Sacred Houses or Temples to perform the Offices of religious worship in nor make any Image or Representation of any God nor build any kind of Altars at all * See the Difference between Altare and Ara in the Treatise of Tlâ— Name Altar * See the Difference between Altare and Ara in the Treatise of Tlâ— Name Altar c For what use of the Gods should we desire to have Temples for what necessary purposes do we affirm these present Temples to be built or do ye think Temples should be built anew * Institut adversus Gentes lib. 2. cap. 2. d Why do ye not lift up your eyes to Heaven and invocating the Gods by name sacrifice openly and in publick Why do ye rather look to walls and wood and stone than look up thither where ye believe the Gods to dwell What then can Temples mean what do Images or Altars signifie Answer * Worshipping Places Acts 7. 4â— * According to this notion of Templum Tertull. cap. 15. de Idololatria Si Templis renunciâsti 〈◊〉 feceriâ— Temâ— plum januâ—â— tuam Et de Corona mil. cap. 11. Exâ—ubabit nempe Christiâ—nus pro Templis quibus renaâ—ciavit coeuabit ilâ—â— ubi Apâ—stolo non placeâ— id est in Idoko 1 Cor. 8. 10. a I wonder sacred Fathers that ye demur so long about opening and consulting the Sibyll's books as if ye were treating or debating this matter in the Christians CHURCH and not in the TEMPLE of all the Gods b Let us propound the case and suppose as it often comes to pass that the performance of these different Religions may fall out upon one and the same day wherein thou being a Christian must go to the CHURCH and he thy Husband a Gentile must at the same time repair to the TEMPLES a That he either destroyed the Churches of the Saints or else turned them into Temples b Although the Scythians the Numidians in Africk and the irreligious or Atheâ—stical Seres as Celsus characterizes them besides other Nations yea and the Persians too cannot endure TEMPLES ALTARS and STATUES or IMAGES yet is not their and our averseness from these things founded upon the same Grounds and Considerations And a little after saith Origen Among those that are averse from worshipping the Deity in and by ALTARS TEMPLES and IMAGES the Scythians Numidians and the irreligious Seres and the Persians also go upon other Grounds and Principles than the Christians and Iews who hold it utterly unlawful to worship God after that manner For none of those Nations is averse from erecting and setting up Temples Altars and Images upon this account as being apprehensive of that unworthy Hypothesis and notion of the other Gentiles who supposed that the Demons were enclosed and shut up fast in certain Places viz. Temples and Images being either confined thither by Magical Spells or else having preoccupied such places of themselves where they did greedily feed and feast themselves with the Nidour and Savour of the Sacrifices But now Christians and also the Iews are utterly averse from such things out of a conscientious respect to that in the Law Deuter. 6. 13. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve as also in obedience to that in the Decalogue Thou shalt have no other Gods but me and again Thou shalt not make to thy self any Image c. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * So with Tertullian in the places before alledged in the margin Renunciôsse Templis dicitur qui Idolis * Strabo li. 15. in appeud ad Herodot Theodoâ—et li. 5. c. 38. Yea seâ— de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nâ—naeâ—e in Elymaide Persidis 1 Mac. 6. 2. 2 Mac. 1. 13. ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a If there were in you any zeal for your Religion any just indignation against what doth manifestly