seed in his field then commeth the evill one and soweth tares whereupon hee is termed superseminator not simply a sower but a sâ—wer upon or among the wheat For Application wee may hencefor our comfort conclude beloved the worship of God maintained and practised in our Church to bee true worship because it is the same with the worship of the prime and immediate Witnesses and Publishers of the Gospell the Apostles and such as held Communion with them The Papists are alwayes objecting to us that wee are new upstarts but may truly say with Paul Acts 24. 14. After the way they call heresie we worship God beleeving those things which are written in the Gospell and this is a testimony to us of our Antiquity Saint Paul when hee came to preach at Athens set forth no other God to them but him whom the whole City worshipped and yet was taken to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a setter forth of new gods Acts 17. 18. So wee when wee preach the Faith of our first Fathers and teach what the Gospell manifestly approveth are by Papists condemned as innovators and brochers of a new Gospell But if we looke into the point well wee shall finde that true of them which Tertullian in his Apologetique speaketh of the old Romans Laudatis semper antiquitatem et nove de die vivitis they cry out of the old Religion as the truest and safest yet practise themselves a Religion which though it hath filled the world for a great time and found many subtill wits to defend it is yet risen up since the time of the Gospels first publishing and so though they hold the Doctrine beleeved by their fathers grandfathers and great grandfathers yet we truly maintaine the truth delivered by the first preachers of the Gospel For example Wee teach that Prayer is to bee made to God alone this Doctrine is ancient the Soripture every where sheweth it and Bellarmine confesseth Decult sa c. 9 it for having objected against Vowes made to Saints that in the Scriptures the word Vow is taken for a Promise made to God he answereth it thus Cum scriberentur Scripturae sanctae nondum ceperat usus vovendi sanctis when the Scriptures were written the custom of vowing to Saints was not begunne so that Saint-worship is new worship not comming from the first Fathers Againe we administer the Communion in both kinds to the people not by halfes as the Papists doe and our reason is It is most ancient Christ at the first Institution so ordained it the Apostle Paul so expoundeth it and Cassander affirmeth that for a thousand yeares after Christ all men communicated in both kinds so that the mangling of the Sacrament is new worship Againe we say that Kings are chiefe Governours of all causes in the Church and this Doctrine is ancient such were the Kings of Israel and Iudah and Paul bids that every soule be subiect to the higher powers Rom. 13. 1. This so held till the times of Hildebrand 175 years after Christ who exalted himselfe aboveall that is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sacred name of King or Emperour so that power in the Pope of deposing Kings is not of the first Fathers The same may be sayd of the adoration of Images which tooke authority from the second Councell of Nice 789 yeares after Christ and of transubstantiation not heard of till the Lateran Councell 400 yeares since and of other their Doctrines if wee had time to examine them Let them cease therefore to object unto us the beginning of our Religion from Wickliffe Husse Luther Calvin and those worthy Reformers who fetched truth out of the pit wherein a long time shee had beene hidden and caused us to worship after the manner of our first Fathers and let them rather looke upon their owne hatching of new inventions and thrusting them upon the Church whereby the truth once given to the Saints was so much obscured that it could not bee knowne scarcely what the Father 's worshipped and for our selves let it stablish us in the truth of our Religion that we have the authority of Christ his Apostles and the purer times to confirme the Doctrines taught among us wee reject not but admit Antiquity and have an eye to what our Fathers worshipped Thus you have what is good in this speech of the Samaritan let us now see what is bad in it for that something is bad in it is manifest from that reply of our Saviour vers 22. You worship you know not what And it was this shee resolveth to follow her Fathers worship whatsoever it were right or wrong and therefore shee alleageth it as an argument to defend her owne and her peoples worship in the Mountaine which was not warrantable The viciousnesse of which reasoning that you may perceive I must briefly lay before you the history of the Samaritans worshipping in this mountaine You heard before how that Iacob returning from his uncle Laban in this Mountaine built an Altar and there offered Sacrifice from which fact of his in succeeding ages this Mountaine became a solemne place of worshipping as Iosephus reports by meanes of one Sanballat a noted enemy of the Church of God so often recorded in the booke of Nehemiah who being a stranger to Israel and so Manasses of the posterity of the high Priest marrying his daughter against the Law built a stately Temple in this Mountaine by the leave of Alexander the great and consecrated the said Manasses his sonne in law high Priest there because in the time of the reformation of that great abuse of joyning with Aliants hee was either to part with his wife or his Priest-hood in Ierusalem Here arose a great Schisme betweene the Samaritans and the Ierosolymitans the one grounding upon Gods command that Ierusalem was the place of the Service of God the other patronizing this mountaine from the authority of Iaecobs worshipping which contention being after brought before Ptolomaeus Philometor Sabaeus and Theodosius pleading for Samaria and Andronious for Ierusalem hee proving out of the Law of God the right his Temple had and they from Tradition the right of theirs it was determined for Ierusalem yet so did Schisme prevaile with the Samaritans that still they held their argument Our fathers worshipped in this Mountaeine therefore we may worship there also Thus reasoneth this woman amisse from a good example Iacob a devout and holy man worshipped God in every place where hee came because there was then no set place appointed for Divine Worship and so in the Mountaine before Sichem but the Samaritans absurdly allege his example for the continuance of their worship there because God himselfe after that commanded Deut. 12. 5. that they should seeke the place which the Lord should choose to put his Name in thither should they bring their burnt-offerings which place at first was Shiloh whither Elkanah went to sacrifice to the Lord 1 Sam. 1. 3.
man lye still and thinke another day will come and then it will be time enough for him to rise but as Christ rose early in the morning so let him rise in the prime morning of his youth if he find the grave now open and his soule to be in him let him take heed lest the grave shut her mouth againe upon him lest his soule being taken againe out of that drowsie mansion he have no more such oportunity to rise Againe let not the old man lye still and not arise because hee feareth hee hath laid too long and there is no hope for him to recover life for sweet and comfortable is that saying of Saint Austine Vâ— radius oculi nostri c. As our eye doth not sooner see things that are near it theÌ„ the things that are further off but with a like swiftnesse doth behold them both so the vertue of Christs rising commeth not first to them who are new dead in sinne and scarcely to those that are of long continuance in it sed ei tam facile est ut quaeque recentia diuturno tempori dilapsa cadavera suscitare it can as easily raise those which have longest as those which have had smallest time therein Let us then all both old and young rouse up our selves for the Master is up and shall it not shame the servants to be behinde Christ is risen and draweth us also with the cords of love oh let us runne after him in the sweet savour of his oyntments and ascend after him in our hearts to heaven whither hee hath already ascended which is the third thing propounded in the Text the fruit of our rising with Christ Seeke the things that are above Where two things offer themselves to be considered the Object things above the Act seeke which Act is proportioned to the Object and is divers according to the diversity of it Now things above may bee taken two wayes 1. For Christ the truth opposed to Iewish ceremonies and this interpretation is made good by comparing this verse with the latter part of the second chapter where the Apostle reasoneth in this manner They which wrongly conceive oâ— Christ live still to the Ordinances of the world and burthen themselves with traditions touch not tast not handle not but such as beleeving a right in his resurrection are freed from these beggerly rudiments looke after things oâ— â—n higher nature Christ himselfe who is the body and substance of all those shadowes and is now to be apprehended â—n himselfe without the interâ—osition of those former observances and then seeking is taken for right understanding and conceiving of the state of Religion as if the Apostle had said You that are Christians must know that the Ceremoniall Law is abolished which good in distinction of meats â—ayes apparell things though at first appointed by God yet â—ut for a season and therefore â—ave perished in their use and â—ow are become commandements and doctrines of men You must know that the true worshippers must worship the father in spirit and in truth â—omming to him by Christ who above in heaven at his right hand beleeving in his death â—nd resurrection letting goe the sacrifices of the Law aâ— Mosaicall injunctions which though they had a shew of wisdome in them yet were ordained to endure but till the truâ— came We see how the Apostle opposeth Christ to the earthly ceremonies and dissâ—â—deth Christians who were 〈◊〉 lay hold on him from any further dealing with them and that for two reasons 1. Because he was come whom the prefigured and therefore theâ— were to cease in him 2. Fâ—â— that hee was now againe ascended into heaven and therefore looked for the heart and the affections not bodily observances Now these earthly ceremonies are not such onely were legall belonging to Moses Law but even those which draw the heart from heaven unto the earth placing Religion in outward shewes and wiâ—â— worship such as the Christian within the Papacy hath beene miserably pestered with Saint Austine in his time complained Epist 119. c. 19. of these servile burthens which though they could not be proved to bee directly against the faith yet made the Church of the Christians in worse case than the Church of the Iewes the one being in bondage to a â—egall yoke the other to mens presumptions such as are the â—et number of Paternosters Creeds and Ave-maries to be â—aily said over the adoring of Christ in the Rood Windows c. their Pilgrimages Whipâ—ing themselves and a world more such as these which make indeed a great shew of Devotion in the eyes of men and â—old the beguiled senses in admiration yet are not of any value but for the satisfying of the flesh mans carnall desires who for the sinne of his soule would give any thing rather than his soule or doe any thing rather than the workes of the soule Well are we who have shaked off this bondage and are free to come to Christ as himselfe hath appointed with hearty repentance earnest faith willing affections so to seeke the things that are above 2. By things above may be meant heavenly things the happinesse which aboundeth in heaven and which we are by God ordained unto and then seeking signifieth two things 1. A desire of this happinesse 2. The using of the meanes to attaine this happinesse 1. They which are risen desire things above not with a lazy wish oh that some would give mee to drinke of the waters of life but with ardor and fervency such as was in David Psal 42. 1. Like as the Hart panteth after the water brookes so longeth my soule after thee O God my soule is athirst for God yea even for the living God oh when shall I come and appeare in the presence of God 2. They use the meanes of attaining it no way so straight that they will not walke in if it lead to heaven no labour so hard which they will not endure if it end in happinesse fire water swords stones they will passe through them all to this wealthy place Thus doe the Saints Ascensiones disponere in corde thinke of nothing but ascending upward they digge not downe to hell to fetch from thence wicked plots and devices they spend not themselves upon the earth to get riches honours and preferments but sursum corda all their delight is above these transitory things their soules are heaven-walking spirits ravished with the joy they know to be there and therefore attend ever to partake of it Christ who is their head ascending hath invited them that are his members as Saint Austine speaketh to a region of Angels to the friendship of the Father and the holy Ghost to an everlasting supper to communion with him to himselfe this maketh them to confesse with the Patriarkes Heb. 11. 13. that they are strangers pilgrims upon the earth looking still towards heaven as if they sought a Countrey hic generatio quaerentium quae sunt supra thus
from this time forth for evermore Amen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The end of the fourth Sermon THE FIFTH SERMON ON IOHN 4. 20. IOH. 4. 20. Our Fathers worshipped in this Mountaine THese words are a part of that Discourse which passed betweene our Saviour and a woman of Samaria In which discourse three things are observable The party with whom Christ talketh The occasion of the talke and the discourse it selfe The Party it is a Woman it so falling out by the Providence of God that shee should be the first among the Samaritans that heard the sound of the Gospell and become an Apostle as it were to all her neighbours in shewing them the Messias that so the privilege of all sexes in Christ might appeare and that as Saint Gregory hath well observed Quia Ho. 25. in Evang. mulier viro prapinavit mortem mulier viris annuntiaret salutem because a woman at the first beganne to man in the cup of death a woman here should beginne to men in the cup of life The occasion of the talke was this womans denying to give Christ water because hee was a Iew whereupon he who was ready to take the least opportunity of doing any spirituall good taketh upon him to instruct her in that shee never heard before The discourse that passed betweene them was especially of two things for other things are inserted by the way and they are The Water of Life and The true worship of God The former beginneth vers 10. continued to 16. The other beginneth vers 20. continued to the 27. The words of the Text belong to the latter part of the Discourse which concerned the Worship of God and they are spoken by the woman who doth in them three things at once 1. She findeth fault with Christ for magnifying Ierusalem as the onely place where God would bee worshipped 2. Shee extolleth her fathers worship in that mountaine which was neere unto the City 3. Shee tacitely uttereth her owne resolution that shee would continue to worship after the manner of her fore-fathers for the words are to bee considered two wayes either as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a simple proposition containing in them a narration of things done Her fathers had worshipped in that mountaine Or as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Praemisse or Antecedent to a Conclusion which this woman meant to inferre there from for shee hath a further reach in them than a bare affirmation namely hence to approve her owne and her peoples worship that they also might lawfully worship in that Mountaine as well as their fathers had done So that this speech of the woman is like Iacobs sheepe varicolor speckled partly white partly black hath something good in it something bad That which was good in it is two-fold 1. The matter of her speech it relates a truth her fathers worshipping in the Mountaine 2. Her uttering it declares that shee had an eye to the service of God practised in former times To her fathers worship That which was bad is this That shee was too much addicted to her fathers Religion and resolved upon that ground because her fathers had done so to live and dye in so worshipping whether shee did right or wrong I will speake of this speech both these wayes that what is good in it wee may bee provoked to follow what ill in it wee may be moved to avoyd And first of what was good in it and there in of the matter her fathers worship in the mountaine This Mountaine it was Gerazim situated neere unto the City of Sichem Judg 9. 7. There the Patriarch Iacob at his returne from Labans house built an Altar Gen. 33. 20. Of this worship of Iacob is this speech mainely meant Her father worshipped for as the Iewes boasted of Abraham their father so boasted the Samaritans of Iacob their father as you may see vers 12 Now the thing here related Iacobs worship in the mountaine may give us to observe this point The worship of God was of old wont to bee performed on mountaines he appointed them especially to bee the places of his Service as if that were true of God which the servants of Benhadad said 1 Kin 20. 23 Dii eorum Dii montium the God of Israel is the God of the mountaines Thus was Abraham commanded to offer up Isaac to God upon a mountain Gen. 22. 2. It was Gods charge to Moses that he should come up into the mountaine Exod 19 20. The Prophets charge to David Ascende in aream Goe up unto the threshing floore of A raunah 2 Sam. 24. 18. When Solomon built that glorious Temple hee set it upon the mountaine of Moriah 2 Chron. 3. 1. Yea our Saviour himselfe when hee prayed went into a mountaine Luk. 6. 12. By this serving God in the mountaine God taught the Iewes who had all things in types and figures and us likewise to whom the morall appertaineth that when wee come to worship God wee must lift our soules to heavenly cogitations So the Apostle Heb. 10. 22. Draw neere to God with a pure heart And David of himselfe Psal 25. 1. Vnto thee O Lord doe I lift up my soule For as if a man be in the bottome of a deepe pit he may call lowd to them that walke above and not bee heard so if our hearts be drowned in worldly things we may cry oft enough Lord Lord to God that is in heaven above and not be regarded The old use of the Primitive Church is still well retained among us that the people at the Communion should bee admonished by the Pastor sursum corda lift up your hearts and they againe should answer as well apprehending his speech Sursum habemus ad Dominum wee lift them up unto the Lord. For Application of the point It justly condemneth those that come to Church as if they came to Market and talke with God as with a Chapman never thinking of any preparation or reverence in regard of the glory of God never thinking of any exaltation of the mind by heavenly meditation because wee are on earth and God in heaven but we come besmeared with the dregs of filthinesse and worldly affaires so hanging on and prossing us downe that wee cannot goe into the mountaine to meet God but lye groveling in the vallies that if God will come to us so it is we are resolved not to goe up to him but let us know beloved that God in this sense may be truly sayd not to be the God of the Vallies hee loveth not to dwell with this earthy and muddy generation which flutter alow the ground creepe or walke upon it but cannot take the wings of Devotion and send up their soules as a Bird to the hills the hills whence commeth all their helpe hee loveth to dwell with those Divine soules who have their conversation in heaven and are ravished out of themselves and choking cares when they come to worship him I conclude this speech with that of Iames
chap. 4. 8. Draw nigh to God and hee will draw nigh to you How shall wee draw nigh to him Purge your hearts you sinners and clense your hands you double minded men come out of the dirt of corruption into the mountain of holinesse as your fathers worshipped in the Mountaine Thus much of the matter of the words I come to the second thing good in this speech this womans looking backe to the Religion practised by her fathers Our fathers worshipped Wherein shee declares that shee conceived two truths 1. That the Service of God is ancient beganne not in her dayes but had its Original from the Fathers 2. That antiquity of Religion is to be respected of those that seeke out the truth thereof For the first The service of God is ancient the Angels who were first made first beganne it Iob 38. 7. The Starres of the morning praysed mee together and all the children of God reioyced Men followed in their order Abel offered Sacrifice Euoch walked with God Noah builded an Altar in Seths time men beganne to call on the Name of the Lord the histories of ancient times declare that they before the flood erected brazen and marble Pillars wherein they left unto their posterity the memory of God and of his providence and that Religion was from the beginning of the world may be demonstrated divers wayes 1. The Image of God wherein man was made consisted in holinesse as one part thereof Ephes 4. 24. Now holinesse in man respecteth the service of God and when this Image was decayed by the fall of Adam yet so much of it remayned as carried men to some worship of God which being directed by addition of light from heaven carried them to the worship of the true God 2. God alwayes had his Church in the world some who were sheepe of his pasture and children of his love and these did worship him for worship is the bond that bindeth man to God without which man cannot be sayd to be the servant of God nor God sayd to be the God of man 3. God at the very first gave precepts of his worship So Adam in Paradise had a command to abstain from the tree of the knowledge of good and evill this abstinence was his worship of God and why did Able bring his sacrifice The Apostle saith it was by faith faith respecting the promise of God in his precept that by offering sacrifice hee should shew his expectation of that seed which was foretold to come into the world So that here every true worshipper of God at this day hath a good warrant for his doings that he followeth the footsteps of all his fathers the children of God who went before him and it may be a singular comfort to him in his holinesse that howsoever men of his owne time wherein hee liveth bee crosse unto him and every man would have his neighbour a Bird of the same feather that himselfe is yet that he is like to the old Fathers who were zealous toward God and stood in awe of his preâ—ence that he doth converse with Seth Enoch Ahraham Isaac Iacob the holy Prophets yea Christ himselfe and his Apostles who though they lived among Lions yet did of old sustaine and uphold the service of God in spight of all opposition This is it which conjoyneth all the members of the Church together though living at severall times that they are united in the worship of God as many lines in the same center This comforted the Apostle Paul in the midst of his bands that after the way which the Iewes called heresie he worshipped the God of his fathers Acts 24. 14. Hee calleth God the God of his Fathers thereby to strengthen himselfe in his holy course against the Iewes who cryed out of him for an hereticke and so ought all true Christians who endevouring with an upright heart to feare God and keepe themselves unspotted of the world not stained with the iniquity of the times wherein they live are like to be branded with the title of Novelists they ought to looke upon the wayes of the holy Fathers who lived in times past and seeing themselves walke in their steps and to bee heires of their righteous living hence to take courage that they goe not in by-pathes where none went before them but in the Kings high-way wherein all the Saints of God walked to heaven thus the Fathers worshipped God and thus they worship him This is the first thing this woman conceived the Service of God is ancient The second thing was that the Antiquity of Religion is to be respected and so indeed it is Deut. 32. 7. Remember the dayes of old and the yeares of many generations aske thy father and he will tell thee thine elders and they wil instruct thee Wee are but of yesterday and are ignorant therefore must wee search of our fathers Iob 8. 8. If a man were to stand upon the waies to take his choice hee could choose none better than the old way wherein walking he should find rest unto his soule Ier. 6. 16. For whereas through the ages of the world there have beene different formes of his Service appointed by God himselfe the one at mans Creation a second at the Institution of the Church of the Iewes when the Ceremoniall Law was ordained a third at the founding of the Church of the Christians when the Doctrine of the Gospell was set forth they in these severall times did right who kept themselves to the old forme of worshipping Before the Law they served God aright who tooke patterne from Abel Seth Noah the first fathers of that Church Vnder the Law they served God aright who imitated Moses Aaron and Iosuah the first fathers of that dispensation Since the Law they serve God aright who follow the steps of the blessed Apostles and purer times of the dispensation of the Gospell So that howsoever wee make not Antiquity the rule of our faith yet is it a good note of true Religion to agree with the first Fathers of the Primitive time for certainly that of Tertullian is most sound Quod antiquissimum illud verissimum that is the most true that is most ancient And the ground of this assertion is demonstrative for the Truth is first layd before Heresie commeth in good it is subjectum mali the subject whereto evill cleaveth and must therefore needs be before it Satan was first an Angell of Light before a Prince of Darkenesse Adam was made upright and then became crooked and corrupted through sinne The Law of Moses first was truly taught before it was depraved with the wicked glasses of the Scribes and Pharisies and the Doctrine of the Gospell was at the beginning taught in the truth thereof howsoever presently the mystery of iniquity beganne to worke and it was infected with Arrianisme Nestorianisme and this Antiquity of the truth in regard of Heresie is taught by our Saviour Matth. 13. 24. where he sheweth that the Husbandman first soweth good