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 joyfull in my House of Prayer their burnt offerings and sacrifices accepted upon mine Altar Then follow the words of Text For my House shall be called 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 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 Euangelist expressed the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 namely as that which shewed wherein the force of the accommodation to this occasion lay which the rest of the Euangelists 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 dayes before our Saviour suffered to wit when he came to his last Passeover How unseasonable had it been to vindicate the violation of legall and typicall sanctity which within so few dayes after he was utterly to abolish by his Crosse unlesse 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 JOHN 4. 23. But the hour commeth 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 the great controverted point between the Jews and Samaritans whether Mount Garizim by Sichem where the Samaritans sacrificed or Ierusalem were the true place of worship Our Saviour tels her that this question was not now of much moment For that the houre 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 Jews and them then this of place namely even about that which was worshipped For ye saith he worship that ye know not But we Jews worship that we know Then follow the words premised But the houre commeth 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 externall worship but that of the Spirit onely And this to be a characteristicall difference between the worship of the Old Testament and the New If at any time we talk of externall decency in rites and bodily expressions as fit to be used in the service of God this is the usuall Buckler to repell whatsoever may be said in that kinde It is true indeed that the worship of the Gospel is much more spirituall then that of the Law But that the worship of the Gospel should be onely spirituall and no externall worship required therein as the Text according to some mens sense and allegation thereof would imply is repugnant not onely to the practice and experience of the Christian Religion in all ages but also to the expresse 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 confute this Glosse For is not the commemoration of the sacrifice of Christs death upon the Crosse unto his Father in the Symbols of Bread and Wine an externall worship And yet with this rite hath the Church in all ages used to make her solemne addresse of Prayer and Supplication unto the Divine Majesty as the Jews in the Old Testament did by Sacrifice when I say in all Ages I include that of the Apostles For so much Saint Luke testifieth of that first Christian society Acts 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 Saint Paul as himself saith bowed his knees to the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ He and Saint Peter and the rest of the beleevers do the like more then once in the Acts of the Apostles What was imposition of hands but an externall gesture in an act of invocation for conferring a blessing and that perhaps sometimes without any vocall expression joyned therewith Besides I cannot conceive any reason why in this point of Euangelicall worship Gesture should be more scrupled at then Voyce Is not confessing praising praying and glorifying God by voyce an externall 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 Saviours meaning but some other Let us see if we can finde 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 Euangelist termed Truth as Cap. 17. ver 17. and the Doctrine thereof by Saint Paul The word of truth See Ephes. Cap. 1. ver 13. Rom. 15. ver 8. The time therefore is now at hand said our Saviour when the true worshippers shall worship the Father no longer with bloody 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 Jews and Samaritans to which our Saviour here makes answer which was not about worship in generall but about the kinde
of worship in speciall which was confessed by both sides to be tied to one certain place onely that is of worship by Sacrifice and the appendages In a word of the typicall 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 Jews and Samaritans which dwelt together at Alexandria They lived saith he in perpetuall discord one with the other whilest each laboured to maintain their Country customes 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 Jews and Samaritans had other places of worship besides either of these namely their Proseucha's and Synagogues wherein they worshipped God not with internall onely but externall worship though not with sacrifice which might be offered but in one place onely 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 onely Mediator of the Church in the Temple of whose sacred body we have accesse unto the Father and in whom he accepts our devotions and services according to that Destroy this Temple and I will rear it up again in three daies He spake saith the Text of the Temple of his Body This sense divers of the Ancients hit upon Eusebius Demon. Euang. 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 externall services for the New Testament was to have externall and visible services as well as the Old But with such as should imply the verity of the promises already exhibited not by 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both together they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but once found in holy Writ to wit onely 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 taken one for the exposition of the other that to worship the Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the same with to worship him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But howsoever this Exposition be fair and plausible yet me thinks 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 him 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 reade in the second Book of the Kings at their first comming thither worshipped not the God of Israel but the gods of the Nations from whence they came Wherefore he sent Lyons 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 Countrey 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 tels us worshipped the Lord yet feared their own gods too and so did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Saint Chrysostome speaks mingle things not to be mingled In this medly they continued about two 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 Jews married the daughter of Sanballat then Governour of Samaria For which being expelled from Jerusalem by Nehemiah he fled to Sanballat his Father in Law and after his example many other of the Jews 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 Jews and the occasion of a continuall 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 Jews 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 onely Yet so that howsoever they seemed to themselves to be true worshippers and altogether free from Idolatry neverthelesse they retained a smack thereof in as much 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 Jewish Tradition tels us who therefore always branded their worship with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or spirituall Fornication Just as their predecessors the ten Tribes worshipped the same God of Israel under the similitude of a Calf This was the condition of the Samaritan Religion in our Saviours time and if we weigh the matter well we shall finde 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 so greatly materiall for as much as the time is at hand when men shall worship the Father at neither But there is a greater difference between you and us then of place though you take no notice of it namely about the object of worship it self For ye worship what ye know not but we Jews worship what we know How is that Thus Ye worship indeed the Father the God of Israel as we doe but you worship him under a corporeall representation wherein you shew you know him not but the houre commeth and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and Truth In spirit that is conceiving of him no otherwise then in spirit And in truth that is not under any corporeall or visible shape For God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and Truth that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not fancying him as a body but as indeed he is a Spirit For those who worship him under a corporeall similitude doe bely him according as the Apostle speaks Rom. 1. of such as change 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 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 And Isa. 28. 15. We have made Lies our refuge And Ier. 16. 19. Venient gentes à finibus terrae dicent Verè mendacium possederunt the Chaldee hath coluerunt Patres nostri vanitatem in qua non est utilitas Nunquid faciet sibi homo Deos ipsi non sunt Dii This therefore I take to be the genuine meaning of this place and not that which is commonly supposed against externall worship which I think this demonstration will evince To worship what they know as the Jews are said to doe and to worship in spirit and truth are here taken by our Saviour for equivalents else the whole sense will be inconsequent But the Jews 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 S. LUKE 24. 45. Then opened be 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 OUr Blessed Saviour after he was risen from the dead told his Disciples not onely 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 the 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 received how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures 4. And that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures Both of them therefore are somwhere 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 Jews most stumble at because their Doctors had not observed any such thing of 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 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 Messiahs death and rising again the third day were foretold in these three parts of Scripture in the Law of Moses or Pentateuch in the Neb im or Prophets and in the Psalmes 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 of the world be blessed What was here acted else but the mystery of Christs Passion to wit that the promised seed should make all the Nations of the world blessed by becomming a sacrifice for sin which that it might be the more evident the place is also designed the region of Mount Moriah there Abraham was bid to offer his son Isaac even where Messiah who was then in the loins of Isaac was one day to be offered upon the Crosse. The second prediction in the Law of Messiahs suffering death was by the slaying of Beasts for the atonement of sin in their sacrifices which were nothing else but shadows and representations of that offering upon the Crosse which Messiah was one day to make of himself for the sins of the world Which mystery of the end of those legall sacrifices was shewed in the former story of Abrahams offering Isaac For when he had now brought his son to the place appointed and had built an Altar and was now ready to slay him as he was commanded the Angel of the Lord stayed his hand and shewed him a Ram caught in a thicket by the horns which Ram Abraham took and offered for a burnt offering in stead of his son to signifie that the offering of the blessed seed was yet to be suspended and that God in the mean while would accept the offerings of Buls and Rams as a pledge of that expiation which the blessed seed of Abraham in the loyns of Isaac should one day make And thus much for the Law now I come to the Prophets wherein I finde three evident Prophecies that Messiah should suffer death The first is that famous one in the 53. of Isay the whole Chapter through I will not repeat it all but some two or three passages thereof ver 5. He was wounded saith the Prophet for our transgressions he was bruised for 〈◊〉 inâ—quities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed And ver 7. He was oppressed he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth he was brought as a Lamb to the slaughter 〈◊〉 as a Sheep before his Shearers is dumb so he opened noi his mouth Ver. 8. He was cut off out of the Land of the living for the transgression of my people was 〈◊〉 smitten Now that this Prophecy was one of those by which the Apostles used to prove this verity appears by the story of the conversion of the Eunuch Acts 8. unto whom Philip comming whilst he was in his Chariot reading this place of Scripture and hâ— thereupon asking Philip of whom the Prophet spake these words the Text tels us that Philip began at the same Scripture and preached unto him Iesus The
such an one where Idolatry false worship and Popery so reigned as there had been little hopes or means to have been saved But behold we are born bred and dwell in a reformed Christian State where the worship of God in Christ is truly taught and practised where no God is worshipped but the Father and in no other Mediator but his Son Jesus Christ. How should we then magnifie our good God for his so great and abundant mercy towards us Luther or some other tels a story of a German pesant who on a time beholding an ugly Toad fell into a most bitter lamentation and weeping that he had been so unthankfull to Almighty God who had made him a man and not such an ugly creature as that was O that we could in like manner bewail our ingratitude towards him who hath made us to have our birth and habitation not among Pagans and barbarous Indians a people without God in the world but in a beleeving and Christian Nation where the true God is known and the means of salvation is to be had Thankfulnesse for a lesse benefit is the way to obtain a greater To acknowledge and prize Gods favour towards us in the means is the way to obtain his grace to use them to our eternall advantage whereas our neglect of thankfulnesse in the one may cause God in his just judgement to deprive us of his blessing in the other Consider it And thus much concerning the person to whom the Angel spake Cornelius And he said unto him Now I come to the message it self Thy prayers and thine almes are come into remembrance before God Where before I make any further entrance there is an Objection requires to be answered namely how Cornelius his service could be accepted of God as it is said to be when as he had no knowledge of Christ without whom no man can please God I answer Cornelius pleased God through his faith in the promise of Christ to come as all just men under the Law did which faith God did so long accept after Christ was come till his comming and the mystery of Redemption wrought by him were fully and clearly made known and preached which had not been to Cornelius till this time for though he had heard of his preaching in Galilee and Judaea and that he was crucified by the Jews yet he had not heard of his Resurrection from the dead and Ascension into glory or was not assured of it till it was now confirm'd unto him by one sent from God himself And it is like that having heard somewhat of the Apostles preaching and of the Jews opposing their testimony and so knowing not what to beleeve he had earnestly besought God in his Devotions to lead him in the way of truth and make known unto him what to doe This being premised I return again unto the Angels words wherein I will consider three things First the conjunction or coupling of Almesdeeds with Prayer Thy Prayers and thine Almes Secondly the efficacy of power they have with God Thy Prayers and thine Almes are come up into remembrance before God Thirdly I will adde the reasons why God so much accepteth them which are also so many Motives why we should be carefull and diligent to practise them For the first the joyning of Almesdeeds with prayer Cornelius we see joyn'd them and he is therefore in the verses before going commended for a devout man and one that feared God And by the Angels report from God himself we hear how graciously he accepted them giving us to understand that a Devotion thus arm'd was of all others the most powerfull to pierce into his dwelling place and fetch a blessing from him Therefore our Saviour likewise Mat. 6. joyns the precepts of Alms and Prayer together teaching us how to give alms and how to pray in one Sermon as things that ought to goe hand in hand and not to be separated asunder It was also the Ordinance of the Church in the Apostles times that the first day of the week which was the time of publike prayer should be the time also of Alms. So saith S. Paul 1 Cor. 16. 1. Now concerning the collection for the Saints saith he as I have given order to the Churches of Galatia even so do ye 2. Vpon the first day of the week that is upon the Lords day let every one of you lay by himself in store as God hath prospered him that there be no gatherings when I come Which institution seems to be derived from the Commandement of God in the Law twice repeated Let no man appear before the Lord empty For the words annexed to that Law Deut. 16. where it is applied to the three great feasts when all Israel was to assemble to pray before the Lord in his Tabernacle the words I say there annexed sound altogether like unto these of S. Paul concerning the Lords day Three times a year saith the Text there shall all the males appear before the Lord and they shall not appear before the Lord empty Every one shall give as he is able according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee Is not this the same in sense with S. Pauls Let every one lay by himself in store as God hath prospered him The Primitive Church after the Apostles followed the same president and our own Reformed Church hath ordained the same in her Service-book were it accordingly practised as was intended For after the Epistle and Gospel she appoints divers choice sentences of Scripture to be read which exhorts us to Almes and other Offerings to the honour of Almighty God and then as supposing it to be done in the Prayer for the whole estate of Christs Church We humbly beseech him most mercifully to accept our Almes and receive our prayers which we offer unto his Divine Majesty Shall I now need to exhort Christians thus to furnish and strengthen their prayers which they daily offer unto God to couple them with Almesdeeds to come before God with a present and not empty-handed Whom neither Gods Commandement the practice of his Church the example of his Saints nor the acceptance of such prayers as the hand which dealeth Almes lifteth up to him whom these will not move no words of mine will do it But some may say Would you have us always give Alms when we pray No I say not so but I would not have you appear before the Lord empry that is such as are not wont to give them nor mean to do for you may give them before or second your prayers with them after you may have set and appointed times for the one as you have for the other or when the Law of man injoyns you any thing in this kinde do it heartily faithfully and with a willing minde without grudging that so God may accept it as a service done to him Or lastly thou maist doe as the holy men of Scripture were wont vow and promise unto God if
unto the service and worship of God neither to be used by others nor they to carry themselves in their fashion of life as other persons for that which in other things sacred is their use in persons sacred is their conversation demeanour or carriage of themselves but all to be sanctified with a select appropriate or uncommon usage that as they are Gods by peculiar relation and have his Name called upon them so to be separate as far as they are capable from common use and imployed as instruments and circumstances of his worship and service which is the highest and most singular honour that any creature is capable of Nay as I have said before even this is to the honour of God that as himself is that singular incommunicable and absolutely Holy One and his service and worship therefore incommunicable so should that also which hath his Name thereon or is consecrated to his service be in some proportion incommunicably used and not promiscuously and commonly as other things are They are the words of Maymonides the Jew but such as will not misbecome a Christian to make use of concerning that Law Levit. V. 15. If a soule commit a trespasse and sin through ignorance in the holy things of the LORD then he shall bring unto the Lord for his trespasse a Ram c. Behold saith hee how great weight there is in the Law touching sacrilegious transgression And what though they be wood and stone and dust and ashes when the Name of the Lord of all the world is called upon things they are sanctified i. made holy And who so useth them to common use he transgresseth therein and though he doe it through ignorance he must needs bring his atonement Yea it is a thing worthy to be taken speciall notice of that that so presumptuous and most dreadfully vindicated sin of Korah Dathan Abiram and their company in offering incense unto the Lord being not called thereunto did not discharge their Censers of this discriminative respect due unto things Sacred For thus the Lord said unto Moses after that fire from heaven had consumed them for their impiety Speak unto Eleazar the Son of Aaron the Priest that he take up the Censers out of the burning and scatter thou the fire yonder for they are hallowed The Censers of these Sinners against their own souls let them make of them broad plates for a covering of the Altar for they offered them before the Lord therefore they are hallowed or holy Num. 16. 37 38. Now that by this discriminative usance or sanctification of things sacred the Name of God is honoured and sanctified according to the tenour of our petition is apparent not onely from reason which tels us that the honour and respect had unto ought that belongs unto another because it is his redounds unto the owner and Master but from Scripture which tels us that by the contrary use of them his name is prophaned Hear himself Lev. XXII 2. Speak unto Aaron saith he and his Sons that they separate themselves from the Holy things of the children of Israel and that they prophane not my Holy Name in the things which they hallow unto me Also in the Chapter next before v. 6. The Priest that should not discriminate himself according to those singular observations or differing rules there prescribed is said To prophane the Name of his God Again Ezek. XXII 26. When the Priests prophaned Gods holy things by putting no difference between the Holy and Prophane I saith the Lord am prophaned amongst them Likewise Chap. XLIII ver 7. together with other abominations there mentioned the Lord saith that his Holy Name had been polluted or prophaned by the carkasses of their Kings that is of Manasse and Amon buried in the Kings Garden hard by the walls of the Temple for so by the Hebrews and others that place is understood See 2 Kings XXI ver 18 26. by the pollution of the Temple the Lord esteemed his own Name prophaned Take in also if you will that of Malachi Cha. 1. where the Lord says of those who despised and dishonoured his Table or Altar by offering thereon for sacrifice the lame the blinde and sick which the Law had made unclean and polluted that they had prophaned his Holy Name But if the Name of God be prophaned by the disesteem and misusage of the things it is called upon then surely it is sanctified when the same are worthily and discriminatively used that is as becommeth the relation they have to him I have already specified the severall kinds of Sacred things which are thus to be sanctified yet lest something contained under some of them might not be taken notice of by so generall an intimation it will not be amisse a little more fully and particularly to explicate them then I have yet done Remember therefore that I ranged all sacred things under four heads 1. Of Persons Sacred such as were the Priests and Levites in the Old Testament and now in the New the Christian Clergy or Clerus so called from the beginning of Christian Antiquity either because they are the Lords 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 Lords portion I preferre the first yet either of both will give their Order the title of Holinesse 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sanctifie 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 their sakes I sanctifie my self that they might be sanctified for thy Truth that is And for as much 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 legall and typicall 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 onely is put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Truth for the Ministery of Truth Now that the Christian Church for of the Jewish I shall need say nothing hath always taken it for granted that those of her Clergy ought according to the
whence it is probable that S. Peter in the foregoing passage of Angels referred also those chains of darknesse to reserving and not to delivering that is not that the evill Angels were now already delivered to chains of darknesse but reserved for them at the day of Judgement And thus much for clearing of the words of these two parallel Texts now what hath been anciently the current opinion of this point And first for the Jews it is apparent to have been a tradition of theirs that all the space between the earth and the firmament is full of troops of Evill spirits and their Chieftains having their residence in the air which I make no doubt S. Paul had respect to when he cals Satan the Prince of the power of the air Drusius quotes two Authors one the Book called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Munus novum another one of the Commentators upon Pirke Aboth who speak in this manner Debet homo scire intelligere à terra usque ad firmamentum omnia plena esse turmis praefectis infra plurimas esse Creaturas laedentes accusantes omnesque stare volare in aere neque à terra usque ad firmamentum locum esse vacuum sed omnia plena esse praepositis quorum alii ad pacem alii ad bellum alii ad bonum alii ad mulam ad vitam ad mortem incitant By praepositi I suppose he means such among the Spirits as are set as Wardens over severall charges for the managing of the affairs of mankinde subject to their powers This was the opinion of the Iews which they seem to have learned by tradition from their ancient Prophets For in the Old Testament we finde no such thing written and yet we see S. Paul seems to approve it Now for the Doctors of the Christian Church S. Hierome upon the sixth of the Ephesians tels us that their opinion was the same T is the opinion of all the Doctors saith he that Devils have their mansion and residence in the space between the heaven and the earth And that the Fathers of the first 300 or 400 years nor did nor could hold the evill Angels to have been cast into Hell upon their sin is evident by a singular Tenet of theirs For Iustn Martyr one of the most ancient hath this saying that Satan before the coming of Christ never durst blaspheme God and that saith he because till then he knew not he should be damned The same is approved by Irenaeus in his fifth Book and twentysixt Chapter Praeclarè saith he dixit Iustinus quod ante Domini adventum Satanas nunquam ausus est blasphemare Deum quippe nondum sciens suam damnationem Post adventum autem Domini ex sermonibus Christi Apostolorum ejus discens manifestè quoniam ignis aeternus ei praeparatus sit per hujusmodi homines he means those Heretiques who blasphemed the God of the Law blasphemat eum Deum qui judicium importat Eusebius 4. Hist. Cap. 17. cites the same out of both with approbation So doth Oecumenius upon the last Chap. of the first of S. Peter Epiphanius against Heresie 39. gives the same as his own assertion almost in the same words with Iustin and Irenaeus though not naming them Ante Christi adventum saith he nunquam ausus est Diabolus in Dominum suum blasphemum aliquod verbum loqui aut contra elationem cogitare expectavit enim Christi adventum put avitque se misericordiam aliquam assecuturum esse I will not enquire how true this Tenet of theirs is but onely gather this that they could not think the Devils were cast into Hell before the comming of Christ. For then how could they but have known they should be damned if the execution had already been done upon them Saint Augustine as may seem intending to reconcile these places of Peter and Iude with the rest of Scripture is alledged to affirm that the Devils suffering some hell-like torment in their aiery Mansion the Air may in that respect in an improper sense be called Hell But that the Devils were locally or actually in Hell or should be before the day of Judgement it is plain he held not and that will appear by these two passages in his Book de Civitate Dei First where he saith Daemones in hoc quidem aere habitant quia de Coeli superioris sublimitate dejecti merito irregressibilis transgressionis in hoc sibi congruo velut carcere praedamnati sunt Lib. 8. Cap. 22. The other where he expounds that of the Devils Mat. 8. Art thou come to torment us before the time that is saith he ante tempus Iudicii quo aeternâ damnatione puniendi sunt cum omnibus etiam hominibus qui eorum societate detinentur Lib. eodem Cap. 23. in fine The Divines of later times the Schoolmen and others to reconcile the supposed Contrariety in Scripture divide the matter holding some Devils to be in the Air as Saint Paul and the History of Scripture tels us some to be already in Hell as they thought Saint Peter and S. Iude affirm'd which opinion seems to be occasioned by a Quaere of Saint Hieroms upon the sixth of the Ephesians though he speaks but obscurely and defines nothing But what ground of Scripture or reason can be given why all the Devils which sinned should not be in the same condition especially Satan the worst and chief of them should not be in the worst estate but enjoy the greatest liberty It follows therefore that these places of Saint Peter and Saint Iude are to be construed according to the sense I have given of them namely that the evill Spirits which sinned being adjudged to hellish torments were cast out of Heaven into this lower Region there to be reserved as in a prison for chains of darknesse at the Day of Judgement 1 COR. 4. 1. Let a man so account of us as of the Ministers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Christ and Stewards of the Mysteries of God A Man would think at first sight that this Scripture did exceedingly warrant our use of the word Minister in stead of that of Priest and leave no plea for them who had rather speak otherwise Howsoever I intend at this time to shew the contrary and even out of this text that we have very much swarved herein from the Apostles language and abuse that word to such a sense as they never intended nor is any where found in Scripture I fayour neither superstition nor superstitious men yet truth is truth and needfull to be known especially when ignorance thereof breedeth errour and uncharitablenesse My discourse therefore shall be of the use of the words Priest and Minister wherein shall appear how truly we are all Ministers in the Apostles sense and yet how abusively and improperly so called in the ordinary prevailing use of that word I will begin thus All Ecclesiasticall persons or Clergy men may be considered in a
he can If he should they might truly say indeed Lord we have done no such matter nor did we think our selves bound unto it we relied wholly upon our faith in thy merits and thought we had been freed from such services What doe they think Christ will change the form of his sentence at that great day No certainly If the sentence for Blisse will not fit them and be truly said of them the other will and must for there is no more Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels For when I was hungry ye gave me no meat c. This must be their doome unlesse they suppose the righteous Judge will lie for them And it is here further to be observed that the works named in the sentence of Judgement are works of the second Table works of mercy and charity Feeding the hungry clothing the naked visiting the sick all Almesdeeds which men are now a-days so much afraid of as if they looked toward Popery and had a tang of meriting For now a-days these costly works of all others are most suspicious but will it be so at the day of Judgement True it is they merit not the reward which shall be given them but what then Are we so proud we will doe no works unlesse we may merit Is it not sufficient that God will reward them for Christs sake though they have no worth in themselves The third and last motive to works of righteousnesse is because they are the only sign and note whereby we know our faith is true and saving and not counterfeit For 1 Iohn 1. 8. If we say we have fellowship with Christ and walk in darknesse we lie and doe not the truth Chap. 2. ver 3. Hereby we know that we know him viz. to be our Advocate with his Father and the propitiation for our sins if we keep his Commandements And Chap. 3. 7. Little children let no man deceive you He that doeth righteousnesse is righteous even as Christ is righteous The same almost you may finde again Chap. 2. 29. For if every one that beleeveth in Christ truly and savingly beleeves that salvation is to be attained by obedience to God in him and not otherwise and therefore embraceth and layeth hold upon him for that end How can such an ones faith be fruitlesse how can he be without works who therefore lays hold on Christ that his works and obedience may be accepted as righteous before God for his sake and so rewardable It is as possible for the Sun to be without his light or the fire to want heat as such a faith to be without works Our Saviour therefore himself makes this a most sure and never failing note to build our assurance of salvation upon Luke 6. 46. where the mention of the words of my Text gives the occasion Why call ye me Lord saith he and doe not the things which I say 47. Whosoever commeth to me and heareth my sayings and doth them I will shew you to whom he is like 48. He is like a man which built an house and digged deep and laid the foundation on a rock And when the floud arose the stream beat vehemently upon that house and could not shake it for it was founded upon arock 49. But he that heareth and doth not is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth against which the stream did beat vehemently and immediately it fell and the ruine of that house was great Whom these three motives or reasons will not perswade to good works let not my soul ô Lord be joyned with theirs nor my doome be as theirs must be A second observation out of these words and near a-kin to the former is That it is not enough for a Christian to live harmlesly and abstain from ill but he must do that which is good For our Saviour excludes not here those onely who do against the will of his Father but those who do not his Fathers will It is doing good which he requireth and the not doing evill only This is an error which taketh hold of a great part of men even of those who would seem to be religious He is a reformed man and acquits himself well who abstains from fornication adultery who is no theef no couzener or defrauder of other men who will not lie or swear or such like But as for doing any works of piety or charity they think they are not required of them But they are much deceived For God requires some duties at our hands which he may reward not out of any merit but out of his mercifull promise in Christ. But not doing ill is no service rewardable A servant who expects wages must not onely do his Master no harm but some work that is good and profitable otherwise the best Christian would be he that should live altogether idlely For none doth lesse harm then he that doth nothing at all But Mat. 25. 30. He that encreased not his Masters Talent though he had not mis-spent it is adjudged an unprofitable servant and cast into utter darknesse where is weeping and gnashing of treth So also Mat. 3. The tree that beareth no good fruit is hewn down though it bore none that was evill The axe is laid to the root of the tree every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire Mat. 21. 19. The sig-tree is cursed for having no fruit not for having evill fruit And the sentence of condemnation as you heard before is to passe at that great day for not having done good works not for doing ill ones Goe ye cursed for when I was hungry ye fed me not 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 doe them out of faith in Christ that is relying upon him onely for the acceptance and rewarding of them for in him alone God is well pleased with us and with what wee doe and therefore without faith 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 of the mercifull 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 doe them out of the fear of God and conscience of his Commandements
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 uprightnesse of heart I know saith David 1 Chr. 29. 17. that thou my God triest the heart and hast pleasure in uprightnesse 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 God Ioshuah 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. Onely fear the Lord and serve him in truth with all your heart This sincerity uprightnesse and truth in Gods service is when we do religious and pious duties and abstain from the contrary out of conscience to Godward out of an heart possessed with the love and fear of God It is otherwise called in Scripture perfectnesse or perfectnesse 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 perfectnesse when both go together when conscience as the soul enlives 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 greatnesse or exactnesse 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 King 15. 14. where it is said that though Asa failed in his reformation and the high places were not taken down neverthelesse 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 witnesse but God and our selves we are carefull 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 lesse by how much he findeth himself the lesse 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 carefull of good duties is a sign we fear God in truth and sincerity and not in hypocrisy The speciall and principall means to attain this sincerity and truth of heart is to possesse our selves with the apprehension of Gods presence and to walk before him as in his eye wheresoever thou art there is an eye that seeth thee an eare 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 doings 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 Atheisme then doth this argue that the presence of man yea sometimes of a little child should hinder us from that wickednesse which Gods presence cannot This having of God before our eyes and the continuall meditation of his all-seeing presence would together with devout prayer for the assistance of Gods 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 universality we must not serve God by halfs by doing some duties and omitting other but we must with David Psal. 119. 6 20. have respect to all Gods Commandements 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 universality of obedience to both Tables is so frequent as the greatest part of Christians are plunged therein to the undoubted ruine of their souls 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 evill 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. ver to the 17. To what purpose are your sacrifices and burnt offerings saith the Lord your oblations and incense are an abomination Your new Moons Sabbaths calling of Assemblies even the solemne meeting I cannot away with it is iniquity Would you know what was the matter see the words following Learn to do well seek judgement relieve the oppressed judge the fatherlesse plead for the widow Lo here a want of the duties of the second Table Such is that also of Hosea Chap. 6. I desired mercy and not sacrifice which is twice alledged by our Saviour in the Gospel against the Pharisees hypocriticall scrupulosity in the same duties of the first Table with a neglect of the second But here perhaps some may finde a scruple because that if sacrifice in this or the like places be opposed to the duties of obedience required in the second Table it should hereby seem that the duties of the second Table which concern our neighbour should be preferred before the duties of the first which concern the Lord himself forasmuch as it is said I desire mercy and not sacrifice that is rather mercy which is a duty of the second Table then sacrifice which is of the first I answer The holy Ghosts meaning is not to preferre the second Table before the first taking them simply but to perform the duties of both together before the service of the first alone Be more ready to joyn mercy or works of mercy with your sacrificing then to offer sacrifice alone To go on The duties of the first Table are by a speciall name called duties of Religion those of the second Table come under the name of Honesty and probity Now as a man can never
obedient unto their Masters and to please them well in all things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not purloining but shewing all good fidelity The Vulgar in both places useth Fraudare defrauding In a word the true signification of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is surripere suffurari aut clam subducta in commodum nostrum convertere whence Beza turns it by Intervertere Intervertit ex pretio and in Titus Intervertentes In the same sense it is used by the Septuagint in two severall places both pointing at the sin of Sacriledge One is in Achans story Iosh. 7. 1. where what we reade Achan took of the accursed thing the Septuagint renders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he purloined the accursed thing that is the thing that was consecrated to God as all the silver and gold was ch 6. ver 19. for which cause when God relates to Ioshua Israels sin as the reason of their flying before their enemies he makes a distinction between Achans Sacriledge and his theft and dissembling ver 11. of the 7. Chap. saying For they have even taken of the accursed thing and have also stollen and dissembled also and they have put it even among their own stuffe The other is in 2 Mac. 4. 32. Menelaus his Sacriledge who stole the sacred Vessels is expressed by it Menelaus saith the Author supposing he had got a convenient time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stole certain vessels of gold out of the Temple and gave some to Andronicus and some he sold into Tyrus and the Cities round about The second expression of Ananias his Sacriledge is by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deceiving or lying to the Holy Ghost or as it is repeated immediately after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lying unto God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is fallo frustro mentior To deceive cozen lie as also the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which peculiarly signifies Sacrilegious transgression as Lev. 5. 15. and in the story of Achan is in all those places as elsewhere rendred in Targum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to lie and the substantive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a lie and in Oaths and promises Non servo frango not to keep or to break them So Ananias his sin was a lying unto or breaking of promise with God for having vowed or promised unto him in his heart the whole price of the field he brought him but part thereof Both expressions point out the same fact which in regard of the matter was stealing or purloining in regard of the Vow and Consecration a breach of promise or lying unto God So that when Peter says in the third verse Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie unto the Holy Ghost and to purloin of the price of the land The latter is the explication of the former and is as if it had been said Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie unto the Holy Ghost in purloining the price of the land But what will some man say means this speciall expression of the Deity in the Person of the Holy Ghost why is Ananias said to have lied to the Holy Ghost rather then to have lied unto God only For lying unto God would bear the sense I speak of should not then lying unto the Holy Ghost seem to have something else or something more in it I answer Ananias his lie or breach of promise is applied thus in speciall to the Holy Ghost in respect of the prerogative of that Person as to stir and sanctifie so to take notice of the motions of the heart forasmuch therefore as Ananias his Vow and Promise which he broke was not such as men could witnesse or take notice of but such as his own heart or conscience only was privy to hence it is said to have been done under the privity of the Holy Ghost and he in the breach thereof to have lied unto him because that which none but the inward man knoweth of and is yet but in the purpose of the heart is under his privity There is a plain place Rom. 9. to this purpose I say the truth in Christ saith the Apostle I lie not my conscience also bearing me witnesse in the Holy Ghost that is the Holy Ghost who is privy to my conscience bearing me witnesse or my conscience which the Holy Ghost is privy to Some other places of Scripture I could name which may receive light from this notion but I am loth to meddle with them But for their interpretation who expound this lying unto the Holy Ghost of Ananias his hypocrisie I cannot well see how it can stand For Ananias dissembled not with the Holy Ghost but with men the Holy Ghost knew his heart well enough And the hypocrite properly lies unto men who guesse only by the outside and not unto God who knows the heart Others expound lying unto the Holy Ghost as if it were lying to try whether the Holy Ghost in the Apostles could discover him or not But this is an harsh and forc'd sense As for that in the 9. verse whereon it is grounded viz. How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord The word Tempt or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is mistaken the notion thereof in Scripture being otherwhile to provoke God by some presumptuous fact to anger as it were to try whether he will punish or not to dare God There is an evident place for this sense Numb 14. 22. Those men saith the Lord which have seen my glory and my miracles which I did in Egypt and in the wildernesse and have tempted mee now these ten times and have not hearkened to my voice 23. Surely they shall not see the land which I sware to their Fathers neither shall any of them that provoked me see it And thus much of the bare description of Ananias his sin Come we now to the aggravation thereof While it remained was it not thine and after it was sold was it not in thy power That is before it was sold was it not thine and being sold was not the money paid thee was not the price in thine hand Thou hast therefore no excuse for what thou hast done For there were two cases which might have excused Ananias for bringing but part of the price If either he had not been Dominus in solidum the full Proprietary of what was sold or had not received the whole price it was sold for For as for the first it is a rule in Law Quoties Dominium transfertur ad aâ—ium tale transfertur quale apud eum fuit qui tradit A man can sell no more then is his So that if Ananias had been owner but in part he had power to dispose but in part Secondly though he were Dominus in solidum the full Proprietary of the field and so had right enough to sell it yet had not the whole price been received and in his power and possession he might still have been excused for bringing but part thereof But Ananias could