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
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
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
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
be little better than a more pompous solemn and plausible Impertinency and upon the whole matter their Enterprise no other than magno conaâ—u nugas agere with a great deal a-do to do nothing The glory of the First discovering these Synchronisms is peculiarly due to Mr. Mede and upon this score shall the present and succeeding Ages owe a great respect and veneration to his Memory For of these Synchronisms he might justly affirm what Aristotle doth of his Syllogisms the invention of which method of reasoning he challengeth to himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This was Mr. Mede's noble 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as well useful and serviceable as new and curious and it was an argument of his great judgment as to discern the proper Events and Times to which these Visions are to be applied so likewise to discover those Passages in the Apocalyps which though dispersed here and there are Synchronal and Homogeneal there being certain Characters and Intimations secretly couched in this Book of Mysteries whereby as also by considering the nature of the things themselves that are Contemporary the Synchronisms of the Visions may be found out I shall not need to shew how necessary it is for those that go down to this Prophetick Sea to stear by the guidance of these Synchronisms that lightsome Pharos and indeed the only Cynosura to direct those that are upon this great Deep the Author himself having fully and undeniably done this all along in his Clavis Apocalyptica and summarily in the two last pages thereof Nor will the excellency and advantages of this Discovery be doubted of by any that shall with patience and attention peruse what he hath written in a close and concise way agreeably to his Mathematical Genius of the Apocalyptick Synchronisms in that Clavis Thus much for the Third General Means of Knowledge I must be shorter in what follows IV. A Fourth means whereby he arrived at so great a measure of Knowledge was His Freedom from Partiality Prejudice and Prepossession Pride Passion and Self-love Self-seeking Flattery and covetous Ambition 1. How free he was from all Partiality there are many pregnant Proofs in his Writings It is a common yet a most true observation That with many men Maxima pars studiorum est studium partium but with him it was otherwise In some of his Epistles he complains that it was Partiality that undoes all and that Studium partium together with Prejudice is an invincible mischief while it leaves no place for admission of Truth that brings any disadvantage to the Side or party that being the Rule which they examine all by And therefore being sensible and aware of this evil he professeth in Ep. 96. that he endeavour'd as much as possibly he could to subdue himself to such a Free temper of Mind as not to desire to find for this side rather than that And his Endeavours herein being hearty and serious they were consequently through God's blessing successful insomuch that he judged himself highly obliged upon this account to return this grateful acknowledgment to Almighty God in Ep. 56. I thank God saith he I never made any thing hitherto the caster of my resolution but Reason and Evidence on what side soever the advantage or disadvantage fell The singular availableness of such free and unbiassed affections in the pursuit of Knowledge he hath excellently express'd in that clear profession of his in Ep. 96. If I have hit upon any Truth it is wholly to be attributed to my indifferency in such searches to embrace whatsoever I should find without any regard whether it were for the advantage of one side or other This and the forementioned passages are excellent words the genuine language of a Son of Wisdom the lively picture and true character of his and every generous Soul every way becoming a right Virtuoso and member of the Philalethean Academy From this Freespiritedness together with the ingenuous effects thereof were the Bera'ans styled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a more noble sort of Christians They that are short of this Excellency and Largeness of spirit seldom attain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to prove things that differ or to approve things that are excellent seldome rise to what is above mean and vulgar slight and superficial but are condemn'd to what is servile and Pedantick and judge themselves unworthy of the noblest Truths and withal are expos'd to the same Falshood and Mistakes that the Person or Party whom they have in admiration because of advantage or the Vulgus in any rank of men being of the same illiberal and contracted spirit with themselves are liable to For it is a Maxime equally true and generous Suum est cuique Ordini vulgus optima semper paucissimis placuere To which I may fitly adjoyn that pertinent Observation of Seneca Non tam bene cum rebus humanis agitur ut meliora pluribus placeant 2. Nor was he less free from all Prejudice and Prepossession with the attendants thereof Pride Passion and Self-love Men come to be prejudic'd against Truth either by their disgust and disaffection to the person that represents it an argument this is of their little Iudgement but great Passion but from this he was secured by his Charity enlarged to all men and by the cool and calm temper of his spirit he could patiently endure the contradiction of others and reply without passion witness his sober and pacate Answer to Lawenus his hot Strictures Or else they are prejudic'd by their scornful disesteem of others an effect this is of their high Self-conceit and surely Pride and from this he was secured by his great Humility and Modesty whereof there are many clear Proofs in his Writings Accordingly when he had to do with Mr. Hayns about some Tenets of his in reference to several passages in Daniel and the Apocalyps he plainly tells him I profess to you I contemn not your discourses but do diligently and apud conscientiam meam weigh your arguments howsoever it comes to pass I am not persuaded by them and farther so far he was from slighting what was done by those that were eager for the same Tenets that he assures him he had read the most that had or could be said for those Opinions either by the chief Patrons thereof or their followers and so had used all that Diligence that was due in the search of Truth And herein he was Exemplary to every ingenuous lover of Knowledge and contrary to the proud and passionate man that is conceited and resolved upon his Opinion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and is therefore impatient to hear or consider any thing that opposes it But Humility affords a very considerable advantage for the clearer discerning what is True and Right while it prepares men to receive any better information from others This effect it had in Mr. Mede and upon this score how heartily
in brief his present Conjectural thoughts which afterwards at better leisure he would bring to the Test and pursue with more accurateness Pitching upon some of these he hath done me the honour to promote me to be his Amanuensis And then first causing me to turn to Texts in the Hebrew Fountain and in the LXX he would Critically give the Importance of the words and here drop many a rich Observation That done he would take down many of the Ancients whether Church-Historians or Fathers Greek and Latin c. and directing me to what places I should turn make me read them to him Upon which again he would by the By give out very considerable Notes and still as he had done with each Author would say You see it holds yet and yet c. So at last one of those Conjecturalls and What Ifs as he call'd them became an adopted Verity And this he called Hunting of Notions At this Sport no less profitable than pleasant we have upon Fasting-days continued from three after Mid-day until the knocking of the Colledge-gates at Night and then he has dismissed me richly laden 3. Of his Advice to young Students in Divinity TO those who intended Curam Animarum he would give among many other these Three Counsels 1. That they familiarly acquaint themselves with and constantly make use of that Golden Observation of Is. Casaubon viz. Vniversam Doctrinam Christianam Veteres distingâ—ebant in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 idest ea quae enunciari apud omnes poterant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 arcana temere non vulganda It is in his Exercit. XVI ad Annal. Eccles. Which whole Exercitation he would commend to their often reading and indeed the whole Book And here he would sadly complain to the same effect and almost in the same words with the Admired Lord Verulam It is a Point of great Inconvenience and Perill to entitle the People to hear Controversies and all kinds of Doctrine They say no part of the Counsel of God is to be suppressed nor the People defrauded So as the Difference which the Apostle maketh between Milk and Strong Meat is confounded and his Precept That the weak be not admitted unto Questions and Controversies taketh no place Upon neglect of which sage Counsel we have lately seen those Dismal and Tragical Consequences which Mr. Mede did indeed Prophetically presage would be thereupon And for the present he gave some Instances but not without Indignation of them who under pretence of Revealing the whole Truth to the People would make choice of strange Texts in Leviticus and elsewhere and out of them vent such Stuffe as no modest Ear could endure to hear 2. His next Counsel was That with other Practical Doctrines they should not forget to preach and press Charity and this not in a slight perfunctory manner but Studiedly and Digestedly to give the People the true Nature of it the full latitude of it the absolute and indispensable Necessity of having it both Praecepti and Medii and as the L. Verulam hath express'd it to bring down Doctrines and Directions ad Casus Conscientiae otherwise the Word the Bread of Life they will but toss up and down and not break it 3. His last Counsel was When they had some Necessary Truths to deliver against which the present Humour of the Times ran counter that in this case they should go Socratically to work as to lay down at a convenient distance first one Postulatum and then another that will be clearly inferred from the former and so a third and a fourth c. still depending upon and strengthning each other A Truth brought in thus Backward saith he will be swallowed down unawares Whereas if you first shew its Horns there will be such startling and flinging that there will be no coming near with it 4. How far he was from Ambition FOR proof hereof we cannot desire a clearer Evidence or Demonstration then his so constant declining Preferments even then when they sought him out Witness his Answer to the Letter of the Fellows of Trinity Colledge near Dublin And by the way that Election into that Provostship was so firm as well as free that he was desired to make a Formal Resignation before his Successor could be elected and admitted into it which he did as himself hath told me more than once Witness again his Third Letter to the then Lord Primate what time some new hopes began to be raised of his acceptance of the same Provostship upon the remove of Bishop Bedel To all this I can add two more Instances which I believe are not known to many One That divers years after the refusal of the Provostship he received a Letter from a Friend in Ireland assuring him there was then kept for him a Dignity worth at the least 1000â— per ann and staied only for his acceptance To persuade him to which he used many potent arguments among the rest this The great freedom from molestations and incumbrances that place would indulge him in c. This Letter he was pleased to communicate to my self when freshly received concealing indeed the Name subscribed though that was not hard to guess at But here again his Modesty proved inflexible The other Instance is this When he newly related to his then Grace of Canterbury and now glorious Martyr neither of whom I believe had seen each others face in all their lives I am sure he told me so not long before his death he desired me to tell him freely what I heard men say concerning his Chaplainship c. The sum of my Answer was That I perceived he was looked upon as a Rising man and that many rejoyced at it because of his known merits c. To the latter part of my Answer he replied I am much beholden to my Friends for their good opinion of me c. But no man knows my Defects so well as my self And this was but the native Language and Dialect of his innate Modesty But when he came to reply to the former part which spake him a Rising man here he used more than ordinary Solemnity and with a grave composed countenance uttered these words At to my Rising come now I will make you my Confessor I can safely appeal to that Infinite Majesâ—y who hears me which words were accompanied with a gesture of great Reverence that if I might obtain but a Donative sine cura sine cura he repeâ—ted it which I may keep with my Fellowship I would set up my staffe for this World And the reason why I desire this is that I mought be able to keep a Nag for my Recreation sometimes in taking the air and in visiting my friends in the Countrey since this my Corpulency then growing upon him makes me unwieldy for walking In pursuance of this discourse I chanced to smile at a Conceit then coming into my mind which he quickly observed and was very earnest to know the reason of it
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.
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 laid 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 special expression of the Deity in the Person of the Holy Ghost why is Ananias said to have lyed to the Holy Ghost rather than to have lyed 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 special 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 witness or take notice of but such as his own Heart and 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. 1. to this purpose I say the truth in Christ saith the Apostle I lie not my Conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost that is the Holy Ghost who is privy to my Conscience bearing me witness 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 guess only by the out-side 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 wilderness and have tempted me 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 alium tale transfertur quale apud eum fuit qui tradit A man can sell no more than 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 plead neither of these for saith S. Peter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whilst it remained unsold did it not remain thine or wert not thou owner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and when it was sold was not the money it was sold for in thy possession The first words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though there be no such speech again in Scripture yield the sense I speak of pliantly enough nor will they bear any other meaning unless somewhat forsaking the letter we should with others construe them to imply That Ananias was not constrained or urged to sell his possession at all but might have kept it still Which sense is most commonly followed and hath the authority of Oecumenius in the words before alledged 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c We were far saith S. Peter to Ananias and Sapphira from compelling you in the least to sell your estate But when as you were pleased of your own accord to offer it as a Sacrifice and Free-will-offering to God for you afterwards to withdraw any part of what ye had devoted to God and take it to your own use this is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 downright Sacriledge without all controversie and dispute Therefore Beza translates the words Nonne si servâsses so he renders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 manebat tibi True it is this sense makes as much for the unexcusableness of Ananias as the other For could he have alledged that what he had done for the sale of his land was done not spontè but coacte not willingly but by way of constraint it might have excused him Because that act only is taken to be of force in Law which a man consents unto but that which is done by constraint or compulsion is not done with full and free consent and therefore binds not So this sense agrees well enough with the story only it may seem somewhat to strain the words Howsoever if you had rather follow it because of the authority I will not contend Only note thus much that the Syriack Translator inclines to the first sense for he translates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Was it not thine before it was sold A second plea for the excuse of Ananias might have been in case he had not yet received the full price and so had not the whole money in his hand But this S. Peter also takes
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 the Corbanim the most Holy or to the Terumoth which were simply holy Concerning this last which we translate Heave-offerings there remain two things to be treated of 1. Their Morality 2. The practice of this kind by the ancient Church in the Office of the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper Concerning their Morality or Moral condition I will shew three things 1. That they were not Typical 2. That they were Offerings Eucharistical and Euctical that is addressed or used to Thanksgiving and Prayer according to the meaning of my Text. 3. That this kind of Offering is required at the hands of Christians For the First That Heave-offerings were not Typical I argue 1. From their distinction from the rest as being always simply holy never holy of holies The force of this Argument I frame thus If all the Oblationes ignitae or Fire-offerings are therefore called Sanctae sanctarum Holy of holies because they were not only consecrate to God but further Signs and Types of holy things to come and so had a double Holiness one of Sanctification another of Signification then the Heave-offerings which never are nor ought to be so called were only simply holy but no Types of Holy things to come But the first is true neither can other reason be given of this distinction Therefore Heave-offerings were no Types of things to come 2. My second Reason shall be from the differing usage of Terumoth from the most Holy offerings For the most Holy Offerings were to be eaten only of Priests by condition of Males by sex and in no place but the Holy place and that because Christ whose Types they were was to be a Priest no ministring Levite a Male no Female and was to offer and make his own Body a Sacrifice for sin in no other part of the world but the Holy city of Ierusalem But as for Heave-offerings not only Priests but every Levite Singer and Door-keeper not only Males but the Wives and Daughters of the Levites not only Virgins but even Widows and divorced women not only free Israelites but even their Slaves and Bondmen who were not of the Sons of Israel and not only in the Holy place but in every place they ate them The truth hereof is certain and obvious through all the Law of Moses without any one little crossing it I will not trouble you therefore with quotations but frame my second Reason after this manner If none may eat of the most Holy Offerings but only Priests only Males and only in the Holy place because only Priests only Males and of all places only the Sanctuary or holy place were Types of Christ then surely those Offerings which every under Levite ate of every Levite's wife and daughter widows and divorced women every Levite's slave and bondman and that in every place those Offerings doubtless cannot be Typical or Signs of Christ or any thing proper to him unless we affirm That every Levite Levite's Wife Daughter Widow divorced woman yea Slaves and Bondmen and every corner in the Land of Canaan were Types of Christ. 3. To this we may add in the third place That there is no one word to be found in the whole Scripture concerning the abolishment of Terumah or the Heave-offering but of the most Holy in express terms it is said Dan. 9. 27. That the Messias 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should cause to cease the Zebach and Mincha that is all the Offerings of fire or Holy of holies And S. Paul Heb. 9. 9 10. that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sacrifices and Gifts were ordained 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 until the time of reformation he saith not so of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which word the LXX use almost every where for the simply holy Terumah or Heave-offering whereas by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they translate Corban Zebach and Mincha according to S. Paul's own quotation out of Psalm 40. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zebach and Mincha thou wouldest not that is no Offering of fire no Corban or most Holy and more specially of the several kinds A burnt-offering and an offering for sin thou requiredst not 4. And hence it is in the fourth place That God no where rejects the Heave-offering or any one kind thereof but Zebach and Mincha almost as often as they are named in the Prophets or Psalms As in this 50. Psalm ver 8 13. I will not reprove thee for thy Zebachim nor thy burnt-offerings Will I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the bloud of goats And in Psalm 40. 6. which S. Paul before quoted for the abolishment of Typical Offerings Zebach and Mincha thou wouldest not a burnt-offering and an offering for sin thou requiredst not And Ier. 7. 21 c. Put your burnt-offerings unto your Zebachim For I spake not unto your fathers nor commanded them in the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt concerning Holocausts and Zebachim But this I commanded them Obey my voice and I will be your God and ye shall be my people and walk ye in all the ways I commanded you that it may be well with you He that will may look further in Psal. 51. 16. Esay 1. 11 c. Ier. 6. 20. Hos. 6. 6. Amos 5. 22. where we may hear God still rejecting and disdaining Holocausts Zebachim and Mincha Shâ—lamim or Peace-offerings the whole rabble of Corbanim or most holy offerings but no word of Terumah What force of reason this may bear with those who consider that these appellations of Offerings are never confounded in the whole Law of Moses or History of Israel and therefore not like to be in these places only I know not I am sure Terumah is about sixty times found in the Bible and no where taken for an Offering of fire or most Holy Nor can it any where be shewn that Zebach and Mincha are put for any other Offerings but Offerings of fire whereof I have already shewn Zebach was one part and Mincha the other And therefore I dare conclude That Heave-offerings called Terumoth and simply holy howsoever many of them might be Ecclesiastical or Iudicial sacred in regard of some circumstance yet in their proper nature and principal end they were no Types of things to come AND so I come to the Second thing I propounded to shew That these Offerings were Eucharistical and Euctical that is their formalis ratio and essence consisted in Thanksgiving and Prayer For an Offering is then Eucharistical when we give something unto the Lord's use in way of Thankfulness for Blessings received an Offering is then Euctical when we give something to the Lord's use to the end that he seeing our Obedience and Thankfulness in honouring him might grant us a further Blessing we sue for And this is either de praesenti or de futuro De praesenti when our
house of God before the holy Angels For note that the word Angel may be taken collectively for more than one For this cause all the curtains of the Tabernacle were filled with the pictures of Cherubims and the walls of Solomon's Temple within with carved Cherubims the Ark of the Testimony overspread and covered with two nighty Cherubims having their faces looking towards it and the Mercy-seat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with their wings stretched forth on high called Heb. 9. 5. The Cherubims of glory that is of the Divine Presence All to signifie that where God's sacred Memorial is the enâ—ign of his Covenant and commerce with men there the blessed Angels out of duty give their attendance Nor is it to be over-passed that the Iews at this day continue the like opinion of their modern Places of worship namely that the blessed Angels frequent their assemblies and praise and laud God with them in their Synagogues notwithstanding they have no other Memorial of his there than an imitative one only to wit a Chest with a Volume or Roll of the Law therein in stead of the Ark with the two Tables For thus speaks the Seder Tephilloth or Form of prayer used by the Iews of Portugal O Lord our God the Angels that supernal company gathered together with thy people Israel here below do crown thee with praises and altogether do thrice redouble and cry that spoken of by the Prophet Holy Holy Holy Lord God of hosts the whole earth is full of his glory They allude to Esay's Vision of the Glory of God above mentioned You will say Such a presence of Angels perhaps there was in that Temple under the Law but there is no such thing in the Gospel No why Are the Memorials of God's Covenant his Insignia in the Gospel less worthy of their attendance than those of the Law or have the Angels since the nature of man Iesus Christ our Lord became their Head and King gotten an exemption from this service Surely not S. Paul if we will understand and believe him supposes the contrary in his first Epistle to the Corinthians chap. 11. verse 10. where treating of a comely and decent accommodation to be observed in Church-assemblies and in particular of womens being covered or veiled there he enforces it from this presence of Angels For this cause saith he ought the woman to have a covering on her head 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because of the Angels namely which are there present For otherwise the reason holds not that she should more be covered in the Place of Prayer than any where else unless the Angels be more there than elsewhere This place much troubleth the Expositors but see what it is to admit a truth for now there is no difficulty in it And that the ancient Fathers conceived no less venerably of their Christian Oratories in this particular than the Iews did of their Temple appears by S. Chrysostomâ— who is very frequent in urging an awful and reverent behaviour in God's house from this motive of Angelical presence As in his Homily 36. in 1 Corinth where reproving the irreverent behaviour of his Auditory in that Church in talking walking saluting and the like which he saith was peculiar unto them and such as no Christians elsewhere in the world presumed to do he enforces his reproof with words that come home to our purpose Non tonstrina inquit neque unguentaria officina neque ulla alia opiâ—icum qui sunt in â—oro taberna est Ecclesia sed Locus Angelorum Locus Archangelorum Regia Dei ipsum Coelum The Church saith he is no Barber 's or Drug-seller's shop nor any other crafts-mans or merchants workhouse or warehouse in the market-place but the place of Angels the place of Archangels the Palace of God Heaven it self And in his 4. Homily De incomprehensibili Dei natura towards the end Cogiâ—a apud quem proximè stas quibuscum invoces Deum sâ—il cum Cherubim cum Seraphim cum omnibus coeli Virtutibus animadverte quos habeas socios satis hoc tibi sit ad sobrietatem cùm recorderis te corpore constantem carne coagmentatum admitti cum Virtutibus incorporeis celebrare omnium Dominum Think near whom thou standest with whom thou invocatest God namely with Cherubims and Seraphims and all the Powers of Heaven consider but what companions thou hast let it be sufficient to perswade thee to sobriety when thou remembrest that thou who art compounded of flesh and bloud art admitted with the incorporeal Powers to celebrate the common Lord of all But all this you will say the Angels may do in Heaven Well let it be so yet is it not altogether out of our way but the next places I shall bring will not be so eluded Namely that in his 15. Homily upon the Epistle to the Hebrews against those that laughed in the Church Regiam quidem ingrediens habitu aspectu incessu omnibus aliis te ornas componis Hîc autem verè est Regia planè hîc talia qualia coelestia rides Atque scio quidem quòd tu non vides Audi autem quòd ubique adsunt Angeli maximè in Domo Dei adsistunt Regi omnia sunt impleta incorporeis illis Potestatibus When thou goest into a King's Palace thou composest thy self to a comeliness in thy habit in thy look in thy gate and in all thy whole guise But here is indeed the Palace of a King and the like attendance to that in Heaven and dost thou laugh I know well enough thou seest it not But hear thou me and know that Angels are every where and that chiefly in the House of God they attend upon their King where all is â—illed with these incorporeal Powers The like unto this you shall find in his 24. Homily upon the Acts of the Apostles Knowest thou not that thou standest here with Angels that with them thou singest with them thou landest God with Hymns and dost thou laugh See the rest I will alledge but one passage more of his lest I should grow tedious and that is out of his 6. Book de Sacerdotio not very far from the beginning where speaking of the time when the holy Eucharist is celebrated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Then the Angels stand by the Priest and the whole Quire resounds with celestial Powers and the place about the Altar is filled with them in honour of him who is laid thereon that is of his Memorial Compare with it a like passage in his 3. Hom. De incomprehensibili Dei natura Item Hom. 1. De verbis Isaiae S. Ambrose acknowledgeth the same in c. 1. Luc. Non dubites assistere Angelum quando Christus assistit Christus immolatur Yea Tertullian in whose time which was within two hundred years after Christ some will scarcely believe that Christians had any such Places as Churches
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
testimony to God's truth not contemporating but succeeding one another for many generations against all which the Beast warred and prevailed against some in one age some in another Every ones Testimony seems to be finished in his death And as long as Antichrist reigneth God hath his Witnesses in some place or other prophesying in sackcloth But this I submit to your better judgment I shall heartily desire God to bless your labours and at this time desiring to be commended unto your love I rest Newbury Nov. 2. 1629. Yours in all truth of hearty affection William Twisse I would intreat you to take into your consideration one thing more S. Paul writes Rom. 11. that the conversion of the Iews shall be by way of provocation from the Gentiles Whether this provocation doth not imply some great Prosperity wherewith God shall bless his Christian Church and what in this kind comparable to the ruine of Antichrist and the consequents thereof EPISTLE XIV Mr. Mede's Answer to Dr. Twisse's First Letter concerning the 1000. years Regnum Christi as also of the Clades Testium and of the Iews Conversion Worthy Sir THat any man so learned and judicious as I have heard your self to be should conceive any Meditations of mine worthy not only of approbation but of so much affection I must ascribe it if they be but in any degree such as you make them to God's goodness towards me who hath in any sort enabled me to endeavour ought whereby I might not live in the world altogether unprofitably I know and am conscious of mine own weakness and insufficiency in many points of knowledge which others have yet if this one thing be my Talent though but a single one I have sufficient wherefore continually to thank the Almighty and to beseech him that my husbanding thereof may be by his gracious instinct such as may be some occasion of further light to others in some manner of recompence of what I have and still daily do receive from others But whatsoever my Speculations be this I am sure of that I am not a little obliged to your self for your so kind and affectionate entertainment of them as rests not in them only but extends even to the person of the Author otherwise utterly unknown unto you Wherefore for my part if I should not reciprocally answer you I should shew my self of too unworthy a disposition As for my Interpretation of the Seals and Trumpets where I leave others and take a way of mine own I do it to maintain an Uniformity of notion in the Prophetical Schemes and Allegories throughout the Scripture which I am perswaded were once no less familiar and usual to the Nations of the Orient than our poetical Schemes and Pictures are to us And the only way for us to learn the meaning of them is by finding out that Uniformity I speak of by comparing the several applications of them together and such other helps as remain unto us But whether some of the Interpretations usually given of the Seals and Trumpets will abide this Touch-stone your self I know can judge Such voluntary Interpretations may delight the Fancy and commend the Wit of their Author but they will not satisfie him that cannot think any mans Wit a footing firm enough to rest his Faith upon FOR the Thousand years Regnum Christi it was time for it to be silent under Regnum Antichristi and the Reign of the Martyrs in the first Resurrection to be cried down when Antichrist was blasphemously to advance them before-hand to a Reign derogatory to the glory of Christ their Lord to be as compeers with him in the office of his Mediation and pattakers of the honour and worship which was due to him alone I speak not here altogether at random For after the opinion of the Chiliasts was cried down when the sentence of Damasus had once given it the deadly blow they fell to expound this Reign of the Martyrs in the twentieth of the Apocalyps of the Idolatrous reign of them which themselves had then devised by occasion of those signs and wonders said then to be wrought by the power of the Martyrs upon such as touched their Reliques and approached their Sepulchres Two of the ancientest Commentators extant after the Chiliasts opinion became silent are Andreas Caesariensis and Aretas in whom you shall find what I say even totidem verbis The words of Andreas are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Quin reliquis quoque sanctis Martyribus qui pro Christo mortem perpessi sunt neque mysticae Bestiae qui Diabolus est characterem hoc est imaginem Apostasiae ipsius susceperunt judicandipotestas data est per quâ—m Daemones ut ob oculos videmus judicare non desinunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 usque ad praesent is seculi consummationem cum Christo glorificati à piis rursum Regibus fidelibusque Principibus adoraâ—i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 divinâ denique virtute contra omnem corporum morbum frandemque vim Daemonum conspicuè donatiâ— Aretas almost in the same words Ex quo igitur inquit neque capti sunt hi scil decollati isti neque per impudentiam neque per opera mala insigniti meritò cum Christo vixerunt regnârunt idque usque ad consummatiâ—nem Quemadmodum videmus cliam sub fidelibus Regibus atque Principibus dum adorantur contra omnem etiam corporis infirmitatem ac Daemonum energiam ostendunt datam sibi à Deo gratiam Nam quia inquit non adorârunt Bestiam neque imaginem ejus idcirco etiam vixerunt id est vivorum opera praestiterunt miraculorum videlicet patrationem Yet even S. Augustine and Primasius applied this Prophecy of the Martyrs though not to the adoration of them yet to that preeminence of honour then given them in the Assemblies of Christians and their power of working miracles after death Vid. de Civil Dei lib. 20. cap. 9. cum cap. 9. lib. 22. And if with Mr. Brightman and others we begin the Thousand years from Constantine there is no place of Scripture for a Papist to urge for Saint-worship like unto this because the time will fit so just For it began much about that time though the Papist had rather have it thought to be ab initio which Andreas notwithstanding expresly denies Etenim saith he quae nunc per experientiam rcrúmque eventum videntur Sanctorum miracula meritorúmque praemia quando Evangelistae Ioanni haec patefiebant adhuc fatura erant I shall be glad to see your Quaere's and Answers to them But before I received yours I had written to Doctor Meddus that my thoughts would be diverâ—ed and my time taken up about some other business between this and Christmas whereupon he transcribed them not My brains are so narrow that I can tend and minde but one thing at once whatsoever it be and therefore I must desire my friends to bear with that imperfection as also with my slowness
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
But it is no unwonted thing for Scholars thus to outgo their Masters There are some Papers of mine walking I know not where concerning Bowing towards the Altar which were written by way of Answer to some body and a man of note demanding of me what I thought thereof One was my first Answer Another more large replying to the Exceptions he made against that first and the whole opinion and practice being somewhat larger than I use to write Letters and written with some intention of mind after my thoughts that way had been long asleep I by chance kept a Copy of it which how it came to be so much dispersed I profess I know not That so-long-since-written Discourse of mine De Sanctitate Relativa c. savours too much of my infancy in Divinity and first thoughts and affection of style ever to see the publick light And indeed I had resolved to enjoy my self and such contentment as I could find in my Cell and never to have come in print again either to please or displease any man but only to vent such Notions as I had conceived privately by a new way I took of Common-placing changing my Theme qualibet vice When now on a sudden before I was aware and little expected any such matter one of my Straglers is perkt into the Press telling the world he was one of those Common-places What his destiny is I know not but if it be good some body can say He hath flung many a stone in his days but never hit the mark till now and that too by mere chance and not so much as intending it For writing to Sir W. B. I think it is not tanti upon this occasion 'T is a Pamphlet and I had rather it should come to his hands with a kind of neglect on my part than with too much pomp But I thank you for what you have done and for your further offer Thus with my best affection I commend you to the Divine blessing and am Your old and assured Friend Ios. Mede Christ's College Iuly 3. EPISTLE XCVIII Mr. Mede's Letter to Mr. Hartlib touching some Socinian Books and Tenets together with his resentment of the Difficulties which Mr. Dury's Pacifick Design met with and of the Evil of Prejudice and Studium partium Mr. Hartlib I Received yours with the Discourse inclosed of Schism That Extract of the Letter to you is but a Symptom of Studium partium of which kind he that will be an indifferent and moderate man must look to swallow many Therefore Transeat Only thus much to be nearer or further off from the Man of sin is not I think the measure of Truth and Falshood nor that which would be most destructive of him always true and warrantable If it be there be some in the world that would be more Orthodox and Reformed Christians than any of us The Socinians you know deny That Souls live after death until the Resurrection or That Christ hath carnem sanguinem now in Heaven both as most destructive of the idolatrous errours of the Man of sin the first of Purgatory and Invocation of Saints which they say can never be solidly everted as long as it is supposed Souls do live the other of Transubstantiation of the Elements of Bread and Wine into the Body and Bloud of Christ. Is not this to undermine Antichrist with a vengeance as they say I have not been very obtrusive unto men to acquaint them with my notions and conceits in that kind for some of them that are but lately known have lien by me above these twenty years and not shewn to any unless they urge me and ask me what is my opinion and yet my freedom to utter my mind than to such as are prejudiced the contrary way does neither them nor me any good Therefore Cupio defungi if it would be and to be troubled no more either with Quaesita or Reciprocations in that kind For the Discourse you sent me It proceeds from a distinct and rational Head but I am afraid too much inclined that way that some strong and rational wits do It may be I am deceived The Conclusions which he aims at I can more easily assent to than to some of his Premisses I have yet looked it but once over But any more free or particular censure thereof than what I have already given look not for left I be censured my self 'T is an Argument wherein a wise man will not be too free in discovering himself pro or con but reserved Thus with my wonted affection and prayers I rest Your assured Friend Ioseph Mede Christ's Coll. Aug. 6. 1638. After this Mr. Mede wrote another Letter the last Letter he wrote to Mr. Hartlib about a month before he died wherein besides matters of News and his repeating what he had said in the foregoing Letter concerning the great Learning of the Author of that Discourse of Sschism he expresseth his resentment of the Difficulties which Mr. Dury's design of Pacification met with in these words Mr. Dury and such as wish well to his business must comfort themselves as the Husbandman doth who though he sees no appearance of his Seed awhile after it is sown especially in dry weather yet despaireth not but as soon as the Rain from above shall water the ground to see it begin to spring up You see what an invincible mischief Prejudice is and Studium partium It leaves no place for admission of Truth that brings any disadvantage to the side That 's the Rule which they examine all by Will so many Rents of the Church as we see ready to sink it never make us wiser Thus with my prayers and best affection I rest Your assured Friend Ioseph Mede Christ's Colledge Aug. 28. 1638. The End of the Fourth Book THE FIFTH BOOK OF THE WORKS OF The Pious and Profoundly-Learned Ioseph Mede B. D. SOMETIME Fellow of CHRIST'S Colledge in CAMBRIDGE CONTAINING FRAGMENTA SACRA OR MISCELLANIES OF DIVINITY Io. 6. 12. Colligite quae superfuerunt Fragmenta ne quid pereat Chrysost. Homil. in 1 Tim. 5. 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THE CONTENTS OF THE FIFTH BOOK CHAP. I. The disposition of the years of Iehoiakim according to the several Events mentioned in Scripture pag. 889 CHAP. II. The Mystery of S. Paul's Conversion or The Type of the Calling of the Iews pag. 891 CHAP. III. An Answer concerning a Discourse inferring from the Septenary Types of the Old Testament and other Arguments That the World should last 7000 years and the Seventh Thousand be that happy and blessed Chiliad pag. 892 CHAP. IV. An Explication of Psal. 40. 6. Mine ears hast thou bored compared with Hebr. 10. 5. A body hast thou prepared me pag. 896 CAP. V. D. HIERONYMI Pronunciata de Dogmate MILLENARIORUM cum Animadversionibus pag. 897 CAP. VI. Verba GAII apud EUSEBIUM Lib. 3. cap. 22. Hist. Eccles. cum Animadversionibus pag. 899 CAP. VII De Nomine Antichristi apud S. Ioannem pag. 900.
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
kind of First-fruit-offering there viz. at the Altar at the time of celebrating the holy Mysteries but Grapes and Corn. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ignat. Ep. Antioch b I write unto you and warn you that you use one Faith one Doctrine one Eucharist For there is one Flesh of our Lord Iesus Christ one Bloud of the same our Lord Iesus Christ which was shed for us one Bread broken for us and one Cup distributed to all one ALTAR to every Church and one Bishop with the Presbytery and Deacons my fellow-Servants * P. 236. Exer. 6. in Epist. Ad Ephesios c Whosoever therefore separates himself from these and joyns not with the Council of the Clergy whose office it is to celebrate the Christian Sacrifices nor with the Church of the First-born which are enrolled in heaven Heb. 12. 23. Whosoever is thus in schism and discord with them is a Woolf in a Sheeps skin pretending meekness under that disguise a Reverence the Bishop as ye do Christ as the blessed Apostles have commanded us He that is within the ALTAR is clean and therefore obeys the Bishop and Presbyters But he that is without is he that does any thing without the Bishop Presbyters and Deacons and such a one hath a defiled Conscience and is worse than an Infidel * Yea and in form and fashion too See Maimon apud Ainsworth upon Lâ—â— 19. 30. For both Sanctity and Sanctification consist in Discrimination * 〈…〉 * Chap. 1. 11. Verse 20. Verse 17. Sect. 3. * Except only Siracidâ—s and the 2. Book of Maccab. whose style gentilizeth * al. 62. * De vit Mosis i. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mosâ—s nâ—mpe graecissan◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mark here who they are that have turned the Christians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into the Gentiles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Odyss H. * See Sect. 1. of this Treatise pag. 384. * Or as this part of the Church is termed in a story of the same time in Euseb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the name whereby the LXX call the Sanctuary in the Old Test. Hist. Eccles. l. 7. cap. 18. de Marino Martyre Adductum ad Ecclesiam statuit intus prope 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Celsus affirms that we Christians decline the building or setting up of Altars Images and Temples b Why have the Christians no Altars no Temples no Images c Herein ye are wont to charge us with hideous impiety and irreligion viz. that we do not make any Image or Representation of any God nor build any kind of Altars at all * Perhaps he adds this by way of correction of his word Altaria d What can Temples and Altars mean what do Statues signifie * According to which style S. Hierome Ep. ad Râ—parium saith de Iul. Apostat Quod sanctorum Basilicas destruxerit aut in Templa converterit Ep. 10. e Worshipping-places Houses of Prayer Churches a Galienus in ed. ap Eus. l. 7. c. 12. Gr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 b Apud eund Hist. l. 7. c. 1 2. c Eus. de laud. Constant. d Idem Hist. l. 7. c. 3. * See this passage of Arnobius in the Discourse on 1 Cor. 11. 22. pag. 338 Verse 1. * As Isa. 60. 7. 64. 11. Psal. 96. 6. * Verse 19. * Verse 6. 1 Sam. 4. 4. Psal. 132. 7. * Plutarch in Aristide de Paulania Lâ—crymis opplâ—â—us converâ—it se ad â—anum Iunonis maniâ—sque ad coelum tendens precatur Citheroniam Iunâ—nem c. Varro l. 4. de lingua Lat. de Cuâ—io se deâ—ovente Ad Concordia sub aedem conâ—ersul c. Sic emendat Scalig quem vide in Collestaneis quae ibidem ex Livio adducit ad haâ—â— rem facâ—ntia * â— Chron. â— 6. ch 29. â— 27. * See 1 King ch 8 v 31. Iurantes Aras 〈…〉 bant Câ—â—er Plautus Rudent Virg. 12. AEneid Iuven. Sat. 14. Iustin. l. 24. Vid. Pont. p. 3. p. 146. * Orat. Paneg. ap Euseb. Hist. lib 10. cap. 4. Diâ—nys At. ep 8 ad Demophilum * May not our order of setting the Ten Commandments over the Communion Table have had some reference this way See Orders Anno 1565. 7. Eliz. Artic. 7. Matt. 10. 12. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 3. 25. the name whereby the Mercy-sâ—at is called in the old Testament The Israelites worshipped towards the place of their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which was a Type of ours why may not we worship in like manner toward the place of our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Truth of theirs * See the Author Quaest Respâ—â—d orthod in Iustin. Mart Quaest. 118. Clem. Alex. Strom. 7. ants Med. Tertul Apol. c. 16. item ad nationes l. 1. â— 13. Origen Hom. 5. in Numer cap. 4. p. 210. * Dionys. Arcop de Ecclesiast Hier 6. 2. * Lib. 5. Histâ—r Eccles. c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Namely that meat no time turned hee back â—pon the Altar that is not so much as oâ—t of the time of worship * Apud Meursium in Not iâ— Pontanâ— ad Protovestiarium Levit. 19. 30. Sanctitatis tripleâ— netio Sanctitatis Relatiâ—e definitio * 2 Chro. 6. 2. * 2 Cor. 6. 16. An Evangelium agnoscat Loca Sacra * Matt. 18. 2â— â—v 11. â—ec diâ—is 〈◊〉 Sâ—mma dictorâ—m Object Cap. 1. 11. * 1 Ep. 2. 8. Sohâ— Cap. 2â— Veneratio definita Veneratio duplex Interna Externa Utraque triplex Religiosa Sacra Civilis Veneratio Sacra definita illustrata Sâ—nctâ—ficatio duplex * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Câ—nfirmatur Venerationis sacrae Defiâ—rio Veneratio sacra duplex Interna Externa Utraque illustrata Externa Veneratio duplex Personatis Realis Uâ—â—aque explicata De Externa Veneratione 4. Consectaria Altera Divisio Venrationis Sacrae scil in Venerationem Personarum Rerum Locorum Temporum Locorum Sacrâ—rum Reverentia explicatur secundùm ejus modos genera Loc. Sacr Reverentia probatnt Ratione Praeceptis Exemplis * Buxtorf Syn. Iud cap. 5. * Bart. Georgivâ—â— de Turcarum moribus Gen. 28. Gr. Nazianz. in Orat. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ultimó dividi tur Loc. Sacr. Rever in Reverentiam Nudâ—m Ornatum Ornaâ—ûs Tâ—mplarâ—â— 2. Species Magnificentia Mundâ—â—â— Malac. 1. Object contrà Templâ—um Magnificentiam solvuntur 1 Chron. 29â— 2 Chron. 2 Dâ—n 3. Pars I. * Nam proculdubio legen dum cum Latinis omnibus Graeâ—o Aldi anno 1518. Syro interprete qui ex Graeco vertit Et stetit non ut hodie habent exemplaria Graeca 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Et slâ—â—i In Bibl. Polyglott MS. Alexandrin habet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Et stetit Cap. 13. * Cap. 7. 9. * Lib. 5. cap. 28. al. 23. huic quoque lectioni astipulatur tâ—xtus apud Andream Caesariensem in Codice Augustano nec non Syrus Interpres qui nuper editus est Iâ—â—o apud Latinos Primasius illud vidi