Lord God of all power blessed be thy name which hast this day brought to nought the enemies of thy people so let all thine enemies perish O Lord that our mouthes may be filled with laughter and our tongue with ioy Sint diui modo non viui let England hang such although afterward Rome hallow such he that hath an eye to see without the spectacles of a Iesuit will affoord as good credit to the register at Tiburne as to the Calender of Tyber for if these be Martyrs I wonder who are Murtherers If these be Saints I pray you who are Scythians If these bee Catholikes who are Canibals I passe to the second exposition of these wordes O praise God in his sanctitie so Munster Pagninus Beza Tremelius and our old translation heere Praise God in his holinesse now God is holy formaliter effectiue holy in himselfe and making other holy the Lord is glorious in holinesse Exod. 15. 11. Wheras other Gods are famous for their vnholinesse Venus was a wanton Mercurius a theefe Iupiter a monsterous adulterer an ingenious man as Basile writes would blush to report that of beastes which the Gentiles haue recorded of their Gods If such imputations are true saith Augustine quà m mali how wicked are these Gods if false quà m malè how wretched and foolish are these men adoring the same things in the temple which they scoffe at in the theater in turpitudine nimium liberi in superstitione nimium serui so that their Gods are not as our God euen our enemies being Iudges Deut. 32. 31. there is none holy as the Lord 1. Sam. 2. 2. called often in holy Scripture the holy one yea thrice holy holy holy holy is the Lord of hosts Esay 6. 3. his name is holy his law is holy his spirit is holy his will holy his word holy righteous in all his waies and holy in all his workes Psalm 145. 17. making vs also which are his seruants an holy people Deut. 7. 6. an holy priest-hood 1. Pet. 2. 5. his holy temples 1. Cor. 6. 19. our bodies our soules our selues our whole seruice holy wherefore praise God in his holinesse Luther Caluin Vatablus your English-Geneua bibles our new translation haue praise God in his sanctuarie the which in holy scripture signifieth either heuen or the temple heauen is often called in sacred writ Gods sanctuarie for thus saith he that is high and excellent he that inhabiteth eternitie whose name is the holy one I dwell in the high and holy place Christ in comming to vs is said to breake the heauens Esay 64. 1. and when he went from vs vnto his father a cloud tooke him vp into heauen Acts 1. and frō heauen he shal come againe to iudge the quicke and the dead 1. Thes. 4. 16. That his sanctuarie may be taken heere for heauen is gathered out of the very next clause praise him in the firmament of his power the which as Caluin other expositors haue well obserued is exegeticall and expoundes the former as if Dauid should haue said praise the Lord in his sanctuary that is in the firmament of his power for the heauens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy worke Psalm 19. 1. let all people praise God our father in heauen especially such as dwell with him in heauen O praise the Lord all ye blessed Angels and Saints inhabiting his sanctuarie which is highest and holiest Other apply the word sanctuary to the Temple so termed for two respects especially 1. because God manifesteth his holines toward vs in that holy place more principally calling it expresly his house 2. a sanctuarie in regard of our holy seruice toward God for albeit euery day be to the good man a sabbath and euery place a temple yet the God of Order hath appointed certaine times and certaine places also wherein hee will bee worshipped publiquely saying Leuiticus 19. 30. Ye shall obserue my sabbaths and reuerence my sanctuary For our holines toward God concerneth vs one way in that we are men and another way in that we are ioyned as parts to that visible mystical body which is his Church as men wee are at our owne choyce both for time and place and forme according to the exigence of our owne occasions in priuate but the seruice which is to bee done of vs as the members of a publique body must of necessity bee publique and so consequently to bee performed on holy daies in holy places and for this doctrine the scriptures afford both patent and paterne the patent is reported by the Prophet Esay Chap. 56. vers 7. and repeated by Christ in three seuerall Euangelists my house shall be called an house of prayer for all people The paterns are manifold I will enter into thine house in the multitude of thy mercies and in thy feare will I worship toward thine holy temple saith our Prophet Psal. 5. 7. The Publican and the Pharisie went into the temple to pray Luke 18. Peter and Iohn went vp together into the temple at the ninth houre of prayer Acts 3. Anna fasted and prayed in the temple Luke 2. This one word sanctuarie teacheth vs how we should behaue our selues in the Church as in Gods presence Doest thou come to that holie place to receiue the blessed Supper of our Lord remember that the temple is sanctuarium non promptuarium a sanctuarie not a buttrie haue ye not houses to eate and drinke in despise yee the Church of God Doest thou come to pray take heede to thy foote when thou entrest into Gods house compose thy knees and eyes and hands and heart after such a deuout manner as that thou maist not onely praise God vpon the loud cymbals but as it is vers 5. praise him vpon the well tuned cymbals also Doest thou come to heare the sermon remember that the preaching of the Gospel is not the word of a mortall man but the power of the immortall God vnto saluation and albeit the Preacher be neuer so simple neuer so sinfull yet the word is holy the action holy the time holy the place holy ordained by the most holy to make thee holy Vpon whatsoeuer occasion thou commest into the temple remember alwaies that the ground is holy whereon thou standest it is a sanctuarie the habitation of God and place of his holinesse and therefore not to be prophaned with ordinarie though lawfull worlds businesse much lesse with vnlawfull pastimes and enterludes it is a place for praise not for playes O praise God in his sanctuarie Or as Martine Luther interprets it praise God in his sanctuarie that is for his sanctuarie for shewing his word vnto Iacob his statutes and ordinances vnto Israel for his adoption and his couenants and his promises and his seruice Rom. 9. 4. O praise the Lord for his true Church established for the
a Colledge for a society of writers against the superstitious Idolatries of the Romane Synagogue the which happily might be like the Tower of Dauid where the strong men of Israel might haue sheildes and targets to fight the Lords battaile Is it time for your selues to dwell in your seiled houses and this houselye waste Remember I beseech you the words of Azariah vnto King Asa and the men of Iuda The Lord is with you while you are with him and if ye seeke him hee will bee found of you but if ye forsake him he will forsake you Bee not cold in a good cause flie not out of the field play not the cowards in the Lords holy wars for albeit happily your selues are like for your time to do wel enough in despite of the diuell and the Pope his darling yet your posterity will assuredly rue it and haue iust cause to curse their dastardly spirits and worthlesse progenitours I say no more concerning this point only I pray with our forefathers in the first english Letany set out in the dayes of King Henry the 8. from all sedition and priuie conspiracie from the tyrannie of the Bishop of Rome and all his detestable enormities from all false doctrine and heresie from hardnes of heart and contempt of thy word and commandement Good Lord deliuer vs. Where note by the way that the Popes abominable tyrannie is hedged in as it were on the one side with sedition and priuie conspiracy and on the other side with false doctrine and heresie I haue another prayer and for asmuch as it is in Latine I must entreat all such if any such here be present who loue Bonanentures psalter and the Romish seruice to ioyne with vs in this orison Papa noster qui es Romae maledicetur nomen tuum intereat regnum tuum impediatur volunt as tua sicut in Coelo sie et in terra Putum nostrum in Coena dominicada nobis hodie remitte nummos nostrâ—s quos tibi dedimus ob indulgentias sicut nos remittimus tibi indulgentias 〈◊〉 nos inducas in haeresin sed libera nos a miseria quoniam tuum est infernum pix sulphur in secula seculorum The word of God is a two edged sword sharp in a literal and sharp in an allegoricall exposition Hitherto you haue heard the history now there remaineth a mistery nihil enim hic ludicrum aut lubricum saith Augustine and therefore diuines vnderstand here by the sounding of the trumpet the preaching of the Gospell whose found went out thorow all the earth vnto the endes of the world at the seuenfold sounding of this trumpet the walles of sericho fal that is all the pompes and powers of this world are conquered brought to nought this trumpet is mightie thorough God to cast downe holdes and Imaginations and euery high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God 2. Cor. 10. 4. Other say that the Saints are these trumpets and harpes and Cymbals and that their members make this musicke to the Lord our eyes praise the Lord while they be lifted vp vnto their maker in heauen and waite vpon his mercy our tongues praise the Lord in singing Psalmes and hymnes and spirituall songs vnto the Lord our eares praise the Lord while they heare the word of God with attention our hands praise the Lord while they be stretched out vnto the poore and while they worke the thing that is good our feete praise the Lord when they bee not swift to shed blood but stand in the gates of Gods house ready to run the wayes of his commandements In Tympaeno sicca percussa pellis resonat in choro autem voces sociatae concordant said Gregorie the great wherefore such as mortifie the lusts of the flesh praise God in tympano and they who keepe the vnity of the spirit in the bond of peace praise God in choro the Brownist in separating himselfe from the Church though he seeme to praise God in tympano yet hee doth not praise God in choro and the carnall gospeller albeit he ioyne with the Church in chere yet he prayseth not God in tympano they praise God in well-tuned Cymbals who tune their soules before they preach or pray whosoeuer desires to bee a sweete singer in Israel must bee learned in the schoole before hee be lowd in the temple the heart likewise must be prepared for praying as the harpe for playing if our instruments of praise be not in tune then our whole deuotion is like the sounding brasse or as the tinckling Cymbal in Gods quier there is first tune well and then sound well if once we can say with Dauid O God mine heart is ready mine heart is ready then our lute and harpe will awake right early let thy soule praise the Lord and then all that is either without or about thee will instantly doe the same Let euery thing that hath breath praise the Lord that is omne spirans omnis spiritualis omnis spiritus let euery creature praise the Lord for his estate of confection euery Christian praise the Lord for his estate of refection euery blessed spirit loosed out of the worldes misery praise the Lord for his estate of perfection let euery creature man aboue all the Creatures and the foule of man aboue all that is in man praise the Lord. Omnis spiritus i. totus spiritus all the heart all the soule all the mind as the psalmist elsewhere I will thanke thee O Lord my God with all mine heart euen with my whole heart or omnis spiritus the spirit of euery man in euery place for this saying is propheticall insinuating that God in time to come shall not only be worshipped of the Iewes at Ierusalem with outward ceremonies in the sound of the trumpet and vpon the lute and harpe but in all places of all persons in spirit and truth as Christ expounds Dauid in the 4. of Saint Iohns Gospell at the 23. verse whereas vnbeleeuing Iewes are the sonnes of Abraham according to the flesh only beleeuing Gentiles are the seed of Abraham according to the spirit and heires by promise more Israel saith Augustine then Israel it selfe The sonnes of Abraham as Christ tels vs in the Gospell 〈◊〉 they who doe the workes of Abraham and Abrahams chiefe worke was faith Abraham beleeued saith the text and it was imputed to him for righteousnes Ergo the true beleeuer is a right Isralite blessed with saithfull Abraham Galat. 3. 9. some stretch this further applying it not onely to the spirits of men in the Church militant but also to the blessed Angels and Saints in the triumphant for this Psalme consists of a threefold apostrophe 1. Dauid inuiteth all the Citizens of heauen O praise God in his sanctuarie praise him in the firmament
AN EXPOSITION OF THE LAST PSALME DELIVERED IN A SERMON PREACHED AT PAVLS Crosse the fifth of Nouember 1613. By IOHN BOYS Doctor of Diuinitie Augustine de lib. Arbit lib. 3. cap. 15. Qui Deo non reddit faciendo quod debet reddet patiendo quod debet AT LONDON Imprinted by FELIX KYNGSTON for VVilliam Aspley 1613. AN EXPOSITION of the last Psalme PSALME 150. O praise God in his holinesse c. ALL the Psalmes of Dauid are comprised in two words Halleluiah and Hosanna that is blessed be God and God blesse as being for the greater part either praiers vnto God for receiuing mercies or else praises vnto God for escaping miseries This our present Hymne placed as a Conclusion of the whole booke yea the beginning middle end to which all the rest as Musculus obserueth are to be referred inuiteth vs in prescript and postscript in title in text in euery verse and in euery Clause of euery verse to praise the Lord. Teaching these two poynts especially 1. For what 2. With what God is to be magnified For what vers 1 2. O praise God in his holinesse praise him in the firmament of his power praise him in his noble acts praise him according to his excellent greatnes With what euen with all that is Without vs vers 3 4 5. Praise him in the sound of the trumpet c. Within vs vers 6. Omnis spiritus c. Let euery spirit praise the Lord praise ye the Lord. This in briefe is the whole texts Epitomie I come now to the words Anatomie cutting vp euery part and particle seuerally beginning first at the first O praise God in his holinesse Of which one sentence the Doctors haue many though not aduerse yet diuerse readings especially three Praise God in his saints praise God in his sanctitie praise God in his sanctuarie S. Hierome Augustine Prosper and other as well ancient interpreters as moderne translate here praise God in his saints For if he must be praised in all his creatures how much more in his new creatures if in the witlesse wormes and senselesse vapours Psal. 148. much more doubtlesse as Theodorit here collects in men in holie men in saints vpon whom hee hath out of his vnsearchable riches of mercie bestowed the blessings of the life present and of that which is to come First almightie God is to bee blessed for giuing his saints such eminent gifts of grace for the good of his Church and for the setting foorth of his glorie So Chrysostome Basil Euthymius Prosper Placidus Parmensis expound it Euery good and perfit gift is from aboue descending from the father of lights a good thought in a saint is gratia infusa a good word in a saint is gratia effusa a good deed in a saint is gratia diffusa through his grace which is the God of all grace saints are whatsoeuer they are Wherefore praise the Lord in his saints often remember their vertues as their true reliques and as it were bequeathed legacies vnto Gods people So the wise man Ecclesiasticus 44. Let vs now commend the famous men in old time by whom the Lord hath gotten great glorie let the people speake of their wisdome and the congregation of their praise So the Confession of Bohemia chap. 17. Wee teach that the saints are worshipped truly when the people on certaine daies at a time appointed doe come together to the seruice of God and doe call to minde and meditate vpon his benefits bestowed vpon holie men and through them vpon his Church c. And for as much as it is kindly to consider opus diei in die suo the worke of the day in the same day it was wrought it is well ordered by the Church of England that the most illustrious and remarkable qualities of the saints are celebrated vpon their proper festiuals that on S. Stephens day we may learne by S. Stephens example to loue our enemies on S. Matthewes day to forsake the world and to follow Christ on S. Iohn the Baptist his day to speake the truth constantly and to suffer for the same patiently Thus in stedfastnes of faith and godlinesse of life non legere modò sed degere sanctorum vitas as one wittily to bee followers of them as they were followers of Christ is as blessed Latymer was wont to say the right worshipping of Saints and of God in his Saints Againe for as much as there is a communion of Saints as we cōfesse in the Creed a knot of fellowship betweene the dead Saints and the liuing it is our dutie to praise God for their good in particular as they pray to God for our good in generall It is required on our part I say to giue God most humble thanks for translating thē out of this valley of teares into Hierusalem aboue where they be clothed with long white robes hauing palmes in their hands and crownes of gold on their heads euer liuing in that happie kingdome without either dying or crying Apocal. 21. 4. and this also in the iudgement of Augustine Hierome Hugo Raynerius and other is to praise God in his Saints These reasons are the grounds of certaine holy daies established in England by law namely to blesse God for his Saints eminent grace while they were liuing and exceeding glorie now they be dead Wherein our Church ascribes not any diuine worship to the Saints but all due praise to the sanctifier in celebrating their memorie saith Augustine we neither adore their honour nor implore their helpe but according to the tenour of our text wee praise him alone who made them both men and martyrs In the words of Hierome to Riparius Honoramus reliquias martyrum vt eum cuius sunt martyres adoremus honoramus seruos vt honor seruorum redundet ad dominum If thou desire to doe right vnto the Saints esteeme them as paternes and not as patrones of thy life honour them only so farre that thou maist alway praise God in them and praise them in God The gunpowder men erre very much in this one kinde of honouring God for either they worship his Saints as himselfe or else their owne saintlings and not his Saints In praying to the dead in mingling the blood of their martyrs with the precious blood of their Maker in applying their merits and relying vpon their mercies it is plaine that they make the Saints as Melancthon tels them in his Apologie for the Confession of Auspurge quartermasters with God and halfe mediatours with Christ I say ioynt mediatours not of incercession only but of redemption also Nay they make the blessed Virgin vpon the poynt their only mediatrix and aduocate so they sing and so they say They sing in their publique seruice Maria mater gratiae mater misericordiae c. the which is Gods owne stile 1. Pet. 1. 10. 2. Cor. 1. 3. so
present among the Iewes and hereafter in the fulnes of time to be constituted among Christians vntill the worlds end For this clause may bee construed of the mysticall heauen and temple so well as of the materiall heauen and temple The good man I meane the true Christian is not only Gods house but also Gods temple yea Gods heauen as Augustine expounds the words of Christ Our Father which art in heauen that is in holy men of heauenly conuersation in whose sanctified hearts hee dwelleth as in his sanctuarie Archimedes in his conference with Hiero said Giue me a place where I may stand out of the world and I will moue the whole earth in like manner hee that will be reputed a Saint and so take vpon him to remoue men earthly minded from their worldlinesse must himselfe at the least haue one foote out of the world seeking as the blessed Apostle speakes the things aboue that other may see his good workes and glorifie God which is in heauen that is according to the true soule of our text praise God in his Saints which are his sacrarie his sanctuarie his house his heauen Heere then all the three diuers lines praise God in his Saints praise God in his sanctitie praise God in his sanctuarie meete in one centree namely God is to bee praised in his sanctuarie for his sanctitie conferred vpon his Saints whereby they shined as lights in this heauen on earth and now shine like starres in that heauen of heauen If I were not according to the text and the time foreward to prosecute the gunpowder men as the more dangerous enemies of God and his Gospell I might vpon this ground take vp the bucklers against idle Nouelists vtterly condemning the festiuals of holy Saints established in our Church by good order of law Their principall obiection is taken out of Pauls epistle to the Galathians chap. 4. vers 10. Ye obserue daies and moneths and times and yeares I am afraid of you lest I haue bestowed vpon you labour in vaine To which answere is made that there is a fourefold obseruation of daies Naturall Politicall Ecclesiasticall Superstitious Of all which onely the superstitious is condemned as Aretius and Illiricus and other Protestant Diuines vpon the place Now the superstitious obseruation is either Iudaicall or Idolatricall it is apparent that Paul meant the first hereof especially because the Galathians after they were conuerted vnto Christ were seduced by false teachers vnto the ceremonies of the Iewes as concerning the Sabbaths the new Moones and the like the which were figures of Christ and had their end in him Are ye so foolish that hauing begun in the spirit yee would now be made perfit by the flesh As for Idolatricall obseruing of times it is granted easily that the Pagans in dedicating feasts vnto false gods and in making differences of daies dismall and fortunate either by curious arts or by particular fansies or popular obseruations are worthily reputed superstitious And the Papists also solemnizing holy daies of the Saints in their Churches with idolatrous worshipping of the creatures and their Images and out of their Churches with Epicurelike belly-cheere reuelling and idlenes turne againe to the beggerly rudiments and fashions of the world but the festiuals of England celebrated according to the doctrine and Iniunctions of our Church are very farre from these and all other kindes of superstition for then is God truly worshipped in the publike congregation I say the true God is truly praised in his true Saints on our holy daies the sacraments are rightly ministred the Scriptures are fruitfully read the Word is faithfully preached all which are maine meanes to withdraw men not only from superstition and idolatrie but also from all sorts of error and impietie whatsoeuer Yea but the words of the Commandement are sixe daies shalt thou labour Ergo there should be no holie day besides the Lords day Protestant Diuines answere that the clause sixe daies shalt thou labour is a permission or a remission of Gods right who might chalenge to himselfe all our time for his worke and not a restraint for any man from seruing of God on any day For the Iewes beside the Sabbath had diuers other feasts as Easter the feast of vnleauened bread the feast of first fruits Whitsuntide the feast of blowing trumpets the feast of Tabernacles all which as we reade Leuiticus 23 they kept by Gods appointment holy notwithstanding these words of the law sixe daies shalt thou labour And so the Christian Church in all ages hath vpon iust occasions separated some weeke daies vnto the praising of the Lord and rest from labour Ioel 2. 14. Blow the trumpet in Sion sanctifie a fast call a solemne assemblie Daies of publike fasting for some great iudgement dayes of publike reioycing for some great benefit are not vnlawfull but exceeding commendable yea necessarie Whosoeuer doubtes of the Churches libertie herein or of the practise of this libertie may peruse the ninth chapter of Ester in which it will appeare that Gods people by the commandement of Mordecai did euery yeare solemnize and keepe holy the fourteenth and fifteenth day of the moneth Adar in remembrance of their great deliuerie from the treason of Haman Vpon these grounds the last euer renouned Parliament enacted that wee should for euer spend the prime part of this present fifth of Nouember in praying and praising the Lord for his vnspeakable goodnes in deliuering our King Queene Prince and states of this realme from that hellish horrible bloody barbarous intended massacre by Gunpowder Now that I may for my part execute the will of the Parliament sparing the Nouelists and referring such as desire to bee further satisfied in this argument of holy dayes vnto the iudicious writings of my most honoured and honourable maister Archbishop Whitegift in the defence of his answere to the Admonition I proceede in the text praise him in his noble acts praise him according to his excellent greatnes Some reade laudate eum in virtutibus eius praise him in his powers other ob fortitudinem eius praise him in his power and according to these two diuerse translations I find two different expositions one construing it of Gods glorious Angels and the other applying it to Gods glorious acts for the first it is euident in holy writ that there bee certaine distinctions and degrees of Angles in the quier of heauen there be Seraphins Esay 6. 2. Cherubins Gen. 3. 24. Thrones dominions principalities and powers Coloss. 1. 16. in all which and for all which God is to be praised as being his ministring spirits for the good of such as shall bee heires of saluation as long as wee serue God all these serue vs euen the Cherubins and Seraphins Angels and Archangels I say so long as we serue the Lord these pages of his honour and parts of