meeting of yours in my Text wee have also MOSES face veyl'd 1 The strict rigour of the Law which like the glystering of MOSES countenance strikes a terrour into the people and makes them afrayd to come neare yee covered with the veyle of Equitie or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is as Aristotle defines it Eth. lib. 5. cap. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A certaine Correction or mending of the Law beeing deficient in some cases which the Law-giver himselfe were he present would have added to the Law And this is nothing else but a wise and religious consideration and weighing of the circumstances of such facts as are to be layd in the ballance of Iustice Thus have we here a compleat Assises or rather the platforme which showes us what they should be GOD. The MAGISTRATE PEOPLE and EQVITIE And so the â—ext is easily divided not to be too curious We have heere 1. GOD and the Magistrate 2. The People and Equitie First God and the Magistrate for they must never be separated and so wee have MOSES in his glory GOD as the Author of his glory MOSES as the Subject Secondly The People and Equity which must go together too and to wee have MOSES in his veyle MOSES accommodated to the Capacity of the weake eyes of the people Or else if yee please thus Here are the two severall Aspects of MOSES 1 As he lookes upon God 2 As he lookes upon the People Like the double face of the Moone when hee is in Conjunction with the Sunne that halfe part of her Orbe with which she respects the Sunnâ— is glorious and filld with light her other 〈◊〉 that lookes upon the Earth is darke and charg'd with obscurity From the first Part of my Text the first Aspect of MOSES doe naturally arise these two Positions 1 That the face of MOSES of the civill Magistrate is glorious They are Gods Secondly That this glory of theirs comes from the Lord 't is he who hath sayd they are Gods and his dixi is a Feet With him to say they are Gods is to make them â—o Of the First I shall not need to quote much Scripture to prove the excellence of the Magistrate for to say they are Gods there in the Psalme is to say all that can be sayd and againe Exod. 22. Dijs non malediâ—as thou shalt not raile upon the Gods nor speake evill of the ruler of thy pleople Homer cals them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Sheepheards of the people and Plato 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Saviours But what need we seeke any farther or travaile to Heathen writers for Tiâ—lâ—s for them when we have the Lords owne ipse dixit Hee hath sayd they are Gods It is accounted a grand subtlety and a great peece of Art in an Oratour to perswade his Auditors that they are that that they are such men already as he would have them to be Now God the best Oratour in the World humbling himself into the way of Art vouchsafes so farre to descend to our Capacity as to use the same manner of Rhetoricke He has sayd they are glorious he has sayd they are excellent on purpose to perswade them to be so Let them take heed therfore what they do Agere uti nomeÌ„ clutt behave themselves agreeable to the Title he is pleas'd to bestow upon them lost they be found strivers as much is in them is to prove the God of all truth a lyer Bee glorious bee excellent endeavour to have your faces shin before the people Let your light so shine before men that they seeing your good workes may glorifie your Father which is in heaven And yee have no other way in the World to obtaine this glory but the same which MOSES had to get his To goe up into Mount Sinai and consult with God And so wee are come already to the second Position 2. â— for indeed they cannot be long kept a sunder â—y they cannot be separated at all so neare is the kindred the relation betwixt them For no sooner is your glory nam'd but God immediately steps in nay indeed hee was there before for hee is the Author of your glory without God no glory at all no shining of the Countenance And it will not bee amisse to see the manner of MOSES consulting with God when he did obtaine this glory At the 28. verie of this Chapter So he was there with the Lord forty dayes and forty nights and did neither eate bread nor drinke water By this Lent this forty dayes fast which MOSES kept here in the Mountaine and afterwards CHRIST himselfe in the Wildernesse imitateâ— by us at this time or at least should bee as farre as our weake Natures will suffer us St. Augustine would understand the life of Man being dayes of sorrow and affliction according to the Mysticall number of weekes which a woman with Child goes before she is delivered Nor is it meerely St. Augustines observation For if yee looke narrowly into the 16 of Sâ— Iohns Gospell verse 21. Ioh. â— Ye shall â—nde our blessed Saviour himselfe to imply so much speaking how his Disciples should weepâ— and lament A Woman â—es hee while shee travaileth hath sorrow because her houre is come but as soone as she is a delivered of the Child shee remembreth no more the anguish for joy that a man is borne into the World And yee now therefore are in sorrow but I will see yee againe and your hearts shall reioyce and your ioy shall no man take from yee And that is the Christians Easter his death when hee shall keepe a perpetuall Sabboth unto the Lord with continuall Hallelujahs in his mouth The forty dayes and forty nights doe typifie then the life of man but what is meant by the fasting The same Father shall tell us Iejunium quod probat altissimus non solum intermissa corporis refectio sed a malis artibus factu disceâ—sio The true Lent which is pleaâ—ing to God is a Spirituall fast a fast from Sin and this thou must observe all the forty dayes that is the whole course of thy life Thou must fast from Bribes from Giâ—ts thou must not suffer thine eyes to wander after the fatnesse of the Oxe in the Stall nor the Wether in the Pasture thy fingers must not itch after the plumpe Gold in the Bag to divert the course of Iustice nor must thou respect the person of thy Friend Kinsman Nephew or Favorite thereby to wrong the Fatherlesse or the Widdow Thou must make a Covenant with thine eyes thou must not looke upon such a great Ladyes letter upon the Bench nor yet remember what such a Lord your Honourable Friend spoke to you in private for there is a Lord above more Honourable then hee who expects justice from thee This is the true forâ—y dayes Fast of MOSES which the Governours of the People they who sit in the Gates of Princes should observe For know that although yâ— â—t there at the
the Land and the Sunne was darkned 2 The funerall solemnity of God And the veyle of the Temple was rent in the midst And it was about the sixth houre sayes our Evangelist The first thing I doe shall bee to make St. Luke and St. Marke friends who at the first sight may seeme to be at variance a little Marke 15.25 For St. Mark tells us in the 15. Chapter that it was at the third houre of the day Wee are to understand therefore that the artificiall day amongst the Jewes began at sixe a clock in the morning and ended at sixe in the Evening so that the compasse of their artificiall day was twelue houres Are there not twelue houres in the day sayes our Saviour So that calling our sixth in the morning the first houre of the day the sixth houre according to their computation must needs bee our Noone and about or a little before this time was our Saviour crucified But why doth St. Marke call it the third houre I will not give ye Cajetanes answere who saith that there may bee an errour in the Scribe mistaking and writing the Greeke Character of one number for another because there is some affinity betwixt them in the figure exemp gr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 St. Augustines is something better who to excuse the matter hath these words Linguis Iudaeorum crucifixus est horâ tertia manibus horâ sexta The Jewes saith hee crucified with their tongues at the third houre when they cryed out so unanimously Crucifie him crucifie him his blood be upon us and upon our children but they did not crucifie him with their hands untill the sixth But if we observe St. Marks words well wee shall finde that this interpretation cannot stand for after he had said that hee was crucified at the third houre hee presently addes and at the sixth houre there was darknesse over the face of the earth which last words imply that they crucified him not at the sixth houre but at another houre Wherefore I doe rather subscribe to the opinion of St. Ierome in his Epistle to Cyprian As the Night saith he was divided into foure watches so their Day into foure parts or houres Into the first houre beginning at six in the morning and lasting till nine conteining in it three of our ordinary houres Secondly into the third houre beginning at nine and ending at twelue and into the sixth and ninth conteining the other sixe Pomeridian houres Erat quasi or ferè hora sexta saith our Text it was about the sixth houre he doth not say it was perfectly the sixth houre but it was about the sixth houre meaning a little before Noone and so the two Euangelists are reconciled For it is true that St. Marke saith they did crucifie really at or in the third houre and it is also true which St. Luke saith here and it was about the sixth houre About the sixth houre that is a little before mid-day our twelue of the clocke and it was in the third houre too i. in the latter part of the third houre a little before Noone And so although he was fastned to the Crosse a little before noone yet hee did not give up the ghost untill the ninth houre which is our three of the clocke after mid-day that hee might directly answere to the Paschall Lambe which by the Lords command was to bee killed at the Evening Exod. 12.6 Exod. 12 6. Or as the Originall reades it betwixt the two Evenings And here there may a question bee raised what part of the day should be meant by these words The opinions I finde are two 1 The first is Aben Ezras and hee saith That there is vespera Solis and vespera luminis An Evening of the Sunne when the body of the Sunne is removed from our eyes when that sets and an Evening of the light when the beames or shining of the Sunne doe also forsake us And betwixt these two Evenings saith hee was the Paschall Lambe slaine which time by us is called the twilight which by the opinion of Astronomers doth ordinarily endure an houre and one third part 2 The second from Rabbi David and he is larger in his interpretation and understands a greater latitude of Time There is saith he vespera declinationis and vespera occasus An Evening of the Sunne declining and an Evening of the Sunne setting The Evening of the Sunne declining begins at twelue of the clock when the Sunne is in his Altitude in the Meridian and so declines by degrees towards his fall The Evening of the Sun setting what that is wee all know And betwixt these two Evenings i. betwixt Noone and the Sunne setting the Paschall Lambe saith he was to be killed And certainely this second opinion is that which will endure the Touch-stone the best for without question by this phrase Betwixt the two Evenings we are to understand such a parcell of time wherein the dayly Evening Sacrifice might bee slaine too as well as the Paschall Lambe for even that was commanded to bee done inter duas vesperas betwixt the two Evenings as well as the other Num. 28.4 Num 28.4 And as the Talmud reports if wee reckon the houres according to our ordinary computation the dayly Sacrifice of the Evening Lambe was usually slaine betwixt two and three and betwixt three and foure it was offered but upon the Passeover Eve it was slaine betwixt one and two and offered betwixt two and three and the reason was because they might have time afterwards for the slaying and offering of the Passeover But if their Passeover Eve fell upon the Eve before their Sabbath then their dayly Evening Sacrifice was slaine and offered an houre sooner then ordinary that there might bee time enough both for the Passeover and also for the preparation of their Sabbath after that And Christ that hee might shew us that his death did comprehend all Sacrifices which indeed were nothing else but shadowes and types of that one and perfect Sacrifice which hee at this time made upon the Crosse for the sins of the whole world he began to be crucified in the third houre of the day with the dayly Morning Sacrifice and finished it at the ninth houre with the dayly Evening Sacrifice and the Paschall Lambe Hee was both the Sacrifice of the Morning and of the Evening Hee was sacrificed as well for those who lived in the Morning of the world before the Incarnation as for all us who have lived since in the Evening in its declining Age. Hee was the Sacrifice of the Morning and Evening both for Young and old Of the Morning and Evening for the East and for the West for the whole world The Morning and the Evening Sacrifice hee was and therefore observe how the Morning and Evening here doe meet together as if it had beene on purpose to mourne for him and perceiving it seemes that their owne Apparell was a great deale too light and glorious to appeare
his secret place and his Pavilion round about him Christ was borne in the night as we understand by the Gospell Luke 2. And there were Shepheards watching their Flocks by night Yet when the Angell delivers the tydings of his birth to the Shepheards hee doth not say this night but this day is borne to you a Saviour It was naturally a night but the birth of Christ miraculously made it a day and the glory of the Lord shone about them sayes the Text. Christ dyes wee see here in the day in the mid day but even that is turn'd into a Night It was a day naturally but the death of our Saviour made it a night miraculously And the reason for it is good for it was not altogether so fitting that the earth should have worne one and the same Garment both at the Birth and Funerall of her Lord. He was borne in the night and that becomes day hee dyed in the day and that becomes night See how Christ both in his Nativity and Passion manifests himselfe to be the God of Nature who to shew her allegiance to her Lord and Master quite inverts her ordinary course and doth not wayte upon him in that livery which pleases her best but in that which he commands and is the most agreeable to his fortunes So that as the Disciples cryed out in an admiration when he quieted the Stormes and Tempests Who is this whom the winde and the Sea obeyeth So may wee say here Who is this whom the Night and the Day obeyeth It began at the sixth and lasted till the ninth so that the whole compasse or time of the darknesse was three of our ordinary houres I might here observe a mysterie in the number of 3 being the first perfect number that number which as Geometricians say doth make the first figure the number which Aquinas calls Numerus omnis rei the number of every thing and certainly hee had that hinte from Aristotle in his first booke de Caelo Omne totum sayes he in tribus ponimus To every whole perfect thing is requir'd the number of 3. And why may not wee say that as there went three dayes over his death like three witnesses to beare record of the truth of his death so there went three houres of darknesse over his Passion to beare witnesse of the Truth of his Passion The compleat number of 3 went over his sufferings to manifest to the world that now his sufferings were whole perfect and compleat and therefore no sooner are the three houres of darknesse over but presently he cryes Consummatum est it is finished gave up the ghost But we have beene too long in searching out the cause of this darknesse which was the third thing I propounded to be enquir'd for The neerest cause I told yee was the darkning of the Sunne But alas this will not satisfie us For as the Prophet David in the 114. Psalme which is appointed by the Church to be read upon Easter day doth not content himselfe with saying The Sea saw it and fled Iordan was driven back But hee addes also the question and sayes What aylest thou O Sea that thou fieddest and thou Jordan that thou was driven back So neither must wee thinke it enough to say the Sunne was darkned and goe no further but wee must Causam causae investigare Finde out the supreame cause of that subordinate cause and say What aylest thou O Sunne that thou wast darkened and thou Light that thou wast driven back The Sunne was darkned we confesse but what was it that darkned the Sunne This certainly will trouble us There are but three things supposing that wee are Sub dio et in sterili prospectu Under the open Heaven and withall have our eyes perfect which can any wayes take from us the sight of the Sun First The interposition of Vapours or Clouds Secondly The interposition of the Earth Thirdly The interposition of the Moone As for Clouds it is not likely that they should cause this darknesse For Saint Luke here after hee hath made mention of the darknesse which was in the ayre the place of Clouds and Vapours hee presently addes and the Sunne was darkned making this the reason of the other darknesse below so that wee may very safely beleeve that the Sunne was not darkned onely to us but even in it selfe too Hee who sayes unto the proud billowes of the Sea Be yee still and thus farre yee shall goe and no farther Hee is also able to say unto the Sunne Thou shalt not shine Hee who at the beginning was able to say Let there be light and there was light sayes now Let there be darknesse and it was so It could not be the interposition of the Earth for whensoever that is interposed it makes it night being nothing else but the shadowe of the Earth which is betwixt our eyes and the Sunne but this was at noone-day when the Sunne was in his height over the heads of the people of Jerusalem Nor yet was it possible it should bee the interposing of the Moone for the Sunne never suffers an Eclipse by the darke body of the Moone but onely when the Sunne and Moone are in a conjunction but now they were in opposition the Moone was at the full or but newly past it 180. degrees distant from the Sunne Which is easily proved for the Paschall Lambe was not by Gods command to be slaine nisi Luna quatuordecima but upon the foureteenth day of the Moone Exod. 12. and Levit. 23. and just the night before hee was crucified did Christ eate the Passeover with his Disciples so that this must needs be the fifteenth day of the Moone wherein he suffered quando solennitai erat Azimorum the first day of unleavened bread which was the great and chiefe day of the Passeover howsoever the Evangelist St. Matth. 26.17 may seeme to make the foureteenth day the first day of unleavened bread Mat. 26.17 Now the first day of the Feast of unleavened bread the Disciples came to Iesus saying unto him Where wilt thou that wee prepare for thee to eate the Passeover which must bee understood according to their Civill Account their naturall day according to that computation beginning at Sun-rising and ending with the rising of the next Sunne and in this regard the foureteenth day might be called the first of unleavened bread because it comprehended in it part of the first day of unleavened bread which day in their religious account began at the Sunne-setting and ended at the setting of the next Wee have not yet found out the Cause of this darknesse What should the Night make here usurping the dominion of the Day It is not such a hard question to answere I will give it ye in three words Christ the scond Person in the sacred Trinity united to our humane nature the wisedome of the Father by whom the worlds were made the Lambe without spot who was free from all sinne He hangs
rather where wee might have lyen for ever had God not bin as mercifull as hee is just but presently Christ adventures after us for although hee was not exhibited untill the fulnesse of time yet the vertue of his conception nativity passion and resurrection was in efficacie to beleeving Adam He who is immortall became mortall hee who is the Sonne of God and thinks it no robbery to be called equal with the Father became the Son of man took upon him the forme of a servant that wee who are the Sonnes of men might be made the Sonnes of God 2. Our next leape was into the Manger Wee became beast Man being in honour saith the Text that is in the state of innocence had no understanding but was likened unto the beast that perisheth Iumenta puto dicerent si loqui fas esset saith Saint Bernard Ecce Adam factus est quasi unus ex nobis Certainly saith that Father the very beasts themselves had God beene pleased to have bestowed upon them an articulate language as he did once upon Balaams Asse would have spoken those words simply without a figure which God did at that time figuratively and in a Sarcasme Behold man is become like one of us For indeed what was he else but Beast then having lost his excellence lost his understanding lost his immortality and in one word turned his glory the image of God wherein he was created into the similitude of a Calfe that eateth hay But doth Christ leave us here No. His mercy followes us hither too Inde est saith the same Father quod panis Angelorum factum est faenum positum in praesepio appositum nobis tanquam jumentis And therefore he that is the bread of Angells was made grasse became hay For the Word was made flesh Iohn 1. And Isay shall tell us in the fourth Chapter what all flesh is and yet not Isay neither but the spirit for a voyce said Cry and hee said What shall I cry All flesh is grasse and the grace thereof as the flower of the field hee was laid in a Manger to become foode for us who had through our owne disobedience made our selves beasts And therefore how well may we take up that holy rapture of St. Bernard immediatly following Heu tristis lachrymosa mutatio ut homo Paradise accola terrae dominus coeli civis domesticus Domini Sabaoth c. O sorrowfull and lamentable change that man the Inhabiter of Paradise the Lord of the earth a Citizen of heaven a houshold-servant of the Lord of Hoasts brother to the blessed Angells and co-heire with the coelestiall powers upon the sudden should finde himselfe for his infirmity lying in a Stable for the likenesse that hee holds with the Beast standing in neede of Fodder of grasse But much better and with a farre greater reason may wee turne the streame of this extasie and cry O grata stupenda lata mutatio ut Paradisi dominus coeli terrae conditor Dominus Sabaoth Rex Angelorum c. O happy change blessed and ever to be wondred at That the Governour and Maker of Paradise the Creator of all the world the Lord of Hoasts the King of Angells God blessed for ever should lay aside his Majestie come downe from heaven leave the innumerable company of holy Angells and be content to become a poore naked and distressed Infant whose best roome at his Nativity was a Stable a Manger his Cradle O the height and depth of the wisdome and mercy of God! He who was Lord of all the world chooses no better roome then a Stable Non quia non potuit sed quia homo noluit Not because he was not able but because Man would not suffer him A Paradox Would not man suffer him How then was he God Understand aright The sinne of man and his owne mercy would not suffer him The end of his comming was to seeke and to save that which was lost Mankind And where should he seeke for him but where he was Et ecce nunc de grege facta est egregia creatura For behold now Man who was once a glorious creature hath taken up his habitation with the beast Our third leape but stay wee should bee worse then beasts if wee should thus lightly skip over this blessed leape of our Saviour this time of preparation for that great approaching Feast instituted by the Church seeming to envite us to a further honourable mention O dies plena miraculorum saith St. Augustine Creator fit creatura qui immensus est capitur incorporeus carne vestitur videtur invisibilis c. O day full of wonders The Creator is become a creature he whom the heavens and the heaven of heavens cannot containe is this day comprehended hee who is incorporeall is cloathed with flesh hee is handled now who cannot be touched hee who is the Ancient of dayes is this day become an Infant or if ye will have all in one word Nascitur Deus God himselfe is borne Qui natus est primò sine matre in coelis bodie natus est sine patre in terris Hee who was borne in the heavens from all eternity without a Mother is this day borne on earth without a Father Barbara Pyramidum sileat miracula Memphis Let Aegypt now cease to talke of her molehills of bricke the Ephesians of their Temple Babylon of her walls Rhodes of his Colosse Vnum pro cunâ—is fama loquatur opus And let this fill the mouth of all the world Nor is this all For then wee might indeed wonder but without any comfort to our selves now let us adde joy unto our wonder For natus est nobis puer There is borne to us a Child borne to us a Saviour This was that day to see which the holy Patriarches and Prophets of the old Testament so thirsted after Let him kisse me with the kisses of his mouth for thy love is better then wine Cant. Chap. 1. Abraham saw this day and that but in Landskip a farre off and yet for all that saith our Saviour he rejoyced And well was it called a day for then the Sunne of righteousnesse did rise to the world which before lay steeped in darknesse Blessed are the eyes saith Christ to his Disciples Luke 10.23 which see those things which yee see for I tell yee that many Kings and Prophets have desired to see the things that yee see and have not seene them Upon which words St. Bernard descants thus Quare nisi quia nox erat nondum venerat illud expectatum mane cui fuerat repromissa misericordia Why saith hee could they not see these things Because it was night as yet and that longed for morning was not broke which David so earnestly prayed for in his 143. Psalme Let me heare thy loving kindnesse in the morning for in thee is my trust How truely may wee call Iohn the Baptist the Morning-starre for as that ushers out the beautifull Sunne so did hee
to point onely at the West of CHRIST at his Death at the setting of our Sunne of Righteousnesse But no sooner had this Sunne who for a while was set unto the World recover'd the East and was Risen again from the Grave but immediately this West worship of the Iewes was abolished For His Death did set a Period unto all their Ceremonies Nay the Temple it selfe we know not long after was Destroyed as being now of no use because CHRIST had already suffered at whose Death the Worship of that Temple did point And therefore the Christians of the primitive times who now had a new Law the Law of the Gospell which did and does chiefly looke unto the East of CHRIST unto his Resurrection that they might acknowledge against the Iewes who were Enemies to CHRIST and denyed him to be come in the Flesh that he was both come dead and risen againe they did turne from the West to the East The Iewes even to this houre doe Worship towards the West still expecting when CHRIST should come and set and dye At nos a tergo ponimus mortem Christi a fronte Resurrectionem adventum ad judicium But we turne our Backs upon the West as professing CHRISTS Death to be past and behinde us and point towards the East as confessing his Resurrection and expecting his comming againe to Iudgement who shall come as he himselfe telles us in th 24. of St. Math vers 27 As the Lightning which commeth out from the East and shineth into the West and therefore the Câ—u â—n has thought fâ— in the buriall of Christian bodyes so to dispose of the scituation of them in the Grave that they are placed with theyr Faces as it were looking into the East expecting the comming againe of their Lord and Saviour in his Glory I might here adde that the East is the Nobler part of the World wherein Gods Greatnesse and Majestie does most appeare beeing manifested in the motion of the Heavens which is from the East I might also tell you that Paradise was scituated in that part of the World for so it was if we'll beleeve the Translation of the Septuagint in the 2d. of Gen. Quasi quaeremus ad Paradisum redire sayes Aquinas as if by worshipping thus we sought to returne backe to Paradise from whence the Sinne of our first Parents drove us I could adde also that the Sunne the Day and the Light have their blessed and comfortable inroades upon us from that Part of the World and being that we are to worship a God whose Infinite Majestie to us is invisible and onely yet to be seene in the Workes of the Creation therefore we bend our selves in this Religious action towards that Part of the Creation which is the most Glorious and by consequence of greatest vertue to excite and inflame our present Devotion And this may give you some satisfaction concerning our turning towards the East at the Hymnes the Doxologies and Prayers For these and other Heavenly reasons has the Church thought good to make the East part of the Temple to imitate the Holyest place of the Iewes which was in the West and therefore there they have plac'd the Altar or Communion-Table where the Body and Bloud of our blessed Saviour is administred unto the people where the Prayers and Thankesgivings of the Congregation like a Sacrifice of Incense is by the mouth of the Priest offer'd unto God and before or towards this place doe we worship God It is a scandall and an ignorance grosse as Aegyptian darkenesse which may be felt to say that we bow to the Altar or Table No we bow to God and the having of that Table in my sight when I bow putting me in minde of the mercies and Sufferings of my Saviour cannot chuse but make me bow the lower Seeing that the stiffe knee of this Pharisee has put me into this discourse I would willingly give all the satisfaction I could possible and truly I would thanke that man who but would whisper an objection into me that I might by Gods assistance endeavor to answer it and I have receiv'd one already from which of yee it comes I know not and it is this We ought yee say when ever wee come into the Church to joyne with the Congregation presently if they be at Prayers then indeed to kneele with them if hearing the Lessons or the Sermon immediately to settle our selves to that if they be standing up confessing theyr Faith then to joyne with them and intend that What without so much as once taking notice what Place it is yee are come into Without so much as once acknowledging God to dwell in that House Yee durst not thrust thus rudely into the Presence Chamber of a King His Chayre of State would strike a greater awe into yee Yee ought to doe thus Who told yee that yee ought to doe thus I never heard any say so but your selves and I doe not hold your credit so good in Learning that your bare word should passe in a Controversie of this high Nature But suppose I yeeld that yee ought to doe thus I le tell yee of another thing which yee ought too and yee shall not onely take my Assumpsit for it yee shall have a Canon of the Church to backe it Yee ought also to joyne with the Congregation in comming to the Church betimes before divine Service is begun not to stay lurking 〈◊〉 your houses till the Confession and Absolution be past nay many times till the Psalmes be done because yee would prevent the standing up at the Doxologyes betwixt them nay sometimes till the Lessons and the Popery of the Letanie as yee call it be over and then come stealing in as if yee were sent for Spyes to see what Religion we are of This yee ought to doe also and then we will allow yee to joyne presently with the Congregation for so yee shall have time enough before yee come to the publike duty to worship God and acknowledge the ground â—ee stand upon to be Holy But I heare another object Will not presently Kneeling downe in my seate when I come into the Church and saying a private Prayer lifting up a private Ejaculation to the Lord serve the tuâ—ne without first bowing and prostrating my selfe before the Altar I answer doe but so and no man shâ—ll finde fault with thee thou doest well in doing it but yet he who does the other too and does it truly from his heart and withall knowes the reason why he does it does a great deale better And therefore untill thy judgement bee a little better inform'd at the least suspend thy censure of those men who doe it Be not too rash in accusing them of Popery or Superstition Who art thou that judgest anothers Servant For if thou wilt observe a little in coole bloud this Nuda genu flexio as I may call it this naked bowing before the Altar which is not accompanied with Prayer but is onely a