abhorre publicke meetings is to deny ourselves to be any of Gods people For as we are all members of one body we must joyntly assemble to one place so shall we keep the unitie of the spirit in the bond of peace and be so in the number of Gods people here that we may the better know how to be taken into the number of them heareafter For the Prophet is witnesse that God will teach his wayes to those who shall go and say Come and let us ascend to the Mountaine of the Lord to the house of the God of Iacob Esay 2.3 III. But as I sayd before some be Truants and care not for comming Others be Recusants and may not come to joyne themselves with us A third sort be Schismaticks and will not come except where they affect and when they please And last of all there be others which make no great scruple of comming but in respect of the end their comming and hearing is in vaine they are yet in their sinnes First the Truants are of two sorts either such as hate the Word in respect of it selfe or such as are ill affected towards it for some by respect The first of these esteeme preaching but folly There is much adoe in it and about it but it is to small purpose They can see no good that it doth to have one stand an houre together perking in a pulpit for this doth but hinder the people from their businesse as Pharaoh once said to Moses and Aaron Let him that is a Preacher say there what he list they will beleeve but what they please The Minister must doe something for his living and if he could not talke for it he could doe little And yet that which he doth seemes in their judgement to be as much as nothing Wherefore if all were of their mindes he might speak long enough before he be regarded To whom I answer that although the wisedome of God be foolishnes to the wicked world yet it hath pleased God by the foolishnesse of preaching to save those that beleeve 1 Cor. 1.18 to ver 28. chap. 2.14 And there fore if our Gospell be hid it is hid to them that be lost whose mindes are darkned by the god of this world 2 Co. 4.3 4. Sathan that prince of darknesse who striveth to extinguish the glorious light that it bringeth with it It is without question that the time may come when these men since they call it talking may talke for mercy too Prov. 28.9 Rom. 1.16 and go without it Wherefore I am not ashamed of the Gospell of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that beleeveth to the Jew first and also to the Centile And in a word as lightly as these account of the Gospell Rom. 2.16 and the preaching thereof it shall one day judge them Yea and now whilst they live in this valley of the shadow of death if they were well grounded in it and humbly devoted towards it they might finde comfort in what they have learned from thence when all the world beside is but a dry and a barren tree and can afford nothing of so sweet a nature We are not mad men to maccrate our selves in studying away our blood spirits strengty and health but that we know God hath ordain'd us to be Labourers in his harvest 2 Pet. 3.9 and would that the worst under us should of tares become good corne If therefore these men perish let them thanke themselves for they resist the Holy Ghost There is no fault in the Word but in them who doe so lightly and slightly esteeme it For though to them it be meere foolishnesse yet to God and the faithfull it is farre otherwise And as for the second they be such as hate the Word and the hearing of it because it crosseth them in their wicked projects and divelish practices For cannot a Tyrant be bloody an Oppressour crush and grinde the poore a Tradesman lye and sweare a Flatterer dissemble an Hypocrite weare a mask a Gallant frequent the stews an Usurer undoe his brother an Incloser depopulate a Drunkard reele in the streets and know the way to an Ale-house better then to God's house or cannot a Blasphemer curse and sweare a Church-robber commit sacriledge a Backbiter detract a Malicious man wreck his spleene a Monopolist engrosse a Proud man look aloft a wanton Dame use her paintings a Cormorant withhold his corne to the starving of the poore a Poore man despise the rich a Land-lord undoe his tenants a Voluptuous man bath himselfe in sinfull lusts vanities and wicked pleasures but the Pulpit must needs proclaime it Hinc illa lachrymae this is their great Cordolium If we could but let them alone and not hinder them in their travell to Tophet then all were well But because we call them back from their evill wayes crosse them in their proiects and in the cleare glasse of God's word let them see their faces they hate the hearing of the Word detract and backbite the Preachers of it 1 King 22.8 like unto Ahab King of Israel who hated Michaiah because he prophesied contrary to his liking He prophesieth saith he no good to me but evill Or like unto those in the Acts Act. 16.19 Act. 19 24 who abominated the doctrine of the Apostles because it crossed those wicked gaines which their divelish and heathenish practices brought in unto them By which it appeareth that as Truth loves no corners so neither would they beare hatred to it if their deeds were but such as might abide the tryall 2. The next are Papists or Recusants a people so wedded to the Church of Rome that they may not ioyne themselves with us in our Assemblies and this not because they have any iust quarrell against our Liturgy but because they are afraid of the Popes curse As for our doctrine if That displease them I am sory the Truth should prove distastfull Or if we have enough in our Religion necessary to salvation what need we more And that we have so much is witnessed by a Pope Pius Quintus by name who signified in a Letter to Queene Elizabeth of blessed memory before the time of his excommunication denounced against her that he did allow our Bible and Book of Divine Service See Iudge Cook in his Charge at Norwich Assises Anno Dom. 1606. as it is now used among us to be authentick and not repugnant to truth and that therein was contained enough necessary to salvation as in a charge given at Norwich Assises in the yeare of our Lord 1606 was openly avowed And if enough then without question we need not the help of any Pope to supply us with more Unto which this I adde that it can be no harme to the Papists to turne unto us for in departing from them we made not a New Church but reformed the old and among the Churches reformed this of England comes I
this and therefore are no more idolatrous then was David in the fift Psalme at the seventh verse Yea in a word if men were disposed to be right there stands before us in our assemblies a chiefe signe of God's presence as being that from whence we have our perfectest communion with the God of Heaven For though it begins in Baptisme it ends in the Supper neerer then which we cannot goe till we passe from hence to a better place So that although he give us good assurance of his Presence in sundry things and by many testimonies tells us truely that he is with us yet in nothing so much nor so really as in this high mysterie of our Religion And next albeit every circumstance in respect of the forme and fashion of these places not knowne at the first yet 't was a Dictate of the Law of nature that some place as well as some time should be holy to the Lord. It had footing as soone as might be Some say in Paradise Gen. 3.8 But more plainely afterwards for the place mentioned in Gen. 4. unto which Cain and Abel brought their offerings that their Father Adam as a Priest might offer them to God for them is at the 14. and 16. verses called the Face or Presence of God that is the House of God being that place where the publique and solemne services of the Lord were usually performed For first they came unto it sayth the Text. Secondly they brought their offerings thither Thirdly Cain also confesseth that he was excommunicated or driven away from thence that is he was expelled from the Congregation of the faithfull for Adam had sundry other Children at the same time as is signified at the fourteene verse How else could he be sayd to goe out or be driven away from the presence of the Lord who in other respects is every where And last of all 't is thus to be expounded because the Scriptures afterwards do so explaine the like phrases speaking so punctually to our capacities that whereas in one place it is Bring an offering and come before him in another 't is Bring an offering and come into his Courts See the proofes in the 1 Chron. 16.29 and in Psal 96.8 By the face then or Presence of God is here signified a peculiar sacred place where teaching hearing praying sacrificing and other duties of Gods publique worship used to be performed And so also in other the like phrases of holy Scripture for by them we know how to take up the true sense of this Afterwards we also finde that the Patriarchs used Altars Groves and Mountaines to the selfe-same purpose that Adam and his Sonnes before them had used their foresayd place of meeting As for example it is recorded in Gen. 13.4 that Abraham with all his houshold went up from Egypt unto the place of the Altar which he had made there at the first and there Abraham called on the name of the Lord. And againe in Gen. 13.18 we also finde that when he came to Mamre and dwelled there he built in that very place an Altar unto the Lord. And in Gen. 21.33 when he sojourned in the Philistims land he planted a Grove in Beer-sheba and called there on the name of the Lord the everlasting God And in the next Chapter 't is also thus written that when he was to offer up his sonne Isaac he is directed to a Mountaine in the land of Moriab which signifieth The feare of God as being a place not of common use but for God's honour as was signified afterwards more openly when Solomon built there the holy Temple Next look upon Isaac who where he spread his Tent built an Altar Gen. 26.25 But above all that of Iacob is most remarkable who when he came to Luz found that there was an house of God which at the first he knew not and is therefore said to be afraid lest perhaps he had offended in not ordering of himselfe so there as of right he knew he ought to doe in all such places For indeed had he beene a stranger to such chosen places had he beene ignorant of their holinesse or had the knowledge of them been a new thing never heard of before among the Patriarchs he had not now suspected this to be God's house nor the Gate of heaven See Gen. 28.11.16.17.18.19 He lodged saith the Text in a certaine place had there a vision and by vertue thereof he presently declared that this was no other then the house of God and therefore a place of feare and reverence Intellexit Iacob saith one quod prius nesciebat Lipp in Gen. 28. ex Cajet tum Deum esse in illo loco tanquam in loco appropriato auditorii sui Briefly if we look at nothing but his feare 't is enough to signifie that he was no stranger to chosen places For supposing it to be granted that none of the Patriarchs had ever used to worship here yet that they had peculiar places set apart from common use is still apparent for lesse then so cannot possibly be gathered hence Now then if these things were thus before the Law they are ill advised who care not for the difference of places after the Law for if we be still the worshippers of our God we must still have places for his holy worship which must be dedicated and set apart only for him and his services Nay if we look no further then the dayes of Moses and from thence cast an eye to the times of David and Solomon it is sufficient For as the Christian religion is come in place of the Jewish so are our Churches come in place of theirs Their Tabernacle saith one was a patterne of their Temple and their Temple a type of our Churches even as all their service was a type of our Christ And also as it was of old Ye shall keepe my Sabbath and reverence my Sanctuary so now the Sunday being God's holy day in stead of the Sabbath the Church must be the place of his holy worship These two in that very saying hath the Lord ioyned together and therefore it is not for man to divorce or put them asunder If we deny the place we are against the day but if we acknowledge the one we grant the other In which regard Act. 18.11 although St. Paul at the first when he had iust occasion given him to renounce the Iewes and their Synagogues Act. 28.8 was necessitated to preach in a private house yet as soon as might be 1 Cor. 11.22.33.34 he took order for the building of Churches teaching moreover how both men and women should behave themselves in them And so did other godly Christians after him They were carefull even in the times of persecution to have such speciall places erected And although Dioclesian made fearfull havock of them yet no sooner was that godly Constantine become a Nursing Father to the Church but they were againe restored their number much increased
up by the Emperour Anno 1048. in the yeare 1048. but Pantaleon out of Platina affirmeth that he entred by force After all which to adde life to the foresaid practises came Hildebrand otherwise called Gregory the VII in the yeere of our Lord 1073. Anno 1073. and he most of all exalted himselfe above the Emperours arrogating as a thing proper to the Popes the power of constituting Kings and Emperours causing the Emperour Henery the IV. to attend three daies barefoot at his palace gate Anno 1095. Anno 1102. Vrban the second and Paschall the second gave nourishment to Gregories proceedings Adrian the IV. chides with the Emperour for holding his wrong stirrop Alexander the third treads vpon the Emperours necke Celestine the third crownes him with his foote then kickes the crowne off againe to shew his power And to make it appeare that all was now in these Prelates hands Boniface the eight proclaimed it in an open Iubilee Anno 1300. in the yeere of our Lord 1300 cloathing himselfe the one day in the pontificials of a Bishop and the other day in the robe royall of an Emperonr causing two swords to be carried before him and these words to be uttered Ecce duo gladij Behold the two swords meaning that both the spirituall and temporall power were now in the hands of the Church and that therefore none of the Clergie ought to be obedient to the civill Magistrate In which tenets and practises both he and his fellowes did not onely transgresse the truth purely taught maintained and practised in the first times of the Gospell but also went contrary to the ancient times of those many godly Prophets and Priests under the Law witnesse in the Court of the Iewes one for all even Nathan who when he came before the King made his obeysance called him his Lord and acknowledged himselfe a subject or servant to him 1 Kin. 1.24 as it is in the 1 Kin. 1.24 And in a strange common weale Daniel in the court of Darius shal suffice Dan. 6.21 who prayed for the life and prosperity of the King Dan. 6.21 The reason of which obedience and subjection is not as they are Prophets Prelates or other Priests but as they are Citizens and members of a body politicke Igitur ut tales subjecti esse debent eivili potestati Therfore as such they ought out of duty to be subject to the civil power But otherwise in causes meerly Ecclesiastical they are exempted by a divine right from secular judgements For in all such causes as pertaine to men bearing office in the Church whether it have respect to the function of their ministery or to the key of their governement in foro exteriori Priests also must be honoured reverenced and obeyed than whose office I know as Saint Ambrose witnesseth none more excellent Aâ—…br de dig â—it sacerdot cap. 3. Iosepb antiq lib. 11. cap. 8. none more honourable which was also declared by Alexander the Great when he met with Iaduah the high Priest of the Iewes as Iosephus tels the story Or to come more neerely to our selves which was also declared by Theodsius the first who was willingly content to submit and yeeld himselfe to the reproofe and admonition of the aforesaid Ambrose by whom hee was though not excommunicated yet prohibited to come as at other times into the holy Temple by reason of that great and rash Massacre of the Thessalonians untill upon his heartie sorrow he obtained at length the assent of that holy Father For thus he though an Emperour was subject Domino spirituali as wee Domino temporali propter dominum aeternum Of which act even as it was done on either side Theodoret speakes after this manner Theod. lib. 5. cap. 17. saying that when all was done both by the Bishop and Emperour Tali tantaque virtute et Pontifex et Imperator erant illustres as it is in the latine version Meaning that what they both did the Bishop in using his power and the Emperour in submitting unto it made them both famous Sozom. lib. 7. cap. 24. And in Sozomen the same story is againe recorded To which is added that by the appointment of this holy Father the Emperour was placed or seated in the Church so as was thought to be most covenient And yet this man was no papall but a painefull Bishop one that feared not to speake or rebuke the greatest if need or occasion required him so to do For Neque imperiale est libertatem dicendi negare Neque sacerdotale Ambr. Epist 29. quod sentit non dicere It is saith he neither Prince-like to denie libertie of speech nor Priest like not to speake what he thinketh The one argues an affront offered to God whose messenger he is that speaketh The other is a signe of cowardise in Gods Minister who may not hold his peace if there be iust cause to reprehend And of him Saint Hierome witnesseth that his writings and books are incorrupt and that his sentences are most firme pillars of the faith and of all vertues beside The like to which doth Saint Austin also testifie Yea and the very Emperour himselfe confesseth freely that the sentence of the said Ambrose was just and right Nota enim est mihi saith he justiciae sententia Ambrosij Theod lib. 5. cap. 17. neque ille reverentia Imperatoriae poâ—estatis divinam transgressurus est lâ—gem Long before the which times was one Fabianus about the yeare of our Lord 239. Euseb lib. 6. cap. 33. who would not suffer the Emperour Philip to joyne tanquam consors in precationibus multitudini ecclesiasticae would not suffer him I say to joyne with the faithfull in their prayers when they were met in the Church untill hee had first stood in loco poenitentium because although he wished well to Christianitie yet in multis culpabilis effet that is because in many things he was still faultie And therefore to spurne against the power and authoritie of Gods Ministers and to draw backe from a mutuall or reciprocall subordination betweene the officers of the Church and common weale is but to kicke against the pricks and to joyne with Corah and his company who cry against the Priests Downe with them downe with them even to the ground for ye take to much upon ye oh ye sons of Levi cry such as these And so doing they be also in the number of those who curse their Father and do not blesse their mother And thus I am come to the next sort of Parents the Fathers of the Church Now though in this discourse I come not to these untill the last yet are they not therfore to be disrespected For prejudicate opinions may not rob another of what is right Nor is it any breach of piety to see the Church in dignity I shall shew it that there bee Lords spirituall as well as Lords temporall and that the best times and ages of the world
have thought it religion to countenance the Clergie When therfore that famous * K. Iames in his Basilicon Doron lib. 2. pag. 38. King of blessed memory was about to speake severally of those 3. estates into which the subjects of England are divided he begins after this manner First saith he that I prejudge not the Church of her ancient priviledges reason would she should have the first place for orders sake in this catalogue the grouÌ„d of which priviledge I do beleeve came first from among Gods people of old with whom the highest Priest was second in the Kingdome And albeit every one who is a Priest or man of God among us be not a Prelate nor may looke to be of as high dignities as Aaron Nathan or Zadoc nor to have the like honours and employments that Archbishops and Bishops have yet know that we are all the men of God being lawfully called et pro Christo legatione fungimur and Ambassadours of Christ 2 Cor 5.20 And therefore besides what hath beene else this I may say Let a man so account of us even in geuerall as of the Ministers of Christ 1 Cor. 4.1 and stewards of the mysteries of God For to esteeme otherwise of us is to have an evill eye at that calling which the Lord hath honoured and to vilifie those persons whom he hath magnified would that they should be in high account because they are placed in an holy function which must at all times put a difference between them and other men Nor is it but observed till we meete with those who curse their Father and doe not blesse their Mother But enough of this till by and by Wee shall have it again at another turning till when I leave it and come now to the proofe of such things pertinent to all and every of the Fathers in this body as must be first handled Wherfore to proceed orderly let the scriptures and constant practise of the Church built thereupon First testifie that Churchmen have the name of Fathers Secondly that they bee not all of one equall ranke but of differing degrees And last of all that there is reverence and honour due to them as in the following Chapters Sections and Divisions shall be further shewed CHAPTER I. That the name or title of Father is pertinent to Churchmen THis truth I shall first prove out of the words of Saint Paul who witnesseth to the Corinthians that he had begotten them in Christ Iesus through the Gospell 1 Cor. 4.15 And so though he were no carnall yet a spirituall Father to them Where note that because he makes the word to be the means of their begetting it must needs follow that every other Minister who converteth soules is a spirituall Father because he by the word doth also beget children unto Christ In like manner hee also speaketh to the people of Galatia My little children of whom I travell in birth Gal 4.19 1 Tim. 5.1 till Christ bee formed in you And againe Rebuke not an Elder but exhâ—rt him as a Father which albeit he there meanes it of such in speciall as are Fathers for their age yet it prooveth the title of Father to be due to all who beare the name of Elders whether in Church or Common-weale For when he speaks afterwards of such into whose hands in respect of discipline the governement of the Church is committed 1 Tim. 5.17 hee calleth them by the name of Elders Seniores officij and would that if they rule well they should have double honour especially if they labour in the word and doctrine as well as in governement This is also proved out of the words of Saint Iohn For to those whom he writeth in his first epistle he speaketh as a Father using these words often My little children And at the fourth verse of his third Epistle I have saith hee no greater joy then to heare that my children walke in love And in his old age as St. Ierome tels the story being carried to the Church in the armes of his schollers and lifted into the Pulpit and not able to speake many words he used onely this sweet saying Filioli diligite alterutrum Little children or my sons love one another Neither was it but that in the times of the Law the Prophets also and Priests were called Fathers Oh my Father my Father the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof So said Elisha to Elias 2 Kin. 2.12 So said King Ioash also to Elisha 2 Kin. 13.14 Yea and thus saith the Scripture likewise of the Priests as we read in the 2 Chron. 29.11 CHAP. II. SECTION I. BUt from hence I come to their rankes or orders And in the first place stands the King or cheife Magistrate whom Esay calleth a Nursing Father of the Church Esa 49.23 2 Sam. 5.1 and by the tenne tribes was acknowledged to be their Pastour And so indeed he was although in a differing manner from the Pastourship of Priests And yet not so farre differing neither as that hee bee * See Bishop Iewell against Hard defence of Apol part 6 chap. 15. divis 1. p. 612 mere laicus for then hee must bee tyed altogether to the State and meddle nothing with the Church in matters Ecclesiasticall how negligently wrongfully or disorderly soever he see things to be carried But being the keeper of both Tables he must have an eye to the Church as well as to the State not onely ordering that the Church be obeyed but that Bishops and other Priests doe their office as well as they who belong to the affaires of the Common wealth Yea in a word he is to mairtaine Gods worship K. Iames in his Apol. for the oath of allegiance pag. 108. printed Anno 1609. as well as the peoples welfare for thus as that second Salomon hath recorded doe godly and Christian Kings within their owne dominions sit to governe their Church as well as the rest of their people assisting the spirituall pover with the temporall sword making no new Articles of Faith but commanding obedience to be given to what the word of God approveth suffering no Sects and Schismes but reforming corruptions and also ordering that a decorum be observed in every thing that thereby the inward dulnes of the heart may bee the better awaked to a more reverent respect both towards God and his holy worship for if the outward beauty of Churches stirreth up devotion then much more the decent and comely manner of the service there Both doe well and well is it when both can bee found to goe together Now if any should suppose that this power of a King takes away the power of Bishops I answer that they are much deceived For this is not to annihilate or take away the jurisdiction or power of Bishops but to nurse cherish and oversee it For the Christian Church had Episcopall power granted as afterwards shall be shewed before ever there was any Christian
of Creation the memorie of the first is obscured by the last and so the one is to give place unto the other as in a case not much unlike it the Prophet Ieremâ—e hath declared Ier. 16.14 15. Nor againe doth this last impose a like commemoration with the former in regard of Rest because our Saviour did not so much rest upon that day whereon he arose as valiantly overcome the powers of death It may be rather said that he rested before whil'st he lay in the Grave and so they who are dead bee sayd to rest from their labours but to rise againe implyes a breaking off from rest and a beginning of labour which even in this cannot but be granted if the consideration be taken up with relation to that rest which went before it whil'st the bodie lay in the quiet Grave till the time appointed Nor doe I thinke it strange to say that on our Day of the Lord the memorie of the Redemption be come in place of that of Creation For tho we have the proper solemnitie of Christ's Resurrection upon that day which is called Easter yet this weekely day of publique worship being as Saint Austine speaketh consecrated to us by our Lords Resurrection doth not onely deserve to be made choice of for the peculiar day of our solemne Assemblies but to be judged also to relate in some sort to the benefit of Redemption Secondly their strict resting was a memoriall of their deliverance from the hard labours which they had lately suffered in the Land of Aegypt as is expressely mentioned in Deut. 5.15 Now this was a thing peculiarly belonging unto them and not to us Therefore they and we are not both bound to one and the same strictnesse unlesse their condition and ours were both alike Thirdly Ezek. 20 12. this their Sabbath was given them for a signe Psal 147.20 that God had then chosen them from among all the Nations of the earth to be his people For the Heathen had no knowledge of his Lawes but they had the partition wall was then unbroken In token of which favour they had the Sabbath which they were strictly to observe not doing their owne will nor speaking so much as their owne words as in these Scriptures is declared Exod. 31.13 Ezek. 20.12 and Esa 58.13 And albeit all Christians now be likewise the people of God yet because they are of more Nations then one and live in times of more maturitie they are not tyed to such a strict yoake as if they were still in the dayes of the Law but differenced from that Heire who whil'st he is a Child must live as a servant as the Apostle speaketh Gala. 4.1 For when the fulnesse of time was come the condition of God's people was altered as at the fift verse of the foresayd Chapter is declared And at the seventh verse thus Thou art no more a servant but a Sonne And therefore though bound to bee obedient yet freed from those hard taskes which of old were strictly required from the Jewish people Last of all their Sabbath was a type whereby was prefigured that Rest Heb. 9.4 which as the Apostle speaketh and of which their Canaaen likewise was a figure remained for the people of God to be purchased for them by Christ who being come and gone into his Fathers house Ioh. 14.2 wherein are many mansion places went to prepare them as was prefigured in the foresaid Rest of the Jewish Sabbath And therefore seeing Christ hath actually purchased that which was then prefigured it were injurious to Christ to lay the same yoake still upon our neckes Yea in a word by what hath beene said it cannot but appeare that although our Lord's Day or Sunday hath of late yeares beene vulgarly knowne and called by the name of the Sabbath yet of right neither the name nor manner of keeping it appertaines thereunto For there is so great a difference betweene the old Sabbath and our Sunday that it is a manifest mistake to urge those Scriptures upon us which peculiarly belonged to them in the observation of their Day But if the Sunday be no Sabbath Quest why then doth the Church in her Liturgie retaine still the fourth Commandement and say Remember that thou keepe holy the Sabbath day c. yea and why are the people bound to pray at the end thereof Lord have mercy upon us and incline our hearts to keepe this Law For answer whereunto Sol. this is first that although all the other Commandements are to be kept ut sonant according to the letter as St Austin speaketh yet this of the Sabbath is of another kinde being partly morall partly ceremoniall And if so then in part it is abolished and in part retained And being but in part abolished it must upon necessity have still a place among the other precepts For so farre as 't is morall 't is still of force and is therefore put among the Precepts of the Decalogue for that which is morall in it For as I said formerly it proceedeth from the Law of Nature that some time be set apart for Gods publicke service And therefore this being revived in the Law of the fourth Commandement ought to be remembred and kept upon one day in seven which last though unknowne till Nature was informed is now to be reckoned as that principal portion of time which God requireth And so last of all being bound to the morality of the precept there is good reason that we pray to have the Lord incline our hearts to the keeping of it for being strengthned by his assistance there will be care had that we decline not away from the observation thereof And whereas I formerly gave notice that it is the very chiefe of Dayes or as I then expressed it Gods chiefe Schoole-day I had reason for it because there is no Holy Day which the Church hath appointed to be kept of such eminency and excellency as is this Day of the Lord according to that of St. Austin in his 251 Sermon De tempore at the very beginning therof in these words saying Sciendum est Fratres charissimi quod ideo à sanctis patribus nostris constitutum est christianis mandatum ut in solennitatibus Sanctorum maxime in Dominicis diebus otium haberent à terreno negotio vacarent ut paratiores promptiores essent ad divinum cultum In which words appeareth not only the excellency of this Day above other Festivalls but the necessity also of such a Rest as may be no hindrance but a furtherance to Gods publicke worship For such a Rest as this is as a means requisite for that end for which the Day is set apart The ancient Sabbath had as hath beene shewed other ends which here in this Day can take no place because the Day it selfe is now abolished and gone and the armes of the Church extended further then to one only Nation All that can be added more is this
Nature requireth some refreshment Religion teacheth us to be mercifull to our very Beasts Prov. 12.10 Deut. 5.14 and if to them much more to our servants In which regard the other parts of the Day and so the whole Day are fitly freed from all servile labours except in urgent cases of extreame necessity which also makes it not unlawfull to take in hand some harmlesse recreation for refreshment after the ends of all Divine-services in the publike assemblies For when all the publike duties of the Day be ended then is that accomplished for which the day is chiefly set apart And because this cannot be done without Rest there is a cessation from ordinary labours both before and at the times of publike worship Before for preparation that thereby we bring not with us Cor fatui Eccles 5.1 Exod. 3.5 A fooles heart as Solomon speaketh but be fitted aforehand for the sacred employments to which we are going And at the times likewise because the one cannot be done without the other that is our owne private businesses and the generall and publike duties of piety and devotion cannot be followed both at once And because the Rest also of the Day points at mercy as well as sacrifice of which there is something spoken in Deut. 5.14 harmlesse recreation which is a meanes of refreshment claimes her priviledge and steps in at the last after all the publike services for the Day be ended yea and as the case with some may at sometimes stand is not so long denied them no not so long as then But some singular priviledge is not to be alledged as a generall practice And therefore as it is both a pious and prudent constitution of the Church Can. 14. Eccles Anglic. Aug. de temp Ser. 251. to appoint by way of preparation certain holy offices to be vsed on the Eve before In like manner as pious and prudent is it for a Christian Magistrate See this in his Majesties Declarat not to suffer any sportings or recreations till all the publike Services of our God be ended for that present Day and that none should enjoy the benefit of this liberty who hath not first resorted to the Church nor that it be abused but used in a moderate discreet and pious way Now albeit this liberty be both thus qualified and comes not in place till God be first served yet there want not those who trouble both the peace of the Church and State by setting themselves against it But he who hath said Hos 6.6 Math. 12.7 I will have mercy and not sacrifice hath said enough to signifie that he will not then be displeased at it especially in those whose education or parts be such as are unfit for long meditation the rigid tye whereof being laid upon them makes the Rest of this Day more burthensome unto them then their weekly labours Or if Christ could say of the Jewish Sabbath that it was made for man and not man for it Math. 12.8 then much more may we affirme it of our Festivall in as much as their yoake of ceremonious bondage belongs not to us Howbeit they are not to be excused who have more minde of their Pastime then of their pious and holy worship wishing in their hearts that the Priest would make a quicke dispatch by cutting short the service of the Day For what is this but to have hell set at liberty there being no better concord then thus betweene them and heaven They doe indeed desire to have a Day set apart but because they preferre the lesse principall end of its separation before the chiefe they observe a Day not as they which observe it to the Lord but as they that observe it to themselves And therefore we justly reckon these among such as are willingly desirous to prophane this blessed Day although it be now the Queene of dayes and time of greatest eminency for Gods publike worship Nor againe do we blame those who without hypocrisie and superstition spend the whole day in workes of piety and devotion For as Christ said in some cases so may we say in this it is a thing commendable Math. 19.12 and therefore Let him that is able to receive it receive it without judging of anothers liberty The one may not be accounted irreligious or prophane in the lawfulll use of his Christian freedome nor the other over strict if he judge not his brother in the copious measure of his more plentifull devotions II. And thus I have done with the first thing the circumstance of time That of the place is next This is the Temple or Church Gods House and his earthly Sanctuary whereunto they who seeke his face will resort Which is as Abraham sayd In the Mountaine will the Lord be seene For though the Heaven of Heavens cannot containe him or although in a strict sense hee dwelleth not in Temples made with hands because of his Omni-presence Yet neverthelesse he hath vouchsafed to afford different manners and degrees of his Presence and is otherwise in Heaven otherwise in earth Nor on earth is he every where alike for in such places as are dedicated to his Name 1 King 9 3. Psal 132.15 he hath promised a more speciall dispensation of his Presence then in places of common use and to accept of them as his peculiar houses In token whereof we doe not onely reade Psal 87.2 that the Lord loveth the gates of Sion more then all the dwellings of Iacob and that he sayd his eyes and his heart should be in that house which Solomon had builded for him Psal 42.2 Psal 105.4 Psal 132.8 2 Chro. 6.41 Gen. 4.14.15 Gen. 28.16 17. but also that the sayd Temple Tabernacle and first places of his worshippe are not seldome called the Rest and Face of God and the gate of Heaven Enough to signifie that both by his more speciall Presence and by a peculiaritie of proprietie these places are become sacred and are so the Lords as that they be no longer ours He also herein vouchsafing it as a speciall honour even to the places themselves that they be so called named and esteemed the comfortable effects of that by which the place is thus named being alwaies such as shall be sure to shew themselves Mat. 18.20 Psal 145.18 by the religious sinceritie of devoute worshippers And if in the generall such be not onely the peculiaritie of proprietie but honour likewise of sett and prepared places then in particular that which hath the most neere relation to his Presence must needs carry with it both the highest proprietie and be also taken up in our regard as the most Presentiall place in all his House This the Ancients as some also now adayes did so well observe that doing their obeysance they turned their faces this very way and yet were neither superstitious nor idolatrous for doing so We professe and say indeed the Lord is there but not the Lord is