Licentiousness are become so prone and apt to do all those violences to which an unbridled Lust would lead them if there were no power antecedaneous to this state which must necessarily accuse Providence and destroy the essential difference between Good and Emil it would undeniably follow that men would be necessitated to enter into Societies to secure and preserve themselves But for which Atheists and Villains would live under the obedience of no other Laws and Rules but their own Wills and Lusts and the effects of want of Government would light most severe upon Good and Vertuous Persons For if I am tyed up by the aw of an invisible Power from doing wrong to any body and every one that lists may do me what wrong they please which would be the case of every good man in respect of every evil man under such an Universal Anarchy I say my condition must needs be very miserable for which reason it no less concerns wicked men also in respect of themselves to be secur'd from each other And this is one special Instance of Providence whereby it Rules the Beasts of the People as one Translation of the Psalms calls them such that is as are not awed by the sence of an invisible Power that regard no inward Ties and Obligations of Conscience but are acted and swayed like Bruits by the impressions of sensual Objects but the strongest Hold that Government has of us is by those secret and invisible tyes by which it bounds upon our Consciences for when all the other Respects and Conveniencies of Government fail this cannot It may be my advantage and I may have an opportunity to Rebel what should hinder me The Publick Good That 's no Rule of my Practice for in that respect what he said of any Peace we may say of any Government be it the most Tyrannical upon the Earth it is a far less evil than Anarchy But now take in the sence of my Duty and Obedience to God that will do it effectually If I make Conscience of being subject as I ought from which no circumstances of our Condition or any accidents or occurrences whatsoever can dissolve us so far as to resist i. e. unless which we are assured he never will God himself should revoke his Grant and alter the Princes Patent There remains one thing more for the establishing of the Civill Magistrates authority and that is to consider the Extent and Latitude of this power wherewith God hath Invested them Bishop Taylor 's Ductor Dubitant lib. 3. ch 3. Rule 1. And we must distinguish between Potestas Imperantis licita and legitima what a Prince may Lawfully i. e. Warrantably do and what he may do Legitimately i. e. Vnaccomptably to any but Almighty God In the Conjunction of both these consists the whole of their Supremacy In the stateing whereof my Design is not to set bounds and limits to the Exercise and Administration of their Power but to remove those restrictions and encroachments the Enemies of the King and the Church have made upon it The Church of England gives unto all Sovereign Princes the Supremacy in their respective Dominions as well over Spiritual as Temporal Persons and in Sacred as well as Civil Causes which we account not as an Act of Grace or any base flattering of Authority or fawning upon the Crown but 't is the expression of a just Debt and a bare Recognition of what is their undoubted Right giving them neither more nor less than what they always did enjoy except where the Popish Vsurpation or the Presbyterian Reformation have invaded it But most fierce Opposition hath this Doctrine met with from the Bigots of both those Parties the Guelphes and the Gibellines from Rome and from Scotland from St. Peter and St. Andrew the Papist and the Presbyterian who have hardly left any branch of their Supremacy unassaulted and unquestioned but either by Rebellious and Traiterous practices or by Monstrous and Damnable Positions have endeavoured to rend it from the Crown It has not scap'd quite in temporals For how is he Supream if he be Minor Vniversis if he may be resisted in the Tyrannical and Exorbitant use of his Power if he may be Depos'd Murdered which we may reckon under the Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 strange and monstrous Doctrines 13 Heb. 9. 1 Tim. 4.1 or rather under his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Doctrines of Devils Though I know the Learned Mede has another Notion of that place But especially they quarrel about the Potestas licita in Ecclesiasticis which the Romish Party and their Adherents will by no means endure either in reference to Persons or Things but subject them to their Decrees and Ecclesiastical Constitutions nay they are not only bound to a Personal but to a kind of Politick Obedience i. e. To enjoyn Obedience thereto from their Subjects and punish such as refuse or else they must be Excommunicated and their Subjects absolv'd Concerning which I shall only say in the Words of a very Reverend Prelate Kings and Princes are ty'd to obey the Laws of the Church by Religion but not by Power or Church-Censures and that is only in things which concern their essential Duty and not in the contingent External and Political Concerns of Religion which their Assent alone can pass into a Law So likewise for the Presbyterians for they are like Samson's Foxes their Faces are contrary to each other but they are ty'd fast together in the same mischeivous Design of putting the Church and Kingdom into Combustion and a Flame Nor is it possible to find any Difference between them herein but Pope for Synod and Synod for Pope They take upon them to appoint Fasts indict Synods decree Constitutions without and against Royal Assent and what they do of this kind he shall be concluded under too as well in his Politick as Personal Capacity For that 's the Meaning of his being Custos utriusque Tabulae he must see that all his Subjects in their several Orders obey and conform to their Injunctions and if he do's not he must be Admonished Excommunicated Depos'd The thing is too Notorious to Instance in passages of this kind in the many Writers of either side Betwixt both these I fancy Monarchy like St. Peter 12 Acts 6. lying bound between two Souldiers ready to be executed and were it not that the Constant and Steady Loyalty of the Church of Enland-Men like the Guardian-Angel there mentioned did from time to time rescue and preserve it you would soon see Monarchy in its Grave And therefore I admire at their Wisdom that could tell a Reason why the Prosecutors of one Side should be the Saviours and Deliverers of our Nation and those of the other the Grievance If Rebellious Principles and Practices be the ground of their Zeal and the reason of their prosecuting men wherein do's the adding of Presbyterian qualifie either unless Number and Interest make an Enemy less dangerous I confess
these things are a Mystery to me unless the Reason be contained in the Pyrates Answer to Alexander But to return from whence we have digress'd namely the Kings Supremacy in Matters Spiritual I would only subjoyn instead of laying down and answering the Exceptions against it this one I think Conclusive Argument You know the End of Government it is the Publick Weal and external Happiness of the City and therefore it must be invested with a Power and Means sufficient to that Purpose or else he will never be able to prosecute his own Duty and their Good And this I do affirm cannot otherwise be done than by establishing its Supremacy in Ecclesiasticals allowing it to have a Legislative and Coercive Power in the Things of Religion And the Reason hereof is this Because an unbounded Liberty in Conscience and Religion would unavoidably end in a wild and dangerous Rebellion whereby the Government is dissolv'd and the Publick Peace overthrown which is the greatest Evil that can befal the City so that I do not only think the Magistrate may make Laws concerning the Exercise of Religion and punish such as break them but there is a Necessity hereof to prevent Anarchy and Confusion For Separations and Divisions in the Church which is the Design as well as the Effects of a Toleration are as sure to be succeeded as Day by Night with Distractions Commotions and Wars in the State And this was constantly urged by the Assembly-men to the late House of Commons And look by how much stronger the Influence is that these things have upon mens Lives and Actions by so much is the danger abundantly greater after once men are grown to this impatiency of Legal Restraints for it makes men apt and bold to rebel the most desperate and pernicious one having commenced from the specious pretexts of Conscience and Religion You remember it was but crying it up for God's Cause and the Lord's Work and when the Ecclesiastick Drum beat thus how did the Saints flock into Christ's Banner and list themselves Volunteers for this Civil and Holy War So dangerous and unsafe it is to tolerate these Persons in a Commonwealth that turns mens Consciences which else are its best Security upon the Government for humane Sanctions will avail but little where men are hurried on by the Fury of an Impetuous Zeal To see the men of this Kidney so Religiously break the Second Table in Obedience to the First Serve God with Blood and Rapine Schism Faction and Sedition and as if they had a design to requite and outvie our Saviour in his Sufferings descend into Hell for Christ's sake In short you leave a Prince but one Expedient more after this is gone to preserve himself and Government and that is a Standing Army so that the King shall be necessitated to substitute an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Power in the Room of a Just and Lawful one And this is de facto Confirmed by all the Governments in the World where the practice of Diversity of Religions is allowed and it holds as true of the Netherlands as of Constantinople Besides the bare Supposition hereof takes away all Conscience and Religion from a Christian Monarch Which was what the old King so tenaciously insisted upon For if I think those Opinions and Ways wherein they desire their Liberty unsafe or destructive to mens Souls where 's my own Religion if I consent to it And he that thinks his own Religion the right is an Atheist in Practice if he does not heartily wish and as far as he may Lawfully endeavour to bring every body else to it And this is to me an undeniable Argument in Religion on the Princes side as the other was in Policy You have seen what Power of Right they have our next Enquiry is how they ought to exercise this Trust This wall make up the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of my Discourse The Text says a Sword they have and they are not to bear it in vain Now that is said to be in vain which do's not attain its End The End of Government you have heard is to procure the external Peace and Happiness of the Weal Publick whereto the Magistrates are but so many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ministers Servants but then as the Sacred Function are improperly called Ministers by the People whose Rulers these are but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so and much more are Princes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but their Power is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which are the several Expressions of Scripture relating thereunto So that if they abuse this Power by Exorbitancy 't is their own and God's that they abuse to whom alone as I said they are accomptable For who of their Subjects may say unto them What dost thou as Solomon says Or against whom do they sin as David said who both did certainly understand as well as any the Just Proportions of Liberty and Prerogagative But 't is an extream of another nature that my Text does admonish them of their being too Laxe and Remiss in the exercise of their Coercive Power whereby the good and the vertuous that is the Loyal and Obedient are expos'd to the Arbitrary Violences and Oppressions of the Factious and the Turbulent Which is somewhat worse than suffering under the Tyranny of a Lawful Power because that has always some right in what it does Another thing which is a worse inconvenience than that is it exposes the Government it self to the Insolencies and Affronts of such as are bold and impudent in their disobedience For there is nothing more certain in Experience than that Impunity gives warranty and incouragement to sin So that if Authority grow a little tame and easie if they suffer the Sword to Rust in the Scabbard and the edge of it to grow Blunt for want of Vigor and Zeal you 'l see men quickly grow up from disobeying the Laws to contemn the Authority that made 'em and the very next remove's check-mate open Rebellion Especially this duty of putting the Laws in Execution belongs to all subordinate Magistrates according to the proportions of Trust and Power they share under the Government Who besides the Obligations of the Prince are bound to it by the additional Characters of Trust Law and Religion i. e. their Commission the Laws of the Land and their Oath and in some particularly the Act against Conventicles by Penal Provissions Let us extend this Lenity of ours a little farther and see what mischievous effects would attend it Let Villains alone to break your Houses ravish your Wives cut your Throats Throw off all restraints of Goals and Fetters and bonds of Peace and Behaviour and see how it will reform mens Manners Lay by the Mace and the Gown the little Pagentries of your honour Forbear to Fine and Amerce Men for neglecting your Courts and mark with what Veneration and Attendance you
requisiteness of outward Reverence and Decency in all the solemn concerns of Religion 1. The first kind of proof I shall bring for it shall be drawn from the constant Observation of it in all the immediate Institutes of Divine Worship in the Jewish Church Time was when men could find no better colour to mask their villany and impiety A single Text out of the Old Testament was thought sufficient to justifie the worst of Crimes Murder Robbery Sacrilege Rebellion c. against the plainest rules of our Saviour and the whole design of Religion But let any thing of that kind be alledged for the subserviency of the Churches peace and the maintenance of the splendor and decency of Religion Then Quid nobis cum Mose What is the Ceremonial Law to us 1. I do readily grant in the first place That to bring any under the necessity and obedience of that Law is directly against the liberty of the Gospel virtually to deny Christ to become in the flesh The same is to impose any of the Ceremonies there enjoyned as a part of Gods worship because there commanded by immediate vertue thereof 2. I grant farther to impose these or any other Ceremonies in Religion either as essentially good and necessary in themselves or by reason of any immediate command of Gods other than such as are of Divine appointment or as universally and immutably obligatory to mens Consciences This is not to retrieve that which St. Paul contended so against in his Epistles but to erect a new Ceremonial Law But what therefore is there no use of the Mosaick Writing to us Christians why then are they continued in the Sacred Rule May they not still be considered and inforced as far as the reason and equity of them shall extend Yes no doubt though it were in the very instances of that Law as in accommodating the Laws and Rules of the Jewish Sabbath and Temple to our Lords Day and Christian Churches This being premis'd I have no more to do but to shew you that God himself did not only enjoyn so much which is true by manifold and undeniable instances but and also that it is within the equity and reason of those Precepts Never was any Religion I think more stately and pompous erected by the most superstitious pretenders thereto and they are not usually backward in what relates to the external part the Habiliments of the Priest and the Ornaments of the Sanctuary were rich even to a degree of Gawdery Which thing I would be satisfied why they may not as well signifie decency in Religious Worship whereto they are aptly and easily improvable as any of those remoter things whereto they are generally apply'd Thus much therefore we may not be deny'd that there can be no unlawfulness simply in making such provision and appointments because God himself did once direct and enjoyn as much 'T is true as to the particular instances of his pleasure he has repeal'd these from being any longer a Law and there is a great deal of reason for it and such as may render them uncapable from ever passing into a Law again because 't is apparent they had another design peculiar and appropriate namely to prefigure signifie or exhibit such and such things But this could not be the sole reason of all those Laws because that particular end suppose the coming of Christ might have been done by fewer Ceremonies and those more simple and plain which yet God did not think so fit but made choice of such as besides their peculiar relations might indicate the decency and splendor of his Service I know not what more can be added for the illustrating of this proof unless it be the general consent and universal practice of Religious men of all kinds and in all ages for though we see but little hereof in the infancy of the Jewish and Christian Churches whereof there was one and the same reason in both viz. their Poverty but this you shall observe in both that the outward grandeur of their Religion bore always a proportion to their outward State God I doubt not was well pleased with the Worship of the Israelites in Egypt but they no sooner became possessors of any thing in the Wilderness but you find a progression in the Ceremonious part of Religion And so in Solomons days which was the Crisis of that state what surplusage and increase of utensils does he make to adorn the Temple with notwithstanding what God had said Exod. 25.40 to the contrary So in the first ages of Christianity there were no Secular honors nor settled Revenues bestowed upon the Clergy they had none of those Ornaments that after-Ages brought in at the ministring of holy Offices The places of Divine Worship for such they had hallow'd and appropriate Mr. Mede has undeniably prov'd in all the most controverted Centuries they were mean and simple but this continued no longer than and was born with the rest of their afflictions Their after-practice upon their very first freedom is an unquestionable evidence that this was the effect of their necessity not of their choice and liking I 'le conclude this point with an observation of the judicious Hooker We must not think saith he but there is some ground of reason even in nature whereby it comes to pass that no Nation under Heaven did ever suffer any weighty actions whether Civil and Temporal or Spiritual and Sacred to pass without some visible Solemnities And if this do not sufficiently conclude and prove our assertion I am sure the two following do for if I can but deduce it directly from any of the ten Commandments in the Moral Law or shew it you in express terms in the Canons of the Gospel as I make no great question I shall do both there can remain no farther cause of exception or appeal First then 1. I do affirm though this be not contained in so many words in any of the ten Commandments yet is it the principal if not sole design of one of them viz the fourth For do but take away the Ceremonial part of this precept as we must allow a great part of it to be so and there remains nothing more i. e. distinct and peculiar to this from the other three preceding commands but what do amount to our present purpose for neither the special nor the particular determination of time there expressed nor yet the manner of the rest can with any pretence of reason be accounted for any moral part of that Law for then they would have been immutably and perpetually Obligatory And if so upon what else can we fix as the moral intendment of that precept but somewhat to this or the like purpose namely that God Almighty will be publickly worship'd by stated and solemn times places and manners For whereas the design of the first Commandment is to appoint and enjoyn inward worship and of the two next to order and regulate the outward manifestations and expressions of it
will be Observed To Improve this to our Purpose What 's the near as to the higher ends of Government to burn a Fellow in the Hand for sttealing of a Sheep or a Calfe Or Truss up a poor Wretch for Committing of Burglary to the great damage of wakeing the Child and loosing a Chese There are enormities of another kind but more dangerous issue then these which are very much in your power to redress In curbing such as go about to Debauch the Minds of His Majesties good Subjects with Atheism and Faction thereby robbing him of his greatest Treasure and best security of his Government and our Peace their Affections and Consciences Such as Preach Seditiously and can't tell how to pray for the King without Libelling of him Such as dare not only Disobey but Confront Laws who not only act contrary to the Government but endeavour to Subvert it Who not only break their Superiours Injunctions but as our Saviour says of the Pharisees whose Successors they are in mischief and hypocrisie teach others to do so too And for this reason I think they ought to be punish'd and punish'd worse too Let me adde then Common Drunkards Open Whoremasters and Prophane Swearers I make no Apology for them because as my Lord Verulam has well Observ'd and he was no great friend to the Churches Exaltation as in the body Natural we dread a Wound that makes a Solutio Continui worse than Botches and Ulcers that are more painful and offensive so in the Parallel these Mens Principles lead to Schism and Rebellion and we have pretty well known their Practises which are the Solutio Continui in Church and State whereas the other are indeed against the Dignity of the Crown and Honour of Religion and do by a long Consequence weaken and by degrees dispose both Church and State to Ruine but not like Drums and Trumpets If it were only for their peevish stubbornness they deserve Punishment perhaps more than worse Offenders in another kind because the Laws do not so much Consider the Nature of an Offence in it self as its evil tendency to the Publick which because it is more and more often indangered by persons under that Guise than any other they therefore ought to proceed more severely against them than Offences in the estimation of Religion of a far more hainous Nature And for the Mobile's being scandaliz'd hereat concludes no more with me but that their Ignorance does not comprehend the Wisdom of our Laws And if what has been said seem to warp too much one way 't is not because I think better or worse of Phanaticism or Popery though to give the Devil his due we can't Charge them with such another Instance as the Late Kings Death which we could never have been quit with them for had not Oates in his Evidence made them a party in it The truth is they are as bad or worse but their Numbers and Advantages are not so great and the danger on this side was so Imminent that the very fear of the other had almost undone us And the Word Popery was like to have done us as it had done formerly as great or greater mischief then we could suffer by the thing And yet we think our selves as good Protestants as them that speak so little in so much against Popery i. e. If by Protestant we understand the Religion of the Church of England as it is by Law Established and not meerly an Anti-religion form'd in Contradiction to another If they mean such a Protestant I am none nor ever will be And 't is the thing Popery I am angry with whether I meet with it in Mariana or Buchanan Bellarmine or Knox. Of the two 't was more Creditable to disown the debt upon their death then to justifie the Rebellion as Kid and King did and the rest of them have since done upon the Gallows One thing me thinks looks intolerable from this sort of men they have not only the impudence to deny all this and some the folly to believe them innocent but they set up for the Patriots of our Liberty and the King 's best Friends and the great Bulwarks against Popery All true alike As to our Liberties If they mean the quiet enjoyment of those Rights and Properties the Kings of England have given to us by their Bounty and confirmed by their Laws when were they invaded when were they in Jeopardy but from them If they mean the putting us into a capacity of doing what we list and disobeying those Laws we do not like and disturbing the King's Peace it concerns His Majesty and those about him to look to that We well remember what fast Friends they were to the Old King for which I shall never be reconciled to them till they blush and repent But they atton'd for that by bringing in this I believe their Spleen against the Independent Party did contribute towards it But if they had been the only Instruments of his Restoration and had done it too upon the most Loyal and Generous Principles neither of which is true must that attone for all their Treasons past present and to come I for my part think them such Back Friends to the King and to Monarchy that I do not think either safe till they are disarm'd if not suppressed And as for Popery Alas They keep it out did ever any of them say or write any thing against it The Church of Rome thought fit to answer They wound the Pope they never levell'd their Arrows higher than the Church of England I 'll give you an Instance equivalent to a Demonstration When they had the Power in their own hands what new Laws or Provisions did they then make against Papists what Severities did they then execute upon them Their Zeal and Malice extended as far as to tear the Surplice rend the Prayer-Book break the Communion-Rails prophane the Altar hang the King's Party and famish sequester'd and outed Ministers but went no farther If I might guess the Heads of that Party are not governed by Conscience and Religion but by Covetousness and Ambition to rule Now what Booty will Popery afford them I believe all the Lands they have discovered yet will scarce pay one of the Prosecutors Debts But the Crown and Church-Lands would make a world of New Squires and Lords I would not be thought to speak this to abate any bodies Zeal against Popery Let Justice have its Course in the name of God but then let it be equally and impartially distributed If men Will be plotting against the King's Life and the Fundamental Establishments of the Government I value not what Religion they be of I can easily foresee a great many well meaning People will account all this as spoken against Godliness and good Men I don't much matter it for I may serve them more effectually by their dislike because I know 't is the easiest matter in the earth to wheadle the Multitude especially in Religion whom I therefore
look upon as the most Incompetent Judges of their own Good and had need be governed by those who have better Eyes and Judgments than themselves to distinguish between Truths and Colours the Necessities and Essentials of Government from the Popular Noyse of Liberty and Right I forbear to urge you any farther Let me intreat you to to be Zealous herein by all that is Sacred and Inviolable by the Duty you owe to Almighty God and to Religion not to suffer Prophaneness Superstition Faction to get any farther footing to the reproach of Christianity and hazard of Mens Souls By your Faith and Allegiance to his Majesty whose Honour and Safety is undermin'd hereby By your Love and Affections to your Mother the Church whom in Kindness and Gratitude for maintaining and asserting your Authority you ought to defend from the Furies and Insolencies of her Enemies And last of all by the Remembrance of all those horrid Impieties and Villanies Impunity and Connivance in Matters of that nature was the undoubted Cause of From the like whereof being ever involv'd under again The Good Lord of his mercy deliver us and grant that our Factions and Divisions never procure and effect those Calamitous Judgments in the midst of us which our Impieties and other Prophanations have but too justly deserved Amen Good Lord grant it for Jesus sake to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be Glory and Honour Amen SERMON II. ECCLES 5. Ch. 1. Ver. former part Keep thy foot when thou goest to the House of God LEt me do it this once though it be not usual acquaint you to rights with the design of the following Discourse And 't is this Though God Almighty do's expect the purity of our Mind and devotion of our Hearts in the Offices of Religion yet is he extremely pleas'd that it be attended with and express'd by outward Splendor and Decency A seeming odd and bold collection from a dark and antiquated Text of Scripture But your wonder and amazement will be soon over when you shall understand 1. That this is the Genuine purport of the expressions in my Text And 2. That it continues to oblige us now under the Evangelick administration 1. Then I do affirm that this is no forc'd Comment there needs no violence nor rack to be put to my Text to extort this sense but 't is the plain meaning of the words which will appear as plain if we but compare this with two other Texts of Scripture the one part of the Proposition from the one and the other from the other Our Saviours discourse with St. Peter in the 13th Chapter of St. John's Gospel the 6th and 10th Verses inclusive about washing his feet i. e. purging his affections does sufficiently clear that part viz. inward purity to be compriz'd in the words and is a farther proof of the necessity of it And The other part viz. of outward Reverence is as clear from the words of God to Moses in the 3d. Ch. of Exodus 5th Verse commanding him to put off his Shooes from off his feet by reason of the holiness of the place because of Gods special presence A Rite and Ceremony famous enough both as to use and signification among the Oriental Nations Now if we would expound this in the Analogy what putting off the Shoes was to them a thing altogether unpractis'd with us the same is uncovering of the Head with us a thing with them abominable And if we explain this by a Synecdoche speciei comprizing the whole kind under one instance this must be the necessary result of the expressions in my Text that we should use all possible Reverence and Decency when we are about the Service of God not excluding the other which yet is but the Symbolick and Mystical signification 2. But how in the second place if we are not under the Obligation of this Precept That I am next to shew you how far we are or are not In applying all the peculiar cases of the Jewish Church in the Old Testament we observe this Rule We do not urge them in the Letter and prime intention but only in the equity and analogy thereof whatsoever i. e is of moral use in them belongs to us And this I justifie from two Instances the first is that of St. Paul in the 1st of Corinth 9th Chap. 13 14. Verses where he infers the maintenance of our Clergy from theirs as he had done before at the 9th Verse from a precept more remote than that viz. the not muzling the Ox. The other Instance and which is very proper to our present design is that of our Saviour in the 21st of St. Matthew 12 13 Verses where having driv'n those that bought and sold in the Temple out of it Suffer me to observe by the by that this was the only case in which we read he exercis'd a Jurisdiction of this kind and in this he did it twice Once at the coming in to his Ministerial Office John 2.15 and here at the going out both for the sacrilegious prophanation of the place of Gods Worship To vindicate himself he refers them to the words of God by the Prophet Isaiah Chap. 56. Verse 7. which words as they are applied by our Saviour belong not to the Jewish Temple but to the Gentil Oratory or else they would not make at all to our or his purpose And because the stress of the Argument lies there let me make that out clear to you You must know that the furious zeal of the Jews was so great that they would not suffer an Vncircumcised person to enter into the Temple Than which nothing can be more evident from St. Paul's case Acts 21.28 And Josephus tells us they would not suffer Agrippa's Palace to look into it for fear of prophaning it Understand it therefore of that part of the Temple which was called the Court of the Gentils where the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Proselytes of the gate worshiped And this our Saviour would not suffer to be prophan'd by common usages no not under a Religious pretence the design being only to furnish people with those necessary provisions which the Law enjoyn'd and which many by reason of their distant habitations could not bring with them From both which Instances we collect our general proposition viz that we are so far under the obligation of the Jewish precepts as they are capable of moral improvement and from the latter we gain thus much of our particular assertion that God abhors all indecencies and prophanations of his Worship And I doubt not by that time we have considered what other proofs I have to confirm it by it will appear that this injunction of Reverence farther than the particular right or manner of expressing it was none of the strict ceremonial or appropriate Laws of that Religion But 1. Begin we with the former part viz. the necessity of inward purity and the spirituality of Divine Worship I know none so vain as to