her fruit Then neighbours if you desire the cry of our poore to cease and the judgements of God to forbear us let us give God his due and respect his house There was a time when our holy fathers spared no cost nor labour to build Gods houses now let us take our time to adorn them as many of our devout brethren have begun So forward were good people in the old world to this service that Moses made proclamation to stay their devotions as we reade in Exod. 36. O that but half this willing heart were among us Christians to shew our love to God in this kinde The second office of holinesse is a holy preparation before we enter Gods house This is taught by Solomon Eccles. 5. 1. Take heed to thy foot when thou entrest into the house of God as if it had been said Thou canst not enter as thou oughtest without a preventing and preparing thought Why sayest thou not to thy self Whither goest thou what art thou about to do If thou sayest To serve God then consider what God is Is he not the maker of all things and the mover of all things made canst thou see any thing that is not his canst thou heare any thing which his hand hath not made canst thou wear any thing which his fingers have not spunne canst thou set thy foot on that which his power hath not founded All this week before thou hast sitten at his table and tasted of his cates and canst thou come at any time to his house to thank him for all this and not deeply consider what thou art to do The third office of holinesse is To reverence Gods Sanctuarie and as by other acts of reverence so by keeping off our hats while we stay in it whether there be Service or no Service and this reverence is commanded in generall Levit. 19. after such an emphaticall manner as if the breach of it were equall to the sinne of not keeping the fourth commandment for they are joyned together both in the same precept vers 30. Ye shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my Sanctuarie I am the Lord. Where ye see why God commands his house to be reverenced because it is his house and the honour that is done in it and to it is done to himself I am the Lord. As the good usage which we give to the family of a nobleman reflecteth from the family to the nobleman so is it between God and his house When we go into our kings chamber where stands his chair of state though the king himself be not there yet we put off and are uncovered in remembrance of his majestie but our heavenly King as he is in all places because he is infinite so he is in this his palace by a more speciall resemblance of his holinesse but then chiefly when Gods people are met together there for Gods house is a little heaven on earth here dwels the Father Sonne and holy Ghost the Father in receiving our devotions the Sonne in directing them and the holy Ghost in sanctifying them Thus saith the Sonne of God Where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them Thou wilt say I cannot see either Father Sonne or holy Ghost in this place I answer God is a Spirit therefore not to be seen with bodily eyes yet hath he given thee bodily eyes to inform thy spirituall eyes Seest thou not Gods Minister here speaking to God and bowing his knees to him when he speaks Seest thou not the Sonne of Gods seat here the holy Altar at the upper end of this house and seest thou not the holy Font at the nether end where the holy Ghost is alwaies ready to receive all into his kingdome If the Sonne and holy Ghosts seats be at both ends of this house must not the Father needs be all the house over because both Sonne and holy Ghost proceed from him and are but one Spirit and one God Moses saith The Lord our God is one Lord. He is in the light that shines in at the window he is in thy breath by which thou prayest and speakest Thou mayst say further I cannot see the holy angels here attending on him Wilt thou beleeve no more then thou canst see then art thou no better then S. Thomas in this case to whom our Lord preferreth all them that beleeve have not seen See with S. Pauls eies in the 1. Cor. 11. 10. where men are directed to be uncovered on their heads in Gods house women to be covered because of the angels that is to say lest the holy angels in the congregation should be offended at the womens irreverent carriage with bare heads and long hair and at the mens hats on their heads Wherefore good fellow-brethren if you respect God and his holy place have a speciall care to maintain good orders and manners in it lest God and his holy angels be offended at us To conclude as all the holy saints in heaven behold Gods face there so all the saints of the earth are here in this lower heaven beholding the beauty of his holinesse Now if God be here his seat here his angels here his saints here his word and worship here then what reverence and holinesse becometh this house above all places in the world Wert thou in the kings chamber the king there speaking to thee and thou to the king how wouldest thou tremble what passions wouldest thou have within thee what thoughts of humilitie what cares of oversights But because thou canst see none but thy neighbours here here thou art bold and servest God with lesse fear then men serve the work of his fingers Si quis regem hominem saith Erasmus alloquuturus circumstante procerum coronâ nec caput aperiat nec genu flectat non jam pro rustico sed pro insano ab omnibus haberetur Quale est ergò illîc opertum habere caput erecta genua ubi Rex adest ille regū immortalis immortalitatis largitor ubi vener abundi circumstant aetherei spiritus nec refert si eos non vides vident illi te nec minùs certum est illos adesse quà m si videres illos oculis corporeis It skilleth not whether thou seest them when as they see thee for it is as certain that angels are present in Gods house at such times as if thou sawest them with thy bodily eyes Open therefore all thy eyes the eyes of thy minde and the eyes of thy body the eyes of thy body to behold the outward beauty of this house in divine service and the eyes of thy soul to behold the inward beauty of Gods holinesse majesty and greatnesse and thou canst not choose but be reverent more then our usuall manner is The 4 sort of reverence and office of this holinesse beseeming Gods house is at the entring in before we take our seats to bend the knee and to bowe our body to him
inward man This delight is the wills fulnesse often spoken of in the 119 Psalme O how I love thy law it is my meditation all the day long Again Therein is my delight I will observe it with my whole heart Now the whole is the fulnesse of a thing therefore there is an inward fulfilling of Gods will Notwithstanding we must not here rest but proceed to the outward also because the bodie is a part of the whole and so bound by the law to follow its inward principle By this outward fulfilling God is more glorified to the eye of the world and without the outward the inward is not seen wherefore upon every good opportunitie they ought to go both together But here we must take knowledge that the bodie in its own principle is so farre from fulfilling Gods law that it is a contrary law to it and is called of the Apostle the law of the members and the law of sinne and of death I see another law in my members warring against the law of my minde and leading me into captivitie to the law of sinne which is in my members That is to say as S. Augustine expoundeth it captivare conantem endeavouring to leade me into captivitie to the law of sinne in my members How may we be freed from this by another law that is the law of the minde called the law of the Spirit of life Rom. 8. 2. For the law of the Spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sinne and of death Then the law of the members cannot hold us in captivitie Here therefore come to be considered of us three laws in Gods word expressed The first is that which is called the law of God and this is the glasse of our lives shewing what we should do and what we should not do The second is called the law of the members and the law of sinne and of death because it labours and endeavours to draw us to sinne and to death And this is concupiscence giving precepts and motions for sinne which in the unregenerate draweth death after it The third is the law of the minde called of S. Paul Rom. 8. 2. the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus And this law is bestowed upon us habitually in baptisme and is nothing else but holy charitie which sanctifieth by the power of the holy Ghost and purifieth the minde before God and is opposite to concupiscence And because this is the strongest law and seated in the minde which is mans form and principle therefore this both freeth from the law of the members and of sinne also fulfilleth the law of God which is mans conformity with him And this is confirmed by that main conclusion Charitas est legis plenitudo Charitie is the fulnesse or fulfilling of the law Which is thus to be understood saith S. Augustine Diffunditur in corde charitas Dei unde fiat legis plenitudo non per vires arbitrii quod est in nobis sed per Spiritum sanctum qui datus est nobis The love of God is diffused in our hearts from whence proceeds the laws fulfilling not by the power of free-will which is in us but by the holy Ghost which is given to us It may be objected that the law of the members or concupiscence is imputed by God to the whole man being it is opposite and rebells against the law of the Spirit I answer that the sinne of the flesh is not imputed to the whole man because the flesh is not yet redeemed in execution according to that of the Apostle Rom. 8. 23. But we also which have the first-fruits of the Spirit that is the law of the Spirit of life in our mindes by which we are sanctified and consecrated to God even we do mourn in our selves waiting for the adoption the redemption of our bodies that is to say the deliverance of our bodies from concupiscence which is thus done saith S. Augustine Liberari à corpore mortis est omni sanato languore concupiscentiae carnis non ad poenam recipere corpus sed ad gloriam non enim à corpore mortis impii liberabuntur unquam quibus in resurrectione eadem corpora ad aeterna tormenta reddentur To be freed from this bodie of death is to heal all the languour or infirmitie of lust in the flesh and not to receive the bodie to pain but glory in the citie of God for the wicked shall never be freed from this bodie of death to whom the same bodies at the resurrection shall be restored to suffer everlasting torments And the reason why God hath not redeemed or delivered our bodies is because God hath ordained that man should not attain his end and perfection without difficultie or at one instant as the angels did but to go to heavens happinesse by much opposition and by many sighs and sorrows as our head hath done before us by many sufferings and that according to the difference of every ones conflict and striving they might be rewarded with the different orders of the glorious angels For which cause all they who have generous mindes according to the dispensation of grace must put on in the way of godlinesse the best that they can knowing with the Apostle that their labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. And from hence it will follow that whereas Christians have longer time and more difficulties to go to their end then the angels had therefore their rewards shall be greater and more then theirs though their grace be more and greater then that of Christians Wherefore when they both shall meet there shall be a blessed harmonie and sweet rejoycing in God together And to shew a little further the difference between the angels and mens travell toward the end this shall appeare from mans combate under the three laws warring one against another The law of the members challengeth the law of the minde and spirit and the law of the minde and spirit challengeth the law of the members and the law of God challengeth both saying Thou law of spirit and grace comest too short for mans salvation and thou law of members art out of measure sinfull and therefore killing What shall the distressed conscience now do when so many fists are one upon another in one man beside the unknown stratagems of the devil the multitude of the worlds incursions and the manifold falls into sinne O the fears the cares and the labours Is not here S. Pauls exclamation O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death At last comes in our captain to our comfort and then the Apostle saith I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Then take we heart and say further with the same Then I my self with the minde serve the law of God but with the flesh the law of sinne The Saviour of the world strikes in with
his bountifulnesse and patience and long sufferance not knowing that the goodnesse of God leadeth thee to repentance Having spoken of Gods will as it is antecedent and of signe now it followeth to speak of it as it is of good pleasure and of consequent The will of Gods good pleasure is expressed in the 135 Psalme vers 6. Whatsoever the Lord pleased that did he in heaven and in earth in the seas and in all deep places This is Gods proper and essentiall will first because it is of the nature of the will to do of pleasure and next because it is most generall and not restrained to any place or person His will of signe is not alwaies done because it is his will for men and not for himself respectively Therefore his precepts are broken his prohibitions slighted his counsels not regarded but his will of good pleasure is above the law of the Medes and Persians this cannot be put by because it is divina 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lastly after that God hath shewed man all his favours by his will of signe and word revealed to which he addeth the effects of his grace expressed by S. Prosper in these seven particulars perswading by exhortations admonishing by examples terrifying by dangers inciting by miracles giving understanding inspiring counsel and lightning the heart with faiths affections When all these are despised and rejected then God proceedeth with his will consequent which is the will of his justice First he would have all men to be saved by his will antecedent but because all men will not consent to this therefore to maintain mans free-will God will not save all in effect but the same will turneth from mercie to justice which before turned from justice to mercie and saith Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels Neither is Gods will altered nor broken because it turneth from mercie to judgement for that it still retaineth its former mercie and man his former resistance to receive it How often saith our Saviour would I have gathered thy children together even as a hen gathereth her chickens but ye would not If God hath not bound man to one object but given him free-will to turn from object to object according to reasons rule then should God be bound and man free The will of God is wider then all wills all his divine attributes may rest in it his truth his wisdome his justice his mercie his power his pleasure and displeasure yea all the contraries that are in the world are within it and lie under it as life and death sicknesse and health good and evil salvation and damnation and without this there could be no world Notwithstanding though Gods will be never so wide and comprehensive yet it imposeth no necessitie upon mans will because all will by Gods creation is free and if it were not free it were no will Necessitie and will are incompatibilia they cannot stand together Nature and things without will are of a strait disposition therefore for them God hath ordained necessitie and determined them to one thing but mans will because it is the image of Gods will is wide and capacious and therefore he hath provided for it the ocean of contingencie He hath set fire and water before thee saith Ecclesiasticus stretch out thy hand unto which thou wilt Before man is life and death good and evil and whether him liketh shall be given him Now no man can justly complain while all things are set before him and he hath free choice to all Election expelleth necessitie and necessitie thrusteth out election If mans will were not free from necessitie then there could neither be merit nor demerit that is neither reward nor punishment and then the two great streams of Gods bountie and justice should be dried up but now he hath given to man free-will and to maintain this he hath ordained contingencie and added his grace to aid his will that there might be no defect on his part for freedome naturall to good Theologicall is not freedome but stubbornnesse without grace And this grace and goodnesse of God as it ordereth and aideth things naturall to their naturall ends so it ordereth and aideth man to his supernaturall end which is to live with his God in heaven And this goodnesse of grace is like to the vertuous magnet the most remarkable of all stones the guide of the diall and the direction for sea-travell for as the pin and needle of the diall being toucht with it the needle will stand no way but north and south so the heart of man being toucht with Gods grace in his regeneration will stand no way but to heaven-ward And this touch is that which Divines call the habit of charitie alwaies enclining and bending to heaven and heavenly things through all the rubs of the world Though the toucht needle for a while is shaken and justled from its former due station yet as soon as the shaking is over it returneth instantly to the same point right so though the heart be for a time justled either by the lust of the flesh or the lust of the eyes or the pride of life from its right standing yet as soon as the force is over presently it returneth to its former station to heaven-ward And the onely reason is the touch of Gods goodnesse in the regenerate soul to which above all things mans heart is beholding And this goodnesse proceedeth from the holy Ghost as truth proceedeth from the Sonne of God for as the Sonne is the Fathers essentiall truth so the holy Ghost is the Fathers and the Sonnes essentiall goodnesse And as the holy Ghost is the increate goodnesse of God in himself so love and charitie is the create goodnesse of the holy Ghost in man And untill this be wrought in us by the holy Spirit we may be men and true men but we cannot be good men nor for the kingdome of heaven Therefore S. Augustine saith Sola charitas dividit inter filios regni filios aeternae damnationis So excellent is charitie that God is called by it 1 John 4. 8. God is charitie And so good is it that Divines call it grace per Antonomasiam because it is the principall grace And S. Paul calleth it the greatest The greatest of these is charitie Yea so great is it that no good can be done without it because it is the cause impulsive of every good action You may beleeve without it but then your belief is not good because it wanteth his right end which must proceed from charities election and direction Therefore in this sense S. Paul gives faiths action to charitie It beleeveth all things it hopeth all things c. Why because it enliveneth faith and all other vertues by giving spirit unto them Faith is the candle to charitie and sheweth her light how to work according to Gods word but charitie being the impulse of the
56. 7. My house shall be called an house of prayer and our Lord in the Gospel confirmeth it Wherefore if God will heare the prayers of his people in all places then he will heare them sooner and with greater respect in his own house which is specially dedicated to prayer and his service Neither doth this any way derogate from his ubiquity but from his being ubique uniformiter for as his mercy although it is over all his works yet is it not equally in hell and in heaven or the measure of his justice equally poured forth upon saints and angels as upon the children of disobedience so likewise although this be Gods attribute to be every where yet he is not every where alike both in regard of the promise of his especiall presence made in Scripture in such houses consecrated to his name by which they become more especially holy as also because in this house God will heare for the presence of his Sonne For as S. Chrysostome saith Where Christ is in the Eucharist there is no want of angels where such a King is and such princes are there is a heavenly palace nay heaven it self It followeth now to shew what God is and that he is the great owner of this house Great is Gods house but greater is the owner because no house can hold him therefore my Text useth an exclamation which intimateth a great entity Holinesse becometh thy house O Lord God is far greater then his house for he not onely dwelleth in his house but in the hearts of men in the intelligences of angels and in all other creatures And because nothing can contain him he dwelleth in himself most perfectly Of all places the prophet David speaketh Whither shall I go from thy spirit or whither shall I flee from thy presence If I ascend up to heaven thou art there if I make my bed in the grave thou art there also If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea even there shall thy hand leade me and thy right hand shall hold me And in Isa. 66. 1. God challengeth the whole world for his house Heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool what house will you build for me saith the Lord hath not my hand made all these things Wherefore when we come to worship God in his house we must bring this thought with us to surrender up all our own thoughts of serving him and desire him to ayd us with his holy Spirit And when after this we have done our lowliest service and served him with our best devotions yet we must say Lord we can never serve thee enough because thou art infinite and we uncapable of thy greatnesse and worthinesse Thus farre have I spoken of God and his house but before we enter it it is fit to know our selves and how we are to be qualified for it From the highest to the lowest alas we are all poore creatures At the first originally we were born abroad in the fields our mothers name was the earth and our fathers name was nothing for from nothing God made all his creatures according to that in Heb. 11. 3. So that things which are seen were not made of things which appeare Seeing then we are so poorely descended what shall we do we must go to service we must seek some good house for our preferment The best house in the world is Gods house for he is owner of heaven and earth and able to advance all But what are the orders of this house what will here give content Holinesse becometh thy house O Lord. Would we know what this holinesse is It is no common but a superlative honour it is Gods honour which we call godlinesse and holinesse common honour belongs to all that have Gods image in them but holinesse reflecteth onely upon the high and mighty God For this cause our Saviour hath taught us to say Hallowed which is more then Honoured be thy name according to the Psalme Holy and reverend is his name And this holinesse respective to Gods house consisteth of certain holy offices The first is To adorn and beautifie it fit for his greatnesse as himself gave pattern in beautifying his tabernacle there was gold and silver precious stones silks with all precious colours the most choice woods and all things framed with the best cunning that God inspired Bezaleel and Aholiab and all the wise-hearted of that time Now to prosecute S. Pauls argument if that which was to be done away was glorious much more is that to be glorious which is to remain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Dei domus sort well together comelinesse and holinesse joyn hand with each other Thus saith my Text Holinesse becometh thy house O Lord. This office equity exacteth of us for seeing God hath made the worlds great ornament and our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our little world for our honour and use should not we proportion a due ornament for his house and service A mans house is his state and the greatest men are esteemed by it And according to this Ezra saith Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers which hath put into the kings heart to beautifie the house of our God that is in Jerusalem And the Psalmist saith Worship the Lord in the beauty of holinesse that is to say in the beautified sanctuary or as the Geneva translation expoundeth in the glorious Sanctuary But how are our Sanctuaries about us for the most part beautified If basenesse were not more then want of beauty I would hold my peace One beauty hath beat out another the beauty of preaching which is a beauty too hath preacht away the beauty of holinesse for if men may have a sermon prayer and church-service with the ornaments of Gods house may fit abroad in the cold Alas that the daughters should drive away the mothers Is it not a shame for us to see the houses of knights and gentlemen sweeter kept and better adorned then the houses of the King of heaven To the one one mans means is sufficient to the other the means of a whole town is liable and yet this latter nothing so beautified as the other is is not this a second shame Our Saviour telleth us that in his Fathers house there are many mansions Shall we look for glorious mansions in the kingdome of heaven and will we not prepare comely mansions in the kingdomes of the earth Doth not God challenge us where he challengeth his chosen people Is it time for you to dwell in your cieled houses and this house to lie waste Gods judgement follows Ye looked for much and lo it came to little and when ye brought it home I did blow upon it and why saith the Lord of hosts because of my house that is waste and ye come every man to his own house Therefore the heaven over you stayed it self from dew and the earth stayed
captive to the law of sinne which is in my members But the law of the Spirit freeth from the law of the flesh Rom. 8. 2. Therefore the Apostle saith further Gal. 5. 23. Against such there is no law And this freeing law of the Spirit is nothing but charitie as S. Augustine saith Id agit gratia ut dilectione impleantur mandata Dei quae timore non poterant To draw to an end Were the law impossible to be kept then all the exhortations and threatnings in Gods word should be idle then all mens labours would wax lazie and then good life which is after the rule would be exiled for that no man would strive against the stream Wherefore great enemies are they to Christians growth and reward in the way of godlinesse which are against this doctrine they are like to the man in the parable who laid up his money in a napkin and at last had it taken from him A surplus argument I have from the unworthinesse of them that are against the argument Origen in his ninth homilie upon Joshua giveth this censure that they are to be compared to women which say that Gods commandments cannot be kept Indeed I grant that it is easier for flesh and bloud to break Gods law then to keep it But when God hath for man ordained it as his highest form promised his blessing and helping hand unto it and set a kingdome and a crown at the end of it they are all base-minded that will not bring their best endeavours to it Hearken to Jehoshaphats good counsel in 2. Chron. 19. 11. Be of good courage and do it and God shall be with the good Hearken we further to Gods encouragement to good Joshua There shall not a man be able to withstand thee all the dayes of thy life as I was with Moses so will I be with thee I will not fail thee nor forsake thee Lastly let us listen to Christs counsell and encouragement for us all Matth. 28. 20. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and lo I am with you alway unto the end of the world Many examples also have we of those that fulfilled Gods law by scriptures warrant But to shunne tediousnesse I will use onely two couples the first of Enoch and Elias who so walked with God on earth that they are now translated to walk with God in heaven The second is that of Zacharie and his wife Elizabeth of whom it is thus written Luke 1. 6. And they were both just before God walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blamelesse If they lived so well then in the time of the law what may we do now in the time of grace when the law of the Spirit reigneth and when the light of the moon is as the light of the sunne and the light of the sunne is seven-fold and like the light of seven dayes Now though I hold this in thesi that Gods law might not be impeached his grace not shortned nor good endeavours hindered yet will I be no patron to any that shall presume and boast of it For my self I will ever put it off to others and give all the praise of my wayes to God onely for pride is the laws break and humilitie is a member of its fulfilling Wherefore when I have done all that I can I will pray with the Publicane God be mercifull to me a sinner Thus in condemning my self I shall be justified by the law it self James 4. 10. Cast down your selves before the Lord and he will lift you up Toward the godly mercie and justice go both together Therefore with the Psalmist will I sing My song shall be of mercie and judgement unto thee O Lord will I sing Again All the paths of the Lord are mercie and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies To which S. Leo exhorteth very well saying Non comprehendi potest quod promittitur nisi custoditum fuerit quod jubetur We cannot attain to that which is promised unlesse we observe that which is commanded But because without the grace and mercy of God this we cannot do he addeth further upon the words of our Saviour BE YE HOLY AS I AM HOLY c. thus Cùm videtur difficile esse quod jubeo ad jubentem recurrite ut unde datur praeceptum praestetur auxilium Seeing it seems difficult which I do command run for aid to the commander that from whence the precept is enjoyned help of accomplishing may be afforded Which he that of nothing made us and by rebellion fallen redeemed us grant through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen FINIS Theologia amantis Deum OR A TREATISE OF THE DIVINE ATTRIBUTES S. LEO Serm. 1. de Pentecost Etsi nemo de Deo potest explicare quod est nemo audeat affirmare quod non est excusabilius enim est de natura ineffabili non eloqui digna quà m definire contraria TO speak of Gods greatnesse what flesh can but tremble while he is the Transcendent incomprehensible S. Thomas teacheth that we cannot speak of him properly but by a proportion from things created And Dionyfius sheweth in the fourth chapter of his mysticall Theologie that all things are more truely denied then affirmed of him it is understood of mans and not of Gods affirmations The reason is for that no man can rightly speak of that which he never saw and God saith No man shall see me and live Why because he is incomprehensible as Athanasius hath in his Creed For as the sunne being gazed on destroyeth the eye-sight so he that striveth to comprehend his Maker the brightnesse of his Majestie will break his life The Sonne of God saith No man hath seen God at any time the onely begotten Sonne which is in the bosome of the Father he hath declared him Then so farre as he speaketh we may speak with him or speak consectaries to his sayings because he being in his Fathers bosome inwardly knoweth him As Jacob when he wrestled with God would not let him go till he had blessed him and as the Philistines could not finde out Samsons riddle till they had plowed with his heifer no more can we finde out the mysteries of God unlesse we plow with his Spirit and wrestle with him by prayer This being done then God will blesse us as he blessed Jacob and then he will shew us his hinder parts as he did unto Moses by created means These he expresseth to us by his divine attributes whereof the foundation is his substance or essence And this Essence God challengeth as his name to be known by for when Moses demanded of God his name he told him it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth essence I am or will be So that to be properly belongs to God from whom all things have their being And this is seconded by these sayings of Gods word Isai.
hearest carrie it home with thee and with the noble Bereans search in Gods word whether it may not stand with it and further because thou art a private man and S. Peter teacheth that no scripture is of any private interpretation therefore thou art not to rest in thine own sense but thou must go further to the preachers fellows and to them whose authority is prevalent in the Church and require their judgement because S. Paul saith The spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets and if the matter be too hard for them then thou must go to the Bishops who are Gods high priests and ask of them as we are directed in Deut. 17. Devotion as hath been said is the soul to prayer and the rest of Gods service because it is the daughter of the mother-vertue Charitie and this is a cheerfull and free giving of our selves to Gods service as his houshold servants Therefore this is the speciall act of religion And this devotion is derived à voto from a vow and is a frank gift and free binding of our selves unto it and a simile of this we have in Mephibosheth who when king David had awarded his lands to be divided between him and his servant Ziba gave all from himself for Davids sake saying Let him take all seeing my lord the king is come home in peace According to this when we consider what God hath done for us as Mephibosheth remembred what king David had done for him when we remember that he hath not onely made us but after this redeemed and saved us when we were but dead men before him as Mephibosheth and his fathers house were before king David and when we remember further that in his Sonne Christ he hath taken us as his own sonnes to be at his own table therefore now we are willing to forsake all for his sake to let the world and Ziba take all and to give our selves wholly to his service A second motive to this devotion is the consideration of our own defects For when we finde our selves too weak to persist in this purchased grace without his speciall aid we relinquish our own strength and providence to betake us to his protection and so we turn to be his household servants And because prayer is the principall mean to lay hold on Gods help therefore herein specially our devotion in Gods house is occupied And for that many after they have made good vowes by the worlds avocations are called off therefore my Text tells me that this holy service must not be for a time but for ever Holinesse becometh thy house O Lord for ever God is alwaies the same as saith the Psalmist Thou art the same and thy yeares fail not The proverb is Semper idem Wherefore if we be not the same alwaies to him as he is to us if we fail to serve him he will fail to save us because he is alwaies the same as well just as mercifull S. Jude teacheth that the angels which kept not their first habitation God hath reserved in everlasting chains to the judgement of the great day Of how much more punishment shall they be worthy which fall upon fall and finally fall away The angels fell but once and were immediately cast down but loose and carelesse men fall from God twice first in Adam whereby we have all warning and secondly in themselves in which if without repentance they persist then is grace contemned and their falling from God confirmed The devout Anna leadeth us a better example for she being a widow of about fourescore and foure yeares departed not from the Temple but served God with fastings and prayers night and day She would not go out of it but many of us will seldome come at it especially upon Saints dayes and fasting dayes when God should be served with greatest humiliation and strongest devotion because then the Saints in heaven joyn with us Joyn with us will you say how know you that Thus because in Wis. 3. 1. it is said The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God but Gods hand is ever in action therefore the souls departed must be so too What are they doing because they are of our body which is Christs Church they are in continuall care for us because S. Paul saith that the members should have the same care one for another What is their care in action it can be nothing but prayer for us because they themselves are past danger therefore all their desires are for us And this is represented after some manner by Gods ordinance towards the holy nation in getting the earthly Canaan for God would not give to the two tribes and half the land of Gilead but upon condition that they should aid the rest of their brethren and go armed with them into Canaan untill they were in as quiet possession as themselves Now if the Saints in heaven after their manner aid us with their prayers shall we be so base-minded as not to pray with them O ingratitude neither fit for heaven nor earth The Church our mother hath ordained holy-dayes to God for them to acknowledge their pains and labours which they took for Gods glory and our good before they went from us then let us upon these dayes blesse and praise God for them These dayes are the Saints obsequies their feast dayes their dayes of triumph O let us rejoyce with them let us reverence their memories let us imitate their vertues let there be a holy necessitude between them and us let us not be strangers We are all of the holy bloud and the bloud-royall we are all of Christs body therefore let us joyn together that God may be served of us the stronger In Cathedrall and Collegiate churches they serve God every day in the week this is the continuall burnt-offering commanded Exod. 29. In our countrey-churches we are commanded to serve God so too specially adding every Wednesday and every Friday the holy Letanie on Wednesday in memoriall of our Lords arraignment and on Friday in remembrance of his precious death And although in our particular churches we have not the people to attend the continuall burnt-offering in regard of secular businesse yet the priest is to do it and for the people This serveth to teach us that though we be not alwayes in the Temple as Anna was yet the Altar of our hearts should never be cold towards God nor the fire of his love at any time go out but alwaies burn in prayer and meditation and holy desires as God gave in charge by the figure Levit. 6. 12. The fire shall ever burn upon the Altar and never go out And according to this in the new law S. Paul saith Pray continually or without ceasing that is to say upon all occasions offered and again Praying alwayes with all prayer and supplication in the spirit In the old law were two principall sacrifices Juge
sacrificium holocaustum the continuall burnt-offering and the whole burnt-offering The whole burnt-offering teacheth that seeing God saveth us not in parts or halves but in whole therefore we should serve him also in whole with all that we have with soul body and goods The continuall burnt-offering preacheth to us that whereas God is good unto us not at spirts and whiles but perpetually therefore we should at all times be for him continually in habit and as often as we can in action in the morning in the evening at midnight and at noon-day and this the Prophet David comprehendeth in the compleat number of seven Psal. 119. 164. Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgements To conclude thus our Church by the continuall service daily hath brought religion into a practise among us but our Solisermonists and Solifidians do what they can to dissipate it for so they may have a sermon or two on the Lords day or other they take no thought for the weekly service nor other good works because faith falsly so called onely supplieth all to these fruitlesse men Holinesse becomeeth thy house O LORD for ever HAving shewed the holinesse that becometh Gods house now I must lay out the unholinesse which unbeseemeth it because things contrarie cannot stand together comelinesse with uncomelinesse will not agree The first kinde of unholinesse is a contrarie preparation to come to this house in vain glory ostentation in that manner ordinarily which S. Hierome renders of their goings into Gods house whom the Prophet Amos pronounceth a wo against namely qui pompaticè ingrediuntur domum Israel who come in hither with stiffe necks proud gates and unhumbled bodies in gradiendo videntur quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I veluti 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Clemens Alexandrinus hath it and seem to march as if they would exactly measure out the earth by their mincing or else leade some pompous train upon the stage Our Prophet saith Holinesse becometh this house but these take more care for braverie the newest fashions and the finest attires that can be bought for money for here we are lookt upon We should come hither to serve God but these come to shew themselves Knowest thou whose house this is knowest thou before whom thou comest hither is he not thy Maker Shall we then come before our Maker onely in our own making Shall we present our selves to his Majestie in our own majestie No let us come hither with humilitie in the most modest manner that may be It is holinesse lowlinesse the souls beautie that Gods eies are delighted in The Prophet Isaiah saith The high looks of man shall be humbled and the loftinesse of men shall be abased and the Lord onely shall be exalted in that day This house is Gods house and this day is Gods day here therefore let us exalt him and humble our selves Keep thy braverie rather for fairs and markets save thy new fashions and sumptuous dressings for great mens houses Thus saith our Saviour They which wear soft clothing are in kings houses Then suit the world with the world and Gods house with holinesse I am not so cynicall as to take from men and women their distinctions that we should not know the mistresse from the maid nor the maid from the mistresse This the angels dislike for they keep their order one above another Under them we see again how God hath not clothed the flowers alike but hath given more beautie to some and sweeter smell to others So let us keep our sorts and orders let us not make our selves better then we are and when we are in our best and richest let us be in our own eyes lowliest especially when we come before God This is comely The second kinde of uncomelinesse is that of men in this house who when Gods Minister is not in place and sometime when he is in place in stead of prayer and meditation in stead of turning the leaves of their book turn face to face and confabulate one with another as if they were in a faire or market This is like to the tables of the money-changers and the seats of the dove-sellers which Christ in his time threw out of the Temple Neighbours I am not here to flatter you nor so mean as to fear you I am Gods Minister to tell you of your faults and to speak for God and his house Let these things be amended they are neither holy nor comely S. Chrysostome in his 36 homily upon the 1. Corinth saith It is not lawfull in the Church to speak to our neighbour he means about secular businesse His words are emphaticall and therefore I will cite them at large 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is not lawfull to speak unto a neighbour or take acquaintance of an old friend in the Church as elsewhere but these things are to be done out of it and that for very good reason for the Church is not a barbours or apothecaries shop neither a place to plead in but a place of angels and archangels the palace of God yea heaven it self Therefore it is most fit that the best manners and respects possible should be maintained in it Thirdly as men profane Gods house at their coming in so they serve it before their going out Two or three or more will sit talking still upon their own matters as though Gods house were now changed and things set apart for his service may as well serve our private busines This common talk is fitter for other places then for the King of heavens palace As we fanne the darnell from the wheat so we must winnow all profane speeches out of the house of prayer You will say Our speeches are not profane Then know you what profanenesse is Is it any thing but what is common in respect of things sacred as S. Peter expresseth it Acts 10. 14. Lord I have never eaten any thing which is common or unclean And thus Esau is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 12. 16. a profane person one that was for any thing I speak not against an orderly conference without brawling in parleying about the good of Gods house about the good of the Parish or for the poore and such like actions of piety and devotion for these are warranted 1. Cor. 16. 2. I speak onely against unnecessarie confabulations and for common matters they are fittest for common places Fourthly as some profane Gods house with their common talk so some profane it by their going forth with their hats on their heads as though when Gods service is done then Gods house is no more Gods house Such think that Gods house is like to our common houses Therefore if they come either before or after service they think no more reverence is to be shewed Yet still it is Gods house and he never is out of it and therefore still to be respected Fifthly Gods house is profaned by such as sit in