THe prime end of the Creature, is the glory of the Crea­tour: this end can­not bee attained, without the preseruation of the Crea­ture: The common good of the whole world in generall, and of eue­ry part and Common-wealth in par­ticular. [Page 2] Vpon this ground (all acti­ons receiuing perfection from their end) all vnderstanding men haue beene wont to Praeface all great Con­sultations for the common good, with some such religious Acts, as did best conduce to the glory of God. A Ioue Principium, was the law of Nature; the Gentiles were wont to begin from their Altars and their O­racles. It was euer the stile of the Ciuill Law to begin, A Deo optimo maximo; and our old Saxon Lawes, had the ten great Praecepts of the De­calogue prefixed in their Front. But Gods Children euer vsed especially to consult vvith GOD, to auspicate all their solemne Actions with Pray­ers, fastings, sacrifices, Sacraments; making their Creatour, who is the Alpha and Omega of all Creatures, the beginning and the end of all their actions.

We find in the old Testament, that the Israelites beeing to warre against [Page 3] the Beniamites, Three seueral times they went vp to aske counsell at the mouth of God, Iudg. 20. 26. And it is remark­able in the New, that though the ho­ly Ghost himselfe had separated Bar­nabas and Saul to that great Worke, the Conuersion of the Gentiles; yet the Church would not dismisse them, till they were consecrated by fasting, prayer, and imposition of hands. Act. 13. 3. For Sacraments in particular, those two notable actions in the holy Story. The first, that powerfull de­liuery of the Israelites out of the bon­dage of Egypt, was Vsher'd in with the cebelratiō of the holy Passeouer: And the second, that memorable Redemption of mankinde from the bondage of sinne, by the Passion of CHRIST our Sauiour, blessed for euer, Hee himselfe aggrauated by the solemne Sacrament of his last Supper.

Would we haue yet a closer Instāce, my Text suggests it: if Dauid be to op­pose [Page 4] a common Aduersary, hee en­quires of the Lord for counsell, and a­gaine he enquires of the Lord. 1 Sam. 23. v. 1. et 4. And if he be to prouide for the wel-fare of his owne King­dome (as now he was, when he com­posed this Hymne, euen presently after his third Vnction) he thinkes the Al­tar the best Preparatiue to the admi­nistration of his Kingdome; and wa­shing his hands in Innocēcy, the best Preparatiue to the Altar, I will wash my, &c. Good lucke then in the Name of the Lord, to this honourable Assem­bly: euen in this, Honorable; that with the custome of all good Christians, & Christian assemblies, Ye auspicate your worthy designes in the House, and at the Altar of God. God that made all things for his owne glory, is certainly the best assistant to his own end. Hath not, thinke you, the deuill domineer'd in their hearts, who haue set a marke vpon your two last Parla­mentary Assemblies, as if your endeuors [Page 5] prospered not, because you receiued the Eucharist? as if the Sacrament im­peached the Worke, or the Worke the Sacrament. Oh the Power of Satan! Shall we accuse Gods Ordināce, from the effect of mans weaknesse?

Had you not intended Gods glory, certainely you would neuer haue be­gun with Gods Sacrament? But two coole words with these malicious ob­iectors. Was their Gun-powder Plot the worse for their Sacramēt? or their Sacrament the worse for that plot? In­deed there is a communicatiue power in euill as well as in good: an Ido­latrous Sacrifice was a well fitted Pre­face to a murderous end. But is there no difference betwixt their washing their hands in bloud, & our washing our hands in innocency? Betwixt the intention of butchering of Kings and Kingdomes, and preseruing of Kings [Page 6] and Kingdomes? But I remember we are going to the Altar: the GOD of mercy conuert the hearts of these ma­licious furies, these wily Gibeonites, who while they dwell among vs, la­bour to deceiue vs, with the pretence of Antiquitie, their old shooes of S. Peter, their old garments of their owne merit, their old mouldy Bread of Transubstan­tiation, with all which, though put on but yesterday, they endeuour to deceiue Ioshua and his people; and wee finde they did it too, but it was because they asked not counsell of the Lord, Ios. 9. 14. Let vs therfore to preuent the like wiles, goe on in the Name of the Lord, whom we come to serue, & Da­uids resolution will infallibly pro­duce Dauids blessing. So holy meanes cannot but produce a happy end.

But that Truth may run on with order, the maine generall parts of the Text, are a Praeparation, & a Resolution; The first, a Praeface; the second, the Worke it selfe. The first, a Condition pro­pounded, [Page 7] I will wash my, &c. The se­cond, a Dutie performed, So will I com­passe, &c. In the Praeparation be plea­sed to obserue with me these 4. things. The Subiect, Dauid; the Obiect, his hands; the Act, washing; the Inte­gritie, or forme of the Act, in Innocen­cy. In the Resolution I shall pitch your attentions vpon two things; the first is, Motus, I will goe, or compasse: The second is, Terminus, the place he aimes at, The Altar. To which I can adde nothing but this, that the Lord stands at the Center in the middle of the Text, as hee who alone giues power and life, both to the Praeparation, and the Action.

Of these particulars (by His divine assistance, & the continuance of your indulgent fauour, which brought me hither) briefly and plainely; and that in Circulo Theologico, leauing curiosity to her owne Courtiers, assuring my selfe, that the plaine way of truth, is the best way to the Altar.

And first in Dauids, and all good mens Method, to begin with Praepa­ration; a part of my Text, which in this Auditory, I might happely haue spa­red. I speak it to Gods glory, the com­fort of the Land, and your iust encou­ragement, that as, many of you equall your Prophets in learning, so al of you euen preuēt vs in zeale to Gods cause: yet when I consider the Subiect here, I find 'twas Dauid, Dauid, a man so of­ten repeating his innocency in this Psalm, that Caietan conceiues, he wrot it in the person of Christ (there being none but Christ capable of so much innocency) yet euen Dauid himselfe had not so much, but he had need of Washing and Praeparation. Suffer me therefore, if not to giue light to your vnderstanding, at the least to quicken your affections: that my periods may serue as so many places of memory, to reuiue your better meditations.

And if Greatnesse might haue priui­ledged [Page 9] this person from impurity, Da­uid was a King; if the Grace of his soule might haue freed him from the soyle of sinne; he was a man after Gods owne heart. But let not great men put too much trust in their greatnesse; the longer the Robe is, the more soyle it contracts; Great power may proue the mother of great damnati­on. And as for puritie, there is a Generation that say ther's no sinne in them, but they deceiue them­selues, ther's no truth in them. What euer Romes [...] pretend for the po­wer of nature, and of free-will, wee wretched sinners are taught to con­ceiue more truely of our owne infir­mitie. Christs owne Apostle, stout Thomas, fayled in the faith of his Resurrection; Peter (whose Chayre is now the pretended seate of Infalli­bility) denyes his Master; Dauid, a man after GODS owne heart, hath need of washing; and who can say, I am pure in the sight of the LORD? [Page 10] Certainly, O Lord, No flesh is righte­ous in thy sight. No: this is the best ground of Christian felicitie; if with Dauid we fall to a sight of our owne sinnes; if with the Publican, we strike our owne brests, and not with the Pha­risee, cast our eye so much vpon other mens faults: why should wee like Taylors, measure all men but our selues? As if the best of vs had not sin enough of his owne to thinke on See Dauid heere cals himselfe to an ac­count for his owne sinnes; O Lord, I know mine iniquity, and my sinne is euer before me. Oh the powerfull effect of Christian Deuotion! when by the re­flectiue Act of the Vnderstanding, Science is turned into Conscience, and our knowledge is but the glasse of our owne imperfection, the glasse wherein the sight of our sinnes, send vs presently to God, as it did Dauid here, who makes this account onely betwixt God and his owne Soule, I, O Lord. First, Hee takes his rise from [Page 11] Humility, and the sight of his owne sinnes, and then hee soares vp by the wings of Faith, to the Throne of Gods mercy: I, O Lord. He sees with his owne eyes, and not only with the Church, or the Priests Spectacles, he is his owne Poenitentiary and Confes­sor; heere's no intercession by Saints, no Masses, Merits, Indulgences, Trē ­tals, Dirges: All's done betwixt God and him, I, O Lord. With the eye of Humility, hee lookes to himselfe and his owne misery, then with the eye of Faith, to God and his mercy, and from both these, results a third vertue of Repentance in the Act of Praepara­tion, washing the soyle of sinne in the Bathe of Sorrow, I will wash my hands, &c.

This washing in religious Praepara­tions, is a custome established euen by the Law of Nature. [...], was written vpon the doore of Diana's Temple, and therefore they euer [Page 12] went from Washing to VVorship­ping from the Lauer to the Altar: Lavabo vt rem diuinam faciam, vvas the common practice of the Romanes, and euen the Turkes themselues, Wash before they pray. But not to autho­rize so diuine a Rite from Infidels; In the Old Law, wee finde Sanctity e­uer accompanied with Decency; the Lauer was placed before the Altar, and Cleansing was euer the Praeface to Offering. And in the New Law, 'tis our Sauiours Ordinance, that wee beginne with Baptizing; and 'twas his owne practice, to Wash his A­postles feete, before the LORDS SVPPER: Not that Hee would haue vs insist in the outward Act; No, the very Legall Washing, was the instruction of inward Cleansing. And our Absolution heere, it sounds Regeneration, Repentance, Renoua­tion.

There are two eminent Lauers in [Page 13] the Gospell, the first, Christs Bathe, a hot Bathe, Lavacrum Sanguinis, the Lauer of CHRISTS Bloud; the se­cond, Our Bathe, a cold Bathe, Lava­crum Lachrymarum, the Lauer of Re­pentance. These two mixed toge­ther, will proue a soueraigne Compo­sition, wrought first by CHRIST himselfe, when Hee sweat water and bloud.

The first is as that Poole of Bathes­da, into which whosoeuer enters with Faith, is healed; The bloud of Christ is the true Lauer of Regeneration; a Fountaine set open for Iudah and Ie­rusalem to wash in. The bloud of Christ purgeth vs from all sinnes, 1 Ioh. 1. 7. Wee account it Charitie in Mothers, to feede their Children with their owne Milke: How deare is the loue of Christ, that both Washeth and Feedes vs with his owne Bloud? No sooner are wee borne in Christ, but iust as our Mothers, so Christs bloud [Page 14] is turned into Milke, nourishing vs to euerlasting Saluation. What is Calamus Beniamini, or Storax, or a thousand Riuers of Oyle, to make vs cleane, except the Lord purge and cleanse vs? No, 'tis His bloud that speakes better things than the bloud of A­bel: Vnto Him therefore that loued vs, and washed vs from our sinnes in his owne Bloud, and hath made vs KINGS and PRIESTS to GOD His Father: to Him bee glo­ry and dominion for euer, Reuelation 1. 5, 6.

But yet 'tis the second Bathe, the Lauer of Repentance, that must ap­ply and make the first Operatiue. This Bathe of Mary Magdalens re­pentance, it is a kind of Rebaptizati­on, giuing strength and effect to the first washing. And it implyes a three­fold Act: First, To bruise our hearts by Contrition; Secondly, To lay our wounds open by Confession to God; [Page 15] Thirdly, to wash our hands in Inno­cency, by Satisfaction to men.

The Sacrifice of a broken heart, makes a happy way to the Sacrifice of the Altar. Lachrymae pondera vocis habent, our teares are the best Harbingers wee can send before vs, our silent Orators to GOD; Quae veniam non postulant, sed obtinent, as Saint Ambrose saith, they speede without asking, and neuer returne from GOD without obtayning. It troubled my Soule in these times of Tryall, to perceiue the hearts of men filled with distracted thoughts, their mouthes with dis­contented Obloquyes: Had they turned these Passions into sound Repentance, they would soone haue found more ease to their Soules. Through this Red Sea of Sorrow, all our FATHERS were wont to passe to the Land of Promise, lea­uing their enemies, their sins, all swal­lowed [Page 16] vp in those Waters, and by these blessed Streames they were cleansed, not onely from ciuill and temporall, but spirituall and eternall punish­ments. So Abimelech, Hezekiah, Ma­nasseh, Iob, the Niniuites. So the Is­raelites; 'tis true, twice they went vp to aske Councell of God, and were ouerthrowne by the Beniamites, but the third time, when they went vp to GODS House, and sate Wee­ping, and Fasting, from Morne till E­uen, then they ouerthrew Benia­min, and Slew twenty-fiue thousand men of those that drew the Sword, Iudg. 20. 35.

This is the third time, my Worthy Auditors, that you haue come vp to this House of God, and if heretofore yee haue fayl'd of your good intenti­ons, I feare twas for want of this ver­tue of Repentance. Prodigious Swea­ring, blasphemous Cursing, vnchari­table Gluttony, swinish Drinking, [Page 17] grating Vsury, exacting Bribery, vn­iust Ambition, mercilesse Oppression: these are the sinnes that haue kindled a fire in the Land, and cal first for your teares, then for your hands to quench it. Yee now present the whole body of the Land, and therefore now before you approach the Altar, Repent for the whole body of the Land. Certainly we haue no Purgatory but true Re­pentance, no holy water but this, can quench the fire of Lust and Hell.

I know there is no good soule here, which is not wounded at the Com­mon sinnes of our Nation, and yet which of vs all, haue euer happily shed one teare, either for our owne sinnes, or the sinnes of the people? Alas! that we should not yeelde one droppe for those offences; which cost our Sauiour many streames of blood to wash them away. I would faine dwell vpon this sweete vertue, but your deuotions must supply, what the time detracts. And if yee cannot [Page 18] shedde a teare, giue a sigh for our sins; if not that, repent that you cannot re­pent: our sinnes begat our sorrow, let our sorrow deuoure our sinnes, as the Worme the Tree that bred it: VVash and wash now, for, ad Aras consulere, it is too late, to wash at the Altar.

Wash now and wash all, from the Crowne of the Head, to the sole of the Foote, there is nothing in vs but Woundes, and Sores: yet aboue all, there is some-thing here in it that Da­uid washeth his hands. Indeede it is not enough to come with wet eyes, if we come with foule hands, to offer [...], with vnwashen hands, The Gentiles would not do it. Contriti­on and Confession to God make not vp compleate Repentance, without sa­tisfaction to men. Non remittitur pec­catum August. Epist. 54 Ser. Latim. be­fore Edw. 6. nisi restituatur ablatum, It is an true as old, and in old Father Latimers English it is, either there must be resti­tution open or secret, or else Hell. Whoeuer repayres not the wrong, re­ioyceth [Page 19] in the sinne. Prouerbs 2. 14. Where there is no satisfaction, Non agi­tur sed fingitur paenitentia, sayth Saint Augustine: and those who restore not all, wash not their whole hands; they dippe onely the tipps of their finger. Extortion, Rapine, Bribery, these are the sinnes of the hands, (sinnes so proper to the Iewes that they may wel conceiue as they doe, that the Diuell lies all night on their hands, and that is it makes them so Diligent in wash­ing) but as for vs Christians, vnlesse these Vipers bee shaken off our hands, though yee couer the Altar of the Lord with Teares, with Weeping, and with crying out, yet if you continue in your Pollutions, God regards not your offering any more, nor will he receiue it with good will at your hands. Mal. 2. 13.

But there are some that put moreArist. 3. de ani­ma. spirit here into this Obiect, and tell vs that Dauid aymed at more then his hands. It is true, the hand is [...], [Page 20] the actiuest part, and so put here for the whole Body, and not for the bo­dy alone, but vsually in Holy Writ for all the practick faculties and ope­rations of the Soule; the Vnderstan­ding, the Will, the Affections, the Minde, the Conscience, Administra­tion, Counsell, All. This washing here, it is not onely Ablutio, but Bal­neatio, it is not a little washing, but an entire Bathing; if any of these be vnprepared, vnwashed, hand off from the Altar. In the Popish Masse, they thinke it enough to wash the tipps of their fingers. At our Altar we must wash all, offer the whole man a liuing and an acceptable Sacrifice to God. Otherwise Pilate washt his hands, and at the same instant condemned Christ. Wee must wash, and wash thoroughly [...], in innocency. This is the Integrity of the Act.

The very [...] and Crowne of all our preparation, the purest Water wee can wash in, is innocency, and inno­cency [Page 21] is a vertue of the heart, as well as of the hand. Cleanse your hands Iames 4. 8. yee sinners; and purifie your hearts yee double-Minded. I could wish our wash­ing might be like Crprians Baptizing adtincturam, euen till wee were dyed in Repentance, and the Blood of Christ. Let the quantity of thy sins bee the measure of our Repentance. First offer thine innocency, then thy Sacrifice. It is not enough that you come this day by order, you must come with innocency. God requires the Duty of the second Table, as well as of the first: hee abhorres the outward Act of Piety, where he finds no conscience and practise of inno­cency.

I haue here (my Honorable Audi­tory) a large field to runne in, and you to worke in; but I will contract my selfe within Dauids Limitation. He in this Psalme markes vs out three e­nemies of innocency: Dissemblers, at the fourth verse: Men of blood, at the [Page 22] ninth: and Bribe-takers at the tenth. Dauid (as you this Day) goes to the Altar, that he might seperate himselfe, and not sit with such as these are. And too many such Iebusites there are in our Israel, after whom giue me leaue to make a short inquisition.

First Dissemblers, such as our Church-Papists in whom Machiauell in the head hath gotten the aduantage of the Pope in the belly; halfe Papists, halfe Protestants; Like Oseas Cake, halfe ba­ked, halfe dough: Iust Saint Austins Am­phibions: Qui dum volunt esse & Iu­daej, & Christianj, neque sunt Iudaej, ne­que Christianj. While they would bee both Papists and Protestants, they are indeede Newters and Nihils. Let all zealous soules set a brand vpon such Hermophodite Christians, as these latter times haue discouered to vs.

There is another sort of them yet, to whome wee are more beholding though it be but for their impudency, profest Dissemblers, who wilbe profest [Page 23] Papists, and yet profest Partakers of our Altar, and they haue a reason in conscience for it too: our Sacrament is no Sacrament, they receiue it onely in a ciuill obedience, and it is no more with them, then a ciuill act. Oh the bold cunning of Sathan, whose kingdome consists in lying, without eyther memory or modesty; in dissem­bling without shame or innocency; and if any such Foxes be crept into the Vineyard of Iudah, and thinke to lurke vnder our Altar: giue me leaue to hunt them out with their owne Weapons, euen such as shall challenge the best Buckler the Diuell affoords them, their Equivocation.

First then tell me: thou profest Hy­pocrite. To deny Gods true Worship, is not this to deny God himselfe? and doest not thou by ioyning in our Sa­craments, deny thine owne Religion? in thy conceite the onely true wor­shippe: True, but thou doest it in shew onely, not in heart, no more did [Page 24] Saint Peter, when he denied Christ, but he that denies me before men, I will also deny him before my Father. Matth. 10. 13. Againe, if wee be such bran­ded Hereticks as you stile vs, our Ta­ble is as you terme it, the table of Di­uells, and therefore to communicate with vs, is to shake hands with Satan, and pertake of the Table of Diuels, 1. Cor. 10. vers. 18 If yet yee will not go when the Diuel driues you, at the least let that which you preferre aboue ey­ther GOD or the Diuell, the power of your Church, let that exorcize you Is it not your Trent Prescription, fetcht out of Lombard, and Aquin Fir­mi in side non debent conuersari cum Hae­reticis Sent. 4. Dist. 13. q. 10. Aquin. ibid. in diuinis. Those that are firme in the Roman faith, ought not to con­uerse with Hereticks in Diuine Wor­ship. Was it thinke you well done of Saint Peter, to scandalize the Gospel by eating with the Gentils, if he do, Saint Paul will withstand him to his owne face, and so doe I you. In a word, if the [Page 25] curse of Rome or your owne consci­ence can preuaile with you, hand off from our Altar. If God bee God, follow him: if Baall bee God, away from this Holy place, follow him. Those that thus equiuocate in Gods House, what will they doe in your House, and in your Councels? There should bee none but Dauids sonnes in Dauids as­sembly, but there is none of Dauids seede loue to sit with Dissemblers. vers. 4. Much lesse with such Dissem­blers as lye in wayte for blood: Such as heare not the complaynts of the wronged, but build vp Syon with blood, and Ierusalem with iniquity Micah. 3. 10. Gather not my soule with sinners, nor my life with such bloody men, verse 9. But of these more anon.

The third Corrupter of innocency is he, whose right hand is full of Bribes, verse 10. Bribery, an vbiquitary vice, a sinne as fearefull as common; as in a publike Auditory at Pauls Crosse, I haue heeretofore discouered, and [Page 26] though I haue knowne whole fami­lies groane vnder the burthen of it: I haue neither time, nor will to repeate any thing I then Deliuered. Onely spare me so much of your pious li­berty, to commend to your Religious endeauours, one prodigious strayne of corruption, the stayne both of Re­ligion and nature, some of the Profes­sors whereof haue fallen within the lists of mine owne knowledge, and those are English Pensioners to For raine States. Such as sacrifice their King, their Country, their Parents, nay their Sauiour to Mammon; such as winde into our Court, our Parlia­ments, our hearts; such as eate and take Councell together with vs, but like the Traytors in the Troyan horse, fifty of them doe more hurt in one night, then fiue thousand open ene­mies in ten yeare. I might subioyne to these such World-wormes, as sell their consciences eyther for Court-fa­uour, or popular applause, pretending [Page 27] the Common good, but ayming at their owne.

But I make hast to the Altar, it is your washing in innocency must prepare you for that, and the zeale of that cannot but stir you vp to wash the Land from corruption. I will wind vp this point with the Prophet Esay's Character of a good Parliament, as I may call it. Wash you, make you cleane, cease to doe euill, learne to doe well, seeke iudgement, releeue the oppressed, iudge the Father­lesse, pleade for the widdow; then come and lets reason together, sayth the Lord: though your sinnes be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow, though they be red like Crimson, they shall bee as white as Wool. Esay 1. 16.

Not that all this washing and inno­cency of ours sufficeth to salvation, without Gods Altar: If it had, it is likely Dauid would haue gone no far­ther: Nay euen when wee are at the Altar; in Altari non inuenit viam, qui in Christo non inuenit causam: Not by the [Page 28] works of righteousnes which we haue done, but according to his mercy hee saued vs, by the washing of Regeneration, and re­newing of the Holy Ghost. Tit. 3. 5. Wee see after all his washing, yet Dauid goeth to the Altar.

This is Motus, his gesture, hee doth not onely looke on it, hee goes to it: as in the old Transl. Hee doth not as most among vs, make the Temple a thorough-fare, and passe by the Altar, but with seemely deuotion hee com­passeth the Altar: as in the new Tran. I might here Litigate which were the fittest gesture at the holy Table; stan­ding, Sitting, Walking, or Kneeling, which are all vsed in seuerall Chur­ches. The reason of this diuersity is the generality of the Gospell Phrase, [...], Matth. 26. 20. [...] Luke 22. 14. They both signifie leaning, or falling downe, not sitting. Dauids gesture was compassing with Hymnes and Psalmes; and the same gesture Theodo­fious and Charles the Great vsed; but I [Page 29] would not heere make a quarrell of a Ceremony, I leaue that to the Tithers of mint and cummin, who in the meane time let passe the more essenti­all comfort of Gods Table. It is e­nough that the Text runnes with our Church, making humility and peni­tence the best preparatiue to the Altar, no gesture too low in the receite of so high a benefite, Humble your selues in the fight of the Lord, and he shall lift yee vp. Iames 4. 10. And as for this and the whole body of our Church-or­ders, I had it from the mouth of that Reuerend Father Paul of Venice, the worthy Author of (that excellent dis­couery) the History of the Councell of Trent, that hee esteemed the Hye­rarchy of our Church, the most excel­lent peece of Discipline in the whole Christian VVorld. But howeuer they esteeme it abroad, wee here at home, if wee bee not vnworthily-vnthankfull must needes confesse, that for this six­ty yeares and vpwards, wee haue felt [Page 30] such a blessed effect of it, as no other Church nor Nation in the Christian World can paralell. And therefore to your care, and loue I commend it. Compasse you Gods Altar, with your protection, and you haue Gods owne Word for it: hee will compasse you with his prouidence, Hee will open the Chatar acks of Heauen, and power out a Blessing vppon you. Mal. 3. 10. Blesse you Gods Altar, and no question Gods Altar will blesse you.

Thus at the length, though I feare with some exercise of your patience, I haue brought you to the desired port of Health, the Altar.

The Altar? why but that is the place where the Romanists wold haue you; if to the Altar, then to a Masse, to a sa­crifice for the Living and the Dead: God forbid. I confesse that [...] and [...] come both from [...], to sacri­fice,Lib. 1. de miss. and with Bellarmine that an Altar properly taken, infers a sacrifice pro­perly taken. But the words that I speake [Page 31] vnto you, are spirit and life. Iohn 6. 63. Our High Priest is Spirituall. Heb. 10. 22. our Priesthood, and our Sacrifice Spi­rituall, 1. Peter 2. 5. When wee speake properly, in our Canons and Commu­nion Booke, wee call it with the Apo­stles, (and as Bellarmine confesseth with all the Fathers to Tertullians time, 200. yeares of Christ) The Table of the Lord, 1 Cor. 10. 21. Not but that in a Metaphorical sense we can allow it to be called Altar, and Sacrifice too: We are content to heare Saint Chrysostome call it [...], a Sacrifice, if hee adde by way of explanatiall [...], rather the memoriall of a sacrifice. In this wee will subscribe to their owne Lumbard, Vocatur Sacrificium quia me­moria Lib. 4. Dist. 12. est veri Sacrificij. It is called a Sacrifice because it is the memoriall of a true Sacrifice. Wee confesse it both an Altar, and a Sacrifice in Signato, though not in Signo, in the thing signi­fied, though not in the signe. We con­template at the Altar, the Sonne of [Page 32] God himselfe sweating Blood, wrestling with the wrath of his Father, torne on the Crosse, pierced to the Heart, for our sinnes. We confesse him there, as the Holy Lambe of God, really offred vp a true Propitiatory sacrifice for our sinnes, and by the Vertue of this Sa­crament really sealing vp remission to our soules.

And if then we haue no other hope nor faith, but in that reall Sacrifice of Christ once offered for vs, why haue those men of blood, for this [...] this word-quarrell of the Altar, sacri­ficed the liues of so many Deuout Confessors? while they professe they drinke the blood of Christ, why haue they made themselues so drunke with the blood of Christians and Christian Princes? In these men is too truly ful­filled that vision of Iohn, Reuele. 6. 9. I saw vnder the Altar, the soules of them that were killed for the Word of God, and for the Testimony which they haue main­tained. Should these men escape your [Page 33] Zeale and Iustice, which I assure my selfe they shall not, yet God hath a cup in store for them, with which they shal one day be fully drenched. Because they haue shed the Blood of the Saints, therefore hast thou giuen them blood to drinke. Reu. 18. vers. 4. & 24.

Let such as these still offer their sacri­fices which cannot take away sinnes. Heb. 10. 11. But let vs who haue an Altar whereof they haue no right to eate, Let vs holde fast the Profession of our Faith, without wauering, Hebrews 10. 23. As all Iewish sacrifices lookt forward, so all ours looke backward to the sa­crifice of Christ. They were as the morning shadowes; growing shorter and shorter till the midday, ours as the after-noone shadowes, growing lon­ger euen till the second comming of our Sauiour, when wee shall offer the sacrifice of prayse for euer.

Let vs in the meane time with Da­uid in the next verse, begin that Eucha­rist here; let vs at the Altar of GOD, [Page 34] shew forth the voyce of thanksgiuing, and tell of all Gods wondrous Workes. The wondrous workes of our Creation, Vocation, Redemption, the won­drous worke of Gods Blessing this Land with peace, plenty, and the liber­ty of the Gospell; the wondrous worke of our preseruation in 88. the wonder of wonders in our deliuery from the Gun-powder Treason; the wondrous worke of our Royall Prince's safe returne to his Pious Fa­thers House: in all these the wondrous loue of God to his Deere Church, and the members thereof, his constant ser­uants in this Land.

And if God hath so loued vs, let not vs now fayle to loue one another: Yee haue all taken oathes heretofore, rati­fie them now againe at Gods Altar, vowe one vowe more there, euen the vowe of loue and constant vnion, and the power of Grace enable you to performe it. The Altar is the proper seate of reconciliation, Mat. 5. 24. and [Page 35] that Holy Sacrament, as it is the best Pledge of Gods loue to vs, so of our Communion, one with another. Be­leeue it Christians, the maine axiome and anuile of popish Pollicy, the very Axell whereon they winde about the whole body of their Machiauilisme in England, is our diuision and dissen­sion; themselues haue brag'd, that there is no way so ready to conuert a Luthe­ran, as by the passion of a Caluinist: no meanes so prompt to make a Prote­stant a Papist, as by the opposition of a Puritane. Thus they endeauour to destroy vs (as wee destroyed their in­uincible Nauy) by sending fire, euen the fire of dissension in the midst of vs. Oh let vs beare downe this pollicy of the world, with the wisedome of the Spirit: Away with these distract­ing names of Lutheran, Caluinist, Pu­ritan, &c. We are all the children of the same father, who hath begotten vs in the loue of one Mediatour, and Sancti­fied vs by one and the same Spirit. [Page 36] Christ and his spouse, the King, and his Kingdome, Christian Brother and Brother, these are they which God hath ioyned together, and cursed may hee be that endeauours to put them asun­der.

I will conclude with the Vote of Paul, I beseech you brethren by the name of our Lord Iesus Christ, that yee all speake the same thing, and that there be no diuisions among you, but that you bee per­fectly ioyned together, in the same minde, and the same iudgement: That so by the vnited power of charity, and a good cause yee may all march on Valiantly, and meete the aduersary in the face, con­stantly fighting the battell of our El­der Brother Christ Iesus, who fought to the Death, for our sinnes.

That Iesus, who for vs was made both the Priest, the Altar, and the Sa­crifice, accept this your morning Sa­crifice of prayse and thanksgiuing. He wash you in his blood, cloath you in his innocency, Crowne you with his Glory. [Page 37] He this Day at his Altar conueigh such grace into your hearts, that yee may forme all your ensuings, actions, and counsells, as if you were still at Gods Altar. To that Iesus with the Eternall Father, and Holy Spirit, wee as­cribe all Prayse, Power, Glo­ry, Dominion, in Saecula Saeculorum.

Amen.