ALl the words of God are alwayes sweete in them­selues, sayes Dauid; but sweeter in the mouth, and in the pen of some of the Prophets, and some of the Apostles, then of others, as they differed in their naturall gifts, or in their education: but sweetest of all, where the Holy Ghost hath beene plea­sed [Page 2] to set the word of God to Musique, and to conuay it into a Song; and this Text is of that kind: part of the Song which Deborah & Barak sung after their great victory vpon Si­sera; Sisera who was Iabin the King of Cana­ans Generall against Israel. God himselfe made Moses a Song,Deut. 31. 19. and expressed his rea­son why; The children of Israel, sayes God, will forget my Law; but this song they will not forget; and whensoeuer they sing this song, this song shall testifie against them, what I haue done for them, how they haue forsaken me. And to such a purpose hath God left this Song of Deborah and Barak in the Scriptures, that all Murmurers, and all that stray into a diffidence of Gods power, or of his purpose to sustaine his owne cause, and destroy his owne Enemies, might run and read, might read and sing, the wonder­full deliuerances that God hath giuen to his people, by weake and vnexpected meanes. This world begun with a Song, if the Chalde Paraphrasts, vpon Salomons Song of Songs haue taken a true tradition; That assoone as Adams sinne was forgiuen him, he expres­sed (as he cals it in that Song) Sabbatum suum, [Page 3] his Sabboth, his peace of conscience, in a Song; of which, we haue the entrance in that Paraphrase. This world begun so; and so did the next world too, if wee count the beginning of that (as it is a good computa­tion to doe so) from the comming of Christ Iesus: for that was expressed on Earth, in diuers Songs; in the blessed Virgins Mag­nificat; My soule doth magnifie the Lord: In Zacharies Benedictus; Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; and in Simeons, Nunc dimittis, Lord, now lettest thou thy seruant depart in peace. This world began so, and the other; and when both shall ioyne, and make vp one world without end, it shall continue so in heauen, in that Song of the Lamb, Apoc. 15. 3. Great and marueilous are thy workes, Lord God Almighty, iust and true are thy wayes, thou King of Saints. And, to Tune vs, to Compose and giue vs a Harmo­nie and Concord of affections, in all per­turbations and passions, and discords in the passages of this life, if we had no more of the same Musique in the Scriptures (as we haue the Song of Moses at the Red Sea, and many Psalmes of Dauid to the same pur­pose) this Song of Deborah were enough, a­bundantly [Page 4] enough, to slumber any storme, to becalme any tempest, to rectifie any scruple of Gods slacknesse in the defence of his cause, when in the History and occasi­on of this, Song, expressed in the Chapter be­fore this, we see, That Israel had done euill in the fight of the Lord againe, and yet againe, God came to them: That God himselfe had sold Israel into the hands of Iabin King of Cana­an, and yet he repented the bargaine, and came to them; That in twenty yeeres oppressi­on he came not, and yet he came. That When Sisera came against them, with nine hundred Cha­riots of Iron, and all preparations, proportio­nable to that, and God cald vp a woman, a Prophetesse, a Deborah against him, because Deborah had a zeale to the cause, and conse­quently an enmity to the enemie, God would effect his purpose by so weake an in­strument, by a woman, but by a woman, which had no such interest, nor zeale to the cause; by Iael: And in Iaels hand, by such an instrument, as with that, scarce any man could doe it, if it were to be done a­gaine with a hammer she driues a nayle through his temples, and nayles him to the [Page 5] ground, as he lay sleeping in her tent: And then the end of all, was the end of all, not one man of his army left aliue. O my Soule, why, art thou so sad, why art thou so disquieted within me? Sing vnto the Lord an old song, the song of Deborah and Barak, That God by weake meanes doth might workes, That all Gods creatures fight in his behalfe, They fought from beanen, the starres in their Order, fought against Sisera.

You shal haue but two parts out of these words; And to make these two parts,Diuision. I con­sider the Text, as the two Hemispheres of the world, laid open in a flat, in a plaine Map. All those parts of the world, which the An­cients haue vsed to consider, are in one of those Hemispheres; All Europe is in that, and in that is all Asia, and Afrike too: So that when we haue seene that Hemisphere, done with that, we might seeme to haue seene all, done with all the world; but yet the other Hemisphere, that of America is as big as it; though, but by occasion of new, and late discoueries, we had had nothing to say of America. So the first part of our Text, will bee as that first Hemisphere; all which the [Page 6] ancient Expositors found occasion to note out of these words, will be in that: but by the new discoueries of some humors of men, and rumors of men, we shall haue oc­casion to say somewhat of a second part to. The parts are, first, the Literall, the Histo­ricall sense of the words; And then an e­mergent, a collaterall, an occasionall sense of them. The explication of the wordes, and the Application, Quid tunc, Quid nunc, How the words were spoken then, How they may be applied now, will be our two parts. And, in passing through our first, wee shall make these steps. First, God can, and sometimes doth effect his purposes by himselfe; intirely, immediatly, extraordi­narily, miraculously by himselfe: But yet, in a second place, we shall see, by this story, That he lookes for assistance, for concurrence of second causes, and subor­dinate meanes: And that therefore, God in this Song of Deborah, hath prouided an honourable commemoration of them, who did assist his cause; for, the Princes haue their place,Verse 15, The Princes of Issachar were with her: And then, the Gouernours, The [Page 7] great Persons, the great Officers of the State, haue their place in this honour, That they offered themselues willingly to that seruice; Verse 9. And after them,Verse 10, the Merchants, for those who are said there, to ride vpon white Asses, to be well mounted, according to the manner of those Nations, are, by Pe­ter Martyr, amongst our Expositors, and by Serarius the Iesuite, amongst the others, fit­ly vnderstood, to be intended of Merchants; And in the same verse, the Iudges are honora­bly remembred, Those that fit in Iudgement; And a farre vnlikelier sort of people, then any of these, in the same verse too, Those that walked by the way; Idle, and discoursing men, that were not much affected, how businesse went, so they might talke of them: And lastly, the whole people in generall,Verse 2. how poore soeuer, they haue euidence from this record, That they offered them­selues (and what will they denie, that offer themselues) and willingly, to this imploi­ment. And then, God hauing here afforded this honourable mention of them, who did assist him, he layes also a heauy note vpon such, who for collaterall respects pre­uaricated, [Page 8] or withdraw themselues from his seruice: perticularly vpon Ruben, Verse 16. who was diuided by greatnesse of heart, And vpon Dan, Verse 17. who remained in his ships. And there­fore to the encouragement of those who did assist him, in any proportion, though their assistance were no wayes competent against so potent an enemy, God fought for himselfe too, They sought from Heauen, The starres in their order fought against Sisera. And these will be the branches, or circumstan­ces of our first part: for the particulars of the second, we shall open them more com­modiously for your memory and vse, then, when we come to handle them, then now. Now we proceed to those of the first part.

And into those I passe with this protesta­tion,Part 1. That in all which I shall say this day, beeing to speake often of God, in that No­tion, as he is Lord of Hostes, and fights his owne battailes, I am farre from giuing fire to them that desire warre. Peace in this world, is a pretious Earnest, and a faire and louely Type of the euerlasting peace of the world to come: And warre in this world, is a shrewd and fearefull Embleme of the euer­lasting [Page 9] discord and tumult, and torment of the world to come: And therefore, our Bles­sed God, blesse vs with this externall, and this internall, and make that lead vs to an eternall peace. But I speake of this subiect, especially to establish and settle them, that suspect Gods power, or Gods purpose, to succour those, who in forraine parts, grone vnder heauie pressures in matter of Re­ligion, or to restore those, who in forraine parts, are deuested of their lawfull posses­sions, and inheritance; and because God hath not done these great workes yet, nor yet raised vp meanes, in apparance, and in their apprehension, likely to effect it, That therefore God likes not the cause; and there­fore they begin to bee shaked in their owne Religion at home, since they thinke that God neglects it abroad. But, beloued, since God made all this world of nothing, cannot hee recouer any one peece thereof, or re­store any one peece, with a little? In the Creation, his production of specifique formes, and seuerall Creatures in the se­uerall dayes, was much, very much; but not very much, compared with that, which [Page 10] he had done immediatly before, when he made Heauen and Earth of nothing. For, for the particular Creatures, God had then Praeiacentem Materiam, he had stuffe before him; enough to cut out Creatures of the lar­gest sise, his Elephants of the Earth, his Whales and Leuiathans in the Sea. In that matter there was Semen Creaturarum, The Seed of all Creatures in that stuffe. But for the stuffe it selfe, the Heauen and Earth, God had not Semen Coeli, any such seed of Heauen as that he could say to it, doe thou hatch a Heauen; he had not any such Semen terrae, as that hee could bid that grow vp into an Earth: There was nothing at all, and all, that is, was produced from that; and then who shall doubt of his proceeding, if by a little he will doe much? He suffered his greater works to be paraleld, or to be counterfeit by Pha­raohs Magicians, but in his least, in the ma­king of Lice, hee brought them to confesse Digitum Dei, the finger of God; and that was enough; The arme of God, the hand of God needs not; where he will worke, his finger is enough, It was not that imagina­tion, that dreame of the Rabbins, that hinde­red [Page 11] the Magicians, who say, that the Deuill cannot make any Creature, lesse then a Bar­ley corne; As it is with men, they miscon­ceiue it to be with the Deuill too; harder to make a little clocke, a little picture, any thing in a little, then in a larger forme. That was no part of the reason in that case: but since man ordinarily esteemes it so, and or­dinarily admires great workes in little forme, why will he not be content to glo­rifie God that way, in a faithfull confidence, that hee can and will doe great workes by weake meanes. Should God haue stayd to leuie, and arme, and traine, and muster, and present men enow to discomfit Sennache­rib? Hee tooke a neerer way; he slew al­most two hundreth thousand of them, in one night by an Angell. Esa. 37. 3 Should God haue troubled an Angell to satisfie Elisha his ser­uant?2. Reg. 5. 1. Onely by apparition in the cloudes, he brought him to acknowledge, that there were more with them, then with the Enemy, when there was none. He troubled not so much as a cloud, he imployed no Creature at all, against the Philistines, when they came vp with thirty thousand Chariots; 1. Sam. 23 but hee [Page 12] breathed a dampe, an astonishment into them, he imprinted a diuine terror in their hearts, and they fought against one another. God foresaw a diminution of his honour,lud. 6. in the augmentation of Israels forces, and ther­fore he reduced Gideons thirty two thousand to three hundred persons. It was so in per­sons, God does much with few, and it was so in time, God does much, though late; though God seeme a long time to haue for­got his people, yet in due time, that is, in his time, he returnes to them againe. S. Augustine makes a vsefull Historicall note, That that land to which God brought the Children of Israel, was their owne land before; they were the right heires to it, lineally descended from him, who was the first possessor of it, after the floud: but they were so long out of pos­session of it, as that they were neuer able to set their title on foot; nay, they did scarce know their own title, and yet God repossessed them of it, reinuested them in it. It is so for persons, and times in his wayes in this world, Much with few, much though late, and it is so in his wayes to the next world too: for per­sons, Elias knew of no more but himselfe, [Page 13] that serued the right God aright: God makes him know that there were seuen thousand more; seuen thousand was much to one, but it was little to all the world: and yet these se­uen thousand haue peopled heauen, and sent vp all those Colonies thither; all those Armies of Martyrs, those flockes of Lambes, inno­cent children, those Fathers, the Fathers of the Church, and Mothers, holy Matrons, and daughters, blessed Virgines, and learned and laborious Doctors; these seuen thousand haue filled vp the places of the fallen Angels, and repeopled that Kingdome: And where­soeuer we thinke them most worne out, God at this time hath his remnant (as the Apostle Rom. 11. 5. sayes) and God is able to make vp the whole garment of that remnant. So he does much with few, in the wayes to heauen; and that he does much though late, in that way too, thou mayest discerne in his working vpon thy selfe. How often hast thou suffered thy Soule, to grow cleane out of all reparations into ruine, by thine inconsiderate and habi­tuall course of sinne, and neuer repaired it by any good vse of hearing the word, or re­ceiuing the Sacrament in a long time, and [Page 14] when thou hast at any time, come to a sur­uey of thy conscience, how hast thou beene affected with an inordinate apprehension of Gods anger, and his inaccessiblenesse, his inexorablenesse towards thee, and sunke e­uen into the iawes of desperation; And yet, Quia manet semen dei, because the seed of God hath remained in thee,1. 10. 3. 4. Incubat Spiritus, the Holy Ghost hath sat vpon that seed, and hatched a new Creature in thee, a modest, but yet infallible assurance of the Mercy of thy God. Recollect all; in raysing of sieges, and discomfiting of Armies, in restoring possessions, and reinuesting right heires, in repairing the ruines of the Kingdome of heauen, depopulated in the fall of Angels, in reestablishing peace of conscience; in a presumptuous confidence, or ouer-timo­rous diffidence in God, God glorifies him­selfe that way, to doe much with little.

He does so; but yet hee will haue some­thing. God is a good Husband, a good Ste­ward of Mans contributions, but contribu­tions he will haue: hee will haue a concur­rence, a cooperation of persons. Euen in that great worke, which wee spake of at first, [Page 15] the first creation, which was so absolutely of Nothing, yet there was a Faciamus, let vs, vs, make Man; though but one God, yet more Persons in that worke.Matt. 43. Christ had been able to haue done as the Deuill would haue had him doe, to haue made bread of stones, when hee had so great a number to feed in the Wildernesse; but hee does not so: Hee askes his Disciples, Quot panes habetis; How many loafes haue you? and though they were but fiue, yet since they were some, he multiplies them, and feeds aboue fiue thousand with those fiue. Hee would haue a remnant of Gedeons Armie to fight his bat­tailes: A remnant of Israels beleeuers to make vp his Kingdome; A remnant of thy Soule, his seed wrapd vp somewhere, to saue thy Soule; And a remnant of thy selfe, of thy Mind, of thy Purse, of thy Person, for thy temporall deliuerance. God goes lowe, and accepts small Sacrifices; a Pigeon, a hand­full of Flower, a few eares of Corne; but a Sacrifice he will haue. The Christian Church implies a shrewd distresse, when shee pro­uides that reason, that clause in her prayer, Quia non est alius, Giue Peace in our time, O [Page 16] Lord, because there is no other that fighteth for vs: If the bowels of compassion bee eaten out, if the band of the Communion of Saints be dissolued, we fight for none, none fights for vs, at last ney ther we nor they shall fight for Christ, nor Christ for them nor vs, but all become a prey to the generall enemie of the name of Christ; for God requires something, some assistance, some concurrence, some co­operation, though he can fight from heauen, and the Starres, in their order, can fight against Sisera.

And therefore, though God giue his glo­rie to none, his glorie, that is to doe all with Nothing, yet he giues them their glorie, that doe any thing for him, or for themselues. And as hee hath laid vp a record, for their glorie and Memoriall, who were remarke­able for Faith (for the eleuenth Chapter to the Hebrewes, is a Catalogue of them.) So in this Song of Deborah and Barake, hee hath laide vp a Record for their glorie, who ex­pressed their faith in Workes, and assisted his seruice. That which is said in generall, The Memorie of the iust is blessed, Prou. 13. 7. but the name of the wicked shall rot, That is applied and promi­sed [Page 17] in particular, by him, who can performe it, by Christ, to that woman, who anointed him, That whersoeuer his Gospell should be Prea­ched in the whole world,Mat. 26. 13ther should also this that this woman had done, be told for a memoriall of her. Shee assisted at his Funerall (as Christ himselfe interprets her action, That shee did it to burie him) and hath her glorie: how shall he glorifie them, that aduance his glo­rie? Shee hath her reward in his death; what shall they haue, that keepe him, and his Gos­pell aliue? Not a verse in Deborah and Ba­raks song, and yet that is honourable eui­dence: Not a commemoration at the Prea­ching of the Gospell; and yet that is the ho­nourable testimonie in this place, and at these Exercises, of such as haue contribu­ted to the conueniencies of these Exerci­ses, but they shall haue a place in the Booke of life; indelibly in the Booke of life, if they proceede in that deuotion of assisting Gods cause, and doe not thinke, that they haue done all, or done enough, if they haue done something some one time. The Mo­rall man hath said well, and well applied it; A Ship is a Ship for euer, if you repaire it. Plutar. So, [Page 18] sayes hee, Honour is Honour, and so say wee, A good Conscience is a good Conscience for euer, if you repaire it: But, sayes he well, Aliquid famae addendum, ne putrescat. Honour will putrifie, and so will a good Conscience too, if it be not repaired. He that hath done No­thing must begin, and hee that hath done something for Gods cause, must doe more, if hee will continue his name in the Booke of Life; though God leaue no one particular action, done for his glorie, without glo­rie; as those who assisted his glorie heere, haue a glorious Commemoration in this Song.

In the fifteenth verse, Princes haue their place; The Princes of Issachar, were with Debo­rah. when the King goes to the field, Many, who are in other cases Priuiledged, are by their Tenures bound to goe. It is a high Tenure to hold by a Crowne; And when God, of whome, and whome onely they hold, that hold so, goes into the field, it becomes them to goe with him. But as God sits in Heauen, and yet goes into the field, so they of whome God hath said, Yee are Gods, the Kings of the Earth, may stay at home, and [Page 19] yet goe too. They goe in their assistance to the Warre; They goe in their Mediation for Peace; They goe in their Example, when from their sweetnesse, and moderation in their Gouernement at home, their flowes out an instruction, a perswasion to Princes abroad.Verse 16. Kings goe many times, and are not thanked, because their wayes are not seene: and Christ himselfe would not alwayes bee seene; In the eight of Iohn, he would not be seene. When they tooke vp stones to stone him, he withdrew himselfe inuisibly, hee would not be seene: When Princes find that open actions exasperate,Verse 17. they doe best, if they be not seene. In the sixth of Iohn, Christ would not bee seene. When they would haue put vpon him, that which was not fit for him to take, when they would haue made him King, he withdrew himselfe, and was not seene. When Princes are tempted to take Territories, or possessions in to their hands, to which other Princes haue iust pre­tences, they doe best, if they withdrawe themselues from engagements in vnneces­sarie Warres, for that, that onely was Io­siahs ruine. Kings cannot alwayes goe in [Page 20] the sight of Men, and so they lose their thankes; but they cannot goe out of the sight of God, and there they neuer lose their reward: For the Lord that sees them in secret, shall reward them openly, with peace in their owne States, and Honour in their owne Chronicles, as here, for assisting his cause, hee gaue the Princes of Issachar a roome, a straine in Deborah and Barakes Song.

And in the ninth verse, the Gouernors, the great Officers, haue their place, in this praise, My heart is towards the Gouernors of Israel that offered themselues willingly. It is not them­selues in person; Great Officers cannot doe so; They are Intelligences that moue great Spheares, but they must not bee mou'd out of them. But their glorie here is their wil­lingnesse. That before they were inquired into, how they carried themselues in their Offices, before they were intimidated, or soupled with fines and ransomes, volunta­rily they assisted the cause of God. Some in the Romane Church write, that the Cardinalls of that Church, are so incorporated into the Pope, so much of his body, and so bloud of [Page 21] his bloud, that in a feuer they may not let bloud without his leaue. Truly, the great Persons and Gouernors in any state, are so noble and neere parts of the King, as that they may not bleed out in any subuentions and assistances of such causes vnder-hand, as are not auowd by the King; for, it is not euident that that cause is Gods caufe; at least not euident that that way is an assistance of Gods cause, But a good, and tractable, and ductile disposition, in all courses which shall lawfully bee declared to bee for Gods glorie, then, not Contra, but Praeter, not a­gainst, but besides, not in opposing, but in preuenting the Kings will, before hee vrge, before he presse, to be willing and forward in such assistances, this giues great Persons, Gouernors, and Officers, a verse in Baraks and Deborahs Song, and Deborah and Baraks Song is the Word of God.

The Merchants haue their place in that verse too. For, (as wee said before) those who ride vpon white Asses, (which was as ho­norable a transportation, as Coaches are now) are by Peter Martyr amongst ours, and by Serarius the Iesuit amongst others, well vn­derstood [Page 22] to be the Merchants. The great­nesse and the dignitie of the Merchants of the East is sufficiently expressed in those of Babylon, Thy Merchants were the great Men of the Earth. And for the Merchants of the West, we know that in diuers forraine parts, their Nobilitie is in their Merchants, their Merchants are their Gentlemen. And certain­ly, no place of the world, for Commodities and Situation, better disposed then this Kingdome, to make Merchants great. You cannot shew your greatnesse more, then in seruing God, with part of it; you did serue before you were free; but here you do both at once, for his seruice is perfect freedome. I am not here to day, to beg a Beneuolence for any particular cause on foot now: there is none; but my Errand in this first part is, first to remoue iealousies and suspitions of Gods neglecting his businesse, because he does it not at our appointment, and then to pro­moue and aduance a disposition, to assist his cause and his glory, in all wayes, which shall bee declar'd to conduce thereunto, whether in his body, by relieuing the poore, or in his house by repairing these walls, or [Page 23] in his honour in employments more pub­lique: And to assure you that you cannot haue a better debter, a better pay-master then Christ Iesus: for all your Entayles, and all your perpetuities doe notso nayle, so hoope in, so riuet an estate in your posteritie, as to make the Sonne of God your Sonne too, and to giue Christ Iesus a Childes part, with the rest of your Children. It is noted (perchaunce but out of leuity) that your Children doe not keepe that which you get: It is but a calumny, or but a fascination of ill wishers. We haue many happy instances to the con­trarie, many noble families deriued from you; One, enough to enoble a World; Queene ELIZABETH was the great gran­child of a Lord Maior of London. Our bles­sed God blesse all your Estates, and blesse your posteritie in a blessed enioying therof; But truly it is a good way to that, amongst all your purchases, to purchase a place in Barak and Deborahs Song, a testimonie of the Holy Ghost, that you were forward in all due times in the assistance of Gods cause.

That testimonie, in this Seruice in our Text, haue the Iudges of the Land, in the [Page 24] verse too, ye that sit in Iudgement. Certain­ly, Men exercised in Iudgement, are likeliest to thinke of the last Iudgement. Men accu­stomed to giue Iudgement, likeliest to thinke of the Iudgement they are to receiue. And at that last Iudgement the Malediction of the left hand falls vpon them that haue not har­bored Christ, not fed him, not clothed him, And when Christ comes to want those things in that degree, that his Kingdome, his Gos­pell, himselfe cannot subsist, where it did, without such a sustentation, an omission in such an assistance, is much more heauie. All Iudgements end in this, Suum cui (que), to giue euery one his owne. Giue God his owne, and hee hath enough; giue him his owne, in his owne place, and his cause will be preferred before any Ciuill or Naturall obligation. But God requires not that: pay euery other Man first, owe nothing to any Man; pay your Children, apportion them conuenient por­tions. Pay your estimation, your reputa­tion, liue in that good fashion which your ranke and calling calls for: when all this is done, of your superfluities beginne to pay God, and euen for that you shall haue your [Page 25] roome in Deborah, and Baraks Song, for Assistants, and Coadiutors to him.

For a farre vnlikelier sort of people, then any of these, haue that in the same verse al­so, Ambulantes super viam, They that walke vp and downe idle, discourcing Men, Men of no Calling, of no Profession, of no sense of other Mens miseries, and yet they assist this cause. Men that sucke the sweet of the Earth, and the sweat of other Men: Men that pay the State nothing in doing the offices of mutuall societie, and embracing particular vocations; Men that make them­selues but pipes to receiue and conuay, and vent rumors, but spunges to sucke in, and powre out foule water; Men that doe not spend time, but weare time, they trade not, they plough not, they preach not, they plead not, but walke, and walke vpon the way, till they haue walked out their sixe moneths for the renuing of bands, euen these had some remorse in Gods cause, euen these got into Deborah and Baraks Song for assisting there.

And lesse; that is, Poorer then these: for in the Second verse, the people are as forward [Page 26] as the Gouernors, in the Ninth, They offered themselues willingly. They might offer them­selues, their persons. It is likely they did; and likely that many of them had nothing to offer but themselues. And when Men of that pouertie offer, part easily with that which was hardly got, how acceptable to God, that Sacrifice is, we see in Christs testi­monie of that Widdow, who amongst many great giuers gaue her Mite, That shee gaue more then all they, because shee gaue all: which testified not onely her Liberalitie to God, but her Confidence in God, that though shee left nothing, shee should not lacke: for that right vse doth Saint Augustine make of that example, Diuites largiuntur securi de diuitijs, pauper securus de Domino: A rich man giues, and feeles it not, feares no want, because hee is sure of a full chest at home; A poore man giues, and feeles it as little, because hee is sure of a boun­tifull God in Heaven.

God then can worke alone; there wee set out: yet he does require assistance; that way wee went: And to those that doe assist, hee giues glory here; so farre we are gone: but yet this remaynes, that hee layes notes of [Page 27] blame, and reproach vpon them, whom collaterall respects withdrew from this as­sistance. For there is a kind of reproach and increpation laide vpon Reuben in that question, Why abodest thou amongst the sheep­folds? The diuisions of REVBEN were great thoughts of heart. Verse 16. Ambition of precedencie in places of employment, greatnes of heart, and a lothnesse to be vnder the commaund of any other, and so an incoherence, not concurring in Counsailes and Executions, retard oftentimes euen the cause of God. So is there also a reproach and increpation vpon Dan, Verse 17. in that question, why did Dan remaine in his ships; A confidence in their owne strength, a sacrificing to their owne Nets, an attributing of their securitie to their owne wisedome or power, may also retard the cause of God; that stayed Dan be­hinde.

Thus then they haue their thankes that doe, thus their markes that doe not assist in Gods cause: though God to encourage them that doe, accomplish his worke himselfe, They fought from heauen, The Starres in their order fought against Sisera. They fought, sayes [Page 28] the Text, but does not tell vs who; least men should direct their thankes for that which is past, or their prayers for future benefits, to any other, euen in heauen, then to God him­selfe. The stars are nam'd; It could not be feared that Men would pray to them, sacri­fice to them, Angels & Saints are not named; Men might come to ascribe to them, that which appertained to God onely Now these Stars, sayes the text, fought in their courses, Ma­nentes in Ordine, they fought not disorderly. It was no Enchantment, no Sorcery, no disord­ring of the frame, or the powers, or the in­fluence of these heauenly bodies, in fauor of the Israelites; God would not be behol­den to the Deuill, or to Witches, for his best friends. It was no disorderly Enchantment, nor it was no Miracle, that disordered these Starres; as in Iosuahs time, the Sunne and Moone were disordred in their Motions; But as Iosephus, who relates this battaile more particularly, sayes, with whom all agree, The natur all Influence of these heauenly bodies, at this time, had created and gathered such stormes and hayles, as blowing vehemently in the Enemies face, was the cause of this defeate: for so wee [Page 29] might haue said, in that deliuerance, which God gaue vs at Sea, They fought from hea­uen, The Starres in their order fought against the Enemie. Without coniuring, without Miracle, from heauen, but yet by naturall meanes, God preserued vs. For that is the force of that phrase, and of that maner of ex­pressing it, Manentes in Ordine, The Starres, containing themselues in their Order, fought. And that phrase induces our second part, the accommodation, the occasionall appli­cation of these words: God will not fight, nor be fought for disorderly; And therefore in illu­stration, and confirmation of those words of the Apostle, Let all things be done decently, and in order, Aquinas, in his Commentaries vp­on that place, cites, and applies this Text, as words to the same purpose, and of the same signification. You, sayes Saint Paul, you who are Stars in the Church, must pro­ceede in your warfare, decently, and in or­der, for the stars of heauen, when they fight for the Lord, they doe their seruice, Manen­tes in Ordine, containing themselues in their Or­der. And so inour order, we are come to our second part. In which, we owe you by pro­mise [Page 30] made at first, an Analysis, a distribution of the steps and branches of this part, now when wee are come to the handling there­of: And thus wee shall proceede; first, the Warre, which wee are to speake of here, is not as before, a Worldly warre, it is a Spiri­tuall War: And then the Munition, the proui­sion for this warre, is not as before, tempo­rall assistance of Princes, Officers, Iudges, Merchants, all sorts of People, but it is the Gospell of Christ Iesus, and the preaching thereof. Preaching is Gods ordinance, with that Ordi­nance hee fights from heauen, and batters downe all errors. And thirdly, to main­tain this War, he hath made Preachers Stars; and vae si non, woe be vnto them, if they doe not fight, if they doe not preach: But yet in the last place, they must fight, as the Stars in hea­uen doe, In their order, in that Order, and ac­cording to those directions, which, they, to whom it appertaines, shall giue them: for that is to fight in Order. And in these foure branches, wee shall determine this second part.

First then we are in Contemplation of a Spirituall warre; now, though there be a [Page 31] Beatie Pacifici, a blessing reserued to Peace-makers, to the Peace-maker, our Peace-maker, who hath sometimes effected it in some pla­ces, and alwayes seriously and chargeably, and honourably endeuoured it in all places, yet there is a spirituall Warre, in which, Maledicti Pacifici; Cursed bee they that goe about to make Peace, and to make all one, The warres betweene Christ and Beliall. Let no man seuer those whom God hath ioyned, but let no Man ioyne those whom God hath seuered neyther; and God hath seuered Christ and Belial: and that was Gods action, Ponam inimicitias; The seed of the woman, and the Seed of the Serpent, wee and the Deuill, should neuer haue fallen out; wee agree but too well; but God hath put an enmity betweene vs. God hath put Truth and Falshood, Idolatrie and Sinceritie so farre a­sunder, and infused such an incompatibili­tie, and imprinted such an implacabilitie betweene them, as that they cannot flow into one another: And therefore, there, Maledicti Pacifici, It is an opposition against God, by any colourable Modifications, to reconcile opinions diametrally contrary to [Page 32] one another, in fundamentall things. Day and Night may ioyne and meet. In Diluculis and in Crepusculis, The dawning of the day, in the Morning, and the shutting in of the day in the Euening, make day and night so much one, as sometimes you cannot tell which to call them: but Lux & tenebrae, light and darknes, Midnight and Noone neuer met, neuer ioynd. There are points, which passi­ons of men, and vehemence of disputation, haue carried farther a sunder then needed: and these indeed haue made the greatest noyse; because vpon these, for the most part, depends the matter of profit: and Beati paci­fics, blessed were that labour, and that labou­rer, that could reconcile those things; and of that there might bee hope, because it is of­ten but the Persons that fight, it is not the thing, the matters are not so different. But then there are matters so different, as that a Man may sit at home, and weepe, and wish, prayse God that hee is in the right, and pray to God for them that are in the wrong, but to thinke that they are indif­ferent, and all one, Maledicti Pacifici, hee that hath brought such a Peace, hath [Page 33] brought a curse vpon his owne Conscience, and layd, not a Satisfaction, but a Stupefaction vpon it. A Turke might perchance say, in scorne of vs both, They call you Heretiques, you call them Idolaters, why might not Ido­laters, and Heretiques agree well enough to­gether? But a true Christian will neuer make Contrarieties in fundamentall things in­different, neuer make foundations, and su­peredifications, the Word of God, and the Traditions of Men, all one. Euery man is a little world, sayes the Philosopher; Euery man is a little Church too; and in euery man, there are two sides, two armies: the flesh fights against the Spirit. This is but a Ciuill warre, nay it is but a Rebellion indeed; and yet it can neuer be absolutely quenched. So euery Man is also a Souldier in that great and generall warre, betweene Christ, and Beliall, the word of God, and the will of man. Euery man is bound to hearken to a peace, in such things as may admit peace, in differences, where men differ from men; but bound also to shut himselfe vp against all ouertures of peace, in such things, as are in their Nature irreconcileable, in differences [Page 34] where men differ from God. That warre God hath kindled, and that warre must bee maintained, and maintained by his way; and his way, and his Ordinance in this warre, is Preaching.

If God had not said to Noah, Fac tibi Ar­cam; and when he had said so, if he had not giuen him a Deseigne, a Modell, a Platforme of that Arke, we may doubt credibly, whether euer man would haue thought of a Ship, or of any such way of trade & Commerce. Shipping was Gods owne Inuention, and therein Laetentur Insulae, as Dauid sayes, Let the Ilands reioyce. So also, if Christ had not said to his Apostles, Ite praedicate, Goe and preach: and when hee had said so, said thus much more, Qui non crediderit damnabitur, Hee that beleeues not your Preaching shall bee damned: certainly man would neuer haue thought of such a way of establishing a kingdome, as by Preaching. No other Na­tion had any such Institution, as Preaching. In the Romane State, there was a publique Officer, Conditor precum, who vpon great emergent occasions, deprecations of immi­nent dangers, or Gratulations for euident [Page 35] benefites, did make particular Collects an­swerable to those occasions: And some such occasionall Panegyriques, and gratu­latory Orations for temporall benefites, they had in that state. But a fixt and con­stant course of conteyning Subiects in their Religious and Ciuill duties, by preaching, onely God ordain'd, onely his Children en­ioy'd. Christ when he sent his Apostles, did not giue them a particular command, Ite o­rate, goe and pray in the publique Congre­gation; All Nations were accustomed to that; Christ made no doubt of any mans opposing, or questioning publique Prayer; and therefore for that, he onely said, Sic ora­bitis, Not go, and pray, but, when you pray, pray thus, he instructed them in the forme; the duty was well knowne to all before. But, for Preaching, He himselfe was anoin­ted for that, The Spirit of the Lord is vpon me, Esa. 61. 1 because the Lord hath anointed mee to preach: His vnction was his function. Hee was a­nointed with that power, and hee hath a­nointed vs with part of his owne vnction: All power is giuen vnto me, sayes he, in Hea­uen and in Earth; and therefore (as he adds [Page 36] there) Go ye, Math. 28. 19. and preach: Because I haue all power, for preaching, take yee part of my power, and preach too. For, Preaching is the power of God vnto Saluation, and the sauor of life vnto life. When therefore the Apostle faies,I. Thes. 5. 19. Quench not the Spirit, Nec in te, nec in alio, sayes Aquinas; Quench it not in your selfe, by forbearing to heare the Word preached, quench it not in others, by discouraging them that doe preach. For so Saint Chry­sostome, (and not he alone) vnderstood that place, That they quench the spirit, who discoun­tenance preaching, and dishearten Preachers. St. Chrysostome tooke his example from the Lampe that burnt by him, when hee was preaching; (It seemes therefore hee did preach in the afternoone) and he sayes, you may quench this Lampe, by putting in water, and you may quench it by taking out the oyle. So a Man may quench the spirit in himselfe, if hee smother it, suffocate it, with worldly pleasures, or profits, and he may quench it in others, if he withdraw that fauour, or that helpe, which keepes that Man, who hath the spirit of Prophesie, the vnction of Preaching, in a cheerefull discharge of his [Page 37] duty. Preaching then being Gods Ordinance, to beget Faith, to take away preaching, were to disarme God, and to quench the spirit; for by that Ordinance, he fights from heauen.

And to maintaine that fight, hee hath made his Ministers Starrs; as they are called, in the first of the Reuelation. And they fight against Sisera, that is, they preach against Error. They preach out of Necessitie; Neces­sitie is laid vpon me to preach, 1 Cor. 9. 16. saies the Apostle; and vpon a heauy penalty, if they doe not; Vaemihi si non, VVoe be vnto me if I doe not preach the Gospell. Neither is that spoak there with the case of a Future, as the Roman tran­slation hath it, Si non Euangelizauero, If I do not hereafter preach; If I preach not at one time or other; If I preach not when I see how things wil go, what kind of preaching will be most acceptable: But it is Si non E­uangelizem, If I preach not now; now, though I had preached yesterday; for so Saint Ambrose preached his Sermon de sancto Latrone, of the good Thiefe, Hesterno die, yesterday I told you &c. So Saint Augustin preached his Sermon vpon All Saints day: And so did Saint Bernard his twelfth Sermon [Page 38] vpon the Psalm: Qui habitat. Now, though I preachd but lately before; and now, though I had but late warning to preach now; So S. Basil preached his 2. Sermon vpon the Hexameron, the fixe daies worke, when he had but that Morning for Meditation: and more then so, in his 2. Sermon de Bap­tissimo; for, it seemes he preached that with­out any premeditation Prout suggerit spiri­tus sanctus. Now, though I had not time to labour a Sermon, and now, though I preach in another mans place; for so Saint Augustine preached his Sermon vpon the 95. Psalm: where he saies, Frater noster Seuerus, our brother Seuerus should by promise haue prea­ched here, but since he comes not, I will. Now, that is whensoeuer Gods good people may be edified by my preaching: Vaesi non, wo be vnto me, if I doe not preach. The Dra­gon drew a third part of the starrs from heauen. Apoc. 12. 3. Antichrist by his Persecutions, and Excom­munications Silenc'd many; all that would not Magnifie him. And many amongst vs, haue silenc'd themselues: Abundance silen­ces some, and lazines and Ignorance some, and some their owne indiscretion, and then [Page 39] they lay that vpon the Magistrate. But God hath plac'd vs in a Church, and vnder a Head of the Church, where none are Silenc'd, nor discountenanc'd, if being starrs, called to the Ministery of the Gospell, and appointed to fight, to preach there, they fight within the discipline and limits of this Text, Manentes in Ordine, conteining themselues in Order.

In this phrase, as we told you before, out of Aquinas, the same thing is intended, as in that place of Saint Paul, Let all things bee done decently, and in Order. That the vul­gat edition reads, Fiant honeste; and then saies Saint Ambrose, Honeste fit, quod cum pace fit, That is done honestly, and decently, which is done quietly, and peaceably. Not with a peace, and indifferencie to contrary Opinions in fundamentall doctrines, not to shuffle re­ligions together, and make it all one which you chufe, but a peace with persons, an ab­stinence from contumelies, and reuilings. It is true that wee must hate Gods enemies with a perfect hatred, and it is true that Saint Chrysostome sayes, Odium perfectum est, odium consummatissimum, that is not a perfect ha­tred, that leaues out any of their Errors vn­hated. [Page 40] But yet a perfect hatred is that too, which may consist with perfection, and Charitie is perfection: a perfect hatred is that which a perfect, that is, a charitable man may beare, which is still to hate Errors, not Persons. When their insolencies pro­uoke vs to speake of them, we shall doe no good therein, if therein we proceed not de­cently, and in order. Christ sayes of his Church: Terribilis vt Castrorum acies, Cant. 6. 3. It is po­werfull as an Armie; but it is vt acies ordinata, as an armie disciplin'd, and in order: for with­out order, an armie is but a great Ryot; and without this decencie, this peaceablenesse, this discretion, this order, zeale is but fury, and such preaching is but to the obduration of ill, not to the edification of good Chri­stians. Saint Paul in his absence from the Colossians, reioyces as much in beholding their Order, Col. 2. 5. as in their stedfastnesse in the faith of Christ Iesus: Nay, if wee consider the wordes well, as Saint Chrysostome hath done, we shall see that it is onely their Order that he reioyces in: for Non dixit fidem, sed firmamentum fidei, sayes that Father, It was not their faith, but that which established their faith, [Page 41] that was their order, that occasioned his ioy. For when there is not an vniforme, a comely, an orderly presenting of matters of faith, faith it selfe growes loose, and loses her esti­mation; and preaching in the Church comes to bee as pleading at the Barre, and not so well: there the Counsell speakes not him­selfe, but him that sent him, here wee shall preach not him who sent vs, Christ Iesus, but our selues. Study to bee quiet, and to doe your owne busines, is the Apostles commandement to euery particular man amongst the Thes­salonians. I Thes. 4. 11. It seemes some amongst them dis­obeyd that: and therefore hee writes no more to particular persons, but to the whol Church, in his other Epistle, and with more vehemence, then a smal matter would haue required: Wee command you in the name of our Lord Iesus Christ, 2 Thes. 3. 6. that you withdraw your selfe from all that walke Inordinate, as the vulgat reads that in one place, and Inquietè, as they translate the same word, in another, disor­derly, vnquietly: from all such as preach suspiciously, and iealously; and be the garden neuer so faire, wil make the world beleetie, there is a Snake vnder euery leafe, be the in­tention [Page 42] neuer so sincere, will presage, and prognosticate, and prediuine sinister and mischieuous effects from it. A troubled spi­rit is a sacrifice to God, Psal. 51 but a troublesome spirit is farre from it. I am glad that our Ministe­ry is called Orders, that when we take his calling, we are said to take Orders. Yours are called Trades, and Occupations, and My­steries: Law and Phisicke are called Sciences, and Professions: many others haue many o­ther names, ours is Orders. When by his Maiesties leaue we meet in our Conuocations, and being met haue his further leaue, to treat of remedies for any disorders in the Church, our Constitutions are Canons, Canons are Rules, Rules are Orders: Parliaments de­termine in Lawes, Iudges in Decrees, wee in Orders. And by our Seruice in this Mother Church, we are Canenici, Canons, Regular, Or­derly men; not Canonistae, men that know Or­ders, but Canonici, men that keepe them where wee are also called Prebendaries, ra­ther a Praebendo, then a Praebenda, rather for giuing example of obedience to Orders, then for any other respect. In the Remane Church the most disorderly men, are their [Page 43] men in Orders. I speake not of the viciousnesse of their life, I am no Iudge of that, I know not that: but they are so out of all Order, that they are within Rule of no tem­porall Law, within jurisdiction of no Cuill Magistrate, no secular Iudge. They may kill Kings, and yet can be no Traytors; they assigne their reason, Because they are no Subiects. He that kils one of them, shall be really hang'd; and if one of them kill, hee shall be Metaphorically hang'd, he shall bee suspended. Wee enjoy gratefully, and we vse modestly the Priuiledges which godly Princes, out of their pietie haue affoorded vs, and which their godly Successors haue giuen vs againe by their gracious continu­ing of them to vs; but our Profession of it selfe, naturally (though the very nature of it dispose Princes to a gracious disposition to vs) exempts vs not from the tye of their Laws. All men are in deed, we are in Deed and in name too, Men of Orders; and there­fore ought to be most ready of all others to obey.

Now, beloued,Aquin. Ordo semper dicitur ratione principij: Order alwayes presumes a head, it al­wayes [Page 44] implyes some by whom wee are to be ordered, and it implyes our conformitie to him. Who is that? God certainly, with­out all question, God. But between God, and Man, we consider a two-fold Order. One, as all creatures depend vpon God, as vpon their beginning, for their very Being; and so eue­ry creature is wrought vpon immediately by God, and whether hee discerne it or no, does obey Gods order, that is, that which God hath ordained, his purpose, his proui­dence is executed vpon him, & accomplishd in him. But then the other Order is, not as man depends vpon God, as vpon his begin­ning, but as he is to be reduced and brought back to God, as to his end: & that is done by meanes in this world. What is that meanes? for those things which wee haue now in consideration, the Church. But the body speaks not, the head does. It is the Head of the Church that declares to vs those things wherby we are to be ordered.

This the Royall and religious Head of these Churches within his Dominions hath lately had occasion to do. And in doing this, doth he innouate any thing, ofter to doe any new [Page 45] thing? Do we repent that Canon, & Constitu­tion, in which at his Maiesties first comming we declar'd with so much alacrity, as that it was the second Canon we made, That the King had the same authoritie in causes Ecclesiasticall, that the godly Kings of Iudah, and the Christian Emperors in the primitiue Church had? Or are we ignorant what those Kings of Iuda, and those Emperors did? We are not, wee know them well. Take it where the power of the Empire may seem somwhat declin'd in Charls the great; we see by those Capitularies of his, that remain yet, what orders he gaue in such causes; there he saies in his entrance to them, Nemo praesumptuosum dicat; Let no man call this that I doe an vsurpation, to prescribe Orders in these cases, Nam legimus quid Iosias fecerit, We haue read what Iosiah did, and we know that wee haue the same Authoritie that Iosiab had. But, that Emperor consulted with his Cleargie, be­fore he published those Orders. It is true, he sayes he did. But he, from whom we haue receiued these Orders, did more then so; His Maiesty forbore, till a representation of some incōueniences by disorderly preaching, was made to him, by those in the highest place [Page 46] in our Clergie, and other graue and reuerend Prelates of this Church; they presented it to him, and thereupon he entred into the re­medy. But that Emperour did but declare things constituted by other Counsells be­fore: but yet the giuing the life of executi­on to those Constitutions in his Domini­ons, was introductory, and many of the things themselues were so. Amongst them, his 70. Capitularie is appliable to our pre­sent case; there hee sayes, Episcopi videant, That the Bishops take care, that all Preachers preach to the people the Exposition of the Lords Prayer: and he enioynes them too, Ne quid nouum, ne quid non Canonicum, That no man preach any new opinion of his owne; nay, though it bee the opinion of other learned men in other places, yet if it be Non Canonicum, not declared in the vniuersall Church, not decla­red in that Church, in which he hath his stati­on, he may not preach it to the people: And so he proceeds there to Catechistical Doctrine.

That is not new then, which the Kings of Iudah did, and which the Christian Empe­rours did. But it is new to vs, if the Kings of this kingdome haue not done it. Haue [Page 47] they not done it? How little the Kings of this kingdome did in Ecclesiasticall causes then, when by their conniuence that power was deuold into a forraine Prelates hand, it is pitie to consider, pitie to remember, pitie to bring into Contemplation; And yet tru­ly euen then our Kings did exercise more of that power, then our aduersaries who op­pose it, will confesse. But, since the true iu­risdiction was vindicated, and reapplyed to the Crowne, in what iust heighth Henry the eight, and those who gouerned his Sonnes minoritie, Edward the sixt, exercised that iu­risdiction in Ecclesiasticall causes, none, that knowes their story, knowes not. And, be­cause ordinarily, we settle our selues best in the Actions, and Precedents of the late Queene of blessed and euerlasting memory, I may haue leaue to remember them that know, and to tell them that know not, one act of her power and her wisedome, to this purpose. When some Articles concerning the falling away from Iustifying grace, and other poynts that beat vpon that haunt, had been ventilated, in Conuenticles, and in Pulpits too, and Preaching on both sides [Page 48] past, and that some persons of great place and estimation in our Church, together with him who was the greatest of all, amongst our Clergy, had vpon mature deliberation established a resolution what should bee thought, and taught, held and preached in those poynts, and had thereupon sent down that resolution to be published in the Vni­uersitie, not vulgarly neither, to the people, but in a Sermon, Ad Clerum onely, yet her Maiestie being informed thereof, declared her displeasure so, as that, scarse any houres before the Sermon was to haue been, there was a Countermaund, an Inhibition to the Preacher for medling with any of those poynts. Not that her Maiestie made her selfe Iudge of the Doctrines, but that nothing, not formerly declared to be so, ought to be de­clared to be the Tenet, and Doctrine of this Church, her Maiestie not being acquainted, nor supplicated to giue her gracious allow­ance for the publication thereof.

His sacred Maiestie then, is herein vpon the steps of the Kings of Iudah, of the Chri­stian Emperours, of the Kings of England, of all the Kings of England, that embraced the [Page 49] Reformation of Queene Elizabeth her selfe; and he is vpon his owne steps too. For, it is a seditious calumny to apply this which is done now, to any occasion that rises but now: as though the King had done this now, for satisfaction of any persons at this time, for some yeares since, when hee was pleased to call the Heads of Houses from the Vniuersity, and intimate to them the incon­ueniences that arose from the Preaching of such men, as were not at all conuersant in the Fathers, in the Schoole, nor in the Ecclesi­asticall Storie, but had shut vp themselues in a few later Writers; and gaue order to those Gouernours for remedy herein. Then he be­gan, then he laid the foundation for that, in which hee hath proceeded thus much fur­ther now, to reduce Preaching neerer to the manner of those Primitiue times, when God gaue so euident, and so remarkable blessings to mens Preaching.

Consider more particularly that which hee hath done now; His Maiestie hath ac­companied his most gracious Letter to the most Reueuerend Father in God, my Lords Grace of Canterbury, with certaine Directions how [Page 50] Preachers ought to behaue themselues in the exercise of that part of their Ministerie. These being deriued from his Grace, in due course to his reuerend Brethren, the other Bi­shops, our Worthy Diocesan, euer vigilant for the Peace and vnitie of the Church, gaue a speedy, very speedy intimation thereof, to the Clergie of his Iurisdiction; so did others, to whom it appertain'd so to doe in theirs. Since that, his Maiestie, who alwaies taking good workes in hand, loues to perfect his owne works, hath vouchsafed to giue some Reasons of this his proceeding; which being signified by him to whome the State and Church owes much, The right Reuerend Fa­ther in God, the Bishop of Lincolne, Lord Kee­per of the great Seale, and after by him also, who began at first, his Maiesties pleasure ap­pearing thereby, (as he is too Great, and too Good a King to seeke corners, or disguises, for his actions) that these proceedings should be made publique, I was not willing only, but glad to haue my part therein, that as, in the feare of God, I haue alwayes preached to you the Gospell of Christ Iesus, who is the God of your Saluation; So in the testimony [Page 51] of a good conscience, I might now preach to you, the Gospell of the Holy ghost, who is the God of peace, of vnitie, and concord.

These Directions then, and the Reasons of them, by his Maiesties particular care, euery man in the Ministery may see & write out, in the seuerall Registers Offices, with his owne hand for nothing, and for very little, if hee vse the hand of another. Perchance you haue, at your conuenience, you may see them. When you do, you shall see, That his Maiesties generall intention therein is, to put a difference, between graue, and solid, from light and humerous preaching. Origen does so, when vpon the Epistle to the Romanes, he sayes, There is a great difference, Inter praedi­care, & docere: A man may teach an Audi­tory, that is, make them know something that they knew not before, and yet not preach; for Preaching is to make them knowthings appertaining to their saluation. But when men doe neither, neither Teach, nor Preach, but (as his Maiestie obserues the manner to bee) To soare in poynts too deepe, To muster vp their owne Reading, To display their owne Wit, or Ignorance in medling with Ci­uill [Page 52] matters, or (as his Maiestie addes) in rude and vndecent reuiling of persons: this is that which hath drawen downe his Maiesties piercing Eye to see it, and his Royall care to correct it. Hee corrects it by Christs owne way, Quid ab initio, by considering how it was at first: for, (as himselfe to right pur­pose cites Tertullian) Id verum quod primum; That is best, which was first. Hee would therefore haue vs conuersant in Antiquitie: For, Nazianzen askes that question with some scorne, Quis est qui veritatis prepugna­torem, vnius diei spatio, velut eluto statuam, fingit. Can any man hope to make a good Preacher, as soone as a good Picture? In three or foure dayes, or with three or foure Books? His Maiesty therfore cals vs to look, Quid primum, what was first in the whole Church? And againe, Quid primum, when we receiued the Reformation in this Kingdom, by what meanes, (as his Maiestie expresseth it) Papistry was driuen out, and Puritanisme kept out, and wee deliuered from the Superstiti­on of the Papist, and the madnesse of the Ana­baptists, as before hee expresseth it: and his religious and iudicious eye sees clearly, That [Page 53] all that Doctrine, which wrought this great cure vpon vs, in the Reformation, is contai­ned in the two Catechismes, in the 39. Arti­cles, and in the 2. Bookes of Homilies. And to these, as to Heads, and Abunda [...]ies, from whence all knowledge necessary to saluati­on, may abundantly be deriu'd, hee directs the meditations of Preachers.

Are these new wayes? No way new: for they were our first way in receiuing Christia­nitie, and our first way in receiuing the Re­formation. Take a short view of them all: as it is in the Catechismes, as it is in the Arti­cles, as it is in the Homilies. First you are called backe to the practise of Catechising: Remember what Catechising is; it is Insti­tutio viua voce. And in the Primitiue Church, when those persons, who comming from the Gentiles to the Christian Religion, might haue beene scandalized with the outward Ceremoniall, and Rituall worship of God in the Church, (for Ceremonies are stum­bling blockes to them who looke vpon them without their Signification, and without the reason of their Institution) to auoyd that daunger, though they were not [Page 54] admitted to fee the Sacraments administred, nor the other Seruice of God performed in the Church, yet in the Church, they receiued Instruction, Institution, by word of mouth, in the fundamentall Articles of the Christian Religion, and that was Catechising. The Chri­stians had it from the beginning, and the Iewes had it too: for their word Chanach, is of that signification, Initiare, to enter. Traine vp a child in the way he should goe, Pro. 22. 6 and when he is olde, hee will not depart from it. Traine vp, say our Translation in the Text; Catechise, say our Translators in the Margin, accor­ding to the naturall force of the Hebrew word. And Sepher Chinnuch, which is Liber Institutionum, that is, of Catechisme, is a Book well knowne amongst the Iewes, euery where, where they are now: Their Insti­tution is their Catechisme. And if wee should tell some men, that Caluins Institu­tions were a Catechisme, would they not loue Catechising the better for that name? And would they not loue it the better, if they gaue mee leaue to tell them that of which I had the experience. An Artificer of this Ci­tie brought his Childe to mee, to admire (as [Page 55] truly there was much reason) the capacitie, the memory, especially of the child. It was but a Girle, and not aboue nine yeares of age, her parents said lesse, some yeares lesse; wee could scarse propose any Verse of any Booke, or Chapter of the Bible, but that that childe would goe forward without Booke. I began to Catechise this childe; and truly, shee vnderstood nothing of the Tri­nitie, nothing of any of those fundamentall poynts which must saue vs: and the won­der was doubled, how she knew so much, how so little.

The Primitiue Church discerned this ne­cessitie of Catechising: And therefore they instituted a particular Office, a Calling in the Church of Catechisers. Which Office, as we see in Saint Cyprians 42. Epistle, that great man Optatus exercised at Carthage, and Ori­gen at Alexandria. When St. Augustine tooke the Epistle, and the Gospell, and the Psalme of the day, for his Text to one Sermon, did he, think you, much more then paraphrase, then Catechise? When Athanasius makes one Sermon, and, God knowes, a very short one too, Contra omnes Haereses, To ouerthrow [Page 58] all Heresies in one Sermon; did he, think you, any more then propose fundamentall Do­ctrines, which is truly the way to ouer­throw all Heresies? When Saint Chrysostom enters into his Sermon vpon the 3. Chapter to the Galatians, with that preparation, At­tendite diligenter, non enim rem vulgarem polli­cemur, Now hearken diligently, sayes he, for it is no ordinary matter that I propose. There he proposes Catechisticall Doctrine of faith and works. Come to lower times, when Chry­sologus makes sixe or seuen Sermons vpon the Creed, and not a seuerall Sermon vpon euery seuerall Article, but takes the whole Creed for his Text, in euery Sermon, and scarse any of those Sermons a quarter of an houre long, will you not allowe this manner of Preaching to bee Catechising? Goe as lowe as can bee gone, to the Iesuites; and that great Catechizer amongst them, Ca­nisius sayes, Nos hoc munus suscipimus: Wee, wee Iesuites make Catechising our Profes­sion. I doubt not but they doe recreate themselues sometimes in other matters too, but that they glory in, that they are Catechi­sers. And in that Profession, sayes hee, wee [Page 57] haue Saint Basil, Saint Augustine, Saint Am­brose, Saint Cyrill, in our Societie; and truly as Catechizers, they haue; as State-Friers, as Iesuits, they haue not. And in the first Capa­citie they haue him, who is more then all; for as hee sayes rightly, Ipse Christus Catechi­sta, Christs owne Preaching was a Catechising. I pray God that Iesuites conclusion of that Epistle of his, be true still; There he sayes, Sinihil aliud, If nothing else, yet this alone should prouoke vs to a greater diligence in Catechising; Improbus labor, & indefessa cura, That our Aduersaries, the Protestants doe spend so much time, as he sayes, day and night in catechizing. Now, if it were so then, when he writ, and bee not so still amongst vs, wee haue inter­mitted one of our best aduantages: and therefore God hath graciously raised a bles­sed and a Royall Instrument, to call vs back to that, which aduantaged vs, and so much offended the Enemy. That man may sleepe with a good Conscience, of hauing dischar­ged his dutie in his Ministery, that hath preached in the forenoone, and Catechised after. Quaere, sayes Tertullian, (and he sayes that with indignation) an Idolatriam com­mittat, [Page 58] qui de Idolis catechizat: Will any man doubt, sayes he, whether that man be an Idolatrer, that catechises Children, and Seruants in Idolatry? Will any man doubt, whether hee bee painfull in his Ministerie, that catechises children, and seruants in the sincere Religion of Christ Iesus. The Roman Church hath still made her vse of vs; of our fortunes, when she gouernd here, and of our example, since she did not: They did, as they saw vs doe; And thereupon they came to that order, in the Councell of Trent, That vpon Sundayes and Holydayes, they should Preach in the forenoone, and Catechise in the afternoone; till we did both, they did nei­ther.Mat. 18. 3 Except yee become as little Children, yee shall not enter into the Kingdome of Heauen, sayes Christ. Except yee, yee the people bee content at first to feed on the milke of the Gospell, and not presently to fall to gnaw­ing of bones, of Controuersies, and vnre­uealed Misteries, And except yee, the Mi­nisters and Preachers of the Gospell, descend and apply your selues to the Capacitie of little Children, and become as they, and build not your estimation onely vpon the [Page 59] satisfaction of the expectation of great and curious Auditories, you stopp theirs, you loose your owne way to the kingdome of Heauen. Not that wee are to shut vp, and determine our selues, in the knowledge of Catechisticall rudiments, but to bee sure to know them first. The Apostle puts vs vpon that progresse,Heb. 6. 1. Let vs learne the Principles of the Doctrine of Christ, and goe on to per­fection. Not leaue at them; but yet not leaue them out: endeauour to encrease in knowledge, but first make sure of the foundation. And that increase of know­ledge, is royally, and fatherly presented to vs, in that, which is another limne of his Maiesties directions, the 39. Articles.

The Foundation of nceessary knowledge, is in our Catechismes; the Superedification, the extention in these Articles. For they car­ry the vnderstanding, and the zeale of the ablest Man; high inough, & deepe inough. In the third Article there is an Orthodoxe as­sertion of Christs descent into Hell; who can go deeper? In the 17. Article there is a Modest declaration of the Doctrine of Predestination; who can go higher? nei­ther [Page 60] doe these Articles onely build vp Posi­tiue Doctrine; If the Church had no aduer­saries, that were ynough; but they im­brace Controuersies too, in poynts that are necessarie. As in the two and twentieth Article of Purgatorie, of Pardons, of Ima­ges, of Inuocations: and these not in gene­rall onely, but against the Romish Doctrine of Pardons, of Images, of Inuocation. And in the eight and twentieth Article against Transubstantiation, and in such tearmes, as admit no meeting, no reconciliation; but that it is repugnant to the plaine wordes of Scripture, and hath giuen occasion to many Superstitions. And in one word, we may see the purpose and scope of these Articles, as they were intended against the Romane Church, in that Title which they had in one Edition (in which though there were some other things, that iustly gaue offence, yet none was giuen nor taken in this) That these Articles were conceiued and publi­shed, to condemne the Heresies of the Ma­nichees, of the Arrians, of the Nestorians, of the Papistes, and others. And therefore in these reasons, which his Maiestie hath de­scended [Page 61] to giue of his Directions, himselfe is pleased to assigne this, That the people might bee seasoned in all the Heads of the Protestant Religion. Not onely of the Christian against Iewes, Turkes, and Infidels, but of the Protestant against the Romane Church.

The Foundation is in the Catechisme; the growth and extention in the Articles, and then the Application of all to particular Audito­ries in the Homilies: which, if his Maie­stie had not named, yet had beene imply­ed in his recommendation of the Articles. For the fiue and thirtieth Article appoynts the reading of them: both those, which were published in the time of Edward the sixth, and those which after. In the first Booke, the very first Homilies are, of the Sufficiencie of Scriptures, and of the abso­lute necessitie of Reading them; sufficiently opposed against that which hath been sayd in that Church, both of the impertinencie, of Scriptures, as not absolutely necessarie, and of the insufficiencie of these Scriptures, if Scriptures were necessarie. And in the second Booke, the second Homily is against [Page 62] Idolatrie; and so farre against all approa­ches towards it, by hauing any Images in Churches, as that perchance Moderat Men, would rather thinke that Homilie to seuere in that kind, then suspect the Homilies of declination towards Papistrie. Is it the name of Homelies that Scandalizes them? would they haue none? Saint Cyrills 30. Paschall Sermons, which he preached in so many seuerall Easter daies, at his Arch-bishop­rike of Alexandria, and his Christmas dayes Sermons too, were ordinarily exscrib'd, and rehearsed ouer againe, by the most part of the Clergie of those parts: and in their Mouthes they were but Homilies. And Caluins Homilies vpon Iob (as Beza in his Preface before them, calls them) were or­dinarily repeated ouer againe in many pla­ces of Fraunce: and in their mouthes they were but Homilies. It is but the name, that scandalizes; and yet the name of Homilia and Concio, a Homily and a Sermon, is all one. And if some of these were spoken, and not reade, and so exhibited in the name of a Sermon, they would like them well inough. Certainely his Maiestie mistooke it [Page 63] not, that in our Catechismes, In our Articles, in our Homilies, there is inough for Posttiue, inough for Controuerted Diuinitie; For that Iesuit, that intended to bring in the whole body of Controuerted Diuinitie into his booke, (whom we named before) desired no other Subiect, no other occasion to doe that, but the Catechisme of that Church; neither need any sober Man, that intends to handle Controuersies aske more, or go fur­ther.

His Maiestie therefore, who as he vnder­stands his duty to God, so doth he his Sub­iects duties to him, might iustly thinke, That these so well grounded Directions, might, (as himselfe sayes) bee receiu'd vpon implicite obe­dience. Yet hee vouchsafes to communicate to all, who desire satisfaction, the Reasons that mou'd him. Some of which I haue related, and all which, all may, when they will see, and haue. Of all which the Summ is, His Royall and his Pastorall care, that by that Primitiue way of Preaching, his Subiects might be arm'd against all kind of Aduersaries, in fundamentall truthes. And when he takes knowledge, That some few Church-men, but [Page 64] many of the people, haue made sinister constructi­ons of his sincere intentions, As hee is grieued at the heart, (to giue you his owne wordes) to see euery day so many d fections from our religion to Popery and Anabaptisme; So without doubt he is grieued with much bitternes, that any should so peruert his meaning, as to thinke, that these Directions either restraind the Exer­cise of Preaching, or abated the number of Ser­mons, or made a breach to Ignorance and Super­stition, of which three scandals he hath been pleased to take knowledge. What could any Calumniator, any Libeller on the other side, haue imagin'd more opposit, more contrary to him, then approaches towards Ignorance, or Superstition? Let vs say for him, Can so learned, so abundantly learned a prince be su­spected to plot for Ignorance? And let vs blesse God, that we heare him say now, That he doth constantly professe himselfe an open aduersary to the Superstition of the Papist (without any milder Modification) and to the madnesse of the Anabaptist: And that the preaching against either of their Doctrines is not only approued, but much commended by his royall Maiestie, if it bee done without rude and vndecent reuiling. If he [Page 65] had affected Ignorance in himselfe, he would neuer haue read so much; and if he had af­fected Ignorance in vs, hee would neuer haue writ so much, and made vs so much the more learned by his Books. And if hee had had any declination towards Superstition, he would not haue gone so much farther, then his rank and qualitie pressed him to doe, in declaring his opinion concerning Antichrist, as out of Zeale, and zeale with knowledge hee hath done. We haue him now, (and long, long, O eternall God, continue him to vs,) we haue him now for a father of the Church, a Foster-father; such a father as Constantine, as Theodosius was; our posterity shall haue him for a Father, a Classique father; such a father as Ambrose, as Austin was. And when his works shall stand in the Libraries of our Posteritie, amongst the Fathers, euen these Papers, these Directions, & these Reasons shal be pregnant euidences for his cōstant zeale to Gods truth, and in the meane time, as arrowes shot in their eyes, that imagine so vaine a thing, as a defection in him, to their superstition. Thus far he is from admitting Ignorance, and from Superstition thus far, which seemes to be one [Page 66] of their feares. And for the other two, (which concurre in one) That these Directi­ons should restraine the Exercise of Preaching, or abate the number of Sermons, his Maiestie hath declar'd himselfe to those Reuerend Fathers, To be so far from giuing the least discouragement to solid Preaching, or to discreet and religious Preachers, or from abating the number of Ser­mons, that hee expects at their hands, that this should increase their number, by renuing vpon e­uery Sunday in the afternoon, in all Parish Chur­ches throughout the kingdome, that primitiue, and most profitable exposition of the Catechisme. So that heere is no abating of Sermons, but a direction of the Preacher to preach vsefully, and to edification.

And therfore, to end all, you, you whom God hath made Starres in this Firmament, Preachers in this Church, deliuer your selues from that imputation,Iob 25. 5 The Starres were not pure in his sight; The Preachers were not obe­dient to him in the voice of his Lieutenant. And you, you who are Gods holy people, and zealous of his glory, as you know from St. Paul, 1 Cor. 15 14. that Stars differ from Stars in glory, but all conduce to the benefit of man: So, [Page 67] when you see these Stars, Preachers to differ in gifts; yet, since all their ends are to ad­uance your saluation, encourage the Catechi­zer, as well as the curious Preacher. Looke so farre towards your way to Heauen, as to the Firmament, and consider there, that that starre by which wee saile, and make great voyages, is none of the starres of the greatest magnitude; but yet it is none of the least nei­ther; but a middle starre. Those Preachers which must saue your soules, are not igno­rant, vnlearned, extemporall men; but they are not ouer curious men neither. Your chil­dren are you, and your seruants are you; and you doe not prouide for your saluation, if you prouide not for them, who are so much yours, as that they are you. No man is sau'd as a good man, if he be not sau'd as a good Father, and as a good Master too, if God haue giuen him a family. That so, Priest and peo­ple, the whole Congregation, may by their religious obedience, and fighting in this spi­rituall warfare in their Order, minister occa­sion of ioy to that heart, which hath beene grieued; in that fulnesse of ioy, Which Da­uid expresseth.Psal 21. The King shall reioyce in thy [Page 68] strength, O Lord, and in thy saluation how great­ly shall hee reioyce? Thou hast giuen him his hearts desire, and thou hast not withholden the request of his lipps: for the King trusteth in the Lord, and by the mercy of the most High, he shall not bee mooued. And with that Psalme, a Psalme of Confidence in a good King, and a Psalme of Thanksgiuing for that blessing, I desire that this Congregation may be dis­solued; for this is all that I intended for the Explication, which was our first, and for the Application, which was the other part proposed in these wordes.

THere are reckoned in this booke, 22. Ser­mons of the Apostles; and yet the booke is not called the Prea­ching, but the Practise, not the VVords, but the Acts of the Apostles: and the Acts of the Apostles were to conuay that name [Page 2] of Christ Iesus, and to propagate his Gospell, ouer all the world: Beloued you are Actors vpon the same Stage too: the vttermonst part of the Earth are your Scene: act ouer the acts of the A­postles; bee you a light to the Gentiles, that sit in darkenesse; be you content to carry him ouer these Seas, who dry­ed vp one red Sea, for his first people, and hath powred out another red Sea, his owne bloud, for them and vs. When man was fallen, God clothed him; made him a Leather Garment; there God descended to one occupati­on; when the time of mans redemp­tion was come, then God, as it were, to house him, became a Carpenters Sonne; there God descended to another occu­pation. Naturally, without doubt, man would haue beene his own Tay­lor, and his owne Carpenter; some­thing in these two kinds man would haue done of himselfe, though hee had had no patterne from God: but [Page 3] in preseruing man who was fallen, to this redemption, by which he was to be raisd, in preseruing man from peri­shing, in the Flood, God descended to a third occupation, to be his Shipwright to giue him the modell of a ship, an Arke, and so to be the author of that, which man himselfe in likelihood, would neuer haue thought of, a means to passe from Nation to Nation. Now, as GOD taught vs to make cloathes, not onely to cloath our selues, but to cloath him in his poore and na­ked members heere; as God taught vs to build houses, not to house ourselues, but to house him, in erecting Churches, to his glory: So God taught vs to make Ships, not to transport ourselues, but to transport him, That when wee haue receiued power, after that the Holy Ghost is come vpon vs, we might be witnesses vnto him, both in Ierusalem, and in all Iudaea, and in Samaria, and vnto the vttermost parts of the Earth.

[Page 4]As I speake now principally to them who are concernd in this Plantation of Virginia, yet there may be diuers in this Congregation, who, though they haue no interest in this Plantation, yet they may haue benefit and edification, by that which they heare me say, so Christ spoke the words of this Text, princi­pally to the Apostles, who were present and questioned him at his Ascention, but they are in their iust extention, and due accomodation, appliable to our present occation of meeting heere: As Christ himselfe is Alpha, and Omega, so first, as that hee is last too, so these words which he spoke in the East, be­long to vs, who are to glorifie him in the VVest; That we hauing receiued pow­er, after that the Holy Ghost is come vp­on vs, might be witnesses vnto him, both in Ierusalem, and in all Iudea, and in Sa­maria, and vnto the vttermost parts of the Earth.

The first word of the Text is the [Page 5] Cardinall word, the word the hinge vp­on which the whole Text turnes; The first word, But, is the But, that all the rest shoots at. First it is an exclusiue word; something the Apostles had re­quired, which might not bee had; not that; And it is an inclusiue word; something Christ was pleasd to affoord to the Apostles, which they thought not of; not that, not that which you beat vpon, But, but yet, something else, something better then that, you shall haue. That which this but, excludes, is that which the Apostles expresse in the Verse immediatly before the Text, a Temporall Kingdome; VVilt thou restore againe the kingdome of Israel? No; not a temporall Kingdome; let not the ri­ches and commodities of this World, be in your contemplation in your ad­uentures. Or, because they aske more, VVilt thou now restore that? not yet: If I will giue you riches, and commodi­ties of this world, yet if I doe it not at [Page 6] first, if I doe it not yet, be not you dis­couraged; you shall not haue that, that is not Gods first intention; and though that be in Gods intention, to giue it you hereafter, you shall not haue it yet; thats the exclusiue part; But; there en­ters the inclusiue, You shall receiue power, after that the Holy Ghost is come vpon you, and you shall bee witnesses vnto mee, both in Ierusalem, and in all Iudaea, and in Samaria, and vnto the vttermost parts of the Earth. In which second part, we shall passe by these steps; Superueniet Spiritus, The holy Ghost shall come vpon you, The Spirit shall witnesse to your Spirit, and rectifie your Conscience; And then, by that, you shall receiue power; A new power besides the pow­er you haue from the State, and that power shall enable you, to be witnes­ses of Christ, that is; to make his do­ctrine the more credible, by your testi­mony, when you conforme you selnes to him, and doe as hee did; and this [Page 7] witnesse you shall beare, this confor­mity you shall declare, first in Ierusa­lem, in this Citie; And in Iudaea, in all the parts of the Kingdome; and in Sa­maria, euen amongst them who are departed from the true worship of God, the Papists; and to the vttermost part of the Earth, to those poore Soules, to whom you are continually sending. Summarily, If from the Holy Ghost you haue a good testimony in your owne Conscience, you shall be witnesses for Christ, that is; as he did, you shall giue satisfaction to all, to the Citie, to the Countrey, to the Calumniating Aduersary, and the Naturals of the place, to whom you shall present both Spirituall and Temporall benefit to. And so you haue the Modell of the whole frame, and of the partitions; we proceede now to the furnishing of the particular roomes.

SAint Basill in a Ser­mon vpon the 114.Basil. Psalme; vpon the like occasion as drawes vs together now, The consecration of a Church, makes this the reason and the excuse of his late comming thither to doe that Seruice, that he stayd by the way, to consecrate another Church: I hope euery person heere hath done so; consecrated himselfe, who is a [Page 2] Temple of the Holy Ghost; before hee came to assist, or to testifie the conse­cration of this place of the Seruice of God.Bern. Ser. 1.Nostra festiuitas hec est, quia de Ec­clesia nostra; sayes Saint Bernard. This Festiuall belongs to vs, because it is the consecration of that place, which is ours, Magis autem nostra, quia de nobis ipsis: But it is more properly our Festi­uall, because it is the consecration of our selues to Gods seruice. For, Sanctae Animae propter inhabitantem Spiritum; your Soules are holy, by the inhabita­tion of Gods holy spirit, who dwells in them. Sancta corpor a propter inhabi­tantem animam; Your Bodies are holy, by the inhabitation of those sanctified Soules. Sancti parietes, propter Corpora Sanctorum. These walles are holy, be­cause the Saints of God meet here with­in these walls to glorifie him. But yet these places are not onely consecrated & sanctified by your comming; but to bee sanctified also for your comming; [Page 3] that so, as the Congregation sanctifies the place, the place may sanctifie the Congregation too. They must accom­pany one another; holy persons and holy places; If men would wash sheep in the Baptisterie, in the Font, those sheep were not christned. If prophane men, or idolatrous men, pray here after their way, their prayers are not sancti­fied by the place. Neither if it be after polluted, doth the place retain that san­ctitie, which is this day to be deriued vpon it, and to bee imprinted in it.

Our Text settles vs vpon both these considerations,Diuisie. The holy place, and the holy person. It was the Feast of the Dedication: there's the holinesse of the place; And the holy person, was holi­nesse it selfe in the person of Christ Ie­sus, who walked in the Temple in Salo­mons Porch. These two will bee our two parts: And the first of these wee shall make vp of these pieces. First, we shall see a lawfull vse of Feasts, of Fe­stiuall [Page 4] dayes. And then of other Feasts, then were instituted by God himselfe; diuers were so; this was not. And thirdly, not only a festiuall solemnizing of some one thing, at some one time, for the present, but an Anniuersary re­turning to that folemnitie euery yeare; And lastly, in that first part, this Festi­uall in particular, The Feast of the De­dication of the Temple: that fanctified the place, that shall determine that part. In the second part, The holinesse of the person, we shall carry your thoughts no farther, but vpon this, That euen this holy person Iesus himselfe, would haue recourse to this place, thus dedi­cated, thus sanctified: And vpon this, that hee would doe that especially at such times, as hee might countenance and authorise the Ordinances and In­stitutions of the Church, which had appointed this Festiuall. And this, sayes the Text, he did in the Winter: First, Etsi Hiems, though it were Winter, hee [Page 5] came, and walked in the Porch, a little inconuenience kept him not off: And, Quia Hiems, because it was Winter, he walked in the Porch which was coue­red, not in the Temple which was o­pen. So that heere with modestie, and without scandall he condemned not the fauouring of a mans health, euen in the Temple, And it was at Ierusalem, the Feast of the Dedication; and it was Winter; and Iesus walked in the Temple in Salomons Porch.

In our first part,1. Part. Festa. Holy places, wee looke first vpon the times of our mee­ting there, Holy dayes. The root of all those is the Sabboth, that God planted himselfe, euen in himselfe, in his owne rest, from the Creation. But the root, and those branches which grow from that root, are of the same nature, and the same name: And therefore as well of the flower, as of the root of a Rose, or of a Violet, we would say, This is a Violet, this is a Rose, so as well to o­ther [Page 6] Feasts of Gods institution, as to the first Sabboth, God giues that name; hee cals those seuerall Feasts which he in­stituted, Sabboths; enioynes the same things to be done vpon them, inflicts the same punishments vpon them that breake them.Leuit. 23. So that there is one Mo­ralitie, that is the soule of all Sabboths, of all Festiualls; howsoeuer all Sab­boths haue a ceremoniall part in them, yet there is a Morall part that inani­mates them all; they are elemented of Ceremonie, but they animated with Moralitie. And that Moralitie is in them all, Rest: for if Adam could name crea­tures according to their nature, God could name his Sabboth according to the nature of it, and Sabboth is Rest. It is a Rest of two kindes; our rest, and Gods rest. Our rest is the cessation from labour on those dayes; Gods rest, is our sanctifying of the day: for so in the religious sacrifice of Noah, when hee was come out of the Arke, Genes. 8. God is said [Page 7] to haue smelt, Odorem quietis, the sauour of rest: vpon those dayes we rest from seruing the world, and God rests in our seruing of him. And as God takes a tenth part of our goods, in Tythes, but yet he takes more too, he takes Sacrifi­ces, so though he take a seuenth part of our time in the Sabboth, yet he takes more too, he appoints other Sabboths, other Festiualls, that he may haue more glory, and we more Rest: for all wher­in those two concurre, are Sabboths Vacate & videte quoniam ego sum Domi­nus sayes God. Psal. 46. 10 First vacate, rest from your bodily labours, distinguish the day, and then videte, come hither into the Lords presence, and worship the Lord your God, sanctifie the day: And in all the Sabboths there is still a Cessate, Leuit. 23. and a Humiliate animas, bodily rest, and spirituall sanctifying of the day. Holy dayes then, that is, dayes seposed for holy vses, and for the outward & pub­like seruice of God, are in Nature, and [Page 8] in that Morall Law which is written in the heart of man. That such dayes there must be is Morall; and this is Mo­rall too, that all things in the seruice of God bee done in order; and this also, that obedience be giuen to Superiours, in those things wherein they are Supe­riors. And therfore it was to the Iewes, as well Morall, to obserue the certaine dayes which God had determined, as to obserue any at all. Not that Gods com­mandement limitting the dayes, infu­sed a Moralitie into those particular dayes: for Moralitie is perpetuall; and if that had been Morall, it must haue been so before, and it must bee so still; Gods determining the dayes did not infuse, not induce a Moralitie there, but it a­wakened a former Moralitie, that is, an obedience to the commandement, for that time, which God had appoynted that for them; for this Obedience, and Order is perpetuall, and so, Morall. We depart therfore from that error, which [Page 9] those ancient Heretiques, the Ebionites begun, and some laboured to refresh in Saint Gregories time, and which conti­nues in practise in some places of the world still; To obserue both the Iewes Sabbath, and the Christians, Satterday, and Sunday too; because the Sabboth is called Pactum sempiternum: Exod. 31. for to that any of Saint Augustines Answeres will serue; either that it is called euerlasting, because it signified an euerlasting rest; (where be pleased to note by the way, that Holy dayes, Sabbaths, are not onely instituted for Order, but they haue their Mystery, and their Signification; for Holy dayes, Col. 2. 16. (as the Text calls them there) and New Moones, and the Sabboth, were but shadowes of things to come:) or else the Sabboth was called euerlasting to them, because it bound them euer­lastingly, and they might neuer inter­mit it, as some other ceremonies they might. But their Sabboths bind not vs; we depart from them who thinke so; [Page 10] and so we doe from them, who think we are bound to no Festiualls at all, or at least to none but the Sabboth. For God requires as much seruice from vs, as from the Iewes, and to them hee en­larged his Sabboths, and made them di­uers. But those were of Gods immediat institution: but all that the Iewes obser­ued were not so; and thats our next consideration, Festiualls instituted by the Church.

At first,Sine Man­dato. when God was alone, it is but Faciamus, let vs, vs the Trinity make man. This was, when God was, as we may say, in Coelibatu. But after God hath taken his spouse, maried the Church, then it is Capite nobis vulpes, Cant. 2. 15 doe you take the little Foxes, you the Church; for our vines haue grapes; the vines are ours; yours and mine sayes Christ to the Church: and therfore do you looke to them, as well as I. The Tables of the law God him­selfe writ, and gaue them written to Moses: he left none of that to him; not [Page 11] a power to make other Lawes like those lawes: but for the Tabernacle, which concern'd the outward worship of God, Exod. 25. 9. that was to be made by Moses, Iuxta similitudinem, according to the pa­terne which God had shewed him. God hath giuen the Church a paterne of Ho­ly dayes, in those Sabboths which hee himselfe instituted, and according to the paterne, the Church hath instituted more:Aug. and Recte festa Ecclesiae colunt quise Ecclesiae filios recognoscunt: They who disdaine not the name of sonnes of the Church, refuse not to celebrate the daies which are of the Churches institution. There was no immediate commande­ment of God for that Holy day, which Mor dechai, Ester 9. 23 by his letters establish'd; but yet the Iewes vndertooke to do as Mor­dechai had written to them. There was no such commandement for this Holy day, in the Text; and yet that was ob­ferued, as long as they had any beeing. And where the reason remaines, the [Page 12] practise may; The Iewes did, we may institute new Holy dayes. And not one­ly transitory daies, for a present thanks giuing for a present benefit, but Anni­uersaries, perpetuall memorials of Gods deliuerances. And thats our next step.

Both the Holy dayes, Anniuer­saria. which we na­med before, which were instituted with out speciall Commaundement from God, were so. That of Mordechai, he commanded to be kept euery yeare for two dayes, and this in the Text, Iu­das Maccabeus commanded to be kept yearely for eight dayes, which was more then was appoynted to any of the Holy dayes, instituted by God him­selfe, for the Festiuall alone. According to which paterne,Felix. one Bishop of Rome, ordained that the Festiuals of the De­dication of Churches should bee yeare­ly celebrated in those places;Greg. and an­other extended the Festiuall to eight dayes; at least at the first dedication thereof, if not euery yeare: that God [Page 13] might not onely be put into the posses­sion of the place, but setled in it. God by Moses made the children of Israel a Song, Deut. 31. 19 because, as hee sayes, howsoeuer they did by the Law, they would ne­uer forget that Song, & that Song should be his witnesse against them. There­fore would God haue vs institute so­lemne memorialls of his great deliue­rances, that if when those dayes come about, we doe not glorifie him, that might aggrauate our condemnation. Euery fift of August, the Lord rises vp, to hearken whether we meet to glori­fie him, for his great deliuerance of his Maiesty, before the blest vs with his pre­sence in this Kingdome: and when he finds vs zealous in our thankes for that, he giues vs farther blessings. Cer­tainly he is vp as early euery fift of No­uember, to hearken if we meet to glori­fie him for that deliuerance still; and if hee should finde our zeale lesse then heretofore, hee would wonder why. [Page 14] Gods principall, his radicall Holy day, the Sabbath, had a weekly returne; his other Sabbaths, instituted by himselfe, and those which were instituted by those paternes, that of Mordechai, that of the Maccabees, & those of the Christi­an Church, They all return once a yeare. God would keepe his Courts once a yeare, and see whether wee make our apparances as heeretofore; that if not, hee may know it. Feastes in generall, Feastes instituted by the Church alone, Feasts in their yearely returne and ob­seruation, haue their vse, and particu­larly those Feasts of the Dedication of Churches, which was properly and li­terally the Feast of this Text. It was the Feast of Dedication.

As it diminishes not, preiudices not Gods Eternitie, [...] that wee giue him his Quando, certaine times of Inuocation, God is not the lesse yesterday, Temple. and to day, and the same for euer, because wee meet here to day, and not yesterday, so it di­minishes [Page 15] not, preiudices not Gods Vbi­quitie and Omnipresence, that wee giue him his Vbi, certaine places for Inuo­cation. Thats not the lesse true, that the most High dwells not in Temples made with handes, Acts 7. 48. though God accept at our hands our dedication of certaine pla­ces to his seruice, & manifest his wor­king more effectually, more energeti­cally in those places, then in any other. for when we pray, Our Father which art in Heauen, Chrysostome. It is not (sayes Saint Chryso­stome) that wee deny him to bee heere, where wee kneele when we say that Prayer, but it is that we acknowledge him to be there, where he can graunt, and accomplish our prayer. It is as Ori­gen hath very well expressed it,Origen. Vt in melioribus mundi requiramus Deum: That still wee looke for God in the best pla­ces; looke for him, as he heares our pe­titions, here, in the best places of this world, in his House, in the Church; looke for him as he graunts our petiti­on, [Page 16] on, in the best place of the next world, at the right hand, and in the bosome of the Father. Deut. 30. 13 When Moses sayes that the word of God is not beyond Sea, he addes, It is not so beyond Sea, as that thou must not haue it without sending thither. When he sayes there, it is not in heauen, he adds, not so in heauen, as that one must goe vp, before hee can haue it. The word of God, is beyond Sea, the true word, truly preached in many true Churches there, but yet we haue it here, within these Seas too; God is in Heauen, but yet hee is here, within these walles too. And therefore the impietie of the Maniche­ans exceeded all the Gentiles, who con­cluded the God of the Old Testament to be an impotent, an vnperfect God, be­cause hee commaunded Moses first to make him a Tabernacle, and then Salo­mon to make him a Temple, as though he needed a House. God does not need a house, but man does need, that God should haue a House. And therefore [Page 17] the first question, that Christs first Dis­ciples asked of him, was Magister, vbi habitas, they would know his standing house, where he hath promised to bee alwaies within, and where at the ring­ing of the Bell, some body comes to answere you, to take your errand, to offer your Prayers to God, to returne his pleasure in the preaching of his Word to you. The many and heauy Lawes, with which sacred and secular stories abound, against the prophana­tion of places, appropriated to Gods seruice, and that religious custome, that passed almost through all ciuill Nati­ons, that an oath, which was the bond between man, and man, had the stron­ger Obligation, if that were taken in the Church, in the presence of God, (for such was the practise of Rome towards her enemies, Tango ar as inedios (que)ignes, to make their vowes of hostility in the Church, and at time of diuine Seruice, (and such is their practise still, they [Page 18] seale their Treasons in the Sacrament) such was Romes practise towards o­thers, and such was the practise of o­thers towards Rome, (for so Anniball sayes, that his father Amilcar swore him at the Altar, that he should neuer bee reconciled to Rome, (And such is your practise still, as often as you meet here, you renew your band to God, that you will neuer bee reconciled to the Superstitions of Rome) all these, and all such as these, and such as these are infinite, heap vp testimonies, that euen in Nature there is a disposition to ap­ply, and appropriate certaine places to Gods seruice. And this impression in nature is illustrated in the Law, as the time, so the place is distinguished, Yee shall keepe my Sabboths, Levi. 19. 30 there is the time, and you shall reuerence my Sanctuary, there is the place. But that they may be reuerenced, that they may bee San­ctuaries, they are to be sanctified; and thats the Encaenia, the Dedication.

[Page 19]Euen in those things which accrue vnto God, Encaenia. and become his, by another title, then as he is Lord of all, by Crea­tion, that is, by appropriation, by dedi­cation to his vse and Seruice, There is a Lay Dedication, and an Ecclesiasticall Dedication. I hope the distinction of Laytie, and Clergie, the words, scan­dalize no man. Luther, and Caluin too might haue iust cause to decline the words, as they did; when so much was ouer-attributed to that Clergie which they intend, as that they were so Sors Domini, the Lords portion, as that the world had no portion in them, and yet they had the greatest portion of the world; and howe little soe­uer they had to doe with God, yet no State, no King might haue any thing to doe with them. But, as long as we declare, that by the Layetie we in­tend the people glorifying God in their secular callings, and by the Clergie, per­sons seposed by his ordinance, for spi­rituall [Page 20] functions, The Layetie no farther remoou'd then the Clergie, The Clergie no farther entitled then the Layetie, in the blood of Christ Iesus, neither in the effusion of that blood vpon the Crosse, nor in the participation of that blood in the Sacrament, and that an equall care in Clergie, and Layetie, of doing the duties of their seuerall callings, giues them an equall interest in the ioyes, and glory of heauen, I hope no man is scandaliz'd with the names. The Lay Dedication then is, the voluntary sur­rendring of this piece of ground thus built, to God. For we must say, as Saint Peter said to Ananias, Acts 5. 4. Whiles it remain'd, was that not your owne? and now, when that is raised (sauing that there was Dedicatio Intentionalis, a purpose from the beginning to appropriate it, to this holy vse) might you not, till this houre, haue made this roome your Hall, if you would? But this is your Dedica­tion, that you haue cheerfully pursued [Page 21] your first holy purposes, and deliuer now into the hands of this seruant of God, the Right Reuerend Father the Bi­shop of this See, a place to be presented to God for you, by him, not misbecom­ming the Maiestie of the great God, who is pleased to dwell thus amongst vs. What was spent in Salomons Tem­ple is not told vs. What was prepared, before it was begun, is such a summe, as certainly, if all the Christian Kings that are, would send in all that they haue, at once, to any one seruice, all would not equall that summe. They gaue there, till they who had the ouer­seeing therof, complain'd of the abun­dance, and proclaim'd an abstinence. Yet there was one, who gaue more then all they; for Christ sayes the poore widdow gaue more then all the rest, because she gaue all she had. There is a way of giuing more then she gaue; & I, who by your fauours was no strāger to the beginning of this work, and [Page 22] an often refresher of it to your me­mories, and a poore assistant in laying the first stone, the materiall stone, as I am now, a poore assistant again in this laying of this first formall Stone, the Word & Sacrament, and shall euer de­sire to be so in the seruice of this place, I, I say, can truly testifie, that you (spea­king of the whole Societie together of the publike stock, the publike treasury, the publike reuenue) you gaue more then the widow, who gaue all, for you gaue more then all. A stranger shall not entermeddle with our ioy, as Salomon saies: strangers shall not know, how ill we were prouided for such a work, when we begun it, nor with what difficul­ties we haue wrastled in the way; but strangers shall know to Gods glory, that you haue perfected a work of full three times as much charge, as you pro­posed for it at beginning: so bounti­fully doth God blesse, and prosper in­tentions to his glory, with enlarging [Page 23] your hearts within, and opening the hearts of others, abroad. And this is your Dedication, and that which with­out preiudice, and for distinction, wee call a Lay Dedication, though from reli­gious hearts, and hands.

There is another Dedication; Ecclesiastica that we haue call'd Ecclesiasticall, appointed by God, so as God speaks in the ordinances, and in the practise of his Church. Haere­ditary Kings are begotten & conceiu'd the naturall way; but that body which is so begotten of the blood of Kings, is not a King, no nor a man, till there bee a Soule infused by God. Here is a House, a Child conceiu'd (wee may say borne) of Christian parents, of persons religi­ously disposed to Gods glory; but yet, that was to receiue another influence, an inanimation, a quickening, by ano­ther Consecration. Oportet denuo nasci, holds euen in the children of Christian parents; when they are borne, they must be borne again by Baptisme: when this [Page 24] place is thus giuen by you, for God, opor­tet denuo dari, it must be giuen againe to God, by him, who receiues it of you. It must; there seems a necessitie to be im­plied, because euen in Nature, there was a consecration of holy places; Iacob in his iourney,Gen. 28. 20. before the Law, consecrated euen that stone, which he set vp, in in­tention to build God a House there. In the time of the Law, Num. 7. 1. this Feast of Dedi­cation, was in practise; first in the Ta­bernacle; that and all that appertain'd to it, was annointed, and sanctified: So was Salomons Temple after; so was that which was reedified after their return from Babylon, and so was this in the Text, after the Heathen had defiled and profan'd the Altar thereof, and a new one was erected by Iudas Maccabeus. Thus in Nature, thus in Law, and thus far thus in the Gospell too: that as sure as wee are that the people of God had materiall Churches in the Apostles first times, so sure we are, that those places [Page 25] had a Sanctitie in them. If that place of Saint Paul, 1 Cor. 11. 22 Despise yee the Church of God? be to be vnderstood of the locall, of the materiall Church, and not of the Congregation, you see there is a rebuke for the prophanation of the place, and consequently a sanctity in the place. But assoone as the Church came euidently by the fauour of Princes, to haue liberty to make lawes, and power to see them practised, it was neuer pretermitted to consecrate the places. Before that, we find an ordinance by Pope Hyginus (he was within 150. after Christ, and the eighth Bishop of that See after Saint Pe­ter) euen of particulars in the Conse­crations. But after,Athanas. Athanasius in his A­pologie to Constantius, makes that prote­station for all Christians, That they neuer meet in any Church, till it bee consecrated: And Constantine the Emperour least hee should be at any time vnprouided of such a place, (as we read in the Ecclesia­sticall story) in all his warres, carried a­bout [Page 26] bout with him a Tabernacle which was consecrated: In Nature, in the Law, in the Gospell, in Precept, in Practise, these Consecrations are established.

This they did.Vsus. But to what vse did they consecrate them? not to one vse only; and therefore it is a friuolous con­tention, whether Churches be for prea­ching, or for praying. But if Consecration be a king of Christning of the Church, & that at the Christning it haue a name, wee know what name God hath ap­poynted for his House, Domus mea, Do­mus orationis vocabitur. My House shall bee called the House of Prayer. And how impudent and inexcusable a falshood is that in Bellarmine, That the Lutherans and Caluinistes doe admit Churches for Sermons and Sacraments, Sed reprehen­dunt quod fiant ad orandum, They dislike that they should be for Prayer: when as Caluin himselfe, (who may seeme to bee more subiect to this reprehension then Luther) (for there is no such Litur­gie [Page 27] in the Caluinists Churches, as in the Lutheran) yet in that very place which Bellarmine cites, sayes Conceptae preces in Ecclesia Deo gratae; and for singing in Churches, (which in that place of Caluin cannot be only meant of Psalmes, for it was of that manner of singing, which being formerly in vse in the Easterne churches, S. Ambrose, in his time, brought into the Church of Millan, and so it was deriud ouer the Western churches, which was the modulation and singing of Versicles and Antiphons and the like) this singing, sayes Caluin, was in vse a­mongst the Apostles themselues, Et san­ctissimum & saluberimum est institutum. l. 3. 20. § 32. It was a most holy and most profitable Insti­tution. Still consider Consecration to be a Christning of the place; and though we find them often called Templa prop­ter Sacrificia, for our sacrifices of praier, and of praise, & of the merits of Christ, and often called Ecclesiae ad conciones, Churches, in respect of congregations, [Page 28] for preaching, and often call'd Martyria, for preseruing with respect, and honor the bodies of Martyrs, and other Saints of God, there buried, & often, often, by other names, Dominica, Basilica, and the like, yet the name that God gaue to his house, is not Concionatorium, nor Sacra­mentarium, but Oratorium, the House of Prayer. And therefore without preiu­dice to the other functions too, (for as there is a vae vpon me, Si non Euangeli­zauero, If I preach not my selfe, so may that vae be multiplied vpon any, who would draw that holy ordinance of God into a dis-estimatiō, or into a slack­nesse,) let vs neuer intermit that dutie, to present our selues to God in these places, though in these places there bee then, no other Seruice, but Common prayer. For then doth the House an­swere to that name, which God hath giuen it, if it be a house of Prayer.

Thus then were these places to re­ceiue a double Dedication;Modus. a Dedica­tion, [Page 29] which was a Donation from the Patron, a Dedication which was a con­secration from the Bishop, for to his person, and to that ranke in the Hie­rarchy of the Church, the most ancient Canons limited it; and to those purpo­ses, which wee haue spoken of; of which, Prayer is so farre from being none, as that there is none aboue it. A little should be said, (before wee shut vp this part) of the manner, the forme of Consecrations. In which, in the Pri­mitiue Church, assoone as Consecrations came into free vse, they were full of Ceremonies. And many of those Cere­monies deriu'd from the Iewes: and not vnlawfull, for that. The Ceremonies of the Iewes, which had their foundation in the prefiguration of Christ, and were types of him, were vnlawfull after Christ was come; because the vse of them, then, implyed a deniall or a doubt of his being come. But those Ceremonies, which, though the Iewes [Page 30] vsed them, had their foundation in Na­ture, as bowing of the knee, lifting vp the eyes, and hands, and many, very many others, which either testified their deuotion that did them, or ex­alted their deuotion that sawe them done, are not therefore excluded the Church, because they were in vse a­mongst the Iewes. That Pope whom we named before, Hyginus, the eighth after Saint Peter, he instituted, Ne Ba­silica sine Missa consecretur. That no Church bee consecrated without a Masse. If this must binde vs, to a Masse of the present Romane Church, it were hard; and yet not very hard truely; for they are easily had. But that word, Masse, is in Saint Ambrose, in Saint Augustine in some very ancient Councels; and sure­ly intends nothing, to this purpose, but the Seruice, the Common Prayer of the Church, then in vse, there. And when the Bishop Panigarola sayes in his Sermon vpon Whitsunday, that the [Page 31] Holy Ghost found the blessed Virgin and the Apostles at Masse, I presume hee meanes no more, then that they were mett at such publique Prayer, as at those times they might make. Sure Pope Clemens, and Pope Hyginus meane the same thing, when one sayes Missa consecretur, and the other Diuinis Preci­bus: One sayes, Let the Consecration bee with a Masse, the other, with Diuine Seruice; the Liturgie, the Diuine Ser­uice was then the Masse. In a word, a constant forme of Consecrations, wee finde none that goes through our Ri­tualls: the Ceremonies were still more or lesse, as they were more or lesse ob­noxious, or might bee subiect to scan­dalize, or to be mis-interpreted. And therefore I am not heere either to di­rect, or so much as to remember, that which appertaines to the manner of these Consecrations; onely in concur­ring in that, which is the Soule of all, humble and heartie prayer, that God [Page 32] will heare his Seruants in this place, I shall not offend to say, that I am sure my zeale is inferiour to none. And more I say not of the first Part, The Holy place; and but a little more, of the other; though at first it were pro­posed for an equall part, The Holy Person, That at the Feast of the Dedi­cation, Iesus walked in the Temple in Sa­lomons Porch.

In this second part,2. Part. wee did not spread the words, not shed our consi­derations vpon many particulars: the first was, that euen Iesus Iesus in Templo. himselfe had recourse to this Holy place. In the new Ierusalem, in Heauen, there is no Tem­ple. Apo. 21. 22 I saw no Temple there sayes Saint Iohn: for the Lord God Almightie, and the Lambe are the Temple of it. In Heauen, where there is no danger of falling, there is no need of assistance. Heere the Temple is called Gnazar, 2. Paral. 4. 9 that is Au­xilium: A Helper: the strongest that is, needs the helpe of the Church: And [Page 33] it is called Sanctificium, by Saint Hie­rom, Psal. 78. 69. a place that is not onely made ho­ly by Consecration, but that makes others holy by GOD in it. And there­fore Christ himselfe, whose person and presence might consecrate the Sanctum Sanctorum, would yet make his often repayre to this Holy place; not that hee needed this subsidie of Locall holinesse in himselfe, but that his example might bring others who did neede it; and those who did not; and, that euen his owne Preaching might haue the be­nefite and the blessing of Gods Ordi­nance in that place, hee sayes of him­selfe,Math. 26. Quotidie apud vos sedebam do­cens in Templo, and Semper docui in Sy­nagoga, & in Templo; as in the Actes, the Angell that had deliuered the A­postles out of prison, sends them to Church, Actes 5. Stantes in Templo loquimini ple­bi. The Apostles were sent to preach, but to preach in the Temple, in the place appropriated and consecrated for that [Page 34] holy vse and employment.

He came to this place,Tempus. and he came at those times, which no immediate command of God, but the Church had instituted. Facta sunt Encaenia, sayes the Text; It was the Feast of the Dedica­tion. Wee know what Dedication this was; That of Salomon was much greater; A Temple built where none was before; That of Esdras at the re­turne was much greater then this, An intire reedification of that demoli­shed Temple, where it was before. This was but a zealous restoring of an Altar in the Temple: which hauing beene prophaned by the Gentiles, the Iewes themselues threw downe, and erected a new, and dedicated that. Salomons Dedication is called a Feast, 2 Chr. 5. 3. a Holy day: by the very same name that the Feast of vnleauened bread, and the Feast of the Tabernacle is called so of­ten in Scripture, which is Kag. The Dedication of Ezra Ezra 6. 16. is sufficiently de­clared [Page 35] to bee a solemne Feast too. But neither of these Feastes, though of farre greater Dedications, were An­niuersarie; neither commanded to be kept euery yeare; and yet this, which was so much lesser then the others, the Church had put vnder that Obligation, to bee kept euery yeare; and Christ himselfe contemnes not, condemnes not, disputes not the institution of the Church. But as for matter of doctrine hee sends euen his owne Disciples, to them who sate in Moses Chayre, so for matter of Ceremony, he brings euen his owne person, to the celebrating, to the authorizing, to the countenancing of the Institutions of the Church, and rests in that.

Now it was Winter, sayes the Text: Christ came etsi Hyems, Etsi Hyems though it were Winter; so small an inconuenience kept him not off. Beloued, it is not alway colder vpon Sunday, then vpon Satterday; nor at any time colder in [Page 36] the Chappell; then in Westminster Hall. A thrust keepes some off in Summer; and colde in Winter: and there are more of both these in other places, where for all that, they are more con­tent to be. Remember that Peter was warming himselfe, and hee denyed Christ. They who loue a warme bed, let it bee a warme Studie, let it bee a warme profit, better then this place, they deny CHRIST in his Institution. That therefore which CHRIST sayes,Mat. 24. 20. Pray that your flight bee not in the Win­ter, nor vpon the Sabboth; we may ap­ply thus, Pray that vpon the Sabboth (I tolde you at first, what were Sab­boths,) the Winter make you not flie, not abstaine from this place. Put off thy shooes, Exod. 35. sayes God to Moses, for the place is holy ground. When Gods ordi­nance by his Church call you to this ho­ly place, put off those shoes, all those earthly respects, of ease or profit, Christ came, Etsi Hyems.

[Page 37]But then, Quia Hyems, Quia Hyems Because it was Winter, Hee did walke in Salo­mons Porch, which was couered, not in Atrio, in that part of the Temple, which was open, and expos'd to the weather. We doe not say, that infirme and weak men, may not fauour themselues, in a due care of their health, in these places. That he who is not able to raise him­selfe, must alwayes stand at the Gospell, or bow the knee at the name of Iesus, or stay some whole houres, altogether vncouered heere, if that increase infir­mities of that kinde. And yet Courts of Princes, are strange Bethesdaes; how quickly they recouer any man that is brought into that Poole? How much a little change of ayre does? and how well they can stand, and stand bare many houres, in the Priuy Chamber, that would melt and flowe out into Rhumes, and Catarrs, in a long Gospell heere? But, Citra Scandalum, a man may fauour himselfe in these places: [Page 38] but yet this excuses not the irreuerent manner which hath ouertaken vs in all these places; That any Master may thinke himselfe to haue the same li­bertie heere, as in his owne house, or that that Seruant, that neuer puts on his hat in his Masters presence all the weeke, on Sunday, when hee and his Master are in Gods presence, should haue his hat on perchance before his Masters. Christ shall make Master and Seruant equall; but not yet; not heere; nor euer, equall to himselfe, how euer they become equall to one another. Gods seruice is not a continuall Martyr­dome, that a man must bee heere, and here in such a posture, and such a man­ner, though hee dye for it; but Gods House is no Ordinary neither; where any man may pretend to doe what he will, and euery man may doe, what any man does. Christ slept in a storme; I dare not make that generall; let all doe so. Christ fauoured himselfe in [Page 39] the Church; I dare not make that ge­nerall neither: to make all places e­quall, or all persons equall in any place.

Tis time to end. Saint Basill Basil. him­selfe, as acceptable as hee was to his Auditory, in his second Sermon vpon the 14. Psalme, takes knowledge that hee had preached an houre, and there­fore broke off: I see it is a Compasse, that all Ages haue thought sufficient. But as we haue contracted the consi­deration of great Temples, to this lesser Chappell, so let vs contract the Chappell to our selues: Et facta sint Encaenia no­stra, let this be the Feast of the Dedica­tion of our selues to God. Christ calls himselfe a Temple, Iohn 2. 19. Soluite templum hoc: Destroy this Temple. 1 Cor. 3. 16. & 6. 19. And Saint Paul calls vs so twice; Know ye not that ye are the Temples of the Holy Ghost? Facta sint Encaenia nostra: Encaenia signifies Reno­uationem, a renewing: and Saint Augu­stine Aug. sayes that in his time, Si quis noua [Page 40] tunica indueretur, Encaeniare diceretur. If any man put on a new garment, hee called it by that name, Encaenia sua. Much more is it so, if wee renew in our selues the Image of God, and put off the Olde man, and put on the Lord Iesus Christ. This is truly Encaeniare, to dedicate, to renew our selues: and so Nazian. Nazian. in a Sermon, or Oration, vpon the like occasion as this, calls, Conuersionem nostram, Encaenia, our turning to God, in a true repen­tance, or renewing, our dedication. Let mee charge your memories, but with this note more, That when God forbad Dauid the building of an House, Be­cause hee was a man of blood, at that time Dauid had not embrued his hands in Vriahs blood; nor shed any blood, but lawfully in iust warres; yet euen that made him vncapable of this fauour to prouide God a house. Some callings are in their nature more obnoxious, and more exposed to sinne, then others are: accompanied with more tentations; & [Page 41] so retard vs more in holy duties. And therefore as there are particular sinnes that attend certaine places, certaine ages, certaine complexions, and certaine voca­tions, let vs watch our selues in all those, and remember that not only the high­est degrees of those sinns, but any thing that conduces therunto, prophanes the Consecration, and Dedication of this Temple, our selues, to the seruice of God; it annihilates our repentance, and fru­strates our former reconciliations to him. Almighty God worke in you a perfit dedication of your selues at this time; that so, receiuing it from hands dedicated to God, hee whose holy Office this is, may present ac­ceptably this House to God in your behalfes, and establish an assurance to you, that God will be alwayes present with you and your Succession in this place.

Amen.