A sermon preached before the Honourable House of Commons at their late solemne fast Wednesday, March 27, 1644 by George Gillespie. Gillespie, George, 1613-1648. This text is an enriched version of the TCP digital transcription A42766 of text R24966 in the English Short Title Catalog (Wing G757). Textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. The text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with MorphAdorner. The annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). Textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. This text has not been fully proofread Approx. 120 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 26 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. EarlyPrint Project Evanston,IL, Notre Dame, IN, St. Louis, MO 2017 A42766 Wing G757 ESTC R24966 08704503 ocm 08704503 41601 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A42766) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 41601) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 1260:8) A sermon preached before the Honourable House of Commons at their late solemne fast Wednesday, March 27, 1644 by George Gillespie. Gillespie, George, 1613-1648. [2], 42, [2] p. Printed by Robert Bostock, London : 1644. "Published by order of the House." Reproduction of original in the Union Theological Seminary Library, New York. eng Bible. -- O.T. -- Ezekiel XLIII, 2 -- Sermons. Fast-day sermons. Sermons, English -- 17th century. A42766 R24966 (Wing G757). civilwar no A sermon preached before the honourable House of Commons at their late solemne fast Wednesday March 27. 1644. By George Gillespie minister a Gillespie, George 1644 22964 137 55 0 0 0 0 84 D The rate of 84 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the D category of texts with between 35 and 100 defects per 10,000 words. 2003-04 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2003-05 Apex CoVantage Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2005-03 Emma (Leeson) Huber Sampled and proofread 2005-03 Emma (Leeson) Huber Text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-04 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion A SERMON Preached before The Honourable House OF COMMONS At their late solemne Fast Wednesday March 27. 1644. BY GEORGE GILLESPIE Minister at Edinburgh . Published by Order of the House . PSAL. 102. 6. When the Lord shall build up Zion he shall appeare in his glory . LONDON , Printed for Robert Bostock , dwelling at the Kings head in Pauls Church-yard . Anno 1644. TO THE READER . DIvine providence hath made it my ●…ot , and a Calling hath induced me ( who am lesse then the least of all the servants of Christ ) to appeare among others in this Cloud of publike Witnesses . The scope of the Sermon is , to endevour the removall of the obstructions both of Humiliation and Reformation ; two things which ought to lye very much in our thoughts at this time : Concerning both I shall preface but little . Reformation hath many unfriends , some upon the right hand , and some upon the left : While others cry up that detestable indifferencie or neutrality , abjured in our solemne Covenant , in so much that a Gamaliel and b Gallio , men who regarded alike the Iewish and the Christian Religion , c are highly commended , as examples for all Christians , and as men walking by the rules not onely of Policy , but of Reason and Religion . Now let all those that are either against us , or not with us , doe what they can , the right hand of the most High , shall perfect the glorious begun Reformation : Can all the world keep downe the Sunne of Righteousnesse from rising or being risen ? can they spread a vaile over it ? And though they digge deep to hide their counsels ; is not this a time of Gods over-reaching and befoolling all plotting wits ? they have conceived iniquity , and they shall b●…ing forth vanity : d they have sowne the wind , and they shall reap the whirlewind : Wherefore wee e will wait upon the Lord that hides his face from the house of Iacob , and will look for him : And f though he slay us , yet will we trust in him . g The Lord hath commanded to proclaime , and to say to the daughter of Zion , Behold thy salvation commeth : h Rejoyce with Ierusalem all yee that mourn for her ; For i behold now is the accepted time ; behold now is the day of salvation : But I have more to say : Mourn , O mourne with●…erusalem all yee that rejoyce for her ; k This day is a day of trouble , and of rebuke and of blasphemy ; for the children are come to the birth , and there is not strength to bring forth : It is an interwoven time , warped with mercies , and woofted with judgements ; Say not thou in thine heart , the dayes of my mourning are at an end : Oh wee are to this day an unhumbled and an unprepared people ; and there are among us , both many cursed Achans , and many sleeping Jonahs , but few wrestling Jacobs , l even the wise Virgins are slumbring with the foolish : Surely unlesse wee bee timely awaked , and more deeply humbled , m God will punish us yet seven times more for our sinnes : and if he have chastised us with whips , he will chastise us with Scorpions : and he will yet give a further charge to the Sword , n to avenge the quarrell of his Covenant . In such a case I cannot say according to the now Oxford Divinity , That Preces & Lachrymae Prayers and Teares , must be our only one shelter and fortresse , and that wee must cast away defensive armes as unlawfull in any case whatsoever , against the supreame Magistrate ; ( that is , by interpretation , they would have us doe no more then Pray , to the end themselves may do no lesse then Prey : ) Wherein they are contradicted not only by Pareus , and by others that are eager for a Presbytery , ( as a o Prelate of chiefe note hath lately taken , I should say mistaken , his marke ) but even by p those that are eager Royalists : ( Pardon me that I give them not their right name ; I am sure when all is well reckoned we are better friends to royall authority then themselves . ) Yet herein I doe agree with them , that Prayers and Tears will prove our strongest weapons , and the onely tela divina , the weapons that fight for us from above . q O then fear the Lord ye his Saints ; O r stirre up your selves to lay hold on him ; s Keep no silence and give him no rest , till he establish , and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth . O that we could all t make Wells in our dry and desertlike hearts , that we may u draw out water , even buckets full , to quench the wrath of a sin-revenging God , the fire which still burneth against the Lords inheritance . God grant that this Sermon be not as water spilt on the ground but may x drop as the raine , and distill as the dew of heaven upon thy soule . A SERMON , PREACHED Before the Honourable House of COMMONS : At the late solemne Fast , March 27. 1644. EZEK. 43. 11. And if they be ashamed of all that they have done , shew them the forme of the House , and the fashion thereof , and the goings out thereof , and the commings in thereof , and all the formes thereof , and all the Ordinances thereof , and all the formes thereof , and all the lawes thereof : and write it in their sight , that they may keep the whole forme thereof , and all the Ordinances thereof , and doe them . IT is not long since I did , upon another day of humiliation , lay open Englands disease from that Text , 2 Chron. 20. 33. Howbeit the High Places were not taken away , for as yet the people had not prepared their hearts unto the God of their Fathers . Though a the Sunne of Righteousnesse be risen , with healing in his wings , yet the land is not healed , no not of its worst disease , which is corruption in Religion , and the iniquity of your holy things . I did then shew the symptomes , and the cause of this evill disease . The symptomes , are your high Places , not yet taken away , many of your old superstitious ceremonies to this day remaining , which though not so evill as the High-places of Idolatry , in which Idoll●… were worshipped , yet are parallel to the High-places of Will worship , of which we reade , that the people ( thinking it too hard to be tied to goe up to Jerusalem with every sacrifice ) did b sacrifice still in the High places , yet unto the Lord their God only : pleading for their so doing , antiquity , custome , and other defences of that kinde , which have been alledged for your Ceremonies . But albeit these be foule sports in the Churches face , which offend the eyes of her glorious Bridegroome , Jesus Christ , yet that which doth lesse appeare , is more dangerous , and that is the cause of all this evill , in the very bowells and heart of the Church ; the people of the land , great and small , have not as yet prepared their hearts unto the Lord their God : mercy is prepared for the land , but the land is not prepared for mercy ; I shall say no more of the disease at this instant . But I have now chosen a Text , which holds forth a remedy for this malady , a cure for this case . That is , that if we will c humble our uncircumcised hearts , and accept of the punishment of our iniquity ; If we be d ashamed and confounded before the Lord this day for our evill wayes , if we judge our selves as guilty , and put our mouth in the dust , and cloath our selves with shame , as with a garment ; If wee repent and abhorre our selves in dust and ashes , then the Lord will not abhorre us , but take pleasure in 〈◊〉 , to dwell among us , to reveale himself unto us , to set before us the right patterne of his owne House , that e the Tabernacle of God may be with men , and pure Ordinances , where before they were defiled and mixed ; f He will cut off the names of the Idolls out of the land , and cause the false Prophet , and the unclean spirit to passe out of the land , and g the glory of the Lord shall dwell in the land . But withall we must take heed , h that we turn not againe to folly , that our hearts start not aside , i like a deceitfull bowe , that we k Keep the wayes of the Lord , and doe not wickedly depart from our God . Thus you have briefly , the occasion , and the sum of what I am to deliver from this Text . The particulars whereof , I shall not touch , till I have in the first place resolved a difficult , yet profitable question . You may aske , what House , or what Temple doth the Prophet here speak of : and how can it be made to appeare that this Scripture is applicable to this time ? I answere , l some have taken great paines to demonstrate , that this Temple , which the Prophet saw in this vision , was no other then the Temple of Solomon , and that the accomplishment of this vision of the Temple , City , and division of the Land , was the building of the Temple and City againe , after the captivity , and the restoring of the Leviticall worship , and Jewish Republike , which came to passe in the dayes of Nehemiah and Zorobabel . This sense is also most obvious to every one that readeth this Prophecie . But there are very strong reasons against it , which make other Learned Expositers not to embrace it . For 1. The Temple of Solomon was 120. cubits high . The Temple built by Zorobabel , was but 60. cubits high . Ezra 6. 3. 2. The Temple of Zorobabel m was built in the same place where the Temple of Solomon was , that is in Jerusalem , upon mount Moriah . But this Temple of Ezekiel was without the City , and n a great way distant from it . Chap. 48. verse 10. compared with verse 15. The whole portion of the Levites , and a part of the portion of the Priests , was betwixt the Temple and the City . 3. Moses his greatest Altar , the Altar of Burnt-offerings , was not half so big as Ezekiells Altar : o compare Ezek 43. 16. with Exod. 27. 1. So is Moses Altar of Incense , much lesse then Ezekiells Altar of Incense , Exod. 30. 2. compared with Ezek. 41. 22. 4. There are many new ceremoniall Lawes , ( different from the Mosaicall ) delivered in the following part of this vision , Chap. 45. and 46. as p Interpreters have particularly observed upon these places . 5. The Temple and City were not of that greatnesse , which is described in this Vision : for the measuring Reed containing sixe cubits of the Sanctuary ( not common cubits ) Chap. 40. 5. which amount to more then 10. foot ; the utter wall of the Temple being 2000. Reeds in compasse , Chap. 42. 20. was by estimation foure miles , and the Citie , chap. 48. 16. 35. six and thirty miles in compasse . 6. The vision of the holy waters , chap. 47. issuing from the Temple , and after the space of 4000. reeds , growing to a river which could not be passed over , and healing the waters and the fishes , cannot be literally understood of the Temple at Jerusalem . 7. The Land is divided among the twelve Tribes , chap. 48. and that in a way and order different from the division made by Joshua , which cannot be understood of the restitution after the captivitie , because the twelve Tribes did not return . 8. This New Temple hath with it a New Covenant , and that an everlasting one , Ezek. 37. 26 , 27. But at the return of the people from Babylon there was no new Covenant , saith q Irenaeus , onely the same that was before continued till Christs comming . Wherefore we must needs hold with r Hierome , s Gregory , and other latter Interpreters , that this vision of Ezekiel is to bee expounded of the spirituall Temple , and Church of Christ , made up of Jewes and Gentiles ; and that not by way of allegories only ( which is the sense of those whose opinion I have now confuted ) but according to the proper and direct intendment of the vision , which in many materiall points cannot agree to Zorobabels Temple . I am herein very much strengthned while I observe t many parallel passages betwixt the vision of Ezekiel and the Revelation of Iohn ; and while I remember withall that the Prophets doe in many places fore-tell the institution of the Ordinances , Government and Worship of the New Testament , under the termes of Temple , Priests , Sacrifices , &c. and do set forth the deliverance and stability of the Church of Christ , under the notions of Canaan ; of bringing back the captivity , &c. God speaking to his people at that time , so as they might best understand him . Now if you aske , how the severall particulars in the vision may be particularly expounded , and applyed to the Church of Christ ? I answer , the Word of God , the River that makes glad the Citie of God , though it have many easie and knowne Foords , where any of Christs Lambs may passe thorow , yet in this Vision and other places of this kind , it is a great deep , where the greatest Elephant ( as he said ) may swim . I shall not say with the Jewes , that one should not read the last nine Chapters of Ezekiel , before he be thirty yeers old : Surely a man may be twice thirty yeers old , and a good Divine too , and yet not able to understand this Vision . Some tell us , that no man can understand it without skill in Geometry , which cannot be denyed : but there is greater need of Ecclesiometry , if I may so speak , to measure the Church in her length or continuance through many generations ; in her breadth or spreading through many Nations ; her depth of humiliation , sorrowes , and sufferings : her height of faith , hope , joy , and comfort , and to measure each part according to this pattern here set before us . Wherein , for my part , I must professe ( as Socrates in another case ) Scio quod nescio . I know that there is a great mystery here which I cannot reach . Only I shall let forth unto you that little light which the father of ●…ights hath given me . I conceive that the Holy Ghost in this Vision hath pointed at foure severall times and conditions of the Church ; that wee may take with us the full meaning , without addition or diminution . Observing this rule , that what agreeth not to the Type , must be meant of the thing typified ; and what is not fulfilled at one time , must be fulfilled of the Church at another time . First of all , it cannot be denyed , that he points in some sort at the restitution of the Temple , worship of God , and City of Jerusalem , after the captivitie , as a type of the Church of Christ : for though many things in the vision do not agree to that time , as hath been proved , yet some things doe agree : this as it is least intended in the Vision , so it is not fit for me at this time to insist upon it . But he that would understand the forme of the Temple of Jerusalem , the severall parts , and excellent structure thereof , will find enough ( b ) written of that subject . Secondly , this and other prophecies of building againe the Temple , may well be applyed to the building of the Christian Church by the Master-builders the Apostles , and by other Ministers of the Gospel since their dayes : Let us heare but two witnesses of the Apostles themselves applying those prophecies to the calling of the Gentiles ; the one is Paul , 2 Cor. 6. 16. For ye are the Temple of the living God , as God hath said , I will dwell in them and walk in them , and I will be their God , and they shall be my people . The other is James , who applyeth to the converted Gentiles that prophecie of Amos , After this I will return and will build again the Tabernacle of David , which is fallen down ; and I will build again the ruines thereof , and I will set it up , Act. 15. 16. But there is a third thing aimed at in this prophesie , and that more principally then any of the other two , which is the repairing of the breaches and ruines of the Christian Church , and the building up of Zion in her glory , about the time of the destruction of Antichrist , and the conversion of the Jewes ; and this happinesse hath the Lord reserved to the last times , to build a more excellent and glorious Temple then former generations have seen . I meane not of the building of the materiall . Temple at Jerusalem , which the Jewes doe fancie and look for ; But I speak of the Church and people of God ; and that I may not seeme to expound an obscure Prophesie too conjecturally , which many in these dayes doe , I have these Evidences following , for what I say . 1. If Paul and James , in those places which I last cited , doe apply the prophesies of building a new Temple to the first fruits of the Gentiles , and to their first conversion , then they are much more to be applyed to the fulnesse of the Gentiles , and most of all to the fulnesse both of Jewes and Gentiles , which we wait for . Now if the fall of them x ( saith the Apostle , speaking of the Jewes ) be the riches of the world , and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles , how much more their fulnesse ? And y again , If the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world ; what shall the receiving of them be , but life from the dead ? Plainly insinuating a greater encrease of the Church , and a larger spread of the Gospel , at the conversion of the Jewes , and so a fairer Temple , yea another world in a manner to be looked for . 2. The Lord himselfe in this same chapter , vers. 7. speaking of the Temple here prophesied of , saith , The place of my Throne , and the place of the soles of my feet , where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever , and my holy name shall the house of Israel no more defile , neither they nor their Kings &c. Which as it cannot be understood of the Jewes after the Captivity , who did againe forsake the Lord , and were forsaken of him , as Hierome noteth upon the place ; so it can as ill be said , to bee already fulfilled upon the Christian Church , but rather that such a Church is yet to be expected in which the Lord shall take up his dwelling for ever , and shall not be provoked by their defilements and whoredomes , againe to take away his Kingdom , and to remove the Candlestick . 3. This last Temple is also prophesied of by z Isa. 2. 2. And it shall come to passe in the last dayes , that the mountaine of the Lords house shall be established in the top of the mountaines ( even as here Ezekiel did see this Temple upon a very high mountaine , chap 40. 2. ) and shall be exalted above the hils , and all Nations shall flow unto it , &c. a And they shal beat their swords into Plough shares , and their speares into pruning books : nation shall not lift up sword against nation , neither shall they learn war any more . Here is the building of such a Temple as shall bring peaceable and quiet times to the Church , of which that Evangelicall Prophet speaketh in b other places also . And if we shall read that which followeth , Isa. 2. 5. as the Chaldee Paraphrase doth . And the men of the house of Jacob shall say , Come yee , &c. then the building of the Temple there spoken of , shall appeare to be ioyned with the Jewes conversion ; But howsoever , it is ioyned with a great peace and calme , such as yet the Church hath not seen . 4. We find in this vision , that c when Ezekiels Temple shall be built , Princes shall no more oppresse the people of God , nor defile the name of God , chap. 45. 8. and 43. 7. which are in like manner ioyned , Psal. 102. 15 , 16. The heathen shall fear the name of the Lord and all the Kings of the earth thy glory , when the Lord shal build up Zion , he shall appeare in his glorie , verse 22. when the people are gathered together , and the Kingdomes ( understand here also Kings as the Septuagints doe ) to serve the Lord . Which Psalme is acknowledged to be a Prophesie of the Kingdome of Christ , though under the type of bringing back the Captivity of the Jewes , and of the building again of Zion at that time . The like Prophesie of Christ , wee have Psal. 72. 11. All Kings shall fall down before him , all nations shall serve him . But I aske , have not the Kings of the earth hitherto for the most part , d set themselves against the Lord , and against his Christ ? And how then shall all those Prophesies hold true , except they be co-incident with Revel 17. 16 , 17. And that time is yet come , when God shall put it in the hearts of Kings to hate the whore ( of Rome ) and they shall make her desolate and naked , and shall eate her flesh , and burne her with fire . It is foretold that God shall doe this great and good work , even by those Kings , who have before subiected themselves to Antichrist . 5. That which I now draw from Ezekiels vision , is no other but the same which was shewed to John , Rev. 11. 1 , 2. a place so like to this of Ezekiel , that we must take speciall notice of it , and make that serve for a Commentary to this ; And there was given me ( saith Iohn ) a Reed like unto a Rod , and the Ange●…stood , saying , Rise and measure the Temple of God , and the Altar , and them that worship therein . But the Court which is without the Temple leave out , and measure it not : for it is given unto the Gentiles , and the holy City shall they tread under foot forty and two moneths . This time of two and forty moneths , must be expounded by Revel. 13. 5. where it is said of the Beast , power was given unto him , to continue forty and two moneths : which according to the Computation of Egyptian yeares ( re●…koning thirty dayes to each moueth ) make three yeares and a halfe , or 1260. days , and that is ( e ) the time of the witnesses prophecying in Sackcloth , and of the womans abode in the wildernesse . Now lest it should bee thought that the treading downe of the holy City by the Gentiles ( that is , the treading under foot of the true Church , the City of God , by the tyranny of Antichrist and the power of his complices ) should never have an end in this world , the Angel gives Iohn to understand that the Church , the house of the living God , shall not lye desolate for ever , but shall be built again , ( for the measuring is in reference to building ) that the Kingdome of Antichrist shall come to an end , and that after 1260 yeares , counting dayes for yeares , as the Prophers doe . It is not my purpose now to search when this time of the power of the beast , and of the Churches desolation did begin , and when it ends , and so to find out the time of building this new Temple : onely this much I trust I may say , that if we reckon from the time that the power of the Beast did begin , and withall consider the great revolution and turning of things upside downe in these our dayes , certainly the work is upon the wheele : the Lord hath pluckt his hand out of his bosome , he hath whet his sword , he hath bent his bow , he hath also prepared the instruments of death , against Antichrist : so saith the Psalmist of all Persecutors , Psal. 7. 12 , 13. but it will fall most upon that capitall enemy . Whereof there will be occasion to say more afterward . Let me here only adde a word concerning a fourth thing which the holy Ghost may seeme to intend in this Prophesie , and that is the Church triumphant , the new Ierusalem , which is above , unto which respect is to bee had ( as Interpreters iudge ) in some parts of the vision , which happily cannot bee so well applyed to the Church in this world . Even as the new Ierusalem is so described f in the Revelation that it may appeare to be the Church of Christ , reformed , beautified , and inlarged in this world , and fully perfected and glorified in the world to come : and as many things which are said of it , can very hardly bee made to agree to the Church in this world ; so other things which are said of it , c●…n as ●…dly be applyed to the Church glorified in heaven , as g where it is said , Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men , ( having come downe from God out of heaven ) and hee will dwell with them and they shall bee his people , and God himselfe shall be with them , and be their God . h Againe , And the nations of them that are saved , shall walke in the light of it : and the Kings of the earth doe bring their glory and honour into it . But now I make haste to the severall particulars contained in my Text , I pray God i saith the Apostle ) your whole spirit , and soule , and body be preserved blamelesse . And what he there prays for , this Text rightly understood and applied may work in us , that is , gracious affections , gracious mindes , gracious actions . In the first place , a change upon our corrupt and wicked affections . If they be ashamed of all that they have done , saith the Lord . Secondly , a change upon our blind minds , Shew them the forme of the house , and the fashion thereof , &c. Thirdly , a change also upon our actions , That they may keep the whole forme thereof , and all the Ordinances thereof and doe them . For the first , k the word here used is not that which signifieth blushing through modesty , but it signifieth shame for that which is indeed shamefull , filthy , and abominable , so that it were impenitency , and an aggravation of the fault not to be ashamed for it . I shall here build onely one Doctrine , which will be of exceeding great use for such a day as this . If either we would have mercy to our selves , or would doe acceptable service in the publike Reformation , we must not onely cease to doe evill and learne to doe well , but also be ashamed , confounded , and humbled for our former evill wayes . Here is a two-fold necessity , which presseth upon us this duty , to loath and abhorre our selves for all our abominations , to bee greatly abashed and confounded before our God . First , without this we shall not find grace and favour to our owne soules . Secondly , wee shall else miscarry in the worke of Reformation . First , I say , let us doe all the good we can , God is not pleased with us , unlesse we be ashamed and humbled for former guiltinesse . Be zealous and repent l saith Christ to the Laodecians , be zealous in time comming , and repent of your former lukewarmnesse . What fruit had yee then in those things whereof now yee are ashamed ? m saith the Apostle to the Saints at Rome , of whom n he saith plainly , that they were servants to righteousnes , and had their fruit unto holinesse ; but that is not all , they were also ashamed while they looked back upon their old faults ; which is the rather to bee observed , because o it maketh against the Antinomian error , now a foot . It hath a cleare reason for it , for without this , God is still dishonoured , and not restored to his glory . O Lord p ( saith Daniel ) righteousnesse belongeth unto thee , but unto us confusion of faces . Those two go together . We must be confounded , that God may be glorified . Wee must bee judged , that God may be iustified : our mouthes must be stopped , and laid in the dust , that q the Lord may be just when he speaketh , and cleare when he judgeth . And as r the Apostle teacheth us , that if we judge our selves , we shall not be judged of God ; and by the rule of Contraries , if we judge not our selves , we shall be judged of God : So say I now , if wee give glory to God , and take shame and confusion of faces to our selves , God shall not confound us , nor put us to shame . But if we will not be confounded and ashamed in our selves , God shall confound us , and powre shame upon us . If we loath not our selves , God shall loath us . Nay let me argue from the manner of men , as s the Prophet doth , offer it now unto the Governuor , will he bee pleased with thee , or accept thy person ? Will thy Governour , nay thy neighbour who is as thou art , after an injury done to him , bee pleased with thee , if thou doe but leave off to doe him any more such injuries ? VVill he not expect an acknowledgement of the wrong done ? Is it not t Christs rule , that he who seven times trespasseth against his brother , seven times turne again , saying , I repent ? u David would hardly trust Ittai to goe up and downe with him , who was but a stranger ; how much more if hee had done him some great wrong , and then refused to confesse it ? And how shall wee think , that it can stand with the honour of the most high God , that wee seem to draw neare unto him , and to walk in his wayes , while in the mean time we do not acknowledge our iniquitie , and even accuse , shame , judge and condemne our selves ? Nay x be not deceived , God is not mocked . This is the first necessity of the duty which this Text holdeth forth . The Lord requireth of us not onely to doe his will for the future , but to be ashamed for what we have done amisse before . The other necessity of it ( which is also in the Text ) is this , that except we be thus ashamed and humbled , God hath not promised to shew us the pattern of his house , nor to reveale his will unto us . Which agreeth well with that Psal. 25. 9. The meek will he teach his way : and vers. 12. What man is he that feareth the Lord ? him shall he teach in the way that he shall chuse , and vers. 14. The secret of the Lord is with them that feare him , and hee will shew them his Covenant . There is sanctification in the affections , and here is humiliation in the affections , spoken of as necessary means of attaining the knowledge of the will of God . Let the affections be ordered aright , then light which is offered , shall be seen and received ; but let light be offered , when disordered affections doe overcloud the eye of the minde , then all is in vaine . In this case , a man shall be y like the deaf Adder , which will not be taken by the voice of the charmers , charming never so wisely . Let the helme of reason be stirred , as well as you can imagine , if there be a contrary winde in the sailes of the affections , the ship will not answere to the helme . It is a good argument : hee is a wicked man , a covetous man , a proud man , a carnall man , an unhumbled man . Ergo , he will readily miscarry in his judgement . So Divines have argued against the Popes infallibility . The Pope hath been , and may be a profane man . Ergo , he may erre in his judgement and decrees . And what wonder , that they who receive not the love of the truth , be given over z to strong delusion , that they should beleeve a lie ? It is as good an argument . Hee is a humbled man , and a man that feareth God . Ergo ( in so far as he acteth and exerciseth those graces ) the Lord shall teach him in the way that he shall choose . I say , in so farre as he acteth those graces : because when he grieves the spirit , and cherisheth the flesh , when the child of God is more swayed by his corruptions , then by his graces , then he is in great danger to be given up to the counsell of his own heart , and to be deserted by a the holy Ghost , which should leade him into all truth . But we must take notice of a seeming contradiction here in the Text . God saith to the Prophet in the former verse , Shew the house to the house of Israel , that they may be ashamed of their iniquities . And Jerem. 31. 19. Ephraim is first instructed , then ashamed . And here it is quite turned over in my Text ; If they be ashamed , shew them the House . I shall not here make any digression unto the debates and distinctions of School-men , what influence and power the affections have upon the understanding and the will . I will content my self with this plain answer . Those two might very well stand together : light is a help to humiliation , and humiliation a help to light . As there must be some work of faith , and some apprehension of the Love of God , in order before true Evangelicall repentance , yet this repentance helpeth us , to beleeve more firmly , that our sinnes are forgiven . The soul in the pains of the new birth , is like b Tamar travelling of her twins , Pharez and Zarah : faith like Zarah , first putting out his hand , but hath no strength to come forth , therefore draweth backe the hand againe , till repentance like Pharez have broken forth ; then can faith come forth more easily . Which appeareth in that woman , Luke 7. 47 , 48. shee wept much , because she loved much , she loved much , because shee beleeved , and by faith had her heart enlarged , with apprehending the rich grace , and free love of Christ to poore sinners : this faith moves her bowells , melts her heart , stirres her sorrow , kindles her affection . Then , and not till then , she gets a prop to her faith , and a sure ground to build upon . It is not till shee have wept much , that Christ intimates mercy , and saith , Thy sins are forgiven thee . Just so is the case in this Text . Shew them the House , saith the Lord , that they may be ashamed ; Give them a view of it , that they may think the worse of themselves , that they want it , that they may be ashamed for all their iniquities , whereby they have separate betwixt their God and themselves , so that they can not c behold the beauty of the Lord , nor enquire in his Temple . And if , when they begin to see it , they have such thoughts as these , and humble themselves , and acknowledge their iniquities , then goe to , and shew them the whole Fabrick , and Structure , and all the gates thereof , and all the parts thereof , and all things pertaining thereto . I suppose I have said enough for confirmation and cleering of the Doctrine concerning the necessitie of our being ashamed and confounded before the Lord . I have now a fourefold application to draw from it . The first application shall be to the malignant enemies of the Cause and People of God at this time , who deserve Jeremiahs black mark to be put upon them . d Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination ? nay , they were not at all ashamed , neither could they blush . When he would say the worst of them , this is it ; e Thou hadst a whores forehead , thou refusedst to be ashamed . There are some sonnes of Belial risen up against us , who have done some things , whereof , I dare say , many Heathens would have been ashamed : yet they are as farre from being ashamed of their outrages , as Caligula was , who said of himself , that he loved nothing better in his own nature , then that hee could not be ashamed ; nay , f their glory is their shame , and if the Lord doe not open their eyes to see their shame , their end will be destruction . Is it a light matter to swear and blaspheme , to coine and spread lies , to devise calumnies , to break Treaties , to contrive trecherous plots , to exercise so many barbarous cruelties , to shed so much blood , and ( as if that were too little ) to bury men quick ? Is all this no matter of shame ? And when they have so often professed to be for the true Protestant Religion , shall they not be ashamed to thirst so much after Protestant blood , and in that cause desire to associate themselves with all the Papists at home and abroad , whose assistance they can have , and particularly with those matchlesse monsters ( they call them Subjects ) of Ireland , who ( if the computation fail not ) have shed the blood of some hundred thousands in that Kingdome ? for our part , it seems , they are resolved to give the worst name to the best thing , which wee can doe , and therefore they have not been ashamed to call a Religious and Loyall Covenant , a traiterous and damnable Covenant . I have no pleasure to take up these and other dunghills : the Text hath put this in my mouth which I have said . O that they could recover themselves out of g the gall of bitternesse , and bond of iniquity . O that we could hear that they begin to be ashamed of their abominations . h Lord when thy hand is lifted up , they will not see ; but they shall see and be ashamed , for their envie at thy people . i The Lord shall appear to your joy , and they shall be ashamed . But now in the second place let me speak to the Kingdom , and to you whom it concerneth this day , to be humbled , both for your own sins , and for the sins of the Kingdom , which you represent . Although your selves whom God hath placed in this honourable station & the Kingdom which God hath blessed with many choice blessings , be much and worthily honoured among the children of men , yet when you have to do with God , and with that wherein his great Name and his glory is concerned , you must not think of honouring , but rather abashing your selves , & creeping low in the dust . Livius k tels us that when M. Claud. Marcellus would have dedicate a Temple to Honour and Vertue , the Priests hindered it , quod utri Deo res divina fi eret , sciri non posset ; because so it could not be known , to which of the two Gods , he should offer sacrifice : farre be it from any of you , to suffer the will of God , and your own credit , to come in competition together , or to put back any point of truth , because it may seem peradventure some way to wound your reputation , though when all is well examined , it shall be found your glory . You are now about the casting out of many corruptions , in the government of the Church , and worship of God . Remember therefore it is not enough to cleanse the house of the Lord , but you must be humbled for your former defilements wherewith it was polluted . It is not enough that England say with Ephraim in l one place , What have I to do any more with Idols ? England must say also with Ephraim in m another place , Surely after that I was turned I repented ; and after that I was instructed I smote upon my thigh : I was ashamed and even confounded because I did bear the reproach of my youth . Let England sit down in the dust , and wallow it selfe in ashes , and cry out as n the Lepers did , Unclean , Unclean , and then rise up and cast away the least superstitious Ceremony , o as a menstruous cloth , and say unto it , Get thee hence . I know that those who are not convinced of the intrinsecall evill and unlawfulnesse of former corruptions , may upon other considerations go along and joyne in this Reformation . For according to p Augustines rule , men are to let go those ecclesiasticall customes , which neither Scriptures , nor Councels bind upon us , nor yet are universally received by all Churches . And according to Ambrose his rule to Valentinian , Epist. 31. Nullus pudor est ad meliora transive ; It is no shame to change that which is not so good , for that which is better . So doth q Arnobius answer the Pagans , who objected the novelty of the Christian Religion ; you should not look so much , saith he , quid reliquerimus , as quid secuti simus : be rather satisfied with the good which we follow , then to quarrell why we have changed our former practise . He giveth instance , that when men found the art of weaving clothes , they did no longer clothe themselves in skins , and when they learned to build Houses , they left off to dwell in rocks and caves . All this carrieth reason with it , for Optimum est eligendum . If all this doe not satisfie , it may be r Nazianzens rule move some man ; when there was a great stirre about his Archbishoprik of Constantinople , he yeelded for peace : because this storm was raised for his sake , he wished to be cast into the Sea . He often professeth , that he did not affect riches , nor dignities , but rather to be freed of his Bishoprick . We are like to listen long , before we heare such expressions either from Arch-bishop or Bishop in England , who seem not to care much who sink , so that themselves swim above . Yet I shall name one rule more , which I shall take from the confessions of two English Prelats . s One of them hath this Contemplation , upon Hezekiahs taking away the brazen Serpent , when he perceived it to be superstitiously abused : Superstitious use , saith he , can marre the very institutions of God ; how much more the most wise and well grounded devices of men ? t Another of them acknowledgeth , that whatsoever is taken up , at the iniunction of men , and is not of Gods own prescribing , when it is drawn to superstition , commeth under the case of the Brazen Serpent . You may easily make the assumption , and then the conclusion concerning those Ceremonies , which are not Gods institutions , but mens devices , and have been grossely and notorlously abused by many to Superstition . Now to return to the point in hand , if upon all or any of these or the like principles , any of this Kingdom shall joyn in the removall of corruptions out of the Church , which yet they do not conceive to be in themselves and intrinsecally corruptions in Religion ; In this case , I say ( as u the Apostle in another place ) I therein do rejoyce and will rejoyee , because every way Reformation is set forward . But let such a one look to himselfe how the Doctrine drawn from this Text falleth upon him , that he who onely ceaseth to do evill , but repenteth not of the evill , he who applieth himselfe to reformation , but is not ashamed of former defilements , is in danger both of Gods displeasure , and of miscarrying in his judgement about Reformation . It is farre from my meaning to discourage any , who are with humble and upright hearts , seeking after more light then yet they have . I say it only for their sake , who through the presumption and unhumblednesse of their spirits , will acknowledge no fault in any thing they have formerly done in Church matters . I cannot leave this application to the Kingdome , till I inlarge it a little further . There are foure considerations which may make England ashamed and confounded before the Lord . 1. Because of the great Blessings which it hath so long wanted . Your flourishing estate in the world , could not have countervailed the want of the purity and liberty of the Ordinances of Christ . That was a heavie x word of the Prophet , Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God , and without a teaching Priest , and without Law . It hath not been altogether so with this Land , where the Lord hath had not onely a true Church , but many burning and shining lights , many gracious Preachers and Professors , many notable defenders of the Protestant cause against Papists , many who have preached and written worthily of practicall Divinity , and of those things which most concern a mans salvation . Nay , I am perswaded , that all this time past there have been in this Kingdome many thousands of his secret and sealed ones , who have been groaning under that burthen and bondage which they could not help , and have been y waiting for the consolation of Israel . Neverthelesse , the Reformation of the Church of England hath been exceedingly deficient , in Government , Discipline and Worship ; yea , and many places of the Kingdom , have been without a teaching Priest , and other places poisoned with false Teachers . It is z said , that all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord , when they wanted the Ark twenty yeeres . O let England lament after the Lord , untill the Arke be brought into the own place of it . 2. There is another cause of this great humiliation , and that is the point in the Text , to be ashamed of all that you have done . Sinne , Sinne is that which blacketh our faces , and covereth us with confusion as with a Mantle : and then most of all when we may read our sinne in some judgement of God which lyeth upon us . Therefore the Septuagints here in stead of being ashamed of all that they have done , ( a ) read accept their punishment for all that they have done . Which agreeth to b that word in the Law : If then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled ( The Greek readeth there ashamed ) and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity . This is now Englands case , whose sinne is written in the present Judgement , and graven in your calamity as c with a pen of iron , and with a point of a Diamond : to make you say , d The Lord our God is righteous in all his workes , which he doeth : for we obeyed not his voice . Did not the land make Idoll Gods of the Court , and of the Prelaticall Clergy , and feared them , and followed them more then God , and obeyed them rather then God , so that their threshold was set by Gods threshold , and their posts by Gods posts , as it is said v. 7. ( I speak not now of lawfull obedience to Authoritie . ) Is it not a righteous thing with the Lord , to make these your idols his rods to correct you ? Hath not England harboured and entertained Papists , Priests and Jesuites in its bosome ? Is it not just , that now you feel the sting and poison of these vipers ? Hath there not bin a great compliance with the Prelates , for peace sake , even to the preiudice of Truth ? Doth not the Lord now iustly punish that Episcopall peace , with an Episcopall warre ? Was not that Prelaticall government first devised , and since continued to preserve peace and to prevent Schismes in the Church ? and was it not Gods iust iudgement that such a remedy of mans invention should rather increase then cure the evill ? so that Sects have most multiplyed under that Government , which now you know by sad experience . Hath not this Nation for a long time taken the Name of the Lord in vaine , by a formall worship and empty profession ? Is it not a iust requitall upon Gods part , that your enemies have all this while taken Gods Name in vain , and taken the Almighty to witnesse of the integrity of their intentions for Religion , Law and Liberty , thus perswading the world to beleeve a lye ? What shall I say of the Book of Sports , and other prophanations of the Lords day ? This licentiousnesse was most acceptable to the greatest part , and they e loved to have it so . Doth not the great famine of the Word , almost every where in the Kingdom , except in this City , make the Land mourn on the Sabbath , and say , f I do remember my faults this day ? Yea doth not the Land now enioy her Sabbaths , while men are constrained not only to cease from sports on that day , but from labouring the ground , and from other works of their calling upon other dayes ? What should I speak of the lusts and uncleannesse , gluttony and drunkennesse , chambering and wantonnesse , prodigality and lavishnesse , excesse of riot , masking and balling and sporting , when Germany and the Palatinate , and other places were wallowing in blood , yea when there was so much sinne and wrath upon this same Kingdome ? Will not you say now , that for this the Lord God hath caused g your sun to go down at noon , and hath turned your feasts into mourning , and all your songs into lamentation ? Or what should I say of the oppressions , injustice , cousinage in trading and in Merchandise , which your selves know better then I can do , how much they have abounded in the Kingdome ? Doth not God now punish the secret injustice of his people , by the open iniustice of their enemies ? Doe ye not remember that mischiefe was framed by a Law ? and now when your enemies execute mischief against Law , will you not say , Righteous art thou O Lord , and iust are thy iudgements ? One thing I may not forget , and that is , that the Lord is punishing blood with blood , the blood of the oppressed , the blood of the persecuted , the blood of those who have dyed in Prisons , or in strange Countries , suffering for righteousnesse sake . h He that departed from evill did even make himselfe a prey . There was not so much as one drop of blood spilt upon the Pillory , for the testimony of the Truth , but it cryeth to Heaven ; for precious is the blood of the Saints . Doth not all the blood shed in Queen Maries dayes cry ? And doth not the blood of the Palatinate and of Rochel cry ? And doth not the blood of soules cry ? which is the loudest cry of all . God said to Cain , k The voyce of thy Brothers blood cryeth unto me from the ground , the Hebrew hath it , thy brothers blouds ; which is well expounded both by the Chaldee Paraphrase , and the Jerusalem Targum , the voyce of the blood of all the generations and the righteous people which thy Brother should have begotten , cryeth unto me . I may apply it to the thing in hand , The silencing , deposing , persecuting , imprisoning , and banishing , of so many of the Lords VVitnesses , of the most painfull and powerfull Preachers ; and the preferring of so many , either dumbe dogges , or false Teachers , maketh the voice of bloods to cry to heaven , even the blood of many thousands , yea thousands of thousand soules , which have been lost by the one , or might have been saved by the other . God will require the blood of the children which those righteous Abels might have begotten unto him . There is beside all this , more Blood-guiltinesse which is secret , but shall sometime be brought to light . O Blood , blood ; O let the Land tremble , while the Righteous Judge l makes inquisition for blood . O let England cry , m Deliver me from blood-guiltinesse O God . But you will say peradventure , Many of these things , whereof I have spoken , ought not to be charged upon the Kingdome , they were onely the acts of a prevalent Faction for the time . I Answer , First , God will impute them to the Kingdome , unlesse the Kingdome mourne for them . n God gives not a charge to the destroying Angel , to spare those who have not been Actors in the publike sinnes and abominations , but to spare those onely who cry and sigh for those abominations . Secondly , VVhen the Ministers of State , or others , having authority in Church or Common-wealth , take the boldnesse to doe such acts , the Kingdome is not blamelesse ; for they durst not have done as they did , had the Land but disclaimed , discountenanced , and cryed out against them . It is marked both o of John Baptist , and p of Christ , and q of the Apostles , that so long as the people did magnifie them , and esteeme them highly , their enemies durst not doe unto them , what else they would have done . A third consideration concerning the Kingdome is this . Notwithstanding of all the happinesse and Gospell blessings which it hath wanted in so great a measure , and notwithstanding of all the sinnes which have so much abounded in it : r yet the servants of God have charged it with great presumption , that the Church of England hath said s with the Church of Laodicea , I am rich and increased with goods , and have need of nothing . It hath bin proud of its Clergy , learning , great revenues , peace , plenty , wealth , and abundance of all things . And as the Apostle t chargeth the Corinthians , yee are puffed up , and have not rather mourned , that the wicked ones might be taken away from among you . And would God this presumption had taken an end when God did begin to afflict the Land . It did even make an Idoll of this Parliament , and trusted to its owne strength and Armies ; which hath provoked God so much , that he hath sometimes almost blasted your hopes that way , and hath made you to feele your weaknesse even where you thought your selves strongest : God would not have England say , u Mine owne hand hath saved me . Neither will he have Scotland to say , My hand hath done it : But he wil have both to say , His hand hath done it , when we were lost in our own eyes . God grant that your leaning so much upon the arme of flesh bee not the cause of more blowes . God must be seen in the worke , and he will have us to give him all the glorie , and to say x Thou hast wrought all our works for us . O that all our presumption may be repented of , and that the land may be yet more deeply humbled . Assuredly God will arise and subdue our enemies , and command deliverances for Jacob : but it is as certaine , God will not doe this , till we be more humbled , and ( as the Text saith ) ashamed of all that we have done . Fourthly , there is another Motive more Evangelicall : let England be humbled even for the mercy , the most admirable mercy which God hath shewed upon so undeserving , and evill deserving a Kingdome . See it in this same Prophecy : y I will establish my Covenant with thee , and thou shalt know that I am the Lord That thou maist remember , and bee confounded , and never open thy mouth any more , because of thy shame , when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done , saith the Lord God . And z again : Not for your sakes doe I this , saith the Lord God , be it knoun unto you : be ashamed and confounded for your owne wayes O house of Israel . O my God a saith Ezra , I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee . And what was it that did so confound him ? you may find it in that which followeth : God had shewed them mercy , and had left them a remnant to escape , and had given them a naile in his holy place , and had lightned their eyes . And now , b saith he , O our God , what shall we say after this ? for we have forsaken thy Commandements . Let us this day compare ( as he did ) Gods goodnesse and our own guiltinesse . England deserved nothing , but to get a bill of divorce , and that God should have said in his wrath , Away from me , I have no pleasure in you : but now hee hath received you into the bond of his Covenant , he rejoyceth over you to doe you good , and to dwell among you , his Banner over you is love . O let our hard hearts be overcome and be confounded with so much mercy , and let us be ashamed of our selves , that after so much mercy , we should be yet in our sinnes and trespasses . There is a third application , which I intend for the Ministerie , who ought to goe before the people of God in the example of Repe●…tance and humiliation . You know the old observation , Rarò vidi Clericum poenitentem , I have seldome seen a Clergie man penitent . As Christ c saith of rich men , I may say of learned men , it is easier for a Camell to goe through the eye of a needle , then for a man that trusts in his Learning to enter into the Kingdome of heaven . He will needs maintaine the lawfulnesse of all which he hath done , and will not bee ( as this Text would have him ) ashamed of all that hee hath done . Yet it is not impossible with God to make such a one deny himselfe , and that d whatsoever in him exalts it selfe against Christ , should bee brought in captivity to the obedience of Christ . Among all that were converted by the Ministerie of the Apostles , I wonder most at the conversion of a great company of Priests , Acts 6. 7. I doe not suspect ( as e two learned men have done ) that the Text is corrupted in that place , and that it should be otherwise read . I am the rather satisfied , because there is nothing there mentioned of the Conversion of the high Priest , or of the chiefe Priests , the heads of the four and twenty Orders , which were upon the Councell , and had condemned Christ : the place cannot be understood , but of a multitude of common or inferiour Priests : Even as by proportion in Hezekiah's Reformation , f the Levites were more upright in heart than the Priests . And now many of the Inferiour Clergie ( as they were abusively called ) are more upright in heart , unto this present reformation then any of those who had assumed to themselves high degrees in the Church . The hardest point of all is , so to embrace and follow reformation , as to be ashamed of former prevarications and pollutions . But in this also the holy Ghost hath set examples before the Ministers of the Gospel . I read 2 Chron. 30. 15. The Priests and the Levites were ashamed , and sanctified themselves , and brought in the burnt-offerings into the House of the Lord . They thought it not enough to be sanctified , but they were ashamed that they had been before defiled . A great Prophet is not content to have his Judgement rectified , which had been in an errour , but he is ashamed of the errour he had been in . g So foolish was I , saith hee , and ignorant , I was as a beast before thee . A great Apostle must glorifie God , and humbly acknowledge his owne shame . h For I am the least of the Apostles , saith he , that am not meet to be called an Apostle , because I persecuted the Church of God . And shall I add the example of a great father ? i Aug : confesseth honestly , that for the space of nine yeers , he both was deceived , and did deceive others . Nature will whisper to a man , to looke to his credit : But the Text here calleth for another thing , to look to the honour of God , and to thy own shame , and yet in so doing thou shal●… be more highly esteemed both by God , and by his children . Now without this , let a man seem to turn and reform never so well , all is unsure worke , and built upon a sandie foundation . And whosoever will not acknowledg their iniquity , and be ashamed for it , God shall make them bear their shame , according to that which is pronounced in the next Chapter , verse 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15. against the Levites , who had gone astray , when Israel went astray after their Idolls : and according to that Malach. 2 , 8 , 9. Ye have corrupted the Covenant of Levi , saith the Lord of Hosts , Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people . The fourth and last application of this doctrine , is for every Christian . The Text teacheth us a difference betwixt a presumptuous , and a truly humbled sinner . The one is ashamed of his sinnes , the other not . By this mark , let every one of us trie himself this day . It is a saving grace to be truly and really ashamed of sinne . It is one of the promises of the Covenant of grace , k Then shall ye remember your owne evill wayes , and your doings that were not good , and shall loath your selves in your owne sight , for your iniquities , and for your abominations . Trie then , if thou hast but thus much of the work of grace in thy soul , and if thou hast , be assured of thy interest in Christ and in the New Covenant . A reprobate may have somewhat which is very like this grace ; but I shall lay open the difference , betwixt the one and the other , in these particulars . 1. To be truly ashamed of sinne , is to be ashamed of it as an act of filthinesse and uncleannesse . The childe of God , when he comes to the throne of grace , is ashamed of an unclean heart . though the world cannot see it . A naturall man at his best looketh upon sinne , as it damneth and destroyeth the soule , but hee cannot look upon it , as it defiles the soul . Shame ariseth properly from a filthy act , though no other evill be to follow upon it . 2. As wee are ashamed of acts of filthinesse , so of acts of folly . A naturall man may iudge himself a fool in regard of the circumstances or consequents of this sinne , but he is not convinced that sinne in it self is an act of madnesse and folly . When the childe of God is humbled l hee becomes a foole in his own eyes , hee perceives he hath done like a mad foole ; Therefore hee is said then to m come to himself . 3. The childe of God is ashamed of sinne n as an act of unkindnesse and unthankfulnesse to a sweet mercifull Lord : though there were no other evill in sinne , the conscience of so much mercy and love so farre abused , and so unkindly recompensed , is that which confoundeth a penitent sinner . As the wife of a kinde husband , if she play the whore ( though the world know it not ) and if her husband , when he might divorce her , shall still love her and receive her into his bosome ; such a one , if she have at all any sense or any bowels of sorrow , must needs bee swallowed up of shame and confusion for her undutifulnesse and treachery to such a husband . But now the Hypocrite is not at all troubled or afflicted in spirit for sinne as it is an act of unkindnesse to God . 4. Shame , o as Philosophers have defined it , is the feare of a just reproofe : not simply , the feare of a reproofe , but the feare of a just reproofe ; that is servile , this filiall . The childe of God is ashamed of the very guiltinesse , and of that which may bee justly laid to his charge : the Hypocrite not so . p Saul was not ashamed of his sinne , but he was ashamed that Samuel should reprove him before the Elders of the people . Christs adversaries were ashamed , Luke 13. 17. not of their errour , but because their mouthes were stopped before the people , and they could not answer him . A hypocrite is ashamed , q as a thiefe is ashamed when he is found ; mark that , when he is found : a thiefe is not ashamed of his sinne , but because he is found in it , and so brought to a shamefull end . 5. When the cause of God is in hand , a true penitent is so ashamed of himselfe , that he feares the people of God shall be put to shame for his sake , and that it shall goe the worse with them , because of his vilenesse and guiltinesse . This made r David pray , O God , thou knowest my foolishnesse , and my sinnes are not hid from thee : let not them that wait on thee , O Lord God of hosts , be ashamed for my sake : let not those that seek thee be confounded for my sake , O God of Israel . The sorrow and shame of a hypocrite ( as all his other seeming graces ) are rooted in self-love , not in the love of God : he hath not this in all his thoughts , that he is a Spot or Blemish in the body or Church of Christ , and therefore to be humbled , lest for his sake God be displeased with his people ; lest such a vile and abhominable sinner as he is bring wrath and confusion upon others , and make Israel turne their back before the enemy . O happy soule that hath such thoughts as these . I have now done with the first part of the Text , wherein I have beene the larger , because it most fitteth the work of the day . The second followes , Shew them the forme of the house , &c. Before I come to the Doctrines which doe here arise , I shall first explaine the particulars mentioned in this part of the Text , so as they may agree to the spirituall Temple or Church of Christ , which in the beginning I proved to be here intended . First , wee finde here the forme and fashion of a house , in which the parts are very much diversified one from another : there are in a formed and fashioned house , doores , windowes , posts , lintels , &c. There is also a multitude of common stones in the walls of the house . Such a house is the visible ministeriall Church of Christ , the parts whereof are partes dissimilares , some Ministers , and Rulers , some eminent Lights ; others of the ordinary rank of Christians , that make up the walls . If God hath made one but a small pinning in the wall , he hath reason to be content , and must not say , why am not I a post , or a corner stone , or a beame ? Neither yet may any corner stone despise the stones in the wall , and say , I have no need of you . Secondly , the Prophet was here to shew them the goings out of the house , and the commings in thereof . These are not the same , but different gates ; it is plaine , chap. 46. 9. When the people of the land shall come before the Lord in the solemne feasts , hee that entreth in by the way of the north-gate to worship , shall goe out by the way of the south-gate , &c. he shall not returne by the way of the gate whereby hee came in . And that not only to teach us order , and the avoiding of confusion ( occasioned by the contrary tides of a multitude ) but to tell us further , that s no man having put his hand to the plough , and looking back , is fit for the kingdome of God . Wee must not goe out of the Church the way that we came in , ( that were a doore of defection ) but hold our faces forward till we go out by the doore of death . Thirdly , the Text hath twice all the formes thereof : which I understand of the outward formes , and of the inward formes ; which two I finde very much distinguished by those who have written of the forme and structure of the Temple . The Church is exceedingly beautified , even outwardly , with the Ordinances of Christ ; but the inward formes are the most glorious : t For behold the kingdome of God is within you : and it commeth not with observation . u The Kings daughter is all glorious within ; yet even her clothing is of wrought gold . x When the Angel had made an end of measuring the inner house , then hee brought forth Ezekiel by the east-gate ( which was the chiefe gate by which the people commonly entred ) and measured the utter wall in the last place . Gods method is , first to try the heart and reines , then to give to a man according to his works , Ier. 17. 10. So should we measure by the ●…eed of the Sanctuary , first , the inner house of our hearts and minds , and then to measure our utter walls , and to judge of our profession and externall performances . Lastly , the Prophet is commanded to write in their sight all the ordinances thereof , and all the lawes thereof : for the Church is a house , not only in an Architectonick but in an Oeconomick sense : It is Christs Family governed by his own Lawes ; and a y Temple which hath in it them that worship , it hath the owne proper lawes of it , by which it is ordered . Aliae sunt leges Caesarum , aliae Christi , z saith Hierom ; Caesars lawes and Christs lawes are not the same , but diverse one from another . a Schoolmen say , that a law , properly so called , is both illuminative , and impulsive : illuminative , to informe and direct the judgement ; impulsive , to move and apply the will to action . And accordingly there are two names in this Text given to Christs lawes and institutions : b one which importeth the instruction and information of our minds : c another which signifieth a deep imprinting or engraving ( and that is made upon our hearts and affections ) such as a pen of iron and other instruments could make upon a stone . It is not well when either of the two is wanting : for the light of truth without the engraving of truth , may bee extinguished : and the engraving of truth , without the light of truth , may be obliterate . All these I shall passe , and only pitch upon two Doctrines which I shall draw from this second part of the Text : One concerning the will of Gods commandement , what God requireth of Israel to doe ; Another concerning the will of Gods decree , what he hath purposed himselfe to doe . The first is this ; God will have Israel to build and order his Temple , not as shall seeme good in their eyes , but according to his owne patterne only which he sets before them . Which doth so evidently appeare from this very Text , that it needeth no other proofe : for what else meaneth the shewing of such a patterne , to be kept and followed by his people ? Other passages of this kinde there are which doe more abundantly confirme it . The Lord d did prescribe to Noah both the matter , and fashion , and measures of the Ark . To Moses he gave a patterne of the Tabernacle , of the Ark , of the Mercy-seat , of the Vaile , of the Curtaines , of the two Altars , of the Table and all the furniture thereof , of the Candlestick and all the instruments thereof , &c. And though Moses was the greatest Prophet that ever arose in Israel , yet God would not leave any part of the work to Moses his arbitrement , but straitly commandeth him ; e look that thou make them after their patterne which was shewed thee in the Mount . When it came to the building of the first Temple , Solomon was not in that left to his owne wisedome ( as great as it was ) but f David the man of God gave him a perfect patterne of all that he had by the Spirit . The second Temple was also built g according to the commandement of the God of Israel , by Haggai and Zachariah . And for the New Testament , Christ our great Prophet , and only King and Law-giver of the Church , hath revealed his will to the Apostles , and they to us , concerning all his holy things : and we must hold us at these unleavened and unmixed ordinances , which the Apostles from the Lord delivered to the Churches . h I will put upon you , saith he himselfe , none other burthen ; but that which ye have already , hold fast till I come . I know the Church must observe rules of order and conveniency in the common circumstances of Times , Places , and Persons ; but these circumstances are none of our holy things : they are only prudentiall accommodations , which are alike common to all humane Societies , both Civill and Ecclesiasticall ; wherein both are directed by the same light of nature , the common rule to both in all things of that kinde ; providing alwayes , that the generall rules of the Word bee observed . i Doe all to the glory of God . k Let all things be done to edifying . l It is good neither to eat flesh , nor to drink wine , nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth , or is offended , or made weak . m Let every man bee fully perswaded in his owne minde . To him that esteemeth any thing to be uncleane , to him it is uncleane . The Text giveth some clearing to this point . There is here shewed to the house of Israel a patterne of the whole structure , and of the least part thereof , and all the measures thereof ; yet no patterne is given of the kinde , or quantity , or magnificence of the severall stones , or of the instruments of building . The reason ; n because the former is essentiall to a house , the latter accidentall : the former , if altered make another building ; the latter , though altered , the building is the same . Therefore where we have in the Text , the formes thereof , the Septuagints read , {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} , the substance thereof . But to cleare it a little further , I put two characters upon those circumstances which are not determined by the word of God , but left to be ordered by the Church , as shall be found most convenient . First , they are not things sacred , nor proper to the Church , as hath beene said ; they are of the same nature , they serve for the same end and use , both in sacred and civill things : for order and decency , the avoiding of confusion and the like , are alike common to Church and Commonwealth . Secondly , I shall describe them as o one of the Prelates hath done ; who tells us , that the things which the Scripture hath left to the discretion of the Church , are those things , which neither needed , nor could be particularly expresse . They needed not , because they are so obvious ; and they could not , both because they are so numerous , and because so changeable . I will not insist upon questions of this kinde , but will make a short application of the Doctrine unto you ( Honourable and Beloved ) you may plainly see from what hath beene said , that neither Kings , nor Parliaments , nor Synods , nor any power on earth , may impose or continue the least Ceremony upon the consciences of Gods people , which Christ hath not imposed . Therefore let neither antiquity , nor custome , nor conveniency , nor prudentiall considerations , nor shew of holinesse , nor any pretext whatsoever , plead for the reservation of any of your old Ceremonies , which have no ground nor warrant from the word of God . Much might have beene said for the high places among the Jewes , as I hinted in the beginning : and much might have beene said p by the Pharisees for their frequent washings , which as they were ancient , and received by the traditions of the Elders , so they were used to teach men purity , and to put them in minde of holinesse : Neither was their washing contrary to any Commandement of God , except you understand q that Commandement of not adding to the word , which doth equally strike against all Ceremonies devised by man . r A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump : and a little leak will endanger the ship . Theeves will readily digge through a house , how much more will they enter if any posterne be left open to them ? s The wilde beasts and boares of the forrest will attempt to break downe the hedges of the Lords Vineyard , how much more if any breach be left in the hedges ? If therefore you would make a sure Reformation , make a perfect Reformation ; lest Christ have this controversie with England , Neverthelesse I have somewhat against thee , Rev. 2. 4. And so much of our duty . The second Doctrine concerneth Gods decree , and it is this : It is concluded in the Counsell of heaven , and 〈◊〉 hath it in the thoughts of his heart , to repaire the br●… of his house , and to build such a Temple to himselfe , as is shadowed forth in this vision of Ezekiel . For the comparing of this verse with vers. 7. in this same Chapter , and with Chap. 37. 26 , 27. will easily make it appeare , that this shewing of the patterne , and all this measuring , was not only in reference to Israels duty , but to Gods gracious purpose towards Israel : According to that Zechar. 1. 16. Therefore thus saith the Lord , I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies : my house shall bee built in it , saith the Lord of Hostes , and a line shall be stretched forth upon Ierusalem . Now this vision cannot be said to be fulfilled in Zorobabels Temple , as I proved before : Only here take notice , that the second destruction of the Temple by the Romans , was worse then the first by the Babylonians : That desolation was repaired ; but this could never be repaired , though t the Iewes did attempt the building againe of the Temple ; first under Adrian the Emperour , and afterward under Iulian the Apostate ; the hand of God was seene against them most terribly by fire from heaven , and other signes of that kinde . And about the same time ( to observe that by the way ) the famous Delphick Temple was without mans hand , by fire and earthquake , utterly destroyed , and never built againe ; To tell the world , that neither Judaisme , nor Paganisme should prevaile , but the Kingdome of Iesus Christ . Where then must we seek for the accomplishment of Ezekiels vision , I meane for the new Temple , in which the Lord will dwell for ever , and where his holy Name shall be no more polluted ? Surely we must seek for it in the dayes of the Gospel , as hath beene before abundantly proved . But that the thing may be the better understood , let us take with us , at least , some few generall observations , concerning this Temple of Ezekiel , as it representeth what should come to passe in the Church of Christ . First of all , there is but one Temple , not many shewed to him : which is in part , and shall bee yet more fulfilled in the Church of the new Testament ; according to that Zech. 8. 9. And it shall be in that day , that living waters shall goe out of Ierusalem . Which is the same that we have Ezech. 47. 1. Then followes ; And the Lord shall be King over all the earth : in that day shall there be one Lord , and his name one . The like promise we finde elsewhere ; u I will give them one heart , and one way . It is observed , that for this very end of uniformity , the Heathens also did erect Temples , that they might all worship the same Idoll God in the same manner . The plague of the Christian Church hitherto hath beene Temple against Temple , and Altar against Altar . x But thou O Lord , how long ? Secondly , Ezekiels Temple and City are very large and capacious , as I shewed in the beginning ; and y the City had three gates looking toward each of the foure quarters of the world . All this to signifie the spreading of the Gospell into all the earth . Which is also signified by z the holy waters issuing from the threshold of the Temple , and rising so high , that they were waters to swimme in . God hath said to his Church ; a Enlarge the place of thy Tent , and let them stretch forth the curtaines of thine habitations : spare not , lengthen thy cords , and strengthen thy stakes ; for thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left . b A great encrease of the Church there was in the Apostles times : but c a farre greater to be yet looked for . d Though the enemy did come in like a flood , the spirit of the Lord hath lift up a standard against him . e The Sea saw it and fled , Jordan was driven back . But when the Gospel commeth , like a noise of many waters ( as the Prophet calls it vers . 2. signifying an irresistible encrease ) it is in vaine to build bulwarks against it . God will even break open f the fountaines of the great deep , and open the windowes of heaven : and the Gospel will prove a second flood which will over-flow the whole earth , though not to destroy it ( as Noahs did ) but to make it glad : g for the earth shall bee filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord , as the waters cover the Sea . Thirdly , in this Temple , beside the Holy of Holies , h were three Courts ; the Court of the Priests , the Court of the people , commonly called Atrium Israelis ; and without both these Atrium Gentium , the Court of the Heathen , so called , because the Heathen , as also many of those who were legally uncleane , might not only come unto the mountaine of the house of the Lord , but also enter within the utter wall ( mentioned Ezech. 42. 20. ) and so worship in that utter Court , or Intermurale . Unto which did belong ( as we learne from i Josephus ) the great East porch , which kept the name of Solomons porch , in which both Christ himselfe did preach , Io. 10. 23. and the Apostles after him , Act. 5. 12. by which meanes the free grace of the Gospel was held sorth even to Heathens , and Publicans , and uncleane persons , who were not admitted into the Court of Israel there to communicate in all the holy things . k For the sonne of man came to seek and to save that which was lost . This utter Court of the Temple is meant , when l it is said that the Pharisees brought a woman taken in adultery , into the Temple and set her before Christ . Now all this will hold true answerably of the spirituall Temple : For first , as m the uncircumcised and the uncleane were not admitted into the Temple among the children of Israel ; so all that live in the Church of Christ , are not to be admitted promiscuously to every ordinance of God ▪ especially to the Lords Table ; but only those whose profession , knowledge and conversation , after triall , shall be found such as may make them capable thereof : yet as Heathens and uncleane persons did enter into the utter Court , and there heare Christ and his Apostles ; so there shall ever be in the Church a doore of grace and hope open to the greatest and vilest ●…nners , who shall seek after Christ , and n ask the way to Zion , with their faces thitherward . Secondly , there shall be also somewhat answerable to the Court of the children of Israel . o God can raise up even of the stones , children to Abraham : he will not want a people to trade in the Courts of his house , and to enquire in his Temple . Thirdly , and as in the Typicall Temple there was a Court for the Priests , so hath the Lord promised to the Church ; p Thy teachers shall not be removed into a corner any more , but thine eyes shall see thy Teachers . And againe ; q I will give you Pastors according to my heart , which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding . Fourthly , and as there was a secret and most holy place , where the Ark was , and the Mercy-seat , and where the glory of God dwel●… so Christ hath his owne r hidden ones , s the children of the marriage chamber : t who with open face beholding as in a glasse the glory of the Lord , are changed into the same image , from glory to glory , even as by the Spirit of the Lord . There is also a time comming , when God will open the secrets of his Temple , and make the Ark of his Testament to be seene , otherwise then yet it hath beene ; which shall be at the sounding of the seventh trumpet , Revel. 11. 15 , 19. The fourth thing wherein Ezekiels Temple representeth the Church of Christ , is in regard of the great strength thereof . u It stood upon a very high mountaine . The materiall Temple also in Ierusalem , as it is described by Iosephus , was a very strong and impregnable place . Interpreters think , that Cyrus was jealous of the strength of the Temple ; and for that cause gave x order that it should not be built above threescore cubits high , whereas Solomon had built it sixscore cubits high . The Romans afterward when they had subdued Iudea , had a watchfull eye upon the Temple , and placed a strong garrison in the Castle Antonia ( which was beside the Temple ) the Commander whereof was called , y the Captaine of the Temple : And all this for feare of sedition and rebellion among the Jews when they came to the Temple . Now the invisible strength of the spirituall Temple is clearly held forth unto us by him that cannot deceive us . Upon this rock , z saith he , ( meaning himselfe ) will I build my Church , and the gates of hell shall not prevaile against it . The Princes and powers of the world are more jealous then they need of the Churches strength ; and yet ( which is a secret judgement of God ) they have not beene afraid to suffer Babylon to be built in her full strenth . a There were they in great feare where no feare was : for when all shall come to all , it shall be found , that the Gospel and true Religion is the strongest bulwark , and chiefe strength for the safety and stability of Kings and States . Lastly , the glory of this Temple was very great , insomuch that b some have undertaken to demonstrate , that it was a more glorious peece then any of the seven miracles of the world , which were so much spoken of among the Ancients . But the greatest glory of this Temple was , that the glory of the God of Israel came into it , and the earth shined with his glory , vers. 2. Christ c the brightnesse of his fathers glory , walking d in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks , is and shall be more and more the Churches glory . Therefore it is said to her , e Arise , shine , for thy light is come , and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee . Surely as it was said of the new materiall Temple , in reference to Christ ; so it may be said of the new spirituall Temple , which yet we look for . f The glory of this latter house shall be greater then of the former , saith the Lord of hosts , and in this place will I give peace , saith the Lord of hosts . Christ will keep the g best wine till the end of the feast : and h he will blesse our latter end more then our beginning . That which I have said from grounds of Scripture , concerning a more glorious , yea more peaceable condition of the Church to be yet looked for , is acknowledged by i some of our sound and learned Writers , who have had occasion to expresse their judgement about it . And it hath no affinity with the opinion of an earthly or temporall kingdome of Christ : or of the Jewes their building againe of Jerusalem , and the materiall Temple ; and their obtaining a dominion above all other Nations : or the like I shall now bring home the point . There are very good grounds of hope , to make us think that this new Temple is not farre off : And ( for your part ) that Christ is to make a new face of a Church in this Kingdome , a faire and beautifull Temple for his glory to dwell in : And hee is even now about the work . For first , the set time to build Zion is come , when the people of God take pleasure in her stones , and favour the dust thereof , Psal. 102. 13 , 14 , 16. The stones which the builders of Babel refused , are now chosen for corner stones ; and the stones which they choosed , doe the builders of Zion now refuse : Ier. 51. 26. They shall not take of thee a stone for a corner , nor a stone for foundations . Those that have any thing of Christ and of the Image of God in them , begin to creep out of the dust of contempt , and to appeare like starres of the morning . Nay to go further then that , the old stones the Iewes , who have beene for so many ages lying forgotten in the dust , those poore k Outcasts of Israel have of ●…ate come more into remembrance , and have beene more thought of , and more prayed for then they were in former generations . Secondly , are there not great preparations and instruments fitted for the work ? Hath not God called together for such a time as this , the present Parliament , and the Assembly of Divines , his Zorobabels , and Iehoshua's , and Haggaies , and Zachariahs ? Are there not also hewers of stones , and bearers of burdens ? much wholsome preaching , much praying and fasting , many petitions put up both to God and man ? the Covenant also going through the Kingdom as the chief preparation of materials for the work ? Is not the old rubbish of Ceremonies daily more and more shovelled away , that there may bee a clean ground ? and is not the Lord by all this affliction humbling you , that there may be a deep and a sure foundation layd ? Thirdly , the work is begun and shall it not be finished ? God hath layd the foundation , and shall he not bring forth the head stone ? Zechar. 4. 7. 9. Christ hath put Antichrist from his utterworks in Scotland , and he is now come to put him from his inner works in England . His work is perfect , l saith Moses . I am alpha and omega , m saith Christ , the beginning and the ending . n Shall I bring to the birth , and not cause to bring forth , sayth the Lord ? shall I cause to bring forth , and shut the womb , sayth thy God ? I may adde three other signes whereby to discern the time , from Revel. 11. 1. the place before cited . First , Is there not now a measuring of the Temple , Ordinances and worshippers , by a reed like unto a rod ? the reed of the Sanctuary in the Assemblies hand , and the rod of Power and Law in your hand , are well met together . Secondly , there is a Court which before seemed to belong to the Temple , left out and not measured : o from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which hee hath . The Samaritans of this time , who p serve the Lord , and serve their own Gods too , and do after the manners of Idolaters , have professed ( as they of old to the Jewes , Ezra 4. 2. ) that they would build with you , that they will bee for the true Protestant Religion as you are , that they will also consent to the reformation of abuses , for the ease of tender consciences . But God doth so alienate and separate betwixt you and them , by his overruling providence , discovering their designes against you , and their deep engagements to the Popish party ; as if he would say unto them , you have no portion , nor right , nor memoriall in Ierusalem , Neh. 2. 20. Or as it is in the Parable concerning those who had refused to come when they were invited ; yea had taken the servants of Christ , and entreated them spitefully , and killed them ; the great King hath said in his wrath , that they shall not taste of his supper , and hee sends forth his Armies , to destroy those Murtherers , and to burn up their City , Mat. 22. 6. 7. Luk. 14. 24. Surely a what they have professed concerning Reformation is scarce so much as the Pope did acknowledge , when Reformation did begin in Germany . However , as it is our hearts desire and prayer to God for them that they may be saved , so we are not out of hopes , that God hath many of his own among them , unto whom he will give b repentance to the acknowledging of the truth . Lastly , the time seemeth to answer fitly : The new Temple is built when the 42 Moneths of the Beasts raigne , and of the treading down the holy City , ( that is by the best Interpretation 1260 yeares ) come to an end . This computation ( I conceive ) should begin rather before the foure hundreth yeare of Christ , then after it , both because the Romane Emperour ( whose falling was the Popes rising ) was brought very low before that time , by the warres of the Gothes and other barbarous Nations and otherwise , which will appeare from History . And further because c Pope Innocentius ( who succeeded about the yeare 401 ) was raised so high that he drew all appeals from other Bishops to the Apostolicall Sea , according to former Statutes and Customes , as hee saith . I cannot pitch upon a likelier time , then the yeare 383 at which time ( according to the common calculation ) 〈◊〉 generall Councell at Constantinople ( though Baronius and some others reckon that Councell in the yeare 381 ) d did acknowledge the Primacy of the Bishop of Rome , only reserving to the Bishop of Constantinople the second place among the Bishops : Did not then the Beast receive much power , when this much was acknowledged by a Councell of 150 Bishops , though setting in the Fast , and moderated by Nectarius Archbishop of Constantinople : Immediately after this Councell , it is aknowledged by e one of our great Antiquaries , that the Bishop of Rome did labour mightily to draw all causes to his own Consistory , and that he doth scarce read of any Heretick or Schismatick condemned in the Province where he lived , but straight he had his recourse to the Bishop of Rome f . Another of our Antiquaries noteth not long before that Councell , that Antichrist did then begin to appear at Rome , and to exalt himselfe over all other Bishops . Now if wee should reckon the beginning of the Beasts reign about the time of that Councel , the end of it will fall in , at this very time of curs : But I dare not determine so high a point : Gods work will ere it be long , make a clearer Commentary upon his word : Only let this bee remembred , we must not think it strange , if after the end of the 1260 yeares , Antichrist be not immediately and utterly abolished , for when that time is ended he makes warre against the Witnesses , yea overcommeth and killeth them : But that victory of his lasteth only three dayes and a halfe , and then God makes as it were a resurrection from the dead : and a tenth part of the great City fals before the whole fall , See Revel. 11. 3. 7. 11. 13. Whether this killing of the Witnesses ( which seemeth to be the last act of Antichrists power ) be past , or to come , I can not say ; God knowes . But assuredly , the acceptable yeare of Israels Jubilee , and the day of vengeance upon Antichrist , is comming , and is not farre off . But now is there no other application to be made of this point ? Is all this said to satisfie curious wits , or at the best , to comfort the people of God ? Nay , there is more then so : it must be brought home to a practicall use . As the assurance of salvation g doth not make the child of God the more presumptuous , but the more humble : neither doth it make him negligent h , but deligent in the way of holinesse , and in all the acts of his spirituall warfare ; so that i every man that hath this hope in him , purisieth himselfe : So answerably , the assurance of the new Temple , and of the sweet dayes to come , serveth for a twofold practicall use ; even as David also applieth Gods promise of Solomons building the Temple , 1 Chron. 22. 10. for thus hee speaketh to the Princes of Israel , ver. 19. Now set your heart and your soule to seek the Lord your God , arise therefore and build yee the sanctuary of the Lord God : And this is beside the charge which he giveth to Solomon . First , then yee must set your heart and your soule to seek God , forasmuch as you know , it is not in vaine to seek him for this thing k . When Daniel understood by books that the 70 yeares of Jerusalems desolation were at an end , and that the time of building the Temple againe was at hand : then he saith , I set my face unto the Lord God to seek by prayer and supplications , with fasting , and sackloth and ashes : O let us doe as he did ; O let us l Cry mightily unto God , and let us with all our soule , and all our might , give our selves to fasting and prayer ; Now if ever , m the effectuall fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much . Secondly , and the more actively you must goe about the bunesse . n Be yee stedfast , unmoveable , alwayes abounding in the work of the Lord , forasmuch as yee know that your labour is not in vaine in the Lord : What greater motive to action then to know that you shall prosper in it ; o Arise therefore and bee doing . And so I am led upon the third and last part of the Text , of which I shall speak but very little . The Doctrine is this , Reformation ends not in contemplation , but in action : The pattern of the house of God is set before us to the end , it may be followed ; and the ordinances thereof to the end they may be obeyed : p Give me understanding , saith David , and I shall keep thy law , yea , I shall observe it with my whole heart : q If yee know these things , saith Christ , happy are yee if yee doe them : The point is plaine , and needeth no proofe but application . Let me therefore ( Honourable Worthies ) leave in your bosomes this one point more ; Many of the Servants of God who have stood in this place ( and could do it better then I can ) have been calling upon you to go on in the work of Reformation . O be s not slothfull in businesse : and forget not to do as you have been taught . Had you begun at this work , and gone about the building of the House of God , as your first and chiefe businesse , I dare say , you should have prospered better . It was one cause ( among others ) why t the children of Israel ( though the greater number , and having the better cause too ) did twice fall before Benjamin ; because while they made so great a businesse , for the villany committed upon the Levites Concubine , they had taken no course with u the graven Image of the children of Dan , a thing which did more immediately touch God in his honour . But I am confident errours of this kinde will be now amended , and that you will by double diligence redeem the time . I know your trouble is great , and your cares many in managing the warre , and looking to the safety of the kingdom , yet mark what David did in such a case . Behold , in my trouble ( a sayth he ) I have prepared for the House of the Lord an hundred thousand talents of Gold , and a thousand thousand talents of silver , and of brasse and iron without weight . David did manage b great wars with mighty enemies , the Philistines , Moabites , Ammonites , and Syrians ; beside the intestine warre made first by Abner , and afterward by Absolon ; and after that by Sheba . Notwithstanding of all this in his trouble and poverty ( the word signifieth both ) he made this great preparation for the House of God , and if God had given him leave he had in his trouble built it too ; for you well know , he was not hindered from building the Temple , by the warres or any other businesse , but only because God would not permit him . Set before you also the example of the Iewes , when the Prophets of God did stirre them up to the building of the Temple , Ezra 5. 1. 2. they say not we must first build the walles of Ierusalem to hold out the enemy ; but the Text saith , they began to build the house of God . f They were not full foure years in building the Temple , and finished it in the sixth yeare of Darius ; Now all the rest of his reigne did passe , and all Xe●…xes rei●…re , and much of Artaxerxes Lo●…manus his reigne before the Walls of Ierusalem were built , a for about that work was N●…hemiah , from the twentieth yeare of Arta●…s to the two and thi●…tieth yeare : And if b great Chronologers bee not very farre mistaken , the Temple was finished fourescore and three years before the Wals of Jerusalem were finished . It is farre from my meaning to coole your affection to the Iawes Liberties Peace and safety of the Kingdome : I desire onely to warm your hearts with the zeale of Reformation as that , which all along you must carry on in the first place . One thing I cannot but mention : The Reverend Assembly of ●…ivines may lament ( as Augustine in another case ) Heu , heu , quam trade jestino ! Alas alas , how slowly doe I make speed ! Put since now by the blessing of God they are thus farre ad●…nced that they have found in the Word of God a pattern for Presbyreriall Government over many particular Congregations ; and have found also from the Word that Ordination is an Act belonging to such a Presbytery : I beseech you improve that , c whereto we have already att●… ; till other A ●…s of a Presbytery be agreed on afterward Your selves ●…know better then I doe that much d people is perishing because there is no Vision ; e the harvest is great and the Labourers are few . Give me leave therefore to quicken you to this part of the Work , ●…at with all diligence , and without delay , some Presbyteries be associated and erected , ( in such places as your selves in your w●…edome shall judge fittest ) with power to ordaire Ministers with the con●…rt of the Congregations , and after tryall of the g●…ts , soundnesse and conversation of the men . In o do●… , you shall both please God , and bring upon your selves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of many poore soules that are ready to perish : and you shall likewise greatly strengthen the hearts and 〈◊〉 of your Brethren of Scotland , joyned in Covenant and in Arms with you . I say therefore againe , g arise and be doing , and the Lord be with you ; Yea , h the Lord is with you , according to the Word that he hath Covenanted with you , so his Spirit remaineth among you : Feare yee not , but i bee strong in the Lord , and in the power of his might . FINIS . Die Mercurii 27. Martii , 1644. IT is this day Ordered by the Commons assembled in Parliament , That Mr. Nicoll doe from this House give thanks unto Mr. Gillespie for the great paines he took in the Sermon he preached this day at the intreaty of the said Commons , at St. Margarets Westminster , ( It being the day of publike Humiliation , ) And to desire him to Print his Sermon . And it is Ordered that no man shall presume to Print his Sermon , but whom hee shall authorise under his hand writing . H. Elsynge Cler. Parl. D. Com. I appoint ROBERT BOSTOCK to Print this Sermon . GEORGE GILLE●… . Die Mercurii , 27 Martii , 1644. IT is this day ordered by the Commons , Assembled in Parliament , That Master BOND , and Master NICOLLS . do from this Howse give Thanks unto Master BOND , for his great pains he tooke in the Sermon he preached this day at MARGRET WESTMINSTER at the intreaty of this House ( it being the day of Publike Humiliation ) And they are to desire him to print his Sermon . And it is Ordered that none presume to print or reprint his Sermon without being authorised vnder the hand wrighting of the said Master BOND . H. Elsynge Cler. Parl. D. Com. I do appoint Francis Eglesfeild to Print my Sermon . Iohn Bond . Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A42766e-170 a Act. 5. 38. 39. b Act. 18. 14. 15 16. 17. c Liberty of Conscience , pag. 34. 35. d Hos 8. 7. e Isa. 8 17. f Iob 13. 15. g Isa. 62. 11. i 2 Cor. 6. 2. Isa. 66. 10. k Isa. 37. 3. l Matth. 25. 5. m Lev. 26. 18 , 21 , 2●… , 28. n Lev. 26. 25. o 1. Armagh Serm. at Oxford March 3. p. 17. 19 , 27. p Gr●…us de j●…re belli ac pacis lib. 1. cap. 4. sect. 7. Haec autem lex de q●…a agimus de n●… resistendo supremis potesta●…i bus ) pendere vi●…etur à volunta●…e eo●…um qui se primùm in soci●…tatem civilem ●…onsociant . à quibus jus 〈◊〉 ad imperantes manat . H●…vero si interrogarentur an vel●…nt omnibus hoc onus imponere , ut mori praeoptent , qu●… nullo casu vi●… superiorum armi●… arcere , ne cio an velle ●…e sint responsuri . Ibid sect. 13. Si Rex p●…rtem habeat summi imperii , partem alteram populus au●…senatus , regi i●… partem non suam involanti , vis justa oppont poterit I might adde the testimonies of Bilson , Bar●…ius , and others . q Psal. 34. 〈◊〉 . r Isa. 64. 7. s Isa. 62 , 6 , 7. t Psal. 84. 6. u 1 Sam. 7. 6. x Deut. 32. 2. Notes for div A42766e-970 Englands disease . a Mal. 4. 1. b 2 Chro●… . 33. 17. c Levit. 26. 41. A remedy for it . d Ezek. 36. 32. e Revel. 21. 3. f Zech. 13. 2. g Psal. 85. 9. h Psal. 85. 8. i Psal. 78. 57. k Psal. 18. 21. Another Temple meant in this vision then that of Jerusalem . l I. Baptista Villallpandus expla●… . Ezek. tom 2. part . 2. lib. 1. Isag. cap. 9. 12. & 13. Corn . a lapi●…e in Ezek. 40. Proved by 8. Reasons . m Ezra 3. 1. 8 & 6. 3. 5. 7. n C. a Lapi●…e , himself reckoneth the City to be 27. miles distant from Temple . o See also Codex Middoth . cap. 3. sect. 1. p Pola●…us & Sanctius . q Lib. 4. cap. 67. r Lib. 13. i●… Ezek. s Hom. 13. in Ezek. The Church of Christ intended . t Compare Ezek. 37. 27. with Revel. 21. 3. Ezek. 40. 2. with Revel. 21. 10. Ezek. 40. 3 , 4 , 5. with Revel. 11. 1. & 21. 15. Ezek. 43. 2. with Revel. 14. 2. Ezek. 45. 8 , 9. with Revel. 17. 16 , 17. & 21. 24. Ezek. 38. 2. & 39. 1. with Revel. 20. 8 Ezek. 47. 12. with Rev. 22. 2. Ezek. 48. 1. to v. 8. with Revel. 7. 4. to v. 9. Ezek 48 31 , 32 33 , 34. with Revel. 21. 12 , 13. 16. Ezek. 40. 4 with Revel. 1. 11. & 4. 1. Foure things holden forth in the Vision . 1. The materiall Temple as a Type . v Codex Middoth cum Commentariis Const. l'Emper●…ur . Arias Montanus in his Libarus . I. Baptista Villalpandus explan. . Ezek Tom. 2. par . 2. & Tom. 3. Tosta●…us in 1. Reg. 6. Lud. Capellus in compendio bist . Iudaicae . Ribera de Templo lib. 1. and others . 2. The Church of the Gentiles 3. A more glorious Church in the latter dayes . Proved by five reasons . x Rom. 11. 12. y Ib. vers. 15. z Isa. 2. 2. a Ib. v. 4. b Isa. 11 9. & 60. 17 , 18. c Polanus in Ezech. 45. Der●…formatione Status civilis agitur , v. 8 , 9 , 10. In quibus praedic●…io est , eti●…m principes et m●…gistratus politicos , adducendos ad obedientiam fidei in Chri●…m , a●… saltem coercendos et i●… officio continendos , ne amplius oppri●…t populum 〈◊〉 . d Psal. 2. 2. 〈◊〉 Rev. 11. 3. & 12. 6. f Rev. 21. 4. Some respect had to the Church Triumphant . g Verse 3. h Verse 24. The Text divided . i 1 Thes. 5. 23. So Phil. 1. 9. 11 , k It is not {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} bosch . but {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} calam . Which two , some Hebricians distinguish by referring the former to the Greek {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} , and the Latin Verecundia : the latter to the Greek {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and the Latin Pudor . Reformation not enough without humiliation . Proved two wayes . l Rev. 3. 19. m Rom. 6. 21. n Ib. ver. 19. 22. o Vid. Martyr in Rom. 6. 21. p 〈◊〉 . 9. ●…7 . q Psal. 51. 4. r 1 Cor. 11. 31 s Mal. 1. 8. t Luke . 17. 4. u 2 Sam. 15. 19 x Gal. 6. 7. As the affections are , so is the judgement . y Psal. 58. 4 , 5. z 2 Thess. 2. 9 , 10. a Io. 16. 13. An Obiection answered . b G●… . 38. 28 , 29 , 30. c Psal. 27 4. First application to the Enemies . d Ier. 6. 15. & 8. 12. e Ier. 3. 3. f Phil. 3. 19. g Act. 8. 23. h Isa. 26. 11. i Isa. 66. 5. 2 Application to the Kingdome . k Decad. 3. l. 7. In regard of former defilements . l Hos. 14. 8. m Ier. 31. 19. n Levit. 13. 45. o Isa. 30. 22. p Aug. Epist. 119. c. 19. Omnia itaque talia quae neque sacrarum Scripturarum auctori atibus continentur nec in Episcoporum 〈◊〉 statuta inveniuntur , nec consuetudine universae Ecclesiae robora●…a sunt , sed diversorum locorum diversis moribus innumerabiliter variantur , ita ut vix aut omnino nunquam inveniri possint c●…usae , quas in cis instituendis homines secuti sunt , ubi facultas tribuetur , sine ulla dubitatione , resecanda existimo . q Arnob. adv●…rsus Gentes , lib. 2. Cum igitur & vos ipsi modo illos mores , modo alias leges , fueritis secuti , multaque vel erroribus cognitis , vel animad versione meliorum sint a vobis repudiata : quid est a nobis sactum , contra sensum judiciumque commune , si majora & certiora delègimus ? r Greg. Nazia . Orat. 28 , Primariae sedis dignitatem nobis eripienti quam prudentum etiam quispiam aliquando admiratus est : nunc autem cam fugere ut mihi quidem videtur prinae et singu●…ris est prudentiae : propter ha●…c enim r●…s omnes nostrae jactantur ac conc●…tiuntur : propter hanc fines orbis terrae 〈◊〉 & bello flagrant &c U●…inam au em ne ull●…s quidem sedis pri●…ipatus esset , nec ulla loci praelatio , & tyra●…nica praerogat●…va , 〈◊〉 exsolae vir●…ute cog osceremur . V●…e etiam Orat. 27. & 32. & ●…arm . 12. ad Constantinop . s ●…p Hall , lib. 7. contempl. . t ●…p . Andrewes Sermon on Phil. 2. 10. u Phil. 1. 18. Foure considerations , for Englands humiliation . 1. For the great blessings it hath long wanted . x 2 Chron. 15. 3. y Luk. 2. 25. z 1 Sam. 7. 2. 2. For its great sinnes ingraven in the present judgements . {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} b L●… . 26. 41. c for 17. 1. d Da●… . 9. 14. e Ier. 5. 31. f Gen. 41. 9. g Am●…s 8. 9. 10. h Isai. 59. 15. i Psal. 7●… . 14. k Cen. 4. 10. l Psal. 9. 12. m Psa. 51. 14. An objection answered . n Ezek. 9. 4. o Mat. 14 5. p Mat. 21. 46. q Act. 4. 2●… . 3 For its presumption . r Brightman on Rev. 3. 17. Rogers of faith , chap. 10. s Rev. 3. 17. t 1 Cor. 5. 2. u Iude 7. 2. x Isa. 26. 12. 4 Because of Gods goodnes . y Ezek. 16. 62 , 63. z Ezek. 36. 32. a Ezra 9. 6. b Ib. vers. 10. 3 Application to the Ministerie . Their repentance rare . c Mark 10. 24 , 25. d 2 Cor. 10. 5. Yet examples there bee of it e Casaubon . & Beza . f 2 Chron. 29. 34. g Psa. 7●… . 22. h 1 Cor. 15. 9. i Confess . lib 4. Per idem tempus annor●…n novem , &c. seducebamur et seducebamus , falsi atque fal●…es in varits cupiditatibus , &c. Irrideant me arrog●…tes , & nondum salubriter prostrati et elifi a te Deus mens : ego tamen confite●…r tibi dedecora mea , in laude . 4. Application to every Christian . k Ezek. 36. 31. Five markes of difference betwixt the humiliation of the childe of God , and that of the Hypocrite . l 1 Cor. 3. 18. m Luke 15. 17. n Psal. 130 4. Rom. 2. 4. o Gellius lib. 19. cap. 6. Pudor est timor justae reprehensionis . Ita enim Philosophi definiunt , {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} . p 1 Sam. 15. 15 30. q Ier. 2. 26. r Psal. 69. 5 , 6. Second part of the Text explained . The fashion of the house . The gates . s Luke 9. 62. The formes within and without . t Luk. 17. 20 , 2●… u Psal. 45. 13. x Chap. 42. 15. The laws of it . y Rev. 11. 1. z li●… Epitaphio Fabiol●… . a Suarez . de leg. lib. 1. cap. 5. Cospensis curs . Theol tract. 13. disp. 1. sect. 1. b {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} torah . from {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} jarah , demonstravit , docuit . c {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} chok from {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} chakak , which is insculpere lapidi vel ligno . The Church tied to Gods owne patterne d Gen. 6. 14 , 15 16. e Exod. 25. 40. f 1 Chro. 28. 11 , 12 , 13. g Ezra 6. 14. h Rev. 〈◊〉 , 24 , 25. Common circumstances & sacred Ceremonies distinguished . i 1 Cor. 10. 31. k 1 Cor. 14. 16. l Rom. 14. 21. m Rom 14. 5 , 14 n Illa qu●…si naturam aedificii substantiamque de●…otant , haec accidentia . Illa si tollas deerit fabrica : haec quamvis desiderentur , manet tamen aedificium . Illa si invertas aut mu●…es , non idem aedificium mane . ●…it , s●…d aliud : hec quamvis tollas , idem manere potest aedisicium : hand secus quam de bomine quaquam , deque ejus vestimentis Philosopheris . Villalpan . tom. 2. part . 2. lib. 1. Isa. cap. 12. o The Bishop of Down , of the authority of the Church , pag. 29. The Application to England . p Mark 7. 2 , 3 , 〈◊〉 , 7. q Deut. 4. 2. & 12. 32. Pro. 30. 6 r Gal 5 9. s Psal. 80. 13. Gods purpose to build such a Temple . t Wolph . lection . memor . Cent. 16. pag. 962. The Churches unity . u Ier. 32. 39. Ezech. 11. 19. x Psal. 6. 3. Her encrease . y Ezech. 48. 31 , 32 , 33 , 34. z Ezech. 47. 1 , 5 ▪ a Isa. 54. 2 , 3. b Col. 1. 6. c Rom. 11. 12. d Isa. 59. 19. e Psal. 114. 3. f Gen. 7. 11. g Hab. 2. 14. Isa. 11. 9. Her different Courts . h Vid. Ioseph . antiq l. 15. c. 14. To stat . in 1. Reg 6. quaest 21. A Montan ▪ de sacr : f●…bric . p. 15. 〈◊〉 Empereur Ann. in Cod. Middoth . cap. 2. sect. 3. i Antiq lib. 20. cap. 8 Suasit ( populus ) regi ut orientalem instauraret porticum Ea Temp i●…xtima claudebat , profundae valli & anguslae imminens &c. Op●… So ●…monis Regis qui primus integrum Tem●…m condidit . Compare this with l. 15. c. 14. k ●…uke 19. 10. l Io. 8. 2 , 3. m Ezech. 44. 9. n Ier. 50. 5. o Mat. 3. 9. p Isa. 30. 20. q Ier. 3. 15. r Psal. 83. 3. s Mat. 9. 15. t 2 Cor. 3. 18. Her strength . u Chap. 40. 2. x Ezra . 6. 3. y Act. 4. 1. z Mat. 16. 18. a Psal. 53. 5. Her glory . b Vi●…p . tom. 2. part . 2. lib. 〈◊〉 . cap. 61. 62. 63. c Heb. 1. 3. d Rev. 1. 13. e Isa. 60. 1. f Hag. 2. 9. g 〈◊〉 2. 10. h Ezech. 36. 11. i Walaeus de opi●…e Chil●…starum , tom. 1. pag. 558. Haec quidem ( 〈◊〉 ●…ab , lonis & deletio hostium ) à nobis expectari , & fortassis non longè absunt succedetque laetior aliquis Ecclesiae status , & amplior . Vide ibid. p. 541. Rivetus Explic. Decal . pag. 229. Posset etiam dici , & fortasse non minus aptè vaticinia de Regno Christi suam babere latitudinem nec semper intelligi debere de eo quod vel cont nuò vel omni tempore fieri debet , sed de aliqua periodo temporis , quae etsi nondum advenerit , adveniet nibilominùs . Fieri enim potest , ut quemadmodum expectatur adhuc Iudaeorum generalis conversie , ita etiam Ecclesia suo tempore ●…a pace fruitura sit , in qua ad literam imp●…ebuntur , quae hujus vaticinii verbis ( Isa. 2. 4. ) signific●…ntur . Others of this kinde might be cited . k Psal. 147. 2. Application to this time . Six signs that God is to build a new Temple in England . l Deut. 32. 4. m Revel. 1. 8. n Isa. 66. 9. o Mat. 25. 29. p 2 King. 18. 33. 34. a In exhortu Evangelicae doctrinae , legatus Hadrian●… Pontificis in Comitiis Nerobergae habitis , publicè confessus est , in doctrina & vita Spiritualium , recessum esse à regula verbi divini : Reformationem Ecclesiae in capitibus & membris esse necessariam : ut hoc confessione cursum Evangelij impediret . Lavater Hom. 9. in lib. Ezrae . b Tim. 2. 25. c Innoc. epist. 2. ad Victricium Rothomag . Majores causae in medium devolutae , ad sedem Apostolicam , sicut Synodus statuit , & beata consuetudo exigit po●… Iudicium Episcopale , referantur . Uide myster. Iniq . Edit. Salmur . 1611 pag. 51. d Can. 5. e Mo●…nay . Myster. ●…iq . pag. 46. f Wolphius lection . memorab . Tom. 1. sag . 113. H●… scilicel tempore jam gliscebat Antichristus Romae . The practicall use hereof . g Ezeth . 16. 63. h Phil. 3. 13. 14. 2 Pet. 1. 10. i Io●… . 3. 3. k Dan. 9. 2. 3. l Ionah 3. 8. m Iam. 5. 16. n 1 Cor. 15. 58. o 1 Cor. 22. 16. We must put in practise what is revealed concerning the pattern . p Psal. 119. 34. q Ioh. 13. 17. s Rom. 12. 11. t Iud. 20. 21. 25 u Iud. 18. 30 , 31 Civill affaires must not hinder Reformation . a 1 Chro. 22. 14. b 2 Sam chap. 5. chap. 8. chap. 10. & 11. c 2 Sam. 2. 8 , 9. d 2 Sam. 15. 10. e 2 Sam. 20. 1. f Ezra . 4. 24. with 6. 15. a N●… . 5 14. b Uide F●…e . ●…ron . f●…l 51. 〈◊〉 5●… . Present nece●…sity of O●…dination . c Phil. 3. 16. d Prov 29. 18. e Luk. 10. 2. ●…ob 19. 13. g 1 Chro. 22. 16. h Hag. 2. 4. 5. i Eph. 6. 10.