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AN

HOMILY

OF THE

Right Ufe of the Church or Temple of God, and of the Reverence due unto the fame.

W

THE FIRST CHAPTER.

HEREAS there appeareth in thefe days great flackness and negligence of a great fort of people, in reforting to the Church, there to ferve God their heavenly Father, according to their moft bounden duty, as alfo much uncomely and unreverent behaviour of many perfons in the fame, when they be there affembled, and thereby may juft fear arife of the wrath of God, and his dreadful plagues hanging over our heads for our grievous offences in this behalf, amongst other many and great fins which we daily and hourly commit before the Lord: therefore, for the difcharge of all our confciences, and for the avoiding of the common peril and plague hanging over us, let us confider what may be faid out of God's holy Book concerning this matter, whereunto I pray you give good audience, for that it is of great weight, and concerneth you all. Although the eternal and incomprehenfible Majefty of God, the Lord of heaven and earth, whofe feat is heaven, and the earth his footstool, cannot be inclofed in temples or houfes made with man's hand, as in dwelling-places able to receive or contain his Majefty, according as is evidently declared by the Prophet Ifaiah, and by the doctrine of St. Stephen and St. Ifa. lxvi. Paul in the Acts of the Apoftles. And where king Solo- Acts vii. mon (who builded unto the Lord the moft glorious tem- vii.

1 Kings

viii.

2 Chron. ii. and vi.

ple that ever was made) faith, Who shall be able to build a meit or worthy boufe for bim? If heaven, and the beavin above all heavens, cannot contain him, bow much less can that which I have builded? And further confeffeth, What am I, that I fhould be able to build thee an boufe, O Lord? But yet for this purpose only it is made, that thou mayeft regard the prayer of thy fervant, and his bumble fupplication. Much lefs then be our churches meet dwelling-places to receive the incomprehenfible Majefty of God. And indeed the chief and fpecial temples of God, wherein he hath greateft pleafure, and moft delighteth to dwell and continue in, are the bodies and minds of true Chriftians, and the chofen people of God, according to the doctrine of the holy Scripture, declared in the firft Epiftle to the Corin1 Cor. iii. thians Know ye not, faith St. Paul, that ye be the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, bim will God deftroy. For the temple of God is boly, which ye are. And again in the 1 Cor. vi. fame Epifile: Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost dwelling in you, whom ye have given you of God, and that ye be not your own? For ye are dearly bought. Glorify ye now therefore God in your body and in your fpirit, which are God's. And therefore, as our Saviour Chrift teacheth in the Gofpel of St. John, they that worship God the Father in fpirit and truth, in what place foever they do it, worship him aright: for fuch worshippers doth God the Fa ther look for. For God is a Spirit; and thofe that worship bim muft worship him in fpirit and truth, faith our Saviour Chrift. Yet all this notwithstanding, the material church or temple is a place appointed, as well by the ufage and continual examples expreffed in the Old Teftament, as in the New, for the people of God to refort together unto, there to hear God's holy word, to call upon his holy name, to give him thanks for his innumerable and unfpeakable benefits bestowed upon us, and duly and truly to celebrate his holy Sacraments; (in the unfeigned doing and accomplishing of the which ftandeth that true and right worshipping of God afore mentioned;) and the fame church or temple is by the holy Scriptures, both of the Old Testament and New, called the House and Temple of the Lord, for the peculiar fervice there done to his Majefty by his people, and for the effectuous prefence of his heavenly grace, wherewith he, by his faid holy word, endueth his people fo there affembled. And to the faid Houfe or Temple of God, at all times, by common order appointed, are all people that be godly indeed bound with

John iv.

all

all diligence to refort, unless by fickness, or other most urgent caufes, they be letted therefore. And all the fame to reforting thither ought with all quietnefs and reverence there to behave themselves, in doing their bounden duty and fervice to Almighty God, in the congregation of his faints. All which things are evident to be proved by God's holy word, as hereafter fhall plainly appear.

And first of all, I will declare by the Scriptures, that it is called (as it is indeed) the houfe of God, and temple of the Lord. He that fweareth by the temple, faith our Sa- John ii. viour Chrift, fweareth by it, and him that dwelleth therein, Matt. xxiii. meaning God the Father; which he alfo expreffeth plain

ly in the Gofpel of St. John, faying, Do not make the house John ii. of my Father the boufe of merchandize. And in the book of the Pfalms the Prophet David faith, I will enter into Pfalm v. bine boufe; I will worship in thy boly temple, in thy fear. And it is almoft in infinite places of the Scripture, efpecially in the Prophets and book of Pfalms, called the Houfe of God, or Houfe of the Lord. Sometimes it is named the Tabernacle of the Lord, and fometimes the Exod. xxv. Sanctuary, that is to fay, the holy place, or houfe of the

xviii. ii.

Lord. And it is likewife called the Houfe of Prayer, as Levit. xix. Solomon, who builded the temple of the Lord at Jerufa- 1 Kings viii. lem, doth oft call it the houfe of the Lord, in the which 2 Chron. vi. the Lord's name fhould be called upon. And Ifaiah in the fifty-fixth chapter, My boufe shall be called the house of Ifa. lvi. prayer amongst all nations. Which text our Saviour Chrift Matt,-xii, allegeth in the New Teftament, as doth appear in three of the Evangelifts, and in the parable of the Pharifee and the Publican, which went to pray in which parable our Saviour Chrift faith, They went up into the temple to pray. Matt. xxi. And Anna, the holy widow and prophetefs, ferved the Mark xi. Lord in fafting and prayer in the temple night and day. Luke xix. And in the ftory of the Acts it is mentioned, how that Ats. Peter and John went up into the temple at the hour of prayer. And St. Paul, praying in the temple at Jerufalem, was wrapt in the Spirit, and did fee Jefus fpeaking unto him. And as in all convenient places prayer may be ufed of the godly privately; fo it is moft certain, that the church, or temple, is the due and appointed place for coinmon and public prayer. Now that it is likewife the place of thanksgiving unto the Lord for his innumerable and un fpeakable benefits bestowed upon us, appeareth notably at the latter end of the Gofpel of St. Luke, and the be- Luke xxiv. ginning of the ftory of the Acts, where it is written, that

the Apofles and Difciples, after the afcenfion of the Lord, Ats ii.\

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continued with one accord daily in the temple, always praifing and bleffing God. And it is likewife declared in the first Cor. xi. Epiftle to the Corinthians, that the church is the due place appointed for the ufe of the facraments. It remaineth now to be declared, that the church, or temple, is the place where the lively word of God (and not man's inventions) ought to be read and taught, and that the people are bound thither with all diligence to refort; and this proof likewife to be made by the Scriptures, as hereafter shall appear.

In the ftory of the Acts of the Apoftles we read, that Paul and Barnabas preached the word of God in the temples of the Jews at Salamine. And when they came to Afts xiii. Antiochia, they entered on the fabbath-day into the fynagogue, or church, and fat down; and after the leffon, or reading of the Law and the Prophets, the ruler of the temple jent unto them, faving, Ye men and brethren, if any of you have any exhortation to make unto the people, fay it. And fo Paul Standing up, and making filence with his hand, faid, Ye men that be Ifraelites, and ye that fear God, give ear, &c. preaching to them a fermon out of the Scriptures, as there at large appeareth. And in the fame ftory of the Acts, the feventeenth chapter, is teftified, how Paul preached Chrift out of the Scriptures at Theffalonica. And in the fifteenth chapter, James the Apostle, in that holy council and affembly of his fellow-apoftles, faith, Mofes of old time bath in every city certain that preach him in the fynagogues or temples, where he is read every fabbath-day. By thefe places ye may fee the ufage of reading the, Scriptures of the Old Teftament among the Jews in their fynagogues every fabbath-day, and fermons ufually made upon the fame. How much more then is it convenient that the Scriptures of God, and fpecially the Gofpel of our Saviour Chrift, fhould be read and expounded unto us, that be Chriftians, in our churches, fpecially our Saviour Chrift and his Apoftles allowing this moft godly and neceffary ufage, and by their examples confirming the fame.

A&ts xv.

Matt. iv.

Luke iv.

It is written in the ftories of the Gofpel in divers places, Mark i. that Jefus went round about all Galilee, teaching in their Matt, xiii. fynagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the kingdom: in which places is his great diligence in continual preaching Mark vi. and teaching of the people moft evidently fet forth.

TX.

Luke xii.

Luke iv.

In Luke ye read, how Jefus, according to his accuftomed ufe, came into the temple, and how the book of Ifaiah the Prophet was delivered him, how he read a text therein, and made a fermon upon the fame.

And

And in the nineteenth is expreffed how he taught daily Luke xix. in the temple. And it is thus written in the eighth of John Jefus came again early in the morning into the tem- John viii. ple, and all the people came unto him; and be fate down and taught them. And in the eighteenth of John our Saviour teftifieth before Pilate, that he fpake openly unto the world, John xviii. and that he always taught in the fynagogue and in the temple, whither all the Jews reforted, and that fecretly he spake nothing. And in St. Luke: Jefus taught in the temple, Luke xxi. and all the people came early in the morning unto bim, that they might bear him in the temple.

Here ye fee as well the diligence of our Saviour in teaching the word of God in the temple daily, and fpecially on the fabbath-days, as alfo the readiness of the people reforting all together, and that early in the morning, into the temple to hear him.

The fame example of diligence in preaching the word of God in the temple, fhall ye find in the Apostles, and the people reforting unto them, Acts the fifth. Where the Apoftles, although they had been whipped and fcourged the day before, and by the High Priest commanded that they fhould preach no more in the name of Jefus, yet the day following they entered early in the morning into the temple, and did not ceafe to teach and declare Jefus Chrift. And in fundry other places of the ftory of the Acts ye fhall find like diligence, both in A&s xiii. the Apostles in teaching, and in the people in coming to xv. xvii. the temple to hear God's word. And it is teftified in the firft of Luke, that when Zachary, the holy priest, and father Luke i. to John Baptift, did facrifice within the temple, all the people flood without a long time praying; fuch was their zeal and fervency at that time. And in the fecond of Luke Luke ii. appeareth what great journeys men, women, yea and children took, to come to the temple on the feaft-day, there to ferve the Lord; and fpecially the example of Jofeph, the bleffed Virgin Mary, mother to our Saviour Jefus Chrift, and of our Saviour Chrift himfelf, being yet but a child, whofe examples are worthy for us to follow. So that if we would compare our negligence in reforting to the house of the Lord, there to ferve him, with the diligence of the Jews, in coming daily very early, fometimes by great journeys, to their temple; and when the multitude could not be received within the temple, the fervent zeal that they had was declared in ftanding long without and praying; we may juftly in this comparifon condemn our flothfuluefs and negligence, yea plain con

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