pous Solemnities, Ut opinionem fufpendio cognitionis edifi "cent, atque ita tantam Majeftatem exhibere videantur, quantam præftruxerunt cupiditatem, as Tertullian tells us; For being nothing of themselves, they were to gain Reputation of being fomething by concealment, and by outward ftate make fhew of fomething anfwerable to the expectation they had railed: The cafe of the Kingdoms of the World is the fame; For all this State and Magnificence used in the managing of them is nothing elle bat Secular Idolatry, ufed to gain veneration and reverence unto that, which in comparison of the Kingdom we fpeak of is meer vanity. But the Scepter of the Kingdom of Chrift is a right Scepter, and to add unto it outward State, and Riches, and Pomp, is nothing else but to make a Centaure, marry and joyn the Kingdom of Chrift with the Kingdom of the World, which Chrift exprefly here in my Text hath divorced and put afunder. A thing which I do the rather note, because that the long continuance of fome Ceremonies in the Church, have occafioned many, especially, of the Church of Rome, to think that there is no Religion, no Service without thefe Ceremonies. Our Books tell us of a poor Spartan, that Travelling in another Country, and feeing the Beams and posts of Houses fquared and Carved, ask'd If the Trees grew fo in thofe Countrys? Beloved, many men that have been long acquainted with a Form of Worship, fquared and carved, trick'd, and set out with Shew and Ceremony, fall upon this Spartan's conceit, think the Trees grow fo, and think that there is no natural fhape and face of God's Service but that. I confefs the Service of God hath evermore fome Ceremony attending it, and to our Fathers, before Chrift, may feem to have been neceffary, because God commanded it: But let us not deceive our felves, for neither is Ceremony now, neither was Sacrifice then efteemed neceffary, neither was the command of God concerning it, by those to whom it was

given, ever taken to be peremptory: I will begin the warrant of what I have faid out of St. Chryfoftom; for in his Comments upon the tenth to the Hebrews, he denies that ever God from the beginning required, or that it was his will to ordain fuch an outward Form of Worship; and asking therefore of himfelf, πῶς δὲ ἐπέταξε; how then feems he to have commanded it? he answers ournataBaiyev by condescending only, and fubmitting himfelf unto humane infirmity (now this yard Baas, this condefcending of God, wherein it confifted, Oecumenius opens; For because that Men had a conceit, that it was convenient to offer up fome part of their fubftance unto God, and fo ftrongly were they poffeffed with this conceit that if they offered it not up to him they would offer it up to Idols: God, faith he, rather then they should offer unto Idols, required them to offer unto him. And thus was God understood by the Holy Men themselves, who lived under the Shadow of those Ceremonies: for David, when he had made his peace with God, after that great fin of his, opens this Mystery; For thou requireft not Sacrifice, faith he, elfe would I have given it thee; but thou delightest not in Burnt-Offerings: The Sacrifice of God is a broken Spirit, a troubled and a contrite heart, O God, doft thou not defpife. After the revolt of Jeroboam and the ten Tribes from the Houfe of David, there were many Devout and Religious Perfons in Ifrael, and yet we find not that they uled the outward Form of Worfhip which was commanded. Elias and Elizeus, two great Prophets in Ifrael, did they ever go up to Hierufalem to Worship? Obadiah, a great Courtier in King Ahab's Court, and one that feared the Lord exceeding ly; the feven thousand which bowed not their Knees to Baal, when came they up to the Temple to Offer? a thing which doubtlefs they would have done, if they had understood the Commandment of God in that behalf, to have been abfolute indeed. If we live in pla

ces

ces where true Religious Perfons do refort, and affemble for the Service of God, it were a fin to neglect it. But otherwise it is fufficient, if we keep us from the pollutions of that place to which we are reftrain'd Quid juvat hoc noftros templis admittere mores? Why meafure we God by our felves, and because we are led with gay fhews, and goodly things, think it is fo with God? Seneca reports, that a Panto-mimus a Poppetplayer and Dancer in Rome, because he pleafed the Peo ple well, was wont to go up every day into the Capitol, and practifed his Art, and dance before Jupiter, and thought he did the god a great pleasure. Beloved, in many things we are like unto this Poppet-player, and do much meafure God by the People, by the World.

A

206

A

SERMON

On 1 SAM. xxiv. 5.

And it came to pass afterward, that David's heart fmote him because he had cut off Saul's skirt.

T

Emptation is the greatest occafioner of a Chriftian's honour:indeed like an Enemy it threatens and endeavours his ruine; but in the conqueft of it confifts his Crown and Triumph. Were it poffible for us to be at league and truce with this Enemy, or to be w Bass. without danger of Gun-fhot, out of its reach; like the Candle in the Gofpel, that is put under a bushel, the brightest part of our glory were quite obfcured. As Maximus Tyrius fpake of Hercules,if you take from him a dhea, Tès duvasas, îî the favage beafts that he flew, and the Tyrants whom he fuppreft, his Journeys and labours, ngojas The Åseтhv To negxλéss, you lop and cut off the manifeft Arms and Limbs of Hercules's renown: So, take from a Chriftian his Temptations, his Perfecutions, his Contentions, remove him from the Devil, from the World, nxegmeido as the agenÿ

Xesiave you deprive him of the cheif matter and fubject of his glory.Take Job from the Dunghil;David from Saul; Daniel from the Lions; the bleffed Martyrs from the Rack, from the Fire, from the Sword and what are they

ther men.

they more then other men? As Sampson tells Dalilah in the Book of the Judges, If my hair be cut, then my strength will go from me, and I fhall become weak, and like unto another man; fo, Beloved, these things are, as it were, the hair wherein their strength lay, have that away, and they fhall presently become weak, and like unto oBut Temptations are of two forts, fome are like profefs'd and open Enemies, which proclaim open War against us, like Goliah, they publickly come forth and challenge us; And fuch are the outward Evils that befall us, Lofs of Goods, Sickness, Disease, Dishonour, Infamy, Perfecutions, and the like: Others there are of a more fecret, clofe, and retired nature, like unto Traitours, that bear the behaviour.and countenace of friends; that efpie out their advantage, and fet privily upon us; the moft troublesome kind of Enemies, per quos nec licet effe tanquam in bello paratos, nec tanquam in pace fecuros; with whom we can have neither peace nor war, and against whom we can neither be provided, nor fecure; thefe are our own corrupt Thoughts and Imaginations, which fecretly lye in our hearts, and watch their times to fet on us, as the Philistines did in Dalilah's chamber to surprize Sampfon. For let a man but defcend into himself, examine his own foul, take as it were an inventory of the paffions, affectings, thoughts of his own heart, look but what the number of them is, and let him make account of fo many Enemies: Tot venena, quot ingenia; tot pernicies quot Species, tot dolores, quot colores: as Tertullian rimes it. A fort of enemies by fo much the more dangerous, because that all thofe outward enemies, of which I but now fpake, cannot come fo near as to raise our skin, or endanger one hair of our head, if these give them not way: from thefe, ut afpis à vipera venenum, as the Afp borrows poifon from the Viper, do thofe other Temptations borrow all their power and Strength to hurt us. For let us take a survey of all the

outward