AN

HOMILY

OF THE

Right Use of the Church or Temple of God, and of the
Reverence due unto the same.

W

THE FIRST CHAPTER.

HEREAS there appeareth in these days great slackness and negligence of a great sort of people, in resorting to the Church, there to serve God their heavenly Father, according to their most bounden duty, as also much uncomely and unreverent behaviour of many persons in the same, when they be there assembled, and thereby may just fear arise 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 sins which we daily and hourly commit before the Lord: therefore, for the discharge of all our consciences, and for the avoiding of the common peril and plague hanging' over us, let us consider what may be said 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 incomprehensible Majesty of God, the Lord of heaven and earth, whose seat is heaven, and the earth his footstool, cannot beenclosed in temples or houses made with man's hand, as in dwelling-places able to receive or contain his Majesty, according as is evidently declared by the Prophet Isaiah, and by the doctrine of St. Stephen and St. Paul Isaiah xvi. in the Acts of the Apostles. And where king Solomon (who builded unto the Lord the most glorious temple that

Acts vii. xvii.

1 Kings viii.

2 Chron. ii. & vi.

1 Cor. iii.

1 Cor. vi.

John iv.

ever was made) saith, Who shall be able to build a meet or worthy house for him? If heaven, and the heaven above all heavens, cannot contain him, how much less can that which I have builded? And further confesseth, What am I, that I should be able to build thee an house, O Lord? But yet for this purpose only it is made, that thou mayest regard the prayer of thy servant, and his humble supplication. Much less then be our churches meet dwelling-places to receive the incomprehensible Majesty of God. And indeed the chief and special temples of God, wherein he hath greatest pleasure, and most delighteth to dwell and continue in, are the bodies and minds of true Christians, and the chosen people of God, according to the doctrine of the holy Scripture, declared in the first Epistle to the Corinthians: Know ye not, saith 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, him will God destroy. For the temple of God is holy, which ye are. And again in the same Epistle: 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 spirit, which are God's. And therefore, as our Saviour Christ teacheth in the Gospel of St. John, they that worship God the Father in spirit and truth, in what place soever they do it, worship him aright: for such worshippers doth God the Father look for. For God is a Spirit; and those that wor ship him must worship him in spirit and truth, saith our Saviour Christ. Yet all this notwithstanding, the material church or temple is a place appointed, as well by the usage and continual examples expressed in the Old Testament, as in the New, for the people of God to resort together unto, there to hear God's holy word, to call upon his holy name, to give him thanks for his innumerable and unspeakable benefits bestowed upon us, and duly and truly to celebrate his holy Sacraments; (in the unfeigned doing and accomplishing of the which standeth that true and right worshipping of God afore mentioned;) and the same 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 service there done to his Majesty by his people, and for the effectuous presence of his heavenly grace, wherewith he, by his said holy word, endueth his people so there assembled. And to the said House or Temple of God, at all times, by common order appointed, are all people that be godly indeed bound with

all diligence to resort, unless by sickness, or other most urgent causes, they be letted therefore. And all the same so resorting thither ought with all quietness and reverence there to behave themselves, in doing their bounden duty and service to Almighty God, in the congregation of his saints. All which things are evident to be proved by God's holy word, as hereafter shall plainly appear.

Levit. xix.

2

1 Kings viii,

Chron. vi.

Matt. xii.

And first of all, I will declare by the Scriptures, that it is called (as it is indeed) the house of God, and temple of the Lord. He that sweareth by the temple, saith our Sa- John ii. viour Christ, sweareth by it, and him that dwelleth therein, Matt. xxiii, meaning God the Father; which he also expresseth plainly in the Gospel of St. John, saying, Do not make the house John ii. of my Father the house of merchandize. And in the book of the Psalms the Prophet David saith, I will enter into Psalm v. thine house; I will worship in thy holy temple, in thy fear. And it is almost in infinite places of the Scripture, especially in the Prophets and book of Psalms, called the House of God, or House of the Lord. Sometimes it is named the Tabernacle of the Lord, and sometimes the Eod. xxv. Sanctuary, that is to say, the holy place, or house of the Lord. And it is likewise called the House of Prayer, as Solomon, who builded the temple of the Lord at Jerusalem, doth oft call it the house of the Lord, in the which the Lord's name should be called upon. And Isaiah, in the fifty-sixth chapter, My house shall be called the house of Isaiah Ivi. prayer amongst all nations. Which text our Saviour Christ allegeth in the New Testament, as doth appear in three of the Evangelists, and in the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican, which went to pray in which parable our Saviour Christ saith, They went up into the temple to pray. And Anna, the holy widow and prophetess, served the Lord in fasting and prayer in the temple night and day. And in the story of the Acts it is mentioned, how that Peler and John went up into the temple at the hour of prayer. Acts iii. And St. Paul, praying in the temple at Jerusalein, was wrapt in the Spirit, and did see Jesus speaking unto him. And as in all convenient places prayer may be used of the godly privately; so it is most certain, that the Church, or temple, is the due and appointed place for common and public prayer. Now that it is likewise the place of thanksgiving unto the Lord for his innumerable and unspeakable benefits bestowed upon us, appeareth notably at the latter end of the Gospel of St. Luke, and the be- Luke xxiv, ginning of the story of the Acts, where it is written, that the Apostles and Disciples, after the ascension of the Lord, Acts ii.

Matt. xxi.
Luke xix. xviii,

Mark xi.

ii.

1 Cor. xi.

Acts xiii.

Acts xv.

Matt. iv.
Mark i.
Luke iv.

Matt. xiii. xx.
Mark vi.
Luke xiii.

Luke iv.

continued with one accord daily in the temple, always praising and blessing God. And it is likewise declared in the first Epistle to the Corinthians, that the Church is the due place appointed for the use of the Sacraments. 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 resort; and this proof likewise to be made by the Scriptures, as hereafter shall appear.

In the story of the Acts of the Apostles we read, that Paul and Barnabas preached the word of God in the temples of the Jews at Salamine. And when they came to Antiochia, they entered on the sabbath-day into the synagogue, or church, and sat down; and after the lesson, or reading of the Law and the Prophets, the ruler of the temple sent unto them, saying, Fe men and brethren, if any of you have any exhortation to make unto the people, say it. And so Paul standing up, and making silence with his hand, said, Yemen that be Israelites, and ye that fear God, give ear, &c. preaching to them a sermon out of the Scriptures, as there at large appeareth. And in the same story of the Acts, the seventeeth chapter, is testified, how Paul preached Christ out of the Scriptures at Thessalonica. And in the fifteenth chapter, James the Apostle, in that holy council and assembly of his fellow-apostles, saith, Moses of old time hath in every city certain that preach him in the synagogues or temples, where he is read every sabbath-day. By these places ye may see the usage of reading the Scriptures of the Old Testament among the Jews in their synagogues every sabbath-day, and sermons usually made upon the same. How much more then is it convenient that the Scriptures of God, and specially the Gospel of our Saviour Christ, should be read and expounded unto us, that be Christians, in our churches, specially our Saviour Christ and his Apostles allowing this most godly and necessary usage, and by their examples confirming the same.

It is written in the stories of the Gospel in divers places, that Jesus went round about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the kingdom: in which places is his great diligence in continual preaching and teaching of the people most evidently set forth.

In Luke ye read, how Jesus, according to his accustomed use, came into the temple, and how the book of Isaiah the Prophet was delivered him, how he read a text therein, and made a sermon upon the same.