1 Kings 8. [27.]

saith, Who shall be able to build a meet or worthy house 2 Chron. 2. [6.7 for him? If heaven, and the heaven above all heavens,

and 6. [18.]

[2 Chron. 6.

19.]

17.]

1 Cor. 6. [19, 20.]

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, de1 Cor. 3. [16. clared 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 ared. 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 worship 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 scripturess, both of the Old Testament and Newh, 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

John 4. [23, 24.]

ye are] we are A.

that worship] which worship A. f examples] example A.

holy scriptures] scriptures A. band New] and the New A.

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 therefro. 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.

And first of all, I will declare by the scriptures, that it John 2. [16.] is called (as it is indeed) the house of God, and temple of

the Lord. He that sweareth by the temple, saith our sa- Matt. 23. [21.] viour Christ, sweareth by it, and him that dwelleth therein, meaning God the father; which he also expresseth plainly

in the gospel of St. John, saying, Do not make the house of John 2. [16] my father the house of merchandize. And in the book of the Psalms the prophet David saith, I will enter into thine Ps. 5. [7.] house; I will worship in thy holy temple, in thy fear. And it is almost in infinite places of the scripture, specially in

[10.]

the prophets and book of Psalms, called the house of God, Exod. 25. [8, 9.] or house of the Lord. Sometime it is named the tabernacle of the Lord, and sometime the sanctuary, that is to say, Levit. xix. the holy place or house' of the Lord. And it is likewisem (30.] called the house of prayer, as Solomon, who builded the 1 Kings 8. [43.] temple of the Lord at Jerusalem, doth oft call it the house 2 Chron. 6. of the Lord, in which the Lord's name should be called upon. And Esaias" in the fifty-sixth chapter, My house Isa. 56. [7.] shall be called the house of prayer amongst all nations. Matt. 21. [13] Which text our saviour Christ allegeth in the New Testa- Mark 11. [17] ment, as doth appear in three of the evangelists, and in the [Luke 19. 46.] parable of the Pharisee and the publican, which went to pray in which parable our saviour Christ saith, They went Luke 18 [10.] up into the temple to pray. And Anna, the holy widow and prophetess, served the Lord in fasting and prayer in Luke 2. [37.] the temple night and day. And in the story of the Acts it

Matt. 12. [4]

is mentioned, how that Peter and John went up into the Acts 3. [1 ] temple at the hour of prayer. And St. Paul, praying in the temple at Jerusalem, was wrapt in the spirit, and did see Acts 22. [17 ] Jesus speaking unto him. And as in all convenient places prayer may be used of the godly privately; so it is most

Acts 2. [46,

47.

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 ends of the gospel of St. Luke 24. [53.] Luke, and the beginning of the story of the Acts, where it is written, that the apostles and disciples, after the ascension of the Lord, continued with one accord daily in the temple, always praising and blessing God. And it is like1 Cor. 11. [18.] wise 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.

16.]

In the story of the Acts of the Apostles we read, that Paul and Barnabas preached the word of God in the tem[Acts 13. 14- ples 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, Ye 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, Ye men 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 17. [1, 2] Acts, the seventeenth 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 to us, that be Christians, in our churches specially our saviour Christ and his

Acts 15. [21.]

apostles allowing this most godly and necessary usage, and by their examples confirming the same.

Luke 4. [15.]

It is written in the stories of the gospels in divers places, Matt. 4. [23.] that Jesus went round about all Galilee, teaching in their Mark 1. [14] synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom: in Mau. 13. [54.] which places is his great diligence in continual preaching Mark 6. [1, 2] and teaching of the people most evidently set forth.

Luke 13. [10.]

Luke 4. [16,

In Luke ye read, how Jesus, according to his accus-17.] tomed use, came into the temple, and how the book of Esaias the prophet was delivered him, how he read a text therein, and made a sermon upon the same.

And in the nineteenth is expressed how he taught daily Luke 19. [47.] in the temple. And it is thus written in the eighth of John:

Jesus came again early in the morning into the temple, and John 8. [1, 2] all the people came unto him; and he sate down and taught them. And in the eighteenth of John our Saviour testifieth

before Pilate, that he spake openly unto the world, and that John 18. [20.] he always taught in the synagogue and in the temple, whither all the Jews resorted, and that secretly he spake nothing. And in St. Luke: Jesus taught in the temple, and Luke 21. [37, all the people came early in the morning unto him, that 38.] they might hear him in the temple.

Here ye see as well the diligence of our Saviour in teaching the word of God in the temple daily, and specially on the sabbath-days, as also the readiness of the people resorting all together, and that early in the morning, into the temple to hear him.

The same example of diligence in preaching the word of [Acts 5. 21.] God in the temple, shall ye find in the apostles, and the people resorting unto them, Acts the fifth. Where the [Acts 5. 42.3 apostles, although they had been whipped and scourged the day before, and by the high priest commanded that they should preach no more in the name of Jesus, yet the day following they entered early in the morning into the temple, and did not cease to teach and declare Jesus Christ. And in sundry other places of the story of the Acts ye Acts 13. 15. 17. shall find like diligence, both in the apostles in teaching, and in the people in coming to the temple to hear God's

word. And it is testified in the first of Luke, that when Luke 1. [9, 10.] Zachary, the holy priest, and father to John Baptist, did sacrifice within the temple, all the people stood without a long time praying; such was their zeal and fervency at that time. And in the second of Luke appeareth what

46.]

great journeys men, women, yea and children took, to come to the temple on the feast-day, there to serve the Lord; and specially the example of Joseph, the blessed virgin Mary, [Luke 2. 41, mother to our saviour Jesus Christ, and of our saviour Christ himself, being yet but a child, whose examples are worthy for us to follow. So that if we would compare our negligence in resorting to the house of the Lord, there to serve him, with the diligence of the Jews, in coming daily very early, sometime by great journeys, to their temple; and when the multitude could not be received within the temple, the fervent zeal that they had, declared in standing long without and praying; we may justly in this comparison condemn our slothfulness and negligence, yea plain contempt, in coming to the Lord's house, standing so near unto us, so seldom, and scarcely at any time. So far is it from a great many of us to come early in the morning, or give attendance without, who disdain to come into the temple and yet we abhor the very name of the Jews, when we hear it, as of a most wicked and ungodly people. But it is to be feared, that in this point we be far worse than the Jews, and that they shall rise at the day of judgment to our condemnation, who, in comparison to them, shew such slackness and contempt in resorting to the house of the Lord, there to serve him, according as we are of duty most bound. And besides this most horrible dread of God's just judgment in the great day, we shall not in this life escape his heavy hand and vengeance, for this contempt of the house of the Lord, and his due service in the same, according as the Lord himself threateneth in the first chapter [Haggai 1.9 of the prophets Aggeus, after this sort: Because you have left my house desert and without company, saith the Lord, and ye have made haste every man to his own house, for this cause are the heavens stayed over you, that they should give no dew, and the earth is forbidden, that it should bring forth her fruit'; and I have called drought upon the earth, and upon the mountains, and upon corn, and upon wine, and upon oil, and upon all things that the earth bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon beasts, and upon all things that men's hands labour for. Behold, if we be such worldlings, that we care not for the eternal judgments

11.]

Jesus Christ] Christ A.

with the diligence] to the diligence A.

d by great journeys] great journeys

A.

⚫ at any time] at none time A.

for give] to give A.

the prophet] his prophet A. h should bring forth] shall bring forth A.

1 her fruit] his fruit A.