THE HONOUR OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES; AND THE NECESSITY OF frequenting of Divine Service and Public Prayers in them. Delivered in a Sermon at White-Hall before the Kings most excellent Majesty on the eight day of December last being Sunday, BY WALTER BALCANQVALL Doctor of Divinity and Deane of Rochester being then in his ordinary attendance. And now published by his Majesty's special commandment.  
LONDON, Printed by George Miller for Robert Allot at the black Bear in Paul's Churchyard. 1633.   
MATH. 21. Ver. 13. It is written, my house shallbe called the house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thiefs. 
THe occasion of which words was briefly this; Kings at the first entry unto their Reigns do use to begin with the reformation of abuses crept into the Church and Service of God: so did David, josias, Ezekiah before Christ, so did the Christian Emperors and Princes after Christ, as appeareth in their first rescripts: so do yet all Christian Kings, their first Acts of State or Parliament take rise at the threshold of the Sanctuary, and begin with confirmation, or (if need be) reformation of the Church: Now the Son of God in this Chapter making his solemn entry like a King into Jerusalem, and so received by the people, he first getteth him to the Temple, and finding it most lewdly profaned both by secular and spiritual or Simoniacal negotiation he falleth upon them with both hands: as a King with his secular arm he whippeth out the profaners; as a Priest he useth the spiritual arm, It is written: and these words, It is written, be all the words of this text, which may properly be said to be Christ's own words, the rest are but cited by him from others; the first sentence my house shall be called the house of prayer, from Isaiah 56. 7. the other, but you have made it a den of thiefs, from jere. 7. 11. But both of them so rehearsed and withal applied by him, that they are now become his own, for as well quem benè, as quem malè dum recitas, incipit esse tuus.  
And as these two sentences when they were first spoken of by these two Prophets, were a Prophecy of Christ his times, and the iniquity of the jews in his time fulfilled them, so as they are now rehearsed by Christ, they seem to have been a Prophecy of our times, which have fulfilled them by repeating the same profanations: In which regard I should not perhaps divide these words much amiss, if I should divide them into an Appropriation, and an Impropriation: an Appropriation, or the proper use for which God appointed his Temple, my house shallbe called the house of prayer; an Impropriation, or the abuse of the Temple, whereby men disappoint God of his appointment, but you have made it a den of thiefs: And this division is much about one with our Proverb, wheresoever God hath a Church the Devil hath a Chapel; my house shall be called the house of prayer, there is God's Church; but you have made it a den of thiefs, there the Devil goeth about presently to turn it into his Chapel.  
Or these words being spoken of the Material Temple of Jerusalem may be divided as in some sort that Temple might have been divided: amongst divers gates in the Temple there were these two, afore-gate and a back-gate, the foregate at which the people entered called the Beautiful gate, where the diseased lay and begged alms, Acts 3. 2. The back-gate called Shallecheth or the dung-gate, out of which was carried all the filth or sulledge of the Temple: now between these two gates stood the Temple itself; so here, first you have the preface or foregate to the text, it is written; and we may call it the beautiful gate, for it pointeth to the very beauty of holiness, that is, the Scripture: next the Temple itself, which is the main structure and building of the text, my house shallbe called the house of prayer: and lastly, the back or dung-gate at which Christ throweth out the profaners of the Temple, who had made it a dunghill, or a den of thiefs, but you have made it a den of thiefs.  
But there is one word in the text from whence I mean to fetch that division of the words which at this time I purpose to pursue, and that is the word appellabitur, shallbe called; since the text is of the right naming, calling, or as it were christening of the Temple, I shall pray you to take notice of these four particulars▪ First of the Church's name, my house, and we may call it the proper name of the Church, for it giveth God a propriety in it: Secondly, the Church's surname or appellative name by which it shallbe called, the house of prayer, my house shallbe called the house of prayer: Thirdly, the Church's nicke-name, by which in regard of the great abuse offered unto it, Christ miscalleth it, a den of thiefs, but you have made it a den of thiefs: Fourthly, the Church-book or register in which all these names are recorded, the name and surname in Isaiah, the nickname in jeremiah, it is written: Neither need we doubt but that all these names are very significant, for if Adam by that original wisdom wherewith God endued him was able to give names to all the creatures according to their natures, much more is God himself able to do so when he will name any thing.  
Now in each of these four there be two particulars; in the first, that is, the name, my house, these two: First, It is fit God should have houses built to him on earth as well as men, my house. Secondly, These houses built unto God become God his houses by propriety, so his, that they may never be taken from him; my house. In the second, that is, the surname of the Church, shallbe called the house of prayer, these two: First, Houses built unto God are to be solemnly called, or (as it were) christened, that is, consecrated and dedicated to the service of God, shallbe called. Secondly, As they are to be dedicated to all the parts of God his service, so especially they are to be consecrated to prayer, shallbe called the house of prayer. In the third, that is, the Church's nicke-name, but you have made it a den of thiefs, these two: First, God his Church may become the Devil's Chapel, Bethel may become Bethaven; the house of prayer, a den of thiefs. Secondly, The thiefs and robbers who make it so, are principally the Priests, but in their own place the people too; for both are here meant by you; the Priests for letting out the shopkeepers standings, and the Lay-people for selling in those shops, being upon holy ground. In the fourth, that is, the Church-book or Register, It is written, these two: First, The authority by which the proper use for the Temple for prayer is to be proved, by Scripture: next, the authority by which the abuse of the Temple is to be reproved, by Scripture too: Christ indeed (who was a King as well as a Priest) besides the text, useth the whip too: but Churchmen's best whip is Scriptum est, It is written; in the old Testament, in the new Testament, and in their own place, in the Canons of the Church; a threefold cord is not easily broken, this three-stringed whip will hold upon the consciences of men, or nothing will: if not, the Prince then must use the secular whip indeed: As Christ used the Devil, sometimes throwing him by main force out of them that were possessed, sometimes throwing him upon his back by force of Scripture, It is written, as in his temptations, so here he useth these devilish men; as a King▪ he drives them out of the Temple with a whip; as a Priest, with the text; It is written, my house shallbe called the house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thiefs. And of so many of these parts in this order which I have now propounded, as the time and your royal patience shall give me leave.  
And first of the Church its name, my house, and in it of the first particular, which is this, It is fit God should have houses built unto him upon earth as well as men, for though the heaven of heavens cannot contain him, much less this house which is made with hands, as Solomon speaketh at the Dedication of his Temple; and the Almighty dwelleth not in houses made with hands, as Peter speaketh in the Acts; yet since God hath given to man the whole surface of the earth to build upon for himself, he expecteth that man by way of gratitude should find out some corner whereupon to build to his God; as when God requireth of us to give some of our goods to the poor, it is not that he could not provide for the poor without us, If I were hungry (saith the Lord) I would not tell thee, for all the beasts of the field are mine, and the flocks upon a thousand mountains: but since he hath given unto us all that we have, he expecteth that by way of thankfulness we should give back unto him (for what we give to the poor he accounteth given to himself) a little of that all: Even so having given man the whole earth to build upon for himself, he looketh that man should set out some part of that whole whereupon to build, and be at some cost with his God: that was a noble strife between a King and his subject, David and Araunah the jebusite, Sam. 2. 24. concerning the threshing floor upon which David was commanded to build an Altar to God, Araunah would have given it freely because it was for God, but David scorned to build unto his God upon that ground which should cost him nothing.  
Now these houses built by men unto God were of old called Temples, now Churches, and though they were of men's building, yet were they not of men's devising, but of God his own institution: Moses is the ancientest writer we have extant, and in him we have the first mention of a Temple, for God delivered unto him in the pattern of the Tabernacle the model of the Temple: It is true indeed that the Gentiles by instigation of the Devil who is God his ape, in imitation hereof did erect Temples to false gods; but first we have mention of God his Temple, as truth is more ancient than a lie: And even before either that Tabernacle or Temple, we find that there were Analogical Temples, that is, places set apart and consecrated to the service of God. Abel though he sacrificed abroad and in an open place, yet was it a place prepared; Noah offered sacrifice upon an Altar, jacob upon a stone turned to the form of a Pillar and anointed with oil, which he called by the very name in the text, my house, Bethel the house of God, Genes. 28. The same custom was (no question) observed by the patriarchs down to Moses, unto whom God himself delivered the pattern of the Tabernacle, which should be a pattern of the Temple; and then came the Temple of Jerusalem itself, the most glorious structure the Sun did ever behold: To this Temple, under the Gospel succeeded the Churches of Christians, at first indeed but mean, the Church being under persecution: but when the Emperors and Princes became Christians, most glorious; so magnificent for structure, so rich for endowments, that as Moses was glad by sound of trumpet to make proclamation throughout the Camp that the people should bring no more materials for the furnishing of the Tabernacle; so Christian Princes were overruled by their subjects, to make Edicts of restraint for giving any more to the Church. From whence appeareth the vanity and ignorance of those humorists, who ask, what needeth all this cost of ointment upon Christ his head? all this cost upon the building and ornaments of Churches? since the first and best Christians were not acquainted with them? They may as well ask what silly men were David to provide such a mass of money and materials, and Solomon to spend them all and many millions more upon the Temple of Jerusalem, since God before was well enough worshipped and sacrificed unto by Abel and Noah perhaps upon a turf, by jacob upon a stone. But when God had given to his people the blessing of a magnificent Monarchy, he would not have them dwell in houses of Cedar, and his house remain within curtains, but would have the house where his honour was to dwell, for state and magnificence to be the beauty of the whole earth; so while Christians at the first had much ado to live and breathe under their persecutions, God was contented to be worshipped by them in such mean places as they could provide for him: but when Emperors and Princes became Christian, and Christians under them enjoyed peace and plenty, he expected from them glorious and sumptuous Churches, neither was his expectation deceived: for though they were not able to reach the beauty of the Temple of Jerusalem, the jews themselves not being able to match the first Temple; yet we find that Christians in building their first Churches had an eye to that Temple: for though our novelists if they chance to build a Church, (as they do sometime beyond the seas) will take any model perhaps of a great hall or barn, rather than of the ancient Christian Churches; yet the first builders of Christian Churches even for the form of fabric did in some sort imitate that Temple of Jerusalem. For, as in that Temple there were four distinctions, the Porch which was called Salomon's; Atrium or the Court, whither the people came; Sanctum the holy place, whither the Priests came; and the Sanctum Sanctorum the holy of holiests, into which only the high Priests were to enter: So in the old Christian Churches (though not for the same uses) were four distinctions; the outmost place of all answerable to the Porch, unto which infidels or such as were excommunicate and cast out of the Church might come, but no further; into the next place as it were in Atrio, came the penitents, such as did penance, but no further; the third place was the body of the Church, which we may call Sanctum, and whither the people came to be partakers of God's worship; and the fourth was as it were the Sanctum Sanctorum, the enclosed place where the Altar or Communion-Table stood, into which none did enter but such as were in holy Orders, and had power to consecrate the blessed Elements; so great followers were the Primitive Christians of antiquity, rather than incliners unto novelty.  
Now to move our times (in which some pull down as fast as our Fathers built, and deface as much as they did deck) a little to look to God's houses and buildings, I shall briefly offer two things to your consideration. First, the great estimation which God hath of these houses; next, the high esteem in which men have had them: so that if we either fear God, or reverence men, there can no argument be wanting God his estimation of Temples appeareth by his delivering unto Moses the pattern of the Tabernacle even to the least pin, which was to be but a pattern of the Temple; by not giving way to David his building of the Temple, although a man according to Gods own heart, only for that exception of blood which God had against him, and not of blood unlawfully shed, but in lawful wars, and undertaken by God his own commandment; for this exception was laid against David, before the matter of Vriah; by his accepting the Temple at Salomon's hands in the very time of the dedication of it, filling it so with his presence in the cloud, that the Priests were interrupted in performing the rites of consecration; by promising to put his name there for ever, and to fix his eyes and heart there perpetually, by performing this his promise of presence▪ for many times he appeared between the Cherubins, and in that Temple did inspire divers with the spirit of prophecy; by ordering that the most precious and holy things should be kept in it; the Ark of the Testament, the Tables of the Law, Aaron's rod, the heavenly fire, Vrim and Thummim, etc. By threatening the destruction of that Temple, as the greatest judgement that should ever befall them, (as indeed it was) for after the destruction of that Temple they ceased to be any more a people. And as by God, so by men this Temple of all buildings had in the highest esteem, Jerusalem in regard of it counted the joy of the whole earth; to this Temple came all the people once in the year, and when they did not come, they poured forth their supplications with their faces towards it: you know David his one wish, although it was not granted him, that All his life long he might dwell in the house of the Lord, and visit the beauty of his holy Temple; he accounted the Sparrows happy which might but hop and sing and lay their young about the Altars of it; he accounted the meanest officer, even a doorkeeper in it happier than they that lived in the Palaces of Princes: In a word, consider the revenge which Christ (who was God) taketh here upon the profaners of the Temple, and the vast expense laid out upon it by David and Solomon who were men, and we must needs see that high esteem in which that Temple was had both by God and men.  
But what is all this (will you say) to our Christian Churches? Very much; for they are come in place of that Temple, as the Christian Religion is come in place of the jewish: that Temple was but a type of our Churches, as all that service was a type of our Christ: We have an Altar, saith the Apostle, and therefore a Priesthood as that Temple had: there was the Ark of the Testament, our Churches are the Arkes of two Testaments: of theirs, which was the old Testament; and of another better than theirs, the new Testament: in our Churches are the daily sacrifices of praise and prayer, the two Tables of the Law, and they expounded and vindicated from false gloss and interpretations by our Saviour in the 5 of Math. which that Temple had not; in our Churches is Aaron's rod▪ that is, Ecclesiastical discipline; Vrim and Thummim in our Priests: and above all, in our Churches is celebrated the commemorative sacrifice of the most precious body and blood of the Son of God: no doubt then to be made of God's high esteem of Christian Churches built unto him. Now how they have been honoured by men, witness the infinite cost bestowed by our forefathers in fabric and maintenance of them, the infinite privileges granted by Christian Princes unto them; although the beginning of our age did scatter as fast as the former age did gather; and the later laws of taking no more from the Church, were far more necessary than those former laws, for giving no more to it.  
Whose charity then can be straitened when a house of God is to be enlarged; when either it is to be built, or being built is to be kept from ruin? Can men have summer and winter houses, and the Temple of God lie so, as it keepeth out neither summer Sun nor winter weather? the Temple of God I say, a name so glorious, that even the most glorious; all the persons of the Trinity delight to be called by it: God the Father, Revel. 21. 22. john saw no Temple in the holy City, For the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple of it. God the Son, his person the Lamb in that place is called a Temple by Saint john, his body by himself, Destroy this Temple, and I will build it up again in three days. The Holy Ghost, although he be not called a Temple, yet Temples he hath, and delighteth to dwell in them, even our bodies, Know ye not that your bodies are the Temples of the Holy Ghost? The sum of all is, houses are to be built unto God, and being built, are highly to be honoured, because they are his houses by propriety: which I told you was the second particular in the Church its name, and is now the next point to be spoken of, My house.  
My house, that is, mine by propriety, and if so, than we must look to three things. First, if the Church be God's house, then Take heed to thy foot when thou interest into it, Eccles. 4. 17. do not rush rudely nor rashly into it, but be sure you keep your distance, else you may be turned back with shame enough, and sent home unjustified as the Pharisi● was, because he kept not the Publican his distance, who stood afar off and would not so much as lift up his eyes towards heaven: How fearful (saith jacob) is this place, the Lord was in it and I knew it not, it is nothing else but the house of God, and the very gate of heaven. The truth than is, if the Church be my house, that is, Gods, we must observe a reverend distance in all our approaches which we make to God in it, else we run upon certain danger; are you in this house to speak unto God by prayer? be sure you make a curtsy low enough with David, I am a worm and no man: or if you will, a little lower with Abraham, Since dust and ashes have begun to speak unto thee: else you may justly fear that your prayers shallbe turned into sin. Are you in this house to hear God speak unto you by his Word read or preached? Be sure you keep your distance, as the people were commanded at the hearing of the Law, else you know your danger, For if so much as a beast shall touch the smoking mountain, it shallbe stoned to death, or thrust through with a dart. Are you in this house to converse with God in the blessed Sacrament? Use first a reverend preparation, Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup; else you know the danger, You shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. For observing this distance in God's house, I will but name unto you two reasons. First, we do not find in Scripture▪ that God hath used to be familiar with any, to entertain them, or be entertained by them, unless they have observed this distance, and first prepared themselves for that interviewe or parley. Before God would speak one word to Moses on the back of Mount Horeb, he first biddeth him put off his shoes, because the place on which he stood was holy ground: when God delivered his Law to his people from the top of Mount Sinai, he first commanded them to sanctify themselves three days before, that all that while they might be the more reverently prepared to hearken unto that which God was to say unto them; so must we when we come into the house of God (if we be to speak to him by prayer, or to hear him speak to us by his Word) put off our shoes, that is, all worldly thoughts and affections; and sanctify ourselves, that is, put on all new and holy thoughts and affections. The second reason is this: We do not find that God hath ever yet suffered the unreverent handlers, or lookers upon the places of his presence, to go away unpunished; Vzza did but irreverently touch the Ark of the Lord, and the Lord presently killed him; the men of Bethshemesh did but irreverently look into the Ark of the Lord, and the Lord presently slew fifty thousand of them: How few be they in our times, who by observing this distance do declare that they believe the Church to be God's house, how many that come in without preparing themselves at first by devotion and prayer? How many who clap on their hats when God is speaking to them by his Word, I mean in the time when the very text is reading? Nay the servant who willbe uncovered before this master in his own house, will many times be covered before him in God's house; all which bewrayeth that many men do either take the Church not to be my house, that is, Gods; or (which is worse) God's house not to be so good as their own.  
Next, if the Church be my house, that is, Gods, than the zeal of the Church must eat us up: to this we are warranted both by David and by Christ the Son of David, The Zeal of thine house hath eaten me up, saith David; and in this Christ showed himself truly to be the Son of David, for we do not find that Christ in his life did ever use severity with his hands, but once; twice he did it, but it was one and the same case, the profanation of the Temple: When he was apprehended, bound, buffered, smitten, mocked, reviled, scourged, spit upon, tortured, crucified, he bore all patiently, and As a sheep before the slaughterer is dumb, so he opened not his mouth: but if he see the least indignity offered to his Father's house, his zeal bursteth out into a flame, he setteth his hand to the whip, and his tongue to the t●xt: When his Disciples did see that fierceness of his in the 2. of john, they were astonished at it; especially comparing it with his usual meekness at other times, when they thought there was greater occasion offered; but at the 17 Verse of that Chapter they were easily satisfied, when They remembered how it was written, The Zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. Now the best way to try whether we have this zeal towards God's house, is the comparative rule: if we express more reverence in this house than in the house of any other man whosoever; if we be more forward (according to our places) to punish an offence or irreverence in this house, than those that are committed any where else; if we can be contented to be at more cost for repairing and adorning this house, than if it were our own: if not, then certainly either we do not believe the Church to be my house, that is, Gods; or (which is worse) God's house not to be so good as our own.  
Thirdly, if the Church be my house, that is, Gods, than no humane power may take it from him; his title is like the Character of his Priesthood, indelebilis; no time, no prescription can prejudice it: for if nullum tempus occurrit Regi, if no time can prescribe against our King his title to the Patronage of a Church, much less can it prescribe against his title who is the King of Kings: Before thou buildedst a house to God, the ground and the cost were thine own, and thou mightest have done with them what thou wouldst, as Peter told Ananias; but when thou hast once given them to God, it is no more thine, but my house: for as God's gifts towards us are without repentance, so ought our gifts towards God to be: He who among us shall kill himself, and become fello de se, maketh all his goods Deodands; and it is as true inverted, he who hath made any of his goods Deodands, and shall afterward do any act of resumption, is fello de se, a murderer of himself, and a destroyer of his own soul. Stories are full of their tragedies who any ways went about to alter either the property or use of the Temple of Jerusalem; we know what became of Antiochus after he set up the statue of jupiter Olympius in it; upon the Chaldeans destruction of that Temple followed the loss of their Empire; the Macedonians after their violation of it lost their Dominions; Pompey after his coming up to the Sanctum or holy place, which was not lawful for him to do, had never lucky day after; no more had Cassius after his profanation of it. They who have meddled with the Christian Churches have not fared much better: for they who have pulled down these houses of God, have found that withal they have pulled down their own houses; and they who have built their own houses where God's house stood, have found that they have built upon sandy and sinking ground, and that the Church-stones have crumbled their houses to nothing, and sunk their estates irrecoverably. Now they who pervert God's house and turn it to any secular use, do deny it to be my house, that is, Gods, as much as they who evert it and pull it down. It is a notable cunning of the Devil, as to make us believe that God is a goodfellow, and that we may retain him in our hearts with our sins; so to make us believe that his house is a house of good-fellowship, and that it may serve for other uses besides the service of God; to lay lumber in, or things out of the way, in a Progress time to serve for a Wardrobe, in the country for juries of Leets to sit in and consult about their verdicts, and most commonly at the Communion-Table to make their Sesses, not only for the poor (which is a Church-duty) but also for all other compositions, where they seldom meet without wrangling, and I am afraid many times not without swearing: But if it be God's house, he must and will have it alone, or not at all: That passage of the Philistines setting the Ark of God in the Temple of Dagon, is very remarkable; one would wonder why God should plague the Philistines for it; for I am persuaded the Philistines made account they had done the Ark the greatest honour that they could imagine, by setting it in the Temple of their own god: yet God tumbled down Dagon, smote the Philistines, and would have consumed them if they had not dismissed his Ark: What meant this? Only to tell the world that with God it is all one to be turned out of doors, and to be lodged by an Idol: Let God have his house alone, there he will dwell: make it thine as well as mine; that is, make it serve for thine use and the service of God too, thou diseasest God and turnest him out of doors▪ The reason is, because houses built to God are only to be consecrated to him and his service, which is now the next point to be spoken of, I called it the Church's surname, shallbe called the house of prayer.  
In it I told you of two particulars. First, God's house is to be called, or as it were christened, that is, consecrated and dedicated to God and his service, my house shallbe called. Secondly, among all the parts of God's service, it is especially to be consecrated to prayer, shallbe called the house of prayer. For the first, that the consecration and solemn dedication of Temples and Churches is very ancient, it is argument enough, that in all the three languages we have a proper word for it, in the Hebrew (Chanucah) from Chanac, which signifieth to dedicate a thing when it is finished, in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 encoenia from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth an initiation or making of a thing new, the word used by john 10. 22. for that feast of dedication at which Christ was present, and then the Latin words dedicatio and consecratio: Consecration or setting apart persons or things to God both by God himself and men, is very ancient. God consecrated to himself our first parents, and made their marriage a kind of Sacrament of the union and spiritual marriage between Christ and his Church, as the Apostle testifieth, Ephes. 5. so he consecrated to himself the posterity of Seth, of jacob, every male which first opened the womb, at last the jews had delivered unto them among other parts of the Ceremonial Law, the rites of dedication of certain persons, vessels, vestures: Now for the solemn dedication of the houses of God, we have first the dedication of the Tabernacle which was but the pattern of the Temple, Exod. 40. then of the Temple itself we have three solemn dedications recorded in Scripture: the first by Solomon, Kings 1. 8. the second by Zorobabel and others, Ezra 6. and related by josephus' antiq. lib. 11. cap. 4. the last by judas Macchabeus after the defeat of Antiochus, which was indeed especially of the Altar, of which we read Mach. 1. 4. and joseph. antiq. lib. 12. cap. 10. and this last was the feast of dedication which Christ honoured with his presence, john 10. for it is plain by the text both that it was in winter, and anniversary, neither of which is true of the two former dedications: Among Christians their Churches used ever to be consecrated. Euseb. lib. 9 cap. 10. of his History, and in the life of Constantine describeth unto us the dedication of that Church which Constantine first built at Jerusalem. When Churches at the first were rare, the authority of consecration came from the Prince and Magistrate, but the rites of consecration in the jewish Church were ever performed by the Priests; in the Christian by the Bishops: the first dedication of the Temple of Jerusalem done by the authority of Solomon, the second of Zorobabel, the third of judas Macchabeus; but all of them performed by the Priests: so among Christians, the first Christian Church at Jerusalem consecrated by the authority of Constantine, but by the ministry of Eusebius: that of Alexandria by the same authority, but by the ministry of Athanasius: The rites of consecration are left to the Church and her Bishops; only there be some of them of the Quorum, without which there cannot well be any consecration: as first, Churches ought to be consecrated by prayer; for Solomon his dedication is conceived in the very form of a prayer: next, Churches are to be consecrated by reading of the Word; for at the dedication of the Temple the law was ever read: Thirdly, Churches are to be dedicated with the celebration of the Sacrament of our Saviour his most precious body and blood, as in all the three dedications of the Temple ever sacrifice was offered: But above all, Churches must only be consecrated and dedicated to God, not to Saints, Angels, or any created Patrons: But may not the Churches of Christians be called by the names of Saints and Martyrs, as S. Mary's, S. Peter, & c? Yes, they may be patrini, but not patres, godfathers, but not fathers of our Churches; as men are contented their children should be called by the names of their friends whom they choose for godfathers, but will have themselves still only acknowledged for fathers: so God alloweth that his Saints and Martyrs should be susceptores, godfathers of Christian Churches, especially if it shall not be done as now it is in the Church of Rome, to derogate from God his Patronage: and no particular office or service shall be allowed to be said in the Church to that Saint after which it is named. The truth is, in the Primitive Church, Christian Churches were called by the names of Saints and Martyrs for two reasons, the equity of both which holdeth still. First, to testify their thankfulness to God for the benefits which the Church had received by the ministry of these Saints. Secondly and principally, God in the infancy of the Church did show many miracles at the Tombs and Sepulchers of the Martyrs; and therefore the Christians did there erect Churches, and call them by the names of those Martyrs, out of a desire to honour those whom God had so much honoured, and the world so much despised. The sum then of all is, Christian Churches may be called by the names of Saints and Martyrs, but must be dedicated only to God and his service; and as to all parts of his service, so especially to prayer: which I told you was the second particular in the Church's surname, and is now the next point to be spoken of, shallbe called the house of prayer.  
Why not the house of Sacrifice, Sacraments, Prophesying, Preaching? Because all these are worth nothing unless they be seasoned with prayer: It is not to be passed over with sleight observation, that although all these, except their Sacraments, were performed in the jewish Temple, and all of them are performed in Christian Churches; yet the duties of the Temple most commonly have their denomination in Scripture from that of prayer: Solomon in the dedication of his Temple (as he conceived it in the form of a prayer) especially beggeth of God his attention to the prayers that should be made in that place, and the whole tenor of his dedication runneth upon it, and God his answer to Solomon is accordingly for prayer: Anna in the 2. of Luke is said not to have gone out of the Temple, but to have continued in it fasting and praying; In Luke 2. 37. the Pharisie and the Publican went up to the Temple to pray: Acts 3. 1. Peter and john went up to the Temple about the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour; which to the jews was the third hour before the setting of the Sun, the very hour of the evening Sacrifice; here the Temple is called the house of prayer, and the Christian Churches accordingly were called Oratories; why all this? To teach us two things. First, the excellency of prayer among all other religious duties. Secondly, the excellency of public prayer above all other private prayers made any where else. For the first, I will not in a Sermon enter upon the common place of prayer, only this: you shall not find in Scripture any man registered for one of God his special friends and favourites, who was not likewise a man of prayers and supplications, Moses, Abraham, job, David; but above all look upon Christ, so given to prayer, that as he was called by the Prophet vir dolorum, a man of sorrows, so he might have been called vir clamorum, a man of cry and supplications; for he used them at home and abroad, upon the Mount, in the Garden, upon the Cross dying, nay after his death; which maketh highly for the commendation of prayer; Christ was a Priest, now the office of the Priest consisted in these two things, in offering up sacrifice for the sins of the people, and in offering up prayers for the sins of the people: that part of Christ his Priesthood which concerned sacrifice expired with his life, for he offered up the perfect sacrifice of his body once for all, but so did not that part of his Priesthood which concerneth prayer; for as he died praying, so he still continueth a Priest in regard of prayer, two ways. First, because he himself at the right hand of God still maketh intercession for us, Heb. 7. 25. Wherefore he is utterly able to save all them that come to him, since he ever liveth to make intercession for us. Secondly, because as our Advocate he offereth up into the bosom of his Father all the Prayers which we make to God in his name, Rev. 8. 3. It is said of Christ the Angel of the covenant, that he offereth up many sweet odours, which are the prayers of the Saints.  
Secondly, the Temple is called the house of prayer, as to show us the excellency of prayer in general, so in particular to express unto us the excellency of public prayer in the Temple. And here I am sorry that the iniquity of the times should put me upon two comparisons which to some will seem odious: the one is between prayer in the Temple, and preaching in the Temple: the other between prayer in the Temple, and prayer any where else. For preaching, far be it from any Christian to undervalue the holy and blessed Ordinance of God: only I would have men, as upon preaching, so likewise to set a true value upon prayer in the Temple. There is a generation of fools risen up in the world, who think that all religion consisteth in preaching and hearing of Sermons, and will run some miles to hear them: But for the public prayers of the Church, they will hardly cross the street; but cast themselves to come into the Church about the ending of Divine Service, and beginning of Sermon: now S. Paul's question poseth them all, If all were hearing, where were seeing, and the rest of the senses? so doth this name which Christ here giveth to the Temple, the house of prayer. But they will say, can there be too much preaching or hearing? Yes, there may be too much of any thing: Take this for a rule, no truth can be repugnant to another truth in any science whatsoever: much less can Theological truths be repugnant one to another, and therefore all Theological truths must be expounded as they may stand in gross one by another: He that hath said, Be swift to hear, hath likewise said, Pray continually, and he that provideth not for his family is worse than an Infidel: Men than must so hear, as they neglect not prayer, as that in week days, if their families be sustained by their trade and calling, they neglect not that, to run after Sermons; for there is no religious work which may not be overdone: we are commanded to give alms, but if one shall give all he hath, knowing that he must become chargeable to others, it is sin, and that voluntary poverty which we condemn in many of the Mendicant Friars: Fasting is a religious duty, but if one shall abstain so much, as he knoweth he shallbe accessary to his own death, it is a sin, as Gregory Nazianzen complained of his sister Gorgonia: Even prayer itself, which I am now commending, when it is overdone, it is called by our Saviour, vain babbling and idle repetitions: So for hearing, we ought to hear on that day which God hath set apart for his service, all excuses laid aside; and on the week days too, omit no good occasion of hearing, so far as our callings and places will permit; but so as we never omit the frequenting of the Divine Service and Public Prayers of the Church.  
Next from this, that the Temple is called the house of prayer, we may see the excellency of public prayer in the Temple, above private prayer any where else: which I pray you may not be taken as spoken any way in derogation from private prayer, to which I find our Saviour was so much addicted, as appeareth by his prayer in the Garden, which he poured forth in a private place, a garden; at a private time, in the night, privately and alone by himself; for he was separated not only from the rest of his Disciples, but even from the three Disciples that entered with him, by the space of a stones cast: Sure none can speak against private prayer, but they who never felt that sweetness which the soul of a Christian findeth in her private retirement, familiarity and conversation with God: You who do use it, use it still; for besides many other, you shall find these three great conveniences in it. First, an easy ravishing of the mind of a Christian: for if that definition of prayer which the Fathers give us be true, that prayer is nothing else but the lifting up or ravishing of a man's mind from all worldly things towards God; how can the mind of man be more easily lifted up from worldly things, than when being alone with his God, he is removed from the sight and sense of them? Secondly, in private prayer we find greater security from vainglory, which though perhaps in public prayer we do not affect, yet we do not know how the Devil may spice our prayers with pride, when we think that every one is looking upon us. Thirdly, in private prayer we may use greater freedom and liberty with God in expressing of our wants; as broken words, crying, ejaculatory voices, confused sighs, etc. which though they be acceptable to God, yet are not seemly nor decent before men; and therefore may be used with greater freedom in private, than they can be in public prayer: For these and many more such reasons, follow Christ his counsel, Enter into thy chamber and shut the door behind thee, that is, give yourselves to private prayer.  
But much more, be sure never to neglect public prayer, to which we find likewise that our Saviour was so much addicted; take for instance those prayers which he poured forth publicly at his death, for they were made at a public time, the time of the Passeover, when until that time twelvemonth there was not so great a confluxe of people to be at Jerusalem to hear; in a public place, the place of execution, large and able to receive great multitudes: and that they might yet be heard the better, made upon the top of a hill, Mount Calvarie: nay yet, upon the top of a beacon which stood upon the top of that hill; nay yet, that they might be the better heard, as it is said in the Gospel, that he spoke his last word consummatum est, with a loud voice, so saith the Apostle Heb. 5. 7. that he offered up his prayers there clamore valid●, Who offered up prayers and supplications with strong cry and tears, which place the Fathers expound of his prayers upon the Cross among the rest; and here I think public prayer is sufficiently warranted. And if you shall say, what is all this to public prayer in the Temple? I answer, very much; for that place in which our Lord dying prayed, was a Temple: the reason is this, sacrifice was only to be offered up in the Temple; Christ therefore in this place offering up the sacrifice of his own body, made it truly to be a Temple: truly I say, because the Temple of Jerusalem in which the daily sacrifice was offered up, was nothing else but a type of this very place in which was to be offered this perfect sacrifice once for all; as therefore Christ called his body a Temple, Destroy this Temple, and I will build it up in three days, so offering up the sacrifice of his body in this place, he might challenge God to hear the prayers which he should make in this place, by virtue of that promise which he had made, to hear the prayers which should be made in the Temple: And Christ praying in this place, was quit with the jews in my text; for this place was Golgotha, the place of dead men's skulls; that is, the place where lay the bodies of executed malefactors and thiefs: so that look how much the jews had dishonoured the Temple in my text, so much did Christ honour Mount Calvarie. As they had made the house of God, which was the house of prayer, to be a den of thiefs, so Christ made Golgotha which was a den for the dead bodies of thiefs, to become the house of prayer.  
The excellency of public prayer is well set forth by our Saviour, Math. 18. in that excellent rule which he giveth for public prayer, for that rule includeth three reasons why we should give ourselves to it. The first is, the consent and agreement of Christian minds in prayer, a thing most acceptable to God, Vers. 18. If two of you shall agree upon any thing in earth, it shallbe given unto you. Secondly, because of the assembling of the Saints together in one place, which meeting even of their bodies is a thing most delightful unto God, in the next verse, For where two or three are gathered together, there will I be in the midst of them. Thirdly, because of the unity of faith which is most pleasant unto God, the people assembling themselves in the name of Christ, in the same verse, where two or three are gathered together in my name, there will I be in the midst of them: to these reasons we may add this, that the public prayers of the Church are far more excellently conceived and penned than any private extemporary prayers can be: for there is more pith in one of the well conceived Collects of the Church, than in many of those pitiful fellows more pitiful babble and idle repetitions, in which (as our Saviour speaketh) they think to be heard for their length, whereas prayer consisteth not in length, but strength, which is to be had in the well compacted Collects of the Church. Have you not heard some of these men in their extemporary exclamations, or declamations rather, (for sometimes their prayers are libels) talk to God, not only with that familiarity, but homeliness, that you would not have endured them to talk to you? And perhaps they who stand now so much only for extemporary prayer and preaching too in the Church, ere it be long (for I see no reason why it may not hold in this, as well as in the other two) will venture and put in for extemporary singing in the Church, and then they will make themselves ridiculous indeed. The sum of all is, although thou givest thyself never so much to private prayer, which is well done, yet do not neglect the public prayers of the Church, in the Church, which is here called the house not of knowledge, righteousness, mercy, preaching, hearing, etc. although it be all these, but the house of prayer. So that those men who do wilfully excommunicate themselves by not coming to the prayers of the Church, but only to the Sermon, or usually go out of it before the blessing or last prayer be pronounced, since the Church is called the house of prayer, they are like them who come unto a school, but will not learn, to a battle, but will not fight, to a bed, but will not sleep, to a feast, but will not feed: all which tendeth nothing to any derogation from private prayer: For as God dispersed the places of refuge throughout the land to his people, so thick and at such distances, as the offenders might reach some of them by night, lest they should be over-taken by the avengers of their blood, but yet appointed the Temple for the only place whither afterwards the offenders were to resort, and to expiate their offence by sacrifice: so for our sins which we daily and hourly commit, God alloweth and requireth us daily to have refuge to him by private prayer, but so, that we neglect not to reconcile ourselves to him for these sins by our public prayers in the Temple, which is the house of prayer; for whosoever robbeth God and his Temple of this honour which is due unto him in it, doth what in him lieth in some sense to make the house of prayer a den of thiefs; which is now the next point to be spoken of, I called it the Church's nicke-name, but you have made it a den of thiefs.  
In unfolding of which part (if time had suffered me) many would have been found thiefs and robbers who pass for virtuous and honest men: Hardly would any pretence have served their turn: For the money-changers and dove-sellers, and the Priests suffering them to sell in the Court, (for it was in the Atrium or Court only that they sold, not in the Temple itself, although it be here called so, because it was consecrated and holy ground as the Temple was) had as specious a pretence for this their merchandizing as might be, even the pretence of that Law, Deut. 14. 24. whereby it was permitted to the people for the more easy carriage, to change their tithes and offerings into money, and with that money at Jerusalem to buy the like: Now for this purpose, to fit such people with sacrifices and offerings, did the Priests pretend that they suffered the money-changers and dove-sellers to set up their shops there, although indeed they did it to get money for their standing, and the shopkeepers to make gain of the people; and therefore our Saviour here calls their getting plain thee very and robbery: But the time will not give me leave to arraign these thiefs now. To God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost be ascribed all honour and praise, now and ever. Amen.  
FINIS.