A SERMON PREACHED at the Consecration OF A CHAPEL In the HOUSE of JOHN COLLINS, Esq Of CHUTE in Wiltshire.  
Performed by the Right Reverend Father in in God SETH, Lord Bishop of Sarum, on the 25th of September, 1673.  
By JOSEPH KELSEY, B. D. Rector of Newton-Tony in Wiltshire.  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  Autholog. in Dedicat. Templi Resurrect. Dom. 
London: Printed for Jonathan Edwin, at the three Roses in Ludgate-street, 1674.   

TO THE RIGHT REVEREND Father in God SETH Lord Bishop of SARUM.  
My Lord,  
THe occasion of this Sermon, which but rarely happens, having persuaded me to the publishing of it; The extraordinary favours which I have constantly received from your Lordship, will, I hope, excuse the prefixing so great a Name to so inconsiderable a Paper. I humbly beg, that it may be accepted as a testimony of my Sincere acknowledgements and that the innocent Design hereof may not be denied the Protection of so Revered a Sanctuary.  
Your Lordships in all duty, most Obedient Servant. JOSEPH KELSEY.   

A SERMON Preached at the CONSECRATION of a Chapel in the House of JOHN COLLINS, Esq  1 Kings 9.3. And the Lord said unto him, I have heard thy Prayer, and thy Supplication, which thou hast made before me. I have hallowed this House that thou hast built, to put my Name there for ever, and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually. 
THese Words are the beginning of that Answer, which God gave to Solomon's Prayer, at the Dedication of the Temple. The Devotion of which Service, (set down in the foregoing Chapter) equal to the Magnificence of the building, worthy (if any thing can be so) of that Majesty, whose acceptance they supplicated, doth both invite and justify, and is no less the security, than an Example to this day's solemnity. For though a Promise of so much grace and favour may seem proportionate to nothing, but the glory of Solomon's Temple, and the Privileges here granted, too big for a private Chapel, yet since immensity can be no more contained in one, than in the other, and the intentions of the Founders (which God always respects) may be equally full of Piety and Religion: He whose Glory filled that House, may also fill a lesser Oratory; and He, who bids us enter into our Closets, doth thereby hollow the place; and suppose a presence attentive to every Religious performance.  
Solomon likewise understood very well, both as a Philosopher, and a Divine, by Reason, as by Revelation, the infinite nature of God and His Omnipresence; that the Heaven of Heavens could not contain him, much less the House which he had built. He intended not to imprison the Godhead, in a place of thirty Cubits high, or to nail the Divinity (as the Heathens did the Goddess of Victory) to the Walls of His Temple: he forgot not, that a clean Heart, and a purified Soul, were the habitations which God loved; and sincere Obedience, the Sacrifice wherein He delighted; he foresee all those weak reasonings, which have since been used to discourage that Piety in the World (which wants much rather to be inflamed) and to accuse the most Religious designs of Idolatry and Superstition. He see them (I say) and did confute them: and so did God himself. For it came to pass, when Solomon had finished the House of the Lord, the Lord appeared unto him and said, I have heard thy Prayer, and thy Supplication which thou hast made etc. From which words we will consider, 

1. The meaning of to Hallow or Sanctify.  
2. The Dedication of Places to God's Worship.  
3. The Effects of it.    
There is a twofold Holiness in Scripture, Original and Essential in God; and that which is derived, in things that have relation to Him. The first doth necessarily belong to God, as He is the most perfect Being, in whom all Excellencies do possess infinite perfection. So that the first notion of Holiness in Him is a Supereminent Greatness in all His Attributes of Wisdom, Power, and Goodness. He is often called the Holy One of Israel, the Excellency of Jacob. There is none holy as the Lord; none comparable to Him in the Greatness of all His Excellencies. Hence the Name of God is joined to words to express their Greatness. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (Gen. 1.) 
Vide R. Solomonem Melech. in locum.  which we translate The Spirit of God, the Jews expound a great and strong wind moving upon the face of the waters, Nineveh was a great City 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 very great. So the Cedars of God, and the Mountains of God. So also amongst the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is expounded by the Scholiast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, every way great and full of Majesty. He that hath arrived to any extraordinary attainment of Power, Learning, or Piety hath merited to be called Vir Magnus, and all the Severity of Stoical virtues did make up that Magnitudo animi of which Cato loved so often to dispute. But Holiness in created Being's is founded in that relation they have to God, appropriated or separated to His peculiar use and service. The Sabbath is called a holy day,— 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Judaea a holy Land, Jerusalem a holy City.— 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. The Israelites a holy People, as God himself speaks, I have separated you from other people, that you should be mine, and ye shall be a holy People unto me. And in other places, peculiar and proper are the same with Holy: Nor are those great Titles, wherewith the Apostle hath dignified the Churches, to which he writes (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) of any other signification, than that they (as of old the Jews) had entertained the Profession of a Religion, distinct from others of the World, and of a far more Divine Revelation; whereby they might be excited to the Acquisition of those Excellencies, which in the Object of their Worship they did adore; and those names (of an as extended meaning, as that of Christians) show rather what they ought to be, than assure us what they were; for amongst those Saints were found strange Immortalities, altogether contradictory to the Sacredness of their Vocation. So fallacious is it, from the most specious pretences to infer a Real Sanctity: because Hypocrisy is a very Ancient Crime; and that Accusation hath always been too just, 
Instit, Proemi●m.  which Quintilian charged upon the Philosophers of his Age, Non enim virtute & studiis, ut haberentur Philosophi labor abant, sed vultum, & tristitiam, & dissentientem à caeteris habitum pessamis moribus praetendebant.  
To Hollow therefore, or to Sanctify, is to treat any thing, or to behave ourselves towards it, as the Nature of its Holiness shall require. We then hollow the Name of God, when with the deepest sense we acknowledge his Greatness, fear his Power, love his Goodness, trust his Faithfulness, devoutly admire and imitate every of his Excellencles, when all our thoughts, words, and actions, are still composed most becoming of his Majesty; nor in them any thing unworthy of so incomparable a Being (whose, both as Creatures and Christians, we are) is to be found. The contrary to this, is to prophanc and pollute his Holy Name; not giving that Honour which is due unto it, either by Atheism, which doth not only deny Honour, but superadds Contempt; or Polytheism, dividing and making common that Religious Worship, which the notion of one God challenges as incommunicable and proper to itself.  
Persons are then hallowed, when being separated from the more common employments of the World, and dedicated to the peculiar Service of God in managing the Offices of Religion, they enjoy that honour and respect which is due to the Agents of so great a Master: And so the Priesthood hath been honoured in all Ages, in all Religions; their Persons esteemed Sacred as their Office, and received with all the Differences, which are wont to make a Reputation Glorious and Resplendent: and if to the great attainments of the Age wherein we live, the want of this may be reckoned a strong Exception, (the contempt of the Clergy being become the Subject of Books and Discourses) in vain shall we trouble ourselves in searching out other Reasons of that Incivility, which must be ultimately resolved into the decay of Reverence to Religion, and of Loyalty to God himself. Where this is not, what Learning, Wisdom, or Piety can oblige? or what could have defended him whom— Nec Apollinis infula texit? In the mean while, we cannot but justly wonder, that he who all along pretends to have laid the Foundations of his Commonwealth in the observation of Humane Nature, the Humours, Inclinations, and Practices of Universal Mankind, should not remember that there never was any Nation, Time, or Place, how Barbarous soever, which was not Highly Civil in this; and thought themselves bound to reward the Procurators of their Religion with the best and greatest of worldly things. So that the effect of his Politics may be very much to spoil Christianity, by complying with the corrupt humours of men; but shall never be able to introduce any other way of Religion, the Priesthood whereof shall not have a considerable Rule and Interest in the World, when all he hath said to the contrary shall be forgotten.  
The Sanctification which the Christian Doctrine teacheth, (devested of those adventitious niceties, whereby the disputing humour of some hath much spoiled the ancient simplicity of its Nature) is resolved into the two things we have discoursed: (1) The Dedication of ourselves to God (viz.) in Baptism: (2) And the management of ourselves according to the Holiness of that Relation: For in Baptism we were admitted into the Church, incorporated into that Divine Society, and made Partakers of all the Privileges of the Gospel. Here we were taken into the Protection of the Holy Ghost, as the Jews say their Baptised Proselyte was put 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under the Wings of the Divinity: by the assistance of which H. Spirit, the Power of Original Sin (whereinsoever it doth consist) is overbalanced, and our own industry concurring, made ineflectual; as the Jews also believed the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vicious inclination was taken away by Circumcision. So that since the infusion of Virtuous Habits hath but seldom been experienced, and brings but little reason, for which in these our days we should believe it, what can be demanded more, as necessary to our Sanctification, than to be put into possession of those Spiritual helps, which are always assisting our sincere endeavours? or where can we fix the date of it, but in that Sacrament where such a Right was bestowed? Hither also must be referred Regeneration, Adoption and Justification, all which Blessings are the Acts of God, by that means which in his Church he hath ordained, by Baptism confirmed unto us: But whether or no we have forfeited them in our after-lives, will not be known till the Day of Judgement. For they are all Judicial Acts, and the words, with many more in our Religion, terms not only of the Jewish, but Roman Law; and do, in their nature, suppose a Corporation, but as distinct from the Temporal, as the things signified by them transcend the Graces of Princes, or the indulgences of any Imperial Constitution. To this I will only add, that if in Astronomy, Philosophy, Anatomy, and other Sciences, that Hypothesis is by all esteemed best and nearest truth, which doth most easily, naturally and consistently explain the appearances proper to it; then that the Church is a distinct Society, (though upon no other reasons) will strongly challenge our belief, because upon this doth depend the Nature of many Essential parts in Religion, the Solution of which is in vain elsewhere to be expected.  
2. The second thing is the Dedication of Places for God's Worship; where we will inquire (1) The Antiquity of them. (2) What this Dedication doth imply as the reasonableness of it.  
1. It cannot be doubted that Religion is as Old as Humane Nature, the sense of man's own necessities forcibly producing an acknowledgement of a more Excellent Being, upon whom he doth depend: And if Reason or Cogitation be the Formality of the Soul, Religion or Dependence must be the first Subject whereupon those Faculties must be employed. But Religion (no dull or sluggish, but an active and vigorous thing) will make its appearance by outward signs, and visible effects; and therefore in the Infancy of the World, it soon put forth itself in all material circumstances: They offered Sacrifice, and at a certain time; for so the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (Gen. 4.) signify, a fixed period of a constant Revolution. That it was at a stated place is reasonable, because in Paradise there seems to have been one place, where more especially God manifested his Presence, from which Adam fled, hoping to be concealed. After the Flood Noah built an Altar to the Lord, and Jacob took a Stone, and set it for a Pillar, and called it Bethel, and endowed it with the tenth of his whole Estate; which the Gentiles imitating, worshipped their Gods in the shape of unpolished stones, 
Boeharti Geogr. Sa. lib. 2. c. 1.  and called them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Their unsettled way of living, or the imperfection of Arts, stinted the expressions of their Devotions, which in aster-Ages let itself lose to that Superstitious Prodigality, in the number and Magnificence of their Temples, which we read, and cannot but admire in Greek and Roman Story. And this was only a true deduction from the Law of Nature; for there were Temples in the Gentile World, before either the Tabernacle of Moses, or that of Solomon; to the building of which, neither by any Command from God, or Covenant of the Jewish Law, did he stand obliged.  
There was indeed a sort of haughty and morose Philosophers, who alone outbraved mankind, and boasted their own perfections, in affront to all the world besides, who laying down, for the foundation of their morality, That all things, out of the power of Man's own will, were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, neither good nor evils, made themselves independent of any external cause, and the Spring of all their happiness to be in their own bosoms, upon which they grew proud, and insolent, disdaining to ask the assistance of God himself.— stulte quid fatigas Deum? fac te felicem. It was to no purpose, to trouble heaven for these things, they could bestow upon themselves, when they pleased. And as to them it seemed unnecessary to pray to God; so they also thought Temples insignificant, and no other than Monuments of men's wilful carelessness in the emendation of their own minds. For so Cato in Lucan, being advised to ask counsel of Jupiter Hamon's Oracle, after the death of Pompey answers in their usual way of affectation.  
Estne Dei sedes, nifi Terra, & Pontus & Aër,  
Et Coelum, & Virtus? Sùperos quid quaerimus ultra?  
Jupiter est quodcunque vides.— 
Plutarch de Stoicerum Repag.  and Zeno was accused of Atheism, for his Opinion, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  
The Omnipresence of the Deity, and presumption of their own virtue, were the two Topics upon which they superseded all external significations of Religion. Which method of Reasoning is so contradictory to the common sense of mankind, that it needs no other way to be refuted; besides that the boastings of their selfsufficiency, how vain they were, the severest of that Sect have been forced to acknowledge. But indeed the foundation of this, and most their proper Opinions, was nothing but their Doctrine of Fatality, which gave life and vigour to all their Singularities; which he who throughly believes, will never be able to give any other reason of Prayer, or any Exercise of Devotion, but that which Zeno gave his Servant why he beat him; a very bad one in Religion. But above all things, he will be a very Fool to put himself to any great trouble or expense for a Testimony of his Piety: he will never erect Altars, or build Temples to such a God as Jupiter; who being overpowred by the more Supreme Destiny, when his Dear Friend was near slain in the War, uses a pitiful Interjection, the invention of some miserable Mortal.— 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 
Iliad. 4.   
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.   
The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the Universe, was their Supreme Deity; and Matter, and Motion, the Principles of their Divinity. And surely, if we consider the latter Ages of Christianity, who can we accuse of that unspeakable devastation of Sacred Places, but they who boasted of their impulses? who have introduced that barbarous rusticity into the service of God so much as they who have Espoused the Theology of the Stoics? Was it not unsufferable presumption to invite the Deity into their own Souls, by no other argument, than the profanation of his Temples? or when they had overthrown his Altars, to offer him their hearts full of Sacrilege for his habitation? Into the Soul that is defiled Wisdom will not enter. God is said to dwell in his Saints, and their Bodies are called the Temples of the H. Ghost. So he did of Old, and yet he loved the Gates of Zion more than all the dwellings in Jerusalem. Virtuous qualities of the mind only make us fit to pay our Visible Devotions, not excuse us from them. Haec cedo, ut admoveam Templis— was the true use which the Satirist makes of the severest honesty: I will wash my hands in Innocency, and so will I approach thy holy Altar. Some Primitive Writers indeed, in their Apologies for Christianity, seem to speak the sense of this Objection. When Caecilius in Minutius asks, Cur nullas aras habent (Christiani?) eur nulla simulacrâ? Octavius answers, Quod enim simulaerum Deo fingam, cum sit Dei homo ipse simulacrum? Templum quod ei extruám, cum totus hic mundus ejus operâ fabricatus 〈◊〉 capere non possit? nonnè meliùs in nostrâ dedicandus est ment? in nostro imo consecrandus est pectore? Some other such passages do occur in Origen, Arnobius, Lactantius; but either they are spoken by way of Rhetorical comparison, (because from undoubted Authority it doth appear, that before that time the Christians had not only Public Places of Worship, but that they had been several times demolished by the Edicts of the Emperors) or else they must be understood, that the Christians had no such Temples as the Heathens, wherein the Images of their Adored Deities were placed, the termination of their Worship, and plain Idolatry.  
In the beginning of Christianity, it is not reasonable to expect any great and sumptuous Buildings, when the Preachers of it were of so poor and low condition; and their Fortunes as unstable, as the Waters upon which they had their Habitation. What Oratories could they furnish, who sold their Ships, and all they had, to follow Christ? They then assembled in private houses, where they had the highest Rooms allowed them, by the Piety of the Converted Owners, set apart for the sole purposes of Religion: For which Charity, Aquila and Priscilla, Nymphas and Philemon, shall be Recorded to all Generations. In the heat of Persecutions, they met in Dens and Caves of the Earth, and sung Praises to the Great Creator in Subterraneous places, where the light of the Sun never came: in memory of which our Altars yet burn, and testify our thankfulness to God for the Liberty we enjoy. Sometimes they had their Synaxes in Woods and Groves, which then truly merited the stile of Sacred and Religious: Sometimes in Caemeteries, and over the Tombs of them which died in the Lord; where they inflamed one another's Zeal with the recordation of their Faith, and received new Life and Courage from the Ashes of Martyrs, and hopes of a Resurrection.  
So low were the Foundations of Christian Churches laid, in the humility of a condition designed to sustain the height of that glory, to which not long after, they did arise. For it would be too much to tell you, how these contemptible beginnings increased to that proportion, as like the little Stone cut out of the Mountain, to over-top the Splendid Heathenism of the Nations. How they struck dumb the famed Oracles of Jupiter and Apollo; making them forget their Poetry first, and then condemned to eternal silence all their ambiguous responses. How they overthrew the Idolatrous Altars, leveled their Temples with the ground, broke in pieces the Amphitheatres, and consecrated the Pantheons to the worship of the only true Eternal God. How the Priests of the Gentiles mourned, and with unfeigned sorrow, early begun to celebrate the Funerals of a Religion, which had already received its mortal wound, when, the very day after the crucifixion of our Saviour, 
Vide Vossium de Idololatria, lib. 7. cap 3.  along the Arcadian Shore it groaned, and sighed its last, Great Pan is dead. The Treasuries of the Church were no longer now supplied with the mites of the poor; but filled with the Estates of the Rich and Honourable. One dedicated his Baths, another his House to the erection of Titles, and frequently the dying person commended his Soul to God, by bequeathing his Estate to the encouragement of Religion. So the House of Pudens, a Noble Senator mentioned (2 Tim. 4.) and of Theophilus of Antioch, St. Luke's most excellent Patron, were converted into Christian Temples. Within an hundred years after the death of our Saviour; we read in the Dialogue ascribed to Lucian, called Philopatris, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (says Critius) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Representing the Assemblies of the Christians, we passed through iron Gates, and brazen Thresholds, when after many winding Ascents we came to an House, whose Roof was overlaid with Gold. Nor is the Authority of this Book made less, by any thing that either Blondel, in opposition to the Antiquity of Churches, or the Socinians, in favour of their Antitrinitarian Opinion, have disputed; seeing it is certain (whoever was the Author) it was written (if not about the time of Nero, as some think, yet) in the Reign of Trajan, 
Marcilius adlocum.  whose conquests over the Parthians he plainly doth congratulate. He that considers the several Classes of Persons, to every of which was an appointed Station in the Church, and the distinct degrees, through which they passed in the primitive discipline, before they were accounted perfect, must conclude, that not a confused assembling, but a designed, methodised place was only capable of so regular, and orderly proceed.  
The poverty of their affairs did not discourage the Christians, nor the rage of their enemies affright them; but they met together in hallowed places, where they prayed for the lives of their Persecutors and did no other hurt, than what Pliny relates ' in his known Epistle. But if at any time, either policy of State or the goodness of the Emperor, gave them release from their afflictions, and exercise of their religion, then could they not rest satified to serve God, amidst ruins and desolations; but with sumptuous charges, they re-edified the fallen Churches, which, for aught they knew, the next breath of an angry Tyrant might again throw to the ground. When the Empire turned Christian, then was there an Emblem of the general resurrection: 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Euseb. lib. 10. c. 2.  Religion seem to be clad in the joys of immortality: their Temples ascended above all clouds and tempests, not afraid of a second death. Then was there, in every Town and City, lasting monuments raised to that God who had at length tamed the madness of the people, had spoken the word and delivered them from further fears of Storms, and Shipwrecks. Then might you have Seen the Splendour of Paulinus his Cathedral at Tyre— 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at the first sight to attract the eyes and hearts of the enemies of the Faith: 
Cap. 4.  as the Panegyrist at that Dedication doth express it. From thence that (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) great and heavenly choir made haste to perform the like solemnity at Jerusalem. 
De v●● Constan. Cap. 43.  Jernsalem! the City of the great God, he was once well known in thy palaces and in the gates of Zion: The glory of all nations the joy of the whole earth, where the Lord said he would dwell for ever! in thee was he worshipped with the beauty of holiness; till by the rebellion of thy people, the wicked obstinacy of thy Priests and Rulers, when they truly murdered the Lord of life and glory, the vail of thy Temple rend in sunder, the gates flew open on their own accord, and a dreadful voice was heard let us go hence. Then did the Sceptre and the Glory depart from Israel, then was thy holy place profaned with all impurities and buried in the dust. Behold now thy King cometh, whom thou wouldst not to reign over thee, in greatness, Power, and Triumph; over the despised lodging of his birth, shall be built a glorious Temple to his Name. Every place, which formerly entertained his Sacred Person, shall be turned into an Oratory, every spot of earth whereon he stood shall for ever be accounted holy ground. Here will we raise Altars, to the memory of every action which he did, and consecrate to eternity the particulars of his Sufferings; hither shall resort, from the utmost ends of the earth, the weary Pilgrim, and prostrate pay the Vows, which he made in trouble, at his shrines, here the mournful penitent shall power fourth floods of tears where He wept, shall love the place where He was scourged and by those stripes shall be healed. Here shall the disconsolate spend his life in sacred retirement, and all devout employments; here lastly shall men dedicate their time to Diviner Studies, writ Commentaries upon his Life, and defences of his Religion. To this new Jerusalem it was they made haste from Tyre to the Encaenia of a Magnificent Temple, where was a concourse of holy Confessors and Bishops from all parts of the Christian World, attended by an innumerable company of every particular Nation. Some sanctified the Solemnity with devout prayers, and pious exhortations; some made Orations upon the virtues of the Emperor, extolling the sincerity of his love to Religion, and the honour he paid to Martyrs. Others composed devout meditations, from passages of holy Scripture, to the occasion. They who were not of such attainments made their Devotions (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) with unbloody Sacrifices, 
Ibid. cap. 45.  and mystical Services, praying for the peace of the Church and Happiness of the Emperor. The frequency of after-Dedications are not here to be mentioned, nor need we add any thing in defence of them; it being so much a part of natural Religion, and Gods ready acceptance of this in the Text so solemnly performed, is an infallible Argument, that many Ceremonies in divine Worship are approved by him, for which no particular command can be produced. It is childish impertinency, when God hath given us sense and reason, besides general rules in Scripture, for our direction, to expect a divine Revelation to lead us by the Hand, and mark out every step we are to go. I have hallowed this House, that thou hast built, that is, what you offer, I do accept and will bless it, for those ends you have designed it. But some people are so afraid of the Law of Moses, as if they had been present at the Thunder and Lightning, the Shakeing of Mount Sinai. So terrified are they, at the very name of the Ceremonial Law, that they are not capable of understanding what it is; nor will learn to distinguish betwixt, what is so indeed, and what are truly the results of nature and common reason. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 
Nazian. Orat. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  Of so undoubted Antiquity it is in Christianity, that Blondel himself, (who writ an Apology for his own opinion, rather than St. Hierom's) acknowledges Dedications to have been performed with the Solemnity of Prayer; only he urges against the Superstitious Ceremonies of the Romanists; and will be sure not to allow the Bishop the chief disposing of the Office, which yet is ever reckoned in the number of his Prerogatives.  
They, who first affixing a typical signification to every particular under the Law, dispute that none ought to be retained, as receiving their full impletion under the Gospel, seem not carefully to have attended the consequence of the Argument; whilst they endeavour to give it an unbounded force, they make it altogether lose its strength, increasing the shadow to such a vastness, as to take away the light of the very Sun, and bring Universal Darkness upon all Divine Revelation. If all shall be received for the sense of Scripture, which the Allegorising wits of men, warmed with thinking, have obtruded; who sees not, upon what a Rack the literal sense will be put, tortured into such confessions as will call in question its Truth, and destroy its Being. All Ages, as our own, have found, that the immoderate indulging Spiritual meanings, have rendered the Scripture but a dead Letter. It seems a pleasant thing to make apt similitudes: Allegories have been the entertainment of great wit, and high Devotion: too oft also the refuge of Heresy, when deserted of plainer Scripture, We give due reverence to the pious industry of those, who by this method of Interpretation, have performed any thing which may with pleasure persuade to Virtue, or illustrate the Analogy of Faith. Yet will not the quickness of Fancy be always found, to serve the ends of reasoning. It may delight, but not convince; it may incline, but not satisfy the inquisitive understanding. Such do appear to have been the extravagancies of this kind, that having treated Sacred Scripture with the like levity, as the Jews by their Gematria, they have been little less ridiculous, nor can they be entertained without prejudice to the common Faith, and great inconvenience in believing: the Egyptians and Greeks had their Mythology, Theology moralised: the Jews not without probability, pretend an ancient Cabala they say from the time of Moses, to which St. Paul seems to refer, well understanding the learnnig of his own Nation. The Scripture alone must put bounds to our Faith in this particular, nor are we obliged to acknowledge any other Types, than what we find there declared. As to our present instance, the Temple, or Tabernacle is not said by the Apostle (Heb. 9.9.) to be a figure, but those Ordinances of worship therein observed, Gifts and Sacrifices imposed on them till the time of Reformation.  
St. John saw no Temple in the new Jerusalem; that is, as the Jews, in the days of the Messiah expect a Temple, but different from any they had before, as is that described in the vision of Ezekiel.  
2. What Dedication doth imply, as the reasonableness of it.  
1. That hereby the place becomes public for God's Service. For the Church of Christ being Catholic, and intended to include whole mankind, it is no less honourable than necessary for the maintenance of Religion, that the celebration be as public as the design of it; both the better to invite the unconverted to the same Profession, as also to preserve itself entire from Heresy and Schism, which private Conventicles have always bred and fomented. One reason of those Heresies which much defaced the beauty of the primitive Faith, was that they being denied the public exercise of Religion, were constrained to divide into many little bodies, whereby he who had a mind had the opportunity by his wit and ambition to tyrannize over the Faith of others, and to compose a Church of Disciples peculiar to himself. And it was great wisdom in the Dispensation of the Jews, the institution of three general Festivals every year, at which the whole Nation was bound to appear, whereby they secured the unity and integrity of the Worship, whilst they had no long intervals to forget the constant settled method of Religion, or to invent and propagate new. They had also but one Temple in the whole Land, which as it signified the profession of one God, in opposition to the plurality of the Heathens; so was it also an effectual Bar to all Schism and Innovation. The Religion of Christ indeed is of another Nature, of much larger extent than from Dan to Beersheba, intending the advantage of more than a little spot of ground, not two hundred miles in length; for all Nations shall worship him, and his Dominion shall be from one end of the Earth to the other: And therefore our Saviour told the Woman of Samaria, that neither in that Mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, should they worship the Father: but wheresoever a Temple was built, there, in the purity of his service, might they find his presence. Happy was that time, when in what part of the world soever a good Christian might chance to be, he might have found the doors of Churches wide open to his Devotion, and God worshipped in that form and order, to which without either scruple of his own Conscience, or offence to others, he hearty could conform: when so inconsiderable were the differences of Worship, that so prudent and pious a Bishop as S. Ambrose thought it his duty, whether at Rome or Milan, or any other place, to observe its Customs, and join in Sacred Offices: when he might have traveled from East to West, and as soon have discovered another Sun, as another distinct allowed Religion. Even in S. Austin's time, if a man asked the way to a Catholic Church, no Donatist (that had not the ill humour of a Jew) durst have presumed to direct him to his own. But now into how many thousand pieces doth that Catholic Doctrine stand divided; whilst it is forced to put on as many shapes, as frail men are subject to imaginations? How many Altar's smoke to it, with no other than the Sacrifice of Fools! Strange Fire, and Incense, wherewith God is not delighted, because himself did never kindle it: As if the Holy Jesus had been designed ever to remain in Infancy; no where to be found or worshipped, but in Stables, unseemly, unhallowed places; and his Religion never to take part of that Happiness which Inspired Prophets have foretold. In Religion, as in the Heavens, were our understandings placed in clear and pure light, undisturbed with passion, prejudice or interest, and Earthly affections, we should soon discover the easiness and native simplicity of its motions, no contrariety, no irregularity there; and that only man made Epicycles, little fancies of his own, and falsely said God lodged in them.  
2. Dedication doth imply, that we part with our own right in the thing, and make God the sole Owner. So Solomon prayed, Arise, O Lord God, into thy resting place, thou, and the Ark of thy strength: And therefore at the Consecration, both of the Tabernacle and Temple, God by most manifest and extraordinary signs declared his taking possession of them: for the Glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle, and the Cloud filled the House of the Lord. God is the Lord of all the Earth, and all that we have, and by the particular assignment of some part, we confess his Title to the whole. So the great King of Persia (to whom, sitting Enthroned in Susa or Ecbatane, the Author of the Book De Mundo hath compared God) used to demand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of those Nations whom he intended to bring under his Subjection; and that little he accepted as an acknowledgement of his Dominion, as the denial was a bidding Desiance to his Power. There are two consequences of this.  
1. First, That seeing its Gods own, we take great care of our behaviour towards it: Reverence my Sanctuary; Holiness becometh thy House for ever: In our entrance put off thy Shoes (in Western phrase our Hats) for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Keep thy feet when thou goest into the House of God. The Adoration by bowing, is a most reasonable acknowledgement of that Majesty we do approach: The Greek Liturgies call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to put us in mind, that we ought to have the humility, as we have the indigencies of a Penitent Sinner. What composedness of mind, and settled devotion, purity of heart, and innocency of hands, aught to be preserved in that place, where God says his Eyes and his Heart shall be perpetually? he will more easily pardon the miscarririages of life committed amidst our secular employments, than those Errors which profane that place, where Religion ought to be our business.  
2. That we never think of alienating it from that holy use to which we have designed it. So jealous is God in this particular, that he would not suffer the Censors of the Rebels to be employed to common uses, but for the service of the Temple. He asks the Question by way of Admiration, Will a man rob God? Sacrilege is a Crime which the Heathens generally so abhorred, that in their Histories more severe judgements are recorded to have befallen the Committers of it, than of any other sin against the Law of Nature. The Romans, in the height of their Conquests, always preserved due respect to sacred places; and when they thought it convenient utterly to destroy a City, they always by certain Ceremonies invited the Gods, under whose tuition it was, to a fair removal, and civilly promised them more fortunate habitations. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a term of the greatest infamy and reproach imaginable. Only Christians (in the Apostles words) because they abhor Idols, think God will easily dispense with Sacrilege: Because they have a better name, think they may securely be guilty of more horrid actions. Whereas God was always tender of his Sovereignty; and, though by methods to us undiscernible, seldom leaves the boldness of this sin unpunished; but first or last, uses his own ways and times for the regaining of his right, as our own eyes have seen. For as by the overflowing of Nilus, all particular possessions become undistinguished, and would for ever remain confused in Mire and Dirt, did not Geometry, after the rage of the River is assuaged, recover the ancient bounds, and gratefully secure that property to which it owes its first Original: So when an armed Impiety, in this our Land, as a Mighty Flood, broke down the Banks betwixt things Sacred and Common, swallowed up Churches with their Revenues, and laid desolate the Sanctuaries of Piety and Religion, the Inheritance of the Lord was well nigh lost in so great an Inundation, had not that God (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) the Great Geometer of the Universe, come down with his Line and Measuring Rod in his hand, (as once he did to Ezekiel's Temple) and measuring the height, length, and breadth of our Church, retrived every part which it did possess, and miraculously restored it to all its old proportions.  
3. Lastly, We will consider the effects of this Consecration.  
1. First, as to God: I have hallowed this House to put my Name there for ever, and mine eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually: In all places where I record my Name, there will I come and bless thee. By which, and many other expressions, he assures us of his more peculiar presence in places sanctified to his Worship. I will not now discourse the presence of Angels in Christian Assemblies; it seeming to Learned men to have Foundation in Scripture, may piously be believed, and to be that Retinue which makes up the Court of the Heavenly King. The Gentiles, by the Power of Magical Arts, supposed their Gods imprisoned in their Temples, to inhabit the Images fixed there, and to be refreshed with the smoke and sums of Sacrifices. God may be found in Woods or Deserts, in a Dungeon or a Prison, in the wild Fields or open Air, but in his own House is his promised residence. Here will I dwell, for I have desired it: Harken thou to the Supplications of thy People Israel, when they pray towards this place. If a man trespass against his Neighbour, and come before thine Altar in this house; if thy People Israel be smitten down before the Enemy,— and make supplication before thee in this house, when Heaven is shut up that there be no Rain— if they pray towards this place, then hear thou in Heaven; and when thou hearest, forgive.  
2. The effect upon ourselves will be greatly to increase Devotion, and promote our Piety in our Addresses made in so holy a place. There are few, I suppose, of so settled a Stoical humour, as to be influenced by no external circumstances in Religion. The decorousness of the Building, the gravity of the Auditory, the solemnity of the Service, and the separated Relation of the Place, cannot but move a man, whose composition is such as on purpose to receive impressions either of pleasure or dislike from material Objects. There is indeed a Religion in the World, swallowed up in the Apparel which only should adorn it, where the external Grandeur of Piety tends to Atheism; and there is a Religion dark and slovenly, as the minds which have made it; containing nothing to invite, but to cause to nauseate and loath the Offering of the Lord. The former winds up to too high a pitch, the latter lets down to too great a laxity; both which do equally spoil that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Soul, (as Philo calls it) wherein consists the health of its Constitution; only the Church of England, like Virtue itself, preserves its Essence, by being placed betwixt two opposite Vices, its deadly Enemies: Here is comeliness without aflected gaudiness, beauty without meretricious painting, gravity without a peevish morosity: a Religion, which being most fitted to the nature of man, cannot but be most acceptable unto God. How dreadful is this place! it is no other but the House of God, and this is the Gate of Heaven. Here are the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the Port and Residence of that King, whose blessings (not like isaac's) never are exhausted. Here thou needest not wait for those milder times, when only that Serene Jupiter of the Flattering Poet would give a favourable Audience: But when ever thy heart is oppressed with grief, or thy condition with necessities; when ever thy joys or thy sorrows, thy Petitions or thy praises are become too big for a mortal breast, here thou mayst come and empty thyself, Heaven will receive them. In those Acts of Religion, where we most retire ourselves out of the World, and command our thoughts from pursuance of earthly pleasures, wherein the devout mind betakes itself to a nearer converse with God, when the doors of thy Chamber are shut, and an awful and reverential Darkness fills thy little Closet; when a still silence all over gives thee leave to open thy breast, and pour out thy heart to thy Father which is in Heaven; when with the fervency of thy Devotion the fire kindles, and thy heart burns within thee; although thou canst not boast with Loyola, of being lift up some distance from the ground, nor tell of dark Visions of darker Interpretation; yet tell me, if thou canst, thou happy Soul, what unspeakable pleasure thou perceivest. Dost thou not see Heaven opened? or rather, do not those unspotted joys crowd in upon thee, ready to overwhelm thee? Although thy Will be Infinite, as is truly said, doth it not here find satisfaction? Is not this the Joy which the Apostle speaks is full of Glory? Does not the Presence of God seem to forsake its Throne in the Immense Heaven, and fill thy little Room, as once it did the Temple? Thou now thinkest thyself in Heaven: Thou art much above this World, and in this temper canst easily despise all its most flattering Temptations. The Temple is truly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Heaven upon Earth; 
Josephus Antiq. lib. 3. c. 5. & 7.  as Josephus says of Moses his Tabernacle, that it was made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in imitation of the Universe; the Holy of Holies was the Heaven of Glory, the Seven Lamps the number of the Planets, placed inclining, to represent the obliquity of the Zodiac. In this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as he calls it, God was; and hither they had resort in all their difficulties: and such an one did Constantine carry throughout his Wars, that he might never want that Presence, upon whose Blessing all his Successes did depend.  
In the Vision which S. John saw (Revel. 4.) there seems to be in the second sense, a short resemblance of the Christian Church: There was a Throne set in Heaven, the Metropolitan Seat of S. James at Jerusalem, round about the Throne four and twenty Elders, who having Crowns on their Heads, must be the Bishops of his Province; out of the Throne proceeded Lightnings and Thundrings, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Arrian in Epict, lib. 3. c. 21.  and Voices representing the Discipline and Doctrine of the Church; the seven Spirits are the Deacons, the number of the first Election: Before the Throne was a Sea of Glass, like unto Crystal, representing the Baptism of the Church. And lastly, their set form of Divine Service; they rest not day nor night, crying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. But more particularly we will consider those three parts, of which especially Christian Temples were composed, viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  
In the little spot of ground, through which ye go into the Temple, stand and think that more are buried there, than a whole City will contain, Behold the rising Graves, which swell no more with the Great and Proud, than with the Poor and most despised man: No sweeter Flowers spring from the perfumed Bodies of Princes, than the putrified Sores of Lazarus. How tame and quiet lie those ambitious Monarches, and great Oppressors, whose Voice once, like Thunder, made the Nations tremble. See the Rich Caelius his Tomb, how are all his large Possessions shrunk only to three els of ground. Silent now rest the disputing Divine, and the wrangling School man: Thy near Relations, and dearest Friends, whose Converse thou lovedst as thy Soul, if thou speakest will not answer, nor tell thee what is the other life. Here the weary are at rest; no sighs, no groans, no mirth, no laughter: the Rich tastes no more the pleasure of his Luxury, and Abundance; nor do the Miserable feel the pain of Poverty, and Oppression. Here is no Ambition, no Revenge, Caesar and Pompey's Urns may stand as close together, as of Pamphilus and Eusebius. Hither we all make haste, and over our Graves, e'er long, somebody will discourse as now we do.  
These thoughts are common to all mortal men, and were the surest relief the Philosophical Heathens had, whereby they mollified the sharpest miseries of humane life: But the good Christian hath a more certain Consolation, being assured of a far more glorious Immortality, than they by their most serious Disquisitions could attain: For this is not common but sacred ground, a repository of Bodies till the last day, a Dormitory till the Resurrection, proper to those who die in the Faith of Christ, and Communion with his Church. And certainly unwise are they, who despising the Authority of the Church, pertinaciously refuse to give satisfaction to that Censure which they have deserved; and yet think to take as quick a Rise to Heaven from a Garden, or common Field, as if they lay pressed with no such heavy burden. Is it a pleasant Doom to be cast out of the Church, and not to have the Burial of a Christian, whilst Saints and Martyrs lie under the Altar? The Heathens permitted no Burial to them who had not been initiated into their Mysteries: The Jews Circumcise the Body of him who died without it; and some Christians (not condemned for this) Baptised others for the Dead: And in all Religions, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Chorus Aristoph apud inferos. Ran. Act. 1.  none were believed happy in the World to come, who died out of the Communion of their sacred things. It is good to be wise before the Day of Judgement; for Excommunication being included in the Nature of all Societies, without which they cannot subsist; God, who hath Constituted the Society of his Church, will not leave its Censures against the Rebellious without effect.  
1. The Porch (or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) was the first part of the Temple reserved for those various sorts of Penitents, which the degrees of Crimes, and wary admission to the Communion of the Church, had introduced. They were here kept sub ferulâ, not to advance, but through all the severities of Ecclesiastical Discipline: Here stood the (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) Lamenters, who underwent the hardest burden of Penance. These clad in the vilest habit, Sackcloth and Ashes, their faces filled with horror and amazement, did implore the prayers of the Faithful entering into the Church. Prostrati in medium, antè viduas, antè Presbyteros, omnium lachrymas suadentes, omnium vestigia lambentes, omnium genua detinentes. Here you might have seen miserable Spectacles of those sins, and that contempt of the Church, which our days have made but the Objects of Mirth and Laughter: You might have seen the Politic but unfortunate Ecebolius, rolling himself in the dirt, kissing the feet of the Saints, begging them to trample him under their feet, if so to die, might satisfy for his Apostasies. More than this, you might have seen the Great Theodosius, Emperor of the World, with the Retinue of a Prince, but the Humility and Importunity of a distressed Man, begging of that Resolute Prelate of Milan admission into the Church; which he never, without satisfaction, could obtain. The consideration of these, and the other degrees of Penitents, (too long here to mention) may make us reflect, how hard a thing it was, in those better times, to obtain pardon of a wilful sin by the necessary Absolution of the Church; and by those severities, she preserved Honour to Religion, respect to herself, and even by violence, saved the Souls of many such, whose Salvation we have now cause to fear, unless the way to Heaven be much broader than it was. In this part, after-Ages placed the Holy Laver of Regeneration, wherein we were made the Sons of God, and Heirs of Eternal Life, being by the Answer of a good Conscience enlightened, and born again: Which Efficacy not only the Jews allowed to their Baptism, but the Heathens also to their Initiations, that they only after death should be happy who were so Initiated, and miserable who died without it.  
2. From hence, through the great and Silver Gates, they entered into the (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) Body of the Church, in the very middle of which stood the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or Pulpit, whence the Congregation received instructions of Salvation from the Mouth of the Preacher. This, the Object of equal both love and hatred, is not more despised by some, than by others held in admiration; to these a Stumbling Block, to them 'tis Foolishness; both dangerously perverting its Original Institution. Of so great and serious consequence is the well management of it for the Church's Peace and safety of Religion, that whatsoever Crasty Ulysses shall gain this Palladium into his possession, 'twill not be long before he Storm the City, and with Fire and Flames destroy the most flourishing Kingdom.  
From this Throne the Tetrarches of time (as a Great Wit calls the Clergy) command Obedience, about one quarter of the year, from the attentions of their oft too heedless Auditories. This is the Watch-Towre, whence, as from an Egyptian Pharos, the Seers of God dispense unto the World the Everlasting Gospel, a Lantern to their feet, and a Light unto their paths. Hence they cry aloud to tell Judah his transgressions, and Israel his sins; and give warning of those Shelves and Sands which have drowned multitudes of Souls. From this place it was, S. Peter at one Sermon converted three thousand to the Christian Faith; and ever since, Pious Bishops and Doctors of the Church, have daily added all well disposed minds. Here stood Origen, in whom all the Science both of the Ethnic and Christian Philosophy was united: The stream of his Eloquence, as prosound as was his Learning, clear as his Speculations; no Mud or Froth, but what was raised by his too near approach to those Rocks, against which unwary Wit too often suffers Shipwreck. Hence Nazianzen declaimed his Christian Philippics; and hence Athanasius, by the Might of his Courage, and Zeal of his Elocution, stopped the Sun, as it were, that it did not set upon the World, delivered Orthodox Faith from a most strong Captivity, and fear of sudden death. Here lastly stood the Great Bishop of Constantinople, the very Top of Ecclesiastical Eloquence, who by his Pious Behaviour, and Power of his Oratory, drew the minds, and bended the hearts of his Princely Auditory: No Vice so high, which his Rhetoric would not reach; none so strong, which his Preaching did not make relent: And how foolish soever to prejudice and profaneness Preaching may appear, yet managed by study and wisdom, it ofttimes breaks the hardest heart, makes the most seared Conscience feel; it will startle the most secure sinner, and sometime or other will be remembered by those who most deride it; a dark night, a sick bed, or an uneasy sleep, will reconcile the man to this Heavenly Doctrine, and make him abhor the thoughts of jollity and indiscretion.  
3. Lastly, Through the Gates called Beautiful, they ascended to the (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) the Holy Altar, from which I have too long detained you. To this Holy Table therefore let us go, and participate the Food of Souls: There let us offer up not only this Oratory, but our Souls and Bodies to his most Faithful Service; promising him never more, by any wilful sin, to profane his Temples, nor drive away his Holy Presence.  
FINIS.