God's HOUSE, OR THE house OF PRAYER, Vindicated from profaneness and sacrilege. Delivered in a Sermon the 24. day of February, Anno 1641. in Southampton.  
By Alexander Rosse, his majesty's chaplain in ordinary.  
LONDON, Printed in the year 1642.   

To the orthodox Reader.  
GOod Reader, it was the least of my thoughts to publish this Sermon in print, but that now I am forced partly by the solicitation of my friends, and partly by the slanderous speeches of some new upstart Sectaries in this town, whose unreverent gesture in the Church, disesteem of Church prayers, and disgraceful speeches against the outward splendour of God's house, gave me occasion to Preach it; and now their ignorant and malicious censures thereof have necessitated me to publish it, One calls it a pernicious Sermon, another says it was fit to be preached at Rome, a third, that it is false doctrine. I have preached many hundred Sermons in this town, I have spent twenty five years in this peaceable and well governed Corporation, I have studied divinity these thirty six years, and till now I never knew that I delivered erroneous doctrine; but perhaps I may be blind in my own cause, therefore I have exposed this Sermon to the public view, that if there be any passage in it heterodox, I may (being convinced by the judicious and learned Reader) recant and retract, if there be none, that my credit may be vindicated from the censorious clamours of such ignorant critics.  
A. R.   
MATH. 21. 13. It is written, my house shall be called the house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves. 
THe first part of the text is written in Isaiah, 
Isaiah 56▪  I will make them joyful in mine house of prayer: and my house shall be called an house of prayer for all people. The second part is written in jeremy; 
jeremy  Is this house, which is called by my Name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? It is written then, and that is more than a bare tradition. And if he that is the God of truth, and Lord of the house, is content to backe his sayings with a Scriptum est, why should his pretended Vicar obtrude his own dictates upon the Church without scriptum est, or warrant of God's word, as though his {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, or bare word were sufficient. 2. My house, God then wants not a house. 3. Shall be called, It is not then nameless: men build houses, and call them by their names, shall not God have the same liberty? 4. S. Mark saith, shall be called of all Nations; his Churches then in England shall, and should be called houses of prayer, as well as the Temple of Jerusalem. 5. S. Luke saith, My house is the house of prayer, it is not then nicknamed, for as it is called, so it is indeed, the house of prayer. 6. The house of prayer, and good reason for it; By prayer it was dedicated, for prayer it was built and consecrated, from prayer it is denominated, and our prayers in it are heard and accepted, he that heareth prayer in every place, will not shut his ears when we pray to him in this place. If the prayer of Jonas was heard, when he said, he would look towards the holy Temple, shall not our prayers be heard, when they are poured out by us in his holy Temple. He that heard Moses on the Sea shore, Eliah in the desert, Jonas in the whale's belly, Job on the dunghill, Daniel in the lion's den, the three Children in the fiery furnace, will doubtl●sse hear them that call upon him in his own house; What place so meet for preferring of Petitions, as the Court of Requests? and where shall we honour God better by prayer, then in the place where his honour dwelleth. God's name is fit to be invoked in God's house, himself hath promised, that his eyes shall be open, and his ears attended unto the prayer that is made in this place. 
〈◊〉. 7. 15.  For now (saith he) I have chosen and sanctified this house, that my Name be there for ever, and my eyes, and my heart shall be there perpetually.  
Therefore Solomon in his dedicatory prayer desires, that when the Land is afflicted with Death, Pestilence, Blasting, Mildew, caterpillars, or any other calamity, that God would open his eyes upon, and harken to the supplications made in this place, 
〈◊〉. 6.  that he would hear from his dwelling place in heaven, and forgive. This house than is the house of prayer. But, &c. this But, is the fly that spoils the apothecary's ointment, and the coloquintida that mars the pottage. You, that is, covetous Priests, captious Scribes, and hypocritical Pharisees, who indeed are painted sepulchers, whited walls, whose religion consists in large Phylacteries, broad fringes, long prayers, which devour widow's houses, the outside of whose vessels are pure and washed, within full of filth and corruption, under sheep's skins are ravenous wolves; But fromi nulla fides, trust not outsides, all is not gold that glisters. Malice, pride, self-conceipt are never more dangerous, than when shrouded with pharisaical purity. These were called in Greek {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, in Hebrew Paratzim, that is Separatists, for other men they counted profane, Gam haerets, people of the earth, but themselves the only holy men in the Land. With others they would not converse for fear of defilement; therefore the proud Pharisee thanked God, that he was not as other men, nor like that Publican, who notwithstanding went home justified: It is easily seen of what religion these Pharisees were, and their avaricious Priests, they made no more reckoning of the Temple, then of a stable, a sheepfold, a pigeon house, a counting room, for else what did oxen and sheep, pigeons and money changers do there? what is that house built for men, or for beasts? for Jehovah, or for Mercury? Thus you see the quality of the persons reproved. But what have they done that they must be lashed? they have not pulled down the Temple and burned it, as the Chaldeans did: nor have they robbed it of its treasures, as Pompey and Crassus did? Nor have they so grossly profaned it as Antiochus and Caligula did: nor have they carried away the Cherubims, the ark and propitiatory, the golden Candlesticks, the Altars, and lavers, nor any other ornaments and utensils of it, as some furious Pharisees of this age have done in some places, where they have pulled down Chancels, defaced Cathedrals, sold away Organs, Bells, chalices, and the very lead of the Churches, giving them a warmer cover of thatch, using them as that profane Emperor used Jupiter's and Aesculapius' images, from the one pulling away his golden beard, saying, the gods must always look young, and from the other his golden cloak, affirming that a freeze coat would keep him warmer. Surely the Jewish Pharisees did not go so fa●re in this impiety, therefore they were only whipped with cords; But those Christian Pharisees that have laid violent hands upon the houses of God, have been partly in themselves, and partly in their posterity whipped with Scorpions. Now though the Jews did not pull down nor carry away, yet they did profane that holy place, by making it a den of thieves. Was not now Bethel become Bethaven, the house of God, the house of iniquity? Dens and Caves sometimes have been Mansion places for good men; David, Daniel, Elijah, the Prophets in Achab's days, and many more of whom the world was not worthy, dwelled in dens and caves of the earth; But the Temple is not made a den for such men, but for thieves, and the worst sort of thieves, not {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} secret thieves, but {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} open robbers, robbing God of his honour, the people of their money, and the Temple of its holiness. But I have held you too long in the outward porch, let us now enter into the Temple, and view first the use, secondly the abuse of it. As it is a house of prayer, that's the use, but as it is a den of thieves, that is the abuse of it. In handling the use, consider first the general name, an house; 2. the particular name, a Temple; 3. The possessor, God. 4. The end, Prayer. In handling of which, I desire not only your patience, but also your charitable constructions, for let the flowers be never so wholesome, yet Spiders will suck thence nothing but poison, and some are so uncharitably and superciliously censorlous, that what relisheth not in the palate is accounted erroneous, but these are of the ignoranter sort, therefore the less to be regarded, for ignorance will still be an enemy to knowledge.  
1. A house to distinguish it from the Tabernacle which properly was a moving Tent or pavilion, but no house. 2. A house in respect of habitation, for the Lord hath chosen Zion to be an habitation for himself, This shall be my rest for ever, 
Psa. 132. 14.  here will I dwell, &c. Secondly it's called the Temple, à ●uendo, because God favourably looks on it, and defends it. or a contemplando, for here men should with reverence contemplate on the greatness and goodness of God. Templum, was properly the heaven, as it was quartered out by the soothsayers staff; a fit term for God's house, which is our heaven upon earth, for God dwells there, his presence makes heaven; And these divine exercises of preaching, praying, and praising of God, makes it heavenly; Here also we have the dew of heaven in baptism, and in the Eucharist, the bread of Life that came down from heaven. 
isaiah 14. 12, 13.  And so the King of Babel is to be understood, when he saith he will climb up unto heaven, and place his Throne among the stars; he means the Temple of Jerusalem, and the Doctors of the Jews, 
Luk. 18. 10.  in Greek it is called {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, sacred or holy. Two men went up into the Temple to pray, in Greek, {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, into the holy house to pray, by which it is distinguished from other houses, which in Scripture were never called {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, holy houses. Neither was it ever known that aedes sacra, among the Latins signified an ordinary house, but still a Church or chapel being holy. 1. In respect of God who owns it, for our God is holy. 2. Of the worship done in it, which is an holy worship. 3. Of the Ministers which serve in it, who are {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, holy men. 4. Of the Sacraments administered in it, for they are holy ordinances. 5. Of the Angels and Saints who frequent it, 
〈◊〉 3. 5  for they are an holy assembly; was God then mistaken when he bid Moses pull off his shoes, &c. for the ground whereon he stood was holy ground? Or did the Scripture err when still it calls the house of God the sanctuary or holy Temple. Surely if the Temple was holy, that contained the shadows of good things to come: Much more holy are our Churches, in which we enjoy the substance of things already come: it is therefore strange divinity to account your houses as holy as the Church, and yet I hold no inherent holiness in either. Surely S. Paul knew that the Church was holier than other other houses, 
〈◊〉. 11. 22.  for he reproves the Corinthians for eating and drinking in the Church; what (saith he) have you no houses to ●at in? despise you the Church of God? Therefore P. Martyr, a learned and reverend member of the reformed Church, reproves sharply the abuse of walking, idle talking, bargaining, or irreverent gesture in the Church, and reproves those Ministers that keep not fast the Church doors, when there is no divine Service: As there is a time, so there is a place for every thing. Again, in Hebrew the Temple is called Heikell, from jakell to prevail. For the Church is Palaestra a wrestling place, when we wrestle here with God by prayer we prevail with him, when he wrestles with us by his Word, than he prevails with us.  
3. Consider the possessor or owner of this house, God, in the pronoun my, it is his by the right of donation. David and Solomon bestowed this house on God, they could not without sacrilege take it again from God. Our religious sorefathers bestowed our Churches on Christ, and I hope their Children will not prove so degenerate and irreligious, as to take them away from Christ, except they will do as Ananias and Saphira, and then they shall be rewarded as they were. 2. His house by the right of dedication, it was dedicated to God thrice; 1. By Solomon the 10. of September, the Sun being in the autumn equinoctial. 2. When it was rebuilt after the captivity in the beginning of March, the Sun being in the vernal equinoctial. 3. When it was profaned by Antiochus Epiphanes. Then Iud. Machabaeus dedicated it again about the 25. of Decemb. the Sun being in the Winter solstice, the feast of which dedication was honoured by Christ's own presence, 
John 10.  and as the Temple, so our Churches are dedicated too. That is, appropriated, consecrated, and sanctified by prayer, and invocation of God's name, so that what is sanctified is his and must not be profaned. 3. It is his house in respect of the manifestation of his presence more then, then elsewhere, for not only was he seen thus in shadows and representarions, but his voice was heard also from off the Mercy seat, 
Numb 7. 89.  that was upon the ark of the testimony from between the two Cherubims. Even so Christ's voice is more heard, and his graces more seen in the Word and Sacraments within our Churches then anywhere else. Where should the King be more seen and heard then in his own house? 4. It's his house by inhabitation, for though all our houses be his because the earth is the Lords, and all that therein is, yet this house is more specially his; for though he dwells everywhere in his general providence, yet here he dwells more particularly in his special favours; therefore we may say of our Churches, what Jacob said of Bethel his Church then: the Lord is here and we knew it not. How terrible is this place? this can be no other than the house of God, &c. the Tabernacle in Hebrew was Hammisken, a dwelling place, and in Greek, a Church is called {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, because God dwells in it. Therefore Nathan from God tells David, 
●am 7 5.  that he shall build him an house to dwell in, for before God had no settled abode, nor did dwell in any house from the time he brought the childrein of Israel out of Egypt, but walked in a tent. Again, if the Church be his house, we must not be so base minded, as to think a barn or stable good enough for him; Barnes and stables are for threshers and ostlers, not for him whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain. The high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity, aught to be fitted with a house in some sort, answerable to the greatness of his majesty; 
Chron.  Of this mind was Solomon, when he said, the house which I build is great, for great is our God above all Gods, except it be in persecution and cases of necessity, for than we must serve God, where we can, even in cryptis subterraneal caves with the primitive Christians: but in the times of peace and plenty, our Churches should be Basilicae, as they were called anciently, kingly places, set for the King of Kings to dwell in, and they should be {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, as they were wont to be called, that is comely and decent places, both in respect of the structure without, and of the behaviour of the congregation within. I need not tell you, that parents expect from their children, masters from their servants, Kings from their Subjects a reverent and decent behaviour; and is not the Lord of this house a Father, a master, a King, and we his children, servants, subjects? If then he be our Lord, where is his reverence? if our Father, where is his fear? The Lord will have his Sabbaths hallowed, and his sanctuary reverenced, Lev. 19 30. For, saith he, I am the Lord, and this is the Lord's house; called therefore of old {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}; for he hath some things peculiar to himself, as his own Day, his own Feast, his own Table, his own People, his own House. So then there is the Lord's day, the Lord's table the Lord's Supper, the Lord's people, and the Lord's house. Shall than the Lord's people in the Lord's house, when the Lord speaks to them in his Word, or they to him in their prayers, or when he appears to them in in his holy Sacraments, behave themselves irreverently, unmannerly, undecently, in his presence, and that under pretence of avoiding superstition? Dum vitant stulti vitia, &c. This is to run from one extreme to a worse, ex funio in flammam. And as you say, out of the frying pan into the fire. Religion indeed is crucified, as Christ was between two thieves, viz. Superstition and irreverence, which is a spice of atheism; and truly of the two extremes. irreverence is the worst; for superstition is like the giant of Gath, with six fingers and six toes on each hand and foot, having more than is required; But Religion without reverence and outward decency, is like Adonibezec, without fingers and toes, peccant in the defect, which is worse than in the excess. In the purest times of the primitive Church, there were Ostiarij doorkeepers, to debar from entering the Church obstinate heretics, Idolaters, profane livers, &c.  
Lastly, seeing the Church is the house of our Father, we should delight to be often in it. David was glad when they said to him, we will go up unto the house of the Lord. He envies the happiness of the swallow and sparrow, that make their nests in the Lord's altars; he had rather be a doorkeeper in the Lord's house, then to dwell in the tents of Kedar. One thing, saith he, have I desired of the Lord, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord, all the days of my life, to behold the fair beauty of the Lord, and to visit his holy Temple. See what titles he gives to the Temple, fair, beauty, holiness, and sometimes the beauty of holiness. Indeed holiness becomes his house for ever, and so doth beauty too; For as the Temple was the type of Christ's body, which he himself calls a Temple, and in which dwelled both beauty and holiness, so our Churches are types of that celestial temple above the new Jerusalem: Now there is always a correspondency between the type and antitype; our Temples then should be beautiful to put us in mind of, and to elevate our affections to that beauty which is in heaven. Therefore the ancient counsel of Gangra, held in the purer times of the Church about 324. years after Christ, pronounced Anathema against Eustachius and his adherents, who held that Churches should be neglected, and public meetings in them left off, and that there should be no other Churches, but men's private houses, and no other meetings but conventicles; Si quis docet domum Dei contemptibilem esse, 
〈◊〉. 5.  {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} conventus qui in ea aguntur anathema sit; It were a shame if we should not maintain his house, who maintains all our houses. Can we beautify our own houses, seel them with Cedar, and paint them with Vermilion, and suffer God's house to lie waste? David was of another mind, who would not suffer his eyelids to slumber, nor give any rest unto the temples of his head, until he had found out a place for the temple of the Lord, an habitation, &c. 
132. 3.  There were a sort of heretics about the year of Christ 1126. who would have all Churches demolished as being needless structures, for God dwells not in temples made with hands. I doubt me the souls of these heretics by a pythagorical transanimation, are entered unto the bodies of some modern zealots, who in some places thought that Religion could not be sufficiently reformed, except Cathedrals had been defaced, and the queres pulled down, so that in some places of Scotland are to be seen, the miserable ruins of goodly fabrics. Amongst the primitive Christians Temples were called Martyria, either because they were built in the places where Martyrs suffered, or because the bones of the Martyrs were kept there, or because they were dedicated to the the memory of the Martyrs. But now in another sense many magnificent piles may be called Martyria, for in a manner they have suffered martyrdom, being defaced and ruinate, torn and maimed in their chief parts, and sacrilegiously robbed of their necessary utensils. Shall not the blind Papists that built them, rise up in judgement against those that spoiled them? Nay, shall not the very Gentiles condemn them, who spared no labour and cost to erect proud and magnificent Temples to their idol Gods? witness Jupiter's temple in the Capitol; Apollo's temple at Delphos, Diana's temple (the seventh wonder of the world) at Ephesus, and many thousands more. One city of Rome could reckon 300. fair Temples in Augustus Caesar's time. Maxima tercentum totam delubra per urbem. 
Virg.  I could tell you that the Egyptians spared no cost in building Temples even to Snakes and Crocodiles. You'll say they were mad, and I say so too, But if it was madness to erect Temples to false gods, it's far greater madness to destroy the Temples of the true God. I can tell you sad stories of those who have either robbed or destroyed even idolatrous Temples. Of Camhyses that spoiled the Temples of Egypt, of Xerxes and Brennus, who robbed Jupiter's and Apollo's temples, of the stolen gold of Tholousa; Of Pompey, Crassus, and others; But if these made fearful ends that spoiled the Temples of false gods, surely he that destroys the Temples of the true God, God will him destroy. Not to cloy you with multitudes of examples, look upon the end of Balthasar, the profaner of the holy vessels. The fearful end of Julian the robber of holy Churches. And to come nearer home, the tragical end of the conquerors Sons, Richard Rufus, and Henry the second, Son to Duke Robert; look on these, and on all others, who have either sacrilegiously or irreverently meddled with holy things, and you shall see vengeance pursuing them close at the heels. Shall Achan for stealing but a garment dedicated to holy use? And Azariah for but offering to strike the Prophet a holy man, and Uzza for but offering to put to his hand rashly to the ark, a holy symbol, be so severely punished? what shall become of those that have pulled down the houses of God, and rapaciously devoured the showbread, the priest's maintenance, leaving nothing but crumbs on the Altar, for those that must serve all the other? But the greatest mischief of all is, that Religion is oftentimes made the cloak to cover sacrilege, too holy a garment for so profane a monster. Shall religion the beautiful and chaste Daughter of the Almighty, be made a Pander for such heinous impiety? Is Religion and the outward splendour, or prosperity of the Church so inconsistent, that they cannot live and dwell together? Is there no avoiding of superstition, but by falling into sacrilege? No shunning of Charybdis, but by falling upon Scylla? There is no necessity why a man that runs from the smoke, should fall into the flame. Thou that abhorrest Idols, saith the Apostle, dost thou commit sacrilege? Is there not a mean between both? Is he a physician that whilst he goes about to cure a sick man, pillages his house, and strips him naked of all he hath? Sacrilege whilst it cures superstition, it kills Religion, and if sacrilege be a remedy against the disease of superstition; I must needs tell you, the remedy is worse than the disease. But how ever sacrilege did pretend reformation, yet it intended private benefit. Judas pretended charity, when he would have the ointment sold, which was (as he conceived) lavishly wasted upon Christ, but indeed he intended the filling of his own bag. The church's wealth hath ever an eyesore to covetous minds, a morsel that many gape after, a sop so savoury, that though Satan enter with it, yet with Judas they will swallow it, it is sweet to the taste, but bitter in the maw. The Crow in the fable greedily swallowed down the Snake, which in stead of nourishing poisoned him. Solomon tells us there is a sort of bread, that will turn to gravel, and though quails to the Israelites was sweet meat, yet they were seasoned with sour sauce, even the wrath of God fell on the wealthiest of them, whilst the flesh was between their teeth; He that with the Eagle will steal flesh from the Altar, shall be sure a coal shall set his nest on fire: and whosoever inricheth himself with tithes, or the spoils of the Church, shall find that he hath put Eagles feathers in his bed, which in time will consume all the rest. How many houses, nay batnes in some places have been built with Church stones? but there the stone cries out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber: Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and erecteth a City with iniquity, the lands that have been purchased with sacrilegious money, have proved Aceldama a field of blood, which blood hath lighted upon the buyer, or his posterity. But I will meddle no longer with this sore, it's immidicabile vulmus, become so inveterate and obdurate, that the oil of preaching cannot soften it. I will leave it therefore to that great and wise college of physicians now assembled, who if they please, they can cure it, and so I hope they will. And now I pass to the last point, the end why Temples are built, viz▪ to be houses of Prayer, of which an observation or two and so I will end.  
The house of prayer principally, not the house of preaching but by accident. Synagogues are the places where Moses is preached and read every Sabbath day, 
●ct. 15. 〈◊〉  but the Temple is for prayer. 
●●k. 2. 〈◊〉  Anna the prophetess knew that, who served God with fasting and prayer night and day in the Temple. So did the Publican and Pharisee, 
●●k. 18.  who went up unto the Temple to pray. 
●ct. 3. 1.  So did Peter and John, who went up at the ninth hour of prayer. 
●ct. 22. 7.  St. Paul praying in the Temple, was in a trance. 
●ct. 26. 1.  When the Jews sought to kill Paul, they found him in the Temple. I never read that these holy men stood without at the Temple door, whilst the Priests were praying within, 
Math. ●2.  as our semi-separatists lately started up amongst us use to do. I wonder what precedent they have for this out of Scripture, that whilst we are praying within, they should stand prating without, except they learned, it of Christ's carnal brethren, who stood without; but Christ disclaims such kindred as stay without. They that come in as the Apostles did, and do his father's will▪ they be his brethren. Of old Christian Churches were called Oratories, from praying; And when the Eunuch of Ethiopia came up to Jerusalem, it was to worship in the Temple, and not to stand without till prayers were done, and then come in to hear a Sermon, as I showed not long since upon that place, which words than were traduced by some, as If I had then spoken against preaching. I will judge charitably of them, I think they speak rather out of ignorance than malice; but if out of either, or both, all the hurt I wish them is, that they would be children in malice, and men in understanding; less ignorance, and more charity, would become them well. But indeed what I said then, I say now, that {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, or adoration mentioned there is not hearing of a Sermon; For I never yet read in sacred or profane writer, that hearing is adoration properly, for hearing being the reception of the sound is merely passive; Adoration is the action of the mind, expressed by a submissive gesture of the body, either in uncovering of the head, or pulling off the shoe, or bending of the knee, bowing of the body, kissing of the hand, &c. Now hearing being a passion, adoration an action, they are in divers predicaments, therefore hearing is properly a part of God's worship or adoration, though it be the means by which we are taught to worship. I have, and ever will give Preaching its just commendations, yet I will not idolise it, it shall have a room in the Temple, though I place it not on the pinnacle, it shall be a tenant there, but an under tenant. The chief tenant is prayer; the Lord of the house will not take it well, that the under tenant shall thrust the chief tenant out of doors. Where shall prayer dwell, if it hath not room in the house of prayer? Am I an enemy to Preaching, because I prefer prayer to it? was St. Paul an enemy to faith and hope, because he prefers charity to them? Let me read to you this divinity lesson in the phrase of S. Paul; Now remain Preaching, Sacraments, Prayer; these three, but the greatest of these is Prayer. He that hath but natural logic knows, that the end is more excellent than the means, prayer or the worship of God is the final cause or end of preaching. We preach that you may know how to pray; I will pose these men, as Christ posed the Pharisees, Whether is the gold, or the Temple that sanctisieth the gold the greater; Whether the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift; So whether Preaching, or Prayer that sanctifies our preaching be the greater judge you. There is much more efficacy in a short devout prayer, then in a long tedious Sermon. What Sermon did ever open and shut heaven, stop the Sun in his full career, add fifteen years to one's life, raise the dead, and quench the violence of fire? and yet prayers have done all these. Moses was a good Preacher, but by his Sermons he could not prevail against Amelek, his praying not his preaching got him the victory. There is a devil whom preaching cannot cast out, but fasting and prayer can. Preaching may prevail with men, but prayer prevails with God, and overcomes too. The effect of preaching reaches no further than to the ears of those that be present, but the virtue of prayer extends itself, Vltra Garamantes & Indos, to the absent though they were as far distant from us, as the East is from the West. I must tell you, it is not so much your hearing, nor our preachings, but our praying that must divert God's judgements from us, and our brethren; it's not preaching, but asking, seeking, knocking, that shall receive, and find, and open heaven gates to us. I commend you for your often hearing of Sermons, God bless them to you; but though you heard never so many, and these far-fetched, and dear bought too▪ yet without prayer you shall not prevail: and think not that your private prayers at home will suffice, you must join with the Congregation; for if the private prayers of Israel and Judah had been sufficient to divert God's judgements from them: Samuel, Jehosaphat, and Ezekiah would never have troubled all the people to meet together at Jerusalem. I will shut up all with that saying of the great and holy Patriarch of Alexandria, in his apology to the Emperor Constantius, {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, &c. The prayer of the people in the place of prayer is an holy and decent exercise, by which our affections are the more united, and God the more easily entreated; In a word, when we have done preaching to you, and you have given over hearing us; The last anchor that you will lay hold on, in your last hour, when you are rendering your spirits to him that gave them, will be the prayers of the Minister, to be your Vade mecum, and to accompany your souls towards heaven.  
FINIS.