printer's device with laurel wreath.  
Anti-Boreale. AN ANSWER TO That Seditious and Lewd piece of Poëtry, UPON Master CALAMY's late Confinement, Supposedly His who wrote ITER BOREALE   

ANTI-BOREALE.  

What he? whose early loyal Muse awoke,  
When the late Rebel Snaky-bed was broke?  
He, who first met and welcomed in the  
KING,  
Does he now offer thus to hiss and sting  
That Breast that warmed him? when poor Snake, so i'll  
And shivering, was un-holed from Ayno-hill;  
Where he fed high, perfumed the Owner out,  

B— Gout, took My Fat Body for his Diocese.  And got that grease he boasts of, with his * Gout;  
There grew his body gross, and those plump jollops  
(If any) sure are sequestration-collops.   

A strange & strong perfume, the good man flees,  
Ticed in his stead, these Goblin Asmodees.  
You, that would get others more wholesome rooms,  

B— The place called for your presence.  Come buy some of these Calamites* perfumes:  
Two or three grains, i'th' black Box, strewed by Kyrk, 
— Prisons want perfuming—   
Or Millington's hard hand, would do the work:  
Good at infection, 'tis well known he has been;  
Would his perfumes breathe th' City sweet again!   

If Man of Paradise must be divest,  
Enter some Cherub, any thing but Beast.  
This Serpent, whom our KING so newly warmed  
With favours, one had thought enough t'have charmed;  

B— I send— Your Newgate fate  Behold here, howon* Newgates old hard sides,  
As Solomon's Serpent, on a Rock he glides  

Not to Condole, but—  W●th his glib Verse; yet unlike that, do shine  
Plain tracks of Treason, left in every Line.   

Can this be thought that Boreale? who  
'Fore England's friend, so merrily rani●th' Snow?  
By his officious fancy's, squibbling rate  
Of Versifying, held open every Gate?  
Who Laqueyed once to th' Glory of this Age,  

B— I am the Elder Jail-bird—  That Muse now turns Canary Jail-birds * Page;  
One, leapt up in the grossest perjury,  

— This Page I send you, Sir—  Thick as his Newgate bars or walls can be;  
Who, if ne'er felt the Prison seal, nor brand  

B— You are the Greatest Pickpocket, ere came there.  On either shoulder, or more guilty * hand.  
Who bored those * Slaves seduced ears among  

B— These Presbyterian Slaves—  Whom he conversed, aught to be burnt i'th' tongue.   

But wonder not; this Newgate compliment,  
Him Boreale speaks, more than was meant.  
For though great GEORGE moved Southward; all now know  
Wyld's fancy hanging Kyrkward, North did go.  
So sure he meant his Subject should, and thought  
Him beyond Tweed, when he's to London brought;  
Where after some contests, in safety got,  
He proves true English, whom Wyld fancied Scot   

This rank Deceiver's thus deceived, who  
At once mistook subject and 
* Omnis motus denominatur à termino Ad Quem— T. Aquin.  title too.  
For he that reads this Poet, and that Verse,  

So that it could not be entitled ●●er Bereale, but Australe, rather.  Must like the Hebrew, backward both rehearse.  
No marvel then thus fare mistakes have been;  
He was in's business out, and we, in him.   

But now he clearly speaks himself indeed,  
One of Geneva-Basan Bulls fat breed,  
Good commons, gentle Lords, and Charles le Bon,  

B— Your Newgate fate Not to Condole, but to Congratulate.  Matter for Mirth's * congratulation.  
Are your severest Edicts; Look about;  
Your strongest Prisons, will be broke without  

— You Loaded are with Happiness  More oft than from within; storm, scale. No course  

B— Newgate or Hell were Heaven, if—  Too hard their* Newgate heaven to take by force:  
* Saints and good Angels there be, we are given  

B— Good Men, Good Women and Good Angels come—  To under stand; and where they are, is heaven:  
Then, by Divine and Humane Story'ts told  
Your iron-gates fly ope' to them and gold,  

B— You are more blest In Peter's Chain, than Chair.  'Tis Peter's * chain; be't so; there might he bide,  
Till that good Angel came, and smote his side.  
Prison so rich, gain may our Doctor Gout  

B— You Walk, Drink, Eat,  You need not bolt him in, but others out.   


I want them all, and ne'er a penny get.  Indeed half eyes may ken by th' rhyming close  

B— They give you such a Rich Imprisonment.  His Gout in Verse, prove's Dropsy plain in Prose.  
See his base Muse concluding, wags the tail,  

— May I come Keep the door,  * Proclaim's Hydropic thirst for some rich Jail  
T●enjoy the angry gods; be wealthy made  

Then farewell Pars'nadge, I shall ne'er be poor.  In spite; roit'n Medlars thrive most in this shade.   

Honour's accumulate, you grudge not at,  

B— I Envy not the Mitred men their places.  Nor * envy; 'tis confessed Sir, y'are too fat.  
Some Steepled up to Heaven; others know well  

B—To see them Steeple upon Steeple set  Downwards to build, Oath upon Oath, to Hell;  
Better, more Churches on just ground; than cull  

* As if they meant that way to heaven get.  One built on slaughtered or sequestered skull;  
If more by Laws indulgence, b' others Dole  
Their one be sure shall be a Capitole.   

But why to them should we thus speak of Law,  
When none but lawless gobs go down their maw?  

— Take into their Gills  Yet mark; not food, but * Physic; This is said,  

B— A Dose of Churches, as men swallow Pills.  Others best morsels are their daily bread.  
Ill-favoured cures, like lean Cows, stood untouched;  
All fat ones these Kyrk-flesh-hooks soon had clutched.  

B— Hundreds of us turn out of House & homeyou being dead in Law.  House and home (so you whine it) ye are turned out;  
Remember who began this rambling bout.  
Then 'twas (near twenty years ago, we gather)  

B— did Walk & Haunt your Church as if you'd Scare  You * scared Church-Prayers hence; Murdered Our FATHER.  

Away the Reader and his Com. Prayer.  And if in time Our SOVEREIGN heed don't take,  
You'll CHARLES the First Him, GLORIOUS KING to Make.   


B— Gowt-has me now in hand-  Repent; think of Adonibezeck's crumbs;  

— For Heretics will burn my Toes.  Howe'er some sped, bless God, you have your * thumbs  

B— They Swim in Wine— Richer faces-  And * toes too, though in pain, to chide perchance  
(You that * taunt others) your intemperance.  

B— May it be so, till that your Foes Repent-  But all in vain; this Presbyterian way,  
It seems, must have their Foes repent, not they.   


B—Who thinks an Injury is done  Hardhearted Foes; with eyes in water stood,  

By an Eclipse to the unspotted Sun?  Come, see this * great ' clypse, not like coal, but blood.  
Beside those murderous Morphews, that bloodshed  
Wherewith these City-dogs tongues are most red:  

B—Who by that Black upon his Brow  That * black sedition, hanging on his lips,  
Creates this Sun of yours a foul Eclipse,  
Th' Handkerchief he last Preached in, pulled ore's face,  
More perfect interposure, than that place,  

B— allure's Spectators more, and so do you.  And* Gazer's more would draw; give your mind to't,  
You need not doubt at all, but Dunne can do't.   

These fire-Globes fitt'st intelligence, he, to swing,  
And each their proper Apogaeums bring  
Higher by th' head in sin, hath been your station,  
So should be your deserved exaltation.  

B— We your Brethren poor Erratiques be;  Well may we you * low vagrant Planets ken,  

— You as a Fixed Star, we see.  You'll ne'er be rightly * fixed Stars, till then.   


— Gowt-visits every Limb  ' Pelled out with Egypt's plagues if that we be,  
This is our healing, and reforming tree.  

B— Down I go next Visitation  Poor man, his pains, fits, * visitation ended  
* Half-hour to th' purpose, may be here* suspended.  

— Gout This half year has Suspended me.  Off go your Jayl-bolts, Sir; Lord Gout is gone:  
This is a ne'er failing Catholicon,  
If well applied; what you say, * Graves can't do,  

B— These Presb. Slaves Will not give over Preaching in their Graves.  Will cure all mal'dyes, * and your Preaching too;  
A thing by Villains marred, to such misshaping;  
If Jails want * perfumes, Pulpits sure want scraping.  

B-Prisons do want Perfuming most of all.  Well, if both serve to free them and the Pews,  

B-Item you played the Thief—  From deeper eating Leprosyes than Jews.   


But your greatest Theft you. Acted in the Church.  As for your * thieveries; 'tis granted, on due search  
We find them greatest in and upon the Church;  

B-Bishop and Ld Mayor Have turned a Den of Thiefs t'an House of Prayer  Where your longest Prayers thieve most; an't may be so,  
Newgate's both * Den and Oratory too.  
This Thief devout, th' old pocking-picking arts  

B-You stolen men's hearts away.  Still using, gets sure somewhat else than * hearts.  
Chief at Church-robbing, spreads his Pulpit-toyles;  
Spoons, bowls, hand-ear-rings; those Egyptian spoils,  
Melts to a Calf, whose horns in time, must fling  
And toss up House of Lords, and gore the King;  
One blow was Independent; Caesar bore  
Twenty two Presbyterian stabs before.  

B— Thanks to the Bp—— Seer S—  But still these short-cloked carrion Crows, the * eyes  
First peck; that boys may lead, mock and despise  
Our Church, like blinded Samson; whose rude strength  
Must needs pull ruin on itself at length.  
Right Pharaoh's blackbirds. Th' White-Top Baskets Eye,  
Stock at those Church well baked-meats, there they spy;  
One for his goodness, wisdom, care, so great,  
(Boaz an Jachin both) high, as his seat:  
For shame gives some breath, spare this Age and Men,  
In times un-taught you, run th' old Round again.   

Si Natura negat, tamen Indignatio Versum  
Qualemcunque facit—    

A DISCOURSE Occasioned by M R Calamies LATE SERMON, ENTITLED Eli trembling for fear of the Ark.  1 CHRON. 16.1. 
So they brought the Ark of God, and set it in the midst of the Tent that David had pitched for it; and they offered burnt Sacrifices and Peace-Offerings before God.  
IT is the felicity of affliction, that when it will suffer us to find relief in nothing else, it drives us unto God for refuge: And the distressed soul, that she may lay the stronger engagement for her succour upon God, she doth usually lay a strict obligation of gratitude upon herself. In his troubles David swore unto the Lord, and vowed a vow unto the Almighty God of Jacob. 
a Psal. 132.2.  A Vow that could not but meet with a very gracious accepration; for thus he resolves, I will not come within the Tabernacle of my house, nor climb up into my bed. I will not give sleep to mine eyes, 
Ibid.  or slumber to mine eyelids, Until I find out a place for the Lord; an Habitation for the mighty God of Jacob: He would not enjoy any settlement in himself, till he had provided a settlement for the Ark of God.  
In this Vow his general aim was God's glory; but a collateral benefit would redound to himself by it; (for it is impossible we should entertain a design to please God, but to our own advantage) He had sometimes been driven into banishment through the severity of a jealous Prince, upon the suggestions of malicious Adversaries; but the gall and wormwood of his exile, was, his sequestration from the Ark, the holy Ordinances and worship of his God. When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me, 
Psal. 42.4.  for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the House of God; with the voice of joy and praise, with the multitude that kept holy day: But being now deprived of the comfort of this Communion, and of these Solemnities, he cries out, As the Hart panteth after the water Brooks, 
Verse 1, 2.  so panteth my soul after thee O God. My soul their steth for God, for the living God, When shall I come and appear before God? This, this was the bitterness of his ex●●e, the saddest strain and burden of his lamentation. As soon therefore as he comes to be possessed of peace, as the fruit of those many Victories wherewith Almighty God had Crowned him, 
2 Sam. 7.1.  He resolves to perform his former Vow, and tender it as a Peace-offering to the God of his Salvation. Now the Sovereign power is in his hands, and the Kingdom at his disposal, nothing shall excommunicate him from the visible symbols of Gods gracious presence. 
C. 6.16.  The City of David shall be the Seat of God's solemn worship; and a Tent shall be prepared, wherein the sacred Ark shall keep its Residence; and all Israel shall be invited to wait upon the Solemnity of its Inthronization; So they brought the Ark of God, etc.  
In which words we have three general Parts. 

1. The Transportation or Conduct of the Ark: So they brought the Ark of God.  
2. The Situation or placing of it: And (they) set it in the midst of the Tent that David had pitched for it.  
3. The Gratulation or  for it; And they offered burnt Sacrifices and Peace offerings before God.    
The Object of all this Care, this Indeerment and joy, is the Ark of God: Touching which I should give you an account of three things; The Structure; The Furniture; And the Signification of it; But of all these the great Apostle had not leisure enough to speak particularly; no more have I: 
Heb. 9.5.  But I shall say what may be sufficient, by way of Introduction to a needful Discourse, for the undeceiving a miserably-cheated and seduced people.  
1. For the Structure of the Ark; It was to be of Shittim Wood, a most solid Wood, that would not putrify: and that was to be over-laid with beaten Gold; for as God delights in the incorruption and purity of things and persons Dedicated to his Service; So he desires to make the Monuments of his own Love and Mercy everlasting to us.  
It was styled the Ark of the Covenant, because it contained the Law, 
1 Kings 8.21.  which was the Condition upon which God did Espouse that people, and promise to make them happy.  
2. It was styled The Ark of the Testimony, because it was the Evidence of Gods Will and Counsel; and was ready also to make out Evidence and give Testimony against Transgressors. 
* Mendaz. in 1 Reg. 4.11. p. 202. 2 A.  Si quis alicujus sceler is conscius accedebat, impunitus non abibat: If any guilty person did approach it, it would not let him departed unpunished. When Moses had made a Conquest of the Madianites, he made an order, that amongst the women that were taken Prisoners, 
Num. 31.17, 18  the Virgins only should be reprieved from death: But how did they make the discrimination? The Hebrews tell us, that, being all presented before the Ark, the Virgins remained as inviolate as their chastity; the rest were struck with an invisible violence, and fell before the Majestatick presence of it. And such was the lottery that discovered the Theft and Sacrilege committed at Jericho; when all the Israelites marched by as innocent and unconcerned, the Ark did deprehend and arrest the guilty Achan; 
Josh. 7.14.  he could not quit himself of the miraculous seizure, nor deny this  accusation.  
3. It is styled The Ark of God, because God was the Author and Founder of it; He prescribed the parts and the matter, the form and the fashion, the use and the service of it; He conferred the grace and benefits that did flow from it: This was his Seat 
a Psal. 99.1. , his Habitation 
b Psal. 74.7. , his Court 
c Psal. 84.10. , his Throne 
d Jer. 17.12. , his place of residence 
e Psal. 31.20. , where he did vouchsafe his gracious presence, and is therefore dignified with the title of Jehovah 
f Num. 10.35. Psal. 68.1. .  
And in re●erence to the people Israel, this Ark was their Glory, their Strength, their Beauty: The Glory is departed from Israel, 
g 1 Sam. 4.  saith the wife of Phineas, when the Ark of God was taken: And the Psalmist saith, God delivered their strength into Captivity, and their beauty into the Enemy's hands 
h Psal. 78.61. . If they wanted direction, here they had the Oracle 
i Exod. 25.22.  here they were admitted to conference with God himself; There I will meet with thee, (saith the Lord to Moses) and I will commune with thee, from above the Mercy seat, from between the two Cherubins, which are upon the Ark of the Testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the Children of Israel. And because they were worthily admired among all Nations for the Laws and Ordinances 
* Deut. 4.6.  which they thus received, this might very well be called their Glory; (not to mention the lustre of the Ark itself, or the splendour of Divine Majesty that appeared in it.) If they wanted protection, here they had an host of Angels, they invincible Chariots of God, to pitch their Tents about them, represented by the Cherubins over-shadowing the Mercy-seat with their outstretched wings; upon which account the Ark is called their strength: And if they were defiled and wanted pardon, here they had the Propitiatory, and the Mercy-seat; and because that soul is blessed and amiable in God's eye whose sin is covered and blotted out, therefore the Ark was styled their beauty.  
This Ark did adumbrate the Mystery of the Incarnation 
* Nicetus apud Greg. Nazian, Orat. 43. Tho. 1 2ae. 102.4.6. in Col. 2. Heb. 1.  It was a Type of Christ, in whom the course wood was overlaid with pure gold, in that the fullness of the Godhead dwelled in him bodily. He is the Oracle of his Church; for God spoke to us by his own Son, in whom were hid not the Tables of the Law only, but all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. He is the Mercy-seat, and the Propitiatory; for God hath set him forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood: 
Rom. 3.25.  And he hath prostrated Dagon, and cut off his hands and head, 
1 Sam. 5.4.  in that he hath defeated the designs and dissolved the works of the Devil. In him we have the Cherubins adoring him 
* Heb. 1.6. ; and their wings to shelter us 
† John 1. ult.  The Angels ascending and descending upon the Mystical body of the Son of man, 
Heb. 1. ult.  to minister to such as shall be Heirs of Salvation. He is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 
1 Cor. 1. Luke 1.  and is the glory of his people Israel.  
2. This Ark is a Type of the Church, 
* Jo. Gerhard, Loc. Com. de leg. Cer. c. 2. Sect. 2. mihi. p. 261.  which is the Repository of the holy Scriptures, and the Ordinances of divine Worship; Where the Angels incamp; where the Counsel of God is revealed; where Mercy and Pardon are dispensed.  
3. This is a Type of the Gospel 
† Jo. Botsac. prompt. Allegor. 1506. 1. , which is the word of wisdom, and the mind of Christ 
* 1 Cor. 2.16. 1 Pet. 1.12. ; a mystery which the Angels desire to look into; and so it answers to the Oracle; It is the pledge of our peace, the word of Reconciliation; and so answers to the mercy-Seat: It is the Magazine and Armoury, whence we are furnished with arms and strength for our Christian warfare: It puts upon us the whole Armour of God, the Shield of faith, the breastplate of righteousness, the Helmet of salvation: This was the Israelites Palladium and Sanctuary; It divided the waters of Jordan, demolished the Walls of Jericho, prostrated Dagon, and redeemed it self out of captivity, when the wicked Israelites had exposed it to the scorn and triumphs of the uncircumcised; representing hereby the Majesly of the Holy Gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation, pulling down strong holds; drying up the inundations of sin and misery, which stand in our way to Heaven; prompting, and pressing, and enabling us to work out our own salvation: In a word, it did not signify less, and it could not well signify more, than God did really exhibit by it; It hallowed every place where it stood, and blessed every person that was qualified to receive a blessing from it: This makes David so enamoured of it, and all his subjects so ready to conduct it; So they brought the Ark, etc.  
In this Transportation or Conduct of the Ark, we have two things to be inquired after: 1. Who they were that did conduct it? 2. How, or after what manner, they did conduct it?  
1. Who they were? The Text saith, That David gathered all Israel together to Jerusalem, to bring up the Ark of the Lord unto his place, which he had prepared for it: 
1 Chron 15.3, 4, 5.  And David assembled the children of Aaron and the Levites: So David and the Elders of Israel, and the Captains over thousands, went to bring up the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. Where we are to consider, 1. By whose Authority and example it was Transported; By David the King's: 2. Under whose Inspection and Ministry; The Priests and Levites: 3. With what Train and Attendants; Here were the Elders, and the Captains over thousands, and all their Companies; for there were Thirty thousand chosen men of Israel, 2 Sam. 6.1. when the Ark was to be Carted to the City of David; and sure there were as many now.  
1. By whose Authority and Example the Ark was Conducted or Translated; 
I. The King.  The people might not do it of their own head; no nor yet the Elders; they had no Warrant for it; It was done by David's, by the King's Authority and Example: It was observed by the Philosopher, that the King ought to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the Supreme Governor of things that pertain to divine Worship: The Model of this Ark was at first given by God to Moses; it was his Concern to see it made, being the Supreme Governor; and David's to see it kept. The highest Honour the Royal Office entitles Princes to, is, to be Defenders of the Faith; Indeed Princes may do much to the advantage of Religion, as well by the encouragement of their Example, as by their Authority; and it is their interest to do their uttermost; for, 
1. Sam. 2.  Those that honour me will I honour, saith the Lord; And it is said of Lycurgus, that he commanded nothing in his Laws that he did not confirm by his example; and of Agesilaus, it is said, that he first of all performed that himself which he did enjoin to others; and David will not only make one, but lead the Dance in this holy Solemnity; and invite others by the force of his example; I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth: 
Psal. 34.1, 2, 3.  My soul shall make her boast of the Lord: The humble shall hear thereof and be glad: O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together: When such eminent persons shall advance the Standard of Piety, 
Ecclus. 10.2.  a plentiful train will follow: As the Judge of the people is himself, so are his Officers; and what manner of man the Ruler of the City is, such are all they that dwell therein: But the ill precedent finds most followers; men learn soon to write after a foul Copy; Good examples, for the most part, gain more reverence than imitation: It is not enough therefore for a Prince to commend Piety by his Example; old Eli did so much; He must Imprint it by the Royal Stamp of his Authority: And to go regularly to work, he must in the first place, exercise his Authority in settling the Hierarchy of the Church, under whose inspection and Ministry the Ark is to be conducted; and thus did David, 1 Chron. 15.11, 12. And David called for Zadok and Abiathar, the Priests, and for the Levites; for Uriel, Asaiah and Joel, Shemaiah, and Eliel, and Aminadab, And said unto them, Ye are the chief of the Fathers of the Levites; sanctify yourselves both, ye and your brethren, that ye may bring up the Ark of the Lord God of Israel unto the place that I have prepared for it.  

II. The Hierarchy of Priests and Levites.  This was the Hierarchy under whose Inspection and Ministry the service of the Ark was to be accomplished; wherein three things are considerable. 1. Their Consecration and Sanctity. 2. Their Subordination and Inequality. 3. Their Regulation and Conformity.  
1. Of their Consecration and Sanctity: It was not enough for them to be of the Tribe of Levi, (though God had taken that Tribe instead of the firstborn 
* Numb. 3.6. with 12.  of every Family, to minister unto him) there was a solemn separation of their persons to the sacred Office: They were to be solemnly Anointed, Consecrated and Hallowed, to minister in the Priest's Office 
a Exod. 19 ●. Numb. 3.3. : and the Levites were to be cleansed & solemnly dedicated before the Lord, that they might execute the service of the Lord 
b Numb. 8.3. & 11. ; and this was required indispensably, under pain of death 
c Numb. 3.10. : And besides this Consecration of their persons, there was a prefatory sanctifying, by way of preparation unto the address, before they did officiate, 1 Chron. 15.14. So the Priests and Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the Ark of the Lord God of Israel.  
2. For their Subordination and Inequality; this commenced with the Ark itself, by Gods own immediate Order: Aaron, as a Type of Christ, was head of all; but Eleazar and Ithamar (no such Types (to be sure) in Aaron's life time) though under him, had very large jurisdictions; all the Levites were under their inspection and command, Numb. 3.4.  
Besides the family of Aaron, there were the Families of Cohath, Gershon, and Merari: Of Cohath there were four Families, and each family had its Chief, or Ruler; and over all these was Elizaphan 
d Numb. 3.30. : Of Gershon there were two families; and each of them had its head; and over both these was Eliasaph 
e Numb. 3.24. : Of Merari were two families; and each of them had its hiad; and over these was Zuriel 
f Ib. vers. 35. : Now all the Gershonites, with their Heads or Precedents, which were 2630. And all the Merarites, with their Guides or Precedents, which were 3200. were under Ithamars' inspection, Numb 4.28. & 33. Eleazar had his own family, with the Fathers and Heads thereof: And the Cohathites, with the Rulers thereof (in number 2750.) as his peculiar Diocese: But besides this, he had a general jurisdiction over all the rest; He was Primate (under Aaron) over 8580. Priests and Levites; and therefore he is styled Princeps Principum, or Prelatus Prelatorum; the Prelate of the Prelates, or, which is all one, Chief over the Chief, Numb. 3.32. And all matters that belonged to the service of God were generally under his care and inspection, Numb. 4.16.  
This Subordination and Inequality did continue to the days of David, as appears in the place before mentioned, 1 Chron. 15.11, 12. Zadok and Abiathar, the Priests, were above all the Heads of Levites; and there was an inequality between the two Priests too; Abiathar attended the Ark at Jerusalem, 
2 Sam. 15.29. 1 Chro. 16.39.  the higher function; and Zadok, the Tabernacle at Gibeon. There was a first and second even amongst the high Priests, 2 Kings 25.18. And how exactly David settled this Hierarchy in its state of Subordination and Inequality, (when 38000. were put into 24. Courses, under so many Precedents; and all these under the Jurisdiction and Government of Zadok and Ahimelech) you may find at large, 1 Chron. 23, 24, 25, & 26. Chapters; more particularly and concisely, 1 Chron. 24.3, 4, & 5. verses. The Governors of the Sanctuary, and of the House of God, were of the Sons of Eleazar, and of the Sons of Ithamar; and the Offices were distributed for the sacred service: But of the Sons of Eleazar there were sixteen Chiefs under Zadok; and but eight of the Sons of Ithamar under Ahimelech: This leads us to  
3. Their Regulation and Conformity: The Priests in their Courses applied themselves to their service; and the Levites to their Charges, to praise and minister before the Priests, 
2 Chron. 8.14.  as the duty of every day required: Not a Nonconformist amongst them: What part of the holy Function was assigned them they carefully observed, and kept their station and decorum exactly according to the tenor of the sacred Canon: And that they might have no encouragement or pretence to do otherwise, this Hierarchy of the Church was supported by a double provision: 1. Of Maintenance. 2. Of Discipline.  
1. Their Maintenance did not depend upon the liberality of the people; they had an honourable allowance settled by Law, by a divine, inviolable right; So that they had no temptation to hurry the Ark after the humour of the people; to gratify either their needs or their avarice; Having the Lord for their portion, they disdained, with a generous contempt, to betray the honour and interest of the Ark, or the confidence and good meaning of well disposed people, to gain the little imposts and bribery, and filthy lucre: And  
2. In case of Exorbitancy, there was a Coercive power in that Hierarchy, to punish the disorderly person, according to the quality of his offence; not only with spiritual penalties, as suspension from the holy Function 
a Fzra 2.62. , and Excommunication from the holy Offices of the Church 
b Eze 10.8. John 12.42. ; but with corporal punishments also, as imprisonment 
c Jer. 10.2. Cap. 29, 26. ; and in some cases, with pain of death 
d Deut. 17.12. : This Maintenance and Discipline kept up Order and Conformity amongst them: So that under the Authority and influence of David, the King, you have the Priests and Levites marshaled, the Hierarchy of the Church ready to attend the procession and solemn service of the Ark.  

III. The Train and Attendants.  But a private Office, performed by the Priest and Levite, or the Priest and his Clerk, will not serve David's turn; He must have the Ark conducted in such an Equipage as becomes the divine Majesty it represented; and to this end he summoned his Elders and Captains, and the chosen men of Israel, to make up a Train of Attendants for this great Solemnity.  
First, The Elders; Christ's Government differs from that of other Princes; 
Nicet. in Greg. Naz. Orat. 19  The Government was upon his shoulders; but the Government is too great a burden for the feeble shoulders of other Princes; Mose's shoulders did shrink under it: They are glad therefore of auxilaries to assist them; and such are their Elders and their Captains: But judgement is to be used in the choice of These; For in the Machina or Engine of Polity, the lower Wheels, to which the people are more immediately affixed, have the strongest impulse into their motion: The great Wheel of Sovereign Authority, let it move never so orderly, if the motion of subordinate Magistrates be irregular, the force of their ill example will h●ve a more powerful influence upon the people, and carry their inclinations after it: Hereupon Jethro adviseth Moses to make choice of men fearing God, to be subordinate Magistrates; and David exhorteth not only Kings in their own persons, but such as are put in Authority under them, Psal. 2. Be wise now therefore O ye Kings, be instructed ye that are Judges of the earth, serve the Lord with fear; and kiss the Son lest he be angry: Princes are the more concerned to have an eye to Piety and virtue in their Officers; because the people think, for the most part, that they may read the Prince's inclinations in their practices 
† Syrae. 10.1. : Spots in the Sun and Moon are better discovered by observing them in their Reflexes and Images in the water, then by looking upon their own bodies in their Motions: In consideration whereof, as well for reason of sta●e as conscience, David might resolve as he doth, Psal 101.6. Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: He that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me; It is to be presumed, that as it was in Ezekiel's Vision; 
Cap. 1.  these Wheels of Subordinate Governors do move according to the motion of the Spirit that is in the living Creature, the original and vital Fountain of Authority. God takes of the spirit of Moses, and puts it upon those Elders that were to share with him in the burden of the Government under him; Some other giddy spirit might have ●…t the whole frame of Government into disorder and confusion; but being acted by the same spirit with Moses, they aim at the same end, and carry on the same design, to God's glory and the welfare of the people; 
Numb. 11.25. Lopid. 16.  When the spirit of Moses rested upon them, they Prophesied and did not cease; that is, Ex Dei instinctu Deum, De●que laudes celebrabant; they were inspired to celebrate the praises of the Almighty. The Elders that Rule well under a pious Prince, they do correspond and comply with him in his Devotions; as those Elders in the Revelation did with the four Beasts; (which are conceived to be the four Evangelists) when those Beasts gave glory and honour to him that sat upon the Throne, Then the twenty four Elders fell down before him that sat upon the Throne, 
Revel. 4.9, 10.  and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever: Such were these Elders here, they did comply with David to attend the Ark in this Solemn Procession.  

3. The Captains.  And so did the Captains too; not for fashion sake, I witted, or merely to pay a civil homage to their Prince, (like Naaman, when he went into the house of Rimmon) but out of devotion; For Soldiers may be Religious; we read of one Centurion that had a prodigious faith, I have not found so great faith no not in Israel; of another commended for his worthy piety; He loveth our nation, and hath built us a Synagogue; of another whose devotions soared so high upon the wings of his alms and fasting; 
Acts 10.  that they procured him an extraordinary visitation of kindness from Almighty God: Soldiers are the sinews of a Kingdom; if they be lax and dissolute through intemperance and effeminacy, the state of that Kingdom is but feeble; if they be cut asunder by Factions and Divisions, it has no strength at all, but enough to enable it to tumble and wallow in its own gore. To strengthen these sinews there is no such Anodyne as Religion; and indeed, if Soldiers be not Religious, how will they serve their Prince, either for the Lords sake, or for conscience sake? Atheism cancels the two strongest obligations of a subjects duty and Allegiance: Gallantry will carry but few to the Gates of death for the safety and honour of their Prince; and if interest be all the engagement he hath upon his Soldiers, that may be bought off; the best Exchequer, the fullest Purse will carry it: If his Captains be not Religious, the Prince cannot be so confident of their fidelity, to be sure not of their valour and success; for through faith the servants of God waxed valiant in fight, 
Heb. 11.33, 34.  put to flight the Armies of the aliens, and subdued Kingdoms; They got not the victory 0141 0110 V 3 through their own strength, neither was it their own arm that saved them; but it was the aid and favour of the Deity whom they adored: Hereupon the Psalmist saith, I will not trust in my bow, it is not my Sword that shall help me; but it is thou (O God) that savest me, and puttest them to confusion that hate me: Non eripio Magistratui arma, non praecido Consilia. 
Typotius de Salut. Reipub. p. 242.  His enim Resp. stat, illis defenditur: I do not disarm the Magistrate of his Militia, nor cut off his Counsel; for the Common-weal is upheld by the one, and defended by the other. At quovis rerum Statu absque Dei Numine nihil recte geritur; desperatis rebus, quid subsidii reliquum est, Si non Deus praepotens atque immortalis? In the best state of things nothing is well done without God's assistance; but when things are grown desperate, what Anchor to hold is steady? what Sanctuary to flee to but only the defence of the Almighty? Some put their trust in Chariots, and some in Horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. They are brought down and fallen, 
Psal. 20.7; 8.  but we are risen and stand upright; David therefore will have no Soldiers to be of his Guard, but such as have a devotion for the Ark of God: And where there is such a Prince after Gods own heart, such a conformable Priesthood, such Religious Elders, such devout and zealous Soldiers, we may be confident of an orderly, well-affected people; for it is the Irregular Priest, and the Seditious Elder, and the Factious Soldier, that does distract and imbroil a Kingdom, and fill it with disorder and confusion. In a word, to shut up this Scene of our Discourse; When a Prince comes newly to his Throne and the possession of his Kingdom, all Degrees and Orders of men, under his Dominion, address themselves, to make their recognition of his Authority, and pay their homage to him. Why, now the Ark of God was a going to be enthroned in Zion, and take possession, as it were, of its Kingdom; and therefore David will have all his Subjects, of what rank or quality soever, present themselves to acknowledge and perform their respective Duty; the Priests to devote their zeal and diligence; the Elders their Counsel and Authority; the Captains their strength and valour; and all the people their fidelity and obedience, to the Royal Prerogative thereof. Thus we have given you an account of the first Quaere, who they were that did Transport or Conduct this Ark, in this pregnant Relative, They; So They brought.  
2. How they did Transport and Conduct it? 1. With what Carriage or Instruments? 2. With what Pomp and Solemnity? (in which (as in the other general parts that are to follow) I must be more brief, that I may come timely to the pitch of my design, the Application.)  
1. With what Carriage and Instruments? To set the Ark of the Covenant upon a Cart, and commit it to the blind conduct of a pair of Kine, was somewhat tolerable in the Philistims, who had no Priests that were rightly dedicated to the most high God: And they had so much reverence to it, as to set it upon a Cart that had not been overworn in the service of the world, in the drudgery of their secular employments; a new Cart will less profane it then the shoulders of an old uncircumcised Philistine: They had so much care and reverence too, as to commit it to the conduct of such Kine, as being sent from their Calves, would be sure not to hurry it on too fast, to run it into the danger of an utter overthrow: It might have fallen into the hands of some men much more rash, unreasonable, and headstrong: But yet, that this new Cart and those Kine should carry it as they did, was not without a miracle, as the Learned think. When the Ark is within the confines of Israel, where there are Priests anointed and hallowed to attend upon it, to Cart it then, whether out of sloth, or negligence, out of irreverence or carelessness, out of Faction or Inconformity, is such an intolerable contempt and profanation, as God will not let go unpunished. David doth acknowledge that the breach which was made upon them by the death of Uzzah, was for this disorder, (1 Chron. 15.13. for God will have things performed in their due order in his service) and that affliction was an instruction to him; and m●de him apprehend that none ought to carry the Ark but the Priests and Levites 
* 1 Chron. 15.2. & 2 Chron. 5, 4, 5. and Josh. 3.6. , whom the Lord had chosen for that Ministry; And well might they undertake it; for the Ark of God was not like the Idols of Egypt, aburden to the weary Beast 
† Isa. 46.1. : it did not oppress or wring the Priests shoulders; for, the Text saith, The Lord helped them to bear it, 1 Chron. 15.26. Such is God's goodness, if we will but seriously endeavour it, we cannot want a sufficient assistance to perform our expected duty. Thus you see with what Carriage or Instruments the Ark was transported. But  
2. With what pomp and solemnity; and of this, we may observe that it was very great, but withal very pious, very decent, very delightful, and very cordial. 1. A pious solemnity; It began with an accustomed Form of Prayer; for so Moses had taught them, when the Ark advanced, to say, 
* Num. 10.35. Psal. 68.1, 2.  Rise Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered. To their Prayers they added Sacrifice, 1 Chron. 15.26. A Sacrifice of thanksgiving, that God did vouchsafe not only to spare the Levites, whereas he had smitten Uzzah; but also to assist them in their Ministry; and that their devotions might be the more rational, they make them intelligible by a Psalm of praise newly penned, on purpose to adorn the pomp of this solemnity, 1 Chron. 16.7. etc.  
2. It was a decent Solemnity; 
1 Chron. 15. 2●  for David was clothed with a robe of fi●e linen, and all the Levites that bore the Ark, and the Singers, and Chenaniah the Master of the Song, with the Singers; David also had upon him an Ephod of linen. 
See Eng. Annot. on Judg. 8.27. 1 Sam. 2.18. & on 2 Sam. 6.14,  The Ephod was an habit appropriated to God's Service: And there were two sorts of them; one very rich and costly, peculiar to the Highpriest, made of blue, purple, scarlet, and twined linen, cunningly wrought and embroidered with gold, of which, Exod. 28.4.6. the other was a vestment of linen for Priests and Levites, which others might freely use also (though we find it not where prescribed to them;) and such a one David used at this time, 
on 2 Sam 6.14.  (say the English Annotators) not only as being more light and fit for motion, but also to show his devotion in his religious Service. Here was decency, and a signification of devotion in the use of this garment; (I pray observe, and carry that home with you) and hereupon the Votaries of the Lamb of God are represented to St John, 
See. Dr. Ham. Notes upon Rev. 19.8.  as celebrating the solemn Service of God in the Christian Church in this habit, Revel. 19  
3. It was a delightful Solemnity: For, There was shouting, and the sound of the Cornet, and Trumpets and Cymbals, making a noise with Psalteries and Harps, 1 Chron. 15.28. God requires that his people should serve him with joy and gladness 
* Deut. 28.47. ; and as well to blow up and inflame that sacred fire, as to entertain and discover it, he allows the use of these bellows, Musical Instruments, as well as Voices. When our melody is spiritual, and does not degenerate into carnality and looseness; when the Holy Ghost is the Master of the Music, it is so great an advantage to our devotions, that we are exhorted, even under the New Testament, 
John. 4.  (where all the Worship of God is to be performed in Spirit and in Truth) even here, under the dispensation of the Gospel, we are exhorted to use it, to raise up our devotions, to the edification of ourselves and others: 
Eph. 5.18, 19 Col. 3.16.  Be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit: speaking to yourselves, and admonishing others in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs, singing (with your voice) and making mel●dy (with musical instruments) with grace in your hearts unto the Lord. And accordingly,  
4. This was a cordial Solemnity. There are a sort of men in the world, so rash, so uncharitable, so censorious, that they condemn all the Service that is performed to Almighty God with pomp and ceremony, or any show of solemnity, as merely formal and hypocritical. Let the practice of David upon this occ●sion confute their vain and false imaginations. It is a contradiction to say, the more there is of delight, the less there is of the soul in any service. David performed this duty not only with joy and gladness 
* 1 Chron. 15.25. 2 Sam. 6.12. , but with all his might; and the holy ecstasies of his soul caused a religious transportation and rapture in his body in these exercises; for he danced before the Lord with all his might 
† 2 Sam. 6.14. : When his heart danced so for joy, his body could not choose but sympathise in the passion, and dance in grave and comely measures with it: My heart and my flesh cryeth out for the living God, Psal. 84.2. When I went with the multitude into the house of God, I poured out my soul in me, saith he, Psal. 42.4. i e. I emptied myself of all earthly and carnal delights, 
Bellar. ad haec verba Psalmi.  that I might be filled with the pleasures of God's house; I expatiated and enlarged my desires and faculties, that I might be capable to receive the influences of so great a blessing. His body was in the dance with the decency of an Ephod; but his very heart and soul were in the joy of this holy procession; so cordial and so delightful, so decent and so pious was this Solemnity. And thus we have done with the first general part of the Text, the Transportation or Conduct of the Ark; So they brought the Ark of God: We come now to the second.  
2. The situation of it: And they set it in the Tent that David had pitched for it. This was in the City of David, 
2 Sam. 6.12.  a part of Jerusalem, where the Court was kept: David knew there was need of a sovereign Amulet against those temptations that do usually ●aunt and follow greatness: The splendour of a Court might possibly dazzle his eyes and make him forget his duty; 'tis good therefore to have the light thereof eclipsed by the greater splendour of a divine Majesty. The bands of Religion may be drawn so close and tied so fast about his soul upon the frequent sight of such a sacred Shrine as the Ark was, that nothing could easily puff it up, or make his spirits fly out into dissolution: The sight of this was apt to strike the heart with awe and reverence.  
2. But besides, David was certainly informed that the presence of the Ark had brought signal blessings, evidences of God's favour, upon the Family of Obed-Edom; and why should not he endeavour to share in the benefit, who had at least as good a Title as Obed-Edom to the Ark itself? 
1 Cor. 12.31.  To covet the best gifts, and that earnestly, is a very commendable part of our duty: To hunger and thirst after righteousness, after spiritual blessings, is a holy thirst and hunger: To be ambitious to be had in favour and in honour 
* 1 Chron. 17.18.  with the Divine Majesty, is a good ambition.  
3. If the Ark were leated here (in the City of David) whither the Tribes ascended for civil Justice, they might very commodiously receive the mysteries of Religion administered together with it; and the blessings that should be derived from the salutary presence of the Ark upon the Royal Family, would be of a more general concernment, like a fruitful inundation, which having its source from the top of some high mountain, waters all the valleys round about.  
2. David had here prepared for the Ark; and therefore it is said, 
2 Sam. 6.17.  imposuerunt eam in loco suo, they set it in his own place: For when a man passeth a surrender of any Thing or Place to the use of Almighty God, and appropriates it to his Worship by the act of a solemn dedication, God accepts of it, owns it, calls it his, and makes it holy; holy always, in relation, by his gracious acceptation of it, and holy sometimes, by a gracious manifestation of his presence in it; and than it is to be reverenced, not to be alienated, or converted unto any profane or common use. To this purpose we have these expressions in Holy Scripture; Go to my place which was in Shilo, where I put my name at the first, Jer. 7.12. My house shall be called the house of prayer: Mat. 21.13. Keep my Sabbaths and reverence my Sanctuary; Levit. 19.30. Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place where thou standest is holy ground, Exod. 3.5. to which alludes, Keep thy foot when thou comest into the house of God, Eccles. 5.1.  
Because the Ark had been placed in this City of David, and so had hallowed it, Solomon thinks it not fit, thinks it would be a profanation, to convert it into a Court for Pharaoh's Daughter, though his royal consort, 2 Chron, 8.11. And our Saviour's zeal was so strict in this point, he would not suffer any of them to carry their common Vessels thorough any part of the Temple, Mark 11.16. Have ye not houses to eat and to drink in, saith the Apostle, to such as profaned the place of God's worship, with intemperance, or despise ye the Church of God? 1 Cor. 11.22.  
3. In the Tent, or Tabernacle, which David had pitched. 
2 Sam. 6.17.  David did not make choice of a Tabernacle to save charges. He was ashamed to see himself live in more State, in respect of habitation, than God did; to see himself lodged in a Palace of Cedar, and the Ark between course Curtains: out of zeal therefore, he designed a House for the Lord, a House that should be exceeding magnifical, of fame and glory among all Countries, 1 Chro. 22.5. and although this was but a piece of will-worship in him, having as yet received no command or order, 
* 2 Sam. 7.7. 1 Chro. 17.6.  no direction or intimation for it; yet God accepts of this pious intendment, 1 Kings 8.18. and, since David had entertained the thoughts of a Temple, God would have it such a Temple (to honour the zeal of his designs) as should be a type of heaven, a type of the Church triumphant; 
† Rev. 11. 1●.  but then, though he had piously contrived it, David must not be allowed to build it; 
* 1 Chron. 22.6, to 10.  for David was a man of war, and heaven is to be prepared for us by the Prince of Peace; this work therefore must be reserved for Solomon. But for the Church militant, represented by a Tabernacle, 
* Rev. 21.2, 3.  always in a movable posture, subject to storms and deportations, a warlike Prince may protect and shelter, endow and adorn that, after this example of King David, who pitched a tent for the Ark of God.  
And now the Ark is brought under David's roof, I hope the Proverb is not verified in him; The nearer to Church, the further from God; I hope it is not for State and Pomp that he designs this neighbourhood 
* Beati qui merentur proximi esse Dco. Sed memento quod Scriptum est, qui approximant mihi, approximant igni. Origen. super Jes. Nau. Hom. 4. k.  with the Almighty: No, no, it is that he may gain an opportunity at hand, to celebrate the solemn service of God; which he doth therefore religiously handsel, with the Sacrifice of a dutiful gratulation; for [they offered burnt sacrifices and peace-offerings before God,] which is the last part of my Text.  
To be possessed of God, to sit under the shadow of his wings, to communicate in the Ordinances of his worship, and imbibe the influences of his Ministry, what an ineffable blessing! how much this Prince and People valued this enjoyment; how much their hearts were ravished with their success in this happy settlement, we may collect from their oblations; which were the best the Levitical Law had recommended; God did require, he did expect no better from them.  
We may take a threefold view of them. 1. In their nature or kind: Burnt sacrifices; what they were; peace-offerings, what they were: 2. In their conjuncture and association; burnt sacrifices and peace-offerings, together: 3. In their subordination and order; first, burnt sacrifices, and then, peace-offerings, before God.  
1. For their kind and nature: the  sacrifice was to be of the best in its kind; a male and without blemish; and (●hat I may, in brief, give you the History, and the Mystery, and the Morality of it) it was styled a Holocaust; because herein neither the Priest, nor the party that made the oblation, was to have any share; but it was wholly to be consumed by the sacred fire, that it might ascend up in flames, in reverence to the most high God.  
It was a Testification of God's Supreme Dominion over them; and so it was designed to make an acknowledgement of his Sovereignty to honour him; and it was a Recognition of their subjection, and dependency; and so it was designed, to make an atonement, to render him placid and gracious.  
The Offerer was to lay his hand upon the head of the Sacrifice to this effect, Levit. 1.4. He shall put his hand upon the head of the  offering, and it shall be accepted for him, to make atonement for him. By this Rite and Ceremony (of laying the hand upon the head of the Sacrifice) 1. He did transfer all his interest in it upon God, and dedicated it entirely to God's honour. 2. 
Manuum impositio symbolum oblationis crat, & testimonium reatus in hostiam translati. Euseb. apud Lapid. in Leu. 1.4.  He did hereby transfer the guilt of his own sin upon the Sacrifice, and devoted it, in his own head, to the wrath of God, for that guilt. 3. He did transfer the propriety and interest that he had in himself, and resigned it up, for the future, to God's service. This was the signification of that Rite and Ceremony.  
But there is a Mystery besides in this sacrifice; it was a Type and prefiguration of the spotless Lamb of God, who gave himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God, 
Ephes. 5.2.  for a sweet smelling Savour.  
And a twofold end was aimed at in that oblation; 1. God's Honour, 2. Our Atonement; for he did glorify God; 
† John 17.4.  and was the propitiation for our sins 
* 1 John 2.2. .  
And if David offered such a sacrifice to God, to shut up this great solemnity, it may teach us modesty and caution; not to be too confident, not to rely upon the worth of our own performances: but to suspect their imperfection, and our own failing in them. Job was afraid his sons might take a surfeit of pleasures in the freedom of their hospitable entertainment of one another; and therefore his care and piety did always apply a  offering to them for an Antidote, Job 1.5. it is not good to be too confident; verebar omnia opera mea; I was jealous of all my works, saith Job, 
* Job 9.28.  we may be surprised in our devotion; there may be iniquity in our holy things. Our spiritual sacrifices do not always ascend in so pure a flame, but some cloud may darken them. It is the Angels Additional incense offered up with the prayers of the Saints, 
Rev. 8: 3, 4.  upon the golden Altar, that makes them ascend like an acceptable perfume before the throne of God. David performed this service for the Ark of God with a most exquisite devotion: but lest some dead fly should be blown accidentally into this pot of precious ointment, lest some circumstantial miscarriage should have sullied the beauty, and blemished the perfection, and abated the worth of it, he adds the cautionary atonement of a  sacrifice.  
But, 2. if you look upon this Sacrifice, as designed to the honour of the Divine Majesty, abstracted from all consideration of making him propitious to the offerer; than it courts our devotions with this insinuation, that we are not our own; God hath an absolute dominion over us; and therefore we are wholly at his service, and aught to resign ourselves up entirely to his disposal; that no creature may share in that divine honour, which we so deservedly owe, and should as worthily render to him; for his glory he will not give unto another.  
2. The Peace-offering was a Sacrifice, whereof the blood and the fat went to the Altar 
* God was to have the fat that grew about the innardss, ●he Ki●●●ies with th● Cau●e that covered the Live, L v 3.3, 4. ; the breast and the right shoulder to the Priest; the rest was to be eaten by the Offerer. In this, the Priest and the people did communica e●wi● God, and with one another, like friends feasting together upon one and the same stock of entertainment. This oblation was offered, either by way of gratulation and thanks, for some benefit already received 
† ●ev 7 12, & 16. , (according to some former vow, voluntarily made to that purpose;) of which the Psalmist speaketh, Psal. 116.12.13 14. What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me? I will take the cup of salvation, 
The first ex grato animo.  and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord: now in the presence of all his people. 
The ●●●●d ex sp●imp●trandi. A●nsw Not. ad Psal. 116.13.  This cup wa● an attendant upon this oblation; for of the peace-offering they did communicate, and rejoice before the Lord, and took a cup of wine, which was called the cup of salvation and the cup of blessing; because they gave solemn thanks, and blessed God for his saving health and benefits.  
Or, 2. 
Gerhard, Loo. Come de leg. Cer. c 2 § 2.  This oblation was offered by way of Vote and Option for some ensuing favour. The Israelites had a just cause, but very ill success, 
Thom. 12. q. 102. ar. 3. ●. Ex debito beneficii, vel accipiendi, vel accepti.  in their expedition against the Benjamites. They received two de●ea●s with the loss of 40000 men; but that they might prevail with God to assist and prospero them in their next engagement, They came unto the house of God and wept, and sat there before the Lord, and fasted that day until Even, and offered burnt offerings and peace-offerings before the Lord, Judg. 20.26. and so 1 Chron. 21.26. here the design ●n these oblations, was to make atonement, and prevail for future peace and salvation.  
And methinks, in the very nature of these offerings there is an insinuation of the necessity of our perseverance, and of God's continual grace and assistance to that effect. The very same oblation was offered not only by way of gratulation, in thankfulness, for a benefit already past; but also by way of vow, for the impetration of one to come. When we arrive at heaven, our sacrifices shall be nothing else but the adoration of acknowledgements in a way of praise and thanksgiving: but while we are Militant here on earth, our praises are to be attended with atonement, and our thanksgivings with Litanies and supplications. We must not think that we have the goal presently, because me have God's blessing and assistance at our setting forth. We may begin well, and yet fall short of the mark; we may run, for a fit, a heat or two, and yet lose the prize: it is perseverance that wins the Crown; and God's grace that enables us to hold out to the attainment of it. The design of our peace-offerings therefore must be, not only to acknowledge the mercy of God, that did prevent us; but also to engage 
* Unde, Psal. 116.13. I will take the cup of salvation: and I will call upon the name of the Lord.  his favour, that it may follow us, all the days of our lives; and such were these oblations in the Text; they offered burnt sacrifices; they offered peace offerings, before the Lord. This for the nature and kind of their oblations.  
2. For the association and conjuncture of them:  sacrifices, and peace-offerings; God is to be adored and worshipped, for his own sake, out of reverence to his excellent Majesty; this is signified by the  sacrifice; 
† Hujusmodi enim sacrificium offerebatur Deo specialiter ad reverentiam majestatis ipsius, etc. Thom. ubi supra.  and he is to be adored and worshipped, out of Gratitude for his goodness towards us; this is signified by the peace-offering. The first is to give him praise; The second, to give him thanks; and whoso offereth me praise and thanks he honoureth me, Psal. 50. they are put both together there in the Psalm, and here upon the Altar. We must be mindful to acknowledge and honour God; and we must be mindful to relieve and save ourselves; but God's glory is to be sought in the first place; our own advantage in the second, and in a way of subordination to it. The  sacrifi●● first, and then the peace offering to second it; that is the third, the Order in these Oblations. God's interest must be preferred before our own; his glory before our salvation; and because God heareth not sinners, the atonement should be made first, to reconcile our persons, that our services of gratitude may find a gracious acceptation. 
Psal. 51.7, 9, 14, 19  Hence the Psalmist; Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; hid thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities: Deliver me from bloodguiltiness; and then, 
* Cum ego perfecte reparatus & justificatus fuero. Bellar, in Psal. 50.  when my atonement is thus made, then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of right cousness.  
And if they be offered up in the memory and virtue of Christ, that great Holocaust, through him, God will accept both of us and of our offerings; which are no otherwise acceptable unto eternal life, but only through Jesus Christ our Lord.  
And the Royal Prophet could not choose but remember him in this solemnity; for as well the Ark as the sacrifice was a Type of him; and so they brought the Ark of God into the City of David, and set it in his place, in the tent which David had pitched for it; and they offered burnt sacrifices and peace-offerings before God. Would you know David's inducements to perform all this service for the Ark? they were four; his need of it, his love to it, his interest in it, and his advantage by it.  
1. His need of it; and that we find him the more sensible of, in his exile from it; (as men, for the most part do, Magis carendo quàm fruendo, they understand the usefulness of things better by the want of them, then by their enjoyment;) here was his Abyssus Abyssum, 
Psal. 42.7.  one deep calling upon another; for he was brought very low, many times, brought into inextricable perplexities; why art thou cast down, 
Psal. 43.7.  O my soul? and why art thou so disquieted within me? He was in the ●●●k, and wanted comfort, and nothing but the Ark of God could relieve and afford him Cordials; O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me, 
Ibid. Vers. 3.  (and lest my heaviness and stupidity should tempt me to make a halt) let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy Tabernacles. And in another place his need makes him more impetuous in his acclamations; O God, thou art my God, early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee: would you know how importunate, how violent these passionate appetites are? you must first be sick, you must be with child; when you are sick of love, when Christ is form in you, than you w●ll understand the nature of that sacred thirst, that spiritual longing; for it is only to be felt, not fully to be interpreted. 
Psal. 63.1.  But what is the reason? his extreme needs, the aridity, the dryness and desolation of his soul, it was, in a dry and thirsty land where no water was. But where the Ark is, there God is, and with thee is the well of life; this therefore is the object of all my thirst and longing, to see thy power and glory, so as I have seen thee in the Sanctuary. 
Ibid. Vers. 2.   
2. A second motive was his love to the Ark, Psal. 26.8. Lord I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth. But more passionately, Psal. 84.1, 2. 
Psal. 84.1, 2.  How amiable are thy Tabernables, O Lord of Hosts! my soul longeth, yea even fainteth for the Courts of the Lord: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. He hath in his soul the passions of a woman with child; he longs, and because be cannot have his longing presently, there follows a Deliquium, a defailance in his spirits, his ●oul fainteth; and as longers use to do many times, he falls in travel, and his pangs and throws are so great, that his heart and flesh, both cry out for the living God; and nothing can keep him from miscarrying, from losing the fruit of this travel of his soul, but a sight of God's Ark; such a favour as this would allay and becalm and satisfy all these passions. 
Vers. 4.  Blessed are they that dwell in thy house; they will be still praising thee: One day in thy Courts, 
Vers. 10.  and doorkeeper there, is high preferment in the estimation of a pious Prince, that hath a true devotion to the Ark of God.  
3. A third inducement was his interest in the Ark: and this interest depending upon his interest in God, 
Psal. 43. Vers. 3, 4.  they run, as it were, parallel; hence, Psal. 43. O send out thy light, &c, (as before) Then will I go unto the Altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy (and) the God of my strength 
* Vers. 2.  yea upon the Harp will I praise thee, O God, my God. He will bear a part in the solemn service before God's Ark; and the interest he has in it makes his banishment the more intolerable; when I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me (grief and sorrow having dissolved it;) for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, Psal. 42.4.  
4. The fourth and last inducement was the advantage he had by the Ark; and that was double. 1. Protection, Psal. 27.4, 5. One thing have I desired of the Lord, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord; to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire into his Counsel for my safety; For in the time of trouble he shall hid me in his pavilion, etc. see Psal: 31.20.  
2. Here he finds satisfaction: here is a Julip will slack his thirst; inebriabuntur, they shall be inebriated, abundantly satisfied with the pleasures of thy house, etc. upon this account, such as do approach God's Ark are blessed, Psal. 65.4. And now having given you these inducements of his devotion, I have done with my Text. But I cannot enter upon my Application without a Preface; and what Preface so suitable as a reflection upon those signal impresses of God's favour stamped upon us immediately before the late fatal revolution; whereby we may take a prospect of our own happiness, in the prosperity and flourishing condition of our Church and Nation: we were like that Vine of Israel, which God sometimes brought out of Egypt; we were planted in a Land flowing with milk and honey, and were twined about the walls of God's house, for our support and shelter. Those Clouds and Umbrages that did eclipse and darken the glory of the Gospel in other parts of the World, were dispelled and scattered amongst us. The face of the Sky over our heads was serene and calm, and the countenance of Heaven did smile upon us. Our Candlestick was scoured bright, and instead of nasty stinking snuffs, or filthy meteors exhaled from the slime of the earth, we had stars of the first magnitude for their Piety and Learning set upon them, So that this people which had sat in darkness saw a great light. God had not dealt so with other Nations. Here was a comely as well as a convenient Tabernacle for the Ark of God; and God was worshipped in the beauty of holiness. And God was not at all behind hand with us in the reciprocation of kindnesses; there was never so low an ebb in us, by our making out sallies of devotion upon him, but there came as high a tide upon us flowing back from him. What we paid the Ark of God in reverence and duty, was infallibly returned in a compensation, nay with a surplusage of blessings. As long as our English earth continued to p●y a worthy homage unto heaven, the Heavens were not only constant to involve and encircle us; but they never sailed to protect and shelter, to feed, and to  us with suitable applications of the most enriching influences. Other Nations had Mines, which they digged with much pain and peril in the earth; but we had Mines in heaven, treasures that never failed to supply not only our needs, but our very pomp and curiosity: It was our felicity that God had made out that experiment to us, which he speaks of by the Prophet Malachi: 
Mal. 3.10.  Prove me now, if I will not open to you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. We had pregnant evidence of this goodness of the Lord toward us, which makes one (that might have made a better use of it) observe, that God has dealt by way of prerogative with this English Nation.  
But we perverted Gods gracious dispensations, turning his blessings into aggravations of our crimes, and making our felicity serve only for a reproach to our ingratitude: For like Israel we waxed fat and kicked; our Manna, a spiritual food that came down from heaven, prepared for us by the Ministry of those Angels that presided in the Church at the Reformation, because it was common, and our daily bread, it became loathsome to us: We grew wanton, and having taken a surfeit of the bread of life, we longed for quails to be brought us out of foreign Countries: We thought Abana and Parphar, Rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel. Men grew precise and squeamish; they would not wash and be clean, unless they might have Cisterns of their own hewing out; nor drink of the water of life, though it ran never so freely, unless it were conveyed to them in new Pipes of their own casting: Some there were that did strictly hold themselves to the Form of godliness, the Solemn Worship of God established in the Church, who notwithstanding in the looseness of their lives did shamefully deny the power thereof: Others there were that did pretend to be so overborn with the power of godliness, that they would allow no Form at all for the regulation and exercise of it: All the innocent Ceremonies that had constantly attended the solemn devotions of pious Antiquity were looked upon as the very dress and trim of Hypocrisy; Reverence in God's Worship was accounted superstitious; and the holy Incense of Morning and Evening Prayers no better than abomination. Even such of the people (which make up the greatest number of its adversaries) as never had judgement or wit enough to understand it, had yet malice enough infused into them to deride and scorn the Holy Service of the Church: And as an evidence that this disease was grown desperate, our greatest quarrel was at those Physicians whose practice and prescriptions were the most probable means to reduce us to our Christian temper.  
When I consider the carriage of the people Israel under God's gracious dispensations, 2 Chron. 36.15, 16. methinks I see the Character of our English Nation in these late years. The Lord God of their Fathers sent to them by his Messengers, rising up betimes and sending; because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place: But they mocked the Messengers of God, and despised his Word, and misused his Prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy. For when the Patient grows so raving, so out of temper, as to strike his Physician, and throw away his Antidotes, there remain no ordinary methods that can cure him: And then the Bedlam, and the chain, the whip and the screws, all the violences of a severe discipline are the best instances of our kindness. Such was the condition of Israel, Hosea 4.1, 2, 4. The Lord hath a Controversy with the Inhabitants of the Land, because there is no truth nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the Land. By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing Adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood. Therefore shall the Land mourn: Yet let no man strive nor reprove another; for this people are as they that strive with the Priest. When sin gins to spread amongst a people, what remedy does Almighty God use to apply to he●l and stop it? there is the Authority of a Judge to oppose it, and the Reprehension of the Priest to give a check to it. But when God does inhibit these his Officers from using their Authority, and exercising their Jurisdiction, 'tis a sign that people is grown obstinate, shameless, and incorrigible: When they grow so insolent as to contradict the Priest in his own office, wherein doubtless he is God's Vicegerent, that people is past Grace, as it runs in the ordinary Channel; and unless God useth some other methods of Discipline, there is no hopes of their amendment: So it follows in the Prophet, 
Hosea 4.5.  Therefore shalt thou fall in the day. When they had the clear light of heaven shining round about them, the light of knowledge, and the light of comfort and prosperity, in this noon day, Thou shalt stumble and fall, faith the Lord, and the Prophet also shall fall with thee in the night; the false Prophet shall be benighted and lose himself in the darkness of his own vain imagination's; and I will destroy thy Mother, saith the Lord; the Church and Nation, from whose womb thou hast had thy birth, in whose bosom thou hast had thy breeding, and to whose blessings thou owest the procurement of thy prosperity. We may m●ke England the Scene of that Prophecy as well as Jerusalem; for the whole Tragedy hath been acted over in all its parts amongst us, with a full solemnity.  
God he took notice of our misdemeanours (under his most gracious dispensations) towards our Superiors, his Vicegerents, both Civil and Ecclesiastical, and he was wroth; and upon so great provocations as we were guilty of, he did to us as he had done to Israel, He delivered our strength into Captivity, and our beauty into the Enemy's hands. That Ark, that Form of God's Worship, that had procured such miracles of mercy for us in 88 and at the intended powder-plot; That Ark whose virtue had been so often tried, to good effect, in times of war, pestilence and famine; And our Beauty, that Form of Solemn Worship, which rendered the Church of England amiable above all the Reformed Churches, and a true Copy of that Holy City, that New Jerusalem, which S. John saw coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a Bride adorned for her Husband, Rev. 21.2. For our many provocations, He delivered This our strength into Captivity, and This our beauty into the Enemy's hands: The glory was upon departing from our Israel; and I had almost said, That the abomination of desolation was set up in the holy place: When the most magnificent House of God that we had in our Land was turned into a stable; and many men, yea many Priests (such was their Apostasy) had no more reverence for it then the very beasts that perished by a strange vengeance inflicted, without doubt, upon that sort of Cattle for that Sacrilegious profanation.  
That Faction which had tired out the patience of two great Princes 
* Queen Elizabeth and K. James.  with Petitions, soliciting to have those Walls of Church Government leveled, that Garrison dismantled wherein the Ark of God was in safe custody amongst us: They that so often attempted to fire it out with their Squibs of scoffing Pamphlets, and to batter it down with their paper-bullets, for want of better Arguments; At last (assoon as opportunity and advantage favoured them; for their rage could stay no longer) they assaulted it (how unlike Christ's Lambs and the Servants of the Prince of peace, I need not tell you) but with Swords and Pistols, Pikes and Cannons they assaulted it. And because this Ark could not otherwise fall into their hands, the chief Priest, yea and the Prince too, must fall before it, as a Sacrifice to their fury. And (which is more) that they might utterly extinguish our hopes, and cut off all possibility of its Restitution, as much as in them lay, they did cut off the Royal line that should protect it, and the succession of a regular Priesthood, that should minister unto it.  
And now might the devout soul, that was pregnant with the passions of grief and love, fall in travel, and for want of other issue give birth to a lamentation, and name that Ichabod; for the glory is departed from Israel; and we the true Sons of the Church of England in the condition that Israel was in, when they sat by the waters of Babylon and wept; they hung up their Harps, which were now grown useless; because their sorrows for the desolations of Zion, had silenced all their melody.  
And yet we are called upon to believe that all these violences were designed, but to shake the dust out of the Badgers skins, and to brush the Curtains, and to Reform the Tabernacle, that the pure gold of the Ark might shine the brighter in the simplicity of its own lustre. That is, just as the Soldiers came with Swords and Staves from the High Priests, to apprehend and secure the Lamb of God, and brought him before Pilate, out of kindness, that he might have the honour to clear and acquit himself.  
But what became of the Ark of God in the midst of these disorders? Why, we heard of the same at Ephrata, we found it in the wood: 
Psal. 132.6.  some harmless Country people would tell us some tidings of it; but it was in the wood; like one bewildered, stripped of its due Attendants and Solemnities. And yet as forlorn as it was, its Captivity was a punishment not only to the Jews, but also to the Philistims; to them that triumphed over it, as well as to them that had lost the possession, and forfeited the blessings of it. The adversaries could not destroy it; nor could they court it into their assistance. The Dagon, which they set up for themselves to worship, fell before it. with the loss of hands and head, deprived not of strength only, but of counsel too. They provided a new Cart for it; such was the new Discipline, hewn out, and rudely put together by Mr. Calvin and others, in this last Century; and the Classes were the Wheels of it; and this the Faction drove on furiously for a while, and stopped not, no, not at the Red Sea, they drove it into a Sea of blood: but the Cattle that were yoked together, to hurry it away, were so unreasonable and headstrong, they could not agree, where, or how to set it up; and that they might not hurry it into utter ruin, God was pleased to look thorough a frightful Cloud upon them, 
Exod. 14.24, 25.  and took off their Chariot-wheels, to trouble and discomfit them.  
At last David, the King, being preserved and return●n, by as great a miracle of providence as the Ark itself; in order to his own settlement, he gives order to prepare the Tabernacle for the settlement of the Ark; and summoneth all the heads of the Priests and Levites, with the Nobles and Elders of the people: So they brought the Ark of God, etc.  
We are no less happy than they, in the decent situation of our Ark; I pray God we may be no less dutiful, in our gratulation for it. To which purpose, me ●hinks every devout soul should be a breathing out that Quaere of the Psalmist, 
Psal. 116.  Quid Retribuam, what shall I render unto the Lord, for this great, this signal benefit done unto us? you can do no better than resolve with him; I will come into thy house with  offerings; I will pay thee my vows, which I promised with my lips, 
Psal. 66.13, 14.  and sp●ke with my mouth, when I was in trouble, for the Ark of God. And because God takes no pleasure in the flesh of beasts; neither will he drink the blood of Bulls or Goats: but requires of us, a spiritual, a living and a reasonable Sacrifice; 
Rom. 12.1.  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living Sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Having nothing else that can be acceptable to him, who gave himself for us, we should have the same devotion, the same mind that was in the holy Martyrs; we should have our hearts and wills prepared, (if duly called to it) to be made a sacrifice by others; in the mean time, we should make an Oblation of our selves, have our whole spirits, souls and bodies, devoted to God's service and the service of his Church. Such a devotion was in the great Apostle, Phil. 2.17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. If I be offered up (as a libamen, a liquid oblation) upon the Sacrifice and Liturgy of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all: But,  
Here is a twofold oblation recommended to us, by the example before us, in the Text. 1. A  sacrifice; And, 2. A peace-offering, and such we must offer, in a spiritual sense; and we must offer;  
1. A  sacrifice; and that, upon a double account (as such sacrifices use to be offered up upon.) 1. To acknowledge God's Power and Dominion, and Revere his signal Goodness herein demonstrated. David hath furnished us with a Psalm to this purpose, Psal. 124. (wherein the Church blesseth God for a miraculous deliverance, of her self and the Ark of God, settled in her possession) If it had not been the Lord who was on our side: now may Israel say: If it had not been the Lord, who was on our side, when men risen up against us, Then they had swallowed us up quick: when their wrath was kindled against us, Then the water had overwhelmed us; the stream had gone over our soul. Then the proud waters had gone over our soul. Blessed be the Lord: who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth. Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowler: the snare is broken and we are escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth. Non nobis Domine, non nobis; therefore not unto us, Lord, not unto us: but unto thy name be the praise: Thou art worthy to receive glory and honour and praise: but to us there belongeth nothing but shame and confusion of face; for we contributed only to the reproach and captivity of God's Ark, and solemn worship; its happy restitution and settlement we owe to thy signal power and goodness; great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God, Almighty: just and true are thy ways, thou King of Saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name! Rev. 15.3, 4.  
2. A second design of our spiritual  sacrifice must be to make an atonement for those miscarriages which forfeited our interest in the Ark, and betrayed it into captivity. It was good advice of the Priests and Diviners to the Philistims, when they consulted them about returning the Ark of God; 
1 Sam. 6.3.  Oh! send it not away empty, said they, but in any wise return God a trespass-offering with it; that you may be healed. The captivity of that Ark wrought a strange conviction in the Philistims, as well as in the Jews. The Philistims saw clearly they had no reason to triumph in this defeat they had given Israel; for though they had won the field, they had got no Victory; they had taken the Ark indeed; but they had made no conquest of it; for it fell upon the Rear of them, and smote them in their hinder parts, it discovered so much of their nakedness, and turned their inside so much outward; and put them to so much shame and anguish that they were glad to send it back with a trespass-offering, and beg to be, reconciled to it; the Israelites they were instructed likewise that it was not out of ill will to the Ark, nor for want of strength in God, that the Philistims prevailed to take it captive: but only out of a justindignation, to revenge the profanation of that sacred Instrument, which was the visible obsignation of his grace and favour to them. And when God was about to suffer his holy Temple to be defiled, upon a like account, he sends his people to be schooled by that example, Jer. 7.11, 12. Is the house that is called by my name become a den of robbers? behold I have seen it. But go now to my place, which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first; and see what I did to it, for the wickedness of my people Israel. And because of your wicked works, I will therefore do to that house that is called by my name, as I did to Shiloh. Is there any here amongst us, that can plead not guilty? hast not thou profaned the Ark of God's Worship, that was amongst us? hast not thou been unthankful for it? hast not thou been unfruitful under the Ministry of it? there is no person in this Congregation, if he be of a competent age, but his heart will tell him, that he did contribute something to the captivity of this Ark. If we had as much ingenuity, I am sure we have as much cause, as Mr. Bradford, in the Book of Martyrs, had; or as the Christians, that were banished in Q. Mary's days, had, to accuse ourselves, for our wilful betraying the honour of our Religion and the interest of the holy Gospel. We may all say, For my sins, and for thy sins, was the Ark, the solemn worship and service of God taken captive; and upon this account, it becomes our duty to present a  sacrifice for our atonement, now upon its restitution. But wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the most high God? Mic. 6.6. the Psalmist hath resolved us, Psal. 51.17. A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. This is our  sacrifice.  
2. But to this we must add a peace-offering; and that must consist of a double ingredient. 1. A dutiful submission to this settlement of the Ark. And, 2. A joyful gratulation for it.  
1. A dutiful submission to it. In the the 24. Psal. we find the people invited to a solemn reception of the Ark; 
Psal. 24.7.  Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. Fuit beneficium Dei non vulgar, saith Mr. Calvin, quod Deus visibili symbolo in medio ipsorum residebat, 
In Psal. 24.7.  coelesteque suum domicilium volebat in terrâ conspici. It was no ordinary favour of God, 
See 1 Kings 8.6, with 11.  that he would reside amongst them in a visible representation, and suffer his sacred habitation be seen on earth; it should be their ambition therefore and zeal to entertain it. Therefore lift up your heads, Oh ye gates, and the King of glory shall come in: but what are those gates that should be so solemnly opened for the admission of the King of glory? Sub ratione typi fuerunt portae Templi, 
Ames. in Psal. 24.24.  1 Kings 8.6, 11. saith Amesius, Reipsâ vero sunt fidelium corda, Isa. 66.1, 2. they were the gates of the Temple in type: but the hearts of holy men in reality; they are the Tabernacle, that God's Ark and worship should reside in. We must therefore inwardly, in our very hearts and souls, submit to this outward settlement of it, in the Tabernacle or Church of God; and this upon a fourfold Consideration.  
1. In regard of the place where the Ark is settled: not in Barnes or Stables, not in a Foreign far distant place; 'tis within thy Neighbourhood, and yet appropriated to this service. Though God be not confined to any place; though he hath not chosen any peculiarly to put his Ark in, as among the Jews; yet, for our sakes, he delights in such places as our devotions have made his propriety; The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob; and in compliance with him herein, the devout soul cries out, Lord I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thy honour dwelleth; and, the Zeal of thy house hath even consumed me; and, make not my Father's house a house of Merchandise: it is observable, though our Saviour, in the first year of his Ministry, foretells that all enclosures should be thrown open, and the worship of God no longer be confined (as it had been) to Jerusalem, Joh. 4.21. yet, to signify, that he would still (for all that) accept and own pla●e● dedicated to his solemn service, all the world over, in the fourth year of his Ministry, he makes his claim, and vindicates the honour of his own interest, Mark 11.17.  
2. We must submit to this settlement, in regard of the Authority by which it is se●led; here are, David, and the Elders, and the Captains of thousands; the King, the Nobles, and the Representatives of all the Commons of England; what comes to us derived in so full a current of Authority, (not to speak of the miraculous restitution of this Authority,) should prostrate every private judgement and make the passions, interests and opinions of all men, stoop before it. There is a necessity laid upon us, yea and a woe will betid us, if we submit not. Let every soul be subject to the higher powers, Rom. 13 1. Nay, ye must needs be subject, and that not only for fear of wrath, but for conscience sake, Ver. 5. and there is another sake no less considerable to engage you, the Lords sake: 1 Pet. 2.13, 14. Submit you selves to every ordinance of man, for the Lords sake; whether it be to the King as Supreme, or unto Governors, as those that are sent by him, for the punishment of evil doersi, and for the praise of them that do well. Time was, when an Ordinance (not so venerable as that St Peter speaks of) did signify something with you; when less than one link of that threefold Cord of Authority would serve to engage and yoke you to draw the Ark a side; if you will not now submit to the Settlement of it, upon the obligation of those Laws which come to us, in the greatest solemnity that a just and full Authority can recommend them by, I shall say no more but this, that your Consciences are strangely blinded, and they are prodigiously perverse and obstinate. And yet this is not all; For,  
3. We must submit to this Settlement, in regard of that Ministry under which it is settled; these are not like those false Prophets, which come in sheep's clothing: but inwardly they are ravening wolves. We know them well enough by their fruits: these are contented to subsist upon that portion which the Laws of God and man allow them; and would not be Pensioners to your Purses, lest they should be tempted to flatter you and betray your souls; for they seek not yours, but you. These are none of Jeroboams Priests, the meanest Mechanics amongst the people, set up by an Usurper, to entertain the devotions of the people, in the worship of his Calves, left by having recourse to Jerusalem, to the Ark of God and the Priesthood that does attend upon it, they should be invited to their duty, and return their Allegiance to their Sovereign. This Hierarchy, that now attends the Ark and worship of God, did not arise up of itself, as the heads of Factions many times do, or out of the bottomless pit (which is no better a Pedigree;) but it derives its Mission and Authority (as it should do) in a visible line of succession from Christ and his Apostles; and is most Consonant to the pattern in the Old Testament; where, as we are told by the Apostle, the Synagogue was a Type or Shadow of the Christian Church, Heb. 10.1. where likewise God did promise, that, for the service of this Church, (being made up for the most part of Gentiles) He would take of the Gentiles, and make them Priests and Levites to himself, Isa. 66.22. by which legal name (of Priests and Levites) what doth he understand, but such as we call Presbyters and Deacons? upon which grounds the Ancient Fathers presumed a correspondence between that Hierarchy of the old, and this of the New Testament. And if we look into the Degrees of this Hierarchy, we shall find they run parallel, in their agreement, 
See Clavi Trabales, p. 117.  with those designed, of old, to Minister unto the Ark of God. There was Aaron answerable to Christ, Eleazar 
a Numb. 3.32. Neh. 11.10, 11, 14.  to Archbishops; Princes 
b Ezr. 8.24, 29.  of Priests b to Bishops; Priests to Presbyters; Princes 
c Neh. 11.16, 22.  of Levites c to Archdeacon's; Levites to Deacons; Nethinims to Clerks and Sextons.  
Is it not probable then that God will bless and accept of a Ministry of his own institution and allowance, 
1 Chron. 15.12.  rather than one of our fond contrivance? and seeing the saving efficacy of the Ministry depends wholly upon God's blessing and gracious acceptation; are we not highly concerned to submit to that Ministry which derives its Original regularly from God, and upon that account hath the fairest title to his blessing and acceptation? if this be not inducement enough, we have an obligation laid upon us from his command, Heb. 13.7. Remember your Prelates, your guides, which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God, whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation: and Vers. 17. Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves; for they watch for your souls, as they that must give an account; that they may do it with joy, and not with grief, for that is unprofitable for you.  
4. There is one Consideration more that should induce you to submit to this Settlement of the Ark, and that is the solemnity with which it is settled. Besides the Type and Pattern for it, in the Old Testament, there are four general Rules left upon Record by the Apostle, for the direction of Prelates and other Superiors, in settling the Ark of God's solemn worship.  

1. That all be done to the glory of God 
a 1 Cor. 10.31. .  
2. That all be done to the edification of the Church of God 
b 1 Cor. 14.26. .  
3. That all be done decently and worthily 
c 1 Cor. 11.27, 29. ; as becomes the service we perform, and the Majesty we adore 
d 1 Cor. 14.40. .  
4. That all things be done, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, according to order.   

e 1 Cor. 14.40.  These Rules are observed in our Settlement. 1. And first of the last of these. It belongs unquestionably to the Office of Ecclesiastical Governors to set things in Order; so St Paul in the Church of Corinth, 1 Cor. 11. ult. The rest will I set in order 
* 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  when I come; so Titus in Crete (an Island that had 100 Cities in it) for this cause I left thee in Crete, that thou shouldst set in order 
† 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  the things that are wanting, or left undone, Tit. 1.5. and it was not left to every man's choice, whether he would submit; such as did not observe these Orders were punished by the censures of the Church, 2 Thes. 3.6, 14, 15. Now we command you brethren in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, 
* 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  and not after the tradition which he received of us. But when Order is kept, it is matter of satisfaction to the Apostle, so he tells the Colossians; for though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the Spirit, joying and beholding your order. It cannot be denied, 
Col. 2.5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  but this Rule is observed amongst us, in the Settlement of the Ark; the solemn worship and service of God is settled by Order; And,  
2. It is settled decently: is it decent to be uncovered in the presence of a Magistrate, and is it not decent to be so in the presence of the eternal God? is it decent to kneel when you tender a Petition to your Prince, and is it not decent to do so when you Petition the King of Kings? is it decent to rise up and bow the head, when you make an acknowledgement to your Superiors; and is it not decent to use the like reverence, when you address your recognitions and homage to him who is Lord over all, blessed for ever? is not external bodily worship required in the second Commandment? Is it not your duty, are you not called upon in holy Scripture, to worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness? And what doth the Church of England require of you but this, in her solemn service? And,  
3. Is not the Settlement of the Ark, according to the third Rule, for edification? I hope there are none so impudent as to deny it of the Prayers themselves, and those Portions of Scripture, & Hymns appointed in this Service: these are not nonsense, they are intelligible and for edification; and for the rest, the Gestures and Ceremonies, I shall make it clear to you. We kneel at our prayers, to signify, that we are in want; and that we are humble Petitioners to a Divince Majesty. We stand up at the Gospel and the Creed out of Reverence; not only to signify, that we will stand fast in the profession of our Faith: but to intimate also, that we esteem that profession venerable 
* Jam. 2.7. . We bow at the Name of Jesus, to assert his Deity, and that he is to be adored, as Mediator, in his Humane Nature, wherein he doth accomplish the work of our Redemption, and so effectually becomes a Saviour. We kneel at the Sacrament, that the Ceremony may be a memento to us of Christ's real presence in those dreadful Mysteries; and put us in mind to invoke his blessing and assistance in the action. Wherein the Cross in Baptisin doth edify, I need not tell you; you are told, as often as it is used, what it signifies; it is a token that we should not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified 
* See S. Mark 8.34, with 38. . How the Surplice, the fine linen, serves unto edification, you may learn of the Psalmist; whose Prayer as well as insinuation it is, 
Psal. 132.9, 16.  that the Priests be clothed with righteousness and salvation, that the Saints may shout for joy. And does not the Ring in Marriage edify? doth it not give a lesson to the married Couple? It doth teach them, that the love and fidelity plighted to one another should be inviolable and endless. That very order of reading the second Service in the Chancel, at the Altar or Lords Table (where it is used) does signify something to our edification; for you must know, that part of the Solemn Service does belong to the Communion; which the piety of ancient times frequented, at least, every Lord's day; now this practice, if it cannot shame us out of our neglect and carelessness, yet it will put us in mind, that it is our duty to draw nigh unto God in that sacred Ordinance; and it may heat us into some holy and passionate breathe after it: which is a spiritual kind of communion. In short, let the Solemnity, wherein the Ark is settled amongst us, be well and duly considered, and there is not a circumstance, but hath something of decency in it, and a tendency to the use of edifying, according to the Rule of the Apostle.  
4. And for the glory of God, which is the prime and fundamental Rule of all; every thing hath a tendency to that: and if I could conceive how any one Ceremony in use amongst us does tend to God's dishonour, with the leave of Authority, my own hand should be the first upon it, to pluck it off the Ark.  
But indeed there is not a Church in all the world that hath those glorious advantages that this Church of England hath; where there is such a beauty of holiness; where there are such decencies of external splendour to set off the efficacy of her essential purity. And when I speak of external splendour in the service of God, do not take offence at it; for the A●k under the Old Testament did put off her Wilderness habit, her old Tabernacle, with the Curtains of Goats-skins, when it came to be settled, in a state of peace and prosperity, in Jerusalem: and so should the Church of God do under the Gospel. 
Rev. 12.6.  She is indeed resembled to a woman fled into the Wilderness, in the times of persecution: but afterwards, when Constantine the Emperor became a Christian, and a nursing Father to the Church, than we find her decked and trimmed up as a Bride adorned for her husband, Revel. 21.2. The King's daughter is all glorious within, and her clothing is of wrought gold; this is a Prophecy of Christ's Spouse, his Church, under the New Testament; Psal. 45.13. etc. She shall be brought unto the King in raiment of needlework; and the Virgins that be her companions shall bear her company; with joy and gladness shall they be brought, and shall enter into the King's palace; and this leads me from the first part, or ingredient, of our Peace offering for the Arks happy settlement [our dutiful submission to it;] to the Second.  
2. Our joyful gratulation for it: And now I must call upon you, as the Psalmist doth, O go your way into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: Take the Psalm, bring hither the Tabret, the merry Harp, with the Lute; blow up the Trumpet, as in the new moon. When the Ark of God was solemnly settled, the people of God had their joyful gratulations; for they cried out, 
Psal. 132.8, 9  Arise, O Lord, into thy rest, thou and the Ark of thy strength: Let thy Priests be 
* In their Priestly habits;  clothed with righteousness: and let thy Saint's shout for joy; and shall not the Saints under the Gospel rejoice as much at the settling of the Christian Ark? 
Rev. 19.6, 7, 8.  St John informs us of a Revelation he had to this purpose; I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Allelujah; for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth: Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen clean and white; for the fine linen is the righteousness of the Saints: so we render it, but very improperly (as the learned have observed) it signifies rather the Ordinances of the Sanctuary, the habits of the Priest's under the Law; and by way of allusion, it is an intimation of the privileges of the Church, 
See Dr. Ham. Annot. on Rev. 19  and the decent solemnities of Gods public worship and service under the Reign of Constantine. And if they did so thunder out their gratulations then for such a happy settlement, why should not all good Christians do the like now? If you have not motives enough without you, have you not enough within you?  
1. Where is your love to the Ark of God? do not all the friends of the Bridegroom and Bride put on their wedding garments, and rejoice to attend the solemnity of their espousals! the Spouse of Christ is now put into her wedding dress amongst us; if we have any love to Bride or Bridegroom, we cannot choose but rejoice, and put on our festival robes, the garments of praise; at least festival affections; I will lift up my hands to thy testimonies (kept in the holy Ark) which I have loved: love will make a man lift up his ●ands, to bless God and himself too; God for the settlement; and himself for the enjoyment: But,  
2. If thou hast no love to the Ark, hast thou no interest in it? interest will bege● love, and kindle joy; we see ●his in all relations; in the parts of the body, in reference to their fellow members; if one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it; we see it in the woman, in reference to her money; rejoice with me, for I have found my groat, which was lost; in the Father, in reference to his Son; it was meet we should make merry and be glad; for this my son was dead, and he is alive again; he was lost, but is found: Hast thou any interest in the Ark? that interest will kindle joy at the prosperity of it. The children of Zion will be joyful in their King, if he be their King, and in the decent setttlement of his solemn worship: But,  
3. If thou hast no interest in the Ark, hast thou no need of it? they that go down to the sea in ships, and are tossed which storms and tempests, and are in jeopardy, and within an inch of death every moment; their needs teach them to value the securities of the haven, and to bless God for their arrival at it. Hast thou no need of the Oracle (upon this Ark)? hast thou no doubts to be resolved, no fears to be removed, no jealousies to be calmed? hast thou no darkness, neither upon thy mind, nor upon thy heart? hast thou no need of light to clear up thy knowledge or thy comfort? that light must shine forth for thy satisfaction out of the Oracle: hast thou no sin, no guiltiness about thee? dost thou not want expiation and pardon? that must come, if it comes regularly, if it comes at all, it must come from the Mercy seat of the Ark: art thou not weak and feeble? hast thou no sense of thy infirmities? dost thou not want strength; strength for protection and assistance? this must be brought to thee upon the wings of the Cherubims, that attend the Ark; God must send thee help from his holy place, and strengthen thee out of Zion: And then,  
4. The advantage thou receivest from the Ark will engage thee to congratulate its solemn settlement. It is the Ministry of the Ark that doth abolish sin, and tread Satan under thy feet, and make thee wise unto salvation; oh that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness, 
Psa. 108.21, 22.  and declare the wonders that he doth for the children of men: let us not be like the beasts in Noah's Ark, unsensible of the Sanctuary that did preserve them: let such as love the Lords salvation, and the settlement of the Ark, that brings it, say always, The Lord be praised.  
These are the oblation that we should make; the  sacrifices and peace-offerings, which we should offer before the Lord.  
But if this be our duty, what meaneth then this bleating of the Sheep in mine ears, 
1 Sam. 15.14.  and the lowing of the Oxen which I hear? In Rama there is a voice heard, lamentation and weeping, 
Mat. 2.18.  and great mourning. Some passionate people there a e, whose zeal is too hot for their knowledge, that weep for the Ark, and will not be comforted; as if it were not well settled, and instead of joining with us in our gratulations, in our peace-offering, they are ready to put the whole Kingdom into a new flame; and, if they had opportunity, would make all the dutiful Sons of the Church a  sacrifice to their Fury.  
Why what is the matter? they love the train and throng well enough, but not the dance; they would have the Ark, but not the Hierarchy; the Mercy seat, but not the Rod, unless it be in their own hands; they would have the Oracle, but not the Music and the Ephod; the Covenant they would have too, but with such new Articles of their own addition, as would destroy the whole solemnity and glory of Divine Service. If the Ark may not be allowed to be hurried along in their new Cart, and set up in their Consistory, they had as liff it were still in the Camp of the Philistims. The glory is departed (they will cry out) if it shines not to give countenance to their designs, and lustre to their reputations: They had rather it should wear the rough badgers skins, the course habit of the wilderness, then be enthroned in a Tabernacle of David's setting up, though he hath the allowance and approbation of Almighty God for it.  
But will that Hierarchy overthrow the Ark now, that did then attend it by divine appointment? will those decent Ceremonies and Solemnities disgrace it now, that were thought then to adorn it? Or did the Ark do better service to men's souls, or to this Kingdom, when it was lately hurried upon their new Cart, then formerly it had done, when it moved regularly upon the old Priests shoulders? if you will but, with an impartial eye, reflect upon the horror of fire and sword, the desolations of spoil and rapine, the expense of blood and treasure, that hath been of late amongst us; and weigh well upon what account these confusions raged, for so many years together; I shall refer the determination of this Question wholly to yourselves.  
But it will be objected to me: 
Objection.  You tell us of pomp and ceremony, of splendour and solemnity in God's Service; and we look upon all such things as legal types and shadows that are vanished at the rising of the Sun of Righteousness; and we conceive ourselves to be freed from them by the Charter of our Christian Liberty; for we are not under the Law, but under Grace: Nay, for us to observe such things were to perform what we suppose to be Will-worship and unwarrantable; and therefore our Consciences do take check at it, being afraid the Lord should upbraid us, as he did the Israelites, Isa. 1.12. Who hath required these things at your hands?  
But stay, do these men understand their own objection? 
Solution.  Of what things speaks the Prophet that? Doth ●e not speak of their Sacrifices and  offerings, of their New Moons and Solemn Feasts; yea of their very Sabbaths and many Prayers? And did not God require the observation of these things at their hands? Most certainly he did. The exception therefore that God takes there is not made to the things themselves, no, nor yet to the requiry of them: To what then? Why, to the gross Hypocrisy and the foul indignity of the persons that did perform them. 
Zach. Ursin. Comment. in Isa. 1. pag. 30.  Requirebat Sacrificia, & alias Ceremonias, & approbabat tanquam Cultum sibi placentem, quatenus ficbant eo modo & fine in quoipse praeceperat; nempe in vera fide & poenitentia, & tanquam horum adminicula & exercitia: Ut per Ceremonias adduceretur ad Christum & ipsius beneficia quae per illas significabantur. God did require Sacrifices and other Ceremonies, and approved them as a Service acceptable to himself, as they were performed after that manner and to that end that he prescribed them: When they were the offspring and the exercises of a true faith, and led the devotions of the people unto Christ and his benefits: But if you take the external rite without the internal piety, the ceremony stripped of all faith and fear, repentance and humility, obedience and thankfulness; so it was but as a perambulation in the Sanctuary; it gave God no satisfaction; in that sense, it was not of his institution, it was but a profane wearing out of the Pavement; and who hath required this, that you should thus tread my Courts, v. 12. And, if this be required, yet, who hath required it at your hands, whose hearts are so full of hypocrisy, whose hands are so full of blood? But wash you, make you clean, put away the evil of your doing from before mine eyes, etc. Then come and welcome; through faith and repentance your Sacrifices shall procure you atonement and acceptation; for though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool, Isai. 1.18. But,  
2. In matters of Religion, in matters that do relate to divine Worship, some things are allowed and approved, and rewarded by Almighty God, for which he hath given no particular Commandment: 1. There were voluntary oblations, and freewill offerings allowed of in the Law 
* Levit. 7: 16. . And 2. David, in this his attendance upon the Ark, wore a linen Ephod, to show his devotion in this Religious Service, as the English Annotations 
† on 2 Sam. 6.14.  (recommended by the Assembly of Divines) do acknowledge; and yet that garment was prescribed for none but the Tribe of Levi. 
See them on 1 Sam. 2.18. & on Judg. 8.27.  3. It was also a piece of voluntary devotion that David built this Tabernacle, and that he designed to build such a magnificent Temple for God's public and solemn Worship; and yet, though He had given no order for it, God was pleased with the design, and approved of his pious resolution; For Solomon tells us 
* 1 King. 8.18. , The Lord said unto David my Father, Whereas it was in thine heart to build an House unto my Name, thou didst well in that it was in thine heart. Here was no Command 
a 2 Sam. 7.7. 1 Chron. 17.  for this, yet it was so acceptable, that God rewarded him in his posterity 
b 2 Sam. 7.11. See 1 Chron. 17. : The Lord telleth thee, that he will make thee an House. By which promise it is evident (as the English Annotators 
c on 1 King. 8.18.  do confes●) that God approved this purpose of David; and they add, That this instance showeth that a man may without sin intent to do that (for the greater solemnity of God's Worship and Service; for that was the design) which God hath not purposed and determined to be done. And as a farther Testimony of God's acceptation of his pious, though voluntary intendment, God vouchsafed him an extraordinary assistance for the delineation of the model of this House, and the regulation of all things and persons, Vessels and Instruments, Offices and Officers employed about God's Service therein; the Pattern of them was suggested to him by the Spirit, 1 Chron. 28 12, 13, 19 2 Chron. 29.25. 4. In the New Testament St. Paul's advice for coelebacy, or single life, 
1 Cor. 7.  had reference to Religion and the service of God; for he recommends it, not out of a carnal respect, or for a temporal advantage only, to avoid trouble in the flesh, 
Vers. 18.  but for a Religious, a Spiritual emolument, that they might attend the service of God without distraction; 
Vers. 35.  but for this, he tells the Corinthians, he had no command of the Lord to warrant him; 
Vers. 25.  Yet, saith he, I give my judgement as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord, to be faithful: ●e doubts not but God allows of his judgement, and approves of his direction, for the advancement of devotion, in that particular.  
Nay, 3. God doth not only allow and approve, but also reward such a voluntary piety; works undertaken to promote his service, when the●e is not the engagement of any Precept, nor so much as the recommendation of any Council to perform them. David is an instance for this, as hath been acknowledged by the English Annotators. To which I may add St Paul; he might have challenged some Milk, and some Fleece from the Flock he fed, to cloth, refresh and support himself; that he waved this liberty, and was not chargeable to the Corinthians, but preached the Gospel freely; he modestly gloried in it, as a matter highly rewardable, 1 Cor. 9.15, 18. 
* See Dr. Ham. Annot. ad 1. Cor. 9.17. Gloriationem autem appellas, gratis praedicare, & positos terminos transilire. Theodoret. Gloriationem dicit, ut ipse ex propria liberalitate id praestet: nam quòd Domini● praeceptum tanquam fidelis servus exequatur, non exissimat ad suum praeclarum facinus pertinere. Oecumen. Et Paulò post; in quo est praeclara merces & gloriatio? in co quòd quum Evangelium ut jussus sum praedicaverim, nihil tamen ex praedicatione acceperim, ne tantum quidem ut inde vivere possum: sed fine sumptu & gratis meum exhibuerim ministerium. Ibid. vide plura.   
What command had Mary Magdalen 
a Luk. 7.38.  to wash Christ's feet with her tears, and wipe them with the hairs of her head? what command had she to pour that precious ointment upon Christ's head, 
Mark 14.3.  which the Law did allow her to employ to other uses? and yet because these were real emanations of her great 
b Luk 7.47.  love and proceeded from a true devotion, Christ became her Advocate for this will worship 
c Mark 14.5, 6. ; and did not only comfort her with a personal Absolution, [thy sins are forgiven 
d Luk. 7.48. ;] but dismissed her with a blessing, [thy faith hath saved thee, go in peace 
e Luk. 7.50. ;] and rewarded her too, with a Name no less precious than her very ointment 
f Eccles. 7.1. Joh. 1 2.3. ; for the sweet Savour thereof he hath caused so to be diffused by a solemn Ministry, that it might perfume the whole Church. What her piety had voluntarily devoted to his burial, such was his gracious acceptation, he turned it into an everlasting Monument of her honour; for, verily I say unto you, wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her, Mark 14.9.  
But I must tell you, that such voluntary devotions must be guarded with a double caution. 1. They must not consist of a thing unlawful, nor have any ingredient of forbidden fruit in them; 
Isa. 66.3.  for that were as great an abomination under the Gospel, as the cutting off a dog's neck, or the offering of swine's blood, under Moses Law, instead of sacrifice.  
2. They must not be imposed (however they be recommended, I say) they must not be imposed as God's commands, nor performed out of an opinion of their necessity, upon that account; for that is perfect Dogmatizing, a Teaching for [necessary] Doctrines, [or Ordinances of Christ's institutions] the Traditions of men; which is absolutely unlawful 
† Mat. 15.9. Mark 7.7. Col. 2.20. See D. Ham. Tract. of Will-worship, with the Defence of it against Mr. Cawdrey. . Such a conceit as this would have marred Marry magdalen's box of onitment, and have caused it to send forth a stinking savour 
* Eccles. 10.1. : but offering it out of a pure and free devotion, without any such opinion, Christ did both value and reward it.  
Suppose we then, that there be some things in the Solemnity of God's Public worship, that he hath not required; is it not enough (as long as he hath no where forbidden them, nor entered any caution to their prejudice) is it not enough, I say, that I have the approbation of my own Conscience? is it not enough, that I am able to say, I have used my best judgement, and herein I have found mercy of the Lord to be faithful? if this be not enough, is it not enough that I have God's acceptation? is it not enough that I can hear God saying to me secretly, as he said sometimes to David upon a like occasion, by his Prophet, it was well that it was in thy heart? is it not enough that God is ready to reward this my freewill-offering, my voluntary devotion? But,  
3. Besides, we have the equity of a Divine Law, upon a parity of Reason, for our warranty, in this our practice; and this aught to be of great force with us. For, 1. as far as I can perceive, this is the firmest ground that the observation of the Lords day relies upon. There are some insinuations for it indeed, in the practice of the Apostles, as their meeting together on that day, to make Collections, and the like; but these will not amount to the authority of a Precept. The Sabbath of the Jews without all peradventure, was Typical, Heb. 4.4. etc. therefore abolished; hereupon the Apostle exhorteth the Colossians. Let no man judge you in meat or in drink, or in respect of an Holiday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath-days, which are a shadow of things to come: Col. 2.16, 17. But that God should be solemnly worshipped, still, upon several accounts; and that some time should be set apart for that worship to be performed in, there is a parity of Reason for it; and so, upon that account, the equity of the fourth Commandment doth still bind us.  
And, 2. The strength of the Apostles Argument for the maintenance of the Gospel-Ministry (as far as I can discern) relies chief upon this bottom. Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things, live of the things of the Temple? and they that wait at the Altar, 
1 Cor. 9.13, 14.  are partakers with the Altar: even so hath the Lord ordained, that they which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel: We can find no such Ordinance, as this is, of Christ's positive institution, under the Gospel; that which the Apostle speaks of, therefore, must be an Ordinance emergent out of the equity of the former Law of God, upon a parity of Reason. Under the Law God thought it equitable, that such as waited at his Altar, and devoted their time as well as their soul and strength to his service, should have some settled maintenance allotted them; and their attendance upon the several parts of their holy Office requiring nothing less, but rather much more diligence and attention, under the New, than under the Old Testament, the equity of that Divine Right stands in full force, and should prevail for an honourable support of the Ministry, at least, as much now as it did then.  
And, 3. Whether the Right and Title that the Infants of Believers have unto Baptism doth not ultimately rely upon this foundation, let the learned judge. God's Law entitled them to the Sacrament of Circumcision, upon the account of that faith which had engaged their Parents unto God, in the holy Covenant; the equity of that Institution, upon a parity of Reason, extends to the benefit of such Infants as are now born of Christian Parents; and that speech of St Peter, Acts 2. imports no less, 
Vers. 38. 3●.  Repent, and be baptised every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the holy Ghost: for the promise is unto you and to your children.  
Now to apply these instances to our purpose; I demand, 1. Was there a solemn external worship of God required under the Law, or no? 2. Was it acceptable and pleasing to Almighty God, yea or no? if it were (which cannot be denied;) then I demand, Further, 3. upon what account was that service required? was it upon the account of God's Supreme Dominion and Sovereignty only? or upon the account also of his Benefits, his works of Creation, Preservation and Redemption? that it was upon this double account is evident, Psal. 29.1, 2. Give unto the Lord, O ye mighty, give unto the Lord glory and strength: give unto Lord the GLORY DUE UNTO HIS NAME: worship the Lord in the BEAUTY OF HOLINESS: and Psa. 150. Praise ye the Lord, praise God in his Sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his POWER, praise him for his MIGHTY ACTS: praise him according to his EXCELLENT GREATNESS: praise him with the sound of the Trumpet, praise him with the Psaltery and Harp: praise him with the Timbrel and Dance: praise him with stringed Instruments and Organs.  
Well, did God require to be worshipped so reverently and so solemnly, then, upon this account? why, how comes God to lose his Title? how come these accounts to be altered? hath God, under the New Testament, given out a dspensation unto dust and ashes to be insolent and saucy with him? and in his own house, and in his solemn and public worship too? or is God's Dominion less Sovereign? is his Majesty less Glorious than it was? or did not he make us, but we made ourselves? if we be his creatures, if we be the sheep of his pasture, than the invitation of the Psalmist lays hold upon us: 
Psal. 95.6.  O come, let us worship and fall down, and kneel before the Lord our Maker: if we do not, the Elders that are before the Throne of God will shame us out of our irreverence; for they fall down before him that sitteth upon the Throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their Crowns before the Throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are, and were created, Revel. 4.10, 11.  
And hath he not redeemed us too? and what is the sum of our redemption? was it our bodies only, out of a temporal thraldom, to be put into the possession of a land that flows with milk and honey? was this all? hath he not redeemed our souls too, from the powers of darkness, and the wrath to come; to inherit the blessings of eternal joy and glory? hath he not thus redeemed us? and how was this redemption wrought? by a force of Arms, or of Love? by exchange of money, or the price of his own blood? if it be so, and so it is, then certainly, here is all the equity in the world, that we should pay him the homage of a most reverend and solemn worship; equity for it, upon a parity of reason, shall I say, nay upon a Superiority, nay upon the highest Supremacy of Reason; we know he hath done more for our, than he had then done, for the redemption of Israel; for ye are bought with a (better) price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are Gods, 1 Cor. 6. ult.  
If this be not sufficient; it is further considerable, that Christ, who came, not only to be a light unto the Gentiles, but to be the glory of his people Israel; as he was born of that Nation, and lived regularly under their Law, and observed their pious customs; so his design being to Reform what was amiss, and heighten what was imperfect, that he might not seem to set up an absolutely new Church, he had an eye to the Rites and Usages of the Jews, in all his Institutions; what he found had been taken up in common practice amongst them, he accommodated to his own purposes, making as little change or variation both in point of Government and Ceremony, 
See Dr. Ham. Quaeres, pag. 176. etc.  as the nature of the Gospel, with the State and establishment of his Kingdom, would admit of. Thus, his Election of Disciples, to wait constantly upon him, was answerable to the Disciples of the Prophets amongst the Jews, who were to attend and minister unto them. 2. The Title of Apostles, for Deputies and Proxies, sent with Commission, or Letters of Credence. Mat. 10.40. to supply Christ's place, and act, here on earth, in his stead; this he borrowed from them. 3. That of Bishops, answerable to the Ruler of the Synagogue, the Prince and Head of the Sanhedrim or Consistory amongst them; who was also called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a Bishop or Over Seer. 4. That of Imposition of hands in Confirmation, and Absolution, and Ordination, borrowed from the like Ceremony used amongst them, not only in conferring the Paternal blessing, but also in admitting persons (that were qualified for that Office) to the Dignity of Elders in their Sanhedrim. 5. Both the Sacraments of the New Testament were taken up in imitation of certain Rites that were solemnly used amongst these Jews. 1. At the close of a Festival (their post-coenium) they took a cup of Wine, which they called the Cup of Salvation (as in the Psalmist) or the Cup of Blessing, (as the Apostle hath it;) and at that very time, and when he was observing this custom with his Disciples, in imitation thereof and answerable thereunto, did our Lord institute the Sacrament of his holy Supper. And the Rite of Baptism (designed to be the Sacrament, for the solemn admission of persons into the New Covenant, and communion of the Church of Christ) was taken up in imitation of that same Rite of Baptising, solemnly used amongst them, for the initiating of Jews and Proselytes into the Covenant of the Lord, and so into their Congregation. Who list to see more of these parallels between the Church of the Jews and that of Christ's establishing, may consult that learned and pious Author.  
But here it may be objected, that the Rites of the Ceermonial Law were all abolished, upon the Preaching of the Gospel, and did vanish as shadows before the Sun; and although, as St Augustine observed, the use of them was not Mortiferous, they were not deadly, till the utter subversion of the Temple at Jerusalem, and the Jewish Polity; (as appears also by the Doctrine and Practice of St Paul, who did for the time freely and indifferently use or omit them, as he judged, in prudence, most conducible to the advantage of the Church;) yet they were Mortua, they were but a dead letter, and as a Carcase without a soul, from after Christ's death and resurrection; and being designed to have their solemn burial in the ruins of the Temple, after that was demolished, they became Mortifera, the use of them was deadly; and consequently to dig them up again, is noisome and unsavoury. But as a very Learned, Grave and Pious Bishop, 
Dr. Sanders. de obligat. Conscientiae. praelect. 4. §. 29. p. 145, 146.  (now with God) hath well observed, there is more of wit, than solidity in that assertion. For all the Ceremonials are not of a like nature, and importance. Those of external Order and Decency are to be distinguished, by Christian prudence, from those which did prefigure Christ to come. For those Figurative Ceremonies which were instituted of Almighty God, to be Types of Christ the Redeemer to come in the flesh, (as Circumcision, the Sacrifices, and the like) it is most certain, from the time that Christ did really fulfil all that was Typically prefigured by those Ceremonies, and sufficiently proclaim to the world, by the Preachers of the Gospel, that they were duly fulfilled, from thence forth they were of no more use; and therefore they were not only to be laid aside as dead and unsavoury, but also to be avoided as pestiferous and destructive. And especially it is to be most studiously avoided, that they be not obtruded or observed out of any opinion of necessity: according to that of the Apostle, Gal. 5.2. Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing: for that did imply that Christ was not yet come in the flesh; and so overthrew the faith.  
But for those other Ceremonies, which were not typical, but modes of decency, instituted to adorn the solemnity of God's public worship, being essential to the external beauty of it; these are not to be condemned, as unlawful, upon the mere account, that they were a part of Moses' Discipline.  
Nay, seeing God requires still to be worshipped in the beauty of holiness; and will have all things, in his Church, performed, decently and in order; and yet hath not (in the New Testament) determined the particulars, wherein that Order, Decency and Beauty shall consist; but hath left it to the Care & Prudence of the Governors, (to whom he hath committed the Keys of his Kingdom,) how can they discharge their duty better, in the particular determination hereof, then by a compliance with the wisdom of God, and the practice of Christ in his Institutions, in holding an Analogy with such Laws, and Directions, as were given (or at least allowed) by God himself, to his Church of the Old Testament, so far forth as there is equity and a parity of Reason for it?  
Upon these grounds we may safely conclude, that the Tabernacle of the Christian Church, wherein the Ordinances of the holy Gospel are to be preserved, aught to have her Solemnities & decent trim as well as that of David's pitching. And what sort of these Solemnities are most suitable, we have very fair insinuations in the Scripture of the New Testament; in those frequent allusions to the solemn service of the Tabernacle; as Rev. 21.2, 3. where St. John's vision of the new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a Bride adorned for her husband, is expounded, in the next Verse, by this remarkable acclamation, Behold, the Tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.  
Upon the whole matter therefore it is evident, that it is not an Hierarchy, that is, a sacred Government consisting of Bishops, Priests and Deacons, settled in a state of inequality and subordination; nor an established Liturgy, consisting of set Forms, for the administration of the several parts of the holy Office; nor a linen Ephod or Surplice; nor a Choir with a pair of Organs, nor reverend gestures in our attendance upon it; it is none of these that will overthrow our present Church, or drive away the Ordinances of God's worship from us, no more than the like did drive that Ark and Tabernacle from the people Israel. If these be the grey hairs, which some (that pretend to be more quicksighted) discern upon the Gospel, (upon the matter) Christ himself hath stuck them there; and if the Bridegroom himself be pleased to see his Spouse wear these marks of Antiquity, it becomes us, who are her Children, to reverence such for her grey hairs, rather than reproach her for them. Certainly (whatever that means) this is not a setting up of God's Ark in the House of Dagon: but in that decent Tabernacle which David, out of a true devotion, and by the direction of God's Spirit, hath prepared for it.  
2. But have we not other Prognostications of our approaching ruin, and the removal of God's Ark, as a prolusion or preface to it? what think you of the discontentments and divisions that are in the Nation? is not that an Omen that does boad as much? for Christ himself hath said, That a Nation divided against itself cannot stand.  
But let me awaken your attention, to consider how unjust, how unreasonable some men are, in their complaints and accusations. First, they themselves raise the discontentments, make and foment Divisions in the Kingdom; and then they make those Divisions the Prognostications of the ruin of it. This is just like the practice of Barrabas; make the insurrection first, and then commit Murder in that insurrection 
* Mar. 15.7. ; Here lies all the difference, there the Felony was committed but upon a single person; here 'tis upon Christ's Church and three whole Kingdoms.  
But if men were wise; 
Ibid. Vers. 11.  if they would not cry out to have Barrabas acquitted, and Jesus delivered up to be crucified; if they were considerative, and would obey the voice of God, and hearken to their lawful Guides and Governors, they might easily, with God's blessing, prevent this mischief. Take away the tale bearer, saith Solomon, and strife will cease; you have heard of Sanctuary-sins, of Church and Sermon-sins, and such there are indeed; there are Pulpit-tale bearers too, that make it their design and practice to raise and foment jealousies, to sow the seeds of discontent and sedition; and if they may not be allowed to Act this part upon the public Stage, than they creep into houses; and find it a matter of much advantage, though of no great difficulty, to triumph over such silly souls as are willing to be led captive. But God hath provided for his Church a sufficient remedy against this mischief, an Antidote against such infusions; Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences, contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned, and avoid them: for they that are such serve not the Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple, Rom. 16.17, 18. it is your part and duty, as far as in you lies, to apply this remedy, and make use of the Caution.  
3. But is not the Ark in great danger of being lost amongst us upon another account; is not that an unchurching of a people, when they want the power of the Ministry, a soul-searching Ministry; when we want a faithful Minister to go before us?  
I must confess, we have extreme need of such a Ministry; such as will not draw a fair skin over our old sores, but will take pains and be faithful to lance our impestumed Ulcers, and Probe them to the very bottom; for there lies very much Pride and Hypocrisy, Schism and Sedition, Malice and Treason, in our hearts; it lies so near unto our eyes, we cannot see it; it is so natural, so customable to us, we have no sense or feeling of it. Away then with those false Prophets that have daubed so long with untempered mortar, that have strained at a Gnat and swallowed Camels; that have preached Placentia, and sewed Pillows under men's Elbows, and cried peace, or go up and prosper, when the design was flat Rebellion; and yet they humoured the inclinations of the people, calling them blessed 
† Isa. 9.16.  and a godly people, that by such flatteries they might seduce them to run on in error with them; woe unto them, for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Corah, Jud. ep. v. 11. if they repent not, away with them. And give us, and God of his mercy continue to us, such a disengaged ingenuous Ministry as may resemble his own incarnate Word, Heb. 4.12. one that is quick and powerful, sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart: God grant us such a Ministry, that there may follow the like conviction of sinners to that mentioned by the Apostle, 1 Cor. 14.25. If all prophecy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all: and thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face, he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.  
God knows, this Kingdom, in general, hath need of such a faithful, soul-searching Ministry as this is. But there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, as St. Paul tells Titus, whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake, Tit. 1.10, 11. the silencing or degrading such popular Priests and seditious Levites will not endanger the Ark of God at all. And if Abiathar does complot with Joab, to promote the intended Usurpation of Adonijah, as great a Priest as he is, it is fit he should be sent to Anathoth, and confined to his Country Village, lest he make the City, by his Conspiracy, too hot for Solomon; and in his absence, as well the Ark of God as the person of the King will be so much the more in safety, 1 Kings 1.5, 7. with Chap. 2.26.  
4. But there is a fourth Prognostication of this sad Calamity, that is, the abundance of Popish Priests and Jesuits that are in the midst of us, the growing and increasing of Popery, and that proneness that is in people, to run headlong back again to the Garlic and Onions of Egypt: this argument (sure) is sufficient to make us all believe the Ark of God is in danger.  
But the truth is, the Persons that make the Argument, are none of the most likely men to prevent what they complain of. For who have done so much to harden that Popish party, to give them encouragement and advantage, as they have done? not to mention their Club-law, and Sequestrations, with the sale of their estates, (not Cogent Arguments, sure, to resolve and settle Conscience) what by charging them with such things as cannot be made good against them; and by condemning what is not to be disallowed in them, and by opposing very weakly (with more strength of passion, than reason) what is justly to be reproved, they have made them more inflexible and obstinate in their opinions. And they have given them advantage also by their factious Confederacies against that Hierarchy of the Church, whose Learning and Authority, is, under God, the only probable means to check and silence them. It was a most remarkable observation, in the Sermon of the late most Reverend Archbishop, upon the Scaffold, alluding to that Counsel of the Priests and Pharisees against our Saviour, Joh. 11.48. Men are afraid, saith he, that if they let this man alone, the Romans will come, and that Popery will prevail, (and) than they will take away our place and our Nation: but it proved the contrary; for after they had put that man to death, than the Romans came (indeed) and vanquished the City.  
Popery could never have broken in upon us, to shake the Ark of God, in its decent and happy settlement amongst us, as long as our lawful Governors were undisturbed in their station. They were our new doorkeepers, they that thrust out the right Possessors, to make room for their own ambition, they turned the Key, and opened the Door; nay, they pulled down the walls of God's House and let in Popery.  
It was their turning the Ark of God into a Noab's Ark, where so many sorts of wild and unclean beasts were herded up together, without order or distinction, their dangerous mistakes in Doctrine, their horrible confusions in Discipline, their irreligious defalcations of some parts of God's worship, and their scandalous irreverence in the performance of all the rest; these disorders caused so many to abhor the offering of the Lord; and they inclined others (whether more out of devotion and reverence, that out of levity and a desire of change, I shall not determine) but inclined they were upon this account, to lend a weak ear to the insinuations of those cunning Charmers of the Church of Rome. For, to use the words of that Wise and Learned Archbishop; 
A Relation of the Conference with Fisher, in Epist.  Ceremonies are the Hedge that fence the substance of Religion from all the Indignities, which Profaneness and Sacrilege too commonly put upon it. And this I have observed, that no one thing hath made conscientious men more wavering in their own minds, or more apt and easy to be drawn aside from the sincerity of Religion professed in the Church of England, than the want of Uniform and Decent Order in too many Churches of the Kingdom. And the Romanists have been apt to say, The Houses of God could not be suffered to lie so Nastily (as in some places they have done) were the true worship of God observed in them: or did the people think that such it were.  
And I may add this, as a further matter of scandal and advantage to them; when men do openly proclaim, and that so crudely and without any distinction, that there is not a Nation under heaven 
* Mr. Calamy's challenge (pag. 13.) amounts to a positive assertion. , except this Nation of England, that ever enjoyed the Gospel a hundred years together; which is so apparently false, that nothing can well be more false than that is; when they tell us that grey hairs are upon the Gospel, which is everlasting 
* Heb. 12.27, 28. ch. 8. ult. Rev. 14.6.  and can never wax old; who can fence off the Scandal, and not be transported with indignation, to hear the holy Text abused by such absurd allusions, designed on purpose to raise up amusements and jealousies in the people. And we may now see the said Archbishops just Complaint to His Majesty of ever Blessed Memory verified, 
In his Relation of the Conference, in Epist.  by too sad an instance. That the Church of England was in a hard condition. She professes the ancient Catholic Faith; and yet the Romanist condemns her of Novelty in her Doctrine. She practices Church-government, as it hath been in use in all Ages, and all Places where the Church of Christ hath taken any Rooting, both in, and ever since the Apostles times; and yet the Separatist condemns her for Antichristianism in her Discipline. The plain truth is, she is between these two Factions, as between two Millstones; and unless your Majesty look to it, to whose trust she is committed, she'll be ground to Powder, to an irreparable both dishonour, and loss to this Kingdom. And 'tis very remarkable, that while both these press hard upon the Church of England, both of them cry out upon persecution, like froward children which scratch, and kick and by't, and yet cry out all the while as if themselves were killed. What success this great Distemper, 
Ibid. paulo post.  caused by the Collision of two such Factions, may have, I know not, I cannot Prophesy. We may change the Phrase into [A great Distemper caused by their Coalition and clubbing of Interests to gain a Toleration] what success this may have I know not; but (as that renowned Prelate goes on) though I cannot Prophesy, 
Ibid. paulo post.  yet I fear that Atheism and Irreligion gathers strength, while the Truth is thus weakened by an unworthy way of contending for it. And while they thus contend, neither part consider, that they are in a way to induce upon themselves, and others, that contrary extreme, which they seem most both to fear and oppose.  
But let the Ark of God be settled with a decent splendour, and all the parts of God's worship and service be performed with a due and becoming Reverence: and in order hereunto, let the Hierarchy of the Church enjoy its full Authority and encouragement, and then we shall be in no such danger of Apostasy to either of these Factions.  
5. But however, they say, we have reason to persuade ourselves, that England's Ark is in danger to be lost, were it only for the sins and prodigious iniquities that we are guilty of; our Commonwealth sins, drunkenness and uncleanness, bribery and oppression; our Sanctuary-sins, our remissness and unfruitfulness, our indifferency and lukewarmness, the profanation of Sabbaths, and the strange unheard of unthankfulness that is amongst us: And that Commination will extend to us, if we be guilty of the like unfruitfulness; Therefore I say unto you, the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a Nation bringing forth the fruits thereof, Mat. 21.43.  
— Pudet haec opprobria nobis  
Et dici potuisse & non potuisse refelli.  
I must ingenuously confess, we have but too much cause to be ashamed that we have requited the Lord no better, that we have no better means to wipe off the stain of this most deserved reproach: And unless we do seasonably repent, God will visit for these things, and be avenged of such an ingrateful Nation as this is.  
In old Eli's time, when the Priests were guilty of so much intemperance and uncleanness, so much rapine and sacrilege; and yet the out-cries of a complaining people could not awaken the Supreme Governor to unsheathe his sword to redress these exorbitancies; but the Priests proceeded to multiply and aggravate their crimes; and the Prince his Lenity made his reprehensions but little better than a Toleration or Connivance, and so the people fell into irreligion and profaneness, they abhorred the offering of the Lord: When there was such a complication of sins, and the sins of the Rulers (as well Ecclesiastical as Civil) did both procure and encourage sin in the people; Then the Holy Oracle grew silent, God himself departed, the Cherubims made use of their wings to fly away, and the Ark of God was taken. If we be in league with Hell, 
1 Sam. chap. 3. & 4.  the Ark of the Covenant will not own us. Now the energy and efficacy of witchcrafts depends upon a League with Hell; and Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft; as long therefore as we cleave unto, and in our hearts follow an Usurper, we can have no saving Communion with the Ark of God, no more than Israel had while they marched after Jeroboam. They are nothing else but their iniquities that do separate betwixt God and his people; 
Isa. 59.1. Jer. 7.7. etc.  it is their sins that withhold good things from them, even the blessings of the Ark and God's Holy Temple. As for the beauty of his Ornament, he set it in Majesty: but they made the image of their abominations, and of their detestable things therein: Therefore have I set it far from them. And I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil, and they shall pollute it, Ezek. 7.20, 21. Under the Gospel we find one Church that left her first Love; Another that was neither hot nor cold; 
Rev. chap. 2, & 3.  A third that had a name that she lived, but really she was dead; A fourth that had such in her bosom and communion as did teach the wicked policies of Balaam, and the unclean doctrine of the Nicolaitans; A fifth that did grant a Toleration to Jezabel, notwithstanding her execrable Artifice and practices in seducing such as had been dedicated to God's Service to commit Fornication and Idolatry: And what became of all these Churche●? Why, their Candlestick was removed, and the Ark of God was taken from them. And though the Ark of God were entailed upon England, yet there is a measure, there are aggravations, there are combinations of sin, that when they are once made up will provoke God to use his prerogative over us, not in a way of mercy but of justice, to cut off that entail, and determine (as he did in another case) against it, Though England were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence.  
And yet this I must take leave to interpose in vindication of the present Church of England; The fault is not in her; She may truly say, the Sons of Zeruiah are too hard for us: She hath it not in her power to redress things as she would. And whose factious clamours and petitions, and other acts of open hostility, were they that unhinged the Government, and pulled down those venerable Courts of Justice, whose Authority and Splendour were able to dazzle the eyes, and break the hearts of the most insolent offenders? Till such Courts can be restored, we must have patience to preach and pray, being in the same condition that we find the Church of Corinth in, 2 Cor. 10.6. Having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience shall have been fulfilled. The delinquents among them were too numerous and too potent for the Censures of the Church to take place upon them: For it is not prudent to exasperate a multitude with the severity of a Discipline which their numbers can so easily overmaster: But when the Reformation of the major part is so conspicuous, and the Zeal of the conformable part so serious and earnest, that it may be prudent to proceed against the refractory, than the Church will not fail in her duty, but inflict such censures upon offenders as shall be suitable to their demerits: Having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience shall be fulfilled.  
In the mean while we are not without our Prognostications too, that the Ark shall still reside and prosper with us.  
1. Our late Tribulations have wrought patience, and our patience experience, and our experience Hope; A Hope, 
Rom. 5.3, 4, 5.  we trust, that will never make ashamed. We argue ourselves into this persuasion by the Logic of Manoah's wise: If the Lord were pleased to destroy us, 
Judg. 13.23.  He would not have received an offering at our hands, nor would he have showed us all these things; He would not have heard our prayers, nor have wrought such miracles of mercy for the Restitution of his Ark amongst us: A mercy that the Church of England may very well celebrate (with a very little variation of the expressions) in the 83. Psalm. For lo our enemies lift up their head and made a tumult. They took crafty counsel against thy people. They said, Come let us cut them off, that the name of the Church of England may be no more in remembrance. They consulted together with one consent, and were confederate. The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites, of Moab and the Hagarens. Gebal and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines, with the Inhabitants of Tyre. Assur also was joined with them: and have helped the Children of Lot. But God hath (upon the matter) done unto them as unto the Midianites, as to Sisera, as to Jabin, which perished at Endor; they became as dung for the Earth. He made their Princes like Oreb and Zeb; yea all their Princes as Zebah and Zalmunna. Who said let us take to ourselves the houses of God into our possession. Our God made them like a wheel that could never fix upon any solid ground of establishment, but rolled and turned about in a restless variety of changes. At last they were as stubble before the wind, God did divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel: He did confound their Languages, that the building of their Babel could not go forward. And all these dispensations were out of a design of mercy to the Adversaries of this Church; God hath filled their faces with shame, that they might be induced to join with the Church in a due and decent conformity to seek his Name. And so let all the Combinations of thy Church's enemies perish, O Lord, but let them that love thee and thy Church, be as the Sun when he goeth forth in his might, 
Judges 5.31.  that our Land may be filled with piety, devotion and glory, and so have rest, to all generations.  
God hath done great things for us already, whereof we rejoice; and what he hath done, he is pleased to make his engagement to do more; if we do not render ourselves utterly unworthy, and forfeit our Tenure by our obstinate perversities. This is one ground of our hope: And there is, A  
2d. The Church of England hath a praying people; a people whose devotions are solid and fervent, regular and constant; a people that do frequent the Public Prayers of the Church out of humility and obedience, out of judgement and prudence; and yet do importune God in their Closets, day and night too; though they love not so much to play the Hypocrite, as to sound their Trumpet, to tell the world they do so. You know, the interest of ten righteous persons was so considerable to Almighty God, that it should have prevailed with him for the preservation of five most lewd and vicious Cities; and God be blessed, we have that number, I trust many hundred times told over.  
But because, if we continue in sin, the Epha 
a Zach. 5.  will be full at last; and if we neglect so great salvation, and the things that do belong unto our peace; those things will be hidden from our eyes, and we shall bring upon ourselves swift destruction 
b 2 Pet. 7.2. ; and then the devotions of holy Prophets will be enjoined silence, by Gods own Order (Jer. 7.16. Pray not thou for this people [for their good 
c Jer. 14.11. etc. 11.14. ] neither lift up cry, nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me; for I will not hear thee.) And though they should pray earnestly, and continue their importunity (receiving no such express Order, as that Prophet Jeremy had, to the contrary;) yet their prayers, in this case, in this juncture of affairs (when the harvest of sin is ripe) how effectual soever for themselves, would not prevail, they would be fruitless, as to the generality of persons, and the calamity of the Nation; for when I bring my sore judgements upon the Land, though these three men, Noah, Daniel and Job, were in it, as I live, 
Ezek. 14.14, 10.  saith the Lord God, they should deliver neither son nor daughter, they should but deliver their own souls by their righteousness. Therefore to prevent this dreadful severity of Almighty God, give me leave to propound some few Caveats and Directions to you, touching your behaviour, in reference to the Ark of God (by which I understand his sacred Ordinances) and so I shall conclude.  
When God was about to descend upon Mount Sinai, at the promulgation of the Law (Exod. 19) he commanded Moses to set bounds, to keep off the people, that they might not press upon so dreadful a Majesty, to their own ruin. The presence of God with his holy Ark, in his holy worship, is no less sacred, no less dreadful than it was on Mount Sinal; I must therefore draw a line, and set up rails about it, as well to secure your interest in it, as to preserve that respect and veneration that is due unto it. These shall be made up of a six fold Caveat. You must,  

1. Not over value, or deify it.  
2. Not undervalue, or blaspheme it.  
3. Not invade, or profane it.  
4. Not slander, or belie it.  
5. Not intrude, or pry into it.  
6. Not rifle, or plunder it.   
1. You must not over-value or deify it. A very high esteem and reverence you must have for tthe Ark of God; and you may rely upon God's promise, and confidently expect what God hath engaged to do for you by the Ministry thereof. But you must not turn the Ark into an Idol; exhibere cultum Dei creaturae, est Idololatria, saith Aquinas; if you devote that service to it, and place that affiance in it which is due to God alone, you do then make an Idol of it: You make the Type of Christ to become his Rival; you make him jealous of his own Representative; and you eclipse his honour by that shadow that was designed to illustrate and set it off.  
And yet there are some that do more than this, worse than this amounts to; they do Hyper-deifie it, advance it above God, yea against God; for God will not patronise the guilty, Christ will not save the impenitent; 'tis a desperate presumption to think they will: if you expect this from the Ark, you do not only turn it into an Idol, set it up in God's stead: but you do more than so, you exalt it above God, you pretend to make it do what God will not do, what Christ cannot do; you make it a real Antichrist.  
For Christ came to destroy the works of the Devil, and to take away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And if you make the Ark a Sanctuary for Malefactors, you set it up in opposition to Christ, and provoke him to Arm himself (as it were) against it, in vindication of his own glory.  
Upon this very account it was, that he delivered the Ark (under the Law) into the hands of the Philistines, 1 Sam. 4. and Jer. 7.3. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, amend your ways and your do, and I will cause you to dwell in this place: (but) trust ye not in lying words, saying, The Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord; as if that had been a threefold fortification, to secure them against all possible calamity; But ye trust in lying words that cannot profit: will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and wa●k after other gods whom ye know not, and come and stand before me, in this house which is called by my name, and say we are delivered to do all these abominations? is this house that is called by my name become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the Lord; But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I put my name at the first, and see what I did to it, for the wickedness of my people Israel, etc.  
That Ark which was the visible Symbol of his presence, and the especial Instrument of his worship and service, they set it up in opposition to his glory; they would have it patronise their sin, and protect them, in their impenitency, against God's severe judgements; and this provokes God to give it up to be defiled by reproach and profanation. Let this be a Caveat to you therefore, not to over-value, or deify the Ark of God.  
2. And yet you must take heed you do not undervalue and blaspheme it; not vilify the solemn service of God performed about it. This was the sin of Michal the Daughter of Saul, she looked thorough a window, and saw David clothed in his linen Ephod, and dancing (after the Music) before the Ark of the Lord, and she despised him in her heart, 2 Sam. 6.16. yea, her heart was swelled so big with pride and indignation, that it could not contain if self within any bounds of moderation; it burst out into obloquy, for she reproached him as a vain and shameless fellow, (Ver. 20)  
But David had enough to say for his own vindication; that he did thus humble himself, it was only in the presence of the Lord, who had exalted him; and it is very fit that the Majesty of earth should be laid in the dust, before the Majesty of heaven; and to despise any person for doing God reverence, argues an opinion, that God may have too much honour, that the Solemnity of his worship may be too great for his excellency, and transcend the merits of his divine Attributes; and that a less devotion will serve his turn.  
But this casteth so dark a reflection upon God's glory, that his patience cannot brook it; and therefore the profaneness of Michal's heart, and the petulancy of her bitter tongue, is punished with a barren womb, a great reproach in that Nation; or if she be with child (as some think she was) she shall not give birth to it, but with the loss of her own life; for, because of this her carriage towards David, upon this occasion, Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no child unto the day of her death. 
2 Sam. 6.23.   
And yet it is no Paradox to say, we have many of Michal's breed at this day amongst us; such as have made a mock at the linen Ephod, derided Church-music designed to celebrate God's praises, scoffed at the very Hymns and Prayers, and blasphemed the whole Solemnity of Gods most sacred worship. Have not the servants of the most high God been publicly reviled by the title of Baal's Priests, for their reverend attendance upon this service of God's Ark? hath not the established Form of Liturgy been vilified by the name of pottage, not only in the foul leaves of Scurrilous Pamphlets; but likewise in the mouths of railing Rabshakehs, more foul and profane than they?  
But we cannot be transported with amazement at these things, being premonished by the Spirit of Prophecy, in the holy Apostles, that there should come (and that more abundantly) in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts. 
2 Pet. 3.3.   
But does not this filthy dirt that is thrown upon the Ark of God, dash and bespatter the Majesty of God himself? yes surely; for Christ saith, He that despiseth you, despiseth me; and he that despiseth me, despiseth him that sent me; such as despise the Ministry that attends upon the Ark, they despise not man, but God; 
1 Thes. 4.8.  the reproaches of them that reproach the Ark of God, do fall upon God himself.  
And because they were guilty of michal's sin, have they not met with michal's curse too? Give them, O Lord, what wilt thou give them? give them a barren womb and dry breasts, Hos. 9.14. Have they not all been barren, that scoffed at the solemn service of God's Ark? either their Conceptions have proved abortive; or, if the children have come to the birth, yet there hath been no strength to bring forth; or, if they have been delivered, yet those breasts, that should have suckled the offspring of this scoffing Mother, have proved dry, and so the production, like the seed sown by the way side, hath dwindled away for want of nourishment.  
This was acknowledged in a Sermon preached before that remnant of the House of Commons (Jan. 27.1646/7) six year ago (saith the Preacher) after this Parliament had sat awhile, 
Mr. Jo. Arrow-smith his great wonder in Heaven, pag. 36.  it was generally believed that she (he alludes to that woman which was a Type of the Church, Rev. 12.1.) was fallen into her travel; And in the midst of all those sorrows which have befallen England since, her friends encouraged themselves with this hope, that the quicker and sharper her pains grew, the liker she was to be speedily delilivered of that manchild, which was by them so greedily expected. But, behold, as if all these had been but forerunners of her labour, not bearing-throws, she continues still in pain: insomuch as they begin now to think she hath not gone her full time, and earnestly to desire she may; because they fear nothing more than an Abortive Reformation; (for so they called, they knew not what, the thing they projected to build upon the ruins of God's Church amongst us.)  
Remember Michal, Remember saul's daughter; her sin, and her judgement too; and scoff no more at the Solemn Worship and Service, performed before the Ark of God; that is our Second Caveat.  
3. You must not invade and profane the Ark; God would not allow that any person should Minister about the Ark, but such as were of the Tribe of Levi, and duly ordained and ballowed for that service.  
Every man might expect a blessing from the Ark; but every man might not officiate about it, at his own pleasure; the highest Gifts gave him no Commission, procured him no Authority for this work, without a special Consecration; for no man taketh this honour unto himself, 
Heb. 5.4.  but he that is called of God, as was Aaron; without this warrant, the greatest Zeal, though directed by an eminent degree of knowledge, in the management of this sacred Function, had been no better than a Sacrilegious profanation.  
When the Oxen stumbled and shook the Ark, UZzah put forth his hand, out of devotion, without all peradventure, to uphold it, that it might not be overthrown; but his good meaning would not excuse his rashness; for, whether his hand and shoulder withered, or he were struck suddenly with a thunderbolt, I shall not take upon me to determine; but this I am assured of, upon the Credit and Authority of the holy Story, tha● the ange● of the Lord was kindled against UZZah, and God smote him there for his error, and there he died by the Ark of God, 2 Sam. 6.6, 7.  

Eli trembled for fear of the Ark.  Shall I give you Mr. Calamy's Application of this accident? We have had great disorder heretofore, saith he, and God is now punishing us for that disorder: there were abundance of well-meaning men that usurping the Ministerial Office; and (forsooth) they were afraid the Ark was falling, and they laid to their shoulders; but their touching the Ark undid the Ark and themselves too, and brought a scandal on the Gospel. This is Mr. Calamy's Application.  
But if we examine the matter thoroughly, we shall find him, with many others (that inveighed fiercely against such as usurped the Ministerial Office) involved in the same guilt with UZZah, and consequently, they fall under the same condemnation.  
For what was Uzzah's crime; Oz a percussus est, quòd attigisset arcam Domini. Id enim ne Levitis quidem fas erat. Arcam enim ab illis tantùm gestari, non contingi, aut spectari oportuit, saith Peter Martyr: Uzzah was smitten, 
In 2 Sam. 6.6, 7, 8.  because he touched the Ark of God; for the Levite's Office was to carry the Ark, but they were, under a severe prohibition, neither to touch it, not to look into it; for so the Lord had ordained, Numb. 4.15. When Aaron and his Sons have made an end of covering the Sanctuary, and all the vessels of the Sanctuary, as the Camp is to set forward; after that, the Sons of Kohath shall come to bear it; but they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die; and Ver. 20. They shall not go in to see, when the holy things are covered, lest they die.  
But it might have been alleged on the behalf of Uzzah, that what he did was upon an extraordinary occasion, in a case of necessity, and out of zeal, to save the Ark from falling; 
Ibid.  but as Peter Martyr hath very well observed, his touching the Ark is assigned, by many, as the cause, why he was so suddenly smitten; Sed erat alia causa & prior & major, quòd ille arcam imposuisset in currum, & dedisset causam huic necessitati. But there was another, a former and a greater cause for it; his putting the Ark upon a Cart, and so betraying it to that danger and necessity. So the English Annotations, The anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah; because he had caused his holy Ark to be carried in a Cart, which they should have born on their shoulders, and for touching it with his hand, being but a Levite and no Priest. On, 2 Sam. 6.7.  
The Levites might not be their own Carvers, in the holy function, might not invade what part of it they had a fancy to; no, Aaron and his sons shall go in, and appoint them every one to his service, and to his burden 
† Numb. 4.19.  If they had an ambition to usurp any other part of the sacred Office (that was not so assigned them by their Superiors) though they did create a present necessity for it; yet that necessity of their own making could not justify them in such their Sacrilegious Usurpation.  
And this is directly the Case of the Presbyterians. It was their duty (we confess) to bear the Ark of God, to Minister unto it, in some parts of the sacred Office, such as were assigned them by their Superiors; but they could not keep their hands off the Ark; their ambition spurred them on to Usurp other parts of that Office; to lay on hands, for the Ordination of others; (lest, forsooth, the Ark of God's worship should fall to the ground, for lack of a Ministry to attend it) which they had no Commission for, no Warrant at all, but a pretended necessity of their own making, by pulling down Aaron and his Sons, the holy Order of Bishops, who alone were invested with that power.  
So that these Presbyterians have followed Uzzah in the imitation of his error and temerity; and hath not a suitable judgement overtaken them, a punishment Analogical to that of Uzzah? are not those hands that were stretched out, without any Authority, to perform this Office, are they not withered? hath not the anger of the Lord (as Mr. Calamy in part confesseth) smitten them, for this Sacrilegious Usurpation? we see, they are dead, before the Ark, in this capacity; and therefore, you must not invade and profane the Ark; that is the third Caveat.  
4. You must not slander and belie the Ark. There are, and have been in all Ages, false Prophets who have suggested their own Dreams, Fancies and Designs, for the Oracles of God. The Prophet's Prophecy lies in my name, as the Lord himself complains by the Prophet Jeremy, 
Chap. 14.14.  I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spoke I unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision, and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart, J●r. 14.14. and Chap. 23 16, 17. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, harken no● unto th● words of the Prophets that prophesy unto you; they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not ou● of the mouth of the Lord: they say still unto them that despise me, the Lord hath said ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the stubbornness of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.  
And hath not the lying spirit given out his Oracles, by the mouths of a multitude of such Prophets, amongst us, in these times of our distraction?  
One of them g●ve out this for an Oracle 
* Mr. John Goodwin's Anti-Caval. See Dr. Ham. of Resisting the lawful Magistrate, etc. pag. 22. etc. , about 18 or 19 years ago, that the King, though Head of all, and singulis Major; yet he was universis Minor; though above all single persons; yet inferior to the body of his people; that they have a power and right to resist him.  
And because this is contradicted expressly by the lively Oracles of the holy Scripture, and the writings of all the primitive Fathers, therefore that lying bloody Oracle said further (in effect) that God did hid this liberty from the primitive Christians, lest the use of it should cause an abortion in the birth of Antichrist. God caused a dead sleep (saith he) to fall upon these truths, the hiding of them being necessary to help Antichrist up to his throne; yea, he saith, that God by special dispensation suffered him the said Antichrist to make such truths his footstool, till he had advanced himself to his highest pitch in the world.  
But now that this Antichrist is to be destroyed and cast out, and the Commonalty of Christians (as he pretended) being the men that must have the principal hand in executing Gods judgements upon the whore; for bringing this to pass now, saith he, in these our times God hath given out this Revelation to us, he hath manifested the Doctrine of Resistance; and Christians may act contrary to the will of their Superiors. And for this, you have Mr. John goodwin's asseveration.  
To a like effect you have another, that blows the Trumpet of Sedition; and to raise up the people in Arms against their lawful Sovereign. He does shamefully pervert and blaspheme the sacred Text, Judg. 5.23. Curse ye Meroz (said the Angel of the Lord) curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty. And this was Mr. Marshal 
* See Mr. Ed. Symons Confutation of that Sermon. .  
A third tells some of the House of Commons, in a Sermon at Westminster, (1641) that now is the time, that God is beating down the walls of proud Babylon, 
Mr. William Bridge, Babylon's downfall, pag. 10. Pag. 33.  that are raised up in every Kingdom; and, saith he, ye shall see these great works come to pass shortly. And, in his Epistle to the Reader, he tells him, I shall not prophesy, if I say, The sword is now drawn, whose anger shall not be pacified, till Babylon be down. And this is Mr. William Bridge. And another of These Prophets is as positive as if the work had then been already done; the greatest blow that ever was given, saith he, to Antichristian Government, is that which NOW IT HATH HAD, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, so fallen as it shall NEVER rise again; and this is Mr. Jeremy Burroughs 
* On Isa. 66.10. in a Thanksgiving. .  
And others, to inflame and engage the people unto Rebellion, have forced the holy Scripture seemingly to belie itself; for so they did when they preached upon those Texts, Cursed is he that withholdeth his hand from blood; 
See Evangelium Armatum, per totum.  and cursed is he that doth the work of the Lord negligently; when they were fight against the King and his loyal Subjects.  
And lest the people's Consciences should be affrighted, and their insolence daunted, at the Apostles dreadful Commination against such Resisters, Rom. 13. They that resist shall receive to themselves damnation; They found out an allay, by a gentle interpretation of the Phrase; 
See Dr. Ham. ib. p. 33.  it does not signify the damnation of hell (they tell their confidents, whom they had abused and seduced to follow their pernicious ways) but some temporal mulct only (if the King should prove able to inflict it.)  
But when so much Christian blood hath been shed, and a most flourishing Kingdom, with a Church of the best Constitution in the whole world, destroyed, under a pretence of pulling down Antichrist, what new Model have they got, what Plate form have they received from heaven, to set up in the room of it? why, no other than what their blind imaginations should stumble upon by chance, and God knows when; And the holy Text is sacrificed too, to gratify this conceit.  
Go with me, saith Mr. Case, to Heb. 11.13. And ye shall find Abraham with his staff in his hand, 
In his Sermon before the Peers, March 25. 1646. pag. 41.  and his sandalt on his feet, and his loins girt: please to let me ask him two or three Questions by the way: see what he will answer. Reverend Patriarch, whether are you going? Answer, I know not: When shall you return? Answer, I know not: How will you subsist? Answ. I know not: He is in haste as well as we; and therefore I'll ask him but one Question more. Abraham, why then do you go at such UNCERTAINTIES: to this he will answer, I go not upon uncertainties; I have a call; I have a command, and that will secure my person, and bear my charges. By faith Abraham when he was called to go into a place, which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed, and went out, NOT KNOWING WHITHER HE WENT. 
Heb. 11.8. .  
Christians (saith he) observe, a Call is as good as a Promise: (and a little after) we have not only a call, but a promise; not in general only, but in special. The whole Book of the Revelation is nothing else but one great Promise of the down-fall of Antichrist, and Gospel-Reformation; and that is the work Parliament and Kingdom have now in hand in these three Nations: Thus Mr. Case.  
But what they meant by that Gospel-reformation, they could never agree to tell us; witness Mr. Daniel Evance, in his Sermon 
* Entitled The Noble Order, pag. 41.  before the Lords, Jan. 28. 1645. (on 1 Sam. 2.30.) where he tells them thus: I profess, my Lords, I am neither for Paul, nor Apollo's, nor Cephas, nor Christ, till I know what Paul and Apollo's and Cephas are for, and what those, that say they are for Christ, can say for him.  
But I could wish (my Lords) that we had the PATTERN, that every man might Consult with the mount, WHICH OF THE TWO IS CHRIST'S GOVERNMENT. The CHILD is CHRISTENED (for aught I see) before it is BORN, and we have the NAMES before the THINGS.  
It seems, by their own Confession, they were not so good Marks-men as St Paul was, 
When will these be so ingenuous as those mentioned, Zac. 13.4, 5.  [I therefore so run, not as uncertainly: so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:] they were like the Samaritans, to whom our Saviour saith, Joh. 4.22. Ye worship ye know not what. In this they were like those the Apostles speaks of, who professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, Rom. 1.22. take heed therefore that you do not slander, or belie the Ark of God; that is the fourth Caveat.  
5. You must not intrude or pry into the Ark of God. We must look no further than as the holy Ghost hath set it open, and the hand of the Prophets and Apostles drawn the Curtain for us. God will not allow the common people to gaze upon the holy Mount (Exod. 19.21.) secret things belong to the Lord our God: Revealed things are for us, and for our children. 
Deut. 29.29.  If we must needs afford a prospect to our curiosity, there are Mysteries displayed to us, in the holy Gospel, 
1 Pet. 1.12.  such as the Angels desire to look into; can we not satisfy ourselves in the contemplation of these things?  
If we must needs let our thoughts run out upon the judgement to come, can we not confine them within the modest limits of sobriety, and meditate upon the certainty, and the severity, with those terrible accidents that shall attend it? is all our longing after the forbidden fruit, that grows upon this tree? 
See Gerh. de extreme. Jud. mihi, p. 190.  how many impostures have the Christian World been deluded with, upon this account, for filthy lucre's sake?  
And of what ill consequence this is, you may learn from Mr. Calamy 
* In his late Sermon. ; he tells you it is the way to make men Atheists, to believe nothing; and thereupon he concludes, that certainly those Ministers do no good to the Church, that prescribe Times and Seasons; for when those Seasons are come, and we find ourselves disappointed, after that we will believe the Minister no more.  
This was the sin of the Bethshemites (prying into the Ark of God) which cost them no less than 50070 lives. Mr. Calamy was very sensible of this judgement upon those men; 
1 Sam. 6.19.  and yet at the very same time, he must needs be peeping into the Ark himself; for what else means his hints, touching those strong impressions upon the hearts of many learned men, as to the year 1666 and the Book printed to prove, that Antichrist shall then be destroyed? what means he else, by his hint, that some pitch upon a nearer time, which he is loath to name?  
But he tells us, he is sure, that God is now pouring out his Vials upon Antichrist, and the Throne of the Beast; and although some few drops of these Vials may fall upon the Reformed Churches to chastise them; yet the Vials are intended for the Whore of Babylon, and shall at last be all poured out upon Her, to their wine of Antichrist and all his Adherents.  
Why, truly these men are much beholden to the Beast, and do make much use of his Throne to uphold their seditious doctrines and practices: For Antichrist is their stalking horse, when the present Government is their quarry. For by Antichrist they understand not only the Pope of Rome, or the Great Turk, but the very Hierarchy of the Church, with the Solemn Service of God, which is performed and upheld by it. And by amuzing the people with the sudden and certain expectation of this Antichrists ruin, they keep them in a posture for sedition, that when they see their advantage to give the word, they may be ready to arm, and give fire upon their Governors.  
But for this pretence of pulling down Antichrist, it is a saddle that will fit any back. Hath not the Presbyterian party been called Antichrist? yes, and that in Print too; and perhaps they had had a war made upon them, upon that account, had they insisted stiffly upon their pretensions to that Government.  
But for my part, I think it more than probable, that the great Antichrist the Apostle speaks of 
* 2 Thes. 2.7, 8, 9, 10. See Dr. Hammonds Annotations.  is destroyed already: If not, yet the question is not sufficiently determined (by them who are in expectation of his ruin) who he is; much less when his Kingdom is to have an end. And when men have been engaged to the expense of so much blood and treasure, to the ruin of so many Persons and Families, in pursuance of such a design, and there comes nothing on't; but their supposed Antichrist, or his supposed Adherents continue still, and appear to be so much less Antichrist then themselves, in that they desire to live in peace, and to render unto God the glory due unto his Name (which the real Antichrist certainly does not;) who shall answer for all the horrible outrages that have been committed to no purpose, but to the dishonour of God, and the scandal of mankind, to the reproach of our Christian Profession, and the just indignation of our Superiors? Who, I say, shall answer this at God's Tribunal? Will that excuse serve the turn, (which is all that can be pretended to) That the promoters of these confusions were mistaken, and do now begin to think that the Church (the woman they fancied to be all this while in travel with the designs of their own begetting) has not yet gone her full time, 
Mr. Arrowsmith, ubi supra.  (as one of them is pleased to word it?) I say, will this excuse serve the turn before the dreadful Judge?  
But suppose there were an infallible discovery of Antichrist, yet where is the Commission? where do we find any warrant to levy war against him? It is said of that Beast and his Complices, Revel. 17.14. That they shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them. But where do we find that the Lamb makes war upon them? It is with the Spirit of his mouth that he consumes them, and with the brightness of his coming, not by the mouth of the glittering sword, 2 Thess. 2.8. It is said also, (Revel. 17.16) that the ten horns (which are interpreted to be ten Kings, v. 12.) shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. But in all this I can see no warrant, nothing that looks like it, for Subjects to take up Arms without, much less, against the King's Authority.  
There is a Prophecy, indeed, that Antichrist shall fall and be destroyed; but that will not justify what is done against God's Command: For there is a Prophecy likewise, that the Devil should cast some of the Servants of God into prison, Revel. 2.10. and yet he is a Devil still. A Prophecy that Jeroboam 
a 1 Kin. 11.31.  should have ten parts of Rehoboam's Kingdom, and yet he was a Rebel 
b 1 Kin. 12.19.  and an Usurper 
c 1 Kin. 11.17. , and he made Israel to sin 
d 1 Kin. 15.26, 34. .  
We must frame our lives and actions, not by dark Prophecies, but by clear Precepts: And we are not where informed who is Antichrist; no where enjoined to fight against him; but earnestly exhorted To be quiet, and to do our own business 
e 1 Thes. 4.11. ; To follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which (pair of virtues) no man shall see the Lord 
f Heb. 12.14. .  
Certainly therefore our wisest course is, not to trouble our heads about Antichrist, but leave Christ himself do deal with him, and to betake ourselves to Prayer and Fasting, with other pious exercises, to prepare for the Advent of Death and Judgement. This is the fifth Caveat, not to intrude or pry into the Ark.  
6. The sixth and last Caveat is, you must not rifle and plunder the Ark. The Apostle tells us, Heb. 9.4. That with the Ark there were not only the Tables of the Covenant, but also the golden pot that had Manna, and Aaron's rod that budded. The Tables of the Law are of indispensable necessity to salvation; for the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him; to such as keep his Covenant, and think upon his Commandments to do them, Psal. 103.17, 18. And Aaron's Rod is requisite to excite and quicken; the Pot of Manna to strengthen and encourage unto the duty: There is a mixture of severity and sweetness, 
Lib. 2. pastoral. Cressol. Anthol. Dec. 2.161.  as Gregory hath observed; Rigour disciplinae &, dulcedo humanitatis, quae sacrosanctas legum Tabulas custodiunt. There must be Discipline, and there must be Sacraments, else the Law cannot be observed: The one to awe, the other to enable us to that observation.  
All the Service performed before the Ark under the Law was not Typical; though the Sacrifices of fowls and beasts be out of date and abolished, yet the Sacrifice of hearts and souls is in force still. There was incense to be offered, and God was to be solemnly thanked and praised Morning and Evening 
* 1 Chron. 23.30. ; and this continues still, though the other be extinguished.  
Nay, as they had their Sacrifice prefigurative, to protest their homage and devotion, to awaken their repentance, upon a suggestion of their guilt and their demerits, and to excite their faith to lay hold upon the passion and death of Christ to come, for their expiation and atonement; so we have our Sacrifice representative, to protest our devotion, to awaken our repentance, and to excite our Faith to lay hold upon the Passion and Death of Christ already past: 
Mal. 1.11. See Mr. Meade upon this Text, and the Ancient Fathers by him cited.  For from the rising of the Sun even unto the going down of the same, my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place Incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: For my name shall be great among the Heathen, saith the Lord of Hosts. This is that solemn Commemorative Oblation of the Sacrifice of the Cross, with our Adorations, Laudes and Prayers, in that Sacramental Eucharist of Christ's own Institution.  
Christ is given us in pretium (saith that Learned Bishop 
* Bishop Andrews, Ser. 2. of the Nativity. ) for a price; a price either of ransom, to bring out de loco caliginoso; or a price of purchase, of (that, where without it we have no interest) the Kingdom of Heaven. For both he is given, 
Non habentes oblationem majorem neque puriorem quae Deo posset offerri quàm Eucharistiam, eam in omni offerunt loco. Dignam planè Deo oblationem, cujus respectu jam holocaustae & bostiae omnes antiquae Deo non placent▪ tantopere illa placet (sc. Eucharistia.) Paul. de Palacio, in Mal. 1.11.  offer we him for both. He was given us, to that end we might give him back. We wanted, we had nothing valuable; that we might have, this he gave us, (as a thing of greatest price) to offer for that which needeth a great price, our sins, so many in number, and so foul in quality. We had nothing worthy God; This He gave us that is worthy him, which cannot be but accepted, offer we it never so often. Let us then offer him, and in the act of offering, ask of him what is meet. And a little after, This [his flesh] he gave for us in sacrifice; and this he giveth us, in the Sacrament; that the Sacrifice may, by the Sacrament, be truly applied to us.  
What an irreligious, what a scandalous neglect of the Ark of God, in respect of this part of our Solemn worship, hath been throughout this Kingdom, I need not tell you; you cannot but remember it. But I wish there were; and I pray God there may be such a sense of our miscarriages in these particulars, as may produce a Salutary shame, a Cordial and thorough humiliation.  
There is nothing else can fit us for so lovely a prospect, as is the external Beauty of God's house and solemn worship. To this purpose it is very remarkable what the Lord saith to the Prophet Ezekiel (Chap. 43.10, 11.) Thou Son of man, show the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities, and let them measure the pattern. And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, show them the Form of the House, and the fashion thereof, and the go out thereof, and the come in thereof, and all the Forms thereof, and all the Ordinances thereof, and all the Forms thereof, and all the Laws thereof: and writ it in their sight, that they may keep the whole Form thereof, and all the Ordinances thereof, and do them.  
And this will lead me to the last Stage of my Discourse, which is the end of my Design; viz. to give you some directions how you are to demean yourselves, in reference to the Ark of God's solemn worship.  
But these Directions should be ushered in with a word or two of admonition to such as are in highest Authority over us.  
1. The First is, To support and countenance the Hierarchy, that Order of men who are set apart by a special act of Consecration, to attend the service of the Ark; the Ark of God cannot appear glorious, under the Ministry of a contemptible Priesthood. It is the Learning and Piety, the Prudence and Gravity, the Splendour and Authority, of the Episcopal Order, that must keep up the Ark in a steady posture amongst us.  
Aspiring Novices will run it into bogs and precipices, and leave it without a guard, to be overlaid with Superstition, or exposed to the rude hands of Sacrilege and Profaneness.  
Where there is such a Hierarchy as keeps every one to his Station and Office, there the people are instructed, by the example of their regular subordination, to keep their Order and Decorum; and this is the Apostles Bulwark, opposed to seduction (Col. 2.5.) and such as keep to it are impregnable.  
For as that Reverend and Learned Bishop observes, 
Bishop Daven. ad Colos. 2.5.  Rarò in errores praecipitantur, qui ordinem obedientiae Praepositis debitum observant; è contrà, ubi ordo praecipiendi & parendi negligitur, ibi tanquam per disjectam aciem facile perrumpitur. They seldom fall into Errors that observe the order of obedience due unto their Prelates 
* Not one Ranter, or Quaker, or Anabaptist, of all that adhere to the Bishop; nor an Antitrinitarian, etc. ; but on the contrary, where the order of commanding and obeying is neglected, there the enemy easily breaks in, as into a routed Army.  
To this purpose we may observe that Holy Martyr St. Ignatius very full and pressing. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Be ye subject unto the Bishop as unto the Lord: For he watcheth for your souls as he that must give account. 
Epist. ad Trallian.  And a little after; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is necessary that you do nothing, that you attempt nothing without the Bishop. And a while after: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Reverence your Bishop even as Christ, according to the precept of the blessed Apostles. For he that is within the Altar, within the communion of the Church, is an entire pure Christian: and for this cause obey your Bishop and the Priests. But he that is not within this communion, he that acts of his own head, without the Bishop, not in conformity with him, and the Priests and Deacons, is polluted in his Conscience, and is worse than an Infidel 
* 1 Tim. 5.8. , thus Ignatius. The Hierarchy therefore of the Church is by all means to be kept up, and all due veneration and obedience is to be paid to it.  
But this belongs chief to the Higher Powers; and yet something you may all do towards it. It is Recorded, that when chrysostom was to be banished from Constantinople, the people were so affected with him, that they all went to the Emperor, and Petitioned for chrysostom, professing they could no more miss chrysostom, than they could miss the Sun out of the Firmament; and yet (which I desire you to observe and carry home with you) chrysostom was not the people's mercenary Curate, or flattering 
Heb. 13.17.  Lecturer, but the Bishop of the Diocese, and his See was Constantinople. And I suppose this might be one reason, why Mr. Calamy (as he saith) was so loath (fully) to tell that story: But,  
2. There is a second Admonition directed to all that are concerned herein, to take care that this Hierarchy be really such as the name importeth, A Holy Order or Governance. Holy in their persons and conversation, and holy in their ministration and address. 
Leu. 10.3.  God will be sanctified of all those that draw nigh unto him. Be ye holy, ye that bear the vessels of the Lord: upon the bells of the horses, 
Zach. 14.10.  saith the Prophet, shall be holiness to the Lord.  
But there must be holiness, not upon Aaron's Bells only (in the purity of his Doctrine) but the inscription upon his forehead must be so too, Holiness to the Lord; 
Psal. 132.9.  let the Priests be clothed with righteousness: he must be white and pure in his conversation as well as in his vesture.  
And, 2. Because Sancta sanctè, holy things must be performed after a holy manner; therefore a special sanctification is requisite unto the address; (if a beast should rush in to the holy Mount, 
Heb. 12.10.  he should be transfixed with some dart or other for it) hereupon the Psalmist, I will wash my hands in innocency, 
Psal. 26.6.  and so will I compass thy Altar, O Lord.  
And now, for Directions to the people. All the mysteries of the Ark are comprehended and unfolded in the Festivals of the Church; and such as do constantly frequent them can be ignorant of nothing that is necessary to their Salvation.  
But your address must be duly qualified, that it may find a gracious acceptation. You must approach with Humility, with Alacrity, with Unanimity, with Uniformity. These four will make your approach welcome to the Ark or Ordinances of God.  
1. It must be with Humility and Reverence. There are some that bear no more reverence to the Ark of God's worship, then if it were but an Ark of Bulrushes. But holiness becometh thy house for ever, saith the Prophet: Ye shall observe my Sabbaths, and reverence my Sanctuary, I am the Lord, Leu. 19.31. God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the Saints: and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him, 
Psal. 89.7.  Psal. 89.7. and Psal. 68 O God, thou art terrible out of thy holy places, 
Psal. 68 ult.  etc. therefore serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice before him with trembling, Psal. 2. We will go into his Tabernacles, we will worship at his footstool, 
Psal. 132.7.  Psal. 132.7. and Psal: 99.5. Exalt ye the Lord our God, and worship at his footstool. And as that expression had reference to the Ark then, 
* See Josh. 7.6.  so hath it to the holy Sacrament now, as we are taught by St Ambrose 
a Dè Spir. Sancto. l. 3. c. 12.  and St Austin, Per scabellum terra intelligitur: per terram autem caro Christi: quam hodie quoque in mysteriis adoramus: By footstool we are to understand the earth, and by the earth the flesh of Christ; which at this very day, we adore in the sacred mysteries. And St Austin 
b In Psal. 98.  to the same purpose; Quaero quid sit scabellum pedum ej us, & dicit mihi Scriptura, terra scabellum pedum meorum. 
Not to do it at his name: nay at the holy Mysteries, etc. Bishop Andr. Serm. 9 of the Resur.  Fluctuans converto me ad Christum, quiaipsum quaerohic, & invenio quomodo sine impietate adoretur terra, sine impietate adoretur scabellum pedum ejus. Suscepit enim de terra terram, quia caro de terra est, & de carne Mariae carnem accepit. Et quia in ipsa carne hic ambulavit, & ipsam carnem nobis manducandam ad salutem dedit: NEMO AUTEM ILLAM CARNEM MANDUC AT NISI PRIUS ADORAVERIT: inventum est quemadmodum adoretur tale scabellum pedum Domini, & non solum NON PECCEMUS ADORANDO, sed PECCEMUS NON ADORANDO. I demand what is his footstool; and God in the holy Scripture tell me, the earth is my footstool. But being in some fluctuation and doubtfulness, I turn me unto Christ, for him I am to seek here, and in him I find how the earth may be adored without any impiety, how without any impiety I may adore his footstool. For he took earth from the earth; for flesh is of the earth, and of the flesh of the blessed Virgin Mary, the took flesh. And because in that flesh he conversed here amongst us, and gave that flesh to us to eat for our salvation: AND NO MAN EATETH THAT FLESH UNLESS HE HATH FIRST ADORED: We have (here) found how such a footstool of the Lord may be adored, and we should not only NOT SIN IN A DORING, but WE SHOULD SIN (certainly) IN NOT ADORING: Thus St Augustine.  
And above all others the Apostle expecteth that this service should be worthily perfomed, 1 Cor. 11. otherwise sad effects did many times follow; for whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, (Ver. 27.) He eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lords body (Ver. 29.) and for this cause, saith the Apostle, many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep, that is, they are struck dead, Ver. 30.  
It is considerable in the Bethshemites, they took notice that the Ark of God had been in Captivity amongst the uncircumcised Philistines, that they had set it up in the house of Dagon, and had committed it to the conduct of Oxen, upon a new Cart; and this homely usage of it gave them encouragement (never considering the judgements that had been inflicted upon those Philistines) to be Familiar with it, and to gaze upon it, without any reverence at all, 
1 Sam. 6.  as if it had been alienated from God's care and service, and was become an ordinary common thing. But God does dreadfully vindicate this their profanation; he strikes more than 50000 of them dead upon the place; that the sharpness of his severity might recover that respect and veneration to the Ark, which he saw was not like to be paid to it otherwise.  
Men have made themselves very familiar with Almighty God, in these late times; and his dreadful Ordinances, having been held in a kind of Captivity, and sullied by the reproaches of ignorant and profane persons, they have been looked upon as sleight and common things: but be not deceived, God is not mocked, neither will he always suffer himself to be affronted in his sacred Assemblies and holy Institutions; if you have not ingenuity enough to render all due reverence to God's Ark; if the arguments of Reason and Religion cannot prevail with you to this effect; if severity must be used, to procure this from you (which concerns your own eternal good, no less than God's glory) believe me, in the end, when all must stoop, you will find that severity very sharp and costly too: 
Rom. 14.10, 11.  therefore approach the Ark of God with Humility and Reverence.  
2. You must approach it with Alacrity and Cheerfulness. It is admirable in devout souls to consider how passionately affected they are with God's solemn worship, and the place where it is performed. When they are sequestrated from it, they breathe out their devotions in fits of longing; If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, if I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy: 
Psal. 137.5, 6, 7.  How amiable are thy dwellings, O Lord of Hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the Courts of the Lord; for one day in thy Courts is better than a thousand; 
Psal. 84.1, 2, 4, 10.  I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God; blessed are they that dwell in thy house.  
And there is nothing more welcome to a holy soul than an invitation to such a Celestial entertainment; I was glad when they said unto me, 
Psal. 122.1, 2:  we will go into the house of the Lord; and there he desires to fix his station; Our feet shall stand within thy gates O Jerusalem: Yea, they shall joy as the joy in harvest, as the joy of those that divide the spoil 
a Isa. 9.3. : I will go unto the Altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy 
b Psal. 43.4. . Such a joy of heart as overflows the banks thereof, and causeth exultation in the body too; My heart danceth for joy; and not so only, but, my heart, and my flesh also rejoiceth in the living God.  
And much more, the glory of the flesh, the best member of it, the tongue, They shall sing in the ways of the Lord, that great is the glory of the Lord. The service of God should be like the celebration of a solemn Jubilee; Jubilate Deo, O be joyful in the Lord all ye lands, 
Psal. 100.1.  serve the Lord with gladness, and come before his presence with a song: and again, O come, let us sing unto the Lord; 
Psal 95.1.  let us make a joyful noise to the Rock of our Salvation.  
If we had that zeal of God's glory, or that sense of our own duty, or if we had but that regard to our own interest and advantage, that we should have, it were impossible we should be either so slack in our approach, or (when present) so cold and dull in our attention to God's solemn service.  
Are we not in some danger of God's displeasure for this awkward carriage towards him? does he not threaten his people for it? Deut. 28.47, 45. Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things: therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies, which the Lord shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in want of all things: he that cannot delight himself in the Solemnities of God's house, in that his gracious presence, where there is, in some sense, a fullness of joy, 
Psal. 16. ult.  it is pity he should ever come to his right hand, where are pleasures for evermore: you must approach with Alacrity.  
3. You must approach the Ark with unanimity: As Jerusalem was built, 
Psal. 122.3.  so it was governed, as a City at unity in itself. 
Psal. 95.6.  The kingly Prophet invites, O come, let us worship and fall down and kneel before the Lord; O magnify the Lord with me, 
Psal. 34.3.  and let us exalt his name together. And at that great solemnity of Solomon's, when he dedicated the house of the Lord, we find all Israel in consort with him, 
2 Chron. 7.4.  The King and all the people offered sacrifices before the Lord.  
God hath an expectation it should be so amongst us too; for he saith by his Evangelical Prophet, And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lords house shall be established in the top of the mountains, 
Isa. 2.2, 3.  and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths. For then (as the Lord saith by another Prophet) will I turn to the people a pure language, 
Zeph. 3.9.  that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent, crowding in to the holy Assemblies with one shoulder, as the original importeth.  
And that it might be so amongst us, how earnestly doth the Apostle conjure us in the persons of the Church of Philippi; if there be therefore any consolation in Christ, 
Phil. 2.1, 2.  if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels of mercies; fulfil ye my joy; and what is that? that ye be , having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. For Christ hath but one Church; My love, my undefiled is one; there is one body, and one spirit, and ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, 
Eph. 4.4, 5, 5.  one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. What a multiplicity of Arguments hath the blessed Apostle twisted together, to make the unity that should be amongst Christians indissoluble.  
And if the advantages hereof were duly weighed, these alone were enough to make it so. 
See Magal. in Josh. c. 6. §. 1. Annnot. 3.  Origen weighing that verse of the Psalmist, Blessed are the people that know the joyful sound (Psal. 89.15.) He quaeres what it is that renders a people blessed. He saith not, blessed are the people that do righteousness; or blessed are the people that understand mysteries, or are able to give an account of the heaven, of the earth, and of the stars: but, he saith, blessed are the people that know the sound (the jubilation). In other (places) the fear of the Lord maketh blessed, but it maketh but one man blessed; for so it is said, Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord. Else where we find also that more are blessed, as blessed are the poor in spirit; blessed are the meek; blessed are the peace makers; blessed are the pure in heart. But here (in the Psalmist) the blessedness is profuse, and I know not what so great cause of blessedness is intimated, that it should make the whole people blessed, that hears the Jubilation. Unde mihi jubilatio videtur indicare quendam concordiae, & unanimitatis affectum, whereupon it seems to me, that this Jubilation doth import an affection of concord and unanimity; which if it clasps the hearts and hands of two or three Disciples together in Prayer, it makes them so prevalent, (offering up their devotions in the name of Christ) that the heavenly Father grants all they pray for.  
And if it be so great a blessedness that a whole people are unanimous, that they all speak the same thing, being joined together in the same mind and in the same judgement, the united devotions of such a people may be as prevalent as theirs were, in the Acts of the Apostles; They were of one heart and of one soul, 
Acts 2.1. Chap. 4.31.32.  they were with one accord in one place, and there was a great earth quake, where they prayed (in unanimity) and the place being shaken the holy Ghost descended. The joint devotions of an unanimous faithful people might be thus effectual, terrae motu facto destruentur & cadent omnia, quae terrena sunt, ac mundus ipse subvertetur, saith Origen; such an Earthquake might ensue, as should remove those Mountains of earth, that oppose in our way to heaven, and levelly the world under our feet, and bring down the Comforter to enlighten and assist us.  
Let us therefore approach the Ark of God with unanimity, and this will make us inclinable to the last part of our duty, in our demeanour towards the Ark.  
4. To approach it with uniformity; for our unanimity is to terminate and centre there, in uniformity. Hence the Apostle is so pathetical, 1 Cor. 1.10. Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions (or Schisms) among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgement. And why so? why, that ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Rom. 15.6.  
That promise of God, 
Jer. 32.39. Ezek. 11.19.  [I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me for ever] hath reference certainly to the Christian Church. But this is such a promise as implies our co-operation for the accomplishment of it.  
I demand then, whether God hath performed his Engagement to the Christian Church? whether he hath done his part, in giving his people one way? if not, than we are to expect some new Revelations for the discovery of that way; for how shall it be set open to us otherwise?  
But this is not only contradicted by the Apostle, but sentenced too with the dreadful commination of an Anathema; for thus he saith, though we or an Angel from heaven, 
Gal. 1.8, 9  preach any other Gospel unto you, then that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. And for the greater verification of this truth, he doubles his asseveration; as we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other Gospel unto you, then that ye have received, let him be accursed.  
I am the way, saith our Saviour, and the truth too, and that can be but one; we have the mind of Christ, 
1 Cor. 2.16.  saith the Apostle; and no man can, no man dare deny, that to be the one way, that God hath promised; and this is set open to the world, 
Acts 16.17.  by the Ministry of the Apostles and Evangelists; These men are the servants of the most high God, which show unto us the way of salvation.  
And if you ask me why some men refuse to walk in this way, I must refer you to some of their stubborn fellow travellers, for answer; Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways and see and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls: but they said, we will not walk therein, Jer. 6.16.  
And why not? why, here lies the quarrel, God hath appointed certain Guides to direct us and point out the way to us, and we are offended at this; we make our Guides our stumbling-blocks; God hath also given a general Order to these Guides, to set up some shades for our better accommodation, and to hang up some lights for our more safe and regular walking, in this way, leaving it to their care and prudence, what these shades shall be made of, and where these lights shall be set up; and here, having an overweening conceit of our own worth, and wanting that due reverence for our Guides and Governors, which we ought to have, we fall out in and about the way too; pride and prejudice, Envy and Animosity strike in, and make us NON-CONFORMISTS'.  
The Apostle foresaw this, or rather had a present intuition of it, in some Churches of his own planting; and therefore when he enjoins this accord and uniformity, for securing this duty he prescribes also these Caveats, Let nothing be done through strif, 
Phil. 2.2, 3.  or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. And the same charge he gives to the Ephesians; 
Ephes. 4.1, 2, 3.  I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you, that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long suffering, forbearing one another in love; (and by keeping this temper especially towards our Guides) endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.  
Uniformity is this bond of the Church's peace; and 'tis that that makes her terrible as an Army with Banners; which attribute no society of men can boast of, 
Cant. 6.10.  but where they all keep the same posture, and observe the same motions, and obey the same word of command, under their respective Officers.  
In obedience therefore to the Apostles command, as well as for the honour and advantage of God's Church, Let us, as many as be perfect, be thus minded, Phil. 3.15. that is, as it follows, in the next verse, Let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. And I must add (to take away an objection that may arise from the words intervening) it may be very justly expected that we should be so perfect, as is there required; for though some novices in the Faith, who were then but newly crept out of the darkness of Heathenism, or the shades of the Jewish observances; though these, I say, might then expect, some further Revelation, to enlighten them more clearly, in that which by reason of their ignorance, or prejudice, they were not, for the present, satisfied in; yet we are to expect no such matter, we have already attained to the utmost we can expect of immediate Revelation 
a Gal. 2.8, 9 Jud. ep. 3. ; and it is our duty, (Divine Revelation and Command hath made it so) in all doubtful matters to resign our judgements up to the conduct of such Guides 
† Heb. 13, 7, & 17.  as God hath set over us; and for the truth of this Position, I appeal to the declared doctrine of Mr. Baxter, for thus he saith, [
* In his Unsavoury Volume against Mr. Crandon, or his Nosegay presented to Mr. Joseph caryl, (page 83.) ante finem.  Let me be bold to tell my opinion to my Brethren of the Ministry, that though I deny them to have either credit or Authority against the known Word of God, yet so great is their credit and Authority, even as Teachers and Guides of the Church, in Causes agreeable to the Word, and in Causes to the people doubtful and unknown, and in Causes left by the Word to their determination, (the Word determining them but generally) that I think the ignorance of this truth hath been the main cause of our sad Confusions and Schisms in England, and that the Ministers have been guilty of it, partly by an over-modest concealing their Authority, and partly by an indiscreet opposition to the Papists error of the Authority of the Church: and I think that till we have better taught, even our godly people, what credit and obedience is due to their Teachers and Spiritual Guides, the Churches of England shall never have peace, or any good or established Order. I say again, we are broken for want of the knowledge of this truth; and till this be known, we shall never be well bound up and healed.] Thus far Mr. Baxter.  
And as many as walk according to this rule, 
Gal. 6.16.  peace be on them and mercy, and upon the Israel of God, Amen.  

Mr Crofton's Position Examined, AND An Imposed Liturgy Justified.  
THat 'tis pride and an overweening Conceit of our own worth which makes men Non-Conformists, I shall now give you a pregnant evidence out of the Pamphlet mentioned in the Title-page.  
In a Postscript to that Pamphlet the Author tells us of a Paper taken out of Mr. Crofton's pocket, containing his high way thoughts, which he committed to paper to communicate to a Nonconformist. Having procured a Copy thereof (as he pretends) with some difficulty, he sends it to a friend, with his leave, to make it public, and thereby (as he saith) to capacitate our Conforming Clergy to resolve (if they can) one of the great scruples which (he saith) barreth Mr Crofton's Conformity, and Ministration by a Liturgy.  
The Position he lays down is this, That [A Minister of the Gospel cannot without sin receive a Liturgy generally and exclusively imposed.]  
But wha● is it the man contends for? That an Order and regular Method of praying, 
page 1.  reading the Scriptures, and administration of other parts of Worship, in convenient time and order, successively each after other, in their proper place, this he confesseth to have been used in all Churches of Jews and Christians; and This (he saith) is dictated by all Rules of Order and Prudence necessary to humane Society, so specified as to constitute an holy Convocation. A Rubric or Direction he acknowledgeth too, as the genuine product of Ecclesiastical Polity, and the Forma informans of that Uniformity in public Order, which is maintained without Unity of Words and Forms, Terms and Expressions, as the ornament and konour of any particular and circumscribed Church. Such a Liturgy as this ●e allows of, that is, The Directory.  
But stated Forms for the celebration of Solemn Public Worship, and the several parts thereof, composed, 
page 2.  digested, and (for the very words, terms, and expressions thereof) determined and prescribed by some others than the Parson, or Minister who standeth to minister God's Ordinances between God and his Church; such an imposed Liturgy he cannot submit unto.  
So that here we have a mere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 
1 Tim. 6.4. 2 Tim. 2.14.  a strife about words, terms and expressions, say the Apostle what he will to the contrary. And of what extraction is this quarrel then? From whence come wars and strive amongst you? come they not from hence, even from the lusts that war in your members? The Apostle takes it for granted, and the Wise man is positive in it, Only by pride cometh contention. And it is so certain in this individuation of it, That our Pickpocket, or pretended Mr. Crofton, 
page 3.  hath not artifice enough to dissemble it: For he saith, It cannot be denied to be a most base and slavish servility, to prostitute the Office to which we are apted [but not without humility] and ordained by the Lord Jesus Christ, unto the pleasure and prescriptions of men, though the best for quality and authority.  
But not so passionate, good Mr. Crofton; you may please to be so humble as to condescend to such an imposition for peace and order sake; and that I prove by this Argument.  
What I may lawfully be determined to by my own private judgement, that I may lawfully be determined to by the judgement of my Superiors.  
But to stated Forms for the celebration of God's solemn public worship composed; and (for the very words, terms and expressions) digested into method, I may lawfully be determined by my own private judgement: Therefore,  
To stated Forms for the celebration of God's solemn public worship, composed, and (for the very words, terms and expressions) digested into method, I may lawfully be determined, by the judgement of my Superiors.  
In this Argument, the Minor or Assumption cannot be denied; 'tis that Mr. Crofton contends for; for I hope he doth not exclude his judgement, when he pleads for the liberty of his own Invention to Compose and Modify his Forms of public worship.  
The Major is proved thus;  
That which I may lawfully be determined to by a weaker judgement, to that I may lawfully be determined by a judgement that is stronger.  
But to stated Forms, etc. I may lawfully be determined by a weaker judgement (viz. my own); therefore, to stated Forms, etc. I may lawfully be determined by a judgement that is stronger, viz. that of my Superiors.  
To deny the Major in this Argument, were to make himself ridiculous; and in effect, to affirm, that a man may see more clearly by a dim light then by a brighter. And to deny the Minor were to arrogate to himself a better judgement, then that of his Superiors; which cannot be done without intolerable pride and presumption, contrary to the express order of the Apostle, Phil. 2.3. Let nothing be done through strif or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves: That ye (may) walk worthy of the vocation, wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness: endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, Eph 4.1, 2, 3.  
But (to lay the Axe to the very root of this Ratiocination) he saith the Ministerial Modification (of public worship) by personal abilities, 
Pag. 4, & 5.  is the formal act of the Ministerial Office; but to resign this formal act up to a Ministry-destroying-imposition is sinful.  
But I deny the Modification of worship by personal abilities to be the Formal act of the Ministerial Office. The Formal act of the Ministerial Office is to Minister; the Modification as well by personal Abilities, as by public Authority, is  and circumstantial to it. To make the Modification of the Act to be the Formal act itself, is to make the Apparel the Man; which is very absurd, except it be in a man of clouts; and truly Mr. Crofton's Argument is no better.  
Object. But the Imposition and Prescription in Prayer and Sacraments is applicable to preaching.  
Sol. To which I answer, 1. That certainly a Sermon is never the worse for being well digested; And, 2. if it be seen and allowed by Authority, I know no harm in it; And, 3. if it were not an endless work, this course would secure the peace and solid edification of the Church the better; And, 4. when the Presbyterians Preach other men's printed Sermons, (as some of them are frequently observed to do) this is supposed to be no prejudice to the interest of those souls that hear them.  
But the truth is, there is a vast difference betwixt Prayer and Preaching, for our Saviour hath taught us, that the first may be regularly and fully comprised in a short Office; whereas the later hath as many Fields to expatiate in, as there are several Texts in the holy Bible; and here lies the most proper Scene, for the variety of Gifts to perform their public exercise upon.  
Besides, Gifts being designed for the edification of the Church, Governors are concerned to take care they tend not to the confusion of it, 1 Cor. 14.32, 33. Uzzah did but employ his Gifts; and Corah might pretend to do no more.  
What M. Crofton objects, 
Pag. 6. in fine.  by way of instance, touching the Parish Clerk and people is no more to our prejudice, than it is to his own purpose; for without all peradventure they are a general part of the holy Priesthood St Peter speaks of; 
1 Pet. 2.5.  & 'tis their duty to bear a part in God's solemn worship.  
But I cannot think (saith Mr. Crofton,) that any Bishop or his examinant will judge a Schoolboy, 
Pag. 6.  twelve years old, sufficiently qualified to execute the formal act of the Ministerial Office; and indeed, no more can I. But we must not so look to personal abilities as to forget Divine Ordination. An ordinary Butcher, under the Law, could dress a Lamb or a yoke of Oxen, as well as the best of the Sons of Levi; and yet his personal abilities did not qualify him to offer sacrifice. The efficacy of the Ministry does flow, as little, I am sure, ex opere operantis, as ex opere operato; it depends not upon the cant and tone, or the wording of the Minister that doth officiate, but upon the Institution and Promise of Christ himself. And Mr. Crofton cannot be our adversary in this; 
Pag. 7. line, 1, 3.  for, he saith [I hope Protestants make not the intention, or intrinsecal power of the Administrator, the formality, and so the efficacy of the administration,] which is enough to cut the throat of his Argument; for it follows from hence by an undeniable consequence, that the efficacy of the Ministry does not depend upon personal Abilities. And, if another concession of his, at the end of the same Page, be well considered, viz: that [the Minister must not vary any thing in the matter and substance of appointed worship.] it will make much for the credit of stated Forms in the several parts of our Ministration, as being, out of all question, far less subject to the danger of varying from the matter and substance of appointed worship, than the modification of it, especially by the extemporary exerting of personal abilities.  
So that upon the matter Mr. Crofton is still condemned of himself; and till some better evidence be brought to the contrary, I must remain (as formerly) in this opinion, that Pulpit Conceptions are (but) Popular Deceptions; And to the Treatise that bears that Title I refer the Reader for a fuller proof thereof.  
In the mean while I shall offer Mr. Crofton and his party a proof, that they are bound to submit to the use of a prescribed Liturgy, that they may be at peace with their Governors and their own Consciences, by keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace with the Church of God.  
To do whatsoever is morally possible, for Uniformity and peace sake, is your duty.  
But to submit to the use of a prescribed Liturgy is morally possible.  
Therefore, to submit to the use of a prescribed Liturgy is your duty.  
The Major is proved by Apostolical injunction; if it be possible (and) as much as in you lieth, live peaceably with all men, Rom. 12.18.  
The Minor is proved thus;  
That which is not sinful, and is within our natural power is morally possible. But to submit to a prescribed Liturgy is not sinful, and is within our natural power;  
Therefore, to submit to a prescribed Liturgy is morally possible.  
The Major of this Argument [what is not sinful and is within our natural power, is morally possible] cannot reasonably be denied.  
The Minor, as to the last branch of it, [to submit to a prescribed Liturgy is within our natural power] this is evident of itself.  
The first branch [to submit to a prescribed Liturgy is not sinful,] is proved thus.  
What is forbidden by no Law is not sinful. But to submit to a prescribed Liturgy is forbidden by no Law. Therefore, to submit to a prescribed Liturgy is not sinful.  
The Major is proved by the definition of sin; sin is the transgression of the Law, 1 Joh. 3.4.  
The Minor is justified upon this account. 1. As to the Form of Words, that is not forbidden by any Law of God; for the Apostle saith, Hold fast the Form of sound words, 2 Tim. 1.13. and, I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak THE SAME THING, 1 Cor. 1.10. That ye may with ONE MIND and ONE MOUTH glorify God, Rom. 15.6.  
2. As to our submission to the use of such prescribed Forms, that is no where forbidden neither: but on the contrary, it is commanded, Heb. 13 17. Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves; and we should remember, that to obey is better than Sacrifice, 1 Sam. 15.  
Upon these grounds I conclude against Mr. Croftons' Position, that a Minister of the Gospel may, without sin, receive a Liturgy generally and exclusively imposed, for the Celebration of God's Solemn Public Worship.  
And the receiving such a Liturgy, 
Mr. Croft. pag. 2.  upon the Authority of our Superiors, with all submission and obedience does not resolve the Administrator into the Dilemma of obeying God or man (as Mr. Crofton pretends;) for God and man stand not here in opposition, but subordination; and he that does not obey both, does obey neither.   

Mr Crofton's CREED, Concerning Communion with God's Church, 
Jerubbaal justified, p. 12. etc.  commended to the observation of God's people, and consideration of God's Ministers, as those which few sober men will deny to be true, and being well understood would readily direct a godly man's course in the hour of temptation.  
1. THe Church Catholic visible distributed (through necessity, and good order) to particular Assemblies must sanctify the Lords day by an holy Convocation.  
2. The Congregation of particular Christians convened in full and open joynt-Assemblies, to celebrate Gods solemn worship, is the formality of an holy Convocation.  
3. The worship celebrated in the holy Convocation for the matter and essential form by which it substantially existeth, must he determined by the Lord, and by him alone.  
4. All worship of men's invention superadded to God's appointment must be avoided, abandoned by every of God's people; but Gods worship substantially existing with the same must not be disowned or declined.  
5. God's worship celebrated by and among men must be ministered, and exist in and by an humane mode and dress suitable to, and so fit to edify such a Creature and society.  
6. The humane mode and dress, words and phrases, by which Gods worship must exist, and be minstred in and to the Church, is not determined by the Lord, but wholly left to the wisdom and faithfulness of them who minister the same.  
7. The humane Ministerial modification of God's Ordinances in and to the Church is the formal act of the Ministerial Office to be fulfilled, and performed by the Ministerial gifts, the personal abilities of every individual Minister, who is gifted of God, and ordained by the Church for that purpose. [This Article is confuted in the Answer to the Position above mentioned.]  
8. The ministerial mode and order of God's worship being wholly humane, determined by men's wisdom and faithfulness, it is and cannot but be subject to much and great corruption in defect and disorder, rudeness and irreverence in expressions. Here it cannot be denied but the sudden and extemporary mode is much more subject to these Corruptions, [in defect and disorder, rudeness and irreverence] than the solemn and maturely stated Forms.  
9 The guilt of all defect and disorder in the humane ministerial mode of God's worship is immediately, properly, and directly personal, charged on the Minister, and on him alone: not on the Church, or any the members thereof.  
10. All defects, disorders, rude and impertinent expressions, in the humane, ministerial mode of God's worship: are corruptions, circumstantial, and , in and by which Gods worship may substantially exist in matter, and essentiàl form, capable of operation to its appointed end.  
11. Defects, disorders, and corruptions in the ministerial mode of God's Ordinances fixed, continued and reiterated, are more sinful and offensive to God, and his people, than those which are present and transient; but both these are sins of one and the same nature and quality, and of equal influence on Gods worship ministered by the same. [But the extemporary and transient modes of single persons are more subject to these corruptions and disorders, as was said above.]  
12. No defects, or disorders in the humane ministerial mode, (whether fixed, and reiterated in and by imposed and prescribed forms, or expressed in and by present transient conceived forms, in and by which Gods worship doth substantially exist▪ for matter and form, in and to his Church) will warrant any Christians secession, voluntary withdrawing from the holy Convocation, or non-communion in God's worship so ministered.  
For 1. these notwithstanding, God's worship doth truly, fully, formally exist, capable of operation to its appointed end: 2. This sin is purely personal, chargeable on the Minister, who standeth charged with the office of ministerial modification of God's worship, in, and to the Church: the people or particular members of the Church, may and must pass on this (as other personal acts) a judgement of charity, which doth direct them to grieve for the sin existent; to complain of it, and as they have opportunity to admonish the sinner (though the Sons of Eli) of it, and seek the correction and removal of the same; but they have not of it any judicium publicum, judgement of Office, charged on them, by the specialty of duty: and armed with a just moral power of correction, so as that the same should be the neglect of this public duty, become their sin, and leave its guilt on their souls. That God's worship (doth) formally exist in every mode of ministration, every Christian and member of the Church must judge and see: for by this corruption, the holy Convocation ceaseth, and they worship not God: [I suppose the Author's meaning is this, as to this corruption the holy Convocation ceaseth, and they worship not God by it:] but the mode itself is personally charged on the Minister: the defect and disorder is an accident resulting from the sloth, negligence, ignorance▪ weakness and unfaithfulness of the Minister, and an adjunct separable from Gods worship existent by the same.  
Sir, I pray you take good notice of this, that the private Christian, and particular members of the Church have no public judgement of office, concerning the Ministerial mode of God's worship: for Sir, it is a notion of much weight and use in this Case; and it appeareth plainly true, if the modifying of God's worship be, as it cannot be denied to be the personal act of an Officer appointed to that end: [We say this belongs peculiarly to the Governors of the Church to order.]  
Moreover, Sir, if the people have a public judgement of the ministerial mode of God's worship, we are under a necessity of having what we so much complain against, and cast off, (viz) a fixed Liturgy for the mode of Prayer, Preaching, Ministration of Sacraments: [which] must then be known to the people, and judged by them free from all defect and disorder, before the people can attend God's worship in that Ministration.  
It must be confessed impossible, for a single Minister constantly to communicate to every particular member of his Congregation the mode into which he hath (by his personal abilities and ministerial Gifts) cast the word Prayer and Sacraments.  
No serious, sober Christian, can think the people to be guilty of those rude methods, indigested; raw expressions, tautologies, soloecismes, and disorders, which a Minister may utter in his preaching, and praying; yet this is inevitable if the people have a public judgement by special office, of the ministerial mode of God's worship: It is indeed true, the defective, disordered mode of worship which is fixed, stated, and so from time (to time) reiterated is more obvious and offensive, than what is transient, and so by the judgement of charity more burdensome to the people, the grief of it being continued and renewed but it is the judgement of office, armed with power to correct, (that) der●veth the guilt of the one, or of the other.  
This is the sum of what Mr. Crofton believes concerning Church-communion. And whether the Church of God be not more secure in her Freedom from corruptions and disorders, by fixed, st●ted Forms, then by such as are indigested, transient and extemporary, I appeal to the Reason and Common Sense of all the World. And there's  
AN END.