THe occasion of which words was briefly this ; Kings at the first entry unto their Raignes do use to begin with the reformation of abuses crept into the Church and Service of God : so did David , Iosias , Ezekiah before Christ , so did the Christian Emperours and Princes after Christ , as appeareth in their first rescripts : so do yet all Christian Kings , their first Acts of State or Parliament take rise at the threshold of the Sanctuarie , and begin with confirmation , or ( if need be ) reformation of the Church : Now the Sonne of God in this Chapter making his solemne entrie like a King into Hierusalem , and so received by the people , he first getteth him to the Temple , and finding it most lewdly profaned both by secular and spirituall or Simoniacall negotiation he falleth upon them with both hands : as a King with his secular arme he whippeth out the profaners ; as a Priest he useth the spirituall arme , It is written : and these words , It is written , be all the words of this text , which may properly be said to be Christs own words , the rest are but cited by him from others ; the first sentence my house shall be called the house of prayer , from Isaiah 56. 7. the other , but you have made it a den of theeves , from Iere. 7. 11. But both of them so rehearsed and withall applied by him , that they are now become his own , for as well quem benè , as quem malè dum recitas , incipit esse tuus .

And as these two sentences when they were first spoken of by these two Prophets , were a Prophesie of Christ his times , and the iniquitie of the Iewes in his time fulfilled them , so as they are now rehearsed by Christ , they seeme to have beene a Prophesie of our times , which have fulfilled them by repeating the same profanations : In which regard I should not perhaps divide these words much amisse , if I should divide them into an Appropriation , and an Impropriation : an Appropriation , or the proper use for which God appointed his Temple , my house shal be called the house of prayer ; an Impropriation , or the abuse of the Temple , whereby men disappoint God of his appointment , but you have made it a den of theeves : And this division is much about one with our Proverbe , wheresoever God hath a Church the Divell hath a Chappell ; my house shall be called the house of prayer , there is Gods Church ; but you have made it a den of theeves , there the Divell goeth about presently to turne it into his Chappell .

Or these words being spoken of the Materiall Temple of Hierusalem may be divided as in some sort that Temple might have beene divided : amongst diverse gates in the Temple there were these two , afore-gate and a backe-gate , the fore-gate at which the people entred called the Beautifull gate , where the diseased lay and begged almes , Acts 3. 2. The backe-gate called Shallecheth or the dung-gate , out of which was carried all the filth or sulledge of the Temple : now betweene these two gates stood the Temple it selfe ; so here , first you have the preface or fore-gate to the text , it is written ; and we may call it the beautifull gate , for it pointeth to the very beauty of holinesse , that is , the Scripture : next the Temple it selfe , which is the maine structure and building of the text , my house shal be called the house of prayer : and lastly , the backe or dung-gate at which Christ throweth out the profaners of the Temple , who had made it a dunghill , or a den of theeves , but you have made it a den of theeves .

But there is one word in the text from whence I meane to fetch that division of the words which at this time I purpose to pursue , and that is the word appellabitur , shal be called ; since the text is of the right naming , calling , or as it were christening of the Temple , I shall pray you to take notice of these foure particulars ▪ First of the Churches name , my house , and we may call it the proper name of the Church , for it giveth God a propriety in it : Secondly , the Churches surname or appellative name by which it shal be called , the house of prayer , my house shal be called the house of prayer : Thirdly , the Churches nicke-name , by which in regard of the great abuse offered unto it , Christ miscalleth it , a den of theeves , but you have made it a den of theeves : Fourthly , the Church-booke or register in which all these names are recorded , the name and surname in Isaiah , the nick-name in Ieremiah , it is written : Neither need we doubt but that all these names are very significant , for if Adam by that originall wisdome wherewith God indued him was able to give names to all the creatures according to their natures , much more is God himselfe able to do so when he will name any thing .

Now in each of these foure there be two particulars ; in the first , that is , the name , my house , these two : First , It is fit God should have houses built to him on earth as well as men , my house . Secondly , These houses built unto God become God his houses by propriety , so his , that they may never be taken from him ; my house . In the second , that is , the surname of the Church , shal be called the house of prayer , these two : First , Houses built unto God are to be solemnly called , or ( as it were ) christened , that is , consecrated and dedicated to the service of God , shal be called . Secondly , As they are to be dedicated to all the parts of God his service , so especially they are to be consecrated to prayer , shal be called the house of prayer . In the third , that is , the Churches nicke-name , but you have made it a den of theeves , these two : First , God his Church may become the Divels Chappell , Bethel may become Bethaven ; the house of prayer , a den of theeves . Secondly , The theeves and robbers who make it so , are principally the Priests , but in their owne place the people too ; for both are here meant by you ; the Priests for letting out the shop-keepers standings , and the Lay-people for selling in those shops , being upon holy ground . In the fourth , that is , the Church-booke or Register , It is written , these two : First , The authority by which the proper use for the Temple for prayer is to be proved , by Scripture : next , the authority by which the abuse of the Temple is to be reproved , by Scripture too : Christ indeed ( who was a King as well as a Priest ) besides the text , useth the whip too : but Church-mens best whip is Scriptum est , It is written ; in the old Testament , in the new Testament , and in their owne place , in the Canons of the Church ; a threefold cord is not easily broken , this three-stringed whip will hold upon the consciences of men , or nothing will : if not , the Prince then must use the secular whip indeed : As Christ used the Divell , sometimes throwing him by maine force out of them that were possessed , sometimes throwing him upon his back by force of Scripture , It is written , as in his temptations , so here he useth these divellish men ; as a King ▪ he drives them out of the Temple with a whip ; as a Priest , with the text ; It is written , my house shal be called the house of prayer , but you have made it a den of theeves . And of so many of these parts in this order which I have now propounded , as the time and your royall patience shall give me leave .

And first of the Church its name , my house , and in it of the first particular , which is this , It is fit God should have houses built unto him upon earth as well as men , for though the heaven of heavens cannot containe him , much lesse this house which is made with hands , as Salomon speaketh at the Dedication of his Temple ; and the Almighty dwelleth not in houses made with hands , as Peter speaketh in the Acts ; yet since God hath given to man the whole surface of the earth to build upon for himselfe , he expecteth that man by way of gratitude should find out some corner wherupon to build to his God ; as when God requireth of us to give some of our goods to the poore , it is not that he could not provide for the poore without us , If I were hungry ( saith the Lord ) I would not tell thee , for all the beasts of the field are mine , and the flockes upon a thousand mountaines : but since he hath given unto us all that we have , he expecteth that by way of thankfulnesse wee should give backe unto him ( for what we give to the poore he accounteth given to himselfe ) a little of that all : Even so having given man the whole earth to build upon for himselfe , he looketh that man should set out some part of that whole whereupon to build , and be at some cost with his God : that was a noble strife betweene a King and his subject , David and Araunah the Iebusite , Sam. 2. 24. concerning the threshing floore upon which David was commanded to build an Altar to God , Araunah would have given it freely because it was for God , but David scorned to build unto his God upon that ground which should cost him nothing .

Now these houses built by men unto God were of old called Temples , now Churches , and though they were of mens building , yet were they not of mens devising , but of God his owne institution : Moses is the auncientest writer we have extant , and in him we have the first mention of a Temple , for God delivered unto him in the patterne of the Tabernacle the modell of the Temple : It is true indeed that the Gentiles by instigation of the Divell who is God his ape , in imitation hereof did erect Temples to false gods ; but first wee have mention of God his Temple , as truth is more ancient than a lie : And even before either that Tabernacle or Temple , we find that there were Analogicall Temples , that is , places set apart and consecrated to the service of God . Abel though he sacrificed abroad and in an open place , yet was it a place prepared ; Noah offered sacrifice upon an Altar , Iacob upon a stone turned to the forme of a Pillar and annointed with oyle , which he called by the very name in the text , my house , Bethel the house of God , Genes. 28. The same custome was ( no question ) observed by the Patriarkes downe to Moses , unto whom God himselfe delivered the patterne of the Tabernacle , which should be a patterne of the Temple ; and then came the Temple of Hierusalem it selfe , the most glorious structure the Sun did ever behold : To this Temple , under the Gospell succeeded the Churches of Christians , at first indeed but meane , the Church being under persecution : but when the Emperours and Princes became Christians , most glorious ; so magnificent for structure , so rich for indowments , that as Moses was glad by sound of trumpet to make proclamation throughout the Campe that the people should bring no more materials for the furnishing of the Tabernacle ; so Christian Princes were over-ruled by their subjects , to make Edicts of restraint for giving any more to the Church . From whence appeareth the vanity and ignorance of those humorists , who ask , what needeth all this cost of oyntment upon Christ his head ? all this cost upon the building and ornaments of Churches ? since the first and best Christians were not acquainted with them ? They may as well aske what silly men were David to provide such a masse of mony and materials , and Salomon to spend them all and many millions more upon the Temple of Hierusalem , since God before was well enough worshipped and sacrificed unto by Abel and Noah perhaps upon a turfe , by Iacob upon a stone . But when God had given to his people the blessing of a magnificent Monarchie , he would not have them dwell in houses of Cedar , and his house remaine within curtaines , but would haue the house where his honour was to dwell , for state and magnificence to be the beauty of the whole earth ; so while Christians at the first had much ado to live and breathe under their persecutions , God was contented to be worshipped by them in such mean places as they could provide for him : but when Emperours and Princes became Christian , and Christians under them enjoyed peace and plenty , he expected from them glorious and sumptuous Churches , neither was his expectation deceived : for though they were not able to reach the beauty of the Temple of Hierusalem , the Iewes themselves not being able to match the first Temple ; yet we find that Christians in building their first Churches had an eye to that Temple : for though our novelists if they chance to build a Church , ( as they do sometime beyond the seas ) will take any modell perhaps of a great hall or barne , rather than of the ancient Christian Churches ; yet the first builders of Christian Churches even for the forme of fabricke did in some sort imitate that Temple of Hierusalem . For , as in that Temple there were foure distinctions , the Porch which was called Salomons ; Atrium or the Court , whither the people came ; Sanctum the holy place , whither the Priests came ; and the Sanctum Sanctorum the holy of holiests , into which onely the high Priests were to enter : So in the old Christian Churches ( though not for the same uses ) were foure distinctions ; the outmost place of all answerable to the Porch , unto which infidels or such as were excommunicate and cast out of the Church might come , but no further ; into the next place as it were in Atrio , came the penitents , such as did penance , but no further ; the third place was the body of the Church , which we may call Sanctum , and whither the people came to bee partakers of Gods worship ; and the fourth was as it were the Sanctum Sanctorum , the inclosed place where the Altar or Communion-Table stood , into which none did enter but such as were in holy Orders , and had power to consecrate the blessed Elements ; so great followers were the Primitive Christians of antiquity , rather than incliners unto novelty .

Now to move our times ( in which some pull down as fast as our Fathers built , and deface as much as they did decke ) a little to looke to Gods houses and buildings , I shall briefly offer two things to your consideration . First , the great estimation which God hath of these houses ; next , the high esteeme in which men have had them : so that if we either feare God , or reverence men , there can no argument be wanting God his estimation of Temples appeareth by his delivering unto Moses the patterne of the Tabernacle even to the least pin , which was to be but a patterne of the Temple ; by not giving way to David his building of the Temple , although a man according to Gods owne heart , onely for that exception of bloud which God had against him , and not of bloud unlawfully shed , but in lawfull warres , and undertaken by God his owne commandement ; for this exception was laid against David , before the matter of Vriah ; by his accepting the Temple at Salomons hands in the very time of the dedication of it , filling it so with his presence in the cloud , that the Priests were interrupted in performing the rites of consecration ; by promising to put his name there for ever , and to fix his eyes and heart there perpetually , by performing this his promise of presence ▪ for many times he appeared betweene the Cherubins , and in that Temple did inspire diverse with the spirit of prophesie ; by ordering that the most precious and holy things should be kept in it ; the Arke of the Testament , the Tables of the Law , Aarons rod , the heavenly fire , Vrim and Thummim , &c. By threatning the destruction of that Temple , as the greatest judgement that should ever befall them , ( as indeed it was ) for after the destruction of that Temple they ceased to be any more a people . And as by God , so by men this Temple of all buildings had in the highest esteeme , Hierusalem in regard of it counted the joy of the whole earth ; to this Temple came all the people once in the yeare , and when they did not come , they powred forth their supplications with their faces towards it : you know David his one wish , although it was not granted him , that All his life long he might dwell in the house of the Lord , and visit the beauty of his holy Temple ; he accounted the Sparrowes happy which might but hop and sing and lay their young about the Altars of it ; he accounted the meanest officer , even a doore-keeper in it happier than they that lived in the Pallaces of Princes : In a word , consider the revenge which Christ ( who was God ) taketh here upon the profaners of the Temple , and the vast expence laid out upon it by David and Salomon who were men , and we must needs see that high esteeme in which that Temple was had both by God and men .

But what is all this ( will you say ) to our Christian Churches ? Very much ; for they are come in place of that Temple , as the Christian Religion is come in place of the Iewish : that Temple was but a type of our Churches , as all that service was a type of our Christ : We have an Altar , saith the Apostle , and therefore a Priesthood as that Temple had : there was the Arke of the Testament , our Churches are the Arkes of two Testaments : of theirs , which was the old Testament ; and of another better than theirs , the new Testament : in our Churches are the daily sacrifices of praise and prayer , the two Tables of the Law , and they expounded and vindicated from false gloses and interpretations by our Saviour in the 5 of Math. which that Temple had not ; in our Churches is Aarons rod ▪ that is , Ecclesiasticall discipline ; Vrim and Thummim in our Priests : and above all , in our Churches is celebrated the commemorative sacrifice of the most precious body and bloud of the Sonne of God : no doubt then to be made of Gods high esteeme of Christian Churches built unto him . Now how they have beene honoured by men , witnesse the infinite cost bestowed by our fore-fathers in fabricke and maintenance of them , the infinite priviledges granted by Christian Princes unto them ; although the beginning of our age did scatter as fast as the former age did gather ; and the later lawes of taking no more from the Church , were farre more necessary than those former lawes , for giving no more to it .

Whose charity then can bee straitned when a house of God is to be inlarged ; when either it is to be built , or being built is to be kept from ruine ? Can men have summer and winter houses , and the Temple of God lie so , as it keepeth out neither summer Sun nor winter weather ? the Temple of God I say , a name so glorious , that even the most glorious ; all the persons of the Trinity delight to be called by it : God the Father , Revel. 21. 22. Iohn saw no Temple in the holy City , For the Lord God Almighty and the Lambe are the Temple of it . God the Sonne , his person the Lambe in that place is called a Temple by Saint Iohn , his body by himselfe , Destroy this Temple , and I will build it up againe in three dayes . The Holy Ghost , although he be not called a Temple , yet Temples he hath , and delighteth to dwell in them , even our bodies , Know ye not that your bodies are the Temples of the Holy Ghost ? The summe of all is , houses are to be built unto God , and being built , are highly to be honoured , because they are his houses by propriety : which I told you was the second particular in the Church its name , and is now the next point to be spoken of , My house .

My house , that is , mine by propriety , and if so , then we must looke to three things . First , if the Church be Gods house , then Take heed to thy foot when thou enterest into it , Eccles. 4. 17. do not rush rudely nor rashly into it , but be sure you keep your distance , els you may be turned back with shame enough , and sent home unjustified as the Pharisi● was , because he kept not the Publican his distance , who stood afarre off and would not so much as lift up his eyes towards heaven : How fearefull ( saith Iacob ) is this place , the Lord was in it and I knew it not , it is nothing els but the house of God , and the very gate of heaven . The truth then is , if the Church be my house , that is , Gods , we must observe a reverend distance in all our approaches which we make to God in it , els we run upon certaine danger ; are you in this house to speake unto God by prayer ? be sure you make a curtsie low enough with David , I am a worme and no man : or if you will , a little lower with Abraham , Since dust and ashes have begun to speake unto thee : els you may justly feare that your prayers shal be turned into sinne . Are you in this house to heare God speake unto you by his Word read or preached ? Be sure you keepe your distance , as the people were commanded at the hearing of the Law , els you know your danger , For if so much as a beast shall touch the smoaking mountaine , it shal be stoned to death , or thrust through with a dart . Are you in this house to converse with God in the blessed Sacrament ? Use first a reverent preparation , Let a man examine himselfe , and so let him eat of that bread and drinke of that cup ; els you know the danger , You shall be guilty of the body and bloud of the Lord . For observing this distance in Gods house , I will but name unto you two reasons . First , we do not find in Scripture ▪ that God hath used to be familiar with any , to entertaine them , or be entertained by them , unlesse they have observed this distance , and first prepared themselves for that interviewe or parlie . Before God would speake one word to Moses on the backe of Mount Horeb , he first biddeth him put off his shoes , because the place on which he stood was holy ground : when God delivered his Law to his people from the top of Mount Sinai , he first commanded them to sanctifie themselves three dayes before , that all that while they might be the more reverently prepared to harken unto that which God was to say unto them ; so must we when we come into the house of God ( if we be to speake to him by prayer , or to heare him speake to us by his Word ) put off our shoes , that is , all worldly thoughts and affections ; and sanctifie our selves , that is , put on all new and holy thoughts and affections . The second reason is this : We do not find that God hath ever yet suffered the unreverent handlers , or lookers upon the places of his presence , to go away unpunished ; Vzza did but irreverently touch the Arke of the Lord , and the Lord presently killed him ; the men of Bethshemesh did but irreverently looke into the Arke of the Lord , and the Lord presently slew fifty thousand of them : How few be they in our times , who by observing this distance do declare that they believe the Church to be Gods house , how many that come in without preparing themselves at first by devotion and prayer ? How many who clap on their hats when God is speaking to them by his Word , I meane in the time when the very text is reading ? Nay the servant who wil be uncovered before this master in his owne house , will many times be covered before him in Gods house ; all which bewrayeth that many men do either take the Church not to be my house , that is , Gods ; or ( which is worse ) Gods house not to be so good as their owne .

Next , if the Church be my house , that is , Gods , then the zeale of the Church must eat us up : to this we are warranted both by David and by Christ the Sonne of David , The Zeale of thine house hath eaten me up , saith David ; and in this Christ shewed himselfe truly to be the Sonne of David , for we do not find that Christ in his life did ever use severity with his hands , but once ; twice he did it , but it was one and the same case , the profanation of the Temple : When he was apprehended , bound , buffered , smitten , mocked , reviled , scourged , spit upon , tortured , crucified , he bare all patiently , and As a sheepe before the slaughterer is dumbe , so he opened not his mouth : but if he see the least indignity offered to his Fathers house , his zeale bursteth out into a flame , he setteth his hand to the whip , and his tongue to the t●xt : When his Disciples did see that fiercenesse of his in the 2. of Iohn , they were astonished at it ; especially comparing it with his usuall meeknesse at other times , when they thought there was greater occasion offered ; but at the 17 Verse of that Chapter they were easily satisfied , when They remembred how it was written , The Zeale of thine house hath eaten me up . Now the best way to try whether we have this zeale towards Gods house , is the comparative rule : if we expresse more reverence in this house than in the house of any other man whosoever ; if we be more forward ( according to our places ) to punish an offence or irreverence in this house , than those that are committed any where els ; if we can be contented to be at more cost for repairing and adorning this house , than if it were our owne : if not , then certainly either we do not believe the Church to be my house , that is , Gods ; or ( which is worse ) Gods house not to be so good as our owne .

Thirdly , if the Church be my house , that is , Gods , then no humane power may take it from him ; his title is like the Character of his Priesthood , indelebilis ; no time , no prescription can prejudice it : for if nullum tempus occurrit Regi , if no time can prescribe against our King his title to the Patronage of a Church , much lesse can it prescribe against his title who is the King of Kings : Before thou buildedst a house to God , the ground and the cost were thine own , and thou mightest have done with them what thou wouldest , as Peter told Ananias ; but when thou hast once given them to God , it is no more thine , but my house : for as Gods gifts towards us are without repentance , so ought our gifts towards God to be : He who among us shall kill himselfe , and become fello de se , maketh all his goods Deodands ; and it is as true inverted , he who hath made any of his goods Deodands , and shall afterward do any act of resumption , is fello de se , a murtherer of himselfe , and a destroyer of his owne soule . Stories are full of their tragedies who any wayes went about to alter either the propertie or use of the Temple of Hierusalem ; we know what became of Antiochus after he set up the statue of Iupiter Olympius in it ; upon the Caldeans destruction of that Temple followed the losse of their Empire ; the Macedonians after their violation of it lost their Dominions ; Pompey after his comming up to the Sanctum or holy place , which was not lawfull for him to do , had never luckie day after ; no more had Cassius after his profanation of it . They who have medled with the Christian Churches have not fared much better : for they who have pulled downe these houses of God , have found that withall they have pulled downe their owne houses ; and they who have built their own houses where Gods house stood , have found that they have built upon sandy and sinking ground , and that the Church-stones have crumbled their houses to nothing , and sunke their estates irrecoverably . Now they who pervert Gods house and turne it to any secular use , do deny it to be my house , that is , Gods , as much as they who evert it and pull it downe . It is a notable cunning of the Divell , as to make us believe that God is a good-fellow , and that we may retaine him in our hearts with our sinnes ; so to make us believe that his house is a house of good-fellowship , and that it may serve for other uses besides the service of God ; to lay lumber in , or things out of the way , in a Progresse time to serve for a Wardrobe , in the countrey for Iuries of Leets to sit in and consult about their verdicts , and most commonly at the Communion-Table to make their Sesses , not onely for the poore ( which is a Church-duty ) but also for all other compositions , where they seldome meet without wrangling , and I am afraid many times not without swearing : But if it be Gods house , he must and will have it alone , or not at all : That passage of the Philistims setting the Arke of God in the Temple of Dagon , is very remarkable ; one would wonder why God should plague the Philistims for it ; for I am perswaded the Philistims made account they had done the Arke the greatest honour that they could imagine , by setting it in the Temple of their owne god : yet God tumbled downe Dagon , smote the Philistims , and would have consumed them if they had not dismissed his Arke : What meant this ? Onely to tell the world that with God it is all one to be turned out of doores , and to be lodged by an Idoll : Let God have his house alone , there he will dwell : make it thine as well as mine ; that is , make it serve for thine use and the service of God too , thou diseasest God and turnest him out of doores ▪ The reason is , because houses built to God are only to be consecrated to him and his service , which is now the next point to be spoken of , I called it the Churches surname , shal be called the house of prayer .

In it I told you of two particulars . First , Gods house is to be called , or as it were christened , that is , consecrated and dedicated to God and his service , my house shal be called . Secondly , among all the parts of Gods service , it is especially to be consecrated to prayer , shal be called the house of prayer . For the first , that the consecra●ion and solemne dedication of Temples and Churches is very ancient , it is argument enough , that in all the three languages we have a proper word for it , in the Hebrew ( Chanucah ) from Chanac , which signifieth to dedicate a thing when it is finished , in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 encoenia from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth an initiation or making of a thing new , the word used by Iohn 10. 22. for that feast of dedication at which Christ was present , and then the Latine words dedicatio and consecratio : Consecration or setting apart persons or things to God both by God himselfe and men , is very ancient . God consecrated to himselfe our first parents , and made their mariage a kind of Sacrament of the union and spirituall mariage betweene Christ and his Church , as the Apostle testifieth , Ephes. 5. so he consecrated to himselfe the posterity of Seth , of Iacob , every male which first opened the wombe , at last the Iewes had delivered unto them among other parts of the Ceremoniall Law , the rites of dedication of certaine persons , vessels , vestures : Now for the solemne dedication of the houses of God , we have first the dedication of the Tabernacle which was but the patterne of the Temple , Exod. 40. then of the Temple it selfe we have three solemne dedications recorded in Scripture : the first by Salomon , Kings 1. 8. the second by Zorobabel and others , Ezra 6. and related by Iosephus antiq. lib. 11. cap. 4. the last by Iudas Macchabeus after the defeat of Antiochus , which was indeed especially of the Altar , of which we read Mach. 1. 4. and Ioseph . antiq. lib. 12. cap. 10. and this last was the feast of dedication which Christ honoured with his presence , Iohn 10. for it is plaine by the text both that it was in winter , and anniversarie , neither of which is true of the two former dedications : Among Christians their Churches used ever to be consecrated . Euseb. lib. 9. cap. 10. of his Historie , and in the life of Constantine describeth unto us the dedication of that Church which Constantine first built at Hierusalem . When Churches at the first were rare , the authority of consecration came from the Prince and Magistrate , but the rites of consecration in the Iewish Church were ever performed by the Priests ; in the Christian by the Bishops : the first dedication of the Temple of Hierusalem done by the authority of Salomon , the second of Zorobabel , the third of Iudas Macchabeus ; but all of them performed by the Priests : so among Christians , the first Christian Church at Hierusalem consecrated by the authority of Constantine , but by the ministery of Eusebius : that of Alexandria by the same authority , but by the ministerie of Athanasius : The rites of consecration are left to the Church and her Bishops ; onely there be some of them of the Quorum , without which there cannot well be any consecration : as first , Churches ought to be consecrated by prayer ; for Salomon his dedication is conceived in the very forme of a prayer : next , Churches are to be consecrated by reading of the Word ; for at the dedication of the Temple the law was ever read : Thirdly , Churches are to be dedicated with the celebration of the Sacrament of our Saviour his most precious body and bloud , as in all the three dedications of the Temple ever sacrifice was offered : But above all , Churches must onely be consecrated and dedicated to God , not to Saints , Angels , or any created Patrons : But may not the Churches of Christians be called by the names of Saints and Martyrs , as S. Maries , S. Peters , & c ? Yes , they may be patrini , but not patres , godfathers , but not fathers of our Churches ; as men are contented their children should be called by the names of their friends whom they chuse for godfathers , but will have themselves still onely acknowledged for fathers : so God alloweth that his Saints and Martyrs should be susceptores , godfathers of Christian Churches , especially if it shall not be done as now it is in the Church of Rome , to derogate from God his Patronage : and no particular office or service shall be allowed to be said in the Church to that Saint after which it is named . The truth is , in the Primitive Church , Christian Churches were called by the names of Saints and Martyrs for two reasons , the equity of both which holdeth still . First , to testifie their thankfulnesse to God for the benefits which the Church had received by the ministerie of these Saints . Secondly and principally , God in the infancy of the Church did shew many miracles at the Tombes and Sepulchers of the Martyrs ; and therefore the Christians did there erect Churches , and call them by the names of those Martyrs , out of a desire to honour those whom God had so much honoured , and the world so much despised . The summe then of all is , Christian Churches may be called by the names of Saints and Martyrs , but must be dedicated onely to God and his service ; and as to all parts of his service , so especially to prayer : which I told you was the second particular in the Churches surname , and is now the next point to be spoken of , shal be called the house of prayer .

Why not the house of Sacrifice , Sacraments , Prophecying , Preaching ? Because all these are worth nothing unlesse they be seasoned with prayer : It is not to be passed over with sleight observation , that although all these , except their Sacraments , were performed in the Iewish Temple , and all of them are performed in Christian Churches ; yet the duties of the Temple most commonly have their denomination in Scripture from that of prayer : Salomon in the dedication of his Temple ( as he conceived it in the forme of a prayer ) especially beggeth of God his attention to the prayers that should be made in that place , and the whole tenour of his dedication runneth upon it , and God his answer to Salomon is accordingly for prayer : Anna in the 2. of Luke is said not to have gone out of the Temple , but to have continued in it fasting and praying ; In Luke 2. 37. the Pharisie and the Publican went up to the Temple to pray : Acts 3. 1. Peter and Iohn went up to the Temple about the houre of prayer , being the ninth houre ; which to the Iewes was the third houre before the setting of the Sun , the very houre of the evening Sacrifice ; here the Temple is called the house of prayer , and the Christian Churches accordingly were called Oratories ; why all this ? To teach us two things . First , the excellency of prayer among all other religious duties . Secondly , the excellency of publike prayer above all other private prayers made any where els . For the first , I will not in a Sermon enter upon the common place of prayer , onely this : you shall not find in Scripture any man registred for one of God his speciall friends and favourites , who was not likewise a man of prayers and supplications , Moyses , Abraham , Iob , David ; but above all looke upon Christ , so given to prayer , that as he was called by the Prophet vir dolorum , a man of sorrowes , so he might have been called vir clamorum , a man of cryings and supplications ; for he used them at home and abroad , upon the Mount , in the Garden , upon the Crosse dying , nay after his death ; which maketh highly for the commendation of prayer ; Christ was a Priest , now the office of the Priest consisted in these two things , in offering up sacrifice for the sinnes of the people , and in offering up prayers for the sinnes of the people : that part of Christ his Priesthood which concerned sacrifice expired with his life , for he offered up the perfect sacrifice of his body once for all , but so did not that part of his Priesthood which concerneth prayer ; for as he died praying , so he still continueth a Priest in regard of prayer , two wayes . First , because he himselfe at the right hand of God still maketh intercession for us , Heb. 7. 25. Wherefore he is utterly able to save all them that come to him , since he ever liveth to make intercession for us . Secondly , because as our Advocate he offereth up into the bosome of his Father all the Prayers which we make to God in his name , Rev. 8. 3. It is said of Christ the Angell of the covenant , that he offereth up many sweet odours , which are the prayers of the Saints .

Secondly , the Temple is called the house of prayer , as to shew us the excellency of prayer in generall , so in particular to expresse unto us the excellency of publike prayer in the Temple . And here I am sorie that the iniquity of the times should put me upon two comparisons which to some will seeme odious : the one is betweene prayer in the Temple , and preaching in the Temple : the other betweene prayer in the Temple , and prayer any where els . For preaching , far be it from any Christian to under-value the holy and blessed Ordinance of God : onely I would have men , as upon preaching , so likewise to set a true value upon prayer in the Temple . There is a generation of fooles risen up in the world , who think that all religion consisteth in preaching and hearing of Sermons , and will run some miles to heare them : But for the publike prayers of the Church , they will hardly crosse the street ; but cast themselves to come into the Church about the ending of Divine Service , and beginning of Sermon : now S. Pauls question poseth them all , If all were hearing , where were seeing , and the rest of the senses ? so doth this name which Christ here giveth to the Temple , the house of prayer . But they will say , can there be too much preaching or hearing ? Yes , there may be too much of any thing : Take this for a rule , no truth can be repugnant to another truth in any science whatsoever : much lesse can Theologicall truths be repugnant one to another , and therefore all Theologicall truths must be expounded as they may stand in grosse one by another : He that hath said , Be swift to heare , hath likewise said , Pray continually , and he that provideth not for his family is worse than an Infidell : Men then must so heare , as they neglect not prayer , as that in weeke dayes , if their families be sustained by their trade and calling , they neglect not that , to run after Sermons ; for there is no religious worke which may not be over-done : we are commanded to give almes , but if one shall give all he hath , knowing that he must become chargeable to others , it is sin , and that voluntary poverty which we condemne in many of the Mendicant Friers : Fasting is a religious duty , but if one shall abstaine so much , as he knoweth he shal be accessary to his owne death , it is a sinne , as Gregory Nazianzen complained of his sister Gorgonia : Even prayer it selfe , which I am now commending , when it is over-done , it is called by our Saviour , vaine babling and idle repetitions : So for hearing , we ought to heare on that day which God hath set apart for his service , all excuses laid aside ; and on the weeke dayes too , omit no good occasion of hearing , so farre as our callings and places will permit ; but so as we never omit the frequenting of the Divine Service and Publike Prayers of the Church .