SAint Basill in a Ser­mon vpon the 114. Psalme; Basill. vpon the like occasion as drawes vs together now, The consecration of a Church, makes this the reason and the excuse of his late comming thither to doe that Seruice, that he stayd by the way, to consecrate another Church: I hope euery person heere hath done so; consecrated himselfe, who is a [Page 2] Temple of the Holy Ghost; before hee came to assist, or to testifie the conse­cration of this place of the Seruice of God. Bern. Ser. 1. Nostra festiuitas haec est, quia de Ec­clesia nostra; sayes Saint Bernard. This Festiuall belongs to vs, because it is the consecration of that place, which is ours, Magis autem nostra, quia de nobis ipsis: But it is more properly our Festi­uall, because it is the consecration of our selues to Gods seruice. For, Sanctae Animae propter inhabitantem Spiritum; your Soules are holy, by the inhabita­tion of Gods holy spirit, who dwells in them. Sancta corpora propter inhabi­tantem animam; Your Bodies are holy, by the inhabitation of those sanctified Soules. Sancti parietes, propter Corpora Sanctorum. These walles are holy, be­cause the Saints of God meet here with­in these walls to glorifie him. But yet these places are not onely consecrated & sanctified by your comming; but to bee sanctified also for your comming; [Page 3] that so, as the Congregation sanctifies the place, the place may sanctifie the Congregation too. They must accom­pany one another; holy persons and holy places; If men would wash sheep in the Baptisterie, in the Font, those sheep were not christned. If prophane men, or idolatrous men, pray here after their way, their prayers are not sancti­fied by the place. Neither if it be after polluted, doth the place retain that san­ctitie, which is this day to be deriued vpon it, and to bee imprinted in it.

Our Text settles vs vpon both these considerations, The holy place, Diuisie. and the holy person. It was the Feast of the Dedication: there's the holinesse of the place; And the holy person, was holi­nesse it selfe in the person of Christ Ie­sus, who walked in the Temple in Salo­mons Porch. These two will bee our two parts: And the first of these wee shall make vp of these pieces. First, we shall see a lawfull vse of Feasts, of Fe­stiuall [Page 4] dayes. And then of other Feasts, then were instituted by God himselfe; diuers were so; this was not. And thirdly, not only a festiuall solemnizing of some one thing, at some one time, for the present, but an Anniuersary re­turning to that solemnitie euery yeare; And lastly, in that first part, this Festi­uall in particular, The Feast of the De­dication of the Temple: that sanctified the place, that shall determine that part. In the second part, The holinesse of the person, we shall carry your thoughts no farther, but vpon this, That euen this holy person Iesus himselfe, would haue recourse to this place, thus dedi­cated, thus sanctified: And vpon this, that hee would doe that especially at such times, as hee might countenance and authorise the Ordinances and In­stitutions of the Church, which had appointed this Festiuall. And this, sayes the Text, he did in the Winter: First, Et si Hiems, though it were Winter, hee [Page 5] came, and walked in the Porch, a little inconuenience kept him not off: And, Quia Hiems, because it was Winter, he walked in the Porch which was coue­red, not in the Temple which was o­pen. So that heere with modestie, and without scandall he condemned not the fauouring of a mans health, euen in the Temple, And it was at Ierusalem, the Feast of the Dedication; and it was Winter; and Iesus walked in the Temple in Salomons Porch.

In our first part, Holy places, 1. Part. Festa. wee looke first vpon the times of our mee­ting there, Holy dayes. The root of all those is the Sabboth, that God planted himselfe, euen in himselfe, in his owne rest, from the Creation. But the root, and those branches which grow from that root, are of the same nature, and the same name: And therefore as well of the flower, as of the root of a Rose, or of a Violet, we would say, This is a Violet, this is a Rose: so as well to o­ther [Page 6] Feasts of Gods institution, as to the first Sabboth, God giues that name; hee cals those seuerall Feasts which he in­stituted, Sabboths; enioynes the same things to be done vpon them, inflicts the same punishments vpon them that breake them. Leuit. 23. So that there is one Mo­ralitie, that is the soule of all Sabboths, of all Festiualls; howsoeuer all Sab­boths haue a ceremoniall part in them, yet there is a Morall part that inani­mates them all; they are elemented of Ceremonie, but they animated with Moralitie. And that Moralitie is in them all, Rest: for if Adam could name crea­tures according to their nature, God could name his Sabboth according to the nature of it, and Sabboth is Rest. It is a Rest of two kindes; our rest, and Gods rest. Our rest is the cessation from labour on those dayes; Gods rest, is our sanctifying of the day: for so in the religious sacrifice of Noah, when hee was come out of the Arke, Genes. 8. God is said [Page 7] to haue smelt, Odorem quietis, the sauour of rest: vpon those dayes we rest from seruing the world, and God rests in our seruing of him. And as God takes a tenth part of our goods, in Tythes, but yet he takes more too, he takes Sacrifi­ces, so though he take a seuenth part of our time in the Sabboth, yet he takes more too, he appoints other Sabboths, other Festiualls, that he may haue more glory, and we more Rest: for all wher­in those two concurre, are Sabboths. Vacate & videte quoniam ego sum Domi­nus sayes God. First vacate, Psal. 46.10 rest from your bodily labours, distinguish the day, and then videte, come hither into the Lords presence, and worship the Lord your God, sanctifie the day: And in all the Sabboths there is still a Cessate, Leuit. 23. and a Humiliate animas, bodily rest, and spirituall sanctifying of the day. Holy dayes then, that is, dayes seposed for holy vses, and for the outward & pub­like seruice of God, are in Nature, and [Page 8] in that Morall Law which is written in the heart of man. That such dayes there must be is Morall; and this is Mo­rall too, that all things in the seruice of God bee done in order; and this also, that obedience be giuen to Superiours, in those things wherein they are Supe­riors. And therfore it was to the Iewes, as well Morall, to obserue the certaine dayes which God had determined, as to obserue any at all. Not that Gods com­mandement limitting the dayes, infu­sed a Moralitie into those particular dayes: for Moralitie is perpetuall; and if that had been Morall, it must haue been so before, and it must bee so still; Gods determining the dayes did not infuse, not induce a Moralitie there, but it a­wakened a former Moralitie, that is, an obedience to the commandement, for that time, which God had appoynted that for them; for this Obedience, and Order is perpetuall, and so, Morall. We depart therfore from that error, which [Page 9] those ancient Heretiques, the Ebionites begun, and some laboured to refresh in Saint Gregories time, and which conti­nues in practise in some places of the world still; To obserue both the Iewes Sabbath, and the Christians, Satterday, and Sunday too; because the Sabboth is called Pactum sempiternum: Exod. 31. for to that any of Saint Augustines Answeres will serue; either that it is called euerlasting, because it signified an euerlasting rest; (where be pleased to note by the way, that Holy dayes, Sabbaths, are not onely instituted for Order, but they haue their Mystery, and their Signification; for Holy dayes, (as the Text calls them there) and New Moones, Col. 2.16. and the Sabboth, were but shadowes of things to come:) or else the Sabboth was called euerlasting to them, because it bound them euer­lastingly, and they might neuer inter­mit it, as some other ceremonies they might. But their Sabboths bind not vs; we depart from them who thinke so; [Page 10] and so we doe from them, who think we are bound to no Festiualls at all, or at least to none but the Sabboth. For God requires as much seruice from vs, as from the Iewes, and to them hee en­larged his Sabboths, and made them di­uers. But those were of Gods immediat institution: but all that the Iewes obser­ued were not so; and thats our next consideration, Festiualls instituted by the Church.

Sine Man­dato.At first, when God was alone, it is but Faciamus, let vs, vs the Trinity make man. This was, when God was, as we may say, in Coelibatu. But after God hath taken his spouse, maried the Church, then it is Cadite nobis vulpes, Cant. 2.15 doe you take the little Foxes, you the Church; for our vines haue grapes; the vines are ours; yours and mine sayes Christ to the Church: and therfore do you looke to them, as well as I. The Tables of the law God him­selfe writ, and gaue them written to Moses: he left none of that to him; not [Page 11] a power to make other Lawes like those lawes: but for the Tabernacle, which concern'd the outward worship of God, that was to be made by Moses, Exod Iuxta similitudinem, according to the pa­terne which God had shewed him. God hath giuen the Church a paterne of Ho­ly dayes, in those Sabboths which hee himselfe instituted, and according to the paterne, the Church hath instituted more: and Recte festa Ecclesiae colunt, Aug. qui se Ecclesiae filios recognoscunt: They who disdaine not the name of sonnes of the Church, refuse not to celebrate the daies which are of the Churches institution. There was no immediate commande­ment of God for that Holy day, which Mordechai, by his letters establish'd; Ester 9.23 but yet the Iewes vndertooke to do as Mor­dechai had written to them. There was no such commandement for this Holy day, in the Text; and yet that was ob­serued, as long as they had any beeing. And where the reason remaines, the [Page 12] practise may; The Iewes did, we may institute new Holy dayes. And not one­ly transitory daies, for a present thanks giuing for a present benefit, but Anni­uersaries, perpetuall memorials of Gods deliuerances. And thats our next step.

Anniuer­saria.Both the Holy dayes, which we na­med before, which were instituted with out speciall Commaundement from God, were so. That of Mordechai, he commanded to be kept euery yeare for two dayes, and this in the Text, Iu­das Maccabeus commanded to be kept yearely for eight dayes, which was more then was appoynted to any of the Holy dayes, instituted by God him­selfe, for the Festiuall alone. According to which paterne, Felix. one Bishop of Rome, ordained that the Festiuals of the De­dication of Churches should bee yeare­ly celebrated in those places; Greg. and an­other extended the Festiuall to eight dayes; at least at the first dedication thereof, if not euery yeare: that God [Page 13] might not onely be put into the posses­sion of the place, but setled in it. God by Moses made the children of Israel a Song, because, as hee sayes, Deut. 31.19 howsoeuer they did by the Law, they would ne­uer forget that Song, & that Song should be his witnesse against them. There­fore would God haue vs institute so­lemne memorialls of his great deliue­rances, that if when those dayes come about, we doe not glorifie him, that might aggrauate our condemnation. Euery fift of August, the Lord rises vp, to hearken whether we meet to glori­fie him, for his great deliuerance of his Maiesty, before he blest vs with his pre­sence in this Kingdome: and when he finds vs zealous in our thankes for that, he giues vs farther blessings. Cer­tainly he is vp as early euery fift of No­uember, to hearken if we meet to glori­fie him for that deliuerance still; and if hee should finde our zeale lesse then heretofore, hee would wonder why. [Page 14] Gods principall, his radicall Holy day, the Sabboth, had a weekly returne; his other Sabbaths, instituted by himselfe, and those which were instituted by those paternes, that of Mordechai, that of the Maccabees, & those of the Christi­an Church, They all return once a yeare. God would keepe his Courts once a yeare, and see whether wee make our apparances as heeretofore; that if not, hee may know it. Feastes in generall, Feastes instituted by the Church alone, Feasts in their yearely returne and ob­seruation, haue their vse, and particu­larly those Feasts of the Dedication of Churches, which was properly and li­terally the Feast of this Text. It was the Feast of Dedication.

Encaeuia.As it diminishes not, preiudices not Gods Eternitie, that wee giue him his Quando, certaine times of Inuocation, God is not the lesse yesterday, Temple. and to day, and the same for euer, because wee meet here to day, and not yesterday, so it di­minishes [Page 15] not, preiudices not Gods Vbi­quitie and Omnipresence, that wee giue him his Vbi, certaine places for Inuo­cation. Thats not the lesse true, that the most High dwells not in Temples made with handes, Acts 7.48. though God accept at our hands our dedication of certaine pla­ces to his seruice, & manifest his wor­king more effectually, more energeti­cally in those places, then in any other. for when we pray, Our Father which art in Heauen, It is not (sayes Saint Chryso­stome) that wee deny him to bee heere, Chrysostome. where wee kneele when we say that Prayer, but it is that we acknowledge him to be there, where he can graunt, and accomplish our prayer. It is as Ori­gen hath very well expressed it, Origen. Vt in melioribus mundi requiramus Deum: That still wee looke for God in the best pla­ces; looke for him, as he heares our pe­titions, here, in the best places of this world, in his House, in the Church; looke for him as he graunts our petiti­on, [Page 16] in the best place of the next world, at the right hand, and in the bosome of the Father. Deut. 30.13 When Moses sayes that the word of God is not beyond Sea, he addes, It is not so beyond Sea, as that thou must not haue it without sending thither. When he sayes there, it is not in heauen, he adds, not so in heauen, as that one must goe vp, before hee can haue it. The word of God, is beyond Sea, the true word, truly preached in many true Churches there, but yet we haue it here, within these Seas too; God is in Heauen, but yet hee is here, within these walles too. And therefore the impietie of the Maniche­ans exceeded all the Gentiles, who con­cluded the God of the Old Testament to be an impotent, an vnperfect God, be­cause hee commaunded Moses first to make him a Tabernacle, and then Salo­mon to make him a Temple, as though he needed a House. God does not need a house, but man does need, that God should haue a House. And therefore [Page 17] the first question, that Christs first Dis­ciples asked of him, was Magister, vbi habitas, they would know his standing house, where he hath promised to bee alwaies within, and where at the ring­ing of the Bell, some body comes to answere you, to take your errand, to offer your Prayers to God, to returne his pleasure in the preaching of his Word to you. The many and heauy Lawes, with which sacred and secular stories abound, against the prophana­tion of places, appropriated to Gods seruice, and that religious custome, that passed almost through all ciuill Nati­ons, that an oath, which was the bond between man, and man, had the stron­ger Obligation, if that were taken in the Church, in the presence of God, (for such was the practise of Rome towards her enemies, Tango aras medios (que) ignes, to make their vowes of hostility in the Church, and at time of diuine Seruice, (and such is their practise still, they [Page 18] seale their Treasons in the Sacrament) such was Romes practise towards o­thers, and such was the practise of o­thers towards Rome, (for so Anniball sayes, that his father Amilcar swore him at the Altar, that he should neuer bee reconciled to Rome, (And such is your practise still, as often as you meet here, you renew your band to God, that you will neuer bee reconciled to the Superstitions of Rome) all these, and all such as these, and such as these are infinite, heap vp testimonies, that euen in Nature there is a disposition to ap­ply, and appropriate certaine places to Gods seruice. And this impression in nature is illustrated in the Law, as the time, so the place is distinguished, Yee shall keepe my Sabboths, Leui. 19.30 there is the time, and you shall reuerence my Sanctuary, there is the place. But that they may be reuerenced, that they may bee San­ctuaries, they are to be sanctified; and thats the Encaenia, the Dedication.

[Page 19]Euen in those things which accrue vnto God, and become his, Encaenia. by another title, then as he is Lord of all, by Crea­tion, that is, by appropriation, by dedi­cation to his vse and Seruice, There is a Lay Dedication, and an Ecclesiasticall Dedication. I hope the distinction of Laytie, and Clergie, the words, scan­dalize no man. Luther, and Caluin too might haue iust cause to decline the words, as they did; when so much was ouer-attributed to that Clergie which they intend, as that they were so Sors Domini, the Lords portion, as that the world had no portion in them, and yet they had the greatest portion of the world; and howe little soe­uer they had to doe with God, yet no State, no King might haue any thing to doe with them. But, as long as we declare, that by the Layetie we in­tend the people glorifying God in their secular callings, and by the Clergie, per­sons seposed by his ordinance, for spi­ritual [Page 20] functions, The Layetie no farther remoou'd then the Clergie, The Clergie no farther entitled then the Layetie, in the blood of Christ Iesus, neither in the effusion of that blood vpon the Crosse, nor in the participation of that blood in the Sacrament, and that an equall care in Clergie, and Layetie, of doing the duties of their seuerall callings, giues them an equall interest in the ioyes, and glory of heauen, I hope no man is scandaliz'd with the names. The Lay Dedication then is, the voluntary sur­rendring of this piece of ground thus built, to God. For we must say, as Saint Peter said to Ananias, Acts 5.4. Whiles it remain'd, was that not your owne? and now, when that is raised (sauing that there was Dedicatio Intentionalis, a purpose from the beginning to appropriate it, to this holy vse) might you not, till this houre, haue made this roome your Hall, if you would? But this is your Dedica­tion, that you haue cheerfully pursued [Page 21] your first holy purposes, and deliuer now into the hands of this seruant of God, the Right Reuerend Father the Bi­shop of this See, a place to be presented to God for you, by him, not misbecom­ming the Maiestie of the great God, who is pleased to dwell thus amongst vs. What was spent in Salomons Tem­ple is not told vs. What was prepared, before it was begun, is such a summe, as certainly, if all the Christian Kings that are, would send in all that they haue, at once, to any one seruice, all would not equall that summe. They gaue there, till they who had the ouer­seeing therof, complain'd of the abun­dance, and proclaim'd an abstinence. Yet there was one, who gaue more then all they; for Christ sayes the poore widdow gaue more then all the rest, because she gaue all she had. There is a way of giuing more then she gaue; & I, who by your fauours was no strāger to the beginning of this work, and [Page 22] an often refresher of it to your me­mories, and a poore assistant in laying the first stone, the materiall stone, as I am now, a poore assistant again in this laying of this first formall Stone, the Word & Sacrament, and shall euer de­sire to be so in the seruice of this place, I, I say, can truly testifie, that you (spea­king of the whole Societie together of the publike stock, the publike treasury, the publike reuenue) you gaue more then the widow, who gaue all, for you gaue more then all. A stranger shall not entermeddle with our ioy, as Salomon saies: strangers shall not know, how ill we were prouided for such a work, when we begun it, nor with what difficul­ties we haue wrastled in the way; but strangers shall know to Gods glory, that you haue perfected a work of full three times as much charge, as you pro­posed for it at beginning: so bounti­fully doth God blesse, and prosper in­tentions to his glory, with enlarging [Page 23] your hearts within, and opening the hearts of others, abroad. And this is your Dedication, and that which with­out preiudice, and for distinction, wee call a Lay Dedication, though from reli­gious hearts, and hands.

There is another Dedication; Ecclesiastica that we haue call'd Ecclesiasticall, appointed by God, so as God speaks in the ordinances, and in the practise of his Church. Haere­ditary Kings are begotten & conceiu'd the naturall way; but that body which is so begotten of the blood of Kings, is not a King, no nor a man, till there bee a Soule infused by God. Here is a House, a Child conceiu'd (wee may say borne) of Christian parents, of persons religi­ously disposed to Gods glory; but yet, that was to receiue another influence, an inanimation, a quickening, by ano­ther Consecration. Oportet denuo nasci, holds euen in the children of Christian parents; when they are borne, they must be borne again by Baptisme: when this [Page 24] place is thus giuen by you, for God, opor­tet denuo dari, it must be giuen againe to God, by him, who receiues it of you. It must; there seems a necessitie to be im­plied, because euen in Nature, there was a consecration of holy places; Iacob in his iourney, Gen. 28.20. before the Law, consecrated euen that stone, which he set vp, in in­tention to build God a House there. In the time of the Law, Num. 7.1. this Feast of Dedi­cation, was in practise; first in the Ta­bernacle; that and all that appertain'd to it, was annointed, and sanctified: So was Salomons Temple after; so was that which was reedified after their return from Babylon, and so was this in the Text, after the Heathen had defiled and profan'd the Altar thereof, and a new one was erected by Iudas Maccabeus. Thus in Nature, thus in Law, and thus far thus in the Gospell too: that as sure as wee are that the people of God had materiall Churches in the Apostles first times, so sure we are, that those places [Page 25] had a Sanctitie in them. If that place of Saint Paul, 1 Cor. 11.22 Despise yee the Church of God? be to be vnderstood of the locall, of the materiall Church, and not of the Congregation, you see there is a rebuke for the prophanation of the place, and consequently a sanctity in the place. But assoone as the Church came euidently by the fauour of Princes, to haue liberty to make lawes, and power to see them practised, it was neuer pretermitted to consecrate the places. Before that, we find an ordinance by Pope Hyginus (he was within 150. after Christ, and the eighth Bishop of that See after Saint Pe­ter) euen of particulars in the Conse­crations. But after, Athanas. Athanasius in his A­pologie to Constantius, makes that prote­station for all Christians, That they neuer meet in any Church, till it bee consecrated: And Constantine the Emperour least hee should be at any time vnprouided of such a place, (as we read in the Ecclesia­sticall story) in all his warres, carried a­bout [Page 26] with him a Tabernacle which was consecrated: In Nature, in the Law, in the Gospell, in Precept, in Practise, these Consecrations are established.

Ʋsus.This they did. But to what vse did they consecrate them? not to one vse only; and therfore it is a friuolous con­tention, whether Churches be for prea­ching, or for praying. But if Consecration be a kind of Christning of the Church, & that at the Christning it haue a name, wee know what name God hath ap­poynted for his House, Domus mea, Do­mus orationis vocabitur. My House shall bee called the House of Prayer. And how impudent and inexcusable a falshood is that in Bellarmine, That the Lutherans and Caluinistes doe admit Churches for Sermons and Sacraments, Sed reprehen­dunt quod fiant ad orandum, They dislike that they should be for Prayer: when as Caluin himselfe, (who may seeme to bee more subiect to this reprehension then Luther) (for there is no such Litur­gie [Page 27] in the Caluinists Churches, as in the Lutheran) yet in that very place which Bellarmine cites, sayes Conceptae preces in Ecclesia Deo gratae; and for singing in Churches, (which in that place of Caluin cannot be only meant of Psalmes, for it was of that manner of singing, which being formerly in vse in the Easterne churches, S. Ambrose, in his time, brought into the Church of Millan, and so it was deriud ouer the Western churches, which was the modulation and singing of Versicles and Antiphons and the like) this singing, sayes Caluin, was in vse a­mongst the Apostles themselues, Et san­ctissimum & saluberimum est institutum. l. 3.20. § 32. It was a most holy and most profitable Insti­tution. Still consider Consecration to be a Christning of the place; and though we find them often called Templa prop­ter Sacrificia, for our sacrifices of praier, and of praise, & of the merits of Christ, and often called Ecclesiae ad conciones, Churches, in respect of congregations, [Page 28] for preaching, and often call'd Martyria, for preseruing with respect, and honor the bodies of Martyrs, and other Saints of God, there buried, & often, often, by other names, Dominica, Basilica, and the like, yet the name that God gaue to his house, is not Concionatorium, nor Sacra­mentarium, but Oratorium, the House of Prayer. And therefore without preiu­dice to the other functions too, (for as there is a vae vpon me, Si non Euangeli­zauero, If I preach not my selfe, so may that vae be multiplied vpon any, who would draw that holy ordinance of God into a dis-estimatiō, or into a slack­nesse,) let vs neuer intermit that dutie, to present our selues to God in these places, though in these places there bee then, no other Seruice, but Common prayer. For then doth the House an­swere to that name, which God hath giuen it, if it be a house of Prayer.

Modus.Thus then were these places to re­ceiue a double Dedication; a Dedica­tion, [Page 29] which was a Donation from the Patron, a Dedication which was a con­secration from the Bishop, for to his person, and to that ranke in the Hie­rarchy of the Church, the most ancient Canons limited it; and to those purpo­ses, which wee haue spoken of; of which, Prayer is so farre from being none, as that there is none aboue it. A little should be said, (before wee shut vp this part) of the manner, the forme of Consecrations. In which, in the Pri­mitiue Church, assoone as Consecrations came into free vse, they were full of Ceremonies. And many of those Cere­monies deriu'd from the Iewes: and not vnlawfull, for that. The Ceremonies of the Iewes, which had their foundation in the prefiguration of Christ, and were types of him, were vnlawfull after Christ was come; because the vse of them, then, implyed a deniall or a doubt of his being come. But those Ceremonies, which, though the Iewes [Page 30] vsed them, had their foundation in Na­ture, as bowing of the knee, lifting vp the eyes, and hands, and many, very many others, which either testified their deuotion that did them, or ex­alted their deuotion that sawe them done, are not therefore excluded the Church, because they were in vse a­mongst the Iewes. That Pope whom we named before, Hyginus, the eighth after Saint Peter, he instituted, Ne Ba­silica sine Missa consecretur. That no Church bee consecrated without a Masse. If this must binde vs, to a Masse of the present Romane Church, it were hard; and yet not very hard truely; for they are easily had. But that word, Masse, is in Saint Ambrose, in Saint Augustine in some very ancient Councels; and sure­ly intends nothing, to this purpose, but the Seruice, the Common Prayer of the Church, then in vse, there. And when the Bishop Panigarola sayes in his Sermon vpon Whitsunday, that the [Page 31] Holy Ghost found the blessed Virgin and the Apostles at Masse, I presume hee meanes no more, then that they were mett at such publique Prayer, as at those times they might make. Sure Pope Clemens, and Pope Hyginus meane the same thing, when one sayes Missa consecretur, and the other Diuinis Preci­bus: One sayes, Let the Consecration bee with a Masse, the other, with Diuine Seruice; the Liturgie, the Diuine Ser­uice was then the Masse. In a word, a constant forme of Consecrations, wee finde none that goes through our Ri­tualls: the Ceremonies were still more or lesse, as they were more or lesse ob­noxious, or might bee subiect to scan­dalize, or to be mis-interpreted. And therefore I am not heere either to di­rect, or so much as to remember, that which appertaines to the manner of these Consecrations; onely in concur­ring in that, which is the Soule of all, humble and heartie prayer, that God [Page 32] will heare his Seruants in this place, I shall not offend to say, that I am sure my zeale is inferiour to none. And more I say not of the first Part, The Holy place; and but a little more, of the other; though at first it were pro­posed for an equall part, The Holy Person, That at the Feast of the Dedi­cation, Iesus walked in the Temple in Sa­lomons Porch.

2. Part.In this second part, wee did not spread the words, nor shed our consi­derations vpon many particulars: the first was, Jesus in Templo. that euen Iesus himselfe had recourse to this Holy place. In the new Ierusalem, in Heauen, there is no Tem­ple. Apo. 21.22 I saw no Temple there sayes Saint Iohn: for the Lord God Almightie, and the Lambe are the Temple of it. In Heauen, where there is no danger of falling, there is no need of assistance. Heere the Temple is called Gnazar, 2. Paral. 4.9 that is Au­xilium: A Helper: the strongest that is, needs the helpe of the Church: And [Page 33] it is called Sanctificium, by Saint Hie­rom, Psal. 78.69. a place that is not onely made ho­ly by Consecration, but that makes others holy by GOD in it. And there­fore Christ himselfe, whose person and presence might consecrate the Sanctum Sanctorum, would yet make his often repayre to this Holy place; not that hee needed this subsidie of Locall holinesse in himselfe, but that his example might bring others who did neede it; and those who did not; and, that euen his owne Preaching might haue the be­nefite and the blessing of Gods Ordi­nance in that place, hee sayes of him­selfe, Math. 26. Quotidie apud vos sedebam do­cens in Templo, and Semper docui in Sy­nagoga, & in Templo; as in the Actes, the Angell that had deliuered the A­postles out of prison, sends them to Church, Actes 5. Stantes in Templo loquimini ple­bi. The Apostles were sent to preach, but to preach in the Temple, in the place appropriated and consecrated for that [Page 34] holy vse and employment.

Tempus.He came to this place, and he came at those times, which no immediate command of God, but the Church had instituted. Facta sunt Encaenia, sayes the Text; It was the Feast of the Dedica­tion. Wee know what Dedication this was; That of Salomon was much greater; A Temple built where none was before; That of Esdras at the re­turne was much greater then this, An intire reedification of that demoli­shed Temple, where it was before. This was but a zealous restoring of an Altar in the Temple: which hauing beene prophaned by the Gentiles, the Iewes themselues threw downe, and erected a new, and dedicated that. Salomons Dedication is called a Feast, 2 Chr. 5.3. a Holy day: by the very same name that the Feast of vnleauened bread, and the Feast of the Tabernacle is called so of­ten in Scripture, Ezra 6.16. which is Kag. The Dedication of Ezra is sufficiently de­clared [Page 35] to bee a solemne Feast too. But neither of these Feastes, though of farre greater Dedications, were An­niuersarie; neither commanded to be kept euery yeare; and yet this, which was so much lesser then the others, the Church had put vnder that Obligation, to bee kept euery yeare; and Christ himselfe contemnes not, condemnes not, disputes not the institution of the Church. But as for matter of doctrine hee sends euen his owne Disciples, to them who sate in Moses Chayre, so for matter of Ceremony, he brings euen his owne person, to the celebrating, to the authorizing, to the countenancing of the Institutions of the Church, and rests in that.

Now it was Winter, sayes the Text: Etsi Hyeme Christ came et si Hyems, though it were Winter; so small an inconuenience kept him not off. Beloued, it is not alway colder vpon Sunday, then vpon Satterday; nor at any time colder in [Page 36] the Chappell; then in Westminster Hall. A thrust keepes some off in Summer; and colde in Winter: and there are more of both these in other places, where for all that, they are more con­tent to be. Remember that Peter was warming himselfe, and hee denyed Christ. They who loue a warme bed, let it bee a warme Studie, let it bee a warme profit, better then this place, they deny CHRIST in his Institution. That therefore which CHRIST sayes, Pray that your flight bee not in the Win­ter, Mat. 24.20. nor vpon the Sabboth; we may ap­ply thus, Pray that vpon the Sabboth (I tolde you at first, what were Sab­boths,) the Winter make you not flie, not abstaine from this place. Put off thy shooes, Exod. 35. sayes God to Moses, for the place is holy ground. When Gods ordi­nance by his Church call you to this ho­ly place, put off those shoes, all those earthly respects, of ease or profit, Christ came, Et si Hyems.

[Page 37]But then, Quia Hyems, Quia Hyems Because it was Winter, Hee did walke in Salo­mons Porch, which was couered, not in Atrio, in that part of the Temple, which was open, and expos'd to the weather. We doe not say, that infirme and weak men, may not fauour themselues, in a due care of their health, in these places. That he who is not able to raise him­selfe, must alwayes stand at the Gospell, or bow the knee at the name of Iesus, or stay some whole houres, altogether vncouered heere, if that increase infir­mities of that kinde. And yet Courts of Princes, are strange Bethesdaes; how quickly they recouer any man that is brought into that Poole? How much a little change of ayre does? and how well they can stand, and stand bare many houres, in the Priuy Chamber, that would melt and flowe out into Rhumes, and Catarrs, in a long Gospell heere? But, Citra Scandalum, a man may fauour himselfe in these places: [Page 38] but yet this excuses not the irreuerent manner which hath ouertaken vs in all these places; That any Master may thinke himselfe to haue the same li­bertie heere, as in his owne house, or that that Seruant, that neuer puts on his hat in his Masters presence all the weeke, on Sunday, when hee and his Master are in Gods presence, should haue his hat on perchance before his Masters. Christ shall make Master and Seruant equall; but not yet; not heere; nor euer, equall to himselfe, how euer they become equall to one another. Gods seruice is not a continuall Martyr­dome, that a man must bee heere, and here in such a posture, and such a man­ner, though hee dye for it; but Gods House is no Ordinary neither; where any man may pretend to doe what he will, and euery man may doe, what any man does. Christ slept in a storme; I dare not make that generall; let all doe so. Christ fauoured himselfe in [Page 39] the Church; I dare not make that ge­nerall neither: to make all places e­quall, or all persons equall in any place.

Tis time to end. Basil. Saint Basill him­selfe, as acceptable as hee was to his Auditory, in his second Sermon vpon the 14. Psalme, takes knowledge that hee had preached an houre, and there­fore broke off: I see it is a Compasse, that all Ages haue thought sufficient. But as we haue contracted the consi­deration of great Temples, to this lesser Chappell, so let vs contract the Chappell to our selues: Et facta sint Encaenia no­stra, let this be the Feast of the Dedica­tion of our selues to God. Christ calls himselfe a Temple, Soluite templum hoc: Iohn 2.19. Destroy this Temple. And Saint Paul calls vs so twice; 1 Cor. 3.16. & 6.19. Know ye not that ye are the Temples of the Holy Ghost? Facta sint Encaenia nostra: Encaenia signifies Reno­uationem, a renewing: Aug. and Saint Augu­stine sayes that in his time, Si quis noua [Page 40] tunica indueretur, Encaeniare diceretur. If any man put on a new garment, hee called it by that name, Encaenia sua. Much more is it so, if wee renew in our selues the Image of God, and put off the Olde man, and put on the Lord Iesus Christ. This is truly Encaeniare, to dedicate, to renew our selues: NaZian. and so Nazian▪ in a Sermon, or Oration, vpon the like occasion as this, calls, Conuersionem nostram, Encaenia, our turning to God, in a true repen­tance, or renewing, our dedication. Let mee charge your memories, but with this note more, That when God forbad Dauid the building of an House, Be­cause hee was a man of blood, at that time Dauid had not embrued his hands in Vriahs blood; nor shed any blood, but lawfully in iust warres; yet euen that made him vncapable of this fauour to prouide God a house. Some callings are in their nature more obnoxious, and more exposed to sinne, then others are: accompanied with more tentations; & [Page 41] so retard vs more in holy duties. And therefore as there are particular sinnes that attend certaine places, certaine ages, certaine complexions, and certaine voca­tions, let vs watch our selues in all those, and remember that not only the high­est degrees of those sinns, but any thing that conduces therunto, prophanes the Consecration, and Dedication of this Temple, our selues, to the seruice of God; it annihilates our repentance, and fru­strates our former reconciliations to him. Almighty God worke in you a perfit dedication of your selues at this time; that so, receiuing it from hands dedicated to God, hee whose holy Office this is, may present ac­ceptably this House to God in your behalfes, and establish an assurance to you, that God will be alwayes present with you and your Succession in this place.

Amen.