The temple A sermon preached at Pauls Cross the fifth of August. 1624. By…The temple A sermon preached at Pauls Crosse the fifth of August. 1624. By…

1. The first concerns us of the Ministry, the waiters of the Temple. It hath been an old saying, De Templo omne bonum, de Templo omne malum: all good or evil comes from the Temple. ¹Where the Pastor is good, and the people good, he may say to them, as Paul to his Corinthians, ²Nonne opus meum vos estis in Domino, Are not ye my work in the Lord? Where the Pastor is bad, and the people no better, they may say to him, Nonne destructis nostra tu es in seculo, art not thou our destruction in the world? It is no wonder, if an abused Temple make a disordered people. A wicked Priest is the worst creature upon Gods earth: no sin is so black, as that shall appear from under a white Surplice. Every mans iniquity is so much the hainouser, as his place is holier. The sin of the Clergy is like a Rheum, which rising from the stomach into the head, drops down upon the lungs, fretting most noble and the vital parts, till all the ⟨p. 16⟩members languish into corruption. The lewd sons of Eli were so much the less tolerable, by sinning in the Tabernacle. Their sacrifices might do away the sins of others; no sacrifice could do away their own. Many a soul was the cleaner for the blood of those beasts they shed; their own souls were the fouler by it. By one and the same service, they did expiate the peoples offences, and multiply their own. Our Clergy is no Charter for heaven. Such men are like the conveyances of Land, Evidences and Instruments to settle others in the kingdom of heaven, while themselves have no part of that they convey. It is no unpossible thing, for men at once to show the way to Heaven with their tongue, and lead the way to Hell with their foot. It was not a Jewish Ephod, it is not a Romish Cowl, that can privilege an evil doer from punishment. Therefore it was Gods charge to the executioners of his Judgements, ³Begin at my own Sanctuary: and the Apostle tells us, that Judgement shall begin at the house of God. and Christ entering into his Prophetical Office, began reformation at his Fathers house. Let our devout and holy behaviour prevent this; and by our reverent carriage in the Temple of God, let us honour the God of the Temple. It should be our endeavour to raise up seed unto our elder