Zerubbabels encouragement to finish the temple. A sermon preached before the honourable House of…

And the reason of this his love is,¹ the great concernment that his public worship is of unto him. God hath but three things dear unto him in this world, his Saints, his Worship, and his Truth; and it is hard to say, which of these is dearest unto him; they are mutuò sibi fines. God therefore ordained Saints to be in the world, that he might be worshipped; and reciprocally appointed these Ordinances of worship as means to build up his Saints. In the Commandments (the Epitome of the Old Testament) the institutions of Gods worship have the second place: The second Commandment is wholly spent thereon; and therein how jealous doth God profess himself of any aberration or swerving from his own rules? now jealousy (you know) proceeds from the deepest love. Yea the third and fourth Commandments are taken up about it also; the one about the manner, that his Name (for so his worship is called, Micah 4. the 5. ver. compared with ver. 2. and 3.) might not be taken in vain; the other about the time. And then in the Lords Prayer, ⟨p. 32⟩(which is the Epitome of the New Testament) in the second Petition (if not the first) the worship and government of his Church comes in; for his Worship is his Name, (as was said) and we desire that to be Hallowed: & nothing is more properly Christs visible Kingdom here, then the right administration of Ordinances in his Church, which do set him up as King of Saints. To this purpose I shall open that in the 15. of the Revelation, where when the Saints had got a Temple over their heads, ver. 6. (as was before hinted) then they call for a true and right worshipping of Christ, and this because he was King of Saints: They sing, 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? for thou only art holy: and all nations shall come and worship before thee, &c. There are three pairs, or conjugata, which harmoniously answer one to another: First, here is a double title and Kingdom given unto Christ, 1 [Lord Almighty,] 2 [King of Saints:] or (if you will) He is King of Nations, and King of Saints: 1 King of Nations, for so in that parallel place, Jerem. 10. 7. (from whence these words here uttered are evidently taken, and therefore it is quoted in the margin) he is called;