Notes Upon Texts of Scripture and Popish Errors, Missing chapter 1
[This Chapter ſhould have come in after Chap. XI.]
That there are ſome Places more Holy than others, and that it is a Work of Piety to go in Pilgrimages to them. Bellarm. de Cultu. Sacriſ. lib. 3. cap. 8.
THis is to revive Judaiſm again. For God dwelt among the Jews indeed in an appropriate manner in the Temple of Jeruſalem, where were the Symbols of his Preſence. The Temple was God's Houſe, and therefore an Holy Place, becauſe God was there peculiarly preſent. Thither were all the Males of the Children of Iſrael to reſort three times a Year, and there alone offer their Sacrifices and Oblations to God: And the Place made the Worſhip acceptable to God, which was offered there; ſo that the Worſhip was not ſo acceptable to God which was performed in other places; for the Preſence of God ſanctified the Place, and made it Holy; and that ſanctified the Worſhip, and gave value to it, and therefore it was more acceptably performed there than in another Place.
But now under the Goſpel there is no ſuch Holineſs of Places, becauſe there is no ſuch ſymbolical Preſence of God in one place more than in another; for God's Preſence is no longer confined to any one Place, but he equally accepts the Worſhip that is devoutly offered him all the World over.
John 4. 21, 23, 24. Woman, believe me, the Hour cometh, when ye ſhall neither in this Mountain, nor yet at Jeruſalem, worſhip the Father, as the peculiar and appropriate Place of his Worſhip, as if he were more eſpecially preſent there, than in any other Place, or would better accept the Worſhip performed there, than in any other Place. For now all ſuch religious diſtinction of Places for Worſhip ſhall be taken away. But the Hour cometh, and now is, when the true Worſhippers ſhall worſhip the Father in Spirit and in Truth; for the Father ſeeketh ſuch to worſhip him, as well in one place as another. And ſuch devout Worſhippers ſhall be acceptable to him in any Place.
Mal. 1. 11. For from the riſing of the Sun, 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; that is, inward and ſpiritual Worſhip and Sacrifices, whereof the Ceremonial here expreſs'd were but Types and Figures. And thus People are every where to ſerve God, with true and oure Worſhip: For it is the Service now that ſanctifies the Place, and not the Place that ſanctifies the Service, as it was among the Jews.
1 Tim. 2. 8. I will therefore that Men pray every where, lifting up holy Hands, without wrath, and doubting of God's audience and acceptance. For God is every where preſent; and in whatſoever Place we are, we are equally near unto him. 1 Cor. 10. 26. The Earth is the Lord's, and the Fulneſs thereof. The whole Earth, where God is called upon, is Holy Land. St. Paul prayed on the Sea-ſhore at Tyre, Acts 21. 5.
And, Mat. 18. 20. Where two or three are gathered together in my Name, there am I in the midst of them. Every Aſſembly of Chriſtians met together in Chriſt's Name; and according to his Will is the Church and Houſe, and living Temple of God, where he is preſent, which is not built with Stone or Brick, but is made up of living Saints, the Habitation of the Spirit; as the Church in the Houſe of Nymphi, Col. 4. 5. of Aquila and Priſcilla, 1 Cor. 16. 19.
The Temple of Jeruſalem was but a Type and Figure of Chriſt's Body and Humane Nature, which was the True Temple, in which the God-head dwelt; and therefore he calls his Body the Temple; John 2. 19. Deſtroy this Temple, and in three days will I raiſe it up. And therefore after the Incarnation of Chriſt, in which the Figure and Type of the Temple of Jeruſalem was accompliſh'd, God would no more have a Figurative Temple. And now Chriſt is aſcended into Heaven, there is no Temple upon Earth, but the Saints themſelves, who are the Temples of the Holy Ghoſt, and who offer up ſpiritual Sacrifices by the aſſiſtance of the Spirit, which are acceptable to God, not as performed in this and the other place, as if they derived acceptance from the Holineſs of any Place, but by the Offering of the Body of Chriſt once for all, through the Eternal Spirit, with which he ſits at the right Hand of God in the Heavens, to make Interceſſion for us, and to procure the acceptance of our Perſons and Services.
Much leſs then is there any Holineſs in Places derived from any Saints, from whom the Popiſh Churches yet derive their Holineſs. It was the peculiar Preſence of God which was thought among the Jews to render the Place Holy; for where God is peculiarly preſent, there it is Holy Ground. But now it is from the Saints, and the Worſhip that is performed to them in ſuch a Place, and their Relicks that are placed there, that the Popiſh Holineſs of moſt of their Places is derived. And it is a great Act of Devotion with them to go in Pilgrimages, to viſit and worſhip at ſuch Places, as to our Lady of Loretto, Montferrat, to St. Thomas at Canterbury, St. Winifred's Well, and ſuch-like Places. And they think their Services performed in ſuch Places, are very acceptable for the Place ſake. Now if there be no appropriate Holineſs in Places with reſpect to the Preſence of God peculiarly in them, which renders the Worſhip acceptable: Who can believe that the Shrines of Saints can derive any acceptance to the Service?
Yet we do not deny, but in common decency, that ſome peculiar Reſpect ſhould be ſhewn to ſuch Places where we ſolemnly worſhip God. But it is the Worſhip that is there performed to God (and not the Preſence of God, that is ſuppoſed to be peculiarly there, more than in any other Place) that doth ſanctify the Chriſtian Places of Worſhip, whatever Sanctification they have. But it is not the Place that doth ſanctify the Worſhip; as it was among the Jews, where the Altar ſanctified the Gift, Matth. 23. 19.