God's HOUSE MADE A DEN OF thieves. DELIVERED IN A SECOND SERMON In Southampton. By Alexander Rosse, his majesty's chaplain in ordinary.  MATTHEW 21.13. It is written, my house shall be called the house of Prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves. 
Errare possum, haereticus esse nolo.  
LONDON. Printed in the year 1642.   

To my judicious and conscionable hearers at Southampton.  
GENTLEMEN.  
I Having now spent almost 26. years amongst you, how diligently in my calling▪ how in-offensively in my conversation, you all know, and my conscience ●oth witn●sse▪ and now being to depart from you; I thought good to bequeathe this Sermon as a legacy on you; and the rather because many do earnestly desire it. I know it shall receive no worse entertainment, being presented to your view, than it had, when it founded lately in your ears. God multiply his blessings on you, and preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace amongst you, and continue you in your zeal to his service, in your love to hi● orthodox Ministers, and in your exemplary reverence to his Word; and to keep you from faction▪ that dange●ous thief disguised under the habit and name of Religion; This is, and shall be my prayer, when I am absent, though in spirit, and affection I will be still present ●ith you, and still ready to serve you, and  
Your● in Christ Alexand. Rosse.   

MAT. 21.13. 
It is written, my house shall be called, &c.   
THe subject of this text is a house▪ the Tenant prayer, the intruder●, thieves. Now that prayer, (Which hath both jus ad rem, and jus in re, both title and possession, and besides, long prescription, even time out of memory) that such a Tenant, should be thrust out by such intruders, prayer by thieves, it is ●is, non jus, injustice, oppression, and violence in the highest degree▪ and to turn such a house unto such a den▪ is a s●rang Metamorphosis O! domus antiqua, heu quam disp●ri dominaris domino. we grieve to see thieves domineering in an honest man's house, and sharing his goods amongst them, every one, saying with Maeris in the Poet▪ haec me a sunt veteres migrate coloni; But to see thieves swagering in God's own house, and justling prayers out of doors (Prayers I say our messengers, angels, Orators, as St. Austin calls them, our winged advocates which mount up to the throne of grace, and plead for us in his presence which is not visible by mortal eyes nor accessable by gross● & ponderous bodies) I say to see Prayers either quite thrust out, or else used as David's servants were by the Ammonites cut short in their garments by the middle, and so packed away, we must needs lament with jeremy, and say the beauty of the Daughter of Zion is departed from her; the Heathen are entered into the sanctuary, the Lord hath cast off his altar, he hath abhor●ed his sanctuary Lam. 1. & 2. if the jewish elders who had seen the glory of the first Temple weeped, when they saw the defects of the second, they would have roared for grief, if they had lived to see the profanation of this Zim and Zijm▪ where heretofore was urim and Thummim, desolation of abomination set up in the holy place: the Place of Cherubin● become a nest of owls, Ostraces, satyrs and Dragons, to dance where once was God's pre●ence, the ●weet incense o● Prayer, the calves of the lip●, the spiritual sacrifices of thanksgiving either Devou●ed, or pollu●ed by ●apacious harpies: it's true (as I said before) that Prayer i● a tenant▪ and a tenant at will, but at the will of the supreme Lord to be thrust out when he plea●eth, but not at the will of inferior officers, when they please; much less at the will o● thieves, they must not ●e so sawc●e, for then, Quid Domini facient, audent cum talia fures?  
I have heretofore said somewhat of the House▪ and somewhat of Prayer, and somewhat yet I have to say of both, and ●hen I must say somewhat of the thieves, not who they are, but what they are▪ for I aim not at the persons, but at the vices o● this age, which In Sacra regnant nullis prohibentibus aula, have ta●en Sanctuary▪ and have laid hold on the horns of the Altar, 
Lam. 2.7.  keeping a revel, and making a noise in the house of the Lord, as in the day of a solemn Feast. There●ore if I serve these thieves ●s Christ did, scourge them out of t●e Temple with the whip of God's word, I shall do but w●at is my Calling, and what my Master practised before me. If any take it amis●●, it will be their own mistake; they must not think that I will muzzle my mouth, and keep silence Even from good words, it would be pain and grief to me to conceal and mince the truth, and not to tell Judah of her s●nnes, and Israel, &c. Then a woe shall fall on me; you must die in your sins, and your blood shall be required at my hands. What? shall I see thieves domineering in my Master's house, and be silen●, then will it be justly said to me, 
Psal. 50.  When thou sawest a thief, thou consente●st with him. For, qui tacet consentire videtur, silence is a secret consent. What (saith St. Paul) am I become your enemy, becaus● I tell you the truth? Must I sing placentia, sow pillows under your elbows, that you may go sl●eping to hell? No, the God whom I serve, is the God of truth. This is the ch●ire of tru●h, and the word that I speak is the word of truth. Therefore with Michaiah let me protest, as the Lord liveth, whatsoever he will put in my mouth, that will I speak. The priest's lips must preserve know●edge, and consequently truth, for these two must go together like urim and Thummim on our breast-pla●e. Expect the●●o fla●tering or lying words from my lips, they have been touched with a coal from the Altar, and if you come for no other end, but to carp and mock at our Sermo●s, as some of our new up-star● faction have lately done; you shall know and feel too, that it is not good, Ludere cum Sanctis, nor safe meddling with edged tools▪ God's word is a sharp two-edged Sword, dangerous for fools and madmen to play with; It is a bright candle, that will burn● the wings of such wanton butterflies, he that sits in heaven will laugh them to scorn, and will laugh at thei● destruction, tha● laugh at his Ministers; and he will cause that that which should have been for their w●lfare, shall be the occasion of their falling▪ and that Word which we preach, if it doth not soften them, it will hard●n them▪; if it doth not feed them, it shall poison them; if it doth not cure them, it shall kill t●em; and if it doth not save, 
Is●y 55 11.  it shall damn them; for his Word shall not return to him void, but shall accomplish the thing which he pleaseth, either to b●e the savour of life unto life, or of death unto death. I doubt not but I shall be whipped with scandalous tongue●, for whipping the thieves out of our Temple. But that's my comfo●t, that I shall fare no worse than my blessed Master did, who was so used by the Jews, he fi●st whipped them, and they afterward whipped him. Qui flagellandus e●at à judaeis, primum flagellavit eos, saith Saint Austin, and the same Father tells us that slanderous tongues are the fiery furnace, in which we must be purified. Quotidiana fornax nostra. We are well rewarded for our pains, w● pray for them, and they curse u●; we preach to them, and they revile at us; we enlighten them, and the● o●scure us, what they can in our good names; when our mouths are open to feed them, their throat● are open like sepulchers to poison us with that venom of asps▪ which is under their lips; we give them the fish and they give us the Scorpion; and the bread of life which we break to them, they turn unto stones to fling at us. Three weeks ago I told you the use of this House, and the excellency of Prayer, which I hope the best, and most of you, have chewed, ruminated, concocted, and turned to good nourishment, for I am sure the meat was good, and the fruit wholesome, being gath●red no wh●re but in the garden of Paradise, viz the holy Scripture▪ yet some that heard me then▪ were so ill dispos●d with Cacochymia, with a mind full of bad humours, that they have turned that good food unto poison, and that Manna in them hath engendered worms. Henbane or Aconitum, they say is meat for Stares, but poison to man, even so is Preaching to some the sweet m●lke of God's word becomes an undigested and heavy curd in their stomach, and like the quails in the Desert, though their flesh in itself was good and wholesome, yet to the Israelites it was rank poison, that aphorism is true, 
Hippocrates.  {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} &c. foul bodies full of humours, the more you feed them, the more you hurt them; for let the meat they eat be never so wholesome, yet in them it breeds no good blood, but feeds the predominant humour, whether it be choler, melancholy or phlegm. So some of our hearers having ill disposed minds, have turned our Sermons unto choler a fretting humour, which having infected their blood and spirits, hath so discoloured their eye, that when they look on us, they think we are yellow as they are, and hath so imbittered their taste, and corrupted their tongue, that it's plain their gall is overflowed; and therefore let our doctrine be never so wholesome, it is to them bitter as wormwood. In others our Preaching breeds splenatick diseases▪ the spleen is a troublesome evil, sometime by malignant vapours, it causeth trembling, and palpitation in the heart; and sometime distorted and distempered imaginations in the brain, and exorbitant speeches in the tongue, which is an unruly evil: but the timpany of pride and high conceits, which some (even though they be most egregiously ignorant) have of their own (but imaginary) learning, hinders the effect of our Sermons in them. Therefore they had need first to have a good purge, that their minds may be clear from these humours of pride, malice, prejudice, self-conceit, self-love, self-will, before they come to hear us; and with the Viper in Aelian, {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, to vomit out their poison, as he doth before he couple● with the Lampreele: and for want of this evacuation of bad humours, it falls out with many of them, as with young maids troubled with the green sickness▪ they loathe wholesome food, and will eat ashes, coals, or any such trash, 
2 Tim 3 3.  for indeed the time is come of which St. Paul prophesied, that some will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall heap to themselves teachers▪ having itching ears, and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, &c. Therefore I wish them to take this admonitory digression, as the shaking of the whip over them, otherwise they shall feel the smart of a sharper rod, as the Jews did, who for slighting that gentle whipping which they had ●rom Christ, were afterward cruelly scourged be the Romans, and thirty of them sold as slaves for a penny, as they had sold their Lord and Master before for 30▪ pence.  
But now having a little digressed, though not (I hope) transgressed, I will go up again with Christ unto the Temple, and, before I meddle with the thieves I will look unto the holy place▪ even unto the Sanctum Sanctorum, and behold the high Priest in his pontificalibus▪ offering before the ark and Mercy-Seat the smoke of his sweet incense by which is represented our Prayers, the most nec●ss●ry and no●le exercise of a Chri●tian, and therefore hath the chief place of the Temple assigned for it. Preaching was performed in atrio, in the outward Court, where solomans' Porch was, but prayer in the holy place▪ and once yearly by the high Priest in the most holy, for thither he went not only (Saith Phil● to Caius) odores accensurus sed vota facturus, to bur●e incense, and to Offer up prayers for the congregation. And so our great high Priest, who in the days of his humility Preached unto us, now being clothed with glory and entered into the sanctuary, Off●reth up Prayers for us, he hath long since left off to Preach, but never gives off to pray, and to make intercession for us in heaven there is no Preaching, but in heaven there is praying. So ne●essarie is this excercis●, that without it o●r Preaching is ineff●ctual. Whatsoever excellency there is in Preaching, the same is in Prayer, but in a higher degree. Faith cometh by he●ring, and so it doth by praying, neither you● hearing, nor our Preaching, can beget Faith in you without praying It was not St. Ambrose his eloquency so much as Monocha's prayers, that made S●. Austin of a Manichee a good Christian. 
Aug hom. 17.  It was Saint Stevens and the Churches prayers that conver●ed Saint Paul▪ and of a persecutor made him a Preacher, nondum habebant fidem & orationibus fidelium aocipieb●nt fidem, they that wanted Faith, by the prayers of the faithful received Faith. We pray for the conversion of Turks, Jews, and Infidels, who have no Preach●ng at all: nay, prayer goeth farther than Preaching, for this begets Fa●●h, but prayer both begets▪ cherisheth, increaseth, and confirms our ●aith; so that for all our Preaching▪ we must pray with the blind man, Lord help our unbelief, and though Christ had Preached often to the Apostles, yet for all that, he must pray that Peter's Faith may not fail: Preaching shows us the way to Heaven, but it is prayer that openeth the gate for us to enter, 
Austin.  Oratio iusti clavis coeli, the keys of heaven are the just man's prayers: nay who is a good and a just man? not he that heareth much, but he that prayeth much. Ille novit bene vivere, 
Austin.  qui novit bene orare. you say that one Sermon of Peter's converted 3000. in one day, and I say that one prayer of Moses saved a●ove six hundred thousand in one day. A far greater number sure, neither had that Sermon been so effectu●●l had it not been first consecrated and sanctified by the prayers of all the Apostles, for before Peter began his Sermon, they all unanimously continued in prayers and supplications, 
Act● 1.14.  which custom we yet retain in the Church, giving to prayers the first place, and the last too, as being both the Alpha and Omega of divine worship. A te principium, tibi desinet; standing both in the front, and in the rear, and like the 2. Cherubins at the two ends of the ark, or the two Angels, the one at the head, the other at the foot of Christ's Sepulchre, and such is the excellency of prayer above all other divine exercises, that the whole worship of God, {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, is called prayer or invocation. And Saint Austin confesseth that the Church may want sometimes preaching, but it can never want prayer, 
Austin.  deficit aliquando in ser monibus, nunquam in oratione. Therefore are we so often exhorted to pray continually & I must tell you, that you were as good hear a tinkling cymbal, or a sounding brass as to hear a Sermon not Sanctified by prayer, for as seed cast into the ground without Sun and rain cannot fructify, so the Sermons which we Preach in your ears without prayers and supplications will not edify. Was there ever since Christ a more powerful Preacher than St. Paul? 
Colos 4.3. ●  and yet (knowing his Preaching without prayer to be ineffectual) desires the Colossians to pray for him, that God would open to him a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ, that he might make it manifest as he ought to speak; so than prayer is the key that opens the door of utterance, it is indeed the key of the whole work, yea the very soul & li●e of preaching, which without it were but a dead soun●: for as the Prophet by praying over the dead child restored life to it again; so the prayers of Minister and people do inlive and animate our Doctrine: you'll say that Preaching is the sword that kills sin, and Satan, &c. I grant it, but without prayers it is a blunt sword. Prayer is the whe●stone that gives it the edge▪ prayer makes it s●arpe and keen, to divide between the soul and Spirit, &c. prayer and Preaching are like the sling and sword that David used against Goliath, the sword indeed cut off his head after he was down, but it was the stone out of the sling that knocked him down and killed him. It's easy to master the great Goliath with the sword of the Word, when we have struck him in the forehead, with the sling stone of fervent prayer: 
Ambrose. ●  Preaching is the sword that woundeth near at hand, but prayer is the arrow that kills a far off, melior jaculo, & longe fallente sagitsa, 
Virg.  Preaching is a good weapon that can overcome Satan, but prayer is a better that can overcome God himself, therfo●e we are {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, wrestlers with God by prayers, as Jacob was, 
Colo● 4.  who both wrestled and prevailed. Preaching is like the angel that smote Peter on the side, and unloos●d his chains when he was in prison; ●ut the vnc●ff●nt prayers of the Church for Peter were they that both gave wings to the Angel to fly down, and hands to unloos● his chains, and strength to break open the prison doors. A powerful S●rmon may make a guilty heart to tremble: but the prayer of Paul and Silas made the very earth tremble, and the prison doors fly open. A Sermon may inform us of the joys of heaven, but an eff●ctuall prayer is able to ravish us with St. Paul up to the third heaven. Christ Preached many excellent Sermons, which made no change in him; but when he prayed upon mount Thabor his face did shine as the Sun▪ and his garment was white as the light. Not whilst he was Preaching, but whilst he wa● praying the Angel came & comforted him, and a white cloud conveyed his father's testimony to him. In a word, prayer is the impenetrable armour, the inexhausted wealth, and the most precious treasure of a Christian, therefore prefer it above all things, for on it depends the health of thy body the welfare of thy soul, the prosperity of thy family, the increase of thy wealth, the loyalty of thy Wife, the duty of thy Children, the obedience of thy Servants, the love of thy Neighbour▪ the purity of Religion, the wisdom of the State, the holiness of the Church, and the hapiness● of the whole kingdom; Prayer will be thy best physician when thou art sick, thy best advocate, when thou art sued, thy best Pilot, when thou travelest by Sea; thy guide, when thou travelest by Land, thy watcher, when thou sleepest; thy comforter, when thou art sad, thy companion; when thou art alone, and thy patron when thou art wronged; what force was ever able to resist the power of prayer, which hath opened and shut heaven, commanded the Sun and Moon, shaken the earth, troubled the elements, procured thunder, lightning, hailstones, raised the dead, driven away devils, stopped the mouths of Lions, quenched the violence of fire, appeased storms, overcome mighty armies, broken Iron chains, blown open prison doors; and prevailed with God himself; in all which you may see the excellency of prayer ●bove Preaching, and yet I derogate nothing from the worth of preaching, when I prefer prayer to it: two things may be both excellent in their kind, and yet the one more excellent than the other. Preaching and prayer are not like the two bucketts of a well, that the rising of the one must needs be the falling of the other. when I commend gold, I despise not silver, nor will any man say that the Moon hath no beauty, because the Sun is brighter. By prayer we speak to God, by preaching he sp●aks to us, by prayer our hearts ascend to God, by Preaching his knowledge descends to us, by prayer our Preaching is Sanctified, by Preaching our prayer is directed, and yet still prayer is before Preaching; for the excellency of the action depends from the excellency of the object; man is the object of Preaching, but God is the object of prayer. Now pe●haps all that I have said of prayer will be granted; but that which some men most stumble at (and that is but a straw) are the set prayers of the Church. These be the scarecrows that keep them back● from the house of prayer, and yet I know not what it is that they disl●ke in them: is it the matter? why, that is consonant to Scripture: is it the form? that is plain, methodical and easy: are they the words? they are significant, intelligible, and without affectation. Are they the compilers of them that they dislike? why, these were our first reformers, holy men, learned divines, blessed martyrs, who seal●d these prayers with their blood, they had the honour once to wear the crown of martyrdom and now they are crowned with glory, s●all any than be so thankless as to spurn at their prayers? And so graceless as to retaliat their blessed pains with flow●es and jeers? I hope they are not offended that these prayers are established by so many acts of parliament under 3. gracious and religious Princes Edward 6. Qu. Elizabeth▪ and K. James, all of blessed memory. What is it then, that they dislike in thes● prayers? I think they know not themselves, only they dislike them; Non amo te volusi nec possum dicere quare, Hoc tantum possum dicere non amo te. Indeed it's no new thing to establish by authority s●tt forms of prayers in the Church, for avoiding confusion, babbling, tautologies, impertinencies, tediousness, and absurdities to which extemporary, and unpremeditate prayers are subject. God himself u●der the law, prescribed a set form to Aaron, 
Num: 6.24 25.26.27.  and his sons. So did Christ under the gospel to his Apostles, Mat. 6.9. Luke 11.2. so did Constantine the first Christian Emperor to his soldiers, as ●usebius recordeth. 
Can. 23.  It is ordered in the 3. Council of Carthage, that no man shall use such prayers as are not approved by the choicest of the clergy, Instructioribus fratribus, 
Ca●. 12.  and in the Milevitan council, held under Innocent 1. in the time of Honorius and Arcadius, it is expressly commanded that no other public prayers shall be used in the Church, but such as are approved of by the council. Nec aliae nisi quae a Prudentioribus tractatae vel comprobatae in Synodo fuerint, lest by ignorance or in advertency some words may be uttered against the true faith. I do not remember, that there is at this day any public Congregation (of private conventicles (I speak not) which hath not their set forme● of prayers. The Jews in their Synagogue●, Turks, Persians, Arabians▪ in their Mosques, Christians in their Churches have all set forms, the Greek churches have their divers Liturgies of Saint Basil and St. Chrys●st. Not to speak of these ancient Liturgies which bear the n●mes of Saint Peter, Saint James, Saint Mark, and the Apostles. The Latin Church●s have their set forms▪ some after the order of Saint Ambrose, a● at Milan, and ot●ers of Saint Gregory, as at Rome. So all the Christian sects have also their set Prayers; as the Georgians in Iberia, the Cophtis in Egypt; the jacobits in Ethiopia, the Melchits in Syri●, the Armenians in Turcomania and Cilicia, the Maronites in mount Libanus the Christians of Saint Thomas, the Muscovites, yea all the reformed churches beyond seas have some set prayers before their Sermons, and shall our Church only be quarrelled with for her set service, or shall her Ministers be disliked for using rather her forms, and words then their own? It's too much temerity to come before God with rash and extemporary prayers: 
Eccls 5.2.  h●arken to Solomon's counsel, be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thy heart be hasty to utter any thing before God, for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth, therefore let thy words be few. But I will detain you no longer in viewing of the temple, as it is the house of prayer, let us look on it now as it is a den of thieves. I will but only point at them, that you may beware of them, and then I will end.  
Our Saviour alludes here to the Pharisees name; in Hebrew Ph●rusim, are Pharisees; and Perutsim are thieves; they were like in name, and so they were in concition, for they were thieves indeed, They stole from God his glory, whilst they attributed many things to Fate and destiny. They stole from the commandments their dignity, in preferring their traditions to God's precepts. They robbed Religion of its life, whilst they placed it in washings and other supe●fl●ous ceremonies. They robbed the Temple of its hol●n●sse, in ●aking it a shop of Merchandise, therefore Christ tells them, that they were thieves and robbers that w●nt before him, 
●oh. 10.8.  mean●ng▪ the whole ●abble of thieves, as Pharisees, Saduces, Essenes, Gaulonits', o● Galileans; Herodians, Scribes, Disputers, Nasarites, Rechabites, and even the co●rupted Priests and Levites, and the false Prophets such as Judas Galileus, and Thaddeus with all these thieves was the temple pestered and their Synogogues, but this was only Manipulus furum, a handful to compare to the legion o● thieves with which the poor Church of Christ is vexed, robbed, and wounded. I will only point at some of the chief and will begin first with sacrilege a notorious thief, having, most rapatious hands, sparing neither holy places, nor holy things, nor holy persons, making no conscience to break▪ 5. commandments at once, which is the one half: As it profanes God's honour, it breaks the third commandment; As it robs spiritual parents of their maintenance; it breaks the fifth; as it is a murderer of souls for want of the Ministers food, it breaks the ●●●th; As it is theft, it violats the eighth; and as it covets other men's goods, it breaks the tenth commandment▪ The Athenians did so much abhor the sacrilegious thief, that they denied him the honour of burial, Si quis res sacras clepserit, in Artica non sepeliatur. The second thief which useth to creep● into Church and State, when men are not wary and careful to prevent, is Faction, which in the Church is called schism, in the State sedition, this is a dangerous thief and a bad guest where he is entertained, requiting his hosts kind entertainment, as Paris did Menelaus, who stole away his wife Helena from him. So where this thief comes he will be sure to steal away wives from their husbands, children from their parents, servants from their masters, people from their Ministers, and neighbours one from another, now he steals away not their bodies, but their hearts and affections from each other, which is worse than Plagiatus, beware of this thief which cunningly begins to creep in amongst you. 
Ioh. 10.10  Remember Christ's words the thief cometh not but for to steal, to kill, and to destroy, to steal that which is nearest, and dearest to you, your wife's loyalty which they owe to their husbands, children's duty to their Parents, servants obedience to their masters, and our neighbour's love to one an other, and to steal away the sheep from their shepherds. There are but two golden pillars that support Church and State, viz. unity and Order, this thief steals them both away. Who stole the h●arts of Israel from David? the ten tribes from Roboam? the people's affections from Moses and Aaron? and who steals the people's respect and obedience from the Magistrate and Minister, but this thief? Prometheus stole away fire from the Sun, but faction steals away the fire of love from men's hearts, and not only is he a thief, but a murderer too, he cuts men's throats as Jonothan did Godoliahs' under pretence of friendship. He never yet set footing in any state or city, but he ruinated it before he went away, if he was not suppressed in time. Look on the Romans, Carthaginians, Athenians, lacedaemonians, and other States invincible by foreign forces, yet torn in pieces by fact●on, so dangerous is this thief, that as soon as he began to show his head among the Israelites in the persons of Core and his complices, God made short work, used no delays, but suddenly caused the earth to swallow them alive, so that they had not so much time as to repent. The third thief is idolatry a bold and presumptuous thief, which in Ezekiel's time got into the temple; not only into the secret chambers thereof, as the Prophet saw through the hole in the wall, 
Ezech 8.  but advanced himself between the porch and the altar; when this thief gets into the Church, he will be sure to justle out God's true worship; this is he against whom God so often complains, & for whose cause he forsakes his sanctuary, & plagues a land. This thief steals away God's honour, and gives it to a stock or stone, or the similitude of a calf that eateth hay, he steals away the people's hearts from God, and gives them to sensl●sse idols; he steals away also the maintenance of the Lords priests, and gives them to dum● images and their priests. Bel and his priests stole and consumed every day twelve great measures of flower, 40. sheep and 6. vessels of wine. God complains that the corn, wine, and oil, silver and gold, that he had given to his people, 
Hosea 2.8.  were bestowed on Baal; let this thief then be whipped out of the Temple. But Christ must whip him, not the Disciples; the King and Magistrates, not private people and ministers, it's not their calling to be reformers, they may plead, and wish, and pr●y for reformation, but of themselves reform, they must no●▪ Saint Paul●isputed against the Athenian Idols but offered not to pull them down. What got Vigilius B. of Trent for pulling down an image, but his own death being murdered in an uproar; the old Circumcellions and new Anabaptists have been too forward this way, being animated by deceiving enthusiasms.  
The fourth thief is simony, a notable thief standing at the Church door, like Judas with a bag in his hand. If Simon Magus the Patron be doore●keeper, he shall be let in, when men of worth shall be kept out. He is worthy of hanging, that will steal a Chalice out of a Church; what deserves he then, that will steal away two or three Churches? You say, simony is a merchant, not a thief, but I say, such kind of Merchants are egregious th●eves, that will venture to buy and sell such prohibited commodities. Judas sold Christ for 30. pence, and even for that he is called a thief▪ He is a thief, saith Christ, that comes not in by the door, but some other way, and such a thief is simony. Therefore the Temple which Saint John calls a house of merchandise, the other three Evangelists call a den of thieves. Such money-changers then, or thieves deserve to be whipped out, and their tables overthrown. The fifth thief is popery, an old thief, and therefore small reason hath he to plead for his antiquity, even as much as an old robber to plead for pardon, because his forefathers have been thieves time out of memory; this thief hath feloniously stolen away the cup from the people in the Eucharist, yea, hath robbed God himself, and stolen away one of his commandments▪ and by his two picklocks of purgatory and Indulgences, still rob ignorant people of their money, lands, and livings. The sixth thief is libertinism, a lawless thief, and yet would be thought a good member of the Church he under pretence of an unbounded liberty, will be subject to no order nor discipline, but what pleaseth his own fancy; he steals from God his honour, in making him the author of sin, he robs the moral law of its use, affirming it to be needless; He robs Predestination of its means saying, that men shall be saved without them; He robs sin of its guilt, affirming his own actions though never so vicious to be no sins; and he robs good works of their dignity, thinking to be saved by faith alone. The seventh thief is hypocrisy, a cheating thief, who under the mantle of holiness cousins the world, the nearer he draws to the Altar, the farther he is from God; Like the fox he lies as if he were dead, and pretends mortification, but it is to cheat the birds, honest minded men, he can with Proteus and the chameleon, change himself into all shapes and colours, and with the ratle Mouse in the fable, when he is amongst the birds hide his feet, and stretch out his wings; but among the beasts he hides his wings and shows his feet, so deceiving both is hated of both. Such a cunning thief should have his linsie woolsie garment stripped from him, and be whipped out of the Temple. More thieves there be, too many indeed, with which God's house is profaned: as the slanderous thief that maliciously steals away a man's good name, and none thus more thievish than they, that would monopolise all holiness to themselves; There is pride, extortion, covetousness, atheism, gluttony, drunkenness, and indeed a whole legion. So that the poor Church of Christ is in no better case than the poor man that fell among thieves between Jericho and Jerusalem. With what a multitude of heretical thieves, even from Simon Magut till these modern heretics hath she been vexed, and now by factious thieves she is stripped, wounded, and left half dead. Many of her Priests ●nd Levites that should help her, pass by her on the other side: O thou sweet Samaritan, who was thyself crucified between two thieves, have compassion on her, bind up her wounds, let the wine of thy gentle corrections, and the sweet oil of thy mercy refresh and comfort her, set her on thine own beast, make her to subdue and keep under all beastly affections, as thou hast done before her, bring her to the In●e where she may rest and be quiet. Defray her charges▪ pay her debts, and let her enjoy the two pieces of silver, the two Testaments until thou return; And ●or her enemies that roar in the midst of her Congregations, and defile the dwelling place of thy name, scatter them with thy tempest, and affright them with thy storm. Deliver not thy Turtle Dove unto their hands, but arise and maintain thine own cause.  
Amen.  
FINIS.