than can be contained in one Church The complaint is too true and worthy of the care of publick Authority to redress it but this is no just reason for Separation though it be a reason for such persons who are shut out of their own Parish Churches to go to others where they can be received for where publick Authority has not made sufficient provision for Parochial Communion men who love their souls must provide for themselves in the Communion of the Church CHAP. II. Concerning Irreverence in Worship ANother great miscarriage which many professed Christians are guilty of is an irreverent performance of Religious Worship if that may be called Religious Worship which is not attended with all the solemn expressions of reverence and devotion There are so many instances of this that the very naming of them will be thought sharp and satyrical There are but few Christians who put on that true gravity and seriousness of looks and behaviours as becomes the presence of God and the solemnity of Religious Worship You shall see some gazing about them with a roving and wandring eye as if they came only to see and to be seen to observe every new face or new dress and garb and therefore too often set themselves out with that fantastick gaiety which more becomes a Play-house than a Church You shall see others talk or whisper or laugh to the great offence and scandal of all serious and devout minds Others instead of worshipping God sleep away the Prayers or Sermon or both as if they were not concerned in either It is possible indeed for very devout men sometimes to be surprized with sleep but it is a great indecency when ever it is so and requires great care to prevent it in our selves and others and is a great contempt of God and of his Worship when it grows into a custom and men as naturally dispose themselves to a sleeping posture as if it were the design of their coming to Church You shall see others sit all the time of Divine Service which would be thought a very great rudeness when we put up a Petition to an earthly Prince this was unknown in the ancient Church wherein for some Ages they did not so much as sit either while the Scriptures were read or expounded and Eusebius relates a famous Story of Constantine the first Christian Emperour that when he made a Speech to him in his own Palace concerning the Sepulchre of our Saviour he heard it standing though it were very long and would not be perswaded to sit down saying That it was not fit to consult our ease while we hear any discourses concerning God and that it was more agreeable to piety to hear Religious discourses standing And what would that Religious Emperour have thought to have seen Christians in publick Assemblies pray sitting And indeed I have often thought what should be the reason of that universal practice of sitting when we sing Psalms for Psalms of praise and thanksgiving are as much the worship of God as Prayer and therefore equally require a posture of Devotion Thus uncovering the head has at least among Christians been alwayes accounted an act of Reverence as pulling off the Shooes was among the Eastern Nations and therefore becomes the presence of so great a Majesty But I shall not take notice of every particular instance of such miscarriages but endeavour to convince you of the great evil and undecency of such irreverence in Worship and that from these two considerations 1. The nature of Religious Worship especially considered as publick 2. From the peculiar presence of God and holy Angels in Christian Assemblies 1. From the nature of Religious Worship especially considered as publick Now Religious Worship consists in a great awe and reverence for the Divine Majesty when we are possest with a great sense of that infinite distance which is between God and us and our constant dependence on him which makes us approach his presence with great humility of mind with a profound admiration of his infinite perfections with thankful acknowledgments of his many and great blessings bestowed on us and with souls devoted to his service and obedience hence Religion is so often called the fear of God because Religion is founded in a great awe and reverence for God So that where there is no true reverence of God there is no true Worship of him and where ever the mind is thoroughly affected with this religious fear it will discover it self in our words and looks and actions Our souls have the government of our outward man and our passions discover themselves in our looks and behaviour It requires very great art either to conceal those passions which we have or to counterfeit those which we have not for there is such a sympathy between our souls and bodies that they powerfully affect each other and our wise Maker so contrived our frame that though the secret motions of our minds cannot be seen yet they discover themselves by those external and visible impressions they make on our bodies without which mankind could never know one another nor have any pleasure or security in mutual conversation For no wise man cares to converse with those who can so artificially diguise themselves that you can never know what their inward resentments are Which shews that according to the frame of our natures an inward reverence for God will shew it self in external actions and therefore that it ought to do so for as God has united the soul and body into one man so he has united their motions and actions too without which there can be no one perfect act of Religion or Vertue to worship God with the body without the soul is hypocrisie to worship God with the soul without the body is either impossible because our inward passions will discover themselves by some external signs when we have no design nor interest to conceal them or is very lame and imperfect and unbecoming this state of life We must glorifie God both with our bodies and with our spirits which are Gods he made them both and united them for his service and for the same reason redeemed them both with the blood of his Son But we shall better see the necessity of this by considering the nature of publick Worship for publick Worship consists in publick signs of honour no man has a Window into our souls to discover the secret devotion of our hearts and therefore visible Worship must be expressed in visible actions in the external reverence of our words and gestures and behaviour that is in such actions as express the great humility of our minds that great sense we have of the infinite Majesty of God and our own meanness and worthlessness and all those passions and affections which become Divine Worship and therefore rude and unmannerly approaches to God such as would not become the Majesty of an earthly Prince whatever inward devotion we may pretend to is not external and
and all the Vessels of the Ministery were sprinkled with blood nay not only this general Covenant was confirmed by Sacrifice but all good men when they offer Sacrifices to God are understood to make renew or confirm their Covenant with him whence is that expression in the Psalms Gather my Saints together unto me those that have made a Covenant with me by Sacrifice Thus the death of Christ did ratifie and confirm the Gospel Covenant between God and men and therefore the blood is called the blood of the Covenant and to feast on the memorials of his death and passion is a signification that we are in Covenant with God and God with us that we still own our Covenant and are resolved still to do so it is to put God in mind of his Covenant with us and us of our Covenant with him and if we have been guilty of any breach of Covenant with God by venturing upon the commission of any sin when we have with tears bewailed our sin and renewed our repentance here we must renew our Covenant and by approaching the Table of our Lord declare that though we are sinners yet we are not Apostates that we still own our Covenant and by the Grace of God which we now implore and hope to receive resolve to continue stedfast in it while we live And is not this an inestimable priviledge to be in Covenant with God and to have this Covenant as it were signed and sealed to us as often as we please by a foederal Rite of God's own appointment especially is it not a mighty favour for such frail sinners who are so exposed to temptations and so often conquered by them to have liberty granted upon their sincere repentance to return to Gods Table and to renew their Covenant and to be received again into Covenant by God Is it not a mighty affront to God when he invites us to his Table as those who are in Covenant with him to live in so great a neglect of it Is it not a kind of renouncing our Covenant when we refuse to own it by such publick solemnities as he himself has appointed for that purpose 2. These Religious Feasts signifie a state of Peace and Friendship with God and therefore those Sacrifices of which the Sacrificers were allowed to eat are called Peace-offerings in the Law of Moses Under the Law it was not permitted to them to eat of the Sin-offering that Sacrifice which was offered for the expiation of sin but when they had offered a Sacrifice for sin they might then offer a Peace-offering and feast before the Lord on the Sacrifice as a token of peace and reconciliation with God And thus it is under the Gospel Christ offered himself once for all a Sacrifice or Offering for sin and has obtained eternal redemption for us and therefore there is no more expiatory Sacrifice to be offered for sins but when through the frailty of humane nature and the powerful temptations of flesh and sense of the World and the Devil we have defiled and polluted our consciences with sin and guilt instead of those particular Sacrifices for sin which the Iews were directed to offer we must offer up the Sacrifice of a broken and contrite heart to God that is we must truly repent of our sins and turn from them and arm our selves with powerful resolutions against them for the future and then we may approach the Table of God and receive the pledges of his love and the fresh assurances of our pardon and acceptance through our Lord Jesus Christ. We do not use to receive and entertain any at our Tables but those who are our Friends or at least are not our enemies others are intruders and if they be not turned out again yet must make themselves welcome and indeed a Covenant made by Sacrifice alwayes signifies a Covenant of Peace and such to be sure the Gospel Covenant is of which the Lords Supper is the Seal and Sacrament a Covenant of peace and reconciliation between God and men None ought to come to this Table but the Friends of God as all holy men and all true humble penitents are and such men shall be sure to receive a joyful welcome and all the peculiar marks of Gods favour for such this holy Supper it self is to all worthy receivers 2. In the Supper of our Lord we do not only eat at his Table but we feed on his body not as if in a carnal sense we eat his natural flesh and drink his blood as the Church of Rome teaches contrary to the common sense and experience of mankind and without any colourable pretence from Scripture or Primitive Antiquity but we eat his flesh and drink his blood in such a spiritual manner as they are exhibited to us in the Sacrament of his own Institution As to explain this in as few words as may be The Lords Supper I told you before in General did answer to a Feast upon a Sacrifice in the Jewish Law And now I add that it is a Feast upon the Sacrifice of Christ who dyed upon the Cross and bore our sins in his own body upon the Tree and therefore it is called eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Christ. For under the Law the Iews did in a literal sense eat the flesh of the Sacrifice for part of it was burnt upon the Altar and part they eat and this eating of the Sacrifice did give them a right and interest in the vertue of the Sacrifice and all the blessings purchased by it Now though Christ dyed upon the Cross for us yet he could not in a literal sense give us his natural flesh to eat for he was to rise again from the dead with a glorious and incorruptible body and ascend up in the same body to Heaven and there to continue united to this humane but glorified body till he return again to judge the World This Sacrament of his body and blood was to be celebrated in all parts of the World where a Christian Church should be planted and though he himself who is over all God blessed for ever more is present also in all places and especially in all the Assemblies of his Disciples who meet to worship him yet his body though glorious and perfect as a body can be yet is but matter still and therefore confined to one place and cannot at the same time be at Rome and Constantinople nor in ten thousand places at once more remote than they and this Sacrament is to be celebrated his flesh eat and his blood drank as long as the Church and the World lasts and it is contrary to the nature of a body to be so often eat and yet continue the same body and at best were the thing possible it would be no better than an inhumane and barbarous Rite to eat the flesh of a man and of our Friend And therefore since by the Institution of God a Sacrifice for a Peace offering was to be
that I need not insist on the proof of it Their several sorts of Sacrifices were to be offered at the Tabernacle or Temple by the Priests who were publick Persons even those particular Sacrifices which were offered for particular Men either Expiatory or Eucharistical to make atonement for their Sins or to be an oblation of Praise for particular Mercies were yet offered at the Temple and besides this they had Sacrifices for the whole Congregation as on the great day of Expiation which was not for any particular Man but for the whole Body of the People and therefore considered them all as united in the same Religion and Worship God appointed also a publick Place of Worship viz. the Tabernacle or Temple at Ierusalem and a publick place for Worship can be of no use if there were no obligation to publick Worship God also instituted publick Times of Worship the Seventh day Sabbath their New Moons and Annual Festivals when all their Males were to appear three times a Year before the Lord And such Times as these are described by calling Assemblies and solemn Meetings because then they met together for publick Worship for indeed it seems to be a contradiction to appoint publick and solemn Times for private Worship If Men are bound only to worship God in private there is no need of publick Days of Rest dedicated to God's Worship for every Man may take his own Time for it as he finds most convenient and useful but fixed and stated Times of Worship do necessarily suppose publick Worship and evidently prove that Solemn and Publick Days for Worship are not sanctified meerly by private Acts of Worship And therefore we may consider further that God entred into Covenant with the Children of Israel not as particular Persons but as the Seed of Abraham as a People and Nation whom he had chose for himself to be his peculiar Inheritance and therefore every part of his Covenant and the institution of Religious Worship is none of the least parts of it concerns them as a Nation So that this was a National Covenant and a National Religion and Worship and I need add no more to prove that according to God's Institution it was a publick Worship for God was the King of Israel and therefore required as publick Homage from them as other Princes expect from their Subjects as publick I say tho he can Challenge more divine Regards than earthly Princes because he was their God as well as their King And therefore the Children of Israel themselves are frequently called the Congregation of Israel and the whole Congregation as consisting of such Persons as used to meet together for publick Worship how had a right to Worship at the Tabernacle of the Congregation Let us then thirdly consider the Religion of our Saviour and what Obligations that lays on us to all the Acts of Publick Worship Now I need not tell you that Christ has instituted a Church which is so often in the Writings of the Apostles called a Church and the Church of Christ. Now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly signifies a Meeting and Assembly which is called together and so acquaints us what the Nature of a Christian Church is that it is a Society of Men united and combined together in the Faith and Worship of Christ For the Church of Christ is purely a Religious Society Our Saviour had no Temporal Kingdom as the Jews expected his Kingdom was not of this World and therefore his Church is nothing else but a Society of Men for the Worship of God through Christ which is a plain demonstration that every Member of the Christian Church is bound to join in all the Offices of publick Worship for there can be no Christian Church if there be no publick Worship because the Christian Church is a Religious Society that is a Society instituted for Religious Worship nor can he be a Member of the Christian Church who wholly neglects or despises publick Worship for he can at best be only a nominal Member of an Assembly who neglects to assemble with them especially when it is essential to our Membership to frequent such Assemblies Now we may safely conclude that Christ would never have instituted a Church or Religious Assembly for publick Worship had not publick Worship been much more acceptable to God than our private Devotions had it been so indifferent as some Men presume whether we worship God singly or in a Body and Society whether at Home in our Closet or in the publick Congregation And we may observe farther That this Church is called the Body of Christ and the Apostle tells us that there is but one body and one Spirit even as you are called in one hope of your Calling Now to be one Body as all good Christians are if Christ have but one Body signifies a very near and intimate union between all the Members of the Body this is agreed by all but then the Question is wherein this Unity consists Some place the Unity of Christians in one Faith in believing all the Articles of the Christian Faith or in having a mutual Kindness and Charity and it must be acknowledged that these are absolutely necessary to unite Christians to make them the one Body of Christ. But yet this is not all for there may be great Dissensions and Schisms where there is but one Faith as it was of old in those fearful Schisms of the Novatians and Donatists who differed not in Matters of Faith but Discipline and as our own sad Experience convinces us at this Day and Men may exercise a Christian Charity and Forbearance to each other without being Members of the same Body and therefore we must consider that this one Body is one Church and the Unity of a Church or Religious Assembly must of necessity consist in one Communion and therefore he who separates himself from Christian Communion who forsakes the Publick Assemblies for Religious Worship destroys the Unity of the Church which is a sufficient Argument that publick Worship when we can enjoy the Opportunities of it is essential to the Notion and Being of a Christian Church And therefore we find that this was the constant practice of Christians from the very first Foundations of a Christian Church Thus we read of those new Converts That they continued stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrine and Fellowship and in breaking of Bread and in Prayers And they continuing daily with one accord in the Temple and in breaking Bread from House to House did eat their Meat with gladness and singleness of Heart Here you see the Example of the first Christians they continued in the fellowship of the Apostles in the communion of Doctrine Sacraments and Prayers which is the true description of the Unity of the Christian Church and therefore the Christian Church is called a Communion or Fellowship That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that you may have fellowship with us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that you may become Christians and enter into our Society and truly our Fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Iesus Christ. And therefore the Sacrament of Baptism is our admission into the Christian Church that is gives a right to all the Priviledges of Christian Communion for we are baptized into one Body and the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is expresly called the Communion it is that common Table which all Christians have a right to The Cup of Blessing which we bless is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ the Bread which we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ For we being many are one Bread and one Body for we are all partakers of that one Bread It is essential to the nature of the Lord's Supper that it is a common Feast of which all Christians partake for it signifies not only our Union to Christ but our Union to one another in the same Body for which Reason the Reformed Churches universally condemn the private Masses of the Church of Rome where the Priest receives by himself and truly private Devotions when they thrust out publick Worship are much of the same nature So that the very Institution of a Church the Example of the Primitive Christians and those Sacraments of our Religion which our Saviour has instituted as the Badges of Christianity and the Conveyances of Spiritual Life and Grace may convince us how necessary Christian Communion and Publick Worship is if we will be the Disciples of Christ and we are expresly commanded by the Writer to the Hebrews Not to forsake the assembling of our selves together But we may consider farther that Christ has instituted an Evangelical Priesthood the publick Ministers of Religion whom he has commanded to instruct his Church to feed his Flock to pray for his People and to bless in his Name to whom he has committed the Power of the Keys to let in or to shut out of the Church Now what use could there be for publick Ministers unless publick Worship were a great and necessary Duty If it were so indifferent a thing whether Christians frequent the Religious Assemblies and continue in their Doctrine and Fellowship breaking Bread and Prayers it does not seem worth the while to have invested Men with such Power and Authority which is of so little use especially since Christianity is so much known and so far spread in the World whereas our Saviour promises to be with his Apostles unto the end of the World which could not be meant of the Persons of the Apostles for they are long since dead but of their Successors who retain their Office and Power as far as is necessary to the present state of the Church And the force of this Argument from the Apostolical Office will be better understood if we consider wherein the Power of the Keys consists which Christ committed to St. Peter and the rest of the Apostles or what is the true ancient Discipline of the Christian Church Now the Power of the Church which is truly Spiritual consists only in letting into the Church or shutting out The admission into the Church is by administring Baptism which they are made the external Judges of who are fit to be received into the Church by Baptism and who not shutting out of the Church is by exercising Censures upon Offenders which consists only in this in removing such Men from Christian Communion either in part or wholly for a time or for ever according to the severity of the ancient Discipline Some were not permitted to come into the Christian Assemblies but lay at the door lamenting their wickedness and begging their Prayers Others were admitted to publick Instructions but not to the Communion of Prayers or at least if they were admitted to the Prayers of the Catechumens those who were publickly instructed and catechised but not yet baptized were not allowed to be present at the Prayers of the Faithful Others were admitted to Prayers but not to the Supper of the Lord. Now all this supposes that Christian Communion is not only a necessary Duty but a great Priviledg since they had no other way of punishing Offenders but by denying them the liberty of Worship in their Assemblies but what would those Men value Church-Censures who make so slight of publick Worship as daily to excommunicate themselves Certainly these Men are greatly mistaken or else the very Office and Authority of an Apostle is a very inconsiderable thing and that dreadful Sentence of Excommunication which was so formidable in the Ancient Church is a very innocent and harmless thing since Men may as well worship God alone as in Christian Assemblies and that they might do when excommunicated or shut out of Christian Assemblies And I observe farther That our Saviour requires of us the publick profession of his Name and Worship which necessarily includes publick Worship Whosoever therefore shall confess me before Men him will I confess before my Father which is in Heaven but whosoever shall deny me before Men him will I deny before my Father which is in Heaven To confess Christ is to own him for our Lord and Saviour not only in words tho too many such there are whom our Saviour will not own will not confess before his Father which is in Heaven but by paying him such publick Homage and Worship as is a visible demonstration that we do own him for our Lord. For thus to confess Christ signifies With the mouth Confession is made unto Salvation for whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved The Christian Church was to be a Visible Society like a City that is set on a Hill or like a Candle placed in a Candlestick to give light to all that are in the House But the Church can never be visibly distinguished from the rest of the World without the publick and visible exercise of Religion and therefore our Saviour exhorts his Disciples Let your Light so shine before Men that they may see your good Works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven which must refer to all parts of Religion and therefore includes Acts of Worship as well as Acts of Mercy and Charity To conclude this Argument It is the acknowledged Duty of a Christian Prince to take care to encourage and propagate true Religion in his Dominions which can never be done without encouraging publick Worship correcting publick Abuses and punishing the neglect or profanation of it for if Mens Religion be confined to their Closets no Man can possibly tell what Religion they are of they may be Pagans Mahometans Papists or Infidels and no Man the wiser if they can but keep their own counsel And therefore if it be the Duty of Magistrates to encourage and reform Religion and yet nothing can fall within his cognizance or under his care but what is publick it is easy to conclude That publick Worship which is the Care of
and lay them aside again when they please but this seems to be a plain and easy way to satisfy our Consciences that since the Law of God is their Rule we must never scruple the lawfulness of any thing which is not either expresly forbid by God or by such evident and necessary consequence as every honest Man may discern without using any great skill and subtilty While Men do not judg of things by the Law of God but by arbitrary Rules of their own inventing or by Fancy and Humour Prejudice or Interest they may like or dislike just what they please and call it Conscience when they have done but the observing this one Rule would soon cure all Fanaticism and restore the Church to Peace and Unity To make the Scripture a perfect Rule not only of Faith and Manners and all the essential parts of Worship which we readily grant and prove against the Church of Rome but also of all external Circumstances Rites and Ceremonies when we find no such thing said in Scripture nor any such entire and perfect Form of Discipline and Worship prescribed in it is the true cause of all our Divisions and fills peoples heads with endless and infinite Scruples but to make the Commands and Prohibitions of Scripture the Rule of our Consciences and the certain measure and standard of what is lawful and unlawful so as neither to condemn nor scruple what is not forbid in Scripture would infallibly heal our Breaches and restore us to Peace with our selves and with one another Fourthly I observe further That neither a mistaken nor a scrupulous Conscience can justify our Disobedience to the Commands of our Superiors We may indeed oppose the Authority of God against any humane Power a Conscience informed and governed by the Divine Laws will not cannot ought not to stoop to the greatest Prince who commands any thing contrary to God's Law because the Power and Authority of God is most sacred and venerable absolute and supream but an erroneous mistaken doubting scrupulous Conscience in a word a Conscience which is not governed by the Laws of God is not armed with his Authority neither and therefore cannot justify our Disobedience to Princes for it is only the Opinion of a private Man and therefore cannot justify Disobedience to publick Authority Which shews us how necessary it is to inform our Consciences aright and to keep close to our Rule not to neglect any thing which God has commanded nor to do any thing which he has forbid and where God has not determined us by his Authority in those things which he has neither commanded nor forbid to submit our selves to our lawful Superiors for nothing but the Authority of God will justify our Disobedience to Humane Authority and where we cannot pretend God's Authority as we cannot in those things which are left undetermined it is a sin to disobey our Rulers though they be but Men. I shall not determine that Question now Whether a Man who is under some Doubts and Scruples ought not to obey his Governors notwithstanding those Scruples because he that doubts is only supposed not to be satisfied about the evil of the thing commanded but in the mean time he is certain that it is his Duty to obey his Superiors and therefore not being sure that he shall sin in obeying because he is not sure that what they command is sinful and being sure that he shall sin in disobeying them if their Commands be lawful and being withal under a necessity of doing one or t'other whether he ought not in prudence to take the sure side that is to wave his Scruples and obey his Prince I shall at present only observe this one thing without drawing any peremptory conclusion from it That Obedience to our Superiors is a plain and express Law and so the proper Rule of Conscience and therefore if what our Prince commands us be not forbid by as plain and express a Law as that is which commands our Obedience we seem to oppose our private and uncertain Opinions against the express Authority of God and chuse rather to follow our Consciences where they are not evidently directed by a Divine Law than where they are No Humane Authority must be set up against the Authority of God but a Divine Authority that is a Divine Law is a more certain Rule than private Opinions The sum of all is this That no Man acts out of true Principles of Conscience but he who keeps his Eye fixed upon his Rule who directs and governs his Conscience by the Law of God other Men live by their private Humors and Fancies are turned aside by every Novel and groundless Conceit And tho they may be pleased to call this Conscience yet it will not excuse them from the guilt of Schism if they divide the Church and rend themselves from the Body of Christ Conscience will never justify us but when we obey and observe our Rule Secondly Another Question I would propose to these Men is Whether they ever seriously consider the hainous nature of Schism Now there is great reason to ask this Question if we observe with what little consideration most Men engage themselves in it how wantonly they forsake the Communion of the Church as if it were perfectly indifferent whether they come to Church or go to a Conventicle as if it were no more than to leave their own Parish Church and go to another where there is a Preacher whom they like better It is plain that such Men as these never understood what Christian Unity is nor ever considered what the danger of Schism is that is that they have not acted honestly and sincerely in a Matter of such vast importance The Christian Church is represented in Scripture as one Body united to Christ who is the Head of his Church and the Saviour of the Body This St. Paul makes a powerful Argument to Unity endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace there is one Body and one Spirit even as you are called in one hope of your Calling one Lord one Faith one Baptism one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all What does this Bond of Peace signify but the external Communion of the Christian Church when Christians live together as Members of the same Body and united to each other as the Members of the natural Body are by Nerves and Sinews For Christians are called one Body with respect to their external Communion which is represented in the Lord's Supper by their eating of one Bread as St. Paul argues The Bread which we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ For we being many are one Bread and one Body for we are all partakers of that one Bread So that we become one Body by external visible Communion by being united into one Religious Society for the Worship of God and our mutual edification But speaking the
Truth in love may grow up to him in all things which is the Head even Christ From whom the whole Body fitly joined together by that which every Ioint supplieth according to the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh encrease of the Body to the edifying of it self in love The Christian Church is a House and Building and Temple of God but this House and Building is not raised with loose and incoherent Stones but all the Building fitly framed together groweth into a Holy Temple in the Lord. All those Expressions whereby the Scripture describes the Unity of the Christian Church signify one Communion as our Saviour prays for his Disciples that they all may be One and for all those who in after Ages should believe on him That they all may be One as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us that the World may believe that thou hast sent me From whence it appears that our Saviour speaks of an external and visible Union which may be seen and taken notice of in the World How frequent are the Exhortations to Christian Love and Unity Fulfil ye my Ioy that ye be like-minded having the same Love being of one accord and of one mind This was that new Commandment which Christ gave to his Disciples as the badg of their Discipleship A new Commandment I give unto you that you love one another even as I have loved you hereby shall all Men know that ye are my Disciples if ye have love one to another And wherein this mutual Love expressed it self we learn from the first Pattern of the Christian Church And they continued stedfast in the Apostle's Doctrine and Fellowship and in breaking of Bread and of Prayers that is in all the Parts and Offices of Christian Communion this is essential to Christian Love to continue in the Communion and Fellowship of the same Body that there may be no Schism in the Body but all firmly united by the common Bonds of Love and Peace and therefore in St. Iohn's Time those Hereticks who separated themselves into distinct Conventicles are said to go out from among them They went out from us because they were not of us for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us that is in our Fellowship and Communion but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us Now if this Argument be good it necessarily infers that indispensable Obligation which lies upon all Christians who will be owned for Members of that one Body of Christ to live in Communion with each other The Unity of Mind and Spirit of Love and Affection and the Unity of the same Faith is necessary to Christian Union but this Union is made external and visible by Christian Communion and our daily experience tells us how impossible it is for Men to love like Brethren like Members of the same Body who are not of the same Body but divide themselves into distinct separate Churches under different Laws Government and Discipline Now if Christian Love and Union be so necessary a Duty of Christianity consider what the Evil of Schism is which rends the seamless Coat of Christ and divides his Church into so many little Parties and Factions Christ has but one Body and those who separate from the Body of Christ are no longer of his Body and the Ancient Christians did believe Schism to separate Men from Christ and to put them out of a state of Salvation It was an acknowledged Principle among them That there was no Salvation out of the Church and that Schismaticks were out of the Church I dare not judg any Man's final State as not knowing what merciful allowances a merciful and compassionate Lord may make for the Errors and Mistakes Frowardness and Peevishness of his Disciples but yet I wish that all Persons concerned would seriously consider that St. Paul makes all other Attainments whatsoever of no value without Charity that this is that Divine Principle which unites us to God and to one another that he makes Schism a Work of the Flesh and when he reproves the Corinthians for that Schism which was among them though it was not broke out into actual separation yet he calls them Carnal For are ye not carnal for whereas there is among you envyings and strife and divisions are ye not carnal and walk as Men So far is Separation from being an Argument of more perfect and excellent Christians that it is a Work of the Flesh and the Symptom of a Carnal Mind But I do not intend to discourse this fully but it is a certain Argument that that Man does understand nothing of Christian Religion who makes light of Schism without so much as considering what guilt he involves himself in nothing could be a more effectual Cure of Schism than a serious consideration of the evil and danger of it That pain we feel in tearing one Member from another and that mischief the whole Body suffers by it which becomes maimed and imperfect by the want of the least and most inconsiderable Member makes us careful to preserve our natural Bodies from any Rent or Schism and were we living Members of the Mystical Body of Christ had we that natural love sympathy and fellow-feeling for each other as the Members of the natural Body have we should find Schism and Separation as painful to us as it is to part with one of our Members and be as sensible of the want of Christian Communion and the discharge of these mutual Offices of Charity in exhorting admonishing reproving comforting praying for and with each other which cannot be performed in a state of Separation as we are of the want of the service of any Member which we have lost It is a certain sign that Member does not belong to the Body which feels not the pain of such Convulsions and Schisms Thirdly Another Question I would ask these Men is Whether they do in their Consciences believe that Communion with our Parish Churches is unlawful And there is some reason to ask this for it is easily observed that there are a great many who are Christians at large and as occasion serves can either go to Church or to a Conventicle Now if they make Conscience of any thing we may conclude that when they come to Church they do not think it a sin so to do or that there is any thing so unlawful in our Worship as is sufficient to justify a Separation for if they may lawfully communicate with us once they may do so always by the same Reason from whence it follows that there can be no necessity of Separation and then Separation must be a sin Some indeed say That it is a sufficient reason to separate even from a True Church and a lawful Communion to join in fellowship with a purer Church and to enjoy purer Ordinances
Remains of its antient Piety and Devotion which was buried in the midst of Rubbish and Idolatrous Superstitions Consider then what the proper work of a Reformer must be to pull up Root and Branch to pull up the Wheat with the Tares This would be not to reform a corrupt Church but to make a new one This would be to cut off the sound with the rotten Members and is like pulling down a well constituted Government to correct Abuses I pray God preserve us from such Reformers as these In a Word if these Men who accuse the Church of England of Popery can shew any thing practised among us which is peculiar to Popery which cannot be justified by the Precepts and Examples of Scripture and the first and purest Churches I will heartily joyn with them in calling for a Reformation In the mean time I would desire them to consider that they do Popery too much Reputation by giving up the Church of England to it and make the name of Popery a less formidable thing when it is thus indifferently applied to a corrupt and to a reformed Church I wish with all my Soul they were half so free from Popish Principles and Practices in matters of Civil Government as the Church of England is from a Popish Worship PART II. Concerning those Disorders and Miscarriages which some men are guilty of in Church-Communion CHAP. I. Concerning those who ordinarily forsake the Communion of their Parish Churches HAving discours'd thus largely of those who wholly separate themselves from Christian Communion who either communicate with no Church or forsake the Communion of the Church of England I now proceed to correct those Miscarriages which some who profess themselves of our Communion are too notoriously guilty of And I shall first begin with those who ordinarily forsake the Communion of their Parish Churches This has been an old and inveterate evil of long use and practice especially in this great and populous City and it may be thought a daring and fruitless attempt to oppose it however I have this satisfaction that no man can reasonably suspect that I serve any other interest by this but the interest of Peace and Order and the better edification of the Christian Church which must reasonably engage all men the more impartially to consider what I shall now offer which shall be comprized under these two General Heads First Our Obligations to Parochial Communion 2. An Answer to some Objections against it First Our Obligations to Parochial Communion which will appear in these particulars 1. That Parochial Communion is in it self an excellent Institution for the more regular Instruction and Government of the Christian Church We do not indeed pretend that the division of an Episcopal Church into several Parishes with their distinct Pastors set over them is in a strict sense of Divine Institution for Christ and his Apostles did not by an express Law determine the Bounds and Extent of Bishopricks much less of Parochial Communions nor indeed was it possible to do it in those dayes when the greatest number of people were either Iews or Heathens Nor was there any need of this it being at last an acknowledged Principle among Dissenters themselves and those of the greatest note That the directive Light of Nature is sufficient to guide us in such things as these the times and seasons of Church Assemblies the order and decency wherein all things are to be transacted in them the bounding of them as to the number of their members and places of habitation so as to answer the ends of their institution And therefore if this Parochial Communion be of great use to the edification of Christians it not only justifies the Wisdom of the Church in the first Institution of it but severely condemns those who break and violate so useful an Institution The whole Christian Church is but one Body and Society of Christians united to Christ who is the Head of this Body and therefore were it possible should all worship their common Father and Saviour together but since the number of Christians and their great distance from each other will not admit this they are divided into less Societies for the more convenient Administration of holy Offices and the exercise of Christian Discipline and Government How can any thing in a Christian Nation be more useful for all the ends of Church Society than the distribution of Christians into Parochial Communions To enjoy the liberty of publick Assemblies near our own dwellings without being forced to seek for it at a distance would have been thought a great priviledge in former Ages like the Heavenly Manna falling round about the Tents of the true Israelites To have a fixed Pastor who is particularly entrusted with the care of your Souls to whom you may at all times freely resort and disclose your spiritual wants whose neighbourhood and conversation may contract a particular friendship and familiarity and beget a mutual confidence and endearment is quite a different thing from some publick and general exhortations and the reason why men do not more value the benefit and advantage of a Parochial Guide is because generally they make so little use of him This is the truest emblem of Catholick Unity when we hold personal Communion with those Christians who are our neighbours and so in the nearest disposition for it for our obligation to Christian Communion extends it self to all Christian Societies which live in the Communion of the Church and to pick up a Church for constant and Ordinary Communion here and there from stragling members who live in remote and distant places is to make a Schismatical difference between Christians as if all Christians were not of the same body nor fit for personal Communion and though forsaking our Parish Churches for other Churches in the same Communion be not so formal a Schism yet it has some tendency that way it being a forsaking the Communion of our neighbour Christians and Parochial Guide There is no other Rule that I know of for personal Communion but cohabitation or dwelling together in the same neighbourhood for then we communicate with the Catholick Church when we communicate with that part of it wherein we live but when without just cause we ordinarily forsake the Communion of Parochial Assemblies we disturb the most convenient Order of Church-Communion and make a Rent and Schism in the Church as total Separation makes a Schism from the Church Neighbour Christians have the most frequent occasions of conversing with each other and therefore many great ends of Christian Communion are best attained among them they may exhort and reprove one another and provoke unto love and good works they may watch over one anothers souls and when they observe each others miscarriages which they cannot avoid observing when they live so near and converse so often together they may apply such timely remedies as may help up those who fall or prevent the fall of those who trip and stumble and
name has confined his more peculiar presence and favour to such Assemblies and one great reason of this is that he is pleased with the unity and uniformity of Worship for he hath expresly promised that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing they shall ask it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven for where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them This is the fundamental Charter of Christian Assemblies and the reason of it certainly is stronger the more universal the consent and agreement is for if Christ will be present with two or three who assemble in Christian love and charity and agree to put up the same Petitions to God much more when so many Christian Churches are confederated in the same Worship and offer up the same Prayers and Thanksgivings to God in the same words How powerful will the united Prayers of a whole National Church be to procure those blessings for us which we want For if unity and consent in Worship be so pleasing to God the greater this consent is the more pleasing it must be Especially considering that in this case we have not only the consent and agreement of private Christians in such acts of Worship but are confederated by the publick authority of the Church and therefore such publick Worship has the beauty and advantages of publick Order and Government If the Prayers of a particular Minister of Religion be so prevalent how much more those Prayers which have the stamp of Church Authority which are the Desires and Petitions of the whole Church even when they are offered up by a single Minister which cannot so well be said of any Prayer of his own and if we believe that God is the God of Peace and Order in the Church we cannot but think it very acceptable to him to observe good order in our Religious Worship Did men seriously consider these things they would be soon sensible of the great advantage of such publick Forms of Prayer and prefer the Prayers of the Church before any Prayers of a private composition or any suddain extempore effusions For publick Prayers prescribed by publick Authority and offered up by a publick Minister are alwayes in the Communion of the Church and virtually contain the Desires and Petitions of the whole Church CHAP. IV. Concerning the publick Administration of Baptism ANother great miscarriage of those who live in the Communion of our Church concerns the administration of Baptism Publick Baptism is now very much grown out of fashion most people look upon it as a very needless and troublesome Ceremony to carry their Children to the publick Congregation there to be solemnly admitted by Baptism into the fellowship of Christs Church They think it may be as well done in a private Chamber as soon as the Child is born with little company and with little noise As prevailing as this custom now is it is of a very late date even in this Church It seems to owe its original to the disputes about Ceremonies for when some men scrupled God-Fathers and God-Mothers and the use of the Sign of the Cross to avoid this they baptized their Children privately at home without either when they could meet with such a conscientious Conformist as could dispense with his Rule And when the Church of England was pulled down and the use of the Liturgy and Ceremonies forbid those who still retained their reverence and obedience to the Constitutions of the Church and would not partake in a prevailing Schism were forced to retire into private too and to baptize their Children at home and it is a hard thing to break a custome upon what occasion soever it was at first begun That which necessity occasioned is continued by some as a piece of State by others to save charge and trouble which might be much better saved by publick Baptism by others out of softness and tenderness a kind and indulgent Mother dares not expose a young Infant to the cold Air unless it be to send it to nurse I could never hear any thing pleaded for this practice that deserved an answer that which makes this custom prevail is that men do not consider the great decency and fitness and the many advantages of publick Baptism which I shall therefore now briefly represent By publick Baptism I mean that which is administred in the publick Congregation and in the publick place of Worship and the fitness and advantage of this will appear if we consider some few things 1. That Baptism is our solemn admission into the Christian Church and therefore ought to be administred in the publick Congregation Baptism makes us members of the body of Christ and unites us to the society of Christians and therefore is of a publick nature and therefore ought to be administred publickly For there is no other rule I know of whereby to determine the manner and circumstances of any action but to consider the nature of it there are some actions which are more proper to be done in private others which require some publick solemnities and it is as undecent to do a publick action i. e. an action of a publick nature privately as it is to do a private action in publick Now that is certainly of a publick nature which concerns a who'e society and such is the admission of Church-members and therefore ought to be done in the presence as well as by the authority of the Church The efficacy indeed of Baptism depends upon the Institution of Christ and therefore when it is rightly administred does not lose its vertue for want of some due circumstances but it is a great fault in those who wilfully and obstinately refuse to give all Christian offices their due solemnity 2. We may consider that Baptism contains a publick profession of our faith in Christ it is a publick owning of his Religion no adult person was ever admitted to Baptism without a profession of his faith in Christ in allusion to which as Learned Men think St. Peter calls Baptism not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience towards God The person to be baptized being examined about his faith in Christ and resolutions of obeying him Now the profession of our faith the more publick it is the more agreeable is it to the nature of Baptism and the constitution of the Christian Church which is a visible Society professing the faith of Christ and though indeed Infants who are baptized are not capable of making such a publick profession of their faith yet their Sponsors and Sureties are who undertake for their education in the Christian faith and certainly the publick Church is the most proper place for such a publick profession To baptize our Children privately looks as if we were ashamed of the Christian profession and there is not a more effectual way to root out Christianity than to destroy
bread of life which came down from Heaven and his flesh is bread considered as given for the life of the world and therefore to eat his flesh and drink his blood must signifie the Sacramental eating of it as the memorials of his death and passion 3. Suppose we should understand this eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the son of man of feeding on Christ by faith or believing yet they could understand this no better than the other it is plain they did not and I know not how they should for to call bare believing in Christ eating his flesh and drinking his blood is so remote from all propriety of speaking and so unknown in all languages that to this day those who understood nothing more by it but believing in Christ are able to give no tolerable account of the reason of the expression Now if this place in St. Iohn be meant of the Lords Supper as I do not in the least doubt but it is our Saviour has made it as necessary to us as we think eternal life to be for he has expresly told us except ye eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood ye have no life in you We must not indeed expound these words to such a sense as to make the Sacrament necessary even to Infants themselves as St. Austin did who therefore administred the Eucharist as well as Baptism to Children which was plainly contrary to the nature of it for it must be eaten with Faith or else it is not the body of Christ to the receivers and God does not make any ordinance necessary to those who are under a natural incapacity nay a moral impossibility will excuse this when men are desirous to communicate in all our Saviours institutions but have no opportunity to do it for God will dispense his grace in extraordinary ways to all well disposed minds when his providence denies those which are ordinary but those who wilfully neglect the ordinary means of grace have no reason to expect those which are extraordinary how God will deal with those who are guilty of such neglects not out of a contempt of his institutions but out of ignorance of their necessity or a superstitious awe and reverence for them I will not determine Having thus proved that we cannot in an ordinary way partake in the benefits and blessings which Christ hath purchased by his death but by a Sacramental eating of the body and drinking the blood of Christ to make you still more sensible of the infinite hazard and danger of this neglect I shall briefly consider what those blessings are which we partake of at the Lords Table and which we cannot expect any where else And I shall name but these 1. The pardon of our sins for this was the purchase of Christ's death he died for our sins and expiated them with his own blood and therefore we may observe that we do not only eat the body of Christ in this holy Feast but we drink his blood the blood of expiation the blood of the Covenant which speaketh better things than the blood of Abel now this was never permitted the Iews to eat any blood much less the blood of the Covenant which was sprinkled about the Altar to make Atonement nay we feed in this holy Supper on a Sin-offering nay that great expiatory Sacrifice whose blood was carried into the Holy of Holies which the High Priest himself was not allowed to eat of to which the Apostle alludes in the Epistle to the Hebrews We have an Altar whereof they have no right to eat which serve the Tabernacle for the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the Sanctuary by the High Priest for Sin are burnt without the Camp i. e. no body was suffered to eat the flesh of the Sacrifice on the great day of expiation which was a general atonement for the sins of the whole Congregation not so much as the High Priest himself but their bodies were burnt to ashes Now the death of Christ upon the Cross was peculiarly typified by that great expiatory Sacrifice whose blood was carried into the Holy of Holies as he had discoursed at large in the ninth Chapter and plainly refers to here wherefore Iesus also that he might Sanctifie the people with his own blood suffered without the gate This is the Sacrifice we eat of to which he plainly refers in what he adds by him therefore let us offer the Sacrifice of praise or the Eucharistical Sacrifice which is the Lords Supper to God continually that is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name but to do good and to communicate forget not for with such Sacrifices God is well pleased which refers to those oblations for the relief of the poor and other religious uses which were always made at the Lords Table Now what is the meaning of this that we are allowed to drink of the blood of the Sacrifice and eat the flesh of the great Sin-offering and Propitiatory Sacrifice which the High Priest himself under the Law was not allowed to touch I say what is the meaning of it but to exhibit and convey to us the full and perfect remission of all our sins in the blood of Christ. So that we eat the flesh of an expiatory Sacrifice and drink the blood of atonement and thereby partake of that pardon and expiation which was made by Sacrifice and if we were sensible what the guilt of sin is and what will be its punishment we should not fail frequently to come to this holy Table to renew the pardon of our sins in the blood of Christ. 2. Another fruit of Christs death which we receive at the Table of our Lord is the assistances of his grace and Spirit and the communications of a divine life to us Hence our Saviour tells us he that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him which signifies such a close and intimate union whereby we receive the communications of his own life and spirit from him and therefore all Christians are said to be made to drink into one Spirit which signifies the communications of the divine Spirit at this Holy Table the whole Gospel administration is called the Ministration of the Spirit as being accompanied with a divine power much more this divine Feast wherein we become one with Christ eat his flesh and drink his blood as members of his body of his flesh and of his bones as St. Paul speaks and it is impossible the Spirit of Christ should be separated from such an uniting ordinance as makes us members of his body 3. By eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Christ in this holy Feast we have a pledge and earnest of immortality So our Saviour expresly tells us Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last day As the living Father hath sent me
and I live by the Father so he that eateth me even he shall live by me This is that bread which came down from heaven not as your Fathers did eat Manna and are dead he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever Where our Saviour gives the reason why those who eat him shall live for ever because he himself shall live for ever though he must die he was to rise again into an immortal life and an eternal Kingdom as the reward of his death and sufferings and therefore this holy Feast is a certain earnest of immortality to those who feed on him and we need not indeed doubt this since it conveys the holy Spirit to us as St. Paul tells the Romans But if the Spirit of him that raised up Iesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you But possibly some may object that all this which is attributed to the Holy Supper we receive at our Baptism the pardon of our sins the gift of the Spirit and the promise and earnest of immortality for so we are Baptized for the remission of sins and we are baptized as well as made to drink into one Spirit and those who are baptized into Christ have put on Christ and we are buried with Christ by baptism into death that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father so we also should walk in newness of life for if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection Now all this I grant to be true and therefore Baptism not the Lords Supper is our regeneration or new birth we are raised into a new life are renewed and sanctified at our Baptism and have the Holy Spirit bestowed on us as the author and principle of a new life but the continuance of this grace and the daily assistances of the Holy Spirit especially when we have grieved him and made him withdraw from us by our sins depends upon our diligent attendance at the Table of our Lord. It is not enough that a man is born into the world unless he have constant food to preserve his life and thus it is with the new creature and therefore the Supper of our Lord is Bread and Wine the stay and support of life to signifie to us that these supplies of grace which we receive at this Feast are as necessary to our Spiritual life as our daily food is to the support of a bodily life and therefore our Saviour calls himself the bread of life which came down from Heaven of which the Manna was a type and figure now we know Manna was their constant food the only Bread they had which signified that this heavenly Manna is the daily support of our spiritual life and therefore we know the ancient Fathers by our daily bread in the Lords Prayer did generally understand the Sacrament of the Lords Supper which they called the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Bread of God All which may convince us from the very nature and reason of the institution that frequent communione are as necessary to our spiritual growth and increase in holiness to repair the decays of our graces and to renew our strength and vigour in serving God and to procure the pardon of sin after a relapse and to call back the holy Spirit when he is withdrawn from us as bread is to keep our bodies in constant repair and did men love their souls as they do their bodies they would no more neglect the Supper of our Lord than their daily food 4. The Lords Supper is the principal part of Christian communion and therefore as necessary as the communion of the Church is to debar any persons from the Lords Table is to shut them out of the communion of the faithful and they are never restored to full communion till they are restored to the communion of this holy Feast while discipline was preserved in its glory and vigour in the ancient Church no Christian durst turn his back upon the Table of our Lord as nine parts in ten now often do indeed they could not well communicate as faithful Christian people without receiving the Lords Supper The Catechumens and Penitents were admitted to publick instructions and to such prayers as were proper for them but they were dismissed when that was done and not admitted to be present at the worship of the faithful who were in full peace and communion with the Church the principal part of which was the Holy Supper Indeed St. Paul attributes the union of Christians in one body to Christ to this holy Feast He calls the Cup the communion of the blood of Christ and the bread the communion of the body of Christ and assigns this as one reason of it for we being many are one bread and one body for we are all partakers of that one bread From whence it is plain that we are united to each other by partaking of the same bread for we are one bread as well as one body which places Christian unity in a joynt participation of this Holy Feast This also unites us to Christ makes us his body because we all feed on his body the Church is his body as being fed and nourished with his body which both shows us how necessary the peace and unity of the Church is to give us an interest in the Sacrifice of Christ for the vertue of his Sacrifice is contained in the holy Supper and this must be celebrated in the communion of the Church and withal how essential this holy Supper is to Christian communion as uniting us all to Christ in one body For shame then let not those men cry out against Schism and Schismaticks who separate themselves from the body of Christ in that part of Christian communion which is most essential to Christianity it is a much less evil not to hear a Sermon together nay sometimes not to pray together than to joyn in all other parts of worship but to break company at the Lords Table where if ever they ought to appear as one body and one bread to set up Altar against Altar is somewhat worse is a greater and more incurable Schism than to absent our selves from the Lords Table but for my part I cannot excuse those men from being Schismaticks who live in an habitual neglect of so necessary a part of Christian communion and could the ancient discipline of the Church be revived such men should know that Christian communion in any religious offices is a priviledge which they do not deserve and which they should not have Having thus explained our obligations to frequent Communion in the holy Supper of our Lord which I judge so plain and evident that no honest impartial Inquirer can resist the evidence of them and of such great weight and moment that no
purpose to trouble their heads about any form of Religion for they may be mistaken after all and they had as good be of no Religion as not of the right But if these Men did but wisely consider of what infinite concernment true Religion is they would conclude quite otherwise that seeing there is so much dispute which is the true Religion they would use the greater diligence and honesty to find it out and hope that God would pardon those Mistakes which are meerly the Errors of their Understanding when they offer up to him a pious and devout Soul that an honest Man who is not byassed by Interest and does not chuse a false Religion upon a Design will be accepted for his Sincerity and Devotion by that God who is a merciful and compassionate Father and very ready to pardon all invincible Mistakes when they are not made invincible by our own Fault But to cast off all Religion because there is some difficulty in finding the right is just as if a Traveller when he meets with a great many cross Wayes should resolve to go no farther for fear he should mistake the right Road though he is sure that he shall never get home if he go no farther Others are so tired with their Secular Affairs and hard Labour all the week that truly they must make Sunday a Holy Day not for Devotion but for Rest and Pastime as a Holy Day commonly now signifies and therefore they cannot go to Church which will tire them more than all thir weeks Work did that is to say They feel the Wants and Necessities of their Bodies and must take care of them but their Souls must shift for themselves they cannot bear hunger and cold and nakedness but never consider Who can dwell with devouring Fire who can dwell with everlasting Burnings But more of this presently Such kind of foolish Reasonings as these make Men neglect the Worship of God and should any Man act or reason so weakly in his Worldly Affairs he would be beg'd for a Fool if he were worth the keeping Thus I have endeavoured to convince these Men of the Evil Danger and Folly of Irreligion I now proceed to the second Thing proposed to perswade them to take care of their Souls 2. Let me therefore earnestly exhort all Men to take care of their Souls for this is the true Reason why they neglect the Worship of God Because they are sottishly unconcerned what will become of their Souls after Death whether they shall be happy or miserable in the World to come For all Men who make it the great Business of their Lives to get Heaven who are impatiently desirous to see God and to enjoy him who are afraid of nothing so much as of being banished from his Presence I say these Men are serious and hearty in their Religion They seek first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness For tho Religious Worship be a Natural Debt which we owe to God as we are his Creatures yet God in great wisdom and goodness has so ordered all the parts of Worship that we may at the same time and in the same Act worship and glorify God and serve and supply the Wants and Necessities of our own Souls The Worship of Innocent Creatures consisted principally in praising that great wise and bountiful Maker and Governor of the World but the Religion of Sinners is fitted to a lapsed state to heal and recover our Souls restore us to the perfection and happiness of our Natures and to intitle us to new and glorious Rewards Since we are Sinners God hath made it one part of Religious Worship and given us great encouragement to confess our Sins and to ask pardon and forgiveness for them And can any Man who loves his Soul and considers that the Wages of Sin is Death be careless in suing out his Pardon Must thou die eternally Sinner unless thou obtainest thy Pardon from God and wilt thou not fall down upon thy Knees and lie prostrate in the Dust before him Dost thou think it sufficient to reserve this Work for thy last Breath when thou art so hasty to procure a Pardon from thy Prince when thou hast only forfeited a perishing Estate or a mortal Life Me thinks I should see thee run with all speed to Church for fear thou shouldest come too late to offer up thy Confessions and Prayers with the Congregation by the Mouth of God's Minister who is appointed to pray for thee and to receive that reviving Absolution which is promised to all humble Penitents confessing and praying Sinners And since our own unworthiness our manifold and great Sins might justly discourage us from approaching the Presence of so Holy a God God has in infinite Mercy provided a great High-Priest for us to offer up our Prayers to God and to intercede for us and has commanded us to come to him in his Name and shall we forfeit our Interest in our Saviour's Intercession by neglecting to beg pardon in his Name For the Work of our great High-Priest is to offer up our Prayers to God incensed and perfumed with his own Merits But this supposes that we must offer up our Prayers to God in his Name and therefore those who do not pray to God in Christ's Name have no part nor interest in his Intercession He is an Advocate for none but those who Worship God in his Name And since our Natures are greatly corrupted and we are very weak and unable to serve God in an acceptable manner in our own strength God has made it a part of his Worship to beg the supplies of his Grace and has promised to give his Holy Spirit to them who ask him and when we find by daily experience how liable we are to the Assaults of Temptations and how easily we are conquered by them and know how impossible it is ever to get to Heaven unless we be renewed and sanctified by the Holy Ghost Can any Man who loves his Soul exposes himself naked and unarmed to a tempting World and Devil without so much as begging the Auxiliary Forces and Divine Aids of the Holy Spirit which we may have for asking but shall never have without You are glad of any help and assistance to promote your secular Interest When a City is besieged by powerful and numerous Enemies they send Embassadors to their Allies and Confederates and will never want help for want of asking it and shall we be so foolish as to become the triumph and the scorn and a prey to our Spiritual Enemies for want of crying to God to save us For the same Reason our blessed Lord has appointed and instituted the Holy Feast of his Sacramental Body and Blood as a conveyance of new Life and Grace to us and have those Men any care of their Souls as well as any honour for their Crucified Lord who deny themselves so inestimable a priviledg of feasting on the Symbols of Christ's Body and Blood which seals to all
worthy Communicants the pardon of their Sins and more firmly unites them to Christ their Head and to each other and intitles them to the powerful influence of that Divine Spirit which dwells in actuates and governs the whole Church and Body of Christ. Thus we are very ignorant and very unmindful of our Duty and God in great goodness has appointed a whole Order of Men whose Business it is to instruct us to teach us what we do not know and to mind us of those Things which we are apt to forget and has made it our Duty and a part of his Worship to attend their Instructions And though I hope in such an Age and such a Church as this there are a great many Christians so knowing that they need not be taught their Duty yet it is sad to consider how many very ignorant Professors there are that want to be instructed in the first Rudiments of Christian Knowledg and warm zealous and frequent Exhortations are of great use to the most knowing Christians And though a great many who have little other Religion are forward enough to hear Sermons yet it grieves me to think how many there are who will live die and perish for ever in their Ignorance because they refuse Instruction who can never be perswaded to attend either Sermons or Catechising or so much as reading the Scripture and yet these very Men could be contented to hear a large discourse of News or Trade or Merchandize or how they might order their Affairs to better advantage and are glad to be told of any Mistake or Error which might have been prejudicial to them in their secular Affairs And I need not tell you the Reason of this Difference they are in very good earnest to get this World but are very indifferent and unconcerned about the next So that all the parts of Religious Worship as they are expressions of our Reverence and Devotion for God so they immediately tend to the happiness of our Souls the Virtue of them is seen in transforming us into a Divine Nature in obtaining the Pardon of our Sins and the Supplies of God's Grace in making us Holy here and eternally Happy hereafter and therefore if we love our Souls let us constantly exercise our selves in all the Parts and Offices of Religious Worship And me-thinks it should be no such hard Matter to perswade Men to love and take care of their Souls for can any Man have a greater Concernment in the World than this For to love our Souls signifies no more than to love our Selves and to take care of our own happiness for the Soul is the Man the Body is only the Organ and Instrument of the Soul an earthly Tabernacle wherein it dwells in this state of its Pilgrimage but it is our Soul only that is capable of Joy and Pleasure or Grief and Sorrow and therefore as the Soul is either happy or miserable so is the Man and all Men desire to be happy this they seek with unwearied endeavours this makes all that busle and stir that is in the World that all Men are a catching after happiness and scrambling for it Why then you say What is the Dispute and Difficulty since all Men do love their Souls that is desire to be happy and it is only the Soul that relishes Happiness or is the Subject wherein Happiness dwells This is true and yet very few Men love their Souls for we must consider that the Soul of Man is capable of a two-fold happiness one as it lives in this gross Body of Flesh and Blood another as it lives without it in a separate state or receives it again refined and purged made a Heavenly and Spiritual Body Now as the Soul dwells in these Earthly Bodies it is apt to be mightily pleased with sensual Enjoyments and such Objects as are represented to us by our Senses and this is the Happiness which most Men are fond of in this World which tempts them to all those sensual Lusts which St. Iohn comprises under the Lusts of the Flesh the Lusts of the Eye and the Pride of Life but now this is not the greatest happiness of the Soul because dwelling in this Body is not its most perfect State it is to dwell but a little while in this Body and then can enjoy these bodily Pleasures no longer and therefore that is called the happiness of the Soul which is agreeable to its most perfect state of Life and commensurate to an eternal duration So that the Controversy in short is this Whether we will prefer an imperfect unsatisfactory momentary Happiness or such a Happiness which is the biggest our Souls are capable of and will last to Eternity and it is strange there should be any difficulty in this choice For can an Immortal Being who is to live Eternal Ages be satisfied with such perishing Joys as wax old and expire in half an Age It would be thought very strange that an Immortal Creature should grow weary of Life and be contented to fall into nothing after threescore or fourscore Years and yet this is a much more reasonable desire than to chuse such a happiness as will last but sixty or eighty Years when we must live for ever and therefore the Atheist is much a wiser Man than an irreligious and profane Worldling Every one contemns the folly of such a Prodigal who spends a fair Estate in a very short time and wasts away the rest of his Life in Poverty and Beggary and yet three or four Years pleasure bears some proportion to threescore or fourscore Years but threescore or fourscore Years have no proportion at all to Eternity Were there no other punishment of such Folly but to live for ever in a sense of our Want to find no sutable Objects to entertain our Minds but to languish perpetually with pining and unsatisfied Desires yet this were like the pain of perpetual Hunger and Thirst some-what worse than the delays of Hope even the torment of Despair And yet it is much worse still than this for such Men when they come into the other World will be convinced what Happiness it is they have lost when they shall see them come from the East and from the West from the North and from the South and sit down with Abraham Isaac and Iacob in the Kingdom of God and themselves shut out when they shall see victorious Saints who have triumphed over all the Follies and Vanities all the Smiles Flatteries and Terrors of this World cloathed with Bodies of pure Light and rewarded with immarcessible Crowns of Glory singing Eternal Halelujahs to their God and Saviour and when all the toys and pleasures of this World are gone and past and nothing is present but the happiness of the next it will infinitely more afflict them to think they have missed of Heaven than it would do now to lose their Estates and Honours and let slip any opportunity they had to make themselves the Universal Monarchs of the