call upon me and I will answer him I will be with him in trouble I will deliver him and honour him The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him to all that call upon him in Truth He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him he also will hear their cry and will save them The Lord preserveth all them that love him but the wicked will he destroy Where those who love God are those who pray unto him and therefore the wicked whom God will destroy are those who do not pray to him who neglect or despise his Worship whence it is the Psalmist describes God that he is One that heareth Prayers O thou that hearest Prayer unto thee shall all flesh come For indeed it is not reasonable to expect that God should bestow those Blessings and Deliverances on us which we do not think worth asking or will not own him to have the disposal of those who will not pray for those good Things they want will not bless God for giving them and no wise Man thinks it prudent to place his Favours where they shall meet with no return which is like burying good Seed in a barren Soyl that deceives the expectation of the Husbandman God indeed being the Maker of the World takes care of all his Creatures but then he expects that reasonable Creatures should beg the protection and provisions of his Providence because this is an excellent Instrument of Government as it keeps Man-kind under a constant sense of his Power and Providence and in a constant dependence on him Those who expect all good Things from God dare not provoke him to anger by the breach of his Laws Men are naturally ashamed of approaching the Presence of God when they are conscious to themselves of any great Crime but sneak and hide themselves as Children do when they have displeased their Parents and dare not ask any kindness till they have first obtained their Pardon which makes it highly reasonable and necessary for God to discountenance Irreligion by casting off the care of such Men who refuse to worship him It is true very many Irreligious Men do thrive in this World and arrive to great Estates and to great Honours for God does not make such an exact difference between good and bad Men in this Life as he will do in the World to come and can serve the Ends of his Providence in the prosperity of bad Men. But yet there is a vast difference between God's permitting the prosperity of bad Men and that constant Providence which watches over good Men. Bad Men may advance themselves by Injustice Oppression and Perjury but they are not advanced by the Blessing but by the Permission of God for God never blesses any wicked Arts and therefore such Mens Prosperity is very uncertain and as tottering as the Thrones of Usurpers for though they have a good Title with respect to Men yet they are but Usurpers with respect to God and therefore are tumbled down again at his pleasure but the only sure way of thriving in the World is by God's Blessing these are the only lasting and durable Riches and Honours which are free from such Vexations and Troubles Fears and Disappointments which attend on unjust Possessions as the Wise Man tells us The Blessing of the Lord it maketh rich and he addeth no sorrow with it The sum is this It is possible for Irreligious Men to enjoy great prosperity without God's Blessing and those who like this way may take it but it is a very uncertain and a very slippery way it often ends in Poverty and Contempt or leads to the Gallows or Men lose their standing when they are almost got up to the top of the Precipice and they tumble down faster than ever they got up But those who desire God should take care of them must pray to him and worship him for as St. Iames told those he writ to Ye have not because ye ask not Some bad Men are for awhile prosperous but a hundred for one are miserable and no Man can be secure from Misery but in the Protection of God Secondly There is a much greater Danger than this in Irreligion and that is The loss of our Souls the loss of Eternal Happiness and the miseries of an Eternal Death now it is Godliness which hath the promise of this Life and of that which is to come and the Grace of God which brings Salvation that is the Gospel of Christ which contains the Promises of eternal Life hath appeared unto all Men teaching us that denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godlily in this present World These are the Conditions of Eternal Life without performing which we shall never see God but the intemperate unrighteous ungodly Men shall be condemned to the punishment of Devils to outward darkness where there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth for evermore For Godliness which consists in such a constant sense of God as expresses it self in all Acts of Homage Worship and Obedience is the only vital Principle of Religion though Men have a great many very good Qualities and sociable Vertues though they are modest and temperate just in their Dealings pitiful to the Poor of a liberal and generous Spirit in promoting good Designs very affable courteous and obliging in their Conversations yet if they have no sense of God as these Men have not who neglect his Worship all this is no part of Religion but owing to natural Temper and good Breeding or humane Policy or such other Causes as may make Men good Neighbours and Citizens but cannot make them good Christians They may reap some Temporal Rewards of these Vertues but they cannot carry them to Heaven for indeed such Men are not qualified for the Work and the happiness of Heaven which is to know and love and admire and praise the great Maker and Redeemer of the World which no Man can do who hath not a quick and prevailing sense of his Excellencies and Perfections And how intolerable would it be for such Men to keep an Eternal Sabbath in Heaven to worship God and sing his Praises day and Night for ever and ever who think it lost time and a dry insipid wearisom thing to worship God here on Earth but they need not fear that Penance for they shall never be troubled with it None shall be received into Heaven but those who by the constant Exercises of Devotion on Earth have spiritualized their Minds and made Religion in some measure their Happiness as well as their Work and Duty And because there are a sort of inconsiderate Men who think to grow very religious and to repent of all their Sins before they die and thereby prevent the danger of Eternal Damnation I would desire them to consider Thirdly That the great Danger of Irreligion of an habitual neglect of God's Worship is That it lets loose the Reins to
the natural Passions of our Minds If we consider God as the first Cause of all Things so God has a natural right to the Praise and Glory of all his Works and therefore all the Works of God are said to praise him The Heavens declare the Glory of God and the Firmament sheweth his handy-work What-ever Wisdom Power or Goodness is seen in the frame of this vast and beautiful World what-ever Perfections are bestowed on any Creatures must be ascribed to the great Maker of all Things It is impossible to see any curious piece of Painting without admiring and praising the skill of the Painter and that Man is very unjust as well as very sensless who can look upon this World so wonderful for its unknown Extent exquisite Contrivance Beauty Uniformity infinite Numbers variety and perfections of its Inhabitants and not adore and worship that God who made all this The Order Beauty and Glory of Material Beings are visible Demostrations of the Infinite Perfections of their Invisible Cause and the most proper and natural Work of reasonable Creatures is to discover the Perfections of God and of his Works and to worship him with the humblest and devoutest Adorations and if it be unjust to defraud Men of the Glory of their wise and great and good Actions it is much greater injustice to God who is the sole and independent Cause of all Things and yet not to worship God is to defraud him of his Glory And if we consider more particularly that we our selves are God's Creatures who owe our Being to him that in him we live move and have our being this makes it a natural Debt to praise and adore the God who made us as the Psalmist speaks To worship and fall down and kneel before the Lord our Maker Know ye that the Lord he is God it is he that hath made us and not we our selves we are his People and the Sheep of his Pasture Enter into his Gates with thanksgiving and into his Courts with praise be thankful unto him and bless his Name For since God made us he has a natural Right and Interest in us and may challenge our Homage and Obedience as a just Debt entailed upon our Natures Thus God argues A Son honoureth his Father and a Servant his Master If then I be a Father where is my Honour and if I be a Master where is my Fear That is there is at least as much natural Justice in paying all Homage and Worship to God our Heavenly Father and Soveraign Lord as it is accounted among Men for Children to honour their Parents and Servants their Masters and therefore let any Man who will but allow God the same right in his Creatures which he himself challenges in his Children and Servants judg how unseemly and unnatural it is to refuse to love and honour and worship the great Author of our Being Who planteth a Vineyard and eateth not of the Fruit thereof Can any thing be more reasonable than that God should be worshiped and adored by those Creatures whom his own Hands have made and fashioned So that upon all Accounts God has a natural Right to our Homage and Worship and nothing can excuse us from paying this Debt unless it appear that we are under some natural Incapacity to do it But indeed this is a Debt which we are all able to pay for God has made us reasonable Creatures endowed us with Wisdom and Knowledg to discover the Perfections of his Nature and Works and to understand our Obligations to him and with such a Principle of Will and Choice as can act freely and with such inward passions of Love and Joy Fear and Reverence Hope and Affiance as may easily be wrought up to the highest strain of Devotion He has given us Eyes to contemplate this beautiful Frame of Things and Tongues to speak his Praises and publish all his mighty Works so that Man-kind seems to be made on purpose for the Worship of God to be a curious and diligent Observer of God's Works and to speak of his Glory which lays a new Obligation on us and gives God a natural Title to our Worship This was the Reason why he made us this was the Design of our Natures and the End of our Creation We live now in such a busy World where we find so many things to do to provide Food and Raiment and all things necessary to this Mortal State or it may be to serve the Ends of Ambition and Lust that we can find very little time to worship God and therefore are apt to think that this is the least thing we have to do But we should consider that this is not the Original Work and Imployment of Man-kind but the punishment of our Sin and Apostacy from God For let us suppose that Man-kind had preserved their Innocence and continued in Paradise where they had no need of Cloaths and fed on the Fruit of the Garden which grew of it self without plowing or sowing and was fit for Food without any Arts of Cookery when there was no other bodily Employment but to look to the Garden which neither required much labour nor took up much time but was like those innocent Diversions we now use to recreate and unbend our Minds with now I say in such a state as this which was the Original State of Mankind how could Men spend their time but in the Contemplation of God's Works and in the study of Divine Wisdom and Philosophy and in adoring the great Maker of all Things unless we can imagine that God gave Man such an active and busy Mind to dissolve in sloth which is so uneasy a state that Paradise it self could be no happiness upon these terms or that God designed him for an Atheistical Philosopher to admire the Works of Nature without adoring the Wise Creator Indeed it is not conceivable that so vast and comprehensive a Mind such active and boundless Passions as God hath endowed Man-kind withal should be wholly designed for no higher Employment than to qualify a Man to be a Plow-man or a Mechanick or to speak the greatest thing at once to be a Prince or a Minister of State such a Mind as comes so near Infinity as that of Man was certainly designed for nothing less than the Knowledg Love and Admiration of an Infinite Being And if we must learn the End for which Creatures are made by the End which they are capable to serve it is evident Man was made for the Worship of God because he is fitted with such Endowments and Perfections of Mind as qualify him to be a Worshipper And if God be the greatest and most perfect Being then the Knowledg and Worship of God is the noblest Employment of Humane Nature and consequently the last and highest End for which Man was made Nay we may consider further that Man is not only capable of worshipping God but no other Creature in this visible World is he and he only
World And yet it is much worse than this too for such Men will not only miss of Heaven but sink into Hell a place of endless Torments where there is no ease and no hope So well might our Saviour ask that Question What shall it profit a Man to gain the whole World and to lose his own Soul Or what shall a Man give in exchange for his Soul And can any thing in the World deserve more of our care and industry than to obtain eternal Happiness and to avoid eternal Misery And yet this cannot be done without a sincere and devout performance of all the Acts of Religious Worship Those Persons do not deserve to be God's Friends and Favorites who do not worship him and those are not capable of the Joys of Heaven who cannot relish the Pleasures of Religion and the Worship of God CHAP. II. Concerning those who forsake Christian-Assemblies for want of a due sense of the Nature and Necessity of Publick Worship Several proofs of the Necessity of Publick Worship from the Nature of Religious Worship from the Nature of the Mosaick Worship from the Institution of a Christian Church and the Nature of Christian Worship and Discipline OThers there are who either wholly or in a great measure forsake our Communion for want of a due sense of the Nature and Necessity of Publick Worship They acknowledg it is their Duty to Worship God but they think they can worship God as well at Home as at Church that it is not the Place which makes their Prayers more or less effectual but God hears us where-ever we pray and is always pleased even with the single and private Devotions of good Men and the World is now so well stored with good Books that they can spend their time in reading at Home to as good purpose as if they went to Church to hear a Sermon And I need not observe how many there are who Act according to these Principles i. e. who seldom or never come to Church though how they spend their Time at home I know not but have great reason to suspect that with too many a warm Bed in the morning and a bottle of Wine in the Afternoon serves instead even of their private Devotions Now before I proceed to shew what a great and dangerous mistake this is I shall briefly expostulate the Case with these Men supposing it to be as they say That we may serve God very acceptably at Home without attending the publick Assemblies of Christians Supposing the Case to be equal in it self considered yet I beseech you Why should you prefer your own Private before the Publick Devotions of the Church Cannot you serve God at least as well at Church as you do at Home And Publick Worship having bin the universal Practice of the World in all Ages and under all Religions does it become a modest Man to affront so general a Custom which if it be not expresly commanded by God yet at least has no hurt in it And since the generality of Mankind have not only consented in such a Practice but have believed it to be their Duty to pay their joyn'd and publick Acknowledgments to their Universal Lord and Father and are apt to suspect these Men of Atheism and Irreligion who deny or neglect it What Reason can be sufficient to perswade any Religious Man to oppose so universal a Belief and to incur the publick censures of Insidelity and Irreligion Especially since the publick Exercise of Religion is enjoyned by Humane Laws and to neglect it is an affront to the publick Wisdom and Authority of a Nation which though other things were equal makes publick Assemblies a Duty and private Devotion when we ought and may attend on publick Assemblies to be a Sin And indeed we cannot imagine that God should take it well of any Man how devout soever he be in private who will rather affront the Universal Practice founded upon as Universal a Consent of Mankind will rather be thought an Atheist or an Insidel will rather trample upon all Humame Authority than joyn with his Fellow-Creatures and Subjects and Neighbours in the publick Acts of his Worship Put the case any of you were the Father of a very numerous off-spring and that without any express Command from you most of your Children should agree by a common consent to visit you together once a week to ask your Blessing and pay their thankful Acknowledgments for your great care of them in their Education and in that liberal Provision you have made for them but one or two of your Children should chuse to come alone to you in private when no body sees them and obstinately refuse to come with the rest of their Brethren though they were censured by them with undutifulness and ingratitude for such a Neglect I am apt to think there is none of you would accept of such private Acknowledgments from those who refused the more publick and solemn Addresses and we have as little reason to expect acceptance from God when we refuse to worship him in the Congregation of his Saints how devout soever we are alone Nay though we should grant that private Devotions were as acceptable to God as Publick supposing they were performed with equal Zeal and Fervency of Mind yet upon this account Publick Worship has much the advantage good Company in all Cases is apt to give us greater briskness and vigour of Mind the very presence of devout Souls who breath forth their ardent Desires to God is enough to fire our cold and chill Spirits and good Men receive warmth and quickness from each other and grow into greater ardours and transports Hypocrites have no other sense of Devotion but what they receive from good Company but good Men themselves who have a true and constant sense of God many times experience a great difference in this respect between their private Retirements and the more publick and solemn Acts of Worship Thus you see that tho we could produce no express proof of the necessity of publick Worship yet there are sufficient reasons to prevail with every wise and good Man not to withdraw himself from the Communion of Religious Assemblies and therefore indeed we shall never find that a truly wise and good Man does Private Devotion may be a pretence to justify the neglect of publick Worship but I dare appeal to these Men's own Consciences that it is never the true Cause for Men who do heartily desire to worship God will chuse to worship him in the best and most solemn manner that is in the publick Assemblies of Christians But yet to take away this very pretence from them I come now to consider our Obligations to publick Worship 1. And first I shall argue from the Nature of Religious Worship and the fundamental Reasons of it Now Worship signifies all that part of Religion which immediately respects God as it is distinguished from Sobriety and Righteousness and is commonly known by the