on till she return thither again And a true Israelite when he hath with King Solomon tryed all the things in the world pleasures riches honour will in the end conclude with him that all worldly things are vanity and vexation of Spirit And that there is no true content nothing that can satisfie a mans mind no hope of Salvation to be had any where but in the true Ark of Gods Church 3. Damnable is the estate and on the very brink of hells pit are the feet of those Factious and Schismatical Spirits who out of pride and singularity of heart or because they disgust some of the outward external ceremonies of our Church forsake the Society of the faithful separate themselves from the lawful allowed Church assembly and repair to Conventicles and private meetings where having no lawful allowed priests to officiate they cannot have the word of God sincerely Preached nor the Sacraments rightly administred according to Christs Ordinance for though it be granted lawful for private persons within the limits of their own family to open and expound the Scripture according to their talent yet he who without a lawful call and mission shall presume in a publick Congregation to handle and expound the word Though he handle it never so well and expound it never so truely yet doth he not preach nor is his Doctrine sufficiently qualified for the Salvation of Souls For how can they Preach except they be sent demands the Apostle Rom. 10.15 proving most plainly by this his interrogative that effectual Preaching such as is sufficiently qualified for the Salvation of Souls is the proper work of the Ministry of those that are lawfully Called and Sent forth to execute this publique function in the Church And no man as saith the Apostle Heb. 5.4 may take this hence to himself but he that is called of God as was Aaron i.e. unless he have as Aaron had not only an inward call and inclination of the Spirit but also an outward one and a solemn ordination to the sacred function 4. Since there is no Salvation to be had out of the Church and the Lord addeth daily unto the Church such as shall be saved Oh how infinitely are they bound to be thankful unto God and alwayes to praise and bless his holy name who find themselves to be placed in the state of Salvation or made visible Members of the holy Catholick Church for it is not by their own natural inclination nor by the care or piety either of their natural or spiritual Fathers though these be good helps and means that men are placed in the state of Salvation and added to the Church but by the exceeding goodness mercy and grace of God And it is as saith my third position the Lord that daily adds unto the Church such as shall be saved God is the principal agent in the great work of mens Salvation he is the Author and Finisher of our Faith the beginner and perfecter of every good work yea he that worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure as saith the Apostle Phil. 2.13 Rebecca may look the Venison but it is Isaac that must give the blessing Paul may plant and Apollo may water but it is God that gives the increase He he it is who perswades wild Japhet to come and dwell in the tents of gentle Sem that being men as the Apostle phraseth it that were born Aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel Strangers and Forreigners to become fellow Citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of God Now this work of mans regeneration of his being begotten a new in the Gospel and added to the Church God works not extroardinarily by miracle but ordinarily by means And the ordinary means which God makes use of for the perfecting of this great work we may find here in this Chapter by the means which he used for the making of this great addition to the Church of 3000 Souls to be the word preached faith to apprehend and belive it and baptism to confirm and Seal it These primitive Converts had the word preached unto them by Saint Peter And being convicted in their Consciences of the Truth of it they believ'd it And applying themselves to Saint Peter and the rest of the Apostles for advice what to do that they might be saved they were prescribed by them the baptism of repentance for the remission of their sins Repent and be baptised every one of you in the name of the Lord Jesus for the remission of sins v. 38. And they as it is testified v. 41. thankfully embraced his advice gladly received his word were immediately baptized and on that very day there was an addition made unto the Church of no less than 3000 Souls And of these initiating grounding Ordinances and Graces I would more largely discourse but that I remember you are persons who being born of Christian Parents and within the pale of the Church are already by Baptism added to the Church and made visible Members thereof and therefore it is more seasonable and necessary to shew you the way and means which you must be careful to use if you will keep your selves in the Church and the State of Salvation and this if you will do you must take these Primitive Christians here at the 42. v. for your pattern For they being by Baptism added to the Church continued stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrine and Fellowship and breaking of Bread and in Prayer And of these Four precious preservative confirming Christian Duties I shall now by Gods gracious assistance orderly discourse And first of the Apostles Doctrine By the Doctrine of the Apostles is here signified that form of sound Doctrine concerning Christ and his being the true Messiah promised unto the Fathers which the blessed Apostles first viva voce in their Sermons and Harangues delivered unto the people and afterwards for the instruction of the Church unto the worlds end wrote in their Gospels and Epistles This contains in it all things necessary unto Salvation both as to the credenda and what we are to believe and to the agenda and what we are to do And he who being by Baptism received into and added to the Militant Church on earth receives nothing as an Article of Faith and recessary to be believed but what can immediately be induced out of the holy Scriptures and who in matters of Obedience resigns up himself wholly to the practice of those Rules and Directions which are given us in the wholesom words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Doctrine which is according to Godliness shall not fail in due time to be made a glorious Member of the Church Triumphant in Heaven And able are holy Scriptures to make a man wise unto Salvation through Faith which is in Christ Jesus as it is written 2 Tim. 3.15 Surely he who to Heaven will be directed aright must neither be guided by the false fire of the Conclave or the Conventicle must neither
rely on unwritten Traditions nor on unwarranted Revelations but must make that bright shining and unerring light Gods holy Word his onely Director and Guide must neither add to it nor diminish from it must neither turn to the right hand and do more nor to the left hand and do less than is enjoyned him in the holy Scriptures And accursed be he yea though he be an Angel from Heaven that shall presume to preach any other Doctrine contrary to that which the holy Apostles have delivered unto us saith S. Paul Gal. 1.8 A Treasury full of all manner of precious Stones is Gods holy Word and there is no one of what condition or quality sex or age soever but hath his particular Rule given him in the Scripture and may if he come to the hearing or reading of Gods holy Word with an heart humbled and willing to be instructed find what he in his particular vocation and calling must especially do and perform what he must especially shun and avoid And 't is indeed the Reformation of those Abuses which we commit in our particular Callings wherein the power of Grace and Religion doth most especially appear Religion Religion my Brethren is not a thing merely of publick and common profession it dwells not onely in Churches and Temples no it hath a principal respect to the well ordering of our particular and personal Callings it saith to us as Christ did to the man in the Gospel whom he dispossessed of a Legion of Devils Go home to thy House and let thy behaviour and carriage there evidence and shew forth the truth and sincerity of thy Religion We read Deut. 11.20 that the Jews were commanded to write Gods Law not onely on the Doors of their Temples but also on the Doors of their Houses that so they might meditate and think on it to do it not onely on the Sabbath and holy Solemnities when they were called upon to go up into the House of the Lord but all the days of their life and as oft as they went in and out at their own Doors that so they might learn to regulate their personal Imployments and the works of their particular Callings according to those Directions which are given by God in his holy Law And 't is indeed according to the ordering of our selves in our particular Callings that God will proceed with us at the last day and when summoned to appear before his dreadful Tribunal we shall not be called to give an account of other mens Stewardships but of our own and how we have demeaned our selves in that state of life wherein he hath been pleased to place us Surely Brethren if we who have the Gospel printed amongst us bibles at home in our Houses and I hope read therein every day If we who have the Gospel preached amongst us and may if we be not sloathful and negligent on every Lords day hear it expounded and applied in our Churches and Synagogues would instead of curiously inquiring out of it with S. Peter what is other mens duty and required of them set our selves with S. Paul to inquire out of it what is our duty and required of us in that station wherein God hath placed us and set our selves sincerely about the doing of it we should most clearly manifest our selves to be true Members of his Militant Church on earth and should not fail in due time to be made glorious Members of his Church Triumphant in Heaven The second thing which you must learn of those primitive Christians if after you have been added to the Church you will continue and preserve your selves in the Church is to continue stedfastly in the Apostles Fellowship By Fellowship with the Apostles is here signified conformity unto them in those laudable and decent Rites and Ceremonies Customs and Orders that were practised by them in their Church Assemblies and publick Meetings In which whosoever refuseth to have Community and Fellowship with that Church into which he is admitted by Baptism and of which he is made a Member is void not onely of all Religion but even of all Reason and common Civility The actions of Religion and Divine Worship are twofold either Essential and ordinate or circumstantial and subordinate 1. The essential and ordinate parts of divine Worship are Faith and Holiness of Life and our Rule for this must be Gods Holy Word and we must receive nothing as an Article of Faith a thing absolutely necessary unto salvation which cannot be immediately deduced out of it 2. The circumstantial and subordinate Actions of Religion are the time the place the vesture the gesture which are required to be observed in our performance of Church Duties and these things being not absolutely determined of God in his Holy Word are left to the determination of the Church And God in that general warrant which he has given the Church 1 Cor. 14. ult Let all things be done decently and in order hath impowred her to cut out and shape each particular decency and order as will best suit with the condition the comliness and the edification of every particular National Church and it is no more necessary that all Churches should observe one and the same Rites and Ceremonies than it is that all Nations should wear one and the same kind of cloaths Surely these Orders and Ordinances Rites and Ceremonies which by our lawful Superiors we are enjoyned to observe in our Church meetings and Assemblies though they cannot immediately be deduced out of Gods Holy Word yet if they be not contrary unto it but serve for decency and comliness in the service of God are part of those Ordinances of men unto which we are commanded by St Peter 1 Ephes 2.13 to submit for the Lords sake And therefore though pride or arrogancy contempt or neglect to violate and break the established Order of the Church is to be guilty of no less crime than Disobedience to the Commands of God Indeed the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which our Translators here render Fellowship is the very word which St. Paul in the 1 Cor. 16.3 useth to fignify the Collections and Comributions which were made for the poor and that in this sense it is to be taken here is the opinion of the incomparable judicious Dr. Hammond in his Annotations on that place Piously indeed with great praise to themselves and much comfort to the afflicted Members of Christ were Collections for the poor ordained by the Apostles to be used in their Church meetings As I have given order unto the Church of Galatia Even so do yee saith St. Paul to his Corinthians 1 Cor. 16.1 on the first day of the week Let every one lay by of his store as God hath prospered him for the poor And though the practice of this Apostolical Primitive and most Christian duty be strictly injoyned in our Liturgy to be used on every Lords day and solemn Festival and after the Sermon is ended the Priest is required to
return to the Lords Table and thereby reading some Select portions of Scripture to stir up the people to acts of Alms-giving Charity and Piety yet to the eternal stain of the Piety and Charity of our Priests and people be it spoken it is but in very few places observed Many of our Priests who seem to be zealous observers of the Liturgy of our Church are notwithstanding to save their own purses and because they will not give good example unto others very loose in practising this principal part of it and rarely or never unless upon some extraordinary occasion do they stir up their people to Almsgiving and Charity exposing themselves thereby to that woe which our saviour in the Gospel pronounced against the Scribes and Pharisees Mat. 23.23 for their strict observing the lesser matters of the law the tything of Mint Annise and Cummin and their neglect of the weightier matters thereof the practise of Judgment Mercy and Faith And though most of our people think that their ready and chearful paying of these rates and taxes which are required of them for the relief of the poor and the repairing of the Church will excuse them for not giving any thing at the Offertory yet they must know that in paying these rates and taxes there is nothing of Religion more then obedience unto the Law and it is no more than Turks and Pagans if they lived amongst us should pay or than the Heriticks and Schismaticks that do live amongst us do pay God approves of no forced oblations and nought but Free-Will offerings will please him and therefore if you will find favour in his sight and be accepted when you present your selves before him you must not come empty handed but must bring your presents with you when you come into his Courts saith David Psal 96.8 your gifts when you come to his Altar saith Christ Matth. 5.13 Never Oh never think brethren that God who hath given you all that you have will accept at your hands those cheap sacrifices of Prayer Praise or Hearing that lost you but a little lip and ear-labour You know who it was that said It is a more blessed thing to give then to receive And there is assuredly more of Christianity and true Religion in one merciful tender hearted compassionate act of mercy and charity than there is in the fruitless hearing of an hundred Sermons or in the vocal uttering a thousand Prayers and Praises And verily if men would but spare something out of their weekly superfluities and idle expences to bring with them on Gods day to Gods house there to offer it up unto him as a Testification of their gratitude and thankfulness unto him for the many Mercies he hath bestowed upon them they would find it so far from impairing that it would improve their estates and draw down a blessing upon all the works of their hands The 3. Thing that we must learn of these Primitive Christians if we will keep and preserve our selves in the Church and in the State of Salvation is to be constant Guests at Gods holy Table and to continue stedfast in the breaking of bread for they c. By breaking of bread is here signified the holy Communion and the Sacrament of the Lords Supper in the Celebration of which for our better apprehension of his Death and Passion and to set him forth as it were evidently crucified before our Eyes our Lord commanded that bread should be broken and Wine poured out and delivered to the Church and Congregation of the Faithful Breaking of bread and eating of bread are oft I grant in the Old Testament used to signifie an ordinary and common meal but in the New Testament especially after our Saviours instituting of his holy Supper it is used to signifie the Holy Communion of the Body and Bloud of our Lord and in this sense it is not only used here but also in Acts 20.7 And in this sense it is still used by some of our Sectaries who usually express the Sacrament of the Lords Supper by the terms of breaking of bread And verily the thankful remembrance of his Death which Christ hath required of us so oft as we eat of this Brend and drink of this Cup should to manifest the gratitude that lodges in our heart and that we always carry about in our Bodies the dying of the Lord Jesus be always i.e. as oft as opportunity is offered celebrated in us Seldom met the Fathers of our Faith the Apostles and primitive Christians especially on the Lords Day but they had with the Word preached and Prayer the Holy Sacrament also administred among them And in imitation of this Apostolical primitive practise it is the constitution of our Mother the Church of England That the Holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper should in Cathedral and Collegiate Churches where there are many Priests and Deacons who being Christs menial Servants ought chiefly to commemorate his Death should on every Lords Day and Festival be administred in Oppidal and great Congregations monthly in Rural and the least Assemblies quarterly And to mind the people of this most Christian Duty and to shew his readiness to administer if the people were piously disposed to receive the Holy Sacrament is the Priest by the Rubrick of our Church injoyned on every Lords Day and Festival to stand at the Communion Table and there to read all the Communion Service appointed for that Day No greater testimony assuredly can any man give of his Christianity and that he is truly thankful unto God for giving his Son to dye for his sins and hopeful by virtue of his death to escape eternal death and damnation than when he finds joy and delight and spiritual pleasure in that great mistery of our Religion the oft communicating and feeding on the Body and Bloud of his Saviour the only means which he hath ordained to make us always mindful of what he did and suffered for us This this the truely Pious man wishes might not only be his yearly quarterly and monthly food but even his daily bread and he is even sick of spiritual hunger when he comes to the Church and finds not a Communion there And surely they who when the Holy Sacrament is administred in that particular Church and Congregation whereof they are members refuse without some lawful cause and impediment to come and Communicate with the Church ipso facto Excommunicate and put themselves out of the state of Salvation The 4. Thing which we must learn of these primitive Christians here is to continue stedfast in prayer For they c. By Prayer is not here meant private prayer the prayers that are composed by private persons and said in private places but by prayer is here meant publick or common Prayer the Apostles Prayer the Churches Prayer such Prayers as by the Apostles and their Successors the Governors of the Church are composed for the use of the Church with which all the Congregation are well acquainted
wherein the Members of it reside and there is the Greek Church and the Latin Church the English Church and the Dutch Church c. who though they may differ from each other in some Circumstantial and Extrafundamental Points of Religion yet so long as they agree in the Substantial and Fundamental Points thereof have all one Lord one Faith one Baptism are all but Members of one and the same Holy Catholick Church One and the same Sun shoots out from it many Beams of Light one and the same Kingdom hath in it many Counties one and the same Tree many Branches one and the same Body many Members so hath also one and the same Mystical Body of Christ one body but many members saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 12.20 Now the true and infallible marks whereby a particular national Church may be known to be a Member of the Holy Catholick One are as our Church of England hath well said in her Articles of Religion Artic. 19. The word of God sincerely preached and the blessed Sacraments rightly and duly administred according to Christs Ordinance and in what ever Congregation of men professing the Faith of Christ the word of God is sincerely preached and the two Essential Sacraments of the Gospel Baptism and the Lords Supper are rightly and duly administred according to Christs Ordinance by persons lawfully called sanctified and set apart for the work of the Ministry there is a true branch of the Holy Catholick Church and with it may any one that professes himself a Christian safely joyn and from it must no man that lives within the bounds and limits thereof presume to separate himself if he will obtain Salvation And that this Member of the Holy Catholick Church wherein we live The national Church of England is such a Church we need not make use of many words to prove since that which is the best of witnesses Her works most clearly approve and manifest it Her Doctrines she confirms nâ—t by Traditions Miracles or Dreams by the Decrees of Councils or Decretals of Popes but by the Holy Scriptures and she saith not Sic dicit Papa but Sic dicit Dominus The blessed Sacraments she neither sophisticates nor mutilates neither adds to them nor substracts from them In administring the Sacrament of Baptism she makes no mixture of Salt Spittle Oyl Milk c. but makes use only of pure Water and the words of Consecration which Christ himself instituted Baptizing with Water in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost In administring of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper she doth not make a God of the Bread and lift it up for the People to Worship and Adore nor doth she think the Wine too good for any but the Priests to drink but having Blessed and Sanctified both Elements with the very words of Consecration which Christ himself used she according to his Institution and Practice delivers both Bread and Wine into the hand of every particular Communicant Charged is our Church on the one hand by the Papists with Innovation and Separation and on the other hand by the Presbyter and Sectaries wi h Popery and Superstition And I shall crave leave in a word to vindicate her against them both To the Papists who charge us with Innovation and Separation and ask us where our Church was before Luther's time we say at Rome though lying hid there under a great heap of Popish Trash and Luther with his Associates did but that with better success which others before them had attempted As the Berengarians in Italy the Waldenses in France the Hussites in Germany the Wickliists in England c. shake off the Corruptions and Superstitions of the Romish Innovators but did not separate from and forsake the Orthodox Primitive Catholick Doctrines of the Church of Rome The Church of England holds no other Doctrine than that which the Church of Rome Primitively did and which St. Paul taught them in his Epistle unto them viz. justification only by the bloud of Christ If upon this Foundation the Romanists have built up a great heap of Wood and Hay and Stubble added as things necessary to Salvation The Adoration of Images The Invocation of Saints The Supremacy of the Pope The lawfulness of Deposing and Murthering of Kings Masses Merits Pardons Purgatory and a number of the like Trash which were never prescribed by God in his Word never practised in the Church of God no not in the Church of Rome it self for the first Five Hundred Years after Christ they and not we are the Innovators we separated from them no farther than they separated from themselves and their original purity Let the Church of Rome return to her self and her original Purity and though we will not down on our knees and honour her for our Mother yet we will run with open Arms to embrace her and will own her for our elder Sister And though we will not give her a Supremacy over the rest of the National Churches of Christ yet we will grant her a primacy in the Church of Christ and because Rome was the chief City and Empress of the World her Bishop shall have the first place assigned him in a General Council if ever the World be so happy as to have one again To the Presbyters and their spawn of Sectaries who charge us with Popery and Superstition and say that we have borrowed most of our Rites and Ceremonies from the Papists we say That if nothing which the Papists believe and practise is to be believed and practised by us we must go look for a new God a new Christ and a new Heaven as well as a new Religion for they believe all the Articles of the Three Orthodox Creeds as well as we hope to be saved by the same Christ and to go to the same Heaven that we do When the Church of England separated from and renounced the Church of Rome she did not seperate from and renounce what she received from the sacred Scriptures from the four first general Councels and the Orthodox Fathers of the Church but only from what she innovated was brought in and intruded upon the Church of late years by the pride and avarice the superstition and fopperies of the Popes and their Consistories she piously separated the precious from the vile winnowed away the Chaff from the Wheat kept what she found pious and primitive but rejected what she found to be superstitious and novel Did not cast away both because the one was nought and under pretence of reforming utterly deform Religion did not run from one extream into another from Idolatry and the worshipping of Images into profaneness and the not vouchsafing to worship God himself from a bad religion into no Religion She kept such a Decorum in her carriage that when she repudiated and cast off the too too gawdy dress of the Babylonish Harlot she leapt not straight with some of her Neighbour Sisters into the contrary extream of a slovingly Garb but
having respect unto the Apostolical Canon 1 Cor. 14. ult she ordered all things in the publick worship of God to be done decently and in order The Ceremonies used in our Church are not many and burdensom but few and significant such as tend to Edification and instruction are not Popish and Superstitious but Pious and Primitive have their grounds in the Scripture the Approbation and Practice of Antiquity and the Church of Christ in all Ages Come come be not more nice than wise my over precise and scrupulous Bretheren but become ye now at length wise unto Salvation There is a better way sure to fly from one extream than to run into the other even to embrace the golden means that lye between What the Church of Rome as Popish hath innovated and is in her Erroneous and Superstitious reject with us and forsake But what the Church of Rome as it was Christian and a Depository of the Sacred Truth hath received from the Sacred Scriptures and Reverend Antiquity and is in her Pious and Primitive embrace with us and practise And let us become one joyn hearts and hands as well in practising the Vertues we find in the Church of Rome as in opposing the vices and errours which we find in it Surely they who for such things as are of an indifferent nature and which every particular Church hath power to alter and change to impose or abrogate separate from our National Church of England which I have proved to be a true Member of the Holy Catholick Church expose their Salvation to a great hazard for out of the Church as saith my second position there is no salvation to be obtained the Lord adding unto the Church daily such as shall be saved That the Church is Via Regia the King of Kings High-Way to Heaven and that there is no way for any one to obtain Salvation but by being added to it is most plainly demonstrated unto us by that which St. Peter 1 Ep. 3.20 calls the Type and Figure of it Noah's Ark For as all the People that inhabited the Old World excepting only those Eight Persons that entered into the Ark perished in the Flood of Waters which God brought on the Earth So all the people of the New World who enter not into the true Ark the Church shall be consumed in that dreadful fire wherewith God will one day burn up both the Heaven and the Earth And therefore Baptism which is the Sacrament of initiation the door whereby we enter into the Church is by St. Peter Ib. v. 21. said to save us as the Ark did those of the Old World that entered into it Illustrated also is this Truth unto us in Scripture by divers apt Similitudes and Comparisons Called is the Church Col. 1.18 A Body of which Christ is the Head and every true Believer a Member in particular Now as the Head doth not impart his influences and perform the Office of a Head to any Member that is separated and divided from it So Christ will not impart the Divine Influences of his Saving Grace and perform the Office of a Saviour unto any one but only unto such as are united and added to his Body the Church Compared is the Church to a Houshold and called Eph. 2.19 The Houshold of God now as the Pater Familias and Master of a Houshold though he may out of charity sometimes give unto others yet makes provision only for those of his own Family so though God out of his immense bounty and gracious goodness imparts his general Mercies unto all creatures preserveth both Man and Beasts causeth his Sun to shine and his Rain to fall on good and bad just and unjust yet his special favours and singular graces he reserves only for those of his own Family the Church He is good to Israel but chiefly unto those in Israel who are of a pure heart saith the Prophet Psalm 73.1 He is the Saviour of all men but especially of those that believe saith the Apostle 1 Tim. 4.10 Likened is the Church to a City and called Heb. 12.22 The City of the Living God Now as a man cannot be protected by the strength of a City and partake of the priviledges and immunities thereof unless he put himself within the Walls and become a Citizen So a Man cannot be protected by that strong City which hath Salvation appointed for its Walls and Bulwarks but only such a one as is admitted into the New Jerusalem and become a Fellow Citizen with the Saints Compared is the Church to a Mother and called Gal. 4.26 The Mother of all True Believers Now as no one can live a natural life without a Mother to conceive bring forth suckle and nourish him so no man can live a spiritual life the life of grace here and of glory hereafter who is not begotten of the immortal seed of the Word of his Mother the Church regenerated and new-born who is not fed and nourished up in sound Doctrine by the sincere Milk which issueth forth of her two Breasts the Books of the Old and New Testament And in this sence it is a trite and common saying among the Ancient Fathers That he shall not have God for his Father who hath not the Church for his Mother Likened is the Church by our Saviour John 15.1 to a Vine of which as he there tells us he is the heart his Elect the Branches now as that Branch cannot bear fruit except it abide in the Vine no more can ye saith he to his Disciples there v. 4. except ye abide in me intimating thereby most plainly that unless we be ingrasted into Christ the true Vine and added to his Church we can have no true hopes of obtaining Life and Salvation through him Since it is confirmed then unto us by such a cloud of Witnesses that out of the Church there is no Salvation to be obtained 1. Gross and absur'd is the opinion of those Libertines who think a man may be saved in any Religion So he live an outward moral civil Life The Jew in his Judiasm The Turk in his Mahometism The Heathen in his Paganism They may as well say that a man might be saved in the Flood out of the Ark by climbing up to the top of some House or Tree or Mountain That a man being separated from the body may live a branch Cut off from a Tree bear fruit 2. Fearful and dangerous is the estate of those Athiests and sensual worldlings who neither regard any Church nor think on any religion at all but live like beasts always grazing in the earth and never so much as lift up their hearts or eyes to heaven Ravenous Ravens may I grant find pleasure and present relief out of the Ark. And profane Esauites may think themselves happy enough in having plenty of belly chear and temporal blessings But the innocent spotless Dove when out of the Ark can find no place any where to set the sole of her feet
in which they may all safely joyn and unto which they may all chearfully say Amen Prayer is indeed a Duty unto the performance of which God hath oft in Scripture made promise of Salvation but no Prayers are so acceptable unto him or so pleasant with him as are publick and common prayers And never are his ears so open to hear nor his mercy so ready to grant requests as when he is called upon in the voice of his Church and all the Congregation of the faithful joyn together in prayer with one Accord as did the Apostles Acts 1.14 when with one voice and one heart with one mouth and with one mind with the same words and the same Spirit they presented their Supplications unto him And though some of our Priests who are more observant of the Peoples humour than of the Constitutions of the Church and seek rather to gain applause to themselves than glory to their God use according to the Geneva Mode a private spirited Prayer of their own conception in the publick Congregation before their Sermon yet in so doing they not only cross the practice of the primitive Church which never allowed any thing to be said before the Sermon but the Lords Prayer or gemina Salutatio but also the Orders and Constitutions of our National Church which instead of allowing any such thing expresly forbids it in her 55 Canon no private spirited prayer then being allowed to be used in our Church no such Prayer can be used without wilful and manifest contempt and disobedience which as we are assured 1 Sam. 15.22 will mar the best of Sacrifices and make them unacceptable unto God And as no Prayers ought to be said in the publick Congregation but the Apostles Prayer the Churches Prayer Common-Prayer so in the performance of this Duty we must be stedfast and permanent and with these primitive Christians continue stedfastly in prayer And surely such an Apostolical such a primitive such a religious way of serving God doth our Church prescribe in her Liturgy that she endeavours to make our whole Life Angelical and Divine for it not only prescribes a Form of Prayer to be used on Sundays and Holydays but a Form to be used on every day of the week And the Curate that ministreth in every particular Church or Chappel of this Nation is bound by the Rubris of the Church daily Morning and Evening to say Common Prayer in the Church wherein he Ministreth To be the Lords Remembrancer daily morning and evening to mind him of the peoples wants and to intercede for them is what ever the world thinks of it the chief and principal part of the Priestly office But alas such Priests are here now a days as rare to be found as black swans And the world had not more cause of old to complain of unpreaching Ministers than she has now of unministring Preachers most Ministers contenting themselves with a single preachment on the Lords day altogether neglecting the principal parts of their Priests office daily morning and evening to offer up unto God the Prayers and Praises of the Church in behalf of the people I know the Priests are wont to lay the fault on the People and to say that they will not come to joyn with them in Prayer on the week days and the People again retort it back upon the Priests and say that they will not be constant and continue in the practise of this duty But to speak truth to the shame of both parties it is from the profaness and impiety the worldliness and wickedness that now a days harbours in the hearts both of Pastor and People that this Heavenly imployment is altogether neglected amongst us and men can find time for the doing of any thing rather than the service of God But let him go what ever he be both for a worldly and a wicked one too who thinks he can make better use of his time than to bestow it upon God and his service or that any part of his time is better spent than that which is spent in his house in Prayer and Praises A man may I grant build a Church in his bosom and serve God in his heart though he never cloath his thoughts with words and he doth so whenever with holy Hannah he prayeth silently in his heart unto God A man may build a Church at his beds side and he doth so whenever he doth humbly prostrate himself in prayer before God A man may make a Church of his House and he doth so as oft as he there with his Family offers up the Sacrifice of Prayer and Praise unto God But oh it is the highest exaltation the noblest Devotion of a truly pious Soul when it praiseth God in his Sanctuary praiseth him in the Congregation of his Saints and he is with David Psal 122.1 Even ravished with joy and gladness whenever he is called upon to go into the House of the Lord to perform this Pray pray pray my beloved Brethren always in all places and upon all occasions but by no means neglect ye the publick Prayers of the Church Carry always about within you good thoughts and pious meditations and live ye holily and well so shall you make a Temple of your bodies and have always a Church within you Govern well your own families and bring up your Children and Servants in the nurture and admonition of the Lord and let the Burnt offering of prayer and praise be daily Morning and Evening offered up there so shall you always dwell in Hallowed ground and have with Philemon a Church at home in your own house But O let your feet never fail to to tread Gods Courts and to frequent his house of prayer when ever publick common Prayer though nothing else be said there so shall you manifest your selves to be Gods menial and houshold servants and shall not fail to partake of the blessings which he hath promised Psal 84.5 to those that dwell in his house and are always praising him Gloria in excelsis Deo FINIS