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
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