which the Kingdom is laid and it can neither be erected or being erected cannot stand when this is gone Now as Religion is necessary to uphold States and Kingdoms so the Publick exercise of it is as necessary to uphold Religion Let the Publick Assemblies cease and Religion will not long stand But we shall soon lose it if we do not meet together to joyn in the common Offices of it and we shall soon be tempted to have the less concern for one anothers safety and happiness when we are not tied together by the bond of one and the same Religion In which when we heartily joyn to serve God it makes us look upon one another as Brethren dear to the same God and Father of us all and therefore dear to one another This the Psalmist represents when he cryes out in the beginning of cxxxiii Psal Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity He would have all the Israelites to look upon themselves as Brethren being all descended from one and the same stock and having also the same God for their Father And then they dwelt together in unity not merely when they lived lovingly and unanimously pursued the same common Interest for the common good but then especially when they all met in one and the same place to Worship God together with one heart and with one Soul which linkt them closer than any other bond could do and provided best for their common security For it appears by what follows he chiefly aims at this assembling themselves unanimously together as the words are in the Hebrew O how good and pleasant is it for Brethren to dwell even together i. e. to meet all at God's house as common to them all Nothing more delightful than to behold such a general Assembly which he illustrates by two similitudes First Of the pretious Oyntment which ran down from the Head of the High Priest to the very skirt of his Garment And then by the Dew of Heaven which made the Hill of Hermon and the Mountain of Zion nigh to which the Temple stood exceeding fruitful And then in conclusion he adds the reason why this was so joyful a sight and so beneficial for there the Lord commanded the Blessing even Life for ever more He pours down his Blessings of all sorts as the Heavens do the Dew and as the pretious Oyntment ran down from Aaron's head upon a people that are thus unanimously joyned together in the Worship and Service of God who only can make them happy that 's meant by Life and can make them so for evermore In order to which He took care his Divine Service should be perpetually performed in the Temple whither they were to resort to do their Duty to him and to implore his Grace and Favour towards them And I cannot think it fell out by chance that next to the Psalm now mentioned is immediately placed a solemn Exhortation in the cxxxiv. Ps unto the Ministers of God to attend constantly upon their Duty in the Sanctuary there to praise the Lord who made Heaven and Earth and to give a Blessing to his people and pray for their prosperity out of Sion as that Psalm concludes I end this with the observation of a wise man that we being Members of a publick Body ought to serve it the best we can Now all the Service we do as Members of it is publick Service which is far more worthy than what we act for our selves privately and distinctly as much as a whole Society exceeds the worth of any one Man in it And what service is there we can do it like to that of maintaining God's true Religion by serious attendance with due care and frequency upon the publick Offices thereof whereby we shall exceedingly promote the common good of all and maintain Society it self by which we are kept and preserved in safety and prosperity For by doing publick honour to God we shall draw down publick Blessings upon our selves God himself will bless us as the Psalmist speaks He will bless them that fear the Lord both small and great The Lord shall increase you more and more you and your Children Ye are the Blessed of the Lord that made Heaven and Earth CXV Psal 13 14 15. Observe the Title he gives himself The Lord that made Heaven and Earth and you will not think it sutable to his super-excellent and transcendent Majesty to have his Worship confined to your Closets or to your private Houses but make it as publick as the Heaven and the Earth are which are exposed to the view of all In that spatious Temple of his as the Ancients were wont to call the World of which the Temple at Jerusalem was an imitation he is to be magnified and praised as openly and with as great multitudes as can possibly meet together that we may not seem to Worship some little petty Deity but the Universal Lord of all Thus I am faln upon the Argument wherewith I begun which cannot be too often pressed and hath a close connexion with this other which I have now handled For he having formed us to live together in Society and to keep closely United in one Body for our common safety and preservation teaches us thereby to own Him as the common Parent of us all and to contrive the best wayes we can whereby we may acknowledge him so to be And there is no way like this of meeting together in the greatest multitude that can assemble to magnifie and praise Him with one voice for his Goodness and declaring the Wonders he doth for the Children of Men commend our selves and all our concerns unto his most powerful protection By whom Kings Raign and Princes decree Justice and therefore he ought to be sought for their Guidance and Direction Protection and Safety and to be acknowledged as it is in the Collect for our King to be the High and Mighty King of kings Lord of lords the only Ruler of Princes who from his Throne beholds all that dwell on the Earth And they are all as the Prophet most admirably expresses it as Nothing less than Nothing and Vanity in comparison with his incomprehensible Greatness Who as that great King Nebuchadnezzar publickly acknowledged and desired all Nations and Kingdoms should take notice of it is the High God whose Kingdom is an Everlasting Kingdom and his Dominion is from Generation to Generation So he begins the Proclamation he caused to be made of his humble Devotion to the Divine Majesty by whom he had been abased as low as the Beasts of the Earth Dan. iv 2 3. After which he tells all the World I Blessed the Most High and I Praised and Honoured Him that liveth for ever whose Dominion is an Everlasting Dominion and his Kingdom is from Generation to Generation And all the Inhabitants of the Earth are reputed as Nothing and he doth according to his Will in the Army of Heaven and among the Inhabitants
the Psalmist nay with our Saviour Christ as I have before observed I will declare thy Name unto my Brethren in the midst of the Congregation will I praise thee Ye that fear the Lord praise him all ye Seed of Jacob glorifie him and fear him all ye Seed of Israel My praise shall be of thee in the great Congregation I will pay my Vows before them that fear him Psal xxii 22 23 25. I will praise thee O God among the People I will sing unto thee among the Nations For thy Merey is great unto the Heavens and thy Truth unto the Clouds Psal lvii 9 10. Blessed are they that dwell in thy House they will be still praising thee Psal lxxxiv 4. The Dead praise not the Lord neither any that go down into silence But we will bless the Lord from this time forth and for evermore Praise the Lord. Psal cxv 17 18. Which last words teach us that this is a piece of publick Service we do to God in this World which we are uncapable to perform when we are gone from hence Then the time is past of honouring God among Men by decâ—â—ring the sense we have of his Greatness and speaking good of his Name Foâ— though the dead are not quite silent yet what they say or do signifies nothiâ—â— to us in this World where we muâ—â— serve God while we live or else noâ— at all Which is a new consideration to quicken us to this Duty and to silence all those Objections which are apt to rise in our hearts against it Yes may some say We like the thing you press but are against the way of doing it in this Church In which some are distasted at all Forms of Prayer and others at that Form wherein we Worship God and him alone Unto the first of these I have this to say That when there were no Forms of Prayer left in this Church they that destroyed them did not dayly hold publick Assemblies Nor do they now make it their constant practice Which gives us too much cause to think they have not such a sense as is to be wished of their necessity But to let that pass supposing some have and that they only dislike a Form of Prayer it is something strange that the same Arguments which make them think dayly publick Assemblies to be needful should not also reconcile them to a Form of Prayer Which was constantly used by the Ancient Jews in their Assemblies as hath been undeniably proved by many of our Writers and was prescribed by our Blessed Lord and Master who made his Prayer I have shown for the publick Service in which he joyned with the Jews when he was at the Temple in Jerusalem and when he was in the Country went to the Synagogues which the Chaldee Paraphrast calls Houses of Praise in Isa vii 19. And so did his Apostles who themselves used a constant Form of Praise For they rested not Day and Night saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come Rev. iv 8. This as I showed before was their continual Hymn which they offered to God and it appears by St. Paul's usual way of recommending the Churches to whom he wrote unto the Grace of God that they had their Forms of Prayer also For he himself constantly used these words The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all 2 Thess iii. 17 18. The same Power every Bishop had in his Church to compose Prayers for the necessities of it as we may gather from 1 Tim. ii 1 2. Which Exhortation is directed not to the people but to Timothy who was to take care to have all Men recommended unto God in the publick Offices by Prayers and Supplications with Intercessions and Thanksgivings for Kings especially and for all in Authority c. This could not be done orderly as all things were to be in the Christian Church without a set Form of Words which Timothy we may well think composed For those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Prayers be made signifie as literally the Apostle would have Prayers and Supplications composed as that he would have them put up to God And I doubt not they signifie both First That they should be composed and then put up to God by the Church For you may observe further that the Apostles speak of this as their work Act. vi 4. where having bidden the Church look out some Men to be appointed to attend the business of providing for the poor they add but we will give our selves continually to Prayer and to the Ministry of the Word They made the Prayers where they were present as much as they ministred the Word Which is further manifest from hence that the Prayers of the Church of Jerusalem are called the Apostles Prayers Act. ii 42. And they continued stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrine and Fellowship and in breaking of Bread and in Prayers Observe here how all the faithful stedfastly continued in Prayers as well as hearing the Word And that they are First called Prayers in the Plural number not one but many Prayers and then that they are called the Apostles Prayers Prayers made by them For the word Apostles in the beginning belongs to all the three things that follow as well as to the first To the Apostles Fellowship and their breaking of Bread and their Prayers as well as to their Doctrine To be brief as John Baptist being a publick Minister sent of God taught his Disciples how to pray and our Blessed Lord taught his Apostles So his Apostles in like manner taught those whom they Converted according to the pattern Christ had left them and no question delivered the same power to those that should have the Supreme Guidance Direction and Government of the Church to compose Prayers suteable to Mens necessities in the several Nations where they lived and over whom they presided It may be thought indeed that the Extraordinary Gift they had in those dayes supplyed all But it is manifest both that every one had not that Extraordinary Gift of Prayer and that they also who had were to be so ordered and regulated in the exercise of it by the Governours of the Church that it might serve its Edification And nothing tended more to the Edification of the Church than that it should have a standing known Form of Prayers and Praises without which it could not be known how they Worshipped God and not depend merely upon that extraordinary Gift which was not constant but vouchsafed only on some special occasion according as God pleased to impart it Which is not said arbitrarily by me but it appears by a convincing Argument that this extraordinary Gift was not intended to serve the constant necessities of the Church but only some particular purposes for they who had it could not make others understand it and are therefore directed by the Apostle to pray they might be able to interpret that others might reap some benefit
to tell him our thoughts but is acquainted with the very beginning of them before they are formed and therefore hath bestowed upon us the faculty of speaking that we may tell our thoughts unto others and make them understand that we are Religiously affected towards him Who if he had intended Religion should be only a private business might have made us without Tongues because he needs no Language to acquaint him with our desires but hears our very thoughts and perceives the most inward motions of our Souls VVhich we have power to express in words not that he may understand us but for the benefit of others that they may understand our sense and know that we are lovers of God and be stirred up by our Prayers and Praises and Thanksgivings to the same Devotion towards him Whence David calls his Tongue his glory lvii Psal 8. because therewith he glorified God and as it there follows ver 9. Praised God among the people and sung unto him among the Nations This St Paul supposes when he saith Prayers ought not to be made in an unknown Tongue because if they were he that was not learned in that Tongue would not be able to say Amen 1 Corinth xiv 16. which word Amen was then it seems pronounced at the end of every Prayer by the whole company for whom the publick Minister spake to God and was as it were their mouth in what he said But though it was thus ordered to avoid confusion and that it might be distinctly known by every body what was said in the Church which had been impossible if they had all spoken together yet they thought themselves bound to signifie and declare that he spake their sense by saying Amen at the conclusion of the Prayer he made Which was as much in effect as if they had said every word of it themselves for it was as much as to say they approved of and consented to the whole And this every one did so audibly that a great multitude being gathered together in a Church it imitated the voice of Thunder as St. Hierom tells us And verily it is a great fault that we do not all thus joyn in the Publick Prayers at this day not only by our bodily presence but with our tongues which ought to express our consent to those Petitions and Thanksgivings which are offered up to God in the name of us all III. And there is a further reason for common Prayer beâ—â—â—â— the Blessings we enjoy in common together are far greater than those we enjoy singly and distinct one from another We all breath in one common Air and enjoy the comfort of one common Light The Heavens drop their fatness in common upon every mans Fields and Pastures And which is more than all the rest the great Blessings of order and Government the benefits of which we all enjoy by being knit in the same Society undeâ— the same Governour make it highâ— reasonable that we should joyn or selves together as one man to acknowledge these common Blessings which make us all happy For being made for society and enjoying innumerable benefits thereby which this is not a place to mention particularly we have lost all sense of what we are and what we have if we do not thiâ—â— our selves bound to give God thanâ— for them in one Body begging 〈◊〉 pardon for their abuse and beseeching their continuance I name not now the greatest Blesing of all which is the Redemptionâ— mankind by Jesus Christ in whiâ—â— not a few particular persons but aâ—â— in general are concerned it being thâ— common Salvation as St. Jude calls 〈◊〉 because it belongs to the next head where we shall consider mankind aâ— Church bound to bless God above a things for his Grace in the Lord Jesâ— Let us look at present only to the visible Heavens which incircle us aâ—â— and proclaim aloud as the Psalâ—â— speaks the Glory of God throughout the World Behold the Sun that great Minister of God which preaches as I may say every where and publishes not to one place or Country but to the whole Earth the Praises of the Lord. It is not a private Whisper but a publick Cry which the Heavenly Bodies make there is neither Speech nor Language but their voices are heard among them Their sound is gone out into all Lands and their words into the ends of the World which tell us what we should do and call upon us to make the voice of his Praise to be heard as much and as far as we are able who hath appointed such illustrious Creatures to do us perpetual service Which is the meaning of the Holy Pslamist when he calls upon all Creatures in Heaven and in Earth both visible and invisible to praise the Lord. Psal cxlviii That is he excites himself and others to give God Thanks for them and to acknowledge the Praises which they continually give him His most Glorious perfections that is which they declare and set forth in the most publick manner For they speak to all as much as they do to one the most excellent immense greatness and goodness of the Lord who in Wisdom also hath made them all and this we ought as publickly to declare it being all that we can do for the Honour of his Name but only live accordingly which this also teaches us and makes absolutely necessary that we may eternally praise him There is an excellent Discourse 〈◊〉 remember in St. Chrysostome to this purpose in his ix Homily upon Genesis where showing how God hath preferred Mankind above all other Creatures he concludes with this exhortation Let us therefore give him Thanks for all these benefits he hath heaped on us This is no grievous no burdensome thing which he expects from us for what trouble is there in testifying our sense of his loving kindness in confessing out obligations in returning our thankful acknowledgments for them 〈◊〉 Which He who is all-sufficient iâ— himself stands in no need of but we ought to learn thereby to love the Author of all good and not to be ungrateful but study to live sutable to such a careful Providence over us Let us not I beseech you be negligent in this but think with our selves continually both what the common benefits are we all enjoy and the private ones which he hath conferred upon any of us both those which are manifest and confessed by all and those which are concealed perhaps and proper to our selves alone And by all let us excite our selves to give him Thanks which is the greatest Sacrifice the most perfect Oblation Especially when we all joyn together I may add to confess his Goodness and declare the Wonders he doth for the Children of Men. And whosoever he is that hath these things continually in mind and reflects upon his own meanness as well as the immenseness of the Divine Mercy how he governs us and dispenses his Blessings to us not regarding what our sins deserve but what is becoming his
in a vision ascending and descending upon a Ladder which stood on the Earth and reached unto Heaven he said as soon as he was awake how dreadful is this place that is with what reverence should I behave my self here this is no other but the House of God and this is the Gate of Heaven He concludes God to be present because the Angels were who are his Ministers and Attendants And accordingly we are to understand these words of the Apostle as intended to signifie a Divine presence among us when we are reverently assembled together to Worship God in his Holy places Which the Ancient Christians lookt upon as a singular incouragement to attend upon the Publick Prayers because then a Christian prays with the Angels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are the words of Clemens Alexandrinus as already L. vii Strom. p. 746. especially at that time equal even to an Angel and will not be out of the precinct of those Holy Guardians when he prayes alone but then also have their Company Of which Origen hath a set Discourse in his Book of Prayer lately published Part. 2da Num. 20. where mentioning the words of the Psalmist among others The Angel of the Lord incampeth round about them that fear him c. He thus proceeds it is probable that when many are assembled together sincerely to the Glory of Christ the Angel of every one of them there pitcheth his Tent together with him that is committed to his Charge and Custody so as to make 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a double Church where the Saints are gathered together one Church of Men and another Church of Angels IX But if there were nothing of this in it yet the Communion of Saints here on Earth which is an Article of our Creed should invite us unto the Publick Service For how do we maintain communion with them if we joyn not with those among whom we live in the Assemblies of the Saints That is of Christians who are all a Holy people to the Lord by their solemn dedication to him in their Baptism and by their Holy profession and meeting together continually for Holy Offices Which if any Man forsake he is no longer Holy but Prophane renouncing so far the Christian Faith which teaches him to keep the Communion of Saints by having Fellowship with them in Prayer especially in the Eucharist which is the Communion of Christ's Body and Blood By partaking of which we have the nearest Communion also one with another being made one Body as I have said already by partaking all of that one Bread 1 Cor. x. 17. Communion indeed or Fellowship is in one place made a thing distinct from breaking of Bread and Prayers Act. ii 42. and signifies some think communicating to each others necessities Which Notion of Communion if we understand to be meant in the Creed it makes no less to my purpose than the other For we must consider that this was done in their Publick Assemblies whereby their communicating to the needs of their Brethren became an acceptable Offering unto God together with their Prayers This we learn from the 1 Cor. xvi 1 2. Where St. Paul speaks of the Collections for the Saints as a part of the business of the first day of the Week both there and in the Churches of Galatia When they did not forget this well-pleasing Sacrifice as it is called Heb. xiii 16. but acknowledged God's bounty to themselves by the relief they sent to others and by such a publick contribution maintained also a sense and fellow-feeling of one anothers condition and made a profession that they all belonged to one and the same Body though never so far distant one from another The Sense of which we are apt to lose when we joyn not together in such actions of piety Whereby Brotherly Love and Kindnese is likewise nourished and we are knit together in the tenderest Affection while we look upon one another not only as Children of the same common Father but as Limbs of the same Body Who naturally have the same care one for another and whether one Member suffer all the Members suffer with it or one Member be honoured all the Members rejoyce with it 1 Corinth xii 25 26. In this Brotherly Love and in the same Faith some think the Unity of the Body of Christ intirely consists But they should consider that this Brotherly Love and Care flows from the Unity of Christ's Body which consists therefore in the conjunction of every Member with the rest and keeping communion one with another in all the common Offices of Religion in Christian Assemblies From which whosoever departs or refuses to joyn therein he breaks the Unity of the Body of Christ which is his Church And though he do the same thing alone which is done in those Assemblies yet it is not the same thing in the account of Christ who looks upon such a Man as gone from him by going from his Body the Church X. I will add one thing more which is that the Service of God in the Church triumphant in Heaven is a Publick Service and they do not Worship God separately there but joyn together in his Praises This we are taught by St. John Rev. vii 11. where after a great multitude had been represented to him which no Man could number of all Nations and Kindreds and Tongues who stood before the Throne and before the Lamb crying with a loud voice and saying Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the Throne and unto the Lamb whereby no doubt is signified the Service of the Christian Church then it follows that All the Angels also stood round about the Throne and about the Elders and the four Beasts and fell before the Throne on their Faces and Worshipped God saying Amen Blessing and Glory and Wisdom and Thanksgiving and Honour and Power and Might be unto our God for ever and ever They said that is Amen to the Christian Service and also added their own giving Glory to God in one Body for it is the voice of all Angels as the Christian Church did Let this be seriously pondered and we shall indeavour to approach as near unto them as we can by joyning as they do in one Society of the Church to Worship God For so doing we joyn our selves to the Society also of the Holy Angels as the Angels St. John here informs us do to the Society of Christian Worshippers They and we make but one Body in Christ in whom God hath gathered together in one all things both which are in Heaven and which are on Earth And this Unity consists it is manifest by this Vision of St. John in their communion one with another in Holy Offices which the Church in Heaven where it is become most perfectly one doth most sacredly keep and preserve CHAP. XVIII A Recapitulation of the four foregoing Chapters with some Inferences from thence LAY now all these things together that the Church in the very notion
of it is an Assembly of Men and Women called to meet together and therefore the Christian Church is such an Assembly called to joyn together in Worshipping God by Christ Jesus who himself hath supposed this in the Prayer he gave his Disciples and hath promised his special Presence in such Assemblies which the Apostles constantly held and there received the first and best Fruits of his Love in the descent of the Holy Ghost which drew all Converts every where into the same Blessed conjunction for which Holy Places were appointed where they constantly Assembled and where the extraordinary Gift of Prayer was to be made common or else lookt upon as of little value where God hath appointed his Ministers to attend and there offer up the Prayers of his people and bless them in his Name where the Angels also are present and delight to see us assembled that we may maintain the Communion of Saints here on Earth and be fitted for the company of the Blessed in Heaven who all joyn together in giving Blessing and Praise and Honour unto him whom we Worship who is far Exalted above all Blessing and Praise either of ours on Earth or of theirs in Heaven Consider I say all this and then think what an errour they live in who make little or no account of the Publick Assemblies but imagine they can pray and serve God as well by themselves alone This is a most unchristian thought directly contrary to the very frame of our Holy Religion which therefore ought with all diligence to be exploded out of every one of our minds As for those who do not barely neglect the Publick Service but refuse to joyn in it they are still in a far worse condition having broken themselves off from the Body of Christ which the Ancient Church thought so heinous a crime that they lookt upon their Prayers as an abomination For so I find in the Council of Antioch * Canon 2. that such Christians were condemned as going into any private House prayed together with those who would not joyn in the Prayers of the Church None of the Church were to joyn in their Prayers if any did they thought it equal to the crime of communicating with Excommunicated Persons The like I find in the Council of Laodicea And the Canons ascribed to the Apostles speak to the same purpose Can. 33. Can. 10. And this Sentence of those Councils is very conformable to the sense of the Ancient Jews whose Maxime this was as Mr. Thorndike * Relig. Assembl p. 173. observes He that dwells in a City where there is a Synagogue and prays not there with the Congregation this is he who is called a BAD NEIGHBOVR And well may he be called bad who will have no Society in the best things who cuts himself off by his own act from the Congregation of the Lord who will not afford his Neighbours the help of his Prayers who lives as if the World could be Governed without taking any notice of God the Supreme Governour who directly overthrows the Christian Religion and destroys the very notion of a Church who hath no regard to Holy places and slights God's Ministers who withdraws himself from God's special presence and protection and defies all the Blessed company of Heaven Among whom he can never hope to find any entertainment nor to be received into the Coelestial Habitations having shut himself here out of the Society of Saints and the place where God's Honour dwelleth Would to God such things as these were seriously and deeply considered by us all that our minds might be awaked to a diligent and constant attendance upon the Publick Assemblies Which our Lord hath taken the greatest care to establish and unto which he hath also granted very high Priviledges lest they should fall into contempt or neglect through Mens Idleness or Covetousness or Conceitedness or by any other means whatsoever Certain it is if we had an hearty Love to our Religion and understood it we could not but be so in Love with the Publick Exercises of it as every day if it lay in our power to go into God's house and there recommend our selves and his whole Church to his Grace and Mercy For there is no way it is evident from what hath been said to uphold and support the Church like to this we being a Church by meeting together to have communion in the same Prayers Which the oftner we have the more we look like a Church and act like Members of the Body of Christ who are combined and knit together for mutual preservation As on the contrary the seldomer we meet the less there is of the face of a Church among us which cannot be preserved from ruin when the Publick Assemblies are generally neglected because the Church falls to decay by that very neglect Let us therefore set our selves to maintain the Church of which we are Members by maintaining Publick Assemblies and suffering no day to pass without a solemn meeting in as full a Body as we can make for the duties of our Religion This would be both an Ornament and a Strength and Establishment to our Religion The Truth which we profess would hereby be both honoured and confirmed and appear with greater Authority as well as Beauty in the Eyes of all its Adversaries when they beheld the Multitude the Unanimity and the Order and Constancy of those that assert it The better and gentler sort of them would be the more easily won to joyn with us and they whose hearts are alienated from us would be the less inclin'd to set themselves against us And for the Grace and Favour of God which is the chief thing of all Christians may promise it to themselves for their protection against all their Adversaries when they constantly and earnestly seek it with their joynt Prayers and Supplications Which will be powerful also for the setling such as are wavering in their Religion whom the constant Authority likewise of a great Number of faithful people cannot but be of much moment to contain in their Duty for Men are ashamed to forsake a multitude when they easily desert small Numbers The Ancient Christians were so possessed with this sense that they lookt upon their Prayers as the impregnable Bulwark of the Church an unshaken Garrison terrible to the Devils and salutary to God's pious Worshipppers a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Chrysost Tom. 1. p. 757. Edit Fr. D. In so much that St. Basil speaking of God's gathering the Waters together which he called Seas and saw it was good Gen. i. 16. falls into a pious Meditation how much more acceptable to him such a Collection or gathering together of the Church must needs be b in Hexameron Hom. iv sub fin in which the mixed sound of Men Women and Children making a noise like the Waves dashing against the Shore is sent up to God in Prayers A profound Calm and Tranquillity shall preserve such
and the Worship of God and a little after that he also appointed stated hours for these Sacrifices to teach us that the Church cannot be without a certain Discipline he then concludes Ac hodie nisi obstaret nimius torpor utile esset quotidiè haberi tales conventus and at this day if too much sluggishness did not hinder it would be useful every day to hold such Assemblies And in his Discourse upon the fourth Commandment L. 2. Institutionum Cap. viii Sect. 32. he not only asserts that Ecclesiastical Assemblies are enjoyned by God's words and that experience sufficiently shows their necessity and that the dayes and times must be stated and set or else they cannot be at all c. but in answer to those who objected Why do we not rather meet every day that distinction of dayes may be taken away He thus replies Vtinam illud quidem daretur c. Would to God we were able so to do For certainly it was a worthy Spiritual Wisdom which spared a little portion of time every day from other business for God's Service But if we cannot obtain from the infirmity of many that dayly Assemblies may be held and respect to Charity doth not permit us to exact more of them Why do we not yield Obedience to that which we see by the Will of God is imposed upon us And he thus concludes his Explication of that Commandment This general Doctrine is especially to be held That Holy Meetings be diligently and Religiously observed and such external helps constantly used as may serve to support and cherish the Worship of God lest Religion either fall to the Ground or languish among us To which I think fit to add what his opinion was concerning set times of Prayer for his Words are very instructive Upon Psal lv 17. his note is That from the mention there of Morning Evening and Noon we may gather that pious Men had stat as hâ—ras set hours for Prayer in those times Which good Men observed in their private Devotions because then the publick Service of the Temple was performed by God's appointment For the daily Sacrifice was offered every Morning and Evening And the mid-Day saith he was appointed for other Sacrifices The reason of which he gives upon the 18th ver Because we are backward to this Duty therefore God in fixing certain hours of Prayer intended to cure this infirmity Which same reason ought to be extended to private Prayer as appears by this place with which the Example of Daniel agrees And upon that practice of Daniel he thus writes in his notes on Dan. vi 10. This Example is worth the noting of praying three times a day because nisi quisque nostrum praefigat sibi certas horas ad precandum facile nobis excidet memoria We easily forget this Duty unless every one of us prescribe to our selves certain hours for Prayer From all which it is apparent that he lookt upon set hours for publick Divine Service as appointed by God and that he also thought the reason of it to be perpetual Because if we be left to our liberty we shall easily forget our Duty and perform that at no time which we imagine may be done at any time as well as at that which is appointed The benefit of which is this among others that where there are no publick Assemblies or Men cannot by reason of sickness or other urgent cause attend them they may at those set times offer some short Prayer to God in private and desire the publick Prayers of the Church where they are continually made may be accepted with him By which means they are in some sort present there and the Prayers they make in private become a part of the publick they praying as Members of that Body which is then met together in the House of God Thus St. Peter prayed privately as I observed above at the sixth hour when they were praying at the Temple and in Christian Assemblies and though alone at that time yet he chose the same hours with theirs that his Prayers might be joyned with the rest and not be single but united desires Thus St. Chrysostome directs his people in answer to those who objected unto his pressing Arguments for attending the publick Prayers how is it possible for a Secular Man ingaged in business 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. to pray at the three hours every day Hom. iv de Anna. Tom. 2. and run to Church To which he replies in this manner though it be not easie for every Man to run to the Church so oft yet it is easie for him even when he is in publick business to pray to God unto which not so much the voice is requisite as the mind And therefore let no Man excuse himself by saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the House of Prayer is not near to mine for if we be watchful the Grace of the Holy Spirit will make every one of us a Temple of God She that sits at the Spindle may look up to Heaven in her thoughts and call upon God with fervent desires and so may he that is in the Market or in a Journey or in his Shop making Shoes in like manner a Servant he that buyes Meat he that dresses it and all the rest when it is not possible for them to come to Church they may notwithstanding make fervent and lively Prayers to God who doth not despise the place where they are made but desires alone warm Affections and a serious composed Mind And he concludes thus My meaning in all that I have said is this That we should go to Church as oft as is possible and when we cannot pray at home in great quietness and tranquillity Which counsel if we would all follow that is if as many as can would come to the House of God every day and if they that cannot would let their hearts be there what Blessings might we not expect from God What a flourishing Church and happy Kingdom might we hope to see And there are a great many people I am sure have leisure enough in all Cities and Towns to fill the Churches where there are publick Prayers Nothing but that sluggish dulness Mr. Calviâ— speaks of is the hinderance Which if men would shake off and awakeâ— themselves to serious thoughts of God and the need they have of him and 〈◊〉 constant Prayer to him and such like things as I have represented theâ—â— would be publick Prayers where noâ— there are none and Men would crowâ— every day into the House of Goâ— where there are to Worship him and give him Thanks and beseech hiâ— to be gracious to them As for thâ—â— whose condition and business is such that they cannot possibly attend them nothing can hinder them but their own Wills from going thither in their Wills from going thither in their minds with serious Thoughts and hearty Affections intreating the Father of Mercies to hear the Prayers of those who are there