of us have the face to rob him of that day by spending it any otherwise than to his honour and glory Satan I doubt not will be ready to tempt you sometimes in this case as he tempted our first parents in reference to the forbidden Fruit and as he then upbraided God with niggardliness in that he had not given them freedom to eat of all the Trees in the Garden insinuating as if the Lord had restrainted them from the use of that one out of some self-end for said the Serpent the Lord doth know that in the day you eat thereof you shall be as God knowing good and evil I doubt not I say but as Satan dealt with our first parents in reference to the forbidden fruit so may he deal with you in reference to the Lords Day insinuating as if it were very hard that you may not take your liberty and recreate your self on that day being tir'd with the toyl and labour of all the week beside But my Son have a care of Satans subtilty and let the consideration of Gods bounty to us in the concern answer all the sly suggestions of the wicked one For if God had been pleased to allow us but one day for our use and reserve six wholly for his own we should have had no reason to have complained he being our Creator and we the work of his hands but since he has been so liberal as to grant us six days for our Worldly business and reserved one only wholly to himself we are the most unreasonable creatures in the World if we are not content with so liberal a proportion and strive to the utmost of our power to glorify him on that day according to his own appointment Whensoever therefore you are tempted to absent your selves from the publick Worship of God give no entertainment to any such temptation but reject it with an indignation like that of Joseph to his wanton mistress and say how can I do this great wickedness and sin against God Have a care of being so unjust and ungrateful to God upon whom you have your whole dependance as to be seduced by the ill example of those profane people in this licentious age who are so insensible of the grace and mercy of God in Christ Jesus that altho without that they are liable to perish every moment but through the Divine patience and forbearance are suffered to live year after year yet cannot find in their hearts to spend that one day in the Lords service which he has purposely set apart for his own more solemn worship Our blessed Saviour as St. Luke tells in the parable of the wise Steward Luke 12. 43. has pronounced the Servant blessed whom the Lord when he cometh shall find faithful and conscientiously discharging his duty but what shall become then of those profane People whom the Lord if he should come to judgement according to the ancient tradition of the Church upon the Lords day shall find either sleeping upon their Beds or busying themselves about the World making provision for the Flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof or any way gratifying their sensual appetites instead of doing the work of the Lord. Do you think that if that terrible day of the Lord shall come at such a time it will not be infinitely more comfortable to be found upon your Knees lifting up your Heart in prayer to God and praising him with a chearful voice in giving attention to the ministry of his holy Word or finally in exercising your self some way or other to the glory of God Thus having given you my advice in reference to your constant attendance upon the publick worship of God I shall in the 2d place shew you in what manner you ought to behave your self in the Congregation of Gods people that so your going thither may be for the better and not for the worse First therefore you must consider this that when you go to serve the Lord in those places which are set apart for Divine Worship you then go into Gods more especial presence For so David testifies Ps 100. 1 2. Where he exhorts the Jews to praise God the more chearfully in the Temple as being the special place of his gracious presence O come says he let us sing unto the Lord let us heartily rejoice in the strength of our Salvation Lâ—t us come before his presence with thanksgiving and shew our selves glad in him with Psalms And because we should not think that he is less present now in the religious Assemblies of Christians than he was in the Jewish Temple our Saviour has expresly declared Mat. 18. 20. that when two or three are gathered together in his name he is there in the midst of them And you may be sure that if he will vouchsafe to honour so small a number with his presence as two or three so assembled to do him worship and service he will not deny his gracious presence to the greatest Congregation And upon the account of such places being dedicated to the service of God and of his being more especially present in them upon these accounts I suppose it was that St Paul reproved the Corinthians so severely for their rude behaviour in the Church 1 Cor. 11. 22. what says he have you not houses to eat and to drink in or despise ye the Church of God Your heart therefore being thus preposessest with an awful dread and reverence of the Divine presence in the house of prayer I would advise you in the 2d place to make a sutable preparation before you enter into the house of God See that you order your necessary business therefore every Lords Day in the morning so as that you may go to Church before the beginning of Divine Service But before you go among other preparations I advise you to read over the Psalms the first and second Lessons as also the Epistle and Gospel appointed for that day and as you read observe and meditate upon the most material passages contained therein and if there be any thing more remarkable than ordinary which you do not understand be not ashamed to desire information of any in the Family that may be able to give it By this means you will be better able to read those portions of Scripture with the Minister in time of divine service more attentively and in all probability the Holy Spirit may then dart more pious thoughts into your mind and more enlighten your understanding than it did upon your first reading them over in private Having thus exercised your self till it is time for you to go to Church so soon as you are got thither see that you do not loyter in the Church yard neither make it your business to discourse with others about any worldly matters unless it be a word or two of very great necessity for you will be in great danger of having those things run in your mind and distract your thoughts in time of divine service which you have
take delight in bearing a part with your brethren in making the Responses singing Psalms and in all other parts of Divine service And this you will certainly do when once you have got your heart sincerely affected with a sense of Gods infinite love and mercy toward you For so we find King David speaking of himself and telling us that the great experience which he had of Gods love to him influenced him so much that he could not refrain from singing praises to him Ps 63. because thy loving kindness is better than life my lips shall praise thee again v. 5. my Soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness when my mouth praiseth thee with joyful lips Nor did that pious King desire to be singular in this matter for in Ps 95. v. 1. he encourages all others to the like practice saying O come let us sing unto the Lord let us heartily rejoyce in the strength of our Salvation In the next place as you are to reverence God by opening your lips that your mouth may shew forth his praise so you are to reverence him by your actions and gestures as by lifting up your hands and eyes in prayer to God standing up at the recital of the Creed Hymns and Gospel by kneeling or at least standing up in time of Prayer and keeping your head uncovered all the time of divine service and while the Minister is preaching I say that you are to kneel or at least to stand up in time of prayer because both are allowed to be agreeable to the word of God and the practice of good men but I must needs say that kneeling is much more commendable and a better way of expressing your humility than standing up is when you pray to God In some cases it 's true standing up in time of prayer is not to be blamed as in the case of some natural infirmity when a man cannot kneel without very great pain and uneasiness or when a Congregation is so much crowded that it would be very inconvenient or impossible to do it or when the rules of the Church require it as it does of the Minister for very good reasons in some parts of divine service even when the people are required to kneel In these I say and perhaps there may be some other the like cases to pray standing is not reproveable But then in such cases you should take care to give some other demonstrations of your humility faith and reverence as by lifting up your hands and eyes to Heaven by smitting your breast and the like For to stand up all the time of prayer when you are required to kneel down and may do it without any inconvenience to your self to others and never so much as open your lips or move your hands and eyes in honour to God is a shrewd sign that there 's but very little true devotion in your heart But for sitting still all the time of Prayer as too many do this my Son I must needs tell you is not only the greatest irreverence but a most rude and unmannerly behaviour in the more especial presence of God and his holy Angels And how much soever those people who won't be disswaded from it may pretend to honour God in their hearts yet 't is certain they dishonour him before men which I am sure is a very great provocation for the Lord hath said them that honour me I will honour but they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed I will not pretend to judge the secrets of such mens hearts but let them ask their own consciences what the reason is that they kneel down to prayer in their own houses and yet fit down all the time of Prayer in the House of God and then tell me whether the true reason of their irreverence in the Church dos not proceed from their want of a true love and respect for the publick service and if so where 's their sincerity For as it may reasonably be suspected that that pretended invisible piety which is not attended with visible purity is a false or rather no piety at all and that those persons who make no conscience of serving God publickly take little or no care to serve him privately so it may without breach of charity be supposed that those persons who refuse to give unto God the outward reverence of their Bodies in the publick congregation where he is more especially to be honoured have but very little reverence toward him in the heart For if they kneel down to prayer in their own Houses out of a hearty reverence to God they are certainly much more obliged to do it in the house of prayer because in so doing they give a more publick Testimony of that honour and reverence which is due to the Almighty It is very observable that in the Prophet Malachy's days as we read Ch. 1. 7. the People were come to that degree of Profaneness that they thought any thing was good enough to be offered up in sacrifice to the Lord and yet still they would be thought to have a mighty reverence for him and his worship but see how God resented their irreverent behaviour toward him a Son says he honoureth his Father and a Servant his Master If I then be a Father where is my honour and if I be a Master where is my fear And yet notwithstanding the contempt of the Lord and his Ordinances they would be still ready to vindicate themselves and say wherein have we despised thy name and wherein have we polluted thee And therefore the Lord tells them plainly that they had dishonoured him in thinking that it was no great matter what it was that they offer'd in Sacrifice any thing as they thought was good enough to be killed So that the Lord would have them consider whether an earthly Prince would be pleased with a Subject that should behave himself toward him in such a manner if ye offer the blind for Sacrifice is it not evil and if ye offer the lame and the sick is it not evil offer it now unto thy Governor will he be pleased with thee or accept thy person Here you see that however some people may pretend to an inward reverence of God while they give no outward Testimony of it in their words and actions yet the Lord is not satisfied with it he does not think himself to be honoured by those ways which our superiours take to be a dishonour to them For should these persons behave themselves in the presence of an earthly King or of an inferiour Magistrate as they do in the presence of the King of Heaven and Earth they would be lookt upon to be very rude and unmannerly and it cannot reasonably be supposed but that the Almighty God will in like manner resent the behaviour of those who act directly contrary to that rule prescribed in his holy words of doing all things in his worship decently and in order most certain it is that all the holy men
of old I mean the religious Kings and Priests and Prophets before Christ were of this opinion and therefore we read often of their kneeling down and sometime of their standing up but never of their sitting down when they went to Prayer Thus we read 2 Chr. 6. 13. Of King Solomon's kneeling down upon his knees Dâ—n 6. 10. of Daniel 's kneeling down 3 times a day and praying Ez. 9. 5. of Ezrah 's falling upon his knees and spreading out his hands to the Lord. Nor was this outward reverence peculiar to the Church of God before Christ for under the New Testament we find it also practis'd as well by our Saviour himself as his Disciples For Luke 22. 41. It 's said Jesus kneeled down and prayed Acts 7. 60. Stephen kneeled down and pray'd for his murtherers Peter in like manner Act 9. 40. kneeled down and pray'd for Dorcas Paul also as it 's said Acts 20. 36. kneeled down and prayed for the Disciples at Miletus and not only Paul himself but the Congregation of the Disciples that were with him at Tyre upon the taking leave of one another kneeled down on the shore and pray'd Act 21. 5. Now can it be supposed that our Saviour and his disciples did not understand the will of the Lord in this matter as well as any of us do now adays or shall we pretend to a more pure and spiritual way of worshipping God than they did since therefore they thought fit to practice outward reverence in prayer let us walk by the same rule and follow their example And then as to keeping off your Hat all the time that the Minister is preaching and expounding unto you the word of God this also you must be careful to observe and do For still you should suppose your self to be in God's more especial presence as well while his Ambassador is expounding unto you the Scripture as while he is offering up his prayers to God in your behalf If therefore you are not able through some natural infirmity to be bare-headed all the time of Divine Service and Sermon you may then make use of a decent Cap for tho the Head be partly cover'd with that yet it being not such a common covering as your Hat but such a one as is accounted to be consistent with reverence among men therefore it is no dishonour to God for he expects to be reverenc'd by us in those ways by which we reverence one another As therefore we would not presume to go and sit down in the presence of an earthly King when we petition his Majesty for some favour to be granted us nor confidently put on our Hats while he speaks unto us but would behave our selves with that humility and reverence which is usual in those cases so neither should we presume to behave our selves irreverently and proudly in Gods presence But besides such irreverence is to be avoided because of the great scandal which is thereby given to those of the Congregation who are truly devout for so St. Paul teaches us 1 Cor. 10. 32. that we should give no offence neither to the Jew nor to the Gentiles nor to the Church of God And lastly it is to be consider'd that such irreverence is a very great piece of injustice a robbing God of that honour which is due unto him for as he made and doth preserve not only the Heart but the outward members as the Hands Eyes Tongue and the whole man so all of them should concur in rendring their tribute of reverence and service to him And thus having shewed you the necessity of reverencing God both outwardly in your Body and inwardly in your Soul you may from hence learn to avoid the two dangerous extreams of profaneness and superstition and neither be discouraged from the practice of outward reverence by those who shall censure you for being formal nor incouraged to the neglect of inward reverence by those who place the whole of their religion in an outward shew And therefore as I said at first be perswaded at all times when you go to the House of God to consider with your self before hand what you are going about and compose your thoughts in such a manner as that you may behave your self all the time of prayer and other parts of Religious Worship with all seriousness and gravity as in the presence of an All-seeing infinitely pure and glorious God And now because I am sensible that there are many who are guilty of some mistakes in expressing their reverence in publick Worship according to the rules of the Church of England through want of a right information in the matter to prevent your being also guilty of the like I shall here take occasion to let you know wherein one or two of their mistakes do lye In the first place therefore it is very usual with many who kneel at the Confession to stand up or sit down at the Absolution And perhaps the reason of their standing up is because they observe the Minister does so Whereas you must know that there is not the same reason for the one which there is for the other for as to the Ministers standing up at the Absolution this is done to signify that Authority by which he pronounces to those who are truly penitent the pardon and remission of their sins it being more proper that all Ministerial acts of Authority should be done standing but at the same time it is fit that the whole Congregation should continue kneeling as at their Confession and behave themselves in the humble posture of Penitents while with the most submissive attention they hear Gods Gracious Declaration of pardon pronounc'd unto them by the mouth of his Minister In the next place it is also usual with many to stand up at the Communion Service or at least so soon as the Minister begins to read the ten Commandments and this it 's probable they use to do because they observe the Minister then standing up but as I said before so here again it is to be consider'd that there is not the same reason for both the Minister stands up because it is the most proper gesture for him while he declare the Law of God unto the people but at the same time it is most proper for the Congregation to kneel because at the conclusion of every Commandment they are to pray to God for the pardon of their former transgressinos and for Grace not to transgress again saying Lord have mercy upon us and incline our hearts to keep this law That you may not therefore follow the example of others who are either ignorant or careless in this matter you may do well to ask your own conscience whether there be any of the ten Commandments which you have not broken either in thought word or deed and whether you are not still in danger of transgressing the same and then say whether you have not need with all humility both of Soul and Body to pray unto the
the practice of holiness one of the easiest and pleasantest things in the whole world you 'll take no greater pleasure in any thing than in denying your self nor find any greater comfort in the world than in getting the victory over it And now I shall conclude this head with those excellent words of our Church at the latter end of the office for Baptism where we are told that Baptism doth â—â—present unto us our profession which is to follow the example of our Saviour Christ and to be made like unto him that as he died and rose again for us so should we who are baptiz'd dye for sin and rise again unto righteousness continually mortifying all our evil and corrupt affections and daily proceeding in all virtue and godliness of living And now I hope you will see no reason for neglecting to be confirm'd but as our Church has explain'd the meaning of this word that being now come to the years of discretion and understanding what your God-fathers and God-mothers promised for you in Baptism you your self with your own mouth and consent openly before the Church will ratify and confirm the same and also promise that by the Grace of God you will evermore endeavour your self faithfully to observe such things as you by your own confession have assented unto Here 's nothing impossible as I have shew'd required of you nothing that 's truly difficult to a willing mind assisted by the Grace of Gods holy Spirit which is never wanting to those that heartily seek after it nothing finally but what is attended with the greatest comfort and satisfaction of mind in this life and which will render us capable through Jesus Christ of eternal glory in the life to come Whensoever therefore you shall be inform'd of the Bishops intention to confirm the youth of this Diocess I desire you not to neglect the first opportunity but take the best care you can to prepare your self for it by fasting and prayer some time before seriously meditating upon that solemn vow which you are to renew in the presence of Almighty God And when the time comes if no unavoidable accident shall hinder you repair to the place appointed with all possible seriousness and composedness of mind there standing before the Bishop give diligent attention to him while he asks you together with the rest whether you do in the presence of God and that Congregation renew the solemn promise and vow that was made in your name at your Baptism ratifying and confirming the same in your own person and acknowledging your self to believe and to do all those things which your Godfathers and Godmothers then undertook for you and then make answer with an audible but yet humble voice and truly Christian courage saying I do After this be sure that you heartily join with the Bp in his prayers to God for you and all that are then confirm'd and when he shall lay his hand upon your head praying over you while you kneel before him let your devout affections go along with your words saying Amen heartily to that as to all the other Prayers of the Church And lastly when the Bp has pronounc'd the blessing see that you depart with a joyful and glad heart and yet humbly praising God in your mind that he has spar'd your life till that time and given you an opportunity of engaging your self personally in his Service from which you must resolve to let no temptation of the world the Devil or the flesh ever draw you but that you will continue Christs faithful Soldier and Servant to your lives end And now my Son having thus explain'd your Baptismal vow shew'd you the possibility of keeping it and the absolute necessity there is for you so to do in order to your Everlasting Salvation I have several other things to recommend to your pious consideration and which as I have opportunity I shall either do by word or writing but at present I shall only give you my advice in reference to your constant attendance upon the publick worship of God and the manner of your behaviour therein For having observ'd not without great trouble of spirit that as some are so luke-warm in Religion that they do not care how seldom they go to Church so they do not matter how irreverently they behave themselves in the House of God and consequently receive little or no benefit by their being there I have thought it convenient to give you some few instructions in these matters also which if you will be careful to observe and practise you may then through the Grace of God be edify'd by frequenting the Religious Assemblies of his People and by leading the rest of your life accordingly may at last obtain the eternal Salvation of your precious Soul 1. Therefore as to your giving constant attendance upon the publick worship of God I cannot but think it highly necessary in this loose and degenerate age to give you my advice in this matter it being commonly observ'd that many young people following the ill example of those who are old enough to have more knowledge than they seem to have by their way of living are very negligent herein either loytering at home rambling about the Fields or gadding from house to house when they should be waiting upon God in the House of Prayer You must know therefore that whereas God has allow'd us six days in the week to labour in and to do all that we have to do in reference to our worldly concerns commanding us to rest the seventh day he never intended hereby that we should give up our selves to idleness and vanity on that day or to spend it in drowsiness and sleep much less in sports and drunkenness but the will and command of the Lord is that we should remember to keep it Holy i. e. to spend that day in religious exercise giving up our selves to the service of God both publickly and privately but each in its proper season Thus we find that as the seventh day from the beginning was religiously observed in memory of the Creator of all things so the first day of the week ever since the Apostles times hath been piously observed in the Christian Church in memory of our Saviours resurrection as being the consummation of the great work of our Redemption Let me therefore advise you be very careful in spending the Lords Day in such a manner as that God may be thereby most glorified and this certainly you cannot do better than employing your self in the publick prayers and other religious exercises together with the congregation For however private devotions when duly performed in their proper season may be accepted of God yet we do edify one another as well as Glorify God most by the mutual examples and union of our publick devotions So that the Lord having been so liberal as to allow us six days for our selves reserving but one in the week for his more solemn worship and service how can any