good than to get applause thus candidly conceive of him and it and thou wilt oblige him that is thy friend to serve thee still whilst thou with zeal shalt truly fear thy God honour the King and love the Church G. A. THE Sanctuary of God GOD from the very beginning hath always had a Place set apart for his Divine Worship and Service to be performed in where with Reverence and Obedience the Creatures acknowledgements were still offered up to the Creators acceptance Gen. 3.8 Adam our first Parent in Paradise had where to present himself before the Lord Gen. 4.3 and Adams Sonns out of Paradise had where to bring their Sacrifices and Oblations unto God the Holy Patriarchs had their Groves and Mountains for their Solemn Worship Gen. 22.1 and when they had no setled Habitation but were as Pilgrims here on Earth yet such was Gods care to have a Church a place to be worshipped in amongst them that he commands them to make a moveable Tabernacle Exod. 25. that nevertheless for all their discontinuance of settlement they might carry their consecrated Mansion with them where ever they went and this hath been the desire of God in all Ages that he might have a peculiar Place set apart for his Holiness to be worshipped in and that whatever Fabricks we built or erected either Palaces for the honour of Dignitie or Schools for the maintenance of Learning Houses for Commerce Trade or common uses that we should be so zealously careful as to leave room enough for the Temple of the Lord to be built on the best and highest Ground so that by a descent advantage as well as right of preheminence it might overtop the stateliest Palace as well as the more common and inferiour Buildings 'T is true we here must own that in the infancie of the World the House and place of Gods Worship was but of a small stature a very fit Receptacle for her Comers which were but small but as Religion grew and increast so increast the House of God from Altars to Groves from Altars and Groves to Mountains from Mountains to Tabernacles from Tabernacles to Synagogues and Temples Thus the dignity and excellency of Gods House increast until it arriv'd to what luster the Law could give it And as in the Law so in the Gospel for in the primitive appearance of Christianity the Church and Place of Gods Worship was but low and mean It first appear'd in Woods and Mountains but as the Christiain Religion grew and increast into esteem so increast the House of God from Woods and Mountaines Matth. 3.1 Matth. 5.1 to Rooms and Chambers within doors from Rooms and Chambers 1 Cor. 16.19 to Chappels Rev. 1.20 Churches and Cathedrals Solomons Temple was not from the beginning no more were ours but arriv'd by an orderly growth to what perfection they now appear at Damnable then is their opinion who would not allow of Christs House to be one inch bigger nor one glimpse lightsomer than she was in the primitive and persecuting times of Christianity Now let but reason be the Judge how foul and cruel this Hellish tenure is to be satisfied in nothing better than the ruine of Christs Temples that with those wretches in the Prophet Haggai 1 4. can be content to let the Houses of of the Lord lye waste while their own Houses are seiled and compleat Of a certain the maintainers of this wicked opinion could willingly see with content of minde another barbarous and persecuting Herod alive a people as refractory as the obstinate Jews and all to lessen the Lords House to crucifie Christ over again to swim and bathe themselvs in Orthodox blood why this must be and nothing else could be lookt for otherwayes should the House of the Lord be brought down to its primitive dejectedness Christ must be murder'd in his Ministers and Professors for there 's no truer Omen of the people of Gods calamity than when the House of the Lord is held in contempt and by Heresie and Schism eclips'd Oh how doth Jeremiah mourn for the breach that he saw made in the House of God! The Prophet David could not sleep neither night nor day Psal 132.1 but was in a continual discomposement of spirit until he had found out a place for the Lord to be worshipt in Lord remember David in all his afflictions He would not climb up to his bed until he had found out a place for the Lord to be worship't in What saith the Prophet shall I dwell in Cedars and the Ark of the Lord without doors under Curtains 'T is observ'd in this very thing that even Pagans and Infidels are careful to build Temples and glorious Oratories for the worship of their false Deities and shall Paganism outstrip Christianity Shall they worship their Idols in Temples devoted and set apart for that use onely and shall not Christianity have a consecrated House set apart for the true God to be worshipped in Heaven forbid Oh such impiety it is the very road to Atheism for that soul-damning sin 't is commonly entred upon much like the pleasing sin of theft it begins with a pin and ends with a bigger thing thus ill-principled men not being fastned by grace into Gods true Religion first begin to rob God of one small Glory then of another that 's bigger until they have robb'd him of all that they can or dare First they begin to cavil and grumble at the number as well as the bigness of our Churches then at Revenues Oh sie cry they it s too much by half Next at the Ornaments the windows they are too gawdy this Altar that 's too superstitious the Commandments too Mosaical the Bells they make too much noise and then at the last they strike at the whole why not another House as well as this Thus from one objection to another they never leave objecting until they have objected God quite out of doors and his House into a disesteem But this is not all they stop not here for being given over to a reprobate sense as the Apostle well notes the Devil is still animating them on to further mischief and denial of goodness for from a disesteem of Gods House they come to a disesteem of the pure and sacred Word of God which is able to make the whole World wise unto Salvation they then pretend they have no need of Scripture ti 's but a dead Letter cries some wretches they have a quickening spirit within them that informs them all things there 's too too many of these that from a denial of Gods House comes to a denial of his Word and from that they arrive at last without Gods restraining grace to that woful pitch of reprobation and eternal damnation even to the denying of the Lord that bought them and this was too plainly seen in our late blasphemous and rebellous times when almost every apostatizing Sect dare take the Wall of Gods pure
for the sin and abuse of both is the cause of their destruction and demolishing A House built upon a Rock the gates of hell shall not prevail against it and of a certain that House must needs be strong then where Omnipotency is the Head of the Building and a continual Providence to support it Read but the ancient prophecy of Gods house the stability honor and dignity of it Though these Scriptures are by most taken by Gods visible Church and not for the material Church made of wood iron and stones yet if we consider that the visible Church of Gods people cannot wel worship God without a place set apart to worship him in we may in some sort establish a perpetuity to these our material buildings which we cal Churches and think them at least some of them to be built on a Rock against which mens malice shall not prevail And it shall come to pass in the last days that the Mountains of the Lords House shall be established in the top of the Mountain and shall be exalted above the Hills and all Nations shall flow unto it and many people shall go and say Come ye and let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord to the House of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his pathes Isa 2.2 3. See here the Eminency of Gods House the Height and Glory of it This is Gods Hill on which he dwells For the Hill of the Lord is like the great Mountain of Bashan there 's no removing of it Oh how malicious then are those who would level the Mountain of God if they could and bring in competition with the lowest Valley Certainly these are wretches stamped after the Devils own heart not qualified like David after Gods own heart who as it were dotes and falls inamored with the House of God Psal 26.8 Oh how I have loved the habitation of thy House and the place where thine Honor dwelleth Psal 5.7 And again I 'le come into thy House in the multitude of thy Mercy and in thy fear will I worship toward thy Holy Temple Thus Holy and Religious men makes Gods House a place of Fear and Reverence they do not dis-esteem it or rush into it hand over head making no difference between the House of the Lord and the Market of a truth they are acquainted with better things they follow Solomons direction Eccl. 4.17 Take heed to thy foot when thou entrest into the House of God they are wary in all their carriages whilst they are there demeaning themselves according to the sanctity of the Place they 'l not in any action willfully tread awry they know it is Gods House and accordingly must behave themselves in it but now the contrary is too much the sin of our times and unreverence to the House of God we concieve meanly of the House it self and accordingly we demean our selves both in it and towards it Few in our age say with Jacob after his dream Gen. 28.7 How fearful is this Place this is none but the House of God! But indeed it cannot well be expected that those that have no respect towards Gods Commands that they should have any towards his House for it is a plain infallible mark or sign that those that have no esteem to God and true Religion they can have no esteem towards his Dwelling there are many and a very great many of them too that can be content to give God some slight and cheap observance but if there be required from them something more than ordinary to be given for the Honor and Dignity of God either to build Churches or to repair those that are built to contribute to the maintenance of their Minister if he have not a sufficient competency of his own in these or such like cases most men are apt to draw back accounting that God and Religion best that 's best cheap thus when Self-love sways us Dr. Brownrig late Bishop of Exeter we are all for our selves but true love seeks not his own so much as the glory of God 'T is worth our observation to consider Peters care in offering to build the Tabernacle upon Mount Tabor Master it 's good for us to be here Luke 9.33 Let 's build three Tabernacles one for thee one for Moses and one for Elias mark how careful he is to build Tabernacles for these three but takes no care for himself he offers to provide for them against winde and weather and takes no notice of his own shelter and from this we may observe that true love to God and his Church transports a Christian out of himself making him to forget his own comfort in respect of God to take care for building Gods Tabernacle before his own Tertullian observes not any that followed Christ that ever questioned how they should live None said Non habeo quo vivam Pietas non respicit vitam multo minus victum It s enough for them to be in famulatu Christi attendance upon God should be always or at least our first business we should always give God the precedency of being served first his House being first built or repaired Exod. 23.16 and made serviceable before our own His absolute dues first tendred before we reckon any thing to be our own Levit. 23.14 Levit. 25.23 we must have a care of playing false play with God Mallaki 1.13 tendring any thing unto him that is unperfect or detaining any thing from him that is his due Abel makes choice of the best of his Flock but Kain takes no such care that which comes next to hand will serve Gods turn well enough he thinks but our God abominates all such usage he must have the best or none Numb 18.12 The best of the Oyl the best of Wine and the best of the Wheat shalt thou offer unto the Lord God accounts it fraud and cousenage to have the coursest Grain the least Heap the lightest Sheaf The Jews have a Witty saying amongst them That Kain was a covetous man and his sacrifice smelt of it and truly the same saying may be verified in many in these our dayes that what they offer to God and his House it smells of covetousness they will as soon part with their lives as with any thing with a free heart towards God the service of his Church and the maintenance of his Ministry Hence it is that the Ecclesiastical Laws are so great an eye-sore and trouble to many because with Joshuah they commands the People to worship God to repair his House to maintain his Ministers to live orderly and soberly in all godliness of life and for this reason do most hate the Laws and Institutions of God because they stand in opposition to all Prophaneness wilful Liberty Sacriledge and Rebellion THE Common Service PUlbick Prayer before God it 's an utterance of good and wholsome words in an orderly
prosperity it still refresheth us more and more like Moses in his Communion with God on the Mount our faces shine by it our hearts are more clearly reviv'd I but say some this Common Prayer is so mean a thing that even a Childe may read it that can but read almost any thing it is so inferiour that we cannot esteem it with that worth as our Pastors would have us This sounds something like that sin of Corah and his complies to think meanly of the Service of the Church that any man is able to perform the Ministerial offices as the Priest particularly consecrated for the work but the punishment of Korah Numb 16. Dathan and Abiram to those that have read it should be a terrour and a sufficient warning to stave them off from such a cursed opinion I ask the Question do you think that a Butcher or a Slaughter-Man brought up to that Profession could not strike down an Ox with more slight and agility than a Priest or Levite Why yes no doubt but he could common reason answers this but this was not suffered in the Temple to be done none but those that have an express warrant must officiate in Gods House 't is true you may read the Prayers of the Church to the people but by reason you are not consecrated to that particular imployment it cannot be suffered by any Christian allowance Strange fire it is an abomination unto God The Jews Liturgy it was as plain and easie to be read as our Service do you think that the Laitie could not have read the ten Commandements the Song of Moses and Daniel the Prophesies the Psalms of David why yes no Question but those men might have read these words but not to any effect but Aaron and his lawful Successors appointed and set apart for the work by God for when the people are to be blest 't is Aaron and his Sons that must give them the blessing in Gods name 't is Gods Commandment Joel the 2. and the 17. Let the Priests the Ministers of the Lord weep before the Porch and the Altar and let them say Spare thy people Oh Lord. Malachi 2.7 By the Priests lips must the people learn knowledge He that heareth them heareth me saith Christ And he that despiseth them despiseth me See here then the true dignity of a Minister his Calling and Vocation is both sacred and eminent Now as Mr. Sandcroft observes there are a sort of men but of yesterday Mr. Sandcroft in a Sermon at the consecration of Bishops that would pretend to be wiser than their Forefathers the whole world yea even Christ himself which undertakes to thwart the ancient Decrees and Purposes of God as to the ordering of his Service and way of Worship a sort of men that know God and Religion no otherwise but by meer notion that are Christians from the shoulder and upwards that whatever their brain conceives their tongue talks it for infallible Revelations but in the Words of the Litany From all such good Lord deliver us They that deny the decent Order and Worship of Gods Church deny all that 's regular and good such think any thing will pass with God and serve his turn his Ministers Dunces and his Service Nonsence neither to be called nor appointed but to happen upon the office and performance by chance and so by guess accordingly officiate and perform but our God is a God of Order and must be worshipped in Order not in confusion his Priests must be consecrated and his Service premeditated or else it serves not his turn let us square but one proposal by common reason in reference to this discourse had we any business with an earthly King of some weight and concernment wherein if we should miscarry in the delivery of our message we should not onely lose our suit but incur the Kings displeasure how careful would we be to get words fit for our business how would we forethink of them be still premeditating writing correcting and getting them all exact that nothing might be mislik't Do you think our business with the King of Heaven ought not to be as carefully stated fore-thought and considered on knowing that all vain babling is abominable to him and that we can never think to be too exact in those words that must come before God in the behalf of our selves and others lest like Zebedy we be repulsed by our asking we know not what 'T is ill jesting with edg'd tools it is a strange presumptuous venture to step into Gods presence with unthought of words and expressions Eccle. 5.1 Be not rash with thy mouth saith Solomon nor let thy heart be hasty to utter a thing before God for God is in Heaven and thou art on Earth The White Robe CAvills about maters indifferent in themselves are too much the quarrel of the times and that which makes the animosities the stranger is this that order and comely decency in Gods Service makes the pure Worship of God despicable and that is objected too as one of the maine causes of it The Surplice which in it selfe is the embleme of vertuous innocency that that should keep so many off from serving God in publick as t is pretended is more then ordinary wonder Now this is a great grief to many that know the way to worship God aright to see so weake a prejudice live and do mischief and that upon no sure ground that it can keep footing on but let Antagonists vent their furious madness against that harmless Robe and we that weare it let them proclaim we are Idolaters because we serve the Lord in it in this we do appeal to God to judge between their cry and us thus much wee 'l condescend to satisfie the world we never do account our selves the holier when this white garment is upon us nor the unholier when it is off we owne this Ceremony as the body doth a fine garment for ornament sake or as a late learned Writer speaks The Ceremonies of the Church are as the body to the soul the body being enlivened by the soul is very amiable so Ceremonies with devotion is very comely We use this Ceremony in the Church for ornament sake and its significant resemblance being a habit fitted for consecrated Persons to draw near unto God withal for what more fit than white that suites with the affection of joy wherein God delights to have his Saints praise him Revel 7.6 Malachi 3.1 White it is the beauty that the Angels appeare before him in how then can any nay dare any deny the Church militant here on Earth that she may not signifie something by action and rite which the triumphant doth really performe in Heaven This wearing of the Surplice or White-Robe at Dâ—vine-Service is an innocent harmless and good imitating Ceremony a thing more for order sake than for any absolute necessity of Worship is receiv'd into the Church and made use of We usually have at
and Goddesses to Plays and Vestal Virgins to the repairing of Churches and maintenance of Ministers whereas these things did not onely at first serve Anti-Christ but even the Devil himself you might as well deny almost every thing that you necessarily and commonly use as this For know if you will use nothing that hath been dedicated to Paganism or Idolatry you must drink no wine for the Heathens consecrated it to Bachus nor eat no bread for they consecrated it to Ceres Water to Neptune Learning to Mercury but this observance were ridiculous for as learned Mr. Hooker speaks in his Ecclesiastical Polity Idolaters may judge even what is decent about external affairs of God as of greater thing◠that are true yet nevertheles◠what ever Idolaters hav◠thought or done idolatrously let it be abhor'd yet of tha◠which is good even in evi◠things God is the Author Fo◠should we forsake those part◠that are good in Idolaters we might forsake many things and those substantial too without which there would be no salvation we might then cease to believe in God the Father Son and Holy Ghost with other necessary points all which Papistical Idolaters believe and maintain But in this we ought to be very careful that we do not press and burthen the people of God with any such bondage as to let them use nothing that Idolaters hath used being lawful before God I ask the Question whether the people of God did disown the Ark because the Philistines played and sported with it It was not their carrying of it from Gath to Ekron and from thence to Askelon no they received it with joy when once God returned it to them again Were the people of God to disesteem the House of the Lord because Manasses was an Idolatrous King and built up Altars in the House of the Lord unto false gods 2 Chron. 33. and worshipped them when he had done No upon the Lords chastising of him and his returning to the true Religion pulling down those Altars that were built up to false gods and erecting an Altar to the true God the same House continu'd serviceable still thus the consecrated Censers that Corah and his Complices used Numb 16.37.38 were not to be thrown away though they imployed them to a most prophane use no more are our Churches to be refrained because they have been Idolatrously abused as I have noted before for if we must pull down our Churches for former polutions then have we work enough to do not onely in respect of the Papists abuse at first but in respect also of the late abominable corruptions that the last wicked times stained them withal for it is not unknown to many that some of our Churches which were consecrated to Gods service were then converted to base and abominable uses very few to any good for those that they did not make Stables and Ware houses they made them the Conventicles of Blasphemy Nonsence and Rebellion for in them they have with more than ordinary confidence prayed as they called it to the God of mercy that he would assist them in the work of revenge and destruction against King Priest and People in them they animated the Father against the Son and the Son against the Father See at large Reverend Dr. King Bishop of Cicister in a Sermon 〈◊〉 preacht before his Majesty the 30 Jan. in them they maintained it was no sin to murder Gods anointed to banish and illegally suspend his Ministers sure then the Houses of God were sufficiently abused Here the Church had cause enough to cry out Was ever sorrow like mine Yet all this and more injuries offered to her though they were great griefs in their time yet not cause enough to make the People of the Lord to disesteem or forget her but with Israels Captives they still did sing If I forget thee Oh House of God let my right hand forget its cunning It is not any thing indeed that can be us'd against Gods House that can make the Orthodox-christian dis-esteem it No he mourns with her in adversity and rejoyceth with her in prosperity never forgetting her howe're she is dealt with There are too many I would I could not speak it that now appears in the vindication of the House of God because they see she 's highly favoured of the Lord that should she ever be eclips't again which I heartily pray may never be would soon draw from her and prove the very worst of enemies There is too too many of these false hearted Sycophants that can cry all hail to day and crucifie to morrow that serve her more for profit than they do for love Oh that the Reverend Bishops and my very good Superiours with submission be it spoken would think on some way to purge our Church from base temporizing Pulpitters such that whindle cry bemoan and fawn upon her in publike that too frequently stab her to the heart in private that wait and pray for another wicked change that they might be uppermost again but from such false hearted Proteus's that turns to every side that can be a prick-ear'd Phanatick to day and a seeming Orthodox-Christian to morrow that can off with a Jump and on with a Cassock that can swallow a large Scottish Covenant without streining at it from all such in the words of the Letany Good Lord deliver us But oh the true Orthodox-Servant of God which stands unwavering to his original principle that doth not say with him that went to Mass To tullian Eamus ad communem errorem Lets yield to common errour 'T is not the torrent of common practice can draw the religious Christian from his true grounded resolution 't was not the proffer of a Living of a hundred a year or Chaplain to Nol◠could do it they were like Shadrach Meshach and Abednego they 'l die first they are no starters nor flinchers but like Davids Worthies stick to her in all her troubles Sons of the Church and not o◠the Kirk they are builders and not destroyers of the House of God that repair her breaches and not rend them wider that reverence the House as the Habitation of God and not scornfully set by it as a place of no worth or value of a certain I may speak it and that within compass that there are none but a sort of mad and perverse Rake-hels that sin against the light of Reason and Conscience that will not allow God the same benefit they have themselves to dwell in a house but let such inveterate and erroneous judgements aim as destructively as ever they can against the Dwelling of the Lord God hath and shall for ever have a House for his Honor to dwell in For while there is a visible Church upheld by God so long will there be a material house for his people to worship in kept up by the same power for 't is not the devil nor mans envy can harm either visible or material but Gods judgement
that they should offer up to God in his holy Sanctuary might be spiritual and not carnal for there is nothing more hateful to God than a Formal Devotion without the Spirit therefore when we pray in the Liturgy we pray earnestly for the assistance of the spirit of God Wherefore let us beséech him to grant us true repentance and his holy spirit that those things may please him which we do at this present See in the Absolution And when the Minister blesseth the people in the Lords name The Lord be with you See after the Creed Hee 's answered by the whole Congregation by way of retaliation and with thy spirit And again in the Litany we pray See the Letany That it may please God to giue us true repentance to forgive us all our sins negligences ignorances and to endue us with the grace of his holy Spirit to amend our lives according to his holy Word And so in many other of our several Collects and Prayers we beseech God that he would send down his Spirit upon us to guide and direct us How wicked then are those men that abuse this holy Worship calling it a Form without a Spirit have given out in their preaching writings that we deny the spirit to have any exercise in our Worship when God he knows it is our earnest begging and intreating of him continually when we appear before him in Prayer that he would ever assist us with his holy Spirit They therefore that do not take the Worship and Service of our Church to be Spiritual and Divine are led and conducted by no other spirit but the spirit of Errour and Contradiction For know the Service of our Church performed cordially and sincerely it is a pure holy and acceptable Service it is as pleasing Incense in the Nostrils of God when it is fired by the ardency of Faith and true Devotion when the Churches Worship is joyntly and universally performed throughout her several Congregations observing and obeying one and the same order though but a Church militant yet she fairly by imitation represents the Church triumphant which praises God in a joynt Communion they all sing with one and the same Form Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Sabaoth whereas a disorderly Devotion in the Church must surely as much affront God as amaze the people when the whole time at Service shall be spent in throwing out corrupt and indigested words as they happen to come uppermost some right some wrong the Hearers spending their time in nothing else but in listening and considering what their extemporary Preacher or rather Pratler with his long fetches and turns will drive at at last being often out but seldome in it is therefore no wonder at all that many times the people complain that their Guides are dark and dubious in their directions being so often lost and at a stand themselves in the very prescribing of their Rules whereas our Service and Divine Worship it is even a guide to the simplest and lowest of men for certainly he must be of a very shallow capacity that cannot joyn with the Minister in our Prayers and Services And undoubtedly those Prayers doeth most good that are performed knowingly Ignorance in the Worship of God is the mother and breeder up of Error Matth. 22.29 You erre saith Christ to the Sadduces not knowing the Word He that prayes ignorantly reaps little profit by it whilst he that prayes understandingly reaps wisdom unto Salvation Oh what a goodly and comfortable a sight it is to see both Pastor and People praying in a joynt agreement and communion for of a certain those Prayers and Praises are likely to do most good that are performed understandingly as well as publikely for as Doct. Hamond observes in his Practical Catechism that the Union of many hearts being met together are likeliest to prevail and the presence of some godly may bring down mercies upon others whose Prayers hath no promise to be heard especially performed by a consecrated person whose office is to draw nigh unto God to offer up Prayer and Thanks-giving as an Embassadour between God and Man Oh 't is a glorious sight to behold these sacred performances to be done with zeal and devotion Certainly as Jacob saith it is the Gate of Heaven Holy-Prayer is that which pleaseth God advantageth Man And if Prayer then seemly and orderly Prayer and what more orderly and seemly than the Holy Service that is now blessed be the Lord amongst us the worst of our enemies cannot say it is a mystical or intricate Worship delivered in an unknown Tongue or imbroidered with canting tearms such as many of our adversaries Prayers are more befitting a Prologue of a Comedy to create laughter than stir up zeal the worst they say of our Prayers they are plain and homely but these are unchristian-like Reproches as if any thing that acquaints the soul with God or conducts it to Heaven can be too plain and obvious but if plain as they say let them know it is the plain Word of God that Word which is able to make us wise unto Salvation For know that our Prayers Psalms and Benedictions are the most of them extracted out of the Word of God and are methodically placed in an orderly advantage for the glory of Gods Praise and the blessed benefit of his people that draw nigh unto him Sure then those orderly and premeditated Prayers and Praises taken out of the Word of God may I hope as well for their antiquity as their worth plead the preheminence before the effusion of long and tedious extemporary Prayers made by the vain and bold imaginations of some Squander-headed fellow But here I suppose some may be apt to step in and say Were your Service made up onely with Prayer and Praises we might it may be sooner agree and assent to them but they are mixt with Prayers and Hymns and Psalms and Chapters made up altogether it appears not at all so advantagious and profitable as if made up with Prayers and Praises onely To this I answer our Saviour Christ left the government of the Church upon his ascending up on high unto the Apostles and their lawful Successors commissionating and binding them as Paul did Timothy at Creet Tit. 1.5 to settle and establish all things in an orderly advantage as well for the praise of his glory as the good of his people now whereas it is commonly objected that the mixture and variety that is in our Service makes it not approved of nor followed by many I thus vindicate this point in opposition to their erroneous mistake for know that the Service of our Church would not be so profitable nor so like to a true Worship that must be offered up to God were it not for the change and succession that 's in it Thus I make it appear to all reasonable men viz. When we approach to the publike Service of the Lord we come or at
least ought so to do to make our confession of what sins we have committed against him 't is but fit considering the foulness of our offences to prostrate our selves upon our knees before the throne of his grace and there acknowledg with tears the pollution of our souls saying we have erred and strayed from thy wayes c. upon which articular acknowledgment the Minister for comfort and consolation doth pronounce Gods proneness to forgive and have mercy upon Submission which being performed and the soul eased by Prayer then to rise with a reverend posture from the Knees with Praises O come let us sing unto the Lord c. upon the ending of those Praises then to place your self decently as in the House of God waiting and receiving with an open Soul those holy instructions from Gods Word that shall be read unto you and first the Psalms of David Gloria Patri being ended then a Lesson out of the old Testament most commonly relating to the antient promises and kindnesses of God to his Church in consideration 't is but meet to give him praise singing or saying that sacred Hymn Te Deum Laudamus We Praise thée O God c. then after a Lesson out of the New Testament declaring the performance of his promised mercy to his Church to sing another Hymn Blessed be the Lord God of Israel c. then stoutly to stand with a direct body as well as an even soul like a true heroick Soldier of God and make a confession of thy Faith speaking with an audible voice I believe in God c. then to bow your self in Prayer before God for divers necessities of humane Nature The Lords Prayer and other invocations with the Letany not onely for your self but for others the King and the whole Kingdom yea even for the converting of your enemies then after a special prayer for Grace and Sanctification the ten Commandements with the Epistles and Gospels being distinctly deliverd unto us the one containing our duty both to God and man the other having aspeciall relation to the work of our redemption See a Peice Printed at Cambridge 1642 called the Protestant Account all and what ever remains of the service of the Church else being in order and due manner plac't for the Glory of Gods Worship and the convenient advantage of his Peoples Souls must needs be approved of from God and all good and Religious men But I know some others wil be apt to say for all this That though the words may be good and the Order plausible yet the length and tediousness of them keeps them longer out of the Church than they would be Oh say some they stop us an unreasonable while from hearing of the Sermon and were it not for this fault we would hear them oftner Why these are strange expressions and too often us'd in this sinful Nation that Prayer and Praises unto God should be counted tedious and irksome this is quite contrary to the Apostles saying Pray continually Now whereas 't is objected that the Prayers of the Church keeps people from the Sermon too long 't is a folly beyond wonder to consider it that ever people should be so ignorant of the excellency of Divine Prayer and Praises which are the golden Keys that open and shut the gates of Heaven that wrestle with God and command his mercy down as it were that this Sacred Worship should be jostled out of the Church or at least so little set by that Preaching a thing that hath been more commoner in our age to savour of wit and humour than any true devotion should be prefer'd before it I must confess I have been always God forbid I should deny the Ordinance of sound Preaching but the abuse of it I abhor from my heart when Sermons leds people to Heaven Oh then they are good but when they direct for Hell when murder and Rebellion is the Theame of the Pulpit and confused Extravagancy the whole matter that 's raised from it then to hate such Preaching is commendable why this was the preaching of the late times and too many I am afraid use it still this was the vomits of the Pulpit when that wretch Peters assum'd the Chair of Canterbury and am still a Lover of true Preaching but not at all of that which many call and would have pass for preaching to name a text and then to talk any thing that comes uppermost from it either to run so far from the text as never to come near it after once nam'd or to crow'd so close to it as to screw it beyond its height making the true word of God to speak that which it never intended certainly such preaching as this must much abuse the word of God the Hearers and their owne souls that vent it when as a neat quaint and zealous exposition upon the words is commendable with allowance to Paraphrase with sincerity trueth neither wresting the word from its intended scope or drift nor assuming to be so bold as to think by your Comments you have outstript and gone beyond the word of God as well for worth of matter as excellency of stile this were an abominable arrogancy and yet this is a crime too frequently entertain'd abroad to esteem Calamy and Baxters prating before Gods word alas they conceive that these men have outdone Christ and his Apostles for preaching to the purpose the common consequence confirms this for many had rather go five miles to hear one of these fellows talk frightful whimsies from their own brains than to go one quarter of a mile to hear our Saviour Christs Sermon which he preacht on the Mount Matthew 5.1 Acts 2.37 Peters converting Sermon to the Jews with other of Christ's and his Apostles works The holy Testament which being read unto us with a pure heart and we receiving of it with the same undoubtedly it is the onely preaching of all preaching that doth most good for what can be safer to be preach't than Gods pure Word which is able to make us wise unto Salvation and though expositions have crept into esteem amongst some yet I think that Christ and his Apostles Sermons left for our instructions are to be approved on before all other works of those that love God And next to the holy Bible the Service of the Church pleads for preheminence before any thing that shall appear for Service before God for know that Prayer and Praises are the essentiall Worship of God it is the Coyne of Heaven it answereth all things it pleaseth God and pleaseth Man we have no other way to come unto God but by Prayer through our Lord Jesus Christ Prayer brings us into his presence and shews us the light of his countenance if God be angry with us Prayer pacifies him and makes all well again if we are in sorrow Prayer comforts us see this in Hannah a woman of a sorrowful Spirit Prayer maks her look Chearful If we are in