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
become Priests unto God as to be admitted the honour of bearing a part together with the Priest in his publick worship And to this great priviledge the works of St. Peter as I suppose may have relation 1 Ep. 2. 5. Where speaking of the whole Congregation of Christians he tells us that we are built up a spiritual house an holy Priesthood to offer up Spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ And therefore you should be sure to accompany the Minister with a pure heart and humble voice unto the Throne of the Heavenly Grace as in repeating the Confession and the Lord's Prayer after him so in making all such answers as you are directed by the Rubrick throughout the whole service never omitting to say Amen but thus in a fervent zeal shutting up all your Prayers And because I find that the generality of Christians are negligent in this to the end that you may not follow the ill examples of others and be so too I shall now take occasion to inform you rightly in this matter by shewing you 1. Of all the meaning of the word Amen 2. That the people of God in all ages of the Church have made use of this word in their publick devotion 3. How great a necessity there is that this practice should bestill continued among us In the first place as to this word Amen It is the same in all Languages and the people of all Nations upon Earth make use of it at the conclusion of their Prayers And as to the meaning of it it 's cheifly twofold oft it signifies either so be it or so it is Sometime we 〈◊〉 Amen and thereby express our hearty desire that the thing which we have prayed for may be granted and in this sense we use it at the end of all our prayers sometime also we use this word to testifie our confidence and the declaration of our faith assuring our selves thereby that the things which we profess to believe are certainly true and in this sense we use it after the Doxology or Glory be to the Father c. and the Creed And in both these senses we find it us'd in Scripture as I shall shew you by observing in the 2d place that the people of God in all ages of the Church have made use of it in their publick devotion First of all as to the Church of God under the legal dispensation we read Nehemiah 8. 6. that when Ezra blessed the Lord the great God all the people answered Amen lifting up their hands and no doubt but their hearts were also lifted up with the greatest fervency as appeared by their doubling the expression saying Amen Amen Yea we find Deut. 27. 14. that even when the Levites did use to perform divine service and declare the curse of God to be due to such and such sinners the whole Congregation were to answer and say Amen i. e. be it so or cursed be the man who does those things Thus they were to declare their abhorrence of those things which were so eminently liable to the curse of God And here by the way I cannot but observe that if all of us were duly sensible of the great indignation of God against those sins against which the curse of God is denounc'd in his holy word we should have a care of falling into or however of persevering impenitently in any of those sins mention'd in the Commination which is appointed to be read on Ash-Wednesday and then we should not scruple to say Amen at the end of every sentence as many do fearing thereby to call for a curse upon themselves For tho in saying Amen we affirm with our own mouths the curse of God to be due to such sins which is no more than what David has declared P. 119. 21. saying cursed are all they that do err from thy Commandments yet 't is certain we shall not be found liable to the curse if we be not guilty of the sin and if we be guilty and persevere therein impenitently whether we say Amen or no we shall certainly be accursed at the last day for as we read Mat. 25. 41. then shall the Righteous Judge of Heaven and Earth say unto them on the left hand depart from me ye cursed into everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels But to return to the practice of the Jewish Church in saying Amen we find that they did not only use this word at the end of their Prayers but in the conclusion also of their Psalms and Hymns as we read 1 Chr. 16. 36. for at the end of that Psalm which Daâ—id had compos'd for the use of the Temple all the people were required to say Amen Nor was it used by the Jews only under the Law but from the beginning of the Gospel dispensation it has been practis'd also by he Christian Church That it was us'd in the Apostles times is evident 1 Cor. 14. 16. For there St Paul reproving those who prayed at any time in a Language which the people did not understand he uses this as an argument to pâ—ove the unreasonableness of that practice because tâ—e People who understood not the Language could not say Amen to such prayers they could tnot give their consent to what they did not understand Nor did the Apostles only think sit to conclude all prayers with this word but our Saviour was pleased also to teach us so to do for Mat. 6. 13. we find the Lords Prayer concluding with it And as this was the practice of Gods people both under the Law and in the beginning of the Gospel dispensation so it has been continued in the Church of Christ ever since tho of late years through the great want of Zeal and true Devotion it has been much neglected by us in this nation But how great a necessity there is that this ancient practice of all the peoples saying Amen to the prayyers of the Church ought to be continued among us I shall now proceed in the 3d place to show you For whereas there are two things among several others necessarily required in prayer to make it acceptable unto God viz. a fervent desire and lively Faith we give a testimony of both these in saying Amen but in neglecting this we seem to be as by-standers and no way concerned in the things that are prayed for nor in the service which is performed And in truth how good soever the prayers be you have no reason to expect the benefit of them unless you heartily joyn in them If another man writes a Letter in your name you ought to set your hand to it ot make your mark to testify your consent unto that which is written and thus if the Minister prays for you you ought to set your Hand and Seal to his prayer supposing the matter of it to be good by saying Amen to it nor should you think it enough to say Amen to all the prayers of the Church but you should also
the Lord would not do it for he saw that notwithstanding all those afflictions which were befallen him he still held fast his Integrity And what shall we say of David unto whom as we read Acts 13. 22. the Lord himself gave testimony and said I have found David the Son of Jesse a man after my own heart 'T is true he grievously offended God more than once but then it is to be considered that the sincerity of his repentance made amends for all And we have no reason to doubt but that God was pleased to accept of his hearty sorrow instead of innocency Now if these and many other holy men under the Law were able through the Divine assistance so to walk before God as to be approved of him how little reason have we to doubt of the possibility of the same things being done by Christians now under the more glorious light and gracious dispensation of the Gospel Why may not we now as St Paul tells us he did exercise our selves in keeping a good Conscience void of offence towards God and towards man It must be confess'd that we are far from being able of our selves to do these things but as St Paul declared of himself Phil. 4. 13. So we may assure our selves that we may be able to do all things through Christ that strengthens us and we need not in the least doubt of his assistance upon our humble request at the Throne of Grace for the same So that now my Son you see how reasonably those people argue against our Baptismal Vow which contains nothing in it but what God has commanded and good men have practic'd Let no man therefore deceive you and say that we have promis'd more in your name than it 's possible for you to perform for if you will but in good earnest oppose these enemies of your Soul the World the Flesh and the Devil you 'll find the blessing of God concurring with your holy resolutions he that hath planted these things in your heart will also water and make them abundantly fruitful to the confusion of Satan the glory of God and the eternal Salvation of your immortal Soul And now having prov'd unto you the possibility of keeping your Baptismal Vow I shall in the 3d place shew you how great an obligation you lye under to observe it And to this purpose I might produce many arguments and sundry Texts of Scripture but because I rather desire to inform your judgment than burthen your memory I shall comprehend what I have to say upon this head in as few words as I can You must therefore know and be convinc'd of this that your eternal happiness depends upon your conscientious observation of this vow 'T is impossible for you to be made partakers of the mercies of God in Christ Jesus our Lord without repentance faith and new obedience For as our Saviour has told us Mat. 19. 17. that if we will enter into life we must keep the Commandments so St Paul has told us Heb. 11. 6. that without Faith it is impossible to please God And the same Apostle has also declar'd Rom. 8. 13. That if we live after the flesh we shall dye but if through the spirit we do mortifie the deeds of the body we shall live For these are the terms of the Covenant of grace between God and us that he will be graciously pleas'd to bestow upon us the pardon of our sins and everlasting life but it is upon this condition that we perform our part of the Covenant which iâ— to believe and to do those things that we have promiâ—'d in our Baptism And this is so plain that I do not think there is any need of insisting upon the proof of it because in all Covenants the party promising any benefits or priviledges is no farther oblig'd to make them good than the other party performs the duties promis'd and required on his part So that as you love your own Soul and desire to be for ever happy in the life to come it highly concerns you to be very mindful of your Baptismal Vow and careful to observe it But withal I would entreat you seriously to consider this one thing that Jesus Christ came into the World and suffered the cursed death of the Cross on purpose to purifie us and therefore shall we still continue in our filthiness and impurities he gave himself for us at it 's said Titus 2. 14. that he might redâ—em us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works and how then can we haâ—e the face to delight in sin why then should we thus prejudiee our own Souls why should we destroy our selves after all the care and pains that our Blessed Lord has been at to save us Have we more love for Satan than we have for God that we should make a scruple of renouncing the Devil both in our words and works have we more affection for sin that will ruin us than for holiness that will be a means to save us through Christ we are made the Children of God by Adoption and heirs through Grace of his Everlasting Kingdom and shall we be such fools as to sell our Birth-right like Esau for one sinful morsel and to destroy both Souls and Bodies for evermore Let me entreat you my Son to lay these things seriously to heart and be perswaded so to lead your life here that you may be for ever happy in the life to come for as you may learn from the words of the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. last if you â—e stedfast and immoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord you may be assured that your labour shall nâ—â— be in vain in the Lord. So that altho it be certain thâ—â—â— is no other Sacrifice now under the Gospel bâ—â— that of Christ upon the Cross which can be â—ufâ—icient to satisfy Gods justice expiate our sin and obtain Eternal Redemption for us yet St. Paul teaches us Rom. 12. 1. that the preâ—enâ—â—ng our Bâ—diâ—s a â—iving Sacrâ—fice holy acceptable unto God is our râ—â—sonable â—â— vice So that altho the sacrifice of our selves whâ—ch we ought to offer up to God in keeping our Baptismal Vow cannot procure Salvation yet it is absolutely necessary for our reception of it And therefore instead of listning to those persons who are wont to argue against the possibility of their duty and like the faint-hearted Israelites when they return'd from taking a view of the promised Land cry out who shall be able to stand before these mighty Gyants how is it possible for any man to keep this Vow instead of giving an ear to such people I say if you will give up your self in earnest to the practice of holiness and heartily pray to the Lord for the gracious assistance of his holy Spirit tho you may probably find some difficulty in your first onset yet it 's certain that when once you are got into the way of it you 'll find
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
much discoursed of just before Repair therefore to your Seat or usual place in the Church and falling upon your Knees offer up to God this or the like prayer with the most devout affection Holiness O Lord becomes thine House for ever and therefore I beseech thee so to assist me with thy holy Spirit that I may offer unto thy divine Majesty such a lively sacrifice of prayer and praises as may be accepted through thy beloved Son and grant also that I may so hear thy holy word and attend to the Doctrine of the preacher that I may daily grow in grace and godliness and spiritual strength thro our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Amen When you have thus privately begg'd the Divine assistance you may then do well to exercise your self in pious meditations or in reading some portion of Gods word till the publick service of the Church begins which that you may be the better able to join in with all your Heart and Soul together with all those devour Christians who make conscience of waiting upon God in his holy Temple I advise you in the 3d place to be throughly acquainted with every part of the Common Prayer which you may do it to your satisfaction by a frequent and serious perusal together with an impartial consideration thereof for I am fully perswaded that none are so ready to despise it as those who are least acquainted with it I shall not therefore now give you a particular account of its method or of that admirable connexion which is observable between the several parts of it for these things are already done by some pious and learned Divines of our Church but shall only show you the necessity of that reverence which is due to the Majesty of that great and glorious God whom we are to worship when we assemble our selves together in those places which are dedicated to his service You must know therefore that the Reverence which we owe to Almighty God is twofold 1. Inward which is that of our Souls 2. Outward which is that of our Bodies In the first place when you come to worship the Lord you must be sure to sanctifie him in your Heart yielding unto him that inward and spiritual worship which is due to his infinite Majesty and this you must do by believing in him fearing him and loving him with all your heart and with all your mind with all your soul and with all your strength For when our hearts are deeply affected with the love of God our service will be abundantly the more chearful But yet we must not so love him as to neglect the getting our hearts also possest with an awful dread and reverence of his glorious Majesty for David tells us in Ps 89. 7. that God is greatly to be feared in the Congregation of Saints and to be had in reverence of all those that are about him When our hearts therefore are thus possest both with a reverential fear and love of God we shall then also be more careful to cleanse them from all impure and worldly thoughts and fix them with due attention upon those acts of Religion wherein we are exercis'd Thus as the more inward parts of Solomon's Temple were still more and more beautiful and glorious so we who profess Christianity and are said to be the Temple of the living God should be very careful that all the thoughts and intentions of our hearts be holy and spiritual every way so prepared and beautify'd that the Lord may be pleas'd to take up his residence in our hearts when we draw nigh to serve him But then 2. You must have a care that under a pretence of inward sanctity you do not destroy all outward decency for as in the first Commandment the Lord requires the inward and spiritual worship of your heart and therein doth more especially delight so in the second Commandment we are forbid to give any religious outward worship to any other Now by this we are to understand that the Lord expects that homage from us and challenges it as peculiarly due to himself because his honour and authority are hereby upheld greatly in the world So that we must not think it enough at all times to glorify God in our Spirits only but upon some occasions and especially when God is publickly worshipped by us we ought to glorify him in our Bodies also And the reason hereof as St Paul has plainly told us 1 Cor. 6. 20. is because he has not only created but redeemed both Soul and Body Ye are bought with a price says he therefore glorify God in your Body and in your Spirit which are Gods So that you see both Soul and Body should joyn together in all those acts of devotion whereby God is glorified For as to pretend that we can worship God sufficiently with our Souls only shows too much irreverence and rudeness in his presence so to imagine that we have no more to do than to be exact in all our outward gestures is the greatest Hypocrisy We have no reason it 's true to doubt but in some cases the Lord may accept the inward devotion of our hearts when we are not in a Capacity or have not an opportunity of giving any outward testimonies of it but we have no reason at all to hope for his acceptance of a few bare bodily actions while our hearts are wholly unconcern'd in his service Thus having shewed you the necessity both of that inward and outward reverence which we owe to God in his publick worship I shall in the next place take notice of those particular expressions of reverence to which we are obliged by the word of God the rules of our Church agreeable thereunto and to all which the practice of good and pious men in all ages have been conformable Now this outward reverence you must know may either be expressed by words or actions In words we reverence God provided always that our Hearts go along with our Tongues when we confess our sins unto him and offer up our prayers and praises with an audible Voice And this is undoubtedly a very great priviledge that the whole Congregation in some parts of Divine service are admitted to joyn with the Minister in offering up their devotions unto God and we should rejoyce in this Liberty especially since by this means we testifie to one another how ready we are with one Heart and one Mouth to glorify God And it is also to be consider'd that the people bearing a part with the Minister in the publick devotion may very much tend to the more inflaming one anothers devout affections and to the better fixing our mind in a diligent attendance upon our duty and so to the rendring our devotions the more acceptable Under the Law the people indeed were to bring their sacrifices and oblations to the Temple but the Priests only were to offer them up Whereas now under the gracious dispensation of the Gospel the people are so far
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