Selected quad for the lemma: nation_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A59850
|
A practical discourse of religious assemblies by Will. Sherlock.
|
Sherlock, William, 1641?-1707.
|
1681
(1681)
|
Wing S3322; ESTC R27485
|
148,095
|
402
|
that I need not insist on the proof of it Their several sorts of Sacrifices were to be offered at the Tabernacle or Temple by the Priests who were publick Persons even those particular Sacrifices which were offered for particular Men either Expiatory or Eucharistical to make atonement for their Sins or to be an oblation of Praise for particular Mercies were yet offered at the Temple and besides this they had Sacrifices for the whole Congregation as on the great day of Expiation which was not for any particular Man but for the whole Body of the People and therefore considered them all as united in the same Religion and Worship God appointed also a publick Place of Worship viz. the Tabernacle or Temple at Ierusalem and a publick place for Worship can be of no use if there were no obligation to publick Worship God also instituted publick Times of Worship the Seventh day Sabbath their New Moons and Annual Festivals when all their Males were to appear three times a Year before the Lord And such Times as these are described by calling Assemblies and solemn Meetings because then they met together for publick Worship for indeed it seems to be a contradiction to appoint publick and solemn Times for private Worship If Men are bound only to worship God in private there is no need of publick Days of Rest dedicated to God's Worship for every Man may take his own Time for it as he finds most convenient and useful but fixed and stated Times of Worship do necessarily suppose publick Worship and evidently prove that Solemn and Publick Days for Worship are not sanctified meerly by private Acts of Worship And therefore we may consider further that God entred into Covenant with the Children of Israel not as particular Persons but as the Seed of Abraham as a People and Nation whom he had chose for himself to be his peculiar Inheritance and therefore every part of his Covenant and the institution of Religious Worship is none of the least parts of it concerns them as a Nation So that this was a National Covenant and a National Religion and Worship and I need add no more to prove that according to God's Institution it was a publick Worship for God was the King of Israel and therefore required as publick Homage from them as other Princes expect from their Subjects as publick I say tho he can Challenge more divine Regards than earthly Princes because he was their God as well as their King And therefore the Children of Israel themselves are frequently called the Congregation of Israel and the whole Congregation as consisting of such Persons as used to meet together for publick Worship how had a right to Worship at the Tabernacle of the Congregation Let us then thirdly consider the Religion of our Saviour and what Obligations that lays on us to all the Acts of Publick Worship Now I need not tell you that Christ has instituted a Church which is so often in the Writings of the Apostles called a Church and the Church of Christ. Now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly signifies a Meeting and Assembly which is called together and so acquaints us what the Nature of a Christian Church is that it is a Society of Men united and combined together in the Faith and Worship of Christ For the Church of Christ is purely a Religious Society Our Saviour had no Temporal Kingdom as the Jews expected his Kingdom was not of this World and therefore his Church is nothing else but a Society of Men for the Worship of God through Christ which is a plain demonstration that every Member of the Christian Church is bound to join in all the Offices of publick Worship for there can be no Christian Church if there be no publick Worship because the Christian Church is a Religious Society that is a Society instituted for Religious Worship nor can he be a Member of the Christian Church who wholly neglects or despises publick Worship for he can at best be only a nominal Member of an Assembly who neglects to assemble with them especially when it is essential to our Membership to frequent such Assemblies Now we may safely conclude that Christ would never have instituted a Church or Religious Assembly for publick Worship had not publick Worship been much more acceptable to God than our private Devotions had it been so indifferent as some Men presume whether we worship God singly or in a Body and Society whether at Home in our Closet or in the publick Congregation And we may observe farther That this Church is called the Body of Christ and the Apostle tells us that there is but one body and one Spirit even as you are called in one hope of your Calling Now to be one Body as all good Christians are if Christ have but one Body signifies a very near and intimate union between all the Members of the Body this is agreed by all but then the Question is wherein this Unity consists Some place the Unity of Christians in one Faith in believing all the Articles of the Christian Faith or in having a mutual Kindness and Charity and it must be acknowledged that these are absolutely necessary to unite Christians to make them the one Body of Christ. But yet this is not all for there may be great Dissensions and Schisms where there is but one Faith as it was of old in those fearful Schisms of the Novatians and Donatists who differed not in Matters of Faith but Discipline and as our own sad Experience convinces us at this Day and Men may exercise a Christian Charity and Forbearance to each other without being Members of the same Body and therefore we must consider that this one Body is one Church and the Unity of a Church or Religious Assembly must of necessity consist in one Communion and therefore he who separates himself from Christian Communion who forsakes the Publick Assemblies for Religious Worship destroys the Unity of the Church which is a sufficient Argument that publick Worship when we can enjoy the Opportunities of it is essential to the Notion and Being of a Christian Church And therefore we find that this was the constant practice of Christians from the very first Foundations of a Christian Church Thus we read of those new Converts That they continued stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrine and Fellowship and in breaking of Bread and in Prayers And they continuing daily with one accord in the Temple and in breaking Bread from House to House did eat their Meat with gladness and singleness of Heart Here you see the Example of the first Christians they continued in the fellowship of the Apostles in the communion of Doctrine Sacraments and Prayers which is the true description of the Unity of the Christian Church and therefore the Christian Church is called a Communion or Fellowship That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that you may have fellowship with us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
consisting in such bold Allusions as any Man may make who has neither Modesty nor Grace and those Men who have no way to shew their Wit but by abusing their Maker have nothing to boast of but the very scum and putrefaction of Wit Thirdly These Men should consider what mischief they may do to publick Societies by laughing at Religion and exposing it to contempt for Religion is the firmest Bond of Humane Societies and if once Men should cast off the Fear of God nothing but external Fear and Power could restrain and govern them Atheism is a Secret which he who has it ought in prudence and interest to keep to himself for an Atheist can never mend his condition but may greatly injure himself by propagating Atheism All the Ends he can serve by Atheism he enjoys in greatest perfection while no Man understands the Secret but himself for the only end he can propose in it is to be delivered from the Fears of Invisible Powers to have no restraints laid upon his sensual Enjoyments but what Caution and Interest suggest that he may satisfy his Lusts by any means so long as he can secure himself from present danger Now when he is an Atheist alone he has great advantage of the rest of Mankind because they are restrained by a sense of Religion and the Fear of God which is as unequal a Match as to fight with a Man whose hands are tied when your own are free But now if he should by his Wit and Learning proselite a whole Nation to Atheism Hell would break loose upon Earth and he might soon find himself exposed to all those Violences and Injuries which he now securely practises When there is nothing to restrain Men from doing any wickedness they have a mind to but only the Fear of Humane Power this World will quickly prove a very miserable State and Scene of Confusion and Disorder of Rapes and Adulteries of Violence and Rapine of Blood and Murders especially if the great Leviathan who is intrusted with the Soveraign Power understands his own Liberty as well as his Atheistical Subjects do theirs So that no wise Man can think it his Interest to promote Atheism and therefore it cannot be his Interest to deride Religion and expose it to contempt Fourthly Another Reason why they should at least be modest Atheists is for fear that they should find a God when they come into the other World for they are not so absolutely certain that there is no God as to be perfectly secure that there is none though they think they can answer all the Arguments whereby Men prove there is a God which is the utmost they pretend to though they know how to make a World without God and can laugh at the silly Cheats which have been put upon Man-kind by some cunning States-men who invented the Belief of a God and the Fears of Religion to make their Government more easy and secure yet after all they dare not undertake to demonstrate that there is no God and that it is impossible there should be one and till they can do this they can never be perfectly secure that there is none And therefore lest they should find that there is a God when they come into the other World they should offer as few Affronts to him as may be here to deny his Being when he has furnished us with so many ways of knowing him is a sufficient Affront without any other additional Aggravations but if it were nothing but meer incurable ignorance which made Men Atheists the Fault is much less than when they express so much scorn and contempt of the very Name of God and Religion for this looks like a profest enmity to the Deity that they are not only ignorant of him for want of sufficient Evidence but that they hate and despise the least Thoughts and Imagination of such a Being as Men call God And therefore were it possible to separate the disbelief of a God from a hatred and contempt of him as certainly it might be were Men Atheists meerly for want of Evidence it would concern such Men though they enjoyed the other Liberties which Atheism allows yet to be very modest and civil even to the fanciful Idea and Imagination of a God For fifthly whether Religion be true or false it is no ridiculous thing and therefore it argues great folly for any Man to laugh at it If there be no God all Religion indeed is a Mistake but it is no ridiculous Mistake when there is such Evidence for it as convinces the generality of Mankind even the wisest and most inquisitive Men and what we call Religion is so grave and serious a Thing and of such high importance and concernment to us that if it be not true all Mankind have reason to wish it were true What more lovely and desirable Being could there possibly be than is represented by the Notion of a God an infinitely Wise and Powerful Holy and Just Being who made and who takes care of all his Creatures who governs the World with the kindness and tenderness of a Parent and takes care not only of the Great and Publick Affairs of Kingdoms and Empires but of every particular Creature how mean and contemptible soever it appears and if there be no God what Man who loves himself could forbear wishing that there were One on whom he might securely trust and depend in all Events And what is more worthy of a Reasonable Creature than to adore and worship so perfect and glorious a Being to pay our thankful Acknowledgments to our great Maker and constant Benefactor which is one great part of Religion which is nothing else but to love reverence and obey the most Lovely Excellent Powerful Wise and Holy Lord and Judg of the World And what can be more noble than the end of Religion which is not meerly to live happily a few Years in this World but to be happy for ever a Thing so agreeable to those vehement Desires of Immortality which are imprinted on our Natures and does so raise our Minds above the mean and beggarly Enjoyments of Sense that it makes a truly-religious Man almost as much differ from earthly Men and sottish Atheists as a Man differs from a Beast Here certainly is nothing that is contemptible nothing but what deserves to be admired and though the Atheist may think that we are mistaken in all this yet we cannot say that we have made a foolish choice This may suffice for the second Proposal to perswade them not to put publick Affronts upon God and Religion Thirdly If what I have already said could perswade these Men to treat the Name of God and Religion with some external Modesty and Respect my next Proposal to them should be Not to forsake the Publick Assemblies for Religious Worship and indeed they cannot do this unless they will set up for Atheism and openly profess it or at least bring themselves under a great suspicion of it Now