the Psalmist nay with our Saviour Christ as I have before observed I will declare thy Name unto my Brethren in the midst of the Congregation will I praise thee Ye that fear the Lord praise him all ye Seed of Jacob glorifie him and fear him all ye Seed of Israel My praise shall be of thee in the great Congregation I will pay my Vows before them that fear him Psal xxii 22 23 25. I will praise thee O God among the People I will sing unto thee among the Nations For thy Merey is great unto the Heavens and thy Truth unto the Clouds Psal lvii 9 10. Blessed are they that dwell in thy House they will be still praising thee Psal lxxxiv 4. The Dead praise not the Lord neither any that go down into silence But we will bless the Lord from this time forth and for evermore Praise the Lord. Psal cxv 17 18. Which last words teach us that this is a piece of publick Service we do to God in this World which we are uncapable to perform when we are gone from hence Then the time is past of honouring God among Men by decâ—â—ring the sense we have of his Greatness and speaking good of his Name Foâ— though the dead are not quite silent yet what they say or do signifies nothiâ—â— to us in this World where we muâ—â— serve God while we live or else noâ— at all Which is a new consideration to quicken us to this Duty and to silence all those Objections which are apt to rise in our hearts against it Yes may some say We like the thing you press but are against the way of doing it in this Church In which some are distasted at all Forms of Prayer and others at that Form wherein we Worship God and him alone Unto the first of these I have this to say That when there were no Forms of Prayer left in this Church they that destroyed them did not dayly hold publick Assemblies Nor do they now make it their constant practice Which gives us too much cause to think they have not such a sense as is to be wished of their necessity But to let that pass supposing some have and that they only dislike a Form of Prayer it is something strange that the same Arguments which make them think dayly publick Assemblies to be needful should not also reconcile them to a Form of Prayer Which was constantly used by the Ancient Jews in their Assemblies as hath been undeniably proved by many of our Writers and was prescribed by our Blessed Lord and Master who made his Prayer I have shown for the publick Service in which he joyned with the Jews when he was at the Temple in Jerusalem and when he was in the Country went to the Synagogues which the Chaldee Paraphrast calls Houses of Praise in Isa vii 19. And so did his Apostles who themselves used a constant Form of Praise For they rested not Day and Night saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come Rev. iv 8. This as I showed before was their continual Hymn which they offered to God and it appears by St. Paul's usual way of recommending the Churches to whom he wrote unto the Grace of God that they had their Forms of Prayer also For he himself constantly used these words The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all 2 Thess iii. 17 18. The same Power every Bishop had in his Church to compose Prayers for the necessities of it as we may gather from 1 Tim. ii 1 2. Which Exhortation is directed not to the people but to Timothy who was to take care to have all Men recommended unto God in the publick Offices by Prayers and Supplications with Intercessions and Thanksgivings for Kings especially and for all in Authority c. This could not be done orderly as all things were to be in the Christian Church without a set Form of Words which Timothy we may well think composed For those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Prayers be made signifie as literally the Apostle would have Prayers and Supplications composed as that he would have them put up to God And I doubt not they signifie both First That they should be composed and then put up to God by the Church For you may observe further that the Apostles speak of this as their work Act. vi 4. where having bidden the Church look out some Men to be appointed to attend the business of providing for the poor they add but we will give our selves continually to Prayer and to the Ministry of the Word They made the Prayers where they were present as much as they ministred the Word Which is further manifest from hence that the Prayers of the Church of Jerusalem are called the Apostles Prayers Act. ii 42. And they continued stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrine and Fellowship and in breaking of Bread and in Prayers Observe here how all the faithful stedfastly continued in Prayers as well as hearing the Word And that they are First called Prayers in the Plural number not one but many Prayers and then that they are called the Apostles Prayers Prayers made by them For the word Apostles in the beginning belongs to all the three things that follow as well as to the first To the Apostles Fellowship and their breaking of Bread and their Prayers as well as to their Doctrine To be brief as John Baptist being a publick Minister sent of God taught his Disciples how to pray and our Blessed Lord taught his Apostles So his Apostles in like manner taught those whom they Converted according to the pattern Christ had left them and no question delivered the same power to those that should have the Supreme Guidance Direction and Government of the Church to compose Prayers suteable to Mens necessities in the several Nations where they lived and over whom they presided It may be thought indeed that the Extraordinary Gift they had in those dayes supplyed all But it is manifest both that every one had not that Extraordinary Gift of Prayer and that they also who had were to be so ordered and regulated in the exercise of it by the Governours of the Church that it might serve its Edification And nothing tended more to the Edification of the Church than that it should have a standing known Form of Prayers and Praises without which it could not be known how they Worshipped God and not depend merely upon that extraordinary Gift which was not constant but vouchsafed only on some special occasion according as God pleased to impart it Which is not said arbitrarily by me but it appears by a convincing Argument that this extraordinary Gift was not intended to serve the constant necessities of the Church but only some particular purposes for they who had it could not make others understand it and are therefore directed by the Apostle to pray they might be able to interpret that others might reap some benefit
is preserved but a sense also of his Greatness and Magnificence as I may call it is also bred and nourished in mens minds Who joyning as one Man in the same service are taught not only that God is but what he is infinite in all perfections For when a multitude of people meet together even as many as a spatious place can contain to Worship the same Being it doth most naturally signifie and declare that He is exceeding great and glorious whom so many own for their Lord upon whom they depend for all they have or can have which is not signified nor represented when only one or two or a few pray to Him Therefore this is a reason both that we should hold publick Assemblies and that they should be as full as is possible and all who belong to them should croud unto them to testifie that they look upon him who is there Worshipped to be the great King over all the Earth as the Psalmist speaks xlvii 2. For great numbers meeting together to do their Homage to him it is the most natural sign that can be contrived which private Worship is not that we take him to be the Soveraign of the World the Lord of all above all good unto all in one word the common Parent of us all to whom we resort for his Blessing This is a demonstration that Publick Worship is to be preferred before all other because most sutable to his most excellent Majesty the best token of the high thoughts we have of him the utmost we are able to do to testifie how great and how good we believe him to be how able and willing to help us all as being equally related unto all And the more meet together for this end the better this is declared that he cannot be honoured and glorified enough but we stand in need of the united thoughts and affections of all Mankind could they be assembled at once to magnifie his incomparable perfections Nay If all Creatures in Heaven and in Earth as a very worthy Person observes could meet together in one Body to Worship Him at the same time and in the same place it would still be much better because more sutable to His Most Excellent Majesty being still a better signification of his Infinite perfections and of his vast Dominions which he governs with inconceiveable Wisdom and takes care of with a most provident goodness And though no one place here on Earth is big enough to contain so much as one Nation or Country or great City yet we meeting in several places of the same kind and set apart for the same purpose to Worship God at one and the same time it approaches something near unto this all the people that are under one and the same Government hereby setting forth God's praise together at the very same moment and in the like though not the very same individual place where they uniformly acknowledge him with joynt consent to be their common Preserver and Benefactor Which is far more agreeable to the perfection of his most excellent Nature than the single or private Applications that are made to him in which there is no sensible Declaration made what he is able to do for all but only what he is able to do for one or for a few For which reason the Universal Church anciently observed certain set hours of Prayers that all Christians throughout the World might at the same time joyn together to glorifie God and some of them * Origen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 N. 33 35. were of opinion that the Angelical Host being acquainted with those hours took that time to joyn their Prayers and Praises with those of the Church For common reason led them to this thought that those noble Creatures are highly concern'd to set forth to the utmost of their Power the glorious Honour of God's Majesty who as he is exalted above all Blessing and Praise so hath the utmost pitch of Praise to which Creatures can reach given unto Him when the whole Family of Heaven and Earth combine together at once to Worship Him Thence it was that the Psalms of David though many of them particularly concerned himself were directed to the Chief Musitian for the Publick Service as the way to make his Praise glorious So the Psalmist speaks in lxvi Psalm which begins with a desire that all Lands would make a joyful noise unto God and sing forth the honour of his Name and make his Praise glorious That is this was the way to do something sutable to the surpassing Glory of his Majesty For great saith he elsewhere is the Lord and therefore greatly to be praised in the City of our God xlviii Psal 1. He was not greatly praised sutably to his greatness unless it were in that place where they all met together to praise him No the very private Blessings bestowed on David he would have publickly celebrated by all the people And therefore doth not only say I will bless the Lord at all times his praise shall be continually in my mouth My Soul shall make her boast of the Lord c. but adds O magnifie the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together xxxiv Psal 1 2 3. And therefore much more were the common Blessings poured on them all to be thus acknowledged and his praise sung in the Congregation of Saints as the words are cxlix Psal 1. that is by all the people of the Jews Nay by all the people on the face of the Earth as he speaks cxvii Psal O praise the Lord all ye Nations praise him all ye people c. Which St. Paul shows in the xv Rom. 11. was accomplished when the Gentiles submitted themselves to Christ and became Members of his Church therein to praise him continually in their publick Assemblies III. In which the sense of God will not only be preserved sutable to his most excellent greatness and goodness but preserved pure and sincere free from those dangerous mixtures which may sooner creep into it to corrupt and embase it if he should be Worshipped only in private Where every man may frame conceits of the Divine Majesty agreeable to his own inclinations and there is no such way to prevent or correct them as by attending upon the publick Offices of Religion Into which Errors are not so easily admitted because men are naturally careful about that which they expose to the publick view not being willing themselves to appear before others with such neglect as they are sometimes found in when they are alone Or if there be any thing dangerous admitted there it will soon be discovered and if not redressed yet opposed by good men as all corruptions have been at their first appearance though in process of time they have prevailed They began in private and from thence by degrees adventurnd to appear in publick where they would have appeared sooner if the common sense of Mankind or of Christian people had not been against them There
of the Earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him what dost thou ver 34 35. And then concludes his Declaration in this manner Now I Nebuchadnezzar Praise and Extol and Honour the King of Heaven all whose works are Truth and his wayes Judgment and those that walk in Pride he is able to abase A Voice worthy of a King and worthy to be published throughout all the World and therefore he made the Declaration wherein it was contained to be sent to all People Nations and Languages that dwelt on all the Earth ver 1. that is throughout all his wide Empire to all the parts of the Earth where his Authority reached and his words would be reverenced that they might magnifie this great King of Heaven and Earth together with him That was the end of it and it is one of the most publick pieces of Devotition that we ever read was performed by any man arising out of this sense with which he was possessed in those Ancient times that God is to be Honoured Blessed and Extolled publickly among and by all People to whom he thought himself bound to show the Signs and the Wonders which the most High God had wrought towards him And How great saith he are his Signs and how mighty are his Wonders ver 3. He was not able to tell but made the best and the most ample Declaration of them that he could in this Imperial Decree which he caused to be proclaimed every where By all which we may easily be convinced in what gross Errors two sorts of people live First They who imagine that God may be served as well at home as at the Church Such men neither understand the Nature of God nor the Nature of Religion nor their own Nature which teach them quite otherwise And instruct them also to frequent the Publick Assemblies where they have opportunity so to do Secondly For that is another palpable Error to think that it is sufficient if we come on the Lord's Day to testifie that we do not forget God though all the Week beside we take no notice of him but constantly neglect his Publick Service when we are invited to it and have leisure to attend it We forget the many publick common Blessings we dayly need and dayly receive which ought to be as publickly every day implored and acknowledged in our Common Prayers Let the foregoing considerations be duly pondered and they will perswade you both out of Love to God's Honour and out of love to your own good to joyn as often as you can your Prayers Praises and Thanksgivings with the whole Church of God and to make our Assemblies as full as you can both on the Lord's Day and every Day of the Week Whereby you would declare your constant dependence on God and acknowledge how he dayly 〈◊〉 you with his Benefits and draw 〈◊〉 Publick Blessings in abundance upon the Church and Kingdom where you live and do credit to our Holy Religion which alas now looks in many places as if it were despised and not only do credit to it but both help to support it and also promote and propagate it to the Honour and Praise of the Almighty Lord of Heaven and Earth unto whom be Glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all Ages World without end Amen CHAP. XIV The Nature of a Church requires there should be Publick Prayers I Proceed now to the Third Head of Arguments whereby a Christian should be most of all moved to his Duty and that is to consider the Nature of the Church which both requires Publick Assemblies and makes the Service performed in them far more acceptable than Private Prayers can be And here let it be considered in general that the very word we translate Church in the Holy Scriptures signifies in the Greek Language an Assembly a company of persons met together and that publickly upon the publick business or occasions The first time but one we meet with this Word in the New Testament it is used in opposition to a single person alone by himself or to one or two more beside him Matth. xviii 15 16 17. If thy Brother trespass against thee go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone and if he will not hear thee take one or two more c. and if he neglect to hear them tell it to the Church that is to that solemn Assembly which sat to judge causes and unto which was the last resort so that if he did not hear them he was to be lookt upon as an Heathen Man and a Publican And the truth is it signifies any sort of Assembly or concourse of People which was among the Gentiles as well as the Jews For in the xix of the Acts when all the City of Ephesus was in an uproar and ran together into the Theatre crying up Diana this general concourse is thrice called their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Assembly ver 32. Some cryed one thing some another for the Assembly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was confused c. and ver 39. If you inquire of other matters it shall be determined in a lawful Assembly and ver 41. having thus spoken he dismissed the Assembly Now this being the very Notion of the word Church the Christian Church which Christ hath called is an Assembly of Men and Women met together to Worship God by him to give him Thanks for all his Benefits and to implore his Grace and Mercy to them and to all the World It is an Assembly or Company of Men as much as any other but our Saviour's Kingdom being not of this World the Assembly which he appoints is not to meet for Civil Ends and Purposes but for Religious And the great thing in all Religion is the Devout Worship of God and giving Him the Honour due unto his Name for which the Church i.e. Christian Assemblies being founded it is a clear demonstration that this Worship is not so well performed alone by our selves as in these Assemblies For here we act most like Christians that is like Members of the Body of Christ which is his Church With which whosoever doth not joyn he is no longer a Christian because he is not a Member of the Body of Christ which is a Company joyned together to have Fellowship with God and one with another in all Holy Duties of which Prayer Thanksgiving and Praises are the chief For though there they receive Christian Instruction yet that is not the principal business for which they assemble as appears by St. Paul's words to Timothy before-mentioned 1 Tim. ii 1. If we could make Christian people sensible of this they would immediately yield the Publick Worship of God to be that which of all other he most designs to have continued in the World and consequently be most affected towards it and constantly frequent it And how should they remain insensible of it if they would but consider duely that it is implied in their being
in a vision ascending and descending upon a Ladder which stood on the Earth and reached unto Heaven he said as soon as he was awake how dreadful is this place that is with what reverence should I behave my self here this is no other but the House of God and this is the Gate of Heaven He concludes God to be present because the Angels were who are his Ministers and Attendants And accordingly we are to understand these words of the Apostle as intended to signifie a Divine presence among us when we are reverently assembled together to Worship God in his Holy places Which the Ancient Christians lookt upon as a singular incouragement to attend upon the Publick Prayers because then a Christian prays with the Angels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are the words of Clemens Alexandrinus as already L. vii Strom. p. 746. especially at that time equal even to an Angel and will not be out of the precinct of those Holy Guardians when he prayes alone but then also have their Company Of which Origen hath a set Discourse in his Book of Prayer lately published Part. 2da Num. 20. where mentioning the words of the Psalmist among others The Angel of the Lord incampeth round about them that fear him c. He thus proceeds it is probable that when many are assembled together sincerely to the Glory of Christ the Angel of every one of them there pitcheth his Tent together with him that is committed to his Charge and Custody so as to make 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a double Church where the Saints are gathered together one Church of Men and another Church of Angels IX But if there were nothing of this in it yet the Communion of Saints here on Earth which is an Article of our Creed should invite us unto the Publick Service For how do we maintain communion with them if we joyn not with those among whom we live in the Assemblies of the Saints That is of Christians who are all a Holy people to the Lord by their solemn dedication to him in their Baptism and by their Holy profession and meeting together continually for Holy Offices Which if any Man forsake he is no longer Holy but Prophane renouncing so far the Christian Faith which teaches him to keep the Communion of Saints by having Fellowship with them in Prayer especially in the Eucharist which is the Communion of Christ's Body and Blood By partaking of which we have the nearest Communion also one with another being made one Body as I have said already by partaking all of that one Bread 1 Cor. x. 17. Communion indeed or Fellowship is in one place made a thing distinct from breaking of Bread and Prayers Act. ii 42. and signifies some think communicating to each others necessities Which Notion of Communion if we understand to be meant in the Creed it makes no less to my purpose than the other For we must consider that this was done in their Publick Assemblies whereby their communicating to the needs of their Brethren became an acceptable Offering unto God together with their Prayers This we learn from the 1 Cor. xvi 1 2. Where St. Paul speaks of the Collections for the Saints as a part of the business of the first day of the Week both there and in the Churches of Galatia When they did not forget this well-pleasing Sacrifice as it is called Heb. xiii 16. but acknowledged God's bounty to themselves by the relief they sent to others and by such a publick contribution maintained also a sense and fellow-feeling of one anothers condition and made a profession that they all belonged to one and the same Body though never so far distant one from another The Sense of which we are apt to lose when we joyn not together in such actions of piety Whereby Brotherly Love and Kindnese is likewise nourished and we are knit together in the tenderest Affection while we look upon one another not only as Children of the same common Father but as Limbs of the same Body Who naturally have the same care one for another and whether one Member suffer all the Members suffer with it or one Member be honoured all the Members rejoyce with it 1 Corinth xii 25 26. In this Brotherly Love and in the same Faith some think the Unity of the Body of Christ intirely consists But they should consider that this Brotherly Love and Care flows from the Unity of Christ's Body which consists therefore in the conjunction of every Member with the rest and keeping communion one with another in all the common Offices of Religion in Christian Assemblies From which whosoever departs or refuses to joyn therein he breaks the Unity of the Body of Christ which is his Church And though he do the same thing alone which is done in those Assemblies yet it is not the same thing in the account of Christ who looks upon such a Man as gone from him by going from his Body the Church X. I will add one thing more which is that the Service of God in the Church triumphant in Heaven is a Publick Service and they do not Worship God separately there but joyn together in his Praises This we are taught by St. John Rev. vii 11. where after a great multitude had been represented to him which no Man could number of all Nations and Kindreds and Tongues who stood before the Throne and before the Lamb crying with a loud voice and saying Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the Throne and unto the Lamb whereby no doubt is signified the Service of the Christian Church then it follows that All the Angels also stood round about the Throne and about the Elders and the four Beasts and fell before the Throne on their Faces and Worshipped God saying Amen Blessing and Glory and Wisdom and Thanksgiving and Honour and Power and Might be unto our God for ever and ever They said that is Amen to the Christian Service and also added their own giving Glory to God in one Body for it is the voice of all Angels as the Christian Church did Let this be seriously pondered and we shall indeavour to approach as near unto them as we can by joyning as they do in one Society of the Church to Worship God For so doing we joyn our selves to the Society also of the Holy Angels as the Angels St. John here informs us do to the Society of Christian Worshippers They and we make but one Body in Christ in whom God hath gathered together in one all things both which are in Heaven and which are on Earth And this Unity consists it is manifest by this Vision of St. John in their communion one with another in Holy Offices which the Church in Heaven where it is become most perfectly one doth most sacredly keep and preserve CHAP. XVIII A Recapitulation of the four foregoing Chapters with some Inferences from thence LAY now all these things together that the Church in the very notion