whether single Persons or the Community of which we are Members Fifthly From the general Consent and universal Practice of the Christian Churches of all Ages and Places throughout the World. 1. Then we Christians are obliged to frequent the daily publick Worship of God out of regard to his Authority who hath enjoined us so to do in this and the like places of Scripture such as are these following Ephes vj 18. Praying always 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at every season with all Prayer and Supplication in the Spirit and watching thereunto with all Perseverance Luke xviij 1. Where our Saviour speaks a Parable to this end that men ought always to pray and not to faint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to be slothful remiss and negligent in this great Duty 1 Tim. 2.8 I will therefore that Men Pray every where Which both St. Basil and Beza do expound of Houses or Churches set apart for the Publick Worship of God in which St. Paul would have Christians to Pray and not only at the Temple in Jerusalem Dr. Patrick's Discourse concerning Prayer Now although it must be granted that none of these Scriptures do expresly enjoyn the daily use of Publick Prayers yet since these do more compleatly answer all the ends of Prayer than any private Devotion can do they must of necessity be comprehended and by parity of Reason chiefly designed in those general commands Besides that To Pray without ceasing or continually may be very properly expounded of our presenting our selves before God in his House as often as we are either obliged thereto by publick Authority or invited by the laudable Custom and Example of pious and well-disposed Persons For this in a popular and legal sence is doing a thing indesinently or without ceasing Dr. Barrow when we perform it so often as we are required by Law or Custom Thus the Priests are said Heb. 9.6 to go always into the Tabernacle accomplishing the service of God. Always i. e. at all those solemn times which were appointed for such Service and the Apostles are said Luke 24.53 after Christ's Ascension and their return to Jerusalem to have been continually in the Temple blessing and praising God. i. e. They went daily to the Temple at the usual times or hours of Prayer Since then we are commanded To Pray without coasing and to give thanks in every thing or upon every Occasion to pray always to pray every where in every season or upon every opportunity except a man shall be so absurd as to deny the solemn times set apart every day for Publick Devotion to be seasons and opportunities of Prayer the Material Church to be a place and the hours of Prayer to be any part of time and so to be necessarily included in the terms always without ceasing continually he must confess that all these Precepts of our Saviour and his Apostles may and ought by the Analogy of Faith and Deduction of right Reason to be interpreted at least as well of the Publick as of our Private Addresses to God. And consequently That we ought for this great Reason to be Assiduous and conscienciously Diligent in our daily Publick Approaches to God in his Sanctuary because this is a considerable part of our Duty as weare Christians Or This is the Will of God in Christ Jesus concerning us And the pious Wisdom of our Church having provided that not only on all the Lord's days and some few others set apart for special Reasons but on every day of the Week also Morning and Evening Prayer shall be openly read or said by the Gurate that Ministreth in every Church or Chapel being at home and not being otherwise reasonably hindred 't is hereby plainly intimated That every one who is not reasonably hindred should also come to hear it read every day A Bell being ordered to be tolled thereunto that the People may come to hear God's Word and to pray with the Minister As he who pleases may find at the end of the Discourse concerning the Church in the Book of common-Common-Prayer These things considered it will not certainly become any Wise and Good Man who Loves his God his Religion his Country or his own Soul usually and customarily or indeed at any time to absent himself from the daily Publick Worship of God without a very just and warrantable reason And he who allows himself in such plain Omissions of his Duty upon any unjustifiable account whatever denies to yield Obedience to this Precept Pray without ceasing since he ceases nay he refuses to Pray when the Providence of God the Direction and Order of the Church the Custom and Example of Devout Persons do strongly invite and follicite him by reforting to God's House and hearing his part in the Publick Worship to do open Honour to God and Advantage both to himself and the whole Church Militant 2. We are also obliged to frequent the Publick Prayers because we do thereby bring Glory and Honour to God and give Credit and Reputation to our Religion and that in much greater Degrees than we can do by any private Addresses to him either in our Closers or with our Families For tho' it be true that we may Worship God acceptably at home and it is both our Duty and our Advantage so to do yet since Honour and Glory are properly outward Significations of the inward value and regard we have for Persons we do not properly honour and glorifie God in our private Devotions but do then more especially give him the honour due unto his Name and make his Name to be Glorious when we Pray unto and Praise him before much People For when we every day make our Court to him as to the great King and Lord of all and wait upon him in his own House we thereby give a publick Testimony of the Esteem and Reverence we have for him We own our selves to be of his Family and Retinue to depend upon him and to hold all we have as from him by the daily publick Homage we thus pay unto him Hereby we may also properly be said to serve God or to do our Duty to him in promoting his Interest if I may so speak by keeping up and maintaining a lively sence of his being in the Hearts of Men and propagating and advancing Conceptions of him Worthy of his Greatness and transcendent Majesty of his infinite Wisdom Power and Goodness when we thus avowedly celebrate him as the Universal yersal Parent Preserver and Governour of Mankind who alone understands and alone is both able and willing to supply the wants of all his Creatures who invoke and depend upon him Hereby we likewise bring Credit and Reputation to our Religion which can hardly be supported without such Visible Profession We openly declare our selves it's Champions and that we are not ashamed of our Blessed Lord nor of his Words or the Laws of his holy Institution in the midst of a crooked and perverse a scoffing and Atheistical Generation We let
all profane Miscreants see that they can no more banish the Notion of God out of the World then they can pluck the Sun out of the Firmament tho' they may possibly wink hard enough neither to see the one nor take due notice of the other That notwithstanding their affected Blindness and wilful Ignorance God hath still a very considerable party in the World numbers of Men who think it their greatest Honour to be and to be accounted his Servants and every day publickly own that Name and Title and as such pay their daily Attendance on their dear Lord and Master in his own House 3. Another Motive or Reason obliging us to frequent the daily Prayers of our Church is the Consideration of the Advantages we our selves shall reap from our so doing Of which sort I shall name only these Three First That we hereby do spend some part of our time every day in the best and most heavenly Employment and consequently after the best manner that we are capable of spending it Secondly That this lays a farther Obligation upon us to lead a more strict and holy Life than other men do and to be exemplary as well in all other Graces as in that of Devotion Thirdly That this is a certain means if we are not wanting to our selves of our growth in Grace and particularly in those two Cardinal Graces the Top and Perfection as well as the Ground-work and Foundation of all others the Love of God and the Love of our Neighbours 1. Then I say That the time we spend in the Publick Service of God is the best secured and the best bestowed of any other This is certainly the best because the most Heavenly Employment it being the continual Business of the Angels and the Archangels and all the Host of Heaven with joint Praises to Laud and Celebrate the Divine Majesty So that by thus doing we begin Heaven here we do already enter upon the Life and State and Employment of Angels being united to that blessed Choir and doing as they do And he that shall duly acquit himself herein will have this great satisfaction that he hath spent at least one hour every day to the best advantage as an Anticipation and fore-taste of that Life which we hope to lead in the presence of God for ever 2. Another Advantage we derive from frequenting daily the Publick Prayers is this viz. That our so doing lays a strong and daily Obligation upon us to live a more strict and holy a more divine and heavenly Life than others do to be unblamable unreprovable in all our Conversation And he who doth not charge himself with the daily Practice and Exercise of all those Graces for which he prays to God hath reason to suspect himself of Hypocrisie and Formality in these his open Prayers Those then who make Conscience of Approaching God twice every day in his Publick Ordinances must also for this very Reason besides all others make more Conscience of presenting him as with a pure Heart so with a Circumspect Innocent Unspotted Life And certainly if such Men are not much better than others who pretend less they are much worse since they do hereby openly profess more Zeal for God's Glory more Love to him and more Care to please him and a greater sense both of his Goodness to them and their Duty to him so that if they disparage such their Profession by unsuitable Practice they give just Reason to believe they have some other end to serve then that of Religion 3. A Third Advantage which will acrue to us from our daily Attendance on God in his House is growth in Grace and particularly in the Love of God and of our Neighbour those two Eminent and Comprehensive Graces on which hang all the Law and the Prophets For the first of these the Love of God 't is certain that the more often we Converse with him the more intimately we are acquainted with him who being the supreme good needs only to be known that so he may be loved by us the more strongly will our Souls cleave unto him So that if to our Private Meditation and Prayers we add such daily solemn Converse with him in the Publick Prayers and Thanksgivings and hearing of his Word our Love to him must needs grow and increase thereby And as to the Love of our Neighbour since every siding and taking part though but in some inconsiderable Opinion Interest or Custom Education or Course of Life is a peculiar Endearment and ground of Affection towards those of the same Opinion Interest or Way how much more prone will they be to bear an hearty good Will and Kindness toward each other who are daily engaged in the same common Interest and that of the highest Importance viz. a joint endeavour to bring Publick Honour to their common Lord and to forward their own Salvation who twist and combine their Prayers and Praises and converse here with one another as they hope to do hereafter in Heaven Not to mention now the solemn Intercession made twice aday for the whole Catholick Church and the open Declaration of our so forgiving all Men who offend or injure us as we desire and hope for Mercy and Forgiveness at the Hands of God. Now besides the Efficacy of the united Prayers of a Christian Congregation put up for themselves and for each other at which Christ hath promised to be present in a special manner Matt. xviij 20. It is I think an undeniable certainty That he who shall both in Private and also in Publick thus daily importune the Throne of Grace shall obtain a greater measure of these and all other Graces than he who contents himself with his Private Solitary Prayers only 4. Another Consideration enforcing this Duty of our waiting upon God in his Sanctuary every day is the great Benefit and good which others may receive from our so doing and that not only as particular Persons taking notice of our regular steady exemplary Piety joined with an unblemished Life and a truly Christian Conversation may be won by our good Example to the same practice and by the shine of our Light by seeing our good Works may also themselves come in like manner to glorifie our Father which is in Heaven But also because Publick Prayers both as they tend to the bettering all those who do conscienciously frequent them and so to the augmenting the number and improving the Graces of Righteous Persons for whose sake God often spares a wicked Place or People and also in their Nature Design and End are the proper Instrument for the obtaining and continuing Publick Peace and Tranquillity or the Establishment and Prosperity of a Church and State. Whence R. Maimonides well observes That he who dwells in a City in which there is a Synagogue or House of Prayer and doth not therein Pray with the Assembly he is to be censured as an ill Neighbour as one that is wanting in his Duty to promote by
Imprimatur Mart. 17. 1686. JO. BATTELEY A PERSWASIVE TO THE Consciencious Frequenting THE DAILY Publick Prayers OF THEChurch of England IN A SERMON UPON 1 THESSAL 5 Verse 17 and 18. LONDON Printed by A. G. for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1687. TO HIS Esteemed Good FRIENDS THE INHABITANTS OF THE PARISHES OF St. LAVRENCE JEWRY St. MARY MAGDALEN MILK-STREET St. CHRISTOPHER Gentlemen I Know not how better to express the sense I have of your great Kindness in making so free a Choice of me to those Relations in which I now stand to you than by lodging this Plain Discourse in every one of your Houses I earnestly request that it may be attentively read and well considered of by all those in your Families who can read and may be read to such as cannot read themselves And if I can prevail to have it examined Impartially without all prejudice and with the same Honest Design with which it was Written and Preached I may modestly hope that it will through God's Blessing produce at least some visible good Effects We have already praised be God for it daily Prayers in many Churches of this City which afford us great choice of Hours at some or other of which certainly most Men may and the most Wise and Pious Men will find or make leisure from their ordinary business openly to own their Dependance upon and pay their Publick Acknowledgments to that God who both at first made and hath since so Graciously Redeemed them for himself and who every day Maintains Preserves and Blesses them And I question not but that we should soon have Prayers likewise every day in most I believe in all our Churches if the Parishioners could be perswaded to come and give Countenance to their Ministers who are now discouraged from the Attempt by the Shameful Scandalous Thinnes of their Congregations on Wednesdays and Fridays when they are read Though I confess my self to be of Opinion and that upon some Experiment as well as upon good grounds of Reason That even in those Churches where there is the smallest Appearance at those times there would be twice perhaps in a little while Ten times as many at Prayers every day were they once so setled and Mens Minds duly awakened to the Consideration of their Duty and Interest as now come on Wednesdays and Fridays Since the better any good thing is weighed and understood and the more constantly it is practised the more it will gain upon us and the nearer it comes to an Habit the harder it will be to forbear it I should not need to add were it not to prevent if it be possible all manner of Pretence to Cavil That what is here advanced manifestly enough appears to be Calculated for Cities Market-Towns or such Populous Villages in which both the nearness of the Church and the Nature of Mens Employments may conveniently afford them so valuable a Privilege as is that of Consecrating some part of every day to the Honour and Publick Worship of their Dear Lord and Master Nor should I otherwise here say because I have so often done it in the Body of this little Treatise That I do all along press this Duty with the Exception or Allowance of a Just and Good Reason That is of such a Reason as a Prudent and Pious Man whose Mind is seasoned with that Genuine Principle of Divine Life the Love of God and all the Graces of his Holy Spirit and influenced by a lively sense and proportionable care of his Chief and Lasting concern that of his Immortal Soul shall deliberately judge to be a sufficient Excuse for his Absence at that time all the Circumstances of his Person and Place and necessary or warrantable Occasions being fairly accounted for What I affirm and urge is this That the Common-Prayers of our Church ought to be every where and at all times frequented by all those of its Members who can do it with that conveniency which Christian Piety Prudence and Charity shall state and agree to be such And that 't is every Man's Duty to be present at them so often as his occasions and condition of Life so determined will permit And this Truth I think were there no other Argument for it may be clearly made out by the General Laws of our Religion such as are those which Command and Invite us To seek first the Kingdom of God. To do all things to the Glory of God. To let all things be done to edifying That is to the Building up and Advancement of the Church of Christ To think on in order to practise whatsoever things are Honest or Venerable and Worthy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whatsoever things are Just and such certainly is the daily Publick Homage of an Intelligent Creature to his Great Creatour whatsoever things are of good Report To live to the Lord with one Mind and one Mouth to Glorifie God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ To give Glory to God in the Church in the Assemblies of Christian People by Jesus Christ throughout all Ages To shew forth the Praises of him who hath called us out of Darkness into his Marvellous Light as being thereby made a Royal Priesthood Of whom as we are such God now under the Gospel requires constant Service in the Publick Assemblies as he did the Sacrifices of the Levitical Priests Dr. Ham. These General Rules or Maxims of Christianity being all of them easily applicable to the Subject I Treat of I thought good to mention here for the farther Instruction and Conviction of those whom the Prejudice of a different Education contrary Custom Party or other little Inducement may be apt to mislead and make unwilling to discern and own what they are not willing should betrue But whatever the Event may be in reference to those who thus choose to stand in their own light I shall have at least the Satisfaction of having now done what in me lay to perswade you to the Practice of a Religious Duty which if undertaken upon the Principles and performed by the Measures of true and Vndissembled Piety will very much tend to the Honour and Glory of God the Credit Growth and Advancement of Religion the Establishment of our Church the Peace and Welfare of this Kingdom and our own great good both in this Life and in that which is to come That it may please God so to Bless this little Treatise as that it may be some way instrumental to the promoting his Glory the general Interest of Religion and their particular Advantage who shall read and duly consider it is the earnest Prayer of Gentlemen Your Obliged Faithful Friend and Servant John Mapletoft A PERSWASIVE TO THE Consciencious Frequenting THE DAILY Publick Prayers OF THE Church of England 1 THESSAL V. 17 and 18. Pray without ceasing In every thing give thanks for this is the Will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you FRequent Intercourse with Heaven by the ascent or
going up of our minds to God in the holy flames of fervent Prayer and devout Meditation is recommended to us both by Scripture and Reason as the most proper and most effectual means of our growth in Grace and Spiritual Proficiency For such intimate and more immediate converse with the Fountain of all Wisdom Goodness and Truth will enlighten our Understandings must needs attract and unalterably fix our Wills upon the true Object of Rational Choice the supreme Good will untack and loosen our Souls from the Clod to which they grow will raise our thoughts above the Smoak and Dust the petty Cares and low trifling concerns of this World it will sublime our Aâ—…ctions enlarge and improve our Capacities refine our Tempers Spiritualize our Natures and thus every way fit us for that nearer Approach to and closer Union with God that centre of our immortal Spirits which is to be our Rest and our Happiness our Crown and our Glory in the next Life It must then be acknowledged that the continued Use and Excercise of such Abstraction of our minds from material and sensible things and devout Application of our Souls to God in Prayer and Thanksgiving is a substantial part of that Employment and Duty to which we are obliged as we are Christians or of that Will and good Pleasure of God which is revealed to us by our Blessed Lord in his Gospel And this Consideration of the Nature and Efficacy of Prayer and its necessary subserviency to the great ends and design of our Religion may serve besides the consent of learned Interpreters Grot. Vorst Cornel. a Lapide to justify the Coherence or mutual Relation of these Words as I have now read them together Pray without ceasing c. Now these Words thus connected do manifestly contain this Proposition viz. That we Christians are obliged by the tenure of our Profession and as we are such to great Measures of our Devotion That we are bound to have a constant and assiduous Commerce with our good God in Prayer and Thanksgiving who hath vouchsafed to us in the Gospel of his Son a more express Revelation of his Nature and his Will of his Love and Kindness to us in sending his Son to redeem us and his Holy Spirit to Instruct Reform and Sanctifie us and of our Duty consequent thereupon to walk worthy of God. 1 Thes 2.10 i. e. To act and live in some Proportion to that Honour God hath herein done us who is now in Christ Jesus after a more peculiar manner our Lord our Master our Friend and Benefactor our Father and our God. That since God is come down to us the Word was made Flesh and dwelt or had his Tabernacle among us appeared gloriously in our Nature our Souls must now be always mounting up to him on the Wings of Prayer and in the daily Sacrifice of Praise and incense of Thanksgiving And that we Christians must habituate and accustom our Souls to dwell above and to converse with the Original of our Being the God of all our Mercies and all our Hopes since 't is the great business of our Religion to dispose and qualifie us in this Life for the Enjoyment of God in the next and by raising our Minds from gross and sensible Objects to a relish and taste of things Spiritual and Invisible to Naturalize us to Heaven And since these general Precepts Pray without ceasing In every thing give thanks do unquestionably import both Frequency and Perseverance in the whole extent and latitude of Devotion both as to its several Parts as also as to its Circumstances of Time and Place including all kinds and all manners of Address to God whether settled and regular or Accidental and Occasional in point of time publick in Churches or private in our Closets and Retirements or with our Families in point of Place it must be confessed that we are chiefly and more especially obliged to that kind or manner of Address which most fully answers the Principal Ends and Fundamental Reasons of Prayer in general Now the great end and design of praying to God being to do Honor to him in the Acknowledgment we make that as we derive from him so we wholly depend upon him for all that we are or have or hope for and to procure from God a supply to all our own and others wants both in our private and publick Capacities it evidently follows That the commands here given To Pray without ceasing and To give thanks in every thing or upon all Occasions and Opportunities which do present themselves must be understood and that principally to lay an Obligation upon us to make Conscience of frequenting the daily publick Worship of God where we have an opportunity of so doing Since this manner of Application to God doth apparently above any other advance the glory of God and promote all the valuable Interests both of our selves and others whether considered personally or collectively as we make a Society or Body either Civil or Religious as I shall shew hereafter My Business shall therefore at present be to attempt the clearing up and making good the Doctrine laid down in these Words taken in that most genuine and eminent sense which is allowed them by the most learned Interpreters both Ancient and Modern viz. That we Christians do stand obliged both by virtue of these and the like Precepts and by the reason of the thing it self conscienciously to frequent the daily publick Prayers of the Church where we have opportunity and can find or make leisure so to do And that therefore no Man or Woman ought to think it altogether an indifferent thing generally speaking and the Circumstances of particular Cases being allowed for whether they go to serve God with the Congregation or stay at home and employ themselves in some other thing tho lawful yet at that time not necessary or not sufficient to furnish them with such a reason as may serve to justify them to God and their own Conscience directed by the measures of Christian Prudence and Piety of Love to God and a due Cave of their Immortal Souls Now the Obligation we all have not to forsake the Assembling of our selves together with our Christian Brethren every day in God's House unless we are hindred by some good Reason I shall I hope evince and make to appear from these five following Considerations Firstly From the import and meaning of the Precepts here mentioned and others of the like Sense and Signification viz. That this is the Will of God in Christ Jesus concerning us Secondly From the Consideration of the Glory and Honour we bring to God and the Reputation and Credit we give to Religion by our daily open and solemn Addresses to him Thirdly From the many and great Advantages we our selves shall reap from our constant Attendance on God in this our bounden Duty and Service Fourthly From the Consideration of the good and interest of others which we do hereby most effectually promote
his Prayers the good of that Community of which he is therefore an Unworthy Member And I have been credibly informed to apply this point to our selves That in the Days of Queen Elizabeth when our Church by the Blessing of God upon her necessary and warrantable Reformation had quite broken off the Chains and Fetters of the Romish Usurpation some perhaps most of our Parish Churches were as numerously thronged at the daily Prayers as they have since been at Sermons And that as our Liturgy grew afterwards into neglect by the Indevotion and Prophaneness of some and then into Contempt by the Mis-perswasion Vain Affectation of Novelty false Pretences to greater Purity of Worship and the like evil Artifices of others So true Piety and Loyalty Men's Duty to God and their Prince Justice and Charity Brotherly Kindness and good Will to each other began proportionably to lessen and decay till at length every thing of Religion but the Name and Pretence only seemed to die and expire in a Bloody Civil War Of which our Poor Church still wears the Marks and feels some of its dire Effects to this very day in those breaches which are yet unclosed From whence we may rationally conclude That as the neglect and dis-use of our Common-Prayer was the beginning of those Confusions and Miseries which ruined both our Church and State so the most probable means to secure our Religion as it is now Established and to engage Almighty Power on our side is for us all to unite our selves as in the Profession of the Evangelical Primitive Apostolical Faith and in Uniform Obedience to all the Laws of God and in stedfast Loyalty to our Prince and Universal Love and hearty good Will one towards another So also in the same daily Publick Worship of our great Lord. Which together with the Articles of our Religion is the proper Characteristick and Distinctive Mark of the purest and best constituted Church in the World the Church of England in which by the goodness of God we do now live and in which by his Grace we hope to die The 5. and last Consideration from which I proposed to deduce our Obligation to the daily service of God in the Church is the general Consent and Universal Practice of the Church of Christ in all Ages and Places almost in the World. The Apostles as we read Luke 24.53 after Christ's Ascension were continually in the Temple i. e. Every Morning and Evening in which sence the Morning and Evening Sacrifice was called the continual Burnt-Offering at the time of Publick Prayer Praising and Blessing God. And the Apostolical Constitutions which are by all allowed to be very Ancient do enjoin the Bishop to Admonish and Command the People to come every day both Morning and Evening to the Publick Prayers and that none by absenting himself should maim the Church and take away one Member from the Body of Christ 2. Constit Chap. 59. And as in all Ages so in all Places the Churches both of the Eastern and Western Communion Greek Armenian Roman Lutheran and Calvinist all Christian Churches almost do so Universally Understand and Agree That the daily Publick Worship of God is enjoined both by the Scriptures and the very Nature of a Christian Church That there is scarce any place in which it is not constantly and Religiously observed and used For a Christian Church is in its proper Notion An Assembly of Men and Women met together to Worship God by Christ Or A company joined together to have Fellowship with God and one with another in all holy Duties of which Prayer Thanksgiving and Praises are the Chief As those who need or Desire farther Information or Satisfaction in this Argument may find largely and convincingly handled in a Discourse concerning Prayer lately published by a pious and learned Divine of our Church Dr. Patrick which I wish were in all Men's Hands Thus have I shewed the Obligation we all have as far as every Man's Opportunities and Circumstances will give leave to a Consciencious Attendance on the daily Publick Worship And that this Duty is pressed and bound upon us 1. By that Obedience we owe to the Will of God revealed in the Gospel 2. By that Zeal we ought to have for the Honour and Glory of God and the Interest of our Religion 3. By the Advantages we may reap from our so doing viz. The laying out so much of our time in the best manner and to the best Account Being hereby put upon great Circumspection and Watchfulness over our selves that we lead unreprovable and exemplary Lives our own growth in all Grace and especially in the Love of God and of our Neighbour 4. By the concern we ought to have for the good of others the Publick Prosperity and Establishment both of our Church and State. 5. By the Authority and Example of the Church of Christ in all Ages and Places But after all this Men have not leisure from their secular Employments and serving God in their Calling they tell us is better than Praying But is not Religion our Calling too I am sure the Scripture uses the Word Vocation or Calling in that Sense and I think in that only and the Apostolical Constitutions tell us That our secular Callings Trades or Professions are our Work by the bye only as providing for the Necessities of this lower Animal Life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But the Worship of God is our Principal Business 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Const 61. If we must live Godlily as well as Soberly and Righteously we must then reckon the Publick Worship of God among the Businesses of our Lives and allow a competent time for the Discharge of what appears to be one third part of our Duty I would advise even the Poorest Persons who maintain themselves and Families by hard Labour to venture so much of their time with God as the Prayers take up every day and I am perswaded they would find it no ill Husbandry God would not be in their debt at the years end But those who have not leisure because they will not have it because not being Content with Food and Raiment the Wealth of a true Christian they will be dangerously Rich though they do thereby fall into Temptation and a Snare and into those many foolish and hurtful Lusts which often drown them or their Posterity in Destruction and Perdition these ought well to consider the Nature and Doctrines of our Holy Religion viz. That it teaches us not to Love the World nor the things of This World to be Crucified to the World To set our Affections on things above and not on things on the Earth To lay up our Treasure in Heaven To provide for our selves Bags that Wax not old To be rich towards God To be led by the Spirit and to walk after the Spirit and then let them well weigh whether a Religion Established on these and the like Maxims may not reasonably demand at least one 24th part of their time for the publick Honour and Service of God and the promoting their own great Interest that of their immortal Souls and the good of the Community in which they live and whether their constant or frequent Pretence to want of leisure for the Publick Worship be not in truth a Criminal Vitious Love of the World and too much minding Earthly things and in plain English chusing to serve Mammon rather than God Certainly if the generality of Men were as truly Wise and as truly Pious as they ought to be if they understood the Interests of their Souls of their Religion of their Church and Nation as well as they do the little concern of getting Money they easily might and would so order their Affairs that our Churches might be every day as well filled in the Morning and Evening as the Exchange is at Noon And doubtless he who having the necessary Preparations of an holy Christian Conversation a Life led in all Godliness and Honesty or a serious prevailing Resolution so to Live of an upright Intention and sincere aim at the glory of God his own growth in Grace and the good of others shall make Conscience of entring God's Courts twice every day when he comes to die will find more Satisfaction in that one hour thus spent than in all those he spends in his Worldly concerns and no particular will stand fairer in the account of our time which we must all make to God at the last day than the Item So much spent every day when we had opportunity in the Publick Worship and Service of God. ERRATA PAge 3. l. 17. dele Our p. 7. l. 18. dele ly in Firstly p. 8. l. last lege 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 11. l. 6. we are p. 12. l. 14. lege bearing p. 23. l. 11. put L. before 2. p. 25. l. 21. put L. before 2. p. 28. l. 10. lege This Item FINIS