a Father saith he where is mine honour Mal. 1.6 That is express and manifest it in your humble behaviour Gods gracious condescention to us will not excuse our unmannerly contempt of him He takes away the greatest ornament from Religious Worship that takes away reverence from it Maximum ex amicitia tollit ornamen tum qui tollit verecundiam Cicero Earthly parents expect to have their blessing asked by their Children on their knees and Christ did so address himself to his Father That Commandment that forbids us to bow down and worship false Gods enjoyns us to bow down in the Worship of the true God David requires it more expressly Ps 59.6 O come let us worship and fall down and kneel before the Lord our Maker As it is our priviledg to walk with God so 't is our duty to walk humbly with him And being thus prepared we may have fellowship with the Father c. For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth Eternity Isa 57.15 whose name is holy I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a humble and contrite spirit This God promised when he first gave the Law by Moses and was served at an earthen Altar In all places where I shall record my name Ex. 20.24 I will come unto thee 2 Chron. 7.15 and I will bless thee And when Sâ—lomon had with great magnificence built a House for God and dedicated it to his Worship Now saith God mine eyes shall be open and my heart attend unto the prayer that is made in this place and my eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually Said God these things for the sake of the Altar of earth or of Solomons Temple No but God had recorded his Name there and there he was publickly invocated by the united Prayers of his People And therefore Christ reneweth the same promise Where two or three are gathered together in my Name Mat. 18 20. there am I. And there he hath promised his perpetual Presence Lo I am with you always to the end of the world Mat. 28. And is not the world well altered with sinful men since the time of Gods appearing upon Sinai Where was blackness and darkness and tempest and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words which words they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more A sight so terrible that it made Moses exceedingly fear and quake But we are come to Mount Sion c. and to Jesus the Mediator of the new Covenant and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel It is said of Israel What Nation is so great who hath God so nigh Deut. 4.7 this makes a Nation truly great to have God nigh them as the Lord our God is near unto us in all that we call upon him for A great priviledg this is yet not so great as that which we have by Christ in whom as the Apostle says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephes 1.6 God hath made us his chief favourites and encourageth us by the mediation of our great high Priest to come boldly unto the Throne of Grace Heb. 4.14 and hath promised that we shall obtain mercy and find grace to help at a time of need And what surer pledg can we have of Gods constant favour than that which the Apostle mentioneth He that spared not his own Son Rom. 8.32 but delivered him up for us all how should he not with him freely give us all things We may say therefore with a filial confidence Isa 63.16 Doubtless thou art our Father a Father that knows all our wants and weaknesses and spareth us as a Father spareth the Son that serveth him Nemo tam Pater Inter Deum bonos homines auncitia quaedam est Amicitiam dico imo recessitudo Sen. Luk. 11.13 tam pius nemo Our Saviour would have us guess at Gods compassions towards us by ours to our own Children If ye that are evil know how to give good things to your Children how much more shall your heavenly Father give the holy Spirit to them that ask him What nearer Communion can there be He hath already given us his Son he is daily pouring down his spirit and only reserves himself for our everlasting reward 2. And of this we may be the better assured by the communion that we have with his Son Jesus Christ With whom our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 6.14 a mutual communication and participation He assumed our nature and infirmities and so knows our weaknesses and imperfections and will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able Yea he hath taken on him all our sins and made full satisfaction for them He is of God made unto us wisdom righteousness 1 Cor. 1.30 sanctification and redemption not by way of imputation only as a Cloak to cover our iniquities but of real efficacy purging our Consciences from dead works delivering us from the power of Satan renewing his own Image upon us that we may be partakers of the Divine Nature and out of his fulness receive Grace for Grace And thus will Christ be the Saviour of his body sanctifying and conforming it to himself Eph. 5.23 protecting it by his special providence guiding and comforting it by his Spirit and at last glorifying it with himself eternally To apply this 1. May we have Communion with the Father and with his Son Let us not then be solicitous for the mediation of Saints and Angels and bestow more devotion and honor on them than on the immediate service of God and our Saviour Those holy Spirits will be all of our Communion they join with us in praising God and will in their capacities be ministring Spirits to our necessities For worshipping them we have no Apostolical Precept or Example but many to the contrary and therefore See thou do it not Rev. 19.10 I am thy fellow-servant worship thou God 2. Let us walk worthy of so holy Communion if we say we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth Our not doing according to the truth we profess is a giving the lie to it a disgracing of our Religion as if it did allow us in wickedness Wash you Isa 2. make you clean c. Come now and let us reason together A holy man may talk with God as a man talketh with his friend But What Communion hath light with darkness 2 Cor. 6.14 15. what concord hath Christ with Belial None but Virtuoso's can be of this Royal Society wherefore Let every one that nameth the Name of Christ depart from iniquity In this only separation is to be justified in having no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness Our Communion with their persons will not defile us if we avoid their sins The
be a Member of Christ which the good Emperor Theodosius preferred above his being Head of the Empire For if there be a Heaven upon Earth it must needs consist as our eternal happiness hereafter in a Communion with God and his Son Jesus Christ and to this the Text guides even to Mount Sion Heb 12.22 and to the City of the Living God the Heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels to the General Assembly and Church of the First-born which are written in Heaven and to God the Judg of all and to the Spirits of Just Men made perfect and to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant To confirm you in this Society is the end of all our preaching and your hearing for when our Saviour ascended up on high he gave some Apostles Eph. 4.11 14. some Prophets some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers that we should be no more Children tossed to and fro with every wind of Doctrine but for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the Body of Christ This our Apostle intimates to be the end of all the Scriptures but more especially of the Text That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that ye may have fellowship with us c. Church-Communion is my present Subject concerning which I observe these three parts in the Text. I. The ground and foundation of Apostolical Communion That which we have seen and heard II. Wherein this Communion consists from the divers notions of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Scripture That ye may have fellowship with us i.e. the Apostles III. The excellency of this Communion And truly our fellowship is with the Father c. That I may the better fix your meditations on my discourse and that upon the Text I shall give you the Substance of both in this short Argument That Church which holds Communion with Christ and his Apostles in Doctrine Omnis Doctrina quae cum Ecclesiis Apostolicis Matricibus Originalibus fidei conspirat veritati deputanda Tertul. de praescript Government and Worship is a true Member of Christs Church in which Salvation may be had But the Church of England holds Communion with Christ and his Apostles in Doctrine Government and Worship Therefore the Church of England is is a true Member of Christs Church in which salvation may be had My first Proposition I shall prove from Act. 2.42 where it is recorded of the Primitive Christians That they continued stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of Bread and in Prayers and it follows v. 47. The Lord added daily to the Church such as should be saved whence I observe 1. That by reason of this Communion they are expresly denominated the Church Plebs sacerdoti adunata as Saint Cyprian 2. And that to this Church Salvation is appropriated God daily added to the Church such as should be saved The Proposition being sufficiently proved I shall for the greater perspicuity prove the Assumption gradually according to the parts into which I divided the Text And shew 1. That the Church of England holds Communion with Christ and his Apostles in Doctrine Anno 1660. Those dissenting Ministers that presented to the Parliament their Reasons for Reformation of the publick Doctrine c. did assure us in the first words that it was far from their thoughts to oppose or disparage orthodox Doctrine a well composed Liturgy Rites for decency and order Ordination of Ministers Apostolical Episcopacy and due Rules of Discipline I wish that as we have heard the voice of Jacob so we had not felt the hands of Esau for though the truth of all that they desired hath been proved by many Worthies in our Israel yet as St. Chrysostome says though we bring the Sun-beams in our hands men will not be perswaded there doth not want light to convince but they resist the Spirit of Truth that should convert them Pray we therefore That he who promised the holy Spirit to them that ask it Luk. 11.13 would pour down such plentiful measures and operations of it into the hearts of this people that as we all profess his holy Name so we may agree together in the truth of his holy Word and live in unity and godly love And so I begin with the first part of the Text viz. The ground and foundation of Apostolical Communion which is the Doctrine delivered in the Scriptures of the New Testament wherein the Church of England doth hold Communion with Christ and his Apostles The things of which the Apostles were eye and ear-witnesses from the beginning of the Gospel that word of life 1 Joh. 1.1 that was spoken by the wisdom of God attested by a voice from Heaven accompanied by the power of God in such variety of Miracles is the only infallible foundation of our Faith and Communion beside which we in vain expect any other either guide or ground Luk. 16.31 Non opus est revelatione post Evangelium Tort. of equal certainty for as our Saviour determined concerning Moses and the Prophets the same may be said of Christ and his Apostles If we believe not them neither will we be perswaded thought one should come from the dead Yet is it no disparagement to our preaching or your hearing that we cannot preface our Sermons as the Apostles did That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you seeing our Saviour hath pronounced them blessed Joh. 20.29 with an Emphasis that have not seen and yet have believed The spirit of perversness did not dye with Pharaoh and the Jews of old There have been little less than Miracles wrought in our generation but if as our Saviour intimates there should be Miracles indeed done in the midst of us there are a sort of Pharisaical persons that would oppose still I shall therefore take it as granted that we do believe those things which Christ and his Apostles have declared unto us in the books of the New Testament In iis quae apertè in SS posita sunt inveniuntur omnia quae continent fidem moresque vivendi S. August de Doct. Christ. 2.9 2 Pet. 3.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 St. Chrys in 2 Thes Hom. 3. and that in them we have the will of God declared unto us concerning all such things as are necessary to our Salvation that they are a most certain and safe rule of Faith able to make the man of God perfect throughly furnished to every good work 2 Tim. 2.13 And whereas it may be objected from St. Peter that in them are some things hard to be understood I answer that the things that are necessary to be known are but few and those are obvious to ordinary capacities and such as are obscure and difficult are not necessary or if there be some difficulties that may be thought necessary to be explained then as Diamonds are best formed by Diamonds
others Do ye not perceive That it is the long Prayers of these Pharisees that like Pharaohs lean Kine devour all the fat Sacrifices of the Church Did not these men suppose their own prayers as much better as they are longer than that of our Saviour they could not have the impudence to lay it aside as impertinent and useless in comparison of their own The primitive Church had frequent prayers five times in a day S. Cyprian Kulâ—â— tolerantiam insolentius negant veritati quam qui erroribus suis saepe pestilentis simis postularunt obnixissimi Capel Thâ—s 41. cont Belg. yet the Lords Prayer was always added Tertulian calls it legitimam Orationem as if all other prayers without it were not duly performed But these men must by no means be censured much less restrained they may by their importunity as the Sons of Zerviah be too strong for David and get a toleration for such practices as themselves have formerly condemned for intolerable yet will not they grant a toleration to our Lords Prayer although Christs command and the practise of the Apostles and Apostolical men and the joint-agreement of the universal Church do urge it these good men cannot get leave of themselves i. e. of the spirit of pride and opposition which possesseth them methinks they should not deal more barbarously with it than the Turks who afford it a respectful remembrance in their Alcaron But I am injoined not to censure them Let them be still reputed Champions of the Good Old Cause Sworn Enemies to Episcopacy and Liturgy but for humble and sound Christians I shall not esteem them until they can get leave of themselves To use the Lords Prayer as a Prayer He adds another affront Most plain it is that our Saviour made this Prayer for his Disciples while they were Members of the Jewish Church and before he had sent the Spirit of Truth to lead them into all truth let it therefore be considered whether we be not ordinarily to express our selves in a dialect more suitable to the New Testament dispensation than is used in the Lords-Prayer To what desperate opinions and practices doth the spirit of pride and faction hurry those that are once possessed with it Nescio quomodo nil tam absurde dici potest quod non dicatur ab aliquo P. Cic. de Divinat l. 2. We have heard of one that would correct the Magnificat and Irâ—naeus tells of some that called themselves Emendatures Apostolarum but this man atttempts more than ever Alphonsus imagined to amend the Lords Prayer He must certainly be a man of extraordinary gifts that can pray ordinarily in a more Evangelical dialect than our Saviour could How went the Spirit of our Lord from him when he dictated this Form that it should so visibly differ from the rest of the New Testament and what cloven tongues and fiery inspiration have they that can so far exceed this despicable prayer St. Cyprian says Quae potest esse magis spiritualis Oratio quem quae verè a Christo data a quo etiam Spiritus Sanctus misus and I am of his mind that there can be no prayer more spiritual than that which was made by him from whom the Holy Spirit is sent And the learned Grotius tells us Ad hunc Spiritum impetrandum praecipue directa est ista precandi formula it is that Dove in whose Form the Holy Spirit doth frequently descend But as Dr. Hammond observed Paranesis p. 15. All the Topicks of Hell have been raked to find Arguments against it but there can be found none to warrant the disuse of this prayer besides the indisposition of such men as these to use it their want of humility and charity would turn it into an imprecation against themselves and therefore it is too big for their mouths But I wonder by what Spirit of Divination it was revealed that this prayer was made for the Disciples whilst Members of the Jewish Church of St. John it is said that he was fibula utriusque Legis a middle person between both Churches yet were his Disciples distinguished from the Jewish and when Christs Disciples askt this prayer of their Master it was to distinguish them from the Disciples of John And if the time be observed in Saint Luke for it was twice prescribed you shall find the use of it peremptorily inâ—oined by our Saviour a good while after that he had taken upon him the publick Ministry of the Gospel and 't is unlikely that he would now build up the Jewish Synagogue Luk. 4.18 which he came to destroy It is true indeed that our Saviour being the chief Corner-stone that should join Jews and Gentiles in one Church did make use of such expression in his Doctrine and some such Rites in his Institutions as were at that time familiarly known and practised among the Jews And so Grotius observes that in this prayer is collected whatever was commendable in the prayers of the Jews In Mat. 6. As also in our Saviours admonitions he makes use of Proverbial sentences then in use So far was the Lord of the Christian Church from affecting any unnecessary novelty However if we consider the sense of it there is no petition A most comprehensive Form of Prayer so the Directory And Calvin l. 3. c. 20. § 34. Quicquid expetere licet quicquid in rem nâ—stram conducit quicquid postulare necesse est and 〈◊〉 that any Christian needs to make but it is included in one of those heads as the Analysis and Comments of learned men upon it do abundantly evince To conclude this part You see the ancient Disciples were so humble as to desire their Lord to teach them to pray Our new Apostles can teach their Lord to pray not only in a dialect more suitable to the Gospel but in the matter less Legal and Jewish No wonder if they scorn our Communion they are fit for the Communion of Hacket and him that gave God thanks that he had forgotten the Lords Prayer As for me I will yet pray against such impieties as old Jacob did for Simeon and Levi O my soul Gen. 49.6 come not thou into their secret unto their Assembly mine Honour be not thou united for in their anger they not only slaughter men but even crucifie afresh the Lord of Life and put him to open shame and in their self-will they do not dig down walls and super-structures but dig up the very foundations of the Church of God And now it is high time to betake our selves to a better Communion which readily offers it self in the last part of the Text. 3. The excellency of this fellowship And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ But having met with so much boldness lately it cannot be impertinent to caution you here that when you hear of fellowship you do not presently think of an irreverent familiarity with your heavenly Father For if I am