be perform'd and for what reason In every thing give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you Thirdly We have a Negative Precept not to quench the Spirit which includes this Affirmative in it viz. that we reverence the real gifts of good Ministers Sound and Orthodox Divines Fourthly and lastly We are obliged not to despise Prophecyings which is a negative precept also and contains this affirmative that we set an especial value on Genuine Interpretations of the Word of God the Holy Scriptures meant here by Prophecyings and consequently on those that make them 1. We are here positively enjoyn'd the great Duty of Prayer and the constancy thereof Pray without ceasing We have many Enemies to contend with in this Vale of Misery and Temptations to Sin and those very potent subtle and ensnaring Such is First the Prince of Darkness the Devil with other his accursed Accomplices and Eternally condemned Retinue partly by that Sublime Angelical Nature they are of and partly by that shrewd Experience they have gain'd by the indefatigable diligence they have us'd for some Thousands of Years together Egged on and Exasperated by an inveterate hatred to Mankind in general For these being desperate Apostates themselves and seeing a second Creation ordain'd as it were in direct opposition to them to supply the places in Heaven by these Rebels Eternally lost a keen and endless Malice inflames them to do all they can to bring us also into the place of Torments where they will not pity us no that will be as far from them as Heaven is 〈◊〉 hell but cruelly Tyrannise and Insult over us when they have done And also much Animated they have been to persist in these their Diabolical Attempts by that victory obtained over Primitive Innocence whereby their Stratagems have gone on with a more fatal success over the infirm Posterity of our Lapsed first Parents 2. Besides these fierce and implacable Foes which will always be endeavouring to draw us into Sin and ruine all our hopes of Eternal Salvation the World is another Enemy that hath a thousand Gins to intangle us in such as Pride Ambition Covetousness Profaneness Irreligion Voluptuousness Intemperance and the like which if compli'd with will draw Men into Destruction and Perdition 3. Our own corrupt Flesh is apt to concur with these to hinder us from doing good and incline us to evil Hence arise inordinate Affections and evil Concupiscencies of the Mind So that we must needs miscarry if we rely on our own Strength and seek not out for some Assistance more powerful than our selves and how is this to be sought but from our gracious Father in Heaven who has promis'd to be found of them that seek Him if they seek him with all their Heart and with all their Soul This must be done by Prayer at the Throne of Grace and to this end the Apostle tells us that we must pray always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit and watch thereunto with all perseverance Eph. 6.18 This he had from our Saviour who commands us to watch and pray lest we enter into temptation Mat. 26.41 and always to pray and not to faint Luke 18.1 We must pray every where saith St. Paul lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting 1 Tim. 2.8 By this Prayer to God's Majesty as we are taught to use it w◠distinguish our selves from Atheists and Heathens T is true the Heathens themselves by the Dictates of natural Reason and Religion held themselves obliged to one sort of Adoration or another but here was the mischief their Gods were no Gods Mentis ludicras omnia Picti ludibriae trunci Autebur in varias aut saxa incisa figuras they Worshipped the Fond Imaginations of their own Hearts and many times the work of their own Hands They carved themselves Gods out of some senseless Stone or hewed them out of some inanimate Tree of part whereof they made them a Fire to warm their Hands at of the other part they fashioned them Gods to invoke and hold up their Hands unto To this Horace alludes Serm. Lib. 1. Sat. 8. Olim Truncus eram ficulnus inutile lignum Cum faber incertis scamnum faceret ne Priapum Maluit esse Deum But our Addresses are to the right Object and Owner God alone A God that can hear our Prayers and not only can but will a God that takes pleasure in our Applications to him and hath commanded us not to neglect it to our own hurt We continually stand in need of God's Forgiveness and Pardon when we have Sinned as alas who is there that Sins not we must pray for the averting God's Wrath and Indignation we cannot be penitent if we pray not if we confess not our Sins we must not expect an Absolution of them Neither is the whole Duty of Prayer consisting of Confession alone to expiate for the past Offences of our Lives but t is also necessary to be used as a Method of Prevention for the time to come This is the Antidote to keep off the infection of all Spiritual Maladies the omission whereof is like going out fasting in a time of Epedimical Pestilence whereby a free Passage lies open for the Contagious Air to insinuate it self and corrupt the whole Mass of Blood The holy Father and great Penitent St. Austin confessed it as a just Judgment of God once upon him in giving him over to the mischeif of a prevailing temptation for having gone out that day without making his Prayer to God as he ought to have done and as he used to do It always behoves us therefore e're we enter on our several Employments to beseech the favourable Influences and Assistances of Heaven else what good Success can we look for when we are out of God's Protection But with his help what shall be able to annoy us what may we not obtain at his hands by Prayer that is really for our Good It is a thing that is almost Omnipotent like the God that hears it and whom it is made unto Nay it binds the Hands of the Almighty himself the effectual fervent Prayer of the righteous availeth so much Thus for instance when the Israelites in the absence of Moses had made them a Golden Calf and God was angry thereat he doth as it were ask leave of Moses as if he could do nothing without his consent Now therefore let me alone that my wrath may consume them it is a stiff-necked People yet when Moses meekly besought the Lord he repented of the evil that he thought to do unto his People and he did it not in the Psalmist words God said that he would destroy them had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach to turn away his wrath least he should destroy them Thus Nineveh was threatned Yet fourty Days and Niniveh shall be overthrown This determination seems absolute and irreversible yet it was not so for when the Ninevites fasted and
prayed and repented upon the preaching of Jonas this made God himself repent Jonah 3.10 O the wonderful Efficacy of Devout Praying So the Zealous Breath of Hezekiah's mouth scatter'd like Chaff before the Wind the Numerous Host of a Blasphemous Sennaoherib 2 Kings chap. 19. ver 15. c. and blew them into ruine and destruction Thus his earnest Entreaties and Tears disanull'd the sad message Set thy house in order for thou shalt surely dye and not live for we read that God heard him and added to his Days 15 Years Isa 38.5 So True and infallible is the Word of him that saith Whatever ye ask in prayer believing ye shall receive Mat. 21.22 We read in Eusebius of St. James the Just how that his custom was to enter Daily into the Temple by himself and there with bended Knees to entreat for Grace and Remission of Sins unto his People 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb Lib. 2. c. 23. Insomuch that his Knees were hardned like a Camels into a callous substance by his constant using to Pray Kneeling Which I mention not only as an Example of constant Prayer but also as to the Posture of it Kneeling miserably neglected by the Majority even of our own Communion Thus much for the Usefulness and Necessity of Prayer which is of Three Kinds 1. Private in our Closets 2. Domestick with our Families 3. Common with the Church 1. As for Private Prayer it cannot be imagined that any good Christian can live a Day nor scarce an Hour without it so many are his Necessities so great his Infirmities and so violent his Temptations And it is not to be expressed what good a short Ejaculation will produce to a Pious Christian when for want of Time he can use no longer Address what Comfort it brings to an humble Penitent though he say no more but with the Poor Publican in the Gospel smiting his Breast God be Merciful to me a Sinner Morning and Evening we should implore God's Pardon for our Iniquities his Grace to Support us and Enable us to serve Him but as for Ejaculations they should be as frequent I had almost said as our Pulse beats as the Minutes of our dying Breath 2. Family-Devotions should not unless upon very extraordinary Occasions be passed by Morning and Evening that so we may make a neat Epitome of the Church of GOD in our several Habitations Then 3. As for Common-Prayers or the Prayers of the Church they are the best of all especially as we have them and we should be present at them without ceasing as my Text says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without leaving off not forsaking the Assembling of our selves together for this purpose They are the Publick Prayers of the Church as Expositors tells us that St. Paul chiefly means in this place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Words are St. Luke Chap. 21. and Ver. 26. Always that is upon all Opportunities especially upon the Lord's Day and other Feasts and Fasts of the Church And however it may be allowed us at home to use a greater and more unconfin'd Freedom of Expression by our selves or with our Families in some particular cases though there I think Forms generally speaking most proper to be observ'd yet for the Church of God I esteem Forms of Prayer and an Established Liturgy so far from Stinting of the Spirit as some Men would have it who know not what they mean or else would not have other poor ignorant Wretches understand that nothing but wild Disorder and Confusion would arise amongst us if every one who only fancies himself sufficient for the Work was to be his own and the Congregations Prayer-Maker upon every Return of Divine Worship who knows not how to Pray with the Spirit and to Pray with the Understanding also 1 Cor. chap. 14. ver 15. And this may suffice for the Duty of Prayer Only let me add this with all humble Submission to you my Reverend and Learned Brethren of the Clergy to beseech you still to use the Prayers of the Church with such Decency and Devotion as may shew you to have truly Pious and well-affected Souls and that you Love and Admire the Unparallel'd Prayers of the Church beyond any other Compositions whatsoever And as for the Crude Extempore Effusions of Enthusiasts that you esteem them to admit of no Comparison but what is odious with them Secondly I pass on now to the Duty of Thanksgiving and the Universality thereof and for what reason of which more briefly The Apostle tells us We must in every thing give thanks because this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning us Which is as much as to say That we must look unto God as the great Disposer of all the things of this World and that what He allots is best for us in General and in Particular If He ordains us Adversities Troubles and Sicknesses Patience and Submission will carry us through them when Murmuring and Discontent will not ease our Load here but aggravate that and our Guilt together and Repining and Reluctance under our present Infelicities will but consign us to a more irreversible State of Dissatisfaction hereafter The Apostle tells his Thessalonians That this is the will of God that they should in every thing give Thanks even in Tribulations and Afflictions for the sake of Christ Jesus whose Disciples they were Rejoice evermore says he ver 16. of this Chapter Now this is the Life of our Religion in all Occurrences to be of a Thankful Temper to our good God and to Adore him for his unspeakable Gifts the Gifts of Food and Rayment Health Relations Friends and Benefactors all the Necessaries and Conveniencies of this Life but above all for the means of Grace and hopes of Glory for the Purity of the Reformed Religion and the Benefits of the Gospel Light which we enjoy in this our Goshen That we are not overwhelmed by the Darkness of Popish Superstition by those sundry and late Attempts that have been made to bereave us of this Happiness that we are not deprived of the Inestimable Priviledge of serving God in such consecrated Places as this after the best and most Primitive Modes of Worship that the unjustifiable Paradoxes either of Rome or Geneva are not Transplanted hither We ought to render thanks both Ministers and People not only with our Lips but in our Lives And that will induce God when he sees us thus greateful to him to continue us in the state we are now Objects of his Divine Favour in the preservation of our Church as it is now amongst us Established blessed be his wonderful and most Glorious Goodness for it All you of our Communion ought in particular to consider your Felicity in being within the Pale of the Church and that you have not blind Guides to lead you astray you know not whither till you fall into the Bottomless Pit that you have such for your Pastors as are able to confute all Gainsayers able and willing
Brotherly Love and Respect Neighbourly Visits especially in any Affliction extraordinary Emergency or Occasion but above all by the Gravity of our Deportment and the Lustre and Ornament of Sober and Religious Lives Where there is such a Ministry as God be thanked ours is And Honour is due Divines that have been Episcopally Ordain'd according to the custom of the Church from the Apostles times having been strictly examined as to their Abilities before admitted Graduates in the Universities afterward before the Imposition of Hands for the Susception of Holy Orders by the Holy Prelates of the Church themselves or by persons of Learning and Integrity deputed by them whom they can safely confide in for that weighty purpose These are the Levites that as the Scripture speaks the Laity are not to forsake as long as they live upon the earth Deut. 12.19 such are to be reverenc'd for their works sake the Message which they came upon being no less than the Reconciliation of Men to God the Salvation of their unvaluable and immortal Souls Which is one great meaning of the not quenching the Spirit that as the Ministers of the Gospel should not by neglect of their Office and illness of their lifes which God avert drive off the Holy Spirit from assisting them in their Labour but keep up Godliness and Religion by devout Prayer and good Preaching joyned with a sober exemplary Life and Conversation so where such persons and gifts are seen none should be averse to them as if they were false Prophets None should rob them of their Tithes and Dues which is call'd robbing of God Malac. the 3d. and v. 8. and such sacriligious Persons are said to be cursed with a Curse in the verse following None should wrong them in their good Names by execrable Lies and Villainous Slanders or any way grieve or misuse them none should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as I may so speak haters of the Clergy which yet more than a good many are but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lovers of the Clergy remembring that antient observation Qui vera fide colit Deum amat etiam Sacerdotum He that loveth God in sincerity loves his Ministers so too and as the Apostle speaks let us be so accounted of as Ministers of Christ and stewards of the Mysteries of God 1 Cor. 4.1 And that all we that are Ministers of Christ and Stewards of the Mysteries of God may be found faithful in our several Stations which is required of us v. 2 of that Chapter May the Good Spirit of God guide and direct us that thus by the goodness of our Lives and soundness of our Doctrine we may save both our selves and them that hear us 1 Tim. 4.16 4. Which introduces the Fourth and last Particular Despise not Prophecying i. e. Genuine Interpretations of the Word of God the Holy Scriptures nor consequently those that make them such as labour in the Word and Doctrine as the Apostle's expression is to Timothy 1 Tim. 5.17 The Holy Scripture is the Rule that we are all to walk by and the Expounding of this and the exciting our Brethren from the Examples Precepts Promises and Threats thereof how to deport themselves is our Ministerial Office and Duty That the word Prophecy is Interpreting Scripture and preaching upon it is evident from the 14 Chap. of the 1 Ep. to the Cor. v. 1. Follow after Charity and desire spiritual gifts but rather that ye may prophecy and v. 3.4 He that Prophecieth speaketh unto men to Edification and Exhortation and Comfort he that speaketh in an unknown Tongue edifieth himself but he that prophecieth Edifieth the Church This was our Saviour Christ's Prophetick Office to make known the Will of God to the World and so all that have in any good degree done the like are stiled Prophets all that have Taught men their Duty towards God and man Thus among the Pagans the Divines who taught them what they ought to do their Priests or Religious Persons were termed Vates Prophets The word doth always imply such as are indu'd with a Spirit of foretelling future Events but as Grammarians informs us naturally signifies no more than a Procurator or Prolocutor speaking from or instead of another or acting in his stead as a Pro-Consul is he that supplies the Consul's Place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Composition being the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Upon this account the Jewish High-Priest was a Prophet to his People who entring into the Sanctum Sanctorum the Holy of Holies to inform himself of God's Will was to reveal the same to the People In the like Sense it is that God saith to Moses concerning Aaron He shall be thy Spokesman to the People and he shall be to thee a mouth and thou shalt be to him instead of God Exod. 4.16 That which is here render'd Spokesman Orator or Prolocutor is Chap. 7.5 Interpreted Prophet See saith God I have made thee a God to Pharaoh and Aaron thy brother shall be thy Prophet In the acceptation of speaking from Man to God Abraham is call'd a Prophet Gen. 20. v. 7. where God in a Dream speaketh to Abimilech in this manner Now therefore restore the man his wife for he is a Prophet and he shall pray for thee Whence may be inferr'd that the Appellation of Prophet may be ascribed not improperly to them who in Christian Congregations have a due Ministerial Call to put up publick Petitions for their People and Administer all the Offices of Religious Worship Now though the Word of God it self in this degenerate Age is despised by many evil Men under the Notion of Reveal'd Religion which they are great Contemners of yet since it is clear as the Sun that it is unjustly and groundless no Writings whatsoever having the like Authentick Truth as the Learned Bishop Stillingfleet in his Origines Sacra makes appear So I take those Words to be Reflection sufficient upon them and which ought to be a Terror to them from the Examples of others as being spoken on the like occasion Acts 13.41 Behold the desisers and wonder and perish The Despisers of the Gospel are here particularly threatned for disbelieving and rejecting our Saviour's Resurrection and other Divine Works fore-told by the Prophets long before And what if the Romanists vilifie this Word of God in comparison with their Traditions their Foolish and Ridiculous Legends as the Pharisees of old is it ever the worse in it self No 't is for this very reason that they do it assign'd by St. John chap. 3.20 Every one that doth evil hateth the light neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be reproved And as for those that call it a Dead Letter doubt we not upon the good evidence we have but they receiv'd it from those Deluders the first Projectors of this rude and ill manner'd antick and ridiculous Profession As to us Ministers of the Church of England we desire upon all accounts to have the Scripture for