to be admitted to be his worshippers who together with the Jewes should worship him in spirit and truth and this the Prophet Malachy foretold q Mal. 1.11 from the rising of the Sun to the going down of the Sam saith the Lord my name is great among the Gentiles and in every place incense shall be offered in my name All this then shews the vanity of the Popish Pilgrimages to this or that place as being more holy or to pray before this or that Saint or Image or relike or tuteler God thereof Since all such difference of place is abolished by Christ So that wheresoever we be with Jeremiah in the Pit or Daniel in the Lions denn Job on the dung-hil Hezekiah in his bed the three Children in the Furnace sonah in the Whales belly with Christ in the Mountain in the Desert in the Garden on the House top or on the Sea snore with Paul in the Prison we may call upon God and he will hear us thus on the one side we must hold this fast against the Papists that all distinction of places is abolished So that Christians may lawfully and acceptably worship God when and where their covenants direct them Yet on the other hand be not deceived as if there was no authority or excellency of some places for solemn Assemblies for publique worship still under the Gospel above others 2. Though the ceremonial holiness be extinct yet are there some places holy as separate and dedicate from a common to holy uses though our Temples be not as the Temple of Jerusalem was parts of our worship of God nor tipes of Christ body nor are we bound to set our faces towards them when we pray yet is it written r Esa 56.2 my house shall be called the house of prayer to all nations The Saints meeting and Assembling there to pray makes it be called the house of prayer so the Assembly Sanctifies the place and not the place the Assembly as the Temple did seeing as I said before we are body as well as spirit therefore very light of Nature teacheth us that convenient places for Assembling for publique worship are necessary and those places capacious for many that must joyn therein And although in case of Persecution of Religion the meanest place is acceptable yet when God is pleased to give his Church Kings to be nursing fathers to allow publique places consecrated for publique worship with what thankfulness then should we repair to them which many of our Christian Brethren in the world would purchase with their whole estates and dearest blood When God give rest and quietness to his Church from the ten famous Persecutions wherein they were glad to Assemble not in the fittest but safest places perhaps in Dens and Caves of the earth I say when God gave her rest from them then did they immediately erect Oratories for publique prayers not sumptuous and stately which could not then be possible by reason of the Churches poverty nor plausible in respect to the worlds envie but after when God was pleased to convert Kings to the Faith then was Temples and Churches presently built and in building them no cost was spared and nothing counted to dear that was spent about them Sacrilegious wretches are not in these times more desirous to pull down than those devout professors of Christianity was to set up Churches Thus did popular consent and the Magistrates civil Sanction design these places for publique worship seperating them unto it and prevailing custome hath styled them Churches Nay so did S. Paul himself s 1 Cor 11.18.20.22 and 34 compared what is it then but arrant madness and sottish Ignorance in our Quakers to boast so much of the ligbt within them and yet to be in such darkness It s contrary to the very light of nature to decry and forsake the places set a part for religious worship the necessity whereof for publique Assemblies is so evident even by natural light How much better did the poor Heathens improve their natural dictates than these pretenders to the light within who from the sight of the necessity of some convenient place for publique worship invented their Groves and Oratories and Temples for the service of their Idol Gods so then from all these considerations Gods own setting a part places for publique Assemblies under the law and before it his approving those that his people did set a part the authority that such places have by the very light of nature as well as by Scripture and the practice of the universal Church though without placeing any ceremonial holiness in them I conclude that Divine worship may be truly Publique which as publique is so acceptable unto God there is requisite as publique persons Ministers and People to Assemble in it so also a publique place consecrated for the same from which excellent consideration ascend we to an higher which is in the very Text. Prop. 7. The most Solemn and publique Assemblies of the Church in these publique places are greatly to be esteemed and constantly to be frequented of all the faithful members of the same in the negative not forsaking must needs be implyed the affirmative to frequent them It is a truth this evidently following from those I have delivered For if God is to be worshipped by all rationall beings and that must needs be in some place in respect of our bodily parts and that more publique it is done the better it is and that it be publiquely done it is necessary there be an Assembly of Minister and People Pastor and Flock in a publique place then is it evidently necessary that such assemblies be frequented by all in order to the discharge of this debt of nature the Worship of God Indeed to this we are obliged 1. By selfe interest because of the great blessing we may justly look for from God upon his Ordinances in the publique assemblies and that more than in any private meetings whatsoever for to the Church assemblies is that rightly applyed t Psa 87.2 the Lord loves the gates of Zion above all the habitations of Jacob u Mat. 7.7 The whole â—uty of man That special part of divine worship Prayer is compared to seeking a thing lost and knocking at a gate we desire to enter into and sure when many seek a thing together there is more hope of their finding it when many knock together at heaven-gates they will be sooner heard Hence Gods people to shew an extraordinary desire to prevail with God in their prayers upon extraordinary occasions they was wont to be extraordinary careful that their Assemblies might be as publique as might be w Joel 2.15 Blow the trumpet in Zion sanctisie a Fast call a solemn Assembly x verse 16. Gather the people Assemble the children As if he should say leave none out So Jehoshaphat y 2 Chr. 203. Proclaimed a Fast throughout all Judab z verse 13. all Judah stood before the Lord
stands upon two Staves the Staff of Beauty and the Staff of Bands if the Staff of Bands be once broken the Staff of Beauty cannot long stand but by divisions our Beauty becomes deformity Reformation deformation as when one hand is black and another white one cheek pale another red so whilst we become several Churches several Bodies what do we but make a Monster of the Church the Body of Christ Indeed nothing more tends to the Churches dishonour and Christs dishonour than this there is no such scandal to the Churches Enemies of all sorts than this the common Enemies of the truth of Religion are chiefly Atheism and Superstition and wherefore serveth the home-differences of Christians especially about indifferent things about Gestures and Vestures and other indifferent Rites and Formalities that for such things as these things in their own nature indifferent and never intended to be otherwise imposed than as matters of circumstances and order men should desert their Ministerial Charges fly out of the Church as out of Babylon stand at open Desiance against lawful Authority and sharpen their tongues and pens with so much petulancy and virulency as some have done wherefore serveth this but to the dishonour of Christians and Christianity and to give scandal to the Enemies thereof 1. To the Athiest for he till all men be of one Religion and agreed in every point thereof too which I doubt will never be whilst the World lasteth thinketh it the best wisdom to be of none nay makes it his best pastime to jeer at all The agreement of Christians is an ocular demonstration to the World that they have a certainty of the Faith which they profess and that it is of a healing nature and tendeth to the felicity of the world so that never was Christians observed to live in an undivided Unity and unfained love but the very Infidels and ungodly round about them did reverence both them and their Religion for it whereas their discords and divisions give occasion to Atheists and Unbelievers to blaspheme as if there were no certainty in their belief or as if it were of a vexatious and destructive tendency so that never were Christians divided implacable and bitter against each other but it made them and their profession a scorn to the unbelieving and ungodly World Their despising and vilifying one the other teaches the wicked to despise and vilifie them all as a well ordered Army and a City of uniform and comely building is a pleasing and inviting sight to beholders whereas a confused Rabble and ruinous heap bree is abhorrence even so the very sight of the concordant society of Christians is amiable to those without whereas their disagreements and separations makes them odious Hence the former conduceth much to the conversion and salvation of men and the latter hardens men in wickedness and hinders their coming into the Church and their obedience to the truth Who loveth to thrust himself into a fray and what wise men will joyn with drunken men that are fighting in the streets A more effectual way cannot be devised to drive men from Christ than to represent Christians like a company of mad-men that are tearing out the threats of one another when one Faction slies upon and speaks ill of one another what wonder if the Atheist and Infidel speak ill of and flies further from them all whereas contrarily the best means to win the World to a love of Holiness is if they can see that holiness makes men fervent and unfeigned in the love one of another k 1 Pet. 1.22 Christs words in his prayer are notable to this purpose l John 17.20 21 22 23. I pray saith he for them that shall believe on me through their word that they all may be one As thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us that the world may believe that thou hast sent me c. It plainly implies that the Unity of Christians is a great means of converting the World to the Christian Faith and convincing Infidels of the truth of Christ as sent by God and so on the contrary their divisions must needs be a scandal to them Upon which account also we have reason to take heed to speak the same things and that there be no divisions amongst us 2. Such divisions give scandal to Papists You read how loth was Abraham to fall out with Lot and how desirous he was to compound the differences that were between their Herdmen and one reason is hinted in that it is said m Gen. 13.7 the Canaanites and Perizzites dwelt at that time in the Land So have we in our Land many Canaanites and Perizzites at this day that take offence at these divisions of ours and makes it a chief occasion to alienate their hearts from the Truth of God There be many Papists and Romanists confirmed and made obstinate in their Opinion of the Catholickness of the Romish Faith Hereby when they hear of so many things which have been ever and are still retained in the Church of England in common with the Church of Rome as they were transmitted both to them and us in a continued Line of Succession from our Godly and Orthodox Forefathers who lived in the Ages next to Christ and his Apostles to be now inveighed against and decryed as Popish and Superstitious And when they see men pretenders to Piety Purity and Reformarion more than others not contenting themselves with those just Exceptions that had been formerly taken by the Church of England and her regular children against some Erronious Doctrines and Forms of Worship taught and practised in the Church of Rome and endeavoured to be unduly and by her sole Authority imposed upon other Churches when they see them not contenting themselves with these things but even so far transported with a spirit of contradiction as that they care not so as they may but run far enough from Rome whether or how far they run although they should run themselves as too oft they they do quite beyond the bounds of Truth Allegiance common Reason and even common Humanity also Besides we know it hath been and is one grand objection of the Papists against the Reformed Churches that the Fanatical dissentions amongst our selves are evident signs of an Heretical spirit as Bellarmine Stapleton Kellison and others argue and Fitz Simon an Irish Jesuite hath written a whole Volumn on this argument which he â—alls Britanio-Machia It 's true how unhappy they have prov'd in this pretended Unity which they make a note of their true Church any one may judge that will but read the writings of Doctor Field Discourse concerning the Idolatry practised in the Church of Rome by D. Edw. Stillingfleet Bishop Jewel and even the late Book of the Excellent Doctor Stillingfleet upon this argument which proves them nevertheless faulty however we be blame-worthy As Gregory Nazianzen did answer those in his time that used the
magis esse se cum duobus aut tribus unanimitèr orantibus quà m cum decedentibus pluribus plusque impetrari posse paucorum concordi prece quà m discordi multorum oratione Saith S. Cyprian g De Vnitate Ecclesiâ—e as I find him quoted by Doct. Forbes in his Irenicumâ— Surely our Saviour doth not by this promise warrant divisions from that Church which he himself hath made and gathered but rather upbraiding the contentions of the perfidious and commending unity and unaminity to the faithful he teacheth us that he will rather be with two or three of them met together with one accord in his name and according to his appointment then with multitudes of them that depart from them and that he will rather answer the uniform prayers of a few peace able believers then the jarring prayers of many that divide themselves into sides and factions Can they think that Christ will be in the midst of them that are met together out of the Church of Christ Nay though such should suffer Martyrdome in the confession of his name yet cannot that blot and stain of their Schism be washed away in their blood Inexpiabilis gravis culpa discordiae nâ—c passione purgatur the great and inexpiable fault of separation and dissention cannot be purged by the most bitter passion or suffering Esse martyr non potest qui in ecclesiâ non est he cannot be a true martyr that keeps not unity in the Church Ad regnum pervenire non poterit qui eam quae regnatura est derelinquit He cannot attain the Kingdome that forsakes her that must raign in it It was peace that Christ gave us and bequeathed unto us It is concord and unanimity that he hath commanded us He hath strictly injoyned us to keep the covenants of love and Charity pure and inviolate So that he can never prove a right Martyr for the truth that keeps not Charity with the brethren h 1 Cor. 122. though I have faith so as to remove mountains or bestow all my goods upon the poor or give my body to be burned and have not charity it profiteth nothing God himself is love and therefore they that break the bond of love can never have God God cannot be in the midst of them so that it is not to private conventicles that this promise runs but to the publique congregations of the Church of which my Text here speaks Not forsakeing the Assembling of your selves as the manner of some is My way being thus clear and the meaning of the Text being thus made out and explained I shall from what is said raise this observation and prosecute it Doct. That it is the undoubted duty of all pious Christians that desire to prove constant to the true Religion to frequent and not to neglect the publique Assemblies of the Church Which truth that I may prove undenyable and convince the judgments of all that are teachable and will not stop their ears against the truth I will proceed in these gradual propositions The First shall be the furthest off Prop. but the foundation of all the rest taken from the end of Religious Assemblies even this That God is to be worshiped Adorability is due and proper unto God There is such infinite absolute perfection in the divine nature as necessarily calls for religious worship at the creatures hands with this truth our blessed Saviour repelled that great temptation of the Divel to fall down and worship him i Mat. 4 10s It is written thou shall worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serve This worship is due unto God and is due unto God only for he alone is qualified with those properties and attributes omniscience omnipresence omnipotence c. that are necessary to make a being Adorable so with him no creature can claim a partner-ship in divine Adoration and religious worship without great Sacriledg nor can any be given to it without gross and abominable Idolatry by this are the Papists therefore convinced of grievious Idolatry in that they worship those things with a religious worship which are no proper objects thereof as Images and Saints and the like But I onely name this Proposition because it is alien from the Text though the foundation of all that is to be â—id of it Those from whom this worship is due unto God are all intelligent rational creatures Prop by the very obligation of nature Indeed though there had never any been created by God to worship him God had continued in his essential perfections as firm as ever But being it was his good will to make the world and rational creatures in it to adore him there is therefore a natural obligation lying upon them as his creatures to worship him and so own their being dependence and preservation as the product of their Creators goodness what can be more just and equitable than for a depending being to adore the fountain of his being and of his both present and future welfare or what higher piece of unreasonable injustice can there be then for the creatures to slight him from whom they drew life breath and all In a word God hath indued Angels and men especially with minds and understandings for this very end that they might know honour and adore him He made all things but them especially for himself to do homage to him and therein lies their natural obligation to serve and worship him Prop. 3 As for pure spiritual beings such as Angels are they need not being incorporeal be circumstantiated either to time or place in rendring this actual worship to God 1. They are not tyed to any time strictly so called because their very nature is measured by Eternity and not by time and being of a spiritual nature they have neither those avocations by any particular calling not necessary diversions from Gods worship as man if he had continued innocent must have had for the very sustaining of his life and being which would have been even in Paâ—adise by ordinary means by seasonable food It is therefore Probable they have no set times but continue constant in the immâ—diate worship of God unless when God applyes them as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as his ministring spirits for the service of his Church and then perhaps their even then imployments speakes them only distant from the other Angels their fellow worshippers and not absent from the real worship service of God 2. Thus it appears they are not limited to any place neither as they are not to any limied time of worship for they being Spirits are uncapable of any local circumscription As for any further knowledge of the manner and circumstances of the Angels worshipping and adoreing of God Scriptures have a deep silence concerning it and it is a learned Ignorance for us to sit down satisfied and contented without the knowledge of that which God hath thought unnecessary to be revealed indeed to inquire any further thereinto may
being both the place of their meeting together and Gods meeting with them n Exod. 29.42 and 30.36 nd 〈◊〉 Num. 17.4 Now this place was fixed as the place of Jewish meeting as being a type of Christ our Mediator by whom alone we being strangers unto God became acceptable to him it is he that by offering himselfe a sacrifice to God for us hath made him a propitious Father to us and by whose intercession all our prayers and service and worship are accepted So the Legal worship being to be performed on the altar and before the ark in the Tabernacle it did typically teach that neither our persons nor performances nor any worship we give God would ever be acceptable to him unless it be presented in and by Christ who was typed by them 2. God commanded the Temple to be built for his publique worship not that God would dwell in houses made with hands o Acts 7.48 but thus by way of condescension he accommodated himself to his peoples capacity That as a soveraign Monarch or Prince makes choice of some great City for his residence so did the Lord of Jerusalem which is called therefore the City of the great King And as a Prince hath his palace in a great City so would the Lord have his Temple within Jerusalem which is therefore called the place of his habitation a Ps 76.2 The throne of his glory b Je. 14 21. The perfection of beauty the joy of the whole earth c La. 2.15 The place of his rest d Ps 132.14 Now the reason why God would have the portable Tabernacle erected by Moses to be changed by Solomon into a most magnificent and stately Temple to be fixed at Jerusalem it was to typify the heavenly Temple and Sanctuary into which Christ was to enter after his passion and resurrection where we shall all appear before him to adore God in perfect peace for ever more Then 3. There was also places for worship among the Jews besides not commanded but only approved by God viz Their Synagogues and Proseucha's and places of prayer for though they were to have but one altar and place for sacrifice which the Lord should chuse to place the ark of his covenant there the Tabernacle or Temple yet had they other places for devotion and religious use Their Synagogues was covered buildings like our Churches their Proseuch as were a plat of ground incompassed with a wall or other inclosures like our Courts open above in these they pray'd onely in these they interpreted the Scriptures also in the Temple they both pray'd and interpreted and sacrificed also The one was without the City e Acts 16.13 The other was within f Acts 15.21 Moses having in old time in every City them that preached him being read in the Synagogues every Sabbath day their Proseucha's or place of prayer Mr. Mede makes as Ancient as the times of Joshua g Vid Diambae on Josh 24.26 But as for their Synagogues many Authors will have their Original fetc'ht no higher then the Babylonish Captivity thinking that necessity first taught the Jews the use of them which after their return they brought with them into their own Country But Aretius and Godwin do more probably conjecture that for as much as the Jews were peculiarly ingaged to worship God and that there was but one Temple for the whole Nation where at the Males only were bound to appear but thrice a year and that an hundred miles distant from them that dwelt in remote places therefore that they might not be left wholly destitute of places for their ordinary meeting for publique worship they built these Synagogues after they came into the promised Land Sure it is they were in David's time whence that place h Ps 74.8 They have burnt up all the Synagogues of God in the Land and being called the Synagogues of God we may gather thence that the Lord approved them though he did not command them So did our Saviour often frequenting them while he was in the flesh i Lu. 4.16.17 and 21. both evidently testifying his real likeing of those publique performances of religious worship that were then celebrated and tacitely approved the places themselves where they were thus solemnly performed thus you see there were these several places for publique worship under the Law But what Shall we now think of the time of the Gospel Indeed our Saviour Christ hath removed all distinction of places through legal holiness yet hath he still made ample provision for the authority of places for solemn assemblies for publique worship 1. The distinction of place through legal holiness is removed by Christ The Tabernacle and Temple had a legal holiness and ceremonial Sanctity put upon them because of the Arkes being there k 2 Chro. 8.11 Exod. 29.43 There and only there they was to Sacrifice without an extraordinary warrant to the contrary As the Hebrews say a private Alter was not lawful to be erected but by a Prophet and when ever they prayed they was either to pray in the Tabernacle or Temple l Ex. 25.14 Ps 99.6 or else towards the same m 2 Cor. 6.38 1 Kings 8.44 Dan. 6.10 but that was for the thing typified by them even Christ through whom God accepts both of our persons and prayers and all our performances It is in and through his Mediation onely that we call upon God Therefore he the substance being come the shadowes are vanished There is now no legal or ceremonial kind of holiness in any place however consecrated to render any duties there performed more acceptable unto God then if performed by the same persons in like manner in any other places Divine worship under the Gospel is not now tyed to any one place more than other for any typical holiness in them The whole world is Gods universal and as it were Church Cathedral and so as we may pray at all times n 1 Thes 4 1◠So in all places o 1 Tim. 2.8 and he can and will hear us from heaven his habitation which is constantly alike distant from us That all distinction of places through ceremonial holiness is abolished our Saviour evidently teacheth in his discourse with the woman of Samaria p Joh. 4.21.22 she asked him in what place God was to be worshiped whether on Mount Gerizim where the Samaritan Temple was or Mount Moriah whereon the Temple of Solomon was built He answered her the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father that is the publique worship of God should not be restrained to any place for its ceremonial holiness as if it could render the parts of Divine service more acceptable to God than if performed else where for the body of ceremonial worship was now to expire and the partition wall to be taken down and God was to be worshipped no more with Jewish ceremonies but the Gentiles was