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A44142 The expediency of a publick liturgy, to preserve the reverence of publick worship a sermon preach'd at Bridgewater, for the satisfaction of an eminent dissenter / by Matthew Hole ... Hole, Matthew, 1639 or 40-1730. 1697 (1697) Wing H2409; ESTC R13394 21,400 32

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THE EXPEDIENCY OF A Publick Liturgy To Preserve the REVERENCE OF PUBLICK WORSHIP IN A SERMON PREACH'D at BRIDGEWATER FOR THE Satisfaction of an Eminent DISSENTER By MATTHEW HOLE B. D. and Vicar of Stokegursey in Somersetshire 1 Cor. 14. ult Let all things be done decently and in Order LONDON Printed for Matt. Wotton at the Three Daggers in Fleet-street MDCXCVII A SERMON ON PSALM lxxxix 7. God is greatly to be feared in the Assemblies of his Saints and to be had in reverence of all that are round about him THESE Words are a brief Direction how to behave our selves in the House and Presence of God which we are here told must be with Fear and Reverence The occasion of them was from the Psalmist's deep and serious Contemplation of the Works of God together with those glorious Attributes and Perfections that shine so brightly in them The Meditation whereof fill'd his Heart with Joy and his Mouth with the Praises of his Maker The Psalm begins with a Song in Praise of his Goodness Vers 1. My Song shall be always of the loving Kindness of the Lord with my Mouth will I shew forth his Truth from one Generation to another And after some remarkable instances of it he breaks out in Admiration of his Greatness saying Vers 5. The Heavens shall praise his wondrous Works and the Earth shall sound forth the Glory of his Power In a word the infinite Wisdom Bounty Truth and Faithfulness of God appear'd in such lively Colours stamp'd upon all the Works of his Hands that made him in the Verse before the Text to cry out Vers 6. Who in the Heavens can be compar'd unto the Lord or what is he among the gods that can be liken'd unto him And then to imprint the greater awe and dread of him upon our Minds he adds these words God is greatly to be feared in the Assemblies of his Saints and to be had in Reverence of all that draw nigh to him The Sense of which Words I shall briefly summ up and handle in this plain Proposition viz. That all our Addresses to the Divine Majesty must be accompanied with a Holy Fear and Reverence God is greatly to be fear'd c. In treating of this Proposition I shall not need to insist much upon the proof of it For the bare Light of Nature will teach us that the Worship of God is to be perform'd with the greatest Solemnity and Reverence For this being the Homage we are to pay to the Supream Being or the just Acknowledgment we owe to our great Creator Reason wills that it be done with all imaginable Deference and Humility And since we receive and expect all from him 't will farther teach us that the profoundest Reverence and Veneration we can pay to him must come vastly short of his infinite Excellencies and Perfections But if the Light of Nature and Reason were more dim and defective in this Point than it is The Light of Scripture would abundantly supply it for there we read many clear and express Precepts to this purpose The Royal Psalmist in our Text makes this to be a Tribute due to the infinite Greatness and Glory of our Maker God is greatly to be feared saith he in the Assemblies of his Saints and to be had in reverence of all that draw nigh to him And therefore he calls upon the greatest Persons even the Princes and Potentates of the Earth to serve the Lord with fear Psal 2. and to rejoyce before him with trembling Yea we find God Almighty challenging this Homage from us If I be a Father where is my Honour Mal. 1.6 if I be a Master where is my Fear saith the Lord of Hosts And elsewhere he threatens the Neglect and encourages the Performance of this Duty Them that honour me 1 Sam. 2.30 I will honour and they that despise me shall be lightly esteem'd In the New Testament we are call'd upon to serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear Implying Heb. 12.28 that our Service cannot be acceptable unless it be attended with these things I shall therefore take this for granted as a Matter wherein we are all agreed that God is to be serv'd with Reverence and godly Fear The great things to be consider'd in this case are What this Reverence is and how it may be best express'd or perform'd in the Worship of God Accordingly therefore in handling of these words I shall enquire First Into the Nature of this Reverence that is requir'd in the Service of God and shew wherein it consists Secondly Into the Manner how it may be best observ'd and secured in the Publick Assemblies I begin with the First which is to shew the Nature of this Reverence and wherein it consists In order to which I say in general That Reverence is such a Religious sense of the Glory and Greatness of the Divine Majesty as engages us to behave our selves becomingly in his presence And this is partly Internal and partly External Internal Reverence consists in the aweful Apprehensions of the Mind concerning the Greatness of the Person we address to External Reverence consists in the decent Demeanour of the Outward Man by well ordering of our words and gestures in our Applications to him The former is the Reverence of the Soul and the latter of the Body both which are to attend us into the House of God and to be carefully minded in our serving of him 1. I say There is an Inward Reverence of the Soul that is to accompany Divine Worship And this consists in aweful Apprehensions of the Mind concerning him we draw nigh to This is hinted to us in the First part of our Text God is greatly to be feared in the Assemblies of the Saints That is our Minds are to be possessed with a profound and aweful Dread of the Divine Majesty in our approaches to him which the Apostle stiles a Godly fear And this ariseth from a sense of our infinite distance from God and of our daily and necessary dependance upon him For when we consider how vastly the great Soveraign of the World is above sinful Dust and Ashes and are so affected with the Thoughts of it as never to appear before him but with the deepest Humility and lowliness of Mind when we entertain such mean and abject thoughts of our selves and our own vileness as even to blush and be asham'd to approach so great a Presence when I say we have such a true sense of this infinite distance and disproportion between him and us then are we said to fear God in the Assemblies of the Saints and to have a Religious awe and dread when we draw nigh unto him Now to beget this holy Fear and Dread in us we are frequently in our thoughts to descend to a particular Consideration of the infinite Attributes and Perfections of our Maker and this will help to screw up our Minds to a due pitch of Reverence and Veneration for