that our whole dependance is on his Favour and Blessing And all this and much more is contained in our acknowledging him to be God which we do by bowing down before him in the place of his Publick Worship 2. Since the chief end of our Publick Service is the most explicite worshipping God by acknowledging those things which Deity doth imply It is very meet that we joyn this act of Adoration with our Prayers and Praises in fit places as at the mention of God's glorious Titles and Attributes in the beginnings of the Collects and when we implore his gracious acceptance through the Merits of our blessed Saviour in the conclusion thereof and there are also many places in the Te Deum and in the other Hymns and Psalms where this action is very fit both to express our sence of God's presence our reverence towards him our belief that he sees us and that he hears all we speak to him and also to keep our Devotion in life and strength and to assist it in each other I find in many places of Scripture where the manner of the solemn approaches of the People unto God is described that they did bow their heads and worship in conjunction with their Praises and Prayers And it seems to me that there is such a natural Decency in the thing that all unprejudiced Persons must approve it Sure I am that the devout behaviour of such as I have known to be truly pious Men in this kind hath had a great influence on me and I may think it will have the like on others 3. That it seems to me that the intention of Mind which is required to the speaking in any good Sence and Method in the Extempore way of Prayer is a great hindrance to the due use of such acts of Worship in the Speaker and that the necessary attention to what is spoken and the inward discourse of Reason whether it be fit for us to joyn with the Minister therein is as great hindrance to such Devotion in the Hearers 4. That the brief and comprehensive Prayers into which the general Office of Prayer in our Way is divided seems much better in this respect than if the several matters whereof they consist were composed into one long continued Prayer 5. That it would be very convenient that every one would keep to their own Parish-Church where they might have conveniencies to perform both this and other Expressions of Devotion better than they can in a Crowd into which many throng for lesser benefits than they might have by a devout performance of these Holy Offices This then I conceive according to what I have said before to be the Worship of God When Men knowing and considering that there is one eternal infinite Being of most glorious and tremendous Majesty of incomprehensible Goodness Wisdom and Power and that is present in all places who having made us with such powers and faculties as fit us for his Worship and Service and enriched us with such benefits as give us greatest obligations thereunto doth expect that we perform the same to the greatest advantage of his Glory and Honour I say when we knowing this go unto the place of God's Publick Worship and there do by actions worship God bowing our Heads and Knees before him and also by words declaring our belief of his Being Presence Perfections and wonderful Works and our thankfulness for his infinite Mercies and joy and delight in his Service when we humbly and seriously attend to the solemn reading of his Divine Truth the Histories of his mighty Works to his Promises and Threatnings whereby he hath enforced his Laws to the Prophecies and miraculous Gifts whereby he hath assured us the Doctrine is from himself though by Ministry of Men and such-like things of great concernment to the glory of God as well as our good which we hear out of the Holy Scriptures As also when we make our Supplications and Prayers before him as our supream Lord and Governour and thereby acknowledge his Vniversal Presence and Providence extending to all Times Places and Persons with all their circumstances even in the minutest things and withal over-ruling the greatest And when 〈◊〉 all these we intermix due Acts of Adoration as continually intent on the consideration of God's Presence and waiting for occasions in the Offices of Praise Hearing and Prayers to adore his Divine Majesty internally and externally and to express our devout affections by such actions as bowing and lifting up our eyes and hands to Heaven c. and also kneeling and standing as it is most fitly ordered by the Church And when every one at the conclusion of the Service using some short Ejaculation to beg God's pardon for what Defects we have been guilty of and his acceptance of our sincere desire to honour him humbly bowing before him at our leaving the Church this I conceive hath very much Conformity to what all Men that consider their natural apprehensions of things will judge most like to that which is the plain sence of Worshipping God 'T is some wonder to me that many who seem to have a great Zeal for the Worship of God and make every thing they do about Religion a part thereof as the Church-Covenant which they add to that of Baptism and the Suffrage of the People in the matter of the Ordination of Ministers c. should be so inobservant of that Worship which Heathens have known by the Light of Nature to be due to God and which all that ever worshipped a God true or false have used Certainly the Law of Nature is God's most pâ—â—mitive Law and cannot be altered while things remain the same and all Divine Institutions in the matter of Worship do but supply the Defects of that Law and were Modes of Worship added for special reasons to that which Nature taught but no way exclusive thereof or contrary thereunto and the Sacraments of the New Testament are instituted on the same account Besides I have observed in the Writings of the Non-conformists an acknowledgment of the Duty of Natural Worship and of the use of such Natural Actions whereof it consists but always this of Bowing which is the chief is left out of the Catalogue and some hard Names such as Cringing Gesticulation c. put upon it to disgrace it of which I never could find any reason but their enmity to our Church and their disuse of it in their own Way 'T is true in one I find this That Custom doth limit and determine Nature's Laws upon which account Prostration and wearing Sack-cloth and rending Garments are now disused And Bowing since it is still left out seems to be put among the number of those Natural Actions determined by Custom But what Custom is this Surely not the Custom of the Community of Mankind nor of the Church of Christ but of some that have almost banished all other Expressions of Devotion but such which may be as proper to the hearing any
there is positive Sin or great Inconvenience in the things recommended thereby before we venture to contradict or oppose them We are commanded to give no Offence to the Jew nor Greek nor Church of God whereas it seems to me by forsaking these solemn Acts of Adoration we offend them all And I verily believe nothing more perswades the Papists of the Goodness of their own Religion and makes them think ill of ours than observing the Decency of these solemn Actions so frequently used in their publick Service and that it scarce looks like the Worship of God where they are wholly omitted as they are in some Protestant Churches and in all Nonconformists Meetings and too much in our Parochial Assemblies also But it is not only the avoiding Offence that should recommend these solemn Actions and especially that of Bowing but many great Reason 1. There is nothing more effectual to impress on the mind a sence of God's Presence than this action of Bowing before him It is impossible a Man can use such an Action but he must think there is some One present to whom it is performed and where Men have not a true belief of God's presence and are conscious unto themselves of that defect it will seem so unreasonable and foolish to perform such acts of Adoration that they will be hardly perswaded thereunto And for this reason when the World became so carnaliz'd by indulging their brutish Part that they could scarce have any apprehension of invisible Things but by the help of something that was the Object of their Senses they invented Images to represent the invisible Powers they worshipped and fancied that by their Incantations and Charms their Gods were drawn to inhabit those Images by which means they found they were helped in performing those Acts of Adoration to them But the only living and true God hath utterly forbidden any such Representations of himself as being a dishonour to the infinite Glory and Spirituality of his Nature but yet requires External Worship from us in acknowledgment than he is every where present but especially in the Assemblies that meet to do him honour and service and that he and he only is to be feared and had in reverence of all that are about him and if we would perform this act of Adoration as we ought we should find great help thereby against the weakness of our Faith and the dulness of our Spiritual Sence and it would beget in us such an habitual apprehension of God's spiritual and invisible Presence that it would be as a new nature or principle of spiritual and holy Life in all other things I say if we perform it as we ought because I would have none think that I impute a Magical Force to this Action as if all that do it on what account soever should become inspired with such an habitual sence of God and his universal Presence For I know that where this is in repute Men may be very observant thereof for carnal ends and be inwardly Atheistical and outwardly prophane still but if it be done with a design to signifie our belief of God's presence and our awful sence of his infinite Glory and Greatness it hath tendency to work a habit of spiritual sensibility in this matter and by the efficacie of the same we shall be continually kept in the fear of offending God and excited to all holy and vertuous Actions that are pleasing to him which I think is a very weighty matter Besides it prepares and disposes our minds to the performance of all the Offices of Divine Worship whereby we explicate the signification of such acts of Adoration and therefore it hath been used to be done at our first coming into the Church that we may remember what we are chiefly to intend in all we do there viz. The Worship and Honour of Almighty God The want of this consideration is a cause of great mischiefs in the Church Men have learnt to think that all the Ministries of Religion are intended to work on their Affections and Passions and to gratifie a Religius Fancy and so they judge they are best ordered when they serve most effectually to that end and upon this account it is that they condemn the Common Prayer as a dead Form and cry up the Extempore Way as the only acceptable Mode of serving God And while they thus judge they are subject to be drawn into Schism and Errour by every subtile Seducer that can handle the Instrument of his Tongue well and affect their minds with some devout Passions For so long as they think That Way of Religion best which most affects them Novelty having a great force in that matter and Men that design to serve their Interests by making Disciples being apt to bend their minds most strenuously to study to speak to Mens passions Men can never be fix'd in any way of Religion But now if they were once perswaded that those publick Administrations are best which serve most fitly to the Worship and Adoration of the Deity and are most advantageous for the conjunction of these solemn Actions which I here speak of it would be hard for them to find any better than ours among those which separate from us For the better understanding the beginning of the foregoing Paragraph wherein I say That in the Offices of Divine Worship we explain the signification of the acts of Adoration I must observe 1. That as the Worship we perform to God by humbly bowing down in our approach to his glorious Majesty doth declare our obligation unto all we perform in the following Offices so those Offices do contain the explication of the Worship we thereby give to the Almighty For since we declare by that action that we worship him as the only true God we oblige ourselves to perform that service which Deity makes his due and this we do when we give him thanks for the great benefits we have received at his hands and set forth his most worthy praise when we attend diligently to his holy Word and seek at his hands things requisite and necessary for Body and Soul for by these things we do acknowledge him to be the Fountain of our Being and of all the benefits whereof we are Partakers and to be the free and gracious Donor thereof and that he is most worthy of all the Praise and Glory that we can give him as by reason thereof so also because of the infinite Perfections of his Nature and his mighty and wonderful Works which we behold That he is infinite Wisdom and Truth and to be believed in all that be reveals to us That he is our only supream Law-giver and to be obeyed in all that he commands us That he is our Soveraign Lord and our Weal or Wo doth wholly depend on his Favour or Displeasure and that no Arts or Labours of our own can secure us against Misery or instate us in true Felicity whether it be internal or external present or future but
the highest dignity at the right hand of God I say he that considers this I hope will think as I do I know prejudice hinders Men from observing what is excellent in any thing but especially in such things they are not used to but as I suppose none will deny that God is thus to be worshipped so where Men are not prejudiced I verily believe they will think that in no Way they can do it better There is something also to be inferred as to this matter of God's Worship from the plentiful effusion of the Spirit in Gospel-times and our Fellowship and Communion in that Spirit There are some Phrases in the New Testament which I think have been perverted to a wrong sence such as Praying in the Holy Ghost Worshipping God in the Spirit and in Spirit and Truth which I think may better be referred to the worshipping God as revealed by the Gospel which is called the Ministration of the Spirit in the respect forementioned or else to our worshipping God in Faith and Fervency in Vnity and Vnanimity without distinction of Jew and Gentile in spirituality without legal Types and Figures and carnal Ordinances in the vertue of Christ's Merits which was the truth of all the bloudy Sacrifices of Atonement for acceptanceâ— with God in the legal Worship and this according to the Revelations whereof the Spirit of Christ is Author and by whose Gifts and Powers they were confirmed I say better refered to these things than to praying without study or a prepared Form onely by help of the Spirit It seems to me that if those Expressions had any relation to praying by any extraordinary and supernatural assistance of God's Spirit as was their praying in Languages they had never learnt or in Expressions that were above any attainments they could be supposed to have by ordinary means it must be appliable only unto that time For however an Opinion hath been insinuated of late of a miraculous and supernatural assistanceâ— for the performance of that Duty which hath given considence to many who are naturally unable for the same to venture on it and that even in publick Administration to the great dishonour of Religion and just offence of all wise Men yet I think none will dare to affirm that any Christian or Minister hath any promise from God of such assistance of the Spirit as may make it to be truly said that be prays in the Spirit in the sence above-mentioned But now praying in the Spirit as I first interpreted it of praying as the Revelations of the Spirit of Christ in the Gospel requires is appliable to all Times and Persons and this I think to be done as in the forementioned respect of worshipping the Trinity in Vnity and our Lord and Saviour as God-man so also when our Prayers are ordered for the greatest advantage of Faith and Fervency and of the Unity and Fellowship of the Spirit and so I think ours are ordered For in the first place our Faith is helped by the assurance that we ask such things as are pleasing to God and secondly by the frequent mention of the merits of Christ When we pray in the words which our Lord and Saviour himself hath taught us and use such Forms as have been composed by Men famous in the Church and approved by multitudes of Christians and that for many Ages when our Prayers are ordered with great advice of those that are most learned among our selves being also such as are orderly called to direct the publick Ministrations in Sacred Things and when they are approved by all the Christians united into one National Church under one Civil Government which approbation is declared by the Representatives of both Clergy and Laity with whose advice they are by Law established and when we ourselves may consider and weigh the same before we use them having them in our Books to read at any time certainly we may on all these accounts he more assured that we pray for such things as we ought than when we joyn in a Prayer we never heard before and such as is the sudden conception of a private Minister as the use is with those that are against our Way And finally the frequent mention of the Merits of our Saviour at the conclusion of our brief Collects is more helpful to our Belief that we shall find acceptance for Christ's sake than when it is only once at the end of a long continued Prayer if my own experience and that of wiser Men do not deceive me And secondly for Fervency we have great help also having nothing to do but to apply our minds to earnestness in praising God and praying to him no need of attending to hear what is spoken that we may judge whether it be fit for us to joyn in it or not and when we know the Prayers before-hand we can joyâ— with the Minister and Congregation though wâ— hear not every word that is read And the briefness of the Prayers being composed of such weighty and comprehensive Expressions helps more to true Fervency than long Prayers though the Novelty and Variety may more work on Mens fancies Then thirdly the Vnity and Fellowship oâ— the Spirit is hereby assisted I mean that Vnity and Fellowship which that Spirit of Goâ— hath constituted by whom we are all baptized into one Body and made to drink in to one Spirit and so are obliged to all possible Concord and Agreement both external and internal For first We agree with the Saint of all Ages in this That the publick Worship of God is to be administred by a prepared Form and not by the present Conceptions of the Administrator For I cannot understand that either the Jewish Church or the Christian did ever administer their publick Worship in any other way except what those Persons did who were divinely inspired as many were among the Jews and in the first Ages of the Church who therefore were said to Prophecy when they uttered such excellent Psalms or Prayers Extempore of which this is a sufficient demonstration to me That in the Jewish Synagogues all things at this day are administred by Forms and in all the Christian Churches that have not been accounted Enthusiastical the same Way was ever observed or at least none can deny that it now is so in all the Christian World except those Congregations united in some odd Opinions that do separate from the Body of Christians the only considerable Body of these that ever admitted the other Way of Administration being the Scots formerly and the English in the late Distractions but on many accounts that Admission cannot be esteemed an orderly Settlement or excuse them from Schism though it were by the prevailing Party Now since it hath scarce ever been known in Matters sacred and of long custom that great Alterations have been made but with great Oppositions and Commotions I conclude that if in the beginning of the Jewish Worship in their Synagogues or of the Christian Worship in
theirs before it and hence they generally argue That they are not bound to joyn in a Way of Worship that is worse when they have opportunity to have Communion in a Way that is better Now the main thing in which it is better in their opinion is this That they perceive in the Ministers of their Way a great sence of God's invisible presence and a great seriousness and fervency of mind in their Prayers to him which they cannot perceive 〈◊〉 our Way when the Prayers are read without such Expressions of Devotion as I heâ— affirm to be necessary And then it encourages the profaner soâ— in neglecting these holy Offices For whâ—â— they see the Readers of the Prayers so slight and superficial and to express so little Seriousness and Devotion in Reading theâ— will never think themselves guilty of anâ— great sin in being slight and careless iâ— hearing or very indevout if they neveâ— come to hear them at all These thingâ— shew a necessity of expressing Devotion iâ— Reading the Prayers But Secondly This Men will very hardly dâ— if they have not the truth of it in their oâ—â— Souls 'T is true Men may very easiâ—â— discern by Natural Reason the Decency oâ— humouring words with a pronunciation suitable to the matter they contain and oâ— joyning therewith a fit and comely deportment of the Body and they may known by common Observation that as this iâ— Praise-worthy so it is of good Report among Men And so it may be thought that in compliance with their own Reason and to gain Applause among Men Readerâ— may well enough compose themselves tâ— counterfeit Devotion in performing the Office of Common-Prayer and that altho' they have none of the truth of it in themselves I confess for my own part I think a counterfeit Piety so much better for the Church than a profess'd Formality that I wish the Prayers were devoutly read on what account soever it be done But when I consider how Errour hath weakened the respect that should be had to Devotion in â—he way of Common-Prayer and observe â—he great slightness and general formality that is too common in hearing it I am afraid that this will prevent that consideration in most Readers and quite inervate the â—â—rce of such Arguments so that if Men have not a great Devotion in themselves they are more like to be ashamed than inâ—ined to counterfeit it For when they â—e that Men generally think they have acâ—â—itted themselves very well in the Matters of God's Worship if they do diligentâ—â— attend to what the Ministers prays and â—â—eaches in the Pulpit though they little â—â—gard what the Readers do in the Desk â—â—aders will think it little concerns them 〈◊〉 regard it neither and so they are apt 〈◊〉 hasten the Prayers out of the way to â—â—ke room for that which they see is chiefâ—â— intended viz. the Sermon But now if we may suppose a Reader to design this we may find reason to think that it is much harder for any one in this case to personate the Man he is not than in any other that can be named for the sence of aâ—â— Omniscient Being who is especially present and requires truth in the inward partâ— abhorring all Hypocrifie and Dissimulation and that more peculiarly in the Offices 〈◊〉 his immediate Worship and Service I say the sence of this will be apt to beget suâ—â— a dread in their minds as will hindâ— their attention to the right performance 〈◊〉 a counterfeit Devotion For certainly 〈◊〉 nothing is more helpful to the most deceâ—â— expression of Devotion where it truly 〈◊〉 than the lively sence of God's Presence so nothing can be more apt to discompâ—â—â— the mind that designs not at all to expreâ—â— but only to counterfeit Devotion than thâ—â— Again Mens defect of true Piety oft bâ—â—trays them to gross Vices which not oâ—â— impress a guilt on their minds but aâ—â— make them conscious that all that knâ—â— them will judge their seeming Devotion 〈◊〉 be but a kind of Pageantry and this 〈◊〉 very much increase the difficulty of 〈◊〉 thing So that I think I may concluâ—â— that he which would read the Common Prayer well ought to be prepared with tâ—â— Devotion But here I must incert a Caution That do not approve of them that make a scorn of the Appearances of Devotion in some Readers because they are reported â—it may be truly to be often guilty of â—ome gross Vice For I believe notwithstanding that they may be sincere There 〈◊〉 no Man that lives and sins not And there 〈◊〉 a great deceitfulness in sin and this deâ—eit operates most on the persons where it most prevails and therefore I have often observed and so have wiser Men that â—â—me persons whom all the Town have â—â—arked for covetous Men would not believe themselves to be so and so it is with â—â—iteful rageful froward and revengeful persons and many others And it may be 〈◊〉 with these And though Intemperance the Vice oftâ—â—st insisted on may seem to the Objectors and many others not inclined thereâ—â—to to be much a greater Vice than those â—â—e-mentioned yet it may not so seem to â—â—em that are guilty and also they may â—â—nk that their ordinary measures though â—â—eater than others is no excess in them â—â—d that their lapses into such measures as â—â—ey cannot deny to be Excesses and to â—â—guise them as all Vices in some kind 〈◊〉 may be but Infirmities and as such be pardoned by the mercies of the Gospel 〈◊〉 the exercise of their daily Repentance And though I think as I said that theâ— is much of Cheat in this yet while thâ—â— believe their sins to be consistent withâ—â— state of Grace and profess and practiseâ—â— kind of Repentance though not such 〈◊〉 will obtain their Pardon I say in such â—â—ses I believe their expressions of Devotiâ—â— may not be charged with Hypocrifie Fâ—â— they may truly mean to adore supplicaâ—â— and praise God and it may be the mâ—â—â— truly because they think he will not exaâ—â— such Observances as they think themselves unable to perform And I am afraid thâ—â— sort of Men who most complain of tâ—â— Reader hold some Principles that give 〈◊〉 much help to that vain Hope whereby suâ—â— Men cheat themselves to their eternal ruiâ—â— and while they blame others Sin deceivâ—â— in this matter even themselves For iâ—â— a great cheat to think that because Mâ—â— do amiss in some things God will accâ—â— nothing that they do and as great tâ—â— Men may commend nothing in such Fâ—â— as it is evident never any did any thiâ—â— well for God but it was accepted at 〈◊〉 hands unto such purposes as were meâ—â— and as tended to draw them farther aâ—â— not discourage them Nebuchadnezzar â—hab Jehu and many more are instances of this All wise Men and some inspired ones have commended whatever of Vertue or Piety they found in the worst of Men Paul for instance in the Jews Therefore I conclude though some Readers who perform
in all the rest It may not be inconvenient in the Conclusion to offer something that may help us to shew our Devotion in leaving the Church as well as in coming to it and continuing there It is said of the ancient Jews that they went out of the Synagogues backward that they might declare their unwillingness to leave God's House in which holy Men have desired ever to dwell And whatever that way of expressing this may seem to some I am sure there ought to be such affections in us as was thereby signified and nothing we do that is contrary thereunto can seem decent to wise Men and if People's hurrying out of the Church as soon as ever the Sermon or Prayers are ended be not apparently contrary to such affection my conceit deceives me especially when they will not stay to take God's blessing along with them I say God's for though a Man pronounceth it yet it is such a Man as is his Minister and Herald the Steward of his Mysteries whose words as such he will never suffer to fall to the ground but will give them their effect on all that are meet Subjects and therefore to despise that glorious and mysterious Blessing wherewith these holy Offices are concluded shews great Ignorance to Prophaneness and little manners and is an affront to the Blessed Trinity and to the Congregation met to do Worship thereunto POSTSCRIPT ONe thing I have thought fit to add as useful to the design of this Paper which is My humble Request to Ministers and Vestries that they will take care that fit and worthy Persons be put into the Office of Parish-Clerks for that the defects of the People in performing their part of this Service is chiefly imputable to this cause that they have not a Clerk that iâ— able to lead them in the right way of that performance for if the People would but consider that 't is the special work of a Clerk to Guidethem in what they are to say and do in this Service and would make such observation of him as they ought he standing so advantageously for the same it would bring the whole Congregation unto a good performance Some Persons that may offer themselves and that it may be the Parishes interest to chuse may have such natural Defects that they can never be made fit for the place and some are of such a profane Spirit that they will never set themselves to study to do their duty therein Both these are to be rejected whatever advantages the Parish may make by their Election for so sacred a thing as the Worship and Service of Almighty God is not to be subjugated to the secular interests of Men And it is a great reproach to any Parish that to save themselves a little charge in maintaining a poor Family they should employ a Person to be Guide to the People in this most solemn Office of Divine Worship that is in any way a scandal or dishonour thereunto or unfit to perform it as he ought And if any such be already in the place my request is that the Minister and Vestry will use their Authority to reform them and engage them to study the most decent and graceful manner of performance and if that cannot be effected to force them to admit the help of another in that matter though they continue to do the Parish-business in other respects I make this humble Request because I believe that a Clerk that was a devout Man and one that had a good command of his Voice if he would set himself to study to excel in performing what is required of him he would greatly assist the People in the well performance of their part and excite them thereunto AN APPLICATION TO THE Clergy and to the People To the CLERGY AND now I most humbly beseech the Reverend Clergy of this Church that they will not despise the Advice of so unworthy a Person If there be not Truth in what I write I desire not to be regarded but if there be Truth is a thing so Divine and Excellent as not for my unworthiness or for any defects in the delivery to be rejected especially when it is Truth of the highest concern that can be imagined that which concerns and that most immediately the glory and honour of the most High God and his Son Jesus Christ our most holy Saviour that which concerns the supream good of the best of earthly Creatures and that with relation to his better part and his eternal state that which much concerns the happiness and well-fare of this flourishing Church and tends to its Unity Sanctity and Glory That which concerns the discharge of your great Duty to God and his Church and is the best Return of the Benefits you partake from both I say when it is Truth of such concern methinks it should be consider'd and that whoever it come from as the Instrument since God himself must be acknowledged the Author The Worship and Service of God hath been esteemed of all wise Men the chief of those things wherein Men or Angels could imploy themselves 'T is the principal End of bringing Men into Holy Orders and of instituting Christian Assemblies the greatest Means of inducing that super-excellent Principle of the Divine Life that Evangelical Spirit which only can overcome our Vices and sublime Moral Vertues into Christian Graces and make our good Works Seeds of eternal Glory This is the Prelibation of and Preparation for the unspeakable Joys above 'T is this for which all our Noble Faculties were given us 'T is this that chiefly distinguisheth us from Beasts and that more then the meer shape of our Bodies or our Natural Reason and gives us the greatest Likeness unto and Communion with the Angels 'T is the Worship of One God that is the greatest Incentive to Love and the strongest Bond of Peace among Men and among Christians it becomes more so when we worship Him in and through One Mediator and Saviour our Lord Jesus Christ The Natural Worship which was offer'd in the State of Innocency the Superstitious Worship of guilty and affrighted Criminals the Typical and Pedaegogical Worship of Mosaical Institution all these had something of Excellency in them nay they were the best thing the World had besides But the Excellency and Glory of Evangelical Worship is above them all it far exceeds whatever else we can do in this Life and is the highest Felicity of the Life to come Angels began it here on Earth Luke 2.13 14 and shall rejoyce to accompany us therein when we are in Heaven A Man that hath the Power of Godliness in his Soul is apt to say when he is at Church as the Disciples when they were on the Holy Mount Lord it is good for us to be here or as David Blessed are they that dwell in thy house and are ever praising thee These Things I have touched that I might introduce this great Consideration That the most learned and highly dignified of