forsaking the assembling of themselves together as the manner of some is but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching Which at least supposes that to forsake the Assemblies of Christians does greatly dispose Men to a final Apostacy as appears from the following verses wherein he urges the great danger of Apostacy which had been nothing to his purpose had not separation at least been the beginning of it But if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledg of the Truth there remaineth no more Sacrifice for Sin but a certain fearful looking for of Vengeance and fiery Indignation which shall devour the Adversary He that despised Moses ' s Law died without mercy under two or three Witnesses of how much sorer punishment shall he be thought worthy that trampleth under foot the Son of God and hath counted the Blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despite unto the Spirit of Grace The truth is whoever carefully examines the state of the Apostolical-Churches according to that account we find of them in the Writings of the Apostles and I may add of the succeeding Ages from the report of the most Primitive and Apostolical Fathers will find that none but Apostates from Christianity by Apostates not meaning those who wholly renounced the Name and Profession but those who renounced the Truth of Christian Doctrine actually separated from the Communion of the Church There were Schisms and Divisions in the Church of Corinth which S. Paul reproves them for but we do not find that they actually separated into distinct Communions but contended amongst themselves about the preference of several Apostles which of them was greatest Every one of you saith I am of Paul and I of Apollo and I of Cephas or Peter and I of Christ. And this seems to be the Case in the second Schism of Corinth in the time of Clemens Romanus who writ a Letter to them in the name of the Church of Rome perswading them to Peace Unity and Order But besides these Schisms in the Church which S. Paul makes a great sign of carnality For are ye not carnal for whereas there is among you Envying and Strife and Divisions are ye not carnal and walk as Men For while one saith I am of Paul and another I am of Apollos are ye not carnal There were also Schisms from the Church as we learn from St. Paul's Epistle to Timothy For of this sort are they who creep into Houses who kept Secret and Clandestine Meetings and lead captive silly Women laden with Sins led away with divers Lusts ever learning but never able to come to the knowledg of the Truth Now as Iannes and Iambres withstood Moses so do these also resist the Truth that is they opposed themselves against the Apostles of Christ who were the only Teachers of the true Religion and were that to the Christian Church which Moses was to the Iews Which plainly signifies that they set themselves up against the Apostles and gathered Churches in opposition to them Of such Separatists St. Iohn speaks whom he calls Antichrists they went out from us because they were not of us for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us but they went out that it might be made manifest that they were not all of us Where the Apostle expresly affirms that they went out from them that is forsook the Christian Assemblies by which he proves that they were not of them i. e. that they did not belong to the same Body and Society but had entertained such Doctrines as were destructive to the Christian Faith for otherwise they would not have separated from the Christian Church Now this necessarily supposes that Christian Communion is so indispensible a Duty that no Man can causlesly separate from the Christian Church without at least bringing his Christianity into question that nothing can reasonably tempt Men to a Separation but their renouncing some great Article of the Christian Faith nor can any thing justify a Separation but such Corruptions as destroy the Faith once delivered to the Saints for otherwise there had bin no force in the Apostle's Argument to prove that they were corrupt in the Faith from their Separation They went out from us because they were not of us for if they had been of us no doubt they would have continued with us So that tho we should grant that Schism as Dr. Owen earnestly contends signifies no more than Divisions and Contentions among the Members of the same Church without the breach of Church-Communion and therefore Separatists are not properly Schismaticks I know not what he gains by this when Separation in the Apostles days was looked upon as a much greater evil than Schism and yet none but Hereticks or Apostates from the Truth of Christian Doctrine were in those days guilty of it and if the Apostle's Argument holds good a sinfull and causless Separation can never be own'd without some degree of Apostacy It is to no great purpose to dispute the signification of words when the difference between things is plain and notorious But yet there seems to be a manifest difference in Scripture between Schism and Heresie the first being commonly applied to signifie those Divisions which were among Christians in the same Communion the second if not always yet chiefly applied to signify Separation from the Church for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly signifies a Sect or Party and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Sectarian Thus Christianity it self when the Christians united into a distinct Church-Society was called Heresy or a new Sect and the Sect of the Nazarens Thus we read of the Sect of the Sadduces and the Sect of the Pharisees where the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Heresy is always used Now tho these different Sects among the Iews did not separate into distinct Assemblies for Worship but all worshipped at the Temple as even the Christian Iews did while the Temple stood as appears from what happened to St. Paul at Ierusalem the last time he went thither yet they were distinguished by different Opinions Rites and Usages and Schools and which is usually the effect of such Distinctions by different Interests and Affections And in allusion to those Jewish Sects these Differences amongst Christians which did not break forth into open Separation but occasioned great sidings and Parties and Heats and Animosities were indifferently called Schisms or Heresies Thus St. Paul joyns Hatred Variance Wrath Seditions Heresie But then there were another sort of Heresies which always ended in Separation for such Men were always either cast out of the Church or separated themselves Such are those which St. Peter calls Damnable Heresies whom he compares with the fallen Angels and the old World which was destroyed with a Deluge of Water and Sodom and Gomorrah whom he calls presumptuous self-willed and that are not
the Church and involving our selves in the guilt of Schism upon this pretence but yet that is a suspicious argument which tends towards Schism which in its greatest innocency breaks good orders and wholesome Constitutions and when it is fully pursued may lead giddy and unstable minds into Separation 2. There is so much unaccountable fancy and humour to be seen in those different judgements men make of Preachers that it were a very hard case if the Peace Order and Government of the Church were to lye at the mercy of mens different fancies Some are taken with a grave and solid others with a florid and polite Preacher some are pleased with a tone others with earnestness and vehemence of action and voice How often do many men vary in their opinions of Preachers and change their Churches as their fancy changes Those Preachers who are disliked by their own Parishioners are very often admired by strangers Now what work would this make in all Civil Governments were Fancy suffered to over-rule publick Establishments and we have as little reason to expect that God will allow of such inroads of Fancy upon the Order and Government of the Church The design of Church-Communion and of Preaching the Gospel is not to please and tickle a wanton Fancy but to instruct us in the plain Duties of the Gospel and to furnish us with the Arguments and Motives to a holy life and thanks be to God such discourses we may meet with in most Churches in this Nation especially in this great City though it may be not alwayes dressed to every mans palate It is a sign men are full fed when they cannot be contented with plain and wholsome food but complain if they have not some delicious Sauces to create and tempt an appetite this I am sure is certain that men who govern themselves by such Fancies do not alwayes make the wisest choice nor the best improvements 3. Suppose your Parochial Ministers do not appear to be the best Preachers the profoundest Divines nor the most moving Orators consider whether this may not in great measure be owing to your selves whether your withdrawing your selves from their instructions may not make them more slight and careless in their preparations Preachers are men subject to humane infirmities and in all cases it is apt to dispirit men to see all their pains and labour despised and slighted especially in this case which makes them uncapable of doing that service to the souls of men which their Office requires and which they so passionately desire Men who are above the vanity of a great Auditory are yet desirous to preach to those whom they are concerned to instruct and are grieved to see them turn their backs upon them You might many times have better Sermons did you not discourage your Preachers by such neglects 4. Consider farther that you are particularly accountable for the improvement of those means of Grace which you did or might have enjoyed in the Communion of your Parish Churches God is not the Author of Confusion but of Order and Peace and therefore requires us to keep our station and when the Providence of God and the Laws of Church and State have placed us under such a Ministry we are accountable for no more than what we can enjoy with the preservation of the Peace and Order and Government of the Church and if our improvements be proportionable to this we shall not lose our reward But now suppose by pursuing your wandring fancies ye fall into any mistakes or are ignorant of any part of your duty when ye might have been better instructed had ye diligently and constantly attended the Parochial Ministry what excuse can such men make for themselves they are misled but it was occasioned by forsaking that Guide whom the Divine Providence had provided for them they sin ignorantly but they might have known better had they not withdrawn themselves from such instructions certainly those men act more safely with reference to a future account who make the best use they can of such instructions as the Providence of God provides for them than those who leave their rank and order to chuse better for themselves 5. We may also reasonably expect the greater assistances of the Divine Spirit in preserving good order which will tend more to our spiritual increase and growth than the best external means of edification the success does not depend upon the gifts and abilities of the Preacher but upon the influences of Gods Grace Who then is Paul and who is Apollos but Ministers by whom ye believed even as the Lord gave to every man I have planted Apollos watered but God gave the increase so then neither is he that planteth any thing nor he that watereth but God that giveth the increase Some little imperfect hints may more enlighten our minds when the Divine Spirit is pleased to teach us than the most exact and elaborate discourse and plain truths without any art or varnish may be conveyed with more warmth and vigour to our souls and consciences and may affect us more than all the charms of humane eloquence If men design only pleasing their fancies that they may do better by gratifying their curiosity but he who has no other design in hearing but to save his soul ought principally to take care that he may enjoy the influences of the holy Spirit which alone can make the external Ministry of the Word effectual and the best way to do that is to observe good order for he is a Spirit of Love and Peace and Unity and Order and therefore is more concerned to supply the defects and imperfections of external Ministries which we conscientiously submit to and diligently attend to preserve good order in the Church 6. The constant attendance on a meaner Ministry is much more for our edification than an occasional hearing much better Sermons It is too much the humour of many men who forsake their own Church to be constant to none and by this means they may hear a great many excellent Sermons and yet not be thoroughly instructed in all parts of their duty whereas every Minister who makes conscience of instructing his people committed to him will take care at one time or other to teach them all the great Articles of Faith and Rules of Life which though it may not be so taking and popular is yet more useful than some general Discourses and pressing and vehement Exhortations without a particular explication of their duty Which shews the advantage of attending a constant Ministry especially if men would acquaint themselves with their Minister whereby he might the better understand how to apply himself to their particular cases to fit his Instructions to their capacities and his Counsels Exhortations and Reproofs to their spiritual wants This may suffice to shew our obligations to Parochial Communion 2. The second thing proposed was to answer some Objections against this and they are only some hard cases which make Parochial
greatest concernment Pag. 104 CHAP. II. COncerning Publick Worship Pag. 110 Publick Worship to be preferred before private tho it were not expresly commanded by God Pag. 111 Publick Worship a greater honour to God than private Devotions Pag. 116 External Worship must be publick Pag. 118 God is a publick Benefactor and therefore publick Worship is due to him Pag. 120 Publick Worship instituted by God under the Law Pag. 122 And by Christ under the Gospel the true Notion of a Church requires it Pag. 125 This proved from the nature of Christian Communion and Sacraments Pag. 126 The same proved from the Institution of the Gospel-Ministry and the power of the Keys Pag. 130 And from the publick profession of Christianity Pag. 133 And from the Duty of Princes to encourage and propagate Religion Pag. 134 CHAP. III. Section 1. COncerning those who plead Conscience for Separation and set up distinct Communions of their own Pag. 138 Some Inquiries with reference to their honesty and sincerity in this Matter Pag. 139 1. Whether they separate upon true Principles of Conscience the difference between private Opinion and Conscience and the use of this Distinction ibid 2. Whether they consider the great Evil of Schism Pag. 151 3. Whether they believe our Communion to be unlawful Pag. 156 4. How they came to think our Communion unlawful Pag. 156 5. Whether they ever impartially examined the Reasons of their Separation Pag. 170 6. How they behave themselves towards their Governors Pag. 184 Section 2. Some general Considerations in order to remove those Prejudices which some have entertained against the Worship of the Church of England Pag. 188 1. From the Nature of God Pag. 190 2. From the Nature of Christian Religion Pag. 193 3. From the Example of our Saviour Pag. 207 4. From the practice of the Apostles and the first and best Churches Pag. 208 Section 3. An answer to some popular Cavils Pag. 215 Concerning Will-Worship Pag. 216 Concerning Superstition Pag. 222 The Church of England charged with Idolatry Pag. 235 And with Popery Pag. 236 PART II. CHAP. I. COncerning Parochial Communion CHAP. II. Concerning irreverence in Worship 267 CHAP. III. Concerning the neglect of the publick Prayers of the Church 281 CHAP. IV. Concerning the publick administration of Baptism 289 CHAP. V. Concerning the publick instruction of Youth 296 CHAP. VI. Concerning the great neglect of the Lord's Supper ERRATA PAge 6. line 26 read Apollos P. 9. l. 13. r. and that none P. 18. l. 15. r. that they either P. 50. l. 14. f. we r. be P. 105. l. 18. r. you 'l P. 124. l. 26. r. who P. 164. l. 9. r. fell P. 185. l. 2. r. them P. 208. l. 6. r. so P. 212. l. 11. f. if r. that P. 219. l. 24. r. now though P. 224. l. 12 13. r. difficult P. 230. l. 5. r. had P. 331. l. 18. f. rule r. rite P. 346. l. 28. f. truth r. faith A Practical Discourse OF Religious Assemblies The INTRODUCTION 1. Containing a short Account of the nature of Christian Assemblies for Publick Worship 2. A Scheme of the Design of this following Treatise 3. The seasonableness of such a Discourse 1. RELIGION is the greatest Concernment of Mankind both with respect to this life and the next and the Worship of God is the most excellent part of Religion as having GOD the most excellent Being for its immediate Object This is the Work and constant Imployment of Angels and blessed Spirits in Heaven who see the Face of God dwell in his Presence admire his essential Glory and infinite Perfections and sing Eternal Hallelujah's to Him When we come to Heaven we shall have no unruly Passions and Appetites to govern and tho our Souls shall be transformed into a pure Flame of Divine Love yet there will be no place for the laborious exercise of Charity in pitying and relieving one another where all the Inhabitants shall be perfectly happy in the enjoyment of the most perfect Good Indeed in this World Temperance and Charity are no Christian Vertues but as they are acts of Worship that is as they flow from a great sense of God and veneration for him for God is the sole Object of Religion and to be sober and to be charitable upon some meaner Considerations without any respect to God as the last end of all is to serve our selves or our Friends or to follow the inclinations of our nature but is not properly the Service of God Whatsoever we do out of a just sense of God is in some respects an act of Worship for it is to honour the Deity which may as effectually be done by actions as by words verbal praises are of no value with God are meer lip-labour and formal complements when they are alone and produce no answerable effects in our lives This is what the Apostle calls a form of Godliness without the power of it Religion is nothing else but such a vital sense of God as excites in us devout affections and discovers it self in a divine and heavenly Conversation But yet that which we more strictly call Worship is the most visible and solemn expression of our Honour for God when we lift up our hearts and our eyes and hands to God in Prayers Praises and Thanksgivings and when it is sincere and hearty has a powerful influence upon the government of our Lives For what sincere Worshipper can be so void of all fear of God as to break his Laws and contemn his Authority and despise his Judgements and therefore that vain and hypocritical semblance of Religion wherewith some bad Men deceive themselves and flatter God is called the form of Godliness without the power it being only an external imitation of Religious Worship without that powerful sense of God which governs the Lives of truly devout and pious Men. And as the Worship of God is the most excellent part of Religion which has the most universal and most powerful influence upon our Lives So publick Worship is the most excellent Worship as you shall hear more hereafter Indeed the right and power of holding Publick Assemblies for Worship is the fundamental right of the Church whereon all Church-Authority depends as has been well observed and proved by a Learned Man of our Church The Power of the Keys signifies no more than Authority to take in and to shut out of the Church the first is done by Baptism the second by Church-Censures the highest of which is Excommunication which debarreth Men from all parts of Christian Communion And therefore the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews makes forsaking Christian Assemblies either to be an Apostacy from Christianity as it was in those days or at least a fair step towards it he exhorts those to whom he writ to hold fast the profession of their Faith without wavering that is to continue firm and stedfast in the profession of Christianity and in order to this gives them this Caution Not
World And yet it is much worse than this too for such Men will not only miss of Heaven but sink into Hell a place of endless Torments where there is no ease and no hope So well might our Saviour ask that Question What shall it profit a Man to gain the whole World and to lose his own Soul Or what shall a Man give in exchange for his Soul And can any thing in the World deserve more of our care and industry than to obtain eternal Happiness and to avoid eternal Misery And yet this cannot be done without a sincere and devout performance of all the Acts of Religious Worship Those Persons do not deserve to be God's Friends and Favorites who do not worship him and those are not capable of the Joys of Heaven who cannot relish the Pleasures of Religion and the Worship of God CHAP. II. Concerning those who forsake Christian-Assemblies for want of a due sense of the Nature and Necessity of Publick Worship Several proofs of the Necessity of Publick Worship from the Nature of Religious Worship from the Nature of the Mosaick Worship from the Institution of a Christian Church and the Nature of Christian Worship and Discipline OThers there are who either wholly or in a great measure forsake our Communion for want of a due sense of the Nature and Necessity of Publick Worship They acknowledg it is their Duty to Worship God but they think they can worship God as well at Home as at Church that it is not the Place which makes their Prayers more or less effectual but God hears us where-ever we pray and is always pleased even with the single and private Devotions of good Men and the World is now so well stored with good Books that they can spend their time in reading at Home to as good purpose as if they went to Church to hear a Sermon And I need not observe how many there are who Act according to these Principles i. e. who seldom or never come to Church though how they spend their Time at home I know not but have great reason to suspect that with too many a warm Bed in the morning and a bottle of Wine in the Afternoon serves instead even of their private Devotions Now before I proceed to shew what a great and dangerous mistake this is I shall briefly expostulate the Case with these Men supposing it to be as they say That we may serve God very acceptably at Home without attending the publick Assemblies of Christians Supposing the Case to be equal in it self considered yet I beseech you Why should you prefer your own Private before the Publick Devotions of the Church Cannot you serve God at least as well at Church as you do at Home And Publick Worship having bin the universal Practice of the World in all Ages and under all Religions does it become a modest Man to affront so general a Custom which if it be not expresly commanded by God yet at least has no hurt in it And since the generality of Mankind have not only consented in such a Practice but have believed it to be their Duty to pay their joyn'd and publick Acknowledgments to their Universal Lord and Father and are apt to suspect these Men of Atheism and Irreligion who deny or neglect it What Reason can be sufficient to perswade any Religious Man to oppose so universal a Belief and to incur the publick censures of Insidelity and Irreligion Especially since the publick Exercise of Religion is enjoyned by Humane Laws and to neglect it is an affront to the publick Wisdom and Authority of a Nation which though other things were equal makes publick Assemblies a Duty and private Devotion when we ought and may attend on publick Assemblies to be a Sin And indeed we cannot imagine that God should take it well of any Man how devout soever he be in private who will rather affront the Universal Practice founded upon as Universal a Consent of Mankind will rather be thought an Atheist or an Insidel will rather trample upon all Humame Authority than joyn with his Fellow-Creatures and Subjects and Neighbours in the publick Acts of his Worship Put the case any of you were the Father of a very numerous off-spring and that without any express Command from you most of your Children should agree by a common consent to visit you together once a week to ask your Blessing and pay their thankful Acknowledgments for your great care of them in their Education and in that liberal Provision you have made for them but one or two of your Children should chuse to come alone to you in private when no body sees them and obstinately refuse to come with the rest of their Brethren though they were censured by them with undutifulness and ingratitude for such a Neglect I am apt to think there is none of you would accept of such private Acknowledgments from those who refused the more publick and solemn Addresses and we have as little reason to expect acceptance from God when we refuse to worship him in the Congregation of his Saints how devout soever we are alone Nay though we should grant that private Devotions were as acceptable to God as Publick supposing they were performed with equal Zeal and Fervency of Mind yet upon this account Publick Worship has much the advantage good Company in all Cases is apt to give us greater briskness and vigour of Mind the very presence of devout Souls who breath forth their ardent Desires to God is enough to fire our cold and chill Spirits and good Men receive warmth and quickness from each other and grow into greater ardours and transports Hypocrites have no other sense of Devotion but what they receive from good Company but good Men themselves who have a true and constant sense of God many times experience a great difference in this respect between their private Retirements and the more publick and solemn Acts of Worship Thus you see that tho we could produce no express proof of the necessity of publick Worship yet there are sufficient reasons to prevail with every wise and good Man not to withdraw himself from the Communion of Religious Assemblies and therefore indeed we shall never find that a truly wise and good Man does Private Devotion may be a pretence to justify the neglect of publick Worship but I dare appeal to these Men's own Consciences that it is never the true Cause for Men who do heartily desire to worship God will chuse to worship him in the best and most solemn manner that is in the publick Assemblies of Christians But yet to take away this very pretence from them I come now to consider our Obligations to publick Worship 1. And first I shall argue from the Nature of Religious Worship and the fundamental Reasons of it Now Worship signifies all that part of Religion which immediately respects God as it is distinguished from Sobriety and Righteousness and is commonly known by the
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that you may become Christians and enter into our Society and truly our Fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Iesus Christ. And therefore the Sacrament of Baptism is our admission into the Christian Church that is gives a right to all the Priviledges of Christian Communion for we are baptized into one Body and the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is expresly called the Communion it is that common Table which all Christians have a right to The Cup of Blessing which we bless is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ the Bread which we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ For we being many are one Bread and one Body for we are all partakers of that one Bread It is essential to the nature of the Lord's Supper that it is a common Feast of which all Christians partake for it signifies not only our Union to Christ but our Union to one another in the same Body for which Reason the Reformed Churches universally condemn the private Masses of the Church of Rome where the Priest receives by himself and truly private Devotions when they thrust out publick Worship are much of the same nature So that the very Institution of a Church the Example of the Primitive Christians and those Sacraments of our Religion which our Saviour has instituted as the Badges of Christianity and the Conveyances of Spiritual Life and Grace may convince us how necessary Christian Communion and Publick Worship is if we will be the Disciples of Christ and we are expresly commanded by the Writer to the Hebrews Not to forsake the assembling of our selves together But we may consider farther that Christ has instituted an Evangelical Priesthood the publick Ministers of Religion whom he has commanded to instruct his Church to feed his Flock to pray for his People and to bless in his Name to whom he has committed the Power of the Keys to let in or to shut out of the Church Now what use could there be for publick Ministers unless publick Worship were a great and necessary Duty If it were so indifferent a thing whether Christians frequent the Religious Assemblies and continue in their Doctrine and Fellowship breaking Bread and Prayers it does not seem worth the while to have invested Men with such Power and Authority which is of so little use especially since Christianity is so much known and so far spread in the World whereas our Saviour promises to be with his Apostles unto the end of the World which could not be meant of the Persons of the Apostles for they are long since dead but of their Successors who retain their Office and Power as far as is necessary to the present state of the Church And the force of this Argument from the Apostolical Office will be better understood if we consider wherein the Power of the Keys consists which Christ committed to St. Peter and the rest of the Apostles or what is the true ancient Discipline of the Christian Church Now the Power of the Church which is truly Spiritual consists only in letting into the Church or shutting out The admission into the Church is by administring Baptism which they are made the external Judges of who are fit to be received into the Church by Baptism and who not shutting out of the Church is by exercising Censures upon Offenders which consists only in this in removing such Men from Christian Communion either in part or wholly for a time or for ever according to the severity of the ancient Discipline Some were not permitted to come into the Christian Assemblies but lay at the door lamenting their wickedness and begging their Prayers Others were admitted to publick Instructions but not to the Communion of Prayers or at least if they were admitted to the Prayers of the Catechumens those who were publickly instructed and catechised but not yet baptized were not allowed to be present at the Prayers of the Faithful Others were admitted to Prayers but not to the Supper of the Lord. Now all this supposes that Christian Communion is not only a necessary Duty but a great Priviledg since they had no other way of punishing Offenders but by denying them the liberty of Worship in their Assemblies but what would those Men value Church-Censures who make so slight of publick Worship as daily to excommunicate themselves Certainly these Men are greatly mistaken or else the very Office and Authority of an Apostle is a very inconsiderable thing and that dreadful Sentence of Excommunication which was so formidable in the Ancient Church is a very innocent and harmless thing since Men may as well worship God alone as in Christian Assemblies and that they might do when excommunicated or shut out of Christian Assemblies And I observe farther That our Saviour requires of us the publick profession of his Name and Worship which necessarily includes publick Worship Whosoever therefore shall confess me before Men him will I confess before my Father which is in Heaven but whosoever shall deny me before Men him will I deny before my Father which is in Heaven To confess Christ is to own him for our Lord and Saviour not only in words tho too many such there are whom our Saviour will not own will not confess before his Father which is in Heaven but by paying him such publick Homage and Worship as is a visible demonstration that we do own him for our Lord. For thus to confess Christ signifies With the mouth Confession is made unto Salvation for whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved The Christian Church was to be a Visible Society like a City that is set on a Hill or like a Candle placed in a Candlestick to give light to all that are in the House But the Church can never be visibly distinguished from the rest of the World without the publick and visible exercise of Religion and therefore our Saviour exhorts his Disciples Let your Light so shine before Men that they may see your good Works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven which must refer to all parts of Religion and therefore includes Acts of Worship as well as Acts of Mercy and Charity To conclude this Argument It is the acknowledged Duty of a Christian Prince to take care to encourage and propagate true Religion in his Dominions which can never be done without encouraging publick Worship correcting publick Abuses and punishing the neglect or profanation of it for if Mens Religion be confined to their Closets no Man can possibly tell what Religion they are of they may be Pagans Mahometans Papists or Infidels and no Man the wiser if they can but keep their own counsel And therefore if it be the Duty of Magistrates to encourage and reform Religion and yet nothing can fall within his cognizance or under his care but what is publick it is easy to conclude That publick Worship which is the Care of
is against Nature and the effect of Vice Thus it is here the Laws of the Gospel which so strictly require Christian Love and Unity as a most necessary Duty and essential to the Christian Profession clap a Byass upon true Christians Minds which strongly inclines them to maintain and preserve the Peace and good Unity of the Christian Church where they can preserve it without an apparent injury to common Christianity and therefore this makes them put favourable and candid Constructions upon every thing and not make a breach without absolute necessity and if they should mistake here it is an Error on the right side but an inclination to Separation is a false Byass contrary to the Genius and Spirit of the Gospel which inclines Men to Peace and Union and is usually the effect of some vicious indisposition of Mind and if Men's Reason and Judgment be perverted by such an unchristian Inclination it will aggravate their Guilt and Crime and therefore it greatly concerns all Men who love their Souls and would avoid the Guilt of Schism not to be in love with Separation which will so blind their Minds that they shall never discover how sinful and causless it is nor ever be able to deliver themselves from it with all their reading and study and it is a mighty suspicion that Men are in love with Separation when they are so industrious to hunt for Doubts and Scruples and little cavilling Objections which all the lovers of Peace and Unity at the first Proposal see the folly and weakness of while such learned Rabbies are held fast in the Cobwebs of their own spinning Secondly As there are great numbers of Men who separate from the Church of England without an impartial Examination of the Reasons of their Separation so there are a great many who are not capable of such Inquiries and yet they separate also at all adventures as others do A great many such Men there are who live by their Labour and have not time for such Studies or it may be cannot read or however were never used to the Art of thinking and reasoning and therefore may be easily mistaken in such Matters while they rely upon their own Judgments of things that unless we think it enough to justify such Men that they have been taught to call the Bishops Antichristian and our Ministers Baal's Priests and our Common Prayer the Mass-Book and kneeling at the Sacrament Idolatry and the Surplice a Rag of the Whore of Babylon and such kind of Rhetorical Figures which signify nothing but to make a noise and scare ignorant People These Men must be acknowledged to be guilty of Schism in separating from a Church without knowing any just reason for their Separation I can think but of two or three things that can be answered to this First That tho they are ignorant themselves yet they are directed by wise and good Men who understand the reason of these things Secondly That this Objection does as well lie against those ignorant People who live in Communion with the Church of England as against those who separate for they both understand the Reasons of things alike And thirdly That according to this rate of arguing such Men are not capable of chusing any Religion but must take the Religion of their Country as they find it whether it be Paganism Popery or Mahometism As for the first That tho they are ignorant themselves they follow the direction of wise and good Men who know the Reasons of these things I would ask them this Question who made these wise and good Men their Guides and how do they know that they have any reason themselves for what they do especially since other as wise and good Men say that they have none and such Persons are as unable to know who is in the right as they are to discern the Controversy and yet they do in a manner determine the Controversy by chusing Separatists for their Guides and rejecting those whom the Providence of God and the Laws of the Land have appointed to be their Guides It is plain such Men as these want Guides to direct them and yet in such Controversies as these know no more whom to chuse for their Guides than which side to take and therefore it is much the safest for them because it will admit of the best excuse if they should err to follow the direction of those Guides whom the Providence of God has provided them for if they chuse Guides of their own and heap to themselves Teachers having itching Ears and thereby miscarry they must blame themselves but will have no Defence and Apology to make at the Tribunal of God As for the second That this Objection equally lies against those ignorant People in our Communion as against those who separate for they both understand the reasons of things alike The Answer is very plain viz. there is not such a particular knowledg of things required to live in Communion with a Church wherein we were baptized and educated as there is to separate from it for Separation condemns the Communion of that Church from which we separate as unlawful and sinful it divides the Unity of the Church which when it is causeless is a very great sin and therefore before Men venture to separate they ought to be very well assured that the Communion of such a Church is sinful which they cannot do without a particular knowledg of those things which they condemn as sinful and the reasons why they do so To hold Communion with the Church wherein we live is always the surer side when there are not such notorious Corruption as the meanest Man who is honest and sincere may understand for Christian Communion is a great and necessary Duty and is not to be forsaken for every trifle and when the justification of Separation is spun out into such a thin and airy Controversy as requires a very Metaphysical Brain to understand it honest plain Men who are strangers to such Subtilties should leave learned Men to wrangle among themselves and keep close to the Communion of the Church till they could produce some such Reasons against it as all honest Men may understand as well as themselves but this will be better understood by the Answer to the Objection which is this Thirdly That according to this rate of arguing such Men are not capable of chusing any Religion but must take the Religion of their Country as they find it whether it be Paganism Popery or Mahometism but this is a great Mistake for the difference between Paganism and Christianity between Popery and Reformed Christianity is much more plain and discernible and more easily understood by the most illiterate People than the Dispute about Ceremonies Church-Government and Discipline and therefore those who are not capable of judging in these Matters may yet be able to chuse the Christian Religion and to reject both Paganism and Popery The truth of Christianity does not depend upon some nice
Communion very nauseous and unpleasant to honest minds or very dangerous As to name some of the hardest 1. The case of a vicious and scandalous Minister who like Eli's Sons makes the Sacrifices of God to be abhorred I am in great hope that the number of these men is not great though one were too much and yet it is not to be expected that in so great a body of men there should be none Let the enemies of God and of Religion triumph in this and encrease their numbers while we silently lament it But when this is the case I think every good man should apply himself to his Superiours and endeavour to remove him if this cannot be done or is too long delayed he must learn to distinguish between the man and his Office a bad man but yet a legal Minister and though he be unworthy of so holy a Profession yet the efficacy of his Ministry does not depend upon his personal qualifications but on the Institution of Christ. The lewdness of Eli's Sons though it gave great offence and scandal to the Israelites yet it did not make them forsake the Altar of God The Scribes and Pharisees in our Saviours dayes were a vile sort of people but yet he does not command his Disciples to withdraw from their Communion but not to follow their examples The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses seat all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe that observe and do but do not after their works for they say and do not And upon these principles St. Austin disputes against the Donatists and will not allow the personal miscarriages of Ministers to be a just cause of Separation and yet if in such cases a serious Christian with prudence and modesty and with as little noise and scandal as may be preserving the Communion of the Church should joyn in Communion with a neighbouring Minister I should not see much reason to blame him for it is no Schism while he continues in the Communion of the Church and only forsakes the Communion of his Parish Minister upon too just an offence 2. The case of an ignorant Minister and I hope this case is not very frequent neither at least not such gross ignorance as shall make a man utterly uncapable of such a function and yet it cannot be expected that all the Parishes in England should be supplyed with Learned Preachers when there are so many Livings that will hardly find bread for a Family But we must consider that our Church has made excellent provision in this case has taken care that the instruction of her Children shall not wholly depend upon the personal abilities of the Minister Our Liturgy is the same whatever the Ministers abilities be which contains a very excellent form of Worship and Administration of Sacraments the Catechism which he is bound to teach the Children contains the substance of Christian Religion in few and plain words and the Homilies which are appointed to be read are very useful and pious Sermons upon most of the material heads of Religion that though the Minister be no great Scholar if he be but honest and diligent in observing the Rules and Directions of the Church his people cannot want sufficient Instructions And this one instance shews the great necessity and advantage of publick Liturgies and Homilies which secures the decent performance of Religious Worship and the instruction of the people in sound and wholsome doctrine notwithstanding the personal defects and inabilities of the Minister what case such poor Parishes were in when these provisions were cryed down as Popish and Antichristian I cannot guess 3. The case of an erroneous and heretical Minister who mixes poison with his doctrine and corrupts the plainness and simplicity of the Christian Religion and can any Christian who is bound to take care of his soul think it his duty to expose himself to the perpetual danger and temptation of erroneous doctrines In answer to which consider 1. That people are very ill Judges of errors and heresie the most antient and most useful doctrines of Christianity have sometimes been thought so and when we have so many men intent and zealous to seduce our people it is an easie matter to whisper the danger of being infected by a corrupt and heretical doctrine Some think every thing heresie but Antinomianism to perswade men to a good life to tell them that there are certain conditions annexed to the Gospel Covenant without the performance of which we shall not be saved that not an idle and notional but an active and working faith justifies that we are saved by Christ not as a Proxy who has done all for us but as a Priest and Sacrifice and Mediator who has expiated our sins by his death and sealed the Covenant of Grace in his blood and now powerfully intercedes for us with his Father and sends his Spirit into the World to be a principle of a new life in us these and such like doctrines are by some men reproached with the name of heresie and upon their authority believed to be so by others and yet if men must withdraw their Communion for the sake of such heresies as these they must forsake the most useful Preachers and most Orthodox Churches and therefore 2. The charge of heresie must be very plain and notorious before it can justifie our breach of Communion If men deny any plain Article of the Christian Faith it is dangerous to intrust the care of our souls with them for they are at best but Wolves in Sheeps cloathing but to suspect men of heresie when there is no evidence of it is it self a very great fault and difference of judgement and opinion about some less matters in Religion which we are alwayes like to differ about while we see in part and know only in part may exercise mutual forbearance but will not excuse men from the guilt of such causless Separations 3. Where the presumptions are very strong we must appeal to Church Governours to detect his errors and heresies if he have any and to secure the flock from such apparent danger Private Reformations usually prove more fatal than the mischiefs which they are designed to remedy and what I said in the case of an ignorant Minister is very applicable to this the publick Prayers and administration of Sacraments and Catechism cannot be corrupted by the greatest Heretick if he observe his Rule and this secures the purity of Worship and wholsome instructions and as for his Sermons it only concerns men to be wary what doctrines they receive from him to take nothing upon trust but to search the Scriptures whether such things be so Such a course as this will maintain good order in the Church without any danger to our faith 4. When the bounds of Parishes and the number of people is too large for Parochial Communion This has often been made a pretence to justifie separate Meetings because the number of people is much greater in many Parishes
and reverence for their spirial Guides This may be thought an inconsiderable thing and only a word by the by for my own Profession but let it be for whom it will Religion never did nor ever is like to flourish when the Ministers of Religion are despised when their counsel is slighted and contemned Their Office is to be the Guides of souls and unless men look upon them as such it renders their Office useless to the souls of men and this is all I mean by a respect and reverence to their spiritual Guides to reverence their counsels reproofs and censures and to apply to them in all cases which concern their souls Now when men have been trained up in the knowledge of Religion by their Spiritual Guides and have found the benefit of their instructions it makes them naturally reverence their judgements and advise with them in all difficult cases a thing much out of use now and we see the sad effects of it in the lives of too many 4. By the publick instructions of Youth those may learn the first principles of Religion who are too old indeed to be Catechized but yet very much want it it is almost incredible to think how ignorant many men are of the very first rudiments of Christianity who are baptized in their Infancy indeed but were never catechized all our Sermons are in a manner lost upon these men who can never be brought to understand Religion unless you teach them as you do Children which would be thought a great affront to their age and long profession and therefore the best and modestest way of instructing these men is to instruct Children when they are present which may be of great use to them if they be sensible of their own ignorance and do not disdain instruction I shall add but one thing more and so conclude this argument that when I speak of instructing Children I would not have you think that I only mean such young Children as are just able to repeat the Catechism by heart but are not capable of giving any other answer to what you ask but what they find in their Books such Children as these are scarce capable of any instruction nor can it much edifie the Congregation to hear them repeat imperfectly the words of the Catechism but I principally mean such young men who are capable of learning who can understand what is said to them and make a reasonable answer at least with a little help and instruction We live now in an Age wherein it is thought a reproach for those to be catechized who are got out of their hanging-sleeves as soon as they are old enough to learn a Trade they think themselves too old to learn their Religion But is Religion then so easie a thing that every youth of sixteen or seventeen is past his Catechism Is it a greater reproach at such an Age to be instructed in Religion than it is to learn Arithmetick and Merchants accounts I readily grant such young men ought not to be treated like Children to be made repeat only the words of the Catechism as School-Boyes do their Lessons but there is a manly way of instruction which will not unbecome their years but much contribute to their increase in Christian knowledge could this point be once gained to perswade Parents and Masters to send such to be catechized as are capable of instructions I should not doubt in a short time to see very happy effects of this so much despised and neglected duty CHAP. VI. Concerning the great Neglect of the Lords Supper THe last miscarriage I shall at present take notice of is the general neglect of receiving the Lords Supper for though thanks be to God this practice is in some measure restored among us and we now with joy observe more frequent and numerous Communions than have been for many years last past yet this holds no proportion at all to those great numbers of professed Christians who neglect it wholly or communicate very seldome Thus to turn our backs on the Lords Table is a very great reproach to Christianity and infinitely dangerous to mens souls because the Lords Supper is the most excellent and the most beneficial part of Christian Worship and indeed one would think that there needs nothing else to perswade any man to so advantageous a duty but true understanding the nature of it My present design will not admit of a large discourse and therefore I shall bring what I have to urge into as narrow a compass as I can and 1. Shew you the great evil and sinfulness of this neglect and 2. Examine what are the true causes or occasions which tempt men to such a neglect 1. The great evil and sinfulness of this neglect and the most effectual way to convince men of this is by explaining those many obligations which lye on us to a frequent celebration of this mysterious Feast 1. And I shall first argue from the Command and Institution of our Saviour which certainly is sufficient to make it a standing and necessary duty to all who profess themselves his disciples Now the Institution of this Feast runs in the form of a command So St. Matthew tells us as they were eating viz. the Feast of the Passeover Iesus took bread and blessed it and brake it and gave it to the disciples and said take eat this is my body and he took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying drink ye all of it for this is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins The same account St. Mark and St. Luke give of it and almost in the same words so does St. Paul which he received by revelation from Christ himself So that those men at least are guilty of a very great sin who never celebrate this heavenly Feast if it will be acknowledged a sin to break a plain express institution of our Saviour and very great numbers there are of such men in our Church if at least they may be said to be in the Church who never received the Lords Supper who call Christ Lord and Master but do not the thing which he has commanded And there are two very considerable aggravations of this sin 1. That it is his last and dying command which usually has great sacredness and authority in it though it be but the command nay but the desire of a Friend this command he gave his Disciples the same night wherein he was betrayed when he was just about to offer his soul in sacrifice for sins when he was preparing to encounter with scorn and reproach with rage and malice with the shame and exquisite pains of the Cross and it is an ill requital of the love of our dying Lord that we will not obey his dying commands 2. That our Saviour by the Institution of this holy Feast has delivered us from all the numerous troublesome expensive Ceremonies and Institutions of the Jewish Worship
he has put an end to Circumcision Sacrifices Legal Washings and Purifications and the like and has only instituted Baptism as the Sacrament of our admission into his Church which cannot be thought grievous and troublesome when it is administred but once to a man for his life and the Lords Supper as a standing Rite of Worship and to deny obedience to one easie Command when our Lord has delivered us from such a grievous and unsupportable yoke is a sign that as much as men talk of Christian Liberty they little value that love which purchas 't it at so dear rate Others there are who do not wholly withdraw themselves from the Lords Table but yet think there is no great reason to communicate often so they do it some times though very seldome they comply with our Saviours Institution who has commanded us indeed to eat the Sacramental Bread and drink the Wine in remembrance of him but has not appointed how often this shall be done In answer to this I grant that our Saviour has appointed no fixt and setled times for the celebration of this holy Supper but this seems to me a plain argument that he has instituted this Supper as an ordinary part of Christian Worship if he had intended that we should have received these mysteries only on some set and solemn times he would have told us so but having appointed no time for it we must conclude that this is part of that Worship which he expects from Christians in all their publick Religious Assemblies when ever they meet together to worship God and their Saviour And thus the Primitive Christians understood our Saviour for they never met together for Religious Worship but this holy Feast was part and alwayes accounted the principal part of it In the Apostles dayes this was done every day as is generally concluded from that short history we have of their daily conversation which was spent in the duties and exercises of Religion that they continued daily with one accord in the Temple and breaking bread from house to house did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart praising God the proper work of the Eucharistical Feast and having favour with all the people and we have reason to think it was so in the Apostles dayes when it is evident this custom of receiving every day continued some Ages after So it was in St. Cyprian's time and so it was at Rome in St. Hierom's time and the Apostolical Canons and the Synod of Antioch denounce Excommunication against those Christians who come to Church to join in other Religious Offices but go away without receiving the Lords Supper afterwards as mens zeal in Religion decayed so they abated in the frequenâ— Celebration of this Feast and from every day it came to once or twice a Week or every Lords day till it grew so dis-used that the Church was forced to make provision by her publick Canons that every Christian should at least receive the Supper of the Lord three times a year on the three great Feasts of the Church Christmass Easter and Whitsunday But the Institution of our Saviour confining it to no time seems to make it an ordinary part of Christian Worship especially when it was thus expounded by the general practice of the Apostles and Primitive Christians who were most likely to understand our Saviours meaning that I confess I am so far from thinking it an excuse for communicating seldome that I want a fair Apology to make for our selves for communicating so seldome as once a Moneth unless the degeneracy of the Age the decay of Christian Piety and that little sense men have of the necessity and advantages of this duty be thought a good Apology 2. For we may consider farther that as Christ has instituted this holy Supper so he has instituted it as an act of Religious Worship It is a Sacrifice of Prayer and Thanksgiving to God and to our Saviour It is a commemoration of the Sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross a shewing forth the Lords death until he come and therefore is a mysterious Rite of Worship as all Sacrifices were under the Law But to explain this more particularly though briefly I shall consider this holy Feast both as it respects God and as it respects our Saviour 1. With respect to God and so we may consider it as a Thanksgiving or as a Prayer 1. As a Thanksgiving to God for his great and unexpressible goodness in sending his Son Jesus Christ into the World and offering him up as an expiation and atonement for our sins Certainly it becomes us to admire and adore that Infinite Goodness which took pity on us in our low estate and provided a Ransome and Sacrifice and Redeemer for us Who so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life And when so proper to do this as when we celebrate this holy Feast when we commemorate the Death and Sufferings of our Lord which must needs affect our souls if we be not wholly stupid with a very passionate sense of the love of God and what more proper Sacrament of Thanksgiving and Praise can we use than to present him with the memorials of his stupendious love to let him see that we retain a fresh sense and remembrance of it that we never suffer it to slip out of our minds though it is so many hundred years since Christ suffered and perfected the work of our Redemption You cannot more effectually praise any man than to shew the visible remains and monuments of his Bounty and Charity as the Widows weeping shewed the coats and garments which Dorcas made while she was with them Thus when we offer up to God the memorials of Christs Death and Passion it is a visible Sacrifice of Praise and speaks such kind of language as this Behold Lord here is the token of thy love to us thy own Son bleeding and dying for our sins thy eternal Son the Son of thy love in whom thy soul is well pleased dying upon the Cross a shameful accursed lingring tormenting death scorned and reproached of men and forsaken of God who delivered him up into the hands of his enemies and left him to struggle with the fears and weakness of humane nature without those divine and supernatural supports which he now needed most but least enjoyed We will never forget such love as this we will perpetually celebrate this holy Feast and offer up the memorials of a crucified Iesus as a sacrifice of praise to his Father and to our Father to his God and to our God 2. The Lords Supper may be considered as a Sacrament of Prayer for so the Sacrifices under the Law were alwayes offered with Prayer which were accepted in vertue of the Sacrifice and therefore though all men could not every day attend the Temple Worship especially those who lived at a great distance from the Temple