16. 1 Thess. 5 27. And for the same Reason the rest of the Scripture ought to be read and the Church has been still in use to do so Now the main Reason hereof is not our own instruction but to do honour to GOD for as hereby we own the Scriptures to be from GOD so we solemnly acknowlege our selves bound to hear and obey his word and tye our selves to walk as it diercts us The publick Worship of GOD is not rightly performed when there is no reading of Scriptures and it is all one almost as if they were cast out of the Worship when they are only read while the People are coming to Church but not after they are mett For then the reading is only used for a divertisement to put off the time and not as a Honour or Acknowledgement due to GOD. They understand little of the Nature or end of publick Worship who would have the reading of Scripture laid aside because it can be done at home Such have more regard to their Fancy then to the true honour of GOD and do come to Church rather to feed an impertinent Curiosity and desire of Novelty then to perform a reasonable Service to GOD. Not to speak of the inability of a great many to perform this exercise in Private the reading at home makes not so much for the Honour of the Sciptures and consequently of GOD who is the Author of them Respect to the Majesty and Authority of GOD require that his Will and Pleasure be Promulgate with solemnity and heard with reverence We have an eminent Instance hereof Neh. 8. 5 6. 4thly To the reading of the Scripture was alwayes wont to be joyned Preaching on the Sabbath and other Festival-dayes as appears from the forecited places which custome the Church hath continued and it is most necessary and profitable It shews our deference to GOD and a regard for his Authority when we are willing to hear such as he hath Commissioned to inform us of his Will anent us He that heareth you said Christ to the Apostles heareth me and he that dispiseth you despiseth me and him that sent me Kings and Princes are Honoured or Affronted according as their Servants and message are received now the Ministers are Ambassadours in CHRISTS stead by whom GOD befeecheth People to be reconciled unto himself 2 Cor 5. 20. Reconciliation with God is the Errand on which Ministers are sent and seing the terms of this Reconciliation and the means by which it is wrought are set down in Scripture therefore the subject matter of preaching should be to give the sense and meaning of the Scripture and to exhort to a Complyance with what is there contained Sermons are not ordained to teach men curious things or to tickle them with fine neat speeches but to make them understand the Scriptures to instruct them in the Doctrine thereof and to stirr them up to observe the same thus Ezra preached Neh. 8. 8. And ordinarly in the primitive Church their Sermons were only Explications of such Portions of Scripture as were read in the publick Service together with an Exhortation to obey it The principal design of Preaching is to unfold the meaning of God's Word and to help men to discern the mind of the Lord revealed therein and as these are the best and most Edifying Sermons which discover this plainly and clearly so it is the duty of all to hearken diligently to these instructions and to receive them gladly It speaks out a Love to GOD when we are willing and very desirous to know his will but there is little regard for God where there is no desire to understand what he sayeth to us in and by his word But though the Priests lips should keep know ledge and that it is the peoples duty to seek the Law at his Mouth yet this is not to render the private search and study of the Scriptures useless Guides are ordained to be helps but not to take away our own sight we may find them useful though we do not put out our eyes As the Noble Bereans did we should search the Scriptures dayly whither these things we hear be true or not And this is the more necessary because we are forewarned of false Prophets Every Spirit is not to be believed none ought to be received with an implicit Faith but only the Spirit of GOD all other should be tryed before trusted And it needs be no hard task to try the truth of Doctrines if we lay aside prejudice and search the Scripture impartially A man by applying his eye narrowly especially if he hath the advantage of a Rule will soon discern whither a thing be straight or crooked and it is indeed no less easie to judge in matters necessarie to Salvation 5thly I cannot omit here what was Anciently Universally used though now turned into desuetude among us and it is the Solemn and explicite profession of the Christian Faith by a rehearsal of some Summary thereof as the Apostles or Nicene or Athanasian Creed The expresse declaration of our Faith is much both for our profite and the honour of GOD It is for the honour of GOD that we believe in GOD and in JESUS CHRIST and give our assent to all the truths of the Gospel without this faith it is impossible to please GOD unless our worship be founded on the belief of these things it is altogether unacceptable And it is not only necessary to have this Faith alwayes in our hearts but we must also sometimes openly testify it by confessing the same with our mouths as the Apostle tells us Rom 10. 9. Where he saith that if thou shalt confesse with thy mouth the LORD IESUS and shalt believe in thine he art that GOD hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto Salvation This is also profitable for our selves for these Creeds are the Badges of Christianity which instruct us in our profession and teach us how to answer every man who asketh a reason of the hope that is in us A frequent repetition of the Creed fixeth the great Articles of our Religion in our mind brings them often to our remembrance and serves to excite us to walk worthy of the Gospel Persons of Honour are careful to behave sutably while they have the signs and badges of their Dignity and Quality upon them and sure it could not but oblidge and quicken us to study a Christian Behaviour if we frequently made a serious and solemn profession of our Faith Lastly the celebration of the LORDS Supper should frequently accompany our other acts of publick worship the Apostles with their Converts did this dayly as we read Acts 2. 42. 46. which practice continued long in the Primitive Church St. Augustine in one of his Epistles to Ianearius says 't was the custome to do so in many places The Council of Antioch condemnes such as
some thrice a day and which none ought to do seldomer then twice viz. Morning and Evening and those who fear that their Daylie business hinder them from plying Prayer so seriously as they ought should set a-Day of the Week or once a Moneth for redressing their Daylie Omissions in this Matter And indeed none ought to grudge at the time they imploy in Prayer even upon a Worldly account for though the hours we steall from our Callings to Pray and Meditate may seem to obstruct our interest and to hinder our Thriving yet on the contrary they shall bring a secret Blessing on the other hours which remain and make them as much or more for our gain then twice as much time All these things saith Christ shall be added unto you I cannot now adduce all the Motives to Prayer for they might be sufficient for a Vosame I shall at present content my self to say that as Prayer is necessary so it is the most pleasant and profitable exercise it Sanctifies for our use what we receive here and secures the better things of the Life to come it sweettens adversity and keeps us from surfeiting on Prosperity it is delightful in times of Peace and disburdens our Hearts of Grief in times of Trouble and in a word is the greatest priviledge we enjoy on Earth But we must remember that we hold it only by Iesus Christ and therefore we must ever conclude our Prayers in His Name and present them through Him SECT III. Of Publick Worship WHat Obligations are on us to worship GOD in private retirements and how we should order these secret Addresses we have laid out in the former Section But we must not think that we have sufficiently served GOD when these Private Devotions are performed we must also worship Him openly in the view of all the World with those who hold the same Faith and Profession with our selves and without we pay this publick Service our Sincerity in the other does not yea cannot appear as we have already insinuat Sect. 1st of this Chapter where we shewed our Obligations to frequent the Church or House of GOD. But because the publick Worship of GOD is so much disregarded now a dayes and every Person is so ready to quarrel with what is Established and to take upon them to Model it therefore we have thought fit to treat here of somewhat particularly and to shew First the necessiity of this Worship Secondly the time to be appointed for the performance thereof And Thirdly the Nature and Matter of it As to the First concerning the Necessity of publick Worship it will not be needfull to insist much in proving it for though there be many who slight the Publick Worship of GOD in their Practice yet we hardly think there will be any who will take upon them to Justify their practice by alledging the non-necessity of Worshipping GOD publickly And if any person should be so hardy as to doe it he should herein not only set himself against all Christians of what ever Perswasion but also should oppose the Sentiments and Practice of all Mankind As the beleife of a Deity hath been every where received so all People have ever look'd upon themselves as oblidged to Worship GOD publickly according to the knowledge they had of him The Iews to whom GOD revealed himself were both enjoyned such a Worship and directed how to do it and the Gospel only abrogate the Ceremonial part of the Law it still retains and confirms such Customs and Practices as are useful and agreeable to the Nature thereof and this is one of them therefore the Apostles and Private Christians continued to assemble themselves publickly as the Iews did only taking care to adapt their Worship to the Christian Law Our LORD supposeth that His Church will have publick Meettngs and to encourage them here he makes a special promise Mat. 18. 19. St. Paul finds fault with those who for fear of pesecution foresooke the Assembling themselves together Heb. 10. 25. 'T is not only necessary that we Believe with our Hearts but we must also confess with our Mouth Rom. 10. 12. Mat. 10. 32. 33. And as we are thus oblidg'd to a publick profession of GOD and Religion so by the same Reason to a publick Worship for this is the Badge and Evidence of that And as the Glory of GOD requires him to be woshipped Publickly so the Edification of others for hereby saith the Apostle we provock one another to love and to Good Works Heb. 10. 24. Finally our Private Interest and the Concerns of the Common Wealth where we live oblidge us to meet together to call upon GOD that by the Importunity and Strength of our united Prayers we may procure all necessary Blessings Upon these considerations we are oblidg'd to attend the publick Worship of GOD. And nothing can justifie our withdrawing from it except those we live among require our complyance with some thing sinful and which we know to be offensive to GOD. Having thus seen the necessity of publick Worship it clearly follows from hence that there must be some set time appointed for it And seeing the Reasons which oblidge to this Worship are alwayes in force therefore that it may seem continued too there must be no considerable distance betwixt the times appointed for the performance thereof there is a Cessation of the Worship if the returns of these times be not Frequent for Men are said to leave off that which they do seldomer then there is need or occasion of doing it Upon this account even these who had no more then Natural Light have thought them selves tyed to a dayly Service in their Temples the Pagans and Mahumetans do still Assemble themselves several times a day GOD enjoyned his People of Old a Sacrifice Morning and Evening Exod. 29. 38. At which time also Publick Prayer was wont to be made as appears from Act. 3. 1. And though Sacrifice could only be offered in Ierusalem yet the Iews who lived elsewhere observ'd those hours came up to their Synagogues and made Prayers to GOD jointly which is the constant Practice of that People to this Day as Buxtorf and some others tell us Now as I hinted before CHRIST and his Apostles did not abolish such Customes and Practices as were Moral and tended to the Glory of GOD or Edification of Men but recommended them to be continued among Christians Sacrifices of Beasts 't is true are not required nor is there any use of them but Sacrifices of Prayer and thanksgiving these Calves of our lips are no less exacted by the Gospel then the other by the Law And I cannot see why the one should been continued under the Law and the other discontinued under the Gospel the Apostles thought there was as much Reason for the one as the other wherefore they and their Converts continued to serve GOD daylie by such publick Prayers and Worship as is evident from Act. 2. 42. 46. Which Custome was kept up
c. farther from the Papists Doctrine of the Sacrifice of the Mass it follows that our LORD'S Priest hood is not Eternal or peculiar to himself as the Scripture teacheth particularly Heb. 7. Seing many succeed him in the Office Nay it may be inferred by good consequence that Men are preferrable to IESUS CHRIST Himself for the Priest is alwayes preferrable to the Sacrifice and therefore if their Priests are impowred to offer up Iesus Christ they must be esteem'd better then he None was worthy to offer that saerifice which taketh away sin but such an high Priest as was holy harmless undefiled separat from sinners and made higher then the Heavens Heb 7. 26. Wherefore as none could be the sacrifice but IESUS so none other could be the Priest to offer that Sacrifice both the Sacrifice and Priest are one which makes the Opinions of the Papists concerning a sacrifice of the Mass impious and blasphemous It would require a particular Treatise to set forth the corruptions of the Church of Rome in this part of their Worship as the Priest partaking alone the offering it for such are dead the celebrating it in honour of Saints c. And therefore if there were no more but this alone 't were too much to make People leave the communion of that Church But Lastly besides these Impieties mentioned whereof every one is actually guilty who joine in the Worship of the Church of Rome there be a great many other errours abuses and corruptions taught and practised in that Church which all they who keep her Communion must necessarly be reckoned guilty of For as joyning in Worship is a sign of holding Communion so thereby persons testify their belief of and assent to all which that Church with whom they hold Communion teacheth and practiseth as necessary to Salvation Now seeing the Church of Rome requireth all under pain of damnation to believe the infallibility of their Church the Supremacy of the Pope Purgatory Auricular Confession Pennances Indulgences the Insufficiency of Scripture the equal Authority of Unwritten Traditions the unlawfulnesse of Clergy Mens Marrying the necessity of observing Dayes Meats c. Without particular dispensations from the Pope who arrogates to himself a power of rescinding both Humane and Divine Laws these and many more Falseshoods and Absurdities are enjoyned by the Roman Church as Articles of Faith and as necessary to Salvation and therefore who keep communion with her do ipso facto approve of all her Errours and Abominations and must be thought to exclude from Salvation those who refuse to submit thereto for she doth so It will not availe any to say that in their Private judgement they are otherwise perswaded neither have made any expresse Verbal Acknowledgement to the contrary seeing they do that which necessarly import the same Men give their assent by their Actions as well as by their Words and what we cannot approve in our Hearts we ought not to approve by our Profession or Practice Hypocrisy in Religion is damnable and they are Hypocrits who professe what they do not beleive The belief of the Heart and confession with the mouth should not be disjoined neither ought we by our Actions to countenance what we judge false and abominable This I thought fit to say because it is a trick used to gain persons to the Roman Communion if otherwise they cannot be induced to pass them a formal abjuration of the Protestant Doctrine or an expresse consent to all the Tenets of that Church But such would do well to remember and consider that they do the one and the other really and upon the matter as much as if they gave more expresse Declarations I shall conclude with these words of Scripture which certainly are as applicable to the Church of Rome as ever they were or will be to any Come out from among them and be ye separate saith the LORD and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you and will be a Father unto you and ye shall be my Sons and Daughters saith the LORD Almighty 2 Cor 6. 17 18. And again Come out of her my People that ye be not partakers of her Sins and that ye receive not of her Plagues For her sins have reached unto Heaven and GOD hath remembred her Iniquities Rev 18. 4. 5. CHAP. IV. Of the last Words of JACOB'S Vow The Question about the Churches Right to Tithes waved but the taking them away is shewed to be Sacriledge Every Particular Person oweth to GOD a part of his Estate The Proportion considered and some Motives pressing Charity and Alm's-Giving are proposed THat GOD is to be Worshipped and Adored that there should be Endeavours to please Him will be readily acknowledged by All This is the very Dictate of Natural Conscience and who have no Sense thereof nor own any Obligation thereto must needs be very Profligate and Debauched And though it cannot be denyed but that there are such Monsters of Wickedness who have no Fear of GOD before their eyes yet it must be confessed also that the Generality of Mankind as they profess and believe in GOD so they seem to wish and be desirous of His Favour and Good wil. It is not then gross Atheism and Infidelitâ—… which damnes and undoes the greatest part of the World but the Rock upon which Men split most is Hypocrisie and the want of sincerity in serving GOD. They would please him and are content to do something in order to it but yet have not a Heart to ply all that is requisite thus they will observe the smaller and lesser part of the Law but in the mean time slip over what is more Weighty and of Greater Moment they are very ready and willing to pay that Service which is cheap and easie and which puts them neither to great pains nor much cost but what imports and includes either they are averse to and shrink from Some will be very Religious whilst it is counted Religion to hear the Word of GOD to read it and talk of it to pray and to frequent the outward Ordinances of the Gospel but when they are told of denying themselves of taking up the Cross of Mortifying the body Subduing lust Bridling their passions and particularly of distributing their goods to the poor then they discover the Naughtiness Hollowness of their Heart how much they mock GOD and deceive themselves for they look upon these as hard sayings and cannot digest them but with the Young Man in the Gospel they turn away sad and sorrowful Such will seem sometimes to contend earnestly for Heaven but yet they keep a fast hold of the Earth they seem very zealous for the service of GOD so long as it costs them nothing but when Chargeable Expensive Duties are required then they find out many Shifts Excuses they either pretend the non-necessity of them or their own inability and when none of these can be pretended they still delay and put off till another time