Ages of the World and under all Forms of Religion Whatever Religious Rites are a Dishonour and Reproach to the Divine Nature or unbecoming the Seriousness and Solemnity of Worship natural Reason condemns as Idolatrous or Superstitious but whatever is no Dishonour to God and may be useful to Men is so far from being condemned that it is little less than the Law and Voice of Nature At least thus much we may certainly conclude that there can be no intrinsick evil in these things which are neither repugnant to the Nature of God nor the Reason of Man much less can it be Idolatry or Superstition to use a Form of Prayer and some significant Ceremonies in Religious Worship for Idolatry and Superstition are not made so by positive Laws and Institutions but to worship a false God or to pay such a false Worship to the true God as is a reproach to his Nature is Idolatry and Superstition consists in false Notions repugnant to the Nature of Worship and Men may be guilty of Superstition in using or not using very lawful and indifferent things when by an abused Fancy and ill instructed Conscience they imprint either a religious or sinful Character upon them either think they shall please God or fear they shall displease him by doing things in their own Nature indifferent and neither good nor bad but according as they are used And this is no small advance towards satisfying Mens Minds in the lawfulness of those Religious Ceremonies which tho indifferent in their own Nature yet are enjoyned by the Publick Authority of Church and State for the Order Decency and Solemnity of Worship For that which does not contradict the Light of Nature which has no repugnancy to the Nature of God nor is forbid by any plain positive Law is the matter of Christian Liberty and falls under the Government and Direction of our Superiors as will more evidently appear if we consider Secondly The Nature and Design of the Christian Religion which I shall discourse of only as it concerns the present Debate and if it shall appear that Liturgies and Ceremonies do no more contradict the Nature of Christianity than they do the Nature of God let us all seriously consider how we shall answer Disobedience to our Governours and Separation from the Church upon such accounts as these to our great Lord and Master when he comes to judg the World And here I shall do these two things 1. Shew you what that Worship is our Saviour instituted and how far it is from condemning the use of sober Liturgies or decent Ceremonies 2. What there is in the Christian Religion which countenances both 1. What the Worship is our Saviour Instituted Christ came into the World to reform Religion and there are four things he seemed principally to design 1. To Spiritualize our Worship 2. To strip it of all Types and Shadows 3. To deliver Religion from the Incumbrances of Superstitious Observances 4. To put a difference between the Substance Circumstances and Appendages of Religion between what is Natural and Moral and the Instrumental and External parts of Worship 1. Our Saviour's great design was to Spiritualize our Worship The Jewish Worship consisted in so many external Rites and Usages in Washings Purifications Sacrifices Oblations and the like that the generality of them placed the Worship of God in the Homage of the external Man If they did but worship God at the right place and with such Sacrifices and Ceremonies as he had appointed they took little care of inward Devotion But now our Saviour teaches the Woman of Samaria to worship God in Spirit and Truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in Truth Which our Saviour does not oppose to external and bodily Worship which is the only visible Worship God can have in this World but either to a typical Worship of which more presently or to such external Worship as is separated from the Devotion of the Mind when Men draw nigh to him with their Lips but their Hearts are far from him So that if we can offer up a devout Soul to God in a Form of Prayer if the external Ceremonies of Religion do not hinder the Devotion of the Mind and Spirit so far we do not contradict or oppose the nature of Christian Worship and if Men do sink down into an external Form of Religion and never raise up their Hearts to God the Fault is not owing either to Liturgies or Ceremonies but to a carnal and earthly Mind Extemporary and conceived Prayer has indeed usurped the Name of Spiritual Prayer but for what Reason I know not for I suppose few Men will pretend to pray by Inspiration and tho extemporary Prayer may more heat the Fancy there may be more serious Devotion and Piety in using a Form when we have nothing to do but to offer up our Souls to God without setting our Inventions upon the Rack what to say An extemporary Prayer is as much a Form and does as much confine and stint the Spirit in all but the Speaker as a Book-Prayer does and that is a very sorry Devotion at best which owes its Heates and Passions not to an inward Sense of God but to a musical Voice earnestness in the Speaker surprising Invention or popular Rhetorick 2. Our Saviour's design was to strip Religion of Types and Shadows He did not indeed do this while he was upon the Earth because the Jewish Oeconomy was not ended all things were not fulfilled which were necessary to put an end to that State till Christ died nor did his Apostles do it immediately at least not in all places but yielded to Jewish Prejudices and indulged Jewish Converts in their Observation of Circumcision and other Mosaical Rites Tho St. Paul the great Apostle of the Gentiles would not suffer the Gentile Churches to be brought under that Bondage which occasioned a great many Disputes with the Jews as you may see in the Epistles to the Romans and Galatians But the abrogation of Mosaical and Typical Ceremonies does not infer a prohibition of all significant Ceremonies in the Christian Worship because the Reason and Nature of them were very different The Mosaical Ceremonies were Types of Christ who was to come in the Flesh and therefore to retain them in their proper Nature Use was to deny that Christ was come in the Flesh for when the Antitype appears there is no longer any use of a Type But now a few innocent Ceremonies which are neither burthensome for their number to encumber Religion and clog and shackle our Devotions nor signify any thing contrary to the Nature Design of Christianity but add to the external Decency and Solemnity of Worship and may withal suggest pious and devout Thoughts to us are far enough from a Typical Nature and therefore cannot be presumed to be shut out of the Christian Church together with the
visible Worship because it is separated from all external and visible signs of honour And therefore we may observe that good men in all Ages have not contented themselves meerly to worship God with devout thoughts and passions but with such external acts of Religion as either a Divine Institution or the Custom of their Countrey and the practice of the Church had made external signs of honour Such as uncovering the head or putting off their shooes or bowing the body or kneeling or prostration or lifting up eyes and hands to Heaven where God dwells For this we have the ancient Patriarchs the Jewish Church Christ and his Apostles and the whole Christian Church for many Ages for our example and it will be hard to find any sort of people in the World that pretended to any Religion but took great care of the exâ—eâ—nal solemnities and decent circumstances of Worship I know of no Age of the Christian Church till very lately wherein those men would have been allowed to be of any Religion or admitted to Christian Communion who should have betrayed such slight thoughts of God in a rude and slovenly Worship as too many among our selves are now guilty of and indeed this has insensibly crept upon us ever since those hot disputes about Ceremonies and the externals of Religion have troubled the Church for when men began to dispute down all good order and decent administration of Religious Offices they soon disputed away all external Worship and many who still pretend no great dislike to publick Constitutions are so far infected with this disease that they are not sufficiently careful of the gravity and seriousness of their devotion and some are so afraid of Fanaticism that they dare not look solemnly nor lift up their eyes and hands to Heaven for fear of being thought Fanaticks or hypocrites Thus while some men out of a groundless fear of Superstition strip Religion of all useful and decent Ceremonies and others out of as wild a suspicion of Fanaticism are afraid to appear grave and serious in their Religion the publick solemnities of Worship are either left to every mans fancy or performed in so careless and trifling a manner that the Name of God is dishonoured and his Worship profaned and scorned But my business at present is with those of our own Communion and possibly it may do them some good to tell them that they who appear so zealous against Fanaticism and are yet so trifling in their Worship are much the worst Fanaticks of the two For many of our Dissenters though they reject the use of our Ceremonies and neglect that external decency of Worship which has been in use in all Ages of the Church yet however they make a shew of great seriousness in their worship and seem to be very sensibly affected with it and therefore this looks like Worship though it want some external solemnities which may be thought needful but when men stare and gaze about them laugh or whisper at their prayers and betray great vanity and lightness of mind to say no worse instead of an awful sense and reverence of God this is so far from making any shew of Worship how exact soever they may be in their postures or responses that it is downright profaneness They are thus far fanatical in their principles that they must believe if they consider any thing that God does not much regard the Worship of the outward man for did they believe he did they would be more careful to pay it him for the bare doing any thing in Religious Worship such as kneeling at Prayers or standing up at the Hymns and Creed and the like does not make it so much as an external sign of Worship unless it be performed with that gravity and seriousness which is essential to all Religious Worship and if they believe that though God does expect the Worship of the body he matters not the Worship of the mind nor how carelesly external Worship is performed so it be done This is so wild a principle that it out-does all the Fanaticks that ever were in the World Those who were arrant hypocrites and yet very punctual in the externals of Religion such as the Scribes and Pharisees were in our Saviours dayes were withal very solemn and demure in those external superstitions and those who reject external Ceremonies of Religion yet pretend to great devotion of mind and rapturous ardours and transports of spirit but these men are for an external bodily Worship without so much as the least visible appearance of external devotion and if there be no other remedy I wish with all my heart that these men would make a Sect by themselves too and not reproach the Church of England by continuing in her Communion which has brought a greater scandal upon our Worship than all the arguments and cavils of Dissenters though the better way would be and that which I heartily beg of God and do earnestly beg all men to correct this fault and to wipe off that reproach of a cold formal Worship by expressing that grave and serious and ardent devotion which so much becomes all the true Worshippers of God is so essential to Religious Worship and so interwoven with all the publick Offices of our Religion which are admirably fitted to serve all the ends of a grave and serious Piety 2. Let us consider now the peculiar presence of God and holy Angels in Religious Assemblies Did we see God in a visible glory as he used to appear to Moses at the door of the Tabernacle every time we meet to worship him I am apt to think we should all express greater signs of Reverence and devotion and yet there is none of you but will pretend to believe that God is present in your Assemblies and that he takes a more particular notice of your carriage and behaviour when ye meet to worship him than he does at other times that is that he expects now that ye should take a more particular notice of his presence and behave your selves with a suitable reverence as those who believe that God is present in a peculiar manner though ye do not see him Under the Law God dwelt in the Tabernacle and Temple which was his house and therefore when the Tabernacle was finished God filled it with his presence and glory there was the Mercy-Seat covered with Cherubims which was a figure of Gods presence and the attendance of Angels and it was a constant opinion among the Heathens that their Gods dwelt in their Temples and Images consecrated to their Worship and though they were ridiculously foolish in thinking to charm their Gods by some Magical Rites and Mysteries and confine them to certain places yet the original of this was only a traditional belief that God was alwayes peculiarly present in all places of his Worship It is sufficiently evident that the Primitive Christians did believe that Angels who are Gods Retinue and Ministers do attend Christian Assemblies and are
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
escape better at the last Judgment than Capernaum and Capernaum I doubt will escape much better than the Infidels and Atheists and profane despisers of Religion in our days because they laboured under old and inveterate Prejudices which could not easily be removed but required time and patience and the exercise of free and impartial Reason to wear them off But now when the Gospel has prevailed in the World for so many Ages when Men are educated in the Christian Religion and have all the Prejudices of their first and early Instructions on the right side when it is so difficult a thing to cast off their reverence for God and to silence and stupify their clamorous Consciences for Men to use so much Art and Industry to turn Atheists or Infidels or profane Scoffers at Religion will admit of no excuse but is the highest Affront to God and will receive the sorest Punishment and a Sentence as amazing and astonishing as the Sin is Thus I have represented the evil and heinous Nature of this Sin and if these Men do believe that there is a God as they profess to do would they give themselves time seriously to consider these things I cannot imagine but it must have some good effect upon them For can any Man who believes a God if he ever consider such Matters endure the least thought of putting such a scorn and contempt upon God as the neglect of Religious Worship does naturally signify He knows what a sharp resentment he himself has of a slight or neglect how ill he takes it if Men industriously avoid his Company if they do but talk and seem to mind something else when he is telling a Story if his Friends neglect to visit him and turn their heads another way when they pass by his Door and he knows how sensible Superiors especially are of such neglects from their Inferiors For a Prince to be slighted by his Subjects or a Father by his Children or a Master by his Servants is thought so unsufferable a rudeness as cannot be too severely punished And therefore considering that infinite distance which is between God and Creatures he may easily conclude how ill God takes the neglect of his Worship which is the greatest slight that can be put upon him and argues very mean and contemptible Thoughts of him if such Men did think of him at all And when he considers also how many Obligations he lies under to worship God he cannot but blush to be guilty of so great injustice not to praise and magnify him who deserves to be praised and to be had in reverence by all those who are about him He thinks it great injustice to detract from the Praises of worthy and deserving Men or to conceal them what is it then not to ascribe to God the Glory and Perfection of his Nature and Works which are proclaimed by all the World Not to adore and worship our Maker who made us for this end that we might see and speak of his Glory Did God give me Eyes may such a Man say to see the Glory of this World and an Understanding to search out the first Cause to whom the Praise of all is due that when I have found him I should take no notice of him neither confess his Power nor admire his Wisdom nor praise his Goodness Did he give me a Tongue to talk of every Trifle and never to be silent but where it ought to be most vocal in the Praises of my Maker How ill should I take it could I make any Being that could understand or speak should it refuse to acknowledg from whence it was and to whom it owes its Being Consider my Soul how thou shouldest resent the neglect of a Son of a Client of a redeemed Captive or of any one whom thou hast obliged and by thy Bounty raised from a low to a splendid Fortune who owes his Being his Fortune his Liberty and all the Comforts and Blessings of Life to thee And is it nothing then to neglect the Worship of that God who is the Universal Parent Lord and Benefactor of the World who has redeemed thee with the Blood of his Son and designed a more glorious Happiness for thee if thy unjust and ungrateful neglects of him do not render thee uncapable of his Favour But how unpardonable is it for a Man to be false to his Oaths and Covenants Such Persons are not thought fit for Humane Conversation who break the most Sacred Ties and therefore can never be trusted but yet no Man ever broke his Word much less an Oath or Covenant but when he expected to make some advantage of it And shall I break the Covenant of my God a Covenant to which I owe all my hopes of Happiness all the Good I now enjoy and all that I expect If I forfeit my Interest in this Covenant I must be miserable and perish like a Fool and since I cannot forfeit my Interest without breaking my Covenant I must perish like an Apostate a Runnagate a Traitor or like one who deserves to suffer the worst things but deserves no Pity and is it so grievous a thing to worship God that I should chuse rather to be unjust to be ungrateful to be perfidious to God to forfeit his Love and Favour and to incur his hottest Displeasure than acknowledg that I owe all to him that I have and that I expect all from him SECT III. Concerning the Danger of Irreligion both with respect to this World and the next and the folly of it with a serious Exhortation to these Men to take care of their Souls SEcondly I shall now consider the Danger of Irreligion in neglecting or contemning the Worship of God For those who will not be wrought on by a sense of Justice or Gratitude may yet be governed by the more brutish Principle of Fear Now the Danger of this respects both this World and the next 1. The Danger of Irreligion with respect to this World Now whoever believes there is a God who governs all Humane Affairs in whom we live move and have our Being who disposes of our several Fortunes and Conditions of Life must needs apprehend himself in great danger of being miserable here while he neglects to adore and reverence the soveraign and unaccountable Lord of the World We find throughout the Scripture that the Promise even of Temporal Blessings and Deliverance is made only to those who beg it of God by their servent and importunate Prayers This is the course all good Men in all Ages have taken and found the blessed success of it Call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me For thou Lord art good and ready to forgive and plenteous in Mercy unto all them that call upon thee Give ear O Lord unto my Prayer and attend unto the Voice of my Supplications In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee for thou wilt answer me He shall
help them but on the terms of the Covenant and so Church-Alterations came on and the Parliament thought it was better have no Bishops than such as did prevail against them This is fair warning and let the Church and Churchmen have a care how they oppose Rebellion any more 4. Every Miscarriage of the Bishops or Clergy or every thing that is thought a Miscarriage tho it be none is presently made an Occasion of Separation as if so be the Constitution of any Church were ever the worse because some of the Ministers of it neglect their Duty abuse their Power or do some things which do not please every Man's Humour As if the Miscarriages of some of the Ministers of Religion which will sometimes happen under the best Government in the World would justify Men in pulling down an Apostolical Church modelled according to the Pattern of Primitive Government and Practice And yet nothing is more common than to see Men forsake the Church and run to Conventicles if their Minister do not in every thing comply with their Desires if he be so ill-bred as to reprove them for their Sins or so stiff as not to make the Laws and Constitutions of the Church yield and bend to their Humours I suppose no Man will think that such Persons separate out of tenderness of Conscience who date their Separation from some little pet quarrel or peevish fit Nor fifthly are those very consciencious Men who separate from the Church out of Interest and the perswasions and importunities of some dissenting Friends who forsake the Church for the sake of a good Trade or a rich Wife or in hope of some great temporal Advantage unless it be a sign of a tender Conscience to make Gain Godliness not to serve Christ but our own Bellies I do but just mention these things which tho I am sure are great Truths and necessary for all Men to consider who would try their honesty and sincerity in this Matter of Separation yet I fear the very naming of them will be very offensive to guilty Persons who when they feel their Consciences smart are very apt to revenge themselves upon their kind and faithful Monitors Fifthly I would desire those Persons who plead Conscience for their Separation from the Church of England to consider whether ever they impartially and throughly examined the Reasons of their Separation We must be fully satisfied that it is unlawful to communicate in such a Church before Separation from it can be lawful for it is as great a sin to separate from a pure Church as it is to hold Communion with a corrupt Church and a truly honest Man is equally careful to avoid every sin and is as much afraid of the sin of Separation as the sin of a corrupt and idolatrous Worship Now when we consider how few there are that do this and how much fewer there are that are capable of doing it it is too plain an Argument that most Men separate from the Church without knowing any just cause and reason for it as to explain this Matter a little more at large First How few are those who do examine the Reasons of their Separation Not but that there are a great many who furnish themselves with some popular Talk against the Bishops and Forms of Prayer and Ceremonies c. but to examine the reasons of Things is very different from being able to make some slight Objections which have been answered an hundred Times For to examine things is impartially to weigh and consider both parts of the Question to avoid no difficulty to consider what is said for and against Separation and to hold the ballance so equal that Interest and Affection do not turn the Scales instead of Reason Now there are two great Faults which Men are commonly guilty of in this Matter First That they do not carefully examine both parts of the Question possibly they read such Books as are writ against the Church of England and so justify a Separation but do not with the same care read those Books which prove the sinfulness of Separation and justify the Communion of the Church of England They have the Arguments for the Church of England only at second hand from those who pretend to answer them but never look into the Books themselves And I do not wonder at this rate of examining that Men continue Separatists after all that can be said against it for it is rare to find any one Argument against Separation or for Communion with our Church fairly represented by those who pretend to answer it who commonly pick out such things as are least material or do not concern the main Controversy and make a great noise and flourish with seeming to say something which is nothing to the purpose but silently pass over what they know they cannot answer Now whoever separates from the Church without a thorough and impartial examination of the Reasons of it tho he should happen to be in the right is yet guilty of Schism that is tho his separation in it self considered be no Schism because there may be sufficient Reasons to justify such a Separation yet this being more than he can be presumed to know he contracts the guilt of Schism for he separates without cause who does not know the cause of his Separation and he cannot know whether there be a just cause for it who separates before he understands what is said on both sides as we all reckon that Man perjured who swears nothing but what is true but without knowing it to be true Secondly Another great Fault is That Men's Minds are commonly byassed by some Interest and Affection which weighs much more than any contrary Reasons can do by one means or other they fall in love with Schism and Separation and then set their wits on Work to defend it and those must be mighty evident and powerful demonstrations which can force Men to believe that which they have no mind to believe If it be objected That this is a Fault common to both sides There are few Men which side soever they are of but are greatly inclined to favour it and to help out a weak Argument which is too light with some grains of Allowance I Answer Possibly with most Men it may be so and in many cases it may be so far from being a Fault that it is both innocent and useful and an Argument of great Vertue and Goodness but the Fault and the Danger is when the Byass stands the wrong way As for Instance a good Man is as strongly inclined to believe that there is a God and to wish and hope that there is one as a bad Man is to believe that there is no God and to wish that there were none Here are Inclinations and Prejudices on both sides and yet it is a vertue in a good Man and a great sin in a bad Man because the one is a natural Byass and Inclination and a sign of Vertue the other
of external Worship with a safe Conscience how we can pray either with or without a Form since neither of them is commanded in Scripture as the external circumstances of no one Duty are that I know of I say while Men have such wild unpracticable Notions in their Heads which when they are pursued to their last Issue overthrow all manner of external Order and Government in the Church and end in all the Confusions of Quakerism it is a vain thing to talk of Comprehensions and Concessions And while Men have no sense at all of the evil of Schism and Separation but think it as innocent a thing to set up Church against Church as to go from one Parish-Church to another it is evident that they will never desire to return to the Union of the Church who have no sense what a necessary duty Christian Communion is and what a damning Sin Schism is and therefore whoever does sincerely and cordially desire to see all sober Christians united in the same Communion must earnestly exhort perswade and convince as well as yield and comply The common Danger we are all in from the growing Power and secret Conspiracies of the Popish Faction makes all Men acknowledge the necessity and call aloud for Union Our Dissenters who never did nor are ever likely to unite in any thing but their Cries against Popery and their Designs of pulling down the Church of England think this a convenient opportunity to accomplish their Ends and have been very busy to libel Church and Church-men to say nothing now of the State this hath put many worthy Sons of the Church who are impatient to hear their Mother reviled and slandered upon the defensive part to vindicate the Reformation of our Church from their rude Calumnies and yet to express their readiness to comply and unite upon such Terms when ever Publick Authority shall see fit as would not utterly destroy our Constitution The first they have done beyond the possibility of a sober Reply and how fruitless their Charity is in attempting the second the Dissenters themselves will convince all men who cannot patiently hear of any other terms of Concord but the extirpation of the corrupt and Antichristian Church of England I am not ambitious to thrust my self into this Scuffle and therefore do not appear as a Disputant but make a close and serious Application to the Consciences of Men which I hope when the heat of Disputation is a little over may prove a more powerful conviction to all well-meaning Men than the best and most unanswerable Reasons have hitherto done PART I. Concerning those who wholly forsake Religious Assemblies CHAP. I. Containing an Address and Exhortation to those who have no sense at all of Religion or that Obligation which lies on them to worship God and take care of their Souls SECT I. Some Proposals made to the Speculative Atheist 1. That they would once more consider what strong and almost invincible Inclinations there are in Humane Nature to the Worship of God 2. That they would not publickly affront Religion 3. That they would not wholly forsake Religious Assemblies 4. That they would not intermeddle in the Disputes and Controversies of Religion FIrst I shall begin with those who withdraw themselves from Christian Assemblies out of profaneness for want of any due sense of Religion or that Obligation which lies on them to worship God and to take care of their own Souls And there are two sorts of these Men first the Speculative secondly the Practical Atheist First The Speculative Atheist who denies the being of God and therefore must of necessity despise his Worship for that which is not cannot be the Object of our Love or Fear or Religious Adorations Those indeed who do not believe that there is a God may in prudence conceal their Atheism and comply with the custom of their Country in performing all the External Acts of Worship but yet few Atheists have so much Wit or good breeding as not to affront the universal Belief and Practice of Mankind Now I shall not at present dispute the Case with these Men nor attempt to convince them of their great Folly and Madness in not worshipping God by proving that there is a God who ought to be worshipped This requires a larger Discourse than my present Design will allow and has been already done more than once with all the advantages of Reason and Learning by much better Pens and therefore I shall only make three or four very fair and reasonable Proposals to them First That they would once more seriously consider what strong and almost invincible Inclinations there are in Humane Nature to the Worship of God I do not argue now from Natural Notions and Anticipations or those common Maxims and Principles of Reason which are found in all Man-kind because the Atheist tells us That these are only the Principles of our Education and we should never have had such Conceits and Fancies in our Heads if we had not been taught them though it is a hard thing to give an account how these Principles should first come to be entertained in the World who taught them the first Man and how he came so readily to believe them and so carefully to propagate them to Posterity and it seems strange how Man-kind should so universally assent to such Principles as the Being of God and a Providence c. if at least they are not extreamly agreeable to the Make and Frame of our Minds though we should suppose them not to be Natural Notions But I say to let pass this now I shall only desire these Men to consult a little with the Inclinations of Nature which are not the Effects of Reason and Discourse but Natural Impressions the necessary Efforts Impetus and Tendencies of Nature as a Stone naturally falls downward and the Fire as naturally ascends Now it is impossible that any Education should put new Inclinations or new Passions into our Minds Education may direct our Natural Inclinations and Passions to Unnatural Objects but it can no more make new Inclinations and Passions than it can make a new Soul Now among all the Inclinations of Humane Nature there is none more strong and invincible than the Inclination to Religion to worship something or other as a God Though the Heathens were greatly mistaken in their Notion of a God and some worshipped the Sun Moon and Stars the Earth and Seas and Rivers and the meanest and most contemptible Creatures for Gods yet they all agreed in this universal Inclination to Religious Worship which is a plain Argument that this Universal Consent in Religion was more owing to the impulses and tendencies of a Reasonable Nature than to the clear and distinct Principles of Natural Reason for Reason always joins the Act and the Object together but Natural Inclinations are a blind and confused Principle of Action which thrusts forward to such an Act without a clear perception of its Object just as the Appetite
God open their Eyes to see and adore that God who made them and cure their Souls of that most fatal and mortal Disease which makes them Beasts here and Devils hereafter Secondly Another Proposal I would make to these Men is That they would not publickly affront Religion that they would not so impudently attempt to laugh God and Religion out of the World that they would not make sport with those Things which other Men account Sacred that they would not prophane the Holy Scriptures by turning them into Ridicule or obscene and impious Burlesque This possibly will be thought a very odd Proposal to these Men who think it the only way to justify their Atheism by making Religion look ridiculously but yet had I to deal with reasonable Men though they were Atheists I would not despair of convincing them of the reasonableness of this Proposal For first this is nothing but what the Laws of Civility and good Manners require from them No well-bred Man will chuse to put a publick Affront upon his Friends and Neighbours though he sees them daily guilty of great Follies and Indiscretions The Laws of Conversation require us to treat all Men with just respects though their Understandings be of different makes and sizes and their Fortune and way of Life very different from our own much less then can a modest Man endure the thoughts of affronting Man-kind or laughing at any thing which is received or established by an Universal Consent Though the Belief of God were as very a Dream and Fancy as the Tales of Faries yet there is a certain Reverence due to Humane Nature at least from Men and since all Man-kind in all Ages of the World excepting some few wise and cautious Atheists have believed that there is a God and have honoured him with publick Worship it is an affront to Humane Nature to laugh at the Being of God though we do not believe it Nay this is not only an Affront to Humane Nature but to Publick Government In all Nations one Religion or other is established by a Law so that these Men do not only laugh at the Dreams and Dotages of single Men but at the united Counsels and most mature Resolves of all the World which is an Argument of great Boldness but of very little Wit or Manners A modest Man would be apt to suspect his own judgment of Things when he found himself opposed by the general Consent of all Men and the Wisdom of all the World but if this did not make him of the Common Opinion yet at least he would not rudely contradict it But not only the Wisdom but the Authority of Government is affronted by these Men when they laugh at such publick Constitutions at Religion considered as established by Law So much do such Men recede from the Principles of their great Master who though he had no great opinion of Religion in it self yet thought it something considerable when it became the Law of the Nation But neither the Wisdom nor Authority of Laws can command respect from some Men without a vigorous execution of them and that would soon teach them better Manners than ever they will learn in the School of Atheism Nay to laugh at the Being of God and at Religion is not only to affront the general sense of Man-kind and the Wisdom and Authority of all Governments but the Wisdom of the sagest Philosophers and the most inquisitive Men of all Ages Among all the Ancient Philosophers no Man expresly denied the Being of God or that Worship which was due to him Epicurus indeed denied his Providence which was only a more civil way of turning him out of the World though he pretended to worship him upon account of his infinite but idle and unactive Perfections Socrates died a Martyr for Religion and Plato and Aristotle did both acknowledg a supream Being and the later Philosophers though they differed about the Nature of God yet did not question but there was one so that the Being of a God is not the mistake meerly of a few ignorant unphilosophical Heads but has in all Ages had such Learned Patrons as at least do not deserve to be laughed at by Men of the least modesty and good breeding Secondly I would desire these Men to consider how little they consult their own Reputation in laughing at Religion it is a very silly thing for some few Men though they were in the right to think to out-laugh all the World the loudest laughter will always be on that side right or wrong where there are the greatest numbers though indeed all Men have such a veneration for God and Religion that such Abuses and Affronts of Religion do not so much provoke Men to laughter as to a holy jealousie and indignation No Man can endure with patience to hear that exposed to contempt which he admires and adores Such Atheistical Scoffers are looked on as the common Enemies of Mankind all Men but such like themselves abhor and scorn them fly their Company hate their very Names as Traitors to the Majesty of Heaven and the great Pests of Humane Conversation and the reproach and shame of Humane Nature And can any wise Man let his Opinions be what they will who designs to live happily in this World as me-thinks those above all others should desire who expect nothing hereafter think this the best way to happiness to forfeit the Love and Friendship of all Men who love and worship God or make any shew of Religion which are so much the greatest numbers that he does in a manner banish himself from Humane Conversation or render it very unpleasant and uneasy I know there are some who expect to gain the Reputation of great Wits and very cunning Men by unsetling Foundations and breaking a merry Jest upon Religion but they should consider that the generality of Men who will be Judges of these Matters whether they will or no look upon the Being of God as so plain and evident a Truth that that Man infallibly forfeits the reputation of his Understanding who sets up for Atheism Atheists may make a Scene and Theatre for themselves and admire and applaud one another but all the rest of the World despise them for indeed it is no argument of any great depth and subtilty to raise Objections and start Difficulties which a Man of very mean parts may do but it is a greater tryal of Judgment to answer them which the Atheist it seems cannot do when Men are so over-subtil that they cannot understand these plain and obvious Demonstrations which convince all Man-kind and are understood by every Plow-man such subtilty is never admired but despised And as for Wit it is so very undecent to jest with grave and serious Matters that though it have never so much Salt it is nauseous and offensive to sober Minds no Man admires his Wit who abuses his Prince his Father or his Friend Prophane Wit is the easiest of all as
consisting in such bold Allusions as any Man may make who has neither Modesty nor Grace and those Men who have no way to shew their Wit but by abusing their Maker have nothing to boast of but the very scum and putrefaction of Wit Thirdly These Men should consider what mischief they may do to publick Societies by laughing at Religion and exposing it to contempt for Religion is the firmest Bond of Humane Societies and if once Men should cast off the Fear of God nothing but external Fear and Power could restrain and govern them Atheism is a Secret which he who has it ought in prudence and interest to keep to himself for an Atheist can never mend his condition but may greatly injure himself by propagating Atheism All the Ends he can serve by Atheism he enjoys in greatest perfection while no Man understands the Secret but himself for the only end he can propose in it is to be delivered from the Fears of Invisible Powers to have no restraints laid upon his sensual Enjoyments but what Caution and Interest suggest that he may satisfy his Lusts by any means so long as he can secure himself from present danger Now when he is an Atheist alone he has great advantage of the rest of Mankind because they are restrained by a sense of Religion and the Fear of God which is as unequal a Match as to fight with a Man whose hands are tied when your own are free But now if he should by his Wit and Learning proselite a whole Nation to Atheism Hell would break loose upon Earth and he might soon find himself exposed to all those Violences and Injuries which he now securely practises When there is nothing to restrain Men from doing any wickedness they have a mind to but only the Fear of Humane Power this World will quickly prove a very miserable State and Scene of Confusion and Disorder of Rapes and Adulteries of Violence and Rapine of Blood and Murders especially if the great Leviathan who is intrusted with the Soveraign Power understands his own Liberty as well as his Atheistical Subjects do theirs So that no wise Man can think it his Interest to promote Atheism and therefore it cannot be his Interest to deride Religion and expose it to contempt Fourthly Another Reason why they should at least be modest Atheists is for fear that they should find a God when they come into the other World for they are not so absolutely certain that there is no God as to be perfectly secure that there is none though they think they can answer all the Arguments whereby Men prove there is a God which is the utmost they pretend to though they know how to make a World without God and can laugh at the silly Cheats which have been put upon Man-kind by some cunning States-men who invented the Belief of a God and the Fears of Religion to make their Government more easy and secure yet after all they dare not undertake to demonstrate that there is no God and that it is impossible there should be one and till they can do this they can never be perfectly secure that there is none And therefore lest they should find that there is a God when they come into the other World they should offer as few Affronts to him as may be here to deny his Being when he has furnished us with so many ways of knowing him is a sufficient Affront without any other additional Aggravations but if it were nothing but meer incurable ignorance which made Men Atheists the Fault is much less than when they express so much scorn and contempt of the very Name of God and Religion for this looks like a profest enmity to the Deity that they are not only ignorant of him for want of sufficient Evidence but that they hate and despise the least Thoughts and Imagination of such a Being as Men call God And therefore were it possible to separate the disbelief of a God from a hatred and contempt of him as certainly it might be were Men Atheists meerly for want of Evidence it would concern such Men though they enjoyed the other Liberties which Atheism allows yet to be very modest and civil even to the fanciful Idea and Imagination of a God For fifthly whether Religion be true or false it is no ridiculous thing and therefore it argues great folly for any Man to laugh at it If there be no God all Religion indeed is a Mistake but it is no ridiculous Mistake when there is such Evidence for it as convinces the generality of Mankind even the wisest and most inquisitive Men and what we call Religion is so grave and serious a Thing and of such high importance and concernment to us that if it be not true all Mankind have reason to wish it were true What more lovely and desirable Being could there possibly be than is represented by the Notion of a God an infinitely Wise and Powerful Holy and Just Being who made and who takes care of all his Creatures who governs the World with the kindness and tenderness of a Parent and takes care not only of the Great and Publick Affairs of Kingdoms and Empires but of every particular Creature how mean and contemptible soever it appears and if there be no God what Man who loves himself could forbear wishing that there were One on whom he might securely trust and depend in all Events And what is more worthy of a Reasonable Creature than to adore and worship so perfect and glorious a Being to pay our thankful Acknowledgments to our great Maker and constant Benefactor which is one great part of Religion which is nothing else but to love reverence and obey the most Lovely Excellent Powerful Wise and Holy Lord and Judg of the World And what can be more noble than the end of Religion which is not meerly to live happily a few Years in this World but to be happy for ever a Thing so agreeable to those vehement Desires of Immortality which are imprinted on our Natures and does so raise our Minds above the mean and beggarly Enjoyments of Sense that it makes a truly-religious Man almost as much differ from earthly Men and sottish Atheists as a Man differs from a Beast Here certainly is nothing that is contemptible nothing but what deserves to be admired and though the Atheist may think that we are mistaken in all this yet we cannot say that we have made a foolish choice This may suffice for the second Proposal to perswade them not to put publick Affronts upon God and Religion Thirdly If what I have already said could perswade these Men to treat the Name of God and Religion with some external Modesty and Respect my next Proposal to them should be Not to forsake the Publick Assemblies for Religious Worship and indeed they cannot do this unless they will set up for Atheism and openly profess it or at least bring themselves under a great suspicion of it Now
all manner of Wickedness and naturally tends to harden Men in Sin and very often ends in down-right Atheism Men who have cast off all sense and reverence for God have no other restraint from the greatest Villanies but what the Laws of the Land their own natural Tempers their Education and Converse and such-like Considerations lay upon them which can keep very few Men who have cast off the Fear and Reverence of God within any tolerable bounds and thus Men run into the wildest Excesses and wound their Consciences and stain their Reputations till they grow hopeless desperate and impudent Sinners Men who are very bad and yet will not neglect their Prayers nor absent themselves wholly from Christian Assemblies do what they can find great checks of Conscience and have a great many sober Intervals they cannot say their Prayers and confess their Sins to God and beg his Pardon and Mercy but their Consciences will reproach them and put them at least upon some imperfect resolutions of amendment and when they attend the preaching of the Word they often are so startled and scared and labour under such strong Convictions that they are not able to resist any longer and the good Spirit of God does not wholly forsake those Men who attend the Publick Ministries of Grace but sometimes works such miraculous Cures as are the triumphs of a Soveraign Grace and therefore the Case of these Men can never be so desperate and hopeless as theirs is who take care to think of him as little as possibly they can and withdraw themselves from Publick Instructions that they may sin on without disturbance till they drop into Hell Thirdly Let us now consider the folly of Irreligion and there is the more reason to do this because the Irreligious and Profane the Practical as well as the Speculative Atheist is very apt to boast of his Wit and Understanding and to think himself much above the ordinary level of Mankind But the Spirit of God calls them Fools The Fool hath said in his Heart There is no God which is not meant of the Speculative but of the Practical Atheist who though he professeth to believe that there is a God yet lives as if there were none And if Religion be the onely true Wisdom Irreligion must be the greatest folly and yet so we are taught in Scripture that the fear of the Lord that is the Worship of God which is the most natural expression of our reverence of him that is Wisdom The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom a good understanding have all they that do his Commandments The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom and the Knowledg of the Holy is Understanding Now what I have already discoursed of the Evil and Danger proves also the Folly of Irreligion for what can be more foolish than that which contradicts the best Reason of our Minds and our natural Obligations to worship God founded on the highest Wisdom What can be more foolish than to undermine our own Interest to lay Trains of Misery for our selves and to forfeit our present and future Happiness That is cursed contemptible Wit which will droll away a Man's Life and his Soul together But besides all this the Folly of Irreligion will appear if we consider these two Things 1. That it transforms a Man into a Beast and then though such a Man may have all the wild conceits of Apes and Monkeys and the craft and subtilty of a Fox yet he has not the Understanding and Wisdom of a Man He may have an inferior sort of Wit and may be reckoned the top and perfection of the meer Animal and Sensitive Life but is fallen vastly below the Attainments of Men for it is not Reason but Religion which is the Glory and Perfection of Humane Nature as every one must acknowledg who believes that there is a God for God is the noblest Object of our Minds and to adore and worship him is to act according to the most excellent capacity of our Natures I doubt not at all but brute Creatures have an inferior degree of Reason fitted to the low Attainments of their Natures and that they commonly reason more wisely and truly in their own Concerns than Irreligious Men do in theirs but they cannot know God nor worship him they cannot see nor adore his infinite Perfections their Reason is confined to a narrow compass to those things which concern the preservation of their own Being and the enjoyments of their Natures and such a kind of Being is an Irreligious Man whose Reason indeed is capable of higher and nobler flights but is pinnioned down and confined to present and sensible Objects and serves only to corrupt and deprave a more excellent Nature into a brutish State Now if that be the true Wisdom and Glory the specifical Difference of a Man which distinguishes him from all inferior Creatures then Religon as the Scripture tells us must be his Wisdom and whatever Wit Irreligious Men may pretend to being so much below the Attainments nay being no better than the Corruption of Humane Nature it may set them a degree above the Wit of a Beast but is no better than folly in a Man 2. There is not a more certain demonstration of folly than for Men to act foolishly especially in Matters of vast Concernment and this consideration impeaches the Irreligious Man of the most despicable Folly as to give you some Instances of this Some neglect to worship God out of a careless trifling humour they never consider what God is how much they owe to him how intirely they are at his disposal what the danger and punishment of Irreligion is and if it be folly not to use the wisest Thoughts and best Consideration we have in matters of the greatest moment then Irreligion is Folly Others neglect the Worship of God because it disturbs them in the secure enjoyment of their Lusts and puts a great many black and melancholy Thoughts into their Heads which is just as wise as to shut our Eyes and run down a Precipice because it makes us melancholy to open our Eyes and see our Danger whereas a wise Man would rather chuse to open his Eyes that he might see how to avoid it Others take offence at Religion because they see a great many Hypocrites zealous pretenders to Religion and they had as good never mind Religion as be Hypocrites but is this a good Reason not to mind Religion because Hypocrites pretend to Religion when indeed they have none Cannot they be sincerely Religious though Hypocrites be not Are there not a great many Religious Men who are no Hypocrites And is not that a better Reason to be Religious without Hypocrisy than to be of no Religion to declare to all the World that we are not Hypocrites Others are scandalized at the great variety of Religions which are as contrary to each other as Light to Darkness and conclude that it is to no
worthy Communicants the pardon of their Sins and more firmly unites them to Christ their Head and to each other and intitles them to the powerful influence of that Divine Spirit which dwells in actuates and governs the whole Church and Body of Christ. Thus we are very ignorant and very unmindful of our Duty and God in great goodness has appointed a whole Order of Men whose Business it is to instruct us to teach us what we do not know and to mind us of those Things which we are apt to forget and has made it our Duty and a part of his Worship to attend their Instructions And though I hope in such an Age and such a Church as this there are a great many Christians so knowing that they need not be taught their Duty yet it is sad to consider how many very ignorant Professors there are that want to be instructed in the first Rudiments of Christian Knowledg and warm zealous and frequent Exhortations are of great use to the most knowing Christians And though a great many who have little other Religion are forward enough to hear Sermons yet it grieves me to think how many there are who will live die and perish for ever in their Ignorance because they refuse Instruction who can never be perswaded to attend either Sermons or Catechising or so much as reading the Scripture and yet these very Men could be contented to hear a large discourse of News or Trade or Merchandize or how they might order their Affairs to better advantage and are glad to be told of any Mistake or Error which might have been prejudicial to them in their secular Affairs And I need not tell you the Reason of this Difference they are in very good earnest to get this World but are very indifferent and unconcerned about the next So that all the parts of Religious Worship as they are expressions of our Reverence and Devotion for God so they immediately tend to the happiness of our Souls the Virtue of them is seen in transforming us into a Divine Nature in obtaining the Pardon of our Sins and the Supplies of God's Grace in making us Holy here and eternally Happy hereafter and therefore if we love our Souls let us constantly exercise our selves in all the Parts and Offices of Religious Worship And me-thinks it should be no such hard Matter to perswade Men to love and take care of their Souls for can any Man have a greater Concernment in the World than this For to love our Souls signifies no more than to love our Selves and to take care of our own happiness for the Soul is the Man the Body is only the Organ and Instrument of the Soul an earthly Tabernacle wherein it dwells in this state of its Pilgrimage but it is our Soul only that is capable of Joy and Pleasure or Grief and Sorrow and therefore as the Soul is either happy or miserable so is the Man and all Men desire to be happy this they seek with unwearied endeavours this makes all that busle and stir that is in the World that all Men are a catching after happiness and scrambling for it Why then you say What is the Dispute and Difficulty since all Men do love their Souls that is desire to be happy and it is only the Soul that relishes Happiness or is the Subject wherein Happiness dwells This is true and yet very few Men love their Souls for we must consider that the Soul of Man is capable of a two-fold happiness one as it lives in this gross Body of Flesh and Blood another as it lives without it in a separate state or receives it again refined and purged made a Heavenly and Spiritual Body Now as the Soul dwells in these Earthly Bodies it is apt to be mightily pleased with sensual Enjoyments and such Objects as are represented to us by our Senses and this is the Happiness which most Men are fond of in this World which tempts them to all those sensual Lusts which St. Iohn comprises under the Lusts of the Flesh the Lusts of the Eye and the Pride of Life but now this is not the greatest happiness of the Soul because dwelling in this Body is not its most perfect State it is to dwell but a little while in this Body and then can enjoy these bodily Pleasures no longer and therefore that is called the happiness of the Soul which is agreeable to its most perfect state of Life and commensurate to an eternal duration So that the Controversy in short is this Whether we will prefer an imperfect unsatisfactory momentary Happiness or such a Happiness which is the biggest our Souls are capable of and will last to Eternity and it is strange there should be any difficulty in this choice For can an Immortal Being who is to live Eternal Ages be satisfied with such perishing Joys as wax old and expire in half an Age It would be thought very strange that an Immortal Creature should grow weary of Life and be contented to fall into nothing after threescore or fourscore Years and yet this is a much more reasonable desire than to chuse such a happiness as will last but sixty or eighty Years when we must live for ever and therefore the Atheist is much a wiser Man than an irreligious and profane Worldling Every one contemns the folly of such a Prodigal who spends a fair Estate in a very short time and wasts away the rest of his Life in Poverty and Beggary and yet three or four Years pleasure bears some proportion to threescore or fourscore Years but threescore or fourscore Years have no proportion at all to Eternity Were there no other punishment of such Folly but to live for ever in a sense of our Want to find no sutable Objects to entertain our Minds but to languish perpetually with pining and unsatisfied Desires yet this were like the pain of perpetual Hunger and Thirst some-what worse than the delays of Hope even the torment of Despair And yet it is much worse still than this for such Men when they come into the other World will be convinced what Happiness it is they have lost when they shall see them come from the East and from the West from the North and from the South and sit down with Abraham Isaac and Iacob in the Kingdom of God and themselves shut out when they shall see victorious Saints who have triumphed over all the Follies and Vanities all the Smiles Flatteries and Terrors of this World cloathed with Bodies of pure Light and rewarded with immarcessible Crowns of Glory singing Eternal Halelujahs to their God and Saviour and when all the toys and pleasures of this World are gone and past and nothing is present but the happiness of the next it will infinitely more afflict them to think they have missed of Heaven than it would do now to lose their Estates and Honours and let slip any opportunity they had to make themselves the Universal Monarchs of the
name of Godliness as the Apostle divides the several Duties of Religion into three parts living soberly righteously and godlily in this present World And the proper Notion of worshipping God is to honour him all the several Acts of Worship honour God as they signify our great sense and devout acknowledgment of his Being Power and Providence of the Excellencies and Perfections of his Nature our dependence on him submission to him trust and affiance in him such as are great and venerable apprehensions of God Prayers Praises Thanksgivings and the like Now every Man must acknowledg that Honour is always the greater the more publick it is That he who has great and admiring Thoughts of God and publishes this to the World in the most solemn manner honours God a great deal more than he who keeps these Thoughts to himself and praises God so privately that no Man knows it but himself The Prophet David resolves to make his Praises of God as publick as he could I will declare thy Name unto my Brethren in the midst of the Congregation will I praise thee And exhorts others to exalt him in the Congregation of the People and praise him in the Assemblies of the Elders Praise ye the Lord I will praise the Lord with my whole Heart in the Assembly of the Upright and in the Congregation And besides this we may consider that there are two parts of Worship the Worship of the Mind which consists in honouring God with devout and pious Affections in bowing our Souls before him and the external and visible expressions and significations of this Honour which is external and visible Worship such as praying and praising God with an audible Voice falling down on the ground kneeling uncovering the Head and those other outward Expressions of Devotion which signify the humble and devout Affections of the mind now tho these external signs of Honour may and ought to be used in Private and Closet Devotions so it be with due caution not to make them publick which is a piece of Pharisaical Hypocrisy yet the proper use of them is in publick Acts of Worship to testify our concurrence and agreement with other devout Persons in the same Acts of Worship for God knows our Thoughts and Affections and therefore needs not to be acquainted with our Desires by cloathing them with words he hears the most silent breathings of our Souls and therefore needs not that we should speak to him in an audible Voice he sees the bending of our Souls and the most humble submission and prostration of our Minds and needs not be informed of this by bending or bowing our Bodies to him but Men cannot see this but by external signs nor join in the same Petitions and Praises without words so audibly pronounced that all present may hear them and therefore those Scriptures which require these external Signs of Worship suppose that this Worship must be publick too that we must meet together to offer up our united Prayers and Thanksgivings to God And accordingly we find that all the Psalms of David were penned for publick Worship for the use of the Temple and delivered to the Master of Musick to be sung as publick Hymns of Prayer or Thanksgiving And if we enquire into the fundamental Reasons of Worship we shall find our Obligations much more strong to publick than to private Worship tho that be our Duty also especially when we want such publick Opportunities The natural Reason of worshipping God is that he is the most excellent and perfect Being the great and universal Parent and Benefactor and the Soveraign Lord and Judg of the World for it becomes us to acknowledg and adore him who is our Maker in whom we live move and have our being who feeds and cloaths us who defends us from Evil who encompasseth us with his loving kindness and tender mercies and therefore these are the Subjects of most of those Forms of Worship Prayer and Thanksgiving which we find recorded in Scripture especially in the Writings of the Old Testament Now all this is a more cogent Reason for publick than for private Worship for though we are bound to acknowledg those particular Favours and Blessings which God hath bestowed on us which is the foundation of private Worship yet God is not so much to be considered a private as a publick Benefactor as an universal Parent and soveraign Lord and therefore must be worshipped as a publick Benefactor that is with publick Worship for there is no visible Worship of God as the Supream Lord of the World unless it be publick And since all Mankind are God's Creatures and the Subjects of his Care and Providence and are every one of them bound to worship the same God natural Reason will inform us that we ought all to join in the same acts of Worship which gives a greater awe and solemnity to it for we cannot think that Man was made a sociable Creature for every thing else but only for Acts of Worship which is his highest End and greatest Perfection and therefore if Men unite themselves into Societies for Civil Order and Government it is as highly reasonable that they should unite for Religious Worship unless we think that Bodies Politick Kingdoms and Common-wealths are not bound to worship God as every particular Person is tho it be an old Maxim of Government That Religion is the surest Bond and Cement of Civil Societies Especially when we consider that the greatest Blessings we are to praise God for are such as are bestowed on us in common with others or all Mankind such as the influences of Heaven and the fruitfulness of the Earth the blessing of Peace and Plenty deliverance from Enemies the advantages of good Government and all other National Mercies and above all the Redemption of the World by our Lord Jesus Christ so that God is defrauded of his Glory if our Acknowledgments be not as publick as his Blessings are For private Praises are not just Returns nor due Acknowledgment of publick Mercies And therefore when the Psalmist celebrates the publick Mercies of God he invites all Israel to join in his Praises Praise ye the Lord sing unto the Lord a new Song and his praise in the Congregation of Saints Let Israel rejoice in him that made him let the Children of Zion be joyful in their King And all this is confirmed by the universal practice of Mankind who tho they differed in the Objects and Nature of their Worship yet all agreed in making their Worship publick and solemn and such an universal Consent is no less than the Voice of Nature Secondly Let us now consider what that Worship is which God himself instituted and ordained and I shall at present instance in the Jewish Worship which was typical also of the Christian. Now it is so evident that every part of the Jewish Worship which God commanded by Moses was of a publick Nature and to be performed in a publick manner
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
publick Magistrates is the Duty also of private Christians Possibly some may think that I have taken a great deal of needless pains in proving so plain a Thing and truly I should think so too were I not sensible by my own experience how many profest Christians there are who have very little apprehension of the necessity of publick Worship and therefore sometimes come to Church to comply with the fashion of the Place and sometime stay at Home to comply with their own careless Humours If any such read these Papers I would desire and beg of them seriously to consider this Matter and not to abuse themselves by some childish and sophistical Reasonings into a Neglect so dishonourable to God and so destructive to their Souls Suppose you did really as some I fear only pretend spend your time in private Prayer and Reading and Meditation yet can you reasonably expect that God should accept should hear and answer your private Prayers when they signify a Neglect if not a Contempt of publick Worship which is so much more pleasing to him as it is more honourable to be praised by a multitude of devout Souls in the Face of the Sun than in a secret Corner where no Body sees nor hears us Can you think your single Prayers will as much prevail with God as when the fervent and ardent Desires of a Christian Assembly are offered up to God by a publick Minister of Religion whom our Saviour has appointed to pray for us and to bless in his Name Can you any where expect such plentiful effusions of the Divine Grace and Spirit as in the Congregation of the Saints while we attend on Divine Institutions which are never without a Blessing annexed unto them when there are Subjects capable of receiving it There is time enough for our private Devotions without neglecting or affronting publick Worship And when we remember that Christ has promised to be present in Christian Assemblies Where-ever two or three are gathered together in his Name and that God prefers the Gates of Sion the place of publick Worship before all the Dwellings of Jacob it should make us long and thirst after the Courts of God and be glad when they say Let us go up into the House of the Lord. CHAP. III. Concerning those who plead Conscience for their Separation and set up distinct Communions of their own SECT I. Containing several Directions to such Men whereby to try their Honesty and Sincerity in this Matter THe third sort of Men who forsake our Religious Assemblies are those who pretend Conscience for their Separation and set up distinct Communions of their own who separate for fear of Sin and think themselves bound as they honour God and love their own Souls to avoid our Communion Now these Men deserve our most tender regard for if they be in good earnest it is very great pity that those who are so desirous to please God and to save their Souls should fall into such dangerous Mistakes But yet I do not intend to dispute the terms of our Communion with them at this time there are so many excellent Books writ in defence of the Church of England that there is no want of Instruction for those who are honest and inquisitive and therefore at present I shall take another Method which I hope may prove more effectual than disputing commonly does And I shall reduce what I have to say under these three Heads First To put them upon some Inquiries with reference to their honesty and sincerity in this Matter Secondly To offer some general Considerations for their Satisfaction Thirdly To remove some popular Pleas and Objections First To put them upon some Inquiries with reference to their honesty and sincerity in this Matter For those who plead Conscience for disobeying their Governors in Church or State offer such an insufferable affront to God if they be Hypocrites and carry on other Designs under a pretence of Conscience that woe be to that Man that whited painted Sepulchre how glorious a Profession soever he makes who is thus rotten at the Heart And in order to discover your honesty and sincerity I shall desire every Man as he fears God and loves his Soul and hopes for Mercy at the terrible appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ when he shall come again to judg the Quick and the Dead to give a sincere Answer to these following Questions First Whether he do indeed separate from the Communion of our Parish Churches upon true Principles of Conscience To pretend to Conscience for any Thing is to pretend the Authority of God for God alone is the Supream Lord and Governour of our Consciences in all Cases where he interposes his Authority and to pretend the Authority of God for disobeying our Governors and dividing the Church when we have no such Authority is like counterfeiting the King 's Broad Seal to justifie Treasons and Rebellions Few Men make any difference between their private Judgments Opinions of Things and their Conscience that is between their own Authority and the Authority of God what-ever fancy comes into their Heads is called their Conscience and then they think they are bound to prefer their own private and groundless Conceits before all the visible Authority of Church and State And if this Principle be once admitted it is impossible there should be any lasting Peace and Unity in Church or State No Man must act against his Conscience that is he must not do any thing which he knows God has expresly forbid nor neglect doing any thing which he knows God has commanded A Divine Law is the Rule of Conscience and all the Powers of the World cannot deliver us from the Obligation of it in such Cases we must rather chuse to obey God than Men what-ever we suffer by it in this World but an erroneous doubting scrupulous Conscience is improperly called Conscience it being nothing else but our mistaken Opinion of Things and the wavering uncertainty of our Minds which cannot determine on which side the Truth lies But you will object That this seems to be a fruitless nicety which signifies nothing in practice for whether you will call it Conscience or private Opinion the case is the same for we must not do any thing which we believe or fear to be evil and contrary to a Divine Law as St. Paul tells us That he that doubteth is damned if he eat for what-ever is not of Faith is Sin But notwithstanding this this distinction between Mens Consciences and private Opinions between their Judgments directed and governed by the Laws of God or by other arbitrary and uncertain Measures is of very great use to direct our practice For first this should make us religiously careful not to pretend Conscience that is a Divine Authority where we can produce no Divine Law commanding or forbidding those things which we pretend to do or not to do under the Obligations of Conscience The pretence of Conscience is that we dare
Truth in love may grow up to him in all things which is the Head even Christ From whom the whole Body fitly joined together by that which every Ioint supplieth according to the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh encrease of the Body to the edifying of it self in love The Christian Church is a House and Building and Temple of God but this House and Building is not raised with loose and incoherent Stones but all the Building fitly framed together groweth into a Holy Temple in the Lord. All those Expressions whereby the Scripture describes the Unity of the Christian Church signify one Communion as our Saviour prays for his Disciples that they all may be One and for all those who in after Ages should believe on him That they all may be One as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us that the World may believe that thou hast sent me From whence it appears that our Saviour speaks of an external and visible Union which may be seen and taken notice of in the World How frequent are the Exhortations to Christian Love and Unity Fulfil ye my Ioy that ye be like-minded having the same Love being of one accord and of one mind This was that new Commandment which Christ gave to his Disciples as the badg of their Discipleship A new Commandment I give unto you that you love one another even as I have loved you hereby shall all Men know that ye are my Disciples if ye have love one to another And wherein this mutual Love expressed it self we learn from the first Pattern of the Christian Church And they continued stedfast in the Apostle's Doctrine and Fellowship and in breaking of Bread and of Prayers that is in all the Parts and Offices of Christian Communion this is essential to Christian Love to continue in the Communion and Fellowship of the same Body that there may be no Schism in the Body but all firmly united by the common Bonds of Love and Peace and therefore in St. Iohn's Time those Hereticks who separated themselves into distinct Conventicles are said to go out from among them 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 that is in our Fellowship and Communion but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us Now if this Argument be good it necessarily infers that indispensable Obligation which lies upon all Christians who will be owned for Members of that one Body of Christ to live in Communion with each other The Unity of Mind and Spirit of Love and Affection and the Unity of the same Faith is necessary to Christian Union but this Union is made external and visible by Christian Communion and our daily experience tells us how impossible it is for Men to love like Brethren like Members of the same Body who are not of the same Body but divide themselves into distinct separate Churches under different Laws Government and Discipline Now if Christian Love and Union be so necessary a Duty of Christianity consider what the Evil of Schism is which rends the seamless Coat of Christ and divides his Church into so many little Parties and Factions Christ has but one Body and those who separate from the Body of Christ are no longer of his Body and the Ancient Christians did believe Schism to separate Men from Christ and to put them out of a state of Salvation It was an acknowledged Principle among them That there was no Salvation out of the Church and that Schismaticks were out of the Church I dare not judg any Man's final State as not knowing what merciful allowances a merciful and compassionate Lord may make for the Errors and Mistakes Frowardness and Peevishness of his Disciples but yet I wish that all Persons concerned would seriously consider that St. Paul makes all other Attainments whatsoever of no value without Charity that this is that Divine Principle which unites us to God and to one another that he makes Schism a Work of the Flesh and when he reproves the Corinthians for that Schism which was among them though it was not broke out into actual separation yet he calls them Carnal For are ye not carnal for whereas there is among you envyings and strife and divisions are ye not carnal and walk as Men So far is Separation from being an Argument of more perfect and excellent Christians that it is a Work of the Flesh and the Symptom of a Carnal Mind But I do not intend to discourse this fully but it is a certain Argument that that Man does understand nothing of Christian Religion who makes light of Schism without so much as considering what guilt he involves himself in nothing could be a more effectual Cure of Schism than a serious consideration of the evil and danger of it That pain we feel in tearing one Member from another and that mischief the whole Body suffers by it which becomes maimed and imperfect by the want of the least and most inconsiderable Member makes us careful to preserve our natural Bodies from any Rent or Schism and were we living Members of the Mystical Body of Christ had we that natural love sympathy and fellow-feeling for each other as the Members of the natural Body have we should find Schism and Separation as painful to us as it is to part with one of our Members and be as sensible of the want of Christian Communion and the discharge of these mutual Offices of Charity in exhorting admonishing reproving comforting praying for and with each other which cannot be performed in a state of Separation as we are of the want of the service of any Member which we have lost It is a certain sign that Member does not belong to the Body which feels not the pain of such Convulsions and Schisms Thirdly Another Question I would ask these Men is Whether they do in their Consciences believe that Communion with our Parish Churches is unlawful And there is some reason to ask this for it is easily observed that there are a great many who are Christians at large and as occasion serves can either go to Church or to a Conventicle Now if they make Conscience of any thing we may conclude that when they come to Church they do not think it a sin so to do or that there is any thing so unlawful in our Worship as is sufficient to justify a Separation for if they may lawfully communicate with us once they may do so always by the same Reason from whence it follows that there can be no necessity of Separation and then Separation must be a sin Some indeed say That it is a sufficient reason to separate even from a True Church and a lawful Communion to join in fellowship with a purer Church and to enjoy purer Ordinances
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
run headlong into the same Excesses with themselves I will not enlarge upon this Argument lest telling plain Matter of Fact should be called Bitterness and Railing for some Men out of a pretence of Conscience are guilty of such vile and lewd Practices as they are not willing to hear of again and think themselves slandered if they do All that I shall say of it is only this That a tender Conscience never teaches Men to revile and reproach their Governors but this has been the Practice and Character of the most infamous Hereticks and Schismaticks ever since the beginnings of Christianity St. Iude gives a great many hard words to some Men in his days which I am not willing to apply to any in ours who despise Dominions and speak evil of Dignities Yet Michael the Arch-Angel when contending with the Devil he disputed about the Body of Moses durst not bring against him a railing Accusation but said the Lord rebuke thee But these speak evil of those things which they know not Wo unto them for they have gone in the way of Cain and ran greedily after the Error of Balaam for Reward and perished in the gain-saying of Core these are spots in your Feasts of Charity when they feast with you feeding themselves without fear Clouds are they without Water carried about of Winds Trees whose Fruit withereth without Fruit twice dead plucked up by the Roots raging Waves of the Sea foaming out their own shame wandring Stars to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever I shall conclude with that admirable Rule of St. Austin in answer to Parmenianus the Donatist Whoever corrects what he can by Reason and Discourse and shuts out or lays aside what is not capable of amendment as far as this may consist with the preservation of Christian Peace and Unity and modestly disallows and yet upholds what cannot be parted with without breaking the Peace of the Church this is the true Peace-maker SECT II. Containing some general Considerations in order to remove those Prejudices which some have entertained against the Worship of the Church of England I Shall now lay down some general Principles which may contribute towards the satisfaction of Men's Minds to remove their Prejudices against the Worship of our Church The things commonly objected to drive away our People from the Communion of our Parish Churches are the Government of the Church by Bishops the unlawfulness of Forms of Prayer the Surplice the Cross in Baptism and Kneeling at the Sacrament and such like which concern the use of some indifferent and uncommanded things in Religious Worship For we have always challenged our Adversaries to produce any one express Law of Christ which is contradicted and broken by the Constitution of our Church or the Administration of our Religious Offices they could never produce any yet and I am sure never can And if Men will abuse and scare themselves with some fancyful Applications of Scripture and remote and illogical Consequences there is no help that I know of since it is an endless work to answer all such cavils For Men who can make Objections without any just Reason may at the same rate return answers too without end Therefore the best and shortest way I can think of is to lay down some such general Considerations as may satisfy all honest and teachable Minds that tho it is possible to raise Objections against any thing yet those Objections must prove fallacious which contradict other great and apparent Truths And I shall reduce what I have to say to these four general Heads First The Consideration of the Nature of God Secondly The Nature and Design of the Christian Religion Thirdly The Example of Christ. Fourthly The Example of the Apostolick and Primitive Churches in the first ages of Christianity First Let us consider the Nature of God for God is the Object of our Worship And that is the best Worship which is most suitable to his Nature Thus our Saviour teaches us to argue God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in Truth And thus the wise Man argues God is in Heaven and thou upon Earth therefore let thy Words be few Now to apply this briefly to our present Case can any Man who considers what God is imagine that he will be displeased with his Creatures for offering up their Prayers and Thanks-givings to him in a pious and sober Form of Words Can God be pleased with the volubility of the Tongue or quickness of Fancy or variety of Invention more than with devout Affections than with a Soul enflamed with Divine Love and possest with a Reverence of the Divine Majesty and offering up it self to him in few grave and considerate Words Will a Father reject the Petitions of his Child if as often as his Wants require he uses the same Words when he asks the same thing Does a Prince like a long extemporary Harangue when his Subjects come to beg a Boone of him or a short and well composed Petition The wise Man I am sure tells us that few and becoming Words are more agreeable to the Majesty of God and more expressive of that distance which is between him and us and therefore are more agreeable to the nature of publick Worship which is only an external signification of the Reverence and Devotion of the Mind Prayer is a necessary part of natural Religion and was a Duty incumbent on Mankind before God made any other revelation of his Will than by Natural Reason and therefore the Reason of Mankind is a very proper Judg in what manner we must pray to God unless there were an express positive Law made about it Revelation may suggest new matter for our Prayers and direct us to pray to God in the powerful and prevailing Name of the Holy Jesus But Words and Postures and other external Circumstances of Prayer which are not expresly determined by Revelation may be determined by humane Prudence for there could be no other rule for these Matters before God revealed his Will and if God have not altered this Rule by a plain positive Law it must be our Rule still for we have no better And therefore we cannot imagine that God who is our Supream Law-giver and discovers his Will to us partly by the Light of Reason and partly by Revelation should be angry with his Creatures for following the best Reason they have nay for governing themselves by the publick Reason and Authority of Church and State Whoever only considers the Nature of God and the reason of things must certainly judg it fitter to meditate before hand and to take Words with us when we approach the Presence of so great a Majesty than to venture saying any thing which comes next and neither the Nature of God nor the Reason of Man condemns any external Ceremonies for Decency and Order and an useful Signification but have taught all Mankind to use them in all
Law of Moses For we may observe that the Apostles themselves in compliance with the weakness of the believing Jews did use a great many Mosaical Rites only stripping them of their Typical Nature St. Paul was a zealous opposer of Circumcision and yet did not scruple to circumcise Timothy not in token of God's Covenant with Abraham but to prevent Scandal And those Christians who lived at Ierusalem worshipped in the Temple kept their Religious Festivals and observed their Law but no Christian could do this according to the Original Institution of those Laws for that had been to renounce Christianity but they observed them in complyance with the custom of their Nation and to avoid giving offence to believing Jews And if the Apostles might lawfully observe those Jewish Customs when they were freed from their Typical signification it cannot be a Fault to use some such innocent Ceremonies and Circumstances in Worship as are no way prejudicial to the Nature of Christianity If the belief of Christianity made the Observation of those Jewish Ceremonies Innocent which in their own Nature and Original Institution are inconsistent with Christianity as signifying that Christ was not yet come How much more innocent is it to worship God in a white Garment to kneel at the Sacrament and bend our Knee to our Lord at whose Table we eat and to sign our Children with the Sign of the Cross in honour of our crucified Lord and as a visible Profession of a suffering Religion 3. Our Saviour rejects all Superstitious Observances which were not any part of Religious Worship and yet were thought to have an extraordinary Sacredness and Religion in them such as he calls the Traditions of their Elders and charges them with teaching for Doctrines the Commandments of Men such as washing Cups Platters and Hands before Dinner thus touch not taste not handle not are by St. Paul called the Doctrines and Commandments of Men which refer to their abstaining from certain sorts of Meats and the like So that these Doctrines and Commandments of Men which Christ flings out of his Religion were not any Ceremonies or Circumstances of Worship but some Customs they take up with a great Opinion of their Religion and Merit As the Papists have great numbers of them such as Pilgrimages and Penances c. And St. Paul tells us with respect to such Customs as these That the Kingdom of God is not Meat and Drink but Righteousness and Peace and Ioy in the Holy Ghost that is that Christian Religion does not consist in such sorry things as eating or not eating such and such Meats but Christ expects from us true and sincere Piety as the only thing that can recommend us to God Such Superstitious Customs as these are very different from the Circumstances and Ceremonies of Religious Worship unless we think it the same thing to hope to merit Heaven by going a Pilgrimage by professing Poverty Celibacy and blind Obedience by abstaining from Flesh in Lent and such kind of vain Superstitions as it is to wear a Surplice in the time of Divine Worship or to receive the Lord's Supper upon our Knees as an external Expression of Devotion not as meritorious Superstitions The Ceremonies of our Church have been often declaimed against under the Notion of the Doctrines and Traditions of Men but it is plain that neither our Saviour nor St. Paul meant any thing like them for they do not speak of any Circumstances or Appendages of Religious Worship but of such arbitrary Superstitions as they turned into formal Acts of Religion The fourth does not much concern our present Argument the difference Christ put between the Substantial and the Instrumental parts of Worship any otherwise than to mind us that we must not look upon any Ceremonies as parts of Worship but a decent manner of performing it That our acceptance with God depends upon nothing that is meerly external but on the Devotion of the Heart and Soul expressed in such becoming Words and Behaviour as may make it visible and exemplary to others and this is exactly the Doctrine of our Church and if any Men think that such external Expressions of Honour will please God without the Worship of the Mind and Spirit they must answer for themselves for she owns no such Principles but takes care to instruct her Children better And methinks this should be no small satisfaction to Mens Minds that the established Worship of our Church has nothing contrary to the nature and design of Christianity from whence it follows that Men may be very good Christians while they live in Communion with our Church and then I doubt they cannot be very good Christians when they forsake it for nothing but an apparent and manifest danger of sin can justify such a Separation 2. But let us now further consider how the Worship of our Church is justified by the Principles of Christianity We do not pretend that there is an express command to pray always by a Form or to institute and appoint significant Ceremonies in the Worship of God but there is enough in the Gospel of our Saviour to justify such Practices as briefly to point to some few things 1. Our Saviour himself taught his Disciples to pray by a Form Our Father which art in Heaven c. And if you will allow that it was lawful for them to pray in these words though you should suppose that they were not always bound to use it it plainly proves that the Christian Religion does not forbid praying by a Form for if it be lawful to pray by a Form even of Divine Institution then a Form as a Form cannot be unlawful 2. Our Saviour has no where prescribed the particular Circumstances of Religious Worship and yet no Religious Action can be performed without some Circumstances or other he has commanded us to pray to God in his Name to commemorate his Death and Passion in his last Supper and has commanded his Apostles to baptize all Nations in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost But how oft we must pray and celebrate this Heavenly Feast in what Place in what Posture in what Time he has not told us He has prescribed the Form of words in Baptism but not any one Circumstance and yet it is certain there must be some Circumstances for every Action for the more decent performance and greater solemnity of such mysterious Rites and therefore we may well conclude that our Saviour left all such to the order and direction of his Apostles and their Successors in all Ages as may tend most to the preservation of good Order and the edification of the Church For we must consider the difference between the Law and the Gospel Under the Law the Church was in an Infant State like an Heir under Age which is under Tutors and Governors and therefore every part of that Typical Temple-Worship was exactly framed according to the Pattern in the
when the case is beyond their private redress may call in the help of their Pastor who by his wise Counsels and seasonable Exhortations and Reproofs and pious and ardent Prayers may convince those who have sinned and restore them by Repentance and obtain their Pardon or strengthen and confirm those who were assaulted by Temptations and procure fresh supplies of Grace for them We see indeed very little of this now and the reason of it is very plain because few men consider what are the Duties of Christian Communion but are too much unconcerned what becomes of their Brothers soul they think every man must look to himself but do not feel that sympathy compassion and care which one member has for another that whether one member suffer all the members suffer with it or one member be honoured all the members rejoyce with it but were men sensible of the necessity of this mutual care of each others souls it could never be better discharged than among neighbours who live under each others eye And were men faithful in this it would be a more effectual way to preserve the Church from the infection of putrid and corrupt members than particular Church-associations and all the Tests they could use or invent of real Saintship in admitting Church-members The great Exception against Parochial Communion which has formerly been and is still managed by the Independents is that there are a great many bad men in our Communion that Discipline is not duly exercised among us to remove those from Christian Communion who have forfeited their right to it by their vitious lives But though this is no just reason for Separation and there is a greater noise made about it than there is any occasion for since such notorious sinners usually excommunicate themselves and if they do now and then hear a Sermon which I suppose they would not deny to Turks Heathens and Infidels as being the most likely Means for their Conversion yet never approach the Lord's Table or are rejected when known yet I say would every Christian faithfully do his part and without this it is impossible Discipline should be duly administred in any Church-State Parochial Communion is the most effectual Means to preserve the Church pure it being almost impossible any man should be guilty of any gross and scandalous vices but some of his neighbours must know it which is more than can be said of any Congregation whose members live at a distance from each other and rarely converse together and when they do can easily put on greater reservedness and caution and appear quite other men than their common conversation speaks them to be Love and Unity is a necessary duty of Christian Religion it is the badge of our discipleship By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye have love one to another Now though we must love all Christians as members of the same body yet neighbours have the greatest reason by all possible arts and endearments to secure their love to each other because they have the most frequent occasions of quarrels and contentions if they do not it is a much harder thing to maintain love and peace among men who live together and have different interests which are many times cross to each other than among those who live at a distance and seldome see one another and there cannot be a more firm and lasting cement of Peace and Union than Christian Communion is when they worship God in the same place and put up their united Prayers and Thanksgivings to him and eat at the same Table as members of the same body and children of the same Father and heirs of the same promises This is a powerful argument to the love of all Christians but it does more sensibly endear us to those who are as it were of the same houshold and family and since there is greater need of this endearment among neighbours than strangers Parochial Communion which is made up of Christian neighbours who daily converse with each other does better answer the end of Christian Communion than gathered Churches I add further that in Parochial Communion every particular Christian in a Nation may be provided for which cannot ordinarily be done in gathered Churches for every particular man belongs to one Parish or another and is by Law bound to communicate in it and if he do not may be discovered and corrected either by private admonitions or publick censures but when men forsake their Parochial Communion it is impossible to give any account of them they may be of this Church or of that or of none at all It is impossible for the Governours of the Church who are to take care of every particular wandring Sheep to give such an account of their charge in any other Church-state as in Parochial Communions and that is a sufficient argument to prove that it is a very useful and necessary Constitution and the more useful and necessary it is the greater fault is it in those who without great reason disturb good order and though they know how to use this liberty wisely and innocently themselves yet give an ill example to those who will make a bad use of it I shall add but one thing more and that is with reference to the good Government of your families you cannot ordinarily have such inspection over your Children and Servants when you go to other Churches as when you can appoint them their Seats or Stations in your own where you may have your eye upon them and observe their carriage and behaviour and your example in forsaking your own Church will be apt to teach them to do so too and I have reason to fear that this has too often occasioned the debauchery of many otherwise hopeful young men The Sum is this that though the division of Churches into Parish-bounds under the conduct of a Parochial Minister be not founded on any express Law of God yet it is so highly useful to all the great ends of Church-Communion that it must needs be a very great fault lightly or wantonly to violate so wholsome an Institution 2. Because the great Plea which is made by those who communicate with our Church for forsaking their Parish Churches is the different abilities of Preachers and every one is desirous to hear those Preachers whom he likes best and thinks there is no hurt in it I shall as plainly as I can and with as little offence as may be consider this matter 1. And first I observe that this is a great pretence of others for Separation from our Church that they can profit more by Non-conforming than by Conforming Preachers and therefore forsake our Churches and joyn themselves to separate Congregations and methinks wife and good men should not like a principle which so easily leads men into Separation and ends in Schism I confess there is a great deal of difference between taking the best care we can of our souls in the Communion of
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
name has confined his more peculiar presence and favour to such Assemblies and one great reason of this is that he is pleased with the unity and uniformity of Worship for he hath expresly promised that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing they shall ask it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven for where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them This is the fundamental Charter of Christian Assemblies and the reason of it certainly is stronger the more universal the consent and agreement is for if Christ will be present with two or three who assemble in Christian love and charity and agree to put up the same Petitions to God much more when so many Christian Churches are confederated in the same Worship and offer up the same Prayers and Thanksgivings to God in the same words How powerful will the united Prayers of a whole National Church be to procure those blessings for us which we want For if unity and consent in Worship be so pleasing to God the greater this consent is the more pleasing it must be Especially considering that in this case we have not only the consent and agreement of private Christians in such acts of Worship but are confederated by the publick authority of the Church and therefore such publick Worship has the beauty and advantages of publick Order and Government If the Prayers of a particular Minister of Religion be so prevalent how much more those Prayers which have the stamp of Church Authority which are the Desires and Petitions of the whole Church even when they are offered up by a single Minister which cannot so well be said of any Prayer of his own and if we believe that God is the God of Peace and Order in the Church we cannot but think it very acceptable to him to observe good order in our Religious Worship Did men seriously consider these things they would be soon sensible of the great advantage of such publick Forms of Prayer and prefer the Prayers of the Church before any Prayers of a private composition or any suddain extempore effusions For publick Prayers prescribed by publick Authority and offered up by a publick Minister are alwayes in the Communion of the Church and virtually contain the Desires and Petitions of the whole Church CHAP. IV. Concerning the publick Administration of Baptism ANother great miscarriage of those who live in the Communion of our Church concerns the administration of Baptism Publick Baptism is now very much grown out of fashion most people look upon it as a very needless and troublesome Ceremony to carry their Children to the publick Congregation there to be solemnly admitted by Baptism into the fellowship of Christs Church They think it may be as well done in a private Chamber as soon as the Child is born with little company and with little noise As prevailing as this custom now is it is of a very late date even in this Church It seems to owe its original to the disputes about Ceremonies for when some men scrupled God-Fathers and God-Mothers and the use of the Sign of the Cross to avoid this they baptized their Children privately at home without either when they could meet with such a conscientious Conformist as could dispense with his Rule And when the Church of England was pulled down and the use of the Liturgy and Ceremonies forbid those who still retained their reverence and obedience to the Constitutions of the Church and would not partake in a prevailing Schism were forced to retire into private too and to baptize their Children at home and it is a hard thing to break a custome upon what occasion soever it was at first begun That which necessity occasioned is continued by some as a piece of State by others to save charge and trouble which might be much better saved by publick Baptism by others out of softness and tenderness a kind and indulgent Mother dares not expose a young Infant to the cold Air unless it be to send it to nurse I could never hear any thing pleaded for this practice that deserved an answer that which makes this custom prevail is that men do not consider the great decency and fitness and the many advantages of publick Baptism which I shall therefore now briefly represent By publick Baptism I mean that which is administred in the publick Congregation and in the publick place of Worship and the fitness and advantage of this will appear if we consider some few things 1. That Baptism is our solemn admission into the Christian Church and therefore ought to be administred in the publick Congregation Baptism makes us members of the body of Christ and unites us to the society of Christians and therefore is of a publick nature and therefore ought to be administred publickly For there is no other rule I know of whereby to determine the manner and circumstances of any action but to consider the nature of it there are some actions which are more proper to be done in private others which require some publick solemnities and it is as undecent to do a publick action i. e. an action of a publick nature privately as it is to do a private action in publick Now that is certainly of a publick nature which concerns a who'e society and such is the admission of Church-members and therefore ought to be done in the presence as well as by the authority of the Church The efficacy indeed of Baptism depends upon the Institution of Christ and therefore when it is rightly administred does not lose its vertue for want of some due circumstances but it is a great fault in those who wilfully and obstinately refuse to give all Christian offices their due solemnity 2. We may consider that Baptism contains a publick profession of our faith in Christ it is a publick owning of his Religion no adult person was ever admitted to Baptism without a profession of his faith in Christ in allusion to which as Learned Men think St. Peter calls Baptism not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience towards God The person to be baptized being examined about his faith in Christ and resolutions of obeying him Now the profession of our faith the more publick it is the more agreeable is it to the nature of Baptism and the constitution of the Christian Church which is a visible Society professing the faith of Christ and though indeed Infants who are baptized are not capable of making such a publick profession of their faith yet their Sponsors and Sureties are who undertake for their education in the Christian faith and certainly the publick Church is the most proper place for such a publick profession To baptize our Children privately looks as if we were ashamed of the Christian profession and there is not a more effectual way to root out Christianity than to destroy
all the publick solemnities of Worship 4. Publick Baptism is very much for the edification of the Church It minds Christians of their Baptismal Vow which I fear too many are apt to forget it puts good thoughts into them when they see what a grave and serious thing it is to be a Christian it sets their consciences on work to review their past lives and to consider how they have kept their Baptismal Vow it minds Children and Servants of their duty who are seldome at private Baptism and are many times more affected with such a sight than with the best counsels It minds those who have been God-Fathers or God-Mothers what charge they have undertaken which they are to look upon as somewhat more than a complement to a friend or matter of ceremony even a trust and a trust of the highest nature an obligation to God and to his Church to take care of the Vertuous and Religious Education of such Children Which may convince all considering men of what great use it is that Baptism should be administred with all the aweful and publick solemnities that may be and not be huddled over in private as a thing that must be done though it matters not how 5. For this we have the example of the Primitive Christians who always administred Baptism in publick places and in the presence of the Congregation At first indeed they baptized in Rivers or Ponds as Iohn the Baptist did in Iordan where our Saviour himself was baptized which made many in the Primitive Church ambitious to be baptized there also as Eusebius reports of Constantine the Emperour though he was disappointed in it afterwards they built Fonts near the Church then in the Church-porch and at last in the Church it self and never allowed of private Baptisms but in danger of death And to make the action more solemn they had publick times for Baptism which in most Churches were Easter and Whitsunday when all their Catechumens who desired Baptism and were judged fit to receive it were admitted into the body of Christians and made members of Christ and of his Church And thus it continued in following Ages and so it ought still to be according to the Rubrick of our Church I mean as to the publick administration of Baptism though it be not now confined to such certain times which allows of no private Baptisms but in danger of death So that this is a plain transgression of the Rule and therefore such a disorder as no man should be guilty of who professes himself a member of our Church CHAP. V. Concerning the publick Instructions of Youth ANother great miscarriage is that few men are so ready and careful as they ought to be to submit their Children and Servants to publick Instructions Of what mighty concernment the Religious and Vertuous Education of Youth is I need not tell you for in a great measure their happiness in this World and in the next depends on it when Children are brought up in ignorance and folly it layes a foundation of Atheism and Debauchery in their riper years Unless they be tâ—ught to know and to fear God betimes they are in great danger of laughing at God and Religion and making a mock of sin as they grow in years and wickedness I doubt not but the Atheism and lewdness of this present Age has been as much owing to the miscarriages of Parents and Governours in the Education of Children and Youth as to any one cause besides How many Children have never been taught any other Catechism than some flattering Complements modish Oaths and obscene talk How many have been instructed in prophane and impious Jests and all the topicks of irreligious Wit and no wonder there are so many great Proficients who are wicked above their age and can as pertly and confidently laugh down God and Religion as the gravest and most studied Atheists Others are not so industrious to corrupt Youth but yet take no care to instruct them better to possess their tender minds with the knowledge and love of God and true goodness and then there is no great need to teach them to be wicked If the ground been't tilled and cultivated you can expect no good fruit but weeds will grow of themselves Others possibly do take care to instruct their Children in the Principles of Religion and to train them up to the practice of Vertue and I only wish there were greater numbers of these men we might then hope in time to see the World reformed and Religion grow into fashion and credit again at least the next generation might see the blessed effects of those seeds of Vertue and Piety which are sown now But there is one great neglect of very mischievous consequence easie to be observed among us and we can expect no great good till it be reformed and that is the neglect of publick Catechizing which may be sometimes the neglect of the Minister but is oftner the neglect of the people who cannot be perswaded to submit their Children and Servants to publick instructions nor to give any incouragement to it by their own presence and attendance That this is so is too evident and yet I cannot make any probable conjecture what should be the cause of this For 1. No man certainly can think it an indifferent thing whether his Children be thoroughly instructed in the principles of Christian knowledge for knowledge must be both the rule of practice and the motive of obedience the Laws of the Gospel must be the rule of our life and practice and no wonder men do amiss who know not what they ought to do the Articles of the Christian faith are the motives and principles of obedience to enable us to conquer the corrupt inclinations of our nature and the allurements and temptations of this World and no wonder men are conquered who understand not the use of their spiritual armour who are ignorant of those things without the belief and knowledge of which they cannot conquer Such as the being and nature and providence of God the incarnation death and sufferings resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ the eternal Son of God the influences and assistances of the Divine Spirit the Judgement to come and everlasting life after death Nor is it sufficient to be able to say over these words without some competent understanding of the sense and meaning of them the Articles of our Creed do not work like Spells or Charms by the Magical power or sound of words but as arguments and motives that is as they convey such a sense of things to our minds as govern our affections and subdue them to the obedience of Christ and therefore no man can be the better for his faith who does not throughly understand what he believes And though hearing Sermons may help somewhat towards the instruction of Youth yet this cannot be so effectual as Catechizing for the first principles of knowledge ought to be taught by few and plain words and instill'd
into them by degrees as they are able to bear it There is milk for babes and meat for strong men to understand the first principles of Christian knowledge is necessary to teach them to understand a Sermon which commonly supposes some competent knowledge in the principles of Christianity and the true reason why so few men understand Sermons or get any good by them is because they never well understood their Catechism The want of this careful instruction of Youth makes them so unstable and uncertain in their Religion when they come to be men This makes so many different Opinions and Sects of Religion that they are turned aside with every wind of doctrine that they are taken with every new phrase that they fall into such monstrous errors so destructive to the fundamentals of Christian faith for it is impossible a house should stand which has no foundation So that all men must acknowledge that it is very necessary that Children and Youth should be carefully instructed in the fundamental principles of Religion 2. I cannot suppose neither that any considering men should think there is no need of the assistance of the Ministers of Religion for the instruction of Youth this indeed is a duty which every Parent and Master of a Family is concerned in to instruct those who are under their care in the knowledge and fear of God but if they think their Minister able to instruct themselvs they cannot but think it reasonable to desire his assistance to instruct their Children They call in the assistance of men expert and skilful in several Arts to teach them those Arts which they profess though they have some skill themselves in them and there is nothing of such moment to them and nothing it may be more difficult than to be thoroughly instructed in Religion It requires great skill and such as every Learned Rabbi is not Master of to fit the principles of Christian knowledge to the capacity of Children and Youth The Articles of the Christian Faith contain the highest and most Seraphical Speculations that ever were taught by any Philosophy such as the Incarnation of the Eternal Son of God who was conceived in the womb of a pure Virgin and came into the world in our nature and wrought miracles and dyed as a Sacrifice for sin and rose again from the dead and is now ascended up into Heaven in our nature and invested with great power and glory having all power given to him both in heaven and in earth a name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow both of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Iesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father That when these earthly bodies shall dye and rot in the grave they shall be raised again at the last day incorruptible and glorious These are great sublime stupendious Mysteries and it requires no small skill to know how to teach such great and mysterious Doctrines to Children and Youth that they may so by degrees discover these Mysteries as neither to blind nor dazle their eyes with their brightness and lustre nor yet to remain wholly ignorant of them The thorough knowledge of Christianity is not so easily attained as some men imagine nor is every one who knows something himself fit to be a Teacher of others And therefore though I would earnestly exhort you all to use the best skill you have to instruct your Children and Servants yet this is no reason to withdraw them from publick instructions nor can any man who understands his Religion think he discharges his duty to God and the Church meerly by his private instruction of his family when he neglects or refuses to bring them to publick instructions 3. For he must consider that his Children and Servants who are baptized are members of the Christian Church and therefore ought to be subject to the instructions and discipline of it as far as their age and capacity will permit They do not only belong to his private care but to the publick care of the Church who is to provide for the instruction of her Children and to deny the Church liberty to instruct her Children or not to interpose their own authority to make them submit to it is to withdraw their Children from the Communion of the Church after a solemn dedication of them to God No good man can with patience think of being guilty of so great a sin which is a kind of Sacriledge as it respects God a degree of Schism from the Church and very injurious to his Childrens souls Especially considering that there is a more peculiar blessing attends the publick instructions of the Church for the same reason that God prefers publick before private Worship and is more peculiarly present in Christian Assemblies than in the families of private Christians and blesses the publick administrations of his Word before private counsels 4. Which may further convince us that the publick Catechizing of Children and Youth is not needless whatever good instructions they may have at home for besides what I have already observed that God does more peculiarly bless publick Institutions there are several advantages in it which I shall briefly represent 1. This will make them more careful to improve in knowledge when they know they must give an account of such improvements to the publick Congregations there will be an emulation between Youth who shall give the most manly and reasonable account of their faith and as they grow in years they will be ashamed to continue Children in understanding we see the effects of this shame and emulation in other matters and when it may be improved to such admirable advantage in this case if there were nothing more to recommend it it were a sufficient reason to all good men who desire the improvement and increase of Christian knowledge in the World to encourage and promote it 2. By this means the Church may take notice of the improvement of Youth in Christian knowledge which is necessary to their regular admission to higher acts of Communion Those who are baptized when they are Children ought not regularly to be admitted to the Lords Supper till they have been confirmed and to qualifie them for Confirmation it is necessary they should in some competent measure understand their Religion and be able to give a reasonable account of their faith and though indeed the Minister and Bishop may be satisfied in this by private examinations yet this is no satisfaction to the Congregation with whom they are to communicate any otherwise than as they relye upon the authority of their Minister but such young men will be received with a more universal applause and sincere joy to the Table of our Lord who have given such publick testimony of their improvements in Christian knowledge 3. Another advantage is that this trains up Children and Youth in a just respect
sober Christian can withstand their conviction I shall now briefly consider the second thing proposed What are the most common occasions of or excuses for such a neglect and though it were easie to think of a great many I shall but mention two very briefly as being I think the most universal and the foundation of all the rest 1. The first is of that nature that it is great pity it should have so ill an effect and that is a mighty reverence and esteem for this holy Feast Either they can never think themselves worthy to approach the Table of our Lord or that they can never be sufficiently prepared for it As for the first it looks like pride and folly to think that we must be worthy of the divine favors they must all be acknowledged to be above our deserts How came mankind to be worthy that the Son of God should dye for them and had God advised with such modest sinners they might have complemented away the death of Christ as now they do the benefits and advantages of it in his holy Supper How great a Saint soever thou art thou canst never merit such favours and priviledges as these for then there had been no need of Christ to merit for thee and how great a sinner soever thou art by complying with the Grace of God thou maist quickly make thy self a worthy Communicant Repent of thy sins and heartily resolve by Gods Grace to reform thy life and come to this holy Table with assurance to receive those supplies of Grace which may enable thee to do it And as for that great preparation which is necessary to fit our selves for so solemn an act of Religion I must say it is in this as in other acts of Religious Worship the greater the better but if we consider what I said before that the Institution of our Saviour plainly proves that he designed it for an ordinary part of Christian Worship we cannot suppose that it requires much greater preparation of mind than other acts of Religion This holy Supper is a sacred mysterious Rite of Prayer and Thanksgiving which gives vertue and efficacy to our prayers and makes them acceptable and prevalent with God Are you then when you come to Church fit to pray to God and to praise him if not you must neglect your prayers as well as the Sacrament if you are then you are fit to approach the Lords Table to give vertue and prevalency to your prayers This holy Supper conveys to us the vertue and efficacy of Christs Sacrifice upon the Cross the pardon of our sins and the assistances of the divine Grace and Spirit Now if you be truly penitent you are qualified to receive the pardon of your sins and therefore to approach this holy Table where it is dispensed if you earnestly desire the divine Grace you are prepared for the reception of it Come but with a sense of your wants and with such desires as a hungry man has of meat and here you shall be filled and satisfied and without such preparations as these we can neither pray to God to forgive our sins nor to bestow his Grace on us Yet I confess I cannot see how any man who is fit to pray to God should be unfit to approach his Table 2. Others think that there is much greater danger in approaching the Table of the Lord unworthily than in an unworthy performance of other parts of Religious Worship but for what reason they think so I could never learn The prayer of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord and his sacrifice is no more It is as unpardonable an affront to God to pray for the pardon of our sins in Christs name without true sorrow and contrition and serious resolutions of amendment as it is for an impenitent sinner to receive the Sacrament to praise God without a due sense of his Mercy and Goodness differs not at all from feasting at the Table of our Lord without any sense of his dying love I would not be thought to give encouragement by this discourse to wicked men to approach this holy Table such men ought to be carefully turned away from such sacred Mysteries when they are discovered but the whole design is to shew that those men who have such clear innocent consciences that they dare pray to God need not be afraid of receiving the Sacrament and those who have not I would desire them to consider what a case they are in they defile every holy duty they meddle with and are in perpetual danger of Gods wrath and displeasure they cannot ask his pardon but they provoke him the more for the interpretation of such mens prayers is only to beg a longer liberty and indulgence in sin and therefore this is no more an encouragement to neglect the Lords Supper than it is to continue in a state of sin and damnation But you will say does not the Apostle tell us that a man must examine himself and so eat of that bread and drink of that cup for he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself not discerning the Lords body Very right but not to dispute the particular meaning of that place is not this true also of him that hears or prayes unworthily Does the Apostle say that there is any greater degree of worthiness required to receive the Lords Supper than there is to pray to God He who is fit to pray to God is fit to eat and drink at the Lords Table and he who is not fit for either I am sure is not fit to dye Our right to immortality is conveyed to us in this heavenly Feast as you have already seen and it is equally strange to me that men should content themselves in such a condition as makes them unfit to receive the pardon of their sins the assistances of Gods Grace or immortal life or if they be not in this deplorable condition that they should neglect that holy Feast which is the only ordinary instituted means of conveying all these blessings to them FINIS Books lately Printed by Richard Chiswel LOrd Bacon's Remains octavo Dr. Puller's Discourse of the Moderation of the Church of England octavo Dr. Edw. Bagshaw's Discourses upon Select Texts against the Papist and Socinian octavo Mr. Rushworth's Historical Collections The Second Volume folio His large and exact Account of the Trial of the Earl of Strafford folio Remarques relating to the state of the Church of the 3 first Centuries wherein are interspersed Animadversions on a Book called A View of Antiquity By I. H. Written by A. S. Speculum Baxterianum or Baxter against Baxter quarto The Countrey-Mans Physician octavo Dr. Burlace's History of the Irish Rebellion folio An Apology for a Treatise of Humane Reason Written by Ma. Clifford Esq twelves The Laws of this Realm concerning Jesuits c. explained by divers Judgements and Resolutions of the Judges with other Observations thereupon by William Cawley Esq folio Dr. Burnet's
History of the Reformation of the Church of England In two Vol. folio Bishop Sanderson's Sermons with his Life folio Fowlis his History of Romish Conspiracies Treasons and Usurpations folio Markham's Perfect Horseman octavo The History of the Powder-Treason with a Vindication thereof against the Author of the Catholick Apology and others to which is added a Parallel betwixt that and the present Plot quarto Dr. Parker's demonstration of the divine authority of the Law of Nature and Christian Religion quarto A Defence of Dr. Stillingfleet's Unreasonableness of Separation octavo Dr. Outram's Sermons on several occasions octavo now in the Press FINIS * Mr. Thorndyke's right of Christian Assemblies Heb. 10. v. 23. Vers. 26 27 28 29. 1 Cor. 1. 12. 1 Cor. 3. 3 4. 2 Tim. 3. 6 7 8. 1 John 2. 18 19. Acts 24. 14. 28. 22. 24. 5. 5. 17. 15. 5. Acts 21. 20 21 22 23 24. 1 Cor. 11. 18 19. Gal. 5. 20. 2 Pet. 2. 1. v. 4 5 6. v. 10. Exod. 22. 28. Acts 23. 4 5. Deut. 17. 12. 2 Pet. 2. 15. Jude v. 19. Scias nos primo in loco nec curiosos esse debere quid ille doceat cùm foris doceat quisquis ille est qualiscunque est Christianus non est qui in Christi Ecclesia non est Cypr. ad Anton. Epist. 52. Cyp. Ep. 39. Qui ergo in Ecclesia Christi morbidum aliquid pravumque sapiunt si correpti ut sanum rectumque sapiant resistunt contumaciter suaque pestifera mortifera dogmata emendare nolunt sed defensare persistunt Haeretici fiunt foras exeuntes habentur in exercentibus inimicis c. Aug. de Civ Dei lib. 18. cap. 51. See the Inquiry into the original of Evangelical Churches chap. 11. pag. 231. Dr. Cave's Primit Christianity par 1 ch 7. p. 171. Concil Gang. Can. 6. Dr. Stillingfl Unreasonableness of Separation Mr. Hobbs Psal. 95. 6. Psal. 100. 3 4. Mal. 1. 6. Psal. 50. 15. 86. 5 6 7. Psal. 91. 15. Psal 145. 18 19 20. Psal. 65. 2. Prov. 10. 22. Jam. 4. 2. 1 Tim. 4. 8. Tit. 2. 11 12. Job 28. 28. Psal. 111. 10. Prov. 9. 10. Tit. 2. 12. Psal 22. 22. Psal. 107. 32. Psal. 111. 1. Psal. 149. 1 2. Isa. 1. 13. Ephes. 4. 4. Acts 2. 42. Vers. 46. 1 Joh. 1. 3. 1 Cor. 12. 13. 1 Cor. 10. 26. 27. Mat. 10. 32 33. Rom. 14. 10 13 Mat. 5. 14 15. Rom. 14. 23. Jer. 14. 14. Jer. 23. 25 26. Vers. 30 31. Ephes. 4. 3 4. 1 Cor. 10. 16. 17. Ephes. 4. 15 16 Ephes. 2. 21. Joh. 17. 20 21. Phil. 2. 2. Joh. 13. 34 35. Acts 2. 42. 1 Joh. 2. 13. 1 Cor. 3. 3 4. 1 John 1. 3. Heb. 12. 22 23 24. Baxter's search for the English Schismat p. 12. Caeterum etsi vix ulla harum legum executio esset Donatistae tamen invidiosê odioseque clamabant sese injustè vexati causam tuam non jure agi sed vi opprimi delibatio Hist. Afric apud Optatum Quisquis vel quod potest arguendo corrigit vel quod corrigere non potest salvo pacis vinculo excludit vel quod salvo pacis vinculo excludere non potest aequitate improbat firmitate supportat hic est pacificus St. Aug contra Epist. Parmen l. 2. Joh. 4. 24. Eccles. 5. 2. Acts 21. 21 22 Col. 2. 21. Rom. 14. 17. Gal. 4. 1 2. Gal. 5. 1. Heb. 3. 5. 1 Cor. 14. 40 26. 2 Cor. 10. 8. Heb. 13. 17. John 10. 22. 1 Macab 4. 59. Luke 22. 25. Foxes and Firebrands Ep. ad Ianuar. Col. 2. 23. Lev. 22. 17. Acts 17. 22. Dr. Ham. of Superst Isa. 1. 11. Dr. Owen's Enquiry into the Original of Churches p. 14. John 13. 35. 1 Cor. 3. 9 6 7. Matth. 23. 2 3 De Vita Const. l. 4. c. 33. 1 Cor. 11. 10 Matth. 18. 19 20. 1 Pet. 3. 21. Phil. 2. 9 10 11. Matth. 26. 26 27 28. Mark 14. 22 23 24. Luke 22. 19 20. 1 Cor. 11. 23 24 25. Acts 2. 46. Apost Can. 9. Concil Antioch Can. 2. John 3. 16. Acts 9. 39. Ezra 9. 5. Psal. 141. 2. Heb. 9. 12. Acts 2. 46. Rev. 5. 12. 1 Cor. 15. Heb. 10. 28 29. 1 Cor. 10. 18. V. 21. Gen. 31. 46. V. 54. Heb. 9. 18 19 21. Psalm 50. 5. 1 Cor. 10. 17. Joh. 6. 53 54 56 57. V. 51. Hebr. 13. 10 11 12 13. Heb. 13. 15. Joh. 6. 56. 1 Cor. 12. 13. 2 Cor. 3. 8. Eph. 5. 30. Joh. 6. 54 57 58. Rom. 8. 11. 1 Cor. 12. 13. Rom. 6. 3 4 5. 1 Cor. 10. 16 17.
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
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