Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n
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A51817
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A sermon concerning publick worship preached before the Queen on Wednesday the 23d of March, 1691/2 / by Thomas Manningham ...
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Manningham, Thomas, 1651?-1722.
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1692
(1692)
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Wing M499; ESTC R3514
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10,669
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35
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A SERMON CONCERNING Publick Worship Preached before the QUEEN ON Wednesday the 23d of March 1691 2. By Thomas Manningham D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to Their Majesties and Rector of St. Andrew Holborn Published by Her Maiesties Special Command LONDON Printed for W. Crook at the Green Dragon without Temple-Bar and S. Smith at the Princes Arms in St. Paul's Church-yard 1692. Dr. MANNINGHAM's SERMON Before the QUEEN AT WHITE-HALL March the 3d 1691 2. Isaiah LVI and the latter part of the 7th Verse Mine House shall be called an House of Prayer to all People IT may not be improper for our better understanding of these words to reflect upon some few things relating to that Great and Magnificent Temple which King Solomon built unto the Lord. 1. That althô that Temple was erected to serve chiefly for the Ceremonial Worship among the Jews yet the building of a Temple to God was no part of Ceremonial Duty There were always even from the Creation of the World set and appointed places for the more Solemn Worship of God That which was commanded in the * Deut. xii 5 11. Law concerning this matter was consonant to the Light of Nature and the same that Religion taught all Mankind to observe for a main part of the External Acknowledgment of God is by dedicating of Altars and Temples to him and by separating of Places for his peculiar Service The Design of Building a Temple to the Almighty enter'd first into King David's * 2 Sam. vii 2. Heart from an Instinct and Principle of Natural Religion and from an ardent desire of leaving some standing Testimony of the Extraordinary Devotion of his Soul but the actual performance of that glorious Design was reserv'd by the * V. 13. immediate Appointment of God for the more peaceable and quiet Reign of King Solomon 2. When Solomon Dedicated that Temple to the Lord he took especial care to prevent all unworthy and idolatrous Thoughts concerning God that the Minds of the Jews might not be possess'd with any such gross Conceptions as the Heathen entertain'd concerning their Temples which they generally esteemed as a sort of Confinement to their Gods 1 Kings viii 27. whereas Solomon asks Will God indeed dwell upon the Earth behold the Heaven and the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain Thee how much less this House which I have builded All that he intended and desired was That God would have respect unto the Prayers and Supplications and the Religious Duties that were perform'd in that place V. 28 29. and That his Eyes might be open towards that House day and night 3. Solomon did not beg That God would regard only the Prayers and Supplications of the Jewish Nation when either they Worshipped in or towards that Temple but his concern reach'd further even to the Stranger * V 43. and to All the People of the Earth Accordingly there was a particular place of Worship appointed for the use of the Strangers amongst them which was called The Court of the Gentiles And this was the place where the Buyers and Sellers and Money-changers sate whom our Saviour drove out with an exceeding Transport of Zeal making use of this Text and adding to it another passage out of the Prophet * Chap. vii 11. Matth. xxi 13. Jeremiah Mine House shall be called an House of Prayer but ye have made it a Den of Thieves The Jews were too Zealous a sort of People to suffer any such prophanation of That part of the Temple in which their own Worship was perform'd but as to That which was allow'd to the Strangers they look't upon It as prophan'd already by the very Worshippers themselves and that nothing could well defile it more But our Saviour to shew that the Ceremonial Worship was now to expire and that the Nations were to be receiv'd into his Kingdom exercis'd a most surprizing and extraordinary act of Zeal in Their behalf and requir'd as much Reverence for the Court of the Gentiles as they did for the most Sacred part of the Temple It is here called an House of Prayer and not of Sacrifice because Prayer is an Universal Duty the chief and most eminent part of Religious Worship and without which Sacrifice it self was not accepted An House of Prayer to All people whereby the extent of This Duty was signify'd and how suitable it was that God should be worship'd by all people and all Nations as The Great Lord of Heaven and Earth as The God of the Gentiles as well as the Jews that his Honour should be made known throughout all the world and that he should be acknowledg'd and serv'd in as Publick a manner as the Circumstances of Mankind could admit The Text being thus open'd and explain'd is capable of affording great variety of Matter either for justifying the Sacredness of Religious places and the Reverence that is due unto them or for enlarging on the Nature of Prayer and shewing the Excellency of that Duty But because by Prayer in this place we are to understand the whole Body of Religious Duties consisting of Prayers Praises Thanksgivings Sacraments and Dedications of our selves to God which altogether make up our Spiritual Sacrifice and because this Duty is here extended to All People to All Nations to signisie the most publick and solemn performance of it Therefore the only thing which I shall endeavour from these words shall be to lay before you some Considerations in order to raise your esteem for the publick Worship of God to encourage your Constancy in it and to encrease your delight and joy in that most acceptable Service And this I take to be a very seasonable Subject in this Holy Week which the Church has thought fit to distinguish from the rest of the Lent by a peculiar enlargement of her Publick Devotions The many unreasonable Exceptions that have been made against our Form of Worship The placing the main of Religion in the Hearing of Sermons and the fanciful opinion of some that they can serve God as acceptably at Home as in the Church have very much lessen'd that Zeal among many which is due to that Worship which is perform'd in the Publick Assemblies But I shall endeavour to make it appear That the best Homage which we can pay to God is that which is most Publick and that the best part of Religion is that which we exercise in Common with united Hearts and Voices in full and solemn Congregations I. This is the way of giving the greatest Honour to God It is but a poor and a very unworthy sort of Honour which we the lowest of all Rational Creatures such Rational Creatures as are united to corruptible Bodies which depress and clog the Soul are able to pay to our great Creator But if we take care to glorifie Him according to those Abilities he has given us and according to that Manner he has prescrib'd unto us he will accept of our sincere Homage thô it be but
a mean Sacrifice and will make us capable of Adoring him hereafter in a more Perfect way He has several Orders of Pure and Spiritual Beings to glorifie him with the immediate Adoration of their Minds but we are confin'd to Bodies and must give him glory as he has made us capable of giving it we must declare his Greatness and his Goodness to one another and give outward Testimonies of the inward sense we have of his Perfections of his Majesty of his Power and of his Mercy Now to do this in the most Publick manner is the way of giving the greatest Honour to God and is a Veneration most suitable to the Majesty of him we Adore When a Multitude of People meet together to Worship the Almighty and to set forth his Praises it makes some little Figure of Heaven it raises our Minds to more magnificent Conceptions of God and more fully represents him to us as the Governour of the World Whereas if we look upon him as only intending our private Interest as busied only to serve our present wants we may be thought to conceive of him rather as an Idol than as that Infinite Being whose Care and Providence are extended to the concerns of the whole Creation To Worship God truly is to make him known to be the Lord of the Universe the Common Parent Preserver and Benefactor of all Mankind and therefore Publick Assemblies are the best signification of his glorious Perfections and vast Dominion for They are a Visible expression of the greatness of God they enlarge our Idea of him and make us more sensible of his Majesty than words and language can do They who cannot use their Minds to any abstracted ways of Thinking may be wonderfully confirm'd and heighten'd in their Acknowledgments and Thoughts of a Deity when they see how the Learned and the Rich and the Honourable and the greatest Persons upon the Earth do bow and kneel before their Maker and humble themselves in the Dust of the Sanctuary to witness their profound Veneration of an Infinite Wisdom Power and Goodness What becoming Thoughts and Affections towards God must this needs inspire into the Multitude when they shall observe those whose Knowledge and Judgment whose Vertues and Excellencies they exceedingly admire to behave themselves most Reverently and Devoutly in the Presence of God What Excuse can they have to neglect that Religion which they plainly perceive to be in such high esteem with those of the greatest Place and Dignity and of the clearest repute for Wisdom and Piety What Desire what holy Ambition must it raise in the Common People to appear often in the Place of Divine Worship and to make up the great Congregation that they may mingle themselves with the Noble and Wise and be equal Worshippors with them of the same God and the same Mediator II. The Nature of Religion is such that it especially requires a Publick Exercise That which makes all our Actions religious is the performing them in Obedience to God and with an Intention of his Glory whatever the particular Duties are in which we are engag'd whether they immediately respect our Neighbours or our selves if the chief Motive of doing them be derived from the Will and Pleasure of God they are a Religious Service But what we more properly call Religion is that which has an immediate Respect to God and is directly intended for the promoting of his Glory and the most eminent part of this Religion is the Publick Service of the Church which is still more eminently so as it is more Publick and Solemn because more becoming the Honour and Greatness of him we Worship This Religious Service is a Natural Debt which we owe to God as we are his Creatures and had we continued Innocent would have principally consisted in Praises and Thanksgivings and high Admirations of God's Power and Wisdom and Bounty But since we are in a Fal'n Condition and a State obnoxious to the displeasure of God there is a Necessity of glorifying him by an humble Confession of our Sins and an earnest Importunity for Pardon and Forgiveness And this can never be so Acceptable as when it is Publick for by that means we take more shame to our selves by making a more Solemn Acknowledgment of our guilt and we give more glory to God by our open Confessions and Humiliations Most of the Psalms of David were design'd to a Publick end and to make up the Service of the Congregation and he himself reckons it as one of the more bitter Afflictions of his Life that the Troubles of his Kingdom sometimes banish'd him from the Publick Service of God For thô we have no reason to doubt but so Religious a Person maintain'd a continual intercourse with God by way of private Prayer yet the Solemn Service of the Sunctuary was that in which the Honour of God was so signally acknowledg'd and display'd and his Name so eminently glorify'd that nothing else could properly carry the Title of Divine Worship among the Jews and therefore in their Captivity whenever they made their private Addresses to God they directed themselves towards Jerusalem where the Temple of the Lord was founded Our blessed Saviour in the Reformation he made of Religion was most tender of the Honour of his Father and took nothing from the Publick Worship that did any way conduce to his Glory He put an end to the repeated Sacrifices of Beasts by fulfilling what they signify'd in offering up his own Body once for all upon the Cross and leaving to the Church that Alsufficient Sacrifice of himself for their perpetual Commemoration He taught that God was to be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth St. John iv 24. not in the least to derogate from the Publick Worship of God but to shew that the Typical Service was within a while to cease and that the Heart and Inward Affections were always to accompany the External Worship He gave an especial Command for Secret Prayer St. Matth. vi 6. because there was no need at that time of Exhorting to the Publick Worship which was then sufficiently frequented and in which the Hypocrisy of that Age did so much Reign And besides by that Precept of his he tacitly reprov'd the Ostentation of the Pharisees which was so notorious in all their Publick Devetions Our Saviour was so far from Discountenancing the Publick Service of Religion that he came to remove the Jewish Confinement and to make way for all the Nations of the Earth to come in and glorifie God with one Heart and with one Voice Wherefore our Christianity does consist in serving God as Parts of the Body of Christ and in a Joynt and Festival Commemorating of the exceeding great Blessing of our Common Redemption Had an Inward Faith and a Private Devotion been sufficient to have carried Christians to Heaven they would never have Assembled together in the hottest Times of Persecution when their Meetings expos'd them so much to the Observation