expose us to contempt and loathing to harden Mens hearts against a just Reformation to make those who are reformed grow sick and weary and ashamed of the distracted unsetledness and ungovernableness of such people Who like nothing but what is unlike to all the Churches of Christ that have been in the World till this last unhappy Age. This cannot proceed from the Blessed Spirit of Grace which cannot lead Men to destroy the Church which Christ hath purchased by his Blood Which it is evident cannot be preserved much less promoted but by a due regard to those who are over us in the Lord and by adhering closely to such an Authentick Constitution as that of this Church which is the genuine Off-spring of the Apostles declaring nothing to the people but the true sense of the Ancient Apostolick Church throughout the World Which alwayes had such Governours of a superiour Order and Degree to other Ministers as we have such Prayers such Hymns in a word such a Face of Religion as is here seen in this our Church of England And may be seen Blessed be God in other Reformed Churches particularly in those called Lutheran who as Chemnitius tells us have had solemn Prayers every day and much after the same Order that is observed in ours His words are these Populus singulis diebus bis certa hora c. The people assemble every Day twice at a certain hour Exam. Concil Trident. Pars iv cap. ult Morning and Evening and after the singing of some Psalms Lessons are read in order partly out of the Old Testament partly out of the New And the Assembly concludes alwaies with Common Prayers and some Hymn of Thanksgiving And besides the people come together every Week on some certain Day in greater Multitudes to make Publick and Solemn Supplications which are called Letanies And so he proceeds to relate how they Worship God with the greatest Solemnity on the Lord's Dayes and upon special Festivals in memory of the great Benefits we have received on the Nativity Circumcision c. in short on all the Dayes now observed by our Church O that there were such an heart in us as instead of Wrangling and Disputing seriously to set our selves to make the best use we can of such Blessed Opportunities as God still affords unto us of meeting together every Day for his Worship and Service Especially upon Letany Dayes when there ought to be a fuller Congregation and more than ordinary Devotion One of those Dayes at least I should think every Devout Christian may easily see there is great cause to set apart every Week for Fasting and Humiliation together with Supplication and Prayer to the Divine Majesty that he would turn away his Anger from us Men are naturally too backward I know to such Holy Imployments and satisfie themselves that they have an Excellent Religion which they highly value without considering that they have so much the greater Obligation upon them to joyn frequently in the Holy Offices thereof Let that therefore for a conclusion be added to all the motives I have used in this Book to stir you up to the constant performance of this Duty that it will be the greatest shame to us if when they whose Religion is a false Worship have their constant Dayly Service and attend upon it we who have the truest Notions of God and the most Excellent Religion have less regard unto it by which means their Religion how corrupt soever it be is upheld and maintained and for want of this ours though never so pure must needs fall to decay For they that love the Religion they profess though it be not so sincere and perfect as it ought to be yet never fail to reap all the Benefits which it is able to afford and this among the rest that they keep their Religion by their unfeigned Love to it and Diligence in it Whereas the best and soundest Religion professed by those who bear not the like Affection to it yields those who thus retain it little or no benefit as Mr. Hooker hath observed and by degrees is lost for want of a due regard and earnest Affection to it We see this verified in Pagans Turks and Hereticks Who zealously attend upon the Publick Offices of their Religion and so continue their Sect. How comes their Religion to lead them to have frequent Assemblies and ours to make us neglect them But that they keep up their Love to their Religion such as it is and we have lost our first Love and so endanger the loss of our Religion For had we a sincere love to it we should be led by the Natural Dictates of it to attend upon its publick Offices that being the very first thing to which Religion inclines us and there to attend with all seriousness both to the Prayers and Hymns and to the Holy Scriptures which are then read unto us And therefore our Religion hath gone to decay because we have not minded publick Assemblies dayly but where they are kept up they are empty and thin or when they are full there are none of these Natural signs of Devotion in too many people which are among all Nations bended Knees Hands and Eyes lifted up to Heaven nay they do not attend to the Word of God there read but pass it by as a Tale that is told fancying I suppose it is never the Word of God but when it is preached that is spoken without Book These are not the Faults of all nor I hope of most among us But I have observed some of them especially the last of Whispering together all the time the Scriptures are read as if they were nothing but an empty sound in so many Persons from whose Understanding one would expect better things that I could not but take notice of such unbecoming Behaviour in the House of God Where I beseech God to awaken all his Ministers to perform their Duty with careful Diligence And all his People to Accompany them reverently in continual Prayers and Supplications to the Glory of His Great Name the Credit of our Holy Religion the Honour of this Church the Increase of all true Godliness and Vertue among us and the furtherance thereby of our Joyful Account and Happy Meeting in the Day of the Lord Jesus Amen THE END ERRATA PAge 30. l. 24. d. he p. 33. l. 20. for created r. erected p. 53. l. ult for enabled r. enobled p. 59. l. 7. r. 2dly This. p. 65. l. 11. for it r. he p. 106. l. 17. d. also p. 121. l. 3. after yet add p. 123. l. 9. after 19 add p. 168. l. 1. for times r. time p. 170. l. 22. for Rules r. Rule p. 184. l. 25. r. was as well performed any where as in the Church p. 185. l. 3. r. inlarge THE CONTENTS THE Introduction PART I. CHAP. I. OF the Nature of Prayer Page 1 CHAP. II. Of the Necessity of Prayer Page 10 CHAP. III. The sense of all Mankind about this matter especially of our Blessed Saviour Page 22 CHAP. IV. Other Arguments of the great Necessity of Prayer Page 32 CHAP. V. Some Reflections upon the foregoing Considerations Page 39 CHAP. VI. The Honour God doth us in admitting us into his Presence Page 49 CHAP. VII The Pleasure which springs from the serious performance of this Duty Page 61 CHAP. VIII The great Benefits we receive by serious Prayer to God 74 CHAP. IX The Three foregoing Chapters improved Page 85 PART II. CHAP. X. Publick Prayer the most necessary of all other Page 95 CHAP. XI God is most honoured by Publick Prayers Page 99 CHAP. XII Publick Prayers most advantagious unto us Page 115 CHAP. XIII Publick Prayers most sutable to the Nature of Man Page 135 CHAP. XIV The Nature of a Church requires there should be Publick Prayers Page 162 CHAP. XV. Our Blessed Saviour the Founder of the Church teaches us this Doctrine Page 168 CHAP. XVI Which is further confirmed by the Practice of the Apostles and the first Christians Page 177 CHAP. XVII Other Considerations to strengthen this Argument Page 192 CHAP. XVIII A Recapitulation of the four foreing Chapters with some Inferences from thence Page 206 CHAP. XIX Of Dayly Publick Assemblies and of Hours and Gestures of Prayer Page 222 CHAP. XX. Some Objections removed Page 244 THE END
is nothing so sound but in time it may be tainted yet it is likely the longer to remain sound when there is a publick care about it And besides when it is corrupted it is not in so many things as it would have been had the service of God been left only to every mans private management for then there may be as many false imaginations as there are men and the whole Body of Religion intirely depraved As it is an Act therefore whereby we do honour unto God Prayer ought to be publick that it may be seen we own him and honour him and that he may be honoured sutably to his transcendent greatness and his Universal goodness Which require that he be universally acknowledged as not merely a particular Benefactor but as the common Father of us all whose Munificence is declared to be the greater when he hath a number of Clients and as many thankful Servants who come together upon the same business to proclaim his praise and show forth the wonderful works he hath done for them In summ As a great multitude of poor people constantly waiting at the Gates of an house speak him that dwells in it to be far more liberal and bountiful than he would be believed if few or none were seen expecting there even so do the Assemblies of pious Supplicants and devout Worshippers spread the fame of God's inexhausted goodness far and near of which there is no notice at all when few or none tread in the Courts of his house but content themselves with a private attendance on him This very much damps the sense of God at least of his infinite greatness and goodness and as it represents him after a poor and mean fashion so indangers the propagation of such notions of him as will disparage and dishonour him For which reason there is no serious Christian who layes things to heart but must needs be grieved and sigh to see such stately structures as our Cathedral Churches which were built to contain a multitude of Worshippers and to represent the inconceivable greatness of him who is there Worshipped so very empty and void of people in our daily Assemblies as if we had forsaken God or had lost all sense of the honour that is due unto him This is a thing very much to be lamented and speedily amended lest God forsake us and make us a reproach saying as the Prophet speaks that he hath no delight in us because we have dishonoured his Holy Name and take no delight in his Divine Service CHAP. XII Publick Prayers most advantagious unto us LET us now proceed to consider the second part of this Argument which hath respect unto Prayer as an act whereby we seek our own good And it will appear as plainly that the publick Prayers contribute most unto it If we had no other reason to assert this but that now named it were sufficient that God is hereby most honoured For whatsoever doth him most Honour will certainly do us most good according to his own Maxime Him that honoureth me I will honour but he that despiseth me shall be highly esteemed 1 Sam. ii 30. But we have other reasons also to demonstrate that if we have respect to our selves in our Prayers and the good we derive thereby upon our Souls and Bodies and all our concerns it leads us to the Publick Prayers as likely to be most prevalent I. For first We may pray there with much more confidence than we can in those private Petitions we put up to God both because the things we ask publickly are approved as needful and good in the judgment of all and are also sought for and desired by a common consent And therefore we may be the more assured they are good for us and being so shall be bestowed upon us This is a thing of very great moment in Prayer to have a confidence of being heard Which we cannot have as St. John teaches us unless we not only keep God's Commandments and do those things which are pleasing in his sight 1 Joh. iii. 22 but also ask according to his will ver 14. Now the matter of our Prayers cannot be so well warranted to be according to God's will when they are only of private conception as it is when they have the stamp of publick Authority and therefore in our single Devotions we must needs fall short of that degree of confidence which we may have when we joyn in Prayer with all our Christian Brethren who agree to ask the same thing with a setled belief that it is agreeable to his will Common Reason and much more Christian Humility teaches us to suspect our own private understanding which cannot give us such assurance that a thing is good and wholesome and necessary for us as the Universal opinion of all our Brethren about it doth work in us Which is one advantage of joyning in publick Prayers wherein all agree as being formed by the publick judgment of the Governours of the Church and accepted by the generality of God's people and found by long observation to contain nothing but what is fit to be askt of the Almighty Goodness II. There are some things indeed which every one may be assured are undoubtedly according to God's will and there are those who fancy that Authorized Prayers may as well be put up to God at home as in the Church But it is further to be considered that the united force of a great many persons who joyn in a Petition is far stronger and more prevalent than the address of a single Supplicant All Mankind are of this opinion in the Addresses they make to Earthly Princes from whom they hope more easily to obtain their sute when they come in a body and present the petition of a multitude than when one o◠two make the same request unto them An example of which I remember St. Chrysostome presses his people withal while it was fresh in their memories to make them understand the might◠power of that Prayer which is made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the common consent of all About ten year ago saith he * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3. you know there were several person apprehended who affected Empire and conspired to subve◠the present Government One of whom who was of great eminence being led forth to execution with a Rope in his mouth the whole City ran into the Circus where the Emperour then was and by their common cryes pacified his anger and obtained a pardon for him who deserved none And if to appease the wrath of an Earthly Prince you all run forth with Wives and Children to deprecate his displeasure why do you not all concur to obtain mercy of the King of Heaven not for one as in the case now named or two or three or an hundred but for a World of Sinners That God having a respect to your common Prayers offered with joynt consent may release to them their punishment and absolve you from
of the Earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him what dost thou ver 34 35. And then concludes his Declaration in this manner Now I Nebuchadnezzar Praise and Extol and Honour the King of Heaven all whose works are Truth and his wayes Judgment and those that walk in Pride he is able to abase A Voice worthy of a King and worthy to be published throughout all the World and therefore he made the Declaration wherein it was contained to be sent to all People Nations and Languages that dwelt on all the Earth ver 1. that is throughout all his wide Empire to all the parts of the Earth where his Authority reached and his words would be reverenced that they might magnifie this great King of Heaven and Earth together with him That was the end of it and it is one of the most publick pieces of Devotition that we ever read was performed by any man arising out of this sense with which he was possessed in those Ancient times that God is to be Honoured Blessed and Extolled publickly among and by all People to whom he thought himself bound to show the Signs and the Wonders which the most High God had wrought towards him And How great saith he are his Signs and how mighty are his Wonders ver 3. He was not able to tell but made the best and the most ample Declaration of them that he could in this Imperial Decree which he caused to be proclaimed every where By all which we may easily be convinced in what gross Errors two sorts of people live First They who imagine that God may be served as well at home as at the Church Such men neither understand the Nature of God nor the Nature of Religion nor their own Nature which teach them quite otherwise And instruct them also to frequent the Publick Assemblies where they have opportunity so to do Secondly For that is another palpable Error to think that it is sufficient if we come on the Lord's Day to testifie that we do not forget God though all the Week beside we take no notice of him but constantly neglect his Publick Service when we are invited to it and have leisure to attend it We forget the many publick common Blessings we dayly need and dayly receive which ought to be as publickly every day implored and acknowledged in our Common Prayers Let the foregoing considerations be duly pondered and they will perswade you both out of Love to God's Honour and out of love to your own good to joyn as often as you can your Prayers Praises and Thanksgivings with the whole Church of God and to make our Assemblies as full as you can both on the Lord's Day and every Day of the Week Whereby you would declare your constant dependence on God and acknowledge how he dayly 〈◊〉 you with his Benefits and draw 〈◊〉 Publick Blessings in abundance upon the Church and Kingdom where you live and do credit to our Holy Religion which alas now looks in many places as if it were despised and not only do credit to it but both help to support it and also promote and propagate it to the Honour and Praise of the Almighty Lord of Heaven and Earth unto whom be Glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all Ages World without end Amen CHAP. XIV The Nature of a Church requires there should be Publick Prayers I Proceed now to the Third Head of Arguments whereby a Christian should be most of all moved to his Duty and that is to consider the Nature of the Church which both requires Publick Assemblies and makes the Service performed in them far more acceptable than Private Prayers can be And here let it be considered in general that the very word we translate Church in the Holy Scriptures signifies in the Greek Language an Assembly a company of persons met together and that publickly upon the publick business or occasions The first time but one we meet with this Word in the New Testament it is used in opposition to a single person alone by himself or to one or two more beside him Matth. xviii 15 16 17. If thy Brother trespass against thee go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone and if he will not hear thee take one or two more c. and if he neglect to hear them tell it to the Church that is to that solemn Assembly which sat to judge causes and unto which was the last resort so that if he did not hear them he was to be lookt upon as an Heathen Man and a Publican And the truth is it signifies any sort of Assembly or concourse of People which was among the Gentiles as well as the Jews For in the xix of the Acts when all the City of Ephesus was in an uproar and ran together into the Theatre crying up Diana this general concourse is thrice called their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Assembly ver 32. Some cryed one thing some another for the Assembly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was confused c. and ver 39. If you inquire of other matters it shall be determined in a lawful Assembly and ver 41. having thus spoken he dismissed the Assembly Now this being the very Notion of the word Church the Christian Church which Christ hath called is an Assembly of Men and Women met together to Worship God by him to give him Thanks for all his Benefits and to implore his Grace and Mercy to them and to all the World It is an Assembly or Company of Men as much as any other but our Saviour's Kingdom being not of this World the Assembly which he appoints is not to meet for Civil Ends and Purposes but for Religious And the great thing in all Religion is the Devout Worship of God and giving Him the Honour due unto his Name for which the Church i.e. Christian Assemblies being founded it is a clear demonstration that this Worship is not so well performed alone by our selves as in these Assemblies For here we act most like Christians that is like Members of the Body of Christ which is his Church With which whosoever doth not joyn he is no longer a Christian because he is not a Member of the Body of Christ which is a Company joyned together to have Fellowship with God and one with another in all Holy Duties of which Prayer Thanksgiving and Praises are the chief For though there they receive Christian Instruction yet that is not the principal business for which they assemble as appears by St. Paul's words to Timothy before-mentioned 1 Tim. ii 1. If we could make Christian people sensible of this they would immediately yield the Publick Worship of God to be that which of all other he most designs to have continued in the World and consequently be most affected towards it and constantly frequent it And how should they remain insensible of it if they would but consider duely that it is implied in their being