together was and ought to have been to eat the Lord's Supper tho' by their misbehaviour they so corrupted the Ordinance that it could not be called His Supper If one should now reprove Christians whom they observe to mis-behave themselves in Church in these words When you come together into one place this is not to hear the Word of God Preached to you for one is Talking and another is Sleeping Wou'd not every Body conclude That in the Opinion of the Reprover the Hearing the Word of God Preached ought to be one End of their coming together And then surely the Apostles saying that when you come together into one place this is not to eat the Lord's Supper c. gives us ground to conclude that in his Opinion Eating the Lords Supper ought to be one constant End of our coming together Which is further manifest from the Advice he gives them Vers. 33. Wherefore my Brethren when ye come together to eat tarry one for another One End therefore of their coming together was as Children come together in a Family at Meal-time that is to be fed at their Father's Table For what the Apostle called in the former Verse coming together into one place in this Verse he calls coming together to eat intimating that a main end of their coming together into one place was to eat 3. When the Meeting of Christians came to be fixed to the First Day of the Week or the Lord's Day the Breaking of Bread was likewise brought to the same Day So Acts xx 7 And upon the first Day of the Week when the Disciples came together to break Bread Paul preached unto them From which words we may conclude two things First That the First Day of the Week was the Disciples time of Publick Worship Secondly That the Breaking of Bread or celebrating the holy Eucharist was a part of that Worship The Scripture is as plain for the one as the other There have been some Disputes raised about Changing the Day of Worship from the Last to the First Day of the Week and this place is usually produced to justifie the Change And sure the same place is as clear for the Celebration of the Lord's Supper on that Day as for the Observation of the Day it self instead of the Sabbath And therefore whoever wilfully passes the Lord's-Day without it doth not observe it as the Scriptures from the Practice of the Disciples direct us to do 4. I have endeavoured all along to confine my self to the plain words of Scripture and to use such Arguments only as the meanest persons might be able to judge of from their Bibles Yet in a Controverted place of Scripture concerning the meaning of a Command of Christ relating to some positive Duty I take the constant practice of the Church from the Apostles downward to be a good means of determining the sense of it And as there is not any Example of a stated Assembly for Worship in the New Testament without the Lord's Supper so I think there is not any Example of that Nature in all Antiquity For the truth of which I appeal to those that are skill'd in it The nearer we come to the Apostles we shall still find the Lord's Supper the more punctually observed as a constant part of the Ordinary service of the Church And 't is remarkable that when first some who had been present at the Prayers and Preaching of the Church began to go away from the Publick Assemblies without Receiving which was a corruption that came in about 300 years after Christ it was looked on as so great an Innovation and breach of the Scripture Rule that the Church decreed whosoever was guilty of it should be Excommunicated So particularly the Ninth of those commonly called the Canons of the Apostles and the second Canon of the Council of Antioch Thus the Practice of the Church continued for many Ages And tho' the generality of Men could not be persuaded constantly to partake of the Lord's Supper after the Discipline of the Church was dissolved and the piety of Men began to cool yet still it was Celebrated on the Lord's day according to the first setled Practice of the Church 5. And indeed the corrupt practice of the solitary Masses of the Papists is a further evidence of its being counted Originally a part of the ordinary Worship of God I think it is confessed by all even by the Papists themselves that those Masses had their Original from the universal corruption and negligence of Christians For whilst the People had either Piety or Zeal they communicated with the Bishop or Ministers in every Assembly at least a competent number of them But when Piety and Devotion were in a manner lost in the corrupt Ages of the Church it came to pass that tho' the Minister Consecrated the Elements every Lord's-day according to the Example of the Holy Scriptures and Antiquity yet he could prevail with few or none to receive with him but was often forced to receive alone This was a great corruption and a falling from the Scripture precedent but the Roman Church instead of Reforming the abuse by obliging the people to receive as formerly corrupted her principles as well as practice and decreed it lawful and sufficient for the Priest to receive alone Yet this abuse shews us what should be and what has been the practice and that the Church has constantly reckoned the Lord's-Supper as an Ordinary part of Publick Worship in Christian Assemblies on solemn days and sure then to lay it aside can be termed no less then an Invention of our own Since we can neither in Scripture or in the Church of God for 1400 years together which is a sufficient commentary on the Scripture Text produce one Example of a stated solemn Christian Assembly without it Sect. 2. The Practice of Our Church as to frequent Communions I. HAving thus consider'd the Rules and Examples that the Scriptures afford us in this point let us in the second place compare the Rules and Practices of Our Church with this pattern I will not pretend that they come fully up to it this being the most defective part of the Reformation But I doubt not on view it will appear that Our Church comes nearer the Scripture precedent then perhaps any other 'T was the design of the Reformation to throw out the corruptions of the Church of Rome and to bring things back to what was practised in the Apostles time and in the purer Ages of thâ— Church And as to the present point before us Our Reformers found two corruptions crept in by time The first was That the Priest received the Lord's-Supper alone without the people which destroyed the Nature of this Holy Sacrament as a Communion The second was That the people thought they had sufficiently observed the Lord's-day if they saw Mass without understanding it or receiving Our Church therefore to Reform the first of these Ordains That there shall be no Communion except
A DISCOURSE CONCERNING The Inventions of Men IN THE WORSHIP OF GOD. By WILLIAM Lord Bishop of DERRY Printed for the instruction of his Diocess DVBLIN Printed for the Author by Andrew Crook Printer to Their Most Sacred Majesties MDCXCIV The Contents of the several Chapters and Sections Introduction COntaining a brief Description of the Inward and Outward Worship of God and Rules for Examining the ordinary parts of Outward Publick Worship Chap. I. Of Praises Sect. 1. What the Holy Scriptures prescribe concerning them page 6. Sect. 2. The manner of Praising God publickly which is prescribed and practised by our Church page 15 Sect. 3. The Dissenters manner of praising God in publick page 18 Chap. II. Of Prayer Sect. 1. What the Holy Scriptures prescribe concerning Prayer page 25 Sect. 2. The Rules and Practice of our Church p. 41 Sect. 3. The practice of those who differ from us p. 43 Chap. III. Of Hearing Sect. 1. What the Holy Scriptures prescribe concerning it page 68 Sect. 2. The practice of our Church in Reading and Preaching the Word page 77 Sect. 3. The practice of the Dissenters page 81 Chap. IV. Of Bodily Worship and Kneeling at the Communion Sect. 1. What the Holy Scriptures prescribe concerning it page 104 Sect. 2. The practice of our Church in Bodily Worship page 114 Sect. 3. The practice of the Dissenters page 117 Chap. V. Of the Lords Supper Sect. 1. What the Holy Scriptures prescribe concerning the frequency of Celebrating it page 145 Sect. 2. The practice of our Church as to frequent Communions page 155 Sect. 3. The practice of the Dissenters page 159 Conclusion To the Conforming Clergy of the Diocess of Derry page 164 To the Dissenting Ministers in the same Diocess p. 170 To the Conforming Laity thereof page 179 To the Dissenting Laity thereof page 181 A DISCOURSE CONCERNING The Inventions of Men IN The VVorship of GOD The Introduction OUR Blessed Saviour has Taught us that there are some Ways of Worshiping God which have so great a Mixture of Human Invention in them that they are Vain and Unacceptable to Him Mark VII 7 In vain saith He do they Worship Me teaching for Doctrines the Commandments of Men. This obligeth every Man who has a Concern for his Soul to examine carefully the Worship he offers to God whether it be such as God has Instituted lest his Service should be Rejected with that Censure in the Prophet Who has required this at your Hands But more especially it concerns the Pastors of the Church who have the Direction of the Publick Worship of God to be careful in Examining this Matter that they may be able to satisfy their own Consciences as well as the People 's Committed to their Charge concerning the Purity of the Worship which they practice Themselves and recommend to Others II. It has pleased God in his Providence to make Me an Overseer over some part of his Flock in this Kingdom and I look upon it to be my Duty to use my Endeavours to Instruct Those that are committed to my Charge in the Worship of God according to the Rules He has prescribed and to warn such as I conceive to swerve from them of their Mistakes I hope it will be of Use and Satisfaction to those that joyn with Me in the Publick Worship of God to find on Examination That what they there practice is agreeable to God's Institution And as to those that think otherwise I persuade my self that an Admonition in the Spirit of Meekness can give them no just Offence but rather be of Use to them also by obliging them to Examine and Revise their Ways that they may correct their Judgments if from what I offer they shall see reason for it III. In Order to help those concerned to make a true and impartial Judgment in these matters I desire them to consider 1 st That it belongs only to God to give Rules how He will be Worshiped This I suppose will be granted by all since it seems to be a Truth naturally implanted in the Minds of Men and Universally acknowledged in all times 2 dly I take it for a Truth agreed to by the generality of Protestants That the Holy Scriptures contain the Revelations of God's Will concerning his Worship 3 dly From these two we may reasonably infer That it concerns us to keep as close as we can to those Directions which God has been pleas'd to afford us in his Word without adding to omitting or altering any thing that He has there laid down For since God has vouchsafed us a certain Direction for his Worship in the Holy Scriptures it is to be supposed that all ways of Worship are displeasing to Him that are not expresly contained or warranted by Examples of Holy Men mentioned therein 4 thly We must observe that the Worship of God is either Inward or Outward The Inward Worship of God consists in the inward Homage and Subjection of our Minds to Him The Outward consists of such Acts and Duties as serve to express this inward Subjection of our Souls or that promote increase or contribute towards it Thus for instance Vocal Prayer is a part of Outward Worship because it expresses the inward Dependance of our Souls on God Thus reading the Word of God is a part of the same because therein we acknowledge our Subjection to Him and to his Laws and use it as a means to promote and increase this Subjection Thus Celebration of the Sacraments is a part of the same Worship because in them we not only express our Dependance on God for his Grace but likewise oblige and bind our selves to serve Him And the same holds in all Outward Acts of Worship 5 thly We must remember That 't is in these Outward Acts that we are more immediately concerned as Publick Worshipers for we cannot know the Inward Worship which Men pay to God in their Minds but as it appears to us by these Outward Acts And generally when we speak of the Publick Worship of God we mean this Outward and concerning it are the great Disputes and Differences among us all of us being agreed as to the inward and of what sort that ought to be IV. Having premised these few things which I hope will be granted by all I shall proceed directly to my proposed Undertaking and shall with the greatest Fairness and Impartiallity I can Examine and Compare the Worship of God which is directed and warranted by Scripture as well with that which is prescribed and practis'd by our Church as with that which is practis'd by such as differ from us V. Now if we consider the ordinary Service of God as prescribed and practic'd in Scripture we shall find the main substantial parts of it to be these five vizt Praises Prayers Hearing Bodily Worship And Celebration of the Holy Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ. The Method I shall take in Discoursing of each of these shall be First To shew what the Holy Scriptures
and him that Ministered Rom. xii And it doth not appear that every Church was furnished with all these Officers The same St. Paul joyned Exhortation and Doctrine with Reading in his Charge to Timothy 1 Tim. iv 13 which shews that they went together but whether indispensibly or no doth not appear tho' it is manifest in the practise of most Churches in the Ages after the Apostles they were all generally exercis'd in the Publick Worship VIII Lastly We find that they had a Summary of the Principal Doctrines of the Gospel which they delivered to the people and by which they ordered their own Discourses and judged of what was delivered by others Thus St. Paul to Timothy 2 Tim. i. 13 Hold fast the Form of sound Words which thou hast heard of me and Chap. ii Vers. 2. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many Witnesses the same commit thou to faithful Men who shall be able to teach others Perhaps this may be that proportion of Faith according to which the Prophets are exhorted to prophesy Rom. xii 6 I think it is not doubted but this Form of sound Words contained the main Fundamentals of Christianity and St. Paul tells us what those were Heb. vi 1 2. Therefore leaving the Principles of the Doctrine of Christ let us go on unto perfection not laying again the foundation of Repentance from dead Works and Faith towards God of the Doctrine of Baptisms and of Laying on of Hands and of the Resurrection of the Dead and of Eternal Judgment In all probability therefore the Form of sound Words delivered by St. Paul to Timothy and by him to others contained these six Heads or Principles of Christianity which every Christian was obliged to hear and learn Sect. 2. The Practice of Our Church in Reading and Preaching the word THese are the Rules and Examples the Scriptures propose to us for our feeding the people with the Word of Life and their Hearing it in Publick Let us in the second place compare the Practise of Our Church with them and surely no copy can come nearer the Original 1. For first Our Ministers are expresly oblig'd in their Ordination diligently to read all the Canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testament unto the people Assembled in the Church where they shall be appointed to serve 2. Our Church has disposed the Holy Scriptures in a certain Order and has appointed four or more Chapters to be read every day in the Publick Congregations by which means all the most edifying parts of the Old Testament are Ordered to be read once a year and the New Testament except the Revelations thrice in the same time And some select Chapters of the Revelations are appointed on extraordinary occasions There are indeed some Chapters about one tenth of the Old Testament left out of this Order But then it is to be observed that those which are left out are either Genealogies names of Persons and Places Historical repetitions or some obscure and mystical Prophecies in Ezekiel which are not so proper for an ordinary Assembly for which reasons some part of the Revelations is also left out yet these are not excluded tho' not particularly Commanded The general obligation on every Clergy-Man in his Ordination to read all the Canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testament still allows him to read these and also obliges him to it when he shall perceive that it may be for the edification of the people 3. Besides this Order for the whole Scriptures on every Lords-day and other solemn occasions there are appointed certain select Portions out of the Epistles and Gospels to be read which are adapted to the occasion and contain some great mystery of our Faith or other weighty matter necessary to our Edification 4. For the more solemnity of these readings Our Church joins with each of them Praises Thanksgivings or Confessions according to what we find practised in the Holy Scripture 5. That the people may benefit and be Edified by hearing the word of God a plain Authentick and most excellent Translation is provided by publick Authority in which the Scriptures are read to the People This was the first care of our Church in the Reformation and the generality of Dissenters are forced to be beholden to it for the word of Life and draw all the knowledge that they have from the Fountains which our Bishops opened for them by Translating the word of God and putting it into a Language they understand 6. 'T is ordered in our Church that the Ministers shall explain some part of the Holy Scriptures every Lords-day and exhort their Congregations in a Sermon 7. To inculcate the great Mysteries of our Faith the better our Church has appointed certain solemn times wherein once in the year they are obliged to explain and inculcate every great Mystery of our Faith and most material passages of the Gospel Such are the Conception Birth Passion Resurrection and Ascention of Our Saviour Lastly There is provided a Form of Sound Words in a short and plain Catechism in which are contained the first principles of the Oracles of God this is adapted as it ought to be to the capacity of Children and is indeed sincere Milk without School Notions or hard words And all the six principles which the Apostle mentions Heb. vi 1 2. are briefly explained in it and yet largely enough to make those that attend to it wise to Salvation The Teaching and Explaining these Fundamentals is a part of our Publick Instruction and injoined as a constant Duty on Ministers and People in our solemn Worship The Minister in each Parish being required diligently upon Sundays and Holy-days openly in the Church to instruct and examine so many Children of his Parish sent unto him as he shall think convenient in some part of the Catechism and the people are obliged to come at the time appointed and obediently to hear And by our Twelfth Canon for the better grounding of the people in the principles of Christian Religion 't is ordained That the heads of the Catechism being divided into so many parts as there are Sundays in the year shall be explained to the people in every Parish Church This is the care our Church has taken to Teach the People in their Publick Assemblies and the method is so effectual that 't is scarce conceivable how any one who duly conforms to these Orders should be ignorant of any thing that concerns his Soul And by the blessing of God the effect is such that we may affirm without Vanity or Partiality that our Clergy and Laity especially where we can prevail with them to conform to the Rules of our Church are generally much more knowing modest governable devout and charitable then perhaps may be found in any other Church of which our late contests with the Papists and behaviour under their Government and since the present Revolution are Evident proofs Sect. 3. The Practice of the Dissenters in Hearing and
pray to God praise him and instruct our Families in private and yet God forbid that our doing these privately should banish the use of them from our Publick Assemblies or that any one should think himself excused from Attending on the Publick Performance of them on account of his Private Diligence in them And the same Rule holds for Reading the Holy Scriptures 3. God tells the Children of Israel Deut. vi 6 That these Words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart and thou shalt teach them diligently to thy Children and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house and when thou walkest by the way and when thou liest down and when thou risest up and thou shalt write them on the posts of thy house Here is as much private diligence in Reading and Teaching the Law required of the Israelites as any Christian can pretend to exercise and yet all this care to preserve the knowledge of the Law by private study and exercise did not make the Reading it in their Synagogues unnecessary or prevent God from requiring them to Use it as part of his publick Worship Deut. xxxi 11 And therefore all your diligence in reading the Scriptures privately or Your Teachers exhorting and requiring You to do it ought not to warrant Their or Your dispensing with the Command of God that appoints the Reading his Word as part of his publick Service But 4. When people are left to themselves in private they may either do or not do a thing as they please And we are assured that there are many who come to Church and hear the Word of God read there that neither can nor ever wou'd be at the pains to read it in private It is therefore a great Temptation to the people to be negligent and a great want of Care in a Church to leave so material a thing as the Reading of the Word of God to private diligence We find by experience that where no publick effectual care is taken to inform the generality of Men the Knowledge of God's Word sensibly decays and is in a fair way to be lost The Papists read the Scriptures in a Language that the people do not understand and we see into what gross ignorance they are fallen by this means Those of Your Perswasion generally speaking do not read them at all in your Meetings and the consequence of this is That many of your common people are strangers to the very History of the Bible and the First Principles of Christianity as I have found on Tryal to my great trouble and astonishment This pretence therefore of Peoples Reading the Holy Scriptures in private will by no means justifie you for breaking God's Command in omitting the publick Reading them as a part of God's Service in the Congregations The Second Pretence that I have met with for this Omission is That since the penning of the Scriptures and settling of the Church by the Apostles the case is much altered with Christians That Printing was not then known and consequently Copies of the Bible were few and hard to come by Few could then read them if they had them and therefore say some Reading the Scriptures in the Assemblies was then absolutely necessary otherwise the generality must have been strangers to them But now Copies of the Bible by means of Printing are become common and easie to be had and most Families have some in them that can read And therefore the publick Reading them is not now necessary 1. The plain Answer to this is First That the Reading the Scriptures publickly is an Institution of God Therefore to lay it aside on the account of the Invention of Printing is in effect to say That Men have found out a better way to propagate the Knowledge of God's Word than He instituted and plainly to lay aside his Command for Mens own Inventions 2. God has promised that there shall be always Religious Assemblies and has commanded his Word to be read in them which is a certain means to preserve the Knowledge thereof as long as there is a Church but he has no where promised the constant commonness of Bibles nor ability to people to read them at home To omit therefore the Institution of God for Teaching his Word and to rely on peoples procuring and reading Copies of the Bible privately is to leave God's way and presumptuously depend on that which has no Promise annexed to it 3. How easie soever we may imagine the obtaining Copies of the Bible and notwithstanding the number of those that can read there are still many Families even amongst Protestants that can neither compass a Bible or get any to read it if they had one and therefore this Expedient is no waies sufficient to supply the Design of God's Institution in commanding it to be read publickly 4. Let us suppose Bibles to be as common as we can desire and that every one can read them yet who will secure us that they will do it People whilst the first Fervour of a Reformation is on them may perhaps be diligent so long as the Scripture is a Novelty to them or Zeal for a party inspirits them but when this wears off as it generally does in a little time we see by experience that their care of Reading and Meditating in the Scriptures decays with it and there are at this day too many of all Parties that neither read themselves nor hear one Chapter read in a whole Year except at Church And therefore to omit the publick Reading them on presumption that the people will do it themselves since it is so easie for them to do it is the ready way to introduce an Universal Ignorance of God's Word and reduce us again to Popery the most effectual Bar against which is the Bible in our own Language 5. People may be obliged to come to the publick Congregations and hear the Word of God read though they have no inclination to it and when they neglect they may be reproved or punished but this is not practical when the Scriptures are required only to be read in private Families Experience shews us that there is great difference between these two Methods in point of Efficacie We see in England and Wales where publick Reading was practised the people generally embraced the Reformation but in Ireland where the same care was not taken they rejected it Had God's Way been taken and the Scriptures as constantly read to the Native Irish in a Language they understood as it was in England or Wales there is little doubt but the Reformation had succeeded as Universally here as it did there but the want of this has kept them in ignorance to this day which may convince us how ineffectual all our Contrivances are to enlighten Men in respect of God's Institution I am perswaded that if ever the Native Irish be brought to the Knowledge of God's Word it must be by having it read to them publickly in a Language they
the way of his own appointment and complain of it as dull and tedious so Mal. i. 13 Ye said also what a weariness is it and ye snuffed at it And the reason is because the way of God's appointing is always more Spiritual in respect of that which is of Man 's own Invention and therefore it cannot be so easy or agreable to the Carnal minds of Men. 4. It ought therefore to be considered by you when people complain of being dull and unaffected by meer Hearing the Word of God read whether this do not truly proceed from a Carnal and Wicked Heart estranged from the Spirit of God and whether the reason that Sermons please and affect more then a Chapter out of the Bible be not the novelty and outward Ornaments of them rather than the Spiritualness of the discourse We are sure St. Paul supposeth such as are not affected with the Words of God to be meer Natural or Carnal Men 1 Cor. ii 13 where having taken Notice of speaking Not in Words which Man's Wisdom Teacheth but which the Holy Ghost Teacheth he adds but the Natural Man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God For they are foolishness to him neither can he know them for they are spiritually discerned From whence it clearly follows that the reason why Men do not understand or receive the things of God delivered to them in the Words of Scripture dictated by the Holy Ghost is because they are meer Natural Men and want the Spirit of God Whoever therefore is more affected or delights more in a Sermon then in a Chapter of the Bible has reason to look into his Heart and examine himself whether he have the Spirit of God Those mentioned in Scripture that had that Spirit delighted in the Law of God It was the joy of their Hearts they preferred it to all things they meditate in it Day and Night And were so far from turning it out of their Publick Assemblies that the Hearing it read was a great part of their Worship Whoever therefore lays aside this practise have reason to suspect that they want that Temper and Spirit with which those Holy Men were inspired and notwithstanding all their pretences to a more then ordinary Spiritualness and Reformation are little advanced above the Natural Men that neither receive or relish the things of God at least not as they ought I find it alledged as a Sixth pretence for not Reading the Word of God in your Meetings That a Child may read them and perform this Duty and then what need it take up the Ministers time To which there needs no other answer then that the Service of God is not less his or the less to be valued because it is easy On the contrary 't is the more sinfull to neglect it the more easy it is Ministers are not set apart for difficult things only which others cannot perform but they are to execute the Office that God has imposed on them whether it be easy or difficult As for Example God has Commanded his Ministers to Baptise In the Name of the Father c. Now to pour on Water in this Form is no such difficult thing but a Child or any else might perform it Neither is there any greater difficulty in the Sacrament of the Lord's-Supper as to the Essentials of it Yet I suppose it will be granted by all that it belongs only to the Minister's Office to perform these and that they must not delegate them or any part of them to others or omit them because they are easy And that they have a quite different Sacredness Efficacy and Force when performed by a Person Ordained and Authorized to this purpose then when performed by another and the same Rule holds in offering up our Prayers and in Reading the Scriptures A Man may read them at home a Child may read them in Church but they have not the same assurance of Efficacy and a blessing as when they come from the Mouth of a Person set a-part by God's Ordinance for this purpose I make no doubt but the Experience as I have said of most Christians from what they have felt in their own Hearts in Hearing the Word of God publickly read will attest the Truth of this Now if you my Friends know and own this as I hope the generality of you do you must see the unreasonableness of this pretence If any of you do not know it you must give me leave to say that I fear it is from ignorance and not considering the Scriptures And 't is your Teachers Duty to inform you better Reading the Scripture being allowed by their Directory to be a part of God's Publick Worship We have this Rule there in express words That it is requisite that all the Canonical Books be read over in order that the people may be better acquainted with the whole Body of Scriptures Now if you can shew but one Meeting in the last Age in which this has been duly performed we will not accuse you so generally of violating God's Command in this point but if there be not one such Meeting you ought to consider how you will excuse your selves before God And I think it necessary here to observe to you how insignificant general Rules are without descending to a particular Determination of Circumstances Here we have in your Dirâ—ctory a general Rule such as it is for Reading the Scripture but for want of being particular as the Calender in our Common-Prayer-Book is I question if it yet was ever once observed or indeed that it is Practical to observe it And it is so almost in every other general Rule and therefore to leave the Service of God to be Ordered by such general Rules only is in effect to Teach people to neglect it V. These are all the Reasons that I can possibly think of or have heard urged for Your practice in this point I will not say but others may be pretended but I must profess that I do not remember to have met with them if I had I would have given them a due consideration I am perswaded that they cannot be of greater force than those I have examined And that they can never excuse You in this matter from manifest breach of God's Command in preferring Mens Inventions to his Institutions After all I must profess to You That I look on all these to be only Pretences and that the true Reason of Mens Negligence in this Duty is given us 2 Tim. iv 3 For the time will come saith the Apostle when they will not endure sound Doctrine but after their own Lusts shall they heap up to themselves Teachers having itching Ears An itching Ear here can signifie nothing so properly as an Ear that loves Novelty and Variety Because therefore our Church gives the people little that is New in her Prayers or Reading the Scriptures but retains a Form of sound Words in the one and the plain Word of God in the other Hence
it is that some people cannot endure our Service but heap up to themselves Teachers that instead of the Praises Prayers and Sermons of God's immediate Appointment will gratifie them every Meeting with a New Prayer without troubling them with such Prayers or Sermons as they think old which are incomparably better only the itching Ears of the People as the Apostle fore-told are pleased with the Novelty and Variety of the one and disgust the Repetition of the other as the Israelites did that of Angels Food Psa. lxxviii 25 Num. xxi 5 xi 6 It is the Duty of all Ministers and the business of the truly Conscientious to check and curb this Humour in the People and notwithstanding all Discouragements the Ministers of Our Church instead of complying with them have constantly reproved them for their Negligence and Levity where they found them guilty But as Aaron to please the Israelites made the Golden Calf so some Ministers tho' contrary to their own Principles have changed God's Institution to please their people and lest out the constant and regular Reading of God's Word because their people grew weary of it But let all Men judge who behave themselves most like the Ministers of Christ We who keep to the Reading God's Word according to His own Institution whether the people will hear or forbear or They that comply with them and lay aside God's Command to oblige and gain them CHAP. IV. Of Bodily Worship Sect. 1. What the Holy Scriptures prescribe concerning it I. THe Fourth part of the Publick Worship of God or Design of Religious Assemblies is Visible or Bodily Adoration such amongst us are Vncovering the Head Bowing Kneeling and other Outward Signs of Reverence and Submission by which we openly acknowledge the Mercy the Justice and Power of God and express the inward sense we have of these Attributes In treating of this Head I will keep my self to the same Method as in the former and consider First The Rules and Examples that the Scriptures afford us for the performance of this Duty Secondly Compare the Practise of Our Church with them Thirdly Examine the Dissenters Practise and the Reasons they alledge for it 1. As to the first of these we find a Positive Command of God for Bodily Worship in Publick Psal. xcv 6 O come let us Worship and bow down let us kneel before the Lord our Maker The second Verse of this Psalm plainly shews us that this is meant of Publick Worship Let us come before his presence with Thanksgiving And that this bowing or kneeling is to be interpreted literally not figuratively appears from the same Verses where Singing Thanksgiving and Psalms are all litterally to be understood and there is no more reason for understanding bowing and kneeling in a figurative sence than the other II. The same Bodily Worship is required by the Second Commandment which forbids us to bow down to a graven Image by which words we are commanded to bow down to God for it is confessed by all and laid down as a Rule by the Assembly's larger Catechism That the Negative Commandments include in them the contrary Positive that is to say When a Commandment forbids us any thing it requires us to perform the Duty contrary to what is forbidden As for Example When the first Commandment forbids us to have any other Gods before the Lord it requires us to own and worship Him for our only God and after the same manner all other Commands are to be interpreted By which Rule when the Second Commandment Exod. xx 5 forbids us in these words Thou shalt not bow down to them nor serve them it requires us to practice the contrary Duties in our Addresses to God To bow down to Him and serve Him that is to worship Him both with the worship of our Bodies and Minds Therefore as he that either bows or kneels or uses any posture of Reverence to a graven Image breaks the second Commandment so doth he who on occasion of Publick Worship either refuses or neglects to use some such posture to God It being a Contempt of God and contrary to His Commands to pray to Him for instance without some posture of Adoration to Him when we can do it as well as it is a sin to kneel to an Image without praying to it which the Papists pretend to do the one is Idolatry and the other Sacriledge For the Reason why we are not to bow down to an Idol is Because 't is an Act of Worship due to God And whether we give what is due to Him to an Image or refuse to pay it to Himself we are equally Robbers of God we deny him his Honour and are guilty of Sacriledge I wish all concerned may seriously consider and amend their practise in this particular III. But the practise of Holy Men and of the Church of God in Scripture are the best Interpreters of God's Commands and from them we may learn what he requires or approves in his Worship Now through the whole Old Testament we shall never find any one sitting at his Devotions But on all occasions of Worship especially in Publick Assemblies the people of God stood kneeled bowed or prostrated themselves 'T is said indeed 2 Sam. vii 8 That King David then went and sat before the Lord But here the Original Word is capable of another signification and may as well be translated that he remained stayed or abode before the Lord and accordingly it is thus translated in other places of Scripture particularly Gen. xxii 5 xxiv 55 xxix 19 1 Kings xii 2 This place therefore is no Exception against that practise which is so evident through the whole Old Testament that Holy Men worshiped God with their Bodies as well as with their Minds IV. We shall find the same practised by our Saviour and his Apostles in the New T. Our Saviour undoubtedly is the Best Example we can propose to our selves for the worship of God and we ought to imitate what he did and approved Now if we consider the worship he offered to his Father we shall find him addressing himself to him with bowing the Body with Kneeling and Prostration as well as with strong Cries and Tears so Mat. xxvi 39 And he went a little further and fell on his Face and prayed O my Father c. and Luk. xxii 41 He kneeled down and prayed And as he paid this Bodily Worship to God so he accepted the same from Men when he was on Earth Thus the Wise Men worshiped him in his Cradle Mat. ii 11 When they saw the young Child and his Mother Mary they fell down c. Thus they that desired to be Cured by him addressed themselves to him Mark v. 22 VVhen he saw him he fell at his Feet and besought c. And after the same manner those who were Cured by him returned him Thanks Luke xvii 16 Thus his beloved Mary came into his presence John xi 32 And Matth. xxviii 9 They
the Man of God When such a person by the Inspiration of the holy Ghost used and left to be used by us in our Supplications such a set and prepared Form of Words we ought not to doubt but that manner of Address is acceptable to God 3. The third part of Prayer is Intercession in the behalf of others Now Blessing is an eminent sort of Intercession and for the use of a set Form of Words in this we have likewise the Command of God Numb vi 23 On this wise ye shall bless the Children of Israel saying unto them The Lord bless thee and keep thee c. Here we have not onely a Blessing but an earnest Intercession with God for his people and the Form and Words prescribed by Himself which were not to be used by mean ignorant people who are only now supposed by some to need the help of Forms but by Aaron and his Sons the Chief Priests From which we may be assured That God approves that manner of Address in our Blessings and Intercessions for one another not onely from mean people but from the greatest 4. The fourth part of Prayer consisteth in Petitions for averting evil commonly called Deprecation and for this purpose we have several Forms prescribed by God Joel i. 14 Gather the Elders and all the Inhabitants of the Land into the House of the Lord your God and say unto the Lord Alas for the day the day of the Lord is at hand c. We have God's Commandment for another Form Joel ii 17 Let the Priests the Ministers of the Lord weep between the Porch and the Altar and let them say Spare thy people O Lord and give not thine heritage to reproach c. From whence it clearly follows that God approves the use of a Form in this part of Prayer tho' commonly the most earnest and importunate and such as seems least to admit of being bounded by a Form so that we have the Approbation and Commandment of God for the use of a set Form of Words in all the parts of Prayer II. And accordingly we find Holy Men of God tho' full of Wisdom and of his Spirit using the same set Form of Prayer always on the same occasion Thus the Scriptures inform us concerning Moses Num. x. 35 When the Ark set forward Moses said Rise up Lord and let thine Enemies be scattered and let them that hate thee flee before thee And when it rested he said Return O Lord unto the many Thousands of Israel From whence it appears that God approves the use of one set constant Form of Words in our Prayers as long as the occasion of repeating them is the same for I presume none will suspect it was for want of Words or of the Spirit of Prayer that Moses confined himself to this Form I shall add further that the whole Book of Psalms is a Collection of Prayers of all sorts And there are few of them but what are most Excellent Forms of Prayer expressed in such pathetick significant and moving words that we have great reason to thank God for furnishing us with them and which we can never hope to equal by any of our own invention such are the 4 5 6 7 9 10 12 c. On this account they were used by the Jews as the constant Service and Liturgy performed in their Temple as we may gather from what I formerly quoted 2 Chron. xxix 30. III. But perhaps some may think these Commands and Examples of set Forms of Prayer not to be a sufficient Warrant to Christians because they are taken out of the Old Testament before the Spirit was poured out in so plentiful a measure as under the Gospel I shall therefore proceed to examine the Commands and Examples of the New Testament and here 1. I think it is certain that our Saviour and his Apostles prayed by a Form for they joyned in the Worship of the Temple and Synagogues which consisted in Psalms as I have already shewed and in some certain Forms of Prayers added to them and constantly used in their daily Service as we learn from those that give an Account of the Jewish Worship at that time Now our Saviour and his Apostles being frequently present at their Service both in the Temple and Synagogues 't is manifest they approved the manner of Addressing themselves to God in a set Form of Words 2. But our Saviour has put this matter out of all dispute with impartial Men by prescribing a Form to his Disciples when they desired him to teach them to pray as John taught his Disciples For we find his way of Teaching them was not by directing them to wait for the impulses of the Spirit and immediate Inspiration from God of what they were to offer up to him We do not find him saying When ye pray speak what shall then come into your minds or what shall be given you in that hour without taking thought about what they should say as He did in another case that is when they should be brought before Governours and Kings for his sake Mat. x. 19 But in addressing themselves to God he prescribed them a Form of Words and Commanded them to use it Luke xi 2 And he said unto them When ye pray say Our Father which art in Heaven c. Here is an express Command of Christ to his Disciples to use these Words when they pray Our Father c. A Command for the use of a Form so plain that it is impossible to express it in clearer terms 'T is not to be doubted but Religious Persons among the Jews offer'd up constantly prayers to God We see it in David Psal. lv 17 and in Daniel Chap. vi 10 And no doubt the Disciples of our Saviour were not wanting in this Duty nor in skill to perform it since we find that other devout Persons of their time had their hours of Prayer as we see in Acts iii. 1 Therefore what they desired of our Saviour was not to teach them absolutely or in general to pray but to teach them to pray as John also taught his Disciples that is to give them a Form of Prayer proper to His Institution as they saw the Disciples of Moses and John had proper to theirs Upon which our Saviour gave them the Lord's-Prayer as a summary of the main points of his Doctrine and as a constant badge of their being his Disciples As if he should have said When ever you offer up to God your usual Prayers which Religious Custom has taught you as Jews and Disciples of Moses or of John whether in Secret or Publick add this always to your other prayers for a continual Remembrance to you of those Duties Priviledges and Qualifications which belong to you as My Disciples and as a means of obtaining Grace from your Heavenly Father to enable you to persevere in them The Lords-Prayer is therefore a badge of Our Profession imposed by Christ himself and to be used by Us
as we would be accounted His Disciples Neither will saying the Substance of it in other Words of our own Invention answer the intent of this Command Since 1. We are sure the Substance of the Prayer is put by Christ in the most apposite and comprehensive Words that are possible and therefore wholly to lay them aside for others is plainly to decline the choice of Words that Christ has made for us and substitute less apposite of our own to express those Petitions in 2. The more particularly any thing is Commanded in the Worship of God we ought to be the more carefull to observe it and may be the more confident that God is pleased with our performance of it since therefore we are particularly Commanded when we pray to say Our Father c. whatever other prayers we offer to God this ought not to be omitted 3. In general we are Commanded to offer up our desires to God and in particular to offer this Prayer These Commands agree very well together and therefore the one ought not to justle out the other To lay aside the Prayer particularly commanded by Christ for others of our own composing in pusuance of the general Command is too apparently to prefer our own Invention to God's Command 4. When we take the liberty to word our own Prayers we may forget some things we may mix our own frailties and weakness in our Petitions and this too often appears both in the matter and wording of them The way therefore to supply these defects and to obtain pardon for our Infirmities is to use our Lords perfect Prayer not only as a Pattern for prayer as some would have it but likewise as a Form necessary to be used to correct what may be amiss or defective in our own prayers 5. They who lay aside the words of the Lord's Prayer are in danger to lay aside some of the substance of it also particularly the substance of that Petition Forgive us our Trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us For many who lay aside the Lord's Prayer do neither in terms nor substance offer this Petition to God nay are so far from making this the Condition of their pardon as Christ has taught us that they publickly dispute against the Form for this very reason Tho' Christ who fore-saw the Objection which our Corruptions would be apt to make has Answered it and bound it upon us indispensibly as our Duty to ask Forgiveness on these and no other terms Matth. vi 15 And indeed if such a Sentence had been prescribed by our Lord to be only repeated by Christians once or oftner every day it would have seemed but what was necessary to mind them of that peculiar and indispensible Duty of their profession We see the Wisdom of the Ancients thought fit to reduce their Doctrine or Instructions into Proverbs or short Sentences to be got by heart and kept continually in memory as of great influence for guiding Mens Lives and Actions and such Sentences must be of much greater influence when repeated in the presence of God as these in our Lord's Prayer are required to be Lastly This Prayer being given us as a Badge of our Profession a Summary of our Duty as Christians and a Form of Sound Words it is no more lawful to alter it than to lay it aside and it would be the same presumption and hazard to substitute other words instead of Christs in this Prayer which we are oblig'd always to use when we pray as to change the words of our Creed or as it would be in a Battel to change the Word given by a General or any part of it and to retain onely the signification of it From all which 't is manifest that God has required Forms of Prayer to be used by us both in the Old and New Testament As to the difference we find in the Lord's Prayer as delivered by St. Matthew and St. Luke 't is to be observed that our Saviour spake in the Syriac or vulgar Hebrew and the Evangelists writ their Gospels in Greek Now in the Syriack one and the same word expresses both those different words which the Evangelists use in the same Petition as Debts and Trespasses c. So that it is no real but a seeming difference between them all the different Words being the same in the Original Language in which our Saviour spake IV. As we have the Command of God and the Example of his Saints for offering up our Prayers to Him in a set and prepared Form of Words so we have the like Example for joyning Voices upon occasion in offering these Words Generally it is sufficient that the People joyn in their hearts with the words of publick Prayers yet the Scriptures warrant also on some Occasions their joyning their Voices 1. Thus we find the people of Israel addressing themselves to God Judges xxi 2 And the people came to the House of God and abode there till even before God and lift up their Voices and wept sore and said O Lord God of Israel why is this come to pass in Israel c. 2. In Hymns and Psalms which are also Prayers in great part as I noted before the people are generally allowed by all as being fully warranted by Scripture to joyn their Voices So Moses and the Children of Israel sung unto the Lord Exod. xv 1 3. In the New Testament we have an Eminent Example of this practise Acts iv 24 where the Apostles and their Disciples lift up their Voice to God with one accord and said Lord thou art God c. If this prayer was immediately inspired as it seems it was then the whole Assembly was inspired together not only to think the same Thing but likewise to utter the same Words and the Spirit of God by it has attested the fitness and decency of a whole Congregation's pronouncing the same prayer together If it had not been convenient that this should be some times practised in our Christian Assemblies God would not have given us this Example If the people were always to joyn in their hearts only with our publick prayers it would have been so here for the Spirit of God wou'd not have led them to do an indecent thing or a thing unfit for God's Worship 4. St. Paul and Silas joyned also their Voices in their prayers as we may see from Acts xvi 25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sung praises unto God and the prisoners heard them I know it may be alledged That they sung their prayers which they offered up to God on this Occasion and on that account joyned their Voices I confess the Original favours this Inference but if it be allowed that the Apostles sung their prayers together it must be allowed that they might likewise say them together For we find the Blessed in Heaven offering not only their praises together but their prayers also so Rev. vi 10 They cried with a loud voice saying How long
to express our Desires in or enables us to make one 't is sufficient and we ought to be thankful 7. In confirmation of this Account of the Spirit of Prayer we may further observe 1. That no Worship is Acceptable to God that is not offer'd to Him in Spirit and Truth John iv 24 and therefore the Scripture recommends to us prayers in and by the Spirit but that praying with the Spirit doth not signifie extemporary unpremeditated prayers or exclude Forms will appear from 1 Cor. xiv 15 I will pray with the Spirit I will pray with the Vnderstanding I will sing with the Spirit I will sing with the Vnderstanding also Here we find singing with the Spirit as well as praying with it and whoever sings otherwise doth not worship God as he ought but tho' we are obliged to sing with the Spirit yet we must and ought to sing in the Congregation with a set Form of Words and therefore for the same reason tho' we pray with the Spirit we may pray by a set and prepared Form of Words The most spiritual Songs consist of a set Form of imposed Words and so may the most spiritual Prayers Praying therefore with the Spirit in this place is so far from meaning or being an Argument for the Use of extemporary unpremeditated prayers that it is rather an Argument against them For either we are obliged by it to sing to God in extemporary Hymns or we are not obliged to pray to Him in extemporary Prayers since it is Unreasonable to interpret singing with the Spirit in one sense and praying with the Spirit in a contrary 2. And to confirm this further we find the most spiritual Persons addressing themselves to God in Forms so did Moses so did David as I observed before and so did our Saviour himself on the Cross when in his Agony he repeated the first Verse of Psal. xxii in Syriack and as some believe the whole Psalm by which Act He recommendeth to us Forms of Prayer in his Dying Breath as the most proper means of expressing our condition to God and as most suitable to the Divine Majesty and therefore praying in the Spirit Ephes. vi 18 Praying in the holy Ghost Jude 20. and with the Spirit 1 Cor. xiv 15 signifie praying with Grace in our Hearts by the Assistance and Motion of the Holy Spirit And a man may as well pray with Grace in his Heart when he prays by a Form as sing with Grace in his Heart when he sings by a Form 3. We have a Promise that God's Spirit will assist us with this Grace in our Hearts but we have no Promise that He will help us to Words without the Use of Forms as will appear from Rom. viii 26 The Spirit also helpeth our Infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit it self maketh Intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered those inward motions in the Heart called here groanings are that Grace in the Heart with which we ought to pray and to which the Spirit of God doth and indeed only can help us and to pray with this Grace is to pray in and with the Spirit whether we use words or no and if we do use them whether we reduce them into a Form first or pour them forth as they present themselves to our Minds but we have no Promise that the Holy Ghost will always furnish us with fit words on all occasions and therefore ought not to presume that He will 4. T is certain that he did furnish some with such words for we find both Prayers and Hymns dictated immediately by him of which we have Examples in the Hymns of the Blessed Virgin and Zacharias and in the Song or Prayer of Simeon and in Acts iv 24 But then it is manifest that this was an extraordinary Gift of God and a part of Prophecy and we may not depend on the holy Ghost for this Gift more then for any other Extraordinary Gift till it be made appear that it was to continue alwaies in the Church and to be communicated to All the Children of God Praying and singing the Praises of God are Duties incumbent on all Christians but we are no more obliged to pray Extemporary Prayers from any Example of inspired Men in Scripture than to sing Extemporary Hymns from the like Examples to which yet none I think pretend 5. 'T is very observable that even those who composed their Prayers and Hymns by immediate inspiration did not generally offer them to God in the Congregation till they had first reduced them into a Form Thus David first penned his Psalms and then delivered them to be sung 1. Chron. xvi 7 and 't is probable the Prophets 1. Cor. xiv 26 did the same for they are supposed every one to have a Psalm a Doctrine a Tongue a Revelation c. that is to have them ready and reduced into Form for the use of the Church when they came together That this is the meaning of having a Psalm c. in this place will appear very probable not only from the words which naturally import this and can hardly be otherwise interpreted but likewise from the Apostles making a difference between what these Prophets had prepared and what was revealed immediately at the time of their being together vers 30. If any thing be revealed to another that siteth by let the first hold his peace Which shews that these Psalms c. were to give place to such as were immediately inspired So far were these inspired Men from countenancing an extemporary unpremeditated way of serving God except where there was an immediate Revelation for it and so utterly void of Scripture-proof is this great principle of the Dissenters Worship that the Spirit of prayer is given to every one of the Faithfull to enable them to conceive with the Heart and express with their Tongues their necessities to God without a Form of Prayer 8. It lies therefore my Friends on your Teachers who are of this persuasion to produce plain Scripture for your principles or else to confess that you have laid aside Prayers by Forms commanded by God and practised by holy Men in Scriptures to make room for this way of Praying of Men's own invention But further that place Eccl. v. 1.2 seems to me to afford a strong Argument against such Prayers When thou goest to the House of God Be not rash with thy Mouth and let not thy Heart be hasty to utter any thing before God for God is in Heaven and thou upon Earth Therefore let thy words be few It is hard to say what it is to be rash with our Mouths or hasty to utter any thing before God if it be not rashnesh to trust the expressing all our desires to such uncertain and unpremeditated words as our invention suggests unto us when we come before him which as I have shewed the Scriptures give us no promise of being supplied to us
the unlawfulness of forms prevails and therefore all good people are obliged to oppose it as they would retrieve the constant use of secret prayers which shews that this is no indifferent matter as the objection would suggest but of great weight and fit to be contended for I will not mention some other Reasons that are of great moment because they would but exasperate and tend to make the Duty of Prayer when performed extempore ridiculous which ill men might extend as it too often happens to expose Devotion in general such are the indecent Expressions which sometimes fall from persons that pray thus I will only observe to you that Extemporary Prayers of some Preachers have too often given occasion of Offence to serious persons even among your selves 'T is certain that to print some of them as they have been spoken as those that we make use of are printed would not be for the Honour of the Holy Spirit to whom they are ascribed nor much recommend them to serious Men. But I esteem it an ill thing for Men to ridicule one anothers Devotion whatever it is V. There remains yet the Third Opinion of Dissenters which they advance against us in this matter of Prayer to be Examined That the Minister is the Mouth of the Congregation and that the People have nothing to do but to joyn with him in their Hearts An Opinion far from any Authority of Scripture which expresly requires us Rom. xv 6 with one Mind and one Mouth to glorifie God We produce this and many other places and Examples in Scripture for the People's joyning their Voices and bearing a part in their praises and prayers and we are assured there is no Scripture forbids it and therefore when you Condemn it or teach it to be Unlawful we must charge it upon You as an instance of Your Teaching for Doctrines the Commandments of Men. Which is all I think needful to be said to this Head after what I have shewed before in defence of our contrary practise from Scripture and I think sufficient to induce you seriously to consider it And thus I presume I have faithfully examined the Rules and Examples the Scriptures afford us for the performance of that part of our publick Worship that consists in Prayers and compared the Service of our Church and the Dissenters way of Praying with them and made it appear that our performance of this Duty both as to the Matter and Manner is agreeable to the Commandments of God and to the Examples of Holy Men recorded in Scripture And that the Service the Dissenters have substituted in the room thereof has in many particulars laid aside God's Commands and deserted the Examples of Scripture and is in the main part thereof an immediate Invention of Men. And I intreat you who are of this Persuasion and adhere to these Principles of Worship which I have now mentioned and shewed to be disagreeable to Scripture to consider seriously whether you are not thereby literally guilty of that Sin with which our Saviour taxeth the Jews Mark vii 7 of Teaching for Doctrines the Commandments of Men And also of that Superstition condemned by St. Paul Col. ii 21 which saith Touch not taste not handle not that is which teaches to forbear those things which God has made Lawful after the Doctrines and Commandments of Men And I beseech God to inlighten your Minds to make a true Judgement in it that you may deliver your Souls CHAP. III. Of Hearing Sect. 1. What the Holy Scriptures prescribe concerning it I. ONE great design of Our Christian Assemblies is Hearing and that which is to be heard is the Word of God I shall proceed in examining this in the same manner as I have done in the former Chapters And consider First What Directions the Scriptures afford us for the publick performance of this Duty Secondly Shall compare our own practice with them And Thirdly That of the Dissenters First then God has positively Commanded us to read His Word in our publick Assemblies So Deut. xxxi 10 In the feast of Tabernacles when all Israel is come to appear before the Lord thy God in the place where the Lord shall choose Thou shalt read this Law before all Israel in their Hearing Gather the people together Men Women and Children and thy Stranger that is within thy gates that they may hear and that they may learn and fear the Lord your God and observe to do all the Words of this Law And 't is observed Jos. viii 35 that there was not a word of all that Moses Commanded which Joshua read not before all the Congregation Neither was this confined to their Solemn Assemblies at Jerusalem It was likewise a constant part of their Sabbath Service in their Synagogues As we may learn from Acts xiii 14 where it is observed that Paul and Barnabas went into the Synagogue on the Sabbath day and sate down and after the reading of the Law and the Prophets the Rulers of the Synagogue sent unto them c. and St. Paul takes notice vers 27. that the Prophets were read every Sabbath day meaning undoubtedly in their Assemblies And St. James Acts xv 21 of Moses his being read in the Synagogues every Sabbath day II. This reading the Law was the great and most effectual means God provided for preserving the knowledge of himself amongst his people and where it was omitted the people immediately sunk into Idolatry and the best Reformation began and was carried on by Restoring this Ordinance Thus 't is observed of Josiah 2 Chron. xxxiv 29 that he gathered together all the Elders of Judah and Jerusalem And all the Inhabitants of Jerusalem and the Priâ—sts and the Levites and all the people great and small and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the Covenant that was found in the House of the Lord. The like is observed of Ezra Neh. viii 3 And he read therein before the street that was before the Water-gate from Morning untill Mid-day before the Men and the Women and all that could understand 'T is remarkable that after the Captivity the Jews never fell into Idolatry and the chief reason given by themselves was the strict Observation of this Ordinance of God the Law being constantly read to them afterwards publickly in their Synagogues so powerfully doth God bless his own Ordinances to preserve those that use them from Error and Sin III. From the practice of the Synagogue in reading the Law and the Prophets the like Order was brought into the Christian Church and Reading was made a part of the Office of the Christian Elders as it was before of the Jewish And hence it is that Timothy is Commanded by St. Paul 1 Tim. iv 13 To give attendance to Reading as well as to Exhortation and Doctrine And the inspired Writings of the Apostles were read in the Christian Assemblies as well as the Law and Prophets among the Jews According to St. Paul's Command Col.
iv 16 When this Epistle is read amongst you cause that it also be read in the Church of the Laodiceans and that ye likewise read the Epistle from Laodicea And it was but reason since the Gospel contained the Christian Law that it should be read in the Christian Assemblies as well as the Law of Moses was in the Synagogues And that it was so read in the first Christian Assemblies I might shew by many instances out of the Antient Fathers if there were occasion IV. This publick Reading the Law was of so great Reputation that it is termed Preaching it as we may see from Acts xv 21 For Moses of old time hath in every City them that preach him being read in the Synagogues every Sabbath day The word Preaching has a peculiar sense in the New Testament and signifies properly to Declare or Proclaim the Word of God as a Herauld or Cryer proclaimes the Laws or Orders of a King Hence only those that Proclaim'd the Gospel to such as had not heard it before or read the Old Testament to the people are said to Preach Preaching is distinguished from Teaching and Exhortation and 't is observable that in the whole New Testament tho' reading the Scriptures is called Preaching yet interpreting them applying them or exhorting the people from them in a Christian Auditory is never called by that name If it be objected that St. Paul is said to preach to the Disciples Acts xx 7 when he only in probability made a Sermon or Exhortation to Believers as is usual now I answer that the Original of this Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is never translated preach in any other place of the New Testament and should not have been here but discours'd disputed spake or reason'd so it is translated in Acts xvii 2 17. xviii 19 xix 8 9. Heb. xii 5 c. for the Original Words which properly signifie preaching are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 From all which it is manifest that there are only two ways by which the Word of God is properly preached the first is when it is declared to those that never heard of it before and the second is when the very words of the Scripture are read publickly to the peodle as a Cryer doth a Proclamation which he doth not word himself but reads it in the words in which it is delivered to him In short The Scriptures are Sermons out of the Mouth of God being dictated by his Holy Spirit for the Reading of which to the People for their Conviction and Instruction there is a peculiar Command of God and where this Ordinance is duely observed they are sure of the Word of Life and 't is impossible they should be ignorant of their Duty for the Scriptures are sufficient to mak◠them wise to Salvation and the hearing them with Humility and Attention is a means sufficient to beget Faith in the Hearts of those that hear them for they are profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction in Righteousness that the Man of God may be perfect thorowly furnished to all good Works as we see 1 Tim. iii. 16 17. V. We find in Holy Scripture that the Publick Reading of the Word of God was with great Solemnity 'T is observed Nehem. viii 5 When Ezra opened the Book all the people stood up and Ezra blessed the Lord the great God and all the people answered Amen Amen with lifting up their hands and they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground and I find it generally agreed that both the Readers and Hearers stood up whilst the Law was read tho' not when other things were read or taught hence it is observed Luke iv 16 that our Saviour stood up for to read and Vers. 20. after closing the Book that he sat down to teach Hence Rev. v. God is represented in allusion to the High-Priest with a Book in his Right Hand containing the Revelations of his Will and the Lamb as his Minister takes it out of his Hand to declare the Contents of it and Vers. 8. When he had taken the Book the four Beasts and four and twenty Elders fell down before the Lamb And they sung a New Song The Angels joyn with them Vers. 11. and the whole Creation Verse 13. From whence we see the Scriptures teach us to receive the Revelations of God's Will out of the Book of Life with Adoration and Praises And therefore we find that at the Reading the Law Confessions and Praises of God were intermixed and succeeded one another Neh. ix 3 And they stood up in their place and read in the Book of the Lord their God one fourth part of the Day and another fourth part they Confessed and Worshiped the Lord their God VI. We find that the Word of God is to be read in such a Language as the People understand After the Captivity the People being Born and Educated in a strange Land their Language was changed and they did not understand at least Universally the pure Hebrew in which the Law was first written therefore when Ezra read in the Law a certain number of the Priests and Levites interpreted the Words of the Law as Ezra read them to the People Neh. viii 7 And they caused the people to understand the Law and the people stood in their place so they read in the Book in the Law of God distinctly and gave the sence and caused them to understand the reading And this Custom continueth among the Jews to this Day first the Hebrew Text is read and then a Translation or Paraphrase in a Language understood by the Hearers And indeed there may be good reason for reading the Originals in Publick Assemblies such a Custom being an effectual means to preserve the knowledge of them but they cannot be useful to the People without a Translation Therefore St. Paul doth not absolutely forbid speaking in Unknown Tongues in the Church but orders 1 Cor. xiv 27 Let one interpret but if there be no Interpreter let him keep silence in the Church VII We find that after reading the Word of God there was sometimes an Enlargement or Comment on some part of it and an Exhortation to the People Thus when our Saviour had read a portion of Scripture He applied it to the people in a Discourse to that purpose But it doth not appear that this was constantly done on the contrary it is rather probable that it was not For had there been a constant Provision for such Enlargement and Exposition of the Law and Exhortation from it there had been no occasion for the Rulers of the Synagogue Acts xiii 15 to send to St. Paul and Barnabas after the reading of the Law and Prophets that Message we find there Ye Men and Brethren if ye have any Word of Exhortation for the People say on St. Paul supposes him who Teaches and him whose Office it was to Exhort distinct from him that Ruled
Reading the Word I Come now to consider with you my Friends who dissent from us how this great Duty of Teaching the people the Law of God is perform'd in your Assemblies and to compare your practice in this point with the Scripture Rules and Examples Which I shall do with the same Candour and Integrity that I have hitherto endeavoured to observe I. And here I must needs say that your Teachers seem to have had very little Regard either to Scripture Rules or Examples in framing this part of your Worship having laid aside all those methods of instruction that the Scriptures recommend to us except it be that of Exposition and Exhortation Which among you is called Preaching in so much that tho' a Man frequent your Meetings all his Life yet he has no security or hardly possibility of learning from your publick Teachings all the great Mysteries of his Religion or the necessary principles of his Faith 1. For first Your Preachers are intirely left to their choice what place of Scripture they will explain or what Subject they will handle And hence it happens that hardly any one Man in his life ever goes through the necessary Articles of Faith or of practice in his Publick Sermons and for the truth of this I appeal to your selves 2. You have no summary of Principles injoined to be either Read or Taught in your Publick Assemblies A Catechism you have but neither your Directory nor Practice make it any part of your Lords-day-Service And besides your Catechism is such that it no ways answers the design of a Form of sound Words I have already shewed that such a Form should contain only the first and necessary principles of the Oracles of God in such Words and Methods as may make it easily apprehended and retained by the weak and unlearned which make up the bulk of the people But your Catechism is full of Hard Words School Terms and Abstruse Notions no wise necessary to be known by the generality of Christians or possible to be understood by Children or unlearned Persons for whose Edification principally a Catechism ought to be contrived Besides all this it is so long and intricate even the Shorter that not one child in ten ever gets it by heart nor one in five hundred retains it as I have found by experience and desire that you would judge of this matter as you find upon trial Lastly After all it is imperfect of some of the principles of the Apostles Catechism being quite left out of it I mean laying on of hands Joined with Baptism Heb. vi 2 a great defect sure in a Catechism to leave out a Fundamental of Christianity II. But the most sad and deplorable defect of your performance of this Duty is your casting out the reading of the Word of God from most of your Publick Assemblies directly contrary to God's Institution and Ordinance for the Instruction of his Church insomuch that in many of your Meetings setting aside a verse or two for a Text or Quotation at the discretion of the Teacher the voice of God is never publickly heard amongst them This is matter of fact and undeniable And in all the Meetings in the North of Ireland in a whole year perhaps there is not so much Scripture read as in one day in our Church by the strictest enquiry which I cou'd make One would think this alone were sufficient to shew the people where the Worship of God is to be found in its Purity and to prove our Assemblies to be the True Church of God against all that come in competition with us whereof some hide the Word of God in a strange Language and others banish it out of their Meetings It being in our Congregations only that the voice of God is heard speaking to his People without cover or gloss Sure it is a sad thing that a Man may go to most Meetings many years and never hear one intire Chapter read in them Now this omission is the more inexcusable in you and must render you manifestly self-condemned 1. First Because you so vehemently press the necessity of Preaching and quote the Holy Scriptures to prove it In which reading the Law as is shewed before is termed Preaching Act xv 21 but interpreting the Scriptures applying them or exhorting the Congregation from them in a fixed Christian Auditory which you count Preaching is never called so in the whole New Testament Therefore by laying aside the reading the Scriptures in your publick Assemblies you have intirely cast aside Preaching in the proper Scripture-sense of it But 2. This must render you self-condemned because you pretend to honour the Holy Scriptures above other Christians Your Mouths Commendably and with just Reason are continually full of the praises of the Holy Bible you own it with the generality of the Reformed Churches for the only sufficient Rule of Faith you appeal to it and seem to found your selves on it And yet your not allowing the Reading of it a constant place in your Religious Assemblies makes it seem as if you had a very low Opinion of it in your hearts If you really value it as you profess why do you banish the Reading of it from your publick Worship to make room for Discourses Lectures and Sermons of your own Teachers Remember of whom it is said Mark vii 6 This People honoureth me with their Lips but their Heart is far from me While you thus justle the Word of God out of your Solemn Meetings to make room for your own Sermons I beseech you to consider whether this be not a laying aside the Commandments of God for Mens Inventions unless you will call your Sermons as some Quakers are said to do as much the Word of God as the Bible III. I look on this as so Material a Point and conceive the Honour of the Holy Scriptures and the Salvation of Christians to be so deeply concerned in it that I think my self obliged to Examine the Pretences I have found to justifie it Tho' I confess they seem to me so weak that I am afraid I shall be almost suspected by indifferent persons not to do Justice in representing them For it is unaccountable that any body should urge so slight Reasons for so considerable an Omission And yet these are all I have ever met with or heard from you The first Reason I have heard urg'd is That the people are obliged to read the Scriptures at home and being thus acquainted with them the Reading of them is not necessary in their publick Meetings But to this I Answer 1. That we see from what has been said That the Reading of the Holy Scriptures is by God's Appointment a part of his solemn publick Worship therefore to leave it out in our Assemblies on any pretence whatsoever is to lay aside his Command and so to corrupt and dismember his Worship 2. The private performance of a Duty ought by no means to interfere with or hinder the publick We must
understand and not by thrusting Bibles privately into their hands of the ineffectualness of which we have had an Experiment of 150 Years 6. But lastly Instead of all other Arguments None of us are ignorant that the Word of God cannot be presumed to have the same Efficacie when read privately as it hath when read in the Assemblies of Christians according to God's appointment Since he has given us a peculiar promise to be present in such Assemblies And there are no diligent Hearers of the Word Publickly read but are able from their own experience to testify that they often find it to have a different force and efficacy when they hear it read as a part of his Ordinance in the Publick Assemblies in which he has peculiarly promis'd his presence than when they read it in private by themselves The Third pretence I have found alledged for omitting the regular reading the Bible in your Meetings is That it takes up too much time and is a hindrance to the more profitable Duty of what you commonly call Preaching 1. I intreat you to consider That there is a time for every thing and since God has appointed reading his Word a time and room in our Publick Assemblies who are we that we should presume to throw it out This surely is to set up our selves against God and to think that we are able to Order things better for the Edification of his Church then he has done Surely we ought rather to take care so to dispose our Sermons that they may not interfere with any other Institution of God But that whatever time we allow them there may remain sufficient for reading God's Holy Word Which I have proved is in Scripture Language Preaching And therefore to justle this out to make our own discourses longer is plainly to prefer our way of Preaching to God's If there were a necessity that one or the other must be omitted Modesty ought to Teach us to omit our own Words rather then God's 2. Suppose that upon some Extraordinary Occasion it may be Lawful to omit Reading God's Word in our Assemblies that we may have the more time to manage a discourse for the Instruction of the People yet it can never be justifiable to make this a common practise which is to put a manifest Contempt on the Word of God A Fourth Pretence against reading the Scriptures publickly in a Regular Method is That they are hard to be understood or applyed and therefore only so much of them ought to be read at a time as the Minister may explain and apply to his Auditory And that one Verse thus Applyed is better than many Chapters read without such Application 1. It is to be consider'd First That it is against the general opinion of the Reformed Churches who universally teach that the Scriptures are plain in all things necessary to Salvation And therefore there is not that universal necessity of an explanation of every place of Scripture that is to be read as is pretended 2. The Holy Scriptures when heard with Humility and Attention apply themselves better then any Man can do it The Words of them are the Words of God and they have a plainness force and spirit in them which no Humane Eloquence can improve and therefore it is a great affront to them to say that they have little efficacy except a Minister apply them 3. Suppose one verse well applied to be better than many Chapters for which there is no colour yet this would not justifie the omission of reading them publickly for no Application can be so well made of them whilst people are not thoroughly acquainted with them It ought therefore to be our first care to read them to the People often and solemnly that they may be acquainted with the whole Body of them and then one word of Application may do more good then many Sermons to People not so prepared with the general knowledge of them The literal knowledge of the will of God must always go before the saving and is the best Introduction to it Now the reading the Law in the ears of the people is the means appointed by God to teach them that literal knowledge and therefore while your Teachers have laid aside this means of God's Appointment they have in a great measure debarred people of the Spiritual and Saving knowledge of his Will 4. Fourthly Reading a verse or two and trusting to the Ministers Application without the peoples being acquainted with the whole body of the Scriptures does put Christians too much in the power of their Teachers and makes them liable to be seduced by them This is the very Artifice whereby the Romish Priests keep their people in ignorance and your Teachers using the same Method while it is manifest that so great a part of their people either do not or cannot read them at home seems too like a design on their Hearers and tempts the World to suspect that they are affraid of the naked simplicity of the Scriptures since they dare not trust their people with Hearing them Publickly read except they add their own glosses to them The Fifth Pretence that I have met with for laying aside the publick reading the Word of God is That the dead Letter as some call it is a dull formal thing without Spirit or Life where it is not applied to the Souls of Men by the Spirit of God speaking in his Ministers and that without such Assistance the Scriptures have little Efficacy on the Heart I hope there are few of any Communion will own this pretence since it is so horrid a Reflection and affront on the Word of God I will however in answer to it offer these following Considerations 1. That the Holy Scriptures give a Character of themselves very different from this They represent the Word of God as the Sword of the Spirit as quick and powerfull as able to make a Man wise to Salvation as giving wisdom to the simple as Converting the Soul with many other Expressions to denote the Efficacie thereof on the hearts of Men and therefore to reflect on the Word as dull and formal as a meer dead Letter that cannot engage the attention of the Hearers or reach their Hearts is too near Blasphemy 2. We are certain that God speaks to us immediately by his Holy Spirit in his Word And where the Spirit of God is there is Power But when Men speak their own Words or pretend to apply the Words or Passages of Scripture tho' they seem to do it with the greatest Zeal and Learning yet they may be mistaken nay they may decieve us And therefore wholly to lay aside the immediate dictates of the Holy Ghost recorded in the Scriptures for any pretended Explication or Application made by Men is manifestly to exchange God's undoubted Words and Command for what may be a meer Humane Invention 3. 'T is to be considered that the people have always been apt to grow weary of the Service of God in
2 Chron. xxix 26 Neh. x. 40 And this was not a voluntary act but imposed on the people as appears from Neh. ix 5 Then the Levites said Stand up and bless the Lord your God c. In conformity to which the Saints and Angels in Heaven are represented to us thus praising God Rev. vii 9 They stood before the Throne and before the Lamb and cried with a loud Voice saying Salvation c. At Reading the holy Scriptures both Reader and People used the same posture as appears from Neh. viii 4 5. And Ezra the Scribe stood on a Pulpit of Wood And Ezra opened the Book and all the People stood up And Chap. ix 3 And they stood up in their place and read in the Book Which our Saviour likewise observed Luke iv 16 Lastly They offered their Sacrifices with Bodily Adoration 2 Chron. xxix 27 And when the Burnt Offerings began the Song of the Lord began also And all the Congregation worshiped and the Singers sang and the Trumpets sounded and all this continued until the Burnt Offering was finished The word as was observed here rendred Worshiped signifies literally they bowed themselves down and the meaning is They continued prostrate or kneeling whilst the Burnt Offering was offered Thus in every Religious Performance the Scripture has taken particular notice and Recorded to us with what Acts of Bodily Worship it was offered up unto God Sect. 2. The Practice of Our Church in Bodily Worship LEt us in next place compare our own Practise with this Representation and see how we perform this part of Visible Worship in our Church I. First then when we come into the Publick Assemblies we believe our selves to come into Christs presence because he has promised Mat. xviii 21 Where two or three are gathered together in My Name there am I in the midst of them And therefore in Obedience to the Commands of God in Scripture 'T is our Custom to lift up our hearts to Him in Prayer and bow our Bodies before Him This bowing our Bodies when we come into the Assembly of Christians met together in Christs Name and for his Service which tho' it be not enjoyned by any Constitution of our Church is generally practis'd by good people as very decent in it self and edifying to others Our bowing our Bodies therefore at our coming into a Christian Assembly for Worship is only to pay that Bodily Worship to God that He requires from us when we come into his peculiar presence which presence He has promised in such Assemblies Some indeed are so weak as to term our thus worshiping God a bowing to the Altar whereas our Church expresly declaring against any Adoration to be paid to the Consecrated Bread and Wine does much deelare against doing it to the Altar II. Vncovering the Head is a Mark of Respect among us and therefore we continue Uncovered whilst the Assembly lasts that is whilst we are in Christs presence The custom of the Eastern Church was to Vncover their Feet in the presence of God so Moses and Joshua were commanded to do to which Solomon alludes Eccles. v. 1 This was easily practised with them because they wore nothing on their Feet but loose Shoes and Sandals which were readily slipt off And this continued till our Saviour's time as appears by their washing their Feet when they came into Houses Luke vii 44 Vncovering the Head is the same common mark of respect with us now as uncovering the Feet was with them in their time and this uncovering the Feet being neither practicable with us nor any note of respect among us but rather the contrary Our Church has requir'd us instead of it to uncover our Heads Can. vii For the justification of this practise give me leave to digress so far as to explain one passage in the New Testament which seems to require that a Man should have his Head uncovered in the presence of God not as a note of respect but of Priviledge 1 Cor. xi 7 For a Man indeed ought not to cover his Head forasmuch as he is the Image and Glory of God but the Woman is the Glory of the Man Which passage does not primarily relate to the covering the Head but the Face by a Vail according to the Custom of the Eastern Countries and this covering the face was a note of respect as the contrary was a note of Priviledge So we find that when Rebecca was to appear before her Husband Gen. xxiv 65 She took a Vail and covered her self So Exod. iii. 6 Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look upon God and Elijah wrapped his face in his Mantle when he went out to meet God 1 Kings xix 13 On the same Account the Seraphins cover their faces with their Wings Is. vi 2 'T is therefore a peculiar Priviledge and favour to be allowed to appear before God uncover'd and it is reckon'd as such 2 Cor. iii. 18 but we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord c. Those that were out of favour might not appear bare-faced before their Prince but with their Heads covered as Haman was when the King signified his displeasure against him Ester vii 8 Now for the understanding of the before cited place we must consider that Man being the Image and Glory of God is allowed to take this Confidence before God which is denied to Women For since God was pleased to make Man his Image and Glory it is not fit that this his glory should be covered before him but on the other hand it is fit that Man's glory which is Woman should be covered before God This I conceive is the full meaning of this place and has no relation to the manner of uncovering the of Head in use with us now which is only a mark of civil respect and that peculiar to Men and not to Women But however being an honour paid to Men there is no reason why it should not be paid to God On the contrary it seems to be required by the Apostles general Injunction Let all things be done decently And it is one of the Articles of our Church That the Church has power to order Rites and Ceremonies that is to determine what particular things come under the Apostles general word of Decency 3. We stand up at our Praisings Thanksgivings and Confessions of Faith in Conformity to the Examples of Holy Scripture 4. At our Confessions of Sin and at our Prayers we present our selves before God on our knees by order of our Church according to the Example of our Saviour and the Church of God III. We Celebrate the Holy Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ in a Worshiping posture I know that many except against this It would engage me in a longer discourse to examine it fully perhaps God may hereafter give me an Opportunity to discuss it at large at present I shall only hint at the Scripture-Grounds we have for it by
'T is certain our Saviour did not sit but lie at Table when he did eat his usual Meals Suppose then he had obliged us to his posture of Eating we ought to lie as he did but none assert the necessity of our doing so or practise this way Since then all Parties change it sure we do better that change it into the Religious way of Eating recommended to us in the Scriptures with Adoration then others that change our Saviour's way into sitting the common way of our Eating 3. We have this further to say for our practise That our Saviour was not at a common supper when he Instituted this Sacrament but at the Passover which was a Sacramental Eating and had a peculiar posture prescribed for it Ex. xii 11 and tho' some think but without warrant from Scripture that the Jews did not observe this yet it is owned they observed another which differed from the common posture of Eating and was reckoned Religious However 't is spoken that our Saviour performed this Eating with several Religious Ceremonies that were not in the first Institution Such is that we find Luke xxii 17 And He took the Cup and gave thanks and said Take this and divide it among your selves This Cup is different from the Sacramental Cup which is Instituted vers 20. and therefore if we would imitate Christ we ought to Eat the Lord's Supper in a way peculiar to it self and different from our common Meals 4 But fourthly The full Answer to the Argument is That it goes on a false Supposition that our Saviour instituted this Sacrament in the common posture of Eating which no wise appears in Scripture neither can it be inferred from any thing said or intimated by the Evangelists or St. Paul but rather the contrary It is true whilst the Disciples were Eating he took Bread but after that he gave thanks and blessed it and then he brake it and gave it to them and it is not to be supposed that the Disciples continued Eating whilst our Saviour was giving thanks and blessing that is praying Our Saviour therefore or his Disciples were not Eating but giving thanks and praying whilst this Sacrament was instituted and therefore it was proper to be done and in probability was done by our Saviour in a thanksgiving and praying posture neither was there any necessity to take notice of this change of posture since the change of the Action from Eating to Thanksgiving and Blessing sufficiently signifies and infers it There is no Notice taken of our Saviour's rising at all from the Table by any of the three Evangelists that deliver to us the Institution of the Sacrament and yet it is plain from John xiii 4 that he did rise from that Supper and washed his Disciples Feet and sat down again Vers. 12. and so he might rise to bless and distribute the holy Sacrament And therefore we have no assurance from Scripture that our Saviour instituted this Sacrament in a common Table-posture rather the contrary seems probable So that He has left us at liberty to follow the general Rules of Decency and Reason and what the Scriptures represent to us as fit and practised in the like cases Lastly We find the Apostle severely reproving the Corinthians for their Irreverence in Receiving this Sacrament and threatning them with Damnation for not discerning the Lords Body that is for receiving it as their common Food without distinguishing between them by a Reverend and Religious Receiving it And sure it is but a due distinction between It and our common Food to Approach the Lord's Table with as much Reverence as the Jews did their Altar at which they never sat down Upon the whole I think we do nothing in this or any other sacred Action as to Bodily Worship but what is warranted and grounded on the Holy Scriptures and particularly as to what we do at the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper It is as unjust to suspect or accuse us of worshiping the Lord's Table or the Elements of Bread and Wine because we receive them kneeling as it were to accuse the Jews of worshiping their Altar or Sacrifices because they worshiped before them as God commanded them to do 2 Kings xviii 22 I beseech God to give us true Submission and Humility of Heart for the Outward Expressions of these Inward Dispositions of Mind which our Church has appointed by Bodily Worship are certainly such as God has approved and holy Men have practised in Scripture Sect. 3. The Practice of the Dissenters in Bodily Worship I. AND now I come to you my Friends who Dissent from Us to consider how You perform This Part of God's Worship and to compare Your Principles and Practice with what I have represented from the Holy Scriptures And first as to Your Principles I need not tell you That you do not allow Bodily Adoration to be any part of God's Worship which you cannot but discern to be Plainly contrary to the Holy Scriptures that make it the most proper peculiar Act thereof as I have shewed before Chap. IV. Sect. 1. N o. 1.2.3 In your Confession of Faith Chap. 21. Prayer Reading Scriptures c. singing Psalms Administration of the Sacraments are reckon'd up as parts of Religious Worship but not a word concerning the worship of the Body Your Directory doth not only leave it out but excludes it by requiring all to enter the Assembly and to take their Seats and Places without Adoration or bowing themselves towards one Place or other that is without bowing themselves at all A Rule directly opposite to Natural Reason as well as to the Commands of God and to the Examples of his Saints And 't is unconceivable how it should be laid down by a Society of Men that professed to believe Christ peculiarly present in their Assemblies which yet the Authors of your Directory profess to do in that very place where they forbid all Adoration Let us then I pray you compare their Rule with Gods Word You have the Bible in your hands and you look upon it to be your Priviledge to use it The Scriptures say O come let us worship let us bow down let us kneel before the Lord our Maker Your Directory says Let us enter the Assembly without Adoration or bowing Where notwithstanding it allows that we in a special manner appear in God's presence Surely you cannot but see this is not only to lay aside but to contradict the Rules of Scripture II. Your Practice is conformable to your Principles For 1. At your Thanksgivings or Praises you neither bow nor stand up 2. Whereas We and the Churches of God in all Ages have used to stand up at the solemn Confessions of Faith you have cast out of your Religious Assemblies not only this Act of Worship but the Confessions of Faith themselves so material a part of the service of God as appears from Rom. x. 9 10. If thou shalt confess with thy Mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe
it to God For to do so must Naturally tend to extinguish the aw and sense we ought to have of His Majesty and the Belief of his peculiar presence in our Assemblies and it is much to be feared that this proceeds too often from the want of such aw 6. To conclude There is a Language of Gestures rather more significant and moving than that of the Tongue and he must have a peculiar make of Mind that is not more awakened and affected by seeing a whole Congregation on their Knees with their Hands and Eyes lift up to Heaven than to see them sitting or leaning whilst their Petitions are offering up to God Words therefore and Gestures being only different parts of the Language whereby we express and communicate our Thoughts and Affections to one another and Both being Recommended to us by Nature and Commanded by Scripture to be used in the Worship of God he who lays aside Gestures does sin against the Commandment of God as well as he that lays aside Words I heartily wish You and all Dissenters wou'd consider this which if you did I assure my self you wou'd perceive this to be a matter of some moment and neither condemn our Bodily Adorations nor continue your own what I must call Irreverence 3. But thirdly Some alledge for their omiting this part of God's Worship That they do not condemn Bodily Adoration in his service but that to stand up and kneel in the Congregation is so troublesome to them that they judge they are better omitted To which I Answer That I verily believe that these persons do give the true Reason of this Practice For as it has been shewed before 't was of old the Reason of people's Neglecting God's Service and Matter of their Complaint against it That it was a weariness Mal. i. 13 But sure 't is no less a sin to lay aside the Commandments of God for our Ease than to change them for the Traditions of Men. 'T is an Effect of our Natural Corruption to desire to serve God with that which costs us nothing and without trouble and most are willing to save their Pains as well as their Money in his Service But this is a certain sign that they have little Heart and Affection to It if they had it would not seem a trouble to them to shew it by all the Outward Demonstrations that the Scriptures recommend to us A devout Heart bows the Body bends the Knees and lifts up the Hands in Prayer without any trouble And they have reason to suspect their own Hearts that find these demonstrations of Reverence to their Creator and Redeemer Uneasie to them This very Pretence ought to shew you That it is the Negligence and Dead-heartedness of People towards God's Service that has banished these Bodily Adorations out of it We think it no Disadvantage to our Church that we are forc'd to acknowledge That your way of VVorship is much Easier than ours to such as are present at it it being much less trouble to a Man that has no value for Religion to come into an Assembly and there sit down and lap his Cloak about him without being obliged to any VVord or Gesture that may disturb his sleep or VVorldly Thoughts than to be under an Obligation every moment to signify his Attention by some Word or Gesture under the Penalty of being remarked by the whole Congregation for his Negligence and Irreverence which is the case in our Assemblies and 't is to be feared is the Reason that some leave us and go where they may be at ease and negligent more securely 4. I confess in the fourth place There are some that excuse themselves more handsomly for not kneeling at their Prayers c. Say they VVe want Conveniency we have no room to kneel To these we Answer That where such a thing is omitted out of Necessity not Negligence or Contempt we believe God will not impute it to them neither do we accuse them for it But then we cannot but observe that this is not the general Reason of omitting this part of God's VVorship among you For First It is not your Custom to kneel in your Publick Worship tho' you have Conveniency as is manifest from the Practice in all your Meetings in which I could never learn that any one kneeled on the contrary you condemn Us who do 2. When you want Conveniency for Kneeling you might Stand at your Prayers which is a Scripture-posture as well as Kneeling you might bow your Bodies when you come into God's presence you might continue Vncovered whilst in it But you omit all these as well as Kneeling and thereby plainly shew that your Neglect in this point is an Effect of Choice not Necessity 3. If Kneeling at Publick Prayers be a Duty we are obliged to provide conveniency for it for it is certainly a sin to suffer any part of God's Service to be omitted for want of care It is as easy to provide conveniency for kneeling as for sitting in Publick Assemblies And if we Consider how carefull most people are to provide Seats for their ease and how negligent to make any provision for kneeling 'T is but too manifest a sign whatever is pretended that they are much more zealous for their ease then for the Service of God But what conveniency is it that Men desire It is easy for them to have as much conveniency as St. Paul and his Congregation had when they kneeled on the Shore Act. xx If they had the Devotion of St. Paul they would not fail to imitate his Example Be ye followers saith he of me as I am of Christ. St. Paul followed the Example of Christ in this particular and surely we ought to follow his except we think our selves grown wiser then He was or prefer our ease to our Duty But the Truth of the matter as it seems to me is That your Neglecting to kneel at the most solemn of all Christian Ordinances the Lord's Supper does harden you against Reverence in the other parts of Divine Worship And it is no wonder it shou'd do so for if Reverence be not thought necessary in that Duty it may well seem unnecessary in any other CHAP. V. Of the Lord's-Supper Sect. 1. What the Holy Scriptures prescribe concerning the frequency of Celebrating it I. THe Fifth Main and Substantial part of the ordinary Worship of God in the Assemblies of Christians is the Celebration of the Lord's-Supper It is not to be expected that I should treat concerning the preparation requisite in the Receivers or any of those other circumstances which are generally agreed on as necessary in this matter and concerning which so many excellent Treatises are extant I shall confine my self to one Point and that is the Frequency of it as a Publick act of Worship and examine First what the Institution and Practice of the Church of God in Scripture Teach us as to this particular Secondly Compare our Practice therewith And Thirdly The Practice
4 or 3 at the least Communicate with the Priest So where 3 are willing to Receive the Ministers may proceed to the Holy Communion every Lord's-day For our Saviour has promised that Where two or three are met together he will be in the midst of them Three therefore make a Congregation and have a Title to the Ordinances of Christ and there is no reason that the Obstinacy or Negligence of others should hinder such as are willing from Worshiping God according to his Institution and therefore Our Church has taken care to provide for them by Ordering that some part of the Communion-Service be read every Lord's-day both with design to put all people in mind of their Duty and to accommodate such as can be prevail'd on herein to live up to the Rules of Scripture and the practice of the Primitive Church 2. 'T is Ordered That in Cathedral and Collegiate Churches and Colledges where there are many Priests and Deacons they shall all receive the Communion every Sunday at the least 3. That every Parishioner shall Communicate at least three times in the year whereof Easter to be one and surely such as cannot fit themselves so often must in their own Opinion be out of a state of Grace and deserve to be Excommunicated by the Church 4. Lastly As to our Practice we have prevailed so far that Universally the Lord's Supper is Celebrated Thrice every year and where either our Perswasions Arguments or Entreaties can prevail with our People we have Monthly Communions and in Cities and large Towns by the changing the Monthly Days in several Churches people that are devoutly disposed have Opportunities of Receiving Weekly And we have reason to bless God that our Church wants not some and I hope I may say many such 5. Upon the whole it must be confessed That to hold Solemn Assemblies of Christians without Communicating is a corruption of Popery and came in by dissolution of Manners and slackning of the Discipline of the Church and tho' we have not been able to Root-out and Reform this Popish Practice intirely yet we have done our Endeavour and by God's Blessing may say we have made some progress in it insomuch that if we take that for Ordinary which has a constant fixed time for its Observation the Holy Sacrament is an Ordinary part of our publick Service of God And I verily perswade my self That by God's Assistance we should have brought our people before now to the Scripture-Order of constant Weekly Communicating had not the Ill Example and Obstinacy of those that separate from our Church Encouraged them in their Negligence and weakened our Discipline For our Church orders Non-Communicants to be presented and punished and our Ministers do not generally flatter the people in their sin or dissemble their Duty in this point but frequently and earnestly by Sermons Admonitions and Treatises purposely published to this intent press them to it and therefore we are blameless before God and Man Nor is it our Fault that the practice of our people is not Reformed according to the Pattern of the Apostolick Church and the Rules of our Own So that we cannot be accused of laying aside the Commandments of God or of teaching any Doctrine of our own Invention in this particular tho' we are yet too far short of the Primitive Practice and Institution Sect. 3. The Practice of the Dissenters about Frequency of Communicating I. I Come now according to my former Method to You my Friends who Dissent from us and intreat You to Examine with Me your Principles and Practice by these Scripture-Rules and Examples And here first I must observe to you That you have no fixt or set Times for the Administration of this Sacrament on the contrary your Directory orders That the times how often this is to be Celebrated may be considered and determined by the Ministers and other Church-Governours of each Congregation as they shall find most convenient for the Comfort and Edification of the People committed to their charge By which Rule the Lord's Supper is Excluded from being any ordinary constant part of God's Service it being referred to the Discretion of the Ministers and Elders of each Congregation to determine as in other occasional things how often the people shall have the comfort of it It had been as reasonable to refer it to their Discretion how often the people shou'd have the comfort of Hearing the Scriptures read of joyning in the Praises of God or in Prayers to Him which yet they determine they are obliged to every Lord's Day Had they made the same Rule for the holy Communion they had indeed conformed to the Scripture-Precedent and might have pretended to some Reformation But to leave the celebration of this Feast altogether Discretionary I have shewed to be directly against what we find practised in Scripture II. Whereas it is a corruption of Popery to suffer the people to be present at the publick Assemblies for Worship and celebration of the Lords Supper without being obliged to Receive your Teachers instead of endeavouring to reform this Abuse and Innovation have fallen into another practice as unprecedented in Scripture the Excluding this Sacrament intirely from your Ordinary solemn Meetings And truly in this point you seem more inexcusable than the Papists themselves for the Papists order the Elements to be consecrated every Lords Day and distributed to those that desire it But your Teachers neither offer it to the people nor invite them to it nay so far are they from it that they do not so much as afford an Opportunity to those that desire to be constant Receivers Which is plainly to multiply the Abuses introduced by Popery instead of Reforming them III. They rarely press their people to Communicate they have few Sermons or Discourses to that purpose and many of them condemn our Zeal for endeavouring to restore the constant Communion precedented in Scripture I must further make you sensible that your Practice is yet worse than your Principles Your Directory owns that the Communion or Supper of the Lord is frequently to be celebrated c. But it fares with this as with all other indefinite Rules they signifie only that people may do what they please in the case No body can certainly tell what frequently many often or convenient signifie and therefore where only these words are used in a Rule it is little better than to have no Rule at all as appears in this very case For when people were relaxed from the particular and certain Rules of our Church by the first breaking off of those of your Perswasion from us the Lord's Supper was laid aside wholly for several years by some Congregations and at last too many came to look on it as a matter of no constant necessity I appeal to You whether it is not yet reckoned a great thing among many of you if once in a year or two a Communion be celebrated in one of your Meetings Nay among some of