........ L: .. " ... --f' . " \ \.' _ o""LD B}' BU R NS-:" :]"õí-t ma-n s! RT SQ. " - . \'\ ...tJ", - - -- \ B0 N S-:- au S' I sQ. J THE GREAT ,F(E IT\- ANn \n,"'J\NTAGF O ' I>UBLIC PR-L\. YER, AND FREQ-UENT COl\I iUNIO , DESIGNED TO REVIVE PRIMITIVE PIETY. R\ "IJ4LIA_ 'I BE' ERID(..J , U. J}. Late L01'd Bisllop of Sf. Asap". A NEW EDITIOr-:. CHICHESTEH: 'IT]f rlA\ H \' LJ ì "A....o..:\. l\IDCl.ìCXL. The Great NECESS TY A D AI)VAN'TAGE OF . I /r J. , t'> J' : . Dc igneò to l{evive ! Priluitive Piety. BY , \ I J J I I \ 1\t[ H EVE RID G g, I). J). Late Lord Bishop of St. ASllpl1. J O \DO . Pri n ted for ll. Smit Il) at E:1'ete1'- ( h.allge, in the Strand. 1708. PREF ACE. THE name of BISHOP BEVERIDGE is too well known in the English Church to need any formal introduction. Some of his smaller works have ever been held in so great esteem, that his eminent piety, as attested by them, Ii ves in the affectionate remembrance of many, who have never learned to regard him in any character but that of a devotional writer. And this, without doubt, is as he \vould most earnestly have ,vished. He would have desired rather that his memory should be handed down among the names of those who died in faith, than that he should be invested with the learned dignity of a doctor in the Church. Yet the man ,vho at the age of eighteen years composed a treatise on  .. 11 PREFACE. the excellence and use of the Hebre,v, Chaldee, Syriac, Arabic, and Sanlaritan languages-in after life, the deeply learned ,york on the Canons of the Primitive Church, and also the compila- tion of Councils as received by the Greek Church n1ay well take a place in the first order of divines* The Ï1nportance of recalling attention to this feature of 13ishop Beveridge's character is very great. For in him we see a man of ackno,v- ledged eminence for piety and learning, bearing a broad anù direct ,vitness to the great catholic verities taught and practiseù by the English Church. His judgment, therefore, is not that of a good man on whom for lack of learning ,ve n1Ïstrust- ingly rely: nor of a learned n1an ,vhom for lack of piety ,ve follo,v ,vith suspicion; but of a lnan in \vhom the habits of study and devotion ,vere, through a long life, closely and insepnra bly in- ter,voven. -Ie Synodicon sive Pandectæ Canonum S S. Apostolorum, et conciliorum ab Ecclesia Græca receptorU1l1. Ox on : 1672. PREF ACE. III The Treatises on Public Prayer and Frequent COlll1l1Union, instructive as they nlust be at all t;nles, become of a manifold importance at this day, ,vhen the cold practice of modern religious syste1l1S has established itsel even in serious n1inds, as the rule of Christ and his Apostles. The day must COlue, so at least \ve hope in faith, when men shaH look back with all1aZement at their easy and contented acquiescence in the 10\v condition to \vhich the \vorsbip of God is fallen. If any past age had n10re of the talk of devotion on its lips, certainly none had less of its out"' ard habits than the present. Passing over, for a 1l10ment, the breach of that great rule by 'which God's Church for nearly four thousand years has ordered its daily n1inistrations, it is surely strange, that in an age so louùly clain1Ïng to be religious, nlen hould deeln it enough to offer public \vorship to Almight.y God once in seven days, and to shew forth the Lord's death son1e four, six, or even t\velve t;n1es a year. There nlust be something vicious at the root ..\ 2 IV PREFACE. of this popular persuasIon: some dullness in the n10ral sight that serious minds do not per- ceive by the keenness of intuition, that as it is the duty of every redeemed soul, and of every Christian household, daily to 'worship God through Christ, so is it in like n1anner the duty of every several flock under its pastor, and of the whole united flock throughout the world, daily to worship God, the Maker, Redeemer, and Sanctifier of n1ankind. The daily prayers of a Christian n1an, of a Christian household, and of the Christian Church, have one common basis and obligation. No 111an is thought to be discharged from his private prayers because he attends the prayers of the household where he dwells: nor is the head of any family discharged from the duty of consecrating his household to God by daily united ,vorship, because he prays hÏ1nself in his private chalnber: so neither do the public prayers of the Parish Church dis- charge any 111a11 fro1l1 the duty of ,vorshipping God both in his household and in private. Nor, PREF ACE. v again, do these habits of daily devotion discharge any Christian from the duty of \vorshipping God day by day in face of the Church, and in the fellowship of the flock of Christ. "These ought ye to have done, anù not to leave the other undone." l\Iatt. xxiii. 23. But plain and visible as this ùuty is, there is still a truer and plainer \vay of stating it. It is by being made members of the Church of Christ, that we are made partakers of his redemption: it is the Church that is redeemed and ,ve in it: it is the Church that is regenerated, and re- ne\ved, and kept through faith, so that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it; and we by being members of the Church partake of regene- ration, rene\val, and the grace of perseverance. To the Church is promised the presence of Christ unto the end of the \vorld. To all the public assemblies of his Church, even to the smallest portion of that one body, is the pledge given, "\vhere t\VO or three are n1et together in my natne, there am I in the midst of theJu." The VI PREFACE. duty of wor:3hip therefore binùs first the ,vhole Church of Christ, and us as we are Inembers of it. The \vorship of the Church is the great type and earnest of all particular and private devo- tions. It includes theIn, and they are developed out of it, as the action of each several member of the bod y is contained in the energy of the Ii vi ng luan. It follo\vs, therefore, that the private and falnily prayers of Christian nlen so far from discharging then1 from the duty of public ,vor- ship, are tbenlselves 110 1110re than fragnlents of God's \vorship ,vhen detached from it. They are reflections of the dai]y public homage \vhich I the Church does to Ahuighty God. Fronl this they are vitally derived, and into this they return again; even as we ourselves in all the things of a holy life serve God as meInbers of that one great body, ,vhich in earth and heaven offers adoration day by day, "the incense of prayers breathed out of holy souls \vhich is tIle sacrifice of saints." It is wholly needless to offer, in this preface, PREF ACE. vii any further IH'oof of that \vhich is so fully she\vn by Bishop Beveridge in these t\VO Treatises, nan1ely, that the Church catholic in all ages, and the Church of England to this day, contelnplates and enjoins 011 all Christians the duty of daily ,vorshippillg God in COlnn10n prayer. In one \yord it Inay be said that until the setting in of these latter ti Ines no Christian man ever gain- sayed the duty. \Ve have to contend against a t\vo-fold opposition, for it is no\v not only neg- lected, but denied. It \vould be a painful and thankless task to trace out the falling a\vay of BIen's hearts froln God's public \vorship in the last hundred years. The coldness has stolen over us, and \ve knew it not. Let the fact suf- fice, that about this thne in the last century, there \vere, in Lonùon, seventy-five churches open daily for COlnlllon prayer: and in fourteen the holy Eucharist was administered every Sunday and festival. * -Ie See a small Tract called, "Pietas Londinensis," an abridgement of Paterson's Ecclesiastical State of London in 1714. Burns, 1838. ... VIll PREFACE. How great a decline of private and family religion went before, and has folJ o\ved after this visible falling away we can hardly tell: but \ve luay be sure that the chill of this decline must have been deeply and \videly spread. We may 'veIl wake up with alarm, when we read what a Christian \vriter of the third century \vrote of the last times. "The sanctuaries of God shall be as common dwellings: everywhere shaH Churches be overthro,vn: the scriptures shall be despised; and ll1en shall every\vhere celebrate the inlpostures of the enemy,". "The churches shall lament with a great lamentation, because that neither oblation nor incense shaH be celebrated, nor the service wl1erein God delights. But the consecrated shrines of churches shaH be as a shed for summer fruits; and the precious body and blood of Christ shall not be seen in those days; the liturgy shall be extinguished; the chaunting of psahns shall cease; the reading of scriptures sha11 not be oj( De consummationc mundi, ascribed to Hippolytns. S. vii. PREFACE. IX heard; but there shall be darkness upon men, and lamentation upon lamentation, and ,voe up- on woe."* rrhis downward current has already set in uI)on the Church, and we ourselves have too far been been carried along with it. I may add a fe\v words on the frequent ad- ministration of the holy Eucharist. That the holy Eucharist was celebrated for four hundred years in some churches daily, in others three times a ,veek, and in all churches every Lord's day, ,ve have plain and abundant proof. St. Augustine says, ".Some communicate every day in the body and blood of the Lord: others receive it on certain days: in other places on no day is the oblation omitted: in others it is made only on the Saturday and Sunday: in others on the Sunday alone."t St. Chrysostom also calIs the holy Eucharist" the daily sacri- fice."! "Consider," he says, "I pray, the table * Ibid. xxxv. t S. Aug: ad Jan: Ep: liv. 2. tHorn. iii. in Ephcb. 4. See Bingham's Antiq : b. xv, c. ix. 4. x PREFACE. of the King is Inade ready, and the angels minister, and the King is present. . . , . He comes daily to see the guests."*' Indeed, tIle public ,vorship of Christian men ,vas not thought complete ,vithout this holy 8acranlent. It ,vas the visible symbol of the catholic faith, witnessing to the eyes of men the incarnation, the sacrifice, tlle crucifixion of the Son of God, and our incorporation with bim, by a lllysterious po\ver, into one body; it ,vas the retrospective sYlnbol of propitiation, the visible pleading of Christ's blood-shedding, through ,vhich alone the prayers and interces- sions of the Church were offered; it was the type and the test of unity among baptized men; and it was the sign and ,vitl1ess of our watchillg for His second advent; shewing forth the Lord's death till he come. llo\v far the Socinian lleresy 'v hich denies tlle Godhead and sacrifice of Christ, and the pre- sence and being of the Holy Ghost; ho\v far iC Ibid. 5. PREFACE. Xl the lo,v unspiritual religion of these latter days ,vhich counts the rending of Christ's visible Church a light or doubtful sin, and the ex- pectation of Christ's con1ing a ùistempered fancy, be the easy and natural consequences of an infrequent and negligent administration of the holy Eucharist, the fixed and visible \vitness of these great mysteries, may be left to the thoughtful Christian to decide. It is enough to say that these heresies are dominant where the Eucharist is most neglected: and that they are repressed if not absolutely expelled, \vherever it is duly honoured. 'Vho can doubt that purity, and unity of doctrine on the great ll1ysteries of the catholic faith, have been preserved in the English Church by the pron1Ïnence she has given to her liturgy for the celebration of the }loly Eucharist? As she closes up ber several prayers and inter- cessions by pleading ill words the merits of our Redeemer, so she fulfils the entire offering of her solemn service by the action ,vhich He himself cOll11nanded in Inen101'Y of his death and sacrifice. .. XlI PREF ACE. I t is possible that there may arIse, In some thoughtful and religious minds, misgivings as to the effect of frequently receiving the Holy Com- munion. The following suggestions are therefore added, in the hope they nlay gradually remove any doubt or scruple. Is it not certain that the earlier ages of Christ- ianity were the purest, and that the administra- tion of the holy Eucharist \vas then most fre- quent? Is it not true, that the effect of constant habit in religion is to confirnl and deepen the religious character? Who, for instance, would advise any man to go to Church less often, say once a fortnight-or pray in private less frequently, say once instead of t\vice a day, for fear that fre- quency should dinlinish reverence and induce familiarity? 'Vhy then should frequent Conlmu- nion lesson our reverence? Or, rather, how can infrequent Communion fail to produce the same lo,vering effect as infrequent attendance at Churcll, or infrequent prayer in private? PREFACE. ... XUI But is not the Holy Communion a Sacrament of grace? And 'v ill not that grace not only pre- serve the Ininds of true Christians fron1 the irreverence of familiarity, but also sanctify, and perfect the mind of Christ in the faithful man? Is not the Inan that often partakes of it made thereby more meet to partake of it again? Does it not deepen and establish both faith and peni- tence, the very habits of mind which it requires as conditions to the worthy receiving? Let any sincere Christian make the trial. Let him trust himself to foIJow the steps of the early Saints and Martyrs of our Lord. Frequent Communion did not dull their keen sense of holy things, neither shall it dull ours. Let the broad rule and order of the catholic Church out- weigh his Inisgivings; and, after the trial 111ade, let him ask of hin1selfwbether he has detected the ill consequences of \v hich he \vas afraid, and if so \vhether the disturbing cause is to be found any- where but in hin1self. But, because these Treatises Dlay faB into the XIV PREFACE. hands of those \v ho are engaged ,vi th the over- sight of a flock, it may be as ,veIl to add from one of Bishop Beveridge's other ,v9rks, a testi- mony dra\vn fronl his own practice to the rule he has laid do,vn. "Ye live in a Church so truly aposto1ical, that she hath taken care that this holy sacrament may be adlninistered, as it \vas in the A postIes' days, at least every Lord's day, aud also every Holy- day in the year. And ,vhere there are a sufficient nUlnber of communicants in any parish, the l\Iinister cannot refuse to give it thenl ,vhenso- ever they desire it: and I hope there is never a lVlinister in the diocese, but would be more ready to administer than his people can be to receive it. In the place where I had the honour to serve God at His altar, before He called 111e hither, I adluin- istered it every Lord's day, for above t\venty years together, and ,vas so far from ever wanting cOlnmunicants that I had al ways as Inany as I and two Curates could ,veIl adlninister it to then1: for peoll1e found such extraordinary PREF ACE. xv benefit, and ghostly comfort fronl it, that they never thought they could receive it often enough; and the oftener they received it, the more they stiJI desired it: many never omitting it if they could possibly con1e to it; ,vhereby they be- ca ne the great ornalllents of our ho]y religion, such as the first converts ,vere: and such ye may all be, if you ,vould but take the saIne course for it.. . ,,* Does not experience she\v, that the number of conlmunicants is ahvays greatest 'vhere the Holy Con1n1union is oftenest, and least 'v here it is sel- domest administered? To the objection, There \voulll not be enough I communicants for a ,veekly Communion, the ans,ver is there are not, because the weekly COlll111Union is neglected. 'Vbat is this objec- tion but pleading the ill effects of our own lo,v practice as an excuse for not correcting the evil frol11 ,vhich they flow? 'Veekly COJl1munion * Bishop Beveridge's sermon on the Exen1plary Holiness of the Primitive Christians. 'Yorks, vol. v. p. 9. 10. Oxford, 1818. xvi. PREFACE. gathers and multiplies its own attendants. Let the Church faithfuHy give both the bidding and the warning, and the Lord ,vill provide himself guests for his own supper. May these Treatises fulfil the purpose for ,vhich they were ,vritten, and stir UB up to seek with our ,vhole heart a more habitual fello\vship with Christ our unseen Head, and a more com- plete oneness of spirit ,vith the members of His mystical body in all the earth. H. E. M. Lavington, J1ÙY lOth, 1840. 11 10 III . 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THE GREAT NECESSITY A D ADY AXTAGE OF PUBLIC PHA YER. ACTS iii. 1. 1\ T ow Peter and John 'it.ent up togetllel' into tIle Ternple, at tlip IIoU1" if pJoayer, being the Ninth HOU1'. FRO 1\1 your presence here at this time and place, dedicated to the service of the l\'lost High God, I cannot but in charity conclude, tbat you all believe that he governs the ,vorld, and disposes of all things in it, according to his o,vn ,vill and pleasure. That it is in hin1 you live and move, and have your being; That you neither have, l or can have any thing but what you receive froln hÏ1n, and t11at you are therefore ß 2 The NecfRsity and ..Advantage come hither now, on purpose to acknowledge his goodness to you in ,vhat you have, and to pray unto hin1 for 'v hat ye "Tant. And verily ye do ,veIl to take an the opportunities that ye can get to ùo so; for this is the ,yay to continue in his love and favour, and to live al\vays uuùer his care and protection. But for that purpose ye must not think it enough to pray to and to praise hin1 only 110\V and then, ,vhel1 ye have nothing else to do; but thi8 should be your ,daily business, the constant el11ployment of your lives. He himself C0111111ands you hy his Apos- tle, To Pray without ceasing, 1 Thes. v. 17. and to P'ray allOa.y:;, or at all t [nzes, with all Praye'r and 8u.l'YJplication in the Spi'rit, and to watch there- unto vith all perseverance, Eph. vL 18. Not as if ye should do nothing else but prny; but that prayer should run through and accOlnpany every thing else ye do, so as to begin, continue and end an your actions .with 11raying to and praising God for his direction' and assistance; t110ugh not ahvays ,vith your n101lths, yet l10,vsoever in your hearts, by lifting then1 up unto him, as any Inan may do, in u1idst of other lJusiness. Thus OJ' Public ]>rayer. 3 David IJraised God seven tiu1cS a day. Seven tinzes a day do I ])'J"{âse thee, saith he, because (1' thy righteous jud[JJJlents, Psal. cxix. lß4. Not that he never did it oftener, hut this ,vas the least he ever did it. For being a ll1an after God's 0\"11 heart, his heart ,vas always rUBuing upon God, and praying to bin); anù that too )1ot only I in his mind, but ,vith his 1110uth also, I 'lvil! bless tIle Lord, sai th he, at all iiJues, his p'raise shall continually be in 1ny rnolltlt, Psal. xxxiv. 1. ..Lind ]Jzy tongue shall speak oj' thy 1 ighteousness and oj' thy praise all the day long, xxxv. 28. Thus all that would live a truly pious and divine life, nlust keep their hearts ahvays fixed upon God, adlniring his goodness, 111agnifying his po,ver, and imploring }}is grace anù mercy, not only every day, but every hour of the day, at all tinles, upon all occasions that offer theu1selves, as son Ie or other do continually. But besides our thus praying to and praising God in the Inidst of other business, ,ve ought to set apart certain tin1es in every day, \vholly for this. The saints of old ,vere ,vont to do it three tin1es a day, as ,ve learn froll1 Daniel. For ,vhen n 2 4 The Vecessity and Advantage king Darius had signed the decree, That who- soever should ask a petit ion of any God or 'lnan fOl' thirty days, except of thp King, should be cast into the den of lions, it is written, That when Daniel knew that the decree was signed, he went into his house, and his windolvs being open in his charnber, towards Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees tlt'ree tÏ1nes a day, and prayed, and gave thanks unto his God, as he did aforetilne, Dan. vi. 10. As he did afo'retiJne; ,vhich she\vs that this had been his constant practice before, and he would not leave it off no\v, though he was sure to be cast into the den of lions for it. But ,,-bat times of the day these "tere, ,vhich ,vere anciently devoted to this religious purpose, we may best gather from king David, where he saith, Even- ing and morning, and at noon will I pray, and cry aloud, and he shall hear my voice, Psal.lv. 17. He begÎlls ,vith the evening, because day then began, according to the Jewish account: but be observed all these tinIes of prayer alike. And so questionless did other devout people as well as he. The Jews have a tradition that those times ,,'ere ordained to that use, the morn- ( OJ' Public Prayer. 5 ing by AbrahaJlz, noon by Isaac, and evening by Jacob. Bnt ,vhether they have any ground for that or no, be sure this custom is so reasonable anù pious, that the Church of Christ took it up and observed it all along from the very beginning. Only to distinguish these times more exactly, the Christians called them (as the J e'ws also had done before) by the names of the third, sixth, and the ninth hours. Of ,vhich Tertullian saith, tres istas horas ut insigniores in rebus lUl1nanis,. . . ita et so- lenniores fuisse in orationibus divinis, as they were more famous than others in human affairs, so they ,vere nlore solemn in divine prayers. Tertull. de Jejun. c. 10. I kno,v the primitive Christians performed their private devotions at other times as ,veIl as these; hut at these set times every day, especially at the third and ninth hours, they always per- formed tbelu publicly, if they could get an opportunity. And if,ve ,vould be such Christians as they were, ,ve must follow their pions examp e in this as ,veIl as in other things. 'rhis therefore is that, ,vhich by God's assistance, I ,vould per- suade you all to, and for that purpose have cho- 6 The Þleces,'Ûl!J and Advantage sen these ,vords for the sUbject of my present discourse, as setting before you the exanlple of t\VO of Christ's o",'n apostles in it, St. Peter and iSt. John, of \VhOln it is here saiù, That tli(JY u;eJll up together into tlte te1JZ1J!e at the !tollr rd'prayer, being tlte uinth !tOll'P. The IIoly Spirit of God by his anutlluensis, St. Lulie, is here about to descrihe a great 111iracle ,vrought upon a nlan ,vho \Va3 above forty years old, and had been lan1e fronl hi Inother's ,volnh, ,vholn St. Peter luade perfectly sound anù ,vhole, only by saying, In tlte na1ne oj" Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise lLJ) and walk. And he begins it with telling us tltat Peter and John 'went up to- gether into the tenlple at tlte hour oflJrayer. But what is this to the pnrpose? 'V ouId it not have been sufficient to have described this as he usually uúlic Prayer. 7 till1eS and places, set apart for it. For here we see t\VO great A postles, the one called the .first, the other the beloved Disciple; these t,yO, ,,,hen endued ,vith a nlore than ordinary nleasure of the Holy Ghost, did not think it enough to l)ray at horne, or together ,vith their brethren in any private house; but they ,vent to the })lace that ,vas dedicated to the public ,vorship of God, and at the time ,vhen that ,vorship was then perforlued. And this is left upon record that Christians of all ages lnay kno\v it, and learn, by their apostolical example, to lay hold on all opportunities they can get of perfDrll1ing their public devotions to Ahnighty God in such places and at such tinles as are appointed for that purpose. For our better understanding of this, 've shall consider t\VO things: First, the place ,vhither these apostles went, they ,vent up to the temple; aud then the tÎ1ne ,v hen, they ,vent at tlte hour f prayer, being tlu ninth hour. First, they went up into the te111 pIe, IS TÒ ;EPÒo;, to the holy })lace, as the ,vord signifies, to the place dedicated to holy llses, to the service of 8 Tlte Necessity and Advantage the most holy God. Such places God always had upon earth, and he always looked upon thern as his own in a peculiar lnanner." Though tlte earth be the Lord's, and tlte jitlness tlte1 eoj; or every thing that is in it : Yet \vhen auy part of it is solell1nly devoted to hiJn, and to the worship of his holy N alne, he takes possession of it for hhnself, as he did ill a visible manner, both of the tabernacle and the tell1ple. And, froll1 that tinle for\vard, he hath a ne\v kind of propriety in such places distinct frorn that which he had before, and reckons thelIl his o\vn in a 1110re special sense than other places are. fIe hill1self, as well as others, calls them his; as w here he sait}), In tllat ye have brougltt into rny sanctual-y strangers uncirc1.lmcized in heart and ,flesh, to be in l1ZY sanctuary, to pollute it, even 'JJ1Y . house, Ezek. xliv. 7. My house shall be called an hou8e of prayer, Isai.lvi. 7. and so he frequently sai th, That this house 'lcas called by his na1ne, or his na1ne was called upon in it, as J ere vii.lO. xÏ.14. And in all places, thus dedicated to hill1, and called by his nc.tme, he himself hath pron1Ïsed that he will Le present in a special 111anner to Of Public/l Prayer. 9 f besto\v his blessings upon those ,vho there sin- cerely call upon bin1. .In all places, saith he, 'where I record nzy nanze, I 'will conze unto thee, and I will bless thee, Exod. xx. 24. The truth of ,vhich pron1Ïse, God's faithful people have had experience of in all ages: and therefore ahvays accounted it to be their interest as ,veIl as duty to frequent such places as often as they coulù. As we see in David, a man after God's o\vn eart. 'Vhat pleasure did he take in going to the house of God? I was glad when they said unto nze, let us go into the hOZlse of the Lord, sal. cxxii. 1. Ho\v happy did he esteem those who could be always there? Blessed is the 'lnan, sai th he to God, whollz thou choosest and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts, he shall be satisfied 'with the goodness of thy hOZlse, even of thy holy temple. Psal. lxv. 4. How doth he long to con1municate with then1 in it. I-Iowa11ziable, saith he, are thy tabernacles, 0 Lord of Hosts! .J..7JtIy soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for tlte courts qf the Lord, '/ny heart and my flesh cryeth out for tIle living God, Psal. lxxxiv. I, 2. IIo\v cloth he envy the very birds 10 The Necessity and Advantage that come into the house of Goù, ,vhen he him- self, being then in exile, could not; Yea, the sparrow hath found her a house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where site 'lllay lay her young, even thy altars, 0 Lord of Hosts, 'Iny King and 'lug God, v. 3. How doth he prefer this before all the pleasures of the \tvorId besides; For a day in thy courts, saith he, is better than a thousand; I had rather be a door-keeper in the hOllse of 'Jny God, than to dwell in therents of wickedness, v. 10. There are many such places in the Psaluls ,vhich she,v the great love and honor he had for the house of Goù, and the extraordinary c0111fort and delight that he used to find there. Thus also Daniel, ,vhen he ,vas at Babylon, although the house of God ,vas t11en destroyed ar..d not yet rebuilt, yet in his daily devotions he o]Jened the windows of !tis Cha'Jllber towards J erusalern, Dan. vi. 10. that he n1ight look at least towards the place 'v here the house of God once stooc1, and so expressed his earnest desire to ,vorship God there, anù his faith in the pron1ises ,vhich G.od had nJade to those \yho did so, and by that means, ,vhen he could not possibly do it Of Public Prayer. 11 any other way, he made his private deyotions in a nlanller public, joining in his soul ,vith the ,,,hole Church of God in bis public ,vors]JÏp 'when he could not do it in his body. But not to nlention any more of the many instances of this kind in the Old Testal11ent, in the N e\v it is ,vritten, Tlzat Anna the Prophetess departed not froln tlte tenzple, but serz:ed God 'with fasting and prayers night and day, Luke ii. 37, It is ,vritten, That old Shneon, that just and devout man, ca1Jze by tlte ;Spirit into tlte telnple, v.27. It is written, Tllat Jesu lti}}lself lL ent into tlte tenzple, and began to cast out tltent tlnit sold therein, and tltelJl that bought, saying unto them, It is written, 'Jny hOllse is tlte house of lJ ray er but ye have 11zade it a den of tlâeves. And he taught daily in the tellljJle, I..uke xix, 45, 46, 47. It is ,vritten of the apostles, Tltat 'when they had seen Christ ascend to Heat'en, they worshipped hiJn, and returned to Jerusalem with qreat joy, and lcere continually in the tenzple praising and blessing God, Luke xxiv. 52, 33. It is ,vritten of all the disciples, Tllat they continuing daily in the tCJJzple, and breakin!J bread ji"om house to lzollse, did eat 12 The Necessity and Advanta[}e their'1neat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people, Acts, ii. 46,47. It is \vritten par.ticularly of St. Paul, That when he 'lvas COlne to J erusalenl, even while he was praying in the temple, he was in a trance, Acts xxii. 17. And it is written here of St. Peter and St. John, 1'hat they went up together into tIle tenple at tIle hour of prayer. But "Therefore are these things written, but for our admonition; to teach us that it is God's win and pleasure that we should perfOrlTI public devotions to hin], in places dedicated to his ser- vice, and set apart whoHy for that purpose. Such as the tenlple \vas at Jerusale'1n, which thereforf1 was called a house qf prayer by God hi'1nself, Isa. lvi. 7. Luke xix. 46. }Tea, Ids house of prayer. And I will '1nake the'1njoyful, saith he, in my house of prayer, Isa. lvi. 7. which plainly shews both that prayer was the most proper ,york of that house, and also that house the most proper place for prayer; as being his own bouse, where he himself was pleased in a more especial nlanner to reside, and to distribute his blessings among those ,vho there prayed unto hin1 for them. Of Public Prayer. 13 Hence wltatsoet'er 'was done in tltis house, is said to be done before God, as there specially present, Ecel. v. 1,2. Jer. vii. 10. &c. and \vhen our blessed Lord in his infancy ,vas first brought to the temple, it is said, They brought ltinz thither to present lânz to the LOl d, Luke ii. 22. 'Vhere \ve nlay observe by the way that this one place of Scripture duly considered, \vould be sufficient to persuade all christian parents to have their chil- dren baptized, llot in their o\\'n but in God's house, that they n1ay be there presented to the Lord, as Christ ,vas, and so receive his blessing, according to the prayers which are there n1ade for them in God's o\vn house, in his house of prayer, where he hiJnself hath promised to 'fneet with the1Jz, and to bless tlzeJJl, Exod. xx. 24. By virtue of which pron1ise the people of God in all ages have found their common and public prayers to be the most effectual. There they ba ve greater assistances of God's Holy Spirit, stronger assurances of his love and favor to them, a clearer sight of his glory and goodness, and a deeper sense of his special pre- sence with them, grounded upon their belief of I 14 Tlte Necessity llud Adl'antage that reularkable saying of our blessed Saviour, 1Vhere two or three are gathered t()getbrJ" in 'JJ/Y nanze, there ant I in tile 1uidst f!f {hern. l\Iatthe\v xviii. 20. lIe cloth not only pron1Ìse that be ,viII be there, but he positively asserts, that he ,viII be there in the midst of then1; ,vhich they ,vho meet together in his name, cannot but believe, ,vith such a faith, as is the evidence oj' things not seen, Heb. xi. . and therefore by it, they see him there, as Teall y as they see thelllsel ves, or olle another. And this is that .W hich Inakes thenl so desirous of being in such places, as we see in David, saying, 0 God, tholt a1"t 'JUY God, early 11)iZl I seelt t!tee; 'J1zy soul thirsteth jor thee, 'Jny ,flesh longeth afte'}" thee in a dry and thirsty land, lvhere no water is, to see tllY pOlver and thy glory, so as I have seen t!tee in tIle sanctuary, Psal. lxiii. 1,2. It seeIns, he bad seen God in the sanctuary, or holy place, and therefore longs to go thither again, not doubting but if he ,vas there, he should see God again as he used to do. And so do an his faithful I)eople. They see hiln there by faith in his word; they see hi In by the lig!} t of bis countenance, ,vhich he lifts up there upon thenl. Of Public Praye'p. 15 They see hin1 shining forth in his glory, and Inanifesting hinlself and his goodness to them in hearing the prayers, and accepting the praises they offer to hiln in his nan1e,. 'v ho is in the midst of then), and hath promised, that 'lcllat- soe'Cer they shall ask tlte Fatlte1" in his na7Jze, he y;ill give it. John xvi. 23. These things, I confess, lTIay seen1 strange to S01ne, especiaIIy to such as have not n1ade trial of then1; but they, ,vho have accusto111ed then1- selves to perfOflTI their public devotions to Ahnighty God, ,vith that intention of 1l1ind, \vith that earnestness of desire, ,,,ith that faith, ,vith that reverence and hun1ility as they ought; they kno,v that all ,-vI1Ìch I have said comes far short of \vhat they sOl11etimes experience. Be sure, it ,vas ,vas not for nothing, that the apostles in D1Y text, ,vent up to the telllple at the hour of prayer to pray there. As all devout people that d,velt thereabout were ,vont to do. And they also that would but seelll to be so; as appears fron1 our Saviour's parable, 'v here he saith, T'lL'o 'Juen'lL'ent up into the leJ1ljJ[e to pray, tlze one a Pharisee, tlte aihe'}" a Publican, Luke xviii. 10. For this she,ys, 16 The lVecessity and .Advantage that not only they, but Christ himself esteemed that the most proper place for prayer. I say the most, not the only proper place. It was at the temple only, that all the sacrifi(\es were offered, which typified and represented the death of Christ, by ,vhom alone our prayers are heard, and our duties accepted. And therefore, that ,vas the most proper place for all that lived near it, and could go thither, to perf o fIll their daily devotions, because there they had the n10st sensible occasions given for the exercise of their faith in Christ, there typically represented be- fore their eyes, as dying for their sins, and as making intercession for them, ,vitb the incensp of his own merits. Bnt, nevertheless, there ,vere many other places appointed for public prayers, which were called synagogues. There were reckoned at one time, above four hundred in Jerusalem itseJf, and severa} others in every city of Judea, and wheresoever else any Jews d \velt ; so that in every place where there " ere ten consi- derable Jews to ether, they were bound to have a synagogue; which were therefore as so many parish churches, belonging to the temple, as the Of Public Prayer. 17 cathedral; or rather they were as our chapels of ease, to the mother church. For as there are l11any parishes in England, \vhere there are several chapels of ease, where people may perform their public prayers, but they are bound to go to the n10ther-church to receive the Holy Sacrament. So not\vithstanding the many Synagogues which they bad in all the parts of their kingdom, the Jews \vere to offer their sacrifices only at the temple. And therefore, that \vas properly the metropolitical, or mother-church: and all the synagogues, far and near, were members of that; and as such, \vere Houses of God, and I-Iouses of Prayer, as that was. And the prayers which were made in them, were as acceptable to God, as those \vhich \vere made in the temple itself. There were such places as these in David's time: For he speaking prophetically of the destruction of that nation, saitb, They have burnt up all the synagogues, or Houses of God in the land, Psal. lxxi v. 8. To the same purpose is that of the prophet Jererniall, He hath violently taken a'lvay his tabernacle, as if it were a garden; he hath c 18 Tile Necessity and Advantage destroyed his places of tlte assernbly, Larn. ii. 6. In both ,vhich places, we see God's propriety "asserted in these synagogues, as well a in the telTIple. They are called the Houses of God, aud his places of assembly. The orig-inal ,vord in both places is the san1e that is used for the tabernacle of the congregation, or the tabernacle of meeting, as the worù signifies, so called, not only because the people met there, but cl1iefly because God met there \vith the people, as God himself assures us; saying, In tlte tabernacle of the congregation, or meeting, 'where I 'will 'Jneet with thee, Exod. xxx. 36. vide chap. xxv. 22. chap. xxix. 42. From \vhence it appears, that these synagogues also, as called by the san1e name, were places \v here God n1et \vith his people, and besto\ved his blessings upon theIne And that is the reason, that the Prophets conl- plain so much of this, as one of the greatest Cala111ities that could befal a nation, that the fIouses of God should be burned and destroyed; so that they had no such public and so]emn places I ft, where they could meet with hiITI. Hence also it ,vas, that the Jews esteemed the building Of Public P1Ylyer. 10 a synagogue, to be so good a work, and so great a kindness to them, as appears from their elders comnlenùing the Centurion to our Saviour, as a person ,vorthy of his favour upon that account; for, say they, he loveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagogue, Luke, vii. 5. And hence lastly it is, that ,ve so often read in the Gospels and A cts of the Apostles, that Christ himself and his A p05tles ,vent as constantly into the syna- gogues, ", hen they "'"ere in the country, as they ,\-ent to the temple, ,vben they ,vere at Jerusalem. Those being the ll10st proper places, not only for prayer, but like,vise for the preaching and hear- ing God'f holy ,vord, ,vhich ,vas read -in the syna- gogues every ÞSabbath Day, Acts xv. 21. These things I thought good to put you in lllind of at this time, that you might kno,v how great a value the church and people of God, in ancient times, set upon places devoted to him, and might learn thence to do so too: for our churches no,v are as solemnly dedicated to the service of God, and therefore are as much his houses, his houses of prayer, as ever the J e,vish synagogues were, or the temple itself. TIle very c 2 20 TIle Necessity and Advantage name church in Greek, fr0111 whence it con1es, signifies tlte Lord's House. And it cannot be imagined by any Christian, but that God hath as much propriety in, and as 111uch respect unto his houses no\v as he ever had. It is true, we have not such sacrifices offered in our churches, as ,vere in the temp]e; but ,ve have one ,vhich ans,vers the ends of all these sacrifices, and far exceeds then1 all together, even the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, instituted and celelJrated in InelTIOry of the death of the Lamb of God, ,vhich by the legal sacrifices was only fore-shewed and typified. And \vhereas then sacrifices were offered only in one place, at the teillple in Jeru- salem, not in any of their synagogues. The holy sacran1ent of Christ's body and blood is adlTIi- nistered not only in our cathedrals, but in all our parish churches. And it being only by virtue of tha t blood which ,vas on1 y typified in theirs, hut is c07n'Jnelnorated in our churches, that our prayers are heard, our services accepted, or any of God's promises are ever fulfilled to us; we cannot doubt but that aU the prolTIises which he made of meeting and blessing his people in such Of Public Prayer. 21 places, \vere intended for, and belong to us and to our churches, as much as ever they did to any: and by consequence that it is both our duty and interest to go to our respective churches as the t,\TO great Apostles did to the tenlple at the hour of prayer. And that is the other thing \vhich I promised to consider in these ,vords, the tilne \vhen these Apostles went up together into the temple, they went at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour: that is, at three 0' clock in the afternoon: For the Je'lvs divided the day from sun-rising to sun- setting into twelve hours, John, xi. 9. and there- fore, according to their account, the time of the sun's rising about six o'clock ,vas their first hour: their third hour ,vas our nine o'clock in the nlorning: anù their ninth our third in the after- noon. And tbese two last, even the third and the ninth hours, or according to our account . nine in the morning and three in the afternoon, ,vere their constant hours of prayer every day in the year. But to understand ho\v they came to be so, we must first observe, that in the old la \V, God cOIDll1anded two Lambs to be offered 22 The Necessity and Advantage upon the altar every day as a continual burnt offering: The one Lauzb, saith be, tllou shalt offer in the 1norning, and the other La'Jnb thOll shalt offel' at evening, Exod. x!ix. 39. NZl1nb. xxviii. 4. or as it is in the Ilebrew, between the t\VO evenings, or about the midst bet,veen noon and sun-set, ,vhich ,vas according to their reckon- ing the ninth hour. This we may learn from Josephus, the best J e,vish ,vriter that is extant, ,vhere he saith that the solenln sacrifices ,vere offered t,vice a day, '11'p'lJ7 TE ",al '1fEp' ;vaT v é1Jprx.v, in tbe morning Josephus Antiq. 1. 14. c. 8. And so the Tabnudists ten us, that the daily even- ing sacrifice ,vas killed at half an 110ur past eight, and offered upon the altar after nine. These, therefore were the two set hours for the continual burnt offerings every day, three in the morning, ,vhich is our nine, and nine which is our three in the afternoon. rhese two hours being appointed bÝ God him- self for the daily sacrifice, there was doubtless great reason for it, ,vhich seenlS to be this: these as aU the bloody sacrifices ,vere offered up only as types and representatives of that grand sacri- Of Public Prayel . 23 flee \vhiclt Christ, the Lamb of God ,vas to offer for the sins of the \vorld: and tllerefore they \vere appointed at the same hours ,vherein his death ,vas begun, as I n1ay so speak, and finished. About the third hour, or nine in the morning, he was delivered to Pilate, accused, examined and condemned to die, and therefore the morning sacrifice ,vas appointed at that hour. About the sixth hour, or noon, this Lamb of God ,vas laid upon the altar of the cross, and at the ninth hour expired; as we learn from St. Matthezv, saying, lvow j roln the sixth !tour tllere was darkness o'/Jer all the land unto the ninth hOltl': and about the ninth hour Jeslls cried 'with a loud '/Joice Eli, Eli, Lama sabachthani, 17ZY God, 'lny God, vhy hast thou forsaken lne! and having cried again 'with a loud voice, lte yielded up the ghost, 1\1 atth. xxvii. 45, 46, 50. And this I verily believe was the reason that the evening sacrifice every day ,vas appointed to be offered up at the ninth hour, that so the very tin1e of Christ's suffering n1ight be fore-shewn and typified by it, as the place also was; it being absolutely forbidden to offer up any such sacrifices after the temple \vas built, 24 Tlte Necessity and Advantage any where else but only at Jerusaleln ,vhere Christ was to suffer. N o,v to bring this nearer to our present pur- pose, we must further observe, that in all these continual burnt offerings, ,vhen the Lamb was laid upon the altar, a priest ,,-jth a censer took some of the coals from off that altar, and car- ried them into the holy place, where he put incense upon them, and so offered it upon the golden altar before the veil, 11lade for that pur- pose. This took up some considerable time, usually about half an hour: all which time the people were at their devotions, worshipping, and praying and praising God; as appears from St. Luke himself; who speaking of Zacharias the father orBt. John the Baptist, saying, According to the custoln if the Priest's office, his lot was to burn incense when he 'went in! 0 the telnple of the Lord. And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the ti'Jne of incense, Luke i. 9, 10. This therefore "'"as their time of prayer: And it was the most proper time that could be for it, wl}ile the Lamb ,vas burning- upon the altar without, as a type of the death of Christ, Of Public Prayer. 25 and the sweet incense ,vas burning within the holy place, upon coals taken front thence, to put them in mind of his intercession which he makes by virtue of that death he suffered for them, that their prayers might be heard, and their ser- vices accepted hefore God. All which ,vas represented in_a vision to St. John, wIlen he saw seven Angels which stood before God: and another Angel C,vhich was Christ the l\Iediator) ca1Jze and stood at the altar, having a golden censer, and there was given unto 'tim 'JJluch incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all/3aints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the snzoke cif the incense, 'which ca7ne with the prayers cif the Saints, ascended up before God out if' the .ringel's hand, Rev. viii. 3, 4. For hereby is plainly signified, that God smells a s'\veet savour in the prayers of his people, or accepts of them, only upon the account of the meri ts of the death of Jesus Christ, the Angel of the covenant, and by means of his mediation for then], typified by the s'\veet incense burning upon coals taken from the altar whereupon the Lamb ,vas offered, at the same tilne that the 26 The Necessity and Advantage people \vere at their devotioIis, and so ascending up together with them into Heaven, and there rendering them acceptable unto God. The same is intimated also by St. Peter, \vhere speaking to the saints of God, he saith, Ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spil itual sacrifice, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ, 1 Pet. ii. 5. 'Vhereas our prayers and the other services which we perform to hÏI11, are called sacrifices, in allusion to, but spiritual, to distinguish them from those under the la\v ; so they are said to be acceptable to God, not in theulsel ves, but by Jesus Christ: by Jesus Christ pèrfuming them \vith the spiritual incense of his o\vn l11erits, and so making them a s\veet savour to the Lord, as it ,vas typically expressed in the law, Lev. i. 9, &c. By this therefore \ve may see how the third and ninth hours of the day, or as we speak nine in the morning, and three in the afternoon came to be their chief set hours for prayer every day; even because at these hours the daily sacrifices were offered, and the holy incense burnt, as types of Christ's death and intercession, whereby OJ' Public Praye/a. 27 alone their prayers could go up as a memorial before (iod, and be ,yen-pleasing to him. For this cause therefore these ,yere their constant hours of prayer, not only at the temple in Jeru- saleJJz, but in their synagogues also all the country over, devout people daily resorting thither at the said hours to perforln their devotions, that so they might both keep up their cOlnnlunion ,vith the Church at JerusaleJJz, and likewise conlmuni- cate in the sacrifices and incense, which '''"ere there offered at these hours, or rather in ,vhat ,vas signified by them for God's acceptance of ,vhat they did. But they ,vho d,velt at Jeru- salem, usually went to the temple itself, at the foresaid hours. And that is the reason that there ,vere so 'Jnany gathered togethel- there '/l]Jon the day of Pentecost, at the third llour oj' the day, as St. Peter saith, Acts ii. 15. That thl-ee thousand of thenl wel e converted to the faith of Christ, Acts ii. 41. And there cere as 1nany or '/J2ore there at the ninth hour, ,,,hen St. Peter and St. John ,vent thither together, as appears in that there '/cere abot"e fire thousand at that tinze con- vepted, Acts, iv, 4. 28 TIle Necessity and Advantage But ho,y nlany soever ,,,ere there besides, be sure these t,vo great Apostles went together into the te1Jlple at the hou1' of prayer; being the ninth hour: not now out of any respect to the sacri- fices which were still continued to be offered by the unbelieving Jews. For the Apostles kne,v well enough that all the laws about them expired upon the death of Christ. So that now all such sacrifices could signify nothing at all. But they ,vent to the temple, as it ,vas an house of prayer, a duty that always was and always must be performed unto God. And they 'went at the ninth hour, because it was the hour oj' prayer. I t had been so for lnany ages, and there was no reason ,vhy it should be now laid aside, God himself had ap- pointed it for the time of the evening sacrifice, because Christ, the grand sacrifice of the world, was to be offered up at that tinle. And though the virtue of the legal sacrifice was no\v ceased, yet the reason why that time was appointed for it, still continued. There being as much reason ,vhy Christ's death should be commemorated by our Christian acrifice, as there ,vas that it should Of Public Prayer. 29 be fore-shewn and typified by the legal, about the time it happened. At least there ,vas no reason to the contrary. And therefore that being the usual time for public prayers in the place where they then \vere, they "rent up toge- ther into the temple at that hour to perform their devotions. And it is left upon record that they did so, as I observed before, on purpose that the church in all ages might learn by their example to set apart SOlne certain times every day in the year for public prayer. And accordingly as the Jelcis}t church had by God's o\vn appointment the morniug and evening sacrifice every day in the year: So all Christian churches have been used to have their morning and evening prayers publicly perfonned every day. As n1ight easily be shewn out of the records of the church fron1 the beginning of Christianity. Not to insist upon other churches, I shall in- stance at present only in our own, ,vhich as in all things else, so particularly in this, is exactly con- formable to the Catholic and Apostolic Church. In the first book of common prayer, made by our church at the beginning of the Reformation, there 30 The Necessity and Advantage ,vas a form composed both for morning and evening prayer, the title for that of the nlorning ran thus, An order for lJIattins daily through the year, and of that for the evening, An orde1 for Even-song throughout the year; anG. accordingly there were psalms and chapters appointed both for the morning and evening of every day. About three or four years after, the sanle book ,vas revised and put forth again. And then the church taking notice that daily prayers had been in sonle places neglected, at the end of the pre- face she added two new rules, or as we call them Rubricks, which are still in force, as ye may see in the common prayer books '" hich we no,v use. The first is this: And all Priests and Deacons are to say daily therlZorning and evening prayer, either privately or openly, not being let by sickness, or other urgent cause. By this everyone that is adnlitted into holy orders, although he be neither Parson, Vicar, nor Curate of any particular place, yet he is Of Public Prayer. 31 bound to say both morning and evening prayer. every day, either in some chureh or chapel \vhere he can get leave to do it, or else in the house \vhere he d\vells, except he be bindred by some such cause which the ordinary of the place judges to be reasonable anù urgent. The other order is this: And the Curate that ministreth in every parish clnl1.ch or chapel, being at houle, and not being othe'rwise reasonably hindred, shall say the sauze in the parish church or chapel where he rninistreth, and shall cause a bell to be tolled thereunto, a con- renient tÏ1ne before he begin, that people 'lnay COl1ze to hear God's word and pray with him. Here \ve have a plain and express comn1and, that the Curate, 'v hether he be the incum- bent hin1self, or another procured by l1ÏIn to do it; whosoever it is that ministreth God's holy \vord and sacraments in any parish church or chapel in England, shall say the san1e 1110rning and evening prayer daily in the parish church 32 TIle .J..Vecessity and Advantage or chapel \v here he ministreth, and shall take care that a ben be tolled a convenient time before he begins, that people having notice of it may come to God. house to hear his holy \vord read, and to join with the l\Iinister in performing their l)ublic devotions to him. This every l\;Iinis- ter or Curate in England is bound to do every day in the year, if he be at home, and be not other\vise reasonably hindred. And \vhether any hindrance be reasonable or no, the lVlini:5ter himself is not the orùinary judge: for in all such cases that is referred by the common laws of the church to the Bishop of the diocese, or the ordinary of the place where he ministreth, The law hath made this the duty of every Mi- nister, and the Bishop or Ordinary is to see he doth it; and whether any have reasonable cause ever to omit it, or \v hether the cause they pretend for it, be reasonable or no. This is left by the law to him. He may allow or disallo\v of the pretence as he upon the full hearing of it shall see good: and ruay punish with the censures of the Church any Minister within his jurisdiction that doth not read the prayers of the Church, or take care Of Public 7>raYlÞ". 33 they be read, every Inorning and evening in the year, except at such tilnes \vhen the l\linister can prove that he had such a rea onable hindrance or inlpediment as ,viII justify hin1 before God and his Church. This care hath our Church taken, t lat public prayers be read every n10rning and evening throughout the year in every parish \vithin her bounds, that all ,vho live in her communion, may after the example of the Apostles in my text, go every day into the temple or Church at tlte hour of prayer. She hath not appointed the hour \vhen either lllorning or evening })rayer shall begin: because the same hour might not be so convenient in all places: so that in sonle places it might be pretended that there was a reasonable hindrance, that it could not be done just at the till1e. 'Vherefore to prevent any such plea, and to make the duty as easy and practicable, both to the MinÌ8ter and people, as it could be, the Church hath left that to the lVIinisters them- sel ves, \v ho considering everyone his o,vn and his people's circtunstances, lllay and ought to appoint such hours, both for morning and even- D 34: The Necessity and Advantage ing prayer in their respecti ve place , as they in their discretion shall judge to be n10st conveniEnt. Only they ought to take care in general that H10rning prayers be ah,vays read before, and the evening after noon. And it is very expedient, that the sanle hours be every day as llluch as it is possible, observed in the san1e place, that people knowing it beforehand, may order their affairs so as to be ready to go to the church at tbe hour of prayer. But notwithstanding this great care that our church hath taken to have daily prayers in every parish, \ve see hy sad experience they are shame- fully neglected all the kingdo111 over; there being very fe\v places where they have any pub- lic prayers upon the week days, except perhaps upon TVednesdays and Fridays, because it is expressly cOlnmanded that the Litany be read upon those days; but it is as expressly com- manded that both Jt;foJ-ning and Evening Prayers be read every day in the week, as the Litany upon those. And why this commandment should be neglected n10re than the other, for my part I can see no reaSOll. But I can see plain enough OJ' P ablic P ,"aye]'. 3ð that it is a great fault, a plain breach of the kno,vn laws of Christ's Holy Catho]ic Church, and particularly of that part of it ,,,hich by his blessing is settled among us. But ,vhere doth this fault lie? I hope not in the Clrrgy. For I dare 110t suppose or imagine, but that every l\iillister in England, that hath the care of souls COllullitted to him, ,vould be ,villing and glad to read the prayers every day, for their edification, if the people could be persuaded to come to them. I am sure there is never a minister but is obliged to read them daily; and never a parish in Eng- land but where the people may have them so read, if they ,viII; for they may require it by the laws both of our Church and State, except at such tinles when their 111inister is reasonably hindred from the execution of his office in the sense before explained. But the ll1ischief is, men cannot, or rather ,vill not be persuaded to it. They think it a great Inatter to come to Church upon the Lord's day, ,vhen they cannot openly follo,v their par- ticular callings if they ,vould. Upon other days they have other business to 11lind, of greater D2 36 Tli(' Necessity and Ad1'anlage consequence, as they think than going to prayers. To some it is a great disturbance to hear the bell sounding in their ears, and calling thelll to their duty, which they lJeil1g resolved not to prac- tise, it makes them very uneasy to be so often put in mind of it. Others can make a shift to bear that pretty we}], as 110t looking upon them- selves as concerned in it. For they take it for granted that prayers were intended only for such as have nothing else to do. As for their parts, they have a great deal of \vork upon their hands, and must 111ind that without troubling their heads about any thing else. This is the plain case of some; but not of alL Blessed be God he hath opened the eyes of InallY, especially in this city, \vho now see the things that belong to their everlasting peace, and therefore are as constant at their }}ublic devotions, as they are at their private business. Anu I trust in bis infinite goodness and mercy, that he \vho hath begun so good a work an10ng us, will one day perfect it, that we may all meet together \vith one heart and ,vith one n10uth to pray unto hiln, and praise and glorify his great name every day in Of l llblic Prayer. 37 the ,veek, both in this city, and all the kingdon1 over. 'Vhat an happy city, ,vhat a glorious kingdom, would it then be? And ho,v happy should I think nlyself if it should please God to Inake me, the un,vorthiest of all his servants, an instrunlent in his almighty hand to,vards the effecting of it in this place? It is too great a felicity for nle to flatter myself ,vith the least hopes of. Howsoever I nlust do my duty, and leave the issue to hiIl1 ,vho hath the hearts of all men in his hand. And therefore in his name shall lay sonle such plain and obvious considera- tions before you, 'v hich I hope, by his blessing, rnay prevail upon all here present, to follow the holy Apostles in nlY text, in going together into the hOZlse of God at the hour of prayer. For this purpose I might first she,v the ex- cellency and usefulness of the prayers which our church hath appointed to be read every forning and Evenin[J. But having already offered something to,vards that upon another occasion, I shall here only premise in general, that they are such, Loth for the langllDge, the nlatter, the method, and the nlanner of perform- 38 The Necessity and .Adrantagc iug theln, that, to speak with the least, there never ,vas, that we kno\v of, nor is at this day, a better or more proper form of liublic devotions prescribed and used in any part of Christ's church Inilitant here upon earth: there being nothing wanting in them, that can any ,yay conduce to the ends for ,vhich they are designed even to the setting forth of God's glory and to the edifying of his people. There we confess our sins to God, and have his pardon and abso- lution of theln declared to us, being penitent, by one of his own J\;Iinisters. There we praise and magnify his glorious name in psalms and hYlnns and spiritual songs. There 've have some part of his holy ,vord read, and so his divine win made kno,vn to us. There we pray for all things necessary both for life and godliness; for \"hatso- ever we can want or desire to make us happy in this world and the next. And all this we there do in such a solelnn and reverend nlanner as becomes the work \ve are about: insolnuch that if it be not our o\vn fault, we can never go to church, but \ve shall return better than \ve ,vent. 'Vhich if all people ,vere but as sensible of as Of Public Prayer. 39 sOlne are, we should not need to use any argu- ments to persuade thelTI to frequent our public prayers as oft as possibly they can. But it is Ï111possible they should ever kno,v \vhat advan- tage it \vol.Ild be to then1 unless they first Inake trial of it. 'Vhich therefore that I 111ay by God's assistance, persuade all here present for the future to do, I desire you to consider first, that he hilllself that nlade you, hath sufficiently declared it to be his \vill and pleasure that you should perform pub- lic elevotions to him t\vice a day, 'lnorning and evening, in that he expressly required and conl- lnanded his ancient church and people, the chil- dren of Israel to do so. For, as I have she\vn, he comnlanded them to sacrifice t,vo lambs every day, one in the morning, and the other in the evening, or afternoon: ,vhich ,vas the saIne in effect, as to command them to perform their public devotions to him t,vice every day. For such ,vere the sacrifices unto them. Not only because, by offering up such sacrifices to him in obedience to his comlnand: they publicly ac- kno,vledß:eù his suprelne authority and })o,ver 40 The Necessity and Adrantage over all things; but like\vise, because, together · ,vith their sacrifices, they al,vays offered up, as they ,vere bound, their prayers. and praises to him. For they never sacrificeù, but they prayed at the saUle time, and esteemed no prayers so effectual as those which ,vere joined with sacra- fiees; as appears froln several places of Scripture 'v here ,ve read, that .Abralialn built an altar unto the Lord, and called upon tlte nalne of tlte Lord, Gen. xii. 7. And so did Isaac, chap. xxvi. 25. lIe first built an altar, whereon to offer his sacrifice, and then prayed. And of Salnuel it is said, that lie took a sucking lalnb, and offered it for a burnt-offering 'wholly unto the Lord; and Sauluel cried unto the Lo.rd for Israel, and the Lord heard hirn, 1 Samuel, vii. 9. And when ,Samuel had blalned Saul for offering a burnt offering before the thne that he came to him, according to his promise, Saul to excuse himself said, I said the Philistians will conle down no'w upon nle to Gilgal, and I have not 'J1lade nlY supplication unto the Lord. I forced myself tlterefo'l'e and offel-ed a burnt-offering, 1 SalnueI, xiii, 12., ,vhere he speaks as if offering his OJ' Public Pl'aye1'. 41 sacrifice, and luaking his supplication unto tile Lord, ,vas one and the same thing; not that it ,vas so in itself, as some have thought, but be- cause that sacrifice was so necessary tü nlake his prayer acceptable unto God, that he could not do one ,vithout the other; he could not pray, as he thought, effectually, without a burnt-offering. There are many such places in the Old Testa- lnent, froln whence it might be proved, that . sacrifices and prayers always ,vent together, neither are there SOlne ,vanting in the New. As in the place which I mentioned before upon ano- ther occasion, ,vhere it is said, that the whole'lll1.tl- titude of the people were praying 'witllout at the time if incense, Luke, L 10. For the time of incense was, ,vhile the sacrifice ,vas burning upon the altar, and therefore that was the tilne of their public prayers. But I need not have gone front nlY text, to have proved this. For the ninth hour, is here called the hour of prayer ; but that as I have proved already, was the hour of the evening sacri- fice, ,vhich puts it beyond all doubt, that their daily sacrifices were al,vays accompanied in course "ith puhlic prayers and devotions. And that is 42 Tile Necessity and Lldvantage the reason ,vhy the teulple, where the sacrifices were offered, ,vas called an house of prayer, as well as house of sacrifice, 2 San1. vii. 12. Yea, it is much oftener called by that nanle, than it is by this; prayer being the duty principally re- quired there, and sacrifice only for the sake of that, to make way for it to go up as a memorial before God, and to be ,veIl-pleasing unto him; not as if there was any such virtue in the blood of a lalnb, or in flesh smoking upon the altar, but by means of the typical relation ,vhich it had to Christ, the lantb of God, 'lvhich talleth aUJay the sins of the 1vorld; by wholn alone our prayers are acceptable unto God, as I observed before. 'Vherefore, seeing God ,vas pleased to cOllunand that sacrifices should be offered twice a day, to accompany and assist his people's devotions; there was plainly something 1Jloral, as \vell as Levitical, in that command.. As it respected the sacrifices, it was purely Levitical, and therefore to cease at our Saviour's death; but as it res- pected the people's devotions, it ,vas 171oral, and of perpetual obligation. People ahvays ,vere, Of Public Prayer. 43 aud al,vays ,viII be, bound to offer up their prayers and tbanksgivings unto God; and this, as being a moral duty ,vas even in those days reckoned the more acceptable sacrifice of the t\vo. I will praise tile na1ne of God, saith David, 1.vith a song, and 'will '}}zagnify ltÏ1n 'with thanks- giving; tltis also shall please the Lord, better titan an ox or bullock that hath lzo'l'ns and hoofs, PsaI. Ixix. 30, 31. And therefore, \v hen God com- manded the less, it cannot be imagined but that he required the more principal duty, even public prayers and praises to be offered to him t\vice a day; as the Jews plainly understood it. As appears, in that they had their daily prayers as constantly as they had their daily sacrifices, and that too at the same times when God con1manded them to be offered, even every morning anù evening: ,vhich they ,vould not bave had, if they had not Jooked upon thelllselves as obliged by that command to l)ray as ,veIl as to sacrifice at those tin1es. But surely, to pray to God, and to praise his holy name, which lnake up our public devotions, is a duty as much incumbent upon cll'ristians as 44 Tlte Necesstty aud AdL'Clntage e'"er it was)lpon the Jeu's. It is our ouly sacra- flce which we offer unto God in the nall1e of his son: By ltin1- therefore, saith the "Apostle, let us offer tlte sacrifice ofpraise to God continually, that is the fruit of our li]Js, giving tltanks to his name, Heb. xiii. lô. This is no\v to be our continual sacrifice, and though ,ve do not offer up a lamb to God, together ,,,ith our devotions every day, yet \ve present that to him "Thich is of more worth and value, than ",-hat the Jews offered. They presented the shado\v, ,ve the substance: they offered a lalnb, as a type of Christ to come, we offer up our prayers to God, in the name of Chri t hinlself, as already sacrificed for us, and as presenting our prayers to his Father with the incense of his own merits. 'Vhilst they prayed, Christ's death and intercession for then1 \vere only typically represented by a Lalnb burn- ing upon one, and incense upon anotber altar. But in all our prayers ,ve actually nan1e Hhn, as the person by 'v hose alone Ineri ts, and media- tions, our prayers can be accepted; concluding every collect, ,vitI] saying, through Jesus Christ our L01"d, or sOInething to that purpose. Of Public Prayer. -45 By which Ineans, \ve have Letter ground, and clearer occasion also given us to trust in God for his acceptance of our devotions than they had; and therefore ought certainly to be as constant as they \vere in the })erfOrll1ance of then}, other- wi e "Te can expect no other, but that they ,viII rise up against us in judgment at the last day; neither do I see ,vhat ,ve can ans,ver or plead for ourselves. For God having once comlnanded, that sacrifices should be offered to hilll every morning and evening in the year; he thereby plainly signified, that it is his divine \vill and pleasure, that his people in all ages should do s01l1ething twice every day, 'v hereby to make their public ackno\vledglnents of his absolute don1Ïnion ovèr them; and of his infinite good- ness and Inercy to them. But, this ,ve cannot do 110W any other ,yay, but by praying to him, and praising and magnifying his most glorious name, in a public and solelnn Inanner, ,vhich we are therefore doubtless bound to do, or at least to take all opportunities that \ve can get of doing it twice every day. And indeed, Christ hin1self doth in effert 46 TIle Necessity and Advantage require the same thing of us; for, that it is his pleasure, that we shoulù constantly use that form of prayer, \vhich he as our great Lord and l\Iaster ,vas pleased to compose for all his disciples, is so plain, that I ,vonder ho\v any can doubt of it ; there being no cOffillland in all the Bible n10re plain than that, when ye pray, lSay, OU1 Fatlter, which art in heaven, c. Luke, ii. 2. But it is as plain, that he designed this prayer should be used publicly and in comlllon by his disciples, 'v hen met together in their public assemblies. In that he hath drawn it up all along in the ]Jlural 'lul1llber, that n1any may join together in it, and say, Our Father, which art in heaven. Give us this day OU1 daily bread, al;d forgive us our tres- passes, as 'we forgive them that trespass against us, llnd lead us not into telnptation, but deliver us from evil. So that there is not one petition, nor one expression in it, but \vhat a whole congrega- tion may jointly use. From \vhence St. Cyprian truly observed, that this is publica et C01rl1nunis oratio, a public and COIDlllon prayer. Not but tlJat it may, and ought to be also useù privately by every single christian apart by hiIl1self; be- OJ" Public Prayer. 47 cause every Christian is a memùer of Christ's Catbolic Church, and sl10uld pray as such in private, as ,veIl as in public; and for all his fel- lo,v members as "Tell as for himself, they being all but one body. But ho,vever, it Inust be ackno,vledged, that being so exactly fitted to a public congregation, it ,vas primarily and chiefly intender' for that pur})ose. And that our Saviour ,,'ould have us say this prayer every day, appears most plainly from that petition in it, Give us tllis day Ollr daily bread. For this she,vs, that as we depend upon God every day for our necessary food, so ,ve ought to pray unto him every day for it. And if we must put up this petition every day, ,ve Inust put up aU the rest with it. For Christ hath joined them all together, and there- fore ,ve must not put them asunder. N either is there any part of the prayer, but 'v hat is as necessary to be said exery day as this. 'Vherefore, seeing our blessed Saviour hiInself ,vas most graciously })leased to compose this prayer, so as to suit it to our daily public devo- tions, and hath plainly comnlanded us to use it, according as he had C0111posed it; \ve n1ay rea- 48 The lVecessity and Adl'antage .. sonabJy from thence infer, that it is his Divine ,vill and pleasure, that ,ve should publicly pray to our heavenly Father every ( ay, as his church had all along before done it, rnorning and evening. Be sure his Apostles thought so, \vhen they had received his Holy Spirit to lead tltellz, according to his pronlise, into all trutli, and to bring into tlieÎ1" 1"elllel1zhrance all things that Ile Itad said unto tlteln. For after the day of Pentecost, on \v hich the Holy Gltost came upon then1, the next ne\vs that ,ve hear of any of thenl, is, that Peter and John ()ent up togetlter into tlie tenzple at the ltour of prayer, being the ninth hour, or the hour of Evening prayer; which they \vould not have done if they had not believed it to be agreeable to the doctrine ,vhich he had taught thenl. And if there was no divine revelation for it, our natural reason might teach us the sanle thing. For, seeing we depeIid continually upon God, and every day receive fresh mercies from him; there is all the reason ill the ,vorld, that \ve should every day, SOBle \vay or other, testify our acknowledgment that we do so. For that is all that ,ve can do to hilll, for all that he does for us. OJ' Public P]"ayer. 49 "T e cannot give hin1 allY thing, for \ve have nothing but \vha(he gives us. And therefore, he expects nothing fronl us, for all the favors he is pleased to she\v us, but only to own that they come from him, and to shew \ve do so, by all sucl means and methods, as he for that purpose hath prescribed to us. Of \vhich, the perfornl- ance of public devotions \vas ahvays reckoned the most plain and proper. I say public, for what \ve do in private, none in the world kno\vs but God, and ourselves. But hy performing our public devotions to him, \ve demonstrate to the \vorld, that \ve believe and ackno\v ledge, that he is the supreme governor and disposer of all things in it, that it is in him we live, and move, and have our being; and that we neither have, nor can have any thing, but \vhat we receive from him. By our praising hilll for what \ve have, \ve o\vn that it was he who gave it; and by praying to him for what \ve ,vant, we o\vn that it is he alone \vho can give it to Ug. And by doing this publicly, \ve she\v that \ve are not ashamed to own it, nor care if all the \vorld kno\vs that \ve have nothing of our o\vn; nothing but what ß 60 The Necessity and Advantage ,ve receive from God, and wish that all others would join with us, and assist us in praising of him, and in praying to him, both for themselves, and for us too. This is properly to serve God, and glorify him in the world: the great ",-ork \ve were made for, and for which we are still sup- ported and maintained by him. 80 that by this n1eans we may so far ans\ver the end of our creation, and the end of all his goodness anù mercies to us. For he made all things for him- self at first, Prov. xvi. 4. And he still doth all things for himself, even for his own glory, And ,ve accordingly set forth his glory in all our pub- lic devotions; by o,vning him publicly for our great and continual benefactor, by recounting the glorious ,yorks that he hath done for us, and supplicatil1g hilTI for all the good things that ,, e can ever have: and so ascribing the glory of all to him. And therefore ,ve ought in reason to perform such devotions as often as \ve can. Weare bound to do it, by all those reasons ,vhich oblige us to serve God that made us, and to do the work which he sent s into the world about. For that, this is properly the serving of God, or as ,ve Of Public Prayer. 51 therefore call it, Divine Service; the Holy Ghòst hilllself testifies, ,vbere speaking of Anna the Prophetess, he saith, that she departed not jr07n the temple, but served God with .fasting and prayer, night and day, Luk. ii. 37", that is, as she constantly kept the fasts of the church, so she as constantly ,vent to the temple at the hour of prayer, both evening and lllorning; and there performed her devotions. And if we ",.ould have the sante testimony that she had, even, that ,ve serve God, ,ve must endeavour all we can to follo\v her pious exam pIe, as ,ve see the Apostles in my text did, by going into the Tenzple, or the House of God, at the hour ofprayer. And, as this is much for the honor of God, so it is also for the honor of Christ, and that holy religion ,vhich he hath planted upon earth; "Thich though it be the best, or rather the only true religion professed in the world, yet it cannot appear to be so any other ,yay, than by the lives and actions of those \vho profess it; and particu- larly by the frequency of their public devotions to the supreme governor of the world. If they who profess the christian religion come short of E2 52 The Necessity and Advantage other people in this, it would be a great reflection upon the founder of it. For it ,vould seem to intimate, as if his religion had" not that power upon the minds of men as others have, nor an- s,vered the end and notion of religion in general, even the glorifying Ahnighty God, so ,;yell as others do. But there are no people upon earth, \ve kno\v of, ,vho llave any sense of religion at all but they do something or other every day, where- by to express it, and to shew the great esteem and respect they ha,' e for the God they ,vorship. The JJfahonzetans, although their religion he grounded upon nlere imposture, yet notwith- standing, being 0 bIiged by it to pray five times a day, they usually do it, if they can, in their lTIOsques or temples. I kno\v the pri11lÍtive Christians prayed oftener, and so do many at this day, either in public or private. But the greatest part of those \vhich are called Christians, scarce ever pray, at least as ,ve kno,v o so much as once a \veek, unless it be perhaps on the Lord's day. Nay, I fear there are many, \vho never publicly pray at all, for a whole year together, if in their \vhole lives. But woe to such Christians Of Public Prayer. 53 as these, if they Inay be caJIed so, who thus cru- cify to themselves the Son of God afresh; putting hitn to open shayne. It ,viII be far nlore tolerable for Turks and lJ;laholnetans, at the day of juùg- Inent than for these. Tþe Jews as I have shewn, had their set hours of prayer, every morning and evening, both at the temple, and in all their synagogues, ,vhich ,vere dispersed all over the country. And they were so constant and punctual in going thither at the hours ofprayer, that if anyone lived near a synagogue, and did not then go to pray ,vith the congregation, tbey put a mark upon that man, calling him schakin 1 ang an ill neighbour, as lJfai- 'lnonodes, a learned Jew, assures us in his Tephillah. I \vish there ,vere no such neighbours anlong us, ill neighbours, that seldom or never join vlith us in our puhlic devotions; and so, as to all out,vard appearance, live as without God in the vorld. But 'v hat a reproach is this to our holy religion, and to our blessed Saviour himself, the author of it, that Jews and Turks, ,vho are strangers, yea enemies to his religion, should be nlore constant at their devotions to Almighty God, than they 54 The Necessity and Advantage who profess it ? God grant it may never be laid to their charge. But ,vhy do I ,vish that when I kno\v that it will. It ,,,ill Inost certainly be laid to their charge ere long, except they repent be- fore it be too late; and that too, so as to ùe as constant for the future at our public prayers, as they have hitherto slighted or neglected them. This would, in a great measure, retrieve the honor which our religion hath lost by such care- less IJrofessors of it; for it ,vould cast such a lustre upon it, as would lTIake it outshine all other religions in its outward appearance, as much as it excels then1 in its in,vard purity and truth; which would redound very much to the glory of Christ, our ever blessed Redeemer. And therefore, all that have any )Iegard for that, as I hope ,ve all have, cannot but look upon them- selves as bound in duty to take all opportunities they can get of performing their public devotions to Aln1igbty God, according as that religion requires which he hath taught, and they profess. If ,ve ,vould but give ourselves tinle to look into these things, ",-hich I have thus briefly explained, we Dlight easily see, ,vhat obligations Of Public Prayer. 55 lie upon nlinisters to read, and people to assist at our public prayers, when and ,vheresoever they can get an opportunity. It is God's ,vi}], and for his glory; and therefore it is our duty, and \\re are bound to do it, \vhether \ve can get any- thing by it or no. But that great and lTIOst gracious God, \vhom \ve serve, hath of his infi- nite goodness so orrlered it, that \vhatsoever is done in obedience to his comnland, and for the honor of his name, doth ipso facto tend also to our profit and ad vantage. And this particularly doth so in an high degree. Prayer itself, in general, is a duty so well- pleasing unto God, that he hath appointed it to be the 11leans \vhereùy to obtain of him all the good things ,ve can \vant or desire; he hath passed his word, and hath promised to grant them if \ve ask thelTI as we ought, in the name of Christ, and \vith faith in his word and promise, Matt. vii. 7. chap. xxi. 22. l\Iark, xi. 24. Job, xvi. 23, &c. And if the prayers \vhich single persons make in their own private houses or closets be so po\verful and prevalent, those are much more so \vhich are made by several persons met toge- 56 The Necc8sity and Advantage ther for that purpose in God's house. To these public prayers, there are many special prolIlises Inade, \vhich belong peculiarly unto them. I shall instance only t\vo. The first shall be that of our blessed Saviour; Again I say unto you, t!tat if two of you shall agree upon earth, as touch- ing any thing t!tat they shall ask, it shall be done for thern of'lny Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my na'l7le, there am I in the rnidst oj'the11l, Matthew, xviii. 19, 20. Here ,ve have Christ's o,vn ,vord, that where any t\VO (much more where rnany) agree to ask anything of God, as we do in every petition we put up in our public prayers, it shall be done for them. And that where t\VO or three, or any number of devout persons, are met toge- ther in his name, he is specially present with them, to hear their prayers, and to present then1 to his Father, to be accepted, and granted by him. 'Vhich promise, in all respects, doth as properly belong to our public, as to any prayers that can be made; they being such as we all agree in before-hand; and we do not only n1eet, but put them up also in the nan1e of Christ. Of Public Prayer. 57 The same may be said also of the pronuse ,, hich God made to the House which Solol1lon had built and dedicated unto him, saying, Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears atiend unto the prayer that is made in this place, 2 Chron. vii. 15. For though tl1Ïs pron1ise \vas first Inade to that house particularly, yet in that, it ,vas designed for all such places as should be dedicated to God, as that "was. As God having said to Joshua, I 'will not fail thee no']- forsake thee, J 08h. i. 5. The Apostle from thence infers, that \ve may boldly say, the Lord is 1Jzy helper, and I 'will not fear 'what 1Jlan shall do unto 'llle, Heb. xiii. 6. So here, the Lord having said to So!oJJzon, 'Jnine ears shall be attent to the prayer that is rnade in this place; ,ve may boldly say, the Lord hath a particular respect to places devoted to his service, and \vill in a peculiar n1anner hear and accept the prayers ,,,hich we n1ake in then1. N o\v seein g there are such special promises made to prayers publicly perforn1ed by seve.-al persons together in GO( 'S own hou e; ,ve there- fore ought to have a special regard to such pray- 58 The Necessity and Advantage ers, and a special trust and confidence, that God, according to the said pron1ises, will in a special manner hear then1, and grant ,vhat ,ve there pray for together. And then he ,viII certainly do it, as the saints of God in all ages have found by experience; and therefore have al\vays preferred the public before the private devotions. And if they could not be bodily present ,vith them, ,,'hile their brethren were at their public devo- tions in God's house, yet they had such a respect to them, that they would pray at the san1e tin1e, and so join with them in their souls, although they could not do it with their bodies. There are many instances of this in the Holy Scripture; and SOlne wherein God hÏ1nself ,vas pleased, in a wonderful manner, to signify his approbation of it. It ,vas at the evening sacrifice, tl1e time of public prayer, that Ezra made that solen1n prayer, which ,vas so higllly approved of, as to be made part of the Canonical Scriptures, Ezra, ix. 5. It ,vas at the tin1e of the offering the evening sacrifice at Hierusalem, that Elijah the IJrophet at Mount Ca'l'lnel prayed so effectllaUy, that the .fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt Of Public Prayer. 59 sacrifice, and the wood, and the stone, and the dllSi, and licked up the water that was in the trench, ,vhich he had there made, to the confirn1- ing of the people in the ,vorship of the true God, 1 Kings, xviii. 26, 29. It was about tl1e time of the evening oblation, that Daniel \vas praying, when the angel Gabriel was sent to acquaint him with the precise time of the lJIessiah's coming, Dan. ix. 21. And if we may believe an Apocry- phal book, it was about the tin1e that the incense that evening ,vas offered at Jerusale1Jz, in the house of the Lord, that Judetll prayed at Be- thulia, so as to overcome that vast army ,vhich then lay before the place, J udeth, ix. 1. Be sure it ,vas at the ninth hour, the hour of even- ing prayer, that Cornelius ,vas praying in his house, ,vhen an angel was sent to acquaint hin1, that his prayers and his alms were corne up for a menlorial before God, and to direct him how to con1e to the kno,vledge of Christ, and so into the \vay of salvation, Acts, x. 3, 30. It ,vas not certainly for nothing, that it is so particularly noted, that these prayers \vere n1ade by such eminent saints at the time of the evening 60 Tile Necessity and Advantage sacrifice, or which is the san1e at tlte ninth hour, the hour of public prayer. N either do I see any reason, why such a circumstalice should be so often left upon record, but that ",-e should learn thereby, that God hath a particular respect, ac- cording to his promise, to the IJublic devotions which his people perform together to l1im; so as to hear also the prayers ,vhich are made at the san1e time by others, ,vho join ,vith them in their hearts, though tl1ey cannot any other ,vay. As David also did, when praying in private, or at some distance from the temple; he said to God, Let lny prayer be set fortlt before tltee as incense, and tlte lifting up of my hands, as tile evening sacrifice, Psal. cxli. 2., where we may observe, that in this, as ,veIl as in all the places before quoted; not t11e rnorning, but the evening sa- crifice, is particularly named; because, as I sup- pose, that was the greater sacrifice of the t,vo, as being offered at the sanle hour ,vherein the death of Christ, typified by it, ,vas actually acconl- pUshed, and for that reason also no sacrifice was to be offered after that. And here ,ve may like- WIse observe ho,v great e5teenl David had for Of Public Prayer. 61 the public service at the temple, and ho,y much he preferred it before his own private prayer, in that he had not only an eye to it while he pray- ed, and so joined as ,veIl as he could in it, but he desired that his private prayer nlight be like to that, or as acceptable as that ,vas to God. But the more pleasing any duty is to God, the more profitable it is to those ,vho do it, And therefore he having so often by ,vord and deed manifested himself ,veIl-pleased ,vith the public or common service \v hich his people perform to him, ,ve cannot doubt but they always receive proportionable advantage fr0111 it, The J e\vs call stated puhlic prayers rnahamadoth, stations, and have a saying among them, that 'without sllch stations the world could not stand. Be sure no people have any ground to expect public peace and tranquillity, \vithout praising and praying publicly unto hinI, ,vho alone can give it. But if all the people, suppose of this natiõn, should every day ,vith one heart and mouth join toge- ther in our comnlon supplications to Alnlighty God, how ha.ppy should 'we then be? Ho,v free from danger? Ho\v safe and secure under his 62 Tile Necessity and Advantage protection? This is the argulnent \vhich Christ himself useth, why 1nen ought always to p'l'ay and not to faint; in the l)arable of the unj list judge, who ,vas at last prevailed upon to grant a wido,v's request merely by her inlportunity in asking it. And shall not God, sai th he, avenge his Olcn elect, which cry day and night unto hi1n, though he bear long with them? I tell you he will avenge the'J1l speedily. But then, he adds, Nevertheless when the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the eartlt? Luke, xviii. 7, 8. As if he had said, God ,viII most certainly avenge and protect those who cry day and night, morning and even- ing to him. But men will not believe this; and tha t is the reason why there are so few who be- lieve that he ,viII hear their prayers, according to his pronlise. But blessed be God, though they be but few, there are some who really believe God's word, and accordingly pray every morning and evening, not only for themselves, but for the country where they live, for all their governors both in church and state, and for all sorts and cond tions of men among us. To these the whole kingdom is beholden for its support Of Public Prayer. 63 and preservation. If they should once fail, I kno,v not 'v hat should become of us. But so long as there are pious and devout persons crying day and night to God for aid and defence against our enemies, ,ve need not fear any hurt they can ever do us; at least according to God's ordinary course of dealing in the world. I know that he is sOinetimes so highly incensed agai113t a people, that he ,viII hearken to no intercessions for theine As 'v hen he said of the iùolatrous and factious Jews, though l\tIoses and Samuel stood befol' o e 'l7ze, yet my mind could not be tOlvards this people, Jer. xv. I. Moses had before diverted bis wrath fr0111 them, Exod. xxxii. 11, 12, 14.; and so had Salnuel, 1 Sam. vii. 9.; but at this time be saith, Though both of them stood before him and besought hint for it, yet he would not be reconciled to this people. 'Vhich plainly implies, that this was an extraordinary case, and that he ordinarily used to hearken to the prayers ,vLich his faithful ser- vants, such as Moses and 8a1nuel ,vere, made to him in behalf of the people among whom they d,velt: According to that of the Apostle /3t. James, The effectual fertOent prayer of a righteous i 64 The Necessity and Advantage 1nan availeth rnueh, Jam. v. 16. To the same purpose is that parallel place in the Prophet Eze/âel, \v here God sai th, That if a land sin grievously against him, and lle send the fa1JlÏne, the s'word, the pestilence, or the like punisll1nent, to cut off both 1Jzan and beast frol1z it, though these three mzen, Noah, Daniel, and Job 'were in it, they s/tould deliver none but their O'lvn souls, Ezk. xi v. 14, 16, 18, 20. But here ,ve may like,,'ise observe, that in such an extraordinary case as this, 'v hich God gran t may not be our o\vn ere long, although such righteous persons by all their prayers and tears can deliver none else, yet they themselves sllall be delivered. As Lot was ont of ISodom, and the Christians at the final de- struction of Jerusalenl, when elE:ven hundred thousand Jews perished, (Joseph. de bel. Jud. i. 7. c. 17.) and not one Christian, they being all by the secret providence of God conveyed out of the city before the siege began. Euscb. llist. Beel. l. 3. c. 5. 'Vhich shews the particular care that God takes of all that believe and serve him. And that one ,voldd think is enough to prevail ,vith an that consult their o,vn or others welfare, OJ" Publie Pro/fer. 65 to neglect 110 opportunities ,,"hich they can get of serving so great and good a lnaster, all the ,vays they can, and particularly by perform- ing their daily devotions to hinl. In that they have good ground to hope that he ,viII hear their prayers for others, but Inay be sure that he win take care of them, \vhatsoever happens. Besides these COnllll0n benefits ,vhich accrue to the kingdom and church in general, fron1 the conlIDon prayers ,vhich are daily performed in it, and to the persons \y ho perforln them as they are members of the same: there are like\vise many others ,vhich they thereby receive, everyone in his o\vn private capacity, as he is a Christian in general. Especially when they perform these their daily devotions, according to that excellent order which our church hath appointed for them. For by thus addressing themselves every day to God as their heavenly Father, they learn to live with an entire sublnission to him, and depen- dance upon him in all the changes and chances of this mortal life. By confessing their sins every day to God, their hearts are ahvays touched with the sense of then1, and with godly sorrow and F 66 Tlte Necessity and Advantage repentance for theln. By having God's absolu- tion of then1 declared every day unto them by one of his own lIlinisters, they are confirmed in their hopes of pardon by the blood of Christ. By praising and glorifying Almighty God every day, their hearts are cheered, and their spirits refreshed with the renlelnbrance and recognition of his glory and goodness towards then1, as Da- vid's was, when he said, My soul shall be satiified even as it was with 1narr010 and fatness, 'l.olten my mouth praisetlt thee with joyful lips, Psal. lxiii. 5. By hearing SOlne part of God's holy word read to them every day, they are constantly put in mind of their duty to him, what he ,vould have then1 to believe and do, which other,vise they might be apt to forget. By repeating the A postIes' creed every day, wherein all the fundamental articles of our christian religion are compre- hended, they are kept firm and stedfast in the true faith of Christ. By praying every day for pardon, and peace, and gl'ace, and all things necessary both for this life and the next, they have the ,vord and prolnise of God himself con- tinually engaged to grant them, fiTI(l therefore VjO Public }}/.(/yel'o 67 lnay be nhvays confident that they shaH have thenl, By approaching every day into God's special presence, and there conversing ,,,ith hÎ1n according to his o,vn ordinance and appointlnent, they live al,vays ,vith a quick sense of God upon I the r nlinds, and under the influences of his Holy Spirit to assist and direct then1 in all their ,va ys. But ,vhy do I offer at she,viug the many and greát advantages ,yhich arise fronl the daily fre- quenting the public prayers of the church, ,vith that attention, faith, reverence, and devotion, "Thich is requisite to so divine a duty? 'v hell they are so nlany and so great that no man is able ful1y to describe then1, nor can any conceive aright of theIn, but only they ,vho by reason of use have their senses e ercised to discern them. They find by experience that next to the frec!uent receiving of the Lord's supper, this is the most effectual means they can use, ,,,hereby to keep their nlinds al ways in a truly pious and Christ- ian temper. And therefore are ready upon all occasions to attest it, not only ,vith their lips, but also in their lives and actions. And cannot F 2 OS TIle .i.Vecessity and Advantage but wonder that people should slight those holy exerCIses. ,v hich they reap so luuch profit from, and feel so much pleasure and delight in. Whereas on the other side, they who never go to the prayers at all, or but very seldom, and o never receive any benefit fron1 theln to theln- selves, they ,vonder as Inuch ho\v others should receive any; if they be not sometimes ten1pted also, to say or think ,vith those sons of Belial in Job, What is the Abnighty that we should serDe hi'J1l? and what profit should we have, if 'we pray unto hi1n, Job, x xi. 15. I hope there are not nlany who really think so, but I aln sure that most Inen act as if they thought that there is nothing to be got by serving God or praying to hirn. For all men naturally desire. that which will bring thenl in any ,profit or ad vantage, and layout themselves wholly for the obtaining of it. And therefore if they believed that the serving God would do that, they \vouItl need no other arguments to persuade thenl to it. If every n1an that came to prayers could be sure to get but one shilling fOJ every time he can1e, I am apt to think that all the churches ,vhere there are OJ. ])ublic Prayel'. 09 daily pyayers, ,vould be every day as full as they can hold both morning and evening. But the lllischief is, the profit ,vhich is to be had here, is of another nature and such as they cannot fancy to be any profit at all, in that tbey are not, as they think, made ricller by it in the things pertaining to this life. Though that also is a great mistake; For godliness, or the ,vorshipping and serving God, hath tlte pr01nise of tlte life tltat now is, as 'well as of tit at 'whiclt is to c01ne, 1 Tim. iv. 8. But ho\vsoever, this being only in promise, not in .. present payment, they cannot get it into their heads that it is ,vorth their while to look after it. And as for the other ,vorld, which the promises respect, they have no sense of that upon their luinds, or at least, not nough to over-balance their cares for this. And though men may pre- tend a t}lousand 1ittle excuses for their neglecting the public service of God, this still lies at the bOttOlll of them all. They do not really believe. that they can get 80 nluch by that as they n1ay by doing something else. If they did, our Churches ,vould be as full as the Exchange is every day in the vleek. 'Vhereas ,ve find the 70 The ..(-lIÇecessily and ...4.dt"llJdage contrary by sad and daily experience; insomuch that in this great and populous city, ,vhich pro- fesseth religion as much, if not more than any city in the ,\yorld, to our shame be it spoken, there is scarcely one in an hundred, that take nny l110re notice of God and his service, than as if they had no God to serve all the ,veek long. And that \vhich is worst of all, they are not sen- sible that it is a fault, and so cannot repent of it. Though St. Peter and St. John, and such great saints used to go every day to Churcl1, at the hours of praye1', they do not look upon them- selves as bound to do so; for several reasons which they kno,v, but do not care to tell them. And they do ,visely in keeping them to them- selves; for they ma 1 perhaps nlake a shift to satisfy themselves at present with them, but J fear they can never satisfy others, nor thelnselves neither at the last day, IDuch less the judge of the ,vhole \vorld. It ,vould be very ,veIl if they could. But so far as ,ve can guess at them, if ,ve exalnine thel11 but by the little light ,ve have in this ,vorld, ""e n1ay easily see into tIle vanity and ,veakncss of thcrn. Of Public Prayer. 71 This therefore is that \v hich I shall no,v en- dea your to do. Not that I can pretend to search into all the reasons, if they may be so called, ,vhich keep men from our daily prayers. Some I believe, have none but their o,vn wills, \vith such it would be in vain to argue. But they \vhich have any shado\v of reason for it, though sonle have one, some another, as they themselves best know; yet I humbly conceive they may all be reduced to these follo,ving heads, which I shall no\v consider. First, therefore, some will not come to our prayers, because, as they pretend, they do not like them? But ,vhy do not they like them? Is there anything in then] contrary to the Word of God, or unbecoming his service? That most of them be sure cannot say, for they never read nor heard them in their lives, nor are suffered to do it, by those which have power over them, lest they should see, as they certainly would, their error or mistake. And they who have sometimes perhaps read or heard of them, if they \vould but impartial1y exanline them by God's revealed will, cannot but acknowledge them to be exactly 72 The ]Veces:Ûty and .fldvantage consonant and agreeable to it: and some of thClll have testified the same, by joining ,vith theln upon occasion, which it is supposed they ,vould never have done if they thought it unlawful; as it must needs be, if their be anything ill thelU contrary to God's \vorù. But why then ùo not they do it often? 'Vhy not every day? :The great reason \vhich they pretend, is because our prayers are read out of a book, and they had rather hear a lllan pray by heart and extempore, ,vhich they think to be more edifying; but the contrary to that hath been often denlonstrated beyond all contradiction, together with the many and great inconveniences which usually follow upon such private extempore prayers in public, not to be suffered in the Church of Christ, as they never ,vere in any part uf it till of late years, and then too, no where else but in this Island. And therefore at present, I ,vould only desire those, who separate from our public pray- ers, not out of humour or faction, but merely out of an erroneous and misguided conscience, of ,vhich sort I hOlJe there are son1e. I would de- sire such to consider, \v hether the great prolnise OJ. Public Prayer. 73 which our Saviour hath made to public prayers, can possibly be applied to their ,yay of praying. To n1e it seen1S ilupossible, in that tl)ey do not perforlu the condition required in it. The pro- n1Ïse I mentiDned before; it runs thus, Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on eartl/" touching anything tltat tltey shall ask, it shall be donejor theln of'17zy Father which is tit heaven, l\latt. xviii. 19. I t is plain that this pronlÏse belongs to public prayers, such as are made by several persons together, at the least by t,vo: and it is as plain also, tbat it belongs only to such public prayers, wherein those several persons agree together beforehand w hat they s11all ask or pray for. But where the l\Iinisteruseth on]y an extempore prayer, bo\v many people soever may be present at it, there are no t,vo of them, ,vho agree 'v hat they shall ask: that is left \vholly to the Minister, none of the people so Illnch as kno\ving \vhat he intends to ask; nor he himself neither, before he hath asked it. They may perhaps agree to it, after they hear it; and perhaps not. But if they do, that is not the thing which the In'olni e requires. For it is 74 The Necessity and Advantage made only to those, ,vho agree touching anything that they shall ask; and so requires a previous agreelnent about the l11atter of our public pray- ers, before we put them up to Almighty God, ,vhich they who use only extemporary prayers can by no means pretend to, nor by consequence to this great promise, of God's granting ,vhat they ask. But no,v in the public prayers of the Church, ,ve keep close to the condition of the l)romise: \ve ask notbing but what \ve aU agree beforehand shall be asked. All the Clergy in England, by their Procurators in Convocation, and all the Commons by their Representatives in Parlia- ment agreed together, touching everything that should be asked every day ill the year; and so do all that come to the prayers; they all kno,v before ,,"hat shall then be asked, and accordingly agree in the asking of i1; and therefore l1ave sure ground to believe, that God, according to his pronlise, will do it for them. These ,vords of our Saviour might be further improved, to she,v, not only the lawfulness, but the necessity of set forms of I)rayer in the public Of Public Prayer. 75 service of God. But I suppose there are none Ilf re present but ,vho are satisfied already in tbat, and therefore shall only add, that they, ,vho pre- tend this to be the reason ,vhy they do not join \vith us in our daily prayers, because they like those in private congregations better, at the same tin1e give us too much cause to suspect, that there is something else at the bOttOlll; for if that ,vas all, they would have those which they call public prayers every day in tbeir o\vn ,vay; or at least ,vould come to ours \vhen they have none of their own, ,vhich they never do, and so per- form no sort of public service to God upon the ,veek days; ,vhich how they ,viII ans,ver at the last day, for my part, I know not; but if they do it ,vill be very ,veIl. There are others, ,vho have a ßlore plausible excuse for their not assisting at the public, be- cause they daily }JerfOrnl their private devotions according to Christ's own command, saying, And when thou p1'ayest, thou shalt not be as the llYpo- crites; .for they love to pl'ay standing in the sy na- gOgUCf;, and in the COl'nel'S of streets, that they may be seen of/nen. "J;"""eril!J, I say unto you, they hare 76 Tile Necessity and Advantage their reward. But t!tou, when thOlt prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast sllut the door, p'J'ay to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Fa- ther which seeth in secret, shall?'Oeward thee openly, l\Iatth. vi. 5, 6. But in these ,vords, our Saviour is so far from excusing us from })ublic prayers, that he only directs us ho,v ,ve ought to perform them aright, that we nlust not pray as the hypo- critical Pharisees did, onJr to be seen of men, and so make that the end of their public prayers )Vhich were ordained, and therefore ought to be performed, not for our o\vn, but for God's honor and glory. And ,vhosoever perfornls them only to he seen of nlen, they have their reward they looked for, even the applause of men; but they have no ground to expect any reward fronl God, who never accepts any services, but such as are performed out of sincere obedience t his laws, and for the honor of his nalne. And there- fore, he that ,vould pray acceptably to God, as he must often pray secretly in his closet, where he cannot have the applause of lTIen in his eye, because none steth him but God: so even in his public prayers, he must act ,vith the same sincere OJ' Public Prayer!.. 77 intentions as if he was in private, ailning SIn- cerely at the glory of God, as the great end for 'W hich pubJic prayers ,vere ordained, anù to ,vhich they conduce much nlore than our private can; for in private, none sees us but God; but in p lblic, though \ve must not pray therefore that men may see us, yet we cannot pray but sonle will see us ackno\vledging God's goodness, and ÏInploring his mercy to us, 'v hich is much for his honor and glory. According to that reluarkable saying of our blessed Sa\-iour, Let your light so shine before 'J1zen, that tltey 1nay . ee your good 1L'orlls, and glorify your FatlLer which is in heaven, Matt. v. 16. 'Vherefore they 'who sincerely desire to observe all Christ's cOl1lmands, as becometh good Christ- ians, they must make conscience of praying often everyone in his closet, or by himself. But they nlust not look upon themselves, as thereby ex- cused from praying also publicly as often as they have opportunity; for that also, as I have shewn, is else\vhere commanded by hinl. But rather if they happen to be brought into such a straight, that it is morally impossible for them to perfornl 78 1'/,c J.VereRsity and .Advantage both; they nlust prefer the puùlic L8fore their private devotions. And in hoth must take spe- cial care to act \vith that simplicity and godly sincerity, as beconleth those ,,,ho have to ùo ,vith an all-seeing Goù, \vho hates nothing nlore than hypocrisy and deceit. The saIne 1uay be said of those prayers ,vhich are, or ought to be perforlued iu every family apart, and by itself, as the great n1eans \vhereby to keep up the sense of God in it, and to have his blessing al\vays upon it. For \vhich purpose the C0l1Z11l0n Prayer is certainly the best that can be used, as it Juay all be, except the Absolution, by any lnaster of a family, who by this means 1uay in a great 1ueasure, as to his own family, supply the want of the public prayers of tbe church where they cannot be had; but ,vhere they 1uay, thEse family prayers should not hinder, but rather make way for them, by fitting the members of each family better for the more solelnn service of God in the public congregation. T t cannot be douhted but that St. Peter and St. .John prayed both in their closets and in their faluilies every day; and yet for all that, They OJ' Public Prayer. 7f) u'ent up togetller into tIle TC1Jzple at lite hOU1 if praycr. Another excuse that men comnlonly make un- to thenlselves for their neglecting of our daily prayers, is because God, as they say, hath given thenl Si T days to labour in, and hath reserved only one for hilnself; therefore no\v called His or the Lord's Day. But that they soIenlnly ob- serve, by joining with the congregation in his public service; and therefore do not think theln- selves obliged to do so upon other days also, whereon God doth not only pern1Ït, lut require them to follow their respective callings for the Inaintellance of themselves and families. It is true, he doth so: but it doth not froll1 thence follo,v, that they need not serve God upon those days as ,veIl as upon his o\vn. His day ought to be spent wholly in his service, and no other business to be done upon it, which nIfty as well be done another day. l.Tpon other days men Juay and ought to 1nind their particular callings as well as their public devotions; but still these ought to be nlinded as ,veIl as thosb. No people were ever more l1l0re strictly cOIDluanded to 80 The N('ce. sity and .Ad1'antagf keep the sabbath than the JC1VS \vere; yet they ,vere comn1anded also to serve God publicly tv.TÍce every day, by offering a sacrifice together "Tith their prayers every morning and evening in the ,veek. To ,vhich there are only two more extraordinarily added upon the sabbath, And we certainly are as nluch bound to offer up our prayers and praises unto God, as they were to offer up their sacrifices every day. Otherwise our religion, in the very point of evotion, would come short of theirs, which cannot be supposed without great absurdity by any that understand it and kno,v the Author of it. But the vanity of this excuse appears suffi- ciently fron1 ,vhat I discoursed before, concerning the necessity and advantages of daily prayers; and therefore shall say 110 more to it here, but that they ,vho never perform their public devo- tions unto God, but upon his o,vn day, ,viII hardly do it well then: and that all who desire in good earnest to keep the J ord's Day as they ought, nlust go to Church at tbe hour of prayer, every day in the week if they can. But SODle perhaps may say, they cannot do it. Of Public Prayer. 81 They cannot spare so much time as that requires from their worldly Lusiness upon the week days, without apparent danger of ruining themselve3 and falnilies. Sonle perhaps may say this: I am sure all cannot. There are many in and about this city, and in the country too, who have no worldly business to do, or at least do none all the week long. To them every day is a Sabbath, a day of rest, ,vherein they have nothing else to do, but to serve him who hath given them so much leisure on purpose that they might do it. They keep holi- day every day, and therefore s110uld keep every day holy, or at least so much of it as is necessary for the offering up their public prayers and praises unto God ,vho hath provided so liberally for them. Otherwise the time that he hath given them will be spent to little purpose, and their estates, if possible, to less. For they ,vill be so far from doing them any good, that they ,viII but increase their n1isery, if not in this world, as they often do, yet most certain]y in the next. And as for such anlong you as follow some par- ticular calling, I must acknowledge it is no more than what you may and ought to do, so far as it G 82 The Necessity and Ad1,antage is necessary for the lllaintenance of yourselves and ihose of your o\vn house, and for your being better able to relieve others, and to do good in the ,vorld. But I do not think that you can be tllerefore excused fron1 attending daily upon the puhlic ,vorship of God, as often as you can; I sal, as often as you call. For I kno\v things j lnay s0111etiules fall out so, that you cannot do it \vithout very great inconvenience. And at such tinles I hUll1bly conceive you nlay Ia,vfully bp absent ,vithout any scruple. But I speak only of the general course of a ulan's life. As it is said of our blessed Saviour, that being at Naza- reth, Ite 'lcent into tlte /3ynagogue on tlte Sabbatlt day, as his cllstO'ln 'lcas, Luk. iv. 16. So it ought to be your usual custom to go every day to Churcl1, at the /tours oj. prayer, not\vithstanding any orùinary business which you lllay have to do in the l11ean tiule. As I doubt not but you yourselves ,vill ackno,vledge if you ,yould but seriously consider these fe,v things. First, consider, that ye have souls as ,veIl as bodies to take rare of every day in the year, and another ,vorld to provide for as ,veIl as this; an Of Public Prayer. 83 eternal ,vorld, where ye must live in happiness or misery for ever. And therefore it ,vould be the height of fo1Jy and nladness, to suffer the ordinary affairs of this life to hinder you from using the means 'v here by to obtain grace anù sal vation in the next. Consider, also, that you neither have nor can have any thing but \vhat you receive from God. It is only his blessing that maketh rich, Provo x. 22. And the ,yay to have that, is to seek it daily of him, and to prefer your duty to hirn . before all things else; ,vithout ,vhich you have no ground to expect it: but by this means you cannot fail of it, for you have his own ,vord for it, l\Iatt. vi. 33. Again, cOllsider, you can never get hurt by doing good, nor lose anything by serving God, except that ,vhich is better lost than found. 'Vhilst you are sincerely praying to, or praising him ,vho orders all things in the ,vorId, you may be confident, that whatsoever happens to you at that time, shall one ,yay or other turn to your good, or at least, no real evil shall Lpfal you. As you see in the children of Israel; aU their Inen G 84 TIle Necessity and Advantage nlet together by God's conl1nand, at Jerusalem at three certain times every year; 'v here by the ,vhole land was left naked anù open, ,vithout any defence at those times against their enemies round about. And yet it is very observable, none ever invaded it, nor ever so much as attempted to do it at any of those times when they were met together before God: as he himself bad prolnised, saying, Neither shall any nzan desire thy land when thou shalt go up to appear bifore the Lord, thrice in the year, Exod. xxxiv. 23, 24. Furthernlore, consider, none of you, I believe, are so busy all the day long in your trades, but you can find time to visit a friend; and what better friend can you visit than him, who loved you} and gave himself for you? N one of you but can find time to go from your o\vn into your neighbours, or perhaps to a public house, and there continue perhaps an hour or two toge- ther? And what house can you go to better th6.n God's? His house of public prayer. And where can you spend an hour or t\VO in a day better than there? None of you but can find tjme every day to converse with on e_ c m pany or other, ei- j . Of Public Prayer. 85 ther about news or business no way relating to your trades. And what better company can you keep? 'Vhom can you con verse \vi th better than him \vho governs and over-rules all the occur- rences of the world? And what better news can you hear than that which is publicly read to you out of his holy word, by one of his o"\vn officers? N one of you but can find time every day, w ben tired ,vith business, to divert yourselves with some recreation or other.. And"\v here can you find better diversions? How can you recreate your spirits better than as the glorified saints and angels do, by praising, admiring, adoring the eternal God, the Lamb that sÏiteth upon the throne in heaven. In short, if you have no tin1e for a ,vllole day together, to mind anything else but your particular caning, I heartily pity you: if you have, I am sure you can no way spend it better, than by going into the house of God, at the hour of prayer. And be.sides, you who fear that you may lose something by it, I desire you to consider how luuch you may lose unless yoÙ go. If Anna, the prophetess, had not been in the house of God at 86 The Necessity and Advantage the hour of prayel., \vhen Christ \vas first brought thither, she had lost the sight o.f her Saviour, the most blessed sight that ever nlortal saw, Luk. ii. 37, 38. If , t. Paul had not been praying in the tenlp]e, he had lost that heavenly trance or ex- tasy, wherein Christ himself appeared and spake to hhn, Acts, xxii. 17. If St. Peter and 1St. John had not gone into the Tenl}Jle at tIle hour of prayer, they had lost the happy opportunity of \vorking a great rniracle, and of con\-erting about fi ve thousand 11ersons to the faith of Christ. And those five thousand persons if they had not been there at that tinle, they nlight have lost their souls, and have ùeen undone for ever. 80 here, suppose you should happen to lose SOlne- thing by leaving your shops or trades a\vhile to come to Church and serve God there, you may lose ten times more, yea ten thousand times more by not doing of it. The utmost that you can lose by coming to Church, is only the taking or getting a little money, which may do you more burt than good. But by not coming, you will lose the pleasure of praising and nlagnifying him that Dlade you: you \vill lose the honor of con- O.f" Public Pl'a!Jel'. 87 versing with him in his o\vn house, and in his most special presence; you will lose the profit you Inight receive from his holy \vord there reaû ; you \villiose the benefit of all the prayers ,vhich are there made; you may lose the love and favor of God, and his Llessing upon \vhat you have; you nlay lose that clear sight and sense of his di vine goodness, 'v hich he has often Leen pleased to give his people, by ZifUng up the light of his countenance upon tlterll \V hile they are before him; you will lose the satisfaction of having done your duty and pleased God. Indeed you may lose you kno\v not \vhat, nor ever will know till ye cast up your accounts at the last day, and state your profit and loss impartially on both sides. Then you ,viII clearly see that the losses which you sustained by the neglect of your daily devo- tions, were infinite and inestimable, and that all the profits you got by it, \vere mere cyphers, sig- nifying nothing at alL N ext to this, you Illay consiùer also that you are so happy as to live in a place, \vhere the prayers are read lTIOst hours of the day. 80 that if you cannot order your affairs so as to go at 011e 88 Tile Necessity and Advantage hour, you may go at another. And both morn- ing and evening prayer do not take up much above an hour, or an hour and a half, in a day; and it is much if you cannot find so much time in a whole day wherein to serve and worship him, who gives you all the time you have. And if some of a family happen to be so necessarily employed for a ,vhole day together, that they cannot, yet it is rare but others may be spared to go to Church at the hours of prayer. There is no n1aster or 11listress of a fan1Ïly, but may, if they cannot con1e themselves at lea st send some that belong to them, that so the family may have SOUle share in our prayers if they will. They that will not do so much as that, have little cause to pretend any love to God, to Christ, to their own, or to any other souls that he hath purchased with his own blood. Above all, consider the great enù of your coming into and living in the ""arId. God did not make you only to eat and drink, much less to moil and toil only for food and raiment. It is true, he having made such things necessary for the preservation of your life, he doth not only Of Public Prayer. 89 permit, but require you to Dlake use of all lawful means for the getting of them. But still they are only the means, not the end of your living. And as you do not live only to eat, but you eat to live: so you live not for your own sakes, but for his \vho gives you life. Even for the sake of God, ,vho gave you life at first by his word with- out any means, and still continues it to you by the same word in the use of the foresaid means, and all for himself, for his own honor and glory. Which therefore is, or ought to be the great end of your eating or drinking, and of all and every action of your whole life. As we learn from his Apostle, saying, "JVltether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God, 1 Cor. x. 31. This therefore is the great end of your coming into the ,vorld, and the great ,york you have to do in it, even to promote his glory all you can. But in doing this work you ,viII also work out your own salvation. For it hath pleased God of his infinite goodness, to join your works and your ways, his glory and your hap- piness so insepal"ably together, that you cannot do one ,vithout the other; nor attain either but _1 90 The Necessity and AdtOantage ye shall have both. 80 far as ye ad vance God's glory, so far ye advance your o,vn happi- ness. If you glorify hiln, he win glorify you, though not for any virtue or lllerit there is in anything you do for him, an you do being infi- nitely short of what ye o\ve bin); yet by the merits of that death which his Son hath suffered, and by virtue of that intercession he al\vays makes for those 'v ho finish the ,york \v hich be hath given them to do, even glorify God in tlte 'iDol"ld. 'Vherefore as ever you desire, as I hope you all do, not to live in vain and to no purpose, but to do the \\ ork which ye \vere sent hither about; you must make it your chief care and study every day, and neglect no opportunities that ye caB get of pronloting the glory of God, and in that your 0'" n happiness. But there is nothing you can do every day that conduceth more to that end, than our public devotions. For by them, as I have she\\Tn already, lve both set forth God's glory, and for\vard our o\vn salvation. And therefore they ought in reason, as weB as duty, to be preferred before your ordinary affairs, as Of Public Prayer. 91 being of more consequence to the lllain end of your living than anything else that you COlTI- monly do. In other cases you yourselves ahvays Iuake lesser businesses give ,vay to greater. At any time you will neglect the getting a penny ra- ther than lose a pound. And ,vhatsoever ,york you have upon your hands, you ,viII lay it aside to feed your bodies, your frail and nlortal bodies, two or three tin1es a day, because you think that to be the more necessary ,york. And do not you think it as necessary to take care of your souls as of your bodies? and to serve God, as to feed yourselves every day? Yea, is not this tlte better part; the one thing needful? I am sure ye can- not deny it; for Christ himself hath said it, Luk. x. 42. And therefore you cannot but ac- know ledge that this ought to be done in the first place. So that all the common affairs of this life ought both in reason and conscience to give place, as n1uch as is possible, to your serving God, so as that your souls may live and be happy for ever. If you ,vould but keep these things al,vays in your mind, you ,vonId never suffer any slight 92 TIle Necessity and Advantage occasion to keep you either from your private or public devotions: you would not consider whe- ther you can spare tÏ1ne from minding the \vorld to serve God, but ,vhether you can spare time from serving God to mind the world; not what you may lose by going to Church, but what you may lose by staying at home: anù so \vould need no other monitor to put you every day in mind of going to the house of God, as the Apostles did, at the hour of prayer. But after all, I fear there are but few that will do it. But few of those also ,vho have no,v heard it to be their duty. They think it enough that they have been hearing; as for practising, that they do not love to think of. But I heartiIy wish that such hearers would consider what St. Paul saith; Not the hearers of the Law a1 e just before God, but the doers of the Law sllall be justified" Rom. ii. 13. 'Vhat St. James saith; Be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your ownselves, Jam. i. 2. 'Vhat Christ himselfsaith; That servant which knew his Lord's 'will and prepared not hirnself, neither did accord- ing to his will, shall be beaten 'lL,ith 'l1zany stripes, Of Public Prayer. 93 Luk, xii. 47. And what they themselves can say for themselves at the last day. I am sure they cannot plead ignorance, for they have been no,v sufficiently told of it. And ,vhat other ex- cuses they can nlake besides those which have been already answered, I cannot imagine, except it be one ,vhich is not worth ans\vering but that it will give us occasion to explain the way and manner of performing our daily devotions aright, to God's glory and our o,vn good. And for that purpose it may not be amiss to take notice of it. In short, therefore it is this: some perhaps nlay say that they have been sometimes at our daily prayers, but never found themselves any better for it, and therefore do not think it \vorth their ,vhile to go any nlore. This, I TIllist confess, may seem a notable ar- gunlent to such as measure their duty only by their profit, and think it not ,vorth their \vhile to do anything for God, unless they can get some- thing to themselves by it. But I ,vould have such to know that God is their maker, and they are therefore bound to do what he comlnands, whether they can get anything by it or no. If 94 Tlle- Necesstty and AdDantage he gives them anything, they Inust thank hÏ1n for it. For they are still but unprofitable ser- vants, they have done no more than ,vIlat was their duty to do, Luke xvii. 10., nor so lTIuch, if they do it only for their o\vn advantage. F'or it is their duty, not only to do ,vhat he COUI- Iuands, but to do it therefore because he com- mands it, in sincere obedience to hiln and his supreme authority over all things. Unless they do that, they have no ground to expect anything fronl him, for \v hat they do, but ,vrath and judg- nJent for not doing it as they ought. And ho\v much soever they do, and ho\v well soever they do it, he is not obliged to then1, but they to him for it; it being only by his power they can do it at all, and by his grace only they do it well. And therefore if he consider them for their doing their duty to him, they must ascribe it ,vholly to his free grace and mercy in Jesus Christ, which \v hether he is pleased to vouchsafe unto them or no, they are still bound to obey and serve him as 111uch as if he did, and that too, not \vith respect to their o\vn prúfit, but to his ,viII and pleasure. I speak not this, as if \ve could ever serve God (if Public Prayer. 9.3 for nought. For '\"e cau never do anything for hirn, but it ,,,ill most certainly redound by his gooùness to our advantage. But I speak it only to she,v the vanity of this excuse that some rnen ll1ake for their neglecting their public devotions, bec3:use they have been sometimes at them, but do not perceive then1selves any better for it. But after all, I an1 much of their mind. I do not think that they are or can be nluch the bet- ter, for attending upon the public \vorship of God only sOlnetimes. For it is plain, that they '" ho do it only sometimes, do it only by the by, ,vhen they have no great matter else to do. They do nof make it their ,york or business, and there- fore cannot expect any re\vard for it; nor get any good at all, much less so much, as to be made better by it. frhe solenlll praying and praising God, and reaùing, and hearing his most holy ,vord read, and so his divine ,vill published and declared in his 0\\"'11 house, by one of his own 111inisters, are the ordinary n1eans of grace. But they ,,"ork not by any virtue inherent in themselves, but by the po,yer of Christ's Holy Spirit, ,,-hich accord- .. 96 The Necessity and Advantage ing to his' promise, abides continually in his Church, assisting and actuating the said means, w hen duly administred in it, so' as to make them effectual to the end for which they were ordained. And therefore, _they who would attain that end, must use those Ineans, not only now and then, but constantly, or at least as often as they can. They must watch daily at the gates of wisdorn, and wait at the posts of her doors, if ever they desire to be admitted in, Provo viii. 34. They must live continually under the influences of God's Holy Spirit, nloving upon their souls, as he did upon the ,vaters in the creation, till he hath brought them into order, and created them again, in Jesus Christ unto good \vorks. Other\vise they have no ground to expect to be made ne\v crea- tures. It is not a man's going into the right way sometimes, but his walking in it, that will bring him to his journey's end. Our public devotions are the way; the right way that leads to the grace of God: but he that \vou]d come at the end, so as to have the grace of God al,voys suf- ficient for hin!; he must not only step into this way sometimes, but he must keep aJways in it, as OJ' ])ublic I r(1!Jer, 97 i I I much as it is possible, so as to let slip no oppor- I tunity he can get, of going to the house of God at the hour of pl'ayer. Neither is that all: it is not enough to go into the house of God at the I hour of prayer, but ,yhen he is there he must do the ,york of that tinle and place, and nothing else. lIe n1ust not stand looking about hÌ1ll, as if he had nothing to do there; neither n1ust he suffer his thoughts to wander about upon other things, like those the Prophet speaks of, saying, And they conze unto thee as the people c0111etll, and they sit before thee as nzy people, and they hear thy 'lCo1-ds, but tlzey vill not do theJ1z, for with tlleir l1l0Utlt they shew nZllcll laL"e, but their heart goetlt after their covetousness, Ezek. xxxiii. 31. Such people had as good be out of the Church as in it, for any good they either do or get there, Indeed they are 110t ,vholly in it; only their ,vorser part", their bodies are there, their souls are at honle, in their shops, among their chapn1el1 or neighbonrs, or running about the country, perhaps as far as the Indies, nlinding their affairs there. And how can such people expec t to be ever the better for being in God's house, when they affront him to II 98 The Necessity and Adrantage his face, making a she,v as if they served hint, ,vhen really they are about other business? Yef this is the case of 1110st of those" who go thither only sonletÏ1nes; for not being used to that kind of ,york, they do not k110'V how to set about it, HIuch less to keep their minds so intent upon it as is necessary to the due performance of it. The work ,ve have to do in God's house, is a great \vork, the greatest we can ever do; it is God's own ,york, the work he tells us to do for himself, even to serve, and worship, and glorify hirn, that nlade both our souls and bodies; and therefore hoth our souls and bodies must be ,vholly elnployed in it. As for our bodies, he hath given us this general rule, Keep thy foot when thou goest into the house of God, Eccles. v.I., that is, look to thy ways, take care of thy out,vard carriage and deportnlent; see thou be- havest thyself in God's house as beconleth one, who believeth hill1self to be in the presence of the greatest person in the ,vorld. For so we are ,vhensoever we meet together in God's house, we are in his special presence. He hin1self hath said, that lle i;j in the 1nidst of us j and therefore Of Public P)'ayer. Ð9 ,ve are bound to believe it; and to she\v ,ve do so hy all such reverent and hunlble gestures before him, as ,ve should certainly use if we sa,v hÎ1n ,vith our bodily eyes. Especially ,vhen ,ve pray unto hin1, ,ve must do it upon our knees, as ,ve should if we put up a petition but to an earthly prInce. Ho,v much 11lore to the King of all kings! And when ,ve praise his holy name, al- though we do it standing, yet that also must be done in such a posture of adoration, as may tes- tifyour fear and re,'erence of his divine n1ajesty. Some perhaps may think these to be mere cere- nlonies; but I anl sure, that kneeling and bo,ving to Ahnighty (iod, is that ,vhich the holy Scrip- tures nlean by worshipping of hhn, and therefore forhid us to do it to any in a religious manner, but to the true God. And as this is the ,yay to worship God ,vith our bodies, so it is the best means ,ve can use, 'v hereby to keep our souls too in a pious and devout ten1per before hin1. For by this means we are all the while put in mind of that glorious person ,ve are speaking to, and of the great ,york we are about; w!1Ìch other,vise ,ve should be very apt to forget: as we have too H 2 100 The Necessity and 41dvantage lunch cause to fear they do, \,,110 speak to God in the san1e posture as they do to one another. I say, speak, not pray, for that hrthe work oftl1e heart as ,veIl as of the mouth. And if their hearts ,vere upon God, while they are speaking to him, I do not see ho,v it is possible for them not to fall do,v11 and worship before him. But we 11111st reme111ùer, that God is a spirit, and they tllat 'worship hi7n, 'lnllst worship hbn in spirit and in truth, Job. iv. 24., that is, at the same time that they worship God with their bodies, they must do it also in their spirits, ,vith- out ,vhich aU their bodily ,vorship ,viII signify nothing. For ,vorship, properly so called, is nothing else but S01ne ont\vard sign of our inward fear of God. Bu t where there is no fear of God in the spirit, there cannot be truly any out\vard sign of it. And therefore such cannot be said to worship God in truth, who do not \vorship him in their spirits as ,veIl as ,vith their bodies. Here then is the great task we have to do in all our public devotions, even to keep our spirits or hearts in a fight posture aU the ,vhile that ",-e are before God, 'v ho sees them and takes Of Public Prayer. 101 special notice of all their motions: that ,ve nlay pray with the spirit, and pray 'with tlte under- standing also, as St. Paul did, 1 Cor, xiv. 15. I call this a great task, because I kno,v tl1at it is tbe hardest ,york ,ve bave to do. Our thoughts bei1i.g very quick and nimble, so un constant and desultory, that it is difficult to keep thenl close to the ,york we are about, so as to serve the Lorù without distraction. But it is a thing that nlust be done, if ,ve desire to receive any real benefit and comfort frolll our devotions. And blessed be God, by his assistance ,ve may all do it if we ,viII but set ourselves in good earnest about it, and observe these fe\v rules, ,vhich nlay be very helpful unto us in it. First, ,vhen you go to the house of God at tlte hour of prayer', be sure to leave all ,vorldly cares and business behind you, entertaining yourselves as ye go along, \"ith these or such like sentences of scripture; Like as tlte hart desireth the vater-. b1 00ks, so longeth '1ny soul afte'J thee 0 God. J.1Iy soul is athirst for God, yea, even for the living God. 1Vhen shall I come to appear before the 102 The Necessity and Advantage presence crf' God? Psal. xlii. 1,2. 0 llOU) a17liable al'e thy dzvellings, tho'll Lord of 1lostS! lJfy soul hath a desire and longing to enter into tIle courts of the Lord. My heart and rny flesh rEjoice in tIle living God, Psa1. lxxxiv. 1, 2. -rVe will {;o into his tabernacle, and fall low on our llnees be- .fore his footstool, PsaJ. cxxxii. 7. 'Vhen ye COll1e into the Church, say ,vith Jacob, HOlV dreadful is this place! This is none other but the house of God j and this is the gate of heaven, Gen. xxviii. 17., or sOlnething to that purpose. And as soon as ye can get an opportu- nity, prostrate yourselves upon your knees before the l\tIaster of the house, the great God of heaven, humbly beseeching hiIn to unite your hearts unto himself, to cleanse your thoughts by the inspira- tion of his Holy Spirit, to open your eyes, and to manifest IlÏ1nself unto you, and to assist you ,,,ith such a measure of grace in offering up these your spiritual sacrifices, that they be acceptable to him by Jesus Christ. And no,v set yourselves !n good earnest, as in God's sight, k.eeping your eye only upon hin1, Of Public Prayer. 103 looking upon him as observing ,vhat you think as ,veIl as vrhat you say or do, all the while you are before hin1. 'Vhile one or more öfthe sentences out of God's holy ,vorù <\vhere,,'ith we very properly begin our devotions to hhn) are reading, apprehend it as spoken by God hiu1self at first, and 110\V re- peated in your ears to put you in mind of some- thing which he would have you to believe or do upon this occasion. 'Vhile the exhortation is reading, hearken dili- gently to it, and take particular notice of every word and expression in it, as contrived on pur- pose to prepare thee for the service of God, by possessing your Ininds with a due sense of his special presence with you, and of the great ends of your cOIning before him at this time. 'Vhile you are confessing your sins ,vith your mouth, be sure to do it also in your hearts, calling to mind everyone as nlany as he can of those particular sins ,vhich he hath committed, either by doing \vhat he ought not to do, or not doing what he ought, so as to repent sincerely 104 Tile ])lecessity and Advantage of theIn, and stedfastly to resolv.e never to com- Illit then1 any 111ore. \Vhile the l\Iinister is pronouncing the absolu- tion in the nRIne of Gorl, everyone should lay hold upon it for hitnself, so as firmly to believe that upon true repentance anù faith in Christ; he is 1l0'V discharged and absolved from all his sins, as certainly as if God binlself had declared it ,vith his o\vn Inoutb, as he hath often done it before, and 110'V by his ministers. \Yhile you, together ,vith the l\iini:ster, are repeating the psaluls or hyn111s to the honor and glory of God, obse}.ve the Minister's part as ,veIl as your own; and lift up your hearts together with your voices to the highest pitch you can, in ackno,v ledging, n1-agnifying, and praising the infini te \visdom, and po\ver, and goodness, anù glory of the 1110St lligh God, in all his ,yorks, the ,vonders that he hath done and still doth for the children of n1en, and for you among the rest. 'Vhile God's ,vord is read in either of the chap- ters, ,vhether of the Old or New Testament, re- ceil:e it not as tllC lvord of nlcn, hut, (as it is in OJ' Public Prayer. 105 truth) tlte w01-d of God, 'which effectually worketh in you tllat believe, 1 Thess. ii. 13. And therefore hearken to it \vith the same attention, reverence, and faith, as you \voldd have done if you had stood by lllount Sinai, when God proclaimed the la,y, anù by our Saviour's side, ,vhen he pub- lished the gospel. While the prayers or collects are reading, al- though you ought not to repeat thenl aloud, to the disturbance of other peolJle, yet you must repeat them in your hearts, your minds acconl- pallying the 1\1iuister from one prayer to another, and fron1 one part of each prayer to the other, aU along ,vith affections suitable to the matter sounding in your ears, humbly adoring and adu1Îring God acco1'ding to the naInes, proper- ties, or ,yorks which are attributed to him at the beginning of each prayer, earnestly desiring the good things \vhich are asked of hinl in the body of it, for yourselves or others; and stedfastly believing in Jesus Christ for his granting of theI11, \vhen he is nalned, as he is at the end of every l)rayer, except that of St. Cltrysostolne, because that is directed imlneùiately to Christ 106 The Necessity and Advantage himself, as pronlising that when two or tJn-ee are gathered together in his na'lne, he 'will grant thei1' requests, which is therefore very properly put at the end of all our daily prayers, and also of the litany, (n1ost part \v hereof is directed also to our Saviour) that ,vhen ,ve have Inade all our C01111110n supplications unto hin1, \ve may act our faith in him again for God's granting of them according to his said promise; and so Ipay be disn1Ïssed with the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the c0111munion or fello,vship of the Holy Ghost; under ,vhich are comprehended all the blessings that ,ve have or can desire to Inake us completely happy hoth no,v and for ever. After the blessing it lllay be expedient still to continue for SOlne tÏ1l1e upon your knees, bumbly beseeching Almighty God to })ardon ,vhat he hath seen amiss in you since you came into his presence! and that he would l>e graciously pleased to hear the prayers, and to accept of the praises ,vhich you have 110'V offered up unto hÎ111, through the merits of Jesus Christ our only mediator and ad vocate. Of Public Prayel . 107 These fe,v directions I thought good to lay before you, as heing of great use to\vards the 1 ight perfornlance of your public devotions, so as that they n1ay be both acceptable to God and profitable to yourselves. I fear some may think it hard to keep their n1Ïnds intent so long toge- ther; but they can do it much longer upon ,vorldly affairs, and therefore may ill this too, if they ,viII. If they will. There lies the main stress of the business. If lllen lvill resolve by God's assistance to fix their minds upon hinl and his service ,vhile they are before hin], they luay certainly do it in an high degree. As I do not doubt but many here present have found by their own experience. Such, I luean, ,vho have been long accustomed to it. And though to others it may seem difficult at first, yet by use it 'v ill soon grow easy, if they will be persuaded to Inake trial of it, ,vhich I wish heartily you ,vould all do. Try a little what it is to go to the house of God every day at the hours ofprayer, and there to perform your devotions to him ,vi th all your hearts as near as you can. Do but use yourselves to it fOl' one quarter or l1alf a year, and I dare 108 Tlte Necessity and Advantage say that you \vill find it not only easy, but so pleasant and profitable to your souls, that you win never leave it off so long as. you are able to do it. And though you cannot do everything dO ,veIl as you ,vould at first, let not that discou- rage you; but strÌve to do it as well as you can; and then by his assistance ,vho is there specially present ,vith you, by degrees you ,viII overCOlne all difficulties, and learn to use those blessed means of grace, so as to gro\v in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ every day 1nore and more. And, indeed, unless you do that, you 111ay be confident that you do not use them aright. For there are so many promises made to theln by him \vho caunot lie, that if there be no failure in the use,- they can never fail of their effect. In- somuch that if notwithstanding your frequenting our daily l)rayers, you shall still continue in any kno\vn sin, if you do not gather strength to over- come the \vorld, the flesh, and the devil; if you do not increase in the knowledge and love of God, in temperaLlce, patience, meekness, and humility, in justice, charity, and all manner of I OJ' Public Prayer. 109 virtue; in short, if you do not live Inore soberly, more righteously, and more godly in this present \vorld than otherwise you \vould, you may be sure, that although you live under the nleans of grace, you do not make that use of then1 \vhich you nlÏght and ought to ùo; though you seelll to perform your devotions to God, yet really you do it not. Ho,v oft soever your bod;;8 Inay be at Church, your hearts are ahvays somewhere else. And so you come to no purpose at all; or rather to very ill purpose. For this is pI.linly to mock God, and to play the hypocrites ,vith him, making a8 if you ha( a mind to serve and glorify hitn, 'v hen you mind nothing less, bl1 t rather do him all the disservice and dishonor that you can, by giving occasion to the enemy to blaspheme is holy name, and to think it is to no purpose to serve God, seeing you ,vho seeln to do it are as bad as other people. And besiùes hereby you may discourage Inany \vho other".ise \vould be inclined to set upon a pious and reli- gious course of life. For when they observe any of you who come to Church every day, guilty of the sanle vices as t]Jey are who never COlne at a}], 110 The Necessity and Advantage they will be tempted to judge that all are so; and by consequen e that there is nothing in devotion but a mere out,vard shew and appearance of reli- gion; and that they ,vho go to Church, do it not to serve God, but theulselves; to get themselves the nallle and l eputation of being pious and god- ly men, and under that cloak to hide their faults, and commit aU manner of villany, as some sort ofnlen \ve know, of later years, have done, to the scandal and reproach of the Christian religion. So that by this means your very coming to Church ,vould be more for the de viI's service than for God's. The devil al,vays had and al- ,vays 'v ill have a spite at our public devotions, and catch at all opportunities to thro\v dirt in their face, to make them appear as deformed and ugly as he can. And if any of thequent (}o1lz11zunion. 1 û3 ,vorthily. l-Iow uniform she hath been in ber orders about it all along. And by consequence what cau e ,ye all have to bless God, that "Te live in the comillunion of such a Church, and ho\v much it behoves us to receive the holy COlll- munion of her, not only as often as she strictly commands all to receive it under the pain of ex- con1nlunication, but as often as she aùviseth and exhorteth us to do it in order to our eternal salva- tion, and as she is ready and desirous to comnlU- nicate it to us. And then ,ve should be sure to receive it as often as ,ve are bound either in duty to God or by our own interest to do it. Another reason ,vhy many do not oftener eat this bread and drink this cup, is because as they pretend, they dare not, for fear of sinning against God, and incurring eternal dalnnation by it. For the ApostJe in t1}is very place saith, whoso- ever shall eat this bread and drink tltis cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, v. 27. And he that eatetlt and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketlt da1Jzna- lion to himself, not discerning the Lord's body, v.29. But they cannot but ackno,vledge theIn- o 194 The Necessity and Advantage sel ves to be un \vorthy of it, and if they should do it often, they might sometime do it un\vor- thi1y, and so might hazard their salvation by it. This is a mistake that many have lain under: and therefore it ,vill be \vorth our while to lay it as open as we can, that people may see into the vanity and falsehood of it. First, therefore, if there be any force in this argunlent against frequent communion, it holds as ,veIl against ever cOll1municating at all. For if every un,vorthy person that preslnnes to eat this bread, and drink this cup, and everyone that doth it any ,vay un\vorthily, is thereby ren- dered obnoxious to eternal damnation, then all \vould be so that ever eat and drink it at all. Forasmuch as no man is worthy of any, much less of so great a mercy as that is, neither can any man do any, much less so great a vlork as that is, every way so exactly as be ought. And therefore no man, according to this opinion, can ever obey this comDland of his Sa,'iour, without running the t.azard of losing his salvation by it. "\Vhich is such a groundless and vain (1oTIceit that I wonder how it first caDle into man's head. Of Frequent COllunu71ioll. 195 For it is the saIne as to iznagine that be 'v ho came into the ,vorld on purpose to save us, should re- quire us to do that in order to our salvation, which we can never do without being damned. 'Vhich is so absurd, that ,vhatsoever is, this be sure, cannot be the Apostle's meaning in those words. N either indeed can the words themselves bear any such sense, ,vithout plain force and violence put upon thenl. For the A postle cloth Dot here speak of the unworthiness of the person, but of the action. He doth not say, if any ul1\vorthy person shall eat this bread and drink this cup: for all are un\vorthy, and they usuaI1y the most 'v ho think themselves the least; and they the least, who think themselves the Inost un\vorthy. But he saith, He that eateth and drinketh un- worthily, or after an unworthy manner, unbe- coming so great and sacred a duty as that is. And ,vhat this uD\vorthy manner of receiving the holy sacran1ent ,vas, 'v hich he here speaks of, appears plainly from the context. He is here reproving the Corinthians for some disorders that 'w'ere among them, and particularly in the cele- o 2 196 The Necessity and Advantage bration of the Lord's supper. For first of all, sai th he, When ye come together in tlte Church, I hear that there be divisions a1nong you, and I partly believe it, v. 18. It seenlS there ,vere divi- sions among them, not only ill other places but in the Church itself; nor at other tin1es only but like\vise when they were receiving the holy com- munion itself: and then he aûds, "fVhen ye C01ne together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper: for in eating everyone taketh b fore other his own supper, and one is hungry, and another is drunken. JVhat have ye not houses to eat and drink in? Or despise ye the Cliurch of God, and shame them that have 'J1ot, or are poor? v. 20, 21, 22. 'Yhere ,ve may observe, that they came together, as I have ob- served before, to eat the Lord's supper, that 'vas the end, as they pretended, of their meeting, but , as they ordered the business, they did not do it. They did not eat the Lord's supper but their own.. Some ate but little, so as to be still hun- gry; others ate and drank so much as to be drunken, and that in the Church itself. For t]1at 1 hey ate their o\vn supper there, appears from the Of Frequent COllunztnion. 197 A postle's calling it their own, and not the Lord's supper; and, also, fron1 his saying in the next verse, ""Vllat have ye not houses to eat and drink in, or de pise ye the Chul'Clt oj' God, making as if that ,vas but like one of your o,vn houses 'v here ye eat and drink every day? And lastly, from the direction he after\vards gives them ho,v to amend this fault, saying, JVllerefore, my brethren, wilen ye COllle together to eat, tarry one for ano- ther: and if any man hunger, let hÏ1n eat at hOlne, that ye conze not together unto condelnnation, or judgl11ent, v. 33, 34. This therefore is the thing which the Apostle here condemns, They had got it seems a ,vicked custom among theln to bring their own ordinary food to the church, and to eat and drink it there. And because they did it in the church they looked upon it as the Lord's supper; or at least ate that there no other\vise than they useù to eat their o\vn at home; with- out she\ving any respect to Christ's mystical body and blood, or n1aking any difference bet\veen his supper and their own, but only that they ate the one in the church and the other at their o\vn houses. 'Vhich ,vas a great mistake, and fault; 198 Tile Necessity and Advantage for which the Apostle llleekly reproves thenl, saying, "JVltat shall I say to you 1. Shall I jJraise you in tltis? I praise you not. v. 22. And then he gives thern the reason ,,,hy he could not praise, but blame theln for it, even because the Lord's supper was instituted by the Lord Christ hinlself, to keep up the remembrance of himself in the Church, to their ignorance of which, he in great charity inlputes their fault. Not doubting but that if they bad known the nature and end of that holy sacralnent, they ,vould have set a greater value upon it; and therefore perceiving that they did not rightly understand 'v hat he had before delivered to them about it, he fully declares it again to them, saying, for I have rpceived of tlte Lord, c. v. 23,24,25. After ,vllich, having ac- quainted them in my text, ho,v this is done in remembrance of Christ, eyen by she'wing forth his death, he dra,vs this inference fronl it; where- fore whosoever shall eat this b]'ead, and d'rink this cup of the Lord 'll'Jllcorthily, shall be guilty of tlze body and blood of the Lord, v. 27. Which there- fore must needs be understood of that unworthy manner of doing it, "Tl1ich he before spoke of, Of Frequent COll21nunion. 199 and which gave hinl the occasion of saying it, even their eating this bread, and drinking this cup of the Lord after the same luanner as they ate and drank at hOllle, ,vithout expressil1g any reverence to the holy sacranlent, or to Christ's body and blood there represented. And there- fore he saith, that whosoever doth so, is guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, that is, he is guilty of profaning of Christ's mystical body and blood, crucifying, as it were, to hirnself the son of God afresh, and putting him to an open shanze, Heb. vi. 6. by eating his body and drink- ing his blood as comnlon things, and so exposing him to contempt and scorn. That this is the true meaning of the phrase, appears also from the next verse but one, ,vhere it occurs again. For he that eateth and drinketh unlvortlzily, eatetlt and drinketl-t dallznation to hi1nself, not discerning the Lord's body, v. 29, not discerning, that is, not considering 'v hose body it is, nor making any difference bet\veen that and their ordinary food. As the original \vord laxpfJJClJJI plainly Î111ports. This therefore is that unworthy receiving which the Apostle here 200 The Necessity and Advantage particularly condemneth; ,vhen rnen come to the Lord's table and receive the outward signs of bread and wine, \vithout discerning by faith the Lord's body signified by theru, and therefore \vithout she\ving any n10re regard and reverence to \vhat they eat anù drink there, than they do to any other Ineat anù drink. 'Vhich horrid sin, although the Corinthians fell into it before they fully understood the nature anù end of Christ's institution; yet I bope fe,v are guilty of it among us, now that the institution of this holy sacra- Dlent is so clearly de1ivered and eXflained by the A postle in this place. They seem to come near- est to it, ,vho sit at the Lord's table as they do at their o\vn, and receive Christ's body and blood with no more reverence and godly fear, than they eat and drink at borne. But that which hath frightened people most from this sacrament, is the Apostle's saying, ac- cording to our translation, He that eateth and drinheth un1vortltily, eatet/" and drinketlt dUl1lna- tion to himself. And I confess at first sight it looks very frightfully. For it seems to in1ply, that \vhosoever receiveth the holy sacralnent OJ' Freqlten t COl1unztnion. 201 after any unholy Inanner, or any otherwise than he ought, is, ipso facto, damned, or adjudged to eternal punishments for it. 'Vhich if true, ,vould discourage all considering persons from ever receiving at all, unless they have greater assurance of their o\vn ,vorthiness and abilities, than can reasonably be expected in this life, or justly pretended to by any that kno,v then1selves. But our comfort is, this cannot possibly be the nleaning of the words. For, besides, that no man can receive it so worthily as he ought, and every un,vorthy receiving, as I have she\vn, is not that which the A postle here speaks of: be- sides, that I say, the ,vord Kp'i'p.tX which is trans- lated damnation in the text, in the margent of our bibles is rendered judgment. 'Vhich she\vs that our translators then1selves ,vere not satisfied that the ,vord here signified dau1nation, but that it might be taken in the other sense. But ho,v- soever they put darnnation into the text, to make people, I suppose, the more careful ho\v they received. Not foreseeing ,vhat ill uses might be luade of it: and accordingly have been so in our age. 'Yherein through the ignorance or 202 The Necessity and Advantage indiscretion of some persons, this one ,vord hath kept 1110re people from the holy communion than all the commandluents for it, can bring to it, Not in itself or from its own proper meaning; but by reason of the harsh sound it makes in our ears, ,vho commonly use it fnr darnnation to eter- nal punishments, ,vhereas it may be applied as well to those ,vhicb are only temporal. And so it must be here. The original ,vord Kp a signifies judgluent in general; \vhereby a nlan is adjudged to any sort of punisbment. But ,,,hat that is, in particular, must be deternlilled frolu the circumstances of the place ,vhere it is used. As in this place the A postle himself plainly she,vs what kind of judgnlent or daluna- tion he lueallS by it. For, having said, He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drink- eth darnnatiou, or judgment, to hi1Jlself; he Ì1ulue- diatelyadds, For this cause many are weak and sickly a'Jnong you, and many sleep, v.30. From whence it is easy to suppose, that some epidemi- cal distemper at that tinle raged at Corinth, particularly al110ng the Christians, of ,vhich many died, and others, though they escaped Of Frequent Communion. 203 death, yet continued weak and sickly for some time after. 'fhis the Apostle ascribes to the judgment of God upon them, for their unworthy and profane eating and drinking Christ's mys- tieal body and blood, as if it had been comnlon food. For this cause, saith he, lllany are 'lveak and sickly al1long you, c. And therefore this must needs be the judgment ,vbich he here n1eans. But this is so far from eternal dan1na- tion, that it is usually inflicted on purpose to prevent that. And that it was so at this tilue, appears from ,vhat füllo,vs. For, saith he, if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But 'lchen we are judged we a1 e chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with tIle 'lvorld, v. 31, 32. This ,vas the end of that, as it is of all the judgments ,vhich God lays upon his people, even to bring them thereby to such a sight and sense of their sins, and to such an hearty and sincere repentance, that they may not be condemned for them. And therefore ,v hen the Apostle saith, He that eatetk and drinketh unlvorthily, eateth and drinketh danlna- lion to lti1nself: and again, afterwards, If. any 204 The Necessity and Advantage 'inan hunger, let him eat at home, that ye come not together unto conde'lnnation, v. 34., where the same word is used again in the original, neither the etymology, nor common use of the word in other places, much less "Till the context here, suffer it to be understood of eternal damnation, but rather of such temporal judgrrlents, ,vhich are ùesigned by Almighty God to keep us from being condemned with the wicked and in1peni- tent ,vorld. Thus \ve see, in short, the whole scope and design of the Apostle in this remarkable passage concerning the holy sacran1ent. From \vhence ,ve may easily observe, that all that can be rea- sonably inferred from what he here saith, is, that as it is a sin not to pray or fast, or give alms, or hear God's word aright, so it is a sin too not to receive the Lord's supper aright, or as we ought to do it. But as we must take heed how we hear, Luke, 8. 18., so we must take heed ho\v we receive, that we may do it \vith that faith and reverence which becomes so divine an institution, and so heavenly a duty as that is, lest other\vise \ve offend God, and provoke him to lay some Of Frequent C01111JZl.lnion. 205 heavy judgment upon us, and except \ve repent, condemn us at last to everlasting fire, as he justly may for any sin that we stand guilty of before hin1. But it is a great affront and abuse put upon God's holy \vol'd, to make this an excuse for our not frequenting the holy conlffiunion, when the Apostle designed it only for an argument, why we should receive it al\vays in a ,vorthy and de- cent manner. And therefore this is the great and only use ,ve should make of it, that seeing, lie that eatetlt this bread, and drinketh this cup of the Lord unzlJorthily, eateth and drinketlt da1nnation to hinlself, not discerning the Lord's body; there- fore as oft as ,ve eat this bread and drink this cup, we must take care to do it ,vorthily discern- ing the Lord's body, and deporting ourselves accordingly in receiving of it. 'Vbensoever \ve are invited to this spiritual ,vedrling, ,ve must be sure to come, but ,ve must be sure to come \vith our wedding-gar1nent on, with such a temper and disposition of mind, as becomes the place, the company, and the feast ,ve go to. For ,vhich purpose, we must prepare ourselves before-hand, and put our llearts into such a frame, that \ve 1206 The Necessity and Adrantage may so feed upon the blessed body and blood of Christ our Saviour, that he may preserve both our souls and bodies to eternal life. But then you ,viII say perhaps, this requires a great deal of time, more than ,ve can often spare from our ne- cessary en1ployments. And that is the reason that ,ve do not receive so often as we other\vise would. And I believe so too. That is the rea- son, the great reason of all, that this holy sacra- ment is so shamefully neglected by most people! they know it is a very good thing, and they would oftener partake of it, but that they have other business of greater consequence, as they wisely think, to mind; so that they cannot find time enough to prepare themselves as they ought for it. As in the parable; when a certain man had made a great supper, and sent his servants to call those which he had in vi ted to it, they all presently began to make excuse, thejirst said to him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it; I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them; .1 pray thee have l1ze ex- cused. And another said, I have married a wife, Of Frequent Corn1nunion. 207 and therefore I cannot come, Luke, xiv. 18, 19,20. So it is to this day. Christ, tIle eternal son of God, at the expense of his o,vn blood hath pro- vided a supper, his o\vn last supper, the best feast that can be had on this side heaven, and all things being ready, he sends his ministers to in- vite all that are admitted into his church, to come and partake of it. But they all, or at least the far greatest part, desire to be excused. Anù if we ,vould kno,v the reason, it is because they have other business to do: one hath his farm to look after, another his shop, a third his ware- house and merchandize. And so everyone finds something or other to do; anything rather than come to the Lord's supper. But these are but vain excuses, like those in the parable designed on purpose to she,v the folly of those \vhich made them. The first ltad bought a piece oj' ground, and must needs go and see it: \v herein he betrayed his folly, in buying that \v hich lie had not seen. And so did the second, in buyingfive yoke of 03:en before he had proved them, to know ,vhether they were fit for his turn. But the greatest fool of all was the last, \\' ho said, I hane rnarried a I 208 TIle Necessity and Advantage wife, and tl1erefore I cannot C01ne: as if bis mar- rying a ,vife could hinder him from coming to a feast. Such are the excuses that nlen cOlnmonly Inake for their not conling when they are invited to our Lord's table. They serve only to discover the ,veakness and folly of those \vhich make thenl. For ho\v can a man betray the ,veakness of his judgl11ent nlore, than by preferring the most inconsiderable, before the 11l0st valuable things that are ? Yet this is the case of an who at any time neglect the holy communion for any 'worldly business. They prefer their bodies before their souls: the world before their Saviour: earth, with all its vanities and troubles, before heaven, and all the glory that he is there preparing for all those who keep his commandments. For other- wise they ,vould never suffer anything in this world to hinder them from doing what he hath C0111nlanded, for their more effectual obtaining eternal salvation by him. But this being the most common objection against frequent comnlullioIl, let us look a little lllore narrowly into it, that ,ve nlay see what cause men have to make it. First, Some bave OJ. Fl'equellt C01Jllnunion. 209 none at all. Yea, there are many such: nlany who are not incumbred with the affairs of this life, having a sufficient maintenance transrnitted to them from their ancestors, or else acquired already by God's blessings upon their o\vn endeavours, ,vhereby they are able to support themsel ves and their fanlilies, ,vithout taking any further care about it. I do not question but there are many such here present at this tinle. Now what can you plead for your not frequent- ing the holy sacrament? you cannot say, ye have not time to prepare yourselves; for you have ITIOre upon your hands than ye \vell know ,vhat to do with. And therefore are often forced to invent ,vays how to spend it, ,vhich usually are as bad as to sit still and do nothing. And is it not a. sad thing, that you should chuse to do nothing, or worse than nothing, rather than that ,vhich God himself hath set you, and hath given you so much time, on purpose that nothing lnight divert you froln it? Renlember, the time ,vill come, 'v hen time ,viII be no more! and then you \vill wish ,vith all your hearts, that you had enl- ployed it better ,vhile you had it. And I am p 210 The Necessity and Ad1'a17tage sure there is no ,yay possible for you to make better advantage of it, than by spending it, in preparing yourselves for tl1e holy con1111union, anù then receiving it accordingly. This beiug the best course you can ever take, for your elTI- ploying not only that, but all the rest of your tilne ,veIl. 'Vhereas, if you still continue to neglect so great a duty, not\vithstanding that you have little or nothing else to do in ihe mean while: for my part I kno,v not ho,v ye can ans,ver it either to God or your own consciences, nor 'v hat account you can give either of your- selves or of your time at the last day! But this I kno\v, that you have but too much cause to sus- pect and fear that all is not right within you: that whatsoever your telTIporal estate lllay seem, your spiritual is very bad: and that all the ease and plenty ,vhich ye no\v enjoy, ,vill hereafter serve to no other purpose, than to encrease your pain and n1isery. But there are others, ,vho really have a great deal of \vorldly business upon their hands, more perhaps than they can 'v en turn them to. But I would desire such to consider, that \vhatsoever Of Frequent Cvul1l1union. 211 \vorldly business they have, it is still but the bu- siness of this ,vorld, this transient and uncertain ,,"orid that soon passeth a\vay: that they have another ,,'orid to live in as ,veIl as this, a world that ,viII bave no end. And if they take so much care and pains about their living a fe\v years, or perhaps a few days upon earth, they ought surely to be much 1110re careful, ho,v to live eternally, as they must, either in heaven or hell, either in the greatest pleasure they can enjoy, or else in the greatest pain they can end urea The diffe- rence bet\vixt ,vhich t,vo is so vastly great, that \vhosoever duly \veighs and considers it, lnust needs be inclined to make it his chief study and business in this ,vorId, to prepare for the next: to seell tlte kingdol1l of God and his 1'Oi.qltteousness, in the first place, as our Saviour himself COlTI- nJands, Matt. vi. 33. And he \v ho cloth that, will be sure to order all his temlJoral affairs so, that they shall never interfere with his spiritual, but give place to them upon all occasions. Al- though he be diligent and industrious in his calling, yet if things so fall out, ihat he must either neglect that for a \vhile, or else his daily p 2 212 The Necessity and Advantage prayers, he doth not stand pausing ,vhich he had best do; as seeing there is no comparison at all bet\veen them, the one having respect only to his present, the other to his future and eternal state. And so for the holy saerarnent. If he have an opportunity put into his hands of receiving that, he dares not let it slip upon any worldly account whatsoever. As kno,ving that he may get more there, than all this world is worth, and lose n10re by the neglect of that, than of any other oppor- tunity that can be offered him. This is the sense and practice of every ,vise and good man in this case. But as for such, w hose beads and hearts as ,veIl as hands are so taken up ,vith wordly business, that they cannot, or rather will not spare so much tÌ1ne froln that, as to prepare themselves for the holy communion, they plainly shew that they prefer the things of this life, before their duty to God, their bodies before their souls, and their temporal before their eternal happiness and welfare. These are the men of this world, ,vho have, or at least desire to have their portion in this life rather than the next. And these are they ,vhich St. Paul speaks Of Frequent Communion. 213 of, where he sai th, 1nany walk, of 'lvh01n I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies to the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things, Phil. iii. 18, 19. I wish there \vere none such among us at this time. If there be; it will be in vain to say much to them, their hearts being so fuB of this world, that there is no room left for sober and good advice. And therefore I shall only desire, that ,vhen they are at leisure, they would remember our Saviour's ,vords, what is a rnan profited, if he shall gain the 'whole world, and lose his Olvn soul! or what shall a man give in e,,'t;- change for his soul? l\latt. xvi. 26. But some of those ,vho thus live in a cro,vd of cares for this present life, may not\vithstanding sometimes think of their future state, and then they resolve to set upon the use of these means which God hath appointed for their salvation, and particularly the greatest of aU, the holy sa- crament, at least when their hurry of business is over, ,vhich they hope may be in a \veek or fort- 214 Tlte lVecessity and Advantage night's time: but in the mean \vhile, they desire to be excused. Let us suppose, that you are so resolved at pre- sent. But are you sure that those resolutions ,vill hold, and that you ,viII be in the same mind a fortnight hence, that ye are in no,v? Ho,v do ye kno,v but other business may con1e in before that, which lllay distract your thoughts as nluch or n10re than that ye have no,v upon you? But above all, ,vhat assurance have ye that ye shall live so long? And ,vhat if ye should die, as ye may, be- fore that time? 'Vhat do ye think will then become of you? If ye cannot fit yourselves for the holy sacrament, ,viII ye be fit to die? No surely! if ye be not prepared to appear before Christ at his holy table, you ,viII be Inucb less prepared to appear before him at his judgment seat, \vhere you 'vill receive your final and ir- revocable sentence from him. And therefore you had need to look about you, and to be ahvays ready, as Christ hin1self requires you to be, ,vith lis o\vn mouth, saying, take lzeed to YOlll"seh'es, lesl at any thue you'}" ltea1'fs be Of F'J-equent Communion. 215 orel'-charged 'with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day C01ne upon you unalvares, Luke, x xi. 34. 'Vhence you l11ay observe, that be ,vho ,vill be yonr judge, hath fore\varned you, that the cares of this life ,viII Inake you as unfit to appear be- fore hinI, as surfeiting and drunkenness itself. And therefore, if you 11ave any care of your souls, take heed of the cares of this life, that they hinder you no longer from receiving bis 1110st blessed body and blood as often as ye can; for if they do, they ,vill much nlore hinder you frOlTI giving a good account of yourselves before his tribuna1. But as ye desire to be al- ,vays ready for death and judgment, be ahvays ready for that holy sacrament, ,vhich is the Lest preparatory in the \vorld for it. And for that purpose, ,vhensoever ye are invited to our Lord's table, think thus ,vith yourselves. I have now an opportunity put into nlY hands of partaking of the body and blood of my ever blessed Saviour, to preserve D1Y body and soul to everlasting life. It is true, I have at this time n10re than ordinary business upon 111Y :!] 6 Tllc Necessity and Adcalltage hand; but what is all this world in compari- I SOIl of everlasting life and happiness? And ,vho kno\vs \vhether I shall ever have such another opportunity as this as long as I Jive? Do but, I say, think thus, anrl then let slip any such opportunity if ye can: for DIY part, jf ye have any regard for your immortal souls, I believe it will be very difficult, if not inlpossible. But that which deserves nlost to be consi- dered in this case, is the preparation that is necessarily required to the \vorthy receiving of the Lord's supper. Concerning which nlany whole books have been written, and SOllle so large, that the very reading of them requires more time, than a good christian need spend in the duty itself. And this I believe hath discouraged 111al1Y fronl receiving the holy sa- crament so often as they ought, and as they otherwise \vould. For Ineeting \vith such books as Inake the preparation to it, so tedious and troublesome, that they cannot read and observe all that is there said about it, \vithout laying asiùe all other business for a long tiule together, they are quite ùisheartened froln ever attempting Of Frequent Communion. 217 it, but ,vhen they can find a time 'v herein they have nothing else to do; ,vhich to those ,vho fol- lo\v any calling, as they ought, happens but very rarely: who therefore very rarely so much as think of it, especially if they chance to meet ,vith such books, as they sonletimes may do, which n1akes their preparation so nice and tick- lish a thing, that they despair of ever observing all the little rules which are there laid do\vn, and therefore seldom or never trouble their heads about it, ,yhich she,vs what great care and cau- tion should be used in treating upon this subject, lest ,ve raise such scruples and difficulties in it, which may deter lllen from the holy sacrament, instead of preparing them for it. For my own part, I do not see but that \vhatsoever is gene- rally necessary in order to it, may be brought \vithin a small compass. For it nlay be all re- d uceù to these fe,v heads. First, to the receiving the Lord's supper aright; it is necessary that we be rightly instructed in the nature and end of it, that \ve Juay be able to disceru, as the .Apostle speaks, tIle Lord's body, or understand the difference bet\yeen that and 218 Tlte Necessity and Advantage our ordinary food; and so kno\v \vhat \ve do: without which it is impossible for us to do it as \ve ought. But for this purpose we need not run over great volumes, for ,ve have every thing ne- cessary to be known concerning it, briefly but fully set down in ourchurc/tcatecltisrn; so briefly, that a c ild may learn it all; and yet so fully, that the greatest scholar upon earth need kno\v no more, in order to his \vorthy receiving this holy sacrament. For there \ve have the end "Thy it ,vas ordained, even, for the continual 're- '1ne17zb'rance of the sacrifice qf the death of Cltril;t, and of the benefits which we receive thereby. There \ve have both the parts of it described and explained to us, that bread and 'lvine which tlte Lord c017nnanded to be 'received, is the outward part o'J sign of the Lord's supper; and tbat the inward part or thing signified; is the body and blood of Christ, which are verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful in the Lord's supper. There \ve have also the benefits \vhereof ,ve are pal"takers therehy, even, the strengthening and 'IyifreslÛng Oll1 souls by the body and blood l!f Christ, as vlll bodies are ùy bread and 'lvinc. In OJ' Frequent Communion. 2IÐ .. ,vhich few \vords, \ve have all things necessary to be kno\vn concerning this holy sacrament, in order to the worthy receiving of it: and they are an so plain and easy, that ,ve cannot suppose that anyone ,vho is bred up in the christian re- ligion, and is come to the years of discretion can be ignorant of them. And if any be, it is but turning to the catechism in their common prayer book, and there they 111ay find then1. As they may all things else that are requisite for then1 either to kno\v or believe, or do, or desire, that they may be saved. In the next place, as in all our addresses to almighty God, so especially in this, \ve ought certainly to endeavour all \ve can, to prepare ourselves before-hand for it. For which purpose the Apostle lays do\vn this general rule, let a lnan e:ì:anzlne himself, and so let him eat of tltat bread and drink of that cup, 1. Cor. xi. 28. But he doth not tell us particularly what \ve should ex- alnine oursel yes about, because that may be easily ga tbered from what he there sai th concerning the sacralllent it elf, and the Inanller of receiving it. But lest \\ e should be ulistaken ill it, our church 220 The Necessity and Advantage hath taken care to give us particular directions about it, in the last words of her catechism, where she tells us that it is required of them who come to the Lord's supper, to exa'lnine the'lnselves whether they repent the'ln truly of thei'l forJJzer sins, stedfastly purposing to lead a new life; have a lively faith in God's 11lercy through Christ, with a thankful re Jne1nbrance of his death, and be in charity with all 'lnen. "\Vhich words are so plain, that they cannot be made plainer; and yet so fuB, that they contain all that can be truly and pertinently said upon this subject. If ye read all the books that have been written, and all the directions that are there given about your prepa- ration to the Lord's supper, you will find a great nlany Inore \vords, but all that are to the pur- pose, amount to no more than \vhat is here said. I do not deny but that the reading of such or any other books of devotions that are \vritten \vith that care and prudence \vhich tbe subject requires, may be a good help to bring your minds into a fit temper and disposition for the blessed sacranlent. But still this is the SUIll and substance of all that you need to do in order to Of F'requent Conununion. 2 1 it, even to set apart some time before-hand \vherein to eJ.:anlÏl1e yoursel,'es, ,vhEther you t'ruly 'repent of your former sins so as stedfastly to purpos for the future to lead a ne1.V life: whe- ther you have a lively faith in God's 'lnercies through Christ, joined with a t!tankful reJneln- brance of his death: and whether ye be in charity with all men. And if upon due examination ye find that ye have such 'l epentance, such faith aI1d such charity as this is, which be sure all true christians have, you need not doubt but that you are fit to receive the holy sacran1ent, and ought accordingly to do it. But that ye may be more fully assured of it, especialJy at the time of re- ceiving, the church itself is pleased to tell you it in the exhortation at the same time, saying,judge therefore yourselves, brethren, tha t ye be not judged of the Lord; repent YOll truly for YOU'l sins past, have a lively and stedfast faith in Christ our Saviour, alnend your lives, and be in perfect charity with alllJlen. So shall ye be meet par- takers of these holy 'lnysteries. And therefore she after\vards invites all that are so prepared to draw . 222 TIle Necessity and Advantage nea?" wítltfaíth and to receive tILe holy sacrament to their conif'ort. 'fhis therefore is all that is necessariJy required to the ,vorthy receiving of the Lord's supper. But all this may be easily done by any true christian. It requires no great }Jarts, or learn- ing, nor time neither for a Ulan to look into his own heart, to revie,v his life, to consider wherein he hath hitherto done an1Ïss, and to resolve by God's blessing to do so no n10re, but to endea- vour all he can to lead for the future a new and holy life, as becolnes the gospel of Christ. This is no more than ,vhat many do every day, or at least very often 'v hether they are to receive the holy sacrament or no: and so are- al,vays ready, 'v heusoever they can get an opportunity to re- ceive it. Especially if they have been long ac- customed to it. For by this means their repen- tance, faith, charity, and all other graces, being k pt in continual exercise, and receiving strength and nourishment from the body and blood of Christ frequently communicated unto theln; they by degrees gro\v up into habit and custom., Of Frequent C01J'lJJlllllion. 223 so as to be ready upon all occasions to exert and put forth themselves \vith ease and pleasure. And therefore such happy persons need not spend 111uch titne in their actual preparation for the holy cOl1ullunion, as having such an habitual dis- position, \vhereby they are ahvays duly qualified and prepared for it. Insomuch, that if they happen to come into a place \vhere it is adminis- tred, although they did not kno\v or think of it before they came, yet they can receive the bene- fit and comfort of it, and bless God for giving them such an opportunity, \v hich they did not look for, but being put into their hands, they cannot but take hold of it, and improve it to their best advantage. These, I confess, nlay Seetll to be of tbe higher rank of christians, to \v hich few ascend the 01'- <1Ïnary ,yay, \vithout 11lore thaI} ordinary care and diligence in the use of those Ineans, \v hicb by the grace of God acconlpanying of then1, lead up to it. But \ve must not think, as some have òone, that none but such as these should receive tbe sacrament of the Lord's snpper: for that \vas intended for all that believe in Christ, 224 The Necessity and Advantage and are baptized in his nan1e: yea, they are all commanded to do this in remembrance of him, one as ,veIl as another; the weak as ,veIl as the strong in faith. The ,veak, that they 111ay be strong: and the strong, that they may not be weak again, but rather gro,v stronger and stronger, till they come unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the jitlne s of Cllrist, Eph. iv. 13. I kno\v there are many ignorant, though perl1aps ,vell-nleaning persons Rlnong us, yea, anù some who pretend to great kno\v- ledge in the mysteries of our religion, who yet think, that none but great men and eminent saints should come to the holy sacrament; they ,vho have attained already to such an excellent and divine temper of mind, as to live ahvays above this world, and out of the reach of the devi and his temptations: but as for others, who are conscious to themselves of their daily infirlnities, and are often in danger of being over- po\vered by one temptation or other, they must by no means venture upon it. But this cer- tainly is a very great and dangerous 11listake, and one of the devil's tricks, to keep Dlen off Qf Frequent (,"Ol1l1JlllUion. 225 frolll using the best ,veapons, 'v hereby to resist and conquer him. For all Christ's disciples are equally bound by his comll1and to do tltis in 1'elllernbrance of Him. And all have equally need of it. If any \vant it nlore than others, it must be such whose faith is so \veak, as not to be able as yet to overconle the world, the flesh, and the devil, but are still ,vrestling and fighting \vith these their spiritual enemies, and therefore have need of all the aids and assistances which the Captain of our Salvation hath provided in that case: of which the receiving his most blessed body and blood was always found to be the most po\verful and prevalent. But that it may be so to them, it is necessary that such persons take pains in preparing them- selves for it. They must look back upon their lives, and bring to their remen1brance as nlany as they can of their forlner sins, especiaJIy such as they have been most guilty of, and \vhereby they have most offended and dishonoured Al- mighty God; and must not only abhor and bun1ble themselves for them, but also resolve never to commit them any more. They must Q 226 The Necessity and Advantage search narro\v ly into their o,vn hearts, to finù out the \veakest side, and resolve to set a stronger watch and guard than they used to do about it. They lllust bethink then1selves 'v hat SOl't of ten1p- tations they have been nlost subject to, and of- tenest overcome by; and must resolve never to gi ve ,yay to thenl any more, but to ,vithstand thenl \vith all their n1ight. They must consider \vhat place, ,vhat company, what en1ployn1ent, 'v hat recreations, or other circumstances of their life, have exposed them. most to such temptations, and have been the chief occasions of their faUing into sin, and luust resolve for the future to for- sake and avoid thenl. They 111USt consult their o\vn breasts, to know ho,v they have pel'formed their duties to God, and used the Ineans that he hath appointed, for their obtaining grace at his hands: ho,v they have fasted and ,vatched: ho,v they have pl'ayed both in public and private; ho,v they have read and heard God's holy word; and ho,v they have received the sacralnent of the Lord's supper: whether they have lived in the neglect of some or other of these necessary duties, or else performed them in a careless and superfi- Of F1 eqllent Comlnunion. 227 ciallnanner; anù must resolve to be more con- stant, and nlore hearty and sincere in all and everyone of them, than hitherto they have been. They must examine themselves, whether they be in charity, and in faith; whether they really believe all the articles of the Christian religion, and have a sure trust and confidence in Christ their Saviour, and in all the promises which God hath made to mankind in him, and must resolve to continue firnl and stedfast in the same unto the end. And they must nlake all these holy resolutions, not in their o\vn, but in the nanle of Jesus Christ, believing and depend- ing upon him for grace and po\ver to perforln them, so as to live accordingly for the future all the rest of their days. In short, they must call to mind the solenln Vo\V and promise which they made to God when they were adnlitted into his Church by the sacralnent of baptism, and must now rene\v and ratify the same at the sacralnent of the Lord's supper, faithfully promising again to him, and purposing \vith themselves, by his assistance, to believe and do as they tl1en pro- Q 2 228 The Necessity and Advantage mised, and to continue in the same unto their lives' end. They \v ho have thus prepared themselves for the Lord's supper, whensoever it is administred, Iliay, and ought most thankfully to receive it, not doubting hut they shall find favour and acceptance ,vith God, and great benefit and advantage to themselves by it, through his me- rits and intercession, whose body and blood they there receive. And yet all this may be easily and soon done by any of Christ's disciples, by those of the lowest as well as of the highest forms in his school. Yea, it ought to be often done by all, at other times as well as when they are to receive the holy comn1union. It is true, it is in a particular manner requisite and necessary, that a man examine himself before he eat of that bread, and drink of that cup; because unless a Ilian first kno\vs the true state of his soul, be ,vill not kno,v how to make the right use of \v hat he there receives, to his spiritual advantage. The sacrament of Christ's body and blood is an uni- versal remedy for all the distempers of onr souls. OJ. Frequent COlnlnunion. 229 But except a man knows where his distemper lies, and what part is most affected, he cannot apply the lnedicine to it, and so can receive no benefit from it. But, ho,vsoever, \ve must not think that self-exan1Ïnation is a duty to he per- formed only upon that occasion. For he ,vho never exanlines hin1self, but only when he is to receive the holy sacrament, llad need to receive it very often, or else he will be a great stranger to himself, not knowing what condition he is in, nor what progress he makes in the way to hea- ven: but rather ,vill have just cause to suspect that he goes backward, and gro\vs worse and ,vorse, every day. And therefore he \vho is really solicitous about his future state, as all true christians be sure are, cannot but often re- flect upon himself, and upon his present condi- tion, although he have not an opportunity of partaking of Christ's body and blooù, as yet to 11lake it better. And if he lives in a place, as many do, ,vhere such opportunities are seldom to be had, he must not\vithstanding often call bÏ1nself to account, look into the state of his soul, and settle all his spiritual affairs, as so- 230 TIle Necessity and Advantage lemnly as if he ,vas to receive the holy saCl'a- luent immediately upon it. B.y this means he \vill be a]\vays prepared for it, and al\vays longing and thirsting after it, and ready to catch at the next opportunity he can get of receiving it. And in the lllean while he may n1ake a sbift to keep up his n1ind in a pretty good ten1per, through the grace and mercy of God, \vho kno\v- ing that it is not his o\vn fault that he doth not actually }'eceive the holy sacran1ent, will be gra- ciously pleased, as \ve have good ground to believe, to n1ake up the \vant of it SOine other way. But, blessed be God for it, this is not our case, \vho may receive the holy communion every Lord's day in the year, and oftener too if \ve have a mind to it. How happy would some good people think themselves, if they could have such opportunities as these are! And how miserable shall \ve be if we neglect and slight theIn! For my l)art, I do not see ho,v ,ve shall be able to ans\ver it either to God, or to ourselves another day. Neither do I know \vhat excuse or pre- tence allY can have for it, besides those \vhicb Of Frequent COJlnnunion, 231 ,ve have no\v refuted; except it be this one, \vhich some have Inade to thenlselves, even, that they have been several tin1cs at the sacran1ellt of the Lord's supper, but have not found that benefit and comfort from it ,vhich they ex- pected, and therefore think it to no purpose for thenl to receive it oftener than they are obliged to do it, in order to their continuing in the COlllIUU- Hion of the Church. This I kno,v hath been a great stun1b1ing-block to luany well-nleanillg people, and therefore I shall endeavour to remove it out of the way as clearly as 1 can. For 'v hich })urpose ,ve lnay first oùserve, that ,,,hat God commands us to do, \ve are therefore to do it, because he commands it, ,vhether we can get anything by it or no. Other,vise ,ve do it not for his sake, but our o,vn: not in obedience to his con1mand, but in hopes of profit and aù vantage to ourselves; "'hereby it ceaseth to be a good work, or any ,vay accepta- ble to God, in that ,ve do not respect him, but oursel ves; and so ])refer ourselves before him in it, as in our present case. Weare comnlanded by God, our Saviour, to do this in remen1brance 2:-12 The Necessity and Advantage of him. N O\V if \ve do it only in expectation of gaining something to ourselves .by it, we do not regard or obey him at all in it; in that we nei- ther do it therefore because he commanded it, nor as he comnlanded it to be done. For he commanded it to be done in re1ne1nbrance of him; and so made that, not our profit, the chief end of his institution. And therefore although he hath commanded us nothing but what is really for our good, and that this is so in an high and special manner, yet we must not make that our end in doing it, but \ve must eat this bread and drink this cup in rC'lne'lnbrance of Hirn, whether we receive any benefit from it or no; yea, although we were sure to have none; and so do it in pure and sincere ob dience to his commandment. Which whosoever doth will be sure one time or other to find the benefit and comfort of it, though not perhaps at present. For the blessed body and blood of Christ re- ceived, as it ought to be, \vith a quick and lively faith, ,viII n10st certainly have its desired effect. But it operates for the nlost part upon our souls, as ordinary food doth upon our bodies, insensibly Of F1'equent CO'Jnmunion. 233 and by degrees. We eat and drink every day, and by that means our bodies grow to their full stature, and are tben kept up in life, health and vigour, though we ourselves kno\v not ho\v this is done, nor perhaps take any notice of it. So it is with this spiritual meat and drink, ,vhich God haUl prepared for our souls. By eating and drinking frequently of it, we grow by degrees in grace, and in the knowledge of Ollr Lord and Sa- viour Jesus Christ, and still continue stedfast and active in the true faith and fear of God, though after all, we may be no ",.ay sensible bow this won- derful effect is \vrought in us, but only as we find it to be so by our own experience. And if we do that, we bave no cause to cOIIlplain that we get nothing by it; for we get more than all the world is \vorth, being strengthened in the in\vard man, and so made more fit for the service of God, more constant in it, and more able to perform it: or at least are kept from falling back, and pre- served from many sins and temptations, \vhich other\vise \ve might be exposed to. And this surely is enough to make anyone, that reany lninds the good of his soul, to hunger and thirst 234 Tile Necessity and Advantage after this bread and ,vater of life, and to eat and drink it as often as he can, although he do not presently feel the happy effect of it, as some have done, and as he himself sOlnetÏ1nes may, \vhen God seeth it necessary or convenient for him. In the lllean \vhile, he may rest satisfied in his n1ind, that he is in the \vay that Christ hath made to heaven, and thank God for giving hin1 so many opportunities of pårtaking of Christ's body and blood, anù also grace to lay hold of them, to im- prove them to his O\Vl1 unspeakable con1fort, such as usually attends the \vorthy receiving of the Lord's supper; \vhereby \ve are not only put in Inind of the great sacrifice \vbich the Son of God offered for our sins, but like,vise bave it actually communicated unto us, for our pardon and recon- ciliation to tbe almighty governor of the \vorlù, \v hich is the greatest cOlnfol't we can have on this siùe heaven; so great, that ,ve shall never be able to express it unto others, ho\v deeply soever we may be affected \vith it in ourselves. And though \ve be not always thus sensibly cheered and refreshed \vith it, as \ve could ,vish to be; ho\vsoever, \ve can never receive the blessed Of Frequent Cornlllunion. 235 sacrament, but ,ve have the pleasure and satisfac- tion of having done our duty to our Maker and Redeemer, which far exceeds all the comforts of this life, and therefore may ,vell stay our sto- machs till God sees good to give us more. But let us now suppose, that a man hath been often at our Lord's table, and yet hath seldom or never received any real benefit or conlfort frtnn it, not so much as that which ariseth from our reflect- ing upon our having done what our Saviour com- manded us. This, I confess, may be the case of some persons. But then such should consider ,vhere the fault lies. It cannot lie in the institu- tion itself. That can never fail of producing the same effect, \vhere it is duly observed, at one time as well as at another, and in one person as luuch as in another, and therefore the fault must be in the persons thelnselves; they do not duly observe the institution, and then it is no ,vonder if they be never the better for it. N o\v there are t,vo things required to the ùue observation of it: First, that men come rightly prepared to the holy sacranlent; and, then, that they receive it aright. They ,,,110 fail either of these ,vays, ll1USt 236 The Necessity and Advantage blame themselves if they miss of \v hat they ex- pected from it. 'Vhat is necessary to the pre- paring ourselves for it, I have already spoken of, and have shewn that it is no more than \vhat nlay be easily done, if !lien \viJl but set them&elves in good earnest aùout it. But if men will not do that, but come to the Lord's table as they do to their own, without putting themselves, by God's assistance, into a right temper and disposition for it, they have no ground to expect any advantage by it, for they a.re not subjects capable of those spiritual profits and pleasures \vhich are there ex- hibited. Their hearts are not set towards then}, but rather bent quite another \vay, and therefore cannot possibly be touched or affected by theIne What \vonderful power hath the sun upon plants and seeds in the earth, to make them grow and bring forth fruit! And yet such plants or seeds which are rotten, corrupted, or not rightly set and disposed as they ought to be, are uever the better for the influences of the sun, but remain just as they vrere, ho\v long soever it shines upon them. So it is here: Christ, the Son of Righteousness, shines most po\verfully in 11Ïs Of F'} efju(Jnt C071l1Jlunion. 2:37 Church, especially at the commemoration of the great eclipse which he once suffered, as they find by experience, 'v ho come d ul y prepared to it, being so quickened, enlivened, actuated and strengthened by it, that they bring forth love, joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness,faith, and an the other fruits of God'-s Holy Spirit, as they are reckoned up by his Apostles, Gal. v. 22, 23 ; whereas, they who are disordered and out of tune, and will not take pains to put them el yes into a suitable temper and disposition for it, they are no way wrought upon, or influenced by it, but still continue barren and unfruitful. And so all must needs do, who come not rightly qualified to the holy sacrament; they cannot truly eat of the blessed body and blood of Christ, and if they did, they could not digest it into proper food and nourishment for their souls, and so can receive no real profit or advantage by it; \vhich, not- ,vithstanding, should not discourage any from coming as oft as they can to the Lord's table, but should rather excite them to prepare themselves al\vays as well as they can for it, for then they will never complain of unprofitableness any nlore. 238 Tile Necessity and Advantage But let them come as often as they please, they \vill every tiIne go home better than they canle, if they do but COlne thus rightly disposed, to receive the body and blood of Christ, \vhich is there con1- municated to then), and then 1ike\vise receive it also as they ought. IIo\y they ought to receive it, is the next question to be considered, and it had need be considered very seriously by all that expect any benefit from the Lord's supper; for, although they come \vith never so good a disposition to it, yet unless they keep themselves in the same, ,vhile they are at it, and actually partake of Christ's body and blood, according to his holy in- stitution, their expectations will be all frustrated: for the great benefit \vhich \ve receive from this holy sacrament is, the strengthening and refresh- ing of our souls, by the body and blood of Christ, as our bodies are by bread and wine. But as our bodies cannot be strengthened or refreshed by bread and wine, unless we eat and drink it, so neither can our souls be so by the body and blood of Christ, unless we actually partake of it. But our souls cannot actua11y partake of the body and Of F'} eqllent COlllJJlunio1l. 239 blood of Christ, any other ,yay than by SODle act of tl1eir ow"n, even by acting their faith in ,vhat is there signified and represented to thenl. 'Yhat ,ve there see with our bodily eyes, although con- secrated to an holy use, it is still in its o,vn nature plain bread and ,vine, \vbich may strengthen and refresh our bodies, but can have no such influence or effect upon our souls, as being of a quite dif- ferent nature from them; but, by faith, \ve look upon them as the signs anù syn1bols of Christ's body and blood, and receive then1 as such upon his ,vord, ,vhich, as I have she\vn, is a mighty strengthening and refreshing to our souls. But we can never thus receive Christ's body and blood, nor so much as discern it, any other ,yay but by a quick and lively faith; but that, as the Apostle saith, Is the substance oftltings hoped.for, and the evidence of things not seen, Heb. xi. 1. 'fhe body and blood of Christ is not seen in the holy sacranlent, but faith doth plainly evidence, yea, itself is the evidence of it to us; so that by faith I am as fully persuaded of it, as if I sa\v it, And although ,ve do not see it there, yet we hope for it, because of Christ's ,vord; and \vhq,t \ve 240 TIle !{()cessity and Advantage thus hope for, our faith is the substance of it to us, causing it to subsist and operate in us as ef- fectually, to all intents and purposes, as \ve can expect or desire, for the strengthening and re- freshing of our souls. 'Vhereas, \vithout such a faith as this, \ve can receive nothing but bread and ,vine, and by consequence no spiritual benefit or cOll1fort at all fron1 the holy sacrarnent: and that is the reason ,vhy, according to the appoint- ment of our Church, at the distribution of the sa- cran1ental bread, we say to every cOffinlunicant, Take, and eat this in re ne1J2brance that Christ died for thee, and feed on hinl in tlty heart by faith; whereby everyone is put in mind, in the very act of receiving, that he lnust there feed upon Christ by faith, as the only means ,vhereby he can partake of his body and blood, so as to receive strength and nourishment to his soul from that holy feast. For indeed the wh01e stress of this great 'work lies upon our faith. Unless that be duly exerted and acted, though men COll1e to the Lord's table, and feed upon the outward elements, \vhich are there given thel11, this is not to eat the Lord's Of Frequent COlllrllUnioll. 241 supper; for that is a spiritual banquet, ,vhich cannot he so much as tasted of any other\vise than by faith, and therefore they ,vho do not receive it \vithfaith, have no cause to complain that they are never the better for receiving the Lord's supper, for they do really receive it no more than as if they were not present \vhere it is administred, and so can expect no more benefit from it, than from food or physic ,vhich they do not take. But this should not dishearten any from coming to the Lord's supper as often as they can, but should make them more careful to re- ceive it always as they ought, ,vith faith; and then they can never fail of their expectations froin it, but \viH ahvays receive as lnuch, and often more, than they could expect. By this \ve may see, ho\v \ve ought to receive the Lorù's supper: if \ve desire to partake of the benefits of it, we must receive it \vithfaith. And hence it is, that our Church hath, in her great ,visdom, so contrived that incomparable office ,vhich she hath made for the adlninistration of this holy sacran1ent, that, from the beginning to the end of it, there is l11atter and occasion given R 242 The Necessity and Advantage us all along for the exercise of ou-r faith in Christ, and the promises which God hath nlade us in hiln, that so ,ve luay be sure to partake of his nlost blessed body and blood, and of all the nle- rits of his death, ,vhensoever ,ve meet together for the celebration of it. 'Vhich that I lnay the hetter demonstrate, and like\vise she,v ho,v ,ve should act our faith all the \vhile that we are at our Lord's table, so as to receive spiritual strengt hand conlfort from it, it ,vill not be amiss if \ve go through the whole office, especial1y so 111uch of it as is, or ought to be, ahvays useù wl1en there is a comlllunion, and not at any other tÏ1ne. From the beginning of the service, to the end of the prayer for Christ's holy catholic Church, is appointed to be read upon #Sundaysand Holydays, although tbere be no conlmunion; but if there be a cOlnmunion in the Church upon Hny other day, as ,veIl as those, it ought to be read. And therefore it ,viII be expedient to prelnise some- thing concerning that, at least so llluch that \ve nlay understand the design of it, and ho,v it nlakes ,yay for our better perfol'lning of this great duty. Of Frequent C01n1nunion. 243 This service therefore being appointed for the communion of the body and blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, as it is to be all and always read at his table, by one of his ministers, so it begins 'with his prayer-the prayer which be himself composed, and left to his church as a standing general form, to be used by all persons, at all times and upon all occasions, to \v hich it is fitted in such a wonderful manner, as sufficiently she,vs both the author and intent of it. To this is subjoined a short prayer, for this particular occasion, that God \vould be })leased to cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of his Holy Spirit, that 'we 1nay peifectly love ltim, and 'worthily 'Jnagnify his holy nam.e, in keeping his commandments, ,vhich immediately after are so solemnly repeated in his name, by one of his ministers, standing at his table, that ,ve n1ay and ought to hearken to them ,vith the same atten- tion, reverence and godly fear, as if God himself pronounced thenl again to us, as he did to the Israelites, from l\lount Sinai, ,vith th'llnderings and lightnings, and the noise of the angelic t'ltll1npet sounding in our ears, Exod. xx. I, 18. R2 ' ... 244 The .LVecessity and Advantage \VhiIe ,ve are tInlS hearkening to these divine la,vs, distinctly published and proclaimed to everyone of us in particular, ,ve cannot but every one call to lliind his own sins, ,vhereby he hath offended against these laws, and how unable he hath been to keep anyone of them as he ought, ,vithout the grace of God; and therefore ,ve have no sooner heard any of thenl repeated, but 've immediately beg of God mercifully to pardon our former transgressions of it, and to give us grace to observe it forthefuture, saying after the repe- tition of each commandment, from the bottom of our hearts, as ,veIl as ,vith our 1110uth, Lo'} d, lta'L'e l1zercy upon llS, and incline our hearts to keep this law; all \vbich must needs be ackno,vledged to be of great use to our due COlTIlnemoration of Ü1at deatb, ,vhich the Son of God suffered for these our sins, and to our partaking of his body and blood for the pardon of them, and for grace to ,valk hereafter in all the cOlnmandments of tbe Lord blanleless. For though ,ve did examine our- selves privately before, ,ye do it again publicly, ""- in the special presence of God himself, openly de- claring and luaking kno,vn his hnvs particularly .I Of Frequent COlll1JZunioJt. 245 unto us, ,vhereby our sins and infirmities are brought afresh to our remembrance, and we COlne to the holy sacrament \vith an actual sense of them upon our 111inds, and so are better able to apply the great remedy \vhich is there prepared for our ease and cure. Upon \vhich account I cannot but adn1Ïre the Pl'udence as ,veIl as piety of our Church, in appointing the cOlnmandments to be publicly read upon this occasion. The commandlllents of Almighty God having been thus solemnly read to us, in obedience to theln \ve first 11ray, as ,ve are bound to do in every distinct service, for his vicegerent upon earth, and then for ourselves anù brethren in the collect for the day, ,vhich if it be an IIoly-day, hath respect to tIle blessing ,ve then COl11111en10- rate, other\vise it is for some speciaJ grace or mercy that we have all need of. After this follov/s the epistle, that is, some part of those epistles \vhich St. Paul, or other Apostles, ,vrote by the inspiration of God, \vherein we are usually ren1Ïnded of some of those duties ,vhich ,ve heard before enjoined us in the conuuanù- Inents, or upon SOlne particular occasions, SOllIe 246 TIle Necessity and Advantage other portion of scripture relating to that occa- sion. Then follows the gospel, or some of the divine sayings, or acts of our blessed Saviour, as they are recorded by one of the four Evangelists, ,vhich never alters. There is never any other portion of scripture appoin1&d for the gospel, as there is for the epistle; but that is al,vays taken out of the very gospe I itself; by which means ,ve al \vays hear something which Christ himself spake with his divine mouth, for our in- struction, ,vhen he ,vas upon earth, or else some- thing ,vhich he did, by his divine po,ver, for the confirmation of our faith in him. Hence it is, that, at the reading of the gospel, the people are all required to stand up, not only to she,v their readiness to stand by and defend it to the last, but like,vise to express their respect and rever- ence to Christ himself; \vhose gospel it is, anò ,vhose \vords and works they hear rehearsed; and therefore must needs stand up to hearken diligently to theIn, as they would have certainly done, if they had been near him 'v hen he spake . or òid them. And hence also it is, that in the first cOlnnlon-prayer book ,vhirh ,vas put out by Of Fl'equent COlll1nunion. 247 king Edzvard the sixth, so soon as the lninister had said, The holy gospel is ,vritten in such a chapter, the people ,vere ordered to say, Glory 1m to thee, 0 L01'd, to testify their ackno,v ledg- ment, that he 'v hose gospel they ,vere now to hear, is their Lord and l\Iaster, the great and Almighty God, that all glory and honor is due to him for revealing this gospel to them, and ac- cordingly to adore and ,vorship him for it. As all should do ,vhen they pronounce these ,vords. 80 soon as the gospel is read, the Nicene creed begins, ,vhich itself also contains the sun1 and sub- stance of the gospel; and therefore is appointed to be said or sung by all the people, standing in the same - posture as they did in llearing of the gospel. And that I suppose, is the reason, ,vhy, although after the reading of the epistle, the n1Ïnister is to say, Here endeth the epistle; yet after the reading of the gospel, he is not to say, Here endeth tlte Gospel, (as lnany, ,vho do not consider the l'ubric, are wont to do,) because the gospel doth not properly end there, but con- tinues to be declared and publi::;hed in the fol- lo\ving creed; in ,vhich are briefly comprehended 248 The Necessity and Advantage all the great articles of that holy religion which Christ hath revealed to us in his gospel; and therefore it ought to be jointly repeated by all the people there present, that all may thereby publicly own and profess their belief of all and everyone of those articles, and so of the whole gospel of Christ, in order to their being adn1itted to the holy comn1union; ,vhich otherwise they ought not to be. After this creed, there follows one of the homilies, or sermons set forth by authority, or else one composed by the minister himself, for the fuller explication of some part of the said creed, or else of the commandments before re- peated. 'Vhich therefore comes in very properly in this })lace, after the sumn1ary of that Christian doctrine, according to which all sermons ought to be framed. After sermon, the priest returns to the Lord's table, and then begins the offertory, reading some sentences of holy scripture chosen out on purpose to excite and stir up the people to give, every vne according to his abi1ity, some- thing to pious and charitable uses. And ,vhile these sentences are in reading, the deacons, Of Frequent Communion. 240 church-wardens, or some fit persons appointed for that purpose, gather the alms and other de- votions of the people, and bring them to the Priest, ,vho hun1bly presents and placeth them upon the Lorò's table, as devoted to him, and then begins the prayer for the \vhole state of Christ's Church militant here on earth. Thus much of the communion service, even from the beginning of it, to the end of the fore- said prayer for Christ's catholic Church, is to ùe said upon Sundays and other Holy-days, although there be no comlTIunion, for ,vant of a sufficient number to comnlunicate ,vith the Priest. In the first common prayer book of king Edlvard the sixth, it ,vas ordered that the Priest, al- though there ,vere none to communicate ,vi th hinl, shall say all things at the altar appointed to be said at the celebration of the Lord's supper, until after the offertory, upon 1Vednesdays and Fridays, ,vithout any mention of ,Sundays and Holy-days. From ,vhence it appears, that they took it for granteù, that there would ahvays be a sufficient nUluùer of conlnlunicants, upon every Sunday and Holy-day at the least, so that they 250 The Necessity and Advantage could not so. much as suppose there would be no communion upon any of those days. But it seems they feared that upon other days there might be sometinles none to communicate ,vith the Priest, and so no communion. And there- fore ordered, that if it should so happen for a whole week together, yet nevertheless upon the Wednesdays and Fridays in every ,veek, so much shall be said of the communion service as is before limited. But afterwards, as piety gre\v colder and colder, the sacralnent began to be nlore and more neglected, and by degrees quite laid aside upon the ,veek days. And then the Church did not think it convenient to order any of the ser- vice appointed for it to be read upon any other days but only upon Sundays and Holy-days. But upon those days she still requires, that, although there be no cOll1munion, yet all shall be said that is appointed at the communion until the end of the general prayer, (for the good estate of the catholic Church of Christ) together \vith one or more of the collects at the end of the -con1ll1union service, concluding ,vitb the bless- Ing. Of Frequent COlll1nunion. 251 And verily there is great reason it should be so. Not only because it is fitting that our devotions should be longer upon those than they are upon other days; but like,vise there are several things particular in that part of the service, which re- quire it. Here are the commandlnents of Alnlighty God, the supreme la,vgiver of the world, ,vhich it is requisite that people should hear, and be put in mind of, at least upon those days ,vhich are dedicated to his service. Here is the collect, epistle, and gospel, proper to many Sundays, and to all the Holy-days in the year, ,,,ithout which they could not be distinguished from one another, nor from other days, nor by consequence cele- brated, so as to ans,ver the end of their institu- tion, unless they ,vere read upon their proper days. Here is the Nicene creed, \vherein the divinity of our blessed Saviour is asserted and declared, and therefore very proper to be said or sung upon those days which are kept in me- mory of him, and of his A posUes, by 'v horn that doctrine, togcther ,vith our \vhole religion grounded Ul)Ol1 it, was planted and propagated I 252 The Necessity and Advantage in the ,vorld. I-Iere is the 0.ffe1 tory and choice sentences of scripture, read to stir up people to offer unto God something of ,vhat he hath given them, as their ackno,vledglnent that he gives them all they have, and that they hold it all of him; ,vhich, ho\vsoever it be no,v general1y neg- lected, except there be a c0111munion, yet people ought certainly to be put iUluind of it at least upon all Holy-days, and especially upon the Lord's o\vn day, accordiug to his o,vn order, written by his Apostle St. Paul, 1. Cor. xvi. 2. IIere, an10ng others, is the prayer for the ,vhole state of Christ's Church militant here on earth; and it is but reason that we, as felIo,v members of the same Lody, should join together in it upon all the great festivals of the year, ,vhich are generally celebrated by the ,vhole Church ,ve pray for, and by that means testify our com- nlunion ,yith it. And besiùes, this as ,veIl as the other part of the communion servi<:>>e, is performed at the comnnlnÌon table, the place 'v here the primitive Church used to perforn1 its puùlic de- votions, al1d ours, 'v hich in all things else is confoflnable to that, cannot but in1itate it in this Of Frequent C071ullunion. 253 particular at least, so far as to have SOllie part of its service performed at the same place upon Sundays and Holy-days, although there be no communion. But the main reason ,vhy so much of the communion service is ordered to be read upon Sundays and other Holy-days, not\vitbstanding that there is no communion, seems to be, that the Church nlay she\v Iler readiness to administer it upon these days, and so that it is not her's, nor the minister's, but the people's fault, if there be 110 COIIl111Unlon. For the minister, by her order, goes up to the Lord's table, and there begins the service appointed for the cOlllmunion, and goes on as far as he can, till he COllle to the actual celebration of it, and if he stops there, it is only because there are none, or not a sufficient number of persons, to communicate with him; for if there ,vere, he ,vas bound and is ready to consecrate and administer it to them. And therefore if there be no cOlnmunion upon any Sunday or Holy-day in the year, the people only are to be blamed, and must ans\ver for it another day. The Church hath done her part in orderillg it, 54 Tile Nece.çsity and Advantage and the minister his in observing that order: and if the people \votlld do theirs too, the holy conllTIllnion \vould be constantly celebrated in every parish church in England, every ,Sunday and Holy-day throughout the year. Neither can they plead ignorance in the case, or say they did not think it to be their duty to communicate so often. For every tiule they see the minister go up to the communion table, and there read part of the service appointed for the holy communion, they are put in mind of their duty, and upbraided \vith their neglect of it. Fronl all ,vhich \ve Inay observe by the ,vay, how much those ministers are to be blamed, who ever omit this part of the service, or do not perform it at the place appointed for it. Ho,v they can ans\ver it to God, to the Church, to their people, or to themselves, for my part I know not. Having thus briefly run over so much of the communion service as is to be read ,vhen there is no conln1union, aß ,yen as \v hen there is, \ve are no,v COllie to that part of it, ,vhich never is, nor can be used, but only ,vhen the holy communion is actualIy adn1Ïnistred; and therefore is chiefly Of F1.equent (,'to'ìJznzunion. 25 to be considered ill our present design, of shew- ing how ,ve may and ought to receive it, so as to find the benefit and comfort of it. For ,vhich purpose ,ve may observe, that after the prayer for Christ's holy catholic Church before lllen- tioned, the minister, ,vho is always a Priest, seeing a conlpetent nUlnber of devout Christians ready and desirous to partake of the body and blood of our blessed Redeemer, first reads to them a grave, pious, and pathetical exhortation, to con- sider ,vhat they are about to do, of ho\v great benefit it ,vill be to them, if witlt a true, penitent heart, and lively faith, they receive tltat holy saC1.a- 'lnent; ho,v dangerous to receive the same un,vor- thily; ho,v they should conle to it; \vhat cause they have to give their most hearty thanks to the nIost Holy Trinity, for the redemption of the ,vorld by Jesus Christ, who ordained these holy mysteries as pledges of his love, and for the continual renlem brance of his death, to our great and endless comfort. All \vhich is so clearly and affectionately expressed, that it contributes very lunch to the making up the defects of their pre- paration for it, and to raise their minds intu such 250 .. Tile Necessity and Advantage an holy and devout temper, as to be capable both of performing this great dut aright, and of re- ceiving the benefits and comforts of it. The exhortation being ended, the minister (in the llan1e of Christ and his Church) inviteth all 'v ho are thus godly disposed, to the Lord's sup- per, saying to them, draw near with faith, and take this holy sacra'JJlent to your cO'J1ifort. He in- vites them first to draw near, thereby putting them in mind, that they are no\v invited into Christ's more special presence, to sit do,vn ,vith him at his o,vn table, that so they may be as near him as they can be in this ,vorld, and therefore, as an em blen1 thereof, should come from the lTIOre remote parts of the Churcb, as near to the said table as they may. But then he adviseth them to draw near with faith, as \vithout ,vhich all their bodily approaches win a vail them no- thing, it being only by faith that they can really dra\v near to Christ, and take this holy sacrament to their comfort. Anù therefore they should take special notice of this expression, used on purpose in this })lace, to stir up their pure minds by ,yay of renlembrance, to keep their faith in Of Frequent COlnnnlJzioll. 257 continual exercise all the while that they are at . our Lord's table, so as to look upon him as there present \vith them, 0 bserving all the motions both of their souls and bodies, and ready to co municate his o\yn nlost blessed body and blood unto them, to preserve their souls and bodies to everlasting life. But seeing they can- not act their faith as they ought in Christ, who died for their sins, until they have confessed and repented of them; therefore he calls upon them to make their humble confession to Almighty God, meekly kneeling upon their knees. And now all that are to communicate, being prostrate upon their knees, as so many guilty nlalefactors before the judge of the \vho]e world, do in a most humble and solemn manner jointly acknowledge and bewail tIle manifold sins and wickedness which they from time to time have committed in thought, word, and deed, against his divine majesty. Professing themselves most ear- nestly to repent of them, humbly beseeching him, to pardon ,vhat is past, and to grant them grace for the future to serve and please ItÏ1n in newness qfl fe, for Christ Jesus' sake. All \vhich i'3 done s 258 The Necessity and Advantage ,vith such apposite and pathetical \vords, that I do not see how it is possible for us to express our hearty and sincere repentance better than ,ve do at that tÏ1ne. 'Vhile the people continue in this hUlnble pos- ture, begging for mercy and grace at the hands of God, his minister stands up, and in his name assures them, that he of his infinite nlercy /tatlt prolnised forgiveness of sins to all tlte1J'l that wit!t hearty repentance and truefaith turn unto !tim, anù therefore he applies the said promises to all, and everyone there present, praying that Almighty God would accordingly ltave 'lnercy upon theIn, pardon and deliver them froln all their sins, con- jirnz and stl engthen them in all goodness, and bring them to everlasting life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. And here it is that our faith must begin to work as it is the substance oftltings hoped for, or a solid and substantial confidence that God will give us all the good things \vhich he hath pro- mised, and ,ve therefore hope for at his hands, so as firmly and stedfastIy to believe that upon our hearty and sincere repentance, ,ve are now Of Frequent COlll1nunioll. 259 absolved from all our former sins, and that from this tÏ1ne forward, God ,viII assist us ,vith his grace to serve and please hÏ1n, according to the prayers ,ve have now put up to him, and the pro- mises ,vhich he hath made to us in QUI' Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. For all the benefit of absolution, as pronounced by the minister, de- pends ,vholly upon this, our believing in the promises and word of God, upon which it is grounded. 'Vhich therefore that we 111ay do, the 1l1inister presently reads some select sentences of the holy scriptures, ,vherein God hath proll1ised, or de- clared, his ,villingness to pardon and absolve us from our sins in the blood of his Son, that so ,ve 11lay act our faith accordingly upon them. And therefore he calls upon the people to hear, and take special notice of them. As first, those comfortable ,vords ,vhich our Saviour saith to all that truly turn to him, C01ne unto me all that travel and are heavy laden, and 1 lvill refresh you, Matt. xi. 28. Which words contain so firm and solid a foundation, ,vhereup- on to build our most holy faith, that if ,ve be but 82 ;l60 The Necessity and Advantage truly penitent, \ve cannot doubt of God's 111ercy to us. For here his only Son ,vith his o,vn divine mouth invites all that are so to come to him, promising or engaging in his "Tord', that he ,vill refresh them. lIe \vill give them peace in their minds, quiet in their consciences, and rest to their souls. He ,vill take care that they shall neither trave1, nor be heavy laden any longer \vith the burden of their sins. For he ,vill re- fresh them \vith the sense of God's mercy, in the pardon of all their faults, and \vith the assistance of his grace, in the mortifying of all their lusts. ÞSin shall no longer have dOl1zinion over thein, be- cause they are not now under the law, but under Ids grace, Rom. vi. 14. N o\v these being the ,vorùs of Christ, of truth itself, ,ve 111ay, and ought to have a sure trust and confidence on them. So as to be fuBy per- suaded in our Ininds, that \ve being in the num- ber of those WhOlll he calls, and having obeyed his call in coming to him, he accorùing to his \vord, \vill ease us of our sins, and give us rest. Especially considering that he himself assures us also with his o\vn mouth, that God so loved tIle Of Freqllen t COll1'1nll1îion. 261 'world, tlzat!te gave his only begotten / on, to the end t!tat all that believe in /ânz should not perish -, but have everlasting life, John, iii. 16. 'Vhich ,vords, containing the substance of the design of the 'v hole gospel, pronounced by Christ hiulself, are therefore read in the next place, that ,ve might have occasion to exercise our faith in all of it, and so have no place left for diffidence or doubting. For seeing the great reason that moved God to send his Son, 'vas his infinite love to mankind, and the only end \vhy he did it, ,vas, That all who believe in ltinz, 1nig!tt not perish, but have everlasting life: ,vhat can ,ve desire more to excite and confirm our faith in him! For, he t!tat slJared not his Olvn ISon, but delivered hi1n up for llS all, how shall he not 'lvith lti'l1l also freely give us all t!tings? Rom. viii. 32. But lest the sense of our former sins should be apt to make s despond or despair of mercy, that nothing may ùe wanting to cOlllplete and strengthen our faith at this tÏ1ne, there are t\VO other divine sentences read, the one of St. Paul, saying, this is a true saying, and 'lDorthy of all l1zen to be 1"eceived, that Chl"ist J eSllS COlne into 262 Tlte Necessity and Advantage the world to save sir liners, 1. Tim. i. 15. And the other of St. John; if any man sin, 'lve have an advocate with, the Father, Jesus Cltrist the 1 ighteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins, 1 John ii. 1. Whereby ,ve are given to understand and believe, that Christ came into the \vorld on purpose to save such sinners as ,ve aloe, that be ,vas made a IJropitiation for our sins, by undergoing all the punishments that were due unto us for them; and that he is now our advocate in heaven, always interced- ing for us, and ready to apply the merits of his death unto us. At the hearing of ,vhich our faith hath so much ground and matter to work upon, that we may ,veIl say with St. Paul, wlto shall lay anything to the charge oj" God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemnetlt? It is Christ that died; yea, ratltel' that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, wllo also maketh inter- cession fo'J. us, Rom. viii. 33, &c. Having thus exercised our faith, and so got above this \vorld, \ve are no\v ready to go into the other, and to join \vith the glorified saints Of Frequent Com'lJ2union. 263 and angels in praIsIng and adoring that God, who hath done so great things for us. 'Vhich that we lllay the better do, the minister caUs upon us to lift up our hearts, to lift them up as high as \ve can by a quick and lively faith in the most high God, the supreme governor of the whole \vorld. Which being no\v ready to do, \ve immediateJy answer, lVe lift theln up unto the Lord. And our hearts being no\v all lift up togeth r, and so in a right posture to celebrate tbe high praises of God, the minister invites all to join with him in doing it, so as at tIle same tinle to believe that he is our Lord and our God, saying, Let us give thanks unto our Lord God, \v hich the people having consented to, and approved of, by saying, It is meet and right so to do, he turns himself to the Lord's table, and ackno\vledgeth to his Divine .l\fajesty there specially present, that, It is very rneet, right, and our bounden duty, that'lve should at all times, and in all places give thanks to hÏ1n. And then the minister looking upon himself and the rest of the communicants, as members of the Church triulnphant, and all apprehending themselves by 264 TIle Necessity and Advantage jåith, as in the midst of that blessed society, we -join with them in singing forth the praises of the n10st high God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, saying, Tlterefo'l'e 'lvith angels, and arch-angels, and with all the company of heaven, we laud and 'JJlagnif!/ thy glorious na'lne, evermore praising thee, and saying, holy, holy, holy, Lord God oj' hosts, heaven and earth are full of thy glory. Glory be to tltee, 0 Lord, 1nost higlt. And certainly if :. ever our souls be in heaven, while our bodies are upon earth, it must be in the singing of this hea- venly anthem, when our spirits with those if just 'fllen made perfect, yea, ,vith the whole company of heaven, in so solemn and seraphic a manner, adore, and magnify the eternal God, our maker and Redeemer. Especially ,vhen ,ve celebrate the nativity, the resurrection, and ascension of our blessed Lord, his mission of the Holy Ghost, or the Inost glorious Trinity, for which there are proper prefaces appointed to raise up our hearts as high as possible, in praising God for such transcendent nlysteries and mercies as those are. N ow, if ever, our minds must needs be duly })repared to receive the blessed body and blood Of Fl'equent Com1nunion. 265 of our dear Lord. And therefore the minister, having first acknowledged our unworthiness of so great a mercy, and prayed to God to assist with his o\vn grace to receive it ,vorthily, he then saith the Prayer of Consecration. And now there is nothing eitl1er seen, or said, or done, but \vhat puts us in mind of sonlething or other, \vhereupon to employ and exercise our faith in the highest manner that \ve can. 'Vhen \ve see the bread and 'wine set apartfor consecration, it nlinds us of God's eternal pur- pose and determinate counsel, to offer up his Son as a sacrifice for the sins of the \vorld. The minister's reading the prayer of consecra- tion, and performing that \vhole work alone, none of the people speaking a word, or any ,yay assisting him in it, may })ut us in minù ho\v the whole ,york of our salvation was accom- plished by Christ alone, no mere creature con- tributing anything at an towards it; and there- fore ,ve hould believe in him as our only Inediator and ad vocate. 'Vhen \ve hear those \vords, 'TV/tO in the saJJle 266 T!te Necessity and Advantage nig!tt t!tat he was betrayed took bread, \ve are then by faith to behold our Lord at his last supper, there instituting this sacrament which ,ve are now to receive, and distributing it to his Apos- tles with his own most blessed hands. 'Vhen we see the bread broken, we should then call to mind that grief and pain, those bitter agonies and passions, which the eternal Son of God suffered for our sins, and in our stead. Ho\v he 'lvas 'lvoundedfo1't our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities: ho\v his blessed bod y was broken, his hands and his feet fastened to the cross, with nails drove through them, and all for our sins, even for ours. And so when the minister takes the cup into his hands, or pours out the 'lvine, \ve are then by faitlt to behold ho\v fast the blood trickled do,vn from our dear Lord and Saviour's head \vhen crowned with thorns, from his hands and feet 'v hen nailed to the cross, from his side 'v hen pierced \vith the spear, and from his whole body when he ,vas i11 his agony, and all to \vash R\Vay our sins: still believing that it was for our sins Of Frequent Com1nunion. 267 that all this precious blood ,vas shed: for such and such sins, \vhich we know, everyone our- selves to have been guilty of. 'Vhen ,ve hear the words of consecration re- peated, as they came from our Lord's own nlouth, this is my body whwh is given for you, and this is my blood which is shed for you, and for 1nany, for the remission of sins, ,ve are then sted- fastIy to believe, that although the substance of the bread and wine still remain, yet no\v it is not common bread and wine as to its use, but the body and blood of Christ in that sacramental sense, wherein he spake the ,vords; insomuch, that \vhosoever duly receives these his creatures of bread and wine, according to Christ's holy institution, in remembrance of his death and passion, are partakers of his most precious body and blood, as it is expressed in the prayer of consecration. When \ve see the minister distributing the sacranzental bread and wine to the several com- municants, we are then by faith to look upon our Lord as offering his blessed body and blood, and all the benefits of his death to all that will 268 Tile Necessity and Advantage receive them at his hands. Entertaining our- selves all the ,vhile others are receiving, ,vith these or such like meditations, Behold the Lan1b of God, ,vhich taketh a,vay the sins of the world! Behold the Son of God, the only begotten of the Father, who loved us, and gave himself for us! Who himself bare our sins in his o,vn bod y on the tree, and washed us from them in his own blood. See how willing and ready he is to communicate the blessings he hath thereby purchased! Ho\v desirous that all ,vould partake of them! Me- thinks I hear him crying out, Oome unto me all ye t!tat travail and are heavy laden and I will refres!t you. M ethinks I see him yonder going about by his minister, from one to another and offering his n10st blessed body and blood, ,vith all the merits of his D10st precious death, to all that ,viII receive theln faithfully. Happy, thrice happy, are they ,vho do so. They are absolved from all their sins, and accounted righteous before God. They are delivered from the ,vrath to come, by the blood of the Lamb, as the Israelites '\vere by that, 'v hich ,vas typi- cally sprinkled upon their door posts. They are Of Frequent COl1nnllllion. 2û9 reconciled to the great creator and governor of all things, and are n1ade Ilis children by adoption and grace. rrhey are ahvays safe and secure under his care anù protection, and never want anything that is really good for them. 'rhey bave his Son always interceding for them, and his Spirit ahvays abiding with them, to direct and assist then1 in ,vhat they do. Tiley are washed, they are sanctified, they are justified in the nanze of tIle Lord Jeslls, and by the #Spirit of our God, 1 Cor. vi. 11. and therefore they will be g] 0- rifled ,vith him for ever. 0 that I might be in the number of those blessed souls! 'Vhen ,viII it once be? When ,viII my Lord and Saviour come to me, that I also may partake of his most blessed body and blood? My heart is ready, 0 Lord, my heart is ready to receive it. My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh also longeth after thee. Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly. Thus ".e may employ our thoughts, ,vhile others are receiving; but 'v hen it comes to our turn to receive it, then ,ve are to lay aside all thoughts of bread, and wine, and minister, and everything else that is or can be seen, and. fix our faith, as it 270 Tile Necessity and Advantage is the evidence of things not seen, wholly and solely upon our blessed Saviour, as offering us his own body and blood, to preserve our bodies and souls to everlasting life, ,vhich ,ve are there- fore to receive by faith, as it is the substance of things hoped for, stedfastIy believing it to be as ouf Saviour said, Ids body and blood, which, as our Church teacheth us, are verily, and indeed taken and received by the faitliful in the Lord's supper. By \vhich means, ,vhatsoever it is to others, it ,vill be to us ,vho receive it ,vith such a faith, the body and blood of Christ our Saviour, the very substance if all things hoped for, upon the account of his body that ,vas broken, and his blood that ,vas shed for us. And the hetter to excite and assist us in the exercise of our faith after this manner, rtt our receiving this holy sacrament, tIle Minister at the distribution of it, first applies the ll1erits of Christ's death to each particular person that re- ceives it, saying to everyone singly, and by hin1self, the body of our L01 d Jesus Cilrist \yhich ,vas gi ven for THEE, and the blood 'lvhich 'lvas shed for THEE, preserre thy body and soul to cve'l'lastil1g Of Frequent CommUni01J. 271 life, that so I luay apply and appropriate it to myself as the body and blood of him that loved ?tIE, and gave himself for ?tIE, to preserve ?tIY bod y and l\IY soul to everlasting life. And then he aùds at the distribution of the bread, take and eat this in relllellzbrance that Christ died for THEE, and feed on hÏ1n in thy heart by faith with thanks- giving. 'Vhereby I ant put in mind again to eat it in remembrance that Christ died for ME in particular, and then am taught ho,v to feed upon him, even in 'Iny heart, bY.faith, with thanksgiving. In 'IllY heart, because it is not bodily but spiritual food: by faith, as the ,only means ,vhereby the heart or soul can take in its proper nourishment, and receive the substance of things hoped for, even the body and blood of Christ; and then it must be with thanksgiving too, as the necessary consequent of faith. For as no nlan can be truly thankful to Christ, unless he actually believe in him; so no man can actually believe in him, but he must needs be truly thankful both to and for hhn. And therefore at the distribution of the cup, after the ,vords, Drinll this in re'lne'/nbrance that Christ's blood 1.oas sIted for thee, it is only 272 The Necessity and Advantage added, And be thou thankful. Because t1}is necessarily supposeth and implieth our feeding upon him in our hearts by faith, as "Tithout \vhich it is impossible for us to be truly thankful. Hence also it is that our Church requires us to receive the holy sacrament kneeling, not out of. any'respect to the creatures of bread 'lnd wine, but to put us in mind that Almighty God, our crea- tor and redeemer, the only object of all religious ,vorship, is there specially present, offering his o\vn body and blood to us, that so \ve may act our faith in him, and express our sense of his goodness to us, and our un\vorthiness of it, in the most humble posture that \ve can. And, indeed, . could the Church be sure that all her members \vould receive, as they OUgllt, with faith, she need not command them to receive it kneeling. For they could not do it any other \vay. For how can I pray in faith to Almighty God, to preserve both my body and soul to everlasting life, and not make my body as ,veIl as soul bo\v do\vn before him? IIo\v can I by faith behold ll1Y Saviour coming to me, and ofiering me his o\vn body and blood, and not fall down and I Oj" F,-equent Com1nunion. 273 \vorship hÎ1n! Ho\v can I by faitb lay hold upon the pardon of n1Y sins, as there sealed and deli- vered to Ine, anù receive it any other,vise than upon ll1Y knees? I dare 110t, I cannot do it! And they ,vho can, have too much cause to sus- pect, that they do not discern the Lord's body, and therefore cannot receive it ,vorthily. Be sure our receiving the blessed body and blood of Christ, as the catholic Church always did in an humble and adoring posture, is both an argument and excitenlent of our faith in hitn. By it ,ve den1onstrate, that \ve discern tlte Lord's body, and believe hÏ1n to be present ,,'ith us in a peculiar sacral11ental sense. And by it we excite and stir up 'Loth ourselves anù others to act our faith more stedfastly upon J)inl, in that by our adoring him, ,ve actually ackno,vle<1ge him to be God as ,veIl as n1an; and therefore on 'v horn ,ve have aU the reason in the ,vorld to helieve and trust on for our salvation. 'Vhen ,ve have thus spiritually eaten the flesh of Christ, and drunk his blood, then ,ve are firlnly to believe, anù rest fully satisfied in our 111inds, that according to his o\vn ,voI'd, Cltrist no,v T 274 Tlte Necessity and Advantage dzvelletlt in 'ltS, and we in lti'JJl; that Cln'ist is one u,ith us, and we with him. And therefore that God hath no,v sealed to us the pardon of our sins in his blood, and will enable us for the future to ,valk ill holiness and righteousness before him all our days. 'Vhich faith together ,vith our thankfulness for so great a rnercy, ,ve ought to exercise all the \vhile that the rest of the comn1U- nicants are receiving, not suffering our thoughts to ,vander up and do,vn, but keeping them as close as ,ve can to the ,york, still rUlllinating upon that spiritual food which \ve l1ave eaten, after this or the like manner: Praise thou tbe Lord, 0 'Jny soul, and all tltat is 'within 'Jne, praise Itis holy name. Praise thou tlte Lord, 0 'lilY soul, and forget not all It is bene- fits, Psal. ciii. 1, 2. Behold, God is my salvation, I 1vill trust and not be afraid. For tlte Lord Jehovah is llzy strength and my song: he also is beco7Jze 'Jny salvation, Isa. xii. 2. He hin1self by the one oblation of hilllself, once offered, hath lllade a full.. perfect and sufficient sacrifice, obla- tion and satisfaction fOT' the sins of the whole Of Frequent COlnllzunion. 273 lvorld: and he hath no\v given Ine a share in it. For he hath conlnlunicated unto me that budy and blood where\vith he did it, and hath assured 1l1e thereby of his favoll1- and goodness tOlvards me, in the pardon of alllny sins, and t.hat I am a l1zenzber incorporate in his 17zystical body, and an heir through hope, of that everlasting lÛngdo/Jl \v hich he hath purchased \vith his o\vn blood. lVhat shall I 1-ender unto the Lord fOl- these !tis lnost inesthnable benefits? I 'will offer and pre- sent myself, Iny soul and body to be a reasonable, holy, and lively sacrifice unto him. I ",'ill be- lieve in him, I ,viII trust in him, I \vill love and honour him 'lvitlt all 'l1zy heart and soul.' I ,viII spend the rest of my days wholly in his service, and to his glory. I ,viII order all nzy conversation as beconzetlt his gospel; I ,vill crucify the flesh ; I will resist the devil: I \vill lleep 'Jlzyself un- spotted from the world: I \vill abstain jro7n all a]Jpearance of evil, and do all such good llJoJ'lls as he hath prepared for me to walk in. For his grace shall be sufficient for me, his strength shall be made perfect in rny lveakness; his pOlve1- shall rest upon lne, his Holy Spirit shall abide conti- 276 The Necessity and Advantage nually with 1ne, and in '1ne, to direct, sanctify and govern both my heart and body in the ways if his lauJs, and in the 'works of his cO'Jnnzand'Jnents, so that no\v, through his 1J10St 1nighty protection, I shall be preserved both in soul and body to everlasting l fe, A'Jnen. Hallelujah, salvation, and gloJY, and honour, and pOUJer be unto the Lord our God, and to the La'J1zb, f01' ever and ever. Now ,vhen all have communicated, ,vith the sallIe humble confidence, ,ve jointly address ourselves to Almighty God, as our heavenly Father, in that divine form of prayer, ,vhich he, ,vhose body and blood ,ve have now received, ,vas pleased to compose, and require us to use upon all occasions. After ,vbich, having added another prayer proper for this great and solemn occasion, ,ve join together in singing or saying in that incomparable hymn, Glory be to God on high, c. The first part whereof was sung by the choir of heaven at our Lord's nativity, and the rest added by the priulitive, if not by the apos- tolic Church, it being the most ancient hymn that ,ve kno\v of, and that 'v hich hath been Of Frequent COrnlll11nion. 277 generally used both by Greek and Latin Churches all along fronl the beginning of christianity. And this is the most proper place for it, no\v that our hearts are strengthened and refreshed by the bod y and blood of Christ, and so ready to sing and give praise in the best manner that we can ever ùo it upon earth. But for that purpose it will be necessary to keep our nlinds all the while intent, and our faith still fixed upon God the Father Almighty, and upon his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to w honl \ve here speak in a particular manner, and therefore should look upon him as specially present \vith us, hearing what \ve say to him, and observing how earnestly \ve beseech him, the Lamb of God, the Son of the Father, who taketh away the sins of the 'world, to have mercy upon us, and ho\v heartily we adore and magnify his divine holiness, his abso- lute dominion over the whole world, and His, together \vith the Holy Spirit's infinite height in the glory of the Father. After all \vhich duly performed, having prayed for God's acceptance of \vhat \ve have done, and for his blessing upon us, \"e are accordingly 278 The Necessity and Advantage dismissed, as ,veIl \ve may, ,vith tile peace of God 'lv/lick passet/t all understanding, and ,vith the blessing of Abnighty God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, ,vhich ,viII most certainly be and remain with those ,vho thus receive the holy communion always. I have now gone over the ,vh01e conlmunion service, taking notice, by the ,yay, of such things only as are plain and obvious in the several parts of it; from ,vhence it is easy to observe, that it is all contrived so as to set before us continual matter for our faith to ,vork upon, before as \vell as ai the receiving the holy sacrament; that our faith having been kept so long in exercise upon our blessed Saviour beforehand, it may be more ready to be fixed upon hinl in the actual receiv- ing the holy conlmunion, so as that we nlay partake of his most blessed body and blood, ,vhich otherwise ,ve could not; for without our faith, as it is impossible to please God, so it is impossible to partake of Christ. A nd therefore not only infidrls, v/ho have no faith at all, but they also ,vho have faith, unless they use it at the holy sacrament, they can only receive the . of F1"equent Cornrnunion. 279 outward part or sign of the Lord's supper; they cannot possibly partake of his body and blood signified by it, for that cannot be so nluch as discerned much less received any other ,yay than by faith. Anù that is the reason ,vhy so many go from the holy sacralllent 110 better .than they came to it; because, while they are there, they either stare about them, or think of other things, at least they do not keep their 11linds and faith intent upon the ,vork they are about.. They feed only upon the bread and wine ,vith their mouths, they do not feed upon Christ in their hearts by faith, and therefore cannot possibly receive any spiritual strength or refreshment froll1 him, 'Vhereas, if ,vhilst they are eating and drinking the out\vard elenlents, they \vould at the sanle tÍ1ne lift up their hearts, and fix their faith upon that ,vhich is signified and represented by them, their souls ,vould be lnuch more strengthened and refreshed by the body and blood of Christ, than their bodies are by the bread and ,vine. From hence it appears, both how little reason any can have to plead their un profitableness un- der it, as an argulllent for their not frequenting 280 Tlte Necessity and Adrl'antage. the holy sacrament; and, like\vise, how ,ve may receive it so s to be ahvays the better for it. But for that purpose it is requisite that \ve do it often; for the oftener ,ve do it, the more expert \ve shall be at it, and the l110re benefit and COlTI- fort \ve shall receive from it. It is very difficult, if not impossible, for these ,vho do it only now and then, (as once or t\vice a year,) ever to do it as they ought; for every tin1e they COlne to it, they must begin as it ,vere again; all the im- pressions \vhich ,vere made upon their minds at the last sacrament being worn out before the next; and it being a thing they are not arcus- t0111ed to, they are as much to seek ho\v to do it no,v as if they had never done it before. It is by frequent acts that habits are produced. It is by oft@D eating and drinking this spiritual food, that \ve learn how to do it, so as to digest and convert it into proper nourishment for our souls. And therefore I do not ,yonder that they who do it seldom, never do it as they ought, nor by con- sequence get any good by it: I should rather ,yonder if they did. But let any man do it often, 311d aI,vays according to the divine directions . . , o.r Frequent C01nnzunion. 281 before laid do,vn, and my life for his, he shaH never lose his labour, but whether he perceives it or not, he ,viII grow in grace, and gather spi- ritual strength every tÍ1ne Inore and Dlore. If uch considerations as these ,viII not prevail upon 111en, to Jay aside their little excuses for the neglect of so great a duty, and to resolve for the future upon the 11lore constant perfornlance of it; for ll1Y part I kno,v 110t what ,viII: and therefore shaH say no 1110re, but that I never expect to see our Church settled, prilllitive Christianity re- vived, and true piety and virtue flourish again anlong us, till the holy communion be oftener celebrated, than it hath been of late, in all places of the kingdo!11; and am sure, that if people were but sensible of the great advantage it ,vould be to them, they would need no other arguments to persuade theln to frequent it as often as they can: for \ve should soon find, as lllany have done already, by experience, that this is the great means appointed by our ever blessed Redeemer \vhereby to COllllllUnicate hilnself and all the merits of his most precious death and passions to us,. for the pardon of all our sins, and for the 282 The J\-recessity and Advantage, 9'C. purging of Ollr consciences front dead works to serve the living God; so that by applying our- selves thus constantly unto him, \ve n1ay receive constant supplies of grace and power from him to live in his true faith and fear all our days; and by conversing so frequentJy \vith hin1 at his holy table upon earth, ,ve shall be al\vays fit and ready to go to him, and to converse perpetually ,vith him in his kingdoln above, \vhere \ve shall have no more need of sacraments, but shall see him face to face, and adore and praise hhn for ever, as for all his other blessings, so particularly for the many opportunities he hath given us of partaking of is most blessed body and blood. I , I I I[{f I , .1! I ' :/Ø!! I Æ: CHICHESTER: PRINTED BY W. H. MASON. I "t . . " . .,