DISCOURSE XVII.

Of the Right Ufe of the Church or Temple of God, and of the Reverence due to it.

E

PSALM Xviii. part of the 6th verse.

He heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him.

VERY truly religious perfon must acknowledge the great bleffing of having a regular place of worship, wherein to ferve their Maker in peace; with all the additional advantages of propriety, decency, and reverence. And if this fervice is further fupported by an establishment, founded upon Scripture authority, and selected and administered by perfons duly trained in the study of the facred volume, fo as to render it an easy and profitable exercife of religious duty; there is great reafon to rejoice before the Lord, in the midst of his temple, and to render us ready to adore and magnify his holy name. Now this gracious provifion, and thefe valuable advantages, it hath pleafed God, by the providential direction of events, and the happy termination of various revolutions, to fettle peaceably in this land. But, as notwithstanding all these marks of Divine favor and indulgence in this most important article of our

lives, there appeareth in these times, a great neglect and contempt, in many people, of coming at all to church, in order to serve their heavenly Father, according to their bounden duty: and as too many, when they are affembled for this folemn purpose, instead of fhewing humility and reverence, do behave themfelves fo improperly, and unlike perfons having the fear of God before their eyes, as to make us apprehend the just wrath of heaven may be provoked, and fome heavy fcourges be preparing for this grievous offence, and the many other heavy fins which are daily and hourly committed against the Lord; it therefore appears incumbent upon us, for the relief of our confcience, and that we may escape the general inflictions that poffibly await us, to confider well what is contained in God's holy word, concerning this very ferious fubject; to which I would requeft your earnest attention, as being an article that equally and seriously affects you all.

It is true, that the eternal and incomprehensible Majefty of God, the mighty Lord of all, (whose feat is in heaven, and the earth his foot fool,) cannot be inclofed in temples and houses made with hands, as places capable of containing his dread majefty. This is clearly expreffed in the lxvith chapter of Ifaiah, Ift verfe, as alfo by the doctrine of St. Stephen and St. Paul, in the Acts of the Apostles; and the words of king Solomon confirm the fame, 1 Kings viii. 27. who thus expreffes himfelf (even after having built unto the Lord, one of the most glorious temples that was ever feen) But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold the heaven, and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee, how much less this house which I have builded? Again, he humbly exclaims in another place, 2 Chron. ii. 6. Who am I then that I should build him an boufe? But for this purpofe is it made, that thou mayeft regard the prayer of thy fervants, and their humble fupplications therein offered to thee. Af

ter

ter thefe juft acknowledgments of man's incom-. petency to fuch a work, much lefs, moft certainly, may aur churches (fo very inferior in point of splendor and expence) be reckoned meet dwelling places for the Moft High: Doubtlefs the particular temples wherein God moft delighteth to dwell, are the minds and bodies of all his faithful fervants, as is clearly fhown in 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17. where the Apoftle thus delivers this truth: Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the fpirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him will God deftroy, for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. And in another part of the fame epifle he addeth, 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20. Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghoft, which is in you, whom ye have of God, and that ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price? Glorify therefore God in your body and in your Spirit, which are God's. And this fame doctrine doth our bleffed Lord himfelf maintain in the ivth of St. John's Gofpel, 23. They who worship the Father in fpirit and in truth, in whatfoever place they do it, they adore and ferve him properly, for the Father feeketh fuch to worship him. For God is a spirit (faith our Saviour), and they that worship him, must worship him in spirit and in truth *. Nothing, however, that hath been here advanced

4

doth

*It may be profitable in this place to confider the pure drift of our Lord's difcourfe. It was addreffed to a Samaritan woman, on her inquiry concerning the preference of the two different places of worship attended by the Jews and the Samaritans. The subject of our Saviour's inftruction was by no means defigned to degrade the fervice of the TEMPLE, but merely to declare the only SORT of worship that was truly valuable, either there, or any where else; much lefs does he give fanétion to the Samaritan place of worship in preference to that of the Jews. In defcribing the pure nature of divine worship in general, he shows, that it must have life and Spirit, as well as form, or it will prove ufelefs. The Jews were apt to build arrogantly, and ignorantly, on the value of the place, independant of the fpirituality of the fervice. The Samaritans had been educated in great prejudices, and therefore he takes this opportunity of

fetting

1

1

doth in the leaft derogate from the reverence due to the outward, vifible church or temple, in which God's public fervice is performed. This is the place authorized by cuftom, and the example both of the Old and New Teftament, for the people of God to affemble in, there to hear his holy word read, to call upon his name, and to render thanks to him for his innumerable, and inexpreffible mercies bestowed upon us; and wherein likewise we are duly and truly to celebrate his Holy Sacraments, in the fincere performance of which fervices, the true worshipping of God doth now confift.

This faid church or temple, therefore, being called the house of the Lord, on account of the particular homage therein paid to him, and of the hopes of receiving that needful portion of his heavenly grace, wherewith he hath promised to bless his people therein affembled: for thefe reafons, all who are ftrictly religious are bound to attend this houfe or Temple of God, at the duly appointed times of service, and on no account to abfent themfelves, unlefs compelled by fickness, or some other reasonable excufe. And they who fo far perform this very incumbent duty of coming conftantly to church, muft not reft fatisfied with the mere outward appearance of doing right, but they must further remember, to be most careful of their bebaviour, there, to ferve their Maker with all hu

fetting right as to the effence of their devotions. He objects to both for afcribing any fuperftitious benefit to the particular place of their worfhip, in thefe words: The hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet in Jerufalem, worship the Father. Our bleffed mafter appears here to tolerate them in confideration of their national prejudice, and on condition of their purity of intention; but had they been bred under the Jewish establishment, and discovered an inclination for any other favourite spot for their devotions, it is not probable he would have licensed their partiality; this his own practice warrants us to fuppofe, because it is exprefsly written of him, That he ever taught in the Synagogue and in the TEMPLE.