by all people; to whom he thought himself bound to shew the signs and the wonders, which the most High God had wrought towards him. And, "how great (saith he) are His signs, and how mighty are His wonders!" ver. 3. He was not able to tell, but made the best, and the most ample declaration of them that he could, in this imperial decree, which he caused to be proclaimed every where. By all which we may easily be convinced, in what gross errors two sorts of people live. First, they who imagine, that God may be served as well at home, as at the church. Such men neither understand the nature of God, nor the nature of religion, nor their own nature; which teach them quite otherwise, and instruct them also to frequent the public assemblies, where they have opportunity so to do. Secondly, for that is another palpable error, to think that it is sufficient if we come on the Lord's day to testify that we do not forget God, though all the week beside, we take no notice of Him, but constantly neglect His public service, when we are invited to it, and have leisure to attend it. We forget the many public, common blessings we daily need, and daily receive; which ought to be as publicly every day implored and acknowledged in our common Prayers. Let the foregoing considerations be duly pondered, and they will persuade you, both out of love to God's honour, and out of love to your own good, to join, as often as you can, your Prayers, Praises, and Thanksgivings, with the whole Church of God; and to make our assemblies as full as you can, both on the Lord's day, and every day of the week. Whereby you would declare your constant dependence on God, and acknowledge how "He daily loadeth you with His benefits;" and draw down public blessings in abundance, upon the Church and kingdom where you live; and do credit to our holy religion (which, alas, now looks in many places as if it were despised) and not only do credit to it, but both help to support it, and also promote and pro 186 PUBLIC PRAYERS SUITABLE TO MAN. pagate it, to the honour and praise of the Almighty Lord of heaven and earth, "unto Whom be the glory in the Church by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world without end." Amen. CHAPTER XIV. THE NATURE OF A CHURCH REQUIRES THERE I SHOULD BE PUBLIC PRAYERS. PROCEED now to the third head of argu ments, whereby a Christian should be most of all moved to his duty and that is, to consider the nature of the Church, which both requires public assemblies, and makes the service performed in them far more acceptable than private Prayers can be. And here let it be considered in general, that the very word we translate Church in the Holy Scriptures, signifies in the Greek language, an assembly; a company of persons met together, and that publicly, upon the public business, or occasions. The first time but one, we meet with this word in the New Testament, it is used in opposition to a single person, alone, by himself, or to one or two more beside him. Matth. xviii. 15, 16, 17. "If thy brother trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault, between thee and him alone, and if he will not hear thee, take one or two more, &c., and if he neglect to hear them, tell it to the Church :" that is, to that solemn assembly which sat to judge causes, and unto which was the last resort, so that, if he did not hear them, he was to be looked upon 66 as a heathen man and a publican." And, the truth is, it signifies any sort of assembly or concourse of people; which was among the Gentiles as well as the Jews. For in the xix. of the Acts, when all the city of Ephesus was in an uproar, and ran together into the theatre, crying up Diana, this general concourse is thrice called their assembly, ver. 32. "Some cried one thing, and some another, for the assembly was confused," &c., (ver. 39.) If you inquire of other matters it shall be determined, " in a lawful assembly:" and ver. 41. having thus spoken," he dismissed the assembly." Now this being the very notion of the word Church; the Christian Church, which Christ hath called, is an assembly of men and women |