God, where God is pleas'd to Dwell, and to
Delight in them.When the Lord had cho
Jen Sion to be an Habitation for himself,
Here will I dwell, (fays he,) for I have a
Delight therein; Pf. cxxxii. And Pf. lxxxvii.
The Lord loved the Gates of Sion more than
all the Dwellings of Jacob.

Therefore the Houfes of God have always been look'd upon by the Servants of God, as the Treasuries and Storehouses of his Bleffings, from whence he dispenseth them forth to those that come to fue to him There, and do truly Serve and Obey him: For There (fays the Royal Prophet,) the Lord Promifed Pfalm his Bleffing, and Life for Evermore.

CXxxiii.'

This made that Devout Soul, when he was by Abfalom's Rebellion forced to fly from Jerufalem, fo carneftly to Breath and Pant after it, as if he thought himself utterly bereft of the Prefence of God, and out of the Way of his Bleffings, till fuch time as he could be restor❜d to the Publick Worfhip of him in the Holy Hill of Sion-Like as the Hart Pfal. xlii. defireth the Water-Brooks, fo longeth My Soul after thee, O God. My Soul is athirst for God; yea, even for the Living God; Oh, when shall I come to appear before the Prefence of God! And Pfal. Ixxxiv. Oh! how amiable are thy Dwellings, thou Lord of Hoff's! My Soul hath a Defire and longing to enter into the Courts of the Lord, &c.

I might

I might farther add, that God is faid to be Present where he is Present by his Angels: As Gen. xxviii. when Jacob had seen a Vi fion of Angels, he faid, Surely the Lord is in this Place, and I knew it not; How Dreadful is this Place! This is None other but the House of God. Now it has been a pious Belief in all Ages, that the Angels are Prefent at our Religious Worship, though we see them not. Thus fays David, Pl. Ixviii. Speaking of Mount Sion,-This is God's Hill, in the which it pleafeth him to Dwell; Tea, the Lord will abide in it for Ever. The Chariots of God are twenty Thousand, even Thousands of Angels, and the Lord is among them, as in the Holy Place of Sinai. And St. Paul urges the Corinthians to a Modest and grave and décent Carriage in the Church, 1 Cor. xi. Because of the Angels, as fuppofing them to be Prefent, and Spectators and Witnesses of their Deportment in their Religious Affemblies.

10.

I have the longer dwelt upon This, a Seemly Reverent Behaviour in the House of God, because, (though I have enlarg'd upon the Subject, as I thought might be most Useful,) I take That to be the very thing that was principally intended by Solomon in my Text: And likewife, because I am fully perfuaded, that that Careless, Unfeemly, Irreverent Behaviour that is grown fo Common in the Houfe of God, has been One Main Cause of

the

the Contempt of Divine Service, and of the great Decay of Chriftian Piety amongst us.

I fhall therefore conclude all with that Devout Hymn of the Pious Pfalmift, Pf. cxxxiv.

Behold now Praise the Lord, all ye Ser-
vants of the Lord. Te that stand in
the House of the Lord; even in the
Courts of the House of our God.
Lift up your Hands in the Sanctuary, and
Praise the Lord. And the Lord that
made Heaven and Earth, give you
Bleffing out of Sion. Amen.

SERMON

SERMON VIII.

Our Duties in the Houfe of God, are Prayer, Hearing. God's Word, and Receiving the Sacrament.

The Fourth SERMON on this Text.

ECCLES. V. 1.

—Keep thy Foot when thou goeft to the House of God.

H

AVING in the foregoing Dif course treated in general of Publick Religious Worship in the Houfe of God, both Internal and External Worship; and fhew'd with what Awful

nefs

nefs and Reverence, they ought to be perform'd: I now come, as I proposed, in

the

IId Place, to treat of the feveral Particular Duties or Divine Offices, of which our Publick Worship in the Houfe of God confifts.

II.

We learn from the Acts of the Apostles, Chap. ii. Ver. 42. and Chap. xx. Ver. 7. what were the Duties of Publick Worship in the Religious Affemblies of Primitive Chriftians.

They came together for the Hearing of "the Word of God Preach'd, for the Break

ing of Bread, that is, for Receiving the "Sacrament, and for Prayer. And these are just the very Duties that our Excellent Reformed Church requires of Us, when we come together in the Houfe of God on the fame Day, Canon 13. Hearing God's Word Read and Taught, Joining in Publick Prayers, and often receiving the Communion of the Body and Blood of Chrift.

Of these I shall speak feverally; and
I. of Prayer.

I.

Prayer is both a Duty injoin'd us, and a Privilege vouchfafed us: As it is a Privilege and Honour vouchfafed us, it ought to be highly valued; and as it is a Duty injoin'd us, it ought to be duly Performed by us.