to be present to bear and answer the Petitions which should be offered up there; which is all the peculiar Prefence that he prays for as neceffary to make a Houfe of Prayer; the Name which God himself gives to the Jewish Temple, My Houfe fall be called a House of Prayer.

Now, if this be the Notion of God's House, that it is a House of Prayer, a House where God is peculiarly prefent to hear our Prayers, we must own that every Chriftian Church is as much the House of God, as the Temple at Jerufalem was; unless we will deny that God is as prefent in Chriftian Affemblies, and in Places dedicated to Chriftian Worship, as he was in the Jewish Temple, which would be to make Chriftianity a more imperfect Difpenfation than Judaism; for that is certainly the most perfect State of the Church, where God is moft peculiarly prefent. There is indeed a great Difference between the Jewish Temples and Chriftian Churches; but, as to the Prefence of God, which only makes a Temple, the Advantage is greatly on the Chriftian Side. The Ark of the Covenant, the Tabernacle, and Temple, contained many Figures of Chrift; but thofe Types were not the Prefence of God, nor the Object of their religious Worship, which had been Idolatry against the Second Commandment: But for the fake of these Types, God chofe that Place for his peculiar Prefence.-Now, inftead of these Types, we have the Antetype himself, the Son of God made Flesh, who, tho' afcended into Heaven, has promised his peculiar Presence in

all

all the Affemblies of Chriftians; which is fuch a Prefence of God as never filled the Jewish Temple till Christ appeared; for which Reafon God tells them, that the fecond Temple, tho' it fell vaftly fhort of the external Beauty and Magnificence of the firft, yet fhould excel in Glory, by the perfonal Appearance of Chrift in it. So that Chrift having promifed, that wherever two or three are gathered together in his Name, he will be in the midst of them, every Chriftian Church has a divine Prefence greater than the Temple: For, tho' we fhould grant that this Promise extends to all the occafional Meetings of Chriftians, wherever the Place be, yet it much more extends to all the folemn and publick Places and Acts of Worship. Thus there was but one Temple in the whole Land of Canaan. God, for mystical Reasons, confin'd his more peculiar Prefence to that House where he had placed the Figures and Types of Chrift, thro' whom only' we have Access to God. But now this bleffed Jefus, who is greater than the Temple, is in all Christian Affemblies, and makes every Chriftian Church greater than the Temple. In this Senfe our Saviour told the Woman of Samaria, “Woman, believe me, the Hour is coming, when

ye fhall neither on this Mountain, nor yet at "Jerufalem, worship the Father," John iv. 21. Which does not fignify, that hereafter there fhould be no peculiar and appropriate Places of Worship, but that the Prefence and Worship of God fhould no longer be confined to any one Place, neither to the Temple of Jerufalem, nor

Samaria;

Samaria; but it should be free all over the World to erect Houfes of Prayer and Worship, where God would be prefent with them, as in the Temple of Jerufalem; for there should an End be put to that typical State, and typical. Worthip, which was confined to the Temple, and the true Worshippers fhall worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth. And this spiritual Worship is confined to no one Place, but will find God prefent all the World over; which is fo far from abrogating all peculiar Places of Worship, such as the Temple at Jerusalem and Samaria were, that it makes every Church, whatsoever Part of the World it be in, in a truer Senfe, the Houfe of God, than ever the Temple at Jerufalem was. Indeed, a formal Confecration of Places appointed for publick Wor fhip could not be practifed in the first Ages of Christianity, while the Church was under Perfecution, because, after their having been thus folemnly given to God for his Ufe, and his only, the Chriftians might have been difpoffefs'd of them, and they might have been applied, by the Heathens, to fecular, or idolatrous Uses; but, as foon as Christianity was embraced and protected by the civil Powers, the antient Practice of confecrating Churches, i. e. Places appropriated to publick Worship, was revived, and has been ever fince continued in the Chriftian Church, till fome modern Proteftants thought fit to be wifer than all Antiquity, and to cenfure all fuch outward Ceremonies as Superftition. One would think that common Modesty and

Humility

Humility should teach them to pay a Regard to a Practice which has the Sanction of the Patriarchs, and of God himself, by his Servant Mofes; and to imagine, that fuch an univerfal Practice by those who were divinely inspired, and of all pious Chriftians in the primitive Times, must be grounded upon wife Reasons, and calculated to promote Piety, by helping to create an inward Reverence for fuch Places, and to excite Devotion in the Mind. One general Obfervation I cannot help making upon thefe purely Spiritual Worshippers; they feem to be utterly ignorant of human Nature, not at all confidering that while the Mind is united to the Body, and subject to be influenced by it, the Senfes will have their Share in attracting our Attention, and creating, or improving, religious Difpofitions. Upon this is founded the Custom of all our Solemnities at the Appointment of civil Magiftrates, the Regalia and magnificent Habits made use of in the Execution of their Office; and if all these outward Formalities were to be laid afide, and Magiftrates were always to appear, in the Eyes of the Multitude, as common Men, they would foon lose their Authority and Influence. The Application of this Remark to Religion is very obvious, Human Nature being the fame at Church, as in a Court of Justice, and liable to the fame Influence from external Appearances and Ceremonies. We, of the Church of England, have the Happiness of worshipping God in Places confecrated, as the Tabernacle and the Temple were, by folemn Pray

ers

ers offered up to God, by the Bishops and Paftors of Christ's Church; thefe are his Houses where he delights to dwell, where he expects us to pay our publick Homage; where he will be best pleased with our Addreffes, and the most ready to receive and answer them; hither, therefore, we should be ready and glad to repair as often as poffible. If we had the Piety of David, we fhould have his ardent Defires to appear before God in his House of Prayer; and our conftant Attendance, and devout and reverent Behaviour there, would be the Means of increafug our Piety, as it did his. I fhall now inquire how often Men ought to pray.

CHA P. IX.

Concerning the Times, or Frequency of PRAYER.

NE would hardly think it poffible for any rational Creature to entertain fo irrational an Opinion, but in the fourth Century there did arise a Set of Men who thought themfelves obliged to be always praying, as if a Chriftian had nothing else to do in this World. This monftrous Error was grounded upon fome Paffages of Scripture misunderstood. We are commanded to pray always; to pray without ceafing; which they understood fo literally, as to think that they ought to spend their whole Time in the Exercife of this Duty; not confidering what a Number of other Duties every Man is