CXX. SERM. So that God the Father, ever since the creation, hath been always governing the whole world, and ordering and disposing of all things in it: so God the Son hath been always governing His whole Church, and sanctifying, justifying, and at last glorifying all the true members of it; and therefore might truly say, as He doth in my text, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." Now, from these things, thus briefly touched upon, we may first observe the exact agreement there is between the books of the Old and New Testament; which must needs be all dictated by the same Divine Spirit, seeing, although written so many ages, one after another, yet they all agree in that which no man could otherwise have thought of, even that the only way whereby any man ever was, or ever can Heb. 13. 8. be saved, is by "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." From hence, also, we may see what reason our Church hath Article VII. to declare in her Articles, " that the Old Testament is not contrary to the New; for both in the Old and New Testament, Everlasting Life is offered to mankind by Christ, Who is the only Mediator between God and man, being both God and Wherefore they are not to be heard, which feign that the old fathers did look only for transitory promises." [Heb. 7. 25.] ch. 7. 10. man. Lastly; we may learn from hence what firm ground we have to believe in Christ for our Salvation, seeing He is such an Almighty Saviour, that "He is able to save to the uttermost all that come to God by Him," from the beginning, as well as to the end of the world. Let us, therefore, now resolve to do so let us believe, and trust on Him alone for grace, and pardon, and all things necessary for our Salvation, that we also may join hereafter with the twelve thousand of every tribe in Israel, and with the innumerable company of glorified Saints of all other nations, in that celestial anthem we find them singing in the Revelations, "Salvation to our God Which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever." Amen. SERMON CXXI. THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST IN RELIGIOUS ASSEMBLIES OF MATT. Xviii. 20. For where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them. If our blessed Saviour was upon earth now, what flocking would there be from all parts to see Him! And if He was but in any part of this kingdom, how remote soever, which of.us but should strive to go to Him! What haste should we make, what pains should we take, to get as near Him as we could, that we might not only see Him, but enjoy His company, and hear some of His Divine discourses from His Own mouth! With what profound reverence should we approach into His presence! How attentively should we hearken to every word that came from Him! How glad should we be to see Him smiling upon us, and owning us for His servants and disciples! And when we had been a while in His company, how loth should we be to leave it! How apt should we be to cry out, as St. Peter did at His Transfiguration, "Lord, it is good for us to be Matt. 17. 4. here." This, perhaps, may be thought a vain and groundless supposition and so it is, if we speak only of Christ's bodily presence; for His body is now in Heaven, and will continue there till the Last Day; and therefore we have no ground to expect that we shall ever see it upon earth till then. But, howsoever, there is a way whereby we may meet with our blessed Saviour every day in the year, and enjoy **EM. H's presetine as effectually to all intents and purposes, as if He now dwelt aming as He did come among the Jews in our own nature. For though in that nature He is now in Heaven, there appearing in the presence of God for us; yet He that is in that nature, is always present with His Church upon earth too: we may be confident of it, more confident than we could be of His body's being any where upon earth, if it really was so: for if it was so, we could hear of it only from men, who might be deceived themselves, or else might have a mind to deceive us; and so we could never be fully assured that it was really Jesus Christ. But that He is always present with His Church, we have His Own infallible word; for immediately before He went up in His body to Heaven, He said to His Apostles, as such, and by consequence to all that should ever succeed them in the Matt.25.20. instruction and government of His Church in all ages, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world;" whereby He hath given them and us as great assurance as could be given, that although His body was now to be taken from them, yet that He Himself would still continue with them, ása; ràs huigas, every day, continually,' without intermitting so much as one day, so long as the world shall last. But though He be present with His Church in general, as it is here militant upon earth, where may we in particular meet with Him and find Him present, upon any occasion that we may have to address ourselves to Him? This is a thing which we are all highly concerned to know, and therefore He Himself also hath been pleased to acquaint us with it, not only by His Prophets and Apostles, but with His Own mouth, in these words, " Where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them." There are none, I suppose, here present, but who have often read these words, or at least have heard them read over and over again. But I fear there are but few that have taken that notice of them which they deserve, both for His sake Who spake them, and for the matter contained in them wherefore it will be worth the while to look a little more narrowly into them, and to consider both the true meaning of them, and the great use and advantage that is to be made of them by all who firmly believe them as they ought. For this purpose, therefore, we may first observe, that our blessed Saviour having here given us directions how to carry ourselves towards an offending brother, even, that we first reprove him privately, then before witnesses, and if he neglect to hear them, then to tell it to the Church; and Matt.18.17. having assured us, that what the Church doth in the case on earth, the same shall be done in Heaven, saying, "What- ver. 18. soever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven" our Lord, I say, having said this, He takes occasion from thence to speak of all Church-assemblies, where any of His disciples meet to present their petitions to Almighty God, saying, "Again, I say unto you, that if ver. 19. two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of My Father which is in Heaven." As if He had said, As whatsoever is done in the case before mentioned by the Church on earth, shall be ratified and confirmed in Heaven: so whatsoever any, though the least number of Christians, shall agree together to pray for upon earth, it shall be granted in Heaven. Where we may observe, by the way, that this promise is not made to such assemblies, where one prays extempore for that which comes next into his mind, or upon his tongue; for in that case, he himself that prays, doth not know beforehand what he shall pray for, much less can the congregation know it. And if they do not know it, they cannot possibly agree together upon what they shall ask, as our Saviour here requires they should, if they would have it granted; and thereby hath plainly signified it to be His will and pleasure, that His disciples, in all their solemn assemblies, should use such prayers which they know beforehand, and have agreed together to have them presented to the Most High God in His Name; Who hath here promised, that such public prayers shall be heard, but not that any other shall be so. And hence it is, that His Churches in all places and ages of the world (till very lately) have constantly used set forms of prayer, which were agreed upon before, as fit and proper to be offered up to God, and which CXXI. SERM. the whole congregation, therefore, accordingly agree to ask of Him, whensoever they meet together before Him; as we now do in our public Liturgy: and therefore have Christ's Own word for it, that what we so pray for upon earth, shall be done for us by His Father which is in Heaven. But now, lest this should seem strange, that what we poor mortals desire upon earth should be granted in Heaven, our blessed Lord is pleased to give us the reason of it, in my text, saying, “For where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them." Whereby He gives us to understand, that as He appears in the presence of God for us, in Heaven, so He is likewise present in all such assemblies as are gathered together in His Name upon earth. And then it is no wonder if their prayers be heard, seeing He Himself is there ready to receive them, and present them to His Father which is in Heaven, Who always hears Him, and grants whatsoever He would have done in the world. But that we may be sure to apprehend our Lord's meaning in these words aright, we must first consider who are here said to meet together in His Name; and then, in what sense He saith, that He Himself is in the midst of those who do so. I. The first may be soon despatched; for it is plain from the constant use of the phrase in the Holy Scriptures, that we are then said to meet together in the Name of Christ, when we meet for His honour and glory, according to His will, in obedience to His command, in the true faith of His Holy Name and Word, with a sure trust and confidence on Him alone for direction and assistance in what we do, for God's acceptance of it when it is done, and for His granting what we ask only for His sake; according to the many John 14. 13, promises, which He Himself hath made us, that whatsoever we ask in His Name, we shall receive. 14; ch. 16. 23, 24, 26. II. But in what sense our blessed Lord here saith, that where two or three are thus gathered together in His Name, He Himself is there in the midst of them, is a question not so easy to be resolved. Not that there is any difficulty in the words themselves, for they are as plain as words can be. And it is impossible that the truth contained in them should |