SERM. a Difciple, fhall not mifs of its Reward, IV. how great will the Reward of those Perfons be, who open Fountains of living Water to refresh the Souls of fo many feeble and languishing Chriftians, who are ready to perish for want of Knowledge; and continue in the most deplorable Ignorance, when the Light of the Gofpel fhines in fo glorioufly upon us? If the Goodness of an Action is to be efteemed by its Usefulness, by the Glory it brings to God, and the Benefit and Advantage to ourselves and others; then the more public our good Deeds are, the better they are, and the more Praise and Commendation they deserve from Men; and the greater and more ample Reward they will receive from God. To do Good to a fingle Perfon, either in his Soul, his Body, or his Eftate, is a commendable and praife-worthy Action, and what ought to be the continual Employment of every good Chriftian, and which will not mifs of its Reward; but to do Good to a whole Community, to a whole Neighbourhood; as it ought to engage their grateful Returns and Thankfulness (and they must be very ungrateful indeed, who do not make thefe poor Returns) fo will

it

it have its more ample Reward in the SERM. World to come. This was the Reafon IV. why the Heathens preferred the Love of a Man's Country to all other Virtues ; why the Primitive Chriftians were fo zealous in building Churches; why we ourfelves enjoy so many stately Buildings and magnificent Structures, built and dedicated to the Service of God by our pious and generous Ancestors; fo magnificent that we cannot behold them without Amazement, nor confider them without being confcious how much we have degenerated from them. The best Way to form in our Minds juft Notions, how excellent a Work the Building and Enlarging of Churches is, is to confider those excellent Ends for which they are defigned, what Ufes they ferve, and what Divine Offices are performed in them. Is not this the Place where we meet together to hear and learn the bleffed Word and Will of the everlasting God; to partake of the bleffed Sacraments, which convey to us the most valuable Privileges, and the Pardon of all our Sins? Do we not here meet and join together, both in Heart and Voice, to adore, praise, and magnify our heavenly Father, for all these wonderful Benefits which he daily and plente

SERM. plenteously fhowers down upon us; and IV. to offer up unto him the acceptable Sacrifice of our Alms and Oblations, as the best Return that we can make, though infinitely unequal to them? And, laftly, because we are beft inftructed in the Value of Things, by the Price we fet upon them, when we ftand in Need of them; let us confider, how uncomfortable a Condition it is to be excluded from the Place of God's public Worship. In those Countries where there are no Churches, and the Profeffors of Chriftianity can only pay their Adorations in private, and go in Danger of their Lives, when they perform the Rites of their Religion in public; what would they give for those bleffed Opportunities which we enjoy? For a Famine of the Word is as grievous to every good Man, as a Famine of Bread; and, with the Pfalmift, he as much longs to go into God's Sanctuary, as others do into the Places of Gain and Profit. Let us confider, how uneafy most of us were, when we were only for fome fhort Time excluded from this Place, and confined to the narrow Limits of a private Room; and let fuch Reflections fill our Minds with grateful Ideas, and our Mouths with thank

ful

Good-SERM.

ful Acknowledgements of the great nefs of God the Author, and our generous IV. Benefactors, the Inftruments by whom fuch valuable Bleffings are handed down to us; these Confiderations are fufficient to make every well difpofed Person fenfible, how excellent a Work the Building and Enlarging of Churches is; and, that next to the Building and Enlarging, the Adorning and Beautifying them is to be taken Care of, and the Providing fuitable Furniture and Utenfils proper for them. It is true, our Chriftian Churches must not resemble the Temples of the Heathens, nor the Churches in Popish Countries ; which are filled with profane and ridiculous Pictures of the ever bleffed Trinity, and Images of the Saints; and, are too liable to be abused to Idolatry, by the ignorant and fuperftitious Vulgar; but with fuch chafte and decent Ornaments, as render the Place more venerable, and strike an holy Awe on the Minds of the Beholders. For it is evident, that the Solemnity, and decent Ornaments of a Place, infufe into Men's Minds venerable Notions of that God who is worshipped there ; and the due Proportion, and Statelinefs of the Building, is apt to be

get

SERM. get more venerable Thoughts of the IV. Owner of it. This, I am fure, was the Voice of the Church in the purest Times; this is the Opinion of the most pious, learned, and orthodox Divines, both in foreign Churches, and the Church of England; and, therefore, let me defire all thofe, who profefs themselves Members of the Church of England, to hearken to the Voice of their venerable Mother, when the speaks unto them in her excellent Homilies, and reasons with them after this Manner: If a Man's private · * House, wherein he dwells, be decayed, he will never ceafe till it be restored up again; if his Barn, or his Stable, be out of Repair, how diligently doth he bestow 'Coft on them? And fhall we be fo mind•ful of thofe Places deputed to fuch mean Employments, and be forgetful of the Houfe of God, wherein be intreated the • Words of our eternal Salvation, wherein are miniftred the Sacraments and Myfteries of our Redemption? The Foun'tain of our Regeneration is there presented to us, the Partaking of the Body and Blood of our Saviour Chrift is there · offered

See the Homily for Repairing and Keeping clean, and comely Adorning of Churches.