XXIV. This holy and religious duty of service towards God concerneth us one way in that we are men, and another way in that we are joined as parts to that visible mystical body which is his Church. As men, we are at our own choice, both for time, and place, and form, according to the exigence of our own occasions in private1; but the service, which we do as members of a public body, is public, and for that cause must needs be accounted by so much worthier than the other, as a whole society of such condition exceedeth the worth of any one. In which consideration unto Christian assemblies there are most special promises made2. St. Paul, though likely to prevail with God as much as [any] one3, did notwithstanding think it much more both for God’s glory and his own good, if prayers might be made and thanks yielded in his behalf by a number of men4. The prince and people of Nineveh assembling themselves as a main army of supplicants, it was not in the power of God to withstand them5. I speak no otherwise concerning the force of public prayer in the Church of God, than before me Tertullian hath done6, “We come by troops to the place of assembly, that being banded as it were together, we may be supplicants enough to besiege God with our prayers. These forces are unto him acceptable.”
When we publicly make our prayers, it cannot be but that we do it with much more comfort than in private, for that the things we ask publicly are approved as needful and good in the judgment of all, we hear them sought for and desired with common consent. Again, thus much help and furtherance is more yielded, in that if so be our zeal and devotion to Godward be slack, the alacrity and fervour of others serveth as a present spur7. “For8 even prayer itself” (saith St. Basil) “when it hath not the consort of many voices to strengthen it, is not itself.” Finally, the good which we do by public prayer is more than in private can be done, for that besides the benefit which here is no less procured to ourselves, the whole Church is much bettered by our good example; and consequently whereas secret neglect of our duty in this kind is but only our own hurt, one man’s contempt of the common prayer of the Church of God may be and oftentimes is most hurtful unto many. In which considerations the prophet David so often voweth unto God the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving in the congregation9; so earnestly exhorteth others to sing praises unto the Lord in his courts, in his sanctuary, before the memorial of his holiness10; and so much complaineth of his own uncomfortable exile, wherein although he sustained many most grievous indignities, and endured the want of sundry both pleasures and honours before enjoyed, yet as if this one were his only grief and the rest not felt, his speeches are all of the heavenly benefit of public assemblies, and the happiness of such as had free access thereunto11.
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Footnotes
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Psalm lv. 17; Dan. ix. 3; Acts x. 9. ↩
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Matt. xviii. 20. ↩
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[The word “any” is not in the text of the original edition, nor in Spencer’s reprint. It seems to have been inserted by Gauden.] ↩
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2 Cor. i. 11. ↩
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Jonah iv. 11. ↩
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Apolog. c. 39. [“Coimus ad Deum, quasi manu facta precationibus ambiamus. Hæc vis Deo grata est.”] Ambros. lib. i. de Pœn. “Multi minimi dum congregantur unanimes sunt magni; et multorum preces impossibile est contemni.” [Rather in the Commentary on the Romans, ascribed to St. Ambrose, c. xvi. 31. The last clause stands thus: “Multorum preces impossibile est ut non impetrent.” ed. Bened. App. 108 A.] ↩
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Psalm cxxii. 1. ↩
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Καὶ αὐτὴ ἡ προσευχὴ μὴ ἔχουσα τοὺς συμϕωνου̑ντας ἀδρανεστέρα ἐστὶ πολλῳ̑ ἑαυτη̑ς. Basil. Epist. lxviii. [al. xcvii. t. iii. 191. B.] ↩
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Psalm xxvi. 12; xxxiv. 1. ↩
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Psalm xxx. 4; xcvi. 9. ↩
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Ps. xxvii. 4; xlii. 4; lxxxiv. 1. ↩