3. After the Law given, this presence of God was fixed to the Temple; and what that was,1 Isaiah describe thus; I saw also the Lord sitting upon a Throne, high, and lifted up, and his train filled the Temple; about it stood the Seraphims; They were God's Train, and they filled the Temple. And hence David addresses to God were said to be in the presence of Angels: Before the Gods will I sing praises to thee, I will worship towards thy Holy Temple. 2The Septuagint translates it thus [Greek or Hebrew], before the Angels. I know in the time of the Gospel, we do not so fix God's presence to our Temples, or places of public assembling for the worship of his Name; but to our Church-assemblies in such places, why may we not? Were the Rudiments of the Law worthy of an attendance of Angels, and are the Churches of the Gospel destitute of so glorious a Retinue? Did the blessed Spirits wait upon the Types, and do they decline the Office at the ministration of the substance? Is the Nature of Man made worse, since the Incarnation of the Son of God? Or have the Angels purchased an exemption from their Ministry, since Christ became our Brother in the flesh? We have little reason to think so; the Apostle treating of a comely and decent demeanour to be observed in Church-assemblies, and in particular, of women's being covered or veiled there, he enforces it from this presence of Angels:3 For this cause ought the Woman to have a covering on her head, because of the Angels; namely, which are there present. Upon this ground, Chrysostom reproves the irreverent behaviour of his Auditory; The Church, (saith he) is not a Shop of Manufactures or Merchandise, but the place of Angels, and of Archangels, the Court of God, and the Image and Representment of Heaven it self.—I know thou seest them not; but hear, and know that Angels are every where, and especially in the House of God, where they attend upon their King, and where all is filled with incorporeal powers. By this time, I hope, we know what is the meaning of Christ's presence in Church-assemblies; to wit, the presence of his Spirit, and the presence of his Angels.
3. After the Law given, this presence of God was fixed to the Temple; and what that was,1 Isaiah describe thus; I saw also the Lord sitting upon a Throne, high, and lifted up, and his train filled the Temple; about it stood the Seraphims; They were God's Train, and they filled the Temple. And hence David addresses to God were said to be in the presence of Angels: Before the Gods will I sing praises to thee, I will worship towards thy Holy Temple. 2The Septuagint translates it thus 〈non-Latin alphabet〉, before the Angels. I know in the time of the Gospel, we do not so fix God's presence to our Temples, or places of publick assembling for the worship of his Name; but to our Church-assemblies in such places, why may we not? Were the Rudiments of the Law worthy of an attendance of Angels, and are the Churches of the Gospel destitute of so glorious a Retinue? Did the blessed Spirits wait upon the Types, and do they decline the Office at the ministration of the substance? Is the Nature of Man made worse, since the Incarnation of the Son of God? Or have the Angels purchased an exemption from their Ministry, since Christ became our Brother in the flesh? We have little reason to think so; the Apostle treating of a comely and decent demeanor to be observed in Church-assemblies, and in particular, of women's being covered or veiled there, he enforces it from this presence of Angels:3 For this cause ought the Woman to have a covering on her head, because of the Angels; namely, which are there present. Upon this ground, Chrysostome reproves the irreverent behaviour of his Auditory; The Church, (saith he) is not a Shop of Manufactures or Merchandize, but the place of Angels, and of Archangels, the Court of God, and the Image and Representment of Heaven it self.—I know thou seest them not; but hear, and know that Angels are every where, and especially in the House of God, where they attend upon their King, and where all is filled with incorporeal powers. By this time, I hope, we know what is the meaning of Christ's presence in Church-assemblies; to wit, the presence of his Spirit, and the presence of his Angels.
- 1Isa. 6.1, 2.
- 2Psal. 128.1, 2.
- 31 Cor. 11.10. Chrys hom. 16. in 1 Cor. hom. 15. in Heb.
