N01905:78
A vision in the temple. The Lord of Hosts, adored
A vision in the temple. The Lord of Hosts, adored; and the King of Glory proclaimed; on a day of prayer kept (May 10. 1721) at the opening of the New Brick Meeting House in the north part of Boston, by the ministers of the city, with the Society which built it, & this day swarmed into it. / By Cotton Mather, D.D. and F.R.S. ; [Two lines from Isaiah]
Boston: printed for Robert Starkey. And sold, 1721
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Prop. 2. They are compared to Candlesticks of Gold; they are, or should be, Golden Candlesticks. Their being compared to Gold, may note their purity & preciousness 1. Their purity. The Candlestick in the Tabernacle, was called the pure Candlestick, Le. 24.4. It was made of pure Gold, Exo 25.31· It was Gold that had no base alloy or mixture in it. So, the Churches of Christ should be pure. They should be pure in their Doctrine, their Faith; believing, professing, ⟨p. 16⟩& (by their Ministers) teaching agreeably to the Holy Scriptures. They should not teach for doctrines the commandments of men. Mat 15.4. nor corrupt the Word of God, 2 Cor. 2.17. They should be pure in their Worship; Worshipping of God in spirit and in truth, John 4.24. and making Gods Word their Rule, even in the whole external part of Worship. They should as far as possible, do all things according to the Pattern in the Mount. They should carefully avoid Humane Inventions, and Impositions in the Worship of God. If men lift up their tool on Gods Altar, in fashioning of it, they pollute it, Exo. 20.25. Churches should keep close to Scripture rule, Lev. 18.4. Ye shall do my Judgments and keep mine Ordinances, to walk therein, I am the Lord your God. Jer. 11.4. Obey my voice and do them, according to all that I command you; so shall ye be my people, and I will be▪ your God. We should walk in all the Ordinances and commandments of the Lord blameless, Luke 1.6. bu• our fear toward him, should not be taught by the precepts of men, Isa. 20.13. In worshipping ⟨p. 17⟩of God the holy Scriptures are a sufficient Rule, they ought not to add to it, nor detract from it; they should to the law and to the testimony as the Rule,