of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you, and worketh in you?
4. If by Christ's presence, we mean the presence of his Angels, I shall then say, we have said enough; as a King is said to be where his Court is, where his Train or Retinue are, so Christ the King of Kings is there especially present, where the Heavenly Guard, the blessed Angels keep their sacred Station and Rendezvouz, wheresoever it is. Now that this is Christ's special presence, it will appear in sundry Texts.
1. When Jacob saw that vision in Bethel, of the Ladder reaching from Earth to Hea∣ven, and of the Angels of God ascending and descending upon it, Surely (saith Jacob) the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not; and he was afraid, and said, how dreadful is this place? this is none other but the House of God, and this is the Gate of Heaven: He calls it God's House, where God and his holy Angels, who are of his Houshold are especially present; and he calls it the Gate of Heaven, Heaven's Guild-Hall, Heaven's Court, namely, because of the Angels; for the Gate, Guild-Hall, or Court was wont to be the judg∣ment-Hall, and the place where Kings and Senators used to sit, attended by their Guard and Ministers. The Caldee addeth, This is no common or private place, but a place wherein God taketh pleasure, and over against this place is the Gate of Heaven.
2. When the Lord descended upon Mount Sinai to give the Law, some place the spe∣cification of God's presence in the Angels, to which purpose are alledged these Texts; Who have received the Law by the disposition of Angels, and have not kept it: and again, The Law was ordained by Angels in the Hand of a Mediator. Again, the Apostle calls the Law the Word spoken by Angels. I have already delivered my thoughts concerning these Angels; but some (I say) conclude from hence, that the special presence of the Di∣vine Majesty consists in the encamping of his sacred Retinue, the blessed Angels; for that the Lord of himself, who filleth Heaven and Earth, could not descend, or be in one place more than another: There's yet another Text very pertinent to this. And he said, the Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them, he shined forth from Mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of his Saints, from his right hand went a fiery Law for them: the words translated ten thousand of his Saints, are in the Original ten thousands of Sanctity, or holy ten thousands, or holy Myriads; which in my apprehen∣sion, points to the Angels, rather than his Saints: and the Psalmist puts it out of question: The Chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of Angels, the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy Place.
3. After the Law given, this presence of God was fixed to the Temple; and what that was, 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 to∣wards thy Holy Temple. The Septuagint translates it thus 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, before the An∣gels. I know in the time of the Gospel, we do not so fix God's presence to our Tem∣ples, 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 glori∣ous 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: For this cause ought the Woman to have a co∣vering 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.
And if it be so, would not a perswasion of this presence of Christ in our Church-As∣semblies, be a special means or motive to bring all into order? Sometimes I wonder at the irreverent carriage of some Hearers, Laughing, Talking, Prating, Sleeping, in our