This question brings me to, —
II. The second general head I propounded to speak unto : I answer, that the general preparation that respects all ordinances hath refer- ence unto God, to ourselves, to the ordinance itself: —
1. It hath respect unto God. This is the first thing to be con- sidered ; for this he lays down as the great law of his ordinances, " I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me," Lev. x. 3. God is, in the first place, to be considered in all our drawings nigh unto him ; as that is the general name of all ordinances, — a drawing nigh, an access unto God. " I will be sanctified," etc. Now God is to be considered three ways, that he may be sanctified in any ordinance, — as the author, as the object, as the end of it. I shall speak only to those things that lie practically before us, and are indispensably re- quired of us in waiting upon God in any and every ordinance : —
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(1.) Our preparation, in reference unto God, consists in due con- sideration of God as the author of any ordinance wherein we draw nigh unto him. For this is the foundation of all ordinances, Rom. xiv. 11, "As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and eveiy tongue shall confess to God." A practical sense of the autho- rity of God in every ordinance, is that which is required in the very first place for our preparation. I know full well how that the mind of man is [apt] to he influenced by general convictions and particular customs. Particular usages, built upon general convictions, carry most people through their duties; but that is no preparation of heart. There is to be an immediate sense of the authority and command of God.
(2.) We are to consider God in Christ as the immediate object of that worship which in every ordinance we do perform. You will ask, " What special apprehensions concerning God are particularly necessary to this duty of preparation for communion with God in an ordinance?" I answer, Two are particularly necessary, that should be practically upon our thoughts in every ordinance, — the presence of God, and the holiness of God. As God is the object of our wor- ship, these two properties of God are principally to be considered in all our preparations : —
[1.] The presence of God. When Elijah (1 Kings xviii. 27) de- rided the worshippers of Baal, the chief part of his derision was, " He is in a journey;" — "You have a god that is absent," saith Elijah. And the end of all idolatry in the world, is to feign the presence of an absent Deity. All images and idols are set up for no other end but to feign the presence of what really is absent. Our God is present, and in all his ordinances. I beg of God I may have a double sense of his presence, —
1st. A special sense of his omnipresence. God requires that we should put in all ordinances a specialty of faith upon his general attributes. Gen. xxviii. 16, Jacob, when God appeared unto him, though but in a dream, awaked out of sleep, and said, " Surely the Lord is in this place ; and I knew it not." I would say so con- cerning every ordinance whereunto I go; — the Lord is in that place. I speak now only concerning his real presence; for if idolaters adorn all their places of worship with pictures, images, and idols, that they might feign the presence of a god, I ought to act faith particularly upon the real presence of the immense and omnipresent God. He bids us consider it in the business of his worship, Jer. xxiii. 23, "Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off?" — " Consider my glorious presence is everywhere." As we ought always, wherever we are, and whatever we do, to cany a sense with us of the presence of God, to say, " God is here," that we may not be
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surprised in our journeys, or in any thing that may befall us, — sup- pose a broken leg or a broken arm, then we may say, " God is in this place, and I knew it not;" — so, particularly, where we have to do in his ordinances, let there be an antecedent remembrance that God is in that place.
2dly. We are to remember the gracious presence of God. There was a twofold presence of God of old; — the one, temporary, by an extraordinary appearance; the other, standing, by a continued insti- tution. Wherever God made an extraordinary appearance, there he required of his people to look upon him to have a special presence. It was but temporary when God appeared to Moses in the bush. " Draw not nigh hither," saith God ; " put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground," because of God's special appearance : but the next day, as far as I know, sheep fed upon that holy ground. It was no longer holy than God's ap- pearance made it so. So he said to Joshua, when he was by Jericho, "Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon- thou standest is holy," Josh. v. 15. It was a temporary appearance of God ; there was his special presence. It was so on the institution of the tabernacle and temple ; God instituted them, and gave his special presence to them by virtue of his institution. Our Saviour tells us all this is departed under the gospel, John iv. 21, " You shall no longer worship God," saith he, " neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem ; but he that worshippeth God must worship him in spirit and in truth." Is there no special presence of God remains, then? Yea, there is a special presence of God in all his ordinances and institutions. " In all places where I record my name" (as the name of God is upon all his institutions), " I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee," saith God in Exod. xx. 24. Let us exercise our thoughts, then, to this especial promised presence of God in every ordinance and institution; it belongs greatly to our preparation for an ordinance. It was no hard thing for them, you may think, of old, where God had put his presence in a place, to go thither, and ex- pect the presence of God. Things that are absent are hard ; things that are present are not so. But it is no harder matter for us to go and expect God's presence in his instituted ordinances now than for them to go to the temple; considering [that] God, as the object of our worship, is no less present with us.