Owen - Houston-Packer Collection BT300 .O9 1679

.l ·I 4 llonour due to 'the Perfon ofChrifl ;. charge concerning us. Take away this duty, and the pecu– liar advantage of Chrifiian Religion is deil royed. We have lived to fee the utmofi .Extreams that Chrifiian · Re ;igion can d1vert into. Some with all earneflnefs do prefs the j ormalln·vocation c.f Saints and Angels as our duty. And fo'"me will not grant that it is lmvfid for us fo to call on Chriil: ~h mfelf: The Socinians grant generally that it is lawful for u~ to call on Chrifi ; but they deny that it is our Vuty at any time fo to do, But as they own that it is not our Duty, [o on the1r principles it canyot be lawful. Denying his Div;ne Perion, they leave hiqf not the proper object ot Prayer. 'or Prayer without an Afcription of Divine Excellencies, as Omm ci– .ence_, Omniptefence, an~ ~lmig~tX Po·wer unto him ~hom we mvocate, 'is but vam bablmg, that bath nothmg of the nat_ure of true Prayer in it. And to make fuch Afcnp· t~ons unto him who by nature is not God, is Idolatrous. The Solemn Ordinary Worjhip of the Church, and fo of '. priv-ate Believers, i'n their Families and Clofets, is under an efpecial DireCl;ory and _Guidance. For the Perfon '-f the Fa· ther, as theEternalFountain ofPower, Grace and Mercy. is the formal Object of our Prayers, unto whom our fupplica– tions are direCted. The Divine Nature abfolutely confidered; is the Object of Natural Worihip and ltwocation: · Btlt it is the fame Divine Nature in the Perfo"n of the Father, that is the proper Object ofEvangelical Wor.fhip and Invocation. So our Saviour hath taught us to call on God under the name and notion of a Father, Matth. 6. 9· that is, his God; and our God, his Father, and our Father, }ohn.2o. 17. And this Invo– cation is to be, by and in the Name of the Son Jefus Chnfl:, through the Aid of the Holy Spirit. He is herein conf1dered as the Mediator between God and Man, as the Holy Ghofi: is he by whom fupplies ofGrace enabling us unto the accepceptable

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