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The works of the Rev. Isaac Watts D.D. in nine volumes
The works of the Rev Isaac Watts DD in nine volumes Author:Isaac Watts Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: Col. iii. 17. Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of' the Lo;-/ Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. Now a Christian may think it ... more »unlawful to come and worship even the one true God together with the deists, and to join with them in those prayers and praises which are not offered in the name of Christ or by his mediation, and therefore he should never be constrained to attend this natural worship by any penalty. VI. Reason III. I know not how far it may be supposed to alleviate this difficulty and make the conscience of every Christian lucre easy, to tell him, that there are many parts of worship paid to God in Christian churches without the actual use of the name of Christ. Do we not sing David's Psalms ? Do we not repeat the Lord's-prayer ? And if it be lawful to address God by several of these psalms or this prayer, wherein there is not the least mention of the name or mediation of Christ, may we not join with the natural religion and worship of deists in their prayers and praises, supposing that all their expressions be conformable to what reason and the light of nature dictate ; which the Christian religion always pre-supposes and confínas ? Vil. Reason IV. If it shall be said here, that when God is worshipped by Jewish psalms or by the Lord's-prayer, Christians do or should in their own mental meditations join the name of Christ and his mediation to these addresses to God; may it not be said also, that the .same mental meditations may join the name and mediation of Christ to all these public and national invocations and adorations of God performed according to the light of nature ? VIII. Reason V. If this might be allowed, there would be then indeed a sort of natural religion, which is the foundation of all true revealed religion, which...« less