and glory that he would deal so mercifully with them The truth of this ascertion he confirms and most convincingly makes out in my text wherein he upbraids them with their prodigious ingratitude unkindnesse and utter unworthinesse of any favour from him instancing in these particulars instead of many demonstrations For He charges them 1. That they had not called upon Him But thou hast not called upon me O Iacob I need not tell you that by Jacob we are to understand the seed and posterity of Iacob such as were descended from him or the house of Iacob as they are sometimes Denominated in Scripture The Lord here challengeth the Jewes with a grievous omission or neglect of calling upon him Now though the Invocation of God is not the whole of Gods worship yet being a special part of it it is by a synecdoche very usual in Gods word put for the whole worship of God so it is said when Enos was born to Sath then men began to cal upon the name of the Lord Gen. 4. 26. That is as may be probably conceived those of Seth's family began to seperate themselves and worship apart from Cain's wicked apostaticall family whence arose that distinction of the sons and daughters of God from the sons and daughters of men Poure out thy wrath saith the Psalmist on the heathen that have not known thee and upon the Kingdoms that have not called upon thy Name Psal. 79. 6. By calling upon God or the Name of God we must freequently understand the whole worship of God in all the parts of it Thus in the text the Lord upbraids the Jews with their neglect of his worship Thou bast not called upon me that is worshipped me O Jacob. A strange charge it may seem and questionless unexpected and very surprizing to the Iews that cryed the temple of the Lord were haughlity because of Gods holy mountain sought God dayly delighted to know his wayes as a Nation that did righteousness and forsook not the ordinance of their God Isa. 28. 2. gloried in their services boasted of the multitude of their sacrifices and oblations superarogated in their own opinion and exceeded rather then came short and were deficient as to frequency and diligence in the worship of God Nevertheless the Lord upbraids them with great neglect of his worship Thou hast not called upon me O Iacob Had he said Thou hast not called upon me Oh Ghaldean or Egiptian or any other heathen Kingdom there had been nothing strange in it but that Iacob or the people of the Iews should be so charged may look like a parodox indeed But the meaning of God is that they had not called upon him as they should have done nor worshipped him in due manner Doubtless many there were that called upon him in truth and worshipped him aright But the body of that people did all in hypocrisie kept up a gaudy pageant of Religion a form of godliness in prayers sacrifices and other services without life or power which was very loathsome to the Lord They rested in the exteriour part of duties their externall ceremonial worship was not attended with internall morall worship of their souls in faith love and knowledge humility fear of God and respect to his glory and such like holy dispositions of soul as must accompany and animate outward worship or else it is little better than mocking of God and a solemn affront of His Majesty They rested in externals in shews out-sides appearances godly performances to look to with their mouth and in their outward carriage they shewed much love to God but their heart went after their covetousness Ezek. 33. 31. The grace of God was not their principal nor His Glory the end of what they did They fasted but not unto the Lord Zech. 7. 5. There services were pompous operous gaudy things but liveless superficiary insignificant performances all they did was to no purpose To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me saith the Lord Isai. 1. 21. They are such as God required not vers 12. their oblations were vain their incense abomination their assemblies and solemn meetings on high dayes were iniquities loathsome and troublesome to the Lord vers 13 14. They made Religion a cloak to their vilanies that they might drive a close unsuspected trade of wickedness with less trouble to their own consciences thought to make God amends with external worship for their morall enormities would steal murther commit adultery swear falsely burn incense to Baal and walk after other Gods allow themselves in horrible impieties and immortalities and then come and stand before the Lord in his house and say We are delivered to do all these abominations Jer. 7. 9 10. They praised but regarded iniquity in their hearts They brought their sacrifices but with a wicked mind Prov. 21. 27. They drew near God with their mouth and honoured him with their lips but removed their hearts far from Him Isa. 29. 13 God reckons such bodily exercise as nothing worth no calling upon Him no worshipping of Him Thou hast not called upon Me O Jacob whatever thou hast pretended or imagined but thou hast all this while been implicitly and interpretatively in a due construction calling upon some fictitious deity or strange God that will be satisfied with sacrifices and externall worship lip-labour and the carcases of duty without the soul of them Hence we may observe in passage and by the way for I shal not fix upon it Doctr. That there may be little or no calling upon God indeed where there is much seeming calling upon Him There may be no worship of God where is in appearance much worship of Him One would wonder God should challenge the Jews with the neglect of His worship that fasted and prayed and sacrificed and accounted it their glory to keep His ordinances And yet thou hast not called upon Me O Jacob saith the Lord. If your criticall worship is in effect no worship in Gods account external worship is required but never accepted without the inward soul worship Many of these Jews were laborious in the externals of Religion but because there was no labour of their souls no sincere engagement of their hearts and affections in them the Lord tells them they had done nothing all the while but offered affronts to His Majesty put fallacies upon their own souls Men may do many duties and yet do none of them well and consequently do none at all in Gods estimation Men may go the round of duty and plod on in a course of Religious performances and yet do nothing the while to any purpose In all the duties of worship it is not the bare outward action but the manner of performance that gives the denomination and is rejected especially of the Lord. Hence Luther's Saying that Adverbs are of more account with God than Verbs meaning that the manner of our performances which is commonly denoted by this or that Adverb is more available with God
not called upon Me O New-England Do not many prophanely neglect the worship of God in publick assemblies in their families in secret Do not more perform it in such an unworthy manner as God will never acknowledge it for His worship yea though it be a time of fear and danger wherein the blessed God New-Englands best friend the hope of our Israel and Saviour thereof in time of trouble threatens us to be gone and carry away all our pleasant things and our glory with Him Yet may we not say with the Prophet There is none that is few or none in comparison that call upon His Name and stir up themselves to take hold of Him Isai. 64. 7. Good it will be for us to consider it in order to our humiliation and reformation I know indeed it is better for men to call upon God and worship Him as they can then prophanely to neglect it but assuredly externall worship without internall morall worship will be of no account with God nor is by any means to be rested in And if this be all the worship that the body of Professors among us tender unto God we are in a very bad condition it had need to be well considered and laid to heart by us Thirdly Labour we then to call upon God and worship Him in truth To tender such homage and service to Him as He will graciously accept as such Let us make sure that our calling upon God be such indeed and well pleasing to the Lord. You that are out of Christ never yet made a Prayer heard a Sermon sanctified a Sabbath worshiped God in any one instance as you ought to do God saith to every impenitent unbelieving sinner Thou hast never yet called upon Me. But yet pray as well as you can beg the spirit to humble you and draw you to Christ beg Faith and every other Grace and wait upon God in the use of all means as well as you can for the communication of grace and when you have it be sure to improve it and actuate it and stir it up mingle Faith with Prayers Sermons Sacraments that you may call upon God and worship Him acceptably that all your external worship may be accompanied with animated by natural and internal worship which is the very soul of it That there may be a connexion of these two so that inward worship in Faith Love fear of God and such like graces may be exercised expressed strengthned actuated as to the principal of it to the glory of God and our comfort Then will the Lord say you call upon Him and worship Him indeed and shal not loose your reward Would it not be a sad thing if you should loose all your Prayers and all your calling upon God should be nothing in His account Will not their case be very sad that shall say unto Christ in the great day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy Name and in thy Name cast out Devils and in thy Name done many wonderfull works and He shal professe unto them I never knew you Mat. 7. 22 23. And will not your condition be deplorable if in that day you should say Blessed Lord we have prayed we have called upon God in thy Name we have worshipped God in hearing His Word and receiving Sacraments And He should reply I profess I know no such matter I am sure you never called upon God never prayed unto Him or worshipped Him in all your lives What a confusion would this cover you with and yet this entertainment will many professors meet with in that day look about you therefore in time least you loose all the prayers you make and worship you performe and make sure you call upon God in sincerity Thus much for the first challenge and charge in the Text. Had the Jews done all that was commanded them respecting the Principle Matter Manner End of Gods Worship in a way of Gospel sincerity yet they would have been unprofitable Servants far from meriting the leâ—t Divine favour much more then when they had not as to the body of them called upon God at all in sincerity The second charge is 2. That they had been weary of God But thou hast been weary of me O Israel Others indeed read the words Thou hast not called upon me O Iacob when thou hast Laboured or wearied thy selfe with me or for me As if he should say it is true thou hast Laboured in externall dutyes been at much cost and paines in sacrifices offerings observances but yet for all that thou hast not called upon me worshipped me therein Thou hast tyred thy self and laboured hard in pretence for me yet I disclaim all that thou hast done as none of my worship because it hath not proceeded from inward hearty devotion nor been attended with universal Obedience and a Religious holy Conversation Thou hast laboured much in sacrifices and offerings but hast not sacrificed thy lust mortified thy corruptions offered and given me a believing humble contrite sincere obedient heart the sacrifice of a broken and a contrite heart which is required by me and without which all thy other sacrifices are unacceptable Therefore I reckon thou hast not called upon my Name indeed or worshipped me all this while Thus the whole ver should be resolved into one discretive proposition to this effect Though thou hast taken a great deal of pains in pretence and appearance for me in thy sacrifices and oblation and ceremonial worships yet in reality thou hast not called upon me or performed any worship to me Thus men may make as many prayers and fast as often as the Pharisees used to do run to all the Lectures about them frequent Ordinances and take a great deal of pains in appearance for God and in his worship and yet never call upon God nor worship him in due manner they may seem to be very laborious in duties and Religious services for Gods sake with respect to Gods glory as well as their own good and yet all their pains in that kind be rejected by the Lord as nothing worth Others read the words Thou hast not called upon me seeing thou hast wearied thy self for me or in my service And if they be thus rendered and sensed the latter clause is exageticall or explanatory of the former rendring a reason why the Lord saith they had not called upon Him namely because though they had brought a multitude of sacrifices and kept up His worship in all the outward instituted wayes and means of it yet they exhibited no worship to Him without trouble and weariness not with any promptness and alacrity of mind but with an ill will which made all they did as good as nothing in Gods account Others read Thou hast not called upon me when thou hast wearied thy self against me O Israel As if He should say you have indeed taken a great deal of pains about the outward part of worship in killing sacrifices bringing oblations keeping festivals observing the ceremonies of
before them and the line of their obedience must run parallel with the whole Law of God But when men are weary of this work and hard duty as they account it they are weary of God Paul exhorts the Galathians cap. 6. 9. and the Thessalonians 2 Epistle 3. 13. not to be weary in wel-doing applying it to the particular duties He is there pressing upon them Now when men are not only weary or wearish in but weary of wel-doing according to the revealed will of God they are weary of God And this wearinesse of Gods service will be better understood if we consider it as opposed 1. To a love and liking of the service of God When there is love to God and His service it will carry a man unwearedly in a course of obedience that though he may be weary in it he will not be weary of it The flesh may be weak and tiresome but the spirit is willing Love will not easily tire or grow weary Amor meus pondâ—â— meum saith Austine â—o feror quocunque feror Love is the weight and wing of the soul that carrieth on above all difficulties and discouragements in a course of service It is strong as death and will not be stopt and hindered in its way But weariness of Gods service implyes a dislike of it displicency in it It is not gratefull in a carnal heart so much weariness of Gods service so much aversation of it and want of love to it When the Israelites were weary of the Manna their souls loathed that light bread Num. 21. 5. So when men are weary of the service of God in duties and ordinances and all kind of evangelicall obedience their souls dislike and loath it They do even nauseate and grow sick of Prayer Sermons Sacraments Sabbaths Duties of Piety and Charity all those wayes wherein God is to be served by us 2. To strength courage vigour in the service of God Where this is there is no difficultie no Lyon in the way no discouragement that will deter and dishearten a man from his duty Or if through that infirmity that the best of Saints are subject to man should give in or give back and shrink back from his service of God for a time yet he will recover himself again and go forward in the way of duty whatever he meet with in it It is an observable expression of Solomon The way of the Lord is strength to the upright Prov. 10. 20. Other wayes tire men the further they go the weaker they grow But the Lords way of faith and obedience is strength to the upright whatever it is to the unsound hypocrite the further he travels in it the stronger and more vigorous he growes The righteous shall hold on his way and he that hath clean hands shal be stronger and stronger Iob 17. 9. Now this weariness of Gods service as opposed to this growing strength courage and vigour in the wayes of God is when a man hath no life no spirit no vigour in the service of God He dare not obey God in the way of duty because of difficulties he hath weak hands feeble knees he hath no heart no strength no vigour in the service of God and this not only for a fit and in an hour of temptation but in the whole course of his profession unlesse in some good mood and paug of affliction which hath no root or spring and soon vanisheth away The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal. 6. 9. rendered let us not be weary imports a shrinking from our duty through pusilanimity and cowardly dastardly weakness of spirit and it is explained also by that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if we faint not This weariness imports a resolution as it were of sinews a kind of Paralytick weakness opposite to strength courage and vigour of spirit 3. To Alacrity and chearfulness of spirit in the service of God There ought to be a promptness and alacrity of mind in our obedience without which it is of no value with the Lord God loves a Chearfull giver 2 Corinthians 4. 7. not a dull heartless but a lively chearfull servant that will do or suffer for Him with alacrity He loves to be served with joyfulness and gladness of heart Deut. 28. 47. They that will keep a Sabbath aright must call it a delight Isa. 58. 13. They that will worship God is publick assemblies must be glad when they say let us go into the house of the Lord Psal. 112. 1. They that will wait upon God in His ordinances must wish joy draw water out of the Wells of Salvation Isai. 12. 3 They that will serve God by giving to any pious use or work of charity must do it with chearfulness not grudgingly or of necessity for God loveth a chearfull giver 2 Cor. 4. 7 So when they contributed to the Temple in David ' s time King and People rejoyced greatly 1 Chron 29. 9. A man looseth all he doth otherwise in Gods service It is said of Jehosaphat to his commendation that his heart was lift up in the wayes of the Lord 2 Chron 17. 6. It signifieth both his courage and cheerfulness in the work of reformation But weariness of Gods service is of a quite other import Such as are weary of Gods service if they do not profanely cast it off yet go on very dully in it They drive on very heavily as the Egyptians drave their Chariots when God had taken off their wheeles Exod. 14. 25. They do all as a task in a slavish way They have no delight no comfort no joy nor alacrity in their obedience 4. To Zeal in the service of God Zeal is a genuine concomitant of true obedience It is good to be zealously affected alwayes in a good thing Gal. 4. 18. As the service of God is the best thing we can be occupied about This zeal is an intense degree of sincere affection to God and his service It is the love vigour alacrity in Gods service before spoken of boiled to the height a fervour of spirit in the work of God So Apollos was servent in spirit teaching diligently the things of the Lord Act. 18. 25. It is one of Paul's exhortations that we should not be slothful in businesse but servent boiling hot in spirit serving the Lord Rom. 12. 11. But those that are weary of Gods service are luke warm yea cold dead slothfull indifferent in it Their prayers freez in their lips and there is no fervency of spirit put forth in their service 5. To constancy and evenness in the way of Gods service It is an excellent thing when a man keeps on his pace in the way of service or if there be any difference he minds his pace and doth better and better When he holds on his way and grows stronger and stronger Iob. 17. 9. That he doth not flagg and falter but continue his progress and endeavour to do the work of God But this weariness of Gods service is contrary thereunto It