Church is now no babe Augustine in his time complained of the unreasonable burden of Ceremonies saying That the condition of the Jews was more tollerable in this respect than of Christians But alas how much is the burden encreased beyond that it was in his time so that the little finger now is heavier than the whole body was then Jer. 3.16 Jeremiah hath a Prophecy of Gospel-times that then the Jewes should forget the Ark i. e. all those external Symbols and Ceremonies which were in use before the Ark was laid aside and they should now be Spiritual worshippers The Antichristian Faction as if these were not Gospel-times have received many Jewish and Paganish rites and with those hypocrites which the Prophet Esay speaks of Isa 66.5 insult over the true Spiritual worshippers despising them and their plain simple Gospel-worship saying Let the Lord be glorified let him be honoured with a more decent splendid Worship such as we give him But men shall one day find that God will give them no thanks for going about to honour him with their gawdy Ceremonies Well beloved If this be a note of the true Gospel-worship that it shall not be Ceremony but Spirit then surely the Popish Ceremonious Worship and all Worship that is modell'd in imitation thereof cannot be true worship And I pray let this be considered which I have formerly hinted to you that they who burden the Church with a multitude of Ceremonies go about to destroy Gospel-worship which must not be Ceremonious and do what in them lieth to cast Christ out of the Church and to bring in Moses again and they who affect and plead for and delight in and practise a Ceremonious Worship seem to forget that these are Gospel-times And if men shall alleadge that many of the vulgar sort have as much need of such helps as the Jewes had surely this is a vain plea for we must alwayes consider how God will have his Worship to be managed surely he knows what is best and what is necessary and expedient Infer 3 If Gospel-worship be a Worship in Truth i. e. that which is consonant to the Word of God according to the true revelations of his Will that which is commanded and ordered by Christ and exercised according to the simplicity of Gospel-Intitution then all devised Wil-worship wherein there is an adding to the Word of God or a mingling of mans inventions with God's Institutions must needs be excepted against as no true Gospel-worship All Gospel-worship is built upon the sure pure foundation of Divine Gospel-institutions The Word of God doth appoint and order the Worship which he will have in every Essential part of it and it is a general Rule for Circumstantials It doth not indeed particularly command and order every circumstance but the Church must take heed that under the name of Circumstances and under pretence of Church-power herein she do not bring in Worship Meer Circumstances belonging to religious Actions are left to Humane determination but it is not left unto men to appoint any kinds parts or means of Worship Now Ceremonies properly sacred and significant by Humane Institution are judged to be more than Circumstances to be indeed parts of Worship to be Ceremonial Worship and that Worship which is not commanded by God is not warrantable approved Worship We have in the Scripture strict prohibitions of adding to the Word of God Deut. 4.2 Ye shall not adde to the word which I command you Deut. 12.32 Whatsoever thing I command you observe to do it Thou shalt not adde thereunto These Texts forbid all Humane Ordinances and establish God's Word as the onely Rule we must attend unto in his Worship Every word of God is pure Prov. 30.5 6. saith Agur. Adde thou not to his words lest he reprove thee and thou be found a lyar Here is a prohibition to keep men from corrupting or adulterating the Name of God in his Word by an addition of mens inventions and traditions when they are imposed as if they were the express Will of God Then there are two great Considerations to enforce this Prohibition 1. God will reprove such Adders to his Word 2. God who is Almighty and infinitely wise and holy and just will take in hand such Corrupters of his Name and Word so that he will demonstrate to them and convince them of their horrible wickedness in adding to his Word by foysting in mens inventions and he will make them to bear their iniquity with terrour And they shall be convinced that they have lyed against God and shall be made to bear the guilt of such lying and shall suffer the punishment shall receive the doom of lyars These are weighty Considerations to deter men from corrupting the Word of God There is another terrible Text to this purpose in the close of all the Scripture Rev. 22.18 If any man shall adde unto these things God shall adde unto him the plagues that are written in this Book Thus you see how the Word of God witnesseth against all devised will-Will-worship which is not Worship in truth Now surely if men did look at God as God and look upon the Scriptures as his Word owning the Soveraign Authority of Scripture they would then be fearful to corrupt the Worship of God seeing God in his Word doth so strictly prohibit and so earnestly testifie against such Corruption But here is the mischief that however men may say that they believe the Scriptures to be the Word of God yet they are indeed no better than Infidels concerning the Scripture and the Name of God in it Jer. 6.10 The word of God is to them a reproach they have no delight in it Men think that they have as good words as the Word of God is and that they have Traditions which are of as great Authority as God's Revelations Now when Scripture is slighted so that it lays no awe upon mens spirits no marvel that men follow their own inventions Well Beloved gospel-Gospel-worship is a Worship in truth Regular worship which hath its foundation in the Word and is ordered according to the Word of God VVe read in Scripture of pure Religion certainly Jam. 1.21 that Religion is most pure which hath its foundation and dependence upon the VVord of God and this Religion stands for ever will stand in the Judgement-day when all other Religions will be condemned to Hell The VVord of God endures for ever and so do they that conform themselves to it Now for such as slight Divine Institutions and cast off the onely sure Foundation they make other Rules to themselves and ground their Worship upon other rotten Foundations As 1. The imagination of their own hearts Me thinks saith one and another this is very good Worship this is decent and this is good order But God often forbids the setting up of such a Rule telling us that we must not follow our own hearts we must not go in the way
2. As our Father as Our Father loving Us as sons and so we are to come to him with an humble boldness as his children crying Abba Father If we cannot say Our Father we cannot worship God Thus have I answered a second Question arising from the 21th Verse Quest 3 Quest 3. How doth Christ say that they should no longer worship the Father in Jerusalem when God saith of Jerusalem Psal 132.14 that it is his Rest for ever Answ Answ That spoken in the Psalm is true especially of the Church signified by Jerusalem it is true likewise of Jerusalem the type in a limited sence Jerusalem Circumcision Legal Worship were to be for ever i. e. until Christ and the beginning of the new world in him till the coming of the Messiah Gen. 17.13 Thus the Covenant of Circumcision is called an everlasting Covenant and so it is said that the feast of the Passover should be kept by an Ordinance for ever Exod. 12 14 17 24 Exod. 40 15. and so the Levitical Priest-hood should be for ever Well this is that which our Saviour teacheth in this one and twentieth Verse That in the new Testament distinction of place for the worship of God is taken away and that the Temporary Priesthood and External Rites are abolished by Christ his coming In the Old Testament God revealed himself in the Temple over the Mercy-seat but now Christ is the true Temple and the true Propitiatory The Body being come the Shadows are vanished I pass on to the two and twentieth Verse Vers 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ye worship ye know not what or that which ye know not This is spoken by way of anticipation Per praeoccupationem a Figure in Rhetorique very common Christ is here aforehand with the woman giving an Answer to a Question which she might be ready to propound having occasion given her by his former Answer She might say Though neither of these Worships must long continue yet at present one onely of them is right or one is better than the other I would know which that is Not yours saith Christ for ye worship ye know not what but ours for we worship that we know Though Christ had told the woman that both these Worshippers both of the Samaritans and the Jews should cease so that neither of them was that which shortly he would have to be yet he doth not equal them in his censure of them accounting one as good as the other but he condemns the Samaritan worship and approves of the Jewish worship viz. that which the godly among them performed As for you Samaritans ye worship ye know not what nor how though you will say you have a good meaning and direct your worship unto God and pretend the example of your fathers yet forasmuch as your worship is not directed or warranted by the Word of God Custus Dei astimandus est qui verbo Dei nobis praescribitur but taken up by you without this Rule and Foundation it is indeed an ignorant foolish worship which cannot please God but now as to the Jews while they have God his Word for their Rule and Warrant their worship is with knowledge and judgement and that which God approves of But in as much as the time is at hand when the Levitical Priest-hood and Worship shall be abolished if any Jew after such abrogation shall worship with observance of Levitical Rites his worship will then be as bad as yours is now Now let us see what Christ here teacheth Ye worship ye know not what The Samaritans in their meaning did worship a Deity yea the God of the Jews and their Worship was somewhat refined from that gross state in which it was at first yet because they did not conceive aright of God nor worship him in the appointed place and appointed mode but had another Temple and another Priesthood and Ceremonies of their own devising for this reason they are said to worship they know not what i. e. a fancy of their own brain an Idol not the true God Hence we may conclude Doctr. That it is but an idle and Idol-worship which is not directed to the true God rightly conceived of as he hath revealed himself in Scripture and which hath not Gods Word for its Foundation and Rule God himself is turned into an Idol when people have false gross apprehensions of him and worship him with any other than Scripture-worship such as is ordered or allowed by the Word of God I say when people have carnal gross unsuitable apprehensions of God or do not conceive of him aright in his Attributes Properties and Relations as he hath revealed himself in his Christ they worship an Idol in stead of God and it is vain idle worship when people follow their own or other mens inventions in stead of God his prescriptions Who but God himself can tell what worship that is with which he will be pleased Therefore hath he in the Old Testament declared his mind from time to time concerning this with many strait prohitions of adding or altering any thing In nothing substantial or circumstantial must we make our own fancies or mens inventions or prescriptions the Rule of our worship but we are tied strictly to the Word of God for the kinds and parts of Worship to have them determined by God and we are also tied in circumstanstances of worship not to act in particulars contrary to the general Rule of Scripture The matter of God's worship whatsoever is acted as a part of worship must be something commanded by God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in the modifying of worship we must see that nothing be done contrary to the Word or unworthy of God The Heathens grosly fancied a plurality a multitude of ridiculous gods and they tell us that each god is to be worshipped and served according to his own directions So Socrates can teach us that God is to be worshipped as he himself will And what doth the Scripture teach us why this That the Lord our God is one God and that him we must fear and keep his statutes and his commandments which he commands us God often calls upon men to take heed that they follow not their own hearts that they go not in the way which themselves shall chuse that they do not what seemeth stood in their own eyes The scope and summe of the Second Commandment is to order us in the solemn Worship of God in Religious exercises and therein under an express prohibition of Image-making and Image-worship which was the cheif invention of men for corrupting of Divine worship I say under that one instance God flatly forbids all mens devices and inventions about his Worship For this is a Rule to be observed for the understanding of the Commandments that where any sin is expresly forbidden under that general expressed all the species and individuals and degrees of that finne together with all the causes and means
and occasions and appearances of that sin are likewise forbidden Mat. 5.21 22 27 28. Thus our Saviour interprets Commandments So that I say the second Commandment forbids not only the making and worshipping of Images the grossest Idolatry but also all Superstitious devices of men in the worship of God And doth not God charge his people not to turn aside from his Commandments Deut. 5.32 either to the right hand or to the left When men out of prophaness or Atheism worship not God at all this is to turn aside to the left hand and for men under pretence of Religious zeal and good intentions to set up in the worship of God that which he hath not commanded this is to turn aside to the right hand and this is forbidden When we have not the light of God's Word to direct us in our worship we offer to him a Sacrifice without eyes Now let us see what the Scripture speaks of such devised will-Will-worship that we may see how God likes it and what good it is like to do us See our Saviour his censure of such worship Mat. 159 Isa 29.13 quoting the Prophet Isaiah Deo non probantur quaecunque extra verbum de consilio hominum in sacris constituuntur Chemn in locum In vain do they worship me teaching for Doctrines the commandments of men and surely this is the worst of all vanities when our Religion and Worship shall procure a vain thing Yea such Will-worship of humane invention is so far from being profitable to us or pleasing to God that God accounts it done to Devils not to him This is no rash assertion of mine or gratis dictum Ye may read it in Scripture Levit. 17.7 Deut. 32.17 They shall bring their Sacrifices to the Lord to the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation they shall do herein according to my appointment and shall no more offer their Sacrifices unto Devils And in the latter of those Texts viz. in Deut. 32. forasmuch as they worshipped Idols they are charged with sacrifising unto Devils 2 Chron. 11.15 Rev. 9.20 And Jeroboam his Idols are called Devils and so are Antichrist his Idols This is God his estimation and censure of Idolatrous worship and all devised fictitious worship wch is not according to God's own appointment wherein men worship an Idol of their own brain whatever they intend or pretend not God but the Devil is served by such forbidden uninstituted worship Jeroboam did not plainly renounce the true God but pretended and intended still the worship of God when upon a politick account he set up the Calves in Bethel and Dan nor did the people that went up thither intend the worship of Devils yet God in his Word tells us that Jeroboam set up this worship to Devils O how cautelous should men be and fearful lest they worship Devils instead of God how careful to keep close to God his Institutions Now you have seen that our Saviour his answer here to the Samaritan woman teacheth us how vain idle and how distastful to God that worship is which is devised and oppointed by men contrary to the Word or without Scripture warrant Well then it follows hence 1. That the worship of Turks and Jews is an idle Idol-worship because they worship God out of Christ conceiving far amiss of that God whom they pretend to worship and making an Idol of him there being no such God made known in the Word to be the Object of worship 2. That the worship * In scripturis Idololatrae vocantur qui Divinum cultum Idolo sive proprie dicto sive figurate tribuunt Rainoldus Quis tam amens ut Dei formam imaginem statua referri perhibeat Euseb Quam imaginem ponetis ei qui spiritus est c. Hier. in Esai cap. 40. of Papists is an idle Idol-worship for they conceive amiss of God and of his worship as if his presence were tied in a special manner to Images or as if he were to be worshipped in Images or could be represented by Images there is no such God They conceive amiss of Christ as if he could be held in the hands of the Priest after the consecration of the bread or host as they call it there is no such Christ so that they worship a God and a Christ of their own devising and they have monstrously corrupted the whole worship of God by a multitude of inventions and superstitions and devised rites of their own they have many new forms of worship which God hath not commanded they have introduced a multitude of Ceremonies which they make the worship of God in which their Religion mainely consisteth They worship they know not what 3. The worship of a number oâ— Protestants is an idle Idol-worship Oh how many are they whose worship justly falleth under thiâ— censure As 1. They that have no understanding of the Doctrine of thâ— Trinity no knowledge of the personal relations of Father Son anâ— Spirit to be considered in thâ— Godhead and yet pretend tâ— worship God These worship theâ— know not what 2. They that worship God oâ— therwise than he hath appointed and in such ways and by such means of worship as he doth not approve of that follow their own fancies or other mens inventions with a neglect of or in opposition to Gods prescriptions These do in the point of worship they know not what and that of which they can give no account to God 3. They that seek not to be resolved in their own Judgement and Conscience that what they do in the business of Religion suits with the mind of God and so is his Worship but cast themselves upon the streams to be carried which way that runs 4. They that have no other apprehensions about Religion or the Worship of God but the Laws of the Land or the Constitutions of the Church in which they live that trouble not themselves to enquire whether it be right or wrong whether it be acceptable to God and consonant to his Word but this is commanded by Superiors and this they do and therefore they do it and will do it as if Superiours were infallible and could not possibly command that which ought not to be done Thus Seneca the heathen said of himself Non tanquam Diis gratum led legibus jussum That he observed the worship of their Gods not as acceptable to the gods whom he thus worshipped but as commandeâ— by the Laws But Christianâ— should know and do better and the Word of God teacheth otherwise viz. to look to God's Lawâ— and attend to his mind and seeâ— to please him in our worship Vse 2 Let us therefore look to this that our worship be rational and rightly founded viz. upon the Word of God Men are very prone to invent worship have naturally a delight to make a worship of their own and man is naturally apt to regard and adherâ— to humane inventions rather than Divine prescriptions The
the Scripture holds out to us this Object of worship excluding all others 1 Sam. 7.3 Prepare your hearts to the Lord and serve him only Mat. 4.10 Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serve 2. We must worship the True God or worship God as God therefore we must have true apprehensions of God right conceptions of him in his Nature Attributes and Properties and a true knowledge of God in Christ and as he hath revealed himself in the Covenant of Grace 3. God must be worshipped and served as our God with an appropriation of him to our selves apprehending our Covenant-Relation to him and Interest in him Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God God the true God our God is the sole Object of Religious worship Concl. 2 2. The right worshipping of this our God is a religious holy observance of him and obedience to him so that true full worship takes up the inward and the outward man and takes in all sorts of duties and all points of obedience there is an Universality both respecting the Subject of worship which must be the whole man and respecting the Parts of worship how far it is to extend in point of duty to all duty it must be whole obedience First Inward worship there must be the worship of the inward man heart-worship soul-worship which consisteth in 1. A right knowledge and acknowledgment of God as he hath revealed himself in his Word and Works And 2. A Religious holy affection toward God thus known and acknowledged for we must know that the Law of God which is the rule of his worship is Spiritual reaching the understanding and affections and all the powers of the Soul We have both this knowledge and acknowledgement of God and this affection toward God called for by Moses Deut. 6.4 5. Hear O Israel the Lord thy God is one Lord know this and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and withal thy might Now Religious holy affection towards God hath in it and noteth out to us Internal duties all the internal duties of worship which are the Souls more immediate actings wherein we glorifie God It cannot be expected that I should name them all I shall but touch upon some few specialties 1. 1 Faith Faith is one part of the Internal worship of God I say Faith to believe God and Faith to believe in God for there is a great difference between these two And the first of these viz. to believe God is to be taken in a double sence 1. 1 To believe God Credere Deum to believe the Being of the true God that there is a God and that he is such a God as the Scripture speaks him to be 2. Credere Deo to assent unto and be thoroughly perswaded of all that God hath spoken in his Word so submitting our judgement and stooping our reason to Gods revelations resting satisfied with them This surely is part of that worship and honour which every soul oweth to God To believe God his Being and to believe his Sayings Then 2 To believe in God to beleive in or on God is to have the Soul carried by Faith unto God in Christ as my God and Father and to apply to my self the promises of Grace which in Christ are yea and amen So casting my self upon God and depending on his Fatherly goodness for all good things for Soul and body This Faith is to be lookt upon as a vertue or work of the Soul which appertaineth to and is part of the inward worship of God 2. 2 Love Another ingredient of Divine internal worship is Love when knowing God to be the chief good and apprehending our own interest in him we love him truly and above all other things desiting nothing so much as communion with him and to be conformed to him This worship is called for in Scripture Mat. 22.37 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God withal thy heart and withal thy soul and with all thy mind 3. 3. Fear The fear of God is the internal worship of God when reverencing the Word of God and the Majesty and Holiness and Justice of God we flie sin as being fearful to offend God and careful to please him in all things This holy fear is called for in many places of Scripture Deut. 6.13 Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God Fear the Lord ye his Saints Psal 34. â— In thy fear will I worship saith David This fear of God is such a special part of inward worship that is is not rarely put for the whole worship of God for all Religion and godliness The Prophet Esay saith Isa 29.13 Their fear toward me is taught by the Precepts of men Our Saviour quoting this Text gives us the sence of it thus Mat. 15.9 In vain do they worship me teaching for Doctrine the commandments of men 4. 4. Repentance True Gospel-Repentance which comprehends Faith in it and is the turning of the whole Soul unto God lookt upon as an effect of Sanctification is the internal worship of God When we acknowledge our sinnes and acknowledging them bewail them and cast our selves by Faith upon the Mercies of God through the Merits of Jesus Christ firmly purposing by the help of Grace to abstain from sin and to obey God in all things herein we give God the glory of his Omniscience and Holiness and Justice and Mercy and this is surely to worship God when in our hearts we reverence him and give him the glory of his Attributes This is that worship which Paul taught Repentance toward God Act. 20.21 and Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ 5. The inward worship of God is with a thankful heart to acknowledge the goodness and beneficence of God towards us looking upon our selves as utterly unworthy of any of his gifts seriously purposing to glorifie our good God I might multiply particulars wherein the internal worship of God consisteth But these few hints shall suffice Secondly Outward worship As concerning External worship I shall only hint what it is in general To worship God Externally is sincerely and regularly to professe and practice true Religion carefully and conscionably endeavouring to perform all outward duties incumbent on us by the command of God I say sincerely to profess and practice true Religion in performing such duties Note Note this by the way Though Internal worship may be where there is at present no acting of that which is External yet there is no External worship which is indeed worship without Internal that which is only an action of the outward man meerly bodily exercise and not an act likewise of the inward man the act of the heart and Soul moving toward God that is not the worship of God However the Soul may and doth often act toward God in holy Worship in Faith and Love and godly Fear c. when no visible
external act of worship is put forth when there is nothing done in point of worship that may fall under the notice of man But this I pray observe That worship which is meerly External is not to speak properly any worship at all but meer hypocrisie and formality and carnal compliance and conformity to custome so that you are not true worshippers before God and in his account and so are not right Gospel Professours and real Christians if your worship be onely External if you satisfie your selves in performing the outward acts of duties not drawing neer to God with the heart this is to bring flesh to God for an Offering and this is not reasonable service 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for God is a Spirit and it is reasonable to offer to him that which is suitable to him spiritual service And as they are not Gospel-professors or true Christians in the account of God who worship not him with an internal spirit-worship though they be never so frequent and constant in external acts of Religion so they that will not afford God the service of the outward man in publick and private actions of Religion and Worship do declare themselves to men not to be real Christians or Gospel-professors because they are not Worshippers of God For as God observeth the heart and judgeth according to what he findeth there so man judgeth according to the outward appearance They who have no care or desire to worship God outwardly in the way of his own Ordinances it is sure that they do not worship him inwardly do not acknowledge him nor believe in him nor love him nor fear him in their hearts Thus you see that true Worship takes up the inward and the outward man Concl. 3 3. As God is to be worshipped with the whole man so with whole Worship Our Worship must extend to all duty God must be observed and obeyed in all things commanded by him in point of Worship we must do that which God hath commanded onely that and all that and as commanded by God 1. Onely that which God hath commanded Seeing all Worship is to be directed to God we must for the matter and substance of Worship be directed and ordered by God that we may know it pleaseth him and that what we do may not be excepted against with a Quis injunxit Who required this at your hands The Word of God is the Christian's Rule for his whole practice nothing ought to be done but what the Scripture commands or allows 2. In worshipping and serving God we must have respect to the whole revealed Will of God to do all that he hath commanded Ye shall observe all my Statutes Lev. 19.37 and all my Judgements and do them Mat. 28.20 Ye shall teach them to observe and do all things whatsoever I have commanded you We must not half it with God in the business of Religion 3. That which we do in the Worship of God the matter whereof is God his Command must be done as commanded with conscience of Gods Command in Obedience to it with respect to God's Will that in doing it we may please him I will praise the Name of God saith David Psa 69.30.31 This shall please the Lord Paul prayeth for the Colossians that they may Walk worthy of the Lord unto all well pleasing Col. 1.10 This is that which a Christian should look to in all his services This is my duty God hath commanded it and in doing this I shall please God therefore I will do it Thus I have briefly shewed you the extent of worship respecting the matter of it all duty omne praeceptum all that God hath commanded with a limitation tantum praeceptum onely that which is commanded and a regulation quâ praeceptum as commanded Concl. 4 1. What we do in point of Worship must be done in Faith through Jesus Christ the Mediator There are divers significations of the Word Faith in Scripture which I shall not now trouble you with but shall plainly shew the meaning of this fourth Conclusion for the opening of our description of Worship 1. We must worship God i◠Faith i. e. with knowledge being well resolved in our ow◠judgment and conscience that what we do suits with the mind of God and so that it is his worship that which he requires and approves of as the Apostle in the case of indifferent things in point of eating or not eating such and such Meats and touching the observation of dayes saith Rom. 14.5 Let every man be fully perswaded in his own mind This is the Apostle his meaning there Though to eat or not to eat be indifferent in it self yet let every man take heed in eating or forbearing to eat and see that he doth it with knowledge being well perswaded that what he doth is pleasing unto God Let him that eateth be sure that he doth not sin in eating and let him that forbeareth be sure that he offends not God or his brother in forbearing Now whereas the Apostle requires such a full perswasion about things indifferent much more is it required about necessary things which God hath commanded or forbidden that in these matters we be well resolved of what we take up in practice A man may do that which God commands and forbear that which he prohibits and yet sin in such an action or omission because what he doth he doth not with knowledge his action proceeds not from a judgement well informed and so he doth it not upon good grounds It greatly concerns us that our worship be according to knowledge Whatsoever is not of Faith in this sence is sin It is sin for us to do any thing in the worship of God ignorantly and doubtingly we must be well perswaded that the action pleaseth God as knowing that he hath commanded it or allowes it 2. There must be Faith in our worship i. e. Faith to eye God and to deal with him in every religious duty or exercise Faith to believe in Prayer that God can and will hear and help and give us that which we ask in his Son's Name Faith in reading and hearing the Word of God to believe that it is true in its predictions and promises and threatenings and to apply it to our selves Faith in the use of all Ordinances to believe that God will accept us in them and bless them to us for good There must be Faith to see assistance in the power of God and to fetch strength from the promise T. M. and to see acceptance in the Grace of God and a Reward in the Bounty of God This Faith must be in our Worship that it may be pleasing to God and profitable to us 3. God must be worshipped and obeyed in Faith through Jesus Christ the Mediator i. e. There must be an application of the promise of Grace and an affiance on Jesus Christ for the acceptance of our persons and services Without a Mediator we cannot
several ages of the Church have given sad experience of this we have therefore need to look to our selves and from what hath been already said and made good from Scripture we may judge how careful people should be to see that they go upon right grounds in the worship of God Do we not in worship seek God if we do not then there is no reason in our worship we are no better than bruits Well if we would find God or have any benefit by our worship we must be able to say We worship that we know We must have the knowledge of God and a knowledge of his Will must understand how he is to be worshipped must therefore look into his Word must see what he hath appointed there and must take directions from thence I have been long enough in the Context therefore I will stay no longer from the Text An approach to the Text. wherein we have the very pith and highest pitch of our Saviour his discourse with the Samaritan woman The immediate connection of the words But before I fasten upon the Text it will be convenient to shew you the more immediate Connection of the words The Dialogue or Colloqui between Christ and this woman is from the nineteenth verse plainly about the Worship of God concerning which the Woman puts forth a Question to Christ and desires to be resolved by him in the twentieth verse Our Fathers worshipped in this Mountain and ye say that in Jerusalem men ought to worship Whether are we or you in the right Our Saviour's first Answer was as I have already hinted to this effect That she needed not to be be solicitous about this because neither of these two worships was long to continue Believe me woman The hour cometh when ye shall neither in this Mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father Here he teacheth her that there shall be an abrogation of Moses his Ceremonies and of the whole Levitical Service for under the name or title of the place of worship Jerusalem he comprehends the whole Jewish worship which for the most part of the Ceremonies was by God's appointment to be performed there and not elsewhere Well but though neither of these worships must long continue yet for the present one is right or one is better than the other Which is that Not yours saith Christ but ours Yours is stark naught for ye worship ye know not what your worship hath no word of God instituting or warranting it but we worship that we know our worship is grounded upon the Word of God Rom. 3.2 For Salvation is of the Jews i. e. to them are committed the Oracles of God The saving Doctrine of the Covenant of Grace is among the Jewes Diod. in loc with them is that word wherein they have a saving manifestation of God in Christ though not yet so clear as shall be and a discovery of the right way of worshipping God unto Salvation and surely this is the right worship which is taught and warranted by the Word of God Object But if the Jewish worship be grounded upon the Word of God how shall it be abolished Sol. To this Christ answers that God had prescribed and appointed that way of Mosaical worship not for perpetuity but only to continue till the fulness of time should come Gal. 4.1 2 3 4. Heb. 9.10 till the time of Reformation i. e. till the time of the New-Testament when all that was signified by those Ceremonies and outward Services being fulfilled in Christ that temporary Ceremonious worship shall be changed into a spiritual and more excellent worship which shall neven be abrogated And Christ tells the Woman that now the term of that Levetical worship is expired the Messiah being come to put an end to it Here is the summe of Christ his Answer There is a double Word of God respecting his worship One Word concerning the Levitical worship delivered by Moses which was to be in force till the coming of the Messiah that word belongs not to the New-Testament worshippers There is another word concerning the Spiritual Worship of God that is perpetual which word also the Patriarchs before the Law and the godly under the Law did observe though both before and under the Law it was hooded and cloathed as it were with certain Ceremonies appointed by God but now in the New-Testament this is the voice and plain open expression of the Gospel-word The true Worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth This is the Connection of the words which I have made out as plainly and as briefly as I might The Text is an assertion of the true nature and state of right Gospel-worship Text devided with a double reason to confirm it Gospel-worship is asserted to be a worship in Spirit and in Truth Now of this there are two Demonstrations 1. The first Demonstration is drawn from the Will of God The Father requireth such to worship him God stands upon it to have such Worshippers and this is the worship which he commandeth which will please him 2. The second Demonstration is taken from the Nature of God he is a Spirit a pure spiritual Essence therefore the worship done to him must be Spiritual answerable to his Nature The true Nature and state of Gospel-worship is asserted in the former part of the Text The true Worshippers shall now worship in Spirit and in Truth I shall a little open these words and then conclude something from them opened The hour cometh i. e. the time is at hand Here he teacheth that the Mosaical Ordinances were not perpetual but imposed onely for a time and that they were at this time even out of date Yea the hour now is viz. in part Christ being come hath already obscured the grace of the legal-worship and Now is the time of reformation Now the time is come that the true worshippers shall worship after another manner The Temple and Priest-hood and ritual worship which hitherto have been used with approbation must henceforth be laid aside and now the Father must be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth To let pass these various acceptions of the terms Spirit and Truth I shall onely shew you what is the import of these tearms here what it is to worship in Spirit and in Truth That we may understand this we must note the Antithesis here intended by our Saviour he opposeth Gospel-worship to both the former worships spoken of in the Context that of the Samaritans and that of the Jews the Samaritan worship was hypocritical and counterfeit not that which God had appointed for the internals or externals of it it was heartless devotion and uninstituted worship and the Jewish worship as to the external part of it as instituted by God stood in Meats and Drinks and divers Washings and Carnal Rites and Ordinances so called by the Apostles Heb. 9.10 and the institution of that worship is said to be The Law
Name and worship him and trust in him so that it is not in vain to serve the Lord There is profit in keeping his Ordinances Though our Worship must not be mercenary we must not look only or chiefly at the reward serving God for our selves for our own advantage yet having looked at God his Glory and aimed at a conformity to his Will we must go on in God's way looking to the reward for our support and encouragement The Apostle presseth this Argument upon himself and others Heb. 12.28 Wherefore we receiving a Kingdom which cannot be moved let us have Grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear and this he illustrateth by insinuating the danger of not worshipping and serving God for our God is a consuming Fire And with this Argument Moses presseth the people of Israel to a care of true Worship and due Obedience Take heed unto your selves lest ye forget the Covenant of the Lord your God Deut. 4.23 24. c. for the Lord thy God is a consuming Fire even a jealous God God hath power to destroy those that despise his Worship and he will not spare in the day of Vengeance but will pour out his Wrath upon the Families that call not upon his Name upon the people that will not worship him They that will not worship God but sleight and despise all Counsels and Exhortations thereunto shall perish as the Enemies of Christ that will not have him to Reign over them In Isa 65. we may read severe threats against those that would not worship God according to his Will and sweet Promises to his faithful Servants and true Worshippers Ye are they that forsake the Lord Isa 65.11 12 13 and forget my holy Mountain c. Therefore will I number you to the Sword c. Behold my Servants shall eat but ye shall be hungry behold my Servants shall rejoyce but ye shall be ashamed c. God Mal 3.16 17 18. by the Prophet Malachy tells us that he will own true Worshippers those that fear him and serve him they are dear and precious to him his Jewels and he will deal Fatherly and lovingly with them Then shall ye return and discern between the Righteous and the Wicked c. It shall one day clearly appear what difference there is between the godly and the wicked what difference God puts between the one and the other when he shall deal with the one as a tender Father and in great Mercy save him and with the other as a severe Judge and in great fury destroy him I will add but one word more to excite you to a care of worshipping God aright Look again into the Scripture and you shall find that God hath engaged his Name and his Truth to save the people that call upon his Name that worship him in Truth See for this Rom. 10.13 Rom. 10.13 The former verse endeth thus The same Lord over all is Rich unto all that call upon him Now he doth by Scripture confirm this that God is rich in Mercy to all true Believers and holy Worshippers he calls in the Prophet Joel to attest this For whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved Here is a promise of Temporal and Eternal Salvation to such as in Faith worship God with a holy Worship They shall be saved with a temporal Salvation saved in trouble i. e. supported under it and saved from trouble in due time delivered out of it and they shall be Eternally saved delivered from the Wrath to come and received up to Glory to live with God for ever Now let this be the great Argument to perswade you to become Worshippers of God to acquaint your selves with God and give your selves up to him to search out and to study his Will and to give him the Worship and Service of the inward and outward man performing all outward Worship regularly according to the Scripture-Rule The Text last mentioned tells you who shall be saved viz. They that call upon the Name of the Lord. i. e. such as know and acknowledge God and believe his Word and believe in his Son and love and fear God and strive to please him and worship him in Spirit and in Truth You can have no hopes to be Saved as long as you are ignorant and unbelieving and fearless and graceless and dutyless while you continue to be of such a gain-saying spirit that you will not be called off from sinne and the world unto God so long as you continue despisers of God his Ordinances and Worship or while your Worship is carnal and superstitious as long as it is thus with you you are far from Salvation Therefore my beloved let us call upon the Name of the Lord let us become true Worshippers of God that we may lay hold upon this Gospel-promise and may have some well-grounded hope of Salvation through Christ Jesus Thus I have dispatched the first Point which is implied in the Text viz. That all right Gospel-professers true professors of the Christian Religion are true Gospel-worshippers worshippers of the true God according to the Principles and Rules of the Religion which they profess Real Christians do indeed Worship the Father Now I come to handle the second Doctrine which is the substance and express matter of the Text. Doct. 2 True Gospel-worship is a Worship in Spirit and in Truth This Proposition requires Explication I shall therefore explain both the Subject and the Predicate First Explication Here is the Subject Gospel-worship What is Gospel-worship 1. I take the term Worship here in a stricter sence than in the former point understanding it of Instituted Worship that which depends on and is consonant to the Revelation of God his Will any way or means appointed by God for the excercising of natural Worship which is due to God as God any Religious work or duty of Divine appointment to be performed unto God directed more immediately to him 2. Gospel-worship is a Worship suitable to Gospel-times and agreeable to the Gospel-rule Secondly Now to open the Predicate that you may see what it is to Worship God in Spirit and in Truth I shall not trouble you with the various significations of these tearms Spirit and Truth but only shew you what is the proper notion of them in our Text and Doctrine I have already told you that our Saviour here opposeth Gospel-worship to both the former Worships spoken of in the Context that of the Samaritans and that of the Jewes The Samaritan Worship was Hypocritical and Counterfeit invented worship not that which God had appointed either for the internals or externals of it It was heartless Devotion and uninstituted Worship The Jewish Worship as to the External part of it as Instituted by God stood in meats and drinks and divers washings and legal purifications and in offering sacrifices of Beasts and fruits and such like things carnal Rites and Ordinances Heb.
powers is to resist the Ordinance of God and so to resist God himself and this wounds the Conscience and layes us under a fear of God his revenging Justice A Christian is bound to perform civil duties upon grounds of Religion God's Command binds the Conscience to keep men's righteous Laws Here is another Argument from the rule of Justice which is 7 Arg. ab aequo to render to every one his due and here he reckons up four particulars of civil obâ—dience according to the degrees of civil powers or the several Orders and Offices of men in power Render tribute to whom tribute is due viz. to the Prince his Treasurers Custome to whom custome is due To the Prince his Farmers and Collectours Fear to whom fear is due viz. to the Prince his Deputies to Governours Judges Justices Officers sent by him while they act in their places under him according to the Prince his declared will and the power derived to them and vested in them by the Laws as they are Ministers of Justice Lastly render honour to whom honour is due viz. to the Person and Authority of the Prince or cheif Ruler as Saint Peter commands honour the King Now Tribute is that which is charged upon and paid out of a man's possession and estate Custome is properly that which is paid out of Merchandize or Traffick exported or imported Fear is an acknowledgment of the power ordained by God and a care not to offend it lest we incur blame and punishment Honour is a due inward affection toward him whom we judg worthy of reverence and respect either for his vertue or for the eminency of his place or for his beneficence toward us or upon some other just consideration and an outward due signification and testification of our inward reverence and respect toward him honour is due to the powers especially the higher powers because of their Office and Place as to our civil Parents by vertue of God's command Honour thy Father Honour comprehends reverence fear subjection obedience love and thankfulness Thus I have dispatched the Doctrinal part of this my discourse I have stated the duty of subjection to Magistrates telling you that it imports mainly reverence and obedience and shewing you what reverence is and what it is to obey Now whereas I assigned this limitation of our universal obedience viz. it must be in the Lord in all things according to the mind of God only so far as God his Word gives us command or allowance to act This is the limitation which the Scripture suggesteth and in many place holdeth forth and therefore cannot be justly offensive to any nor will it offend any good Magistrate who acknowledgeth God to be his Superiour and the Supream Law-giver and desires that God should be honoured above all And whereas touching the binding power of humane Laws in the Conscience I determined That the Laws of men bind not the Conscience directly and immediately nor universally and unlimitedly nor absolutely as the Laws of God do but only by the intervention of God's Command and as they are grounded upon and derived from and agreeable to the Eternal Law the Law of God and I concluded That no voice but God's Voice is to be heard in the Conscience as commanding there and binding indispensibly to obedience This determination is warranted by Scripture and therefore not to be quarrelled with Concerning the whole I shall shew you what was the sence and Conscience of our late King Charles the First as he expresseth himself in that Book of his Entituled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Portraiture of his Sacred Majesty his words are these I have often declared how little I desire that my Lawes and Scepter should entrench on God his Soveraignty who is the onely King of mens Consciences and yet he hath laid such restraint upon men as commands them to be subject for Conscience sake giving no men liberty to break the Law established further then with meekness and patience they are contented to suffer the penalty annexed rather than perturb the publick peace And again Next to fear God is honour the King next to it not before it Thus our late Soveraign I now come to a word or two of Application Application The first Use shall be for Confutation 1 Confutation First of Papists and Popish Doctrine Of Papists 1. Of that horrible and hellish Doctrine That it is lawful and meritorious to murther Princes in the quarrel of Religion justifying abetting and applauding the heinousest Treasons against the highest Powers upon earth Doth God say Let every Soul be subject to the higher Powers and shall the Pope teach Subjects to murther their Princes and to blow up Parliaments c. for the advantage of the Catholick Cause as they call it Doubtless saith a learned Divine The Romish Religion is the most horrid Rebel in the world 2. There is another false absurd idle Doctrine of theirs hereby confuted viz. this That the Pope and his Bishops and Clergy who call themselves Spiritual are exempted from subjection to civil Magistrates both as to their persons in the tryal of Ecclesiastical Civil and Criminal Causes and as to their purses and possessions in paying Tributes Whereas the Apostle here chargeth every Soul to be subject to the higher powers to the powers ordained of God and Christ we read paid tribute for himself and Peter Act. 25.11 and Paul pleaded before the civil Magistrate and we know that Aaron the high Priest was subject to Moses the chief Magistrate yet these men as if they were higher than high Priests and before Peter and better than Apostles must forsooth be exempted from subjection to any civil Powers Secondly Our Text and Doctrine serves for Confutation of Donatists and Millenaries and Quakers and some Anabaptists who look for the abolishing of all Magistracy that Christ alone may reign among the Saints who cry down Magistrates and deny that they have any coercive punitive Power that cry up an equality and parity among Christians holding that Christians need no Magistrates and that they need not be subject to any And why so What do they plead for this opinion of theirs and for their denial of subjection i. e. reverence and obedience to Magistrates Object They say that they are the Lord his Freemen and that it is against Christian liberty for Christians to be under the power of any but Christ who is their only King who hath made them free and that they must not be the servants of men Answ The Liberty unto which Christ doth free his people in this life is inward and spiritual Gospel liberty is a liberty from sin a liberty unto duty a liberty to serve God in our order place and station a liberty from the yoke of Ceremonies c. and surely civil subjection to Superiours is not inconsistent with such spiritual liberty Indeed the Apostle Paul discourseth largely of Christian liberty and yet he doth more than
or interests they will break the King's Laws as well as God's but shew me a good Christian and I will shew you a good Subject that obeys for Conscience sake he that truly fears God will be afraid to break the Laws of God and Man And now there is an inference of the Magistrate's concernment depending hereupon and issuing from hence If true Religion make good Subjects and true Piety be the surest ground and bond of Loyalty then it greatly concerns Christian Rulers to maintain and keep up the true Religion among their Subjects and to promote Piety and to protect countenance and encourage those that are truly religious and pious This will prove to be a true point of State Policy for it is matter of life or death political to any Kingdom as it doth well or ill understand it 's own Interest Now I say This is the great concernment and interest of Soveraignty Qui vere civilis est vult cives bonos efficere legibus obtemperantes Arist l. 1. Eth. c. 13 and ruling Authority to take the most effectual course for the making of good Subjects and that is undoubtedly this to take order that principles of Religion may be instilled into men and fixed in them and that the power of godlinesse may be promoted and to this end that the exercises of Religion both publick and private may be encouraged and that care be taken that the Lord's day be sequestred and applied to holy exercises and that an able godly faithful practical Ministry be planted throughout the Prince his dominions and that insufficient negligent and scandalous Ministers be not promoted or suffered in the Church This would be the way to make good men and good Christians and consequently good Subjects tied fast to the Ruling Powers by the bond of Conscience without this other politick courses will prove ineffectual for till obedience be willingly yielded unto God it will not be conscionably and so not constantly yielded to his Deputies but Christians well informed from the Word of God and seasoned with Scripture Principles know that they must needs be subject not onely for wrath but for Conscience sake Again one word more with respect to Magistrates If Subjects be limited by the Word of God in point of their obedience so that though they be bound to subjection yet they are bound not to obey in any thing contrary to the Word Conceditur libertas utendi legibus c. itatamen ut substantia legum Divinarum non calcetur abjiciatur aut negligatur Szeged Bp. Babington Then Magistrates are likewise thus limited in their Commands and Injunctions so that though they have Power and Authority to make Laws and give Commands yet they are bound not to make any Law cross to God's Law not to command any thing contrary to the Word of God but all the Lawes and orders of Superiours should be subservient to the Laws of God or consistent with them Piety and Charity are the limits of the Magistrates command and our obedience It is the Magistrate ' sin to command that to be done in doing whereof the Subject finneth directly against God and in such a case of contrariety to the Divine Law the Maker as well as the observer of Laws abaseth the Eternal God setting him below the creature As Christ comandeth his Kingdom to be subject to Princes and Potentates so he commandeth all Princes and Potentates to be subject to his Kingdom Ps 2.12 Kiss the Son Every Calling and Profession hath some rule to go by and mens excellency in any calling stands in their conformity to the Rule Now the Word of God in a special manner propounded and enjoyned to Magistrates as their directory and Rule Josh 1.8 Deut. 17.18 19. 2 Chron. 23.11 See the Texts in the Margin When Joash was Crowned King the Testimony the Book of God's Law was given into his hand It was a Wise and a Religious saying of that famous Queen Elizabeth when a Bible was presented to Her as She passed thorow Cheap-side in London This hath been my delight and this shall be the Rule whereby I will frame my Government And doubtless if it must be the Subject his Rule for obeying it must be the Ruler his Rule for Commanding Vse 3 Let us approve our selves good Christian Subjects Exhortation yielding due subjection to the higher powers obeying for Conscience sake with a good Conscience in and for the Lord Give unto Caesar the things that are Caesars and unto God the things that are God's Fear God and honour the King Let not these two Precepts be divided let not this Scripture order be inverted Obligatio erga Deum absoluta erga homines conditionalis si nihil vel impium vel injustum praecipiant Obediendum est Magistratui quatenus ea praecipit quae praecipi possunt a Ministro Dei et ei conveniunt qui gladium gestat malorum vindicem bonorum defensorem FINIS