his to devise and that blasphemous tongue of his to utter but far different from what the Holy-Ghost dictaed to the Prophets and Apostles As God would not have us to worship him with the body only so neither would he have us to worship him with the soul only but with soul and body both together He is maker and Lord both of the one and the other and therefore he expects to be worshipped with the one as well as with the other When he calls so much for our worshipping him in spirit he doth not thereby exclude or discharge us from worshipping him with the body he never intended any such thing He calls upon us indeed to worship him with the spirit principally but not only Thus the Saints of old acted and guided by the Holy Ghost ever understood him and therefore did not only imploy their spirits in worshipping him but their bodies also To instance in the duty of prayer therein they bowed their knees lifted up their eyes voice hands smote upon their breasts and the like thereby teaching us that when we imploy our selves in the worship of God we must not only ingage the soul but the body likewise And Amyrald who writes against such quodlibetick spirits tells us that there never was any Nation that thought it enough to serve God in thought only without making demonstrations of their devotion by gestures and external actions And though bodily exercise as it is single and divided from the spirit doth as the Apostle saith profit little yet when it joyns with it it profits much It assists the spirit elevates the heart inflames the affections excites to devotion and makes us far more lively in the service of God than otherwise we should be What difference is there commonly in the intention of mens affections betwixt their praying only inwardly in the spirit and outwardly with the voice what deadness and straitness do usually attend the one and what life and inlargement the other Hence we find that the ancient Christians when they set upon the service of God did on purpose take in the body to assist the soul and further their devotion in it Witness that of Augustin by words saith he and other signes we greatly excite our selves to increase holy desire And upon this and such like grounds Aquinas teaches that prayer though secret may be vocal or that in our closet-performances when we have no spectators but God and Angels we may use the voice Anatomists say there are certain strings that come from the heart to the tongue so that the agitation and motion of the tongue doth stir and shake the heart and thereby awaken and affect it rendring it more vigorous and lively in its present services If therefore when we are waiting upon God in secret we find our hearts dead and liveless we may make use of the tongue for the quickning of them and rendring them more fit for the enjoyment of communion with him and better carrying on of his service The truth is such is the indisposition of our hearts to good that they are apt like Eutichus to drop asleep in the service of God and therefore we have need of something to awaken them and if we find the voice will do it we may use it If we find them lively and in good frame and fit for the service we are about we may then spare it and pray as Hannah did in her heart but if otherwise we may and ought to use it This I speak of the duty of prayer and that prayer which is secret the use of the voice is also necessary when one prayes in the person of many as the Master in his family or the Minister in the Congregation Those that are to joyn with them are to know what Petitions they make and say Amen to them which they cannot do except they use the voice And as the voice is thus to be used in the worship of God so must other parts of the body as the occasion serves and the nature of the duty requires And this is the common Doctrine of Protestants and therefore it is an unworthy slander of Maldonate the Jesuite that the Calvinists interpret worshipping in spirit a worshipping with faith alone as if they were Solifidians and against all external services Now what shall be done to thee thou false tongue sharp arrows of the Almighty and coals of Juniper This is even as true as that the Devil ran away with Luther that Calvin dyed blaspheming that Beza recanted that Junius had a cloven foot Nay this is as true as that their St. Patrick caused the stoln Sheep to bleat in the belly of him that had eaten it that St. Lupus shut the Devil all night up in a Tanckard that St. Dunstan held him fast by the nose with a pair of Tongs that St. Dominick made him hold him the Candle till he burnt his fingers with abundance of such ridiculous childish fables which yet their deluded vulgar take to be as true as the Gospel it self Let any man that hath eyes but read Calvin himself on the Text and he shall find him speaking not only for faith and purity of heart but likewise for prayer giving of thanks and innocency of life Nay their own Cajetan hath spoken as much if not more upon this Text for internal worship than Calvin hath done In spirit that is saith he not in the Mount not in Jerusalem not in any place not with temporal worship not with the tongue but with inward worship consisting in spirit that is in the mind as it bears the office of the spirit and layes out it self in spiritual matters What if Calvin had said all this then the angry Jesuite would sure have opened his mouth indeed But we may not wonder that the Jesuites carry it thus towards us Their friend Jarrigius hath told us what kind of dealing we are to expect from them It is saith he speaking to one of them your ordinary custome according to the secret and mysterious rules of the society to impose things upon the pastors of the reformed Churches in your injurious and treacherous refutations and make the world believe they say what never came into their thoughts A Jesuites tongue then is no slander but no more of this 2. Though it be our duty in these dayes of the Gospel to worship God in truth or without the use of Ceremonies yet we do not understand this to the exclusion 1. Of such Ceremonies as are of divine institution When Christ abolished the Jewish and Samaritan Ceremonies he instead thereof instituted some of another nature that were to continue Of this sort are water in Baptism bread and wine in the Supper with the several actions pertaining to them That these are Ceremonies both Papists and Protestants as Chamier shews grant and that they are of divine institution none but infidels will deny And these ceremonies notwithstanding what hath been
imperfect and finite but when we appear before God and do reverence to him we must do it with apprehensions of eminency and that such as is uncreated perfect infinite There are two dangerous rocks we are apt to dash our selves upon the one is the ascribing to the creature the perfections of God by conceiving of him carrying our selves towards him as God and the other is the ascribing to God the imperfections of the creature conceiving of him and carrying our selves towards him as a creature Now to give to the creature the Prerogative of God and to charge upon God the defects of the creature are equally absurd and dangerous It must therefore be our care that our worship be suitable to the object to which it is tendered That is fit for the Creator that is not fit for the creature and that is fit for the creature that is not fit for the Creator In our worshipping the creature we must take heed of going too far and in our worshipping the Creator we must take heed of falling short As God would not have us give to him the honour he hath allowed the creature so neither will he have us to give the creature that honour he hath reserved for himself but we must give unto Caesar the things that are Caesars and unto God the things that are Gods If we neglect to worship man we offer violence to the commandments of the second table if God then we offer violence to the commandments of the first To worship God and not man is to overthrow that beautiful and comely order he hath established in the world and to worship man and not God is to deny him that natural right that belongs to him and prefer his own creature before him which must needs be a sin of a very hainous nature We must see therefore that we worship both man and God man with the worshhip belonging to him and God with the worship belonging to him which what it is more particularly is the next thing I am to speak of 2. I am to shew what is meant by worshiping God in spirit For the better understanding whereof let us first enquire what is meant by the simple term spirit For if it be a true rule that the way to finde out the meaning of a complex term is first to take it asunder and seek out the meaning of the simple terms included in it then the way to find out the meaning of the worshipping God in spirit is first to take the clause asunder and seek out the meaning of the simple term spirit We cannot tell what is meant by worshiping God in spirit till we have first found out what is meant by spirit and when we know that we may easily know the other Now the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or spirit is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a word of various significations too many here to be reckoned up It is a word that the holy Ghost hath made use of to express the highest and eminentest beings in the world There is not any intelligent being whatsoever but it is applyed to it Sometimes it s spoken of God considered both essentially and personally Sometimes of angels both good and bad Sometimes of the soul of man and that not only vital but rational as it comprehends the understanding conscience heart will affections and all the powers thereof And in this last sense that is as it is put for the reasonable soul it uses to be taken when it is mentioned with the service and duty that we owe to God Though the sacred Pen-men put it for several things yet when they joyn it with our duty to God they mean by it the reasonable soul which as it is the interiour so it is the superiour nobler and better part of man whereby only he is capable of knowing God understanding his will and doing him service Witness these passages God is my witness whom I serve with my spirit And I will pray with the spirit And praying alwayes with all prayer and supplication in the spirit And so our Saviour uses the word in this place by spirit he means the reasonable soul or inner man as it stands in opposition to the body or outward man The meaning then of worshiping God in spirit is this that we must not worship him only with the body or outward man as heathens and hypocrites use to do but with the soul or inner man which is that which he in all holy addresses mainly looks after This I might have been larger on but I shall have occasion to say somewhat of it under the next particular 3. I am to shew you the meaning of worshiping God in truth And of this passage I may say as Maldonate did of another perhaps it had been easier had not men obscured it by their expositions Having perused several writers upon it I find them very different in their apprehensions concerning it Such of their opinions as are most remarkable I shall give you an account of and then recommend to you that which I take to be the true and genuine sense of it 1. Some think that by spirit in this place we are to understand the third person in the Trinity and by truth the second and that to worship God in spirit and in truth is to worship the Father in the Son and the Son in the Holy Ghost which is to worship the whole Trinity This way goes Athanasius but as Tolet the Jesuit saith truly it is difficult to accommodate this to the context Had this been our Saviours meaning he should rather have said they that worship him must worship him in truth and in spirit than as it is here in spirit and in truth But the mistake is evident and therefore I need to say no more of it 2. Others think to worship God in spirit and in truth are one and the same thing that to worship him in spirit is to worship him in truth and to worship him in truth is to worship in spirit and so they will have the one to be an exposition of the other And they say to worship him in spirit and in truth is not to worship him under a visible representation or similitude as if he were a material substance or body For the Samaritans worshipped him under the image of a dove and circumcised their children in the name thereof And so they will have our Saviours words to imply as much as if he had answered the woman thus Thou enquirest of me concerning the true place of worship whether it be mount Garizim or Jerusalem which is a thing now not very material for as much as the time is at hand that the worship of God shall be confin'd to neither of them But there is a greater difference betwixt us then that of place which thou takest no notice of and that is about the object of worship ye worship ye know not what
inquire after them call them home from their accustomed wandrings and when we have them we must mind them of what we are going about and with all the art and skill we can urge them with the solemnness and importance of the business giving them no rest untill we have brought them into an awfull and holy frame and fitted them for the work of God And when we have ingaged them in the work that we may the better keep them to it we must set a guard upon them and carefully watch all the back doors and secret passages through which they use to steal away from us And when ever we see them begin to stir we must presently resist and restrain them accounting that which is done without them is vain and to no purpose As Masters stand over their idle and unfaithful Servants to keep them to their work so must we stand over our Souls to keep them stedfast and lively in the Duties we have in hand that so we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear because he is a consuming Fire 6. Their spiritual slothfulness and lothness to take pains with their Souls They are convinced that they ought to worship God in spirit and that such kind of Worship is the likeliest to please him but rather than they 'l be at the pains to bring themselves to it they 'l let it alone and worship him that way that is less difficult choose whether it please him or no. They find that to take their thoughts and affections off their usual objects gather them together engage them in the service of God and there keep them close to it is a business that requires some pains which rather than they 'l take they 'l come with their Bodies alone into his presence and present them to him leaving their Souls behind them as diligent in the pursuit of secular matters as ever Or if they do bring their Souls with them yet they do not keep them with them They have their company no longer than the Servants that attend on them they bring them to their seats and there leave them For the redressing of this Evil we must call to mind the equity and necessity of the Souls engaging and concurring with us in the service of God and consider that whatever we do without them signifies just nothing And hereupon we must exercise all the Authority we have over them use all the Interest we have in them follow them from place to place and not let them rest till we have prevailed with them to accompany us into his presence and joyn with us in the several duties we are to perform Having thus spoken of the several Impediments that concern the worshipping of God in spirit I shall now proceed to those that concern the worshipping him in truth and shall therewith conclude this present discourse 1. Is Satan who does all he can to keep men from worshipping God in that simple plain way that he hath appointed stirring them up to worship him in a ceremonious superstitious manner which he well knows will be so far from being acceptable to God or advantagious to them that it will rather draw down his wrath upon them He hath disobeyed God himself and would have them to do so too He is become an Enemy to God himself and would have them to be so likewise He hath undone himself and does all he can to bring them into the same condition When we were in happiness be never rested till he had got us out of it and now we are out of it he does all he can to keep us from it As it was he that perswaded our first Parents to eat of the forbidden fruit so it was he that perswaded David to number Israel Judas to betray Christ Ananias and Saphira to lie to the holy Ghost It was he that sowed the tares among the Wheat hindred Paul from going to the Thessalonians and it is he that works in the Children of Disobedience He does all he can to draw men to down-right Atheism but if he cannot bring them to that he labours to draw them to idolatry and superstition If he can he 'll keep them from worshipping God at all but if he cannot prevail with them to go so far he then labours to keep them from worshipping him after the right manner If he can he 'll keep them from doing so much as God requires but if he cannot perswade them to that he then labours to draw them to more If he can he 'll perswade them to deny the authority and truth of the Scriptures but if he cannot get them to that he 'll urge them to deny their sufficiency and perfection and hereby he makes way for the bringing in of humane Inventions Traditions Ceremonies and any thing that superstitious heads have a mind of Calvin lays it down as an undoubted truth That there is not any evil perpetrated by men to which they are not incited by Satan And he himself confesses that he goes to and fro in the earth and walks up and down in it And for what end does he this Not to take the air for he needs it not or if he did he might do it in a narrower compass nor to acquaint himself with the World for he knows it well enough already but he does it for another end and that is as the Apostle shews to seek out whom he may devour and herein he is so diligent and unwearied that he compasses Sea and Land to make one Proselyte And that he may the better carry on this his infernal design he observes the several Constitutions Dispositions and Interests of men and accordingly lays his baits for them One he sees inclined to Unbelief and Atheism and tempts him to that another to Profaneness and Debauchery and tempts him to that another to Idolatry and Superstition and tempts him to that The Jews were a People extreamly addicted to Idolatry and Superstition and he being aware of it lays hold on all opportunities and means to provoke them to it Hence we find that when Moses was dead and God appointed Michael the Archangel to take his Body and bury it in some secret place out of the way Satan stands up and resists him He well knew that if the Israelites had but known where the Body of so great a Prophet had sain they would with little ado have been drawn to worship it and therefore when he saw the Angel going to interr it and lay it out of the way he withstands him and disputes with him The one was not more forward to suppress and prevent an occasion of Idolatry than the other was to promote and further it The Book called Petoreth Mosche or The passage of Moses out of this Life describes this strife which was betwixt them Whether the Book be Apocryphal or no I leave to others to judge but the thing it self is not for the Apostle Jude mentions it The Scripture in
of worship but require it expect it and take complacency in it 2. Because to worship God in spirit is more agreeable and sutable to his nature than other kind of worship Sutableness is desirable in every thing and therefore should not be neglected in the servcie of God As we would have him to furnish us with sutable mercies so we should yeild to him sutable service Now to worship God in spirit sutes better with his nature than other worship doth He is not made up of matter and form subject and accident act and power or the like ingredients proper to created beings but is a most simple essence He consists not of a gross corporal substance like the Heathen Idols made of silver and gold that have mouths and speak not eyes and see not ears and hear not but is a most pure spirit as void of matter as he is of either sin or mortality Hence that of the Prophet to whom will ye liken God or what likenss will ye compare unto him And the Apostle upbraids the Gentiles for their Anthropomorphitism in that they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man and to birds and fourfooted beasts and creeping things Yet were there some amongst them that took him to be a spirit and so taught Numa following the doctrine of Pythagoras forbade the Romans to believe that God had any form or likenss either of man or beast And upon this consideration they used no pictures or images of him accounting it sacriledge to represent Heavenly things by earthly forms And with this doctrine of the antient Romans agrees that of the modern Witness that of the famous Tully Neither can God himself saith he who is understood of us be understood any other way than as a mind loosed and free segregated from all mortal concretion What 's this but in a Periphrasis to tell us that he is a spirit And if he be a spirit then to worship him in spirit must needs be more proper than to do it in another way After this manner our Saviour himself reasons God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit It is Argumentum à conjugatis and implyes as much as if he had said God is a spirit and therefore they that worship him must worship him in spirit For though the illative or rational particle be not expressed yet it is evidently implyed and therefore we must not look upon the words as a bare precept only requiring us to worship God in spirit but also as a rational argument to induce us to it And indeed what can be more rational than that if God be a spirit we should worship him in spirit For if it be reasonable that since men have bodies we should reverence them with the body it must then needs be reasonable that since God is a spirit we should worship him with the spirit 3. Because to Worship God in spirit is the most excellent kind of worship As it is such worship as agrees both with his will and nature so it hath a peculiar excellency in it above all other worship and that in respect of the efficient or subject from whence it proceeds which is the inner man or reasonable soul. And what a rare and excellent piece that is is worthy the pen of an Angel to describe It is not a thing of such mean and homely extraction as the body made up of earth water and other elements ready to tumble into the grave not and putrifie every day it 's of a more divine and generous descent and of a more refined and immortal nature indued with several noble and usefull faculties each of them capable of performing excellent operations and services It is the candle of the Lord a Celestial spark a beam of light darfed down from God out of Heaven The Jewish Rabbi's have such an high esteem of it that they compare it in divers respects to God himself And not only they but Plato Tully Seneca Epictetus and other Heathens that dealt but with principles of Philosophy and could fee no further then the dimm eye of Nature would carry them have as Morney shews out of their writings many notable passages concerning it They say it came from God is a kin to him of the same off-spring with him and that it is like him and must never die but return to him again And indeed the excellencies of it are so many and so great that it s no easie matter to set them forth It is that which exalts a man above a beast and qualifies him for high and noble services It makes him fit to stand before Princes sit upon the throne of government converse with Angels serve his maker and enjoy communion with him Man is the beauty and glory of this lower world and the soul is the beauty and glory of man It is the fairest flower in all the reasonable creature the jewel in the Cabinet the diamond in the ring and so pretious that it is of more worth than all the riches of the Indies nay than all the World According to that of our Saviour what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul Hence it is that wise men who understand somewhat of the nature of it set such an high value upon it David calls it his darling Deliver saith he my soul from the sword my darling from the power of the dog The word here rendered darling is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies my only one and so is rendred by Pagnine and others Whereby it appears he valued his soul so much that he regarded nothing else besides it Nay he was so choice and tender of it that he would trust it with none but God and therefore commends it to him Into thine hands saith he in another place I commit my spirit He looked upon the worth of it as so great and the welfare of it as so much concerning him that he thought none fit to be trusted with it but God and therefore passing by all others both men and angels he commits it only to him He esteemed not any place safe enough but the Cabinet of Gods gratious providence wherein he locks up the souls of all his servants and therefore he commits it to him to be preserved and kept by him And hence it is likewise that God himself makes such account of it and stands so much on it calling for it from every person and looking for it in every duty My son saith he give me thy heart He doth not say thy body thy head or thy hand but thy heart He stands not so much upon those things as he doth upon the heart That he looks for in every ordinance and in every performance And hence it is likewise that Satan aims so much at it laying all the
baits he can to insnare it mattering neither one thing nor other so he can but gain it He goes about like a roaring lyon ranges up and down compasses Sea and Land and all to make a prey of souls Other Lyons prey upon bodies but he preys upon souls Now all these things bespeak the excellency of the soul. Were not the nature of it very pretious neither man nor God nor Satan would make such account of it And by how much the soul is more excellent by so much the worship performed by it is the more excellent By how much the soul is more excellent than the body by so much the worship of the soul is more excellent than that of the body Lanctantius speaking of the excellency of the Christian religion above that of the Heathens saith go amongst them and there is nothing but the blood of beasts a little smoak and foolish sacrificing but with us there is a good mind a pure heart and an innocent life The one was outward the other inward the one consisted in killing and sacrificing of beasts the other in purity of heart and innocency of life And without doubt a pure heart and an innocent life are of higher price with God than the most splendid glittering outward worship whatsoever And some of the heathens themselves thought no less as appears by that of Tully the most excellent pure holy and pious worship of the gods saith he is that we should serve them with a pure sincere and upright mind and voice Now if the spirit be the most excellent part of man and worshipping in spirit be the most excellent kind of worship then certainly it belongs to God and ought to be rendered to him For as he is the donor and Lord of all we have so he is worthy of and looks for whatever is most excellent from us If the first-born he the most excellent he looks for that if our first-fruit be most excellent he looks for that and if there be a male in our flock he looks for that and will not take it well if he be denyed Since then worshipping him in spirit is the most excellent kind of worship we may well make account he expects it from us 4. Because till we worship him in spirit we worship him in vain Though a man spend never so much time and treasure in worshipping God yet if his spirit ingage not in it all is to no purpose Though he should with the Heathen offer whole Hecatombs of sacrifices yet if his spirit concurr not in the work all would be ineffectual This the Scripturs is most clear in witness that of the Prophet Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow my self before the high God shall I come before him with burnt offerings with Calves of a year old will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams or with ten thousands of Rivers of Oyl shall I give my first-born for my transgression the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God The people were convinced that it was their duty to please God but they knew not how to do it They thought great and costly Sacrifices of Calves Rams Oyl and such like things would have done it but the Prophet teaches them another lesson he lets them know that was not the way and withall shews them there was something else which they minded not that was more acceptable to him than any such matters and that was justice mercy and humble walking These he shews were far more pleasing to God than all those Ceremonious and costly Sacrifices they kept such a stir with and put so much confidence it Both the Israelites and jews in the time of their degeneracy were much in external sacrifices and services and what were they better for it O Ephraim saith God What shall I do unto thee for your goodness is as a morning cloud and as the early dew it goeth away What is emptier than the morning cloud and what is lighter than the early dew a blast of wind dispels the one and a beam of the Sun exhales the other How came it to pass then that the goodness of Ephraim and Judah had no more substance and solidity in it why because they rested in their external services and performances not regarding in the mean time that which they should mainly have looked after Nay God doth not only make light account of unspiritual services but he rejects and abhors them as things abominable Bring saith he no more vain oblations incense is an abomination to me Though the Sacrifices they offered him were of his own appointment and typified the death of his Son who was so dear to him yet in regard they proceeded not from the heart but were tendered to him in an hypocritical way he refuses to receive them speaks of them under terms of highest dislike and disdain tells them plainly they were hatefull and loathsome to him And he doth not only reject and abhor such kind of service but severely punishes it For as much saith he as this people draw near me with their mouth and with their lips do honour me but have removed their heart far froms me and their fear towards me is taught by the precept of men therefore behold I will proceed to do a marvellous work amongst this people even a marvellous work and a wonder for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid And this truth the modern Jews though a people very prone to rest in outward services do confess and own in an eminent manner Buxtorf saith that upon the very walls of their Synagogue they have this sentence written Prayer without the intention of the mind is like the body without the soul. And Cappellus tells us that in their Euchologium or prayer-book they have this passage to the same purpose Where withall shall I come before his face but with my spirit for nothing is more pretious to a man than his soul And the Papists too for all their peregrinations processions images and gawdy stuff speak after the same manner Estius writing upon the Text saith Our Saviour requires that kind of worship which is most excellent and which is altogether necessary and without which bodily worship is unprofitable and vain Nay the wiser sort of the very Heathens own it Plutarch saith It s incredible that the gods delight in the outward beauty of creatures And if he held that the gods delight not in the outward beauty of creatures we may fairly conclude he also held that they delight not in the outward dress of services when there is nothing of inward affection and devotion It appears then not only from Scripture the sentence whereof is of it self
you nothing of your own Observation or common same to inform you easily imagine But we need not travel so far from home for instances of this nature there are many even among our selves that stand deeply guilty of this sin serving God sometimes with their Bodies but seldom or never with their Souls There are many amongst us of such a frame that if they do but observe the Bell come together into the presence of God at the hour of Prayer and there abide a while with their Bodies though their Souls are at the ends of the earth they think they have done all that is commanded and may expect a blessing They think if they can but follow the Calendar go over their Divine Offices as they call them stand up kneel down cringe bow and answer in their turns they have chuse where the heart is all this while done God good service But alas what 's all this to the purpose What 's all this in comparison of what God requires What 's all this in comparison of one serious hearty humble prayer accompanied with ture contrition and lively faith Constantinus Copronimus the Eastern Emperour was wont to say Quid sine pectore corpus what 's the body without the soul What are stately Cathedrals melodious Musick costly Hangings rich Vtensils gawdy Vestments and all the gestures and postures imaginable without a praying heart Though our Worship be never so splendid and pompous decked with the most exquisite humane ornaments yet unless the heart ingage in it it is in vain nay odious and abominable It is to be wished then that men would stand less upon matters of this nature and look more after the heart 2. Such as worship God but not in truth Many are of such a temper that they know not how to worship him unless it be in a ceremonious way They have so inur'd themselves to Ceremonies and taken such affection to them that they scarcely know how to do any thing in the service of God without them so that take away them and you serve them as Jacob did Laban you take away their gods and with them their worship happiness and all at once Though they hear over and over again that God hath declared against such kind of worship told them that it is not pleasing to him that the time of it is expired and the like yet they are not satisfied but they must and will have it And herein they much aggravate their sin that not conrenting themselves with those Ceremonies which are of divine institution whereof I gave you account before they frame others of their own heads which they do not only equal with but prefer before them Thus the Scribes and Pharisees as if all those Ceremonies God appointed by Moses had been too few they must have some of their own which they were very exact chuse what became of the other in the observation of What a stir did they keep about washing of hands cups pots brazen vessels tables and such like things which they did not only use themselves but impose on others and that with so much zeal and rigour that they were ready to quarrel with Christs Disciples because they did not do as they did And what ado likewise did they make with their Phylacteries and fringes not contenting themselves with those prescribed by God they would have greater such as would be more seen and with a louder voice proclaim their zeal and sanctity They made broad saith the Evangelist their Phylacteries and enlarged the borders of their garments They thought those appointed by the Law were too little and did not sufficiently bespeak their good affection and devotion which they desired all might take notice of and admire them for and therefore they made them such as would be seen further and speak lowder and these they wore with much pride and ostentation And in this ceremonious superstitious humour the Papists imitate them to the life As they imitate them in their Hypocrisie so they do likewise in their superstition Hence that serious complaint of Erasmus The world saith he is laden with humane constitutions it is laden with the opinions and doctrines of the School-men with the tyranny of the mendicant Fryers who though they are the Vassals of the See of Rome are yes so potent and numerous that they are formidable to the very Pope and Kings themselves Jerusalem it self when she was under the paedagogical Administration and when the Ceremonial Law was at the height had not more Ceremonies than Rome hath at this day There was not a Ceremony among the Jews which they have not either in the same kind or somewhat equivalent to Nay as if that were not sufficient they have taken up many used by the Heathens which the Jews had not nor any thing like them And how far many amongst us that pretend to be come out of Babylon and to have cast of communion with her do symbolize with them I need not tell you Now what manifest disobeying nay presumptuous contradicting is this of Jesus Christ Will he have the Law of Ceremonies abrogated and will men and such too as pretend to be his obedient servants have it continued Does he say God must be worshipped without Ceremonies and do they say he shall be worshipped with them What 's this but a thrusting themselves into his Throne an invading of his Authority and a laying hold on his Soveraignty and Dominion What 's this but to charge him with insufficiency and say he is unfit to govern the Church or be the Head of it And is this the respect they have for him Is this the thanks they give him for their Redemption for his saving them from the curse of the Moral Law and yoke of the Ceremonial Who would ever think that any that carry the names of Christians and desire the setting up of his Kingdom and Government should deal thus unworthily with him Either he is our Lord of not fnot why do we profess he is if he be why do we not obey him The third Vse may be for Exhortation to perswade all to worship God in spirit and in truth This is the Worship God himself hath prescribed and by his Son propounded to us and therefore let us all without any disputing or drawing back close with it 1. Let us worship him in spirit When ever we come into his presence let 's beware we leave not our spirits behind us let 's be sure we take them along with us and engage them in the work What ever service or duty we set upon let 's be sure to imploy our spirits in it Let thine heart saith God keep my Commandments The heart is the thing he chiefly calls for expects and eyes in all our performances and therefore when ever we address our selves to him let 's be sure to bring our hearts along with us present them to him and keep them in order whiles they are before him When we
go into his presence to sanctifie his name and humble our selves let 's do it with the heart When we pray unto him praise him sing Psalms let 's do it with the heart When we read or hear his Word receive the Sacrament or celebrate any other Ordinance let 's do it with the heart One grain of heart-service is of more account with him than Mountains of all other services whatsoever He would rather have one bleeding heart offered to him upon the Altar of his Sons Merits than many thousands of Oxen upon Altars of Stone He is more pleased with the sighs of a contrite heart than the costliest incense that ever was presented to him The heart is the thing he hath pitch'd upon and he will either have it or nothing He stands so much upon it in all our sacrifices that though other things be mean yet if that be there to animate and put life into them he will accept of them and if other things be never so costly and that be wanting he will not endure them Set the heart aside and he that killeth an Oxe is as if he slew a man He that sacrificeth a Lamb as if he cut off a Dogs neck He that offereth an oblation as if he offered Swines blood He that burneth Incense as if he blessed an Idol Alas men mistake the nature of Religion imagining it consists in that it does not They look to their outward actions and keep a great stir about them whereas he regards them not any further than the heart concurs with them What cares he for the expression of the tongue lifting up the eyes smiting the breast bowing the knees or any such outward actions he matters them not a jot further than the heart joyns with them What cares he for a mans making a good Profession unless he have good affection for his speaking like an Angel unless he mean accordingly for his seeming to be holy unless he be so indeed What cares he for a mans outward ingaging in the common duties of Religion while he inwardly hates them for his giving him the knee in prayer while he denies him the heart for his hearing the word while he does not believe it What cares he for his sitting with Christ at the Sacrament while he hath a design to betray him for his going in Pilgrimage to his Sepulchre while he daily crucifies him at home for his wearing hair-cloath on his back while he nourishes Pride and Hypocrisie in his soul Do you care for a man that smiles in your face and speaks you fair but inwardly hates you and plots your ruine No more does God care for a mans specious pretences unless his heart be with him If therefore you would worship God regularly acceptably comfortably see that you worship him in spirit Now that I may the better evince to you the reasonableness of this worshipping God in spirit and provoke you to it I shall offer to your thoughts these following Queries 1. Whether hath not God propriety in your souls as well as in your bodies Did not he make the one as well as the other Did not he redeem the one as well as the other Hath he not furnished you with proper and suitable supplies for the one as well as the other Nay have not you solemnly resign'd to him the one as well as the other If you have with what colour or shew of reason can you with-hold from him the one any more than the other If we consult the Scripture we shall find that though God challenge a propriety both in soul and body yet he challenges a propriety in the former in an especial manner calling it his soul. That hath not saith he lift up my soul to vanity In the Original according to the Kethib or Line it is as our translation renders it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his soul but according to the Keri or Marginal correction it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my soul God thereby intimating that the soul is his and that in a peculiar manner as a thing that he hath title to in many respect But if you think this not clear enough hear what he saith in another place All souls saith he are in me All Souls yes and all bodies too but souls are his in an eminent way Every soul in the world is his made by him under his eye and at his disposal The souls of Parents and Children rich and poor Princes and people are all his Now if the soul as well as the body be Gods what more equal than that you should at his command worship him with it were it your own you might with-hold it but being his and that too which he mainly respects looks after you cannot without guilt of high injustice do it 2. Whether is he not worthy of your souls and the best service you are capable of doing him with them Though the soul be as you have heard an excellent being yet sure if it were far better than it is it were not too good for him What did he not think it too good to bestow it on you and that before it was tainted with the least spot of sin and will you think it now too good for him Nay did he not think his own Son with all the blessings of the Covenant of Grace too good for you and yet will you think your Souls too good for him and with-hold them from joyning with your Bodies in his Worship There is not a Soul no nor an Angel in Heaven that thinks himself too good to be employed in his service but is ready to undertake the meanest Office for him and shall we poor Mortals think our selves or any thing belonging to us too good to be laid out for him By no means We should rather say Come Lord here is my Soul take it to thy self and use it as thou wilt It is indeed my Darling but were it ten thousand times better and dearer to me than it is I should not think it too good for thee Such as it is it is thine Oh that it were better for thee 3. Whether should you not let him have that in your Worship which he judges and measures all by That you ought without question to do and consequently you ought to let him have the heart for that he reckons all by Solomon saith of a man As he thinketh in his heart so is he that is both in himself and in Gods account As God finds his heart so he esteems of him if he find it good he esteems him good and if he finds it bad he esteems him bad And as he esteems of every man by his heart so he esteems of his service by it If the heart be in it he accounts it good and if the heart be not in it he accounts it bad Let a man but give God his heart and he over-looks other infirmities and if he deny him that let him do never so much it 's all lost labour
prevail A little Pulse and Water with his blessing nourishes better than all the dainties of the Emperours Court without it But the Jesuite goes on and tells us That what Salt is to Flesh that Ceremonies are to Religion To say no more have not these men dainty stomachs when they must have sauce to such savoury Food Are they not better fed than taught when Angels Food will not down unless dipped in the sauce of humane Ceremonies Is not the Word of God it self sweeter than the honey or the honey Comb And are not the Sacraments of themselves a feast of fat things a feast of wines on the lees of fat things full of marrow of wines on the lees well refined And must they have sauce to these Were their appetites like those of the Apostles and Primitive Christians and other of their fellow servants they would make shift to get down such food without the Salt of Ceremonies and it were just with God to take it from them and make them fast until they have better stomachs If notwithstanding all this the Worship and Ordinances of Christ in their spirituality and simplicity will not down with them but they must needs have the sauce of Ceremonies let them go on and take their course but as the Scripture saith let not us eat of their dainties And so much for the grounds on which men proceed and build their prejudice against Worshipping God in truth 4. Is a worldly temporizing frame of spirit whereby they suit themselves and their proceedings to the times and places wherein they live doing not that which God requires and ténds to the honour and furtherance of Religion but that which carnal Policy suggests and tends to the promoting of their worldly interest They prostitute themselves to sublunary influences and suffer themselves to be acted and governed by them ever steering their course that way that promises most gain and safety choose whether it be the way of God yea or no. They do not like good and righteous men keep their Consciences at one but turn them as Diogenes did his Tub still upon the Sun Of this kind of spirit was Alcibiades who transformed himself into all manner of shapes good or bad that the several times places and conditions wherein he was called for insomuch that he exceeded as my Author saith the Cameleon it self In Sparta he was painful and abstemious in Ionia idle and voluptuous in Thrace he was ever drinking and riding in Persia magnificent and fumptuous still observing the mode of the place where he was and conforming to it And of this spirit was Ecebolus in the time of Constantius he own'd the Christian Religion in the time of Julian he disclaim'd it and in the time of Jovinian he returned to it again and so as the Historian saith He was light and inconstant from first to last And of this spirit was Petrus Mongus Bishop of Alexandria first he was of the Orthodox Faith then a Condemner of it after an Aopprover of it and after that a Condemner of it And of this spirit are many of the present Age. both in this and other Nations Some in France were of Opinion that it is meet for a man to accommodate himself to that manner of serving God which is received by custom or authorized by the Magistrate every one in his respective Countrey without much solicitousness and inquiry whether it be Christian or Jewish Pagan or Mahometan And this was it that put Amyrald as he himself shews upon writing of that excellent Treatise of Religions wherein he solidly refutes that atheistical and profane conceit And there are too many amongst us that in complyance with Hobb's licentious Principles will rather be of any Religion the Magistrate shall set up or worship God any way he shall appoint than expose themselves to a little censure and trouble If the States under whom they live will have them to be Protestants they 'l be Protestants and if they 'l have them to be Papists they 'l be Papists If they 'l have them to worship God without Ceremonies they 'l worship him without them and if they 'l have them to worship him with them they 'l worship him with them To be short they 'l be as to matter of Religion whatever their Governours will have them to be do whatever they will have them to do thereby giving the world to understand that they are not made as the Marquess of Winchester said ex Quercu but ex Salice not of Oak but of Willow A man may say to one of them as Tully did to the man in his time As is the Garment so is thy Opinion thou hast one for home and another for abroad Now this is a most unworthy and base frame of spirit and a most wicked and sinful practice savouring rather of Atheism than of true Piety or any Christian zeal It is quite contrary to the express Command of God who forbids Conformity to the World It is quite contrary to the honour importance aud security of Religion that calls for our utmost Zeal Seriousness and Exactness it is quite contrary to that solemn Oath we entred into at our Baptism whereby we ingaged to forsake the World and keep Gods holy Commandments and walk in the same all the days of our Lives It is quite contrary to the practice of the faithful Servants of God in all Ages of the World The Righteous saith Job shall hold on his way and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger The work 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies such a way as is distinct from other ways and such a course as is different from that which others take and this the righteous man walks in stedfastly and constantly Notwithstanding the paucity of those that joyn with him and the numerousness of those that separate from him yet he holds on in his way notwithstanding all the flouts and taunts that he meets with from the Sons of Belial for his holy singularity and preciseness yet he does not like the Weather give again but stands his ground and holds on his way To go no further how fixed and stable was Job himself in the midst of those shaking Providences that befel him Though God rent and tore him all to pieces yet he remain'd still the same Till I die saith he I will not remove my Integrity from me q. d. Though I have lost my Children and Estate and Friends yet I have retain'd my Integrity and that I am resolved to take with me to my Grave as naked as I am I have one thing still that is my Integrity and choose what befalls me I am resolved to keep that Though Satan should offer me all he hath taken from me in exchange of it yet would I not part with it though he should offer me as many Kingdoms as I have boyles in this diseased Body yet I would not let it go As my Soul is the
glory of my Body so is my Integrity the glory of my Soul and therefore whatever becomes of me I 'll not part with it I 'll sooner suffer the Blood to be prest out of my veins and the Soul out of my Body than my Integrity out of my Soul And how bravely did the primitive Christians carry themselves as to this matter Pliny writing to Trajan declares to him that such was their Zeal and Courage in the behalf of their God that nothing could stir them from it neither the imperious checks of the potent Emperours nor the soft language of the eloquent Orators could draw them from the Faith but they stedfastly own'd it and constantly persevered in the defence of it 5. Is sinfull moderation or over much love of peace As there are some that with the Sarmatians are so ignorant and barbarous that they know not what peace means and others that with Pope Sixtus so at enmity with it that they dye at the name of it so there are others so in love with it that they exceed in their esteem of it insomuch that with the Romans they are ready to build Temples and Altars to it and sacrifice truth purity holiness and all to it Even amongst those that profess Christianity and seem to bear respect to the truth some are of such a lukewarm complying spirit that they 'l appear for it no further than they may do it with the maintenance of peace Though they see the truth arraigned condemned and led away to be crucified yet rather than they 'l occasion any stir by seeking to rescue it they 'l let it go They make peace their darling and thereupon when they see any occasion of difference arising they cry out as David did of his Son deal gently with the young man Absalom They would have all to deal tenderly with it but as for truth which is the light and glory of Israel they care not what becomes of it They have great care and pitty of peace but little or none for truth Though they see the ahomination of desolation stand in the holy place though they see the worship of God corrupted his ordinances polluted his word trampled under foot the discipline of the Church utterly perverted the Ministers and servants of God every where reproached and persecuted and religion it self made the scorn of the multitude yet rather than they 'l have an hand in the disturbing of the peace they 'l not so much as open their mouths against it Rather than they 'l have the noise of an hammer in the Temple they 'l see the pillars walls with all the strength and glory of it fall to the ground and become a ruinous heap Brutus layes it to the charge of Tully that he was afraid of a civil war but not of a shamefull peace And so we may lay it to the charge of these men they would rather sit down under the greatest impurities and corruptions than open their mouths to speak against them Nay many are so far from that true zeal and masculine courage they should have for the truth that they do not only refuse to appear for it themselves but in veigh against such as do representing them not only as foolish hypocritical precise proud but as schismatical seditious factious as persons against order and government against good laws and customes as disturbers and troublers of the peace Ahab counted Elijah the troubler of Israel And Haman laid it to the charge of the Jews that they were disobedient to the Kings laws And the adversaries of Jerusalem told Artaxerxes that it was a rebellious City hurtfull unto Kings and Provinces And the unbelieving Jews at Thessalonica did as much for the Apostles they said they were the men that turned the world upside down And Tertullus calls Paul a pestilent fellow and a mover of sedition And the Jansenian tells of the Jesuites that after they have disturbed the peace of the Church by their horrid doctrines which tend to the destruction of the precepts of Jesus Christ they make it their business to accuse those who endeavour the re-establishment of them as disturbers of the Churches peace After they have put things into disorder on all sides by the publication of their detestable morality they treat as breakers of the publick peace those whole consciences will not suffer them to comply with their designs and who cannot edunre that those Pharisees of the New Law as they have called themselves should establish their humane traditions upon the ruines of the Divine Thus he This is the reward the ingratefull world gives the servants of Christ for their zeal and faithfulness in his cause Instead of encouraging them and joyning with them they load them with the ignominious and hatefull terms of rebellion and turbulency labouring thereby to make them odious and frustrate their blessed endeavours Now this lukewarm frame of spirit God doth every where declare against and condemn calling upon his servants to be couragious in his cause to quit themselves like men and to contend for the faith he hath delivered to them And they according to the trust reposed in them have done it to the hazarding of all near and dear to them What a peaceable man was Moses how apt to bear wrongs how loth to revenge he was the meekest man upon the face of the earth Yet how exact and punctuall was he in the cause of God When the Israelites were about to come out of Aegypt and Pharaoh would have had them to have left their flocks and herds behind them Moses tells him to his face Our cattel also shall go with us there shall not an hoof be left behind Had Moses lived in our dayes what censures and reproaches would this action have brought upon him what not obey the King not observe his royal commands and that in those things as undoubtedly fall under his cognizance and authority what not leave an hoof at his appointment what disloyalty and irreligiousness is this Away with such a fellow from the earth for it is not fit that he should live This no doubt would have been the language of many amongst us against this faithful servant of God But we must not measure the proceedings of good men by the foolish partial judgements of carnal ones who would rather see the interest of God and his Kingdom perish and come to nothing than expose themselves to the least hazard in preserving it To this example of Moses we may add that of Paul What a peaceable man was he who ever loved peace more desired it more preached it more wrote for it more or endeavoured it more then he yet would not he give place to the false Apostles by subjection no not for an hour What not for an hour who in such a juncture of things would not have born much longer but he would not do it he would not lye for God or use any indirect base means