Invocate and give thanks to his Father in the New-Testament are they not External Ceremonies and Services Did not the Apostles and the whole Church then and the whole Church after them supplicate God the Father by this Rite They continued breaking of Bread i. e. in the use of the Holy Sacrament and Prayers And Therefore in the Primitive Church they used to say all the Service at the Altar to Signify that they sent up their prayers in the Name of him whose Sacrifice the Ground of all attonement and Intercession was in that place Exhibited and Commemorated yet it seems very Novel to us to have part of our Service read there But least you might say the meaning is not that God will have no External Service but he will be worshipped by no External Gestures or Postures I say this also contradicts our Saviours Practise who himself lifted up his Sacred Eyes to Heaven when helprayed for Lazarus fell on his Face when he Prayed in his Agony c. What was Imposition of hands but an External gesture when God was invoked by way of benediction besides I see no reason why in the point of Evangelical worship Gesture should be more excepted against than Voice Is not Confessing Praying Praising an External Bodily worship as well as that of Gesture why then should the one derogate from the worship of the Father in Spirit and Truth and not the other In a word there never was yet in the World any Society of men that worshipped the Father in such a manner as this interpretation doth emply and therefore this cannot be the meaning Our Saviour intends here to reprehend the Idolatrous worship of the Samaritans The true sence who worshpped they knew not what Viz. God under the Representation of a Dove as the Israelites in Jeroboams time and long after under the similitude of a Calfe The Samaritans Idol This was the Object of the Samaritans worship as appears out of the writings of the Jewish Rabbies This was their Idolatry they worshipped God in a Bodily shape and the reason which our Saviour gives seems to emply this For God saith he is a Spirit i. e. he hath no body nor is he such therefore he must be worshipped as a Spirit for so indeed he is and not by any bodily Representatation So that the sense here is this The hour cometh and now is that the true worshippers shall Worship the Father in Spirit that is conceiving of him no otherwise than in Spirit and in Truth that is not under any Corporal or Visible shape for those that Worship under any Corporal similitude do indeed belye him For the Apostle saith of such as changed the Glory of the Incorruptible God into an Image made like to Corruptible man Rom. 1. they changed the truth of God into a lye Hence Idols also are called Lyes Amos. 6.4 Some interpret these words the true worshippers shall worship God in Spirit that is no longer by Jewish Ceremonies but in and by Christ who is the substance of those shadows This sence though it be true and plausible yet it is not congruous to our Saviours reason For God saith he is a Spirit and must be c. If this be the reason then God should never have been worshipped with Jewish Ceremonies and Rites for God was a Spirit from the beginning and manifested himself so to be even to the Jews who Worshipped him with Rites and Ceremonies Therefore I adhere to my first sense Thus your main Fort is blown up The Second Objection drawn from Goos Protestation against Sacrifices Michel 6.6 7 8. Hos 6.6 Isaiah 1. Psalm 51. with the Answer Vid. In a word Religion as man hath both a Body and Soul the Soul of our Service is the Service of our Soul but the Body of that Soul is the Service of our Body one must inform the other and both make a compleat man of God For as the Body without the Soul is dead so the Soul without the Body is imperfect God loves no maimed Sacrifice God calls for the Heart because he knows it commands the whole Man and therefore if he have the Heart at his devotion he is sure of the Body also Obj. Suppose all this God is to be adored outwardly as well as inward ly Yet this manner of Adoration is Dangerous and may become many ways Evil. For 1. It is Scandalous to weak brethren who hereat are offended 2. It may be an occasion to some Ignorant Ones to Commit Idolatry by Adoring the very Table 3. It is a fair Introduction to Popish Superstition 1. Every Scandal or offence taken is not a Scandal given Therefore that is properly called Scandalous which in its own nature tends to give offence not that which through willfulness or blindness may by accident become such Resp Resp Was not Christ himself a Scandal and Rock of offence to the Jews a Stumbling-block to the Greeks foolishness was not his Cross a Scandal should not therefore Christ have come and been Crucified because this proved an occasion of Scandal but who are these weak Ones and how is this an offence For the weak Ones Who are the weak they are such as usually think themselves strongly grounded in the Faith and able to confute this Worship we here maintain Such as though they be Women and Weavers think they can teach twenty of us thred-bare Schollers for all our Learning These are the weak Ones forsooth weak I confess in their knowledge for they are blind and therefore the bolder but in their own conceipt strong enough But how are these offended Why are they offended Are they drawn to imitate us in our Worship waveringly and doubtingly not knowing through the weakness of their Judgment whether they sin or no Scandal but relying on the knowledge and conscience of him whom they imitate thereby ensnare their consciences in sin This is properly a Scandal 1 Cor. 8. as the Apostle shews expresly were he makes that a Scandal given when in a thing in it self indifferent as Eating of meat Sacrificed to Idols not as such but as bought in the Market by a man of knowledge who knoweth that meat commendeth not to God and takes no notice of the Idol to whom it was offered but Eats is as Common or Ordinary When I say this Act of him that hath knowledge doth occasion one weak in knowledge to Eat the same meat with conscience of the Idol grounding himself upon the example of him whom he imitates and so offends Thus then comes in the Scandal The strong Eat of that without conscience of the Idol among the weak or ignorant that know not how to make such a distinction They imitate the strongs example as thinking what is lawful for the strong is lawful for them and so Eat of it with conscience of the Idol or as devoted to an Idol which is Idolatry Thus the strongs knowledge is an occasion of Sandal to the weak that
a Minister about Holy Things or one that attends about holy service Neh. 10.36 Esay 61.6 Jer. 33.21 and therefore Scripture it self gives this interpretation of their names in very many places For though there were diverse Offices in the Jewish Hierarchy as the High-Priest the Priests the Levites Nethemims Porters Singers c. yet were they all Ministers about Holy Things though some in a higher others in a lower rank For the Levites Ministred immediately to the Priests the Priests to the High Priest and he immediatly to God as in our Church the Deacon whose name signifies a Minister Ministers to the Priest and the Priest immediatly to God Therefore Priest Levite Ezr. 7.24 Nethemims c. are all sum'd up in this name of Ministers see Joel 1.9 and 13. where they are all called Ministers of the Altar So Joel 2. Ezech. 46.24 c. Thus you see what the Hebrew word signifies which we turn Priest and what the Greek word Priest signifies which we would not have the Clergy called by and yet it is the very word given them by the Holy Ghost in the New-Testament viz. Elders Now I pray The Dignity of the Priests if they who waited on the Altar were called Ministers of God or of the Sanctuary or of the Holy Things why may not we of the Gospel be so called that is Priests for that the Interpreters ment when they translated the Hebrew Cohen which word likewise signifies a Prince to intimate the great Dignity of that Function which consisted in Ministring unto God about Holy Things And of no less Dignity is the word Priest or Elder And therefore these terms were premiscuously given to the Jewish Clergy and an Elder with them sometimes signifies a Prince So the Elders of the People of the City of the Congregation fignifies Rulers and Governours To be God's Ministers is to be the Peoples Elders We are the Ministers of God not men 2 Cor. 6. 4. 1 Cor. 4. 1. 2 Cor. 3. 6. Rom. 13. 6. for we are not the Ministers of men but of God and so we are stiled Ministers of Christ Ministers of the Spirit God and Christ set us on work he sends us forth to him we Minister though for you When we administer the Holy Word the Sacraments we are not therein your Ministers but his Dispensers or Stewards For we do it not at your appointment or command or by your Authority but by Gods from whom we have our Calling and Commission As the King is not his Subjects Minister though he doth administer Justice to them and therefore he is called Gods Minister Angels likewise Ministring Spirits to God even then when they are sent out for the good of them who shall be Heirs of Salvation Psal 103.21 104.4 For though the material Object of their Ministry or that whereabout their Ministery is conversant be men yet the formal Object or he in reference to whom this Ministery is executed is God Hence ye Priests ye Ministers of his that do his pleasure and he maketh his Ministers a flame and Daniel saith of them thousand thousands Ministred unto them Thus you see then whose Ministers we are Gods Dan. 1.10 not mens Secondly What a Dignity this is it is no less than what is attributed to Kings and Angels You see likewise that what the Interpreters translated Priests signifies that which you call us Ministers and the executing of their Office Ministring or Ministration As also that the word Elder Luk. 1.23 that the Holy Ghost calls us by is all one with the word Priest And therefore if you be so much against the Jewish terms you should rather call us Priests than Ministers but indeed we are both and the Holy Scripture useth both words promiscuously as well in the Old as the New Testament For we are Elders in respect of the people Ministers in respect of God and we Minister to God about Holy Things unless you will say that our Gospel is not so Holy as their Law our Preaching as their Expounding our Prayers and Service and Sacraments wherein is the Body and Blood of our Saviour are not as Holy as their Incense Oblation and Sacrifice for about these things are our Ministers conversant Now I come to the main Question concerning Adoration or Worship of God before or towards the Altar in our ingress into his house or at any other time when we shall approach thereunto Where first I will shew you what is meant by Adoration or Worship Secondly what is meant by the House of God 1. By Worship What is meant by Worship I do not understand here in the Latitude of the word the whole Act of Religion the whole Duty of Man which sometimes is generally so called the Worship of God the Fear of God nor yet only or primarily the inward Reverence and Devotion of the heart but in special the outward expression of Reverence and Humility in the posture or gesture of the Body not excluding but implying the inward worshiping of the mind In this sense the word is often taken in Holy Scripture as in the second Commandment Thou shalt not bow down to them Gen. 24 26.48.5 Rev. 19.10 nor Worship them So Saint John fell at the Angels feet to Worship him but the Angel refuseth it and biddeth him worship God that is give the outward Worship that he was ready to do to him to God to whom alone it was due For had not the outward Worship been an Act of Religion in regard of Saint John's intention and inward Reverence the Angel needed not to have refused it for outward Worship if it be only Civil is such as one man may give to another a Subject to his Prince much more to an Angel You see then the Holy Scripture by the name of Worship doth oftentimes mean in special the outward Adoration of the Body in visible gestures and so do I here Now this Act of outward Worship I make a part of Religion which that you may the better conceive I will tell you the Nature and Parts thereof For it is not generally believed that outward Worship is due unto God and consequently that it is part of Religion Religion Religion the Nature and Parts which is derived from a word that signifies binding Implies three things 1. An Act of Duty 2. The Object of that Act God 3. The Bond or Tye imposed upon us for the performance of such a Duty to such an Object The Object of Religion is God most Infinite most Glorious most Excellent and Perfect and therefore our Act of Duty in reference to such an Object ought to have three Properties 3 Properties of it 1. It must be an universal Act or Act of the whole Man 1 Vniversal of Soul and Body Soul and Body of all the Faculties of the Soul and of all the Members of the Body All are to concur in this Act of Duty to God and that for these
Reasons First Because God is to be worshipped by us as men now Men we are not without our Bodies nor our Actions the Actions of Men without our Bodies Actiones sunt suppositorum say the Schools Christ had not been true Man without a Body Secondly Our Bodies as well as our Souls are Liable to rewards and punishments and therefore with them must God be worshipped if we expect they should be Blessed and with them we should be Damn'd if we deny God's Worship by them Thirdly Bond of Religion The common Bond which ties us to this Act of Duty to this Object requireth outward Worship of the Body which Bond is the right which God hath to require this Duty of us which is grounded upon his absolute Dominion and Sovereignty and that is founded on his Communication of Essence or Being unto us He made both Body and Soul and wherefore but that both should serve him Again 2 Cor. 6.20 Again his continual preservation of both Entitles him to the Service of both Lastly his Redeeming of both multiplies his claim of Obedience and Worship of both Fourthly Mark 12.30 Our Saviour commands this universal Act Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy mind with all thy Soul and with all thy Strength i. e. with thy Body also for there is strength in that Thus you see the Act of Religion must be an universal Act and consequently outward Worship and Reverence is comprehended under it 2. The Act of Religion must be the most excellent 2 Intense most intense and perfect we can perform so that all other Actions must be hereunto subordinate For he is most excellent and perfect and therefore deserves our best performances So that as he is to be worshiped with all of man so with the intensest Devotion Zeal and Reverence of that All The whole Activity of all must be taken up in this Act of Duty or Service 3. 3 Constant It must be a constant continued uninterrupted Act because Gods Right and Dominion over us is constant and permanent Not that we must always be conversant in every part of Divine Worship always bowing the Body always Praying or praising with the Tongue always hearing always meditating of him in our hearts always at Church But so as all our Actions whither we eat or drink sleep or wake talk walk work or play should be to his Glory all should tend to him as to the Center all ordered and governed by his Will all should be subordinated unto Piety and that always Thus I have shewn what Religion is and that outward Worship is a part of it Now I come to a more precise and special consideration of outward Worship in it self What outward Worship is And this is nothing else but an expressing and testifying of the mind For though I do consider these Acts of outward and inward Worship in the explication of them distinctly yet I deny them to be separated in the true use and practise For the whole Act of Adoration concretely taken doth imply both The defination whence it is defined a yielding of Honour to the thing worshipped by the Recognition of its Dignity and Excellency and by a religious submission of Body and Soul viz. by inward motion of the Will and outward testimonies and expressions of the Body Where note The parts three Acts concur to the compleat Act of Religious Worship 1. The Act of the Understanding 1 Estimation whereby we apprehend the excellency of the thing we Worship For the Will cannot incline it self with a reverential esteem towards that which the Understanding doth not first conceive excellent and worthy such reverence 2. The Act of the Will 2 Affection which upon the preceeding Act of the understanding apprehending the Object excellent doth inwardly incline it self thereto in its affections of Love and Reverence 3. 3 Outward expressiion The Act of the Body whereby we do by some outward tokens of respect and honour agnize the excellency thereof which we conceive in our minds and reverence in our hearts by a submission of our wills thereto Both which inward Acts are not only testified by the outward but intended encreased and consummated thereby All these three Acts must concur in one Worship or Veneration For if the first be wanting we shall Worship with the Athenians an unknown God If the second our Worship will be Hypocritical If the third it will be maimed and imperfect Now this third and last Act of bodily Worship which is the thing in Question being the Effect of the two former Acts and the witness of them is by a Synechdoche more especially called Adoration Adoration and its kinds Nudatio Of which there are reckoned up four species or sorts 1. Nudatio Capitis uncovering the head Geniculatio 2. Geniculatio bowing of the knee 3. Incurvatio Incurvatio bowing of the body 4. Prostratio Prostration Prostratio or falling down The first of these is proper only to the Western part of the World where the fashion is to testify our Worship to any body by uncovering the head I speak of men In the Eastern Countrys they never were wont to bare their heads nor is it the fashion there to this day But the other three have been always used in the Service of God by Jews Greeks Christians and all Nations of the World It is observable Very frequently mentioned in Scripture Gen. 24. 26. Exo. 4.32 and 2.27 and 34.8 2 Cor. 7.8 and 29.29 Esay 44.47 Dan. 3.6 Job 1.20 Matt. 2.11 and 20.26 you seldom read of Worshipping in Holy Scripture but there is some Gesture expressed with it as bowing the head falling down bowing to the ground The Jews in dirision of our Saviour could not mock a Worship without expressing it by bowing Matth. 28.9 Did not Saint Paul Worship when he bowed his knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Eph. 3.14 And what is our Saviours reward now he sits at the Right Hand of his Father which the Holy Scripture expresseth by bowing the knee at his Name is it not worshipping him that you may see how little or no Worship was used by the Saints of God in the Old or New Testament without external Adoration or Bowing Abrahams Servant the Israelites Jacob their Father Moses Job David Come let us Worship and fall down and kneel c. as if no worshipping without these Demonstrations And the wise men and the Leaper and Mary Magdalen and Saint Paul all these could not worship without bowing or kneeling or some bodily testification of their inward Reverence Submission and Humility Thus you see the meaning of the word Worship or Adoration the necessity of it being an Act of Religion and the commendation of it in that it is the continual practise of God's Saints recorded in Scripture Come we now to consider 2 Of the house of God what is
is it makes the weak offend in doing that without faith and know ledge which the strong do withfaith and knowledge But do these weak ones imitate us there in and Worship God in this manner They had rather run to New England than make a legg towards the Altar in the Old How are they then offended I 'le tell you they are vext at it they Rail upon us for it they Calumniate us for Idolaters they Scoff at us as Superstitious and Foppish and thus they are offended Again there is a great deal of difference between Adoreing God towards the most fitting place in his House which I have already proved a necessary part of Divine Worship and a thing indifferent which in its own nature may prove a Scandal as the Eating of meat Sacrificed to Idols and the like For then we should do no part of Divine Worship least some should imitate us to do it amiss We should not come to the Lords Supper because some that are ignorant come thither only for fashion because they see others do it and understand not what it is and wherefore They think it lawful for them to do as their betters and wiser do and so they Eat unworthily and ignorantly which others do worthily and in faith and so offend in and by others knowledge What then Is the Sacrament and the Eating thereof a Scandal No what 's the reason because in it self it tends not to make men offend by unworthy receiving 2. It is no matter of indifferency 3. Because those that are ignorant and weak are so wilfully having means to be better instructed and informed So is it in this case this Worship of God I have proved a thing Necessary not Arbitrary 2. In it self it tends not to make any offend either by Worshipping the Table or the place we worship towards For then God should have done all in permitting and approving such Worship amongst the Jews whom he would by no means put upon any ocoasion of committing Idolatry to which they were to prove of themselves 3. There are none but have means to be better instructed therefore if any be offended God forgive them and send them more wit The Ignorant may be seduced or misled to worship the Table The Ignorant may be seduced or place it self or to tye God to one place more than another Answ This Objection is partly answered in my discourse of Scandal Now I say 1. A good and necessary Duty must not be omitted because some may make ill use of it 2. 'T is a thing very unlikely that any should think we Worship the Table when we Bow before it and so imitate us in that any more than they should think when we put of our Hats coming into the Church that we Adore the Stones or Walls It was the Ancient reproach of the Gentiles to the Christians that they worshipped the Sun because they Adored God towards the Altar which was set at the East end of their Churches As also that they Eat mans flesh and drank mans blood because they did Eat and Drink the Body and Blood of Christ in the Holy Sacrament Should the Christians have left of these Duties because malice or ignorance might make such constructions thereof But what if it be granted some ignorant men will Adore the Table To what purpose serve we that are Ministers but to instruct them better and to inform them how and in what manner they ought to serve God both in Body and Soul what else is our Errand what the end of our Preaching Is it not to teach men the difference between Good and Evil Right and Wrong and to do Bonum vene Those that may be seduced are to be better instructed Obj. 3. This opens a dore to Popery They tend to bring in Popery and lead us unto other things that are Popish and Superstitious Answ 1. T is not Popish in it self There is not the least Popery in this 2. There is no just fear of bringing it in by this 1. The Papists do not Adore God before the Altar but the Host and Crucifix set upon the Altar and make that the Immediate and formal Object of Adoration viz. Their God Almighty in a Box or piece of Wafer-Cake which they say is the true Body and Blood of Christ Moreover when they Adore Images they say They do not Adore them but those whom the Images Represent Image worship and put them in mind of Now they grant that they Adore the Image relatively or transitively though not ultimately or cheifly and therefore they Worship the thing represented in and by and with the Image This I speak because some say the Papists have as good excuse for their worshipping of Images as we have for our Adoration before the Altar Whereas we utterly disclaim any kind of Worship to the Altar any ways we make it no Object of our Worship either Relative or Transitive We make it no Representation of God we Worship not God in it nor by it nor with it but only towards and before it because it is the fittest place for us to tender our Service of God towards being the place of his Memorial in a special manner and consequently of his presence We disclaim all Popish destinctions and in no wise make the Table the Object of our Worship Nor herein is our Protestation contrary to our Action for if the Action in its own nature were Idolatrous it had been so in the Jews 2. Neither doth it introduce Popery For the Lutherans Not apt to Introduce it who are bitter Enemies to the Papists and the Papists to them do observe this sacred Rite Nay the Papists love and like us the worse for it For they basely belying us say we Adore the Table which they do not but God who is upon it and so accuse us of worse Idolatry than we do them as if we worshipt a Table and made that our God But they Slaunderously and Malitiously traduce us against their ownâ— knowledge To Idolize the Table we abhor and detest and no man of common sense except blinded with malice and prejudice as they are will believe them You see how far this is from bringing in Popery The truth is This vaine fear begets the other extream this vain fear makes us to run into almost as great an absurdity for we are all for extreams Because men will not be Superstitious with the Papists therefore we must be Prophane Sacrilegious and Irreverent with the Puritans Because the Papists Worship God falsely therefore we must not Worship him after a true and due manner agreeing to his Word Because they Superstitiously adorn their Churches therefore we must let them lye like Barns Stables nay rather Sties I am ashamed to think that Christians People of worth and fashion should esteem the Church though never so squalid ugly and deformed the Windows broke the Roof untiled and Leaking the Walls hung with Cobwebs broken patch't and ill-favoured the Holy
enjoyn this Adoration for in them the King himself as also the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury is Commanded often humbly and lowly to adore God towards the Altar and also may be further inferred from the prescibed forms of Service for the Knights of the Garter at the time of their Installation wherein they are enjoyned lowly and reverently to Adore God towards the Altar at least Twenty times while the Sacred Solemnities are Magnificently transacted The Ancianes Adored towards the East but why to the Altar To this add the constant practice of almost all our Cathedral Churches ever since our Reformation which doth argue at least an Implicite Command Obj. If you stand so much upon Antiquity the Ancients worshipped God towards the Orient and this Justin Martyr in his Answer to 118th Question affirmeth to have been a Tradition received from the very Apostles Why then should we tye our worship so much towards the Altar Worshipping Towards the East Why Answ Then it follows that the Ancients did specificate their worship towards one place which is much scrupled at But they worrshipped towards the Orient because the Altar stood there and so they tendred their worship to God towards both jointly and therefore towards the East because the H. Table stood there Now the reasons why the scite of the Churches were East and West and the East the upper End were both that herein they might differ from the Jews and Ancient Heathen who both worshipped towards the West the Jews god the Heathen gods Ape the Devil And also for other ends as because our Saviour in whose name we Christians worship the Father is called the East and the whole work of our Creation and Redemption was performed in the East and many such Reasons they had why they should make the upper end of their Churches towards the East Seeing then that the East was the upper end Reason taught them to Place that which was most Sacred and worthy in the uppermost place as we our selves use to do with persons and things which we account most excellent and worthy So they did not adore towards the Altar because it was set in the East but therefore they adored towards the East because the Altar was placed there as in the highest and worthiest place But in case some of the Churches were irregular and stood not East and West yet they still placed the Altar in that place which was accounted uppermost and thitherward did tender their Devotions even towards the Altar whereever placed And this is plain out of St. Chrisostom's and St. Basill's Liturgies yea the Liturgies of all the Greek and Latin Churches and Fathers which enjoyn Adoration towards the Altar wherever placed Obj. Conformists Loose in their Lives They that are so ceremonious are commonly men that have no-Religion in their Lives but are all Outsides Answ 'T is no Argument which is fetcht from the wickedness of the Person against the unlawfulness of the Action for by this way of Reasoning to Administer the Holy Sacrament to give Alms c. should be concluded evil Actions because wicked men oft do them If the Action in it self be not evil 't is no matter what the person is indeed they that do a good Action ill to them it becomes Sin as to give Alms to be seen of Men so to give God outward worship is good but he that gives it Him without inward worship and submission of his will to His command he plays the Hipocrite and so his worship becomes sin to him Our Saviour forbids not his Disciples to do that Righteousness which the Pharisees did but to do more to exceed it Nor did he forbid them to make clean the Outside buthe forbad them to content themselves with that and commands them to make the Inside clean in the first place Nor did he forbid men to do the less things of the Law but commands them to be more careful of the Greater not only to Tithemint but cheifly to Respect Righteousness and Judgment These ye ought to have done and not leave the other undone Besides the Objection spoken in General of all that outward Decorum in Gods worship is a false Slaunder for there are a great number of Holy and Pious men which serve God entirely both with outward and inward worship and there are many notorious Debauched livers that are not for outward worship Our Saviour bids us Judge a Tree by the fruits we can look no further than the outside If I see a man worship God with his body devoutly and reverently I shall rather think and believe he worships God with his Soul too then he that pretends only to inward worship and affords me no outward mark or sign of it I shall rather judge that to be Gold which Glisters than that which doth not FINIS