Nations as Estius observes Worshipped the Sun and Moon and when they saw either of them clearly shining forth they stretched out their hands towards them and then laid them upon their mouths and kissed them thereby signifying that if they could have got to them they would have kissed them as they did their hands Their manner was that if they could have access to their idols they kissed them if not they kissed their hands in token of worshipful reverence towards them So that Job by these words intimates thus much that if he had done as his Heathenish Neighbours did if he had relinquished the true God and plaid the Idolater as they did then he had deserved punishment indeed And in other places of Scripture we find Worshipping set forth by the same phrase God tells the Prophet Elijah who thought himself alone the only true worshipper that he had seven thousand that had not bowed unto nor kissed Baal And the Prophet Hosea complaining of the wickedness of the Israelites amongst other things that he charges them with this is one that they said Let the men that sacrifice kiss the Calves Whereby it appears that this heathenish Ceremony did not keep it self among the barbarous Nations where it was hatched but crept amongst the Israelites with whom it sound too much entertainment And the same Rivet thinks David alludes to this custome when he saith Kiss the Son lest he be angry Notwithstanding this that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is used to denote worship is derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is more than I dare affirm In the derivations of words though sometimes the descent be obvious and afford light yet many times it is very obscure and uncertain and in such cases we must be cautious what stress we lay on them Whether this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 come from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I leave to every one to judge there be learned men on both sides Let us now from the Name pass to the thing denoted by it The worship set forth by this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is twofold it is either civil or religious Civil worship is reverent behaviour towards men whereby we testifie our respect to them proportionably to the eminency we behold in them Though I call it civil yet I do not so speak as if I thought it not at all religious for as a judicious author well observes it is commanded by God who is the author of religion and it hath some analogy with the worship which is more properly religious but for that the object from which acts do usually receive their names is civil But to go on the respect testified by this kind of worship is commonly expressed in the incurvation or bowing of the body So Abraham upon his meeting the three Angels bowed himself towards the ground And upon his treating with the children of Heth about a burial place for his wife he bows himself to them The word used in both places by the Septuagint is the same with this in the Text. What we use to say of grace in reference to Nature that it do's not destroy but rectifie it the like we may say of it in reference to civility it do's not destroy it in men but rectifie and regulate it teaching them to whom to shew it in what manner and in what degree It is so far from being an enemy to civility that it greatly promotes it it subdues the Nabalism and churlishness of mens natures takes away the gall and bitterness of them and makes them kind and pleasing Turn over the histories of all Nations and ages and you shall not meet with any persons of more condiscending obliging sweet deportment than such as have been most eminent for grace and holiness Witness Abraham in this place he was a great Lord and a mighty Prince and yet how submissively and courteously doth he carry himself to these children of Heth who were his inferiours in many respects This being so what shall we think of a generation of men amongst us that having renounced and as it were protested against the common tokens of civility carry themselves before Magistrates and others to whom they owe obeysance like a company of barbarians that never knew what civility meant making a conscience of putting off the hat calling a man master and the like But no marvel for if it be religion that teaches men manners as certainly it is we may not wonder that having laid aside religion they have also laid aside their manners This is civil worship but it is not this kind of worship the Text speaks of and therefore I shall say no more of that Religious worship is devout behaviour towards God whereby we acknowledge his Soveraignty over us and the dueness of our obedience to him appearing before him and waiting upon him in the way he hath appointed in his Word This David speaks of when he saith O come let us worship and bow down let us kneel before the Lord our Maker And this our Saviour speaks of when he saith they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth Now this worship belongs not to either Angels or Saints their images reliques or any such thing but to the Lord only whose it is and from whom we may not alienate it Hence that of our Saviour in another place thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve He speaks not of a civil worship or reverence for therewith we both may and ought to serve others but of a religious worship or reverence which God hath reserved as a prerogative peculiar to himself Agreeable hereunto is that of Athanasius God alone is to be worshipped Which words are so point-blank against the proceedings of the Papists that their inquisition at Madrid lighting on them in one of his Index's expunged and put them out Religious worship is of a far other nature than civil is it differs from it not only gradually as the reverence we give to the King differs from that we give to one of his judges or Ministers of state but specifically or in kind As all acts are to be suited to so they are to be denominated from their objects and to bear appellations and titles agreeable to them Now the objects of these two sorts of worship differ as much as may be The object of the one is the Creature the object of the other is the Creator The object of the one is humane and finite the object of the other is divine and infinite And the worship we give them must be answerable When we worship the creature we must do it with apprehensions and affections becoming the creature and when we worship the Creator we must do it with apprehensions and affections becoming the Creator When we appear before men and do reverence to them we must do it with apprehensions of eminency but such as is created
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
we know what we worship q. d. ye worship the true God as we do but ye worship him under a visible similitude whereby it appears ye know him not but the hour cometh and now is that the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth c. That is they shall not worship him under any visible shape as you do but shall conceive of him as he is namely a spirit This was the opinion of our learned country man Mr. Mede But notwithstanding the respect I bear to the author and his excellent works I conceive this is none of our Saviours meaning For 1. how will it be proved that the Samaritans worshipped God under the similitude of a dove L'empereur a great master in critical learning denies it And Cunaeus doth not only acquit them from this pretended idolatry of the Dove but from all Idolatry whatsoever He grants that they did formerly live in idolatry but withal saith that they wholly renounced it and that before the time of Sanballat following the religion prescribed by Moses 2. Grant they did worship God as is alledged under the shape of a Dove yet the antithesis or opposition in the words will not admit this to be the sense of them For our Saviour doth not set the worshipping of God in spirit and in truth only in opposition to the worship of the Samaritans but also of the Jews who conceived of God as a spirit and so worshipped him Had he insisted only on the worship of the Samaritans and set worshipping God in spirit and in truth only in opposition to their worship then this sense had carried more probability along with it but it is evident that this worshipping God in spirit and in truth stands in opposition as well to the Jewish as the Samaritan worship and therefore this cannot be the meaning of them 3. Others think by worshipping God in spirit we are to understand the worshipping of him not only with the outward but the inner man and by worshipping him in truth the worshipping him in righteousness telling us that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 truth and righteousness are used promiscuously Those say they worship in righteousness that worship in truth and those worship in truth that worship in righteousness Thus Heinsius But this seems not to be the sense For though it be very true that to worship God in spirit is to worship him with the inner man and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are put sometimes the one for the other yet this sense agrees not with the adversative which we are to have great respect to as yielding much light to the finding out the meaning of the words Our Saviour tells the woman ye worship ye know not what we know what we worship but saith he the hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth By which adversative it appears that the worshipping God in spirit and in truth is a worshipping of him in such a way as is different both from that of the Samaritans and the Jews And so far Bellarmine is in the right when he saith these words manifestly signifie that our Saviour spake of a new way of worship which was not before and which would have its beginning from him But according to this opinion the worshiping God in spirit and in truth is not different from all former worship in particular not from that of the Jews for though many of them were hypocritical and profane yet were there some amongst them that worshipped God with the inner man and in righteousness To go no further we read of Zachary and Elizabeth who were both righteous before God walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless It is not against the abuse of a lawful worship that our Saviour speaks but against the worship it self according to its institution which he would have laid aside and another kinde of worship of his own appointment substituted in the room of it 4. Others think that worshipping God in spirit is here set in opposition to the carnal external worship of the Jews and worshipping him in truth to the fictitious false worship of the Samaritans And so they will have the words of our Saviour to amount to thus much both Jews and Samaritans worship the Father the one at one place and the other at another The one in a carnal way the other in a false way but the time is at hand that both the one and the other shall worship him after another manner The Jews laying aside their carnal worship shall worship him in spirit and the Samaritans laying aside their false worship shall worship him in truth And this sense Pererius with other Jesuits gives of the words But not to repeat what I have already alledged which shews this cannot be the meaning I see no reason wherefore spirit should be restrained to the carnal external worship of the Jews and truth to the fictitious false worship of the Samaritans For there was want of spirit not only in the worship of the Jews but also of the Samaritans and there was want of truth not only in the worship of the Samaritans but also of the Jews I understand not therefore how this limitation may be justified 5. Others think to worship God in spirit is to worship him with the inner man and to worship him in truth is to worship him without the use of such ceremonies as were types of things to come Not without the use of all ceremonies but only such as were shadows of things to come They say the Jews and Samaritans before the coming of Christ worshipped God with bloody Sacrifices and with many rites and ordinances depending thereon which prefigured some thing to come but Christ being come that was prefigured by them he lets the woman know that this kind of worship should cease and that God would be worshipped after another manner sc. in spirit and in truth As if he had said God will not now be worshipped in the types of things expected but according to the verity of what is already exhibited After this manner speak Maldonate and others But I understand not wherefore we should restrain the words only to the exclusion of such ceremonies as are figures of things to come They are a plain assertion of the spirituality and simplicity of Gospel worship which will consist no better with other ceremonies than such as are shaddows of things to come Should we worship God in the use of as many ceremonies as the Jews did though they were not figures of things to come but of things past or present yet our worship would be no more in spirit and in truth than theirs Besides it is to be observed that Christ at his coming did not only abrogate such ceremonies as were typical and shadowed forth things to come but such
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
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
The Scripture affords instances of both On the one hand Asa though a good King miss'd it in many things he executed not the Law upon his idolatrous Mother remov'd not the high-places and the like yet because his heart was right God accepted him On the other hand Jehu though a bad King did many good Works destroyed Ababs house slew the Worshippers of Baal with other good service yet because his heart was not right all was in vain The Jesuites indeed as if they were resolved to make themselves the laughing-stocks as well as the hatred of all good Christians speak so lightly of the Souls engaging in the service of God as if it were indifferent whether a man understand what he does or not nay whether he do it by himself or by another Hence they use as a learned Writer of our own tells us to cast the Die which shall say Prayer for the other Whether such Devotion as this be proper or like to find acceptance let any one that hath but one grain of a Christian Spirit left him judge 4. Whether do you not employ your Souls in far meaner and lower Offices than the service of God When you go forth into the World do not you take them along with you When you go out into your Shops into the Market into the Fields have you not them with you Do you not use their assistance in every Bargain advise with them in every Business and do what ever you do with their concurrence Do not you make them Hewers of Wood and Drawers of Water cause them to attend on every vain and frivolous undertaking and prostitute them to the very Dunghils Nay do you not vex and grieve them with anxious and thorny Cares about the poorest and basest matters insomuch that you sometimes make them weary of their Habitations and long to be divorced from them And will you thus employ your Heaven-born Souls innobled with such rare and excellent faculties in things of this nature and yet think them too good to be employed in the service of God wherein the glorious Angels themselves so much delight What 's this but most wretchedly to debase your selves and provoke God that gave you your Souls to tear them away from you 5. Whether would you not have God to let you have his heart in all that he does for you When he bestows upon you Corn and Wine and such-like benefits would you not that he should do it with his Heart without designs of dereliction or obduration Would you be content that whiles he stretches forth his hand of bounty and fills your mouths with his outward blessings he should in the mean time with-hold his heart from you Alas what did it avail Cain to be Adam's first-born and Heir of all the World when God would not own him Or what did it avail Esau to be the first born of the wealthy Isaac and elder Brother to the Princely Jacob when the Lord hates him Upon these and such-like confiderations I cannot but think but you would have God whatever he does for you to let you have his heart with it Every good man saith Lord whatever thou dost for me let me have thy heart with it Though thou give me the Bread of Adversity and the Water of Affliction yet let me have thy heart with it Though I have never so little from thee let me have thy heart in it Now what you would that God should do to you the same do ye to him If ye would that he should let you have his heart in what he does for you let him have yours in what you do for him 6. Whether would you not have your service accepted of God If you would not what do you tender it for Do you think it worth the while to mock him or that you may do it with safety If you would have your service accepted then ingage your hearts in it for assure your selves do what you will all is in vain without it Simon Magus believed was baptized continued with Philip and wondered at the Miracles and Signs which were done and what was he the better for all this Thou hast neither part nor lot saith Peter in this matter for thy heart is not right in the sight of God Observe here how far this man went he acknowledged the truth of the Gospel received the Seal of the Covenant associates himself with the Servants of Christ which others were afraid to do is affected with their wonders desires ability to do the like and that so earnestly that he offers money for it but his heart is not right and that mars all Had it been right though he had done less it would have been enough but that being wrong though he did more it was too little Faith and Holiness are so necessary to the acceptance both of our Persons and Services that without them all is in vain Herein the Scripture is most plain For one and the same Apostle shews that without the former it is impossible to please God and without the latter it is impossible to see him Now this being so be sure when ever you present your selves before the Lord to have your hearts and affections with you and engage them in his service and then your labour shall not be in vain in the Lord as the labour of Hypocrites and all such painted Sepulchres is but then you shall make your way prosperous and then you shall have good success 2. Let 's worship God in Truth Whiles Jews Pagans and such as symbolize with them do contrary to his Command worship him in the use of Rites and Ceremonies let us in obedience to it worship him in truth Let 's beware lest any man spoil us through Philosophy and vain deceit after the Tradition of men after the Rudiments of the World and not after Christ. The Jewish Ceremonies which we are mainly to look after as having been once of Divine Institution were crucified as you have already heard with Christ and died with him and the Christian Church did after a time decently as it were interr them and lay them in their grave and let not us now offer to dig them up again This in Augustines account were no less than to offer violence to the Diceased than which what can be more inhumane and barbarous Though there was a time when they were salutaria exercitia wholsome and useful Rudiments yet now it s not so now they are no better than foetida cadavera filthy Carcases fitter with those mentioned by the Prophet to remain among the graves and lodge in the monuments than abide among the living and therefore let 's not own them or have any thing to do with them God ordained in the Levitical Law which was the Jews Ritual that if any man touched a dead Body he should be unclean If then their Ceremonies are dead let 's beware of touching them lest we become unclean And
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
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
for the bringing about of his design And if we come to after-times we find the orthodox Christians carryed themselves after the same manner They would rather hazard all then part with one syllable nay one letter of that name wherein the divinity and honour of Christ was concerned When the Arrians desired them to admit one word nay but one letter more into their Creed that is to use 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 instead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 promising that if they would do it they would be at peace with them yet they would not do it And we read likewise of Basil that when the Prefect asked him for a time to obey and not suffer so many Churches to be troubled for a small subtilty of opinions he told him that those who are instructed in the holy oracles are not suffered to alter one syllable of divine determinations but for them are to endure if called to it all kinds of death Nay we may learn this lesson from the very enemies of the truth themselves For when Cassander taught that Princes ought to find out some way of peace betwixt the Catholicks Lutherans and Calvinists and in the mean time to allow every one his own faith Bellarmine was much displeased and blamed him for it alleadging that the holy fathers taught we must not only keep the articles of the Creed inviolable but all other dogmata fidei or points in religion though they seem but small And writing to Blackwell Arch-priest here in England about the Oath of Allegiance he thus courts him and his party I suppose saith he there are not wanting amongst you those who say they are but subtilties of opinions that are contained in the Oath that is offered to the Catholicks and that you are not to strive against the Kings authority for such a little matter But there are not wanting also amongst you holy men like unto Basil the great who will openly avow that the very least syllable of Gods divine truth is not to be corrupted though many torments were to be endured and death it self set before you Now if Papists thus stand so much on their minuta dogmata why should not we If they oppose the Cassandrian reconciliation its sure time for us to do it If they refuse to close with us because we observe not the presumptions of men we may sure well refuse to close with them when they observe not the institutions of God 6. Is fear of suffering Sin and wickedness long ago got to such an height in the world and the spirit of Cain and Esau works so furiously in the men of this age that it s become dangerous to worship God in the way he hath appointed And such is the timeronsness and faint-heartedness of many professing religion that rather than they 'l suffer for him they 'l forsake the worship he hath set up and close with that which is set up by men While the Sun shines the way is fair and the coasts are clear they cry up religion to the clouds and are ready upon all occasions to say come with me and see my zeal for the Lord but when storms arise and troubles approach they begin to consult not how they may glorifie God by suffering but how they may provide for their own safety Plato knew much of God but as Josephus shews durst not set it down for fear of the people And Lactantius charges the same upon Tully Thou darest not saith he undertake the patronage of the truth for fear of the prison of Socrates And Augustin doth as much for Seneca he spends a whole chapter in shewing how he held the truth in unrighteousness telling us how he reverenced that which he reproved did that which he condemned and worshipped that which he found fault with Though these wise men saw the vanity of the heathenish Deities and the worship that was given to them and looked upon them as utterly unworthy of respect from wise and sober men nay secretly scorned and derided them yet would they not openly declare against them and that for fear of the people who so much doted on them And not only they but divers others who lived in places of greater light have shrunk from the truth and declined the maintaining of it meerly upon the account of suffering The young man our Saviour had to deal with that had gone so far in religion and made such a shew of respect to him no sooner hears talk of parting with his estate for him but he bids him farewell He comes to Christ with so much seeming zeal as if he wanted nothing but a little instruction to make him perfect and fit him for the Kingdom of Heaven He bears it out as if he had been ready to have laid himself and all he had down at the feet of Christ but the issue shews he meant no such thing he no sooner hears that he was like to cost him so dear but he presently turns his back upon him and leaves him Like a young traveller undertaking a voyage he is confident at the first but being come to the water side and there beholding the unruliness of the waves and what dangers the angry visage of the boyling Seas threatens him with his countenance presently falls and he becomes another man Whiles our Saviour speaks to him of things in general he hath his answer ready but when he descends so far as to require him to sell what he had and give it to the poor then he hath no more to say then he shews whether it was Christ or the world that lay next his heart In like manner Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimatheu were men that loved Christ and believed his doctrine yet were so fearfull of bringing themselves into trouble that they durst not publickly own him for the Evangelist tells us that the one of them came to him by night and the other secretly They were great men and by their open testimony might have done much good but they were so fearful of being called in question and of having a stir made about it that they came to him at such times when they might not be taken notice of But to leave them how shamefully did the Apostles themselves miscarry in this particular when the multitude came to apprehend Christ they all forsook him and fled As the rain wet and weakened the Persian bows so afflictions and discouragements do often damp the spirits of good men and cool their zeal to Christ and his cause Thus it hapned to the Disciples the swords and staves of the multitude frighted them away from Christ and made them forsake him and flee Some are of opinion that they did not sin in forsaking him thinking those words of his to the souldiers if ye seek me let these go their way discharged them from attending on him But I conceive they sinned in it and that very grosly For 1. The Evangelist expresses this act of
Cause acknowledging himself unworthy of such a favour To these were it needful I might add the Examples of multitudes more of blessed Saints who cheerfully hazarded all for Christ while they were on Earth and now are receiving their Reward with him in Heaven But the case is so well known that none except such who are strangers in Israel can be ignorant of it and therefore I shall forbear Now things being thus what shall we think of those that make temporal impunity and outward safety their very Rule aiming at it in all their Designs and framing all their Proceedings in a way of subserviency to it They will either continue in their present Religion or part with it either be of one way or another so they may but sleep in a whole skin and preserve themselves from trouble They will dishonour God venture their Souls or do any thing rather than expose themselves to danger If Providence call them to suffer for the Truth they 'l find out an hundred unheard-of impertinent silly distinctions but they 'l evade it When ever their Souls upon any Convictions begin to talk of Suffering they presently take them rebuke them saying as Peter to Christ Be it far from thee this shal not be unto thee Certainly such persons as these are an offence to Christ and savour not the things that be of God but the things that be of Men. And thus I have shewed you both the impediments that hinder men from worshipping God in Spirit and those likewise that hinder them from worshipping him in Truth Let us now see how far we are concerned in them how far they or any of them stand in our way and accordingly let us get them removed The worshipping of God in spirit and in truth is the Worship he would have this he will only accept of and this he will only reward and therefore let us be sure to worship him with this kind of Worship not suffering our selves by any endeavours or means whatsoever to be taken off it It is but a while and Jesus Christ who instituted this Worship will come again and vindicate it against all that oppose it It is but a while and he will come to his Temple whip out the Buyers and Sellers and purge it from the impurities and defilements that cleave unto it It is but a while and he will call all Nations down into the Valley of Decision and there he will plead with the Troublers of his Church and such as have muddied the Waters of his Sanctuary and polluted those Silver Streams with their sinful mixtures and then it will appear whether the outward ceremonious worshipping of God or the worshipping of him in spirit and in truth be the true Worship In the mean time le ts keep close to God study our duty and both cheerfully and constantly notwithstanding all the troubles we may thereby expose our selves to persist in the performance of it Though men frown upon us and threaten us with Censures Imprisonment Banishment Confiscation and all the evil humane might and cruelty can do us yet let 's not be moved but count our selves happy we have an opportunity to do or suffer any thing whereby we may testifie our respect to so good a cause Whose is all we have but Gods and for what end did he put it into our hands but that we should lay it out for him As therefore the primitive Christians sold their Lands and Houses brought the prices thereof and laid them down at the Apostles feet So let us bring our Estates Enjoyments Liberties Lives and all we have and lay it down at the feet of Christ being willing to sacrifice all so we may but further his opposed Interest and bear witness to his despised Truth Bucer in an Epistle to Calvin tells him That there were some that would willingly redeem to the Commonwealth the ancient liberty of worshipping Christ with their very lives True Grace and Christian Zeal are of an heroick nature ready to endure any thing for Christ his Worship and Truth If therefore we will evidence our Grace to be true and our Zeal to be Christian we must be willing to suffer It is a vanity to think of passing to Heaven without suffering the Saints have hitherto found the way thither paved with troubles and we may not think of finding it otherwise now Constantine the Great as piously as wittily told Acesius the Novatian that if he would not take up with Persecution and such like dealing he must provide him a Ladder and climb alone to Heaven Unless we will either be content without Heaven or find some other way to it than the Saints have yet found we must look for troubles They have been found in the way of Heaven hitherto and so they will be to the end of the World If then we will go the way of Heaven let 's make account to meet with them and prepare for them and when they fall upon us let us with all holy submission and Christian cheerfulness undergo them In a word whatever comes of it whether Prosperity or Adversity Liberty or Bonds Life or Death since God hath made it our Duty let us make it our Practise to worship him in Spirit and in Truth FINIS ERRATA In the Margent Page 18. for Judel read Tudel p. 27. f. abrogare r. abrogari p. 36. after fumus add In the Book P. 37. l. 30. for it r. in p 40. l. 1. for should r. would p. 63. l. 4. for tradtion r. tradition p. 64. l. 13. for call r. calls p. 67. l. 15. for higer r. higher Rev. 12. 7. Isa. 53. 10 11. Mat. 4. 25. Mat. 3. 7. Psal. 35. 12. Josh. 24. 1. Mat. 11. 25 Gen. 33. 18. Consentaneum vero cum eo loci habitarit etiam plures puteos fodisse In loc Joseph Antiq Judaic l. 11. c. 8. Graecol p. 382. Epiphan t. t. l. 1. haeres 14. p. 30. Ed. Paris Cunaeus de Rep. Hebr. l. 2. c. 16. p. mihi 208. 2 Kings 17. 25. Deut. 7. 3. Vid. Selden de Iure Nat. l. 2 c. 5. p. 177. Ed. Nov. Joh. 4. 9. Drusius de trib sectis l. 3. c. 11. p. 135. Doct. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est more catellorum ad pedes alicujus tanquam domini totum se prosternere subjectionis gratiâ Vol. 2. de Secund. praecept p. 567. Gen. 17. 3. Ruth 2. â—â— Simplex 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ex 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 osculari significat amoâ—is aut hono is causâ Exerc. in Gen. 33. 3. Job 31. 27 28. Solent cultores solis luna hâc ceremoniâ c. in loc 1 Kings 19. 18. Hos. 13 2. Non persuadet vir doctus c. Exercit. in Gen. 41. 40. He means Drusius who thought otherwise Psal. 2. 12. Honor omnis qui à religione imperatur aut religione suadente exhibetur alicui dictur aliquando religiosus Amesius de Consc. l. 4. c. 1. p. 161. Gen. 18.
as for other Ceremonies which are of latter date and humane institution let 's take heed likewise how we own them or have any thing to do with them I may say of the one sort and the other as Solomon did in another case Both of them are alike Abomination to the Lord. The former once were lawful but now are unlawful the latter never were lawful nor ever will be lawful and therefore as we desire to keep our selves pure let 's abstain from both of them and utterly renounce and disclaim them Now that I may the better hold forth to you the necessity of worshipping God in Truth and the unwarrantableness of worshipping him in the use of Ceremonies I shall offer to you these following Queries 1. Whether is there so much as one word or syllable in all the holy Scriptures for any such kind of Worship If you are Christians you take the Writings of the Prophets and Apostles for the Word of God and if you are Protestants you take them for a compleat and perfect Rule of Divine and Religious Worship The Holy Ghost hath there declared both to whom such kind of Worship belongs and the manner wherein it is to be performed If therefore you will act regularly and do nothing but what is just and warrantable shew us by what Prophet or Apostle he hath allowed you to worship in the use of Ceremonies In the old Testament he foretells the abolishing and ceasing of Them The Church of those times being afflicted with the burden of them prayes for support till the time of their ceasing should come Christ no sooner sets upon preaching but he invites People from them justifies them in the refusal of them and afterwards laying down his Life to redeem them from them he blots out the hand-writing of Ordinances that was against them takes it out of the way and nails it to his cross The Apostles Elders and Brethren at Jerusalem directed by the Holy Ghost who sat President amongst them decreed against them And as if all this were too little Paul who had once such esteem and Zeal for the Rites and Traditions of his Fathers speaks of them with words of greatest contempt and indignation calls them all to nought terms them carnal Ordinances Rudiments of the World beggarly Elements and the like Thus I have shewed you that both Prophets and Apostles speak much against Ceremonies do you now shew where they speak any thing for them 2. Whether if the holy Scriptures have nothing at all for them is it not apparent superstition to institute them or worship God in the use of them If Tertullian be not mistaken it is Those Ceremonies saith he are vain which are used without any Authority of Divine or Apostolical Command and are to be accounted superstitious and even therefore to be repressed because they make us in some sort like the Gentiles And if Zanchy Vrsin Viret with other Orthodox and learned writers on the second commandment are not mistaken it clearly falls within the compass of it Nay if the very descriptions that the schoolmen give of superstition may pass it stands justly chargeable with it Aquinas places it in the excess of religion as when a man gives divine worship either to him it belongs not to or in that way it ought not to be given And speaking of four kinds of superstition he places the first in the giving of worship to the true God modo tamen indebito but after an undue manner It consists not only in the worshipping of a strange deity but in the worshipping of the true Deity in a strange manner such as he hath not appointed He that adds institutions to his institutions nay so much as a ceremony to the ceremonies he hath appointed is guilty of it And therefore as the Athenians were guilty of it in their ignorant worshâ—pping of their unknown God so likewise were some both of the ancient Jews and Christians the former in their washing of hands before meat the latter in their abstaining from certain meats and observing of dayes And what a great sin it is to be guilty of it we may gather from Gods proceedings against Saul upon his miscarriage in the business of the Amallkites For the injury they offered to the Israelites when they came from Egypt the Lord appoints Saul to go and destroy them both man and woman infant and suckling ox and sheep camell and ass And he accordingly went against them and smote them but did not fully observe his commission for to say nothing of other things he spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fatlings and the lambs and all that was good And this he did if he himself say true and we do not find that Samuel charges him with falshood in it that he might sacrifice them to the Lord in Gilgal Saul then out of a superstitious humour would offer that to God which he would not have offered to him And what 's the issue of it why he is so incensed against him for it that he takes him and devests him of his royal ornaments deposes him from being King and casts him out of his favour for ever Saul committed several miscarriages before but God was not so displeased with any of them as he was with this We do not find that he ever smiled upon him or owned him after this time Now if it be superstition to do that in the worship of God that he hath not appointed and such a dangerous thing to be guilty of it you had best consider before you go any further whether you may either lawfully or safely use such Ceremonies in his worship as he hath not appointed but have been devised by men 3. Whether should you not imitate the primitive Church If ever the Church were worthy of imitation it was during her primitive state Then as Egesippus shews she was a pure and incorrupted Virgin So she continued for somewhat above an hundred years after our Saviours time so long she remained free from those superstitions and errours that after like a mighty flood brake in upon her Now during this space of her Virgin purity whether had she any of those Ceremonies that at this time are with so much heat contended for amongst us The learned Camero to mention no more is peremptory in the negative Besides saith he water in baptism bread and wine in the Lords Supper imposition of hands and anointing of the sick she had not any ceremonies at all Christians then contented themselves with the institutions of Christ and rejoiced in the liberty wherewith he had set them free without troubling themselves or others with the devising or imposing of any humane rites or ordinances 4. Whether ought you not to maintain your Christian liberty you think you ought to maintain your civil liberties and will venture at law all you have before you will let them go and ought you not to
make as great account of your Christian and spiritual liberty as of your civil I am sure Paul did Though he were a man of a most peaceable condescending spirit yet herein he was resolute All things saith he are lawfull to me but I will not be brought under the power of any And the same path he went in himself the same he perswades others to go Be ye not saith he the servants of men When he speaks of civil matters then he doth all he can to stir them up to yielding and complying labouring to prevent law-suits and the evils that attend them Is it so saith he that there is not a wise man amongst you no not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren But brother goeth to law with brother and that before the unbelievers Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you because ye go to law one with another why do ye not rather take wrong why do ye not rather suffer your selves to be defrauded This is his language as to civil matters therein he uses all his art and interest to perswade them to mutual submission and forbearance advising them rather to recede from their own rights and suffer themselves to be defrauded than to ingage in vexatious law-suits to the dishonour of the Gospel But when he comes to speak of spiritual matters concerning their Christian liberty he discourses after another manner Therein he will have them to be stedfast and unmoveable not inslaving themselves to the wills of men or becoming their servants What it is to be the servants of men Ambrose tells us They are the servants of men saith he that subject themselves to humane superstitions Doubtless as God will call you to an account for his word and ordinances so he will for your Christian liberty and therefore it concerns you to take heed how you let it go 5. Whether should you not so far as lawfully you may hold communion with the best reformed Churches without question it is the will of Christ that you should so do If there be one Church more Orthodox and holy than another you should endeavour communion with it And if so how can you imagine it lawfull to worship God in the use of those Ceremonies which the best reformed Churches have declared against and abolished as not only unnecessary and burdensome but superstitious and scandalous not to trouble you with instances of their dislike and utter renouncing of them whereof you may see plenty in others Suartez mentions it as the common doctrine of Protestants that it is unlawfull to worship God with any other worship than that which is commanded in the Scriptures And that you may not think he speaks with reference only to the substance of worship hear what he saith in another place The hereticks saith he of our time say that every Ceremony and every kind of worship that is not commanded by God himself or is not contained in the Gospel is superstition yea they call it idolatry And if the Protestant Churches profess such doctrine and act accordingly and that without sin how can you without sin separate from them how will you free your selves from the charge of schism which is an evil so much condemned by Christ and prejudicial to the honour and welfare of his Church 6. Whether leaving both the practice of the primitive Christians and the communion of the best reformed Churches and you lawfully go and comply with Idolaters in the use of those things they have grosly abused in their profane mysteries Herein the Scripture is very plain After the doings saith God of the land of Egypt wherein ye dwelt shall ye not do and after the doings of the land of Canaan whither I bring you shall ye not do neither shall ye walk in their ordinances And in another place When the Lord thy God shall cut of the nations from before thee whither thou goest to possess them and thou succeedest them and dwellest in their land take heed to thy self that thou be not snared by following them after that they be destroyed from before thee and that thou inquire not after their Gods saying how did these Nations serve their Gods even so will I do likewise As God would have us to stand in a close union to him and one another so he would have us to stand at the utmost distance from idolaters And upon this ground the antients declined the use of many things though in themselves lawfull because they were used and abused by Idolaters Tertullian would not have his Christian souldier to go with a Lawrel upon his head and that because the heathens used to do so And Bishop Jewel hath several other instances of the same nature And ought not we in these dayes to detest idolatry and avoid communion with such as are guilty of it as well as the servants of God have done in former dayes Is it not as odious to him and ought it not to be resisted by us as much now as ever If therefore the ceremonies imposed be such as had their birth amongst idolatrous pagans and other enemies to God and his truth and have been not only used but notoriously abused by them how can you without apparent guilt make use of them And thus I have given you the Quaere's I thought good to offer to you both concerning the worshipping of God meerly with the outward man and the worshipping of him in the use of ceremonies consider of them and deal faithfully I shall now in the last place acquaint you with the common impediments of worshipping God in spirit and in truth and shew you whence it is that men are so ganerally averse to worship him that way And in pursuance of the method propounded to my self I shall first speak of those that concern the worshipping of him in spirit and they are these 1. Their misapprehensions of God his nature essence and will I have told you already that God is a most pure and simple being and would have worship suitable thereunto but men are apt to think otherwise of him They are apt to think he is a being cloathed with such gross matter as we poor mortals that dwell in tabernacles of clay carry about with us and that he would have such kind of worship and accordingly they give it to him They limit the holy one of Israel they measure him by themselves his properties by theirs and his will by theirs and think what pleases them pleases him Thou thoughest saith God that I was altogether such an one as thy self Now this is a most unreasonable and unjustifiable thing for what proportion is there betwixt that which is infinite and that which is fiuite bewixt a most spiritual and simple being and a soul attended with impotent and carnal passions and cloathed with gross and sinfull matter still drawing it to objects and pleasures suitable to it self none at all My thoughts are not your