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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B01867	Gospel-worship, or, The right manner of sanctifying the name of God in general. And particularly in these three great ordinances, viz. [brace] 1. Hearing the Word, 2. receiving the Lords Supper, 3. prayer. / By Jeremiah Burroughs. At the end of the contents of this book is printed the titles of all the works of Mr. Ieremiah Burroughs, that are published by Thomas Goodwin ... [et al.]	Burroughs, Jeremiah, 1599-1646.	1648 (1648)	Wing B6084A; ESTC R173334	230,318	294

these outward Elements of the bread and wine and the action thereof now when we come to eat and to drink those things that are appointed to set forth the greatest mysteries of salvation and the deepest of the Counsels of God concerning mans eternal good wherein especially God will glorifie himself we had need there sanctifie the Name of God for the things are very great and glorious that are presented unto us 2. This Ordinance of the Lords Supper or the Communion it is an Ordinance that Christ hath left to his Church out of the abundance of his love and therefore you shall find if you reade the institution of it in the 23. of Matth. that the same night wherein Christ was betrayed he took bread and brake it though Christ was to die the next day and to encounter with the wrath of God yea that very night he was to be in an agonie and to sweat drops of water and blood and the next day to die and to have these Tryals of wrath poured upon him so as to put him to cry out my God my God why hast thou forsaken me Yet he busies his thoughts that very night to institute this Supper surely it must be a great Ordinance and there is a great deal of love of Christ in it Christ saw that his Church had need of it that he should that night when he was betrayed have his thoughts busied about such a thing as this is One would think at that time that he had enough to take up his thoughts concerning himself being to encounter with the Law and with the wrath of God for mans sin but for all that great work Christ had to encounter with yet his thoughts are busied about this great Ordinance of the institution of the Supper and therefore there was great love in it Christ saw that it was a matter of great moment now if it is so then there is great cause why we should sanctifie Gods Name in such an Ordinance as this is and not to account it as a common and ordinary thing 3. We must sanctifie Gods name in this because it is the Sacrament of our Communion with Christ wherein we come to have such a neer union and communion with him as to eat his flesh and to drink his blood and to sit at his table We come to have Communion with Christ even in al our Sences now Christ coming so fully to us that cals upon us to sanctifie his Name when we come before him 4 In this the Covenant of grace is sealed the Covenant of grace comes to be sealed in both the parts of it now when we come to have to deal with God in the way of the Covenant of grace both to have the Seal on his part and the Seal on ours surely this must needs call for a sanctifyed use of such a thing as is so holy as this is And that 's the first reason why we are to sanctifie Gods Name in this because if we be in ordinary eating drinking we must do it then in this wherein there is so much of God wherein the Mysteries of Godliness are set before us wherein there is so much of the love of Christ wherein we are to have close Communion with Jesus Christ and wherein the Covenant of grace comes to be sealed on both sides there had need therefore be sanctifying of Gods Name in the use of it Secondly Consider this that there is no duty in all the book of God that I know of that is urged with more strength and severity than this is as that place in 1 Cor. 11. sheweth where you have required of every one that comes to receive the Bread and Wine in the Lords Supper That they should examine themselves and so eat and you have the most dreadful expressions against those that do not do it that I know are mentioned against the neglect of any duty in all the Book of God there the holy Ghost saith that whosoever eats and drinks unworthily First he is guilty of the body and blood of Christ and then Secondly he eats and drinks his own damnation These two expressions have as much dreadfulness in them as can be Imagined and we do not find an exhortation to a duty backt with two such severe expressions in case we should neglect our duty as this exhortation What if we do not sanctifie Gods Name in this duty we come to be guilty of the body and blood of Christ Blood-guiltiness is a terrible thing you know David cries out Lord deliver me from Blood-guiltiness to have but the blood of an ordinary man to lie upon one to shed the blood of the viledest Rogue that lives in a murderous way it would lie upon the Conscience and be very terrible it is impossible that such a man can be quiet all his daies though he hath never such a seared Conscience A Heathen could not be at quiet if he hath the guilt of blood lie upon him but to be guilty of the blood of Christ whose blood is ten thousand thousand times more worth than the blood of all the men that ever lived upon the face of the earth must need be a most dreadful thing It is a fearful expression guilty of the body and blood of Christ that is he offers such an indignity to the body and blood of Christ as the Lord will charge him of being guilty of it guilty of abusing the body and blood of Jesus Christ And then he doth eat and drink his own damnation but we shall speak more to that when we come to shew how God will sanctifie his Name in those that do not sanctifie it here in this holy Ordinance I will not therefore spend further time in those Scriptures for I bring them only now to shew that there is a necessity of it that we do sanctifie the Name of God in this Ordinance Thirdly there is nothing that strikes more upon a mans conscience we find it by experience even upon wicked mens consciences and especially upon such as begin to be enlightened in the holiness of this Ordinance God hath put much honor upon it I confess some men may use it superstitiously though it be an Ordinance of Christ yet God hath put a great deal of honor upon this Ordinance that men that are very wicked otherwise yet their Consciences tell them that when they come to this Ordinance then they must be good then they must not sin but have good thoughts and good prayers at that time And many times they dare not come if their consciences tell them that they live in some sin I knew one my self once that was to be executed and he had never received this Ordinance in all his life though about fourty yeares of Age And being askt the reason why he confest that he lived in some sin that he was loth to leave and therefore would never come to that Ordinance all his life though herein the Devil gul'd and deceived him but

Look to thy feet when thou comest into the House of God Eccle. 5.1 Now for the Sanctifying of Gods Name in drawing nigh to Him we shall endeavour to open it 1 First in shewing you wherein the Sanctification of Gods Name consists or what we should do that we might Sanctifie the Name of God in drawing nigh to Him 2 The Reason why God will have His Name to be Sanctified in those that do draw nigh to Him How we should Sanctifie the Name of God in drawing nigh to Him it is under these two heads First There must be a due preparation unto the Worship of God that we exercise our selves in at any time Secondly A right behaviour of our souls in it in these two things consists the Sanctifying of Gods Name in His Worship Now under these Two Heads all that I shall speak about the opening of the Sanctifying of Gods Name will be contain'd At this time I shall only speak to the First The due preparation of the Soul unto the Duties of Gods Worship Therein consists a speciall part of the Sanctifying of Gods Name in drawing nigh to Him And that it is so we find it in Scripture That preparation for worship it is called the Sanctifying of our selves and by finding this in Scripture it hinted me upon this head to speak of the preparation unto Worship in our Sanctifying Gods Name because I find in Scripture that the Sanctifying our selves for Worship and the preparation of our selves for Worship are all one I le give you these two texts In 1 Sam. 16.5 you shall find there that Samuel when he was sent by God to Anoint David in Bethlem the text saith I am come to Sacrifice unto the Lord Sanctifie your selves and come with me t● the Sacrifice Do you come peaceably say they Yes what then Sanctifie your selves and come with me to the Sacrifice That 's all one as if he should have said Prepare your selves and come with me to the Sacrifice and so in Job 1.5 there you shall find that the holy man Job when his sons had been feasting he was somewhat afraid least there should be some miscarriage and that they had sinned against God in their feasting as it is very hard to give liberty to please the flesh and not to sin not to transgress bounds therefore Job though he did not hear of any notorious abuse of their feasting yet he was afraid least they should sin he knew how dangerous it was to have so much satisfaction to the flesh and not to transgress bounds therefore it is said he sent to his sons and sanctified them It was so saith the text when the daies of the feasting were gone about that Job sent and Sanctified them that Job sent unto them to prepare them to offer Sacrifice to prepare them for the Worship of God So that the Scripture holds forth this then that to prepare for Worship it is to Sanctifie for Worship and so it is one special thing that is required in our sanctifying of God in our drawing nigh to God to make a due preparation for his holy worship Now for the orderly handling of things 1 First I shal shew you That we must prepare for the worship of God 2 Secondly I shall shew you Wherein this preparation for the Worship of God doth consist 3 Thirdly The excellency that there is in this or what great good there is in preparation for Gods Worship 4 Fourthly I shall Answer a case of Conscience or two 5 Fifthly I will shew you what is the behaviour of the Soul in Sanctifying Gods Name 6 Sixthly The Reasons why God will be Sanctified in the duties of his Worship First That there must be preparation to the Worship of God For First that God that we come to Worship is a great and glorious God and we having to deal with such an infinite glorious dreadful Majesty it is fit that we should make preparation when we come nigh unto him therefore in Exod 19.10 when God came among the people to give them his Law he did require that they should be Sanctified to day and to morrow and that they should wash their cloaths and be ready against the third day for the third day the Lord would come down upon mount Sinai in the sight of the people God did not so much stand upon their cloaths but it was to signifie an inward washing Now my brethren if when God came to give the Law they were so to prepare then certainly when we are to come to Worship God in the way of the Gospel we are to prepare as well as they because God is coming For that that is observable is why they were for two daies together to make such preparation the argument is because of the presence of God The Lord said to Moses Go and Sanctifie the people t● day and to morrow and let them wash their cloaths and be ready against the third day● Why for the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon m●unt Sinai The Lord will come down the third day and therefore let them be Sanctified So when thou goest to Worship Gods thou expectest or shouldest expect that God will come to thee and that thy heart shall be drawn to God and therefore thou shouldest make some preparation For the time of preparation we shall speak to afterward when we come to the cases of Conscience about preparation for Worship And so in Chr. 22.5.14 David makes preparation for the House of God because it was the House of God that he had to build though he could not do it himself in his own time yet being the House of God what great preparation was made by David The morral of which is this That the house of God being a Type of the Church and the worship of God as well as of Christ it shews that there should be much preparation when we have to deal with God in his Ordinances Secondly As God is great that we draw nigh to so the duties of Gods worship are great duties they are the greatest things that doth concern us in this world and it is a sign of a very carnal heart to slight the duties of Gods Worship to make account of them as little matters Carnal hearts ordinarily the things that concern their businesses in the world they think great matters Oh I may not neglect that I may not neglect that I may not neglect such a business or I may not neglect to visit or gratifie such a friend but now for the worship of God it is good indeed but whether it be done or not it is no great ma●ter therefore they can put off prayer if they have any business the time of prayer must pay for it they can put off that upon any slight occasion they do not account the duties of Gods worship great matters My brethren I beseech you learn this lesson this morning to account the duties of Gods worship great matters they are the greatest things that do concern you here in this world for they are the homage that you tender up to the high God as you heard and those things wherein God communicates himself in his choice Mercies now being such great matters there is cause that

not a warrant for it when this is said who requireth this at your hands It will stop our mouthes another day In Matthew 15.9 In vain do they worship me teaching for Doctrine the Commandements of men In vain it is a vaine thing to Worship God when there is nothing but a Commandement of man for this Worship If you would Worship God you must have a Commandement of God for the Worship And in Isa 29.13 there is a place to the same purpose that shews how the Lord is offended with any man that shal teach his fear by their own precepts Wherefore the Lord said Forasmuch as this people draw neer me with their mouth and with their lips do honor me but have removed their heart far from me and their fear towards me is taught by the precepts of men Mark it Now if this be so the Lord have mercy upon us in this thing You have cause to be humbled every one of you I beleeve in some degree or other this Congregation very much and most Congregations that have had the fear of God taught them by the precepts of men How many things have there been in the Worship of God that you can shew no warrant in the Word for A great many things meerly mens inventions however they are now cast out because Authority came in and cast them out and so you submit to it but that 's not enough for you to submit to it because Authority would have it so but you ought to be humbled before God for all your Will worship for all your yeildings to any thing in the Worship of God that was taught by the precepts of men You see how severe God was to Nadab and Abibu for but taking other fire then that which God had appointed to offer up Incense though there was no direct commandment against it If the Lord hath spared you and not manifested any displeasure upon you you have cause to acknowledge Gods mercy and to be humbled for all your false worship Certainly God doth expect it from this Land to be humbled for their will-Worship or otherwise they sow among thornes All the Reformation that is among us if there be not a humiliation before for all our false-Worship 't is not enough that we set up now the true Worship of God but we must be humbled for our false Worship And that 's the first Note That in the Worship of God there must be nothing but what God Commands The Second Note is In the Matters of Worship God stands upon little things Such things as seem to be very small and little to us yet God stands much upon them in the matter of Worship For there is nothing wherein the Prerogative of God doth more appear than in Worship as Princes they stand much upon their Prerogatives Now God hath written the Law of natural Worship in our hearts as that we should love God fear God trust in God and pray to God this God hath written in our hearts But there are other things in the Worship of God that are not written in our hearts that only depend upon the Will of God revealed in his Word which were no duties except they were revealed in his Word And these are of such a nature as we can see no reason for but only this because God will have them As now There are many kinds of Ceremonies to manifest honour to Princes that there is no reason for them at all but meerly because it is a Civill Institution so appointed So God would have some wayes for the honoring of Him that the Creature should not see into the reason of them but meerly the Will of God to have them so Now God stands much upon little things though men would think it a little matter whether this fire or that fire and will not this burn as well as that But God stands upon it And so for the Ark when Vzza did but touch the Ark when it was ready to fall we would think it no great matter but one touch of the Ark cost him his life There is not any one minnim in the Worship of God but God stands mightily upon it In the matter of the Sabbath that 's His Worship for a poor man to gather a few sticks what great matter is it Put God stands upon it And so when the men of Beth-shemesh did but look into the Ark it cost the lives of fifty thousand threescore and ten men If it be a matter of a holy thing that concerns his worship he would not have it abused in any thing Let us learn to make conscience of little things in the Worship of God and not to think O how nice such are and how precise and nice in such small things Thou doest not understand the nature of Divine worship if so be thou art not nice about it God is nice and stands upon little things in the matter of his Worship Another Note is this That there are no priviledges or dignities of men that can secure them from God s●roke First Moses the man of God he was their Uncle Aaron that great instrument of Gods glory he was their Father They were men that were newly consecrated to the Priests office they were renowned men that God put much glory upon yet if they will venture but to offend God in this little thing Gods wrath breaks out upon them and kils them presently Let us take heed then of venturing and do not think that any services that we have done heretofore can bear us out If the greatest cannot be bore out with all their Priviledges how dare we poor wormes venture upon the displeasure of God Thou that art a worthless creature of no use at all in the world darest thou provoke this God when as the Lord is so angry against men that are of great use and service to let out his wrath upon them suddenly If you should see a Prince not spare his Favorite or his Nobles that are about him but upon one offence that we think is but a little offence that the Pinces anger should be so much against them as to cost them their lives what cause is there for poor people to tremble then when they have done that which may incur the anger of their Prince You see all outward priviledges and greatness will not excuse from the stroke of Gods Justice it should not excuse from the stroke of mans justice It 's true among men poor people they go to it if they offend but if great men offend they escape but it is not so with God for Nadab and Abihu were great and renowned men The Fourth Note is That the more the dignity of men is the more is their danger if they look not to it And this Note I gather from hence That Nadab and Abihu were the two eldest sons of Aaron and we find in the Scripture that Eleazer and Ithamer that were the two other sons of Aaron they escaped and were not thus consumed Why

is the subtilty of the Devil From whence is it that thou art unfit but from the temptation of the Devil And I find Luther again that was a man that had as much converse with God as any in his daies and a man that had as much to draw his heart away as many temptations and as many businesses as any for indeed the great Cause of Christ in all the Christian world in a great measure under God lay upon his shoulders and yet saith he If any one think that prayer must be defer'd till the Soul be pu●if●ed from impure cogitations he doth no other than help the Devil who is powerful enough he thinks to be wise in deferring the duty because he is not fit and he hath many ill thoughts and troubles in his Spirit he doth nothing else saith Luther but gratifie the Devil that is strong enough without this Oh let us take heed of gratifying the Devil in his temptations therefore remember it is a temptation for thee to omit a duty meerly because thou art not prepare ●or the duty 3 In the Third place that which I would Answer to this Question is this If any one performe a duty of worship in that sincerity and strength that he is able to do it though he be not prepared as he ought yet it is better to do it than to neglect it It is true some do performe a duty in a meer formal way and to satisfie their consciences or to cloak and cover their sins and the like perhaps they may so performe it as it might be better to be unperformed than to performe it as they do but if you do endeavour to the uttermost of your strength to do it though you be not prepared as you do desire yet it is better to do it than to omit the doing of it and you will find it so for one duty doth prepare for another Though it be not done as I desire it should be done yet the doing of it as well as I can at this time will help me to do it better at another time that is certain as one sin doth prepare the heart for another sin so one duty prepares the heart for another as now suppose a man commits a sin and he hath a conscience that is enlightened that doth hinder him from committing his sin with that full strength that he would do it many a man hath a mind to sin but through the enlightening of his conscience he cannot sin with that delight as he would because his conscience flies in his face and doth interrupt him but yet for all this through the strength of his corruption he will break through to that sin new though at first they cannot commit that sin with that delight and freedom as they do at other times yet if their corruptions be so strong as to break through the light of their consciences the next time they come to the committing of that sin they will commit it with more freedom and ease a great deal This is evident by experience there is none of you but if you well observe your hearts you will find this A Temptation comes to a sin now you cannot do it with so much freedom as you would but yet you break through it you will find that the next time you will commit it with more freedom and so one sin will prepare for another and it may be you have some trouble of Conscience at first but the next time you will have less trouble till at length you can commit it freely without any trouble of Conscience at all As it is in sin so it is in godliness many times in some degree at the f rst you have a motion to a holy duty but through the stirrings of your corruptions you are not fit for it now do you but break through that difficulty and the next time you will be more fit and the next time after that you will be more fit and so still more and more fit as it is in sin If a man when he hath some trouble of conscience would but listen to his conscience and would not commit that sin his conscience would grow stronger upon him and strengthen him against that sin so if any man or woman listens to the temp a●ion to defer duty and put it off because they are not prepared why after that the corruption will grow more strong therefore set upon the duty and the performance of one duty will prepare for another 4 In the Fourth place while men and women are strugling with their souls and the corruptions of their hearts and do not fall upon seeking God they by their very strugling to prepare themselves many times do insnare themselves It may be thou hast thoughts of Athisme or other wickedness the very strugling with those thoughts may insnare thy heart now the better way were to fall upon prayer and to cry to God to help thee against them for while thou art strugling and striving with those thoughts thou art striving with the corruption of thy heart and with the Devil all alone but now when thou fallest to the duty thou callest in the help of God and of Jesus Christ and that is a great deal better while thou art musing plodding and troubling thy heart that way I say thou art strugling alone but now when thou fallest upon the duty then thou callest in help from God and so thou art more able to the performance of the duty than than wert before And therefore it is the best way to fall upon a duty though thou canst not find thy heart prepared as thou doest desire the very falling upon it will sit thee for it And thus much for the Answer unto those two Cases of Conscience Now then we are to proceed further in the opening of the Sanctifying of Gods Name in holy duties Thus much for the preparation of the heart But when the heart comes to it in what manner should the duty be performed so as the Name of God may be Sanctified in the duty or what is the behaviour of the Soul in the Sanctifying of Gods Name when it is in the very act of the duty To that I Answer First in general thus When the Soul labours to performe duties so as God may have such glory from the duty as is sit for a God to have in some measure then do I Sanctifie Gods Name You will say this is a very hard thing to perform a duty so as that we should give God the glory that is fit for a God to have Certainly this is not done by every manner of performance of a duty of Worship yet you shall hear this opened to you and I hope you shall have it made very plaine before you First therefore I shall shew you that when we are to perform a duty of worship we should set our selves to glorifie God as a God that is to do it in that manner that God may have that glory that is fit for a