Exod. 20. And likewise you may take notice of the ordinary style of Moses when he speaks of these things which runs thus These are the Commandments the Statutes and the judgements Deut. 6.1 or keep his Commandments his Statutes and judgements Deut. 30.14 the like to which you may read Mal. 4.4 In all which places and many other Commandments are put first which word comprehends the moral and everlasting precepts and then follows Statutes which denotes the Ordinances and institutions about Gods Worship and after that Judgements which signifies the Laws about matters of civil right both which were alterable and not eternal Yea the whole book of Deuteronomy or the second Law as the word signifies seems to be added after the other to teach them that it was obedience to his voice in all things that God did most regard And therefore Nazianzen reckoning up the priviledges of the Jews saith that they had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a double giving of the Law Orat. 13. one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Letter the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Spirit Which may be interpreted of that in mount Sinai and of the other in the plains of Jordan 3. And so after the Law was given And from the succeeding Ages all the people of God understood that the things chiefly intended by him were their inward mortification their purity and integrity of soul a spiritual worship and a life of temperance sobriety justice mercy humility and all other vertues To this there are a multitude of places in holy Writ that will testifie and bear witness Hath the Lord as great pleasure saith Samuel in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord Behold to obey is better then sacrifice and to hearken then the fat of ramms For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubborness is as iniquity and idolatry 1 Sam. 15.22 23. Samuel a witness of it Saul thought that God was delighted if they feasted him with a multitude of sacrifices and that nothing distasted him if they had a care not to entertain Idols with the good chear at the Altar and therefore Samuel tells him that God took the greatest pleasure in an hearty obedience to his commands which was better then all the outward worship that he had appointed and that rebellion against Gods commands was as bad as Idolatry and worshipping of stocks and stones From the Prophet Samuel let us go to Asaph And Asaph who lived not long after and he tells us Psal 50.7 8 9 c. that God did not hunger after the flesh of beasts and foul nor thirst after the blood of Bulls and Goats nor did he fall out with them for the neglect of this kind of service but that which he required of them was to pray to him and praise him and perform all their vows promises to him which was the best of offerings ver 14 15. And that which he reproves and chides them for was that they hated instruction and made nothing of all his commands for the regulating of their words desires and actions ver 16 17 18 c. He asks them how they dare be so impudent as to pretend be in covenant with him though they brought him never so many fat sacrifices seeing they could not indure any of his counsels but were unjust unclean lyers swearers slanderers and backbiters As long as their evil affections and desires were unmortified he cared not for the death of so many of his creatures And so you may read the sense of David in the next Psalm Psal 51.15 16 17. And David O Lord open my lips and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise For thou desirest not sacrifice else would I give it thou delightest not in burnt-offerings The Sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise There were no Sacrifices indeed appointed for murder and adultery to which he hath a particular respect but they made a man obnoxious to death by Moses his Law Yet he saith in General that God did not delight in burnt-offerings and so his words may be extended farther than that one case of his That which pleased God was holy praises and the sacrifices of a broken heart and contrite spirit There may be an allusion to the ceremonial worship in the words broken contrite the former of which may refer to the sacrifice of beasts the latter to the perfume that was put before the testimony of the Tabernacle of the Congregation Exo. 30.35 36. And the words may signifie as if he had said that brokenness of heart and an holy shivering of the spirit in pieces so that it shall never be set together in the same frame wherein it was before is far better then the cutting and chopping of the flesh of beasts in pieces And as spices when they are beaten smell the sweetest so when your hearts are thus bruised and laid in their own dust by sincere contrition it is a more gratefull perfume to me then the beaten spices which were called most holy If you look likewise into Psal 69.30 31. You shall find that to praise God with a song and magnifie him with thanksgiving please the Lord better then an Ox or Bullock that hath horns and hoofs From him pass to Solomon his son who is of the same judgement for he saith expresly That to do justice and judgement is more acceptable to the Lord then Sacrifice And Solomon Prov. 21.3 Yea that the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord especially when he bringeth it with a wicked mind v. 27. And therefore in Eccles 5.1 he bids us be more ready to hear i. e. to obey then to offer the sacrifices of fools A fool is one that hath a body without a soul and such a carkass of religion are all sacrifices without obedience A meer skin and husk of devotion which God can no more be pleased with then we are with the gifts of a fool who knows not what he doth If from thence you pass to the Prophet Isaiah And all the Prophets he speaks so fully to my purpose in the first chapter from the eleventh verse to the twenty-first that I need not gloss upon his words And chap. 63.1 2 3. the Lord tells that people who boasted so much that they had provided him with an house and furnished his table continually with sacrifices I need no house nor am I beholden to you for a dwelling for the heavens and the earth are mine And I tell you there is no man loves me like to him that is poor in Spirit humble and obedient to my word Though you think that you please me mightily by the large provision you make at my house believe it without this contrition poverty and holy trembling at my commands he that kills a whole Ox is so far from doing me any service that it is as bad as an act of
but shadows of more heavenly performances whereby they were to seek that better countrey 12. And yet when they performed these acts with an holy heart in obedience to Gods command and as a part of his will not relying on them nor contenting themselves with them alone they might be accepted as a piece of diviner righteousness as Isaacs offering his son was meerly because God required him so to do For then they were converted to have something of spirituality in them and became of another nature Then he that calls himself the righteous Lord and the holy one of Israel stiles himself also by this name The Lord whose fire is in Zion and his furnace in Jerusalem Isa 31.9 Those divine Acts which render us acceptable in Gods sight might be imployed in these things as well as in others that faith obedience resignation humility liberality c. which God requires might be exercised in these observances as well as in another matter and for them not meerly for the sacrifices c. they were commended AND now how well will all this pains be bestowed if every man who reads these things will never content himself nor be at rest without a state of inward purity and conformity to the divine will and a sincere obedience to every part of that Law which our Lord hath given us Do not I beseech you cover your selves with the leaves of piety nor shroud your selves under the empty shadows of Religion but put on the Lord Jesus Christ bring forth the reall fruits of justice mercy and humble godliness let the life of God possess your souls and the divine spirit actuate and inform you as living members of his body We have our washings and our sacrifices and our dayes of rest as well as the Jews had let us have a care that we use them out of a sense of that duty we owe to God and as means to exercise and increase our graces and not pride our selves as they did in outward performances and an heartless sanctity If we glory meerly in our Baptism in our being of such a party and perswasion in going to our Churches hearing of Sermons there and repeating them at home receiving of the Sacrament of Christs body and blood praying singing Psalms and offering praises We do but mock God with outward shews and bring him to an Idol as Michal did Sauls messengers instead of a man Nay it is a greater shame and more damning for us to mistake so grosly and to think to please God with such trivial things as words and outward gestures when we know more then they did and have their miscarriages laid so plainly before us If God did not only despise but hate the Jewish service when not joyned with obedience to his eternal precepts then much more will he loth all ungodly men now with all their worship which they bring him though never so pompous and ceremonious For their Religion was full of shadows ceremonies and outward signs but ours is a Religion of more simplicity and therefore we can be the less tempted to formality And besides we being eased of that burden of that heavy yoke which lay upon their necks the heartier obedience in other things may be more justly exacted of us and expected from us Let me conclude therefore with the words of the Apostle of us Gentiles and beseech you by the mercies of God Rom. 12.1 2. that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service And be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that ye may prove what is that good acceptable and perfect will of God FINIS
possibly be taken in the strictest sense so that all the rest of those Commandments must be included in the phrase of walking humbly with God But if it be extended to all of them then by vertue of the fifth Commandment to do justly is to give our parents due honour whether they be natural civil or spiritual And in respect of the sixth it is to preserve the life of our neighbour and to have a care that we injure him not in his being In reference to the seventh it is to preserve his just relations and not to touch them or cause the violation of their faith to him And in reference to the eighth it is to preserve his estate and not meddle with his goods And the ninth requires that we preserve his good name and not defame him nor do any prejudice to his credit no more then we would to his estate And by vertue of the tenth we are to moderate our very desires so as not to envy to him that which is his and long to have it in our possession And thus in General I may give you some remembrances of this part of our duty 1. That we must not with-hold from any man his due if it be in our hands Whether it be due by our Promise or by his Labour by his trust reposed in us or by our offence against him for we are bound in this last case to make satisfaction and reparation to him 2. We must not take from any man that which is his own whether in his or any other mans possession Neither by our words as through lying false-swearing c. nor by our deeds as stealing robbing or any other wayes 3. And we must not desire or covet that which is another mans nor look with an evil or greedy eye upon any thing that he enjoys For this is justice in our souls as the other two are in our outward actions and it is this base covetous and having disposition which makes men that they cannot forbear such violent actions Now how plain is all this to be understood It is no injustice to require it of us and how meet is it to be done What injustice do you find in God for requiring justice at your hands The very definition of this act is to give to every one their due or letting men have what is their own And if it be reasonable in others towards you then it is most reasonably required of you towards them And if you may demand it from them and they from you then much more may God demand it of you all The relation that is between us and others requires it of us and God made both them and us and those relations and therefore he may require this of thee O man whosoever thou art He doth but bid thee do what any heathen will tell thee is thy duty if thou ownest thy self to be a man and intendest to live among men and not to be destroyed as a beast of prey Aristotle or any Lawgiver could not call for less justice then God doth only God requires it in words of greater force to engage us to it It is well observed by a most learned Divine of our own D. Saunderson Serm. in 1 Pet. 2.17 that what Aristotle calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to give a man his own the holy Apostle calls Rom. 14.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to render him his dues or debts Both these words of the Apostle are more significant then those of the Philosopher's which may teach us that Christianity requires under stricter bonds that which morality demands For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a debt or that which is owing is more expressive of our obligations then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his own or his property We are debtors unto justice and stand bound to our neighbours by our own act and deed so that he may soon prove it is his own which he requires And then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to render or restore is more full of justice then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to give or distribute For it signifies the returning of that which we have borrowed of our neighbour and therefore he saith in the next verse Owe no man any thing but to love one another Every act of Justice is but the paying of what we have received for he doth justice to us and therefore we owe it back again to him We do but pay him with his own coyn and discharge that duty which not only God but he hath obliged us unto Not that it is lawful to cozen them that cozen us and thus to render men as we receive for that is but to be as dishonest as they who would not pay us that debt which we took our selves to be bound in unto them And there is a publick justice likewise to which we owe much for it preserves our estates and from thence we look for satisfaction for our wrongs And he is some savage wilde creature And it is very good for us who sees not all this to be good For our neighbour no question it is good that we should do justly and if for him then for us for in his welfare our own welfare consists we being both members of the same body and in his honesty is our safety And therefore they that will not be honest themselves would have all men else honest and think that it is the best thing in the world that all should deal justly with them But how can any man expect that from another which he will not vouchsafe to him or by what reason is it that we must ingross all good to our selves and let our neighbour have none of it If we would have the monopoly of it we shall never purchase it for men will destroy such Wolves and Foxes that raven for themselves and do no good at all to others Or if they do not spy their subtilty but it is covered in darkness God will tear the prey out of their mouthes and the righteous Lord will make them know that it is bad to do unrighteously For commonly we see that they who do wrong to others are in themselves or posterity laid open to the violence of such like unjust persons And so the Eastern Fable taught the people that the Woolf having soln a Pigg was met withall by a Lyon who took it away from him and it was a wonder that he was not himself also torn in pieces That which was not well gotten could not well thrive and men might consider in the midst of a violent act that if they can find in their heart to be dishonest there may be others in the world of the same mind that will make no consciâ—nce to deal with them as dishonestly 〈◊〉 am very much pleased therefore with the Northern proverb That it is good sport to be honest The world may smile a while upon men in their dishonest gain and they may laugh at their good fortune Job 20.5 but the triumphing
take away no mans rights defend our Laws pitty the poor and not exact great fums meerly to support their own greatness Let us pray that those may rule us who are ruled by their maker that will do good even to enemies walk humbly with their God be poor in spirit not given to the vanities and excesses of the world that will sympathize with a poor Nation in its poverty pitty it miseries not prodigally wast its treasures and such as will love Religion and make the worship of God reverent and the practice of all Christian duties had in high esteem Such Rulers the Lord will love and bless See also Prov. 28. 15 16. Prov. 29.14 Prov. 20.28 Amos 5.14 15. and both Prince and people will feel the blessing that is in them For so the wisest King that ever was tells us Prov. 25.5 That if the wicked be taken from before the King his throne shall be established in righteousness And if it be so established then the King by judgement establisheth the Land Prov. 29.4 All the people rejoyce when the righteous are in authority and by a man of understanding and knowledge the state of a land is prolonged Prov. 29.2 28.2 That which the Bishop of Elvas said to the estates of Portugal after they had restored that family to the Crown which had long been excluded by the Spaniard is the greatest commendation of a Prince to the peoples affection next to true piety His Majesty said he doth not esteem those tributes lawfull which were paid in tears and he will not reign over your goods nor over your heads nor over your priviledges but over your hearts He that by such a government as this doth seat himself in the affection of God and his people his throne shall be est ablished for ever and his children are blessed after him Prov. 29.14.20.7 8. I will conclude this with the words of the same wise King which concern every man of us He that followeth after righteousness and mercy findeth life righteousness and honour ch 21.21 By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honour and life Pro. 22.4 And when God hath heard these prayers may we be so wise and happy as to chuse such Representatives in future times as consist of persons just and righteous mercifull and tender of all mens interests and concernments and that walk with God not living in any sin and that walk humbly with him not being puft up with a conceit of their own godliness That are neither ungodly themselves nor call all others ungodly who are not of their mind That love not those who are bad nor scorn any that are good And in brief that are not swoln with a belief of their own excellencies nor grown heady and proud in opinions but men of a sober Religion toward God joyned with justice and charity toward man I Shall not exercise the Readers patience any longer about these matters The sixth Observation when I have but briefly opened the sixth observation which naturally arrises from the discourse of the Prophet viz. That these things to do justly to love mercy to walk humbly with God were alwayes more valued by God then Sacrifices or any other bodily though costly services It is the very intent of the man of God in this place to disparage all outward worship though of Gods own appointment and much more all their own devised services if it were not joyned with true purity of heart and piety of life For there is nothing reaches the soul but these things that I have been treating of nothing but these conform us unto God who is a pure spirit nothing is everlasting and of an immortal nature but this image of God and therefore this he would work in us that we may be blessed But I need not proceed in this manner to give you the reason of it you will presently conclude the truth of the observation if I do but shew you first that these are the things which God always required above all the other Two things to be proved and secondly that all the other things did tend to the advancement of these You may well expect I should take this method for your own souls will bid you enquire why God did appoint sacrifices circumcision abundance of washings and other ceremonies if he was not mightily pleased with them Therefore first I shall demonstrate that God was not pleased with sacrifices and things of that nature 1 Sacrifices not so pleasing as holiness separated from justice mercy and godliness but that rather they were an abomination to him and like the stinking carkass without the soul when so separated 1. Look into the times before the law you shall see that there is no body commended for offering sacrifices or for loving any of these outward shadows but only for these substantial vertues which my Text speaks of It is said of Enoch that he walked with God and that God took him Proved from the times before the Law Gen. 5.22 24. but it is not said that he was very liberall in slaying of beasts and that he ascended to heaven in the smoak of sacrifices And it is said of Noah that he was a just man and perfect in his generations and one that walked with God Gen. 6.9 but nothing is there said where he is commended of building Altars and making great store of oblations to God Though they did these things and it is recorded of them that they did them yet their character is not fetcht from such things nor do you read that God commends them upon their account And so of Abraham it is said that he left his own countrey and believed God and this saith the Apostle was accounted to him for righteousness His high thoughts of God his submission to him his dependance on him his forsaking all for him his trusting of life and every thing he had in his hands his obeying God and following of him whithersovever he would lead him and in short his absolute resignation of himself child and all things else to Gods will These were the acts for which God accounted him his friend But we do not read that God or the Apostle commend him for being circumcised no circumcision was but the seal of the righteousness of that faith which he had in uncircumcision Rom. 4.11 i. e. It did but testifie to him that his faith was good and sound because God hereby took him into a covenant with himself or it was that mark and outward token whereby God did assure him of his acceptance into a covenant of great blessings for himself and seed because he had believed on him and was righteous before him 2. And not to proceed any further to others that succeeded presently after him And from the times when the Law was given but to look to the time of the Law You may observe that the ten commandments were given by God before he gave any of the other Laws
holy place in the East God placed his sanctuary in the West But it is not his observation alone for Justin Martyr long before in his disputation with the Jew Dialog cum Tryph. saith that the Israelites making a golden calf and offering sacrifice to it after the manner of Aegypt God did accommodate himself to them and commanded them to offer him sacrifices that so they might not give away his worship unto Idols And more plainly in his answers ad Orthodoxos if that book be his he saith that the Egyptians taking all living creatures except a Swine to have something of Divinity in them Respons 35. ad Orthod God distinguished between the clean and unclean and permitted the one to be offered in sacrifice but the other he forbad to be so much as eaten By both shewing that they were unworthy of the honour or name of gods which might either be slain and eaten or else were to be reputed of as unclean And Theodoret asserts it still more particularly L. 7. de curat Graec. affect that the Aegyptians worshipping a Goat and a Sheep as well as a Calf or Heifer and likewise holding the Turtle and Pigeon among the birds in greatest veneration God commanded the Israelites to sacrifice these rather then any other that so they might learn how vile the Religion of those people was whose gods were continually slain and eaten by them And for this cause also it was as he thinks that God would not let them eat Swines flesh because the Aegyptians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 abstaining from the rest as gods did think it lawfull to eat of this creature only But if it should be thought that the Aegyptians did not worship a Goat as it is certain they did a Cow yet the Jews confess that the Zabii or Sabaeans who were their near neighbours did give divine honour to it and against their infection they were no less to receive an Antidote then against the other And this perhaps may be the reason why God loaded them with such a world of ceremonies that they might be so constantly imployed as not to have time to think of adding any other devices of their own or others to his service having enough to do already Only his infinite Wisdom made these things serve to teach them higher duties and to be shadows also of most glorious things to come which I am not now to treat of 7. But seventhly as they put them in mind to consecrate themselves to God so they remembred them to give him the very best and the secrets of their souls For it is well observed by Cyril Alex. that though God suffered them to offer sacrifices as other Nations did yet not after their manner but so artificially and skilfully ordered that as I just now said they did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 travel with the form of a spiritual and intellectual worship in their womb L. 9. Contra Julianum of which they are now at last delivered Their whole burnt offerings which ascended intirely to heaven and were to be chosen out of the best of their beasts fruits or liquors might well carry along with them the chiefest of their thoughts and affections yea their whole souls toward God in whose service they were to spend themselves And when they sacrificed peace offerings they were to give to God the kidneyes or reins which are the seat of carnal pleasure and the heart as some think which is the fountain of all living motions and the seat in the ancient language of the thoughts and then the blood of the beast which might well teach them to offer even their lives to him who gave life to them as well as all other things which were most dear in their eyes 8. To which it may be added that the sacrifices could not be accepted unless the person as well as the beast which he brought were clean and holy So that the offering did not make him good but supposed him to be so already Plutarch gives us to understand how exact the Aegyptians were about the red Cow which they had decreed was to be offered to Typhon L. de Isid Osir when he sayes that if there were but one hair black or white she was judged to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unlawfull to be offered in sacrifice But he tells us likewise in the same place that the person who brought it was to be sound and in a good state of health for they thought that that being which is most pure undefiled and without blemish ought not to be served 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with bodies or souls that were full of putrifying sores or diseases You cannot think that the Jews were no less intelligent then these heathen especially since God required of the man that offered them that he should be so far from greater pollutions that he should not lie so much as under any ceremonial defilement Or if there were any secret naughtiness lying in his heart while his outward actions were unblâ—mable yet the sacrifice of such a wicked man was an abomination to the Lord who knows the heart Prov. 15.8 And therefore you may observe that after the Psalmist had said Psal 51.17 The sacrifices of the Lord are a broken Spirit c. and desired acceptance with God for him and his people ver 18. he adds Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness with burnt offering c. ver 29. As if he had told us first that a broken and contrite heart must go before else no sacrifices could be accepted to do the soul good and then secondly that in the time of offering they must be accompanied with righteousness i.e. the mans soul must be holy and devout and have a good affection in it unto God 9. And after this they could not be accepted but by the mediation of the Priest which taught them great humility even when they were at the best and in the greatest purity of body and soul 10. And again there were some sins for which no sacrifices would be admitted nor no Priest could intercede which both taught them humbly to wait on the mercy of God that he would find out a sacrifice and a Priest to expiate them and likewise to take great heed how they fell into those sins 11. And the sacrifices themselves are to be considered as a part of their civil righteousness for by the giving of these to God and observing the rest of Moses his Laws they had a title to the Land of Canaan If they kept themselves from defilements or brought these oblations and observed the feasts and kept the outward part of the ten commandments they were saved from being cut off by the Magistrate or cast out by God from the possessions that he had given them But God did not intend that this should make citizens of heaven or give them a right to the celestiall inheritance Canaan it self being but a type of heaven and these ritual observances