bodies of ours into his presence and permit them to appear before him whereas he might justly debar them of this happines by reason of the infinite Disparity betwixt Himself and them Shall these Bodies then appear before this presence without expression of reverence and worship Be astonished O ye heavens at this Certainly if any man may be ranked in the number of those whom holy Job taxeth for rebelling against the light it is he that is perswaded he may rush into and be in Gods presence without reverence and worship I say Against the light for it need not be doubted but that even Nature and Grace do both of them project their light this way teaching Bodily reverence and worship unto God Naaman will bow in the house of Rimmon so propense is Nature it self to present Bodily adoration to that deity which the Fancie hath conceived The Muscovites not many yeers since when they entred into one anothers houses they first looked about them to see what Images there were which when once they espied they worshipped and then saluted their friends If we must salute men in the house of God of which for my part I see no necessity or not so Great necessity as of that which respects God himself it were good if we would take notice of God first But we can rush into Gods house and there diligently spend our salutations and obeysances upon this and that body and God because he hath no Body to appear visibly honourable must be accounted No body Either he shall have no worship at all or a very slight one For a man to come before so glorious a God to hear to pray to sing and to do it with no more nay perhaps less reverence then if he were coming into some Trades mans shop What is it to sacrifice a lamb as if be cut off a dogs neck if this be not But what occasion does this administer unto Heathenish Idolaters to triumph over us Christians that they should be ruled by Nature in giving reverence and worship to their gods though false ones whereas we who pretend much to Grace will not be taught by it to adore and worship the true God from whom our grace comes Would any Idolater in the world though blinde yet devout in his way be so irreverently loose and profane before his Devil as we before the great God of heaven and earth Although such Idolaters shall themselves be condemned for their Idolatry yet certainly they shall rise up in judgement against us Christians and condemn us for our profaneness As God urged the Heathens holding them to their gods Jer. 2. 11 against the levity and inconstancy of his own people in changing him so will he produce their reverence and worship to their gods against our slackness in not giving him that Bodily worship which is due unto him Amongst those many sins which threaten the ruine of this our sinful Nation and call on us for amendment we may justly fear that this is not the least Let us then in the Name of God consider the Majestie of God before whom we appear our own unworthiness to appear before him the infinite distance and disproportion that is betwixt him and us that his own eyes and the eyes of his holy Angels are upon us observing our behaviour in coming into and abiding in his presence that we are called upon to yeeld him due reverence and worship not onely with our Souls but our Bodies likewise And if our hearts be not obstinately bent to resist the Truth which God forbid we shall see what pressing engagements lie upon us to worship the Lord our God These Arguments I conceive both for number and weight sufficient to establish this Truth Yet I shall make request in the words of Elihu Job 36.2 Suffer me a little and I will shew thee that I have jet to speak on Gods behalf I shall produce two Arguments more and those shall be from the very words themselves Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God The first of them shall be from the manner of our Saviours alleadging these words Our Saviour immediately before saith Scriptumest It is written Now we know that Bodily worship to be given unto God is written in many places of the Old Testament But what particular place is it which our Saviour may be thought to have had respect unto that this his allegation may be referred to it and compared with it I think it not amiss to follow the margin in our Bibles which directs us to Dent 6.13 and Dent 10.20 Examine either of the places and compare them with our Saviours allegation and see some difference in the terms Moses saith Timebis Thou shalt fear and our Saviour saith Adorabis Thou shalt worship And what may be the reason of this difference I answer The Feat of God may have a twofold consideration First to be taken strictly for an awful dread terrour or trembling at God Which Fear is properly belonging to that passion or affection that is in the soul and is either upon a sad apprehension of Gods Justice as was in David Psal. 119.120 My flesh trembleth for fear of thee and I am afraid of thy judgements or upon the sense of Gods Presence as was in Moses who exceedingly feared and quaked at that fearful manifestation of God upon mount Sinai This Fear should be in us all at all times Though we see not so much of God as Moses did yet we are in his presence and more especially when we come into his House there to present our selves before him And this Fear should beget in us Humility Reverence and Worship towards so * great and terrible a God Whence as Piscator observes that which is Fear in that place of Moses is rendered Worship by our Saviour in this place by a Metonymie the Effect being put for the Cause worship for Fear They then who deny that Bodily worship is to be given unto God and refuse to yeeld it unto him when they come before him though I will not judge them yet themselves make it manifest by their rude carriage and demeanour that they have not this fear in them for if they had they would surely come into Gods presence worshipping in the lowliest manner that possibly they could Or secondly Fear may be taken generally for the whole duty and service that Man oweth unto God Fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man Eccles. 12.13 Now * Fear being as the tree comprehending as branches all the several duties that we owe unto God Bodily worship urged at this time by our Saviour may be comprehended in Moses his Fear as the Species in the Genus a Particular in the General So that they who deny Gods Bodily worship deny likewise his Fear in its general latitude and capacity depriving the Genus of a Species the Tree of a main Branch the Fear of God of its Bodily
ΟÏθολατÏεία OR A BRIEF DISCOURSE CONCERNING Bodily Worship Proving it to be GODS DUE To be given unto him with acceptation on his part and not to be denyed him without Sin on ours A thing worthy to be taken into Consideration in these dayes wherein Prophaness and Irreverence toward the sacred Majesty of God hath so much corrupted our Religious Assemblies that men are regardless of their being before God or of Gods being amongst them in his own House By S. G. late Preacher of the Word of God in the Cathedrall Church of PETERBURGH PSAL. 89.7 God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the Saints and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him 95.6 O come let us worship and bow down let us kneel before the Lord our Maker 99.5 Exalt ye the Lord our God and worship at his footstool for he is holy 132.7 We will go into his Tabernacles we will worship at his footstool MICAH 6.6 Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow my self before the high God MATTH. 22. 21. Render unto God the things that are Gods London Printed for Gabriel Bedell M. M. and T. C. and are to be sold at their shop at the middle-Temple gate in Fleetstreet 1650. PREFACE WHen a Kingdom or People stand in need of Reformation as none ever were in more need then we it is undoubtedly a good way to observe the same Method that God himself did in his proceeding to judgement against the house of Judah Ezek. 9.6 beginning at his Sanctuary The things that are amiss there let them be rectified and amended as deserving it in the first place and then like lines extended from the Centre to the Circumference Reformation will the more happily diffuse it self into other places For the Sanctuary being the fountain whence help and divine protection issue Psal. 20.2 the treasury where all blessings are to be obtained by the people of God when they make their holy humble and devout addresses to him cleanse That and the things there and then the Streams will flow more fairly into such places as want watering For this purpose here is a Besom to sweep away an horrid abuse wherewith the adversary to God and Man Religion and Decency hath much and long corrupted our Publike Assemblies before God in his Sanctuary and that is Profaness and Irreverence toward the sacred Majestie of God before whom the appearance is which is after so rude a manner as if God were equal nay inferiour to the meanest of us Though contrarily the expulsion of Corporal adoration and reverence out of our Publike Assemblies be now accounted an act of Reformation 't is no wonder when in all corrupt Ages and Places Evil hath been called Good and Good Evil Vices have been called Vertues and so embraced and Vertues Vices and so detested Piety having been branded with Nick-names and Irreligion assuming specious appellations That hath gotten Spittle from the mouth This kisses from the lips Now for this poor Treatise creeping forth into publike view if it may to reform what is amiss and to advance the honour of God in this particular I am not ignorant how that in many respects it may receive such a Terrifying Advertisement as Moses did from Pharaoh Exod. 10.10 Look to it for evil is before you Some because they see not the name of some learned Worthy which commonly is a great advantage to a Book prefixed may say in scorn with those in Siracides What fellow 's this Some again apprehending by the Title-page the general Subject or galloping the Treatise it self over with an hasty eye may say as the Iews did against S. Paul This fellow perswadeth men to worship God contrary to the Law A Third sort may accuse the Work of Unseasonableness That it came not forth into the world like the Shunemite-woman into the Kings presence just when the thing was in the words when the business was in agitation but long after the Question is ceased and the general inclination hath since been to the Negative But as the Apostle said in another case None of these things move me Let these and greater Evils then these arise against this poor Treatise I pass not so I have Truth and Religion on my side for which upon my best though I confess but weak examination 1 finde nothing why I should decline any ludge whatsoever whether it be God himself whose Cause this is and whose Minde in this case is to be seen in his written Word or any inferiour under him either Ancient or Modern Christian or Heathen the Atheist onely excepted and amongst Christians him who hath so firmly betrothed himself to a Prejudicate Opinion that he will not be divorced from it And for thee Reader whoever thou art If knowing and hast concerning this Subject greater illuminations in thine Heart then these in thine Hand impart them if not accept of these If ignorant thy thoughts having not as yet been conversant in these things Do not think that I have any designe to abuse or deceive thee as if I would convey a mote into thine eye by presenting this Treatise to the view of it No God is witness my aim is to elevate thy Devotion to that just height as that thou mayst fully and compleatly acknowledge God by worshipping him with thy Soul and Body not superstitiously hypocritically affectedly or any other irregular way but humbly and sincerely according to thy duty in thy appearances before him when his own eye and the eyes of his holy Angels are upon thee observing thy behaviour in those approaches which if it be not answerable to his Divine presence thou canst have no cause to think but that God will dislike thee as Achish did David when he counterfeited Madness before him letting the spittle fall upon his beard Take heed then lest thou go out of Gods presence guilty of Iacob's over-sight Surely the Lord is in this place and I was not aware and so though thy coming in might be in hope of a blessing yet thou goest away without it having by thy profane rudeness provoked God so as neither to accept thy Person nor thy Prayer nor any Duty which thou hast performed but with the rich in the Gospel to send thee empty away And perhaps more then so hast provoked him to wrath that he should execute positively some vengeance upon thee making a breach upon thee as upon Uzzah for that thou hast not sought him after the due order in such an humble and reverent way as befitteth so great and glorious a Majesty If thou have a desire to prevent these things and to excite Gods henevolence towards thee beware of rude irruptions into and dissolute continuance in Gods presence I shall say no more but commending thee to the race of God and this poor Treatise to thy discreet Perusal bid thee Farewel ὈΡΘΟΛΑΤΡΕΊΑ MATTH. 4. 10. LUKE 4. 8. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy
benefits of Creation Redemption and Glorification and from hence debate and enquire in our selves Whether or no there be not cause for them to be united in setting forth the honour and worship of God for seeing God hath not disjoyned them in these his Benefits there can be no colour that we should disjoyn them in his Worship A second Argument may be drawn from the definition of Idolatry out of Zanchie that it is a Religious worship whereby an Idol is worshipped as the Deity A Religious worship What 's that but such as Religion bindes to give unto God himself The question then may be asked Whether Bodily worship given to an Idol in a religious way be Idolatry or no Surely 't is plain Idolatry And what makes it Idolatry but the giving that Bodily worship unto it which is Religious and belongs onely to God Do we not see then in the nature of Idolatry that Bodily worship is Gods due and therefore he must have it and that if it were not due unto God it would thence follow that to worship an Image with the body were no Idolatry because the worship given unto it belongs not unto God A third Argument may be drawn from the Second Commandment which in form of words is a Negative Commandment and the Rule of the Negative Commandments is that they command the contrary to that which they forbid As for example That Commandment which says Thou shalt not commit adultery does on the contrary command us to keep our selves chaste and undefiled That Commandment which says Thou shalt do no murther does on the contrary command us that we be careful as much as in us lies of preserving life That Commandment which says Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain does on the contrary command a holy and reverend usage of Gods Name Deut. 6. 13. And shalt swear by his Name In like manner the Second Commandment is a strict prohibition against Idolatry and worshipping of Images any Creature or the Figure of any thing whatsoever Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven image nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above or in the earth beneath or in the water under the earth thou shalt not bow down to them nor worship them c. We see here what way Bodily worship must not go it must not be given to Images nor to any Creature Now doth this Negative precept so restrain Bodily worship that it should go no way at all but suffer it to be altogether omitted Is there none or nothing that requires it Surely God himself requires and commands it in that prohibition Thou shalt not bow down to them nor worship them is as much as if God had said Thou shalt bow down to Me and worship Me If any doubt of this construction of the Negative Commandments that they command the contrary to what they restrain from inquisition into the judgement of Divines will settle him that so it is and particularly in this Second Commandment For which I will onely cite the words of that Mirrour of Piety and Learning Archbishop Usher and leave it to the * margin to point at more In his Sum and Substance of Christian Religion pag. 226. he saith thus The gestures of religious adorations being here forbidden to be given unto Images are therein commanded to be given unto the God of heaven * But perhaps some will say These are Humane constructions the glosses of men If they could see it thus in the written Word of God * that would strike a greater stroke in their conviction Let them take then what is set down 2 King 17.35 36. Ye shall not fear other gods nor bow your selves to them nor sacrifice to them But the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and a stretched out arm him shall ye fear and him shall ye worship and to him shall ye do sacrifice The Negative is in the 35 verse and the Affirmative answering to it as face to face in the 36. And this sense of the Second Commandment may further appear by the words following For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God What is God jealous of but of his Glory of his Honour of his Worship as well Corporal as Spiritual He will not have them taken from him and given to another As he will not have them given to Another so he will not have them taken from Himself The assertion then that Bodily worship to God is Idolatry unlawful unnecessary must be brought to this Second Commandment as the proper Touch-stone by which it is to be tried Bring it hither and let it be judged whether Bodily worship unto God be not rather confirmed then condemned commanded then forbidden and so the denial of it to be a sin against this Commandment A fourth Argument may be drawn from the Civil worship A Father will look for due honour from his Childe And for the childes part bowing is a duty which he is bound to render to his parents by vertue of the Fifth Commandment A Master will expect due obeisance from his Servant and that as well Outward as Inward Superiours also accept the same and Inferiours discharge it without contradiction Why then should not God our heavenly Father and Lord receive from us religious Bodily worship in honour and obeysance as a good Father and as a great Lord and besides when we profess our selves his Children and Servants and also acknowledge him not onely our Superiour but Supreme of all Why should not religious worship to God extend it self to as large and as ample an act as the Civil worship unto men No man dares deny God to be the greater object and infinitely more deserving then any mortal man can be If we honour earthly Kings so much with our bodies if we bow and kneel when come into the places of great and honourable presence Why should we not do the same and more if it were possible unto God Certainly we Christians may blush and be ashamed that the very Turks should go beyond us in prizing this argument for hence they conclude and with more reason then we can gainsay that if they give such worship and reverence to their great men much more ought they to do it unto God Let him speak who living among those Unchristened people yet more respective of the Divine Majestie then we heard them justifie their practice of Corporal adotion unto God after this manner Sicum Bassis tibi sermo habendus sit non aliter facias quam toto corpore ad reverentism composito Quantò aequiùs est idem servare erga Deum omne humanum fastigium tantopore excedentem If say they thou wert to have speech with the Bashaws thou wouldst not do it otherwise then with thy whole body composed to reverence How much more just is it that the same should be observed towards God who so
morship belonging unto it as included in it The other Argument shall be from these words The Lord thy God Because he is so therefore thou shalt worship him This is a glorious and fearful Name Deut. 28.58 Mercy and Majestie Goodness and Greatness meet together in it The due consideration of it may affect a man with high admiration that a God of such Majestie and Greatness should not be ashamed to be called The God of his people Their God and in them Thy God Every particular person in the number of those that serve him having this interess propriety in God as well as the general that he may say with David Psal. 63.1 O God thou art my God And O Christian whoever thou art if thou wilt say that God is thy God Dost thou not mean thy Whole self that he is the God of thy Body as well as of thy Soul and that thy Body challengeth an interess in God with thy Soul If so Art not thou bound to worship him with the one as wel as with the other This Argument is framed Psal 45.11 He is thy Lord áud worship thou him And more fully Psal. 95.6 O come let us worship and how down let us kneel before the Lord our Maker the reason whereof follows in the next verse For be is our God Our relation to him our propriety in him should make us the people of God resolve to worship him Suppose then that a Congregation of people in the presence of God be divided in their practice some worshipping God with their Bodies others not If the refrainers shall ask the other why they bow or kneel c. The other have a ready answer He is the Lord our God therefore we do and will worship him so long as we bear these our bodies about with us they shall acknowledge an homage and reverence to our God And if these retort the Question upon the other and ask Wherefore do not you bow nor kneel What answer will these refusers of Corporal adoration return that may relate to this Scripture Will they say We will not worship nor how down nor kneel negatively in the duty and yet hold the affirmative in the rest For he is ear God This cannot hang together They rather disclaim God and deny him to be their God in refusing to give him his due worship I think they would be loath to have this laid to their charge yet they will have an hard task to discharge themselves for if they deny the duty they go very far in denying the ground upon which the duty is founded Thus I end the Arguments for Gods Bodily worship and pass to the second way of proving it to be Gods due which shall be by Testimony Although I might say of Bodily worship approved and urged by our Saviour in this Scripture the same that the High-Priest said when the Jews accused him of blasphemy What need we any further witness For there needs not any to avouch that which Christ himself hath so clearly ratified Yet I shall adde some few Testimonies which though they can adde nothing to Christs authority may give further satisfaction and light concerning the thing in question And first I shall produce Angelical testimony or Mandate rather which is more for it does not onely testifie but commands as necessary It is Rev. 19.10 and 22.9 where we read that twice S. John fell down at the feet of the Angel to worship him but the Angel forbad him See thou do it not giving a reason of his prohibition I am {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} thy fellow-servant Therefore S. John should not have proffered the Angel such worship neither would the Angel accept it being tendred unto him but he charged S. John thus Adora Deum Worship God Now who can think that one of the blessed Angels who are ever studious to advance the honour of their great Creaton would perswade S. John to the practice of an unlawful and unnecessary service in bidding him to give that worship unto God which he would have given unto him This were to cast a foul aspersion upon those glorious spirits and to accuse them of errour If that very same Angel should appear to one of us after the same manner and should have the same occasion now which he had then I doubt not but he would give the same word of command Adorare Doum to worship God But we need not with Samsons parents make request for the Angel to come again unto us that he might settle us in this truth for in speaking to S. John he hath spoken likewise to us And one would think we should sooner adhere and give credence to the testimony of an incorrupt unerring Angel then to the testimony of ten thousand gainsayers Men who are always sinful and commonly rash unconstant and partial in their judgements And who among the sons of men dares make himself wiser then that Angel by giving contrary counsel As if Angels and Men derived not their wisdom from one and the same fountain Non aliunde sapiens Angelus aliunde Home aliunde ille verax aliunde homo sed ab unà incommutabili sapientia veritate The Angel deriveth not his wisdom from one fountain and Man from another nor is he true one way and man another but from one unchangeable wisdom and truth saith S. Austin in this case of Adoration Now if that Angel in the Apocalypse did wisely and truely in telling S. John he must worship God whosoever is wise will concur with him elso he is not wise Now for Humane testimony The Altar at Athens which had written on it this Inscription To the unknown God if we may give credit to Martinus Polonus was erected presently upon the time of our Saviours suffering for those great Athenian Philosophers seeing the great darkness that then was and not knowing the true cause they fell upon this Quia Deus Nature patitur The darkness is because the God of Nature now suffereth And the Athenians said Let us build an Altar to him So they set up the Altar and wrote thereon To the unknown God And when they would have offered Sacrifices the Philosphers said God hath no need of your goods sed facietis genuflexiones ante ipsius aram but ye shall make bowings and adorations before his altar I have nothing to do here with the Altar therefore let none hence catch at any thing for an accusation against me concerning that My purpose is onely to demonstrate how that men who saw by no other light then that of Nature improved by humane industrie acknowledged Corporal adoration to be due unto that unknown God whoever he was and accordingly advised the Athenians to yeeld it unto him This among many thousands of Heathen Testimonies shall suffice In producing Christian Testimonies I shall endeavour a resemblance with that good housolder which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old by
citing the testimonies both of ancient and modern Divines which I shall do but sparingly lest I should be endless Tertullian gives his verdict for adoration joyned with prayer thus Cum modestia humilitate adorantes magis commendamus Deo preces nostras Worshipping with modestie and humility we commend or approve our prayers the more unto God As if the common saying were true as no question but it is in this particular Vis unita fortior Force united is the stronger the worship of the Body joyned with the devotion of the Soul in prayer to God strengthens it to prevail the more forcibly with him Unto which S. Hierome also gives his consent Fixo in terram poplite magis quod à Deo poseimus impetramus With a knee fixed upon the earth we obtain the more of God the thing which we ask With this Origen also concurs in his vote though he expresseth it after another manner that genuflexiones adorations and bowings of the knee unto God are condimenta as if they were Sauces to our Services suaviores cos facientia giving them a better rellish and making them like Isaac's meat more savoury and acceptable unto God In the judgement of S. Austin and no doubt but he speaks by his own experience acts of Corporal adoration do much increase the inward devotion and worship of the soul His words are these Cumbi motus corporis fierl nisi motu animi pracedente non possint eisdem rursus exterius visibiliter factis ille interior invisibilis qui cos fecit augetur Whereas these gestures of the body cannot be performed without the precedent motion of the minde the same gestures being outwardly and visibly performed the inward in visible which caused them is much augmented thereby He then that out of a pious devotion shall bow or kneel unto God at his coming and being before him to improve his devotion thereby is not to be condemned for it but rather he that does it not Otherwise Salvianus would not have complained of that irreverence which profane persons practised in his time in coming into their Temples which were houses of prayer sine ullâ penitus reverentiâ sacri bonor is without any respective reverence at all to the sacred honour of God A complaint fit for these times Damascen is also plain for this Corporal adoration reasoning it from our composition Quia ex duplici naturâ compositi sumus c. Because saith he we are composed of a twofold nature to wit an Intellectual and Sensible therefore we offer unto God a twofold adoration a Spiritual which consisteth in the inward devotion of the Minde and a Gorporal consisting in the outward humiliation of the Body I could recite a considerable reason out of Aquinas which may please any honest minde but lest any should except against him as one of the Romish party I shall let him alone And indeed I can well spare him having enough beside of our own whose authority may among our domestick opposers be more convincing This will make me take a large leap over many centuries of pious and learned Authors to insist upon the suffrages of some in these last days of whom the first shall be Mr Calvin He upon Psal. 95.7 hath these words Hoc quoque notandumest non tantùm de cordis gratitudine hic agl sed simul requiri professionem externā pietatis Hoc enim tribus verbis exprimitur officio suo non defungi fideles nisi palam genuflexione aliis signis Deo se in sacrificiû offerunt This also saith he is to be noted that the thankful acknowledgment of the heart is not here onely understood but the outward profession of piety is together with it required For this is exprest in three words meaning worship bowing kneeling which the Psalmist there mentions that the faithful cannot be said to discharge their duty unless openly by bowing the knee other signes they offer themselves in sacrifice unto God In like manner upon Psal. 96. 9. O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness fear before him all the earth he comments thus Pulchritudinis nomine templo reverentiam conciliat Propheta ne temerè prosiliant homines in conspictum Dei sed metum humilitatem afferant Eò pertinet clausula ver sûs Contremiscite à facie ejus ut reputantes quanta sit Dei Majestas simpliciter coram co incurvent By the beauty of holiness the Prophet counsels reverence in the temple that men rush not inconsiderately into Gods presence but should bring along with them fear and humility For to this the clause of the verse tends Fear before him that men considering how great the Majestie of God is might humbly bow themselves before him Nor may I omit the testimony of the same Author upon this place of Scripture which we now handle Sicuti religio proprie spiritualis est externa autem ejus confessio pertinet ad corpus ita non interior modò cultus debetur soli Deo sed externum quoque ejus testimonium As Religion is properly spiritual but the outward profession of it pertaineth to the Body so inward worship is not onely due unto God but also the outward testimony of it By which triple testimony it may appear if Mr Calvin doth not deceive us that the Candle must not be kept under a bushel but set on a candlestick that others may see the light That Adoration of God is not to be shrouded Inwardly in our Hearts alone but Outwardly professed for from that precept of our Saviour wherein he commands that our light should so shine before men that they may see our good works and glorifie our Father which is in heaven I know no reason that adoration should be excluded Next comes the testimony of Beza out of whose garden we have pluck't one flower already His words in his Annotation upon this place are these The word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} is used for that religious worship which is due only to God conjoyned with peculiar reverence Quo et corpus et animus Deo uni sesetotum ut {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} consecrat tum interiore tum externo cultu In which worship the body and soul do wholly consecrate themselves unto one God as the only Creator with outward and inward worship Heminglus speaking of these two kinds of Worship the outward of the Body and the inward of the Soul will not have either of them exempted from God but Uterque Deo juste debetur Both of them saith he are justly due unto God For as concerning the Soul God hath created man after his own image an the Body hath he formed of the dust of the earth and hath endowed it with natural power and doth also conserve it thus Hemingius Bishop Cowper a pious orthodox and learned man having said upon Rom.
8.9 That the Spirit of God is within us He explains himself thus Which I do not speak as if I did condemn the outward service done in Body to the Lord provided it flow from the heart ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your Body and in your Spirit for they are Gods And this also is to be marked for the amendment of two sorts of men among us which are in two extremities We have some who are become scorners of the grace of God in others neither can they be humbled themselves in the Publike Assemblies of the Saints nor be content to see others express their inward motion by outward humiliation they sit down in the Throne of God and condemn others for hypocrisie not remembring that the sin of hypocrisie is to be reserved to the judgement of God who onely knows the heart and those same things which they mislike in their brethren the Lord hath allowed in others Mr Perkins whose words have already been of considerable use speaking of Corporal adoration useth these words The subjection which is due to God is absolute and for himself First in regard he is Soveraign Lord of our Bodies and Souls and Consciences Secondly in regard of the infinite excellency of his Divine Attributes especially that he is the author and giver of all good things that he hears and helps men every where calling upon him in the secrets of their hearts And the adoration that is done even for the acknowledgement and signification of these things is the adoration that is proper to God and is therefore called Divine or Religious adoration And of it Christ saith Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serve And if they who refrain from Corporal adoration of God meerly out of scruple of Conscience will give heed to Mr Perkins his declaration of this Case he may be satisfied He thus defines Religious adoration differing but little from himself before It is that Worship of God in which Religion and Godliness is exercised expressed and signified In it there be two things always joyned together and yet distinctly to be considered The first and principal being the foundation of all the rest is The intention of the Minde whereby God is conceived as an Absolute and Omnipotent Lord knowing all things yea the heart of man hearing the prayers of all men in all places at all times the author preserver and giver of all good things The second depending upon the former is the Outward prostrating of the body as the bowing of the knee and such like for this end to testifie our subjection unto God as our Absolute Lord They then who deny to worship God with their bodies What do they else but impair and diminish what lies on their part Gods Absolute Soveraignty in withdrawing their bodies from under his subjection so as they shall not acknowledge any homage or worship to be due unto him But as if the tendring of Corporal adoration unto God were not onely an acknowledgement of his Universal Soveraignty which he hath over all his creatures and whence in a relative sence he is called LORD but also an acknowledgement of his Divinity and Absolute Being in himself whence he is called GOD the same Author hath likewise these words By Outward Divine worship we acknowledge Divinity to be in the thing whereto we bow or prostrate our selves Now is it not necessary that all ways of acknowledging God for God should be put in practice And if any mans devotion shall secretly prompt him to make this recognition What reason is there that any should condemn him for it Seeing the action of adoring God speaks but the same which every man is bound to confess with his mouth That God is the onely true God and alone hath true Divinity in himself According to that acknowledgement of the people of Israel when they were so fairly convicted by Elijah's sacrifice 1 Kings 18.39 They fell on their faces and said The Lord he is the God the Lord he is the God So that they who shall condemn any for worshipping God with their bodies may as well condemn them for testifying with their mouthes the Divinity of God And also themselves by reason of their own refusing to worship God after this manner be condemned for not acknowledging Gods Divinity as they ought with those Bodies which God hath given them and amongst other purposes for this principal one of adoration Doctor John Donne a glorious Star but newly set shineth still in his Works and sparkleth forth his light in these words I must say that there come some persons to this Church and persons of example to many that come with them of whom excepting some few who must therefore have their praise from us as no doubt they have their thanks and bleslings from God I never saw Master nor servant kneel at his coming into this Church or at any part of Divine Service And a little after As our coming to Church is a testification a profession of our Religion to testifie our fall in Adam the Church appoints us to fall upon our knees And to testifie our resurrection in Christ Jesus the Church hath appointed certain times to stand but no man is left to his liberty as never to kneel Genuflexio est peccatorum Kneeling is the sinners posture if thou come hither in the quality of a sinner and if thou do not so what doest thou here the whole need not the physitian put thy self into the posture of a sinner kneel Mr Hildershaus a Divine of no mean repute no favourer of any practice accounted Popish In his Lectures upon Joh. 4. saith It is but the speech of a profane Hypocrite to say thus Though I make not that shew as others do though I use not to kneel and say my Prayers either with my Family or apart though I go not so much to Church as others do yet I serve God as well as they I serve him in my heart I lift up my heart unto him I serve him in my calling I get my living by my earnest labour I deal justly with all men And God is a Spirit and will be wotshiped in spirit It is the service of the heart that he looks for he cares not for these hypocritical shews It is no matter though I serve him not outwardly so long as I have a good heart And there be three Reasons why men may not content themselves to serve God in Spirit only but must do him outward and bodily service also In respect of God for he having created redeemed and sanctified our bodies as well as our souls is of right to have homage and service done him by both 1 Cor. 6 19 20. What know ye not c. In respect of our selves for the service we do to God in our Bodies is a great and necessary help to our Spirit Rom. 10.17 In respect of others for ur light