Reasons First Because God is to be worshipped by us as men now Men we are not without our Bodies nor our Actions the Actions of Men without our Bodies Actiones sunt suppositorum say the Schools Christ had not been true Man without a Body Secondly Our Bodies as well as our Souls are Liable to rewards and punishments and therefore with them must God be worshipped if we expect they should be Blessed and with them we should be Damn'd if we deny God's Worship by them Thirdly Bond of Religion The common Bond which ties us to this Act of Duty to this Object requireth outward Worship of the Body which Bond is the right which God hath to require this Duty of us which is grounded upon his absolute Dominion and Sovereignty and that is founded on his Communication of Essence or Being unto us He made both Body and Soul and wherefore but that both should serve him Again 2 Cor. 6.20 Again his continual preservation of both Entitles him to the Service of both Lastly his Redeeming of both multiplies his claim of Obedience and Worship of both Fourthly Mark 12.30 Our Saviour commands this universal Act Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy mind with all thy Soul and with all thy Strength i. e. with thy Body also for there is strength in that Thus you see the Act of Religion must be an universal Act and consequently outward Worship and Reverence is comprehended under it 2. The Act of Religion must be the most excellent 2 Intense most intense and perfect we can perform so that all other Actions must be hereunto subordinate For he is most excellent and perfect and therefore deserves our best performances So that as he is to be worshiped with all of man so with the intensest Devotion Zeal and Reverence of that All The whole Activity of all must be taken up in this Act of Duty or Service 3. 3 Constant It must be a constant continued uninterrupted Act because Gods Right and Dominion over us is constant and permanent Not that we must always be conversant in every part of Divine Worship always bowing the Body always Praying or praising with the Tongue always hearing always meditating of him in our hearts always at Church But so as all our Actions whither we eat or drink sleep or wake talk walk work or play should be to his Glory all should tend to him as to the Center all ordered and governed by his Will all should be subordinated unto Piety and that always Thus I have shewn what Religion is and that outward Worship is a part of it Now I come to a more precise and special consideration of outward Worship in it self What outward Worship is And this is nothing else but an expressing and testifying of the mind For though I do consider these Acts of outward and inward Worship in the explication of them distinctly yet I deny them to be separated in the true use and practise For the whole Act of Adoration concretely taken doth imply both The defination whence it is defined a yielding of Honour to the thing worshipped by the Recognition of its Dignity and Excellency and by a religious submission of Body and Soul viz. by inward motion of the Will and outward testimonies and expressions of the Body Where note The parts three Acts concur to the compleat Act of Religious Worship 1. The Act of the Understanding 1 Estimation whereby we apprehend the excellency of the thing we Worship For the Will cannot incline it self with a reverential esteem towards that which the Understanding doth not first conceive excellent and worthy such reverence 2. The Act of the Will 2 Affection which upon the preceeding Act of the understanding apprehending the Object excellent doth inwardly incline it self thereto in its affections of Love and Reverence 3. 3 Outward expressiion The Act of the Body whereby we do by some outward tokens of respect and honour agnize the excellency thereof which we conceive in our minds and reverence in our hearts by a submission of our wills thereto Both which inward Acts are not only testified by the outward but intended encreased and consummated thereby All these three Acts must concur in one Worship or Veneration For if the first be wanting we shall Worship with the Athenians an unknown God If the second our Worship will be Hypocritical If the third it will be maimed and imperfect Now this third and last Act of bodily Worship which is the thing in Question being the Effect of the two former Acts and the witness of them is by a Synechdoche more especially called Adoration Adoration and its kinds Nudatio Of which there are reckoned up four species or sorts 1. Nudatio Capitis uncovering the head Geniculatio 2. Geniculatio bowing of the knee 3. Incurvatio Incurvatio bowing of the body 4. Prostratio Prostration Prostratio or falling down The first of these is proper only to the Western part of the World where the fashion is to testify our Worship to any body by uncovering the head I speak of men In the Eastern Countrys they never were wont to bare their heads nor is it the fashion there to this day But the other three have been always used in the Service of God by Jews Greeks Christians and all Nations of the World It is observable Very frequently mentioned in Scripture Gen. 24. 26. Exo. 4.32 and 2.27 and 34.8 2 Cor. 7.8 and 29.29 Esay 44.47 Dan. 3.6 Job 1.20 Matt. 2.11 and 20.26 you seldom read of Worshipping in Holy Scripture but there is some Gesture expressed with it as bowing the head falling down bowing to the ground The Jews in dirision of our Saviour could not mock a Worship without expressing it by bowing Matth. 28.9 Did not Saint Paul Worship when he bowed his knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Eph. 3.14 And what is our Saviours reward now he sits at the Right Hand of his Father which the Holy Scripture expresseth by bowing the knee at his Name is it not worshipping him that you may see how little or no Worship was used by the Saints of God in the Old or New Testament without external Adoration or Bowing Abrahams Servant the Israelites Jacob their Father Moses Job David Come let us Worship and fall down and kneel c. as if no worshipping without these Demonstrations And the wise men and the Leaper and Mary Magdalen and Saint Paul all these could not worship without bowing or kneeling or some bodily testification of their inward Reverence Submission and Humility Thus you see the meaning of the word Worship or Adoration the necessity of it being an Act of Religion and the commendation of it in that it is the continual practise of God's Saints recorded in Scripture Come we now to consider 2 Of the house of God what is
a Minister about Holy Things or one that attends about holy service Neh. 10.36 Esay 61.6 Jer. 33.21 and therefore Scripture it self gives this interpretation of their names in very many places For though there were diverse Offices in the Jewish Hierarchy as the High-Priest the Priests the Levites Nethemims Porters Singers c. yet were they all Ministers about Holy Things though some in a higher others in a lower rank For the Levites Ministred immediately to the Priests the Priests to the High Priest and he immediatly to God as in our Church the Deacon whose name signifies a Minister Ministers to the Priest and the Priest immediatly to God Therefore Priest Levite Ezr. 7.24 Nethemims c. are all sum'd up in this name of Ministers see Joel 1.9 and 13. where they are all called Ministers of the Altar So Joel 2. Ezech. 46.24 c. Thus you see what the Hebrew word signifies which we turn Priest and what the Greek word Priest signifies which we would not have the Clergy called by and yet it is the very word given them by the Holy Ghost in the New-Testament viz. Elders Now I pray The Dignity of the Priests if they who waited on the Altar were called Ministers of God or of the Sanctuary or of the Holy Things why may not we of the Gospel be so called that is Priests for that the Interpreters ment when they translated the Hebrew Cohen which word likewise signifies a Prince to intimate the great Dignity of that Function which consisted in Ministring unto God about Holy Things And of no less Dignity is the word Priest or Elder And therefore these terms were premiscuously given to the Jewish Clergy and an Elder with them sometimes signifies a Prince So the Elders of the People of the City of the Congregation fignifies Rulers and Governours To be God's Ministers is to be the Peoples Elders We are the Ministers of God not men 2 Cor. 6. 4. 1 Cor. 4. 1. 2 Cor. 3. 6. Rom. 13. 6. for we are not the Ministers of men but of God and so we are stiled Ministers of Christ Ministers of the Spirit God and Christ set us on work he sends us forth to him we Minister though for you When we administer the Holy Word the Sacraments we are not therein your Ministers but his Dispensers or Stewards For we do it not at your appointment or command or by your Authority but by Gods from whom we have our Calling and Commission As the King is not his Subjects Minister though he doth administer Justice to them and therefore he is called Gods Minister Angels likewise Ministring Spirits to God even then when they are sent out for the good of them who shall be Heirs of Salvation Psal 103.21 104.4 For though the material Object of their Ministry or that whereabout their Ministery is conversant be men yet the formal Object or he in reference to whom this Ministery is executed is God Hence ye Priests ye Ministers of his that do his pleasure and he maketh his Ministers a flame and Daniel saith of them thousand thousands Ministred unto them Thus you see then whose Ministers we are Gods Dan. 1.10 not mens Secondly What a Dignity this is it is no less than what is attributed to Kings and Angels You see likewise that what the Interpreters translated Priests signifies that which you call us Ministers and the executing of their Office Ministring or Ministration As also that the word Elder Luk. 1.23 that the Holy Ghost calls us by is all one with the word Priest And therefore if you be so much against the Jewish terms you should rather call us Priests than Ministers but indeed we are both and the Holy Scripture useth both words promiscuously as well in the Old as the New Testament For we are Elders in respect of the people Ministers in respect of God and we Minister to God about Holy Things unless you will say that our Gospel is not so Holy as their Law our Preaching as their Expounding our Prayers and Service and Sacraments wherein is the Body and Blood of our Saviour are not as Holy as their Incense Oblation and Sacrifice for about these things are our Ministers conversant Now I come to the main Question concerning Adoration or Worship of God before or towards the Altar in our ingress into his house or at any other time when we shall approach thereunto Where first I will shew you what is meant by Adoration or Worship Secondly what is meant by the House of God 1. By Worship What is meant by Worship I do not understand here in the Latitude of the word the whole Act of Religion the whole Duty of Man which sometimes is generally so called the Worship of God the Fear of God nor yet only or primarily the inward Reverence and Devotion of the heart but in special the outward expression of Reverence and Humility in the posture or gesture of the Body not excluding but implying the inward worshiping of the mind In this sense the word is often taken in Holy Scripture as in the second Commandment Thou shalt not bow down to them Gen. 24 26.48.5 Rev. 19.10 nor Worship them So Saint John fell at the Angels feet to Worship him but the Angel refuseth it and biddeth him worship God that is give the outward Worship that he was ready to do to him to God to whom alone it was due For had not the outward Worship been an Act of Religion in regard of Saint John's intention and inward Reverence the Angel needed not to have refused it for outward Worship if it be only Civil is such as one man may give to another a Subject to his Prince much more to an Angel You see then the Holy Scripture by the name of Worship doth oftentimes mean in special the outward Adoration of the Body in visible gestures and so do I here Now this Act of outward Worship I make a part of Religion which that you may the better conceive I will tell you the Nature and Parts thereof For it is not generally believed that outward Worship is due unto God and consequently that it is part of Religion Religion Religion the Nature and Parts which is derived from a word that signifies binding Implies three things 1. An Act of Duty 2. The Object of that Act God 3. The Bond or Tye imposed upon us for the performance of such a Duty to such an Object The Object of Religion is God most Infinite most Glorious most Excellent and Perfect and therefore our Act of Duty in reference to such an Object ought to have three Properties 3 Properties of it 1. It must be an universal Act or Act of the whole Man 1 Vniversal of Soul and Body Soul and Body of all the Faculties of the Soul and of all the Members of the Body All are to concur in this Act of Duty to God and that for these
washed from the pollutions thereof with water so in our second or new birth they that were born into the Church and made Members of the same were washed from the pollutions of their Sins by the Sanctifying of the Holy Spirit who in Holy Scripture is frequently Signified under the name of Water John 7.38 39. Now though our blessed Saviours death and blood-shed be the ground of that Sacrament yet it is not his Blood that is represented by the water but the Sanctifying of the Holy Spirit whence our Saviour said to Nicodemus Vnlhss a man be born again of Water and of the Spirit c Besides Baptisme is the Sacrament of our Initiation the Lords Supper of our Conformation Baptisme might be Administred to Infants the Lords Supper only to men of Ripe years By Baptisme we have only the beginning of our Spiritual Life by the Lords Supper we have our Conservation in it and Continual food and nourishment This is the Commemoration Representation Exhibition and Application of that one most perfect Sacrifice of our Lord once offered upon the Cross So that upon this Table is prepared God's Heavenly Banquet for our Souls our Manna the Bread of Life in Comparison whereof all Earthly Feasts and Dainties are but poor Course and despicable From hence we drink the Cup of Salvation and Heavenly Benediction yea we eat and drink the very Body and Blood of our Saviour in a Mistery Whence the Antient Fathers are wont to call them Reverend and Dreadful Mysteries the Viands of Immortality the earnest of our Inheritance and the place in Reference thereto The Holy Altar the Sacred Table the Seat and Throne and Chair of Estate of our Lord Christ Jesus Thus I hope I have proved this Table to be the Highest and most Honourable part of the Church and therefore the fittest towards which our Devotions to God should be tendred Now I shall prove it to be Consonant to Scripture and approved by the Constant practice of the Saints in all Ages Perhaps you expect some place of Scripture containing this Proposition in express terms But this Demand were unreasonable For if we should believe no more than what we have express words of Scripture for in the New-Testament Then we shall be never able to prove our Baptizing of Infants The Analogy of the H. T. a Rule in many things or our substituting the Lords day in place of the Jewish Sabbath which are two points of main Consequence and yet we have no Rule given expresly concerning them in the New-Testament Nor was it needful for in such things where God hath not given or prescribed to us any new Rule to guide us In Tithes he hath refered us to the Analogy of the Old This the Apostle teacheth us where he proves the due of the Ministers miantainance under the Gospel from the Analogy of the Old Law Do ye not know that they that Minister about Holy things live of the Holy things of the Temple 1 Cor 9.13 and they that waitat the Altar are Partakers of the Altar even so hath the Lord Ordained that they that preach the Gospel would live of the Gospel But where hath God Ordained that but in the Old Law whence the Apostle proveth this for what need God give a new Commandment concerning Tithes in the New-Testament while the Reason and Ground of the Commandement first given doth as much concern us as them It was reason that they who waited at the Altar should live of it It is as much reason that they who Preach the Gospel should live by it God hath reserved to himself the Tithes to bestow upon his Ministers in the Old-Testament for their maintainance and it was not needful he should give any new Command for Tithes under the Gospel seeing he never abolish't them that he hath not abolish't them is plain because he hath not abolish't the cause for which he did at first Ordain them viz the mainitainance of his Ministers as the Apostle here shews Thus you see the folly of those that will admit of no proofs out of the Old-Testament for any thing even there where is the same ground and reason which the Apostle confutes here by his own practice and by citing a place out of Deuterinomy 25.4 Thou shalt not muzzel the mouth of the Oxe which treadeth out the Corn. which saith the Apostle God spake altogether for our sakes that are Ministers of the Gospel And whence arose the Auncient practise of the Church in Baptising Infants I Pedo Baptiand the Lords day but from the Analogy of Circumcision or the Hallowing of every first day in the week as one in seven but from the Analogy of the Jewish Sabath By the same reason it was not necessary for God or Christ in the Gospel to give us any new rule for the manner of our worship of him in his house Euseb line 3. line 14 Ir. line line 3. line 3. or to specify the place towards which we should Adore him in express words having therein left us to the Analogy of the Old Law there being the same reason to tye us to worship God towards this place that there was to tye the Jews to worship him towards the Altar I might alledge to this purpose a place out of Clemens a man of the Apostolique age and whose name saith St. Paul was written in the Book of Life in his true and genuine Epistle to the Corinthians We p. 52. where he saith ought to do all things rightly and orderly which our Lord hath Commanded us to Celebrate our oblations and Lyturgyes at appointed times for he would not have these things done rashly and out of order but at set times and hours He hath likewise defined by his most High will where and by whom he would have these things performed But where I pray do we find any of these things Specified by God unless he hath left us to the Analogy of the Old-Testament For the only reason that moved the Jews to worship toward the Ark was the Memorial of his Name that is The same Reason ties us to worâ—ship God towards the Altar that tied the Jews to worship towards the Ark. of his Special presence The whole Temple was the Place of Gods Special Presence but the Ark was as it were his Front or Face where he did most chiefly testify his Presence Simil. as the whole Chamber where the King manifests himself to his Subjects is called the Presence Chamber but the Chair of Estate doth most principally represent the Kings Person But first I will shew that places in the Old Testament set a part for Gods Worship were places set a part for the Memorial of his Name and therefore Sacred and also that God did promise a special Exhibition of his presence and blessings in those places This I prove out of Exod. 20.24 where God after the promulgation of the Decalogue forbidding the People by Moses to make with him gods of Silver