Spirits and that too in an especial manner For as it is but requisite that he who is a Spirit should have the worship of ours because most agreeable to his own Nature so also that we should for that reason intend that Worship especially and make it the chief of our Study and Design And accordingly though under the Law for the grosness of the Jews God appointed them a Worship which consisted much in Rites and Ceremonies yet he gave them sufficiently to understand that the spiritual Worship or the Worship of the Soul was that which he principally requir'd Witness one for all that of the Prophet David Psal 51.16 17. For thou desirest not Sacrifice else would I give it thee thou delightest not in burnt-offering The Sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart O God thou shalt not despise The result of the Premises is this That to worship God in Spirit and consequently to worship him after a due manner is especially to intend the worshipping him with ours that is to say by entertaining honourable thoughts of him by endeavouring to conform our Wills to his most holy one and lastly by suiting our Affections to his several Attributes by fearing and loving and trusting in him But beside the Worshipping of God with our Spirits and that too in a more especial manner to worship God in Spirit doth also imply the worshipping him without an Image or any Corporeal Representation For beside that this is the very thing here forbidden and therefore in reason to be suppos'd to be excluded by worshipping God in spirit and in truth to worship God by an Image is so far from being consistent with a spiritual Worship that it is but a dishonouring of him because resembling him to things to which he is no way like and which indeed are infinitely below the Excellencies of his Nature 2. Of the Natural or Moral Sense of Worshipping God in Spirit I have spoken hitherto and shewn both the Ground and Importance of it Let us now consider the Evangelical one according as was before insinuated For that such a one was also intended is evident from that Story to which this Passage is subjoyn'd If you please to consult the Verse preceding that which I have chosen for the Ground-work of this Argument you will there find a Woman of Samaria demanding of our Saviour whether Mount Gerizim by Sichem where the Samaritans sacrific'd or Jerusalem were the true Place of Worship In answer to which after our Saviour had told her That that Question was not now of much moment because ere long they should neither worship in the one or the other for a farther proof of that his Assertion he adds that the time was coming and even then was Mr. Mede on Joh. 4.23 that the true worshippers should worship the Father in spirit and in truth Which being compar'd with the foregoing Words and the State of the Controversie to which they do relate will shew that by worshipping in spirit and in truth is meant no other than the worshipping of God with a spiritual Worship as that is oppos'd to the Sacrifices and Ceremonies of the Law For the Question being not whether Mount Gerizim or Jerusalem were the place of Publick Prayer because both Jews and Samaritans had particular Places for them but which of the two was the proper Place to send their Sacrifices to and our Saviour making answer That in a little time neither of them should be because the Father sought such to worship him as should worship him in spirit and in truth he thereby plainly shews his meaning to be That to worship God in spirit and in truth was not to worship him with Sacrifices and other such Figures but in spiritual and substantial Worship such as are the Sacrifices of Prayer and Praise with other the like Natural Expressions of our Devotion But from hence it will follow not onely that we are to worship God without those Legal Rites wherewith it was before sufficiently clogg'd but also that we are not to clog it with other Rites than Decency and Order shall require For our Saviour not onely excluding the Rites and Sacrifices of the Law but affirming the Worship which his Father sought to be a spiritual one he doth thereby cut off the affixing of all other Rites as being alike contrary thereto save what Decency and Order shall require But so the Church of England hath declar'd it self to understand the Worshipping of God in spirit and in truth telling us in one of its Prefaces to our Liturgy That Christ's Gospel is not a Ceremonial Law as much of Moses Law was but it is a Religion to serve God not in bondage of the Figure or Shadow but in the freedom of the Spirit contenting it self onely with those Ceremonies which do serve to a decent Order and comely Discipline and such as be apt to stir up the dull mind of Man to the remembrance of his Duty to God by some notable and special signification whereby he might be edified In conformity whereto as she her self hath proceeded injoyning neither many nor trifling ones so what she hath done is sufficiently warranted not onely by that Solemnity which Experience shews Things of that nature to add to all Matters of Importance but which is of more avail from the Institution of our Saviour and the Practice of the Church in the Apostles days For if all Rites are to be excluded what shall become of the Sacraments themselves But how shall we any way excuse the Apostolical Church for that holy Kiss wherewith they were wont to conclude their Prayers the laying on of hands in admitting Ministers to the Church or shaking off the dust of their feet against those that should not receive them in testimony of their rejection of them For that all those things were then in use even with the allowance of the Apostles themselves the Scripture is our Witness to which therefore if Men will exclude all things of that nature they must first oppose themselves Such is the Practice of that Church to which we relate such the Grounds upon which she proceeds but as farther than that she neither goes nor pretends to do so if she did there is no doubt she would offend against that Precept which requires the worshipping of God in spirit and in truth For how can they be said to do so whose Devotion spends it self in outward Ceremonies Which as they are of no value in themselves so have this ill property of the Ivy that where they are suffer'd to grow too luxuriant they eat out the Heart of that Religion about which they twine PART II. A Transition to the Negative part of the Precept and therein first to that part of it which forbids the making any Graven Image or other Corporeal Representation That all Images are not forbidden but such onely as are made with a design to represent the Divine Majesty or to bow down to and
performed without the knowledge of the nature and attributes of God and I have before said that what is prerequired to any thing enjoined is to be supposed to be enjoined by the same Commandment therefore before I proceed to shew what respect is due unto him I must shew 1. What the nature and attributes of God are 2. How the knowledge thereof is to be attained and 3. And lastly the necessity thereof 1. I begin with the last of these because the first in order to be known even the necessity of our knowledge of God which will appear from what was before intimated concerning the impossibility of our giving him that honour which is due without it For all honour being founded in the apprehension of those excellencies which we behold in another if the excellencies of the divine nature be either not at all or but superficially known our honour of it must be accordingly and consequently no way suitable to the Divine Majesty And hence Joh. 17.3 the knowledge of God and Christ is set to denote all that which is necessary to eternal life For this saith that Evangelist is life eternal to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent Not that this alone is sufficient to qualifie us for Heaven for Faith and Love and all other Graces of the Spirit are necessary to the attaining of it but that this is the basis and foundation of all the rest neither can we either love or trust in him or adore him if we have not a due knowledg of him 2. The necessity of the knowledge of God being thus evinced pass we in the second place to the means whereby that knowledge is to be attained which is either 1. the light of Reason and Nature or 2. of Revelation and Scripture That God may be known by the former of these ways S. Paul evidently declares Rom. 1.19 20. For that saith he which may be known of God is manifest in them for God hath shewed it unto them for the invisible things of him from the Creation of the World are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and Godhead It is true indeed what through the present weakness of humane nature and Gods just desertion of it because of our many provocations we cannot so easily or so perfectly attain to the knowledge of him by the light of reason and nature But as this hinders not but that God may be knowable by it because the eyes of our understandings are become less apt to discern it so he that shall seriously set himself to contemplate the works of nature will find no contemptible footsteps of the Deity upon them But because I have * Explication of the Apostles Creed elsewhere given a specimen of what is knowable by this light in my discourse upon that Article of the Creed concerning God the Father and because it is most certain that whatever may be knowable by it the best of us find it difficult enough to deduce the nature of God from it therefore consider we in the second place that more certain one even the light of Revelation and Scripture For as no one can be supposed to give us a more perfect account of the nature of God than he himself can and consequently that which comes immediately from him must be preferred before all other ways of knowing him so cannot that account but be thought the most easy and intelligible because added in consideration of our inability to discern it by the help of our own reason For after that * 1 Cor. 1.21 in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe Besides when that which may be known of God from the works of the Creation cannot be deduced but by a long train of consequences the Scriptures give us direct and manifest notices of it they present him to us not as in a glass that is to say by reflexion and obscurely but as I may so speak face to face And therefore being now to set before you the nature and attributes of God so far forth as shall be necessary to let us know what regard we ought to have for him I will borrow my description of it from the Scripture which is more exact and intelligible rather than from the light of nature which is both more imperfect and obscure This only would be premised as well to set bounds to our own enquiries as to enhance that respect which we ought to have for the Divine Majesty that being infinite in his nature and attributes according as hath been elsewhere * Explication of the Apostles Creed shewn and shall be farther in the conclusion of this discourse whatsoever knowledge we or any other creature may have of him yet we cannot hope to comprehend him in which sense some have with great probability understood that of S. Paul that he dwelleth in that light to which no man can approach and that no man either hath seen him or can 1 Tim. 6.16 Now if it should be demanded which ought to be the end of all our enquiries in this matter what this incomprehensibility of God exacts of us and by what means we may own him as such I answer by an humble and silent admiration of this his unintelligible perfection For as that Painter who drew a veil over the face of a sad Mother did thereby better express the passion he was to represent than he could have done by the saddest aspect he could have delineated because that veil which he drew over it did tacitly insinuate that the grief was not capable of being expressed so cannot we give a greater evidence of our owning the immensity of the Divine Nature than by our silent admiration of it For this shews the Divine Nature to be such as we can never hope to conceive and much less be able to express 3. Having premised thus much as a limit to our own enquiries and as a supplement to those imperfect discoveries we shall be able to make of the Divine Majesty proceed we according to our proposed method to the observation of so much as is knowable from the Scriptures concerning the Nature and Attributes of God And 1. First of all for the Nature of God the Scripture is express that it is spiritual for so our Saviour Joh. 4.24 God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth that is to say for this is the best description we can give of a spirutal nature he is such a substance as is exempt from the Laws and affections of bodies he is not capable of being divided or circumscribed Neither doth it make ought against this assertion that we find God frequently described with Eyes and Ears and Hands and other the parts of a body For as he who would explain any thing to a child or other weak person must
God supposing that other to be self-sufficient as he who desires and expects it against the will of God that he is able to controul Him Neither will it avail to say which yet is commonly pretended That all who make use of such Arts have not any intention or suspicion of making any Application to the Devil For though I am willing enough to believe that many of them have not and cannot therefore but acquit them from the purpose of it yet it is past either my skill or theirs to acquit them from the thing it self or from being look'd upon as chargeable with it Men being justly chargeable with making Applications to the Devil who make use of such Means for the attaining of their Purpose the Success whereof cannot rationally be expected from any other especially when God himself hath caution'd Men against the use of them and represented them as detestable and abominable yea to such a Degree as to occasion the casting out those Nations who possess'd the Land of Canaan before the Israelites Which how they should be thought to do if they were rather vain Curiosities than secret or open Transactions with the Devil will I think be very difficult to determine And indeed as some of those Persons have the Title of Dealers with Familiar Spirits and all of them are represented under the same Guilt and obnoxious to the same Penalties so it is strange to observe that some Men should be so highly unreasonable as to question that Diabolical Commerce after so many Authentick Stories which have been publish'd to the World concerning it the free Confession of the accused Parties and the Sentences of grave and sober Judges but especially after what the Scriptures of the New Testament have declar'd concerning the Devil and his Angels They representing the Devil and his Ministers as encompassing the earth to procure mischief as the God of this world and ruling in the children of disobedience as entring through the Divine Permission into men and speaking in and by them in fine for so we read Acts 16.16 divining as well as using other Speeches by them and suggesting those Soothsayings for which such kind of Persons are resorted to After all which to question either the possibility or truth of a Diabolical Commerce is not onely to be unreasonably scrupulous but to be impudently unbelieving because contradicting the general Sense and Experience of the World and the clear Declarations of the Scriptures I will conclude this Affair with a Passage in Leviticus * Chap. 20.6 because both expressing God's detestation of all Magical Practises and his accounting of them as Idolatry or the giving of his Glory unto another And the Soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits and after wizards to go a whoring after them I will even set my face against that man and will cut him off from among his people For representing such Addresses under the term of going a whoring which in the Language of the Old Testament is no other than the espousing of other Deities he thereby giveth us to understand that they are in effect an Abrenunciation of himself and an espousing of other Deities in stead of him THE SECOND COMMANDMENT THE SECOND COMMANDMENT 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 * or serve them For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God and visit the sins †or iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me and shew mercy unto thousands in them that love me and keep my commandments PART I. The Contents That what we reckon as the Second Commandment is really such and not an Appendix of the First This evidenc'd by several Reasons as also that it respects the Manner and not the Object of our Worship The Commandment divided into a Precept and a Sanction as that again into an Affirmative and Negative one The Affirmative That we worship God after a due manner which also is there specified and particularly That we worship God in Spirit and Truth the purport whereof is at large declar'd Among other things the Questions concerning Will-worship and worshipping God with Ceremonies discussed and stated I Am now arriv'd at the Second Commandment for so I hope I may have leave to call it after the Travels of our Divines upon that Argument For though the Papists represent it as an Appendix onely to the First and which is much worse have upon that pretence raz'd it quite out of their Catechisms yet is there so little reason for their way of Reckoning and so much for ours that I doubt not all impartial Men will cast it on their sides who look upon it as distinct from the former Precept For beside that all Antiquity * Joseph Antiqu. Judaic lib. 3. cap. 4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sulpit. Sever. Sacrae hist li. 1. Non erunt tibi dei alieni praeter me Non facies tibi Idolum Non sumes nomen Dei tui in vanum c. See more upon this Head in D. Taylor 's Duct Dubit Book 2. Chap. 2. Rule 6. generally have so accounted of it or at least have united it to the First upon different grounds beside that it seem'd but requisite that provision should be made for the manner of our Worship as well as for the Object of it beside lastly that the worshipping of the True God by an Image is elsewhere as expresly forbidden as the substituting of False Gods in his room beside all these things I say which yet are very material Considerations the very words of the Commandment to a diligent Observer shew the Manner of our Worship to be the thing aimed at in them For forbidding to make or worship the likeness of any thing either in the upper or lower World he thereby plainly declared his meaning to be not to caution them against an undue Object but against that kind of Adoration he who worshippeth the likeness of any thing making not that his God before which he so falls down but that which it was designed to represent Which is so true that the Papists themselves are forc'd to alledge it in behalf of their own Idololatrical Worship Neither will it suffice to say as I find it is by them That what we call the Second Commandment did therefore descend to instance in Images because those were the chief Gods among the Heathen For as the generality of the Heathen were undoubtedly too wise to terminate their Worship there the very Name of an Image directing Men to that of which it is so an Image so it is not easie to conceive save of the very Beasts of the People that they should believe a Stone or a piece of Wood to be a God From our own Account pass we to that of our
Worship so there is not any just fear of falling into that Will-worship which St. Paul cautioneth his Colossians against For beside that he cannot in any Propriety of Speech be said to add to the Worship of God who represents not what he so adds in the same condition with it but onely as subservient to it so which shews it yet farther to be no Will-worship he doth what he doth by vertue of the Divine Command even of that and other such like which prescribe That in the Worship of God all things be done decently and in order If therefore what is so added be grounded upon a Divine Command it is no longer the result of the Wills of Men at least as distinct from that of God but a just compliance with his which is a Will-worship which I hope none of us but will think our selves obliged to perform Having thus shewn at large not onely that our Worship ought to be suited to the Nature of God but also agreeable to his Commands it remains onely for the compleating of our Design that we instance in one or two Commandments by which our Worship is especially to be regulated Whereof the first that I shall assign and let that pass for 3. My third Rule is The Worshipping of God in Christ For that so we are to do God hath expresly declared by that Son of his in whom he hath commanded us to adore him Is Faith or Trust a part of Divine Worship Our Saviour's Merits are to be the ground of it there being no other Name as the Apostle speaks whereby we can be saved Is Hope a part of Divine Worship The same Jesus is to be the ground of that also as by whom alone we are obliged to expect the Object of it Is Prayer a part of Divine Worship That also is to pass by him as being to ask what we do in his name and for his sake Is Thanksgiving a part of Divine Worship We are to give thanks unto God and the Father by him Col. 3.17 In fine Whatsoever we do in relation to God or even our selves is to be done with reference to him as God's Instrument both in Governing and Redeeming us For wherefore else should God no less than twice declare from Heaven That he was the Person in whom he was well pleased and once of that twice moreover oblige his Disciples upon that account to hear him but to let us know as St. Paul speaks that whatsoever we do in word or deed we should do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus That we should do what we do in obedience to his Commands and with respect to that Authority which God vested in him That we should do what we do with respect to his Example and have an eye to his most holy Life as well as most excellent Precepts That we should do what we do with respect to the great Obligations he hath laid upon us by humbling himself to the death even the death of the cross for us That we should do what we do in confidence of his Assistance and not relie upon the strength of Nature or any Moral Acquisitions lastly That we should do what we do in confidence of Acceptance in and through the Merits of his Passion For as each of these is sometime or other the meaning of acting in his Name and therefore not lightly to be excluded so we have great reason to believe them all included in that fore-mentioned Text because all tending to his Honour and elsewhere expresly requir'd of us to make our Worship acceptable 4. That to Worship after a due manner we are to worship him in Christ hath been already declar'd together with the full Importance of such a Worship The next and indeed onely thing that I shall need to subjoyn is That we worship him in Spirit and in Truth according as was before insinuated For the evidencing whereof though it might suffice to tell you That this if any is the Affirmative part of the Precept because the Negative strikes at the worshipping of him by a corporeal and sensible Representation yet because it is a matter of importance and indeed one of the great Duties of the Gospel I shall allot it a more full Probation In order whereunto I shall lay for my Ground-work that known Saying of our Saviour which establisheth such a Worship with the proper Ground of it God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth Joh. 4.24 Now there are two Senses wherein those Words are to be consider'd and which therefore are to be distinctly handled 1. A Natural or Moral Sense And 2. An Evangelical one The former because grounded upon a Natural and Eternal Reason The latter because as I shall afterwards shew the Precept of Worshipping God in Spirit is oppos'd to that Worship which was in use under the Law 1. To begin with the former Sense even that which I call the Natural because grounded upon a Natural Reason where again I shall consider the Reason upon which it stands and then the due Importance of it For the Reason upon which it stands it will cost us little pains to evidence it to be a just Foundation of such a Worship For inasmuch as all things naturally are most affected with such Things and Operations as come nearest to their own Nature it must needs be that if God be a Spirit they who would serve him acceptably must present him with such a Worship as approacheth nearest to his own spiritual Nature The onely thing worthy our inquiry is What the Importance of such a Worship is which therefore I come now to resolve In order whereunto the first thing that I shall offer is That it is not meant to exclude wholly the Service of the Body For beside that That is God's by right of Creation and Preservation yea by all other ways by which the Soul is and consequently to pay God an Acknowledgment of its own Subjection and Obedience it is the distinct Affirmation of St. Paul That we are to glorifie God with our Bodies and with our Spirits that are his I observe secondly That as the Worshipping God in Spirit is not to be understood to exclude wholly the Worshipping him with our Bodies so neither to exclude all Worshipping him by Rites and Ceremonies For as the Christian Religion it self is not without such Rites even of God's own appointment witness the Sacrament of our Initiation into it and that other of our Continuance in it so it is much more evident that under the Law a great part of the Worship of God consisted in such Rites and Ceremonies But so it could not have done had a spiritual Worship excluded all worshipping him by Rites and Ceremonies because God was no less a Spirit under the Law than under the Gospel and therefore no less so to be ador'd It remaineth therefore That by worshipping God in Spirit we understand first of all the worshipping him with our
If we take the word fear in the former sense that is to say for the fear of God as of a tyrant or a hard master so there is no doubt that love casts it out especially an Evangelical one it being impossible that any man should love God or willingly keep his Commandments who hath such an opinion of him But there is no such thing to be affirmed of him who looks upon God as a Lord and a father but withall a good and gracious one For beside that such a fear is enjoyned us by him who doth also lay upon us the command of love and therefore not to be thought unless we will make the spirit of God contradict it self to be cast out by that love which he requires there is nothing of torment which is the reason here assigned if in our fear we look upon God but as a good and gracious one For though that may make us careful and wary yet not distressed and desperate the consideration of his goodness buoying us up when we are surrounded with his judgments and making us at the same time we have an apprehension of them to look up to his mercies and to love and trust in him for them The same answer with a very little variation may be applied to that difference which is objected between the dispensation of the Gospel and the Law For though the Gospel reckons us not in the place of servants and vassals and consequently exacts not their fear of us yet it reckons us in the place of sons who are not only to have a love but a fear also for him that is their parent Which answer is the more reasonable because the Scripture it self represents those that were under the first covenant as the children of the Bondwoman and such as were therefore slaves themselves but those under the second as the children of the free To whom therefore though it do no way appertain to entertain a spirit of bondage and those fears wherewith it is accompanied yet to preserve such a reverential regard for the Almighty as is due unto every father and much more to their heavenly one 4. The fourth particular follows even the usefulness of that fear of which we are now entreating which I shall endeavour to evince 1. First as to the bringing us to God and Christ and 2. As to our continuance in that state 1. Now that the fear of God and of his judgments are of very great use to bring us unto God and unto Christ may appear from that great contrariety that is between the state of Nature and the purity and holiness of God For that being supposed as it must it is not easy to conceive men should be drawn with the cords of love and affect him who is so contrary to their inclinations And though it be true that the promises of God may be of more force to draw us to his love those having not all of them so manifest a contrariety to our corrupt nature as the Purity and Holiness of God hath yet as many of them are of a spiritual nature and so not very likely to be acceptable so which is more they are not to be bestowed or at least not with any certainty or perfection till we come to the other world And who then naturally speaking would quit present and sensual enjoyments for them and leave a love which he is sure of for so uncertain and remote a mistress To induce men therefore to quit their so much beloved transgressions it is necessary to stir up their fears and make them see that what they pursue will rob them of what they love and make them miserable as well in their bodies as their souls And indeed as it rarely happens that men are reclaimed from their evil courses but by some such disgustful means so which is of much more force we find the Apostles taking this course in converting the unbelieving world representing to them first the guilt of their own sins and the wrath they had incurred and then the tenders of Gods goodness By that means not only abating of their heat toward their former extravagancies but even constraining them to take a view of the beauties of Religion which otherwise they would never have considered 2. But beside that the fear of God is of singular use in bringing men to Christ and to God it is also such after our conversion to him yea throughout the whole course of our lives And here not to insist upon the Apostles perswading even such by the terrours of the Lord their exhorting them to work out their salvation with fear and trembling and to serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear I shall content my self to propose to your consideration the remains of that evil nature which is in the very best of us and how much more then in the generality of believers For these will shew it to be as necessary to keep us in the way as it was to bring us into it It is true indeed if grace did at once purifie the heart from all extravagancies if it took away both our sins and our affections to them lastly if it put us into the condition we were in when we were created and made us intirely and perfectly new creatures so it is not impossible but we might follow the conduct of our leader when only drawn by the cords of love And yet I cannot but observe by the way that God thought not that enough to preserve Adam in his innocency but added moreover the terrour of dying the death if he persisted not in it But when it is certain that though sin be wounded yet it is not perfectly mortified when there are remains of corruption in the very best of us who can think even the regenerate man to be so good natured as not to stand in need of terrours to nip those buds and hinder them from bringing forth fruit unto unrighteousness For beside that under such circumstances all the methods of God are little enough to restrain us experience sheweth that of fear to be often needful carelesness and wantonness being apt to make us forget the obligations of goodness and not only to forget but to despise them But when beside the obligations of Gods goodness men have always before their eyes the strictness of his justice when they consider as well what vengeance will pursue them if they go astray as how great encouragements they have to walk in that way which God hath mark'd out to them then I say even flesh and bloud will startle at the evil that presents it self and avoid it lest it become miserable by it Having thus shown both what the passion of fear is and how God is the object of it together with the consistency of that fear with the dispensation of the Gospel and the usefulness thereof both in our conversion to and walking with God I may seem to have said enough not only to excite that passion in you but to
occasion to think that under those Images some Evil Spirits did sometime lurk or at least were believ'd so to do by their Heathen Worshippers But as it follows not from thence That the Heathen thought their Images to be animated by them and like Soul and Body in Man to make up one Person so the meer lurking of Evil Spirits in the Idols they ador'd will make no material difference between the Idolatry of the Heathen and the Christian the Heathen as well as the Christian Idolater passing his Worship through the Image to that Deity he believ'd to lurk in it My second Argument against the Worshipping of God by an Image shall be taken from the Crime of the Israelites in the matter of the Calves as well that which Aaron made in the absence of Moses as those which Jeroboam set up in Dan and Bethel For if each of these were Idolatry as there is no doubt they were then is it such to worship the True God in an Image because they worshipp'd the True God in them That the Worship of the Calf which Aaron made was Idolatry is evident both from St. Stephen and St. Paul the former not onely terming it an Idol but affirming the Jews to have sacrific'd to it which is a known part of the Worship of the Almighty the latter calling it Idolatry in express terms 1 Cor. 10.7 for exhorting as he doth Neither be ye idolaters as were some of them as it is written The people sate down to eat and to drink and rose up to play he thereby plainly declares their feasting before the Calf for that was it he refers to as you may see Exod. 32.6 to be pure and perfect Idolatry Which place is so much the more to be remark'd because it doth not onely brand the Jews for it but caution us Christians against it and that too under the fear of the like displeasure lest any should say as some have done That this Precept concern'd the Jews onely and thereby leave us at liberty to transgress it For if as St. Paul afterwards infers that and other the Crimes there remembred were aveng'd upon the Israelites to deter us from the like Practices we may be sure it will be no less Sin in us than it was in them to commit the same Practices and particularly to pay the same Adoration to an Idol The onely difficulty therefore remaining is whether the Jews worship'd the true God in it which accordingly I come now to prove And here I shall alledge first that Saying of the Psalmist Psal 106.20 where speaking concerning this particular Calf and their worshipping of him he subjoyns Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that cateth grass For if their design in that Calf was to represent their Glory by it that is to say the God of Israel then was it their design also to do honour to the God of Israel and not either to the Image it self or some other Deity But let us come to the Story it self as it is delivered in Exodus and see whether it is possible to be any other Where the first thing that presents it self is that Speech of the Israelites immediately upon the making of it These be thy gods which brought thee out of the land of Egypt Exod. 32.4 For as it was impossible for the Jews to think the Calf it self brought them up which was fram'd after their deliverance out of it so it would be equally hard to think they meant some of the Gods of Egypt to which Place they are said in their heart to return For how could they think the Gods of Egypt would so much favour those who had despis'd them and drown those that sacrificed to them Besides though it be true that it is express'd in the Plural Number which may somewhat favour the interpreting their Words of other Gods yet as that is not much to be wondred at because the Word Elohim is Plural so that it is to be understood of the One True God Nehemiah shews chap. 9. 18. where repeating that Passage concerning the Calf he bringeth them in saying not These be thy gods but This is thy God that brought thee out of the Land of Egypt As for their stiling the Calf their God or Gods 't is but an usual Metonymie whereby the Name of the Thing signified is given to the Sign as the Images of the Cherubim over the Mercy-seat are call'd the Cherubim and in like manner those of the Oxen and Lions in the Temple by theirs The same is yet more evident from that which followeth after in the Story when Aaron had built an Altar before the Calf For the Text tells us that he immediately made Proclamation To morrow is a feast to the Lord that is to say to the True God of Israel what we render Lord being the most peculiar Name of God and to which the Jews bear such a reverence that they will hardly venture to pronounce it Neither will it suffice to object as I find it is by some That the Psalmist where he speaks concerning this very Argument affirms That they forgat God their Saviour which had done great things in Egypt wondrous works in the land of Ham and terrible things by the Red-sea For as that is not of sufficient force against so many Arguments for their meaning the True God especially when the same Psalmist affirms That they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass so they might very well be said to forget God without altogether casting him off because forgetting or at least not remembring to observe that Commandment we are now upon and to the observation of which they had so many Obligations from his Goodness For thus Deut. 8.11 we find God bidding them beware that they forgat not the Lord in not keeping his commandments and his judgments and his statutes which he had so often enjoyn'd them to observe Having thus shewn the Calf which Aaron made to have been intended for a Representation of the True God and consequently because their Worship of God in it was reputed Idolatry that therefore it is such to worship even the True God in an Image I come now to shew the same of the Calves set up by Jeroboam that is to say That they worshipp'd the True God in them and that that their Worship was Idolatry That they worshipp'd the True God in them is evident from the Proclamation Jeroboam made when he set up those his Golden Calves For it is saith he too much for you to go up to Jerusalem behold thy gods O Israel which brought thee out of the land of Egypt 1 Kings 12.28 For as it would have been a vain attempt in Jeroboam to take them off altogether from the Service of that God to whom they had been so long devoted so his Words shew very apparently that his Design was rather to change the Place and Manner than the Object of their Worship because assigning for the
Reason of his Fact onely the tediousness of the Journey to Jerusalem and moreover representing his Calves as the gods that brought them out of the land of Egypt which was a known Periphrasis of the God of Israel And accordingly though Jehu who was one of his Successors departed not from the sin of Jeroboam as the Scripture observes of him 2 Kings 10.29 yet is his zeal in the destruction of Baal's Priests stil'd by himself a zeal for the Lord ver 16. and which is of much more consideration he himself intimated by the Scripture to have walked in the law of the Lord God of Israel save onely in the matter of the calves ver 31. of the same Which could in no wise be affirm'd if he and those of his Sect had renounc'd the God of Israel and worshipp'd either the Calves themselves or some Foreign Deity in them To all which if we add That Ahab is said to have offended more heinously than all that went before him because serving Baal and worshipping him 1 Kings 16.31 so we shall not in the least doubt but that the setting up of the Calf was intended onely to worship the True God in it For wherein had the great aggravation of Ahab's sin been if they that were before him had worshipp'd either the Calf it self or some of the Heathen Gods in it The onely thing remaining to be shewn is That their Worship of the Calves was Idolatry which will be no very hard Task to evince For though their Worship is no where expresly stil'd so yet are they call'd Idols which is enough to make the Worship of them Idolatry But so that they are that of Hosea is an abundant Testimony chap. 13.4 For having premis'd the Israelites making them molten images of their silver and idols according to their own understanding all of them the work of the craftsmen to let us know what Idols he means he subjoyns They say of them Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves Forasmuch therefore as the Calves were no other than Idols forasmuch as one Egg cannot be more like unto another than the Calves of Jeroboam were to that of Aaron it must needs be because they were such and the Worshipping that of Aaron reputed Idolatry that that of Jeroboam's was so also and consequently that it is Idolatry to worship even the True God in an Image Two things there are which are commonly alledg'd against the foregoing Arguments to prove the Idolatry of the Israelites not to have had the True God for its Object 1. That what they sacrific'd to their Idols they are said to sacrifice to devils and not to God And 2. That the Prophets are frequent in inculcating That the Gods they worshipp'd were gold and silver that they could neither see nor hear nor understand which may seem to import their looking upon the Images themselves as Gods And indeed if onely one of these things had been objected possibly it might have serv'd in some measure to shroud an evil Cause but urging them both they do but help to destroy it because urging such things as taken in the strictness of the Letter are inconsistent with each other For if the Israelites worshipp'd Evil Spirits in all their Images then did they not worship the Images themselves and if they held the Images themselves for Gods then did they not worship Evil Spirits in them The onely thing remaining to be said is That some Images they look'd upon as Gods themselves and others as Representations of Evil Spirits both of which being granted will contribute little to the proving any thing against us For nothing hinders all this while but they might look upon some Images and particularly upon the Calves as Representations of the God of Israel But let us a little more particularly consider both the one and the other Allegation and see how little force there is in either It is alledg'd out of Deuteronomy chap. 32.17 That they sacrific'd unto devils and not to God But doth it follow from thence that they did so in sacrificing to Aaron's Calf when there is not onely no particular mention of it but it is also sufficiently known that they worshipp'd many of the Heathen Deities besides But be it that the Calf of Aaron were there included as well as their other Idols Yet will it follow from thence that they directly and intentionally worshipp'd an Evil Spirit in them For may not a Man serve the Devil unless after the Custom of the Indians he fall down and worship him But how then could the Widows that forsook the Faith be said to be turned after Satan for onely breaking that Faith they had plighted unto God Beside when the Devil is consessedly the Author and Promoter of all false Worship what impropriety is there in affirming those who comply with his Suggestions in it to sacrifice rather to him than to God whom they design to honour Otherwise what shall we say to reconcile what the Scripture in several places affirmeth concerning the Idols of the Heathen to wit That what the Gentiles sacrifice to Idols they sacrifice to Devils and not to God for so St. Paul tells us and again That the gods of the heathen are silver and gold the work of mens hands as the Psalmist It being impossible that both should be true in the Letter and therefore a Qualification to be admitted The onely thing therefore to be accounted for is the Scriptures so often inculcating That their Idols were but Silver and Gold that they could not either see or hear or understand which may seem to import that the Hebrews look'd upon the Images themselves as Gods But neither will this serve their turn or enervate the Conclusion before laid down because it is certain 1. They worshipp'd the Host of Heaven and erected Images to them It is no less certain 2. That the Heathen who are in like manner charg'd with the same sottish Worship look'd upon not their Images but several Dead Men as Gods whom they represented by them From both which put together it is manifest That when we find both the one and the other faulted for making Gold and Silver their Gods as those Gold and Silver Gods again decry'd for not being able to see or hear or understand we are to understand thereby that they dealt foolishly not in looking upon their Images as Gods for this few or none were so sottish as to believe but for thinking such Representations as those to be either proper Representations of the Divine Nature or fit Passports of his Worship which could neither see nor hear nor understand What remains then especially since God hath both licenc'd and commanded us so to do but that we go immediately to himself but that we fall down and kneel not before his Image but before the Lord our Maker or if we will needs worship him in an Image but that we worship him in his Son who is the brightness of his glory and the express image of
sins ye remit they are remitted and whosesoever sins ye retain they are retained From the Confession and Absolution pass we to the Lord's Prayer according as our Liturgy doth in the Repetition whereof there is but reason we should rally together all the Forces of our Soul and intend it with all our Heart and Strength I say not onely in respect of its Author though that certainly should procure its Regard but in respect of its signal Use and Advantage For whereas in our other Prayers we may ask amiss whether in respect of the Things themselves or the Order of our Petitions here we are sure not to offend because the Prayer we so utter contains all that is to be desired and in that manner and order wherein it ought Again whereas in the long continuance of our Devotions our Thoughts may be apt to flag or wander from that Subject which they have before them we have an opporunity to make some amends for it by intending this excellent Prayer wherein all those Petitions are summ'd up The Mind being thus prepar'd by Confession of Sin and the Devotion which the foremention'd Prayer suggests it may not be unsuitable for us to sound forth the Praises of God which is the next thing the Liturgie suggests For though the Psalms which it makes use of for this purpose are generally read and therefore look'd upon by some as onely matter of Instruction yet as care hath been taken that they should be sung where they may be which shews for what use they were design'd so it is apparent from the Psalms themselves that they were intended not so much to instruct us as to be Instruments in praising God for the several Blessings they commemorate And indeed as its Strains are all admirable and worthy that Spirit by which they were first suggested so they are fraught with such variety of Matter that there is no State or Condition of Life which may not find somewhat in them suitable to it If we lie under the Conscience of Sin the 51 Psalm will fit us as containing both an ingenuous Acknowledgment of it and an earnest Prayer for the Pardon of it If we find in our selves that Pardon the 32. will be a fit matter for our Devotion because compos'd by David after an Absolution from his If we lie under any Sorrow by reason of the Prosperity of the Ungodly we have the 72 Psalm to entertain us the Subject whereof is no other than to shew both the certainty and suddenness of their downfal If we have receiv'd any great Deliverance from them the Eighteenth will furnish us with Words to express our Resentment of it as being David's Triumphant Song when God had given him rest from his In fine whatever it be here our Condition may be fitted from the sorest Evils we lie under to the greatest Blessings we are in a capacity to enjoy Neither will it suffice to say That each particular Psalm cannot fit all the Conditions before remembred For as it is not to be expected that they should so an Advantage may be made of them even by those States and Conditions with which they seem but ill to accord Thus for example if the Psalm be a Psalm of Joy and Thanksgiving and it may be too for those very Mercies under the want whereof thou now labourest yet being agreeable enough to the Condition of other Men thy Charity will teach thee how to make use of it by prompting thee to rejoyce with those to whom it is more accommodable In like manner though the Psalm should spend it self in Complaints which thou through the Mercy of God findest little cause for yet so long as there want not such to whose Condition they are agreeable enough there is place for the same Charity and an Invitation to mourn with and for them Which Answer is of so much the more force because we are not now entreating of Private Worship which as much as may be ought to be adapted to our own particular Concerns but of the Publick Worship of God which is to extend it self to the Concernments of all As little ground of Exception is there against the use of the Magnificat because in the strictness thereof proper to her that made it For beside that the Repetition of it is one of the most signal Completions of all Generations calling her Blessed according as she there foretold each of us hath so much Interest in the Birth of our Saviour especially if he be also born in us that it can be no way improper to say My soul doth magnifie the Lord and my spirit hath rejoyced in God my Saviour If there be any thing in that or other the like Psalms peculiar to the Makers of them it will be no hard matter for a diligent Observer so to accommodate them to himself as to make them fit his Mouth provided he take care to suit his Heart to them and to that Heavenly Spirit wherewith they were fram'd Sure I am what is now thought an Objection against them was not thought so by St. James or St. Paul the former whereof invites to the Private Singing the latter to the Teaching and Admonishing one another in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs For what other Psalms can we think intended than those of David which before and since that time have in a manner appropriated that Title unto themselves I will conclude this Particular with that Doxologie wherewith they are clos'd of giving Glory to each Person in the Trinity For whilst we thus direct them to the Son and to the Holy Ghost as well as to the Father we fit them yet more to our Mouths because making them to proclaim the Honour of our Saviour and of that Spirit which he hath pour'd out upon his Church Such are our Concernments in the Duties before remembred and not unlike are those in the Duties that remain and therefore in stead of prosecuting them any further I shall subjoyn this general Advertisement which each one may make use of as occasion requires to wit That as the Remainder of our Service doth ordinarily consist in Reading or Preaching the Word in Confession of Faith and in Prayer so Men will satisfie the first by a diligent and affectionate Intention the second by a Resolution to adhere to that Faith which they profess and the third and last by a hearty and fervent Devotion The Morning-Sacrifice being thus offer'd up to God Custom and our own Necessities licence us to retire to our own Homes there to give our selves that Repast and other Relaxation that is due Which Particulars I the rather alledge to confront the Practice of some Men whom Superstition more than any well-guided Zeal hath influenc'd For is it any other to turn a Festival into a Fast and keep that Day as a Day of Humiliation which was the happy Parent of the greatest Joy Nay is it not in some measure an Affront to that Blessed Work by which it became separate
proceed upon a just Cause For be it which is true enough that such Curses are not lightly to be us'd be it that generally they are not suitable either to the Tenderness of a Father or the Spirit of the Gospel which will render them so much the more unlikely to have effect yet as it is evident from St. Paul's denouncing a Curse against Simon Magus and Alexander the Coppersmith that Superiours are not wholly forbid the use of them so that it is not improper for Fathers towards their disobedient Children their being a kind of Gods to us may serve for abundant evidence But then if we add thereto Noah's cursing the Posterity of Cham for making a mock of his Nakedness and that Effect which it had upon them in after-times if we moreover reflect * Jer. Taylor Duct Dubit l. 3. c. 5. Rule 1. upon the sad Examples which Heathen Stories have represented to us in the Children of Oedipus Amintor and Theseus who grew miserable upon their Fathers Curses lastly if we add that the same thing was observ'd by the Jews one of whom even the Son of Sirach observes that the Curse of the Mother rooteth out Foundations Ecclus. 3.10 so we shall not need to doubt of the Effect of their Curses and therefore neither of their being the Object of our Fear For if as the Greek Poet observes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Curses of Parents are grievous upon the Earth we have reason enough to fear lest their Curses should sometime fall upon our Heads The onely thing worthy our farther inquiry is how this Fear of ours ought to be express'd which is in short by our carefulness to please them in all things For as by so doing we shall best declare the Fear we have of them Fear naturally prompting Men to seek the Favour of those they have such an apprehension of so we shall thereby secure our selves from the Effects of their Displeasure and which is more to be dreaded from the Effects of that of God From the Duty of Fear pass we to that of Love which we shall find to be no less incumbent upon us than the former as because our Saviour hath reduc'd the Whole of the Law to Love so because our Parents are of all others the justest Object of it Witness the extraordinary Love they have naturally for us their many and weighty and constant Demonstrations of it their taking care of us when we are not able to provide for themselves their continuing that care over us even when we are their furnishing us from time to time with all things necessary for our Temporal Happiness their instilling into our Minds what may make for our Eternal one their bearing with the weakness and peevishness of our Infancy and Childhood their enduring with much long-suffering the disobedience and stubbornness of our riper Years lastly their perpetual fears lest any Evil should betide us their frequent and importunate Prayers to avert any Evil from us For as out of the Bowels of a Parent such a Love will hardly be met with though you should search for it even in the most tender and affectionate ones whence it is that God to commend the Love he hath to us doth for the most part assume to himself the Person of a Father so for a recompence in the same as St. Paul speaks it is but requisite that our Hearts should be equally enlarged and express it self in the same or the like Instances that is to say in providing for them when they are not able to provide for themselves in endeavouring to lessen their Care and Trouble when they in some measure are in bearing with the weaknesses and peevishness of their declining Years in doing what in us lies either to remove or abate them in furnishing them when they lie upon their Sick-beds with our Assistance and Comfort in supplying the defects of our Endeavours by begging the Aid of the Divine lastly in giving them the satisfaction of seeing their Care and Labour successfully employ'd whilst they behold those for whom they have thus labour'd travelling equally for their Happiness and reflecting back upon them that kindly Heat which they sometime gave So doing we shall at the same time give a proof both of our Love and of our Honour pay them the Affection which is due to the Bowels of a Father and a Mother and the Respect which belongs to their Authority Now though if we look no further than the Person of our Parents what hath been already said concerning their Fear and Love and Honour will comprehend within the compass of it the whole of our Duty to them yet because a Man may be lov'd and honour'd in his Relations and Dependents as well as in his own proper Person and in like manner hated and despis'd hence it comes to pass that to complete our Duty we are to extend our Love and Honour unto them according as their several Relations do exact The sequel whereof will be 1. The paying Honour unto those which stand upon the same Level with our Parents Thus for instance though an Uncle or an Aunt can claim no Reverence or Love by vertue of the Letter of this Commandment yet inasmuch as they are the Brothers and Sisters of my Father or Mother and the Sons and Daughters of the same Common Parents if I either love or honour my Parents or theirs I must afford these a portion of it because of their near Relation In like manner though a Mother-in-law can claim no Reverence or Love of her self because none of the Stock from whence I came yet a Regard is due to her as being made one with him whom this Commandment requires me to revere Which Particular I the rather observe because contrary to all right those are usually both hated and despis'd For how can he honour his Father who despises the one half of him yea such a one as by the Laws of God and Man is become one Person with him 2. Again As Love and Honour is due to those who stand upon the same Level with my Parents by reason of their Proximity to them so an Affection though not an Honour is due from us to our Brethren and Sisters because descended from the same Common Parents and no less the Object of their Love To whom therefore as it concerns me to shew my self affectionate if I would oblige my Parents so if I shew my self churlish to them I wound my Parents Bowels through their Sides if those Parents be yet alive but if they be not their Honour 3. It is to be observ'd thirdly as the result of the foremention'd Principle That though the same Love be not due to Cousins and other remoter Kindred that is to Brethren and Sisters yet there is a Love due to them by reason of those Common Grandfathers and Great-grandfathers from whom both they and we are descended For inasmuch as they though at a greater distance contributed to our Being and consequently
image of stone in your land to bow down unto it for I am the Lord your God And indeed if the Worshipping of Images be a Sin according as the second Prohibition imports it will be no less to make them for that end because in effect a Worshipping of them Excellent to this purpose is that of Tertullian where he addresseth himself to some Christians who thought to excuse themselves from Idolatry in that they onely made those Images which were worshipp'd by others 'T is in the sixth Chapter of his Book de Idololatriâ Imo tu colis qui facis ut coli possint Colis autem non spiritu vilissimi nidoris alicujus sed tuo proprio nec animâ pecudis impensâ sed animâ tuâ Illis ingenium tuum immolas illis sudorem tuum libas illis prudentiam tuam accendis Plus es illis quam sacerdos cùm per te habeant sacerdotem Thou pretendest that thou dost not worship them but thou dost worship them who makest them that they may be worshipped And thou worshippest them not with the breath of some most vile Steam but with thy own neither with a Soul of a Beast but thine To them thou sacrificest thy Wit and Parts to them thou offerest up thy Sweat as a kind of Drink-offering to them thou lightest thy Prudence as a Taper Thou art more to them than a Priest because it is by thy means they have one But because at the same time I shew it unlawful to worship an Image I shall also shew it to be unlawful to make an Image for that end therefore proceed we to evince 2. The unlawfulness of worshipping any image which is the second general Prohibition in this Commandment When we charge the Papists with the Breach of this Commandment and particularly of that part of it we are now upon their usual defence is That as they worship not the Image of God but God in and through it so they worship not the Image of Saints with a Divine Worship but with such as is suitable onely to the Images of glorified Creatures My Design is at present to shew both the untruth and insufficiency of each of these Answers and first of their alledging their not worshipping the Image of God but on the other side worshipping God in and by them And first of all though some of the Church of Rome are so wary as not to undertake the Defence of Worshipping the Image it self or at least not with that Worship that is proper unto God yet there are a considerable number of them and those too of the most eminent who roundly assert the giving the same Honour to the Image which is due to him it represents Of this sort are Aquinas Azorius Cajetan Lactantius and Andradius as Dr. Crackenthorp * Defens Eccl. Anglic. contra Archiep. Spalat cap. 63. hath evidenc'd out of their own Writings But be it that what they suggest were really true as to the wiser and better sort of them and neither defended nor practis'd by them yet as the same Learned Man hath observ'd ‖ Ibid. many of the Common sort terminate their Worship in the very Images themselves which whilst those in Authority go not about either to censure or remove they must not take it ill if we charge them with the imputation of so downright and stupid an Idolatry Men being justly chargeable with those foul Abominations which though they see they endeavour not to amend But be it thirdly that what they alledge were true both in the better and worser sort and that they worship not the Images themselves but God in and by them yet even so they will not escape the imputation of Idolatry according as I come now to shew For the evidencing whereof the first thing I shall alledge is That the Heathen were not guilty of any other Idolatry than that of worshipping their Gods in and by them For thus Celsus as I find him quoted by Origen in the seventh of those Books he wrote against him Now they saith he * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speaking of the Christians do openly shew their contempt of Images If for this reason because a Stone or a piece of Wood or Brass or Gold which such or such a one hath fram'd is not God their Wisdom is ridiculous For what other Person that is not perfectly a Fool looketh upon those things as Gods and not rather as Things dedicated to and Images of the Gods To the same purpose doth Maimonides discourse in his More Nevochim chap. 36. Moreover saith he as to what concerns Idolaters you know that none of them worship the Idol with this Opinion as if they thought there were no other God but that Nay there never was any Man nor will there ever be who can fancy to himself that the Figure which he hath made of Metals Wood or Stones created the Heavens and Earth and governs them But they worship them inasmuch as they look upon them as Things intermediate between them and God And indeed generally speaking it is morally impossible for any but the sottish and beastly Multitude to be guilty of such an Idolatry as terminateth in the Image it self an Image in the very nature of it referring the Party that useth it to him whom it is design'd to represent If the Heathens as there is no doubt they often did worshipp'd those for Gods in them that were really none that is a Crime of another nature and subjects them not for that reason to the Crime of Idolatry or Worshipping an Image but of having other Gods beside the True Forasmuch then as the Heathen were not guilty of any other Idolatry than of worshipping God in and by an Image either there never was any such thing as Idolatry in the World unless amongst the very Dregs of the People or it must be such to worship God in and by them There is but one thing that I know of which is with any shew of Reason objected as to the difference between the Heathen and Christian Idolaters in this particular and that is That the Heathen imagin'd the Image not onely to represent but to have the Deity inhabiting in or rather united to it as the Soul is united unto the Body But beside that the Papists seem sometimes of the same Perswasion witness * Vid. Crack Def. Ecclesiae Angl. contr Archiep Spalat cap. 66. their attributing to their Images the Power of Speaking with the Working of several Miracles a ‖ Reinold de Rom. Eccles Idololatr l. 2. c. 3. par 77. Learned Man of our own Nation hath demonstrated That the Heathens had not that opinion of their Images unless of some few that were consecrated by Magick Art So that still there will remain the same Consent between the Heathens and Idolatrous Christians and either both be absolv'd from Idolatry or neither It is true indeed some Passages of the Ancient Fathers * Vid. Grot. Explic Dec. Praec 2. give