of it Psal 29.1 Give unto the Lord O ye mighty give unto the Lord glory and strength So likewise it should take Men off from relying upon their own strength which at the best is but an arm of flesh as the Scripture calls it for the weakness of it Do we not see that many times the battel is not to the strong That things are not done by might and by power but by the spirit of the Lord. When he appears against the most potent their hearts melt within them and there is no more spirit left in them as 't is said of the mighty Inhabitants of Canaan Josh 5.1 Thirdly We should make this Omnipotence of God the Object of our trust and confidence This is the most proper use we can make of this Doctrine as David does in this Psalm and this was used for a form of blessing the People in the Name of God Psal 136.3 The Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee And David when he magnifies God's deliverance of his People from the multitude of their Enemies resolves it into this Our help standeth in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth Thus did the great Pattern and Example of Faith incourage and support his confidence in God in a very difficult tryal he staggered not at it because he believed God who quickeneth the dead and calleth those things that be not as tho' they were therefore against hope he believed in hope c. Rom. 4.17 c. This gives life to all our Devotion to be perswaded that God is able to do for us exceedingly above what we can ask or think and that his is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory I shall only caution two things as to our relyance on the Power of God I. Labour to be such Persons to whom God hath promised that he will engage and imploy his Omnipotence for their good If we hope for any good from the Almighty we must walk before him and be perfect as he said to Abraham Good Men have a peculiar interest in God's Power hence he is called the strength of Israel and the mighty one of Israel If we do what God requires of us we may expect that he will put forth his Power and exert his Arm for us but if we disobey we must expect he will manifest his Power against us Ez. 8.22 When we do well we may commit the keeping of our souls to him 1 Pet. 4.19 II. Our expectations from the Omnipotence of God must be with submission to his Pleasure and Goodness and Wisdom we must not expect that God will manifest his Power when we think there is occasion for it but when it seems best to him he will so imploy his Omnipotence as to manifest his Goodness and Wisdom And with these two Cautions we may rely upon him in all our Wants both Spiritual and Temporal for his Divine Power can give us all things that pertain to life and godliness 2 Pet. 1.3 We may trust him at all times for the Omnipotent God neither slumbereth nor sleepeth the Almighty fainteth not neither is he weary trust ye in the Lord for ever for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength SERMON XI Vol. VII· The Spirituality of the Divine Nature JOHN IV. 24 God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in truth THese are the words of our Saviour to the Woman of Samaria who was speaking to him of the difference between the Samaritans and the Jews concerning Religion v. 20. Our Fathers worshipped in this mountain but ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship Christ tells her The time was coming when the worshippers of God should neither be confined to that mountain nor to Jerusalem but men should worship the Father in spirit and in truth when this carnal and ceremonial and typical Worship of God should be exalted into a more spiritual a more real and true and substantial Religion which should not be confined to one Temple but should be universally diffused through the World Now such a Worship as this is most agreeable to the Nature of God for he is a spirit and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth In the words we have First A Proposition laid down God is a spirit Secondly A Corollary or Inference deduced from it they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in truth I shall speak of the Proposition as that which concerns my present Design and afterward speak something to the Corollary or Inference deduced from it together with some other Inferences drawn from this truth by way of Application First That God is a spirit This expression is singular and not to be parallell'd again in the Scripture indeed we have often mention made in Scripture of the spirit of God and the spirit of the Lord which signifies a Divine Power and Energy and of the holy Spirit signifying the third Person in the Trinity God is call'd the God of the Spirits of all flesh Numb 16.22.27.16 much in the same Sense as he is call'd the Father of Spirits Heb. 12.9 that is the Creator of the Souls of Men but we no where meet with this expression or any other equivalent to it that God is a spirit but only in this place nor had it been used here but to prove that the best Worship of God that which is most proper to him is spiritual so that the thing which our Saviour here intends is not to prove the Spiritual Nature of God but that his Worship ought to be spiritual nor indeed is there any necessity that it should have been any where said in Scripture that God is a spirit it being the natural Notion of a God no more than it is necessary that it should be told us that God is good or that he is infinite and eternal and the like or that the Scripture should prove to us the Being of a God All these are manifest by the Light of Nature and if the Scripture mention them it is ex abundanti and it is usually in order to some further purpose For we are to know that the Scripture supposeth us to be Men and to partake of the common Notions of Human Nature and therefore doth not teach us Philosophy nor solicitously instruct us in those things which are born with us but supposeth the knowledge of these and makes use of these common Principles and Notions which are in us concerning God and the immortality of our Souls and the Life to come to excite us to our Duty and quicken our Endeavours after Happiness For I do not find that the Doctrine of the immortality of the Soul is any where expresly delivered in Scripture but taken for granted in like manner that the Scripture doth not solicitously instruct us in the natural Notions which we have of God but supposeth them known to us and if it mention them it is not so
much in order to knowledge as to practice and therefore we need not wonder that this expression which doth set forth to us the Nature of God is but once used in Scripture and that brought in upon occasion and for another purpose because it is a thing naturally known Plato says that God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without Body In like manner Tully Nec enim deus ipse qui intelligitur a nobis alio modo intelligi potest nisi mens quaedam soluta libera segregata ab omni concretione mortali we cannot conceive of God but as of a pure Mind intirely free from all mortal composition or mixture And Plutarch after him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God is a Mind an abstract being pure from all matter and disintangled from whatever is passible or capable of suffering So that Natural Light informing us that God is a Spirit there was no need why the Scripture should inculcate this it is an excellent medium or argument to prove that the Worship of God should chiefly be spiritual and altho it was not necessary that it should have been mention'd for it self that is to inform us of a thing which we could not otherwise know yet the Wisdom of God by the express mention of this seems to have provided against an Error which some weaker and grosser Spirits might be subject to You know God is pleased by way of condescention and accommodation of himself to our capacity to represent himself to us in Scripture by human Imperfections and gives such descriptions of himself as if he had a Body and bodily Members now to prevent any error or mistake that might be occasion'd hereby it seems very becoming the Wisdom of God somewhere in Scripture expresly to declare the spiritual Nature of God that none through weakness or wilfulness might entertain gross apprehensions of him In speaking to this Proposition I shall I. Explain what is meant by a Spirit II. Endeavour to prove to you that God is a spirit III. Answer an Objection or two IV. Draw some Inferences or Corollaries from the whole I. For the explication of the Notion of a Spirit I shall not trouble you with the strict Philosophical Notion of it as that it is such a substance as is penetrable that is may be in the same place with a Body and neither keep out the Body nor be kept out by it and that the parts which we imagine in it cannot be divided that is really seperated and torn from one another as the parts of a Body but I will give you a negative description of it A Spirit is not Matter it doth not fall under any of our Senses it is that which we cannot see nor touch it is not a Body not Flesh and Blood and Bones for so we find Spirit in Scripture opposed to Flesh and Body Isa 31.3 Their horses are flesh and not spirit So Luke 24. when Christ appeared to his Disciples after his Resurrection they were terrified and supposed it had been a spirit v. 39. But he said Behold my hands and my feet that it is I my self handle me and see for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have The most usual description of a Spirit is by these Negatives it is not a Body hath not Flesh and Bones doth not consist of Matter or of any thing that falls under our Senses that we can see or touch II. For the proof of this Proposition that God is a spirit This is not to be proved by way of demonstration for there is nothing before God or which can be a cause of him but by way of conviction by shewing the absurdity of the contrary The first and most natural Notion that we have of God is that he is a Being every way perfect and from this Notion we must argue concerning the properties which are attributed to God and govern all our Reasonings concerning God by this so that when any thing is said of God the best way to know whether it be to be attributed to him is to enquire whether it be a Perfection or not if it be it belongs to him if it be not it is to be removed from him and if any Man ask why I say God is so or so a Spirit or Good or Just the best reason that can be given is because these are Perfections and the contrary to these are Imperfections So that if I shew that it would be an Imperfection for God to be imagined to be a Body or Matter I prove that he is a Spirit because it is an imperfection that is an absurdity to imagine him any thing else To imagine God to be a Body or Matter doth evidently codtradict four great Perfections of God 1. His Infiniteness or the immensity of his Being Grant me but these two things that there is something in the World besides God some other matter as the Heavens the Air the Earth and all those things which we see and grant me that two Bodies cannot be in the same place at once and then it will evidently follow that where-ever these are God is shut out and consequently God should not be infinite nor in all places and so much as there is of another matter in the World besides God so many breaches there would be in the Divine Nature so many Hiatus 2. The Knowledge and Wisdom of God It cannot be imagined how mere Matter can understand how it can distinctly comprehend such variety of Objects and at one view take in past present and to come Tully speaking of Spirits saith Animorum nulla in terris origo inveniri potest their original cannot be found upon Earth for saith he there is no material or bodily thing Quod vim memoriae mentis cogitationis habeat quod praeterita teneat futura provideat complecti possit praesentia quae sola divina sunt which hath the power of Memory of Vnderstanding of Thought which can retain things past forsee things future and comprehend things present all which Powers are purely Divine 3. Freedom and Liberty For the Laws of matter are necessary nor can we imagine any 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any arbitrary Principle in it This puzled the Epicureans as we see in Lucretius For if saith he all things move by certain and necessary Laws and there be a connexion of the parts of matter unto each other so that if you move this that must necessarily be moved whence saith he is Liberty Vnde est hec inquam fatis avulsa voluntas Whence is this Principle of Will whose motions are not under any law of necessity 4. Goodness This follows from the former for he is not good who does not know what he does nor does it freely so that take away Understanding and Liberty and you take away Goodness now take away from God Infiniteness and Knowledge and Liberty and Goodness and you divest him of his Glory you take away his most essential Perfections So that these
Church with it and make it a ground of separation from her 3. If God be a Spirit then we should worship him in spirit and in truth This is the Inference of the Text and therefore I shall speak a little more largely of it only I must explain what is meant by worshiping in spirit and in truth and shew you the force of this Consequence how it follows that because God is a Spirit therefore he must be worship'd in spirit and in truth 1 st For the explication of it This word Spirit is sometimes apply'd to the Doctrine of the Gospel and so it is opposed to Letter by which Name the Doctrine of Moses is called 2 Cor. 3.6 Who hath made us able Ministers of the new Testament not of the letter but of the spirit not of the Law which was written in Tables of Stone but which Christ by his Spirit writes in the Hearts of Believers Sometimes to the worship of the Gospel and so it is opposed to the Flesh Gal. 3.3 Having begun in the spirit are ye now made perfect by the flesh that is by the works of the ceremonial Law which is therefore call'd Flesh because the principal ceremony of it Circumcision was made in the Flesh and because their Sacrifices a chief part of their Worship were of the Flesh of Beasts and because the greatest part of their Ordinances as washing and the like related to the Body Hence it is the Apostle calls the worship of the Jews the law of a carnal commandment Heb. 7.16 and Heb. 9.10 Carnal Ordinances speaking of the Service of the Law which saith he stood in meats and drinks and divers washings and carnal ordinances Now in opposition to this carnal and ceremonial Worship we are to worship God in the Spirit The Worship of the Jews was most a bodily service but we are to give God a reasonable service to serve him with the spirit of our minds as the Apostle speaks instead of offering the flesh of bulls and goats we are to consecrate our selves to the service of God this is a holy and acceptable sacrifice or reasonable service And in truth Either in opposition to the false Worship of the Samaritans as in spirit is opposed to the Worship of the Jews as our Saviour tells the Woman that they worship'd they knew not what or which I rather think in opposition to the shadows of the Law and so it is opposed John 1.17 The Law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ Not that the external Service of God is here excluded not that we are to show no outward reverence to him but that as under the Law the Service of God was chiefly external and corporeal so now it should chiefly be inward and spiritual the Worship of God under the Gospel should chiefly be spiritual and substantial not a carnal and bodily and ceremonious Devotion 2 dly For the force of the Consequence it doth not lie in this that just such as God is such must our Worship of him be for this would exclude all bodily and outward worship our Worship of God must therefore be invisible eternal c. for so is he and besides the Will of God seems rather to be the rule of his Worship than his Nature but the force of it is this God is of a spiritual Nature and this is to be supposed to be his Will that our Worship should be as agreable to the Object of it as the nature of the Creature who is to give it will bear now saith Christ to the Woman the Jews and the Samaritans they limit their Worship to a certain place and it consists chiefly in certain carnal Rites and Ordinances but saith he tho' God have permitted this for a time because of the carnality and hardness of their hearts yet the time is coming when a more spiritual and solid and substantial Worship of God is to be introduced which will be free from all particular Places and Rites not tyed to the Temple or to such external Ceremonies but consisting in the devotion of our Spirits even the inward frame and temper of our Hearts all outward Circumstances excepting those of the two Sacraments which are positive being left by the Gospel to as great a liberty as natural necessity and decency will permit We must worship God and therefore it is naturally necessary that we should do it somewhere in some place now seeing some body must determine this it is most convenient that Authority should determine it according to the conveniency of cohabitation We must not be rude nor do any thing that is naturally undecent in the Worship of God this Authority should restrain but further than this I doubt not but the Gospel hath left us free and to this end that the less we are tied to external Observances the more intent we should be upon the spiritual and substantial parts of Religion the conforming of our selves to the Mind and Will of God endeavouring to be like God and to have our Souls and Spirits ingaged in those Duties we perform to him So that our Saviour's argument is this God is a Spirit that is the most excellent Nature and Being and therefore must be served with the best We consist of Body and Soul 't is true and we must serve him with our whole Man but principally with our Souls which are the most excellent Part of our selves the Service of our Mind and Spirit is the best we can perform and therefore most agreeable to God who is a Spirit and the best and most perfect Being So that the Inference is this that if God be a Spirit we must worship him in spirit and in truth our Religion must be real and inward and sincere and substantial we must not think to put off God with external observances and with bodily reverence and attendance this we must give him but we must principally regard that our Service of him be reasonable that is directed by our Understandings and accompanied with our Affections Our Religion must consist principally in a sincere love and affection to God which expresseth it self in a real conformity of our lives and actions to his Will and when we make our solemn approaches to him in the Duties of his Worship and Service we must perform all acts of outward Worship to God with a pure and sincere Mind whatever we do in the Service of God we must do it heartily as to the Lord. God is a pure Spirit present to our Spirits intimate to our Souls and conscious to the most secret and retired motions of our Hearts now because we serve the Searcher of Hearts we must serve him with our Hearts Indeed if we did worship God only to be seen of Men a pompous and external Worship would be very suitable to such an end but Religion is not intended to please Men but God and therefore it must be spiritual and inward and real And where-ever the external part of Religion
come to answer Objections against this Doctrine There are two Objections against this 1. From Reason 2. From Scripture 1. Obj. Reason will be ready to suggest that this is a disparagement to the Divine Nature to tye his Presence to this vile Dunghil of the Earth and fordid Sink of Hell This is a gross Apprehension of God and a measuring of him by our selves Indeed if we look upon God as capable of Injury and Suffering and Offence from the Contagion of any thing here below as we are then indeed there were some strength in this Objection but he is a blessed and pure Being Mens segregata ab omni concretione mortali A Mind free from all mortal Composition or Mixture Tully 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 disentangled from every thing passible as Plut. Those things that are nauseous to our Senses do not affect him Darkness is uncomfortable to us but the Darkness and the Light are all one to him Wickedness may hurt a man or the son of man but if we multiply our transgressions we do nothing to God as Elihu speaks Job 35.6 Nothing can disquiet or discompose his happy and blessed Nature but he converseth here in this dark and troubled World with less danger of Disturbance or any impure Contagion than the Sun-beams 2. Obj. Does not the Scripture tell us that God sits in the Heavens and dwells on high that Heaven is his throne and that it is the City of the great God Doth not the Lord's Prayer teach us to say Our Father which art in heaven Is he not said to look down from heaven and to hear in heaven his dwelling-place Is it not said that he doth not dwell in temples made with hands And does not Solomon 1 Kings 8.27 put it as a strange question will God indeed dwell on the earth Is he not said to come down and draw near to us and to be afar off from us Now how does this agree with his Immensity and Omnipresence For answer to this I must distinguish the Presence of God There is 1 st his glorious Presence that is such a Presence of God as is accompanied with an extraordinary manifestation of his Glory and that is especially and chiefly confined to Heaven in respect of which it is called his Seat and Throne and the Habitation of his Glory Some degree of this was in the Temple which is the reason of Solomon's Admiration will God indeed dwell on Earth 2 dly There is his gracious Presence which discovers it self by miraculous effects of his Favour and Goodness and Assistance and thereby he is said to dwell in the hearts of good Men and with them that are of an humble and contrite Spirit Isa 57.15 and in respect of this he is said to draw near to us to look down upon us and in respect of the absence of this to be far from us 3 dly There is his essential Presence which is equally and alike in all Places and this is not excluded by those former Expressions which the Scripture useth to denote to us the glorious and gracious Presence of God Fourthly To make some Inferences I will mention only such as the Scripture here takes notice of speaking of God's Immensity I. Inf. That God is a Spirit This necessarily flows from his Immensity for if the Essence of God be every where diffused the Divine Nature must be spiritual otherwise it could not be in the same place were Body and Matter is but must be shut out of the World But this I spoke more largely to in my Discourse of God's being a Spirit This the Psalmist observes here Where shall I go from thy Spirit If he were not a Spirit we might go from him and hide our selves from his Presence II. Inf. That God is Incomprehensible That which is infinite cannot be measured and comprehended by that which is finite and this also the Psalmist takes notice of in the Verse before my Text Such knowledge is too wonderful for me it is high I cannot attain it III. Inf. That God is Omniscient If God be every where then he knows all things yea even the hidden things of Darkness the Secrets of our Hearts nothing can be hid from an infinite Eye he is present to our Thoughts intimate to our Hearts and Reins this the Psalmist takes notice of 1 2 3 4 and 12 Verses IV. Inf. That God is Omnipotent He can do all things Distance limits the Power of Creatures and makes their hands short but God is every where nothing is out of his reach and this also the Psalmist intimates in the Text v. 10. Even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand hold me Fifthly The Use and Improvement I shall make of this shall be 1. To awaken our Fear of him 2. To encourage our Faith and Confidence in him 1. To awaken our Fear of him The Consideration of God's Presence should awaken in us a Fear of Reverence The Presence of an earthly Majesty will awe our Spirits and compose us to Reverence yea the Presence of a wise and good Man how much more should the Presence of the great and glorious the wise and the holy and the just God strike an awe upon our Spirits Wherever we are God is with us we always converse with him and live continually in his Presence now a Heathen could say cum Diis verecunaè agendum We must behave our selves modestly because we are in the presence of God And it should awaken in us a Fear to offend God and a Fear of the divine displeasure for having offended him Fear is the most wakeful Passion in the Soul of man and is the first Principle that is wrought upon in us from the Apprehensions of a Deity it flows immediately from the principle of Self-preservation which God hath planted in every Man's Nature we have a natural Dread and Horror for every thing that can hurt us and endanger our Being or Happiness now the greatest Danger is from the greatest Power for where we are clearly over-match'd we cannot hope to make Opposition nor Resistance with security and success to râ—bel with Safety now he that apprehends God to be near him and present to him believes such a Being to stand by him as is possest of an infinite and irresistible Power and will vindicate all Contempt of the Divine Majesty and Violation of his Laws If we believe God to be always present with us Fear will continually take hold of us and we shall say of every place as Jacob did of Bethel surely God is in this place how dreadful is this place When we have at any time provoked God if we believe the just God is at hand to revenge himself and if we believe the power of his anger we shall say with David Psa 76.7 Thou even thou art to be feared and who may stand before thee when thou art angry Psa 119.120 My flesh trembleth because of thee and I am afraid of thy Judgments Sinners consider
The most Reverend D r. IOHN TILLOTSON late Arch-Bishop of Canterbury The Remaining DISCOURSES ON THE Attributes of God viz. His Goodness His Mercy His Patience His Long-suffering His Power His Spirituality His Immensity His Eternity His Incomprehensibleness God the first Cause and last End By the Most Reverend Dr. JOHN TILLOTSON Late Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Being The SEVENTH VOLUME Published from the Originals By Ralph Barker D. D. Chaplain to his Grace LONDON Printed for Ri. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Churchyard 1700. THE CONTENTS SERMON I II III IV. The Goodness of God PSAL. CXLV 9 The Lord is good to all and his tender Mercies are over all his Works Page 1 25 51 81. SERMON V. The Mercy of God NUMB. XIV 18 The Lord is long-suffering and of great Mercy p. 145. SERMON VI VII The Patience of God 2 Pet. III. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning his Promise as some men count slackness but is long suffering not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance p. 143 179. SERMON VIII IX The Long-suffering of God ECCLES VIII 11 Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily therefore the heart of the Sons of men is fully set in them to do evil p. 193 239. SERMON X. The Power of God PSAL. LXII 11 God hath spoken once twice have I heard this that power belongeth unto God p. 265. SERMON XI The Spirituality of the Divine Nature JOHN IV. 2 God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in truth p. 299. SERMON XII The Immensity of the Divine Nature PSAL. CXXXIX 7 8 9 10. Whither shall I go from thy spirit or whither shall I flee from thy presence If I ascend up into heaven thou art there if I make my bed in hell behold thou art there If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me p. 331 SERMON XIII The Eternity of God PSALM XC 2 Before the mountains were brought forth or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God p. 355 SERMON XIV The Incomprehensibleness of God JOB XI 7 Canst thou by searching find out God Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection p. 377 SERMON XV. God the first Cause and last End ROM XI 36 For of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be Glory for ever Amen p. 403 SERMON I. Vol. VII The Goodness of God PSAL. CXLV 9 The Lord is Good to all and his tender Mercies are over all his Works THE Subject which I have now proposed to treat of is certainly one of the Greatest and Noblest Arguments in the World the Goodness of God the Highest and most Glorious Perfection of the best and most Excellent of Beings than which nothing deserves more to be considered by us nor ought in Reason to affect us more The Goodness of God is the cause and the continuance of our Beings the Foundation of our Hopes and the Fountain of our Happiness our greatest comfort and our fairest Example the chief Object of our love and praise and admiration the joy and rejoycing of our hearts and therefore the Meditation and Discourse of it must needs be pleasant and delightful to us the great difficulty will be to confine our selves upon so copious an Argument and to set bounds to that which is of so vast an extent the Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works Which words are an Argument which the divine Plalmist useth to stir up himself and others to the praise of God At the 3. v. he tells us that the Lord is great and greatly to be praised and he gives the reason of this v. 8. and 9. from those Properties and Perfections of the Divine Nature which declare his Goodness the Lord is gracious and full of compassion slow to anger and of great mercy the Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works where you have the Goodness of God declared together with the amplitude and extent of it in respect of the Objects of it the Lord is good to all In the handling of this Argument I shall do these four things First Consider what is the proper Notion of Goodness as it is attributed to God Secondly Shew that this Perfection belongs to God Thirdly Consider the Effects and the Extent of it Fourthly Answer some Objections which may seem to contradict and bring in question the Goodness of God First What is the proper Notion of Goodness as it is attributed to God There is a dry Metaphysical Notion of Goodness which only signifies the Being and essential properties of a thing but this is a good word ill bestowed for in this sense every thing that hath Being even the Devil himself is good And there is a Moral Notion of Goodness and that is twofold 1. More general in opposition to all Moral evil and imperfection which we call sin and vice and so the Justice and Truth and Holiness of God are in this sense his Goodness But there is 2. Another Notion of Moral Goodness which is more particular and restrained and then it denotes a particular Virtue in opposition to a particular Vice and this is the proper and usual acceptation of the word Goodness and the best description I can give of it is this that it is a certain propension and disposition of mind whereby a person is enclined to desire and procure the happiness of others and it is best understood by its contrary which is an envious disposition a contracted and narrow Spirit which would confine happiness to it self and grudgeth that others should partake of it or share in it or a malicious and mischievous temper which delights in the harms of others and to procure trouble and mischief to them To communicate and lay out our selves for the good of others is Goodness and and so the Apostle explains doing good by communicating to others who are in misery or want Heb. 13.16 but to do good and to communicate forget not The Jews made a distinction between a righteous and a good man to which the Apostle alludes Rom. 5.7 scarcely for a righteous man will one die yet peradventure for a good man one would even dare to die The righteous man was he that did no wrong to others and the good man he who was not only not injurious to others but kind and beneficial to them So that Goodness is a readiness and disposition to communicate the good and happiness which we enjoy and to be willing others should partake of it This is the Notion of Goodness among men and 't is the same in God only with this difference that God is originally and transcendently good but the Creatures are the best of them but imperfectly good
is principally regarded and Men are more careful to worship God with outward pomp and ceremony than in spirit and in truth Religion degenerates into Superstition and Men embrace the shadow of Religion and let go the substance And this the Church of Rome hath done almost to the utter ruin of Christianity she hath clogged Religion and the Worship of God with so many Rites and Ceremonies under one Pretence or other that the Yoke of Christ is become heavier than that of Moses and they have made the Gospel a more carnal Commandment than the Law and whatever Christians or Churches are intent upon external Rites and Observances to the neglect of the weightier Parts of Religion regarding meats and drinks c. to the prejudice of righteousness and peace wherein the kingdom of God consists they advance a Religion as contrary to the Nature of God and as unsuitable to the genius and temper of the Gospel as can be imagined It is an Observation of Sir Edwin Sands that as Children are pleas'd with Toys so saith he it is a pitiful and childish Spirit that is predominant in the contrivers and zealots of a ceremonious Religion I deny not but that very honest and devout Men may be this way addicted but the wiser any Man is the better he understands the Nature of God and of Religion the further he will be from this temper A Religion that consists in external and little things doth most easily gain upon and possess the weakest Minds and whoever entertain it it will enfeeble their Spirits and unfit them for the more generous and excellent Duties of Christianity We have but a finite heat and zeal and activity and if we let out much of it upon small things there will be too little left for those parts of Religion which are of greatest moment and concernment if our heat evaporate in externals the heart and vitals of Religion will insensibly cool and decline How should we blush who are Christians that we have not learnt this easie truth from the Gospel which even the Light of Nature taught the Heathen Cultus autem deorum est optimus itemque sanctissimus atque castissimus plenissimusque pietatis ut eos semper purâ integrâ incorruptâ mente voce veneremur Tully The best the surest the most chast and most devout worship of the Gods is that which is pay'd them with a pure sincere and uncorrupt Mind and words truly representing the thoughts of the Heart Compositum jus fasque animi c. Serve God with a pure honest holy frame of Spirit bring him a heart that is but generously honest and he will accept of the plainest Sacrifice And let me tell you that the ceremonious Worship of the Jews was never a thing in it self acceptable to God or which he did delight in and tho' God was pleased with their obedience to the ceremonial Law after it was commanded yet antecedently he did not desire it but that which our Saviour saith concerning the Law of Divorce is true likewise of the ceremonial that it was permitted to the Jews for the hardness of their hearts and for their proneness to Idolatry God did not command it so much by way of approbation as by way of condescension to their weakness it was because of the hardness of their carnal hearts that God brought them under the Law of a carnal Commandment as the Apostle calls it See Psal 51.16 17. Jer. 7.21 The reason why I have insisted so long upon this is to let you understand what is the true nature of Christ's Religion and to abate the intemperate heat and zeal which Men are apt to have for external and indifferent things in Religion The Sacrifices and Rites of the Jews were very unagreeable and unsuitable to the Nature of God Psal 50.13 Will I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats Spirits neither eat nor drink it was a very unsuitable way of service to kill Oxen and Sheep for God and there 's the same reason of all other Rites which either natural necessity or decency doth not require Can any Man in earnest think that God who is a Spirit is pleased with the pompous bravery and pageantry which affects our Senses So little doth God value indifferent Rites that even the necessary external Service of God and outward Reverence where they are separated from spirit and truth from real holiness and obedience to the indispensable Laws of Christ are so far from being acceptable to God that they are abominable nay if they be used for a Cloak of Sin or in opposition to real Religion and with a design to undermine it God accounts such Service in the number of the most heinous Sins You who spend the strength and vigour of your Spirits about external things whose zeal for or against Ceremonies is ready to eat you up you who hate and persecute one another because of these things and break the necessary and indispensable Commands of Love as an indifferent and unnecessary Ceremony go and learn what that means I will have mercy and not sacrifice which our Saviour doth so often inculcate and that Rom. 14.17 The kingdom of God is not meat and drink c. And study the meaning of this God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in truth SERMON XII Vol. VII The Immensity of the Divine Nature PSAL. CXXXIX 7 8 9 10. Whither shall I go from thy spirit or whither shall I flee from thy presence If I ascend up into heaven thou art there if I make my bed in hell behold thou art there If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me THAT Attribute of God which I last discours'd of is most Absolute and declares his Essence most immediately the spirituality of the Divine Nature I shall in the next place speak of those which relate to the manner of his Being Immensity and Eternity that is the infiniteness of his Essence both in respect of space and duration that the Divine Nature hath no limits of its Being nor bounds of its duration I shall at the present speak to the first of these his Immensity and that from these words which I here read to you Whither shall I go from thy spirit c. The meaning of which is this That God is a Spirit infinitely diffusing himself present in all places so that wherever I go God is there we cannot flee from his presence If I ascend into heaven he is there if I go down into the grave the place of silence and obscurity he is there for that is the meaning of the Expression If I make my bed in hell If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me that is if my