Disciple for it is said when the Evening was come he was there alone but both Groves and High-places which were by Priests Consecrated for publick Conventions of Men and Women to Worship Publickly are commanded in Scripture to be destroyed Levit. 26.30 Hos 10.8 Amos 7.9 The first who built Temples were the old Egyptian Priests which they Dedicated to Priapus and drawing Women thither by Consecrated Whoredom thereby instituted the same the places of Publick Worship as well as of Marriage The next was Cecrops King of Athens who first in Greece instituted Marriage by a Priest in a Temple and with the same brought in the Publick Worship of Idols and Altars and Sacrifice for them whereby People were drawn from the Private and Omnipresential Worship of God to Marry and Worship Idols in Temples for the Gains of the Priests yet even amongst these Idolaters the wiser sort though Heathens understood these Pontifical Impostures but durst not speak against them as neither did Plato nor Aristotle Heathens believed the Omnipresence being warned by the Fate of Socrates though they many times express'd themselves that they believed the Omnipresence of God One desiring Demonax to go into the Temple of Esculapius to pray for the health of his Son Is he so deaf said he that he can hear no where but in a Temple Eras lib. 8. Apopth And Eratus the Greek Poet whom Paul cites speaks thus of Gods Omnipresence Plena sunt Jovis omnes Plateae Omnium etiam hominum Fora plenum est mare Pleni sunt Portus ubique Jove fruimur omnes Hujus enim genus sumus So the great Latine Poet Virgil Eclog. 3. Jovis omnia plena Ille colit terras illi mea Carmina curae Jove keeps the Earth all things full of him are And he even of my Verses taketh care Cato after the overthrow given by Caesar to Pompey of whose Party he was being advised to consult with the Oracle of Jupiter Hammon what course he were best take Answers thus Estne Dei sedes nisi Terra Pontus Aer Et coelum virtus superos quid'quaeritis ultra Jupiter est quocunque vides quocunque moveris Lucan Is Gods Seat other than Earth Sea and Air And Heaven and Vertue why do you despair And seek beyond who wheresoe're in these You go or see there to be found doth please It is not here affirmed as is already said That 't is unlawful for any to Marry or Worship by a Priest in a Temple or in a Publick Convention but it seems unlawful to compel any whose Conscience is dissentient or doubtful and that the Scriptures and Christ are so far from Compulsion that where Parties are not agreed they forbid so much as two or three to convene as Amos 3.3 Can two walk together except they agree and though they do agree yet single Prayer in private seems to be prefer'd as appears by what follows Prayer in Temples and Synagogues forbid by Christ and a distinction of the Place of Prayer and Preaching Commanded There is as little encouragement given by the Prophets in the Old Testament for Sacrifices Altars and Temples as there is by Christ in the New for Prayer and Sacrament in Synagogues and Temples Jer. 7.4 Trust ye not in lying words saying The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord these are Hos 8.14 Israel hath forgotten his Maker and buildeth Temples Revel 21.22 There was no Temple in the New Jerusalem nor was there any Temple in the Earthly Paradise more than in the Heavenly yet was Marriage instituted by God But hear next what he who saith Matth. 12.6 here is one greater than the Temple will say of Prayer in Synagogues which were the Jews Parochial Churches and Temples which were the Cathedrals John 4.21 Jesus talking with the Samaritan Woman saith unto her Believe me the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this Mountain nor in Jerusalem Worship the Father And Verse 23. The hour cometh and now is when the true Worshippers shall Worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth for the Father seeketh such to Worship him And they that Worship him must Worship him in Spirit and Truth 'T is granted the Jews set up a Local Worship in Synagogues and Temples but this Judaisme Christ expressly saith the hour was then come that it must be abolish'd and all Jewish Ceremonial Law and the Temple it self he foretold in the future there should not be left one stone upon another That he forbids a Prayer to be made in Synagogues Temples or any other publick Place and commands the same to be made privately in the Closet appears Matth. 6.5 When thou prayest thou shalt not be as the Hypocrites are for they love to pray standing in the Synagogues and in the Corners of the Streets that they may be seen of Men. Verily I say unto you they have their reward But when thou prayest enter into thy Closet and when thou hast shut thy door pray to thy Father which is in secret and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly The Jewish Synagogues were their Churches or Temples having a lesser or Parochial Jurisdiction and the Cathedral Church or great Temple having the National Jurisdiction but Prayer in both is abolished by Christ It is granted that in both the lesser and the greater Christ used to Teach as it is said Matth. 4.23 And Jesus went about all Galilee teaching in their Synagogues and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of Diseases amongst the People And Mar. 14.49 he saith of himself I was daily teaching in the Temple And the avoiding of publick Prayer he taught not only by his Precept but Example for we never find that he so much as Convened the Twelve who were his own Family to pray with him but Mark 1.35 He went out and departed into a solitary place and there prayed And Matth. 14.23 He went up into a Mountain apart to pray and when the Evening was come he was there alone And Matth. 26.36 Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane and saith unto the Disciples Sit ye here while I go and pray yonder Whereby it is clear that Christ both by Precept and Example taught there ought a distinction to be made between the place of Preaching and Prayer the one to be publick the other to be private the one to be in conventions the other to be single and alone and if he prohibited the contrary to any who were free he much more prohibited any should be compell'd Then as to Non-Communicants 't is manifest Christ never instituted the Sacrament in a Church or Temple nor appointed the same to be after Celebrated there for he instituted it in a private House and no company with him but his own private Family with him as Matth. 26.17 It is said Now the first day of the Feast of unlevened bread the Disciples
him on the ground most Rich Garments to be trampled on by the proad Palfrey and when he hath passed over a parcel still fetching those who are left behind and throwing them again before lest the feet of his Holy Horse should touch the Earth whose Master commands the Heaven Some have thought by these Ceremonies the Horse is more honour'd than the Emperour the Lap than the Horse the Sacrament than God and the Bishop than all The Latine Pope hath had a Crotchet to wear the Cross on his Pantofle when he admits to the Honour of kissing his Toe yet none doubts but he aims more at the Honour of his Toe though a crabbed one than of the Cross To the Emperour who pâ—rformed this Servile Homage saying in Extenuation of his Dishonour Non tibi sed Petro the Pope replied Et mihi Petro. Not only the Babylonian Priests of Bell but of all Nations in the World who could obtrude on the People the Ceremonies of Sacrifie have under pretence of feeding the Noses or the Mouths of their Gods fed their own Bellies and not their Gods But the Doctrine of the Omnipresence destroys all these Ceremonies of Sacrifices Incense Burnt-offerings Images Hostes Masses High-Altars Temples and Oblations by Priests for if God is present in the House and at the Table of the owner were it possible he could be hungry or desire Meat and Drink he could as many great Princes have done from their meanest subject more conveniently take a Meal from a Thousand Tables wheresoever he likes best than the Priest to gather it for him in his Alms-basket at the Temple and there to eat it himself and say to the Priest as is said Psal 50.12 If I were hungry I would not tell thee for the World is mine and the fulness thereof Will I eat the flesh of Bulls or drink the blood of Goats Offer unto God thanksgiving and pay thy Vows unto the most High And call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me Were God likewise tolerated to be worshipped as Christ commands Omnipresentially in Spirit and Truth Forms of Prayer Compulsive are Ceremonies but not Directive then could there be no compulsion to the Ceremonies of Forms of Prayer Forms of Vestments Forms of Songs Forms of Musick for Forms of Prayer and other Forms of Worship in things indifferent if made compulsive by Penalty became Ceremonies and destructive to the Worship of God in Spirit and Truth and compulsive they cannot be made unless the Ceremony of the place of Worship be made compulsive But if they are only Directive and without Penalties as the Form of the Lords Prayer left by Christ who made it not Penal to miss a word or syllable or a letter in the Use of the same then are they no Ceremonies nor Ceremonial Laws but Favours and Adminicles to help and direct and not to punish the Weak who need them if Popes and Bishops therefore should not smother the knowledg of Gods Omnipresence then must they allow that God is present in the heart of every one who Prays as well as in every other place and being there as Job saith 42.2 I know thou canst do every thing and that no thought can be withholden from thee And it is said Psal 7.9 The Righteous God trieth the Hearts and Reins And Psal 94.11 The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man And if so they need neither carry nor send their Prayers to a Pope Bishop or Priest to offer them to God in a Temple or at the Altar but he may present them to God himself and in a way more pleasing to him on his own Altar of a broken heart which way of Worship in the heart would utterly destroy their great Office they usurp of being Masters of the External Ceremonies of Divine Worship which brings them in infinite Riches and likewise an Idolatrous Worship and Honour to Exalt themselves above all that is called God 6. If Prayers might be made to God in the heart of man or as Christ directs in the Closet as Omnipresent then would the Priest lose his great gains of the Post-Office to Heaven for sending Prayers though not by Letter or Writing yet which is as good by word of Mouth or better if the Letters should chance to be lost or Spies for Intelligence break them open by the way When Prayers are brought to the Priest to be sent so high and so far for the Petitioner he will send them by some Angel who is the swifter or some Saint who is the slower and surer to carry them the first Stage then He delivers the Message to our Lady of Loretto if she be not below at her Chappel to carry them another Stage and to deliver them to her Son who is to make the next deliverance of them to God which way of Posting Prayers so far is very costly and dangerous and many times Petitioners get no Returns as long as they live unless when intercepted by the Prince of the Air and he grants their wicked Petitions with a Vengeance all which cost and mischief had been prevented if the Petitioner in person had as Christ bids him offer'd his Prayer to God in person in his Closet 7. The Priests could not put God into a Wafer or piece of Bread and set him on an Altar or carry him about in a Box they could not lock him up in a Temple and carry the Keys at their Giâ—dle by which they would lose excessive gains 8. There would be no more Pilgrimages to Mecha or Jerusalem Rome Loretto Compostella and a multitude of other Places which would lose them vast gains 9. They would lose the gains of Praying to Saints and Angels for they who believe God only to be Omnipresent and the Vbi's of Saints and Angels to be unknown and uncertain when and whether in Temples or no would rather pray to God only than such as they knew not where or when to find and might therefore be mocked as Elijah 1 Kings 18.27 mocked Baals Prophets and said Cry aloud for he is a God either he is talking or he is pursuing or he is in a Journey or peradventure he sleepeth and must be awaked 10. They would lose the gains of all Sanctuaries Asylums and Horns of the Altar for if God is every where why should Malefactors have more privilege there than every where whereby neither Cain by Land nor Jonah by Sea could flie the Presence of the Lord and the same is no Protection but a Punishment to the Wicked 11. There would be no more buying or hireing places of Burial in Chancels Churches Church-yards or other Consecrated ground by such as believed God Omnipresent whereby a great Revenue would likewise be lost to Popish Ecclesiasticks All which recited matters and the foremention'd Mediator Confessor Penance and Pardon Offices and divers others conduce infinitely to the gain of Papal and Episcopal Priests and the Pride and Power of the Kingdom
when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and Truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him God is a Spirit and those that worship him must worship him in Spirit and Truth To worship therefore in Spirit and Truth is the Internal Worship of the heart and not the External Ceremonies which may be Compelled and Counterfeit and if mixt with the Worship of God are not directly to Worship God but the Idol or the Priest as for example I shall instance the usual Ceremonies of uncovering the Head Bowing and Kneeling to which men are compel'd in Temples Compulsion to external Ceremonies is to Worship the Idol and the Priest and not God as both Ancient and Modern Pagan Idolaters pretend the same distinction of Worship to and towards the Image where those or other Ceremonies are used as do the Papists and if the same should be allowed there could be no Idolatry committed in the World and the Second Commandment were useless and deservedly by the Papist turn'd out of the Decalogue for all Nations in the World whether Civil or Barbarous which use Idols or Images yea the Tartars Africans Indians and very Americans say They Worship not the Idol but their God in the Idol But if once the Omnipresence is believed this Faith destroys all Ceremonies of Worship both towards and to and in and shews the Worship of Spirit and Truth to be every way and every where and that Idols ought not to be brought into the Place or mixt with the Divine Worship they manifestly drawing the Honor of Bowing Falling down Kneeling or the like towards or before them pretended to God to be given themselves for which reason it seems Josephus lib. 8. cap. 2. de Antiq. Jud. says Solomon sin'd and broke the Law in making Similitudes in the Temple of Beasts of Brass to underprop the Brazen Sea and Lions to set unto his Throne which are apt to be Converted to Idolatrous Uses and of the Act of Hezekiah 2 Kings 18.4 to take away those External Ceremonies of Worship then in fashion for it is said He removed the high Places and brake the Images and cut down the Groves and brake in pieces the Brazen Serpent which Moses had made for unto those days the Children of Israel did burn Incense to it and he called it Nehushtan Yet here might it have been said by the Idolatrous Priests who made great gains of these Ceremonies of Bowing Kneeling and Falling down to those Images that they were very Ancient and Decent Ceremonies and great Ornaments of the Worship of God and they did not Bow Kneel Fall down or offer Incense to the High Places but God in them yet here in the Judgment of Hezekiah these external Ceremonies gave the Honour pretended to be given to God to these Idols and he therefore Abolished them In the like manner do the Priests now the Images are removed yet Surrogate in their stead what Idols they can of Temples and Altars abolished by Christ and under pretence of the Ornament and Decency of Worshipping God by Compulsion to those External Ceremonies of the Body to which it is impossible to compel the worship of the Spirit and Soul draw to themselves wholly that Divine Honour which they feign is given through these to God as is easie to be seen in every common Church or Temple the People walk talk and place themselves in what posture they please till the Priest appears and is heard in the Pew then as if the Apparition of a Deity spake there is such shuffling away of Hats and falling on knees to receive an Absolution which none but God can give of their Sins and as assoon as the Morning Service is ended and the Priest got out of the Church all the Hats are again on and not a man to be seen on his knees till the Priest again return in the Afternoon then are they all again on their knees to pray according to the foremention'd distinction towards him but not as they said to him and receive his Benediction which none is able to give but God and these Ceremonies of falling on their knees towards the Priest in those many Postures of Confessions of Sins Penance Absolution and Benedictions were so scandalous to the Heathen that when a Christian reproved one of them that he fell down before a dead Idol and worshipped it he would answer That the Christian fell on his knees before a worse living Idol Et quod Pontificis coleret Genitalia In the like manner was a Jesuit Recriminated who reproved an Indian King of Candecan that he fell down and worshipped his Paw-God and answer'd That He fell down and worshipped his Crucifix To the same purpose have some Episcopal Protestants been Recriminated who reproved Papists that they bowed and fell on their knees to the Host in the Mass and answer'd that they bowed and fell on their knees to the High Altar and the Bread received from it So neither side can justifie but Recriminate which how weak Argumentation it is concerning the worship of God in Spirit and Truth is easily understood But to return to the first consideration That the Priest is worshipped and not God by the Ceremonies of the Temple appears in regard if they taught that the People must put off their Hats or fall on their knees in token of Reverence to God as being in the Temple Consecrated by the Bishop more than in another place then must they teach them that they ought to perform the same Ceremonies when both Bishop and Priest are out as well as in and must be perpetually as long as they are in the Church seeing God is perpetually in it and both Bishop and Priest must be perpetually uncovered when there as well as the People and as well before Service as after and as well without the People as with them but they neither teach nor practice any such matter but only command uncovering and kneeling to be towards themselves when present therefore they give the whole Honour of these External Ceremonies to themselves and not to God So the Popes Missionary Priests breed up the poor Americans in such Superstition and Slavery as they worship the Priests for Gods and if a Priest do but ride on a Journey through the street they all as he passeth fall on their knees with their hands Elevated towards him praying him to forgive their Sins and give them their Benediction which the Priest very gravely doth making many Mumpsimusses with his Mouth and Crosses in the Air with his finger towards them and they for the same bring him plenty of Provision and Oblations to his Lodging where he Inns The Arch-Bishop of Moscho reputed the Greek Pope or chief Patriarch when he Consecrates the River there for Baptism which is once a Year he Rides in great State in most Rich and Gorgeous Robes carrying the Sacrament in his Lap the Emperour himself leading his Horse by the Bridle and many persons casting before