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truth_n	father_n	true_a	worship_v	5,831	5	9.4836	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43698	A sermon preached before the Right Honourable George Earl of Berkeley, Governour, and the Company of Merchants of England trading into the Levant Seas at St. Peters Church in Broadstreet, January, 25, 1680 / by Charles Hickman ...	Hickman, Charles, 1648-1713.; Berkeley, George Berkeley, Earl of, 1628-1698.	1681 (1681)	Wing H1896; ESTC R11269	15,523	36

SERMON Preached before the RIGHT HONOURABLE GEORGE Earl of Berkeley GOVERNOUR AND THE Company of Merchants of ENGLAND Trading into the Levant Seas AT St. PETERS Church in Broadstreet January 25. 1680. By CHARLES HICKMAN A. M. Student of Christ-Church in Oxon and Chaplain to his Excellency the Lord Chandois Embassadour to Constantinople LONDON Printed for Henry Brome at the Gun at the West-End of St. Pauls 1681. To the Right Honourable George Earl of Berkley GOVERNOUR And to the Right Worshipful THE DEPUTY and COMPANY of Merchants trading into the Levant Seas Right Honorable and Right Worshipful IF I had judged this Discourse worthy of the Press both the general consent whereby you honour'd me with the Title of your Servant and the particular expressions of your Favour to me would have obliged me to publish my gratitude in this Dedication though you had not obliged me by your Commands But since I understand how unreasonably I am censured for this Discourse and that those censures must in some manner reflect upon you also who have been pleased to afford me a more favourable Character I find my self bound in honour as well as in gratitude and obedience to vindicate both you and my self by this Publication The objections I need not here either repeat or answer they are so groundless that every rational man will be satisfied by reading the Sermon and they which are otherwise will not be convinced by an Epistle Against these I humbly beg your Protection and as in duty bound I shall ever pray for your happiness and Dedicate my self wholly to your service My Lord and Gentlemen Your most obliged and Most humble servant Charles Hickman A SERMON ON JOHN iv 21 12 23. Jesus saith unto her Woman believe me the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father Ye worship ye know not what we know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews But the hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth IN these words our Saviour determines the great Controversie which had long depended between the Jews and Samaritans as it was proposed to him by the woman of Samaria in these words Our Fathers worshipped in this mountain but ye say that at Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship Therefore for the full and profitable understanding of my Text I shall consider 1. The difference between the Jews and Samaritans 2. Our Saviours method of reconciling it and 3. I shall apply the whole in some useful reflections upon the differences of these our times 1. The difference between the Jews and Samaritans was this When the Tribes of Israel were carried Captive into Assyria the King of that Land transplanted several Inhabitants of Babylon and the Neighbouring Provinces there and placed them in the Country of Samaria where at the first they worshipped their own Gods without any respect to the God of Israel But being terrified by Lions which infested their Land they wisely imputed this their danger to some mistake in their Religion concluding that the God of the Land had brought this Calamity upon them for the neglect of his own worship for they knew not the manner of the God of the Land Upon complaint hereof their King sent them one of the Priests of Israel to instruct them the Priest built them an Altar and a Temple and appointed Sacrifices therein and so made a formal appearance of an Independent Church of Israel Nevertheless though they feared the Lord yet they served their Graven Images also for they thought they had sufficiently appeased the God of the Land by appointing Sacrifices to him but they could not forget the Gods of their Native Country so they set up Adramelech and Anamelech the Gods of Sepharvaim every Nation according to their own inventions and their Devotion was absurdly divided betwixt the Idol and the living God This was the rise and original of the Samaritan Sect in the days of Salmaneser seven hundred years before our Saviours time this was the true Antiquity of their Church as we find it Recorded 2 Kings xvii Howbeit this was not the Antiquity pleaded by the woman in my Text neither were these the Fathers which she affirmed to have worshipped in the mountain but as Nations so Religions also love to boast of a long descent and derive their pedegree if it be possible from the beginning of time and if they want sufficient Authority to make good their plea a small pretence or Tradition will serve their turn and such a one it was whereby the Samaritans endeavoured to justifie their separation For the Authority of Salmaneser not being sufficient to establish a Church in opposition to the Temple of Jerusalem they could find out no better expedient both to quiet their own Consciences and answer the objections of their Adversaries the Jews than by pleading a greater Antiquity for their Religion than the Jews themselves pretended to and that the worshipping upon that mountain was countenanced at least if not commanded before the Temple of Jerusalem was built and this was no hard thing to prove For we read Gen. xxviii that Jacob travelling over this mountain to Padan-Aram saw a vision of Angels ascending and descending therefore he took the stone which he had put for his Pillow and put it up for a Pillar poured Oil upon the top of it and called the the name of that place Bethel and he vowed a vow that if God would be with him and bring him back to his Fathers house in peace then the Lord should be his God and that stone which be set up for a Pillar should be Gods house and he would surely pay his tenths And Gen. xxxiii at his return he did buy this parcel of ground and built an Altar there and called it El Elohe Israel i. e. God the God of Israel according as he promised This is that Bethel which was afterwards made the Seat of the Priests of Samaria and the solemn place of their worship for so we read in the forecited chap. of 2 Kings Then one of the Priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel and taught them how they should fear the Lord. Here we find a very plausible pretence for the Samaritan service and since it was so contrary both to their ease and interest to go up to Jerusalem to Sacrifice no wonder if they made use of this Argument to serve God nearer home And now the womans boast sounds big and significant Our Fathers worshipped in this mountain Our Fathers ever since Jacobs time Our Fathers for these eighteen hundred years which was seven hundred years before the Temple of Jerusalem was built and yet Ye say that at Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship That by their Fathers they reckon'd from their Father Jacob we may conclude 1. Because Jacob as we have heard did really worship in that

both temporary and local was now in the fulness of time to be utterly abolished though the promise was made only to Abraham and his Seed and that promise solemnized only at the Temple yet the time was coming when the Temple should be destroyed and God would raise up from those stones even from the ruins of the Temple children unto Abraham The mighty Fabrick should fall down and in three days a more glorious than that should be erected instead thereof So much for the Place 2. As for the Object of their worship the answer is Ye worship ye know not what we know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews Here the Samaritan Church stood in great need of a Reformation for though they feared the Lord yet they served their own Gods also after the manner of the Nations And though by the frequent Conversion of Jews to their Church they had laid by the grosser parts of their Idolatry yet they kept their Idols and graven Images in their houses and worshiped according to our Saviours words they knew not what In this respect our Saviour adjudges the Cause to the Jewish side alledging that though the Ceremonial part of their worship was now expiring yet the substance thereof should never change God is the same for ever and the object of their worship shall remain throughout all Ages They are the only Church which truly acknowledges the only true God and therefore Salvation is of the Jews and from them it shall be derived to all other Nations But 3. Though the Jews did worship the true God yet the manner of worship was imperfect and deficient even amongst them and the imperfection thereof consisted herein while their service depended upon outward forms alone and they were taught to offer up the fruits of their bodily labour for the Sins of their Soul whilst they measured their obedience by these dead works of the Law and their devotion only by hearing or repeating the forms prescribed by Moses then could this people draw nigh unto God with their mouths when their heart was far from him When the Sacrifice was ended their work was done and they could return to their sins with this satisfaction that the scape-Goat in the wilderness had carryed off all their transgressions that were past and the Goats in their Folds could expiate for all that was to come Thus they thought they might obtain forgiveness of their sins without any Reformation of their Minds for their Flesh was always willing but their Spirit was always weak Thus the Jews worshipped the true God by types and figures but the Samaritans worshiped types and figures for the true God that worship was true but imperfect this was neither perfect nor true Therefore for the instruction of both Jew and Samaritan our Saviour tells them that The hour cometh and now when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth In Spirit first to distinguish the Gospel-service from the shadows of the Jewish Law which in Scripture are called carnal ordinances And then in Truth to divide it from the Samaritan Idolatry and all other superstitious errors To worship in Spirit therefore is to bow the knees of our heart and not content our selves with the outward devotion of the body alone which could not make him that did the service perfect as pertaining to the Conscience but to offer up the only acceptable Sacrifice of a broken and contrite Spirit To worship God in Truth is to worship the true God in such a manner as he has directed without profaning his service as the Samaritans did by a mixture of Heathenish Superstitions and Idols which are called lies And those who thus worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth our Saviour terms the true worshippers for the discovery of whom I proceed in the third place to apply the former discourse to the present times that by our Saviours deciding this Controversie we may be able to pass some judgment upon the Controversies of these our days which have so miserably rent our Nation and do lively represent unto us the antient discord between the Jews and the Samaritans And herein I must beg your favour and patience if I am necessarily led not by my own inclinations but by the method of my Text to touch upon some of those sores which so unhappily afflict us that they cannot be heal'd without handling nor handled without regret and pain and yet as I shall avoid all unnecessary unprofitable provocations and endeavour with a tender hand not to enlarge but to close the wound so I hope none will be offended at this charitable design especially in defence of that Church whereof of we all here profess our selves to be Members 1. Then As in those days so now also we find that of all the disputes which divide the hearts of men and disaffect them from each other there are none raised with more Ignorance and Pride carried on with more Heat and Animosity nor concluded with more Labour and Difficulty than those which concern Religion and the different ways of worshipping God No Opinion is so absurd but it will serve to lay the foundation of a Schism amongst the discontented inconsiderate multitude and gain sturdy Proselytes too in spight of all the convictions of Reason if it can plead either ease or interest in its behalf For though all Nations do agree in the certainty of a God and the necessity of his worship yet when men think themselves so wonderfully wise that neither the height nor depth of his wisdom are beyond his reach when they will intrude into the Counsels of the Almighty and shape his worship according to the extravagance of their fancy then does their wisdom degenerate into ignorance and the strength of their reason only betrays them to labour and folly Hardly do we guess aright at the things upon Earth and with labour do we find the things that are before us but the things that are in Heaven who hath searched out and thy Counsels who hath known said the wisest of men But though the Ignorance of man be great yet generally his Pride is greater than that and those false Notions which in his vanity he has conceived in his obstinacy he will defend There are few so ingenuous as to confess an error and the most ignorant are always the hardest to convince They will impose their own fancies upon others with that eagerness as if they really were what they falsly stile them the only Divine Truths and immediate Revelations of God and to disbelieve their Opinion is to renounce their friendship Thus the Heathens though they had no knowledg of God yet they also would fight pro aris focis for their Gods as well as their Country and the sharpest Persecutions that the world ever saw were raised by the Romish Emperors first and after them by their Successors the Romish Bishops against the professours of the true Primitive Christianity No wars are so bloody

thou hast dealt with others so will God deal with thee also he will reward thy good deeds and pardon what thou in ignorance hast done amiss Then shall thy worship be always acceptable in his sight and by granting thy humble Petitions he will turn all thy Prayers into Praises and Thanksgiving This is the first Character of the true worship taken from the temper of the worshippers 't is our Saviours own Rule Ye shall know them by their fruits and the Fruits of the Gospel we know are Peace Charity Humility and Love Love is the fulfilling of the Law and the great glory of the Gospel and where this virtue is wanting there can be no pretence of Godliness no shew of a Christian Church The next Character may be taken from the place of worship our father 's worshiped in this mountain said the Samaritans to justifie their Separation and so say the Romanists unto us Our Fathers worshiped in this City the Fathers of the Church plead for us and Antiquity is on our side and where was your Church before Luther To this the Answer is as obvious as true Our Fathers worshiped at Rome but not all our Fathers for from the beginning there were several pious and learned Fathers and Martyrs of the Christian faith that own'd no dependence upon the Church of Rome There was then a Roman but not a Roman Catholick Church It was not Christian Humility and the Primitive Simplicity of the Gospel but Pride and Secular Interest that mov'd the later Pastors of that Church to bring all Nations under their yoke 'T was that Lordly humour which our Saviour reprov'd in the sons of Zebedee when they strove to be accounted greatest telling them that this ambition more became the Heathens than his Disciples the Kings of the Gentiles ye know exercise dominion but it shall not be so amongst you Our father 's worshipped at Rome it may be so So did Jacob in the mountain of Samaria when the whole Church of God consisted only in him and his Fathers house and yet this was no plea against the worship of the Temple when God had chosen that place for his Habitation and our Fathers who themselves worshiped at Rome have not told us that at Rome is the place where we also ought to worship If there must still be one Holy City to which all the tribes must go up certainly Jerusalem that City of Peace had been a fitter place for the Seat of that Universal Empire than Rome which was always the Seat of War and only made great by Tyrannies and Invasions upon all the world If that time of liberty be come when our worship shall not be confined either to the Temple of Jerusalem or the Mountain of Samaria we may also conclude that neither at Rome shall we worship the Father But yet our Fathers worshipped at Rome 'T is true but Rome was not then what now it is their Church and Faith was then as glorious as now t is offensive to all the world It exercised then no unjust Usurpations either upon the Persons or Consciences of men but taught Obedience to God and his Vicegerents upon Earth No man under what title soever sat in the Seat of God imposing upon the belief of others and creating new Articles of Faith but in all things they submitted themselves to the word of God as their only Universal Infallible Judg. And there was our Church before Luther and even before Popery it self But now since her innovoations are multiplyed and she has departed from the Truth no wonder if we forsake her in those things wherein she has forsaken Christ and fly from this City because of her abominations Her Fathers which worshipped in that place will not now justifie these degenerated Children and since they boast so much of their antiquity we must needs reckon the date of their worship like that of the Samaritans not from their Father Jacob a Holy Patriarch but from Salmaneser a Babylonish Prince Again Our Fathers worshipped in this mountain and therefore so do we said the Samaritans Thus also many amongst us say Our Fathers the Apostles and Primitive Martys of the Church worshipped in Mountains Dens Caves and private Houses and therefore so may we also To this I answer that the Apostles worshipped in the Temple and Publick Assemblies also when they might be permitted and it was only the iniquity and necessity of the times that drove them into private places which necessity being now removed a separation from the Publick Assemblies upon the bare account of Christian Liberty grounded upon that Practice of the Apostles is no move justifiable than that of the Samaritans from the Jewish Church upon the Authority of their Father Jacob. 'T is as if we should say Our Fathers the Apostles admitted none into the Church by Baptism unless they could first give an account of their Faith and therefore now also it is unlawful to Baptise Infants that have no knowledg of Christ Or thus our Fathers Abel Enoch and others were forced to marry their own Sisters when there were no other women in the world and therefore we may do the like Here we see what was commendable in the Apostles is pernicious in us what was necessary in our fore-Fathers is abominable Incest in our times so deceitful may an Argument prove drawn from the practice of our Fathers if we make not allowance for the different circumstances and necessities of the times The third Character of the true worshippers may be taken from the object of their worship Ye worship ye know not what said our Saviour And so may we also say to the Romanists ye worship Idols Graven Images Reliques Sepulchres Miraculous Trifles Superstitious Legends and ye know not what And though perhaps the more wise and learned of that Communion may be so clear-sighted as to look beyond this veil of wood and stone and have an Eye upon the true God whom they thus falsly represent yet certainly the ignorant multitude fall down and pay a real worship to these beggarly Elements and then how can they themselves be excused who by these unwarranted practices have brought the people into Idolatry The fourth and last remark upon the worshippers of these times may be concerning the manner of their worship which our Saviour has commanded to be in Spirit and in Truth By Spirit here we must understand first the faculties of the Soul which is the Spirit of a man and secondly the gifts of the Holy Ghost which is the Spirit of God In the first sence we are taught that God is a Spirit and we must worship him in our Spirit all our thoughts and inward faculties must be imployed in his service and we must adore him with all our heart our mind our soul and our strength our understandings must be clear and apprehensive of what we want our Wills must be ready and active to draw up our wants into Petitions and our affections must be zealous and