〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Concision who instead of circumcising themselves did cut asunder the Church of God But the sound Believers were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Circumcision indeed as being circumcised by the Circumcision made without Hands in putting off the Body of the Sins of the Flâ—sh by Christ Câ—ll 2. 11. They were the true Children of Abraham who did indeed perform that for which Circumcision was intended For we are the Circumcision which worship God in the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Iesus and have no confidence in the Flesh. In the words we have a three-fold Description of the True Circumcision How they stand affected To God Christ Self I. They worship God in the Spirit II. They rejoice in Christ Jesus III. They have no confidence in the Flesh. I. They worship God in the Spirit This Clause may be interpreted 1. In opposition to the Legal Ordinances So 't is taken Iohn 4. 23 24. But 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 God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and Truth The Jewish Worship is in a sense called Carnal the Christian Spiritual Heb. 7. 16. A Carnal Commandment Heb. 9. 10. Carnal Ordinances imposed on them till the Time of Reformation And Shadows Heb. 10. 1. Now the Lord would have a Spiritual Worship and the Truth of what was in these Shadows these external Forms he allowed instituted in the Infancy of the Church so that they worship God in the Spirit is they have embraced the true Worship of the Gospel and serve God not by the Carnal Rites of the Law but by the pure rational Worship of the Gospel This is part of the sense 2. It implieth worshipping God with the inward and spiritual Affections of a renewed Heart Heb. 12. 28. Wherefore we receiving a Kingdom which cannot be moved Let us have Grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with Reverence and Godly Fear Worship flowing from Grace engaging the Heart in God's Service is that which God prizeth Therefore a Christian should not rest in an External Form God is my Witness whom I serve with my Spirit Rom. 1. 9. 3. It doth also imply the Assistance and continual Influence of the Holy Spirit Ephes. 6. 18. Praying always with all Prayer and supplication in the Spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all Saints And Iude v. 20. Praying in the Holy Ghost The Doctrine is this That a True Christian is known by his Worship or is one that doth worship God in the Spirit Here I shall shew you 1. What is Worship 2. What a true Christian 1. doth worship 2. Why in the Spirit 1. What is Worship 'T is either Internal or External The Internal consisteth in the Love and Reverence we owe to God The External in those Offices and Duties by which our Honour and Respect to God is signified and expressed 1. Internal The Soul and Life of our Worship lieth in Faith and Reverence and delight in God above all other things Psal. 2. 11. Serve the Lord with Fear and rejoice with Trembling Such a delight as will become the greatness and goodness of God Worship hath its Rise and Foundation in the Heart of the Worshipper there it must begin In our high thoughts and esteem of God especially two things Love and Trust. 1. Love Deut. 6. 5. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart with all thy Soul and with all thy Might We worship God when we give him such a Love as is Superlative and Transcendental far above the Love that we give to any other thing that so our respect to other things may sâ—oop and give way to our respect to God 2. The other Affection whereby we express our esteem of God is Trust which is the other Foundation of Worship Psal. 62. 8. Trust in the Lord at all Times pour out your Hearts before him Delightful adhesion to God and an intire dependance upon him if either fail or be intermitted our Worship faileth If Delight Job 27. 10. Will he delight himself in the Almighty Will he always call upon God Isa. 43. 22. But thou hast not called upon me O Jacob but thou hast been weary of me O Israel They that love God and delight in him cannot be long out of his company They take all Opportunities and Occasions of being with God So Dependance and Trust Heb. 3. 12. Take Brethren lest there be in any of you an evil Heart of unbelief in departing from the Living God James 1. 6 7. Let him ask in Faith nothing wavering for he that wavereth is like a Wave of the Sea driven with the Wind and tossed For let not that Man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. Dependance begets Observance They that distrust God's Promises will not long keep his Precepts If we look for all from him we will often come to him and take all out of his hands Be careful that we do not offend him and displease him 2. External In those Offices and Duties by which our Honour and Respect to God is signified and expressed As by Invocation Thanksgiving Praises Obedience God will be owned both in Heart and Life In all these prescribed Duties by which our Affections towards him are acted If God did not call for outward Worship why did he appoint the Ordinances of Preaching Praying singing Psalms Baptism and the Lord's Supper God that made the whole Man Body and Soul must be worshipped of the whole Man Therefore besides the Inward Affections there must be External Actions In short we are said to worship God either with respect to the Duties which are more directly to be performed to God or in our whole Conversation 1. With respect to the Duties which imply our solemn Converse with God and are more directly to be performed towards him such as the Word Prayer Praise Thanksgiving and Sacraments Surely these must be attended upon because they are special Acts of Love to God and Trust in him And these Duties are the ways wherein God hath promised to meet with his People and appointed us to expect his Grace Exod. 20. 24. In all places where I record my Name I will come unto thee and bless thee And Mark 4. 24. 'T is a Rule of Commerce between us and God With what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you and unto you that hear shall more be given 2. In our whole Conversation Luke 1. 74 75. That we should serve him without Fear in Holiness and Righteousness before him all the days of our lives A Christian's Life is a constant Hymn to God or a continued Act of Worship ever behaving himself as in the sight of God and directing all things as to his Glory He turneth Second-Table Duties into First James 1. 27. Pure Religion and undefiled before God and the
be fed and increased in us as the Word Sacraments and Prayer The Word Psal. 119. 102. I have not departed from thy Iudgments for thou hast taught me Then Prayer suing out of our Right John 11. 24. Ask and ye shall receive that your Ioy may be full So for the Sacraments Baptism Acts 8. 39. When they were come up out of the Water the Spirit caught away Philip so that the Eunuch saw him no more and he went on his way rejoicing The Lord's Supper it is our Spiritual Refection 4. Sincerity of Obedience 1 Cor. 5. 8. Therefore let us keep the Feast not with old Leaven neither with the Leaven of Malice and Wickedness but with the unleavened Bread of Sincerity and Truth Practical Delight is the chiefest above that of Contemplation a more intimate sense We come now to the last part of a Christian's Character And have no Confidence in the Flesh. To understand it consider there are two things called Flesh in Scripture 1. External Privileges belonging to the worldly Life such as Wealth Greatness and worldly Honour Now to glory in these is to glory in the Flesh and to trust in these is to trust in the Flesh which should be far from Christians Jer. 9. 23 24. Let not the wise Man glory in his Wisdom nor the mighty Man glory in his Might Let not the rich Man glory in his Riches But let him that glorieth glory in this that he knoweth me that I am the Lord c. Where the Prophet laboureth to beat them off from their vain Confidences that they might not rely upon their Power Policy and Wealth but a saving Knowledg of and Interest in God whose Goodness and Faithfulness could only secure them against all Evils and procure them all manner of Blessings 2. The outward Duties and Performances of Religion especially the Ceremonies of Moses Those consisting in External Observances are called Flesh And to have confidence in the Flesh is to place our Confidence in External Privileges and Duties For the Apostle explaineth himself Vers. 4. Though I might also have Confidence in the Flesh if any other Man thinketh he may have confidence in the Flesh I more He was not any whit inferior to any of the Judaizing Brethren in outward Privileges and Duties yea had greater cause of glorying in the Flesh than any of the Pretenders among them And then instances in his Jewish Privileges Circumcision his Family his Sect a Pharisee his Partial Obedience or External Righteousness as to the Law blameless To rest on these things then for our Acceptance with God is to have Confidence in the Flesh. And elsewhere he saith Gal. 3. 3. Having begun in the Spirit are ye now made perfect in the Flesh. When they reverted to the Ceremonies of the Law This is called Flesh because they consist in outward things Corrupt Nature is pleased with such things and doth plead and stand for them Doct. That a good Christian doth not place his Hope and Confidence of acceptance with God in External Privileges and Performances In the first Character a Christian is described by his Worship in the second by his Joy in the third by his Confidence In handling this Point I shall shew you 1 st What are these Externals which are apt to tempt Men to a vain Confidence 2 dly That naturally Men are for a meer external way of serving God and place their whole Confidence therein 3 dly Why a good Christian should have no Confidence in this External Conformity to God's Law 1 st What are these Externals in Religion which are apt to tempt Men to a vain Confidence They may be referred to two heads They are either commanded by God or invented by Man God 's Externals or Man's Externals 1. God's Externals Such as he hath instituted and appointed either in the Law of Moses or in the Law of Christ. In the Law of Moses such as Circumcision with all the appendant Rites these are called Heb. 9. 10. Carnal Ordinances imposed on them till the time of Reformation These were to be observed while the Institution of them was in force and stood unrepealed which was done at the coming of Christ Iohn 4. 23 24. 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 God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in Truth These made great trouble in the Infancy of the Church for the Jews and Judaizing Christians were loth to depart from the Rituals under which they were bred and brought up Though Christ fully evidenced his Commission from Heaven to repeal those Laws and his Apostles strongly pleaded the Ancient Prophecies which foretold it But these are no more of concernment to us except to direct us how to behave our selves in like cases 2. There are Externals in the Law of Christ such as the Sacraments Baptism and the Lord's Supper Hearing of the Word External Prayer and the like Now the Rule is that they must be used but the outward Act not rested in as a sufficient ground of our Acceptance with God used they must be in Faith and Obedience because God hath justified them under great Penalties As Circumcision while the Command was in force Gen. 17. 14. The Man-child whose Flesh is not circumcised shall be cut off from his People He hath broken my Covenant So Baptism Mark 16. 16. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned Not want but neglect or contempt Therefore all these Duties must be used as Means of Salvation and as Expressions of the inward Truth of our Faith in God and Obedience to him we must not cast off Ordinances but yet they must not be rested in as sufficient Grounds of our Acceptance with God While Circumcision was in force they relied on it as it distinguished them from other Nations as the genuine Seed of Abraham and so reckoned to be within the Covenant But the Servants of God did always disprove this vain Confidence Rom. 2. 28 29. He is not a Iew which is one outwardly neither is that Circumcision which is outward in the Flesh but he is a Iew which is one inwardly and Circumcision is that of the Heart in the Spirit and not in the Letter whose praise is not of Men but of God They rejoiced in a shadow when they wanted the thing signified if there were no mortification of Sin or putting off the Body of the Sins of the Flesh. But not only the Apostle but the Prophet long before disproveth their vain Confidence Jer. 9. 25 26. Behold the days come when I will punish them which are circumcised with the uncircumcised Egypt and Edom with the Children of Ammon and Moab are uncircumcised in Flesh and all the House of Israel is uncircumcised in Heart God would proceed against wicked Persons and People circumcised as well as uncircumcised
will catch hold of any thing Judg. 17. 13. Now I know God will bless me because I have a Levite to my Priest giving him Meat and Drink and about fifty Shillings per Annum So willing are we to justify our selves by something in our selves or done by our selves Therefore that the Ell may be no broader than the Cloth they devise a short Exposition of the Law that they may entertain a large Opinion of their own Righteousness 4. There is another Reason Interest External Forms of Religion draw an Interest after them Therefore the Apostle saith Rom. 2. 29. Whose praise is not of Men but of God And Gal. 1. 10. If I yet please Men I were not the Servant of Christ. And Rudiments of the World Col. 2. 10. It maketh a Man to be applauded and countenanced by the World Let a Man betake himself to such a Religion there are these which will back him and stand by him and their disfavour and displeasure he shall incur iâ— he forsake it And where the false Worshippers are the prevailing Party he runneth great hazard by contradicting such Form and Opinions Therefore the Heart of that Man that is set on Externals takes up with the Religion of his Country whether true or false 2. They place their Confidence therein Every Man that hath a Conscience must have something to trust unto Now what feedeth his Confidence but the Religion which he hath chosen There are two things which detain Men from God and Christ Some false Imaginary Happiness and some Counterfeit Righteousness and wherein they please themselves The False Happiness is as their God and the Counterfeit Righteousness is as their Christ and Mediator and so they are secure and sensless and 'till God open their Eyes they neither seek after another Righteousness nor trouble themselves about the way whereby they may attain it That Men set a false Happiness is evident for ever since Man fell from God he ran to the Creature Ier. 2. 13. Left the Fountain for the Cistern And if we can make a shift to patch up a sorry Happiness apart from God we never care for him nor will not come at him Ier. 2. 31. Our Pleasure our Profit our Honour that is our God And if we can enjoy these things without any rubs and checks we look no farther and will not seek our Happiness in an invisible God nor wait to injoy it in an invisible World But the second Error is That there is something instead of Christ to us to keep the Conscience quiet Our Happiness is to satisfy our Dâ—sires our Righteousness to allay our Fears Now here we run to a 〈◊〉 Religion or something External which is diversified according to 〈…〉 Pagans to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. 15. Jews to the Observances of the Law Christians to Baptism outward 〈◊〉 or some strict Form without the Power under which we shelter our 〈◊〉 and by which we bolster up our Confidence till God convince us of our 〈◊〉 And so Christ and his renewing and reconciling Grace is neglected 〈…〉 certainly not cordially accepted as our Redeâ—mer and Saviour I come now to shew 3 dly Why a good Christian should have no Confidence in the Flesh. 1 Because till we are dead to the Law we cannot live to God Now to be dead to the Law is nothing else but to have our Confidence in the Flesh or External 〈◊〉 mortified You hear often of 〈◊〉 dead to Sin and dead to the World you must be also dead to the Law or otherwise you cannot 〈◊〉 in Christ and bring forth Fruit unto God Gal. 2. 19. For I through the Law am dead to the Law that I may live unto God And Rom. 7. 4. By the Body of Christ ye are become dead to the Law that ye may be married to another even to him who is raised from the dead We grow dead to the Law when thereby we understand our sinful miserable Estate without Christ and how unable we are to help our selves By the convincing Power of the Law we know our Sins by the condemning Power of the Law we know the misery and curse we are subject unto by the irritating Power of the Law we find that the Righteousness which the Law requireth is not in us nor can it be found in us Now in one of those places we are said by the Law to be dead to the Law and in the other by the Body of Christ. By the Law it self we are said to be dead to the Law as it maketh us to despair of Righteousness by that Covenant By the Body of Christ that is by the crucified Body or Death of Christ so we are dead to the Law as we are invited to a better Hope or Covenant which Christ hath established by bearing our Sins on his Body on the Tree or enduring the Curse of the Law for us Be it by the one or the other or both none will value the Grace of Christ till they be dead to the Law Men will shift as long as they can patch up a sorry Righteousness of their own mingle Covenants turn one into another make one of both chop change mangle and cut short the Law of God do any thing rather than come upon their Knees and beg Terms of Grace in a serious and broken-hearted manner None can partake of Christ but those that have their legal Confidence mortified who are first driven then drawn to him None but they who are convinced of Sin â—ly to Christ for Righteousness none but they who are left obnoxious to Wrath and the Curse prize his delivering us from Wrath to come none but those who are made sensible of their impotency will seek after his Renewing Grace But will still keep to their base shifts mingling and blending Covenants resting in a little Superficial Righteousness or half-Covenant of Works or mingling a little Grace with it are not brought in an humble penitent and broken-hearted manner to sue out their Pardon in the Name of Christ and so regularly to pass from Covenant to Covenant 2. The Superficial Righteousness doth not only keep Men from Christ but set them against Christ his Way his Servants and true Interest in the World These were Dogs evil Workers to whom the Apostle opposeth the true Christians usually they that are for the Form oppose the Power Gal. 4. 29. He that was born after the Flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit They that have but the Form and Shadow of Godliness no more than the Power of Nature carrieth them unto will persecute those that have the Reality and Truth that is the renewing and reconciling Grace of Jesus Christ partly because the true Spiritual Worshippers by their serious Godliness disgrace and condemn those that lazily rest in an empty Form and therefore they cannot endure them At the bottom of their Hearts they have an enmity and hatred against God and vent it on his People 1 John 3. 12. Not as Cain who