of true Devotion more than wrong notions of Almighty God The great reason why the Heathens were over-run with Idolatry and Superstition was because the Histories of their Gods were stuff'd with folly and wickedness and they could not pretend to greater heights of Purity than the Deities that they worshipped To adore God is to bestow upon him the highest Love Veneration and esteem of our Souls His Eyes pierce to the secrets that are buried in darkness and to the Centre of our Spirits and if our Sacrifices are sullied and defil'd in their first springs and principles they are an abomination unto him No Worship can be pleasing unto God unless what is offer'd by Love Pray what do we take him to be when we endeavour to put him off with any thing less than the flower and strength of our Reason Thus our Saviour instructs the Woman of Samaria in the Nature of true Worship 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 How gross must their apprehensions be who think that he is delighted with carnal Oblations for he is a Spirit and must be worshipped in spirit and in truth 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 THE Philosophers discover'd the reasonableness of this Doctrine without Revelation and the best of them undervalu'd outward services and Sacrifices in comparison of a chast Mind and a pure Soul Do ye think saith Seneca that God is pleas'd with many Sacrifices and much Blood high Temples and magnificent Structures nay rather in suo cuique consecrandus est pectore The breast of a good Man is the most lovely Temple for the Divinity the place of his peculiar residence and Habitation And this is but the language of the Prophet Isay a little varied Thus saith the Lord the Heaven is my Throne and the Earth is my footstool where is the house that ye build unto me and where is the place of my rest For all those things hath mine hand made and all those things have been saith the Lord But to this man will I look even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my word He that killeth an Ox is as if he slew a man c. The Sacrifices of Gods own institution were not regarded unless they were subservient to this more excellent Oblation THIS Evangelical Sacrifice is the only and most proper mean to attain the true ends of Worship freedom from sin the favour of God and peace of Conscience are the great ends of all Religion and these things are not attain'd by the most pompous shew and parade of Ceremonies unless the Soul and Will be first sacrificed to his Obedience When ye come to appear before me who hath requir'd this at your hand to tread my Courts bring no more vain Oblations Incense is an abomination unto me the new Moons and Sabbaths the calling of Assemblies I cannot away with it is iniquity even the solemn meeting How loathsom in the eyes of God are all our publick services when the Soul is left behind He hath shewed thee O! man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God THIS is the Sacrifice that is peculiar to the New Testament when we approach the Throne of God with filial confidence like Children of the free woman disingaged from the servile incumbrances that held the Jews in bondage When we offer our selves unto God with true alacrity strong desires and a mind purified from the World and feculent adherences that stick to us from the neighbourhood of sensible Objects when we come with that masculine and chearful Devotion that becomes them that are set at liberty from the weak and dark shadows of the Law By St. Peter we are said to be a spiritual Priesthood to offer up spiritual Sacrifices And we are told by S. Paul that we have access to the Throne and liberty to cry Abba Father And commanded in our Prayers to lift up holy hands without wrath or doubting This is the Worship of the new Testament the foundation of that ingenuous Converse that is between us and Heaven Therefore do we with so much elevation of spirit magnifie the goodness of God that gave us his Son Vnto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and hath made us Kings and Priests unto God and his Father to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever Amen THIS is true Evangelical Sacrifice and it alone affords the most solid delight and satisfaction to the Votary Outward Services when they are separated from this inward dedication have nothing in them but toil and bodily labour we are told by the Author to the Hebrews that the Jewish Religion did consist in Meats and Drinks and divers Ordinances And we find in the Prophecy of Amos that such of the Jews as did not see further than the letter of the Law thought their attendance on the Temple-service the most intolerable weariness But when we sacrifice our very Souls unto his obedience his Presence fills our hearts with joy and gladness the purest rapture and contentment Thou hast put more gladness in my heart than in the time when their wine and their oil did increase True joy arises in the Soul from an Union with God when the light of his Countenance shines upon us by its clear beams and irradiations the clouds of darkness and disasters cannot approach us we are then secure against fear and despondency we feel our selves encircled in the arms of divine Love and made strong against the assaults of anxiety God is the source of all Felicity and the nearer we draw unto him the more happy we are and rational happiness must be felt and necessarily must dilate it self in all the faculties of the Soul A Conscience void of offence towards God and towards Man is a house built upon the Rock it may be batter'd but it cannot be shaken And God loves to pour into our hearts such degrees of joy when we are purified from all filthiness of the flesh and of the Spirit when we offer our selves without reserve to his service and obedience when we sacrifice our hearts unto God when Charity consumes the Oblation and true zeal inflames the Victim I had rather said the Psalmist be one day in thy Courts than a thousand elsewhere And again O! How love I thy Law it is my meditation night and day They are strangers to true Peace and satisfaction that are unacquainted with the pure and unmixt pleasures of Religion 2. LET us consider the value that God did set upon
this spiritual Sacrifice when the Levitical Sacrifices were in force He always gave his People to understand by the Prophets that the whole train of the Mosaick Ceremonies was design'd to signifie and advance this everlasting and more spiritual Worship which was to continue when the typical figures and shadows were gone This is clear from that remarkable place in the Prophecies of Jeremiah For I spake not unto your Fathers nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt concerning Burnt-Offerings or Sacrifices but this thing commanded I them saying obey my Voice and I will be your God and ye shall be my people Strange Did not God command the Sacrifices of the Levitical Law Yes certainly but with design to advance the purer Worship of the Mind This is more precious than the most costly Offerings of the Temple The Widow's Mite recorded in the Gospel is one visible instance of it 't is prefer'd in the esteem of God to all the Rich Donations of the Scribes and Pharisees she came to the Treasury with a poor Purse and a Rich Soul a Soul made cheerful with the Love of God and in the simplicity of her heart without ostentation or reserve she offered all that she had How much God delighted in the Oblations of the Mind beyond the outward Sacrifices appears in this that he readily dispens'd with the Ceremony when that other more valuable Sacrifice was brought Two famous instances we have of this viz. David's eating the Shew-bread by which our Saviour confounded the Pharisees who doted so much on the external part of their Religion And the next is the manner of Hezekiah 's celebrating the Passeover though the people were not prepared according to the method prescribed by the Law Therefore it is a foolish Argument that the Jews make use of against our Saviour that he could not be the Messias because he did abolish the Ceremonies of Moses's Law For the Levitical Sacrifices did vanish of their own accord when our Saviour rose from the dead and gave place unto that Spiritual Worship that was more agreeable to the Divine Nature and the Spiritual Kingdom of the Messias So our Saviour tells the Woman of Samaria Woman believe me the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this Mountain nor yet in Jerusalem worship the Father 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 From all this it is very evident that not only in the time of the Patriarchs but under the Law this was only the Sacrifice that was valued by God 3. LET us remember that the exact care and caution wherewith they were obliged to offer their Sacrifices under the Law did signifie and promote this Spiritual Sacrifice of the New Testament I do not here intend a just Discourse of the antient Sacrifices yet we may be oblig'd to look back into the Books of Moses to consider some particulars that concern all Sacrifices in general AND 1. All Sacrifices were offered with Salt With all thine Offerings thou shalt offer Salt This is cited in the New Testament by our Saviour I must remember that I ought not to amuse you with Cabalistick Fooleries but it is certain from the Epistle to the Galatians and the Hebrews that there was a sublime Moral couch'd and intended by the external Scheme of the Law And therefore though we are not able to trace it in all its Lines and Figures yet we may safely venture when we force the Law to say nothing but what is agreeable to the great design of Religion and the Morals of Christianity LET me return to consider this first step of their Caution in sacrificing Salt hath in it a twofold Vertue 1. It preserves from Putrefacton 2. It binds the parts together 1. I SAY it preserves from Putrefaction The Sacrifices that are offered unto the pure and incorruptible Deity must resemble his Nature the rottenness of hypocrisie fraud and malice must be banish'd from all his Sacrifices We have escaped the corruption that is in the World through lust being made partakers of the Divine Nature Thus are we exhorted to sincerity opposite to corruption by S. Peter Wherefore laying aside all malice all guile and hypocrisies and envies and all evil speakings c. See with what complacency our Saviour speaks of Nathanael Behold an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile 2. SALT bindeth the parts together We are forbidden to bring our Gifts to the Altar until first we are reconcil'd to our Brother We are directed by S. Paul to lift up holy hands without wrath or doubting Our God is the God of Peace our Religion is the Gospel of Peace and the fruits of the Spirit are Joy and Peace and the wisdom that is from above is first pure and then peaceable Such a temper and frame of Spirit does well answer the Prophecies of Isaiah That the Wolf should dwell with the Lamb the Leopard and the Kid shall lye down together And the Calf and the young Lion and the Fatling together and a young Child shall lead them i e. the fierce and unruly passions of Humane Nature shall be conquer'd and subdu'd by the Laws of Jesus every thing that is rugged and boistrous must be tam'd and smooth'd for the Earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the Waters cover the Sea I might add to this that Salt preserves the relish And therefore the Apostle exhorts Let your speech be always with Grace seasoned with Salt that ye may know how to answer every man If this were notic'd our tongues should be employed with greater Modesty and less censorious endeavouring to close rather than widen the breaches in our neighbourhood 2. ALL Sacrifices ought to be blameless according to the Prescript of the Law The Prophet Malachi upbraids the people with the neglect of this If ye offer the lame and the sick is it not evil offer it now unto thy Governour will he be pleas'd with thee or accept thy person What we offer unto God who is of purer eyes than that he can behold iniquity must be blameless and entire that ye may be blameless and harmless the Sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse Nation among whom ye shine as lights in the World We are to consider not only our inward frame but also the outward Decorum of our behaviour in the place of his presence 3. ALL Sacrifices were to be offered without Leaven No meat offering which ye shall bring unto the Lord shall be made with leaven And the New Testament commands us to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees And to purge out the old leaven of Corruption Now leaven hath a twofold quality it sowrs and it swells either or both marrs the Sacrifice whether we grow sowr with
FROM what was heard let us go forward to what was seen and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire and sat upon each of them 1. There appeared Tongues The Apostles that were formerly silent had now their tongues loos'd they lifted up their voice like Trumpets and spake the wonderful things of God and the Jewish Proselytes from all Nations that were now at Jerusalem were astonish'd to hear the poor Galileans open up the profoundest Mysteries so readily and so successfully their Tongues as if they were cloven by the finger of God spake those words that were like sparks of fire in the Souls of men now they appear'd to be the genuine Disciples of him who spake as never man spake who taught as one having authority whose words did reach the Souls of men with life and force and pierc'd between the Soul and the Spirit between the joynts and the marrow It was then true of the Apostles what was prophetically said by the Psalmist of our Saviour Grace is poured into thy lips therefore God hath blessed thee for ever The streams of their heavenly eloquence ran smoothly and fluently in Mysteries in Revelations in Reproofs in Directions in Counsels in Wisdom in Knowledge in Purity not exactly limned and proportion'd by elaborate periods and artificial dresses but in the greatest plainness mixt with the greatest power they deliver'd their message how boldly and how pertinently did they confute the slanders of Infidelity With what courage did they upbraid the Sanhedrim with the Murder of the Lord of Life Who among their Scribes and their learnedest Pharisees durst encounter the Wisdom of S. Stephen when once filled with the Holy Ghost How flat are Humane Reasonings against the Wisdom of God How feeble and how dull are all contrivances against the Council of the Almighty And now the Apostles found the Prophecy concerning the Messias in a great measure verified in his Disciples The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the Learned that I should know to speak a word in season to him that is weary 2. THOSE Tongues were cloven There are some Tongues cloven by the Devil that can nimbly shuffle themselves into different figures and are so accurately vers'd in the little arts of dissimulation that you may come much sooner to their meaning when you understand every thing that they say in a contradictory sense than when you swallow it down in the literal meaning S. James telleth us that with the same tongue we both bless God and curse man but the Tongues of the Apostles were cloven for a more noble end viz. that they might divide aright the Word of God unto all Nations under Heaven Parthians Medes and Elamites and the dwellers in Mesopotamia in Judea in Cappadocia Pontus Asia Phrygia and Pamphylia strangers of Rome Jews and Proselytes Cretes and Arabians all of them heard the Apostles in their own language speak the wonderful things of God The Church was no longer to be confin'd to the Land of Judea but from the rising of the Sun to the going down thereof the Worship of the Living and true God was to be set up in all Nations without distinction of Jew and Gentile So our Saviour tells the Woman of Samaria that the hour was come when the Worship of the true God was neither confin'd to Jerusalem nor the Mountains of Samaria but that he should be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth 3. THOSE Tongues appear'd in the similitude of Fire the Tongues of the Apostles were fired from Heaven and this is evident whether we consider 1. The Heat of their Zeal or 2. The Light of their Doctrine or 3. The Force Activity and Success of their Ministry 1. I SAY View the Heat of their Zeal what a flame was kindled by it in the hearts of other men How did they crowd into the Church when there was nothing to be gain'd by it but Death Disgrace and Martyrdom What a change was wrought upon the Spirits of men by the Light of the Gospel How earnestly and how vigorously did they serve God when they first came over from Paganism and Superstition How joyfully did they take the spoiling of their goods And with what courage did they offer themselves before all Judges Courts and Tribunals to be sacrificed for the Name of Jesus 2. Next to this let us consider the Light that is in it now the World was convinc'd that the Messias was the Light of the Gentiles in the highest sense that He was the light come down from heaven and the day-star from on high that visited us How swiftly did Error Darkness and Superstition flee before him When the Enemy of Mankind did bend all his forces to retard obscure his Victories the Light of the glorious Gospel of Christ broke through those Clouds and appeared in its Meridian Splendor maugre all opposition When the Sun ariseth then man goeth forth unto his labour and the Beasts retire into their Dens but when the Sun of Righteousness thus appear'd the Demons that formerly enslav'd Mankind were forced to retire Their Idolatrous Rites and Ceremonies were deserted and made to leave the field to the triumphant Standard of our Blessed Saviour This Light look'd men so broad in the face that they were asham'd of their former folly and wickedness they surrendered themselves captives to its clear discoveries and illuminations for its evidence was so strong and undeniable S. Paul telleth us that it was the main scope of their Commission and Design to open mens eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them that are sanctified 3. FIRE did resemble the Holy Ghost because of its Force and Activity and when we consider the success of their Ministry we must acknowledge that the Power of God was engag'd to second their Commission Who can without the deepest astonishment and Adorations of Gods infinite Wisdom think of the Atchievments of those poor men When we remember what it was that our Saviour commanded and by what means they were to put his Commands into execution and what opposition they ought in all reason to look for if they attempted any such thing what was it then that he did command them No less than to go and teach all Nations i. e. to renverse the establish'd Laws Sacrifices and Customs of the whole World to destroy the Worship of all false Gods to introduce the Mystical Judaism in the room of the Literal of which the Jews were so obstinately fond to reform the manners of all Mankind to teach them to live by new Principles and in hopes of distant and unseen rewards to mortifie and subdue inveterate prejudices and their strongest inclinations to run up the Hill against the force of Custom Law and Example In a word to make the most incredible Changes in the World by such men