or would not hear him any where else Or that Solomon thought God could not or would not hear any prayer but what was made in his Temple certainly he did not For the reason why he beseeched God to have respect unto the Place which he had made and to hear the Prayers of those that prayed in it or towards it was only this because it was built for the Memorial of Gods Name for the place of his special presence and God had promised to place his Name there And mark Gods Answer 2 Chr. 7.14 2 Chr. 7.14 If my People shall humble themselves and Pray c. Then will I hear and forgive Now mine eyes shall be open and mine ears attent to the Prayert that are made in this place Would you know the reason why God would hear in this place rather than in another Though God did not abridge himself of hearing in anyother place It is expresly set down in the next Verse For now I have chosen and Sanctified this house that my Name that is my Memorial or special presence might be there for ever and my Eyes and my Heart shall be there perpetually Is there not the same reason for Gods presence in our Churches as in their Temple if they be as much Sanctified to this end viz. Gods Memorial or Name to Inhabit in as that was And to what other end were these ever Consecrated Now unless you can shew this promise of Gods meeting and blessing men by a peculiar manner in all places where he recorded his Name was proper to the Jews or hath been since reversed by God then certainly our Churches have as much of Gods special presence as the Temple And God will there meet with us and bless us especially and we are to adore God as much towards our Memorial as the Jews towards theirs Thus I have proved the Lawfulness of Adoration towards the Altar out of Scripture Now for the Opinion and Pratise of the Church That it was the Opinion and Practise of the Old Church 1 Kings 8.22 2 Kings 19.14 2 Chr. 7.3 is apparent by what is said Hezekiah in his distress went into the Temple and their Prayed towards the Place of his presence Viz. the Mercy Seat and therefore compellates God by this Title Thou that dwellest between the Cherubims Might not the King have Prayed at home was not God present in his house or had he confined him between the Cherubims No but Hezekiah knew that God had more especially promised his Presence in this Place and therefore here he comes and prostrates himself before Gods Memorial How the Christians Esteemed ever and reverenced their Churches Vid. c. And how highly they regarded their Altars Chrisost Hom. 20. In the Second Epistle to the Corinthians Optatus in his 6th Book describing the Dignity of the Altar illustrates it from this Viz. That it was the Seat of the Body and Blood of Christ Alexander Bishop of Constantinople falling down at the foot of the Altar besought God that he would subvert the furious Plots and Endeavours of the Arrians the next day Arrius as he was exonerating nature withal voided his Guts and Bowels Nazians Or. p. 1. or in some 25. tells That his Sister Gorgonia being Sick applies her self to the chief Physitian of all mortals and casting her self down before the Altar and Invocating him who was Honoured upon the same she recovered her former health By which Examples it may seem that God by his miraculous benefits hath confirmed this Reverence Tertull tells how penitents after they are restored to the Church at their entrance into it were wont to cast themselves down before the Priests from whom they were to receive absolution and to bow themselves submisly before the Altar of God c. God cares not for any complements He requires the Heart Object and the Inward Devotion thereof and so our Saviour teacheth us to serve God John 4.23 The hour cometh and now is that they that worship the Father must worship him in Spirit and Truth This Text is much abused to prove that God in the Gospel allows not of External or Bodily worship or Service but requires this of the Spirit only and consequently to make this the main difference between Gods worship under the Old-Testament and the New Now first I will shew the absurdity of this meaning which they give of the words and then declare the true sense This sense is inconsequent from our Saviours Words The absurdities of the Puritance exposition for he did not speak any thing to the woman about Bodily worship but only about the place of worship and the Object For her question to our Saviour perceiving him to be a Prophet was about a main controversy between the Jews and Samaritans who were bitter Enemies about the Place of worship They mistake the Scope so whether Mount Gerizim or Jerusalem were the place appointed for Gods worship This you may see is nothing concerning the manner of worship whether it should be Outward or Inward But our Saviour in answering waves the question and tells her that was not so material a controversy but that there was a greater Question than that about the place Viz. about the object of their worship for you saith he worship you know not what but we Jews know what we worship After which follows the words cited But the hour cometh c. This is the first absurdity it hath not Consistance with the contest Secondly They add to the Letter Their interpretation addeth to the very Letter of the Text For our Saviour saith not we must worship him in Spirit only there is no such word This exclusive particle our Saviour useth not So that though he might mean that we must worship him cheifly or Principally in Spirit yet it follows not but we might worship him with our bodies also Subordinately for the Principal doth not exclude the Subordinate but include it And none dare say that outward worship is opposite to inward This is the Second Absurdity they add to the letter what our Saviour never said or thought Thirdly This Exposition is directly contrary to the words For our Saviour saith God must be worshipped in Spirit and Truth but God is not nor yet can be worshipped in Truth without Bodily worship for his worship is not true 'T is conerary to the Doctrine and practise of Christ and of all Christians in all Ages unless it be entire and Universal as hath been shewen and entire it is not without the Joynt-worship of the Body Fourthly This Exposition contradicts the Ordinances of the Gospel expresly together with the practise of our Saviour his Apostles and the Church in all Ages For the blessed Sacraments are External Rites and Services Baptisme wherein we make our first Stepulation with God to become his Servants The Eucharist which is substituted in place of those Bloody Sacrifices of the Law to be a Rite and mean of our Address to
Invocate and give thanks to his Father in the New-Testament are they not External Ceremonies and Services Did not the Apostles and the whole Church then and the whole Church after them supplicate God the Father by this Rite They continued breaking of Bread i. e. in the use of the Holy Sacrament and Prayers And Therefore in the Primitive Church they used to say all the Service at the Altar to Signify that they sent up their prayers in the Name of him whose Sacrifice the Ground of all attonement and Intercession was in that place Exhibited and Commemorated yet it seems very Novel to us to have part of our Service read there But least you might say the meaning is not that God will have no External Service but he will be worshipped by no External Gestures or Postures I say this also contradicts our Saviours Practise who himself lifted up his Sacred Eyes to Heaven when helprayed for Lazarus fell on his Face when he Prayed in his Agony c. What was Imposition of hands but an External gesture when God was invoked by way of benediction besides I see no reason why in the point of Evangelical worship Gesture should be more excepted against than Voice Is not Confessing Praying Praising an External Bodily worship as well as that of Gesture why then should the one derogate from the worship of the Father in Spirit and Truth and not the other In a word there never was yet in the World any Society of men that worshipped the Father in such a manner as this interpretation doth emply and therefore this cannot be the meaning Our Saviour intends here to reprehend the Idolatrous worship of the Samaritans The true sence who worshpped they knew not what Viz. God under the Representation of a Dove as the Israelites in Jeroboams time and long after under the similitude of a Calfe The Samaritans Idol This was the Object of the Samaritans worship as appears out of the writings of the Jewish Rabbies This was their Idolatry they worshipped God in a Bodily shape and the reason which our Saviour gives seems to emply this For God saith he is a Spirit i. e. he hath no body nor is he such therefore he must be worshipped as a Spirit for so indeed he is and not by any bodily Representatation So that the sense here is this The hour cometh and now is that the true worshippers shall Worship the Father in Spirit that is conceiving of him no otherwise than in Spirit and in Truth that is not under any Corporal or Visible shape for those that Worship under any Corporal similitude do indeed belye him For the Apostle saith of such as changed the Glory of the Incorruptible God into an Image made like to Corruptible man Rom. 1. they changed the truth of God into a lye Hence Idols also are called Lyes Amos. 6.4 Some interpret these words the true worshippers shall worship God in Spirit that is no longer by Jewish Ceremonies but in and by Christ who is the substance of those shadows This sence though it be true and plausible yet it is not congruous to our Saviours reason For God saith he is a Spirit and must be c. If this be the reason then God should never have been worshipped with Jewish Ceremonies and Rites for God was a Spirit from the beginning and manifested himself so to be even to the Jews who Worshipped him with Rites and Ceremonies Therefore I adhere to my first sense Thus your main Fort is blown up The Second Objection drawn from Goos Protestation against Sacrifices Michel 6.6 7 8. Hos 6.6 Isaiah 1. Psalm 51. with the Answer Vid. In a word Religion as man hath both a Body and Soul the Soul of our Service is the Service of our Soul but the Body of that Soul is the Service of our Body one must inform the other and both make a compleat man of God For as the Body without the Soul is dead so the Soul without the Body is imperfect God loves no maimed Sacrifice God calls for the Heart because he knows it commands the whole Man and therefore if he have the Heart at his devotion he is sure of the Body also Obj. Suppose all this God is to be adored outwardly as well as inward ly Yet this manner of Adoration is Dangerous and may become many ways Evil. For 1. It is Scandalous to weak brethren who hereat are offended 2. It may be an occasion to some Ignorant Ones to Commit Idolatry by Adoring the very Table 3. It is a fair Introduction to Popish Superstition 1. Every Scandal or offence taken is not a Scandal given Therefore that is properly called Scandalous which in its own nature tends to give offence not that which through willfulness or blindness may by accident become such Resp Resp Was not Christ himself a Scandal and Rock of offence to the Jews a Stumbling-block to the Greeks foolishness was not his Cross a Scandal should not therefore Christ have come and been Crucified because this proved an occasion of Scandal but who are these weak Ones and how is this an offence For the weak Ones Who are the weak they are such as usually think themselves strongly grounded in the Faith and able to confute this Worship we here maintain Such as though they be Women and Weavers think they can teach twenty of us thred-bare Schollers for all our Learning These are the weak Ones forsooth weak I confess in their knowledge for they are blind and therefore the bolder but in their own conceipt strong enough But how are these offended Why are they offended Are they drawn to imitate us in our Worship waveringly and doubtingly not knowing through the weakness of their Judgment whether they sin or no Scandal but relying on the knowledge and conscience of him whom they imitate thereby ensnare their consciences in sin This is properly a Scandal 1 Cor. 8. as the Apostle shews expresly were he makes that a Scandal given when in a thing in it self indifferent as Eating of meat Sacrificed to Idols not as such but as bought in the Market by a man of knowledge who knoweth that meat commendeth not to God and takes no notice of the Idol to whom it was offered but Eats is as Common or Ordinary When I say this Act of him that hath knowledge doth occasion one weak in knowledge to Eat the same meat with conscience of the Idol grounding himself upon the example of him whom he imitates and so offends Thus then comes in the Scandal The strong Eat of that without conscience of the Idol among the weak or ignorant that know not how to make such a distinction They imitate the strongs example as thinking what is lawful for the strong is lawful for them and so Eat of it with conscience of the Idol or as devoted to an Idol which is Idolatry Thus the strongs knowledge is an occasion of Sandal to the weak that
is it makes the weak offend in doing that without faith and know ledge which the strong do withfaith and knowledge But do these weak ones imitate us there in and Worship God in this manner They had rather run to New England than make a legg towards the Altar in the Old How are they then offended I 'le tell you they are vext at it they Rail upon us for it they Calumniate us for Idolaters they Scoff at us as Superstitious and Foppish and thus they are offended Again there is a great deal of difference between Adoreing God towards the most fitting place in his House which I have already proved a necessary part of Divine Worship and a thing indifferent which in its own nature may prove a Scandal as the Eating of meat Sacrificed to Idols and the like For then we should do no part of Divine Worship least some should imitate us to do it amiss We should not come to the Lords Supper because some that are ignorant come thither only for fashion because they see others do it and understand not what it is and wherefore They think it lawful for them to do as their betters and wiser do and so they Eat unworthily and ignorantly which others do worthily and in faith and so offend in and by others knowledge What then Is the Sacrament and the Eating thereof a Scandal No what 's the reason because in it self it tends not to make men offend by unworthy receiving 2. It is no matter of indifferency 3. Because those that are ignorant and weak are so wilfully having means to be better instructed and informed So is it in this case this Worship of God I have proved a thing Necessary not Arbitrary 2. In it self it tends not to make any offend either by Worshipping the Table or the place we worship towards For then God should have done all in permitting and approving such Worship amongst the Jews whom he would by no means put upon any ocoasion of committing Idolatry to which they were to prove of themselves 3. There are none but have means to be better instructed therefore if any be offended God forgive them and send them more wit The Ignorant may be seduced or misled to worship the Table The Ignorant may be seduced or place it self or to tye God to one place more than another Answ This Objection is partly answered in my discourse of Scandal Now I say 1. A good and necessary Duty must not be omitted because some may make ill use of it 2. 'T is a thing very unlikely that any should think we Worship the Table when we Bow before it and so imitate us in that any more than they should think when we put of our Hats coming into the Church that we Adore the Stones or Walls It was the Ancient reproach of the Gentiles to the Christians that they worshipped the Sun because they Adored God towards the Altar which was set at the East end of their Churches As also that they Eat mans flesh and drank mans blood because they did Eat and Drink the Body and Blood of Christ in the Holy Sacrament Should the Christians have left of these Duties because malice or ignorance might make such constructions thereof But what if it be granted some ignorant men will Adore the Table To what purpose serve we that are Ministers but to instruct them better and to inform them how and in what manner they ought to serve God both in Body and Soul what else is our Errand what the end of our Preaching Is it not to teach men the difference between Good and Evil Right and Wrong and to do Bonum vene Those that may be seduced are to be better instructed Obj. 3. This opens a dore to Popery They tend to bring in Popery and lead us unto other things that are Popish and Superstitious Answ 1. T is not Popish in it self There is not the least Popery in this 2. There is no just fear of bringing it in by this 1. The Papists do not Adore God before the Altar but the Host and Crucifix set upon the Altar and make that the Immediate and formal Object of Adoration viz. Their God Almighty in a Box or piece of Wafer-Cake which they say is the true Body and Blood of Christ Moreover when they Adore Images they say They do not Adore them but those whom the Images Represent Image worship and put them in mind of Now they grant that they Adore the Image relatively or transitively though not ultimately or cheifly and therefore they Worship the thing represented in and by and with the Image This I speak because some say the Papists have as good excuse for their worshipping of Images as we have for our Adoration before the Altar Whereas we utterly disclaim any kind of Worship to the Altar any ways we make it no Object of our Worship either Relative or Transitive We make it no Representation of God we Worship not God in it nor by it nor with it but only towards and before it because it is the fittest place for us to tender our Service of God towards being the place of his Memorial in a special manner and consequently of his presence We disclaim all Popish destinctions and in no wise make the Table the Object of our Worship Nor herein is our Protestation contrary to our Action for if the Action in its own nature were Idolatrous it had been so in the Jews 2. Neither doth it introduce Popery For the Lutherans Not apt to Introduce it who are bitter Enemies to the Papists and the Papists to them do observe this sacred Rite Nay the Papists love and like us the worse for it For they basely belying us say we Adore the Table which they do not but God who is upon it and so accuse us of worse Idolatry than we do them as if we worshipt a Table and made that our God But they Slaunderously and Malitiously traduce us against their ownâ— knowledge To Idolize the Table we abhor and detest and no man of common sense except blinded with malice and prejudice as they are will believe them You see how far this is from bringing in Popery The truth is This vaine fear begets the other extream this vain fear makes us to run into almost as great an absurdity for we are all for extreams Because men will not be Superstitious with the Papists therefore we must be Prophane Sacrilegious and Irreverent with the Puritans Because the Papists Worship God falsely therefore we must not Worship him after a true and due manner agreeing to his Word Because they Superstitiously adorn their Churches therefore we must let them lye like Barns Stables nay rather Sties I am ashamed to think that Christians People of worth and fashion should esteem the Church though never so squalid ugly and deformed the Windows broke the Roof untiled and Leaking the Walls hung with Cobwebs broken patch't and ill-favoured the Holy