Spirits and that too in an especial manner For as it is but requisite that he who is a Spirit should have the worship of ours because most agreeable to his own Nature so also that we should for that reason intend that Worship especially and make it the chief of our Study and Design And accordingly though under the Law for the grosness of the Jews God appointed them a Worship which consisted much in Rites and Ceremonies yet he gave them sufficiently to understand that the spiritual Worship or the Worship of the Soul was that which he principally requir'd Witness one for all that of the Prophet David Psal 51.16 17. For thou desirest not Sacrifice else would I give it thee thou delightest not in burnt-offering The Sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart O God thou shalt not despise The result of the Premises is this That to worship God in Spirit and consequently to worship him after a due manner is especially to intend the worshipping him with ours that is to say by entertaining honourable thoughts of him by endeavouring to conform our Wills to his most holy one and lastly by suiting our Affections to his several Attributes by fearing and loving and trusting in him But beside the Worshipping of God with our Spirits and that too in a more especial manner to worship God in Spirit doth also imply the worshipping him without an Image or any Corporeal Representation For beside that this is the very thing here forbidden and therefore in reason to be suppos'd to be excluded by worshipping God in spirit and in truth to worship God by an Image is so far from being consistent with a spiritual Worship that it is but a dishonouring of him because resembling him to things to which he is no way like and which indeed are infinitely below the Excellencies of his Nature 2. Of the Natural or Moral Sense of Worshipping God in Spirit I have spoken hitherto and shewn both the Ground and Importance of it Let us now consider the Evangelical one according as was before insinuated For that such a one was also intended is evident from that Story to which this Passage is subjoyn'd If you please to consult the Verse preceding that which I have chosen for the Ground-work of this Argument you will there find a Woman of Samaria demanding of our Saviour whether Mount Gerizim by Sichem where the Samaritans sacrific'd or Jerusalem were the true Place of Worship In answer to which after our Saviour had told her That that Question was not now of much moment because ere long they should neither worship in the one or the other for a farther proof of that his Assertion he adds that the time was coming and even then was Mr. Mede on Joh. 4.23 that the true worshippers should worship the Father in spirit and in truth Which being compar'd with the foregoing Words and the State of the Controversie to which they do relate will shew that by worshipping in spirit and in truth is meant no other than the worshipping of God with a spiritual Worship as that is oppos'd to the Sacrifices and Ceremonies of the Law For the Question being not whether Mount Gerizim or Jerusalem were the place of Publick Prayer because both Jews and Samaritans had particular Places for them but which of the two was the proper Place to send their Sacrifices to and our Saviour making answer That in a little time neither of them should be because the Father sought such to worship him as should worship him in spirit and in truth he thereby plainly shews his meaning to be That to worship God in spirit and in truth was not to worship him with Sacrifices and other such Figures but in spiritual and substantial Worship such as are the Sacrifices of Prayer and Praise with other the like Natural Expressions of our Devotion But from hence it will follow not onely that we are to worship God without those Legal Rites wherewith it was before sufficiently clogg'd but also that we are not to clog it with other Rites than Decency and Order shall require For our Saviour not onely excluding the Rites and Sacrifices of the Law but affirming the Worship which his Father sought to be a spiritual one he doth thereby cut off the affixing of all other Rites as being alike contrary thereto save what Decency and Order shall require But so the Church of England hath declar'd it self to understand the Worshipping of God in spirit and in truth telling us in one of its Prefaces to our Liturgy That Christ's Gospel is not a Ceremonial Law as much of Moses Law was but it is a Religion to serve God not in bondage of the Figure or Shadow but in the freedom of the Spirit contenting it self onely with those Ceremonies which do serve to a decent Order and comely Discipline and such as be apt to stir up the dull mind of Man to the remembrance of his Duty to God by some notable and special signification whereby he might be edified In conformity whereto as she her self hath proceeded injoyning neither many nor trifling ones so what she hath done is sufficiently warranted not onely by that Solemnity which Experience shews Things of that nature to add to all Matters of Importance but which is of more avail from the Institution of our Saviour and the Practice of the Church in the Apostles days For if all Rites are to be excluded what shall become of the Sacraments themselves But how shall we any way excuse the Apostolical Church for that holy Kiss wherewith they were wont to conclude their Prayers the laying on of hands in admitting Ministers to the Church or shaking off the dust of their feet against those that should not receive them in testimony of their rejection of them For that all those things were then in use even with the allowance of the Apostles themselves the Scripture is our Witness to which therefore if Men will exclude all things of that nature they must first oppose themselves Such is the Practice of that Church to which we relate such the Grounds upon which she proceeds but as farther than that she neither goes nor pretends to do so if she did there is no doubt she would offend against that Precept which requires the worshipping of God in spirit and in truth For how can they be said to do so whose Devotion spends it self in outward Ceremonies Which as they are of no value in themselves so have this ill property of the Ivy that where they are suffer'd to grow too luxuriant they eat out the Heart of that Religion about which they twine PART II. A Transition to the Negative part of the Precept and therein first to that part of it which forbids the making any Graven Image or other Corporeal Representation That all Images are not forbidden but such onely as are made with a design to represent the Divine Majesty or to bow down to and
two generals the giving to every man that which is his own and where that is requisite the ministring to them of ours The former whereof as it is so plain that it hardly admits of any proof so both the one and the other receive sufficient confirmation from our natural desire of receiving the like charity and justice from others for being as the forementioned Hooker well observeth those things which are equal must needs all have one measure if I cannot but wish to receive all justice and requisite charity from the hands of others I cannot but think it reasonable to afford it and I must either condemn my own desires and that nature from whence they flow or think other mens as necessary to be complyed with III. From what hath been said concerning the Law of Nature it is evident thirdly that this Law is unchangeable or at least must continue of force so long as our nature doth for being as was before said rooted in Nature and flowing from natural causes it must consequently have the same continuance with those causes from whence it flows Thus for example to give every man that which is his own is so a duty that it can never cease to be so as in like manner to offer violence to no man not to take away any mans life or substance Indeed it sometimes happens that there seems to be a change in this Law as in those known instances of the Israelites spoiling the Aegyptians and Abrahams sacrificing his innocent Son But if it be well considered it will be found that there is not so much a change made in the Law as in the matter about which it is conversant for God having a paramount power over the Creatures and never so parting with it as not to reserve to himself a liberty to withdraw it at pleasure whatsoever he commands to be taken away doth thereby cease to be that persons whose it was before and consequently it is no violation of that Law which commands the giving every man his own to disrobe such a person of it The like is to be said concerning Abrahams sacrificing his Son or the Magistrates putting a Malefactor to death for it being not simply murther to take away a mans life but to take it away either without commission from God or without any just motive Abrahams sacrificing his Son and the Magistrates putting a man to death is no breach of that Law which forbids murther Because the former did what he did by commission from God who is absolute Lord of the Creatures and the Magistrate puts Malefactors to death by virtue of that general Commission which impowers those that are in Authority to execute vengeance upon all that do evil By which solution all pretence is taken away of drawing those actions into example and particularly that of spoiling the Aegyptians For it being evident from the Scripture that whatsoever any man how wicked soever acquires by the ordinary course of Gods providence is truly and properly his and no diminution of that appearing but by an express command from God as the Israelites had to spoil the Aegyptians to take any thing away from such a person without that command is truly and properly to take away that which is anothers and consequently eternally sinful because that Law of which it is a transgression is eternal But here a question may not impertinently be made and I shall the rather intend it because the resolution thereof may confer somewhat to the clearing of that which follows to wit how it comes to pass that this Law of Nature hath not only been so much disobeyed but so much misunderstood by those who were under the obligation of it for flowing as I have before said from natural principles the truth whereof is evident to all and being also as was now shewn eternally obligatory to all mankind it may seem a wonder how this Law should be so strangely misunderstood as experience tells us it hath been The Romans a polite and civilized people accounting it no injury to invade the Territories of their Neighbours as the whole Heathen world strangely offending against that fundamental Law which forbids the adopting of any Creature into equal honour with the Almighty In answer to which we are first to know that though the first principles of natural knowledge carry sufficient evidence in themselves and accordingly have been with great consent acknowledged by all whence it is that no Nation almost hath been so barbarous as not to own a God and that God is to be worshipped yet the deductions from those principles which are no less a part of that Law require some care and intention in those that make them which the world generally slothful not being over forward to use it is no wonder if men have many times erred in several particulars thereof for let the truth we are to know be built upon never so certain and evident principles yea upon such as are no less evident than that the whole is greater than the part yet if we attend not to the consequences of those principles we may erre in our apprehensions about them even as he who hath a light to guide him may either stumble or wander out of his way if he do not advert to those bright rays that stream from it 2. But there is yet a more weighty cause of mens misapprehensions in those things which are the Precepts of this great Law and that is the depravedness of their wills and affections and their earnest pursuit of such things as promise them any present pleasure or advantage for finding sin to minister to these and themselves strongly enclined to obtain them the desire of so doing makes them first willing to believe that which leads to them to be no impiety and then actually to believe it none for as Minutius Felix speaks facilè credimus quae volumus we easily believe that which we desire to be our passion for any present enjoyment either wholly stifling or suppressing the dictates of right reason which should keep us from the pursuing of it 3. Lastly which S. Paul expresly affirms * Rom. 1.28 and is in truth the best account of this difficulty the Heathen world liking not to retain God in their knowledge nor those Precepts of his which this great Law contain'd it is no wonder if he gave them over not only to vile affections but also to a reprobate and brutish mind for how can it be but extremely just to withdraw the light from those who shut their eyes against it when they have it and to make that their punishment which was their own choice IV. The fourth and last thing comes now to be discussed to wit What is the usefulness of this Law A question which may seem the more necessary to be asked after the superinducing of the Law of Moses and that of Christ In answer to which I say 1. That though these later Laws should acquaint us with every thing that
But so that it was Gods Will also concerning us the Apostle doth more than intimate Rom. 11.36 For not contented to say that as of him so to him are all things he subjoyns in the close of it to him be glory for ever and ever Amen The same is to be said of that other act of the Will fruition or a complacency in the end when it is obtained For the glory of God being by the former argumentation to be the ultimate object of our desires it is in reason when obtained to become the great object of our delight and we not only to acquiesce but to please our selves chiefly in it But so we find the will of the Psalmist to have been disposed Psal 73.25 Witness that most passionate expostulation of his Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides or in comparison of thee The only thing remaining to be enquired into on this head is what the consequences of such a desire and delight are which are in short these two 1. To preferr the glory of God before all desirable objects when they come in competition with it and 2. and chiefly to subordinate all other our desires and delights to those of the Glory of God Thus for example though it be lawful for us to desire health and strength with other the conveniences of life and the means of obtaining them yet the last and chief reason of our desiring them ought to be not that we our selves may be thereby made happy but that we may thereby be enabled to glorifie our maker which is the Supreme end of our creation Otherwise we make not God but our own interests and lusts the ultimate object of our desires and consequently make them our God and not him whom we profess to own From the willing of the end pass we to the willing of the means the second thing required of us towards the owning the Lord for our God which as I have already told you we shall then effectually do when we make his will ours so I intend now to shew what it is to make his will ours and that both in our Actions and Sufferings 1. To begin with our Actions as which are most apparently conducing to the great end of our creation the Glory of God concerning which I shall first of all observe that we are to chuse to regulate them agreeably to the prescript of Gods will For otherwise we make not his will ours at all but follow wholly the inclinations of our own But beside that we are to chuse to order our actions agreeably to the prescript of Gods will we are also if we will make Gods will ours to chuse so to order them because it is his will to have it so The reasonableness of which observation will appear if we look into the world and consider by what motives men are often guided in their several choices There is a sort of men who weighing the reasonableness of vertue and the necessity there is of it toward the procuring their both private and publick welfare do upon that score alone apply themselves to it and give many notable proofs of their proficiency in it Now though this be by all means to be cherished and encouraged as being a good step to that perfection which Religion requires yet if it rise no higher it is in truth but a more splendid sin or as a learned * Hieroc in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 49. p. 234. Heathen spake in another case an Atheistical vertue For so long as the things that are done how agreeable soever to Gods will yet are not performed in obedience thereto but out of the sense we have of the comeliness thereof or its necessity to humane life so long we cannot be said to regulate our own Wills by Gods but by our own conveniencies as by which alone we are induced to practise them Thus for example if as it often happens men should chuse to abstain from intemperance not so much out of compliance with the divine will as because of its prejudicialness to their health or other such collateral considerations in this case I say they should not only not serve the will of God to which they are required to conform but substitute themselves in the place of God which is the thing here expresly forbidden because regulating their wills by their own conveniencies and sacrificing not to God but to their own appetites and desires Whence it was that Socrates speaking of such kind of temperances calls it the being temperate with a kind of intemperance because abstaining from some pleasures out of a desire of enjoying others by which they were no less mastered than intemperate men by theirs Vid. Plat. Phaed. Sect. 12. edit Cantab. Lastly as if we would make Gods will ours we must not only chuse to act according to it but make that the chief motive of our choice so we are as the Apostle speaks to delight in it after the inward man and not only to chuse it but do it with complacency Which caution I the rather add because there is oftentimes a failure there it not seldom hapning that men content themselves with a bare submission of their wills to God and rather bear than imbrace their yoke as those persons do who chuse the lesser of two evils proposed and preferr the throwing their goods over-board before the hazarding of their lives The which as it is an imperfect choice and by the Philosopher therefore reckoned among such actions as are mixed of voluntary and involuntary so can much less be supposed to discharge that debt which is owing from our Wills to that of God that man making Gods will but imperfectly his who consents to it with some kind of reluctancy or at least doth not afford it the utmost of his delight And accordingly as the man after Gods own heart professeth to have a more than ordinary desire for God yea to pant after him as the hart doth after the water-brooks Psal 42.1 So elsewhere to have the same passion for his Will and not only to submit to it but embrace it Witness his affirming the statutes of the Lord to be his delight Psal 119.24 that his soul even broke for the longing it had unto them v. 21. of the same that they were better unto him than thousands of gold and silver and sweeter than the hony to his mouth verses 72 and 103. All which expressions make it manifest what ought to be the temper of our Wills in relation to that of God and that we are not only to consent to it but with the utmost delight and satisfaction 2. From the actions of men pass we to their sufferings which is another means especially under Christianity of Glorifying our Maker Concerning which I shall observe first that we are to submit our Wills to them and receive them without any regret or discontent For as otherwise there can be nothing at all of vertue
neither can the Will be debarred its share in it if yet it have not the principal one For what else mean those expressions of staying leaning or resting upon God but that the heart or Will though it do not presently attain what it trusts upon God for yet having Gods promise for its warrant acquiesceth in it and hath thereby a kind of antepast of it Lastly forasmuch as this trust of ours doth imply a desire of that which we trust upon another for hence it comes to pass that it may not unfitly be referred to the affections and particularly to that of hope which is commonly and truly enough defined to be a passion of the Soul by which it is disposed to believe that shall happen to it which it desires From all which put together we may give this account of it that it is an acquiescence of the Soul upon the promise of God for the obtaining of what it doth desire If there be any thing wanting toward the explication of it it will be what the nature of those promises are upon which that trust of ours is built Forasmuch as the foundation of our trust is no other than the promise of the Almighty that trust or acquiescence is in reason to bear a proportion to that promise upon which it is built Laying aside therefore all other considerations I will make it my business to shew what the nature of Gods promises are I mean as to the generality of mankind which I shall not doubt to affirm to be upon condition of their cooperating with God toward the attaining of them For the evidencing whereof I shall first consider the promises of God that relate to the Soul and then those which relate to the outward man or body I begin with those which relate to the Soul which are of two sorts to wit such as tend to secure it from sin or such as propose to it an eternal happiness in the other world Of the former sort we have an illustrious one 1 Cor. 10.13 where the Apostle tells us that God will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that we may be able to bear it Now though it be true that this promise of the Almighty have no clear and explicite condition annexed to it yet it manifestly enough implies somewhat on our part toward the obtaining the effect of it For affirming as the Apostle doth not that God will not suffer us to be tempted at all nor yet when he doth that he will take the whole work upon himself but that he will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able and that he will with the temptation make a way to escape that we may be able to bear it he plainly implies that in order to our deliverance from the taint of them we are to exert the uttermost of our ability and take that way which God shall lay open for our escape And indeed wherefore else should God furnish us with natural and spiritual strength wherefore should he supply us with the whole armature of his graces and call upon us so earnestly to put it on For if the whole of our deliverance were to be accomplished by God all those would be useless and we might as well be without them as put them on The same is to be said of those promises of God which enstate both Soul and Body in eternal happiness For as the business of our Salvation is generally proposed upon the condition of faith and repentance and turning unto God so the Authour to the Hebrews * hath removed all suspicion of the contrary c. 12.14 by affirming in express terms that without holiness no man shall see the Lord. From those promises which relate to the Soul or rather to the eternal welfare both of Soul and Body pass we to such as concern its temporal one concerning which if we consult the Psalmist we shall find they all pertain to those that fear and adore the Lord. For as Psal 34.7 he restraineth the watchfulness of the Angels to them that fear him and thereupon calleth upon Gods Saints to do so adding that there is no want to them that fear him v. 9. of that Psalm as in like manner v. 15. that the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and v. 17.19 that they are the persons whom he delivereth out of all their troubles and afflictions So he tells us v. 21. that evil shall slay the wicked and that they that hate the righteous shall be desolate Which shews that even temporal promises are upon condition of our fearing God and yielding him that obedience which he requireth Now forasmuch as the promises of God are not absolute but conditional that is to say upon the condition of our Repentance and Piety our Trust in him doth consequently imply not only the embracing of the blessing promised but also of the conditions upon which it is Which said I will now proceed to shew how we owne the Lord for our God by it accordingly as this Commandment doth require Now this we do first by bearing witness to his truth as was observed in the matter of our belief For the promises of God being the ground of our Trust and his truth the strength of his promises by trusting in him we must consequently bear witness to his truth and so far therefore owne him for our God But it is not Gods truth alone which we thus acknowledge by placing our Trust and confidence in him For though that be the immediate ground of our Trust yet it presupposeth sufficient wisdom in him to project for our welfare and power enough to put those promises in execution Lastly it presupposeth goodness enough in him to apply himself to the doing of it and perform those gracious promises he hath made If therefore we Trust in God these Attributes also will have their due acknowledgment and in so much the greater measure by how much the more improbable or difficult it may seem to bring about our deliverance or we our selves unworthy to obtain it And though I make no question men will be very unwilling to acknowledge their suspicion of the want of any of these Attributes in God which are the proper grounds of our belief yet if they examine their own hearts more narrowly they will find it no difficult matter to discern a suspicion concerning some one or other of them For wherefore should any man in a strait seek to deliver himself by a sin but that he thinketh God hath not kindness enough to deliver him without Or suffer his doubts in any great exigency to rise up to a despair but that the case seemeth to be such as that God cannot deliver him out of it It is true indeed this is not often spoken out yea it may perhaps be so softly whispered as not to be understood by that heart that formeth it But as we do rightly collect that
God supposing that other to be self-sufficient as he who desires and expects it against the will of God that he is able to controul Him Neither will it avail to say which yet is commonly pretended That all who make use of such Arts have not any intention or suspicion of making any Application to the Devil For though I am willing enough to believe that many of them have not and cannot therefore but acquit them from the purpose of it yet it is past either my skill or theirs to acquit them from the thing it self or from being look'd upon as chargeable with it Men being justly chargeable with making Applications to the Devil who make use of such Means for the attaining of their Purpose the Success whereof cannot rationally be expected from any other especially when God himself hath caution'd Men against the use of them and represented them as detestable and abominable yea to such a Degree as to occasion the casting out those Nations who possess'd the Land of Canaan before the Israelites Which how they should be thought to do if they were rather vain Curiosities than secret or open Transactions with the Devil will I think be very difficult to determine And indeed as some of those Persons have the Title of Dealers with Familiar Spirits and all of them are represented under the same Guilt and obnoxious to the same Penalties so it is strange to observe that some Men should be so highly unreasonable as to question that Diabolical Commerce after so many Authentick Stories which have been publish'd to the World concerning it the free Confession of the accused Parties and the Sentences of grave and sober Judges but especially after what the Scriptures of the New Testament have declar'd concerning the Devil and his Angels They representing the Devil and his Ministers as encompassing the earth to procure mischief as the God of this world and ruling in the children of disobedience as entring through the Divine Permission into men and speaking in and by them in fine for so we read Acts 16.16 divining as well as using other Speeches by them and suggesting those Soothsayings for which such kind of Persons are resorted to After all which to question either the possibility or truth of a Diabolical Commerce is not onely to be unreasonably scrupulous but to be impudently unbelieving because contradicting the general Sense and Experience of the World and the clear Declarations of the Scriptures I will conclude this Affair with a Passage in Leviticus * Chap. 20.6 because both expressing God's detestation of all Magical Practises and his accounting of them as Idolatry or the giving of his Glory unto another And the Soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits and after wizards to go a whoring after them I will even set my face against that man and will cut him off from among his people For representing such Addresses under the term of going a whoring which in the Language of the Old Testament is no other than the espousing of other Deities he thereby giveth us to understand that they are in effect an Abrenunciation of himself and an espousing of other Deities in stead of him THE SECOND COMMANDMENT THE SECOND COMMANDMENT Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven image nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above or in the earth beneath or in the water under the earth Thou shalt not bow down to them nor Worship * or serve them For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God and visit the sins †or iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me and shew mercy unto thousands in them that love me and keep my commandments PART I. The Contents That what we reckon as the Second Commandment is really such and not an Appendix of the First This evidenc'd by several Reasons as also that it respects the Manner and not the Object of our Worship The Commandment divided into a Precept and a Sanction as that again into an Affirmative and Negative one The Affirmative That we worship God after a due manner which also is there specified and particularly That we worship God in Spirit and Truth the purport whereof is at large declar'd Among other things the Questions concerning Will-worship and worshipping God with Ceremonies discussed and stated I Am now arriv'd at the Second Commandment for so I hope I may have leave to call it after the Travels of our Divines upon that Argument For though the Papists represent it as an Appendix onely to the First and which is much worse have upon that pretence raz'd it quite out of their Catechisms yet is there so little reason for their way of Reckoning and so much for ours that I doubt not all impartial Men will cast it on their sides who look upon it as distinct from the former Precept For beside that all Antiquity * Joseph Antiqu. Judaic lib. 3. cap. 4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sulpit. Sever. Sacrae hist li. 1. Non erunt tibi dei alieni praeter me Non facies tibi Idolum Non sumes nomen Dei tui in vanum c. See more upon this Head in D. Taylor 's Duct Dubit Book 2. Chap. 2. Rule 6. generally have so accounted of it or at least have united it to the First upon different grounds beside that it seem'd but requisite that provision should be made for the manner of our Worship as well as for the Object of it beside lastly that the worshipping of the True God by an Image is elsewhere as expresly forbidden as the substituting of False Gods in his room beside all these things I say which yet are very material Considerations the very words of the Commandment to a diligent Observer shew the Manner of our Worship to be the thing aimed at in them For forbidding to make or worship the likeness of any thing either in the upper or lower World he thereby plainly declared his meaning to be not to caution them against an undue Object but against that kind of Adoration he who worshippeth the likeness of any thing making not that his God before which he so falls down but that which it was designed to represent Which is so true that the Papists themselves are forc'd to alledge it in behalf of their own Idololatrical Worship Neither will it suffice to say as I find it is by them That what we call the Second Commandment did therefore descend to instance in Images because those were the chief Gods among the Heathen For as the generality of the Heathen were undoubtedly too wise to terminate their Worship there the very Name of an Image directing Men to that of which it is so an Image so it is not easie to conceive save of the very Beasts of the People that they should believe a Stone or a piece of Wood to be a God From our own Account pass we to that of our
Worship so there is not any just fear of falling into that Will-worship which St. Paul cautioneth his Colossians against For beside that he cannot in any Propriety of Speech be said to add to the Worship of God who represents not what he so adds in the same condition with it but onely as subservient to it so which shews it yet farther to be no Will-worship he doth what he doth by vertue of the Divine Command even of that and other such like which prescribe That in the Worship of God all things be done decently and in order If therefore what is so added be grounded upon a Divine Command it is no longer the result of the Wills of Men at least as distinct from that of God but a just compliance with his which is a Will-worship which I hope none of us but will think our selves obliged to perform Having thus shewn at large not onely that our Worship ought to be suited to the Nature of God but also agreeable to his Commands it remains onely for the compleating of our Design that we instance in one or two Commandments by which our Worship is especially to be regulated Whereof the first that I shall assign and let that pass for 3. My third Rule is The Worshipping of God in Christ For that so we are to do God hath expresly declared by that Son of his in whom he hath commanded us to adore him Is Faith or Trust a part of Divine Worship Our Saviour's Merits are to be the ground of it there being no other Name as the Apostle speaks whereby we can be saved Is Hope a part of Divine Worship The same Jesus is to be the ground of that also as by whom alone we are obliged to expect the Object of it Is Prayer a part of Divine Worship That also is to pass by him as being to ask what we do in his name and for his sake Is Thanksgiving a part of Divine Worship We are to give thanks unto God and the Father by him Col. 3.17 In fine Whatsoever we do in relation to God or even our selves is to be done with reference to him as God's Instrument both in Governing and Redeeming us For wherefore else should God no less than twice declare from Heaven That he was the Person in whom he was well pleased and once of that twice moreover oblige his Disciples upon that account to hear him but to let us know as St. Paul speaks that whatsoever we do in word or deed we should do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus That we should do what we do in obedience to his Commands and with respect to that Authority which God vested in him That we should do what we do with respect to his Example and have an eye to his most holy Life as well as most excellent Precepts That we should do what we do with respect to the great Obligations he hath laid upon us by humbling himself to the death even the death of the cross for us That we should do what we do in confidence of his Assistance and not relie upon the strength of Nature or any Moral Acquisitions lastly That we should do what we do in confidence of Acceptance in and through the Merits of his Passion For as each of these is sometime or other the meaning of acting in his Name and therefore not lightly to be excluded so we have great reason to believe them all included in that fore-mentioned Text because all tending to his Honour and elsewhere expresly requir'd of us to make our Worship acceptable 4. That to Worship after a due manner we are to worship him in Christ hath been already declar'd together with the full Importance of such a Worship The next and indeed onely thing that I shall need to subjoyn is That we worship him in Spirit and in Truth according as was before insinuated For the evidencing whereof though it might suffice to tell you That this if any is the Affirmative part of the Precept because the Negative strikes at the worshipping of him by a corporeal and sensible Representation yet because it is a matter of importance and indeed one of the great Duties of the Gospel I shall allot it a more full Probation In order whereunto I shall lay for my Ground-work that known Saying of our Saviour which establisheth such a Worship with the proper Ground of it God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth Joh. 4.24 Now there are two Senses wherein those Words are to be consider'd and which therefore are to be distinctly handled 1. A Natural or Moral Sense And 2. An Evangelical one The former because grounded upon a Natural and Eternal Reason The latter because as I shall afterwards shew the Precept of Worshipping God in Spirit is oppos'd to that Worship which was in use under the Law 1. To begin with the former Sense even that which I call the Natural because grounded upon a Natural Reason where again I shall consider the Reason upon which it stands and then the due Importance of it For the Reason upon which it stands it will cost us little pains to evidence it to be a just Foundation of such a Worship For inasmuch as all things naturally are most affected with such Things and Operations as come nearest to their own Nature it must needs be that if God be a Spirit they who would serve him acceptably must present him with such a Worship as approacheth nearest to his own spiritual Nature The onely thing worthy our inquiry is What the Importance of such a Worship is which therefore I come now to resolve In order whereunto the first thing that I shall offer is That it is not meant to exclude wholly the Service of the Body For beside that That is God's by right of Creation and Preservation yea by all other ways by which the Soul is and consequently to pay God an Acknowledgment of its own Subjection and Obedience it is the distinct Affirmation of St. Paul That we are to glorifie God with our Bodies and with our Spirits that are his I observe secondly That as the Worshipping God in Spirit is not to be understood to exclude wholly the Worshipping him with our Bodies so neither to exclude all Worshipping him by Rites and Ceremonies For as the Christian Religion it self is not without such Rites even of God's own appointment witness the Sacrament of our Initiation into it and that other of our Continuance in it so it is much more evident that under the Law a great part of the Worship of God consisted in such Rites and Ceremonies But so it could not have done had a spiritual Worship excluded all worshipping him by Rites and Ceremonies because God was no less a Spirit under the Law than under the Gospel and therefore no less so to be ador'd It remaineth therefore That by worshipping God in Spirit we understand first of all the worshipping him with our
cheap and vile that also may be suspected of falshood and consequently render the Proceedings of all Courts of Judicature suspected because directed by them Again What security can we have that Judgment shall be rightly administred if Oaths have not their due regard For inasmuch as Judges are subject to the same Infirmities and Passions with our selves and the Laws by which they proceed neither are nor can be so made but they may notwithstanding them injure some Persons in their Cause what security can there be of their not actually doing so if that Oath restrain them not which they gave to him whose Vicegerents they are Sure I am nothing else can restrain the Prince himself because he is obnoxious to no Tribunal but that of God And therefore the condition of the World must needs be bad if those Oaths become contemptible by which alone their Exorbitances can be bounded So pernicious to Humane Society is the setting an Oath to a Lie so destructive to the Honour of God and the Being of Religion And having said and evinc'd so much I shall not need to say any thing more to aggravate the Criminalness thereof because transforming the perjur'd Person into the Cruelty of a Wild Beast and the gross Irreligion of an Atheist II. Having thus shewn what Oaths are simply and absolutely unlawful that is to say all Oaths in common Converse all unnecessary and false ones I come now to inquire Whether it be in any case lawful to swear by a Creature the second thing propos'd to be discours'd of For the resolution whereof 1. The first thing I shall propose is That it is not lawful in the least to make them the Term of our Oath or the things which we swear by in strict and proper speech that being to give them the Honour which is due to God and consequently to look upon them as such For inasmuch as the Scripture requires the swearing by his Name Deut. 6.13 and which is more imputes to the Israelites for a Crime their swearing by them that were no gods Jer. 5.7 inasmuch as an Oath is in its own nature the calling him to witness who is of infallible Truth a Searcher of Hearts and a most just and powerful Avenger of Falshood which cannot be affirm'd of any but God he that in strictness of speech swears by any Creature must consequently be suppos'd to give it the Honour that is due to God or rather look upon it as such A thing which it is manifest many of the Heathen did and accordingly swore by them Thus Euripides brings in Aegeus swearing after Medea in these following Words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is to say I swear by the Earth and the bright Light of the Sun and all the Gods whatsoever that I will be constant to what you enjoyn me And an Assyrian Astrologer as a Learned Man * Joh. Selden Prolegom ad Synt. De DIS Syris cap. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of our own Nation informs us binds his Readers not to prostitute the Secrets of it under this following Oath I adjure all those that light upon this Book by the holy Circle of the Sun and the irregular Courses of the Moon by the Vertues of the other Stars and the Zodiack to keep these things secret and not either impart them to the unlearned and such as have not been entred into them or be unmindful of paying Respect to the Memory of me their Instructer Let the forenamed Gods be propitious to those that keep this Oath but contrary to them that break it From both which Passages it is manifest that many of the Heathen look'd upon the Powers of Heaven and Earth as Gods and accordingly swore by them And therefore as some pious Men have through the fear of such like Idolatry advis'd wholly to forbear the use of such Oaths wherein there is mention of Created Beings so I shall so far concur with them as to advise the same where there is any danger of our own falling or drawing others into the like Crime it being one of the highest Impieties to give Divine Honour to the Creatures and swear by them as if they were Gods themselves But from hence we may guess what is to be thought of the Practice of the Papists who beside the erecting of Temples making Prayers and other such Acts of Adoration do not infrequently swear by the Saints also For what other is this than to give them that Honour which in all other Mens opinion and even in their own is proper to the Almighty Neither will it suffice to say That they do it not for themselves but with respect to him to whom they do belong For still it will follow because Swearing is a part of it that they give them that Adoration which the Almighty hath challeng'd to himself and which unless they were Searchers of Hearts can in no wise belong to them As little is to be said in its defence from those common Oaths by Heaven our own Life and the like For though these as we learn from our Saviour have the Nature of Oaths though the Expressions themselves may seem to perswade those Things to be the Things we swear by yet as they are not in the least invok'd as Witnesses but God to whom they do belong or are devoted by us so they are made use of onely to express either some Attribute of God's or our own readiness to resign them up to his Vindictive Justice if we be found to falsifie in them 2. For the evidencing whereof and together with it in what sense it may be said to be lawful to swear by a Creature I shall instance first of all in those forms of Oaths which have in them the force of an Execration as By our Health Vpon our Salvation and the like The meaning whereof in the general estimate of the World is no other than this So let God grant me Health and Salvation as I speak what I think or mean to perform what I promise and consequently is but an abbreviation of that Oath of St. Paul 2 Cor. 1.23 Moreover I call God for a record upon my soul that to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth Which doth manifestly make God the Term of our Oath and not either our Soul or any thing else that appertains to it The same is to be said of those Forms of Oaths which are made by our Hand Hands or any other Part of the Body the intention thereof being onely to devote them unto God as Pledges of the Truth of what we swear In like manner secondly for those Oaths that are made by Heaven or any other Thing wherein the Power or Truth of God is conspicuous the meaning thereof in the intendment of Christians can be no other than to call him to witness whose Glory shines forth in them as may appear both from Reason and Practice For can any Man be so senseless as to call those
which seems principally here intended even the prejudice it doth to that Person against whom it is alledg'd For inasmuch as necessity requires that they to whom the Power of Judging doth belong should proceed in their Sentence according to what hath been attested it cannot be but where the Witness is false the Judge should pass Sentence against the accused Party and deprive him of that whether Estate or Life which is call'd in question by the Accuser The former whereof is on the Witnesses part a Violation of the Eighth Commandment the latter a Violation of the Sixth For as it is by his Testimony that the Judge does what he does and therefore he and not the Judge chargeable with the Consequence of the Sentence so I know not whether I may not represent him as more chargeable with that Consequence than him by whom he is suborn'd Because though the latter give beginning to the Accusation yet it is his Testimony that gives occasion to the Sentence by which the Accusation becomes effectual Whence it was that if the falseness of a Witness hapned to be discovered he who forbad the bearing of false witness requir'd the retaliating upon him that did so that mischief whatsoever it was which he thought to do unto his Neighbour by it Deut. 19.18 19. 2. But beside the prejudice which a false Witness doth to the accused Party which alone would suffice to render his so doing Criminal it would also be considered which is not without a Crime that he lends his Assistance to the Injustice of the Accuser As because he so far interests himself in the Guilt of that Fact to which he becomes so assistant so because he encourageth him and other such like Persons to the perpetration of new Injustices He who prospers by his Villany being not likely to give it over where there is so ready a means to give success to it 3. I observe thirdly That as he who bears false witness gives assistance to the Injustice of the Accuser and promotes that Wickedness which he ought rather to discountenance so he hinders those from doing Justice who are otherwise dispos'd to do it yea makes them instrumental to the contrary Which however no way prejudicial to the eternal Welfare of the Judge because no Man can become Criminal but by his own consent yet is prejudicial to his Fame which by that means is often call'd in question to his Office which it renders useless yea pernicious but much more to Humane Society because corrupting those Judgments upon the right proceeding whereof the Safety of Mens Persons and Fortunes doth depend 4. Lastly Forasmuch as Men are not any where admitted to bear witness without adding the Oath of God to what they so bear witness he who bears any false witness adds Impiety to his Injustice and profanes the Name of God whom he doth so invoke as well as his who is his Vicegerent and whom he does by his false Testimony elude 2. Of the first thing forbidden in a Witness what hath been said may suffice where I have shewn what it is to bear false witness and wherein Criminal Proceed we now to shew the same concerning the concealing of any thing that is true the second thing affirm'd to be forbidden by the Commandment For the evidencing whereof though it might suffice as to our Courts of Judicature to alledge the Oath which the Witness takes to speak the whole Truth as well as nothing but the Truth because he who so promiseth makes himself a false Witness if he conceal any part of it yet I think it not amiss because that will add more force to the Admonition to evict it from the Commandment it self A thing which will be no way difficult for me or any Man to do who shall consider the End of the Commandment For the Design thereof being apparently to secure the Persons and Estates of Men from receiving any prejudice by the Testimony of Witnesses if Men may be prejudic'd by a partial Witness as well as by a false one there is no doubt that also ought to be looked upon as forbidden because equally contrary to its design Now that the Persons and Estates of Men may no less suffer by the concealing of a Truth than by giving attestation to a Falshood will appear if we consider how much the concealing of a circumstance may alter the nature of the thing in question Thus for Example Though it be criminal and so declared by our Laws to take away the life of our Neighbour yet it is not so nor ought to be so reputed to take away his life if it be only to defend our own he who shall depose the killing of the party but withal conceal that parties first invading him that slew him shall make a murtherer of him who is perfectly innocent and who ought rather to be defended than condemned In like manner he who shall depose the lending of such a sum of Money to the accused party as the Plaintiff demands but withal conceal what he well knows the paying of it back to him shall make him obnoxious to the penalty of the Law who ought rather to have the encouragement of it as having discharg'd that obligation which he had contracted And indeed as a bad cause may become specious and plausible by paring off those things which shew it to be monstrous and deformed for thus as Palavicino * Istoria del Concilio di Trento li. 1. c. 26. well resembles it out of a mishapen stone men frame a comely Statue not by adding to it but by taking away so there is as little doubt to be made but a fair and plausible Cause may become odious and detestable by paring off any part of it monstrosity arising no less from the defect of a necessary Limb than from the addition of a superfluous one But neither is this all which may be said against the concealing of a Truth though indeed it be the main and what ought more especially to be considered For as though the Letter of the Law forbid only the prejudicing of our neighbour by our testimony yet that love which is the spirit of it and to which the whole is reduced by our Saviour requires also the advantaging of him thereby so he who shall omit so to do as he who conceals any part of it may must be look'd upon as alike offending against the Commandment he who conceals any part of the Truth * Vterque enim reus est quî veritatem occultat qui mendacium dicit quia ille prodesse non vult iste nocere desidederat shewing as much unwillingness to profit as he who utters that which is false doth a desire to do harm I will conclude this particular when I have said that though when we affirm it to be criminal to conceal a Truth we mean only such Truths as are pertinent to the matter in debate yet men ought to be very well satisfied that what they do