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A77988 Gospel-worship: or, The right manner of sanctifying the name of God in generall. And particularly in these 3. great ordinances, [brace] viz. [brace] 1. Hearing the Word. 2. Receiving the Lords Supper 3. Prayer. By Jeremiah Burroughes, the Gospel-preacher to two of the greatest congregations in England, viz. Stepney and Criple-gate, London. Burroughs, Jeremiah, 1599-1646.; Goodwin, Thomas, 1600-1680.; Cross, Thomas, fl. 1632-1682, engraver. 1647 (1647) Wing B6084; Thomason E408_1; ESTC R204665 228,863 284

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is that that upon divers occasions I have spoken unto and am willing upon every occasion as I meet with it to speak of because it is a principall part of the great mysterie of the Gospel without which all our duties are rejected of God and cast away Now then put all these Nine things together and see by them what we ought to do that we may Sanctifie the Name of God in holy duties But there is something further to be spoken that may help you to Sanctifie Gods Name in holy duties and that is severall workings of heart suitable to the severall Attributes of God for that is to Sanctifie Gods Name to have the duty to be such as is some way suitable to such a God as we are now worshipping Now then let us consider what the Scripture saith of God and then let us see what suitable dispositions we should have in us unto those things that the Scripture saith of God 1 First You know the Scripture saith that God is a Spirit in Joh. 4. 24. Then presently Christ saith That he that worships him must worship him in Spirit that is there must be a suitablenesse in our worship to what God is Is God a Spirit then all that worship him must worship him in Spirit and Truth that is thus When I am to go to worship God I must consider of him as he is an infinite and glorious Spirit well then surely bodily worship is not sufficient for me Though I do kneel down in prayer or do come and present my body to hear the Word or my body to receive the Sacrament this is not to worship God as a Spirit If indeed that our God were as the Heathens that were corporeall then it were another matter then bodily worship would serve the turne but God being a Spirit he must have Spirituall worship therefore my soul and all that is within me magnifie his name saith David my Soul magnifie his name not my lips only but my Soul The Apostle in 1 Tim. 4. 8. saith that bodily exercise profits little it is no great matter for the body God looks but very little at bodily exercise but it is godlinesse that is profitable it is the work of the Spirit when we come to pray we must pray in the Spirit that is we must pray with our Souls we must poure forth our souls before God and when we come to hear our hearts must not go after our coveteousnesse we must set our hearts to what we hear we must hear with our hearts as well as with our ears our Souls must be at work in hearing of the word when you hear it is not enough for you to come and sit in a Pew and have the sound of a mans voice in your eares but your Souls must be at work And so when you come to receive the Sacrament your Souls must feed upon Jesus Christ Bodily worship without Soul-worship is nothing but Soul-worship may be accepted without bodily worship therefore it is the Soul that God doth principally look at in holy duties If you be not able to worship God in your bodies you may worship him in your Souls and God regards that Bodily exercise in holy duties is little worth some what it may be worth I confesse sometime bodily exercise may further the soul as a reverend carriage of the body and the like but it is nothing in comparison the great work is the work of the Soul for God is a Spirit and must be worshipped in Spirit And God is said to be a Spirit not only in that he is not of so thick a capitall substance but it notes the simplicity of God he is without any composition whatsoever is in God is God himself he is absolutely one there are not divers things in God now then those that come to worship him must worship him in Spirit and in Truth that is there must not be a heart and a heart there must not be a compounded heart but you must bring simple hearts before God without any composition of drofte in your selves and of any kind of falsenesse but in the simplicity of your hearts you must come to worship God and thus you shall worship him with such worship as is some way suitable to him as he is a Spirit 2 Further consider God as he is an eternall God what suitable disposition doth this require of me when I am to look upon God as an eternall being it requires this only That therefore thy heart must be taken off from all temporal good things and set upon that eternall good thou maiest indeed desire these outward good things but in order to thy eternal good Then further Thou art worshipping an eternal God hence then whatsoever sin thou doest confesse although committed 20. or 40. years ago thou must look upon it as if it were now presently committed and be humbled as much before the Lord as if it were now committed at this present you will say Why so Because God is an Eternal God Yes For if I understand Gods Eternity I know that there is no succession in Gods being therefore the sins that I committed in my youth if I come to confesse them they are before God as if they were now a doing in regard of time and therefore I must as much as I can look so upon them and be humbled for them as if they were sins lately committed Many people are troubled for their sins the very day after they commit them but a little time wears off their trouble but if you did consider that you had to deal with an eternal God then you would look upon your sins though a long time since committed as if they were now done Likewise there will be this required from the consideration of Gods Eternity you must come with such a disposition of heart as not to think much though what you desired be defered and not granted in your time when you would have it For if there be no time that alters with God but a thousand years are with God as one day then that that we account long before it s done it is nothing with God and therefore we must have our hearts so work towards God as towards an Eternall God as one with whom there is no alteration of time at all with whom there is no succession of time If we come to a man and seek any thing of him if he doth not answer us presently we will think that he will forget it and other things will come into his mind but when we come to worship God we must look upon him as an Eternall being and that time alters nothing with him Thus understanding God in a right way will much help us in his worship and so to Sanctifie his Name We cannot Sanctifie Gods Name without knowing his Name without having serious thoughts about his Name and getting our hearts to work accordingly 3 Thirdly Look upon God when you come to worship him in his incomprehensible
God that God may attain the glory of his infinit excellencie and this makes it to be a necessary duty that when we come to worship him we should Sainct●fie his name So that the first reason is taken from the very nature of God it is the very being of God that all things should work to himself and in such a suitable way as to lift up his excellencie and glory 2 Secondly We must Sanctifie God in the duties of his Worship because it is the speciall glory that God hath in the world to be actively honoured for his passive glory that is to be glorified in a passive way that he hath in hell but the speciall glory that God would have it is that he might be glorified actively Now there is no such way of glorifying the Name of God actively as by worshipping of him in a holy manner and therefore God stands much upon this That when we come to worship him we sanctifie his Name For saith God If I be not sanctified in my worship what active glory have I in the world It is the speciall active glory that God hath in the world the Sanctifying of his Name in the duties of his worship 3 Thirdly That which we have intimated before That the duties of Gods worship are the most precious things the special conveyances of the choice mercies that he intends to bestow on his Saints and therefore though he loses his glory in any thing else he would not lose it in that wherein he doth especially convey his mercy and goodnesse to his people But that we spake too in shewing how we draw nigh to God in holy duties and it may well come in here again as an Argument why we should sanctifie Gods name 4 A Fourth Reason is this Because there is no way for us to be fitted for the receiving of Mercy from God through those duties of worship but by our Sanctifying of Gods name when thou comest at any time to worship God what wouldest thou have there is some communion that thou wouldest injoy with God now there is no way to make thee a fit subject of Mercy or capable of the injoyment of Communion with God but by such a behaviour of Soul as this is that hath been spoken of to Sanctifie the Name of God thou wouldest be loath to lose those duties of worship that thou doest performe therefore it is required of thee to sanctifie his Name lest thou doest lose all for 't is this that makes thee the only capable subject of what good is to be had there 5 We must Sanctifie Gods Name in holy duties because otherwise we should certainly never hold out in duties but vanish and come to nothing now God would be worshipped so by his creatures as to be constantly worshipped he would have those that do worship him to worship him alwaies to worship him for ever and he would have this worship that we perform to him but to be the beginning of that eternall worship that he shall have from us in heaven And so the Saints do Worship God now the worship which they performe it is but as the beginning of that worship that hereafter in heaven they shall tender up to God though there may be some difference in it as there our prayers will be turned into praises and it will not be in such outward Ordinances as now we worship God in there will be no Preaching nor Sacraments yet notwithstanding the soul-Soul-worship that is now will be in effect the same as it shall be in heaven God would have us so to worship him as to continue to worship him Now I say unlesse his Name be Sanctified in our worshipping of him we will certainly fall off and the truth is this is the very ground of all Apostacie in Hypocrites Some that have been very forward in the worshipping of God when they were young ones and afterwards they have fallen off they were wont constantly in their families and in secret in their chambers to be worshipping of God and they accounted it the very joy of their lives for the present to be worshipping of God but it is not so with them now as it was yea they are fallen off it may be from their very profession of Religion and turned lose And now to be in vain company to drink or play is better to them then any service or worship of God they prize more to be in company with their sports then to hear a Sermon or to be in Communion with the people of God in Prayer Heretofore they would not have changed one short time of private communion with God for the injoyment of a great deal of pleasures and content in the world but now it is otherwise with them How comes it to passe that these are Apostatised thus from God Surely here is the ground of it That they did not Sanctifie Gods name in holy duties at the most it was but a work of conscience that put them upon them and they had but some flashes there was no reall sanctification of their hearts whereby they did sanctifie the name of God in holy duties and upon this it is that they have left off This I dare say That there was never any soul that did know what it was to sanctifie Gods Name in worship that ever was weary of worshipping God It may be some of you may say We have heard that there is much required in Sanctifying Gods Name in duties and that is the only way to weary the Soul and to make it fall off Oh no as we said the last day there is not any one thing that hath been opened for the Sanctifying of Gods name in duties that any gracious heart can tell how to misse and the more we do Sanctifie his Name the more we shall be in love with worship For it is from hence that those that Sanctifie Gods name in worship will hold out because they will find the sweetnesse of worship they will meet with God in holy duties and so they come to be incouraged in worship but as for others who do worship God in a formall way their worship will prove to be tedious to them for they performe the duties but do not find God in the duties in that Spirituall way as the Saints do If they think they meet with God it is but an imagination rather then any reall meeting with him they do not find the influence of God in their souls in holy duties so as those do that sanctifie Gods name in holy duties here then you see the Reasons why we are to Sanctifie Gods name in holy duties Now then for the Application of all this 1 If all this which you have heard be required of us for the Sanctifying of Gods Name Hence we see how little cause we have to rest upon any duty of worship that we do performe certainly the duties of worship that we performe are no such things as are fit to be rested upon for life and for
prepared either for Prayer hearing the Word or receiving Sacraments Now because Sacraments are so rare those that have any inlightened conscience they think they dare not but prepare for Sacraments but you should be alwaies in a preparation for the receiving of the Sacraments as the Primitive Christians did And thos that have been acquainted with this Point that I am upon of preparing for duties they have come to such a frame of Spirit as that there is not so much time required of them as of others for they are in a constant fitnesse so that there is no instant of time in the whole day but if God cals them to Prayer they could presently fall down upon their knees and pray so as to Sanctifie Gods name in Prayer that were an excellent temper indeed if you could find it so that you walk so spiritually and holily before God as there could be never a quarter of an hour from morning to night nor from the beginning of the week to the end but if you were cald to pray or to receive the Sacrament you had your heart fitted that you could come into Gods presence with a prepared heart and were able to Sanctifie Gods Name in the duty Acquaint your selves with this work of Preparation and so you may have hearts ●itted to come into Gods presence at any time SARMON IV. LEVITICUS 10. 3. I will be Sanctified in them that come nigh me WEE proceed now to what remaines There are onely for the perfecting of this point two Cases of conscience to be resolved And then we are to proceed to other things The first is whither we ought at all times to set apart some time for preparation to every duty of Gods Worship Secondly suppose we do not find our hearts prepared as we do desire whither it were better to leave off the duty then performe it For the first of these Viz. Whether we are alwaies bound to set some time apart for preparation to the duty that we are to performe The answer to that is this we must distinguish of persons There are som that are exercised in the way of godlinesse and do keep their hearts close with God in the waies of holinesse now for them it may be supposed that through their exercise in the waies of godlinesse and keeping of their hearts constant with God in communion with him walking with God closely that they are at all times prepared to every good work and 〈◊〉 fulfil that command of the Apostle pray continually that is in the disposition of their hearts they are fit to pray at any time there is no day in the week nor no hour in the day but they if God call them to it could fal down to solemn ●raier And indeed this is an exellent condition and a good evidence of the hearts walking close with God that there is no time but they are fit to pray and fit for any Ordinance yea to recive the Sacrament of the Lords upper It is posible to keep the heart so close to God as to be fit for praier and for the hearing of the Word and for receiving of the Sacrament every day or any hour in the day but this needs a very close walking with God and communion with God and the truth is this is very rare most men let out their hearts so much to other things as their consciences cannot but tel them that if God call them to praier at such a time in the day they are altogether unfit for it If they were called to receive the Sacrament their consciences would fly in their faces and tel them they are unfit for it but it is not so with those that walke close with God though they be in the world You will say if a man have businesse in the world how can this be Yes though they have bu●●ne●e in the world yet they carry the heavenlinesse of their hearts along with them our conversation is in heaven saith the Apostle Phil. 3. Now the word that is translated our conversation it is a word that signifies our City converse our trading is in heaven when we go to the City or the Exchange or about any businesse yet our trading is alwaies in Heaven But now there are other sorts of people that had need at all times to look to their hearts in way of preparation As First those that first set upon the duties of Religion young beginners that begin at first to set their faces towards Heaven to worship God they had need look to their hearts they should spend some time in Preparation when they come to holy duties and the truth is when the conscience of a man or woman is at first inlightened and awakened they will be very carefull in preparing to holy duties the fear of God it is mighty upon their Spirits at first and it should not be lesse afterwards the constancy of Gods fear should bring their hearts to such a holy temper as to make them fit for holy duties alwaies Secondly Those men and women that at any time shall sin against conscience shall commit such sins as shall in a kind even lay wast Conscience shall break their peace between God and their Souls they had need spend some time in preparation for holy duties they cannot come into the presence of God to enjoy communion with God but they had need before hand be very serious in the examination of their hearts and to endeavour the working of their hearts into mourning for their sinne and to labour to possesse their Souls with the presence of God even before they come These two sorts of people such as have not been acquainted with the waies of godlinesse or such as have broken their peace with God by some evill carriage of theirs towards God in some vile way I say it is required of them to bee more solemne in the worke of Preparation 2 But now for the second case which indeed is the main Suppose when we come to duties and begin to examine our hearts and begin to bethink our selves whether we be prepared yea or no to holy duties and we do not find our hearts prepared according to that that we do desire whether then we may let the duty go for that time and forbear the performance of it as suppose Prayer or receiving the Sacrament or coming to the Word or any other holy duty And the reason of this doubt is because when any man or woman is consciencious they think with themselves that they must Sanctifie Gods Name in holy duties now if they cannot find their hearts in a f●t disposition to Sanctifie the name of God in holy duties they are ready to think thus Were it not better to neglect this duty and lay it aside for the present will God accept of a duty when I performe it and am not fit for it Therefore for the Answer to this because it is a temptation that sometimes carnal hearts have and they are ready to take this
my heart blood shall be given up to thee and so my strength and estate and name and whatever I am or have shall be thine Have you done thus when you have come to receive the Sacrament have you actually renewed your Covenant with God you that have taken the body of Christ have you given up your body to Christ what 's the reason then that you sinne so much with your bodies that you abuse your body with uncleannesse and drunkennesse and other wickednesse afterwards oh you prophane the name of God and the very body and blood of Christ in this except thou givest up thy body and soule to God in way of Covenant Ninthly In the last place for the sanctifying of Gods name there is required a renewing of Love the comming with lovely dispositions and the renewing of the grace of love not only towards God but towards our Brethren for it is the feast of the Lord and it is an act of Communion Communion not only with Christ but with his Churches with his Saints and as I have told you that there is a profession of our selves to be of the same body with Jesus Christ then the Lord requires that his children should not fall out that come to his Table but that there should be love and peace there 's a mighty bond upon thee when thou commest to the Sacrament and therefore first all heart burnings and heart grudges must bee laid aside and Secondly you must come with a willingnesse to be reconciled one to another willingnesse to passe by all infirmities in thy Brethren here I have the Seale of Gods willingnesse to passe by all my sins and therefore I must bee willing to passe by all infirmities in my Brethren I must now cast out all ill wishes towards others and come with a desire of all good unto them and with a heart ready to embrace any opportunity to do any good thou doest lye unto God except thou commest with such a heart as this is Lord thou knowest that I am willing to take all opportunities to doe good to those that I now doe communicate with for it is the nearest Communion that possibly can be in this world betweene one Creature and another and this is the reason why there should bee that Ordinance of Christ set up everywhere to cast out those that are unworthy because it is the greatest union and Communion that possibly can be for it is the Sacrament and Communion of the same body they are the same members of Christ now if thou doest not thinke such a one to be a member of Christ why doest not thou what thou canst to have him cast out but so long as thou hast done nothing in private to him or in telling the Church thou doest owne him to be a member of Iesus Christ if thou doest so take heed how thy heart be estranged from him take heed how thou behavest thy selfe to them take heed how thou livest in a jarring way and a contentious way with them and holdest them off at staves end or walking at a distance from them though they be never so poor and mean know that thou doest prophane this holy Ordinance every time thou commest to it when thou commest with such a heart as this is if thou dost not find this renewed love Lord there began to be a strangenesse between me and those that have communicated with me but Lord thou art pleased to vouchsafe us to come once more to this Ordinance and Lord here we do professe that this Ordinance shall unite our hearts together more then ever they were I will study to doe what good possibly I can to my brother that is we joyne here to the feast of the Lord with comfort so we may live together in peace and love as it becomes the Saints of God and the members of the Body of Iesus Christ oh how farre are people from any such worke of God as this is the Lord expects that this should be in you every time you come to the holy Communion here hath been nine particulars now mentioned for the sanctifying of the name of God when wee come to partake of the Sacrament but oh Lord what cause have we to lay our hands upon our hearts ● for if this be to sanctifie thy name then it hath been a riddle a mystery to us certainly my brethren these things are the truths of God that I have delivered and so farre as you have been wanting in any of these know so farre you have taken Gods name in vaine in this holy Ordinance you have not been worthy receivers of this Sacrament you have cause to look back to your former waies and spend much humilation for your sin herein and not to be so greedy of it as some are they must have the Communion but I put it to your Consciences have you repented you for the profaning of Gods name and that 's that that we should further have spoken of that God will be sanctified that 's thus if we doe not sanctifie Gods name it will quite turne to the contrary it is the proper end of the Sacrament to seale up our salvation but if wee sanctifie not Gods name it will seale up our condemnation if it hath not been thy endeavour to sanctifie the name of God so many times as thou hast received the Sacrament so many seales hast thou upon thee for the sealing up of thy condemnation many mens or womens condemnations are sealed with three or foure hundred seales it may be But yet for thy comfort while thou art alive it is possible that thse Seales may be broken open as wee read in the Revelations that John saw the Book that had seven seals upon it and none could be found that was able to open it at length the Lamb that was slaine he was found worthy to open the Book So I say thy condemnation is sealed up with many seales and there is no Creature that is able to cancel these seales only the Lamb Iesus Christ yea that Christ whose blood thou hast shed and been guilty of only he is worthy and he is willing to open these seales for as it was with those that did crucifie Christ yet they were sav'd by the same blood that they had shed as in Acts 2. so though thou hast been guilty of shedding the blood of Christ againe and againe by thy prophane coming to the Sacrament yet know seeing there is life in thee and the day of grace is continued it is possible that thy soul may be sav'd by that blood that thou hast crucified O how many are cut off that have thus prophan'd the name of God in this Sacrament and never came to understand this danger they are cut of and now are undone for ever why blesse God that thou art alive to heare more about this Sacrament and how Gods name should be sanctifyed that thou art alive and hast time to repent thee of this great evill of profaning the name