God, faith in God, recourse to his goodness, meditation on him, and
communion with him. It lays aside the ceremonial, spiritualizeth the
moral. The commands that concerned our duty to God, as well as those
that concerned our duty to our neighbor, were reduced by Christ to
their spiritual intention. The motives are spiritual; it is a state
of more grace, as well as of more truth,[468] supported by spiritual
promises, beaming out in spiritual privileges; heaven comes down in
it to earth, to spiritualize earth for heaven. The manner of worship
is more spiritual; higher flights of the soul, stronger ardors
of affection, sincerer aims at his glory; mists are removed from
our minds, clogs from the soul, more of love than fear; faith in
Christ kindles the affections, and works by them. The assistances
to spiritual worship are greater. The Spirit doth not drop, but is
plentifully poured out. It doth not light sometimes upon, but dwells
in the heart. Christ suited the gospel to a spiritual heart, and the
Spirit changeth the carnal heart to make it fit for a spiritual gospel.
He blows upon the garden, and causes the spices to flow forth; and
often makes the soul in worship like the chariots of Aminadab, in a
quick and nimble motion. Our blessed Lord and Saviour, by his death,
discovered to us the nature of God; and after his ascension sent his
Spirit to fit us for the worship of God, and converse with him. One
spiritual evangelical believing breath is more delightful to God than
millions of altars made up of the richest pearls, and smoking with
the costliest oblations, because it is spiritual; and a mite of spirit
is of more worth than the greatest weight of flesh: one holy angel is
more excellent than a whole world of mere bodies.
_Prop. VII._ Yet the worship of God with our bodies is not to be
rejected upon the account that God requires a spiritual worship.
Though we must perform the weightier duties of the law, yet we are
{a220} not to omit and leave undone the lighter precepts, since both
the _magnalia_ and _minutula legis_, the greater and the lesser duties
of the law, have the stamp of divine authority upon them. As God under
the ceremonial law did not command the worship of the body and the
observation of outward rites without the engagement of the spirit,
so neither doth he command that of the spirit without the peculiar
attendance of the body. The Schwelksendians denied bodily worship;
and the indecent postures of many in public attendance intimate no
great care either of composing their bodies or spirits. A morally
discomposed body intimates a tainted heart. Our bodies as well as our
spirits are to be presented to God.[469] Our bodies in lieu of the
sacrifices of beasts, as in the Judaical institutions; body for the
whole man; a living sacrifice, not to be slain, as the beasts were,
but living a new life, in a holy posture, with crucified affections.
This is the inference the apostle makes of the privileges of
justification, adoption, co‑heirship with Christ, which he had before
discoursed of; privileges conferred upon the person, and not upon a
part of man.
1. Bodily worship is due to God. He hath a right to an adoration by
our bodies, as they are his by creation; his right is not diminished,
but increased, by the blessing of redemption: (1 Cor. vi. 20) “For
you are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your bodies and
your spirits, which are God’s.” The body, as well as the spirit, is
redeemed, since our Saviour suffered crucifixion in his body, as well
as agonies in his soul. Body is not taken here for the whole man, as
it may be in Rom xii.; but for the material part of our nature, it
being distinguished from the spirit. If we are to render to God an
obedience with our bodies, we are to render him such acts of worship
with our bodies as they are capable of. As God is the Father of
spirits, so he is the God of all flesh; therefore the flesh he hath
framed of the earth, as well as the noble portion he hath breathed
into us, cannot be denied him without a palpable injustice. The
service of the body we must not deny to God, unless we will deny him
to be the author of it, and the exercise of his providential care
about it. The mercies of God are renewed every day upon our bodies
as well as our souls, and, therefore, they ought to express a fealty
to God for his bounty every day. “Both are from God; both should be
for God. Man consists of body and soul; the service of man is the
service of both. The body is to be sanctified as well as the soul;
and, therefore, to be offered to God as well as the soul. Both are
to be glorified, both are to glorify. As our Saviour’s divinity was
manifested in his body, so should our spirituality in ours. To give
God the service of the body and not of the soul, is hypocrisy; to
give God the service of the spirit and not of the body, is sacrilege;
to give him neither, atheism.”[470] If the only part of man that
is visible were exempted from the service of God, there could be
no visible testimonies of piety given upon any occasion. Since not
a moiety of man, but the whole is God’s creature, he ought to pay
a homage with the whole, and not only with a moiety of himself.
{a221} 2. Worship in societies is due to God, but this cannot be
without some bodily expressions. The law of nature doth as much direct
men to combine together in public societies for the acknowledgment of
God, as in civil communities for self‑preservation and order; and a
notice of a society for religion is more ancient than the mention of
civil associations for politic government (Gen. iv. 26): “Then began
men to call upon the name of the Lord,” viz., in the time of Seth.
No question but Adam had worshipped God before, as well as Abel, and
a family religion had been preserved; but, as mankind increased in
distinct families, they knit together in companies to solemnize the
worship of God.[471] Hence, as some think, those that incorporated
together for such ends, were called the “sons of God;” sons by
profession, though not sons by adoption; as those of Corinth were
saints by profession, though in such a corrupted church they could
not be all so by regeneration; yet saints, as being of a Christian
society, and calling upon the name of Christ, that is, worshipping God
in Christ, though they might not be all saints in spirit and practice.
So Cain and Abel met together to worship (Gen. iv. 3) “at the end of
the days,” at a set time. God settled a public worship among the Jews,
instituted synagogues for their convening together, whence called the
“synagogues of God.”[472] The Sabbath was instituted to acknowledge
God a common benefactor. Public worship keeps up the memorials of God
in a world prone to atheism, and a sense of God in a heart prone to
forgetfulness. The angels sung in company, not singly, at the birth
of Christ,[473] and praised God not only with a simple elevation of
their spiritual nature, but audibly, by forming a voice in the air.
Affections are more lively, spirits more raised in public than private;
God will credit his own ordinance. Fire increaseth by laying together
many coals on one place; so is devotion inflamed by the union of
many hearts, and by a joint presence; nor can the approach of the
last day of judgment, or particular judgments upon a nation, give
a writ of ease from such assemblies. (Heb. x. 25): “Not forsaking the
assembling ourselves together; but so much the more as you see the
day approaching.” Whether it be understood of the day of judgment,
or the day of the Jewish destruction and the Christian persecution,
the apostle uses it as an argument to quicken them to the observance,
not to encourage them to a neglect. Since, therefore, natural
light informs us, and divine institution commands us, publicly to
acknowledge ourselves the servants of God, it implies the service of
the body. Such acknowledgments cannot be without visible testimonies,
and outward exercises of devotion, as well as inward affections. This
promotes God’s honor, checks others’ profaneness, allures men to the
same expressions of duty; and though there may be hypocrisy and an
outward garb without an inward frame, yet better a moiety of worship
than none at all; better acknowledge God’s right in one than disown it
in both.
3. Jesus Christ, the most spiritual worshipper, worshipped God
with his body. He prayed orally, and kneeled, “Father, if it be
{a222} thy will,”[474] &c. He blessed with his mouth, “Father, I thank
thee.”[475] He lifted up his eyes as well as elevated his spirit, when
he praised his Father for mercy received, or begged for the blessings
his disciples wanted.[476] The strength of the spirit must have vent
at the outward members. The holy men of God have employed the body in
significant expressions of worship; Abraham in falling on his face,
Paul in kneeling, employing their tongues, lifting up their hands.
Though Jacob was bed‑rid, yet he would not worship God without some
devout expression of reverence; it is in one place “leaning upon his
staff;”[477] in another, “bowing himself upon his bed’s head.”[478]
The reason of the diversity is in the Hebrew word, which, without
vowels, may be read _mittah_, a bedor _matteh_, a staff; however, both
signify a testimony of adoration by a reverent gesture of the body.
Indeed, in angels and separated souls, a worship is performed purely
by the spirit; but while the soul is in conjunction with the body, it
can hardly perform a serious act of worship without some tincture upon
the outward man and reverential composure of the body. Fire cannot be
in the clothes but it will be felt by the members, nor flames be pent
up in the soul without bursting out in the body. The heart can no
more restrain itself from breaking out, than Joseph could inclose his
affections without expressing them in tears to his brethren.[479] “We
believe, and therefore speak.”[480]
To conclude: God hath appointed some parts of worship which cannot
be performed without the body, as sacraments; we have need of them
because we are not wholly spiritual and incorporeal creatures. The
religion which consists in externals only is not for an intellectual
nature; a worship purely intellectual is too sublime for a nature
allied to sense, and depending much upon it. The christian mode of
worship is proportioned to both; it makes the sense to assist the
mind, and elevates the spirit above the sense. Bodily worship helps
the spiritual: the members of the body reflect back upon the heart,
the voice bars distractions, the tongue sets the heart on fire in good
as well as in evil. It is as much against the light of nature to serve
God without external significations, as to serve him only with them
without the intention of the mind. As the invisible God declares
himself to men by visible works and signs, so should we declare our
invisible frames by visible expressions. God hath given us a soul and
body in conjunction; and we are to serve him in the same manner he
hath framed us.
II. The second thing I am to show is, what spiritual worship is. In
general, the whole spirit is to be employed; the name of God is not
sanctified but by the engagement of our souls. Worship is an act of
the understanding, applying itself to the knowledge of the excellency
of God and actual thoughts of his majesty; recognizing him as the
supreme Lord and Governor of the world, which is natural knowledge;
beholding the glory of his attributes in the Redeemer, which is
evangelical knowledge. This is the sole act of the spirit of man. The
same reason is for all our worship as for our thanksgiving. This must
be done with understanding: (Psalm xlvii. 7) {a223} “Sing ye praise
with understanding;” with a knowledge and sense of his greatness,
goodness, and wisdom. It is also an act of the will, whereby the soul
adores and reverences his majesty, is ravished with his amiableness,
embraceth his goodness, enters itself into an intimate communion with
this most lovely object, and pitcheth all his affections upon him. We
must worship God understandingly; it is not else a reasonable service.
The nature of God and the law of God abhor a blind offering; we must
worship him heartily, else we offer him a dead sacrifice. A reasonable
service is that wherein the mind doth truly act something with God.
All spiritual acts must be acts of reason, otherwise they are not
human acts, because they want that principle which is constitutive of
man, and doth difference him from other creatures. Acts done only by
sense are the acts of a brute; acts done by reason are the acts of a
man. That which is only an act of sense cannot be an act of religion.
The sense, without the conduct of reason, is not the subject of
religious acts; for then beasts were capable of religion as well as
men. There cannot be religion where there is not reason; and there
cannot be the exercise of religion where there is not an exercise of
the rational faculties; nothing can be a christian act that is not a
human act. Besides, all worship must be for some end; the worship of
God must be for God. It is by the exercise of our rational faculties
that we only can intend an end. An ignorant and carnal worship is a
brutish worship. Particularly,
1. Spiritual worship is a worship from a spiritual nature. Not only
physically spiritual, so our souls are in their frame; but morally
spiritual, by a renewing principle. The heart must be first cast into
the mould of the gospel, before it can perform a worship required by
the gospel. Adam living in Paradise might perform a spiritual worship;
but Adam fallen from his rectitude could not: we, being heirs of his
nature, are heirs of his impotence. Restoration to a spiritual life
must precede any act of spiritual worship. As no work can be good,
so no worship can be spiritual, till we are created in Christ.[481]
Christ is our life.[482] As no natural action can be performed without
life in the root or heart, so no spiritual act without Christ in the
soul. Our being in Christ is as necessary to every spiritual act as
the union of our soul with our body is necessary to natural action.
Nothing can exceed the limits of its nature; for then it should
exceed itself in acting, and do that which it hath no principle to do.
A beast cannot act like a man, without partaking of the nature of a
man; nor a man act like an angel, without partaking of the angelical
nature. How can we perform spiritual acts without a spiritual
principle? Whatsoever worship proceeds from the corrupted nature,
cannot deserve the title of spiritual worship, because it springs
not from a spiritual habit. If those that are evil cannot speak good
things, those that are carnal cannot offer a spiritual service. Poison
is the fruit of a viper’s nature (Matt. xii. 34): “O generation of
vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? for out of the
abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” As the root is, so is the
fruit. If the soul be habitually carnal, {a224} the worship cannot
be actually spiritual. There may be an intention of spirit, but there
is no spiritual principle as a root of that intention. A heart may
be sensibly united with a duty, when it is not spiritually united
with Christ in it. Carnal motives and carnal ends may fix the mind
in an act of worship, as the sense of some pressing affliction may
enlarge a man’s mind in prayer. Whatsoever is agreeable to the nature
of God must have a stamp of Christ upon it; a stamp of his grace
in performance, as well as of his mediation in the acceptance. The
apostle lived not, but Christ lived in him;[483] the soul worships
not, but Christ in him. Not that Christ performs the act of worship,
but enables us spiritually to worship, after he enables us spiritually
to live. As God counts not any soul living but in Christ, so he
counts not any a spiritual worshipper but in Christ. The goodness and
fatness of the fruit come from the fatness of the olive wherein we are
engrafted. We must find healing in Christ’s wings, before God can find
spirituality in our services. All worship issuing from a dead nature
is but a dead service. A living action cannot be performed, without
being knit to a living root.
2. Spiritual worship is done by the influence and with the assistance
of the Spirit of God. A heart may be spiritual, when a particular act
of worship may not be spiritual. The Spirit may dwell in the heart,
when he may suspend his influence on the act. Our worship is then
spiritual, when the fire that kindles our affections comes from heaven,
as that fire upon the altar wherewith the sacrifices were consumed.
God tastes a sweetness in no service, but as it is dressed up by the
hand of the Mediator, and hath the air of his own Spirit in it; they
are but natural acts, without a supernatural assistance; without
an actual influence, we cannot act from spiritual motives, nor for
spiritual ends, nor in a spiritual manner. We cannot mortify a lust
without the Spirit,[484] nor quicken a service without the Spirit.
Whatsoever corruption is killed, is slain by his power; whatsoever
duty is spiritualized, is refined by his breath. He quickens our
dead bodies in our resurrection;[485] he renews our dead souls in our
regeneration; he quickens our carnal services in our adorations; the
choicest acts of worship are but infirmities without his auxiliary
help.[486] We are logs, unable to move ourselves, till he raise our
faculties to a pitch agreeable to God; puts his hand to the duty, and
lifts that up and us with it. Never any great act was performed by the
apostles to God, or for God; but they are said to be filled with the
Holy Ghost. Christ could not have been conceived immaculate as that
“holy thing,” without the Spirit’s overshadowing the Virgin; nor any
spiritual act conceived in our heart, without the Spirit’s moving
upon us, to bring forth a living religion from us. The acts of worship
are said to be in the Spirit, “supplication in the Spirit;”[487]
not only with the strength and affection of our own spirits, but
with the mighty operation of the Holy Ghost, if Jude may be the
interpreter;[488] the Holy Ghost exciting us, impelling us, and firing
our souls by his divine flame; raising up the affections, and making
the {a225} soul cry with a holy importunity, Abba, Father. To render
our worship spiritual, we should, before every engagement in it,
implore the actual presence of the Spirit, without which we are not
able to send forth one spiritual breath or groan; but be wind‑bound
like a ship without a gale, and our worship be no better than carnal.
How doth the spouse solicit the Spirit with an “Awake, O north wind,
and come, thou south wind,”[489] &c.
3. Spiritual worship is done with sincerity. When the heart stands
right to God, and the soul performs what it pretends to perform; when
we serve God with our spirits, as the apostle (Rom. i. 9), “God is
my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son:”
this is not meant of the Holy Ghost; for the apostle would never have
called the Spirit of God his own spirit; but with my spirit, that
is, a sincere frame of heart. A carnal worship, whether under the law
or gospel, is, when we are busied about external rites, without an
inward compliance of soul. God demands the heart; “My son, give me thy
heart;”[490] not give me thy tongue, or thy lips, or thy hands; these
may be given without the heart, but the heart can never be bestowed
without these as its attendants. A heap of services can be no more
welcome to God, without our spirits, than all Jacob’s sons could be
to Joseph, without the Benjamin he desired to see. God is not taken
with the cabinet, but the jewel; he first respected Abel’s faith and
sincerity, and then his sacrifice; he disrespected Cain’s infidelity
and hypocrisy, and then his offering. For this cause he rejected the
offerings of the Jews, the prayers of the Pharisees, and the alms of
Ananias and Sapphira, because their hearts and their duties were at
a distance from one another. In all spiritual sacrifices, our spirits
are God’s portion. Under the law, the reins were to be consumed by
the fire on the altar, because the secret intentions of the heart were
signified by them (Psalm vii. 9), “The Lord trieth the heart and the
reins.” It was an ill omen among the heathen, if a victim wanted a
heart. The widow’s mites, with her heart in them, were more esteemed
than the richer offerings without it.[491] Not the quantity of service,
but the will in it, is of account with this infinite Spirit. All
that was to be brought for the framing of the tabernacle was to be
offered “willingly with the heart.”[492] The more of will, the more of
spirituality and acceptableness to God (Psalm cxix. 108), “Accept the
free‑will offering of my lips.” Sincerity is the salt which seasons
every sacrifice. The heart is most like to the object of worship; the
heart in the body is the spring of all vital actions; and a spiritual
soul is the spring of all spiritual actions. How can we imagine God
can delight in the mere service of the body, any more than we can
delight in converse with a carcass? Without the heart it is no worship;
it is a stage play; an acting a part without being that person really
which is acted by us: a hypocrite, in the notion of the word, is a
stage‑player. We may as well say a man may believe with his body, as
worship God only with his body. Faith is a great ingredient in worship;
and it is “with the heart man believes unto righteousness.”[493] We
may be truly said to worship God, {a226} though we want perfection;
but we cannot be said to worship him, if we want sincerity; a statue
upon a tomb, with eyes and hands lifted up, offers as good and true
a service; it wants only a voice, the gestures and postures are the
same; nay, the service is better; it is not a mockery; it represents
all that it can be framed to; but to worship without our spirits, is
a presenting God with a picture, an echo, voice, and nothing else;
a compliment; a mere lie; a “compassing him about with lies.”[494]
Without the heart the tongue is a liar; and the greatest zeal
a dissembling with him. To present the spirit, is to present with
that which can never naturally die; to present him only the body, is
to present him that which is every day crumbling to dust, and will at
last lie rotting in the grave; to offer him a few rags, easily torn; a
skin for a sacrifice, a thing unworthy the majesty of God; a fixed eye
and elevated hands, with a sleepy heart and earthly soul, are pitiful
things for an ever‑blessed and glorious Spirit: nay, it is so far
from being spiritual, that it is blasphemy; to pretend to be a Jew
outwardly, without being so inwardly, is, in the judgment of Christ,
to blaspheme.[495] And is not the same title to be given with as much
reason to those that pretend a worship and perform none? Such a one is
not a spiritual worshipper, but a blaspheming devil in Samuel’s mantle.