not worship, contempt, not adoration, whatever our outward fervency or
protestations may be.[528] Every alienation of our hearts from him is
a real scorn put upon him. The acts of the soul are real, and more the
acts of the man than the acts of the body; because they are the acts
of the choicest part of man, and of that which is the first spring of
all bodily motions; it is the λόγος ἐνδιάθετος, the internal speech
whereby we must speak with God. To give him, therefore, only an
external form of worship without the life of it, is a taking his name
in vain. We mock him, when we mind not what we are speaking to him, or
what he is speaking to us; when the motions of our hearts are contrary
to the motions of our tongues; when we do anything before him slovenly,
impudently, or rashly. As in a lutinist it is absurd to sing one tune
and play another; so it is a foul thing to tell God one thing with
our lips, and think another with our hearts. It is a sin like that
the apostle chargeth the heathens with (Rom. i. 28): “They like not to
retain God in their knowledge.” Their stomachs are sick while they are
upon any duty, and never leave working till they have thrown up all
the spiritual part of worship, and rid themselves of the thoughts of
God, which are as unwelcome and troublesome guests to them. When men
behave themselves in the sight of God, as if God were not God, they
do not only defame him, but deny him, and violate the unchangeable
perfections of the Divine nature.
1. It is against the majesty of God, when we have not awful thoughts
of that great Majesty to whom we address; when our souls cleave
not to him when we petition him in prayer, or when he gives out his
orders to us in his Word. It is a contempt of the majesty of a prince,
if, whilst he is speaking to us, we listen not to him with {a264}
reverence and attention, but turn our backs on him, to play with one
of his hounds, or talk with a beggar; or while we speak to him, to
rake in a dunghill. Solomon adviseth us to “keep our foot when we go
to the house of God” (Eccles. v. 1). Our affections should be steady,
and not slip away again; why? (ver. 2) because “God is in heaven,”
&c. He is a God of majesty; earthly, dirty frames are unsuitable
to the God of heaven; low spirits are unsuitable to the Most High.
We would not bring our mean servants or dirty dogs into a prince’s
presence chamber; yet we bring not only our worldly, but our profane
affections into God’s presence. We give in this case those services
to God which our Governor would think unworthy of him (Mal. i. 8). The
more excellent and glorious God is, the greater contempt of him it is
to suffer such foolish affections to be competitors with him for our
hearts. It is a scorn put upon him to converse with a creature, while
we are dealing with him; but a greater to converse in our thoughts
and fancies with some sordid lust, which is most hateful to him; and
the more aggravation it attracts, in that we are to apprehend him the
most glorious object sitting upon his throne in time of worship, and
ourselves standing as vile creatures before him, supplicating for our
lives, and the conveyance of grace and mercy to our souls; as if a
grand mutineer, instead of humbly begging the pardon of his offended
prince, should present his petition not only scribbled and blotted,
but besmeared with some loathsome excrement. It is unbecoming both the
majesty of God, and the worship itself, to present him with a picture
instead of a substance, and bring a world of nasty affections in
our hearts, and ridiculous toys in our heads before him, and worship
with indisposed and heedless souls. He is a great King (Mal. i. 14):
therefore address to him with fear and reverence.
2. It is against the life of God. Is a dead worship proportioned
to a living God? The separation of heavenly affections from our
souls before God, makes them as much a carcass in his sight, as the
divorce of the soul makes the body a carcass. When the affections
are separated, worship is no longer worship, but a dead offering,
a lifeless bulk; for the essence and spirit of worship is departed.
Though the soul be present with the body in a way of information, yet
it is not present in a way of affection, and this is the worst; for
it is not the separation of the soul from informing that doth separate
a man from God, but the removal of our affections from him. If a
man pretend an application to God, and sleep and snore all the time,
without question such a one did not worship. In a careless worship
the heart is morally dead while the eyes are open: the heart of the
spouse (Cant. v. 2) waked while her eyes slept; and our hearts, on the
contrary, sleep while our eyes wake. Our blessed Saviour hath died to
purge our consciences from dead works and frames, that we may serve
the living God (Heb. ix. 14); to serve God as a God of life. David’s
soul cried and fainted for God under this consideration (Ps. xlii. 2);
but to present our bodies without our spirits, is such a usage of
God, that implies he is a dead image, not worthy of any but a dead
and heartless service, like one of those idols the Psalmist speaks of
(Ps. cxv. 5), that have “eyes, and see not; ears, {a265} and hear not;”
no life in it. Though it be not an objective idolatry, because the
worship is directed to the true God; yet I may call it a subjective
idolatry in regard of the frame, fit only to be presented to some
senseless stock. We intimate God to be no better than an idol, and
to have no more knowledge of us and insight into us, than an idol can
have. If we did believe him to be the living God, we durst not come
before him with services so unsuitable to him, and reproaches of him.
3. It is against the infiniteness of God. We should worship God with
those boundless affections which bear upon them a shadow or image
of his infiniteness; such are the desires of the soul which know no
limits, but start out beyond whatsoever enjoyment the heart of man
possesses. No creeping creature was to be offered to God in sacrifice,
but such as had legs to run, or wings to fly. For us to come before
God with a light creeping frame, is to worship him with the lowest
finite affections, as though anything, though never so mean or torn,
might satisfy an infinite Being; as though a poor shallow creature
could give enough to God without giving him the heart, when, indeed,
we cannot give him a worship proportionable to his infiniteness, did
our hearts swell as large as heaven in our desires for him in every
act of our duties.
4. It is against the spirituality of God. God being a Spirit, calls
for a worship in spirit; to withhold this from him implies him to
be some gross corporeal matter. As a Spirit, he looks for the heart;
a wrestling heart in prayer, a trembling heart in the Word (Isa.
lxvi. 2). To bring nothing but the body when we come to a spiritual
God to beg spiritual benefits, to wait for spiritual communications,
which can only be dispensed to us in a spiritual manner, is unsuitable
to the spiritual nature of God. A mere carnal service implicitly
denies his spirituality, which requires of us higher engagements than
mere corporeal ones. Worship should be rational, not an imaginative
service, wherein is required the activity of our noblest faculties;
and our fancy ought to have no share in it, but in subserviency to
the more spiritual part of our soul.
5. It is against the supremacy of God. As God is one and the only
Sovereign; so our hearts should be one, cleaving wholly to him, and
undivided from him. In pretending to deal with him, we acknowledge his
deity and sovereignty; but in withholding our choicest faculties and
affections from him, and the starting of our minds to vain objects,
we intimate their equality with God, and their right as well as his
to our hearts and affections. It is as if a princess should commit
adultery with some base scullion while she is before her husband,
which would be a plain denial of his sole right to her. It intimates
that other things are superior to God; they are true sovereigns that
engross our hearts. If a man were addressing himself to a prince, and
should in an instant turn his back upon him, upon a beck or nod from
some inconsiderable person; is it not an evidence that that person
that invited him away hath a greater sovereignty over him than that
prince to whom he was applying himself? And do we not discard God’s
absolute dominion over us, when, at the least beck of a corrupt
inclination, we can dispose of our hearts to it, and alienate {a266}
them from God? as they, in Ezek. xxxiii. 32, left the service of God
for the service of their covetousness, which evidenced that they owned
the authority of sin more than the authority of God. This is not to
serve God as our Lord and absolute Master, but to make God serve our
turn, and submit his sovereignty to the supremacy of some unworthy
affection. The creature is preferred before the Creator, when the
heart runs most upon it in time of religious worship, and our own
carnal interest swallows up the affections that are due to God. It is
“an idol set up in the heart” (Ezek. xiv. 4) in his solemn presence,
and attracts that devotion to itself which we only owe to our
Sovereign Lord; and the more base and contemptible that is to which
the spirit is devoted, the more contempt there is of God’s dominion.
Judas’s kiss, with a “Hail Master!” was no act of worship, or an
owning his Master’s authority, but a designing the satisfaction of
his covetousness in the betraying of him.
6. It is against the wisdom of God. God, as a God of order, has put
earthly things in subordination to heavenly; and we, by this unworthy
carriage, invert this order, and put heavenly things in subordination
to earthly; in placing mean and low things in our hearts, and bringing
them so placed into God’s presence, which his wisdom at the creation
put under our feet. A service without spiritual affections is a
“sacrifice of fools” (Eccles. v. 1), which have lost their brains and
understandings: a foolish spirit is very unsuitable to an infinitely
wise God. Well may God say of such a one, as Achish of David, who
seemed mad, “Why have you brought this fellow to play the madman in
my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?” (1 Sam. xxi. 15.)
7. It is against the omnisciency of God. To carry it fair without,
and impertinently within, is as though God had not an all‑seeing eye
that could pierce into the heart, and understand every motion of the
inward faculties; as though God were easily cheated with an outward
fawning service, like an apothecary’s box with a gilded title, that
may be full of cobwebs within. What is such a carriage, but a design
to deceive God, when, with Herod, we pretend to worship Christ, and
intend to murder all the motions of Christ in our souls? A heedless
spirit, an estrangement of our souls, a giving the reins to them to
run out from the presence of God to see every reed shaken with the
wind, is to deny him to be the Searcher of hearts, and the Discerner
of secret thoughts; as though he could not look through us to the
darkness and remoteness of our minds, but were an ignorant God, who
might be put off with the worst as well as the best in our flock. If
we did really believe there were a God of infinite knowledge, who saw
our frames and whether we came dressed with wedding garments suitable
to the duties we are about to perform, should we be so garish, and put
him off with such trivial stuff, without any reverence of his Majesty?
8. It is against the holiness of God. To alienate our spirits is to
offend him while we pretend to worship him; though we may be mighty
officious in the external part, yet our base and carnal affections
make all our worship but as a heap of dung; and who would not look
upon it as an affront to lay dung before a prince’s throne? {a267}
(Prov. xxi. 27), “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination;” how
much more when he brings it with a wicked mind? A putrefied carcass
under the law had not been so great an affront to the holiness of God,
as a frothy unmelted heart, and a wanton fancy, in a time of worship.
God is so holy, that if we could offer the worship of angels, and
the quintessence of our souls in his service, it would be beneath his
infinite purity; how unworthy, then, are they of him, when they are
presented not only without the sense of our uncleanness, but sullied
with the fumes and exhalations of our corrupt affections, which are as
so many plague‑spots upon our duties, contrary to the unspotted purity
of the Divine nature? Is not this an unworthy conceit of God, and
injurious to his infinite holiness?
9. It is against the love and kindness of God. It is a condescension
in God to admit a piece of earth to offer up a duty to him, when
he hath myriads of angels to attend him in his court, and celebrate
his praise. To admit man to be an attendant on him, and a partner
with angels, is a high favor. It is not a single mercy, but a heap
of mercies, to be admitted into the presence of God (Ps. v. 7): “I
will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercies.” When the
blessed God is so kind as to give us access to his majesty, do we not
undervalue his kindness when we deal uncivilly with him, and deny him
the choicest part of ourselves? It is a contempt of his sovereignty,
as our spirits are due to him by nature; a contempt of his goodness,
as our spirits are due to him by gratitude. How abusive a carriage
is it to make use of his mercy to encourage our impudence, that
should excite our fear and reverence! How unworthy would it be for
an indigent debtor to bring to his indulgent creditor an empty purse
instead of payment! When God holds out his golden sceptre to encourage
our approaches to him, stands ready to give us the pardon of sin and
full felicity, the best things he hath, is it a fit requital of his
kindness to give him a formal outside only, a shadow of religion; to
have the heart overswayed with other thoughts and affections, as if
all his proffers were so contemptible as to deserve only a slight at
our hands? It is a contempt of the love and kindness of God.
10. It is against the sufficiency and fulness of God. When we give God
our bodies, and the creature our spirits, it intimates a conceit that
there is more content to be had in the creature than in God blessed
forever; that the waters in the cistern are sweeter than those in
the fountain. Is not this a practical giving God the lie, and denying
those promises wherein he hath declared the satisfaction he can give
to the spirit, as he is the God of the spirits of all flesh? If we
did imagine the excellency and loveliness of God were worthy to be
the ultimate object of our affections, the heart would attend more
closely upon him, and be terminated in him; did we believe God to
be all‑sufficient, full of grace and goodness, a tender Father, not
willing to forsake his own, willing, as well as able, to supply their
wants, the heart would not so lamely attend upon him, and would not
upon every impertinency be diverted from him. There is much of a wrong
notion of God, and a predominancy of the world above him in the heart,
when we can more savorly relish the thoughts of {a268} low inferior
things than heavenly, and let our spirits upon every trifling occasion
be fugitive from him; it is a testimony that we make not God our
chiefest good. If apprehensions of his excellency did possess our
souls, they would be fastened on him, glued to him; we should not
listen to that rabble of foolish thoughts that steal our hearts
so often from him. Were our breathings after God as strong as the
pantings of the hart after the water‑brooks, we should be like that
creature, not diverted in our course by every puddle. Were God the
predominant satisfactory object in our eye, he would carry our whole
soul along with him. When our spirits readily retreat from God in
worship upon every giddy motion, it is a kind of repentance that ever
we did come near him, and implies that there is a fuller satisfaction,
and more attractive excellency in that which doth so easily divert us,
than in that God to whose worship we did pretend to address ourselves.
It is as if, when we are petitioning a prince, we should immediately
turn about, and make request to one of his guard, as though so mean a
person were more able to give us the boon we want than the sovereign
is.
II. Consideration by way of motive. To have our spirits off from God
in worship is a bad sign: it was not so in innocence. The heart of
Adam could cleave to God: the law of God was engraven upon him, he
could apply himself to the fulfilling of it without any twinkling.
There was no folly and vanity in his mind, no independency in his
thoughts, no duty was his burden; for there was in him a proneness
to, and a delight in, all the duties of worship. It is the fall hath
distempered us; and the more unwieldiness there is in our spirits, the
more carnal our affections are in worship, the more evidence there is
of the strength of that revolted state.
1. It argues much corruption in the heart. As by the eructations of
the stomach, we may judge of the windiness and foulness of it; so,
by the inordinate motions of our minds and hearts, we may judge of
the weakness of its complexion. A strength of sin is evidenced by the
eruptions and ebullitions of it in worship, when they are more sudden,
numerous, and vigorous than the motions of grace. When the heart
is apt, like tinder, to catch fire from Satan, it is a sign of much
combustible matter suitable to his temptation. Were not corruption
strong, the soul could not turn so easily from God when it is in his
presence, and hath an advantageous opportunity to create a fear and
awe of God in it. Such base fruit could not sprout up so suddenly,
were there not much sap and juice in the root of sin. What communion
with a living root can be evidenced without exercises of an inward
life? That spirit, which is a well of living waters in a gracious
heart, will be especially springing up when it is before God.
2. It shows much affection to earthly things, and little to heavenly.
There must needs be an inordinate affection to earthly things, when,
upon every slight solicitation, we can part with God, and turn the
back upon a service glorious for him and advantageous for ourselves,
to wed our hearts to some idle fancy that signifies nothing. How
can we be said to entertain God in our affections, when we give
him not the precedency in our understandings, but let every {a269}
trifle jostle the sense of God out of our minds? Were our hearts
fully determined to spiritual things, such vanities could not seat
themselves in our understandings, and divide our spirits from God.
Were our hearts balanced with a love to God, the world could never
steal our hearts so much from his worship, but his worship would
draw our hearts to it. It shows a base neutrality in the greatest
concernments; a halting between God and Baal; a contrariety between
affection and conscience, when natural conscience presses a man to
duties of worship, and his other affections pull him back, draw him
to carnal objects, and make him slight that whereby he may honor God.
God argues the profaneness of the Jews’ hearts from the wickedness
they brought into his house, and acted there (Jer. xxiii. 11): “Yea,
in my house,” that is, my worship, “I found their wickedness,” saith
the Lord. Carnality in worship is a kind of an idolatrous frame;
when the heart is renewed, idols are cast to the moles and the bats
(Isa. ii. 20).
3. It shows much hypocrisy to have our spirits off from God. The mouth
speaks, and the carriage pretends what the heart doth not think; there
is a dissent of the heart from the pretence of the body. Instability
is a sure sign of hypocrisy. Double thoughts argue a double heart.
The wicked are compared to chaff (Ps. i. 4), for the uncertain and
various motions of their minds, by the least wind of fancy. The least
motion of a carnal object diverts the spirit from God, as the scent
of carrion doth the raven from the flight it was set upon. The people
of God are called God’s spouse, and God calls himself their husband;
whereby is noted the most intimate union of the soul with God; and
that there ought to be the highest love and affection to him, and
faithfulness in his worship; but when the heart doth start from him
in worship, it is a sign of the unsteadfastness of it with God, and
a disrelish of any communion with him; it is, as God complains of the
Israelites, a going a whoring after our own imaginations. As grace
respects God as the object of worship, so it looks most upon God in
approaching to him. Where there is a likeness and love, there is a
desire of converse and intimacy; if there be no spiritual entwining
about God in our worship, it is a sign there is no likeness to him, no
true sense of him, no renewed image of God in us; every living image
will move strongly to join itself with its original copy, and be glad,
with Jacob, to sit steadily in those chariots that shall convey him
to his beloved Joseph.
III. Consider the danger of a carnal worship.
1. We lose the comfort of worship. The soul is a great gainer when it
offers a spiritual worship, and as great a loser when it is unfaithful
with God. Treachery and perfidiousness hinder commerce among men;
so doth hypocrisy in its own nature communion with God. God never
promised anything to the carcass, but to the spirit of worship. God
hath no obligation upon him, by any word of his, to reward us with
himself, when we perform it not to himself; when we give an outside
worship, we have only the outside of an ordinance; we can expect
no kernel, when we give God only the shell: he that only licks the
outside of the glass, can never be refreshed {a270} with the rich
cordial enclosed within. A cold and lazy formality will make God
to withdraw the light of his countenance, and not shine with any
delightful communications upon our souls; but if we come before him
with a liveliness of affections, and steadiness of heart, he will draw
the veil, and cause his glory to display itself before us. An humble
praying Christian, and a warm, affectionate Christian in worship, will
soon find a God who is delighted with such frames, and cannot long
withhold himself from the soul. When our hearts are inflamed with love
to him in worship, it is a preparation to some act of love on his part,
whereby he intends further to gratify us. When John was in the Spirit
on the Lord’s day, that is, in spiritual employment, and meditation,
and other duties, he had that great revelation of what should happen
to the church in all ages (Rev. i. 10); his being in the Spirit,
intimates his ordinary course on that day, and not any extraordinary
act in him, though it was followed with an extraordinary discovery
of God to him; when he was thus engaged, “he heard a voice behind
him.” God doth not require of us spirituality in worship to advantage
himself, but that we might be prepared to be advantaged by him. If we
have a clear and well‑disposed eye, it is not a benefit to the sun,
but fits us to receive benefits from his beams. Worship is an act that
perfects our own souls; they are then most widened by spiritual frames,
to receive the influence of divine blessings, as an eye most opened
receives the fruit of the sun’s light better than the eye that is shut.
The communications of God are more or less, according as our spiritual
frames are more or less in our worship; God will not give his
blessings to unsuitable hearts. What a nasty vessel is a carnal heart
for a spiritual communication! The chief end of every duty enjoined
by God, is to have communion with him; and therefore it is called a
drawing near to God; it is impossible, therefore, that the outward
part of any duty can answer the end of God in his institution. It is
not a bodily appearance or gesture whereby men can have communion with
God, but by the impressions of the heart, and reflections of the heart
upon God; without this, all the rich streams of grace will run beside
us, and the growth of the soul be hindered and impaired. A “diligent
hand makes rich,” saith the wise man; a diligent heart in spiritual
worship, brings in rich incomes to the humble and spiritual soul.