A

SERMON

Preached at the

ROLLS CHAPEL,

April 2, 1699.

The Duty of External Worship.

PSALM xcv 6.

O come let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.

TH

HESE words are taken from an hymn, which is very fitly placed at the entrance of the morning devotions of the church: It being a folemn and earnest invitation to the public worship of God that follows; and probably employ ed to that purpofe at the beginning of the fervice ufed in the Jewish temple.

In that hymn, we are called upon to pay all the parts of our internal and external homage.

The words, which I have chosen, mention on ly the latter of thefe, outward adoration; which they do, by expreffing the feveral modes of it; as

wor/bip

worshipping, bowing down, and kneeling before God: terms, which those who are skilled in the original, have been at fome pains to explain, fo as to fettle the distinct meaning of each of them. 1 fhall wave that enquiry, as not very useful, and confider the words in their more free and general fenfe; as they imply all thofe devout poftures of body, in which outward worship may be fuppofed to confift.

To prefs upon you, as effectually as I can, the exercife of thefe, when we thus meet together in God's fanctuary, fhall be the bufinefs of my prefent difcourfe.

In which I fhall endeavour to fhew how requifite a reverend and pious demeanour in the public fervice of the church is, in order to render our devotion acceptable to God.

This perhaps, at first sight, may seem too plain a propofition to need any proof: And it will be thought, that there is no good Chriftian in the world, who is not very well fatisfied of the truth of it. And yet, certain it is, that there are, among those who aim at a more than ordinary purity in the worship of God, many fincere but deluded perfons, who difapprove and deny it; who think external modes of worship, not only unneceffary, but fuperftitious, now under the gofpel difpenfation, when, they fay, all bodily fervice is done away, the law of outward rites and ceremonies is abolished, and the true worshippers of God are to worship him only in fpirit and truth, John iv. 24.

*. And even among those who admit the neceffi ty of bodily worship in the theory, yet how many

are

are there that deny it in their practice, and fo behave themfelves in the public fervice of the church, as to make it appear, that this truth has not yet in good earnest reached their hearts, or not funk very deep into them: Or if it has the impreffions it once made upon their minds, are now grown fo faint and weak, that they operate but little, unless by proper arguments and motives they be continually excited and kept alive in them. In order therefore to convince thofe who fee 'not to have fufficiently confidered the importance of this duty; and in order alfo to raise the devo'tion of fuch as are remifs and carelefs in the dif charge of it; I fhall, in what follows, confider external worship, as a fit and reasonable duty, upon these three feveral accounts. Either as one part of that natural homage which the whole man, foul and body, does, by the firft principles of reafon, and law of his nature, owe to his fovereign Lord, his great Creator and Preferver. Or as an help and affiftance towards promoting the fpiriritual worship of our fouls. Or laltly, as an outward fign, by which we exprefs to others the religious efteem and veneration that dwells in us: That is (in a word) it may be confidered with relation to God, ourfelves, or our neighbour.

t

I. Firft,, then, external adoration may be con'fidered as a part of that natural homage, which the whole man, foul and body, owes to God, upon the account of his creation and prefervation of us, and his fovereign dominion over us.

If we are to worship God for the being, and the benefits which we receive at his hands, as the

plain rules of reason inform us ; then does it seem agreeable to the fame reafon, that we should make ufe of all thofe feveral ways of worship, which do beft exprefs the total and entire dependance we have on him. The foul worships him, by framing to itself awful ideas of his majefty and great excellencies, by invoking aid and affiftance from him, and by putting up praises to him. The body worships him, by bowing and proftrating itself; and by all thofe humble and devoutpostures, which fuit beft with thofe inward affections and difpofitions of the mind. Both together make up that complet harmony of divine worship, which refults from the agreement of the feveral parts of our frame in the fame acts of acknowledgment, that "odour of a sweet smell, a facrifice acceptable, well pleafing to God," Phil iv. 18.

Indeed as we have no way of forming to ourfelves any idea of God, but by confidering the feveral limited perfections and excellencies, that are variously scattered among his creatures, and attributing them to him without bounds; fo have we no other way of applying ourfelves to him, as his vaffals, his dependants, and the works of his hands, than by confidering what are thofe inward and outward marks of refpect, which we ufually pay to the dignity of any man here upon earth, to his authority over us, or his beneficence towards us; and by giving them to God, in a much higher degree, than we do to man. Now, the expreffion of our esteem of any earthly good, the refpect we bear towards perfons of great excellence, parents, benefactors, or governors, is contained in these two things; a veneration of

mind

mind for them, and a fubmiffion of body to thein.

And whoever fails in either of thefe, is, by the general confent of mankind, reckoned to be fo far wanting in his duty, and to deviate from those rules of fubordination, which God has made neceffary for this world.

Of this the mind of man is very fenfible; and being therefore confcious of the fuperlative excellencies of the divine being, and of the infinite goodness of its nature towards us, finds itself uneafy under these apprehenfions, till it has paid its due homage, its debt of honour to it. Which, nevertheless, it has no ability to do, otherwise than by applying to God thofe outward fenfible marks of respect, and those inward fubmiffions of foul which are in ufe among the fons of men.

To these therefore it flies, thefe it lays hold of, eager and impatient to do fomething (it knows not well what) in humble acknowledgment of his attributes, and in return to his many loving kindneffes.

It fees very well, how difproportioned all our acts of homage are to the divine greatnefs: That God dwells in inacceffible light, to which none of our fervices can reach ; in the glory of an eternal majefty, which nothing we can do, can either add to, or diminish. Nevertheless, perceiving in itself a restlefs principle, exciting it continually to the love and honour of God; ftrong endeavours after gratitude, and no other way of exerting them, but by inward and outward acts of worship; thefe, how infignificant foever, it ventures to pay, in fure confidence, that they will VOL. IV. P

be