Page images
PDF
EPUB

be grateful to that being, which “ accepteth according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not," 2 Cor. vi 12.

Thus does external adoration become a point: of natural homage, due to the fupreme Lord of: the world, in token of that intire dependance we have on him; the whole man, foul and body, which both equally came forth from his hands, and are both equally fuftained by him. Both therefore must join in paying the common tribute of praife; which, however to him it may be no thing worth, of lefs account than a drop of the bucket, or a small duft of the balance "If. xL 15. yet to us-ward is the very law of our nature, and our bounden duty and fervice.

[ocr errors]

And this is a way of reasoning, which the Holy Ghost in both teftaments hath fanctified, and taught us to ufe. We are invited by the good Pfalmift in my text, to "bow down and kneel before God." And the reafon follows: "For he is the Lord our God, and, we are, the people pf his hands." Agreeable to which the apofile. urges us, to "glorify God in our body, and in our fpirit, which are God's" We are to glorify. him in our body, as well as our fpirit, by outward as well as inward devotion; fince there is the fame argument for both; they are Gods: His they are, and to him they must do their homage,

f

And therefore 'tis a remarkable paffage, which the fame apoftle hath; Rom, xii. 1. "I befeech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you prefent your bodies a living facrifice, holy, acceptable unto God; which is your reasonable

fervice,

Tervice Though he mentions only the prefenting our bodies, yet he gives that the name of our reasonable fervice," nhoyiùn Xalgtix'vpwv, worship agreeable to reafon, and to the fuggeftions of our natural faculties.

2

We all look for the glorification, not only of "our fouls, but bodies, in the life to come. Now a reward fuppofeth a work: It is meet and right therefore, that we fhould worship and g orify God in this life with the body as well as the foul, if fo be we should expect that God fhould glorify

both our bodies and fouls in another." The outward worship, without the inward, is dead; and again, the inward, without the outward, is not complete; even as the glorification of the foul, feparate from the body, is not, nor thall be confummate, till the body be again raifed and reuifited to it.

Indeed they who derogate fo much from bodily worthip in the fervice of the true God, do by confequence render idolatry a fin far lefs heinous in degre than it is. For the fin of idolatry confifts, we know, in our communicating that honour to a creature, which is due unto the Creator 'alone. And therefore, in the fame proportion as external worthip is due to the Creator, will the grievoufnefs and guilt of that fin be, by which we transfer that worthip from the Creator to the creature; for it cannot be denied, but that part of the fin of idolatry confift even in the outward worship given to an idol. And therefore, if outward worship be 'not infifted on with any Arictnefs now under the gofpel, as a debt due to P 2 God,

God, neither will the paying it to idols be in any high degree culpable.

Thus does the confideration outward worship, as it refpects God, the object of it, afford us one powerful motive to a compofed and folemn behaviour in the public fervice of the church. Let us fee, what force it will have, as it relates to ourfelves; Or as it is,

.

II. Secondly, an help and affiftance, towards promoting the fpiritual worship of of our fouls.

There is fo close a connexion betwen the mind and its organs, that they act, as it were, by confent; ad the motions of the one do commonly, and in fome degree, pafs into the other. And this natural fympathy fhews itself no where more remarkably than in acts of devotion. When the mind is warmed with heavenly thoughts, and wrought up into fome degrees of holy ecftafy, it ftays not there, but communicates these impreffions to the body; and excites thofe feveral actions without that carry a resemblance to what is done within.

On the other fide, devout poftures of body, when perceived and attended to by him that ufes them, do as certainly pafs onward and impart their force to the mind alfo; raifing there thofe feveral paffions and emotions, to which the outward act is naturally conjoined. 'Tis true the rife of all is originally from within; there the fprings of action firft begin to play; and from thence orders are fent out to the body, what motions fhall arife. But then, after that this engine thus moved, acts backward upon its first principle, the foul;

re

returns the force, that was lent it from thence, with intereft; and improves that fpark of holy fire, which firft fprung up there, into a great and mighty flame.

External worship then becomes this way a juft and reasonable duty, inafmuch as it is naturally fitted to excite like inward acts of devotion; and being itself perceived, does, in a way not perceiv ed by those who yet feel the effects of it, work up on the most hidden powers of the mind. And it is very well it does fo: For the mind of man is in the duties of religion fo little mistress of strict a:tention, fo unable to fix itself fteadily even on God, its best and worthieft object, that it cannot have too many affiftances from without, in order to it. As therefore God hath fo tempered the body together in all its members, that "the eye cannot fay unto the hand, I have no need of thee; nor the head again unto the feet, I have no need of you :" 1 Cor. xii. 21. fo has he also tempered the whole frame of man in fuch a manner, as that the parts of it may mutually fupport each other. Nor can

the foul, in it most spiritual and fublime acts, thofe of devotion, reject the body, as ufelefs and unaffifting. "Nay much more" (as St. Paul continues his reafoning) "that part which seems to be more feeble, is neceffary." I Cor. xii. 22.

We usually blame the body to an high degree, as the great clog and hindrance of the foul; the obftructer of its free and natural motions, the offerer of impious, of filthy, of vain images; the follicitor to every evil act, all that defiles the man. And this is generally what may be faid of it, with a great deal of justice. For it is all this, and it

doce

does all this, in a thousand several inftances. But in the cafe of devotion now before us,things may be far otherwife managed, and the body rendered so useful and ferviceable to the foul in this duty, as to make amends (as it were) for the obstructions it gives it in the performance of many others. Here it may be made to draw equally in the yoke of duty; Nay even to give wings to the mind, which it prefieth down, and overwhelms on many other occafions. Nor is the body more beholden to the foul, for the beginning of its motions, than the foul afterwards is to the body, for the increase of hers. But

III. Thirdly, We have still another way of confidering outward worthip, as it is a fign, by which we exprefs to others the religious efteem and ve nération that dwells in us. And we shall find, that from hence too we are highly obliged to the moft folemn and devout use of it. For as in the former instances it has appeared to be an inftrument of God's honour, and our own particular advantage, fo here we fhall find that it reaches even to the common good of our neighbour too.

And certainly great are the advantages which the people of God, when they are met together, do mutually receive from it. The cold and remifs worshiper is, at the fight of an exemplary piety, kindled into fome degres of holy warmth; the fervent and devout in the prefence of it, becomes yet more enflamed. A religious emulation rifes then in the breafts of the faithful, an holy strife and defire of excelling. He that fees another compofed in his behaviour throughout, and fixed

down

« PreviousContinue »