His Scepter, His Back Parts, His Anger, His Fury, His Repentance, His Grief, and Sorrow; none of which are properly in His fpiritual, immortal, and unchangeable Nature; but because our Dulnefs and Slowness is fuch, in apprehending Things fpiritual, it being almoft without the Sphere and Comprehenfion of the Soul while in the Body, which is almoft addicted unto the Senfes in the Body; therefore the Lord accommodates Himself unto our Terms and Notions; balbutit nobifcum, he like a kind Father ftummers with his ftammering Children, fpeaks to them in their own Dialect; but withal would have us conceive He is not really fuch a One, but infinitely removed in His own Being from all thefe Imperfections. So when you hear of these Terms in Scripture, O beware ye conceive God to be fuch a one, as yourselves: But, in thefe Expreffions not beseeming his Majefty, because below him, learn your own Ignorance of his glorious Majefty, your Dulness and Incapacity to be fuch, as the Holy One muft come down as it were in fome bodily Appearance, e're you can understand any Thing of him. III. If God be a Spirit, then he is moft perfect, and most powerful: All Imperfection, all Infirmity, and Weakness in the Creature, is founded in the grofs and material Part of it. You fee the more Matter and bodily Subftance is in any Thing, it is the more lumpish, heavy, and void of all Action; it is the more fpiritual, pure, and refined Part of the Creation, that hath moft Activity in it, and is the Principle of all Motions, and Actions; You fee a little Flie hath more Action in it, than a great Mountain, because there are Spirits in it which move it. The Bottom of the World contains the Dregs of the Creation as it were, a Mass and Lump of heavy Earth, but the higher and more diftant Bodies be from that, the more pure and fubtile they are; and the more pure and fubtile they be, the more Action, Virtue, and Efficacy they have: The Earth ftands like a dead Lump, but the Sea moves, and the Air being thinner and purer than both, moves more easily and fwiftly: But go up higher, and still the Motion is swifter, and the Vertue and Influence is the more powerful: What is a dead Body when the Soul and Spirit is out of it? It hath no more Vertue nor Efficacy, than so much Clay, although by the Prefence of the Spirit of it, it was active, agile, fwift, ftrong and nimble; fo much then as any Thing hath of Spirit in it, fo much the more perfect and powerful it is. Then I beseech you confider what a one the God of the Spirits of all Flesh muft be, the very Fountain-fpirit, the Self-being fpirit, dvou. When the Soul of a Man, or the Spirit of a Horse, hath fo much Vertue, to ftir up a Lump of Earth, and to quicken it to fo many diverfe Operations, even though that Soul and Spirit did not, nav, could not make that Piece of Earth they dwell in, then, what muft His Power and Vertue be, that made all those Things? Who gave Power and Vertue, even to the Spirits of all Flesh; their Horfes faith God, are Flefb, and not Spirit, Ifa. xxx. Because, in Comparison of His Majefty, the very Spirits in them, are but like a dead Lump of Flesh? If he fhould draw in his Breath (as it were) they would have no more Virtue to fave the Ifraelites, then fo many Lumps of Flesh or Clay: For He is the Spirit of all Spirits, that quickens, actuates, and moves them to their feveral Operations, and Influences, Anima mundi, & anima animarum mundi. An Angel hath more Power than all Men uni ted out a Breach, and pierce thorow it, with out any Divifion of it: How much more doth the Maker of all Spirits fill all in ́all; the Thickness of the Earth doth not keep Him out, nor the Largenefs of the Heavens, contain Him: How then do we circumscribe and limit Him within the Bounds of ted in one Body. Satan is called the Prince of the Air, and God of this World, for he hath more Efficacy and Vertue, to commove the Air, and raife Tempefts, than all the Swarms of multiplied Mankind, though gathered into one Army; if the Lord did not reftrain and limit his Power, he were able to destroya publick House, or the Heavens? O, whole Nations at once: An Angel killed many thousands of Senacbarib's Army in one Night, what would many Angels do then, if the Lord pleased to apply them to that Work? O what is Man that he fbould magnifie bimself, or Glory in Strength, or Skill? Beafts are ftronger than Men, but Man's weaker Strength being ftrengthned with more Skill, proves ftronger than they; but in refpect of Angels he hath neither Strength nor Wisdom. how narrow Thoughts have we of His immenfe Greatnefs? Who, without Divifion or Multiplication of Himfelf, fills all the Corners of the World, whofe indivisible Unity is equivalent to an infinite Extenfion, and Divifibility; how ofren We pray you, do you reflect upon this? God is near band every one of us, who of us thinks of a Divine Majefty nearer us than our very Souls and Confciences, in whom we live, and move, and have our IV. If God be a Spirit, then He is not Being? How is it we move, and think circumfcribed by any Place; and if an in-not with wonder of that firft Mover, in finite Spirit, then he is every where, no whom we move? How is it we live Place can include Him, and no Body can and perfevere in Being, and do not always exclude Him. He is within all Things, confider this Fountain-being, in whom we yet not included nor bounded within then, live and have, our Being? O, the Atheand He is without all Things, yet not ex-ifin of many Souls profeffing God! cluded from them: Intra omnia, non do fpeak, walk, eat and drink, and go atamen inclufus in illis; extra omnia,bout all our Businesses, as if we were selfnec tamen exclufus ab illis. You know beings, independent of any, never thinking every Body hath its own Bounds and Li- of that all prefent quickening Spirit, that mits circumfcribed to it, and shoots out all acts us, moves us, fpeaks in us, makes us other bodily Things out of the fame Space, to walk, and eat and drink; as the barfo that before the leaft Body want fome barous People, whọ fee, hear, speak, and Space, it will put all the Univerfe in Mo- reafon, and never once reflect upon the tion, and make every Thing about it to Principle of all these to difcern a Soul change its Place, and poffefs another; but within: This is brutish, and in this, Man a Spirit can pafs thorow all of them, and who was made of a ftraight Countenance, never difturb them; a Legion may be in one Man, and have Room enough. If felf and his Maker, till he might be dif to look upward to God, and to know him-there were a Wall of Brafs, or Tower, ferenced from all Creatures below, is dehaving no Open, neither above, or be-generated, and become like the Beafts neath, no Body could enter, but by break that perish? Who of us believes this alling thorow, and making a Breach into it, prefent God? We imagine that he is but an Angel or Spirit could ftorm it with- but up in Heaven, and takes no fuch No tice | feeing Spirit, as well as all-prefent; There is no fearching of His Understanding, Ifa. xl. 28. and Pfal. cxlvii. 5. Who hath directed His Spirit, or being His Coun Ifa. xl. 13. He calls the Generations from the Beginning, and known to Him are all His Works fron the Beginning. O, that you would always fet this God before you, or rather set your felves always in His Prefence,. in whofe Sight you are always: How would, it compofe our Hearts to Reverence and Fear in all our Actions, if we did, indeed, believe that the Judge of all the World is au Eye-witness to our most retired and fecret Thoughts and Doings? If any Man were as privy to thy Thoughts, as thy tice of Affairs below; but certainly, He is not fo far from us: Though He fhew more of His Glory above, yet He is as prefent and obfervant below. V.If He be a Spirit, then as he is incom-fellor bath taught Him? Rom. xi. 34. prehenfible and immenfe in Being, fo alfo there is no Comprehenfion of His Knowledge... The nearer any Creature comes to the Nature of a Spirit, the more Knowing and Understanding it is; Life is the moft excellent Being, and Understanding is the most excellent Life. Materia eft iners & mortua, the nearer any thing is to the earthly Matter, as it hath less Action, fo lefs Life and Feeling; Man is nearaan Angel than Beafts, and therefore He hath a knowing understanding Spirit in Him. There is a Spirit in Man, and the more or less this Spirit of Man is abftract-own Spirit and Confcience, thou wouldst ed from fenfual and material Things, it blush and be ashamed before him; If every Lives the more excellent and pure Life, one for us could open a Window into one aand is, as it were, more or less delivered nothers Spirits, I think this Assembly should from the Chains of the Body. Thefe difmifs as quickly, as that of Chrift's, when Souls that have never rifen above, and re- he bade them that were without Sin caft tired from fenfible Things, O, how nar- a Stone at the Woman, we could not row are they, how captivated within the look one upon another: Othen, Why are Prison of the Flesh? But when the Lord we fo little apprehenfive of the all-fearchJefus comes to fet free, He delivers a ing Eye of God, who can even declare to Soul from this Bondage, He makes thefe us our Thought before it be? How. Chains fall off, and leads the Soul apart to much Atheism is rooted in the Heart of converse with God Himself, and to medi- the most holy? We do not always metate on Things not feen, Sin, Wrath, Hell, ditate, with David, Pfal. cxxxix. on that and Heaven; and the further it goes from all-fearching and all-knowing Spirit, who it felf, and the more abftracted it is from knows our down-fitting, and up-rifing, the Confideration of prefent Things, the and understands our Thoughts afar off. more it lives a Life like Angels: And and who is acquainted with all our therefore, when the Soul is feparated Ways. O, How would we ponder our from the Body, it is then perfectly free, Path, and examine our Words, and conand hath the largest Extent of Knowledge: fider our Thoughts before Hand, if we A Man's Soul must be almost like Paul's fet our felves in the View of fuch a Spirit, (whether out of the Body, or in the Bo- that is within us, and without us, before dy, I know not) if he would understand us, and behind us. He may spare Sin aright fpiritual Things: Now then, thisners as long as he pleases, for there is no infinite Spirit is an all-knowing Spirit, all-efcaping from Him; you cannot go out of His Dominions, nay, you cannot run out of His prefence, Pfal. vii, 8, 9. TH He can reach you when He pleases, therefore He may delay as long as He pleases. John iv. 24. GOD is a Spirit, &c. "Here are two common Notions engraven on the Hearts of all Men by Nature, That God is, and that He muft 'be worshipped; and thefe two five and die together; they are clear, or biotted together. According as the Apprehenfion of God is clear, and diftinct, and more deeply engraven on the Soul; fo is this Notion of Man's Duty of worshipping God, clear and imprinted on the Soul; and whenever the Actions of Men do prove, that the Conception of the Worthip of God is obliterate or worn out; when ever their Tranfgreffions do witnefs, that a Man hath not a tively Notion of this Duty of God's Worship, that doth alfo prove, that the very Notion of a Godhead is worn out, and cancelled in the Soul; for How could Souls conceive of God as He is indeed, but they muft needs, with Mofes, Exod. xxxiv. make hafte to pray and worship? It is the Principle of the very Law of Nature, which shall make the whole World inexcufable, because that when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God. A Father muft have Honour, and a Mafter muft have Fear, and God, who is the common Parent, and abfolute Mafter of all, must have Worship, in which Reverence and Fear, mixed with Rejoycing and Affection, predomines; it is fuppofed, and put beyond all Queftion that He muft be: He that worships bim, &c. It's not fimply faid, God is a Spirit and must be worshipped; no, for none can doubt of it. If God be, then certainly Worship is due to Him, for Who is fo worshipful? And because it is fo beyond all queftion, therefore Wo to the irreligious World that never puts it in Practice: O, what Excufe can you have, who have not fo much as a Form of Godlinels? Do you not know, that it's beyond all Controverfy, that God must be worshipped? Why then do you deny it in your Practice which all Men muft confefs in their Confcience? Is not He God the Lord, a living and Self-being Spirit ? Then, Muft He not have Worshippers? Beafts are not created for it, it is you, O Sons of Men, whom He made for His own Praife; and it is not more fuitable to your Natures than it is honourable and glorious. This is the great Dignity and Excellency you are privileged with,' beyond the brute Beafts, to have Spirits within you capable of knowing and ac knowledging the God of your Spirits : Why then do you both rob and spoil God of his Glory, and caft away your own Excellency? Why do you love to trample on your Ornaments, and wallow in the Puddle, like Beafts, void of Religion, bur fo much worse than Beafts, that you ought to be better, and were created for a more noble Defign. O bafe-fpirited Wretches, who hang down your Souls to this Earth and follow the Dictates of your own Senfe andLuft, and have not fo much as an exter nal Form of worshipping God; How far are you come short of the noble Design of your Creation, and the high End of your immortal Souls? If you will not worship God, know, He will have Worshippers; certainly, He will not want it, because He K hath hath defigned fo many Souls to ftand before Him, and worship Him, and that Number will not fail: He might indeed, have wanted Worshippers; For what Advantage is it to Him? But in this He declares His Love and Refpect to Man, that He will not want Honour and Service from Him: It is rather to put Honour upon Him, and to make Him bleffed and happy, than for any Gain can amount to Himself by it; for this is indeed the true Honour and Happiness of Man, not to be worshipped and ferved of other Fellowcreatures, but to worship and ferye the Creator: This is the highest Advancement of a Soul, to lye low before Him, and to obey Him, and have our Service accepted of His Majefty: I befeech you ftrive about this noble Service. Since He muft have Worshippers, O, fay within your Souls, I must be one; if He had but one, I could not be content if I were not that one; fince the Father is feeking Worfbippers, Ver. 23. O, let Him find thee. Offer thy felf to Him, faying, Lord here ain I. Should He feek you, who can have no Advantage from you? Should He go about fo earneft a Search for true Worshippers, who can have no profit by them? And why do ye not feek Him, fince to you all the Gain and Profit redounds? Shall He feek you to 'make you Happy, and why do ye not feek Him, and Happiness in Him? It is your own Service, I may truly fay, and not His fo much; for in ferving Him thou doft rather ferve thy felf, for all the Benefit redounds to thy felf, though thou must not intend fuch an End, to ferve Him for thy felf, but for His Name's Sake; elfe thou shalt neither honour Him,, nor advantage thy felf. I pray you let Him not feek in vain, for in thefe Afflictions He is Seeking Worshippers, and if He find you, you are found and faved indeed. Do not then forfake your own Mercy, to run from Him who follows you with Salvation. As none can be ignorant that God is, and must be worshipped, fo it is unknown to the World in what manner He must be worshipped: The moft part of Men have fome Form in worshipping God, and please themselves in it fo well that they think God is well-pleafed with it, but few there are who know indeed, what it is to worthip Him in a manner acceptable to His Majefty: Now you know it is all one not to worship Him at all, as not to wor fhip Him in that Way He likes to be wor shipped: Therefore the most Part of Men are but Self-worshippers, because they please none but themselves in it; it is not the Worship his Soul hath chofen, but their own Invention, for you must take this as an undeniable Ground, that God must be worshipped according to his own Will and Pleafure, and not according to your Hu-" mour, or Invention: therefore His Soul abhors Will-worship, 'devised by Men out of ignorant Zeal, or Superftition, though there might feemmuch Devotion in it, and much Affection to God; as in the Ifraelites facrificing their Children what more feem. ing felf-denial? and, yet what more real Self-idolatry? God owns not fuch a Ser. vice, for it is not Service and Obedience to His Will and Pleasure, but to Men's own Will and Humour: Therefore a Man muft not look for a Reward, but from Himself. Now it is not only Will-wor fhip, when the Matter and Subftance of the Worship is not commanded of God, but alfo when a commanded Worship is not difcharged in the appointed Manner : Therefore, O how few true Worshippers will the Father find? True Worship must have Truth, for the Subftance; and Spirit, for the Manner of it; Else it is доб |