LXXX sermons preached at the parish-church of St. Mary Magdalene Milk-street, London whereof nine of them not till now published / by the late eminent and learned divine Anthony Farindon ... ; in two volumes, with a large table to both.

The Sixteenth SERMON. (Book 16)

PART II.

1 COR. VI. 20.

For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorifie God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

THese words are a Logical Enthymeme, consisting of two parts; an Antecedent, Ye are bought with a price; and a Consequent naturally following, Therefore glorifie God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's; God's by Creation, and God's by Redemp∣tion; the Body bought and redeemed from the dust, to which it must have fallen for ever; and the Soul from a worse death, the death of sin, from those im∣purities which bound it over to an eternity of punishment; and there∣fore both to be consecrated to him, who bought them. How God is to be glorified in our spirit we have already shewn, to wit, by a kind of as∣similation, by framing and fashioning our selves to the will and mind of God. He that is of the same mind with God, glorifieth him, by bowing to him in his still voice, and by bowing to him in his thunder; by heark∣ening to him when he speaketh as a Father, and by hearkening to him when he threatneth as a Lord; by hearkening to his mercy, and by hearkening to his rod. For the Glory of a King is most resplendent in the obedience of his subjects. In a word, we glorifie God by Justice and Mercy and those other vertues which are 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, defluxions and ema∣nations, from his infinite goodness and light. In a just and perfect man God shineth in glory, and all that behold him will say that God is in him of a truth. The Glory of God is that immense ocean into which all streams must run. Our Creation, our Redemption are to his glory. Nay, the Damnation of the wicked at last emptieth it self and endeth here: This his wisdom worketh out of his dishonour, and forceth it out of blasphemy it self. But God's chief glory, and in which he most delighteth, is from our submissive yielding to his natural and primitive intent, which is, that we should follow and be like him in all purity and holiness. In this he is well pleased, that we should do that which is pleasing in his sight. Then he looketh with an eye of favour and complacency upon Man his creature when he ap∣peareth in that shape and form which he prescribed, when he seeth his

own image in him, when he is what he would have him be; when he doth not change the glory of God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things; when he doth not pro∣stitute that Understanding to folly which should know him, and that Will to vanity which should seek him, nor fasten those Affections to the earth which should wait upon him alone; when he falleth not from his state and condition, but is holy as God is holy, merciful as God is merciful, perfect as God is perfect. Then is he glorified, then doth he glory in him,* 1.1 and re∣joyce over him, as Moses speaketh, as over the work of his hands, as over his image and likeness, not corrupted, not defaced. Then is Man taught Canticum laudis, nothing else but the Glory and Praise of his Maker. Thus do we glorifie God in our spirit.

Now to pass to that which we formerly did but touch upon; Man is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, made up of both, of Body and Spirit; and therefore must glo∣rifie God not onely in the spirit, but in the body also. For such a near con∣junction there is between the Body and the Soul, that nothing but Death can divorce them; and that too but for a while, a sleeping-time; after which they shall be made up into one again, either to howl out their blas∣phemie, or to sing a song of praise to their Maker for evermore. If we will not glorifie God in our body by chastity, by abstinence, by patience here, we shall be forced to do it by weeping and gnashing of teeth hereafter. It is true, the body is but flesh,* 1.2 yet the life of Jesus may be made manifest in this our flesh. It is but dust and ashes; but this dust and ashes may be raised up and made a Temple of the holy Ghost, a Temple in which we offer up,* 1.3 not beasts, our raging lusts and unruly affections, nor the foul stench and ex∣halations of our corrupted hearts, but the sweet incense of our devoti∣on; not whole drink offerings, but our tears and strong supplications; such a Temple which it self may be a sacrifice, a holy and acceptable sacrifice,* 1.4 & post Dei templum, sepulcrum Christi, saith Tertullian; and being a Temple of God, be made a sepulchre of Christ, by bearing about in it the dying of our Lord Jesus. For when we beat it down, and bring it in subjection, when we do 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, keep it chast and pure, quench those unholy fires which are even ready to kindle and flame up in it, bind and tye it up from joyning with that forbidden object to which its bent and natural inclination car∣rieth it; when we have set a watch at every sense, at every door which may be an in-let to the Enemy; when we have learned so far to love it as to despise it, to esteem of it as not ours but his that made it, to be mace∣rated and diminished, to be spit upon and whipt, to be stretched out on the rack, to be ploughed up with the scourge, to be consumed in the fire, when his honour calleth for it; when, with S. Paul, we are ready to of∣fer it up, then is the power of Christ's death visible in it, and the beauty of that sight is the glory of God.

First, we glorifie God in our bodies, when we use them for that end to which he built them up; when we make them not the weapons of sin, but the weapons of righteousness; when we do not suffer them to make our Spi∣rit and Reason their servants, to usher in those delights which may flatter and please them, but bring them under the law and command of Reason, Touch not, Taste not, Handle not, which by its power may check the weak∣ness of the Flesh, and so uphold and defend it from those allurements and illusions, from that deep ditch, that hell, into which it was ready to fall and willing to be swallowed up. Now, saith S. Paul,* 1.5 the body is not for fornication. It was not created for that end. For how can God, who is Purity it self, create a body for uncleanness? Not then for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body; Who made it as an instrument which the mind might use to the improvement and beautifying of it self,

as a vessel to be possest by us in holiness and honour,* 1.6 his Temple, and thy vessel; his Temple, that thou mayest not profane it; and thy vessel, that thou mayest not defile and pollute it, nor defile thy soul in it. For this kind of pleasure is alwayes clouded with impurity, and carrieth its filth along with it. When it passeth those bounds which that God who know∣eth whereof we are made hath set up with this Inscription, Hitherto thou shalt go, and no further, NOT BURN, BUT MARRY, when it break∣eth out beyond this, brutish men may in their ruff and jollity count it what they please, call it their Pleasure, their Paradise, but it breaketh forth like a plague and infection, and is as loathsome as Hell it self. The Apostle,* 1.7 calleth ungoverned lusts 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, vile and dishonourable (he might have said brutish) affections. But indeed Beasts in this are not unconfined, as Men; they do not kick at and revolt from that law and order of Nature in which they were made, so oft as Men do, who should have dominion over them and themselves; nor have they that curb of Reason, which Man hath, to check and bound them. And therefore that wandring lust of theirs, which carrieth them with a swindge and violence to the next object, doth not dishonour them; for it leaveth them what they were, but Beasts still. But Man, who hath a power within him to controll his flesh and temper and regulate every in∣clination; who hath a spirit given him to spiritualize his flesh, and not his flesh to effeminate his spirit; when he letteth the weaker prevail a∣gainst the stronger, the worse part against the better, the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as the Philosophers call the body, the beast, against the Man, doth not onely pol∣lute his soul, but leaveth a peculiar and proper blemish upon his body, and may be compared to the beasts that perish. Nay, he is worse then they: For when Man is compared to the Beasts, he is the worst of all the herd. It is against the very nature of the body thus to be used, against that order which God hath constituted and established amongst men. The body is not for fornication. It was not made to bow to every smile, to be ravish∣ed with every sound, to worship every painted Jezebel, but for the Lord, and in the power of his strength to be killed and crucified, and, when it looketh forward beyond its bounds, to feel the curb, to be so subdued as if it were not, as if it were soul, or at least in a perpetual subserviencie and obedience to it. Indeed if you read ver. 15. you will think, if it be not as the soul, yet it hath near affinity with it, and is copartner of the same ho∣nour. Know ye not, saith S. Paul, that your bodies are the members of Christ? What? this vile body of ours to be a member of Christ? Yes: he bought it, and united it to his mystical body, as well as the soul, and will at last raise it up, and make it like unto his most glorious body. And what doth the Apostle infer; Even that which may make the wanton blush, which may make him an Eunuch for the kingdom of heaven? Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? It is an ar∣gument ab absurdo, which will either drive us from uncleanness, or up∣on a most fatal and hellish absurdity. Even the young man in the Pro∣verbs, who was destitute of understanding, would soon agree that it were the greatest folly in the world to think the soul can be united to Christ though it bring the member of an harlot along with it, or to excuse our selves by nature and the inclination of our temper; or, because there is a fire within us, to think it is better to let it burn and consume us then to quench it; or that God may be glorified, as he was by the Three chil∣dren, in this fiery furnace; that God may be glorified, vvhen that bo∣dy vvhich is the vvork of his hands is dishonoured. Fly fornication, saith the Apostle,* 1.8 Other sins that a man committeth are without the body: but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. Malice and

Theft abuse the hand, Pride lifteth up the head, Curiosity rowleth the eye, Anger changeth the countenance and dyeth the face, Sloth foldeth the arms, Envy gnaweth the heart; but Lust and Uncleanness is a noi∣some steam exhaled from the flesh, which, when it hath conceived and brought forth, blasteth and polluteth it. Even Nature it self hath de∣clared thus much, in that it brought in that custom amongst the Heathen (for what else could bring it in?) after unlawful pleasures to wash and bath themselves, by which they did at once acknowledge, and strive to purge away, that pollution. Other sins are from the flesh, but this is more carnal then any of them; it leaveth more spots and loathsome im∣pressions on the flesh; yea, many times it bringeth its Hell, its fire, in∣to it; it-maketh it self so visible in the very face and body of man that you may run and read it or rather run from the man for fear of the for∣nicator now branded and disguised with his sin. I remember Salust speaking of Covetousness disgraceth it in these words, that it doth corpus animum{que} virilem effoeminare, effeminate and corrupt not onely the mind but also the body of man. And Phavorinus in Gellius giveth the reason; Because they who make haste to be rich are many of them sedentary men, versed onely in the easie and delicate wayes of gain; as the Usurer, whose plough, as they say, goeth on the Sabbath, and whose work is done while he sleepeth; and many others, who we see grow rich with∣out sweat of brow or trouble of body. And in such no marvel if the vi∣gour and generosity of their minds and bodies do languish and be lost. Or rather this is the reason, Because the covetous person hath his mind like a bow alwayes bent, set continually upon his gain; and having all his thoughts gathered together and sent that way, he letteth them loose but seldom to imploy them for the behoof either of his body or his soul. Now one would think that of Salust were a more proper expression of the effects of Uncleanness: For certainly that doth effeminate both the mind and the body. Indeed it doth more: It not onely weakeneth but pol∣luteth both. Nay, it is the Devil's net with which he catcheth two at once, and dishonoureth them both: For what difference between an harlot, and the member, nay, the body, of a harlot? For he that joyneth himself with a harlot is one body. For two (saith he) shall be one flesh.* 1.9 Therefore Christ, who came to purge both body and soul, doth guard and sense it against the very appearance of this sin, doth omnium sylvam libidinum caedere, as the Father speaketh, cut down the whole wood, and lop off every branch and sprig of Lust. He tieth up the Tongue from filthy communication, shutteth up the Eye from looking upon that beau∣ty which may raise a desire, stoppeth the Ear that it open not to flattery, cutteth off the very beginnings and first offers and risings of lust; that we may either draw it dry, which is a glorious conquest; or keep it in the proper chanel which was ordained for it, and where it may pass with honour; that so the Man may either be an eunuch for the kingdom of heaven, or soli uxori masculus, a man to his wife alone, and so glorifie God in his frail and mortal body. I would not be a Pharisee to boast; but yet I know nothing by my self but that I may fling a stone at the adulterer: Nor am I so much a Pharisee as to point out to that Publican at whom I should fling it. I know Jess by others then I do by my self. For as I see not their actions, so I cannot see their heart, nor what fire it is that burneth upon that Altar. But yet, when I see Vanity every day ad∣vance her plumes and tread her wanton measures before the Sun and the people; when I read a Law that makes Adultery death, and then hear some of them that made it a Law make it a jest; first set up a Mormo, and then laugh at it; when I see men talk with their eyes, and speak with

their feet, and teach and invite with their fingers, as the Wise-man descri∣beth it; when I see those affected gestures which are the forerunners and prologues to the foulest acts; when I see both men and women drest up with that advantage as if they would set themselves to sale, and provoke one another, not to good works, but to those of darkness; when I hear those evil words which corrupt good manners, (a verse of a Poet, but san∣ctified and made canonical by S. Paul) or rather those evil words which are the marks of the plague in the heart, the symptoms and indications of a corrupted and nasty soul; when I see Obscenity as well as Oaths made an ornament of speech; when I observe an art and method that some use in foming out their own shame; when it is become the mode of the time, and he is the best Wit that is thus wanton, and he the best speaker that speaketh words clothed with death; when I see and hear this, (as who seeth and heareth it not?) I cannot but fear that there are more forni∣cators then those who are marked in the hand, more Adulterers, then those who die on the tree. When I see men thus walk upon hot coals, I can∣not but think that their feet will be burned: When I see this thick and fuliginous smoke, I cannot but look down towards the lowest pit, and say, Certainly that is the place from whence it came. But this is not to glorifie God in our body, but to glory in our shame. Nor can any light be struck out of such a Chaos, nor the Glory of God be resplendent in such a sink.

Let us then, in the next place, as Julian the Apostate speaketh, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, wage war with this our flesh; let us deny our appetite, that our lust may not be importunate; let us afflict our bodie by fasting and abstinence, discipline and keep them under, and bring them into subjection. For talk what we will of Fasting, till the body be afflicted, and sensible of that affliction, it is no fast. The fast is not complete till the body be subdued. Then by the power of God we have the conquest, and his is the Glory. But what glory is it to him to see his image shut up and buried in a full body, as in a grave? what honour to see an active and immor∣tal soul as dull and earthy as that clod of clay which incloseth it? to see the work of his hands set up against him? to see the body wanton, and the soul, which he breathed in, breathe nothing but filth? to see the man whom he made for life, nourished up for the day of slaughter? What glory can it be to him to see that which should be his Temple become a kitchin, a stews? I will not prescribe you the rules of Abstinence. The Pythagoreans abstained from living creatures, because they phansied to themselves a Transmigration of Souls: the Manichees from herbs and plants; because they thought that Earth it self had life. Montanus gave laws of Fasting, and had three Lents. What mention we these, who were but Philosophers and Hereticks? There be that cry down Heresie, and anathematize it, who abstain from Flesh; and from Eggs, because po∣tentially flesh; and from Milk too; Take heed of that; that is sanguis albus, white bloud, saith Bellarmine. This is not to fast; to forbear those ordinary meats, and feed on dainties. But they are far worse who, to confute them, will have no Fast at all; who make it a matter rather of dispute then practice, and instead of fasting, ask whether a Fast may be enjoyned or no, whether the Church have power to appoint a fast, whe∣ther it be not a sin to fast as the Papists do. And so from non Pontificium we are even fallen to nullum, from no Popish fast to no fast at all, or are driven to a fast as Balaam's ass was to the wall, by the terrour of the sword. It will not be much material now to determine (although it is soon done) who hath the power of proclaiming a Fast. When God is to be glorified in our bodies, every man is his own Magistrate, and may en∣joyn

himself a fast when he please, and without blowing a trumpet. Though he cannot work a miracle, yet he may fast with Christ, and may use Fasting to that end our Saviour did. As Christ made it an en∣trance into his calling and Prophetick office, so may the Christian make it a praeludium to his warfare: He may fast, that he may repent; he may fast, that he may give almes; fast, that God may see the conquest of the Spirit over the Flesh, and glory in it. If Fasting hath its magistery and operation, as the Fathers speak, it may be a wing to our Prayers, and a nurse of our Devotion. It is not it self a virtue; but it is instrumentum virtutum, an instrument to work out perfection. The end of Christian discipline consisteth not in it; but by it we are brought with more ease unto our end. It is virtus animi purgativa, as the Pythagoreans speak, a purgative virtue, that clenseth and prepareth the soul for religious endea∣vours, sweepeth and adorneth it as a place for God's Honour to dwell in. And as it cometh from the heart (for a broken heart will soon proclaim a fast) so it reflecteth upon the heart again, and confirmeth that affection which begat it. It sharpeneth our Sorrow, it swelleth our Anger, it en∣flameth our Zele, it raiseth our Indignation, it keepeth fresh our tears, it correcteth and prepareth the body by a kind of art; the body, which, as the Historian speaketh of the common people, aut humiliter servit, aut superbè dominatur▪ must either crouch under us as a servant, or will soon insult over us as a Lord. Statim ubi par esse coeperit, superius erit; Let it be once your equal, and it will presently be your master. These bodies of ours are at the best but Gibeonites: And if we come to terms of truce with them, it must be but as Joshua did with the Gibeonites, that they may be our bond slaves, hewers of wood and drawers of water; our Almoners, to distribute our bounty; our servants. to bear our burthens, to sweat, to smart to pine away, that the Soul may be in health. For what was noted of Caligula is true of our Body; It is the worst master, and the best servant. And as S. Paul at first was the greatest persecu∣tor of the Gospel of Christ, yet afterwards proved the greatest propaga∣tor and preacher of it; so the Body that presseth down the soul, may be disciplined and taught to lift it up, to carry it along, to act with it in the way of righteousness. That Body, which is a prison, may be a thea∣tre, for the Mind to shew it self in all its proper operations. That Body, which is but 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a sepulchre, of a dead soul, may be 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a Temple, wherein we may offer up sacrifices of a sweet-smelling savour unto the Lord. That Body, in which we dishonoured God, stood out against him, and defied him, may bow and fall down before him, and glorifie him. When the Body is subject to the Soul, the Sense obedient to Reason, and the Will of man guided by the supreme rule, the Will of God, not swerving either to the right hand or the left, then every string is in its right place, then every touch, every action is harmonious, then there is order, which indeed is the glory of the God of Order.

In the third place, as the Body is thus hewed and squared and made up a Temple of God, so is it also made fit to be a sacrifice. When it is purged and disciplined and subdued, then is it best qualified for that lavacrum sanguinis, to enter the laver of persecution, and to be baptized with its own bloud; and being now taken out of the mouth of the roaring Lion, by the same power to tread him under foot; nec solùm evadere, sed devin∣cere, and not onely to escape his paws, but to overcome him. Let us phansie, as we please, an easie passage to the Tree of life; we shall find there is a flaming sword still betwixt us and it. Let us study to make our wayes smooth and plain to Happiness; yet we are all designati martyres, no sooner Christians then culled out and designed to Martyrdom. And

if there were no other prison, yet the world it self is one: and we are sometimes brought out to be spit upon; sometimes, as Samson, to make men sport; sometimes to be stripped, and not pitied; sometimes to the block, or to the fire; sometimes to fight with beasts, with men more sa∣vage then they. Our prison is not so much our custody as our punish∣ment, and we are in a manner thrown out of it whilest we are in it; and whilest we are in it; we suffer. For to glorifie God, is to speak the truth of him; and to speak the truth of him many times costeth us our tongues and our lives. John Baptist may speak many things to Herod, and Herod may give him the hearing; but if to the glory of God he tell Herod that truth which above all it concerneth him to know, this at the first shall lose John his liberty, and at the last his head. Nay, our Saviour Jesus Christ, to discharge his message faithfully, to bear witness to the Truth, and glorifie his Father, must be content to lay down his life. The Truth of God, by which he is most glorified, like the Tyrant's fiery furnace, scorcheth and burneth up those that profess it; hominem martyrem ex∣cudit, forgeth and fashioneth the man into a Martyr. He that endureth to the end glorifieth God, and is glorified himself. Nec aliud est sustinere in finem quàm pati finem; To endure to the end is nothing else but to en∣dure the end. We all speak it often, Glory be to thee, O Lord, and the calves of our lips are a cheap and easie sacrifice: For we speak it in the ha∣bitations of peace. But should we hear the noise of the whip, should Persecution rush in with a sword in her hand,

Deficient vires, nec vox, nec verba sequentur,

our heart would fail us, and we should not have a word to speak for the Glory of God. Would any take in Truth and Sword and all into his bowels? Would we so glorifie God as to lay our Honour and Life in the dust? We do not well consider what the Glory of God is; and yet it is the language of the whole world, and the worst of men speak it as well as the best, the Hyeocrite loudest of all. You may hear it from the mouth of the bloud-thirstty man; and it is more heard then his Murther, which maketh the greatest noise in the other world. But it is not done in a word, or a breath: For then God might have a MAGNIFICAT from Hell: Even the Devils may cry, Jesus thou Son of the living God. It is not to enter his house with praise, and his courts with thanksgiving: No, not to comprehend with all Saints what is the length, and heighth, and depth, and breadth of his Greatness; to know that it is in breadth immense, in height most sublime, in length eternal, in depth unfoordable. No; not to suck out ubera beata praeconii, as Cassiodore calleth the Psalms, those breasts which distill nothing but praise. No: A MAGNIFICAT, an EXSULTATE, a Triumph, a Jubilee will not reach it. Then we truly glorifie God in our body, when we do it openly, when Persecution rageth when the fire flameth in our face, when the Sword is at our very breasts. Then to speak his glory, when for ought we know it may be the last word we shall speak; to profess his name in the midst of a crooked and froward generation; to defend his Truth before Tyrants, and not be ashamed; to be true Prophets amongst a thousand false ones; to suffer for his name's sake, this is to glorifie him in our body. And these three, Chastity, Tem∣perance, Patience, present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable un∣to God, which is our reasonable service. For good reason it is that we should be chaste; for he is pure: that we should fast, and afflict our bo∣dies; for it is a lesson which he taught us himself in our flesh: that we should offer up our bodies for him, whose body was nailed to the cross for us. A chaste body, a subdued body, a body ready to be offered up, is his Temple indeed, the place where his glory dwelleth.

And now we pass to a fourth, the Glorifying God by those outward Expressions which are commanded by the Spirit, but performed by the Body alone, glorifying of him by our Voice and Gesture and reverent Deportment, by our outward Worship. And indeed if the three first were made good, we need not be so urgent for the fourth. If we could prevail with men to abstain from fleshly lusts which fight against the soul, we should bring in that Reverence which doth preach and promulge that abstinence. If we were glorious within, our clothing also would be wrought gold. If the power of Godliness had once filled the Heart, it would evaporate and breathe it self forth, and command the Head, the Hand, the Eye, the Knee. Where true Devotion is the Text, the Gloss and Commentary is outward Reverence; which is as inseparable from Religion as Light is from the Sun. When all flesh had corrupted its wayes, when the wickedness of men was great upon earth, then brake in this De∣luge of profaneness, and the Ark, the Church, floateth upon the face of it with some few persons, who strive to save themselves from such a froward generation. When Covetousness came in gravely, in the mantle of Reli∣gion, and with a broom in its hand, to sweep and purge the Temple, eve∣ry thing it swept out, though Gold, was but rubbish and filth, and went under the name of Superstition: But it did not sweep so clean but it left some riches, that is, some Superstition, behind; and to rid that remain∣der away, it blasted those harmless and useful Ceremonies, that outward Reverence which the Saints and Martyrs of the purest times made their badge and cognizance to distinguish them from Infidels and Atheists. And, not content to pluck off the visour, it mangled the very face of Re∣ligion. and left no more sign of devotion in men then in the pillars of the Church, which are present both alike, the one as reverent as the o∣ther. And it is no wonder that men should cry down outward Wor∣ship, when they have in their doctrine given so deep a wound to Reli∣gion it self. For these Spiritual men are they who have published it to the world, and left it upon record to all posterity, That the foulest sins, quae culmen criminum tenent, which sit at the top and are the ugliest in appearance, as Adultery, Murther, and the like, are so far from endan∣gering the elect, that they advantage them rather; That a man may make himself the member of an harlot, and yet remain a member of Christ still. When we hear this, the other petty cracks need not astonish us, That Bishops are the limbs of Antichrist; Priests, the Locusts of the lowest pit; the remembrance and honourable mention of the Saints, Superstiti∣on; and bowing and kneeling, Idolatry: I say, we need not wonder at this. For as old Cato, when the women of Rome brake in tumultu∣ously into the Senate to hinder the promulgation of a Law which was en∣acting there to restrain their luxury, told the Senators that this was their fault, and they might blame themselves; for if they had taught their wives modesty at home, they should not have seen them so bold in the Senate-house; so all that Irreverence which we see in the house of God is not kindled, as we may think, from that false fire of Irregular zele, but this Irregular zele, this false Fire is struck out of the flint, out of an hard and obdurate heart, not to consume the Zelote, but his brethren; not to eat up himself, but devour others, and so make way for Covetousness and Sacriledge, those ravenous wolves, to divide the spoil. Oh what a Zele is that which is the issue of Covetousness and Oppression! Like mother, like daughter, as the Prophet Ezekiel speaketh. We see those goodly Mannors, those Honours and Riches, which Law and Justice hath set out of our reach; and then our heart is hot within us, and this fire burneth; and we call it Zele: And with this we can draw them near un∣to

us, and make them ours; nay, justifie Oppression it self, and make it Law; cry down Ceremony and Reverence, as dogs bark at the Moon; call it Superstition, and know not what it is. For when we are asked what Superstition is, we are struck dumb. This is Superstition; that is concluded: that is, it is we know not what. It is very hard, one would think, that there should be no use of the members of the body but in sin; that Devotion should be shut up in the inward man, and when it comman∣deth the Hat, the Hand, the Eye, the Knee, it should lose its name, and be called Idolatry; that the Body should be all motion in civil worship, change and vary it gestures, bow and cringe and tremble before that mor∣tal whose breath is in his nostrils, and in those offices which are due to an eternal God should be a statue. 'Tis true indeed, Devotion and all o∣ther virtues are principally in the mind; but they are evermore con∣summate by outward acts. The Philosopher vvill tell us, Virtutis tota laus in actione consistit, that the vvhole praise of Virtue is in action, For what habit is that which produceth no act? What Liberality is that which never stretcheth forth the hand? What Temperance is that which putteth not the knife to the throat? What Fortitude is that which beateth down no strong hold? What Patience is that which beareth nothing? And then, what Devotion is that which is dumb, nay which is dead, and moveth neither hand nor foot? Habet de suo anima cogitare, velle, cupere, disponere, saith Tertullian. The Soul hath from it self to Think, to Will, to Desire, to Dispose: sed ad perficiendum operam carnis exspectat; but to complete and perfect these, it calleth for and expecteth the help and aid of the Body. What Musick is that that is not heard? What an artificer is he that hath no hand? That art deserveth not the name which endeth in it self. For every Habit, as it is an act in respect of the power from whence it came, so is but a power or faculty in respect of the act. Certainly that Devotion is but a phansie which never speaketh, nor bow∣eth, nor falleth down and worshippeth. It is of good useth which Ire∣naeus observeth, Alia Deus mandat principaliter, alia per consequentiam; There be some duties which God doth more principally enjoyn, others but by necessary consequence. The purity of the heart he first looketh upon, and then the gracious effects of it made visible in the flesh and outward man. My son, give me thy heart; that is the first. But, My son, give me thy hand, and knee, and, as David speaketh, every member that thou hast; this also is the voice and command of God. If you ask where God doth expresly command this ceremonious and outward wor∣ship, I answer; It was not necessary God should. For even Nature it self commandeth it; and common Reason, which is a Law within us, may teach us that that Body, which is God's, should bow before him. And if peradventure God hath not expresly commanded it, yet virtually and in the general he hath. Abel offered a sacrifice to the Lord; and the Text saith that the Lord had respect to Abel, and to his offering: But that God commanded him to bring an offering,* 1.10 it is not written. Jacob set up a pillar, and poured oyl upon the top of it, and called it the house of God: But we do not read that God ever spake to him concerning the erecting of that pillar. Let us stand to Calvin's judgment in this; and he with many is an authour one of ten thousand. He in the fourth Book of his In∣stitutions and tenth chapter, proveth that Bowing of the knee in the ser∣vice of God is of Divine authority by no other argument then S. Paul's general rule,* 1.11 Let all things be done decently and in order. For, saith he, in that DECORUM which is here prescribed is included Adgeniculation. He might have added the Uncovering of the head, which is of the same nature, and by which we acknowledge our subjection and dependance both in civil &

religious worship. What talk we of an express command? There were never yet any boggled at this, or were afraid to be reverent, who were not bold enough to beat down all before them which stood between them and their ends, and break those commands which are as express and manifest as if they had been written with the Sun-beams. Truly religious, and not reverent? You might as well say, A man without a soul. Neque vera neque falsa religio sine ceremoniis consistit, saith S. Augustine against Faustus the Manichee; So necessary is Ceremonious and outward wor∣ship, that neither true nor false Religion can subsist without it. I might here much enlarge my discourse; but the time is spent, and, I fear, your patience. Therefore instead of pressing you with argument, I shall put up but this request to those who are so scrupulous of a bare head or a bended knee in the house of God, That they would in their retirement commune with their own hearts, and ask themselves the question, What is the principal motive of that their too-familiar and bold deportment; Whether it be indeed Religion that maketh their knees as the knees of the Elephant, and putteth them in the same posture at Church which they use in a Theatre, and maketh them more bold with their God then with their fellow-Dust and ashes: Or whether it may not be Pride; and then, why should Pride set her foot within God's Sanctuary? Or Phansie, or Humour; and what is a phansiful and humorous worshipper? Or a Cu∣stom ill taken up, and which hath no more to speak for it but that it is ta∣ken up; and what custom is that in religious worship which destroyeth it? In a word, Whether Reverence and Devotion be not better seen in those expressions and gestures which are proper to it and best shew it forth, then in those which are more then probable arguments against it, and openly deny it. If men would truly ask this question, and impartially answer themselves, I think the Preacher would have less reason to open his mouth again in the defence of God's glory, nor should we see that profaneness and irreverence which that Church we call the whore of Babylon blusheth at, nay (for I mistook) rejoyceth in, and proclaimeth to all the world, that, having no reverence, we have no Church; so that one is bold to tell us we worship not God, but the Devil. And indeed we cannot deny but some such there are amongst us, who place religion in irreverence, and think them∣selves never more devout then when they are most profane. They call it their familiarity and fellowship with their elder Brother; little considering that we are then most familiar with our God when we stand at an humble distance; that not Presumption and Boldness, but Modesty and Humility draw us near unto him; that when we are united to him, we must tremble before him; that our kissing him, is our worship; that when in all humility we serve him, then he will gird himself, and come forth, and serve us, and embrace us as his friends for being his servants. For our familiarity with God is our subjection and submission to his will, which maketh us one in Christ and God, as the Father is in him, and he in the Father. What?* 1.12 shall we be so familiar as to neglect God? so familiar, as to sit in his throne? so fa∣miliar, as to defie him to his face? Think what we please, and please our selves, if we will, in these our Seraphical, or rather Diabolical, imaginati∣ons; A devout soul, and a lofty eye, a high look, a stiff knee, a withered hand, a covered head, a careless gesture, or rather a careful and affected irreverence, are 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and cannot meet together, are as inconsistent as fire and cold. It is not possible that this fire should burn within us, and our reverence be so congealed and bound up as with a frost. Beloved, the time was when heaven was thought a purchace, when Devotion came forth in this dress, multo deformata pulvere, with ashes sprinkled on her head, and her garments rent; and that was called the purest time. They had their

genuflexions, their incurvations of their body, which they called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, by the name of that Repentance which they exprest, I might tell you they signed themselves with the sign of the Cross, and by that sign, when they were led muzzled to execution, made confession of their faith. They pre∣sented themselves at Church as before the Throne of God: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Let us stand decently. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Let us stand before God with fear and reverence. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Let us stand wisely and soberly, and with great care and vigilant observation. But the face of Christendom is much altered, and the hour is come when men will not worship God but in spirit and truth; which they cannot do, especially in publick, unless they worship him with the body also. Our Holiness is in the inward man, so inward that prohibet extraneum, it forbiddeth all outward worship. Had Nazian∣zene's mother, devout Nonna, lived in these days, what a superstitious Pa∣pist had she gone for? 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, to honour and reverence the holy consecrated things with an humble and silent admiration, never to turn her back to the Communion-Table, nay not to spit upon the pavement, what a piece of ceremonious and needless curiosity would this have been taken for in these days? Not turn the back to the Communion-Table? we dare sit upon it. Be reverent in the Temple? No: make it a Market-place, to bargain in; a Theatre, to swagger in, to make our selves a spectacle, but not in S. Paul's sense, to God, to men, and to Angels; here to display our colours, to try our Titles, to blazon our Arms. What was Religion and devout Reverence in the first age, in this latter age must needs go for Superstition and Idolatry. Many of our women are too spiritual to be like Nazianzen's mother Nonna. Pardon the nearness and like-sounding of the words; sure, I think, some Nunn she was. And this is it, saith S. Ambrose, which blasteth and spoileth the whole crop and harvest of our Devotion: This is truly cum parvo peccato ad ecclesiam venire, cum peccatis multis ab ecclesia recedere, to bring some sins with us to Church, but carry away more; for fear of the smoke to leap into the fire; for fear of coming too near to Superstition to shipwreck on Profaneness; for fear of Will-worship not to worship at all; like Haggards, to check at every feather, to be troubled at every shew and appearance, to startle at every shadow; and where GLORY TO THE LORD is engraven in capital letters, to blot it out, and write down SU∣PERSTITION. I see I must conclude. Beloved, fly Idolatry, fly Supersti∣tion; you cannot fly far enough: But withal fly Profaneness and Irreve∣rence; and run not so far from the one as to meet and embrace the other. Be not Papists; God forbid you should: But be not Atheists; that sure (talk what we will of Popery) is far the worse. Do not give God more then he would have; but be sure you do not give him less. Why should you bate him any part, who giveth you all? Behold, he breathed into you your Souls, and stampt his Image upon them: Give it him back a∣gain, not clipt, not defaced, but representing his own graces unto him in all holiness and purity. And his hands did form and fashion your Bodies, and in his book are all your members written: Let THE GLORY OF GOD be set forth and wtitten as it were upon every one of them, and he shall exalt those members higher yet, and make thy vile Body like to his most glorious body. In a word; Let us glorifie God here in soul and body, and he shall glorifie both soul and body in the day of the Lord Jesus.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Deut. 30.9.
• * 1.2

  2 Cor. 4.11.
• * 1.3

  ch. 6.19.
• * 1.4

  Rom. 12.1.
• * 1.5

  vers. 13••.
• * 1.6

  1 Thes. 4.4.
• * 1.7

  Rom. 1.26.
• * 1.8

  vers. 18.
• * 1.9

  vers. 16.
• * 1.10

  Gen 28.
• * 1.11

  1 Cor. 14.40.
• * 1.12

  John 17.21.