[5,] In this place quoted by our Saviour there is employed a dis- tinction of inward and outward worship. Feci?' is for inward worship, serve is for outward worship, and the profession of the same. Fear in Moses is expounded luorship by Christ ; so Mat. xv. 9, compared with Isa. xxix. 13, 'In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men ; ' but in the prophet it is ' Their fear towards me is taught by the precepts of men.' He that worshippeth feareth and reverenceth what he worshippeth, or else all his worship is but a compliment and empty formality. So that the fear of God is that reverence and estimation that we have of God, the serving of God is the necessary effect and fruit of it ; for service is an open testimony of our reverence and worship. In this place you have worship and service, both which are due to God only. But that you may perceive the force of our Saviour's argument, and also of this precept, I shall a little dilate on the word service, what the scripture intendeth thereby. Satan saith, ' Bow down and worship me : ' Christ saith, ' Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.' Under service, prayer and thanksgiving is compre- hended : Isa. xliv. 17, ' And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me, for thou art my god.' This is one of the external acts whereby the idolater showeth the esteem of his heart : so Jer. ii. 27, ' Saying to a stock, Thou art my father ; and to a stone. Thou hast brought me forth.' So, under serv- ing, sacrifice is comprehended : 2 Kings xvii. 35, ' Ye shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them.' Again, burning of incense : Jer. xviii. 15, ' My people have forgotten me, they have burnt incense to vanity.' Preaching for them ; Jer. ii. 8, ' The pastors also have transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal.' Asking counsel of them : Hosea iv. 12, ' My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them ; for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to
316 Christ's temptation. [See. VI.
err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God.' So build- ing temples, altars, or other monuments unto them : Hosea viii. 14, ' Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples ; ' and xii. 11, ' Their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the fields.' Erecting of ministries, or doing any ministerial work for their honour : Amos v. 26, ' Ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chium your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves ; ' as God appointed the Levites to bear the tabernacle for communion in the service of them : 1 Cor. x. 18, ' Are not they tliat eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar ? ' ver. 21, ' Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils ; ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table and of the table of devils.' So 2 Cor. vi. 16, 17, ' What agreement hath the temple of God with idols ? ' In short; for it is endless to reckon up all which the scripture comprehendeth under service and gestures of reverence : Exod. xx. 5, ' Tliou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them.' Bowing the knee : 1 Kings xix. 18, ' I have left me seven thousand in Israel, which liave not bowed the knee to Baal.' Kissing them : Hosea xiii. 18, ' They kiss the calves.' Lifting up the eyes: Ezek. ii. 15, ' He hath not lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel.' Stretching out the hand : Ps. xliv. 20, ' If we have stretched our hands to a strange God.' So that you see all gestures of reverence are forbidden as terminated to idols. Thus strict and jealous is God in his law, that we might not bow down and worship the devil, or anything that is set up by him.
Doci. That religious service and religious worship is due to God only, and not to be given to saint, or angel, or any creature.
Thus Christ defeateth the devil's temptation, and thus should we be under the awe of God's authority, that we may not yield to the like temptation when the greatest advantages imaginable are offered to us. Here I shall show : —
I. What is worship, and the kinds of it. II. I shall prove that worship is due to God.
III. Not only worship, but service.
IV. That both are due to God alone. '
1. What is worship ? In the general it implieth these three things : an act of the judgment, apprehending an excellency in the object worshipped ; an act of the will, or a readiness to yield to it, suitably to the degree of excellency which we apprehend in it ; and an external act of the body whereby it is expressed. This is the general nature of worship, common to all the sorts of it.