(1.) With respect to the duties which imply our solemn converse with God, and are more directly to be performed towards him — such as the word, prayer, praise, thanksgiving, and sacraments — surely these must be attended upon, because they are special acts of love to God and trust in him. And these duties are the ways wherein God hath promised to meet with his people, and appointed us to expect his grace : Exod. xx. 24, ' In all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and bless thee ; ' and Mark iv. 24, it is a rule of commerce between us and God, ' With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you ; and unto you that hear shall more be given.'
(2.) In our whole conversation : Luke i. 74, 75, ' That we should serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our lives.' A Christian's life is a constant hymn to God, or a continued act of worship ; ever behaving himself as in the sight of God, and directing all things as to his glory. He turneth second table duties into first : James i. 27, ' Pure religion, and undefiled before God and the Father, is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world;' Heb. xiii. 16, ' To do good and to communicate forget not : for with such sacrifices God is well pleased ; ' Eph. v. 21, 22, ' Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.' Now a true Christian maketh conscience of all this ; as of internal worship, so external ; as of solemn and sacred acts, so of a constant awfulness of God.
2G A DESCRIPTION OF [PhIL. III. 3.
2. Secondly, The reasons.
1st, Wliy a true Christian doth worship God.
2dly, Why in the spirit.
1st, For the worship itself.
[1.] Because they have a deep sense of his being and excellency impressed iij)on their hearts.
(1.) His being. These two notions live and die together: that God is, and that he ought to be worshipped and served, Heb. xi. 6 ; the one immediately floweth from the other. The first command- ment is, ' Thou shalt have no other gods before me ; ' the second, ' Thou shalt not worship a graven image.' If God be, worship is cer- tainly due to him : they that have no worship are as if they had no God. The psalmist proveth atheism by that: Ps. xiv. 1, ' The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God ;' and ver. 4, ' They call not uj)on God.'
(2.) His excellency. They have a clearer sight of God than others have, and are more acquainted with him than others are ; and, there- fore, are more prone to worship. When God had proclaimed his name, and manifested himself to Moses, Exod. xxxiv. 8, ' He made liaste, and bowed himself to the earth, and worshipped.' None so ready and forward : Ps. ix. 10, ' They that know thy name will put their trust in thee.'
[2.] Because they have a principle within them which inclineth them to God : their hearts are carried to him, as light bodies are carried upward. There is such a grace as godliness, 2 Pet. i. 6, and distinct in the notion from righteousness and holiness ,• 1 Tim. vi. 11, ' Follow after righteousness, godliness ;' 2 Pet. iii. 11, ' What manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness ? ' What is the notion then of it ? It is tendentia mentis in Deitm—an impression left upon their hearts, which causeth a bent and tendency towards God, as the fountain of their mercies, the joy of their souls, and the centre of their rest. There is such an inclination — in some stronger, in others more remiss ; but in all that are made partakers of a divine nature in some good degree, so as ordinarily to prevail over the inclinations of the flesh. As holiness noteth purity of life, so god- liness an inclination to God.
[3.] Because of their relations to God, which they own. God pleadeth his right : Mai. i. 6, ' If I be a father, where is mine honour ? if I be a master, where is my fear ? ' A father must have honour, and a master must have fear ; and God, who is the common parent and alxsolute master of all, must have both. A worship and honour in which reverence and fear is mixed with love and joy ; or, as the owning of a king implieth submission to his government, so the owning of a God adoration and worship.
2dly, Why in the spirit ?
[1] Because worship without the spirit is like a body without the soul ; it is but the carcase of a duty. The heart nuist be the principal and chief agent in this business : Mat. xv. 8, ' This people draweth nigh to me with their mouths, and honoureth me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.' There is no love to God, rather an habitual aversion from him.
Phil. III. 3.] the true circumcision. 27