(2.) This is to honour Christ in duties, when you look for your assistance from the Spirit of Christ. The Lord hath promised to shed abroad his Spirit upon his ascension. You honour God in Christ when
Tee. 4.] sermons upon Hebrews xi. 439
you worship God tlirongb Christ : Phil. iv. 13, ' I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me/ Tou draw nigh to God with more encouragement by expecting the supplies of the Spirit.
(3.) When the aim of the worship is to set up and advance the mediator. This was the solemn drift of the patriarchs, and the general intention of all their sacrifices — to look to the promised seed ; and therefore the parts of their worship did exactly resemble the mediatory actions of Christ. In all the worship of the gospel, in your thoughts you must not only advance God, but lift up the mediator. When the apostle compares the worship of the christian with that of the Gentiles, he saith, 1 Cor. viii. 5, 6, ' There are gods many, and lords many, (many mediators) but to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him ; and one Lord Jesus Christ,' &c. This is the right frame of a christian's heart in all his addresses : he looks up to one Lord as the fountain of mercy, and the ultimate object of worship, and one mediator. We must look to him as the conveyance and golden-pipe of mercy, by whom all blessings descend to us, and through him all our prayers ascend to God. This is to honour the mediator ; to make Christ the means, and God the object and last end,
[2.] The special use of this worship was to profess their homage and their thankfulness to God. They were to come as God's tenants, and pay him their rent. Therefore God puts words into the Israelites' mouths : Deut. xxvi, 10, ' I have brought the first-fruits of the land, which thou, 0 Lord, hast given me.' The note from hence is,
Doct. That in the times of our increase and plenty we must solemnly acknowledge God.
The best way to secure the farm, and keep it in our possession, is to acknowledge the great landlord of the whole world — Lord, I have been a poor creature, and thou hast blest me wonderfully. There is a rent of praise and a thank-offering due to God. As Jacob acknowledgeth God thus, Gen. xxxii. 10, ' I am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies, and of all the truth which thou hast showed unto thy servant ; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now am I become two bands.' Thus we should come with a rent of praise, and with a thanksgiving to the Lord. But alas ! how few think of this ? We offer to him our lusts, but do not come with our thanksgiving to God. Qui mojores terras 2:)ossident,mriiores census solvunt — Those that have received most blessings from God forget the great landlord of the world. We are Canista:, as Luther calls such of Cain's sect, because we do grudge God a little when he hath given us abundance : 1 Cor. xvi. 2, ' Upon the first day of the week let every man lay by him in store as God hath prospered him.' These ofier according to their calling ; Cain comes as a husbandman, and Abel as a keeper of the sheep. Consider, the first fruits sanctified and blessed the whole lump: Eom. xi. 16, 'For if the first fruits be holy, the lump is also holy.' When you give God his portion, you can the better take com- fort in what is left.
Secondly, The second question is, What was the warrant of this worship ? Was it devised according to their own will, or was it com- manded by God ? The reason of the inquiry is because the papists
440 SERMONS UPON HEBREWS XL [SeK. XII.
say that before the law the patriarchs did, without any command, out of their private good intention, offer sacrifice to God ; and they pi'ove it, because the gentiles that were not acquainted with the institutions of the church used the same way of worship. But this opinion seemeth little probable, —
1. Because this is above the light of corrupt nature to prescribe an acceptable worship to God. Corrupt nature will tell us indeed that God is to be worshipped ; but for the manner, God himself must pre- scribe it ; for the gentiles might take up the way of. sacrifice by tra- dition, or by perverse imitation, through the instigation of the devil, who would be worshipped the same way God was.
2. It was by some appointment ; for no worship is acceptable to him but that which is of his appointment. You know the solemn profes- sion of God against will-worship in scripture— ' Who hath required this at yom" hands?' Isa. i. 12. God will always be his own carver, and not leave his worship to the allotment of corrupt nature. He appointeth what he will accept.
3. There could have been else no faith nor obedience in it, if the institution had been wholly humane ; there is no faith without some promise of divine grace, no obedience without some command. And Gain would not have been culpable for any defect in the worship, if it had been left to his own will ; for where there is no law there is no transgression.