To apply it now : Is it so that then we offend in our duties when we do otherwise than is written ? It serveth then —
First, To dii'ect us where to go for information how to perform the
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will of God : to the scriptures ; see what is required there. In all duties look to the institution, and measure thy practice by it ; walk according to that rule, as the apostle's phi'ase is, Gal. vi. 26. Oh ! brethren, natural light will not teach us how to serve God aright. The wisest men in the service of God became vain in their ' imginations, and their foolish heart was darkened,' Eom. i. 21. Nature teacheth us that there is a God ; but how he will be worshipped we know not until we search the scriptures and see what is written concerning it. Therefore in every performance look what is required. And here, to press you to it, let me use these arguments —
1. Nothing is accepted of God but what he hath required. The Lord doth not love to humour us in our pride. You know what he said to the men that came with their oblations : Isa. i. 12, ' Who hath required this at your hands .^ ' Why, the Lord himself for matter, though not for manner. And if he did so to them, that did what he required, though not how he required it, certainly he will much more to you, that do not search the records. Try your obedi- ence by the rule ; you may offend in matter as well as in manner, for aught you know ; and therefore, how likely is it but that you shall be turned away with a Quia requisivit I — Who hath required it ? There is nothing so displeasing to man as to have his service refused, or to be rejected when he thinketh he pleaseth most. Oh ! brethren, if you do not do duty according to God's will, the Lord will reject you, scorn your obedience : Isa. Ixvi. 3, ' He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man, and he that sacrificeth a lamb as if he cut off a dog's neck.' True it is the Lord did command these things, to kill an ox, to sacrifice a lamb : but they did not look to the intent, look to the manner ; and therefore their sacrifice was but murder and mocking to God, as the killing of a man and the offering of a dog, a ridiculous thing, an abominable thing to offer to the Lord. Brethren, it is so here ; he that receiveth the sacrament unworthily is guilty of murder, of the greatest mm'der, of crucifying the Lord of life : the Jews' curse lights upon them, the blood of the Lord Jesus is upon their head ; the apostle saith so, 1 Cor. xi. 27. The matter is good, the receiving is required ; but the receiving unworthily, not in God's manner, that is that maketh it abominable. You do not do it after the Lord's will and in his way ; and therefore he will cry, Who hath required it ? You shall be as welcome to him as you can expect to be to a loving father whose only son you have killed. Oh ! brethren, the Lord will not be served after your way ; though you hit right upon the matter of obedience, yet you have not done what is written for the manner, and therefore shall not be accepted. As you would know, then, that the Lord should have respect to your offerings, do you look to the commandment ; see what the Lord hath required of you. Eeason cannot teach you ; our foolish heart is darkened. Cus- tom is but a bad guide ; as I have done these many years. You know it is the description of a false fast, Zecb. vii. 3. The practice is but a bad rule ; the most may err. Go to the word of God, look what ia written ; and then the Lord will accept the service, when thou strivest to come near the commandment. See what is punctually required, and then diligently set thyself a- work. The Lord will accept weak en-
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deavours, so they be suitable to the command ; so yon do but endeavour to perform what is written, the Lord will accept it more than all the pomp and outside of those that would supererogate in the outward part ; so thou dost not hand-over-head rush upon the ordinance, but weighest thy services in the balance of the sanctuary, lookest to what God requireth ; though thou dost not come near it but in thy purposes and desires, the Lord will accept thee. All that the faithful could say for themselves in the prophet was, ' The desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee,' Isa. xxvi. 8. And all that Nehemiah could urge for the best Jews was that they did desire to fear Grod's name, Neh. i. 11. I say, See thou hast prepared to meet the Lord in his own ordinances, and wouldest fain do what is written : remember the death of the Lord Jesus after the due order and right manner, then the Lord will be pleased with thy sacrifice. But if thou comest with unwritten worship, pompous stuff, with a common lazy heart, and not looking to the ends of a sacrament, to the grounds of thy obedience, because thou dost otherwise than is written, the Lord will have no regard to thee and to thy sacrifice. God accepts but what he requireth, and he will not own the requiring of that service which is not agreeable to his word for the manner, though the matter of it be good. Who hath required ? As if the Lord should say — Let liim that hath required accept. Thus you see, as we tender the pleasing of God by what we do, we should labour to be directed in the nature of the duty and manner of performance. Look to what is written.