And those who have no experience hereof in their attendance unto them do, as hath been said, fall into pernicious extremes. Some con- tinue their observance with little regard unto God, in cursed forma- lity. So they make them a means of their ruin by countenancing of
them in their security. Others utterly reject them, at least the most
}
solemn of them,—and therein both the wisdom, and grace, and au- thority of God, by whom they are appointed,—because, through the power of their own unbelief, they find nothing in them.
This being the immediate end of all divine institutions; this being the only way whereby we may give glory unto God in their observ-
ance, which is their ultimate end in this world; and this being the
design in general of believers in that obedience they yield unto the Lord Christ in their diligent observation of them,—we may consider how, in what way, and by what means, those whose affections are spiritually renewed do and ought to apply their minds and souls unto
- their observance. And we may consider herein, first, what they do
design, and then what they endeavour to be found in the exercise and practice of in their use and enjoyment :—
(1) They come unto them with this desire, design, and expecta- tion,—namely, to be enabled, directed, and excited by them unto the exercise of divine faith and love. When it is not so with any, where there is not this design, they do in various degrees take the name of God in vain in their observance. These are “ approxima- tiones Dei,” the “ ways of drawing nigh unto God,” as they are every- where called in Scripture. To suppose that a drawing nigh unto God may consist merely in the outward performance of duty, what-
~ ever be its solemnity, is to reject all due reverence of him. “ Foras-
VOL. VII. 28
434 OF SPIRITUAL MINDEDNESS. [PART IL
much,” saith the Lord, “as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, therefore, behold, I will proceed against them,” Isa. xxix. 13, 14. The mouth and lips are put, by a synecdoche, for all the means of outward worship and honour. These men may use, diligently attend unto, whilst their hearts are far from God,—that is, when they do not draw nigh to him by faith and love; but all this worship is rejected of God with the highest tokens of his dis- pleasure and indignation against it.
Our souls, then, have no way of approach unto God in duties of worship but by faith; no way of adherence or cleaving unto him but by love; no way of abiding in him but by fear, reverence, and delight. Whenever these are not in exercise, outward duties of worship are so far from being a means of such an approach unto him, as that they set us at a greater distance from him than we were before; at least they are utterly useless and fruitless unto us. So, indeed, they are unto the most who come unto them they know not why, and behave themselves under them they care not how; nor is there any evil in the hearts and ways of men whereof God complaineth more in his word, as that which is accompanied with the highest contempt of him. And because these ordinances of divine worship are means which the wisdom and grace of God hath appointed unto this end, namely, the exercise and increase of divine faith and love, and therefore doth sanctify and bless them thereunto, I do not believe that they have any delight in the exercise of these graces, nor do design growth in them, by whom these great means of them are de- spised or neglected. ;
And although I have seen those valleys of public worship forsaken, either on pretences of higher attainments in faith, light, and love, than to stand in need of them any more; or on a foolish opinion that they cease upon the dispensation of the Spirit, which is given unto us to make them useful and effectual; or on some provocations that have been given unto some men, or which they have taken unto themselves, which they have thought they could revenge by a neglect of public administrations; or through slavish peace and negligence in times of difficulty, as is the manner of some who forsake the assem- blies of the saints, Heb. x. 25;—yet I never saw but it issued in a great decay, if not in an utter loss, of all exercise of faith and love, and sometimes in open profaneness: for such persons contemn the way and means which God, in his infinite wisdom and goodness, hath appointed for their exercise and increase, and this shall not prosper. We may therefore do well to consider that the principal way whereby we may sanctify the name of God in all duties of his worship, and obtain the benefit of them to our own souls, is by a con-
CHAP. XV.] DELIGHT IN THE DUTIES OF DIVINE WORSHIP. 435
Scientious approach unto them, with a holy desire and design to be found in the exercise of faith and love on God in Christ, and to be helped and guided therein by them.
To be under an efficacious influence from this design is the best preparation for any duty. So David expresseth his delight in the worship of God: “How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lorp of hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lorp: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God,” Ps, Ixxxiv. 1, 2. He longed for the tabernacle and the courts of it; but it was the enjoyment of God himself, the living God, that he desired and sought after. This was that which made him so fervent in his desires after those ordinances of God, So he expresseth it, Ps. lxiii, 2, “ To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.” David had had great communion with and delight in God, by faith and love, in the solemn duties of his worship; and this was that which inflamed him with desires after renewed opportunities unto the same end.