THE CHAMBER OF IMAGERY. 550
garly elements and carnal ceremonies in the worship of the church, with attempts to render it decorous and beautiM by superstitious rites and observances, — wlierewith it hath been defiled and coiTupted, as it was and is in the Church of Rome, — was nothing but the setting up a deformed image in the . room of it. And this they are pleased withal. The beauty and glory which carving, and painting, and em- broidered vestures, and musical incantations, and postures of venera- tion, do give unto divine service, they can see and feel; and, in their own imagination, are sensibly excited unto devotion by them. But hereby, instead of representing the true glory of the worship of the gospel, wherein it excels that under the Old Testament, they have rendered it altogether inglorious in comparison of it; for all the ceremonies and ornaments which they have invented for that end come unspeakably short, for beauty, order, and glory, of what was appointed by God himself in the temple, — scarce equalling what was among the Pagans.
It will be said, that the things whereunto we assign the glory of this worship are spiritual and invisible. Now, this is not that which is inquired after; but that whose beauty we may behold, and be af- fected with : and this may consist in the things which we decry, at least in some of them ; — though I must say, if there be glory in any of them, the more they are multiplied the better it must needs be. But this is that which we plead: — men, being not able, by the light of faith, to discern the glory of things spiritual and invisible, do make images of them unto themselves, as gods that may go before them; and these they are affected withal : but the worship of the church is spiritual, and the glory of it is invisible unto eyes of flesh. So both our Saviour and the apostles do testify in the celebration of it : " We are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first-born, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel," Heb. xii. 22-24. The glory of this assembly, though certainly above that of organs, and pipes, and crucifixes, and vestments, yet doth not appear unto the sense or imaginations of men.
That which I desig-n here is, to obviate the meretricious allure- ments of the Roman worship, and the pretences of its efficacy to excite devotion and veneration by its beauty and decency. The whole of it is but a deformed image of that glory which they cannot behold. To obtain, and preser^'e in our hearts, an experience of the power and effi- cacy of that worship of God which is in spirit and in truth, as unto all the real ends of divine worship, is that alone which will secure u&
•''^GO THE CHAMBER OF IMAGERY.
Whilst we do retain riglit notions of the proper object of gospel wor- ship, and of our immediate approach by it thereunto, — of the way and manner of that approach, through the mediation of Christ, and assistance of the Spu-it; whilst we keep up faith and love unto their due exercise in it (wherein, on our part, the life of it doth consist), pre- serving an experience of the spiritual benefit and advantage Avhich we receive thereby, we shall not easily be inveigled to relinquish them all, and give up ourselves unto the embraces of this lifeless image.
Sect. III. It is a universal, unimpeachable persuasion among all Christians, that there is a near, intimate communion with Christ, and jyarticijjation of him, in the sapper of the Lord.
He is no Christian who is otherwise minded. Hence, from the be- ginning, this was always esteemed the principal mystery in the agenda of the church ; and that deservedly, for this persuasion is built on infallible divine testimonies. The communication of Christ hei'ein, and our parti dilation of him, are ex2:)ressed in such a manner as to demonstrate them to be peculiar, — such as are not to be obtained in any other way or divine ordinance whatever; not in praying, not in preaching, not in any other exercise of faith on the word or promises. There is in it an eating and drinking of the body and blood of Christ, with a spiritual incorporation thence ensuing, which are peculiar unto this ordinance. But this especial and peculiar communion with Christ, and participation of him, is spiritual and mystical, by faith, — not carnal or fleslily. To imagine any other participation of Christ in this life but by faith, is to overthrow the gospel. To signify the real communication of himself and benefits of his mediation unto them that believe, whereby they should become the food of their souls, nourishing them unto eternal life, in tlie very beginning of his mi- nistry, he himself expresseth it by eating of his flesh, and drinking of his blood ; John vi. 53, " Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you." But hereon many were offended, as supposing that he had intended an oral, carnal eat- ing of his flesh, and drinking of his blood ; and so would have taught them to be cannibals. Wherefore, to instruct his disciples aright in this mystery, he gives an eternal rule of the intei'j:>retation of such expressions, verse 63, "It is the spirit that (piickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." To look for any other communication of Christ, or of his flesh and blood, but what is spiritual, is to contradict him in the interpretation wliich he gives of his own words.