1. It is performed in heaven. Though they who perform it are on earth, yet they do it, by faith, in heaven. The apostle saith that believers, in their worship, do " enter into the holiest;" which he ex- horts them to draw nigh unto, Heb. x. 19, 22. What is the "holiest," whereinto they enter with their worship ? It is that whereinto Jesus Christ is entered as their forerunner, Heb. vi. 20. It is into heaven itself, chap. ix. 24. You will say, " How can these things be, that men
78 THE NATURE AND BEAUTY
should enter into heaven while they are here below?" I say, Are men " masters in Israel," and ask this question? They who have an access unto the immediate presence of God, and to the throne of grace, enter into heaven itself. And this adds to the glory we treat of. What poor low thoughts have men of God and his ways, who think there lies an acceptable glory and beauty in a little paint and varnish! Heaven itself, the place of God's glorious residence, where he is attended with all his holy angels, is the state [place?] of this worship. Hence is that glorious description given of it, Rev. iv. throughout; where it is expressly said to be " in heaven," though it is only the worship of the church that is described. It were easy from hence to manifest the glory we have spoken of, in the several parts of it. But I do but point out the heads of things.
2. The second thing mentioned, in reference to the place of this worship, is the persons of the saints; these are said to be the " temple of the Lord," 1 Cor. vi. 19, " Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God." Chap. hi. 1 6, " Know ye not" (verse 17) " the temple of God is holy?" God hath now no material temple; but he hath chosen this spiritual one, — the hearts and souls of his saints: and beautiful temples they are, being washed with the blood of Christ, beautified with the graces of the Spirit, adorned for communion with him; hence " the Kind's daughter" is said to be " all glorious within," Ps. xlv. Whatever men may think, God, that knoweth his own graces in the hearts of his, and in whose eyes nothing is beautiful or of price but grace, knows and judges that this place of his worship, this temple that he hath chosen, is full of beauty and glory. Let who will be judge, that pretends to be a Christian, whether is more beautiful in the sight of God, — " a living stone," adorned with all the graces of the Spirit, a heart full of the grace of Christ, — or a dead stone cut out of the quarries, though graven into the similitude of a man ?
3. The assemblies of the saints are spoken of as God's temple, and the seat and place of public, solemn, gospel worship, Eph. ii. 21, 22. Here are many living stones framed into an holy house in the Lord, an habitation for God by his Spirit. God dwells here. As he dwelt in the temple of old, by some outward, carnal pledges of his presence; so, in the assemblies of his saints, which are his habitation, he dwells unspeakably in a more glorious manner by his Spirit. Here, accord- ing to his promise, is his habitation. Now, the saints' assemblies, according to the order of the gospel, are " a building fitly framed together : " as the tabernacle and temple were of old in their outward structure, whereby they were raised ; so they in their spiritual union in and under Christ their head. And they are a temple, a holy temple, — holy with the "holiness of truth," as the apostle speaks, chap. iv. 24;
OF GOSPEL WORSHIP. 7'j
— not a typical, relative, but a real holiness, and such as the Lord's soul delighteth in. I know some can see no beauty in the assemblies of the saints, unless there be an outward beauty and splendour in the fabric and building wherein they convene. But that is not at all the thing in question, what some men can see, or cannot see. Christ himself had unto some " no form nor comeliness that he should be de- sired ; " — no more have his saints, his ways, his worship. That is not it which we inquire after; but what is beautiful, comely, and of price in the eyes and judgment of God. Neither is that the matter in question, whether these or those are saints of God, or no ? But only, whether an assembly of saints, as such, which are the temple of God, and being called together according to the order of the gospel, be not a glorious seat of worship ? God saith it is so ; and if men say other- wise, those that are not enchanted with what I shall not name, will easily know what to give credit to.
Secondly.1 Proceed we now, in the next place, to set forth the glory and beauty of this worship of the gospel comparatively, with reference to the solemn outward worship which, by God's own ap- pointment, was used under the Old Testament; which, as we shall show, was far more excellent on many accounts than any thing of the like kind, — that is, as to outward splendour and beauty, — that was ever found out by men. And I shall do this the more willingly, be- cause the Holy Ghost doth so much and so frequently — and that not without many great and weighty causes — insist upon it in the New Testament, having intimated it beforehand in many places of the Old. To the right understanding of what is gospel, and delivered in Scrip- ture on this account, some things are previously to be considered: —