1. As the whole worship of the old church, so the whole manner of it, with all its rites, ceremonies, and ornaments, both in the taber- nacle and temple, were of God's own appointment. There was not the least part of the fabric wherein his worship was celebrated, nor any ornament of it, — not one rite or ceremony that did attend it, — but it was all of it wholly of God's own designation and command. This is known and confessed. Moses made all things " according to the pat- tern showed him in the mount ;" and at the finishing of the whole work, it is in one chapter ten [eight?] times repeated, that he did as the Lord commanded him, Exod. xl. Now, surely this gave it a beauty, order, and glory incomparably above whatever the wisest of the sons of men are able to invent. " Let the potsherd contend with the potsherds of the earth; but woe unto him that contends with his Maker!" The worship of the pope and his invention may possibly outdo the beauty and order of the worship of the Turk and his invention ; but I hope they will not compare with God, nor make themselves equal with
1 See the division as announced, p. 56.
80 THE NATURE AND BEAUTY
him. But why should I say I hope it, when the contrary is evident? For doth he not undertake to assign new rules of his own in the wor- ship of God? and doth he not therein make himself equal with God, whose prerogative it is to be the only lawgiver to his people's con- sciences, and the only prescriber of his own worship? But this I may yet hope, that men will not nakedly aver, that what is of their ap- pointment is equal unto, and comparable with, what God appoints. Take their institutions and God's together, and the former, surely, will have great disadvantage in respect of the authors. This, in general, I suppose, will be granted, though men be very apt practically to make void the commands of God by then traditions and institu- tions, laying more weight upon some one of them than on all the commands of Jesus Christ.
" But, it may be, though God appointed that worship of old, and all the concernments of it, he intended not to make that beautiful and glorious, but plain and homely; so that it doth not follow that it is beautiful and excellent because it was by him appointed." Answer, Though we may well and safely abide by this general proposition, that what God hath appointed in his own worship is therefore beau- tiful and glorious, excellent, orderly, and comely, because he hath appointed it; yet I add, —
2. That it was God's intendment to make, appoint, and dispose of all things so, that the solemnity of his worship might be very beauti- ful and glorious. He appoints the high priest's garments to be made expressly " for glory and for beauty," Exod. xxviii. 2, — such as might be specious and goodly to look upon; and speaking of the church-state, when he had formed and fashioned it by his institution, he saith, her renown went forth among the heathen for beauty, for it was perfect through the comeliness he had put upon her, Ezek. xvi. 14. There was in her ways of worship a renowned beauty, a perfect come- liness; whence, saith the prophet, " A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary," Jer. xvii. 12. But I shall not need to multiply testimonies to this purpose. Who knows not what things are spoken of the tabernacle, the temple, and all the worship belonging to them, everywhere in the Scripture? As God appointed, so it came to pass; — it was the most beautiful solemnity that ever the sun shone upon. Mosaical worship, I say, as celebrated in Solomon's temple, outdid all the glory and splendour that ever the world, in any place, in any age from the foundation of it, ever en- joyed. Should all the princes of Europe lay their treasures together, they were not able to build a fabric of that charge, magnificence, and glory, as was Solomon's temple. It were endless to go over particu- lars. The garments of the high priest were such as rendered him so awful and glorious, that Alexander the Great, that famous conqueror
OF GOSPEL WORSHIP. 81
of the east, fell down before him with a prostrate reverence. The order of the house, and all the worship in it, — who can fix his mind upon it without admiration! How glorious was it when the house of Solomon stood in its greatest order and beauty, all overlaid with gold, — thousands of priests and Levites ministering in their orders, with all the most solemn musical instruments that David found out, and the great congregation assembled of hundreds of thousands, all sing- ing praises to God ! Let any man in his thoughts a little compare the greatest, most solemn, pompous, and costly worship that any of the sons of men have in these latter days invented and brought into the Christian Church, with this of the Judaical, and he shall quickly find that it holds no proportion with it, — that it is all a toy, a thing of nought in comparison of it. Take the Cathedral of Peter in Rome: bring in the pope and all his cardinals in all their vestments, habiliments, and ornaments; fill their choir with the best singers they can get; set out and adorn their images and pictures to the utmost that their treasures and superstition will reach to ; — then compare it to Solomon's Temple and the worship thereof; and, — without the help of the consideration that the one was from heaven, the other is of men, — the very nature of the things themselves will manifest how vain the present pretences are to glory and beauty. How much more may this be spoken of such underling pretenders as some are !