Essay on Head Coverings, Essay · Chapter 1
CAP. I. Of Goſpel-Worſhip.
DIvine Worſhip (ſays Mr. W. Bradſhaw) is internal only, or external alſo. Internal Worſhip is meerly ſpiritual, and performed only within the temple of mans heart, of which none are witneſſes but God and a mans own conſcience. All the inward motions of the heart directed unto God, are parts of this Worſhip, as Faith, Hope, Confidence, Love, Fear, and Joy in God, &c. which are all of them divers acts and parts of inward worſhip, in every one of which God is honoured. All which ſpring from the apprehenſion of our own wants, and Gods infinite exeellency and goodneſs towards us. External Worſhip is an expreſſing and ſetting forth of the internal, by outward ſigns and rites, by which, as by outward bodily ſhadows and colours, the ſpiritual inward worſhip of God is made viſible and ſenſible to others.
The Internal Worſhip may be conſidered either as Habitual or Actual. As Habitual, and ſo we are bound to worſhip God at all times, the obligation holding both ſemper & ad ſemper. As Actual, and ſo we are bound to worſhip him on all occaſions, the circumſtances whereof make it a duty ſo to do. The External Worſhip is either publick, domeſtick, or ſecret; in all which he ought to be worſhipped in ſpirit and in truth, as becomes his ſuper-excellent Greatneſs, and Infinite Holineſs.
As God is the Origin and Fountain, ſo he ought to be the Center of all Honour and Reverence, and the immediate and only object of all Religious worſhip and adoration. And as Honour and Reverence is due to him at all times, ſo eſpecially in his Worſhip. I will be ſanctified in all that come nigh me, Lev. 10.3. And the more publick the Worſhip is, the more ſtrictly all kinds of Religious reverence are to be obſerved: And before all the people I will be glorified. Ibid. But the more private the duties of Worſhip are, the greater latitude is indulged in the external part, or ſigns of reverence and honour. For tho' theſe outward expreſſions, compoſitions, or geſtures of the body, be the genuine effects of that inward reverence of the mind, and ſo due to the divine Majeſty; yet it is with ſpecial reference unto men, that others may ſee how God is and ought to be feared of his Saints. So that ſuch things which are neceſſary in publick worſhip, are not alway ſo neceſſary in private or ſecret; and that which a perſon finds to be moſt advantageous to the right performance of his worſhip in ſecret, may not be ſo expedient in publick, becauſe there is not the like reaſon in both.
Though Goſpel-worſhip be foreign, a Spiritual Worſhip, in oppoſition to the irrational Idolatries of the Gentiles, and the Corporeal Sacrifices and Services of the Jews; yet it is a worſhip of the Body, as well as of the Soul. And though bodily exerciſes profiteth little, without true Godlineſs; yet while we ſojourn in the body, God expects that the body as well as ſoul and ſpirit be offered up to him, and bear its part in his Worſhip. But of this more hereafter.
In Gods Worſhip there muſt be nothing tender'd up to God, but what we have (expreſly or conſequentally) warrant for from the Word of God; therefore to worſhip him in body or mind, any otherwiſe than he hath required, is to adulterate, or prophane his Worſhip, and to offer ſtrange fire, and expoſes the Worſhippers to his juſt indignation.
In the matters of Worſhip, the jealous God ſtands upon little things; that is, what we, perhaps, call little, as modes and geſtures,Lev. 10.2. Cap. 9.27. and other circumſtances, he calls great. Nadab and Abihu erred only in the place from which they took their fire to offer, which ſhould have been taken from the Altar, where God himſelf firſt kindled the fire from Heaven, and we know what this coſt them.2 Sam. 6.7. Num. 15.35. Uzzah did but touch the Ark, and with an honeſt intention in the general, no doubt; but for this he muſt die. For a poor man to gather a few ſticks on the Sabbath-day, might have ſeem'd to us as no great matter; yet it was as much as his life was worth, the ſentence proceeding from God himſelf.1 Sam. 6.19. The Bethſhemites did but look into the Ark, and they muſt pay for this, with the lives of fifty thouſand threeſcore and ten men.
Though God hath allowed Chriſtians a greater latitude in his Worſhip, and hath not left them bound under the yoke of Levitical Rites and ſervitude; yet far be it from him to allow them to be irreverent in his Worſhip, this were to deſtroy his Worſhip; for Worſhip and Reverence are almoſt ſynonimous terms, and ſo are their oppoſites.
Matters of external order, decency, or reverence in the Worſhip of God, may not be determined by the will of man, but by the Law of Scripture and Nature; elſe what ſuperſtitions and novelties may not men introduce into the Worſhip of God, under the diſplayed banners of pretended order, decency, or reverence, as ſad experience hath been long witneſſing?