agree, they are confonant, when yet, it may be, the inward inclination of thy heart is farre enough off from thefe expreffions; therefore bring thy fpirit neere to God as thy lips are, and then thou worshippeft him in fpirit. To fhew you more plainly what this farneffe off the spirit is; take a covetous man,and put him upon the racke of any exigent, where hee muft part with all to fave his life, he will fay as much as need to be in this cafe, that hee is willing to part with all;but his heart is fet as close to his wealth, as ever it was before, fo that he is loth to part with any thing. And take a theefe that comes before the Judge, he confeffeth his fault, and begs pardon, and faith that he will doe fo no more; but yet his heart fits as neere to his theft, he is as farre from honefty as ever hee was before. So take a man when he comes into fome exigent, (for that ufually is the time) as at the receiving of the Sacrament, or at his day of death, hee comes and profeffeth to the Lord, that hee will follow no more his wicked courfes, but hee will become a new man; bere his words draw neere, but looke to the bent and inclination of his heart, to the radicall constitution of it, and that is farre from holineffe, there bee fits as close to his finne as hee did before. Therefore, if thou wouldest warfbip God in fpirit, take care that thy fpirit draw neere to him upon all fuch occafions, as thy words doe. A man in his ordinary course (it may bee) prayes, and his prayers are good; but how farre his heart is from God, that his life.

T

fhewes

fhewes. It is a ftrange thing, that at the Sacrament, men come and make confeffion of their fins; and yet their fpirits are far from it,and that their practise fhewes. Confider this, if any fuch be here; you are the men that the Prophet doth fpeake to, rou draw neere to God with your lips, but your heart is farre from him. And this is the first particular.

2

To worship the strength of the mind.

God with all

2 Sam, 6.14.)

When you worship GoD with all the might and ftrength, and endeavour of your minds, and all the faculties of them, this is to worship GoD in fpirit, 2 Sam. 6. 14. It is faid of David, that hee danced before the Lord with all his might: ic was a worship of Gop, a fpirituall worship of GOD, wherein David, by his outward act of dancing, did expreffe his exultation, and rejoycing in the LORD. Now the Text faith, that he did this with all his might, with all the might of his fpirit: (for so you must understand it.) It is a Metaphor taken from the body, when a man useth all his ftrength and might to doe any thing, hee unites all the forces of his body to it: fo a man worshippeth God in spirit, when all the faculties of the foule are concentrated and united together in the performance of fuch a duty. And therefore it is called a wraftling with the Lord, as Iacob did: and it is called a friving with God, as Paul faith, that you ftrive together with mee in prayer, Rom. 15. 30. that is, when the Rom. 15.30. foule, and the minde are joyned all together, when hee bends the whole foule to the worke, as a man when hee wraftleth, puts forth all his Cc 2

ftrength

Col% 3.224

3.

ftrength, this is to worship God in fpirit. Such an expreffion you have, Als 20. where Paul went lound in the spirit to Ierufalem: that is, his fpirit did not hang loofe, but it was girt up in a refolution to goe through with the worke whatfoever came of it, his fpirit was bound. Now, when thy fpirit hangs loose upon the du tie, halfe on, and halfe off, when a man cares not whether hee doth it or no, this is not to worship GoD with thy fpirit, but when thy minde is girt up, and thou doeft it with all the intention of thy foule; when thou doft it heartily, as it is Col. 3.22. Servants obey in all things your Masters according to the flesh; not with eye-fervice, as men pleafers, but in finglene fe of heart, fearing God: where eye-fervice, and hearty are oppofed. Eye-fervice is, when a man doth it in the outward thew, and appearance onely; contrary to which is the other, to doe a thing heartily, that is, when a mans ftrength and his foule doth goe with the duty: but the loofeneffe of the mind, and the wandring of it about other things, when the body and the words are well imploy ed, but the minde doth not goe with them; this is not to worship GoD in fpirit, when the fpirit fits thus loose to God. And this is the fecond thing, wherein this worshipping of God in fpirit doth confift.

The third, which bath not much, but yer When the fpi- fome difference from the former, is this, when the spirit of a man beholds GoD alone; when his eye is upon him when hee comes to wor

rit beholds

God alone

ship him, and upon nothing befides. If a man will have an eye to men,to the praise or difpraise that shall follow the performance of the dutie, hee doth fo farre worship men; but when his heart is left naked, and ftripped of all other refpects in the world, and so filled and over-awed with the prefence of Go B,that all other refpe&ts doe vanish, then hee ferves God, and wor hips him in fpirit; for this onely is to worship GoD in fingleneffe of heart; and it is opposed to outward performance, Col. 3.22. for the eye-fervice col.3.22. is but onely a bodily and outward worthip: but when a man doth it with fingleneffe of heart,then it is not eye-service; that is, it is not outward onely. Now, fingleneffe of heart is this, when Singlenelse of the minde bath but one fingle obje&t to looke heart,what, upon: fo that to looke, not upon any creature, but upon Go, and none befides, this is to worfhip Go in fingleneffe of heart, which is the fame with holineffe. As the holineffe of the Holinee, Veffell in the old Law was, when it was fer apart from all other fervices to God alone; fo the holineffe of a mans fpirit is,when it is feparated from all by-refpe&s and aimes, and is wholly devoted to him, (whence our word, Devotion doth fpring:) and when a man worthips GoD with this nakedneffe,with this fingleneffe and holineffe of fpirit, then he worships GoD in fpirit. But when thou commeft to performe any dutie, as to preach a Sermon, or to pray, and thou lookest what men will thinke of thee, and what praife and credit thou shalt get by it,this pollutes your fpirit; fo farre

Cc.3

what.

farre as you doc this, there is not fingleneffe, but doublencffe of fpirit; and it is nothing else but eye-service in Gods account.

Therefore looke alwayes to worship him in fpirit; remember the argument here used, Go D is a Spirit: that is,looke how the corporeall eye of man beholds thy body, when thou commest to Church, and can fee the negligence of thy behaviour, and uncomely gefture; fo GOD, that is a Spirit, he beholds the vanitie and loofeneffe of thy fpirit within,the turning and rouling of it this way, or that way: Therefore take diligent heed to thy fpirit, labour to approve thy felfe to him, care not what any creature faith or thinketh of thee, and this is to worship him in thy fpirit.

Now here are two Questions to be answered:

If GOD must thus be worshipped in fpirit, and it is the behavior of that which he lookes to; what neceffitic is there then of a bodily,comely, and outward gefture? how farre is this required in his worship?

The fpirituall worship of Gop is never well performed, but when it is fignified by the comely gefture of the body, as farre as we may: I fay they must concurre, the body muft goe with the fpirit, (though indeed he chiefely lookes to the fpirit) for they are both his, 1 Cor. 6. 20. hee must be ferved in both. Befides, the body doth exceedingly helpe the fpirit; and it doth teftifie, when you come before others, that holineffe and reverence which you have of GODS