SERMON V.

The Spiritual and true Worship of

GOD.

JOHN IV. 24.

God is a Spirit, and they that worship him, muft worship him in Spirit and in Truth.

T

HERE is hardly any Principle of Religion which has been more univerfally acknowledged by Mankind, than that God is to be worshipped by his rational Creatures; and yet in nothing have they been more apt to run into Mistakes, than in their Notions of that Worship which is to be offered to him, and the proper Methods of exprefling the Respect and Devotion of their Minds towards him. Ifwe look into the various parts of the World, we shall find some Forms of Religion, fome Rites and Modes of divine Worship every where prevailing; but if we should

enquire

V.

enquire into the Grounds and Reasons of these SER M. religious Forms and Rites, it would not be poffible to fix upon any that could justify or recommend the far greater part of them to a wife Man; but they would almost all appear to be unworthy of that Being, for whose Honour they are said to have been instituted, and instead of doing good to the Perfons who obferve and use them, to have often a fatal Influence in corrupting their Hearts, and leading them to a great deal of Wickedness and Immorality in the course of their Lives. It is therefore a matter of great Neceffity and Importance to correct the false Apprehenfions of Men concerning Religion or the true Worship of God, and to give them just Notions with respect to this Point: Without this, there can be no fuch thing as a rational Piety exercised by them, nor will the Principles of their Religion be of any use to them in difcharging the moral and focial Duties of Life; but will very probably, on the contrary, undermine the Foundations of Honefty and Goodness, which are naturally laid in their Minds, and under the plaufible Appearance of Devotion, reconcile them in fome measure to Actions which are perfectly inconfiftent with the Principles of all true Religion and Humanity.

SER M.
Our Saviour, in the Words which I have
V. read, has given us, in general, an Account of

that Worship which is to be offered to the
Deity, and has withal laid down the Foun-
dation upon which it ftands: And because a
juft Notion of the true Ground or Reason
of that kind of Worship which is to be pre-
sented to the supreme Being, will lead us to
a more eafy and clear Conception of the
thing itself, I shall begin with the Confide-
ration of that, which is the fpiritual Nature
of God. God is a Spirit, fays our Saviour,
and they that worship him, must worship him
in Spirit and in Truth.

When our Saviour here tells us that God is a Spirit, he means, that he is a Being entirely separated from Matter or Body, and all its Properties and Affections; that he is a pure Mind, and poffeffed of the most excellent Powers and Perfections which belong to that kind of Beings. It is fomewhat difficult, I believe, for Perfons of low Understandings, who are unaccustomed to abstract Reflections, and who have taken in the greatest part of their Knowledge by the external Senfes employed upon the grofs Objects which are daily before them, to raife their Minds to an Apprehenfion of the Existence of imma

terial

V.

terial invifible Subftances: But that there SER M. are really fuch Substances, particularly that the Supreme Being is fuch, is a thing that is capable of the clearest Proof, and will not be called in queftion by any who upon rational Grounds acknowledge the Existence of God. It is not indeed in the power of the wisest and most knowing, to declare what the Nature of an immaterial Being, or of a Spirit is; and as little can they tell what the Subftance is of any common piece of Matter, which is every day seen and touched by them: But as notwithstanding our Unacquaintedness with the Effence of material Objects, we are not only fure of their Existence, but also know many of their Qualities and Properties; fo in like manner, though we are ignorant of the Nature of Spirits, yet from their undeniable. Operations and Effects, we may both be convinced that fuch Beings exift, and have a notion of feveral of the Faculties and Properties which belong to them. Not only the Existence, but many of the Attributes and Perfections of the infinite eternal Spirit, the Father of all other Spirits, and Fountain of all their Perfections, may be difcerned in the various parts of the Univerfe which he has made, and which he ftill fuftains and governs: But of all the Works of God which come

VOL. I.

K

any

SERM. any way within ourObfervation, that which will V. best enable us to form just and true Thoughts

of the Powers and Properties of his Nature,
is the Soul or Spirit of Man, which is of a
quite different nature from the Body, and
is in a peculiar manner the Off-fpring of God,
upon which he has impreffed, in fome pro-
portion, an Image of his own Excellencies.
Now when we reflect seriously upon our own
Minds, we perceive them to be the Sub-
the
ject of various Powers and Affections
chief of which are the Understanding, or a
Power of apprehending and knowing things;
a Senfe of Good and Evil in the Affections
and Actions of rational Agents; and a Dispo-
fition of Benevolence, or an Inclination to
These are the
communicate Happiness.
highest Faculties, and most noble Accom-
plishments which belong to our Minds; and
from a View of these Spiritual Perfections in
ourselves, we may arrive at fome notion of
the Perfections of other Spirits, and even of
the infinite Divine Spirit himself. It must
however be always remembered by us, be-
fore we judge of the Perfections of the Di-
vine Mind from those that we perceive to
be in our own, that the highest Accomplish-
ments which belong to us, are at best but
faint Refemblances of his infinite Ex-
cellencies,

very