3. “But does not the apostle direct us, to followafter charity? And does he not term it, a more excellent way?”—He does direct us to follow after charity. But not after that alone. His words are, [88]Follow after charity; and desire spiritual gifts. Yea, follow after charity; and desire to spend and to be spent for your brethren. Follow after charity; and as you have opportunity, do good to all men.
In the same verse also, wherein he terms this, the way of love, a more excellent way, he directs the Corinthians to desire other gifts besides it: Yea to desire them earnestly. [89]Covet earnestly, saith he, the best gifts: and yet I shew unto you a more excellent way. More excellent than what? Than the gifts of healing, of speaking with tongues, and of interpreting, mentioned in the preceding verse. But not more excellent than the way of obedience. Of this the apostle is not speaking. Neither is he speaking of outward religion at all. So that this text is quite wide of the present question.
But suppose the apostle had been speaking of outward as well as inward religion, and comparing them together: suppose in the comparison he had given the preference ever so much to the latter: suppose he had preferred (as he justly might) a loving heart, before all outward works whatever: Yet it would not follow, that we were to reject, either one or the other. No; God hath joined them together from the beginningof the world. And let not man put them asunder.
4. “But God is a Spirit, and they that worship him, must worship him in Spirit and in truth. And is not this enough? Nay, ought we not to employ the whole strength of our mind herein? Does not attending to outward things, clog the soul, that it cannot soar aloft in holy contemplation? Does it not damp the vigour of our thought? Has it not a natural tendency, to incumber and distract the mind? Whereas St. Paul would have us to be without carefulness, and to wait upon the Lord without distraction.”
*I answer, God is a Spirit, and they that worship him, must worship him in Spirit and in truth. Yea, and this is enough: we ought to employ the whole strength of our mind therein. But then I would ask, What is it to worship God, a Spirit, in spirit and in truth? Why, it is to worship him with our spirit; to worship him in that manner, which none but spirits are capable of. It is, to believe in him, as a wise, just, holy being, of purer eyes than to behold iniquity: and yet merciful, gracious and long-suffering; forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin: casting all our sins behind his back, and accepting us in the beloved. It is, to love him, to delight in him, to desire him, with all our heart and mind and soul and strength: to imitate him we love, by purifying ourselves, even as he is pure; and to obey him whom welove and in whom we believe, both in thought and word and work. Consequently, one branch of the worshipping God in spirit and in truth, is the keeping his outward commandments. To glorify him therefore with our bodies as well as with our spirits, to go through outward work with hearts lifted up to him, to make our daily employment a sacrifice to God; to buy and sell, to eat and drink to his glory: this is worshipping God in spirit and in truth, as much as the praying to him in a wilderness.
5. *But if so, then contemplation is only one way of worshipping God in spirit and in truth. Therefore to give ourselves up entirely to this, would be to destroy many branches of spiritual worship, all equally acceptable to God, and equally profitable, not hurtful to the soul. For it is a great mistake to suppose, That an attention to those outward things, whereto the providence of God hath called us, is any clog to a Christian, or any hindrance at all to his always seeing him that is invisible. It does not at all damp the ardor of his thought, it does not incumber or distract his mind; it gives him no uneasy or hurtful care, who does it all as unto the Lord: who hath learned, whatsoever he doth in word or deed, to do all in the name of the Lord Jesus: having only one eye of the soul, which moves round on outward things, and one immoveably fixt on God. Learn what this meaneth, ye poor recluses,that you may clearly discern your own littleness of faith. Yea, that you may no longer judge others by yourselves, go and learn what that meaneth:
Thou, O Lord, in tender love
Dost all my burdens bear;
Lift my heart to things above,
And fix it ever there.