[105] Prov. 18. 10.
§. XIV.
[106] John 18. 36.
[107] Col. 2. 15.
§. XV.
Arg.God is a Spirit:
Therefore he must be worshipped in Spirit.
This is so certain, that it can suffer no Contradiction; yea, and this Analogy is so necessary to be minded, that under the Law, when God instituted and appointed that ceremonial Worship to the Jews, because that Worship was outward, that there might be an Analogy, he saw it necessary to condescend to them as in a special Manner, to dwell betwixt the Cherubims within the Tabernacle, and afterwards to make the Temple of Jerusalem in a Sort his Habitation, and cause something of an outward Glory and Majesty to appear, by causing Fire from Heaven to consume the Sacrifices, and filling the Temple with a Cloud: The Glory of the outward Temple.Through and by which Mediums, visible to the outward Eye, he manifested himself proportionably to that outward Worship which he had commanded them to perform. So now under the New Covenant, he seeing meet in his heavenly Wisdom to lead his Children in a Path more heavenly and spiritual, and in a Way more easy and familiar, and also purposing to disappoint carnal and outward Observations, that his may have an Eye more to an inward Glory and Kingdom than to an outward, he hath given us for an Example hereof the Appearance of his beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, As Moses did from outward, so Christ delivers us from inward Slavery.who (as Moses delivered the Israelites out of their outward Bondage, and by outwardly destroying their Enemies) hath delivered and doth deliver us by suffering, and dying by the Hands of his Enemies; thereby triumphing over the Devil, and his and our inward Enemies, and delivering us therefrom. He hath also instituted an inward and spiritual Worship: So that God now tieth not his People to the Temple of Jerusalem, nor yet unto outward Ceremonies and Observations; but taketh the Heart of every Christian for a Temple to dwell in; and there immediately appeareth, and giveth him Directions how to serve him in any outward Acts. Since, as Christ argueth, God is a Spirit, he will now be worshipped in the Spirit, where he reveals himself, and dwelleth with the contrite in Heart. Now, since it is the Heart of Man that now is become the Temple of God, in which he will be worshipped, and no more in particular outward Temples, (since, as blessed Stephen said, out of the Prophet, to the professing Jews of old, The most High dwelleth not in Temples made with Hands) as before the Glory of the Lord descended to fill the outward Temple, it behoved to be purified and cleansed, and all polluted Stuff removed out of it; yea, and the Place for the Tabernacle was overlaid with Gold, the most precious and cleanest of Metals; so also before God be worshipped in the inward Temple of the Heart, it must also be purged of its own Filth, and all its own Thoughts and Imaginations, that so it may be fit to receive the Spirit of God, and to be actuated by it. And doth not this directly lead us to that inward Silence, of which we have spoken, and exactly pointed out? And further, This Worship must be in Truth; intimating, that this spiritual Worship, thus actuated, is only and properly a true Worship; as being that which, for the Reasons above observed, cannot be counterfeited by the Enemy, nor yet performed by the Hypocrite.