V.

Almighty would be served in a more free SERMON and unconfined manner, and that of the Heart fhould be the only true and acceptable Religion: -The Hour cometh, and now is, when the true Worshipers fhall worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth: for the Father feeketh fuch to worship him.

To worship God in Spirit does here plainly denote inward Piety and Holiness, in Contra-diftinction to the Ceremonial Law of the Jews, as it ftood circumstanced in its feveral peculiar Rites and Forms of an outward Worship; as to worship him in Truth, relates to that fuller Display of it in the Gospel of Christ, who is indeed Truth in the very Abstract, as he is God blessed for ever; and, in his Perfon Rom.ix.5. and Offices, as God-man, is the very Antitype and Substance pointed at, and fet forth, in so many figurative Representions under the Law, of which they were the Shadows and Refemblance only, and not the Truth itself. In this Senfe, therefore, as The Law was given by Mofes, fo Grace John i.17. and Truth came by Jefus Chrift.

K. But was not the Law then a Spiritual Service? and was not God to be worshiped in Spirit and in Truth then as well as

now?

V.

SERMON now? Yes, verily; and for the very Reafon affigned by our Lord in the following Verfe, for that God is a Spirit; which Argument concludes as ftrongly for fpiritual Worship in the former as in the latter Cafe; and yet without any way leffening the Propriety, or weakening the Force of it, as urged upon the Occafion before us; as will appear in its proper

Place.

But may it not be afked here, Wherein was the Law a Spiritual Religion? In the Moral or Ceremonial Part of it? Be it answered, Both in the one and the other,' as to the Aim and Direction of it. This appears from the Ends affigned for its Delivery, two of which, as the moft principal, and given by St. Paul, I fhall briefly touch upon.

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1

And, firft, The Law (i. e. the Moral) was given as a Rule of Life, and to fhew' Men both their Sin, and their Duty: For fuch was the Corruption and Blindness of our Nature after the Fall, by the infatuat ing Power of Sin, that the human Race had, in many Particulars, lost the Distinctions of moral Good and Evil; nay, had

erred in that great fundamental Point, the

Knowledge

V.

Wherefore ferveth the Law? Gal. iii.

that

Knowledge and Worship of the One True SERMON God: And therefore, in Reply to that Queftion St. Paul anfwers, It was added because of 19. Tranfgreffions. He elfewere declares, by the Law is the Knowledge of Sin; and Rom. iii. inftances in himself for the Truth of the Affertion: I had not known Sin, but by Rom. vii. the Law; for I had not known Luft, except' the Law had faid, Thou shalt not covet.

of a

Some of the Heathens have indeed faid many fine things on the Side of Virtue; but their Systems are all wretchedly defective, as theirs could not but be, who neither knew the Malady of human Nature, nor its Cure; nay, were Strangers to the Love of God, which is the Foundation of all true Morality, and groffly ignorant of his Nature and Attributes. Their Virtues therefore were, for the most part, litical Nature, tallying well enough with the Interests of Civil Society, but little perfective of the Soul, and oftentimes the Result of Pride and Selfishness, Humour and affected Singularity. Some Virtues were paffed over by all, and fome Vices ftood both uncondemned, and practised by moft of them: And as to thofe few great Names among them,

I

po

20.

7.

SERMON them, who rofe above the common Level, and

23.

V.

are distinguished by the Sublimity of their Sentiments, and their nearer Approaches to Truth; their Doctrines and Precepts wanted the Sanction of Authority, and therefore could go but a little way in gaining upon the Belief and Practice of the World.

1

At what a low Ebb the Religion of Nature was in St. Paul's Time, when human Learning was near its Zenith, may be judged of from his Difcourfe to the Acts xvii. Men of Athens, and from the first Chapter of his Epiftle to the Remans. What fhocking Degeneracy and Corruption do they there ftand charged with! What Blindnefs and Ignorance with regard to the firft Principle of all Religion! The World, 1 Cor. i. fays he, by Wisdom knew not God. All the Learning of the Schools, and the fo much boafted Philofophy of Greece and Rome, had not taught them the firft Article of Nature's Creed, nor done so much for them as the Light of Nature, dim as it was, and the Law of Confcience, might have done; for in the visible things of God Rom. i. they might have clearly feen his eternal Power and Godhead; and the Law written in their Hearts, if carefully attended to,

21.

21.

would,

15.

V.

would, in many Cafes, have ferved them SERMON for a Monitor and Judge, their Confci-+ ences bearing Witness, and their Thoughts Rom. ii. accufing or excufing them: But becoming Rom. i. vain in their Imaginations, their foolish 21. Heart was darkened; and, profeffing themfelves wife, they became Fools. And yet these are the Men, whom the World makes fuch a Stir about; and to know their ignorant Conjectures is accounted fo great a Part of our Wisdom. Some of the wifer and more virtuous Heathens, particularly among the Platonists, are excepted from this general Rule, as both their Lives and their Writings challenge our Admiration and Esteem.

If we go back to the Time of the Delivery of the Law, we fhall, in like manner, find the whole World over-run with Idolatry and Superftition; nor had all the Learning of the Egyptians fecured them from the common Infection: So weak a Fence has human Reason ever been against the Corruptions of human Nature; and of fuch abfolute Neceffity is a Divine Revelation, not only to enforce Obedience to, but alfo to furnish fallen Man with the Knowledge of, the Divine Will. I 2 What