rable observance of them, when they had learned to place all their hopes of a righteousness in them, would and did adhere unto them unto their temporal and eternal ruin, Rom. ix. 31-33. And when men were persuaded that righteousness was to be attained by works of munificence and supposed charity, in the dedication of their substance unto the use of the church, they who otherwise were covetous, and greedy, and oppressing, would lavish gold out of the bag, and give up their whole patrimony, with all their ill-gotten goods, to attain it; so powerful an influence hath the desire of self-righteousness upon the minds of men. It is the best fortification of the soul against Christ and the gospel,—the last reserve whereby it maintains the interest of self against the grace of God.

Hence, I say, those that place their righteousness, or that which is the principal part of it, in the duties of religious worship, will not only be diligent in them, but ofttimes abound in a multiplication of them. Especially will they do so if they may be performed in such a way and manner as pleaseth their affections with a show of humility and devotion, requiring nothing of the exercise of faith or sincere divine love therein. So is it with many in all kinds of religion, whether the way of their worship be true or false, whether it be appointed of God or rejected by him. And the declaration hereof is the subject of the discourse of the prophet, Isa. i. 11-17; also, Mic. vi. 6–8.

4. The reputation of devotion in religious duties may insensibly affect the unrenewed minds of men with great diligence and delight in their performance. However men are divided in their apprehension and practice about religion, however different from and contrary unto each other their ways of divine worship are; yet it is amongst all sorts of men, yea, in the secret thoughts of them who outwardly contemn these things, a matter of reputation to be devout, to be diligent, to be strict, in and about those duties of religion which, according to their own light and persuasion, they judge incumbent on them. This greatly affects the minds of men whilst pride is secretly predominant in them, and they love the praise of men more than the praise of God.

Especially will this consideration prevail on them when they suppose that the credit and honour of the way which they profess, in competition with others, depend much on their reputation as to their strictness in duties of devotion; for then will they not only be diligent in themselves, but zealous in drawing others unto the same observances. These two principles, their own reputation and that of their sect, constituted the life and soul of Pharisaism of old. According as the minds of men are influenced with these apprehensions, so will a love unto and a delight in those duties whereby their reputation is attained thrive and grow in them.

I am far from apprehending that any men are (at least, I speak not of them who are) such vile hypocrites as to do all that they do in religion to be seen and praised of men, being influenced in all public duties thereby; which some among the Pharisees were given up unto. But I speak of them who, being under the convictions and motives before mentioned, do also yet give admittance unto this corrupt end of desire of reputation or the praise of men; for every such end, being admitted and prevalent in the mind, will universally influence the affections unto a delight in those duties whereby that end may be attained, until the person with whom it is so be habituated unto them with great satisfaction.

5. I should, in the last place, insist on superstition. As this is an undue fear of the divine nature, will, and operations, built on false notions and apprehensions of them, it may befall the minds of men in all religions, true and false. It is an internal vice of the mind. As it respects the outward way and means of religious service, and consists in the devout performance of such duties as God indeed accepts not, but forbids, so it belongs only to religion as it is false and corrupt. How in both respects it will engage the minds of men into the performance of religious duties, and for the most part with the most scrupulous diligence, and sometimes with prodigious attempts to exceed the measures of human nature in what they do design, is too long a work here to be declared. It may suffice to have mentioned it among the causes and reasons why men whose affections are not spiritually renewed may yet greatly delight in the diligent performance of the outward duties of religion. Our design in these things is, the discovery of the true nature of this grace and duty of being spiritually minded. Hereunto we have declared that it is necessary that our affections be spiritually and supernaturally renewed; and because there may be a great change wrought on the affections of men with respect unto spiritual things where there is nothing of this supernatural renovation, our present inquiry is, What are the differences that are between the actings of the affections of the one sort and of the other, whether spiritually renewed or occasionally changed? And whereas the great exercise of them consists in the duties of religious worship, I have declared what are the grounds and reasons whence men of unrenewed minds do delight ofttimes in the duties of divine worship and are diligent in the performance of them.

From these and the like considerations, it may be made manifest that the greatest part of the devotion that is in the world doth not spring from the spiritual renovation of the minds of men; without which it is not accepted with God. That which remains to give in instance, farther evidence unto the discovery we are in the pursuit

of, is, what are the grounds and reasons whereon those whose minds and affections are spiritually renewed do delight in the institutions of divine worship, and attend unto their observance with great heed and diligence. And because this is an inquiry of great importance, and is of great use to be stated in other cases as well as that before us, I shall treat of it by itself in the ensuing chapter, that the reader may the more distinctly comprehend it, both in the nature of the doctrine concerning it and in the place it holds in our present dis

course.

CHAPTER XV.

Delight of believers in the holy institutions of divine worship-The grounds and reasons thereofThe evidence of being spiritually minded thereby, etc.

THAT all true believers, whose minds are spiritually renewed, have a singular delight in all the institutions and ordinances of divine worship is fully evident, both in the examples of the saints in the Scripture and their own experience, which they will never forego; for this hath been the greatest cause of their suffering persecution, and martyrdom itself, in all ages. If the primitive Christians under the power of the pagan emperors, or the witnesses for Christ under the antichristian apostasy, would or could have omitted the observance of them (according to the advice and practice of the Gnostics), they might have escaped the rage of their adversaries. But they loved not their lives in comparison unto that delight which they had in the observance of the commands of Christ as unto the duties of evangelical worship. David gives us frequently an instance hereof in himself: Ps. xlii. 1-4, "As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God? When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday." Ps. lxiii. 1-5, "O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; to see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. Because thy loving-kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips." Ps. lxxxiv. 1–4, "How amiable are thy tabernacles, O LORD of hosts! My soul

longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O LORD of hosts, my King, and my God. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. Selah."

But "a greater than David is here." Our Lord Jesus Christ himself did, upon all occasions, declare his delight in and zeal for all the ordinances of divine worship which were then in force by virtue of divine institution and command; for although he severely reproved and rejected whatever men had added thereunto, under the pretence of a supererogating strictness of outward order, laying it all under that dreadful sentence, "Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be plucked up," and so cast into the fire, yet as unto what was of divine appointment, his delight therein was singular, and exemplary unto all his disciples. With respect hereunto was it said of him, that "the zeal of God's house had eaten him up," by reason of the affliction which he had in his spirit to see the worship of it neglected, polluted, and despised. This caused him to cleanse the temple, the seat of divine worship, from the polluters and pollutions of it, not long before his sufferings, in the face and unto the high provocation of all his adversaries. So with earnest desire he longed for the celebration of his last passover: Luke xxii. 15, "With desire have I desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer." And it is a sufficient evidence of the frame of spirit and practice of his disciples afterward, in reference to the duties of evangelical worship by his appointment, that the apostle gives it as an assured token of an unsound condition, and that which tendeth to final, cursed apostasy, when any fall into a neglect of them, Heb. x. 25-27.

These things are manifest and unquestionable. But our present inquiry is only, what it is which believers do so delight in in the ordinances and institutions of divine gospel worship, and what it is that engageth their hearts and minds into a diligent observance of them, as also how and wherein they do exercise their love and delight. And I say, in general, that their delight in all ordinances of divine worship, -as is evident in the testimonies before produced,-is in Christ himself, or God in Christ. This alone is that which they seek after, cleave unto, and are satisfied withal. They make use of the streams, but only as means of communication with the spring. When men are really renewed in the spirit of their minds it is so. Their regard unto ordinances and duties of divine worship is, as they are appointed of God a blessed means of communion and intercourse between himself in Christ and their souls. By them doth Christ communicate

of his love and grace unto us; in and by them do we act faith and love on him. It is the treasure hid in the field, which when a man hath found he purchaseth the whole field; but it is that he may enjoy the treasure which is hid therein, Matt. xiii. 44. This field is the gospel and all the ordinances of it. This men do purchase sometimes at a dear rate, even with the loss of all they enjoy; but yet if they obtain nothing but the field, they will have little cause to rejoice in their bargain. It is Christ the treasure alone, that pearl of great price, that will eternally enrich the soul. The field is to be used only [so] as to find and dig up the treasure that is in it. It is, I say, Christ alone that, in the preaching of the gospel, renewed affections do cleave unto as the treasure, and unto all other things according as their relation is unto him or as they have a participation of him. Wherefore, in all duties of religion, in all ordinances of worship, their inquiry is after him whom their souls do love, Cant. i. 7.

But yet we must treat more particularly and distinctly of these things. Those whose affections are spiritually renewed do love, adhere unto, and delight in, ordinances of divine service and duties of worship, on the grounds and reasons ensuing:

1. In general they do so as they find faith, and love, and delight in God through Christ, excited and acted in and by them. This is the first and immediate end in their institution. It is a pernicious mistake to suppose that any external duties of worship, as hearing the word, prayer, or the sacraments, are appointed for themselves or accepted for themselves.

Such thoughts the Jews of old had concerning their sacrifices,namely, that they were appointed for their own sake, and were acceptable service unto God merely on their own account. Wherefore God, to deliver them from this pernicious mistake, affirms ofttimes that he never appointed them at all; that is, for any such end, Jer. vii. 22, 23, Isa. i. 12-14, etc. And now, under the gospel, sundry things destructive to the souls of men have proceeded from such a supposition. Some hereon have always satisfied and contented themselves with the external observance of them, without desiring or endeavouring any holy communion with God in them or by them. This constitutes the state and condition mentioned, Rev. iii. 1. And by following this track the generality of Christians do wander out of the way; they cannot leave them, nor do they know how to use them unto their advantage, until they come wholly unto that woful state, Isa. xxix. 13. And some, to establish this deceit, have taught that there is much more in the outward work of these duties than ever God put into them, and that they are sanctified merely by virtue of the work wrought.

But all the duties of the second commandment, as are all insti