never be the Mother of a right Chriftian Devotion, can never tend to improve it. Of Superftition and numberless Errors, it may be, and is, the Parent; but the pious Christian, who would be truly devout, must build his Devotion on a true Knowledge of Christian Truths; and muft offer up His Praises and Adorations in the way, that the Sacred Writers of the New Testament require. He must first know What he worfhips; and then worship Him, as in Truth He is. And as the fpiritual and true Worship of a Chriftian is thus oppofed to Ignorance and Error, either as to The Object or the Manner of it, fo is it likewife

2. To a purely ritual and ceremonial Worship, fuch as was that of the Jews. The Rites and Ceremonies of the Jewish Law, had their Ufe and Neceffity, when inftituted by God, and were well adapted to the Purposes for which He defigned them. But when The Meffiah was come, and had fulfilled them; thofe Reasons ceafed, and the Things themselves, from being serviceable, became noxious and prejudicial to the true Religion. Great Numbers of Rites and external Obfervances are

like Clogs and Fetters upon the Soul. They employ the Mind too much on themfelves, and divert it from attending to the more weighty and important Matters of the Divine Law. They naturally lead Men to acquiefce in these Ceremonies, and to think themselves better and fafer than others, purely on their account. They likewise tend to inftil very unworthy Sentiments of The God Who is worfhipped, as if He delighted in vain and trifling things, or could be pleased with Pomp and Oftentation, or was confined to. Time or Place. And these being directly contrary to the Defign and Tendency of the Chriftian Doctrine, it was neceffary that the Christian Worship should be purified from them, and fenced in and diftinguished only by a few plain, and useful Rites; fuch as were beft fuited to its divine Nature, and would contribute moft to its main End and Defign. And therefore we continually find our Lord and His Apoftles fetting the Chriftian Law in Oppofition to the Jewish, and representing the one as no less fuperior in Worth and Excellence to the other, in all Particulars, than the Soul is to the Body. Thus the one

is called the Shadow, and the other the SubStance; one is ftyled Flesh, and the other Spirit; the Inftitutions of the former are termed carnal Ordinances, flavish, and beggarly Elements; the Precepts of the latter, a pure and holy Commandment, which gives both Liberty and Life; and in this Sense, the Christian is required, by our Great Master, in the Text, to worship The Father in Spirit and in Truth. And for the fame Reasons, that the Christian Worship is here opposed to the ritual and ceremonial Worfhip of the Jews, it is likewise opposed,

Laftly, to all kinds of Worship whatever, that are chiefly, or wholly confined, to Externals; which was the cafe both of the Jewish and Samaritan. These People, like their Pagan Neighbours, placed the Effence of Piety in the Multitude, Order, and Pomp of outward Ordinances; and when these were discharged in due Form, this was deemed to convey a Right and Title to the Divine Favour. Though they worshipped The True God, and with the Ceremonies which He Himself had appointed, yet by refting in these only, and not once confidering their spiritual Meaning, they

were

were in this Instance guilty of the fame Fault as the Heathen; that is, they adhered too much to the Outfide or Shell of Religion, and neglected or lost the Substance. They made the Law of God of none Effect, by their manner of obferving it; and when they affumed moft of the Form of Godliness, they were least affected by the Power of it. So that the Commandment was literally to them a dead Letter; it produced not its genuine and proper Effects upon their Minds; they were rather the worse than the better for it; and in Reality practifed nothing less than true Piety and Devotion. To these false Appearances therefore is oppofed the Truth, to these bodily Exercises the Spirituality, of the Chriftian Worship: And all Dependance on the Merit or Value of fuch outward Performances of any kind, is much more blameable in the Church than in the Synagogue; because the Nature of real internal Piety is now more fully explained, and its Neceffity more ftrongly enforced.

It is not then the Length of our Prayers, or the mechanical Motion of our Lips or Bodies in the Repetition of them, that can

make

make them acceptable in the Sight of God; it is not any bare Act of Worship, though of Divine Inftitution, which can recommend us to His Favour; but the Dif pofitions of the Mind and Heart with which it is performed. These only can render it a Spiritual and true Act of Devotion, without which it can have no real Value and Acceptance.

Some Forms and Ceremonies in the Public Worship of God are abfolutely necessary, and of great Edification and Ufe. Decency and Order cannot be preferved without them; and if they are few, plain, and expreffive, they are of general Benefit and Inftruction. And fuch as thefe cannot be here condemned by our Lord, because they were agreeable to His own Practice and Inftitutions. But when they become numerous, improper, and burdenfome, they enervate the Force of true Piety on the Mind, or rather totally divert Men from it. And when once Devotion degenerates into Formality, and Piety into Pharifaical Appearances, or mere outward Proftrations and Mortifications, and refts there; the Spirit and Truth of both is loft: And fuch are not

the