Discourses upon the Existence and Attributes of God

Use 4 4. Is it a folly to deny or doubt of the being of God? Tis a folly also not to worship God, when we acknowledge his Existence: Tis our Wisdom then to Worship him. As it is not indifferent whether we believe there is a God or no: So it is not indifferent whether we will give Honour to that God or no. A worship is his right as he is the Author of our being, and fountain of our happiness. By this only we acknowledge his Deity: Tho we may profess his being, yet we deny that profession in neglects of worship. To deny him a Worship is as a great folly, as to deny his being. He that renounceth all homage to his Creator, envies him the being which he cannot deprive him of. The natural inclination to worship is as universal as the Notion of a God; Idolatry else had never gained footing in the world. The Existence of God was never owned in any Nation, but a Worship of him was appointed. And many people who have turned their backs upon some other parts of the Law of nature, have paid a continual homage to some superior and invisible being. The Jews give a Reason why Man was Created in the Evening of the Sabbath, because he should begin his being with the worship of his Maker. As soon as ever he found himself to be a Creature, his first solemn act, should be a particular respect to his Creator.^* To fear God and keep his Commandment, is the whole of man, or is^* whole man; he is not a man but a beast, without observance of God. Religion is as requisite as reason to complete a man: He were not reasonable if he were not Religious; because by neglecting Religion, he neglects the chiefest dictate of reason. Either God framed the world with so much Order, Elegance, and variety to no purpose, or this was his end at least, that reasonable Creatures should admire him in it, and Honour him for it. The Notion of God was not stamped upon men, the shadows of God did not appear in the Creatures, to be the Subject of an idle contemplation, but the motive of a due homage to God: He Created the world for his glory, a people for himself, that he might have the Honour of his works: That since we live and move in him and by him, we should live and move to him and for him. It was the condemnation of the Heathen world, that when they knew there was a God, they did not give him the Glory due to him.^* He that denies his being is an Atheist to his essence: