Some present themselves to God, as poor men offer a present to a great person; not to honour him, but to gain for themselves a reward richer than their gift. What profit is it that we have kept his Ordinance, &c? Mal. 3.14. Some worship him, intending thereby to make him amends for the wrong they have done him; wipe off their scores, and satisfy their debts; as though a spiritual wrong could be recompensed with a bodily service, and an infinite Spirit be outwitted and appeased by a carnal flattery. Self is the Spirit of Carnality: To pretend a homage to God, and intend only the advantage of self, is rather to mock him, than worship him. When we believe that we ought to be satisfied, rather than God glorified; we set God below our selves, imagine that he should submit his own honour to our advantage: We make our selves more glorious than God, as though we were not made for him, but he hath a Being only for us; this is to have a very low esteem of the Majesty of God. Whatsoever any man aims at in worship above the glory of God, that he forms as an Idol to himself instead of God, and sets up a Golden-Image: God counts not this as a Worship. The Offerings made in the Wilderness for forty years together, God esteemed as not offered to him, Amos 5.25. Have you offered to me Sacrifices and Offerings in the Wilderness forty years, oh House of Israel? They did it not to God, but to themselves; for their own security, and the attainment of the possession of the promised Land. A spiritual Worshipper performs not worship for some hopes of carnal advantage; he uses ordinances as means to bring God and his Soul together; to be more fitted to honour God in the world, in his particular place: When he hath been inflamed and humble in any address or duty, he gives God the glory; his heart suits the doxology at the end of the Lords-prayer, ascribes the Kingdom, Power and Glory to God alone; and if any viper of Pride starts out upon him, he endeavours presently to shake it off. That which was the first end of our framing, ought to be the chief end of our acting towards God: But when men have the same ends in worship as Brutes, the satisfaction of a sensitive part; the service is no more than brutish. The acting for a sensitive end, is unworthy of the Majesty of God to whom we address, and unbecoming a rational Creature.
Some present themselves to God, as poor men offer a present to a great person; not to honour him, but to gain for themselves a reward richer than their gift. What profit is it that we have kept his Ordinance, &c? Mal. 3.14. Some worship him, intending thereby to make him amends for the wrong they have done him; wipe off their scores, and satisfie their debts; as though a spiritual wrong could be recompensed with a bodily service, and an infinite Spirit be outwitted and appeased by a carnal flattery. Self is the Spirit of Carnality: To pretend a homage to God, and intend only the advantage of self, is rather to mock him, than worship him. When we believe that we ought to be satisfied, rather than God glorified; we set God below our selves, imagin that he should submit his own honour to our advantage: We make our selves more glorious than God, as though we were not made for him, but he hath a Being only for us; this is to have a very low esteem of the Majesty of God. Whatsoever any man aims at in worship above the glory of God, that he forms as an Idol to himself instead of God, and sets up a Golden-Image: God counts not this as a Worship. The Offerings made in the Wilderness for forty years together, God esteemed as not offered to him, Amos 5.25. Have you offered to me Sacrifices and Offerings in the Wilderness forty years, oh House of Israel? They did it not to God, but to themselves; for their own security, and the attainment of the possession of the promised Land. A spiritual Worshipper performs not worship for some hopes of carnal advantage; he uses ordinances as means to bring God and his Soul together; to be more fitted to honour God in the world, in his particular place: When he hath been inflamed and humble in any address or duty, he gives God the glory; his heart sutes the doxology at the end of the Lords-prayer, ascribes the Kingdom, Power and Glory to God alone; and if any viper of Pride starts out upon him, he endeavours presently to shake it off. That which was the first end of our framing, ought to be the chief end of our acting towards God: But when men have the same ends in worship as Brutes, the satisfaction of a sensitive part; the service is no more than brutish. The acting for a sensitive end, is unworthy of the Majesty of God to whom we address, and unbecoming a rational Creature.
