S. Jo H. i. 29. Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the Sins of the World. HO is this Lamb of GOD? I. WChrift Jefus typify'd by the Paschal Lamb; which was 1. Without Spot, Hebr. ix. 14. 2. Separated the tenth Day. 3. Killed. 4. The Blood fprinkled on the Poft, that fo the Destroying-Angel might pass over, 1 S. Pet. i. 2. Hebr. x. 22. 5. Roasted with Fire. 6. It expiated Sin typically, Christ really, 1 S. Joh. ii. 2: 7. It was meek and patient in all its Sufferings, fo Chrift, Ifa. liii. 7. II. What Sin does He take away? 1. Original, Rom. v. 19. 2 Actual, Ephes. i. 7. 3. Habitual, Act. iii. 26. III. How doth Chrift take away Sin? 1. He became Man, S. Job i. 14. 2. In the humane Nature which He affum'd, He fuffer'd Death, Phil. ii. 8. 3. The humane Nature in Him dying, by that Death he expiated the Sins of humane Perfons, Ifa. liii. v. 6. 4. By this Means He took our Sins away from us, Himself becoming our Sin-Offering, 2 Cor.v.21. H 1 And fo He takes away whatsoever in Sin is prejudicial to us; as, 1. The Guilt. 2. The Curfe, Gal. iii. 13. 3. The Strength of Sin: [Vid. Vol. II. Serm. III. of this Author.] S. JOH. S. JOH. iv. 24. God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him, muft worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. 1. WHO is this GOD, whom we ought to worship? 1. Not our felves, not the Mammon of Unrightcoufnefs, S. Luk. xvi. 9, 13. that is Idolatry, nor our Bellies, Phil, iii, 19. 2. Not our Fellow-Creatures, as the Heathens do. 3. But we are to worship that GOD, who is Three in One and One in Three. Tho' we may worship one Perfon diftinctly from the other, yet we must not worship one, in Opposition against the other; if we fo worship one Perfon, as to deny the Godhead of the other, we worship a falfe God; the true GOD being as really Three in Perfon, as One in Nature, fo that each Perfon is to be worshipped, S. Matt. xxviii. 19. II. What is here meant by Worship? 1. It confifteth in the Exercife of Graces; as, Love, Joy, Faith, Hope, &c. this is the right No tion of Worship, Deut. xi. 16. 2. The outward Actions, whereby that inward Worship is either exprefs'd or excited, as Publick Prayer, Hearing the Word, Receiving the Sacraments, &c. are call'd Worship, as Isa. xliv. 17. but improperly. 3. The very Ceremonies and Circumftances us'd about those external Actions, are fometimes call'd Worship; Worship; indeed, all the Words in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, that we tranflate Worship, do but denote fome outward Ceremony in God's Worship; as Hebrew, in un to fall down, spreading the Hands and Feet, as Rab. Sal. explains it, fo Pfal. xcv. 6. Greek, over; a Metaphor taken from Spaniel-Dogs, when they crouch to their Masters. So, Adorare eft, quafi manum ori admovere, as fome; ad aliquem orare, as others; but this is no farther Worship, than it hath respect to the outward Worship; which itfelf is no farther Worship neither, but as it hath relation to the internal Worship of the Mind. III. What is it to worship GOD in Spirit and in Truth? Why, it is to worship GOD after the firft Acceptation of the Word Worship; for I do not look upon the Figure iv-fra-fuo, to be in thefe Words, in Spirit and in Truth; but the one is exegetical or declarative of the other. In Spirit and in Truth; that is, they fhall worship GOD, not only with external and ceremonial, but with fpiritual Worship, in Spirit, in Soul, and Mind; and this is that which is the true Worship, as taking up the whole Soul and Body. Wherefore we must worship GOD, 1. In our Understandings. 1. By knowing, admiring, and esteeming Him as the fummum bonum, S. Matt. xix. 17. 2. By frequent and reverent Thinking of Him, Pfal. ixxiii. 23. and cxxxix. 17. 2. In our Wills. 1. By choosing Him for our Portion, Ifa. vii. 15, 16. 2. By fubmitting to Him. |