Serm. CI. The Immenfity of the,Divine Nature. 755 kill Oxen and.Sheep for God ; and there's the fame reafon of all other Rites, which either natural neceffity or decency doth not require. Can any Man in earneft think, that God who is a Spirit is pleafed with the pompous bravery and pageantry which affects our Senfes.? So little Both God value. indifferent Rites, that even the neceflàry external Serviceof God, and outward Reverence, where they ate feparated from fpirit andtruth, from real hounds and obedience to the indifpenfable Laws of Chrift, are fo far from being acceptable to God, that they are abominable ; nay, if they be ufed for a Cloak of Sin, or in oppofition to real Religion, and with a defign to undermine it, God accounts fuch Service in the number of the molt heinous Sins. You who fpend the ffrength and vigour of your Spirits about external things, whore zealfor or againfl Ceremonies is ready to eat you up ; you who hate and perfecute one another becaufe of thefe things, and break the neceffary and in- difpenfable Commands of love, as an indifferent and unneceffary Ceremony, go and learn what that means, Iwill have mercy, and not facriftce, which our Saviour doth fo often inculcate, and that Rom. 14.57. TheKingdom ofGod is not meat and drink, &c. And ftúdy the meaning of this, Godis a Spirit, and they that worfhip him, muff worfhip him in Spirit and in Truth. S , R M O N CIe The Immenfty of th Divine Nature; P s A L. CXXXIX: 7, 8, 9, i o. Whither (hall Igo from thy fpirit ? or whither ¡hall I flee from thypre. fence? IfI afcend up into heaven, thou art there; if Imake my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. IfI take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermofl parts of the fea even there¡hall thy hand lead nie, and thy right hand¡ball hold me. THA T Attribute of God which I laft difcours'd of is molt abfolute, and declares his Eflence Mott immediately; thefpirituality of the Divine Ina- ture. I (hail in the next place fpeak of thofe which relate to the manner of his Being, Immenfrty and Eternity, that is, the Infmiteneß of his Effence, both in re- fpe& of fpace andduration ; that the Divine Nature bath no limits of its Being, nor bounds of its Duration. I ¡hall at the prefent fpeak to thefir/ of thefe, his Immenfäty, and that from thefe words which I here read to you, Whither (ball I go from thyfpirit, &c. The meaning of which is this, That God is a Spirit, infi- nitely diffufing himfelf, prefent in all places, fo that wherever Igo, God is there we cannot flee from his prefence. If I afcend into heaven, he is there ; if I go down into the grave, the place of uilence and obfcurity, he is there; (for that is the meaning of the exprellion, IfI make my bed inhell) IfI take the wings of the dooming, anddwell in the uttern:offparts ofthefea, even there(hall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand ¡hall hold me ; that is, if my motion fhould be as fwift as that of the light, which when the Sun rifeth, darts it felf in an inftant from one part of the World to another, over the Earth and the Sea, the remoteft parts of the World which are unknown to us, yet would God be prefent to me in the mo- tion, and all along as I go muff I be led and upholden by him ; fo that all thefe Expreffions do but lignifie to us the Ìmmenfity of God's Effenee, that his Being is infinitely diffufed and prefent in all Places. Ddddd z Ìri
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