III. But what said the Almighty to such a sensual people of old, much upon the like occasion? "Thou thoughtest I was such an one as thyself, but I will reprove thee, and set thy sins in order before thee. Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver." But, "to him that ordereth his conversation aright, will I show the salvation of God." (Psalm l. 21, 22, 23.) This is the worship acceptable to him, "to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God." (Mic. vi. 8.) For He that searcheth the heart, and tries the reins of man, and sets his sins in order before him, who is the God of the spirits of all flesh, looks not to the external fabric, but internal frame of the soul, and inclination of the heart. Nor is it to be soberly thought, that He who is clothed with divine honour and majesty; who covers himself with light as with a garment; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain; who layeth the beams of his chambers in the deep; who maketh the clouds his chariot, and walks upon the wings of the wind: who maketh his angels spirits, his ministers a flaming fire: who laid the foundation of the earth, that it should not be moved for ever; can be adequately worshipped by those human inventions, the refuge of an apostate people from the primitive power of religion and spirituality of Christian worship. IV. Christ drew off his disciples from the glory and worship of the outward temple, and instituted a more inward and spiritual worship, in which He instructed his followers, "Ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem," says Christ to the Samaritan woman, "worship the Father; God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him, must worship Him in spirit and in truth." (John, iv. 21.) As if he had said, for the sake of the weakness of the people, God condescended in old time to limit himself to an outward time, place, temple, and service, in and by which he would be worshipped; but this was during men's ignorance of his omnipresence, and that they considered not what God is, nor where he is; but I am come to reveal him to as many as receive me; and I tell you that God is a spirit, and will be worshipped in Spirit and in truth. People must be acquainted with him as a spirit, consider and worship him as such. It is not that bodily worship, or these ceremonial services, in use among you now, will serve, or give acceptance with this God that is a Spirit: no, you must obey his Spirit that strives with you, to gather you out of the evil of the world, that by bowing to the instructions and commands of his Spirit in your own souls, you may know what it is to worship him as a Spirit; then you will understand that it is not going to this mountain, nor to Jerusalem, but to do the will of God, to keep his commandments, and commune with thine own heart, and sin not; take up thy cross, meditate in his holy law, and follow the example of Him whom the Father hath sent.