SERMON VIII.

S. LUKE iv. 8...

And Jefus anfwered and faid unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan; for it is written, Thou shalt worShip the Lord thy God, and him only fhalt thou ferve.

OU may poffibly remember, that from thefe Words I undertook to prove that religious Worfhip ought to be con

fined to God only: And confequently thát: a formal and folemn Invocation of

Saints and Angels was unlawful. Which Propofition, I told you, I fhould endeavour to make good

I. From the Doctrine of the Scriptures. II. From the Teftimony of the Antients.

III. From the Reason of the Thing.

Firft, I argued against the Invocation of Saints and Angels from the Silence of the Scriptures: And fhew'd what reason we had to expect fome Inftances of this Nature upon Record, if fuch a Practice had been customary or allowable.

Secondly, I urged feveral express Texts, as Exod. xx. 2. Deut. vi. 13. 1. Sam. vii. 3. to fhew that we ought not to make any religious Application to any Being besides the fupreme God: Where I likewise endeavour'd to prove the Vanity of the Diftinction between fovereign and inferior Worship.

I fhall now proceed to prove the Unlawfulness of Creature-worfhip from the New Teftament; of which Doctrine the Text if we had no other, was a fufficient Proof. For, the Reason of our Saviour's rejecting

rejecting the Temptation, is neither drawn from his own Godhead, nor from the Apoftacy of the Tempter; neither was fovereign Worship demanded. No: the Ground of his Refufal is, because religious Worship is God's incommunicable Right. For 'tis written, Thou shalt WorShip the Lord thy God, &c.

But because I have mention'd this already, I fhall infist no farther upon it. To proceed therefore: St. Paul teaches us, how different the Notions and Practices of Christians ought to be from the Heathens concerning the Object of religious Worship. For, fays he, tho' there be that are called Gods, whether in Heaven or Earth, (as there be Gods many and Lords many, in the Opinion of the Heathens) But to us there is but one God the Father, of whom are all things, &c. and one Lord Jefus Chrift, by whom are all things: Now we are to obferve, that the Platonifts and Pythagoreans, who were eminent

1. Cor. viii. 5, 6:

S

Sects

Sects of Philofophers among the Grecians to whom St. Paul wrote; Thefe Men, tho' they own'd one fupreme Being, Maker of all things; yet they suppofed him to have committed the Government of the World to those they called Celestial Deities, between whom and Mankind they believed a middle fort of Excellency, whom they called Dæmons or Angels, whofe Office it was to tranfact Bufinefs between both Parties; prefenting themselves as Mediators to the one, and bringing down Orders and Bleffings to the other. Now, to these inferior and upper Gods they directed most of their external and folemn Worship. Not that they difown'd a fupreme God, or pass'd him by out of Difrefpect; but because they thought him far above all our Service and Adoration; or at best, that nothing but the Devotion of the Mind was acceptable to him: b Thus much we may collect from St. Cyril, where he quotes Porphyry for this Opinion. Which fingular Notion of Honour

Cyril. cont. Julian. Lib ii. Pag. 60.
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was

was entertain❜d by the late Incas of Peru and by the Mandarins of China; which is the Reason they fhew fo little outward Reverence to the fupreme God. Now, we have great Reason to believe, that the Apoftle fpoke with Reference to the Scheme of Divinity received in those Places; for, if he had not alluded to the common Notions of the Heathen Religion, his Difcourfe would have been obfcure and unintelligible; therefore, the most natural Interpretation of his Words is, That God the Father and Maker of all Things, is to us Chriftians, instead of the many celeftial Gods worshipp'd by the Heathen; and therefore, the Worship of the other ought to be forborn: And, as for a Mediator between the fupreme God and Mankind, our Saviour was both defign'd, and is abundantly qualified for this Office; and therefore we are not to have any farther recourfe to the Interceffion of Dæmons, or Angels to this purpose. For, to us there is but one God, the Father, Sc. And in this Senfe the Place is understood by Theophylact. But

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