Mr. OLIVER's SERMON Before the LORD-MAYOR, etc. At St. Paul's Cathedral, October 23. 1698.   

EDWIN, Mayor. Jovis xxvii. die Octobris, 1698. Annoque RRs Wilhelmi Tertii Angliae, etc. Decimo.  
THis Court doth desire Mr. Oliver to Print his Sermon Preached before the Lord-Mayor and Aldermen of this City at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, on Sunday last.  
GOODFELLOW.   

A SERMON PREACHED in St. PAUL's Cathedral, BEFORE THE Lord-Mayor, ALDERMEN, etc.  
On SUNDAY, October 23. 1698.  
By EDWARD OLIVER, M. A. Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge; and Chaplain to the Right Honourable GEORGE Earl of Northampton.  
The Second Edition.  
LONDON: Printed for Edward Castle, next Scotland-Yard-Gate, near Whitehall. MDCXCVIII.   

A SERMON Preached before the Lord-Mayor, etc.  JOHN IV. 24. God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. 
OUR Blessed Redeemer neglected no opportunity of exerting that universal Charity he came into the world to teach, that thus by his Practice his Doctrine might gain Credit, and the stiffest Prejudices be wrought off and conquered by so powerful an Example Answerable to this we find him here in this Chapter bearing with patience the Ignorance and subtle Shifts of a Woman; with tenderness reproving the Sins of an heinous Offender; with kindness, though himself a Jew, conversing with a Samaritan.  
Thus by his Affability and stooping to the meanest Capacity, does he convince the Understanding that was fraught with Prejudice and Infidelity; subject that Will that was led captive at the pleasure of each unruly Lust: In short, of an Idolater and Adult'ress, makes a Convert, and a Teacher of others.  
Such care does he take to have all come to the knowledge of the Truth, that we find him supplying the defects of Education, removing those Disadvantages she lay under; and what the Jews might have learned from the Books of their Prophets (which Books the Samaritans did wholly reject, and so were not capable of understanding), he here with great plainness, nay, more than he vouchsafes to his own Nation, declares, (viz.) That he was the Messiah, and was to introduce a new and better Law. So much advantage has Ignorance, and a Confession of Sins, above an affected Pretence to Knowledge, and a counterfeited Zeal.  
There is no Verse that has relation to this Story, but would afford many useful Remarks: But since I have pitched upon this of the Text, I shall take no further notice of the rest, than as they are particularly necessary to the Explication of it. And in order to this, 'twill be expedient to consider to what this Position is opposed: And we shall best understand what is here meant by Spirit and Truth, if we look back a little, and take notice how it was introduced.— (Nor will the Reflections which I shall make be improper for this Auditory; where, though I believe there is neither Jew nor Samaritan to convince, yet we have those, I fear, sometimes to deal with, who make such a Medley of Religion, that they are near as dangerous to the Truth of it. For so do the Romanists confound their Will-worship and Idolatry with the Essentials of Christianity, that they take both from its Truth and Spirituality. So do other Dissenters from Us mistake the true Notion of its Spirituality, that they derogate from the very Essentials of our most Holy Religion, and would go about to persuade us its Truth consisted in mere Airy Notions, and Wild Enthusiasm.)— Our Blessed Saviour having convinced this Samaritan of his extraordinary Knowledge, by telling her all that ever she did, she is so far from denying or concealing her fault, that she owns him for a Prophet, and as such, begs his Instructions in that great Dispute that was between the Jews and those of her own Nation. It being necessary for her that knew her Sins were many and heinous, and had not only learned out of the Books of Moses, that there could be no Atonement made between God and her, no Remission obtained without a Sacrifice; but also, that the Almighty would accept of no other Sacrifice, but such as was offered him in that one Place he had chosen to put his Name in; nay, yet more, That all Sacrifices that were offered elsewhere were esteemed no better than of wilful Murder: It was necessary, I say, for her to understand how and where this her Offering would be accepted. Nor could she judge any more fit to resolve her, than one of whose great Wisdom and Knowledge she had then had such full Proof and Experience. The Religions that at this time took place in the World, were those of the Jews and Gentiles: The Jews worshipped only One and the True God; the Gentiles abounded in such as were False, to whom they paid their Adoration. Now the Samaritans made a mixture of both these, and added to the Worship of the true God the Adoration of the false. For when Shalmanesser carried Israel away captive into Assyria, he sent the Refuse of divers Nations to possess Samaria and the cities of it; 
2 Kings 17.25.  who in the beginning of their dwelling there feared not the Lord, therefore the Lord sent lions among them and slew some of them. To remove which Plague their King sent one of the Priests which he brought from thence, to dwell there, and to teach them the manner of the God of the land: So they feared the Lord, and served their own gods, ver. 33. that is, admitted the Religion of the Jews, and yet retained their own Superstition.  
Now though the Jews and Samaritans differed in many things, as were easy to show; yet they chief disagreed in the Place of their Sacrifices. These pleading the Practice of their Forefathers, whom they, forgetful of their true Religion, esteemed Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, believing themselves descended from them, and settled in this Land ever since the departure of Moses out of Egypt; in the mean time upbraiding the Jews, that their Religion was only founded on Hearsay and Opinion.  
The Jews justly esteemed theirs the Holy Temple of Jerusalem, where God appeared between the Cherubims, where was an unquestioned Succession of Priests to minister, and where their Kings had always offered Sacrifice.  
On the other side, the Samaritans boasted their Mount Gerizim as the Place chosen of God; where Abraham (as their Tradition would make them believe) in obedience would have offered up his Son Isaac, and where Jacob returning out of Mesopotamia worshipped.  
Nay, so were they possessed with a belief of the Antiquity of their Temple, that in the time of Ptolemy Philometor, about a hundred and sixty years before Christ, they undertook, with the hazard of their Lives, to prove it before that of Jerusalem, even out of the Laws of Moses. So strangely mistaken may the fond boasts be of Succession and Antiquity, and so little Credit to be given to bare Tradition.  
This was the foundation of the Woman's Question (v. 20.), and this Question she justly thought dignus Vindice nodus, worthy of a Prophet to resolve. Now so does our Saviour frame his Answer, as to declare the Worship of the Jews preferable to that of the Samaritans, and consequently Jerusalem to Mount Gerizim; but adds, that the whole Question will henceforth cease, while both their Religions were to be abolished, the one as False, the other as Imperfect. The Samaritan's false, because mixed with Idolatry; wherefore our Saviour says, Ye worship ye know not what, v. 22. The Jew's, though it must be allowed true, because he adds, We worship what we know, yet to be abolished, because weak and imperfect: Neither in this mountain shall ye worship, because Idolatry shall cease as the Prophets foretold, And the Lord alone shall he exalted in that day, 
Isa. 2.18.  and the Idols he shall utterly abolish: Nor in Jerusalem, because Sacrifice and Oblations he will no longer accept, but a third and perfect Worship should be established; for the hour comes and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship him, v. 23. In which Answer of our Blessed Saviour, the Deficiency of both the former Religions, and the Excellency of that which was to succeed is plainly set forth. For the worship of the Samaritans was not in Truth, but abounded with Errors and Ignorance; That of the Jews was not in Spirit, but consisted in Bodily Observances and Outward Ceremonies, which were but Shadows of things to come; and it was only the Christians that could henceforth be true Worshippers, whilst their Religion alone was endued with what the others were deficient in (viz.) Spirit and Truth. Nor could any other Religion than this be proper to be established, no other being agreeable to the Nature and true Notion of a God; and this in the Text is given as the: fundamental reason why the others were abolished, and this introduced: God is a Spirit, etc.  
And that the Christian Religion is thus agreeable to the Nature of God, I shall endeavour to show, by declaring what is here required of us,  

I. By worshipping in Spirit. And  
II. In Truth.   
And by the way shall take notice of such as deviate from this Worship: Which I desire may serve as an Application of the Discourse, since 'tis all which I fear your Patience will permit me to make.  
And I. I am to show what is meant by Worshipping God in Spirit.  
1. Then do we worship him in Spirit, when we are possessed with a true and lively sense of his Divine Majesty, Power, and Rule over us; humbly acknowledge his unspeakable Goodness; so adore his Infinite Wisdom which searches our hearts, that we in all things submit to his Alwise Will: When we love him with all our Hearts and all our Souls, and yet fear and reverence him as a Father, and with the greatest cheerfulness obey whatsoever he has been pleased to command us. When we not only give up our Souls pure and spotless, but keep our Bodies too fit Temples for the Holy Ghost, and thus joined, offer up ourselves one Reasonable Service.  
For when we have once this true and awful Notion of the Almighty, we must and shall exert ourselves in acts of Piety and public Testimonies of Devotion; Express our Sense of his Power and Rule by our daily Supplications; our Acknowledgements of his Goodness by our continual Praises; our Love by our Charity to our Neighbours, and Zeal for his Worship and Service; our Fear, by our abstaining from the least appearance of Evil, lest we offend so gracious a Father.  
And all this with Humility and Reverence, Decency and Order, with Obedience to Authority, and respect to those whom he has set over Us: These being most certain and spiritual Duties, nay the only things wherein we are capable of testifying that we really do worship Him in spirit. And once come up to these just and awful Thoughts of the Divine Majesty, which produce such true acts of Devotion and Piety, How agreeable to his Nature must be this our Sacrifice, how much beyond whatever the policy of the wisest Heathen could invent; nay even what he himself instituted in the Jewish Religion?  
God is a Spirit; That is, a Being Incorporeal and Immaterial; his Worship therefore aught to be like Himself, refined and spiritual, and to deduce its Source from the Reason and Soul of Man; not to consist barely in outward Acts and Things merely Corporeal.  
'Tis confessed God had permitted, nay commanded such a Worship under the Old Law; but this was only Temporary, and fitted for a People carnal and stiffnecked; but now the fullness of time was come, it no longer suited the Divine Majesty, he therefore commands a Worship more Real and Divine. If therefore our Actions do not proceed from the Heart and Soul; that is, from a lively Faith, fervent Love and sincere Principles of Holiness, they can't be acceptable to God, nor is this our Worship agreeable to his Nature. But if they take their Rise from the Heart, then are they a spiritual Worship; for thus are they spiritual in their Original, Source and Cause, and bear some proportion even with the Almighty himself, who is a Spirit. And this I take to be the true meaning of worshipping in spirit.  
How grossly then do they err who would make all Religion to consist in Notion and Talk, and frame to themselves a Worship that should have nothing of reality in it, but at once mock both God and Man? These are they that are above Ordinances, and all manner of Rule, guided by Fancy and a frantic Zeal, which they put on to deceive the giddy Multitude with a noise of Holiness: who think it enough to vent and boast their Notions of the Power and Excellency of Faith, but never take care to show it by their Works; nay esteem the pressing of them as necessary to Salvation, nothing less than Superstition and Popery: that will talk of Love to God, and Familiarity with the Person of Christ; and yet forget their Obedience to the Magistrates whom he has set over them, and hate, backbite and slander their Neighbour: that pretend to the greatest Zeal for God's glory, yet are so far from abhorring Sacrilege, that 'tis one great Mark of their Godliness. Blessed God If these be the effects of spiritual Worship, we have changed for the worse, and are much farther from Heaven than the Jew or Samaritan.  
Others there are that go not so far, yet urge this Text against all manner of Ceremonies, and prescribed Forms of Devotion. Are we, say they, to worship him in spirit? what means then this Show and outward Pomp, this Rubric and these Forms? Shall we again be bound up with Jewish Slavery? Are we not promised the Assistance of the Spirit, and shall Christ die in vain to free us?  
We willingly confess that the Worship under the Gospel is more refined and spiritual than that under the Law; but that it should be wholly so, debarred of all outward Ceremonies, we affirm to be against the Practice of all Ages, nay, utterly impossible. Is not the whole Question here concerning Public Worship, the one false and idolatrous, the other gross and carnal; and is it any other than a Public Worship that our Saviour opposes to them, Spirit to the one, and Truth to the other? Is not the very Word he uses, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, most expressive of an outward Act of Devotion and Adoration? Did ever the Jews who knew what they worshipped, do it without Ceremony? And have we not Examples every where in Holy Writ, even from our Saviour and his Apostles, of external Acts of Adoration? Nay, which perhaps is a greater Argument to these men, do not they themselves use them? What mean else their set Looks, formal Voice, and forced Gestures? In short, all comes to this, they will, they must have Ceremonies, but they must be of their own making; and their dislike is greater, 'tis to be feared, to the Church that enjoins 'em, than to the Things themselves. 'Tis true, the Law shall give place to the Gospel, nor shall there be any appointed Place for Sacrifice, for that itself shall be abolished; but worship we must, and how that shall be done without prescribed Place, Time, and Order, is absolutely inconceivable. Still we must worship in the beauty of holiness; and though we are neither confined to Jerusalem or Mount Gerizim, yet must we not forget the assembling ourselves together.  
As for the Objections from hence against Set Forms, and the Pretensions to the Spirit, How vain and frivolous are they? Where is such Assistance promised? or upon what account indeed necessary? Let these Pretenders to Inspiration work Miracles too, and then we shall believe these extraordinary Gifts of the Holy Ghost, which we rightly now judge already ceased. Besides, so little reason have they, that the very Opinion contradicts itself, and what they pretend an Extemporary Effusion, is no more than a Form to all the Auditory, who are tied up to those Words they are pleased to put together for them, and are often worked up by Heat and Passion to say Amen to no better than Nonsense; sometimes, I fear, even Blasphemy itself. Strange is it, that men otherwise sober, and that will not venture a Sermon, which they only address to the People, without Care and Accuracy of Wording, should yet dare to entertain Commerce with God at all adventures, buoyed up with a little Popular Applause and Self-conceit! Most evident it is, that what they would make the World believe is immediately from Heaven, is attainable by Memory, and a Volubility of Speech, and perfected by a great share of Confidence. Then do we truly worship in Spirit, when after our Blessed Saviour's Example we pray with Warmth and Devotion in a sound well-weighed Form of Words; nor does the Almighty ever deny his Assistance, or the Petitions of such Adorers.  
So sensible has all the World been of the Necessity of a Form, that there is no Age or Church that has left themselves at liberty; nor was it ever thought on, till Religion grew a Blind for Faction and Interest. We worship not as the Jews did, with such Ceremonies as are signs and figures of things to come; those we know are and were to be abolished: But our external visible Services imply the Truth of the Promises already exhibited, and our outward Acts are testimonies of our inward Faith, Love, Humility, and other Christian Virtues. Nor is it to be questioned but that divers Saints and Holy Prophets did in this manner adore; nor is this taken away but perfected by our great Lawgiver. Would it not be very strange that Christianity, which gives us Rules of Conversation and Civility, reaches us Obedience to our Prince, Submission to Governors, Respect and Kindness to all men in general, should yet suffer us to make our approaches to the Almighty with Disrespect and Rudeness! Yet do we not often see such men as will pay due Reverence to a Neighbour or Equal, rush into the Place of Worship, and the Presence of God himself, without the least show of Devotion and Respect?  
'Tis allowed, all men in comparison of the great God are equal, and Titles cease when we have regard to one Omnipotent: But this should be so far from lessening, that it should infinitely heighten our outward Acts of Submission and Humility: Is he not our Master, where is then our Reverence? Is he not our Lord, where is then our Fear? Thus on the one side have some wandered from the meaning of the Text; nor do the Papists less err on the other, who are so far from worshipping in Spirit, that they still retain that Sacrifice that was once offered up for all; that cloud and load their Religion with innumerable Ceremonies; that content themselves with repeating so many Prayers, and conclude they have then sufficiently worshipped, when their Set-task is finished. Now how insignificant and sapless must this Devotion be, how unacceptable to the God of Purity and Omniscience, that searches the Heart, and expects a reasonable Service? Or how can it be agreeable to Him who sent our Saviour into the World to remove this very Bondage from the Jews, and to establish a Spiritual and Divine Worship? Nay, can it satisfy a man of Sense and Consideration? Yet so far can the Prejudice of Custom and Education prevail, that this is the known Practice of those that profess that Religion.  
Happy! thrice happy are we then in the Constitution of our Church! May it long so flourish.  
Whilst we have no Ceremonies but what Decency require, and Primitive Practice allows; have Instructions plain and easy, Prayers serious and accommodate to the meanest Capacity, and so free from just exception, that we may well question that man's Understanding, always his Charity, that refuses to say Amen.  
But thus much of the First Particular.  

I come now to what is meant by,  
II. Worshipping him in Truth.   
For though nothing hinders but they may be here taken one for the Exposition of the other; yet have we hitherto, and shall still treat of it as it was opposed to the False Worship of the Samaritans; which was now to be abolished, and they no longer to worship they knew not what on Mount Gerizim. So that by it is forbidden all Corporeal Representations of the Almighty (for so the Samaritans did worship him), as all mixture of Heathenish Superstition and Idolatry: Who are said in Scripture to belie the Almighty, whilst they changed the truth of God into a lie, and served the Creature as or with the Creator, who is blessed for evermore.  
Then do we worship him in Truth, when in serious and devout Meditation we can work up our Thoughts above all things material; when we only contemplate a Being incorporeal, infinite in all that's great and good, and to him alone, as such, offer up our Supplications.  
What shall we say then to the Romanists, who would still confine the Almighty to Mount Gerizim? What else mean their Prayers and Offerings, their famed Shrines, their long and tedious Pilgrimages to some particular Chapel, or renowned Altar? Still have we the Boast of the Practice of their Fathers, though equally false with that of the Samaritans, and a Religion made and upheld by Superstition and Policy, delivered down as Primitive.  
Still have we a mixture of Idolatry in their Worship; nay, the God of Heaven almost dethroned by a Crowd of feigned Saints and counterfeit Miracles. With what glittering Tawdriness are their Churches filled? How are their Altars beset with Puppets, the variousness and ridiculousness of whose Dress serves only to amuse and divert the Traveller? How do they dare to represent the Almighty under the Decays of Age, and lie prostrate before each Image their Fancies prompt 'em to choose? This is the daily Practice of all in general; and if this be not Idolatry, certainly there never was any yet: Nor can we ever distinguish between the Opinion and general Practice of a Church, so far as to excuse them.  
To conclude:  
Let us that have a plain and easy Rule to walk by, so carry ourselves between these two dangerous Extremes, as by our Examples to promote and uphold the Wellbeing of the best of Churches, Let us be constant to our Liturgies, fervent at our Devotions: Thus shall we with Decency and Order worship the God of Truth, and offer up a reasonable, a spiritual, and acceptable Service. Thus shall we after a Peace of Conscience which we may justly expect in the Performance of our Duties, be made Partakers of an Inestimable Reward.  
To which God, etc.  
FINIS.   

Books Printed and Sold by Edward Castle, near Whitehall.  

ADvice to an Apprentice under these following Heads: 1. Religion. 2. Justice and Fidelity. 3. Obedience. 4. Diligence. 5. Affability. 6. Temperance. 7. Chastity. 8. Thrift. 9 Humility. 10. Discretion. With a Preface to the Masters.  
A Catechism, or familiar Instructions on the Principal Points of the Christian Religion: By Mr. Drelincourt. Translated out of French.  
A Treatise of the Causes of Incredulity: Wherein are examined the Motives and Occasions which dispose Unbelievers to reject the Christian Religion. By Mr. Le Clerc.