Again there is a public an private worship.Public is the worship that a Commonwealth performeth,as one person.Private is that which a private person exhibiteth.Public,in respect of the whole Commonwealth,is free;but in respect of particular men it is not so.Private is in secret free;but in the sight of the multitude it is never without some restraint,either from the laws or from the opinion of men;which is contrary to the nature of liberty.
The end of worship amongst men is power.For where a man seeth another worshipped,he supposeth him powerful,and is the readier to obey him;which makes his power greater.But God has no ends:the worship we do him proceeds from our duty and is directed according to our capacity by those rules of honour that reason dictateth to be done by the weak to the more potent men,in hope of benefit,for fear of damage,or in thankfulness for good already received from them.
That we may know what worship of God is taught us by the light of nature,I will begin with His attributes.Where,first,it is manifest,we ought to attribute to Him existence:for no man can have the will to honour that which he thinks not to have any being.
Secondly,that those philosophers who said the world,or the soul of the world,was God spake unworthily of Him,and denied His existence:for by God is understood the cause of the world;and to say the world is God is to say there is no cause of it,that is,no God.
Thirdly,to say the world was not created,but eternal,seeing that which is eternal has no cause,is to deny there is a God.
Fourthly,that they who,attributing,as they think,ease to God,take from Him the care of mankind,take from Him his honour:for it takes away men's love and fear of Him,which is the root of honour.
Fifthly,in those things that signify greatness and power,to say He is finite is not to honour Him:for it is not a sign of the will to honour God to attribute to Him less than we can;and finite is less than we can,because to finite it is easy to add more.
Therefore to attribute figure to Him is not honour;for all figure is finite:
Nor to say we conceive,and imagine,or have an idea of Him in our mind;for whatsoever we conceive is finite:
Nor to attribute to Him parts or totality;which are the attributes only of things finite:
Nor to say He is in this or that place;for whatsoever is in place is bounded and finite:
Nor that He is moved or resteth;for both these attributes ascribe to Him place:
Nor that there be more gods than one,because it implies them all finite;for there cannot be more than one infinite:
Nor to ascribe to Him (unless metaphorically,meaning not the passion,but the effect)passions that partake of grief;as repentance,anger,mercy:or of want;as appetite,hope,desire;or of any passive faculty:for passion is power limited by somewhat else.
And therefore when we ascribe to God a will,it is not to be understood,as that of man,for a rational appetite;but as the power by which He effecteth everything.
Likewise when we attribute to Him sight,and other acts of sense;as also knowledge and understanding;which in us is nothing else but a tumult of the mind,raised by external things that press the organical parts of man's body:for there is no such thing in God,and,being things that depend on natural causes,cannot be attributed to Him.
He that will attribute to God nothing but what is warranted by natural reason must either use such negative attributes as infinite,eternal,incomprehensible;or superlatives,as most high,most great,and the like;or indefinite,as good,just,holy,creator;and in such sense as if He meant not to declare what He is (for that were to circumscribe Him within the limits of our fancy),but how much we admire Him,and how ready we would be to obey Him;which is a sign of humility,and of a will to honour Him as much as we can:for there is but one name to signify our conception of His nature,and that is I AM;and but one name of His relation to us,and that is God,in which is contained father,king,and lord.
Concerning the actions of divine worship,it is a most general precept of reason that they be signs of the intention to honour God;such as are,first,prayers:for not the carvers,when they made images,were thought to make them gods,but the people that prayed to them.
Secondly,thanksgiving;which differeth from prayer in divine worship no otherwise than that prayers precede,and thanks succeed,the benefit,the end both of the one and the other being to acknowledge God for author of all benefits as well past as future.
Thirdly,gifts;that is to say,sacrifices and oblations,if they be of the best,are signs of honour,for they are thanksgivings.
Fourthly,not to swear by any but God is naturally a sign of honour,for it is a confession that God only knoweth the heart and that no man's wit or strength can protect a man against God's vengeance on the perjured.