Quest. 1. Who is the Worshipper, the acceptable Worshipper in the sight of God? Or whom hath God chosen out, to hold forth his Worship in the sight of the World, since he rejected the Jews with their Worship.

That God hath appointed a chosen People to Worship him, that I presuppose: though, if need were, the proof thereof might be ready at hand. It is not every man that would thrust himself upon the Lord, whom the Lord will accept: but the Father seeketh such to worship him, John 4. 23. There is a capacity to be found in man, to make him a Worshipper, even such a capacity, as may enable him to perform that Worship, which God requireth of him. Now that is the thing to be enquired into, What this capa­city is, and who are the persons that are found in this capacity?

Answ. The Worshipper in the times of the Gospel, the Wor­shipper under the New-Testament is he that is born of God. He [Page] that is drawn out of the dark spirit of this World, and formed a­new in the light of God's Spirit. He that is a Jew inward, he that hath the Uncircumcision of his heart cut off by the power of God. This is the Worshipper, whom the Father seeks to worship him. This is the sort of Worshippers God chose, when he cast off the Jews. God did not chuse any one Nation, or many Nations, instead of that one which he cast off: but he sent his Apostles and Ministers among all Nations, to gather a Spiritual seed instead of the natural. And these alone are capable of setting up, and hold­ing forth his spiritual Worship unto the World, and to provoke them to wait for, and press towards the capacity of coming into the same spiritual Worship with them.

Quest. 2. Which is the place of VVorship?

Answ. The only place of Worship in the New-Testament, is where the Spiritual Worshippers meet together. The place is spi­ritual. As the Worship is spiritual: so is the place where it is to be offered. It hath a spiritual consideration, not outward as under the Law. It is to be offered in the Spirit, that's the place. Where doth my soul offer its private Worship to God? Hath it relation to any outward place? Or is it in the building, which God hath reared up in my heart by his Spirit? which building stands in, and is comprehended in his Spirit. And I can offer his publick Worship in no other place, but in a building of the same nature, in an house built of more of the same Stones. This then is the way of Worship in the true Light; Divers living Stones meeting together, every one retiring in Spirit into the living Name, into the Power which begat them, they all meet in one and the same place, in one and the same Power, in one and the same fountain of Life: and here they bow down to the Father of Life, offering up living Sacrifices to him, and receiving the bread and water of Life from him, and feeding in the rich pastures of his infinite Fulness. In the holy City, in the living Temple which is built by God, of the Stone which all other builders re­fuse, is the place of the Worship of the living God, where the true Jews meet to offer up their spirits, souls and bodies, a living Sacrifice to the Father of Life, and where they meet with such a glorious presence and power of the Father, as none but the true Jews were ever acquainted with.

Quest. 3. What is the Worship, or what are the Sacrifices, which the true Worshippers offer up to God, in this holy place?

Answ. The Gifts of his Spirit. These they offer up, and no­thing else. The breathings which the Father gives into the heart of the Child, they are breathed back unto him in the same spirit of Life, in the living Sense, in the quickening Power. Nothing of Man's Wisdome, nothing of Man's Invention, nothing ac­cording to Man's Will, nothing that would please the Flesh, or seem glorious in its Eye, is offered up here: but the Exhortations or Directions, or Reproofs that spring up in God's Light, in God's Wisdom, they are given forth in the Leadings, and by the Guidance of his Spirit, and they reach to the hearts of those, to whom he pleaseth to direct them. And this is the ground of such meltings, and breakings, and convictions of soul (and such like inward operations) as are frequently found in such Assemblies. For the living God is there, and the dread of his Power over­spreads the hearts of such, as are gathered into and assembled in his Name; and the Life springs in the earthen Vessels, and the favour is precious to all that have their spiritual Senses.

Quest. 4. What is the season of offering up these Gifts?

Answ. The seasons of the true Worship stand in the Will of God. They are Gifts, and the time of them stands in the will of the Giver. Prayer is a Gift. A man cannot pray when he will: but he is to watch and to wait, when the Father will kindle in him living breathings towards himself. So the Word of God (whe­ther of Exhortation or Instruction) is a Gift, which is to be wait­ed for, and then to be given forth in the life and strength of that Spirit, which causeth it to spring. Indeed it is an hard matter either to speak the Word of the Lord, or to hear the Word of the Lord. A man may easily speak what he invents, and another may easily hear and judge of such words: but to speak the VVord of Life, requires the Tongue of the Learned in the language of God's Spirit; and to hear the VVord of Life, requires a quicken­ed Ear: and to know the times and seasons of the Spirit, re­quires both being begotten of the Spirit, and being acquainted with it.

Quest. 5. Was this the Worship of the former Christians, in the Apostles dayes?

Answ. Search the Scriptures: Were not they come to the new [Page 4] Jerusalem? And where did they offer their Sacrifices? Did they offer them in the old Jerusalem or at Samaria, or the Mountain where the Fathers Worshipped? Or did they not rather offer them at the Mount Sion to which they were come; where the Male of the Flock (even the Lamb without spot) is known, and the blood of Sprinkling felt? Heb. 12. 22, 23, 24. and 1 Pet. 2. 5. O read, read in the life of God, the nature of the things them­selves, and do not feed upon your own imaginations, or the ima­ginations of any other men concerning them. Sweet is our God: his living presence is exceedingly nourishing to the Soul: preci­ous is his power felt in the heart: it is no less then Life Eternal to Worship him in his Spirit. O let not the Enemy of the Soul cheat your Souls any longer of the precious things of his King­dom, with husky and dry food instead thereof, which only gra­tifieth the earthly part, but nourisheth not the immortal life.

Quest. 6. How came the VVorship of God to be transformed, and changed so from the Living Power, into such dead formal wayes, as generally VVorshippers in the world are found in?

Answ. The Enemy hath done this, by God's permission. The Lord pleased to suffer him thus far to prevail against the Truth; even to get into the Form of it, and there to beget men into the Form, and then deny and turn against the Power. And this is the way of Antichrist in Kingdoms and Nations, even to set up a formal way of Worship, and by it to fight against the true Power.

Quest. 7. How long hath this been done, and how long is it yet to last?

Answ. From Anticrist's beginning, all the time of his reign, until his overthrow. The formal way of Religion will never be overturned, nor the Power of Religion find place in the Earth, but there will be still countenancing of formal wayes of Worship, and turning head against the power and life of the Spirit, until Antichrist's time come to an end, and the Lord consume him by the Spirit of his Mouth, and destroy him by the brightness of his coming.

Quest. 8. When shall this be?

Answ. The Lord is about this Work. He hath already raised up that, which hath not been raised up for many Generations: and the Lord hath sorely smote down the Spirit of Antichrist in [Page 5] many hearts already; and he is fetching a great and universal blow at him: which stroke, when it cometh from the Throne of God, the Nations shall tremble before him; and it will be as honourable to wait for the movings of his Spirit, and to Worship him alone therein, as now it is reproachful.