nable Latitude of Liberty in Things of this nature, into a Pretence for Wantonness, but remember that we judge for our felves, in an Affair that concerns our felves moft of all, and if we are Hypocrites, we fhall have the worst of it. As for the End of thefe outward Religious Exercifes, which confifts in a Religious Temper of Mind, and a conftant good Converfation, we can never exceed in that. As for the Means, fuch as Fafting, and obferving Times of Prayer, and other Religious Exercifes, there is a Latitude, with which all may do equally well, tho' not with equal Length, with equal Repetition, and with equal Degrees. We are to require you without fail to be juft and honeft, and chaft, to love God with all your Hearts and Souls, and your Neighbours as your felves; thefe Things must be in all, and abound in all but as for the inftrumental Means of Religion, the Means to obtain and improve these fubftantial Virtues, we cannot require you to use them, but in that Proportion as they will beft ferve for the End to which they ought to be directed, to wit, our Spiritual Advantage. And yet even amongst the Means of Religion, fome are to be enjoined with lefs Latitude than others, as for Inftance: No Man or Woman can pretend any reafon against praying at all, tho' one or other other may fhew a particular reafon against abstaining from his or her ufual Food; and there cannot lie fo many Referved Cafes against Frequent Praying as there may against Frequent Fafting; which Religious Exercife of Fafting is good, or not, according as it is beneficial and useful, or not, for thofe good Ends I have mentioned. And therefore, after all that can be faid upon this, ftill every Chriftian is and must be left to make particular Application of general Rules to himfelf; and he that does it not with Honesty and Sincerity, difappoints indeed the good Intention of the Perfon that would direct him, but then he is not to forget that it is himself that he most of all deceives. God grant that we may have a Right Judgment in all Things, and that we may perform fuch like Duties wifely, honeftly, and conscientiously, to the Glory of his great Name, to our own Improvement in Virtue, and fo to the Furtherance of our own Salvation, for Jefus Chrift his Sake: To whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be afcribed all Honour, Praise and Glory, now and for ever. Amen. JOHN IV. xxiv. God is a Spirit, and they that worship him, must worship him in Spirit and in Truth. HESE Words are Part of our Savi TH our's Difcourfe to the Samaritan Woman, and they may without Difficulty be interpreted by their own Light; however I fhall begin with confidering the Occafion upon which they were spoken, and so with borrowing the Light which that lends. The Samaritans, of whom this Woman was one, were a People that had defcended from the feveral Nations, which the Affyrian King had placed in the Cities of Samaria, Inftead of the Children of Ifrael, after that he had carried the Ten Tribes away into Captivity: Captivity: Which Progenitors of theirs, when Shalmanefer had firft tranfplanted them in Samaria, feared not the God of the Hebrews, and therefore the Lord fent Lions among them, which flew fome of them. Whereupon to be delivered from that Plague, they got fome Priests of the Captivity amongst them to teach them the Way of worshipping the God of the Place, and fo they feared the Lord, and ferved their own Gods, their graven Images too, 2 Kings 17. But in Procefs of Time their Pofterity left off the Idolatry of ferving falfe Gods, and worfhipped the true God only. For thefe Samaritans inha biting the Country between Judea and Galilee were Neighbours to the Jews, and at length they learned fome Part of the Jewish Religion, and pretended, when it was for their Intereft, that they were akin to the Jews, and had defcended from Abraham, Ifaac, and Jacob. As for Inftance, v. 12. of this Chapter, the Woman pretended that the Samaritans were the Pofterity of the Patriarch Jacob. But they came not to Jerufalem to offer Sacrifice, but had a Temple in Mount Gerizim, first built by Sanballat, after the Babylonian Captivity, in which Temple they offered Sacrifice. From this Schifm there fprang a mortal Hatred between the Jews and the Samaritans, which for the most part excluded common Civility and and Converfation, the Jews truly pretending, that the Temple in Jerufalem was the Place where God would have Sacrifice offered, the Samaritans falfly, that the Temple upon Mount Gerizim was that Place. The Woman of Samaria therefore perceiving that Jefus was a Prophet, pût this Question to him, Our Fathers, faid fhe, worshipped in this Mountain; as if fhe had faid, Abraham and Jacob built Altars in this Place for Sacrifice, before ever there was a Temple for Sacrifice at ferufalem, and therefore we think this, as being the more ancient Place for Sacrifice, is that Place where Men are to worship. But ye fay, that in Jerufalem is the Place where Men ought to worship. What fayeft thou to this Difference? What is thy Opinion? To this our Saviour answers two Ways. 1. By fhewing that, as the Cafe now ftood, there was no great need to trouble themselves about this Controverfy. Woman, believe me that the Hour cometh when ye shall neither in this Mountain, nor yet at Jerufalem, worship the Father. That is, "Trouble "not your felf with this Difpute, for the "Occafion of it in a little Time will be ta"ken away. For the Sacrifices which are "offered either in Jerufalem, or in this "Mount Gerizim, fhall ceafe, and the Temples themselves fhall be deftroyed, and fo ' the |