“The heart is most like to the object of worship. The heart in the body is the spring of all vital actions. How can we imagine God can delight in the mere service of the body, any more than we can delight in converse with a carcass? Without the heart it is no worship; it is a stage-play; an acting a part without being that person really which is acted by us. A hypocrite, in the notion of the word, is a stage-player. We may as well say a man may believe with his body, as worship God only with his body…A statue upon a tomb, with eyes and hands lifted up, offers as good and true a service; it lacks only a voice, the gestures and postures are the same; nay, the service is better; it is not a mockery. But to worship without our spirits, is a presenting God with a picture, an echo, voice, and nothing else; a compliment; a mere lie…Without the heart, the tongue is a liar.”
Stephen Charnock Spiritual Worship, pp 246-247
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