No--to worship God.

But what is worshipping God?

That must depend entirely my friends, upon who God is.

As I often tell you, most questions--ay, if you will receive it, all
questions--depend upon this one root question, who is God?

But certainly this question of worshipping God must depend upon who
God is. For how he ought to be worshipped depends on what will
please him. And what will please him, depends on what his character
is.

If God be, as some fancy, hard and arbitrary, then you must worship
him in a way in which a hard arbitrary person would like to be
addressed; with all crouching, and cringing, and slavish terror.

If God be again, as some fancy, cold, and hard of hearing, then you
must worship him accordingly. You must cry aloud as Baal's priests
did to catch his notice, and put yourselves to torment (as they did,
and as many a Christian has done since) to move his pity; and you
must use repetitions as the heathen do, and believe that you will be
heard for your much speaking. The Lord Jesus called all such
repetitions vain, and much speaking a fancy: but then, the Lord
Jesus spoke to men of a Father in heaven, a very different God from
such as I speak of--and, alas! some Christian people believe in.

But, my friends, if you believe in your heavenly Father, the good God