Punctuality in Attending and Taking Part in Religious Meetings.
By D. T. Bourdeau
“AND let us consider one another, to provoke unto love, and to good works. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more as ye see the day approaching.” Heb. 10: 24, 25. In order to secure these rich blessings, and to have religious meetings carried on to profit and mutual benefit, several things must be obtained. And,102 1. We must cultivate reverence for sacred things. In order to this, such thoughts as these may be indulged in to great advantage: I am now about to go to the house of God to unite with my brethren and sisters in worshiping the great God, the creator and supporter of all things, “the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy,” who dwells in the high and holy place, and yet condescends to meet and dwell with those of a contrite and humble spirit. Isa. 57: 15. May I ever have grace to distinguish between holy and common things. The time that I am about to devote to God is not mine, and the use of my strength and faculties emphatically belongs to the Lord. I should leave all my worldly interests behind, and not mar the house and worship of God by bringing secular thoughts, words, or deeds, with me. This is particularly true on the Sabbath, and is also applicable on other occasions. For those who bring the world with them at any religious meeting, cannot break away from it at once. It is likely to cling to them during a part of, if not through the entire, meeting. Thus it is that some lose an important part of the meeting, while others lose the whole of it; and they may wonder why they have not had a better meeting. They perhaps got ready to enjoy the meeting when the time had come to close it. The fault was theirs, and not the Lord’s. He wanted their undivided heart and whole service, and they were not ready to render these to him. May I be kept from these errors, and from lowering the Almighty in my thoughts and behaviour on this occasion. We will also be greatly helped in cultivating reverence, by calling to mind some of the many cases in the Bible in which it is exemplified; as, for instance, the case of Jacob, who, after having the remarkable dream of the ladder reaching from earth to Heaven, with the angels of God ascending and descending on it, exclaimed, “Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not! And he was afraid and said, How dreadful is this place! This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of Heaven.” Gen. 28. Also the case of Moses, who, seeing the glory of God in the burning bush, is thus told by the Lord, “Draw not hither; put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.” It was made holy by the special use that God made of it at the time. And so of the sanctification of Mount Sinai, for God to display his presence and power upon it, in giving his law. When thus set apart, the people could not use it as they did common ground. Ex. 19. Likewise when the sanctuary and (afterward) the temple were sanctified, the Jews could not use it as they did their own dwellings. Even the priests, who were set apart to officiate in sacred things, were not permitted to make those things common that God had made holy. This is made very apparent in the case of Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, who thought that it would make no difference whether they offered incense with strange fire, or with holy fire; but the Lord showed that it did, in devouring them with fire of his own kindling; and they died before the Lord. Lev. 10. And the Saviour recognizes this sacred principle in driving out of the temple the money-changers and those who sold doves, and in reverently bowing in prayer to his Father on many occasions. The reverence of the meek and holy man Moses was often excited in view of the great irreverence of the Israelites, and he would fall on his face to the ground before God, filled with a sense of his holiness, greatness and justice. Num. 16; etc. And so with Joshua, Moses’ faithful successor, when the Captain of the Lord’s host appeared to him for his encouragement. We read that he “fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my Lord unto his servant? And the Captain of the Lord’s host [whom we understand to be none else than Jesus Christ] said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot for the place whereon thou standest is holy: and Joshua did so.” Josh. 5: 13–15. And the same commendable veneration is seen in Ezekiel, Daniel, John, and many others, when beholding angels or the glory of God in vision or otherwise. When Daniel saw the angel Gabriel in his interesting vision of Dan. 8, he says, “I was afraid and fell on my face.” And it was not till Gabriel touched him that he could gather strength to resume his former position. And when the beloved apostle saw Jesus in glory and grand array on the isle of Patmos, we read, “I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last,” etc. Rev. 1. Oh! how glorious, just, and exalting, it is to thus give God and holy things their just and rightful position! To withhold this is to be shut up to self, and rob God of his just right and glory. Who that has a sense of the majesty and glory of God, blended with his love and other attributes, is not willing, yea anxious, to extol and worship him? If we could but be thus filled with this holy veneration for God, his house, his Spirit, his word and all holy things, it would indeed give a molding influence to our entire worship, and we should never be guilty of displaying ourselves before our brethren, and of speaking of God and sacred things in a careless and irreverent manner, as many professors are apt to do in their prayers, singing, and exhortations, thus breaking the commandment that says, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.” Ex. 20: 7. 2. All should come together with a spirit of labor. God demands the worship of each, and each one needs to labor, first, to glorify God, second, to benefit his own soul, and third, to help every other one that helps compose the meeting. If preaching is the order of the meeting, all should pray that God may help the preacher, and that he may help all present to apply the truth to their individual cases. But the work does not stop here. We read that “with the heart, man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation.” Rom. 10: 10. Now comes the public indorsing of the truth by word of mouth, the exhortation, the praying and singing, etc. In our text the duty of exhorting one another is made as prominent as that of meeting together. Indeed, it goes hand in hand with it. One great object of meeting is that we may exhort one another. After admonishing the church not to forsake the assembling of themselves together, the apostle immediately adds: “But exhorting one another, and so much the more as ye see the day approaching.” Preaching is important in its place; but those meetings in which all take part are the most profitable to those who are established on the theory; for they bring the work one step in advance, by giving the church an opportunity to work out what the preaching has wrought in them. Unless they do this, they must become spiritual dwarfs. They get clogged with theory without properly digesting it, and cannot advance as rapidly in true knowledge; for they do not give way for the truth by immediately commencing the work of digestion and appropriation, that spiritual growth and strength may follow. In connection with studying the truth while it is being preached, or otherwise, the most effectual way to learn “the doctrine” is to do the will of God. And thus it is those who do, who have the promise of the blessing of God and are blessed in doing. No greater curse can come upon a church than to have a regular preacher settled among them to preach to them year in and year out, unless the cause and interest of the church demand it. It deprives the church of a proper amount of exercise, prevents them from fully and freely exercising the gifts that are in them, makes of them spiritual babes that lean upon others, and continually demand nursing and to be waited upon. It encourages in them selfishness, and the idea of being served, and opens the way for childish trials for the minister to help to settle, and dries up the missionary spirit in the church. Better, far better, have the church work, though they should be deficient in preaching, than to have them preached to death. This not only retards the growth of the church; it also very often affects the preacher in the same manner. It often encourages in him the idea that he is a personage of great importance, and dries up in him also the true missionary spirit. Generally those churches prosper the best who are made up of workers, and have but comparatively little preaching. And when preaching does come to those churches they appreciate it, and it is a feast to both preachers and people. It is a fact worthy of notice that the churches in New-Testament times did not have much preaching after they were established on the truth. Those who raised them would set them to work at once, and then if circumstances permitted would hasten to raise other companies of believers; and when the first companies had worked by themselves sufficiently long to become acquainted with each other, etc., the preacher or preachers would return and set things in order, or establish further order, appointing a local elder (not necessarily a preacher) to preside over the meetings and have the spiritual watchcare of the church, and, if necessary, a deacon to attend to its finances, etc.; and their meetings were conducted very much like our prayer and social meetings. As an illustration partly covering the ground, Paul says, “How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.” 1 Cor. 14: 26. Thus the preachers were not hindered in their work of seeking for the lost sheep, the churches in their absence were thriving and opening the way for the furtherance of the truth. Yea, many unbelievers, in seeing their good works, and attending their well-conducted meetings, in which the Spirit of God wrought in power, were convinced of the truth; and so falling on their faces worshiped God, and reported that God was with the church of a truth. Verse. 25. May God revive these times in the church.