Punctuality in Attending and Taking Part in Religious Meetings.
By D. T. Bourdeau
In order that meetings be carried on to profit, it is also highly necessary that the testimonies and prayers be short, and to the point. By these remarks, we would not encourage a course of dry strictness that would limit each one to just so many minutes, regardless of the circumstances, and that would hinder the free course of the Spirit of God, and bring bondage into a meeting, instead of the freedom that all the children of God should enjoy. But we do object to long prayers and testimonies. 1. Because they weary men and angels, and are against reason, and the plain teachings of the word of God, and always have a deadening influence on the meeting, lessening the interest both with believers and unbelievers. 2. They are generally mixed with self, and a display of self is always repulsive to those who would worship God and not man, as well as to the good sense of all lovers of propriety. 3. They distort the meeting from its true object, namely, that all may take part, and are not based on the principle of equal love to our brethren and sisters. They have as good a right to the meeting as we. They need to improve their gifts for their own good, as well as for the benefit of all present. Thus, rich testimonies and prayers, and sometimes other important exercises, are crowded out of the meeting. 4. They tend to protract the meeting beyond its reasonable limits, making all uneasy, especially those who have children, those who are feeble, and need to observe regularity in their meals, and those who live at a distance. Thus some are tempted to keep away from the place of worship, from the dread that they have of lengthy meetings. We do not say that such are wholly excusable, yet such a course should be pursued that they and all others shall be attracted to the meetings. Our Saviour is very pointed against long prayers of those who pray to be seen of men. Those who do this, have their reward. They have the praise and worship of a certain class who are shut up to each other, and have not God uppermost in their thoughts. And this is all the reward that they will have. They lose the praise of God, and the eternal inheritance. Prayer is the last exercise in which we should multiply words. In it, we should speak to God and not to men, and our words should be such as we would have them if we were literally in the presence of God, Jesus Christ, and holy angels. We should not preach in prayer, neither should we speak as though teaching the Almighty. All this is redundant, and indicates that we are offering our prayers to men, and not to God. Speaking of the heathen, and the hypocrites who thus pray, Christ says, “Be not ye, therefore, like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.” This matter is well illustrated in the Saviour’s parable of the Pharisee and Publican, in which he makes a perfect contrast between long self-lauding prayers, and those short, pointed, self-abasing, and God-exalting prayers, that flow from a heart deeply affected with its sinfulness, and lost condition, and its great need of the mercy of the high and holy One. Luke 18. We can also form an idea of the propriety of short prayers by bearing in mind that our Lord’s prayer, which he taught his disciples, and which has properly been denominated the model prayer, can be repeated in less than two minutes. If we would be short and to the point, in prayer and social meetings, we must leave out of our prayers and testimonies such matters as would not be of general interest. There are petitions that are of a nature to demand that they be offered in the closet, or around the family altar, and to offer such petitions in public would not only be out of place, but would also add to the length of the prayer, and unnecessarily protract the meeting. Here some can shorten up. And some can also shorten up their testimonies in leaving out of them such confessions as should be made at home to God, or to some that are away. Now we would not hinder the spirit of confession. God forbid. Better confess too much than not to confess enough in this investigative judgment hour. It is commendable to cherish the spirit that David had when he restored that which he had not taken. But time and place should be observed. And we have sometimes thought that some confessed in meeting partly to screen themselves from the mortifying task of going right to the person or persons whom they had wronged. Again, some can shorten up their testimonies by taking for themselves the burden that they have for others. It is right to deeply feel for others, when we have sufficiently felt for ourselves. But the devil sometimes hurries individuals on to take up a labor for others, while they need to labor for themselves; to take the mote out of their brother’s eye, while they have a mote, if not a beam, in their own eye. It is much easier for them to look at the faults of others, than it is to look at their own faults. And they will take an ordering position, using the pronoun you quite freely, instead of placing themselves on a level with, if not beneath, their brethren and sisters, and using the pronoun I and we. Such will often take up a labor for children or friends present, when they have not done their duty to them out of meeting. This is entirely out of place, and repulsive to those who are labored for, who feel themselves abused, and that they are taken advantage of before the public. Again, to be short and to the point, the testimonies should not assume the attitude of preaching, but that of brief experience, relating what God has done for our souls, praising God for his goodness, for his mercies and for the truth, stating our determinations, and encouraging in others, by exhortation, what we encourage in ourselves; keeping the law of God, and the gospel prominent, the former to serve as a rule of life, and to point out our defects, and the latter as a remedy all-sufficient to remove our sins and all the stains that they have made. Those should go hand in hand in all the exercises, and never should God be dishonored by our leaving the impression that the road is hard, and that we cannot overcome. Are we covered with sin and pollution? Christ died for our sins and opened a fountain for uncleanness, in which we can wash and be made clean. Are we weak? Christ has all power in Heaven and in earth, and can make us strong in God and in the power of his might. We have an influence over each other, and if those who have long professed the truth manifest a lack of courage in view of the trials by the way, what will those think who have not professed, or who have but little experience? The idea that the Saviour is soon coming to bring an end to all our trials and conflicts, and bestow a rich reward on the final overcomer, is enough to keep our hearts cheered with hope, and fired up with courage and holy zeal. Even if one has a doctrine, it need not be so lengthy as to crowd out other exercises. It is also necessary that we observe the spirit and progress of the meeting, and labor accordingly; otherwise we shall be liable to bring in matter entirely out of place, and bring darkness and discord into the meeting. We should pull on the same cord and lift together, commencing where the last one left off, and thus the interest will arise till the close of the meeting. Again, to be in point we should be careful not to crowd into a social meeting, in which all the members are trying to worship in spirit and in truth, such new ideas that they are not prepared to appreciate. If it is duty to present such thoughts, they should be presented in meekness, and laid, as it were, at the feet of the brethren, without urging, as though the truth, backed up by the Spirit, were weak, and did not commend itself to the reason and conscience. This will also apply in the Bible Class and Sabbath School. Another important means to be pointed in worship, is to previously mature the subject matter by meditation, invoking the Spirit’s aid. This can be done, leaving room for the Spirit to work in the meeting. We can have important matter on our minds before prayer and exhortation, as the result of prayerful study and self-examination. We should have a certain idea of our wants before presenting them to the Lord. If it is justifiable to prepare to speak to men, it will be much more so to prepare to speak to the Almighty. And this will prove to be a great saving of time, to say the least. We cannot better conclude this point than by quoting the following words from Solomon: “Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools; for they consider not that they do evil. Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God; for God is in Heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few. For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool’s voice is known by multitude of words. . . . For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities: but fear thou God.” Eccl. 5: 1–3, 7.