p. 1 | ACCEPTABLE WORSHIP by William H. Burleigh

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 8, 1858

ACCEPTABLE WORSHIP

By William H. Burleigh

From the Christian Freeman,

ACCEPTABLE WORSHIP.

BY WILLIAM H. BURLEIGH.

Nor worthiest is his worship who afar Retired from crowds, in meditation deep Passes his days beyond the maddening sweep Of stormy passions and the angry jar Of clashing interests, that naught may mar His inward peace, though all his hours are given To prayer and penitence and dreams of heaven— Nor his whose set responses loudest are In the full temple, when the many kneel To utter forms the spirit does not feel— For not in words, though breathed from tongues of flame, Is the full heart of love revealed the best; Nor in the unuttered thoughts, that fill the breast With quiet, and the bounding pulses tame.

Action—untiring, earnest, bold and free. Its impulse, Love—its object, Truth and Right— By holy zeal sustained—by heavenly light Directed ever, though thick darkness be Over the earth, the men no longer see The soul's great birthright—ACTION, such as this, Is holiest worship—and a purer bliss Attends the offering, than the devotee Of forms can know. Words, offspring of the brain— High-sounding, yet not heart-born, are in vain— The heart turns loathing, from them that hath known The baptism of the Spirit—turns to find Its joy in DOING—deeming thus His mind Hath Christ, our head and great exemplar shown.

Wouldst thou, then, offer, with a willing mind, A sacrifice acceptable to Him Before whose throne adoring seraphim Bend with veiled faces?—Labor for thy kind— Uphold the feeble and direct the blind— Reclaim the wandering—the lost restore— And bid the erring go and sin no more— Live for humanity, and thou shalt find Peace which the selfish heart can never know, Joys that from holy action only, flow. Be bold for truth—though all the world despise— Be strong in right—though all the world oppose— Be free in love—though all men are thy foes— And God will smile upon thy sacrifice!