With profit we may now briefly consider the duty of public worship, for which all Christians have a sincere and abiding love.
Says David, "I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord." Ps. cxxii, 1. With emotions of lively gratitude, the heart of every child of God swells for the privilege of entering with those of like precious faith into the house of the Lord. And here in the language of the faithful servant of God, his invitation is, "O come, let us worship and bow down : let us kneel before the Lord our maker." Ps. xcv, 6. "Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come into his courts. O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness : fear before him, all the earth." Ps. xcvi, 8, 9.
But we would here remark that we should not go to the house of worship with a careless, heedless, or worldly-minded spirit. We should carry with us the Spirit of him who was rejected, buffeted and despised, and crucified, as we go forth to worship in his holy and all-prevailing name. We have reason to fear that some even of the remnant Church fail here. O brethren and sisters, "WATCH" your words and actions as you go to worship the Lord of hosts, especially on the holy Sabbath.
Remember the awful majesty and supreme power of him whom you worship, and before whom you bow. Says the Prophet, "But the Lord is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting King: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation. Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens. He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion." Jer. x, 10–12.
The following remarks from the pen of a writer on this point we deem worthy of a place here:
"Be watchful over your spirit in going. Much of our spirituality and comfort in public worship depends on the state of mind in which we come. We should, as far as may be, abstain not only from worldly business, but worldly conversation and thoughts on the Sabbath. A dream cometh, says Solomon, through the multitude of business. Eccl. v, 3. If you are conversing or thinking on the things of this world till you enter the house of God, how is it possible that your heart can at once be raised to God?
"Earnestly aim at going thither in the spirit of prayer, looking upwards for the divine blessing to give life, efficacy, and unction to the outward service. It would be happy for us if we could always go in that spirit which David describes, "O God, thou art my God, early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee, in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; to see thy power and77thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary." Ps. lxiii, 1, 2. When we come in any thing of this spirit, how different a service is public worship to what it is when we come carelessly. How humbling, how awful, how elevating.
"Let us also go in the spirit of praise. I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord. Ps. cxxii, 1. We should come up to his house with a thankful, grateful spirit; with the feeling of children going to their parents; not in the spirit of bondage, but in the spirit of adoption. A dutiful child, entirely dependent on the bounty, wisdom and love of its kind father, after experiencing the contempt or unfriendly treatment to which a stranger in a foreign country is exposed, loves to go to the father's dwelling; and whilst we are in this hostile and ensnaring world, it is our privilege to serve the Lord with gladness, and come before his presence with joy. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise.
"Yet let holy joy be ever connected with godly fear. The Jews were commanded, Reverence my sanctuary. Lev. xix, 30. And Solomon's directions should be often in our thoughts: Keep thy foot (watch and mark all the motions of soul and body, restraining all that would be unbecoming) when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear than to offer the sacrifice of fools. Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thy heart be hasty to utter anything before God, for God is in heaven and thou upon earth; therefore let thy words be few. Eccl. v, 1, 2. We should endeavor to have that lively impression of the divine presence, which pervaded Jacob's mind after his intercourse with his God: "Surely the Lord is in this place—how dreadful is this place; this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." Gen. xxviii, 16, 17. The more just and lively views we have of God's character, presence and glory, the more we shall seek to honor him. This reverence Paul urges: Let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear. Heb. xi, 33.
"Closely connected with this reverence will be deep self-abasement. We may always observe this, when God's servants have had near approaches to him, or a true view of his glory, they have been greatly humbled in the sense of their own sinfulness; as Abraham, Behold, now I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes; or as Job, Behold, I am vile, what shall I answer thee? I will lay my hand upon my mouth; or as Isaiah, Wo is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips; and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts. Isa. vi, 5. We should come with that feeling which Daniel well expresses, We do not present our supplications before thee, O Lord, for our righteousness, but for thy great mercies. Dan. ix, 18."
Of him who lived our pattern, we read, "As his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath-day." Luke iv, 16. Let not those privileged with meeting together from Sabbath to Sabbath, grow unmindful of this blessing, nor neglectful of their duty, but strive rather to love and appreciate this great favor, and the benefits of the house of prayer.
For the "little flock" living in the present eventful period, the Apostle has a word of exhortation on this subject. "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. x, 24, 25.
Again, we are encouraged through the mouth of the Prophet to faithfulness, as we bend our footsteps to the land of the blest. Says he, "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." Mal. iii, 10.
"Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another; and the Lord hearkened, and heard it: and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him." Mal. iii, 16, 17.
The Lord is about to make up his jewels: his saints will soon be gathered home. "The ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs, and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." Isa. xxxv, 10.
O, blessed prospect! O, glorious hope! Who would not be faithful with this buoyant expectation before them? with so blissful a future beckoning them onward, upward and homeward?