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SERMON X.

ON PUBLIC WORSHIP.

PSALM XCV. 6.

"O COME, LET US WORSHIP, AND BOW DOWN; LET US KNEEL BEFORE THE LORD OUR MAKER."

THE religion of Jesus enjoins a public and social, as well as a private and individual_worship: not only are Christians taught to "enter into their closet," and with closed door, to pray to "their Father which is in secret;" but they are exhorted also in the same Gospel, "to consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works, not forsaking the assembling of themselves together."* And indeed, in

the absence of all command or direction upon the subject, the very nature and

*Heb. x. 25.

tendency of our religion would teach us, that it is right for us to approach the great Being of our adoration and worship, in the collective and social capacities which attach to man, as well as in his private and individual character.

It is the wise appointment of Providence that there shall be gradations in human society, high and low, rich and poor, and the difference of worldly station is necessarily felt in the usual walks of daily life; but in the house of God, worldly distinction and difference may be properly laid aside, and all who come to worship, may feel that whatever separations are recognized among men in the world, none is known in the Church,—that all are one before their God one as the creatures of his hand-one as the subjects. of his daily providence and care - one in their hopes of salvation, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. And how much is Christian charity to our fellowcreatures stimulated and diffused by the

thoughts and feelings which public worship excites ;-how strongly are we disposed, when kneeling side by side in the presence of "one God and Father of us all, who is above all, through all, and in all;"* to take up the Apostle's words, and feel that "we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another." How much on the one side will those who occupy the loftier positions in worldly eminence be taught to feel that their exaltation above their fellows is but for a time; given with a proportionate amount of responsibility, to be held in trust, and accounted for when all the whole family of mankind shall stand on equal footing, and be judged according to their works. And how much on the other side will the poor be led to feel in the exercise of public devotion, that the God they assemble to worship, "is no respecter of persons," that "in every nation, he that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness,

* Eph. iv. 6.

1

+ Rom. xii. 5,

is accepted of Him;"* that, although their position in the society of the world is far, below that of numbers of their fellowcreatures, yet, in the sight of God all are equal; that the rich, if they be not found rich in good works, will be poor indeed, -that the poor, if they be but "poor in spirit," will be blessed, "for theirs is the kingdom of heaven;"†—that, it is "the Lord who maketh poor and maketh rich, He bringeth low and lifteth up." "He raiseth up, the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill, that he may set him with princes, even with the princes of his people,"||

It was the custom of the Church at one period, to commence the public service of the sanctuary with the Psalm from which the text is taken,-it was called "the Invitatory Psalm," and although its posi tion is changed, the Reformers of our

*Acts x. 34, 35.

i

1 Sam. ii. 7.

+ Matth. v. 3.
|| Psalm cxiii. 7, 8,

Liturgy have suitably retained it where it now occurs, inasmuch as it contains an exhortation to the three principal objects for which the congregation of the Lord assemble in his house, namely, to pray to him, praise him, and hear his holy word.

The passage before us contains a call on the part of the Royal Psalmist to public worship, and it is chosen on the present occasion as a guide to our thoughts, in order to represent to you, first, the great importance which has ever been attributed to the duty of frequenting the church, the place of worship, the house of God; and secondly, the blessings, consolation, and comfort which may be reasonably expected by those who conscientiously perform this duty. The importance which the Almighty himself attaches to the duty of public assemblies for worship is most apparent, in the very peculiar and minute directions which he gave to his servant Moses for the building