voice: And the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be His peculiar people, as He hath promised thee, and that thou should'st keep all His commandments; and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the Lord thy God, as He hath spoken. And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live." To this intent also, the Holy Spirit is said to have been given them: "Thou gavest also Thy good Spirit to instruct them;' "2 and hence also the prayer of an Old Testament Saint: "Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.' Those who, in accordance with the exhortation of Isaiah,^ had purified their hearts and made them "clean," through faith in the word of God and the promise of His circumcising grace-those who under the Old Testament dispensation had experienced both pardon and purify as the result of seeking God, under the influence of the Spirit, with "all their heart," could say with Isaiah, "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God. I will trust and not be afraid; for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; He also is become my salvation." And with David : "He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God." And with Habakkuk : Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet will I rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation." An experience this as deep, rich, and full of Divine unction and grace, as 1 Deut. xxvi. 17-19, & xxx. 6. 5 Isaiah xii. 2, and lxi. 10. 2 Neh. ix. 20. • Psalm xl. 3. 7 Hab. iii. 17, 18. it is beautifully expressed; and quite as high in religious attainment as we may expect to meet with under the Christian dispensation. "Pure worship," hen, or a religion, "founded on purity of heart," is an "idea" not so absolutely new as M. Renan supposes. It is not peculiar to the Gospels, or the New Testament, but is the religion of the Bible. 66 The "homily," Renan says, had its origin in Judaism. This is, doubtless, the case. Between the Jewish mode of worship under the Old, and the Apostolic and our own, under the New Testament dispensation, there is in some important respects a striking similarity. Even as far back as Nehemiah, corresponding with our "homilies" or sermons of the present day, it is written: " They read in the book in the law of God, distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading." "" 1 Public prayer was offered in both a standing and a kneeling posture :-" And Moses said unto him, As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto the Lord; and the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail ; that thou mayest know how that the earth is the Lord's." Elijah, the prophet, came near and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am Thy servant, and that I have done all these things at Thy word. And all Judah stood before the Lord with their little ones, their wives, and their children. And Jehosaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord before the new court, and said, O Lord God of our fathers, art not Thou God in heaven? and rulest not Thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in Thine hand is there not power and 1 Neh. viii. 8. 2 Ex. ix, 29. 31 Kings xviii. 36. might, so that none is able to withstand Thee? art not Thou our God, Who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before Thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham Thy friend for ever? and they dwelt therein, and have built Thee a sanctuary therein for Thy name, saying, if when evil cometh upon us, as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house, and in Thy presence (for Thy name is in this house). and cry unto Thee in our affliction, then Thou wilt hear and help," &c.1 "O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. Solomon . . . kneeled down upon his knees before all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands towards heaven."3 Christ, our great exemplar, also prayed in both a kneeling and a standing posture.1 Singing-devout, spiritual, singing-has also formed a part of divine worship under both dispensations :—“ Serve the Lord with gladness; come before His presence with singing. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. O come, let us sing unto the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the Rock of our Salvation. Sing praises to God, sing praises: Sing praises unto our King, sing praises. For God is the King of all the earth; sing ye praises with understanding." "And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives." I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also. Singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." It will thus be seen that the harmony 98 1 Chron. xx. 5-13. 2 Ps. xcv. 6. 3 2 Chron. vi. 13. 4 Luke xxii. 41; John xi. 41, 42; and John xvii. I. 5 Ps. xlvii., xcv., and c. of sacred song has formed an important devotional exercise under both dispensations of the Church. It is God Who has attuned our hearts to melody, and it is He who requires that the gift shall be employed in acts of holiest devotion. To social and congregational exercises of this nature, with all the eloquence and eccentricities of a polished enthusiast, a Renan may demur, it is true; but while the children of God will, no doubt, fully appreciate the wisdom that dictated his sentiments on the subject, they will doubtless feel constrained to courteously decline embracing them, on the ground that "the wisdom of man is foolishness with God." And taking it for granted that they cannot be far astray in acting in accordance with the Scriptural truism, "God is wiser than man," they will probably continue to celebrate with holy song the praises of Jehovah, in "the assembly of His saints, and in the congregation, until the period shall arrive when, with one accord, they shall realize the bliss of joining in the general acclaim, “Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us priests and kings unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." CHAPTER VI. THE CHURCH AND AN INSTITUTED FORM OF WORSHIP. O unlike the religion and worship which Jesus founded, in Renan's estimation, is the religion and worship of modern times, that we not only, in opposition to Christ's teaching, adhere to "external observances," but the priests, he says, discourage private prayer. "The priest, by his office," he remarks, "ever advocates public sacrifice, of which he is the appointed minister; he discourages private prayer, which has a tendency to dispense with his office." How this may be with French priests of the Romish faith, I know not, but it is well known among all Protestant denominations, that their ministers, who offer no "sacrifices" but those which are spiritual, everywhere exhort the laity to be much engaged in prayer, private as well as public, as being the great means of spiritual life to the believer and to the Church; and also, we may add, the most effectual means of sustaining him happily and successfully in his ministerial "office." Among Dissenting Churches in particular, even the pecuniary support of the ministry depends, in some measure, upon it; as the people's hearts become enlarged, under the influence of the Spirit, in answer to private and public prayer, so do they become more liberal, and more free to respond both to the calls of charity, and to the claims which the ministry has 1 Page 170. |