No. IV.

ON PLEASING GOD IN PUBLIC WORSHIP.

THERE is a kind of attention to the Word and Worship of God in the Sanctuary, which Solomon calls "the sacrifice of fools."-Eccles. v. 1, 2, 4, 5. Their sacrifice, according to this description, consists in hearing the Word of God, without giving "earnest heed" to it; in worshipping God with the lips, whilst the heart does not feel, nor the understanding weigh, the words of prayer or praise; and in blending with these soulless forms, hasty or insincere. VOWS. This is the sacrifice of fools. Such worshippers the Scriptures call fools; and, as might be expected, add, "God hath no pleasure in fools." Thus, it is not the sacrifice of the wicked only, that is "an abomination to the Lord" both the moral and the amiable also, "do evil” in the sight of the Lord, and incur from the lips of the Lord, the mortifying, but merited, epithet, "fools," whilst they hear without heeding, and worship without feeling. And is not this title as deserved as it is degrading? Would not any one of those heedless and heartless worshippers, to whom God applies it, apply it himself to any man or woman, who should come into his house, and run on with a parade of empty compliments, and hollow professions, and false promises? It would require much self-control, as well as extraordinary courtesy, to refrain from calling such a flatterer, a fool, even to his face; and nothing could prevent us from thinking him to be so, except the suspicion that he was something worse. There is, therefore, no undue severity, nor any unnecessary strongness, in the title "fools," even when it is applied, (as it is by God,) without any qualifying, to the worldly-minded, and to heartless worshippers. There is no such thing as folly, if he is not a fool who prefers temporal things to eternal things; and he, also, who thinks that Eternal Life may be obtained by

going to the Sanctuary to hear and utter words which he neither loves nor weighs. This would be extreme folly, even if the great question of religion lay between the minister and the worshippers. But, to give a slight or sleepy attention to the Word of Jehovah; or to address Jehovah without thought or feeling, is the very climax of folly, guilt, and infatuation.

And yet this, alas, is not uncommon in the house of God. Many who would be quite shocked at the bare idea of not giving heed to what a man said to them, seriously, in his own house, or even in the street; and who would be ashamed of themselves if they were to withdraw their attention from his words to any passing trifle, will yet appear before God in Zion, and without a blush or a fear, allow themselves to notice or think of any thing, but "the message from God" to their souls-although that message is from the mercy-seat, and may never be repeated! And, how many who would not allow any man to sit or stand in their own houses, talking nonsense or flattery, will yet allow themselves to utter, in the house of God, words of prayer and praise, which they never duly weighed nor tried to feel.

This is very awful! "Fool" is not too harsh a name for those who so far forget all conscience and common decency towards God, as to sing praises unto Him; for pardon they never sought; for spiritual enjoyment they never felt; and for fruits of grace they never bore nor desired. This is fearful mockery, as well as folly. Nor is it less so, when they utter petitions before God, for spiritual mercies and blessings, which they care nothing about; or so little that they never pray for them at home. Such persons may laugh at or pity the Kalmuc Tartar, who is satisfied if his paper-prayers are kept in motion by a windmill; but motions of the lips, when not suggested by the heart, nor regulated by the understanding and the conscience, are just as useless and contemptible as the motions of a Kalmuc prayer-mill. It is not unnecessary to bring before the conscientious,

the very depths of vacancy and heedlessness in worship, into which the human mind is capable of sinking, and even of settling in them. Whilst looking at these melancholy and alarming cases of folly, we cannot overlook the humiliating fact, that we ourselves are not always nor entirely guiltless of this folly. Alas, no! Even in the closet, when alone with God, and exposed to no external distractions, we occasionally catch ourselves in the fearful predicament—of not knowing or noticing what we have been praying for. How often we have detected a train of worldly or idle thoughts, running through some of our secret prayers; in the morning, how the anticipated business of the day can force itself into, and mix itself up with, the incense of the morningsacrifice, both in the closet and at the family altar! And in the evening, how fiercely the recollections of the day strive, at times, to thrust themselves in amongst our devotional thoughts and feelings! Who has not been ashamed, and even shocked, to find that neither the high solemnity of the act of worshipping Jehovah, nor the deep solemnity of the act of pleading with Jehovah, by the blood of the Lamb, for Eternal Life, has prevented wandering thoughts or vain imaginations? Thus, even in the closet, we have occasionally detected ourselves in the very act of offering “the sacrifice of fools."

Now, we are in still greater danger of giving way to these sad tendencies of the heart, in the sanctuary. Satan too is, perhaps, busier on the Sabbath, than at other times, in plying the mind with temptations, directly suited to divide and divert its attention from God and Eternity. For it is now, as in the days of Job; when "the sons of God come to present themselves before the Lord, Satan comes also among them;" and stands, as he did in the case of Joshua the High Priest, "at their right hand, to resist them." Besides, we are, from nature and habit, so prone to leave it to accident and chance, to determine the frame of our spirit in the sanctuary, that Satan often finds us an easy prey to his wiles. Indeed, he has not much need for much strength

or stratagem, in order to keep our minds vacant and our feelings vapid, when we ourselves have left it to depend on the unction and efforts of the minister, whether or not we shall be "in the Spirit on the Lord's day." Accordingly, when we have thus left it to accident, whether we should be thoughtful or dull in the house of God; whether we should be absorbed in worship, or absorbed in worldliness; whether our hearts should be as incense or as ice, we have found that the tone of the minister's devotional feelings, has not always charmed our feelings into liveliness, nor checked the wanderings of our vagrant imagination. Now, what is the consequence, when this happens? Alas, the mind, not in a good frame before engaging in public worship, gets into a worse frame, whenever it finds that the prayers are not likely to win it into composure or solemnity at once; and, then, it soon proceeds to withdraw its attention from them entirely, if not to blame the minister for its own apathy; and thus it comes even to separate itself from the worship which is going on, and to give itself up to almost any vanity.

Something not unlike this occurs, also, in reference to joining in the worship of God by praise. Yes; even the "high praises" of God, are sometimes made to depend on mere accident. An unsuitable, an ill-pitched, or an illmanaged tune, is almost a signal for abandoning all thought of glorifying God. Silent lips, and even sullen looks, prevail; and thus prove, for the time at least, that the ear is more delicate than the heart, and the taste more tender than the conscience. I am not an apologist for bad singing. I readily acknowledge that it is no easy matter to guard against feelings or signs of ill-humour, when ill-chosen or ill-managed tunes occur. They are apt to betray even the conscientious into a wrong spirit, for the time. It might, however, be expected that, as it is not the music which pleases God, music should not be able to displease us, SO as to stop the "melody of our hearts unto God." More tenderness of conscience, if it could not constrain us to make VOL. 11.-14

the best of a bad tune, would certainly determine us to try how much heart we could pour around the words of the psalm or hymn. The greater the defects of sound are, the greater should be our efforts to produce an overflow of sentiment. And if, occasionally, there must be silence, let it be the "expressive silence" which evidently

"Muses His praise,”

who looketh on the heart; and not that silence which betrays disgust or vexation. What! shall we so far forget the majesty or the mercy of God and the Lamb, as to close the book, or our hearts, upon the "New Song," because our ear is offended? Shall an accident, not wanton nor wilful, transform us from devout worshippers of Jehovah, into irritable critics of music?

Where is "reverence, or godly fear;" or the consciousness of being on "holy ground;" or the awe of Omniscience, when the Hymn-Book is shut up, or thrown down, in anger? This may, indeed, be done without any irreverent design. It may even be intended as a manifestation of zeal for the glory of God. It is, however, a very Jehu-like manner of showing "zeal for the Lord." How much more becoming it would be, to close the eyes with deep solemnity, and to resign the whole soul to silent gratitude?

This matter should not be deemed unworthy of our notice, because we intend nothing wrong. The real question is-can any failure in the music of the Sanctuary, excuse us for withdrawing our thoughts from the worship of God, or for withholding the usual tokens of reverence and godly fear? It may be both proper and necessary to withdraw the voice, when the key or the character of a tune is bad; but, as the hymn remains the same, and as the heart is what God looks to, we ought to remain in the spirit, and in the posture, and with the aspect, of worshippers. This may, indeed, be difficult; but it can be done. Our hymns and psalms are not of that meager or mean character, as