tions: God is your God; his favor is your portion; his throne is open for your approach; his ear is attentive to your prayers; his spirit is ready to your assistance; all events are working for your good; death, when it comes, will be gain; and heaven will be your eternal home.

SERMON XII.

God to be Worshipped in the Beauty of Holiness.

Sermon preached at the Dedication of the MEETINGHOUSE in the Second Parish in Westspringfield, June 8, 1853, and inserted in this volume by particular desire.

PSALM xcvi. 9.

O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

WHEN king David had brought up the

ark of God from the house of Obededom to Jerusalem, and the Levites had set it in the place, which the king had prepared for it, they offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings; and David blessed the people in the name of the Lord. And on that day he delivered this psalm, to thank the Lord, into the hands of Asaph and his brethren. The substance of the psalm is an exhortation to praise God, to call on his name, to seek his mercy, to make known his works, and to worship him in the beauty of holiness, These last words will be the subject of our present meditations.

David here expresses his pious sense of the obli➡gation, which he and all men were under to worship God. He calls not only on the tribes of Israel, but also on the nations of the earth, to fear the Lord,

sing praises to his name and shew forth his salva

tion.

One reason, why he recommended to his own people an attendance on God's worship in the sanctuary, was, that "they might shew forth his glory among the heathen, and his marvellous works among all people," and thus make it manifest to the world, that "the Lord is great and greatly to be praised, and to be feared above all Gods."

One end of social worship among the professors of religion is to spread the knowledge, and introduce the practice of religion among others. The Apostle exhorts Christians to decency and order in their worshipping assemblies, that the unbelieving and unlearned might be convinced, that God was there of a truth.

The external form of divine worship consists in offering prayers and praises to God, in hearing the instructions of his word, and in attending on his ap pointed ordinances. The internal essence of worship consists in correspondent affections and exercises such as faith, love, gratitude and reverence toward God, humiliation for sin and resolutions of new obedience, and peaceableness and benevolence to mankind.

If we believe there is a God, who is glorious in his nature and beneficent in his works, on whom we depend for all that we want, to whom we are indebted for all that we have, and to whom we are accountable for all that we do, then we must confess our obligation to love and fear him, to seek his favor and rejoice in his goodness, to imitate his character, and do good as we have opportunity. If we ought to entertain pious affections to God, and friendly dispositions to men, then we are bound to attend on the external forms of social worship, because these VOL. IV.

N

are necessary to awaken and keep alive such affections and dispositions.

How it is with pure spirits we cannot say: But to us, who dwell in bodies, some sensible representations and outward ceremonies are necessary to excite and preserve in the mind suitable dispositions and exercises. It is through the avenues of sense, and the organs of flesh, that the soul receives all its notices, sentiments and impressions.

If there were no such thing, as the external worship of God, there would be no knowledge of him, regard to him, or thoughts about him, among our fallen race.

We find by experience, that our social regards much depend on social intercourse. We have a more sensible affection for the friends and relatives who are near us, and with whom we are daily conversant, than for those, though equally worthy, who dwell at a distance. The case is the same with our religious affections. They are enlivened and preserved by actual communion with God. They languish and decline, when this communion is intermitted or neglected.

Consult your own experience, my Christian brethren. Do you not find, that the piety of your hearts rises and falls, in some measure, with your devotional duties? If by any means you are drawn into too frequent an omission, or too long an intermission of the duties of the closet, the family, or the sanctuary, do you not perceive an alteration in the religious state of your minds? Does not your love and fear of God, your sense of his presence, your thankfulness for his mercies, your apprehensions of futurity, your zeal for the gospel, your concern for the salvation of others, greatly decline? And do not the cares of the world crowd in, and occupy the place, which these graces have almost deserted? But

when you resume your neglected duties, and attend upon them with your former constancy, do you not find your hearts habitually enlivened, and your pious sentiments and affections revived? Your observance of the instrumental duties of religion is the thermometer, by which you may nearly determine the degree of warmth in your hearts.

Consult your observation. Is it not generally true, that they who treat with indifference the instituted worship of God, are equally indifferent to other religious duties? Are they, who contemn the former, zealous for the latter?

The forms of worship are not the essence, but they are the means of religion. The strictest observance of these, if we go no farther, will not avail to our acceptance with God; for he requires mercy, truth and justice, as well as sacrifice. The former are the weightier matters. But without the latter, we never shall attain to the former. The means are useless, if we disregard the end: But the end will not be accomplished without the means. God has

appointed the ordinances of his worship, not as substitutes for, but as instruments of piety and charity. With a regard to these we must use and apply the

instruments.

As our text teaches us our obligation to worship God, so it instructs also, How we are to worship him. In the Beauty of Holiness. This may be understood of the place the manner-the temper—and the consequences of divine worship.

1. It may be understood of the place of worship, "Worship the Lord in the glorious Sanctuary." Se it is rendered in the margin.

This is then a command to prepare a Sanctuary for the worship of God; for, in David's time the temple was not built, though great preparation was made for it. People, living within a convenient