world loves its own. The whole region is one great moral waste, where none of the fruits of paradise spring up to gratify the taste, nor any of its flowers to regale the sight. And such invariably continues to be its character, except that it grows more desolate and wild, till the hand of the preacher sows the seed of vegetation and life; till his voice pierces the moral gloom with the message of the Most High, “Repent ye, and believe the gospel." The bible they may have; but that cannot speak till it is read. That cannot reason with the debauched and impious " Felix, of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come," and make him tremble. That only speaks to the conscience through the medium of the eye: the preacher compels the attention through the medium of the ear. The latter, presents the truth whether men will hear or whether they will forbear: the former, must wait till there is a willingness to receive it. Though the bible proclaims in the plainest terms, that, "whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved;" yet the argument of the apostle remains in all its force, "How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe on him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?"

The objection to public worship, then, which is so often in the mouths of the indolent and the indifferent, that they can read their bible and other good books at home, is nothing to the purpose. This is not that way which God has appointed. Nor is the time when the assembly of the saints is convened on the sabbath the proper season for reading, unless we are necessarily detained from that assembly. We are not, therefore, to expect the divine blessing in such an occupation, under such circumstances, because we are setting up our own wisdom against the wisdom of God. Then is the time for the preaching of the gospel ; and if we neglect it, we are in fact neglecting the institution of God, and taking time which is not our own, for an employment which, in other circumstances, would be good.

The preaching of the gospel, then, being an important part of the business in the assembly of the saints, and that being clearly of divine appointment as the only means of salvation, where it can be had; it follows, with increased evidence, that public worship is held by the authority of God.

One more thought on this part of my subject, and I shall have done with it.-The feelings of good men have always been in favour of this duty. "I was glad when they said unto me let us go into the house of the Lord," is the declaration of the pious psalmist. "For my brethren and companions' sakes, I will now say peace be within thee." "I will pay my vows unto the Lord now, in the presence of all his people, in the courts of the Lord's house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem." The experience of the ancient people of God, as recorded in the scriptures, tells us, that they praised God for his mighty acts, in the assembly of the saints,—they uttered abundantly the memory of his great goodness,—they went on from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appearing before God,-they esteemed a day in his courts better than a thousand,―their souls longed, yea even fainted for the courts of the Lord,-their heart and their flesh cried out for the living God.

In like manner do saints in every age of the church feel and act. True religion is the same in all ages and in all countries. They find, by the social acts of worship in which they engage, every holy principle strengthened within them, and when the word is accompanied by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, they are built up and established in the faith. Their eyes are turned away from beholding vanity and they are quickened in the way of the Lord. Thus they learn more of themselves and of God, more of the Saviour and the freeness of his salvation, and become more fixed in their love of holiness and the practice of every good work than they otherwise could be. Hence they grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

The universal feelings of good men, then, since they are implanted by the spirit of God, are an argument which, add

ed to all the rest that have been adduced, places the subject of public worship, beyond all doubt, among the appointments of God. I pass now,

II. To the Manner in which that worship should be performed.

And here, though I freely avow my preference for the simple forms of our own church, as being, in my view, far the most agreeable to the spirit of the gospel, and the examples of apostolical practice recorded in the scriptures, and far the most calculated to fix the mind on the supreme object of worship and leave it unencumbered with foreign mixtures; yet I am not disposed to condemn my christian brethren who think otherwise. There is no question that we may worship God acceptably by means of a liturgy or by unpremeditated prayer, or even in some instances, in all the pomp and ceremony of Rome itself. But there is a kind of holy patriotism when one looks back upon the venerable fathers of New England, men of whom the world was not worthy, and remembers, that they worshipped the same God in this same way; and that so many generations of them have gone to the grave and to the abodes of the blessed, leaving their mantle behind, to rest in some light manner at least upon their descendants. The spirit of liberty and religion too which they left as a legacy to enrich our beloved New England, shines gloriously through these simple ordinances, and this unadulterated mode of approaching the Lord God of our fathers.

The great point, however, under this head of discourse is, that public worship should be performed in spirit and in truth. Be our worship, in the external form of it, ever so pure and apostolical, it is nothing without this. There must be a devout sense of the character of Him into whose house we are come. There must be an entire surrender of the soul to the business before us, without distracting thoughts or worldly affections. The objection which is often made to a liturgy, that the words are repeated without meaning and without

feeling, lies also in substance against our form of worship. How many are there who take no interest in the devotional exercises, but suffer their eyes to wander about, and their attention to fix itself on other objects as if there were no meaning in the solemn address which the leader of the assembly is making, in their name, to the throne of grace! Instead of this, every man ought to follow this address with all his heart. He ought to place himself devoutly at the work in which he professes to be engaged, and to let his whole soul rise with the devotions of his fellow-worshippers, to Him who has said, "Where, two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them." On such a congregation the Lord will command his own blessing as of old on the assembly in Zion; and every man will say, like the delighted disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration, “It is good to be here."

Nor is the psalmody of the church a matter of indifference or of mere entertainment, as it is too often made. Here too the worship must be from the heart. Here too we are not at liberty to divert our attention to a thousand subjects, but we are bound to fix it on that before us, and let all the cheering and heart-melting influence of music, pour in its tide upon our souls. When the Head of the church. appointed this part of worship, he knew very well the secret springs of the soul, and these he intended to touch. By giving ourselves up to the influence of sacred song, we inhale the spirit of the heavenly world, and are elevated to praise the Lord in the beauty of holiness; to sing of his marvellous works, of his wonderful goodness to the children of men, and of his mercy enduring forever.

The preaching of the word, as has been already implied, is no less a part of divine worship than the rest, nay if any thing is to be preferred this is the most important. This is the message of the living God to man. This is ordinarily the only means by which it pleases God to save them that believe. Here, then, we must watch our hearts. "Take heed how ye hear," is the precept of Him who appointed this ordinance.

We are not permitted to enter the sanctuary for the mere purpose of entertainment, nor for forming our opinion of the preacher's talents, nor for exercising our own ingenuity in detecting his faults or excellencies. Other and higher objects concern us here. It is to learn the truth as it is in Jesus; to grow in grace; to take into our souls the benevolence of the gospel; and in short, to be filled with all the fulness of God. We must remember, therefore, that we are hearing for the judgment day; and that it will be proclaimed to the assembled universe on that day, whether we received the word into stony ground, or among thorns, or in a good soil where the fruits of it sprung up thirty, sixty and an hundred fold.

In one word, then, the whole business of public worship must be performed in a spiritual manner, every man's heart being given up to it, in the spirit of honesty, docility and an humble desire to glorify God.

III. Let us attend now to the Influence which the public worship of God exerts.

It has a tendency to liberalize a community. Mankind are naturally selfish beings. The first object, and, if nothing intervenes to counteract the feelings, the only object, is to provide for one's self. The tendency of public worship is to make men social. They meet each other as often as the weekly sabbath presents itself, and learn that they have something to do with others as well as with themselves. From taking an interest in one common subject, they learn to feel, in some measure alike. The social spirit of christianity, is evinced by all its ordinances. The very term "assembly of the saints," implies this. The sacrament of the Lord's supper, where all that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, sit down and hold communion with the same Lord, and with each other, thus signifying that they are all but several parts of the same body, is the very essence of the so