[1] The mind is essentially the same in the peasant and the
prince; the forces of it naturally equal in the untaught
man and in the philosopher; only the one of these is busied
in meaner affairs and within narrower bounds, the other
exercises himself in things of weight and moment; and this
is that put the wide distance between them. Noble objects
are to the mind what the sunbeams are to a bud or flower:
they open and unfold, as it were, the leaves of it, put it
upon exerting and spreading itself every way, and call
forth all those powers that lie hid and locked up in it.
The praise and admiration of God, therefore, brings this
advantage along with it, that it sets our faculties upon
their full stretch, and improves them to all the degrees of
perfection of which they are capable.--_Atterbury,_
1663-1732.
[2] No doubt the prayers which the faithful put up to heaven
from under their private roofs, were very acceptable unto
Him; but if a saint's single voice in prayer be so sweet to
God's ear, much more the Church choir, His saints' prayers
in consort together. A father is glad to see any one of his
children, and makes him welcome when he visits him, but
much more when they come together, the greatest feast is
when they all meet as his house. The public praises of the
Church are the emblem of heaven itself, when all the angels
and saints make but one consort. There is a wonderful
prevalency in the joint prayers of His people. When Peter
was in prison, the Church meets and prays him out of his
enemies' hands. A prince will grant a petition subscribed
by the hands of a whole city, which maybe he would not at
the request of a private subject, and yet love him well
too. There is an especial promise to public prayer: _"Where
two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am I
in the midst of them."_--_Gurnall,_ 1617-1679.
[3] If a person was to attend the levee of an earthly prince
every court-day, and pay his obeisance punctually and
respectfully, but at other times speak and act in
opposition to his sovereign, the king would justly deem
such a one an hypocrite and an enemy. Nor will a solemn and
stated attendance on the means of grace in the house of God
prove us to be God's children and friends,--if we confine
our religion to the church walls, and do not devote our
lips and lives to the glory of that Saviour we profess to
love.--_Salter._
[4] A remembrance of God's omnipresence will quell distractions
in worship. The actual thoughts of this would establish our
thoughts, pull them back when they begin to rove, and blow
off all the froth that lies on the top of our spirits. An
eye taken up with the presence of one object is not at
leisure to be filled with another; he that looks intently
upon the sun shall have nothing for a while but the sun in
his eye. Oppose to every intruding thought the idea of the
Divine omnipresence, and put it to silence by the awe of
His majesty. When the master is present, scholars mind
their books, keep their place, and run not over the forms
to play with one another; and the master's eye keeps an
idle servant to his work, that otherwise would be gazing at
every straw, and prating to every passenger. How soon would
the remembrance of this dash all extravagant fancies out of
countenance, just as the news of the approach of a prince
would huddle up their vain sports, and prepare themselves
for a reverent behaviour in his sight. We should not dare
to give God a piece of our heart, when we apprehend Him
present with the whole; we should not dare to mock one that
we knew were more inwards with us than we are with
ourselves, and that beheld every motion of our mind as well
as action of our body.--_Charnock,_ 1628-1680.
I have sometimes had the misfortune to sit in concerts
where persons would chatter and giggle and laugh during the
performances of the profoundest passages of the symphonies
of the great artists; and I never fail to think, at such
times, "I ask to know neither you, nor your father and
mother, nor your name: I know what you _are,_ by the way
you conduct yourself here--by the want of sympathy and
appreciation which you evince respecting what is passing
around you." We could hardly help striking a man who should
stand looking upon Niagara Falls without exhibiting
emotions of awe and admiration. If we were to see a man
walk through galleries of genius, totally unimpressed by
what he saw, we should say to ourselves, "Let us be rid of
such an unsusceptible creature as that."
Now I ask you to pass upon yourselves the same judgment.
What do you suppose angels that have trembled and quivered
with ecstatic joy in the presence of God, think when they
see how indifferent you are to the Divine love and goodness
in which you are perpetually bathed, and by which you are
blessed and sustained every moment of your lives? How can
they do otherwise than accuse you of monstrous ingratitude
and moral insensibility, which betoken guilt as well as
danger?--_Beecher._