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The duty of public worship, and its beneficial tendency.
MATTHEW iv. 10.
_Then saith Jesus, get thee hence Satan, for it is written; Thou
shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve._
Among all the visible Creatures, it is man's peculiar excellency,
that he is capable of considering and worshipping his Maker and was
made for that purpose. Your attention is again called therefore to
the duty and beneficial tendency of public worship.--We have already
largely argued the duty of it from reason and scripture, the two
great sources of moral and religious knowledge.--The beneficial
tendency of it we urged from a consideration of the purposes, for
which it was instituted; which were these three, man's present and
temporal happiness:--his future spiritual and eternal happiness: and
the divine glory.--Its beneficial tendency we likewise argued from
this consideration, that it is an excellent expedient to prevent
Religion from being lost in the world. There will never be much
serious godliness among any people or in any family, where public
worship is lightly esteemed, or generally neglected. For it is an
excellent expedient to keep alive on the mind a sense of Religion,
and our obligations to a gracious and holy God.
_This is the second consideration,_ which will be urged, to
illustrate the great utility of public worship.
No man who has any just views of the nature and importance of
Religion, can be indifferent about the state of it, among those with
whom he lives, and in the place where divine providence has cast his
lot, and where he expects to spend the remnant of his days. If he
desire to have it flourish, to see morality honoured, and the
happiness of others increased, he must be a firm friend to the public
worship of God. He who treats his Maker with intire neglect, or
disowns the obligations he is under to him, will treat his fellow-men
with scorn, and make light of the obligations he is under to them.
Without public worship God would soon be forgotten, and Religion lost
among us. If man be once released from the obligations of Piety, no
other will bind them: there will be no mutual trust and confidence
among us: yea, society would be dissolved. The fear of God is the
principal support of government, and of the peace and good order of
the world. The more godliness there is among us, the more honesty,
industry, and sobriety there will be. Nothing but religious
principles will restrain men from secret wickedness, controul the
licentiousness of the Great, who think themselves above law; and curb
the wild passions of the people. And as there is no probability that
Religion will ever flourish, or even subsist among us, without public
worship, it is very desirable it should be constantly and faithfully
attended upon for the good of our country; that we may become a
sober, virtuous nation, and God may not be provoked, to send upon us
destroying judgments, or still more severely chastise us. Let every
one then, who wishes well to the interests of his country, shew it,
by diligence in attending upon the duties of Piety in God's Courts.
We hear many express themselves very high on the subject of honesty
and faithfulness to promises. And too much cannot be spoken in praise
of these. They are the pillars of public order. But in what way are
we to expect, that the great body of people will be honest, sober,
industrious, temperate, and faithful? In the omission, or in the
practice of the duties of public worship? Can we hope that they will
be regular, sober, honest members of civil society, while they
despise the duties, which they owe to God, in his sanctuary, on his
holy Sabbaths? If we flatter ourselves that this will be the case, we
discover our want of wisdom, and a true knowledge of human nature. We
may as well look for the streams to flow, when the fountain is dried
up. Will the rose blossom and send forth its fragrance, when the root
is decayed? some will tell us notwithstanding, that they have
constantly attended public worship, for many years together, and
still have never found any happy effects either on their minds or
lives. They fail not, also, to add that others, in the circle of
their acquaintance, are constant in appearing before God in Zion, who
are very bad men, who practise all manner of wickedness. To what
purpose, they ask, is it, then, to be constant in the duties of
public worship on the Sabbath, if the week be spent in dishonesty,
idleness, falsehood, and vice?--It would be perfectly safe to risk
our cause in an appeal to experience or fact. Let us examine the
lives and conduct of those, who make conscience of the duty of public
worship, and those who deny or neglect it altogether. Every one who
is capable of observation knows the difference. So true is this, that
it is a common remark that no one denies or deserts public worship,
but he falls into some vice, some scene of iniquity. He has done that
which makes him ashamed to see his fellow-men, and join in
worshipping God with them. Atheists and Libertines renounce the duty.
They reproach it, and display all the bitterness of malice against
it. Some, it is granted, are never seen, or seldom seen, within the
walls of a Church, who are still honest and upright in their
dealings--and against whom the charge of immorality and profaneness
cannot be justly laid. Others may omit the duty, through mere sloth
or negligence, or some prejudice or pique. But when candor has made
this concession, it must stop. I would wish to wound the feelings of
no man--much less to bring in a false accusation. However truth is
sacred, and must not be given up.--Are not sabbath-breakers--look
round and see, and judge righteous judgment, are not neglectors of
the duties of Piety in God's house, generally profane and immoral? Do
they not too often prove, by their conduct, that they have no
principle?
If any still object and say, "I have attended constantly for a
succession of years, and have found no real good effect on my heart
or conduct. I am as much averse to religion as ever: as dishonest and
unjust as ever: as ignorant and blind as ever, having no knowledge of
one duty, doctrine, ordinance, or virtue of Religion--as profane, as
hard-hearted, as unkind, as brutal in my manners and temper as ever,
as intemperate and villainous as ever. I therefore am resolved, I
will never go to public worship again. I have gotten no good. Public
instructions have never taught me any thing. I know no more of the
subject of Religion and morality, than if I had never heard one word
about them. I have no more conscience about duty, or seriousness,
than if I had never been urged and importuned to become an upright
and good man." Is this really the case? Can any one make this
confession consistently with truth? If so, your situation is indeed
awful and alarming. The tear of commiseration may be shed over you.
If you have any sense or reason, you must tremble. An immediate
reformation is now incumbent on you. You have not a day or moment to
lose. But can you think this a valid objection against the importance
and happy advantages of public worship? It is a full proof of your
own guilt and iniquity, but no proof against the duty of a constant
attendance upon the holy solemnities of Zion. But let me expostulate
a moment with you. I feel an uncommon solicitude for you. Give me
leave to ask, how do you know that public worship has been of no
benefit to you? Can you possibly tell how bad you would have been, or
how much more vile and abominable, or ignorant and abandoned, you
would have been, than you now are, if you had always refused to
attend public worship? You might have been in the midst of almost all
evil. You have been under great restraint. If you be not sensible,
that you ever received any instruction or one idea of christian
doctrine, still you may have acquired much religious knowledge, and
gained much strength against temptations and sins, and not be
sensible of it. We imperceptibly acquire knowledge and the habits of
moral honesty. Perhaps, by attending public worship, you have been
saved from those open sins, which would have destroyed your
reputation, and ruined you, both for this world and the next. But
further, permit me, or rather suffer conscience to do its friendly
office, and ask you, if you have never gotten any good at all by
public worship, was the fault yours, or was it not? Where is the
blame to be fixed? Somewhere it must lie: for it is exceedingly
great.--When you have been in God's Sanctuary, did you never hear one
proper prayer offered to the throne of grace, did you never hear from
any one, a discourse that contained, at least, some moral or
religious truth, some really Gospel-doctrine, something to regulate
your morals, to enforce duty, to invite you to love, fear, and serve
God, to do good to man, and to live a pious and holy life? Is it
possible for you to say, you never heard one prayer, or one
discourse, that had any truth or knowledge in it? If you have heard
both pious prayers, and edifying discourses, what is the reason you
have gotten no good? The blame is yours. Have you not been
prejudiced? Have you not been careless and inattentive? Have you not
been stupid and thoughtless? How unreasonable then is your conduct in
objecting against public worship! How foolishly do you act to forsake
God in his worshipping Assemblies? A man sick unto death calls an
eminent Physician. The Physician repairs in haste to the chamber of
the sick. He hears his groans, he critically examines his case. He
prescribes the only proper and effectual remedies; and retires. The
patient refuses, after viewing them to apply them. But he insists
upon it, that the physician is unskillful, and the means ineffectual.
The disorder rages: nature yields under its violence, and the poor
Sick man dies, because he would not apply the prescribed means. Where
is the blame to be charged? Let common sense furnish the answer.
Public worship is particularly calculated to keep up a sense of
Religion on the soul. Such is the nature of man, that he must have
forms of worship, or he will lose all sense of God and divine things.
The substance and power cannot be preserved, where the forms are
denied and relinquished. In the public Assemblies of God's people,
the various principles of human nature are made to operate in favor
of religion: the power of sympathy, all know, is very great, and in
public worship this may be the mean of exciting serious attention and
thoughtfulness. When we go to the house of the Lord, weekly, to pray
and praise, to speak and hear divine truths, we shall be ashamed to
fall into vice--to commit scandalous crimes--or to act an unjust or
unkind part. If we do what is mean, dishonest, or vile, we shall
reluctate seeing our fellow-worshippers again, when the Sabbath
revolves. All love the praise of others, and desire their esteem; and
they therefore will endeavour to behave so as to see their
fellow-worshippers with pleasure again. Joint prayers tend to
solemnize the soul; joint praises to enliven the affections; and
public instruction to enlighten the mind. Nay, barely seeing each
other together, after the business, toils and dispersions of the
week, tends to soften and humanize the soul:--to promote kindness and
friendship, benevolence and morality:--to make us ashamed of our
follies and vices--fearful of error--and to esteem and revere Virtue.
It nourishes moral sentiments and keeps men from degenerating into an
uncultivated unsocial state. In the institution of public worship,
the supreme Being considers men as being what they are, as being
influenced by the principles, we find they are, in our connexion with
the world. He treats them as moral agents and social beings. And all
the powers of human nature and principles of society are compelled to
operate in favour of moral and divine things. Public worship,
therefore, tends to make men sober and moral, pious and just: good
citizens and obedient subjects, faithful parents and dutiful
children, obliging neighbours and useful members of the
Community.--The seasons of public worship are placed at a convenient
distance. Were the distance greater or less, it would not be so well.
Were the seasons of it to return once in three days, multitudes would
not have time enough, to attend to their necessary concerns--or to
provide for their comfortable subsistence. Were they to return only
once a month, or three or four times in a year--we should forget our
duty--be under disadvantages about acquiring religious knowledge, or
being fitted for duty. One day, in seven, seems to be a happy mean--a
due proportion of time. Six days we may attend to our secular
pursuits or callings. Every _seventh_ is to be consecrated to God, as
a season of public devotion. And the solemnities of public worship
have a direct and immediate tendency to impress the mind with a sense
of the reality and importance of divine things, and to cherish and
preserve a sense of religion among mankind.--
_A third consideration_ to convince us of the happy tendency of
public worship, is its adaptedness to diffuse extensively religious
knowledge. That a just understanding of the holy scriptures, and of
the essential principles of the Gospel and morality is of high
importance, it is presumed no one will dispute. For the soul to be
without knowledge is not good. We cannot be happy without it. We
cannot be saved without it. It is the food of the mind; supports and
invigorates. And here, it ought to be remembered, that such is the
nature of the Christian Religion, that it cannot flourish, or be even
continued in its purity, without knowledge. A high degree of
ignorance is incompatible with salvation. Man is also exceedingly
averse to the trouble and pains of acquiring knowledge. He is stupid
and unwilling to attend to spiritual things. He needs line upon line:
instruction upon instruction.--Besides, a very large proportion of
the children of men must of necessity labour for a subsistence in the
world. From the very state and circumstances, in which they are
placed, laborious diligence is requisite. It is not optional with
them, whether to be industrious or not. Necessity compels them. If
they will not work, they cannot live. And this is a wise ordering in
Providence. For industry is friendly to health and Virtue. If the
earth were to yield, spontaneously all that man wants for his
support, it would not be so well for him. It is a blessing then that
he is obliged to be industrious. Idleness is the inlet of every vice.
If man be not necessarily employed about what is useful and good, he
will employ himself about evil. Since then so great a part of the
human race are obliged to be engaged in laborious employments, public
worship is a happy expedient to spread Christian knowledge.
Innumerable multitudes may be instructed at one and the same time.
The benefit of a whole week of diligent study may be enjoyed in one
day by thousands. Public instructions, in God's house of prayer, are
the easiest way of communicating and diffusing knowledge. The
Christian Minister, we hence learn ought to be _able_ to teach--to be
_furnished_ with a high degree of knowledge--to be a man of learning
and extensive science. An illiterate man, however pious and good he
may be, is totally unqualified for sustaining the office, or
discharging the duties, of a Gospel-Minister.
_A fourth argument_ to prove the beneficial tendency of public
worship is, that the duties or exercises of it are well adapted to
promote the Salvation of men.--If any under the peculiar advantages
of the public stated worship of God finally perish, it will be a
dreadful reflection, when they shall be forced to say, _how have I
hated instruction and my heart despised reproof? And have not obeyed
the voice of my Teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that
instructed me. I was in almost all evil in the midst of the
congregation and Assembly._--Wisdom says unto all, of every rank and
condition, _hear instruction, and be wise and refuse it not. Blessed
is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at
the posts of my doors._ Blessed, indeed, are all who hear the word of
God and keep it;--who are constant in attending upon, and who duly
improve sanctuary-opportunities and privileges; who never fail,
except when strict necessity or charity may be pleaded, to appear in
God's house, and exert themselves to have its duties of essential
service to them. Every part of divine service is fitted to awaken
serious consideration--to call the mind off from vanity and folly--to
represent all vice and hypocrisy in an odious, and all Virtue and
duty in an amiable light. God and angels are witnesses of the
devotions of his worshipping people. When we are before him, here in
his courts, his all-seeing eye is upon us. He records in the book of
his remembrance what is amiss or insincere, and an account must at
last be rendered unto him of the hours we spend here, as well as of
all our thoughts, words, and deeds. This is sufficient to compose the
mind, to solemnize the heart, and to render us attentive. We may well
exclaim with Jacob, _how dreadful is this place! this is none other
than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!_ We should all
say with Cornelius, _now therefore are we all here present before God
to hear all things that are commanded thee of God._
_A fifth argument_ to evince the beneficial tendency of public
worship is, that it is calculated to bring people to a friendly
temper towards each other, and to mutual love and forbearance. In
divine ordinances, the worshippers appear like brethren. They ask for
the same mercies. They look to the same Mediator for a full pardon of
their manifold impieties. They profess to believe the same truths, to
need the same purifying grace to restore unto their hearts the lost
image of God. They partake of the same ordinances. Their voices are
mingled in the same praises. Can they, then, fall out by the way?
Must they not be mild and forgiving towards each other? Can they
refuse to practice condescension? They all appear before a holy
God--profess to hope for the same salvation--and at last to enter
into the same kingdom of Glory.--
_The sixth and last consideration_ to evince the beneficial tendency
of public worship is, that it serves to train us up for the worship
and employments of the celestial kingdom. Pious worshippers cannot
but rejoice, to think that the institution of public worship is, as
it were, a CONCERT of prayer--that all Christians in past ages have
loved to engage in it, and left their testimony in its favour by
their constant attendance upon it. They recorded their sweet
experience of its pleasure. And all sincere friends to the cause of
the Redeemer, over the Countries where the Gospel is known, make
conscience of assembling together to honour God in public worship.
When we address ourselves to the various parts of it, we are
animated, we are consoled, with the thought that we are not alone,
but that all God's people are joining with us. How has my heart been
enlarged with this idea! But what is the worship of God here on earth
compared to the heavenly! Here sin stains our best duties.
Imperfections cleave to all our warmest devotions. Clouds of error
obstruct the clear and full view of truth. We know but in part, we
prophesy but in part. Our harps are hung on the willows. A dead
languor rests on all our religious performances. But in heaven there
will be no cold hearts--no dissenting voices.--Perfect love will
animate all the worshippers in the realms of eternal day. They are
before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple.
Their joy is one. Their happiness is one. And their worship is the
perfection of ardour, sublimity and purity.--How can we behold
worshipping Assemblies joined in prostrate adorations before the
throne of grace, and uniting their voices in hallelujahs of praise to
the Eternal King, without having our thoughts led forward to that
delightful scene of heavenly worship, where mingled choirs of angels
and saints, whose number is ten thousand times ten thousand, and
thousands of thousands, are continually saying with a loud voice,
_worthy is the Lamb! blessing, and honour, and glory, and power be
unto him that sitteth upon the throne._ Do not the crouded Assemblies
of Christian worshippers bear some distant resemblance to the Zion
above?--Let it be our supreme concern, to be fitted and trained up by
the humbler forms of devotion in the Church militant, for the exalted
services and work of the Church triumphant.----Such are the happy
effects of stated public worship and instructions, prayers and
praises. "Prayers," says a mahometan writer, "are the pillars of
Religion; and they that forsake prayer, forsake Religion."--The
public devotions of God's house, how advantageous: how useful: how
beneficial in their tendency!--"To thee, O devotion, we owe the
highest improvement of our nature, and much of the enjoyment of our
life. Thou art the support of our virtue, and the rest of our souls
in this turbulent world. Thou composest the thoughts. Thou calmest
the passions. Thou exaltest the heart. Thy communications, and thine
only are imparted to the low, no less than to the high, to the poor
as well as the rich. In thy presence worldly distinctions cease; and
under thy influence worldly sorrows are forgotten. Thou art the balm
of the wounded mind. Thy sanctuary is ever open to the miserable;
inaccessible only to the unrighteous and impure. Thou beginnest on
earth the temper of heaven. In thee hosts of angels and blessed
spirits eternally rejoice." So important is the duty of public
worship to the world and the interest of moral Virtue, that we can
hardly be too zealous in recommending it, or exceed in our encomiums
upon it. For it is impossible a man should be good, while he
altogether omits the duties of Piety. The neglect of them shews that
we have no right notions of God, no sense of his presence, no hearty
desires of his mercy, and no solid hope of his favour.--
We will here, at the proper place to insert the remark, and as a
further proof and powerful recommendation of the duty of public
worship, see what the views, and opinions, or feelings and practice
of the scripture-saints were in regard to it. How the Apostle Paul
viewed it, we learn from the following direction of his. _Not
forsaking the Assembling yourselves together as the manner of some
is, but exhorting one another._ These words teach us that there were,
in the days of the Apostles, and should be in all ages, Christian
Assemblies for the public worship of God and mutual edification: and
that it ever was, and ever will continue to be the duty of all
Christians to frequent these Assemblies in obedience to the command
of God, to perpetuate and maintain his worship in the world, and for
the confirmation of their faith, and their mutual edification unto
life eternal. To the Corinthian christians, he says, _In the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together_: He speaks of
their being convened for public worship, as their _stated_ custom.
And in his salutation to them as a Church, he mentions those _that in
every place_ call upon the name of Jesus Christ. _Unto the Church of
God which is at Corinth, to them that are Sanctified in Christ Jesus,
called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name
of Jesus Christ our Lord._ Those _in every place that call upon the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ_ are all worshipping Assemblies of
Christians. Our Lord himself promises, in a most tender and affecting
manner, his gracious notice, presence, and blessing with ever so
small a number of his worshipping disciples or followers. _For where
two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the
midst of them._ His calling his followers a CHURCH implies
necessarily their assembling _statedly_ for worship and mutual
edification. Public worship directly honors Jesus Christ, and is a
most expressive way of owning him before men; and denying it or
neglecting it, is denying him and being ashamed of him. _He that
denyeth me, and is ashamed of me and my words before men, him will I
deny before my father which is in heaven and his angels._ The Psalms
are full of expressions of warm affection and attachment, as all know
who read them, to the courts of the Lord, to public worship. All good
men love the ways of Zion, esteem and value exceedingly the word of
God--the house of God--the ordinances of God--the Sabbaths of
God.--Man never appears in so amiable an attitude as when on his
_knees_ before his Maker. The pleasure of engaging cordially in
public worship is noble. How often too does God honor his worshipping
Assemblies by his favorable presence--by communicating his
grace--mercy--peace, and pardon to pious worshippers. What delight!
what joy! what sweet experience! what comfort--what transport in
joining "in work and worship so divine." As a specimen of the esteem
for the public worship of God, of delight in it--of ardent desires
after it--of the profitableness of it--I have selected from the
Psalms, the following passages--_How amiable are thy Tabernacles, O
Lord of hosts! my soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the Courts of
the Lord.--Blessed is the man whom thou chusest to approach unto
thee, that he may dwell in thy Courts. We shall be satisfied with the
goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple. My soul thirsteth for
thee, my flesh longeth for thee, to see thy power and glory so as I
have seen thee in the sanctuary. My soul shall be satisfied with
marrow and with fatness, and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful
lips. For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand: I had rather
be a door-keeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents
of wickedness.--One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I
seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of
my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord; and to enquire in his
temple; for those that be planted in the house of the Lord, shall
flourish in the courts of our God; they shall bring forth fruit in
old age, they shall be fat and flourishing._ Again--_I was glad, when
they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord, whither the
tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel to
give thanks unto the name of the Lord. If I forget thee, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let
my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I prefer not Jerusalem
to my chief joy._
I have now, my Hearers, largely argued the duty and beneficial
tendency of public worship. Better reasons I cannot offer. More
powerful inducements to a constant attendance upon it, unless real
necessity may be pleaded, as your excuse, cannot be laid before you,
that are contained in those considerations which prove its beneficial
tendency, above illustrated. If by those you will not be convinced,
and reformed, if heretofore negligent of the duty, you must remain
unconvinced and unreformed. Divine power and grace alone can awaken,
convince, and reform you. Remember, if you neglect or deny public
worship, you provoke God--you neglect a plain duty--you set a bad
example--you dishonor Jesus Christ--you injure religion--you disserve
the cause of morality--you contribute your proportion of influence to
extirpate from the earth the christian religion--and must be
responsible for all the evils you are the occasion of. Let us all,
then, make conscience of so plain and so important a duty as public
worship, that by it, we may be trained up for the worship of heaven,
for THERE, they are before the throne of God and serve him, day and
night, in his temple.