I will also clothe her priests with salvation; and her saints shall shout aloud for joy'. In my trouble I will call upon the Lord, and complain unto my God. So shall He hear my voice out of His holy temple, and my complaint shall come before Him; it shall enter even into His ears 2. For with Thee is the fountain of life; and in Thy light shall we see light3. 4. Frequenting public ordinances will not atone &c. HEAR the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom: give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah: to what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto Me? saith the Lord *. When ye come to appear before Me, who hath required this at your hand to tread My courts? Bring no more vain oblations: incense is an abomination unto Me: the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts My soul hateth: they are a trouble unto Me; I am weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide Mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear. Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely; And come, and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My Name'? Is this house, which is called by My Name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the Lord. Therefore will I do unto this house, which is called 1 Psalm cxxxii. 13-16. 4 Isai. i. 10, 11. 7 Ibid. vii. 10. 2 Ibid. xviii. 5, 6. by My Name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh. And I will cast you out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim '. For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt-offerings or sacrifices: but this thing commanded I them, saying, obey My voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be My people; and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you. But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear; but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward". Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them; for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto Me for their trouble 3. For the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of Mine house, I will love them no more *. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment; nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous 5. For Thou art a God That hast no pleasure in wickedness; neither shall evil dwell with Thee. Such as be foolish shall not stand in Thy sight; for Thou hatest all them that work vanity 6. 5. Particular gravity and decency of behaviour suitable &c. A GLORIOUS high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary'. 1 Jerem. vii. 14, 15. 4 Hos. ix. 15. 2 Ibid. vii. 22-24. 7 Jerem. xvii. 12. 3 Ibid. xi. 14. 6 Ibid. v. 4, 5. Thy testimonies are very sure: holiness becometh Thine house, O Lord, for ever1. Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the seats of them that sold doves; and would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple: and He taught, saying unto them, is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves 2. Let all things be done decently and in order3. For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all Churches of the saints*. Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse. 5 What! have ye not houses to eat and to drink in ? or despise ye the Church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I praise you not 6. Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God; and be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools'. God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints; and to be had in reverence of all them that are round about Him 8. Honour and majesty are before Him; strength and beauty are in His sanctuary. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His Name; bring an offering, and come into His courts. O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness; fear before Him all the earth 9. This is it that the Lord spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh Me; and before all the people I will be glorified 10. 1 Psalm xciii. 5. 2 Mark xi. 15-17. 8 Psalm lxxxix. 5-7. 31 Cor. xiv. 40. But the man that shall be unclean, and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from among the congregation; because he hath defiled the sanctuary of the Lord'. I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried; and the house was filled with smoke. Then said I, woe is me, for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar; and he laid it upon my mouth, and said, lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged 2. Prayer for a devout observance of the Lord's day. MOST Blessed and holy God, Who, out of a tender regard to us men, who through the weakness of our corrupt nature are too prone to forget Thee, the author of our being and happiness, hast been pleased to set apart one day in seven for Thy more solemn service, and the concerns of our immortal souls; I most humbly beseech Thee, of Thine infinite mercy and goodness, to make me unfeignedly thankful for this inestimable privilege; and to incline me evermore to delight in Thy sabbath, and to dedicate it entirely to 1 Numb. xix. 20. 2 Isai. vi. 1-7. those religious ends and exercises for which it was instituted by Thee. Grant, I humbly pray Thee, that I may always esteem it a day sacred to the ever blessed Trinity, in memory of our creation, redemption, and sanctification, by God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost and that therefore, laying aside all thoughts about my worldly affairs, I may conscientiously employ it in serving Thee, and doing good; in works of piety, devotion, and charity; in prayer, praise, and holy meditation. And since the spiritual and eternal blessings, which we Christians on this day commemorate, do wonderfully exceed all the temporal blessings commemorated by the Jews; O that our love and thankfulness, our devotion and zeal may likewise proportionably exceed theirs that so, by a due observance of Thy sabbath here on earth, we may be fitted to keep an eternal sabbath with Thee hereafter in Thy heavenly kingdom. In a more especial manner I implore the assistance of Thy Holy Spirit to dispose and fit me for the devout observance of the Lord's day now approaching. Possess my mind with awful apprehensions of Thine adorable excellences; and with a grateful sense of Thine innumerable favours conferred upon me, and Thy whole Church. Make me to know and feel, how amiable are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of Hosts, that my soul may have a desire and longing to enter into Thy courts, and my heart and my flesh may rejoice in the Living God. And vouchsafe, I beseech Thee, to assist me with Thy grace to serve Thee acceptably, with reverence and godly fear; to worship Thee in spirit and in truth; to pray unto Thee with a sincere and fervent devotion; and to praise Thee, and give Thee thanks from the ground of my heart. And, O blessed Lord, Who hast caused all holy |