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tor, who should turn his back upon the assembly he addressed, would not more surely destroy his influence, than the advocate in sacred things, who should venture upon holy ground, with his shoes upon his feet; and, excited by the sharpest animosity towards his neighbour, whom he is commanded to love, pour out the bitterness of a wicked spirit, as it were, at the footstool of his God. There is no expression of peculiar severity, over the whole record of controversial divinity, however satisfactory to the unconsecrated feelings of the writer and his party for an hour, which has not grated on the ear, and produced a revulsion in the heart of every sincere and humble Christian. Who can imagine such service will be acceptable to that God, with whom the spear and the sword are an unworthy sacrifice, compared with the broken and the contrite heart?

These thoughts were especially suggested, by the recollection of a pam phlet, which I met with a year since, entitled a "Letter from a congregationalist to a friend, on the subject of joining the new episcopalian church," &c. ; a production, remarkably deficient in one particular, essential to all comfortable discussion, I mean a suitable spirit of courtesy and Christian candour. How far the peremptory and violent style of this performance may have passed currently for power, I have little curiosity to know. It is not my intention to interfere with its destiny, nor to recall it, excepting in a single particular, to the minds of those who perused it, and by whom it is possibly forgotten.

The pamphleteer directs his objections against the cviii. psalm, as part of the church service, which must be read, on every sabbath, falling on the twentysecond day of the month. It is perfectly germaine to this objection, to advert to the fact, which is explicitly stated, in the book of common prayer, that the minister may read it or omit it at his discretion. It is also a very suffi

cient answer, that, even if this portion of the service had been read, during the past year, on every sabbath, falling on the twenty-second day of the month, it would have been read only twice in the whole twelve months; once in July, and once in April!

The expressions "Moab shall be my washpot, and over Edom will I cast out my shoe," seem to have met this writer's entire disapprobation. This is unfortunate, for the psalm is obviously one of the number, selected from the whole body, because of particular beauty and excellence. There is often, in scripture, a sententious and compre hensive brevity, which conveys little to the ear of him, who is rather disposed to exclaim, "all is barren," than to associate any thing to the literal interpretation of the text before him.

After reading the objections, I turned to the psalm itself, and read it over, with very particular care, and with an impression, that the writer of the pam phlet, when gathering together his objectionable matters, might have added the cviii. psalm to his parcel by mistake.

In the midst of my admiration, that any man of taste, piety, or sentiment should object to the reading of this por tion of scripture, on the twenty-second or any other day of the month, I found myself already engaged in a version. If the measure be inappropriate I think it must be so only because it is unusual; but, in this, I am very possibly mistaken. I believe it has very little merit, but it is at your service, if you please, for publication.

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To save thy beloved, thy chosen to spare,
Be thy right hand extended, and hear thou
my pray❜r.

And now, in his heart, shall thy servant re-
joice,

For God hath, in holiness, lifted his voice.

The pastures of Sichem my hand shall divide,
And mete out the valley of Succoth beside.
For me is Manasses, and Gilead for me,
And Ephraim's strength as my helmet shall
be.

In the waters of Moab my feet will I lave,
My lawgiver Juda, and Edom my slave;
O'er Edom I'll cast out my shoe, in disdain,
And triumph, on haughty Philistia's plain.

But who into Edom's strong city shall bring,
If thou wilt not guide us, my God, and my
King?

Hast thou not forsaken us? wilt thou not go,
And lead forth our armies to vanquish the

foe?

O, help then, my God, for man's help is a
reed,

But thou art a shield and a buckler indeed;
The battle is ours, if thine ear but incline;
The praise and the glory, Jehovah, are thine.

SERMON.-No. XII.

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purpose, among the Israelites. Christ is our God' who hath saved us, according to his covenant and promise; he is our 'King' who hath set up the universal and everlasting kingdom, foretold by Daniel, and the other prophets; who hath all power in heaven and earth;' and who must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet, and swallowed up death in victory.' In the mean time it is the daily employment of us, his redeemed subjects and servants, to chant forth the praises of his saving and glorious name,' with which the church on earth and in heaven will resound for ever and ever.'

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6

By examining the prayer-book, you will perceive, my brethren, that the morning and evening services are entitled "the order for DAILY morning and evening prayer." In the calendar also, lessons are prescribed for every day in the year; and, according to this arrangement, the old testament, with the exception of a few passages, is read once; the whole of the new testament, excepting the Revelations, is read three times; and the book of Psalms twelve times, in the course of each year. Such having been the original design of our service, I shall endeavour, my brethren, to show you its propriety and utility.

I. Under the Mosaick dispensation, there was an express provision for

THE PROPRIETY AND UTILITY OF THE morning and evening service, in the

DAILY SERVICE OF GOD.

PSALM CXlv. 1, 2. I will extol thee,
my God and King; and I will bless
thy name for ever and ever. Every
day will I bless thee, and I will praise
thy name for ever and ever.

"THE same divine person," says the
pious bishop Horne, in his commentary
on this passage,
"the same divine per-
son, who was, in a peculiar manner,
the 'God' and King' of Israel, now
standeth in those relations to the gen-
tile Christian church, and by her is 'ex-
tolled' in the words of this psalm, ori.
ginally composed and used for that

The

temple, throughout the year.
priests were divided into twenty-four
courses, who were to serve in rotation,
Thus we read of Zachariah, the father
each company by itself for a week.*
of John the Baptist; that he was of the
course of Abia ;† that, “ while he exe-
cuted the priest's office before God, in
burn incense when he went into the
the order of his course, his lot was to
temple of the Lord;" and that, " as
soon as the days of his ministration
were accomplished, he departed to his

1 Chron. xxiv.

+ 1 Chron. xxiv. 10. The course of Abia, or Abijah, was the eighth in order.

own house."* St. Luke further men tions, that while Zachariah was in the holy place, burning incense, "the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense." The incense, thus offered by the priest, and always ascending at the moment of prayer, was intended to signify, that the prayers, even of the most righteous servants of God, are rendered acceptable to him, only through the merits and mediation of that great High Priest, who ever liveth to make intercession for us, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. If, then, by the express appointment of God, the priest was daily burning incense on the golden altar within the sanctuary, it was a necessary accompaniment of this act, that the whole multitude of the people should also be daily assembled to pray

in the outer court.

When our Saviour was to be circumcised, eight days after his birth, his parents carried him, for that purpose, to the temple; and there we find the just and devout Simeon, and the aged daughter of Phanuel, waiting for the consolation of Israel.‡ Of the latter, St. Luke says, that she " departed not from the temple, but served God, with fastings and prayers, night and day." It is to be observed here, that a continual attendance upon the service of the temple is said to be a service to God. Our prayers, therefore, are with propriety called a service; and if we can be so diligent in our service to ourselves and our fellow men, ought we not to be at least equally diligent in the service of our God? The age of the pious female, who gave this constant attendance, is also worthy of our notice. St. Luke tells us, that she was eighty-four years old; and yet, notwithstanding the greatness or the infirmities of her age, she served God in the temple, night and day. The infirmities of old age would surely have

*Luke i. 5. 8, 9. 23.

+ See Rev. v. 8. comp. with viii, 3, 4. Luke ii. 37.

afforded the most weighty reason which could be urged, for the omission of a daily attendance; but, in her case, excuses were not sought for!

It is to be observed further, that she served God in the temple, night and day. This expression means a constant attendance at the stated hours of prayer in the morning and evening worship. The daily sacrifices, offered in the temple, are called the perpetual, the never-ending, the continual sacrifices. They were always offered be. tween nine and twelve in the morning, and between three and six in the evening. If the sacrifices thus offered were called perpetual, then the prayers offered, at stated hours, may also be called perpetual. In this sense, St. Paul exhorts Christians to pray without ceasing, and, in his speech before king Agrippa, he applies the same expression, with which St. Luke speaks of the aged Anna, to the whole Jewish nation. "I stand," says he, "and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers, unto which promise, our twelve tribes, instantly serving God, day and night, hope to come." promise, to which the apostle refers, is that of a resurrection to eternal life; and in the hope of coming to that promise, the whole nation of Israel, says the apostle, instantly, or with the utmost ardour, serve God, day and night; that is, as I have before observed, worship him daily, at the stated hours of the temple service.

The

Wherever a Jew happened to be, whether in his own or in a foreign country, he always prayed at the appointed hours; and he turned his face toward the temple, to denote, that, if he were in Jerusalem, it would be his duty and his delight to tread its sacred courts, and also to impress the more strongly upon his own mind, that he was uniting with the rest of his nation in that holy service. Behold then, 0 Christian, the twelve tribes, instantly serving God, day and night; a whole nation bending low on their knees, and

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In like manner, after his ascension, his disciples continued to pursue the same practice. St. Luke tells us, at the end of his gospel, that the apostles were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God."t And in the Acts we read, that "Peter and John went up together into the temple, at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour;" that is, according to our computation of time, three o'clock in the afternoon, the hour of evening prayer. Thus the Christian church received the practice from the Jewish. It is well known that the primitive Christians met every day for publick prayers, and the holy communion; and so common was it to receive the sacrament daily, that the petition "Give us this day our daily bread," was understood as involving the request, that they might every day partake of the Lord's supper.

The same practice was continued in every part of the church till the reformation; and since that event, most of the reformed churches retain it.§ The liturgy of Geneva, and also that of Neufchatel, have distinct morning and

*Luke xxii. 53. So xxi. 37, 38.
+ Luke xxiv. 53. Acts ii. 46.
Durell. p. 34.

evening services for every day in the week. In a word, there are scarcely any Christians, in any part of the world, who do not provide for, and practise the daily publick worship of God; and it was owing only to the unhappy disputes which arose between the dissenters and the church of England, that, both in the parent country and her colonies, the daily services of the sanctuary have fallen so much into disuse. In England, the practice of daily worship still prevails, in several churches in the cities and large towns, in the colleges, cathedrals, episcopal chapels, and at the courts of their princes. In this country, the most which has been done is to have divine service every Wednesday and Friday, and on the fasts and festivals. Yet I need not add, that these are generally neglected, and that the attendant clergy have often to experience the sorrow of seeing here and there only a solitary worshipper, and of hearing only faint articulations of responsive praise and prayer, instead of those loud and fervent strains with which the redeemed of the Lord, in the remembrance of his daily benefits, should daily bless his holy name.

Is it possible, then, my brethren, that any one can doubt the propriety of embracing every opportunity to worship God in publick? Can a practice be considered as unimportant, or as a work of supererogation, which was originally commanded by God; followed by the devout and pious of every age; observed by the Saviour of the world and his apostles; continued in the Christian church in all ages; and now disused only by a comparatively small portion of the religious world?

II. But let us proceed to consider the utility of the daily service; for in proportion to our consciousness of the utility of any practice, will be our perception of its propriety. Every duty ought to be performed, indeed, from a sense that it is a duty; but the service which we render is more satisfactory

to our minds, when we know the reasons for which the duty was established. Prayers are to the soul what food is to the body. They enable us, in the language of the apostle, to grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. It is impossible for any one to continue in the practice of sincere and heartfelt prayer, without becoming more holy. Sinful desires and passions are subdued; virtuous habits and inclinations are strengthened; our knowledge of the divine perfections is enlarged; a deep humility and sense of our dependence upon God is excited; and that peace, which passeth all understanding, is produced in our souls. By a daily attendance upon the worship of the sanctuary, this "daily bread" of the soul would be provided for; and it would become as habitual to partake of this mental nurture and nourishment, as it is to partake of food for the daily sustenance and refreshment of our bodies. "Pray often," says the pious bishop Taylor, "and you shall pray oftener; and when you are accustomed to a frequent devotion, it will so insensibly unite to your nature and affections, that it will become trouble to omit your usual or appointed prayers: and what you obtain at first, by doing violence to your inclinations, at last will not be left without as great unwil. lingness, as that by which at first it entered. This rule relies not only upon reason, derived from the nature of habits, which turn into a second na ture, and make their actions easy, frequent, and delightful: but it relies upon a reason depending upon the nature and constitution of grace, whose productions are of the same nature with the parent, and increases itself, naturally growing up from grains to huge trees, from minute to vast proportions, and from moments to eternity. But be sure not to omit your usual prayers without great reason, though without sin it may be done; because,

*Holy Living, c. 4. s. 7.

after you have omitted something, in a little while, you will be past the scru• ple of that, and begin to be tempted to leave out more. Keep yourself up to your usual forms: you may enlarge whep you will; but do not contract or lessen them, without a very probable reason." The disuse of publick prayer, not less than of private, produces disinclination; and disinclination will, in the end, produce aversion.

A constant attendance upon publick worship, not only preserves a constant use of the liturgy, but increases continually our knowledge of the scriptures. I have already observed, that, if the church were opened daily during the course of each year, the Christian worshipper would hear the old testament read through once, and the new testament three times; and he would besides read the psalms twelve times. What a familiar acquaintance would this produce with the book of life! "Search the scriptures," said our Saviour, "for they are they which testify of me."

This union, then, of daily prayer, and daily hearing the word of God, would imprint upon our minds a constant sense of religion and virtue; serve as a daily check to the manifold temptations of the world, to which they who never pray will inevitably fall a sacrifice; and it serves as a week's preparation for the more solemn discharge of our duties on the Lord's day.

But there is one consideration which will, I am persuaded, have very great influence upon the mind of every pious Christian; and that is, that, by a due attendance upon the daily service, our souls are kept in habitual readiness to receive their summons, when it shall please God to call them from the church on earth to the church in glory. The worship of God in heaven is publick. It is one universal chorus of consenting hearts and united voices. The daily service of God on earth is, therefore, a daily preparation for that service in heaven, in which the hours of prayer,

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