marshal its united hosts for aggressive action as victorious armies are wont to be aroused by the summons to battle and the assurance of victory.

“But,” it may be asked, "does not prophecy indicate that a grand consummation is drawing near?" So it certainly seems. And has not the world already seen several, since the Christian dispensation began? First, when Jerusalem and the Jewish dispensation came to their prophesied termination, and again, in the predicted destruction of the Roman Empire? And was not another the end of the dark ages and the rise of protestantism which began with Wickliffe and Huss and culminated with Luther?

We trust they have not read amiss the prophetic visions nor the signs of the times who look for wondrous things in the coming kingdom of the Son of man. The Lord is coming in grander than material changes. Earth shall have a purification more sublime, and more needed, than any by material fire! Nay, the Lord has come "to send fire on the earth and what . already kindled !"*

. if it is

Christian toiler, thou art on the road to a millennium. Its betokening earthquakes and falling stars are around thee in the convulsions that shake the moral and political world. The command to thee is to be-" looking for and hastening the coming of that day of the Lord."+ Act so that each to-morrow may find it nearer than to-day. Act under the inspiration of the grand thought that thou art helping on the time when from the remotest region of the earth the last tribe of savage men shall have exclaimed as did the converted son of China, "This gospel was made for me!" Nay more, for the time when from the whole world the influence of idolatry shall have disappeared as completely as that of our Saxon ancestors has faded from the Christian minds of Europe and America; for the time when Greek and Papal 'superstitions shall have ended; when organized tyranny shall have dropped its gory sceptre and hidden its grim and sinister visage; when doubting and

*Luke 12: 49. †2 Pet. 3; 12.

fade from view in the sunshine of that universal civil whose glory shall be the brotherhood of man and the he of Christ.

ART. VIII. THE PHILOSOPHY OF DIVINE WOR

We can conceive of no tangible system of religion, eith or false, except as worship is its fundamental element. Th acter of any system of religion, is accurately portrayed in th acter of its worship, whatever the pretensions or doctrin disguises or drapery of the system may be. True worship tutes the great centre of human duty about which all other cluster like grains of steel about a magnet, and these will b erly performed if worship itself is acceptable and constan gnore or neglect worship, is to draw the bolt of cent orce and hurl the soul without the attraction of a central su the void of infidelity.

The capacity for spiritual growth is in exact proportion learness of our conceptions of the nature of true worshi knowlege of its philosophy is essential to the formati growth of a symmetrical Christian character. Some dev ninds seem to leap at once as if by intuition into the tru f perfect worship; but generally the study of God's wo earching of our own hearts, and a long course of training i *8

itual life lead us to a knowledge of those spiritual things whic are spiritually discerned.

WHAT IS WORSHIP?

The term worship is applied to that adoration or reverence, which springs from the necessary constitution of the human soul, toward some being or object conceived as divine. Worship is false when it is offered to an impure or unworthy object, and when offered to God in an impure or unworthy manner. True worship is the adoration of the heart, offered in a proper manner to the living and true God. It implies a rational conception of God and of his divine authority, an obedient disposition of heart toward him as God, and a voluntary and active exercise of the powers of the soul in rendering unto him the glory due unto his name. Subjectively, it is the exercise of mingled fear, respect and affection; objectively, it manifests itself in acts of prayer, praise and thanksgiving. When acceptable worship is performed, the Holy Spirit bears witness with the soul by actual communication; and that lifting of the soul to God and special recognition by him is called communion with God. Worship is essentially the same whether offered by saint or seraph, on earth or in heaven. A higher degree of intelligence, purer associations, freedom from depravity and earthly hindrances, clearer conceptions of the plan of salvation, closer union with God, and a more absorbing interest in spiritual things—all these may conspire to make the worship of heaven purer and holier, but they can never change its essential character. To be a devout worshiper here is to learn on earth the celestial song and to feast on angel's food; for God sends royal robes and heavenly crowns to invest the contrite soul in his presence, yet worshiping this side the river.

MOTIVES TO WORSHIP.

As worship is the voluntary adoration of the heart, the soul must be stirred by the purest motives in its approach to the veiled mysteries of the inner sanctuary. The rewards of virtue and the penalties of disobedience are not the highest motives to worship but they serve to awaken the soul from its apathy and neglect. Moral obligation lays the iron hand of the task-master upon us and

demands obedience, but it fails to melt the heart or fill the soul with devotion.

Our nature demands communion with God and longs after pure and exalted worship at times; but its demand is unsatisfied, and an aching void is left because it cannot lead itself to God. When there are no such longings, there is a consciousness of degradation and of a failure to answer the ends of our being. A soul without worship is an ocean without tides,—stagnant, loathsome, full of venomous reptiles, reeking with noisome and corrupting vapors. Whatever the aspirations of the soul after purity, it can never realize them without the aid of the Divine Spirit. The ocean needs its storm and the wind its gust. So the will and judgment, the emotions and sympathies, must be shaken and persuaded by an eternal force; and "we love Him because he first loved us." Nothing but the love of Christ can melt the heart and inspire affectionate reverence toward a holy God. Through sympathy with the man of Calvary we learn to seek God's glory first; then penalty, reward obligation and aspiration all urge us to commune with God.

CONDITONS OF WORSHIP.

God has fixed the conditions of his own worship, and we can neither alter nor abridge them. He has even required us to distinguish between an exact outward performance of the act of worship and the inner worship of the heart. A corpse may be galvanized into activity, but it is a corpse still. A dead heart may put on all the outward activities of worship and still be rotting with corruption. "They that worship God must worship Him. in spirit and in truth.”

First, God requires a pure outline of Christian doctrine, without which we can have no just conceptions of worship. We cannot innocently be ignorant of sin, the law, the penalty, the atonement, pardon, holiness and heaven. God himself has given us our hand-book of instructions, and will not accept our worship unless we use it as our guide. To prefer the speculations of reason to the authoritative truths of revelation is an insult to God which He will not allow. He will accept no acts of worship offered in needless ignorance of his own revealed truth, nor in defiance to it,

and the false plea of honest ignorance will not deceive the Divine Spirit while God's word is before us.

True worship must also accept Christ as the only medium of approach to God; not as a theory, but as a fact; not as a doctrine, but as a Savior. Humanity possesses no self-elevating religious principle, whatever its wants and aspirations may be; and if we reject Christ as the Divine Word "there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved."

A proper condition of heart must always precede or accompany worship. Sweet water cannot come from a bitter fountain, nor pure worship from an unconverted heart. When the sinner has tasted the delights of forgiveness, the heart must be kept pure, or else the stream will be turned from its course and the soul deluged with hypocrisy while flattering itself that it enjoys a heavenly watering.

The law of God is not made void though we are saved by faith. True worship is suspended, and the gift remains upon the altar until the heart is right with God and man.

THE EFFECT OF WORSHIP.

The effect of worship is reflex upon the mind and heart of the worshiper. If the object of worship is conceived as degraded and immoral, the effect is seen as in the heathen world, in the degradation and immorality of the worshipers. Among the worshipers of Jehovah, there is a great diversity in spiritual devolopment. If there is equal fidelity, this diversity depends upon the clearness of our conceptions of Him as a divine and holy being. Divine worship begets a peculiar exaltation of feeling which tends to the permanent elevation of the human soul, As in institutions of learning and elsewhere, communion with noble and well-developed minds expands the intellect and enlarges the capacity of our mental being; so communion with the Great Teacher expands the heart, develops the moral nature and calls into exercise all the higher faculties of our spiritual being.

Not all real exaltation of feeling is the effect of divine worship. There is a pleasant mental intoxication which is often mistaken for it. Spiritual exaltation comes only from the inner