NATIONAL PREACHER.

No. 3. VOL. XX.]

MARCH, 1846.

SERMON CCCCXVII.

[WHOLE No. 231'

BY REV. LAURENS P. HICKOK, D. D. RICHARDS, PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY IN THE seminary, auburn, N. Ý.

PUBLIC WORSHIP MORE ACCeptable TO GOD THAN PRIVATE DEVOTION.

"His foundation is in the holy mountains. The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob."--Psalm lxxxvii. 1, 2.

As a rational being, man has the capacity to worship God; and as God reveals himself man is under obligation to worship him. To be acceptable to God, this worship must be the tribute of free and sincere affection. Wherever such an offering is made, whether in the secret hamber, at the family altar, or in the public sanctuary, it is "a spiritual sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God." It also sends back into the heart of the worshiper, that joy and peace which are unspeakable and full of glory.

Of the varieties of Divine worship, this occasion will be taken to speak of THE PUBLIC WORSHIP OF GOD IN THE SANCTUARY. To this the text has direct reference. The position of the Psalmist was, with Mount Zion and the Temple in full view; and while he sees the thousands of Israel, as they come up from their different and distant abodes, congregating about the hallowed courts and altars of the Lord's house, his soul swells with pious exultation, and at length bursts forth in the abrupt exclamation-"His foundation is in the holy mountains. The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob." The different families of Israel, spread abroad over the land of Judea, were all objects of God's great regard and favor. He loved their morning and their evening worship. But when, from their scattered dwellings, they came together at the Temple, and their combined numbers united in a public expression of loyalty and homage to Jehovah, their God, it was a higher testimony of cordial allegiance and devotion, and secured a higher measure of the Divine approbation. Their united sacrifice was more acceptable than their private offerings. The ground for this Divine preference exists in all ages. We

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offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave offering at your hand, and all your choice vows which ye vow unto the Lord." "Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou seest; but in the place which the Lord shall choose in one of thy tribes, there thou shalt offer thy burnt-offerings, and there thou shalt do that I command thee." Deut. xii, 8-11.

Now, the Patriarchs and ancient holy men had been devout and sincere worshippers of Jehovah before these ordinances had been given. They had enjoyed private communion with God in seasons of sweet secret retirement and meditation; they had erected their altars wherever they had fixed their dwelling places, and brought their families to participate in domestic praise and prayer. Why the public Tabernacle set up? Why the Temple, in process of time, built at such expense, and dedicated to the public service of God with so much solemnity? Why superadd any thing to the blended sympathies and affections which mingled in the primitive Patriarchal worship? It is answered, the church of God had now become a conspicuous and publicly organized community: it had been distinguished by the most signal and sublime manifestations of Jehovah's power and protection: it had received in large measures an increase of light, and promise, and privilege: it was, henceforth, to attract the more direct and constant observation of mankind, and fill a much larger space in the history of public transactions and national influences: it behooved God, therefore, to demand from it more open, conspicuous, and public pledges of gratitude, loyalty, and homage. Private and family worship are still obligatory upon man, and as precious in the sight of God as before; but these cannot now come up to the claims imposed by these more signal manifestations of love and favour. The church is now placed like "a city on a hill," and her acknowledgement of God, and the united recognition of his sovereignty, must be made proportionably prominent and public. And in the fact that God thus instituted it, we read his higher appreciation of it.

2ndly. The fact that on special occasions, public homage to God has been specially demanded, indicates his high pleasure

in it.

Many instances occur in the history of God's dealings with his people, when some special interposition was followed, by as special a requisition for the public acknowledgment of his supremacy and authority as their Lord and Sovereign. When thrown into some critical position; in the apprehension of sudden calamity; in exigencies of danger from enemies, and threatened disaster from impending judgments for their sins; in many such cases God required a public recognition of their sense of the danger, and their entire dependence upon him for all deliverance. On occasions like these, the Elders were commanded to "proclaim a Fast, to call a solemn assembly, and gather all the people to the house of the Lord, and

cry unto the Lord their God." So, also, when there had been a special deliverance from pestilence, or famine, or from the sword; and when they had achieved any remarkable victory, and gained deliverance from their oppressors; or when there had been an unusual abundance in the harvest, and the fruits of the earth, and remarkable providential bounties; in such a condition the whole nation was called to public thanksgiving and united praise to Jehovah.

But, certainly, all this fasting and prayer, or this praise and thanksgiving, could have been performed in secret. The entire people," with their families apart," might have been required thus to give themselves to penitential sorrow, or to religious rejoicing. Why not save the fatigue and trouble of this public convocation? It is answered: No private acknowledgment of God, or worship rendered to him in the retirement of the family, though faithfully performed through "all the dwellings of Jacob," could meet the higher demand occasioned by these special emergencies. God has wrought some grand general deliverance, or he is manifesting his displeasure for some great national wickedness; and he will have an open and conspicuous recognition and acknowledgment of his power and sovereignty. In their secret devotion, let them be as retired and unostentatious as may be; in their family devotion let them include simply the members of their own household; when engaged in individual fasting, the notices of such fasting before God may be concealed from every human eye; but when God has openly revealed himself as the avenger of his people's wrongs, or the public corrector and chastiser of his people's sins, no private acknowledgment can equal the occasion or meet the demand They must come and "bow together before the Lord." They should manifest their allegiance and devotion as openly and publicly as the divine interposition. This, God at such special seasons required, and it is the clear indication that he was pleased with it rather than any private service.

3rdly. The fact that the ordinance of public worship is perpetuated under the Christian dispensation.

The death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, his ascension to power and authority in heaven, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, have made sure the safety and final triumph of the church. This is to be effected, notwithstanding, by the intervention of human agency. Embassadors, commissioned by Christ, are sent out to the great work of bringing all nations under his sway. And among their greatest facilities, and strongest auxiliaries in this work, is the establishment of public worship, and the stated administration of religious ordinances. Not annual seasons of convocation, or solemn assemblies when special circumstances demand, but regular weekly congregations on the Sabbath, and occasional services as demanded by the religious wants and interests of the people.

Provision is made, in the orderly organization of the church, for Pastors and Teachers to the end of time, and the promise of the Saviour's presence is given to the end of the world. The example of inspired apostles and primitive saints is left on record, in relation to their frequent "coming together in one place," and "with one accord;" and the solemn injunction given as applicable to all ages, "not to forsake the assembling of themselves together;" and all this augmented in its obligation and encouragement by his own beginning of this great work in sending his spirit "like a rushing mighty wind," and bringing thousands to his standard at the very time when "devout men out of every nation under heaven" were assembled together.

Through all the experiences, and amid all the labours of the Christian church and the Christian ministry, secret, and family, and social prayer is to be maintained; the Lord requireth this and delighteth in it, and adds his blessing to it; but he does not permit that it should at all stand in the place of the public services of his house. The great service, which his people under the Gospel are perpetually to observe is, the solemn worship of Jehovah on the Sabbath at the sanctuary. The condition of the church, and the ends designed by it under the new dispensation, made such changes in the manner of her public assemblies and worship expedient; and the fact that the Lord Jesus has so provided; and that God, by the pouring out of the Spirit, has so blessed these provisions; and that notwithstanding the continued obligation of closet and family worship, public worship is superadded, and perpetually enjoined, and pre-eminently blessed; all this is a full indication that while God loves all the members and families of his people in their secret and domestic devotion, he yet loves the united devotions of the public sanctuary better.

These facts, the original institution of public worship as superadded to private; the special requisition of it on special occasions, and the perpetuation of it regularly forever in the Christian church, abundantly indicate God's higher regard for it. He will not be pleased that, in any case, it should give up its proper and prominent position to any form of more private and secluded devotion.

II. Some reasons why, in the nature of the case, God should prefer public to private worship.

We may not presume that we shall comprehend all the grounds of God's preference in any case. His purposes and his dealings are as they seem good in his sight; but the reasons why they seem good in his sight are very seldom fully disclosed to any of his creatures. In this case there are at least some reasons for God's higher regard to public worship, which are quite obvious to our apprehension, and which it may be profitable particularly to notice.

1. Public worship is attended with greater sacrifices.