CAVE & SEVER, Printers, Palatine Buildings, Hunt's Bank, Manchester.

In making a few remarks upon the order of public worship, we shall not enter in extenso into those reasons, so obvious to every reflecting mind, which may be adduced to prove the absolute necessity of congregational worship, nor enlarge upon the countless advantages to be derived from it. We shall take it for granted that they who join in it are satisfied that it is an institution which has both the command and sanction of our Heavenly Father, and that it is founded upon the very principles and exigencies of our nature, and must, therefore, both in time and in eternity, have divine objects to accomplish in our behalf.

If we look at public worship as established in the primitive ages of the Christian Church, or in the earlier churches, we shall find that, as far as we can gather of their history, it was purely devotional in its character. It had for its object those two great ends on which all devotion rests, the humbling of self and the elevation of the Lord. It was simple in its character, and therefore most potent in its effects. In the Jewish Church, the service of the temple and sanctuary (except the reading of the law) was purely typical-but was typical of that internal worship which consists in the entire devotion of the heart unto the Lord. The Jews had, however, after the Babylonish captivity, another kind of worship in their various cities. Synagogues were built by the pious among them, to supply in some measure the want of public worship felt by those who were far from Jerusalem, and therefore could not join in the sacred service of the temple. It was the custom in these for the Scriptures, and especially the law, to be read and expounded, as is evident from our Lord's example at Nazareth, and that of Paul and Barnabas at Salamis and Antioch.* The devotional service, however, Luke iv.; Acts xiii.

[Enl. Series.-No. 67, vol. vi.]

T

was never delegated, like the expositions, but was performed by the sheliach-zibbor, or angel of the congregation. Nevertheless, the whole was of an interim character, and was always regarded as subsidiary to the temple service at Jerusalem. It was undoubtedly overruled as a preparation to the institution of the Christian Sabbath, which was intended to be a day of instruction in divine things, in which the merely typical service of the temple should be superseded by the purer and more elevated devotion of the sanctuary. Still, however, this instruction was but the means to an end. This is very clear from all we can learn of the celebration of divine worship among the immediate successors of the apostles and the early Christians. Their form of worship appears to have been this ::-"In their assemblies the Holy Scriptures were publicly read, and for that purpose were divided into portions or lessons. This part of divine service was followed by brief exhortations to the people, in which eloquence and art gave place to the natural and simple but fervent expressions of zeal and charity. If any declared themselves extraordinarily animated by the Holy Spirit, they were permitted to explain successively the Divine will, while the other prophets [or teachers] who were present decided how much weight and authority was to be attributed to what they said. The prayers, which made a considerable part of the public worship, came at the conclusion of these discourses, and were repeated by the people after the bishop or presbyter who presided in the service."*

It would appear, therefore, that divine worship was partly in the Jewish, and wholly in the early Christian Church, of a duplex nature, devotional and educational. But from the passage just cited from Mosheim, it would seem that the educational was intended to be intro ductory to the devotional. Let us trace the service according to the light which Swedenborg has thrown upon the operations of the mind. We do not profess to say that the earlier Christians were aware of these operations, but at the same time we must bear in mind that, under the peculiar circumstances of their case, they were open to, and certainly to a great extent led by, a peculiar and divine light, miraculous in its manifestations. Swedenborg says that direct illumination takes place during the reading of the Word. If this be true of a single individual reading in the privacy of his closet, how much more likely is it to be true of a number of persons, united by one harmonious sphere, and met for one common end! In those ages direct illumination was more evident than in ours; and hence the second stage of their worship consisted in the manifestation of that illustration, while the third, or

*Mosheim, Cent. i. p. 2, cap. iv. § 6.

final stage, was the one to which these led,-the elevation of the heart in thankful adoration and love to the Lord Jesus Christ.

If, then, we trace the effects of these, we shall readily see that the reading and exposition of the Word were designed to form, not the end of worship, but only the means preliminary to that end. And the history of the Church shows that, so soon as the expository portion of the service was elevated into a position for which it was never designed, the piety of the church began to fail.* Nor can we be surprised at such a result. While devotion was considered as the end of worship the heart was fixed upon that, and the chief attention of the worshipper was directed to that part of the service in which the highest and purest aspirations of his soul could be developed; and, as a consequence, the previous parts, being regarded as means only, were prevented from obtaining an undue importance. This, however, must be understood as referring especially to the expository part of the service, for it was only in this that the great change was made. Subsequently a still more important change was effected by the introduction of Pagan rites and profane ceremonies, incense, &c., in accommodation to the heathen world, into the devotional part, all having still the same outward tendency, viz., the deterioration of the quality of worship, and the elevation of the public exhortations and sermons into the position of end instead of means. Nor can this be done in any one instance without being fatal to the end of true worship. But let us turn from the service of the first Christian Church to that of our own. We have adopted the form in use at the present day, in which the devotional part of the service precedes the instructive; and the opinions of many among us seem to be in favour of this plan; for we have not unfrequently heard such remarks as the following:-"Oh! the service is so long, and no time is left for the sermon;" "I do not care to be present at the preliminary service, all I want is the sermon." Personally we are not disposed to think that our present plan is by any means calculated to produce so beneficial a result upon the worshipper as the practice of the early Christians. Our lack of piety is almost proverbial among those, both within the church and without it, who are accustomed to watch our congregations closely. We might appeal to the experience of all of this class, whether the following is not a just estimate of ourselves:-We are accustomed to regard the devotional part of our service, or the real worship, as a mere preliminary to the sermon. It is painful to see, in some of our places of worship, those who are amongst the most earnest listeners to the preacher, and perhaps amongst his most ardent admirers, come dropping in after a considerable portion of the

* See Mosheim, Cent. ii.-iv.

liturgical service has been read. Would these persons as willingly leave the house of God during the sermon, or be late were the sermon to come at the commencement instead of the end of the service? We think not. Is not this an indication, then, that, in their estimation at least, the sermon is considered as more important than the preceding service? And can we wonder that with such religion is a cold profession, and its duties irksome burdens? Could we expect it to be otherwise when intellectual pleasures are elevated above those devotional feelings and celestial perceptions which alone conjoin man to God, and bring His presence down into our hearts?

There are two positions, then, in which the preacher appears before the congregation, as their teacher and their leader, as their teacher in expounding the doctrines of the Word, as their leader in audibly offering to the Lord the supplications and thanksgivings of the congregation. Among the early Christians this latter was held to be of the greatest moment, and confided to the bishop or presbyter. In the New Church the two are united in one person. But it is a question of great moment, which of the two is more useful and important, and which it is more especially his duty to perform. We are fully aware of the opinions of many of our brethren upon this point, and from fourteen years' experience in one or both of these duties, can speak with a confidence which cannot be impugned. We would say, then, that there is this general division :—in the devotional part the minister is our pastor, leading us as a shepherd leads his flock, and preparing the heart for the reception of good; in the expository part he is our teacher, preparing the mind for the implantation of truth. It is of the utmost consequence to our entering into the feeling of internal worship that we entertain the sincerest respect for the individual who performs the service. We must know and feel that he is sincere and in earnest, or we cannot join with him; and this knowledge and feeling must result from such an acquaintance with him that it seems intuitive, and neither requires thought nor breaks in upon our feelings; and this can only be gained by our association with him in his pastoral character and relations. Any doubt on this subject must necessarily distract our minds, and weaken those feelings of devotion which it is the very object of our service to excite and strengthen. If, therefore, we come to the conclusion, and we think it is impossible to do otherwise, that the devotional part of the service is the most important part of external worship, is it not unwise to confide that, as is so commonly done, to a member of the congregation, in order that we may reserve to ourselves the pleasure of listening to our favourite preacher? And there is often more meant by those words "favourite