THE NATURE OF PUBLIC WORSHIP.

PUBLIC Worship (exclusive of the administration of the sacraments) consists of three distinct portions or divisions, besides the musical part of the devotions. There are, 1st., The reading and hearing of the Word; 2ndly., The audible utterance of prayer, extemporaneously or by reading, in language of human composition; 3rdly., The giving and receiving of instruction in language of human composition, extemporaneously or by reading.

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The essence of worship is the desire and pursuit of goodness, for this is the same as to love the Lord, who is goodness itself. God is Love."

In each of the divisions of public worship, the rational principle is exercised in the pursuit of goodness, grounded in a desire to attain it, as being, viewed essentially, identical with salvation; because it is the image and likeness of God, the attainment of which is essential to salvation. 66 Without holiness no man shall see the Lord."

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To desire holiness, consisting in devotedness to the Divine Will, as revealed in the Word, is to meet in the Lord's name. This quality in the worshiper is essential, in order to his experiencing the Lord's promised effectual presence; for the name of the Lord is holy;" yea, holiness itself. To desire holiness is, therefore, the same as to desire the Divine Presence, and where this desire exists, it is the essence of prayer; and since this desire burns unceasingly on the altar of the regenerate mind, it is the fulfilment of the Divine saying, Men ought always to pray." "Pray without ceasing." Charity prays

unceasingly.-(A. C. 1618.)

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In all the three divisions of worship, the end is one and the same,— growth in goodness; and hence the sermon is as truly worship as the prayers. But the manner in which the rational principle is exercised in pursuing this end, is various; occupying differently, or in varying proportion, the mental powers.

In hearkening to the Word (for the minister, while reading, is to be regarded rather as a hearkener than a reader, or as acting merely instrumentally) the rational principle does not, by any act of voluntary choice, call into activity any thing under its control already in the mind, and which has been previously acquired, so as to act from it; but it presents it to be acted upon by influx from the Lord, through the Word. It presents itself, with all its dependant principles, as empty, to be

filled; as disordered, to be put in order; as ignorant, to be instructed; as indolent, to be stimulated to good. The desire for good is urgent, but it is of a waiting character, and therefore, in a sense, passive, putting down in silence the proper will, rather than permitting any thing properly to be considered as voluntary activity, or activity from specific constituents of our mental being. Yet is there a conviction felt, that the capacity for receiving benefit will be generally proportioned to previous acquisitions. The New-Churchman knows the true nature of the Word. He knows that while man is engaged with the literal sense, and especially if he perceives somewhat of the spiritual or internal sense, the angels present with man perceive the fulness of spiritual wisdom contained in the internal sense; and are affected by its holiness with holy delight; and he knows that the influence of their experience is communicable to man; influx from them being a medium, also, of clothing and conveying the Lord's Holy Spirit to man, at the same time, for thus does man receive both mediate and immediate influx through the Word. With these convictions, while the man of the church is hearkening to the Word, he is opening all the receptive powers of his will, understanding, and life, to receive influx from heaven and the Lord. This is especially the case while the Decalogue is reading, and also the Lord's Prayer. The reception of this influx, through the sincere and humble desire to grow in goodness, prepares the rational principle for a new and beneficial exercise in the portion of worship which next follows.

The second division of the engagements of worship consists in prayer in human language. Here the minister is the leader and representative of the people. He is, as it were, their mouth-piece, to express their sentiments and desires. He is equally so whether he prays extemporaneously or from a Liturgy;—provided, that is, that the people and himself are perfectly agreed in doctrine or religious sentiment, and that they have entire confidence in his piety and intelligence, to embody their own desires in free prayer, so that they can, with the rapidity of thought, at once adopt and join in his expressions. In this exercise, the rational principle of the worshipers (the minister and people in this case acting as a one), assumes a new aspect. From the ground of general truths already known, and the practical application of them already appreciated, the rational principle is exercised in seeking from the Lord specific spiritual goods, as revealed and defined by those truths. In the exercise of hearkening to the Word, the mind was not exercised except from the inmost good; but it is now exercised from good by truths, with a view to further good. But that it may be exer

cised from good, there must exist, at the time, a state of humiliation of self, and thence of adoration of the Lord; and for the production of this state, the exercise of looking to the Lord, through the Word, and The consequent reception of angelic influx, is highly, if not indispensably favourable. Previous prayer may, possibly, prepare the mind more profitably to read or hear the Word, but the Word must, from its very nature, have a tendency to prepare the sincere mind for prayer. This is the proper office of the Word; for its proper use is, to bring to the sincere mind all needful spiritual aids, both of Good and Truth. It is not, therefore, essentially necessary to pray before reading the Word, that the Word may be profitable to us, or that it may effect that which, in the nature of things, it infallibly will effect in the well-disposed mind, because this was intended to be effected by the Author of the Word. The desire of good,-the essence of all prayer, is the only prayer absolutely necessary before reading or hearkening to the Word. It is not necessary to embody this essence in any form of words. In hearkening to the Word, the rational principle seeks good, but not any specific good. It does not choose benefits for itself, but leaves the choice to the Divine Mercy. It acts differently in prayer; it exercises a choice; and according to it, expresses the language of supplication. The 66 LORD'S PRAYER" is clearly to be distinguished from all human prayer. Its highest use and sanctity lies in its being a most distinguished portion of the Word;-a portion preeminently powerful in bringing down the heavenly influx into the receptive mind. But if we confine our view to the truths expressed in the letter of this inestimable prayer, and put out of sight its efficacy as a portion of the Word, it must be admitted, that it does not express (however fully in the internal sense it may involve) many spiritual truths of the first importance to the efficacy of human prayer. This consideration, candidly entertained, affords some excuse for the saying of Dr. Watts and others, that the Lord's Prayer does not express the more essential truths of the Gospel ;* but that it, nevertheless, involves them in the internal sense, he and they could not know, until it was revealed for the use of the "New Jerusalem." It appears, then, that neither the LORD'S PRAYER, nor any other prayers taken from the Word, are properly a substitute for human prayers, because the uses of the two kinds of prayer, (human and divine) are essentially different, or, at the least, perfectly distinct; and, in using them, the rational principle is exercised in a perfectly dis tinct, and indeed altogether different manner. If in praying, the only

* See Watts's Works, vol. v., page 364, Leeds Edition.

N. S. NO. 79.-VOL. VII.

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benefit desired be to bring down influx from heaven, and nothing beyond this, then the Lord's Prayer, with or without other prayers from the Word, is certainly sufficient; but if it be desired to influence the hearers by an intellectual knowledge of their wants, combined with a devout desire for their supply, there is then a necessity to have recourse to humanly composed prayer, which shall contain and express pure, spiritual, general truth. In this point of view, one of the most important uses of prayer, as offered up by those who are in illustration and intelligence grounded in good, or in forms of words prepared by such persons, is (as I have somewhere read in Swedenborg) instruction. It is clearly the case that a minister ought to be able to pray extempore. It therefore cannot be right (as is done in the rules of the Established Church) to debar ministers from extempore prayer in the public assemblies. Without meaning to touch the question, Which is the more effective, extempore or liturgical prayer? it may be remarked, that no one can imagine that the apostles and disciples, when engaged in prayer (Acts i. 14.) were engaged in reading a liturgy; or that they were offering any other than extemporaneous prayer. In regard to praise and thanksgiving, it is but a particular mode of opening the mind, by means of known truths, to receive the affections of love and gratitude to the Lord. We cannot, we know, give any thing to the Lord by our praises. To be rational acts, then, acts of praise must possess the attribute of being the means of our receiving good from the Lord It is therefore presumed, that praise is but another mode of praying for the virtues of love and gratitude; and therefore it not improperly comes under the general description of prayer, in the large sense of worship, or discourse with God." (A. C. 2535.) Indeed, to forbid any intermingling of the language of praise and adoration with the language of confession and supplication, would be greatly to injure the uses of worship.

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The third division of the worship is the sermon, or instruction from human intelligence, grounded in Divine Truth. And here we find the rational principle assuming a new character, by taking on the leading features of intellectuality, even to the legitimate performance of the office of critical discrimination. The spiritual meat is here administered, as it were, by an external way. It enters into the mind's mouth, and is then tasted, and a judgment formed of its useful and spiritually nutritive qualities. The spiritual sustenance which was communicated by the Word; or in answer to prayer in human language; entered into the mind by an internal way; it came in the form of vital, spiritual heat, the animation of love or good,-affecting the whole

frame; commencing from the vital parts in the interiors, and thence proceeding to the exteriors. But the "sermon" acts from exteriors to interiors, inasmuch as the Lord, during this part of the worship, is not looked to immediately, as during the two former divisions, but mediately through a human agent. In prayer, the minister is not thus separately to be considered, because, as before observed, he was but the mouth of the congregation, who are all presumed to know, before he speaks, all the general truths which he utters with a devotional bearing. He does not, therefore, when engaged in prayer, occupy the position of a human agent between the Lord and the people. He is not a "priest," like to Aaron; for Aaron's mediatorial priesthood was spiritually fulfilled by the Lord in Person,—the “ Iman Christ Jesus, the Mediator between God and man." This is our High-priest, and, emphatically, our only Priest; who, by our regeneration or spiritual washing with his blood, makes us "priests unto God." (Rev. i. 6; v. 10.) If we approach the Lord in love and charity, we are "priests" ourselves; every one of us equally; and our High-priest, the Mediator, will equally give us access to the Father, the Divine Essence. But in offering instruction to the people, the minister is not to be viewed as a priest at all, for his office is represented by Moses rather than by Aaron. His office is, indeed, that of a prophet, according to the general sense of the Word as meaning an instructor, for it was not essential to the character of the Scripture prophets that they should predict future events; this was merely an adjunct to the character of instructor or prophet. The Apostle uses the term prophets in the sense of instructors, not predictors, in 1 Cor. xiv. 1, 3, 4. And now the mind of the hearer, while listening to the sermon, has consciously descended from its more interior to its more exterior search after good. A state of the will has been succeeded by an intellectual state. The states of feeling communicated by the Lord during the two preceding divisions of worship, are now indrawn and converted by the Lord into a medium whereby to quicken and strengthen the perceptive powers of the intellect. The former states, although not now consciously active, have not therefore been in vain, even for the benefit of the present state; they are still interiorly, although unconsciously active; notwithstanding that the mind has passed apparently from under their influence to another, and seemingly, quite a different state. The desire of good, the essence of worship, be it remembered, still remains active as before, and still seeks and pursues its object, but now through the attainment of new truths, or new ideas concerning the practical application of truths already known; and thus new practical perceptions of the relation of