SUNDAY READING.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 November 1924, Page 10

SUNDAY READING.

PUBLIC WORSHIP, (By the Rev. A. H. Collins.) C< O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.”—(Psalm xcv., 6. The ninety-fifth Psalm is chanted every Lord’s Day morning iby millions of worshippers all the world oyer. It is part of the liturgy of the Anglican Church, and it deals >with the primal instinct of the heart which draw men together for public worship. The habit is not confined to any one land, or age, or religion; it is universal; nor do I think that any change of fashion or social custom will even quench this re ligious instinct. The soul has its rights and will assert them.

The question why people do not go to church is not new. At the opening of Parliament in 1.572, Sir Nicholas Bacon raised the inquiry, "Why the common people in this country universally’ come so seldom to common prayer and divine service?” The same query has arisen ever since. It is being raised anew today, with ‘more zeal than discretion, and is answered with more prejudice than candour. The answers frequently fail to distinguish between an excuse and a reason. They generally circle round the supposed shortcomings of the church and the mistakes of the preacher and leave unnamed some other things that lie nearer the heart of thing©. Some object that the church is too hot and spend the morning playing golf or bowls in the blazing sun, or the church is too cold and they spend an afternoon in the rain watching a game. Some say they can meditate and worship in the cointry and spend the day discoursing oji flowers and the pedigree of fowls! NEGLECT OF COMMON WORSHIP.

Other some say they can read the Bible at home. Of course they can, but do they? One would like to know which part they read, for the Pentateuch is a book of social worship: the Kings and the Chronicles teem with allusions to the Temple; the Psalms abound with calls to worship; the prophets were the ministers of social religion; the Gospels tell of our Lord’s custom to attend the synagogue on the Sabbath Day: whilst the Acts of the Apostles, and the Epistles have the Church and the Kingdom of God as their subjects; How anyone can enjoy the solitary perusal of the Bible and still neglect common worship is more than I can tell. “Open confession is good for the soul.” Why not be quite frank on this subject? I am prepaicd to admit that worshippers have always been in the minority, and I am not sure that the minority is greater new than of old. But worship is not the only thing that cannot be settled by the taking of a vote. The best things a:e always in the minority. "Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” isn’t true. If you put high-class music and the banalities of the Tivoli to the vote, or front rank pictures and vulgar daubs; or classic books with literary trash, the result would not be doubtful. The truth is that as you raise the quality of anything you reduce the number of’ those who appreciate it, and true worship demands cultivation. Oliver Wendell Holmes said there was, in a corner of his heart, a plant called “reverence,” which needed watering about once a week. That plant may be watered or left to starve. It can only be saved <by attention.

The important question is not why men do not go to church? The question is why do they go to church? And the true answer is that deep down in the heart of every serious soul there is a hunger for assurance about the reality and the friendliness of the Unseen. Religious worship rests on the fact that man, just because he is man, cannot help looking up. ‘The soul can never (rest in things beneath itself.” That is the meaning of that great cry o-f Augus- . .ne, "O God. Thou has made us for Thyself and we are restless till we rest in Thee.” I said a minute ago that worship is one of the primal instincts of the heart. It is not confined to any one time or land, or religion. It takes s.?me very crude and even superstitious forms, but it is there. Better the crudest form of religion than none at all. ‘■Religion antedates religion, and is the mether of them all,” says Lymann Abbott. You remember Longfellows lines “In all ages

Every human heart is human; In even savage bosoms. J here are longings, yearnings, strivings, For the good they comprehend .not. The feebie hands and helpless, Gn ping blindly in the darkness, Touch God’s right hand in that darkness And are lifted up and strengthened.” CHRISTIAN'S DRAWN TOGETHER. Hence the Christian soul seeks communion with other Christian souls. If we are members of the body of Christ we cannot help being members of one another. Christ has redeemed us from selfish isolation, and from the beginning Christians have been drawn together. They have gathered in the one Name, knelt side by side in common worship, and felt their hearts strangely warmed by one sacred flame. Pliny tells how the early church met on the first day of the week and sang hymns to Christ. All down the Christian centuries the Church has held to public worship as a sacred privilege and duty. A sense of its vital importance constiaiped them to cling to the custom in face of bitter persecution. The catacombs are eloquent on this point. The Scotch Covenanters might have held any doctrine they pleased, if only they had been content to stay quietly at home and keep their faith a secret. It was be-cause they felt the divine impulse that they met in glen and on the hillside and suffered the loss of all things rather than give up the public worship of God. If we have abandoned the comely custom, let us be frank about it, and admit that we have broken with a sacred tradition, and let us honestly state the reason; for it is neither the fault of the church nor the preacher; it is the result of what one has called •‘the barefaced secularity” of modern life. Life is eager. Competition is tkcen. The voice of pleasure is imperious. One sensation follows on the heels of another, like waves on the ribbed sea sand; and amid the tumult and dazzle, the best things are crowded out. and we are left the prey of moods and sensations. We haven’t time to grow on

our soul side, or indeed time to make sure we have a soul. If men treated 'their bodies as they treat their immortal part, they would be starvelings. Perhaps our greatest need is to understand what worship is, for to recover the root idea would at once rule out some things than hinder. What is worship? It is literally “worthship.” It is homage paid to worth. To worship is to otfn the supremacy of the highest things, and their right to rule. A Not to yield allegiance fo them is to live under their rebuke and to stand outwardly and inwardly condemned. The worship of God is the recognition of His worth, and the response of the heart to His claim on our reverent regard. But if this ;be true we need to revise our thoughts and ways, and some things that have crept into church assemblies will need to depart in order that worship may have a chance. FORMED INTO A' ” Let me cast the matter in the form of a questionaire. Is worship a duty or a matter of social convenience? Is it obligation or personal .preference? Is it a means of getting something for ourselves —instruction—soothing comfort, or the giving of something to our Maker and Redeemer—gratitude—praise —devotion? Has the Creator any rights and claims on His creatures? Is the act of prayer begging or communion? Is a hymn, or an anthem, a pleasant musical diversion, giving variety the service, or is it an act of praise and tl .«nksgiving to God? Is the contribution we make a fee paid for services received or a dedication of our substance? I: it a collection or an offering? Does the outward form matter? Docs the pose of the body indicate the poise of the soul? Does the atmosphere of the assembly in any way affect the members of the assembly? Has a reverent quietude anything to do with profitableness? I ask these plain questions in no censorious spirit. The answers to some of them will depend on taste and trailing and temperament. The Quaker acts one way, the ritualist another, and the Musselman yet another, and I judge neither. The main thing is reality.

But might it not be that whilst we deplore some modern signs, we are all unconsciously responsible for them? Would it not be gbod and wise, if Christian folk brought public worship into the realm of a duty we owe, rather than left it in the soft, languorous air of things we hold to be optional? Public worship is not a number of private prayers said publicly; it is a social act. The church is first and foremost a company of worshippers; and the- services and charities of the church are not likely td outlive* the decay of worship. We may cheapen our services on the plea of popularising tlK'm; but evangelism which sacrifices reverence and the worship of God will not last. I know the

call of the hour is for service, and I [would not have you deaf to that call; 'but if you multiply machinery and | neglect power, the time will come when [the wheels will not go round. The angel lin Isaiah’s vision had six wings; “With 'twain he covered his face,” in token of [worship; “with twain he covered his feet’’ in token of reverence; “and with twain he did fly,” in token of service. CONTINUAL WORSHIP. To serve effectively we must worship C'jntinually. A casual Christian who tpkes public worship as he takes some other things, because lie feels in the [humour, and with simple reference to | his mood, is only half a Christian. He is little more than a camp follower in the army of the Lord. When he dpes not feel like it is the time when he needs to heed the high call of duty. There is this also that needs to be said. We deplore the secularising of Sunday. We should not dream of joining in Sunday games. But games may be played off the sports field. They may be played in the mind, and on the tongue, as we walk to and fro to church. To guard the day we need to set a “watch over thoughts and wisiies/of the heart.” Of the whole matter this is the sum, worship is an instinct of the soul, but, like other instincts, it needs cultivation, ami our finest feelings need our kindliest care. The public worship of God is not an o-ption, it is an obligation. To withhold reverence for the Creator means to lose reverence for His creatures. and life grows cheap and vulgar. “O come, let us worship, let us bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker,”