Jealousy for Divine Worship

Aul gives three marks of the true” circumcision ’ ‘; and the first of all is this: the worship of God in the Spirit.

These are days of especial peril from ritualism and formalism. This, which is the leaven of the Pharisees, is perhaps as dangerous as the leaven of the Sadducees, which is rationalism, or of the Herodians, which is secularism. Whenever, in the ages of church history, spiritual worship has decHned, a formal devotion or at best a devout formalism has taken its place, and the forms of worship have multiplied in direct proportion to the lack of spirituality in worship. And so there are many who live close to God to whom the modern multiplication of ceremonies and rites is an utter absurdity.

An aged and venerable clergyman of the Anglican church, importuned by his son — who had run off into the extreme of a Romanizing ritualism — to preach in his “chapel of ease,” at last reluctantly consented, but startled the congre-

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gation by announcing as his text, “Lord, have mercy upon my son, for he is a lunatic,” and then proceeded to show the utter lunacy of modern methods by which worship is robbed of all its primitive simplicity, of which an elaborate ceremonialism takes the place.

At an early period in Dr. Gordon’s ministry, he began to turn his attention to the matter of public worship. The Saxon word itself gives us a most important hint, — worth-ship, — ascribing worth to God, describing his worth in terms most fitting and honoring to him, inscribing that worth on the door-posts and gates of his sanctuary not only, but on the gates and door-posts of our own dwellings, and the expanse of our brows, and the palms of our hands, as something to be constantly borne in mind.

The one supreme law of worship is this:” The Lord alone shall be exalted.’’ He is a divinely jealous God, in that he will have no superior or even rival in the affections of his people; he will not tolerate even as a medium of approach to him, anything whereby our thought and love are diverted from him. The ancient altar was to be of unhewn stone, lest the art expended in its adornment by the sculptor’s chisel, might draw eyes from the vicarious victim that lay upon it. And so, in the house of worship, anything whatever which intrudes itself between the human soul and the object of worship is a fatal hindrance to the worshiper and a positive offense to God. Simplicity is of necessity the law of purity in worship, for it is the condition of singleness of mind. Elaboration, which is both the handmaid and offspring of art, may easily become idolatrous by introducing a type and style and standard of eloquence in oratory, of worldly excellence in music, of aesthetics in architecture, garniture, and furniture, which defeat the main purpose for which worship is instituted, namely, the exaltation of God alone before the fixed gaze of the soul.

This Boston pastor saw and felt what thousands seem unable to appreciate, or even apprehend, that it is not hostility to artistic perfection, but jealousy for spirituality, which inspires the purging of worship from secular attractions. No man who knew the pastor of Clarendon Street Church could accuse him of antagonism or indifference to the beautiful, whether in form or color or sound. He was no cast-iron utilitarian. But he felt the supreme need of a type of worship consistent with its divine conception and answering to its scriptural purpose. How could a choir of unconverted singers make melody in their hearts unto the Lord, or inspire holy harmony in worshipers? How could a musical performance on the part of mere artists, hired at costly prices, fulfill the high demands of public praise? He felt, and to this end he particularly wrought, that the hands which touch the organ keys, or the voices which sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, should be themselves at the disposal of the Holy Spirit, and usable as his instruments. Moreover, he felt that all worship must be marked by unity of impression. Hence a mere musical programme, arranged for artistic effect, without reference to harmony with the truth presented, and with other parts of worship, is an anomaly and absurdity.

This philosophy of worship he consistently carried out. It affected his preaching. He had early begun to study oratory as an art, and his aim and ambition were to excel in public address. The sermon was to be an ideal product, a finished work of brain and pen, delivered with grace and skill. But he found before long, that there is as much risk to the preacher in exalting preaching to a fine art, as there is to the singer in idolizing the aesthetic element in sacred song. To preach with wisdom of words has often made the Cross of none effect by hiding the crucified and glorified Christ behind the veil of human eloquence; and not until that elaborate and embroidered curtain is rent in twain from top to bottom, will the glory of God be revealed. It is possible to obscure the object of adoration by the very clouds of incense with which we surround him; to worship God with forms and methods which call so much attention to themselves as to forfeit all transparency and surround him with the opaque smoke from our

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own censers. The mere art of the apothecary has too much to do with compounding our incense, and in it are mingled too many earthly ingredients; there is too much smoke and too little fragrance.

Worship, in its wider scope, takes in all church conduct, even to the attitude of the worshiper, physical, mental, moral, spiritual. And the one law to keep before us, is this:” See that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount (Heb. 8: 5). Whatever is unscriptural is generally found to be unspiritual. The only way of avoiding a Romanizing ritual is to avert from our worship what is not enjoined or encouraged in the word of God. The spectacular involves risk, for it absorbs the attention through the eye; and the artistically musical, for it absorbs attention through the ear; whatever draws thought from God, hinders worship; whatever tends to lift him to sole prominence, by so much helps worship. And it is not too much to say that nothing which does not directly or indirectly contribute to such exaltation of God has a prope?’ place in sanctuary service. Prayer and praise, the reading of the word and the preaching of the gospel, and even the offering of consecrated substance, are all, therefore, ways of exalting God, because they present man in the attitudes of suppliant and servant, student and steward, waiting at his Lord’s feet.

How natural therefore, again, that our brother in his dream should searchingly inquire what would be the verdict of his sovereign Master were he to come to church, as to the reality or vanity of the worship he found there!