The Sanctuary
“Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God.”
VANITY of vanities: human occupation, human existence is all fantastic and foolish. Verily, each man walketh in a vain show; surely they are disquieted in vain. Like the fly-plague in Egypt, every scene of mortal life is infested by frivolity and falsehood; and it is hard to tell which is the sorest vexation, — the buzz and bewilderment of vanities still living, or the noisomeness of those that are dead. The cottage and the palace, the student’s chamber and the prince’s banquet-room all teem with them, and there is no secure retreat from those vanities which on the wing are a weariness, and, in the cup of enjoyment, are the poison of pleasure. ‘Nay, we have not tried that temple, — we have not yet gone to the house of God. There, perhaps, we shall find a tranquil asylum. There, if anywhere, we should find a heaven on earth, — a refuge from the insincerity and unsatisfactoriness which elsewhere abound, Ah, no; the temple itself is full of vacant worship. It resounds with rash vows and babbling voices. It is the house of God, but man has made it a nest of triflers, a fair of vanity, a den of thieves. Some come to it as reckless and irreverent as if they were stepping into a neighbour’s house. Some come to it and feel as if they laid the Most High under obligation because they bring a sheaf of corn or a pair of pigeons; whilst they never listen to the lessons of God’s Word, nor strive after that obedience which is better than sacrifice. Some come and rattle over empty forms of devotion, as if they would be heard because of their much speaking. And some come, and in a fit of fervor utter vows which they forget to pay; and when reminded of their promise by the “angel” of the church, — the priest or his messenger, — they protest that there must be some mistake; they repudiate the vow, and say “it was an error.”
A thoughtless resorting to the sanctuary; inattention and indevotion there; and precipitancy in re ligious vows and promises, are still as common as in the days of Solomon. And for these evils the only remedy is that which he prescribes, — a heartfelt and abiding reverence. “Fear thou God;” “God is in heaven, and thou upon earth;” “Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God.”
I. There is a preparation for the sanctuary. Not only should there be prayer beforehand for God’s blessing there, but a studious effort to concentrate on its services all our faculties. In the spirit of that significant Oriental usage which drops its sandals at the palace door, the devout worshipper will put off his travel-tarnished shoes, — will try to divest himself of secular anxieties and worldly projects, — when the place where he stands is converted into holy ground by the words, “Let us worship God.” Be “ready to hear” We freely grant that dull hearing is often produced by dull speaking. We allow that there is a great contrast when the sameness of sermons is set over against the variety and vivacity of Scripture. And so often is the text injured by its treatment, that we have often wished that some power could give it back in its original pungency, and divested of its drowsy associations. That passage of the Word was a burning lamp, till the obscuring inter pretation conveyed it under a bushel. It was a fire, till a non-conducting intellect encased it, and made it like a furnace in felt. It was the finest of the wheat, till a husky understanding buried it in chaff. It was “a dropping from the honey-comb,” till tedious insipidity diffused it and drowned it in its deluge of commonplace. And we allow that much of the impatience and inattention of hearers may be owing to the prolixity of preachers. But still, admitting that on the one side there is often the fault of common place as well as “the sin of excessive length,” * and conceding to every hearer the same right to exert his tasteful and intellectual faculties when listening to a sermon as when perusing a printed book; you will not * Bishop Shirley.
deny that on the other side there are often a languor and lukewarmness of which the cure must be sought not so much in the greater power of the preacher as in the growing piety of the hearer. There are two sorts of instruction to which if we do not hearken we are utterly without excuse. One is the direct instruction of God’s Word; the other is truth and earnestness embodied in a Christian teacher. But how often are the lively oracles read in public wor ship, and a relief experienced when the lesson is ended! and how often does some fervent evangelist pour forth appeals full of that rarest originality,, — the pathos of a yearning spirit, — and find no response save stolid apathy, or a patronizing compliment to his energy!
Half the power of preaching lies in the mutual preparation. The minister must not serve God with that which cost him nothing; but it is not the minister alone who should “give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.” There is a reciprocal duty on the part of the hearer. He should come with a purpose, and he should come with prayer. He should come hopeful of benefit, and bestirring all his faculties, that he may miss nothing which is “profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” He should come with a benevolent prepossession towards his pastor, and with a friendly solicitude for his fellow-hearers. And thus, as iron sharpens iron, so his intelligent countenance would animate the speaker; and, like a Hur or an Aaron, K his silent petitions would contribute to the success of the sermon.
Nor can aught be more fatal than a habit of indolent hearing. Like one who glances into a mirror, and sees disorder in his attire, or dust on his face, and says, “I must attend to this,” but forth with forgets it, and hurries out on his journey; or who, in the time of plague, sees the livid marks on his countenance, and says, “I must take advice for this,” and thinks no more about it till he drops death-stricken on the pavement: so there are languid or luxurious listeners to the Word of God. At the moment, they say, Very true, or, Very good, and they resolve to take some action: but just as the mirror is not medicine, — as even a watery mirror cannot wash from the countenance the specks which it reveals, if merely looked into, — so a self- survey in the clearest sermon will neither erase the blemishes from your character, nor expel the sin-plague from your soul. “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear. And, laying apart all nlthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein,” — like a man who seeing his bedusted visage in the mirror of that polished flood, loses not a moment but makes a laver of his looking-glass, — “he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed •”* he shall be saved by his promptitude; or, if saved already, he shall become a more beautiful character by his strenuous self-application.
2. In devotional exercises be intent and deliberate, vers. 2, 3. Like a dream which is a medley from the waking day, — which into its own warp of delirium weaves a shred from all the day’s engagements: so, could a fool’s prayer be exactly reproduced, it would be a tissue of trifles intermingled with vain repetitions. In all the multitude of words it might be found that there was not a single sincere confession, not one heart-felt and heaven-arresting supplication.
For such vain repetitions the remedy still is reverence. “Be not rash,” but remember at whose throne you are kneeling; and be not verbose, but let your words be few and emphatic, as of one who is favoured with an audience from Heaven’s King. It is right to have stated seasons of worship; but it were also well if with our acts of devotion we could combine some special errand; and it might go far to give precision and urgency to our morning or evening prayer, if for a few moments beforehand we considered whether there were any sin to confess, * James i. 19 — 25. K 2 any duty or difficulty demanding special grace,, any friend or any object for which we ought to intercede. And when the emergencies of life — some perplexity or sorrow, some deliverance or mercy, at an unwonted season sends us to the Lord, without any lengthened preamble we should give to this originating occasion the fulness of our feelings and the foremost place in our petitions.
3. In like manner, be not rash with vows and religious promises, verses 4 — 7. In the old Levitical economy there was large provision made for spontaneous vows and votive offerings; and in our own Christian time there are occasions for vows virtual or implied. It is a vow or a solemn promise which a pastor makes when he assumes an office in the Christian Church; and it is a virtual vow which every disciple makes when he becomes a member of that Church: equivalent to the oath of fidelity which a citizen takes when he becomes a soldier, or a servant of the Crown. And occasionally, for the carrying out of some great enterprise, it may be expedient that like-minded men should join together, and covenant to stand by one another till the reform or the philanthropic object is effected. But if Christians make voluntary vows at all, it should be with clear warrant from the Word, for purposes obviously attainable, and for limited periods of time. The man who vows to offer a certain prayer at a given hour for all his remaining life, may find it perfectly convenient for the next six months, but not for the next six years. The man who vows to pious uses half the income of the year may be safe; whereas, the Jephthah who rashly devotes contingencies over which he has no control may pierce himself through with many sorrows. And whilst every believer feels it his reasonable service to present himself to God a living sacrifice, those who wish to walk in the liberty of sonship will seek to make their dedication, as a child is devoted to its parents, not so much in the stringent precision of a legal document, as in the daily forthgoings of a filial mind.
The glory of Gospel worship consists in its freedom, its simplicity, and its spirituality. We have boldness to enter into the holiest, by the blood of Jesus; and we are encouraged to draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. We are not come to a burning mount, nor to the sound of a trumpet and a voice of terror; but we are come “to Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that spcaketh better things than that of Abel.” The Father seeks true worshippers, such as will worship Him in spirit and in truth; and now that sacrifice and offering have ceased, — and now that burdensome observances have vanished away, praise and prayer and almsgiving are the ordinary oblations of the Christian Church. But surely the freedom of our worship should not abate from its fervor; and because it is simple, there is the more scope for sincerity, and the more need that it should be the worship of the heart and soul. But do we sufficiently realize our privileged but solemn position as worshippers of Him, to whom Seraphim continually do cry, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory?” Do we sufficiently realize our blessedness as fellow-worshippers with those who sing on high, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain?” In the house of prayer, do we make worship our study, and devotion our business? Do we “labour mightily in prayer,” and do we “wake up our glory to sing and give praise?” Or are not many of us content to be lookers-on at the prayers, and listeners to the psalmody? and instead of “a golden vial full of odours,” is not many a devotional act a vain oblation, a vapid form; a tedium to ourselves, and an offence to the Most High?
Beloved, let us bestir ourselves in worship. Let us “make a joyful noise unto the Lord;” let us “serve Him with gladness,” Let us sing his praises “with grave sweet melody,” and “with grace in our hearts.” And let us concentrate our thoughts, and join zealously in the confessions, the thanksgivings, and the supplications of the public prayers. And thus, like the restful activity of the temple above, we shall find moments pass swiftly which may now be a weariness; and refreshed by the sacred exertion which enlisted our faculties, and which enlivened our feelings, we shall retire sweetly conscious that it was “good to be there.”
Finally, my friends, amidst the assurance and gladness of Gospel worship, let us take care that we lose nothing of our veneration and godly fear. {t God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about Him.” “Thou hast a mighty arm; strong is Thy hand, and high is Thy right hand. Justice and judgment are the habitation of Thy throne; mer*y and truth shall go before Thy face.” It is a poor religion in which reverence is not a conspicuous element; and, like Moses in the mount, if a man has really communed with God, there will be some thing awful in the shining of his face. And just as in a far inferior matter, — our relations to one an other, — just as you never respect the man who does not respect the noble spirits and exalted intellects among his fellows; whilst you always feel that wherever there is admiration of the great and good there is the germ of principle, the possibility of eminent excellence: — so be it the homely peasant or the village patriarch; be it the philosopher * always pausing before he uttered the Name Supreme, or Israel’s destined lawgiver, putting his shoes from off his feet on HoreVs holy ground; — you always feel that to realize heaven’s majesty is itself majestic, and that there is nothing in itself more venerable than habitual veneration.
* Boyle.
November 10, 1850.