RELIGIOUS WORLD.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 154, 29 June 1907, Page 10

RELIGIOUS WORLD.

CrTCRCa^WORSHIP. (By BEATTY, M.A, - St. Eemuera). p Heb. is.. L We all know thai much strife and illfeeling has arisen ove r the matter of ritual in _ the public worship of the Church. Now, in a question which "so closely touches our -spiritual life as individuals and as of a body, we may fairiy expect to find help and guidance from the Bible, and I think we can learn much needful wisdom from this chapter..Fir st of all, it teaches us that external fo Jms of worship are not a matter of indifference, that they ought not to be niere empty forms, but to have a meaning, to point to and express some spiritual fact, some divine I truth. We are told in Exodus and Leviticus that the pattern of the tabernacle and the exact order of worship were given to the Jews by God Himself. And we cannot supp DSe that God would give directions as to the design and material of a place-of worship and as to the rites to be performed in it, if these things were quiteunimp 0T t ta t. The man, therefore, who with an air of liberality, tolerance, and large-mindedness, says: "It does not matter to mc what forms and ceremonies people like to use" — proves thereby either his own carelessness as to the spiritual well-being of those who worship-; 0 r his ignorance of the true nature and meaning of forms of worship. To introduce into the worship of God mere trivialities is to offer an insult to the Divine Majesty: to introduce into the worship of God practices which are founded ojn and bear witness to a falsehood is to dishonour God and to pervert and deprave the mind and heart of men. If the answer to the question: "What mean ye by this service?" must be; "It has no meaning," or " It has a superstitious meaning," then that service is a mockery or worse than a mockery. It is plain that the external form of any worship should be determined by the truths which underlie the worship, just as the size, shape and material of a garment are determined by the figure, the needs, the means of the wearer. Now this plain and reasonable truth is often forgotten. Forms of worship are judged merely by the pleasure or dissatisfaction which they afford to the fancy or the senses of the beholder—l cannot say of "the worshipper. Yet if we are to believe the writer to the Hebrews, Christian worship offered in a, room, by the riverside, in a gaol, is a higher, greater, more perfect worship than Jewish worship offered in the stateliest shrine and with the most splendid external accompaniments. Now it is a singular fact that whereas minute directions as to the celebration of divine service were given by God in the Law, no such directions were given in the Gospel. The sacraments of baptism and of the Lord's Supper are the only .ordinances immiediately appointed by Christ. And beyond the simple commands: "Make disciples of all the nations, baptising them into the Name of ,the Father, the Son, and' the Holy Ghost. This do for a remembrance or memorial of mc," there are absolutely no directions whatsoever as to the mode or the place in which these sacraments are to be administered, or the persons who are to administer them. All these matters were left to be 'ordered by the Church in the way which was most seemly and appropriate, which tended most to reversnee and edification. And it is quite plain that differences in the outward arrangements for Christian worship iiight exist as requfced by different circumstances, and as demanded by the in bits and customs and characters of different nations, without any breach of divine order or Christian unity. When we come to seek a reason for the silence of Christ and His Apostles in matters to which such importance was attached by the Law, we must perceive at once that while it might be possible, desirable and necessary that the Jewish Church being local and national, should receive clear and definite instructions as to the mode of its' worship, just as the Jewish nation received clear and definite instructions as to its civil and criminal laws, and the penalties by which they were to be enforced, as to the tenure and distribution of its lands, as to its sanitary regulations, it would be clearly foolish and unreasonable to attempt to prescribe a set and uniform mode of worship for a Church which was to be universal, to embrace within itself all nations and peoples, and kindreds and tongues. The duty of public and common worship is assumed in the New Testament, there was no need to insist upon it. StUL' Christ and His apostles did declare certain great, deep and general principles on which Christian worship should be grounded, of which in all its parts it should be the proper and fitting eternal expression: "God is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." ** If ye ask anything in My Name, I will do it." "All men should honour the Son as they honour the Father." " I will pray with the spirit, I will pray with the understanding also." " That ye may with-'one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." "We are all partakers of the .one Spirit." "' Let all things be done unto edification," unto building up, strengthening, uniting the body. "Let all things be done decently and in order." Further than that the Author and first ministers of the New Covenant do not go. And further than that there was no need for them to go. For men who by God's grace are of this Spirit will be taught by Him a form of worship which will be sincere, reverent, intelligent, truly spiritual, which will enable them to give due utterance to their common feelings of repentance, humility, need, faith, thankfulness, and adoration, which will help to bind them together and keep them together as children of the one Father, members of the one Head, sharers in the manifold gifts and graces of the one Spirit. Broadly speakimr, worship under the Old Covenant was" the worship of servants: worship under the New Covenant is the worship of sons. I do not mean by this that godly men before Christ came approached God in a slavish and cringing spirit, or even that they regarded Him merely as a king and a judge. That would be a slander on patriarchs, psalmists, prophets, the falsehood of which would be obvious. But the Old Testament contains the revelation of a Lord, the New Testament contains the revelation of a Father. The latter does not exclude or abolish the former, but it expounds, enlarges, glorifies, fulfils it, raises it to its fullest and highest mean,ing. Now it is quite plain that the .intercourse between a master and his servants must be different in important respects, from the . intercourse between a father and his grow.n-up sons. Lines m ths one case have to be drawn, rules formalities to. be : observed, which be needless, jepeSant and xidi-

eulous in the other. Restrictions as to times and places, minute and elaborate ceremonies and observances, which might be suitable for an Eastern people in the worship of their invisible King, are unseemly, . impertinent, and irreverent when introduced into the worship of a heavenly Father of men. A spirit of filial trust, rejoicing in the unspeakable blessing of perfect freedom of access to the Father at all times and all places through the Son, will express itself in words and acts and movements which are simple, quiet, restrained, unostentatious, because of the deep humility and awful reverence which inspires them. (To be concluded.)