felt the necessity of confessing our sins, and heartily repenting of our offences; but having with humble and contrite hearts acknowledged our unworthiness, we are encouraged to come before God's presence with thanksgiving, and to show ourselves glad in Him with Psalms. We may proceed to render thanks for the great benefits that we have received at his hands, and above all for those inestimable favours which have been conferred on our souls. We may express our gratitude for the love and mercy manifested by the Father in sending his only begotten Son into the world to redeem our souls, and to rescue them from a state of misery,—in sending also the Holy Ghost to enlighten and comfort us, and in continuing his guidance to the Church to this day.

But we shall experience no joy in praising our Creator, unless we also delight in meditating on the Scriptures, unless we hear the holy word of God with reverence and attention. We must not, however, be hearers only of the word, we must be doers also, or we shall deceive ourselves. Alas! is it not a lamentable fact that the Bible has but little influence over the conduct of some

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of those who hear it read most frequently! Does not Ezekiel describe many amongst us, when he says, "They come unto Thee as the people cometh, and they sit before Thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them." If we seek the source from which a practice so foolish, so inexcusable, arises, we shall trace it in the fact that these persons omit to lay to heart the things which belong unto their everlasting peace; they do not listen with attention; they do not meditate with prayer; their hearts are not warmed with the love of God, and therefore they cannot comprehend the pleasure of obeying Him. They are those whom St. James speaks of as "forgetful hearers." Even in earthly matters excellence cannot be attained without energy and zeal; how then can we hope to succeed in running our heavenly race without diligence and exertion? Believe me, it is not an easy thing to love God as He requires, with all our hearts and all our souls, nor to keep his commandments uniformly and entirely; this sentiment of love to God should regulate our every thought; this principle of obedience to Him should direct and govern our every action;

and which of us is bold enough to believe that, without that assistance from on high which has been promised to all who diligently seek it, he will have strength stedfastly to perform his duty, and to be holy in his life and conversation?

And this leads me to the consideration of the last subject to which the exhortation calls our attention, viz., that when we assemble and meet together for the purpose of public worship, we should ask those things that are requisite and necessary, as well for the body as the soul. Here we may observe that our Church encourages us to ask for temporal, as well as for spiritual, blessings, teaching us on the authority of St. Paul, who says, "In everything by prayer and supplication let your requests be made known unto God." We are therefore instructed to join with the priest in particularizing numerous mercies relating to this life, yet do we treat them as of far less importance than spiritual blessings to the attainment of the latter we direct the exertion of our utmost energies, whilst we are taught, when we ask for earthly blessings, to do so always in full confidence that He who is more ready to hear than we

pray, will grant only those requests which are conducive to our welfare: we are plainly instructed to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and then to ask and to hope that all other good things may be added unto us.

Let us, therefore, when the priest invites us to accompany him to the throne of grace, offer our confessions with a pure heart and humble voice, in such language as is well pleasing to our Maker. Let us not draw near to Him with our lips, whilst our hearts are far from Him; not with unsanctified thoughts and a careless demeanour, but with our knees bent and our voices subdued, in token of humility; and let our hearts feel the language which our tongues express. This public avowal of our sinfulness is required from the congregation at large, at the commencement of the service; but when the consciences of the people have been relieved, and their guilt lightened by confession, the Church is usually satisfied if her children join in the supplications offered by the priest, spiritually and in silence, and she only requires them to testify their assent at the conclusion of each prayer, by an audible Amen.

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LECTURE VIII.

BEHAVIOUR AT CHURCH.

PSALM XCV., 6.

Oh come let us worship and fall down and kneel before the Lord our Maker.

1 TIMOTHY iii., 15.

That thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the House of God, which is the Church.

THERE is no fact which forces itself upon our attention more frequently in reading the book of Psalms, than the evident delight which David took in all the offices of public worship. David was indeed the man after God's own heart; and, from this expression respecting him, we could not but infer (even if we had no written proof of it) that the praises of the Most High were continually on his lips, and held the uppermost place in his thoughts; we could not entertain a doubt that he was assiduous in the discharge of his private devotions, and felt it to be a good