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but when you come, come in earnest; in a word, let all you do here be done in the true fear of GOD, and with the full desire to do His Will, though all the world be full of vanity; so the House of GOD may be unto us, indeed, the gate of Heaven, and we may so serve Him in His Tabernacle, that we at length may rest upon His holy Hill.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of GOD,by which you are preserved alive this day, and permitted to stand in your SAVIOUR'S Presence, and through his infinite mercies and precious merits to draw nigh unto God,-to present your bodies, not only your hearts and souls, but your bodies also, your whole selves, every member and every faculty, a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to GOD, which is your reasonable, your only reasonable service. Glorify HIM both in your body and your spirits here, as you hope that He will raise up and glorify both hereafter.

SERMON CCXXVI.

EARNESTNESS IN WORSHIP.

PART II.

ECCLESIASTES V. 2.

"Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before GOD: for GOD is in Heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few."

I HAVE endeavoured to show you that the book of Ecclesiastes, rightly understood, and laid to heart, is wonderfully fitted to make us deeply serious and earnest about that one only thing which is of any real and lasting importance to us our religion. It seems especially designed, by impressing upon us the vanity of all things under the sun, to lead us to embrace and hold fast those things which shall survive when Heaven and earth shall have passed away. It conducts us on from vain earthly cares, and anxieties, and pleasures, to the fear of GOD and the keeping of His commandments, as being the 66 'whole of man," his whole duty, and whole happiness; the end for which he was born, and came into this world of trial and temptation.

I pointed out to you how very awful and solemn, and how humbling, the tone of this book is; pressing upon us throughout how all things around us, and we ourselves, together with them, are passing away like a dream; and that a time is coming upon each of us, how soon we know not, when nothing will avail us, but to have feared GoD and served HIM; when we shall have to stand naked in His Presence, Who made and Who can destroy both body and soul; Who sent us into the world to do His will, and Who will bring "every work into judgment, and every secret

VOL. VII.

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thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil." All this ought surely to make one very serious.

However, so it is, that, instead of learning these most concerning lessons from the vanity of all things, and becoming what ALMIGHTY GOD, by these warnings of Divine wisdom, would have them become, more serious, more earnest, about the one thing needful, men have reversed the order of things. Instead of going on from vain things to real things, they, from heedlessness, or from cowardice in shrinking from the truth, trifle with the most real things, till they turn them into shadows and vanities.

The "Preacher" would have us reflect who we are, and what we are, and where we are, and what is our business here, and what is our destiny hereafter, i. e. that we are poor frail sinful creatures, with our lives hanging on a thread, sent no doubt for some good and wise, but mysterious, purpose, into a world of vanity and temptation, where we are every moment on our trial, whether we will serve God or no; and every moment in danger of being called to account before HIM.

This is our real condition, whether we like to reflect upon it or no. Whether we be too heedless to reflect upon it, or too cowardly to bring it home to us, the matter is not altered; and every day's experience only serves to force upon us that all this is real, infinitely real. Daily experience teaches us the vanity of all things; our conscience tells us the rest.

If we understand this our frail condition, "all the days of our vain life, which we spend like a shadow," the certainty of death and of eternal judgment; then the necessity of deep awe, and reverence, and earnestness in GoD's service, will be also real to us; and then every thing which tends to inspire us with that awe and reverence, will be real to us also. Thus it was that we found this book of Ecclesiastes may well bring us to understand what is meant by going to Church, where, of all places, coming here and standing, as we do, in the special Presence of ALMIGHTY GOD, we should be filled with the Spirit of His holy fear, and seek for that Spirit of holiness, without which no man shall see HIM, and realize to ourselves the prospect of judgment.

If we are not reverent here, where shall we be reverent ? If we are not in earnest in seeking after holiness here, where shall

we be in earnest?

If we believe not that He shall come to be our Judge here, when we say so solemnly we do believe it, where shall we stand when He appeareth? Hence it is that we find in the midst of this most solemn Book such warnings and cautions even about our way of going in and out of the house of GOD, about the temper and intention with which we go there, and about our whole behaviour there; cautions, lest, as every thing else is like a dream, our most solemn acts of religion may turn out to be like a dream also; and lest, as there are vanities in all other matters, there should be vanities also in that where all should be truth and reality,—I mean in Divine Service.

That many people's coming to Church and Holy Communion itself is no more than vanity or trifling all their life long, a vain oblation," as the Prophet says, 66 a sacrifice of fools," as the Preacher calls it, is too plain to need dwelling on. And that they do not, all the while, " consider that they do evil," that they are doing wrong themselves, or harm to others, still less that they are rendering a most unacceptable service, nay, doing a mockery to their GoD and SAVIOUR, this is too plain also. They come from custom, or because they would be uncomfortable not to come; but they come often they know not why, and behave they care not how, and go home no better; nay, worse than they

came.

It really does seem so necessary for those who do come, to think beforehand why they come, and to come, if they come, in earnest, that I dwelt a long time on the first words of these warnings against what are well called at the head of the chapter, "Vanities in Divine Service." Keep thy foot when thou goest unto the

House of GOD."

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It is not a light thing to go to Church at all; and so I concluded by saying, Think what it is to go, before you set out; think what you are, and where you are, and where you are going, and why you are going: and, again, pause as you pass the threshold of the Church to consider what it is to come before the Presence of GOD. It is your first and highest wisdom to fear HIM; your first that prayer His Name may be hallowed," i. e. that you may worship HIм as you ought to do. "Keep, then, thy foot when thou goest unto the House of God; and be more ready to hear than to offer the sacrifice of fools."

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Next to this caution against heedlessness in entering into His Presence, is another caution, as necessary against rashness in speaking in His Presence. "Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for HE is in Heaven, and thou upon earth." It may seem like a general caution "to take heed to our ways that we offend not in our tongue, to set a watch before our mouths, and keep the door of our lips" and that, every where, because every where we are in His Presence, and ought so to speak every where as conscious that HE heareth us. Here, however, it is a special warning against a "vanity" in Divine Service. As Christians are heedless how they come to this holy place, so are they heedless what they say when they are here; in a word, they are “rash with their mouths."

It may seem very common-place to remind you of such things; but only just consider how many persons come to Church, and half-dream away the service. What danger there must be in drawing near unto God with our lips when our hearts are far from HIM, and more especially when, as is the case, people know not that they do evil!

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The next thing, then, to taking heed to our feet, is to take heed to our tongue. As we must stop and recollect ourselves as we come to Church, and not rush into His Presence, so when we are in Church we must mind what we are about, must mind what our tongues say, and watch whether our hearts go with them. As we come into the LORD's House only" upon the multitude of His mercy," so must we worship in His fear towards His Holy Temple." If we were admitted to the presence chamber of an earthly king, we should be respectful and silent; how much more should we be so, when we come as miserable sinners, to ask pardon and forgiveness of the KING of kings and LORD of Lords! In some parts of Christendom, Cathedrals and Churches are kept open, that those who desire it may, as they pass, go in and silently pour out their hearts before HIM, and kneel, if it be only for a few minutes, in His Presence. A Church is to them quite a different place from every other, a place where they may leave off earthly thoughts, and stand, as it were, at the gate of Heaven. To kneel at the altar is to kneel at the footstool of the KING eternal, immortal, invisible, at the Mercy-seat, where our

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