Bump: On this Lord's Day

Joshua · #1 (**permalink**) 10-27-2007, 10:43 PM

I thought these words from Harvey Newcomb would be worth mentioning this Lord's Day. It's actually directed toward Young Ladies, but think it applies to all.

by Harvey Newcomb

Quote:

PUBLIC WORSHIP

PRACTICAL HINTS IN RELATION TO PUBLIC WORSHIP.

1. Attend on the stated ministrations of your pastor. If there is more than one church professing your own sentiments in the place where you reside, select the pastor who is most spiritual, and will give you the best instruction. But, when you have made this selection, consider yourself bound to wait on his ministry. Do not indulge yourself in going from place to place, to hear this and that minister. This will give you "itching ears," and cultivate a love of novelty, and a critical mode of hearing, very unfavorable to the practical application of the truth to your own soul. If you wish to obtain complete views of truth—if you wish your soul to thrive—attend, as far as possible, upon every appointment of your pastor. Ministers generally adopt some plan of instruction, which they believe to be adapted to the state of their people, and frequently pursue a chain of subjects in succession, so as to present a complete view of the great doctrines of the Bible. Whenever you absent yourself, you break this chain, and lose much of your interest and profit in your minister's preaching. I do not say but, on special occasions, when some subject of more than usual importance is to be presented at another place, it may be proper for you to leave your own church. But, in general, the frequent exchange of pulpits between neighboring ministers, and the occasional appearance of a stranger in the pulpit, will furnish as great variety as you will find profitable.

2. Be punctual in attending at the stated hour of public worship. This, though of great importance, is sadly neglected by many congregations. Punctuality is so necessary in matters of business, that a man is hardly considered honest when he fails to meet his friend at the hour of engagement. And why should it be thought of less consequence to be exact and punctual in our engagements with God than with man? The person who enters the house of God after the service has commenced, embarrasses the preacher, and disturbs the devotions of others. Besides, he shows great lack of reverence for the sacredness of the place, time, and employment. "God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of his saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him." Always calculate to be seated in the sanctuary a few minutes before the time appointed for the commencement of worship; that you may have time to settle your mind, and to lift your soul in silent prayer to God for his blessing.

3. Go to the house of God with a preparation of heart. First visit your closet, and implore the influences of the Holy Spirit, both upon yourself and your fellow-worshipers, that your and their hearts may be prepared to receive the truth; and, if possible, go immediately from your closet to the house of worship. On the way, shut out all thoughts except such as are calculated to inspire devotional feelings; and, if in company, avoid conversation. Whatever may be the nature of such conversation, it will be very likely to produce a train of thought which will distract and disturb your mind during public worship.

4. When you approach the house of worship, remember that the Lord is there in a peculiar manner. He has promised to be where two or three shall meet in his name. It is in the assembly of his saints that he makes known the power of his Spirit. As you enter his house, endeavor to realize the solemnity of his presence, and walk softly before him. Avoid carelessness of demeanor, and let your deportment indicate the reverence due to the place where "God's honor dwells." "Guard your feet when you go to the house of God." I do not like to specify any particular acts which are unbecoming in the house of God, lest I should seem to imply that a young lady may be guilty of a public breach of the rules of good breeding; but, if you bear in mind continually that you are a guest in the house of the Lord, and that the Lord almighty is there to witness all you do, you will be likely to be serious and circumspect.

When seated in the place of worship, set a watch over the senses, that your eyes and ears may not cause your mind to wander upon forbidden objects. There is great danger that the attraction of people, characters, and dress, may dissipate the serious thoughts with which you entered the sanctuary, so that you will lose the benefit of the means of grace. Set a watch, also, over your imagination. This is a time when Satan is peculiarly busy in diverting the fancy; and, unless you are doubly watchful, he may lead away your mind by some phantom of the imagination, before you are aware of it. Keep these avenues of temptation guarded, and seek to bring yourself into a prayerful frame of mind, that you may be suitably affected by the various exercises of public worship.

5. Unite in spirit with the devotional part of the service. "God is a Spirit; and they that worship him must worship in spirit and in truth." Sing with the spirit and with the understanding, and see that you do not mock God with an empty song of praise, which finds no response in your heart. Endeavor, also, in prayer, to follow the words of the person who leads, applying the several parts of the prayer to yourself in particular, when they suit your case, and yet bearing in mind the various subjects of petition which relate to the congregation and the world; remembering that God abhors hypocritical worship, in which men appear outwardly as worshipers, but have no spiritual apprehension of the meaning of the solemn service in which they are engaged. In all the exercises of public worship, labor and strive against wandering thoughts. This is the time when Satan will beset you with all his fury. Now you must be well armed, and fight manfully. Be not discouraged, though you may be many times foiled. If you persevere in the strength of Jesus, you will come off conqueror at last.

6. "Take heed how you hear." Consider the speaker as the ambassador of Christ, sent with a message from God to yourself. "Now, then," says the apostle, "we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we beg you, in Christ's stead, be you reconciled to God." The figure here used is borrowed from the practice of one government sending a person on a particular errand to another. The analogy, however, does not hold good throughout. It is like a sovereign sending an ambassador to persuade rebels against his government to submit to him, and accept of pardon. But, in such a case, it would be possible, either for some person who was not sent, to deliver a false message in the name of the king, or for one who was really sent, to deliver a different message from the one sent by him. So it is in relation to preachers of the gospel. There are many whom Christ has never sent, who are spreading abroad lies over the land; and there are others, really sent by Christ, who have, in some respects, misapprehended their instructions, and therefore do not deliver his message just as he has directed. But our blessed Lord, foreseeing this, has wisely and kindly given us a check-book, by which we may discover whether those who speak in his name tell the truth. Hence we are commanded to "search the Scriptures," and to "test the spirits, whether they be of God." And the Bereans were commended as more noble, because they searched the Scriptures daily, to know whether the things preached by the apostles were so. If, then, they were applauded for testing the preaching of the apostles by the word of God, surely we may try the preaching of uninspired men by the same standard.

But beware of a fault finding spirit. There are some people who indulge such a habit of finding fault with preaching, that they never receive much benefit from it. Either the matter of the sermon, the apparent feeling of the preacher, or his style, or manner of delivery, does not suit them; and therefore they throw away all the good they might have obtained from his discourse. Remember that preachers of the gospel are but men. So weak are they, that the apostle compares them to "earthen vessels." Do not, then, expect perfection. Bear with their infirmities. Receive their instructions as the bread which your heavenly Father has provided for the nourishment of your soul. Do not ungratefully spurn it from you. What would you think to see a child throwing away the bread his mother gives him, because it does not suit his dainty appetite?

But the instruction delivered to you by the ministers of Christ, if it agrees with the word of God, is the bread which your heavenly Father has provided as the food of your soul. It may not suit your taste. It may not be savory enough. It may be coarse food. It may not have any such dressings as render it palatable to a capricious appetite. Or it may be, in your estimation, too strong meat. Still it is the food which God has provided for your soul; and you will suffer incalculable loss, if you are so dainty as to throw it away. But, if there appears really to be a deficiency in your minister's preaching, pray for him, that he may preach better. See to it, however, that the fault be not with yourself, in not keeping your heart in such a state as to be able to appreciate good preaching. Many sermons, which appeared dry and dull the first time they were delivered, on being repeated in a time of awakening, and heard with a new ear, have been pronounced excellent, and full of instruction.

Hear, also, with self-application. From almost any passage in the Bible the Christian may draw a practical lesson for himself. Some truths may not be immediately applicable to your present circumstances; yet you ought to be affected by them. Even a sermon addressed exclusively to impenitent sinners is calculated to excite the most intense feelings of the Christian's soul. It reminds him of the exceeding wickedness of his past life; it shows him what an awful gulf he has escaped; it leads him to mourn over his ingratitude; and it calls forth his prayers and tears in behalf of the perishing. Strive to bring home the truth, so far as it is applicable to yourself, in the most searching manner. Examine your own heart diligently, that you lose nothing which belongs to you.

Do not hear for others. Let everyone make his own application of the truth. Many are so intent on finding garments for others, that they lose their own.

Hear with a prayerful frame of mind. If any part of the discourse is intended for professors of religion, let your heart continually ascend to God for the Holy Spirit to apply it to yourself and to every Christian present. If any part of it is designed for impenitent people, let your soul put forth an agony of prayer, that it may be blessed for their conversion.

Remember and practice what you hear. We are exhorted to give earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. James tells us, "If any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in the glass; for he beholds himself, and goes his way, and straightway forgets what manner of man he was." Alas, how many thus hear! But, in regard to them, our Savior likens them to a man that built his house upon the sand, which, when the storm came, was swept away with a terrible destruction. How many, who have paid a decent respect to the worship of God, without practicing the self-denying duties inculcated in his word, will find their foundation swept from under them in the terrible storm which is at hand, none can tell. Let us see to it that we are not among the many who will say, in that day, "Lord, Lord," without having obeyed his word; that he should say to us, "Depart from me, you who work iniquity."

I hope each of you has a wonderful Lord's Day!

Joshua · #2 (**permalink**) 10-28-2007, 09:40 AM

Bump, for today.