sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving the whole family of His household, both in heaven and in earth, should with so many of us amount to little more than a service of compliment, without any exercise of faith, any warmth of love, any aspirations of affectionate desire towards that high and holy One whose name we invoke, and to whom we proffer our allegiance? Whence is it that the soul, which was created in the image of God, and which once delighted to converse with Him; and which, when refreshed and invigorated by the life-giving air from the mercy-seat, becomes endowed with new energies, and can mount up with wings as an eagle, so often appears as with pinions flagging and broken, weak-hearted, spiritless, faint, with no tendencies heavenward, no delight in the fellowship of the saints, no thirst for divine communications, no pleasure in meditation on the things of God; contented, as it should seem, to merge the realities of the spiritual life in a routine of ordinances and forms, in themselves a dead letter if unaccompanied by grace and power from on high? Whence is it in all cases where God is not sanctified in them that come nigh Him, that to such persons the worship is unblest? Is it not because

there is wanting the preparation of the heart? Is it not because men go to the house of God without having qualified themselves to profit by the ordinance, and especially without serious meditation upon the holiness of Him to whom they profess to offer up their petitions? Would an earthly potentate consider himself honoured by the civil professions of men whose whole conduct declared that they had little respect for his person, and little regard for his authority? And is it with such hollow and unmeaning ceremony that we treat Him who is the blessed and only Potentate,* the Creator, Preserver, and Judge of the world? Can this be the import of the solemn declaration, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me?

Whether we contemplate the character of Almighty God, the precepts which He has given for our observance, or the example of saints and angels, they all urge upon us the duty of meeting Him in the institutions of His worship with the deepest reverence, and the most active devotion of every faculty of the soul. May the spirit thus inculcated, and thus set before us, be universal in the assemblies of His people! May the ministers of Christ

* 1 Tim vi. 15.

present before God no other fire than that which they have taken from the altar! May the people be filled with a due sense of His holiness and majesty, and come near Him by the mediation of His Son, through faith in His name, with those dispositions of reverence and godly fear, which the visible symbols of His presence could not fail to inspire! For be it impressed upon every heart, which is capable of being moved by a sense of the divine presence, that God marks all the wanderings of our minds, and hears every sigh of the contrite, and observes every heavenward affection, and that through the intercession of Him who made atonement for transgressors, He reveals His loving-kindness to them that fear Him: on these He confers benefits according to the sure testimony of His holy word, even with prodigality of blessing; such is the favour with which He regards the spirit of reverential fear, that the sacred writers seem almost at a loss for expressions to describe it in all its fulness, and all its variety of application. The secret of the Lord, they tell us, is with them that fear Him.* eye of the Lord is upon them that fear Him:† His angel encampeth round about them that fear Him:‡

* Ps. xxv. 14. + Ps. xxxiii. 18.

The.

Ps. xxxiv. 7.

The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him:* He will fulfil the desire of them that fear Him:† His salvation is nigh them that fear Him. Is it thus with His people on this earth? What then will be the manifestations of His love, when, beholding Him in the majesty of His perfections, they sanctify Him with that entire devotion, and those nobler ascriptions of praise which belong to the world of glory? In this life it is needful that we be stimulated by motives of fear as well as of higher principles : there is the end of Nadab and Abihu to show that God is jealous of His honour, and will avenge the breach of it: but the people of that world have holiness inscribed upon their hearts. To be reminded of His majesty they need not, for they ever behold Him upon His throne: to be reminded of His purity they need not, for in that region all is pure: to be told of the relation in which He stands to them they need not, for this is the subject of their ceaseless song; and His love is in place of every lower consideration to stimulate them to heavenly musings, filling them with a delight suited to the nobler faculties and capacities of their heavenly na

* Psalm ciii. 17. + Psalm cxlv. 19. Psalm lxxxv. 9.

tures, as they walk through the boundless fields of their blessed meditations.

Such too in its nature, though lower in degree, is the character of our service on earth! May the Spirit of that Saviour, by whom alone we have the liberty of access to God, purify our minds, and qualify us to worship Him in the beauty of holiness! So may we bow with reverence in His holy temple! So may we sanctify Him in all His ordinances below, till we are translated into that place where every thought and every feeling is in unison with His glorious perfections, and joy and bliss shall be our portion for ever.