the congregation sitting down, and sometimes sleeping, when they should join in the most solemn addresses to the throne of f grace. And there is reason to presume, that such is the general conduct of a great portion of every congregation in every church in England!*

When minister and congregation are assembled together in God's house, they should worship him in spirit and in truth, for he requires such worshippers. No indecencies of behaviour, no sleeping, no gazing about, no idle postures should ever be seen in the house of God. We should watch against being absent in spirit; against all vain and idle thoughts: for it is better to trifle any where than in the house of God, and about the concerns and affairs of eternity.

* Archbishop Leighton, in one of his charges, directs "that ministers do endeavour to reduce the people from the irreverent deportment they have generally contracted in the public worship, particularly from their most indecent sitting at prayer, to kneel or stand, as conveniently they may, that we may worship, both with our bodies and with our souls, HIM that made both, and made them for that very end. Oh! how needful is that invitation to be often rung in our ears, that seem wholly to have forgot it, "Oh! come, and let us worship, and bow down, and kneel before the Lord our Maker."

Works, vol. ii, pp. 438, 439.

In the very act of joining together in prayer and praise to Almighty God, there is something which has a tendency to elevate the mind above the low interests and concerns of the present life. While a congregation of immortal beings present themselves in solemn worship before Jehovah; when they prostrate themselves before a throne of God, and, conscious of guilt and misery, supplicate for mercy; or in humble adoration, with united voices, " as the sound of many waters," they ascribe" blessing, and honour, and glory, and power unto HIM that sitteth upon the throne," it is truly a sublime and solemn work.

To worship God in spirit and in truth, with prayer and praise, without distracted or wandering thoughts, is a perfection, perhaps, few Christians attain to: but it is a point at which every Christian should aim continually: for "God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."*

* Steele's "Antidote against Distractions in Prayer," is well worthy of the Christian reader's perusal.

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ESSAY IV.

ON PSALMODY, OR SINGING AT PUBLIC WORSHIP.

1 Cor. iv, 14, 15.

"I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.” PSALMODY, or singing the praises of God, is an exercise equally pleasing and profitable, and has always been considered an essential part of divine service. But generally in our congregations the spirit and understanding are seldom united in singing; so this interesting part of divine worship is often only an empty sound. It is too often the case, that in public worship men are carried away from the meaning and sense of the words by the sound or tunes that are put to them. St. Paul, in Ephes. v, 19. tells us how we should sing and make melody in our hearts to the Lord. The heart should always go with the lips: it is but profanation of divine worship to draw nigh to God with the

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lips, while the heart is far from him. And there is reason to fear that there are but very few singers, in most congregations, whose hearts accompany them in singing the praises of God.* To" sing with grace in our hearts to the Lord" is the best tune to any Psalm (Col. iii, 16.) but the singing commonly used in most Christian congregations, is widely different from this. Our church music in general is but unmeaning sound; and the melody recommended by St. Paul as the most proper for devotional music, is now sacrificed to an exuberant harmony, which requires not only several and different kinds of voices, but different musical instruments to support it. Now, by such kinds of sacred music, the simplicity of Christian worship is destroyed, and edification is hindered; and hardly one of

The Christian religion requires that all worship should be performed in spirit and in truth: it requires that no words should be used except they are in unison with the heart. When men think about musical harmony, or vocal tunes, in their worship, their own amusement will be so mixed with it, that it cannot be a spiritual sincere worship. And if people think they can please the Supreme Being by musical instruments, or singing, they must consider HIм as a being like themselves, and not as a SPIRIT who can only approve a spiritual and sincere worship

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the singers "sing with GRACE in their hearts to the Lord."*

The introduction of flourishing tunes into religious services is inconsistent with the solemnity and simplicity of divine worship. Though such a kind of singing may please the multitude, it is certainly the effect of a false and corrupt taste. The first object of Christian worshippers should be to " "sing with the spirit," and "with the understanding also;" and to make "melody in their hearts to the Lord."

It does not clearly appear any where in Scripture that God ordered musical instruments to be employed in his service, except the two trumpets of silver. Numb. x, 2. Yet, in the temple service, there was a great number of singers and performers on musical instruments, who sang the praises of the Lord. The singing used in the temple service was probably no more than a recita

Much of what is called sacred music tends to tickle the fancy too much, and to engage the ear and attention more to the sound than to the matter sung. The mind of man is not capable of attending to two things at once: and when we serve God, we must do it with all our might. Hence it is that some of the ancients have given this rule-that even vocal singing in divine worship should not be too curious, sed legenti similiter quam canenti.