Essays on public worship

ON PUBLIC WORSHIP,

CONTAINING

OBSERVATIONS AND REMARKS

ON THE

DIFFERENT PARTS OF RELIGIOUS WORSHIP;

WITH SOME

HINTS AND DIRECTIONS FOR THE DUE PERFORMANCE OF THEM.

BY THE REV. JOHN JONES,

Minister of Cradley Chapel, Worcestershire, and Author of" Scripture Antiquities."

Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not what they do.

Eccles. vi, 1.

PRINTED

LONDON:

FOR L. B. SEELEY & SON, FLEET-STREET;

By J. Seeley, Buckingham.

1824.

CONTENTS.

ESSAY I.

CHURCH of Christ owes its existence to public
worship.-Wisest and best men publicly worshipped
God.-Line of distinction between the infidel and
believers. Saying of the Rabbins.-Necessity and
reasonableness of public worship.--A privilege as well
as duty.-Sentiments of David on public worship.-
Sabbath and its duties.-Advantages of public worship.
The employment of saints and angels. The public pro-
fession of our faith.-Neglect of public worship, and
its consequences.-Reasons for constant attendance at
public worship.---Example of the primitive Christians.-
Sabbath, a blessing.---Profanation of the sabbath for-
bidden by the law of God, and the laws of our country.
Grateful attendance on public worship recommended.

ESSAY II.

Inconsistencies and indifference during public wor-
ship.---Carelessness and irreverence.---Not uniting in
public prayer.-Erroneous notions of public worship.-
Wrong motives of attending public worship.---Propriety
of conduct in the house of God pointed out.-Prayers
to be offered up in the name of Christ.-Collects in the
Liturgy end in HIS name.---Sermon no part of the
immediate worship of God.-Serious attention proper.-
Sleeping in public worship exposed.-The heart to be
fixed on God.-Quotation from Dr. Doddridge's Life of

Col. Gardiner.---Directions to attend profitably public

worship.Directions towards obtaining a right state of

mind at departure from public worship.-Practice of

our forefathers.

ESSAY III.

House of God.-Its name.-Uniformity of worship
necessary. The expediency of forms of prayer.—
Advantages of our Liturgy.---Its tendency.-Its excel-
lency.-Testimonies of Dr. A. Clarke, and Mr. Robert
Hall of Leicester.-Its prayers extant before popery
began. Prayers not to be only said but prayed.--
Apparent conduct of many during public worship.-
Prayer and praise, essential acts of devotion.---Impro-
priety of sitting down in time of prayer.---Kneeling the
most proper posture.-Standing, a posture of prayer.
Inconveniency in some churches to kneel.--No inde-
cencies of conduct should be seen in the house of God.
The act of public worship tends to elevate the mind.

ESSAY IV.

Psalmody, an essential part of divine service-The

spirit and understanding seldom united.---The heart

should go with the lips.---Church music generally an

unmeaning sound.--What tunes inconsistent with divine

worship.-God probably never ordered musical instru-

ments. Singing used in the temple service.---Many of

the Psalms then in use.---The Christian Church still

retains them, but at first omitted instrumental music.-

Improper persons compose the choirs of singers.---Ex-

pediency of instruments of music questioned.-A good

singer without piety.-Bands of singers arrogant and

conceited, occupied with the tune, and inattentive to

the subject.-Solemn mockery of God.-Reformation

of Church music necessary.--Hints towards its reform.

A good selection of Psalms and Hymns a desideratum.-

The old version of the Psalms, its faithfulness.-The

new version inaccurate.-Dr.Watts's version.----Sing-

ing to be performed with understanding and experi-

ence of the subject.

ESSAY V.

The Law commanded to be publicly read every sab-
batical year.---Scriptures read in the synagogue service.
The Christian Church adopted the custom.--Excellency
of our Liturgy.---So large a portion of Scripture read
every sabbath day.-Doctrines of our Church, the doc-
trines of the Bible.-Directions of our Church to read
the Scriptures.-Scriptures to be read with the under-
standing. The privilege of possessing the Scriptures.-
The duty of profiting by them.

ESSAY VI.

Origin of preaching from a text.-Preaching still

appointed as a means of grace.-Ministers of Christ

charged to preach the whole truth.St. Paul's mode

of preaching.-Great plainness of speech expedient.-

The Christian minister is to preach scripturally.--The

sermons of the ancient fathers.-The modern method

of preaching different from the ancient --The mode of

preaching in the primitive times.-What is required of

the Christian preacher -Essential doctrines of the Gos-

pel to be brought forward.-Political preaching, the

impropriety of, and its bad tendency.-Extempore