from the Apostle a remonstrance, and an exhortation to his brethren to continue stedfast in their worship, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is!

Now, I have said, that St. Paul would assuredly address to us the same admonition; and with yet greater reason than he did of old.

We have not the excuse which the early Christians might have alleged for neglecting public worship. We are not exposed to any personal loss or danger by attending upon our God. We break no law; we run hazard of no penalty for assembling ourselves together for such a purpose. On the contrary, we have every encouragement and inducement to come to church. raises a man's character, even in the eyes of the world, if he is known to be a regular frequenter of God's public worship.

It

And yet, what is actually the case with us? Do all men amongst us-all Christian men and women n-attend His worship? Are they only a few who are absent? Alas! it is not so. Numbers, large numbers in Christian England, do forsake, week after week, month after month, the assembling of themselves together. Numbers of our people are never seen within the walls of a church, nor in any other place where men meet together to worship the Lord!

And what excuses do they make for this? Often the most frivolous," They have not clothes good enough!" As if God cared about our clothes! as if He cared for aught in His worshippers except the condition of the heart, the frame of mind in which we approach Him! Others excuse themselves on the score of being in poor health, while perhaps on another day they will be seen at the market, or in some place much farther off from their home than the parish church. Others plead that they have a family to look after, and that keeps them at home. Others, that a friend or relative has come to visit them. Others, that the weather looked threatening. Excuses, brethren, I am bold to say, that will not hold when fairly looked into; which we ourselves would not give as a reason for not keeping an ordinary engagement with one another. And what engagement can be so binding as that which is between our souls and God? Who has so great a claim upon us-upon our time-upon our attendance—as that Almighty Being, that munificent and all-bounteous Creator; in whom we live and move and have our being; by whose mercies, daily and hourly mercies, we are sustained; and by whose word we shall be tried and judged at the last day!

Do think, brethren, of this, as of a matter in

which you are all deeply concerned. Do not, I beseech you, do not lightly forsake the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is. A little management will easily enable the busiest of you, those with the greatest families and most pressing occupations, so to order your time on the Sunday, as to leave free for God's public worship the short hour or two which are required for Morning and Evening Service. Do not let the church-going bell send its summons to your ears in vain, because the sky looks lowering, or because you have the dinner to prepare, or because your son or daughter has come home for a holiday. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness! Remember that text in the Bible, They that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed!

I have alluded to some of the excuses men commonly make for their neglect of the great duty of public worship. Let me, before I conclude, put before you some direct reasons why we should all of us be very careful to observe this duty-some of the benefits and blessings, too, which attend the performance of it.

And, first of all, it is plainly ordered us in the Bible. Secondly, God has promised His blessing and His presence where two or three are gathered together in His name. Thirdly, The

presenting ourselves before the Lord for worship is a token that we believe in God, and love God, and fear God, while the keeping away from His assembly is the sign of a careless and irreligious temper. The man who never comes to church, or who only seldom comes, will generally be found to be the same man who never prays to God in private or with his family; in a word, the man who lives without God in the world.

And what a life is his! how little comfort can that man have in the days of sickness, or in the hour of death! what has he to lean upon when his worldly supports fail him?

O think of this, ye, if such there be present, who make light of the duty of public worship! Believe me when I tell you, that the forsaking the assembling of ourselves together on the Lord's day for worship cannot be neglected without great harm to our souls; that from such neglect is to be traced, in a thousand instances, the hardening of the heart against God, and the dying out of hope and faith, and reverence in the soul!

Once again. Recollect this-our love of God's public worship is one great test of our fitness for heaven. What know we of the life above, of the employment of angels, and of the spirits of just men made perfect, except that they unite with one consent to praise the Lord?

What was it that the great multitude of all nations, whom St. John saw in the Revelation, were occupied in doing as they stood before the throne in heaven? Was it not this-in sayingAlleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth ! Salvation be to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb? But if we feel it a weariness and a burden to take our part in the short and occasional worship which here on earth God's people offer week by week in His temple, how shall we be fit or worthy to be enrolled with those who shall stand night and day hereafter before His awful presence, and find their lasting happiness in the utterance of His praise?

Let this thought combine with the other reasons I have named to deepen in your minds respect for God's public worship. Accustom yourselves, and accustom your households, your children, and all with whom you have influence, to tread of a Sabbath the courts of the Lord's house. Begin the week by an act of solemn worship, by assembling together before the Lord, to pray to Him-to praise Him-to hear His most holy word—and you will gain by that act in every way, peace of mind and spiritual strength, and fresh force to fight against your besetting sin, fresh help to keep yourselves unspotted from the world. Yes, begin the week