and in airs as ancient as Mear, or Old Hundred, and appeal to any one's self-consciousness, and to any one's observation, whether there is not a heart-moving power in this part of worship which never fails. Now what is the captivation of the Roman or English forms, as now exerting itself upon our larger communities? It lies not in conviction, nor altogether in the spirit of fashion; but very much in the increased interest given to the public worship by the new spectacles exhibited; the increased attention to architecture, chaunting, postures, and superstitious formulas. These constitute the great strength of the attraction which is now drawing so many away from gospel simplicity. Shall we try to counteract this system by rivaling it in the very means by which it is succeeding? Shall we build as gorgeous churches, though at the expense of light and hearing and comfort? Shall we get to ourselves men-singers and womensingers, and musical instruments? Shall we make a little more parade in the pulpit? Shall we make flowery prayers, and fine essays, and put our trust in the choir? No; no. Let the church. that lays so much stress on principles, beware of this trap. Let us not be found imitating the very externality we fight against. But let us show the true foundation of our resistance to what we hold to be anti-evangelical, by a more faithful and consistent carrying out of gospel principles. Let us hold fast our integrity, even as to our externals, so long as we believe that they are most conducive to the great ends of the gospel. When Luther would overthrow the Romish errors, he did not give his strength to the work of an iconoclast. He did not make his great demonstrations on surplices, crucifixes, censers and pictures. He went to the depth of the matter, and out of the Scriptures built the foundations of faith in gold and silver and precious stones, knowing that if this were established, the faithful would not pile wood, hay, and stubble upon it. What, then, is the gist of our controversy with the Liturgies? Is it not that it is most agreeable to New Testament principles and models, that the divine worship should be characteristically a simple, a popular, or as we more commonly say, a congregational worship? Is it not that we should sing together psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, as a common expression of praise, adoration, gratitude, and religious joy? Then the plain course for us to pursue, if we would guard ourselves from encroachment, and advance the truth in these matters, is, chiefly, to use gospel means of promoting the spirit which will seek to express itself in this way; but collaterally, to provide for and encourage those means by which the expression is best made. Believers must be made ashamed of sitting silent and unmoved, when the most convincing doctrines of their faith and hope are being sung. Their apologies of being hindered by choirs, strange tunes, and innovations borrowed from the world, must be met by the correction of all such evils. Our devotional exercises, thus becoming what they ought to be, and what they used to be, our youth will find the same attachment of association with the simple forms of our worship that their fathers had. These sincere, earnest, and general services will weigh more on their emotions, if not on their hearts, than those which would allure them to other forms where the fancy, mainly, is pleased. Dr. Edwards, in his narrative of the glorious scenes in Northampton in 1735, says, "Our public services were then greatly enlivened. God was then served in our psalmody, in some measure, in the beauty of holiness. It has been observable that there has been scarce any part of divine worship, wherein good men amongst us have had grace so drawn forth, and their hearts so. lifted up in the ways of God, as in singing his praises. Our congregation excelled all that ever I knew in the external part of the duty before; the men generally carrying regularly and well three parts of music, and the women a part by themselves. But now they were evidently wont to sing with unusual elevation of heart and voice, which made the duty pleasant indeed." Let this description be set against the best performances of a liturgy in the prevailing fashion, and who does not believe that the masses of our population, even in cities, would prefer our simpler worship, when conducted with such spirit and propriety? But are we not going in the wrong direction in our ecclesiastical plans of this kind? Are we not giving up our strongest points, and adopting the weakest points of the Liturgists? We are making great strides in architectural decorations, and in choiral elegancies; we build dark Gothic churches, and spend thousands for an organ, and hundreds for the wages of singers; but all these innovations on our primitive simplicity have the effect of exciting a liturgical taste, whilst at the same time, they take from our worship those very qualities of popular interest which belong to our peculiar forms when rightly observed, and which are supplied by the greater variety and display of modern liturgies. The very scenery of a grand church excites the expectation of corresponding services; and it is in these very churches that our psalmody should be most universally exercised, to make the worship correspond with the place. Let the voices of the whole congregation cause the groined ceilings and the pillared roofs to echo with the Psalms to the good old tunes which our fathers taught us; let the organ, in its highest swell, and the choir, in their strongest voice, be heard only as the guides and supports of the voices of the people-the men, women, and children, each with Psalm-book in hand-and there will be a conformity of the place and the service. But assemble a Presbyterian congregation in a cathedral-like edifice, and then let the only part of worship in which the people are expected to unite audibly, be performed by an orchestra, as in an unknown tongue, and there are but few It is the duty of Christians to praise God publicly, by singing of Psalms together in the congregation, and also privately in the family." "In singing of Psalms, the voice is to be tunable and gravely ordered." "That the whole congregation may join herein, every one that can read is to have a Psalm-book; and all others, not disabled by age or otherwise, are to be exhorted to learn to read."—Westminster Directory: adopted with verbal variations in Directory of our American Church, chap. iv. who will not prefer going to the whole liturgy, toward which the elegant church brought them half way, and then left them. There is reason to hope, that in spite of the worldly influences which are constantly bearing on these matters, there is an increasing conviction that the interests-not merely of our Church-but of Christianity, are connected with the subject of this paper. Not only as a defence against other forms, which we regard as less consistent with gospel-simplicity, but as a divinely-ordained means of grace and mode of worship intimately connected with the advancement of devout religion, should we take care of the psalmody of our public assemblies. A general revival of our ancient customs in this matter, would be one of the most promising methods of attaining, through the divine favour, a general revival of our piety. H. WHO WILL NOT TRUST THE LORD? How wonderful is God! He gives the "power to get wealth," gives the heart to use it aright, and then recompenses for the deed! Yes, he makes himself a debtor for every thing that is given to the needy; and who would not advance much upon such credit? He will refund it with interest. In no instance will he forfeit his word. This truth frequently meets us in the Scriptures. Hence we read: "There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth." "The liberal soul shall be made fat; and he that watereth shall be watered also himself." "He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and that which he hath given will he pay him again." "He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack." "Cast thy bread upon the waters; for thou shalt find it after many days." "He which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully." "And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only, in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward." (Prov. xi. 24, 25; xix. 17; xxviii. 27; Eccl. xi. 1; 2 Cor. ix. 6; Matt. x. 42.) Many facts might be here cited to illustrate and confirm the truth of these seemingly paradoxical declarations. Some years ago we heard a clergyman relate the following:-Two gentlemen in Edinburgh commenced the mercantile business about the same time, their amount of capital was the same, and their prospects appeared equally flattering. The one, however, was close and penurious; while the other was open-hearted and benevolent. In the course of time it was obvious that the latter person succeeded best in business, insomuch as to excite the surprise of his close and penurious neighbour, and induce him to call and ascertain what was the reason. He visited the thrifty merchant, and in the course of con versation remarked to this effect: "We began business at the same time, upon equal capital, and equal prospects of success; I have been attentive to my business, and yet you are far in the advance of me in wealth! and what appears strange to me, is, that you are very often patronizing the benevolent objects of the day, for I seldom see a subscription paper without your name and a handsome amount appended, a thing which I rarely, if ever do, because I set out with the determination to be as saving as industrious." To all this the benevolent man replied, that, "by experience he had found verified the word of God, "the liberal soul shall be made fat,' and the more he put into the treasury of the Lord, the more the Lord put back again." Recently we heard of a pious teacher, who felt that he should do something for a certain praiseworthy object, and yet he was somewhat perplexed as to duty in the case. He had, in a short time, a note of eighty dollars to lift, and he had scarcely the necessary means wherewith to do it. But as the Lord had been kind to him in times past, he would trust him for the future. He gave ten dollars. The next day, unexpectedly, he obtained an additional pupil from a distance, and a remittance in advance of eighty dollars, the entire amount of his note. On this subject we here give the testimony of Richard Baxter :"This truth I will speak to the encouragement of the charitable, that what little money I have by me, I got it almost all, I scarce know how, in that time when I gave most; and since I have had less opportunity of giving, have I had less increase." Martial has also said:"Quas dederis, solas semper habebis, opes"-the riches you impart form the only wealth you will always retain. If this be so, is it not possible that the present reduced condition of some throughout our favoured land, is the legitimate result of former parsimony? For, as the Bible informs us, "there is that with holdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty." "He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly." (Prov. xi. 24; 2 Cor. ix. 6.) "That man may last, but never lives, Whom none can love, whom none can thank; Among those persons who are most deeply interested in doing good, and in sending the gospel to the destitute, may be found the highest standard of piety, with the most elevated spiritual enjoyment and prosperity. The converse of this is also true, it cannot be otherwise. Where there is but little of the spirit of genuine benevolence, as a necessary consequence, there will be much leanness and barrenness. Therefore, "let us not be weary in welldoing; for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." J. A. M. THINGS NEW AND OLD.-No. II. -- SOMETHING THAT NEVER DOES ANY HARM. IT cannot be said of many things, that they never do any harm. There are many persons and many things which do a great deal of good; but there are so many blemishes and so much imperfection in them, and so much evil is mingled with what they do, that it is often difficult to determine whether the advantage lies on the side. of the evil or the good. Yet is there something which never does any harm, either in the world or in the Church, either in "heart, speech, or behaviour." What is it, and where is it? It is not the press; for with all the good which the press has accomplished, it has also done a great amount of evil. It is not the pulpit; for with all the sacred influences it has exerted, the pulpit is sometimes the advocate of error, and exerts an unhallowed influence. It is not the sun, nor the rain; for the sun often scorches the verdant earth, and the rain of heaven sometimes pours in torrents from the mountains, swells the rivers, and carries devastation in its course. That of which we speak not only exerts a positive agency in promoting the best interests of men, but this negative agency, that it protects them from evil. No small amount of injury is done in the world by disregarding and violating those rights of property which are so sacredly protected by divine and human laws. That of which we speak is something which never encroaches upon the possessions and enjoyments of others. It wastes nothing by negligence, or profusion; it withholds nothing by parsimony; it lavishes nothing on the love of show, nor on luxurious and voluptuous gratification. It is cautious and circumspect, and punctual in the various rotations of business; and would no more injure its neighbour's wealth, or outward estate, than it would injure its own. It makes no misrepresentation of the state of the markets, and never imposes on the credulity of the weak, or the ignorance of the uninformed, or the necessities of the poor. It never passes off, as sound and good, a commodity that is defective and unsound. It never depreciates what it buys, nor appreciates what it sells. It incurs no debts which it is not able to pay; and makes no engagements which it has not a fair and reasonable prospect of fulfilling. It is never guilty of breaches of trust, nor of any violations of private or public confidence. It has no fellowship with the cheat, the robber, the swindler, the pawnbroker, the gaming table, or the lottery office. It has no concern with those broad systems of speculation and extortion, and those combinations in trade which do harm to the many for the sake of benefiting the few. In individuals and in communities, it is governed by a well regulated conscience; and never does in its associated capacity, that which, in its individual capacity, it would despise. |