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number of people, than is usual among those who live after the common course of the world.*

CHAPTER V.

Remarks on the Worship of God: the origin, practice and rea sonableness of Dancing, as an act of Divine Worship.

THE subject of religious worship has excited the attention of all nations, of all religions, throughout all ages of the world. Perhaps there is no subject on which there has existed a greater diversity of sentiment. Even among those who profess the christian religion, the great variety of opinions would seem to indicate to an impartial observer, that almost every different denomination believed in a different God, and expected to be saved by a different Savior, and to enjoy a different Heaven.

This great diversity of opinion, on a subject of such infinite importance to all, is certainly a most conclusive evidence of the great deficiency of the Spirit of God among christian professors, and of their ignorance of his true character and most acceptable worship. In former days, this diversity of sentiment was the occasion of great contentions and persecutions; but since the principles of civil and religious liberty have had a prevailing influence, and the spirit of persecution has lost its tyrannical power, modern christians profess great charity and forbearance towards each other; but still the same difference of religious sentiment prevails, and there are still many ways of performing religious worship.

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When Jesus Christ was on earth, he prayed for his followers, that they might be one with him, as he was one with the Father. "As thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us." And again: "that they may be one, even as we are one."+ And the apostle Paul to the Ephesians, testifies that there is, "One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and "Father of all." If then there is but one God, one Lord, one faith and one baptism; and if Christ is one with the Father, and his people are one with him; how is it that those who profess to be his people, at the present day, are so divided into sects and parties? Surely Christ's true followers cannot be divided; they are one with him, as he is one with the Father.

Again: Jesus Christ testified, saying, "I am the way, and the *The ancients reckoned a generation to last 30 years, and the moderns have generally agreed that the life of man has not increased. From the commencement of the United Society, in the year 1780, up to 1800, the average ages of those who deceased at New LebaDon, and Watervliet, exceeded 50 years. Sinee that period to the present time, the average ages of all that have deceased in these two societies, amouut to about 60 years there was, in the beginning, at least, an ordinary proportion of young children, and tho many children have since been gathered into the Society; yet only 5 have deceased under 10 years, and but 27 under 21 years of age t John xvii. 21, 22.

Eph, iv. 5 6.

Tho

"truth, and the life."* He did not say, "I am one of the ways;" but, "I am the way." Again he said; "God is Spirit; and they "that worship him, must worship in spirit and in truth." How then is it possible that the One Spirit of God, which is in Christ, who teaches us to worship in spirit and in truth, should at the same time, teach christians so many different opinions, and direct and establish so many different ways of worship, as the result of these different opinions? Surely no true christian, who knows any thing of the Spirit of God, can ever suppose this to be the case; and if not, then we would ask, who has taught these opinions, and directed and established all these ways of worship?

The Spirit of God and of Christ, which is one, necessarily leads to a oneness, both in doctrine and in worship; but the various doctrines and modes of worship among the various sects of professing christians, instead of uniting souls in the Spirit of Christ, produce a contrary effect. They tend much more to scatter and divide; and hence the increasing divisions and separations that are continually taking place, from time to time, among those who call themselves christians.

"In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrine the commandments of men." And so long as their systems of religious doctrine and worship are of human invention, so long will they worship in vain. The only worship which is, or ever can be acceptable to God, is that which is performed in obedience to his will. Therefore, the first object of every rational soul ought to be, to know the will of God, and to do it. "If any man will do his "will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God."||

In the early ages of mankind, after the fall, it does not appear that there was any established order of worship given; but, those whose hearts were turned to honor the living and true God, worshipped him by their obedience in those things which he commanded them. Thus Enoch, Noah, and the rest of the early patriarchs, served God; and thus Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and the prophets, in after ages, served God. And tho they frequently offered sacrifices and burnt-offerings; yet it was done in obedience to the will of God; otherwise their offerings could not have been accepted.

After the children of Israel were brought out of the land of Egypt, they, as a body of people, a chosen generation, served God by their obedience to those ordinances which God gave to Moses for their protection. This was the established worship of the children of Israel; and this continued with all who were obedient to the will of God, till the coming of Jesus Christ. A short time previous to the ministration of Jesus Christ, John the Baptist was sent to preach repentance and baptize with water; and all who

*John xiv 6

† John iv. 24.

+ Matt. xv. 9.

John vii. 17%

received his testimony, and were obedient to it, honored God by confessing their sins and receiving the baptism of water, which was a figure of the baptism of the Holy Ghost, which was to follow, as the true baptism of Christ.

But during the dispensation of Moses, through all the law and the prophets, it is worthy of particular remark, that God would not accept the offerings of those who were disobedient, but severely reproved them by the mouth of the prophets. "Ah, sinful na❝tion, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil doers, children "that are corruptors! Bring no more vain oblations; to what pur(6 pose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: "when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear."* These, and many other severe reproofs, clearly show that God would not acccept an offering from those who were disobedient and sinful, even tho the offering, in other respects, were conformable to his Divine Institution. And so it is in the present day; God never will accept any kind of offering, nor any manner of worship, from those who live in disobedience to his will, and knowingly commit sin.

When Jesus Christ came, he served God by doing his will in all things; he faithfully finished the work which the Father gave him to do. The apostles also, and the primitive christians, who were faithful to obey the law of Christ, worshipped God as they were moved and directed by his Spirit; and by their perfect obedience they found justification before God.

But as the Kingdom of Christ was not permanently established on earth, at that time, tho the work of his Kingdom was begun, and the foundation of his Church was laid, yet the time had not arrived, nor was the way prepared for a permanent establishment; therefore no particular order of religious worship could be fully established in that day; and indeed, if any such had been given, it would undoubtedly have shared the fate of those institutions which were given, that is, it would have been shamefully corrupted or utterly destroyed by the wicked works of Antichrist, which soon followed. But while the primitive christians stood faithful in their calling, they assembled themselves together, and worshipped God in prayer, vocal or silent; in praise and thanksgiving; in exhortations to faithfulness, and in feasts of charity, by which they expressed their love and union to each other; in prophesying and speaking with new tongues, and in such other acts of worship as they were led into by the operations of the Holy Spirit.

This various kind of worship, excepting perhaps some of the apostolic gifts, continued, mostly, with all the true witnesses, who followed the dictates of the Spirit of Truth, through all the long

Isa. i. 4, 11, 13, 15.

and gloomy reign of Antichristian darkness, until near the time of Christ's second appearing.

At this time, there were many who felt themselves involved in a night of spiritual darkness, in which they saw that the great body of christian professors, instead of being led by the influence of the Holy Spirit, had become the blind and bigoted dupes of human creeds and human ceremonies, and were led and governed by worldly wisdom and ecclesiastical policy, under the power of Antichrist. Under a sorrowful impression of this truth, they chose to distrust their own natural wisdom and judgment, in regard to spiritual things, as being liable to lead them into the same dead formalities, and to rely on the influence of the Holy Spirit to guide and direct them in the worship of God. Hence they performed no acts of worship, except such as they were involuntarily moved to perform by the influence of the Spirit of Life from God.

A number of these faithful souls, having united themselves together, and being thus separated from the lifeless formulas and fruitless ceremonies of human invention, and feeling wholly dependent on the gift of God, devoted themselves to his will, determined to follow no guide short of a clear manifestation of Divine light. Hence the light of Divine truth, and the operations of Divine power, increased among them, until they were involuntarily led, by the mighty power of God, to go forth and worship in the dance. The apostolic gifts were also renewed in their full power; so that "they spake with new tongues and prophesied." In these operations, they were filled with melodious and heavenly songs, especially while under the operation of dancing. These involuntary operations of singing and dancing were repeated, from time to time, in their assemblies, tho often intermixed with other spiritual gifts, till, by Divine Revelation, they became an established exercise in the worship of God.

Thus the exercise of dancing in the worship of God, was brought to light, not as an exercise of human invention, instituted by human authority; but as a manifestation of the will of God, through the special operations of his Divine Power.

This exercise was expressly pointed out by the law and the prophets, as the peculiar manner of worship to be established among God's people in the latter day. As the great and last display of God's grace to fallen man, and the peculiar mode of religious worship attending it, were to be introduced through the female; so it is worthy of remark, that under the law and the prophets, both the example and the promise were, in a peculiar manner, prefigured in the female.

When the children of Israel were delivered from their Egyptian bondage, (which was a striking figure of the redemption of God's people from the dominion of sin,) Moses and the children of Israel

sung unto the Lord a song of thanksgiving for their deliverance. "And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel "in her hand; and all the women went out after her, with timbrels "and with dances."* Also, when Jephthah returned from his victory over the children of Ammon, "his daughter came out to "meet him with timbrels and with dances." So also, after the victory of David and the Israelites over Goliah and the Philistine armies, "The women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing "and dancing." And again; at the yearly feast of the Lord in Shiloh, the daughters of Shiloh came out "to dance in dances." And when the ark of God was removed and established in the city of David, the occasion was celebrated by the same exercise; David and all Israel danced before the Lord.

It appears evident that dancing was practised among the children of Israel, on all joyful occasions, and especially on obtaining a victory over their enemies; which was a figurative manifestation of the manner in which the true followers of Christ were to be called to worship God, and manifest their joy in the latter day, for their victory over the powers of darkness. And as this kind of worship was acceptable to God in that day, and was the highest expression of joy and thankfulness that could be used on such extraordinary occasions; so it was not only a most striking figure of the joy and triumph of the saints in the latter day, but an evident example of the most expressive kind of worship in which they can unitedly exercise the faculties of soul and body, in the service of God.

In consequence of the captivity of the Israelites in Babylon, they were deprived of this sacred exercise, and, like the vessels of the sanctuary, it was profaned by the wicked, in the service of the Devil. Hence the lamentation of the prophet Jeremiah; "The "joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning."|| And tho this kind of worship was abused in the idolatrous revels of the wicked; yet a promise was given that it should be restored in the latter day. And it is worthy of remark, that this promise is particularly connected with the promises which allude to the restoration of the church, and the latter day of glory.

Thus saith the Lord, by the prophet Jeremiah; " Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the "coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the 66 woman with child and her that travaileth with child together: a "6 great company shall return thither." Here is a particular alļusion to the operations of the gospel of Christ, in his second appearing, which was to be made manifest in calling lost souls from the various quarters where they were scattered, and gathering them to

*Exod. xv. 20. † Judg.xi 34 See Jer. chap xxxi.

1 Sam. xviii. 6,

Lam. v. 15.

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