The worship of the Church, and the beauty of holiness

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Oh, may I dwell in His Temple blest, As long as my life may be, And the beauty fair of the Lord of Hosts, In the home of His glory see! BISHOP COXE, _Christian Ballads_
The material in this manual is, so far as known, accessible only in a number of books. Obligation to those from which it has been gathered has not been expressed by references, which must have marked nearly every page, but, instead, a list has been appended which may be consulted if it is desired to verify statements or to study more fully any subject presented.
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The worship of Almighty God is one of the characteristic acts of humanity. The brute looks up to heaven, but man alone looks up with thought of God and to adore. The entire creation grew together to reflect and repeat the glory of God, and yet the echo of God slumbered in the hollow bowels of the dumb earth until there was one who could wake up the shout by a living voice. Man is the first among the creatures to deliver back from the rolling world this conscious and delicious response, the recognition of the Father who begat him. He, and he alone, is nature's priest, her spokesman, her mediator.

The idea of worship, in which the crown and glory of manhood thus has expression, includes all those acts which make up the devotional duty of the soul to Almighty God. Our private and family devotions are acts of worship. They enter into its obligation, are comprehended by it, but do not fill it out. They are not sufficient alone. The due acknowledgment before others of our belief in and reverence for God, the blessings which attend only upon the use of united praise and prayer and of Sacraments, the honor of God, the rendering of thanks for the great benefits that we have received at His hands, the setting forth of His most worthy praise, —all demand the public act of worship.