That the Christian Church accepted at once this rule of worship is evident from the fact, that the apostles and first disciples continued to take part in the temple and synagogue services as long as the Jews would let them; yea, and that they even still observed those ordinances which, in their necessary observance, God had abrogated; instead of which He had appointed other things. This, my brethren, is most worthy of note, because it shows that these men, full of the Spirit, discerned that they had still the same God to worship, and that, as far as circumstances would let them, the natural way—the right way—of worshipping was that which their fathers had followed; so much so that they might even still retain—as long as it could be done without injury, with edification—those very ordinances which, in their binding, their sacramental character, by God’s declaration, belonged not to Christianity!
But God left it not to this pious, conservative feeling to maintain the dignity and splendour of His worship. As in the Mount He had given Moses a pattern and a law of all things that men should make and do for His worship in the Church on earth; so in Patmos to the beloved disciple, to him who had drunk in most deeply the spirit of Christ, to him who was to teach men more than any other prophet of the real, the abiding, the spiritual, the heavenly—to him, I say, God opened a door in heaven, and showed the things that must be hereafter, the worship that is to be celebrated and perpetuated in His fullest Presence; and lo! it was full of visible glories and ceremonial observances.
“Yes,” men say: “but surely that must be allowed to be figurative—to be a mere pictorial way of describing inward and invisible truths and feelings.” We are not so sure of that, brethren. Heaven must be a substantial and tangible place; because those who are to inhabit it will have bodies to rest in it, and eyes, and ears and other senses to find gratification in it. And if it is such a place, and is full of objects which affect the body, and which the body may employ, then I see not why much of what the Apostle saw in vision may not be a literal representation of what shall actually be. But concede that it is only an image, a pictorial representation, nevertheless it is God who has chosen these things to symbolize His perpetual worship; and are we best preparing ourselves for that worship—best rehearsing it, best professing it, best honouring Him, doing all things decently and in order, if we set aside in His worship all that He once enjoined in letter upon His early Church, all that He has used—figuratively, if you will—as fittest to represent to us His perfect worship in the Church triumphant, and, I suppose, to enlist our present interest, and to kindle a hearty intelligent desire for a full share in it hereafter?
But here, again, men object. They will concede that, perhaps, there may be something literal in this prophetical description; at any rate that it symbolizes faithfully and precisely the spiritual homage, the joy and adoration of souls which shall be in heaven. But they assert that it does not symbolize—that, in fact, it is in very contrast with all the state and feeling which belong to us poor wandering and afflicted pilgrims and prodigals on earth.
My brethren, if there were no other argument in favour of maintaining or of restoring where it has fallen into decay such a ritual as I am advocating, this one objection would furnish a most cogent reason for it,—a very necessity; for what does it show but that men have lost the truth which this ritual embodies and expresses—namely, that while indeed in the world they are still pilgrims, still prodigals distant from home, though sighing for and seeking that home, beholders of promises afar off, yet in the Church they are at home, having obtained the promises. The Church is the ark of salvation, which God has provided to keep us safe in the drowning of the world. It is the kingdom of heaven, whose King is now in the midst of it. It is the bosom of the Father whereon each penitent prodigal now rests accepted, the Everlasting arms whose felt embrace assures of present peace and joy. It is the wedding feast whereat all the friends of the King’s son are decked with glories and feasted with good things; nay, it is the Bride herself, adorned for the Bridegroom, the King’s daughter, all glorious and full of joy!
What present comfort in the troubles of this lower life, what cheering in despondency, what stimulus in toilsome effort do we not miss, my brethren, by not realizing that in the Church we are come unto Mount Zion, unto the heavenly Jerusalem—unto the very throne, into the very presence, within the enfolding arms of the God who has saved us, Who loves to fill us full of peace, and joy, and benediction now.
And, alas! what do we not in our blindness or misconception withhold from God—of that most reasonable, that greatly due, that loudly-demanded service—the perpetual sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving for the past mercies of our redemption, for our continual sustentation through the intercession of our Great High Priest, by the grace which He continually gives us; for the coming glory which, being promised, is sure on His part, and most certainly needs to be acknowledged with grateful, hearty, and adoring lives!
If, my brethren, it is the aim of “the ritual movement” to express all this grand truth, and to help men to live by it, then surely they are doing a great work who have originated and are carrying on the movement; and we are inconsiderately depriving ourselves of much that is helpful and edifying—that, I say, not withholding from God due and most acceptable worship—if we allow our prejudices to oppose the movement, so far as it is lawful, and either insist upon prescribing for ourselves a ritual, or labour to uphold and stereotype one that has no likeness in the Old and New Testament, in the Church of any age, in our own Book of Common Prayer.
Some of you may think, my brethren, that I have not chosen the fittest theme for Lent sermons. But recollect that this season is specially appointed for the self-discipline and growth in grace and in all godliness of those who are already in some sense religious; and then put it to yourselves whether the rooting out of you of stubborn prejudices, uncharitable and unworthy suspicions (with the many bitter, unchristian fruits that follow them), and that miserable spirit of formalism which delights in finding objections to a form and in refusing conformity, would not greatly help you to worship God in spirit and in truth.
There are dangers inherent in high ritual, it is being greatly abused, and of those who desire it many are wholly misconceiving its spirit and its use. To these I shall speak in turn, if God will, with the same affectionate boldness and desire to be faithful, which have influenced me in all that I have now said.