Some time ago I heard of an old woman who regularly went to a place of amusement, where she had been accustomed to go as a child. And though she became at last quite deaf, and nearly blind, she still persisted in going. And, reader, there is such a thing as deafness of the soul. The beautiful words of Scripture, the grand soul-stirring music, the touching words of our Church's prayers, may all pass by unheeded, unless the soul is waiting upon that God Who is her helper and deliverer. But there is quite another class of persons, who receive no benefit from our Church's services. I mean those who never go to church at all. Sometimes when the clergyman goes to see them they find it convenient to tell a lie, and say they are chapel people; but they never go to chapel. They live from day to day, and from year to year, as if there was no God, no church, no minister, no Bible. And when they come to die, what then? They go down into that dark hereafter of uncertainty; uncertain indeed to them, for they have neglected during their life everything that kindles and keeps alive the hope of a better world.
Reader, if this is your case, if you have neglected church-going, let me implore you to do so no longer. The day will come when you will have to confess your sins, not to man but to God. There will be no concealment then; no shirking, or hiding your real motives under cover of a lie. The eyes of Almighty God will look you through and through; and if you take any excuses to Him, be sure they will not avail you.
Some people, again, there are who stay away from church for the following reason. They feel that they believe the Word of God, and all the great truths written in the Bible; but they also feel that they love the world very much, more indeed than they love Christ, and if they become Christians they think they will have to give up all pleasure and go through the world with a long face, and never smile or laugh again. But, believe me, no greater lie was ever forged than that. The devil started it thousands of years ago in sunny Eden; but there is not one word of truth in it; it has been well called "a libel on Christianity." It does not make a man gloomy to become a child of God. Do you think that if a man is dying of thirst and you give him a drink of water, that the drink makes him gloomy? Do you think that when the Queen's gracious message of pardon comes to a condemned murderer, that the pardon makes him a gloomy man for the rest of his days? Oh, no. And that is what Christ and Christianity are to the soul of man. What the water is in the one case, what the Queen's free pardon is in the other, so is religion, so is church-going, so is Bible-reading, so is Christ to the soul. Oh, then, come to church, the church of your baptism, the church of your fathers. Come to it as God's own blessed appointed means of salvation. Join in the prayers and praises. Listen to the lessons and the sermon, and ask that your heavenly Father may send His blessing upon your hard and stony heart. And don't forget this most important duty, without which all church-going, all prayer, and all sacraments will be worse than useless,--don't forget to practise in the week the lessons you have learnt in church on Sunday. You will learn there the lessons of life, the lessons of holiness, therefore act up to what you hear, and "let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify"--not you, but--"your Father which is in heaven[#]."
[#] S. Matt. v. 16.
HOLY COMMUNION. PART I.
"Once, only once, and once for all,
His precious life He gave;
Before the Cross our spirits fall,
And own it strong to save."
Canon Bright.
It is such a very sad sight Sunday after Sunday to see so many people, and especially young men, go out of church when the Holy Communion is going to be administered. In so many churches, even in those where the congregations are large, we see the great bulk of the congregation getting up, as soon as the sermon is over, and leaving church. You may perhaps often have been among the departing guests, you may have sung the words,--
"My God, and is Thy Table spread?
And doth Thy Cup with Love o'erflow?
Thither be all Thy children led,
And let them all Thy sweetness know."
Yes, you may often have sung those words, and yet left the church with the rest, directly after singing them. You had been asking Him that all His children might be led to His Table, and yet you yourself walked out of church among the first. And yet you say, perhaps, many people do it. My friend, is that any reason why you should do it? When God comes to judge you, He will not ask you what many people did, neither will He ask you what your friends and neighbours did, but He will ask you what you did.
Our Saviour told His disciples of a certain broad way, and of a great company who were walking along it. He told them moreover of a wide gate by which the multitude entered, but which opened on destruction. And again He told them of a certain narrow way, and of a straight gate, leading unto life, and of this gate He added, "few there be that find it[#]."