together. Take worship away, and a church would become a synagogue of Satan. The unity of the church-kingdom appears in this necessity for social worship; and as this worship is a matter of ecclesiastical regulation, its discussion belongs to church polity.

§ 143. As all regulations respecting worship in churches should conserve the nature and end of true worship, we must, at the outset, determine what its nature and end are.

(1) Christian worship must be in spirit and truth, for God is a Spirit, and "such doth the Father seek to be his worshippers" (John 4: 23, 24). It need be no longer at Jerusalem, but it may be offered every-where. If only two or three agree together for worship in spirit and truth, Christ promises to be in the midst of them (Matt. 18: 20). There must be the genuine worship of the soul, not the formal offering of accustomed service.

(2) This worship must be offered in the name of Christ, or it is not Christian worship. Christ said: "Hitherto ye have asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be fulfilled." "If ye shall ask anything of the Father, he will give it you in my name." "In that day ye shall ask in my name" (John 16: 23, 24, 26). This marks a radical change in the prayers of Christ's disciples: before, they had not used the name of the Son of God; thereafter, they were to use it. Their worship was to cease being Jewish and become, for the first time, Christian. Monotheistic worship should give place to Trinitarian, "that all may honour the Son, even as they honour the Father" (John 5: 23). This puts a limit to Christian fellowship (§ 232: 4).

(3) Christian worship must be in faith and penitence. Without faith, it is impossible to please God (Heb. 11: 6). "Now he commandeth men that they should all everywhere repent" (Acts 17: 30). The preparation needed for true worship is, to testify, "both to Jews and to Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 20: 21).

The nature of Christian worship requires the offering of praise and prayer, in faith and repentance, in the genuine adoration of our spiritual natures, unto God the Father, in the name of Jesus Christ the Son of God. Neither the simple household form, nor the gorgeous ritualistic form of the preceding dispensations, strongly fostered true worship. Christian form needs to foster it, or it misses its end.

§ 144. The end of church worship is threefold.

The

(1) First of all, the end of worship is the glory of God. We are to do all things for his glory (1 Cor. 10: 31); and if in the necessary acts of life, how much more in the very highest act of which the soul is capable, the worship of Almighty God! The whole plan of redemption has God's glory as its chief and final consummation. In it he has made known the riches of his glory (Rom. 9: 23), that he may cause the thanksgiving to abound unto the glory of God (2 Cor. 4: 15). But this is not all.

(2) Church worship is for Christian edification. All the spiritual gifts bestowed upon the primitive churches were given, says Paul, "that the church may receive edifying (1 Cor. 14: 5). Hence he wrote: "Seek, that ye may abound unto the edifying of the church" (1 Cor. 14: 12, 18, 19). If edification was the end of supernatural gifts, it is also of natural gifts. Every thing in the worship must promote spiritual building up. This excludes from church services spectacular exhibitions, dead languages, vain rantings, whatever fails to edify the saints.

(3) Church services are for the conversion of unbelievers. The gift of tongues was a sign for this purpose (1 Cor. 14: 22)—a sign, a monitor, but nothing more. "But if all prophesy, and there come in one unbelieving or unlearned, he is reproved by all, he is judged by all; the secrets of his heart are made manifest; and so he will fall down on his face and worship God, declaring that God is among you indeed" (1 Cor. 14: 24, 25). If that was true of inspired teaching in language that all could understand, it will be

true, in its degree, of uninspired teaching, the Spirit applying the Word for the conviction and conversion of sinners. Hence it is the law of all church worship: "Let all things be done unto edifying."

§ 145. The form of church worship should be that which best satisfies the nature and end of worship. That form may change in details to suit the environment, but must be essentially the same to meet the wants of saints and the conversion of sinners. Hence:

(1) No fixed form of Christian worship has been revealed. There was large liberty under the patriarchs, though there bloody sacrifices and a right spirit were essential (Gen. 4: 4,5). But under Moses liberty was excluded in a fixed and minute ritual (§ 20). Under Christ again there is liberty, with no ritual, no imposed and fixed form of worship, as becomes an ecumenical religion. A few things are enjoined in the New Testament, but the order and details are not given. Even the Lord's Prayer is not given twice alike (Matt. 6: 9-13; Luke 11: 2-4), and to reduce it to a liturgical form, a doxology had to be added. No one can find a ritual or liturgy, or even a full order of services in the New Testament. "The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles" gives three short eucharistic prayers, but adds: "But permit the prophets to give thanks in such terms as they please."1 Nor is there any claim that the prayers given must be used, though the implication is that they are to be used Yet we learn from Justin Martyr that prayer was offered by the leader "according to his ability; "2 that is, extemporaneously. "There is no trace of a uniform and exclusive liturgy; it would be inconsistent with the liberty and vitality of the apostolic churches." 3

(2) The best form of Christian worship is that which best meets the nature and end of worship, which have been given. But the conditions are not the same in all ages, communities, and peoples; and, indeed, these conditions

1 Chap. x.

2 First Apol. chap. lxvii.

3 Schaff's Hist. Christ. Ch. 1, 463.

change in the same communities. The same essential wants vary in their demands among different classes of men; and a variety of forms would seem best adapted to satisfy these wants. The Sunday and the week-day services are quite diverse; and a wise discretion will vary the services to meet the demands of the occasion. An ecumenical religion should be flexible in its form of worship, so as to comprehend all races, nations, tribes, tastes, conditions, wants, classes, and give to each church the worship which shall best suit its needs.

(3) To secure this flexibility Christ gave complete liberty to his churches in matters of worship. This liberty is one of the inherent rights of independent churches, which no one can take from them. This freedom in worship was one of the things "ordained in all the churches" by the apostles. Each church, whether chiefly coming from Jews or Gentiles, could regulate its own worship, changing it to suit its own needs. Many churches might have many forms, substantially alike, but varying somewhat. And so now, were all churches. of one faith and order, there might be found in any city all the varieties of worship which we now see, save the mass. One might use the Prayer-Book, another the Lutheran ritual, another the baldest services, each meeting the wants of its worshipers, but each and all in the sweetest fellowship and most cordial coöperation. Congregationalism not only allows, but also encourages, this broad and catholic liberty.

§ 146. This liberty gave variety to the forms of worship among the primitive churches. Rituals were not unknown, as we shall show, but they were not one and the same for all.

(1) Their model was no doubt that of the Jewish synagogue, which has been thus described: "The people being seated, the minister, or angel of the synagogue, ascended the pulpit and offered up the public prayers, the people rising from their seats and standing in a posture of deep devotion. The prayers were nineteen in number, and were closed by

reading Deut. 6: 4-9; 11: 13-21; Num. 15: 37-41. The next thing was the repetition of their phylacteries, after which came the reading of the law and the prophets. The last part of the service was the expounding of the Scriptures and preaching from them to the people. This was done either by one of the officers or by some distinguished person who happened to be present. . . . The whole service concluded with a short prayer or benediction." There was singing or chanting in the synagogue services. As the synagogue was not itself expressly authorized under the law, and as each one was independent of the rest, the ritual of the synagogue can not be regarded as divinely authorized.

(2) We catch a glimpse of the primitive church worship through the door of disorders, and find that they had in the services inspired prophesying, speaking with tongues, interpretation of tongues, revelations, all which were supernatural gifts; then, reading the Scriptures, prayers, singing or chanting, and preaching. But the order in which these occurred is not given. Any adult male could participate.

The synagogue prayers may have been used at first, called perhaps "the prayers" (Acts 2: 42); but they would not long suffice, since prayer was to be offered in the name of Christ. The Psalms too would no longer meet their wants, since the coming Christ of the Old Testament had become the crucified and ascended Redeemer of the New Dispensation. Hence new prayers, "hymns and spiritual songs," arose and were used (Eph. 5: 19; Col. 3: 16). "Psalms, hymns, and unpremeditated bursts of praise, chanted in the power of the Spirit, such as those of the gift of tongues, were the chief elements of the service. The right of utterance was not denied to any man (women even seem at first to have been admitted to the same right) (Acts 21: 9; 1 Cor. 11: 5) who possessed the necessary gifts (1 Cor. 14: 26-33) and was ready to submit to the control of the presiding elder or apostle. There were in the unwritten traditions of the

4 Schaff's Bible Dict. Synagogue.