Page:Tracts for the Times Vol 1.djvu/430

14 our weakness is great: 'the corruptible body,' as the wise man says, 'presses down the soul;' and I suppose it is the case with all of us occasionally, and even when we would most earnestly deplore and strive against it, that our thoughts are apt to wander and our devotions to be cold. Whenever, therefore, I have found myself disposed to be weary of God's house and service, or have heard others complaining of the tediousness of the Prayers and Lessons, I have said to myself,—if David, the Prince of Penitents, were here now, would he speak or think thus, he who desired to abide in tabernacle for ever—who envied (as it were) the sparrows and the swallows their continual abode under the sacred roof—who, when shut out, or far away, longed, yea, even fainted for the courts of the, as a hart thirsting for the water brooks! If holy Daniel, that greatest of statesmen, that real "man of business;" if he were among us now—he, who in a far distant land, and prime minister to the greatest of earthly kings, would yet let no day pass in which he would not thrice find or make leisure to offer solemn prayers to the of his fathers, his windows being open in his chamber towards Jerusalem, where lay the temple of his  in ruins; that as he could not be there in person, he would be so in heart and mind, would he say that our Church Service is too long? If St. Paul, that most heroic, and (if there were such a word,) that most unselfish of men,—if he were now among us, would he be weary of our Lessons, Prayers, and Creeds,—he, whose conversation and home was in heaven—who desired to depart and to be with, and who calls on all true Christians to "hold fast the form of sound words," in Christian faith and love! Or the beloved John, the last and greatest of prophets,—weary, not of his service, but of being kept so long from His presence—would he, and all the other holy men of every age, prophets, apostles, martyrs, confessors, and saints, whether of the Patriarchal, Jewish, or Christian Churches, would they complain of our Services being ?

"O no, Sir, that is not to be imagined. So neither ought we to complain, heirs with them of the same promises, and looking to meet them hereafter in our one great eternal Home."