Page:Two Sermons on the Duty and Joy of Frequent Public Worship.djvu/10

vi the habit of giving way to Scripture, or yielding to the wisdom contained in it because it is Divine. But others, like the Bereans of old, are of "more noble," more generous and teachable disposition, and are ready, whenever they hear any duty urged upon them, which they have not yet practised, "to search the Scriptures whether these things are so," and act accordingly. And I earnestly hope and believe that there will be found to be many truehearted Christians, and many loyal members of our Church—such as feel a great deference for the singular wisdom of our Reformers in interpreting the Word of God—who, if they can once be led to consider the subject of Daily Service in the light of Holy Scripture, and in so doing, perceive the strength of the argument for this godly practice, would be willing to give up their prejudices against it, and learn the value of it, as, by God's mercy, I have, myself, long since done.

Most undoubtedly, much the larger number of lay members of the Church could not find time to attend every day, nor can I think that it was ever intended they should do so. But if they learn to feel the pleasure and the joy of frequent common worship, and even, as the early Christians seem to have done, the coldness of any day of their pilgrimage here on earth in which they do not come into the blessed presence of God with their brethren, they will attend when they can.

The object, however, of the Clergy in celebrating the "daily sacrifice of prayer and praise," should certainly,