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DIVINE SERVICE, I mean nothing whatever belonging to the church,
or its observances. I mean by it what it ought to mean--the serving
of God--the doing of something for God. Shall I make of the church
in my foolish imaginations a temple of idolatrous worship by
supposing that it is for the sake of supplying some need that God
has, or of gratifying some taste in him, that I there listen to his
word, say prayers to him, and sing his praises? Shall I be such a
dull mule in the presence of the living Truth? Or, to use a homely
simile, shall I be as the good boy of the nursery rhyme, who, seated
in his corner of selfish complacency, regards the eating of his pie
as a virtuous action, enjoys the contemplation of it, and thinks
what a pleasant object he thus makes of himself to his parents?
Shall I, to take a step farther, degrade the sanctity of the closet,
hallowed in the words of Jesus, by shutting its door in the vain
fancy of there doing something that God requires of me as a sacred
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