Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1850-1859, 1856-04-04
A Refuge for Pure Worship.

president WAYLAxD, in series Of article.
in the New York Examiner on the Principles
and Practices of certain Churches, gives the
following discriminating facts, which adm
of very wide application j
Il have stated briefly some of the
temptations which beset the path of the
minister of q fashionable congregation
What human virtue can be expected to
resist such insidious and continued pres
sure? We complain that ministers are
not faithful, and yet We surround them
with conditions that would render faith
fulness almost o miracle. / hesitate not
to say, that . man who would welcome
the fagot or scaffold, rather than deny his
Lord, might succumb under the moral
trials Of many city pas'orate.
When I say succumb, l beg to be un-
derstood. 1 do not mean that a good
man, under such circumstances, would
deny the faith, or become vicious in char
acter, or preach anything which he did
not believe to be true. 1t would, however,
be strange if his life did not witness q
ceascless struggle between his conscience
and his practice. He knows that if be
should preach the gospel in its simplicity,
and tell men their duty and their danger
with all plainness, the congregation would
be amazed, and either be would, by the
grace of God, change them, or they would
very soon change their minister. He
would generally resort to middle course,
and preach, not to conuert souls, but to
build up his "society." He would preach
religious truth, but preach it in SO general
a manner, unfolding the doctrine, but ap-
plying it to no one, that the whole coDgre-
cation would believe it, but not an indi.
vidual would ever turn it to any practical
moral purpose. His sermons would be
addressed in reality to neither saints nor
sinners, but to some imaginary class Of
moral agents, belonging neither to the one
class nor the other. No one is converted
by his preaching; in fact,it is not expected
that any one will be. The additions to
the church are made from the Sabbath
school and the Bible class, where few
men and women, unknown to the world,
and it may be, unknown to the leading
members Of the church and society, in sim.
plicity and godly sincerity, prayerfully
press home the claims Of the gospel upon
the minds of the young. So far as his
Sabbath services are concerned, the minis
ter sinks down into settled hopelessness,
and consoles himself with reflections upon
the importance Of the pulpit to the gener.
al condition Of the community, its conser-
vative influence in politics, its value in
the support of our liberties, and in the
preservation Of our republican institutions.
He believes that be is doing good in this
way, and this seems all that be can expect
to accomplish.
But beset as is the pastor by these dis.
couragements, there is yet one place to-
wards which he looks with hope. 1t is
the plain, humble vestry, where: on the
evening of some week day, he meets his
brethren and sisters, who are praying and
waiting for the salvation of Israel Here
no organ distracts the attention, nor per-
forms for the congregation the worship of
God. Here no architectural magni6cence
frowns down upon the humble and poor
disciple Of Jesus of Nazareth. Hither,
while their fellow Sabbath worshipers are
preparing for the concert, the assembly the
opera, or the theatre, the saints resort to
hold communion with their Saviour. Here
the minister of Christ can breathe freely.
Here he can pour out his heart in suppli-
cations, with which be knows that every
hearer sympathizes. Here he can speak
the language Of Canaan, and he feels that
every hearer understands it. Here, with
his whole soul, in the exercise of lively
faith, he can urge men to repent and be-
lieve, for he knows that those still unre-
generate, who come within this circle, are
what they must do to be saved.
Here, then, is real worship. This is the
real Sabbath of the soul. Here the piety
of saints is fed with mama from above. !
Here the lamp of Christian piety is fed
with the oil from the sanctuary. 1t is
thus that religion is kept alive in our
churches. Were it not for
this, they would all sink, and be engulfed
in Journalism and wordiiness o why
could not the vestry be removed to the
audience.room above
Selected for the Lewisburs Chronicle.