The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1885-03-25

but He connects His honor In special way
with the gates Of Zion.
Worship, in this sense, 10 TO be regular,
and 1t Is to be reverent, because God is to
be revered, to whom 1t is paid. When
we begin the services usually we
invoke the presence of God Almighty, and
II we do f6 In faith we believe that He Is
with us. Then from the beginning Of the
service to the close of 1t everything ought
to be reverent; and that applies to me as
a preacher as well as to you in the pews.
1t is not very difficult thing for the aver
age man to repeat or to invent something
humorous, ludicrous, laughable, and so to
give q certain meretricious interest TO the
things that he says to the people. But
then, is it revorent9 And upon the people
obligations rest in the same way. Every
thing, from beginning to end, is to be rev.
erent. That is not the only thing. We
are precluded in the pulpit, from what Is
unjust, uncharitable, unkind, untrue, as
well as from what is irreverent. The same
Is true of all the people; the spirit is hon
esty, uprightness, Of stfaightforwardnes
Of being true to the faith Of things, that
spirit is to be in all the services, from the
beginning to the end, IL there would be
real worship to God Almighty.
There are other characteristics upon
which it would be proper to dwell IL there
were time, but pass these by, that may
call your attention, in conclusion, to the
point that the text especially emphasizes:
"The Father seeketh such to worship him."
Are there any Of you who, though now and
then attending Gods services, are con-
scious to yourselves that you do not wor-
ship the Father as He desires that you
shouldS He seeks spiritual, true worship
that which He seeks9 You may tell US
that to you 1t may not seem interesting; it
appears dull and monotonous and dresome
aud tedious. Perhaps that may be because
you do not seek to put yourself, your heart,
in it, for il the service is to be what God
would have it to be, then that part of 1t
which is ours must be with oil our strength
and with all our life. We must put our
selves intoi it, or it must needs be dull and
monotonous. take an illustration that l
have seen in another connection. Suppose
some one, not acquainted with the object,
has a cocoanut put in his hand and is as
sured that it is nutritious and good for
food, and accordingly ho sets himself to
gnaw at tho shell Of 1t until he is tired and
disguised, and then Hings 1t away in in
dignation. There is nothing there that is
nutritious and fit for food. What is the
thing he needsy He needs TO be told that
the shell is only for the protection Of the
nutritious part; that 1t is the kernel that is
to be eaten, and that he has not taken the
proper way to get at the kernel. Perhaps
something Of this is true in your case. You
have been knawing at the shell. II you
had with your whole heart gone into the
kernel-these graces, for example, Of
which we were speaking, that make up the
worship-that would be very different
matter to you.
Is 1t not the best thing to teach men tc
discriminate between the shell and the
kernel, to bring them to appreciate the es-
sence of worship - fellowship with the
Father and with the Son; and when they
have come to do SO there will be nothing
tedious, nothing tiresome In the loving,
helpful intercourse Of the poor, weak, but
hopeful human spirit with the Father oi
Lights, upon whose strength itleans and IN
whose endless love it has learned TO re-
joice. "The Father seeketh such to wor.
ship him." win you not meet Him in
His service and learn to worship Him in
this wayi All Of us are intent upon train
ing and education, and you send your soni
to distant and expensive Institutions, that
they may DO educated and their characters
developed; your daughters to costly places
that they may have education and refine
ment ard polish. You want them TO be in
the best kind Of associations, that they
may be lifted up. My brethren, where is
there association that can purify, and dig
nifty, and elevate and refine like the asso-
citation that is here, where on one whole
day In seven-not to speak Of tho closet
and the family-wc can be In the closest
fellowship with the Father Of our spirits,
the holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty,
raised up together and made TO sit togeth-
er in Heavenly places in Christ Jesusi
This Is the way to advancement, TO real
progress, to piety, to dignity. This is the
way TO be made meet for the inheritance
of the saints in light. May God bless
His truth to US and give us the true spirit
OF worship, for His names sake, Amen.
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