Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-07-10
FORM IN THE CHURCH.
1t Is Necessary but Must Not De-
generate Into Journalism.
TIE USE OF A BOOK OF PRAYER
Sanctioned Not Only BY Antiquity but by
Intrinsic Excellence.
GETTING THE PEOPLE TO PRAY
WRITTEN FOR THE DISPATCH,


the prayers OF the saints. Rev. ", 8.
The prayers of the saints are part form
and part spirit There is utterance ant
there is aspiration. The golden bowls are
full of incense.
The difference between the prayers of thu
saints and the prayers of Indifferent and ir
religious people is not q difference in form
so much as in spirit. The utterance may be
alike in both cases. The sanity person and
the insanity person may kneel side by
side, and recite the same sentences of de-
votion. The difference is in the hidden as
piration of the heart. Every worshiper il
the congregation has golden bowl But
the golden bowls Of some of the worshipers
are empty; the golden bowls of other wor-
shiT ers are filed with foolish, unworthy
and unseemly things The golden bowls oi
the saints are full of incense.
Difference In Form and Journalism.
All public worship, even the plainest,
has in it the element of form. The moment
. word Is spoken there begins q form Of
prayer The only way to have a service
without use of forms would be to have ii
in unbroken silence. All Christian people,
even the Society of Friends, agree in the
use of some kind of form. What we are all
desirous to avoid is not form, but formal
ism. Journalism is the use of empty form.
It is the utterance of the words of prayer
without the aspiration Of prayer. 1t is tn e
hearing of petition with the ear while the
thoughts are away outside the church and
quite apart from devotion. 1t is the up
lifting Of bowls empty of incense.
Journalism does not depend upon the form
which is provided for the use of the wor-
shipper. There is no possible arrangement
of the service that can keep Journalism out.
1t depends upon the individual Christian.
1t is true that an elaborate service must al
ways and of necessity be entered into with
a certain amount of Journalism by stranger.
The stranger is obliged to occupy some of
the time Of service in finding the places land
in trying to understand what is being done,
and in wondering what is going to be done
next His thoughts are in. a measure di-
veFted from his prayers Whatever he says
or does while he is thus preoccupied is said
or done formally.
Fornalism to tho Stranger.
But the stranger would be very much
mistaken who. finding this element of
Journalism in his own unaccustomed use of
the service, should think that everybody
else in the congregation is equally formal
ist, and that the service itself is but an
empty form. This Journalism is all his
own. The service may be simple or 1t may
be elaborate, it may be e1temporaneous, or
it may be read out of book, the petition
may be q '1ong prayer" or it may be a
Ii any,-the journalism of it depends largely
upon the individual worshiper. Where
ever any single person is not intent with
his whole heart upon every single word,
there is Journalism.
1t is true that the greater the length and
the more complicated the conduct of the
service, the wider opportunity is there for
formal worship. And the more words that
are set for the worshiper to say the more
danger is there that he will say some of
them with his lips rather than with his.
heart. 1t is equally true, however, that
the man who had ten talents had more Of
bis masters money to squander, if he
,hose, than the man who had but one. But
he had also more to use, ifhe would, for his
masters service. Opportunity and respon-,
sibility always 60 together. Yet we do not
decline our opportunities. We know that
much will be required of those who have
much; nevertheless we desire to have all
that we can get
FormaIifies Arc Like Affections
How much pain might be avoided by
lying all alone in a cave and never entering
nto any Of the relationships or friendships
# lifel Every new affection is new
venue for grief to get into the soul But
We want our lives to be filled with affection.
No doubt, also, but . good deal of the
ianger of Journalism might be avoided by
1aving the simplest service possible. Ins
Iced, we might escape Journalism altogether
" never saying our prayers at all. But the
more there is in the service, so much the
more is it freighted with possible blessings,
70 much the more may we get out of it into
,ur life.
We have, no doubt, a great deal of
ormalism in all the churches. We are all
ormalists at times, to our great shame.
And some Of this Journalism is very likely
lue to the beauty and the richness of the
'ervice, and to the very high spiritual
standard that is set in it. But that is our
ault. The best thing to do is not to bring
he standard down to our own lower level
If living, but to try to live closer and to
hink and pray nearer to that high ideal.
Journalism grows out of lack of zeal and a
ack of love. And 1 am afraid that we must
ii of us plead guilty without much dis
inction of denomination. Where is the
christian whose golden bowl is always full
# incense?
Two Reasons for Going to Church.
The golden bowl is the symbol of wor-
hip. The church ought to emphasize the
act of worship. There are two reasons for
DING to church, which ought to have their
lana in thu Of Chri,
We ought to 60 partly for the praying,
'artly for the preaching. We ought to go
linking of God, and of our own souls It
hould be our purpose, on the one hand, to
make an offering to God, the Offering of our
of our praise and prayer, of our
enewed consecration of ourselves to him.
t should also be our purpose, on the other
and, to bring away a blessing from God,
lessing upon our souls We desire to
earn the will of God, to get the help of
rod.
Both of these reasons for church-going
ught to be fully recognized in the church.
he service is not q preaching service only,
or q PRAYING and praising service only; it
!, both together. The emphasis, indeed,
hould be rather upon the side of worship
han upon the side of. INSTRUCTION. Our
hought should be directed even more
,ward God than toward ourselves.
This element of worship in the service of
be church is best emphasized by the use of
ome form Of prayer. There are two grounds
pom which this method of conducting the
srvice may be commended: One is the ar
ument from antiquity, the other is the ar
ument from excellence.
Use Of q Book OF Prayer.
The use Of book of prayer is older than
he Christian era; it goes back into the
ays of the earlier dispensation. Our Lord
nd his apostles, who attended the services
the temple and the synagogue, used the
rayers which were there read out of the
ppointed books Jesus himself not only