41111111 190 APPEARANCE BEPORE GOD. living God, in whose sight, ornaments of the body are of no account, and, O, what pains ought we to take, to put on our best ornaments of the mind ! To see that our graces all shine, when we are to stand beforeGod ! And not to suffer onevain thought, one corrupt affection to work in us ; nor aspot or blemish, if pos- sible, to be found upon us ! Alas ! what millions of hypocrites have we in the world ? How many may we fear in every congregation ? How many come to attend at prayers, but never seek to join in their own wishes and desires with the words of him who speaks ? How many voices follow the tune in a psalm, buttheir souls feel no joy, no inward elevation of praise ? How many hear the word as the word of man, and their hearts have no sense of God speaking to them ? Theysit before God as hispeople, but their heart goesafter their covetousness; Ezek. xxxiii. 31. after their idols of business, or carnal pleasure, after everyvainobject of their eyes, or vainer images of the fancy. Let us take heed therefore, how we shut our eyes, or harden our hearts against a present and a speaking God ;for thewordof the Lord is quick andpowerful; God speak- ing by his eternal word, or by his ministers in the sanctuary, pierces the secret recessesof the soul and spirit : God sits there : discerning the intents and thoughtsof the heart ; all things are na- ked ancropen before his eyes with whom we have to do; Heb. iv. 13. IL Remark. In attendance on public worship, we should fix all our hope and expectation of profitupon the presenceof God in it; for the design of ordinances is to bring us to appear before God. Now, if in things of this life, God should be our chief hope, much more in things of another ; Ps. lii. 5. My soul, wait thou only upon God, my expectation is from him. Howready are we, even in spiritual concernments, to depend on outward forms and ceremonials ! and to hope, or despair of success, according to somecircumstantial attendants on worship ? One is ready to say, " If it were a nice enquiry into somedeep doctrine, I should get something by hearing theword." Another complains, " Alas ! If it hall been a sermon of grace and privi- leges, I had not been so careless in my attention, nor wasted my time." And a third satisfies his consciencewith this, " If I had heard moral duties enforced powerfully on our practice, then I could profit by the preaching ; or if he who ministers had but more skill in composing,more fervency of speech, more warmth in delivery, more graceful pronunciations, more strengthof argu- ment; surely I should feel more lasting impressions of religion under every sermon." And thus we go on from week to week, andworship without any sensible benefit, because we seek all from men.
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