1 Corinthians 14:40 Let all things be done decently and in order. These terms may seem to be of no very great importance; but little words may be of great account when they are applied to the highest things; and if the want of order and decency is capable of defiling our whole religion, it behoves us carefully to avoid it. Remember that — I. GOD IS THE OBJECT OF WORSHIP. 1. That we may think reverently of the worship of God, let us first think of God Himself, who and what He is. If we look beyond the heaven the eye of faith beholds Him seated in light inaccessible, and surrounded with myriads of angels excelling in strength and wisdom. If we attend to the effects of His power here below, we must acknowledge Him the contriver and artificer of all those wonderful works which delight the eye and minister to the life and comfort of His creatures. 2. This great Being is surely worthy of our attention. It is an honour to us that we are invited to lift up our eyes toward the place of His dwelling, and permitted to speak to Him in prayer. II. WE HAVE NO OTHER WAY OF AFFRONTING GOD THAN BY NEGLECTING HIS SERVICE AND MAKING LIGHT OF HIS INSTITUTIONS. God Himself is not an object of our bodily senses; but His religion, His Churches, and His altars are present to us; and if we despise them, we do all that is in our power to show that God Himself is despised by us. The Bible teaches us, and reason must needs assent to it, that God will take to Himself every act of contempt against the Church and its administration. Tribute is due from subjects to their prince: if it is paid in base metal, the act is not only deficient, but treasonable, and would be punished accordingly. Worship is the tribute due from man to God; it is the honour due to His name: but if it is an unholy worship, it is worse than the silence and ignorance of a savage, and will be required of us as an act of treason and impiety, III. NO BLESSING CAN BE EXPECTED UPON OURSELVES, BUT ONLY SO FAR AS OUR SERVICE IS ACCEPTABLE. The subject who pays the tribute that is required of him is rewarded with protection under an execution of the laws: and certainly God is not so unmindful of His subjects as to leave them without the protection of His providence. In what respects are order and decency required in a congregation of Christians? 1. A composed and serious mind. The want of gravity is a sign of great ignorance and ill-breeding in the company of men our superiors: how much more, then, is gravity required in the presence of our Maker! 2. Punctuality. They who come in at an unseasonable time do more harm to others than their presence is like to do good to themselves: they either drown the voice of the minister with their noise, or take off the attention of the people from their prayers. 3. Reverence and attention. We despise the Turks, yet in this they far exceed the Christians. They are called to prayers by the voice of a man crying from the tops of their steeples, at whoso voice they wash themselves, and having put off their shoes at the door of their mosque, are ready to enter with silence and gravity before their minister begins his prayer. You will never find one of them coughing, or yawning, or shifting his place, or speaking a word to his neighbour. They attend to nothing but the service, and when the service is over, they put on their shoes again in silence, and depart without entering into any impertinent conversation. 4. Union and earnestness. In the course of our liturgy the offices are divided between the minister and the people. If the minister were to fail in his part, it would be so remarkable that every person would observe it, and the service would be at a stand; but the people, being many, the inattention of particulars is not so easily perceived, and therefore it is too common for many to fail in making their proper responses. This is a bad custom, and should by all means be corrected. Conclusion: What I have said ought to dispose those who have heard me to join in those words of Jacob: "How dreadful is this place!" etc. He who blessed the piety of Jacob, will bless us also if we are the heirs of it. But if we treat the house of God, like the profane Jews, who had turned it into a house of merchandise and a den of thieves, a far worse visitation will befall us. (W. Jones, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: Let all things be done decently and in order. |
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