Homilist Exodus 20:25 And if you will make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stone: for if you lift up your tool on it… I. RITUALISM IS NOT A NECESSITY OF WORSHIP. There can be worship at the rough "altar of unhewn stones," as well as in the temple where wealth has lavished its contributions and art exhausted its genius. Worship is not a form, but a spirit; not a service, but a life. And a life has many functions. II. MERITORIOUSNESS MUST BE EXCLUDED FROM WORSHIP. No "too1" to be used in constructing this altar. To culture the soul in true devotion, as God requires, is a harder task than to give money, etc. III. UNIVERSALITY IS A CHARACTERISTIC OF WORSHIP. 1. Not confined to places. 2. Not confined to persons. As mere earthen altars will do, where is the man who cannot build them? (Homilist.) Parallel Verses KJV: And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. |
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