DO YOU ATTEND THE MORNING SERVICE? OR, RECOLLECTIONS OF THE OLD MAN'S CHURCH. BY THE REV. G. W. BENCE, B. A., CURATE OF LYDDINGTON, WILTS WITH SELECTIONS FROM BISHOP KEN. Mount up, for Heaven is won by Prayer; Be sober for thou art not there. Till death the weary spirit free, Thy God hath said, Tis good for thee To walk by faith and not by sight. CHRISTIAN YEAR. LONDON: J. H. & JAS. PARKER, 337, STRAND; J. MASTERS, BRISTOL: J. RIDLER, HIGH STREET. 1855. Twopence each, or Eight for a Shilling. "Hark! I hear the village bells Swelling o'er the MORNING air; 'Tis the Christian's call to Prayer." How often have those bells sounded forth their Morning invitation to the House of Prayer! How many generations of men and women and children have come and returned! How many yet unborn will arise, it may be, to hear the same appeal! They will have the same opportunities of worshipping God, the same hallowed Prayers and Sacraments, the same motives for devotion and thankfulness-but will they attend to them? The Sun, each morning, will shine down and give light in their dwellings, the flowers of the field, the trees, the tender blades of corn, will spring forth in their appointed seasons; the mercies of God, I say, will be abundantly seen and felt-but will they be duly acknowledged? Will the incense. of Praise and Prayer rise up every Morning and Evening to the Great Giver? Will men honour or dishonour God's House? Ordinary experience would teach us that some will and some will not-some will be "wise," and some will be "foolish,"-some will obey and some will disobey. But in the meanwhile, time will hurry on, and death will come, and the bell will toll, and wise and foolish will lie down in the dust, side by side with those who have gone before. Now, kind reader, think of this for a moment. Or, go into the Churchyard, and contemplate those mute memorials of the departed. Pause and consider with yourself your own vows and duties. Have we not promised that we will serve HIM truly all the days of our life? Do we serve Him truly? Let me direct your attention to one point in particular-the Morning Service? Do you attend it? If you do, I shall have much wherewith to encourage you in the following pages. If you do not, I would affectionately counsel you, for the blessing which will come to you, to give earnest heed to this part of your plain duty. I say, you perceive, 'your plain duty,' for we must not only love God with all our hearts, but with all our minds and strength. Look for an instance of this, at that feeble old man yonder (and I have known many such) who, with short, tottering steps, is moving on to the House of God, where he has regularly attended Morning and Evening for the last fifty or sixty years. Does he not remind one of some aged Patriarch of former days? Does he not seem to resemble the holy Psalmist? "I will go forth in the strength of the Lord God, and will make mention of thy righteousness only. Thou, O God, hast taught me from my youth up till now, therefore will I tell of all thy wondrous works. Forsake me not, O God, in my old age, when I am grey headed, until I have shown thy strength unto this generation and thypower unto all them that are yet for to come."* Such as these are witnesses for God in every generation, and an untold blessing to others. "Shall not God avenge," says our Lord, "His own elect, who cry day and night unto Him; yea, I tell you, He will avenge them speedily."+ Is not his humble and pains-taking example a reproof to many? It certainly is. For look again, and at the corner of yonder lane you may see a young man to whom God has given health and strength and the Psalm 1xxi. 15, 16. + Luke xviii. 7, 8. |