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IMPORTANT TESTIMONIAL FROM A CLERGYMAN IN ESSEX.

August 25th, 1866. Dear Sir, I have derived so much benefit from using your Cough Lozenges, that I write to make you acquainted with the circumstances, and with the view of benefiting some one who may be inconvenienced by a winter cough, For many years I have been more or less troubled with a cough, but during the last winter it became so bad that I could scarcely read aloud. Having taken other remedies, some of them very nauseous-among them Cough no More-without obtaining relief, I tried your Lozenges, which are very palatable, and was agreeably surprised at the result of the trial. You are at liberty to make use of this communication.

I remain, faithfully yours, To Mr. Keating.

E. L. D.

25, Bouverie Street, Fleet Street, London. Sir,-I feel much pleasure in informing you of the great benefit I have received from your valuable Cough Lozenges. I have been in the habit of taking them when required for some years, and therefore can speak confidently as to their efficacy in my own case, never having found any other remedy for a Cough of equal service.

I am, Sir, yours respectfully, Thomas Keating, Esq. .

F. NELSON. Prepared and sold in Boxes, ls. 14d. and Tins, 25. 9d., 48. 60., 108: 6d. each, by THOMAS KEATING, Chemist, &c., 79, St. Paul's Churchyard, London. Retail by all Druggists and Patent Medicine Vendors in the World.

CHILDREN'S WORM TABLETS (KEATING'S). The great remedy for these disorders in Children can now be administered in THE FORM OF A PURELY VEGETABLE SWEETMEAT, at once agreeable and effective.

Hydrographic Office, Admiralty,

30th September, 1867. Sir,- On Wednesday last my wife purchased at your shop a tin case of your Worm Tablets. She gave only four in three days to my little boy, five and a half years of age, as he has had a bad cough, and looked ill, with a tickling of his nose, for the last eight months, and on Saturday afternoon he voided a large worm eight inches in length, and he appears already a different child.

Your obedient servant,

EDWARD DUNSTERVILLE, Commander, R. N. 32, St. Augustine-road, Camden New Town, N.W.; and Admiralty, s.w.

Prepared and sold in Tins, 1s. 1}d. and 2s. 9d. each, by
THOMAS KEATING,

CHEMIST, ETC, 79, ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD, LONDON, E.C., AND RETAIL BY ALL DRUGGISTS AND PATENT MEDICINE VENDORS IN THE WORLD.

THE CHURCH.

“Built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself

being the chief corner-stone."

APRIL, 1868.

ON SPIRITUAL WORSHIP “ WITH ALL THY HEART.”

BY TIE REV. JOHN ALDIS. A VOICE comes to us from heaven, “ Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God." Devout and enlightened men thus counsel and aid each other, "O come, let us worship and bow down." But how can this best be done? Sacred obligations and exalted privileges are connected with it. If, instead of discharging our duty, we fall into sin, and if, instead of obtaining the blessing, we sink into deeper want and misery, it had been better to do nothing. Our prayer and aim then should be, at once to meet the claims of conscience, and enjoy the benediction of God.

One rule is safe, and simple, and sure: “whereunto we do well to take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place.” It applies to all our relations and interests God-ward. The Divine Father claims our heart in everything. In our affections: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart;” and in our obedience : “ Serve Him with all thy heart." That our love may be perfected and our obedience complete, we seek Him in meditation and prayer; and the promise is, “ Thou shalt find Him, if thou seek Him with all thy heart." In every act of worship this is indispensable.

The heart is the pavilion of the great King. Here He dwells and reigns alone. That is our God which is supreme there. The Almighty Father claims this, for none else has absolute access to it. These recesses, deeper than of ocean caves, His eye alone can see. This shrine, walled in by more than granite mountains, His foot alone can tread. These treasures, wrapt up in the innermost foldings of our spiritual nature, His hand alone can touch. “I, the Lord, search the hearts,” and here He demands His throne. Man desires this more than all besides. He does not care so much for the kind word, the obsequious act, or even the gifts of beneficence. What he wants is the heart. Other things are of worth only as they lead him to believe that he has it. But, convinced that he has it not he feels poor, repulsed, and

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mocked. But man cannot command the heart, nor be absolutely sure whether he possesses it or not. The proudest tyrant here is as feeble as a child. Power may command, wealth may bribe, or sophistry may cajole, but the heart remains untouched and unswayed. The countenance indeed may put on a gracious smile, the lips may utter the appointed word, and the hands may perform the allotted task, while the heart rejects, detests, and defies the tyranny. Omnipotence itself may take forcible possession, but only by dashing to shivers its choicest hạndiwork—by destroying the most distinctive attributes of our constitution and the moral law under which we live. Hence the Almighty Creator, in presence of the creature man, assumes the attitude of entreaty : “My son, give me thy heart.” The peculiarity of His relation to us is, that He deserves what He demands. Only suicidal guilt will refuse to comply. Above all, He knows absolutely whether He has it or not. If deposed from His throne, all pretended homage paid in outward worship of Him must be a mockery and a sin.

All want of heart in religion is hypocrisy. That is not only a failure but mischief; not only is there in it no piety, but there is grievous sin. Hypocrisy is worse than atheism. No freak of vice and no outburst of crime in the haunts of evil can compare with that abomination, which mocks the Eternal in “ the place where His honour dwelleth” and while affecting to pay Him homage. Hypocrisy is baser than idolatry. This latter requires only profound ignorance, and is quite compatible with sincerity and devoutness; but the former is the ripened fruit of atheistic effrontery, or of fatal delusion. Either the man says, There is no God, but people believe there is, and it answers my end to make them think I believe so too; or else he is so blinded as to imagine that by the same act he can deceive both God and man. So he performs his part. He takes the attitude of devotion, and becomes an adept in its gestures, looks, and tones. He repeats the most true and sacred words, and proclaims himself an earnest worshipper. He arrests the attention of his fellows, and they whisper, How devout he is! But meanwhile his heart is cold and dead. He has neither faith nor love ; he is absorbed by the world, and under the dominion of sin. His worship is a farce, and he has turned the sanctuary into a theatre. It is wonderful that fire does not issue to consume this hypocrisy as in the case of Nadab and Abihu, that again it may be uttered in thunder and written in flame, “I will be sanctified in all them that draw nigh unto me, and before all the people will I be glorified.”

The joy of the heart is the sunshine of life. Nothing is more pleasant for man, and surely nothing can be more acceptable to God. On His day of rest and in His house this must be most welcome. “This is the day which the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it." These words express the saints' duty and God's delight. The charm of the sanctuary consists in this; it is on earth the Father's house. The Elder Brother teaches us when we bow in it to say, “ Our Father which art in heaven.” What does this demand in us?" The outflow of filial love. It requires that we be not merely ready, diligent, and exactį but that we be grateful, eager, and happy. What does the Divine Father often see in the house of prayer? Some are mercenary drudges toiling to pay off old debts, or to lay Him under new obligations. Some are as doomed prisoners, wearied with duties they can never enjoy, and groaning under a yoke which merciless rigour has imposed. Others are as slaves performing a task to which they are chained by custom or habit or authority, and the neglect of which would be followed by the lash of remorse or the terror of perdition. They are alike without gladness, without hope, and without heart. They come to worship with reluctance, go through it in pain, are relieved only when it is over. There is only one Bible word that tells out this miserable sin, “ What a weariness is it!” Unprofitable indeed this must be for man, but how unspeakably offensive must it be to Him who demands and deserves the cheerful willingness of earnest love, and who never fails to obtain it from the noblest of His creatures. Surely He is less dishonoured and displeased at the positive rebellion which men at least affect to hide, than at these reluctant services dragged into His temple and thrust under His eye.

One of the most beautiful ideas suggested by social worship was illustrated by the olden practice of presenting “ an offering to the Lord.” "What shall I render to the Lord for all His kindness ? ” is a question which the humblest gratitude may ask. It is but little we can do except to express our love. No offering however can be of any worth without the heart. The meaning and merit of our human hospitality are the personal regard it proclaims. The humblest fare is welcome and sweet if set before us by loving hands; but the costliest dainties are loathsome if accompanied by indifference or a grudge. “Eat not thou the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats ; for as he thinketh in his heart so is he. Eat and drink, saith he to thee, but his heart is not with thee. The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.” How unspeakably offensive then must all heartless oblations be to Him who knows the heart. However costly and splendid our gifts, if they are not the product of lowly gratitude, we shall be repulsed with the indig. nant words, “Bring no more vain oblations." . God is love. This is the last and grandest element of revelation. Only a Divine authority can assure us of it, as only the faith of the renewed heart can embrace it. Yet, when realized, it expresses our purest delight, and God's highest glory. We are “made partakers of the Divine nature," that we may imitate the Divine conduct.“ We love Him because He first loved us." Where can we do this so fully as when, of set purpose, we are shut up to Him, consciously under His eye, listening to His word, celebrating His praise, and hoping to be enriched from the treasures of His grace ? Only Christian worship allows this. As the pundit said to the missionary, when aiding to translate the words, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God," “ That can- ' not be ; we fear God, adore and serve Him, but cannot love Him." Yet It is exactly this which Christian worship demands and inspires.

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When the infinitely Good draws near, to forgive all our faults so freely, to smile on us so graciously, and to pronounce His benedictions so audibly, must not the whole heart thrill with gladness, and the whole soul, surprised and grateful, give itself out in thanksgiving and praise ! Then the Divine smile is most intense in its brightness, and the heavenly love comes down to us in flooding fulness. Wherever that may be, we find the house of God, and readily confess, that, thus to live in love, is heaven.

But there are great difficulties in the way of heart-worship. Many of these arise from our own personal experience. The heart is always deceitful, prone to evil, yet inapt and sluggish in Divine things. The day of the Lord often finds it distracted with care, wearied with disappointment, and burdened with guilt. Or else it is faint through fear, stained with pollution, or hard and insensible. With such a heart what can be done for God or enjoyed by man? There is but one source of hope and help; though all else fails, let us turn to this :

6. Thy wondrous blood, dear dying Christ,

Can make this load of guilt remove;
And Thou canst bear me where Thou fly'st,

On Thy kind wings, celestial Dove." But there are especial difficulties in the very nature of social worship. Private prayer appears a very simple thing. Given, the two ideas, that there is a God, and that He is accessible to man, prayer naturally follows, as the first of duties and privileges. But social prayer seems to be much more complicated and'encumbered. Without a direct revelation, we see no obvious ground on which men can stand together to plead with God or hope to find His favour. Yet nothing has more clear or abundant sanction in the Bible. When the disciples were gathered together and “continued in prayer and supplication,” the Pentecostal grace was bestowed. In the palmiest days of the Church, and when in one day there were added unto them about three thousand souls, “they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers."

Yet social worship has great advantages. Under the influence of numbers and sympathy the moral forces are multiplied. Interest is awakened, attention is rivetted, perception quickened, and feeling intensified. The smouldering embers are gathered together, and the breath of sympathy fans them to a flame. He who has appointed our duties knows our nature, and in His goodness has arranged to secure for us these results. We need not suspect them, and to our hurt we slight them. Rather every devout man is bound, by the constancy of his attendance, by the earnestness of his regard, and by the manifested depth of his feeling, to give fulness and force to that tide of holy excitement, which, as it comes from God, largely constitutes the power of the Church to quicken and purify the world.

But let us be on our guard against danger. The same laws of suggestion and sympathy, which under some circumstances will work out the richest benefits, under others will produce only mischief.

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