"B.C.CJ:!^

HALF-DAY WORSHIP.

A. DISCOURSE

PREACHED AT

1 Jtaii'x

By REV. B. C. CUTLER, D. D.

ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 22, 1860.

PUBLISHED FOE PEIVATE CIECULATION,

WITH TH! CONSENT OF THE AUTHOR

Sraoklp:
PRINTED HY E. li. SPOOLER, 102 AND 104 ORANGE STREET, NEAR PULTON.
O lS.O. ':

HALF-DAY WORSHIP.

"A day in thy courts, ia better than a thousand." — Psalm 84, 10.

Dear Brethren : —
A day does not mean half a day, any more than
one thousand days mean five hundred. When we
say, "A day in thy courts is better than a thou
sand," we are understood to mean that we find tbe
worship of God more pleasant than the works of
man, and if wre do not find it thus pleasant, what
hope is there that we are among the number of those
" who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord, and rise
up in his holy place 1" If the love of God's ancient
worshippers led them to attend both the morning
and evening sacrifice, what is ours, which can be
content with but one of these 1
One reason why some churchmen count the
Lord's day so much better than other days, is be
cause of their peculiar privileges. They consider
their liturgy, or form of public worship, so rich and
resplendent — so spiritual, tasteful and instructive
—that, provided it be well-read, they account
it to be worth a dozen sermons. Now such
churchmen as these have a delightful prospect before
them, for this glorious liturgy is said twice, every
Lord's day ; therefore it is, that by such, above all
other men, our text may be taken as a motto, or a

maxim: " A day in thy courts is better than a thou
sand," — a whole day with the whole service, both
morning and evening.
Again, a Sabbath day is not half a day ,be cause
the full benefit of it cannot be reached without a
separation and consecration of the whole time.
If a man attends divine service in the morning
only, and not in the afternoon, he gets but a taste
or sip of the water of life ; so full of this world is
his heart and mind during the week, that it takes
the whole of the morning service and sermon to
to drive the world out of his mind, or to get him — in
a sea phrase — "out of sight of land." But if, as soon
as he gets "out of sight of land" he turns about and
heads for the land, at night he is just where he was
in the morning. Indeed, if he attends upon a faithful
and an awakening ministry, a man of the world, by
a solemn morning service, only whets his appetite
for Sunday secularities. The dark prospect at
which he shudders in the morning, serves only as a
fine contrast for the feasting ofthe afternoon.
It is impossible to enter fully into the s pirit o
our liturgy, without previous preparation of heart and
mind. It was the counsel of Solomon : " Keep thy
foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be
more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of
fools ; for they consider not that they do evil. Be
not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be
hasty to utter any thing before God : for God is in
Heaven, and thou upon earth ; therefore let thy
words be few." Think how7 difficult it is suddenly
to change the thoughts and spirit of the mind from
grief to gladness : quite as difficult is it, to turn
from common conversation to the worship of that

God, " before whom Angels bow and Archangels
veil their faces." Hence, the long opening service
in the morning is but a preparation for the second
or shorter service in the afternoon ; and not until
both these are concluded, is the mind in its best
frame, to read and inwardly digest the Holy Scrip
ture. It is to be feared that some of those who boast
most of their admiration of our liturgy, have only
buzzed around it, as it were, not having as yet
entered the hive, or tasted one drop of the honey.
The Sabbath is not half a day, from another rea
son : the mind requires a change of objects and pure
rest, just as much as the b<My. You may have a
fine illustration of this by watching the countenances
of men on Monday morning, while crossing the river
to commence their week-days' work. The men
who have kept the Sabbath day have so freed their
minds from business thoughts, and have for twenty-
four hours breathed such a pure and different atmo
sphere, that to return to business is a pleasure,
because it is again a change. But the poor galley-
slaves, who have tugged at the oar all Sunday, as
well as the week previous, and who are doomed to
tug on the next week also,-1— return to their work
on Monday with long faces and depressed spirits.
They have read over the secular news, and the Mon
day morning paper is not like fresh fruit picked from
the tree. Alas ! alas ! (with my views,) setting reli
gion entirely aside, — if I was a man of business, I
would lock up all my business affairs, and business
letters, and counting-house cares, on Saturday night ;
and I would not touch a secular paper on Sunday,
nor allow one to enter my house. Mr. Wilberforce,
in commenting on the suicide of Lord Castlereagh, one

of the British Cabinet Ministers, thinks his self-de
struction entirely owing to his not keeping Sunday.
The great load of business was on his mind continu
ally, and was never taken off. It was pressing on
it— pressing on it,— until his mind gave way and be
came unbalanced. Any one who goes to Westmin
ster Abbey now, and reads the figures 57 and 47 on
the graves of Fox and Pitt, no keepers of the
Sabbath, — with the figures 74 on the grave of
Wilberforce, — may easily infer that it was because
this last pious man, born the same year with Pitt,
inferior to him in bodily health, engaged in the same
battles, could say from his heart, — "A day in thy
courts is better than a thousand." O the blessings
of true Christianity ! " Length of days is in her
right hand ; and in her left hand; riches and honor."
In passing, I cannot but remark that the reverse
of this is found among the working clergy of the
Church : they have no rest from their studies ; the
Sabbath is a day of labor to them, and it takes all
the previous six days to do the work of God in the
parish, and to prepare for the pulpit on the seventh.
That is the reason they suffer so much, as a class,
from ill health ; and when not from this, from mor
bid depression of spirits and imaginary evils.
Laboring ministers ought to take one day in
every seven for pure rest. But I suppose they do
not take one day in a month, nor one in three
months. The midsummer vacation is relied upon to
supply all such repose ; but it would be far better
for the clergy to have little or no vacation except that
which God has required of all men — to take one day
in seven. This seems, however, impossible ; for the
very day, during the last week, which I attempted to

d evote to this purpose, when it came, found me en
gaged in imperative duties both with the living and
the dead. Again, to employ half the Sabbath for amuse
ment is not consistent with esteeming the Sab
bath a day above a thousand. We often hear
that men are so wearied with the labors of the
week, and so confined by business that they must
have half the Sabbath for recreation.
I have been told that converted Pagans, in the
principal settlement at the Sandwich Islands, have a
custom of leaving off all labour, on Saturday at noon
and of repairing to a place a few miles off, like the
Central Park, for public amusements of all kinds; and
hence they Were prepared for keeping the Lord's
day holy. But this plea of Want of time for amuse
ment, is not more common than the plea of not hav
ing time for religious exercises. If I ask seven men
out of eight, — " Why are you not religious. 1 " The
reply is, — " I have not time, my business presses me
too much." But, business does not always press;
there are busy seasons, and seasons of comparative
leisure. Alas ! it is easy to see that these are mere
excuses ; most men are at business not more than
eight or ten hours a day, and fourteen hours remain
unemployed ; while the majority of those who are
engaged for a longer period, — I apprehend will be
found to be Sabbath keepers; they are the sterling
and responsible men of society. The numerous
theatres well supported, the opera houses, assembly
rooms, societies, balls and parties, clubs, lodges,
libraries and fellowships, taverns, drinking saloons,
and public meetings, prove to a demonstration, that
we are not a down trodden race, oppressed by la-

8
bour alone. If Dr. Franklin were living, and deli
vering his proverbs now, as he did in the days of
" Poor Richard," he would say that we suffer far
more from our amusements than from our labour.
I am in favor of public amusements, of an inno
cent kind, especially of all athletic sports. I am an
advocate for close attention to business, during busi
ness hours, and for keeping mere gossips out of count
ing rooms. The holy rest of the Sabbath, and a mental oc
cupation with the Gospel of Christ, are the best rem
edies for all evils, and the best resources for all minds-
One day spent in God's house, will do more to
freshen up an over-tasked mind, than can any com
mon amusement. But even such a day, is only for
three hours.
This matter must be a personal one ; each man
must consider it and conclude for himself. He
can easily observe that Sabbath breakers do not
prosper, are not happy, and are not respected. He
must also see that those who keep the Sabbath, do
''appear to take pleasure in it, — a great pleasure, — a
thousand fold more pleasure than they take in
week days. I am not surprised when a careless sin
ful man ofthe world, is heard to say; — " Give me
entertainment, and I will attend church," — would
that all God's ministers had the power of entertaining
as well as instructing sinners ! But if mere enter
tainment is the object ofthe sinner, something bet
ter than this should be the object of the saint. He
should come because he loves " the gates of Zion
more than all the dwellings of Jacob," and because he
enjoys the service of the church. He should come
all day, because the good of the morning he should

wish to have riveted in the afternoon. Men who
respect the day and rest from labour, come forthe
sake of occupation; time hangs heavily on their
hands find they perceive that the Holy Scriptures
read in public, and read with solemnity, and by
God's ambassador, have a force which they can no
where else have.
These are general remarks which concern all
Christian Churches. The members of every Chris
tian Church form a society by themselves : the wel-'
fare of that society is an object of importance to all
its professed members, and they will, not only by
their pecuniary means, but in every other way
promote its interests. One most important way is to
attend upon its services ; to be present on all occa
sions at public worship, on the Sabbath at
least, and in a devout and impressive manner to
take part in its services. With such it should
not be a matter of convenience, nor of ease,
nor of personal attachment to the minister ;
but their coming should grow out of that deep prin
ciple, which gave rise to the text ; that is, the pre
ference of the Sabbath-day, in God's honse, to a
thousand out of it. What a sight is tbat, in the
eyes of a heart searching God, when a Christian
professor, — a pledged member of this divine soci
ety, is reclining at home on his couch, during the
offering ofthe evening sacrifice in his own church;
while men who make no profession of religion
(who have never been baptized,) come for exam
ple sake, and for the honor of the church, which
they attend at the second service as well as the
first; it will be well in such cases, if ihe last is
not first, and the first last.

10
St. Ann's Church has been sa prosperous an in
stitution for fifty years, that its members have
never been called on to make any exertions to keep
it up; none of those especial efforts made by many
other churches to increase their members, or to
rent their pews, have ever been resorted to. The
responsibility of being a member of St. Ann's
church, has been as light as a feather, and now,
but in one point, is exertion required, — that is to
keep up the second service ; all else about this par
ish is prosperous.
St. Ann's Church is peculiarly situated. It was
built upon its present locality, fifty-five years ago,
in the centre of a small village. That village has
grown to be a great city, of six or eight miles in
extent, and containing two hundred thousand inha
bitants. But this Church remains just where it
was. Its parishoners have been removing their res
idences from it for a quarter of a century, and now
it requires an effort to visit it twice on the Lord's
day. The remedy is the removal of the building,
and for this we have a good site on our own land.
But, it has hot been removed, and whether it ever
will, remains with you — the people. But surely,
if the Church is kept where it is, by your wishes,
you should make the effort to attend upon its ser
vices. The Lord's day is just as long nowT as ever.
The morning and evening sacrifice exists in the
Christian just as much as in the Jewish Church. We
cannot have this without worshippers, and who
will be expected more certainly to attend than
communicants. Some may say, — " If you will have
the service in the evening, instead of the afternoon,
we will attend." This has been tried but without

11
effect. Our church is situated at an extremity ofa
great city. If there is no service in the afternoon,
most of the Parishoners will go to some other place
of worship and when night comes, will not attend
a third service, at such a distance. There is noth
ing but principle, true religious principle, that will
bring men twice a day to God's house to offer up
the divinely appointed morning and evening sacri
fice. We see that the boastful admiration of our
Liturgy, wTill not do it; all such boasting is vain;
such admirers will content themselves by feeding
very sparingly, after all on their delicious food,
My object in this discourse is to call ycur atten
tion to the mournful fact, of the fast fading away of
the latter part of the holy Sabbath. Men once
went regularly to church, both in the morning and
afternoon; now they have cast off one half of their
reverence. The next stage in the downward pro
gress will be to cast off all regular attendance
It is true, that if the Sabbath is secularised and
the church is turned into a hall of science — a place
for political and stormy appeals, a few such places
in a city will be filled to overflowing, while regu
lar gospel churches will be deserted. What I am
aiming at, is to revive and re-establish the princi
ples of Sabbath-keeping, to raise up men in this
church to fear God and keep his commandments,
to strengthen and confirm a religious principle in
the plastic minds of the young, which will induce
them to take their stand for the morning and after
noon services and for the worship of God, and for
the spending of the evening of the Lord's day, at
home with their families.
The Episcopal church was always moderate.

12
It never adopted a Jewish or a Puritan Sabbath;
and now that the Puritans are fast going to the
opposite extreme from severity, it resists the ten
dency that way. We do not believe in any such
extremes The Sabbath' is God's day for the soul, to be
spent — first, in rest, — secondly, in offering to God
divine worship, morning and evening, — thirdly, in
doing good, — and fourthly, in household charities
and domestic intercourse. The Sabbath is not a
fast day, though I think it would be better to enjoy
the feasting, when the afternoon service is conclu
ded. At all events, my brethren, happy is the man
who can say, — " A day within these courts below,
is better than a thousand." He is prepared for the
courts above. What must be that happiness,
which is so great during three hours only, that it
.makes the whole twenty -four hours better than
twenty-four thousand of worldliness. This un
doubtedly is a figure ot Rhetoric ; but still I have
myself enjoyed more happiness in one certain and
particular hour with God's people, in Gods wor
ship, than I had for one thousand days before, and
more than 1 did for one thousand days afterward.
I said : — " My willing soul would stay
In such a fraine as this,
Till it is call'd to soar away
To everlasting bliss."

YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

3 9002 08540 1876