Why should we worship God? "Wherewithal shall we come before the Lord?" How shall we honour and please him? These are three questions to which our text will suggest replies. We are reminded -

I. THAT TO REVERENCE GOD IS THE ONE RIGHT THING FOR US TO DO. There are many things which it is well, proper, right, for us to do; things which make for the well-being of others; things which contribute to our own ennoblement and self-respect. But the thing which, above all others, it is right for us to do is to revere and honour God, to "give unto the Lord the glory due to his Name. That which is due to our kindred and friends, that which is due to ourselves, - this is as nothing compared with the reverence, obedience, and submission which are due to him from whom we come, without whose creative energy we had not been, without whose sustaining power we should cease to be, in whom we live, and move, and have our being," to whom we owe everything we are and have. To serve God is to secure ourselves against the worst evils; it is to avail ourselves of our highest privilege; it is also, and foremost of all, to discharge our deepest obligation; it is to render that which is due indeed.

II. THAT TO BRING TO GOD OUR CONTRIBUTION MAY BE AN ACCEPTABLE THING TO Do. "Bring an offering, and come before him." It is true that he "needeth nothing' at our hand; that "if he were hungry he would not tell us;" that "every beast of the forest is his, and the cattle upon a thousand hills" (Psalm 1.). It is also true that there were conditions under which God was "pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering" (Psalm 51:19). And it is also true that the Divine Lord who sits over against the treasury is pleased with the two mites which the widow gives of her poverty. We may "bring an offering" now that may be very large and "munificent" in the sight of men, which shall be very lightly esteemed, or even weigh nothing or less than nothing, in the sight of the holy and the pure One. But then we may "bring an offering" that may be very small in man's reckoning, which, laid by the hand of love on the altar, shall weigh much in the balances of heaven.

III. THAT TO WORSHIP GOD MAY BE A BEAUTIFUL THING TO DO. "Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness." That which is called Divine worship may be an altogether unbeautiful thing in his sight. That which is rendered carelessly, slovenly, thoughtlessly, stiffly, heartlessly, or hypocritically, is utterly unbeautiful before him. But there is worship of another kind. We render our service in the beauty of holiness when:

1. From a pure desire to give to God our best, we worship him most tastefully. When, thus prompted and with this aim in view, we erect for his worship the costly and beautiful building, we sing his praise with perfected harmony, we read his word and preach his truth with cultured carefulness.

2. We bring to his worship the most excellent and requisite graces - humility, faith, docility, gratitude, adoration, generosity, consecration of spirit. Then, when clothed upon with these beautiful garments of the soul, do we most truly "worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness." - C.

I. THE GREAT EVENT ITSELF DOES NOT ABSORB ALL. We can easily understand how the bringing of the ark to Jerusalem would have absorbed all minor considerations, but it does not. Israel is not generalised into simply the male heads of the families; the bread and flesh are distributed to "both man and woman." God was being glorified, and simultaneously the people blessed. Diffusion is what God delights in; He connects the blessing of many with His own glory.

II. THERE WAS A SPECIAL PROVISION HERE FOR PERSONAL ENJOYMENT. The placing of the ark in its tent of rest was not to be a mere historical fact, involving no personal enjoyments. It is not in bare abstractions that God delights, but in their bearing upon individuals. Perhaps one reason why the future glory of Christ is so unsubstantial to many, and operates so little on their feelings, and raises so few thoughts of joyousness in them, is the fact that they see so little of its bearing upon themselves. The beams of this glory are to light up every individual; every believer has actually a personal interest in them. Each man has his own independent existence with its longings and aspirations, and no generality will satisfy them. He must have for his own very self. This is not selfishness; it is a law grounded on the very constitution of our nature. No future lies before God's people in which God Himself absorbs everything. He will pervade all, which is a very different thing.

III. WE ARE STRUCK WITH THE DISTINCT INDIVIDUALITY OF EACH. We cannot be too particular in preserving our individuality. It is the foundation of our responsibility, of His closest dealings with us, of all our capacity for happiness or sorrow in the time to come. Every man is to give account of himself to God; every man is to receive according to his works.

IV. THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF INDIVIDUAL LIFE IS THE FOUNDATION OF INDIVIDUAL EFFORT. Let us be encouraged, then, to have individual expectations. Let us link ourselves individually with the great events of God. Both man and woman triumphed in the bringing up of the ark; and both had the portion of bread and flesh and wine.

(P. B. Power, M. A.)