Ver. 25.- Warning against the neglect of social worship. "Not forsakincr the assembling of ourselves to)!ether, as the custom of ~ome is; but exhorting one another." 'l'his exhortation is not a positive command, but arises out of the nature of things, and the need of man as a spiritual being. Social worship does not become obligatory because it is commanded in the Scriptures; but we are exhorted not to neglect it because it is needful for us. The obligation springs not from the exhortation, but from the necessities of our being. Let us consider- L MAN'S NEED OF SOCIAL WORSHIP. 1. Man needs worship. A god is a necessity of man's being. He must have something to worship, even if it he only a fetich. This arises from the presence and influence of the religious and devotional elements and faculties in human nature. As these are refined and educated, so man is able to receive pure and exalted ideas of God. One of the bitterest of human wails is, "Ye have taken away my gods, and the priest; and what have I more?" The loss of even a false god is deemed ruinous by those who confided in it. The cry of the man whose religious nature has been enlightened by Divine revelation is, " My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God." The body needs the exercise of manual labour, or of athletics, or gymnastics, or it becomes weak and incapable. The mind must be employed in the acquisition of truth, in reflection upon truth and life, or its powers must be called forth in some other way, or it will sink into a condition of feebleness and decay. And the principle is equally applicable to the religions soul. If its powers be not employed in the worship of the Divine Being and in the effort to live usefully and holily, those powers will perish; the eyes of the soul will become blind, its ears deaf, its aspirations extinct. Man needs worship for the life and growth of bis own religious nature. 2. Man neEds social worship. He is a social being. His heart craves friendship. In sorrow and joy, in labour and rest, we long for companionship and sympathy. We are formed for fellowship and for mutual help. Hence, social worship is a necessity of our being. 'l'his need was divinely recognized in Judaism, and provision was made for it in the temple, in the great religious festivals, etc. Our Lord recognized this need in various ways (Matt. xvi ii. 1i-20; Luke iv. 16). So also did the apostles. Even in the darkest seasons in the history of the Church of God, devout souls have felt this need and have sought satisfaction for it. "Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another," etc. (cf. Mai. iii. 13-17). 3. Social worship is ofttn very beneficial and blessed. Our Lord has promised that the unanimous prayers of such worshippers shall be answered, and that he himself will meet with them (Matt. xviii. 19, 20). In such assemblies of believers devotion and holy feeling pass from heart to heart until all he.arts are aglow, Mutual prayer strengthens the weak disciple. One man is cast down and almost faithless, but his faith is invigorated and his soul encouraged by the influence of another who is believing and hopeful. Nor is worship the only engagement of these assemblies. Our text speaks of mutual exhortation. "Exhorting one anoth~r." Brotherly counsel and encouragement and admonition are profitable to strengthen faith, incite to diligence, guard against declension, and promote the progress of the soul. II, MAN'S NEGLECT OF sooIAL WORSHIP. "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the custom of some is." Notice: 1. The causes of thi.~ ne~lect. As ~ur Epistle does not speak of the neglect of worship by the irreligious, but ol th~ d_esert1on of the Christian assemblies by those who themselves were avowedly Christians, we shall confine our attention to the causes of the neglect of social worship by those who manifest some respect for religion. (1) The necessity of soci~l worship is not recognized, or inadequately recognized. The neglecter says, "There 1s no need fo_r my frequent attendance at church• I can read the Bible or a sermon by my own fireside; and as for worship, we have th~t in the family." But reading a sermon is not attendance upon 284 THE EPlSTL~ TO TJ1E HEBREWS. [err. Jt.. 1-89.
the divinely instituted prracbing of the gospel. And family worship is not enough for man ae a social being. Religion itself is social. As we need friends beyond our own domestic relations, so we need in religious exercises a wider circle than the home one. (2) Absorption in temporal and worldly affairs is a.nether ea.use of the ne~lect of the Christian assemblies. The interests and occupl\tions of this world and time fill the whole being; spiritual and eternal interests a.re disregarded; the soul and its needs are neglected; thus men a.re unjust to their own higher nature. (3) Decline in the spiritual l:fc is another cause of this neglect. 2. The danger of this neglect. They whose custom it was to forsake the assemblies of Christians were not yet apostates from the Christian faith and confession. But the admonition and exhortation of the text sucrgest t_ltat they were in danger of apostasy. And the awful warnings which immedi~tely loll ow more plainly inrlicate the dread peril. He who neglects the Christiau assemblies 1s likely ere long to forsake the Christian Church and renounce the Christian faith, and he may even go on to tread nnderfoot the Son of God, and do despite unto the Spirit of grace.-W. J.