. . . 7
THE CHURCH, THE PLACE OF WORSHIP . . . . . . . . . 11
SYMBOLISM OF THE CHURCH BUILDING . . . . . . . . . 17
ARRANGEMENT AND FURNITURE OF THE CHURCH . . . . . 37
SYMBOLIC ORNAMENTS OF THE CHURCH . . . . . . . . . 51
HOW TO USE THE PRAYER-BOOK . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
DEVOUT CUSTOMS AND USAGES . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
LIST OF BOOKS FOR REFERENCE . . . . . . . . . . . 119
INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

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_The Beauty of Holiness_

_Worship_

The worship of Almighty God is one of the characteristic acts of
humanity. The brute looks up to heaven, but man alone looks up with
thought of God and to adore. "The entire creation grew together to
reflect and repeat the glory of God, and yet the echo of God slumbered
in the hollow bowels of the dumb earth until there was one who could
wake up the shout by a living voice. Man is the first among the
creatures to deliver back from the rolling world this conscious and
delicious response, the recognition of the Father who begat him. He,
and he alone, is nature's priest, her spokesman, her mediator."

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The idea of worship, in which the crown and glory of manhood thus has
expression, "includes all those acts which make up the devotional duty
of the soul to Almighty God." Our private and family devotions are
acts of worship. They enter into its obligation, are comprehended by
it, but do not fill it out. They are not sufficient alone. The due
acknowledgment before others of our belief in and reverence for God,
the blessings which attend only upon the use of united praise and
prayer and of Sacraments, the honor of God, the rendering of "thanks
for the great benefits that we have received at His hands," the setting
forth of "His most worthy praise,"--all demand the public act of
worship.

The obligation and privilege of such worship cannot be too greatly
exalted. It is not a matter of inclination merely; it is an imperative
duty, the discharge of which may not be regulated by considerations of
convenience, or indolence, or pleasure. To neglect it, is to dishonor
God, to withhold what is His due. It is also to dishonor ourselves, to
violate our own noblest instincts. No other act of which we as men are
capable is so dignified or so worthy of ourselves. Not to worship is
to debase ourselves.

This duty and privilege of worship the church and the Prayer-Book help
us to perform. Just as {9} ot