he Rev. John Page Hopps) says:

"So far as we can see, the old orthodox believers were right when
they called public worship 'a means of grace;' and if human
experience is of any value, it is an undoubted fact that a great
multitude which no man could number _have_ felt the grace-giving
influence of it. It is as true as ever that man cannot 'live by
bread alone,' but that he needs also the 'word that proceedeth
from the mouth of God;' and if it is true, as we believe, that
the word of God does come home with special force and pathos when
worship is joined in by kindred souls, the argument for public
worship, from this point of view, seems complete. And yet, half
in jest and half in earnest, and sometimes altogether in earnest,
we hear it said that a man can worship God in the fields quite as
well as in the church. 'Perhaps he can,' said a wise man once,
'but _does_ he?' I wonder whether we shall go on in this
direction until we hear it said that a man can worship God
playing at lawn-tennis as in attending public worship? Thus there
may actually come into existence a cant of the absentee which
shall be as really cant as the cant of the devotee; for the use
of the word 'worship' in such instances is a glaring case of
exaggeration tinged with self-deception, which is the very
essence of cant. Besides, one of the surest notes of the
worshipping spirit is an increase of sympathy and love,--sympathy
that suggests fellowship, and love that suggests anything but
selfish isolation.

"The irregularity also of attendance upon public worship might be
cited as an instance of neglect or levity which 'personal
consecration' alone can cure. In days gone by, attendance upon
public worship was a habit, and nothing that could be avoided was
allowed to interfere with it. Twice on the Sunday, too, was the
rule, and not, as now, the decided exception. But with many it is
now becoming once every other Sunday, or scarcely that; with so
little of 'personal consecration' in the matter that the need for
an umbrella may decide the doubter not to go.

"Do we not, again, listen too much merely for delight? and does
not the question, 'How did you like the sermon,' or 'How did you
like the service,' indicate that we join in the service and
listen to a sermon in an en