must ever be
kept in view, and no forms, however attractive, are to be admitted by
which that object may be hidden or obscured: on the other hand, order
and seemliness demand a due attention, and it is an error, only less
mischievous than the former, to have regard to the spirit of worship
alone, and thus to neglect whatever suitable forms and methods may best
secure the orderly and appropriate performance of its every part.

The most commonly recognized purpose of public worship is the
cultivation of the spiritual life of the worshipper, and this is
attained by the employment of means intended to bring the soul into an
attitude of response to its Lord. It follows then that matters of
form, attitude, and order in worship, should be so arranged and
regulated that they may serve as aids to the securing of this end, and
that nothing should be permitted which may in any way interfere with
the development of this spirit of response on the part of those so
engaged. And when it is remembered how small a matter may interfere
with the worship of a congregation, and how easily disturbed and
distracted the hearts of men are by untoward circumstances or
conditions, it will be seen that not only the forms of worship demand
attention, but that the order of its different parts, the attitude of
the worshippers, and all matters of detail are worthy of careful
thought and of earnest consideration. But Christian worship has an
altruistic aim also, and is intended to serve as a witness before the
world to those fundamental truths professed by the Christian Church.
With this end in view, it is evident that its forms should be such as
shall most clearly and effectively set forth before the eyes of
beholders, those truths and principles which the Church holds as
essential to Christian faith and practice. To obscure such a public
declaration of Christian belief, by hiding these truths beneath an
elaborate adornment that disguises or completely conceals them, is to
be faithless to the commission of Jesus Christ to be a witness unto Him
before the world; to neglect such witness-bearing, or by carelessness
or inattention to detail, to render it in a manner so ineffective as to
disparage the truth in the eyes of beholders, is to be none the less
unfaithful to that great commission.

With the twofold purpose of worship clearly kept in view as the
foundation for any discussion of this subject, it is also to be
remembered that the Church of Chr