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This sublime declaration and solemn precept of the prophet, may be considered as relative to the proper worship of God both in public and private. Indeed, these two kinds of worship are necessarily connected, one being always preparatory to the other. The knowledge of Cod must be first obtained, before we can have any idea of the worship that will be acceptable to Him. But how is this knowledge of God to be obtained? In vain do we seek for God in arguments and reasonings; the knowledge of His existence and attributes, collected from the works of nature, may satisfy our understandings, but cannot comfort our hearts. His own blessed revelation, without which we could never have known where to look for Him, directs us to our own hearts. There is His holy temple, in which He is to be spiritually worshipped — we must find, we must feel His presence there — till we do so, we cannot be said to have any true knowledge of Him. Every good and virtuous thought; every sensibility of meekness, humility, patience, resignation, and love; every little rising of conscience against the suggestions of vice; every little check or reproach thou feelest for an unworthy thought, or a shameful action, — all bespeak a present Deity, a God and Saviour, seeking to make Himself known to thee in His holy temple. It is true, the first appearances of the Divinity to the fallen spirit of man, are faint and shadowy, like the first feeble ray of morn that shoots athwart the gloom of night. But do thou observe the precept of the prophet in the text. Wait and watch in awful stillness; impose silence on the clamorous calls of every earthborn passion and appetite; stand in meek ness and humility, with thine inward eye turned towards these first emanations of Divine light, and thou shalt soon perceive "the day dawn, and the day-star arise upon thy soul." By this awful silence, and waiting upon the Lord in His temple, we place ourselves, as it were, upon hallowed ground; and if I may borrow an image from ancient superstition, a magic circle of heavenly light and lustre is drawn round us, — nor will the dark malicious enchanter, who only rules in earth and hell, dare to approach its radiant limits. What does this awful silence mean when applied to public worship? Were we all pure spirit, unembarrassed with these gross vehicles of clay, there is no doubt but we might, even publicly, join in silent worship, and catch the fervours of devotion from each other, without the intervention of speech or corporeal sound. "There is a communion which language cannot express, a worship that wants not the aid of words, nor is it to be defined by a harmony of sounds, in which we approach the sacred Author of unutterable love." There are times when the sanctified soul is constrained, as it were, to offer up the silent sacrifice of the spirit, and when the sacrifice of words must fail. When applied to public worship, the silence here enjoined means that reverential awe and profound submission, which, though due at all times and in all places, from the creature to his adorable Creator, seems to be more immediately so, when we assemble together in places dedi cated to His worship, which, according to His own declaration, He favours with His more immediate presence, and where "His honour more particularly dwells."

(Jacob Duche, M. A.)

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KJV: But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.

WEB: But Yahweh is in his holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before him!"