HEN the Patriarch arose from his dreamy slumbers in the field of Luz, he exclaimed, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not!" How many thus enter into the sanctuary of God, without any realizing sense of the divine presence! How many, alas, from that sleep of error never waken! Yet the Lord is in his holy temple, and will there reveal himself to his people; even to the seed of Israel, his servant--the children of Jacob, his chosen.

      How fitting that we should enter into his gates [9] with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise! How proper that we should here repress each worldly thought, and yield our hearts up to those sacred communings in which Faith lifts a ladder to the skies, that angels may descend to earth, and God himself confirm his promises of grace!

Surely, with the lonely wanderer of Bethel, we may exclaim: How dreadful is this place! This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!

      Here, indeed, we have no earthly holy place, framed and adorned by human hands; no inner temple veiled in mysterious sanctity; no golden emblems of the regalia of heaven; no Shechinah beaming forth from between the cherubims; but we have the assembly of saints; the congregation of the Lord; the body of Christ animated by his Spirit; the ordinances of divine service revealing, publishing, commemorating the love of God to men; the holy privilege of drawing near to God in concert with those who have obtained like precious faith with us; the unveiled spiritual [10] glories of the reign of heaven; the light of life; the joys of love divine. Return, then, unto thy rest, O my soul! for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee.

      In the deep stillness of the heart let every anxious care be hushed, and cheerful Hope diffuse her grateful balm. Let the sorrows of the mind be banished from this place, for the Being in whose presence we appear is the God of consolation and of hope. To him we bring no bleeding victim from the flock, and present no ineffectual oblations upon a blazing altar, but we offer the incense of praise; the grateful homage of the affections; the deep devotion of the soul; the living sacrifice of the body, acceptable through the precious blood of the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, and emancipates us from the bondage of fear and sorrow.

      With what heart-felt assurance, then, we should make his sheltering wings our refuge! With what reverential joy we should approach the sacred memorials of his grace here presented before us, and "banquet on his love's repast." Behold these emblems! They speak to the heart. They [11] tell of God's love--the love of Him from whom all love proceeds. They tell of sorrows borne for us--of humiliation, pain, and death. Let us consider them. We come to Jesus, and he meets us here--

In the awful mysteries of life and death we hold communion. With the spiritual unseen we live and move. Into the dwelling of the Most High we enter to take the cup of salvation--to pay our vows in the presence of his people. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my Strength and my Redeemer! [12]

[CITS 9-12]