OW precious to the heart of the Christian the high privilege of fellowship with God! How poor, in comparison, are all the pleasures of sense and all the honors of the world! It is to meet with the King Eternal, Immortal and Invisible, amidst the sacred mysteries of his spiritual temple, that we are here assembled. We come to seek from that holy presence those elevating and consoling influences which impart a divine peace to the soul, and purify the affections from the polluting touch of life's vain idols. We come to approach the fountain of being and of blessedness, to [66] drink of its ever-flowing streams of eternal life and joy.

      How holy and how reverend is the name of God! How awful the deep mysteries of the Divine nature! That name, that nature, constitute the study of life. Even amidst the darkness of heathenism men strove to grope their way to God, and the multitude of their idols, while it shows the failure, proclaims also the earnestness of their search. And how powerful the influence of the ideas which men entertain of God! How their conceptions of the divine character modify their own! How successful the effort of Satan to degrade man by perverting his views of God! And how purifying, elevating, ennobling, the contemplation of that Divine Creator, as seen within the sanctuary in which his glory stands revealed!

      It is here, amidst the sublime visions beheld by the eye of Faith, that God addresses himself to mortals. It is here that his wondrous works are interpreted by precious words. It is here that he appears in his true character as the Great Lord and Creator of the Universe, material and [67] spiritual. How glorious the attributes assigned to him in the ancient scriptures, of infinite power, wisdom, goodness, justice, truth, and holiness! How endearing the characteristics which the New Testament still more clearly reveals, of love, mercy, and condescension! By these he approaches us most nearly; by these we realize that God is with us, our Emmanuel, and are emboldened to enter into that divine fellowship to which he here invites us.

      If it be granted, as some imagine, to each class of sentient beings in the dominions of nature to perceive its own position and understand the classes that are below it, to man is conceded, with self-consciousness, the loftier privilege of understanding, not only the classes that are below, but those also that are above him. Placed, as it were, in the middle position of the universe, and blending in himself the material and the spiritual, he can reach to the lowest ranks of being, and also to the highest--even to God himself. He can contemplate every phasis of life and every variety of nature. Collecting the traces of the divine presence in his works, he [68] can connect them with the Being from whom they issue, and, ascending upon the wings of Faith, hold sweet communion with the Infinite and Eternal One.

      To establish and maintain this communion is the great end of religion. To unite the soul to God; to erect in the human heart a living temple for his abode; to secure the enjoyment of that divine presence which is the earnest of eternal blessedness: these are its noble and exalted aims--its truest, holiest purposes. And oh! how intimate is that fellowship to which we are thus introduced by the true and living Word! With how much confidence, with how much earnestness we are permitted to address ourselves to God! Under how endearing a title we are invited to his presence! As sons to a compassionate father, we approach him to hear his words; to rejoice in his power, wisdom, and love; to cast our cares upon him, and to repose in the faithful assurances of his unceasing favor. As heirs of God and co-heirs of Jesus, we are invited to rejoice in an undefiled, unfading, and eternal inheritance--in the glorious prospect of [69] being admitted to behold the glory of God and of the Lamb, and to share with the redeemed the pure perennial bliss of heaven.

      And oh! how precious are the influences of that spiritual fellowship which we are permitted to enjoy! How dear to the soul should be every opportunity of cultivating that sacred intimacy, that divine acquaintanceship! How greatly we should desire to draw more closely still the ties that attach us to the heavens! The heart that becomes familiar here with the things of futurity--the soul that is here wont to enjoy habitual intercourse with God, will be no stranger when admitted to the skies. Oh! how sweet it is on earth to have a friend, familiar with our thoughts and feelings, to whom we can unbosom all our cares and all our joys. But what friend can know the soul as God can know it? To what kind ear can we so unreservedly communicate our wishes, anxieties, and hopes? And with what human spirit, encased in mortality, can we form an alliance, a union, a fellowship, so intimate and so complete, as with that divine and gracious Being, [70] who, by his Spirit, dwells within the heart itself, and, partaking in the deepest secrets of the soul, anticipates our thoughts, interprets all our wishes, and intercedes for all our wakening hopes? Surely the renewed soul, thus intimate with God on earth, will be no stranger when ushered into heaven! Surely it will be thus suitably prepared for the blissful fellowship of the brighter realms above!

      It is the contemplation of infinite excellence that exalts, as it is the society of the good and the noble that inspires nobility of soul. Unable of ourselves, perhaps, to form high conceptions, and, without "the bold warmth that generously dares," we catch, by degrees, something of the soaring spirit of the virtue that belongs to the noble minds with which we enjoy habitual intercourse, and thus learn to share and to imitate the excellencies we admire. It is thus that communion with Perfect Goodness shall lead us to be good. Infinite Holiness and Purity shall inspire us with pure and holy affections, and the love of God, awakening in the heart a kindred emotion, shall transform the soul [71] and invest our nature with a divine beauty. It is while we contemplate the glory of the Lord in the brilliant mirror in which his perfections are revealed, that we are "changed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord." [72]

[CITS 66-72]