The Lord is in His Holy Place
In all things near and far! Shekinah of the snowflake. He,
And Glory of the star. And Secret of the April land
That stirs the field to flowers. Whose little tabernacles rise
To hold Him through the hours.
He hides Himself within the love
Of those whom we love best; The smiles and tones that make our homes
Are shrines by Him possessed ;
252 TRUE WORSHIP
He tents within the lonely heart
And shepherds every thought; We find Him not by seeking far, —
"We lose Him not, unsought.
Our art may build its Holy Place,
Our feet on Sinai stand, But Holiest of Holies knows
No tread, no touch of hand ; The listening soul makes Sinai still
Wherever we may be, . And in the vow, " Thy will be done ! "
Lies all Gethsemane.-'
2. We cannot read these words and not feel that the very genius and essence of the Christian religion is an exceeding simplicity. Had Christ reckoned externals of great importance, He certainly would have said so here. Those externals may be convenient, and they are helpful ; and therefore the Church may justly, and with great propriety and benefit, ordain them. But if Christ's words are to be taken in their plainest signification, God does not now require or command them. They are not a part of the new legislation; rather, they are decidedly and studiously omitted. For in this matter, it is clear that a contrast is drawn between the Samaritan and the Jewish ritual — which were both of them highly addressed to the senses — and that which Christ was introducing. He declares such things to be passed away. And nothing is laid down as the will of God respecting public worship, but this only — it must be spiritual and true.
^ In our approaches to God, the frame of mind is everything. Like worships like. God is mystery, worship is faith; God is wisdom, worship is thought ; God is love, worship is affection ; God is truth, worship is sincerity ; God is holiness, worship is purity ; God is omnipresence, worship is everywhere ; God is eternity, worship is always. Words are good, because words react on the mind, and clear and fix it ; but words are not worship. Forms are good, because forms are stays and helps to our in- firmities ; but forms are not worship. Holy places, holy things, holy persons are good, because in such a defiled world as this, what is sacred must be isolated ; but no places, no things, no persons are worship. Sacraments are good, because the sacra-
1 "William C. Gannett.
ST. JOHN IV. 24 253
ments are the very incorporations and the essences of our salvation ; but sacraments are not worship. " God is a Spirit • and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth." ^
I sit within my room, and joy to find
That Thou who always lov'st art with me here, That I am never left by Thee behind,
But by Thyself Thou keep'st me ever near; The fire burns brighter when with Thee I look,
And seems a kinder servant sent to me; With gladder heart I read Thy holy book.
Because Thou art the eyes by which I see ; This aged chair, that table, watch, and door
Around in ready service ever wait; Nor can I ask of Thee a menial more
To fill the measure of my large estate, For Thou Thyself, with all a Father's care, Where'er I turn, art ever with me there.^
L Worship in Spirit.
1. God is Spirit, and what He reveals to man must be made through the medium of Spirit. If He were possessed of a material form, the way of recognition would be through the senses, but Spirit can only be spiritually discerned. God cannot be seen in the Bible, He cannot be seen in Nature, except through the exercise of the spiritual vision. Our worship, therefore, must consist in the effort of the human spirit to identify itself with the Divine, not in a mystic, self-destroying unity, but in the direction of its aspirations and its will. We seek to bring our souls into a state of conformity with God's all- perfect will.
^ The true worship is not the prostration of the body in kneeling, nor even the prostration of the soul in distant adoration, but the yielding of our living powers willingly and gladly to the Divine influence within us. There is an expression of the great Stoic emperor, Marcus Aurelius, who perhaps came nearer than any other non-Christian of the West to the Christian life and spirit : " I reverence the God who is within." That God has been fully made known to us in Jesus Christ, and we can give a grander significance to this expression. Our God is within us. Let us allow our thoughts to be enlightened and our energies
* James Vaughan. ' Jones Very.
254 TRUE WORSHIP
quickened by the spirit of holiness — the unseen, constraining power of righteousness — and we are practising the true worship.^
2. Before the Incarnation, man dared approach God only through priest and altar, and in an earthly temple. Jesus came to erect one altar — His Cross, — and to offer one sacrifice — Himself. He was born that He might die ; and over all His pathway there fell the shadow of the Cross. The Cross was interwoven into all His life. Galilee would have made Him King ; the whole region of the North went after Him. He said, "I go to Jerusalem." He deliberately journeyed thither, everything in His journey pointing to His doom. The broken bread in the supper repre- sented His broken body; the red wine His spilt blood. They nailed Him to His Cross, and there He was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities. " It is finished," He cried; "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." Then the veil of the Temple was rent asunder. The Holy of Holies was open to mortal gaze. There was no longer any need for earthly priest or altar. The world had become a temple, the human heart the shrine of the Holy Ghost.