house of the Lord; our feet shall stand in thy gates, O Jerusalem."
I will conclude with the words of a great Christian writer, speaking of this subject, and of those who are seldom soon in God's house on week-days:—"Very likely," he says, "you may be right in not coming; you have duties connected with your temporal calling, which have a claim upon you; you must serve like Martha, you have not the leisure of Mary. Well, be it so; still you have a loss as Martha had, while Mary was at Jesus' feet. You have a loss. I do not say that God cannot make it up to you; doubtless, He will bless every one who continues in the path of duty. He blessed Peter in prison, and Paul on the sea, as well as the mother of Mark, and the daughters of Philip. Doubtless, even in your usual employments you can be glorifying your Saviour: you can be thinking of Him; you can be thinking of those who are met together in worship; you can be following in your heart, as far as may be, the prayers they offer. Doubtless; only try to realise to yourself that continual prayer and praise, of which the Bible speaks, is a privilege; only feel, in good earnest, what somehow the mass of Christians, after all, do not receive; that 'It is good for us to be here;'[1] feel as those early Christians felt, when persecution prevented them from meeting; or, as holy David in his youth, when he cried out, 'My soul is athirst for God; yea, even for the living God; when shall I come to appear before the presence of God?'[2] Feel this, and we need not be anxious about your coming: you will come if you can;"—because it is a pleasure, a delight and refreshment to your soul, during all your pilgrimage here below.
