June 26

It is observable that he does not say what he will do there, but only that he is there, in the midst of them. This is assurance enough. His presence is all his people can need; for with him is the fountain of life. Moses desired nothing more than that his presence should go with him. David was emboldened by this to look into the valley of the shadow of death—"I will fear no evil, for thou art with me." What is heaven? To "be for ever with the Lord."

Well, when they are gathered together in his name; there he is in the midst of them, as a physician in the midst of his disordered patients; as a father in the midst of his family; as the sun is in the midst of the garden in spring; as the soul is in the body, animating every member, and penetrating every particle of the frame. There he is, to enliven their devotions, to hear their complaints, to relieve their wants, to give them grace and glory, and to withhold no good thing from them. There he is, to pardon the guilty, to enrich the poor, to comfort the mourners, to be the father of the fatherless and the judge of the widow in his holy habitation.

Christians! you are his witnesses. This assurance you have often tried; and it has now become a matter of history and experience. There he gave you these eyes to see, and ears to hear, and hearts to feel. You know the preacher could not have made you "a new creature"—"the excellency of the power was of God"—"God was in the midst of them of a truth." There you have found him in painful discoveries, which laid open the chambers of imagery in the heart; and made you cry, "Behold, I am vile;" "wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." There you have enjoyed him in the manifestations of his love; and have been convinced that they were not the delusions of fancy, or the ferments of animal nature, by their humbling, holy, heavenly tendency. There he has removed your perplexities and doubts; freed your conscience of its galling load; and spoken many a word in season to your weary souls: so that you can now say,

"In every new distress, We 'll to his house repair; We 'll think upon his wond'rous grace, And seek deliverance there"—

And go—always pleading this promise, and saying, "Do as thou hast said:" "Fulfil thy word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope." That hope will not, cannot make you ashamed. Your expectation is sustained not only by his goodness, but also by his truth. You could not have bound him, but he has bound himself. He cannot be absent from your assembly if you meet in his name—For he hath said, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, THERE AM I IN THE MIDST OF THEM."

JUNE 26.—"Where two or three are gathered together in my Name, there am I in the midst of them."—Matthew 18:20.

LET me take this blessed assurance, and consider it

As a demonstration of my Saviour's divinity. Who less than God could have given such a promise? He does not say, there shall my blessing be, but myself: yea, not there will I be, but there I am. This necessarily supposes omnipresence. How else could he be in so many companies and places at once? How many assemblies

are there on the Sabbath in the various parts of the earth? And, if there be truth or meaning in this promise, he is in every one of them, attending to all the peculiarities of individual condition, and affording the most suitable relief. Could an angel do this? But

Let me consider it as a standard by which to estimate his condescension and grace. Here I find David before me—"When," says he, "I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained; Lord, what is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou visitest him?" So felt also his son Solomon at the dedication of the temple. It was a glorious scene; and a common mind would have been struck with the splendour of the building, the largeness of the audience, and the sound of such a multitude of performers; but he, wondering that the Supreme Being should deign to notice it, exclaims, "Will God in very deed dwell with men upon the earth? Behold, the heaven, even the heaven of heavens, cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built?" See, O my soul, he not only allows us to wait upon him, but he waits upon us. Small as our number may be, wherever we meet together he is in the midst of us—however poor and unworthy—and as often as they choose to assemble—and he has been always doing this—and will continue to do it to the end of time! "Who is a God like unto thee?

Let it serve to bind me to a proper demeanour in his house. There is always something impressive in a company of human beings, especially if there be in the midst of them some very distinguished personage, such as a hero, a philosopher, a king. "God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him." In his presence let me guard against a roving eye; wandering thoughts; drowsiness; hypocrisy; formality. When I enter the sanctuary, I place myself immediately under his view—and he sees me, and knows whether my devotion be any thing more than a form of godliness or a fair show in the flesh. Let it impress me with the importance of social and public worship. Some ask, "May we not read and pray and meditate at home? And will not this equally answer the purpose with our joining in the service of the sanctuary?" But the Judge of all has decided this, not only by his command that we forsake not the assembling of ourselves together, but by his promise that he is in the midst of us. Indeed reason and experience will lead us to the same result. In his house the greater number of the Lord's followers are called by grace; and they who are not born, are nourished there. It is thus excitement and allurement are provided to draw the ignorant and the careless together. Nothing tends so much to civilize and harmonize men as their frequently uniting in such exercises; and nothing tends so much to keep the distinctions of life from excess and abuse.

Let it also prove a stimulation to the use of the means of grace. Some think it is needless for them to go to the sanctuary, because the minister can tell them no more than they know already. This is very questionable. But allowing that the servant is unable to do any thing more for them, is the master too? I do not go only or principally because the preacher is there, but because the Saviour himself is there, whose sufficiency is divine. How is the company