Z tion of God's righteous abomination of it, renders the near approach to Him the most overpowering source of alarm to sinful man. We see this in the various instances of man feeling himself in the presence of God, recorded in Holy Scripture. We see it in the history of Manoah. "And the angel did wonderously; and Manoah and his wife looked on. For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked on it, and fell on their faces to the ground. But the angel of the Lord did no more appear to Manoah and his wife. Then Manoah knew that it was an angel of the Lord. And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God." We see it in the history of Isaiah. "I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims; each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried to another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." We see it in the history of St. Peter. "When Simon Judges, xiii. 19-22. a Isaiah, vi. 1-5. Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of fishes which were taken." We see it even in the latter days of the history of the beloved disciple, so far advanced in spiritual maturity toward "the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." "And I turned to see the voice that spake to me. And being turned I saw seven golden candlesticks; and in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle." "And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death."" What must have been the feelings of St. John when that divine hand touched him, when that holy voice met his ear with the sweet and encouraging injunction, "fear not?" How beautifully must the remembrance of this amazing event have illuminated the dark valley of the shadow of death, as he approached it. How it must have soothed its pains and softened its terrors, and turned its gloomy prospects into anticipations of ineffable felicity and glory. He had been near his Lord, not only in His state of humiliation, but even after He had " gone into Ephesians, iv. 13. C heaven, and was on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him." He that had the keys of death and hell had been near him, had touched him, laying His hand upon him in love, soothing and cheering his heart with the gracious assurance of His mercy. And how many dying saints of the Lord have derived consolation, peace and joy, from the remembrance of having been near to the Lord in the holy Sacrament of the Eucharist, and enjoyed therein the blessed pledges of His love filling their souls with peace. They expected to meet their Lord and Saviour at His holy table, whenever they approached it. They trembled at the very thought of coming near to Him, harbouring any corrupt affection, or living in the practice of any wickedness, or in the habitual neglect of any duty. Their inmost soul was penetrated by the apostle's language, "Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils." They knew that not idolatry only, of which the apostle is here speaking, but all sin is of the devil, according to St. John's assertion, "He that committeth sin is of the devil." Their language then was, shall we presume to approach the Lord's table in the habit of any known sin. "Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he ?" Shall we array Omnipotence against us, and not incur the most tremendous f 1 Peter iii. 22. h 1 John iii. 8. 1 Corinthians x. 21. i 1 Corinthians x. 22. peril ? k Wherefore they ever" examined themselves, and so eat of that bread and drank of that cup." Considering that they were about to hold communion with the Lord and His Church, and all the company of heaven, they prepared their souls with much thoughtful care for such divine and holy fellowship. Wherefore, when they knelt before the Lord's table, and their heart said, "thou art near O Lord," though deeply abased and filled with reverential awe, they were not alarmed. They felt overwhelmed with the most humiliating consideration of their guilt, corruption, and deficiencies, but looked with the eye of faith upon the cross, and there saw their blessed Redeemer atoning for their sins by His grievous pains of body and mind, His most precious death and passion. Thus they found themselves in peace in the presence of their Lord, and thence were in continual preparation for a more immediate meeting with Him, not through a sacramental medium, but face to face. It is the Shechinah encircling the holy sacraments which at once invests them with their awful nature, and renders them peculiarly instrumental in preparing the soul to meet God in peace. Meeting the Lord at the sacramental table is strictly analogous to meeting Him in glory. And the former is preparatory to the latter. "The terror of the Lord" stands on one side, His gracious mercy with all the beauty of His love and righteous faithfulness to His k 1 Corinthians xi. 28. 1 2 Corinthians v. 11. m saving promises on the other. The glorious holiness of God is so opposed to sin that we cannot approach Him without a trembling and deeply humiliating apprehension of the appearance of our guilty and depraved state in His sight. But habitual prayer in a spirit of contrition and of faith prepares us for sacramental communion. And communion with God through the veil of a sacrament, trains the soul for access to the immediate presence of His glory. For if, whenever we are pleading with God in prayer we may feel that "the blood of Christ is crying to Heaven in our behalf," surely we may with most soothing and unwavering confidence feel this when we are commemorating His death in that sacred ordinance instituted by Himself for this end. In those cries proceeding from the cross, ascending to heaven, and meeting there in our gracious God, as we know they do, ready mercy, forward love, faithful truth fulfilling His "exceeding great and precious promises: "" insuring pardon and salvation to true believers in Christ rests our hope, that God will bear with us in His divine and holy presence, and favourably receive us, nourish our souls with the spiritual food of the body and blood of his dear son Jesus Christ, and dismiss us with grace and peace. Wherefore as a favourable reception from the Lord at His holy table is the surest earnest of a blessed reception in the high presence-chamber of His glory in His heavenly kingdom, so does Jackson. n 2 Peter i. 4. |