The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1922-10-20

"
Thess. FL: "Our gathering together
unto Him." To be with Him and to see
His face forever! The present goal,
then, is just the anticipation OF that.
1t is any gathering of the saints now.
round their risen Lord. Let Us OBJ
serve some of the outstanding features
Of this scene and see how they por-
tray the blessings awaiting US, upon
every occasion Of "our gathering to
gether."
1. Resurrection Is the ground upon
which the disciples meet. Mary's tes-
'timony to the resurrection of Christ
brings them together upon this first
day Of the week. It is an eighth
day-a number in Scripture that
speaks of resurrection and Of new
creation. And 1t is thus that we are
to assemble ourselves together upon
the Lords Day. Not as Baptists or
Presbyterians, but as company or
risen saints for whom death and Judg-
ment are forever past.
2 2. And here Is He? He is where
He declared He would be-"in the
midst" where two or three are
gathered together (not where they
gather'') unto My name, there am l
In the midst" The spirit Of God is
the convener Of such assemblies, and
He will gather the saints to one CEN
ter only-that center Is the person
OF the risen Christ. "Came Jesus and
stood in the midst" and said "Peace.
8. Peace, then, is to mark the surh-
ering of His people, His own peace
Locked doors cannot keep Him away
from His own, but dispeace can. dis
harmony can, marpiot canl II he
is there, there Is peace. Peace has
been made by the death Of the Cross
and He comes to proclaim Il. -And-
when He had so said, He showed
unto them His hands and His side
the marks of that death by which
peace has been made.
4. And why this? 1t Is eloquent of
His hearts desire that when His
people meet together they shall not
forget His death. The one thing never
forgotten In heaven is the one thing
He would have US remember here.
and indeed the only thing that He
ever asked us to commemorate: His
death! "This do In remembrance OF
Me-" And 1t Is as we are gathered
around Him at His table that we
truly anticipate the day when aHe
shall present us to Himself" In In
stituting that memorial feast, He said:
81 will not drink henceforth Of this
fruit of the vine, until that day when
I drink 1t new with you in my Fa-
theirs kingdom" He refuses wine
until He shall drink 1t with His bride
at the wedding feast! Paul was
caught up to heaven, and came back
with this additional revelation:
have received of the Lord, that
as often as ye drink this cup ye do
show the Lords death till He come !"
Thus, as we sip the outpoured wine,
we are not only recalling His death
and reminded that it was our sins
that split His precious blood. we are
anticipating the marriage supper
when we shall drink wine with Him
anew. and with overdowing hearts,
we cry: "This morning here, In thine
absence, the next occasion at the mar
riage-feast. Come, Lord Jesus. come
quicklyr'
&. "Then were the disciples glad
when they saw the Lordl" oh, were
they notl It is His presence that
gives gladness, now as He shall be-
our ioy forever. He comes into the
midst. not with peace only, but with
gladness and thus we foretaste our
heaven.
But glad hearts are full Of praise.
and by Him, we are exhorted, s1et
us offer the sacrifice Of praise to God
continually, confessing His name.n
And we have heard Him say to the
Father: Elm the midst of the church
will I sing praise unto Thee" His
own heart has a song! He has come
into the midst to lead us in ou:
praises to the Father. He is the Chor-
lister and Himself the Theme If our
nraisei This is the rare perfume, so
dear to God, that Of old went up to
Him before the veil-confessing with
our overfull hearts that precious, inef-
fable name before Him, and no exer-
else of our hearts can be dearer to
Him than this!
6. Time now for the benediction:
..Then said Jesus to them again,
Peace be unto lou: as my Father
hath sent Me, even so send l you"
When Of old the priests came out
of the holy place the people smeIled
the incense on their garments. Thus
do we go from the sanctuary-to
leave the sweet SAVIOR of Himself in
every place.