The Holiest Spot: Closets of Private Prayer
It is common to speak of the house of public worship as a holy place; but it has no exclusive sanctity. The holiest spot on earth, is where the soul breathes its purest vows, and forms or executes its noblest purposes; and on this ground, were I to seek the holiest spot in your city, I should not go to your splendid sanctuaries, but to closets of private prayer. Perhaps the “Holy of Holies” among you is some dark, narrow room, from which most of us would shrink as unfit for human habitation; but God dwells there. He hears there music more grateful than the swell of all your organs; sees there a beauty such as nature, in her robes of spring, does not unfold; for there he meets, and sees, and hears, the humblest, most thankful, most trustful worshiper; sees the sorest trials serenely borne, the deepest injuries forgiven; sees toils and sacrifices cheerfully sustained, and death approached, through a lonely illness, with a triumphant faith. The consecration which such virtues shed over the obscurest spot is not and cannot be communicated by any of those outward rites by which our splendid structures are dedicated to God.