Religion and its Circumstantials.
True religion is a matter of the affections. Love for Christ as the atoning Lamb constitutes its life and strength, Christ being the only and real object of affection. His presence is all that is necessary to insure real comfort in worship. If Christ chooses a mountain as the place of gracious discourse, or a ship as his pulpit, or the way-side as his lecture-room, these, to the real disciples, become places of interest and convenience. The green-sward is a rich cushion when Christ speaks to the heart. It will be of but little use to us that Christ is with others. Sermons will be long and dull, prayers tedious and prosy. The time and place of meeting will be unsuitable, if Jesus does not live in us. His place is in the heart; if he is not there, so far as we are concerned, he is absent.