Holy house

“ The great point to be learned is that the Holiness of the home is to be as the Holiness of the Temple. The dedication which makes the bowls before the altar holy is also to sanctify the pots of the household, and the bells and trappings of the horses; the label which was written upon the priest's forehead, 'Holiness unto the Lord', is to be stamped upon the common things, in the street, in the shop, in the house—in fact, upon everything. ”

“ Among men there is a very close link between the character of a house and its occupants. When there is no obstacle to prevent it, the house unintentionally reflects the master‘s likeness. Holiness expresses not so much an attribute as the very being of God in His infinite perfection, and His house testifies to this one truth, that He is holy, that where He dwells He must have holiness, that His indwelling makes holy. ”

“ And God’s promise shone forth from His house in the provision for making holy, in the sanctifying power of the altar, of the blood and the oil. The [p75] house embodied the two sides that are united in holiness, the repelling and the attracting, the condemning and the saving. Now by keeping the people at a distance, then by inviting and bringing them nigh, God’s house was the great symbol of His own Holiness. ”

“ We have here not only a glimpse into the manner of public worship in early times, but we may learn something of far more consequence for us, and find here a suggestion of what our homes ought to be. ‘The Church that is in thy house’—fathers and mothers that are responsible for your homes and their religious atmosphere, ask yourselves if any one would say that about your houses, and if they could not, why not? ”

“ How carefully would you put your habitation in order, lest anything might offend the prince's eyes! How much more pains ought you to take to adorn your soul, and render it a fit habitation for the King of heaven, who condescends to visit you in the holy Eucharist! "A house is preparing, not for man," as the prophet says, "but for God." ”

“ Heavenly Father, when thy people shall not have the opportunity of entering this holy house to offer their supplications unto thee, and they are oppressed and in trouble, surrounded by difficulties or assailed by temptation, and shall turn their faces towards this thy holy house and ask thee for deliverance, for help, for thy power to be extended in their behalf, we beseech thee to look down from thy holy habitation in mercy and tender compassion upon them, and listen to their cries. ”

“ God's holy temple is his house; there he dwells, where his ordinances are administered. [2.] God keeps a good house. There is abundance of goodness in his house, righteousness, grace, and all the comforts of the everlasting covenant; there is enough for all, enough for each; it is ready, always ready; and all on free cost, without money and without price. [3.] In those things there is that which is satisfying to a soul, and with which all gracious souls will be satisfied. Let them have the pleasure of communion with God, and that suffices them; they have enough, they desire no more. ”

“ Nor do those who are, as it were, so thoroughly “at home” in God’s House, pray with any less earnestness or sincerity.
279What a contrast to the cathedral at Geneva I visited with a French ex-Ambassadress. We had to send for the caretaker, who unlocked the door for us and locked it up again as we left. Yet this was once a church; holy men had dedicated their genius to make it beautiful, because it was the House of God. It is not God’s House now; only a building where men meet and speak. ”

“ He is the bread of life; in our Father's house there is bread enough and to spare; we may have fresh supplies from Christ, especially every Lord's day. This outer part is called the sanctuary or holy, because erected to the worship of a holy God, to represent a holy Jesus, and to entertain a holy people, for their further improvement in holiness. ”

“ I will place them in their houses (all those that come at the gospel-call shall have a place and a name in the gospel-church, in the particular churches which are their houses, to which they pertain; they shall dwell in God, and be at home in him, both easy and safe, as a man in his own house; they shall have mansions, for there are many in our Father's house) , in his tabernacle on earth and his temple in heaven, in everlasting habitations, which may be called their houses, for they are the lot they shall stand in at the end of the days. ”

“ If they wish to join in the prayers and the ceremonies of the altar, let them have the clustering pillars and the purple windows.
Everything turns upon what is meant by a church. What is it for? Is it for liturgical services, or is it for pulpit eloquence? Solve that question, and you solve the Reformation. "My house," saith the Divine Voice, "shall be called the house of prayer." It is "by the foolishness of preaching," said Paul, that men are saved. ”

“ I am sure no one has ever lived in Catholic countries without feeling thankful that there is one door ever open to the passer-by, with its mute appeal to sinful, sorrowing humanity to enter and lay down its burden. It is the door of God's house, which rejects no one—always open, reminding us that the All-Father is ever ready to receive us. Who can resist the appeal? How many a poor peasant have I seen, with care on the brow, turn aside for a moment into a church, lay down the basket of provisions or utensils for a brief prayer, and then go on his way refreshed! ”

“ No house could be built which would be like 'our house.' I can never forget the night we and our mothers dedicated it to God in prayer and simple trust; and ever since that night I have felt as if we were dwelling in the secret of his tabernacle, under the shadow of the Almighty. We might have a larger and more fashionable house, but it would bring a weight of care on its mistress, and steal the time she has made sacred to others. ”

“ The children are "the heritage of the Lord;" the parents are His stewards. Like the church, the Christian home has its ministry. Yea, the church is in the home, as the mother is in her child. We cannot separate them; they are correlatives. The one demands the other. The Christian home can have existence only in the sphere of the church. It is the vestibule of the church, bound to her by the bonds of Christian marriage, of holy baptism, and of the communion of saints, leading to her in the course of moral development, and completing her life only in the church-consciousness. ”

“ Pittsburg, Sabbath Morning, June 18th, 1837.
The church-going bell calling worshippers to the house of prayer, emits sounds that fall sweetly on the Christian's ear. How delightful is the thought, that go where we may in this happy land, we find some who love the Saviour and are glad when it is said—"Let us go up to the house of the Lord." ”

“ The Apostles frequently speak of the "Church that is in the house." By this they mean such a household as we have tried to portray—a home where the religion of our blessed Saviour permeates the whole atmosphere; where the Word of God dwells richly; where there are altars of prayer and closets for prayer—a home where Jesus is a daily, a well-known Guest; where the children, baptized into Christ, are nourished with the milk of the Word, so that they grow thereby, increasing more and more, growing up unto Him who is the Head, even Christ. ”

“ The shelter and food given one for the love of God are "sanctified creatures." Sleeping in a home for the love of God is more refreshing than sleeping at an inn for a price. One has been blessed and one has also blessed in return; for again, hospitality, like mercy, blesses both those who give and those who take. Throughout a night one has helped to constitute a home, and the angels of the home have guarded one. One has lain not merely in a house but in a Christian home, not only in a home but in the temple of the heart. ”

“ It is here promised that multitudes of the Gentiles shall come to the church, not only that the few who come dropping in shall be made welcome, but that great numbers shall come in, and the door be thrown open to them: My house shall be called a house of prayer for all people. ”

“ The Church of Christ is one family, bound together by one faith, one Baptism, one hope, acknowledging one God and Father of us all. This family has one Home; here in earth it dwells in a lower chamber, after death it passes into a higher room of God's great House. ”

“ It is the Christian's confidence that in the Father's house a mansion is prepared for him, and that when the earthly house of this tabernacle is taken down and dissolved by death he has a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. ”

“ He has given us intelligence and all the materials and left us to construct the house in which we are to live upon this earth. But in heaven He has built our house for us. Jesus said: "In My Father's house are many mansions." ”

“ May Heaven aid those whom he has lured from positions of usefulness and rectitude of conduct into the gloom of his own night of sin, to return and “enter while there's room”! There are many mansions in the Father's house, many places in infinite Love where reform is ample to furnish the passport into God's presence, the divine Light and Love. ”

“ When we speak of home life with its relations and duties we are not digressing from the subject of gospel light. Nowhere does the light of Christianity shine so peaceful and beautiful as in the home. Nowhere is the power of its influence so felt as in the home circle. [pg 241] The public worship of Christians is an inspiring scene, but nothing apparently is so heavenly as the sacred family altar. A father and mother whose hearts are filled with holy love together with happy, obedient children bowing together at the shrine of devotion is the most imposing scene the eye and heart can witness. ”

“ If ever there was a time when every house should be a house of prayer, it is now. Fathers and mothers should often lift up their hearts to God in humble supplication for themselves and their children. Let the father, as priest of the household, lay upon the altar of God the morning and evening sacrifice, while the wife and children unite in prayer and praise. In such a household Jesus will love to tarry.”—“Christian Education,” page 221. ”

“ There is room in heaven for a vast multitude, yea, room enough for all mankind that are or ever shall be; Luke xiv. 22, “Lord it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.”
It is not with the heavenly temple as it often is with houses of public worship in this world, that they fill up and become too small and scanty for those that would meet in them, so that there is not convenient room for all. There is room enough in our heavenly Father’s house. This is partly what Christ intended in the words of the text, as is evident from the occasion of his speaking them. ”

“ I said, "If the Lord blesses me with life and health, I shall put forth my hand to rear an edifice, in which the people can comfortably assemble, as large as we can build at present, and dedicate it to the Lord, that the people may say in their heart, Let us go up to the house of the Lord to worship." ”

“ We have now just entered into the church of Christ—into the family of God—it is God's house—we are at home in the Father's house, and naught will harm us if we live at home, if we are "obedient children not fashioning ourselves after our former lusts." ”

“ We ought to he in the church as the saints are in heaven, and in the house as the holiest men are in the church; doing our work in the house as we pray in the church; worshipping God from the ground of the heart. ”

“ Through Christ we are made living temples of God. "The house of God." says the Lord, "is a house of prayer." A church which is no longer used for prayer becomes a nonentity; it is no more than a ruin. This is an image of a soul which has ceased to pray; it is a crumbling temple. Unhappy soul, to whom prayer has become strange and difficult! ”

“ It has taken centuries to build a Christian home, the mightiest ally of the Church; let the Church take it with her along with the school, and not suffer the filth, and discomfort, and degrading influences of the old hut to hang as a millstone about the neck of those she would save. Of man’s home here, no less than of the heavenly, “the Lamb should be the light;” ”

“ They teach us that there are "many mansions" in the heavenly Father's house, corresponding to the many kinds and degrees of good in men, and to the many forms of faith or phases of truth; and that all who earnestly seek to know and humbly strive to do his will, may be sure of an eternal abode in some one of the mansions prepared for the blessed. ”

“ How lovely is the sanctuary in the eyes of all that are truly sanctified! Gracious souls see a wonderful, an inexpressible, beauty in holiness, and in holy work. A tabernacle was a mean habitation, but the disadvantage of external circumstances makes holy ordinances not at all the less amiable; for the beauty of holiness is spiritual, and their glory is within. ”

“ Behold, therefore, the new and glorious house of God, filled with an eager multitude, "living" its religion as no people have ever done either before or since! Nothing is considered too good or too costly or too wondrous for this House of God and Home of Man. ”

“ Surely, the Spirit of God is in these sacred buildings, and those who labor therein for the living and the dead enjoy its blessed influence. Let every one of you so live that your life may be pure and clean, so that some day you may be worthy of entering the House of God and partaking of the blessings in store for you. ”