The Third Corollary

If the Church be God's husbandry, then there is such a special gracious presence of the Lord in his churches, as is not to be found in all the world besides. Where may you expect to find the husbandman, but in his own fields? There lies his business, and there he delights to be. And where may we expect to find God, but in the assemblies of his saints? He walks among the golden candlesticks (Revelation 2:1). "I will walk among you," says he, "and be your God" (2 Corinthians 6:16). Upon this account the Church is called Jehovah Shammah — the Lord is there (Ezekiel 48). You may see the footsteps of God in the creatures; but the face of God is only to be seen in his ordinances. Hence (Psalm 27:4) David longed for the Temple, that he might see the beauty of the Lord. Now, what is beauty, but a symmetry and proportion of parts? In the works of creation, you see one attribute manifested in one thing, and another, in another thing; but in the sanctuary you may see beauty, even in all the attributes of God displayed there. And indeed, we find in Scripture such astonishing expressions about the visions of God in his Church, that in reading them, a man can see little difference between it and heaven; for as the Church is called heaven (Matthew 25:1), so its description is like that of heaven (Hebrews 12:22-23). "You are come to the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels," etc. And ([reconstructed: Revelation 22:4]) "They shall see his face, and his name shall be written in their foreheads." And verse 24, the saints are represented, standing nearer to the throne of God, than the angels themselves. Hence also ordinances are called galleries, in which both saints and angels walk, beholding the glory of him that sits upon the throne (Zechariah 3:7). "If you will keep my ways, I will give you galleries to walk in, among them that stand by."