“Oh, when, thou city of my God,
      Shall I thy courts ascend? 
    Where congregations ne’er break up,
      And Sabbaths have no end.”

There are people in this house to-day who are very near the eternal world.  If you are Christians, I bid you be of good cheer.  Bear with you our congratulations to the bright city.  Aged men, who will soon be gone, take with you our love for our kindred in the better land, and when you see them, tell them that we are soon coming.  Only a few more sermons to preach and hear.  Only a few more heart-aches.  Only a few more toils.  Only a few more tears.  And then—­what an entrancing spectacle will open before us!

    “Beautiful heaven, where all is light,
    Beautiful angels clothed in white,
    Beautiful strains that never tire,
    Beautiful harps through all the choir;
    There shall I join the chorus sweet,
    Worshiping at the Saviour’s feet.”

I stand before you on this Sabbath, the last Sabbath preceding the great feast-day in this Church.  On the next Lord’s-day the door of communion will be open, and you will all be invited to come in.  And so I approach you now with a general invitation, not picking out here and there a man, or here and there a woman, or here and there a child; but giving you an unlimited invitation, saying:  “Come, for all things are now ready.”  We invite you to the warm heart of Christ, and the inclosure of the Christian Church.  I know a great many think that the Church does not amount to much—­that it is obsolete; that it did its work and is gone now, so far as all usefulness is concerned.  It is the happiest place I have ever been in except my own home.

I know there are some people who say they are Christians who seem to get along without any help from others, and who culture solitary piety.  They do not want any ordinances.  I do not belong to that class.  I can not get along without them.  There are so many things in this world that take my attention from God, and Christ, and heaven, that I want all the helps of all the symbols and of all the Christian associations; and I want around about me a solid phalanx of men who love God and keep His commandments.  Are there any here who would like to enter into that association?  Then by a simple, child-like faith, apply for admission into the visible Church, and you will be received.  No questions asked about your past history or present surroundings.  Only one test—­do you love Jesus?

Baptism does not amount to anything, say a great many people; but the Lord Jesus declared, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved,” putting baptism and faith side by side.  And an apostle declares, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you.”  I do not stickle for any particular mode of baptism, but I put great emphasis on the fact that you ought to be baptized.  Yet no more emphasis than the Lord Jesus Christ, the Great Head of the Church, puts upon it.