ut he is, beyond all doubt, helped when he does so
in the company of others. He is helped by the conditions of time and
place; and the presence and sympathy of his fellow-worshippers have
upon him a mighty uplifting influence. (_c_) Above all, public worship
is the channel through which we receive special blessings from God.
There is communion in the sanctuary between us and Him. "The true
worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the
Father _seeketh_ such to worship him." God desires our worship, and
blesses it to us. That He does so has been the experience of
Christians in all ages. They have found in the house and worship of
God a strength and power that supported and blessed their life. They
have realized that the promise of Christ is still fulfilled, "Where two
or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of
them." (Matt. xviii. 20.)

II. The Church represents Christian teaching.--In the congregation the
Word of God is read and preached. (_a_) Preaching has always formed
part of the service of the Christian Church from the very earliest
times. In the second century Justin Martyr says: "On the day called
Sunday, all who live in the cities or in the country gather into one
place, and the memoirs of the apostles and the writings of the prophets
are read as time permits; then when the reader has ceased, the
president verbally instructs and exhorts to the imitation of these good
things." This description of an early Christian service is applicable
still. Wherever the Church meets there is religious teaching. (_b_)
And it is the only such teaching that multitudes receive. Without it
they would be left to grope their way alone. (_c_) Whenever,
therefore, there has been a revival of life in the Church, great stress
has been laid upon the preaching of the Word of God, and God has
specially blessed it to the conversion of sinners and the edification
of His people.

III. The Church represents Christian fellowship.--(_a_) It keeps up
the idea of brotherhood in the world. It brings people of different
ranks and classes together, and that under most favorable
circumstances. Whatever a man is in the world, in the Church he is
made to feel that in the eye of God he is a member of one family,
having the same weaknesses, the same sorrows, the same needs, the same
destiny before him as those around him. In the Church "the rich and
poor meet together" in equality before