I. THERE IS A JERUSALEM HERE BELOW WHICH SHOULD COME INTO OUR MIND.
The church of the living God is our holy city, the city of the Great King, and we should have it in mind,—
1. To unite with its citizens. We should join with them in open profession of faith in Christ, in Christian love and mutual help, in holy service, worship, communion, etc.
2. To pray for its prosperity. Whenever it is well with us in prayer, we should let the cause of God be on our mind. Our window, like that of Daniel, should be opened towards Jerusalem.
3. To labor for its,advancement. We should remember it in the allotment of our money, the use of our time, the employment of our talents, the exercise of our influence, etc.
4. To prefer its privileges above earthly gain. We ought to consider these privileges in our choice of our residence, occupation, etc. With many professors this is a very small matter.
5. To act consistently with her holy character. We must not dishonor the place of our citizenship. God's people must not degrade his name and cause by living in sin.
6. To lament its declensions and transgressions. Remember how our Lord wept over Jerusalem, and Paul wept over enemies in the churches (Luke 19:41; Phil. 3:18).
It were well if into all our joys and sorrows the cause of God were interwoven like a thread of gold. He is a poor patriot who forgets his country, and he is no Christian who does not bear the church upon his heart
II. THERE IS A JERUSALEM ABOVE WHICH SHOULD COME IN OUR MIND.1. Let the believer's thoughts often go thither, for Jesus is there, our departed brethren are there, our own home is there, and thither our hopes and desires should always tend. It should be upon our minds—
The undying love of the Jews for their Fatherland, and their ineradicable desire to return to it, are displayed in an affecting manner on the day of atonement, which is still observed by them with great solemnity. The services of the day close with the beseeching shout, "when next year comes, may we all be in Jerusalem!" We could almost make this prayer our own as we think of the "Jerusalem above."
I have been endeavoring to establish amongst us what are called''Aaron and Hur Societies," i.e., little collections of four or five or more persons, who meet before service on Sabbath morning, to spend an hour in prayer for a blessing on the minister and the ordinances. They began on New Year's Day, and we seemed to have an immediate answer, for the meeting was unusually solemn, and we have reason to hope that the word was not preached in vain. — Dr. Payson
The church of God should come into our minds as spontaneously as the recollection of our wife or mother. When we look at a map of any country, we should think of how the cause of God prospers in that region. If we make a profit in business, one of our first thoughts should be — "now I can do something more for the work of the Lord." When the newspaper is read, it should be in relation to the progress of the kingdom of God. This one thing should tinge all other things with its own color, and draw all other thoughts into its net. The cause of Christ should be an all-absorbing maelstrom, into which all our thoughts and pursuits should be drawn. A man of one idea sees the universe by the light of it, and he who loves the church of God with all his heart will do the same. How can we say,"Lord, remember me? to Christ in heaven, if we do not remember his church on earth?
It may be a sin to long for death, but I am sure it is no sin to long for heaven. — Matthew Henry
Blessed are the homesick, for they shall come at last to the Father's house. — Heinrich Stillings
John Eliot was once on a visit to a merchant, and finding him in his counting house, where he saw books of business on the table, and all his books of devotion on the shelf, he said to him,"Sir, here is earth on the table, and heaven on the shelf. Pray don't think so much of the table as altogether to forget the shelf."
"Here I sit the whole day with the visage of the church ever before me, and the passage 'Why hast thou made all the sons of men in vain?' How horrible a form of God's anger is that abominable kingdom of the Roman Antichrist! I abhor my own hardness of heart that I am not dissolved in tears, and that I do not weep fountains of tears for the slain sons of my people. But is there no one to arise, and cleave to God, and make himself a wall for the house of Israel in this last day of his wrath? God have mercy on us! Wherefore, be thou meanwhile instant as a minister of the Word, and fortify the walls and towers of Jerusalem till they shall assail thee." — From a Letter to Melancthon, written by Luther, at the Castle of the Wartburg