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So they revered the city on the hill. Their affections clustered round about its sacred courts. They loved the very tracks which led to it. "Blessed is the man in whose heart are the highways to Zion." The beaten roads were trodden deep in their affections. The stones of the building were clothed in rich and mystic meaning. "Thy servants take pleasure in her stones." A radiant history made worship eager, grateful and assured. "We have heard with our ear, O God; our fathers have told us what work Thou didst in their days, in the times of old." The hoary pile was beautified with the association of the spiritual splendours of other days. They gloried in their heritage. Such was the sentiment of the olden days. The nation found its unity in its common love of Zion. There are now many Zions. The exaltation of one particular mountain has ceased. Spiritual affections no longer find their points of convergence in a lonely and isolated temple. To-day religion has many homes, but because of the many abiding-places the strength of the general fellowship need not be impoverished. The zealous reverence for particular faiths creates the religious atmosphere of a people. Here, then, is our own Zion. What is the significance of this building to the family which gathers within its walls? To an uncounted host the plain old pile is a dear and honoured home. The very stones are revered. They are the shrine of a sacred sentiment. Here our fathers met and prayed. Hero they had such visions of the Master as made them bold to confront the world. But it is not only that these stones are the shrine of a sacred sentiment; they are to many of you the house of a sacred experience. It was here you first saw the face of your Lord. It was here you were born again. I do not wonder that you love the old Zion. Every other place is a strange and unsuggesgive lodging: this house is your birthplace and your home. "Tell the towers thereof!" What are the towers of our faith? Here is the primary stronghold: Christ is the alone-exalted head of the Christian Church. No one shares His headship or pre-eminence. No one can claim a deputed sovereignty. There is only one throne, and to that throne we may all come boldly, and find grace and mercy in every time of need. Christ is the alone-exalted head of the Christian Church. That is one of the strong towers of our faith. "Tell the towers thereof." Here is another of our strongholds: The Christian Church is constituted of Christian believers. The confines of a country do not mark the boundaries of a Church. Geographical measurements cannot delimit the magnitude of a Church. The Christian Church begins where Christian believers begin; it ends where they end. "Tell the towers thereof." Here is a third of our strongholds: Every body of Christian believers enjoys the guiding presence of the Holy Ghost. He has called Himself the Spirit of "Counsel and of Might," and as such will He stand revealed. "Mark ye well her bulwarks!" Yes, what are the bulwarks of our faith? What is the character of its walls? What is the nature of its defence? The defences of our faith are the resistance of its own redemptive grace. Spirituality is to be safeguarded by the spiritual. The bulwarks of a saving grace are to be found in the powers of its own salvation. "Consider her palaces!" Yes, we are not afraid to consider the home-life created and sustained by the forces of our faith. "Consider her palaces," her dwellings, the family life which is nourished behind the ramparts of our faith. Can you conceive of any surer and firmer cement for the solidarity of a home than the immediate fellowship of each member with the Christ, in the common bond of the Holy Ghost? The palaces created by our faith, its family and its social life, are the abiding-places of the Eternal God. "Walk about Zion, go round about her: tell the towers thereof, mark ye well her bulwarks: consider her palaces, that ye may tell it to the generations following." Is it worth the telling? Or shall we close the book and shelve the story? Can the twentieth century do without our faith? Is there no need for our towers, and our bulwarks, and our palaces? Have we a gospel which will redeem the coming man? Have we a faith which will sanctify the coming home? Have we a hope which will be directive and preservative of the purest elements in the State? Then let us proclaim it, and let us make provision for its proclamation.

(J. H. Jowett, M. A.)

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KJV: Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof.

WEB: Walk about Zion, and go around her. Number its towers.