IV. Remark. What a blessing it is to have many houses of God in the nation where we dwell; and those houses of God near us! God may say to us, as to Israel; Deut. xxx. 12. “Say not who shall ascend into heaven to bring the word to us, that we may hear it? Or, who shall go over the sea, &c. for the word is very nigh to us.” We need not travel so far as the Jews, three times every year, to public worship; and yet they “went from strength to strength, till they appeared before God in Zion;” Ps. lxxxiv. 7. Consider some nations where God is not worshipped aright, and hath no dwelling-place; consider how far some poor creatures come even in this island, many miles from their own dwelling, to appear before God in his ordinances; but God seats his throne, as it were, at our doors: there are many synagogues of God in our land, for us to appear before him, and many near us in the city where we dwell, and near us too in this place of retirement. How valuable a privilege is it to dwell in a religious family, in a house of God, where there is a _church in the house_, as Phil. verse 2. where we often appear before God? How gladly would many persons (who are in better circumstances in the world than some of us enjoy) exchange those better circumstances for spiritual advantages such as we have: But some of you perhaps may say, “We may be saved without so much religion, without so much ado about the worship of God in families or in churches.” Let me tell you, if a religious family be not a pleasure to you, heaven itself cannot afford you pleasure; for that is but one great religious family, of which Jesus Christ is the head: And if the business of that place be not your delight, you shall never have a place there.