Tonight there's six things I'd like to accomplish here. There'll be six brief things while one thing will be a little longer than the rest. But the first thing I'd like to do is to draw your attention to 1 Kings chapter 10. It's rather interesting what Mr. Spurgeon does to the second verse here. And then he draws the theme of communion with Christ. And then you might think, well, wow, where does he get this from? Well, we'll look at the language, and I think we'll be able to figure this out as we go along. This is a thematic sermon. It's not necessarily what we would consider a deep exegesis. But let's read verses 1 through 10 together. And then we'll go through some more preliminaries. Now, when the Queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to test him with difficult questions. She came to Jerusalem with a very large retinue with camels carrying spices and very much gold and precious stones. When she came to Solomon, She spoke with him about all that was in her heart, and Solomon answered all her questions. Nothing was hidden from the king, which he did not explain to her. When the queen of Sheba perceived all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, the food of his table, the seating of his servants, the attendance of his waiters and their attire, his cupbearers and his stairway by which he went up to the house of the Lord, There was no more spirit in her. Then she said to the king, it was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. Nevertheless, I did not believe the reports until I came and my eyes had seen it. And behold, the half was not told me. You exceed in wisdom and prosperity the report which I heard. How blessed are your men. How blessed are these, your servants, who stand before you continually and hear your wisdom. Blessed be the Lord, your God, who delighted in you to set you on the throne of Israel. Because the Lord loved Israel forever, therefore he made you king to do justice and righteousness. And she gave the king 120 talents of gold and a very great amount of spices and precious stones. Never again did such abundance of spices come in as that which the Queen of Sheba gave King Solomon. So second thing I wanted us to consider briefly is Sheba. Where is Sheba? Well, Sheba is quite a ways away from Israel. Sheba is the southwestern tip of the Arabian Peninsula in modern day Yemen. She made quite a trip. It was purposeful. And if you're wondering about the people that lived in Sheba, maybe you remember hearing the term Sabian. Well, Job certainly knew who the Sabians were because they raided his, for lack of a better term, his ranch and inflicted some pretty severe damage to his family. So it's speculated that the queen, considering that Solomon was a very powerful ruler of his day, had made that long trip perhaps to negotiate a trade agreement. There is a very powerful man in a powerful country, and she's the head of state. Let's try to work things out so that we have peace between us. That's holy speculation. The third thing I'd like to look at briefly is the language in verse 2b. She spoke with him about all that was in her heart. And that's the way the New American Standard renders it. And it's helpful to look at other translations. King James uses the term communed. All right, that gives it a little different nuance. But there's another translation that I found very helpful to me as a man, and that was the subtuagent. And the Greek word means, well, to speak, to tell, to proclaim. But to look at more detail that Greek verb, and I don't want us to get lost in the weeds here, I understand the little codes that were associated with my reference. It's aorist, it's passive, and it's a participle. Well, it happened once in time. It's passive. It's a participle. So she was talking and talking and talking. And I got the sense as the more I looked at this verb, that she was completely overwhelmed with what she saw in the person of Solomon and all that he had. She was overwhelmed with her experience, and there was a glibness of her speech. And maybe you've met somebody in the past that has kind of taken your breath away. Maybe it's the first time you met your wife. Maybe not. But think about that. Perhaps you've met someone, and you've just felt completely at ease with that person. And you just talk, and you talk, and you talk. And before you know it, an hour has passed. And I suspect that is what happened to the Queen of Sheba when she met Solomon and considered his wisdom and all that God had blessed him with. And Mr. Spurgeon is taking this passage and kneading it. You know, like you knead some dough. He's building a case. And I have a question here to read to you in just a moment. I'm going to read it to you right now. He's building a case for communion not with Solomon, but one greater than Solomon, he's building a case for communion with Christ. And I don't mean communion in the sense that the Lord's Supper, but a free interchange, a wonderful relationship where there's give and take in the spiritual sense. So my question is this. If you're not in daily communion with Christ, then why aren't you? Why not? All right. That's something you'll have to answer yourselves. Some related New Testament texts. Well, the one that came to my thinking was another narrative passage in Luke's gospel. Maybe you're thinking of it yourself. Luke 24, the crucifixion had taken place, the disciples were scattered, and in verse 14 we read of a couple of believers who are leaving town. And they were conversing with each other about all these things which had taken place. And it came about while they were conversing and discussing, Jesus Himself approached. and began traveling with them. And then, skipping down to verse 31, after they'd spent some time with him and they had a meal together, their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he vanished from their sight. That is a narrative passage. And then I'm going to draw attention to you a didactic passage that our pastor has put for us on our order of service. I just need to lay my hand on the order of service. There it is. From James chapter 4, verse 8, draw near to God and he will draw near to you. So there's some action required on our part, There's a concomitant promise. Well, we've blazed through five things so far. So let's look at the sermon proper then. If you have a copy of the transcript, follow along, not simply listen. The sermon was preached originally April 7th of 1878 God's servant was 43 years old. And then about a decade after he passed into glory, it was read publicly, May 18th of 1902. I'm not going to read this verbatim. We've already looked at the text. Let's start on the second paragraph. It's not generally a wise thing to tell all that is in your heart, Solomon himself has said. A fool utters all his mind, but a wise man keeps it in till afterwards. That's from Proverbs 29 11. There are many things which you had better not tell anybody. And I would make an exception, you ought to have that type of relationship with your spouse. If you don't, there's trouble. Make no one your confidant completely, with that exception. If you do, you run great risks of making an Ahithophel or a Judas for yourself. You may have a traitor on your hand who will cause you great harm, in other words. If you do, you run great risks. I'm sorry I've read that. David said in his haste that all men are liars. Psalm 116, that was not quite true. Probably what he meant was that if you trust all men, we shall find ourselves deceived. But if we could meet with a Solomon, one who had been divinely endowed with wisdom as he was, it might be safe for us to bring all our questions and tell all our troubles to him. At any rate, We know of one who is greater than Solomon, Matthew 12, 42, to whom it is most safe and blessed to tell out all that is in your heart. He's willing to listen to us and to commune with us. And the more frank and open we are with him, the better will he be pleased and the better will be for us. That's our subject. And he is going to make a statement of confession here. He's spiritualizing the action of the Queen of Sheba. All right, his first point on the next page is, we ought to commune with Jesus of all that is in our heart. He's going to build a case here. And his first paragraph, he addresses those who are confessing believers of Christ, Christians, All those who have been redeemed from among men by his most precious blood. Next paragraph. Tell Jesus all that is in your heart. All. For neglect of communing with Christ of the most intimate kind is ungenerous towards him. Well, that seems like an odd statement, but he's going to build a case as to why he considers this ungenerous. And he asks a question, a probing question. Are there any professing Christians here who live for a month without conscious communion with Christ? What does he mean by communion? He's not talking about taking the bread and the juice. He's talking about prayer? Reading our Bibles in our private place? That's the way I interpret it. If I were to speak of a longer period and ask, are there not some professing Christians here who have lived for three months without conscious communion with Christ, I'm afraid there are some who, if they were honest and truthful, would have to reply, yes, that's the case with us. If so, think what that means. You profess to belong to Jesus, to be his disciples, and yet you confess that you've lived all this time without real intimate communion with him, who is your master and Lord. Is this kindness to your friend? You believe yourself to be married to Christ. That would be a strange kind of marriage union in which the wife should be in the presence of her husband and not even speak to him by the week, by the month, by the three months, by the six months together, be an awful marriage. Do we not sometimes act towards our heavenly bridegroom in just that manner? Are we not too often like the men of the world who do not know him? Do we not live as if we did not know him or as if he were no longer present with us? It ought not to be thus. Next paragraph. We must tell him all that is in our heart because to conceal anything from so true a friend betrays the sad fact that there's something wrong to be concealed. Is there anything that you do that you could not tell Jesus? Well, let's think about the fact that not only it's a fool's errand to try to hide something from him, he's the omniscient one, but it's a slight. Is there any... planned now before you that you could not ask him to sanction, to bless? Is there anything in your heart which you would wish to hide from him? Then it is a wrong thing. If I want to hide it, then surely it must be because it is something of which I cause to be ashamed. I beseech you to live just as you would do if Christ Jesus were in your room, in your bedchamber, your bedroom, your shop, your workplace, or walking along the street with you, for his spiritual presence is there. May there never be anything about you which you wish to conceal from him. I've heard somebody say years ago, it's so true, when you're driving your car, And you get angry about another driver. Do you mortify what's in here? Do you drive as if you were to look in the rear view mirror using your imagination that Christ himself was in the back seat of your car? When you have your smartphone, and you're in your bedroom, and there is a site that has images that will pollute your mind, what do you do? You consider the omniscient one who sees all. You put that thing away. Considering the fact that Jesus is omniscient, we're not gonna hide anything from him. We cannot tell Jesus all that is in our heart, it shows a lack of confidence in his love, or his sympathy, or his wisdom, or his power. When there's something that the wife cannot tell her husband or there begin to be some secret things on the part of one of them that cannot be revealed to the other, there will soon be an end of mutual love and peace and joy. Things cannot go on well in the home while there has to be concealment. And I know there are some here who are on the threshold of marriage, and I hope you're listening. Love him so much that you can trust him even with the little frivolous things which so often worry and vex you. Love him so much that you can tell him all that is in your heart, nor ever for a moment wish to keep back anything from him. And then skipping to the bottom of the next paragraph, every day, unburden your heart to Christ and never let him think that you even begin to distrust him. So shall you keep up a frank and open and blessed fellowship between Christ and your own soul. Next paragraph. Is there anything that I have not told to Jesus, anything in which I could not have fellowship with him? Then, if that's the case, there's something wrong with me. Are you keeping your trouble to yourself and trying to manage without consulting with Jesus? Well then, if anything goes wrong, you will have the responsibility of it. But if you take it all to Him and leave it with Him, it cannot go wrong. Well, there's a danger. You've heard of Pollyanna? If you haven't heard of Pollyanna, maybe you've heard of Tinkerbell. I used to think, in my last work environment, when things were going very badly, it seemed to go badly, and it didn't seem like anybody in the management had a clue as to what was really cooking, that they were using the Tinkerbell method of management. They were just hoping and wishing that the problems would go away. It doesn't work that way. There is a law of sowing and reaping. We are responsible for our actions and decisions. But I think to give Mr. Spurgeon some space here, if we have that free fellowship with Christ, it does help to put things into perspective, regardless of our troubles, an eternal perspective. That really does help. I believe that our trials usually come out of the things that we do not take to the Lord. The men of Israel, and here he's going to refer to the Old Testament here, the old men of Israel were deceived by the Gibeonites because they had on old shoes and clothes and had moldy bread in their packs, and the Israelites said, it's perfectly clear that these men must have come from a long distance. Look at their old boots, their ragged garments. And so they made a covenant with them and inquired not the will of the Lord. So in their naivete, they believed what they saw. They forgot to do one thing, or they neglected to do one thing, and that was ask God's direction and made a foolish decision. If it had not appeared to them to be quite so clear a case, they would have asked the Lord for direction. And then they would have been guided rightly Right. It is when you think you can see your way that you go wrong. When you cannot see your way but trust to God to lead you by way that you know not, you will go perfectly right. He says, I'm persuaded that the simplest and plainest matter kept away from Christ will turn out to be a maze. while the most intricate labyrinth under the guidance of Christ will prove to have in it a straight road for the feet of those who trust in the infallible wisdom of their Lord and Savior. And I'm also gonna add, do not neglect or discount godly counsel. Making a serious decision, go to Christ, yes. Go to counselors, yes. Next paragraph. On the other hand, if you do not come to Jesus and commune with him, with all that is in your heart, you will lose his counsel and help, and the comfort that comes from them. There's many a child of God who might be rich in all the intents of bliss, who continues to be as poor as Lazarus the beggar, he's speaking in spiritual terms. He has hardly a crumb of comfort to feed upon, and he's full of doubts and fears. when he might have had full assurance long ago. There is many an heir of heaven who is living upon the mere husks of gospel food when he might be eating the rich fare of which Moses speaks, butter of kine and milk of sheep and fat of lambs and rams of the breed of Bashan and goats with the fat of kidneys and wheat." I guess that would be considered the best food of the land at the time. Very often, you have not because you ask not, or because you believe not, or because you do not confide in Jesus and commune with him. How strong the weakling might be if he would go to Jesus more frequently. Again, speaking in spiritual terms. How rich the poor soul might be if it would draw continually from Christ inexhaustible treasury. What might we not be if we would live but live up to our privileges? Might we not live in the suburbs of heaven and often, as it were, be close to the pearly gates if we would but go and tell all to Jesus and commune with him concerning all that is in our hearts? Sometimes Our naughty habit of inhibition towards Jesus is aggravated by our eagerness to tell our troubles to others. In the time of trial, we often imitate King Asa, who, when he was sick, sought not to the Lord but to the physicians, 2 Chronicles 10. Not wrong to go to the physicians, but we should have gone to the Lord first. It's the same with many of you as it was with Asa. Away you go to your neighbor over the fence, or you call in a friend and have a talk with him in your own drawing room, your own living room. Or you go to some great one and tell him all your trouble, yet how much have you gained by doing so? Some of us go to Dr. Google for everything. Have you not often found that you would have been wiser if you'd followed Solomon's advice, going out into your brother's house in the day of your calamity? Have you not also frequently discovered that when you have talked over your griefs with your friends, they still remain? Skipping down to the following paragraph, suppose the Lord Jesus Christ were to meet some of you And you were to say to him, good master, we are in trouble. And suppose he should say to you, where have you been with your trouble? You've not been to me. And suppose you were to reply, no, Lord, we've been consulting with flesh and blood. We have been asking our friends to help us. And suppose he were to say to you, and have they disappointed you? And you had to reply, yes, Lord. They have. Suppose he looked at you severely and said, where have you already gone? Where you have already gone, you'd better go again. You went to your friends first, are you coming to me last? Am I to play the lackey, the slave to you, and do you only come to me after having tried all the others? Now, if he did talk like that, what could you reply? Well, I think your only answer could be, Jesus, master, I've too much forgotten you. I've not regarded you as a real present friend. I've gone to my neighbors because I could see them, speak with them, and hear what they had to say. But I thought of you as if you were a myth. Or perhaps I've not thought of you at all. Forgive me, Lord, for I do believe that you are and your word is true, which declares that you are always with your people and help me by your grace always to come to you. And that closes out his first point. The second point is this. We need not cease communing with Christ for lack of topics. He's going to give us a number of different suggestions and things we can bring to Christ. First of all, his first thing is bring your sorrows, bring your troubles to him. He's the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He knows all about you and all about your sorrows too. If you'll only talk with him, you'll find an open ear and a sympathetic heart and a ready hand all placed at your disposal. What do you mean, sir? Do you mean that I'm to sit down in my room and tell Jesus about all my troubles? Yes, I do mean just that. Tell it all to him. Pour into his ear and heart the story which you cannot disclose to anyone else. But it seems so fanciful, a British expression. It seems so fanciful to imagine that I can really speak to Jesus. Try it, beloved. If you have faith in God, you will discover that it is not a matter of fancy, but the most blessed reality in the world. If you have the inner eyes that you have been enlightened by the Holy Spirit, and if your heart discerns the invisible presence of the once crucified, but now glorified Savior, tell him the whole story of your grief. Secondly, Tell him your joys. He can have as much true fellowship with the joyous as with the sad. Go, young sister, young brother, in the gladness of your first youthful joy. Tell it all to Jesus. He rejoiced in spirit when he was on the earth, and now he has the joy that was set before him when he endured the cross and despises shame. If you tell him your joys, he will sober them, not sour them. He will take away from them their earthly effervescence and impart unto them a spiritual flavor. Nice. I guess I'm guilty of some of that. Having a good time, but having to be brought back down to earth on spiritual matters. That's a good exercise. Even in common things, your joy shall not become idolatrous and sinful. You have such comforts and are full of joy. You should pray this prayer that you might find God in all things. And then skipping down to the next paragraph, I can't really think of another synonym for ecstasy. So we're just going to have to bear with me. There are other synonyms, but I can't really come up with one that truly fits. At least my thinking, so. Some people say that we Christians get into ecstasies and raptures. Maybe we're considered dreamers or something. And then we hardly know our head from our heels. We're so excited that we are not fair witnesses as to matters of fact. You heard that expression? Some Christians, what's the expression? Something about having your head in a cloud, you're so heavenly minded you're of no earthly good, something like that. I do not think that the church has often had too much excitement. The fault has usually been something quite in the opposite direction. Reformed Baptist. I know a great many Christian people who are by no means fools. If you try to do business with them, you'll find that they're as shrewd and wide awake as any man. I should like to appeal to them about this matter. Christ never appears to me so glorious as when I am perfectly cool and collected, just as if I should be if I were sitting down to write out some statistics. I didn't pen and ink back then. Or to work out a mathematical problem. or to make up an account and strike a balance. Whenever, in the very calmest and quietest manner, I begin to think of my Lord and Master, he then, most of all, strikes me as glorious. Consider the objectivity of Christ and his person and his work. I do not require the beating of a big drum to put me into the right state to think of Christ. Maybe today he'd, instead of saying a big drum, a worship band. Neither do I need to sit in a meeting and sing or shout for hours. If I am just suffered to go upstairs alone and to open my Bible and sit still and meditate upon the Lord Jesus, it is then that I grow enthusiastic about him. When I get all my thoughts fixed upon him just as another man might have all his powers occupied with a political question, that's a pretty easy thing to do, or some subject that comes before him in his daily business. It's when we are fully awake but in a cool, calm frame of mind that the glory of Christ is best seen by us. Our religion does not require the excitements and stimulants upon which some seem to live, but when we are in the most serene state of mind and heart, then we can best see the glories of Christ. My master would have you sit down and count the cost of being his servants. He would make you mathematicians that after you've counted the cost, you may see that he is worth 10,000 times more than he could ever cost you. He would have you survey him and look upon him from all points of view. Look at his person. His work, His offices, His promises, His achievements, that in all things you may see how glorious He is, I ask you calmly to see what kind of Lord and Master He is and what sort of glory it is that surrounds Him. Simple common sense to believe in Christ. It's irrational to reject Him. The best use of your reason is to lay it, your concerns, at his feet. And the truest wisdom is to count yourself but a fool in comparison with him. And sit with Mary and listen to his wondrous words. Well, that was his second object to be taken to the Lord. Here's his third. You may also go to Jesus and tell him about your service. You've begun to work for the Lord. You're very pleased with the opportunity of doing something for him, but you do not find it to be all sweetness. Well, we live in a sin-cursed world. Even serving Christ in this church, there can be trouble. Perhaps you're like Martha. who was cumbered with her service for Christ. Luke 10. The servants might burn the meat or she was afraid that one very special delicacy would be spoiled altogether. Doing a little speculation here, that's okay. Fits with the theme. Besides, somebody had broken the best dish and the tablecloth did not look as white as she liked to see it. They're not, Unimportant concerns. Martha was also troubled because Mary did not help her, so she went to the master about it, which was the most sensible thing she could do. I can, and this is Mr. Spurgeon speaking in the first person, I can speak very sympathetically about this matter, for I get worrying concerning it sometimes. And I guess one type A to another, I can dig it myself. I want to see Christ serve with the best that I have, and with the best that all his people have. And if things go a little awry, and will not work quite rightly, I am apt to become fidgety. But this will not do, dear friends, either for me or for you. We must go and tell the master about it. In the next sentence or two, I think he's referring to his Sabbath day classes. Sunday school classes. Suppose any of you have not been treated kindly by your fellow members, even when you were trying to do good. Suppose that the girls in your class have grieved you. Suppose, and this is a reflection of the time this was preached, you've been wrapped over the knuckles when you're really meant to be serving your Lord. What are you going to do? Again, I said before you, Tell it to Jesus. Do not come and tell me. Tell it to him. For in doing so, you will readily enough get help out of all your troubles. And sing a song to Jesus. Next, go and tell Jesus all your plans. You think you'll do something for him? Do not begin till you have told him all about what you mean to do. He had great plans for the redemption of his people, and he communicated them all to his father. Now, I should rather say that he drew them out of his father's eternal decrees. Go and tell him what you're planning for the glory of God and the good of men, and you may perhaps discover that some of it would be a mistake. At any rate, you will go to work more confidently when you've laid the whole matter before him. His fourth point, when you have any successes, go and tell him. The 70 disciples returned to Jesus with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject to us. If you have the high honor of winning a soul, tell Jesus, and be sure to give God all the glory of it. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto your name give glory, for your sake and for your truth's sake. His fifth point. When you have any failures, when your hopes are disappointed, go and tell it all to Jesus. I feel that working side by side with Christ is the only style of working at which a man can keep on year after year. If you get alone, wait for your master. If you have sorrows or joys which are all your own, if I feel he's near me, he's with me. And if you act upon that belief by constantly communicating with him, Concerning what you feel, what you believe, and what you do, you will lead a holy, blessed, useful, and happy life. And in the following paragraph, let me urge you to tell him all your desires. Tell him also all your fears. Tell him that you're afraid of failing or falling. Tell him that you're afraid of sickness, lest you should get impatient. Tell him you're sometimes afraid to die. Tell him every fear that distresses you, for as a nurse is tender with her child, so is Christ with his people. Tell him all your loves. Tell him especially all you can about your love to himself and ask him to make it firmer, stronger, more abiding, more potent over the whole of your life. Sing and speak often to him, and whenever you have any mysteries which you cannot explain or tell to anyone else, go and ask him to read the inscription that is engraved upon your heart and decipher the strange hieroglyphics which no one else can read. Secret providences of God, hard to understand. But there's one who knows him. And his third major point, we shall never cease communing with Christ for lack of reasons. Introductory paragraph, I'm not speaking now to those who've never communed with the Lord. I've often communed with him. I still commune with him, and so do many of you. And then the next paragraph. First, it is most ennobling to have fellowship with the Son of God. And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. I've heard it said of some men that to know them is a liberal education. You ever been around somebody, you know, there's an expression that's stuck with me all these years. Being around somebody who's really smart, you just kind of feel like you're a couple of steps down from this really smart person, and there's an expression, he's forgotten more than I'll ever know. Well, he's using, this is an introductory remark here, If you're only slightly acquainted with someone, with them, that smart person, you're sure to learn much from them, but to know Christ is to know everything that is worth knowing. He is our all in all. It is also highly beneficial to commune with Christ. I know of nothing that can lift you up so much above the evil influences of an ungodly world as constantly abiding in close fellowship with Christ. How consoling it is to do this. You forget your griefs while you commune with him. How sanctifying it is. A man cannot take delight in sin while he walks with Christ. He can't serve two masters. We heard that just earlier today. Communion with him will make a man leave off sinning or else sinning will make him leave off communing. You will not be perfect, as complete, while you're in this world, but the nearest way to perfection lies along the pathway where Jesus walks. How delightful it is, too, to commune with Jesus. There's no other joy that is at all comparable with it, and it prepares us for the higher joys above. When those who walk with Christ on earth come to live with him above, there will certainly be a change in some respects, but it will be no new experience to them. Did he not love his saints and seek his fellowship while they're here below? Then they shall have that fellowship continued above. Did you not walk with God here? They shall walk with Jesus up there. It will be the same life and the same joy they had here. Only the life shall be more fully developed and the joy shall have reached a higher degree. Are there any of Christ's followers who seldom commune with him? Beloved, shall I not chide you if that is true of you? Does he need to speak to you? He did not speak to Peter when the boastful apostle denied his Lord. Jesus turned and looked upon Peter, and I trust he will look upon you, that those dear eyes which wept for you will gaze right down into your soul, and that his blessed heart that bled for you will look out of those eyes of his upon you. He seems to say, do you indeed love me as you do never wish for my company? Can you love me? No, I will not put that question to you. I must leave him to look at you and so to bring you back to him. And then he addresses the unconverted. If that's you here tonight, this is especially for you. I think my master looks upon some here who have never had any communion with him at all and he says, Is it nothing to you that I loved mankind and came to earth and died to save sinners? Is it nothing to you that I bid you trust me and that I promise to save you if you do so? Will you still refuse to trust me? Will you turn your heel away from me? Will you walk away from me? That's another way of saying it. Why will you die? Without Him, you will die. Why will you die? And then, to wrap up, Lastly, he speaks to those of you who have long enjoyed fellowship with him. As he looks at you, he says, abide you in my love even as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. Beloved, if you have ever enjoyed fellowship with Christ, never lose it. And then he wraps up. Give us grace, we pray you, never to vex you nor grieve your Holy Spirit. Come very near to us just now, nearer than you have ever been since the first day we saw you. Come near to every one of your people now, Emmanuel, God with us, and be you always with us, and go with us wherever we go, and never leave us again for your love's sake. Amen.