Article March 7, 1931 Issue

The Altar of the Lord

KATHERINE ENGLISH

As an expression of his gratitude for deliverance from the waters of the flood, Noah builded an altar unto the Lord as soon as he emerged from the ark of safety. When Abraham came to the place which God had told him of, he builded an altar on which he purposed to offer up his dearest possession and greatest earthly hope, his beloved young son, Isaac. While the knife was poised for the blow, the higher understanding which he had reached through his willing obedience to his loftiest sense of right bade him stay his hand. It was not the will of God that the father should kill his son; and a ram was provided for an offering.

Abraham's three days' journey to the mountain height had not been taken in vain, for a great lesson had been learned of the nature of the sacrifice which must be laid upon the altar of the Lord. God is Spirit, and desires only the spiritual; accepts only the purest and best. Abraham, having already learned to slay his earthliness and ambition, added to this purification faith and obedience; and these gifts God accepted. He did not require the life of Isaac, the child of promise. The ram, entangled by its horns, typified that lower nature which is all that has to be sacrificed.

The Bible says, in the twenty-sixth Psalm, "I will wash mine hands in innocency: so will I compass thine altar, O Lord." What and where is this altar of the Lord? Is it a material structure of wood or stone? Is it decked with fine linen and gorgeous embroidery? Is it to be found within lofty walls or approached by marble steps? Such may be the attempts of the human mind to externalize its concept of the table of the Lord; but God is Spirit, and His altar must be spiritual. Surely it is none other than that high place in consciousness where self is sacrificed; where desires are purified in the fire of divine Love; where sin is utterly destroyed. It is that secret, sacred place of the Most High, where we receive the cup of salvation and partake of the heavenly manna which sustains the hearts of all who hunger and thirst after righteousness. It is the table of the Lord spread in the wilderness of human beliefs. Our altar is the place in consciousness where gratitude runs over and lives are consecrated anew.

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