308 The Faith of Our Fathers But where shall we find a ritual so gorgeous as that presented to us in the Book of Revelation, which is descriptive of the worship of God in the heavenly Jerusalem? Angels with golden censers stand before the throne, while elders cast their crowns of gold before the Lamb once slain. Then that unnumbered multitude of all nations, tongues and people, clothed in white raiment, bearing palms of victory. Virgins, too, with harp and canticle, follow near the Lamb, singing the new song which they alone can utter.418 How glorious the pageant! How elaborate in detail! Surely there ought to be some analogy and resemblance, some proportion and harmony between the public worship which is paid to God in the Church militant on earth, and that which is offered to Him in the Church triumphant in heaven. Strange would it be if God, who, in the dispensation past and that to come, is seen delighting in external majesty, should have deprived the Christian Church (the living link between the past and the future) of all external glory. "For," as St. Paul says, "if [325] the ministry of condemnation is glory, much more the ministry of justice aboundeth in glory."419 It is true that God uttered this complaint against the children of Israel: "This people draw near Me with their mouth and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me."420 It is also true that He was displeased with their sacrifices and religious festivals.421 But He blamed them not because they praised Him with their voice, but because their hearts felt not what their lips uttered. He rejected their sacrifices because they were not accompanied by the more precious sacrifice of a penitent spirit. The same Lord who declares that the true adorer shall adore the Father in spirit commands also that public praise be given to Apocalypse, passim. II. Cor. iii. 9.