Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

we do well, and, consequently, grieving when we do otherwise? Have they been, in effect, under every dispensation, the guardians of the people of God? Let us duly reverence and respect them as such. When we consider them as "encamping round about us, to deliver us," let us no longer fear the power of the enemy; since "they that are with us are more than they that are with them." When we reflect that they are witnesses of our actions, let us do nothing that may make us ashamed before them; nothing but what we would do if we saw them. When we remember that they are to give an account of us, upon a return to him who sent them, let us take care that they may give it with joy, and not

with grief. Let not our conduct be such, as shall oblige them to quit their charge before the time. O terrible voice, that once heard at midnight in the temple at Jerusalem, foreboding its destruction-LET US GO HENCE! "Whoso defileth the temple of God, him shall God destroy." Our bodies are such temples. May no unlawful desires, no irregular passiods, ever so desecrate them, as that conscience shall ring in our ears the same dreadful sound; but may our heavenly friends and guardians continue with us to the end, to comfort us in our last sorrows, and support us in our expiring agonies; that, when breath shall forsake the body, the soul may be " carried by angels into Abraham's bosom."

DISCOURSE LVIII.

THE PRESENCE OF GOD IN HOLY PLACES.

1 KINGS, VIII. 27.

Will God indeed dwell on the earth?

THE Occasion of this numerous and solemn (vah hath chosen Sion; he hath desired it for assembly calls upon us to consider well this his habitation. This is my rest for ever; question, and one which seems to have almost here will I dwell, for I have desired it." Acoverwhelmed the vast and capacious mind of cordingly we read, that "when the priests Solomon himself. "Will God indeed dwell were come out of the holy place, the cloud on the earth? Behold, the heaven, and hea- filled the house of Jehovah, so that the priests ven of heavens cannot contain thee; how could not stand to minister because of the much less this house that I have builded ?" cloud; for the glory of Jehovah had filled the Certainly, that which is without bounds can- house of Jehovah." The Master took posses not be comprehended within that which has sion of his house, and for a time displaced bounds, whether large or small; and, there- even his own servants, to show that he did fore, in a strict and proper sense, "the Most so. As if he had said, "The house which High"-as St. Stephen, alluding to this very you have designed for my worship I have passage, asserts in the seventh chapter of the accepted; what you have consecrated, I have Acts" the Most High dwelleth not in tem- hallowed; I have taken it for the purpose ples made with hands." But it is no less cer- you intended." Or, to use the far more emtain, that there is a sense, agreeably to which phatical words of the sacred penman-“I may be truly said, that the Most High does have heard thy prayer and thy supplication dwell in temples made with hands. For this that thou hast made before me; I have halsame king Solomon, in this same prayer at lowed this house which thou hast built to put the dedication of the temple, has the follow-my name there for ever, and mine eyes and ing words: "Jehovah said, that he would mine heart shall be there perpetually." dwell in the thick darkness. I have surely Thus, notwithstanding the iniquities of built thee an house to dwell in, a settled place mankind, and his own purity, as well as infor thee to abide in for ever;" that is, during comprehensible majesty, has God been the old dispensation. And in one of the pleased to dwell indeed on earth, and to pealms, God is introduced as saying-" Jeho- | vouchsafe an especial manifestation of his

it

presence in holy places dedicated to his | Here, then, you have not only a church, but name, and set apart for his worship. A house a church endowed.

designed for that end is therefore styled the "When Israel came out of Egypt, and the house of God, or place of his residence. The house of Jacob from among the strange peocustom of consecrating such places has pre-ple," they sojourned in the wilderness, travelvailed in all ages, and throughout all nations. It obtained among the worshippers of false gods; but they derived it, with many other religious rites and institutions, from the worshippers of the true God, among whom we find it in the earliest times. It may be neither unentertaining nor uninstructive to trace, in a few words, the history of these holy places, as it stands recorded in the Scriptures of truth.

And here, it deserves well to be considered, that, before houses were built, even in Paradise itself, which seems to have been throughout what may be called holy ground, God had yet a distinct place, a holy of holies, where in some peculiar manner he was wont to dwell. For our first parents we are told, when they had offended, "hid themselves from the presence of the Lord" an expression used afterwards to denote that manifestation of himself which God was pleased to make in his temple.

When Cain and Abel offered sacrifice, it was probably by divine appointment, and at a place, as well as a time, fixed upon for that purpose. It was offered, as we may reasonably suppose, before God, or to the presence of Jehovah, from whence, it is likely, descended the sacred fire, as it did under the law, to consume the sacrifice of Abel, and thereby testify its acceptance. The offering was burnt, that the offerer might be saved. The surety suffered, that the sinner might go free.

The patriarchs, we know, during their travels, wherever they came, built altars with their enclosures, and there "called on the name of Jehovah;" that Name, of which God said, when the temple was built that he had "placed his Name there."

On the spot where Jabob was favored with his prophetic dream or vision, where he saw the communication opened between earth and heaven, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the mystic ladder, as in the fulness of time they were to be seen ascending and descending upon the Son of man, on this hallowed spot he laid the first rudiments of a temple; he called the name of the place Bethel, that is, the house of God; for surely, said he, "this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!" He set up a stone for a pillar, and poured oil on the top of it, adding, "it shall be God's house; and of all that thou shalt give me, I will give the tenth unto thee."

ling toward the land of promise. Their God and Saviour did not disdain to sojourn and travel with them. As they dwelt in tents, he was pleased to do the same. In conformity to his own express direction, as to the framing every part of it, within and without, a sacred tabernacle was constructed and furnished in a proper manner to receive the Divine Guest. Thus the tabernacle of God was with men, and Moses there conversed with his Maker, as a man converses with his friend. From the mountains of Moab, Balaam viewed the camp of the chosen people, disposed in exact and beauteous order; he beheld them abiding in their tents, according to their tribes, with the cloud resting upon the holy tabernacle in the midst of them. What wonder that, under the guidance of the Spirit of God, which came upon him, his thoughts should be carried back to the blissful bowers of Eden, and forward to the coming of the blessed Person who should restore them to the world? "How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel! As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river's side; as the trees of lign aloes, which Jehovah hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters. I shall see him, but not now; I shall behold him, but not nigh; there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel. The Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them. How shall I curse whom God hath not cursed? Or how shall I defy whom the Lord hath not defied? Surely, there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel."

As God vouchsafed to travel with his people in the tabernacle of Moses, so did it please him to rest with them in the temple of Solomon. The feast of the dedication of that temple afforded the most magnificent sight that ever was presented to the eyes of mortals. Imagine to yourselves a building, where scarce anything appeared less valuable than silver and gold; a building, of which God himself condescended to be the architect, and which had therefore in the design and execution all the perfection that infinite wisdom could give it. Before this building think you see the nation of the Israelites assembled, encircling their king, seated upon an exalted throne of burnished brass, with all the ensigns of majesty and royalty; while, amidst the harmony of different kinds of instruments, with the acclamations of a whole people,

Joining in a grand chorus of praise and thanks- gotten of the Father, full of grace and giving, the glory of Jehovah, or a body of truth." To that great event the divine aplight above the brightness of the sun, descends pearances in old time looked forward. Acfrom heaven, and fills the temple! Imagi- cordingly, in the New Testament, we find nations can hardly reach the amazing idea. the body of Christ styled, "the true taberBut thus is the scene described by the sacred nacle, which the Lord pitched, and not writer: "And it came to pass, when the man" and when the Jews were discoursing priests were come out of the holy place; (for with our Lord concerning the then temple, all the priests that were present were sancti- and the time employed in building it, he fied, and did not then wait by course: also made answer, alluding, and probable pointthe Levites which were the singers, all of ing, to his own body, "Destroy THIS temthem being arrayed in white linen, having ple, and in three days I will raise it again." cymbals, and psalteries, and harps, stood at Such being the reason of the connection the east end of the altar, and with them an re-established between God and sinful men, hundred and twenty priests sounding with and of his dwelling among them, can we trumpets :) it came even to pass, as the trum- possibly doubt of his dwelling in Chrisiian peters and singers were as one, to make one churches, that have been consecrated to his sound to be heard in praising and thanking service, ever since the planting that religion Jehovah; and when they lifted up their voice, in the world, when Christians had liberty with the trumpets, and cymbals, and instru- and ability to erect such churches? It may ments of music, and praised the Lord, saying, be said, we do not see him, as the Israelites For he is good, for his mercy endureth for did. But the glory, or body of light or fire, ever; that then the house was filled with a which the Israelites saw, was only a sign or cloud, even the house of the Lord; so that token of his presence. "God is a spirit, the priests could not stand to minister, by reason of the cloud; for the glory of Jehovah filled the house of God. And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of Jehovah upon the house, they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshipped, and praised the Lord, saying, For he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever!"-Never, after this, let us entertain low notions of God, or of the house where his glory dwelleth.

And is he then, think you, less present with us than he was with Israel? Is the Christian church less favored than the Jewish church was? Have we lost anything by the incarnation of his Son? Surely not. Let us consider a little. When man had offended his Maker, "Will God indeed dwell on earth?" was a question, which might well pose the deepest understanding. Some means must first be devised to reconcile him to the offender. Such means were devised; he himself had already devised them. God and man were to be united in Messiah, who should do away sin by the sacrifice of himself. This being foredetermined in the divine counsels, the communication between heaven and earth was restored, immediately after the fall, upon the strength of it: and if you ask, why God visited the sinful race of Adam, and took up his adode in a tabernacle and a temple, the proper answer is, He did it, because that, in the fulness of time, the "Word was to be made flesh, and men were to behold his glory, the glory as of the only-be

whom no man hath seen, or can see. We do not see the souls of those who are now assembled to worship him; yet are they present. The holy angels may be present at this time, and God himself, we trust, is so by his Spirit. You know who has said, "where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”

You will be pleased to favor me with your attention, while I press upon your minds two consequences which follow from this doctrine of the divine presence in holy places, viz. the mercies of God to man, and the duties of man to God.

Wherever

The king makes the court. the King of glory comes, all heaven comes in his train: when he descendeth from on high, as when he ascended thither, "he giveth gifts unto men;" the blessings of eternity are showered around; "he openeth his hand, and filleth all things living with plenteousness." In his dedication prayer, king Solomon, personating, as it should seem, the great Mediator, states before God the various wants and miseries of his people, requesting that to those who should pray in or towards that temple, they might be supplied and relieved; "that thine eyes may be open towards this house night and day; and hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray towards this place: and hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and when thou hearest, forgive." Pardon for time past, and grace for time to come, comprehend, between them, the spiritual

necessities of mankind; and both are sup- elegant as well as comfortable; should we posed to have been justly and beautifully grudge a little to render the house of God represented by the service and the furniture neat, and decent, and such as Christians of the tabernacle and temple of old; the may frequent, without endangering their foriner by the acceptance of sacrifice, and health? It is true, that "whatever we the sprinkling of blood, without which there give to God, we give him of his own;" but is no remission; the latter by the table of one would not therefore give him the worst show bread, the golden candlestick with its of his own. He is most honored by the lamps, and the altar of incense, denoting best; and let the best be his; who has a the support of our spirits by the true Bread fairer claim to it? "We cannot by our which cometh down from heaven, the in- gifts profit the Almighty." But we may struction of our minds by the light of truth honor him, and profit ourselves; for while shining forth in the word of God, and the man is man, religion, like man, must have merits of a Redeemer ascending with the a body and a soul; it must be external as prayers of the faithful, to render them well as internal; and the two parts, in both acceptable to the eternal throne. Under cases, will ever have a mutual influence the new law, in like manner, at the bap-upon each other. The senses and the tismal font, and at the holy table, are ex- imagination must have a considerable share hibited and communicated the Spirit puri- in public worship; and devotion will acfying and cleansing from sin, the body and cordingly be depressed or heightened by the blood of Christ, strengthening and refresh-mean, sordid, and dispiriting, or the fair, ing the souls of men. Such are the benefits splendid, and cheerful appearance of the (and what greater benefits can your hearts wish for, or your imaginations conceive?) to be obtained, through faith, in these holy places, where God is pleased to meet us, and to bless us, if indeed we are disposed to receive the blessing, by turning every one of us from his iniquities.

The duties of man, in return for these mercies of God, are evident.

"Reverence my sanctuary."-Every thing which bears a relation to God, ought surely to be reverenced by man; the house, more especially, wherein he condescends to dwell. It is the temple which sanctifieth the gift. In order to this, a church should be built and fitted up, it should be maintained and preserved, in such a manner as by its appearance to excite and produce that reverence in every one who enters it; so that he may fall down on his knees and worship, checking himself, if at his entrance he has been guilty of any negligence, or inattention, with the patriarch's reflection :"Surely God is in this place, and I knew it not! This is the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!"

It may be said, "that God has been served, and may be served, acceptably in any church, or without any church." He may be served acceptably without a church, when it is not in our power to have one; and he may be served acceptably in a bad church, when it is not in our power to have a good one. The Saviour of men, in the day of his humiliation, did not disdain to be born in a stable; but they who love and honor him would not therefore invite him to come into one again. We expend much upon our own houses, to make them

objects around us. The effects produced
respectively are like those we experience,
on seeing the habitation of God above over-
cast with clouds and darkness, or beholding
it, when the light of the sun is diffused over
it by day, or when by night it is gilded
with the softer glory of the moon, and
studded with ten thousand stars.
must feel the truth of this observation,
and rejoice as much as the Jews formerly
mourned and wept, when in their minds
they compared the old temple with the new
one.

You

To a sanctuary thus exciting reverence by every thing in and about it, let due reverence be paid by all that approach it. Put off your shoes from off your feet, lay aside the defilement contracted by walking upon the earth; put off, as concerning the former conversation, the old man ; wash you, make you clean; for the place whereon you stand is holy ground. Drive out the buyers and sellers; clear your hearts of all worldly cares and thoughts; for this house is the house of prayer: when you enter it, salute him that dwelleth therein, by a fervent ejaculation, and address yourselves, with attention and devotion, to his service. It is the presence-chamber of the great King. Jehovah is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.

way

But the best and most effectual of reverencing the sanctuary is, by letting the effects of our behavior when we are in it, appear to the world by our behaviour when we are out of it; by living and acting in the spirit of religion. "Holiness becometh thine house for ever:" holy persons in holy places. "Without are dogs," and other

unclean creatures. Angels visit churches, and men who do so should in temper and disposition resemble them. When the sons of God present themselves, the imagination is shocked at the idea of Satan also coming among them, of blasphemy and profaneness, impurity and malignity being found in the sanctuary; the abomination which maketh desolate, standing in the holy place! "He that defileth the temple of God, him shall God destroy ;" and it is well if he be not provoked to forsake the temple. O terrible sound of voices said to have been heard in the dead of the night by the priests ministering in the temple, a little before the destruction of Jerusalem-"Let us go hence !"

Vice is the daughter of ignorance, and the mother of shame and pain, of misery and sorrow, temporal and eternal. To rescue the children of the poor from ignorance, is to save them from all its mournful consequences. Nor let any one apprehend they will know too much. They will be taught to know their Maker and themselves; to be contented with their station, and to perform the duties of it. Creatures made in the image of God, and redeemed by the blood of his Son, ought not to know less: and he who knows so much, will have no reason to regret, at the last day, that he did not know more. By contributing towards the furtherance of this pious and charitable undertaking, you do a work As the house of God therefore is new, acceptable to God, who would have all to let your faith and your devotion be renewed be saved, and, as the means of salvation, with it. You have invited him to dwell brought to a knowledge of the truth: you among you; be it your endeavor to detain do a work acceptable to Christ, who, when him. He is your God and Father; you are he said, "Suffer little children to come unto his people and his children. Walk before me, and forbid them not,' him as the people of such a God; behave strongest manner, by implication, neglect as the children of such a Father. Let the no possible method of encouraging and very sight of this holy place recall to your assisting them to come: you do a work minds these relations, and the duties sug- acceptable to you country, in furnishing it gested by them, from day to day, from week with so many useful members; in rendering to week, from year to year, from age to those a blessing to it, who would otherwise age. For the blessing is to you and yours. have been its curse; nay, perhaps, in preWant of proper accommodations in the serving it (if it can be preserved) by prochurch can no longer be pleaded as an ex-viding, that the succeeding generation shall cuse for the absence of yourselves or families. There will be room for all-" young men and maidens, old men and children "all may praise the name of the Lord; all may offer up their prayers to him; all will be heard by him.

said in the ܂

be more virtuous than the present: you do a work in the highest degree honorable and advantageous to yourselves, because it is a work which will be acknowledged and rewarded by the world's Redeemer and its Judge, when all the stately and idle monuThat the rising generation may be dis-ments of pride, vanity, and folly, shall sink posed and qualified to use these advantages, into perdition, and the remembrance of them they must be instructed betimes in the vanish for ever. first principles of religion. In many cases, the parents are not able themselves to instruct their children, or to be at the expense of having them instructed. Indeed if they were, means have hitherto been wanting to effect it, for want of a proper person to undertake the task, and a proper place in which to perform it. Both are now provided. An institution of this kind is about to be set on foot, and has met with a seasonable support by the judicious application of a benefaction, the produce of which, greatly increased since the time of the bequest, seems to have been intended for the very purpose. The design, however, cannot be carried into execution without that kind and generous assistance, which I am this day to ask at your hands, and which English hearts never suffer to be asked in

vain.

There is but one thing more of which you could wish to be assured, namely, that what is liberally given may be rightly applied. And of this, I think, you have sufficient security in the consideration of the person intrusted with the care of it, under whose direction, by the assistance chiefly of those his friends who compose the present illustrious assembly, this fair and goodly fabric, to the astonishment of all around it, hath been begun and completed within the space of a year; who esteems this day to be the happiest day of his life; who requesteth not others to do that which he would be himself unwilling to do; and who seems, through life, to have formed his conduct upon the maxim laid down by that great master of holy living, the excellent Bishop Jeremy Taylor-"The way for a man to be a saver by his religion, is to deposit one part

« AnteriorContinuar »