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s 
 

 SEEMO 
 
 ^ 
 
 9/ 
 
 
 DEUVERKD AT THE 
 
 OPENING 
 
 OF 
 
 ST. ANDREW'S CHURCH, 
 
 OTTAWA, 
 
 2Sth January, 1874, 
 
 BY 
 
 Bev. JOHN JENKINS, D D., Rev. THOMAS WARDROPE, 
 and Rev. D. J. MACDONNELL, B.D. 
 
 rRlNTEI) BY A. S. WOOPBURN, ELGIN STREKT. 
 
 1874. 
 
\c 
 
 
S,T 
 
 !• • • • • 
 
 • • • • . • 
 • • • • *• 
 
 , .,• • • 
 
 , , • • •,• 
 
 • • • • • 
 
 '•I • • 1 • 
 
 , • • • ••• 
 
 • • • . . . , •: /, .'. 
 
SEEMONS 
 
 DELIVKBED AT TllK 
 
 OPENING 
 
 
 OF 
 
 S.T. ANDREW'S CHURCH, 
 
 OTTAWA, 
 
 25th January, 1874, 
 
 BT 
 
 Rev. JOHN JENKINS, D.D., Rev. THOMAS WARDROPE, 
 and Rev. D. J. MACDONNELL, B.D. 
 
 I'RINTKl) »Y A. S. WOODBUKX5 K1,(JIX sTUi;i;r, 
 
 1874. 
 
 
 ^ 
 

 OrTAWA. K.Lr,,,,,,, ,s;,. 
 
 A 
 
SERMON 
 
 BY Tlli: 
 
 '' ill the now 
 I "h' Clnuvh 
 '■t' I'lihlis],,.,! 
 ' occasion ,,n 
 
 Rev. Dr. Jenkins, of Montreal. 
 
 -♦»- 
 
 *' I was <^lti(l when tiiey .<ui(l unto iik', U't us go into the Ho»i.se ot 
 the Lord." — Psahn cxxii., 1st verse. 
 
 *' Now Peter and John went up together into the Temple at tlie 
 liour orj)rayer." — Acts m., Ist verse. 
 
 The f'aithi'uliicss of the eiirly Christians in the matter of 
 public worship deserves to be noted in an age in which the 
 duties of religion are made subservient to predilection and 
 ease, its privileges to tlie interests of time. Whatever the 
 cause, it is undoubted that now-a-days, the tendency in Chris- 
 tian people is to set upon the ordinances of the Gospel, a lower 
 value than was set upon them by their fatl.crs ; to deem them 
 less influential in the culture of spiritual growth and vigour, 
 than they were judged to be by the Apostles of Our Lord. 
 You are too well read in the New Testament not to have 
 observed the oft-repeated exhortations on this subject, penned 
 by primitive Christian teachers in their letters to the early 
 churches. It should Ix) added, that the Apostles gave force to 
 these exhortations, by their own example. Not only did thev 
 instruct their converts not to forsake the assemblies of the 
 Saints, they themselves discharged, with marked faithfulness, 
 the (iod-appointed duty. The closing verses of the Gospel by 
 St. Luke contain this statement: "Jesus led them out as far 
 as to Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. 
 And it came to pass while He blessed them, He was parted 
 from them and carried up into heaven. And they worshipped 
 
llim, and rctiu-ned to Jcnisnlom with grout joy : (uuitvereconthni- 
 (ilty in the Temple, pruisiiKj and hlessimj God." In tlio oponing 
 vorHos of the Acts oftho Apostles, we are informed that when the 
 Diseiples wore come into JeruHulem, after the Lord's Ascension 
 to glory, ** they went up into an upper room," and " all con- 
 tinued with one accord in prayer and supplicatior Further 
 on in the same book we find it stated that the Pentecostal con- 
 verts, numbering three thousand souls, " continued steadfastly 
 in the Apostles' teaching and fellowship, in breaking of bread 
 (i. e., in the iloly Communion) and in prayers," Again wo 
 learn, that " daily in the temple, and in every house, the 
 Apostles ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ." Still 
 later we read of their Sabbath-day visits to Jewish synagogues 
 for purposes of 'vorship — for prayer, the reading of the Scrip- 
 turcs and mutual instruction and exhortation. These and 
 other localities, loss known, were ])laces in which •' prayer was 
 wont to be made" by the Apostles and their followers. The 
 *• first love" of the early converts impelled them thus to 
 associate in the temple at the appointed hours of praj-er, an. I 
 to observe, even daily, the communion of the body and blood 
 of Christ. By and by, '• the first day of the week," called by 
 St. John, " the Jjord's Day," was specially observed us a day 
 for bringing together primitive Christians, that they might 
 engage in the worship of God. 
 
 Two reasons, among others, may be mentioned, why the 
 Apostles laid so groat stress npon jniblic and joint worship. 
 One, the views and habits in regard to the observances of i^eli- 
 gious ordinances, in which the founders of Christianity and the 
 Church had been brought up. How rigid and earnest the Jews 
 were, in such observances, we know from the facts concerning 
 them which the Old Testament supplies. Much of the life of 
 a sincere Israelite, in the best days of the nation, was spent in 
 tho performance of public religious duties. Temple worship,, 
 
the keeping of the Lovitical prescriptions, the maintenanco of 
 
 a righteous character and of a devotional spirit, combined with 
 
 practical pity for the poor, were deemed of higher moment 
 
 than the things and aims which fill up Himply this lower, 
 
 earthly life. The psalms of David, of Asaph, and of other 
 
 Jewish worthies, are full of illustrations of the truth of this. 
 
 statement : 
 
 " I joy'd when to the House of God 
 " Go up, they sai-l to me ; 
 " .Terusaleni, witluii thy gates 
 " Our feet shall Htanding be." 
 
 " I wont with them to the House of God, with the voice 
 of joy and praise, with the multitude that kept holy-day." 
 <' My soul longeth, yea even faintoth for the courts of the Lord^ 
 my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God." " I will 
 go into Thy house with burnt offerings; I will pay Thee my 
 vows which my lips have uttered and my mouth hath spoken 
 when I was in trouble." " O God, Thou art my God, early 
 will I seek Thee ; my soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth 
 for Thee, in a dry and thirsty land where no water is, to see 
 Thy power and Thy glor}-, so as 1 have seen Thee in the sanc- 
 tuary." These are a few only of many similar utterances 
 which we find in the Old Testament. They show with great 
 clearness, that the tone which characterized the higher stylo of 
 Jewish piety, was such as we have now described. This pre- 
 ference and esteem for religion over the world of matter and of 
 sense — the pre-eminence, that is, conceded to the things of God 
 by the Isnielites, sprang not from the Levitical institutions. It 
 lay deep down in human nature. It is in fact essential to the 
 normal man wherever you find him. The Mosaic ritual, hav- 
 ing first appealed to this native principle, largely developed 
 it. It were more correct to say that the system of religion 
 inaugurated and established by Moses, was based upon it. 
 
6 
 
 "When, therefore, in the Providence of God, ChriHtianity was 
 introduced into the world through the instrumentality of men 
 who had been brought up under "the Jews' religion," though 
 the ceremonial practices which were peculiar to it — its merely 
 surface parts — gradually disappeared, the foundation principles 
 of Judaism were retained by Christianity, j-ea, were brought 
 out into clearer light and prominence. The tendency of the 
 Jewish system, forasmuch as form and scnsuousness held so 
 high a place in it — an overwhelmingly i-ifluentuil place, one 
 ni'ght say — the tendency, I repeat, was to lead its adherents 
 to fasten upon the outward, and to overlook the inward — those 
 deep, spiritual principles which lie at the base of all religion. 
 During the earliest years, indeed, of the Church, a tinge of 
 Judaism was imparted to Christianity by its propagators. 
 But, as the system of the Gospel grew, and its influence 
 extended to Gentile nations, this Jewish tinge became less and 
 less appreciable. How nobly Paul, that " Hebrew of the 
 Hebrews," that Pharisee of the Pharisees, discarded the super- 
 ticial — the merely temporary — in Ju(hiism, and stuck to, and 
 disseminated the essential principles of religion, his great ser- 
 mons and grander epistles testify. Even Peter, a man of an 
 order of mind and culture widely dittbi'ent from [hat of Paul, 
 at first a. id naturall}' j>rejudiced in favour of the outward in 
 Judaism — the mere ceremonial of the system — came at length 
 to tlirow aside the trammels of the old reyiine, and to recognize 
 tliose spiritual principles which lie beneath it — those grand, 
 deep, generous principles which were opened, illustrated and 
 enforced by Jesus in his sermon on the Mount. In regard to 
 the Apostle John — that Plato of the Apostolic College — how 
 little of the mere Jew, and how much of the true man and 
 Christian clave to him! Not long was he incompleting an 
 analysis of the religious system under which he had boon born 
 
ty was 
 of men 
 though 
 merel}' 
 inciplos 
 ji'ought 
 of the 
 hold 80 
 lee, one 
 heron ts 
 I — those 
 "ollgion. 
 tin<i;o of 
 ag{it()"S. 
 nfluonce 
 less and 
 r of the 
 e Hiipor- 
 to, and 
 eut sci'- 
 iri of an 
 of i'aiil. 
 ward in 
 t length 
 ecogni/iO 
 3 grand, 
 itod and 
 ard to 
 50 — how 
 nan and 
 eting an 
 eon born 
 
 and etlncated, and in separating the vital and the enduring, 
 from that which was superficial and temporary. 
 
 What 1 am coming to through these observations, is this 
 that the public worship of (lod is of an older arid deeper exist- 
 ence than Judaism. First in families, which, by reason of 
 primitive longevity, became numerous ; then, in tribes and 
 communitiesj the duty of a public recognition of God by open 
 worship and combined service, was acknowledged and prac- 
 tised. The nations which immediatel}'" descended from the 
 sons of Noah, early acted upon this Catholic obligation. In 
 Egypt, in India, in Babylon, long before Moses, and even 
 before Jacob, yea, contemporaneously with Isaac, temples were 
 built, and an order of men set apart for the offering of vicarious 
 sacrifices, and for otherwise conducting the ceremonies of" 
 public worship. We do not err, indeed, in supposing that in 
 the da^^s of Abraham there wore priests and altars, confessions 
 of and sacrifices for sin. This is clear from the account which 
 the Book of Genesis suj)plies of the transactions which took 
 place between this noblost of the Old Testament patriarchs,^ 
 and that "priest of the Most iligh God" who was the truest 
 type of the High Priest of the Christian profession, our Savioui' 
 Christ : ''Thou art a pi'iest for ever after the Order of Mol- 
 chisedec." Whore there was a priest, there must have been 
 an Order of pul)lic service. Granted, the Mosaic institutions 
 tended to bring out into more august prominency, the impor- 
 tance and value of social worshij>; but this is very different 
 from supposing or teaching that a public recognition and 
 adoration of the Creator, may, in this age, be sot aside, or oven 
 lightly esteemed, on the gi'onnd of its having been derived, 
 supposedly, from an ejf'ele Judaism. We do not ground the 
 institution of public worship on the pi-actices instituted under 
 the Mosaic economy, but on the deeper and broader basis of 
 man's native religiousness. 
 
8 
 
 VV"o have been contending for the practice of public wor- 
 ship, on the ground of the religious element in man's nature. 
 We have another ground upon which to rely, viz., that social 
 element which so conspicuously influences and controls the 
 children of men. It is an ordination of Providence that men 
 shall live and act in companionship. Society is a condition 
 of the continuance and growth upon the earth of the human 
 race. Man is of value and force in the world, as he is associated 
 with, or influenced by, or exerts an influence upon his fellows. 
 It is not of choice, or as the result of experience, merely or 
 oven chiefly, that men congregate into villages and towns and 
 cities, or that they form themselves into companies, societies 
 and corporations for the achievement of great ends. It is a 
 necessity of progressive human existence that man should thus 
 do. This law, the Creator has stamped upon our Catholic 
 humanity. They who teach and practice isolation from their 
 fellow men, promote a condition abnormal from the design of 
 man's creation, and destructive, not less of human progress 
 than of human happiness. Man cannot stand alone. He needs 
 the help and counsel of his fellows. He needs to draw wisdom 
 from the well-earned experience of others. It demands not, 
 therefore, great sagacity to discover, that union of minds and 
 persons, in the worship of the Creator, is valuable as an incen- 
 tive to devotion, as a quickenor of faith, as an impulse to good 
 worlcs ; is promotive of the principles and acquisitions of true 
 piety. 
 
 There is no form of religion however ancient, there is no 
 religious system however erroneous, which doe? not recognise 
 and act upon these two elements of our common nature, the 
 religious ami the social. Hence, in all ages, from the earliest, 
 and in all nations, temples have been built for the worship of 
 the Supreme, priests have been consecrated, altars have been 
 crecteil, victims have been slain for expiation, prayers have 
 
9 
 
 been oftered to divinities, garlands have been laid upon their 
 .shrines, and on great oceasions of religious festival, tons of 
 thousands have been brought together. As those multitudes 
 have cried aloud, and sung their couplets of praiso, and bowtol 
 adoringly in presence of the wood or the stono, the silver or 
 the gold, shaped in the similitude of the supposed deity, the 
 faith of the ludhndaal in the inspiration and authority of the 
 system, has been strengthonetl ; and, though false and corrupt, 
 it has yet received an impetus, which numbers never fail to 
 impart to even an unworthy cuuse. Much more, when tho 
 system is divinely originate I autl ordered; when the One 
 Living and True (rod is the object of adoration and service ; 
 when tho cause of hunumity in tho form in which tho loving 
 and faithful Creator has undertaken it, is sought to be strength- 
 ened and promoted ; vvhen truth and virtue and purity amongst 
 men, piety in a word, are tho objects sought after, much more 
 <lo numbers give force and infiuence and dignity to the divinely 
 ordered system. Union of heart and purpose, union of effort, 
 mutual countenance and support in a good cause are irresistible. 
 If that which wo have set forth is founded in truth, it can 
 not surprise us that the New Testament, as was stated in the 
 outset, should have pressed these principles into tho service of 
 the Christian religion. It would have boon utuiccountable, had 
 Christianity overlooked those foundation principles in tlui 
 nature of man. But Christ and llis apostles recognized them 
 fully ; and the Gospol, by prece])t as well as by e.Kamplc, sots 
 forth both tho advantage and tho obligation of the publir 
 worship of God. Christum ity is not a heavy-handed system, 
 which lays an unbearable yoke upon tho necks of its adherentB, 
 in this respect it stands in considerate and merciful contrast to 
 tho system of Moses : " The law was given by Moses, but 
 grace and truth came by Josus Christ." At the same time, 
 Christianit}- discharges no n)aij from the obligations of the 
 
 u 
 
10 
 
 moral law. It grants no license to neglect, for example, the 
 claims of a holy day. Free is it, unoppiessive ; so it is in the 
 light of a privilege to be coveted, rather than as a duty to be 
 rigidly discharged, that it enjoins the coming together of 
 its followers for prayers, for exhortation, for communion and 
 fellowship, for, in brief, a public acknowledgment of faith in 
 <' the only true (xod and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent" 
 as Supreme oltjects of human adoration and service. Con- 
 strained by a common faith and a common hope, by common 
 obligations and a common impulse, the first Christian converts 
 joyed in each other's company, yea craved opportunities for 
 interchanges of Christian thought, of Christian prayers, and of 
 the expression of Christian liopos. Those opportunities were of 
 frequent occurrence in the primitive Church, in accordance 
 with Apostolic appointment and practice. But they were not 
 too frequent for men and women who had lately been rescued 
 from the thraldom of superstition, of ignorance, and of .^in, and 
 had been brought to apprehend in Jysus of J^Iazareth the light, 
 the salvation, the truth of the world, the way to the Great 
 blither for mankind, and Iherefore for them. Even before our 
 Lord's Ascension, during the forty days which elapsed between 
 His resurrection from the dead, and llis departure for the 
 Heavenly (ilory, each " first day of the week " found them 
 meeting together for religious converse and prayer. And after 
 the Ascension, we are told that in that consecrated upper room, 
 the Apostles and Disciples, women as well as men, contiimed 
 ',' with one accord in prayer and supplication." From day to day 
 they met, in number a hundre<l and twenty, until the Feast of 
 J'ontecost. Simple, no doubt, was this primitive Christian 
 worship. The Apostles would recount their Master's words of 
 comfort, of instruction, of rebuke ; His tone of loving sympathy 
 with th*^m in their trials, their apprehensions, their weaknesses;. 
 His toils ind His sorrows. His patienco in suft'ering, His over-^ 
 
implo, the 
 t is in the 
 uty to bo 
 ^ether of 
 inion and 
 )f faith in 
 th sent " 
 e. Con- 
 common 
 converts 
 nitios for 
 rs, and of 
 >s were of 
 !Cordanco 
 were not 
 1 rescued 
 ('.".in, and 
 the li^ht, 
 'he Great 
 3foro our 
 between 
 ) for the 
 nd tliem 
 Lnd after 
 er room^ 
 on tinned 
 »y to day 
 Feast of 
 Christian 
 words of 
 7"mpathy 
 kn esses ;. 
 lis over-^ 
 
 11 
 
 whelming agony, His readiness to fulHl the appointment of His 
 Father in the redemption of mankind ; all His love, all His pity, 
 all His self-denial and endurance, the beauty of His character 
 the might and glory of His miracles would come under review, 
 and would be exulted in, as one and another called them to 
 mind in hePiing of the assembly. Those too, whom Jesus had 
 healed, or out of whom He had east demons, or whom he had 
 j'aised from the dead, would tell anew, and with tears of joy, of 
 His loving power, His merciful compassion, Mary Magdeleno 
 was there, "out of whom He had cast seven devils." Can wo 
 doubt that she would refer to the Master's gracious interference 
 on her behalf, that, " clothed and in her right mind," she would 
 exultinglj' adore the riches of that grace which had been so 
 conspicuously manifested in her deliverance ? I can not. 
 Lazarus was, no doubt, among the hundred and twenty, 
 with the sisters Mary and Martha. " Now Jesus loved Martha 
 and her sister and Lazarus." With what exultation and thank- 
 fulness would they recall their Master's kindness, His sympa- 
 thy with them in distress, the working of His greatest miracle 
 for their rescue from sorrow in the restoring of their brother! 
 The women who repaired to the sepulchre would recount the 
 story of the resurrection morn, their visit to the vacated tomb, 
 the vision of angels, and the first appearance of the risen Lord 
 to Mary. The Apostles, once and again, would talk of the 
 Last Supper, and the whole company would be inspired with 
 new affection and regard for their Lord, with new faith in Him, 
 as they listened to the repetition of His words of salvation, 
 when He brake the bread and dispensed the covenant cup, and 
 80 instituted that later Passover of which His own body and 
 blood were to be the sacrificial emblems, aye, the sacrificial 
 -substance. I can imagine them chanting over and over again 
 in sad yet trustful lays, the Paschal Psalms which they ha<l 
 .sung with their Lord on that nieraorable night Prayer, too, 
 
12 
 
 
 would constitute, indeed, we are told, did constitute an impor- 
 tant, a chief part in those primitive services. Thej' prayed for 
 guidance in the choice of an Apostle in the place of Judas ; the 
 Holy Spirit controlletl their lot which fell upon Matthias. For 
 ton lon<j da3's they wsitched and prayed, they exhorted eacii 
 other and conimuned, they waited for the promise of the 
 Father; then, on tho Pentecostal morn the answer came, the 
 promise was fuUilled, and the Spirit descended in power, ru:>h- 
 ing down from heaven upon them all in forms of tiro; a hun- 
 • Ired and twenty tongues of flame resting one upon the head of 
 eiich of them — of the whole company, apostles and disciples, 
 men and women. How glorious a scene ! IIow unparalleled 
 a visitation ! How complete a fulfdment of Joel's prophecy! 
 A hundred and twenty praying, waiting disciples, all filled 
 with the Holy Ghost ! There was an occasion of somewhat 
 similar power and manifestation later on in the history of tho 
 ^'hurch. It was when at Cesaroii, Peter, in the House of Cor- 
 nelius, opened the Kingdom of Heaven to the Cxontiles: "Tho 
 Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word." You 
 know the result of that power which was granted to the church 
 on tlie day of Pentecost, how that the Holy Ghost so inspire! 
 the Ajwstles as that they preached with overwhelming convic- 
 tion to the wondering thousands who had come together, 
 attracted b}' the reports which went forth respecting the visi- 
 tation ; how that three thousand of them were converted to 
 (lod and baptized into the faith of Jesus ; how that the whole 
 body of the new converts, with the earlier disciples, continued 
 *' daily with one accord in the Temple." That was tho golden 
 age of Christianity and the Church ! Blessed be Grod it is to 
 come back to us again in more than its primitive power and 
 glory ! One somstimes thinks ho would like to have lived in 
 d to have witnessed those early Pentecostal scenes. 
 
 roc 
 
 gel 
 
 age. 
 
 (,)ne sometime wishes ho could take a few of these pages that 
 
13 
 
 record the simplicity and earnestness, the tender, all-embraciniij^ 
 generousness and love of those ancient times, and inserl 
 them, by some moral mechanism, into our modern editions 
 of the Christian religion as, adorned and illuminated, they are 
 bound up in purple and gilt, emulating the lordly, and even 
 imperial gaudiness and pomp of worldly power. I am afraid, 
 however, that the Church of the present has not the requisite 
 preparation for a return to the primitive power and success of 
 which we have been speaking. Were such a scone to take 
 place in the midst ot us to-day, as was witnessed in Jerusalem 
 on the day of Pentecost, how many of us who profess atid call 
 ourselves Christians, would acquiesce in the manifestation ? If 
 one here, and another there, were heard to ciy out in the midst 
 of this day's preaching, " Men and brethren what shall we do ?" 
 " What shall I do to be saved ?" 1 am afraid some of us would 
 protest against it as " an innovation " upon the established 
 order of worship. I doubt if in this cold, material ago, the 
 Church would accept without remonstrance, even the scenes 
 which a century ago were witnessed at Carabuslang ; or those 
 which under McCheyene's ministry at Dundee awakened to 
 Ihoughtfulness and to religion many hundreds of careless, 
 indirterent, erring souls. The fact is we are bound hand and 
 foot by forms and customs indifferent in themselves, but which 
 we have invested with the dignity of principles. " Principles " 
 forsooth ! As though there were any principle in a liturgical 
 form of worship which is not found in free prayer ! Or any 
 principle in sitting at praise which you have not in standing! 
 Or any principle in standing at prayer which you have not in 
 kneeling! Or any principle in singing a psalm, say of Moses 
 or of David, which you find wanting when you sing in Now 
 Testament paraphrase or hymn the sacred lyrics of VVcsley or 
 of Watts. We may have our preferences, but let us take care 
 that preferences innocent in themselves, arc not magnified into- 
 
u 
 
 laws which, without authority, wo seek to impose upon othoi's. 
 I myself have a preference for standing in public prayers. God 
 forbid that I should set up my preference in tlie face of those 
 who choose to •' kneel before the Lord our Maker." The 
 Churches have constructed ruts in which to worship the Most 
 High Spirit — God's free Spirit — every Church its own little, 
 narrow rut, from which it may not diverge, no not a hair's 
 breadth ! without incurring ecclesiastical anathemas. We have 
 lost, largely, the freedom, and with it the true glory of primitive 
 Christian worship. The " body of Christ " is crampal, its limbs 
 are rendered numb and rigid through the too tight application 
 of denominational bandages. The circulation of the vital 
 Christian fluid is checked, is almost stopped by inflexible forms. 
 " Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty I" 
 
 Thus they worshipped in those early days! Thus simply, 
 sincerely, devoutfully, trustfully, lovingly ! Little variation 
 occurred in the simplicity of the Christian ritual until after the 
 death of the Apostle John. He, when too old to walk to the 
 place of Christian assembly, was wont to be carried by young 
 men into the church. His sermon on these occasions was, 
 " Little children love one another !" These were the only words 
 which fell from those venerable lips. Had he lived in our day, 
 some elder or manager of the congregation would have given 
 the old man a hint that it might be wise to retire in favour of 
 a younger minister! The well-known description of the form 
 of celebrating the Lord's Supper, which has been handed 
 down to us from Justin Martyr, may suffice to show, that 
 for nearly a hundred years after the death of John, 
 Christian worship and ordinances were characterized by great 
 simplicity of observance. You know what the Church became 
 subsequently: how under Imperial patronage, she assumed 
 Imperial airs ; how she attired herself in Imperial purple, set 
 up Imperial State, and engrafted upon Christianity the sensu- 
 
 of 
 
15 
 
 on others. 
 /evs. God 
 JO of those 
 sr." The 
 • the Most 
 >wn little, 
 3t a hair's 
 We have 
 primitive 
 , its limbs 
 pplicatioii 
 the vital 
 ble forms. 
 
 8 simply, 
 variation 
 after the 
 k to the 
 •y young 
 ans was, 
 ly words 
 5iir day, 
 ve given 
 avour of 
 ;he form 
 
 handed 
 w, that 
 f John, 
 3y groat 
 
 became 
 issumed 
 pie, set 
 Q sensu- 
 
 ous follies, the gorgeous displays, the high sounding but empty 
 titles and distinctions of an effete Paganism. The natural fruit.s 
 of these innovations upon primitive purity and simplicity, were 
 error, corruption, ecclesiastical pollution, and tyranny. Against 
 all such foolish aping, within the Christian Church, of old Pagan- 
 ism, our Reforming Fathers in Germany, in Switzerland, in 
 England, in Scotland and elsewhere protested, as not warranted, 
 either by the word of God, or by early Christian practice. 
 Success, in many cates triumph, was the result of their protest, 
 and the Reformation, widely established amongst the nations 
 as a policy, came at length to be deeply rooted as to its princi- 
 ples, in the hearts of the people. In no country did Protestant 
 principles, and the Protestant cause, take a firmer hold, or 
 produce a more general moral revolution than in Scotland. A 
 " people, prepared of the Lord," they greedily accepted the 
 word of political freedom and spiritual deliverance, and suc- 
 cessfully resisted every attempt which was subsequently made 
 to bring them back, first to the old follies and superstitions of 
 Rome, and then to that semi-Popish ecclesiastical system which 
 was sought to be imposed upon them by the notorious Laud. 
 I have sometimes wished that the Churc h of Scotland had re- 
 mained as she was when Knox left her, especially as to the 
 modes and forms of worship which were then in vogue. She 
 consented, at the suggestion of the puritans of England, with a 
 view to British uniformit}'^, to accept as binding on the Scottish 
 people, the documents of the Westminister Assembly, and she 
 has held on to them with a tenacity unparalleled in the whole 
 history of the adoption of Ecclesiastical t'ormulce. England has 
 almost forgotten the Westminister Confession and Directory; 
 Scotland would still fight and suffer for them with the old 
 martyr-spirit of her covenanters. In an age in which, in some 
 ecclesiastical quarters, there is evinced a disposition to go back 
 to I he unapostolic, unscriptural, half-Pagan absurdities against 
 
IG 
 
 which tho EoPorniei'8 protested, a tendency to repro<luco that 
 sensuous form of worship which thoChuirh borrowed from the 
 i'agan ritual, in Hiich an ago, wo may congratulate our^*elvo8 
 that the ecclesiastical system under which we are ranged, avoids 
 these follies ; and, what is more, stands little chance of being 
 liercattor led into them. Simplicity in worship is too deeply 
 imbedded in the preferences and convictions of both the clergy 
 and the people of our Church, to warrant even a fear of oHond- 
 itig good taste and earnest piety by the introduction of u 
 supra-sensuous ritual. It may be that we have sometimes 
 erred, if indeed we do not still err, on the side of bareness and 
 plainness and slovenliness, in our modes of conducting worship ; 
 perhaps have bordered even on uncouthnoss. Certainly, in tho 
 (^'hurches built, both at home and in this country, up to within 
 twenty-tive or thirty years ago, there was evinced such a 
 disregard for neatness, not to spealc of beauty, so studied a 
 [)Uipose to avoid everything tasteful and decorous in architec- 
 tural style, that God's people laid themselves open to the charge 
 of worshipping the Creator in "barns," while they themselves 
 lived in tasteful and comfortable houses, some of them in 
 mansions and palaces. We have left that age behind. In Canada, 
 in the rural portions of our Presbyteries, no less than in tho 
 large towns and cities, places of worship are built suitable to 
 the high purposes for which they are set apart, correspomiing 
 with the increased wealth of the worshippers, and in harmonj- 
 with the general progress of {esthetic culture. There is no 
 warrant in the New Testament, in early Christian practice, or 
 in the genius of our Church as developed in her history, for 
 coarseness, for meanness, for want of taste, either in our 
 churches or our tbrms of worship. Where such inroads upon 
 Christian feeling and taste have existed, they are now rapidly 
 disappearing. Conspicuous is the proof of this statement which 
 we have before us to-day. This " holy and beautiful house'' 
 
 w 
 
 a 
 
 7A 
 
xluco that 
 
 1 from tlio 
 
 ourselvoa 
 
 ;o(l, avoids 
 
 of beiiif; 
 too deoply 
 tho cloi'i^y 
 
 of ortond- 
 3tion of u 
 lometimes 
 eness and 
 worship; 
 dy, in tho 
 to within 
 )d such a 
 .studied a 
 architec- 
 le charge 
 
 1 em selves 
 them in 
 
 Canada, 
 m ill tho 
 i table to 
 ipondini:; 
 larmonj- 
 )ro is no 
 ctiee, or 
 ory, foi- 
 
 in our 
 
 ds upon 
 
 rapidly 
 
 t which 
 
 house'' 
 
 17 
 
 which you have built for the worship of tho Lord God of your 
 fathers, is a notable evidence of your desire that lie should not 
 dwell in tents, or barns, or barracks, while you yourselves 
 dwell in ceiled houses, many of you in homes furnished with 
 all the taste and comfort and luxury which wealth and civili- 
 zation can supply. It is j^round for special thaidii'uliiess to 
 God, that you have seen your way to make this ottering to His 
 cause ; and that you are to-day found within these walls rejoicing 
 that His presence is in the midst of you — that holy sj)iritual 
 ])resenco which is the only true conscci'ation of any build- 
 ing erected for Christian worship. When the Lord is in any 
 such place, then and only then may we say, "This is none 
 other but the House of God, and this is the ^ate of heaven." 
 
 Both philosophically and dogmatically we have made out, 
 f think, a clear case for the observance and maintenance of 
 public worship. It might be ai'gued also historical]}'. Among 
 all the nations of the modern centuries of the Christian age, 
 Scotland, in this regard, has set the most marked e.Kamplc. 
 The hill-sides which the purple heather adorns and makes fra- 
 grant, the beaten i)athways along which old and young have 
 trudged, mile after mile, to the old kirk, tho v.'ist assemblies 
 which have congregated in church-yards, and under the cover- 
 ing of tents, and beneath the shadow of mountains, for sacred 
 worship and communion, boar testimony to tho love of the 
 children of Scotland for the house and ordinances of (iod. 
 Some of yourselves remember how the weakly and the aged, 
 your own forebears it may be, found their way in all weathers, 
 at great cost of physical strength, to the house of prayer. 
 May it not be said and truly that Scotland has reaped the fruit 
 of this so great faithfulness ? IL'ive not the Bible, the Sal)l)atli- 
 day, and the faithfully-visited Kirk done more than aught else 
 
 for Scotland, and made her what she is to-day ? 
 c 
 
18 
 
 Be it youi'H to ehorish the memory and to omulnto the 
 example of those ^raiul old ScottiHh fathers. The tendency of 
 livin«^ away from fatherland is to make men neujli^ent of the 
 habits and practices — the ^ood ones at least — which prevailed 
 at homo. Here, in this new land, we think less of missin/jj a 
 Church Service, less of neglecting Ordinances, less of disregard- 
 ing the Sabbath, than used to Ih) thought in the old time in 
 Scotland. Could tho buried fathers leave their Scottish graves, 
 jmd visit their descendants in this distant homo, they would 
 hardly recognize as belonging to tho same race, many of those 
 among us who bear Scottish names, and arc proud of them ; so 
 loose is the view which prevails of Sabbath and Church 
 obligation. I ask you to^ay, specially to-day in the joyful 
 circumstances in which you find yourselves, to consider tho 
 responsibility which you incur as Scotchmen born, or as 
 descendants of Scotchmen, in this new land. Wo are laying 
 here tho foundations of an empire which will hereafter vie 
 in population and grandeur with the great empires of tho world, 
 [t will be, in after years, what we now make it who are inserting 
 the germs of its future growth ; our habits and pi-inciples will 
 be transmitted to the Canadians of the future; they will largely 
 become the habits and principles of tho men and women who 
 shall follow us in the generations to. come. If tho Sabbath is 
 not observed by us now; if we are careless of the duty of 
 Christian worship; if we allow tho calls of business and of 
 society to supplant tho claims of the House of the Lord; if we 
 get to think that once a day is often enough for engaging in 
 public worship, we shall transmit to the Canada of the next 
 century a mongrel, inane, half-alive form of Christianity, and 
 the next generations will become what the people now^ are in 
 prance, which enjoys but half a Sunday, and that half, observed 
 only by women. Apart from tho deleterious influence upon 
 our own character; which must arise from neglect of the Lord's. 
 
19 
 
 iiulato the 
 ondoiicy of 
 tj:ont of'tlio 
 prevailed 
 iiii.sHin/j; a 
 (iisroi^ard- 
 »ld time in 
 ^^ll /,'i'aves, 
 lioy would 
 y of those 
 them ; go 
 
 i Church 
 ho joyful 
 sider the 
 'n, or as 
 I'o laj'ing 
 lifter vie 
 lie world, 
 inserting 
 pies will 
 II largely 
 nen who 
 hbath is 
 duty of 
 
 and of 
 1 ; if we 
 iging in 
 le next 
 ity, and 
 
 are in 
 bserved 
 e upon 
 Lord's. 
 
 Day and of public worship, there rests upon us in the interests, 
 both present and to come, of the land we live in and its people, 
 a crying oldigalion to own our belief in God, in God's law, and 
 in the sanctitication of a seventh day. Then again, it we hold to 
 our Christian professions and opinions, we accept the doctrine 
 that by means of the preaching of the Gospel chiefly, the 
 preaching of Christ and llim crucitied, men are to bo morally 
 elevated, lifted up from error and wickedness to truth and 
 purity ; we believe that the l)uilding of churches, and the 
 institution of (iospel ordinances in a community, constitute the 
 leading instrumentality which God has devised and appointed 
 for converting men from the ways of wickedness. Now it is 
 not enough that you build churches, however beautiful and 
 costly. If you wish them to become mighty and efficient 
 agencies in lienetitting and saving your neighbours, you must 
 sustain them in efficiency by your faithful, earnest, prayerful 
 presence. How can you expect the people who most need the 
 guidance and help of Christian preaching and Christian prayers, 
 to come to the Jlouse of God, if they see you who commune at 
 Christ's table, careless as to whether you come or stay away?' 
 How can you blame young men and women forspending their 
 sabbaths in walking and visiting, if you are not found regularly 
 in your place in the Sanctuary? Parents I would speciallj 
 enjoin to consider the effect which will be produced on the- 
 minds of ther children, if they themselves neglect the Lord's 
 J)ay and its sacred ordinances. If your children observe yoa 
 indifferent to the claims of the Church and of the Sabbath ; if 
 in the morning or in the evening of the holy day, they mark 
 hesitation, on some frivolous ground, in regard to your going 
 to church, little store will they set by these high and sacred 
 things — the highest and most sacred of all the things that could 
 occupy their thoughts or fill their aims. You would thus 
 promote habits of negligence which would grow into habits of 
 
20 
 
 thought ; and these again, would develope into vicious yea 
 infidel principles. No parent can safely, in the presence of 
 his family, manifest indisposition, rnuch loss negligence towards 
 the "holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High." 
 It will tell unfavourably upon their future interests for 
 all time, it will in all likelihood end in their everlastinfr 
 perdition. I beg you then, for I am in earnest, if unhappily 
 any of you have fallon into negligence as to your attendance 
 upon Christian ordinances to retrace your steps ; and for your 
 children's sake as well as your own souls' sake, to honour God's 
 sanctuary from this day forward. Cultivate in yourselves and 
 in your households a love for the house of the Lord. Few 
 things could tend more to develop into the highest religious 
 power in this congregation the success over which you 
 natui'ally rejoice to-da}^, than general faithfulness to Christian 
 ordinances as established within these now sacred walls. 
 
 Peter and John went up " together into the temple at the 
 (evening) hour of prayer." Doubtless they had gone in the 
 morning. Again they go to call upon their God, to seek His 
 l)lessing, to tind His grace. We come up to the sanctuary to 
 jn'ai/. This is a chief part of ])ublic worship. There are other 
 ])laces of t^rayer — there is the family altar — there is the secret 
 place of communion with Crod. They are important, and not 
 to be disregarded. But neither is this. God has instituted it. 
 He has assured His blessing to the assemblies of his people ; 
 and it must not be forgotten that it was when the apostles and 
 disciples were together praying that the Holy Ghost camo 
 down with power. Here, in His house, we are brought very 
 near to God ap.d Heaven and Eternal things. Here, through 
 the great Mediator,' we gain '• access by one Spirit unto the 
 Father." Here may the Spirit be poured down from on high. 
 
 And here, in answer to prayers the existence of which is 
 kuovNiu only to Godj nuiy individuaU tind mercy. You remeni- 
 
21 
 
 ber the two men in Christ's parable, who went up into the 
 Temple to pray. You remember how the Publican— despised, 
 outcast, frowned upon by the " I-am-holier-than-thou" Pharisee, 
 how he bowed his heart as well as his head and, trembling 
 between hope and despair, at length prayed <' God be merciful 
 to me a sinner!" I do not doubt that here to-day in this 
 crowd of worshippers, some are detected by the eye of the 
 Omniscient, reviewing their sinfulness, abashed in the presence 
 of the Holy One, weeping tears of sorrow, trembling yet hop- 
 iug that mercy may reach them, and that the loving arm of 
 (he Divine power may lift them up to reconciliation and life. 
 God help you my friends to remember that you have come 
 hither, or ought to have come hither to pray ! God help you 
 to apprehend that, whether or no, prayer is at this moment 
 within reach of both your hearts and lips ! God teach you by 
 His Spirit how to pray, and then inspire your souls with true 
 jtrayer — with jxjnitence, with earnestness, witli simplicity, with 
 trust — trust in " the Lamb of God " who taketh away sins. He 
 will do all this. He waiteth now to teach, to inspire, to save. 
 8oon as the heart bears upward to His Throne the wish, "God 
 be merciful to me a sinner," mercy is yours— pardon, peace, 
 rest, salvation ! " This man went down to his house justified." 
 A.men! so may it be this day to your guilty souls i 
 
SERMON" 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. THOMAS WARDROPE, of guelph. 
 
 THE LOfiD'3 PEOULIAE LOVE FOR THE GATES OP ZIOK 
 
 Psalm lxxxvxi. 2. — Tlie Lord lovoth tlie gate^ ol'Zioii more thuu 
 all the dwellings of Jacob. 
 
 Hehrews XII. 22 —But ye are come unto Mount Zion. 
 The Lord loves the " dwellings of Jacob," — that is to say. 
 the households, the homes, of His people. That lie docs so is 
 obvious enough from this fact alone, that He refers to them for 
 ;. comparison, when making an emphatic declaration of His 
 .supreme love for the " gates of Zion." He is the (iod of all 
 the families of the earth that call upon His name. However 
 obscure their abodes may be, they are all well known to Him. 
 The angel of the Lord Gncanipeth,and encompasseth them round 
 about. The Lord Himself is with them, by His Spirit, in their 
 occupations, their trials, and their enjoyments. When thev 
 meet at their tables, and ask His blessing upon the bounties of 
 His providence, He is there to give them the blessing. When 
 they gather around their tlomestic altars for prayer, and praise, 
 and the reading of His word. He is near to answer their 
 pi-ayers, to accept their praises, and to open their eyes llrnt 
 they may see wondrous things out of His law. 
 
 These •' dwelling-s of .Jacob" are nuni}', and — we 
 rejoice to believe — becoming more and more numerous, 
 though few in number yet, compji -ed with what they ought 
 to be. On many a hill, in many a glen, on many well- 
 cultivated larms, in many little " clearings" in which 
 
24 
 
 pjitient toil is still hovving out a home, as well as on crowded 
 streets and thoroughfares, there are " tabernacles of the right- 
 eous," in which is heard "the voice of rejoicing and salvation." 
 On such family circles the Lord looks down with approbation 
 and complacency ; to them He vouchsafes His gracious pres- 
 ence; on them His blessing descends. But He loves "the 
 gates of Zion" more than any of them — more than them all. 
 
 Let us consider, in the first place, the declaration con- 
 tained in our text : " The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more 
 than all the dwellings of Jacob;" in the second place, the 
 reasons why He does this ; and, in the third place, the evidences 
 of His doing so. And may the Holy Spirit impress upon our 
 memories and our hearts the lessons that are taught us in 
 connexion with tins sulyect. 
 
 I. The declaration of our text : '* The Lord loveth the 
 gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob." In the 
 early days of the Mosaic economy, we find God giving forth 
 the promise, precious to His people in every age, " In all 
 places where I record my name, I will come unto thee, and 1 
 will bless thee," Of similar import to this promise, although 
 apparently more exclusive in thoir tenor — the exclusiveness is 
 only apparent, as wo shall see by and by — are all the declara- 
 tions of God's special favour to Zion. For, Zion having been 
 chosen as the site of the temj^le to which the tribes were wont 
 to go up to give thanks unto the name of the Loni, the woi*d 
 Zion gradually came to be employed to denote the church in 
 her collective capacity, and especially the church as assembled 
 for the worship of God. " The Lord hath chosen Zion , Ho 
 hath desired it for His habitat on. This is mv rest forever; 
 here will I dwell ; for I have desired it." 
 
 In such connexions as this, the names of Zion and Jerusa- 
 lem are inseparably associatetl. Zion was the mountain of tho 
 Lord of Hosts : Jerusalem was the city of the great King, In 
 
 
 ■X 
 
25 
 
 J 
 
 1 crowdetl 
 the ii<jjht- 
 alvation." 
 ►probation 
 iou8 pres- 
 oves "the 
 lem all. 
 tion con- 
 iion more 
 ilaee, the 
 evidences 
 upon our 
 ?ht us in 
 
 ^veth the 
 ' In the 
 ini^ forth 
 , "In all 
 30, and I 
 although 
 veness is 
 ) declara- 
 ing been 
 ere wont 
 lie word 
 burch in 
 ^sembled 
 ion , Ho 
 forever ; 
 
 1 Jerusa- 
 n of the 
 ng. In 
 
 reading the word of God, we are struck with the ])rominence 
 assigned to these names by the inspired writers ; and, the longer 
 wo read, the more clearly do we see how high n place the holy 
 mountain and the holy city occupied in the affections and in 
 the reverence of devout worshippers under the former economy. 
 This was not because there were no mountains higher than 
 Zion — not because there were no cities more populous or 
 powerful than Jerusalem, it is true that Mount Zion was 
 " beautiful for situation." It is true that, by "the tribes of the 
 Lord," Jerusalem, with her walls, and towers, and })a1aces, and 
 temple, was regarded as the " perfection of beauty." Eut it 
 was the special regard of Jehovah that exalted Mount Zion 
 above all other mountains, and onjiobled Jerusalem above all 
 other cities, whatever their fame and whatever their magnifi- 
 cence. ^HO reason is assigned in the word of God for Zion's 
 having been singled out as the scene of manifestations so graci- 
 ous. Speculation as to the reasons of God's choice would have 
 been vain ; and equally vain would have been dissatisfaction 
 with respect to it. " Why leap ye, ye high hills? This is the 
 hill which God desireth to dwell in : yea, the Lord will dwell in it 
 for ever." It is this — God's choice, God's special regard — 
 that makes Zion " a high hill :" it is this that makes it, with 
 the holy city, " the joy of the whole earth." 
 
 "The Lord lovcth the ^«<e.sof Zion." In ancient cities the 
 gates were the phices of concourse. The Nobles and the Elders, 
 on great occasions, sat in the gates. Business was transacted 
 there, causes were pleaded, justice was administered. The 
 reference in our text, however, is to the crowds making their 
 way into the city for public worship. And the meaning of the 
 declaration which our text contains is, that the Lord looked 
 with greater satisfaction on the multitudes gathering at the 
 gates and pressing in that they might engage in His worship 
 nt the solemn feasts, than on any other scene in all the land. 
 
26 
 
 With the recorded expressions of God's delight in Zion, 
 the recorded expressions of His people's delight in Zion are in 
 perfect harmony. In language inspired by the Holy Ghost, 
 David says, not in his own name only, but also in the name of 
 the whole spiritual Israel, "I was glad when they said unto 
 me. Let us go into the house of the Lord. Our feet shall stand 
 within thy gates, O Jerusalem." " One thing have I desired 
 of the Lord, that will I seek after ; that I may dwell in the 
 house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty 
 of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple: "A day in thy 
 courts is better than a thousand :" " Blessed is the man whom 
 thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that ho may 
 dwell in thy courts : we shall be satisfied with the goodness of 
 thy house, even of thy holy temple." 
 
 II. The reasons why the Lord thus loves the "gates of 
 Zion." As has already been said, we cannot tell, no man can 
 ever discover, why Zion, as a place, should have been honoured 
 above all places on earth, as that in which God's name was to 
 1)0 so specially recorded, and God's gracious presence so 
 signally manifested. But the choice having been made — God 
 having "chosen Zion" — we can be at no loss to point out some 
 of the reasons why it should have been said, with such special 
 emphasis, " The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all 
 the dwellings of Jacob." 
 
 Hero let it be observed that, in speaking of Zion, we are 
 speaking of a place not merely of cherished memories an<i 
 hallowed associations. It is all that, but it is infinitely more. 
 Such were the blessings and privileges connected with Zion, — 
 so manifest the tokens of God's presence and so rich the com- 
 munications of His grace vouchsafed there, — that the apostle, 
 taught by the Holy Ghost, has taken the name Zion, and 
 applied it, as an appropriate figurative name, to the present 
 dispensation — the dispensation of the Gospel; while, in like 
 
 mil 
 wll 
 
 th) 
 
 col 
 
 Zi 
 
 wf 
 
 rci 
 
 re| 
 
 ur 
 
 th 
 
ht in Zion, 
 Zion are in 
 loly Ghost, 
 10 name of 
 ' said unto 
 ^hall stand 
 e I desii-ed 
 oil in the 
 he beauty 
 Jjiy in thy 
 lan whom 
 fit ho may 
 3odness of 
 
 'gates of 
 man can 
 
 honoured 
 
 le was to 
 
 >sence so 
 
 tde— God 
 
 out some 
 
 li special 
 
 than all 
 
 wo are 
 "ies and 
 y more. 
 Zion, — 
 '0 com- 
 ipostle, 
 •n, and 
 3i"esent 
 in iiko 
 
 27 
 
 manner, he applies the name Sinai to the former dispensation 
 which has waxed old, and vanished away. Thus he says, in 
 the words which are also before us this afternoon, " Ye are 
 come unto Mount Zion ;" not unto Mount Sinai, but unto Mount 
 Zion. In the "blackness, and darkness, and tempest" of Sinai, 
 was seen a fitting representation of the aspect of God's law with 
 regard to those violating its sacred precepts. But the apostle 
 reminded those to whom he wrote that they were not living 
 under that ancient economy — that they were living, not under 
 the law, but under the Gosjiel. 
 
 So now we say to you. Not indeed that you are, in any 
 sense, to think lightly of the law. The law of the Lord is 
 perfect. It is holy, just, and good. If you are taught by the 
 Spirit of God, you venerate the law, even when it condemns 
 you. You would not lower its demands, nor sully its purity, 
 even were it in your power to do so. But you see that you 
 can never, in any righteousness or strength of your own, meet 
 its requirements, or pay its penalty. How full then ot grace, 
 in your estimation, must be the announcement, " Christ is the 
 end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth !" 
 He hath *• magnified the law, and made it honourable." All 
 this is implied in the words of the apostlu, " Ye are ccme unto 
 Mount Zion." 
 
 But it was not of the literal Zion that ho thus spoke. 
 •' Ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched," ho 
 said. Now the literal Zion was, just as truly as Sinai, a mount 
 that could bo touched. But Zion, as spoken of by the Apostle, 
 was the dispensation of the Gospel, of which the literal Zion, 
 with all its attractions and all its glories, was of old the 
 appointed symbol. Some ^say that the strictest analogy 
 would lead us to regard Mount Zion as heaven, the dwelling 
 place of Christ and of the redeemed. But, even so, believers 
 
 * Prof. Lindsay, on Heb. xri. 22. 
 
28 
 
 ai'e represented as " come unto Mount Zion." Thus it is said 
 elsewhere, " God hath quickened as together wilii Christ, and 
 hath raised us up together, and made us sit together hi heavenly 
 places in Christ Jesus." This refers, as we suppose, to the iiigh 
 degrees of fellowship with Christ to which believers are ad- 
 mitted even here below. The " heavenly places" arc in Ilim. 
 To those admitted to such fellowship, it cannot be inappro- 
 priate to say, "Ye are come unto Mount Zion" — come to the 
 actual enjoyment of the blessings of the Gospel here, with the 
 anticipation of the fuller blessings which await } ou hereafter. 
 The church below and the church above are one ; they are two 
 parts (soon to be one) of the great family of God. You are 
 members now of that family which embraces the redeemed that 
 are still here below and the redeemed that are now around the 
 throne. 
 
 We need not trouble ourselves, Brethren, about any other 
 so-called apostolic succession. That of which I speak to you 
 •now is no mere figment. Spiritual connexion with Zion hallows 
 all recollections of the past, and brightens all anticipations of 
 the future. When we call to mind God's dealings with llis people, 
 individually and collectively; when, for example, we remember 
 Bethel, and the sublime and encouraging vision with which 
 Jacob was favoured there ; when we remember the Shechinah 
 between the Cherubim; when we remember the synagogue at 
 Nazareth, and Jesus preaching there the acceptable year of the 
 Lord ; when we remember the upper chamber in which our 
 Redeemer instituted the ordinance commemorative of His 
 love, and the room where, when Pentecost was come, tongues 
 as of tire descended upon the disciples, and the outpouring of the 
 Spirit prepared them for the great work of preaching the 
 Gospel to their perishing fellow-men ; and when we think, 
 with yearning desires, of the grace and glory manifested in 
 connexion with any of these scenes and occasions, let us 
 
 nl 
 111 
 
29 
 
 never forgot that, " como unto Mount Zion," we are in the 
 lino along which all these glorious things have been soon or 
 experienced. Being "come unto Mount Zion," we servo our- 
 selves — nay, God makes us, through Jesus Christ — heirs and 
 partakers of them all. 
 
 lleturning from this digression, the design of which was 
 to identify the Zion spoken of by the Psalmist with the Zion 
 that is now, let us inquire lohy the Lord loves the "gates of 
 Zion" more than all the "dwellings of Jacob"— looks with 
 greater complacency upon the assemblies of His people for 
 public worship than upon thoir separate hon\es. 
 
 1. Because, in their assembles, their unity in faith and 
 love, in interest and in effort, is more distinctly manifested. 
 Christ's people are always one in faith and love, even when 
 they are separated from each other; but when they meet 
 together, their unity is seen. They meet on common ground. 
 To whitever country they beloni;-, in whatever occupation in 
 life they are engaged, in whatever sphere they move, tlio dis- 
 tinctions thence arising are laid aside when they meet in the 
 house of God. It is then more evident than in the ordinary 
 intercourse of life that, in Christ Jesus, "there is neither Greek 
 nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision. Barbarian, Scythian, 
 bond nor free; but Christ is all and in all." Before the one 
 God they humbly bow. They have access into His gracious 
 presence through His Son Jesus Christ, the one mediator 
 between God and men. They all rely upon the gracious aids 
 of the Holy Ghost whom Christ sends to abide with His people 
 ulway. Tiiey unite in the same confessions of sin, in the same 
 prayers for forgiveness, in the same adorations, and thanks- 
 givings, and songs of praise. They listen to the same word of 
 truth, saying, as with one heart and one mind, " I will hear 
 wliat God the Lord will speak." When, in such worship, they 
 
80 
 
 «ro broiiglit nearer to their Lord, tlioy are, at the Hame time, 
 brought neni'er orso lo another. The tendency of such uiiiled 
 wornhip is to make thorn " hiy aside all malice, and all guile, and 
 hypocrisiey, and envies, and all evil-speakings;" and to "love 
 one another with a pure heart fervently." "Jiehold, how good 
 and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! 
 It is like the precious ointment upon the lioad, that ran down 
 upon the board, even Aaron's board : that went down to the 
 skirts of his garments ; as the dew of llermon, and as the dew 
 that descended upon the mountains of Zion : For there the 
 Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore." 
 
 2, Because, in the assemblies of His people, their regard 
 for His authority and their delight in His oi'dinances are more 
 openly avowe<l. His people wiU reverence His authority at all 
 times and in all places. The language of their souls will be, 
 ** The Lord our God we will hear, and His voice will we obey," 
 Whatsoever they do, they will do it heartily as unto the Lord, 
 and not unto men. In their homes, their roveronco for God's 
 law, their trust in God's providence, their rejoicing in God's 
 grace will be seen. In their intercourse with their fellow-men, 
 those with whom they come in contact will " take knowledge 
 of them that they have been with Jesus" — that they are true 
 and loving disciples of Him who hath said, "H' ye love me, 
 keep my commandments." But when, on the return of the 
 hoi V day, they say, "This is the day which the Lord hath 
 made; we will rejoice and bo glad in it:" "As for us, we will 
 ''o into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy," — when they 
 are soon leaving their various dwellings, ai:d all setting their 
 (aces in the direction of the place whei© God's name is recorded, 
 and prayer is wont to be made, — when tho}'^ are seen entering 
 His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise, — 
 they give a more impressive and far-reaching, because a united, 
 testimony to their regard for God's authority and their venera- 
 
 ti 
 f(. 
 
31 
 
 tion for GocI'h ordinaiu'otj. By the very fiiet of their asMombliii^ 
 for public worship, thoy nay to all around, to all within the 
 loac'h of their influence : " It h good for us to draw near to 
 (lod : VVi! long to see His power and IFis glory, as we have 
 seen lEiin in the sanctuary: We will go into His tahernacles, 
 we will worshij) at His footstool : We love the habitj^ion of 
 His house, and the place where His honour dwelleth." 
 
 3. Because, in the assemblies of His people, there is the 
 largest and directest employment of the instrumentality which 
 lie has appointed for the enlightening and reclaiming of a 
 benighted and perishing world. " It shall come to pass in the 
 lust days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall Ixi 
 established in the top of the mountain, and shall be exalted 
 above the hills ; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many 
 people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the 
 mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob ; for 
 He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths ; 
 for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of tile 
 Lord from Jerusalem." 
 
 How are these glorious results to be brought about, save 
 by the maintenance of the public ordinances of religion ? 
 With God, indeed, there is all power. He is confined to no 
 one method of working. But this is His way. It is true — 
 and O let us never forget — that believers, as individuals, are to 
 witness for God. Every one who has had spiritual life imparted 
 to him is to be willing, on all suitable occasions, to tell what 
 God has done for his soul. Every one to whom the message of 
 salvation comes is to do what he can in spreading the glad 
 tidings : " The Spirit and the Bride say, come ; and let hhn 
 thai heareth say^ come." But public prayer, and praise, and the 
 preaching of the woi-d are, and ever will be, the great mean.** 
 by which God gathers in a people to Himself — the great meani^ 
 
32 
 
 ibr the proHorvation and extension of tlio knowledge of God 
 among the nations of the world. 
 
 If there are any hero who have been tempted to make 
 light of the public ordinances of religion, wo would ask thorn 
 with what ihoy would supply their place in the event of their 
 being abolished. Let our churches bo closed — let our pulpits 
 bo silenced — and how long would the knowledge of the true 
 God continue to distinguish us a people, from those who are 
 now sitting in darkness and in tiio shadow of death? How 
 jiing would "one generation praise God's works to another, and 
 <leclaro His mighty acts" ? How long would parents continue 
 to tell their children about the grace of God, and the love of 
 (Mirist, and the value of their immortal souls, and the etoi-nal 
 life beyond tl)3 grave? How long would the return of the 
 vSabbath continue to be hailed with gladness as a day of holy 
 rest from our secular employments ? How long would devout 
 households continue reverently to gather about our family 
 altars? Brethren, let the pul)Iic ordinances of religion be 
 suspended, and men would ere long cease to bo honest, and pro- 
 perty to be secure, and life to be sacred. The restraints devised 
 by human wisdom, anil enforced by human authorit}', would 
 ere long become powerless to keep in check the lawlessness of 
 the people. Vices that now "wait for the twilight" would 
 come forth with unblushing front. C rimes that are now deeds 
 of darkness would be porpoti-ato I in the open day. Our land 
 would become a heathen land : it woul I be, as the inspired 
 writer declares the "dark places" of the earth to be, "full of the 
 habitations of cruelty." 
 
 But lot us banish such imnginings, such forebodings. Let 
 us be strong in the hope, the confidence, that He who, for His 
 own glory, instituted the ordinances of public worship, will 
 for his own glory perpetuate them, liot us be persuaded of 
 this, that He who so loves the '-gates of Zion " will, by th© 
 
33 
 
 of God 
 
 o makf 
 If tliom 
 of thoir 
 puIpitB 
 lie true 
 !)(> aro 
 ITow 
 or, and 
 
 ontinuo 
 love ol" 
 
 otornal 
 of the 
 
 ^f holj- 
 
 devout 
 
 family 
 
 ion be 
 
 rid pro. 
 
 iovised 
 
 would 
 
 ness of 
 
 would 
 
 deeds 
 
 • land 
 
 spired 
 
 of the 
 
 Let 
 r J lis 
 
 will 
 )d of 
 
 tho 
 
 ott'ectual power of His Holy Spirit, attract and socuro worship- 
 pin*^ asKOinliiies from generation to generation, till all llin 
 people are translated from the church holow to tho glorious 
 sanctuary above — till, from the east, and from the west, and 
 from tho north, and from the south, they come, and sit down 
 with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacobin tho Kingdom of God. 
 4. Bocaiiso, in tho assemblies of His people, there is the 
 fullest exhibition that earth atfords of tho glory and harmony 
 of tho Divine attrii)Ules in tho wonderful j)lan of human redemp- 
 tion. The scenes that are thus presented possess an interest, 
 and e.xcrt an influence, reaching, as we are taught to believe, 
 far bej'ond this world and its inhabitants. The onlinances of 
 religion are maintained, tho Gospel is preached, that sinners 
 may be saved. But, besides this, tho ordinances of religion 
 are maintained, the Gospel is preached, *< to the intent that now 
 unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places may be 
 known by the church the manifold wisdom of God." How 
 wonderful to think of such learners! "The principalities and 
 powers in heavenly places" — tho " innumerable company of 
 angels," the unfallen spirits that surround tho throne of God. 
 How wonderful to think of the instrumentality employed in 
 the instructing of them — the object, as wo may say, in the con- 
 templation of which they receive instruction ! Tho church of 
 the redeemed. And how sublime bojond conception the lesson 
 that they thus leai'n ! "The manifold wisdom of God." In 
 the other works of God tho angels are interested : at tho creation 
 of the world, " the morning stars sang together, and all tho 
 sons of God shouted for jo}'." But especially are they repre- 
 sented as intensely interested in the still greater and nior»i 
 glorious work of redemption. Into its mj'steries they desire 
 to look. They had seen, in God's Avork of creation, light 
 brought out of darkness and order out of confusion. They had 
 seen the heavens declaring God's glor}'. and the firmament 
 
34 
 
 ,„Ji 
 
 showing His handy work. But, in view of the incarnation and 
 atonomont of Christ, looking down upon the manger of Beth- 
 lehem and the cross of Calvary, contemplating the sufferings 
 of Christ an 1 the glory to follow, wondering at the misery and 
 perdition from which He redeems His people and the felicity 
 and glory to which He exalts them, they see, in aspects other 
 and more marvellous than ever before, the Divine wisdom, and 
 love, and power. 
 
 This gives us the highest idea of the glory of the church. 
 Other works of God illustrate His attributes and perfections : 
 '• The invisible things of Him from the creation of the world 
 are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, 
 even His eternal power and Godhead." But if it is in and by 
 the church, redeemed by the blood of Christ, and sanctified by 
 iris Spirit — the church in the lowness of her origin and the 
 grandeur of her destiny — that God gives to the highest order of 
 intelligences the fullest illustrations of His grace, and wisdom, 
 and power, then the church, in her consummation, must be the 
 most glorious of His works, and the wonders of redemption 
 must surpass the wonders of creation. 
 
 The church as seen b}- us in our shortsightedness, and 
 from our present standpoint, looks very unlike that now. 
 Invaded by world lines , rent by divisions, she comes far, far 
 short of showing foich, in any adequate degree, the praises of 
 Him who hath called her out of darkness into His marvellous 
 Hght. But she is "a city not forsaken." She is called 
 " Heph/iibah ;' for the Lord delighteth in her. He knows the 
 end from the beginning. He knows what His church will be, 
 when His gracious designs with respect to her shall have been 
 accomplished. He sits as a refiner of silver ; and He knows 
 what the result will be, when the successive processes of puri- 
 fication to which He subjects her shall have been completed. 
 So He loves the church. He loves His people individually. 
 
35 
 
 Tie loves their househokls, the "dwellings of Jacob." But, 
 more than all, does He love their assemblies, "the gates of 
 Zion." Looking upon any of their assemblies, — even the 
 smallest, even the obscurest of them, — humbly presenting their 
 prayers, with feeble utterances singing His praise, and amid 
 evf "• 80 much ignorance seeking to understand His word, lie 
 see^ ' yond the many intirmitios, the broken harmonies, of 
 their present worship. Ho sees the day when they shall be 
 "presented faultless before the presence of His glory with 
 exceeding joy." 
 
 111. The evidences of the Loi'd's thus loving the "gates 
 of Zion." Let us at present notice only these two : His 
 almighty protection extended, and His gracious presence 
 vouchsafed, to Zion. 
 
 1. His almighty protection continually extended to Zion is 
 an evidence of the special favour with which He regards her. 
 " God is known in her palaces for a refuge." " Walk about Zion, 
 and go round about her : tell the towers thereof. Mark ye 
 well her bulwarks, consider her palaces." This is the Cliurch 
 of Christ, built upon the Rock, against Avhich the gates of hell 
 shall not prevail. Viewing it with the eye of sense merely, and 
 applying to it the rules by which we should test the strength 
 and stability of human institutions, we might at times almost 
 be driven to the desponding conclusion that Christianity itself, 
 just as other systems have bec(»me effete, is languishing and 
 dying. But such fears and apprehensions are groundless. The 
 emblem by which of old the Church was typified is the emblem 
 by which the Church is represcntal still — that great sight which. 
 Moses long ago turned aside to see, " the bush burning, but yet 
 not consumed." No system of doctrine has ever been tested 
 and sifted as the Christian system has been. Philosophers 
 fulsely so-called have attempted to prove its untenableness.. 
 Profane wMts have attempted to hold it up to ridicule. To Jews 
 
3G 
 
 the prcachin*^ of Christ has long been a stumbling block. By 
 Gentiles the preaching of Christ has long been accounted 
 foolishness. But " unto them that are called, both Jews and 
 Greeks, Christ (set forth in the Gospel) is the power of God, 
 and the wisdom of God." No kingdom of this world was ever 
 assailed with such furious, malignant, untiring opposition, as 
 the church of Christ. No kingdom seems so powerless, 
 judged by ordinary rules, to withstand the assaults of any foe 
 (for the weapons of her warfare are not carnal) ; but the chui ch 
 of Christ still survives. " Because I live," says the Divine 
 Redeemer, " ve shall live also." The church of Christ still 
 Hurvive3 : " God is in the midst of her ; she shall not be moved : 
 God shall help her, and that right early." 
 
 2. His gracious presence continually vouchsafed to Zion 
 is another evidence of His special favour. Here is the form in 
 which we have the promise now : " Where two or throe 'M'o 
 gathered together in my name, there am T in the midst of 
 them." This promise— let us unite with all Christ's people in 
 .saying — is enough for us. The rich, and the learned, and the 
 ])0werful of the world may not always, or often be in our assem- 
 blies, although we should rejoice to see tfiem sitting at the 
 ( I roat Teacher's feet, and reverently hearing His word. Out- 
 ward splendour, such as accompanies the appearances and the 
 progresses of earthly Kings, may not be here to attract the 
 carnal eye. Pompous ceremonial observances may not be 
 here, to satisfy those who look more to imposing forms than 
 to the Hnished work of Mio risen Saviour, But if Christ be 
 iiere, His presence is all that we need. If He be here, strength- 
 ening the weak and healing the broken in heart — if Ho be here, 
 Idessing us with communications of His grace, and manifesting 
 flimself to us in another wuv than He doth unto the world — 
 we shall have cause to say, with gratitude and praise, " He 
 
37 
 
 hrtth brought me into His banqueting house, and Ili.s banner 
 over me was love." 
 
 Do we not know, 33rethren, from what our own eyes have 
 seen, and our own hearts exporioncod, that it is even so ? 
 How often, in the assemblies of God's people, have the awaken- 
 ing, quickening influences of the Holy Spirit been bestowed ? 
 Those who have come among them, thoughtless and careless, 
 have been constrained to inquire, " What must we do to be 
 saved?" Mourners in Zion have been comforted. Those who 
 were as sheep going astray have been brought back to the 
 Shepherd and Bishop of their souls. 
 
 Such things, I say, we have seen and experienced. And 
 what the Lord has done, ire is still able and willing to do for 
 His people. For His arm is not shortened, that it cannot save ; 
 neither is His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. Nay, what any 
 of us have seen, what any of us have experienced, is only an 
 oiirnest and foretaste of what God is ready to bestow. Were 
 wo, b}'- the gracious operation of God's Holy Spirit within us, 
 rising to higher degrees of faith, what bright hopes might wc 
 warrantably cherish, p.nd what blessed maiiifestations of God's 
 converting, renewing, sanctifying grace might it be our happy 
 privilege to witness? Our own souls might be filletl with 
 light, and love, and joy, and holiness, far beyond all our 
 Dast experience, or anj'thing that wc have hitherto ventured 
 to anticipate. In our families, we might see unqestionablc 
 imlicatiiTvis of God's being our (Jod, as He is of all the families 
 of the earth that call upon His name. In the church wo mighl 
 .see the spiritual life by which she ought ever to he char- 
 acterized — the sympathy, the brotherly love, the delight in 
 God's orditiances, the willingness to do or to give for the cause 
 of Christ. 
 
 1 account it a privilege to have been with you this after- 
 noon. I couU give many reasons why it is seemly that I 
 
 F 
 
38 
 
 should rejoieo with j'ou in your joy on this occasion. But T 
 only say that it is my heart's desire and prayer thai, as the 
 years pass away, happy and hallowed associations maj' con- 
 tinue to gather around the relation subsisting between your 
 pastor and the people of his charge ; that by him, and those 
 who may come after him, the Gospel may ever be preached 
 here in its purity ; that many, many of those assembling hoi-e 
 from generation to generation may be brought under the power 
 of the truth as it is in Jesus. " The Lord bless you more and 
 more, you, and your children " " The Lord lift upon you the 
 light of His countenance, and give you peace." Amen. 
 
 ->— 0">0«— ^ 
 
SERMON 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. D. J. MACDONNELL, B. D. 
 
 uM|(lt|«M»,(>l,tM|l»»||M||t»MM»|*H.M».» 
 
 Eph., ii, 20— 22.— "And are built upon the foundation of tlie 
 apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ him.self being the chief corner 
 8tone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto nn 
 holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together tor an 
 habitation of God through the Spirit." 
 
 The figure of a building is a favourite one with St. Paul in 
 describing the Church. "Ye are God's building," he writes 
 to the Corinthians. <' As a wise master-builder 1 have laid the 
 foundation, and another buildeth thereon." " Hooted and built 
 up in Christ," " rooted and grounded (i.e., founded) in love," 
 are the pregnant expressions in which, combining the two 
 metaphors of a tree and a building, he describes to the Colos- 
 sians what their condition ouglit to be. 
 
 In the passage before us, he speaks of the Church not 
 merely as a building, but as '-growing unto an holy temple." 
 Paul was " an Hebrew of the Hebrews." In so writing he was 
 doubtless thinking of the temple at Jerusalem, the centre of the 
 holiest associations of every pious Jew. He nui}' have gone 
 back in imagination to the days of Solomon, the n^.ost glorious 
 period of Jewish history ; may have thought of the immense 
 preparations made for the building of the temple, of the costly 
 materials gathered, of the elaborate workmanship expended, of 
 the cloud of glory filling the house in response to Solomon's 
 prayer, of the thousands of oxen and tons of thousands of sheep 
 offered in sacrifice at the dedication of the temple. But, thought 
 
40 
 
 he, there is a grander temple still, which is now in process of 
 erection, built of " living stones " of infinite value, hewn and 
 polished and fitted into their places; a ''spiritual house," 
 hallowed by the indwelling of the Lord, in which better and 
 more costly sacrifices than Solomon's are continually offered ; 
 and that is the Church of God which rests on the corner stone 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 In thinking of this spiritual house, we shall consider — 
 
 I. The Foundation and Corner Stone on w-hich it rests. 
 II. The materials of which it is built. 
 
 III. Its character. 
 
 IV. Its progress. 
 
 1. The Foundation and Corner Stone of the Church is " Jesus 
 Christ." We may distinguish between the two things, and say 
 that the foundation means the preaching of Christ — the testi- 
 mony of apostles and prophets concerning Christ — while the 
 corner stone is the living historical Christ himself We have 
 Scriptural authority, however, for referring both words to 
 ('hrist. " Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried 
 stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation." The idea 
 seems to be that of a corner stone which also extends beneath the 
 M-alls as a foundation, on which the sides of the building rest, 
 and by which they are knit together. It is in Christ that the 
 whole spiritual building is " fitly framed together." On Him 
 it rests : " other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, 
 which is Jesus Christ." By the common relation of all the 
 parts to Him is their coherence secured : — " to whom coming, 
 
 as unto a living stone, ye also, as living stones, are built 
 
 up." 
 
 Think of the character of this foundation. Let the words 
 of Isaiah and St. Peter throw light on those of St. Paul. 
 
 " A living stone" The words seem to convey a contradic- 
 diction. A stone, one would say, is an apt image rather of 
 
41 
 
 death than of life. Ilowovor costly or brilliant, we do not 
 associate with it the idea of life. But as the temple which God 
 is building is a livin<j^ temple, constructed not of dead blocks of 
 stone, but of living men, the corner stone must likewise be living. 
 In truth it is from Christ, the living Corner Stone, that every 
 stone in the building gets its life. He is " the Prince of life." 
 " In Him was life, and the lite was the light of men." He is 
 the living Lord still. He liveth, and was dead, and behold He 
 is alive for evermore. 
 
 " vl tried stone.'' One that has been thoroughly tested — 
 one that is capable of sustaining the weight of the building. 
 Christ was tried in all things — tried by the devil, tried iy men, 
 tried by His Father. And he stood the test. The Prince of 
 this world came and had nothing in Him. Hypocrites sought 
 to entrap him, but could find no fault in him. He seemed to 
 bo deserted by His Father at the very crisis of the work which 
 the Father had given him to do; but His trust was still un- 
 shaken. His cry was still " MY God," and before ho yielded 
 up His spirit. He was able to say of the work, " It is finished." 
 
 A ''precious " stone. Solomon had " costly stones " placed 
 in the foundation of the temple. Infinitely more costly was the 
 Living Stone that was laid in Zion ibr the foundation of the 
 Church. It was the most precious life in the universe — the life 
 of God's only begotten Son — that was laid down in order that 
 new life for the race might spring out of that death. Do we 
 value precious stones for their beauty ? Christ is of rare 
 loveliness, "the chief amor.g ten thousand and altogether 
 lovely." There is no flaw in the perfect symmetry of His 
 character. Do we value precious stones for their rarity? 
 There is but one Christ : no second Son like Him has God 
 begotten. 
 
 " A sure foundation." One that will never crumble into 
 dust. One that will not yield to the wearing influence of time, 
 
42 
 
 or to the frosts of adversity, or to the fires of persecution. 
 Through all changes, he that builds on this foundation is safe. 
 " The hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies," but he that rests 
 on Christ " shall not be confounded." Tens of thousands have 
 built on this foundation, and not one has ever found it insecure. 
 
 It was this foundation — this " living," "tried," "precious," 
 "sure" foundation, "Jesus Christ Himself" — that the apostles 
 and prophets of the M>w Testament laid by their preaching. 
 Grea^ preparations had been made for laying it. God's work- 
 men had been employed in clearing away the rubbish of 
 superstition. By direct types and positive institutions among 
 the Jews, by the undefined longings and " unconscious prophe- 
 cies of heathendom," the soil of human hearts was made ready 
 for the coming One. " When the fulness of the time was come," 
 He who had been "the desire of all nations" appeared. He 
 lived, suftered, died, rose again, ascended to heaven. Then a 
 few men whom He had gathered round llim went about the 
 world telling the story of His life and death, resurrection and 
 ascension. The first sermons were for the most part declar- 
 ations of these facts. Forgiveness of past sin, grace for present 
 need, the hope of glory hereafter, were based on these facts, 
 and wore not preached apart from them. On this foundation the 
 apostles themselves were built, even while they were laying it 
 for others. 
 
 Men have tried to build on other foundations. Builders 
 have " rejected " Christ. They have tried to construct a perfect 
 society on the basis of force, or of political affiinity, or of social 
 equality, or of this or that form of government, or of some 
 particular set of ojiinions concerning the work of Christ. It is 
 nearly as great a mistake to try to build the Church on the 
 foundation of theological dogmatism as to try to build it on 
 philosophical speculation. The living Christ hr.3 been some- 
 times us effectually hidden by the strife of sects as by the sneers 
 
43 
 
 of sceptics. It cannot bo too often repecatod that it is not 
 intellectual asisent to any set of opinions about Christ that con- 
 stitutes a Christian, but the knitting of our hearts to His by a 
 living faith and love. " To whom coming, as unto a living 
 stone, ye also as living stones are built up," We shall never be 
 livinir stones at all unless we "come "to Him and draw our 
 life from Him. 
 
 II. The materials of which the spiritual house is built. 
 " The saints build up its fabric." They are the living stones ot 
 which the holy temple is being constructed. St. Paul, writing 
 to the Corinthians, defines the Church thus : — " Unto the 
 Church of God, which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctitied 
 (consecrated) in Christ Jesus, called saints." The good, the 
 holj', the "saints;" the men and women who have given them- 
 selves to Christ to be renewed and indwelt by Him, and who, 
 though far from having " already attained " or being " already 
 perfect," are living a consecrated life, a life of separation from 
 the spirit of the world: these are the materials of which the 
 living temple is being built. Notice the following points about 
 these living stones : — 
 
 1. They arc gathered from all quarters. Just as for the 
 building of Solomon's temple gold was brought from Ophir, and 
 cedar from Lebanon, workmen at a distance from one another 
 preparing materials which were at last to find place in that holy 
 and beautiful house, so through many instrumentalities God is 
 gathering stones for His spiritual temple, old men and little 
 children, sages and barbarians, from every kindred and tribe 
 and tongue. Often, too, from the most unlikely quarters. 
 Hidden, sometimes, under heaps of rubbish, as if they were not 
 fit to see the light of day. Lying here and there, in obscure 
 corners, in the fields or lanes, contemptuously or indifferently 
 or unbelieveingly "rejected" by ambitious builders, even as the 
 great Corner Stone wtts Himself rejected. But God knows 
 
44 
 
 where thoy are and seeks them out, ami from dons of filth and 
 slums of vice and moral wastes of ignorance and unbelief, as well 
 as from the quarries of enlightened and civilized communities, 
 the}' are lifted by willing hands and fitted into their places in 
 God's beautiful house. The workers do not always know one 
 another, though they are working side by side. Sometimes, 
 alas! they hinder one another through ignorance and suspicion 
 and narrow-mindedness. Not seldom one tries to pull down 
 what another has been laboriously building up. But (lod 
 knows all, and separates the good from the ovil, and, notwith- 
 standing mistakes and misunderstandings, the work goes 
 bravely on. 
 
 2. Thoy arc of various sorts and sizes. Variety is char- 
 acteristic of life, and those stones are living. There is no dead 
 uniformity about them. There is room in the Church for the 
 greatest variety of temperaments and endowments. The grave 
 and the gay, the cautious and the impulsive, the educated and the 
 illiterate, the noble and the peasant, those who toil with strong 
 arm and those who toil with strong brain, nuiy all find a place 
 in the spiritual house, if only they have the one common 
 characteristic of life. In proportion to the amount of life in it 
 will be the usefulness of any one stone to the building — of 
 any believer to the Church — not in proportion to genius, or 
 refinement, or rank, or culture. There are low-born and 
 untutored men who are pillars in Cod's temple, and grace it 
 with the spiritual beauty which they reflect from Christ, while 
 there are men of rank and culture who must be content to 
 occupy a small niche where they are comparatively unobserved. 
 
 3. They are hewn so as to fit into their places. How rough 
 and unshapely the block of stone or marble looks as it comes 
 from the quarry! When you see it again after the chisel of 
 the stone-cutter has dressed and squared it. you scarcely recog- 
 nise it. Even so is it with the living stones before God's stone- 
 
45 
 
 cutters have licwn thorn. Thoy are so rou^rh, somolimoH, 
 hriHtling with bad toinpors and evil habits, that you can har Jly 
 suppose God will tolerate them in His house. They are so 
 unshapely and unsightly, often, that the workmen are inclined 
 to throw them away, because they can find no way of titting 
 them in. They are so hard, sometimes, that it seems almosl 
 impossible to make any impression on them. But God has 
 many workmen and a great variety of tools. There is n(» 
 stereotyped way of hewing the living stones. Now it is in the 
 family, by the sacred influences of a Christian home ; now, by 
 tlie faithful preaching of the truth from the pulpit; again, by 
 some startling event of God's providence, or by the loss of 
 worldly good, or by the removal of dear ones. Corners arc 
 broken off, the roughness disappears, and the unsightly blocks 
 become "as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a 
 palace." 
 
 4. They are ^'fitly framed together " by the cement of love. 
 However beautiful stones may be in themselves, they cannot 
 be turned to account for a building without mortar. Even so 
 must the living stones in Gc'.'s temple be knit together by love, 
 else that temple cannot rise in its beauty and holiness. Sin-le 
 believers may exhibit special gifts and graces, but it is only in 
 the communion of saints that these gifts can be fully exei'cised 
 jmd these graces strengthened. ^Moreover, each believer will 
 bo deficient in some elements of the Christian character, which 
 it will need the stimulus of Christian fellowship to developc. 
 
 The relation of believers to one another is the result of their 
 common relation to Christ. Thoy are members of llim, the 
 Head, and therefore they are members one of another. One 
 Christian ought to help another, and at the same time to lean 
 upon him. Each member of the Church is bound to contribute 
 his share of life and service to the whole body, and at the same 
 time he draws from all the other members whatever they can 
 a 
 
46 
 
 fiiiniHh for h'm Hpiritual iijrowth. How sncl it ia when, instead 
 of^ivin^ and receiving good, each individual stands alone, not 
 sharing in any common life, nor having his lack supplied out 
 of the fulness of others ! There are some pieces of masonry in 
 which the stones are so firmly welded together that it is easier 
 to break the stones than to loosen the mortar so that they will 
 come apart. So it ought to bo with the Church. We oug' 
 be so tirmly knit together by love that it would be easie. lO 
 I'cnd the individual life in twain than to sever us one from the 
 other. 
 
 Jiove is the only cement that will etfectually unite us, that 
 will stand the test of time and trouble. Church members may 
 be, externally and for a time, bound together by some other tie, 
 such as the convenience of a place of worship, or the popularity 
 of a minister, or the attraction of a ritual, or common adherence 
 to a set of doctrines ; but any one of those will prove a mere 
 rope of sand, utterly powerless to prevent the whole fi'' 3, 
 however beautiful, irom falling to pieces at a blow. 
 
 II r. The character of the spiritual house. •' An holy 
 temple." " Holy in the Lord," i.e., hallowed by the indwelling 
 of the Lord. The temple at Jerusalem was holy, because it was 
 the special dwelling-place of Jehovah. It was not to be treated 
 as a common house. Profane feet were not to tread its sacred 
 courts. It was God's palace, where He dwelt in visible glory, 
 and where He was to receive homage as a King, according to 
 his own proscribed modes. We have learned that trod dwelleth 
 not in temples made with hands, that no place, no thing, no 
 time, is " common or unclean," that God is a Spirit, and that 
 the true worshippers are not those who worship in this place or 
 in that, but those vvho worship in spirit and in truth, whether 
 it be in the stately cathedral, or in the humble cottage, or on 
 the lonely hillside. The loving, adoring spirit is God's chosen 
 
47 
 
 homo. God dwells more really in the heart of the Chi-istian 
 than ever He dwelt in the temple ut Jerusalem. 
 
 It is the union of these living, loving spirits, in each of 
 which God dwells, that conslilutes the Church. If each one of 
 them is consecrated by God's indwelling, and illumineil with 
 the glory of His presence, much more will the Church collecr 
 tively serve as " an holy temple " in which the fulness of God's 
 glory may be revoale<l. Holiness, then, is to be the prominent 
 characteristic of the Church. The Church is to be a holy society ; 
 in the world, yet not of it ; coming into contact with the world 
 at all points, yet sep.irute from the spirit of the world ; not 
 necessarily doing ditfcrent acts from those of the world, but 
 doing the same acts from loftier motives and to nobler ends; 
 not cutting itself off from human cares and pursuits and interests, 
 as if these were *' common or unclean," but conseci-ating common 
 work and living human life in the light of eternity. It is to 
 aim at realizing the prophecy of Zechariah, when " there shall 
 be upon the bells of the horses Holiness unto the Lord, and 
 the pots in the Lord's I 'Mise shall be like the bowls before the 
 altar; yea, every pot Jerusa'om and in Judah shall be 
 holiness unto the Lord of ho-sts:" — i.e., there shall bo no dis- 
 tinction between sacred vessels and common ones, but tiU shall 
 bo consecrated to the service of the L'rd; there shall not be the 
 mischievous distinction between secular worU and religious 
 work, but all woik shall be sacred, and our motto shall be. 
 '•' Whatsoever ye do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the 
 Lord Jesus." 
 
 Clearly this ideal is yet far from being realized. The 
 Church visible is not up to the mark thus ti.xed. The Cluirch, 
 in any of the forms in which it is organised, does not present 
 tliis picture of a holy society. Too often, there is as much of 
 the spirit of the world manifested in the conduct of matters 
 cccle.>.iastical or religious as in business or politics, in which, 
 
48 
 
 im fortunately, too many men see no occasion for the oxercUe 
 of anything but a worldly spirit. Yet, while there is room for 
 self-condemnation, there is room also for thankfulness. Let us 
 
 think of 
 
 IV. The progress of the spiritual house. " All the building 
 fitly framed together cjroioeth unto an holy temple." The 
 building is growing. Notwithstanding apparent or temporary 
 retrogression, there is steady advance. The wave recedes, but 
 it is only that with gathered force it may rush farther up upon 
 the shore. It seems sometimes as if the work of building God's 
 temple wore stopped altogether, or even as if some portions of 
 the walls were crumbling away ; but when we wait a while and 
 look again, we find there has been real progress. Course after 
 course has been laid, and still the building grows. Fresh 
 materials are continually brought, and hewn and fitted into 
 their places; and still there is room— room for thousands of 
 livin"- stones that have not yet been built in, room for all the 
 good of all the ages. 
 
 Not only is this living temple growing in size, it is also 
 •rrowing in beauty — the beauty of holiness. As the generations 
 of Christian men follow one another, there is a growing rich- 
 ness of thought and fulness of life. There is a clearer realiza- 
 tion of the wants of the world, a better understanding of the 
 power of Christ's gospel to meet those wants. We are the 
 heirs of all the Christian ages. The records of devoted piety, the 
 accumulated wealth of thought on the most important matters 
 that can occupy the human mind, the history of the triumphs 
 of the gospel over sin and superstition, the mighty though 
 silent influence of home piety penetrating successive genera- 
 lions— all these are ours, all go to form the life of the Chuich 
 now. What the Church of the future will be depends, under 
 <;od, on the faithfulness with which we use and pass on the 
 wealth we have inherited. 
 
49 
 
 For we are buildors as well as built. It is the peculiarity 
 of this spiritual house that each layer helps to build the next. 
 The first thing is that we be ourselves living stones, «lru."ing 
 our life from Christ, built on Ilim as our foundation. The next 
 thing is that we be thoroughly in earnest in searching out 
 other stones, bringing them to the living Corner Stone, and 
 hewing and poliwhing them. It is by human instrumentality 
 that the work is to be done. In our homes, in our schools, at 
 our social gatherings, by our words, by our lives, as well as l)y 
 the moie formal preaching of the gospel, the building of God's 
 holy spiritual house is to be carried on, until at last the to]) 
 stone shall be laid with shoutings, and the (jhorus shall be sung, 
 "Hallelujah! for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. 
 The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of 
 our Lord and of His Christ. And He shall reign forever 
 AND EVER. Kino of kings and Lord of Lords." We may 
 sometimes wish back the simplicity and the fervent piety of 
 the early Church ; but we ought rather to look forward, for the 
 golden age of the Church is yet to come. Faulty as it is, the 
 visible Church is yet to culminate in " the holy city, now 
 Jerusalem," which shall need no temple, for the Lord God 
 Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it ; which shall have 
 no need of the sun, for the glory of God shall lighten it, and 
 the Lamb shall be the light thereof; into which they shall bring 
 the glory and honour of the na'ions ; into which there shall in 
 no wise enter anything that detileth. 
 
 May the Church which shall meet for the worship of God 
 in this beautiful house be truly described by the closing woi-.ls 
 of the passage which forms the text : — " In whom ye also are 
 buildod together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." 
 •'Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that 
 build it." There is a temptation to rest in external activity, 
 xxnd to think that when we have a complete organization, well 
 
50 
 
 A 
 
 manage.l " schenies," flourishing societies for various objects, wo 
 have a living Church. It is possible that we may have only 
 the dry tones come together and covered with flesh, but wanting 
 the breath of life. AVe may have cannon of the most approved 
 make, charged with powder and shot properly adjusted ; but 
 tiiey will bo worthless until the spark of living fire has been 
 applied. The temple was nothing till the cloud of glorj- filled 
 it. So will the Church, however well organized, however 
 externally beautiful, be utterly powerless, unless the Spirit of 
 the living God breathe life into every part. Let us for this 
 Church, for all our Churches, for the holy catholic Church in 
 all the earth, take u]> Solomon's prayer, " Arise, O Lord God, 
 into Th}^ rest, Thou and the ark of Thy strength." And may 
 God give the answer. "This is mv rest forever: here will i 
 dwell, for 1 have dosirel it." 
 
 
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