with affection what was once a Temple of the Holy Ghost-the dust which will hereafter be re-animated to sing with the Angels, for ever and for ever, the praises of the GOD of Angels as well as of men.

I would ask you, my brethren, to act like the good Bereans, to search the Scriptures, and to see if these things be not so2. If on these things Protestant tradition is silent, and if, therefore, they have not hitherto been brought prominently before you, remember that Scripture is above all tradition, above all systems of theology. Neither Protestant tradition nor Catholic tradition is of value except so far as it accords with Scripture. And if the traditionary religion, or, as they are sometimes called, the received doctrines of our age, be in any way defective, by Scripture must the deficiency be supplied. To the law and to the testimony must we appeal3.

But if these things be so, "what manner of men ought we to be" in the House of our GOD? How ought we to comport ourselves not only because of the Angels, but because of the LORD GOD. GOD is our MASTER: we are HIS servants:

this is His House, And will the good servant of an earthly master, when called upon to wait, address his master in the terms of familiarity with which he addresses his equals? Will he seat himself upon the easy couch, and just so far wait upon his master as he finds it to be convenient? Will his demeanour be that in which he engages in his ordinary work when not in his master's immediate presence? Will he indulge in laughter with his fellow servants, and make irreverent remarks on what he sees and hears around him? Servants of the Lord of the whole earth'; ye who are seeking to make yourselves easy and comfortable when ye come here to wait upon your MASTER; ye who who indulge in idle remarks and conversation; ye who give no heed to what is doing or to be done, do ye comport yourselves in the House of your MASTER, as dutiful servants would be expected to do?

GOD is our KING: we are His subjects. When we stand in the presence of our earthly sovereign, how much of reverence is shewn, how much of ceremony observed; ceremony being the outward demonstration of reverence. And how readily is that ceremony observed! how reluctantly would

1 Isaiah liv. 5. Mic. iv. 13. Zech. iv. 14.

it be dispensed with! and this because we are impressed with a sense of reverence in the august presence of the sovereign. This impression the republican philosopher, with the most cold and un-enthusiastic heart, could not fail, in a degree, to experience. And what we feel, it is pleasant to express, not in some extemporaneous act which might expose us to ridicule, but by some customary form: ceremony in such a case becomes a relief to us, by pointing out a mode in which the feelings of the heart may be indicated in a manner by which we shall not be invidiously distinguished from others. And so will the ceremonies of the Palace of the KING of Kings be a relief to those who, being aware that any personal distinction, any thing which calls the attention to ourselves, as if we were different from others, is to be deprecated in religion, still desire to express their overwhelming feelings of reverence. And if those feelings be not experienced, what reason can there be but this, that we forget, because He is not visible, that the Great GOD of Heaven and Earth is really Present among us? Let, then, the saying of Jacob be impressed upon our minds. As we enter the LORD's house, let us kneel down and collect our thoughts, and say: How dreadful is this place,

this is none other than the House of GOD, and this the gate of Heaven: and as the service proceeds, and our thoughts incline to wander, let us recal them by repeating again and yet again, This is none other than the House of GOD, and this is the GATE OF HEAVEN.

SERMON VII.

PUBLIC WORSHIP A SACRIFICE.

HOSEA, XIV. 2.

"So will we render the Calves of our Lips."

THERE is but One PRIEST1 who, in His own right, can approach GoD2; there is but One MEDIATOR Who can plead His own goodness3, even the LORD JESUS CHRIST; and so, there is but ONE propitiatory, expiatory SACRIFICE*; even "the one full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction," once made upon the Cross, when the LAMB of GOD was offered for the

3

1 Heb. iv. 14.

1 Tim. ii. 5. Heb. ix. 14.

2 Heb. vii. 26.

• Heb. ix. 28.