SERMON XXV.

DELIVERED AT THE CONSECRATION OF TRINITY CHURCH, COLUMBIA.

1 KINGS, xiii. 66.

"On the eighth day, he sent the people away. And they blessed the king, and went unto their tents joyful and glad of heart, for all the goodness that the Lord had done for David his servant, and for Israel his people."

HESE words conclude the account of the sublimest and

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most interesting occurrences recorded in the sacred volume. A magnificent temple had been built to Jehovah. There were assembled to its dedication, "the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes; the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel." An innumerable company of priests and Levites; a great congregation from the entering in of Hamath to the river of Egypt." While the preparations were making, “King Solomon was there with all the congregation of Israel, sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not be told, nor numbered for multitude." When the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord had been brought in unto his place, and the house was passing into the possession of Almighty God, to whom it was built, the king, upon his knees, offered a prayer of dedication, scarcely inferior to the temple in its sublimity, nor to the ark, before which it was offered, in its holiness. It has been read to you in one of the lessons appointed for this occasion. And who that heard it, do not believe that the Spirit which filled the house, filled also the heart of him who devoted it to the Most

High. To the consecration of this temple, succeeded several days of festive pleasure and social joy. And "on the eighth day, he sent the people away, and they blessed the king, and went unto their tents joyful and glad of heart, for all the goodness that the Lord had done for David his servant, and for Israel his people."

We may see here, in this temple, a type of every Christian Church; and in David, a type of Jesus our Lord; and in Israel, a type of the people of the Redeemer. The blessings which the congregation bestowed on the king, by whom the temple had been built, teach us the obligations which any people are under to those who accomplish the erection for them, of places of public worship. And the emotions of the hearts of all Israel, on this occasion, describe the delight which is this day felt by many of my hearers, and which should always be felt when a temple is built and consecrated for the worship of God.

But why should the erection of churches, and consecration of them to the service of the Most High, be an occasion of such extraordinary joyfulness and gladness of heart? This is the subject of our discourse. And we shall find sufficient reasons for joy and gladness on such occasions, if we consider them with respect to Almighty God, to whom the buildings are devoted, to the country in which they are reared, or to the people who shall enjoy the blessings and benefits which may be found in them, and they are erected to secure.

In the first place, with respect to God. When churches are erected for his worship, it is a joyful thing that He, in whose glory every intelligent being should feel interested, is becomingly honoured. "God, who made" the heavens, "dwelleth not in temples made with hands; neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed anything, seeing He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things." Nevertheless, he is pleased to consider himself honoured by the devotions of his creatures; and these devotions are to themselves and the world, a proper memorial of his excellence, and declaration of his praise.

Men's dispositions towards his Maker, to be expressed in a

manner correspondent to his nature, must be expressed by sensible acts. No acts of his, in his social character, are more significant of reverence, homage, and adoration to the Almighty, than the devotion to him of places of worship, great and magnificent, according to the means with which he hath blessed them. Without his temple, God is forgotten. The appropriation of part of their wealth by men, to build him an house for his service, speaks a reverent remembrance of his name, and a laudable desire to make his praise glorious.

How suitable a homage to the Deity this is, may appear from the care of mankind in every country, and in every age, to honour their gods with places for their names, and memorials of their supposed presence and greatness. Where, among the heathens, is the god, who had not his image, his altar, or his temple? It was a grief to David, that while he himself, "dwelt in an house of cedar, the Ark of God remain within curtains." Before any command required it, nature taught men to consecrate places to the worship of the Most High. Noah, when he went out of the ark, "built an altar." Wherever the patriachs in their journeyings pitched their tents, they erected places for divine worship. And Moses, before the ark was made, and the residence for it, “according to the pattern showed him in the mount," pitched a tabernacle without the camp in honour of Jehovah, to which every one that sought the Lord was to go.

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How acceptable this homage is to God, we may learn from his own lips and conduct. Even on the purpose of David to build him a temple, he bestowed his approbation. "Where" said the High and Mighty One, who inhabiteth Eternity, "whereas it was in thine heart to build a house to my name, thou didst well that it was in thine heart." Moses he instructed how to make the tabernacle. He blessed and rewarded Solomon, when the temple he had builded was finished. In the houses of his worship, he condescended to "place his name." When the tabernacle and temple were devoted to him, he filled them with his presence in his glorious cloud, and in his fixed and terrible. glory, vouchsafed to dwell there upon the mercy-seat.

Surely every new instance of such acceptable, and expressive homage to their Creator and Redeemer, must be gratifying to his intelligent offspring. Were a statue and monument erected to the honour of the father who begat and sustained you; of the sovereign of your country, or of the friend who had blessed you with his counsel and his love, would you not behold it with delight, and speak of it with joy? How much rather, when there is raised on earth, a temple to the glory and service of your Father in heaven, the Sovereign of the universe, the best benefactor, and most affectionate friend! The world presents much to dishonour and pain him. It is a relief, it is a felicity to know that, amidst the confusions, follies, and pollutions of the earth; while man is destroying man, and war's ruthless hand is desolating the fabrics of art, and in the whirl of outrage and vice, God is forgotten; piety, holiest and happiest inhabitant of the earth, is in some places, employed in raising mansions for the celebration of God's glory, and the abode of the Ark of the Covenant of peace. Turn, oh! turn thy face, Holy and Almighty Being, from the temples of idolatry, and abodes of pollution which are on our globe! Turn, oh! turn thy face from the atheism, the ingratitude, and strifes of men, and condescend to behold the buildings which thy children do humbly rear, that in them, they may worship Thee, and learn to "love one another."

But we are to consider places of worship with respect to the country in which they are erected; and in this view, the erection of them is a cause for joy and gladness of heart. He who loves his country would have it adorned with what is beautiful in art, and excellent in character. It is the happiest application of art, to furnish fit temples for the worship of the Almighty. Such temples beautify the regions in which they stand. "How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel!" Pleasant are they to the eye, "as gardens by a river's side, as trees of lign aloes which the Lord hath planted." Who, indeed, would have his posterity search in vain among the buildings of their ancestors, for houses in which religion was honoured, and her peaceful influences enjoyed! Who, if the traveller shall

one day come to survey the ruins in his country, which calamity or time may produce, would not have his attention arrested by vestiges of temples, which should show that the inhabitants loved what is great and public, and worshipped God!

Especially, if it be further considered that the appearance of such edifices indicates civilization, and suggests many pleasing associations and agreeable hopes. They are monuments in a country that piety is, or has been, reverenced there. They tell us, that the people have the means of Christian improvement, and the transporting prospects which Christianity opens. Hence the satisfaction with which the stranger speaks of them, and the elevated emotions with which we behold them. The eye, wearied with contemplating the habitations and desolations, which remind us only of earth and misery, rest relieved and brightening with joy upon the fane which intimates that there is piety on the earth, and on the spire which points to heaven. Naked is that country, destitute of the best monuments of wisdom and improvement, in which churches, of suitable magnificence, do not abound.

In this view of the subject, joy in the erection of them, may well spring from the hope that they may bring blessings upon the land in which they are consecrated and endowed. "For thy temple's sake at Jerusalem," was a plea of great avail with the Most High. Upon Zion, the hill where his temple stood, God promised his blessing. When the Jews sent an embassy to Jesus Christ, in behalf of the afflicted Centurion, this was their commendation of him; "He loveth our country, and hath built us a synagogue." From the anxiety of the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, to build an altar on this side Jordan, and the remonstrances then used with them by the other tribes, it would appear that in those days, the country was considered unhallowed and unprotected, in which no temple, or holy place was found. In every place where the memorial of his Name should be recorded, the Almighty promised to meet his people with his blessing. "Go up to the mountain," said he, in the time when no temple was found in his