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we may be thought to have herein observe respects in which, without adsomewhat trenched on the office of the venturing on rash speculation, he may Spirit, we have, in no degree, trans- be said to discharge the same offices gressed the statements of Scripture. to the church above and the church In the Book of Revelation, it is Christ below. We shall not presume to speak who sends, through John, the sermons of what goes on in the holy of holies, to the churches, who holds in his right with that confidence which is altogehand the seven stars which represent ther warrantable, when discourse turns the ministers of these churches, and on transactions of which the outer who walketh in the midst of the seven court is the scene. But finding Christ golden candlesticks which represent described as the "minister of the true the churches themselves. And though, tabernacle," and considering this taberunquestionably, it is the Spirit which nacle as divided into sections, we only carries home the word, the delivery of strive to be wise up to what is written, that word must be referred to the Sa- when, observing senses in which the vior. Thus, in a somewhat obscure name must be confined to the lower passage of St. Peter, Christ is said to section, we search for others in which have gone by the Spirit, and "preached it may be extended to the upper. unto the spirits in prison." 1 Pet. 3: 19. And if Christ minister to the church And certainly what he did to the dis- below by discharging the office of obedient, he may justly be affirmed to preacher or instructor, who shall doubt do to the faithful. We have further that he may also thus minister to the shown you, that, as the high priest of church above? We have already rehis people, Christ offers up continual ferred to a passage in St. Peter which sacrifice, and burns sweet incense. And speaks of Christ as having "preached when you combine these particulars, to the spirits." We enter not into the you have virtually before you the Sa- controversies on this passage. But it vior in the pulpit of the sanctuary, the gives, we think, something of foundaSavior at the altar, the Savior with the tion to the opinion, that, whilst his body censer; and thus, seeing that he offici- was in the sepulchre, Christ preached ates in the whole business of the divinely-pitched tabernacle, will you not confess him the minister of that tabernacle?

to spirits in the separate state, opening up to them, probably, those mysteries of redemption into which even angels, before-time, had vainly striven to look. But, understanding by the "true ta- The kings, and the prophets, and the bernacle" the collective church of the righteous men, who had desired to see redeemed, whether in heaven or on the things which apostles saw, and had earth, we have yet to show you that not seen them, and to hear the things Christ is the minister of the former por- which they heard, and had not heard tion as well as of the latter. You see, them-unto these, it may be, Christ at once, that the "true tabernacle" can- brought a glorious roll of intelligence; not be what we have all along supposed, and we can imagine him standing in unless there be ministerial offices dis- the midst of a multitude which no man charged by Christ towards the saints can number, who had all gone down to in glory. And we think that the over- the chambers of death with but indislooking the title of minister, or rather tinct and far-off glimpses of the prothe identifying it with that of high mised Messiah, and explaining to the priest, has caused the unsatisfactori- eager assembly the beauty, and the ness of many commentaries on the pas- stability, of that deliverance which he sage. As High Priest of the spiritual had just wrought out through obetemple, Christ can scarcely be said to dience and blood-shedding. And, O, execute any functions in which those there must then have gone forth a tide who have entered into heaven are per- of the very loftiest gladness through sonally interested. They are beyond the listening crowds of the separate the power of sin, and therefore need not state; and then, perhaps, for the first sacrifice. The music of their praises time, admiration and ecstasy summonis rolled from celestial harps, and re- ing out the music, was heard that quires not to be melodized. But, when anthem, whose rich peal rolls down we take Christ as the minister, we may the coming eternity," Worthy, wor

thy, worthy is the Lamb." Then, it pose. And neither, then, can we dismay be, for the first time, did Adam cover cause why Christ may not be embrace all the magnificence of the thought to have filled the office of promise, that the seed of the woman preacher to the buried tribes of the should bruise the serpent's head; and righteous, and thus to have assumed Abraham understood how the well-be- that character which he has never since ing of the human population depended laid aside, that of "a minister of the upon one that should spring from his sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle own loins; and David ascertain all the which the Lord pitched, and not man." meaning of mysterious strains, which, We know but little of the condition as prefiguring Messiah, he had swept of separate spirits; but we know, asfrom the harp-strings. Then, too, the suredly, from the witness of St. Paul, long train of Aaron's line, who had that they are present with the Lord." stood at the altar, and slain the victims, 2 Cor. 5: 8. Whatever the dwellingand burnt the incense, almost weighed place which they tenant, whilst awaitdown by a ritual, the import of whose ing the magnificent things of a resurceremonies was but indistinctly made rection, the glorified humanity of the known-then, it may be, were they sud- Savior is amongst them, and they are denly and sublimely taught the power privileged to hold immediate communof every figure, and the expressiveness ings with their Head. Thus the preachof every rite; whilst the noble com- er, the mighty expounder of the will pany of prophets, holy men who "spake and purposes of the Father, moves to as they were moved by the Holy and fro through the admiring throng; Ghost," 2 Pet. 1: 21, but who, rapt in- and the souls of those who have loved to the future, uttered much which on- and served the Redeemer upon earth, ly the future could develope-these, are no sooner delivered from the flesh, as though starting from the sleep of than they stand in the presence of that ages, sprang into the centre of that illustrious Being who spake as "never gorgeous panorama of truth which they had been commissioned to outline, but over whose spreadings there had rested the cloud and the mist; and Isaiah thrilled at the glories of his own saying, "unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given," Isaiah, 9: 6; and Hosea grasped all the mightiness of the declaration, which he had poured forth whilst denouncing the apostacies of Samaria, "O Death, I will be thy plagues; O Grave, I will be thy destruction." Hosea, 13: 14.

man spake." Is he silent? Was it only in the day of humiliation, and in the hour of trouble, that he had instruction to impart, and lessons to convey, and deep and glorious secrets to open up to the faithful? He who described himself as actually "straitened" whilst on earth, who had many things to say which his hearers were not able to bear-think ye that, in a nobler scene, and with spirits before him, all whose faculties have been wonderously enlarged and sublimed, he delivers not the homilies We know not why it may not thus of a mightier teaching, and leads not be considered that the day of Christ's on his people to loftier heights of knowentrance into the separate state was, ledge, and broader views of truth? like the Pentecostal day to the church Oh, we cannot but believe that the upon earth, a day of the rolling off of glorified Redeemer converses-though obscurity from the plan of redemption, thought cannot scan such mysterious and of the showing how "glory, honor, and majestic converse-with those and immortality," Rom. 2: 7, were blessed beings who "have washed their made accessible to the remotest of the robes and made them white," Rev. world's families; a day on which a 7: 14, in his blood; that he unfolds to thousand types gave place to realities, them the wonders of redemption; and and a thousand predictions leaped into teaches them the magnificence of God; fulfilment; a day, therefore, on which and spreads out to their contemplathere circulated through the enormous tion the freight of splendor wheregatherings of Adam and his elect pos- with the second Advent is charged; and terity, already ushered into rest, a glad- carries them to Pisgah tops, whence ness which had never yet been reached they look down upon the landscapes, in all the depth of their beatifical re-burning with the purple and the gold,

across which they shall pass when at-nishes one great practical admonition, tired in the livery of the resurrection- already incidentally mentioned, which thus making the place of separate spirits it will be well that you keep diligently a church, himself the preacher, immor- in mind. When you attend the services tality his text. Yea, when we think on of the sanctuary, remember who is the the countless points of difference and minister of that sanctuary. You run to debate between men who, in equal sin hear this man preach, and then that cerity, love the Lord Jesus; when we man. But who amongst you-let me observe how those, who alike place all speak it with reverence-comes in the their hopes on the Mediator, hold op- humble, prayerful, faithful hope of posite opinions on many doctrines; hearing Christ preach? Yet Christ is and when we yet further remember the "minister of the true tabernacle." that a long life-time of study and prayer Christ preaches, through his servants, leaves half the Bible unexplored, there to those who forget the instrument, is so much to be unravelled, so much and use meekly the ordinance. to be elucidated, so much to be learned, It is a melancholy and dispiriting that we can suppose the Redeemer, thing to observe how little effect seems day by day—if days there be where wrought by preaching. We take the the sun never sets-imparting fresh intelligence to the enraptured assembly, and causing new gladness to go the round of the crowded ranks, as he expounds a difficulty, and justifies the ways of God to man.

case of a crowded sanctuary, where the business of listening goes on with a more than common abstraction. We may have before us the rich exhibition of an apparently riveted attention; and the breathless stillness of a multitude And whether or no we be overbold shall give witness how they are hangin even hinting at the possible subject- ing on the lips of the speaker. And if matter of discourse, we only vindicate he grow impassioned, and pour out his the title which our text gives to the oratory on things terribly sublime, the Savior, when we conclude that as the countenances of hundreds shall betray God-man passes through "the general a convulsion of spirit-and if he speak assembly and church of the first-born," glowingly of what is tender and beauHeb. 12: 23, he wraps not himself up tiful, the sunniness in many eyes shall in silence and loneliness; but that testify to their feeling an emotion of speaking, as he spake with the dis- delightsomeness. But we are not to be ciples journeying to Emmaus, he opens wonders, and causes every heart to burn and bound. So that, removed as is the church within the veil from the ken of our observation, and needing not, as it cannot need, those deeds of an intercessor, which engage chiefly, in our own case, the ministry of Christ, we can yet be confident that in the Holy of Holies there goes onward a grand work of instruction; and thus ascertaining, that, as a preacher to his people, Christ's office is not limited to those who sojourn in the flesh, we can understand by the "true tabernacle" the church above conjointly with the church below, and yet pronounce, unreservedly, of Jesus, that he is a minister of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man.”

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Such, brethren, is our account of the title of our text, whether respect be had to believers in glory, or to believers still warring upon earth. If we have dealt correctly with the passage, it fur

carried away by the charms of this spectacle. We know too thoroughly, that, with the closing of the sermon, may come the breaking of the spell; and that it is of all things the most possible, that, if we pursued to their homes these earnest listeners, we should find no proof that impression had been made by the enunciated truths, and, perhaps, no more influential remembrance of the discourse, by whose power they had been borne completely away, than if they had sat fascinated by the loveliness of a melody, or awe-struck at the thunderings of an avalanche.

And the main reason of all this we take to be that men forget the ordinance, and look only to the instrument. If such be the case, it is no marvel that they derive nothing from preaching but a little animal excitement, and a little head-knowledge. If you listen not for the voice of Christ, who shall wonder that you hear only the voice of man, and so go away to your homes

with your souls unfed, simply equipped is made to depend on the clergyman. for sitting in judgment upon the ser. And men will tell you that he is very mon as you would upon a tragedy, and good, but very dull; that his doctrine ready to begin the review with some is sound, but his delivery heavy; that caustic remark, which shall prove, that, he is inanimate, or ungraceful, or flowwhatever else you have learned, you ery, or prosaic. But as to hearing that have not learned charity? he is Christ's servant, an instrument in his Master's hands-who meets with this from the Dan to the Beersheba of our Israel? "Cease ye from man." If ye hope to be profited by preaching; if ye would become-and this is a noble

Alas! the times on which we have fallen are so evil that there is almost a total losing-sight of the ordinance of a visible church. Preaching is valued, not as Christ's mode of ministering to his people, and, therefore, always to be thing-independent of the preacher ; prized; but as an oratorical display, whose worth, like that of a pleading at the bar, is to be judged by the skill of the argument and the power of the language.

We can but point out to you the error. It must reinain with yourselves to strive to correct it. "Cease ye from man." Isaiah, 2: 22. When and where is this injunction so needful as in a church and on a Sabbath? Every thing

strive ye diligently to press home upon your minds, as ye draw nigh to the sanctuary, that Jesus Christ is the "minister of the true tabernacle." Thus shall ye be always secure of a lesson, and so be trained gradually for that inner court of the temple where, sitting down with patriarchs, and apostles, and saints, at the feet of the great Preacher himself, you shall learn, and enjoy, immortality.

SERMON III.

THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF CREATURE MERIT.

"For all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee."-1 Chronicles, 29: 14.

Yet it was comparatively but little

Full of years, of riches, and of ho- commodities, the monarch of Israel nors, David, the man after God's own had heaped together for the work; and heart, is almost ready to be gathered now he summons the princes of the to his fathers, and to exchange his congregation to receive in trust the earthly diadem for one radiant with legacy. immortality. Yet, ere he pass into his Maker's temple of the skies, he would to bequeath the rich and costly proprovide large store of material for that terrestrial sanctuary, which, though it must not be reared by himself, he knew would be builded by Solomon. The gold and the silver, the onyx stones, and the stones of divers colors, and the marbles, these, and other less precious

duce of the earth; and David might have felt that a devoted and zealous spirit outweighed vastly the metal and the jewel. He indeed could leave behind him an abundance of all that was needful for the building in Jerusalem a house for the ark of the covenant; but

where was the piety, where the holiness of enterprise which should call into being the fabric of his wishes?

make so costly an oblation. He felt that God had dealt wondrously with Israel in emptying into its lap the He will not then lie down in his riches of the earth, and thus rendering grave without breathing over the rare it possible that piles of the precious and glittering heaps a stirring, yea, al- and the beautiful might be given, at most thrilling appeal; demanding who, his summons, for the work of the temamid the assembled multitude, would ple. But then he also felt that the land emulate his example, and consecrate might have groaned beneath the accuhis service, that day, unto the Lord? mulations of wealth; but that, had not It augured well for the kingdom of Ju- the hearts of the people been made dea that its great men, and its nobles, willing by God, no fraction of the enoranswered to the call, as a band of de- mous mass would have been yielded voted warriors to the trumpet-peal of for the building which he longed to loyalty. He who had provided rich see reared. God had given both the garniture for the temple's walls, and substance, and the willingness to conglorious hymns to echo through its secrate it to his service. And when courts, had cause to lift up his voice David felt the privilege of a temple bewith gladness and bless the Lord, when ing allowed to rise in Jerusalem, and, the chief of the fathers, and the heads at the same time, remembered how of the tribes, offered themselves wil- tirely it was of God that there was enlingly, and swelled, by the gift of their either the ability, or the readiness, to own possessions, the treasures already build the structure; he might well devoted to the sanctuary. He had now burst into the exclamation, "Who am good earnest that the cherished pro- I, and what is my people, that we mise was on the eve of fulfilment; and should be able to offer so willingly that though, having himself shed blood, after this sort ?" and then add, in the and been a man of war from his youth, words of our text, "For all things it was not fitting that he should rear come of thee, and of thine own have a dwelling-place for Deity, one who we given thee." sprang from his own loins should be You may thus perceive the connechonored as the builder of a structure, tion between the words on which we into which Jehovah would descend are to meditate, and those which imwith the cloudy majesty of a mystic mediately precede. David, as we have Shekinah. shown you, expressed surprise on two But, whilst glad of heart and rejoic- accounts, each of which is indicated ing, David felt deeply how unworthy by our text. He marvels that God he was of the mercies which he had should have blessed the people with received, and how marvellous was that such abundance, and explains why he favor of Deity of which himself, and ascribes the abundance to God, by sayhis people, had been objects. The na-ing, "All things come of thee." But tion had come forward, and, with a he is also amazed at the condescension willing heart, dedicated its treasures to of God in giving willingness, as well Jehovah. But the king, whilst exult- as ability, to the people. God needed ing at such evidence of national piety, not to receive at the creature's hands, knew well that God alone had imparted and, therefore, it was pure love which the disposition to the people, and that, moved him thus to influence the heart. therefore, God must be thanked for Nothing could be presented to him what was offered to God. "Now, there- which was not already his; and might fore," saith he, "our God, we thank not then David be justly overpowered thee, and praise thy glorious name. by the graciousness of God, seeing But who am I, and what is my people, that, however noble the offering, "of that we should be able to offer so wil- thine own have we given thee," must lingly after this sort?" Two things, be the confession by which it was atyou observe, excited his gratitude and tended? surprise first, that the people and himself should have so much to offer; secondly, that over and above the ability, there should be the willingness, to

There will be no necessity, after having thus stated the occasion on which the text was delivered, and the meaning which it originally bore, that

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