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for God's immediate service*. And here did our LORD again, as he had done the day before, press upon them the wickedness of their practice by reciting to them the same words from the prophet Isaiah, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves. The temple of Jerusalem was designed, from the original institution, as a house of prayer for people of all nations, who would become true worshippers of God; it was therefore insufferable for the Jews to make it a den of thieves, as they really did, by practising in the very courts of it, great impositions in their different trades.

Although this transaction passed our review last evening, yet I shall not dismiss it without offering to your thoughts an improvement which you are to make further upon it, That since our LORD took such pains to cleanse the temple, we should be very careful not to profane any place appropriated to publick worship, by improper behaviour in it. When we enter a Church, we should leave all worldly cares behind us, and give up our minds entirely to the service of GoD; for wilfully to employ our thoughts upon

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worldly business in GoD's house, is a crime of the same nature as to carry our goods thither for sale*.

The fame of this our Saviour's divine authority of cleansing the temple having been exercised two successive days, could not but draw together a great number of people; JESUS therefore thought this a convenient opportunity to assert his mission and authority from the Father, and to declare, that in the extraordinary steps which he had taken for the reformation of abuses and the vindication of GOD'S house, he had acted by the immediate direction and authority of GOD himself. This I shall give you in the words of our blessed LORD, as you will read them in the latter part of the 12th chapter of St. John's Gospel.

44. "JESUS cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me.

45. And he that seeth me, seeth him that

sent me.

46. I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me, should not abide in darkness.

47. And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I

Trimmer's Sacred History.

came not to judge the world, but to save the world.

48. He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. 49. For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he hath given me commandment, what I should say and what I should speak.

50. And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak."

These verses are so plain as to need no comment: I shall, notwithstanding, just observe to you, that they were designed to show to the Jews the union of CHRIST with his Father: that if they refused the divine grace which was offered to them, the words which he now spake, would be sufficient evidence to justify their condemnation, as it was entirely the effect of their own obstinacy: that he did not address them as a common teacher, but spoke to them the very words of GoD*: That obedience to GoD's commandments is the way to eternal life, and he will surely condemn those who are disobedi

* Trimmer,

ent to his word. Let us remember then, that the same word which will condemn the obstinate and unbelieving Jew, will also condemn the wicked and hypocritical Christian.

We have now followed our blessed LORD through the second day of the week in which he suffered, and have beheld him with great seriousness and earnestness reforming abuses, and teaching the people. And now the scene of his persecutions and of the ignominious death to which he was to submit, begins to open upon us. The chief priests and scribes heard his doctrine, and were so offended at it, that they sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him, because all the people were astonished at his doctrine. And when the evening was come, he went out of the city, and retired, probably to some private place with his disciples.

We too, my Brethren, will now retire; but let me first entreat you to meditate seriously on what you have heard, and in your private addresses to ALMIGHTY GOD to pray, that you may ever be of that number who gladly hear the Gospel of his Son JESUS CHRIST, and that you may so hear it, as to bring forth fruit unto eternal life.

LECTURE IV.

Mark xi. 20.

AND IN THE MORNING, AS THEY PASSED BY, THEY SAW THE FIG-TREE DRIED UP FROM THE ROOTS.

Mark xii. 1.

AND HE BEGAN TO SPEAK UNTO THEM BY PARABLES.

THIS, my Brethren, is the third day

of that week, which the Church of England has particularly recommended her members to observe with more than ordinary solemnity; therefore the occurrences of this day, as they are generally supposed to have arisen, I am now, according to the plan I proposed, to take into consideration: and by a due meditation on those already brought to your recollection, and on those which remain to be considered, it may with confidence be presumed, that your attendance here cannot be entirely unprofitable, nor your time considered as by any means lost.

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