went up, even the tribes of the LORD: to testify unto Israel, to give thanks unto the Name of the LORD."' Over its glory they rejoiced; over its desolation they mourned; towards it in captivity they stretched out their fettered hands in worship; for its sake they cried in their affliction, "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning."

"2

Strange would it have been if what had been so acceptable to GOD, and so highly rewarded by HIM under the Patriarchal and Jewish Dispensation, had been discountenanced, or even not equally regarded, under the Christian-I mean, the worshipping of HIM in particular places, with appointed rites, and the building temples to His glory for this purpose. But it was not so. No sooner had the Christian Church emerged from persecution, than everywhere throughout the length and breadth of the land, Churches were raised with all the richness and magnificence of which Christians were capable: and for more than fifteen hundred years it was never thought opposed to the true spiritual worship of GoD, that men should approach HIM with common prayers, in appointed places, and should believe their prayers to be more acceptable to HIM, if offered with one accord in the house where His Sacraments were administered, and His Word preached, than anywhere else. Not that anything can make a prayer acceptable to HIM which comes not from the heart; but that the heart of that Christian must be very cold which does not warm to more than its usual fervour amid the united prayers and praises of those who come to meet GOD, where He has promised to meet them, in His own House; not to mention that the very act of coming there is to do HIM honour, and

therefore it is likely that He will assist all such with the more immediate aid of His Spirit Who intercedes for us. All this, I say, for many many hundred years was never doubted of among Christians; Churches were holy places, having a part of GOD's holiness communicated to them, because His Name was placed there: and besides the daily services they stood open all the day for the private prayers of the faithful. But in these latter days, when every form of false doctrine has invaded the Church of CHRIST, there has arisen a strange opinion that it is no better, nor more pleasing to God, to pray to HIм in one place than in another. This opinion chiefly supports itself on a misinterpretation of our LORD's words to the woman of Samaria, which I will endeavour to explain. This poor woman had been brought up in the belief, which was common to her countrymen, that public worship and sacrifices could only be offered up acceptably to GOD on Mount Gerizim, just as the Jews believed, and believed truly, that the same privilege was confined to the Temple at Jerusalem. Therefore it was that she asked our LORD, saying, "SIR, I perceive that THOU art a prophet. Our Fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. JEsus saith unto her, Woman, believe ME, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the FATHER." That is, HE declares that the restriction, which I have mentioned as put on by GoD at the erection of the tabernacle, was now about to be taken off, as that true temple, of which the tabernacle was but a type, the Temple of His Body, had been manifested unto men, and should be received up to GOD, and so the great spiritual temple of the Christian Church was about to

arise. It would be absurd to suppose our LORD meant to say, men should not worship GoD at Jerusalem, for the first Church was set up there; and has existed even to this day, the Mother of all Churches. But what He meant was, that God should not be worshipped only there, as He was under the law. Therefore He proceeds: "Ye worship ye know not what we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the FATHER in spirit and in truth for the FATHER seeketh such to worship HIM. GOD is a SPIRIT: and they that worship HIM must worship HIM in spirit and in truth." This is, in other words, the proclamation of the Gospel instead of the covenant of Moses. So that wherever in all lands the Church of CHRIST should offer worship to GOD in spirit and in truth, it should be accepted, and that worship should be no longer confined to the Temple at Jerusalem. Not a word is said about there being no sacred places among Christians. Our LORD declares rather that GOD's covenant with man should be Catholic, and no longer merely national: and HE restores to all men the permission which the Patriarchs used, to build Altars and erect Churches to His glory.

But the present discourse will not allow me to go on to the more special consideration of the text: "My house shall be called a House of Prayer to all nations." I shall only observe now how exactly these words of our LORD correspond to those others which we have just been speaking of. For under the law it could hardly be said that God's house was "a House of Prayer to all Nations," inasmuch as only the few pious Gentiles who might travel to Jerusalem could

worship there; but the true fulfilment is to the Christian Church, for now, throughout the world, every Church is a House of Prayer to the same GoD, the Blessed TRINITY, for all Christians, of whatever nation.

It will be sufficient now to have proved that both Patriarchs, Jews, and Christians, had and have holy places, dedicated to the more immediate service of GOD, which claim from all pious minds a portion of that reverence due to His mighty Name, Who dwelleth in them.

How that reverence is to be shown, I will say hereafter.

T. W. A.

SERMON LII.

THE HOLINESS OF CONSECRATED PLACES.

PART II.

Rogation Tuesday.

ST. MARK XI. 17.

MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER FOR ALL

NATIONS.

It was my object in a former discourse to point out to you how it was common to pious men under all dispensations of GOD, to Patriarchs, Jews, and Christians alike, to separate and dedicate particular buildings to the especial honour and worship of ALMIGHTY God, and how such buildings became thereby invested with a sanctity not their own, with a sanctity derived only from His Name Who dwelleth in them. But the text supplies a strong argument to show how this sanctity belongs to Christian churches. On two occasions only of our LORD's life are we told that He assumed to HIMSELF kingly power: those two occur at the beginning and the end of His ministry, and are exactly similar to each other. He entered into the temple of

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