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LECTURE XII.

NEHEMIAH'S ZEAL FOR THE SANCTUARY.

"We will not forsake the house of our God."-NEH. x. 39,

THE Lord chose Israel to be unto Himself a peculiar people; He ordained them to be the guardians of His spiritual worship, and the repositories of His lively oracles. So long as they kept those oracles undefiled-walking according to their statutes; so long as they maintained that worship undebased—eschewing idols and cleaving to their glorious temple-God was with them, and whatsoever they did had his blessing; no weapon formed against them prospered, and their enemies fled before their face. But when they forsook His laws and made His word of none effect through their traditions; when they either profaned or abandoned the place where His honour dwelt

defiling His worship with superstition and idolatry-then He turned to be their adversary and fought against them. He gave up their city to destruction, and their beautiful house, where their fathers had praised Him, to utter desolation. Their enemies prevailed against them, they were carried away captive into Babylon, they hung their harps upon the willows by the waters' side; for they that carried them away captive, required of them then a song and melody in their heaviness. But after seventy years of tribulation, God hearkened to their cries: He thought upon His people, and pitied them for His Name's sake. He caused Cyrus to issue a decree that Israel should return to their land. Multitudes hastened back to the home of their heart. They rebuilt their temple; they gradually, under the guidance of that illustrious leader whose character we are dwelling upon, raised from the dust the walls of their city; and now the work, through the good hand of their God upon them, was brought to a happy consummation. Then kept they a solemn festival, and accompanied it with deep humiliation-mingling their sorrows and confessions with their joys and thanksgivings. After that, they renewed their covenant with God; family after family, each represented by its head, subscribed and sealed the holy compact. They bound them

selves to restore to God's house the tithes and sacrifices which the law ordained. Yea-and,

though impoverished and oppressed, such was their rekindled love to the sanctuary, that they voluntarily undertook to give of their own freewill, over and above what the law demanded, such things as were needful for the full service of the temple. And thus it was that, chastened and taught, penitent and grateful, remembering how their fathers had deserted the habitation of the Lord and how fearful had been the consequencesthe whole assembly, in unison with their governor, protested with one mind and one mouth, "WE WILL NOT FORSAKE THE HOUSE OF OUR GOD."

The spirit of Nehemiah was sublimely devotional. Whether we contemplate him on his knees in his closet, or whether lifting up his heart whilst standing in the midst of the workmen on the wall, or whether in the temple with the great congregation, pouring out his heart in the full tide of worship—we see that he was distinctively a man of prayer. Happy the men of business who breathe the same spirit. He did not suffer his occupations to secularize his devotions, but he hallowed his occupations by his devotions; the latter armed and animated him for the former; the former braced and stimulated him for the latter. No one stands more in need of the ordinances of

the sanctuary than he who is most afloat on the busy world; none is more dependent on those ordinances for keeping alive the flame of godliness in his breast. At the same time, none is more in danger of being estranged from the temple by the absorbing force of business, by the thirst for gain, and by the seduction of surrounding example; none is more strongly tempted to let earthly care encroach upon the Sabbath, and either to prefer the counting-house to the house of prayer, or to let the shadow of the former overcast the latter. It is therefore my purpose, beloved, to stir up your minds, by pressing upon you some simple reasons, in the first place, why you should say of "the habitation of God's house," "we will not forsake it;" and in the next, why you should say of our national Church, in one of whose sanctuaries you are wont to worship, "we will not forsake her."

In fairness, it cannot be thought unreasonable at a juncture like the present in the history of our land, and it ought not to be thought inconsistent with charity the most enlarged and catholicity the most unreserved, that we should seek to establish you in an enlightened, tolerant, but affectionate attachment to the Church of your fathers. May "the good spirit" of God guide us into the knowledge and love of the truth whilst we wait upon His word!

The arguments to dissuade you from "forsaking the assembling of yourselves together," are plain and unanswerable. God has clearly ordained public worship. He made man to be social-social in virtue of his sorrows, his joys, his wants, his affections, his relationships. If he formed men to be social in things natural, He no less formed them to be social in things spiritual. The isolation of selfishness is of sin; the union of love is of God. But union is cherished by communion, and communion strengthened by united worship. The faithful ought therefore to assemble themselves together in their Master's name. Accordingly, fellowship in worship may be traced from the earliest period. It seems not improbable that, as our great poet has represented, even in paradise the primitive pair had some chosen bower whither they resorted to offer up their stated homage to their Maker. But be that as it may, no sooner do we find men beginning to call upon the Lord after the fall, than we find them calling upon Him in fellowship. Where the patriarch pitched his tent, there he built his altar; and round that altar the household statedly gathered themselves whilst the patriarchal priest offered the family sacrifices. Then, as soon as ever God had singled out a people for Himself, He bade them raise a tabernacle of witness and of worship, giving the minutest instructions for its construction, its