of everlasting peace where guilt is subtleties of your spiritual foes? I banished for ever away. would say to you still, fight on, it is but for a time, fight on in reliance on him who has said "I will never leave thee," fight on in the sure expectation of hearing soon that same almighty Friend addressing you, "well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” Secondly, what comfort is there for those who now mourn, by reason of the weak and imperfect manner ins which they are serving God; by reason of sin itself, too often mixing with, and defiling all they do? Oh! there is a time when this, their mourning, shall be turned into joy. For in that future state of perfect holiness to which they shall soon be brought, sin and imperfection shall be known no more. Yes, christian brethren, there shall you be able to love and adore your Redeemer, and your GOD, as you cannot do here; no fatigue, no thought, shall mar your service then; those grovelling wandering thoughts which now too often draw aside your minds from better things, in your most ardent devotion, shall never rise again. Is there not comfort in this -is there not comfort in the pros"pect? and, oh, will there not be comfort beyond conception in the blissiful reality itself? 1 Again, what comfort have we for those who are now fighting the good fight of faith, who may often be cast down by reason of the number and violence of their spiritual foes? The comfort is this, that yet a little while and the conflict shall cease, yet a little while and their warfare shall be accomplished: and then an entrance shall be given them, when they shall join with that great and heavenly multitude, whom St. John in his vision beheld standing before the throne clothed in white robes, and palms in their hands-the palms va token of their victory, and their language shall be, salvation to our GOD, who sitteth on the throne, and : unto the lamb. Then, brethren, are any of you 1 struggling with temptation, sorely tried, it may be, by the snares and And, lastly, what comfort is there to the christian pilgrim, now so often sorrowing by reason of the many distressing scenes of sin which he is compelled to witness as he traverses this evil world, what comfort in the thought, that there is a place of which it is said, nothing shall enter there which defileth, and that that place is his home! Yes, the children of Zion may well rejoice, though now in their journey to the land of rest, they see that they are in an enemy's dominion, they see the power of that enemy working continually in the children of disobedience, and a grievous sight it is, but let them know it is a sight which they soon shall witness no more. In heaven all is pure; there shall we no more see or behold that which pains the heart of every christian now; there the wicked shall cease from troubling, and the weary shall be for ever at rest. Thus, then, brethren, for every trial and for every cause of grief, which the christian meets with here, see what comfort is provided for him in those eternal joys which the blessed Gospel promises him hereafter. How truly blessed, then, are they who thus mourn, for they shall be comforted! they sow in tears but they shall reap in joy; they have gone forth weeping but are bearing with them precious seed, and soon, therefore, shall they come again, bringing their sheaves with them: "the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come to Sion, with songs of everlasting joy upon their heads," and they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow shall be away. Then comfort one another, christian brethren, fellow pilgrims, as you are, through a dark, and dangerous, and upon so many accounts, a distressing world, comfort one another with these words. To every mourning follower day of your mourning shall be ended. of Christ, who is himself a man of sorrow, here is his promise, "I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am ye may be also." Be patient, therefore, brethren, under all these present sorrows, be patient, knowing that the coming of the Lord draweth nigh, soon your | Saviour shall be here, and then the A Sermon, DELIVERED BY THE REV. T. MORTIMER, B. D. AT ST. MARK'S, MYDDELTON SQUARE, PENTONVILLE, ON SUNDAY MORNING, [ON OCCASION Of the departure of a beloved RELATIVE FOR INDIA-] Psalm Ixiii. 1, 2. -" O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; to see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.” THIS Psalm is intitled a Psalm of velation, instructed the son of Jesse, David, when he was in the wilderness and said unto him, abide not in the of Judah, an account of which you hold, depart and get thee into the may find in the twenty-second chapter | land of Judah. Then David departed, of the First Book of Samuel. Only and came into the forest of Hareth. a little before he had left the king of Behold him, then, an exile, wanderGath, and afterwards escaped to the ing to and fro, like a sparrow upon cave of Adullam, where his brethren the mountain, hunted down, like a and all his father's house resorted to beast of the forest, by the servants him. The third verse of that chapter and the malice of Saul; obliged even presents a very touching picture of to go to the enemies, the sworn foes of the distress and anxiety which for Israel, to seek a shelter and an asyawhile were allowed to harass the lum, first for himself with the king heart of the future king of Israel. of Achish, and then for his father "David went unto Mizpeh of Moab, and his mother with the king of and said unto the king of Moab, let | Moab. Then returning to Judah inmy father and my mother, I pray deed, but not to its crowded cities. you, come forth and be with you till No, he dwelt in the wilderness, and I know what GOD will do for me. sheltered himself in the forest; even And he brought them before the he who was one day to be lord of king of Moab, and they dwelt with every village in the land, and to whom him all the while that David was in the proudest of the cities of Judah, the hold." It was now that the pro- the great Jerusalem itself, should one phet Gad, doubtless by a divine re-day do all homage as to her lawful and only Sovereign. The language of my text expresses the feeling of his pious soul under the spiritual privations of the wilderness. The desert and the forest furnish few opportunities for the public service and worship of the Lord. True indeed, here he might hold converse with his own heart, and doubtless he did; and probably the outline of many of those psalms, which he afterwards wrote for the edification of the church of GOD, was formed in the days of his distress and in the hours of his absence and banishment from the temple of the Lord. My text expresses the vehement and fervent desire of again being restored to the courts and to the worship of Jehovah, and that mingled with the most touching recollections of the past; of services celebrated and scenes witnessed at the Holy Tabernacle, and in the worship enjoined by the Jewish ritual and celebrated at the stated festivals of the Jewish church. Both these points it may be well to consider. They may lead, under the divine blessing, to a train of thought and of reflection, not unprofitable to us all, and especially applicable, it may be, to some who have long been resident in our highly favoured and happy country, (blest as that country is with the means of grace in rich abundance) but who may ere long at the call of providence be about to leave their native shores, to resign the comforts of home, to cross the mighty deep and to proceed to 'foreign and distant realms. To such the language of the text, and the improvement which it suggests, may be especially and peculiarly applicable. LET US CONSIDER THEN, CONCerning David, two THINGS, both of them in connexion with the service of the temple, and the public worship of Almighty GOD. 1 1. HIS AFFECTING RECOLLECTIONS. -II. HIS ARDENT DESIRES. First, HIS AFFECTING RECOLLECTIONS. He was not a man who, in former days, had been indifferent to the service of his God. Oh no, anything but that. He had been in the sanctuary, nor had he been there for nothing. He had seen-what suppose you? The officiating priesthood merely discharging their duties in the order of their course? No, he had seen something more than that. So at least says the text-" To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary." What! may a man see God? Is it permitted to a dying child of Adam, in a world of sin and misery, to behold the glory of the Lord? It is. Not fully to behold it. That is reserved for another and a better state, another and a better world, another and a better church, a church and a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. But yet while here below, the Christian is permitted to behold GOD's face in righteousness; to get a glimpse of that divine countenance, the full brightness of which, no mortal man can see and live; but yet its manifestations are permitted to be enjoyed by the people of the Lord. There is a Mediator, there is a Mercy Seat, there is the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. David had once enjoyed the ordinances of religion, according to the Mosaic ritual, full indeed of types and shadows, ceremonies and sacrifices, yet all tending to bring man to GOD, and God to man: all tending to give poor sinful man, a power to behold the majesty of the Lord. Oft was the tabernacle, and, subsequently, the temple, filled with the divine glory. The officiating clergy were overcome with the sensible presence of the Lord Jehovah. On one occasion, indeed, the whole assembly, clergy and laity, priests and people, were overpowered and overwhelmed with the manifest pre-it admitted that it is so ; yet verily sence and glory of the Lord of Hosts. But I pause to inquire. Is this peculiar to the Jewish dispensation? Had they brighter views of the character, attributes, and perfections of our God? Are we Christians favoured with less clear light, and glory of a lower grade and order than was enjoyed by the house of Aaron, and the house of Judah, and the house of Israel, in their solemn approaches unto God? No, no, verily ask our great Apostle, himself indeed a Jew, yet the Apostle of the Gentiles; ask him, and he will tell you. And what, what will he tell? what but this, GOD, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined into our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of GOD, in the face of Jesus Christ." Inquire you whether he has any further description to give? He has-It is this, and nothing less than this-and the human mind can scarce conceive of any thing more, of any thing greater, "We all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord." It may perhaps be said that Saul of Tarsus, when struck from his horse by the overpowering splendour and meek majesty of our Divine Redeemer, when he heard the voice addressing him by name, the voice from the excellent glory, which inquired," Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" It may be said, perhaps, that after such remarkable and extraordinary manifestations of the divine presence made to him, his case must for ever stand alone. That it might well be said, that he had beheld the glory of the Lord, but that such an expression could not properly be employed in reference to the great mass of those who profess and call themselyes Christians. Be without any return to the apostolic age, without any miraculous display of the divine power and energy, there is, nevertheless, the beholding of the Lord in the courts of his house, and in the ordinances of his church. Faithean behold the majesty, and adore as actu ally present the infinité and everlasting GOD. Oh! yes, they who come to God's house, in the spirit of the Holy Psalmist, shall, within the sacred walls, behold to their joy the face of their reconciled Father and Friend. But notice! David not merely says, "to see thy power and thy glory." These, as pioneers, seem to march before the Divine presence, but he adds, I have seen Thee, I have seen Thee, and where? It was in the sanc tuary. Oh holy spot! Oh conse crated house of prayer! Blessed Temple of the Lord! Honoured Courts of the House of our God! The Sanctuary! the Sanctuary! what mean the words? Ask the scoffer, and he cannot tell you—Ask the man whose heart and whose treasure are in the world. He knows not what the words imply. Ask the mere ñominal Christian, the formalist, or the pharisee; he will give you some cold definition, some statement calculated to freeze rather than to warm, to repel rather than to invite, to depress rather than to cheer. But ask the man of GOD, the man of prayer, the follower of Christ-ask him what are his recollections connected with the sanctuary. There indeed he oft has seen his brethren, and the love of the brethren is a holy and a heavenly affection of the soul which is only to be known to those who are holy and humble men of heart. There too he has often been cheered by promises which seemed exactly suited to his case and circumstances. He has come heavy laden, depressed, cast down, and almost forsaken, but fuge and a home. Amid the prayers of the church, or the music of the church, ascending before the throne and mingling with those of angels, and archangels, and all the company of heaven, amid such scenes, the man of GOD has been refreshed and soothed and solaced. Yet he knows well how to enter into the words which we often sing, the paraphrase of one of the Psalms of the sweet singer of Israel: .t. But most of all, I'll seek thy good; Where God vouchsafes to dwell. in the sanctuary he has found a re- | our Lord? Have you thus bebeld him, whom to know is life eternal? Oh! how I pity the mere nominal worshipper; How I pity too the man who can come to God's house without any different feelings to those with which he goes to the house of his fellow-men; The man who can come to the sanctuary, and see nothing and gain nothing. The man, who feels an hour spent within these consecrated walls, and in this sacred service, to be a burden, a labour, time spent anything but pleasantly. A very different feeling I confess I have ; it is not one of pity only, though perhaps it ought to be, it is one of perfect indignation, when I see any who have assembled in the great congre→ gation insulting their fellow Christians, and what is more, insulting their Maker, and their future Judge, by conduct light, trifling, or irreverent. Little do such men think that the Lord is here. Verily did they believe that, whatever might be their natural integrity or courage, they never could be fools enough to have the hardihood to insult the Almighty to his face, to trifle away those precious moments which are fast hastening to a period, and which must with them complete that little span of life, allotted to their improvement, but which, if unimproved, must issue in their eternal condemnation. Oh! my brethren, not a man among us fully knows what the house of GOD may be to the faithful worshipper. There are thousands, tens of thousands, yea ten thousand times ten thousand, who will have to bless GOD through the never ending periods of eternity, they ever entered his house of prayer or worshipped in his sanctuary, Gop only knows how many million of conversions have been effected there, how many million of burdens, and sorrows, and sins, have been brought into the sanctuary and have been left there and known no more. GOD only knows how many, in the services of his Holy House, have gained that strength, and received that grace which they have been enabled to overcome every obstacle, and to go on their way rejoicing. Will you permit me to stop a moment. To leave David and turn to you; and to ask in the name of Him, whose I am, and whom I serve, what know you, beloved brethren, of these things? Can you, from your own experience, testify that the preacher is correct, that the statements are founded in reality? Can you set to you seal that God is true? That his promises concerning his house are all yea and amen in his Son Christ Jesus But I leave all this and I turn to you, my christian brother. To you who have known the power and the grace of Jesus. To you who have felt the Saviour's name to be like ointment poured forth, and who have oft and again entered into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise, have been thankful unto him and spoken good of his name: What are the feelings of such a man when, by sickness or other providen→ tial circumstance, he is detained or removed from the courts of the Lord? |