SERMON X. .

ON THE CONSECRATION OF PLACES OF WORSHIP.

[Preached after repairing and beautifying the Church.]

EXOD. iii. 5.

Put off thy shoes from off thy feet; for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.

MAN being placed upon this earth to serve, to love, and by imitation, however imperfect, to obtain the favour of his Maker, it cannot be but that the whole scene of his existence, and the objects by which he is surrounded, should be adapted to that his state of being. The world itself in its most enlarged sense is his temple, and the world with the furniture which it contains, not the work of mortal hands, is calculated to elevate the thoughts of the worshipper to the eternal Artificer. For if this goodly

fabric which we inhabit, and from which we view other creations around us, be constructed by a wise being, that wisdom must appear in its order and construction. The earth, therefore, with the heavens, the sun, and the stars with their regulated motions, our own bodies, and the several elements by which our bodies are sustained, all conspire to instruct us in our religion, and to fortify our faith. And let it not be supposed that the fabric of the universe is the temple in which natural religion only can be learned. It serves as the porch or entrance to revelation; and so St. Paul argues in his epistle to the Romans. "Because

that which may be known of God is mani"fest in (or to) them; for God hath showed

it unto them. For the invisible things of "him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal

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power and godhead "." In this magnificent temple, therefore, of the world it is our first duty to worship and serve the

a Rom. i. 19, 20.

Maker. I do not mean by incessant prayer, or never-ending contemplations, (these must recur at their due seasons,) but by the general tenor of our lives, by abstaining from whatsoever we know, through reason and revelation, must be offensive to a pure Being, who is here in the midst of all his work, is ever present to us, and witnesses all our actions; and by performing whatsoever must be agreeable to a nature infinitely beneficent; by diligently discharging the duties of our several stations, and imparting to others as we have the means and they have the want.

There is a degree of sanctity pervading the world itself, which should excite our reverence. Whatever is good, (and God once pronounced this work of his hands good,) whatever in nature we see calculated to produce comfort, and diffuse happiness, is entitled to respect, because we therein trace the operation of a wise and beneficent Being. "God," we say, "has been

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here:" we ascertain his presence by the works he has left behind him'; the place

"Mundum a Deo factum, quod Moses nos docet, igno

"that thou art

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whereon we stand is holy ground. "For "that thy name," that is, " "near," says the Psalmist, thy wondrous "works declare." In this manner argued the wisest and most virtuous of the heathen world, if he may be called heathen, who, though born neither under the Jewish nor Christian dispensation, is still thought by many to have received a certain degree of inspiration. His life and doctrine, together with his peculiar manner of teaching, are minutely recorded and described by his disciples or constant attendants; and from the work of one of these I shall select the passage to which I more peculiarly refer, and which is most to our present purpose.

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Addressing himself to one of his disciples, Has it ever occurred to you,” says this sage, “to remark how carefully God has

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vided for us every thing that we want? Observe, in the first place, that we want

"rarunt philosophorum aliqui: at agnoverunt alii, et qui"dem ita clare ut dixerit Plotinus: Si quis attendat, ex ipso "mundo hanc quasi vocem auditurum, Deus me fecit *." Ps. lxxv. 2.-See Bishop Horne on the passage.

с

Grotii Prolegomena ad Stobæum.

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light: God has given it us.

Which if he

"had not, we should be without the use of

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one sense; we should be blind. But as

we have need of repose, God has afforded "this in night, a grateful suspension of la"bour, and restitution of exhausted powers." "And worthy of the utmost thankfulness," adds the disciple.

"Inasmuch, then, as the sun, by its brightness, renders objects conspicuous, and even "enables us to distinguish the progress of "time, and as the stars and moon enable us "to add whatever necessity requires to the "labours of the day, and to observe the "hours of night, and the lapse of months," (you will here recollect the expression of Scripture, that "the lights in the firmament "of heaven were for signs, and for seasons, "and for days, and for years," and observe that this was written when the mechanical divisions of time were unknown, as they are now unknown, to a vast portion of the world,) are not these things wise and good?" Exquisitely so," says the disciple.

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"And as food is necessary for our sup"port, the affording it to us from the earth,