THE
PLANT OF RENOWN:
BEING
TWO SERMONS,
PREACHED BY THE
REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE,
LATE MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL IN STIRLING.
GLASGOW:
PRINTED FOR THE BOOKSELLERS.
135.
THE
PLANT OF RENOWN.
SERMON I.
Ezekiel, xxxiv. 29.
And I will raise up for them a Plant of Renown.
we cast our eyes back upon the foregoing part of this chapter, we shall find a very melancholy scene casting up; we shall find the flock and heritage of God scattered, robbed and peeled by the devil and ecclesiastical rulers that were in being in that day; a day much like to the day wherein we have: the ruin of the church of Christ in all ages and periods of the world, has been owing to combinations betwixt corrupt churchmen, and corrupt statesmen; and so you will find it. In the preceding part of this chapter there is a high charge brought in against the Shepherds of Israel, and a terrible and awful threatening denounced by the great and chief shepherd against them, for the bad treatment that the flock of Christ had met with in their hands: However the sheep of Christ may be (illegible text), and scattered, and spoiled, yet the Lord looks on them, and many great and precious promises are made for their encouragement in that evil day; you may read them at your own leisure, or I must not stay upon them just now. But among all the rest of the promises that are made Christ is the chief; Christ is the To-look of the church, whatever trouble she be in. In the 7th chapter of Isaiah, the church had a trembling heart, God's Israel was shaken as ever you saw the leave of the wood shaken by the wind, by reason of two Kings combining against them: Well, the Lord tells them, “A Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and call his name Immanuel." But, might not the church say, what is that to us? What encouragement doth this afford in the present distress. Why, the Messiah is to come of the tribe of Judah and the family of David; and therefore that tribe and family must be preserved, in order to the accomplishment of that promise. Whatever distance of time, suppose hundreds or thousands of years, may intervene before the actual coming of the Messiah; yet the promise of his coming, as it is the ground of your faith for eternal salvation, see it is a security for the present, that the enemy shall not prevail, to the total ruin of Judah and the royal family of David. In all the distresses of the church, Christ is always presented to her, in the promise, as the object of her faith, and the ground of her consolation; and accordingly, “They looked to him," in the promise, “and were lightened; and their faces were not ashamed." He is here promised under the notion of God's Servant: and, in the words of the text, he is promised as a Renowned Plant, that was to rise in the fulness of time. And, blessed be God, he has sprung up, and is in heaven already, and has overtopt all his enemies, and all his enemies shall be his foot-stool. First, Here then, you have a comfortable promise of the Messiah; here, again, you may notice the promiser: I, I will raise up, &c. It is a great indeed; it is Jehovah, in the person of the Father: It was he that in a peculiar manner, sent him; "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.———In the fulness of time he sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of Sons.", God promised to send him, and accordingly he has actually, fulfilled his promise. Again,
Secondly, We may notice the blessing promised, and that is, a Plant of Renown.———Christ gets a great many metaphorical names and descriptions in Scripture:———Sometimes he is called a Rose, sometimes he is called a Sun, and sometimes he is called a Door; sometimes he is called the Tree of Life; sometimes he is called ono thing, and sometimes another; And he is content to be called any thing, to make himself known to us; and here he is called a Plant, and a Renowned Plant; but more of this afterwards. But then.
Thirdly, We have the production of this Plant, I will raise him up! Hell will endeavour to keep him down; the Devil and his Angels will endeavour to smother him, when he sets his head above ground: So we find Satan sends Herod, and Herod sends the Bloody Dragoons to murder him, when he came into the world: But let hell do its utmost, as it hath done in all ages, and is doing this day, to smother that plant, up it will be; I will raise him up, and therefore he shall prosper. But then again.
Fourthly, We may notice here, for whom, or for what end, for whose use and benefit it is: I will raise up for them a Plant of Renown. Who these are, you will see by casting your eye on the former part of this chapter; it is for the Lord's flock, his oppressed heritage, that are borne down by wicked rulers, civil and ecclesiastic: I will raise up for them a Plant of Renown, and he will be their deliverer.
The doctrine that naturally arises from this first clause of the verse, is in short this, “That Christ is a Plant of Renown, of God's raising up, for the benefit and advantage of his people, or for their comfort and relief in all their distresses; he is a Renowned Plant of God's raising up."
Now, in discoursing this doctrine, if time and strength would allow, I might,
First, Premise a few things concerning this blessed Plant.
Secondly, I might enquire, why he is called a Plant of Renown?
Thirdly, Speak a little to the raising up of this plant.
Fourthly, For whom he is raised up.
Fifthly, For what end. And then,
Lastly, Apply.
As to the first of these, namely,
First, To premise a few things concerning this blessed Plant.
First, I would have you to know what is here attributed and ascribed to Christ: It is not to be understood absolutely of him as God, but officially as he is Mediator and Redeemer. Considering him absolutely as God, this cannot be properly said of him, that he was raised up: for he is God co-equal and co-essential with the Father: But viewing him as Mediator, he is a Plant, as it were of God's training. You will see from the context, all that is said of Christ has a respect to as a Mediator, that he was to be God's Servant to do his work: In that consideration he is here called a Plant, and a Plant of Renown. Hence, Zacharias, then speaking of him, has a phrase much to the same purpose; "He hath raised up a Horn of Salvation for us in the house of his servant David." Again,
Secondly, Another thing. I would have you to remark, is, That this Plant is but small and little in the eyes of a blind world. He was little looked upon when he sprung up in his Incarnation, and when he was here in a state of humiliation, men looked upon him “as a Root sprung up out of a dry ground; they saw no comeliness in him why he should be desired." And to this day, though he be in a state of exaltation at the right hand of God, yet he is little thought of, and looked upon, by the generality of mankind, and the bearers of the Gospel; He is despised und rejected of men. But then,
Thirdly, Another thing I would have you to remark, is, That however contemptible this Plant is, Renown is in the eyes of a blind world, yet he is the tallest Plant in all God's Lebanon, there is not the like of him in it, “He is fairer than the children of men;" and, “He is as the apple-tree among the trees of the wood," If ever you saw him, you will be ready to say so too, and with David, Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is some upon the earth that I desire besides thee." again,
Fourthly. Another thing I remark, is, That this blessed Plant of Renown, he was cut down in his death, and sprung up gloriously in his resurrection; The sword of divine justice hewed down this Plant upon Mount Calvary, but within three days he sprung up again more glorious and more beautiful and amiable than ever; and "He was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by his resurrection from the dead."
Lastly, I would have you to remark, that all the little plants in the garden are ingrafted in the Plant of Renown: “I am the Vine, ye are the branches; he that abideth in me, and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit: For without me ye can do nothing I am a green fir tree, for me is thy fruit found." If you be not ingraftirs, in this Plant, you will never grow; and the trees that are not planted in him, they are but weeds. There is a time coming when all the weeds will be plucked up, and therefore take he that you be ingrafted in him by a faith of Gods operation. So much for the first thing I proposed. The second thing was to shew, that he is a Renowned Plant. He is renowned in heaven, and he is renowned on earth, and will be so, For his name shall endure for ever, Psal. lxxii. 17. O he is renowned!
For what, say you, is he renowned? I might here enter upon a very large field; I shall only tell you.
1. That he is renowned in his Person. There was never the like of him! The two natures, God and Man, are joined together in one, in him: Did you ever see that? If you have not seen that, you have not seen the Mystery of Godliness: He is the most renowned person in heaven; but he is Immanuel, God manifested in the flesh.———Then he is,
2. Renowned for his Pedigree: Who can declare his Generation? Considering him as God his eternal generation from the Father cannot be told. We can tell you he is the only begotten of the Father, but we cannot tell you the manner of his generation; it is a secret that God has drawn a vail, and it is dangerous to venture into a search of it; and they that have attempted it, have commonly been boged into Arian, Arminian, and Sabellian errors. Considering him as man, he is sprung of a race of ancient Kings, enormous catalogue of them you read of in first Matthew.———And who can declare his generation then as man? For he was born of a Virgin, and conceived by the overshadowing power of the highest. Then,
3. He is renowned for his name.———"He hath a name above every name that can be named, Whether in this world or that which is to come."
4. He is renowned for his Wisdom.———For, “All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in him."
5. He is renowned for his Power.———For he is "not only the Wisdom of God, but the Power of God. He is" the Man of God's right hand, even the Son of Man, whom he hath made strong for himself.
6. He is renowned for his Veracity and Fidelity. for, "Faithfulness is the girdle of his loins. have you got a word from him? Depend upon it, is a sicker word, it does not fail: The word of the Lord endures for ever, when heaven and earth. shall pass away
7. He is renowned for his Righteousness. For, He hath brought in an everlasting Righteousness, whereby the Law is magnified and made honourable; and thy the imputation of which, the guilty transgressors are acquitted: "He was made for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him: That was his Name, The Lord or Righteousness.
8. He is renowned for his fulness.———For, And the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily in him: He is full of grace and truth; full of all created and uncreated excellencies.
9. He is renowned for his Love———What but love brought him out of the bosom of the Father to this lower world? What but love made him lay down his life for his people?
10. He is renowned for his Liberality. He has a full hand and a free heart, as we use to say: he gives without money, and he invites all to come and share of his fulness.
11. He is renowned for his Constancy. He is "Jesus Christ, the same to-day, yesterday and forever." The best of men, will fail us when we trust them; they will run like splinters into our hands when we lean upon them: But, sirs, you will find Christ always the same, to-day, yesterday and forever. And then,
12. He is renowned for his Authority and Dominion. It is great, and extends far and wide whether in heaven above, or in the earth beneath And his dominion reaches from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth: And all the kings of the earth are but his vassals Thus, I say, Christ in every respect is renowned But here, to keep by the phraseology of the text He is a renowned Plant: Wherein is he renowned
First, I say he is renowned for his Antiquity "I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was," &c.: All the plants in the higher and lower gardens of God, they are but just upstarts in comparison of him: Angels and Arch-angels, and the greatest seraphims are but of yesterday, in comparison of this Plant. He is renowned for his Antiquity, for he is, "The Ancient of days, and the Everlasting Father," Isaiah, 9th chapter.
N.B.———Here he was desired to conclude his Discourse, in respect the Work in the Church was over, and that he might give way to another Minister that was to preach the Evening Sermon.
SERMON II.
Ezekiel, xxxiv. 29.
And I will raise up for them a Plant of Renown.
I had occasion, upon a solemnity of this nature, not long ago, to enter upon these words, but had not time to go far into the import of them. After I had traced the connection of the words a little, I look them up in the few following particulars,
1. We have here a great blessing promised unto the church; and that is none other than Christ, under the notion of a Prince, and A Plant of Renown.
2. We have the Party by whom this promise is made, in the pronoun 1,———I Jehovah, the Eternal God, I will raise up for them a Plant of Renown. 3. We have the way how this Plant of Renown is raised; And I will raise him up. I that am the great Husbandman of the vineyard, I will raise up for them, &c. Then,
4. I noticed the persons to whom the promise is made, I will raise up for them; that is, for his Church, for his people that are brought into a very low condition; as you will see by reading the preceding part of the chapter. The flock of Christ were scattered by the shepherds of Israel; they were torn, they were devoured, and under manifold trials; Well, what will the Lord do for his flock in that condition? He says, I will raise up for them a Plant of Renown, and they shall hunger no more.
The observation is much the same with the words themselves, namely, "that our Lord Jesus Christ is a Plant of Renown of his Father's upbringing:" I will raise up for them a Plant of Renown. In prosecution of this doctrine, I proposed to observe the order and method following.
First, To premise a few things concerning this blessed Plant.
Secondly, To shew that indeed he is a Plant of Renown. And then,
Thirdly, To speak a little concerning the raising up of this Plant.
Fourthly, For whom he is raised up.
Fifthly, For what good, or for what benefit and I advantage he is raised up: And,
Lastly, To apply the whole.
As to the first, I spoke to it, and premised a few things concerning this blessed Plant; therefore I shall not stay to resume what was said on that Head. I likewise entered upon the second, and shewed that. Christ is A Plant of Renown in several respects: I mentioned eleven or twelve particulars wherein Christ is renowned, but I shall not resume these neither: I shall only tell you a few things wherein this blessed Plant is renowned.
1. In the first place, this blessed Plant, he is renowned for his antiquity. There are many other plants in God's garden, as angels, seraphims, cherubims, saints militant and trinmphant, they are all but upstarts in comparison of him; for he was set up before ever the earth was. You will see that one name of this Plant of Renown is, The Everlasting Father, or, “The Father of Eternity," as it may be rendered.
2. As he is renowned for his antiquity, so for his Beauty: he is the most beautiful Plant in all the garden of God; “I am the Rose of Sharon, and the Lily of the valleys.———He is the apple tree among the trees of the wood." He is renowned I say, for his beauty and his glory; for the glory of a God is in him. Is there any glory in his eternal Father? Why, that glory shines in our Immanuel, in the very brightness of it, Heb. i. 3. “He is the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of his person." Now, sirs, if ever your eyes were opened by the Spirit of God, to take up the glory of this Plant, his glory has just dazzled your very, eyes! You that never saw any glory in him, you never saw him to this very day: Pray that the light of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ, may yet shine into your hearts. It would make a heartsome Sacrament, if this Plant were displayed in his glory among us. Sirs, have you come to see him in his glory? O give God no rest till be make a discovery of himself to your souls, Then,
3. He is renowned for his verdure, for his perpetual greenness. Other plants are fading: you and I are fading plants: " All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the "field:" He is a Tree ever green, he never fades, summer nor winter, and shall be ever a green Plant to the Saints as it were to eternity! When millions of ages, yea, myriads of ages are past in heaven, he will be as fresh and green to the believer, as when he first saw him, or the first moment the saint entered glory: therefore it is, that the songs of the redeemed in glory are always new; and throughout eternity, will be new, because they will constantly see matter of a new song; and the more they see, they will wonder the more at him throughout eternity! Again,
4. This Plant is renowned not only for his verdure, but for his virtue. Wo read, Rev. xxii. "That the leaves of the Treo of Life were for the healing of the nations." That Tree of Life is the very same with this Plant of Renown; the leaves of this Plant are for the healing of the nations: and we that are ministers are come this day to scatter the leaves of this Tree of Life, of this Plant of Renown; try if you can get a leaf of it applied and set home upon your souls. Depend upon it, here is virtue in every word of his. Sirs, mingle faith with a word, and you will find that it will have the same efficacy with you as it had with the poor woman with the bloody issue, that was healed with a touch of the hem of his garment, who had spent all her living on doctors. O see if you can find him! I assure you he is hero; he is behind the door of every man's heart: "Behold I stand (says he,) at the door and knock! If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he with me." And O let him in there is virtue in him for curing you all, though there were ten thousand millions of you more than there are; there is virtue in him for healing every one of you. But then,
5. This blessed Plant is not only renowned for his virtue, but likewise for his fertility. He is it a barren Plant; he would not be renowned if we were barren: He brings forth all manner of fruit every month; yea, I may add, every day, every moment. You read in Rev. xxii. of the Tree of Life that brings forth twelve manner of fruits every month; that is to say, he brings forth all fruit that is necessary for a poor soul: whatever thy soul stands in need of, is to be found in him; see then and gather, see if you can gather some of it. There is the fruit of his incarnation; there is the fruit of his death; there is the fruit of his resurrection; there is the fruit of his ascension; there is the fruit of his intercession, and sitting at the right hand of God; there is the fruit of his prophetic office; there is the fruit of his priestly office; there is the fruit of his kingly office; there is the fruit of his appearing within the vail there is the fruit of what he did without the vail, and without the camp. O what fruit is here! Here is wisdom for fools; here is justification for the condemned soul; here is sanctification for the polluted soul, and clothing for the naked; riches for the poor, bread for the hungry, drink for the thirsty. All manner of fruit is here, and we are trying, sirs, to shake the Tree of Life among you; and blessed be God, they may be gathered: 0 sirs! they are dropping among you; O gather, gather, for salvation is in every word that drops from him; for his words are the words of eternal life. But, in the 6. Place, this blessed Plant is renowned for his scent and pleasant savour. O sirs! there is such a blessed savour in this Plant of Renown, as has cast a perfume through all the Paradise above! He has cast a perfume through the church militant, which in Isaiah v. is called God's vineyard. O sirs! do you find any thing of the scent of this Plant? I can tell you, if ever you have been made to know him, it will be so: "because of the savour of thy good ointment, thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the Virgins love thee." The believer he finds a scent about him, he draws a savour from him. What is the design of us ministers, but to cast abroad his scent, and it is by this we win souls; and they that cast out and drop the Plant of Renown out of their sermons, no wonder their sermons stink, and they shall stink to eternity, that throw Christ out of their Sermons. The great business of ministers is to cast forth the scent of Christ to the people. I shall read you a word to this purpose, in 2 Cor. ii. 14,-16, “Now, thanks be unto God. which always causeth us to triumph in Christ." he apostle triumphs in him, and all other honest, ministers will triumph in him too; and all christians that know him, triumph in him. * And maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto God a sweet savour in Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish. To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other, the savour of life unto life; and who is sufficient for these things?" Who is able to tell the sweet savour that is in him? Again,
7. This blessed plant in my text. is not only renowned for his savour, but likewise for his shadow. Song, i. 3. "I sat down under his shadow with great delight;" the shadow of the Plant of Renown. You are all sitting there or standing, but are you sitting under the Plant of Renown? Jonah's gourd did him service against the scorching heat of the sun, that was like to take away his life; but alas! that soon failed him, for God sent a worm and smote it that it withered; and the worm of death will soon smite and wither you and me: O get in under the shadow of this Plant of Renown, and ye are secured against death and vindictive wrath for ever. Get in under his shadow: the shadow of his intercession,———the shadow of his power.———the shadow of his providence,--the shadow of his faithfulness: O sit under his shadow, and you will find shelter here against all deadly: whatever blasts come, you will find safety there. Would you be shadowed from the king of terrors? Death is a terror to many, O if you be shadowed against the awful terrors of death and God's vengeance, get in under this shadow, and you are safe.
8. This Plant is renowned for his stature. He is a high Plant, he is a tall Plant: you see the heavens above you, but they are but creeping things in comparison of him; for this glorious Plant is, The high and lofty One that inhabits eternity. You can never see his height; your eye will look high, and your thought will reach higher, but neither your eye nor thought will reach unto him; he is taller than all the cedars in the Lebanon of God: "Eye hath not seen, nor hath ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man," to think of the height and glory of this Plant of Renown! And
Lastly, This Plant is renowned not only for his stature, but for his extent also: he is broad Plant, he was planted in the first promise in paradise; he spread through the old testament church; he came the length of filling the land of Judea; and, at length, this Plant has spread itself among us: And 0 that I could open the leaves of this Plant to take you in; he is a broad Plant, he will serve you all. We read of the Tree of Life being on every side of the river: there is a great river betwist us and heaven, and that is death; and we are all running into this river of death. As one well observes on the place, this Tree is in the middle of the river; he is on this side of time, and he is on that side of time. Now, this Plant is on both sides of the river; though you were going to the wastes of America, you will find him there as well as here, if you have but the art of improving him. And this Plant will spread himself through all kingdoms, “The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, just as the waters cover the sea." He will not only fill the earth, but the whole heavens throughout eternity! O but he is a broad Plant, that will extend himself both to heaven and earth! And this shall serve for the second thing proposed, namely, To show that this Plant is indeed a most Renowned Plant.
The third thing I proposed in the prosecution of this doctrine, was, concerning the raising or up bringing of this Plant. You see it is no other than the Great God, that raised up this Plant. I find the Great JEHOVAH glorying in his skill and wisdom in the raising up of this Plant, for the use of the church. In Psalm lxxxix. 19. says the Lord, I have laid help upon one that is mighty: I have exalted one chosen out of the people; I have raised up David servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him. Here he glories in it, that he had raised up this glorious Plant of Renown. I will tell you a few things with reference to the raising up of this blessed Plant.
I. He was raised up in the counsel of God's peace from eternity. The Trinity sat in council anent the upbringing of him ; " The counsel of peace was between them both," Zech. vi. 13. The Father and the Son agreed upon it, that in the fulness of time the Son should come into the world.
2. He was raised up in the first promise to Adam and Eve. Till this Plant was discovered to them, they were like to run distracted: And indeed, sirs, if Christless sinners saw where they were, and the wrath of God that is hanging over their heads, they would be ready to run distracted, till a revelation of Christ was made to them. All the promises, all the prophecies, all the types, and all the doctrines of the old testament, they were the gradual springings of this Plant: but it was underground until,
3. His actual manifestation in the flesh, when, in the fulness of time he appeared: "In the fulness of time, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, &c."
4. This Plant was raised up even in his death and resurrection, by which he was declared to be the Son of God with power, by the spirit of holiness. And,
Lastly, This Plant of Renown will be raised up in the songs of the redeemed through endless eternity. Thus you see, Christ is a Plant of Renown, and what way he is raised up.
The next thing I proposed was, for whom is it that this Plant is raised up? O! may some poor thing say, Was he ever raised up for me? I tell you, sirs, he was never raised up for the fallen angels; "For he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Our nature was highly honoured at first, but it soon sunk below the beast that perisheth; but the second Adam took our nature upon him, and raised it to a higher dignity than the very angels; for to which of the angels did this honour appertain, to be united to the eternal Son of God? So that, I say this Plant of Renown is raised up for 'mankind sinners, not for angel-kind sinners; and every mankind-sinner that hears tell of him, they should lay claim to him, as in Isaiah, ix. 6., "To us a Son is given, to us this Child is born; and the government shall be upon his shoulder: And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." To us he is given, unto us he is born. I thought to have gone through what I designed on this subject, but time will not allow. The Lord bless his word.
A DYING CHRISTIAN'S PRAYER.
" Receive my spirit," was the prayer of Stephen to Jesus Christ, to receive his departing soul; and. brethren, I think you will feel in a dying hour, that your departing soul needs a Divine Saviour. You have one in Jesus Christ. You may call upon him then, even as now. His ear will not be heavy. though yours may, when death is sealing up your faculties. His eye will not have lost its power of gazing affectionately on you, when yours is becoming dim and closed. His hand will not be shortened, in the hour when yours will have become tremulous and feeble. But lift up the hand, the heart, the eye, the soul, in prayer to him then, and you will find him a very near and present help in that your time of trouble.
Brethren, a Christian should die praying. Other men die in different ways, according to their character and temper. Julius Cesar died adjusting his robes, that he might fall gracefully. Voltaire, with mingled imprecations and supplications: Paine, with shrieks of agonizing remorse. Multitudes die with sullenness, some with blasphemies faltering on their tongue. But, brethren, the humble Christian would die praying. Well says the poet:
"Prayer is the Christian's vital breath,
The Christian's native air;
His watch-word at the gates of death,
He enters heaven with prayer!"
But, observe for what Stephen prayed. "Lord Jesus receive my spirit!" This is the prayer of faith, commending the immortal spirit to the covenant care of Jesus. The spirit does not die with the body. None but God, who gave, can take away the soul's existence, and he has declared that he never will. Would that bad men would think on that! You cannot get rid of your soul's existence: you cannot cease to be: you may wish it; though the wish is monstrous and natural. But there is no annihilation for any soul of man. Oh, come to our Saviour! give him your guilty soul, to be justified through his atonement, washed in his blood, regenerated by his Spirit. Make to him now that surrender of your soul, for which he calls. Renew this happy self-dedication every day, very especially every Sabbath, and most solemnly, from time to time at the Lord's Supper. And then, when you come to die, it will only be, to do once more, what you have so often done in former days, -again to commend your soul very humbly, believingly, and affectionately, under the faithful care of Jesus Christ.
THE HOUSE OF GOD.
The church was pleasantly situated on a rising bank, at the foot of a considerable hill. It was surrounded by trees, and had a rural retired appearance. In every direction the roads that led to this house of God, possessed distinct but interesting features. One of them ascended between several rural cottages from the seashore, which adjoined the lower part of the village-street. Another winded round the curved sides of the adjacent hill, and was adorned, both above and below, with numerous sheep feeding on the herbage of the down. A third road led to the church by a gently rising approach, between high banks, covered with young trees, bushes, ivy, hedge-plants, and wild flowers. From a point of land, which commanded a view of all these several avenues, I used sometimes, for a while, to watch my congregation gradually assembling together at the hour of Sabbath worship. They were in some directions visible for a considerable distance. Gratifying associations of thought would form in my mind, as I contemplated their approach and successive arrival within the precincts of the house of prayer.--One day as I was thus occupied, during a short interval previous to the hour of divine service, I reflected on the joy, which David experienced at the time he exclaimed, "I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord. Our feet shall stand within thy' gates, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem is built as a city that is compact together; whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord." I was led to reflect upon the various blessings, connected with the establishment of public worship. "How many immortal souls are now gathering together to perform the all-important work of prayer and praise———to hear the word of God to feed upon the bread of life! They are leaving their respective dwellings, and will soon be united together in the house of prayer." How beautifully does this represent the effect produced by the voice of the " Good Shepherd," calling his sheep from every part of the wilderness into his fold! As those fields, Hills, and lanes, are now covered with men, women, and children, in various directions, drawing nearer to each other, and to the object of their journey's end; even so, "many shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God." Who can rightly appreciate the value of such hours as these ?———hours spent in learning the way of holy pleasantness, and the paths of heavenly peace hours devoted to the service of God, and of souls; in warning the sinner to flee from wrath to come; in teaching the ignorant how to live and die; in preaching the gospel to the poor; in healing the broken-hearted; in declaring "deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind.” "Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound; they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance. In thy name shall they rejoice all the day, and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted." This train of reflection, at intervals, occurred powerfully to my feelings, as I viewed that very congregation assembled together in the house of God. whose steps, in their approach to it, I had watched with prayerful emotions.———" Here the rich and poor met together," in mutual acknowledgement that "the Lord is the maker of them all," and that all are alike dependent creatures, looking up to one common Father to supply their wants, both temporal and spiritual.———Again, likewise, shall they meet together in the grave, that undistinguishing receptacle of the opulent and the needy. And once more, at the judgment-seat of Christ, shall the rich and poor meet together, that "every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." How closely connected in the history of man, are these three periods of a general meeting together The house of prayer———the house appointed for all living———and the house not made with hands eternal in the heavens.———May we never separate these ideas from each other, but retain them in a sacred and profitable union! So shall our worshipping assemblies on earth be representative of the general assembly and church of the first-born, which are written in heaven.
FINIS
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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