which your great town contains. I blame not the spirit of the day which has bedecked the country with so many grand displays of art, and has lavished so much magnificence on commemorative trophies and columns; on our palaces, our halls of justice, our bridges, and our market places; or even on the private mansions of the rich and great. But I trust we shall not live to see the time when the wide house of the wealthy shall be ceiled with cedar and painted with vermilion, whilst God's house lies waste. I trust we shall never be like the hypocrite of old, who thought it quite enough to bring the worst lamb of his flock for sacrifice. I trust that the magnificence of our temples shall at least bear such proportion always to the magnificence of our dwellings, as may make it apparent that we would give glory to God in the highest, and would honour him with the best we have. But, my brethren, though this is good, there is that which is better; though this is desirable, there is that which is still more necessary- complete this work; but that done, take away with you the remembrance of what is now my prayer for you, and make it your own, and act upon it; namely, that the Lord God would enlarge your hearts, and cause the same mind to be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. For were it so, ye would have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are

out of the way, as he had; and following the example of his great humility, there would be less. obstacle to your following the example also of his patience and his charity. Then ye would think no sacrifice too great, either of time, or toil, or cost, or private judgment, so that ye might but honour God by doing good to men. Then you would not be able to endure the thought that thirty thousand souls, within a very small circle round you, should be shut out from the ordinances of God's house. But laying aside lighter cares, and going beyond inferior methods of usefulness, your zealous aim would be to give to all of them that which David coveted as the one thing indispensable-the means of being made "wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus."

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SERMON XVI.

THE SPIRITUAL TEMPLE.

[Preached at the opening of Churches at Tilstock and Wolverhampton.]

1 PETER ii. 1-5.

Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious, ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ."

THAT which our Lord declares generally concerning the Sabbath, holds good likewise with respect to the public services of it. They also were made for man, and not man for them. It

would be well were this better understood and more considered.

From the text I hope to gather what may lead you to due acknowledgment of it. And then, by God's blessing, you will perceive what cause you have to praise his holy name for putting the church-door open to you; and will enter in with joy, and go out with profit.

Let me then set before you these three things following, which the text delivers. It shows us, I. First. What christian congregations may look for in God's house, through Christ.

II. Secondly. What christian congregations

are.

III. Lastly. What are the qualifications and the frame of spirit which every individual Christian ought to bring with him to God's house, in order to the christian discharge of his duty, and the actual attainment of his christian privileges.

I. And first, as to what christian congregations may look for in God's house, through Christ.

i. There is One in the text called "a living stone: the same who immediately before is called "the Lord"-that is, our Saviour Jesus Christ. The grand object of all church ministrations is to bring mankind to Him. If you can be made practically acquainted with Christ, so that he may evermore dwell in your hearts by faith, and you may accept and cleave to him as

the Scriptures set him forth, then the whole work will be done.

We will hear, therefore, in the first place, the testimony of the text concerning Him.

God uses similitudes for our instruction in the Gospel; and great helps they are wont to be. But Christ is too large, and the benefits which he has purchased for us too various, for any one similitude to indicate either Him or them. And therefore you find various names given to Him,— as, "The Bread of Life"-" The Lamb of God" -"The Rock"-The Refuge"-"The Sanctuary" of his people: and many more; each of which expresses something of his grace and glory, though all put together are insufficient to declare the whole. And here in the text He is called a "stone." But that would not serve to express completely the sacred writer's view; so he denominates him further, "a living stone"; and afterwards, a "chosen and a precious" one. First, however, a stone.

1. This comparison of a stone, St. Peter, as he tells you himself, has borrowed from a foregoing passage of Holy Writ; and accordingly, at the 16th verse of the 28th chapter of Isaiah you will find it: "Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation ;' and the prophet adds, "He that believeth in him