SERMON XXX.

THE BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE BY SOLOMON, WITHOUT HAMMER, AXE, OR ANY TOOL OF IRON.

"And the house when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither; so that there was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building."-1 KINGS vi. 7.

THE whole universe is the Temple of the Lord; the sublime outbirth and the dwelling-place of His infinite Love and Wisdom. His wisdom made the heavens: their movements are from the pulsations of His Love. The Lord hath prepared His throne in the heavens and His kingdom ruleth over all. Bless the Lord, all His works in all places of His dominion: bless the Lord, O my soul. (Ps. ciii. 19, 22.)

Were men in true harmony with the Divine Being they would see and feel His majesty, truth, and tenderness all around them, for "in Him we live and move and have our being. But only as men become like God do they see God in all things, and perceive His Love encircling them in every object great and small, for "whatsoever the Lord pleases, that does He in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places." Yet only when men themselves have become regenerated, and dwell in love, do they really know by experience that divine love is expressing itself in every object, and in each event. They then taste and see that the Lord is good, and are certain that the man is blessed that trusteth in Him. Each discovery one makes that the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord, comes like a voice from our Saviour repeating the tender remonstrance He uttered to Philip, "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me;" I was with thee when thou wast fearfully and wonderfully made in thy creation. I was with thee in thy mother's love, and thy father's care. was with thee in all thy joys and thy sorrows, thy waywardness, thy pains, and thy penitence. Surely goodness and mercy have

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followed thee all the days of thy life; and thou shalt dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

To reveal what man must become to be attuned to the harmony and bliss of the universe, and thus by Divine aid build himself up for heaven, the pattern of heavenly things was shewn to Moses in the Mount, and it was enjoined upon him that he should make a tabernacle, and all instruments suitable for worship exactly according to the pattern there exhibited. "Look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the Mount." (Ex. xxv. 40.)

The temple was a still more complete and full pattern of the constitution of heaven; and because it was a likeness of heaven, it was also a pattern for the church, which is the Lord's heaven among men, and likewise a pattern for a heavenly human mind, for this is a heaven in its least form. For all, then, who desire to become heavenly, the study of the Temple as the model of order amongst heavenly things, both amongst angels and men, may well become an object of meditation and earnest thought.

The divine direction was not only given to Solomon to build the Temple, for which David had stored up many of the materials, but it was expressly said, "concerning this house which thou art in building, if thou wilt walk in my statutes, and execute my judgments and keep all my commandments to walk in them; then will I perform my word with thee, which I spake unto David thy father: and I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel." During the days of the typical church it would be the Lord's peculiar dwelling-place among them, the centre of protection and blessing. There they should adore the Lord, and ask from Him direction and guidance in the things belonging to their peace, and there He would fulfil His gracious promise, "I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy-seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment." (Ex. xxv. 22.)

The temple at Jerusalem was the visible sign and symbol of that still more glorious and celestial building THE CHURCH, which in due time would be formed among men, and of which the apostle speaks when He says, "Now, therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints and with the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone: in whom all the building fitly framed

together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord: in whom also ye are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." (Eph. ii. 19, 22). And, again, "Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. If any man defile the Temple of God, him will God destroy; for the Temple of God is holy, which Temple, ye are." (1 Cor. iii. 16, 17).

The Temple was very moderate in dimension. A building thirty yards long, ten broad, and fifteen high can only be considered modest in relation to the wonderful structures of ancient and great numbers of those of modern times; but it was magnificent in the richness of its materials, and above all in the divine order and arrangement of all its parts, to represent perfectly the order of heaven and the church. Every part was full of significance, and spoke of heaven. This will equally appear if we consider the general configuration of the temple, and also the materials of which it was constructed.

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The temple was threefold in all its proportions. the Holy of holies, the Holy-place, and the Porch. Inside the temple there were three galleries on three sides, one rising above the other, each gallery being wider than the one below it, the higher jutting over the lower, being supported by three rows of pillars, each row increasing in height towards the outside, and the lowest gallery front within the temple resting on cedar pilasters or half pillars. The galleries were filled with small chambers. The chambers of each upper gallery being larger than those of the gallery beneath. The lower gallery was five cubits in width, the middle six, and the highest seven.

The temple was surrounded on all sides but the front with three rows of pillars, forming three passages between them, all round, for exercise and meditation.

This general description can hardly fail to exhibit to the thoughtful Christian that the heavenly world represented by this temple with its three galleries has three grand degrees in it, the lowest heaven, the middle, and the highest, called elsewhere the heaven of heavens. The little chambers in each gallery will represent the specific societies in each heaven, for "in our Father's house there are many mansions." Variety in harmony is the order of divine works in all things, in the heavens, as well as on the earth, and may we not say on all the earths of the universe. "Each star differeth from each other star in glory." The number FIVE is used in Scripture when things of small value are treated of, and was the measure of

the width of the lowest gallery; the number six, derived from the six days of labour, represents the attainments of the spiritual man, which are of great value, but have something of labour associated with them; while the number SEVEN, the width in cubits of the highest gallery, reminds us of the day of rest, and is expressive of the celestial state, the state of the perfect angel ; the state of full peace enjoyed by those who are more than conquerors through Him that loved them. The number seven is also the Hebrew word for perfect. The uppermost gallery was ordained to be seven cubits in width, because it represented the highest heaven, and the perfection in love of the angels who are there.

The temple was wider as it became higher. (1 Kings vi. ó. Ezek. xli. 7). And, this was to denote doubtless the greater power and influence of the angels, as they belong to higher states in the regenerate life, and so possess the higher homes of the blessed. The angels of obedience who inhabit the lower courts of our Heavenly Father are happy to the utmost of their power of reception, and their ministering influence is employed by the Lord to sustain the virtue of novitiates who have been won from darkness to light, for there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth. But the angels of light have a wider vocation and a vaster power. They awaken the intellect, and extend the view. They scatter doubts and allay fears, as ministers of the blessed Saviour. They aid the "children of the light," to see the Word in its inner beauty, and from them flashes many a gleam of brightness into the hours of gloom and sorrow. They enable the soul to realize the gracious words, "Unto the upright there ariseth a light in the darkness."

But, above all are the ANGels of love. These have passed through much tribulation and the deepest states of self-denial, and received from the Lord Jesus the holiest likeness of Himself. They are meek and lowly, from Him, the meekest and the lowliest. They have sought to be lambs from the innocence of the Lamb of God, and their gentle spheres enter more deeply, and affect more widely than any other order of angelic being, and to represent this the upper gallery of the temple was the widest of all.

A similar order exists in the church on earth. The discerning eye can easily discriminate and delineate three great classes of Christians. There are nicer shades innumerable, for there are no two souls alike. But, just as we distinguish between the three kingdoms of nature markedly enough, although on their

confines they shade off one into the other, by almost imperceptible lines, so can we perceive three definite stages of the regenerate life, and three well-defined groups of Christians. There are men of the letter of the Word, men of the Spirit of the Word, and men of deep humility and holy love. These latter who have passed through the former grades of the Christian life, and been tried and found faithful again and again, acquire a maturity and gentleness, which affects sometimes a whole generation, and many a generation for good. Like the scented violet, their fragrance fills the air, though they themselves are little seen. They are celestial babes and sucklings, whose youth is renewed like the eagles (Psa. ciii. 3). They be like John, near to the Redeemer's breast, and like him, they dwell in love, and are beloved.

The three materials of which the temple was chiefly constructed were, stones for the foundations and the walls, cedar wood for wainscotting and covering the stone within (v. 14-18), and gold plates with which the whole interior of the house was covered, floor, walls, and ceiling alike. (v. 22.)

The appearance of the temple within must have been indeed magnificent, and its costliness when erected, was truly a mark of the devotion of both king and people. This also was representative. Gold, the best of metals, the purest, most ductile, and most valuable, was the inmost everywhere, because the celestial state of the church is strictly represented, in which love to the Lord is the chief and all pervading principle.

We have treated hitherto of the temple as representing the heavens in general, and the church in general; and indeed the same divine order which prevails in general, prevails in each particular and in every part. But, we must now notice that specifically the temple of Solomon represented the celestial church, and the church as its principles exist in a celestially minded man. In such a one the golden spirit of love to the Lord Jesus, derived from Him, is everywhere within. He adores from love, he thinks from love, he acts from love. He heeds continually the gracious words, "I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire that thou mayest be rich." (Rev. iii. 19.)

The cedar-wood which was laid between the gold and the stone represented rational good. The grand old cedar trees with their outstretched branches and boughs are the symbol in Scripture of the protective power of the rational mind. The Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon, it is written, with fair branches, and a shadowing shroud and of a high stature. (Ezek. xxxi. 3.)