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The Third Sunday after the Epiphany.

EVENING SERVICE.-First Lesson: Isaiah lvi.

Verse 5.—" Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off."

WHEN God is coming towards us in the way of mercy, we must go to meet Him in the way of duty. In the preceding chapter we have exceeding great and precious promises of Gospel grace typified by temporal deliverances. In this chapter we have a solemn charge to make conscience of our duty as we hope to have the benefit of those promises.

Our duty as here prescribed is to keep judgment and do justice, to keep the Sabbath from polluting it, and to keep our hand from doing any evil. This includes the whole duty of man, comprehending our obedience to God, and our right treatment of our fellow-creatures. Or, in other words, we are to be honest and just in all our dealings, and we are religiously to observe the Sabbath-day. We are not just if we rob God of His time, more than if we rob our neighbour of his goods. The keeping of the Sabbath seems to be put here for all the duties of the first table given on Mount Sinai, as the fruits of our love to God; and to keep judgment and do justice are put for all those of the second table, as the fruits of our love to our neighbours. "Thus saith the Lord, Keep ye judgment and do justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil." Ver. 1, 2.

Then the prophet, in God's name, heartily encourages

those who wished to join themselves unto the Lord, yet laboured under great disadvantages and discouragements. Here are two classes. First, the sons of the stranger, who would devote themselves to the services of God; but questioned whether He would accept of them, because they were not of the seed of Abraham. They were of a Gentile stock, therefore were "strangers to the commonwealth of Israel, aliens from the covenants of the promise." Fearing that they had no part nor lot in the matter, they said, "The Lord hath utterly separated us from his people." But no, let not the son of the stranger speak so; every barrier is now removed, the light of mercy has shone forth to lighten the Gentiles; there will be no longer any distinction between them and the Jews. Another class who laboured under discouragements were the eunuchs. They were not fathers in Israel. They looked upon themselves as a dry tree, and it was their grief: others looked upon them as such, and it was their reproach. Eunuchs were not admitted into the office of priests, nor were they allowed to enter into the congregation of the Lord.

You know that the promise of a numerous posterity was regarded a particular blessing by the Israelites, and was the more valuable because from among them the Messiah was to come. The eunuch had no children, neither could he have any; consequently he was despised by his neighbours. Here God holds before him a more encouraging prospect: "Even unto them," that is, unto the eunuchs, "will I give in my house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off."

The whole passage shows that God is no respecter of persons. Under the Gospel dispensation He admits of all classes, however despised and degraded they may be in the estimation of men.

Let us endeavour to explain-First, What is meant by God's house and His walls; Secondly, The superior privileges of those who are in His house.

K

I. What is meant by God's house and His walls.

In reading the Holy Scriptures we often meet with the phrase "the house of the Lord," and "the house of God." When speaking of the same Himself God calls it "my house," or "my sanctuary."

The term means, different things in different connexions.

1. By the house of God we are to understand any place where God vouchsafes to give His presence to His people.

There was once a young man who left his father's home to travel into a far country. On the first night of his journey he had to sleep under the open canopy of heaven; his bed was the green sward, his pillow was a stone. However, he soundly slept. In his sleep he saw a vision, which contained a most remarkable revelation. It was a "ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached unto heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the Lord stood above it." The sequel tells us that when Jacob awakened out of his sleep he was afraid, and said, "How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." That place was called the house of God because God revealed His presence there. It is still the same. Wherever two or three of His people meet together in His name, it may be either in a building or on the mountain top, He has engaged to be in the midst of them. When He is thus in the midst He reveals His presence and consecrates the spot as His own. He makes it hallowed ground, and it is the house of God.

2. By the house of God we are to understand any building which has been set apart for the service of God. Such was the tabernacle which Moses was instructed to erect in the wilderness, such was the temple which Solomon built in Jerusalem, and such are our churches in which we meet to worship God. Those buildings having been consecrated to the service of God, are honoured with the name of the "house of God."

3. By the house of God we are to understand the Church of God on earth and in heaven. This is the meaning in our

text, and this is the meaning chiefly given to it in the New Testament. The Church of God is one great house, now separated into two different parts, the one in heaven, the other on earth. The one in heaven is finished and completed; the one on earth is in an imperfect state, but being under the hand of the Great Master Builder it is rapidly progressing towards completion. When perfected it is to remain no longer on earth, but will be combined with the "house which is in heaven."

The part which is on earth is now divided into separate sections or compartments, by denominational prejudice. The members of the household cannot live together in this world although they intend living together in the next. Their contracted knowledge of Divine things raises up partition walls, so that they dwell in sections, and cannot agree except in the great essential point of their redemption, which is atonement by Christ. Still the house is all one; resting on the one same foundation, surrounded by the one same enclosure, and covered by the one same roof. "Built," says the apostle, "upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone." "Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth are named."

God emphatically calls this house His own: "Even unto them will I give in mine house, and within my walls." The whole is His; He, of His infinite mercy, drew the plan. He, by His Son, laid the foundation; He, by His Spirit, brings together the materials for the building; He, by His power and love, will "bring forth the head stone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it." He shall have the endless praise and glory when the whole shall have been completed, for "When the Lord shall build up Zion he shall appear in his glory.”

Let us observe

II. The superior privileges granted to those who are in His house. "Even unto them will I give in mine house

and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.”

It must be remembered that the text was spoken with a special reference to the eunuchs, who were despised and rejected by their own people the Jews, and were excluded from "the congregation of the Lord;" that is, from the public services of the tabernacle and temple, by the peculiar regulations of that economy. Neither had they any prospect of their names being perpetuated through their posterities. They were also excluded from all ecclesiastical offices, and from all civil honours.

Under the Christian dispensation, however, things were to be different. Not only should they have a place in the temple of God, and within the walls of the sanctuary, but they should also have a name which was to be superior to that obtained by possessing sons and daughters. The name perpetuated by posterity is an empty sound, a worthless appendage to life, and one which must die out one day or the other. It was not such a name God promised to the eunuchs : "I will give them an everlasting name, which shall not be cut off."

There are three important lessons to be learnt from this

text.

1. That the privileges of the New Testament Church are not to be confined to any nation or class of people. Class legislation is a thing unknown to the Gospel; there are no exclusive regulations here; the provisions which are made for some are made for all. "For mine house," says God, "shall be called an house of prayer for all people." The barbarian Gentiles and the despised eunuchs are all welcome, the door of the sanctuary is open to all. The vail of the temple was rent, and the "middle wall of partition" was broken down. by the death of Calvary, so that Jews and Gentiles, bond and free, people of all nations, of all colours, of all grades, are placed on an equality of privileges. There are none rejected,