Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Sermon;
had copied after an heavenly model when he raised the tabernacle , so did Solomon follow a pattern presented in spirit to David his father , who before his death instructed his son concerning the particulars of that house and its furniture . The execution also , as well as the plan , was from God . For this purpose Hiram , the master builder , could not do as he was directed , till God had filled him with wisdom and understanding . The invention and the workmanshiwere both of
p divine ori ginal . The former was no human thought , the latter was no human work . But thc building of God will be yet farther understood , when we consider that the temple , or house of God , at Jerusalem , was only a figure of the body of Christ , the residence of God : for the Godhead dwelt in him bodily , which is a p lain allusion to that glory of the Lord , with which the house had been filled at the
dedication ; that S ' nekinah , which resided in it so frequently afterwards . This figurative application we learn from the Lord himself : * destroy this temple , ' said he , ' and in three days I will raise it up again . ; ' which , as the evangelist assures us , he spake of thc temple of his body . What he meant by this raising , the Jews , who heard him , could not understandbut only as it related to the raising of atones
, and buildings . * Forty and six years -was this temple in building , and wilt thou raise it up in three days ? ' not knowing that his body was more truly a temple than the temple itself ; because it was , in a more strict sense , the dwelling of the Godhead . This temple of Christ's body , like the literal temple of Jerusalem , was twice
butlt ; first at his nativity , and afterwards at his resurrection . His enemies destroyed this temple , as he had predicted to themselves that they would ; and upon the same principles that thc idolatrous enemies of the Jews had before destroyed that temple which represented It : but it was raised up again as the natural temple had been rebuilt , by the power of God . And the glory of the latter house far exceeded the lory of the former in both cases .
g In this rebuilding of the temple of Christ ' s body , we have a glorious example of the power of God in building for the salvation of man : hut this is farther exemplified in the mystical body of Christ , which is his church . Other buildings last for a time , but this is built for eternity . All the members of this society are to be considered as the stones of one great spiritual building , which differs from all
other buildings we ever heard of in being alive . St . Peter , speaking to Christians as members of this mystical temple of Christ ' s body , tells them , that as lively stones they are built up in a spiritual house . ' And the apostles and ministers employed under the supreme architect in this work of raising the Christian edifice , are called ' labourers together with God : ' andto justify the expression to the Christian
, people , the apostle adds , ' ye are God ' s building . ' If we here take our ideas from a natural building , it will be p leasant and edifying to see how they are all verified in the church of God . I say edifying , because the right understanding of this subject may help to build us up in it , and make us more worthy members of it . The £ rn part of a building with which we ought to begin , because the
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Sermon;
had copied after an heavenly model when he raised the tabernacle , so did Solomon follow a pattern presented in spirit to David his father , who before his death instructed his son concerning the particulars of that house and its furniture . The execution also , as well as the plan , was from God . For this purpose Hiram , the master builder , could not do as he was directed , till God had filled him with wisdom and understanding . The invention and the workmanshiwere both of
p divine ori ginal . The former was no human thought , the latter was no human work . But thc building of God will be yet farther understood , when we consider that the temple , or house of God , at Jerusalem , was only a figure of the body of Christ , the residence of God : for the Godhead dwelt in him bodily , which is a p lain allusion to that glory of the Lord , with which the house had been filled at the
dedication ; that S ' nekinah , which resided in it so frequently afterwards . This figurative application we learn from the Lord himself : * destroy this temple , ' said he , ' and in three days I will raise it up again . ; ' which , as the evangelist assures us , he spake of thc temple of his body . What he meant by this raising , the Jews , who heard him , could not understandbut only as it related to the raising of atones
, and buildings . * Forty and six years -was this temple in building , and wilt thou raise it up in three days ? ' not knowing that his body was more truly a temple than the temple itself ; because it was , in a more strict sense , the dwelling of the Godhead . This temple of Christ's body , like the literal temple of Jerusalem , was twice
butlt ; first at his nativity , and afterwards at his resurrection . His enemies destroyed this temple , as he had predicted to themselves that they would ; and upon the same principles that thc idolatrous enemies of the Jews had before destroyed that temple which represented It : but it was raised up again as the natural temple had been rebuilt , by the power of God . And the glory of the latter house far exceeded the lory of the former in both cases .
g In this rebuilding of the temple of Christ ' s body , we have a glorious example of the power of God in building for the salvation of man : hut this is farther exemplified in the mystical body of Christ , which is his church . Other buildings last for a time , but this is built for eternity . All the members of this society are to be considered as the stones of one great spiritual building , which differs from all
other buildings we ever heard of in being alive . St . Peter , speaking to Christians as members of this mystical temple of Christ ' s body , tells them , that as lively stones they are built up in a spiritual house . ' And the apostles and ministers employed under the supreme architect in this work of raising the Christian edifice , are called ' labourers together with God : ' andto justify the expression to the Christian
, people , the apostle adds , ' ye are God ' s building . ' If we here take our ideas from a natural building , it will be p leasant and edifying to see how they are all verified in the church of God . I say edifying , because the right understanding of this subject may help to build us up in it , and make us more worthy members of it . The £ rn part of a building with which we ought to begin , because the