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Article PROVINCIAL. ← Page 7 of 44 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Provincial.
" Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts , saying , This people say , The time is not come , the time that the LORD ' house should be built . " Then came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet , saying , " Is it time for you , O ye , to dwell in your cieled houses , and this house lie waste ? " The Rev . preacher commenced his discourse by observing , that the period in which tlie prophet Haggai ivas commissioned to deliver this
expostulation and reproof to the great body of the Jewish people , is specified with more than ordinary exactness : " in the second year of Darius , " which was seventeen years after the return of the Jews from Babylon . Ezra relates , that after some progress had been made in tlie work of rebuilding the Lord ' s house , it was interrupted by Artaxerxes
the Usurper , and thus these two parts of sacred writ illustrate and confirm each other . Probably the Jews were discouraged by the interruptions they had met with , ancl availed themselves of any plausible excuse for their supineness , when they ought to have been active , and zealous , and laborious . The time , the place , tlie persons , and the circumstances referred to in the text , and its connexion are replete with instruction . The Jews were exposed to the opposition of enemies , ancl
weakened and distracted by feuds ancl jealousies among themselves ; thus weakened and fearful , a great portion of them were slow to fulfil the work , and to restore the solemn services of the sanctuary . Time was , when other thoughts and other purposes dwelt in their bosoms and actuated their pursuits , when the language of David was expressive of their determination ( Psalm exxxii . 3—9 ) . But where was now this holy desire ? They were restored to their own landthey had
re-, built their own houses , they had cieled them with cedar , and painted them with vermilion ; all appliances and means had been employed to restore ancl decorate their own houses , to suit their own convenience , and to gratify their own luxury ; but in the midst of all this , the temple of the Lord was suffered to remain in ruins—the house of the Lord still Jay waste !
By a happy transition , the Rev . preacher passed from the time ancl circumstances of the Jews at this period , to ourselves . He showed that the second temple was " more glorious" than the first temple , because the Desire of all nations—the true Schekinah—came in person to it ; that the Christian church has his spiritual presence , ancl that each individual Christian may , indeed , be considered a temple of God . The great work of building this spiritual temple was undertaken b y the Son
of God himself ; ancl when he had finished the work that was given him to do , he committed it to his apostles , who , in their turn , ordained others to assist and to succeed to them . It is no other work than this that we ai-e assembled to accomplish this day ; the work ivhich the Church of England , by her regularly-ordained ministry , carries forward , that she may train the king upon the throne , and the peasant in his cottage for happiness and usefulness upon earth , and conduct them
through the varied scenes of sorrow ancl joy here below , to the possession of a better life beyond tlie grave . These are our designs ; to uphold these blessings wliere gospel ordinances are possessed , and to communicate them where they are not yet enjoyed . By an Established Church ( said the preacher ) these blessings are dispensed , not according to the caprice and fashion of tlie day , but are based upon tlie word and ordinances of God . The preacher then went on to insist upon the
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Provincial.
" Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts , saying , This people say , The time is not come , the time that the LORD ' house should be built . " Then came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet , saying , " Is it time for you , O ye , to dwell in your cieled houses , and this house lie waste ? " The Rev . preacher commenced his discourse by observing , that the period in which tlie prophet Haggai ivas commissioned to deliver this
expostulation and reproof to the great body of the Jewish people , is specified with more than ordinary exactness : " in the second year of Darius , " which was seventeen years after the return of the Jews from Babylon . Ezra relates , that after some progress had been made in tlie work of rebuilding the Lord ' s house , it was interrupted by Artaxerxes
the Usurper , and thus these two parts of sacred writ illustrate and confirm each other . Probably the Jews were discouraged by the interruptions they had met with , ancl availed themselves of any plausible excuse for their supineness , when they ought to have been active , and zealous , and laborious . The time , the place , tlie persons , and the circumstances referred to in the text , and its connexion are replete with instruction . The Jews were exposed to the opposition of enemies , ancl
weakened and distracted by feuds ancl jealousies among themselves ; thus weakened and fearful , a great portion of them were slow to fulfil the work , and to restore the solemn services of the sanctuary . Time was , when other thoughts and other purposes dwelt in their bosoms and actuated their pursuits , when the language of David was expressive of their determination ( Psalm exxxii . 3—9 ) . But where was now this holy desire ? They were restored to their own landthey had
re-, built their own houses , they had cieled them with cedar , and painted them with vermilion ; all appliances and means had been employed to restore ancl decorate their own houses , to suit their own convenience , and to gratify their own luxury ; but in the midst of all this , the temple of the Lord was suffered to remain in ruins—the house of the Lord still Jay waste !
By a happy transition , the Rev . preacher passed from the time ancl circumstances of the Jews at this period , to ourselves . He showed that the second temple was " more glorious" than the first temple , because the Desire of all nations—the true Schekinah—came in person to it ; that the Christian church has his spiritual presence , ancl that each individual Christian may , indeed , be considered a temple of God . The great work of building this spiritual temple was undertaken b y the Son
of God himself ; ancl when he had finished the work that was given him to do , he committed it to his apostles , who , in their turn , ordained others to assist and to succeed to them . It is no other work than this that we ai-e assembled to accomplish this day ; the work ivhich the Church of England , by her regularly-ordained ministry , carries forward , that she may train the king upon the throne , and the peasant in his cottage for happiness and usefulness upon earth , and conduct them
through the varied scenes of sorrow ancl joy here below , to the possession of a better life beyond tlie grave . These are our designs ; to uphold these blessings wliere gospel ordinances are possessed , and to communicate them where they are not yet enjoyed . By an Established Church ( said the preacher ) these blessings are dispensed , not according to the caprice and fashion of tlie day , but are based upon tlie word and ordinances of God . The preacher then went on to insist upon the