Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Sermon
meet God , or that God will meet them , in the sense in which it is recorded that He met Moses in the tent of meeting , or Solomon in the hour of his devotion . Where then , we ask again , is this place of meeting to be found ? First of all , it is the body of the Lord Jesus : in the communion of that body when it is broken in the Sacramental Bread , and together with the cleansing Blood taken -and received by the faithful in the Lord ' s Supper , by those who are in
perfect charity with all men , then and there do those communicants meet with God and God with them ; they are cemented together as stones of that Temple , and as members of that Body dwell in Him and Ho in them . Again , inasmuch as Christ ' s human body was entered and dwelt in by Him , in order that He might meet us on our own ground by the manifestation of his sympath y with all human sorrow and infirmity and sin , there also may we meet Him
wherever we shew our sympathy with the weakness ancl afflictions of our erring , destitute , or bereaved brethren . How shall we raise a brother who has fallen , who is lying as it were on the verge of the grave , mentally , spiritually , or physically downcast ? Shall we attempt to raise him on the one hand by a mere gift of money , given because we have plenty of it , ancl in no true spirit of divine charity ? That will not avail . Or , on the other handshall we
, try the effect of mere conventional words of so-called compassion , which are only the formulated utterances of cold lips ? These also must fail to raise him . But what if we take him by the hand with the firm helpful grasp of true brotherly sympathy , so that the warmth of our heart shall be transmitted to his , and renew its feeble 23 iilsations , and encourage him in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazarethour common brother—then he will stand up on his feet
, , and once more walk , aud leap ancl praise Gocl . Ah , my brethren , here we have indeed the pattern shewed us upon the Mount—shewed us by Jesus on the Mount of Olives , when he wept over Jerusalem—b , y Jesus on Mount Calvary , when by His self-sacrifice He raised all mankind from death , and delivered
them from the nethermost hell . And so the Body of the Lord is the Temple where we arc to meet our God . Ancl further , lot ns consider that we , too , are the Temples of the Hol y Spirit of God . When St . Paul reminds the Corinthians of this , he adds , " wherefore glorify Gocl in your body and in your spirit , which are God ' s . " Taking this view , we observe that there is a threefold division of everyone ' s personal identity corresponding with that of the Tabernacle of Witness . Our bodysoulancl spirit are respectively analogous
, , to the outer court , the Holy Place , and the Holy of Holies ; like them upon a graduated scale of exclusivoness . The bod y is our animal life , which we share in common with other auimals ; and the whole course of the existence of this is open to the sight of all men ; that which the Apostle calls our soul is the immaterial and immortal part of ourselves , the powers -which we have b y nature , but which will survive the dissolution of the body ; these powers are
peculiar to mankind . Distinct from them again are the endowments of the Spirit , for as the same Apostle . says , " the natural man , " by which he means the man under dominion of the soul , " receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God : but he that is spiritual juclgeth all things . " The powers that belonoto the Spirit are a later and higher development than those of the soul , which he calls natural powers . They are called into life and power by regeneration ;
they were first manifested on the Day of Pentecost ; they are the noblest part of man ' s nature , affections which arc not limited to earth , but whose object is boundless . This highest state of reli gious life , then , we compare to the inner sanctuary of the Temple ; all our fellow-men are familiar with the appearance ancl structure of our body—fewer with the extent and working of the powers of our soul—but the inmost shrine of our spirit is onlto ourselves ancl
open y to God . It is there that each individual meets with Gocl ; in that recess he has stored up the tables of God ' s law for his guidance ; there , in solitude and humiliation lie confesses his sins and offers the incense of prayer before the Mercy Seat . Let us all see to it , my brethren , that we do all things according
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Sermon
meet God , or that God will meet them , in the sense in which it is recorded that He met Moses in the tent of meeting , or Solomon in the hour of his devotion . Where then , we ask again , is this place of meeting to be found ? First of all , it is the body of the Lord Jesus : in the communion of that body when it is broken in the Sacramental Bread , and together with the cleansing Blood taken -and received by the faithful in the Lord ' s Supper , by those who are in
perfect charity with all men , then and there do those communicants meet with God and God with them ; they are cemented together as stones of that Temple , and as members of that Body dwell in Him and Ho in them . Again , inasmuch as Christ ' s human body was entered and dwelt in by Him , in order that He might meet us on our own ground by the manifestation of his sympath y with all human sorrow and infirmity and sin , there also may we meet Him
wherever we shew our sympathy with the weakness ancl afflictions of our erring , destitute , or bereaved brethren . How shall we raise a brother who has fallen , who is lying as it were on the verge of the grave , mentally , spiritually , or physically downcast ? Shall we attempt to raise him on the one hand by a mere gift of money , given because we have plenty of it , ancl in no true spirit of divine charity ? That will not avail . Or , on the other handshall we
, try the effect of mere conventional words of so-called compassion , which are only the formulated utterances of cold lips ? These also must fail to raise him . But what if we take him by the hand with the firm helpful grasp of true brotherly sympathy , so that the warmth of our heart shall be transmitted to his , and renew its feeble 23 iilsations , and encourage him in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazarethour common brother—then he will stand up on his feet
, , and once more walk , aud leap ancl praise Gocl . Ah , my brethren , here we have indeed the pattern shewed us upon the Mount—shewed us by Jesus on the Mount of Olives , when he wept over Jerusalem—b , y Jesus on Mount Calvary , when by His self-sacrifice He raised all mankind from death , and delivered
them from the nethermost hell . And so the Body of the Lord is the Temple where we arc to meet our God . Ancl further , lot ns consider that we , too , are the Temples of the Hol y Spirit of God . When St . Paul reminds the Corinthians of this , he adds , " wherefore glorify Gocl in your body and in your spirit , which are God ' s . " Taking this view , we observe that there is a threefold division of everyone ' s personal identity corresponding with that of the Tabernacle of Witness . Our bodysoulancl spirit are respectively analogous
, , to the outer court , the Holy Place , and the Holy of Holies ; like them upon a graduated scale of exclusivoness . The bod y is our animal life , which we share in common with other auimals ; and the whole course of the existence of this is open to the sight of all men ; that which the Apostle calls our soul is the immaterial and immortal part of ourselves , the powers -which we have b y nature , but which will survive the dissolution of the body ; these powers are
peculiar to mankind . Distinct from them again are the endowments of the Spirit , for as the same Apostle . says , " the natural man , " by which he means the man under dominion of the soul , " receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God : but he that is spiritual juclgeth all things . " The powers that belonoto the Spirit are a later and higher development than those of the soul , which he calls natural powers . They are called into life and power by regeneration ;
they were first manifested on the Day of Pentecost ; they are the noblest part of man ' s nature , affections which arc not limited to earth , but whose object is boundless . This highest state of reli gious life , then , we compare to the inner sanctuary of the Temple ; all our fellow-men are familiar with the appearance ancl structure of our body—fewer with the extent and working of the powers of our soul—but the inmost shrine of our spirit is onlto ourselves ancl
open y to God . It is there that each individual meets with Gocl ; in that recess he has stored up the tables of God ' s law for his guidance ; there , in solitude and humiliation lie confesses his sins and offers the incense of prayer before the Mercy Seat . Let us all see to it , my brethren , that we do all things according