only of service, and the reward shall come in the regeneration, in the Kingdom of His glory. "Well I know thy burden, I was weary too. But that toil shall make thee One day all Mine own : Shall be on My Throne." PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE. Waiting for the Consolation of Israel. Mal. iii. 1-5. Luke ii. 22-40. attracts little THE Church of England, although she calls the Feast we are now celebrating "The Presentation of Christ in the Temple, commonly called The Purification of St. Mary the Virgin," has never succeeded in banishing the common name in favour of the better one. The Day is known as that of "The Purification," and or no interest accordingly. We may be thankful that it is given to us as "The Presentation in the Temple" simply, that we keep it, not as one of the days of the Blessed Mother, like the Annunciation, but with the anniversaries of the Nativity and the Circumcision-as one of the days of her yet more Blessed Son. There are two aspects of the event we commemorate in which we are called to participate in it. In the one we come in with the Child Jesus, to be presented in Him in His Father's House. Of this we speak to God in the Collect for the Feast. "We humbly beseech Thy Majesty, that as Thine Only Begotten Son was as on this day presented in the Temple in substance of our flesh, so we may be presented unto Thee with pure and clean hearts by the same Thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord.”* * Comp. Heb. x. 19—22; Rom. xii. 1, 2; Eph. v. 25—27. On this we dwell not at present; but turn to another view of the scene, in which we behold just Simeon and Anna the prophetess, waiting for and welcoming the Christ. The Church has always seen in these an emblem of her own calling to stand with loins girt about and with lamps burning, expecting the coming again of her Lord. The old name of the Day-Candlemas-tells of the custom of bearing lights in the hand at the great Eucharist of the Feast, to signify this attitude of the Church. 66 We bear no such material lights: but we do express the mind they embody. Especially" we say in the Prayer of Oblation "beseeching Thee of Thy goodness that, as Thou didst reward Thy holy servants Simeon and Anna, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, by granting them to behold Thy Christ; so Thou wilt speedily answer the desires of Thy people, who now wait for the adoption, even the redemption of the body." If we stand in the place of Simeon and Anna, we may hope, in God's goodness, for Simeon and Anna's reward. How, then, shall we follow their example? By this, most obviously, that we be as those who wait. It is not sufficient that, "denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world ": we must also be "looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." The Christian life is one not only of faithful service, but of continual expectation. "Let your loins be girt about and your lamps burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord . . . that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open to him immediately." Like Simeon and Anna we must be living in expectation, if like them we would be satisfied. * Luke xii. 35-46. And then, how did they wait? First, it was "for the Consolation of Israel." It was not for some personal blessing, to come to them individually and apart; but for the fulfilment of the promise made to their people. This therefore should be the expectation of the members of the Body of Christ. To look forward to "a happy death" and "going to heaven" (as people speak) is but a private hope. So to depart and be with Christ may be far better for those who go, but it is of no advantage to those who remain. To "wait for the consolation" of the Israel of God is to "look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who shall change our vile body, and fashion it like unto His glorious body." We must go to Him, while His absence lasts, separately and alone: but when He returns, He comes to all. ment. Secondly, the place of their waiting was "in the Temple." In the fellowship of their people they expected the Hope of Israel; but it was where their people worshipped that they looked upon His face. So it is in His Temple now that we hope to behold the Lord's Christ. Not necessarily in the material buildings wherein the Church's worship is offered; but certainly in that mind of which the building and its worship are the embodiIf we know the Church only as "the Christian Society," we shall not be found in His Temple when the Lord whom we seek shall suddenly come to it. We must know it also as an holy priesthood, consecrated to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable unto God by Jesus Christ. It is "the sons of Levi" whom He shall purify in the day of His coming, "that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness" it is they who can say from the heart-" One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the : House of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in His Temple." : Thirdly, they waited in the power and inspiration of the Spirit of God. Anna was a prophetess. Of Simeon it is said that the Holy Ghost was upon him: it was revealed to him by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ and it was "by the Spirit" that he came into the Temple as the Child Jesus was brought in. If the Church at large has ceased to wait for her Lord, has lost her hope of being alive and remaining to His coming, is it not because she has suffered the inspiration of the Holy Ghost to die out of her? Let her cry for the Spirit of prophecy; and she will find it "the testimony of Jesus,"* and a voice in her ever saying to Him, "Come!" Stirred anew by this Spirit let us wait, in the fellowship of the Church's hope, in the communion of her worship, until our eyes shall see God's salvation. *Rev. xix. 10. |