God! for because I have seen an angel of the Lord face to face." Gideon humble before God, bold before men. A great soul experiences the emotion of the sublime, impressed in the presence of the great in nature, and the great outside of and beyond nature. A mistake to suppose that God-fearing men are not courageous. Many a man brave on the battle-field would have been cowed in the presence of that august assembly before which Luther appeared. The Puritans humble before God, but on kings and princes, on nobles and priests they could look with calm courage. The Covenanters, for example. None bolder in reform, and braver in battle, than the now fearing Gideon. Fear God in order to be deli vered from all false human fear.

V. VALOUR IS PROMPT TO OBEY. It does not seek to carve out its own courses but attends to divine directions. When God says throw down the altar, Gideon promptly obeys. Every trace of idolatrous worship must be removed before God's altar is erected. "Ye cannot sərve God and mammon." Moral hindrances must be removed before material success can be secured. Have we no needed reforms in England! Are there no unholy groves flourishing? We require valorous Gideons. We may find fault with Gideon that he did the work under cover of night, but where is our Gideon to do the requisite work even in secret? Lord God of Gideon raise

of valour.

up men

VI. VALOUR BRAVES THE CONSEQUENCES. Society does not bear patiently with iconoclasts. A Gideon in England might expect a too long sojourn in Portland as his reward. Imagine the consternation if a Gideon were to appear in Christian England destroying with ruthless hand its unholy places. So that we may not be too hard

upon these men as they cry, Bring out thy son, that he may die. Joash skilfully and successfully pleads for his son's life. The sarcasm of Joash reminds us of the irony of Elijah against the prophets of Baal. Joash and Gideon harmonise in the work we may suppose. Thus Gideon did not shrink from consequences. He comes forth victorious. But a man may be victorious though he fall in the path of duty. Learn that duty is ours. Results are God's. Let Baal fall, though the iconoclast be slain. Let the truth live, though it flourish by means of the death of its advocates. Let the Church ripen, though blood be its seed.

WM. BURROWS, B.A.

The Heavenly Temple.

"AND THE HOUSE, WHEN IT WAS IN BUILDING, WAS BUILT OF STONE MADE READY BEFORE IT WAS BROUGHT THITHER: SO THAT THERE WAS NEITHER HAMMER NOR AXE NOR ANY TOOL OF IRON HEARD IN THE

HOUSE, WHILE IT WAS IN BUILDING."-1. Kings vi. 7.

HE house here spoken of was the temple erected by King Solomon. It was the most notable building the world has ever seen. Others may

have rivalled it in magnitude, in external grandeur and imposing appearance --but no construction ever contained in so small a space such untold magnificence, such beauty of detail, such priceless value in precious metals. Its size and shape were ordained by God Himself, who raised up men specially prepared and instructed by Divine wisdom to perform the work. It was prefigured years before by the tabernacle, which was a kind of moveable temple,

temporally adapted for the exigencies of the long and memorable wilderness journey.

The temple was the crown and glory of the Jewish nation. It was the dearest object the Jews possessed. It was the centre of their nationality, the focus of their ambition. It was associated with the best and holiest feelings of every individual from his earliest childhood. Here were all religious observances celebrated. Here was the visible, manifest presence of the living God.

Now, like other Jewish institutions, the Jewish temple was a type of something greater and better yet to come. There is another temple spoken of in the New Testament -the Temple of God not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. We cannot now enter into the fulness of this type, we only now dwell upon the particulars alluded to in our text. There are three notable points to which we will call your attention:

The temple at Jerusalem was typical of the spiritual temple in three respects.

I. IN THE MATERIALS OF WHICH IT WAS BUILT. Solomon's temple was a type of the spiritual temple in the material of which it was built. IT WAS BUILT OF STONE. The heart of man in its natural state is a heart of stone. It is so on account of its hardness, its insensibility, its difficulty to mould, its inability to move itself, its tendency to cleave to the earth-a stone will never move upwards. It was built of stones brought a LONG DISTANCE. Solomon might have constructed the temple with stone from the neighbourhood. It was one mass of rocks. But he chose those from a distance. So God might have made his temple out of materials on the spot. He might have chosen angels and archangels and seraphs, and beings who had never sinned. But such was not his purpose.

He selected the stones from a distant country, the souls of man from earth rather than the angels of Heaven. It was made of stones, made ready before they were brought to the spot. The stones of the Heavenly temple are prepared before they are removed to their eternal position. We must be hewn out of the rock,-converted here, we must be prepared on earth, and fitted to occupy the exact spot intended for us before the time comes for us to be taken away. There can be no preparation As the tree falls so it lies.

after death. stone is when

As the

carted from the quarry so it must remain for ever. What an important plea for sanctification of life on earth. Solomon's temple was a type of the spiritual temple,

II. IN THE MANNER IN WHICH IT WAS CONSTRUCTED. We gather (1) That it proceeded gradually. It was impossible for a building to be made all at once, when the materials were brought from a distance and one by one fitted together. There was time required for preparation, carriage, and erecting. The temple of God has been going on ever since Abel the first righteous man was admitted to heaven. Stone after stone has been quarried and prepared, and removed to its position for the last four thousand years. And the process will be continued till at last the topstone is laid with shouting and great joy. We gather (2) That it was carried on according to a plan. was impossible that each stone could fit into its appointed place unless that place, was pre-arranged and foreseen. Nay every detail must have been provided for, and all the parts accurately suited one to another. So the wisdom of Almighty God has foreseen and provided for every detail connected with his heavenly temple. Not only have those been selected who shall form part of the

It

building, but every stone is numbered and has its appointed position assigned to it. (3) It was carried on in solemn and mysterious silence. There was no sound of hammer or axe heard in the progress of that mighty work. Every thing being prepared, it was not necessary that there should be either noise, bustle or confusion. What reverence this mode of construction must have inspired. How solemn must even the builders have felt their work to be. A fit type of the mysterious work of God in the construction of His temple in heaven. The soul being prepared and fit is removed in the most solemn manner. How silent and mysterious is the passage into another world. How mavellously is the stone prepared, carried to its eternal resting place in the building above.

III. SOLOMON'S TEMPLE WAS A TYPE OF THE GREAT SPIRITUAL TEMPLE IN THE OBJECT FOR WHICH IT WAS ORDAINED.

This was the glory of God. It was not for the pleasure of the King, or for manifesting the beauty of the carved stones-it was for the praise, the worship and the glory of the Almighty. Let us remember that the end of our salvation is not merely, or even chiefly, our own advantage. There is a higher, a nobler object to be obtained, the praise of God. The building is to be His eternal dwelling place, His everlasting habitation. This thought may properly humiliate our pride, but it gives us right views of self, of God, and of salvation. And it is the highest honour that as mortals we can aspire to, to be the eternal habitation of the Almighty.

Two or three collateral thoughts in conclusion-(1) In all buildings, there are stones of all sorts, shapes, and sizes required. There are the massive pillars, the keystones to the arches, and the small rubble to fill up the courses. These may not all occupy so prominent a posi