Lord's house to be waste. If the Jews had been living in temporary buildings, hastily constructed for the present emergency, it might at least have been a plausible statement, that they were yet too poor to raise up the sanctuary; but when their houses were “cieled houses," spacious and ornamented mansions, it was impossible to doubt that they had no heart for the building the temple, but were resolved to lavish on themselves the wealth which they were bound to have consecrated to God. And thus you have an argument, so to speak, in our text, against any country, where the sumptuousness of its secular buildings forms a contrast with the meanness of its religious. The argument hitherto has been, that a country is condemned if the number of its churches bear no just proportion to the number of its houses; but now it is the character or style of the respective buildings which is appealed to in evidence; and the comparison lies between magnificent dwellings, and mean temples. It cannot tell well for a land, if its opulence be more shown in other structures than in those which are devoted to the service of God. I know that the Almighty dwelleth not in temples made with hands, and that it is not the gorgeousness of architecture which will attract his presence, or fix his residence. I am well assured that He will come down as benignantly, and abide as graciously, when his servants have assembled in the rude village church, as when they occupy the splendid cathedral, with its storied aisles, and its fretted roof. But this has nothing to do with the question as to the propriety of our throwing splendor round our religious edifices, whensoever it is in our power to do so: the mean building may have the Shekinah within it, as well as the magnificent; but is this any reason why we should rear only the mean, if we have it in our power to rear the magnificent? I think not. God was content to have a tabernacle whilst his people were in the wilderness, or still harassed by enemies; but when He had given them abundance and peace, He required a temple, a temple of which David, when meditating the structure, could say, "The house that is to be builded for the Lord must be exceeding magnifical." And when this house rose, it was the wonder of the earth; the gold and the silver and the precious stones, were lavished on its walls; and the temple soared into the sky, a glorious mass, refulgent as though it had descended from above, rather than been raised by mortal hands. We forget not again the change of dispensation, when we derive from the splendor of the Jewish sanctuary an argument for the duty of beautifying the house of the Lord. But we do think, that when, with every token of approval, the Almighty took possession of a structure on which architecture had exhausted all its power, and wealth poured forth its treasures, He did give evidence that churches, inasmuch as they are buildings reared to his honor, ought to exhibit the opulence of the builders, and thus to be monuments of the readiness of piety to devote to the Lord the riches derived from his bounty. We cannot take it as any wholesome symptom which is now to be observed in this country, that, whilst other structures are advancing in magnificence, churches are of a less costly style. If we compare ourselves with our ancestors, it may be said that we build more spacious and luxurious houses: if we want new exchanges, they shall be such as quite to throw the old into the shade; new houses of Parliament, they shall wonderfully outdo what the fire has destroyed; yea, even our hospitals and infirmaries, they shall be almost as palaces compared with those of olden days; but if we want new churches, they shall be as simple and unadorned as possible, contrasting strangely with the vaulted, and arched, and richlysculptured piles which a former age delighted to consecrate to God. Better, indeed, struggling as we are to overtake a redundant population, to have the two plain churches, than the one costly edifice: but there is wealth enough in the land, wealth displayed in the "cieled houses" of every other kind, to admit of our churches being costly as well as numerous; and the question is, whether it will not at last tell against us as a people, that, whilst we were thus enabled to go beyond our ancestors in the magnificence of all other buildings, whether public or private, we adopted a more niggardly style in regard our churches, as though it were unimport-ed for public worship, reared under a ant, in respect either of God or ourselves, what kind of structure were set apart for the offices of religion. necessity for rigid economy, are cer tainly, to say the least, no monument that the national piety is eager to con secrate unto God the national wealth. If you would contrast us with our ancestors, whether as to the number or character of our religious edifices, only compare what is called the city with more modern parts of our overgrown metropolis. The city is literally crowd It is not unimportant-not unimportant in respect of God; for if the church is his house, it ought, like the palace of a king, to bear as great proportion as we have power to effect to the majesty of the occupant. Not unimportant in respect of ourselves: who has not been conscious of the power of a cathedral-ed with churches; their spires are a sort the power to excite lofty emotions and soaring thoughts-a power, as though arch and pillar were indeed haunted by Deity, so solemnizing and spirit-stirring are they, as they surround and canopy the worshippers, like the stately trunks and the clustering boughs of a forest, from whose depths come the utterances of God? It is vain to endeavor to make ourselves out independent on associations: we must be content to be material as well as spiritual, and not disdain the aids which a place of worship may give to the piety of the worshippers. But, at the least, it cannot tell well for the religious feeling of a country, if there be parsimony in its churches, whilst there is profusion every where else. The churches-not the streets, not the squares, not the warehouses, not the docks, not the palaces-the churches ought to be the chief evidences, as well by their stateliness as their number, of the growing power and wealth of a Christian kingdom. We have nothing to say against the multiplication of spacious mansions, of lofty edifices in which commerce may hold her court, literature gather her votaries, or legislators debate. But woe must be unto a country, if, whilst all this goes forward, the house of the Lord be not enlarged, or enlarged only at the least possible expense, so that its courts shall want the splendor which every other structure exhibits. This is precisely the state of things so indignantly denounced in our text. It was this that called forth the expostulation of the prophet. And is it not to be seen amongst ourselves? Notwithstanding the vast efforts of the few last years, the amount of church accommodation, especially in the metropolitan and manufacturing districts, is very greatly in arrears of the amount of population; whilst the structures rear of forest; and the most of these ecclesiastical structures are of rare beauty and costly material; so that in many a narrow lane or obscure court may you find a solid and richly ornamented building, contrasting strangely with those by which it is surrounded; but the contrast only showing that our forefathers felt it both a duty and a privilege to devote the best to God, and to keep the inferior for themselves. But pursue your way to the more modern parts of the metropolis, and you have line upon line of stately mansions: a magician would seem to have been there, conjuring up a multitude of palaces, that all the wealth of the world might be magnificently housed,-but where and what, for the most part, are the churches? Alas, they do not crowd upon you as in the streets where the old citizens dwelt ! You may wander comparatively long distances without meeting a church; and when one rises amid some gorgeous assemblage of the homes of nobles, or the halls of science, in place of excelling the city church in any thing of the proportion that the modern mansion excels the ancient, it is commonly below, in all that can mark veneration of Deity, the deserted edifice where past generations worshipped and rest. And we want, therefore, to know, whether if a prophet were now to arise in the midst of us, he might not fairly address to us the very expostulation contained in our text. Î see him walking our spacious streets; he cannot take a step without fresh evidence that we have wondrously advanced in all the comforts and luxuries of life; but he looks for proof that, along with this advance, there has been a growing manifestation of the national piety, a manifestation in that the number and sumptuousness of our churches at least keep pace with the number aud sumptuousness of our dwellings: he looks in vain; and then, with a voice of indignation, a voice which should strike terror into all who remember that unto whom much is given, from them shall much be required, he exclaims to the passers by, "Is it time for you, O ye, to live in cieled houses, and this house lie waste?" We have thus endeavored to show you that our text, when taken under different points of view, is equally applicable to ourselves-applicable, first, as asserting a necessity that churches must be provided if religion is to be upheld; and, secondly, as making the display of opulence in other structures bear witness against the paucity and meanness of ecclesiastical. The Incorporated Society for promoting the enlargement, building, and repairing of Churches and Chapels, now appeals to you, under the sanction of her Majesty's letter, for assistance in rolling off the reproach which lies on us as a people, in so far, at least, as that reproach results from the insufficiency of our church accommodation. The Society has done much, though but little, alas, in comparison of the wants of a rapidly augmenting population. It has now been twenty years in operation; and during that time it has assisted in providing additional church room for 435,000 persons, of which number the free and unappropriated sittings for the use of the poor are for 318,000. Surely this is a gratifying statement, that within twenty years 318,000 of the poor of the land should have been provided, without cost, with the means of Christian instruction,-318,000 who, apart from such provision, would have had scarcely any opportunity of hearing the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ :-this ought to be good tidings to all who love the Redeemer, and honestly desire the advancement of his kingdom. For when every abatement is made, whether for defective attendance or defective ministration, it cannot be questioned, that, through this multiplication of churches, numbers, vast numbers, have been brought into acquaintance with truth, and into the diligent use of the ordinances of grace, who would otherwise have remained in spiritual ignorance, virtually without God and without hope in the world. Indeed, if it once be admitted that it is through the public' means of grace that God ordinarily acts in the conversion and edifying of men, no Christian can be content so long as there are men in the land who have not those means within reach; every Christian must rejoice in all such extension of the means as shall leave fewer and fewer beyond the pale of parochial superintendence. Do I consider that the mere planting of a church in a neglected neighborhood will regenerate that neighborhood? Do I assume as a matter of course, that, because a church has been built, the Gospel will be simply and faithfully preached? Far enough from this: I know that the church will not be filled, unless entrusted to a minister who will assiduously devote himself to the task of reclaiming the alienated people; and I know also how possible it is that the appointed minister may be deficient in the qualities which he ought to possess. But do I, on such accounts, regret the erection of the church, or conclude that no benefits result from the addition to the amount of church accommodation? Far enough from this; if the church be not immediately made as useful as it might, it is there for successive generations: one minister will pass away and another arise; and I cannot doubt, that, in the course of years, there will be the frequent and full publication of the Gospel of Christ; and that, too, in a place where, but for this edifice, the glad tidings of salvation would never have been announced. Neither, moreover, can we believe in the existence of any case in which there is actually no present good. We will venture to say that the church is never built in a destitute neighborhood, which does not cause some to attend public worship who never attended it before. And it is a good-say what you will-that even a few should be brought to a better observance of the Sabbath, to the joining in the evangelical prayers of our Liturgy, to the hearing the Bible publicly read, and to the receiving the blessed sacraments of our faith. Besides, a church seldom, if ever, springs up without being speedily followed by schools; so that the young are brought under culture, and thus seed is sown which may yield, by the blessing of God, a rich moral harvest. In the least favorable case, therefore, we can rejoice that a church has been mand, and thus increasingly proving herself, what no other body can even pretend to be, emphatically the poor man's church, and we can be confident that no weapon formed against her will prosper, but that her adversaries will compass their own shame and confusion. built, and regard it as associated with | continue to hold the same course, makthe best interests of the neighborhood; ing her ministrations more and more whilst, in the majority of cases, there is commensurate with the growing deno alloy whatever to the pleasure with which we contemplate a new place of worship: we know it, and we can prove it, a sort of centre of civilization, whence humanizing and elevating influences go out through a mass of our fellow-men, hitherto perhaps abandoned to ignorance and all its fearful concomitantsa focus from which diverge the rays of a moral illumination, lighting up many a dark spot, and leading many a wanderer to the only refuge for the sinful and the lost. 1 rejoice that, required as I am by duties in another place to leave you for the ensuing month, I should have had this opportunity of making an appeal to your Christianity and your churchmanship. I go to fulfil my engagement as select preacher before the university of Cambridge during the month of November; and I shall have to carry with You are now asked to contribute liberally towards this great work of multiplying churches. Applications for assistance are pouring in to the Incorporated Society, and its funds are liter-me to that seat of learning, with which ally exhausted. Manufacturing districts the well-being of the Established Church are crying for help: cities, towns, vil- is indissolubly bound, fresh witness that lages, all are eager to participate in the those amongst whom God hath called ministrations of the Established Church; me to labor, are firmly attached to that though large masses of their inhabitants Church, persuaded of its worth, and are now unavoidably excluded, through bent on its support. Ye are not, ye the want or the narrowness of churches. will not be, of those who prefer their Support, then, the Establishment by own luxury and aggrandizoment to the increasing its power of doing good. glory of God, and the welfare of man. Every church which is built is a new Ye are not, ye will not be, of those who tower on its battlements. 1 know not may be taunted with living in their whether the Establishment could have cieled houses, while the house of the withstood recent and present assaults, Almighty lieth waste. Rather will ye had they been made some years ago, resolve, and act on the resolution, that, before there was any effort to increase so far as in you lies, the houses of God church accommodation. But the Estab- shall be multiplied in the land, till all, lishment has been so strengthened by young and old, rich and poor, shall the extension of her ministrations, that, have ample opportunity of owning and by the blessing of God, she may defy praising Him as Creator and Redeemer her enemies. She has been strength-yea, of magnifying Him for his countened, not by obtaining new pledges less mercies in words such as these from a sovereign, or fresh patronage which I now ask you to sing: from nobles, but by giving thousands. and tens of thousands of the poor a share in her services. She has thus rooted herself more deeply in the affections of the people: and let her only Praise God, from whom all blessings flow, SERMON IX.· THE FINAL TEST. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom, prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me."-MATT. XXV. 34-36. We throw away During the last week, the Church has | succeeding statements, to premise a called upon us to commemorate that few remarks on the general doctrine great event, the Ascension of Christ; which our Lord's words present, and and her second lesson for this morning's which appears to be that of our portion service, though the coincidence is acci-hereafter being to be determined by dental, follows with singular appropri- our works here. We observe at once ateness after such a commemoration. that it cannot be improper to speak of Having seen our Lord go up into hea-reward from God to man, seeing that it ven, having listened to angels declaring is expressly declared in Scripture of that He shall so come again in like certain actions that they shall obtain, manner, what portion of Scripture could be more suited to our next assembling than one which delineates under bold figures how the Son of man shall descend in his glory, and represents all nations as gathered before Him, that every man may be judged according to his works? And if the lesson might thus seem to have been chosen on purpose for the Sunday, you will allow that it is also peculiarly adapted to the occasion of my addressing you. Having to plead the cause of the sick and the destitute, whither can I better turn for motives to benevolence than to that grand sketch of the last assize, whence we learn that the test to which we shall be brought, when on trial for eternity, is that of our having shown love to others out of love to Christ? On every account, therefore, we could not long hesitate as to the subject of our present discourse. The text seemed chosen for us; and we have only to endeavor to follow out those trains of thought which it seems naturally to open. We wish, however, in order to guard against any misapprehension of our * Preached at the Church of St Martin-in-theFolds, on Jehalf of the Charing Cross Hospital. or shall not lose, their reward. The The only works which God approves, or which are good works in the Scriptural sense, are those which result from God Himself working in us by the energies of his Spirit. But if God, of |