_Ye are the Temple of the living God._
ISAIAH, speaking of the glory of gospel days, said, “Men have not heard
nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O GOD, besides
thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.” Chapter lxiv.
4. Could a world lying in the wicked one, be really convinced of this,
they would need no other motive to induce them to renounce themselves,
take up their cross, and follow JESUS CHRIST. And had believers this
truth always deeply impressed upon their souls, they could not but
abstain from every evil, be continually aspiring after every good; and
in a word, use all diligence to walk worthy of Him who hath called them
to his kingdom and glory. If I mistake not, that is the end purposed
by the apostle _Paul_, in the words of the text, “Ye are the temple of
the living GOD.” Words originally directed to the church of _Corinth_,
but which equally belong to us, and to our children, and to as many as
the LORD our GOD shall call. To give you the true meaning of, and then
practically to improve them, shall be my endeavour in the following
discourse.
_First_, I shall endeavour to give you the true meaning of these words,
“Ye are the temple of the living GOD.” The expression undoubtedly is
metaphorical, or figurative: but under the metaphor, something real,
and of infinite importance, is to be understood. And there seems to
be a manifest allusion, not only to what we call temples or churches
in general, but to the _Jewish temple_ in particular. I trust, that
but few, if any here, need be informed, that the preparations for this
edifice were exceedingly grand, that it was modelled and built by a
divine order, and when compleated, was separated from common uses,
and dedicated to the service of the incomprehensible Jehovah, with the
utmost solemnity.
It is thus that christians are “the temple of the living GOD,” of
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; they who once held a consultation to
create, are all equally concerned in making preparations for, and
effectually bringing about the redemption of man. The Father creates,
the Son redeems, and the Holy Ghost sanctifies all the elect people
of GOD. Being loved from eternity, they are effectually called in
time, they are chosen out of the world, and not only by an external
formal dedication at baptism, or at the LORD’s supper, but by a free,
voluntary, unconstrained oblation, they devote themselves, spirit,
soul, and body, to the entire service of Him, who hath loved and given
himself for them.
This is true and undefiled religion before GOD our heavenly Father:
This is the real christian’s _reasonable service_, or, as some think
the word imports, this is the service required of us in the word of GOD.
It implies no less than a total renunciation of the world; in short,
turns the christian’s whole life into one continued sacrifice of love
to GOD; so that, “whether he eats or drinks, he does all to his glory.”
Not that I would hereby insinuate, that to be christians, or to keep
to the words of our text, in order to be temples of the living GOD, we
must become hermits, or shut ourselves up in nunneries or cloysters;
this be far from me! No. The religion, which this bible in my hand
prescribes, is a social religion, a religion equally practicable by
high and low, rich and poor, and which absolutely requires a due
discharge of all relative duties, in whatsoever state of life GOD shall
be pleased to place and continue us.
That some, in all ages of the church, have literally separated
themselves from the world, and from a sincere desire to save their
souls, and attain higher degrees of christian perfection, have wholly
devoted themselves to solitude and retirement, is what I make no doubt
of. But then such a zeal is in no wise according to knowledge; for
private christians, as well as ministers, are said to be “the salt
of the earth, and the lights of the world,” and are commanded to “let
their light shine before men.” But how can this be done, if we shut
ourselves up, and thereby entirely exclude ourselves from all manner
of conversation with the world? Or supposing we could take the wings
of the morning, and fly into the most distant and desolate parts of the
earth, what would this avail us, unless we could agree with a wicked
heart and wicked tempter not to pursue and molest us there?
So far should we be from thus getting ease and comfort, that I believe
we should on the contrary soon find by our experience the truth
of what a hermit himself once told me, that a tree which stands by
itself, is most exposed and liable to the strongest blasts. When
our Saviour was to be tempted by the devil, he was led by the Spirit
into the wilderness. How contrary this to their practice, who go into
a wilderness to avoid temptation! Surely such are unmindful of the
petition put up for us by our blessed LORD, “Father, I pray not that
thou wouldst take them out of the world, but that thou wouldst keep
them from the evil.” This then is to be a christian indeed; to be
in the world, and yet not of it; to have our hands, according to our
respective stations in life, employed on earth, and our hearts at the
same time fixed on things above. Then, indeed, are we “temples of the
living GOD,” when with a humble boldness, we can say with a great and
good soldier of JESUS CHRIST, we are the same in the parlour, as we are
in the closet; and can at night throw off our cares, as we throw off
our cloaths; and being at peace with the world, ourselves, and GOD, are
indifferent whether we sleep or die.
Farther, the Jewish temple was a house of prayer. “My house (says the
Great GOD) shall be called a house of prayer:” and implies that the
hearts of true believers are the seats of prayer. For this end was it
built, and adorned with such furniture. _Solomon_, in that admirable
prayer which he put up to GOD at the dedication of the temple, saith,
“Hearken therefore unto the supplication of thy servant, and of thy
people _Israel_, which they shall make towards this place.” And hence I
suppose it was that _Daniel_, that man greatly beloved, in the time of
captivity, “prayed as aforetime three times a day with his face towards
the temple.” And what was said of the first, our LORD applies to the
second temple, “My house shall be called a house of prayer.” On this
account also, true believers may be stiled, “the temple of the living
GOD.” For being wholly devoted and dedicated to GOD, even a GOD in
CHRIST, their heart becomes the seats of prayer, from whence, as so
many living altars, a perpetual sacrifice of prayer and praise (like
unto, tho’ infinitely superior to the perpetual oblation under the
Mosaic dispensation) is continually ascending, and offered up, to the
Father of Mercies, the GOD of all Consolations. Such, and such only,
who thus worship GOD in the temple of their hearts, can truly be said
to be made priests unto GOD, or be stiled a royal priesthood; such, and
such only, can truly be stiled, “the temple of the living GOD,” because
such only pray to him, as one expresses it, in the temple of their
hearts, and consequently worship him in spirit and in truth.
Let no one say that such a devotion is impracticable, or at least only
practicable by a few, and those such who have nothing to do with the
common affairs of life; for this is the common duty and privilege of
all true christians. “To pray without ceasing,” and “to rejoice in the
LORD always,” are precepts equally obligatory on all that name the name
of CHRIST. And though it must be owned, that it is hard for persons
that are immersed in the world, to serve the LORD without distraction;
and though we must confess, that the lamp of devotion, even in the best
of saints, sometimes burns too dimly, yet those who are the temple of
the living GOD, find prayer to be their very element: And when those
who make this objection, once come to love prayer, as some unhappy men
love swearing, they will find no more difficulty in praying to, and
praising GOD always, than these unhappy creatures do in cursing and
swearing always. What hath been advanced, is far from being a state
peculiar to persons wholly retired from the world.
My brethren, the love of GOD is all in all. When once possessed of
this, as we certainly must be, if we are “the temple of the living
GOD,” meditation, prayer, praise, and other spiritual exercises, become
habitual and delightful. When once touched with this divine magnet, for
ever after the soul feels a divine attraction, and continually turns
to its centre, GOD; and if diverted therefrom, by any sudden or violent
temptation, yet when that obstruction is removed, like as a needle
touched by a loadstone when your finger is taken away, turns to its
rest, its centre, its GOD, its All, again.
The Jewish temple was also a place where the Great Jehovah was pleased
in a more immediate manner to reside. Hence, he is said to put and
record his name there, and to sit or dwell between the cherubims; and
when _Solomon_ first dedicated it, we are told, “the house was filled
with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason
of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD had filled the house.” And
wherefore all this amazing manifestation of the Divine Glory? Even for
this, O man, to shew thee how the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth
eternity, would make believers hearts his living temple, and dwell and
make his abode in all those that tremble at his word.
To this, the apostle more particularly alludes in the words immediately
following our text; for having called the _Corinthians_ “the temple
of the living GOD,” he adds, “as GOD hath said, I will dwell in them,
and I will walk in them, and I will be their GOD, and they shall be my
people.” Strange and strong expressions these! But strange and strong
as they are, must be experienced by all who are indeed “the temple
of the living GOD.” For they are said, to be “chosen to be a holy
habitation through the Spirit; to dwell in GOD, and GOD in them; to
have the witness in themselves, and to have GOD’s Spirit witnessing
with their spirits that they are the children of GOD.” Which
expressions import no more or less, than that prayer of our LORD which
he put up for his church and people a little before his bitter passion,
“That they may be one, even as we are one, I in them, and thou in me,
that they may be made perfect in one:” This glorious passage our church
adopts in her excellent communion office, and is so far from thinking
that this was only the privilege of the apostles, that she asserts
in the strongest terms, that it is the privilege of every worthy
communicant. For then (says she) if we receive the sacrament worthily,
we are one with CHRIST, and CHRIST is one with us; we dwell in CHRIST,
and CHRIST in us. And what is it, but that inspiration of the Holy
Spirit, which we pray for in the beginning of that office, and that
fellowship of the Holy Ghost, which the minister, in the conclusion of
every day’s public prayer, entreats the LORD to be with us all evermore?
Brethren, the time would fail me to mention all the scriptures, and
the various branches of our liturgy, articles, and homilies, that speak
of this inestimable blessing, the indwelling of the blessed Spirit,
whereby we do indeed become, “the temples of the living GOD.” If you
have eyes that see, or ears that hear, you may view it almost in every
page of the lively oracles, and every part of those offices, which
some of you daily use, and hear read to you, in the public worship
of Almighty GOD. In asserting therefore this doctrine, we do not vent
the whimsies of a disordered brain, and heated imagination; neither
do we broach any new doctrines, or set up the peculiar opinions of any
particular sect or denomination of christians whatsoever; but we speak
the words of truth and soberness, we shew you the right and good old
way, even that, in which the articles of all the reformed churches,
and all sincere christians of all parties, however differing in other
respects, do universally agree. We are now insisting upon a point,
which may properly be termed the christian _shibboleth_, something
which is the grand criterion of our most holy religion; and on account
of which, the holy _Ignatius_, one of the first fathers of the church,
was used to stile himself a _bearer of_ GOD, and the people to whom
he wrote, _bearers of_ GOD: For this, as it is recorded of him, he was
arraigned before _Trajan_, who imperiously said, Where is this man,
that says, he carries GOD about with him. With an humble boldness he
answered, I am he, and then quoted the passage in the text “Ye are the
temple of the living GOD; as GOD hath said, I will dwell in them, and
walk in them, and I will be their GOD, and they shall be my people.”
Upon this, to cure him of his enthusiasm, he was condemned to be
devoured by lions.
Blessed be GOD! we are not in danger of being called before
such persecuting _Trajans_ now: under our present mild and happy
administration, the scourge of the tongue is all that they can legally
lash us with. But if permitted to go farther, we need not be ashamed
of witnessing this good confession. Suffering grace will be given for
suffering times; and if, like _Ignatius_, we are bearers of GOD, we
also shall be enabled to say with him, when led to the devouring lions,
Now I begin to be a disciple of CHRIST.
But it is time for me,
_Secondly_, To make some practical improvement of what has been
delivered. You have heard in what sense it is that real christians are
“the temple of the living GOD.” Shall I ask, Believe ye these things?
I know and am persuaded that some of you do indeed believe them, not
because I have told you, but because you yourselves have experienced
the same.
I congratulate you from my inmost soul. O that your hearts may be in
tune this day to “magnify the LORD,” and your spirits prepared to
“rejoice in GOD your Saviour.” Like the Virgin _Mary_, you are highly
favoured, and from henceforth all the generations of GOD’s people shall
call you blessed. You can call CHRIST, Lord, by the Holy Ghost, and
thereby have an internal, as well as external evidence of the divinity,
both of his person, and of his holy word. You can now prove that
despised book, emphatically called The Scriptures, doth contain the
perfect and acceptable will of GOD. You have found the second _Adam_
to be a quickening spirit; He hath raised you from death to life.
And being thus taught, and born of GOD, however unlearned in other
respects, you can say, “Is not this the CHRIST?” O ineffable blessing!
inconceivable privilege! GOD’s spirit witnesseth with your spirits,
that you are the children of GOD. When you think of this, are you not
ready to cry out with the beloved disciple, “What manner of love is
this, that we should be called the children of GOD!” I believe that
holy man was in an extasy when he wrote these words; and tho’ he has
been in heaven so long, yet his extatic surprize is but now beginning,
and will be but as beginning through the ages of eternity. Thus
shall it be with all you likewise, whom the high and lofty One, that
inhabiteth eternity, hath made his living temples. For He hath sealed
you to the day of redemption, and hath given you the earnest of your
future inheritance. His eyes and heart shall therefore be upon you
continually: and in spite of all opposition from men or devils, the
top-stone of this ♦spiritual building shall be brought forth, and you
shall shout Grace, grace unto it: your bodies shall be fashioned like
unto the Redeemer’s glorious body, and your souls, in which (O infinite
condescension!) He now delights to dwell, shall be filled with all
the fulness of GOD. You shall then go no more out; you shall then no
more need the light of the sun or the light of the moon, for the LORD
himself will be your temple, and the Lamb in the midst thereof shall be
your glory. Dearly beloved in the LORD, what say you to these things?
Do not your hearts burn within you whilst thinking of these deep,
but glorious truths of GOD. Whilst I am musing, and speaking of them,
methinks a fire kindles even in this cold, icy heart of mine: O what
shall we render unto the LORD for all these mercies! Surely He hath
done great things for us: How great is his goodness, and his bounty!
O the heighth, the depth, the length, and the breadth of the love of
GOD! Surely it passeth knowledge. O for humility! and a soul-abasing,
GOD-exalting sense of these things! When the blessed virgin went into
the hill country, to pay a visit to her cousin _Elizabeth_, amazed at
such a favour, she cried out, “Whence is it that the mother of my LORD
vouchsafes to come to me?” And when the great Jehovah filled the temple
with his glory, out of the abundance of his heart, king _Solomon_ burst
forth into this pathetic exclamation, “But will GOD in very deed dwell
with men on the earth?” With how much greater astonishment ought we to
say, And will the LORD himself in very deed come to us? Will the high
and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, dwell in, and make our earthly
hearts his living temples? My brethren, whence is this? From any
fitness in us foreseen? No, I know you disclaim such an unbecoming
thought. Was it then from the improvement of our own free-will? No, I
am persuaded you will not thus debase the riches of GOD’s free grace.
Are you not all ready to say, Not unto us, not unto us, but unto thy
free, thy unmerited, thy sovereign, distinguishing love and mercy,
O LORD, be all the glory. It is this, and this alone, hath made the
difference between us and others. We have nothing but what is freely
given us from above: if we love GOD, it is because GOD first loved us.
Let us look then unto the rock from whence we have been hewn, and the
hole of the pit from whence we have been digged. And if there be any
consolation in CHRIST, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the
spirit, if any bowels and mercies, let us study and strive to walk as
becometh those who are made the temples of the living GOD, or, as the
apostle elsewhere expresseth himself, “a holy temple unto the LORD.”
What manner of persons ought such to be in all holy conversation and
godliness? How holily and how purely should we live! As our apostle
argues in another place, “For what fellowship hath righteousness with
unrighteousness? What communion hath light with darkness? Or what
concord hath CHRIST with Belial?” Shall those who are temples of
the living GOD, suffer themselves to be dens of thieves and cages of
unclean birds? Shall vain unchaste thoughts be suffered to dwell within
them? much less shall any thing that is impure be conceived or acted by
them? Shall we provoke the LORD to jealousy? GOD forbid! We all know
with what distinguished ardor our blessed Redeemer purged an earthly
temple; a zeal for his father’s house even eat him up: with what a holy
vehemence did he overturn the tables of the money-changers, and scourge
the buyers and sellers out before him! Why? They made his father’s
house a house of merchandise: they had turned the house of prayer into
a den of thieves.
♦ “spirituaul” replaced with “spiritual”
O my brethren, how often have you and I been guilty of this great evil?
How often have the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the
pride of life, insensibly stolen away our hearts from GOD? Once they
were indeed houses of prayer; faith, hope, love, peace, joy, and all
the other fruits of the blessed Spirit lodged within them; but now, O
now, it may be, thieves and robbers. _Hinc illæ lachrymæ._ Hence those
hidings of GOD’s face, that dryness, and deadness, and barrenness of
soul, those wearisome nights and days, which many of us have felt from
time to time, and have been made to groan under. Hence those dolorous
and heart-breaking complaints, “O that I knew where I might find
him! O that it was with me as in days of old, when the candle of the
LORD shone bright upon my soul!” Hence those domestic trials, those
personal losses and disappointments: and to this perhaps some of us may
add, hence all those public rebukes with which we have been visited:
they are all only as so many scourges of small cords in the loving
Redeemer’s hands, to scourge the buyers and sellers out of the temple
of our hearts. O that we may know the rod and who hath appointed it!
He hath chastised us with whips: may we be wise, and by a more close
and circumspect walk prevent his chastising us in time to come with
scorpions! But who is sufficient for this thing? None but thou, O LORD,
to whom alone all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no
secrets are hidden! Cleanse thou therefore the thoughts of our hearts
by the inspiration of thy blessed Spirit, that henceforward we may more
perfectly love thee, and more worthily magnify thy holy name!
But are not some of you ready to object, and to fear, that the LORD
hath forgotten to be gracious, that he hath shut up his loving kindness
in displeasure, and that he will be no more entreated? Thus the
psalmist once thought, when visited for his backslidings with GOD’s
heavy hand. But he acknowledged this to be his infirmity; and whether
you think of it or no, I tell you, this is your infirmity. O ye
dejected, desponding, distrustful souls, hear ye the word of the LORD,
and call to mind his wonderful declarations of old to his people. “I,
even I am He that blotteth out thy transgressions: for a small moment
have I forsaken thee, but with everlasting mercies will I gather thee.
Can a woman forget her sucking child? Yes she may, but the LORD will
not forget you, O ye of little faith, For as a father pitieth his own
children, so doth the LORD pity them that fear him. How shall I give
thee up, O _Ephraim_? How shall I make thee as _Admah_? How shall I set
thee as _Zeboim_?” And what is the result of all these interrogations?
“My repentings are kindled together: I will not return to execute the
fierceness of my anger against _Ephraim_: for I am GOD, and not man.”
And is not the language of all these endearing passages, like that of
_Joseph_ to his self-convicted, troubled brethren? “Come near to me.” O
that it may be said of you, as it is said of them, “And they came near
unto him.” Then should you find by happy experience, that the LORD, the
LORD GOD, merciful and gracious, is indeed slow to anger and of great
kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. Who knows but he may come down
this day, this hour, nay this moment, and suddenly revisit the temple
of your hearts? Who knows but he may revive his work in your precious
souls, cause you to return to your first love, help you to do your
first works, and even exceed your hopes, and cause the glory of this
second visitation even to surpass that glory which filled your hearts,
in that happy, never to be forgotten day, in which he first vouchsafed
to make you his living temples? Even so, Father, let it seem good in
thy sight!
But the improvement of our subject must not end here. Hitherto I have
been giving bread to the children; and it is my meat and drink so to
do: but must nothing be said to those of you who are without? I mean to
such who cannot yet say, that they are “the temple of the living GOD.”
And O how great, put you all together, may the number of you be: by far,
in all probability, the greatest part of this auditory. Say not I am
uncharitable; the GOD of truth, hath said it, “Strait is the gate, and
narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find
it.” Suffer me to speak plainly to you, my brethren; you have heard
what has been said upon the words of our text, and what must be wrought
in us, ere we can truly say that we are “the temple of the living GOD.”
Is it so with you? Are ye separated from the world and worldly tempers?
Are your hearts become houses of prayer? Doth the Spirit of GOD dwell
in your souls? and whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever you do,
as to the habitual bent of your minds, do you do all to the glory of
GOD? These are short, but plain, and let me tell you very important
questions. What answer can you make to them? Say not, “Go thy way, and
at a more convenient season I will call for thee.” I will not, I must
not suffer you to put me off so; I demand an answer in the name of the
LORD of Hosts. What say ye? Methinks, I hear you say, “We have been
dedicated to GOD in baptism, we go to church or meeting, we say our
prayers, repeat our creeds, or have subscribed the articles, and the
confession of faith; we are quite orthodox, and great friends to the
doctrines of grace; we do no body any harm, we are honest moral people,
we are ♦church-members, we keep up family-prayer, and constantly go to
the table of the LORD.” All these things are good in their places. But
thus far, nay much farther may you go, and yet be far from the kingdom
of GOD. The unprofitable servant did no one any harm; and the foolish
virgins had a lamp of an outward profession, and went up even to
heaven’s gate, calling CHRIST, “Lord, Lord.” These things may make you
whited sepulchres, but not “the temples of the living GOD.” Alas! Alas!
one thing you yet lack, the one chief thing, and without which all is
nothing; I mean the indwelling of GOD’s blessed Spirit, without which
you can never become “the temples of the living GOD.”
♦ “churc-hmembers” replaced with “church-members”
Awake therefore, ye deceived formalists, awake; who, vainly puffed up
with your model of performances, boastingly cry out, “The temple of the
LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD are we.” Awake, ye
outward-court worshippers: ye are building on a sandy foundation: take
heed lest you also go to hell by the very door of heaven. Behold, and
remember, I have told you before.
And as for you who have done none of these things, who instead of
making an outward profession of religion, have as it were renounced
your baptism, proclaim your sin like _Sodom_, and wilfully and daringly
live as without GOD in the world; I ask you, how can you think to
escape, if you persist in neglecting such a great salvation. Verily,
I should utterly despair of your ever attaining the blessed privilege
of being temples of the living GOD, did I not hear of thousands, who
through the grace of GOD have been translated from a like state of
darkness into his marvellous light. Such, says the apostle _Paul_,
writing to these very _Corinthians_ who were now GOD’s living temples,
(drunkards, whoremongers, adulterers, and such like) “such were some of
you. But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in
the name of the LORD JESUS, and by the Spirit of our GOD.” O that the
same blessed Spirit may this day vouchsafe to come and pluck you also
as brands out of the burning! Behold, I warn you to flee from the wrath
to come. Go home, and meditate on these things; and think whether it
is not infinitely better, even here, to be temples of the living GOD,
than to be bond-slaves to every brutish lust, and to be led captive
by the devil at his will. The LORD JESUS can, and if you fly to him
for refuge, he will set your souls at liberty. He hath led captivity
captive, he hath ascended up on high, on purpose to receive this gift
of the blessed Spirit of GOD for men, “even for the rebellious,” that
he might dwell in your hearts by faith here, and thereby prepare you to
dwell with Him and all the heavenly host in his kingdom hereafter.
That this may be the happy lot of you all, may GOD of his infinite
mercy grant, for the sake of his dear Son CHRIST JESUS our LORD; to
whom with the Father, and the blessed Spirit, three persons, but one
GOD, be ascribed all power, might, majesty, and dominion, now and for
evermore. Amen! and Amen!