(A Discourse delivered at the Opening of the New Church, Walmersley-road, Bury.) By the Rev. R. STORRY.

"And I saw no temple therein; for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it."-REVELATION xxi. 22.

THE Book of Revelation is a prophecy of the last time; this is very evident from some of its opening and closing statements. Near its commencement it announces that "the time is at hand," and "behold, He cometh with clouds;" it closes with the announcement-"He which testified these things saith, Surely, I come quickly. Amen. Even so come, Lord Jesus." If the nature of this coming were rightly understood, its arrival would be earnestly desired. It is a coming, not to destroy men's lives, but to save them. Its purpose is the overthrow of the evil and the false, and the disclosure in increased brightness and beauty of the good and true. The Lord comes as the Son of Man,— that is, the Divine Truth itself, not in the clouds of the natural firmament, but in the clouds of the literal sense of His Holy Word, making manifest the power and glory of its spiritual truth and wisdom. His advent provides, therefore, for the increased instruction and enlightenment of His disciples; it is the means of advancing the church to a higher wisdom and a holier life.

One of the means whereby the purposes of His coming will be accomplished, is the raising up of a church in which He will be seen and acknowledged as the only God, His Word more clearly understood, and His commandments more diligently obeyed. This state of the

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church is denoted by the New Jerusalem, which is described in the two last chapters of this book. The particulars given respecting this city, in their spiritual sense, describe the internal quality of the church to be thus established at the time of the Lord's Second Coming. Descending from God out of heaven, it will be filled with divine and heavenly qualities. As the bride, the Lamb's wife, it will be attached to the Lord in His Humanity as her Lord and King; see in Him the fulness of the Godhead; and worship Him with undivided affection. Her glory will be the glory of God, the undimmed lustre of truth rationally understood and fervently loved. Her wall will be the protecting sphere of truth, combining the greatness of inward love with the altitude of enlightened wisdom. Her gates are all the knowledges of truth which introduce into the church. These embrace all the diversified truths and goods denoted by the twelve tribes of the children of Israel, and unite them in one resplendent knowledge, as in one pearl of beauty, the knowledge of the Lord, whom to know is life eternal. The precious stones and pearls of this city denote the spiritual truths and knowledges which will beautify the thoughts and enlighten the minds of her members; and the pure gold of the city and its street, the inward goodness springing from fervent love, which will give life to all her doctrines and teachings, and shine with transparent clearness in the life and conduct, fulfilling thereby the injunction of the Saviour "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

The description of this final state of the church under the figure of a New Jerusalem, is the introduction into the concluding portion of the New Testament of the most prominent object named in the Old, and gives unity to the entire revelation of truth. In the Old Testament, Jerusalem represented the church; in the Apocalypse, the New Jerusalem represents the church in her highest state of spiritual beauty and perfection. In the earthly Jerusalem was erected the temple of Solomon ;-it was its crowning eminence, its pinnacle of glory. In the New Jerusalem, the Apostle says-" I saw no temple therein;" and he gives the reason" for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it." This want, which seems at first sight to indicate inferiority, is really expressive of superiority; for how inexpressibly glorious must be that city whose crowning eminence is not a temple of earthly materials, but the living temple of the Divine Humanity of the Saviour!

The temple, like the city in which it was erected, was one of the most prominent symbols of spiritual things. In its highest sense it denoted the Lord in His Humanity. This is very clearly taught in the Word

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itself. It is in allusion, not to His coming to the temple at Jerusalem, but to His actual incarnation in the flesh, that it is said-"The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant whom ye delight in: behold, He shall come, saith Jehovah of Hosts." And in like manner, not in allusion to the overthrow of the temple at Jerusalem, but to the glorification of the temple of His body, by the passion of Gethsemane and the cross, and by His triumphant resurrection, He said-"Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it again. This (says the Evangelist) spake He of the temple of His body." Here, then, we have the distinct assurance of the Word itself, that the temple denotes the Divine Humanity of the Saviour. And as it denotes the Lord's Humanity, so it also represents His kingdom in heaven and the church, and hence also the regenerated souls of angels and men in whom He dwells. This follows, indeed, from the nature and constitution of the Lord's kingdom. All things of heaven and the church are from the Lord, and are sustained by His secret presence and constant operation. Heaven is not from the display of glory or the perfection of beauty that is therein; neither is it from anything proper to the angels. It is the Divine Principle of the Lord which makes heaven, both in the angels and, through them, in the myriad wonders and inconceivable glories of the world they inhabit. All the outward magnificence of heaven is but the external manifestation of the internal purity and wisdom of its inhabitants. The kingdom of heaven is within. Its seat is the purified mind, the regenerated soul, the renovated spirit. In the assembled spirits of His sanctified creation, the Lord builds up His temple of glory, and here He has His abiding habitation. He dwells in them, and walks in them. He dwells in them by His Spirit of life and light, and fills them with His happiness and joy. Because of this signification of the Tabernacle, which was erected in the wilderness, and hence preceded the erection of the temple, the pattern was showed to Moses in heaven, and its inmost part was represented as the throne and habitation of Jehovah himself. God, whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain, who Himself says" Do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord?" was thus represented as dwelling in a habitation made with hands. But this intimation is really expressive of the deep underlying truth, that while the Lord fills heaven and earth with His presence, He especially dwells in His own—that is, in the goodness and truth which He has implanted in the souls of His regenerate followers. That the temple thus denotes heaven is very distinctly intimated in the Word. Of the "great multitude which no man could number," which the Apostle saw stand before the throne and

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before the Lamb, clothed with white robes and palms in their hands, the emblems of their sanctification and their victories in the tribulations through which they had passed, it is said "Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple." And again, when the seventh angel sounded, and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ," we read that "the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in His temple the ark of His testament." But we have said that the temple also represents the church, which is the Lord's heaven on earth. This also is very manifest, both from the nature of the church, and from the distinct teaching of the Scriptures. The principles which constitute the church are those which also constitute the angelic life, and are the source of all angelic felicity. In this world, as in the future, the kingdom of heaven is within us. The church is a spiritual temple, the builder of which is God. The foundation of this temple is laid in humility, repentance, and faith. Its walls are builded up by obedience and truth, and its top-stone of glory is brought forth in the finished perfection of wisdom and love. The kingdom of heaven is thus planted within us by regeneration from the Lord; and we first enter it, therefore, not at the period of natural death, but of spiritual regeneration. Of this truth we have many expressive illustrations in the Apostolic writings. "Know ye not," says the Apostle Paul, "that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." (1 Cor. iii. 16, 17. See also 2 Cor. vi. 16, and Eph. ii. 19-21.)

There is yet another signification of the temple, which is very prominently presented in the uses of the temple at Jerusalem: it represents the worship of the Lord, both in private and also in the great congregation. This signification is indeed involved in much we have already said. Heaven and the church are the scene of the Lord's perpetual worship, not merely by acts of outward devotion, but by the entire dedication of the life to His service,-acting at all times in His fear, under a consciousness of His presence, and doing always those things that please Him. To this view of the temple we shall confine our further exposition of the text, which will lead us to consider the "Worship of the Church, its Object and its Author."

A prominent feature of the worship of the temple, was the unity of the people engaged in its celebration. This was taught by one temple, where the Most High had His dwelling-place. To this temple the entire population of Israel were to look; and here they were to approach the

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Divine presence with their sacrifices and oblations. The same truth is expressed in this service being to the true Israelite the supreme object of his regard, the one thing to which his affections and thoughts continually turned. This is beautifully expressed by the Psalmist―" 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 inquire in His temple." Were a whole population to be influenced by this feeling, they would necessarily become by it united in one; they would be animated by one life of devotion and love, inspired by one hope, and directed to one end of usefulness and good. The attainment of this unity of the spirit in the bonds of peace is the great end of all Divine teaching and providential guidance. It was represented, but not realised, under the law. Its attainment in the church on earth is still a thing of the future. Its highest realisation is in heaven, among the ransomed creation of God. This unity, so dear to the hopes of every true child of God, is pictured in the works, and taught in the Word of God, as a thing to be earnestly desired and diligently sought after. In the splendours of the firmament, while one star differeth from another star in glory, all unite their effulgent brightness in one grand system of creative wisdom and glory. And so also of the earth on which we tread. Its countless myriads of objects are but parts of one grand whole, bound together by mutual dependencies and uses, and carried forward to one sublime purpose by the most perfect wisdom and love. But these examples of unity in the creation are not greater or more striking than those of providence and grace. "Neither pray I," says the Saviour, "for these (the disciples) alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their Word; that they all may be one, as Thou Father art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us; that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me." (John xvii. 21, 22.) The Lord here proposes His own unity with the Father-a unity as close as that between the soul and body of man-as the example of the unity He desires among His disciples. His redemption was to restore the means of this unity, by overthrowing the powers of darkness, which were dissociating His rational creatures from Himself, and by the ascendancy of the selfish passions separating man from man, and placing in jeopardy the integrity of the creation itself. Regeneration, also, is to restore harmony and unity to a nature at variance with itself, and at enmity with goodness and with God. In its natural state, the powers of the human mind are discordant and disconnected. The will is feeble and irregular in action; it is prone to evil, and slow to good. The passions are largely developed and of gigantic power.