this society* itself has thought proper to adopt, a provision is made that there shall be no unnecessary costliness; no unnecessary expenditure shall be incurred in the structure and decoration of these sacred edifices. And in support of this rule it is maintained, that it is not right to expend money in embellishment when the poor are unprovided with room. This is in some measure true; but then let us be consistent in the application of this rule: let us not apply it merely to the things of God, lest we deprive him of his due, but to ourselves also. Enter into our houses; may it likewise be said, why is all this cost and unnecessary embellishment, when there are so many of the poor unprovided with necessary food and clothing? Do we then apply this rule merely to the things of God? Do we think that nothing is too good for ourselves which we are able to procure; nothing too valuable or handsome which art or skill can supply, and that anything will do for the service of God, while the poor are unprovided? Are we to keep the best for ourselves, and to restore to the Giver of all good merely the refuse of his bounty? Might we not so curtail our wants as to become thereby infinitely richer in ourselves, and do far more both for the immediate honor of God, and for Jesus Christ, as still to be found among us in the poor members of his church? But then it may be thought, that in our present enlightened views of religion, the heart of the worshipper is to be considered as everything; that it matters not in how homely a place God may be worshipped, so long as it is "in spirit and in truth." This is in one sense true, but when thus stated it conveys a great fallacy. The differences of earthly splendor can indeed be nothing to him whom the heaven of heavens cannot con The incorporated church building society. tain; and he is there most graciously present where he is most honored; but the fact is, that a desire that God should be worshipped in the most worthy manner is the very proof of the right state of the heart. Let me not dwell in cedar while the ark of God dwelleth within curtains, is one of the first expressions of natural piety, and mentioned as highly approved of by God himself. That we cannot lay out too little upon ourselves, nor too much to the honor of our Maker, is the obvious feeling of a humble mind. There is a very affecting circumstance recorded in the gospel, which bears, I think, strongly on this point. It was the good Mary who had chosen the better part, who had saved what she could to embalm our Savior with very precious ointment. All who were present seemed to be united in saying according to the suggestion of Judas, why was this waste when it might do so much for the poor? And perhaps we might have been disposed to say, what could such a poor honor be to the Son of God what value could he attach to such things, who was pleased to become "the very outcast of men ?" Surely it would have been more pleasing to him for it to have been given to the poor. Not so did our blessed Savior accept it; so graciously indeed did he receive it, that as the house was filled with the odour of the ointment, so has it pleased him that his church to the end of the world should be fragrant with the memory of her piety. And if we wished for authority to apply this circumstance even more closely to our present subject, we have it in the most marked and favorable acceptance of the poor widow's mite for the service of the temple, which had cost her much, but was quite lost from worldly eyes in the more ample contributions of others. In another point of view, sacred architecture is a matter of very great importance, inasmuch as it gives vent to certain feelings of the mind. Our ancient churches, combining such vastness, and strength, and beauty, prove that the persons of the age when they were built were thus imbodying more worthy conceptions of God; and they cannot but have a tendency to impress those that enter them with similar feelings, of the vastness, the strength, the beauty of holiness. And it cannot but be observed that a pious reverence and awe at those places, where God and his holy angels are more especially present, has very much decayed together with the increasing neglect of these buildings. And yet such a feeling of sacred and religious veneration is, I doubt not, of the very highest importance toward our well-being as Christians. A great writer on Christian practice recommends that every person should have some particular spot in his room, or in his house, where he should consider God as especially present, in order to add fervor to his prayers, and increase holiness of mind. Now this is nothing but a substitute for the ancient pious feeling respecting the presence of God in churches. But the importance of this subject is forced upon us by infinitely higher authority than any such observations of our own. It is very remarkable that our blessed Savior, in driving the buyers and sellers out of the temple, both at the beginning and at the end of his ministry, acted in a manner different from every other action recorded of him in Scripture. This is much to be considered, for doubtless it must contain some lesson of very singular value: and what else can that lesson be to us than this-that a sense of the sacredness of holy places must be a matter of the very deepest importance to the state of our minds as Christians? But there is another subject which seems more to press itself on our notice on the present occasion than the worthiness or sacredness of our churches, and that is their number. For the question now brought before us is, whether a considerable portion of our fellow Christians should, amid the wealth and luxuries of the age, have any means of church ordinances and prayers at all. We are, perhaps, ourselves, especially in this place, well provided in every respect: but no thanks are due to us for this, nor to our generation; we have received these blessings from the bounty of others: have we, in return for this, done the same for those who stand so much in need of these advantages? Is it not the case that the extensive falling off from the apostolical institutions in these kingdoms has been owing in great measure to the want of churches, which has been in many parts of this kingdom, and still is, very great; so that persons have been led to seek unauthorized modes of instruction and worship, merely because it has been the only means of their procuring Christian communion at all. Are we not responsible for all this-for having received most bountifully, but having been too unwilling to restore in like measure again? Complaints are sometimes made respecting the difficulty of building and endowing churches, which is certainly very great; but persons who make these complaints seem scarcely aware that this difficulty arises solely from the decay of that spirit of our forefathers, by which these means were supplied. Such being, as I conceive, the case, it is right that we should clearly see it, and be humbled under a sense of our great neglect under unequalled blessings; such humiliation being the only temper of mind in which any real amendment can take place. But at the same time it is certainly right that, while we condemn ourselves, we should hope the best. It may perhaps be explained by the circumstance of the great external prosperity which the church has long enjoyed, and that, having kings for her nursing fathers, she has leaned too much on worldly aid, and been weakened thereby. But the time is now come when she cannot but distinctly hear the voice of our God and Savior speaking to her and saying: "Put not your trust in princes, nor in any child of man, for there is no help in them." And therefore we may hope that she will be led to lean on her better strength, and so be strong; and that she may now come forth out of her difficulties, "as a bridegroom out of his chamber, and rejoicing as a giant to run his course." Were this nation filled with churches, and those churches filled with sincere worshippers, as they ought to be, how might the incense of daily prayers, amid aboundings of evil principle, which cry to heaven against ushow might our daily prayers, I say, have overtaken these, and brought down a blessing instead of a curse! In these sacred precincts we are in a manner lifted up nearer to heaven; so much so, as that here, at all events, we may be quite above hearing the noise and feverish excitement of the world, which in some shape or other must ever be arrayed against us. That we are, and have been so long permitted thus to meet together, and worship God without molestation or danger, is of itself a subject for sincere thankfulness: we must remember that this has not always been the case with Christians; that it is by no means a matter of course but the exception, and the privilege; and the only right temper of mind is to be thankful for this, while it lasts, as for a mercy of which we are utterly unworthy. Here let us more and more flee for refuge, and to those blessed hopes which it tends to support and strengthen, and do what we can to afford to others the same blessings. This appeal appears to be one of the strongest that can possibly be made to us; for a charity of this kind not only partakes of the character of that blessed act of love before alluded to, which was done to our Savior's honor; but combines likewise the benefit of our poorer brethren, and that likewise a benefit of the most substantial kind; and far more valuable, if but so valued, than food and clothing. For the poor being despised of the world, have the church for their strong hiding-place and refuge. It is not in any way a sacrifice opposed to mercy, but the highest mercy combined with the best sacrifice. And this society, which has done so much, and has so much more to do, has likewise this peculiar claimthat its assistance is supplied according to the urgency of the case. For assistance to any particular appeal is often in VOL. II.-7 |