When he again sat upon his horse, he hardly knew how he had got there. He was overcome by excitement, his heart beat, he knew not whither he rode. But the Lord had kept His word. Sweetness, happiness, and joy streamed into his soul — flowed and kept flowing, although his soul seemed full and more full — like the clear stream which, filling an earthen vessel, keeps on pouring and flows over its rim, with an ever clearer, purer stream.^
(2) It is an earnest of the joy to come. — "Full of glory" — that is, it is Heaven already begun. There is a most significant suggestion here. Some men seem to fancy that they shall gain joy by entering Heaven. But the joy of which we are speaking is not gained or lost by any change of state; it belongs to the immortal soul. You cannot get into Heaven, Heaven must enter you. You must carry Heaven with you in the joy of Christ, or you will find no Heaven beyond the grave. But some one may ask, " Is this feeble rejoicing of the Christian on earth the real element of the eternal Heaven ? " Eemember, your present joy will then lose its imperfections ; your present sacrifice will then be shorn of its painfulness ; that which is perfect will have come, and that which is partial will be done away. Then the love which " hopeth all things, endureth all things," will be the light that shall not fail when the lamps of faith and hope are lost in a blaze of glory. Then we shall cease our life of struggle, of endeavour, of unrest, and be filled with the eternal love, which is the eternal joy.
^ It is of the same substance, if not of the same bulk and weight, as the glory which awaits us on the other side. There are moments of heaven upon earth ; prelibations of the river of life ; stray notes of the angel choruses ; Eschol grapes from the vineyards of the land of promise ; flowers from the parterres of Paradise. Oh for more of heaven on the way to heaven ! A
^ J. Jbrgensen, St. Francis of Assist, 34.
I PETER I. 8 6i
prayer which we may almost answer for ourselves by seeking more of Him who is Himself the heaven of heaven; and so adopting Ben gel's motto : " Christ in the heart ; heaven in the heart ; the heart in heaven." ^
Upon the water's face Of sadness not a trace ! Bright rays from sunny skies — All Heaven reflected lies.
Beneath the golden glow There lie concealed, we know, Hopes buried in the wave, Full many a lonely grave, Full many a vague unrest, And many a gem unguess'd; — Aye, many a lost delight, All hidden from our sight.
One day life's pulse will cease, And God will grant us peace : Yea — joy for evermore ; Lost treasures He'll restore. Earth's last farewells then said, The sea will yield its dead.^
^ F. B. Meyer, Tried by Fire, 44. ^ Una, In Lije's Garden, 40.
The Temple of Living Stones.
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Literature.
Brooke (H.), Studies in Leviticus, 57.
Burns (J. D.), Memoir and Remains, 312.
Fremantle (W. H.), The Gospel of the Secular Life, 175.
Hadden (R. H.), Sermons and Memoir, 1.
Hoare (J. G.), The Foundation Storie of Christian Faith, 225.
Jones (J. C), Studies in the First Epistle of Peter, 233.
Keble (J.), Sermons for the Christian Year : Christmas and Epiphany, 316 ;
Saints' Days, 415. Maclaren (A.), Expositions : 1 and 2 Peter and 1 John, 86, 92. Meyer (F. B.), Tried by Fire, 78. Moule (H. C. G.), The Secret of the Presence, 210. Murray (A.), With Christ, 240. Peabody (A. P.), King's Chapel Sermons, 118. Price (A. C.), Fifty Sermons, vi. 233 ; xi. 17. Rashdall (H.), Christus in Ecclesia, 92.
Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, xxiii. (1877) No. 541. British Weekly Pulpit, ii. 321 (Dale). Christian World Pulpit, iv. 409 (Rogers) ; vi. 161 (Punshon) ; xxvi. 89
(Mursell) ; Ixxviii. 35 (Story). Church Pulpit Year Booh, ii. (1905) 169 (Punshon). Contemporary Pulpit, 2nd Ser., ix. 168. Expositor, 2nd Ser., viii. 187 (Matheson). Eomiletic Review, lix. 377 (Moule).
The Temple of Living Stones.
Unto whom coming, a living stone, rejected indeed of men, but with God elect, precious, ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.— I Pet. ii. 4, 5.
1. Eaeth has witnessed few scenes more sublime, none in which all the elements of outward magnificence were more strikingly blended with those of deep religious reverence and awe, than that which was presented by the Temple of Solomon on the day of its dedication. The holy and beautiful house crowning, with its fresh undimmed splendour, the terraced steep of Moriah, the vast congregation of worshippers that filled its courts and colonnades, the rich and solemn swell of choral melody, when minstrels and singers joined in the exulting hallelujah, the great altar in the open court with the brazen platform in front of it, on which the youthful prince kneeled down upon his knees in sight of that breathless multitude and spread forth his hands to heaven, the fire descending in answer to his prayer, and consuming the sacrifice, and the cloud of glory filling the house, so that the priests could not stand to minister; — nothing is wanting to complete the solemn impressiveness of the spectacle.