But it is not in speculative truths that we should rest. We proceed therefore to inquire, III. What practical instruction is to be gathered from it —
In this part of our subject, we shall limit our ob- servations to the event as it stands connected with the occasion on which it was foretold. We have
c Exod. vii. 11, 12—20, 22. and viii.7, 8,17—19. Acts viii.9— 11.
u 2
before seen that it was referred to in confirmation of the authority which our Lord had exerted. It shews us therefore,
1. That God is indignant with those who pollute his temple —
[It is common to imagine, that the frequenting of the house of God at certain seasons must of necessity be a service pleasing and acceptable in the sight of God. But can our bodily presence there be pleasing to him, if our hearts be altogether occupied with the world ? If our farms and our merchandize, our lusts and our pleasures, fill our minds, what will it profit us to bow our knees, or to repeat our forms of prayer? It is not thus that we are to worship God : " we are to worship him in spirit and in truth ;" and our external ser- vices, while destitute of spiritual affections, are gross hypo- crisy : and we, in presenting such services, are no better than those whom our Lord accused of turning his Father's House into a house of merchandize.
But it is not from the outward temple only that evil should be expelled : our hearts are " the temples of the Holy Ghost," and are therefore, at the peril of our souls, to be preserved pure : " If any man defile the temple of God," says the Apostle, " him shall God destroy11." What reason have we all to tremble at this solemn declaration ! Consider, brethren, what grievous abominations have been harboured there ! what a mass of filthiness, " filthiness both of flesh and spirit," has God seen in us ! what pride, envy, malice, wrath ! what worldliness ! what sensuality ! alas ! alas ! " It is indeed of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, even because his compassions fail not." We may plead custom, and a variety of other excuses, just as they did who defiled the material temple : but if our hearts be not now purged by the grace of God, it is in vain to hope that he will ever make them his residence in a future world. Let us then beg of him to drive out every hateful dis- position : and, whatever scourge he may see fit to use for this purpose, let us never wish to be delivered from the pains it may inflict, till we have fully experienced its sanctified effects.]
2. That whatever pollutes his temple shall yield to the almighty power of Christ —
[When we see the extreme depravity of our hearts, and compare it with the purity of God's holy law, we are ready to say, that it is impossible for us ever to become what God requires. But he who exerted such power over the minds of those who " made the temple a den of thieves ;" who could
d 1 Cor. hi. 16, 17.