HOMILETICS. Ver. 1.-Tlui outer court. There was an outer court in the temple of Jerusalem, held to be less sacred than the courts nearer to the holy place ; to this court Gentiles were admitted. I. THERE 18 AN OUTER COURT IN ALL RELIGION. There are always people who seem to stand midway between the Church and the world. In some cases they are like Elijah's contemporaries, halting between two opinions (1 Kings :x.viii. 21). They may be described as like the scribe who was "not far from the kingdom of God" (Mark x:ii. 34). Feeling a certain attraction for religion, they are drawn into associa- tion with public worship. Others, like the money-changers and cattle-vendors whom our Lord disturbed, find it possible to make worldly pro.fit for themselves by hanging on to the fringe of religious ordinances. II. THEY WHO ARE IN THE OUTER COURT ENJOY 0ERTAIN PRIVILEGES. These people can see what is going on in the more sacred interior of the temple. Though they take no part in the services, they are able to witness the sacrificial rites. Similarly, there are regula.r attendants at Christian churches who do not enter into the more intimate life of the community nor enjoy its highest advantages. Yet they have some privileges. It is something to see the door, if we have not yet knocked at it. Knowing the way ought to be a preparation for entering it. In a professedly Christian country, where New Testament facts are familiar to most people, and where few are quite out of the range of potential religious influences, privileges are enjoyed which bring a responsibility not shared by the more ignorant heathen. Ill. THEY WHO ARE IN THE OUTER COURT MISS THE BEST BLESSING. At most they have Esau'i blessing, not Jacob's. Like Balaam, they see the Christ, but "not near; " therefore, like that u)lh.appy prophet of Moab, they must be excluded from the covenant of promise. It is an aggravation to the torment of Dives that be can see La.za.rus in Abraham's bosom. The knowledge of Christian truth and the sight of Christian grace do not save the souls of men who will not yield themselves to Christ in heart and life. We have to beware of a common snare. Many are tempted to believe that they are safe because they are in some sort of external association with religion. We need to understand distinctly that this will not avail. There must be persona.I membership in the kingdom of heaven for all who will enjoy the real blessings of the kin!!dom. IV. IT 1B NOW POSSIBLE FOR THOSE WHO ARE IN THE OUTER COURT TO ENTER THE IID-'EB COURT. This was even true of the old, narrow Jewish religion, on the con- dition that the Gentile proselyte was circumcised and became a Jew. It is certainly true of the free, world-wide Christian gospel. None n.eed linger in the outer court. There is room within the privileged Church for every soul on earth, and a welcome from Christ for all who will come. But observe, in conclusion, the distinction between outer and inner courts in the Christian Church is spiritual, not visible. Professed Church- members may be in the outer court; while those who join 110 earthly community, and are regarded by their brethren as religious Bohemians, are in the inner court if their hearts and lives are truly near to Christ.
Ver. 13.-Holy places. In a Protestant reaction against the superstition that attaches magica.l sanctity to certain sites, we have perhaps lost bold of the truths of which that superstition was a perversion. L THERE 18 A BAN0TITY OF ASS0OIATI0N. We may own to a revulsion for a man who would botanize on hie mother's grave. Every Englishman must feel a thrill of national pride when he visits the .field of Waterloo, as every Greek must have done when treading the plain of Marathon. 'l'hougb a man may have travelled far and have acquired wealth that bas raised him above bis bumble origin, it iR but natural that he should look back to the cottage home of bis childhood with tender affection as to the most sacred shrine on earth. It may be from superstition, or it may be from sentiment; but :Wbic~ever be the cause, it is surely no strange thing to confess that the house of God 1~ which a man has worshipped for years gathers to itself a peculiar consecration. '!'here his burdened soul has been cheered ; there the light has pierced hie darkness; there he 011. xttt. l-20.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. 859