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Centenary Memorials of St. James Place Church, Edinburgh
Centenary Memorials of St James Place Church Edinburgh Author:William Crawford Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: SERMONS DURING THE CENTURY SERMON I By Rev. Thomas Thomson 'And I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of Hosts.'— Haggai ii. 7. Of what hou... more »se speaketh the prophet thus ? Of his own, or of some other man's 1 Not of his own, not of any other man's, but of the temple of God, the place where his honour dwells. It was originally built by Solomon at Jerusalem, and consecrated by fervent prayer. Jehovah claimed it as his own, and honoured it with many signal testimonies of his special favour. It had the ark of the covenant, the mercy-seat, the cherubim of glory, the oracle of testimony, and the Shekinah, or bright cloud, as the symbol of the Divine presence. These were some of its brightest ornaments, which rendered the sacred edifice the admiration of the world. But to punish the sins of his ancient people, God permitted the tyrant of Babylon to invade their territories, to take Jerusalem, to pillage their temple, and burn it with fire. The house of God, thus desolated for the sins of His people, lay in ruins for seventy years. At length, however, He had mercy upon His land and on His people, and brought them backto worship Him in the heritage of their fathers. By the piety and zeal of His servant Ezra, He stimulated them to lay the foundation of the second temple. For a time the building was interrupted by the opposition of their heathen neighbours, and in consequence of the indolence of the Jews themselves. The people said, as in the first chapter and second verse of this prophecy, ' The time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built.' To show them their error, God inspired His prophet Haggai to stand up in defence of the ordinances of religion, and enabled him earnestly to expostulate with them for their shameful indolence: ' Is it time for you...« less