those represented by the queen of Sheba are shewn the ascent by which they can go up into the House of the Lord, by which they can touch all around them, and see and feel this chain of being everywhere, while they, filled with awe and adoration, exclaim with the patriarch of old, "Surely God is in this place, and I knew it not. This is none other but the house of God and this is the gate of heaven." There is said to be no more spirit in her: that is, self was entirely humbled and abashed, and could no more be seen. Yet these words are more fully and divinely true when uttered by the humblest Christian, than they were in the case of the queen of Sheba. By unregenerate nature we are, like the Abyssinian queen, inhabitants of a far country, rough and poor. We have felt how dark we are, and how much there is we would like to know. We have heard of the fame of Solomon, and of the glory and peace of his kingdom. The Divine Saviour is known to be condescending, powerful, glorious, and full of wisdom. We are troubled with hard questions. Why are we tossed about on a sea of uncertainties? Whence are we? What are we to become? Can we really be made into angels ? What are the monstrous propensities and lusts which press themselves upon us? Can our passions be subdued, and our life in this world be made even in a feeble way to resemble the life of the blessed? Can we indeed find peace? What is death? What is there beyond the grave? These are hard questions which have made us ponder, as they have perplexed those who have gone before us. Let us go to the great Prince of Peace in our day, and commune with Him of what is in our hearts. In prayer and meditation, He will speak to us, and give us replies; not only to what we have asked, but tell us much more than we have sought to know. It is astonishing that an immortal being, placed for a season between two seas as it were, THE PAST, of which he is a product, THE FUTURE, in which he is everlastingly to live, can remain in apathy, nor ask whether he is on the assured road, which will lead to eternal peace. A night of darkness may be around us, but let us not rest, let us not sit down in the valley of the shadow of death. Let us at least unceasingly inquire, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? Let us rest assured that if we thus inquire earnestly and perseveringly the gracious Saviour, who intends to turn our darkness into day, will reply, The morning cometh. SERMON XXXII. THE ABUNDANCE OF GOLD IN THE REIGN OF SOLOMON. "And all king Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; none were of silver; it was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon."-1 KINGS X, 21. If the world were full of the love of the Lord Jesus, our Creator, our Saviour, our Father, and our King, and of our fellow human beings as His children, what a glorious world it would be! a world of wisdom, peace, and blessing. Even the conception of such a state of things seems but the faint imagining of a condition, beyond all hope of possible realization, which can only be regarded as "The faint exquisite music of a dream.” Yet why have we day-dreams at all, except to foreshadow what may be. The world has had a golden age, why may it not return? But It is true that cruel phantasies at present possess mankind. Men are like inhabitants of a low dark valley, spending their time in gathering its dust into heaps, and contending to the death for the privilege of owning the largest hillock. everyone feels impulses higher and nobler than this. Each immortal being has yearnings for unselfishness, for innocence, for virtue, for wisdom, and for peace. Why cannot we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and depend that all other things will be added unto us? The Scriptures undoubtedly in multiplied and varied phrase proclaim that a period will be arrived at on earth when "The Lord shall be King over all the earth," when "The knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth, as the waters cover the sea; and none shall hurt nor destroy in all the Lord's holy moun tain" (Isa. xi. 9). Far, very far off it may be before this and many a splendid divine declaration of Scripture concerning the future glory of the world shall be realized, but the Word of God will be fulfilled for all that. The Lord's kingdom will assuredly come, and the Lord's will shall undoubtedly be done on earth, as it is done in heaven. It In the typical dispensation of the Jews, this celestial condition of the Church and the world was represented by the wealth, the glory, and the peace of the reign of Solomon. was literally true in the reign of that son of David, that peace, and all the arts of peace, brought prosperity, wealth, and abundance to the extent described in the text. Trade and commerce connecting Israel with distant lands in ties of mutual benefit, poured riches around, so that not only was plenty enjoyed, but sumptuousness and magnificence were attained; and gold to an unparalleled extent was seen, and silver was accounted of but little. Yet this is written in the Word of God, not to make us proficient in history, or to excite our admiration for this abundance of earthly splendour, but to represent to us the glorious state that shall be the golden age again; when men shall beat their swords into plough-shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; when nation shall not lift up itself against nation, neither shall they learn war any more (Isa. ii. 5; Micah v. 3). Gold is regarded in divine things as the symbol, among metals, of the highest good, that is, love to the Lord. The qualities of gold perfectly correspond to those of the golden principle of love to the Lord supremely, and for this it is used in Scripture. Hence, we may readily perceive that the abundance of gold in Solomon's reign typified the abundance of love, and all heavenly treasure, which will exist when the Church has accomplished its victories over naturalism and selfishness, and the Lord Jesus reigns over a regenerated world as the Divine Prince of Peace. As to the world in general, having regard to its present condition, it might indeed be thought that such views of the future, if not Utopian, can have no practical value, but it is well to remember that the Word of the Lord reveals such truths for our comfort, and it can never be wrong to learn what Divine Wisdom teaches. And, besides that, the order of progress for the world and the order for one individual are the same, and though we may not hope to behold any great advance of the general state of mankind in our time, yet individuals may realize golden things for themselves. They may receive from the Lord the gold of heaven, and be solitary pioneers of exalted states and of blessed achievements, in which perfect humility and heavenly wisdom shall give perfect peace. That gold is recognised in Scripture as corresponding to heavenly goodness of the highest kind, may be gathered not only from the direct words of our Lord, "I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire that thou mayest be rich" (Rev. iii. 18), but from its use in every part of the Divine Word. In the first land mentioned as being watered by the first river flowing out of Eden, now known to be an allegorical representation of the highest state of happiness, it is said “in that land there was gold, and the gold of that land was good" (Gen. ii. 11, 12). When the ark, the mercy-seat, the altar, and the vessels of the tabernacle were commanded to be made of pure gold, we cannot fail to feel there must have been a divine propriety in the choice that these patterns of heavenly things, as the apostle calls them, should be made of that valuable metal. And that reason can hardly be any other than that gold, the best of the metals, is the appropriate symbol of love, the best of heavenly principles. When the Lord through His prophets foretold the wonderful change which His coming into the world would make in religion, by the substitution of the spirit of religion for the mere symbolic form of it which existed among the Jews, He said "For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, for wood brass, and for stones iron: I will also make thy officers peace, and thine exactors righteousness" (Isa. lx. 17). The explanation virtually follows in the succeeding verse, "Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders: but thou shalt call thy walls salvation, and thy gates praise." For what can take away, all violence, wasting and destruction, but that Christian love which is the essence of good-will, and, as the apostle says, "fulfils the law" and "worketh no ill to the neighbour." The prophet Jeremiah speaks of gold manifestly in the same way. He says, "How is the gold become dim? how is the most fine gold changed?" The stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of every street. The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter (Lam. iv. 1, 2). The seven golden candlesticks mentioned in Rev. i. are called the Seven Churches (ver. 20), and although it is indeed a chief duty of a church to hold up the light of truth amidst surrounding darkness, yet love is the golden substance from which alone she can do it effectively. The Lord Himself was seen by St. John as girded around with a golden girdle, because this symbolized the divine affection, from which descends the sphere of love which is derived from Him, which encircles His children, uniting them to each other and to Himself. Lastly, the holy city, New Jerusalem, the Church now diffusing itself among men, AND THE GRAND CHURCH OF the future, is said to be a golden city. "The city was PURE GOLD, like unto clear glass;" "and the street of the city was PURE GOLD" (Rev. xxi. 18-21). What can that pure gold be, but the spirit of pure love? "For love within itself includes Love is the golden principle. Love enriches, embellishes, and blesses mankind. Without love nothing can impart true and lasting felicity. With love the humblest gifts are valuable and valued, and the humblest position of life contains the real essentials of happiness. The gift of loving is heaven's greatest boon to man. And he who cannot love may have splendid talents, may win position, wealth, applause, and fame, but will never succeed in possessing that without which all other possessions are cold, hollow, and valueless, the gift of being happy, in making others happy. This is divine gold. Gold abounded so much in the reign of the earthly Solomon, to represent that in the celestial condition of the Church, when the Lord Jesus in His glorified humanity would be truly and supremely loved as Lord of all, there would be an abundance of this spirit of holy Christian love. The whole interior of the Temple was covered with gold, the altar, and all the consecrated vessels were of gold: there were ten great lamp-holders of gold: the throne of the king was covered with gold. There were " two hundred targets" (or large shields), and "three hundred (other) shields of gold:" and "all king Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; none were of silver it was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon." : If we notice the leading qualities of gold, we shall discern how perfectly they correspond to the leading qualities of heavenly love. There is its wonderful malleability and ductility. Though |