whereon our sacrifices of prayer and praises are offered to the Almighty, but a contrite heart? What the golden candlesticks, but the illumined understanding, wherein the light of the knowledge of God, and his divine will shineth for ever? What the tables of shew-bread, but the sanctified memory, which keepeth the bread of life continually? Yea, if we shall presume so far, as to enter into the very closet of God's oracle, even there, O God, do we' find our unworthy hearts so honoured by thee, that they are made. the very ark, wherein thy royal law and the pot of thy heavenly manna are kept for ever; and from whose propitiatory, shaded with the wings of thy glorious angels, thou givest thy gracious testimonies of thy good Spirit, witnessing with ours, that we are the children of thee the living God.

Behold, if Solomon built a temple unto thee, thou hast built a temple unto thyself, in us. We are not only, through thy grace, living stones in thy temple, but living temples in thy Sion. Oh. do thou ever dwell in this thy house; and in this thy house, let us ever serve thee. Wherefore else hast thou a temple, but for thy. presence with us, and for our worshipping of thee? The time was, when, as thy people, so thyself, didst lodge in flitting tents; ever shifting, ever moving: thence, thou thoughtest best to sojourn, both in Shiloh and the roof of Obed Edom. After that, thou condescendedst to settle thine abode with men, and wouldst dwell in a house of thine own, at thy Jerusalem. So didst thou, in the beginning, lodge with our first parents in a tent; sojourn with Israel, under the Law; and now makest a constant residence, under the Gospel, in the hearts of thy chosen children, from whence thou wilt remove no more: they shall remove from the world, from themselves; thou shalt not remove from them.

Wheresoever thou art, O God, thou art worthy of adoration. Since thou ever wilt dwell in us, be thou ever worshipped in us. Let the altars of our clean hearts send up ever to thee, the sweetest perfumed smokes of our holy meditations, and faithful prayers, and cheerful thanksgivings. Let the pure lights of our faith and godly conversation shine ever before thee and men, and never be put out. Let the bread of life stand ever ready, upon the pure and precious tables of our hearts. Lock up thy law and thy manna within us; and speak comfortably to us from thy mercy-seat, Suffer nothing to enter in hither, that is unclean. Sanctify us unto thyself, and be thou sanctified in us.

1 Kings v, vi. 2 Chron. ii, iii, iv.

SOLOMON, AND THE QUEEN OF SHEBA.

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God hath no use of the dark lanterns of secret and reserved per fections: we ourselves do not light up candles, to put them under bushels. The great lights, whether of heaven or earth, are not intended to obscurity; but, as to give light unto others, so to be seen themselves.

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Holy of Holies, whereinto the high-priest entered once a year, the glorious Heaven, into which our true high-priest, Christ Jesus, entered once for all, to make an atonement betwixt God and man, In all these, what a meet correspondence there is, both in proportion, matter, situation!

In proportion :-The same rule, that skilful carvers observe in the cutting out of the perfect statue of a man, that the height be thrice the breadth, and the breadth one third of the height, was likewise duly observed in the fabric of the temple: whose length was double to the height, and treble to the breadth; as being sixty cubits long, thirty high, and twenty broad. How exquisite a symmetry hast thou ordained, O God, betwixt the faithful heart, and thy Church on earth, with that in Heaven: how accurate in each of these, in all their powers and parts, compared with other! So hath God ordered the believing soul, that it hath neither too much shortness of grace, nor too much height of conceit, nor too much breadth of passion. So hath he ordered his visible Church, that there is a necessary inequality, without any disproportion; a height of government, a length of extent, a breadth of jurisdiction, duly answerable to each other: so hath he ordered his triumphant Church above, that it hath a length of eternity, answered with a height of perfection, and a breadth of incomprehensible glory.

In matter:-All was here of the best. The wood was precious, sweet, lasting; the stones beautiful, costly, insensible of age; the gold pure and glittering: so are the graces of God's children; excellent in their nature, dear in their acceptation, eternal in their use: so are the ordinances of God in his Church; holy, comfortable, irrefragable: so is the perfection of his glorified saints; incomparable, unconceivable.

the

In situation:-The outer parts were here more common; inward more holy, and peculiarly reserved. I find one court of the temple open to the unclean, to the uncircumcised: within that, another, open only to the Israelites; and, of them, to the clean: within that, yet another, proper only to the priests and Levites; where was the brazen altar for sacrifice, and the brazen sea for washings; the eyes of the laity might follow their oblations in hither, their feet might not yet more, in the covered rooms of the temple, there is, whither the priests only may enter, not the Levites; there is, whither the high priest only may enter, not his brethren. It is thus in every renewed man, the individual temple of God: the outward parts are allowed common to God and the world; the inwardest and secretest, which is the heart, is reserved only for the God that made it. It is thus in the Church visible: the false and foul-hearted hypocrite hath access to the holy ordinances of God, and treads in his courts; only the true Christian hath entire and private conversation, with the Holy One of Israel; he only is admitted into the Holy of Holies, and enters within the glorious veil of heaven.

If, from the walls, we look unto the furniture; what is the altar,

whereon our sacrifices of prayer and praises are offered to the Almighty, but a contrite heart? What the golden candlesticks, but the illumined understanding, wherein the light of the knowledge of God, and his divine will shineth for ever? What the tables of shew-bread, but the sanctified memory, which keepeth the bread of life continually? Yea, if we shall presume so far, as to enter into the very closet of God's oracle, even there, O God, do we' find our unworthy hearts so honoured by thee, that they are made. the very ark, wherein thy royal law and the pot of thy heavenly manna are kept for ever; and from whose propitiatory, shaded with the wings of thy glorious angels, thou givest thy gracious testimonies of thy good Spirit, witnessing with ours, that we are the children of thee the living God.

Behold, if Solomon built a temple unto thee, thou hast built a temple unto thyself, in us. We are not only, through thy grace, living stones in thy temple, but living temples in thy Sion. Oh. do thou ever dwell in this thy house; and in this thy house, let us ever serve thee. Wherefore else hast thou a temple, but for thy presence with us, and for our worshipping of thee? The time was, when, as thy people, so thyself, didst lodge in flitting tents; ever shifting, ever moving: thence, thou thoughtest best to sojourn, both in Shiloh and the roof of Obed Edom. After that, thou condescendedst to settle thine abode with men, and wouldst dwell in a house of thine own, at thy Jerusalem. So didst thou, in the beginning, lodge with our first parents in a tent; sojourn with Israel, under the Law; and now makest a constant residence, under the Gospel, in the hearts of thy chosen children, from whence thou wilt remove no more: they shall remove from the world, from themselves; thou shalt not remove from them.

Wheresoever thou art, O God, thou art worthy of adoration. Since thou ever wilt dwell in us, be thou ever worshipped in us. Let the altars of our clean hearts send up ever to thee, the sweetest perfumed smokes of our holy meditations, and faithful prayers, and cheerful thanksgivings. Let the pure lights of our faith and godly conversation shine ever before thee and men, and never be put out. Let the bread of life stand ever ready, upon the pure and precious tables of our hearts. Lock up thy law and thy manna within us; and speak comfortably to us from thy mercy-seat. Suffer nothing to enter in hither, that is unclean. Sanctify us unto thyself, and be thou sanctified in us.

1 Kings v, vi. 2 Chron. ii, iii, iv.

SOLOMON, AND THE QUEEN OF SHEBA.

A

God hath no use of the dark lanterns of secret and reserved perfections: we ourselves do not light up candles, to put them under bushels. The great lights, whether of heaven or earth, are not intended to obscurity; but, as to give light unto others, so to be seen themselves.

1

Dan and Beersheba were too strait bounds, for the fame of Solomon; which now hath flown over all lands and seas, and raised the world to an admiration of his more than human wisdom. Even so, O thou everlasting King of Peace, thy name is great among the Gentiles. There is no speech nor language, where the report of thee is not heard: the sound of thee is gone forth through all the earth. Thy name is an ointment poured out; therefore the virgins love thee. No doubt, many, from all coasts, came to learn and wonder; none, with so much note, as this noble daughter of Cham: who, herself, deserves the next wonder to him, whom she came to hear and admire. That a woman, a princess, a rich and great queen, should travel from the remotest south, from Saba, a region famous for the greatest delicacies of nature, to learn wisdom, is a matchless example. We know merchants, that venture to either Indies for wealth; others, we know daily to cross the seas, for wanton curiosity; some few Philosophers, we have known to have gone far for learning; and, amongst princes, it is no unusual thing, to send their ambassadors to far distant kingdoms, for transaction of businesses, either of state or commerce: but, that a royal lady should, in person, undertake and overcome so tedious a journey, only to observe and inquire into the mysteries of nature, art, religion, is a thing past both parallel and imitation. Why do we think any labour great, or any way long, to hear a greater than Solomon? How justly shall the Queen of the South rise up in judgment and condemn us, who may hear wisdom crying in our streets, and neglect her!

Certainly, so wealthy a queen, and so great a lover of wisdom, could not want great scholars at home: them she had first opposed, with her enigmatical demands: and now, finding herself unsatisfied, she takes herself to this oracle of God. It is a good thing to doubt; better, to be resolved: the mind that never doubts shall learn nothing; the mind that ever doubts shall never profit by learning our doubts only serve to stir us up to seek truth; our resolutions settle us in the truth we have found. There were no pleasure in resolutions, if we had not been formerly troubled with doubts; there were nothing but discomfort and disquietness in doubts, if it were not for the hope of resolution. It is not safe, to suffer doubts to dwell too long upon the heart: there may be a good use of them as passengers; dangerous, as inmates: happy are we, if we can find a Solomon to remove them.

Fame, as it is always a blab, so oft-times a liar. The wise princess found cause to distrust so uncertain an informer; whose reports are stili, either doubtful or fabulous, and, like winds or streams, increase in passing. If very great things were not spoken of Solomon, fame should have wronged him; and if but just rumours were spread of his wisdom, there needed much credulity to believe them. This great queen would not suffer herself to be led by the ears; but comes in person, to examine the truth of foreign relations. How much more unsafe is it, in the most important bu

sinesses of our souls, to trust the opinions and reports of others! Those ears and eyes are ill bestowed, that do not serve to choose and judge for their owners.

When we come to a rich treasure, we need not be bidden to carry away what we are able. This wise lady, as she came far for knowledge, so, finding the plenty of this vein, she would not depart without her full load: there was nothing, wherein she would leave herself unsatisfied: she knew that she could not every day meet with a Solomon, and therefore she makes her best use of so learned a master now she empties her heart of all her doubts, and fills it with instruction. It is not good neglecting the opportunities, of furnishing our souls with profitable, with saving knowledge. There is much wisdom, in moving a question well, though there be more in assoiling it: what use do we make of Solomon's teacher; if, sitting at the feet of Christ, we leave our hearts either ignorant or perplexed?

As if the errand of this wealthy queen had been to buy wisdom, she came with her camels laden with gold, and precious stones, and rich odours: though to a mighty king, she will not come to school empty handed. If she came to fetch an invaluable treasure, she finds it reason to give thanks unto him that kept it. As he is a fool, that hath a price in his hand to get wisdom, and wants a heart; so is he unthankful, that hath a heart to get wisdom, and hath no price in his hand; a price, not countervailable to what he seeks, but retributory to him of whom he seeks. How shameful is. it, to come always with close hands to them, that teach us the great mysteries of salvation!

Expectation is no better than a kind enemy to good deserts. We lose those objects which we overlook. Many had been admired, if they had not been overmuch befriended by fame; who now, in our judgment, are cast as much below their rank, as they were fore-imagined above it. This disadvantage had wise Solo. mon with this stranger, whom rumour had bid to look for incredi ble excellencies; yet, so wonderful were the graces of Solomon, that they overcame the highest expectation, and the liberallest be lief; so as when she saw the architecture of his buildings, the provisions of his tables, the order of his attendants, the religion of his sacrifices, she confessed, both her unjust incredulity in not believ ing the report of his wisdom, and the injury of report in underrating it; I believed not the words till I came, and mine eyes had seen it, and lo, the one half was not told me. Her eyes were more sure informers than her ears. She did not so much hear as see Solomon's wisdom, in these real effects. His answers did not so much demonstrate it, as his prudent government. There are some, whose speeches are witty, while their carriage is weak; whose deeds are incongruities, while their words are apothegms. It is not worth the name of wisdom, that may be heard only, and not seen: good discourse is but the froth of wisdom; the pure and solid substance of it, is in well-framed actions: If we know these things, happy are we if we do them.