THE CITY OF GOD.

"Glorious things are spoken of thee, O City of God."-PSALM LXXXVII. 3.

CITIES are a kind of necessary consequence of the social element in man, and the choice fellowship to be found in them may be accepted as one reason why the church is so often compared to a city. There are other reasons however. Cities are centres of influence, they are characterized by law and order, they furnish the greatest security from outrage and oppression,-they have often been the bulwarks of freedom, and conservators of liberty, they possess special privileges and immunities, and in all ages have been centres of light and knowledge to those around them. For these and like reasons we find the church frequently compared to a city, as well as that Zion or Jerusalem was the city of the Great King, the place of which he had made choice, and the constituted metropolis of the church on earth.

"Spoken of thee, O city of God!" Where the language of eulogy, promise or prophecy are concerned, we need to know who speaks as well as what is spoken. Here we have no reason for distrust or suspicion. It is God himself who speaks,—that God who cannot lie, whose counsel stands and he doth all his pleasure. Hath he said and shall he not do it? Hath he spoken and shall he not make it good?

The things spoken are "glorious things." The particular statements referred to are probably to be found in the Psalms themselves. This song is generally assigned to the time of Hezekiah, and connected with the signal overthrow of Sennacherib's invading host. If this be correct, then the glowing descriptions of the latter part of Isaiah's prophecy were not then written. Nevertheless there was enough to justify the triumphant tone

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of this psalm, and the exultant utterance of our text. Besides a multitude of brief statements, we have entire odes celebrating directly or indirectly the greatness and glory of the church. The second psalm is her scornful challenge and defiance of her banded foes,-the 110th is her battle cry and pæan of victory,—the 46th her song of confident security, though the earth be removed and mountains be cast into the midst of the sea,—the 47th proclaims her gladness of heart as resting securely under God's protection,—the 48th is her loud acclaim of praise for signal deliverance from peril,—and the 72nd is “the long shout of victory" for the time when the kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High.

And this song so brief in extent but comprehensive in statement, declares the excellence of her character, the nature of her mission, and her ultimate destiny. It may all be summed up in the words of our text, things are spoken of thee, O city of God!

Glorious

These words were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope. And, perhaps after the lapse of more than five and twenty centuries, they are as much needed as ever to enlighten our minds, elevate our hearts, confirm our faith, strengthen our hope, and stimulate us to increased activity in the service of Christ and the advancement of his kingdom. Amid the bustle of the world and the excitement arising from our earthly citizenship, we are in danger of forgetting that higher kingdom of which we are citizens and the surpassing importance of its interests. Breathing the atmosphere of the world, our conceptions of the Church are in danger of being degraded to a worldly standard. The Church does not

stand high enough in our esteem-high enough in our affections-high enough in our expectations. We ask your attention therefore while endeavouring to speak of the glory of Messiah's kingdom. We say that the Church is glorious in her character-glorious in her functionsand glorious in her destiny. These points we shall notice in succession.

I. First the Church is glorious in her character. She has an excellence which envy must acknowledge, and malice cannot altogether deny. She may not be all that is desirable, nor all she is destined to become. But nevertheless she has even now a true and distinguishing glory of which she cannot be despoiled.

1. In the first place, she is glorious in her character as being truly enlightened. We do not mean by this merely that her members as a whole are the most educated and intelligent of mankind, though that is true. Nor that the Church has the most intelligently and effectually laboured to diffuse knowledge through all ranks and classes, though that is true. There is no other institution on earth can claim to have done anything like as much in the way of instructing whole nations and carrying the blessings of education down to the lowliest peasant. Nor do we mean merely that to the Church we mainly owe the manifold treasures of our literature, much of our knowledge of history, most of our progress in metaphysics, and everything of what has been done in moral philosophy. This were greatly to understate the case. The highest and best and most precious of all knowledge is possessed by her. Whatever of saving knowledge exists among men is found in her. Here the true light shines. Here the torch of truth given by God dispels the darkness of sin and death, and irradiates the Church with heavenly splendour.

Men by nature are spiritually blind and ignorant. As regards any right apprehension of the things of God, the greatest and most gifted are in like condition with the lowliest. In either case there is no perception of them whatever. Darkness covers the earth and gross darkness the people. They dwell in the region and shadow of death, generally contented, always helpless, shrouded in worse than midnight gloom.

This is not disparaging the light of nature, or denying its proper value. No wise man will neglect it so far as it really affords light. And doubtless much may be learned from it, far more than is usually done. But it does not and cannot give any sufficient light as to spiritual things. The whole world having turned aside, and gone away from God who is light, they walk on in darkness and the light that is in them is as darkness.

But the Church of God has in her the true light. The Sun of righteousness shines upon her, and by the eye of faith she apprehends, something of the greatness of the triune God-the glory of his perfections-with the glorious actings of each person in the economyof grace, and the excellence of the great truths of redemption, which to perceive and behold in their beauty, harmony and power, is more to be desired than all the treasures of earthly lore, and knowledge of earthly things that perish with the using.

2. Secondly, the Church is not only enlightened, but holy or righteous. There is a reference to this in the opening statement, his foundation is in the holy mountains. Also we read of God's holy temple, his holy hill, and there is the emphatic utterance, "holiness becometh thine house, O Lord, for ever." "Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation."

The term righteousness is perhaps preferable in this

connection because wider in extent of meaning. The church which Christ hath purchased with his blood he clothes with his righteousness as a garment, and it is to her a covering of protection and honour. She is adorned with it as a robe bright and pure as the dazzling rays of the sun. She shines in it resplendent with beauty and is acceptable to God. Their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.

But there is another righteousness which is inwrought, more definitely called holiness. The one relates to justification, the other is sanctification ;—the one is legal the other personal—the one, if we may so speak is external, the other internal. And with reference to the latter, the Church, the king's daughter, is all-glorious within. She is adorned with the inward graces of the spirit. Her true members grow in grace and are elevated and ennobled by their religion. They may be scorned and despised among men, but they are nevertheless the excellent of the earth, and shine as lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation.

This may indeed be denied-for the Church is often defamed-but there is higher testimony than that of man. He who is truth itself and requires his Church to worship him in the beauty of holiness, testifies that she does this to some extent by his delighting in the gates of Zion. Her worship is acceptable only as it is spiritual and holy. And all her ordinances, whether prayer, praise, the reading or preaching of the word, are fitted to promote holiness and have it as the very end of their appointment. Purity and holiness is thus the grand necessity, obligation, and blessedness of the Church. And while it is indeed variable in degree, there is yet a gradual going on to perfection,-a progress which shall issue in her becoming a crown of glory in