66 BLESSED IS HE WHOM THOU CHOOSEST, AND RECEIVEST UNTO THEE; HE SHALL DWELL IN THY COURT, AND SHALL BE SATISFIED WITH THE PLEASURES OF THY HOUSE, EVEN OF THY HOLY TEMPLE."-Psalm lxiv. 4. OR THE CATHOLIC AND APOSTOLIC CHURCH IN ENGLAND. "THE HOUSE OF GOD, WHICH IS THE CHURCH OF THE LIVING GOD, By the Rev I. Saac He came Fourth Edition. OXFORD, JOHN HENRY PARKER: J. G. F. AND J. RIVINGTON, LONDON. MDCCCXLIII. ADVERTISEMENT. THE idea upon which this publication has been composed is, it is hoped, perfectly in accordance with the spirit and principles of the Ancient Church nor is it entirely new to our own. Hints of the kind may be gained from Herbert's "Temple," where he attaches moral and sacred Lessons to the Church windows" and "Church floor." And it has been suggested by the Author of "The Excursion," in his Preface to that work, that his Poems might be considered as capable of being arranged as the parts of a Gothic Church, of which the minor Pieces might be "likened to the little cells, oratories, and sepulchral recesses. The present design has been to execute such a plan by a selection of subjects, more or less appropriate to the parts which they are made to represent, from the Liturgy, and the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church; care being taken to adhere as much as possible to the relative proportions of such a structure. The principle indeed of sacred associations of this nature comes to us with the very highest authority, by the constant use of it throughout the whole of Scripture, from the Tabernacle in the Wilderness, which served for an "example and shadow of heavenly things," to the fuller application and extensive unfoldings of the same symbolical figures in the Book of the Revelation. And, indeed, the practice is hallowed to us by the use of our Lord Himself, Who from the pouring out of water on the great day of the Feast of Tabernacles, took occasion to speak of the Holy Ghost, and likened a door (presented to their eyes as is supposed in the precincts of the Temple) to Himself; and made bread, and the water of the well, significative emblems of things heavenly and divine. And indeed, if we may say it with reverence, it was the very characteristic of our Lord's teaching, to draw moral and religious instruction from visible objects. The Eve of the Annunciation, 1838. |