Page:Meditations For Every Day In The Year.djvu/366



I. Imagine  you  hear  the  words  of  Christ,  "  Make  not the  house  of  My  Father  a  house  of  traffic"  (John  ii.  16), and at  another  time,  a  little  before  His  passion,  "My house  shall  be  called  a  house  of  prayer,  but  you  have made  it  a  den  of  thieves." (Matt. xxi.  13.)  Hence,  we  are taught to  exercise  due  reverence,  both  external  and  internal, in  God's  church. Examine whether  you  make  it a  house  of  prayer,  or  do  not  rather  think  there  of  your temporal affairs.

II. According to  the  Apostle,  your  soul  is  a  temple  of God:  "  Know  you  not,  that  you  are  the  temple  of  God,  and that  the  spirit  of  God  dwelleth  in  you?" (1 Cor.  iii.  16.) Hence, the  terrible  sentence  which  follows,  "But  if  any man  violate  the  temple  of  God,  him  shall  God  destroy." Examine, therefore,  whether  your  soul  be  a  house  of prayer,  that  is,  whether  your  mind  be  frequently  raised to God,  or  whether  it  be  not  rather  devoted  to  worldly concerns and  earthly  things. If this  be  unfortunately  the case, drive  thence  all  these  undue  affections  and  attachments; offer  violence  to  yourself,  for  "the  kingdom  of Heaven  suffereth  violence,  and  the  violent  bear  it  away." {Matt. xi. 12.)

III. Christ did  not  bring  the  scourge  into  the  temple, but made  it  of  the  cords,  which  He  found  there. Thus our Lord does  not  carry  with  Him  a  scourge  against  us,  but makes one  of  our  sins. Sin is  its  own  worst  punishment, for what  can  be  equal  in  torture  to  the  reproaches  of  a lacerated  conscience,  or,  if  the  sinner's  state  be  yet  more deplorable, what  can  be  a  greater  curse  than  the  silence of an  obdurate  heart? Divest yourself,  then,  of  all  sin,