The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-12-18 00:00:00

Believe me, my dear Sir

Ever your sincere friend,
ALICE SIMMONS

To the Rev. Prince Crawford,
Senior Minister of St. Saviour's Church

The communion plate thus munificently presented is of
silver, and is of the value of between £6O and ZO. It is
formed after the Grecian style, and is plain, but exceedingly
neat. It bears the following inscription :—" Presented by
Alice Simmons. 1840." •
On the occasion of the opening, divine service commenced
at eleven o'clock in the forenoon. The building was crowd-
ed in nearly every part. Prayers were read by the Rev.
Prince Crawford, assisted by the Rev. G. Stokes, after which
The LORD BISHOP having ascended the pulpit, proceeded
to deliver the sermon. His lordship selected, as the text,
these words, from the First Book of Kings, chap. viii., v. 18 :
" And the Lord said unto David my Father, whereas it was
in thine heart to build an house unto my name ; thou didst
well that it was in thine heart."
It is a small thing, as St. Paul most truly says, to be judged
of men's judgment, swayed as it must be, and too often is, by
passion, by interest, or by error. Here we have the judg-
ment of God ; that judgment, my brethren, by which we
must all abide at the last. Blessed is the man who shall then
have testimony like this—" Whereas it was in thine heart to
build a house unto my name ; thou didst well that it was in
thine heart"—the purpose of thine heart was good, and well
pleasing to God.
This testimony is handed down to us, and, like all Scripture,
it is intended for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness. We are bound, therefore, to give it our close
attention, especially upon an occasion like the present, when
you are invited to assist towards an object similar to that
which God, in his word, is represented as approving. And
may the spirit of God assist and enlighten us as we proceed
to inquire into the grounds of the commendations which God
here pronounces upon his servant David—" Whereas it was
in thine heart to build a house unto my name ; thou didst
well that it was in thine heart."
Why
i then, as is here said, was it well ? It was well that
David, n his prosperity, remembered God, as the author of
all prosperity. We are often able to form the best and truest
notions of human conduct when we view it in the way of
contrast. Compare, then, David's conduct here, with the
conduct of some others, also recorded in the Scriptures ;
compare it, for instance, with that of another king, with the
conduct of Belshazzar, king of Babylon, whom Daniel re-
proves, in just but severe expostulation. He, like David, had
experienced the favour of God ; he had been raised to a royal
throne, and he, too, in another respect like David, had seen
in his predecessors an evidence of what God approves, and
of what he disapproves. Belshazzar, further, like Saul, be-
cause " his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in
pride, was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his
glory from him." Yet " thou his son, 0 Belshazzar,"
the prophet, addressing him, " thou has not humbled think
heart, though thou knewest all this ; the God in whose hands
thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, thou bast not glo-
rified." Here then is an example of conduct opposite to that
of David's conduct, as strongly rebuked as the other is gra-
ciously approved. And if we descend from this elevated
situation, and come nearer to ordinary things, another strik-
ing example meets us in the parable of the rich man, related
by our Lord, whose ground brought forth plentifully—so
plentifully that he knew not where to bestow its fruits.
Surely, we might say, he would remember the giver of all
this good; surely he will turn his thoughts to Him who di-
rects the seasons, who holds the winds in the hollow of his
hand, who permits the sun to shine and the rain to fall, and
to who'm it has been owing that his land has brought forth so
plentifully ? No thought of God crosses his mind. What,
he asks himself, shall I do, because I have no room where to
bestow my fruits ? I will pull down my barns and build
greater, and I will say to my soul, " Soul, thou hast much
good laid up for many years, take thine ease, eat, drink, and
be merry•"

" says

Now In these examples, taken from holy writ, while we
have opportunity for calm reflection, we cannot see, and
here we may appeal to your consciences, anything to approve.
And yet we see in them an example of what is, in fact,
too common in the world. But our reason and our con-
sciences tell us that we should be surprised if God had de-
clared of this rich Man, " Thou didst well in that it was in
thine heart thus to employ (as if there were no other ways to
employ) the substance which God has given thee."
These examples, then, may serve to place in a clearer light,
by way of contrast, the conduct which was approved in
David, as it is described more fully in the 2nd Samuel, 7th
chapter. " And it came to pass when the king sat in his
house, and the Lord had given him rest round about from
all his enemies, that the king said unto Nathan the prophet,"
upon so solemn an occasion to one whom he thought best
able to give him counsel—sending not for men of the world
but for men of God—" See now, I dwell in an house of
cedar, but the ark of the Lord dwelleth within curtains."
In other words, " I have all that is needful for me, and that
even to superfluity, but God has no temple worthy of his
name, but still the same tabernacle in which he had been
worshipped before the people were settled. Surely," he says,
I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go
up to my bed ; I will not give sleep unto mine eyes, or slum-
ber to mine eyelids, until I find out a place for the Lord, an
habitation for the mighty God of Jacob." [Ps. cxxxii. 3-5.]
The difference is very clear between this character and the cha-
racter of the rich man incorporated by our Lord in his parable.
One of these men regards only his own inclination, his own
present gratification ; the other thinks how he may please
and honour God. The one has, the other has not, the love
of God in his heart. The love of God is in its nature like
the love of a fellow-creature ; where it exists it will show
itself, it will find occasions for acting. Whatever talents a
man possesses, he will appiy them with a view to God's glory,
if the love of God prevails within him ; or with a view to
this present world, if the love of this world actuates him.
No doubt the things around us are so ordered that the bent
of the heart may appear. The various wants that exist, the
many distresses, the superfluity of some and the deficiency
of others, all the many different dispositions of things that
we see are all designed for this great purpose ; they are, be-
cause God will try us in order that he may know what is in
our hearts. This is the design of God : Suppose the ca..e
represented in the parable. It is a case constantly occurring.
The rich man's garden brings forth plentifully, that is, his
affairs are prosperous, things succeed with him ; the return
which is made for the employment of labour, of capital, or of
skill, is larger, far larger, than he had any right to expect.
Now if the heart is set upon this world, we know what will
be done. ~The fortunate possessor will pull down his barns
and build greater; he will never be satisfied with what con-
tented him before. Perhaps there is an estate which may be
added to his territory, and he will be like those in Judea of
old, to whom the prophet refers in the sth of Isaiah, saying,
" Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to
• field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in
the midst of the earth !" [v. B.] But perhaps that may not
be his inclination ; his tastes may run another road. Per-
haps it may be that luxury or magnificence in living has most
attractions for him. Then we find that the lust of the flesh
is gratified, that the lust of the eye is pleased and indulged,
and the pride of life consulted ; then another representa-
tion of Isaiah is verified, and another reproof incurred—
" The harp and the viol, the tabret and pipe, and wine, are
in their feasts ; but they regard not the work of the Lord,
neither consider the operation of his hands." [v. 12.] Such
will be the course of human nature, unless it is influenced
and governed by the spirit of God. Men will seek their own
indulgences, will gratify themselves in whatever way their
inclinations lead them, and as it was with Belshazzar so it is
said again—" The God in whom they live and move and
have their being, him they will not glorify."
Is it well that such should be the practice to which such
thoughts lead? Is it well as regards the soul? Does it
advance the eternal health? Suppose, for exantiple, that,
instead of turning his mind to build the house of God,
David had' resolved to raise a splendid palace foK himself
as King of Israel. Perhaps his people would not have
blamed him ; perhaps he would have been thought as
doing that only wl-ich became him as the king of a now
wealthy country ; but we are truly told by the Apostle
John, that the pomp and show, the grandeur and magnificence
which belong to the pride of life, are not of the Father, but
of the world. They do not divert the heart towards God,
who is above. Too often they direct it from him. Their
tendeng is in favour of the downward impulses of the heart,
which sinks too naturally towards the world and the things
that are in the world. It might have been so with David,
and we say that with the more reason, because it was so with
another king of Judea, even a good king, and one who feared
God,. Hezekiah. It is recorded for our instruction, that
King Hezekiah was led into error by the very state and
splendour of his royal palace. 'We find in the 32d chapter
of the 2d book of Chronicles, that when the messengers of
the King of Babylon came to visit him, he shewed them all
the host of his precious things, his silver and his gold, all
the houses of his armoury, and all the gold in his treasury.
And we may conceive, for we know something of it, in what
spirit he shewed them—with that self-satisfaction which a
man too often feels in such possessions, as the forgetting
from whom they come, as the forgetting how soon they may
leave him, or he be removed from them. In this case God
sent his prophet to bring Hezekiah to a better mind, assuring
him that all those treasures, of which he was so vainly proud,
all the houses of his armoury, and all that his father had laid
up in store, should be carried into Babylon ; nothing shall
be left, saith the Lord. Thus, then, it might have been with
David had he placed himself in the way of temptation ; but
it was well that other thoughts were in his heart—that his
first resolve, when God had placed him over Israel, was to
build a temple to his name.
I have shewn, then, that David resolved so well as to dis-
appoint his own personal vanity. But it was well for another
reason. Others besides himself were concerned in what
David did. He was a king that had the interests of his peo-
ple to promote ; and it was well that such were his thoughts,
because it proved that David knew the real foundation cf
happiness, the happiness of his subjects, which it was his
duty to consider.

The house of God is the means and instrument of religion.
Without it religion can hardly exist, or it can exist only In a
languid state unless there be a place where the word of God
is regularly proclaimed, to teach the ignorant, to satisfy the
enquirer, to warn the careless, to edify the devout and godly.
And if religion can scarcely exist without the house of God,
this then may we ask, without religion what is human life ?
We might compare it to a dream. It has been so compared;
but there is an awful difference, for a dream leaves no conse-
quence behind. Let us for a while consider, as to the richer
inhabitants of a land, what is life without religion, without
that peace with God, and that walk with God, which belongs
to faith in Christ Jesus. It is a life which has little of real
satisfaction, even for the present period. If the heart is
turned towards that luxury and magnificence,
to which it is
too naturally prone when it has the means of indulging them,
these soon satiate; or if it is turned towards ambition and
the possession of wealth, these are restless and unsatisfac-
tory, and the result is misery in seeing others before us in
the race of honour ; or if the current runs in another chan-
nel, and covetousness is the ruling passion, so that wealth is
hoarded, what real pleasure or advantage can it afford? The
turn of credit may scatter an accumulated fortune to the
winds, or a tempest dissipate in its fury the savings of use-
less folly. Let a man only use his fortune as a talent com-
mitted to him by the providence of God, and every day the
possession,brings him satisfaction. He sees some happy and
thriving, who, but for his bounty, might have sunk in hope-
less indigence ; he sees ti eir children, whom he has helped
to educate, grown up in the nurture and admonition of the
Lord ; he sees the happy resos_ of the industry which tle

Las promoted, of principles which he has incule;tei
be ear hears him, then it blesses him • when the eye se s
lin3, it beareth witness of him. The blessing of them that

are ready to perish is upon him, and he causeth the widows
heatt to sing for joy," [Job xxix. 11-13.]
David therefore judged well. He rightly understood the
welfare of his subjects when he resolved to build a house to

God's name, and to provide, as far as in him lay, that the
rich among his people should live in the fear of the Lord.
From the rich turn to the poor. and think of the dif-
ference which is made in the lot of that large multitude
who, in every land, must earn their subsistence by the labour
of their hands, when they live under the influence of religion.
The lot of the labourer is hard if he sees it looking to the
present world alone. It seems to him harder than it really
is. He sees men around him in a condition very dif-
ferent from his own, and he naturally thinks they
must be happy because they have so much more of that
which, I might almost say, all mankind are striving for.
He sees them in the possession of comforts and ease which he
can never enjoy, and he knows not that these blessings, if
they are attained, are often unattended by any enjoyment;
they certainly in, themselves can never purchase happiness.
But from the moment he looks upon himself as a disciple of
Jesus Christ, and upon this world as it is represented in the
Gospel, the case is altogether changed. Then life is but a
journey, and he a pilgrim passing through it to another coun-
-v. To one who is upon a journey the accommodation upon
may is not the great, the sole object; the object is safel-
•'- to reach his journey's end. He is not v.
he is not low if he is a child of G.. 41; tit .
.wed if he has an inheritance in the kingdom of
It may be that he rises early and late takes rest,
4ustry is rewarded; his labour cheereth whilst he
the Lord. Hie home, whatever
lis great—it has God's present'

is rich in fait

but his i
is fervent in spirit ser%

else it wants, has that wp.s._
and with that he has been assured that the Lord
with him will supply all his need, and on him he ma
If he he has to contend for the present.

all his care.

o dwells

what riches cannot purchase, and without which riches are
vain ; if he has peace with God he has what this world can
neither give nor take away
And thus. hr Pronounced well

urettkren, we perceive why it 14
it was in David's heart to build a house to
sell because he thus gave proof that whilst God hat,
him to wealth and honour, he understood his wealth and I
wur to be talents for which '

he must give

brought

was well that he did not incur the reproof due to one
who is rich to himself but not rich towards God: And
further, it was well to shew a right state of mind, a con-
cern for the real welfare of the community under his
charge, that he desired to raise a temple where the rich
and the poor might meet together and worship the maker
of them all. And yet we cannot adequately judge of
this whilst we remain in this present world ; we shall never
rightly understand how well David resolved, till we know
the realities which here we believe, till faith is swallowed up
in sight and knowledge. Could we go up to the throne of
God and behold the Judge sit, and the books open in which,
men's lives are recorded—could we have the actual view of
them which here upon earth we are taught to see by faith,
then we should be truer judges of these things, then we
should estimate the danger of temptation, and the evil of all
that ministers to temptation, then we should witness the
misery which results from yielding to it, then we should see
the end of crimes and of luxury and of revelry and of covet-
ousness and of ungodliness, then we should see that there is
no real wealth except that which is laid up for heaven, and
that David was truly wise who provided treasure there. Then,
too, we should see more clearly than we can know now the
blessings originating in the house of God, the blessings when
one who might otherwise never have been raised above the
ground he treads upon, is made a member of Christ, a child
of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven. Then
we should know the blessings which ensue when that is ac-
complished for which our lives are designed, and which, I
sincerely pray, may be accomplished here—when the infidel
is reclaimed, the sinner converted, the waverer confirmed,
the mourner comforted, the penitent chastened, the pious
Christian, stablished, strengthened, settled. Oh, who can
compare results like these with any of those objects upon which
the gifts of God, the silver and the gold, are sometimes la-
vished ? It is not said of the luxurious, it is not said of the
proud, it is not said of the rich, or of the noble or of the
mighty, but it is said of those who turn men to righteousness,
" they shall shine like the stars for ever and for ever."

Ana now, in conclusion, let me draw the proper interence
from the conduct upon which I have been discoursing. We
have in this passage the divine testimony to a eh,—
God himself declared of David, " It is we
thine heart to build a house to my name." Judge, concerning
yourselves, by this analogy. All righteousness must be judged
of by its fruits--by the conduct, that is by the hfe, to which it
leads. Without it, it would have been impossible to have
uttered this sentiment, which we find so openly expressed in
the Psalms—" How amiable are thy tabernacles, 0 Lord of
hosts ! One day in thy courts is better than a thousand."
[Ps. lxxxiv.] All this would have been in vain, if there had
been no practical consequence of this testimony ; had it been
merely speculative, or if he had only loved the house of
God as a hearer and not as a doer of his word. David set
himself in earnest to promote God's glory, not only to 'avow
his principles but to act upon them ; because, having been
placed upon the throne of Israel, his first thought was how
to do the highest honour to Him who was above. Would it have
been the same with you? Have you the same convictions
that the will of God is the first thing to be considered ? If,
for example, any here upon their return home were to find
intelligence awaiting them of some unexpected increase of
fortune, would the first thought be—" Now I can do more
for God's honour and for my neighbour's welfare ?" or ra-
ther would these reflections arise—" Now I must enlarge
my habitation ; now I must extend my concerns ; my retinue
must be increased ; a better provision must be laid up for
my family after me ?" I will not affirm that none of these
things ought to be done ; but I will dare affirm that the other
ought not to be left undone. And if any here present should
feel that in times past they have thought more of pleasing
themselves than of glorifying God in their expenditure, an
opportunity is now offered them .of adopting a better and a

Wiser course

41 that it was in

As to yourselves, brethren, it is well it was in your hearts
to promote the worship of God. Great, exceedingly great,
is the honour vouchsafed to those who so use his gifts as to
make him a return of that which his word requires ; great, I
say, is the honour vouchsafed to such ; great will be the
honour vouchsafed to those who shall be comprehended in
the blessed sentence—" Well done, good and faithful ser-
vant ; thou bast been faithful over a few things, I will make
thee ruler over many things ; enter thou into the joy of thy
Lord."
Now to God the Father, &c.

A collection was made after the sermon, amounting to
£6O.

After the services of the day, the Lord Bishop, the Rev.
Rector Brookes, Dr. Byrth, Messrs. Buddicom, Lawrence,
&c., with several friends, partook of a dejeune at Mr. Craw-
ford's.

We observed the following clergymen present, with others
whose names we could not learn :—The Rev. Jonathan
Brookes, senior rector of Liverp 'Ol, Dr. Byrth, Messrs.
Buddicom, Lawrence, Ould, Leicester, Ashton, James, Na-
pier, Davies, Dr. Bink, Chatham, &c., &c.