Chapter 2. The Magnitude and Beauty of the House of God.

ANOTHER reason may be assigned, why the habitation of the saints is called a

' House,' because it has — especially if the abode of royalty — ornaments, consisting of halls, chanibers, and other apartments, which a city does not possess. For who can number the carpets, tapestry, pictures, precious vests, and gold and silver vessels which adorn the palaces of kings? And not only the interior decorations are of a great value, but the building itself also is admirable, on account of the precious mar ble, the pillars, the gilded or painted courts, the hanging gardens, and other things which it would be too long to enumerate. After Solomon, king of Jerusalem, had built a temple to the Lord of suitable magnificence, he also erected a palace for himself of such extent, that the building thereof took thirteen years; though at the same time he employed many men, and had at hand an abundance of precious stones and cedar- wood. With the same expense and industry, he built a palace for his wife, the daughter of the king of Egypt, and the house " of the forest of Libanus," of which a description is given in the third Book of Kings: and so sumptuous was it, that it seems incredible. Wherefore, when the sacred Scripture calls that the ' House/ which before it had called the city of God, the meaning is, that both the city and the kingdom shine as resplendent as a royal palace doth shine. For the prophet Baruch hath told us, " the house of God is so

great/' that it occupies the whole extent of the kingdom of God.

If a whole kingdom possessed as much magnificence as its chief city, this would indeed excite our admiration. Who will not therefore be astonished, when he recol lects that the kingdom of heaven is called the ' House of God/ because all the beauty and value of its ornaments are the same, as the house of God itself? Justly doth the prophet David exclaim : " My soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord." (Psalm Ixxxiii.) Who will not then desire with his whole heart, to see and to possess this royal and most noble palace, which equals in its extent a whole kingdom? And, on the other hand, to see and to possess this boundless kingdom, which equals any royal palace in beauty and magnificence ? But not only would our souls de sire such a house and such a kingdom, were it attentively to consider, and faith fully believe these words ; but it would even be quite ravished by the consideration of the beauty and magnitude thereof. But alas ! being solicitous for earthly goods, we deem those objects alone great, which we see on earth, and therefore we think not of invisible things : we act just as children do, who never having left their father's house, love it beyond all others, and never think of the palaces of kings ; or like rustics who have never visited any great city, they are solicitous only about the cultivation of the

j 1 0 THE KINGDOM OF GOD, OR THE fields, about the repair of their thatched cottages : but no cares ever disturb them about palaces, towers, forums, theatres, honours, dignities, riches, or splendid banquets. And, perchance, these rustics and children are more happy than rich citizens and great princes, because those things which appear grand, bring with them more trouble and danger than solid utility and dignity. But the good things in the hea venly ' House ' of God our Father, are both truly great and cause no trouble unto us, nor danger: they will free us from every evil, not for a time only, but for ever and ever.

Wherefore, St. Paul saith, who was neither a child nor a rustic, who had known the goods of this world, being a most learned man, and intimate with the Wise; who had been in the house of God, and had visited the heavenly city, being rapt into paradise and the third heaven — he saith of himself: * While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen, are eternal;" and again: " Our conversation is in heaven Seek the things

that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. ^ Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth. ':

ETERNAL HAPPINESS OF THE SAINTS. Ill