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SERMON V.

G

111

SERMON V.

EZRA vii. 27.

Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, which hath put such a thing as this in the king's heart, to beautify the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem.

THE attentive perusal of the sacred Scriptures proves to us the earnest desire the good men of all ages had to promote the glory of God, and the importance they attached to the erection of altars and temples to his honour. Thus, we read that Abraham, who is called the father of the faithful, and in a peculiar manner the friend of God, immediately after he had, in obedience to the command

of God, left his country and his father's house, erected an altar. (Gen. xii. 6.) "And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sechem, and the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land; and there builded he an altar unto the Lord who appeared unto him; and he removed from thence to Bethel, unto a mountain on the east, and there he builded an altar unto the Lord. and called upon the name of the Lord;" and again, in the 18th verse of the 13th chapter, we read: "And Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the Lord." In the 26th chapter, 25th verse, we read that Isaac the son of Abraham imitated his father in this respect. "And he went up from thence to Beersheba, and the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, I am the God of Abraham, thy father, fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and will multiply thee, for my servant Abraham's sake. And he

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