. He had come to the Temple calling it by an
unheard-of name, "_My_ Father's house." Not Moses, not Solomon, not
Ezra, not the holiest of high priests, would have dreamt of so
identifying himself with God as to speak of the Temple, not even as "our
Father's house" or "your Father's house," but "my Father's house." And
it was the Resurrection which finally justified His doing so, declaring
Him to be, in a sense no other was, the Son of God.

But it was not in the body of Christ that God found His permanent
dwelling among men. This sacred presence was withdrawn in order to
facilitate the end God has from the first had in view, the full
indwelling and possession of each and all men by His Spirit. This
intimate fellowship with all men, this free communication of Himself to
all, this inhabitation of all souls by the ever-living God, was the end
aimed at by all that God has done among men. His dwelling among men in
the Temple at Jerusalem, His dwelling among men in the living Person of
Christ, were preliminary and preparatory to His dwelling in men
individually. "Ye," says Paul, "are built up a spiritual house." "Ye are
builded together for a habitation of God." "Ye are the temple of the
living God." This is the great reality towards which men have been led
by symbol--the complete pervasion of all intelligence and of all moral
beings by the Spirit of God.

For us this cleansing of the Temple is a sign. It is a sign that Christ
really means to do thoroughly the great work He has taken in hand. Long
ago had it been said, "Behold the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly
come to His Temple; and He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of
silver." He was to come where holiness was professed, and to sift the
true from the false, the worldly and greedy religious from the devoted
and spiritual. He was not to make pretence of doing so, but actually to
accomplish the separation. To reform abuses such as this marketing in
the Temple was no pleasant task. He had to meet the gaze and defy the
vindictiveness of an exasperated mob; He had to make enemies of a
powerful class in the community. But He does what is called for by the
circumstances: and this is but a part and a sample of the work He does
always. Always He makes thorough, real work. He does not blink the
requirements of the case. We shrug our shoulders and pass by where
matters are difficult to mend; we let the flood take its course rather
than risk being carried away in attempting t