ore, a member of the body of Christ, and all such members make up
the church of God.

The children of Israel were the church of God in the old dispensation,
and he dwelt in a tabernacle or temple they built for him. In this more
glorious gospel dispensation those who have been born of the Spirit and
made pure in heart are the church of God. In this Holy-Spirit
dispensation we do not build temples for the Lord to dwell in; for "know
ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God
dwelleth in you?" 1 Cor. 3:16. "What? know ye not that your body is the
temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye
are not your own?" 1 Cor. 6:19. In this blessed gospel day Christians
are the "habitation of God through the Spirit." If you are a Christian,
God dwells in your heart; your body is his glorious temple. This is a
most stupendous thought, but it is true. In your soul is the sweet
heavenly manna, the budding rod, and the ark of the covenant
overshadowed by the cherubim of glory.

When God created man He placed him in a garden which He had planted
eastward in Eden. In this garden God made to grow every tree that was
pleasant to the sight and good for food; also, the tree of life and the
tree of knowledge of good and evil were in this garden, and a river to
water it. It is said that God "walked in the garden in the cool of the
day." That was in the day of literal things. We are now in the day of
spiritual things, when our bodies have become the temple of God through
the Spirit, and our hearts his lovely garden. It is in this garden he
dwells; it is there he walks. See 2 Cor. 6:16. When the south winds blow
and the spices flow out he comes into his garden to eat his pleasant
fruits; he gathers the myrrh and the spices, he eats honey and drinks
wine and milk. See Cant. 4:16 and 5:1. This is sweet language, and is
expressive of the purity of the Christian heart, where God dwells, and
where he walks in the gentleness of his Spirit, delighting himself in
the tender Christian graces that are budding and blooming all along the
peaceful avenues of the soul. Like as the gentle south wind blows upon
the flowers of the garden and scatters the fragrance; so the Spirit of
God fans the heavenly graces implanted in the heart, and a fragrance
flows out of the Christian life, awaking admiration in the minds of all
who come into its presence.

The trees that were pleasant to the sight and good for food in the