Ver. 27.-.Afather's prayer, Thie was a prayer founded upon a promise. God had declared his purposes towards the seed of his servant David, and David was honouring God's faithfulness, as well as expressing his own heart's desire, when he thus solemnly and confidently invoked the blessing of the Giver of all good upon his household and his posterity. I. FAMILY FEELING IS DIVINELY ORDAINED, Nations of warriors have sometimes regarded and treated such feeling as weakness. On the contrary, it is implanted by the Creator; and God, the universal Father, cannot but be pleased with fatherly sentiment and fatherly care on the part of the heads of human households. II. FAMILY FEELING IB HALLOWED BY RELIGION. Always a beautiful thing, a. father's love becomes a. holy thing when it is sanctified by a. spiritual tone of mind and a. spiritual habit of life. IIL FAMILY FEELING WILL PROMPT A. FATHER'S PRAYERS. If it is natural to wish well to our children, it is religious to express those wishes before him who does so much to fulfil our best and purest desires. As it would be criminal in any parent to be careless as to his children's future, so it would be monstrous in a. Christian parent to omit to co=end his offspring to the care and guidance, love and sympathy, of our Father in heaven. IV. FAMILY FEELING WILL LOOK FORWARD TO THE COM.MON E~JOYMENT OF BLESSINGS DURING THE ENDLESS FUTURE. It is questionable whether the language of the text has any reference to the future state. In praying that his house might be "before the Lord for ever," and so "blessed for ever," David was probably contemplating the permanence of his throne and that of his descendants. His prayer has been answered in a manner deeper than he could have anticipated. But we are bound to seek for our posterity an immortal happiness, and to anticipate for our families reunion in the presence and in the service of the Eterna.I.-T. Vers. 1-6.-Truths under the surface. A very pleasant picture is here presenteu to onr imagination. We see the King of Israel sitth,g in his house," the Lord having given him rest round about from all his enemies" (2 Sam. vii. 1), with a happy and grateful sense of prosperity and security, not wrapping himself in the dangerous robe of (complacent self-congratulation, but rather clothed with humility and thankfulness. As he surveys the stateliness and elegance of his po.lace, he thinks of God's goodness to him in placing "his feet in a large room" (Ps. xxxi. 8), and his thought naturally passed to the place where the ark rested-the ark with which the presence of Jehovah was so closely connected (Exod. xxv. 22). We do not wonder at the thought which then occurred to him. We see in these verses those truths which are not upon the surface, but which we have no difficulty in recognizing beneath it. I. 'l'B SOUND SENTIMENT AT THE HEART OF DAVID'S DESIBE. David felt that there was an impropriety in himself dwelling" in an house of cedars" while "the ark of the covenant of the Lord remained under curtains" (ver. 1). Was it for him to be in better nnd more costly surroundings than was the manifested presence of God himself? Should he be more honoured in his dwelling-place than the ark of the co,enant of the Lord? There is a sound sentiment here ; one that was and is worthy not only of respect but cultivation. We are always to give God the very best we can o!Ier him ; tbe less costly we may expend on ourselves, the best we should reserve for him. We should be ashamed to lay out large sums of money on our own homes while the house of God needs renovation or repair; to expend II largo proportion of our income on our own honour or gratification when the cause of Christ is languishing fur want of funds when the trensury of Christian benevolence is empty. Not most for ourselves with' a very small fraction for God and his kingdom, but enough (or even more than enough) for ourselves and the most and best we can furnish for him and for his. '!'hat is the true thought of the reverent mind, Hebrew and Christian. II. THE TROE THOUGHT AT THE HEAil'r OF NATHAN'S COUNSEL, "Do all thnt is in thine heart; for God is with thee." 'l'ho prophet's encouragement of tho king's <lcsiro 28! THE FIRST BOOK OF 'l'HE CHRONICLES. [ell. xv1r, 1-27.
proved to be mistaken, but the thought at the heart of bis words was true and sound . .Nathan spoke as one who believed that the man with whom God dwelt was likely to co111e to right conclusions. So he was; and David was only wrong in wishincr that he himself might be the instrument of carrying out a i,raiseworthy project. If G;'d is with us as he was with David, it is most likely we shall be guided to right decisions. It is not the very learned, nor the very clever, nor the very "practical" man, but the very godly man, who is likely to have the true sentiment in bis mind respectincr the things of God. " 'l'he secret of the Lord is with them that fear him," etc. (Ps. :xv. 14 · see John vii. 17 ; xv. 15). The man who walks with God and with whorn God dwells 'may fall, now and again, into a mistake, but he is not likely to be "greatly moved" from the path of wisdom. He is in the way of being led in the paths of wisdom, of beincr "guided into all truth." "' III. THE VALUABLE TRUTH CONTAINED IN THE DIVINE DECLARATION. (Vers. 3-6.) God declared that he had never demanded of his people that they should. make other provision than that of the simple tabernacle or tent. He had been pleased hitherto to manifest his presence in connection with this humble fabric. He would remind his servant De.vid that as there could he no structure, however grand and stately, which the art of man could raise that would be a. worthy home of him whom the heaven of heavens could not contain, so, on the other hand, there was no covering, however humble, within which he was not ready to abide if hearts were true and lives were holy. The precious and vital thought of the passage is that God does not require the elaborations of human a.rt or the expenditure of human wealth to vouchsafe his presence and make known his power. Let there be (1) the contrite heart, (2) the childlike, believing spirit, (3) the obedience of the pure and loving life, and then God's a.biding home will be found. Whom the costly cathedral will not hold, the cottage roof may shelter. He may desert the breast which is covered with the priestly garments to dwell in the heart of him who is "clothed in camel's hair. "-C.