he so understood them, especially when he speaks of God havincr0 regarded him "accord- ing to the estate of a man of high degree."-W. Vera. 16-27.-David'a prayer. God's great and precious promises to David drew forth from his heart this prayer. It is so at all times. 'fhe constra.ining motive of prayer, praise, and thanksgiving is God's great mercy and wondrous love contained in the "exceeding great and precious promises" to the soul. We see also David's great humility:" Who am I, and what is mine house?" God's grace always humbles. We see also how David exalts God-another effect of God's great and precious promises : "0 Lord, there is none like thee, neither is there any God to be compared with thee." And all this grace in God is "according l:.o all that we have heard." E1·ery experience of the believer at all times confirms the Divine testimony of God in his Word. He is ready to exclaim as he reads, "It is all true, all of it, and I have found it so." And this God is moreover " the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel and a God to Israel." He is not only the God of his people, but a God to them, to each one. He is all that his name means to each one of his family. And mark David's closing words. "Let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may be before thee for ever." This is the end for which we should ask any blessing-that we ourselves may be before him, walk before him and live before him. "Walk. before me and be thou perfect," was his word to .Abraham of old, and still is to each one of his people; and it is only as God's promises and God's blessings lead to this that they can be real blessings.-W, Ver. 1.-God's dwelling-place and man's. This verse shows us the' good man's proper anxiety to have his God better housed than himself. We may properly assume that David thought about this matter immediately after his success in bringing the ark of God to Mount Zion, and restoring the ancient service. When David had taken tho city of Jerusalem, and proposed to make it the capital of his kingdom, be found a royal palace was as important as safe fortifications. The erection of this palace indicates tho new era which dawned in David. The previous king, Saul, did but make a beginning of a kingdom, and was little more than the previous judges had been. David is tho proper founder of the Jewish kingdom. It appears, from 2 Sam. v. 11, that David's alliance with Hiram of Tyre enabled him to secure Phcenician artists, workmen, and materials for his pa.lace; and this may have been necessary because the Israelite work- people had no training for such work, and no experience of such buildings as David required. 'l'he one point on which David's thonght more especin\ly rests is, that 11 character of permanency and abiding rest attached to his own house, while God's earthly dwelling-place was still a movable and perishable tent. He very properly felt that there should be a closer harmony between the two, and God's house suggestive of a~~ociations suitable to a settled and permanent kingdom. We may never be indif- foront to the "senso of fitness" in Divine things. I. 'l'IIE SENSE IN WHICH Goo MAY HAVE AN EAllTIILY DWELLING-PLACE, See tho teaching of Isa. lxvi. 1, 2. There is a proper sense in which the created world may be called "God's dwelling-place." '!'here is a much higher sense in which the heart of man may be so called. But, seeing that an external and ceremonial worship is found to be necessary for man, and earthly things may wisely be made the symbols of Divine truths and relations, place is made for the work of the; architect and the builder in expressing religious truth by sacred edifices, churches, or temples, We, however, need to watch lest any building should limit our thought of God, as thou~h he could bo wholly contained within it; or as though we could put human limitations to his revelations, or to himself. God permits us to raise temples for him mainly tho.t wo may have, carried home to our hearts, the conviction of his permanently dwelling with us. His house is with us; his home is here; he does not come and go; he is with us always. II. THE DUTY DEVOLVING ON MAN TO FIND FOR Goo AN EAllTHLY DWELLING-PLACE. This is not a duty directly enjoined, but one recognized and felt by the sincere and pious soul. It is like the duty of worship, and follows of necessity upon it. Explain that man cannot satisfy himself with the conception of God as spiritual, and that ho wants material help even to realize this. Also the very sense of appropriating God leads to desiro to fix him to a house. Illustrate by Gen. x. 17 Show that in all ages I. \JIIUONICLES, u THE FIRST BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. [clI. xvu. 1-27.
this sense of the duty of "localizing" God has influenced men to plant sacred groves, consecrate hill-tops, raise tabernacles or temples, and build-at cost of amazing labour and sacrifice-magnificent churches and cathedrals. Impress the duty of aiding in tho erection and maintenance of Divine sanctuaries. Ill. TIIE RELATION BETWEEN SUCH DIVINE EARTHLY DWELLDfG-PLACEB AND TUE DWELLINGS OF THE MEN WHO MAKE THEM, This is David's point. He felt that one ought to match the other; and if there was any "best," that should be for God. Tent was fitting enough while the people were tent-dwellers. But a house was needed now the people dwelt in holl es; and a palace, a magnificent house, now the king dwelt in a palace. Illustrate the relations "'hich should now be maintained between the archi- tecture and decorations of our houses and of God's house. Show what a help to tho conception of our kinship with God, and to what we may call the humanity in God, is found in the erection of a house for him. Lead on to show by Paul's teaching that man may be himse(f the temple of the Holy Ghost.-R. 'l'.