HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vere. 2-6.-Tke Temple. Read also 2 Chron. ii.1-10, where additional light is thrown on this transaction. It marks a period of extreme interest and importance in Hebrew history. It introduces us, by anticipation, to that which was the crowning glory of the reign of Solomon, for his name must ever stand connected with the mag- nificence of the first Temple, though it be but as a gorgeous dream of the far-distant past, which imagination strives in vain to reproduce with distinctness and certainty. Whether the Hiram who entered into this treaty with Solomon is the same as the Hiram who was the friend of David is a matter of doubt. Menander of Ephesus (quoted by Josephus) describes him as a man of great enterprize, a lover of archi- tecture, noted for his skill in building and adorning the temples of the gods. And in this we have a valuable indirect confirmation of the Biblical history. Look at this purpose of Solomon to build a splendid temple to the Lord in two or three different lights. l. IT EXPRESSES HIS DESIRE TO CARRY OUT THE GOOD DESIGNS OF HIS FATHEK DAVID. Filial feeling prompted it. It drew the inspiration of its enthusiasm from the warmth of a filial heart. " Thou knowest how that David my father could not," &c. We are told why he "could not'' (1 Chron. xxii. 7, 8; xxviii. 6). He had been "a man of war," and had" shed much blood." Noble purposes may be conceived in a time of discord and confusion ; they can be actualized only in a time of rest. The hands must be free from the blood of men that would build o worthy dwelling-place for a righteous God. Nothing was more natural than that Solomon, under happier auspices, should resolve to do what his father had the "heart to do," but" could not." To how large an extent is human life a record of thwarted purposes I A tale cut short before it is half told ; a laying of plans that a.re never worked out; a reaching forth towards fair ideals that men have not the OB. V, 1-18.] THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 93
power ~r the time to turn into rea.lities. Wha.t can the high mission of each succeeding generation be but j11St to ta.ke np the good purposes that a. previous generation failed to accomplish a.nd develop them to their ripe issues ? This is the real le.w of human progress. All honour to the son who, knowing what we.a truest and deepest in his father's heart, endeavours worthily to fulfil it. II. IT IS THE SPONTANEOUS OUTCOME OF BIS OWN DEVOUT FEELING. Solomon never ha.d the pure a.nd lofty spirit of devotion tha.t inspired the soul of David ; but as yet, e.t lee.at, his religious sentiment is deep a.nd true. A II house great and wonderful," dedicated to the Lord, in the royal city, will give it fitting public expression. All religious feeling instinctively seeks to body itself forth in e.ppro- pria.te forms. Forbidden as the Jews were to " make e.ny likeness or image '' of the great Object of worship (Exod. xx. 4), it was quite in harmony with the Divine dispensation of the time tha.t the spirit of worship should robe itself in a grand symbolic ga.rb. Solomon only sought to develop the service of the ta.bernacle into a system more imposing a.nd enduring (2 Chron. ii. 4, 5). In every age symbolism ha.a its place a.a the spontaneous a.nd natural expression of religiollS thought and feeling. Let it be relied on a.a the means of 0/Wake'Tlling such thought and feeling, as the prescribed form in which it shall move-an artificial substitute for it-e.nd it becomes a mockery and a. snare. The magnificence of Solomon's design for the Temple indicated not only the fervour of his devotion, but the breadth of his view as regards the essential sacredness of all natural things. " The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof." All things beautiful and precious are turned to their true use when dedicated to Him. We cannot be too careful to give Him our richest and best. The true heart says, "I will not offer burnt offering to the Lord of that which doth cost me nothing.'' Let us not be more concerned for our own houses tho.n we a.re for the Lord's. The his1;ory of the Temple, however, and of all ecclesiology, shows how easily the wealth of outward adornment in worship may become the grave of the spiritual and the veil of the Divine. In proportion 11s care for the symbolic form-the mere shrine of worship-has increased, the living reality-the worship of the Father '' in spirit and in truth "-he.a passed a.way. Ill. IT EXPRESSES BIS SENSE OF THE FACT TH.AT THE ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF GoD IS THE REAL STRENGTH AND GLORY OF A NATION. The Temple was to be dedicated II to the no.me of J ehova.h "-the visible sign and symbol of the sovereignty of that no.me over the whole life of the people. There we.a worth in the sign just so for a.a tha.t sovereignty wa.s real. The Jewish commonwealth wa.s a. theocra.cy- the Temple the palace a.nd throne of the great invisible King. Judo.ism wns not the union of Church and State a.s two separate or sepa.ra.ble powers, but their identi- fication. No distinction between the political and ecclesiastica.l, the secular and spiritual spheres. The two were one. The ideal Ohristia.u nation is a. theocracy in which Christ is king. Not mnde so by its institutions, but by the spiritual life tha.t pervades it. True to its no.me only so fa.r a.a the la.w of Christ is honow:ed in the homes of the people, moulds the form a.nd ha.bit of their socinl life, controls commerce, rules in Parliament, strengthens, ennobles, glorifies the Throne. Its Christian Churches o.re thus the very flower of a country's highest life. " Those temples of His grooe, How beautiful they stand I The honour of our native plaoe And bulwark of our land.'' As the graveyard-where " the rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep "-tells of the vanity of a.11 earthly things, how the pride and glory of man must one day moulder Jown to dust, so the church is the memonal of the unfading inheritance of tmth and purity and love-the blessed fellowship of the redeemed-the " House of God, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.'' IV. IT EXPRESSES BIS DESIRE THAT ISRAEL SHOULD HAVE A CENTRE OF RELI• GI0US ATTRACTION AND BOND OF RELIGIOUS UNITY. The tabernacle had been the movable sanotuary of a wandering people, the Temple should be the resting- plao11 of the Divine presence (:Pee.. cxxxii. 14). Hitherto there had eeen a. divided THE FIRST BOOR OF RINGS. roH. V, 1-18,