enabled us to pursue our aim until the goal was reached and the work wa.s done. The path ~f human_ life is strewn with f~ures, with abortive attempts to do whnt wns une.ttame.ble, with half-built towers which those who began but were unable to finish (Luke xiv. 28-30); well will it be for us if those who shall speak or write of us are able to record that we finished what we took in hand. Persistency is a chnracteristio to be carefully cultivated, and to be exemplified all through our life. II. IT Is AN O00ASION FOR THANKFULNESS. 1. That we have been able to conclude any work on which we have set our heart, if it be a right and worthy ambition we have cherished, is reason enough for gratitude to God. For all bodily health all mental faculty, all moral vigour and capacity, have come ultimately from him. 2. 'And if we have been able to do something that will last, we have especial reason for thankfulness. "What better thing can we hope for or deserve than that we should be the means of effecting that which will be speaking and working when our tongue is silent and our hand is still in death? We should bless our God with peculiar fervour that he has thus employed us; that, through his grace and power resting upon us and our endeavour, we have so wrought that, when we are dead, we shall still be speaking (Heb. xi. 4); that, perhaps, long years and even generations after we have been forgotten, the work we did will be imparting a blessing to the children of men, to heal, to comfort, to enlighten, to renew. Ill. IT MAY BE A SOURCE OF INSPinATION. 'When Solomon finished the building of the temple be had many years to reign; there was abundance of strength and energy remaining in him to begin and finish other works. And if we are rightly affected by what we,!have wrought, we shall not say, "I have accomplished something; I will now take my ease and spend my time in enjoyment," On the contrary, we shall say, "I have proved that it is in my power to do one good thing for my Master and my fellow- men; I will commence another. I will still further trust the kindness of my heavenly Father, and draw upon his resources with which to labour and to persevere, until the end again crowns the work." So the conclusion of one solid achievement will be an inspiration to begin another, as it has been in very many instances in the lives of the good and true.-C. Ver. 1 (latter part).-Dedication, permitted and desired. We have here- I. THE DEDICATION WHICH GoD PERMITTED. God did not allow David to build the temple, because he had been "a man of war, and bad shed blood" (1 Cbrou. xxviii. 3); it was fitting that the house of the Lord, the " God of peace," should be built by a sovereign whose very name spoke of peace, and whose reign was pacific. But God permitted David to dedicate to the service of the temple the spoils he had taken in war. It was, apparently, those spoils which be had taken from Syria, Moab, Ammon, etc., after his successful battles, that he " dedicated unto the Lord," which Solomon now" brought in" (see 2 Sam. viii. 9-12). But they do not seem to have had the higher honour of being used in the services of the temple; they were stored "among the treasures of the house," only to be occasionally brought out and admired. Some things there wero which might not, on any conditions whatever, be accepted as offerings to the Lord. But these spoils were taken in wars which were honourably conducted, and which at that time, in that twilight of history, were fought out with a perfectly clear conscience; they might, therefore, be dedicated to the Lord, and "put among the treasures" of the temple. v,.r e may be right in carrying our trophies and depositing them in our churches and cathedrals, but it is only by a gracious Divine permission that we can ?e?icate to him that which has been wrested from our brother's hands by violence. This 1s the lowest, the least precious and acceptable form which our dedication of substance can take. We must look about for that which is worthier of ourselves, more consonant with the peaceable and spiritual economy under which we live, more pleasing in the sight of the Lord of love. II. THE DEDICATION WHICH Gon DEBIBEB, There are three things which our God not ouly allows us to dedicate to himself, but deBires that we should do so. 1. VJ the prodU,CtB of our peaceful industry. These may be in lcind, as they were, very largely, under Judaism-the creatures taken from flocks and herds, or the produce of the field and garden; as they still are in semi-civilized communities, in islands recently reclaimed from idolatry and barbarism. Or they may be in current coin, in money, There is no o:a. v.1-11.] THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. 67
precept requiring Christian men to devote a particular proportion of their earnings to the cause of Christ and man. But they are at liberty to do so; and if they do this, freely, conscientiously, and in the spirit of gratitude and attachment to the Person and the kingdom of their Lord, they do that which will be acceptable to him-a source of continual sacred satisfaction to themselves, and a material contribution to the welfare of others. 2. Of the cultwre of our faculties. We may dedicate to the cause of Jesus Christ generally, and to the service of the house of the Lord particularly, the trained power and skill we have acquired-in music and sacred song, in oratory and persuasive- ness, in architecture and ornamentation. But it may be said, speaking more t,roadly, that our God is desiring and demanding of us the dedication : 3. Of ourselves and our whole life. Our will, that it may be subjected to his will; our heart, that its affection may be yielded to our Divine Friend ; our understanding, that our mental powers may be exercised for the glory of his Name and the furtherance of his kingdom; our days and hours, that they may all be spent consciously in his presence, and continuously in his service and honour, This is the true dedication; and the little child that thus dedicates its powers and days to the service of its Saviour may be doing more for God than the royal king setting apart golden vessels to be " put among the treasures" of the sanctuary,-C.