The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1896-12-02
\ which blood flowed like water, be

aave rejoice,l more III carrying out
bis wish to build the temple than IL
bis heiu4 preferred hotorc Saul as
King os JS,ael; mere laa;u he e:jo.He''
his splendid vlc;oy;es .,v"I l:s> I"ii-
istines au.l o;ucy eu,uics; i:i"se ;n;'n
be WAS elated oy., III. lsri,i r1-cA-
sion oI his territory r,-;lc.sinS iro:a
the Nile to the Enphrales. ii David
committed gloSs s:u ;,nd cruel crime
IL one sh",t perlo;t ii his ne, uevei-
theless, he loved l:,s Go,i, "t.d crave
the privilege vi Building L luaonlii-
cent costly house to LIS i:onor. Inc
denial OF tie privilege was one of nIs
hardest trials. Solomon iel1 luat le
was i,ishiv hnnore,; iii being called
to buli,t sne temple OF s-ono ai'u &C.
dar ard ii, ornamenteG with abuu-
dance of gold and the finest fabrics.
Like David, his father, his desire
was stronger to build a worthy house
Of worship than to extend his bor-
ders over more territory and to get
larger tribute for his treasury. ln-
creasing in wealth and power was not
as much to him as the providing a
suitable place for Gods dwelling and
for the worship of God. His SOL
thrilled, exulted, rejoiced IN having
the leadership of such an undertaking
Nothing could more emp hatically
show his noble regard for his Creator
and benelactor than a beautiful, mag,
niicent temple.
Now, friends, was that desire right
in him? Love answers, OF course,
yes. Well, was the desire of she pas
tor and people here right to build
this house OF worship? Yes, without
doubt; yes, provided the desire
sprang from the motive to honor God
in this place. Is the human soul ca
pable of a nobler desire than that to
bring honor to our Father in heaven
There can be no nobler motive. The
desire for health is good; the desire
for comfortable surroundings is right;
the desire to accumulate something
for rainy day is right; so the desire
for education aud influence and pow
er is noble, provided the motive is
right in each; bat the sublimest de-
sire YOU can have is to honor your
Lord and Saviour. I trust this was
the motive of the desire to build this
house. You may think of it as in
same sense like the temple Solomon
built for Gods abiding place.
But recall the other part OF the
text. Paul said: 'Your body is
the temple of the Holy Ghost"
Brother, is that true? It must be-.
Is the desire as strong to have wor-
thy, suitable place in your heart for
the Holy Spirit? Do We think of
this as we should? If we desire to
build aworthy house for God to dwell
in, surely we should desire even more
to have our bodies fit place for the
dwelling Of God in the Spirit. Breth-
ren, we hear much said of how SOL
emn it is to die. I have long since
thought is is a more solemn, serious
thing to live. If in life your body
has been the right kind of place for
the Spirit to dwell in, death is of lit
tie Importance. For wbile the lSpir-
it must then leave the house Of clay,
he will take the soul to the house
not made with hs6ds, eternal in the
heavens Cultivate, cherish, then,
the desire to have your body while
YOU live a fit place for the Holy Spir-
it Of God.
II. Consider, secondly, what con-
stitutes a worthy place for God.
David had built for himself in Je
rusalem splendid palace. He had
spared no expense and skill in con-
structing it. He had sent two hun
dred miles and more to the King ci
Tyre to get cedar for building. 1t
had to be brought by water and land,
much time and money.
When his wars were over and his en-
emies su5dued, he said to the proph-
ct, as he sat in his elegant palace
See now, dwell in an house of ce-
dar, but the ark of God dwelletn
within curtains;" that is, in the
movable tent or tabernacle. He
wanted to build a house for the Lord.
And you can readily STE what sort Of
q house he desired to build. It tmust
be at least equal to his own; aud no
doubt be wanted it to be superior.
Was he right in his idea? | think
50. Gods house should be as beau
:iful, nay, more beautiful than our
dwellings,. God can be worshipped
acceptably in log house, or in a
barn, or in a loft, or in a cave as tie
early Christians had sometimes to
DO. In fact, purer worship has been
doubtless, under brush
arbor, in many instances, than in
handsome churches and magnificent
gothic, vaulted cathedrals You can
conceive Of the people gathered and
services rendered, even IN the most
and exquisite style, when
really there is no true worship at all.
But should we be content to have a
place Tor God, when we
have elegant places for ourselves? l
cannot think so. OF course we can
be more extravagant il building our
homes than we should be, and so al
so we may use more extravaganza in
building house for God than is
right. But David and Solomon were
not wrong in determining to erect a
splendid temple. Solomon said, BE
hold, build an house to the nalIe O