The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1896-12-02
DEDICATION SERMON
By Rev. A. G.. Wilkins at Man
ming Baptist Church
Nov. %,

Behold, build an house to the
name of the Lord, my God, to dedi-
cate it to him." 2 Chron. 2: 4.
eYour body is the temple Of the
Holy Ghost which is in YOU"
l Cor. s: 19.
The words quoted from the book
of Chronicles are Solomon's words;
those quoted from the Epistle to the
Corinthiaps are Paul's words. Solo
9zse6S message 60 91rrsassE s,7;-7sssing- ng
q Tyre, that he was about to build q
house of worship to the Lord, asking
Hnram 10 aid him by supplying ma
terial for building. The house he
built was the temple which took the
place of the tabernacle, or tent, con-
structed by Moses and perpetuated
until the reign of Solomon. David
had had strong desire to build that
temple to the Lord, but the Lord
forbade him, "because thou hast shed
mans blood upon the earth in my
sight, David had s:made great
wars" and was not representative
Of peace and good will. Solomon,
the son of David, being a man of
peace and rest, was chosen to build
the temple. In this respect Solomon
represented Jesus Christ, the Prince
of peace; and this fact should always
be kept in mind by US in building
churches and carrying on the work
of Christ; we should tfollow the
things which make for peace"
Solomon thought of the house as
the place OF Gods dwelling among
Israel. Paul thought of the body
your body and mine-as the place
for the Holy Spirits abiding. your
body is the temple of the Holy Spirit
which is in you, be said. If the IS
raelites were taught to think of God
as abiding in the temple at Jerusa-
lem, Christians were taught to think
of God as abiding in their bodies. If
Israel must go up to Jerusalem to
worship, Christians must go neither
to Mount Gerizim nor Jerusalem,
but must worship God in Spirit and
in truth. If the Jews were required
to go up to Jerusalem three times a
year to attend the great feasts in
honor of Jehovah, Christians are
required to worship God every day
in everything they do. whether ye
eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do
all to the glory of God" If there
were offerings and sacrifices to be
made in the temple by the subjects
of King Solomon, offerings and sac
ri6ces are to be made by the subjects
of Christ, the King OF Kings. ''Pre-
sent your bodies a living sacrifice,
holy, acceptable unto God, which is
your reasonable service" If days
and weeks and months and Sabbaths
were to be specially observed in wor-
ship by Israel, the Christian must
consider every day and all times as
belonging to the Lord.
Returning now particularly to the
two verses chosen for our text, let
me exhort you, my friends, to think
of your body as Gods dwelling place,
Just as Solomon and the Hebrews
thought Of the temple at Jerusalem
as Gods dwelling place. As you
walk the earth you are carrying
about the temple OF God every day.
! beg Your thoughtful attention
now to some reflections suggested by
the text, and especially appropriate
to this occasion. On this day of re-
jo!cia2, let US learn some important
lessons.
I. rhiak, arst, OF the desire to
,llsvc worthy, suitable place in which
Do worship God.
As already said, David had that de-
sireA He was deuie,! the privilege of
ACCOMPLISHING his desire. The de-
sire in hfas was very strong. II Da-
yid wss notSa sinless man. lie was a
pious man whose constant purpose
Was to honor God. It caunot rea-
sanably be doubted that one OF the
most severe disappointments OF his
Foxl>i Ici5pr HIM IN