The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-08-23


Later Built to God in His Heart.
Plans Executed for Gods Glory and
Mans Good Receive Their Com
pensation.
Rev. Ransom Harvey, of German
town, Pa, q minister whose sermons
have on several occasions been received
with much favor in this city, preached
yesterday, morning and evening, in the
Penn Avenue Baptist church. His
morning theme was THE Unmaterial-
lied Temples of the Heart"
Mr.. Harveys text was from Kings,
viii:17-19, especially the eighteenth
verse, Whereas it was in thine heart
to build a house for my name, thou
didst well, it was in thine heart" lie
said:
suppose this passage introduces US
to one of the bitterest disappointments
of Davids life-that he was prevented
from building a temple in Jerusalem Tor
the worship of God and the honor OF HIS
name. With him seems to have orlSi-
mated the conception and plan OF such a
splendid and permanent structure 10 De
devoted to this sacred use. Before his
time no such structure had ever been
erected or attempted, nor so far as ap-
pears from the biblical records even pro-
jected. Affairs had been built from the
beginning.
And then the tabernacle and the ark
of the covenant had been the center OF
worship during the wilderness wandering
and during the five or six hundred years
following the Israelitish occupation OF Ca
naan, down to David's time. David, how
ever, conceived the idea of a parma
nent structure, now that the people were
permanently established and were no
longer going from place to place, and
transferring their headquarters and cap
itol-of something more benetiting the
permanency of their religion and the
grandeur of Jehovah than that frail
movable tent with it's curtains. At diff
ferent times he turned to the scheme in
his thought and made some preparation
for it, accommodating something toward a
building fund, in gold and silver and the
spoils of war.
THE TEMPLE ON MORIAH.
And finally the time came when
determined to set about the erec-
ton of the temple on Mount Moriah. 1t
was time of peace in national life for
Israel. A time of prosperity for the peo-
pie and of personal prosperity for David.
He had just completed a magnificent house
for his own habitation And as he sat in
that new house of cedar and looked out
upon the shabby tent, sheltering the
sacred ark of the covenant, where God
dwelt among men, the purpose to build a
house for God sometime, ripened into
the purpose to build now Immediately.
See III Sam, T. He spoke to the Prophet
Nathan about it and Nathan quickly gave
consent and told him to do what was in
his heart and the Lord would be with
him.
Il,,t Moi thnt n actty ", nat tpr
too hasty as the event proved, for God
sent Nathan to forbid David from build
ing the temple, assigning as the reason,
in general that the time was not fully
come for a change so radical as this, and
particularly end personally, that David
was an unfit man for such a work, that
he had been too much man of war and
had shed too much blood. U Chron. xii,
81. He tells David that he has done well
to plan 1t and that his work thus far Is
accepted and Gods blessing shall be upon
him and his seed after him and his son
shall succeed him upon the throne of
| Israel and shall build the temple But
not David.
And so it vas. David built the temple
| to God in his heart. 1t was there not only
| in vague purpose, but in definite plan and
| form. Just as the house you hope to
build some time is all laid out in your
| mind and you can close your eyes and
/
| pleteness before you. We find that He
gave to Solomon the pattern-of all that
| he had by the spirit q Chron. xvii
| ~. And that pattern was complete even
| to minute details, and comprehensive Of
| the whole magnificent structure. And
| David made vast preparation for the erec-
tion of the material structure, in gath
| ering together silver and gold and other
| metals, and stone and building material
| But he never actually built any temple
except that one in his heart. He never
| built the temple that was in his heart,
| outside the heart upon the hill of God,
| in Jerusalem. 1t was reserved for Solo,
mon to materlalize his fathers thought
and purpose and cause to rise in massive
proportions of stone and metal, the tenn
| pie on Mount Moriah.
| THE EXPERIENCE OF DAVID.
| have often thought upon this expert
| ence of David and of its typical charac-
| ter, matching as 1t does so often the eX-
| perience of Gods servants today. And
| especially of those comforting words to
| David, Whereas it was in thine heart to
| build house for My name, thou didst
well that it was in thine heart" When
God evidently takes the will for the deed,
| and pronounceS His benediction upon
that unmaterialized heart-structure of
| David's, let us learn a lesson of comfort
! for our own lives from this. about the
| unmaterialized temples of the heart-the
temples that are formed in purpose but
never actualized in fact-the good we
plan to do, would so much like to do. but
fail to accomplish, through some Divine
limitation or hindrance.
1t Is the sad fortune of many, to build
temples in the heart which they never
are permitted to build outside the heart
which they never succeed in material
izing. They are like David and his
temple. How many beautiful structures
we all build for God and humanity, in
our thought and desire. How many
gifts and good deeds we conceive. And
how full the world would be of blessings
and bonefactions and kindnesses, il
thoughts were things. When we were
children they told us that "if wishes were
horses then beggars would ride" And
If wishes were dollars and sermons and
houses and hospitals and asylums and
aims and visits and food and medicine
tender ministry to the unfortunate and
sick and sorrowing, there would be nc
beggars and no lack of human service
to humankind or to the church of Christ
or to God. No homeless worshippers. Nc
mortgages! No empty treasures OF
churches or missionary societies! No need
or want anywhere unmet! Our hearts are
like the sea.
Mr.. Harvey here related the legend
OF the submerged city off the Brittany
coast where spires are said to have
been seen and church bells heard. II
is only myth of the sea but real as
to the heart. He told also of David
Smiths house at Cortland where only
the rear wing was built and a found
alton for the main part. Man gener-
ally builds only the porch or wing OF