And the house when it was in building, was built of stone de reeds before was brought thither so that there was neit er hanner nor axe nor any tool of one and in the house while it was in building"

mating his desire to build an house of the Lord. This very proper desire the Lord would not suffer him to execute, because he had been a warrior, and his hand had been stained with human blood; but He announced to him through the prophet that his son should build an house to Him, and thus accomplish what he had so piously designed. Though divinely hindered from building the house, he yet busied himself in collecting materials for it of the most ample and costly character, and four years after his decease, Solomon, who reigned in his stead, began the work of erecting the Temple which his father David had planned in all its parts by the Spirit of God. Seven years were consumed by an immense army of labourers in this gigantic work, ere the Temple crowned the summit of Mount Moriah, and was dedicated to the worship of the one living and true God. There it stood for many years, the pride of Israel and the glory of the world. Grand in the massiveness of its structure-magnificent in the arrangement of its courts and porches, and gates, and holy, most holy places— splendid in the glittering radiance which its walls of dazzling whiteness flashed upon the beholder as the morning or evening sun was reflected from it, "glistering stones," glorious as a Temple erected for the worship of Almighty God, but pre-eminently honoured as the place where the Most High condescended to dwell between the Cherubim in the Holy of Holies by a visible emblem, and where he communed with his anointed servant from off the mercy seat of the ark of the cove