service of the temple. Their number is stated to amount to 153,600 persons.

Canaan was a fruitful land, or it could not have supported so numerous a people. (2 Chron. ii. 17.)

The temple of Solomon, while it gives us an idea of the arts and sciences that existed 1000 years before the coming of Christ, and of the wealth and noble feeling of the sincere worshippers among the Jews of that day, typified Christ the true temple. The purity of its architecture, the richness of its decorations, being overlaid with gold; and the chastity of its ornaments, mere cherubims, palm-trees, and open flowers, were all typical of Christ's pure doctrine, heavenly wisdom, which is preferable to gold, scattering never-fading flowers that shall bloom through the countless ages of eternity. In Solomon's temple there was no noise of axe or hammer. Every thing is serene in heaven; and whoever hopes to become a living stone in that building should, in the present state of probation and preparation, be fitted and made ready for it, even hewn and squared by divine grace.

CHAPTER IV.

THE REMOVAL OF THE ARK-THE DEDICATION OF THE

TEMPLE.

ON this memorable occasion, the sacred historian informs us that, “Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel, unto King Solomon in Jerusalem, to assist him in bringing up the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord out of the city of David, which is Zion." This occurred at the Ethanim feast, held in the seventh month.

It must have been a glorious sight to have seen the princes of the twelve tribes, their judges, and the heads of the families, with the chief of the officers, both civil and military, with the whole body of Priests and Levites, accompanied by the King, and the High Priest, proceeding from the temple, according to their rank, arrayed in their state and sacerdotal robes, to bring up the Ark from Gibeon. And this vast assembly, further augmented by multitudes of the people, who were devout worshippers of Jehovah. The Ark of God had been the means of many temporal blessings to Israel; all, therefore, were anxious that it should be brought up, and that it should obtain a resting place in the temple newly raised to God's honour.

When David brought up the Ark from among the Philistines and placed it in the house of Obed-edom, he was attended with thirty thousand chosen men. At which time David, and all the house of Israel, played on all manner of instruments, even on harps, psalteries, timbrels, cornets, and cymbals. On his removing it shortly after from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David, on offering sacrifice, David danced before the Lord with all his might, girded with a linen ephod. Sn David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord, with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet.

On the present occasion, we may presume that Solomon, on removing the Ark, was attended with all national pomp; and that as his father David “required of the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren to be the singers with instruments of music, psalteries, and harps, and cymbals, sounding by lifting up their voice with joy,” he did the same; and that the whole host, as they went forth from the holy temple towards Zion, sang the Great Hallel (Ps. cxiii.), causing the whole arch of heaven to resound with

“Praise ye the Lord. Praise, O ye servants of the Lord,

praise the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and

for evermore. From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the

same the Lord's name is to be praised. The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory above

the heavens. Who is like unto the Lord our God, who dwelleth on high, Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in

heaven, and in the earth! He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the

needy out of the dunghill ; That he may set him with princes, even with the princes

of his people. He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a

joyful mother of children. Praise ye the Lord.”

With great joy and reverence must all the people have beheld that Ark, which Moses made by the command of the Lord in the wilderness, and which is par. ticularly described in the twenty-fifth chapter of Exodus. In a moment, their recollections would revert to the wonderful deeds its presence had effected at the river Jordan, when, “ as the priests who bare it entered the river, the waters which came down from above rose up upon an heap, so that the Israelites passed over against Jericho on dry ground.”—Of their war with the Philistines, when thirty thousand Israelites were slain, and the Ark taken by the Philistines, when the sons of the High Priest Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain. Of the Philistines removing it to Ashdod, when it destroyed Dagon, and grievously afflicted the people, so that they were compelled to return it to the Israelites, even with presents.-Nor could they be unmindful of what transpired when David removed it from Kirjath-jearim, “on Uzzah putting forth his hand to the ark of God, and taking hold of it; for the oxen shook it: when the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the Ark of God.” Its reinoval, therefore, was an event that interested every Israelite; for while they kept God's covenants they were sure of divine protection, and temporal prosperity as a nation.

On the Levites taking up the Ark, the whole choir sung the song of Moses: (Ps. xc.)

“ Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou

Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye

children of men. For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday

when it is past, and as a watch in the night. So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our

hearts unto wisdom. Return, O Lord, how long ? and let it repent thee concern

ing thy servants. O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice

and be glad all our days. Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted

us,
and the

years

wherein we have seen evil. Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory

unto their children. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us : and

establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea,

the work of our hands establish thou it.” On the procession reaching the Holy Temple, we fancy we hear the High Priest, followed by the whole body of Priests and Levites, chant Psalm xlvii., and part of Psalm xxiv. “O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with

the voice of triumph. For the Lord most high is terrible ; he is a great King

over all the earth. He shall subdue the people under us, and the nations

under our feet. He shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of

Jacob whom he loved. God is gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a

trumpet. Sing praises to God, sing praises : sing praises unto our

King, sing praises. For God is the King of all the earth : sing ye praises with

understanding.