Page:The Parochial System (Wilberforce, 1838).djvu/96

Church built or endowed at our own cost will rejoice our hearts far more than fifty provided by the plunder of our Cathedrals; for the one is a monument of love, the other of niggard selfishness. When Solomon and all the people had dedicated the house of the Lord, "he sent the people away, and they blessed the king and went unto their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the Lord had done for David His servant, and for Israel His people^[1]:" and why did they thus rejoice? Let us hear the man after God's own heart^[2]. "The work is great, for the palace is not for man but for the Lord God. Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God, the gold for things to be made of gold, and the silver for things of silver, and wood for things of wood; onyx stones and stones to be set, glistering stones, and of divers colours, and all manner of precious stones, and marble stones in abundance. Moreover, because I have set my affection to the house of my God, i have of mine own proper good, of gold and silver which I have given to the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house, even three thousand talents of gold of Ophir, and seven thousand talents of silver, to overlay the walls of the house withal.… And who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the Lord? Then the chief of the fathers and

1. 1 Kings viii. 66.
2. 1 Chron. xxix. 1—10, 17.