1 Chronicles 22

1 Chronicles 22:7-10

IS MODERN WAR VERY MURDER?1 Chronicles 22:7-10.OUR theme is a question, and a question is, by nature, interesting, and interest in this question is enormously increased by the crisis to which the world has come. It is doubtful if any answer to this question will be wholly satisfactory, and yet, that may not prove the answer itself to be at fault. Some would be glad to have war declared murder, and would possibly applaud a severe condemnation of the President of our country for having dragged America into it; while others would rejoice in having war exalted as God’s only way of working out His will in this present world.This text is in itself illuminating, and it contains at least three suggestions that may be studied in the very light of the bloodiest conflict the centuries have ever seen. In it War is Defined; by it War is Decried; from it we bring a promise—War Shall Be Destroyed.WAR IS DEFINED“The Word of the Lord came to me, saying, Thou hast shed blood abundantly, and hast made great wars: thou shalt not build an house unto My Name, because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in My sight” (1 Chronicles 22:8).Each of these phrases suggests God’s judgment of war, and, combined, form an inspired definition.War is the shedding of abundant blood. “Thou hast shed blood abundantly”; “Thou hast shed much blood”. I do not now recall a single Biblical instance in which blood shedding by war is defined as “murder”. The Scriptures clearly teach that no murderer shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.

On the contrary, they refrain from teaching that no warrior shall so enter. There must, therefore, be a distinction with a difference between the man who, with his fellows, goes to war, and the individual who, of himself, in cold blood, or hot blood, sheds that of his brother.

Doubtless, the Divine reason for that distinction exists in the circumstances that when a man murders his fellows he voices his own mind; but when he makes war against them, he executes the mind of the ruler, and the Bible has taught us to be obedient unto him. If, however, God looked with grief upon the wars David had waged, and refused him the privilege of building the Temple because he had taken such prominent part in them, it is not likely that He has now changed His opinion of the subject.I know of no one who would contend that the wholesale shedding of blood is an act exempt from sin. Some one, in a speech or article, a few months since, made the claim that in the two thousand years of the Christian era not a million men had perished on the battle-field previous to the beginning of the present war. But that speaker had probably forgotten to consult history with carefulness. Newman, in his “Historical Studies”, claims that Zingis Khan so far leveled the cities that opposed him that he could gallop his horse across their sites without stumbling; that “the three capitals of Khorasan were destroyed by his orders; at Mura 1,300,000 were killed; at Herat, 1,600,000, and at Neisabour, 1,740,000, a total of 4,647,000 deaths.” The Prussian-Austrian war of 1866 cost 46,000 lives; the Franco-German war of 1870, 250,000; the Italio-Austrian, about 63,000, while the figures in the Crimean struggle reached 785,000. Napoleon I is reported to have sacrificed to his various ambitious schemes about five million men, and it has been reckoned that the average centennial slaughter for Europe has been eighteen to twenty millions of men.

The taxation resulting from these enormous encounters have laid a tribute upon everything known to earth, descending, as one remarks, “from the palace of the king, to the ribbons of the bride’s dress, and the brass nails of the coffin lid.” So that wholesale slaughter always superinduces universal hardship.But you will permit me to make a second remark concerning war:It is the expression of human brutality. Dr.

George Lorimer, in many ways the most eloquent minister America’s nineteenth century knew, tells us that when Timour overcame Delhi he massacred one hundred thousand persons, and demanded from the people of Ispahan 70,000 human skulls with which to build towers; and after the revolt of Bagdad he executed ninety thousand persons. Dr. Lorimer remarked, “Such monstrosities, of course, are now out of date”. Were he alive today and permitted to review the history that has been made in the last three years, he would realize that monstrosities just as inhuman, and deeds just as brutal, have been enacted on both the eastern and western frontiers of the present battle fields. The horrors that both Belgium and Armenia have witnessed are the easy equals of the black and brutal deeds that belong to the centuries long passed. Freeman remarks in his “Norman Conquests”, “The Gospel is humanizing warfare”.

That is both true and false! When one thinks of the present-day clothing and care of the fighting soldiers; when he gives consideration to the study of hygiene and sanitation, and even more, of those softer and kindlier ministries of the Red Cross, the “humanizing effects of the Gospel” are delightfully evident.

But, on the contrary, when he regards the spirit of butchery that still expresses itself through those men whose natures are inherently brutal, or the diabolical means and methods invented for the producing of such suffering as the world never saw, effecting death by a delirium of agony, the present war exceeds any slaughter known to the centuries.Attila maintained that the grass never grew again where his horse’s hoofs had trodden. What can we ever expect to come from that soil, converted first of all into miles of trenches and multiplied pits, and in the next place into streams of blood and burial ground, and where the most infernal gases possible to human invention have broken into blaze so painful and deadly as to suggest the fires of hell? No, the brutality of battle has not passed, and while the Red Cross—Christ’s representative—hangs on the outskirts of these flaming fields, and in features beautiful as those of angels, and deepened to a tenderness never equalled, smiles love into the faces of wounded men, and with hands well-nigh Divinely deft, lays a balsam to every bruise, gives the healing touch to every wound, and seeks to bring into rightful place every broken bone, and with lips anointed with the oil of grace, preaches the Gospel to men who must shortly give an account to God, the brutality of battle is all the more clearly seen because of its contrast with this beautiful ministry.Again, It is the survival of a custom of Barbarism. The first battle ever fought was between men who were brothers by blood. It is little wonder, therefore, that God put a curse upon Cain and drove him from among his fellows and made him a social outcast. It was the Divine endeavor to end bloodshed at its very beginning.

But the barbarism of Adam’s unfortunate first son has survived the centuries and persists in repeatedly showing itself on an ever-increasing scale. In the course of human history men have deified war, and selecting from the heavens the reddest planet of them all—Mars—who looks as though he had been dipped in blood, they reared temples to his honor.

To him they consecrated Campus Martius, and before him they created festival occasions in which a brandished spear held primary place. After this manner they built up a mythological adumbration of the world’s miseries, created a veritable college of crimes and curses in which rapine and lust and bloodshed were sanctified. We are told that the most acceptable spoils possible to their possession were those they had forcefully taken from others. And, mark you, this sort of warfare reached its acme in the day when Greece was the cultured mistress of the world, and found its largest number of devotees when regal Rome ruled from sea to sea. History, then, has established the certainty that mere civilization can never lift men beyond savagery.I have been reading a book from the pen of Dr. Bang, Professor of Theology in the University of Copenhagen, filled with excerpts from the pens of the leading professors and preachers of Germany, and if their testimony represents the German people, then our great and noble President is mistaken in supposing that this war is forced by the German autocracy.

He was not a German ruler, but rather, a German preacher—Pastor Lehmann, who wrote, “Ought we, from a Christian and pious standpoint, love our Fatherland above all else in the world?” And answers this in the affirmative upon the principle that “Germany is the center of God’s plan for the world. Therefore, we assuredly act in the very righteous spirit of the Saviour when we in righteous war against deceit and immorality, help the people in whom we believe forward to the light of the sun.” And he ended his remarks by declaring, “We love our earthly fatherland so much that we will gladly barter our Heavenly for it.”How does this paraphrase of the Lord’s Prayer impress you?

It comes out of Pastor Vorwerk’s poems: “Though the warrior’s bread be scanty, do Thou work daily death and tenfold woe unto the enemy. Forgive in merciful long-suffering each bullet and each blow which misses its mark. Lead us not into the temptation of letting our wrath be too tame in carrying out Thy Divine judgment. Deliver us and our ally from the infernal enemy and his sergeants on earth. Thine is the kingdom, the German land; may we, by aid of Thy steel-clad hand, achieve the power and the glory.”I have never had a whit of prejudice against the Germans. I have never had a German friend that I did not have occasion to like.

But I confess to you that such brutality as that, when voiced in a prayer, disgusts my soul, that the beautiful phrases of Christianity should ever be compelled to so cover the black form of butchery and barbarism!But our text does more than define war.WAR IS DECRIEDJehovah was plainly opposed to bloodshed. His speech to David was not the only declaration He made in that matter.

In the very beginnings of history, when God by Noah began to replenish the earth, He laid down a law making life itself a sacred thing. “At the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed” (Genesis 9:5-6). Reuben reminded his brethren of that declaration when they were about to kill Joseph, saying unto them, “Shed no blood”.If one remind us that Jehovah gave some fairly plain words concerning war upon the Canaanites, we answer, “Yes; but that was his strange work, and is no more to be identified with either His nature or character than is the use of the fist to be accepted as an expression of a Christian man’s will, when that use was either in self-defense, or more likely still, in defense of the weak and the oppressed. Gilbert Murray tells of having once walked with a disciple of Tolstoi’s in a country lane, and having looked upon a little girl running in front of them. He put to the man the well-known question, “Suppose you saw a man, wicked or drunken, about to do her harm, would you not stop him, and if necessary knock him down? You are big and strong and have a stick.” “No”, he said, “I would try to persuade him.

I would let him kill me, but I would not strike him.” I think it very doubtful if a position of that sort can be defended from Sacred Scripture. I am confident that when God Himself, in the form of the pillar of cloud and fire, overthrew the Egyptians and drowned them in the sea, to save His own oppressed, yet escaping people, He gave proof of the fact that God can be righteously angry and will war against those who brutally attack His own.

And yet, as we have said, such work is no more His pleasure than is that of turning men into the pit. The Bible teaches that the nations that forget God shall be turned into hell. But that such is not the Divine pleasure is found when one remembers His own cry to a rebellious nation, “Turn ye, turn ye, * * for why will ye die”? If God is love—and the Bible so teaches—in that very fact you find your basis for His law that we should “love one another”.Jesus Christ condemned war in the clearest speech. If there ever was an instance in which the use of the sword seemed justifiable, that hour had come when Peter smote off the ear of the High Priest’s servant, and thereby defended his own innocent and unarmed Master. And yet, for that act, Christ rebuked him and said, “Put up again thy sword * * they that take the sword shall perish with the sword”.

A man who can find in the teachings of Jesus a justification for settling national disputes by resorting to arms, is something of a genius; but he is a wretched exegete.Mars and the Morning Star have nothing in common. Inspired by the spirit of the former, men battle with their brothers and shed blood.

At the birth of the latter the angels sang, “Peace on earth; good will to men”. A writer says, “The command of Christ to the waters, ‘Peace, be still’! was almost a symbolical speech, defining His attitude toward the world, torn and rent by faction and hatred.” In truth, the principle of non-resistance is so far enunciated by Him that multitudes of people in England pay an unjust tax, imposed for the maintenance of a church for which they have no fellowship whatever, and bind themselves together in what they call “The Passive Resistance” movement; and their conduct has been very generally praised by their brethren in every national democracy, and it has been supposed to be in line with the character of their Lord, who, when He had angels at His command, endured arrest, suffered conviction, and went to the cross without any other movement in self-defense than to make known the facts that influenced His conduct. I am not saying that war, under any and all circumstances, is wrong; but I am contending that men who seek the New Testament to find Christ’s approval of settling national disputes by an appeal to the sword, will search it in vain.If that be true, then a further fact naturally follows:The Church of God should ever be against war. What strength it would have given to the conference at The Hague if the professed Christians of Germany, instead of indulging the conceit that German kultur was the salvation of the world, and if the other nations who so poorly realized its value as not to come to it, had been exponents of peace, it is doubtful if this war would ever have been declared. And if the professed Christians of Germany and her Allies, and those who have chosen to defend Servia against a possible captivity or extinction, should now unite in an appeal for peace, the day when canons should die and sword be scabbarded, and infernal gases and flames extinguished, would be nearer at hand. Some of us believe that one certain and desirable effect of the present holocaust of war will be a world-wide desire for permanent peace, in the realization of which the followers of our Master shall become the leaders of men.And yet, not even the Church of God would be justified in pleading for a peace that merely gave chance to prepare for a greater war.

The hour is ripe for the exploitation of arbitration; but, if the evil natures of men so far oppose that principle as to make it impossible, apart from such a shedding of blood as will sicken them at the sight of their own conduct and convince them of the better way, then the world’s battle must go on until that conviction is accomplished and that principle is established.But, blessed be God, the text of this night involves a pledge of that brighter day and that better time, forWAR IS TO BE “Behold, a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from all his enemies round about: for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quietness unto Israel in his days” (1 Chronicles 22:9).David’s son was to be a prince of peace. The word “Solomon” means “peaceful”, and the boy born at that time, destined to bring a reign of peace to Israel, was but a type, ancestor and forerunner of yet another—the Prince of Peace—great David’s greater Son.

At His birth the angels sang, “Peace on earth”; at His coronation and enthronement that song will find its utter fulfilment, and peace will come.When Isaiah was granted a vision of the future, he saw the Divinely given Child, the Son of God, and said,“The government shall be upon His shoulder: and His Name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.“Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon His Kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever” (Isaiah 9:6-7).It was the same Isaiah who, looking to those last days, said,“And He will teach us of His ways, and we wilt walk in His paths; for out of Zion shall go forth the Law, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem.“And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” (Isaiah 2:3-4).His task will be to take war from the world. The Prophet presents how perfectly He will accomplish it. Even the brute beasts of the earth will cease to war, and the lion and lamb will lie down together. It was His Spirit that led Chili and Argentina to settle their border dispute by arbitration rather than with the sword. With beautiful appropriateness these nations of the South have recognized that fact by erecting at the borderline a statue of Jesus. As long as He stands at the point at which they meet, they will need to forget His face before they can enter upon a fresh conflict.

The same writer remarks, “On a Christmas night in 1870, the French and German armies were facing each other. A French soldier received permission to leave the lines.

He walked toward the German lines, singing,‘Noel, Noel, Christ is King of Israel’The song, sung under such circumstances, deeply touched the soldiers and the Germans did not stir, their hearts were touched by thoughts of the happy homes on the Rhine. The French soldier finished the song and returned to the lines. Then some one came out from the German lines, advanced and sang the song in German. At the close of each stanza the two armies joined in singing,‘Noel, Noel, Christ is King of Israel.’The selfish folly of Napoleon III. had arraigned these men against each other; the Spirit of Jesus lifted them to forget their differences and, for the time being, cease their battle”.One day that same Spirit will rule the earth because Jesus Himself sits upon the throne, and then, and not until then, our border lines will be obliterated, our border defenses will come down, our questions of commerce will have found a happy solution. Our occasions of quarrel will have passed, and the Prince of Peace will rule a world shocked by no cannon shot, bleeding from no unscabbarded sword. Battles between brothers will have ended; blood will no longer be ruthlessly spilled. God speed the day when that Prince shall be in the place of power; and God make this the night when the individual man shall enthrone Him as Lord!

1 Chronicles 22:16

FOR GOD1 Chronicles 22:16.DAVID, dying, left Solomon exceedingly rich. “An hundred thousand talents of gold”, “a thousand thousand talents of silver” are terms we cannot accurately estimate. No wonder the Queen of Sheba said of his wealth, “The half was not told me”. But I am impressed with the marked difference between David’s thought for his son and that of our twentieth century fathers. It is too often true of the latter, that they are seeking to do service for two generations. The world has come to consider him a provident father who, when he is ready to depart this life, is able to say to his son, “Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry” (Luke 12:19).All too often, I fear, God must feel toward such a provider as He did regarding the rich man’s greater barn, “Thou fool”, for He knows how few sons there are who can inherit much money and yet keep their moral characters.Of David it was written, “after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep”; and while he left great riches to Solomon, he encouraged him in no ease, but enjoined activity instead. It was not, “Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry”; but rather, “Of the gold, the silver, and the brass, and the iron, there is no number.

Arise therefore, and be doing” (1 Chronicles 22:16).David would not have him squander it upon himself, but spend it for his God instead, by building the Temple of the Most High. Far-seeing man was David!

He seems to have realized what a conspicuous part in Israel’s history, yea, in the history of the whole world, a sanctuary could play. And, as Dr. Haigh once said, “David was not mistaken. For centuries, through manifold temptations, was this people kept by the Temple’s wonderful power, and though, at last, it perished from sight, yet only to reappear in a new form, among new peoples—an inspiration to the ends of the earth and to the end of time; * * for its influence is as inspiring today as when Solomon and the great convocation bowed in adoring gratitude before God”.The suggestions of this text are also as patent today as when Solomon and the great convocation were about the business of building for God. And I want to call your attention to three facts of the text, that we may draw from them their natural and profitable lessons.THE MONEY WAS “Of the gold, the silver, and the brass, and the iron, there is no number”. But a little while ago and Israel was poor.

When she came out of Egypt this text was not true of her financial condition; in fact, her riches never reached any such heights before David’s day as they did under his government—a fact which calls for certain remarks.David had won God’s favor. Of him God said, “My servant David, who kept My commandments, and who followed Me with all his heart, to do that only which was right in mine eyes’” (1 Kings 14:8).

Every man who so conducts himself will enjoy God’s favor (Psalms 1:6; Psalms 5:12; Psalms 34:17; Psalms 92:12; Proverbs 10:3; Proverbs 15:6). Do you remember how in that wonderful eleventh chapter of Hebrews it is written of Enoch, “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God”? Every man does who stands ready to obey his commands; and such not only come into the favor of God, but upon them God puts honor also.It is told that a green and shabby looking Irishman once called on Girard—Pennsylvania’s first millionaire—and asked to be employed. The eccentric rich man showed him a pile of rocks in the back yard and said, “Carry them over to the other side of the yard, and pile them up there”. By night time Patrick had completed the work. He tipped his hat, got his pay, and inquired, “Can you employ me tomorrow?” Girard answered, “Yes, come again”.

The next morning he said, “Go carry that pile of rocks back to where you found it”. The Irishman obeyed without a word, and for several days he transported this pile of stone back and forth without murmuring, and without inquiring what Girard meant by it.

Girard was satisfied! Such was the man he wanted! One day he said to him, “You go down to the wharf and bid that sugar off”. And when Pat put in at the auction and began bidding for the sugar, people looked on in astonishment, and when he bought it the auctioneer gruffly inquired, “Who is going to pay for this?” “Girard”, Pat replied. “Oh, you are Girard’s agent then!” Mighty man now; and it was his implicit obedience that brought him his office, his honor, and his financial reward. And, whenever God finds a man who will obey Him, such an one comes immediately into the Father’s favor, into offices of Divine appointment, into honors of Divine proportions, and into such rewards as only the Great God can give.David’s standing with God brought a blessing to all Israel. Has it ever occurred to you to note how the character of the King determines whether Israel is poor or rich?

When he who sat upon her throne was a faithful man, abundant blessings were known to all Israel; and when he was a faithless man, all Israel suffered in consequence. I do not know whether we realize how largely the public life is determined for weal or woe by the influence of important persons.

Truly did Henry Van Dyke say, “The world moves by personality. All the great currents of history have flowed from persons. Organization is powerful, but no organization has ever accomplished anything until a person has stood at the center of it and filled it with his thought, with his life. Truth is mighty and must prevail, but it never does prevail, actually, until it gets itself embodied, incarnated in a personality”.History is replete with illustrations of this claim. David was the explanation of Israel’s riches; Solomon the secret of her later glory; while Rehoboam explains the division of the kingdom and its dark downfall. Happy that people whose great man is a good man.

America enjoyed in George Washington the richest blessing, while England lost her chief treasure in the death of William E. Gladstone.

And what is true in politics and statecraft is still more true in the Church of God. How much the old church—Israel—owed to such men as Moses, Joshua, David. Isaiah and Daniel, who can tell? Of the early Christian Church, in its progress, Paul was the principal factor. Speaking of his influence Renan said, “Over the vast extent of the Roman Empire, Paul everywhere projects his shadow”. And we should not forget that in the more limited realms of local work, the individual is commonly the explanation of success or failure.The great Tabernacle—London’s admiration— was the expression of Charles Spurgeon’s life. The Tremont Temple, the pride of Boston Baptists, was possible, in her present proportions, because George C. Lorimer lived.

Clarendon Street, Sanctuary of the Most High, out from which flowed a stream of benevolent gifts, whose life-giving power was long like that river which John saw issuing from beneath the Throne, voiced the gracious Gordon who, though dead, yet speaketh; while Grace Temple, Philadelphia, the greatest Protestant Church of America, together with all of its organizations and agencies for good, were the outlets of that intense life which Conwell lived “in Christ”.We were interested and almost amazed with a resume of Louis Harmes’ work in the Hermansburg Church, to which we listened years ago, as a brother read its review. A home church with more than ten thousand members; for the year 1899, 27 stations and 46 missionaries in South Africa; 9 stations and 10 missionaries in India; 402 native assistants at work; with 24,000 communicants in the mission churches. When we remember how the little church became so great a one, we cannot forget that Louis Harmes, the surrendered man, was the secret of it. When one reflects upon such facts he is profoundly impressed with the responsibilities of a pastor’s office, and is made to feel that the future of the church is so bound up with the life the pastor lives, and the work he does, that when the end comes any failure of the church to measure up to its responsibility to God will be laid most largely at his door; for when Israel had David ministering to her, blessing was upon all the people; but when Rehoboam occupied the same office, cursings instead. Oh to be able to bring blessing to those to whom one’s heart is bound in love! Whenever and wherever a people are rightly instructed and led into upright conduct, prosperity in things temporal as well as spiritual will be their portion.Israel’s money exceeded God’s demand.

It was not difficult to compute the cost of the proposed temple; but David, who knew Israel’s possessions, said, “Of the gold, the silver, and the brass, and the iron, there is no number”. God’s demands of His people are always inside of the silver and gold He has given them. “Sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor”, is God’s exceptional, not His usual, command.In America, where we attempt annually to raise millions for the work of God in all the world, it is known that many billions is a conservative estimate of the wealth treasured up in the pockets of our Protestant Christians; and God’s calls to us for our gifts is His endeavor to keep “the church from becoming a coffer for holding coveted wealth, lest she become a coffin for enshrining a dead Christianity”.Whenever there is a demand for money for the Master’s work, men seem to fear lest God will ask of us more than we can spare.

But, beloved, there is no danger unless God’s Word shall fail, for He hath said, “There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty” (Proverbs 11:24). “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over”. “Of the gold, the silver, and the brass, and the iron, there is no number”.The second fact to which I call your attention is this:THE DEMAND WAS FROM GODDavid’s interest in the Temple was not original with him.God had asked for a house. The Tabernacle was both adequate and adapted to that roaming life which Israel led before coming into the Promised Land. But now that their dwelling place is to be permanent, the Temple is to be provided instead.Far back in Deuteronomy (Deuteronomy 12:10-11), God had anticipated this building, saying,“when ye go over Jordan, and dwell in the land which the Lord your God giveth you to inherit, and when he giveth you rest from all your enemies round about, so that ye dwell in safety;“Then there shall be a place which the Lord your God shill choose to cause His Name to dwell there; thither shall ye bring all that I command you; your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which ye vow unto the Lord”.That time had come. The house should now be builded; henceforth a sanctuary would be a place of honor to God and a place of instruction, fellowship and inspiration to His people. There are those who decry beautiful churches, and if we may judge them by their words, would gladly destroy all such buildings as are adorned and expensive. But we do well to remember that the world has scarcely seen a House of God whose magnificence equalled that of the ancient temple, whose appointments were so perfectly splendid and expensive.

There might have been those, then in Israel, who, like Judas Iscariot, at the anointing of the Christ, were ready to ask with reference to the building of the Temple, “Why was this waste of money made? so much might have greatly relieved the poor”. But, beloved, God never plans for the immediate moment only.

His lines of thought run from everlasting to everlasting, and He knew what an unspeakable blessing to man a house of worship would become.The history of the sanctuary is the history of Christianity. Hawthorne, in his description of a little church in “Main Street”, showed himself a student and a philosopher. Of it he said, “The one edifice which gives the promise of permanence to this bold enterprise of a town is seen at the central point of the picture—the meeting-house.”The Psalmist wrote, “Blessed is the man * * who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well”. But I want to tell you that the man, or company of men and women and children, who build a house to God, are more blessed still, inasmuch as it is better to meet the thirst of souls than of bodies, to provide the water of Everlasting Life than that which refreshes for an hour.A friend of mine visiting in Paris went into a great cathedral there and studied its architecture, and the works of art upon its walls, and looked at the people as they came to worship and went. A Parisian told him that when, 200 years ago, this church was built, a superstructure was laid upon a foundation on which had stood another church for more than a thousand years before. And I often wish that men could see what God sees in a sanctuary. When our forefathers, seventy years ago, were worshiping near the river yonder, and when later, they purchased the lot and put up the house at the corner of Fifth and Hennepin, they were putting into the life of this city one of the most potent factors for her civilization, and providing for us, who worship today in this beautiful temple, almost the richest earthly inheritance into which we shall ever come. “I love Thy Church, O God. Her walls before Thee stand,Dear as the apple of Thine eye, And graven on Thy hand.“Beyond my highest joy, I prize her Heavenly ways,Her sweet communion, solemn vows, Her hymns of love and praise.”God also determined its builders. David desired the honor, but God reserved it for His son Solomon (1 Chronicles 22:10). I believe the same God determines today who shall build for Him, and I know of few greater honors than they enjoy who combine their offering to build, beautify or improve a House of God.This week, as I went about consulting people regarding the proposed buildings, I came to a keener appreciation of the Christian spirit of the members of this church than I had ever entertained before. The cordial welcome given, the lively interest taken pleased, but the remark of many of them, “I count it a compliment, pastor, to be asked to aid in this enterprise and gladly pledge my assistance”, was an evidence, in addition to the many already given, that Christ had His rightful place in the heart. But, if the people thank the pastor for such a privilege, what words should express our gratitude to God in that He has honored us by appointing us to such privileges?

To be able to build a house and extend, for the sake of greater usefulness, the sanctuary dedicated to Him, this is honor as well as obligation !When George Mueller was in the early work for orphans, a poor woman earning her bread by needlework came into possession of a hundred pounds, through the will of her grandmother. She sent it to Mr.

Mueller, and learning her condition he remonstrated, and insisted that she should keep it for herself. She replied, “The Lord Jesus gave His last drop of blood for me. Deny me not the privilege of giving these few pounds to Him”. We have an idea that so long as she lived the memory of that offering was precious, and that this morning from the heights of heaven, as she looks on the great orphan asylums of Bristol, she gets from the vision a never-failing inspiration to praise. No wonder David said to Solomon, as he studied the material gathered for the building of God’s house, “Arise therefore, and be doing”.A few words from the last sentence of the text, and I will conclude. “And the Lord be with thee”.GOD WOULD GIVE AND “And the Lord be with thee”.His counsel was needed. Previous to this David had said to Solomon, “The Lord give thee wisdom”.

How they need it who would build for God! And how grateful we ought to be that it is written into His Word, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him” (James 1:5).For years now some of the members of this church have been praying God for His guidance touching the future appointments for our Sunday School.

The building is at last a reality and a beauty. Let us rejoice and go forward! The greatest thing possible to any man is to put himself into such touch with God that he may discover the Divine will and walk in the way of Divine appointment.In the stormy days of the Civil War, some one asked Abraham Lincoln to appoint a day of fasting and prayer that God might be on their side; to which the great President answered, “God is now on the right side; you simply get with Him”.God’s call was to co-operation. The people joined with the king, each bringing his offering, and when the Temple was finished, hundreds had precious possessions there. It ought to be so—the rich and the poor giving as God has prospered them; the humble and the honorable working side by side to give God glory and conquer over their own sins. Where there is such a state of things, what victory may not be accomplished, what enemy or obstacles may not be overcome!I was reading once Dr.

Talmage’s graphic description of the Battle of Waterloo; of that day when the English and French fought as the world had never seen men fight before; of that day when Wellington had blanched face and white lips; and Marshal Ney, with hat off, clothing slashed, and face bleeding, cried to his retreating troops, “Come and see a Marshal of France die on a battlefield”. And Wellington called to his reeling English soldiers, “Boys, can you think of giving up?

Remember Old England, boys! Remember England!” The French were waiting for Grouchy; the English were watching for Blucher. The reinforcements failed to come to France, but in the crucial hour Bloucher arrived, and at eight o’clock in the evening, Napoleon, the Man of Destiny, was beaten and heartbroken, and the fate of the centuries decided. And Talmage added, “Oh, my friends, our life is a Waterloo. The difference between victory and defeat is the difference between reinforcement.”I believe today that if this Church of God responded to the calls that come from on High, those who take the lead and bear the brunt of battle need never meet defeat, but will find the sun going down upon every day, leaving victory perched upon their banners.I call you, this morning, to aid in what we esteem a most important work—the completion of Jackson Hall, and the enlargement of this auditorium. It is said that Napoleon once stood before his guards and asked for a hundred men to lead a forlorn hope.

He explained that every man would doubtless be killed the moment the enemy opened fire. Now who would die for the Emperor? “A hundred men forward!

Step out of the ranks!” And not a hundred men, but the whole regiment as one man sprang forward, in solid line, and rang their muskets at his feet. When our Great Captain calls, who will respond? He does not ask us to die for Him. But there are times when He asks us to make sacrifice for His cause. A hundred men and women, if only so many were needed, would easily step forth from the ranks of the First Baptist Church and make such sacrifices as they could to see this work done. Our Captain calls us to no forlorn hope in this matter, but to a victory easily within our power, and glorious in its results.