Ornan was a good man, and said he would give the whole place to the king. But David said, "I will not offer unto my God of that which doth cost me nothing." So he bought the place of Ornan, the oxen, and the threshing tools; and the sacrifice was made to show that death must be for sin. Then God pardoned Israel, and the plague was stopped. We should remember that our offerings to God are only worthy if they cost us something. He does not want the things themselves, but He does value the love that gives them. QUESTIONS. 1. What is a threshing-floor? 2. Whose threshing-floor have we heard of? 3. Where was it? 4. What had happened on Mount Moriah? 5. Whose son was Isaac? 6. Was he sacrificed? 7. Why not? 8. What town was near? 9. Who bought the threshing-floor? 10. Why? 11. What is a plague? 12. Why was the plague sent? 13. What did David see? 14. What was he bidden to do? 15. What did Ornan want to do? 16. What did David say? 17. So what ought we to give to God? [Illustration: THE KING SAID I DWELL IN A HOUSE OF CEDAR _BUT THE ARK OF GOD DWELLETH WITHIN CURTAINS_.] [Illustration: THE BRINGING UP OF THE ARK] SECOND READING. "His seed also will I make to endure for ever."--_Psalm 89:29_ YOU know the two Tables of the Commandments were kept in the Ark of the Covenant; and when the Israelites were going about in the wilderness, they had a beautiful tent to keep it in. But now they had come into the Land of Promise, and had no more journeys to make, David wished to build a house, or temple, where the Ark might be kept, and to make it beautiful for the glory of God. But the Lord had sent a prophet to tell David that he must not himself build a house for God, because he had been a man of war, and had fought, and shed much blood; but that his son Solomon should be a man of rest, and should build the Temple for the Lord. David did not repine. He thanked God for giving him the hope that his son should do this great work; and all the rest of his life he was busy getting together gold and silver, brass and iron, and beautiful cedar wood, all for the Temple of his God. It was to be built on Mount Moriah, on the threshing-floor he had bought of Ornan, just by the city of Jerusalem, which David had conquered from the Jebusites, and made the capital of his kingdom. QUESTIONS. 1. What was kept in the Ark of the Covenant? 2. Where was the Ark kept at first? 3. What did David want to build? 4. Why was David not allowed to build a temple? 5. Did he fret and grieve at being forbidden? 6. Who was to build the Temple? 7. What did David get ready? 8. Where was the Temple to be? 9. When had he bought it of Ornan? THIRD READING. "All things come to Thee, and of Thine own have we given Thee."--_1 Chronicles 29:14._