Behold thou delightest in the truth in secret things, Teach me therefore thy hidden wisdom.—Ps. li. 6. and Solomon in the Proverbs, ‘His secret is with the pious.’ Their error lay in this, that they sought to discover in heathen and human wisdom the secret meaning of our ordinances and laws. Here,” he continued, “is the place which Jehovah hath chosen; since he brought his people out of Egypt he has never fixed on any other city, among any other of the tribes, in which a house should be builded for his name to dwell in. I brought thee hither, that thou mightest see it in all its glory. Look how its courts rise one above another, from the place on which we stand to the altar of burnt-offering, and then to the sanctuary of Jehovah! Look and wonder! This Moriah is the place where Abraham was commanded to offer up his son Isaac, and where also was the threshing-floor of Araunah, at which the angel of Jehovah stretched out his hand over Jerusalem, to punish the sin of David.[65] David purchased the threshing-floor and built an altar there and offered sacrifice upon it, and when Jehovah heard him he exclaimed, ‘Here shall be the house of Jehovah, and the altar of the burnt-offering for Israel;’ and his son Solomon built the house and the altar. Dost thou know, Helon, the prayer which he offered at the dedication of the temple?” Helon without the least hesitation began: “And Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord, in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven; and he said, Lord God of Israel, there is no god like thee in heaven above or on earth beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants, that walk before thee with all their heart: who hast kept with thy servant David, my father, that thou promisedst him: thou speakest also with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with thine hand, as it is this day. Therefore now, Lord God of Israel, keep with thy servant David that thou promised him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight, to sit on the throne of Israel; so that thy children take heed to their way, that they walk before me, as thou hast walked before me: and now, O God of Israel, let thy word, I pray thee, be verified, which thou spakest unto thy servant David my father. But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee, how much less this house of prayer that I have builded! Yet have thou respect unto the prayer of thy servant and to his supplication, O Lord my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer which thy servant prayeth before thee to-day: that thine eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which thou hast said, My name shall be there; that thou mayest hearken unto the prayer which thy servant shall make toward this place. And hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, when