iests that carried it set it between the two cherubims, which
embracing it with their wings, [for so were they framed by the
artificer,] they covered it, as under a tent, or a cupola. Now the ark
contained nothing else but those two tables of stone that preserved the
ten commandments, which God spake to Moses in Mount Sinai, and which
were engraved upon them; but they set the candlestick, and the table,
and the golden altar in the temple, before the most secret place, in the
very same places wherein they stood till that time in the tabernacle. So
they offered up the daily sacrifices; but for the brazen altar, Solomon
set it before the temple, over against the door, that when the door was
opened, it might be exposed to sight, and the sacred solemnities, and
the richness of the sacrifices, might be thence seen; and all the rest
of the vessels they gathered together, and put them within the temple.

2. Now as soon as the priests had put all things in order about the ark,
and were gone out, there cane down a thick cloud, and stood there, and
spread itself, after a gentle manner, into the temple; such a cloud it
was as was diffused and temperate, not such a rough one as we see full
of rain in the winter season. This cloud so darkened the place, that one
priest could not discern another, but it afforded to the minds of all
a visible image and glorious appearance of God's having descended into
this temple, and of his having gladly pitched his tabernacle therein.
So these men were intent upon this thought. But Solomon rose up, [for he
was sitting before,] and used such words to God as he thought agreeable
to the Divine nature to receive, and fit for him to give; for he said,
"Thou hast an eternal house, O Lord, and such a one as thou hast created
for thyself out of thine own works; we know it to be the heaven, and
the air, and the earth, and the sea, which thou pervadest, nor art thou
contained within their limits. I have indeed built this temple to thee,
and thy name, that from thence, when we sacrifice, and perform sacred
operations, we may send our prayers up into the air, and may constantly
believe that thou art present, and art not remote from what is thine
own; for neither when thou seest all things, and hearest all things, nor
now, when it pleases thee to dwell here, dost thou leave the care of all
men, but rather thou art very near to them all, but especially thou art
present to those that address themselves to thee, whet