The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-11-01
The Temple of Christ.

of perdition
 The Temple of Christ.
 The temple of the Holy Spirit should have a beautiful body-beautiful in refer ence to the glance of it's eye: beautiful in the tone of it's voice: beautiful as far as possible, in reference to it's apparel; beautiful as Sarah was beautiful, whose husband gave to her one of the sweet est yet courtiest compliments when he turned and in the quaint language of the east said, Thou art a fair woman to look upon.' If God Almighty demanded that the children of Israel should give of their gold and silver and precious stones to beautify his Jerusalem sanctu- ary surely then we ought to try to beaut- ify his temple of the Holy Ghost.
 Christ has often been worshiped in mud hut or an open barn, but he de- serves the best and noblest of human architecture. We have all read how mil- lions and millions of dollars were spent to make artistic the sanctuaries of the east. The greatest of sculptors have chiseled for them their masterpieces and out of the solid stone have made flow .er gardens to bloom at the base and | the top of the massive columns which support, the roofs. In them the greatest of artists have been called upon to illus | trate their genius in religious pictures, as Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper" in a Milan convent is painted upon the walls of Santa Maria dele Grazie. within which Napoleons troops once 1 stabbed their horses, or as Michael An- | gelo IS Last Judgment" was painted upon the wall of the Sistine chapel at Rome. 1 or as the beautiful angels of a Domini- can monk, Fra Angelica ere seen march, | ing through the dark corridors of tho l Florentine convent of San Marco In | them the finest of musicians play upon | their organs The sweetest of voices sing | in their chors. The most eloquent of preachers plead from their pulpits. But | the temple that Christ most desires to occupy is the temple of your heart and that may be adorned by the graces that the Holy Spirit supplies. %
 | 'But." says some man, how can I | beautfy my physical body? I grant that l l need not be slovenly or unkempt in ap- parel, but I do not grant that 1 can change my looks. I can not, in the lam guage of Nicodemus. for the second time be born of the flesh" Oh, yes, my broth CT. you can. You can start today to ob- tain from God that grace which will make you physically new being. It is | physiological law that every seven years the body goes through a complete change. ] Seven years from now. there will be not 1 any part of a bone, finger nail, or atom 1 of flesh in your physical existence which | is part of you today. Like the old Con- stitution, more commonly called Old Ironsides. once the pride of the Amer- l can navy, whose hull was made over so many times that there have been many Constitutions instead of one, so you my brother have had many different physical off n old body; you are always putting on a new Galen was converted from atheism by studying the wonderful construction of the human skeleton. But the moye- ment of joint in a skeleton Is not nearly so wonderful to me as the fact that the skeleton of man who died when he was seventy years of age represents al least ten distinct skeletons. which at different periods of his existence walked around under the same mans personality.
 A Wonderful Structure.
 The physically body is continually be- ing changed. This fact being then grant, ed, if you will only let the Holy Ghost dwell within the temple which ought to be his. then he will make you physically oyer anew. IJur voice will become soft CT in tone. because it will only speak the language of love. Your -ace will change in looks, for then your gentle spirit will mold it. Your hand will change it's con- formation, for then instead of being the knotted muscles of human brute or a close fist of a miser, looking in it's vim dctiveness like the grinning gargoyles of Notre Dame, ready to spring upon their prey below it will be the open palm of succor and have the warm grasp of sympathetic touch. Yes, my brother, you can artistically and aestheticaly as well as spiritually beautry your physical body. You can surrender it, in the name of Jesus Christ, to be made over entirely anew to his service.
 A strong temple! A clean temple, A