Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1903-11-02
TALMAGE
SERMON
Ey Rev.
FRANK DE WITT TALMAGE, DID,,
Pastor Of Jefferson Park Presby-
terrain Church. CHICAGO

the body through sin and neglect and
plea for its conservation to Gods
service and to holy and upright living.
The text is Corinthians vi. 10. Know
~ not that your body is the temple OF
the Holy GhostT"
More than Westminster abbey is to
London or Notre Dame TO Paris or the
Vatican TO Rome or the mosque of St
Sophia to Constantinople. more than
Diana's temple was TO Ephesus or the
shrine Of Athene TO Athens. King Solo
mons temple was to the Hebrew heart
IL was the one spot about which ma
tional pride and religious fervOr cen
tered il was the one place above all
others which the lsraeite wanted to
see. rs the Mussulman devotee says,
Let me. ! pray thee. worship once at
Mecca before | die" In it was the
Shechinah. the holy of holes. the re-
pository OF the covenantal ark Ii was
Gods footstool. II was like frag-
ment Of heavens manifested glorics.
Like the Tai Mahal m India. whose
walls were once inlaid with gold and
precious stones 10 the value of mil
lions upon millions of dollars. the Solo
monte temple was famous not so much
for its size as for its intrinsic worth.
The weight Of the nails employed in
the temple" the book of Chronicles
tells us. was fifty shekels of solid
gold" Josephus the secular histO-
rian records that its walls were COM
posed entirely Of white stone: that the
walls and ceilings were wanscoted
with cedar. which was covered with
the purcst gold" So precious were the
materials and utensils of this wonder
full sanctuary that the fame of them
spread to foreign lands and excited
the cupidity of Shishak and JehOash.
who journeyed to Jerusalem to plum
der il. All its glory and grandeur.
however. were reduced to ashes when
King ACKNOWLEDGMENT. after stripping
1t of its gold and removing its jeweled
vessels. applied the torch. and its spir-
Ii, after an earthly existence of All
years, Elijah-like. assembled toward
heaven i'm chariot of fire. Can we
be mistaken in thinking that n building
SO beautiful and so exceptionally hal
lowed by the Divine Presence had
spirit? Victor Hugo. the author of
The Hunchback of Notre Dame"
thought that there must be spirit in
that poem in stone" Is there not a
spirit incarnated in st. Paurs, the
work of Sir Christopher Wren? In
the chaste architecture of the Church
of the Madeleine in Paris? In the
grandeur of the cathedral of Milan
and in ST. Marks of Venice. Why not,
then. in that magnificent edifice in
which God dwelt among men?
Sacred Temple.
Not alone in gold and precious stones
was the temple of Solomon unique. 1t
was great in its spiritual associations.
Its very site had u sanctity of its own.
1t was so sacred in the eyes of king
and people that when the temple was
erected measures were taken to avoid
even the ordinary sounds of tools. In
the book OF Kings we read. And the
house. when it was building. was built
of stone made ready before it was
brought thither. so that there was nei-
ther hammer nor ak nor any tool of
iron heard in the house while it was in
building" AS the steel bridge today
Is sent from the foundries with each
girder and trestle and beam marked
beforehand for its position. so the
temples stones and beams were cut
and fitted together miles away from
their ultimate destination. When the
temples walls were reared they rose
amid the impressive sacredness of ST.
lenCe. So sacred was the place that on
the day of the temples dedication. on
the day when the ark of the covenant
was placed within the holy of holies.
''the glory OF the Lord filed the house
Of the Lord" Ii filed all the house
with a bright cloud; il filed the house
with the same majestic symbol as that
which led the Israelites through the
desert. as that which the prophet saw
around the throne of God and as that
which overshadowed our Lord when
he talked with Moses and Elias on the
Mount Of TRANSPORTATION.
Paul had In mind both the intrinsic
value and the surprising sanctity OF
the Solomonic temple in the cOmpari-
son Of the text. The physical body of
man is temple in both senses of the
word. Paul was not one of those who
aeSpised the flesh" as we term the
flesh" He did not believe that beau
~ is only skin deep and that "ugli
ness sinks TO the bone" He believed
that the connection between the body
and the soul is so close that you can
not injure one without affecting tn,
pther So Paul. in these words of my
text. practically says to all men anC
women. BE careful what you do witt
that hand; be careful how you misuse
that foot; be careful that you do no
et the tongue become defiled will
wicked words" Know We not tina
your body is great cathedral. NOR
momentous in its functions than tina
called ST. John the Divine. which TIL
Episcopalian church is erecting in New
~.