Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1903-10-30
TALMAGE
SERMON
By Rev.
FRANK DE WITT TALMAGE. DID,,
- Pastcr Of Jefferson Park sresby.
terrain Church. Chieaec

service and to holy and upright living.
The text Is Corinthians vi. 10. "Know
; ye not that your body Is the temple OF
the Holy Ghost?'
More than Westminster abbey is to
London or Notre Dame to Paris or the
Vatican to Rome or the mosque Of st.
Sophia to ConsRutinople, more than
Diana's temple was to Ephesus or the
shrine OF Athens to Athens, King Solo
mons temple was to the Hebrew heart
1t was the one spot about which ma
tional pride and religious fervor CEN
tered: IL was the one place above all
others which the Israelite wanted to
see, as the Mussulman devotee says,
LET me, 1 pray thee, worship once ut
Mecca before I die" In 1t was the
Shechinah, the holy OF holes, the re-
pository Of the covensntal ark. 1t was
Gods footstool. 1t was like frag-
.. rnent OF heavens manifested glories.
Like the Tai Mahal OF India, whose
walls were once inlaid with gold and
precious stones to the value Of mil
Hons upon millions of dollars, the Solo,
monte temple was famous not 30 much
for It's 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-
RAN, records that its walls were COM
posed entirely of white stone; that the
wallis and ceilings We're wainscoted
with cedar, which was covered with
the purest 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 5ourneyed to Jerusalem to plum
Ger 1t All its glory and grandeur,
however, were reduced 10 ashes when
King Nebuchadnezzar, after stripping
1t OF its gold and removing its jeweled
vessels, applied the torch, and its spir-
1t, after an earthly existence of AT
years, Elijah-like, assembled toward
heaven in chariot OF fire. Can we
be mistaken in thinking that building
so beautiful and so exceptionally hal
lowed by the Divine Presence had a
spirit2 Victor Hugo, the author Of
The Hunchback of Notre Dame,"
thought that there must he a 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 edIfce in
which God dwelt among men2
A Sacred Temple.
Not alone In gold and precious stones
was the temple of Solomon unique. II
was great in its spiritual associations.
its very site had sanctity Of its own.
IL 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 1t was building, was built
OF stone made ready before IL was
brought thither. so that there was nei-
Their hammer nor AK nor any tool of
Iron heard In the house while IL was In
building" AS the steel bridge today
Is sent from the foundrics with each
Kirder and trestle and beam marked
beforehand for It's position, SO the
temples stones and beams were cut
ana htted together miles away from
their ultimate destination. When the
temples walls were reared they rose
amid the impressive sacredness of 81
ience. 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 HOLES.
the glory OF the Lord filed the house
or the Lord" 1t filled all the house
with bright cloud; Ii 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 I'm 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 a temple In both senses Of the |
word Paul was not one of those who |
desplsed the ''flesh," as we term the |
''hesh." 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 |
ana the soul is so close that you cam
not inJure one without affecting the
otner. So Paul, in these words of nv
text, practically says to all men and |
women, BE careful what you do with |
that hand; be careful how you misuse
thar foot; be careful that you do not
let the tongue become defled with
wicked. words" Know We not that
your Dody Is great cathedral, more
momentous in its functions than that
called st. John the Divine, which the
Episcopalian church is erecting i'm New
York city today? Know We not that
your body is the place where God
looks through the window OF the eve
ana speaks through the trumpet of the
throat and feels with the appendages
OF the nngersi Be careful of that
frame or bone and muscle and sinew-
That physical frame of yours filed
Win arterial canals through which the
blood courses. "Know we not that your
Dody is the temple of the Holy GbostY'
The physical body, in the first place.
should be strong temple. It's chest
should be broad and deep, It's limits
supple and sinewy, its nerves steady
and Ike cords of steel. its heart beat
Ing with the regularity OF pumping
automaton; 1t should be made as strong
as possible because all temporal and
spiritual happiness depends to q great
extent upon the physical body being in
healthy condition.
When the soul laughs the body
laughs; when the body weeps the soul
10 very apt TO weep. Thomas Jeffer-
son, the sage Of Monticello, taught this
when he wrote this very supoastiya
letter to his young kinsman, t. NJ. RAN
doiph, Jr.: without health there is no
happiness. Our attention to health,
then, should take precedence of every
other object. The time necessary to
secure this by active exercise should be
devoted to 1T in preference to every
other pursuit. / know the difficulty
with which busy man tears himseIf