Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1904-09-02
Calmaoe
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmase, d. d.

sermon the beauty of things audible
and visible and contrasts il with the
higher beauty which comes to those
whose lives are in harmony with the
Divine life. The text is Ecclesiastes
Isl. IL, He hath made everything
beautiful I'm his time"
The Solomonic writings are often
epigrammatic in style. Like priceless
jewels cut and polished by the lapi-
daries and collected In caskets, ire
spective OF size or color, his verses as
verbal gems are clustered into chap
tiers, with but little attempt at CON
secutive arrangement. Indeed. King
Solomon for the most part seems to
me TO be like writer of notebooks.
In the kings Judgment hall or on the
street or out upon the hillsides under
the blue dome of the sky. when Il great
thought is diyinely inspired within his
brain, he jots that thought down in
memorandum. Then at the end OF the
day or the week or the month or the
year he collects these different
thoughts. Irrespective of their logical
sequence, into a chapter or a book
and has the court stenographer write
them out again in full. In other words.
King Solomon's verses for the most
part are like freight cars that can be
sidetracked or uncouplcd from one
rar and attached to other ears. Each
verse sAands out as n distinct entity.
An average verse is as appropriate in
tbs sixth chapter OF Proverbs ms in
the twentieth chapter. The verse is
the car. The chapter is the freight
krat
as the definitions of Webster's Die
tionary. They change their subjects
very often. They are like nuggets OF
gold sometimes found by the Austria
Ian miners I'm the dust by the road
sides or In the river beds, entirely sep
Rrated from any gold veins. They are
like great round powders of rock i'm
oedded in the sands. These bowlder
Eersss I'm a glacial age have been car
ried by the ice from afar and have
found = resting place amid entirely diff
terent elements from those among
which they were created
The modern critics tell us that King
Solomon did not write the book OF Bc-
cleiastes; that its style and diction be-
Tong to later date. 1t appears to me,
however, that its tone and its depress-
Ing refrain are characteristic of a man
who led such a life of ease and self in
diligence as Solomon led, and that at
the end OF If, satiated with pleasure
and study. as he must have been, it
was precisely the kind OF book that
would come from his pen. and the con-
clusions uttered in that book just such
rs would DC likely to be reached by
man who. having strayed from God.
was disappointed ana dissatisfied with
his life. In the absence. therefore. OF
definite knowledge I shall assume that
the first verse OF the book indicates
him as the author. ''The son OF David,
King in Jerusalem
The LAW of Sequence.
But. though King Solomon was not.
as q rule, connected writer. yet i'm the
book OF Ecclesiates he makes an cXcep-
tion TO his usual custom. In this third
chapter, Tor example. there IL clear
sequence. No man can Interpret my
text Alright unless lie uses tho words.
He hath made everything beautiful
In his time" as a glorious climax TO
the ten verses which precede them.
solomon is here cnunciating the mighty
events OF human life as an army.
Each event must have its right posi-
tion. In the language OF the chapter.
he says, There is n time TO be born
and time to die" There is time for
a cradle and n time when the wood OF
that cradle should be changed into a
coffin lid. There is n time To plant
and n time To reap that which il plant
ed" The pillow and the sickle cannot
have the rust rubbed Off their fuc,s at
the same time. There Is time 10
weep and a time to laugh" That means
that joke or a exclamation at a
funeral Is discord. y tear and sob
at coronation are also out OF place.
A wedding march is never played in u
minor key; neither is the Battle Hymn
OF the Republic" sung to the accompa-
nimont of the dead March, from
SAUL" nor is Christmas carol inn
prlsoned behind the musical bars of a
MOzart's requiem. There is n time to
love and time to hate" There Is a
time when the ''angel OF mercy" should
extend the open palm OF forgiveness as
we'll as time when the clinched Gst
OF Justice must defend the weak aud
fight a mortal combat over the pros
trats forms or Innocence and rectitude
Then. aftor the author OF my text has
sung the changes OF the Gospel Har-
monies of Sequence"-the meadow
lands and upon the mountain top. in sea
and on land, by cradles and by OPEN
ed graves, during the times when the
dove OF peace is lowering over man.
and during the time when the black
raven OF war is tapping his wings
above bloody battlefelds- King Solo
mon generaliZes all his statements in
one great conclusion. He practically
says. "All the different heart beats of
joy and sorrow, life and death. peace
and conflict, hope and despair, have
their purpose to serve. IL they only
come TO man in the right way and at
their appointed seasons" For God
hath made everything beautiful in its
time" This Is the keynote of Chris
fianity. Man In his sinful state Is a
monster OF ugiiness. blemish on crea-
ton, discord, but man redeemed, is
haloed with divine beauty, anu. as
ltalph Waldo Urine has saiS, HE r. In
tune with the infinite" lie becomes
part or the universal harmony, and his
thoughts are in spiritual symmetry
with the thoughts of God
Coieridge's Deanition.
We mud an analogy for mans spir-
ituai beauty la the painters brush
and the artists easel According to
Samuel Coleridge, the English poet and
literary critic, the true defpition OF |
beauty" is multitude in unity"
When standing before a great picture
Ike that OF Leonardo da VincPs Last |
Supper" or Murillo's Miracle of the |
Loaves and Fishes" og RaphaePs |
greatest picture, his Sistine "Madon-
ma" we find that there the many lights |
and the shadows. the gold and the |
silver and the green and the vel |
low and the blue and the saffron and |