Weekly Arizona journal-miner., 1905-10-18

this, our temple of worship built in this
our age and set apart to the worship of
Jesus Christ in this our Christian civil
ization, in imitation of Voltaire IS
words, and in the spirit of Abel and
Jacob? First, Jacob, through his per
sonal experience and in a kind of sa-
cred awe, dedicated his place of wor-
ship with the solemn words, 'This is
the house of God' So we, the First
Congregational Church of Prescott,
have built this temple of worship for
God, and dedicate it as. the House of
God. As far as we can we make this
pulpit sacred, these seats, and this
room.
| Now again, this house stands, in very
truth, for all that is in the Sermon on
the Mount. 1t stands for it without
abating one jot or one little of the full
meaning placed therein by Him who
proclaimed it to His disciples. Particn-
larly it stands for the things some
times and by some thought impossible,
the hard things, so to speak, the diff
cult things, the things that men say
cannot be lived out in actual life. 1t
stands for them, yet it does. These are
the things and truths that this house
3 lands for What shall we say to
these things7
p If this is claiming too much, I have
% answer it is built for God. They
are the words of the Master whom we
love, obey, and worship. If there be
any controversy, let it be with Him.
If any feel like controverting them,
let him take Jesus into his confidence
at once and be taught.
I would not say that it stands for
any barbarous thing, Ike plucking out
a right eye, but would say that it
stands for a far more difficult and a
far more hard thing. 1t stands for
love of your enemy, it stands for an
swering curses with blessings, for be-
ing perfect as your Father in heaven is
perfect Impossible claims. you say.
Shall we discourage the child who is
ambitious to be perfect, and be like his
father, his earthly father7 With such
a purpose who shall say he win not be
able to change the ideal into the real7
particularly if he asks for and has his
loving fathers supreme help. SO shall
we dedicate this house to low or to 4
high purpose?
Again this house does not nor shall it
stand for any armed truce of human
passion, no hating or devOuring one
another 1t stands for love, which do
eth no evil to its neigkhbor. 1t stands
for that love which is the greatest
thing in the world. Can it be dedicat-
ed to more sublime end! Shall we
7ehA--ssc oUr S-st purpose bcre-and now
and put it to a different use2 Shall it
stand outside the boundaries of the
kingdom of heaven? Shall we make it
a place of amusement, pleasure place?
or even a place named for st. Peter2
No, no, thrice no, hear its one hun
bred and sixteen generous givers an
swer back; they built it for God.
After all. we stand in this house in
the midst of inanimate matter, selected
as it really is and artistically put to-
gether, indeed, as anyone can see. While
by the law of association and the fac
ulty of fancy, we make these walls sa-
cred, vet there is nothing sacred about
them. Stripped of all figure, no dust
of the ground, however, beautiful or
harmonious, however mystically or
magically sprinkled with holy water
by priestly hand, can be called sacred.
If this house be and continues to be the
as we who worship, and each one for
himself, shall worship the Father in
spirit and in truth. To the idle wor-
shipper it will be and remain to be I'M
dedicated and unsacred. To him it
will be no shrine where God dwells. If
we dedicate this house in right form
and correctly interpret this ceremony,
we really and truly dedicate ourselves,
not so much the house as the men and
the women who joyfully participate in
this work. We are dedicating per-
sons and not things, here this day. I
see mods of approval, and I thank you.
Finally and above all, it is the palace
for the King of Glory And who is
this King of Glory! The Lord of
Hosts, He is the King of Glory. It
is treasure house for an eternal king
dom, it is an entrance way to the king
dom of heaven for hungry souls who !
hunger and thirst after righteousness. |
So to whatever high things or high |
ideals, or high purposes, or to whatever
things are lovely, or of GOOD reDOrt 4