Los Angeles herald., 1906-07-30
CONGREGATIONS CROWD EVEN
THE PULPIT
Pastor Burdette breaches on
"strength and Beauty" Motto
Of the Church Year--a
Notable Sermon

Il
Tours "Sing o Heavens" Prof.
Kingsley had been training his choir
for the past month and the way the
singers responded yesterday does credit
to their director. For the offertory
Mrs. Robert L. Smith sang II Will Ex-
tol Thee
Solemnity Prevails
A solemnity and depth of feeling per.
vaded the assembly marked the dedi-
catory service that followed the solo.
Here and there a tear dimmed the eve
of one who could not hold in his thank
fulness, and at times even DR.. Bur-
dette's voice showed a decided ten
dency to become husky.
Following the dedication service DR..
Burdette preached on the topic
strength and Beauty" "And upon
the top of the pillars was lily work."
He said in part:
Strength and beauty-let that be the
motto of the Temple for this church
year. That is the divine order; that is
the plan of the great master builder
He laid the foundations of the earth
not to be moved. Through the ages
uncounted he buded i'm strength; he
established the mountains: he gathered
the seas into their places and set
bounds to them that they might not
pass:' he spread out his heavens like
a tent. And then, day by day, he
overlaid his world with beauty of
springing grasses, fragrant blossoms,
pleasant fruits, life, joyous and glori-
GUS.
The Kingdom Grows
"The kingdom of God on earth and in
heaven grows. 1t is Gods own order
First, the strength of the law, it's
might and majesty-the uncontradlct-
Of
by and by the desert beauty of the tab
ernacle, the tent of testimony; by and
by the marvellous splendors of the tenn
pie; then, by and by, Gods combina-
ton and elimination of strength and
beauty, the divine simplicity of God re-
vealed to the eyes of men-Jesus
preaching salvation from little fish
ing boat rocking on the waves of Cali
lee; by and by the great white throne
in the heart of the universe, with every
creature in heaven, and on the earth,
and under the earth, and in the sea-
the great multitude which no man can
number of all nations and kindreds and
peoples and tongues ascribing blessing
and honor and glory and power unto
him that sitteth upon the throne. AS
the psalmist sings, Strength and beauty
are in his sanctuary
Tempered Metal
Blessed is the man. writes James,
that endureth temptation.' A red ingot
on the forge does not yield and soften to
the blows of the hammer; but with
every blow 1t grows harder and firmer-
stronger until at last the descending
hammer when 1t strikes the steel re-
bounds, and the tempered metal lies
there, harder than the thing that hard
ened it.
That's enduring sustaining strength.
That's the strength of the pillar, of the
walls which uphold this room. Might
of your soul to resist temptation. The
God in the quivering muscles and
shrinking nerves of the martyr blessing
his name amid the wreathing flames;
might of the crucified One in the lily
fair body of the tender Roman girl
fainting in the crunching jaws Of the
lions of Nero.
But there is a strength even nobler
than this. Oh, man, the strength that
endureS isn't enough for you. Your
soul cries out for growing strength.
Strength in a man means more than en-
durance; it means active vigor
Stronger With Use
"a strength that grows stronger with
daily use until it attains to a sense of
spiritual omnipotence before which the
might of sin and the power of tempta-
ton become weakness. That is soul
strength.
1.-The ideal is beautiful says some
longing soul, but how can mere man,
fighting against daily temptations and
attain to it, with all his
human weaknessT
Read the lesson of the morning
when you go home and linger awhile
over this passage In the plain of Jor-
dan did the king cast them in the clay
ground That was the mould in which
the pillars of strength and beauty were
cast-common clay. Gods mould for
Gods men and women. So found he
Moses in the wilderness of Horeb, David
at the sheep COTE Elisha following the
plow, Gideon at the threshing floor.
Matthew at the customs gate, Peter in
the fishing boat, Luther in the cell of
the monk, Lincoln in the log cabin, and
will find you at your daily occu-
patton, and in this mould of common
clay he will fashion of your spiritual
nature a man after his own heart
If You Endure
"And If you will endure, If you will
overcome he will make your strength
and beauty to be everlasting, for hear
the voice of your spirit:
HE that overcometh 1 will make a
pillar in the temple of my God'-that's
strength, and he shall go out thence no
more '-tnatS everlasting strength anu
and / will write upon him the
name of my God; that's divine beauty,
and the name of the city of my God,
that's glory; and mine own new name;
that's the lily work at the top Of the
pillar.
"Oh, child of God, in this world of
sin and trial, be strong, be pure, be
steadfast, and the strength and beauty
Of eternity is yours by the eternal
promise"
Crown of Creation
He crowned his glory OF creation
with man-made in his own image
and then completion of creative work,
he breathed into his body of clay the
soul of life,
"The body fashioned by divine om-
Impotence and glprifed by the power
Of God-strength for service and
beauty for worship; strength for con-
hict and beauty for triumph strength
for war and beauty for peace"
All the fire Of DR.. Burdettes elo-
quence, all the years of his experience
on the lecture platform, all the lessons
Of his strenuous years of life, were
to make this, his first sermon
in the new church home, a. landmark
in pulpit oratory: and we'll did he sue