Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1906-11-16
Calnase
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmaee, ID. ID.

Los Angeles. Cal. Nov. 1.-THE in
ferences from the Scriptural statement
that the human race originally bore the
divine image are impressively pointed
out by the preacher in this sermon.
from the text Genesis /, 81. $50 God
created man In his own image"
The first leaf of the worlds history
had been turned. The stupendous task
OF creation approached completion.
GSd surveyed IL and pronounced it
very good. The Illuminating fires had
been kindled. and the command had
gone forth. Let there be light, and
there was light" The heavens were
hung with tapestries of blue, and the
white clouds OF the day were trimmed
with gold and the black curtains OF
the night bespangled. Every star was
agleam. And God saw the light that
it was good. and God divided the light
from the darkness. And God called the
light day. and the darkness he called
night And the evening and the morn
ing were the first day"
That the dry land might be separated
from the deep seas the waters were
driven back until they crouched and
growled and fawned at the foot of the
mountains. The great hollows were
scooped out of the ocean beds and
tossed into heaps. The rivers were
turned loose and allowed to cut their
way through the valleys and squirm
amoag the hills and push on and on in
their serpentine windingS until they
Were lost in the great bosom OF the
seas. Then Mount Shasta arose and
stood sentinel over the Pacific. The
Matterhorn was detailed to keep its
eyes upon the Mediterranean, and
Mount Washington was stationed to
watch the Atlantic. Then the volca-
noes had their hemorrhages and breath
ed forth their hot breath and vomited
in their awful agonies
Then Flora rambled forth to cover up
the CHASTITY wounds of a suffering
world, with her bandages Of green and
yellow and white. She planted the
crocus at the foot of the snow bank. and
covered the hillsides with forests, and
scattered her seeds far and wide in the
valleys. Then, chasing the shadows
from under the trees, she sprang from
the lowlands and climbed the lofty
cliffs, clutching this crevasse and that
crag, balancing here and nesting there,
until at last the rocks, like Jacobs IA
vorite son, stood bedecked in garments
of many colors. The garden of Eden
was abloom. The desert was blossom
ing. as the rose. The white lily and the
red rose and the blue forgetmenot, as
high priestesseS before the affairs of the
mountains, were swinging their in
cense OF praise: And the earth brought
forth grass and herb, yielding seed aft
er its kind, and the tree yielding fruit
whose seed was in itself after its kind.
and God saw that IL was good. And
the evening and the morning were the
third day"
Then God reached forth his hand and
touched the waters, and the mighty
leviathans of the deep began to move.
The goldfish swan among the entan-
gled thickets of kelp. The speckled
trout leaped from the eddy. The won
derful aquariums OF the seas had their
myriads of inhabitants. Then God
touched the land, and the woods were
turned into great menagerle, and the
valleys became n great pasture field,
filled with browsing herds. Then he
touched the air, and the heavens were
filed with vibrating wings and made
meiodious with songs of the prima
donnas OF the skies. And God saw that
all the works of his hand were good
And the evening and the morning
were the fifth day"
In His Own Image.
Everywhere we turn we see the bless.
ing OF Gods creation. No grass could
hN Oh n
songs could be sweeter. All the seas
and the lands and the skies were filled
with glorles. Thus all things were
ready for mans advent. The curtain
OF the worlds drama was lifted for the
chief actors about TO perform their
parts. Two mighty thrones of power
were pushed forward, upon which were
TO sit the twain who were created only
Il little lower than the angels. SO on
the sixth day God created man in his
own image; male and female created
he them. And God blessed them. And
God said unto them, Be fruitful and
multiply and replenish the earth and
subdue 1T. and have dominion over the
fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the
air. and over every living thing that
moveth upon the earth. And God saw
everything that he had made, and, be.
hold, it was very good. And the even.
ing and the morning were the sixth
day"
Now, what does the word image in
the great climax of Gods creation
mean? When God says, at have made
man In my own image" does it mean
as great author suggests, that God
intended to say that he was only "a
magnitied man?" "Oh, no." You an
swer; that is not the meaning of tina,
passage. The catechism tells us that
God is spirit. infinite, eternal and un
changeable. The idea OF worshipine
God as a physical body is material
ism little different from that of the
savage. If we do this, we can how be
fore any painted idol just as the heath
ems have their hideous painted images
before which they kneel" That i.
true, my friend; that is absolutely true
If we are going to worship God sim
ply us a physical being, we ase In ex
actly the same position as some OF tn,
Asiatic worshipers, who use. to orin,
food every night and lay it upon tn,
altar of their idol for their god to eaf
Then because the rats in the nigh
came and stole the food they though
their god ate il. Furthermore, the,
would not believe their idol did no
eat this food until a northern con
queror lifted his battleax and smot
the idol and broke it and pointed t,
the rats scurrying out OF its ruins a
they flee from Il sinking ship. Thu
when we say, GOD made man afte