Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1907-03-07
CalnnaSe
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmagc, d. d.


sermon the preacher gives a special
message Of timely and practical value
on the best equipment OF men and wo-
men for service, spiritual, mental and
physical. The text IS Kings vi, 35,
"And he carved thereon cherubims and
palm trees and open flowers and Gov
cred them with gold fitted upon the
carved work"
Most people have but little architec-
tural Imagination. When great archi-
tect comes to them and says, IL am
going to build temple of fame or a
schoolhouse or state capitol or ca
thedral or a palace, and 1t is to be so
many feet high and so msny feet wide,
and it Is to have large porch and a
hallway fiankcd by so many rooms"
he might as we'll be talking IN San
skirt as far as most people are con-
cerned. Drawings and lines and di-
mansions mean no more to the aver
age mind than wife's description OF
walking suit which she is planning
for the coming season means to an av-
erage husband.
Now, l am frank to say that l for
one could never get an adequate con-
ccption of what the old Solomonic tenn
pie looked like from the plans which
have been drawn for us in the Bible.
| have not an architectural magma
ton keen enough to construct this tenn
pic from those figures. Some Bible
students have. but | have not AS
soon IA begin TO study those plans
get the porches and the outer walls all
mixed up. But when the inspired au-
thor of the b Ole comes TO me and
shows me one of the doors Of the inner
sanctuary and says This door is not
only made out of fir wool, but It has
beautiful carvings thereon OF cherublm
and palm trees and flowers in blossom,
and all these exquisite carvings are
overlad with gold" then | say: III
one little part Of that temple was as
beautiful as that, the whole temple
must surely have been an iridescent
dream of architectural beauty. All the
gorgeous colorings of the rainbow must
there have been frozen in stone. All
the opaescent splcndors of the ever
changing surface OF the seas must
there have submerged ITS columns and
dome and walls and mosaic floors like
tidal wave All the divine chemis-
tries which produced the marvellous
blendings of an orchid patch must
there have been exhausted in order ia
e produce this ancient temple. which
architecturalv has been the marvel OF
the ages From the perfection of the
; little we can in imagination conceive
Of the perfection of the whole. From
the beautiful carvings Of two doors of
the inner sanctuary we can catch a
glimpse of what must have been the
beautiful entirety Of the whole struc-
ture And he carved cherubims and
palm trees and open flowers and GOV
cred them with gold fitted upon the
carved work"
! N you ride through some Of the vine
: yards now growing upon the hllsides
! where once stood the ancient capitol
Of Samaria and find there the stone
:, walls made out of most beautifully
l carved stones and wonderfully design.
ed pillars which once adorned the an
l cient temples you at once say, 1.-The
e architect who designed those temples
must have been great lover Of the
n beautiful Thus when we read that
the fir tree doors Of the inner sanctu
airy We're carved by a master hand into
figures of cherubim and palm trees and
flowers in blossom and all covered with
II inb+ to hot ka
o God who designed that ancient temple
was God who loved the beautiful
We have only to look around us at the
mountains, the valleys, the trees ana
the flowers and the glorious sunsets t.
be confirmed in that belief, | wan
- this morning to take a step further
g The God who loves beauty in nature
+ and beauty in architecture loves also
= beauty in character. AS he directed
s Solomon to adorn the temple witt
$, carvings. so he ordains that our char
10 ucters shall be adorned God wishes III
u to consecrate to his service a beauti
1t full body, beautiful mind, a beautiful
. soul, beautiful temple. n beautiful
church service, a beautiful home and {
rs beautiful store and as far as possible
o make everything beautiful for his dea
r name. "And he carved thereon cheru
bins and palm trees and open flowers
g, and covered them with gold fitted upOi
is carved work"
n Temple Of the Holy Ghost.
70 The physical body has been aptl.
tie called the temple of the Hol.
l. Ghost" Therefore, in the first place
ir 1t Is incumbent upon US to study how
BE we can make our personal presence
r Just as attractive and winsome as pos
Is sible. For his dear names sake W.
y should strive to possess as beautiful
physical body as we can We shout,
J. cover that body with just as nea
10 clothes as we can afford. We shoult
make our physical frames an agenc.
err for spiritual prayer. | do not forge
I'd that the word flesh in the Paulin
e. epistles is used again and again n
T. the symbol of sin, but that is no rea
IN son why man should clothe his bod
70 with filthy linen and ungainly fittin
no garments. No: not that. No maj
or can worship God as acceptably wit
ar unclean hands and with unkempt hal
ms as he can with neat and clearly pei