The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1907-03-05
CalnaQe
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmage, D. d.

Los Angeles, tdl., March J.-ln his
sermon the preacher gives u 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 COW
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 a temple of fame or
schoolhouse or Il state capitol or a ca
thedral or Il palace, and 1t is to be SO
many feet high and so mrny feet wide,
and 1t Is to have Il large porch and Il
hallway fianked by so many rooms"
he might as well he talking in San
skirt as far as most people are con-
cerned. Drawings ard lines and di-
mansions mean no more to the aver
age mind than wife's description OF
q walking suit which she is planning
for the coming season means to an av-
erage husband.
Now, | am frank to say that | for
one could never get an adequate con
ception of what the old Solomonic tenn
pie looked like from the plans which
have been drawS for us in the Bible
have not an architectural magma
ton keen enough to construct this tenn
pie from those figures. Some Bible
students have, but l have not. AS
soon as | begin to study these plans
get the porches and the outer walls all
mixed uL. But when the inspired au-
thor of the Bible 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 wood but 1t has
beautiful carvings thereon Of cherubim
| and palm trees and flowers in blossom,
and all these exquisite carvings are
overlaid with gold" then | say: IF
one little part of that temple was as
beautiful as that, the whole temple
must surely have been an iridescent
| gorgeous colorings of the rainbow must
there have been frozen in stone. All
the opalescent splendors of the ever
| changing surface of the seas must
there have submerged its columns and
dome and walls and mosaic floors like
q tidal wave All the divine chemis-
tries which produced the marvellous
blendings of an orchid patch must
there have been exhausted in order to
produce this ancient temple. which
INTELLECTUALLY 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 COW
cred them with gold fitted upon the
carved work."
If you ride through some of the vine
yafsis now growing upon the hillsides
where once stood the ancient capitol
of Samaria and find there the stone
walls made out ofgmost beautifully
carved stones and wonderfully design
ed pillars which bnce adorned the an
cient temples, you at once say, "The
architect who designed those temples
must have been a great lover of the
beautiful" Thus when we read that
the fir tree doors of the inner sanctu-
airy were carved by master hand into
figures of cherubim and palm trees and
flowers In blossom and all covered with
gold we have q right to say that the
God who designed that ancient temple
was a God who loved the beautiful.
We have on Y to look around Ms at the
mountains, the valleys, the trees and
the flowers and the glorious sunsets to
be confirmed In that belief. l want
this morning to take step further
The God who loves beauty in nature
and beauty IN architecture loves also
beauty In character. AS he directed
Solomon to adorn the temple with
carvings, so he ordains that our char
acters shall adorned. God wishes us
to consecrat, to his service beauti-
|
soul, bea tiful temple, beautiful
church service, beautiful home and
beautiful store and as far as possible
4 make everything beautiful for his dear
name. "An6 he carved thereon cheru-
bins and palm trees and open flowers
and covered them with gold fitted upon
carved work"
Temple of the Holy Ghost.
The physical body has been APPLY
called 1.-The temple of the Holy
| Ghost" Therefore, in the first place,
1t is incumt mt upon us to study how
we can make our personal presence
just as attra ctive and winsome as pos
sibie. For his dear names sake we
should strive to possess as beautiful q
physical body as we can. We should
cover that body with just as neat
clothes as we can afford. We should
make our PHYSICAL frames an agency
for spiritual prayer. l do not forget
that the wo-d flesh in the Pauline
| anicfiaS. 90 .Ysad again and again "a