Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1907-03-07

will effectualy purge the church, la
will say much tho same Of many &C.
clesiastical ornaments now held in high
repute. Gowns and affairs and ban
ners and painted windows will all go
at one sweep. Nor will the rhetorical
embellishments and philosophers of
modern pulpits be any more tenderly
dealt with. Take away that baublev
will be the signal for turning many a
folly into perpetual contempt"
But though that j. all true that Mr..
Spurgeon said, we must not apply his
words too literally. The end Of true
spiritual worship is not liturgy or a
great cathedral or high priced choir.
We all know that. But we also know
that God never wants man to live in
a palace and worship Jesus in barn.
God directed the Ar tree doors Of the
inner sanctuary Of his Solomonic tenn
pie to be carved with cherubim and
palm trees and blossoming flowers, and
God wants us to build the best temple
to his glory that we can AFFORD. He
wants us to build that temple in tho
most conspicuous street. He wants us
TO honor him with sweet songs, with o
pure, true, noble worship and with al
tars as beautiful as we can afford to
make them. And he carved thereon
cherubims and palm trees and open
flowers and covered them with gold
fitted upon the carved work"
But before | close l want to empha-
size one other fact Every one Of these
figures which were carved upon the fir
tree doors of that inner sanctuary was
n symbol of everlasting life. Like the
evergreen tree. its branches are COW
cred with green all the year round.
The cherubim are the symbol Of the
great company of the redeemed Of
heaven. or course we know that the
word cherubim literally interpreted
means an order Of celestial beings.
But this word taken as a symbol means
the whole company of the redeemed OF
heaven. The palm tree is and always
has been the symbol of victory by
grace, while the bossoming flowers
are the symbol of profession or the
public yielding Of our will to Gods
will, and the gold is the symbol of
the divine being. Thus this gold covers
all. Yes. every figure engraved upon
that door Is a symbol of spiritual tri
umph. Thus. my friends, cannot we
find all our struggling after the beau
tiful the symbol Of our consecrating all
the beautiful parts OF our lives to the
service of the Divine Master, whose
name Is not only Wonderful" but
who is the acme of all that is b.auti-
! full?
Beautiful Symbols.
Oh, that step by step in these beauti-
| full symbols we can find our consecra-
ton to Jesus. May these symbols be
to US what the Lectures on Expert
NOV i Philosophy and Astronomy and
Chemistry" by G.. Gregory, were to
Joseph Henry. After Mr.. Henry's
death this little book Of Mr.. Gregory's
was found in Mr. Henry's library with
the following inscription written by
the great Smithsonian upon the fly
leaf: This book. although by no means
profound work, has, under Provi.
dence. exerted a remarkable influence
upon my life. It accidentally fell into
my hands when l was about sixteen
years old and was the first work ever
| read with attention. It opened to me
new world OF thought and enjoy
| Uout. invested things before almost
.nuoticei with tie highest interest.
Fixed my mind on the study OF nature
| and caused i1e to resolve Mt the time
| Of reading that ( would Immediately
devote my li'c 70 the acquisition Of
knowledge" So may il be with us to-
| day May this text have the same in
fuence upon our lives as the lectures
Of a Gregory had upon n Joseph Hen
~. May we reach ont and continue
to reach out In mental and physical de.
velopment
But as We reach ont may these sym
bols of Solomon's temple teach us that
we are TO reach out only for the pur-
pose Of consecrating our cherubim and
palm trees and blossoming flowers to
Gods great work and for the saliva
ton of man as we'll as for our eternal
life. And he carved thereon cherubims
and palm trees and open flowers and
covered them with gold fitted upon the
carved work" May God bless this
beautiful sermonic theme Of this beau
tiful Sabbath day for Christ's honor
and glory.
tCopyright, 1907 by Louis Klopsch.l