Milford chronicle., 1907-03-08
Calnaoe
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmaee, D. D.

Los Angeles, Cal, March 3.-ln his
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 1 Kings vi. 50,
"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 a great archi-
tect comes to them and says, Il am
going to build a temple of fame or a
schOolhOuse or a state capitol or a ca
thedral or palace, and it is to be so
many feet high and so many feet wide,
and 1t is to have large porch and
hallway lanked 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-
mensions mean no more to the aver
age mind than a wifes description Of
a walking suit which she is planning
for the coming season means to an av-
erage husband.
Now, I 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 drawn for US in the Bible.
I 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 l begin to study those plans 1
get the porches and the outer walls all
mixed up. 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 it has
beautiful carvings thereon Of cherubim
and palm trees and flowers in blossom,
and all these exquisite carvings are
Overlaid with gold" then l say: IF
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 opalescent splendors Of the ever
changing surface of the seas must
there have submerged its columns and
dome and walls and mosaic floors like
a tidal wave. All the divine chemis-
tries which produced the marvellous
4 - ovaI,fd VaofoIn must /
there have been exhausted in order to
produce this ancient temple, which !
architecturally 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."
II you ride through some of the vine
yards now growing upon the hillsides
where once stood the ancient capitol
of Samaria and find there the stone
walls made out of most beautifully
carved stones and wonderfully design
ed pillars which once adorned the an
cient temples, you at once say, 1.-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-
ary were carved by a master hand into
figures of cherubim and palm trees and
in blossom and all covered with
gold we have a right to say that the
God who designed that ancient temple
was a God who loved the beautiful.
We have only to look around US at the
the valleys, the trees and
the flowers and the glorious sunsets to
be confirmed in that belief. 1 want
this morning to take a 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 be adorned. God wishes us
TO consecrate to his service a beauti-
full body, a beautiful mind, beautiful
soul, a beautiful temple, a beautiful
church service, a beautiful home and
beautiful store and as far as possible
make everything beautiful for his dear
name. "And 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 aptly
called "the temple Of the Holy
Ghost" Therefore, in the first place,
It is incumbent upon US to study how
we can make our personal presence
lust as attractive and winsome as pos
,ible. For his dear names sake we
should strive to possess as beautiful
physical body as we can. We should
cover that body with just as neat (
clothes as we can afford. We should
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