The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1908-12-09
THE PULPIT.
AN ELOQUENT SUNDAY SERMON BY
HE REV. MERLE A. BREED.
Theme: Realizing the Pattern.

Breed, who recently entered upon the
fifth year of his p~astorate of the Con-
gregational Church at Monticello,
Iowa, occupied the pulpit of the First
Congregational Church of this city
Sunday morning. He spoke from He
brews So: See, saith he, that thou
make all things according to the pat
tern that was Showed thee in the
mount" taking the subject, "The
Pattern in the Mount, the Building
on the Plain" Mr.. Breed said in the
course of his sermon:
Our text, which is a quotation from
Exodus 25:40, sets before us a pic
ture as interesting as it is suggestive.
The hosts OF Israel have been waiting
long before Mount Sinai. Their lead
er, Moses, is hidden in the cloud
capped, fire-riven summit in COM
munion with Jehovah. While the
people are waiting in the plain, he
has gone forth to the mountains tow
ering peak to be with COG, to hear
His will for them and for himself, and
to bring down a divine pattern of a
tabernacle for Gods worship and the
uplifting of mems Learts and lives to
heavenly things. The people in gen.
eral had but earthly ambitions. While
Moses was hidden in the clouds and
darkness. of the mount, they were
occupied with dancing and feasting,
with eating and drinking, and max
Ing golden calves to worship, Moses is
beholding the pattern of that taber-
nacle about which the religious life
Of the nation was to arise, and which
was to stamp it's impress upon the
world. Moses is flling*his soul with
the vision which he is to endeavor to
realize among the rude, ignorant, SUI
perstitious, half-wild Israelites in the
plain beneath him. To n man came
the vision of heavenly things. The
rest were to receive it through him.
His life work was to be that of bring
Ing this within their reach and max
Ing it real to them.
The vision splendid came to him on
the heights. The details, measure
ments, gathering of materials, labor
If construction, were all to be wrought
out on the levels of common life upon
the plain. We may easily imagine
that the children of Israel and the
rowing tribes about them greatly adj
mired the completed tabernacle, with
Its curtains of blue, purple and scar
let, with its ark and altar, it's candle
stick and cherubim, its pillars and
table, its canopies and courts, its holy
place and holy of holes, it's LAYER,
n%ercy-seat and mysterious separating
vail. But there was one who had
cen something better, who knew
that, beautiful and costly as it was,
the tent of meeting but dimly fore
'hadowed forth the glory Of that pat
tern shown him in the mount, The
people saw only the tabernacle in the
plain, but the eyes Of Moses looked
beyond and through that and saw
the pattern he had beheld in the
mount with God. And that is u
thought together this morning, the
The plain, for life still has its Sinais,
where We behold ideals, and it has
It's plain, where these are to be real
ized. Surely he is a sorry builder
who has see no pattern in the
mount.
For. the success of our building.
much will depend upon our choice Of
/ pattern. :
The costliest building is manhood
and womanhood, that something we
,all self, a life, character. Yet there
IS much %haphazard building. With
The greatest variety Of plans there Is
little. attention to standards, and an
infinite variety Of results, because the
pattern is not selected with the care
IN architect draws his designs upon
his trestle board.
What shall we build u lives
bowel, or palace, or temple? 1t is an
e~xhilarating reflection that every act
Or thought Is building them into
something. What an infinite variety
IF patterns. We can not build after
hem all-which shall. we choose?
There must be unity in the design.
The eclectic method, pure and simple,
will hardly avail for this. What one
age approved fails to win the appro-
baton of the next. There must be
2srmanence and real worth in the
pattern, if it is to satisfy ourselves or
others as the years pass. AS we read
history and the great names of past
sras move before us, we often feel
how transient they were. How like a
howell is Midas, the Phrygian king OF
legend and story. How like a mold
ering trireme upon the shores of time
Is Pompey the Great. How like a
dust covered ruin in the Roman
forum is Caesar. .
Now we may all be tabernacle
builders, like Moses, if we will.
For this method Moses followed is
not to be thought of by us as eXcep-
tional. 1t is a type for us each in our
building. We, too, are building,
building every day, building for
eternity" and our Scripture lesson
told us that our building must stand
Gods test. We have like opportuni-
ties with the great Jewish lawgiyer.
If he had eyes to see God, and ears
to hear God, so have we. Will we
choose the tabernacle pattern for our
lives? Every human SOUL" wrote
Hartford's greatest divine, "has a
complete and perfect plan, cherished
for it in the heart Of Coda divine
biography marked out, which it en-
tiers into life to live. This life, right
ly unfolded, will be a complete and
beautiful whole, an experience led
on by God, and unfolded by His Sc
cret nurture, great in its conception,
great in the divine skill by which it
is shaped; above all, great in the mo-
mentous and glorious issues it pre-
pares." Life may be used for other
purposes, no doubt, jbut do they sat
isfy? Is not life insipid, unsatisfying,
lost. till it is all wrought out a temple,
a dwelling place for God most high?
Here some will say, But my life is
cast on other levels. 1t DEALS with
common things, with the doing of
momentous acts and routine service.