Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1908-11-12
THE PULPIT.
AN ELOQUENT SUNDAY SERMON BY
THE REV. MERLE A. BREED.
Theme: Realizing the Pattern.

|
brews SIS: 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 quotation from
Exodus 25:40, sets before us a pic
ture as interesting as 1t is suggestive.
The hosts of Israel have been waiting
long before Mount Sinai. Their lead
er, Moses, is hidden in the cloud
capped, tire-riven summit In COM
munion with Jehovah. While tho
people are waiting in the plain, he
has gone forth to the mountains tow
ering peak to be with God, to hear
His will for them and for himself, and
to bring down divine pattern of a
tabernacle for Gods worship and the
uplifting Of mems hearts 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 maxi
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 its impress upon the
world. Moses Is filling his soul with
the vision which he is to endcavor to
realize among the rude, ignorant, SUI
| perstitious, half-wild I3raelites in the
! plain beneath him. To one 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 maxi
ing 1t real to them.
The vision splendid came to him on
the heights. The details, measure
ments, gathering of materials, labor
of construction, wereall 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 ad-
mired the completed tabernacle, with
| its curtains of blue, purple and scar
| let, with its ark and altar, its candle
stick and cherubim, its pillars and
table, its canopies and courts. It's holy
place and holy of holes, its laver.
mercy-seat and mysterious separating
NdlI. i)uI Ndo ollC "Ho luu
seen something better, who knew
that, beautiful and costly rs it was,
the tent of meeting but dimly fore
Swallowed 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 behcld in the
mount with God. And that is our
thought together this morning, the
! pattern In the mount, the building in
! the plain, for life still has its Sinais,
where we behold ideals, and 1t has
| its plain, where these are to be real
| lied. Surely he is sorry builder
who has seen 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
call self, 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
an architect draws his designs upon
his trestle board.
| What shall we build our lives
hovel, or palace, or temple? 1t is an
| eXhilarating reflection that every act
! or thought is building them into
something. What an infinite variety
| Of patterns. We can not build after
them 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
| permanence and real worth in the
| others as the years pass. AS we read
| history and the great names of past
eras move before us, we often feel
how transient they were. How like u
hovel is Midas, the Phrygian king Of
| legend and story. How like mold
ering trireme upon the shores of time
is Pompey the Great. How like 4
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 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 lawgiver.
II no had eyes to see God, and ears
to hear God, 30 have We. WIN va
choose the tabernacle pattern for our
lives? "Every human SOUL" wrote
Hartfords greateat divine, "has q
complete and perfect plan, cherished
for 1t In the heart of Coda divine
biography marked out, which 1t ell.
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 1t pre-
pares." Life may be used for other
purposes, no doubt. but do they sat
isfy? Is not life insipid, unsatisfyng,
lost, till it is all wrought out temple,
q dwelling place for God most high?
iieie Soiue VIII soy, bul III! lile 10
cast on other levels. 1t deals with
common things, with the doing OF
momentous acts and routine service.
What opportunity can there be for
me to achieve such large or worthy
results? If conditions were different,
or my calling other than it Is, all this
might be of interest to me. long to
put just this into my living, but 1t Is
all too remote from life as l have to
live It," Here lies the value of tho
scene before us. Through Moses the
humblast Of the people became part.
ners with him in building the taber-
nacle. Moses did not rear it Upon the
cioud-encircled mount, but In the
plain, thu you and might be encour-
aged to realize the purpose of God
tor us in the field of common daily re-