The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1908-11-20
THE PULPIT.
AN ELOQUENT SUNDAY SERMON BY
The REV. MERLE A. BREED.
Theme: Realizing the Pattern.

LinCoin, NeD.-ln ne Rev. Merle a.
Breed, who recently entered upon the
NTH year OF his pastorate 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
prews 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 be IRE Mount Sinai. Their lead
er, Moses, is hidden in the cloud
capped, fire-riyen summit in COM
munion with jehovah While the
people are waiting in the plain. he
has gone forth TO the mountains tow
erlng peak 10 be with God, TO hear
His will for them and for himself, and
TO bring down a divine pattern OF a
tabernacle for God 5 worship and the
uphiting OF mems Learts and lives to
heavenly things. The people in gem
eral mad 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 10 worship, Moses is
beholding the pattern Of that taber-
nacle about which the religious life
or the nation was TO arise, and which
was 10 stamp its impress upon the
world. Moses is filing his soul with
the vision which he is TO endeavor to
realize among the rude, ignorant, ST.
perstitious, half-wild Israelites in the
plain beneath him. To one man came
the vision Of heavenly things. The
rest were TO receive il through him.
His life work was to be that of bring
ing this within their reach and max
ing it real 10 them.
The vision splendid came to him on
the heights. The details. measure
ments, gathering of materials, labo,'
OF 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 ard 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, it's candle
stick and cherubim, its pillars and
table, its canopies and courts. its holy
place and holy of holes, its laver,
mercy-seat and mysterious separating
vail. But there was one who had
seen something better, who knew
that, beautiful and costly as it was,
the tent OF meeting but dimly fore
shadowed 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 our
thought together this morning, the
pattern In the mount. the building in
the plain, for life still has it's Sinais.
where we behold ideals, and it has
it's plain, where these are TO be real
ized. 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 costlest 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
hoyel, or palace. or temple? 1t is an
exhilarating reflection that every act
or thought is building them into
To- IL.
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
pattern, if it is 10 satisfy ourselves or
others as the years lass. AS we read
history and the great names Of past
eras move before u.s. We often feel
how transient they were How like
hovel 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 Xix" a
dust covered ruin in the Roman
forum is Caesar.
builders, like Moses. If we will.
For this method Moses followed is
not 10 be thought OF by US as eXcep-
tional II 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 law E.yer.
II he had eyes 10 see God, and ears
10 hear God. so have We. viii we
choose the tabernacle pattern for our
lives? Every human soul" wrote
Hartford greatest divine, "has
complete and perfect plan, cherished
for IL in the heart OF Coda divine
biography marked out. which n on
ters into life to live. This life, right
ly unfolded, will be a complete ard
beautiful whole, an experience led
on by God. and unfolded by His Sc
cret nurture. great I'm its conception.
great in the divine skill BY which il
f. shaped; above all, great in the mo-