Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1897-03-26
TALMAGE'S SERMON
INTERESTING THEME BN THE
WASHINGTON PREACHER.
Subject: "vicariOus Sacrifice"

TEXT; without Shedding % blood T. no
Remission. Hebrews ia, -
John G. Whittier. the last OF the great
school OF American poets that made the
last quarter OF a century brilliant, asked ms
in the Waite Mountains one morning after
prayers, IN which had given out Coyp,r's
famous hymn about the fountain nlIei
with blood, do you really believe there ls
u literal application Of the blood Of Christ To
the s0uly' NV negative reply then il nv
necatiy' reply now. The Bible stite.n,at
agrees with all physicians aud all phy,iol-
Ogists aud all scientists in saving that The
blood is the life, an in the Christian
religion II means simnly that Christ's
life was given for life. Hence all this talk
Of men who say the Bblp story OF blood Is
disgusting ani that they don't want what
they call a slaughter house religion" only
shows their inrauacty or unwillingness to
lOoN through the llsure OF spnach toward the
thing sgniled. The blood that onthe dark
est Friday the world ever saw ooZel or
tricklel or pour'd from the brow. and the
side. anl the hands, and the feet OF the
illuStriOus sufferer. back Of Jerusalem, IN
few hours coagulatc AMI dried up an | for
ever disappeared, ant IL man hal depended
on the apple ttion of the literal blood of
Christ there would not have harn soul
saved for the last eighteen centuries.
In order TO understand this rel WORT Of
my text we only have to exercise ~ much
common sense in religion rs W. do in every
thing else. Pang Tor plng, hunger for
hunger. fatigue for fatigue, tear for tear,
blood for bloc !, life for life, we see every
dav illustrated. The act of substitution is
no novelty, although | hear men talk as
though the idoa of Christ's suffering sub
stituted for our sun ring were something
aonor nal, something dstressing!y odd.
something wildly eccentric, solitary
episode in the worlds nistory-when | could
take you out into this city and before sun
down point you to i've hundred cases OF sub
stitution and voluntary suffering o. one in
behalf Of another
At o'clock tomorrow afternoon go
anon : the places Of business or toll. Ii Will
ne no difficult thing for you to hnI men who
by their looks show You that they are over
worked. They are prsma,urtly Old. They
are fastening rapidly toward tn 'ir decaaSe.
They have gone through crises in business
that slattered their nervOu, system aud
pnllel on the brain. They have u shortnesS
of breath an a pain in the back Of the heal
an at night an insomnia that Alarms them.
Why arr they tru!,iug at business early and
late? For fun? No. 1t wouli be dim ult
to extract any amusement out OF that ex-
haustion. Because they are avarici0us( In
many cases no. B &C iu,e their own personal
expenses are lavish? No. 4 few huadrel
dollars would Iape1 all their wants. Tho
simple fact is this man is rnlurn. all that
fatigue and evaporation an wear AMI tear
to keep his home PROSPEROUS. There is an
invisible line reaching from that store, from
that bank, from That shop, from that scat
folding, to quiet scene a few blocks away,
few miles away. And there is the secret
OF that business endurance. He i simply
the champion OF Z homestead for which h.
wins bread and war robe and lucatiOn ami
prosperity. aud in such battle 10, 900 men
fall. OFTEN business men whom bury nine
die OF OverwOrk FIR Others SOM sudden
disease finds them with no power OF resist
ance, and they are gone. Life for life. Blood
for blood. Substitution
At O'Clock tomorrow morning. the hour
when siumher IS mos. uninterrupted aud
most profound, walk amid the dwelling
houses Of the city. Here aud there You will
find dim light because it is tao hou,elo d
custom to keep a sub luei light burning. but
most Of the houses from base to top ar ~
dark rs though uninhabited. 4 mcr, fui
God has sent forth the arrhangeI OF sleep,
and he pats his wings over the city. Bat
yOnier is a clear light burning, and ou,si !e
on the window easement is u glass or pitcher
containing food for a sick child. The food
is set in the fresh air This is the sixth
night that mother has sat up with that slt.
ferer. She has TO the last point obeyeu the
physicians prescription, not giving a drop
too much or too little or moment too soon
or too late. She is very auXious, for she has
buried three children with the same dis sas,.
and she prays an weeDs, each prayer 20
sob ending with "a kiss OF the pale cheek.
By dint OF Kindness she gets the little ono
through the ordeal After it is all over the
mother is taken down. Brain or nervous
fever sets in. and one day she leaves the con-
vaescent child with a mothers blessing and
goes up TO join tho three in the kingdom Of
heaven. Life for life! Substitution, The
| fact is that there are IN uucOunted number
o. mothers who, after they have nayigatci Il
large family OF children through all the dis
eases OF infancy and got them fairly started up
the Towering slope of D9yhood aud girIhood
hive only strength enough left to die. They
| fade away. Some call it consumption.
Some call 1t nervous prOstratiOn. Some call
it intermittent or malarial indispOsitjOn Bat
] call it maCtyrdom OF the domestic circle.
Life for life. Blood for blood. Subst tn
| tiOnt
Or perhaps the mother fingers long enough
to see Il son get on the wrong road, aud his
| former kindness becomes rough reply
when she expresses anxiety about him.
But she goes right on. looking carefully at
ter his apparel, remembering HIS every BIRTH
| day with some mementO, and, when he Is
| brought home worn out with dissipation,
lurses him till he gets well and starts him
again and hopes and expects and prayS and
| G. uusels and suffers until her siren eth gives
out and she fails. She is going, and atten-
| dants, bending over her pillow, ask her II
she has any message to leave, and she makes
great effort to say something. but out OF
| three or four minutes of indistinct utterLncs
they can catch but three words, "My poor
| boy The simple fact is she died for MIN.
Life for life. Substitution!
About thirty-siX yeals ago there went forth
| from our northern and southern homes hun
dreis of thousands Of men to do battle for
their country. All the poetry of war soon
vanished and left them nothing but the ter
rble prose. They waded knee deep in mud.
| They slept in snow-banks. They marched
| till their cut feet tracked the earth. They
were swndlei out OF their honest rations
and llvel on meat not fit for II dog. They
| had jaws all fractured and eyes eXtnguished
| and limbs shot away. Thousands of them
cried for water as they lay dying on the field
| the night after the battle and got it not,
They were homesicll and received no mes
sage from their loved ones. They died in
| barns, in bushes, in bitches, the buz2ards Of
the summer heat the only attendants on
| their obsequies. Done but the infinite God,
who knows everything, knows the ten-thou-
sandtn part OF the length and brea lth and
depth and height OF the anguish OF the
northern and southern battelelds. Why
did these fathers leave their children and go
to the front, and why did these young men,
poslponing the marriage day, start out into
the probabilities of never coming back? For
the country they died. Life for life. Blood
for blood Substitution!
But we need not go 50 far. What is that
monument in Greenwood? 1t is to the doc.
tors who fell in the southern epidenics.
Why go2 We're there not enough sick to be
attended in these northern lattudes? Ga,
yes! But the doctor puts few medical
books in his valise, and some walls OF medi-
cine, and leaves his patients hero in the