The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-05-05
A GREAT MAN FALLEN
DR.. TALMAGE EULOGIZES THE
LATE JUSTICE FIELD
One of the Most Notable Characters of
Our fines, Whose Life is Worthy of
Emulation. Says the Pulpit Orator

drawn are inspiring; text, II Samuel
iii, SO, Know we not that there is a
prince, and a great man fallen this day |
in Israel"
Here is a pIumed catalfalque, follow
ed by King David and a funeral ora !
ton which he delivers at the tomb. Con-
corning Abner, the great, David weeps
out the text. More appropriately than
when originally uttered we may now
utter this resounding lamentation,
Know ye o that there is a prince
and a great man fallen this day in
Israeli"
1t was 80 minutes after s, the exact
hour Of sunset Of the Sabbath day, and
while the evening lights were being
kindled, that the soul Of STEPHEN j.
Field, the lawyer, the judge, the pa
triot, the statesman, the Christian,
assembled. 1t was shutdown in the home
on yonder Capitol Hill, as 1t was sam
down on all The surrounding hills, but
in both cases the sunset to be followed
by a glorious sunrise. Hear the Easter
anthems still lingering in the air, The
trumpet shall sound, and the dead n
rise"
our departed friend came forth a boy
from a minister's home IN New Eng
land. He knelt with father and mother
at mOrnin and evening prayer, learned
from maternal lips lessons of piety
which lasted him and controlled him
amid all the varied and exciting scenes
Of a lifetime and helped him to die in
peace an OctOgenarian. Blot out from
American history the names of those
ministers sons who LAY done honor to
national Legislature and presidential
chair, and you would obliterate many
OF the grandest chapters Of that his
tory. 1t is no small advantage to have
started from a home where God is hon
Ored and the subject of a worlds
emancipation from sin and sorrow is
under constant discussion. The Ten
Commandments, which are the fOunda-
ton of all good law-Roman law, Ger
man law, English law, American law
are the best foundation upon which to
build character, n those which the
boy, Stephen J. Field, SO often heard in
the parsonage at ~Stockbridge were his
guidance when a half century after, as
a gOWned justice Of the supreme court
Of the United States, he unrolled his
opinions. Bibles, hymn books, cate
chisms, family prayers, atmosphere
sanctified, are god surrounding ) for
boys and girls to start from, and if
our laxer ideas Of religion and Sabbath
days and home training produce as
splendid men and women as the much
derided Puritanic Sabbath and Puri-
tanic teachings lave produced, it will
be a matter of cOngratulatiOn n
Thanksgiving.
Do not pass by the fact that 1 have
not yet seen emphasized hat Stephen
j. Field was a minister's son. Notwith-
standing hat there are conspicuous eX-
ceptiOnS to the rule-and the exceptions
have built up a stereotyped defamation
on the subject-statistics plain and un-
deniable prove that a larger proportion
of ministers sons turn out we'll than
are tn he fann6 in 9nV other panaa10pic-
al table. Let all the p~arsOnages of all
denominations of Christins where chill
dren are growing up take the cOnsola-
ton. See the star of hope pointing
down to that manger!
MEMBER OF ROYAL FAMILY.
Notice also that our departed friend
was a member of a royal family. There
were no crowns or ScepterS or thrones
in that ancestral line, but the family
of the Fields, like the family of the
New York Primes, like the family Of
the Princeton AleXanders, like a score
OF families that 1 might mention, if it
were best to MENTION them, were the
children of the king" and had put on
them hOnOrs brighter than crowns and
welded influence longer n wider than
scepters. That family of Fields traces
an honorable lineage back 800 years to
Hubertus de Ia Field, coadjutor of Will
liam the Conquerer. Let US thank God
for such families, generation after gen
Grafton on the side Of that which is
right and good. Four sons of that coun-
try minister, known the world over for
extraordinary usefulness in their
spheres, legal, commercial, literary n
theological, and a daughter, the mother
of one of the associate justices of the
supreme court. Such families counter
balance for good those families all
wrong from generation to generation
families that stand for wealth. unright-
QO11c1U croft q nd Ctip oi1u Eor1t or uyiolxo1-
ny ~squandered; families that stand for
fraud or impurity or malevolence; fam
lily names that Immediately come to
every mind, though through sense Of
proprIety they do not come to he lip.
The name of Field will survive centu-
ries and be a synonym for eligrion, for
great Jurisprudence, for able Christian
journalism, as the names of the Pha-
roahs and the Caesars stand for cruelty
and oppression and vice.
While parents cannot aspire to have
such conspicuous households as the one
the name of whose son we now cele-
brate, all parents may by fidelity in
prayer and holy example have their
sons and daughters become kings and
queens unto God, to reign forever n
ever. But the work has already been
done, and I could go through this coun-
try and find a thousand households
which have by the grace of God n
blessing upon paternal and maternal
excellence become the royal families of
America.
Let young men beware lest they by
their behavior blot such family records
with some misdeed. We can all think
Of households the names of which
meant everything honorable and con-
secrated for a long while, but by the
deed of one son sacrificed, disgraced
and blasted. Look out how you rob
your consecrated ancestry Of the name
they handed to you unsullied! Better
as trustee to that name d something
worthy. Do something to honor the old
homestead, whether a mountain cabin
or a city mansion Of a country parson-
age. Rev. David Dudley Field, though
81 years passed upward, is honored to-
day by the Christian life, the service,
the death of his son Stephen.
INFLUENCE OF A GOOD FATHER
Among h most absorbing books OF
the Bible is the book of Kings, which
q O41n Ann n oo ~ H. 1865