The Grenada sentinel., 1899-04-29
A LESSON FROM LIFE.
D.. Talmage Bulegises tie Late Jus.
tice Stephan J. Field
Religious Trainisg l.aiA the ross.
datloa Of His CAavaeter . The
Great Diviae's TriSase to .
Depa raeA sreieaA. a.
Copyright. Louis klepsch. 1872
Washington,

Copyright. Louis klopsch. ls99.)
Washington.
One OF the most notable characters Q
our time is the subject OF DR.. Talmage
discourse, aud the lessons drawn ar
inspiring. Text. 2Sstnuel. a::S: "Knov
ye not that there is prince and a grea
man fallen this day in isruel?"
Here is a plumed Gu tafaIque. followed
by King David and IL funeral oratior
which he delivers ut the tomb. Concern
v ing Abncr, the great. David weeps ou1
the text. More appropriately thar
when originally uttered we may now
utter this resounding lamentation:
know ye not that there is prince anc
agreat man fallen this day in Israeli"
1t was so minutes after six, the ex.
I act hour of the sunset Of the Sabbath
day. and while the evening lights were
being kindled, that the soul OF Stephen
& j. Field. the Awyer, the Judge, the pa.
triOt, the Christian, assembled.
Our departed friend came forth a boy
from minister's home in New Eng.
land. He knelt with father and mother
at morning and evening prayer, learned
from maternal lips lessons of piety
which lasted him and controlled him
amid all the varied and exciting scenes
OF lifetime and helped him to die
in peace an octogcnarian. Blot out
from American history the names of
those ministers sons who have done
honor to judicial bench and CONNER
oial circle and national Legislature and
presidential chair, and you would OBJ
iterate many of the grandest chapters
OF that history. 1t is no small advan-
tasc to have started from IL home where
God is honored and the subject of a
worlds emancipation from sin and sor-
row is under constant discussion. The
len commandments. which are the
foundation OF all good law-Roman
law, German law, English law, Ameri-
can law-are the best foundation uDon
which to 5uild character, and those
which the boy, Stephen j. Field, so
often heard in the parsonage at Stock
bridge were his guidance when, Il half
century after, as gowned justice of
the supreme court of the United States,
he unrolled his opinions. Bibles, hymn
books. catechisms, family prayers. at
mosphere sanctitied, are good surround
ings for boys and girls to start from,
and If our laNer ideas of religion and
Sabbath days and home training pro-
duce as splendid men and women as
the much-deridcd furitanic Sabbath
and Puritanic teachings have produced
it will be matter of congratulation
and Thanksgiving.
Do not pass by the fact that have
not yet seen emphasized that Stephen
j. Field was minister's son. Notwith-
standing that there are conspicuous ex-
ceptons TO the rule-and the exceptions
have built up stereotyped defamation
on the subiect-statistics plain and un-
deniahle prove that larger proportion
OF ministers sons turn out well than
are to be found in any other genealog-
ical table. Let all the parsonages of
all denominations of Christians where
children are growing up take the con-
ISOLATION. See the star of hope pointing
down to that manger
Notice also that our departed friend
was member of 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 score
OF families that ! might mention. II it
were best to mention them, were 1.-The
children of the King and had put on
them honors brighter than crowns and
welded influence longer and wider than
scepters. That family of Fields traces
an honorable lineage back 500 years to
Hubertus &c la Field, coadjutor of Will
liam the Conqueror. Let us thank God
for such families, generation after gen.
Grafton or the side of that which is
right and good.
While allparents cannot aspire to have
such conspicuous households Us 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 and |
ever.
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 long while, but by the
deed of one son sacrificed, disgraced
and blasted. Look out how you rob
your consccrated ancestry of the name
they handed to you unsulied! Better
as trustee to that name add something
worthy. Do something to honor the
old homestead, whether mountain
cabin or city mansion or country
parsonage.
Rev. David Dudley Field, though 80
years passed upward, is honored to-day
by the Christian life, the service, the
death of his son Stephen.
Among the most absorbing books of
the Bible is the book of Kings, which
again and agaiu illustrates that though
piety is not hereditary, the style of pa
rentage has much to do with the style
Of descendant. 1t declares of King abb
jam: "He walked in all the sins of his
father which he had done before him."
and of King Azariah: He did that