The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1899-06-16
A LESSON FROM LIFE.
DR.. Talmage Eulogizes the Late JUS
tice Stephen ]. Field.
Religious Training Laid the FOun-
dntiOn of His Character The
Great Divine's Tribute toa
Departed Friend.
Copyright. Louis Klopsch, 1891

ffe''4AAttr 70 tettf -AbA 1T 81
One of the most notable characters o
our time is the subject of Dr. Talmage,
discourse, and the lessons drawn al,
inspiring. Text, Samuel, 3:3S: Know
ye not that there is prince and a grea
man fallen this day i'll Israeli"
Here is a plumed catafalque, followed
by King David and a funeral Grafton
which he delivers at the tomb. Concern
ing Abner, the great, David weeps out
the text. More appropriately than
when originally uttered we may now
utter this rcsounding lamentation
know ye not that there is a prince and
agreat man fallen this day in Israeli"
1t was 50 minutes after six, the ex-
act hour of the sunset of the Sabbath
day, and while the evening lights were
being kindled, that the soul of Stephen
). Field, the lawyer, the judge, the pa
triot, the Christian, ascended.
Our departed friend came forth boy
from minister's home in New Eng
land. lie 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 a lifetime and helped him TO die
in peace an octogenarian. 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
hterate many of the grandest chapters
of that history. 1t is no small advan-
tage to have started from a home where
God is honored and the subject of a
worlds emancipation from sin and sor-
row is under constant discussion. The
Ten Commandments, which are the
foundation of all good law-Roman
law, German law, English law, Ameri-
can law-are the best foundation upon
which to build character, and those
which the boy, Stephen J. Field, so
often heard in the parsonage at Stock
bridge 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, catechisms, family prayers, at
mosphere sanctified, are good SUR round
ings for boys and girls to start from.
and if our laXer 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
il will be n matter of congratulation
and Thanksgiving.
Do not pass by the fact that l have
not yet seen emphasized that Stephen
j. Field was minister's son. Notwith-
standing that there are conspicuous ex-
ceptiOns TO the rule-and the exceptions
have built up stereotyped defamation
on the subject-statistic plain and un-
deniable 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-
See the star of hope pointing
down to that manger.
Notice also that our departed friend
was 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 score
Of families that l might mention. IL 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 and wider than
icepters. That family of Fields traces
IN honorable lineage back 500 years to
lubertus de la Field, coadjutor of Will
lam the Conqueror. Let us thank God
or such families, generation after gen
ration on the side of that which is
light and good.
While all parents cannotaspiret to have
uch conspicuous households as the one
he name Of whose son we now cele-
rate, all parents may by fidelity in
prayer and holy example have their
ons and daughters become kings and
queens unto God, TO reign forever and
yer.
Let young men beware lest they by
heir behavior blot such family records
With some misdeed. We can all think
households the names of which
leant everything honorable and con-
ecr9ted for a long while, but by the
eed of one son sacrificed, disgraced
nd blasted. Look out how you rob
our consecrated ancestry of the name
hey handed TO you unsullied Better
S trustee to that name add something
'orthy. Do something TO honor the
Id homestead, whether a mountain
abin or a city mansion or country
arsonage. J
Rev. David Dudley Field, though 80
ears passed upward, is honored to-day
y the Christian life, the service, the !
cath of his son Stephen. {
Among the most absorbing books of ]
he Bible is the book of Kings, which I
gain and again illustrates that though q
ety is not hereditary, the style of pa
,ntage has much to do with the style Il
descendant. 1t declares of King Abi-
m: He walked in all the sins of his c
ther which he had done before him." u
I'd of King Azariah: "He did that I
hich was right in the sight of the II
ord, according to all that his father Il
maziah had done" We owe debt to u
ose who have gone before in our line n
certainly as we have obligations to n
ose who subsequently appear in the II
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