The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1899-05-10
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE eYTHE NOTED
DIVINE.

OF the Late Justice Fleld-One of the
Most Notable Chara cters OF Our Times
Whose Life 10 Worthy Of EN- ulation.
TEXT: 'Know ye not that there Is 6
prince and great man fallen this day ir
Israel?"-II Samuel ILL.,, 35.
Here Is plumed catafalque. followed by
King David and a funeral oration which hs
delivers at the tomb. Concerning Abner
the great, David weeps out the text. More
appropriately than when originally ut
tered We may now utter this resoundine
lamentation, know ye not that there Is g
prince and great man fallen this day In
Israeli"
It was thirty minutes after six, the exact
hour OF sunset OF the Sabbath day, and
while the evening lights were being kin
died, that the soul OF Stephen ]. Field, the
lawyer, the judge, the patriot, the states
man, the Christian, ascended. It was sun
down in the home on yonder Capitol bill
Washington, as 1t was sundown on all the
surrounding hills, but in both cases the sun
set to be followed by glorious sunrise,
Hear the Easter anthems still lingering In
the air. "The trumpet shall sound, and the
dead shall rise.'
Our departed friend came forth boy
from a minister's home in New England.
He knelt with father and mother at morn
ing and evening prayer, learned from ma
ternal lips lessons OF ptety. 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 commercial circle and
national Legislature and Presidential chair,
and you would obliterate many OF the
grandest chapters Of that history. 1t is no
small advantage to have started from a
home where God Is honored and the sub
ject OF worlds emancipation from sin
and sorrow Is under constant discus
sion. The Ten Commandments. which
are the foundation OF all good law
Roman law, German law English
law. American law-are the best foun.
dation 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 hall CEN
tury after, rs gowned justice OF the Su-
preme Court OF the United States, he un-
rolled his opinions. Bibles. hymn books,
catechisms, family prayers, atmosphere
sanctif1ed, are good surroundings for boys
and girls to start from, and II our laxer
Ideas OF religion and Sabbath days and
home training produce as splendid men
and women as the much derlded Purltanic
Sabbath and Puritanic teachings have pro-
duced, it will be a matter OF reorganization
and thanksgiving.
Do not pass by the fact that have not
get seen emphasized that stephen j. Field
was a minister's SOD. Notwithstanding
that there are conspicuous exceptions to
the rule-and the exceptions have built up
! Il stereotyped defamation on the subject
statistics plain and undeniable prove that
larger proportion OF ministers sons turn
out we'll than are to be found in any other
la tohl az % N on
OF all denominations OF Christians where
children are growing up take the consola-
tlon. 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 Alex
anders, like score OF families that might
mention, IL 1t were best 20 mention them,
were 1.-The children OF the king" and had
put on them honors brighter than crowns
and welded influence longer aud wider
than scepters. That family OF Fields traces
an honorable lineage back 800 years to
Hubertus de Ia Field, coadjutor OF William
the Conqueror. Let us thank God for
such families, generation after gener-
ton on the side OF that which is right
and good. Four sons OF that coun-
try minister, known the world over for e1-
traordlnary usefulness in their spheres.
legal, commercial. literary and theological,
and daughter, the mother Of one OF tho
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,
unrighteously got and stlngily kept or
wickedly squaudered; families that stand
g. o1a "a.
family names that Immediately come to
every mind, though through sense OF pro-
priety they do not come to the lip. The
name OF Field will Survive centuries and be
q synonym for religion, for great jurispru-
dence, for able Christian journalism, as the
names Of the Pharaohs 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 celebrate,
all parents may, by fidelity In prayer and
ters become kings and queens unto God,
to reign forever and ever. But the work
has already been done, and I could 60
through this country and find thousand
households which have by the grace OF
God and blessing upon paternal and ma
terral 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 house.
holds the names Of which meant everything
honorable and consecrated for long
while, but by the deed OF one son sacri-
feed, dlsgraced and blasted. Look out
how you rob your consecrated ancestry OF
the name they handed to you unsullied!
Better as trustee to that name add some
thing worthy. Do something to honor the
old homestead, whether a mountain cabin
or a city mansion or country parsonage.
Rev. David Dudley Field, though thirty
two 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 again illustrates that, though piety Is
not hereditary. the style OF parentuge has
much to do with the style OF descendant.
It declares OF King Abijam, "He walked in
all the sins Of his father which;he had done
before him." and Of King Azariab. HE did
that which was right in the sight OF the
Lord, according to all that his father ANA
ziah had DONE" We owe debt to those
who have gone before In our line as GER
tainly as we have obligations to those who
subsequently appear in the household. Not
80 sacred Is your old fathers walking staff
, which you keep in his memory or the eye.
glasses through which your mother studied
the Bible in her old age as the name they
bore, the name which you inherited
Keep it bright. charge you. Keep II
suggestive Of something elevated in
character. Trample not underioot that
which to your father and mother wa:
dearer than life itself. Defend their grave:
as they defended your cradle. Family coat
OF arms, escutcheons, ensigns armorial
lion couchant, or lion dormant, or lior
rampant, or lion combatant, may attract
attention, but better than oil heraldic In
scription is a family name which mean:
from generation to generation faith il
God coli eecrIhca duty performed n lift