Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1899-05-03
Sermons O| |||e DQV
Preached by Rev. DR.. Talmage.

Preached by Rev. DR.. Talmags.
Subject: "A Great Man Fallen"-A Eulogy
OF the Late JuAtice FIeld-One Of the
Most Notable Chars ctera of Our Times
Whose Life 10 Worthy of Emulation.
TEXT: Know We not that there is {,
prince and great man fallen this day lr
Israrl2"-u Samuel Ill.,, 80.
Here is a plumed catafalque. followed by
King David and funeral oratiOn which he
delivers at the tomb. Concerning Amer
the great. David weeps out the text. More
appropriately than when originally ut.
tered we may now utter this resoundina
lamentation. know ye not that there is q
prince and great man fallen this day ir
lsrasl?'
1t 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 J. Field, the
man, the Christian, ascended. 1t was sun.
down in the home on yonder Capitol hill
Washington, as IL was sundown on all the
surrounding hills, but in both cnses the sun.
set to be followed by a glorious sunrise.
Hear the Easter anthems still lingering In
u,
dead shall rise."
Our departed friend came forth a boy
from q ministers home in New England.
He knelt with father and mother at morn.
ing and evening prayer, learned from ma.
ternal lips lessons Of piety which lasted
and exciting scenes OF a lifetime and helped
him to die In peace an octogenarian. Blot
out from American history tie names oil
these 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 nc
small advantage to have started from q
home where God rs honored and the sub.
iect OF worlds emancipation from sir
and sorrow is under constant discus.
sion. The Ten Commandments, whict
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 ]. Field, SC
often heard In the parsonage at Stock
bridge were his guidance when half cen.
tury after, as gowned justice OF the Su-
preme Court Of the United States, he un.
rolled his opinions. Bibles, hymn books
catechisms, family prayers, atmosphere
sanotined, are good surroundings for boys
and girls to start from, and II our laxer
ideas Of religion and Sabbath days and
homo training produce ns splendid men
and women as the much derided Puritanic
Sabbath and Puritanic teachings have pro.
duced, 1t will be a matter oil congratulatIon
and thanksgiving.
Do not pass by the fact that have no;
get seen emphasized that Stephen J. Field
was q minister's son. Notwithstanding
that there are conspicuous exceptions to
the rule-and the exceptions have built up
a 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
genealogical table. Let all the parsonages
Of all denominations OF Christians where
children are growing up take the cohsOla-
tion. 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 Pr mes,
like the family OF the Princeton Alex
anders, like score Of families that / might
mention, IL 1t were best 20 mention them,
were "tne 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 SC0 years 10
Hubertus de In Field, coadjutor of William
the COnqueror. Let US thank God ioI
such families, generation after gener-
tion on the side OF that which is right
and good. Four sons Of that coun.
try minister known the world over for ex-
traor1inary usefulness In their spheres
legal, commercial. literary and Theological
and a daughter, the mother of one of the
associate justices OF the Supreme Court.
Such families counteI-balance for good
those families all wrong from generation to
generation-families that stand for wealth.
unrighteously got and stinHi y kept or
wickedly squandered; families that stand
for fraud or impurity or malevolence
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 tine
names of the Pharaohs and the Caesars
stand for cruelty and oppression and vice.
While parents cannot aspire to have
such consI icuous households as the one
the name OF whose son We now celebrate,
all parents may, by fidelity in prayer and
holy example have their sons and daugh-
ters become kings and queens unto God,
to reign forever and ever. But the work
has already been done, and 1 could go
this country and find a thousand
households which have by the grace of
God and blessing upon paternal and ma
ter,.al excellence become the royal families
OF America.
behavior blot such family records with
some hisdeed. We can all think of house.
holds the names of which meant everything
honorable and consecrated for long
while, but by the decd OF one son sacri-
iced. disgraced and blasted. Look out
tho name they handed to you unsullied!
Better as trustee to that name add some
thing worthy. Do something to honor the
lid 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 parentage has
much to do with the style OF descendant
1t declares OF King Abijam, He walked ir
before him." and OF King Azariah. "He did
that which was right In the sight Of the
Lord, according to all that his iather ANA
zlah had DONE" We owe a 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 acred 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 1t bright. I charge you. Keep It
suggestive Of something elevated In
character. Trample not underfoot that
which to your father and mother was
dearer than life itself. Defend their graves
As they defended your cradle. Family coat
Of arms. escutcheons, ensiRns armorial,
lion couchant, or lion dormant, or lior
rampant, or lion combatant, may attract
attention, but better than all heraldic in.
rcription Is a family name which means
from generation to generation faith ir
we'll lived and a death happily died and
heaven gloriously wonl That was the
kind Of name that Jus:ice Field augmented
and adorned and perpetuated-a name
honorable at the close OF the eighteenth
century mora honored now at the close O.