Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1902-06-30
TAL>MAGE
SERMON
By Rev.
FRANK DE WITT TALMAGE. DID,.
Pastor Of jefferson Park Presby-
terrain Church, Chicago

usual course, Rev. +. De Witt Talmage |
in this sermon, on the approaching ma |
tonal anniversary, takes a look for
ward. The text is Matthew xiii, SO,
1.-The field is the world"
Every republic has Fourth of July.
1t has an annual holiday, set apart for
living over again the scenes of its
struggle for Independence. 1t has a
birthday celebration for banquets, fire.
works, oratorical pyrotechnics and for
the arousement of patriotic enthusi-
asms.
The French republics Fourth of July
Is celebrated on the 14th day of July.
This is the anniversary when the grim
fortress OF a prison for state criminals
was RACED to the ground. The Bastilie
was to the French what the Tower of
London was to the British. 1t repre-
sented to all the common people the
tyrannies of despotic throne. 1t rep
resented to them the place where men
and women, to please a royal within,
might be lodged for a little while on
their way to quench with their life's
blood the Unsuitable thirst of the heads
mans ak. So'oa the 14th day Of July
every car and wagon is stopped in the
Partisan capital. Then the young men
and maidens. decked in holiday attire,
turn the broad boulevard of the
Champs Elysees into q ballroom. Then
in the French cities can be heard the
songs of the merrymakers and the mu-
sic from the different bands playing
up and down almost every street. The
Brazilian republics Fourth of July is
celebrated on the 10th day of Novem-
Der, the anniversary of the time when
Dom Pedro's empire was overthrown
and the exiled imperial family had to
sail away from the waters of the Anna
zon. One Of the first acts of the Cuban
congress which assembled after the
American soldiers had been withdrawn
was to appoint a national holiday to
commemorate The day on which the
Cuban republic had gained her indie
pendenee. So the people of the United
States government should hold sacred
the day on which Jefferson and Adams
and Franklin and Sherman and John
Hancock and Samuel Adams signed
the memorable document which made
the Goddess of Liberty a full grown
queen.
But there is an unwise as well as
wise way of celebrating the modern
Fourth Of July. The first way is to
glorify the past as though our forefa-
theirs had won all the American victo-
ries that can ever be won. The other
way is to take a national retrospect for
hn IF NH
to go ahead and win the further victo-
ries that must be won in order to full
fill Americas mission, and If any min
lister tries the latter way he cannot
take In the full sweep of Americas fu-
ture influence and work unless he dis
cusses them from worldwide stand
point. He must attune his Fourth of
July sermon to worlds theme, as
Phillips Brooks, the most beloved man
of New England in his day, keyed his
ministry to an international tone when
from European city he sent to a
friend at home a letter which read
something like this: Dear Harry
wish you might do as do every year.
wish you would annually spend two
months abroad in travel. Such va
cation teaches you the immensely of
Gods providences and how small are
the cireumscriptions of our own indi-
vidual lives and how small even the
Epfscopalian church appears to be
when il Is focused from across the
seas" SO the purpose of this Fourth
Of July sermon Is to try to discuss the
worldwide influence of Americas fu-
Aa,r.. 60
time eulogizing what has been done al
Bunker Hill. Saratoga, Brandywine
Valley Forge and Yorktown. The field
OF Americas future usefulness is not
to be limited by the Atlantic on the
one side and the Golden Gate of the
Pacific on the other side. 1t Is to bt
rs wide rs the five continents, as am
pie as the two hemispheres. 1t is tt
take In all the mainlands as well al
the isles of the seas
Americas Greatest Mission.
Emphatically the most important o
all Americas future missions is thu
spreading of the gospel until it shall
~be preached i'm all the world for wit
ness unto all nations" The Bible doe
not state that the millennial day shal
come gradually, as the sunrise frs
tips the eastern hills with light, max
ing il appear as though the under
brush upon the tops of the mountain
had been set afire by some careles
campers. 1t does not state that tn
milIennial day shall come as when tn
dawn i'm the beginning shoots its long
slender bars of yellow gold across tn
heavens. 1t does not state that tn
glory of the Lord shall cover the cart
as the waters cover the sea. as tn
food tide gradually creeps up til
beach. But the Eible does teach tina
when the gospel of Jesus Christ sha
be proclaimed i'm every town. villag
and city of every nation: when it sha
H. rr,l.la ir,nl In, tI,l, t,,ni1rt.i in Loo HI