Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1902-07-03
TALMAGE
SERMON
By Rev.
FRANK DE WITT TALMAGE. DID,,
Pastor Of Jefferson Park Presby-
terrain Church, Chicago


in this sermon, on the approac ching ma
tional anniversary, takes a look for
ward. The text is Matthew xiii, 80,
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
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 Bastile
was to the French what the Tower of
London was to the British. 1t repre-
scented to oil the common people the
tyrannies Of despotic throne. 1t rep
resented to them the place where men
and women, to please royal whim,
might be lodged FOR n little while on
their way to quench with their life's
blood the Unsuitable thirst of the heads.
mans TX. SO cn the 18th day Of July
every ear and wagon is stopped in the
Partisan capital. Then the young men
and maidens, deckcd in holiday attire,
turn the broad boulevard of the
Champs Elysces into ballroom. Then
in the French cities can be heard the
songs of the merrymakers and the mu-
ctr nd Nln vi,
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 Pcdro's empire was overthrown
and the exiled imperial family had to
sail away from the waters of the ANA
zOn. One of the first acts of the Cuban
congress which assembled after the
American soldiers had been withdrawn
was to appoint n national holiday to
commemorate the day on which the
Cuban republic had gained her indie
pendence. 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 we'll as a
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 national retrospect for
the purpose Of rousing our ambitions
to go ahead and win the further victo-
ries that must be won N order to full
fill Americas mission, and II 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 a worlds theme, as
Of New England in his day, keyed his
ministry to an international tone when
from a European city he sent to a
friend at home letter which read
something like this: Dear Harry
wish you might do as l do every year.
I 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 circumscriptions of our own indi-
vidual lives and how small even the
Episcopalian church appears to be
| when 1t 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-
ture mission rather than to spend our
time eulogizing what has been done ut
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 be
MS wide as the five continents, as am
pie as the two hemispheres 1t Is to
take in all the mainlands as we'll as
the isles of the seas.
Americas Greatest Mission.
Emphatically the most important of
all Americas future missions is the
spreading of the gospel until it shall
'be prea ched in all the world for a wit.
ness unto all nations" The Bible does
not state that the millennial day shall
come gradually, as the sunrise first
tips the eastern hills with light, max.
ing 1t appear as though the under.
brush upon the tops Of the mountains
had been set afire by some careless
campers. 1t does not state that the
millennial day shall come as when the
dawn in the beginning shoots its long
slender bars Of yellow gold across the
heavens. 1t does not state that the
glory of the Lord shall cover the earth
as the waters cover the sea, as the
food tide gradually creeps up the
beach. But the Bible does teach that
when the gospel Of Jesus Christ shall
be proclaimed in every town, village
and city Of every nation; when 1t shall
be proclaimed in the mountain log hut
and in the ships cabin; when it shall
be proclaimed under the shadow OF
every legislative hall and by the camp
fire of every heather tribe; when il
shall "be proclaimed in all the worlt
for witness unto all nations, ther
shall the end come" Then the millen
NAL day shall be flooded with light
even as darkened hall is instantly
illuminated when the many differen
electric lights fash out at the toucl