The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1902-05-04
DIR. T'almage's Sermon.
nv PEW. FRANK DEWITT rALMAeE, D. D.

TT TALMAoE, D. D.
and blowing, with its wheels whirling
around and around and. yet not moving
one inch ahead? That train is stalled up
on an up grade Then have you ever seen
another engine, being fastened to that
first engine, by the addition of its power
draw the train up? Then after the up
grade has been passed have you seen
that second engine uncoupled. because
the first engine was then able to do all
the work?
The great trouble of this world is some
men are too heavily burdened. They have
too big pack upon their backs. To use
the figure Of the wagon or engine, they
are stalled upon the up grade. They are
stuck in the mud. When they first came
to standstill. they pulled and tugged
and struggled. and the more they pulled
the more exhausted they became The
result was instead of getting ahead they
became discouraged They just gave up
all hope and lay down to die. If you would
go to that wearled and stumbling man
and help him carry the load up the cross
ing, help him out of the ruts, you would
not only do good to the extent to which
you relieved him of his superintendent
weight, but you would stimulate him to
exert his own energies until after awhile
he, though weakly, would be strengthened
and encouraged to take care of himself.
Advantages of Combination.
This is age for the specialization of
talents. Instead of one man making a
shoe, as in olden times a single cobbler
did, it now takes fifty men to make the
same shoe. Instead of one woman spin
ming her own thread and weaving her
own cotton and sewing her own garments
each woman concentrates her power of
mind upon one distinct part of an indus
try. Civilization has developed its cot
ton mills its cutters, its sewers its fit
tiers and its importers and exporters, and
the combination tends to the general adj
vantage. We buy where We can buy the
cheapest, and we sell where we can sell
the dearest All these results come from.
the specialization of talent. The rea1za-
ton must come that some men do
things better than we. We in turn in an
other line of business ought to do some
things better than those who are not
proficient in our trades. good gunsmith
does not always make a crack marks
man. An expert yacht builder cannot al
ways be turned into a trustworthy sea
captain.
The intelligent traveller gathers infor-
nation wherever he goes. When talking
with the farmer in the field with the
mechanic at his bench, with the sailor
upon the ships deck. with the engineer
in his cab, he can obtain answers to ques-
tions which he himself could never solve.
He can always find a man who knows
more, in at least some special field. than
he himself knows no matter how intelli-
gent the questioner might be. The serv-
ant in the kitchen in all probability
knows how to bake bread better than her
master, even though the head of the
house may be the chief owner of the
great Pillsbury flour mills, where thous-
ands and tens of thousands of bushels of
grain are daily turned into the white sub
stance which forms the staple of every
meal The skill of the eminent surgeon
is never lessened by seeing carpenter
handle a saw. and there never comes a
time when the man of ten talents can
afford to despise the lessons he may learn
from the man of one talent.
The Strong Mans Duty.
Proficiency being granted to us in men
tai or manual abilities there is also pro-
ficiency given to us in spiritual abilities.
Certain temptations which assail one
sinner do not appeal to another sinner.
One man may have a lurking propensity
for gambling, another for drink, another
TOT RIGHTEOUSNESS, another Tor SlOth, an
other for profanity, another for theft,
still another for perjury. Some m en- are
born liars. Parents testify that certain
children in one family have a tendency
to falsehood from their cradles; other
children born in the same family never
show a disposition to prevaricate. Par
ents can often trace the lifes weakness
es of their children almost from the time
those children began to walk and talk.
They can distinguish certain satanic char
acteristics as distinctly as a stranger can
tell whether child by the color of the
skin is born from white or black par
ents OF course it is often a great deal
harder to tell whether tho white child has
a black heart or a black skinned child
has a white heart than, to tell the color
of the outside epidermal covering.
AS nearly every man is stronger In
spiritual sense in some one way than
his neighbor. it ought to be that strong
mans duty to use his strength to com
pensate for the weakness of his neigh