Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1902-10-24
TALMAGE
SERMON
By Rev.
FRANK DE WITT TAiMAGE. DID,.
Pastor of Jefferson Park Freshly
terrain Church, Chicago

symbol OF the divine love for the hu-
man race in this sermon on the text
Isaiah Xvi, Is, "As one whom his
mother comforteth, so viii / comfort
you"
Washington Irving has aptly been
called the father of American ntera-
ture, but among all the writings of the
wizard of Sunnyside there is not a
chapter more trenchantly powerful
than that ON The Art OF Bookmak-
ing" In II the author pictures him
self asleep and dreaming in the
library of the British museum.
His head is pillowed upon pile
OF musty tones. While he dreams
he sees the different authors OF the
present day porting over the manu-
scripts of the ancient libraries and
making ample notes and verbatim cop
les OF the same and, indeed, going so
far as to cut entire leaves from the
books of n Beaumont, n Fletcher, a
Pollock and Ben Jonson. Then the
dreamer sees these modern authors
pastng together the verbatim excerpts
and the stolen leaves into new vol
umes and printing their own names
upon the title pages. These literary
piracies continue until at last the cry
of 'ThievesI Thievesp' Is raised Then
there is great hubbub and scurrying
among the modern authors because the
ancient writers whose faces and bodies
are pictured within the quaint. old
fashioned frames hanging upon the
walls OK the British museum are
changed into flesh and blood, ready to
snatch the new books out of the hands
or the kfdnapers aud to claim them as
the ofsprings of their own brain. some
or them born centuries upon centuries
ago.
The obvious moral of the imaginative
tale is that there is nothing new under
the SUM- No man, woman or child, no
matter how intelligent, can ever lsy
claim to true originality. We are all.
physically and mentally, as well as
spiritually, reproductions OF other
lives We are all combinations of other
peoples thoughts and desires and ac-
IONS, even as the walls OF an ancient
palace are often huge mosaics OF many
oinerent stones cut from many diff
terent Quarries. While many have
contributed to make us what we are.
the largest contribution is the maternal
one How much of all that is good and
pure In our nature do we owe to our
mothersI How much of all the peace
ana comfort we have enjoyed do we
owe to their wise and loving ministry
1t is this fact. which we all recognize,
that the prophet uses TO impress on us
the love and kindness of God No
smile could he have used so effective
as that in my text, "As one whom his
mother comforteth."
Tho Christian Mother.
The words of my text have for many
or us very tender and reverent appli-
cation. The greatest lessons OF q sac
ribcing and a forgiving love have been
learned by most Of US from the now ST.
lent lips OF our Christian mothers
Though your mother may have been
dead for ten or twenty years. yet YOU
remember as though 1t were yesterday
how tenderly she cared for you when
you were a little child. You remember
how she nursed you through that long
MT or sickness when you were about
fifteen, and every time she left the
room you would call: Mother, motherl
Where Is motherr You well remem-
Der how she placed her hand upon
your shoulder and looked long and
earnestly into your eyes the day you
left for the great city or college, as
though she were trying to make up her
mind whether she could trust you
away from home. You also remember
how, when n man grown. you had that
great trouble in life, and your chief
desire was TO get back to the old home
stead and tell mother. And, alas, YOU
well remember the dark day when YOU
carried her out TO gently let her body
down into the open grave, when you
laid her away to sleep among the
spring flowers or when you covered
her up under the soft quilt OF spotless
snow, the purcst, gentlest, noblest.
most forgiving and helpful OF human
companions was forever taken from
your side. Remembering all this love
ana devotion, we realize the force of
the metaphor which Isaiah, the proph-
CT, uses when, seeking to show how
tenderly God loves and cares for his
children, he takes the gentle, maternal
influence which has done SO much to
develop our physical and mental and
spiritual life and says. "As one whom
his mother comforteth, so will l COM
fort you"
The Divine Being shows the love of
mother in wanting to be the COM
forter or all the young folks who are
preparing for the great struggle of
life. The mother wants to be the In
spring friend OF her boys and girls
during the long years or immaturity,
when the world at large is sneering at
them and laughing at their ambitions,
as though they were the mere out |
growths or n foolish and a visionary
brain. She wants to be the friend of |
the young men and the young women |
during those school days when they |
have no earning capacity and when |
they are entirely dependent upon |
sthers for financial support The strug- |
gle or life even under the best condi- |
tons Is hard one. but that strug-
gle does not commence. as some /
people suppose. when the young man
stands with diploma In hand on the |
graduating day from school or college. |
1t commences away back In the "earlv
teens. 1t commences with the young
girls failure who is trying for the |
prize In the schoolroom. 1t commences
with the disappointments of the play
ground. 1t commences with those lit
tie youthful sorrows and trials which |
the boy and the girl can tell to no one
but mother. Yes. the mothers comfort
which is given TO the young folks is
an all important comfort. 1t is such a
necessary comfort that many of us,
when we were young, often could not go
to sleep because of our weeping until
we heard her foot moving across our
bedroom floor and felt her gentle hand
upon our cheek and heard her soft
voice saying: Never mind, my boy,
1t Will come out all right. / will speak
To your papa about the matter, and 1
know he will let us do what you want"
God pity the man who never had the
gentle influence of comforting mother
during the days OF childhood or of