Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1902-12-29
TALMAGE
SERMON
By Rev.
FRANK DE WITT TALMAGE. DID,.
Pastor of jefferson Park Presby-
terrain Church, Chicago

discourse on the text Isaiah xl, IL, HE
shall gather the lambs with his arm
and carry them in his bosom and shall
gently lead those that are with young"
What does the empty cradle" of this
mornings theme mean? Does it mean
that the babies who once played in our
nurseries have grown up into big boys
and girls, who rush away every morn
Ing from the breakfast table to be in
time to answer the call Of the school
bell? Does it mean that our children
have become young men and women
and left the old homestead to go forth
into the great battle of life? Oh, no.
This morning l am going to preach up
on the little white cradle which has
been emptied in order to fill up the lit
tie white casket. l am going to tell
why Jesus, as the Good Shepherd, Of
ten comes into the homes and gathers
the little lambs into his arms and car
ries them into the green pastures of
heaven. We know he has always cared
for them, as my text asserts, while
they still remained with us upon earth,
but not till they reach heaven can they
realize his perfect love.
Did you ever stop to think that the
vast majority of the human race die in
childhood and that over one-third die
In infancy before the fourth year has
been reached? Only the other day /
preached a funeral sermon in the house
of q dear friend in which lay little
I-DA i,rr into
the face of the little boy, whom l had
welcomed into the world and whom l
had also baptized, a sympathetic friend
said: "Oh, Mr.. Talmage. this is awfully
hard to bear! | know what it means to
have the Divine Gardener come and
pluck the blossoms out of the nursery.
have had seven children during my
life; six of them are dead. Only one
boy is alive of them ALL" AS left that
home of mourning and stood upon the
street waiting for the pallbearers to
place their precious burden i'll the white
hearse by conversation | found out
that the two mothers who were then
standing nearest to my side each had
two nurseries. The one nursery was
for their living children within the four
walls Of the home. The second nursery
was for their dead children within the
four sides Of the family plot.
Balm For SorrowinG Hearts.
Now. my friends. what is the mean
ing of this wholesale emigration of our
little ones to the heavenly shore? Are
the life and the death of the majority
of children failure? Is the empty
cradle so empty that it can hold Cor us
no inspiring lesson Of good cheer, or is
Christ today gathering the lambs into
his arms and carrying them in his bos
ON SO that he can the more safely lead
the bcreaved parents along the thorny
and dangerous pathways Of an earthly
journey TO the glorious destination pre-
pared fer them ahead? The nargina
notes of my Bible affirm that this por
ton of my text may mean that thu
Good Shepherd may he carrying the lit
tie lambs in his bosom to the green pas
lures of heaven so that the mothe
sheep, with Llcat and cry, will follow
more unxiOusly and closely after tn
Divire Master SO today | preach t
thousands Of sorrowing hearts. | wan
to tell them why their dead childrel
were born and also why God does no
let tho vast majority of the human rae
grow old and with bedimmed eyesigh
zee the twilight Of threescOre years an
ten.
The empty cradle can be the sacre
hearthstone of a purified matrimonii
love. II can be the holy covenants
ark, the cherubim of which are mad
out OF far more valuable material tina
those which were once nodded out {
melted gold. These new cherubim ma
be the spiritual bodies of our redeeme
children, who are lowering over us
perpetual benediction. 1t may be Il
trysting place where tired and car
worn men and women meet again
talk over the sweet memories of Il
past. H .ar so a..l-
Some people do not believe this. Th'
skeptically assert that cradle. full i
no, is wedge which drives fathe
and mothers apart rather than gold'
link of love which clasps parental hea
to parental heart. Lately Il very de
family friend. who had been wife f
many years. but not mother, told
that she really believed her husbal
and herself were more dependent up
each other and therefore loved ca
other the more because they had
children. Oaly laughed at her. ''Wh.
l said. when you attempt to talk til
way you are like a blind man feeli
his way along the streets with sta
going step by step. who thinks lie
getting along all right and who is
tempting TO prove that the sunlight
useless merely because he has me-
seen Il sunrise or u sunset. having bt
born blind" Every true father kno
that he never loved his wife as mi
the day before his first baby was b.
as the day after. Every true fat
knows that the happjest moment of
life WIS not the day he held his brio