The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-03-01
DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.



 1 light sinks away into the twilight after the glowing sunset has covered the clouds.
 Goodness, Not BrilIanee Needed.
 What the world most needs today is not brilliant men, but good men, not men with the scintillatlng genius of Aaron Burr. but men with the goodness of q | Father Washington. The world does not need an orator. who can make a brilliant | speech and then with a absolute private life repudiate all the noble sentiments he enunciated in that speech. But the world does need good men-men who are hon orable in their homes, men who are honor able in their business dealings men who are conscientiously faithful in every duty | of life which confronts them. When the tidings of Bunker Hill were carried to 1 Washington, he anxiousy asked the cour- 1 Ter this question: Did the militia fight well?" When told that they did, he re- piled, Then the liberties of the country are safe" That principle is our ground of hope today. On this national birth We re-echo Washingtons, words and declare l that "the liberties of the country are safe" when its citizens from the humblest to the greatest, are good men doing their respective duties well. It was in Wash l ington's genius of character" that We find his greatest element of strength. George Washington was a well rounded 1 man. That means, in ordinary, everyday language he was a good man wherever , you study him.
 George Washington was ready to sacr1- flee his all for American liberty I do not suppose he was any more willing to sacrifice his all than thousands and tens 1 of thousands of other men. But the sim pie fact was that George Washington had l more to sacrifice than almost any other l ha vo body. He had to give up all the endear- ] ments of his Virginia plantation life. The l glory of war and the pride of statesman l ship never appealed to him, as they often do to the selfish ambition of the modern politician. How pitiful," he once wrote | to friend, "ln this age of reason and religion, Is that false ambition which des- plates the world with fire and sword for l the purpose of conquest and fame hope to spend the remainder of my life In cultivating the affections of good men and in the practice of domestic virtues.' But though George Washington was es- l sentially home man, and loved his own l fireside above all thronerooms, yet at the call of duty he sacrificed his life's desire and drew his sword as the commander of the American armies.
 Washington's Great Sacrifices.
 The sacrifice of his ease and comfort was not the only sacrifice he was willing to make. When he became commander of the American armies he placed his head and life in jeopardy in more ways than one. When the Declaration of Inde- pendence was being signed in Independ- ence Hall, Benjamin Franklin, l think it was, turned to some of his colleagues and | said, We must all hang together now or else we shall hang separately" That was figure of speech that may not have been true of every sgner of the Declara- tion, but it would certainly have been true of the man who was rightly regarded as the head and front of the revolt. If the revolution of 1776 had failed, whoever l escaped George Washington, as the lead CT of the American armies, would have been shot or hung or decapitated. As the | greatest leader of that time, he would have had to lay down his life as a warn 1 ing to all future conspirators. Washing ton not only ran the risk of the battle 1 field, but also the risk of the execution 1 CTS ax
 George Washington placed his property | also in jeopardy. His wife was not only rich In her own right, but Washington himself was considered one of the wealth. fest men in all America. I have seen 1t stated that he was worth at the time Of his death over $750,0OO That, of course was a fabulous fortune in his day. Yet | Washington was ready to sacrifice all he | owned as well as his peace of mind and his head upon the altar of principle if America could only be free.
 When a great crisis comes. are you and 1 1 similarly ready to make a sacrifice for | principles sake? When we see might triumph over right and injustice over l justice, are we ready to say: Here Is my life. Here is my property. Here is the property of my loved ones. I stake everything in the struggle which 1 wage to make all men free?" Have we the same faith in a Divine Providence as George Washington had? Are we as true to principle as he. as ready as he to put liberty, property and life itself in peril for the sake of right? Do we feel it is better to die right than to live wrong?
 l George Washington was also steadfast | though he had to battle against and over | come the mismanagement of the Ameri- | can statesmen and the jeaousies of his own generals. Some people think that the only battles Washington had to fight were against the English and Hessian soldiers. George Washington was not al- ways first in the hearts of his country men' as he was first in war and first in peace. No sooner was he placed in com mand than his enemies at home began to l conspire against him. After the capture of Fort Washington by the British those home enemies tried to wrest the com manders sword out of George Washing l tons hand and give it to Major General Charles Lee. When Burgoyne surrender | ed to Horatio Gates at Saratoga the Conway cabal' tried to supplant the old leader with this new conqueror from l the north
 l Not only did Washington have to con-