Milford chronicle., 1903-10-16
TALMACE
I SERMON
-
by Rev.
FRANK DE WITT TALMAGE, DID,,
Pastor Of Jefferson Park Presby.
. terrain Church. ChisAso
sss,s= ps,

greater than John the Baptist"
Great men, great events and grea
epochs grow bigger and more colossa
as the years pass away from them.
once wrote the b!ogr@phpr Of ROber
Burns. Like the mountain shadow.
they increase in size AMI their reputa
tions lengthen in Importance as the
sun of their day sets and the long
night of their rest separates us from
them. Like the NEUROLOGICAL heroes
and herolnes of old. their leaders brows
become luminous with crowns of gold
Abraham Lincoln dead is Il great deal
more honored man than Abraham Lin
coin alive. When Edwin NJ. Stanton
turned to the sorrowful group of
friends who had gathered about the
deathbed Of the famous statesman and
said, we must now leave him to the
ages even the firm iawed secretary Of
war did not realize how great a man
the ages would consider his chief to be.
No cathedral impresses us so much as
the venerable pile that is covered with
moss and creeping ivy. Man is seldom
called great and truly great until he
has been dead at least twenty years.
But standing today under the length
ening shadows Of many great reputa-
tions these imminent questions natural
ly arise in many minds: What is true
greatness? What are the elements
which distinguish the truly noble from
the merely selfishly famous? Was Jay
a In &c 4
no one man or collection of men were
more feared in Wall street than he.
He was truly Napoleon Of finance"
a Napoleon with thisNO one difference
that Jay Gould never met his Water
loo. He was never compelled to sur
render, as did Daniel Drew and Cyrus
Field and hosts of other tinanciers who
were outmunipulated by this arch
financial manipulation.
Stamped With Divine Approval.
Can Napoleon himself truly be called
a great man. great in all the elements
which go to make up true greatness?
When his companion in arms, Marshal
Lannes. was shot on the fatal retreat
from Moscow. he called the emperor
to his side and said: Your majesty, | /
am your friend. | am dying. and this 1
is my parting advice: Give up your
merciless ambitions. or they will ruin
you, as they have already ruined thou /
sands of others" Did not the dying
soldier picture the French emperor as .
he was? With the penetration that
often comes TO the dying he saw be-
meath the splendor and grandeur Of tile
conquerOr Il man mean of soul. selfish
aud unscrupuloIs. Can Robert Burns,
so morally weak that he was the vic
tim Of intemporunCe, be called a truly
great man! Lord Byron. the licentlous
destroyer; or Thomas DE Quincy. the
opium eater; or Mark Antony. the trai-
tor; or Cicero, the coward or Lord Ba.
con. the taker of bribes-can they be
called truly great men?
Well you say instead Of picking
flaws in tie reTdta tons of men of
commanding genius. tell US who is
ruly great man. Give us one whose
character is stamped with the divine
approval. Describe such one. that
We may copy his life" That will do.
ny friend. and do gladly. Such char
cter is to be found in John the Bap-
ist Though we may 90 into the rich
st Of all palaces and stand upon the
most famous of all battlehplds and 4,
cad the epitaphs of all the poets. phi :
)Sophers. statesmen. inventors, reform
IS. we cannot find anywhere in any
eneratiOn up TO the time of Jesus r
hrist name standing so high as his. y
whom Jesus said. Verify. verify. q
ny unto you. among them that are +
JrC of women there hath not risen a u
reu.r than John the Baptist. not +
outstanding lie that is least in the II
insdJE cf heaven is greater than he" n
John the BaptIst's Glory. q
The purpose Of this sermon is to n
low why John the Baptist was great r
than all other men before Christ's G
'rdanic baptism - John the Baptist ci
'eat. although he was so poor that f,
s home was among the rocks and .,
nds of the wilderness. lying be- NJ
Teen the capital and the Dead sea; n
poor that his only garments were II
NCetaAS SAtu VI AAE Mflu UGuSL, nj
rough the holes Of which stretched II,
5 long limbs and hairy chest: so poor IN
at his only food was the grasshop- h,
rs or locusts and the honey which m
d been hidden by the bees among ep
2 caverns and the hills. or
from the worlds standpoint this is s.,
strange portrait Of grent man. But ey
W wonderful is its setting The ia he
ID portrait was Of gold face with di
liver frame, but the portrait Of John TO
: Baptist is Il silver face with n gold %
,me. Like ruby glowing red It is M
in circle of most precious dia- Of
,nds, Like a mirror OF FURNISHED ev
lss. PURE and spotless it reflects the ur
BIT of a rising sun. 1t was John the so
ptist's glory that he was the har- Sc
lger Of a greater than himself. AS so
direct forerunner Of the Son Of God m
came at the supreme crisis Of the an
rld's history. His name was thus &C
Sed with the most mOmentOus Of all Of
,nts and derives a 1luster from the In
Inection. Thore seems to be nat A,
4 Iarv that Qrpuf men should ALWAYS a.,