Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1903-12-05
BY Rev.
FRANK De WITT TALMACE. DID.
Pastor cf tc'fe,scn PAIL presby-
t:.iAn Church. Chicago

FRANK De WITT TALMACE. D.D. Y
Pastor oi tc''e,scn PAIL presby-
t:.An Church. Chicago
Chicago. Nov. 20.-ln this sermon tllI
preacher takes us into the forests ana
from the life and death OF the wood
land monarchs draws an eloquent les
son that il rich in natural beauty am
full Of spiritual helpfulness. The ter
is Ecclesastes II. ,. "ln the place wher'
the tree fallp;h there 1t shall be-"
Every Intelligent student has beei
impressed with the incxorable sc
quences OF natural caug'~ If MAI
should allow his rowboat be pusheC
out into the middle Of t, roaring
rushing river which hngs II elf owe.
Niagara falls. no human power OF
earth could save him Why? The hn
man arm is not powerful enough e
stem that awful current. The OnSween
ing rush of death is stronger than tlit
would be rescucr's will. If man
standing upon the top of the Eifiei
tower in Paris should leap from IL;
summit. his body wou.d be whirlcd
round and round until it was at lnSl
dashed into man-.cd heap OF I'M
recognizable flesh when ii struck tire
earth below. Why? The attraction OF
gravitation which dragged that body
down could not be overcome by the
vibrating arm as II is 10y the wings OF
a bird, which. launched from such Il
height, could arrest its fall in midair
and fly higher and higher until it dis
appeared into the blue sky of the heav-
ems dome. There is an inevitable Sc
quence in natures laws. There is \
natural sequence in spiritual laws. II
a man plants the right seed for snir-
itual harvest. he will reap IL spiritual
harvest. If he plants sinful seeds. he
shall reap q sinful harvest. Further
more, by the same kind Of reasoning.
after a mans earthly l.fe's work Is
done, whether it be well or badly Gone.
1t is done forever. 1t is like IL tree
which has fallen to the north or to the
south. "In the place where the tree
falleth there it shall be-"
The study of Trees.
I am going to use for my pulpit the
trunk of d fallen tree upon which. we
have rested in our wanderings through
the woods. | do not care whether this
tree lies upon the steep mountain side
covered with moss and creeping ivy.
whether it spans some brook or wheth-
er it lies at the foot Of u great precipice
over which it has tumbled. The only
thing l do care about is that this trunk
should have fallen Of its own accord.
BY that | mean it has not been cut
down by a woodman's ak. When we
study the laws of nature as symbols Of
the spiritual life we must study them
in their simplicity. We must stucs
them as nature was studied by Kini;
Solomon, who evidently spent as much
time roaming over the Judean hills as
he did in the Jerusalem palace.
A tree may live to be very old; but
after all, there must come time when
the trees life shall cease to exist
Then, after it totters and falls, it is al
ways d dead tree. What has been done
by that tree has been done forever.
Some trees have been known to live
100, 500, 1000 and some are even sup
posed to have lived 5000 years. DR..
Adamson has declared that the baobab
tree of Africa sometimes lives to be
5000 years old. The explorer De Can
dole has estimated that the Taxdium
distichum lives even to greater age
than that. A trees age can be est-
mated by saving the trunk in two and
counting the rings that are found in
the wood, every ring representing
year. But, though the tree may live
5000 years or even longer, there comes
q time when that tree must fall. Then
a fallen tree is always q dead tree. So
there must come time when a mans
earthly life is done, and it is done for
ever. "In the place where the tree
falleth there it shall be-"
A Startling Thought.
Is it not a startling thought that aft
er a mans heart once ceases to beat he
cannot change anything in his past
life? Is it not a startling thought that
a man who Is president of the United
States. with an army and navy and
fifty millions of people back Of him, as
Abraham Lincoln had, can within
few hours be cold corpse and unable
to utter word? One night sitting In
Fords theater: short time afterward
with Edwin Stanton bending over him
and saying "He is gone; we must leave
his work to be judged by the CEN
turiesw Is it not an overwhelming fact
that man with all the mental powers
Of q Gladstone cannot arrange his pa
pers after be is once dead. but had to
leave them all to his literary executor?
Oh, how cften we have heard this SEN
tence in q house where there has lately
been O sad funeral: If | could only
bring him back for rev moments 10
ask him what he would like me to do
about this matter" But the fallen tree
is a dead tree. What that tree has
done is done forever and can never be
undone. What has been left undone Is
left undone forever.
A dying mans last gasp is even more
significant and overwhelming than a
newborn baby's first cry. One is the
rising, the other the setting, sun. The
one is the FIRST word Of story which
Is about to be told and may be told
we'll; the other is the last word Of the
last sentence of the last page. when
the story is ended. One is the reveille
the call to arms; the other Is