Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1903-01-26
TALMAGE
SERMON
By Rev.
FRANK DE WITT TALMAGE. DID,.
Pastor Of Jefferson Park Presby-
terrain Church, Chicago

Chicago. Jan. 1S.-Many people who
are passing through n period of trouble
may obtain consolation and encourage
rRcnt from the doctrine Rev. f. De
Witt Talmage teaches In the following
sermon ON the text Matthew xiv, %,
Jesus constrained his disciples to get
into ship"
There II Is See! Yonder is the disci.
pies boat, tossed about on the waves
of Lake Galsee. Those men seem to
De In as critical n situation as was the
captain OF an Atlantic coal barge some
time ago The barge had been caught
I'm a storm and was sinking under his
feet. The captain signaled TO the tug.
Then. as II drew near he picked up
first one and then another of his little
children. He raised them above his
head and hurled them through the air
into the arms Of the rescuers. Then he
turned and fastened n rope, thrown to
him from the tug. around the waist Of
his wife and another around his own
waist. and both leapcd into the sea.
Two minutes after he and his wife had
been dragged into the rescuing boat
his own coal barge made plunge and
disappeared. Every moment the disci-
pies like that captain, expected their
boat TO founder. Some of them were
veteran fishermen, yet they had given
up all hope of ever reaching land again.
The danger of drowning in Lake Gal
lice was not the only danger, nor indeed
the greatest danger, which threatened
the disciples. They were in spiritual
danger. Having seen Jesus only few
hours before feed a multitude of 5000
persons with five loaves and a few fish
cs. they had lost sight Of his spiritual
mission and were about to hail him as
n temporal leader. Like the multitudes
which had been fed. they began to
whisper among themselves: why not
make Christ our king? Such a miracle
working leader as this could not only
feed us and clothc us without any work
upon our part. but he also could liber-
ate us from Roman tyranny and be to
us another Moses, another Joshua or
another David" In order TO counter
act this design of making him merely
temporal king. which would have
brought him into collision with the
Roman power and have degraded his
mission into mere insurrectiOn, he
determined To teach the disciples their
weakness and helplessness. He com
pelled them to launch their boat and
enter into fearful combat of at least
ten long hours with the Galilean tenn
pest So In order to compel you and
me to look away from our worldly in
terests, which are absorbing our
thoughts and desires, and lead us tc
seek frOG him the higher spiritual
BLESSINGS he has to bestow God clouds
our skies and brings upon us tidal
wave Of crushing disaster. that we may
he driven to climb into his loving, pro
tecting arms.
Tie dark. tempestuous nights of re
ligious persecution have often been, II
Gods sight. the brightest and the mos
blessed of sunshiny days for thu
church. 1t was by having his eyes tenn
porarily blinded that Paul gained spir
ituGl sight. II was by being lowered
in basket by few friends over TIT
Damascus wall in order to escape tn
murdorers dagger that Paul was Sc
free to embark on his missionary ca
reer. 1t was by exile to a lonely islam,
of the Mediterranean that John wa
enabled to sec his marvellous apOcalyp
tic visions 1t was not until Rome ha'
been burned by the bloody Nero, VIII
laughed and fiddled while the conlia
grafton ragged; not until the Christian
had suffered under the false charge O
being the incendiaries. that the churc
was purified and fully launched on ii
great evangelistic work. 1t was whe
Martin Luther had to face the diet c
Worms and had been imprisoned fC
months in the Wartburg that the refo
nation was started When the pilgril
fathers ON account of religious perS
Cution had to leave England. then I'll
first foundation stone of Christia
America was laid. And in no time {
church history can you find that gre;
religious awakening has occurred or
great religious leader has come fort
without the previous roar of the Ga
lean tempest. as ii yawned TO destrC
the church and engulf Christian faith
Purity Through Persecution.
Some time a-o heard great mini
ter of our country developing til
thought In part. he said. The reas'
we DO not have SavOnarolas and Jol
HnOxes and John HusSes in the preSe
day is because we do not have the 4
cicnt prosecutions which purified 81
CnnublcJ tue ancient church. Sol
people are foolish enough to suppo
that the b'St and greatest day of I
early Christian church was when I
Emperor Constantine Joined the chur
with the state and had thousands up
thousands 81 his subjects baptized
the priests iu the different rivers. Il
/ want 60 tell you that when ConSta
tine joiued the church with the sta