The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-11-22
DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
BY THE REV. FRANK DE WITT TALMAcE. D. D.

Chicago, November 15.-In this sermon the preacher makes a plea for the ob- servance and practice of Christian cour- tesles and of the minor virtues that go very far toward making up the sum of individual human character. The text IS zechariah iv, 10, "Who hath despised the day of small things?'
 The worlds favorite monoole is the tel escope We admire objects for many diff ferent reasons. One of the chief is their bigness Every tourist wants to see Nj. agara falls. It is the biggest of all falls. And Mount Everest, It is the highest of all mountains. And Kilauea, because that volcano has the largest crater in the world We would ascend the Eiffel tower. It is higher than any other tower. And we would circle the Ferris wheel because it is larger than any of the other wheels. The human race, conscious that it is finite aspires to explore the infinite. It's conception of the sublime is not the dwarf. but the giant
 But, though tremendous bulk or magni- tude or hugeness or immensity has for the human eye an awe inspiring fascina- tion yet today l want to point out some seeming insignifcances which are more essential for the worlds peace and har- mony than was the Colossus of Rhodes, or the hanging gardens of Babylon or the temple of Diana at Ephesus, or the pal ace of Cyrus, cemented with gold, or any of the other seven wonders of the world. 1 find that, though my watch has its large wheels and bars and regulating hand and handspring and adamantine jewels. yet it has also it's little screws and little wheels and little cogs and lit- tie pegs, which the jeweler has to study under the clarifying eye of the magni- flying glass 1 also find that the absence perhaps of one of these little screws or cogs might stop the whole machinery of my watch surely as if I should snap the handspring.
 Vita. Essentials.
 Seeming insignifcanees may be vital essentials. Some years ago when crossing the Atlantic ocean, the companion with whom l was travelling one day suddenly flung open my stateroom door and cried: Come on deck! Something has happened to the ship.' When I arrived on deck found scores and hundreds of passengers excitedly watching the strange move ments of the ships course. Instead of
 
 around to the right in a perfect circle Just then an officer passed and | asked: What is the matter lieutenant? Is the rudder broken?' "Oh, mo- said he. We are merely testing a new compass. In order to find out whether it is perfect we had to wait until we were far away from the magnetic effect of rocks and land. Those influences may not seem to be much, but they may entirely defect the of purf 1la Maf years ago large ship was wrecked be- cause a small piece of steel from the point of a knife was driven into the wood near it's compass box and made the compass finger a false guide.
 Thus my friends. I would take for my theme today the Small Essentials" of life. I would try to show you that many of the seeming insignificances and the despsed monads are pregnant with large broods of influences, every one of which will have large progenies. cholera germ may be so small that it is not visi- ble to the naked eye. If. however, it is let alone in it's work of devastation 1t can soon crowd the wards of the county hos pital with invalids and keep the under takers wagons busy by day as well as the nurses busy by night. l ask the striking question which Zechariah put in times of old, who hath despised the day of small things?"
 Personal Apparel.
 Small essentials the first: Appropriate ness and neatness of personal apparel approateness and neatness in reference to the coat a man wears upon his back. and to the shoes on his feet, and especially in reference to the cleanliness of the linen he wears about his neck. and to the mod esty with which he is attired in public. God would never have condemned the "cauls and the chains and the bracelets and the ruffes and bonnets and the orna- ments of the legs and the headbands and the tablets and the errings and the nose jewels and the changeable suits of ap- parel and the mantles and the wimples and the crisping pins and the glasse and the fine linen and the hoods and the veils'' of the naughty daughters of Zion, "who walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes. walking and mncing as they go, and making tinklng with their feet" unless there was a direct connec- tion between a mans inner character and his "Sartor Resartus," or "Philosophy of Clothes.'' Paul would never have com manded the women of the Corinthian church to veil themselves in public as- semblage if he had not been convinced that q womans S disregard of the social customs of the country and the time i'm piled a lack of modesty and purity. There is there must be- an unbreakable splr- l itual link binding a mans personal ap- | parel and his heart" Cleanliness is next | to godlness'' is a trenchant statement not l found in holy writ, but the substance of 1 it's teachings is certainly found within 1 the leaves of the Holy Bible The elab- 1 crate directions which God gave to the 1 Israelites for careful and frequent ablu- tons of the body and the clothes snow that he is not indifferent to the cleanli- ness of those who come into his presence We have, therefore, right to doubt whether a person who is in public chron-