Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1903-10-16
TALMAGE
SERMON
BY. Rev.
FRANK DE- WITT TALNAcE. DID,.
PASTOR Of jefferson Park Freshly
terrain ChEsSh. Chicago


Of greatness and shows the character
OF the training and preparation neces-
sary for true greatness. The text is
Matthew xi. II. There hath not fisen
q greater than John the Baptist"
Great men. great events and great
epochs grow bigger and more colossal
as the years pass away from them"
once wrote the biographer of Robert
Burns. Like the mountain shadows
they increase in size and their reputa-
tons lengthen in Importance as the
sun OF their day sets and the long
night OF their rest separates ms from
them. Like the neurological heroes
and beroines of old, their leaders brows
become luminous with crowns of gold.
Abraham Lincoln dead is great decS
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. 1--WE must now leave him to the
ages," even the firm Jawed secretary OF
war did not realize how great n man
the ages would consider his chief 10 be.
No cathedral. impresses as so much as
Nut No9tldDtS phC II NVNNiNo " nm
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 teputa-
sions these imminent questions natural
~ arise In many minds: What is true
,Grsatness3 What are the elements
which distinguish the truly noble from
the merely sel6shlS famous2 Was Jay
Gould trsils q great Inanf In his day
mo one man or collection Of men were
more feared in Wall street than he.
Ne was truly Napoleon of finance"
q Napoleon with this one difference
that Jay Gould never met bis Water
loo. He was never compelled TO sur
render, as did Daniel Drew and Cyrus
Field and hosts Of other ananciers who
~ere outmsnipulated by this arch
financial manipuIetor.
Stamped with Divine Approval
Can Nnpoleoa binsGf truly be called
a xseht Inss. great In all the sieTueits
wb*ss 20 10 se4sss No true E-eatnessl
Wfssa hs ss.ssa aloa n srzas, Marshal
Laa.as. was sast "a UA fasni retrest
from Hososw. M ceitsd TIE emperor
60 his side and said: "Your majesty.
am your friend. l em dying. and this
Is my parting advice: Give up your
merciless ambitions. or they WILL ruin
you. ss they have already ruined thou
sands OF others" DID not the dying
soldier picture the French emperor as
he wesf With the penetration that
often comes to the dying he saw be
meath the splcDdor and grandeur of the
conqueror man mean of soul. selfish
md interruptions Can Robert Burns
90 morally weak that he was the vie
xim OF intempcrance, be called n truly
great Danf Lord Byron. the liccntioug
destroyer; or Thomas De Quincy. the
opium cater; or Mark Antony. the trail
tor; or Cicero. the coward; or Lord Ba-
son. the takcr OF bribes-can they be
called truly great men?
f~Woll," you say, instead of picking
Claws In the regulations OF men of
commanding genius. tell us who Is
truly a great man. Give us one whose
character il stamped with the divine
approval. Describe such one. that
We may copy his life" That will do.
my friend. and do gladly. Such char
meter Is 70 be found in John the Bap-
ost. Though we may go into the rich
est OF NIL palaces and stand upon the
most famous OF all buttlefelds and
read the cpitnphs OF all the poets. phi
Sosophers, statesmen, inventors. reform
era, We cannot find anywhere I'm any
generation up 10 the time OF Jesus
Christ name standing SO high as his.
or whom Jesus said. Verify, verify, l
vraal.
born OF women there hath not yisen n
greater than John the Baptist, not
withdrawing he that is least in the
Kingdom OF heaven is greater than be-"
.ss John the Daptists GLORY.
The purpose OF this sermon is to
show why John the Baptist was great
er. than oil other men before Christs
Jordanic baptism - john the Baptist
great, although he was so poor that
his home was among the rocks and
sands or the wilderness, lying be-
tween the capital and the Dead sea:
90 poor that his only garments were
the coarse skin OF 4 the wild beast.
through the holes OF which stretched
MS long limbs and hairy chest; so poor
that his only food was the grasshop-
lpers lor locusts and the honey which
had been hidden by the bees among
the Governs and the hills.
From the worlds standpoint this In
strange portrait of q great man. But
DOW wonderful is its setting The ia
Died portrait was OF gold face with
silver frame. but the portrait OF John
the Baptist Is a silver face with gold
frame. Like ruby glowing red it is
set In q circle OF most precious dIa.
.tnonds. Like a mirror OF FURNISHED
brass. pure and spotless, it reflects the
light OF rising sun. 1t was John the
Baptists glory that he was the har-
Oinger OF greater than himself. As
the direct forerunner OF the Son of God
ne came at the supreme crisis Of the
worlds hIstery. His name was thus
linked with the most mopentous of all
events and derives O luster from the
connection. There seems 10 be a not
curai law thai great men should always
- AsattSs< With great events.
z comedians arest esents co not CD
portnaAas Sssdece the right kind az
men for beth cunaicting sides. After
ahe famons battle OF BleahcIm, when
me Qnke o. Marlborough had COM
piefely routed tie forces OF the-French
kint, the copGueror saw among the
prisoners stalwart grenadier, who.
though a captive. @as still an unsub-
dued enemy. 'Ah." said the duke. III
Loyss XIV. had had hundred thou
sand such men as you the results OF this
battle might have been different" With
that the French soldier ssluted the
English commander as he politely said.
It's not hundred thousand grena-
oilers such as / the French king needs.
my general. but just one such military
commander as you" But, though great
events do not always produce for every
army a Marlborough, yet great men
are produced only by great occasions.
Great thoughts are born only amid the
ferVes and convulsions OF great agonies.
Great hopes are only the rainbowed
coiors arching the dark heavens, black
with angry tempests.
Training For Greatness.