Milford chronicle., 1903-09-25
TALMlAGE
I SERMON
.
Ey Rev.
FRANK DE WITT TALMAGE. DID,,
Pastor Of Jefferson Park rresby-
=. teriAa Church. Chicago

up their tasks in our schools. colleges
and universities. many of them for
the first time, this sermon is peculiarly
and widely appropriate The text is
Matthew Xi. 20. Learn of me-"
The school-house is the great reser-
vOir in which are collected the Streams
of knowledge which have flowed down
from TIE agcs. II is the p.a1o whore
scholars can climb upon the broad
shoulders Of tie intellectual giants Of
the past and the present and see as
far as they have seen, because those
shoulders are lifting those students
heads toward the stars. 1t is the
place in which man is taught how to
harness the winds and lassO the cleo
tricity and tap the oil wells and con-
tribute to the common wealth and de-
velOpment of his brother man, so that
all working together may cause the
desert to blossom as the rose" What
is the cause of all those fine farms. big
barns and immense granaries? Why
this thrift and prosperity every
where?" l once asked Pennsylvania
farmer when bicycling through Lam
caster county. The schOOl-hOuse," he
replied You cannot go anywhere
in this part of the state without find
ing the public schOol-house at almost
every crossroads and the small college
in almost every town of any size"
What is the cause of your dilapidated
farms and the slOthfulness and filth l
see everywhere around me?" / asked
another farmer that same spring in a
region a few hundred miles from the
one the prosperity Of which prompted
my first question. ITO the absence Of
the school-house," was the answer.
Most of our people are ignorant and
uneducated What is more, most Of
our people do not want to learn;
neither do they wish their children to
learn" Against such a wall of oppO-
sitiOn as that 1t is almost impossible
for intellectual progress to make any
true headway.
A Representative Term.
We would eulOgize that compound
word OF eleven letters called the
"school-hOuse." But, after all, the
"schoOl-hOuse" is merely a representa- |
tive term. Its true value is not in the !
intrinsic worth of the bricks and
stones and wood which compose its
buildings; it is in the spiritual and in
tellectual worth of the men and the
women who stand behind its teachers
desks. Students from far and near
came to sit at the feet of Hillel and
his famous grandson Gamaliel, al
though for the most part those teachers
had no buildings Of any worth. Plato
was the disciple Of Socrates and the
teacher Of Aristotle. who is the founder
of the academic school famous the
world round. yet for the most part
these men had the street corners for
their clHssrooms and the hillsides for
their laboratories. They were poor in
pocket, though rich in brains. The
name Of Thomas Arnold has given
Rugby its greatest fame. The name of
Eliphalet Mott is the most priceless
heritage Union college at Schenectady
ever received. The name of Mark
is of more value to williams
college than an endowment of $5,0OO,-
900 could ever be. With my own eyes,
as student. | saw that great educator,
then eighty-four years of age. leaving
our college town to attend the Harvard
Seated upon the rostrum
ut Harvard on that great occasion
were the president Of the United States
and senator's and governors and leaders
In the various walks Of life. But when
Mark Hopkins. old Williams pride,
slowly ascended the platform the whole
audience rose en- masse and bowed.
That homage was tribute to the fact
that the skilled workman is greater
than his factory; that the teacher is OF
more importance than the schoOl-house
In which he stands.
The Divine Teacher is our theme. II
We have not yet learned the value Of
lesus Christ rs an instructor. then let
Is lear3 It now in the command of my :
ext Jesus in these three words re-
,orded in Matthew emphasizes the
great fact that from him. and him
llone, we can learn the gospel lessons
We ought to learn. Thus today would
srasp the ropes Of the village school
lOuse and the city church bells as the
'OlleBe seAtou nOiub DIS Deli rope, anu
ia l pull and the church bells swing
backward and forward and the silver
totes Of these bells go echolng down
he valleys until they plunge up against
he sounding boards Of the hills would
ry as a gospel minister: "COme to
choOl! Come to school! All ye who
would learn Of Jesus. come to school,
ONE 10 SCHOOL, Is not this the mean
1g Of my text. Learn of me?" !
The Gospel ClnaaEOOm.
The gospel classroom. In the first
lace. has in Christ an authoritative
aaeher. invite you with confidence
D sit at his feet because he has right
, teach. He speaks not only because !
s human being he has learned what =
'e ought to learn. but he comes cloth
] with divine authority. His creden-
ais are higher than those Of any hui :
ian teacher. They proceed from God :
imself He Is the Son and the Co I
1uol Of f.od tho Father Ha nomaa Z