Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1903-11-05
TALMAGC
SERMON
By Rev.
FRANK DE WITT TALMAGE. DID,.
Faster Of Jefferson Park Presby.
terrain Church, Chicago

N">N"AoSofheut tudt rpl1SlOn an OruS III
Me sorrowful and distressing lot of
wldowhood are pointed out by the
preacher In this sermon on the text
Luke VII, IL, "And she was a widow
The rich widow. Who ever heard Of
such title for sermon on this text?
Better call her the poor widow 1.-The
friendless widow" "the hopeless wild
ow," 'the dying widow'--anything but
'the rich widow" This funeral process
sion winding Its way out of the Syrian
city Is one of the most pathetic spec
tacles Of the gospel history. How much
heartbreak is contained in those three
phrases. "A dead man. the only son of
his mother, and she was widow" In
Arizona is mountain APPLY named
starvation peak" There the Indians
many decades ago drove the Spaniards
and hemmed them In and kept them
until for the want of food the little
band OF living men were changed into
band of decomposing corpses. So this
text is one Of the starvation peaks"
among the gospel hills. 1t is the place
where wife FIRST lost her husband, her
breadwinnsT Then 1t is the place
where, during the struggle of widow
hood, the mother had raised her boy so
that he could be her support in her de-
clining years. And now wife without
her husband and q mother with only a
cold body for her son is slowly wend-
ing her way to the cemetery. She was
a wife and II mother only of the grave.
''The rich wijow" Nonsense! Change
the title. Call it "the poor widow Of
Starvation peak"
Fitting Title.
No, my brother, | want to keep the
title I have chosen l want to show
how even q woman so desolate as the
one In the text may find consolation In
life and in the performance of her
duty and in the sympathy of humanity
and. more than all. in the resources of
divine power her life may become rich
for herself and for others. l have seen
too many adjectives hitched to this
heroic and conquering nominatve. |
believe thousands and tens of thou
sands Of mothers who have been bereft
of the companion who once stood with
them at the marriage altar have at
tanned true and abiding wealth. They
have been rich in all that makes life
truly happy great and good; rich in
their opportunities to do double serv
ice in life. To their children they have
become father as well as mother; rich
in their inspiring examples of duties
well done; rich in the faith with
which their trials led them to test the
goodness and greatness of God; rich
in the heights and depths and lengths
and breadths Of their love, and. above
all, rich in eternal as well as temporal
rewards 1t is in order to gather few
"bluebells" from off the graves of the
dead husbands and fathers that
preach this sermon. | would ring
these floral trophies In great p@an of
praise that the widows, the numbcrless
widows Of the present day, who are
facing the battle of life alone, might
renew their strength and 90 on win
ming victory after victory for them
selves. their little ones and for Christ.
The widow is rich in her opportuni-
ties of maternal usefulness; rich be-
cause all the physical, mental and splr
itual resources of her nature are de-
veloped in the struggle which her lone
illness involves; rich because for her
children every word she speaks and
every thought she thinks and every
deed she performs shall bring forth
Its maximum of results for good or
evil For her offspring every mountain
which she has to climb can become a
gold mine, and every thicket into which
she has to plunge bank of roses, and
every shower of tears can return as a
tossing, tumbling fountain. and every
land for her can become a harvest field
of yellow grain or of white checked,
sweet scented clover tops, Literally
by taking away wife's husband, God
makes 1t possible for a widow with
children to make more out OF her life,
In q maternal sense, than in any other
way. At once, by the mere fact of
widowhood, she becomes the father
the mother, the breadwinner. the guide
and the all In all for her offspring.
HonorsA by God.
Now, every one should want to make
the most out Of his life. Therefore
o widow, ought you not feel honored
because God has singled you out as
one of his favOrite daughters for grea
ind vital work. We stand upon Little
Round Top, on the battlefield of Get
tysburg, and look with pride at thu
monument erected there to the memory
of Major General Gouverneur Warren
At that critical point he saved the Fed
eral lines from being cut in twain b.
the Confederate forces. With the keel
eve of a military engineer he saw tina
Little Round Top was the one spo
pbout which the mortal struggle of lie
and Meade must be finally decided
And so. upon his own authority, he in
trenched those heights and perhap
then and there saved the unity Of on
republic, which now stretches from Sc
10 sea. Shall you not feel today,
widow, that as General Warren wa
chosen to stand on Little Round To
and save the Federal government S
God has placed you on the little roun
top of your husbands grave to say
Sour home? A few years ago th
United States-north, east, south an
west-united Its many voices In prai'
Ing the greatest of American jurist
John Marshall, who year after year
rhief Justice of the supreme court rel
1ered the decisions which made 1t POI