Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1903-09-25
TALMAGE
SERMON
By Rev.
FRANK DE WITT TALMAGE. DID,.
- Pastor OF Jefferson Park Presby-
tsriNn 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 XXI, 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 the ages. 1t ts the place where
scholars can climb upon the broad
shoulders OF the 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-
yelopment 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
whereT 1 once asked n 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
I'm almost every town of any size"
"What il the cause OF your dilapidated
farms and the slothfulness and filth /
see everywhere around meT 1 asked
another farmer that same spring in
region q few hundred miles from the
one the prosperity of which prompted
my Hrst 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 wall of oppo-
sition as that it is almost impossible
for intellectual progress to make any
true Roadway.
A Representative Term.
We would eulogize that compound
word OF eleven letters called the
''schooi-house." But, after all, the
'tschool-house" is merely n representa-
tive term. Its true value is not in the
intrinsic worth of the bricks and
stones and wood which compose its
buildings; II 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 classrooms and the hillsides for
their laboratories. They were poor in
pocket though rich i'm 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
Hopkins is of more value TO Williams
college than an endowment OF $5.OOO,-
600 could ever be With my own eyes.
as n student. saw that great educator.
then eighty-four years of age. leaving
our college town to attend the Harvard
centennial. Seated upon the rostrum
Mt 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 assembled the platform the whole
audience rose en- masse and bowed.
That homage was a tribute to the fact
that the skilled workman is greater
than his factory; that the teacher Is of
more Importance than the school-housc
An which he stands.
The Divine Teacher g our theme. II
we have not yet learned the value of
Jesus Christ as an instructor, then let
as learn ii now in the command OF my
text Jesus I'm these three words re-
corded In Matthew emphasizes the
great fact that from him. and him
alone, we can learn the gospel lessons
we ought to learn. Thus today would
grasp the ropes OF the village school
house and the city church bells as the
college sexton holds his bell rope and
as / pull and the church bells swing
backward and forward and the silver
notes OF these bells GO echoing down
the valleys until they plunge up against
the sounding boards of the hills / would
cry as gospel minister: Come to
SCHOOL, Come to SCHOOL, All We who
would learn OF Jesus, come to school
come to schoolr' Is not this the mean
Ing OF my text, Learn of meY
TIE Gospel Classroom.
The gospel classroom, in the first
place, las in Christ an authoritative
teacher. i invite you with confidence
20 sit at bis feet because he has a right
20 teach He speaks not only because
AZ human being he has learned what
we ought TO learn, but he comes CLOTH
ed with divine authority. His creden-
tals are higher than those of any hu.
man teacher. They proceed from God
himself. He is the Son and the CO.
equal OF God the Father. He comes
10 US as conqueror clothed in white
vesture. "and on his thigh n name
written, King of kings and Lord of
lords" For he taught them as one
having authority and not as the
scribes'
In this age of intellectual progress IL
- absolutely essential for every true
teacher. whether of the higher or the
lower grades. to have his or her ere
ucate one Of my little girls TO be a pub
lie school teacher l say to- her: Now.
daughter, your future life occupation
depends entirely upon yourself and
your work. L am going TO send YOU
through the common public school.
believe every child should go there, be
she rich or poor, black or white, Jew
or gentle or Catholic. In order to pro-
duce the best types of American citi-
zenship all classes of children should
stand shoulder to shoulder and hand
In hand at the school desk Then I
Willy send you to the high school, then
20 the normal. Then, when you have
your different diplomas, you can go
before the state board OR county board
OF examiners and have your knowledge
tested. Then, If you pass, your teach
er's certificates will be given you. But,
you cannot teach in any pub
40 sHool unless you are an authorita-
ave teacn~- unless you have your Gre
QenttalS. WitnGot fham Won oonnot