Milford chronicle., 1903-04-24
TALMAGE
SERMON
=
By Rev.
FRANK DE WITT TALAaAGE. DID,.
Pastor of Jefferson Park Presby-
terian Church, Chicago

ger and needless of admonition until
it is too late. The text is Proverbs xiv,
0, Fools make a mock at sim"
There are times when hints and deli
cate phraseology are inadequate Tor
useful purpose, and when the kindest
and wisest course is to use plain, out
spoken characterization shot forth on
arrows of denunciation and excoria-
ton. So in my text Solomon says
plainly that the man who mocks at sin
is a fool. When the human body is
slowly but surely being eaten up by a
cancer, it is time to use the surgeons
knife. The gangrened limb needs am
putatlon, not balms or plasters or poul-
tices or fragrant Ointments. And when
men and women with wide open eyes
deliberately place themselves in a posi-
ton where they may inhale the fetid
atmosphere, reeking with the deadly
germs Of that contagious and fatal
plague called sin, it is high time that
some one should be bold enough to
stigmatize them by an appropriate
name. They are not misguided chill
dren who are merely lost in the crook
ed byways of life's journey. They can
see the evil results of sin everywhere
they go if they will only look as they
are capable of looking They are not
mental weaklings who have been con
fined behind the iron bars os a lunatic
asylum. They can think, and clearly
think, if they will and do what they
ought to do. Such men and women are
displaying suicidal folly, and the only
appropriate name for them is that
which Solomon applies to them; they
are fools. Going to destruction by
their own choice and volition, mocking
at victims who have already been de-
strOyed, needless of the fate impend-
ing over their own heads, they are as
foolish as would be Il sea captain who
in midocean and in the grip of hurri-
cane broke his rudder chains, threw his
chart. overheard and smashed his COM
pass.
When gigantic sin is working evil to
the body polite and is endangering our
national we'll being. SOlOmOn's method
Is demanded. President Roosevelt evil
IDENTIFY thought so when. short time
ago. referring to common sin, he
wrote: Il do not know whether most
pity OF despise the foolish and selfish
man or woman who does not under
stand that the only things really worth
having in life are those the acquire
ment of which normally means cost
and effort. The man or the woman
who deliberately avoids marriage and
has heart so cold as to know no pas
sion and brain so shallow and selfish
as to dislike having children is in effect
a criminal against the race and should
be an object Of cOntemptuOus abhOr-
renee to all healthy people"
Why MOckers Are Fools.
The same kind of warning against
sin Hugh Latimer gave when he sent
to Henry Will, his king. the present
of a New Testament. with these pun
gent words written in plain letters up
on the fly leaf: For this We know that
no unclean person hath any inheritance
in the kingdom of Christ and of God"
The same kind of warning against sin
in high places John Knox used to give
when as court preacher he would look
down from his pulpit and denOunce the
sins Of his ruler until the beautiful
Mary, queen Of Scots, would grit her
teeth and turn pale and clinch her tiny
fists in paroxysms of rage. Let me
show you why the Knockers at sin are
fools; also why men and women in the
daily walks of life should kneel every
morning and evening and ask the Heav-
enly Father to protect and guide and
save them from the evil temptations
which beset them everywhere they go.
Evil temptations invariably are intro
duced to their victim i'm a seemingly |
harmless way. They seek your COM
paniOnship at first as friends. and not |
as enemies. They do not approach you |
glariag and convulsively working their |
claws and leap at you. as the man eat
ing monster might try to get at your
throat when in al his fury he is Gagged |
in the geological gardens of Calcutta. /
But temptations come to you at first |
with tie soft fur and the purring salu-
tatiOn Of the little kitten which might |
nestle in ycHr lap. They come insid-
iOusly. as the cholera germs might
reach you wrapped in the beautiful
garment which is sent to you from far
OF India. Th"y come with all the fra
GRANGE cf the poisonous leaf which
brings death to every creature that
touches it. Dr. Cuyler once gave a
wonderful description Of one Of the
poisonous trees. aptly called the Judas
tree. He said that the blossoms Of this
tree are Of n brilliant red From far
and near the fatal beauty Of those
dowers attracts the insects. Yet "ev-
Try bee wandering in search of honey
that alights upon the blossoms imbibes
d fatal opiate and drops to the earth.
Beneath this cnticing tree the earth is
strewn with the victims Of its fatal ,
That fatal plant is a
rivid symbol Of the way deadly sin
irst appeals to its victims Sin in the
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