Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1903-10-17
TALMAGE
SERMON
By Rev.
FRANK DE WITT TALMAGE. DID,.
Pastor Of Jsfferson Park Prssby.
tcrinn Church. Chicago

Of the training and preparation neces-
sary for true greatness. The text IL
Matthew xi. II, There hath not risen
a 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 blographer of Robert
Burns. Like the mountain shadows
they increase In size and their reputa'
tions lengthen In Importance as the
sun OF their day sets and the long
night Of their rest separates US from
them. Like the NEUROLOGICAL heroes
and heroines OF old. their leaders brcws
become luminous with crowns Of gold.
Abraham Lincoln dead Is a great deal
more honored man than Abraham Lin
eoln ahve. When Edwin NJ. Stanton
turned to the sorrowful grsup OF
friends who had gathered about the
deathbed Of the famous statesman ana
said, 1--WE must now leave him to the
ages" even the firm jnwed secretary OF
war did not realize how great man
the ages would consider his chief to De.
No cathedral impresses us 80 much as
the venerable pile that Is covered with
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
epinr shadows Of many great reputa-
tons these imminent questions natural
~ arise in many minds: What is true
greatness1 What are the elements
which distinguish the truly noble from
the merely selflshly famousl Was Jay
Gould truly a great man7 In his day
no one man or collection Of men were
more feared in Wall street than he.
He was truly Napoleon Of finance"
a Napoleon with this one difference
that Jay Gould never met his Water
loo. He was never compelled to sur
render as did Daniel Drew and Cyrus
Field and hosts Of other nnanciers who
were outmanipulated by this arch
financial manipulation.
stamped with Divine Approval.
Can Napoleon himself truly be called
a great man. great in all the elements
which 20 to make up true greatness!
When his companion in arms. Marshal
Lannes, was shot on the fatal retreat
from Moscow, he called the emperor
to his side and said Your majesty, l
am your friend. l am dying, and this
Is my parting advice. Give up your
merciless ambitions. or they will ruin
you, as they have already ruined thou
sands Of others" Did not the dying
soldier picture the French emperor as
he was! With the penetration that
often comes TO the dying he saw be-
meath the splendor and grandeur OF the
conqueror q man mean Of soul. selfish
and unscrupulous. Can Robert Burns.
SO morally weak that he was the VIC
tim Of intsmperance. be called truly
great mani Lord Byron. the licentisus
destroyer; or Thomas De Quincy. the
opium eater; or Mark Antony, the trail
tor; or Cicero, the coward; or Lord Ba-
con. the taker of bribes-can they be
called truly great menl
WELL" you say. INSTEAD OF picking
flaws In the regulations Of men Of
commanding genius, tell US who Is
truly a great man. Give us one whose
character is stamped with the divine
approval. Describe such one, that
we may copy his life" That I will do,
my friend. and do gladly. Such char
acter is to be found in John the Bap-
list. Though we may go into the rich
est Of all palaces and stand upon the
most famous Of all battle6elds and
read the epitaphs of all the poets, phil
losophers, statesmen, inventors. reform
ers. we cannot find anywhere In any
generation up to the time OF Jesus
Christ a name standing 80 high as his.
Of whom Jesus said. Verify, verify.
say unto you, among them that are
born of women there hath not risen a
greater than John the Baptist, not
withstanding he that is least In the
kinadom Of heaven Is greater than he.'
John the Bapffsts tiory.
The purpose of this sermon is to
show why John the Baptist was great
er than all other men before Christs
Jordanic baptism - John the Baptist
great, although he was 80 poor that
his home was among the rocks and
sands Of the wilderness, lying be-
tween the capital and the Dead sea;
50 poor that his only garments were
the coarse skin of the wild beast
through the holes OF which stretched
his long limbs and hairy chest; 80 poor
that bis only food was the grasshop-
psrs or locusts and the honey which
had been hidden by the bees among
the caverns and the bills.
From the worlds standpoint this 10
a strange portrait Of great man. But
bow wonderful is its setting. The IA
bled portrait was Of a gold face with
a silver frame. but the portrait Of John
the Baptist Is a silver face with gold
frame. Like q ruby glowing red 1t Is
set In a circle Of most precious dia-
rnonds. Like a mirror Of Furnished
brass, pure and spotless. It reflects the
| light of a rising sun. 1t was John the
Baptsts glory that be was the mar
binger Of a greater than himself. AZ
the direct forerunner Of the Son OF God
he came at the supreme crisis OF the
worlds history. His name was thus
linked with the most momentous of all
events and derives n luster from the
connection. There seems to be q nat
ural law that great men should always
Be identified with great events.
Sometimes great events DO not op-
portunely produce the right kind Of
men for both conflicting sides. After
che famous battle Of Blenheim, when
the Duke Of Marlborough had com
pletely routed the forces Of the French
king, the conqueror saw among the
prisoners a stalwart grenadier. who
though a captive was still an unsub-
dued enemy. "Ah," said the duke, III
Louis XIV. had had q hundred thou
4 q u q