Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1904-04-04
Talmage
Sermon
BY Rec.
Frank De 6Offf
Ta!maSe. ID. ID.

mon urges all TO cheerful service and
to set the keynote Of their lives to high
and noble themes. The text is 500
mons Song ii, u. THE time of the
singing of the birds is come"
do you know what makes the snow
banks disappear in the springtimeF
asked u man of poetic temperament
why, yes" l answered. 1T is due to
the heat of the sun being so much
stronger now than it is in January. II
is due to the fact that, by close con-
tact, Maine and Massachusetts and
New York and Michigan are being
warmed at the suns fireside, even as
one side Of a piece of bread is toasted
by being exposed to the kitchen stoves
heat while the other side of that piece
of bread remains unscorched." "Oh,
no." answered my poetic friend. ''The
snow disappears not on account of the
suns rays, but because the flames
glowing among the feathers of the
red breasted robins have melted them.
Have you not noticed, as rule, the
snowflakes never entirely disappear
flowers have stamped them out of ex-
istenceY
Beautiful thought that! Beautiful
to think that the winged forerunner OF
the spring. the chirping robin, should
be carrying around with him a bra
lzier flied with burning Goals, as the
ancient kings used to do when they
- ha oft OI+
he changes the white snow bank of
winter into the white snow bank of
apple blossoms. But whether the snow
disappears on account of the coming
of the robins or the robins come as the
messengers of spring, merely because
the snow is disappearing, it is not in
our province to discuss. We want to
take for granted the one overwhelming
fact that spring is here. And as spring
is here and the time of the singing Of
the birds for New York and Michigan
and Montana and Dakota has come,
we want to tell why the birds sing and
why we, as Gods children. should also
become his singing disciples. We
would today take our text from the
book Of Holy Writ.
The summer is coming in beauty arrayed,
And bright bees are humming through
forest and glade;
Ger hilltop and mountain are merrily
heard
The voice of the fountain and song of the
bird.
Like the Song Bird.
First, like the song bird, God bids us
sing because he has given to us mu-
steal threats with which to sing. AS
the brown thrush or the redbird or the
nightingale is able to lift his voice in
treble or fantasia or lullaby or cantata
or serenade, God, by anatomical con-
Struction of the throat, has made it
possible for us to sound forth musical
notes in his name. He has not diScOn-
nected our windpipes from the great
bellows of the lungs. He has not had
us born with palsied tongue, or with
deaf ears. But as God has placed in
the larynX of every singing birds
throat thin membrane, so he has
stretched over the end of almost every
human beings windpipe fibrous, elas-
tic tissue which will vibrate as we at
tempt to sing or speak. We ought, one
and all, to be grateful that God has
given to us anatomically q musical
throat with which we can sing bis
praises. Thank God today for the pow
ar of the speaking throat. We are all
ready to acknowledge our indebted
ness to him for the blessings of the
eye. If you are not. then read thai
wonderful story written by the most
famous of living English authors. The
book opens with "a description of Q
noted war artist who is growing blind
Frenziedly he works. at his last canvas
8 then the dark cloud of total obscura
tionfalls upon him. His friends leave
hiniso by one for the Egyptian war
He sits in lis room alone, an object o.
pity. until at last. crazed by horror. III
starts for tie front and is there merci
fully shot by an Arabs bullet. Sight
oh. yes, with every glorious sunrise
with every architecture of frost upol
window pane. with every masterpiece
of autumn foliage. with every wall
over country hill or through city street
we are all ready to say: THANK Coz
for two eyes! thank God for the win
Cows of he.soul"
Power, of the Human Voice.
Not only FOR visual, but for auditory
organs are we also thankful If TIL
sounding board of one of our eardrum
IS in any way deadened we guard tn
other ear more carefully than we d
our Jewel boxes or our securities
which we place in the safety vault;
We never let our well ear become oyei
heated by stove or register. We neve
in a railroad train let the draft blo0
upon If through opened windows. A
the least sign Of disturbance the
away we rush to the specialist to hav
II treated and cared for by the best
aurists. All, yes. we all appreciate th
blessings of the ear. But how man
of us appreciate the blessings of Ii
voice? How many of us have in ii
past thankeL God that we can sing b
praises as the birds can change ever
oh int choir loft in