Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1904-12-15
Calnnase
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmaae, d. d.


far reaching importance to society ut
! large Of individual character and a con-
sistent conscientious, Christian life
The text is Acts V, Is, THAT at the
| least the shadow Of Peter passing by
might ovcrshadow some of them"
The struggle Of the chronic invalid
nfter health IS woefuly. heartrending
ly and overwhelmingly pathetic. TO
see child born to q life of inevitable
physical pnin and torture; to see
young man in the grip of cancer or
with bones and joints twisted out OF
shape by that tiend of inquistorial
torturers, inhammatory rheulnatsm
TO see young woman slowly fading
away with consumption, going from
place to place for a change of climate,
trying first this doctor and that doctor,
and then, finally, as a drowning man
Grasps at straw. going to the sure
patent medicine cures" and trying the
nostrums of quacl doctors-ah these
10 me. are among the saddest OF all
the sad sights of human life.
Yet we may see these pathetic trag
edes everywhere. Il cannot lie here
and die without making an effort to
be cured" said n once great lawyer to
me in the city Of Brooklyn. There
was a time when had large income
and many friends. But now that | am
old and without money and dying with
n cancer nearly all my friends have left
me alone. HE doctors come and say,
Judge. how do you feel today Then
they propose to cut me with a knife,
saying: The cancer is growing, Judge;
the cancer is growing. 1t must be cut
out Then when l say, Doctor, IL
submit 10 the knife will l get well|
they simply shake their heads and an
swer Judge, you must die 1t does
not seem strange that when man Is
fatally I'll he will go anywhere and TO
anybody who promises to make him
well"
Poor Robert Louis Stevenson! The
doctors said he had to die. But Steven
son said, IF l can only go to warmer
climate l shall get well" SO be went.
He travelled south. He Travelled west.
He lived here and there. He was
cling llOl lOI pul loi
health. He tried to fee his fatal ILL.,
ness, but sickness kept on his track.
1T crossed the seas with him. 1t dwelt
with him in boat, in hut. in tent. At
last. in faroff Samoa, it climbed the
mountains with him, and among those
tropical woods Death said, "Come, Rob.
lert, come" 1t was a hemorrhage, a
little gasp, and poor Robert Louis
Stevenson was no more
Health Is Treasure.
Tho health - what a treasure 1t is.
When 1t is once lost, how men strive to
regain IT, In every age the medical
profession has been honored and its
members held in high esteem. l sup
pose there was as much disease IN
Judaea in apostolic times as we have
In our day; perhaps more. for diseases
which our physicians can cure We're
then pronounced incurable. We can
Imagine what a sensation there would
be in those times, in every home where
there was a lame child or cripple or
Ia father or mother suffering from dis
ease, when 1t was told that Peter, who
had cured the lame man of the temple
gate, was curing all who came to him.
mo wonder that sick people sought him
and that those who could not leave
their beds begged their friends to carry
them 10 him, for we read that they
were healed. every one
These crowds of chronic sufferers IN
stead of decreasing kept growing larger
inll the time At last the numbers OF
Hln cfsl- hot
could not get near to or have an audi
ence with the famous apostle They
were too many. Then the friends of
1he sick said among themselves, az
sufferers are cured when Peter lays his
Hands on them perhaps they may be
cured when his shadow passes over
them" So the Bible says these be
Viewers brought forth the sick into the
streets and laid them on beds and
touches that at least the shadow of
Peter passing by might overshadow
some Of them. There came also mul-
,titude out OF the cities roundabout
Unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks and
them which We're vexed with unclean
spirits, and they We're healed, every
One."
The Bible does not distinctly state
awhether the sick were healed by Pc
tiers shadow; but, reading between the
lines OF these two verses, it implies it.
We know that under the power Of the
Holy Spirit It would lie no greater
miracle for Peters shadcE 10 heal the
sick than IL would ful thc handker
chiefs and the clothes V.irh had once
touched the living body nl Paul to heal
the sick. We read about this miracle
in the nineteenth chapter OF Acts and
of the miracle of Peters shadow in tho
fifth chapter OF the same book. | think
that cures must have been wrought in
this way. Perhaps Peter himself was
unconscious OF It and did not know
what his shadow was the means of do
Ing until he was told Of the cures aft.
erward As he passed through the
streets touching this one and that and
rejoicing that through his touch heal
Ing was given his influence reached
farther than he knew. We know it Is
so with our lives. The Christian does
mot know how far his influence does
reach. There are some whom he strives
to help, but farther off there may be
some with whom he never comes In
EAGntnnt VI m a of bS