Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1904-06-20
Calmage
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmaee. d. d.

usual text by drawing the broad dis
tinction between the life that is in
spired by q love of all that is noble and
pure and one that has become degraded
and brrkal through the indulgence of
selfish passions. The text is Revela-
ton xxi. u, without are dogs"
Il never could sympatbize with the
slur which the Bible casts upon my
canine friends" once said an old man
TO me- st John in that passage Of
Scripture. Without are dogs. seems to
despise the dog as l despise the buz-
card or the hyena. He seems to pic
ture the internal regions as the only
suitable place for their kennels. He
insinuates their companionship for
man TO be q humiliation and Il degra
dalton. Now. in contrast to that as
sertion. I have far more respect for an
honest dog than l have for dishonest,
deceitful man. l count among my dear
est friends some of the representatives
of the canine race. Indeed l go so far
in my respect for dogs that if in that
heavenly land | found one of the beau
tiful dogs l have owned on earth sleep
ing at my feet in that abode of bliss
or looking up into my face with the
expression of love and fidelity l have
seen so often | should not feel it any
blight. but rather an enhancement of
my happiness"
| could understand my friends feel
ing, and | love dogs well enough to
sympathize with it. There are no
grounds for believing in a future life
for animals. but | confess that if in the
boundless love of God we should find
that even for the faithful dog there
was a paradise l for one should re-
joice. | have that affection that Sir
Walter Scott had for the canine race,
and l always feel a sense of cOmpan-
ionship when a dog is doing in my
study As a boy | delighted to have
q canine companion in my rambles, and
to this day | feel, as Bismarck used to
say. that no man should despise the
friendship of dogs or need hesitate to
confide in them some Of his innermost
thoughts and secrets. When we are
rambling over the hills or in our city
walks and my dog friends stop and
listen to what l say l am always sure
of one fact-that they will not betray
my confidence as l have known some
men to do. Yes, yes" 1 said to my
aged friend, like you, have always
loved the dog; but, unlike you, do not
believe the Bible really depreciates the
faithfulness of a good dog" This pas
sage of Scripture, without are dogs"
is not casting a slur upon the dog. 1t
is not sneering at the ancestors of some
of those noble beasts belonging to the
rOyal families of dogs which we have
adopted into our homes as hOnored
habitues of our firesides. The seer OF
Patmos had never seen such dogs as
ours. The dogs with which he was ia
miliar were such homeless, carrion eat
ing dogs as those which to this day
roam the narrow streets of Jeru-
salem and Damascus, degraded ours,
whosespresenc would have been de-
flingSto that beautiful city which he
saw IN vision. Therefore it is to the
eastern dog, homeless and friendless,
Which 1 have so often seen in my
travels and by whose howlings l have
been awakened at night and have
kwatched while standing upon the ho-
tel porch of the far east, when he says
with eyiden5 qualification, without
are dogs"
The QuarreIsome Were Excluded.
But 1 believe the apostle had a fur
Their and deeper meaning than this.
think he meant that the qualities
which the dog represented to his mind
were excluded from the heavenly city
Selfshness, degradation, quarrelsome
ness, all that rendered dogs hateful to
the Jews of the orient, whether in
beast or man, were outside those
heavenly walls And, first, l believe
he meant that in heaven there would
be neither physical nor mental mon.
strosities. 1t is to be a place where
there would be a perfect mind in har-
mony with perfect body and the per-
feet soul in every way shall have per
feet externalities. There are some men
5 so degraded with their vices that their
very forms and features have become
repulsive. They bear the same rela-
ton to good living. intelligent men that
the oriental dogs bear to our house
hold pets.
We love to look at the masterpieces
of Sir Edwin Landseer, the painter of
dogs. There seems to be something
even more than human in his High
land Shepherds Chief Mourner," some
thing more than mere brute ferocity in
his Stag at Bay" something more
than a sportsmans halloo in the Re
turn From Devastating" But the
flashing eyed, powerful chested, clean
limbed. glossy coated models of Land
seer are entirely different physical
specimens from the outcast dogs of the
east. Have you ever stopped and look.
ed with pity upon a poor NANCY cur
crawling along the street? Have you
seen disease like porcupine quilts stick.
klg out all over him? Have you seen
the people shy off as he came along
and heard the passersby say: Poor