Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1904-02-29
TALMAGE
SERMON
Ely Rev.
FRANK DE WITT TALNfAGE, DID,.
Pastor Of Jefferson Park Presby-
terrain Church. Chicago

sermon the preacher sounds the Lent.
ZEN call to all classes-the social devo.
tee, the business man, the humble
worker and the homekeeper, the rich
and the poor alike-as a summons TO
the annual duties of the season of spir-
itual preparation. The text is Joel 1,
IA, "Sanctify we q fast; call a solemn
assemblage."
The Presbyterian church has enrolled
among its leaders many intellectual
theologians. Entitled to a prominent
tplace among them by his learning, phil.
osophic acumen and sanctified common
sense is Dr. Francis L. Patton, former
lily president of Princeton university
and now president of Princeton Theo-
logical seminary. Many of his weighty
utterances have impressed me, but none
more than one he made on the value
and usefulness of the Episcopalian
church.
His words in substance were: Il be
ilieve the Episcopalian church is one of
the most effective churches in exist.
ence today. l believe in its ritual; be-
llieve in it's teachings. If l were not
Presbyterian, / would certainly be an
lEpiscopalian. But, though l love and
honor the Episcopalian church, l also
believe that the most absurd of mon
istrosities is a Presbyterian in his form
of worship trying to ape an Episcopa-
liam. While we are Presbyterians let
us remain Presbyterians. When we
want to become Episcopalians in our
form of worship, in responsive read
ings and in all that the Episcopalian
service implies, let us become Episco-
'palians. But do not let us try to change
the Presbyterian pulpit into a chancel
or the grand old simple service of the
Presbyterian church into a concert by
a supplied choir and into the liturgy
of the Episcopalian church"
The Spring Fast.
Amen, say |, to the sound advice of
DR.. Patton. The simple doxology, the
two or three congregational hymns,
the chapter read from the Bible, the
earnest prayers and the doctrinal as
well as practical sermon can never be
excelled as a service for the grand old
church which the names of John Cal
win and John Knox and Thomas Chal-
mers and Thomas Guthrie and Lowell
Mason and William Taylor and John
Hall have made immortal. But, though
/ would not have the Presbyterian
church adopt a ritual, l still insist that
the Episcopalian church has not an ex-
elusive title to all the good things she
may hold dear. Especially do l affirm
that she has not a sole right to her
spring fast, which starts with Ash
Wednesday and closes with Easter S
dawn. Way back in Joel we read the
command, "Sanctify We fast; call a
solemn assemblage." If that divine
command is still in force for us as for
Gods ancient people, is there better
time for it's observance than the period
preceding our commemoration of the
passion and resurrection of our Lord
1T was at this season of the year, too,
that the Master withdrew to the desert
before the beginning of his ministry
and there, fasting for forty days, pre-
pared for the ordeal of his temptation.
1t will be we'll for Presbyterians as for
Episcopalians to mediate on that eX-
perience OF our Lord and draw near to
him in our hearts. We must have self
abnegation for sin before we can truly
have closer union with God. Therefore
the purpose of this sermon is to show
why the Episcopalian Lent should be
come a Presbyterian Lent, also why
the "spring fast which is the time o.
the "lengthening of days" should b.
observed all over the world by al
Christians, no matter to what individ
uaI churches they may belong.
warning of Spiritual Danger.
The Episcopalian Lent. in the frs
place. calls a halt to the social dissi
pations now being practiced in all thu
large cities. 1t cries, Peace, be still!
to the social whirlpool, which is grad
ually sucking down its many strug
Cling victims as Peter was once being
drawn into the depths of the Galileal
lake. 1t says to the women of tn
social abyss" You have something
higher to live for than a nightly roun'
of receptions and parties and neve
ending succession of afternoon teas.
1t saws to the young men of the SO
cial ABYSS who, under the power o
stimulants, are trying to work in tn
store by day and TO dance almost CIV
cry night until 1 or 2 o'clock in tn
morning, Young man, you had bette
stop and consider to what purpose yo'
are devoting the best energies of you
life" 1t warns the social devotee o
the spiritual danger of his course, as
noted New York capitalist warned hin
of the financial danger, when som
time ago he said: The young me-
who will not succeed in business ar
those who night after night may b
found in the bathrooms and the dane
halls and at the city clubhouses drinl
ing little, playing cards a little an
eating expensive dinners. They ar
sometimes called the drones of 81
tiety. This is a misnomer. Like som
small insects that sport for day
the summer sunshine, they are minut
.7aS+ructivaS Their lives in the econ,