Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1904-10-08
Calnage
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt TalrnaGe. d. d.

Los Angeles, Cal. Oct. 2.-At this
time, when renewed attempts are be-
ing made by the enemies OF religion
to undermine the old established foun-
dations of faith and to revolutionize
the Christian Sabbath, this sermon
makes q vivid contrast Of "the old time
religion" and the new. The text Is
Psalm xi, 3, IF the foundations be
destroyed, what can the righteous do?
Emasculating. depressing and be-
numbing is the maxim propagated by
some lazy. nonprogressive people as
the rule OF thought and life; that
what was good enough for our ia
theirs should be good enough for u.s."
would yield to no man in my rever-
ence for the memory OF the sainted
dead whose sacred dust lies in our
cemeteries. No flowers are there too
fragrant for the family plots, no cpl
taphs too eloquent or too reverent to
recount their virtues. nor. when the
family finances are adequate, any
mausoleum too imposing TO enshrine
their remains. i have always found
out when investigating that II son
| does not respect the memory OF dead
| mother he will not respect the living
wife. who becomes the mother OF his
children.
We should hold sacred the dust OF
our dead. That is true. but we should
never build the hillock OF the grave so
high that it will dam back the onward
flow of the waters Of knowledge
and change the "river Of progress
into the "stagnant pool of ignorance
and sloth." When the past genera
tIons did their work they did 1t well
for the time and the conditions In
which they lived, but the dead gen
erations would not DO as they did III
the past IL they were living now, We
would not cryr"halt' to the forward
march" Of scientific investigation;
neither would we compel the church
of the Lord Jesus Christ to mark
time" by the grave Of Justin
MARTYR a Calvin, a Wesley, Luther
n Knox. or bivouac with eternal SOM
nolence in the chambers OF west
minister abbey, where the honored &C.
clesiastical fathers gathered July l.
I648. and composed the Presbyterian
Confession of Faith and our Longer
and Shorter CGtechisms.
But though we would not consider
our ancestors infallible In their opin-
ions nor absolutely wise In their ways
of living. yet, on the other hama, we
must grant that our ancestors Rhe"
great deal more than some OF US are
willing TO give them credit for Though
our forefathers' 'lightning expresses
were only canal boats and stagecoaches
and sailing boats, In which most OF US
would be afraid to cross Ions lsland
sound. let alone the Atlantic ocean, tha'
Is no reason why they did not know
how to develop Christian men and wo
mon as successfully as do we. Thougn
our ancestors for the most part had nc
hooks save that Of a Bible, q "Fti
erim's Progress or Doddridge's
"Rise and Progress of Religion In tnt
Soul" that is no preof that they dio
not know as much Of God and hold the
truth in Its purity as thoroughly as dC
we who have access to such vast mod
ern libraries, and yet today we ind
spirit of "exterminating iconoclasm
abroad Mans profane hands are dlg
Z: s,ng ND the old foundations and de
stroyinQ the old affairs and ridicullpl
the old ways merely because they arr
old. would not have you bend IN
knee before the hillock OF an ancestra
grave as though II were shrine, Du
would have you respect and not de
stroy it and use that hillock OF grav'
as the stepping stone to highe
o throne. The living may In some thlng
Q he right where their Christian ances
tors were wrong, yet we have only L
look around at the modern innovation
and observe the effect they have on tn
community to be convinced that u
E some things our Christian ancestor
were right and the modern tnboyator
deplQraDly wrong.
81 Undermining the Foundations.
- In the first place. ! protest agains
q the jconcclasm which Is underninin
{he foundation stones of our ancestrs
Sabbath. Its desecrators have bee
: going up and down the length an
breadth of the land asserting that n
Iigious worship can become as much
} form of dissipation as drink or ovel
eating or overexercising can be. Inc
make a wrong application OF ou
Lord's words that the sabbath wa
made for man, and not man Tor I'd
Sabbath" They affirm that II IL al
surd for a business man who has pee
at hard work for ut least six days
the week from 7 o'clock In the NOR
Y ing sometimes until 10 OF II or
o'clock at night to be compelled TO g
up on Sunday in time for an ear
Sunday school, then to attend I"
long church preaching services az
then perhaps to attend q Christian r
deavor society besides
They contend that Sunday should
a day of rest and that what mt
needs upon the Sabbath day Is relax
ton. He should go to bed Saturd'
night after a hot bath with his miI
perfectly at ease. AS he crawls ID
bed he should be able to say to hiI
self: Now, l can lie here just as loi
as l please. If awake at 9 o'clock
right If can sleep to II. better stl
Then after l awake | will have q CT
Of coffee and roll brought to n
hodsida and 7 will eat q little and tn