Connecticut western news., 1904-10-27
Calnnage Sermon
By Rev. Frank De Witt Talmaae, D. D.

cOnRfaIulatlOn to the SucceSSIul ana sympathy with the sorrowing and the distressed is urged by the preacher in this sermon. The text Is Romans xii, 15, Rejoice with them that do rejoice
 and weep with them that weep"
 Perpetual segregation. isolation, sep aration, seclusion, voluntary exile, were considered by many of the an cients as necessary adjuncts to the at tainment of the highest earthly de- velopment of Christian perfection. Be cause Christ lasted and prayed in the wilderness for forty long days many disciples of old believed that to be like Christ they must continually live in wilderness, wear sackcloth and ashes and do nothing but pray and starye and starve and pray. They tried to walk with God, to be like Enoch, by refusing to walk with their fellow men, They tried to live with Christ by sleeping on stone couches and shiver- ling in damp cells and clothing them Iselves in coarse woolens, by trampling through snows with naked feet and by mumbling daily prayers with sepul- chral countenances, while they refused to smile an encouragement to the little children playing in the street or to help Ecarry heavy pack under which Ipoor, tired peasant was staggering on his way to town; hence the monas- Iteries and the nunneries and the clois- ters and the abbeys and the prlories, (which are only few of the many names given to the ancient buildings within which the monks and nuns i'm mured themselves for separation from sinful men, of whom they did not wish to be a part. But away back in the time of creation God said, Tt is not good for man to be alone" And what God spake to Adam, our first ancestor, God is speaking to Us now. Not Good to Be Alone.
 Not good for man to be alone" Yes, we know it. We know it in spite of the fact that the cloister has segregat- ed some good men from contact with the busy, anxious, sinful world. Thom- as Kempis was a hermit, recluse. Thomas Kempis was a good man. ! Within the gloomy walls of the Angus | tinian convent of Zwolle, ill the dark recesses of an ascetic's cell, he wrote l the wonderful pages of "De Imitatione Christi" But, though his book is wonderful guide to Christly life, Thom- as a Kempis' cell Is a poor place ill which modern Christian could prac- tice the gospel truth. By all odds the best place to translate the teachings of Thomas Kempis is not in an as cetic's cell but in Gods sweet, pure, golden sunlight among just such rough, horny handed men as the fish, ermen with whom Jesus Christ asso- ciated.
 San Marco convent of Florence is a poor nursery for spiritual life There Fra Angelica has drawn the students of art to come and study his figures of Christ which he painted upon the cold walls nearly GOO years ago. But the >best piacesscGe a moda stSca Fl \ ngellco and to paint Christ in the hearts of living men is to do as Paul did on his missionary tours. 1t Is to do as Christ did when talking to men. It is to do as your mother and father did in the parental sympathy of Christian home. 1t Is to do as we ourselves can do by being Christ's disciples and re joicing with other people in their true joys and worshiping with them in their true sorrows.
 My text teaches the same kind of a consecrated active existence as did a brother minister who lived few years ago in great Chicago center. I speak thus about him because he Is now far across the seas, working as a missionary In foreign fields. After the Rev. George William Wright had been for some months in the Philippines the superintendent of his old Sabbath school of Bethlehem church was trying to draw verbal picture of Jesus Christ. The only being he had In mind at the time was our Saviour. During his talk the superintendent practically said these words: children, who am l now talking about? Who has always been willing to join with you i'll your fun and be happy with you when you had a right to be happy? Who has al- ways been friend, loving, forgiv- ing friend, when you have done wrong? Who has for years gone In and out among us as a gentle, kind example one who never did wrong, who never spoke harshly against any one, who was always ready to lead us and to love us? Tell me, children, who is hep With mighty chorus the little children began to call: II know, sir. I know. It Is Mir. Wright It is our old pastor, Mir. Wright" That encomium of these little Sunday school children is the best Illustration I know of what my text means.
 Value of Christian Sympathy.
 Christian sympathy is necessary gospel attribute, In the first place be- cause no human power on earth does so much to make a good man or even bad man try to live better as to know that other lives are wrapped up In his life Sympathy" wrote the lexicog rapher, "is literally q fellowship with others In their various conditions of joy or of grief" It Is the power which a Christian man has of putting his hand through another's arm and say ing: "Old fellow, you are not alone in this world. My interests are combined In your interests. When you are hap py ]. am happy. When you are sad am sad. When you live rlgnt reJolce When you sin I sorrow as much as II had committed the sin. Therefore, o friend, you must be very careful how you live. In one sense you are exactly In the place of a locomotive engineer who has a long train of coaches attached to his engines ten der If your true arm fails, then other
 
 account of your weakness" When Christian sympathy speaks thus an a< craze man will suddenly stop and say to himself: What! Does any one care for me? Is my life an important factor in other lives? If this be true 1 must be careful where my feet go, how laugh, how I cry and what I do. My life is not an independent entity. My spilled blood will stain other garments besides my own.'