Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1904-10-10
CalmaQe
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmaae, d. d.

Los Angeles, Cal, Aug. I'm this
sermon the reader is taken into an
enchanted realm beneath the waves,
and a novel and strange Interpretation
is given to the mystery Of the sea. The
text is Revelations XXI, !, "And there
was no more sea"
Who was the writerf Where were
his feet planted when he saw the spec
tacles which he describes in his divine
ly inspired Apocalypse? These two
conditions must be clearly understood
before one can in any true way grasp
the meaning of the words Of my text.
Indeed, to properly appreciate the
words or the actions Of any man we
must first put ourselves I'm that mans
place
We all understand this condition In
everyday life. Why, then. cannot we
put ourselves in the biblical writer's
places when we try to interpret the
holy bookI During the darkest DAYS
OF the civil war Congressman Dixon of
New York state entered the White
House with a long list of grievances.
which he and some Of his colleagues
had drawn up against the government.
Abraham Lincoln heard him patiently
until he was through. Then he said:
Dixon, believe you and your friends
were truly honest men when you drew
up those criticisms against my admin
tstration. But the trouble is you fell
lows do not put yourselves in my place.
If you did, you would do just about
what / am doing. l tell you how l
will fix those matters. You 90 home
and think up all the things you would
like me to do, and then come back to-
morrow and tell me the result, and /
will do just what you want me to do
Congressman Dixon said: II went
back to my hotel that evening with my
head high up among the clouds. Why
said l to myself Lincoln said he will
do anything l want him to do; that
makes me tonight practically president
of the United States.'" But after sup
per that night Congressman Dixon
went to his room. He laid the white
sheets of paper upon his desk and be-
gan to plan what he wanted Lincoln
to do. The more, however, he thought,
the more difficult it was for him to find
anything to write. Why? Because the
more he put himself in the presidents
place the more he felt he would do
just as Lincoln was doing and had
done THE next day came. l did not
90 to the White House." said Congress
man Dixon, neither did l go the next
day or the next. About three weeks
later l attended a public reception at
the White House. AS soon as / en-
tered the room the president saw me
and he called out. Hello, Dixon! Why
did you not keep your appointment
with me the day after our converse
ton? Because I was ashamed to do
So 'Al, yes said Lincoln, I thought
you would not come back. The actions
and words of a man appear entirely
different when you put yourself in that
mans place than when you criticise
them from an outsiders standpoint.
Put Yourself In His Place.
Today, in order to rightly interpret
the words of my text, we must first
put ourselves in st. Johns place. In
the first instance, we notice, he is all
old man. His life's work was nearly
done. A man at eighty looks at condi-
lions in heaven and on earth differently
from the way q young man at twenty
looks at them. The struggles of life
were to st. John very real and intense.
For years he had been resident of
Ephesus, in Asia Minor. He had been
the gospel through all those regions
He had suffered for Christ; he had al
most been martyred. The second fac
we must notice is that st. John is al
exile Like Napoleon at ST. Helena, b,
knew that in all probability he coulC
never again go back to his earthl!
work. Under the Domitian persecu
ton, he was sent to this lonely, rock
bound island of the Mediterranean
Therefore the sea meant more to hin
than it might mean TO some of us.
meant, as l shall try to show, first, tn,
'sea Of mystery secondly, the ''se;
of hate" thirdly. the sea of separa
tion;" and fourthly, the sea Of spirit
ual struggle" BY putting ourselves II
ST. Johns place as exiles upon th
island of Patmos, 1 believe we cal
symbolic all these facts.
First, the sea is a mysterious mon
ster DO we have to go to Johan
MAN vision 10 know that? Has any
man, woman or. child ever stood upOr
the beach and looked off upon the
mighty deep and not wondered about
what was happening away down II
the depths that no fathom line has evel
vet been able TO sound? For years and
years Africa was called the dark con.
tinent. No white mans foot had pene
trated its secret haunts until the las
century But the dark continent wa
never more dark than is the darl
ocean. What Henry NJ. Stanley ha
been 20 darkest Africa in one sens
Sir Wyville Thomson and after ri
death Sir John Murray, have been I
the depths Of the sea. The scientist
have unraveled a few of the seas mys
tpries. They have shown the world tina