Milford chronicle., 1905-03-17
Calmaqe
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmaee. D. D.

the topic chosen by the preacher fl
this sermon is a more or less familiar
one. The text is Proverbs X. 1, "a fool
ish son is the heaviness Of his mother
Death is an enemy. The Bible dis
tinctly declares it. 1 remember some
years ago, when visiting one of the
New Zealand cities, this thought was
impressed upon me as never before. A
young man, a musical genius, had late
ly come from London and captured that
whole city by his organ playing. He
was to play that Sunday in the church
where we were worshiping. The night
before. coming home from practicing
upon the keys, he sat down to eat din
ner with his wife and two children.
Suddenly he began to gasp. A fish
bone had caught in his throat. In a
few minutes he was dead. The whole
city was shocked at the awful trag-
edy. The church was draped in black
The organ was covered with Grape.
Among the sobs of the dead mans
friends his pastor preached a eulogy
upon this young mans life from Co
rinthians xv, 26, THE last enemy that
shall be destroyed is death" As the
preacher uttered those solemn words
they sank into his hearers consciences,
an automatic truth.
Oh, yes, death is an enemy. Death
at times seems to be a cruel and
merciless enemy. 1t breaks asunder
the marital bands. 1t lifts the little
baby out of the crib and shuts her for
ever from our eyes by the closing of
the coffin lid. 1t strikes down the strong
man who is proclaiming Gods word in
the pulpit. 1t empties the Office Of the
physician who is bending over the pa
tient 1t sometimes sends the pleading
lawyer to the grave even before the
murderer whom he has defended eXpi-
ates his crime upon the gallows.
Living Sorrow.
But when listening to that sermon in
the faroff country of New Zealand l
solilOquized thus "That widow is to-
day having her heart crushed by the
hearse's wheels even as the Indian
juggernaut used to mangle the bodies |
of the HindOO devotees. But a living |
sorrow can be more formidable and a |
more awful enemy than sorrow of |
the grave The fiendish acts of a disso-
lutte, a debauched, a drunken, a cruel
or an unfaithful husband can weigh
more heavily upon the wife's heart
than the corpse of a dead husband.
And by the same reasoning the evil
deeds Of an undutiful or unfaithful
son fall upon the parental heart with
a more crushing weight than the sod
that falls upon the coffin lid Of a dead
child. Thus today, from a parental
1 would preach upon the
agOniZing sufferings of a father and
mother when their children go astray
and do wrong l include here the ia
theirs sufferings as well as the moth
ers. The full wording of the verse of
my text embraces both parents. "a
wise son maketh a glad father" That
sentence, interpreted from the negative
means, "a bad boy maketh
a sad father. and a foolish son is the
Of his mother"
Why sad? Why heavy? First be-
cause the true father and mother can
never separate their joys and sorrows
from the joys and sorrows Of their
child. Though Il man may live after
his right arm has been amputated, the
hand and the arm cease to live Cs soon
as the surgeons knife has cut the ar
teries and the bones which unite them
to the shoulder. But here nature
seems to reverse the conditions Of life.
Though child may live Independent
lf his parent, a true parent can never
i've Independent of his children. From
The parental standpoint the parental
life and the child life are not only
bone of one bone and flesh of one
lesh, but their eXistences are truly
;rafted upon each other.
law Of Love Is Unequal.
From the standpoint Of child you
nay n believe this. You ask: Is not
he love between parent and child
:Etual 1--we? Why, then. should not
"a separation affect the one equally
win the other? Oh, no! The law Of
ove IS unequal. The one who makes
.acriaces has a stronger affection than
he one for whom the sacrifices are
made. 90 into the sculptor's studio.
md say: "Thorwaldsen, why art
hou bending so lovingly over yonder
,fece Of cold marble? Has the stone
heart. "Oh. no." answers the Dan
IN scul 9r. Il do not love this stone
iecause /. has a heart. love it be-
ause have put my heart into it in
ny effort to bring out the beautiful
Igures which there I see slumbering
r beckoning to me from the cold
tone" Why does the artist love his
isas and the composer his oratorio?
Ause their life's work has gone into
he creations Of those masterpieces Of
IT or Of music. Why did Christopher
yren's life seem to be anchored to St
'auPs cathedral and Isaac Newton's
re to his laboratory? Because in
hese places those men spent most Of I
heir earthly existence in order to '
York out the problems Of their lives.
Love inspired by sacrifice. That is