Milford chronicle., 1905-09-22
Calmaqe
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmase. D. D.

Los angeles. Cai., sept lf.-lu Lnl
sermon the preacher takes as his theme
the mountains, now assuming the hue:
Of autumn, and finds in them a lessor
Of Gods strength and providence and
the love and care he has for all his
children. The text is Amos iv, Is, "He
that fOrmeth the mountains"
Have you ever visited the SchrOon
lake of the Alps? Have you ever slept
under the shadows of the snow capped
Rigl, with its horizon sweep Of 300
miles in circumference? Then you
have visited Lake Lucerne, one Of the
most romantic and picturesque lakes
that ever tapped the foot Of a hill or
nestled to sleep like a smiling babe in
lap Of a gigantic mountain. The old
poet sings of the charms Of Lake Ge-
neva, another Of Switzerlands scenic
wonders, with its battle SCARED castle
standing sentinel over It, a castle
whose walls are scanned with defylng
the cannonadlng o. the elements, as
well as resisting the attacks Of man.
This is his song:
A thousand feet in depth below
The massy waters meet and flow;
So far the fathcm line was sent
From Chillon's snow white battIement.
But, though others may sing about
the beauties Of Lake Geneva or Lake
Windermere or Lake Samia Of Fin
land or Lake George Of New York or
the Lake Of the Woods of Mime
sofa, all Of them beautiful lakes, I still
believe that Lake Lucerne is the queen
of romantic lakes for many of us.
There we not only saw some Of the
most beautiful of all scenes, but we
also stood before ThOrwaldsen's great
est masterpiece, 1.-THE Lion of Lu-
cerne." Most Of you know the history
of that marvellous piece Of statuary.
When the French throne was tottering
amid the upheaval of the awful revO-
luton which has made the names Of
Robespierre and Marat and Barere
Infamous for all time, Louis XVI. and
Marie AntOinette dare not trust their
lives and those of their children to the
loyalty Of their own soldiers. They
sent across the northern border and
hired some Swiss soldiers to be their
Eight hundred of these
were quartered in the Tuileries. Fatal
Aug. TO- 1892, came, and the mob
broke loose and started for their royal
prey. They battered down the gates
and doors of the kings residence.
They slew the Swiss soldiers wher- |
ever their hated uniforms were seen as |
as the Sioux Indians toma-
nawked Custer and his little handful Of |
followers on the Little Big Horn river.
They literally annihilated the whole /
band in order to get at their hated |
rulers. ThOrwaldsen, the great Danish |
to commemorate the death of |
these brave soldiers of the Swiss |
guard, chiseled into the solid rock Of
the colossal form Of the dying
Swiss lion struck to the heart by a
spear, yet in his death agony still de-
Tending the lilied shield of France.
What a wonderful statue is that which
thousands of tourists every year travel J
miles and miles to study
But as / stood before that marvellous
piece Of stone under the shadow Of the
Dvertowering Rigi said to myself this:
YES. many Swiss soldiers have been
struck down by foreign bullets, but
more. far more have brOOded their
lives away because their hearts have
Dined under hOmesickness when they
have been removed from the sight Of
yonder hills" When Nebuchadnezzar
took his bride, Amytis, to the glorious
capital of Babylon she could not get
over her longing for the hills of her
childhood. Babylon was built in a fiat
10 satisfy her longing for
the mountain scenes of her youth her
Ioving husband erected for his queen
the famous hanging gardens" But
what earthly king could erect for his
loved ones such gigantic hills as those
which cradle the youth of the Swiss
We who We're born in the
countries of the west
or east can sympathize with those
Swiss peasants If we have been COM
PEELED to live on prairie lands and cen
never overcome our longing for the
As the hills, the mighty
bills. have spoken of God to Amos, the
lerdsman, they have also spoken to us
living among the mountains Of the
western hemisphere. thought today
| would try to find God among the
mountains.
The Strength of God.
The gigantic hills in the first place
leach us the omnipotent strength of
the Cod who created them. They seem
10 sneak to US something like this: 20
man. why wilt thou not look upon me
even as thou wouldst regard the works
IF human hands? When thou standest
before the huge pyramids Of Egypt
with their great blocks Of stone thou
lost not say they were built by a race
Il pygmies, about whom Homer and
4esiOd wrote. Thou dOst not go in
he moonlight and dream dreams upon
he Acropolis overlooking old Athens
md see there visions of its ancient
plendor, with its Parthenon and its
olumns and its statuary and its mar
lie of purest white, and say there lived
.ot giants in those days. Thou dost
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