Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1905-10-16
Calmase
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmaee, d. d.


Is shown In this sermon, the preacher
taking his text from Genesis Il, %.
But forgat him."
How soon "the plowman can over
take the reaper" as the ancient prophet
saidl How soon after the harvest field
CLOVIS with its crop Of ripening grain,
ready for cutting and garnering, does
the pillow come to tear up the rich soil
with its ruthless share! How soon the
midnight frosts cover the fruits with
their cold, clammy death sweat! The IA
<orites Of fortune are sometimes rapidly
lifted to success, but not so quickly as
the victims Of misfortune are dragged
down to ruin. The stone drops from
the highest cliff to the bottom of the
deep canyon more swiftly than the
powerfully winged eagle scars up and
up until he dyes his feathers with the
golden pigments Of the rising sun. The
kings frown and the kings smile may
follow each other even more rapidly
than the changes of the tickle weather
Of the spring, which King Solomon de-
scribed when he said, "And the clouds
return after the rain.
Could any lark with q broken pinion
fall to the ground more suddenly than
Napoleon III. fell from his throne? In
1859 he was considered the most pow
erful ruler of all Europe. His great
uncle's name, his brilliant coup d'etat,
which placed him upon the French
throne after he had been elected pres
ident for ten years; his fostering of the
arts in his kingdom, his past military
record, circled q halo around his per-
sonality and made him ''the man of the
hour" When the Suez canal was open
ed Nov. 16, 1869, all Europe came to
participate in the marriage Of the wa
tiers Of the Mediterranean with the wa
tiers Of the Red sea. Many kings and
queens, princes and princesses were
there, but the royal yacht, which car
ried on board the beautiful Empress
Eugene, was the center of all eyes. At
that gathering she was the ruler Of
kings and the queen of queens. No black
cloud darkened her horizon. Yet in i
little over one year the FrancO-Prus-
sian war broke out. Napoleon III. in
a short time was an eX-emperor, Sedan
had been fought, the Tuileries was ex-
changed for Chiselhurst. Then the only
crown of Eugene was a crown Of
thons, pressed into her agonized brain.
With one mighty crash the Napoleonic
dynasty fell into a heap of ruins.
poor Empress Eugenie!' you say.
Why poor Eugene? She had no mo-
nopoly of trouble. To be hurled in a
few months from a throne into exile
was a startling fate, but TO how many
have misfortunes come as swiftly and
as poignantly? They pounce upon US
as swiftly, as a hawk darts for his
( prey. they come upon us as quickly as
they came to Joseph and to the chief
baker and the chief butler in the Egyp-
tan prison But though they have
come to us quickly in the past, yet
many of us are like the chief butler of
Pharaoh's court. AS soon as our trou-
bles leave us we forget all about them
and their wounds. We forget that the
same kind of troubles may affiict us
again. Thus we go on practicing the
same sins that flung us into our past
difficulties. Let me draw from this
simple Bible story some plain, practi
cal gospel lessons. May you and l not
be like the forgetful butler, but like the
unforgetful Joseph, who in his prosper
ity remembered his old father jacob
and his brethren and who in his beau
tiful, forgiving nature will always re
main as one OF the Old Testament
pure and noble types of the life o
Jesus Christ.
Promises of Youth.
Like the restored butler are we be
cause, in the first place, we have foI
gotten the promises we made when sc
ing through the struggles of you'll
When injuStices were practiced upo
US. when we were working during tn
day and studying during the night 70
an education, when we had to wea
shabby clothes and had to hear tn
sneers and the taunts of the world
what did we then say? "Ah, if l eve
succeed in life l will help all the youn
men and women l can who are in tn
same predicament as I am" We hav
succeeded. Are we fulfilling our prom
ises? As successful ministers have W
sympathy with young ministers? A
successful doctors have we sympath.
with young physicians? As successful
merchants have we sympathy witt
young merchants? As successful con
tractors have we sympathy with youn:
b. contractors? No. That is not the gen
eral rule. When the doors of Phara
obs court We're opened for us and sue
cess was ours, like the chief butler W
forgot all about out past promises an
the Josepbs whom we left behind i
prison. We forgot our troubles almos
Immediately This statement is tru
not only OF one but of many depar
ments of life.
How was it in reference to your CO
Iege days? Who was the meanest an
the most contemplate man on yol
faculty? Was he The great .5rai3e
and world boDosed Mark Hopkins
EliphaIet Mott or Timothy Dwight o