The Monmouth inquirer., 1905-12-07
Calnage
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmase. D. D.


srmon the preacher sounds stirring
9te of arousal and fresh encourage
ant to those who are disposed to sinl
the battle of life and to give way t
awaiting regrets. The text is ii Sam
1. xix, 10, $50 the king returned anC
me to Jordan"
The world has no use for the common
scold When universal fault finder
can see nothing but shortcomings il
heir fellow men they are apt to de
i.ounce sins similar to those to whicl
i.ley themselves are addicted. "Wha
u the matter with your the clappel
sked the cracked bell in the old leg
end. ssYou utter nothing but discords
GU are no good to anybody" Yes,
answered the bell, that may be true
But what are you complaining about
Was not my metal all right until you
pounded a crack in my side? And, fur
thermore, would not the world think
was all right now If you did not con-
tinue to pound me and advertise my
I, eaknesses?' SO it often happens that
tie people who are most active In de-
3lncing the weaknesses of others are
really denouncing the evil results Of
which they themselves are the direct or
indirect causes. Like boomerang,
their complaints fly In a circle. They
strike back at the very lips which start
ed those complaints ON their evil fight.
The world has but little use for the
common scold. 1t has also little use
for those who do not heed the danger
signals of life which are lifted all about
them. 1t has unutterable contempt for
the pilot who will not steer away from
the buoys marking the dangerous reefs,
or for the engineer who will not stop
his locomotive when the warning tor
pedo Is exploded under his wheel, or
for the sea captain who will not keep
his eye upon the falling barometer
when the ship is drawing near the ice
berg regions, or for the physician who
Goes not keep a careful record of the
patients fever, or for the statesman
who does not ferret out and check the
evils skulking behind the pillars of the
legislative halls. There is no sense in
declaring that the sun is shining when
a tornado is battering down the har-
vests and knocking the unripe fruit off
the swaying branches. 1t is no sign of
great virtue to be always looking upon
the bright side of things when condi-
tons about us are all askew and could
be made right if we would only go
forth to grapple with the wrongs and
scatter the causes which are bringing
forth evil results.
General Joab was not a common
scold; neither was he one of those
wishy washy, effeminate, pusillanimous
characters who are afraid to say that
their souls are their own. He could
speak out boldly and bravely when it
behooved him so to speak. When the
king did right, Joab was ready to say,
Thou art right, o my king" When
the king did wrong, Joab was also
ready to say, ''Thou art wrong, o my
king And because he was ready to
denounce the kings follies just as en-
phatically as he was to praise the
kings virtues he was able to exercise
the far reaching influence on David's
life that is described In the chapter of
my text.
In the first place, the iconoclast open
ed the eyes of ttS king to the many
blessings with which he was surround
ed. With one herculean blow Joab
shattered the idol Of the kings grief
and made him stop worshiping at the
shrine Of his hayward sons grave.
With the keen, sharp words Of a friend
he went into the royal bedroom and
cut and slashed that weeping parent
with his verbal stiletto until at last the
king realized that even father has no
right to spend lifetime bemoaning a
dead Absalom If by such course he is
doing an injustice to his living friends
And yet, my brothers, how many men
and women there are just like David
They never seem to be able to turn
their weeping eyes away from the TO
Gus of a tombstone. They never seem
to be able to see the laughing eyes and
lHC SAuli11lS ups VI " hCcA SiS ~ IL {
words of those who are living for them
in the nurseries and sitting rooms OF
their own homes.
David's Greatest Battle.
The greatest battle of David's career
was over. 1t was an awful fight. Dur
ing the hours of that day the kings
throne had been tottering upon its foun
dations AS Alfred the Great had tC
flee his capital when he was defeated
by the Danes at Athelney, and as Rob
ert Bruce was an exile in Ireland fol-
six long years before he came back tt
his Scottish throne, and as Charles II
was a wanderer upon the face of the
earth when Cromwell was dictator al
Westminster, SO King David, on &C
count Of the uprising of his son Absa
lom, was fugitive from his Jerusalem
palace. 1t was not mere playful squal
which had struck his ship Of state
1t was a tornado, which was ripping
the sails and making the gunwales sink
under the foaming, raging pillows
King David's head was in danger, an6
the whole royal family were menacet
by the instruction of which this dis
soIufe prince was the leader. The
young princes In the London Tower
met the same kind Of a fate which
Prince Absalom had planned out fol
q. 81. h.zf M uoov1or did fht