Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1905-08-10
Calnnage
Sermon
~ Rev.
Frank De WITT falmase. D. d.

Frank De witt Taimase, D. D.
Los Angeles. Cal. Aus. 6.-ln this
sermon the preacher takes for biz
theme the hidden volcee that call men
TO evil courses ana brut1sh indulgence
and those Int call ~ 10 higher, nobler
and better living. The tsxt Ia Ecclesi.
astes 4, 20. For q bird Of the air shall
carry the voice. and that which hati,
wings shall toll the m6ttsr"
Ever since my boyhood days. when
John Brown introduced me to "Rab
and His Friends" animal stories have
had for me a complete fascinati ton.
Seton Thompson's Lives Of the Hunt
3D." his wild Animals, That I Have
Known" his Biography Of a Grissly'
and his Trail Of q Family stag" Rud-
yard KiplinEs 'Jungle Tdles." Mar
shall Saunders's "Beautiful joe and
Miss Anna Gcwell's BLACK Beauty
offer the widest range for the imagi.
native writer and the greatest oppor-
tunities for pressing home moral
truths. But. though many books have
been aud are being written whose be-
roes and heroines are covered with the
shaggy names Of the wild beasts or
with the glossy coats Of the domestic
animals. by far the most interesting
animal story have ever read Is Jack
I-ondon's Call Of the Wild" Mr.. Lon
don was a very young man when he
wrote his masterpiece. yet that story
has found an almost universal appro-
bation. There are always many voices
calling us down to sin and back to an
cestral evils.
This sentiment stirred my heart
when first read the book I was in
railroad car when "The Call of the
Wild" was placed in my hand Day
after day we had been travelling across
the western prairies. had finished
all the books In my satchel when
gentleman crossed the aisle and said
Here Is little story; read IT," l
read 1t through In a very short time.
But as I traced Jack Londons mighty
st. Bernard dog from being q pet of
California millionaire's home until Il
became wild beast amid the SHOWS
of the far north, leading on a pack of
hungry wolves. asked myself this
other question: why is there not "A
Call Of the Good as we'll az "A Call
OF the BadT Why do we not hear the
innumerable voices which are de-
scribed by Ecclesiastes as everywhere
around us calling us to cease asso-
ciating with human wolves and de.
structlve wild beasts as we'll az those
that are calling us to let loose our
lower and ylier natures7" As sat in
that car, WITH the Arizona deserts slip
ping away underneath our wheels, I
said to myself Eyes. there is "A Call
of the Good 1t is even a better theme
for story than The Call Of the Wild
May God help ME to teach the glorious
lesson that there are many voices
about US, which are calling us up to
his love. instead Of calling us down to
Christ's condemnation.
THE Call OF the Good" in the first
place. is spoken by the lips Of our an.
cestors. who have been fifty years,
seventy-fve, hundred-aye, perhaps
100 years dead. 1t comes to us from
forgotten graves. unmarked by tomb
stones. or, II headstones are there,
with epitaphs moss covered or eaten
away BY time, tho destroying icono-
clast. It comes to us not 80 much
from our fathers and our mothers. but
from Rreat-great grandfathers. whose
names we have never read unless we
have ferreted them out in some genoa
logical library when trying to prove
our descent from the pilgrim fathers
of the Mayflower time or when trying
TO prove hereditary claim to some val
liable property in England or Scotland
or Germany whose late owners. who
bore our family name, died childless
and without last will and testament.
This ancestral call of the good"
comes to us In our dispositions, in
our desires, as well as In our physical
makeups and our entailed landed es-
tates.
Family Resemblances.
There Is absolutely no doubt In any
intelligent mind that we inherit our
physical qualities from our ancestors.
II we could only have a family album
which goes back generation after gen.
GRAFTON. how easy 1t would DO for some
Of us to tell from whence our physique
and appearance came. can see you
now turning over the pages Of that I'm
aginary album and looking at the DIFF.
ferent pictures. YES" you say.
"brother John certainly looks like my
mothers mother. and my grandmother
certainly looks like her fathers sister.
and my reat-great-aunt certainly
looks like her grandfather" Aud back,
generation after generation. you 60
tracing the physical resemblance Of
yourself and the other members Of
your family. Even with the few fam
lily pictures you hsve you can trace
wonderful simiIasities between your
brothers and sisters and cousins and
uncles and aunts and great.uncles and
great-aunts and grandparents. Fur
thermore. outsiders are able to trace
these licensees as we'll as your own
biased eyes.
Some time ago the president OF ono
OF our vesfeSn colleges was calling at
my house. When my wife entered the
Parlor the visitor pointed 10 an oil por-
trait hangins upon the wall ahd said:
Il know that u one Of your husbands
relatives they look 80 much alike.
Why your husband looks far more like