Democratic messenger., 1905-08-12
Calrnase
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmase. d. d.

Los Angeles. Cal. Aug. Gin this
sermon the preacher takes for his
theme the hidden voices that call men
to evil courses and british indulgence
and those that call us to higher. nobler
and better living. The text IL Ecclesl-
astes X. 70. For bird OF the air shall
carry the voice. and that which hath
wings shall tell the matter"
Ever since my boyhood days. when
John Brown introduced me TO "Rab
and His Friends" animal stories have
had for me complete fascination.
Seton Thompsons Lives OF the Hunt
ed." his wild Animals That I Have
Known" his biography OF a Grizzly"
and his "Trail of u Fanhill Stag" Rud-
yard Kipling's Jungle Tales" Mar
shall Saunders Beautiful Joe" and
Miss Anna Sewell'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 and are being written whose he
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
London's Call Of the Wild" MIR. Lon
don was q very young man when he
wrote his masterpiece. yet that story
has found an almost universal appro-
hu ait,.a
calling us down to sin and back to an
cestral evils.
This sentiment stirred my heart
when | first read the book. was In
railroad car when "rhe 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 sntchel when a
gentleman crossed the aisle and said |:
Here is Il little story; read IT,"
read 1t through in very short time
But as | traSd Jack Londons mighty
st. Bernard dog from being pet of
q California millionaire's home until Ii
became wild beast amid the SHOWS
Of the far north. lending ON n pack OF
hungry wolves. asked myself this
other question: "Why is there not "A
Call of the Good AS well as a Call
of the Bad? Why do we not hear the
lnnumerable voices which are de-
scribed by Ecclesiastcs US everywhere
around us calling us TO cease assO-
ciating with human wolves aud de
ct 81
that are calling us to let loose our
lower and viler natures?" AS sat in
that car. with the Arizona deserts slip
ping away underneath our wheels. l
said to myself: Yes. there is "A Call
of the Good II is.even better theme
for n 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
Christs 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-iive, hundred-aye. perhaps
$50 years dead. II comes 10 us from
forgotten graves. unmarked by tomb
stones. or. II hcadstones are there.
with epitaphs moss covered or eaten
away by time. the destroying icono-
clast. II comes TO us not so much
from our fathers and our mothers. but
from great -great-grandfathers whose
names we have never read unless we
I'm VA farrataI thsr, attf IN anna .yanan
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 I'm 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 family album
which goes back generation after gen
Grafton. how easy II would be for some
Of US 10 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