Democratic messenger., 1905-05-20
Calnnage
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Talnaae. d. ID.


foundations of character is shown in
this sermon. The text is Luke xiv. 30,
This man began to build and was not
able To finish"
u hat is the matter With yonder
block of houses!' l asked one of my
church officers some time ago when
walking along the Chicago streets. II
came TO this city at least four years
ago. Then the walls were up. The
floors In many of the houses were laid.
The buildings then seemed almost
ready for the plasterers. Why this
vast amount of money lying idle! 1t
must he worth at least $4,000 year
as interest. 1t would have been far
better TO have laid no foundation and
erected no walls and allowed the land
to be turned into vegetable garden
than TO leave those buildings in that
state" II know it," answered my
friend, but the owner of those build
ings overrcached himself When the
buildings were half completed his mon-
ey ran out. Then. OH account of his
debts, all his properties were thrown
by litigation into the city courts. Now
l do not know what Is to be the out
come. Anyway, he cannot go OH unless
he gets out of his present difficulties.
His property must still lie idle in this
incompleted FORM"
What Is the purpose of those two
mammoth sheds?" I asked a naval
friend some years ago while we were
walking through the Brooklyn navy
yard. why" said he. ''those are the
sheds erected over two immense hulls
of half completed warships. During
the civil war the navy department was
building as many and as large ships
as it could. but as soon as the Appo-
mattox peace agreement was signed
the work was stopped upon these two
vessels. The government had at that
time no use for them. Now they are
lying there. rotting away The wood
will be used for nothing but kindling,
as the plans upon which those kcels
were laid are already obsolete"
incomplete beginnings" were both
the Chicago houses and the navy yard
ships. We do not have to go clear
back TO Bible times to find illustrations
for my text. We can see them every
where around us in our present day
and generation.
We have a right to draw new Illus
trations and up to date applications
for this sermonic theme. Indeed, the
fresher and more modern the applica-
N he Il.
simile of my text made an overwhelm-
Ing impression upon Christ's hearers
was that it was an object lesson near
at hand When Christ was seated In
the fishing smack upon the waters of
Lake Galilee and said, Behold, there
went out sower to SOW" he looked
or upon the hillsides overhanging the
lake and pointed to farmer scatter
ing his seed upon the rich soil of the
east. In the s;lne way legend tells
that when Christ spake these words of
my text he pointed TO the half con-
structed walls of II tower which PLATE,
the governor. had begun to build, over
looking one of the Jerusalem aque-
ducts, and had left in an incompleted
state. There it stood. a powerful OBJ
ject lesson, showing that what one
commences in life one should carry on
to its full completion. So today
would draw my illustrations from
every whittier. would find them in
the home. the store, the factory. in the
church and on the street l would find
them in your life as well as in mine.
Half Built Towers of Life.
The half built towers of life have a
modern application In the average
schoolroom education. They can be
found in the preparations with which
many of us were sent forth to the
struggle of life. They can especially
be found in the smattering of French
lessons and painting and music and
aesthetic culture in which some sisters
and daughters are being dipped for a
few months year on the principle
that the mere outward color of the dye
decides whether or no the garment is
closely woven and of good wearing
quality. They are the 'incompleted be-
ginnings" of the schools and colleges
which often send Il young man or a
young woman forth into the world
knowing little of everything and not
any one study perfectly. They make
their students know little of astrono-
my, little of chemistry. little of
Greek, a little of mathematics. little
of mythology. a little of architecture, a
little of mechanics. a little of electric
ity. little of this, that and the other
thing and yet not well vcrsed in any
one subject or along any one line of
work. What true education should do
is to teach man to do at least one
thing as well as any one else could do
1t and not to know many things poorly
"Jack of all trades is master of none"
would illustrate my thought with n
reference TO a remarkable speech which
Charles Francis Adams delivered some
years ago before the Phi Beta Kappa
society of the Harvard university. The
title of this address was "a College
Fetch" In it Mr.. Adams denounced
the absurd course of study which many
colleges demand OF students in years of
work over Greek and Latin and the