Milford chronicle., 1905-04-21
CalnaQe
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt TalmaGe. D. D.

the use to which the tainted money
earned by it was put the preacher in
this sermon draws lessons Of the evils
that come from avarice and cupidity.
The text is Matthew xvii, 8, 'Where-
fore that field was called the field of
blood"
A grewsome fascination hoYers about
the bricks, and the stones, and the
boards, and the grounds where lived
and wrought some Of the worlds evil
workers. Island of Blennerhasset!
Wonderful name. rich in historical as
sOciations! l see the boats every spring
and summer and fall filed with sight
seers almost daily pushing out upon
the Ohio river to seek this little island
near Marietta. Why? Is it a summer
playground? Is it an Isle Of Wight? Is
Its center a mansion? Are its banks
eerraced? Are its trees filed with
sweetest Of songsters as they were once
in the halycon days when its owner
Harman Blennerhasset, took his bride
there and changed this island into an
Edenic garden, as Nebuchadnezzar,
who had courted Princess Amytis
among the hills of Ecbatana, to humOr
the Whims of his queen, had lifted high
for the wOnderment Of the world the
famous changing gardens of Babylon"
oh, no. Blennerhasset island today is
of little intrinsic value. A few scrub
trees, a few rocks, perhaps a few hov-
els such as can be seen in scores Of is !
lands in the middle of this Ohio river, |
are all the aesthetic beauties it has to !
offer to the landscape artist. But to the /
historian Blennerhasset has the same |
fascination as have the broken walls
of KenilwOrth castle. Blennerhasset is /
immortal on account of the infamous
history Of Aaron Burr. That is where
the ex-vice president stopped on his
way to establish a monarchy in the
great southwest. 1t has an evil fame
as the rendezvous Of the traitOrous con-
spirators of that day, just as is that
house in a side street of Washington
In which Mary e. Surratt welcomed
the thugs of the later time who were
plotting the assassination Of Abraham
Lincoln
The people in swarms used to go to
an old fashioned New England house
where was kept a bloody shirt, the
relic Of a dastardly deed Of the RevOlu-
tiOnary war. As 1 remember the story,
an, American officer was surrounded
by the enemy while eating dinner in
this very house. When called upon to
surrender he handed over his sword
hllt first, to one Of his captors In
stead of the British soldier receiving it
and placing his captive under guard,
he took the sword and plunged it
through the heart of his helpless vic
tim. The rent in the shirt showed
where the sword had pierced its way
Into the bleeding flesh. OF course such
a cowardly act as this was condemned !
by the British army as well as by the
American. But the condemnation of
the murderer has not anything to do ,
with my thought. The one fact I want !
to impress upon you is this: Scores and
hundreds Of people naturally seek in >
fascinated awe the places where a b
great crime has been committed. The
star In the floor Of the Pennsylvania !,
depot, where Garfield was shot, for /,
years had its thousands of sightseers. n
The scene Of the Chicago Haymarket r
riot the place where Edward Stokes \
shot James Fisk, the sausage vat n
where Leutgert dlslntegrated the body +
Of his murdered wife, all have had h
their morbid sightseers even as the h
room in which George Washington '
breathed his last has its daily visitors. h
"The Field Of BIood.v n
Crowds of sightseers in Jerusalem c
for years after the crucifixiOn went to c
the scene Of my text out of morbid J
curiosity, as the multitude seek the "
island Of Blennerhasset Indeed, had n
they not gone out Of a morbid curios- n
ity they never would have gone at all. a
'Aceldama that is to say, the field Of al
bloc. lis not as some people might
sup ose, an Esdraelon plain where a
mighty batre was fought It was an 81
I'D potter's ield. filed with clay. 1t m
vas TOO poo. ground to be used for u
gricultural purposes. It ha8a been 81
turned into a paupers' cemeterG Yet 81
his paepers' burial ground had for in
years hosts Of sightseers. Why? Per eli
laps the best way to answer you is to fr
tell you what some of the sightseers w
ire now saying. Yes, this is ground" dr.
'ays some one, that was bought by es
ne priests with the thirty pieces OF Sc
'nvcr Judas received for betraying sic
'hrist-" "Ace,dama-that is, the field l
# blood"-says another; 'it is well be
iamed" Could we have a better sub 10,
ect to preach upon on the Sabbath on
receding Good Friday than this pot wa
er's field, which became a paupers' ple
urying ground, bought with the money
udas received for betraying Christi
Aceldama. in the first place. teaches l
$ that there is no honor among thieves. ere
7hen a man becomes a Satanic hire inl
ng he Is not likely to be true to his de-
lrtners in infamy. A murderer in wa
Ger to save his own neck. as a rule, tue
III turn states evidence against his III
in crime A pickpocket nal
III be just as willing to empty the mi