Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1905-02-16
Ca(rnaSe
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmasc. d. d.

this sermon the benefits that accrue to
men vino serve and obey God. The
text is Isaiah Xviii, is Then had thy
peace been IA a river
What art thou doing. O prophet OF
israel? Art thou haunting thy people
with the blcssin: they had missed
through forsaking God and disregard
ing thy teaching? When trouble
swoops art thou one of those who say
II told you SO? If you had only taken
my advice you would not be in the DIFF
fic,ilty you are in today. If you will
make your bed ont of thorns and
thstles instead of rose leaves. then
Upon rhc thorns and thislles you must
lie" Are you like an cxecutioncr who
liphraids and dcrides the trembling
murderer whose life he is soon to
strange with the rope? In drawing
your enchanting picture Of peace flow
ing like a river before a people harass
ed Ivy powerful foreign enemies and
disturbed by internal discussions are
YOU not merely adding to their distress.
as the mirage Of the desert aggInvates
the thirst Of the dying traveller? Are
you saying to your miserable people:
Look at those beautiful banks water
ed by the river. rich in fora and tune
full with singing birds They would
have been all yours if you had not
wandered into the desert of sin. but
now they are lost to you forever"
"!Ah, no." says the prophet Isaiah. at
Is not to aggravate their thirst that
Tell then, Of this river, but to invite
lfem to return to the way from which
they have wandered: not to exult over
their misfurtunes, but to warn them Of
the Consequences Of sin. nm not
here giorying in the suffering Of Gods
fallen ones. My river is not composed
Of the black waters Of the river Styx,
hut from the flowing crystal waters Of
the river of life. l am like Il loving
father whose Maynard son has disre-
rarded warnings and has sinned and
brought himself into trouble. and tho
father sOrrovS with him and pleads
with him to repent and assures him
that if he will forsake his sin his wick
eduess shall be forgiven and his peace
shall be like q river. as though be had
never snned" May God help us as
we use the banks Of the Jordan or the
Rhine or the Tiber or the upper
Thames or the banks of our own pO-
etc Hudson for n sacred pulpit. Such
:. river bank today may become AS
sacred pulpit as that in the chancel
of Westmi.rts.' abbey Or st. Paurs or
Canterbury cathcd.... even though
bishops hand has not corsecratcd it
or ecclesiastical convection dedicated
What the River Teaches,
The pleading river. in the first place.
teaches lls that the divine peace which
comes to man must come as the result
of natural law in the spiritual life 1t
j.. not the result of hanhaZard. 1t is
not a miracle AS we in the broad sense
Germ IL miracle. II does not come as a
miraculous wind which might DIG up Il
seed in some Italian garden and in its
teeth lift it above Alpine cray and
carry IL over land and sea and without
human aid plant it as IN exotic upon
Tho banks OF the Ohio or the MOnon-
gahela river. But the divine peace
comes to man rs the result Of n ration
nj cause 1t has a rational source, as
river has 4 natural source; it has a
natural flow, rs the Jordan has nat
,lral flow. and it has n rational outlet
as the Amazon empties itself into the
Atlantic or the Ganges finds resting
place in the huge reservoir Of the Ben
gal gulf.
\ river cannot disobey natural law
/ river cannot become a free lance
,.ix, 4 riNnr tnnt rio
thing that specific gravity says thou
shalt not do This fact Is dcmonstrat
I'd everywhere. climb one of the tai
pyramids Of the Rocky mountains
There upon the highest peak 1 fine
what is called watershed. Then q.
stand upon this watershed repeat
to myself the beautiful words of thu
poet:
God sent his messenger. the rain.
And said unto the mountain brook
Rise up and from thy caverns look
And leap with naked. snow white Zee
From the cool hills into the heart
OF tho broad. arid plain"
Rut. though the mountain brooks ma!
leap from the cool hills into the heat O
the broad, arid plain. It makes grea
deal of difference into what puin tina
falling raindrop shall 20, whether
falls one inch to the right or one incl
10 the left Of the Rocky mountain Wa
tcrslicd One inch to the right it flow
into the gulf of Mexico; one to the lef
1t flows into the waters of the Pacific
The waters Of river must ODE
natural law. Now. IL Gods laws ar
honorable in regulating the sourc
and the course OF river are they nc
equally memorable in reference to til
source and the course of hts divln
peace, which is like river:
Tho Conditions of Peace.
You must obey Gods laws before 20
can enjoy Gods peace. To resist then
10 disobey him. Is TO set yourse
against omnipotent power and infnil
wisdom. 1t Is not necessary that Go
should punish you for 1t; you bring Il
punishment on yourself in failure an
disappointment and eternal wrec
Your whole nature Is given over
anarchy and lawlessness. Only as yC
yield to his will do you put y0urse
in line with the eternal order and ent'
into peace. do not care how mut
you may think your way Is better thu
'iods ways, one fact you must unde
stand--you cannot get the divine peac
which IA like n river unless Won bliI