The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-11-26
DIR. TALMACE'S SERMON.
sv THE REV. FRANK DE WITT raLMAeE. D. q.

r os ANGELES, CAL, November 19- For the old folks, the young folks
 A< the influential and the humble there are words of cheer and congratulation in this sermon, as well as encouragement in well doing. The text is Romans xvi. g. Salute Urbane our helper In Christ. and Stachys, my beloved
 Have you ever wandered over any of the great battlehelds of the world? Have you ever had guide lead you over the blood soaked soil of Gettysburg? Then you have been struck with the fact that no one squad, no one company. no one regiment no one brigade, no one division alone fought that battle. The success of Gen. George G. Meade or Of Robert E. Lee depended not more upon the generals being faithful than upon all tho colonels and majors and captains and sergeants and ooporals and private soldiers being faithful and working together and in uni son. The difference between conquer ing army and mob Is the difference be- tween men working together in an in- teligent way to achieve a desired pur- pose and conglomerate collection of in- dividuals, each claiming that his own VIII IS the equal, 1T nor the superior, or all tho other wills and intellfgences about him.
 What Is true of the army is absolutely true in reference to business. How Is the Panama canal to be dug7 By the United States commissioners appointed by the President? By the chief engineer? By the contractors? Oh, no. As in the mer- camille establishment the buyers, the ad- vertising agents. the fioorwalkers, the salesmen the delivery wagons, all work together in unison and each as CO., operate agent helps the other so in the Panama canal all the different depart ments are working together Each man is helped by some other man, and each man tries to help the other men, Now, what is true in the army and in the bus mess and in the contractors world is equally true. in regard to church work Here we do not find the minister himself doing all the work. Paul himself could not do if. He had his helpers. his asso- clates. his workers He himself tells us that Urbane and Stachys were his asso- ciates in Gods work. Neither can the church members make a successful church unless there is cooperation in the pulpit. Thus the purpose of my sermon today is to show you who are the min ister's best friends: who are the men and women upon whom he should most wisely lean and whose advice he should be most anxious to follow. I speak thus not only to help the pew. but also to answer let ters winch have come to me from all parts of the country. written by young ministers asking what course they should take in reference to their church work.
 Who are the minister's best friendso In the first place, they are the old folks They arc the men and women who have been walking with Jesus Christ twenty forty fifty or even sixty years. They are the church members whose hair is white, whose step Is often lnfirm and whose hear ing sometimes must have the sounding board of the palm of the hand back of the ear in order to hear the sermons arght But, though their eyes may be weak and their hearing muffled with those eyes they have been reading the promises of God. and with those ears they have been listening to his words of com Tort through many dark trials which have come to them year in and year out per haps for half a century. Now my friends the minister of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ cannot afford to turn his back upon such counselors; neither can the church members them selves afford to stop their ears to the words of advice which these aged Christians can speak out of their past experiences.
 The Value of Experience. Is not the man of experience in the temporal world to be more followed than the young striplng whose knowledge con sists only of theories and generalities? Suppose you had very serious Illness suppose a dangerous operation had to be performed upon you, for whom would you send? Would you call the young doctor who last year graduated at the head of his medical class. brilliant though he might be? No. You would send for such man as pr. Hamilton, who stood by the bedside of James A. Garfield. or for a man liRe Dr. Janeway, who came as fast as revolving wheels could carry him to the bedside of William Mckinley, or for skillful practitioner like Sir Mo rell Mackenzie, who looked into the dis eased throat of Crown Prince Frederick These were all old men. For years and years and years they had been examir rg throats and cutting away diseased tis- sues
 Suppose you are going to ascend the