Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1905-07-17
Calmage
Sermon
by Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmage. d. d.


to the suddenness Of Christs promised
reapDearance on earth. The text is
Matthew xiv. q, las the lightning
corneth out Of the east
The misfortune Of being terrorized
by the lightnlngs has never come to
me. Some Of the bravest and noblest
men and women tremble like an aspen
leaf shaken In the rough grasp Of the
wind whenever the lightnings fash and
the thunders growl because years ago
they lived through some awful hor-
ror of an electric storm. They can
never come out from under the shadow
of that danger. Like Paul on the road
TO Damascus, blinded and dazed they
were flung into the dirt by an electric
thunderbolt, or by it they had their
homes shattered and burned, or they
had dear loved one killed by their
side. To be frightened by storm IN
der such circumstances is not neces-
sarfly to be cowardly.
II you or / had been hurt by light
ming or had seen some friend hurt, we
would be Just as fearful OF the light
one would dare dream Of calling the
mother Of Washington a coward Al
most Spartan-like, she gave up her son
TO the cause Of American liberty.
When the little old widow babe her
tall, noble boy goodhy, it was not with
an agonizing cry of Stay, George
stay at home with me-" Her COM
mand was: "Go, my SON Go forth
and answer duty's call 1t Is better to
die gloriously than to live towards
life. Thy country calls thee. Go, my
son, go!' Mary Washington was among
the bravest Of women She would have
been willing, II necessary, 10 march up
10 the lannon's mouth, as did her son
at Princeton and Brandyw1ne. With
.unblanched cheek she would have
faced the rifles of her counry's enc
mics as did her son when with the
colonial troops at his back be saved
Braddock's army near old Fort Du-
Quesne of Pittsburg. But Mary Wash
ington's cheeks would turn ashen
white when she heard thunderstorm
signal In the distance. Whyf In her
early life, with a young girl friend,
she was sitting at her fathers dinner
table. Suddenly there came a fash
and q quick defamation of thunder. She
turned and looked at her friend. In
horror she called 10 her to speak, but
that friend never spoke TO Mary Ball
again. She was dead! She was killed
By fash Of lightning.
Glory OF the Lightning.
The raging Of thunderstorm has
always Impressed me a good deal as
a did my only brother. A few weeks
before his death there was a terrific
electric storm IN Brooklyn. Crash,
crash, crash, crash, went the thunder.
1T seemed then as though all parts of
the heavens became at times great
prairie CONGREGATIONS, great rivers Of
fire, great cataracts and shooting jave-
Inns Of fire. Father and mother be-
came nervous about the storm. They
wanted their children all about them.
- father went upstairs to my broth
ers study to bring him down The
room was empty. He began to call:
-sDe Witt! De Witt! Where are you p
he heard a voice calling: Here, ia
Their! What do you want?' Then my
father went up into the cupola, which
stood upon the top Of our house. Their
he found my brother. What are yol
doing hereT' said father. Better com
down with the rest of the family. Yol
might get struck here" oh" al
swered my brother, there is no daI
ger. Let US stay up here and waite
the storm Is it not wonderful? Fl
Their, is not that play of lightning glt
riousi" Yes, the lightning Is gloriOu
If you have never been frightened b
the touch of its fingers Of fire. 1t ha
always been to me a glorious spect:
Gle. 1 am thrilled by its grandeur &
draw for you the symbol of IT
coming Christ in "the lightning whic
cometh out of the east and shinet
even unto the west" May God bel
me in this sermon TO impress upon 70
the ever present nearness Of our Sa7
Jour and our divine King
ChriSts second advent, in the fir;
place, shall be a glorious spectacle. e
shall come not as a babe 10 be born
a stable and Graded in a stone Grill
he shall come mot. as a fugitive inssh
mothers arms upon the back Of
humble beast Of burden, fleeing int
Egypt; he shall come not as carpe1
ter, with the soiled garments Of tod
be shall come not as an outcast, a coz
demned culprit, staggering toward Ca
vary's heights under the oppressiv
weight of the cross upon which be ha
to be crucified. But he shall come |
all the splendor Of the kings of oil
The glittering spears shall be by b
side. The Furnished helmets and Il
flashing shields and the waving swort
shall be rejecting the lights of his m
lennial approach The white steeds
victory then shall be champing the
bits and stamping their golden hoof
The rumbhng wheels Of myriads
chariots and the vociferating cheers
the charioteers and horsemen shall
making the welkin ring with their 81
r~a.-snh- - 4.-- The rlozsds shall Ia =