Milford chronicle., 1905-09-08
Calnage
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmase. .. D.


Labor day sermon the preacher appro
priately takes for his theme the grea
army of humble everyday workers up
on whose faithful use of their singl,
talent in their particular sphere de
pend the welfare and happiness of q
nation The text is Matthew XIV, 10
''Io another Ou@.'
"The Driving Of the Last Spike" is
to me one of the most suggestive pic
lures ever painted, not because it is
the work of Thomas Hill, one OF
Americas famous artists. who in his
lifetime has been awarded thirty-two
first medals in competition with other
painters; not because copies of that
picture have been distributed broad
cast over the United States i'm thou
sands of woodcuts not because I per-
sOnally have seen the old artist in his
last DAYS, helpless as a little child and
therefore. on account Of the PERSONAL
ity Of the man. have been unduly in
duenced by the power of the picture
but that picture has thrilled me
through and through because it is an
epoch marking picture. 1t is n picture
which shows a marriage altar where
the far east and the far west-where
the Union railroad and the Central Pa
hifc railroad-were united by the we'd
ding ring of a steel rail. 1t illustrates
Ahe dramatic moment when the great
work Of Leland Stanford and c. P.
Huntington and Charles CrOcker and
Mark Hopkins was cOnsummated. In
the presence of some of the most
prominent men, north, south. east and
west, the golden spike was driven
which forever made the east and the
west, the metropolis Of New York and
the metropolis Of California, next door
neighbOrs.
Vast was the amount Of brain and |
physical energy expended which made |
the scene of that picture possible. Over
the mountains. down into the valleys, |
The leaplng rivers and the ravines, has
gone the shrek of that locomotive we
sec putting and painting behind Leland
Stanford as the first president Of the
Central PaciE drives in the last spike
Far, far away from any human resi-
denCe went the workmen. Cannot you
see the deer and the buffalo and the
prairie dogs look up in wonderment as
that strange booking creature called Il
railroad train dashes by? "How could
a man have hundreds and thousands
and tens of thousands Of men at work
for him, as did Leland Stanford, and
not have thousands of financial leak
ages which would sweep away his en-
tire fOrtune?' ! asked Il great railroad
contractor when talking about the les
sons of this picture simply by per-
feet organization" he answered. Each |
man has his allotted work to do Each
man is responsible for a gang Of men
or for certain sections Of the work
until you get down to the lowest boss !
and the lowest workman digging in the |
ditch. The success of Leland Stan
fords railroad enterprises, as we'll as {
of all great enterprises, depends as {
much upon the men of one talent doing '
their work honestly as it does upon the t
men of five or ten talents doing their S
work honestly and we'll" Great lesson v
is that-great in temporal life. great t
in spiritual God has no insignificant Il
workmen in the purpose for which the t
human race was created The people \
who are considered ordinary folks are c
just rs essential i'm Gods great econ o
Omy as the men styled mental giants. t
No WOrlzmen Are Useless. n
No workmen useless or unimportant n
In Gods sight Oh. yes, we can prove !
that by the value Of the old Hebrew C
talent as well as by the conversation o
Df the great railroad contractor in ref p
areuce to Thomas Hills Driving Of the Il
Last Spike Was the Hebrew talent
a small capital with which to start c
ifes battles3 No. That talent repre- Il
ienteI about 5000 shekels of silver or e
lbout S1,91G in American money. Then | Il
when YOU Furthermore estimate that a
he laborer in Christ's day received o
My a penny Il day, which in our time e
would be an equivalent of about IS Il
ents. YOU can readily understand that p
be good man Of the parable of my text Il
ave to even the humblest Of his serv- u
nts an equivalent of about $1,000 in IL
IN money. That is no small amount u
f money to put out at interest And u
D tas Labor Sunday to the clerk, the "
arvant. the lab0rers in the ditch, the "
lmmon soldier and the common church ~
lem1er God gives "a powerful one =,
llcnt" Ny object is to talk about ~
,me Of the one talented people. =. -
ouli show their vast influence upon -
e great wide world. l would also ~ ~
low why all Of us ordinary folks ~.
ould employ well the talent God has 81 -
ven us to dse. ~.
In the first place, study the influence m
the one talented folks in the mer- -,
ntile world. Your wife some day ~,
VS. to you: Come, my dear let Us 81 81
shopping. You have day off. ~
ere is no reason for your not spend
z the day with me-" In a moment
mental weakness you go shopping. Gu
ly do / say in a moment Of mental .el
akness? do not believe any man lii'
earth can look more out Of place an
feel more uncomfortable and mis- be
bic than in an average dry goods Wv
re. There the women push you Ter
~ side to side. When YOU are not mis-
ming IN vOur own feet YOU are al one