Milford chronicle., 1905-05-05
Calnage
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmase. D. D.

sermon the preacher draws from the
old story a powerful lesson on the sins
Of modern society and shows the way
of escape from such sins and their con,
sequences. The text is Luke xvii, 80,
Remember Lots wife"
Truth is truth at all times But truth
is never more powerfully driven home
TO the cOnsciences of men than when
illustrated by parable or symbollzed by
biography or exemplifed by aneedOte.
Christ always symbolizes truth in a
very simple way. Today he appears to
us, as we'll as to the Pharisees of old,
and says; Men, you know the history
Of Lots wife With great opportunity
of usefulness, yet she became false to
her trust. Do not make the sinful mis-
takes she made. Do not have her doom
your doom. By yonder pillar of salt
learn that the wages Of sin is always
death. Repent of your sins while there
is yet time. Repent as John the Bap-
tist exhorted you to repent. Come and
bow at Gods mercy seat, and bow
now" May God teach US one and all
to linger only long enough in the plains
of SodOm and GomOrrah to learn the
mighty gospel lesson that there is no
safety anywhere for sinful man out
side the protecting and fOrgiying love
of Jesus Christ
Like Lots wife, the most of us! |
Why? We are freed from the bitter |
temptations which, as a pack Of hun
CRY wolves. follow in the wake Of /
merciless poverty. We have never
known what it is to arise in the morn
ing and have nothing to eat. We have
never known what it is to shiver in
cold because we could not afford a
warm garment for our backs. We
never knew what it was to stagger
about Il great city after the hours Of
midnight in a snOwstOrm because we
did not know where to lay our heads
and then had to apply to the police I
station and sleep with a lot of filthy, !
dirty tramps upon the stone floors, I
with our ragged shoes under our heads {
for a pillow. We may not have been S
able to count our sheep by the thou q
sands and our herds of horses and |
cattle by the hundreds, as Lots wife 4
did. We may not have servants ga +
Ore and messengers to do our slightest b
bidding But, like Lots wife when t
the and her husband separated from S
he Abrahamic household, we have al n
ways had enough food to eat, enough a
Nothing to wear and a comfortable g
place in which to slumber. We have G
lever been in a position where hunger II
vas gnawing at our vitals and where I,
emptation came snarling and snap
ling at our heels in our desperate Y
truggle for a physical existence. We s,
lever knew what it was to long to W
arm our bread by the sweat Of our Al
row and never be able to crunch a h,
rumb. h,
Deserves Pity. nj
Even murder the worst Of crimes, ~
as degrees Of turpltude. God pity the h,
lan who is placed in the awful posi- y,
ion Of one who realizes that he has to ID
lay his brother or die himself. God ~
ity the starving shipwrecked sailor a,
tho crOuches upon the edge of a raft h.
l the middle Of the Atlantic ocean ~
'atching his companion at the other NJ
de Of the raft, who is hunger mad ~
Ike himself. God pity him as he leaps
)rward as a tiger might leap upon the
ack of trembling fawn and buries
Is teeth in the jugular vein Of his AZ,
lend and drinks the flowing blood in :.
endish glee as a mountain liOness 9n
Ould bury her teeth in the soft fur ~ ~
a rabbit or a fat prairie dog. tell ~, ~
)u, my friends, God has different .
andards of judgment for sin. 1t ~
axes a great deal Of difference how nO @
, condemns us for sin If, on the one :"
md, we, like Lots wife, have hnan- ne
al plenty and If, on the other hand, 20
e are poor hungry outcasts. with no III
Ork and no means of earning any sIr
nd Of an honest livelihood To sin for ar
easure and to sin because you do not set
low which way to turn for food are la
% entirely different propositions in we
IDS economy. ing
Oh, the temptations that come to ma
me men on account Of their struggles Wi
. physical existencei was never ign
ire impressed with the awfulness of ave
rh temptations than when reading mn
s tragic story: Some years after the ers
arthrow Of Napoleon a banquet was VIII
ng given in London to the British upl
GERS who had fought under yelling WI
at Waterloo. During their dinner Chl
old commander, then the most hon DAY
d man in England, took out of his b
.ket a beautifully jeweled snuffbox herr
ieh had been presented to him by ABB
sovereign. In order that his com gre'
lions in arms might see it he passed Of
lown the table. A short time after In
llington asked where it was, and no the
could find it. The jeweled snuffbox the
disappeared. OF course all the Off the
present felt that there was a thief pers
ing them. Some one proposed that righ
doors be locked and every one Any
'ched Much to the surprise Of the ploy
pany, an honored ex-colonel OF a settl
regiment refused to be searched. ing
1ence, Of course, pointed to him as min'
gsllty man, but on account of old clus
sake Wellington let him go. grea
lat night when the great duke was had
-essing for bed much to his sur own
: he found the jeweled snuffbox pare