Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1905-12-28
CalrnaSe
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmaee, D. b.

prospect and retrospect afforded by
our ascent of the Pisgah heights Of hui
man life and experience the preacher
finds topic appropriate to the closing
old year and full Of announcement for
the new. The text is Deuteronomy
xxxiv, I, ITO the top Of Pisgah.'
I would that Victor Hugo's works
were by my side. could And In one Of
his books--I think the one entitled
'Ninety .three"--a marvellous descrip-
tion Of storm In midOccan. The great
ship. which. I believe. was man.of-
war, was being tumbled about in the
heavy pillows The hurricane was
ehrleking in q pnndemonium Of wrath.
Only those who have been tossed
about by a cyclone far out Of sight Of
land know what the horrors Of svch a
storm must have been. Suddenly the
dangers Of the tempest were multipo-
teptly Increased by another danger
nearer at hand. The ship was rolling
this way and that. The huge cannon
were straining at the chains that held
ahenl in place. Suddenly one Of these
cannon broke loose, and with frightful
velocity II started on its juggelrS: ut
alike mission Of destruction. While the
proW Of the ship would lift itself and
then point its nose down into the val
1cys Of the waters. like tenpin ball.
ghe vaga bond cannon would rush along
che length Of the deck and crash into
. Hhc masts until the terrified sailors al
most heard the keel snap under their
feet Then when the ship would urch
! TO leeward and the gunwales would be
Submerged under the rushing waters
. khe huge iron monster would stop just
n minute. The next instant 1t would
make a dash in that direction until.
like a battering ram, 1t seemed as
though Il would splinter the side OF the
hull into kindlings. Horror upon hor-
FOR followed In its track. 1t mangled
The brave seamen who were trying to
1asso 1t as n cowboy upon western
prairie would throw the lariat about
the horns Of a wild steer. Now it sent
the sailors fleeing for their lives like q
Convey Of partridges scurrying to the
woods after the pointer has made them
fly IN from the underbrush. Again it
wrcnched the iron bar out Of the hands
Of the man who was trying to clog the
gun carriage wheels and hurled him
clear across the deck and far out into
the abysmal depths to find a watery
grave.
The dangers OF the battlefield were
child's play compared to the dangers
which threatened that ship. And vet
ms read that account many years ago
/ said to myself: '"Those sailors were
having an awful struggle, but very
similar are the multitudlnous dangers
and difficulties that assail most Of us
during the voyage of life The storms
IRE not April showers, but December
tornadoes. The dangers that threaten
to demolish us not only come from
without. hut assnil us from within the
ship 1t is hurricane after hurricane,
bonlbardment after bombardment, bat
cling wave after battling wave. rolling
1uggcrnaut followed by rolling jugger
Naut"
Rut though the dangers and storms
Of lifc seem TO be SO many and black
will" we arc passing through them
yet in almost every life there comes a
time when, ike Moses, we can stand
upon Pisgahs heights. where we can
truly sec that a. ,hcse troubles and
misfortunes have been working tOgeth
or for our good. AS Moses was allow
ed to climb TO the top Of Mount Nebe
and look Off upon the promised land
and see the results of his life work, sc
God lets us climb to the mountain tops
of inspiration and look OF upon the re
suits of our life work. Then we car
see into the dim future and know tina,
the germ seeds we have planted shall
yied their harvests thirty. sixty nnC
Il hundred fold. And then we can lool
back into the past as well as into tn,
future AMI see how God has been lead
ing US all the way. Let us first star
with a retrospect.
The Mountain HeIghta.
The Traveller climbing up the noun
tain height naturally looks behind al
well az ahead He looks toward tn,
land across which lie has travelled al
swell as toward the region to which III
antcnds 10 -. lie looks back TOWARD
his Wilderness as we'll ms ahead towart
his promised Utopia. We wonder no
that when Marcus Whitman, afte
weeks and months of travelling. final II,
stood upon III" tops of the Rocky
mountains and saw the present states
of Oregon and Washington strctchin,
away toward the west his blood tin
gl"d and that his eyes grow lnois
with tears. We wonder not that whel
OH the famous Fourth OF July, 1880. H.
spread his blanket upon the tops O
these mountains he and his little com
pany knelt and dedicated that ney
country to their God and prayed that i
might be n blessing to their native gov
eminent. Bat after the great mission
airy had Toasted his eyes upon Noun
Hood and Mount Jefferson and III
flowing rivers Of the Columbia and tn
Willamette methinks | can SEQ hin
turn and shade his eyes and look bac
toward the east. He kept looking fal
Their and farther east until In imagine
ton he could see clear across the col
ltlnent, until lie saw his beautiful hOrn
which he had left I'm the central pal
Of New York In order to come an
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