Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1905-10-20
Calnase
sermon
by Rev.
Frank De Witt Tslnase. d. d.


gratitude may be one OF the meanesi
or sins and fruitful of the worst results
is shown in this sermoa. the preacher
taking his text from Genesis X, 23,
I. But forgat him"
How soon ''the plowman can over.
> take the reaper" as the ancient prophet
= said! How soon after the harvest field
: giows with its crop of ripening grain
/, ready for cutting aud garnering. does
> the plow come to tear up the rich soil
: with its ruthless sharei How soon the
midnight froSts cover the fruits with
their cold, clammy death sweat The ia.
/, vorites of fortune are sometimes rapidly
. lifted to success, but not so quickly as
the victims Of misfortune are dragged
down TO ruin. The stone drops from
the highest cliff to the bottom of the
deep canyon more swiftly than the
} powerfully winged eagle scars up and
up until he dyes his feathers with the
golden pigments of the rising sun. The
kings frown and the kings smile may
follow each other even more rapidly
than the changes of the tickle weather
OF the spring. which King solomon de
seribed when he said. "And the clouds
return after the rain"
Could any lark with a broken pinion
fall to the ground more suddenly than
Napoleon III. fell from his throne? In
1859 he was considered the most pow.
erful ruler of all Europe His great
uncle's name. his brilliant coup d'etat,
which placed him upon the French
throne after he had been elected pres
ident for ten years; his fostering of the
arts In his kingdom, his past military
record, circled a halo around his per-
sonality and made him "the man of the
hour" When the Suez canal was open
ed Nov. 10, 1860. all Europe came 10
participate in the marriage Of the wa.
tiers Of the Mediterranean with the wa.
tiers Of the Red sea. Many kings and
queens, princes and princesses were
there. but the royal yacht, which car
ried on board the beautiful Empress
Eugene, was the center Of all eyes. At
that gathering she was the ruler of
kings and the queen OF queens. No black
cloud darkened her horizon. Yet in
little over one year the Franco Prus-
sian war broke out. Napoleon III. i'm
a short time was an ex-emperor, Sedan
had been fought. the Tuileries was ex-
changed for Chiselhurst Then the only
crown of Eugene was crown of
thorns, pressed into her agonized brain.
With one mighty crash the Napoleonic
dynasty fell into heap OF ruins
Poor Empress Eugeniev you say.
Why poor Eugene? She had no mo-
nopoly Of trouble. To be hurled I'm n
few months from & throne into exile
xrvoa 20 -
have misfortunes come rs swiftly and
as poignantly? They pounce upon us
as swiftly as n hawk darts for his
prey. They come upon US as quickly as
they came TO Joseph and to the chief
baker and the chief butler in the Egyp-
tan prison But though they have
come to us quickly in the past. vet
many of us are like the chief butler of
Pharaoh's court. AS soon as our trou-
bles leave us we forget all about them
and their wounds. We forget that tho
same kind OF troubles may affiict us
again. Thus we go ON practicing the
same sins that flung us into our past
dfticulties. Let me draw from this
simple Bible story some plain. practi-
cal gospel lessons. May you and 1 not
be like the forgetful butler. but like the
unforgetful Joseph, who i'm his prosper
ity remembered his old father Jacob
and his brethren and who i'm his beau
tiful, forgiving nature will always re-
main as one OF the Old Testament's
pure and noble types of the life Of
Jesus Christ
Promises Of Youth.
Like the restored butler are we be-
cause. in the first place, we have for
gotten the promises we mado when go
ing through the struggles OF youth.
When injustices were practiced upon
us, when we were working during the
day and studying during the night for
an education, when we had to wear
shabby clothes and had TO hear the
sneers and the taunts of the world.
what did we then say? "Ah. If / ever
succeed in life will help all the young
men and women 1 can who are in the
same predicament as / am" We have
succeeded. Are we fulfilling our prom
1ses? As successful ministers have we
sympathy with young ministers? AS
successful doctors have we sympathy
with young physicians? AS successful
merchants have we sympathy with
young merchants! AS successful con-
tractors have we sympathy with young
contractors? No. That is not the gem
eral rule. When the doors OF Phara-
obs court We're opened for us and sue
cess was ours, like the chief butler we
forgot all about out past promises and
the Josephs whom we left behind I'm
prison. We forgot our troubles almost
Immediately. This statement is true
not only OF one but of many depart
ments OF life.
How was il in reference to your col
lege days? Who was the meanest and
the most contemplate man on your
faculty? Was he the great Drained
and world honored Mark Hopkins or
Eliphalet Mott or Timothy Dwight or.
as the boys used to lovingly call him.
Jimmy McCosh, who, though the ablest
or theologianS and metaphysicians.
with his north OF Ireland brogue. al
ways talked about me coilege?" Was
he the man who, in a word, had the
whole university at his feet? No. The
meanest and most contemplate edu-
Gator in your college faculty was
young tutor. He was just out of col.
lege himself. He ought to have had
sympathy with the struggles OF college
lie If any one should have had. He
was disliked by his own classmates.
You learned that from your older broth.
er. who graduated the year before you
entered the university But though |
tnat young tutor was just out Of col |
lege himself and ought to have had |
sympathy with the boys, yet he spent
most or bis time spying upon them. He
conditioned as many as he could at /
examinations. He asked the most I'M
ialr KIND Of questions in the class
room. He had a perfect genius for
saying bitter things. He seemed to
reel that the chief end of every college
tutor was TO make the lives of the stu
dents just as miserable as possible.
Not only that but outside Of the class
room he was always roaming around