Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1905-03-17
CalnaQe
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmage, ID. ID.

the topic chosen by the preacher In
this sermon is a more or less familiar
one. The text is Proverbs X. 1. "A fool
fish son Is the heaviness OF his mother"
Death is an enemy. The Bible dis
tinctly declares 1t. / remember some
years ago, when visiting one of the
New Zealand cities, this thought was
impressed upon me as never before. A
young man, musical genius, had late
ly come from London and captured that
whole city by his organ playing. He
was to play that Sunday I'm the church
where we Were worshiping. The night
before. coming homo from practlcing
upon the keys, he sat down to eat din
ner with his wife and two children.
Suddenly he began to gasp. a fish
bone had caught in his throat. In a
few minutes he was dead. The whole
city was shocked at the awful trag-
edy. The church was draped in black.
The organ was covered with Grape.
Among the sObs of the dead mans
friends his pastor preached a eulogy
upon this young mans life from Co
rinthians Nv, 26, 1.-The last enemy that
shall be destroyed is death" As the
preacher uttered those solemn words
they sank into his hearers consciences,
an ax;omatic truth.
Oh, yes. death is an enemy. Death
Mt times seems to be cruel and a
merciless enemy. 1t breaks asunder
the marital bands. 1t lifts the little
baby out or the crib and shuts her for
ever from our eyes by the closing of
the coffin lid 1t strikes down the strong
man who is prociaiming Gods word in
the pulpit. 1t empties the Office OF the
physician who is bending over the pa
tient 1t sometimes sends the pleading
lawyer to the grave even before the
murderer whom he has defended expi-
ates his crime upon the gallows
a Living sorrow.
But when listening TO that sermon in
the far0ff country of New Zealand 1
soliloquized thus: 'sThat widow is to-
day having her heart crushed by the
hearse's wheels even as the Indian
juggernaut used to mangle the bodies
of the Hindoo devotees. But a living
sorrow can be more formidable and n
more awful enemy than n sorrow OF
the grave. The fiendish acts of n disso-
Lutte. debauched, drunken, cruel
or an unfaithful husband can weigh
more heavily upon the wife's heart
than the corpse OF n dead husband.
And by the same reasoning the evil
deeds OF an undutiful or unfaithful
son fall upon the parental heart with
more crushing weight than the sod
that falls upon the coffin lid OF a dead
child. Thus today, from n parental
standpoint, 1 would preach upon the
ngonlzing sufrerings of n father and a
mother when their children so astray
and do wrong. 1 include here the IA
Tiers sufferings, as well as the moth
er's. The full wording OF the verse OF
my text embraces both parents "a
wise son maketh n glad father" That
sentence, Interpreted from the negative
standpoint, means, "a bad boy maketh
a'sad father, and foolish son is the
henviness OF his mother"
Why sad? Why heavy? First be-
cause the true father and mother can
never separate their joys and sorrows
from the joys and SORROWS OF their
child. Though n man may live after
his right arm has been amputated, the
hand and the arm cease TO live as soon
rs the surgeons knife has cut the ar.
teries and the bones which unite them
to the shoulder. But here nature
seems TO reverse the conditions OF life.
Though n child may live independent
OF his parent, true parent can never
live independent OF his children. From
the parental standpoint the parental
life and the child life are not only
bone OF one bone and flesh OF one
flesh, but their existences are truly
grated upon each other.
LAW OF Love Is Unequal
From the standpoint OF n child you
may not believe this. You ask: Is not
the love between parent and child a
mutual love? Why, then, should not
Its separation affect the one equally
with the other? oh, no. The law OF
love is unequal The one who makes
sacrifices has n stronger affection than
the one for whom the sacrifices are
made. go into the sculptor's studio,
and I says '1Thorwaldsen, why art
thou bending so lovingly over yonder
piece OF cold marble? Has the stone
n hearts" "Oh, no." answers the Dan
ish sculptor. II do not love this stone
because It has n heart. j love IL be-
cause have put my heart into IL in
my effort TO bring out the beautiful
figures which there l see slumbering
OF reckoning 10 me from the cold
stone" Why docs the artist love his
canvas and the composer his oratorio?
Because their LIES work has gone into
the creations OF those masterpieces OF
nrt or OF music. Why did Christopher
Wren's life seem to be anchored to ST.
PauPs cathedral and Isaac Newton's
life TO his laboratory? Because in
these places those men spent most OF
their earthly existence in order TO
work out the problems OF their lives.
Love inspired by sacrifice That is
true. Then how can true father and
mother help loving their children?
How can they ever separate their ex.
1stence from the joys and sorrows, the
successes and failures OF their children?
oh, how many sacrifices they have
made! Was IL ten years OF sacrifice!
More than that-twenty years, thirty
years, forty years. For years ani
years the burden Of raising their fam
@AASS ASfCi ie1t tueiT MINUS ana hearts.
II could take you back to your old
homestead thirty years ago, l would
ind all you children sound asleep. The
mother and father-what are they talk
Ing so earnestly about? Father" says
the mother, cannot you meet the mort
gage on the farm unless we cut down
our expenses? Then will have to let
the hired girl GO, and will do nv own
cooking and washing" "Wen." said
your father, 1--WE must not econornize
Mt the ehildren's expense. must make
more money. We must raise the chill
sren right They must be educated"
Cannot Forget Them.
Why did your mothers hair grow
white at thirty-five years OF age and
your fathers face begin to be "crow
markedly" Neither in the morning.
noon nor might could they be found
shrinking Irom their unceasing Iabors
for feeding, clothing and educating