Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1905-03-18
Calnase
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmaae, d. d.

Los Angeles. Cal. March 12.-In al
most every home throughout the land
the topic chosen by the preacher I'm
this sermon is more or less familiar
one. The text is Proverbs X. l. "A fool
ish son is the heaviness of his mother"
Death is an enemy. The Bible dis
tinctly declares it, I remember some
years ago. when visiting one of the
New Zealand cities, this thought was
impressed upon me as never before. A
young man. a musical genius. had late
ly come from London and captured that
whole city by his organ playing. He
where we were worshiping. The night
before. coming home from practicing
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 XIV. 20. 1.-The last enemy that
shall be destroyed is DEATH" AS the
preacher uttered those solemn words
they sank into his hearers consciences,
an automatic truth.
Oh. yes. death is an enemy. Death
ut times seems to be a cruel and q
the marital bands. 1t lifts the little
baby out of 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 proclaiming 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.
Living sorrow.
But when listening to that sermon in
the faroff country of New Zealand I
soliloquized thus: THAT 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 living
sorrow can be more formidable and
more awful enemy than sorrow of
the grave. The fiendish acts of disso-
lutte, a debauched, drunken, cruel
or an unfaithful husband can weigh
more heavily upon the wife's heart
than the corpse of 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 a parental
standpoint. I would preach upon the
agonizing sufferings of a father and q
mother when their children go astray
and do wrong. 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 glad father" That
sentence interpreted from the negative
standpoint means, "A bad boy maketh
a sad father. and foolish son Is the
heaviness 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 man may live after
his right arm has been amputated, the
hand and the arm cease TO live as soon
as 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 a 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 In Unequal.
From the standpoint of a child you
may not believe this. You ask: Is not
the love between parent and child a
mutual love? Why, then, should not
It's ScIuTdtlOu ducct tuc ouc tsluuuy
with the other? Oh, no! The law Of
love is unequal The one who makes
sacrifices has a stronger affection than
the one for whom the sacrifices are
made I go into the sculptor's studio.
and l say: "Thorwaldsen, why art
thou bending so lovingly over yonder
piece OF cold marble? Has the stone
h hearth "Oh. no." answers the Dam
ish sculptor Il do not love this stone
because ii has heart. love ii be-
cause | have put my heart into II In
my effort to bring out the beautiful
figures which there I see slumbering
or reckoning to me from the cold
stone" Why does the artist love his
canvas and the composer his oratoriO?
Because their life's work has gone into
the creations OF those masterpieces Of
art or of music. Why did Christopher
Wren's life seem to he anchored to st.
Paul's 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 ont the problems of their lives