Milford chronicle., 1906-08-31
Ca(n1aQe
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmaee, D. D.


sermon the preacher gives an altogeth-
er new Interpretation to a passage
which teaches us that Gods mercies
and blessings sometimes come to US in
strange DISCUSSES. The text is Luke
xii; 40, Il am come to send fire upon
the earth"
To the casual Bible reader these nine
words may seem to convey meaning
which it is hard to reconcile with other
passages You cannot understand how
Christ can be called the "Prince Of
Peace" and yet how he could send fire
upon the earth. Fire" you say-"why,
fire is the agent Of death, not the fore
runner of life 1t is the most ruthless
destroyer known to man" Go today
through any of our great forests, and
what do you see printed by the road
sides? 1t is a warning to the campers
and the travellers to beware Of starting
a forest fire Why DO the government
tai officials in Yellowstone park and
Yosemite and in many of the mountain
reserves refuse to allow the camper to
carry a shotgun? Is it for fear that he
will kill game out of season? Perhaps
that is one reason, but the chief reason
is that the forest rangers are afraid
that the shotguns might set fire to the
woods. Have you never attendedsa
country college and witnessed the
er,s Il
weeks upon the mountain side? What
was the only danger the western cow
boy feared worse than the Indians
warwhoop? 1t was the prairie fire,
which could lick up the dead grasses
faster than horse could run or deer
could scurry away. Have you ever
read Of the unsheathed sword of fire
which razed Moscow to the ground?
These flames were able to devour the
indOmitable ambitions of the Little
Corsican."
Will our people ever forget the
ghastly tragedy that destroyed Ameri-
cas- western metropolis, which over
looked the Golden Gate of San Fran
.GlSGU UdN AJlt u lllt AlAol lCssOAlG We
teach our children is to leave matches
alone and fear the danger Of fire Yet
the so called prince of Peace" says,
81 am come to send fire upon the
earth" How can you explain this
anomaly? I can only suggest some Of
the effects Of fire, which may give us
a hint of our Lords meaning, for,
fsa ac n
agency of death, we cannot forget
that it may become in Gods hands an
agency of eternal life and of the pur
est and the best of all earthly lives.
May God help us as we try to under
stand these holy words.
A Symbol of Heat.
Fire, in the first place, is the symbol
of heat. Heat is the symbol of life.
Therefore we find that all true life
comes from God, even as all heat of
the earth primarily comes from the
fires of the sun. In every bird that
flies. in every bee that huns, in every !
squirrel that chatters, in every flower
that grows, in every tree that rustles !
and in every human being that walks |
we see the great divine fact illustrated |
Ithat the God who sent fire upon earth |
is BE great God who was and is the |
lcreator of all. Now, the fact that all |
animal and vegetable life is dependent |
upon fire and heat for creation and de-
tyelOpment is we'll understood
lam sitting upon the farmers kitchen |
porch. and l hear a cackling noise. |
The old speckled Plymouth Rock hen is
calling: 81 have laid an egg! have
laid an egg! 1 amtgoing to hatch out |
a little chicken, for have laid an egg"
But the farmers wife has another use |
for the egg. Each morning she goes |
and takes that egg away from the hen.
She is absolutely merciless in this re-
spect. She cooks for her summer |
lboarders the best food for a breakfast
namely, a fresh laid egg. When you
break it open, there it lies cut in half,
with its center of gold covered over |
with its wrappings Of purest white.
The snow c5uld not be whittier than the |
albumen Of a new laid egg At last the |
old hen grows tired of having her eggs |
eaten, so she, in turn, finds a secret nest. |
She flies away to the top Of the hay
loft, or she goes off to the other side Of |
the grain field and crawls under an old |
board near the fence, and there she |
makes her nest. Day after day the /
white beauties grow in number. The |
old feathered fowl keeps very still |
about her secret. When you go out and |
say, "Biddie, where is your nest" she |
looks as innocent as an old owl. Then |
after twelve or thirteen Of those eggs !
have been laid side by side Biddie |
suddenly disappears. She comes |
around once day for food, but Mat is
all. Then after three weeks you hear
a great commOtiOn, and up to the |
kitchen door marches the proud mother, |
leading a large brood of fuzzy little
creatures which are her children Now,
how were the contents of those eggs
turned into little living creatures? ? |
Simply by the agency of heat Day
after day and week after week that old
hen sat upon those eggs. She sat so
ioag that the feathers were worn off
her breast. She sat so long that her