Milford chronicle., 1906-01-26
Calr1aqe
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmage, D. D.

character and shaping the career of the
men and women of the future, to the
teachers of America. the text chosen
being Romans xii, Z, He that teacheth,
on teaching"
The adage. Every man to his trade"
is not a child of the nineteenth or twen-
tieth century. Its cradle was rocked by
the murmuring waters Of the PisOn and
the Gihon and the Hiddekel and the Eu-
pirates rivers when the world was
young. It comes down to us with gray
hairs. but with stout limbs of 'Wan-
dering Jew" Its voice has been head
upon every hilltop and in every valley
since Abel became 4 herlsman and
Cain a tiller Of the soil. No sooner did
nan combine with man in communities
or associations TO protect himself from
foreign foes than be became a special
ist. He said to some members of his
community, "You be our soldiers 20
protect US in time Of war" He said to
others, "You be our legislators and
make our laws" He said to others,
you be our priests and teach US about
God" He said to others, You be our
physicians or medicine men and care
for US while we are sick" He said to
others, "YOu be our sailors and navi-
gate our ships and bring to US our mer-
chandlse from afar" He said to the
wives and mothers, you be our house
keepers and nurses and spinners and
rear our young and cook our food and
weave our clothing" He said to others,
''YOu be our farmers or our architects
and raise our crops or build our tenn
pies and homes and aqueducts." And
everywhere the necessities of life have
compelled man not to do all things well,
but to do one thing for the benefit Of
all Thus as the centuries have gone on
man has more and more become a spe-
cialist
More than that as the world has ad-
vanced in its development trades and
professions have been divided and sub
divided into specialties. Once the fam
ily physicians duties were almost as
numerous as the tints of the rainbow.
He was not only doctor, but he was
surgeon and dentist and pharmacist
and oculist as we'll If Il man had a
toOthache it was the village physician
who pushed in the forceps and pulled
out the decayed molar If the patient
needed medicine the physician not only
wrote the prescription. but compound
ed the drugs. If the leg had to be am
putated it was the family physician
who drove in the knife. If the aged
mans eyes were in trouble it was the
family physician who cut away the
cataract or fitted on the glasses. Now
all these different duties are done by
specialists. The average family phys-
clan would no more expect to be the
surgeon or the oculist or the pharma-
cist than he would expect to do the
work Of the lawyer or the electrician
or the mining engineer. In other
words, "every man TO his trade is an
adage which has divided and subdivid-
ed and kept on rediyiding the human
race into its different groups until
men by natural adaptation learn to do
one thing well rather than a dozen
things poorly.
Every Man to His Trade.
Paul nearly 1000 years ago recog-
nized the social law, Every man to
his trade" Writing to the Romans, he /
said, Having. then, gifts differing ac-
cording to the grace that is given to |
us" That means, having special pow |
ers Of brain, Of body and of conse- |
Grafton, let us do the work God has /
given to us 70 do each in his own line /
and in his own sphere Then Paul goes |
on to enumerate the different lines of |
work to which God has called different |
men. Among those different lines Of |
work he mentions that of teaching. /
He seems to say: 20 man, if God has |
called you to the teachers throne. give I
to your work the very best energies of /
your life! Never neglect your noble /
profession one instant" And of all .
the professions and works Paul here /
mentions l do not believe there is one /
more important than that Of teaching. /
Thus this morning I select a mighty .
subject. May God help us to show the /
power Of "the teachers throne" and .
how we should honor its occupant and /
recognize the responsibility of the work /
that is done there and its value
The first great reason why we send I
our children to school is TO wake up
the mind and put it into touch with .
the outside world That mental awak- .
ening is no easy task to perform The .
word education" comes from the Lat I
in word "educo," meaning Ito bring
out" Education means literally"
says the photographer, "the educing,
the leading out or drawing out Of the
latent powers Of an individual" But
IN order to draw out you must first
put in. You must open the avenues Of
knowledge upon which Thoughts as
eharioteers can harness up their flash
Ing eyed verbal chargers and drive.
You must have the great wires con-
Meeting brain with brain, as the Allan
tic cable connects the old world with
the new. In other words. the school
teacher must mold the child's mind so
that 1t can read and write and multi
ply and spell
To Make the student Think.
But, having put the scholar in touch
with the Intellectual world, the next
great duty OF the schoolteacher is to