Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1906-08-16
CalrnaSe
Sermon
By Rev,
Frank Dc Witt Talmade, D.. d.

va - Wv iONt
goodness Is as n morning cloud
A sanity old preacher said in his
latter years: "1f I had my life to live
over again would preach most of nv
ermon from familiar scenes of the
Bible. like Christ feeding the multi
tudcs with the loaves and the fishes.
I believe Bible truths can best be
driven home to the hearts of men by
ringing the changes upon the old ia
miliar texts That is true in one sense.
But I believe also that an easy way to
illustrate or sermonic themes is from
Bible si...iies drawn from nature. If
any man is n lover Of nature and will
read the Bible intelligcntly, he will
find the leaves Of the sacred book liter
ally filled with descriptions of natural
phenomena. Furthermore, If you study
church history, almost without cxcep-
ton you will find that the most popu-
lar preachers and the greatest winners
OF souls for Christ have been men like
Henry Ward Beecher and John Mason
and Thomas Guthrie and Rowland Hill
and Thomas Chalmers, who loved the
flowers and the stars and the birds
and the snowHakes, the same as did
David, the psalmist. and Hosea and
Amos, the prophets, and Jesus Christ,
many of whose parallels have the
aroma of the woods ana the open field.
Take, for instance, the life Of Charles
Kingsley. Do you wonder he gripped
the hearts Of his hearers and readers
as he did when you realize the nature
lover that he was? One night, after
he had recited to bis guests the story
of & Cornish shipwreck, he led his
friends out into the open yard. where
he stood under the peltilg rain and
looked up at q superb thunderstorm
as he cried: What a night, Look.
Is 1t not splendidf This is a night
when young men capnot talk or think
too much poetry" 1t was said that
be knew every nook and corner of his
beloved country. in the center of which
was his parsonage. One day when
out walking his son asked him If he
thought he would ever lose his love
for the country. Charles Kingsley
answered: Nay. If my friends ever
ask you that. tell them that | am now
looking at the most beautiful scene
ever saw" Does not this sentence re-
veal the inner workings of a nature
loving heart? Did not Charles Kings
ley get many of his michtiest gospel
lessons by catching the echoe of them
IN the falling waters as they tumbled
down the cascade near to his ow
home? Indeed, I have always felt that
a minister was not a fully developed
teacher Of God unless he can often
find his text simultaneously from the
book of nature and from the book of
the Bible.
Natures Lessons.
Now. Hosea, the prophet, dra WIS from
nature a most beautiful sermonic sim
lie. He seems to be standing by night
upon one of the hillsides overlooking
the city Of Jerusalem. That great cap
ital Of the east is crowded with much
wickedness and apostasy. All night
long he stands there, with the roof of
Sky for his covering. lie thinks of
how the Hebrew people have sinned
and how they have been punished and
then repented and then sinncd again.
Their sins followed each other as sol
diers In a line OF march tread in each
others footsteps. Thus the great
prophet Of the EAST reviews the his.
tory Of his beloved people. And as he
weeps and mOurns over the sins Of the
Hebrew race the stars pale and 60
out. Then the sunlight rims the east,
ern hills and turns the early morning
clouds into curtains of gold. Then he
sees the dewdrops glitteriug upon ev-
ary leaf. Then as the sun climbs high
or and higher in the heavens and he
feels the day grow hotter Hosea sees
those early morning clouds evaporate
and the dewdrops disappear. Then,
like a fash, springs from his lips the
smile Of the vapory repentances Of the
Hebrew race. 80 Ephraim, what shall
| do with thee? o Judah, what shall
[ do unto thee? For your goodness is
dew 1t goeth away" Let us in Gods
name try to compare the vapory re-
p%entances of our lives TO this beautiful
agure of the morning clouds.
First we would turn to the meteorol.
Dgist and say: "Oh. student of the
cloud land, tell us how these morning
clouds are formed. In the great fam.
ly Of clouds have they any individ-
M litics or peculiar characteristics?'
The prose poet Of England, John Rus
lin, scans the hillsides Of the heavens
md lauds the beauty OF all the clouds
when he writes: Mature has a thou
sand ways Of rising above herself. but
The noblest manifestations of her capn.
bility of colors are in the sunset among
the clouds. There Is no limit to tho
multitudes and no check to the In
tensity Of the hues assumed. The
whole sky, from zenith to horizon. be-
romes one molten. mantling sea Of col.
Or and fire. Every black bar turns ia
massey gold. every ripple and wave
nto unsullied crimson and purple and
scarlet and colors for which there are
no words In the language and no ideas
IN the mind-things which can he con.
ceived only while they are visible, the
intense hollow blue OF the upper sky
melting through 1t all. showing here
deep and pure, there modulated by the
Hlmsy, formless body of the transpar'
snt vapor until 1t is lost, imperceptible
Ia lis c.....,-. "-.. A1.. -,t AAuse;
the prophet, IL lot abiding to a
| clouds Of fhn hon XeoS when he meI