Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1906-10-06
Caln1aSe
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmaee. ID. ID.


unwlllingness to learn from others fire.
quently lead men to ruin is the lesson
of this sermon, the text chosen being
Proverbs xi, II, "In the multitude OF
counselors there is safety"
In my time l have been much asso-
ciated with many classes OF men. AS
a result Of this association | am struck
with two far reaching facts. The hrst
is how much the average man knows.
When | say this refer to the so called
common people as well as TO the
weather. or the more influential social
class. Some of the most valuable mug
gets Of gold have been dug out OF the
common dirt. Some Of the rarest IDEAS
and the most brilliant intellects are
found In the skulls Of men who wear
coarse clothes and live In very humble
houses.
Rev. DR.. William NJ. Lawrence, who
for many years was the most promi-
nent Baptist preacher Of Chicago, once
told me that he always made II prac-
tice when it was possible to ride upon
the platforms Of the street cars and
talk with the conductors and the mo-
tormen and the mechanics and laDorers
who were returning from their daily
toll and" said he, some of the very
best Ideas which have preached from
INV pulpit have been suggested Dy
them" Because an old well IS some
times covered by moss and creeping
livy and entangled thickets, that does
not proye that there are no pure, spar
king waters among its rocks. Because
gem is found glittering amid a lot
of cobblestones, that does not prove
that II Is a cobblestone. Many a great
nhilosopher dresses, like Tolstoi, IN
| neasants garb Many a stonemasoh
can find. like Hugh Miller, the "toot-
prints of the Creator in the OLD reu
sandstone OF Cromarty. Many a poit-
ical sage is scanning the horizon OF
statecraft. like Marcus Porous Cato'
with an eagle eye, while he Is guidlng
his plow across the field OF country
farm.
The traveller who cannot CLEAN IN
formation from all classes OF men, no
| matter where he may go, as gehue
Rrth gathered her golden stalks after
the. reapers who We're binding tne
sbeayes In the harvest fields OF boaz,
is n toArlst who has ears to hear aho
,ys,t. mot hear. who has eyes to see ano
vi rot see and who has ouinu
tongue too clumsy to probe Tor the
treasures Of mankind by asking tne
leading questions which VIII pring
forth the desired answers. SAID oio
Robert South at takes both mint anu
steel 70 make q spark. You must pouno
the one upon the other or else the nre
will never come. You can pouno
niece OF steel for days and weeks upon
wooden log. and the wood Will never
fash hack q flame. You must ruo VI
Intelligence against intelligence IN or
dor 20 make the intellectual sparks fly
II the traveller has brain OF mint liz
will find that the average man mas
hrain of steel. Then the intellectual
sharks will follow thick as the starr
on the Milky way of the heavens bu
II the traveller has wooden Draii
then he will think that most people IN
meets have brains of wood also"
A Common Weakness.
Tho sacond fact which impresses M
about the human race Is that, thougi
the average man has much intelii
qence. yet most people make failure
ont OF life. To use an expression
which I once heard used by Dr' Mac
Arthur of New York, "They never seen
. 70 he able to put their mental goou
i rnon the market" They seem 10 nav
ali the capabilities of success; they ar
,,ke an exouistely and perfectly cor
structed rifle, but they always seem
nIss fire You recognize this fact as
do "What Is the matter with LaWye
so-and.sor' I ask. HE was an Oh
college chum Of yours. why mas u
not made a greater success1 has u
not brains and applicationT "Oi
ves" YOU answer. HE was one
t. the most prominent men of my GAS
no was an honor man and graduate
n member Of the Phi Beta happu .
c,etv He is honest and hard wori
or Rut somehow he never seems 10
able to get ahead"
- THAT statement ls true Of most la'
= vers. most doctors, most mlills'e.
I most merchants. most men of all q
n nartments of life. Mentally equippt
thev seem to be. Honest they are ais
Rut failures they have actually turn'
=, out. Now, If I we're to put my nng
,, upon the chief weakness OF tue
3 uves would state that egotism III
= fl haen the main cause Of their faiiuf
In the critical moments OF their care
thav will not take advice. They W
.s not heed the warnings which th'
n, friends are so anxious to give. An
ike a fire horse with the blind sta
gers they needlessly crash into u
We obstacle and that danger until at Ia
they are flung and in one sense ruin
az far as their earthly careers are cc
cerned King Solomon well express
my thought in the words of my te
when he says, where no counsei
the people fall, but in the multitude
counselors there is safety"
The blind egotist in the first plo
nearly always underestimate the q
fcultIes of the work which he mas
do. He is like a commander OF an
vadlng army who seems to desplse
strength of his enemies. He pretel
to think that the opposing forces c'
not shoot as we'll as his soldiers {
shoot and that the very sight OF
standards will make bis eneH
craven hearted and run for their liz
When Edward Braddock, the c'
mander Of the British and color
forces, led his troops against Fort
! ouesna I'm 1755 the young c0l0l