The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-05-06
DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON
BY THE REV. FRANK DE WITT TALMAeE, D. D.

and to the boy Joseph, and to the boy
Samuel, and to the boy David, and 10
the boy Christ. These ancient boys as
well as the modern boys of Il may not
fully realize what their futures are to
be- but something within them says, 20
/ child, th9a art to be this or that or
| the other thing on account of thy men,
| tai and physical and spiritual powers
| These boy children of II feel the In
! ward as we'll as the outward callings of
the future, as the great painter Benjamin
West when little child used to make
paint brushes from the hairs of his cats
tall and as the boy Demosthenes felt
the slumbering fires of elouuence burning
within him when he suffered so badly
that In order to artlculate at all distinct
| ly he used to put pebbles In his mouth,
and as David Brainerd heard the divine
call to give his life to foreign missions
long before he was out Of the short trous-
ers of the school room.
Not only do these youths and maidens
| feel the rational call of their future lie
work. but the parents and the guard
ians and the teachers may see the trend
of their minds and hearts If they only
watch the actions of these children close
! ly and intellgently The other day ! was
very much interested in reading a letter
which John Adams the young school
| teacher of Worcester, Mass. wrote 10
| his old college friends. The second presi-
dent of the United States was then a
young pedagogue This is the letter; i
| sometimes consider myself in my great
| chair at school as some dictator over
| commonwealth In this little state | can
| discover all great geniuses ana all OF
the surprising actions and revolutions OF
the great world in miniature. I have sew
eral renowned generals, only three rect
high, and several politicians in petticoats.
Aaiai
secting flies with as ardent curiosity as
any virtuoso of the royal society.
Their investigations are sincere, earnest
and based on the ambitions of future
greatness. Some rattle and thunder out
b c, etc, with as much hre ana I'M
petuosty as Alexander fought Some OF
them often sit down and cry when out
spelled as heartily as Caesar cried at
Alexanders sepulcher when informed that
the Macedonian hero had conquered the
world before his age. In short. my little
school. like the great world is made up
of kings, politicians, divines. LII. DIS,
fops buffoons, fddlers, sycophants, fools,
coxcombs, chimney sweepers and every
other character known In history or seen
| in the world" In other words just as
John Adams, the teacher. could foresee
the future of his scholars by their actions
| and predictions at school, so the child
mind and soul, can feel and see. though
| It may be dmly, what God wants him
| to do.
Visions of Youth.
| oh, the visions of youth, How import
| ant they are for the development of the
child In the book of Proverbs we read;
Where there is no vision the people
perish' That means when the people have
no ideals lowering before them, where
| the sculptor cannot see a more perfect
statue in dim outline standing beside the
stone he has chiseled, and the musician
cannot hear sweeter song than that
which he has composed, and the reformer
cannot see a more perfect Utopia than
| that in which he lives, then the develop
ment of those people is retrograding in
stead of advancing, involutlng instead of
evoluting. But my friends If 1t Is es-
sental for the developed man to have
perfect visions ever before him, how much
more important Is It for the undeveloped
child to have visions before him These
| visions, when they come from God, are
not like the unaccountable mirages of the
| desert or like air castles builded in the
sandy wastes. They are rational visions
bulded by the angel of hope saying to
the child: BOY, girl, with thy physical
and mental and spiritual nature God bids
thee to reach out to accomplish these
\ things which thou now seest. Look up,
| look out, Took on" Frances Hodgson Bnr-
nett, looking into the dim past and writ
| ing the history of her girlhood days in
that fascinating book called THE One |
Know Best of ALL" is not seeing a more
realistic character than do some children
when they look into the dim future and by
reason of their physical and mental and
spiritual tendencies picture themselves as
some day being lawyers or doctors or
ministers or merchants or bankers or in
ventors or musicians or statesmen or
| poets or songsters or reformers These
| children by such visions hear the call
| for future work They hear IL so clearly
and distinctly that in their minds there
is no doubt as to that coming direct from
| the throne of God
| But we must not stop here in the dis
cussoh of this mighty theme. 1t is very
| Important to have the visions of youth,
| but 1t is just AS important to have the
child developed Alright after those first
visions have come and gone These first
visions of childhood always seem to me
| like the little green shoots which spring
| up out of the ground. Care for them.
Give them plenty of sunlight and let not
| the winds handle them too roughly, or
| the cold freeze them, or the droughts
parch them. and they will change them
selves into the saplings, then after awhile
into the stout young trees and then into
the giant oaks. but crush the roots or
| destroy the first visions and you may
ruin the whole after development.
If | might use another Illustration, the
visions of childhood impress me like the
delicate films or plates which the photog
| rapher puts into his instrument when he
is about to take a picture. He carefully
guards those films from all light or else
they are destroyed. When was travelling
| around the world had quite a number of
| these rolls of films. I did not know how
when | reached Calcutta. India, and went
to have my negatives developed | found
that had nothing but blank paper. Then
| after the pictures have been taken the
| photographer takes the negatives into n
dark room, Where. with certain acids, he
| develops them. Then he gives to you the
photographs. which YOU place upon your
| bureaus or hang upon your walls. So with
the films of the childs brain. The divine
sun shines upon them. The negatives will
then appear. They are Gods first visions.
but oh. so delicate.' They often can be
| rubbed out almost at touch. We had
better beware how we laugh at or de-
nounce the child.
Selfish Parents.
| And yet inevitably we heed but little
| II your boy just entering his teens, comes
| to you some evening in the library and
| says. Father, l would like to give my
| heart to Christ to go out as a missionary
| to China or Africa" what would you
do? Would you stop and take that child
upon your lap, as though he was seeing