Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1906-10-15
Calnage
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Talnaee, D. D.

prospect and retrospect Afforded by
our ascent Of the Pisgah heights Of hui
man life and experience the preacher
finds topic appropriate to the closing
old year and full Of encouragement for
the new. The text is Deuteronomy
xxxlv, l, ITO the top of Pisgah.n
would that Victor Hugo's works
were by my side. l could find in one Of
his books think the one entitled
"Ninety-three"-a marvellous descrip-
ton OF a storm in midocean. The great
ship, which. l believe, was a man-of-
war. was being tumbled about in the
heavy pillows. The hurricane was
shrieking u pandemonium of wrath.
Only those who have been tossed
about by a cyclone far out Of sight of
land know what the horrors of such a
storm must have been. Suddenly the
dangers of the tempest were multipo-
tently, increased by another danger
nearer al. hand. The ship was rolling
this way and that. The huge cannon
we've straining at the chains that held
them IN place. Suddenly on~of these
cannon broke loose and with frightful
veIocity it started on its juggernaut-
Ike mission Of destruction. While the
urow Of the ship would lift itself and
then point it's nose down into the val
1eys OF the Eaters, like tenp!n bail,
the vagabonG cannon would rush along
+ the length of the deck and crash into
the masts until the terrified sailors al
most heard the keel snap under their
feet. Then when the ship would lurch
to leeward and the gunwales would be
submerged under the rushing waters
the huge iron monster would stop just
n minute The next instant 1T would
make a dash in that direction until,
like a batterng ram, it seemed as
though it would splinter the side of the
hull into kindlings. Horror upon hoF-
ror followed in it's track. 1t mangled
the brave seamen who were trying to
lasso Il as a cowboy upon western
prairie would throw the lariat about
the horns Of wild steer. Now it sent
the sailors fleeing Tor their lives like a
covey Of partridges scurrying to the
woods after the pointer has made them
fly up from the underbrush. Again it
wrenched the iron bar out Of the hands
of the man who was trying to clog the
gun carriage wheels and hurled him
clear across the deck and far out into
the abysmal depths to find a watery
grave.
The dangers of the battlefield were
child's play compared to the dangers
which threatened that ship. And yet
as | read that account many years ago
said to myself: "ThOse sailors were
having an awful struggle, but very
y similar are the multitudinous dangers
and difficulties that assail most of US
during the voyage Of life The storms
are not April showers but December
tornadoes. The dangers that threaten
TO demolSh us not only come from
without but assail us from within the
ship. 1t is hurricane after hurricane,
bombardment after bombardment, bat
ting wave after battling wave, rolling
juggernaut followed by rolling jugger-
naut."
of life seem to be so many and black
while we are passing through them,
yet in almost every life there. comes a
time when, like Moses, we can stand
upon Pisgah's heights, where we can
truly see that all these troubles and
misfortunes have been working tOgeth-
er for our good. AS Moses was allow
ed to climb to the top of Mount Nebo
and look off upon the promised land
and see the results of his life work, so
God lets us climb to the mountain tops
of inspiration and look off upon the re-
suits of our life work. Then we can
sec into the dim future and know that
the germ seeds we have planted shall
yield their hSrvests thirty, sixty and
a hundred fold. And then we can look
back into the past as we'll as into the
future and see how God has been lead
ing us all the way. Let us first start
with retrospect.
The Mountain Heights.
The traveller climbing up the noun
tain height naturally looks behind a:
well as ahead. He looks toward tn,
land across which he has Travelled q.
well as toward the region to which h,
intends to go. He looks back towar,
his wilderness as well as ahead towar,
his promised. Utopia. We wonder no
that when Marcus Whitman. afte
weeks and months of travelling. fnall
stood upon the tops of the Rock
mountains and saw the present state
OF. Oregon and Washington stretchin
away toward the west his blood til
gled and that his eyes grew Inois
with tears. We wonder not that wbe
on the famous Fourth of July. 1885. i
spread his blanket upon the tops G
these mountains he and his little con
pany knelt and dedicated that ne.
country to their God ana prayed that
might be blessing to their native 90
eminent. But after the great miSsio
airy had Toasted his eyes upon MeuI