The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-08-19

DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON


| When you saw his loved ones unjustly
treated, have you been willing to leap
| forward and be sacrificed for their cake
When young Stephen Decatur entered the
harbor of Tripoli ship was pointed out
to him which he was told was commanded
| by the pirate who had murdered De-
eatur's brother Followed by his men. De-
| catur leaped aboard that boat and gave
battle to the giant commander While
he was fighting the commander of the
vessel he was flung upon the deck. Then
| black skinned pirate seaman was about
to bury his sword in him when an I'M
armed American sailor flung himself be-
tween the would be slayer and his beloved
captain and took the descending sword
upon his own head Are you and I ready
to sacrifice ourselves for God as that
humble sailor was ready to die for Ste
phen Decatur? Are we simply morning
cloud Christians. unwilling to serve Jesus
Christ except in fair weather. when the
| sun is bright and when all things are
coming our way?
But there is still another fact to which
l want to call your attention in reference
to the beauty of my text Johann Eieh-
/ horn, the great German Bible commenta-
! tor and critic, gives unstinted praise to
| the poetry Imagery of Hosea's writings.
! He said: Ills discourses are like a gar
! land woven of a multiplicity of flowers.
Images are woven upon images COM
| parfson upon comparison, metaphor
! strung upon metaphor. He plueks one
| flower and throws it down that he may
directly break off another. Like bee,
he flies from one flower bed to another
that he may suck his honey from the
| most varied pieces. 1t Is natural Sc
! auence that his figures sometimes form
/ strings of pearls" But amid all Hosea's
poetic pearls and garlapds there is not
one more beautiful than this of the morn
| ing cloud. Why? The morning cloud IS
the first real beauty that we see in the
heavens after the day has dawned.
On an Indian Reservation.
It was most powerfully impressed with
/ this figure last urea when up in an In
dian reservation. The evening clouds and
the morning Clouds in the language OF
the meteorological are one. 1t was the
evening of most beautiful day. The
mem beers of our party had broken camp in
the morning and gone on ahead
stayed behind in the woods in order to
study and write. About o'clock in the
afternoon | shouldered my gun, threw
my pack over my shoulder and started
| out to overtake them. | walked on ana
| on toward the west. The sun, high IN the
| heavens, began to drop lower and lower
| to the edge of the horizon. After While
| 1t was like q reflector shining directly
at me, and l had to pull my felt hat
down over my eyes to protect them. But
no sooner did the sun fall behind the
western hills than it shot its rays up to-
ward the sky and began to tint the
evening clouds in the most beautiful col
ors. Now they seemed to be mirrors OF
fire Now they became great molten
| lakes of gold. Now they were turned into
exquisite lace work Now they seemed
| to be the great domed heights of the
| cathedrals of the heavens. All, 1t was
marvellous sight, the more marvellous be-
| cause l knew that within a few moments,
| by the atmospheric law of the west, those
! hills would be shrouded in complete
! darkness Thus the figure of the morn
Ing clouds is the more beautiful because
| they are the gilded chariotS of the day,
which start to rumble across the boule-
| wards of the sky soon as the king
| of the barnyard has sounded his reyeille
| to his harem and the farmers boys awake
| from their sleep to go forth to do the
chores and to care for the cattle.
Now what has the night and MORN
ing cloud to do with our Vapory re-
pentance?" some one asks Why, do you
not see? The darkness of the night rep
resents terror or the punishment or sin.
The morning cloud represents the short
lived repentance which comes to some Of
| us Just after we have been punished.
Our morning cloud repentances are a
great deal like that of King Pharoh and
his courtiers when the plaques of Egypt
came upon them. God said unto Pharoah,
Let my people CO." Pharoah would not
Then the river Nile was turned into a
river of blood, and every challice the
king lifted to his lips seemed to be filled
to the brim with the refuse of the public
straightforward. Then the frogs came
leaping up the palace stairs and crowded
into every nook and cof'I.C-, and cob
blestones. they covered every street and
they filled every hallway and bedroom
Then came the plague of murrain, which
killed the cattle. Then came the falling
hail and buzzing locusts Then came the
plague of darkness. So dark was 1t that
all men had to feel their way around like
blind men. Then came the death of the
firstborn In every house. No sooner did
these plaques come than Pharaoh would
cry out, Enough, enough, enough! o
God of Israel, l have suffered enough!
| will let thy people goi' But as soon
as the night of suffering and of punish
ishment ended the beautiful morning
clouds of his repentance only fingered a
little while, and then they were gone
and gone forever. Do you not see the
beautiful smile of the repentances of
our lives which come only because we
are being punished for our past sins?
But there is another fact about these
| morning clouds you ought to consider.
| They live very near to the earth. They
are the lowest clouds we have in the
| heavens If l might use a vulgar illus
| tration they smell of the common soil.
| You know when you we're housekeeper
in the east every springtime you would
| carefully put away your winter gar
| ments. that the moths could not get at
| them. If they were furs, you were espe-
! cially careful and wrapped them around
and around. Then inside of these bundles
| You put a lot of camphor. Then, in the
| fall the odor from that camphor in those
| garments was sickening. When you un-
| rolled the bundles you at once shook the
! garments out and hung them up to air
| upon a line. Having been wrapped up
for months in camphor, the garments
smellled of the camphor. Thus are these
morning clouds of repentance. They live
so near to the earth that they never
| learn what repentance in Christ truly
means Let me explain more In detail.
Not Enough.
! Here for instance is a man who has
| been drunkard for fifteen years. His
| wife at last makes up her mind that
| for her own sake and for the sake of
her children she will not stand the misery
| any longer With that the husband be-
gins to plead and beg. He says: II
| repent l will sign the pledge. l prom
ise | promise. l promise" Well, man,
| what do you promise? "Oh, l promise |
| will not get drunk any more" Is that
! all YOU promise? why, yes. What
| more do you want me to promse?' Or
here is woman who enters a rescue
| home She says 81 promise. l promise"
| What do you promise? ''Why. l prom
Use that | will cease to be a social out
| cast Is that all YOU promise? Yes