Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1906-03-30
Calf1nage
sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Tairnaae. d. D.

Los Angeles, Cal, March 25-In this
sermon the preacher deals in homely,
familiar fashion with the problem that
has confronted every generation since
the world began-the training and de-
velopment of the child-and shows in
n new light the individual responsible
ity of parents. The text is III Kings iv,
26, us it well with the child?"
Some time ago it was my privilege to
spend a day with dear friend, who
for many years was n Utah mission
airy. In one Of his tours he became
lost. He stopped for the night at q
farmers home away back in the noun
tains. Next morning this farmer said.
"Come, want to show you a wonder
full sight" Then he took my friend
and they rode Off for many miles until
they came to q great lava bed about
two miles wide and four. or FIVE feet
high. This lava must have begun vom-,
iting forth from volcano hundreds IL
not thousands OF years ago. There
upon the top Of this lava bed were to
be seen the footprints or a woman and
just behind them the footprints OF a
little child. Ny friend told me he be-
leved that those footprints must have
been made when that lava was In
process of cooling. They must have
been made by woman of the mound
building period or Of one of the other
prehistoric ages. And yet those in
donations in that lava Were lust as
clear and dis1nct as though made but
yesterday. After my friend had ceased
talking L said to myself: "Yes, that is
n wonderful record, but perhaps we
might see the habits and customs of
some of those prehistoric ages repro
duced in our own lives if we could only
trace them out. Because we do not
know from whence our habits original
eel, that does not prove they have not
been handed down from father to son
even unto the tenth generation. as the
Bible tells us is the case with the con-
sequences of 4 mans sins"
We often say to ourselves, How sur
prised our grandfathers and grand
mothers would be il they could awake
and get up out of their graves and see
the modern inyentions-the automobiles
and railroad trains and telegraph and
telephone wires and skyscraping office
buildings" But often think how sur
prised we might be if our great-grand-
parents could come back TO earth and
tell US how many OF the customs of our
present lives were practiced many CEN
turtles ago. DR.. Schliem2nn. the great
German archaeologist and the discoy-
erer OF the ancient site of Troy, was
such devotee OF the past that he gave
his wife Homeric name and called his
N Nv N
heroes and heroines OF the. Odyssey
and the "Ilaid." He also called his chill
dren Agamemnon and Andromache.
But methinks IL Hector and Achilles
and Ajax and Helen and Paris could
come back 10 the world In the flesh
they would have been Just as much sur
prised at the ways of DIR. Schllemann
as DR.. Schliemann would have been
surprised ut their ways. For In many
matters their customs were the same.
In the ways Of salutation, in their loves
ana their hates and in many OF their
habits 1 believe that the year 1906
Ii. c. can be found to be akin to the
year 1906 4. ID.
/ speak thus because I want You to
realize that the human life depicted in
man life that we have IL modern times.
When we study the life OF Elisha in
SO ID. c., we are studying the lives of
the men and the women or the present
day. Now, this Shunammite woman of
my text had n very sick boy, and he
died. What did the mother do? What
would You and j have done under the
same conditions? She said, sI will go
and hunt up the prophet OF God"
When she came to Elisha, what did he
do? For years this prophet when he
was Journeying that way had been ac-
customed to stop al this woman's house
and sup with her. her husband and her
boy. Thus, wheSthe Shunammite wo-
man drew near Elisha Gccosted her in
the language OF the twentieth century
rs we'll as in that OF the millenniufns
which are gone, Elisha says: How are
you? How is your husband? How is
your child" To speak literally he said:
lis 1t well with thee2 Is it well with
thy husband? Is 1t well with the
child?" Now. 1 am going to accost YOU
with only one Of the questions with
which Elisha greeted this mother. u
am going TO inquire from you as to the ]
welfare of your babies. of the BOYS and
the girls. We are both parents. and so
In this home greeting i say: .'How
is 1t with the children? Is it well with
the child?" Are you ready here and
now to answer this important saluta-
ton?
4 How In the Chfldf
How is the child physically? Is II
well with his lungs and heart and
stomach? Is he growing Alright? Is
he taking enough exercise? Is he eat
ing the proper kind of food? This is
not n superfiuous question. This is the
salutation which Elisha gave to the
Shunammite woman. This is the ques-
ton which every father and mother
should be able to answer intelligently.
The picture OF every true, loving par
ent ought TO be that which l saw In, an
advertisement some years ago. There
in n crib lay n beautiful child. The
check was aglow. The eyes were
laughing. The lips were parted as
though he was cooling with Joy. And
over him bent the sweet face of n low
ing mother, while under this picture
were the words, a mothers love coef
out for the health of her child" Doe
your love thus go out? How is your
child physically? Is it well with him?
It is not sufficient for us as parents
TO simply say, 1t is not well with the
''hild, as though the child was re-
sponsiD!e for all his physical weak
nesses. There is many child physic- |
al weakling today merely because the |
parent is no more competent to take |
care Of him physically than am COM
petent to remove cataract from a |
blind mans eye.