Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1906-10-26
Caln,ase
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmase. d. ID.

SefuiVt Tue prttcuer SHOWS tnstt us
storms, stress and elemental confusion
are the forerunners of growth and or
derry development in nature, so social
disturbances, upheavals, labor strikes
and the conflict of 1.-The classes and the
masses are the inevitable precursors
OF orderly national development. The
text Is Proverbs xiv. 4. Where no
oxen are. the crib is clean. but much
increase is by the strength of the OK"
All true lovers of the beautiful should
read the messages of its great high
priest. John Ruskin. There never lived
man who welded poetic-prose pen
like his. His "Seven Lamps of Archi-
lecture" and Ethics OF the Dust and
Stones OF Venice" his Sesame and
Lilies" and Grown OF Wild Olive" his
Studies Of Wayside Flowers and of
1.-The Cloud Form" and the Relation
Of Natural Science to Art offer to the
aesthetic enthusiast visions of this
world which cannot be found among
the writings OF any other writer, living
or dead
Well do 1 remember the powerful
fascination which held me when first
perused one of his books. Though
have seen many sages, yet not one of
these ever impressed me with the awe
with which l looked upon the trem-
bling form of this mighty penman,
whose face l saw many years ago
when as student travelling through
England saw nurse lead John Rus.
kin along the country road for his aft
ernoon walk. What was the more re-
markable about this view was this: AT
that time L was looking only upon the
shell of n man. 1 was watching a
great writer whose body was alive but
whose mind was dead. If ycu have
read the biography of John Ruskip
you know that in his last days he was
4 mental wreck. The brain which had
created thoughts which will charm the
English speaking world for all time
had burned itself out. When L saw
John Ruskiu he was an old, wornout,
helpless nan. His mind was n Mel
rose abbey in ruins.
If you have read John Ruskin care
fully you may remember how In one
chapter he makes n mighty plea for the
aesthetics Of life as against the ruthless
invasion of commercialsm. He de-
nounces in vehement language the
heartless vandalism of the business
world which would paint a horrible
advertisement of some patent medi-
cine upon the rocks of n majestic pail
SADIE or frowning Gibraltar. He be.
walls the fact that England's artistic
sensibilities are so chilled and dulled
that she would allow the manufacture.
er's wheel to turn into a muddy stream
the clear. beautiful waters that lean
out OF the mountains, and he excori.
ates the iconoclastic brutality of the
lumberman which would bury the ak
In the heart of the grand old oaks that
for centuries have been lifting up their
leafy hands to God in an attitude of
prayer. But. though John Ruskin. our
teacher, our Gamaliel. our aesthetic high
priest, who leads us in worship at the
altar OF the beautiful, makes this plea
for the preservation OF the woods and
the valleys, though he would strike
down the hands OF the iconoclast who
would desecrate the high cliff. yet the
whole world knows that IL CONNER.
cialism did not shut its eyes at times
to the aesthetic our railroads would be
unable to tunnel under the mountains
and the farmers could never cover their
fields with grain. In order that the in.
creasing human race may live we must
cut and tear down and slash. In many
senses we must have chaotic cosmos
In order to have progression.
Disorder Ia Necessary.
III you will turn to my text and read
1t carefully, as the inspired penman
meant it to be read. you will find tina,
the thought which I am enunciatins
King Solomon taught In his book OF
Proverbs thousands OF years ago. He
goes out one morning, when the com.
planning farmer enters his barn. Ev.
erything there is filthy and dirty. The
straw beds upon which the oxen slept
are all mussed up and must be raked
out into the barnyard and the stalls
cleaned. The chickens have flown into
the haymow and scattered the hay
The grain bags have been broken open
by the mice. The manager itself is in a
fearful state. The oxen in nosinr for
their food have scattered it every.
where. "Oh, DEAR" exclaims the farm.
er, lust look at that barn. Did YOU
ever see such q mess? 1t is work, work,
work; clean, clean clean. never finish
liking up the barn one day, but have
TO go to work and fix it all up again
the next. "'Tis true that what you
say is hard" answers the wisest of all
men. But, farmer, remember that YOU
cannot have tidiness and cleanliness if
you have oxen, and IL you did not have
any oxen you could not pillow your
fields and could not sow your grain and
could not receive any financial return
from your lands" Thus King Solomon
says to us today: "Friend, sometimes IL
Is best to have disorder. Sometimes II
Is best to have an upheaval. Where no
oxen are. the crib Is clean; but the dis
order you deplore and the increase of
property you rejoice In are inseparabIe
from the presence Of the OK, and you
cannot have one without the other"
valuable practical lesson Ia this
thought for almost every department
OF life. In the first place, it will apply
TO the disorders of the natural world.
Some people. il they could have their
way. would never have a rainstorm-
They would never have a blizzard.
They would never nave the trees rob-
bed or their leaves. They would never
have them stand in uniform Of spot
less white. like grim soldiers with their
bayonets of ice as sharp pointed as
Roman spears. They would never have
the wagon wheels sink hub deep in
mud or the robins and the thrushes fy
away from the New England hills to
the land of the flowers. They would
always have their orchards heavy laden