Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1906-08-09
We are building, and we cannot help
but build all through our lives.
Our Growth etunted.

we place one away of from the hab-
itations Of man IN the midst Of the
Sahara desert2 Shall we take a ear
ava amid the ruins Of old Memphis
and with these plunging "ships of the
desert" travel on and on. day In and
day out, week In and week out, month
In and month out, until we locate II
amid an endless sea of sand7 Where
shall we build the other house2 Shall
we place 1t upon the highest pinnacle
Of a Matterhorn or upon Mount Chin
borazo? Shall we build 1t Upon some
dizzy crag where the eagle builds lMr
eyrie to rear her young? NAY, nay
YOU answer; mot In either one of those
places must you build one of the two
houses Of the text. When Christ illus
trnted a truth he never used absurd
comparisons. The house which was
built upon rock was not built upon an
inaccessible mountain height. The
house which was built upon the sands
was not situated in the center Of an
impossible desert. In all probability
the wise man and the foolish man of
this parable of the text built their
houses very close together. In all prob
ability these two men were neighbors,
and as neighbors their families asso-
ciated with each other" My friend, I
believe you are right. I believe these
two men Of the parable were not only
neighbors. but that they had adjoin-
Ing farms. and when they built their
houses they built them at the IA me
time. That Is Just such a dramatic
contrast MS Christ nearly always dra WIS
in his parallels.
l go still further than that. I be-
lieve the two farms Of these men lay
about in the same parallel position at
the foot of the mountain range one
half in the valley and the other half
upon the hillsides. Methinks I can see
these two men going out to select their
sites TO build. The wise man, like the
ant, selects n site for his house upon
a mound or hill which forms a natural
watershed. Then he digs down and
down until he strikes the rock. Then
nc starts off TO cut his lumber and
drag it up with the OK teams. While
on his way he passes his neighbor and
finds his house nearly finished. How
is it," he asks. that you are ready to
put en- your roof, while | have only
just IL the foundation of my house,
The other wers II spared myself
that trouble. | have simply leveled the
soil without digging d foundation. 1t
is easier and quicker that way The
wise mar says: "Neigllbor, neighbor,
you must not build your house there.
Why, you are at the foot Of that AN
yon. Then this soil is all porous. 1t
is full Of wafer now. 1t is nothing but
a mess of quicksand. When the rainy
season comes and the freshets leap
and teal and rush out of those noun
tains YOU will lie swamped in a night"
"Hosh." says the foolish man. You
are a pcssimist. You are a miserable
hunter of trouble. You are always an
%ticipating tornadoes. The simple fact
Is we have had sunshine and dry sea
son so long that | do not believe we
are ever going to have another rainy
NnScl ilVlN I ia Z o'ltCkSN lily SllC,
here | am building my house, and here
l intend to stay" Dc you wonder that
when the deiure came that foolish
mans house was destroyed because he
would not take the advice of the wise
man, but built his house upon the
sandSf
Left Ont the Il
The parable of my text divides the
whole human race into two groups
the wise mans group and the foolish
mans group. To which group DO you
belong? Are you the foolish man
building your house upon the sand
and refusing to take the advice of the
wise men who have come to us for
years begging us to stop building in
folly? Did ! say for years? Yes,
for in all this great audience there is
not one of us who is building his house
upon the sands through ignorance. No
sooner did We in youth select our
building sites upon the sand than our
loved ones gathered about US and
warned lis Of our errors. Our fathers
did thus. Our mothers did thus. Our
Sunday school teachers and pastors
did thus. Our wives did thus. Our
Christian friends did thus. And still
we have gone on building " houses
on the sands. Shall we not take the
gospel advice of our dear ones, who are
pleading with us to do right now? Oh,
how pleading and loving our would be
~ I,-;,,,a h,,o Loo.' 'Tndou fhou coom
to come to us as we pictured the wise
man coming to the foolish man. They
seem to say: u not do that. DO no
commit that sin. Be true, be oble
be upright. be n Christian, be hke
Christi Would that we all might be
willing to heed the pleadings of our
dear ones and put on the armor OF
God and don the helmet OF salvation
and lift the shield of faith.
But there is still another fact to
which | would call your attention
This foolish man of the parable was
not building a barn. He was not lift
ing a sheepfold. He was not erecting
n memorial temple or n beautiful tomb
File was building q house. He was
building q home. He wns erecting
domicile where his wife and children
and his loved ones might gather. He
was saying to himself rs he was build
ing it: Now, here is the dining room
where l can cat with my dear ones
and here is the nursery, where my ba
hies can play, Now. here is q room fol
my sister. Here is my wife's room
Thnre Is to In fine pupst