Milford chronicle., 1906-03-30
Calnnage
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmaee' D. D.

familiar fashion with the problem that
mas confronted every generation since
the world began-the training and de-
velopment of the child-and shows IN
a new light the individual responsible
Itv of parents. The text is IL Kings w.
2G. "Is it we'll with the child|
Some time ago it was my privilege TO
spend a day with a dear friend VINO
for many years was a Utah mission
arv In one of his tours he became |
lost. He stopped for the night at
farmers home away back in the noun
talns Next morning this farmer SAID |
s.COme. want to show you wonder
ful sight" Then he took my friend
and they rode off for many miles untll
they came to a great lava bed about |
two miles wide and four or nVe IeeI
high. This lava must have begun Von-
iting forth from a volcano hundreds II
not thousands of years ago Ihere
uDon the TOP of this lava bed were TO
he seen the footprints of woman ana
inst behind them the footprints OF
little child. My friend told me he be-
Heved that those footprints must have
been made when that lava was IN
process of cooling. They must nave
been made by woman of the mound
building period or of one Of the other
prehistoric ages. And yet those IN
dentations in that lava were just as
clear and distinct as though made but
Yesterday. After my friend had ceased
talking / said to myself: ''Yes, that Is
a 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 originat-
ed. 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 a mans SINS
we often say to ourselves, "How sur
prised our grandfathers and grand
mothers would be if they could awake
and get I'D out Of their graves and see
the modern inventions-the automobiles
and railroad trains and telegraph and
telephone wires and skyscraping Office
buildings." But I often think how sur
prised we might be if our great-grand-
Darents could come back to earth ana
tell US how many Of the customs Of our
present lives were praeticed many cen
turtles ago. DR.. Schliemann, the great
German archaeologist and the discov-
erer Of the ancient site Of Troy, was
such a devotee of the past that he gave
his wife a Homeric name and called his
servants by the nomenclature OF the
heroes and heroines Of the "Odyssey"
and the "Ilaid." He also called his chill
dren Agamemnon and Andromache.
But methinks If Hector and Achilles
and Ajax and Helen and Paris could
come back to the world in the flesh
they would have been just as much sur
prised at the ways of DR.. Schliemann
as DR.. Schliemann would have been
surprised at their ways. For in many
matters their customs were the same.
In the ways Of salutation, in their loves
and their hates and in many Of their
habits l believe that the year l5Od
r. C. can be found to be akin to the
year 1906 A. D.
I sneak thus because 1 want you to
realize that the human life depicted IN
the Bible is just the same kind OF hu-
man life that we have in modern times
When we study the life of Elisha IN
S95 B. c., we are studying the lives OF
the men and the women of the present
dav. Now. this Shunammite woman OF
nv text had very sick boy, and he
died. What did the mother do? Whal
would you and / have done under the
same conditions? She said, Il will &C
and hunt up the prophet Of Cod
When she came to Elisha, what did be
do? For years this prophet when h'
was iourneymg that way had been ac
customed to stop at this wOmans hous'
and sup with her, her husband and he
boy. Thus, when the Shunammite wo
man drew near Elisha accosted her il
the language Of the twentieth centur.
as well as in that of the millennium
which are gone. Elisha says: How ar
you? How is your husband? How
your childg" To speak literally he said
as it well with thee? Is it well wit
thy husband? Is it well with tn
ehildT' Now, am going TO accost 70
with only one of the questions wit
which Elisha greeted this mother.
am going to inquire from you as to th
welfare Of your babies. of the boys an
the girls. We are both parents, and S
in this home greeting l say: "Ho'
IS it with the children? Is it well wit
the child?" Are you ready here an
now to answer this important salut
ton?
How Is the ChiIds
How is the child physically? Is
well with his lungs and heart al
stomach? Is he growing Alright?
he taking enough exercise? Is he e'
ing the proper kind Of food? This
not a superhuous question. This is
salutation which Elisha gave to
shunammite woman. This is the qu'
fion which every father and mott
should be able to answer intelligent
r,a niet,re of every true. loving pi