Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1906-10-18
Caln1aSe
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talnase. D. d.

sermon the preacher SHOWS that as
storms. stress and elemental confusion
are the forertinners of growth and or.
DERBY development in nature, so social
disturbances, upheavals, labor strikes
and the conflict of "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
n man who welded poctic-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 Waysidc Flowers" and of
"The Cloud Form" and the "Relaton
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 / 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 | looked upon the trem-
bling form of this mighty penman.
whose face | 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 moro re-
markable about this view was this: At
that time was looking only upon the
shell of man. I was watching Il
great writer whose body was alive, but
whose mind was dead. If you have
read the biography Of John Ruskin
you know that in his last days he was
q mental wreck. The brain which had
created thoughts which will charm the
English speaking world for all time
had burned itself out. When | saw
John Ruskin he was an old wornout,
helpless man. His mind was a Mel
rose abbey in ruins.
If YOU have read John Ruskin care
fully you may remember how in one
chapter he makes a mighty plea for the
aesthetics of life as against the ruthless
invasion of commercalism. lie de-
nounces in vehement language the
heartess vandalism Of the business
world which would paint horrible
advertisement of some patent medi-
cine upon the rocks Of n majestic pail
SADIE or frowning Gibraltar. lie be-
walls the fact that EnGland's artistic
sensiblities 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 leap
out OF the mountains. and he excori-
ates the iconoclastic brutality of the
lumberman which would bury the aX
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. tho,-gh John Ruskin. our
teacher our Gamaliel, our aesthetic high
priest, who leads rs 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 conocast who
would desecrate the high cliff, yet the
whole world knows that if 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 Is Necessary.
II you will turn 10 my text and reat
It carefully, as the inspired penmal
meant it to be read, you will find thai
the thought which l am enunciatins
King Solomon taught in his book OF
Proverbs thousands of years ago. II,
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 slop
are all mussed W and must be raket
out into the balnyard and the stalls
cleaned. The CHI kens have flown into
the haymow and scattered the hay
The grain bags have been broken opcr
by the mice. The manger itself is in ;
fearful state. The oxen in noslng 70
their food have scattered it every
where. "Oh, dear" exclaims the farm
er, lust look q that barn. Did you
ever see such mess? 1t is work. work
work; clean, clean clean. ] never fnisl
fixing up the barn one day, but hav,
TO go to work and fix it all up agair
the next" "'Tls true that what yol
say is hard" answers the wscst Of al
men. But. farmer, remember that YOU
cannot have tidlness and cleanliness |
you have oxen, and if you did not hav,
any oxen you could not pillow you
fields and could not SOW your grain anl
could not receive any financial return
from your lands Thus King Solomon
says to us today: Friend, sometimes |
is best to have disorder Sometimes /
Is best to have an upheaval. Where n,
sxen are, the crib is clean; but the dis
order you deplore and the increase o
property you rejoice in are inseparabl
from the presence Of the OK, and 70,
cannot have one without the other"
A valuable practical lesson is th
thought for almost every department
of life. In the first place, it will appl,
to the disorders of the natural world
Some people, il they could have thei