Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1906-09-13
CalrnaSe
Sermon
BY Rev.
u. Frank De Witt Talmaee, ID. D.

gestions showing how we as communi.
ties and as individuals mag help to i'm.
prove the lot of the unfortunate. The
text Is Deuteronomy XIV, II. "The poor
shall never cease out Of the land"
Turning to that valuable and sugges.
tive edition of the Bible called the Red
Letter Bible. | notice that this passage
eating that it was quoted by our Lord.
1t Is astonishing how many of such
passages there are. showing how close
n student of the Scriptures Christ was.
Guided by this reference in the Red
Letter Bible, I find the circumstances
under which Christ quoted the passage.
1t was at that feast when Mary broke
the alabaSter box of spikenard over
Christ's feet. Judas said It was waste
full. as the ointment might have been
sold and the money given to the poor,
but Jesus said there were other oppor-
tunities of giving to the poor, for, said
he, THE poor We have always with
you"
There were poor people during the
Mosaic era There We're poor people
during all the wealth and the splendor
of the Soloinonic reign. There were
novels and rags covered by the shad-
ows Of the magnificent Grecian rem
pies. Poverty and gaunt want won't
begging for bread during the Roman
triumphs. when Christ lived. There
are poverty and rags and hunger now,
and there will be poverty and want
upon this old suffering world until the
millenuial dawn. when the glory Of the
Lord shall cover the earth us the wa
tiers cover the seas. Poverty, haunting
poverty, is everywhere.
We have today our poor in Europe
Asia, Africa. Sout'I America and in
North America. We have them upon
every island of the seas. in every town,
village and city and farming country.
We have an omniprcsent poor. During
all the centuries from the beginning
this burden of poverty has been upon
the shoulders of n large proportion OF
the race. calling for II sympathy and
our help. How long will it be before
the wisdom of our social philosophers
and the commiscration of Christ's
church take up the problem and,
searching for the causes of the Attic
ton. find out how to remove them and
remedy the misery. | know of no duty
more urgent, and If we find out in
studying the problem that in some
cases poverty is the result of social
evils let us 60 forward in Gods name
to eradicate them. May the Holy
Spirit help us to preach an appropriate
sermon on this Sabbath, following our
annual Labor day.
First among these evils I place the
prenatal influences which help crowd
our cities with the ominpresent poor
In this matter let Us be brave and
truthful. Let us not seal our lips and
be silent on account Of n mock modesty
1t Is better to have an inflammation
opened and the wound drained, nc
matter how repulsive the odor. than &c
allow the disease to go on fostering and
eating its way into the vitals. There is
many Il danger more horrible than the
surgeons knife.
l was nightly impressed with this
fact some time ago. l had always a
horror of the surgeons knife. l felt
that a man had better resort to every
thing and anything rather, than lie
down upon an operating table. But
some time ago the wife of one of my
dearest church members telephoned me
to come down to the hospital at nee
ated on. I jumped on the car and went
down and arrived lust three minutes
after the work had been begun. They
had carried the patient into the oper-
nting room and werc then giving him
the nnaesthetic. | paced up and dow n
the hall. wondering what l should do.
l felt that it was a critical and might
be a fatal operation. Should l go In or
should l not? l had always Stunned
the sight of the operating table be-
cause I feared the spectacle of the
flowing blood. But ~ l walked up ana
down that hall l said TO myself: I'm ali
probability this operation will be fatal.
My friend will die within a few hours
after he comes out OF the anaesthetic.
VIII it not comfort him to know that I
stood by his side during his time of
trlal?" So l said to one of the nurses,
"Tell the doctor l should like to come
in" He sent out word, "Come In" l
have thanked God since that I went In.
Whom that ulcar WAS ODpnad sa W
then as / never realized before that a
man should not fear a surgeons knife
which opened up a dangerous abscess
nearly ne much as he should fear the
abscess which Is not opened. Our
friends life was saved by the narrow
est of margins because he fatty re-
fused to be operated upon until death
was literally clutching him by the
throat.
A Deadly Ulcer.
Now, as there was q deadly disease
eating into the vitals Of my friends
body, so there is n deadly disease eat
Ing into tho very heart of our social
life. Thousands upon thousands Of our
cradles are infected by prenatal weak.
nesses and the evil results Of ancestral
sins. We must remember that the
present generation 10 not responsible
for all Its poor. For. as most Of III
have inherited the physical looks Of a
father and q mother. a grandfather OF
a grandmother. 30 there are hosts OF
unfortunate children born into the
~oriA who eroo, thJerNdls ava NOouad