Milford chronicle., 1906-03-09
CalnaQe
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Talnase, D. D.

Los Angeles, Cal, Feb. 25-An u
lifting sermon. profuse in illustratil
incident and suited to the needs of Il
times, was given by the preacher t
day, who took for his text Matthew /
20, According to your faith be it unt
you"
Rev. John Watson, better known I
Americans by his literary sobriqUet @
IAN Maclaren, wrote a powerful para
graph in a retrospect of his life's mil
istry- This is his message to the preach
ers of the present day: The review o
the past has convinced me that Will
preaching has various ends the chic
ought TO be comfort 1t is useful in it
way to explain the construction of th'
book of Isaiah and to give the history
Of Hebrew literature. but it is better
10 minister the consolation Of Isaiah's
dfty-third chapter TO the weary heart
No one can blame a preacher for ex-
pounding Christian dogma but his
words viii be mora useful when they
declare the Christ himself of whom
dogma at its best is but the garments.
The preacher is justified in attacking
sin with righteous Indignation Of soul
and with burning invective Of words,
hut perhaps he would come more quick
is to his purpose if he turned the sim
ner from his sin by causing him to fall
in love with goodness" In other words,
according to Dr. Watson, the chief
work Of the ministry is not iconoclas-
tic. but constructive. 1t is not so much
to WELD the dissecting knife and ex-
pose the awful ravages of the disease
called sin as it is to lead his cOngre-
CATION out into the flower gardens of
Gods love and to show his people what
is possible for them to attain if they
are only willing to drink the water Of
life, Of which, if a man once drinks. he
shall never thirst again. l always did
believe that the sight of a good man be-
ing honored for his virtues had more
beneficent influence upon a community
than the sight Of grewsome gallOws
upon which a murderer had been stran-
gled to eXpiate his crime, and 1 always
did believe that Murillo's Ascension"
and William Struts "A Little Child
Shall Lead Them" have had more pow
.er to eradicate evil than Michael Ange-
los horrible agonies of lost souls, de-
picted in his great masterpiece Of the |
Last Judgment"
Thus we turn to my next today with |
feelings of infinite joy When we
study the assurance which Jesus Christ |
gave to the two blind men of the east, |
who came to him crying. Thou son of |
David, have mercy on u.s." we do not |
have to explore with Dante the dark |
caverns and the lakes of fire Of an aw-
full inferno or have John Milton echo
for us the despairful calls of his Par
ldise Lost" or climb with Ignatius Don
nelly the funereal pyre Of his Caesars
Column" But we can walk with Sir
Thomas More amid the incense laden
avenues of his Utopia We can watch
men by the power of faith lifting noun
aims: we can see Christians, as mighty
chieftains. going forth to
conquest, as David the shepherd boy,
went. forth to overthrow the gigantic
we can see men assailed by
he hosts of temptations raising high
he golden shield Of faith so that the
iery darts of Satanic attack fall to the
round with a harmless ring. o faith,
hou art not mere gospel theory!
thou art a mighty workman, able to
raft all the powers Of the supernat-
ral into our being. Thou art the mes
enger ready to lift man to God and
o bring God down to man. accord
ne to your faith be it unto you"
pake Christ to the blind men Of old.
According to your faith be it unto
ou," says Christ to the men and the
lomeD OF the present day.
Physical Stamina.
In order to make our subject little
lOre ineligible let me remind you Of
he blessings of faith from a worldly
r a temporal standpoint Let us. in
he first place, try to see what a
lightly factor faith can be in develop
ig our physical stamina Archbishop
emple once said, Faith is the laying S
DID of the future in the midst Of the a
resent, Of the unseen in the midst Of o
le seen" And so faith can so sus- t
in and stimulate the physical powers a
at frame weak and feeble and even
can achieve tasks that would a
x the powers Of a vigorous constitu-
On. Let me illustrate my thought by a
e scene Of my text. ?
There Is great excitement on the out b
.irts Of Capernaum. Christ has just {
zen working a number Of his mira q
es. The most startling Of these was b
e raising from the dead Of the daugh- f
r of the ruler Jairus. OF course you g
q understand the tremendous SEN
sBon such an act caused. The news
read like wildfre The people every
,ere were locking about Jesus. While
q multitudes were following him s
ere were two blind men by the road J
le I believe from the construction a
this chapter they were beggars- J
,bnn the crowd 'surges past them their
,,te cars hear the commOtiOn. what a