The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1907-05-21
Caln,age
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmaae, ID. ID.

are not sufficiently appreciative of or
thankful for the blessings we enjoy
and that to make life sweeter and bet
ter we should bear these constantly In
not all his benefits
d, Memory's grip Is not always firm.
Her pen Is not necessarily Il chisel.
Her memorial tablets are not always
cast In bronze or iron Or steel Her
death masks are not impervious to
time. They erumble and decay like the
bones and the aesh and the life they
represent Her thoughts are not al
ways recorded upon the leaves Of solid
rock by the sharp pencil of the light
ming. Her broad manuscripts are Of
ten like the sands of the seashore,
washed clean Mt least once day by
the inHowing tides. They are the
blackboards In the schoolroom of lit
tie child. The written words of the
morning are obliterated by the teacher
to make room for the arithmetic class
ind the figures of the afternoon. What
we do and say today may be swal-
lowed up in the great deep. impenetra-
BILE abysses of oblivion OF what we will
do and say tomorrow.
Indeed, IL might use the illustra-
ton, memory has always seemed to
me to be like French bastile. 1t Is
similar to great walled In castle of
chivalric times. 1t is filed with secret
closets and secret rooms and secret
subterranean passages. 1t has Its treas
ure vaults, where are concealed the
precious stones aud the gold and the
silver no one knows anything about.
1t has Its cedar chests where the ia
bled brides have hidden their wedding
robes and where families hide their
decomposed grinning skeletons, SO that
no one may find them, yet there men,
DRY stands huge castle with her
watchtowers and her meats and her
drawbridges and her banquet halls and
her bathrooms and her cellars and also
with her secret chambers, about tho
contents of which even the owners
themselves have forgotten.
Perhaps | can illustrate my thought
even more simply than this. A very
dear friend of mine is the owner of
one of the most historic of Virginia
mansions. Every one conversant with
the history of washington's common
wealth knows about Westover. the
home of the famous Colonel William
Byrd of James River. One day some
few years ago my friend was making
some repairs In his cellar. Suddenly
the pick of the workman went through
the wall A large opening was made
through the wall Lights were brought.
Then my friend entered and found u
secret tunnel, which old Colonel Byrd
had built, leading from his mansion
down to the river bank, through which
II necessary In times of danger he and
his family could have escaped and fed
by water to the coast or to England.
Thus memory's castles have their Sc
cret halls and secret chambers and Sc
cret subterranean passages. We our
selves have built them. But after we
have built them we have shut the Sc.
cret doors which lead to them and
have then forgotten their very exist
ence. What we said and did as boys.
where we went as young men, the
warnings and advice we have received
In the past. may be swallowed up In
the great sea of forgetfulness. Memory
held these In tight grip for a little
while, but memory's viselike hold after
a time grew less and less strong. Now
they have slipped out of her hands.
They will be lost to us forever unless
some one opens for us memory's secret
chambers and says: Brother. look In.
Sister, here are your treasures"
Even David Forgot.
David in my text realizes how easy
1t Ii to forget. Especially by bitter ex-
perience he had learned how easy 1t
was to forget the mercies and kind
nesses with which God had surround
ed him In his past life. No sooner had
God rescued him from Saul's Jayelin
than the shepherd boy fed to King
Achishs court. thinking he would be
safer with bis country's enemies than
with Saul. Hardly had God seated
him firmly upon the Hebrew throne
than David forgot all Of Gods mercies
and care. He stayed at home from
his country's wars. He made love to
Eathsheba, another mans wife. He
then murdered her husband. Accord
Ing to Nathan's parable, he killed the
poor mans lamb. All, yes, David knew
what 1t was In his prosperity to forget
the love and the mercy and the pro-
lection of God. Today we find him
opening the One Hundred and Third
Psalm with practically these words,
20 God, do not let me forget what
thou hast done for me-" He thus bids
us study gospel mnemonics," or the
laws by which we shall be able to hold
In tighter grip the remembrance OF
the benefits with which God surrounds
our lives now, as he has done during
our past years. BLESS the Lord. O my
soul, and all that Is within me bless
his holy name Bless the Lord, O my
soul, and forget not all his benefits"
How Is the psalmist's prayer to be
answered in my life? First, by clear
~ and distinctly and emphatically get
ting an impression deep enough upon
~, ,.,sx..5 a.,a bacr< ao ff.of CAR pa.