The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1907-11-05
Calnna9e
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmage. ID. D.

sermon the preacher shows how man
may rise 10 the highest spiritual dig
nifty and universal holor by living In
harmony with the divine will and by
showing love and kindness toward his
fellow mon. The text Is Peter II, II,
Honor all men,
There are three great sources Of
knowledge. Though the intellectual
reservoirs may he wide and deep. yet
For the most part they are fed from the
waters of three streams, which. like
pure, sparkling fountains bubbling out
of the mountains of perpetual youth
never seem to lose their strength or
to exhaust their source. The first
stream of education Is that which we
receive from the old homestead.
Though we may live OH to our three
score years and ten and our hair be
come white as snow, yet what our
mothers and fathers taught us conttn
utffy rcrufs to TITO mind with new sig
nificance
Tho second stream of knowledge
comes from books. BY that l do not
mean simply what we learned when
we were at school. The teachers of
tie knowledge to us. Their chief work
was to teach US how to study. They
lowered the bars so that we could en-
ter the fields of truth and browse In
them. as cattle step over the lowered
bars to get their I'll of the rich sweet
clover. And believe that most col
lege men will agree with me when |
say that their chief education from
books came to them after they left
their alma mater. The third great
source Of information comes to us not
from the home or from books, but from
reveling in the haunts Of nature and in
the busy marts of the world, studying
the endless procession of multitudes of
men. Oh, how many men there are
and how many the different lessons
which they teach!
When some one once asked Henry
Ward Beecher how he knew 50 much
about the human heart he replied: "R,
studying. men. am indebted much to
books. for | have always been great
reader. But ! am most indebted to
the speaking lips of men. never ride
upon n street car but | try to talk with
the driver. rarely talk to n driver
but he tells me something l do not
know. ! never cross the Brooklyn fer
ry but | try to mingle with the othe,
passengers and have them tell me
about themselves. Books have n part
IN the great intellectual uplifting OF
mankind, but no true public teacher
can do his full duty unless. for time
Mt least. he takes Off his priestly robes
and mingles with men,"
reter Was No Bookworm.
One of the reasons why the author
of my text takes such n deep hold
upon all our human sympathies is be
cause he gathers most of his informa-
ton from living men. You cannot
imagine Peter as n bookworm. You
cannot think of him as gowned and
CAPPED graduate of some classical uni
yersity. You cannot think of him ms
hermit or Il clustered recluse. Pc
ter was essentially man OF affairs. q
man among men. When he came to q
town or village I do not believe he
sought the retirement of his room
wherea,e could read and rest. but will
that intense energy of his he used tC
go to the place where the people were
gathered. There he would talk and
draw them out. After awhile he would
get them telling him the innermost sc
crets Of their hearts. Then when he
was thrown among the Weather class
es, as he surely must have been al
times. he dropped the fathom line into
the depths of their hearts as well. And
| If were to send n warning to IN!
brother ministers | would make this
blunt statement: II the Christian pull
pit is making any mistake today, 1t Il
| that some of the ministers are becom
| Ing SO digniiied that they are not will
| Ing to take off their black clothes ant
don tweed suits and wander about IL
their vacations incognito among al
classes of people. The true preacher
| must get acquainted with living mel
| or else he cannot be helpful messen
| ger of Christ.
Now, after Peter. the rough, uncu
diamond among the apostles, had spen
| so much of his life among all classes
| Of people he sums up his experience II
| one general law. He says, Honor al
men" He declares that one OF the
chief duties of the true Christian Is t.
| learn to respect man. no matter where
| lie may be found. As there are 81
many people who In the social rs vel
| as the theological sense are talking
about the total depravity' of man.
| am today going to speak about maj
as the noblest creature God has eve
/ produced. Thus | shall try to poin
out four or five great reasons why WI
should have universal respect To-
| the human race
Mans Supremacy.
/ First bid you honor mans intel
| iectual supremacy over the beasts o