Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1907-03-02
Caln1aQe
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmaee, ID. ID.

VI COiSttlullOu w NhO "DAN ~
ing the gospel and of the obligations
arising from consciousness or a dl'
vine call. The text is l Corinthians, !
tx. 1G. "Woe is unto me IL | preach not
the gospel"
In the Pitt palace Of Florence Is
wonderful picture, supposed to nave
been painted by Michael Angelo, called
the "'rhree Fates." There sit the three
sisters of NEUROLOGICAL fame-Ciotho'
spinning the thread of life; Lachesis,
holding the thread Of life and Atropos.
with her long, sharp shears, cutting
the thread of life. 1t Is thought that
when Michael Angelo painted thls pic
ture he used the same model for all the
three faces Whether that is true we
know not but one fact about TINS pic
ture we knOw-it Is a most impressive
and suggestive picture. The artlst mas
depIcted three women at their daiiy
tasks. going on In their work serene
ly. remorselessly and absolutely inue-
pendent of all outside influences py
| which they may be surrounded. wien
Won watch those three faces you In
voluntarily say: Eyes, | can understand
how men who did not recognize Gods
| hand in the government of the world
NAV have said as they looked at this
nicture. "rhe fates are ruling our lives.
! They meet US at the cradle. They
quide us through childhOod's hours.
They grow for us the orange blossoms
or the marriage altar. They lower the
bors of the great fields of usefulness
in which we are to labor. They plant
the trees out of which our collins are
to he made. If we heed their COM
mandments, we shall do our work We'll
II we turn a deaf ear to their behests,
then unutterable misfortune and tail-
ure will be ours There the fates sit,
| spinning our thread Of life, holding our
| thread of life and with their long
shears cutting the thread OF LIE at the
brink of the grave" Thus men nave
felt the oyerarching influences or lile
about them. and they believed they
would never get away from the place
Of the life those fates had MADE lor
them.
Sometimes men with this bellef trieo
70 avoid their mission In life, just as
men in our day sometimes try 10 evaue
l the duty TO which God has called them
!, But whenever they do so these men
yare unhappy in their work and 90 mol
mako the most out Of their lives. Ihey
are like the late Henry s. Frieze, the
beloved Latin professor of Michigan
university. God never meant him to
be Latin professor. He was born to
he q musician. All his desires seemed
\ n call ont. "Let me linger by the
/ niano KEYS" President Andrew u
White once said of him: Though Il
has been my good fortune to hear al
the leading pianists Of my time, nave
never heard one who seemed to inter
pret the masterpieces more worthily
have always insisted that had ~
lived in Germany he would nave peer
,econd Beethoven. So passionatelI
was he devoted to music that at tlne'
no sent his piano away from his hous'
an urder TO sl11In temptations to aDrldg'
bic nrofessoriaI work" We find mel
m,e Henry Simmons Frieze In ever.
denortment Of life. They are nK
John Tvndall. who tried to be CIV
engineer when he was meant 10 u
q nhvsicist They are like Matthew
simpson. who wished to be a physl
c;on when God intended him TO be
o minister. They are like James huS
coli Lowell and Walter Scott tryln
TO be lawyers when God meant thel
, 70 no noets and literary men. Happy
thrice happy. are the men VINO ailo,
the inward tendencies OF their niinu
and hearts to develop along the line
for which they were born ana IL
r which God equipped them.
d One Of Happest Of Men.
! Now. Paul in the words Of my text
= glorying in the fact that he mas cons'
Grated his brain and body and soul
l. the work God had intended him 10 u'
,f He seems TO say in this chapter: som
people think | sacrificed my Joy al
pleasure when | gave up my lie
gospel preaching. Why, sirs' couiu
nothing else if ! tried. My greatest ei
iovment in life is not to be found ou
side Of the gospel ministry, but lnsld
WHY. sirs. if ! were not allowed
nreoch Jesus Christ / would De u
most miserable of all men. linen
nees these words Of my text; "Woe
nnto me if | preach not the gospei
Toeue Christ" | want to show yc
rs that Paul was one Of the happiest
mon because he was allowed to DE
missionary of Jesus Christ anu tnaV
ms would have been one of the most I'LL
. erable of men had he not surrender'
oil his energies-body. mind and soul
70 no n flaming evangelist OF The eros
pouI had an absorbing passion
nreach the gospel because, III Inc III
o. nIoce he had n revelation of the divi
norsonalitv of Jesus Christ. lie cou
never get away from his Damasc
- rood experience. He had felt [
Chr,st touch. He had stood face
face with Jesus. He had seen JeS'
i1Io had talked to Jesus. He had hea
|. Iesus talk to him. No sooner did II
divine revelation come than the
sprang up in him longing desire
20 forth and tell to the world what
had seen and how his Christ could
como the worlds Saviour PauTs l
nd mascus experience was like that VIII
+o some Of US have had during our p'
lives. It may have been during sol
We revival services in the village chur
n6 Of our boyhood days or 1t may I'D
l'0 been during a season of awful sicKh.
lse or when we buried little child OF
ing the hours which succeeded
'uo yielding to heinous sin that On
nd appeared unto US We can remem
IT as yesterday. Jesus rose up Del
us as he came to Paul, saying L