Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1907-11-08
Calm1ase
sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmage. D. d.

SCI nVh tuS pIeuSHeE SHOWS now man
may rise to the highest spiritual dig.
nifty and universal honor by living In
harmony with the divine VIII and by
showing love and kindness toward his
"Honor all men,"
There are three great sources of
knowledge. Though the intellectual
reservoirs may be wide and deep, vet
for the most part they are fed from the
waters of three streams, which, like
pure. sparkling fountains bubbliug out
of the mountains of perpetual youth,
never seem TO lose their strength OF
to exhaust their source. The first
stream of education is that which we
receive from the old homestead.
Though we may live on to our three
score years and ten and our hair be-
come white as snow, yet what our
mothers and fathers taught US contin-
ually recurs TO the mind with new sig
nificance.
The second stream OF knowledge
comes from books. By that / do not
mean simply what we learned when
we were ut school. The teachers of
our youth impaired comparatively lit
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 aud browse In
them, as cattle step over the lowered
bars to get their fill of the rich sweet
clover. And | believe that most col
lege men will agree with me when I
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 teachl
When some one once asked Henry
Ward Beecher how he knew so much
about the human heart he replied: "By
studying men. / am indebted much to
books. for have always been d great
reader But 1 am most indebted 10
the speaking lips OF men, 1 never ride
upon street car but try to talk with
the driver. 1 rarely talk to a drive
but he tells me something / do not
know. I never cross the Brooklyn fer
~ but I try to mingle with the other
passengers and have them tell me
about themselves. Books have a part
in the great intellectual uplifting Of
mankind, but no true public teacher
can do his fun duty unless, for a time
at least, he takes off his priestly robes
and mingles with men,"
Peter Was No BooLworn.
One of the reasons why the author
OF my text takes such q 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 q bookworm. You
cannot think of him as a gowned and
capped graduate of some classical uni.
versity. You cannot think OF him as
a hermit or clustered recluse. Pc
ter was essentially q man of affairs. n
man among men. When he came to a
town or village 1 do not believe he
sought the retirement of his room,
where he could read and rest, but with
that intense energy of his he used to
so 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
III l were to send q warning to my
brother ministers / would make this
blunt statement: If the Christian pull
pit is making any mistake today, it is
that some of the ministers are becom.
Ing SO dignifled that they are not will.
ing to take off their black clothes and
don tweed suits and wander about IN
their vacations incognito among all
classes of people. The true preacher
must get acquainted with living men
or else he cannot be helpful messen.
ger OF Christ. - ~
Now, after Peter, the rough, uncut
diamond among the apostles, had spent
SO much Of his life among all classes
OF people he sums up his experience in
one general law. He says, Honor all
men," He declares that one of the
chief duties of the true Christian is to
learn to respect man, no matter where
he may be found. AS there are so
many people who In the social as well
as the theological sense are talkins
about the total deprayity' of man, ]
am today going to speak about man
as the noblest creature God has ever
produced. Thus I shall try to poin,
out four or I've great reasons why VIC
should have a universal respect foi
the human race.
Mans Supremacy.
First bid you honor mans intel
lectual supremacy over the beasts OF
the field. the birds of the air, the fish
OF the sea and the mineral and vege.
table worlds. If there Is emphatically
one animal to whom God has given
the right to rule over all other living
animals and over the elements, tina.
creature is man. Though man can
aptly be likened to a farmer with g
large landed estate which he has not,
all under cultivation, yet more and
more. ike Joshua with the land OF
Canaan, he is going up to possess it
He Is reaching out and continuing to
reach farther out and is making the
wealth OF the land and of the sea and
or the air tributary to his wealth and
to his power.
Man looks upon the mighty noun
tains and says: II must have gold for
the basis of my monetary system. Ys
mighty hills. We must open your sealed
vaults and give me your treasures
Then the miner lifts his pickax and
begins to TN at the lnoo doo-n e