Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1907-08-23
Calmaoe
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmase, DID,


turesque imagery the preacher in this
sermon shows the significance of the
testimony Of IsraeTs great leader tc
Jesus as the Messiah. The text IS
Luke xvi, 81, "If they hear not Moses
and the prophets, neither will they be
persuaded, though one rose from the
dead"
The symbol of the graveyard is used
by Jesus for his gospel teachings. lust
as many artists use skeletons for
their models in great artistic master
pieces. The parable of Dives and
Lazarus is nothing more or less than
a great panorama, a collection of YER
bal pictures, showing the eternal trae-
edy of misspent life.
Scene the Tristan eastern nrince
is In his palace. All that wealth and
power and temporal grandeur can give
Is his His clothes are of royal purple.
HIS dining room is a banquet hall.
His walls are of white marble. His
floors are mosaics. His Railways and
bedrooms and parlors are filed with
statuary and richest tapestries and
beautiful artistic masterpieces. Upon
his doorstep crouches a poor beggar.
starving to death, malodorous and Of |
fensive from innumerable ulcers and
Assesses which have broken out over
his body on account of improper nour- |
isbment.
Scene the Second.-Two graves and |
the celestial advent of the beggar and
the eternal Incarceration of him who
mad once been king among men. Tie
earthly pauper has been crowned. The
earthly prince has been stripped of his
all. Then Dives. down in the region
OF the lost, looks up and sees Lazarus.
who had once sat at his doorstep a de-
spised beggar, but now cherished and
cared for by Abraham, the father of
the faithful, and he cries out: "I pray
thee, father, that thou wouldst send
Lazarus to my fathers house, for I
have five brethren, that he may testify
unto them, lest they also come into
this place of torment"
Then what happens? God seems to s
reach down and lift a skeleton out of I
its grave and clothe it again with q
flesh. He stands this resurrected dead q
man before us and points to him as he /
says: IF they hear not Moses and the $
prophets, neither will they be per t
suaded, though one rose from the a
dead" The statement practically is d
that If man is open to conviction he c.
will be convinced by the writings Of a
Moses and the prophets; if he is not v
convinced by Them nothing would V
convince him-not even the testimony e
Of specter. This is a startling asser- is
ton. Have we ever fully realized al
that those words are so convincing? h,
What was there in the life and writ hi
ngs OF that ancient lawgiver that ty
makes them so influential? f
The Rank of Moses to
Moses by the law of adoption took
he rank of one who was well born. ci
lie was the adopted son of Pharaoh's tic
laughter. He was the heir apparent
# the greatest throne on earth. He er
lad all that wealth and position and gr
lonor could give him. He was born W
reat. He was rocked in a golden no
radle and fed out of a golden spoon M
nd had servants innumera bic to run to
Is bidding When he was carried de
orth in one of the royal chariots the pli
eople used to kneel and say "There va
oes the child who will one day rule Ee
yer us as king" In the sight Of the syi
wv he was not pauper, a slave or cal
Hebrew. He had been raised to pre-
'yal rank. All that he had to do
as to keep his lips closed, and he y
light live in afiluence and inherit a no
rome. And yet this Egyptian prince, VII
is adopted child of Pharaoh's daugh- g,
r was ready to surrender all Of king -rb,
power in order to be a follower of GOV,
e true God. Now, every effect must bo,
We logical cause. A man does not mo,
rrender a great prize of life just cbo
r whim. There must have been no.
me great impelling force in Moses TTio
e to have led him to serve God and POI
Douse the cause Of the Hebrew a n
I'VE. 49,
We have read of men and women GOO,
their faith for an earthly f,,rc
'One, but did you ever know of a NTo,
N surrendering an earthly throne VOC,
his religion unless he deeply and Zoos
lscientiously believed in that reli- Fgv
n? When a German princess a few neri,
lrs ago married Emperor Nicholas rnIo
became Empress Alix Of all the brei
sSias sue Ieuounceu the Lutheran seer
lrch and Joined the Greek church, scr,I
which her husband is the spiritual tian
d. When the English Princess Eno,
Of Battenberg became Queen Vic fans
a OF Spain, she left the Episcopal hello
church, in which she had been Eeyy,
hrmed and baptized, and Joined the sniri
holic church, which is the estab- ware
ed church of her adopted country. Thus
sc two princesses changed their who
yious creed in order to win a royal tbo =
lem. But what would you say If &C "
present Prince Of Wales should join all n
Roman Catholic church? What Nose
Id you say II he should turn from vast