Milford chronicle., 1907-01-11

Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt TalmaSe. D. D.

9Aoh9 AAAhN CONSISTENCY hNAAaANAo Tia
Christian principles shoY govern us
in our private and domestic affairs as
well as in public. The text is John
xxi, %, THE which If they should be
written every one"
Have you ever heard Of our buried
treasurer a gentleman asked me some
time ago mo. What treasurer
Well" said he, Il viii come around
this afternoon with my team and take
you out for a drive, and then I will tell
you the story"
That afternoon my friend drove up to
where l was stopping in the country,
and . we went. We drove through
K the meyards of that region; then we
climbed a small hill which overlooked
the valley for miles around. There,
upon the top, we found the ruins of the
.afoundation of an old home Then, as
lfthe horses rested, he told me that many
years ago one Of the old Spanish set
tiers owned this home. He built il
there not only for its wonderful view,
/ but also for protection. Like many Of
Z those old houses, his home was a fort
as well as a domicile. This old settler
E lived here for many, many years. He
4 grew enormously wealthy, and as there
+ were no banks in those days, like Mon
tie CristO he gathered most Of his gold
into a chest and buried it. No one
knew where that gold was hidden. The
old man was without family, so he
talked about his gold to no one. He
was taken suddenly sick and died be-
fore he could tell this secret When he
felt himself going he gasped, "GOld
hiddenw and he was gone.
'lIo sooner did his breath leave the
body than the people began to hunt for
his hidden gold. Lawyers, doctors,
merchants, as well as common labor
ers. have been digging for 1t ever since.
You can see how all the land around
this foundation is filled with holes.
Every tree, every rock, every land
mark, as far as the eye can see in this
valley, has also been dug about, in or
der to find this buried treasure. The
Sgold seekers have been hunting every
where for this gold Of the old man.
And l suppose men will continue to dig
for this treasure in this region for cen
turtles to come" Thus was the story
4 told me as / sat in the wagon by the
Flins of that old Mexican home upon
the hilltop overlooking the Cucamonga
valley.
" But on my way back to the city that
,Afternoon I soliloquized thus in the
AI&ain: Are not most acts Of a man
stNlden away from the eyes Of the pub
lie at large as that treasure chest Of the
old California pioneer was secreted
and hidden from prying eyes? Are not
the recorded actions of Il mans career
only an infnitesimal part of his life?
Can it not be said of us what St.
John wrote about Jesus in the last
verse of his gospel? And there are
also many other things which Jesus
did, the which, if they should be writ
ten every one, l suppose that even the
world itself could not contain the
books that should be written"
The biographies on our library
shelves are all of that kind. A long
story is told, sometimes in three vol
unis, and we suppose it tells all about
thy man, but how much there must
1--WE been in that life that was never
Recorded! How much there is in our
Hives that we never reveal even to our
most intimate friends! So it was, as
John tells us, with Jesus. We wish
I'VE could know all he did and said,
even If it had multiplied volumes, as
s6ohn supposed. We can never know
How, but we can imagine from what
gS,se do know something of the facts
tHS$-,pere never revealed. Let us try
to think this morning what those facts
may have been.
St. Johns biography.
/ was struck, in the first place, with
the fact that Johns gospel opens with
the fully developed physical. mental
and spiritual Christ. 'Tis true the first
verse of the first chapter begins with
the words, an the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was Cod" but almost
Immediately after st. John introduces
to us John the Baptist and the Jordan
'ic baptism. In other words, the biog-
raphy of St. John opens with a fully
developed Christ. What Christ did
during the formative physical period
between infancy and young manhood
lis entirely omitted. OF what he did
during the springtime Of his childhood,
when life was in the blossom, as the
little bud changes into the rounded .
form of fruit, there is not word said. .
}Of course. we read in another gospel /.
about Jesus in the temple with the
doctors. But outside of that all the
biographies are silent about Christ's
childhood days. And yet, my friends, I
lin all mans life I do not believe (
there is a time when in his own realm
or sphere Il person has more influence
for good than does the godly child
within the four walls of a home.
Oh, the patience and the gentleness
Iof a holy spirit filled little child!
There is not like unto it this side
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