Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1908-01-23
Calnnage
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmade, d. D.

sand and one Affections that make ex.
istence a burden to so many Of us.
The text ia Proverbs iii, II, "All her
paths are peace
At one Of our church prayer meetings
had an experience that I shall never
forget. 1t was one Of the happiest of
the many such meetings that have at
tended Love seemed TO he reigning
everywhere. The songs were sung as
If every one was enjoying them. The
prayers came yelling up from the
heart az the bubbllng brook leaps over
the rocks Of the mountain side. The
preacher was sitting in his chair, but
the meeting was being run by the peo-
pie. The hour in which we prayed
and sang and testified was gone too
soon. The subject of the evening was,
"Why the Christian life should be
happy life and why 1t should grow
happier each yc1r' 1t was Il great
subject to talk upon. Each Christian
was able to speak upon it out of the
experiences Of his own life. Truly, 1t
seemed that each testimony was a lit
tie better than the one that had pre-
coded It, Then. when all our hearts
were overfowing with gratitude to
God for his many mercies. dear
friend arose and told this suggestive
incident:
Some time ago in northern city
was very much depressed Things
seemed to be going against me. | did
not know which way TO turn. Then as
if to intensity my discomfort the
weather was inclement. 1t Is always
harder for me to worship God when
the wind is from the east than when
the sun is shining Put suddenly the
storm seemed to break. From Il rift in
the clouds the sun burst through and
flooded the branches of a great tree
just before me. Then as If by magic Il
flock of sparrows came from every di-
rection and flew up into the branches
of that tree and began to tWitter as il
in ecstasy. stopped and said. If a lot
of sparrows could hunt out a little ray
of sunshine like that and be happy in
it. surely |, who can battle in the sun
shine of Gods mcrcies and promises,
should be happy too When my
friend sat down. / seemed to he sur
rounded by Il great food of Gods sun
shine. In the glow Of that sunshine
there seemed to arise before me the
innumerab blessings which crowd
into the Christians life. And then
there came to my mind these beauti-
full words Of my text: Her ways are
ways Of pleasantness, and all her paths
are peace"
Tho Paths Of Peace.
The paths of the grsuel are fragrant
with peace. first because those who
tread them learn to love the simpler
things OF life. They have not Il viii
ated or Il depraved taS!c Tor pleasure.
They can tune their songs of life to
the keynote Of Cummings symphony.
They love the flowers and the birds
and the children. For them the pleas
ures Of home are the sweetest and
dearest. They can find endless enjoy
ment in walk through the woods and
In the cultivation Of Il garden in their
back yard. They would rather gather
around the piano in the evening hour
and with the members of their FAINT
lies sing the Old Gospel hymns than
hear the most exquisite opera sung by
the most famous prima donna import
ed from foreign lands. They would
rather see their children play pranks
upon the nursery floor thAn 20 to see
the finest tragedians act their master
pieces in the theater. They do not need
cathedrals in which to worship God or
palaces in which to find pleasure. but
they can take delight i'm the simple
things Of life. Like the poet they can
sing in n garden the words.
Were l. o God. in churchless lands re
naming.
Far from all voice OF teachers and di-
My soul would find in flowers Of thine or
dainng
Priests, sermons shr!nes.
was deeply impressed with this
fact in reading the life Of Phillips
Brooks. That prince Of preachers had
the simplicity and the tenderness OF
child. Witness the regret he had when
he felt himself growing out Of the COM
partnership of children. Though he
had no child Of his own, he adopted all
the children in the families Of his nc-
quaintance. When he entered home
he was like big boy out for fro!ic.
He could not be made to obey the rules
md the regulations Of the house He
raised the standard of mutiny against
Iecorum, and every child ran to him.
He would get down Oh his knees and
play and romp as the merricst boy of
the lot. Then. when he was nearing
the twoscore milestone, when one
would suppose that, ike Paul, he
would be willing to put away childish
shings. we find him writing these de-
iightful words of regret to an old Phil
adelphia parishoner: "'rhc worst thing
see about getting old or being old is
NAT you get farther away from the
young people, who are the best people
n the world. never see lot OF bows
without wanting to be among them
md wishing they would let me into
their company and being sure they
won't, | hate TO think that bows of
sixteen think OF me rs | used TO think
of men OF thirty-seven when | was
their age" Could there be "A sweeter
fragrance OF spring blossoms than
that? Could you dream OF great man
being simpler or pursr ana gentler and
more loving than Phillips Brooks
wanting to play lea?frog or game of
baseball with q lot of hnys WHOM hn