Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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By Rev. Frank De Witt Talmatfe, D. D. I.os Angeles, Cal., July 31.—That men and women should ever be alert to heed the call of the highest duty and not to i>ut it aside with frivolous ex cuses i« the theme of the preacher to- day^ The text is Matthew viii, ‘J2. QVLerthe dead bury the dead.” Never i. ake the mistake of treating half truths as if they were whole truths. Half logs are not whole legs, but only parts of legs. The microscope clarities the vision of the bacteriologist. From the structural makeup of one lit tle bone the biologist, in his mind’s eye. may see a whole skeleton perfect In formation. But. after all. truth in part is never equal to truth in whole unless it is flanked by truths and has truths in its rear as a reserve corps and truths ahead of it to guard the picket lines. What is true in laboratory investiga tions is also true in reference to Bible study. We must not study the words of my text with a microscope. We must not isolate this sentence from all its connections. We must compare this passage with other passages, this chap ter with other chapters, this book with other books. “I cannot understand why Christ should have trampled upon the filial affections of his disciple who wanted to go back and bury his dead father,” said a gentleman to me some years ago. “This young man evidently intended to be a devout disciple of Jesus. But surely he had a duty to his home as well as directly to Jesus. There, in the old homestead, lay the corpse of his earthly parent. It was natural for a dutiful son to want to be present at the funeral. Yet when the young man said, 'Let me, I pray thee, first go and bury my father, ami I will follow thee.’ Christ showed no sympathy with his natural feeling, but practically said: 'Let the neighbors and the strangers come in and close the eyelids and wash the cold flesh. Let the neighbors sing the death chant and dig the grave. Lot strange hands wrap the motionless corpse in its white Mliroud and carry it to its last resting iplace. You must come with me at once. Shut your eyes t * the past. Let the dead bury the dead.’ ” Love For Ills Mother. That way of regarding the incident utterly misrepresents it. Never sup pose for a moment that Christ demands that any man should show his rever ence for him by slighting or neglecting or deserting an earthly parent. Why. the last human being for whom Christ provided when he was dying upon the cross was his mother. He turned and Joolbed toward the gentle John, the be loved disciple, sobbing at his feet, and said to him: "John, look after my old mother. Now that she is friendless and alone she will need your love and sustenance.” Then he looked at the agonized face of his mother as he said. “Mother, let John take my place and be a loving son to you.” These are Christ's exact words: “Woman, behold thy son!” “Son, behold thy mother!” Those were not the words of one who disregarded filial duty. His body was racked at that moment by excruciat ing agony, yet his thoughts were not of himself, but of her who, by his leath, would be left dependent. It was she for whom he was concerned even in the hour of his dissolution. His own conduct in that crisis proves that when he spoke to tin* young volunteer in the words of my text he was not In sensible to the claims of natural af fection. In the words of Henry Ward Beech er, Christ was enunciating the great truth that the primal duties of life should not be sidetracked or pushed to the rear on account of the secondary or the more unimportant duties. “It is not that you desire to avoid right things, but you say, ‘Suffer me first to do the inferior; then 1 shall be ready for the suirerior. Suffer me first to take care of myself. Suffer me first to take care of my household. Suffer me first to look nfter this enterprise, and fhen’— No! This constant habit of humbling the higher and making it subordinate to the lower, this constant preference of the inferior to the su perior. works demoralization. A man does not need to throw away his Bible nor defy his God nor sell his soul vol untarily. He only needs to say, ‘Suffer me first to do the lesser thing” The moment that is done there will be an other ‘Suffer me first’ in its place. And so we shall put the inferior duties In the place of the higher duties and go through life and fail at last.” This comprehensive view of my text is. I am convinced, its trul' interpretation. These words of Christ need to be re- * membered in other situations than lie- side the bier of a dead parent. They have a warning lesson for any man who is postponing his duties to his Lord until he has fulfilled his obliga tions to the world or to society—to any one who fails in his higher duties through selfishness or sloth. Ohlticntluna. Sidetracked obligations to Cod! We see them everywhere. We see them first in the excuses which the young man makes when he is fitting himself by education to enter the battle of life. .Lurch? In what Sunday school are • on teaching? What mission work are rou doing for Christ?" Some there will ! > woo, in order to pay their way Wiroug’.i college, are performing some •iutio- by which they earn a little mon ey. but the others, in nine cases out of ten. v>,il an.-wer: “Oh. 1 am not attend ing any particular church here. 1 am not teaching in any Sunday school, i am now siiuying to lie a min ester, and therefore each Sunday 1 go to hear a different minister in the town.” The result is that nine-tenths of our young theological students, and I think I am not overrating the proportion, do prac tically nothing for Christ while they are living within seminary walls un less they are paid for their services. What is the result? With a critical, censorious spirit they go from church to church. They pick flaws in this minister, they find fault with that min ister. and all the time they belong to the great army of religious tramps, whom I call the “go-rounders.” I*ur- ing these years of study their own life is ebbing away. By the time the young man who pursues this course graduates from a theological seminary he is on the verge of spiritual bank ruptcy. Why? Mainly because In the .hree long years of mental preparation for the ministry he has neglected to lo personal work for Jesus Christ. It is a common subject for regret that the religious life in our colleges md universities is at a low ebb. The spiritual energy of the students is de pleted, and there is less real holiness and growth in grace among them than in young men outside. The reason for this deplorable condition I believe to be that so many of them are devoting themselves to study or to athletics and loing no personal service for the Mas ter. They are making the same ex cuse for themselves that the young disciple of my text made to Christ when he said, “Lord, suffer me first to iro and bury my father.” That young man who is now the leader of his class in the law school was once the Sunday school superint'*ndent in the little vil lage church where his father and mother now live. The school occu pied the first place in his thoughts, and he would take any trouble to give pleasure to the children and attach tinm to the cause of Christ. Now he never enters a Sunday school. He is preparing to be a lawyer. After he once gets his diploma he intends to go back to church work, hut now he says. "Lord, suffer me first to get an educa tion and then I will follow thee.” That young girl living in Chicago, away from home, is now studying in a famous musical college to cultivate her voice. She was once the leader of her father’s choir. Her father is a minis ter and is spending the savings of a life time in giving his daughter a musical education that she may lie the better able to serve Christ. But, though there are hundreds of struggling little churches within a short distance of where she lives which would be bless ed by her singing, she now never en ters a prayer meeting. She rarely en ters a church. She says, “Walt, Lord, until I have acquired proficiency in the art. and then I will sing for thee.” Mt-ntul Verauw Spirltunl Development But these words of my text not only apply to the young people who are sidetracking their gospel duties to make way for their preparations for a pro fession. They also apply to the dusy men and ^.onien who, in the prime of physical strength and mental power, are like tired peasants staggering along the highways under greater burdens t than it seems possible for them to bear. When I speak thus 1 mean that this text is applicable to nearly all men and women in midlife. Why? Because I believe that most people are overwork ed. They are physically tired. They are tired in the same way that my grandmother was tired, who, as a farmer’s wife, had to rear thirteen children. My father used to say: "1 never remember my mother except with a tired look upon her face. As a little boy I remember her coming to tin* table and. after all the children had been served, turning to father and say ing, 'David. 1 am too tired to eat.’’’ How many other women have said the same thing! Most people are over- j worked in the struggle of life. Yet | tliis text. O man. O woman, in the prime of your physical and mental i strength, applies to you. No right have! you to sidetrack your duties to God. No right have you to say to Christ, “Lord, suffer me to do this or that, and then I will follow thee.” Christ should l*e first, not last. Christ’s com mand. no matter how or when it comes, should be heeded or obeyed; then all other duties will fall Into line in their rigid places. Christ’s command, “Follow me,” comes to the tin*d merchant, the worn- out merchant. It comes to you even in the whirl and the bustle of business life. "Oh, no,” you say, “I have no time for Christ. My business absorbs every atom of my energy. I am so tired from my week day tasks that I am too weary to go to church on Sun day. Why, when I go, I fall asleep during the sermon. It makes lint little difference to me then who preaches the sermon. Come down to my store any time and you will set? how I am over driven. There is a steady stream of men In my outer office all the time. 1 must »**e them. It is work, work, work until I am nearly dead.” Yes, my brother, In one sense what you say is true. You are an overworked man, hut how much of that labor that so fatigues you is voluntarily under taken? Have you, as a Christian man, the right to give to your own concerns, to vour business and the world the you not know that much of that grind ing. useless, selfish toil is making a failure out of your life? The temporal necessities of life are very small, yet thousands of people plod on, and on, and on. in a treadmill of mercantile drudgery, as though th**ir very happi ness depended upon raising their store from a four story to a ten story dry goods emporium. \ Kieli Mnn’n Failure. '* : ,e tin e ngo a lady visited an old I enter the theological seminary, where thirty or forty young men are gathered whole of your time and energy? Have Into a class room. They are bright. In-! you forgotten the claims that God has telllgent young men, eager for knowl edge, Intent on getting thorough equip ment for the work they have under taken. I put to each student thls^iues- tlon: “Young man, where do you go to upon you? Better leave undone some of the work you are now doing that you may have strength to serve him. Why should you not be willing to drop some of that business drudgery? Do i i i> im. wi.o had married a mer- . :.: in i ii. i .’ ur eastern cities. That l \ .a y .veie seated together :..i quo . ih.-.t she said. “Clara, how i : *. i.v.s 1 getting along?” “Mis er; I y.” »d the wife. “Why, how !'...it? Is he not making a lot of money? Is not this palace of a home your own? Is not his name writ ten high ns one of the great financiers at this city ?” “Oh, yes." answered the wife, “Joun is making a lot of money, lie is already what some people call rich. But I certainly call him poor. When we startl'd out in life we did not have much money, but we had enough for all our necessary wants. Besides, we had plenty of time for each other and for our friends and for our church. John then only had a small store. He would get home for supper on time. Then all the evenings were ours. We read together. We visited our friends together. Some weeks John would get off a whole day, and together we would take a trip to the country and roam among the wild flowers. Our Sundays were always spent together at church and in the home. But now John has sold himself to Ins work. I rarely see him. He works all day. He works part of the night. He always has some business engagement on Sun day. He makes lots of money, but then he only puts that money back into the business, and therefore It is not his to use. He lias to keep on working the harder, to look after the bigger busi ness. I certainly think that John is making a failure out of life. He is a perfect slave to work, and we rarely see each other for any of our old good times.” But this text has still another appli cation. It is a word of reproof to peo ple who waste their time and strength in useless remorse over their undutiful conduct to parents who are now dead. Many men and women have sidetrack ed their direct duties to God by switch ing them off to a family plot, I re member some years ago. after I had spent four years in the west, I went 1 to Brooklyn to find my mother’s grave. Though I had lived over a quarter of a century in Brooklyn, yet by the new system of ear lines established there since I went to Chicago I could not find Greenwood cemetery until I had been put off three different ears. But, though here and there one person, by long absence, may be unable to find his mother’s grave, there are thou sands and tens of thousands of people who have become blinded to the living duties of life because they will persist j in tarrying by the family plots where) sleep their dead. Useless regrets for the dead may have a great part in the sidetracking of our duties to God. Who was this young disciple to whom Christ spoke? I do not know. The Bilde does not mention his name. But perhaps he belonged to that great multitude who spend one half of their lives in abusing and neglecting the living and the oth er half in mourning and sobbing over the dead. Their love and grief are purely Carlylean. They say that, Thomas Carlyle, the disgruntled, fault finding, iconoclastic philosopher, was the founder of a big school of copyists. I However that may be, I know there are many people who emulate the writ er of “Sartor Besartus" in one fact. After the death of his wife his ha-1 bitual lament was, “Alas, alas, she can never know now how I loved her!” During her lifetime he had for her only shan» words and none of the little deli cate attentions which would have made her happy. After she was dead he was imbittered by his consciousness of his negligence and added to his fault vituperation of the people around him. Better for him and them had the , sorrow for past failure toward his wife led him to kindliness toward Ids living friends. Perhaps this young man of my text was one who had ill used his father while he was alive, and : now that he was dead he wanted to give him a big funeral. Do you wonder, If this was so. that Christ said, j “Let the dead bury the dead?” Post- i mortem eulogies can never atone for antemortem injustices. Told Her Too Lnte. In Virginia a young woman was left ! a widow with four small children. She taught school and painted and stitched and took in washing and worked all day and far Into the night In order to send her boys to college and to gl\e her two girls a tine education. After awhile these children grew up and went out into the world and left their old mother i alone in the cottage where they were j reared. Being finely educated, they grew ashamed of the mother who had done so much for them. Her speech was not ns classical as theirs. Her hands were callous with toll, and in her looks she was very commonplace. Finally, worn out with work, she w’as dying, ami all her four children gath- ereil about her bedside, conscience smitten with their Ingratitude. They now realized how they had neglected the best friend they ever had. Then one of her boys, now a prominent law yer. took her In his arms and said: “Mother, you have been a good mother to us. You have made It possible for us to l>e what we are.” Then the wom an’s tired face lighted up with a smile as she answerm , “Oh, Willie, why did you not tell me that before?” Such praises come too lute. I tell you they are too late. If we are to praise our loved ones, we must praise them while they are living and not when they are dead. Some people are never happy unless they are miserable. Their smile is a tear. Their laugh is a sob. They never enjoy themselves unless they are moan ing over a corpse twenty years old. To Evergreen cemetery of Brooklyn, for many months, there used to go a wid ower who everybody said was crazy. He did not bury his wife In a grave, but placed her body In a vault. There, in this tomb, he had all his wife's furni ture and knk-kknncks. He had her pic-1 tun* hung upon the wall, aud her chairs | by her casket, and her hooks upon her bookshelf, and her work basket and table by her side. Then every day this widower used to go early in the morn ing to that tomb and stay there until late at night. He would sit in her chair and read poetry to her deaf ears and talk to her as though she were alive. You say that man was crazy? He was no more crazy than thousands of people who, day In and day out, go j to the graves of their loved ones and , weep and lament over the past, instead of going out into the world with Chris tian courage and doing as the dead, or rather as the redeemed, spirits of their dear ones would have them do. Christ, in the words of my text, is not telling that young mao to he disrespectful to his dead sire. He is, however, enuu- ciating the tremendous fact that a young man does not honor a dead par ent so much by weeping over a grave as by living the true, honest, noble Christian life which that dead father would have him live. “Let the dead bury the dead” might be translated into the words, “Let the dead one's precepts live in the living, and let the living fulfill the mission of the dead.” Now It’s Oxfoircis The knowing ones who keep post il on footwear styles will renli/H the combination of fashion, comfort anil economy shown In the handsome line of Ladles' Oxfords on display lien . In v.irl* ty of m.iter.al and shapes our stock Is superior in every detail. ro We are offering some SPEL'IVL INDUCEMENTS on Oxfords and White Goods to Close out the season s stock. It will he to your interest to inspect these goods and the prices before you buy. Come early. Sc t>. Pays Four Per Cent. All Deposits. Gaffney Savings Bank. Capital Stock Paid In , D C. Ross, Brest. J. A. Carroll, B. L. Hames, An Incident of War. But I think there is another reason why Christ spoke the words of my text. Jesus is here not only enunciat ing the fact that the primal duties of life should never he made subservient to tlie secondary, but also the great j truth that a man has his duty to the J. Q. Little, world at large as well as to his father! aud mother, his wife and child, his brother and sister and friend. Be cause men and women are bone of our hone and flesh of our flesh that is no reason why we have not a duty to our fellow men who are not akin to us by blood—duty to your fellow men and to your fellow men’s children; whom you have never seen. A man never learns this lesson more easily j than when he is a soldier. I remem- ! ber some years ago, during the Span- ! ish-Americnn war, we were encamped i in the old fair grounds of Springfield, the Illinois capital. Dewey’s guns at Manila had spoken. The troops were being hurried to the front. Our regl-i mint was to move south within a cou-! pie of days. ’The surgeon of our regi ment came to my quarters one night and said, “Chaplain, read that.” It was a letter from Chicago telling him that his wife was hovering between life and death as the result of a very serious operation, and she wanted to see him just for a few hours before he went south. "Why don’t you run up to Chicago tonight and come back tomorrow?” we asked. “You will be here In plenty of time.” “The colo nel won't let me. The orders have come down that no leaves of absence can be granted, as we may go to the front any moment." "Orders be hanged!” s.iid I impulsively. “If my wife were dying, orders or no orders, I would go to her.” "Then you would be captured as a deserter and perhaps shot.” said my companion quietly. “For the good of the service I must obey orders and go with my regiment, j My duty to my country is now even greater than my duty to my dying wife.” "Yes, surgeon.” said I, “you Thousand Dollars. J. G. Wardlaw. Vice-P. Directors. J. N. Lipscomb, R. M. Wilkins, W. C. Carpenter. D. C. Ross. Maynard Smyth, Cashier. William Jefferies, J. G. Wardlaw, O. E. Wilkins, OUT F*RieES. I have “knifed” the prices on r 11 Slippers, Straw Hats and surnmer Dress Hoods. Now is your time to get Slippers and Straw Hats or less than whole sale price. My entire line of summer ijoods, consisting of Lawns, India Linens, BntDtes. Organdies, Dotted Swiss, Dimities and \\ hite \\ aistings in lace-stripe etlects will be sold at cost for cash—no goods charg ed in this sale. I will also close out a lot of Ladies Summer Under vests at greatly reduced prices during this sale. We will otter a big lot of youths’, boys’ and chil dren’s Suits at cost for the next few days. Bring the little gents around and let us fit them up in a nice suit for a little money. We will also offer a few men’s two-piece Suits at cost to close out. We have had a very flattering trade on Negligee Shirts and Gent’s Furnishings generally but still have a nice assortment to select from. See us be fore buying vour shirts. Good Flour from $2.00 to $2 GO per 100—every sack guaranteed. One and two two quart Fruit Jars at prices that can’t be beat. If you are looking for goods at money-saving prices go to my store at Goforth’s, S. C., or come to my store in the city. Yours for trade, i aro right. There are duties in life even greater than those we hear to our loved ones, dear though they may be. God help you in this your hour of trial.” j 155^! fio Christ in these words of my text was enunciating an infinite and omnip otent truth. Jesus is practically say ing: "Young man, higher than your love for father or mother or wife or child is your duty to me and to the great world at large. Come with nu* and help save the millions who art* dying In their sins. Come with me and bring hack to a life of purity and love those who will never know me un less they see me as a result of thy guidance. Come with me. Come with me.” This sentence, “Follow me, and let the dead bury the dead,” Is only another wording of the same thought which Christ spake unto his disciples: “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and he 1 that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross and followeth after me Is not worthy of me.” Yes, there come certain times In life when our duty to Christ and to our fellow men should have precedence over our de sires to be with our dear out's in our own homes. But, though these words of my text may seem to separate some of us for a little while from our loved ones on earth. Is it not a sweet and treasured thought that Christ will never separate us, his children, from each other In that better land? During the last ill ness of Dr. George Grey, Chicago’s great religious editor, he had a won- i derful vision. He seemed to be a boy again, standing upon the banks of the I Ohio river, where he was born. He used to see far off, rising over the trees, the smoke pouring out of the funnels of the river Isiats that would come and take away his friends. So in vision he saw, rising over the hills, flic smoke of the “boat of death,” which was com ing to take him, not away from friends, but to the hundreds of di*ar ones who had preceded him beyond. Thus, ac cording to Christ's great laws, we may believe that the separations of earth are only for a little while and that these earthly separations ultimately mean the reunion in heaven if we only trust Christ and accept Christ for our Saviour. [Copyright, 1904, by Louts Klopsoh.] I SARFJA.TT. Remember The Discount Sale is Still On 33 per cent, off on two-piece Suits. 20 per cent, off on Boys’ Clothing. Mother’s jFriend Shirt. Waists for Boys. The 50 cents and 75 cents kind for 25 cents. Come and get them before the sizes are all gone Any and everything in Men’s wear. Wilkins-Bristow Gothing Co. Gome to Us for Your Wagons We handle the W. E. Spach hand made Wagon, also the Piedmont, two of the best makes of Wagons that are on the market. “Don’t Forget It, The Anchor Buggy” We are Agents for Gibbs Machinery Go., of (’olumbia, S. C., and can fit you up with any kind of machinery on short notice. R. M. Wilkins Hdw. Co. • . ^ y:f . .Li