Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1869-03-02
NUMBER XVI.
From the Philadelphia Post.
Irreversible Sins.
SERMON BY REV. 7. DE WITT TALMAGE.

| there will be time when our mistakes NAV he
corrected Live as we may, if in time we renaDt.
all will be right. This sermon comes in collision
with that theory. There are things that can
never be successfully repented of, and once
wrong they are always wrong. We shall fad
no place for repentance, though we seek it care
fully with tears
To this class belongs the folly of misspent
youth. A man may wake ND at forty wears of
age to see that his early life was wasted. and be
may secure the Divine pardon for the wrong
committed, but all MS prayers and tears and
resolutions will not undo it. You say: ''If
had my time to live over again | would do so
and SO" Alas you will have no opportunity
to live it over. If youth be passed in idleness.
and the man 1--we fifty years afterwards he will
always have to struggle against the influence OF
early habits of Incidence. Ii by youthful dis,
sipatlon the foundations of physical health be
undermined, he viii, 70 the life of the cctoge-
marian, have to combat those illnesses. The
fact is that onehalf of our men and women
spend the first twenty years of their life in SET
ting up influences that they have to spend all
the rest OF their life in trying to break down. |
say this not to annoy those who have nothing
but baleful retr0SpectiOn, bat to let the Young
people know that eternity is wrapped I'D in this
hour; that they are now making the moulds in
to which all their great future is to run: that
minute, instead Of being only sixty seconds
IS made up Of everlasting ages; that, while God
may hereafter forgive their indiscretion, there
IS a sense in which that which you do wrong
now will be wrong forever. Talk about mans
beginning life at twenty-one, and woman at
eighteen. That Is when they end life in great
many respects. In niue cases out of ten their
eternity is decided before that time 1t is gen
orally estimated that men make their fortunes
between thirty and forty years Of age I DENY
1t. People make or lose their fortunes between
the tenth and twentieth year, by the habits
they form and the principles they adopt When
you say man is just beginning life, | say he IS
just ending it. The next fifty years of his life
are not of as much Importance to him personal
ly as the first twenty.
Among the irreversiblo sins place parental
neglect We begin the discipline of our chill
dren too late. It We have allowed the first ten
years OF their life TO go without any prayerful
intelligent culture, we have lost the best op-
portunity. We may regret it. We cannot un-
do it. Parents are waking up every day to the
damage they have inflicted But the work is
done. The bent has been given. The character
Is settled. The eternity is decided You find
no place for reparation though you seek il care
fully with tears.
Among the irreyersible sins are unkindnessas
inflicted upon those who are now Departed
When we have friends with US We often say up-
guarded things. We wound the feelings of
those who have right to expect nothing but
kindness. Perhaps the parent, without inquir-
ing into the difficulty, gets red in the face and
boxes his child 6 ears wrongiuy After awhile
the child. the wife, the husband is taken of
death. We mourn at the memory Of the thing
SAID or done. But the unkindness cannot be
atoned for. The harsh word cannot be called
back. We may stand at the grave and make
terrible outcry, but the white lips make no an
swer. The thing is done, and done forever
The stars Of heaven will be plucked out Of their
places, but these things cannot be torn down.
Therefore, take care Of your friends while you
have them. Look out what you say Spare
the scoldlng. BE economical Of your satire
Shut up IN dark cave all those words that
have a sting in them. The day will come when
you will wish you had =; will come soon perhaps
tomorrow. Men and women turn the house
into an uproar for one aching tooth, bat at night
almost demolish the child for demonstration Of
unrest with whole mouthfnl Of swollen gums
aching for the doctors lancet Always punish
the child when he needs it, but never out Of
your own petulance. Alas if there be after
awhile a little head stone In 'Oaklands' with
the name of cur Willie or Charlie upon it. and
there come up the remembrance of parental
Impatience, you may, With your head prone in
pentance, and seek it with tears but you will
never end it.
Among the irreversbe sins set down vast
ed opportunities Of getting good. You may
make very good use OF all your coming ad
7antages, bat the history Of Inc past Is made
Up. Those opportunities are gone 'On T.
you say, If had only felt their importance
ou feel agonized for the stupendous waste
But there is no place for repentance, though
you seek 1t carefully With tears. In all the great
procession OF coming years not one OF those past
viii march. The archangelc trumpet
that wakes the dead viii not wake up one Of
those expired privileges. E-au has sold bis
blrthright, and there Is not wealth enough In
all the treasure houses of heaven TO buy it back.
Now, set this fact before your eyes to day. Re-
member that if you are to get any good out of
this Sabbath you will have to secure il before
that clock hand wheels round to the twelve
o clock OF tonight, Or never get 1t at all. Res
member that these moments each have TWO
strong wings with which to fly, and that they
do not, like the hawk, ever make circle in the
heavens, but that they fly in straight lines from
eternity to eternity. Other chariots may have
their wheels drag heavily, but this in which old
Time rides has no breaks to put down. and no
obstacles to impede its swift whiri At other
banquets the cup may be often passed. and re-
up-bearers give us only one offer Of the chalice
Amid the iTreversibe sins also place our
wasted opportunities of usefulness. There is
offered Us just one opportunity OF
saying Christian word. Hele is your partner
III business Ordinarily address him on religion,
and he would tell you to mind your own affairs
But severe bereavement has come to his
household His heart is tender and ready
Now is the time to speak. Speak 1t is your
only chance. Speak, or forever hold your peace.
An indolent farmer may wiring his hand in Au-
gust, and mourn because he did not sow the
seed. Will crying bring up the oats or the rye?
He let the right tine pass, and now he takes
the consequences. You had an opportunity in
some religious meeting Of saying the right thing,
at the right time In the right place You
flushed up, you half rose to your feet, you
covered before handful Of mortals like your
SELF, you sagged back in the seat, you were silent
Eternity will feel the effect of that silence You
had the OCCASION of doing something for God
and your race You did not improve it. Now
you regret it. What good does our regret do?
Nothing You might as we'll try to find the
fleece that Gideon watched, Or take in your
hands the dew that fell on the locks of the
Bethlehem shepherds, or the plumes that fell
from the first robin that winged through Para
disc 1t is gone, utterly, forever: Hence L
argue when you have anything to do, do at
You have now great advantages. You con-
graduate yourself in their possession. You say
they are yours So far as you improve them
they arc yours. no further. Let them pass a
year, a month, day. an hour, moment, and
YOU never get them back. Hunt them. YOU
will never see them. Chase them, they will not
be overtaken. Dig for them, you cannot bring
them up. Fish for them, and they will not
touch the hook Esau wanted back his births