San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1883-01-25
New York sun.


William Cullen Bryant, ut SO, stand
ing in my house and reading 'Thana-
topsis, was just as anxious to live as
when he wrote that immortal threnody,
Cato, mt 80, was afraid he wouldn't
live TO learn Greek. Thurlow Weed,
at 80, found life rs pleasant as when
he snuffed out his first politician. [
suppose that Methusaleh, at 900, was
afraid to go out in storm and get his
feet wet, lest he should shorten his
days"
DIR. Talmage said that if he were on
an agnostic he would call n man
blessed according to the number of
years he could stay on terra tirma.
But, since man believes in immortal
ty, an abbreviated existence on earth
is blessing, because it makes ones
life more compact. Some men do
their days work in ten hours, some
in five, and some in one. And, other
things being equal, the man is to be
congratulated who can get through
with his work in one hour. If per-
SON dies at five years, he gets through
his work at 8 in the morning; if he
dies at 40, he gets through at noon;
if he dies at 20, he gets through at
5 in the afternoon, and if he dies ut
80, he had to toll up to II o'clock at
night.
"All we ought to do is to get our
work done, and well done," said DR..
Talmage, land the sooner the better.
The number of men who fall into ruin
between so and 70 years of age, is
simply appalling. If they had died
at 80, it would have been better for
themselves and their families. The
great temptation of q mans life some
times comes far on in middle life. At
about As years of age mans nervous
system changes. By the advice OF
some friend he takes stimulant to
keep him up, and he keeps on taking
stimulants till it keeps him down.
Concerning vast multitude, it seems
that it would be better if they disem-
bark from this earth early in life.
Why do so many die before they are
80 years old? Because God sees
the storm coming up from the Carib-
bean, and runs them into the first
harbor. AS soldier who has been on
guard all night is glad when some
body comes to relieve him, ought not
that man shout for JOY who can lay
down his weapons and enter the Kings
castle?"
Illustrating how men escape perils
early in life and fall into them later,
DR.. Talmage said: "The first time
l crossed the Atlantic ocean, it was as
smooth as mill pond, and l wrote
magazine essay about the calm sea.
If | hadn't written it then, before 1
crossed the ocean again never would
have written it."
Another reason why it is q blessing
to die young, DIR. Talmage said, is
because those who die early in
youth escape SO many earthly bereave-
ments. He enumerated some of the
arrows which King David would have
escaped if he had been taken from
life early in youth, and said that he
would have escaped the crime of un-
cleanness and murder. when God
takes little children" the preacher
continued, He usually takes the
brightest. Why? Because they would
have the greatest capacity for suffering
if permitted to Gve."
Again, to die early in life," DR..
Talmage said, brings one so much
sooner to the center of things. All
astronomers agree that the universe
swings around some great center.
Gods favorite figure in geometry is
the circle. Somewhere is the great
hub around which the wheel of the
universe turns, and that is heaven.
Our standpoint in this world is defect
i've. We are at the wrong end of the
telescope. We are down i'll the cellar
of life, and yet trying to scan the
broad heavens of Immortality, while
our Christian friends have gone up
stairs to study it. The child who
died at five years of age a few days
ago, at whose funeral l officiated
knows more of God to-day than An
dover, or Princeton, or Edinburgh or
all the theologians of the world. Yet
men are rushing around among the
apothecaries wondering if this medi-
cine is good for rheumatism or that
for neuralgia, and others for other
diseases, lest they should suddenly be
ushered into heaven. Men ought not
to go around complaining because an
other year is gone. We ought to be
not living according to the old maxim,