Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1883-01-01
blessings of n short Life.

|
blessings of n Short Life.
| Text-Isaiah LNII. 4: THE righteous IS Ia
| ken away from the evil 10 come"
We all spend much of our time in pane
gcric OF longevity. We think it is a great
thing to live to be octagenariaus. If one
die in youth or mid life, we say, What a
pity And if one is ordinarily prOspered
| he never desires to go. Dr. MuhlanburF,
in his last days, regretted having written
his famous hymn: II Would Not Live
Away" William c. Bryant, the poet, at
50 years of age in my house, amid festal
group, reading. "Thanatopsis,' without
speCtaCleS, was Just as desirous OF living as
when at eighteen years of age he wrote
that immortal threnody. Thurlow Weed,
at about eighty.six, finds life as much Of
desirability as when he snuiled out the
| first politician. Albert Barnes, so well
! prepared for the next life, expressed dur
| ing the seventies his preference 10 stay
| here. Cato, at eighty years CT age, was
| afraid he would die before he learned Greek.
| Monaldesco, at one hundred and fifteen
years OF age writing the history OF his
| time, is cautious lest he collapse before he
| completed it. TheophraStus, beginning to
| MTllt u DODh dN llLuNNN "hllto " NV NAAA
| he can finish it, have no dOnbt that
| MethuSalah, the last time he was out in
storm, was afraid of catching cold, and
Shortening His Days.
Indeed, as | have shown in other ser
! mons there are blessings in longevity, hut
as this is the last day of 1NS2, and sadness
! is apt to Ovcrtake almost every one at the
| thought that another chapter OF his life
| time has closed and he has GG5 less days to
| live propose TO show you also that there
are blessings in an abbreviated earthly cX-
| istence and then bring out the practically
| healthful and joyful application Of such
| theory. If were an Agnostic would say
| that man is best in proportion to the
| number OF days he can stay on terra trma,
because when he lied he falls OH the docks,
and if he is ever picked out OF the depths
| at all 1t will be only TO set up in SOnIc
morgue OF the last forty or htty or eighty
years and tlsen he is to so into annihlIa'
| ton | would say that man had better
spend the most of his time in trying to
keep alive, never walking out even III dry
| weather without umbrella and OverShocs
| and lfe-preservcr and brazen armOE and
weapons OF defence, since in any irauyu-
rated moment he might fall oil into moth
inguess and obliteration.
But taking it for granted that you are not
Agnostics, but believe in immortality and
a future residence in Heaven iOF the right
| eOuS, first remark that
Short Earthly Residence
is hlest in the fact that il makes LIES work
! more compact. Some men go ~ work At
| O'Clock in the morning and stay until b IN
the evening. Others go at 10 ana stay I'LL
! g. Others 20 at ) in the morning and get
through at noon. | know men who are 10
| hours a dav at business. Others and 9th
ers l, and they are all faithful and do, some
ir longer md some il "h"rtcr time al TIE
EUTk Tt,,,.,.S,, "a ti'"I. hiCh man
would YOU rather be- well, you say,
other things being equal, | would rather
have the business that requires the short
ust time Now. apply the same good sense
To the matter OF trauaierenCe from this
world. When one dies in childhood he gets
| through his work at9 o'clock IN the morn
ing. II he die al f. years OF age he gets
through at u o'clock at noon. II he dies
at 20 be gets through at Il o clock IN the
evening tell you that, provided one s
work is done the earlier he goes the better.
! We often see good men in middle lite aaSh
out of early existence. Why? They got
rbrnugh their work and went bone. The
harvest oil in the barn, the farmer does not
sit down amid the stubnle OF the held. lie
shoulders his sCythe aud takes his pitcher
from under tIec and strikes straight for
the farmhouse.
Again SilbIl tdi NNaoNIh' - ''N's 80
the fact that
Mortal Disasters
might oyertake one ii he tlrry long.
or Last week q man who had
been prominent in churches and uni
versaly admired for generosity and
kindness through at forgery was sent Ill
teen wears t7 State prison. Twenty years agp
there was no more probability that he would
DO financially wrong than that you and
would do iinsncially wrong. Between ID
and 20 wears OF age more men go down than
you could count in long while. II TINS
man had gone out of life at 80 or 10 years
of life it would have been better for them
and their families. The shorter the voyage
the less chance for cyclones There is
wrong theory which teaches that il man s
youth is right his old age will he right. You
might say all you need, for the safety OF q
ship is to get it well launched on the At
lantir ocean. have often asked those who
were sChOOlmatcs of some great dciaulter
what kind of bOv or young man the un
fortunate was. and got the answer, He
was splendid fellow, and never would
have believed that he could have got so TAR
astrav." Sometimes the great pressure OF
temntatiOn does not come until mldlIie or
old age At about 10 years OF age there
comes a change iii the nervous system ana
some one tells the man he must take stim-
ulantS to keep up and he takes 1t to Keep
M till il keeps him down. a man has
been trudglng on in business for twenty or
thiIiy Years and he sees chance by
One UnprincipIed Move
to cmancipate himself and family from
financial embarrassment. In attempting
/ IN lean iL, chasn he falls into it. Then
after fortv-fve years of age come the most
of the temptations of success. II man
make a fortune by thirty years of age he
generally gets md OF it by forty. The most
of the solid aad permanent successes OF life
do not reach their climax until after nifty
Years Bank presidents nearly all have
white hair. But few great fortunes are
gathered until mid life and then come all
the overwhelming temptations oil fame, OF
wealth The majority OF grealy SuCcessiul
men are full OF arrogance, or worIdllness'
or dissipation. Their success was their
TEMPORAL calamity and their eternal rum.
Concerning thousands OF men it seems
pitv that they could not have embarked
from this world at twenty or thirty years
of age. think that the reason the major
itv uf the human race do not reach thirty,
is because they have not the moral endur-
anCe for what Is beyond thirty, and God in
his mercy will not put them to the strain.
Again a short earthly existence takes a
man the sooner off OF the defensive. From
the time a man is old enough To take care
OF himself he is on guard. Bolts on his
door to keep out robbers; ire-proof safes to
Keep on the Flames;
receipts to keep from second payment OF
debrS insurance on property lest 1t be coa-
sumed; life boats in case Of shipwreCk;
Westingkouse'S air break in case OF colli-
sion The world full OF people who would
like to overreach him or take that which
he has, Defense against the cold, defense
against the heat, defense against sickness,
defense against the worlds sbuSe, defense
all the way down to his grave and even the
tombstone is not always sufficient earri-
cade. Now, if the soldier who has been on
guard all night, shiyering aud stung with
cold, pacing the parapet with shouIdered
musker. is glad when some one comes to
relieve guard and he can go into the fort
rsss 10 warm, certainly man ought to
! shout for Joy when he can ground his
weapon OF defense and go into the King
castle. Which is most fortunate, the SOL
! ,iicr who has 10 stand guard for six hours or
one who is compelled to stand guard for
twelve hours?
Again, xn abbreviated earthly existence