The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-01-26
TIE SECOND MILE OF LIFE.
Ealmage DiscOurses Concerningthe Jour-
ney from the Cradle to the Grave.
Indiscrimiuate SANDER of the World-Desti-
MES Decided by insignificant ThingS-Llfe
q Fragment Of Unending Existence.
,reciaI 20 The Indianapolis Journal.


presented were expounded. The opening hymn
was:
Blow we the trumpet. Blow
The gladly solemn sound1
Let all the nations know
To eaIths remotest bound
The year of jubilee is come,
Return ye ransomed sinners home.
TIE text was from Solomon's song j. Z; Tell
me o thou whom my soul loveth, where thou
unakest my focks to rest at noon"
Reference is here made, said DR.. Talmage to
The habit of Shepherds who, at about IL o'clock
in the day, lead their sheep under the shadows
of trees. and of rocks, and by cool streams. and
let them repose. 1t is a MONDAY scene and
typical of human life at the meridian About
hundred letters of birthday congratulation from
all professions and occupations and from all
lands of christendom remind me that am fifty
three years of age. 1t is with me the warmth,
the light, the vigor of July MONDAY. My ser
mon shall be about life at meridian, how it seems
TO me now and how it seems as look backward
and forward Albert Barnes, after he had
reached the seventies, preached a memorable
sermon about the evening of life. You have
heard scores of sermons about the morning of
life To- day discuss the noontide.
If You want to know how life seems to me
now, ] answer it is very bright have had
dark days. sad days, tumultuous days. but there
Is now not one cloud on my sky. would rather
be here than anywhere else. My surroundings
suit me exactly. Except yours. 1 have the best
family in all the world My friends are kind and
Sympathetic. The world to me is a most desir-
able abode. have nothing against the weather,
fo- If it be cold have fuel and stout apparel,
ha hct i to ha pt.nE /
no Indictment to present against anything or
anybody. Afterall the contests in which Ihave en-
gagged. there Is not a being with whom would not
willingly, yea, gladly, shake hands. The top of
the hill of life u.s. in some respects, the best part
of the road Climbing up the steep is tough
work. We slip and stumble, and fall back In
all occupations and professions there drudg
cries and fierce r1saries at the start We worry
ana fret at small antagonislns. We fear we shall
never come to proper appreciation. Climbing
The long hill, we pant and get out of breath and
feel faint, and are tempted to lie down in the
bower of lazy indulgence.
Our fears at such times are augmented by
evil prophecies of people who seem to think they
are doing good service by setting back the
young "DeWitt," said comrade to me, as
was walking with him one day, during our the
illogical studies, Dewitt, unless you change
your style of thought and expression, you will
never get call to any church in Chrstendom."
And suppose you have all been met en- the
first side of the hill of life by people wao said:
''Dont DON'T" .You can't You can't" Quit!
Quit" Every young man finds ten dishearten
nents to one round word of good cheer.
But after awhile we get to the top of the HILL
and in comparative tranquility and repose we
look both ways. 1t is just three miles from
cradle to grave-youth, the first mile manhood,
the second mile; old age, the third mile Stand
Ing on the hilltop of the second mile, my pro,
foundest emotion is that of gratitude to God for
that in His undeserved mercy have escaped all
physical ills, having missed but one service
since entered my profession, through Ill
health. and that twenty four years ago. /
would be the worst migrate on earth did not
first Of all testify to the Divine good
ness While many man a hundred
fold more consecrated than l have been
has gone staggering under burdens of pain that
often incapacitated him for duties for which he
was otherwise grandly equipped. Standing here
on the top of the hill of life, having come up one
side and before go down the other side
wish to declare that life to me is happiness, a
yapture, an ecstasy. If the desperate theory of
the atheists should be true and that annihilaton
comes after this life, and that the sepulchre. in
stead of being as we believe the roadside inn,
where we pause for the night TO resume in the
morning our journey, fully rested and among
grander prospects, is really the abolition both of
soul and body, am nevertheless glad that
live aud that live here and that live now
ISLANDER OF THE WORLD
There is great deal of wholesale SANDER of
The world. 1t has been fearfully abused. Trav
elels on the mountains curse its chill, and voy-
ayers on the sea curse it's restlessness, and peo-
pie say it is miserable old, mean disgusting
world and from pole to pole it has been calum
mated And if the maltreated world should
bring libel suit against all who have slandered
it. there would not be gold enough in the mount
aims to pay the damages or penitentiaries
enough to hold the offenders Not
content with denouncing the world.
Ats stellar and solar neighbors are masiened, and
the sun is belabored at time because it is too
ardent and another time because it is too dis
tant. But i have found out that when things
60 wrong the fault is not with the sum- or moon.
or stars. or the meteorological conditions, but
with myself. From the reports that come to Us
from the astronomical observatorics there is not
another world in the universe, except heaven
which compares with this as comfortable and
convenient stopping place. Some of them are al
water, and some of them all rocks and some OF
them all fire, and some swept of electric TEN
pests and upheaved of volcanoes that throw con
tinents into the air with jerk And if DIR
Chalmers theory that other worlds are inhabited
il true. am sorry for them and wish that their
agonized climates may become elysian, and tn {
their unfortunate inhabitants may, after while,
have as genial skies as those that uphoster us
- e.nln AL -.