Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-01-26
THE NOON TIDE OF LIFE.
DIR. TALMAGEpS SERMON ON A
BEAUTIFUL SUBJECT.

pfedcneQ LnlS morning IN JDe BfOOklyl
Tabernacle on the subject, "NOon Tide o
Lite" At the opening of the service h
read the names of a large number o
people recently connected with tn,
church. Passages of scripture appro
pirate to the subject presented were eX
pounded. The opening hymn was:
"BlOw ye the trumpet! Blow
The gladly solemn sound,
Let all the nations know
To earth'S remOteSt bound,
The year of jubilee Is come.
Return ye raps0med sinners home.
The text was from Solomon's song, l., 7
Tell me, q thou whom my soul lOveth
where thou makest my flOcks to rest a
nOon." DR.. Talmage said:
Reference is here made to the habit O.
shepherds who, at about y o'clock in the day
lead their sheep under the shadows of trCei
and of rocks and by cool streams and let then
repOse. 1t is noon day scene, and typical o.
human life at the meridian. About hun
dred letters Of birthday congratulations from
all professions and occupations, and from al
lands of Christendom, remind me that l an
So years of age. IT is with me the warmth
the light, the vigor of a July MONDAY. My
sermon shall be about life at meridian-hOW
1t seems to me now and how it seems as | lOoB
backward and forward. Albert Barnes, after
he had reached the seventies. preached &
memorable sermon about the evening of life
You have heard scores of sermons about the
morning OF life. To-day we discuss the noon
tide.
If you want to know how life seems to me
now, l answer it is very bright. / have had
dark days, sad days, tumultuOus days, but
there is now not one cloud on my sky. 1t
would rather be here than anywhere else.
My surroundings suit me exactly. Except
yours, have the best family in all the world.
My friends are kind and sympathetic. The
world to me Is most desirable abode.
have nothing against the weather, for if it be
cold nave 1uel and stout apparel, and II II
he hot flee to the mountains. ! have no i'll
dictment to present against anything or
anybody. After all the contests in which l
have engaged there is not being with whom
l would willingly, yea gladly, shake
hands. The top of the hill of life is 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 are drudgeries and fierce
rlvalries at the start. We very and fret at
small antagonisms. 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 time are augmented by
evil prophecies of people who seem to think
they are doing good service by setting back
the young. DE Witt" said a comrade to
me as was walking with him one day dur
ing our theological studies, DE Witt, unless
you change your style of thought and express
SiOus you Will never get Il Cdll 10 any cnufCn
in Chr istendom." And suppO-e you have
all been met on the first side OF the hill of life
by people who said, Don't! Don't!" ~ GU
can't. You can't "Quit! Quit! Every
young man finds ten dsheartenments to one
round word of coed cheer.
But after Wnlle we get to the top of the
hill and III comparative tranquility and re
pose we look both ways. 1t is Just three
ml!es from cradle to grave-youLh, the first
mile; manhood, the second mile; old age, the
third mile. standing on the hilltop of the
second mile, my prCfoundest emotion is that
of gratitude to God for that in His undeserved
mercy l have escaped all physical ills.
having missed but one service since
l entered my profession, through i'll
health, and that "a years ago. / would be the
worst migrate on earth did | not first of all
testify TO the divine goodness, while many
man d hundred fold more COnsecrated than
nave been has gone staggering under burdens
OF pam that often lncapacitated him for du-
ties for which he was otherwise grandiy
equipped. Standing here on the top of the
hlll OF life, having come up one side, and pc
fore go down the other side, l wish to de-
clare that life to me Is happiness, rapture,
an ecstacy. L the desperate theory of the
Atheists should be true, and that annihiatiOn
comes after this life, and that the sepuchre
instead 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 aboIi-
tiOn both of sou, and body, am nevertheless
glad that live, and that live here. and that
live now.
There Is a great deal of wholesale sIander
of the world 1t has been fearfully abused
Travellers on the mountain curse its chill and
YOyagers on the sea curse its Iestlessness and
people say it is miserable, old, mean, dis
gushing world and from pole TO mole il has baap
And if the maItreated world
should bring libel suit against all who have
slandered 1T, there would not be gold enough
in the mountains to pay the damages or peni-
tentarles enough to hold the offenders. Not
content with denouncing the world, its stellar
and solar nelghbOrs are malgned and the sun
is belabOred at one time because it is too ar
dent and another time because it is too dis
tant. But have found out that when things
30 wrong the fault is not with the sun or
moon or stars or the meteorological cOndi-
tories, but with myself. From the reports
that come to us from the astronomical Obser-
vatiOns there is not another world in the uni
verse except heaven which compares with
this as comfortable and convenient stopping
place. Some Of them are all water
and some of them all rock and some
of them all fire and some are swept of electric
tempests and upheaval OF volcanoes that
throw continents INTO the air with one Jerk
And If DIR. Chalmers theory that other worlds
are inhabited is true l am sorry for them. and
wish that their agOniZed climates NAV be-
come elysian, and that their unfortunate in
habitants may after awhile have as genial
skies as those That upholster us and as blush
ing sunsets ana morning like ours, in which
the archangel of sublimity and power spreads
his piniOns across cloud and mountain and
sea, Incubatlng new day. Before God
launched this ship of a world from the dock
yards of eternity He so splendidly fitted It m
the cabins. the masts and the Wheel-hOuses
and the decks, though it now lies beating
upon the breakers through mans poor pilot
age, 1t is magnificent STILL and good angels
and good men are at work trying to get The
old ship off the rocks. And it will not be long
before the wreckers with their pulleys and
tugs VIII have done their work, and heaven
ana earth will hear the cry. "She floats! she
1OatsW | am glad that in such a pleasant
world the heavenly shepherd makes his fiocks
to rest at noon,
But having told you how life seems to me as
| stand on the hilltop of my journey, you want
to know how it seems to me when look back
and when look forward. The first thing a
traveller does after getting to hilltop. and
having recovered his breath, is to look all
around about him, and he says: There
is the winding road by which l came up, and
yOnder is the winding road by which / shall
20 down." So put my outspread hand to
my forehead to shade my eyes from the noon
day sun, and TO concenter my vision and look
toward the road have already Travelled. and
| see wav down In the dim distance at the
start of the journey something quite small
and 1t trembles and vlbrates and rocks. All,
yes. guess what II Is. l know what it is
A cradle! Then turn anG look at the road
descending the hill, and still Keep nv out
spread hand to my forehead. so as to shade
my eyes from the monday sun, and cOncen-
ter my vision and / see something at the foot
of the road am yet to travel. That some-
thing neither trembles nor Yibrates nor rocks.
1t is perfectly still. 1t is white, and the
ground about 1t Is little raised. All, yes! /
guess what it is. know what it is. A grave!
What have learned by the journey up hill?
First, that nothing IS accomplished without
hard work. My life has been prosperous to
the last degree, but have not mad any good
luck. have heard people talk about streak
of good luck. / never In my life had one
streak of good luck. But l have had good
God watching me and helping and guiding
ar,h auff fnN rr1iuf falr
worked hard He blessed me, and when | was
lazy He did not bless me. Whether nv WORK
h as amounted to anything or not must leave
others to judge, but for the last thirty years /
have worked up to my full capacity of endur-
ance, and if | have gone away to rest it was
merely to get ready to work. And this work
all accomplished against the full protest of
my nature, Tor am naturally the LATEST man
that was ever born. But am as afraid of
lndolence "a any reformed inebriate was ever
afraid of the wine cup. He knows that one
glass would fling him back into inebriacy, and
II should take one good long pull at nothing
to do fear would stop forever. Young men,
Just starting life, give you my solemn testi-
tlmony that nothing Is accomplished without
hard work, continuous work, everlasting
work.
l have also learned in my journey up the
hill, that all the events of ones lite are linked
together. The chain of life is made up Of a
great variety of links, long links and small
links. iron links, gold links. beautiful links
ugly links, solemn links and mirthful links :
but they are all part of one chain of destiny
The minute made up of sixty links, the day
made up of twenty-four links. The year Of
365 links. And all these are fastened in an
endless chain, which works and slips through
the hand Of an all-gOverning God. No one
event set apart from other events. People
say: 1t is my day off," You never have a
day off. Nothing is off. In the last century
a shOmaker's son puts down bundle of shoes
by the roadside to study flower of the field,
and put in his hat for preservation moth
a 10 LII uNnNur Hfuu dr.
You say: "WhO cares for anything as unim
pOrtant as that?" You will care for it when
| tell you that that was the dawn of a life
which was afterward to translate the Bible
into 30 Veraions and become the greatest of