The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1885-12-24
TAUNTON. VIRGINIA. DECEMBER "a. 1885.
Talmage on "crises in Ii q.

| JUS, VI. ItCciltiy dLlu uClitC1Cu q oCA III
in the First Congregational Church of th
city before an audience that complete
filled every available portion of the ed
fee, and many hundreds were unable
/ gain admittance. The subject of the di
course was .'Crises in Life, Mr.. Talmae
taking for his text:
Is the young man Absalom safe ?--II. Samue
xviii. 80.
DR.. Talmage said two great characte
isticS of Absalom were worldly ambitio
and splendid hair. By tie one he was d
based, by the other hung. He was ba
boy and broke his fathers heart. n
wanted to get his fathers throne befol
the decease OF the father. He wanted
get it Immediately. He got an army. q
started out in great insurrection. Davit
the father, sits at the palace waiting fl
the news of the battle to come, not s
anxious about whether Absalom' s hos
won the day, or whether his own host
won the day, as he is anxious about I'll
safety of his boy. The father in hin
mightier than the King.
4 While he sits there waiting for the con
ing Of the messenger from the battlefield
he sees the dust rising in the highway, an
long before the messenger GENES III
bringing the swift dispatch, David erie
out to him: SIS Absalom alive Is Al
SALON. dead Is the boy wounded TIE
me quickly-is the young man Absalor
safe % But as the messenger had n
very decisive intelligence to give he stoo
aside. There David sat waiting for an
| other messenger, and after while he sa,
1 the dust rising on the highway, and lon
before the messenger had come up. Davi'
oh ka5 - l. 81, L.
as he had to the others, Have you hear,
Is he alive Is he dead Is the youn)
man Absalom safe 2"
| Alas He was not safe. Absalon, rid
| ing on a mule-the meanest animal in al
| the world on which to ride, the hardest al
the bit and the stiffeSt at the neck-Absa
| lOm riding on mule, had gone under
| tree branch, and his hair had caught or
the tree branch, and the mule. true to his
characteristics. had gone Oh, he not being
able TO stop it, and Absalom was sus
pended, and so he died. With an awful
negative the words of my text were an
swered rs the young man Absalom
safe ~ No, he was not safe. Destroyed
for this life; destroyed for the life te
come.
want to utter few words this morn.
ing in regard to the safety Of young men
indeed, of all men. While men may get
along tolerably well without the religion
of Christ in some circumstances of life,
there are three or four turning points
where man must have God or perish, or
if he does not come to such crisis as that,
to such an extreme as that. he must have
God Or make a mistake that will last for
ever. propose this morning to speak to
you ct three or four of these turning points
in life.
The first turning point is the choice of
an occupation or profession. 1t is very
serious tire when a young man comes
from the school or the college. and has
completed his education, or has received all
the education from the schools h will re-
cHiye, and says s.But what shall it be ?
For what occupation, for what profession
am prepared 70 Mechanism will spread
before him a hundred different occupa-
tions. Professional life will spread before
him seven or eight different calings. In
deed, perhaps, i'll all there may be 500 diff
ferent calling and occupations. For only
ore of those 500 is he fitted and prepared.
Ii he does not have divine direction, 400
chances to one he will get in the wrong
business. In other words, the most ire
mendous crisis in a man s life, or one of
the most tremendous, is the time when he
chooses his occupation or profession, and
he needs God to tell him how 10 choose.
| knew man who started in CONNER
ciallife with bright prospects. He crossed
over from commercial life into the medi-
cal profession. He went from the gen.
eral medical profession into specific sur
gerry. He went from surgery into the
ministry. Then he passed from the min
istry into surgery and SO his life has been
a complete vacillation. How much bet
ter it would have been if that man could
have got the right profession or occupa-
tion at the start. He was particularly
qualified for surgery, and / believe if he
had gone before God and asked for his
direction he would have received it, and
instead of going from one occupation to
another, making his life a mistake. he
would have gone on to great usefulness
and success.
You ask your father what you had bet
fer do. He will give you one Kind of adj
vice, he will advise you one style of occu-
patton or profession. Your mother will
advice, while you will be in doubt as to
whether you have physical endurance for
this, or mental acumen for that, or tact
for some other business. at such time
one needs to go to God. God built your
body, and he knows what is your physical
endurance. God constructed your mind
and he knows for what occupation you
have particular adaptation. Go to him
and ask the question Lord, what wilt
thou have me to do 20
| meet many young men in this house
this morning who have not perhaps thor
oughly decided upon the work or oecupa-
ton for which the Lord fitted him. Be-
fore you leave the house to. day ask God S
direction, that you may make no mistake
You know a great many men who have
been ruined for two worlds because they
got in the wrong business.
Another important pass in ones life, a
turning point in ones history, is the time
when he establishes his own home. When
a man builds his home he builds for eter-
nifty. Is it not amazing that affiancing in
life is SO often matter of merriment and
OF joke, when it decides so much for this
world and the world to come? do not
put the case too strongly when say that
when man marrles he marrrieS for
HEAVIER or for hell. Oh. build not your
home on earth upon the sparkle of a bright
eye or the color of fair cheek. The time
will come in your history when you will
want in your home not pet or a toy, but
a heroine, and you will find that life is not
a gay romance, but a tremendous reality (:
anu CuullDS uULie HUH yOuI SbOI0. Vi
office, or shop, or factory. or studio, most
of all you will need some one in your home
with face cheerful, but sympathetic.
There is an aged man who looks back to
a crisis in life when his fortune went away
and reason almost left the throne. He
knew not what to do. He remembers a
particular evening when he came home
from the store. He hardly dared break
the news to the wife. He could lloa0ear
to tell he had suspended in business, that
he had stopped payment, that his fortune
had gone. He went into the house, he
closed the door upon the world, and in do
nestle peace found foretaste of that
Heaven where panics never come. All /!
if it had not been for that help that you
had, what would have been the result
when you told her of your financial EN-
barrassment and misfortune? She was
cheerful, she was sympathetic, she was
helpful. she helped you all through those
dark days of trial, and after the piano
went, she could sing without the accompan-
iment juStas well as ever she sang with the
accompaniment. There have beenChristian
women who have so had their domestic
troubles sanctified that they could get
more music out of Wheeler s. Wilson
sewing machine than ever in the days of
their prosperity they got ont Of Chick.
ering Grand or a SteinWay.
I A Christian minister in England called
upon home of great restitution. There
! J. H. 4