The Indianapolis sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1880-1904, 1885-02-01
Standing on The Hilltop OF Life
the Preacher Draws Pictures
OF Past aud Future.
Into the Gallery Of Youth and Young
Manhood He Peers and then
Turns TO the Other Side.
One Lies Vailed In the Mellow Light
OF Memory, the Other Bright
In the Sunrays OF Hope.
Tell Me, o Thou whom My Soul Loveth
Whore Thou Makest MY flocks 40
Rest at Noon-From Noon
to Evening.

Brooklyn, Jan. % DIR Talmsge tni
morning preached in the Brooklyn Tabel
nacle on the subject: "Noontide of Life.
At the opening OF the service he read th
names of la rye number of people recent,
connected with the church. Passages O
Scripture appropriate to the subject pre-
sented were expounded. The opening hymn
was:
BLOW ye the trumpet Blow
The gladly solemn sound
Let all the Nations know
To eartD's remotest bound
The year OF jubilee IL come,
Return, We ransomed sinners, home.
The text was from Solomon's Song, i, Z
Tell nae, o Thou whom my soul logeth
where Thou makest my focks to rest q
noon."
Reference is here made said DIR Talmaee
to the habit of shepherds, who at about 1:
O'Clock in the day lead their sheep unde
the shadows of trees aud of rocks and by
cool streams and let them repose. 1t is
MONDAY scene and typical of human life a.
the meridian. About hundred letters o.
birthday coDgratulation, from ali profession
and occupations and from all lands o.
Christendom, remind me that / am fifty
three years OF age. 1t is with me the warmth
the light, the vigor of July MONDAY My
sermon SD all be about life at meridian, how
how 1T seems to me now and how it seems al
l look backward and forward. Albert
Barnes, after he had reached the seventies
preached q memorable sermon about the
evening of life. You have heard scores of
sermons about the morning of life. To day
We discuss the noontide.
IL you want to know how life seems to me
now answer ii IS very bright have had
dark days, sad days, tumul:uous days but
there Is now not one cloud on my sky.
would rather be here than anywhere else
My surroundings suit me exactly. Excep,
ha fho haaf 70 In all . n
world. My friends are kind and sympa
thetic. The world to me is q most desirable
abode. have nothing against the weather,
Tor If Ii be cold have Juel and stout apparel,
and II IL be hot flee TO the mountains.
have no Indictment to present against any.
thing or anybody. After all the contests IN
which have engaged there is not q being
with whom 1 would not 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 aha fall back In ali occu
pations and protest. MS there are drudgerie:
and fierce rivalries at the start. We worry
and fret at small antagonisms. We fear We
snril 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 OF suoh times are augmented by
they are doing good service by setting back
the young. de Witt, said y comrade to
me as l was walking with him one day dur
ing our theological studies, Dewitt. unless
you change your style OF thought and ex
preston, you will never get u call 10 any
church In christendom." And | suppose
you have all been met on the first side OF tie
hill of life by people who said: DONE
don't" You can't you CAN'T" Quit quitp
etc. Every young man finds ten dishearten-
meDts TO one round word of good cheer
But after awhile We get to the top of the
hill, and In comparative tranquility and re
pose We look both ways. Ii Is just three
miles from cradle to graye-youth, the first
mile; manhood, the second mile; old age
the third mile. Standing on the hilltop OF
the second mile. nv first impulse Is that OF
gratitude to GOO for that in His undeserved
mercy have escaped ali pny steal ills, hav
ing missed but one service since 1 entered
my profession, through ill-heaith, and that
twenty four years ago. l would be
the worst migrate on earth did
not first of all testify to the divine
goodness, while many q man q hun.
dred-fold more consecfated than / have
been las gone staggering under burdens Of
for which he Was otherwise grandly equip
ped. Standing here on the top of the hill Of
lite, having come up one side. and before
go down the other side / wish TO declare thai
life 10 me Is happiness, q capture, an &C
stacy. TX the desperate theory OF the athe
lists should be true, aud that anninilatior
comes after this life, aud that the sepulchre
instead of being as We believe, the roadsid:
inn where We pause for the night to resum,
in the morning our journey fully rested ant
among grander pros poets, Is really the aboli
ton both of soul and body, am. neverthe
less, glad that live. and that / live here
and that live now.
There Is q great deal OF
WHOLESALE ISLANDER OF THE WORLD.
1t has been fearfuIly abused. Travellers or
the mountain curse its chill, and voy ager
on the sea curse It's restlessness, and peopl
say il Is miserable. old, mean. disgusting
world, and from pole to pole II has been cal
umniated And If the maltreated worl,
should bring q libel suit against all VIII
have slandered it, there would not be gol'
enough In the mountains TO pay the dam
ages. or penitentiaries enough to hold tn
offenders. Not content with denouncing tn
world, its stellar and solar neighoors ar
maligned, and the sun is belabored, at on
time because 1t is too ardent and an0the
time because II is too distant. But l hsv
found out that when things go wrong th
fault Is not with the sun, or moon, or star,
or the meteorological conditions, bu
with myself From the repor,
that come to me from the a
Economical ooservatories there not al
other world in the universe except Heaven
which com cares vita this this as q comfort
able and convenient stopping place. Som
Of them are all water, and some of them o
rock, and some of them oil fire, and som
are swept OF electric tempests and upheave
of volcanoes that throw continents INTO tn
cir, with ond jerk. And II DR.. Chalmerl
theory that other worlds are inha oitsd
true, am sorry for them, and wish tn.
their sgonized climates may become Elysiar
and that their unfortunate Inhabitants ma
after awhile have as genial skies ss thos
that upholster Us, aud as blushing sunset
and Q morning like ours. in winch the arci
angel of subiimity and power spreads b
pinions across cloud and mountain and Sc,