Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1888-09-28
DIR. TALMAGE's SERMON.
sACRAMENTAL DAY AT THE BROOK
LYN TABERNACLE.

The Learned ana Eloquent Divine Dis
courses on the Philosophy of the Chain.
Its Rattle Heard and Its Coil Seen from
Genesis to Revelation.
Sunday was sacramento day at the
Tabernacle, and the more than four
thousand commitment members were
Joined by thousands from all parts of
This country and from other lands in
The sacred commemoration. The Rev.
I. De Witt Talmage, D. D., preached
from Ezekiel vii. %: Make chain!'
He said:
At school and in college, IN announce
Ing the mechanic al powers, we gloriaed
the lever, the pulley, the inclined plane,
my text calls us to study the philosophy
Of the chain. These links of metal, one
with another, attracted the old Bible
authors, and We hear the chain rattle
and see its coil all the way through Gem
esis to Revelation, flashing as an adorn-
ment, or restraining rs in captivity, or
holding in conjunction, as in case Of ma
ohinery. To do him honor, Pharaoh hung
q gold chain about the neck of Joseph.
aud BelshaZzar one about the neck OF
Daniel. The high priest had on his
bresstplate two chains Of gold. On the
camels' necks, as the Ishmaelites drove
up to Gideon, jingled chains of gold.
The Bible refers to the church as hav-
Thy neck is comely with chains of
gold" On the other hand, q chain
means captivity. David, the psalmist,
exults that power had been given over
his enemies. ito bind their kings with
chains" The old missionary apostle
cries out. For the hope of Israel, I am
bound with this chain" In the prison
where Peter is incarcerated, you hear
one day great crash at the falling of
of his chains. st. John saw an angel
come down from Heaven to manacle the
powers of darkness, and having a great
chain in his hand" and the fallen an
gels are represented as reserved in ev-
erlasting chains" while in my text for
the arrest and limitation of the iniquity
Of his time, Ezekiel thunders out:
Make chain!"
What 1 wish to impress upon my
self and upon you is the strength in
. right and wrong directions, of consecu-
tive forces, the superior power of a
chain of influences above one influence,
the great advantage of q congeries OF
{ links above one link, and in all family
government and in all efforts to rescue
others and in all attempts to stop iniq-
uity, take the suggestion OF my text and
make chain!
That which contains the greatest I'M
: portance, that which incloses the most
tremendous opportunities, that which
2 of earthly things is most watched by
other worlds, that which has beating
:. against it's two sides all the eternities
is the cradle. The grave is nothing il
4 importance compared with it, for that il
, only gully that we step across in ;
Y new eternity, Just born and never t.
cease. When three or four years age
the Ohio River overlooked its banks ant
the wild freshets swept down with then
harvests and cities, one day was fount
floating on the bosom of the waters
cradle with child in it all unhurt
wrapped up snug and warm, and its blu
; eyes looking into the blue of the opel
s heavens. It was mentioned as some
thing extraordinary. But every cradl
is, with its young passenger, floating Q
the swift current of the centuries, dee
p calling to deep, Ohios and st. Lawrence
: and Mississippis of influence, bearing
onward. Now what shall be done wit
:, this new life recently launched? Teac
u him an evening prayer? That is i'm
U
4 soon as he can recite some gospel hym
or catechism? That is important, BIT
+ not enough. Every Sabbath afternoo
e read him Bible story? That is i'm
v portant, but not enough. Once in
> while lesson, once in a while a praye
once in while a restraining influence
It All these are important, but not enough
Il Each one of these influences is only
link, and it will not hold him in til
. tremendous emergencies of life. Let
Il be constant instruction, constant praye
$ constant application of good influence
T long line Of consecutive impression
!. reaching from his first year to his fifth
d and from his fifth year to his tenth. an
$ from his tenth year to his twentieth
/. make chain!"
. Spasmodic education, paroxysmal dis
t. cipline, occasional fidelity, amount
d nothing. You can as easily hold an oil
Choir by one link as hold a child to tt
right by isolated and intermittent faith
fulness. The example must come
with the instruction. The conversatio
must combine with the actions. III
= week day consistency must conjoin wit
the Sunday worship. Have fami
t prayers by all means; but be petulal
and inconsistent and unreasonable
your household, and your family praye
will be a blasphemous farce. SO gre
in our times are the temptations
:. young men to dissipation and your
u women to social follies, that it is mo
t, important that the first eighteen yea
al of their life be charged with religion
u power that ill hold them when they g
~ out of the harbor of home into tt
he stormy ocean of active life. There
at such a thing as impressing children
r. powerfully with good, that sixty yea
~ will have no more power to etface it this
re sixty minutes. What rough time tn
ps young man has in doing wrong, CAREFUL
i, nurtured as he was! His father al
~ mother have been dead for years, OF ov
rs in Scotland or England or Ireland; b
in they have stood in the doorway of eve
g dram shop that he entered, and und
- the chandelier of every house of dissip
Re ton, saying: My son, this is no pla
lie for you. Have you forgotten the o
II folks? Don't you recognize the
~ ;, wrinkles and this stoop in the should
q and this tremulous hand? Go home, II
ut boy, 90 home! BY the God to whom '
consecrated you, by the cradle in whi
49,, we rocked you, by the grass grown gray
Is in the old country churchyard, by Il
e. Heaven where we hope yet to meet 70
V. 20 home! Go home, my boy, go home
" G,1 conn Sunday Won will he SurDrlS