Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1888-09-29
The Strength Of Consecutive
Forces in Right and
Wrong Directions.
Make q Chain, Each Link Of
which Shall Be q Good
influence.
A Sermon Which May BE Read With
Profit by All, Old, Middle
Aged and Young

BROOKLYN, Sept 1G.--Today was sa2ra,
mental day al the Tabernacle, and the
more than four thousand communicate
members were Joined ~ thousands from
all parts Of this country and from other
lands in tie sacred comlnemoration. The
Rev. r. BeWitt Talmage, Do, preached
from EXekicl vii. %;
Make a chain
He said:
At school and in college in announcing
,hc mechanical powers, we gleri6cd the
ever the pulley, the inclined plane, the
screw, the axle and the wheel, but my
text calls rs to study the philosopy of the
chain. These links of metal, one with
another, attracted the old Bible authors.
and we hear he chain rattle and see lis
col al the way through from Genesis So
Revelation, flashing as an adornment, or
restraining as IA captivity, or holding in
conjunction as in ease Of machinery. To
do him honor, Pharaoh hung a chain of
gold about The neck OF Joseph, and
BelshaZzar one about the neck q, Daniel.
The high priest had on his breast plate
two chains al gold. or the camels' necks
as the lshmuelitcs drove up 10 Gideon,
iingled chains Of gold.
The Bible refers to the church rs hay
ing such glittcring adomncnts, saying.
Thy neck is Comcly with chains of
gold. en- the other hand, A chain
means captivity. David the psalmist,
eXults that power hal been given over
49,. - 90 Is,l ,l-.. III. -
chains, The old missionary apostle
crics out For the hope Of Israel, | an
bound with this chain In the prison
where Peter is incarccrated, you
near one day a great crash
at the falling off Of his
chains. st, John saw an angel
come down from Heaven 10 manaclc the
powers Of darkness, and having "a great
chain in his hand, , and the fallen angels
are represented as reserved in c~vcrlast-
ing chains, - while in my test for the ar.
rest and limitation Or the iniquity of his
time, Ezekiel thundCrs out. Make n
chain
TIE STRENGTH OF CORRECTION FOIiCE
What ! wish to impress upon myself
and upon you Is the strength in right and
wrong directions, of consecutive forces,
the superior power Of "a chain of inilue-
enccs above Que influence. the great a.
vantage Of a congcrics Of links above one
link. and in al family government and
in AL effort 10 rescue others and in all at
tempt TO stop iniQuity, take the suggcs-
ton of my text and make u chain!
That which contains the greatest
Importance, that which ~cncloses the
most tremendous opportunities, that
which Of earthly things is most watched
by other worlds, that which has beating
against its two sides all the cternities, is
the cradle. The grave i5 nothing III i'm
p|ortanCe compared with il, for that is
only a Guily that we step across in a sec
ond. but the cradle has within it a new
eternity. just born and never 10 cease.
When three or four years ago the
Ohio river overlooked its banks and the
wild freshets swept down with them har-
vests and cities, one day was found float
ing on the bosom OF the waters q cradle
with a child in il all unhurt, wrapped up
snug and warm, and its blue eyes looking
into the blue of the open heavens. Ut
was mentioned as something eXtraordin-
airy. But every cradle is, with It's young
passenger, floating on the swift currents
of the centuries, deep calling 20 deep,
Ohios and st. Lawrences and MisSissippls
of influence bearing it onward. Now
what shall be done with this new life re
Gently launched? Teach him an evening
prayer? That is important, but not
enough. Hear him az soon as he
can recite some gospel hymn or cate
chism? That is important, but not
enough. Every Sabbath afternoon read
him a Bible story? That is important,
-. -. .x.,l h,oa IN a while N los
son. once IN a while a prayer, once i'll a
while Il restraining influence? All these
are important. but not enough. Each
one Of these influences is only g link, and
it will not hold him IN the tremendous
emergencies Of life. Let it bc constant
instruction, constant prayer, constant ap
plication of good influences, a long Inc
Of consecutive impressions, reaching
from his first wear To his iftb, aud from
his fifth wear ia his tenth, and from ms
tenth wear To his twentieth. Make a
cham
PRkCEpr UPON P~RECEPT-LiTE UPoN
LINE. =
Spasmodic education. paroXysmal dls-
ciplinc, occasional fidelity, amount to
nothing. You can "a easily hold an an
chor by one link as hold a child to the
right by isolated and intermittent 1alln
fulness. The example must connect win
thu instructions. The weekday consist
ency must c%onjoin with the Sunday wor-
ship. Have family prayers by all means;
but be petulant and inconsistent and an
reasonable in your household and your
family prayers will be a blasphemous
farce, So great in our times are the
temptations Of young men to dissipation,
and Young women TO social follies, that II
is most important that the first eighteen
wears of their life be charged with "A rellg-
ious power thai hold them when they get
out OF the harbor Of home into the
stormy ocean of active life. There IS
such a thing as impressing children so
powerfully with good, that sixty years
will nave no more power to efiace II than
sixty minutes. What a rough tlme that
Young man has in doing wrong. carefully
nurtured as he was! His father and
mother have been dead for years, or over
in Scotland. or England, or Ireland; but
bey have stood in the doorway OF
very dram shop hat he entered, and
unler the chandelier Of every house oi