Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1888-02-25
TIE ROAD TO HAPPINESS.
DR.. TALMAGE's SEVENTH SERMON TO
THE WOMEN OF AMERICA. : :

Woman Happy" Ills Subject--The Chief
Aim Of Lifa should BE Usofulncss-aIis.
takes OF Young People.
DrooKLYN, Feb. 19.-Tllis morning the
Rev. I. De Witt Talmagc, d. D., preached
the seventh of his series of 'Scrmons to THE
Women of America, with Important Hints
to Menu Tho opening hymn begins:
Then Let our songs abound,
And every tear bc dry;
We're marching through Immanucl's ground,
To raircr worlds onhlgll." -
DR.. Tnlmagc took for his text the follow,
ing words: .Sho thnt livcth in pleasure il
dead while she liveth." IIo sni;.: ei
The editor OF Boston newspaper few
days ngo wrote, asking me the tersc ques-
tions: '.What is the road to happinessfs and
Sought happiness BIO tho chief aim Of ifcfl
My answer was: .'The road. to happiness Is
the continuous effort to mako others happy.
Tho chief MIN Of life ought to bo usefulness,
not happiness, but happiness always follows
usefulness This mornings text III strong
way sets forth the truth that woman who
seeks in worldly advantage her chief enjoy
ment will come to disappointment and death.
"She that liveth III pleasure is dead while she
liveth."
My friends, You oil want to BIO happy.
You have had great many recipes by which
it is proposed to givo you satisfaction-so old
satisfaction at times you feel thorough
unrest You know MS well as older people
what it is to be depressed. AS dark shadows
sometimes fall upon the geography of the
school girl rs on tho page Of the specialized
philosopher. have seen US cloudy days LII
May us in November There arc 10 deeper
signs breathed by the grandmother than by
the granddaughter. correct the popular
impression that people are happier in child
hood and youth than they over will be again.
Ii we live Alright, the Older the happier. Tho
happicsU woman that l ever knew was o
Christian octogcnar'ian; her ham white as
white could be; the sunlight OF heaven, late
in the afternoon, gliding the peaks of SHOW.
l have to say to IL great many of the young
people that the most miserable time you are
ever to have is just now. As you advance
In life, as you come out into the world mud
have Your head and heart oil full of good,
honest, practical Christian work, then you
will h;iow what it is to begin to be happy.
There are those who would have us believe
that lie is chasing thistlcdown and grasping
bubbles. Wo have not found it so. To
many of us it has been discovering diamonds
larger than the kohinoor, and think that
or joy will continue to increase until moth
ing short of tho everlasting jubilee OF heaven
will be ablc to express it.
Horatio Grccnouyh, at the close of the
10, fo live IN
American artist--wrotc: "I don't want to
leave this world until give some sign that,
born by tho grace of God in this land, have
found life to be very cheerful thing, and
not tho dark and bitter thing with which my
early prospects were cloudcd.n
Albert Barnes, the good Christian, known
tho world over, stood in his pulpit i'll Phila-
dclphia, at 70 OF 80 years of ago, and said:
"This world is so very attractive to me, l am
very sorry / shall have to leave it."
IkMow thet Solomon said some very dolo-
rous things about this world, and three times
declared: VANITY of vanities, oil is VAN
isy.n suppose it WAS reference to those
times in lis career when his seven hundred
wives almost pcstcrcd the life out OF him. But
Iwould rather turn to the description he gave
after his conversion, when he says inanother
place: "uer ways are WAYS Of pleasantness,
and all her paths are peace" 1t is reason
ablo to expect it will 10 So Tho longer the
fruit hangs o., the tree, the ripper ind moro
mellow it ought to crow. lou plant ono
grain Of corn and 1t will send up stalk with
two cars each having nine hundred and fifty
grains, SO that one grim planted will pro-
duco nineteen hundred grains. And ought
not tho implantation of u grain of Christian
principle in a youthful soul develop into
large crop Of gladncss on earth, and to hnr-
vest Of eternal Joy in heavens Hear mo,
then, while 1 discourse upon some of the mis-
takes which young people mako in regard to
happiness, AMI point out to the young women
what consider to be the source OF complete
satisfaction.
And, III the first place, advise you not to
build your happiness upon mere socialpos
ton Persons ct your age, looking of upon
life, arc opt to think that, If by somo stroke
of what is called good luck, you could arrive
in an elevated and afluent position, q littlo
higher than that in which God has called you
to live, you would be completely happy. In
finite mistakc The palace floor Of Ahasucrus
is red with the blood Of Vashtl's brokon heart.
There have Lccn no moro scalding tears wept
than those which coursed the checks of
Josephine: If the sob OF unhappy woman
hood il the great cities could break through
the tapcstricd wall, that sob would como
along your streets today like the SIMEON of
the desert. Sometimes I have heard in the
rustling Of the robes on the city pavement
the hiss of tho adders that followed
in the wake. You have come . out
from your home, and you have looked
up at the great house, and covet a
life under those arches, when, perhaps, at
that very moment, within that house, there
may have been the wringing Of hands, che
start of horror ami the very agony Of hell.
knew such a one. Her fathers house WIS
plain, most of the people who came there
were plain; but, by change in fortune such
as sometimes comes, a hand had been offered
that led her into brilliant sphere. All the
neghbors congratulated her upon her grand
prospects; but what an exchange! On her
side it was n heart full of generous impulse
and affection On his sido it was soul dry
and withered as tho stubble Of the field. On
her sido it was q fathers house, whcrc God
was honored AMI the Sabbath light flooded
the rooms with the very mirth of heaven.
On his side it was gorgeous residence, and
the coming of mighty men to be enter
tanned there; but within it were rcvelry and
Codlessncss Hardly had the orange blossoms
of the marriage feast lost their fragrance, than
the night of discomfort began to cast hero and
there its shadow. Crucltes and ulkindnesses
changed all those splendid trappmgs into a
hollow mocllery. Tho platters of solid silver,
the caskets of pure gold, the head dress of
cleaning diamonds, were there; bat no God,
no peace, no kind words, no Christian SYM
pathy. The fcstal music that broke on the
captivc's ear turned out to be u dirge and
the wreath in the plush was reptile coil,
and the upholstery that swaycd in the wind
was the wing of a destroying angel, and the
bead drops on tho pitcher were the sweat Of
everlasting despair. Oh, how many rival
ries and unhappincsses among those who seek
in social life their chief happiness. 1t mat
ters not how fine YOU have things there are