The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-09-17
LINKS IN LIES CHAIN.
TALMAGB ON THE INFLUENCE ONE
HAS ON ANOTHER.

How One Step Leads to Another.
BROOKLYN, Sept 10 To-day was sacra-
mental day at the Tabernacle, and the more
than 1900 communicant members we're
joined by thousands from all parts of the
country and from other lands in the sacred
commemoration. The Rev. T. Dewitt Tai
mage, ID. D., preached from Ezekiel vii,
20: Mako a chain" He said
At school and in college in announcing.
the mechanical powers we glorifled the lever,
the pulley, the inclined plane, the screw,
the axle and the Wheel but my text calls
us to study the philosophy of the chain.
These links of metal one with another, at
tracted the old Bible authors, aud we hear
the chain rattle and see its coil all the way
through from Genesis to Revelation, fash
ing as an adornment, or restraining as In
captivity, or holding in conjunction as in
case of machinery. To do him honor
Pharaoh hung chain of gold about the
neck OF Joseph and Belshazzar one about
the neck Of Daniel. The high priest had Oh
his breastplate two chains OF gold. On toe
camels' necks as the lshmaeltes drove up to
Gideon jingled chains of gold.
The Bible refers to the church as having
such glittering adornments, saying: Thy
neck is comely with chains of gold" On
the other hand, chain means captivity.
David, tho psalmist, exults that power had
been given over his enemies Ito bind their
kings with chainsn The old missionary
apostle cries out: "For the hope of Israel,
am bound with this chain" In the prison
where Peter is incarcerated you hear one
day great crash at the falling OFT of bis
chains st. John saw an angel come down
from heaven to manacle the powers of dark
ness, and having "a great chain in his
hand, and the fallen angels are represented
nc Il rtfV
in my text, for the arrest and limitation of
the iniquity of his time, Ezekiel thunders
out: Make a ohainl"
What | wish to impress upon myself and
upon you is the strength la right and wrong
directions, of consecutive forces, the supe-
rior power of a chain of influences above
one influence, the great advantage of q con-
geries of links above one link, and in all
family government aud in all effort 60 res
cue others and in all attempt to stop in
iqulty, taAe the suggestion OF my text and
make "a chainl
That which contains the greatest i'm
portance, that which incloses the most
tremendous opportunities, that which 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 in importance COM
pared with it, for that is only gully that
we step across in second, but the era
die has within it a new eternity, Just
born and never TO cease. When three
or four years ago the Ohio river overfiowed
its banks and the wild freshets swept down
with them harvests and Cities one day was
found floating on the bosom Of tho waters a
cradle with a child in it all unhurt, wrapped
up snug and warm, and its blue eyes looking
into the blue of the open heavens. IL was
mentioned as something extraordinary.
But every cradle is, with its young pas
senger, floating on the swift currents of the
centuries, deep calling to deep, Ohios and
st. Lawrences and MIssissippis of influence,
bearing it onward. Now what shall be-
done with this new life recently launcheds
Teach hlm an evening prayerf
That is important, bat not enough.
Hear him as Soon as he
can recite some gospel hymn or catechismi
That Is important but not enough. Every
Sabbath afternoon read him a Bible storya
That Is important, but not enough. Once
IN while lesson, once In n while prayer,
once in while "a restraining influence. All
these are important, but not enough. Each
ono of these influences ID only link, and it
will not hold him in the tremendous emer-
gencies OF iife Let it be constant instruc-
tion, constant prayer, constant application
of good Influences, a long line of consecutive
impressions, reaching from his first year TO
tenth, and from his tenth year to his
twentieth. make ohainr'
Spasmodic education. paroxysmal disci-
pline, occasional fidelity, amount to moth
ing You can as easily hold an anchor by
one link us hold u child to the right by iso-
lated and intermittent faithfuluess. The
example must connect with the instruction.
Tho conversation must combine with the
actions The weekday consistency must
~. nl.aw.
family prayers by all means; but be petu-
liant, and inconsistent, and unreasonable in
your household, and your family prayers
will be "A basphemous farce. So great in
our times are the temptations OF young
men to dissipation, and young women to
social follies, that it is most important that
the first eighteen years of their life be
charged with q religious power that will
hold them when they get out of the harbor
of home Into the stormy ocean of active
life. There is suck thing as impressing
children so powerfully with good, that sixty
years will have NO more power to efface it
than sixty minutes. What a rough time
that young man has in doing wrong, care
fully nurtured as he was His father and
mother have been dead for years, or over
in Scotland, or England, or Ireland, but
they have stood in the doorway Of
every dram-shop that he entered, and under
tho chandelier of every house of dissipa-
ton, saying; my son, this is no place for
you. Have you forgotten the old folissS
Don't you recognize these wrinkles, and this
stoop in the shoulder, and this tremulous
handi Go home, my boy, go hoznst By
the God TO whom we consecrated you, by the
cradle in which We rocked you, BY the
grass. grown graves i'll the old country
churchyard, by the heaven where we hope yet
to meet you, go home! Go home, my boy,
go home" Aud some Sunday you will be
Surprised to find that young man suddenly
asking for the prayers OF the church. Some
Sunday you will see him at the sacrament,
and perhaps drinking from the same kind
of chalice that the old folks drank out OF
years ago when they commeInorated the
sufferings of the Lord Yes, my lad, you
do not have such fun in sin as you seem to
have. / know what spoils your fun.
You cannot shake Off tho infu,
ences of those prayers long ago offered, on
of those kind admonitions. You cannot
make them go away, and you feel like say,
ing: Father, what are you doing herei
Mother, why do you bother me with sugges.
tions of those olden tirnosp But they WIN
not go away. They will push you bacA
from your evil paths, though they have "a
come down from their shining homes m
heaven and stand in the very gates OF helh
and their backs scorched of the fiery BLAST
and with their hand ON your shoulder, and
their breath on your brow, and their eyei
looking straight into yours, they Will say
ave have come to take you home, y, soy
- ,xaury n Atlast that yOunn man