The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-03-07
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S Sun
DAY SERMON.
Subject: what Can and What Can
not Make a Woman Happy"

TEXT: "She that ltreth in pleasure is dedc
Uhile she lireth."
The editor of Boston newspaper fe"
days ago wrote, asking ME the terse queS
tionS: What is the road to happinesS!' ani
Sought happiness be the chief aim OF life!
My answer was: ''The road to happiness /
the continuous effort to make others happy
The chief aim of life ought to be usefuless
not happiness but happiness always follows
usefulness" This mornings text in strong
way sets forth the truth that woman "h(
seeks in worldly advantage her chief ENJOY
ment will come to disappointment and death
s:She that liveth i'll pleasure is dead while sns
Hveth."
Ny friends, You all want to be happy
You have had great many recipes by whlct
it is proposed to give you satisfaction-solio
sstisfaction. At times you feel thorough
Unrest, You know as we'll as older people
*hat it is to be depressed. As dark shadow:
sometimes fall upon the geography OF the
school girl as on tho page OF the Sp7ctacied
philosopher. I have seen as cloudy days IN
May as in November. There are no deeper
sighs breathed by the grandmother than by
the granddaughter, 1correct the popular
hood and youth than they ever will be again.
II we live sright, the older the happier. The
happieSt woman thSt ] ever knew was a
Christian octogenarian: her hair white al
white could be: the sunlight Of heaven late
In the afternoon, gliding the peaks OF snow.
I have to say to 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 and
have your head and heart all full OF goof,
honest, practical ChiStian work, then you
will know what it is to begin to be happy.
There are those who would have us believe
that life is chasing thstledown and grasplng
bubbles. We have not found it so. 10
many of us it has been discovering diamonds
larger than the Kohinoor, and | think that
our Joy will continue to increase until moth
ing short of the everlasting jubilee OF heaven
will be able to express it.
Horatio Greenough, at the close OF the
hardest life man ever lives-the life OF an
American artist-wrote: ~ don't want to
leave this world until give some sign that,
born by the grace Of God in this land, have
found life to be very cheerful thing, and
not the dark and bitter thing with which my
early prospects We're cloudei.'
Albert Barnes, the good Christian, known
the world over, stood in his pulpit in Phila-
delphia, at 20 or 30 years of age, and said:
"This world is so very attractive to me, am
very sorry shall have to leave it.
know that Solomon said some very dolo-
rous things about this world, and three times
declared: Vanity of vanities, all is van
fly" I suppose it was reference to those
times in his career when his seven hundred
wives almost pestered the life out of him. But
! would rather turn to the description he gave
after his conversion, when he says in another
place: "Her WAYS are ways of pleasantness,
and all her paths are peace" 1t is reason
able to expect it will be so. The longer the
fruit hangs on the tree, the ripper and more
mellow it ought to grow. You plant cne
grain of corn and it will send up stalk with
two ears, each having nine hundred and fifty
grains, so that one grain planted will pro
duce nineteen hundred grains. And ought
not the implantation of grain of Christian
principle in a youthful soul develop into a
large crop of gladness on earth, and to har-
vest of eternal joy in heaven? Hear me,
then, while discourse upon some OF the mis-
takes which young people make in regard to
happiness, and point out to the young women
what consider to be the source of complete
satisfaction.
And, in the first place, advise you not to
build your happiness upon mere social posi-
ton. Persons at your age, looking off upon
life, are apt to think that, if by some stro ke
OF what is called good luck, you could arrive
at an elevated and affluent position, little
higher than that in which God has callod you
to live, you would be completely happy. In
finite mistake! The palace floor Of Ahasuerus
Is red with the blood Of Vashtis broken heart.
There have been no more scalding tears wept
than those which courssd the cheeks OF
Josephine. If the sob of unhappy WON an
hood in the great cities could break through
the tapestried wall, that sob would come
along YOUR streets to-day like the simeon OF
the desert. Sometimes I have heard in the
rustliug of the robes on the city pavement
the hiss of the adders that followed
T. L. 10 hou ni1E
from your home, and you have looked
up at the great house, and covet q
life under those arches, when, perhaps, at
that very moment, within that house, there
may have been the wringing OF hands, the
start of horror and the very agony OF hell.
knew such one. Her fathers house was
plain, most Of the people who came there
were plain but, by a change in fortune such
as sometimes comes, a hand had been offered
neighbors congratulated her upon her grand
prospects; but what an exchange! On her
side it was heart full Of generous impulse
and affection. On his side it was soul dry
and withered as the stubble Of the field. On
her side it was a fathers house, where God
was honored and 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.
godlessness. Hardly had the orange blossoms
ofthe marriage feast lost their fragrance, than
the night of discomfort began to cast here and
there its shadow. Cruelties and unkindnesSes
changed all those splendid trappings into a
hollow mockery. The platters of solid silver,
the caskets Of pure gold, the head dress OF
cleaning diamonds were there; but no God,
no peace, no kind words, no Christian SYM
pathy. The festal music that broke on the
captive's ear turned OUT to be dirge, and
the wreath in the plush was reptile coil:
was the wing of destroying angel, and the
bead drops on the pitcher were the sweat OF
everlasting despair. Oh, how many rival
ries and unhappinesses among those who seek
in social life their chief happiness. 1t mat
ters not how fine you have things, there are
other people who have them finer. Taking out
your watch to tell the hour OF the day; some
one will correct your timepiece by pulling
out watch more richly chased and Jeweled.
Ride in carriage that cost you $780, and be-
fore you get around the park you will meet
with one that cost $4,000. Have on your
wall a picture by Copley, and before night
you will hear Of some ono who has picture
fresh from the studio Of Church or Bier
Stadt. -,
All that this world can do for you in sill
yer, in gold, in Administer plush, in Gobelln
tapestry, in wide halls, in lordly acquaint-
anceship, will not give you the ten-thou
sandth part of grain of solid satisfaction
The English lord, moving in the very highest
sphere, was one day found seated with
his chin on his hand and his elbow on tn!
window sill, looking out and saying: "Oh,
wish could exchange places with that dog!'
Mere social position will never give happl
ness to wonans soul. have had wide anc
continuous observation. and l tell the younI
women that they who build on mere socia
position their souls immortal happiness ar
building on the sand.
Suppose that young woman eNpends thu
h,.;crhtnaSS Of har On rlv life in this uuSatiSfac