The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-10-24
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINEs SUN
DAY SERMON.
Subject "The Three Greatest
Things To Do"

TExr.-"Ihe people that do kno,u their
God shall be strong, and do e1ptotts. So
Daniel xi., 80
Antiochus Epiphanes, the old sinner, came
down three times with his army to desolats
the Jews, advancing one time with hun.
dred and two trained elephants swinging
their trunks this way and that, and sixty
two Thousand infantry, and six thousand
cavalry troops, and they were driven back.
Then the second time he advanced with sew
onty thousand armed men and had been again
defeated But the third time he laid success.
ful siege until the navy of Rome came in with
bhe flash Of their lCng banks OF oars and
demanded that the siege be lifted. And
Antiochus Epiphanes said he wanted time
to consult with his friends about It, and Popl-
ias, one of the Roman ambassadors, took
staff and made a circle on the ground around
Antiochus Epiphanes. and compelled him to
decide before ne came out Of that circle:
wherepon he Ii ted the siege. Some OF the
Jews had submitted to the invader, but some
of them resisted valorously, as did Eleazer,
when he had swine's flesh forced into his
mouth, spit it out, although he knew ne must
die for it, and did die for it, and others, as
An exploit I would define to be heroic
act. brave feat, a great achievement.
SWELL" you say, 81 admire such things bur
there is no chance for me; mine is sort OF
humdrum life. If bad,an Antiochus Eplph-
anes to fight also could do exploits" You
are right so far as great wars are concerned.
There will probably be no opportunity to dis.
of the brigader-generals of this country
would never have been heard OF had
It not been for the war. General
Grant would have remained in the
useful work of tanning hides Mt Galena, and
Stonewall Jackson would have continued the
quiet college professor in Virginia And
whatever military talents you have will
orobably lie dormant forever. Neither will
you probably become great inventor:
Nineteen hundred and ninety-nine out OF
avery two thousand inventions found In the
patent Office at Washington never yielded
their authors enough money to pay for the
expenses of securing the patent. So you VIII
probably never be a Morse or an Ed:
son, or a Humphrey Davy or an Eh
Whitney. There is not much probability
that you will be the one out of the hundred
that achieves extraordinary success in COM
mercial or legal or medical or literary
spheres. What then? Can you have no op.
portunity to do exploits? l am going to
show you to-day that there are three oppor-
tunities open that are grand, thrilling, !ar-
reaching, stupendous and overwhelming;
They are before you now. In one, II not all
three Of them, you may do exploits. Inc
tnree RfeaUeSG GuIuSS ou oehi ou w Wv 'Ao W
save a man, or save woman, or save
child.
During the course Of his life almost every
man gets into an exigency, is caught between
two fires, is ground between two mlllstones,
ats on the edge of some preciplce, or IN some
other way comes near demolition. IL may De
q financial, or a moral, or domestic, or
social, OF political exigency. You some,
times see it in court rooms A young man
has got into bad company and ne has offended
the law, and he is arraigned,' All blush
ing and confused he is in the pres
ence of Judge and jury and lawyers.
He can be sent right ON IN the
wrong direction. He is feeling disgraced,
and be is almost desperate. Let the District
Attorney overhaul him as though ne were an
old offender; let the ahlest attorneys at the
bar refuse to say word for him because he
cannot afford considerable fee; let tie
Judge give no opportunity for presenting the
mitigating circumst ances hurry up the case
and hustle him up to Auburn or Sing Sing.
II he liveseventy years for seventy years ne
will be a criminal and each decade
nuns Of prison life he can get no
work, and be is glad to break window-glass,
or blow up safe, or play the highwayman,
80 as to get back again within the walls
where he can get something to eat and hide
himself from the cruel gaze of the world.
Why don't his father come and help him!
His father is dead. Why don't his mother
ceme and help him? She is dead. Where
are all the ameliorating and salutary in
fiuences of society! They do not touch
him. Why did not some one long
AGO in the case understand that
there was an opportunity for the exploit
which would be famous in heaven quadrill-
ion of years after the earth has become
scattered ashes in the last whirlwind: Why
did not the District Attorney take that young
man into his private Office and say: MY
SON, see that you are the victim OF circum-
stances. This is your first crime. You are
sorry. 1 will bring the person YOU
wronged into your presence and you
will apologize and make all the
reparatou YOU can, and will give
YOU another chance Or the young man Is
presented in the court room and he has no
your counselp' And he saws: 81 have none,
And the Judge says: Who will take this
young mans case" And there is q dead
halt and no one offers, and after while the
Judge turns to some attorney who never had
good case in all his life AMI never will and
whose advocacy would be enough
to secure the condemnation Of inno-
incompetent crawls up beside the prisoner,
helplessness to rescue despair, when there
ought to be a struggle among all the best
men Of the profession as to who should have
the honor Of trying to help that unfortunate.
How much would such all attorney have re-
reiyed as his fee for such an advocacy
Nothing in dollars. but much every way IN
q happy consciousness that would make his
own life brighter and his own dying pillow
sweeter and his own heaven happier-the
consciousness that he had saved man!
So a
very late spring obliterates the demand for
spring overcoats and spring hats and sprin!
apparel Of all sorts. Hundreds of thousands
Of people say: 1T seems We are going tc
have no spring and we shall 80 straight ou'
OF winter into warm weather, ami we ca,
get along without the usual spring scSre.
Or there is no autumn weather, the bea
plunging into the cod, and the usual cloth
ing, which is compromise between sum
mer and winter, is not required. L
makes difference in the sale o
millions and millions Of dollars of goods, ant
some over.Saugu!ne young merchant l;
caught with vast amount of unSalabl
goods that never will be salabe again ex
cept at prices ruinousy reduced. Tha
Young merchant with a somewhat Limited
capital is in predicament. What shall tn
old merchants do rs they see that young maj
in this awful crisis! Rub their hand
and laugh and say: GOOD for him. d
might have known better. When he ha
been in business as long as we have: h
will not load his shelves in that way. Ha
Hal He will burst up before long. He hat
no business to open his store so near to our
anyhow" Sheriff's sale! Red flag in tn
window: ''How much is bid for these out
of-the-fashion spring overcoats and sprin
hats or fall clothing out Of datel What do
hear in the way Of a bid!" -Four dollars
absurd, cannot take that bid of four dol
lars. Why, these coats when first put upon tn
market were offered at fifteen dollars each
.nd ,ou, T -, ofPorod or1v four dollars IL