Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1888-10-13
REV.DR. TALMAGE.
TaEBRooKLYN pIvINE,s SUNDAY
SERMON.
Subject: "The Three Greatest Things
To Do
1Exr.-"7nc people that do knolc their
God shall be strong, and do e1ptottS."-
Danial LII 80

Odnlel XII,
Antiochus Eriphanes, the old sinner. came
down three times with his army to desolate
the Jews, advancing one time with a hum
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
enty thousand armed men and had been again
defeated But the third time he laid success
full siege until the navy of Rome came i'll with
the flash of their long banks of oars and
demanded that the siege be lifted And
Antiochus Epiphanes said he wanted time
TO consult with his friends about itand Popl-
Illus. one of the Roman ambassadors, took
staff and made circle on the ground around
AntiochuS Epiphanes and compelled HIM TO
decide before he came out of that circle;
whercpon he lifted the siege. Some OF the
Jews had submitted to the invader. but some
of them resisted valorc@"Sly, as did Eleazer
when he had s.9ine'S flesh forced into his
mouth, spit 1t out, although he knew he must
die for it, and did die for it, and others, rs
my teStsays, were enabled to do exploits
An exploit would define to be heroic
act. brave feat, n great achievement
"Well," YOU say, II admire such things but
there is no chance for me- mine Is sort OF
humdrum life. II hadsan Antiochus Epiph-
anes to fight also could do exploits. on
are right so far as great wars are concerned.
There will probably be no opportunity TO diS-
tingu'sh yourself i'll battle. The most
OF the acknowledgements of this country
wcud never have been heard of had
it not been for the war; General
Grant would have remained in the
useful work of tanning hides at Galena, ana
St"newall Jackson would have continued the
auiet college professor in Virginia. AND
whatever military talents You have Will
probably lie dormant forever. Neither VIII
YOU probably become great inventor
Nineteen hundred and ninety-nine out OF
every two thousand inventions found IN the
patent office at Washington never yielded
their authors enough money to pay for tue
expenses of securing the patent So you VIII
probably never be MORSE or an Ed.
son. or a Humphrey Davy or an iii
Whitney. There is not much probability
that YOU will lie the one out of the hundred
.hat achieves extraordinary success IN COM
nercial or legal or medical or literary
spheres. What them Can YOU have no OPP
nortunity to do exploits: l am going 10
show YOU to-day that there are three opnor-
tun;teS open that are grand. thrilling. tar
reaching supendous and overwhelming.
They are before you now. In one. II not All
three of them. YOU may 10 exploits. lie
three greatest things on earth TO do are 10
save n mau, or save q woman, or save a
child.
During the course Of his life almost every
man gets into IN eXigency, is caught between
two fires is ground between Two ml'lstoneS
sits on the edge OF soIie prtcip;ce. or in sol:la
other way cones near demolition. IT may be
81 financial. or moral. or 4 domestic. or Il
so ial or political eXgency. You some-
times see it in court rooHis. young man
has get into bal company and lie has oreudad
the law. and he is arrai-nd. All Blush
ing and confused he is in the pres
ence of judge and jury and lawyers
!Ie can be sent right on in the
wrong direction. He is feeling di grtced
and he is almost desperate. Let the District
Attorney overhaul him as though he were an
old offender: let The ATTEST attorneys at the
tar refuse to say word for him because he
-.annot afford n considerable fee: let the
nudge give no opportunity for presenting the
mitigating circumstances. hurry up the case
and hustle him up to Auburn or Sing Sing.
If he live seventy years for seventy years he
viii he a., criminal and each, each decade
its predecessor. In the nterreg-
nuns of prison life he can get no
work. and he is glad to break wndow-glass,
or blow up safe. or play the hiGhwayman,
so as to get back again within the walls
where he can get something to eat aud hide
himself from the crue' gaze OF the wcrld.
Why don't his father come and help him?
His father is dead Why don't his mother
GENE and help him: She is dead. Where
are all the ameliorating and salutary in
fluences 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 quadrlll-
ion of years after the earth has become
scattered ashes in the last whirwind: 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
reparation you can, and will give
you another chance" Or the young man is
presented in the court room and he has no
friends present. aud the judge SAYS: "Who is
your counsel:' And he saws: ~ have none"
And the judge says: Who wi, will take TN, TINS
halt and no one offers, and after while the
Judge turns to some attorney who never had
q good case in all his life anil never will, and
whose advocacy would be enough
to secure the condemnation of inno-
cence itself And the professional
incompetent crawls up beside the prisoner,
belrlessness 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-
reived as his fee for such an advocacy?
Nothing in dollars but much every way in
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 there are commercial eXigencieS. A
very late spring obliterates the demand for
spring overcoatS and spring hats and spring
apparel of all sorts. Hundreds of thousands
Of people say: 1T seems we are gong to
have no spring and we shall go straight out
of winter into warm weather, and we can
get along without the usual spring attire.
Or there is no autumn weather, the heat
plunging into the cold, and the usual cloth
ing, which is compromise between sum-
mer and winter, is not required. 1t
makes q difference in the sale of
millions and millions OF dollars of goods, and
some over.sanguine young merchant IS
caught with a vast amount OF unsuitable
goods that never will be salable again eX-
cept at prices ruinously reduced. That
young merchant with a somewhat limited
capital is in predicament. What shall the
old merchants do as they see that young man
in this awful crisis! Rub their hands
and laugh and say: GOOD for him. He
might have known better. When he has
been in business as long as We have: he
will not load his shelves in TINT way. Hal
Hal He will burst up before long. He had
no business to open his store so near to ours
anyhow Sheriff's sale. Red flag in the
window: ,'How much is bid for these OUT
ofthe-fashion spring overcoats and spring
mats or fall clothing out of date? 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 thu
market were offered at fifteen dollars EACH
and now l am offered only four dollars. Is
that all? Five dollars do hear? Going at
that, Gone at five dollars and he takes the
whole lot. The young merchant goes home
that night and says to his wife; We'll. Mary,
we will have to move out OF this house and
sell our piano. That old merchant that has
had an evil eye on me ever since | started
has bought out all the clothing, and he will
have it rejuvenuted, and next year put it on
the market as new. while we will do well if We
cep out of the poor.house. The young man.
lroken-spirited, goes to hard drinking. The
young wife with her baby goes to her fathers
house and not only is his store wiped out,
J ut his home, his morals. and his prospects
for two worlds, this and the next. And
devils make a banquet of fire and fill their