Milford chronicle., 1888-02-24
THE ROAD TO HAPPINESS
DR.. TALMAGE's SEVENTH SERMON TO
THE WOMEN OF AMERICA.

Aim of Life should BE Usefulness-AIis-
takes Of Young People.
BRooKLYN, Feb. 19.-This morning the
Rev T. Dc Witt Talmage, D. D., preached
the seventh Of his series Of ''Sermons to the
Women Of America, with Important Hints
to Men, The opening hymn begins:
Then let our songs abound,
And every tear be dry;
We're marching through lmmanueIs ground,
To fairer worlds on high"
DR.. Talmage took for his text the follow
ing words: ''She that liveth in pleasure is
dead while she liveth.n He said:
The editor of Boston newspaper a few
days ago wrote, asking me the terse ques-
tions: "What is the road to happinessf and
"Ought happiness be the chief aim Of lfeP
NY answer was: ''The road to happiness is
the continuous effort to make others happy.
The chief aim of life ought to be usefulness,
not happiness, but happiness always follows
usefulness This mornings text in a strong
way sets forth the truth that a woman who
seeks in worldly advantage her chief enjoy
ment will come to disappointment and death.
'She that hveth in pleasure is dead while she
liveth.n
Ny friends, you all want to be happy
You have had great many recipes by which
it is proposed to give you satisfdction-solid
satisfaction. At times you feel thorough
unrest You know as well as older people
what it is to be depressed. As dark shadows
sometimes fall upon the geography of the
school girl as on the page of the spectacled
philosopher. have seen as cloudy days IN
MAY as in November. There are no deeper
signs breathed by the grandmother than by
the granddaughter. 1 correct the popular
impression that people are happier in child
hood and youth than they ever will be again.
If We live Alright, the older the happier. The
happiest woman that l ever knew was
Christian octogenarian; her hair white as
white could be; the sunlight Of heaven, late
in the afternoon, gliding the peaks of snow
/ 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 good,
honest, practical Christian 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 thistledown and grasping
bubbles We have not found it so. To
many ct 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 artistr-wrOtc: Il don't want to
leave this world until give some sign that,
born by the grace Of Cod in this land, have
found life to be a very cheerful thing, and
not the dark and bitter thing with which my
early prospects were clouded."
Albert Barnes, the good Christian, known
the world over, stood in his pulpit in Phila-
delphia, at 70 OF 30 years of age, and said:
'This world is so very attractive to me, am
very sorry l 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
itv.n 1 suppose it was a reference to those
times in his career when his seven hundred
wives almost pestered the life out of him. But
Iwould 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 ere 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 one
grain of corn and it will send up a 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 youthful soul develop into
large crop Of gladness on earth, and to a har-
vest of eternal Joy in heaven! Hear me,
then. while l discourse upon some Of the mis-
takes which young people make in regard to
happiness and point out TO the young women
what I 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 ant to think that, if by some stroke
of what is called good luck, you could arrive
in an elevated and afiluent position, little
higher than that in which God has called you
to live, you would be completely happy. In
finite mistakel The palace floor Of Ahasuerus
is red with the blood of Vashti's broken heart.
There have been no more scalding tears wept
than those which coursed the cheeks Of
Josephine. If the sob Of unhappy woman
hood in the great cities could break through
the tapcstried wall, that sob would come
along your streets today like the simeon of
the desert. Sometimes have heard in the
rustling OF the robes on the city pavement
the hiss of the 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, the
start Of horror ana the very agony Of he'll.
1 knew such one. Her fathers house was
plain, most of the people who came there
were plain; but, by a change in fortune such
us sometimes comes, a hand had been offered
that led her into brilliant sphere. All the
neighbors congratulated her upon her grand
prospects; but what an exchanged On her
side it was heart full Of generous impulse
and affection. On his side it was a soul dry
and w-ithered 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 hoaYen.
On his side it was gorgeous residence, and
the coming Of mighty men to be enter
tained there: but within it were revelry and
codlessness. Hardly had the orange blossoms
of fthemarriage 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 casikets 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,
and the upholstery that swayed in the wind
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, It mat
ters not how fine you have things, there are
other people who have it finer. Taking out
your watch to tell the hour Of the day scme
one will correct your timepiece by pulling
n,,t a watch more richly chased and ieweled