Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1889-03-02
DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
SOME OF THE QUESTIONS THAT MEN
ARE ALWAYS ASKING.

hUuuBs-V why AfO 90 HhMtty OuuNt bebRtG
Have so Much Troubic.-why Is There
Sin In the World: Other Problems.
BRooKLyS. Fob. aa.-Thc audience TINT
crowded the immense auditorium 81 tho
Brooklyn tabernacle and the adjoining lee
turc rom anh pnrlors toiay unitci IN sing.
ing:
SUN " my SOUL thou Saviour dear.
II Is not night u thou bc near
DR.. Talmagc preached OF tho subject:
Dark Sayings on Harp" Tcxt-Xiix
Palm Of David, verse 4: II will open my
dark sayings on harp"
The world Is full VI the incxplcablc. the
impossible. the unfathonable. the ins,ir-
mountallc. We cannot go three STEPS in any
direction without coming up against hard
wall OF mystery, riddles, rara,loxcS. prof,in-
ditics, lnbyrinths, problems that we cannot
solvc, hicrOglyphics that wa cannot tleciphcr,
anngrains We cannot spell out. sphinxcs THAT
will not slrak For that reason. David In
my text proposed to take up some of the~e
soinhcr and dark things and try To- at them
10 sweet music: II will olrn my dark say.
inss on q harp
80 look OH upon society and find people
In unhappy conjunctions Of circumstances,
and they do not know what Il means AMI
they have right to ask. Why is ihisi AMI
Why Is thnti aud ! think will bc doing a
g"d work by trying tocxplain s'nc of these
strange things and mako you moro content
with Your lot and | shall only be answering
questions that have often been asked inc. or
that We have all asked ourselves. while try
TO set thcSo mysteries TO music and OPEN my
dark sayings ON u harp.
a QUESTION THAT N OFTEN ASKED
Irte. es.s.,e
out of this world those who aro useful and
whom We cannot spare and leave alive and
In good health 80 many who arc only nui.
sance or u positive injury 10 tho worldi
thought would begin with tho very tough
est OF all the seeming inscrutablcs Many 81
tho most useful men and women die at thirty
or forty years Of agc. while you often find
useless people alive at sixty and seventy and
eighty. John Careless wrote To bradford,
who wns son TO bc put 10 death, saying:
why doth tod suffer mo aud such other
cnterpillnrs to live that can do nothing but
consume the aims Of tho church. md take
away 10 many worthy workmcn In the Lords
vineyard Similar questions are often
asked. Hero are two men. Tho ono il
noble character and Christian man: lie
chooscs for lifetime companion one who has
bccn iciricrly reared, and sho Is worthy IL
him AMI he is worthy II her; rs merchant,
or farmer, or professional man, or mechanic,
or artist, hc tolls TO educate and rear his
children: he Is succeeding. hut no has not yet
established for his family full competency:
hc seems absolutely Indispensable to that
household. but one day before lie has paid OF
tho mortgage on his house he is coming homo
through strong northeast wind AMI chill
strikes through him and four DAYS Of pnctl-
monia end his earthly career and the wife and
children 20 into struggle for shelter nnd food.
His next ,l"or ncighi'or is u man Who though
strong AMI we'll lets his wife support him: hc
Is round ut the grocery store or some General
loaiing place in the evenings while his wife
scws; his boys nrc initiating his example and
lounge and swaggcr nui swear: all the ,isc
that man is Ia that hou>o i TO rave lcca,,sc
the coffee is cold when he comes a. II late
breakfast, or to say cutting things nbou, his
wifc's looks when ho furnishes nothing for
her wardrobe; the hest thing that could hap
pm TO that family would bc that mans fu-
neral; but hc declines To die; he lives on and
on aud on. So We have all noticed that
many Of tho useful are early cut or while
the parasites Of society have great vital to-
nacity.
take up this dark saying ON my harp and
give three or four thrums ON tho string in
tho way OF surmisinS and hopeful guess
Perhaps the useful man was taken out OF the
world. because he and his family wcro 80
constructed thnt they could not have endured
some great prosperity that might have been
just ahead and they altogether might have
gone down In the vortex Of worldncSs which
every year swallows up ten thousand house
holds. And 80 hc went while he was humble
and consecratcd. and they were by the sever.
tiles Of life kept close 10 Christ AMI ilttcl for
Usefulness hero and high seats In heaven; and
when they meet at last before the Throne,
they will acknowledge that though the fur
nacc was hot II purified them and prepared
them for an eternal career Of glory and
reward for which no other kind 81 life could
have fitted them. On the other hand the
useless man lived on TO fifty. or sixty, or
seventy years, because all the ease he over eau
have hc must have IN this world, md you
ought not, therefore, bcSrulgc him his earthly
longevity. In all the ages there has not n
single loafcr ever entered heaven. There Is
M place for him there 20 hang around. Not
IN the Temples. for they are full OF the most
vigorous, alert and rapturous worship. Not
on the river bank. for that Is the place whore
the conqucrors rcclinc. No, in the gates. be-
cause there are mrliiiulcs entering, and we
are told that at each Of the twelve :;atcs
there Is an angel, and that celestial guard
wouli not allow the place 60 bc blocked up
with i'ilcrs. II the good nnd useful 60 early,
rejoice for them that they have NJ soo,, got
through with human life, which ut bcst Is u
struggle, And IL the useless and the bal stay,
rcioicc that they may to out In the worlds
fresh mir II good many years before their final
incarceration
Az iNscRirAlLE MYSTERY, BrT IT mas AD-
vANTAGi.S.
Interrogation the second: Why do 50 many
good people have ~ much trouble. sickness,
bankruptcy, persecution, the three hlacS vul-
lures sometimes puitns their iicrcc bcal:s
into one 'otof janslcd ncrvcsi | think now
Of COOL friend ] once hal. lie WIS u con.
scra'cd Christian mnn, an elder in ilicchurrh
and ns polished Christian gentleman rs ever
walked Broadway. First his general health
gave out and hc hobblcd around on cane,
IN old man n, forty. Aftcra while paralysis
struck him. Having by poor health tccn
compelled 10 suddenly quit business, he lost
what property lac hal. Then his BEAUTIFUL
daughter died. Then Son became hoIclc.Sly
dcmcnt@L .inoihcr ron. Silc;idil Of mind
aud comaanlin; 81 presence, resolved that
hc would take caro- III his fathers household,
hut under tho swo0p of yellow fever nj Fer.
know gool men AMI women who have hal
enough troubles, YOU think, To- crush fifty
people. No worldly philosophy cuull take
such trouble aud set IL 10 music, or play
II on violin or llutc or dulcincr or sackbnt,
but dare To op"n that dark saying an n gos-
pcl harp
You wonder TINT very consccratcd pcoplc
have troubled Did you ever know any very
corrsscratcd man ar woman who had not had
great troubled Never. IL was through their
Troubles Slnciiilcl that they wcrc made very
gopi II you llnh anywhere IL this city
man who has now and always las had pcr.
fcct health AMI never lost child AMI has al
ways been popular and never had buSintA
struggle or misfortune. who Is distinguished
Tor goodness, pull yoar wiFo for a telegraph
messenger boy and >cnd me word. anl vii,
drop everything and 30 right away 10 look
at him There newer has lrcn man lika
that AMI never will b. Who arr lhn-c AFRO