Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-02-11

an audience gathered from all parts OF
the earth the Rev. T. De Witt Talmage,
D. D. expounded passages of Scripture
descriptive of stirring scenes in David g
life. Led by organ and concert the null
titudes joined III singing:
Time like an ever rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly forgotten, as a dream,
Dies at the opening day.
The subject of DR.. Talmage's sermon
was 'Our Own Generation, and his
text, Acts xiii, SO: David, after he
had served his own generation by the viii
of God, fell on sleep.
That is a text which has for long
time been running through my mind but
not until now has it been fully revealed
10 me. Sermons have time to be born
as well as a time TO die, cradle as well
as a grave. David, cowboy and stone
singer and fighter and ear and dramat-
list and blank verse writer and prophet,
did his best for the people of his time and
then went and laid down on the southern
Hill Of Jerusalem in that sound slumber
which nothing but an archangelic blast
can startle. ''David, after he had
served his own generation by the viii of
God, fell on sleep. -
1t was his own generation that he had
served; that is, the people living at the
time he lived. And have you ever
thought that our responsibilities are
chiefly with the people now walking
abreast Of rs! There are about four
generations to q century now, but in
oldeu time life was longer and there was,
perhaps, only one generation to a cen
fury Taking these facts into the calcu-
lation, make rough guess and say
that there have been at least $50 genera
tiOns of the human family With refer
ence to them we have no responsibility
We cannot teach them. we cannot cor
rect their mistakes, we cannot soothe
their sorrows, we cannot heal their
wounds. Their sepuIchers are deaf and
dumb to anything we might say to them
The last regiment of that great army has
passed out Of sight. We might halloo as
loud as we. could, not one of them would
avert his head Co see what we wanted.
SHE COULD NOT LEAVE HIM OUT.
l admit that l am in sympathy with
the child whose father had suddenly died
and who, in her little evening prayer,
wanted to continue to pray for her father,
although he had gone into heaven and no
more needed her prayers, and looking up
into her mother 5 face said: go mother,
! cannot leave him all out. Let me say,
EThank God that l had a good father
once, so l can keep him in my pray
ers. - But the $50 generations have
passed off. Passed up. Passed down.
Gone forever. Then there are genera
tons to come after our earthly existence
has ceased perhaps $50 generations more,
perhaps 1000 generations more. We shall
not see them, we shall not hear any of
their voices, we viii take no part in their
all haif
lutions, their catastroUhes, their tri-
umphs. We will III no wise affect the
$50 generations gone, or the $50 genera
tions to come, except as from the gale
ries of heaven the former generations
look down and rejoice at our victories,
or as we may by our behavior start
influences, good or bad, that shall roll on
through
THE ADVANCING AGES.
But our business is, like David, TO serve
our own generation, the people now
living those whose lungs now breathe
and whose hearts now beat. And mark
you, it is not a silent procession, but
moving 1t is a ''forced march, at
tweuty-four miles day, each hour be-
ing mile. Going with celebrity, it has
got TO be a quick service on our part, or
no service at all. We not only cannot
teach the l0S generations past and viii
not see the 100 generations to come, but
this generation now on the stage will
soon be off ana we ourselves will be off
with them. The fact is that you and l
will have to start very soon for our work
or it will be iTonical and sarcastic for any
one after our exit 10 say of us, as it was
said OF David, LATTER he had served his
own generation by the VIII of God, he fell
on Sleep
Well, now, let US look around earn
estlY, prayerfuly and i'll a common sense
way and see what we can do for our own
generation. First of all let us see to il
that, as far Is we can. they have enough
to eat. The human body is so consti-
tuted that three times day the
body needs food Is much as a lamp
needs oil, as much as 4 locomotive needs
fuel. To meet this want God has girdled
the earth with apple orchards, orange
groves, wheat fields and oceans full of
fish and prairieS fun Of cattle And not
withstanding this, will undertake to say
that the vast majority of the human
family are suffering either for lack of |
food or the right kind of food. Our
civilization is all askew on this subject, |
and God only can set it right.
REMEMBER THE POOR
Many of the greatest estates of to-day |
have been built out of the blood and /
bones of uurequted toll. In olden |
times, for the building Of forts and |
towers, the inhabitants Of Ispanhau had /
TO contribute 20 900 human skulls, and |
Bagdad 80 200 human skulls, and that |
number of people were slain so rs to fur |
nish the skulls. But these two contTibu- !
tons added together made only 100 900 |
skulls, while into the tower of the /
world s wealth and pomp and mag |
niicencC have been wrought the skele- |
tons of Uncounted numbers of the half |
fed populations of the earth, millions of |
skulls
Don I sit down at your table with FIVE
or six courses of abundant supply and
think nothing Of shat family in the next
street who would take any one of those
five courses between soup and almond
nuts and feel they were in heaven The
lack of the right kind of food is the cause
of much of the drunkenness After
what many of our grocers call
coffee, sweetened with what many call
sugar, and eating what many of our
,fsf o