The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1889-02-13
OUR OWN GENERATION.
Sermon by Rev. r. Dewitt Tai
mage, D. d.
How We May Hest Serve Our Generation
-1he Great struggle for Food-
why avid was ermitted 10
slo, p by Gods VIII.

-
text, Acts xiii. 81 "David, after he had
served his own generation hy the will OF
God fell on slurp.n Following is the sermons:
That is II text which has for 10 g time
been running through my lnlnd, but not
until now las 1t been fully revealed TO me.
Eerinous hn' y tire to he born rs well as
time 10 die, cradle as well MS Pra 9.
David. CONVOY ult stone singer and hghter
and czlr and Cranadst and b'.lk verse
writer and prophet. dill hi 'c"t for the poo
pie OF his Il aud then went pd ID down
on the Southern hill Of Jerusalem in that
sound sunni (which nothing bnl an archan
gelic Uiu { can sLlrlc. "David, after he mad
served his own generation by the Will OF
God, ell on steep"
II w.sli own generation that he had
ser,oI; az is, the people living atthe time
he ivei Aud hnyr you ever thought thal
ourrc ipousil Tics are chiefly with the pen-
pie now walkin ahrelst Of usi There ure
about four generations 10 century now,
but In In time Life was longer and there
was, 10 hups, only one gen ration 10 ren-
tury. TA'irg ;hese facts into the calcu a.
ton, IraEe "a rough guess and snv th't
there have b cl ut least one hundred and
eighty generations oil the human lhmly.
With reference to them we have no pom
sbility. We can no teach then, we can not
correct their mistakes, we cm not soothe
their SORROWS wecan not heal th'ir wounds.
Their sepu'cher- are deaf aud dumb 10 any
thing we N ght say 10 them. Tie last regi'
ment Of tlai great army has ra s'd Oh OF
sight. We might halioo MS loud rs we could
not one of them would avert his head to sc1
whNt was wanted.
admit that am in sympathy with the
child, whose father ha suddenly died, aud
who in her little evening prayer wanted to
continue to pray for her father thou h he
had gone into Heaven and no more needed
her prayers, and looking up into her motn-
er's face, said: 20, mother / can not leave
him all out. Let me say Thank God that l
had good father once so l can keep him in
my prayers.'" But the one hundred and
eighty generations have pas cd on Passed
up. Passed down. Zone forever. Then
there are generations TO come after our
earthly existence has ceased. perhaps O
hundred aud eighty generations more, per-
haps thousand generati us more. We
shall not see them, we shall not hear any OF
their voices, we will take no part In their
conventions, their elections their revolu-
their catastrophes. their triumphs. We
v III In no wise affect the one hundred and
eighty generations gone, or the one hundred
and eighty generations to come, excep as
from the galleries OF Heaven the iormer
generations look Down and rejoice at ou'
victories, or IS we may by our behavior
start Influences good or bad, that shall roll
on through the advancing ages. But our
business Is, like David, 10 serve our own
generations, the people now living. those
whose lungs now breathe and whose hearts
now beat. And mark you, II is not q silent
procession but moving IL Is "forced
marchn at twenty-f ur miles day, each
hour being mile Going with that celebrity
II has got TO be quick service on
your part. or no service at all. We
not only can not teach tho one hundred
and eighty generations passed, and
will not sec one hundred generations TO
come, but this generation now on the stage
will soon be of and we ourselves win be
OF with them. The fact is that you and
will have 10 start very soon for our work or
II will be ironical and sarcastic fir any one
after our exit TO say OF US, as II was said OF
David, "after he had served his own genera
ton by the will Of God, he fell on sleep"
Wei now, lei US look around earnestly,
prayerfully and In common sense way and
see what we can do for uur own generation.
First Of all let us see TO II that, as far as We
can they have enough to eat. The human
body Is so constituted that three times q
day the body needs food as much as lamn
needs OIL as much as locomotive needs
fuel. To meet this want God has Rirdled the
earth with apple orchards, orange groves,
wheat fields. and oceans full Of fish, and
prairies full Of cattle. And Notwithstanding
this, will undertake TO say that the vast
majority OF the human family are suffering
either for lack Of food or the right kind ot
food. Our civilization is all askew on this
subject and God only can set II right.
Many OF the greatest estates Of to-day
have been built out Of the blood and bones
of unrequited toll In olden times, for the
building OF forts and towers, the inhabi-
tants OF Ispahan had TO contribute 10000
human skulls, and Bagdad 10000 human
skulls, and that number OF people we're
slain so "a TO furnish the skulls. But these
two contributions added together made only
100000 skulls, while into the tower Of tho
worlds wealth and pomp and mngnihcence
have been wrought the skeletons Of un-
counted numbers Of the half fed populations
OF the earth. millions Of skulls.
Don't sit down at your table with hve or
six courses OF abundant supply and think
nothing OF that family In the next street
who would take any one OF those five
courses between soup and almond nuts and
tcel they were In heaven. The lack Of the
right kind Of food is the cause OF much Of
the drunkenness. Ater drinking what many
OF our grocers call coffee, sweetened with
what many call sugar, and eating what
many OF our butchers call meat, and chew
ing what uany Of our bakers call bread,
many OF the lnboring classes feel so mis- rable
they are tempted TO put In their nasty pipes
what the tobacconiqt calls tobacco. or 20
into the drinking saloons for what the rum
sellers call beer. Good coffee would do
much in driving out bad rism.
Adulteration OF food has got 10 be an evil
against which all the health officers, and all
the doctors, and all the ministers, and all the
reformers, and all the Christians need 10 set
themselves In battle array. How can we
serve our generation with enough 10 eati
By sitting down Ia embroidered slippers and
lounging back In an arm chair, our mouth
puckered up around Havana Of the best
brand and through clouds OF luxuriant
smoke reading about political economy and
the philosophy Of strilEesi mol mol BY
finding ont who In Brooklyn has been living
on gristle and sending them o tenderloin
beefsteak. Seek out some family who
through sickness or conjunction Of mlsfor-
tune have not enough 70 est and do for them
what Christ did for tho hungry multitudes
Of Asia Minor, multiplying tho loaves and
tho fishes. Let us quilt the surfeiting OF our
selves until we can not,choke down another
crumb OF cake and begln the supply Of