The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1889-07-11
"OTHER DAYS LIVED OVER. y
Sermon Delivered by Rev. T. De-
Witt Talmage.
Practical References to Early Life-The
Value of Looking Back-The Brook
lyn Divine Denies Having Ad-
vocated MIscegenation.

For the subject of recent sermon in
the Brooklyn Tabernacle, Rev. T. Dewitt
Talmage took "Other Days Lived Over"
predicating his remarks on the following
text:
Thou shalt remember all the way which the
Lord thy God led the.-Deut. viii, 2.
Before entering on my subject wish to
say that some newspaper correspondents,
referring to a recent sermon in which
welcomed foreign nationalities to this
country, have said that 1 advocated as a
desirable thing the intermarriage Of the
white and black races. never said so; I
never thought so, and any one who so
misrepresents that sermon is either a vii
lain or fool, perhaps both.
But to open this mornings subject,
have to say God in the text advises the
people to look back upon their past his
tory. 1t will do us good to re-
member the scenes between this May
morning and our cradle, whether it
was rocked in country or town. A few
days ago, with my sister and brother, l
visited the place of my boyhood. 1t was
one of the most emotional and absorbing
days of my life. There stands the
old house, and as l went through the
rooms 1 said: II could find my way here
with my eyes shut, although 1 have not
been here in forty years." There was the
sitting room, where large family group
every evening gathered, the most of them
now in a better world. There was the old
barn where we hunted for Easter eggs,
and the place where the horses stood.
There is where the orchard was, only
three or four trees now left of all the
grove that once bore apples, and such APP
pies, too. There is the brook down which
we rode to the watering of the horses
bareback and with a rope halter. We
also visited the cemetery where many of
our kindred are waiting for the resur-
rection, the old people side by
side, after a journey together Of
sixty years, only about three years be-
tween the time of their going. There
also sleep the dear old neighbors who used
to tie their horses under the shed of the
country meeting house and sit at the end
of the pew singing: Duke Street" and
'tBalerma" and "Antioch." Oh they were
q glorious race of men and women who
did their work well, raised splendid lot
of boys and girls, and are now as to their
bodies in silent neighborhood on earth,
but as to their souls in jubilant neighbor-
hood before the throne of God. l feel
that my journey and visit last week did
me good and it would do you all good, if
not in person then in thought to revisit
the scenes of boyhood or girlhood. ''Thou
shalt remember all the way which the
Lord thy God led thee"
Youth is apt too much to spend all its
time in looking forward. Old age is apt
too much to spend all its time in looking
backward. People in mid-life and on the
apex look both ways. 1t would be well
for us, think, however, to spend more
time in "reminiscences. By the constitution
of our nature we spend most of the time
looking forward, and the vast majority OF
this audience live not so much in the
present as in the future. 1 find that you
mean to make reputation, you mean to
establish yourself, and the advantages
that you expect to achieve absorb a great
deal of your time. But 1 see no harm in
this, if it does not make you discontinued
with the present or disqualify you for ex-
listing duties.
1t is useful thing sometimes to look
back, and see the dangers we have es-
capped, and to see the sorrows we have
suffered, and the trials and wanderings OF
our earthly pilgrimage, and to sum uE
our enjoyments. mean this morning, sc
far as God may help me, to stir up your
memory Of the past, SO that in the review
you may be encouraged, and humbled
and urged to pray. There is a chapel in
Florence with fresco by Guido. 1t was
covered with two inches of stucco until
our American and European artists wen
there, and after long toll removed the
covering and retraced the fresco. And
am aware that the memory of the past
with many of you, is all covered up witt
ten thousand deliberations, and l pro.
pose this morning, so far as the Lord may
help me. to take away the covering. that
the old picture may shine out again.
want to bind in one sheaf all your pas
advantages, and want to bind in another
sheaf all your past Universities. 1t is
precious harvest, and must be cautious
how swing the scythe.
Among the greatest advantages of you
past life was an early home and its sur
roundings. The bad men of the day, TO
the most part, dip their heated passions
out of the boiling spring of an unhappy
home. We are not surprised to find tina
Byron's heart was a concentration of sir
when we hear his mother was abandoned
and that she made sport of his infrmity
and often called him the "lame brat.
He who has vicious parents has to figh
every inch of his way if he would main
tain his integrity, and at last reach tn
home of the good in Heaven. Perhap
your early home was in the city. 1t ma,
have been in the days when Canal street
New York, was far Uptown, and the sit
of this present church was an excursion
into the country. The old house in tn
city may have been demolished O
changed into stores, and it seemed likt
sacrilege to you, for there was NOR
meaning in that plain house, in that small
house, than there is in granite mansion
or turreted cathedral.
Looking back this morning you see j
as though it were yesterday-the sittin
room, where the loved ones sat by tn
plain lamp light, the mother at the even
ing stand, the brothers and sisters, per
haps long ago gathered into the skies
then plotting mischief on the floor or un
der the table, your father with a frn
voice commanding silence that Taste,
half 9 minute. Oh, those were good DAYS
If you had your foot hurt your mother al
ways had soothing salve to heal it. l
you were wronged in the street, YOU
father was always ready TO protect you
The year was one round of frolic an