Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1890-03-31
DR0NES OF EARTH.
DR. TALMAGE TELLS OF THE LISTLESS ACTIV-
HY OF SOME PEOPLE.
A Living Dog and a Dead Lion Side BY Side
Small Faculties Actively Used Are Of More
Value than Great Faculties Unem-
Ployed-Spirit OfPhianthDpy.
50 T.l.qram b Me R.ai.l.r.

ployed-Spnt Of Philanthropy.
Special telegram 10 TIE Register
BROOKLYN, March 3O.-There was the
usual difficulty in getting seats or even
standing room in the Academy of Music
this morning: DR.. Talmage's subject
was ~ Dead Lion" and his text Ec-
cleS. 9:4, "A living dog is better than a
dead lion."
The Bible is the StrangeSt, the lowell
est, the mightieSt, the weirdeSt. the best
of books. But few things in this versa
tile and comprehensive book interest me
50 much as its apothegmS, those short,
terSe, sententiouS, epigrammatic say
ingS. OF which my text is one-''A living
dog is better than Il dead lion"
Here the lion stands for nobility and
the dog for meanneSS. You must know
tina the dog mentioned in the text is not
one of our American or European or
Scottish dogs that, in our mind. is a
synonym for the beautiful the graceful,
the atTcctionate, the SagaciouS. and the
true. The ST. Bernard dog is a hero,
and if you doubt it, ask the SHOWS Of the
Alps. ont of which he picked the cX-
hauSted traveller. The shepherd dog is
a poem, and if YOU doubt il. ask the
Highlands of Scotland The Arctic dog
Is the reScuer of explorers. and il YOU
doubt it, ask DR.. Kanc'S expedition.
The watch dog is
r,-,.-,. ,,r..-~,,r...r.,-
and if You doubt it, ask ten thousand
homeSteadS over whose safety he watch
ed last night. But Solomon, the au-
thor of my text. lived i'm Jerusalem. and
the dog he speaks of i'm the text was a
dog In Jerusalem Last December |
passed days and nights within a stones
throw of where solomon wrote this text,
and from what | saw of the CANNES OF
Jerusalem by day, and heard of them
by night. l can understand the slight
appreciation my text puts upon the dog
of Palestine 1t is lean and Snarly aud
disgusting, and afflicted with parasites,
and takes revenge on the human race
by filling the nights with clamor.
On the other hand the lion is healthy,
strong and loud-yoiced, and at its roar
the forests echo and the mountains
tremblc. Ii is marvellous for strength,
and when its hide is removed the mus
cular compactneSS is something wonder
full, and the knife of the diSsector
bounds back from the tendonS.
Now, what does my text mean when it
puts a living dog and dead lion side by
side. and says the former is better than
the latter? 1t means that small facul-
ties actively used are of more value than
great faculties unemployed. How often
You see il. Some man with limited
capacity vastly useful. He takes what
God has given him and says: My men
tai endowment is not large and the
world would not rate me high for my I'M
tclligence. and my vocabulary is limit
ed, and my education is defective, but
here goes what l have for God and sal
vation, and the making of the world
good and happy He puts in word
here and word there, encouraging Il
faint-hearted man. gives scripture
passage in consolation TO some bereft
woman, picks up child fallen in the
street and helps him brush of the dust
and puts fve.ceut piece in his hand,
telling him not to cry, so that
TIE BOY Is SINGING
before he gets round the corner; waiting
ON everybody that has a letter to carry
or q message to deliver; comes into a
rail-train. or Stage-cOach, or depot, or
shop. with a smiling face that sets every
body % thinking. If that man can.
with what appears small equipment in
life, be happy, why cannot !, possessing
far more than he has, be equally
happy?" One day of that kind of doing
things may not amount TO much, but
forty years of that-nO one but God
Himself can appreciate its immenSity.
The simple fact is that the world has
been. and the world is now, fun OF dead
Iiou>. Ihey are people of great capac-
ity and large opportunity, doing moth
ing for the improvement Of society,
nothing for the overthrow of evil. moth
ing for the salvation of souls. Some Of
them are monetary lions. They have
accumulated so many hundreds Of
thousands of dollars that you can feel
their tread when they walk through any
street or come into any circle. They
can by one financial move upset the
money market Instead OF the ten per
cent. of their income which the Bible
lays down as the proper proportion OF
their contribution To the cause OF God,
they do not give five per cent, or three
per cent. OF two per cent, or one per
cent. or half per cent. or quarter per
cent. That they are lions, no one
doubts. When they roar, Wall street.
State street. Lombard street and the
BourSe trcmblc. In few years they
will lie down and die. They have
great funeral. and long row of fine
carriages. and mightieSt rcquicmS will
roll from the organ, and polished shaft
of Aberdeen granite will indicate where
their dust lies. but for all use to tho
world that man might as well have never
lived. As an experiment as to how
much he can carry with him. put ten
cent piece i'm the palm OF his dead hand,
and five years after open the tomb, and
vou will find that he has dropped even
the teu-cent piece. \ lion, Yes, but a
dead lion, lie left all his treasures on
earth. and has no treasures in heaven.
What shall the Stone-cutter
PUT UroN THE oBELISK
over him? I suggest, let lit be the mans
name. then the date Of his birth, then
the date of his death, then the appro-
pirate Scripture passage, Better Is a
living dog than dead lion.
But thank God that We are having
lust now am outburSt of splendid beneh-
ccnce that is to increase until the earth
is pirdled with il. Ii is spreading with
the speed Of an epidemic. but with Just
the opposite effect of an epidemic. do
Won not notice how wealthy men are
opening free libraries. and building
churches i'm their native village? Have
YOU not seen how men of large means
instead of leaving great philanthropleS
i'm their wills for disappointed heirs to
quarrel about. and the orphan courts
to swamp. are becoming their own eN-
ecutors and administrators? After put
ting aside enough for their families (ior
.'hc that provideth not for his own ana
TIL. .l.., ~ his o,-u houSphOIN is