Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1891-09-04
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S sun.
DAY SERMON.
SUBJECT: "THNGS Winch MEN ANT
WOMEN MAY Do"

WOMEN MAY DO"
TEXT; " The people hat do I,no,o their
God shall DC strong and do erpioits. DAN.
lei xi., SO.
Antlochus Epiphanes the old sinner came
down three times with his army to desolats
the israelites, advancing one time with a
hundred and two trained elephants swinging
their trunks this way and that and sixty
two thousand infantry and six thousand
cavalry troOps md +ha,, go
driven back. Then, the second time. he
advanced with seventy thousand armed
men, and bad been again defeated. But the
third time he laid successful siege until the
| navy OF Rome came in with the flash of
their long banks OF oars and demanded
that the siege be lifted. And Antiochuy
Eplphanes said he wanted time to consult
with his friends about 1t, and Poplius, one
OF the Roman ambassadors, took a stat
ana made circle on the ground around
antlochus Epiphanes, and compelled him to
decide before he came out OF that circle.
| whereupon he lifted the siege. Some OF tho
| Hebrews had submitted to the invader. but
some of them resisted, valorousy, AS did
Eleazer when he had swines flesh forced into
his mouth, spit 1t out, although he knew he
must die for it, and did die for it; and Others
as my text SAYS did exploits
An exploit | would define to be an heroic
act brave feat, great achievement.
wei, you say, 81 admire such things, but
there Is no chance for me; mine is a sort OF
humdrum life. II l had an Antiochui
Epphanes to fight, also could do exploits
You are right, SO far as great wars are
concerned. There will probably be no op-
Portunity TO distinguish yourself in battles.
ihe most OF the brigadier Genc.als OF
this country would never have been
heard OF had it not been for the war.
Neither will you probably become a great
Inventor. Nineteen hundred and ninety.
nine out OF every two thousand Inventions
| found in tho patent Office at Washington
never yielded their authors enough money
| to pay for the expenses OF securing tho
patent. So you will probably never be
Morse or an Edison or a Humphrey Davy
or an Eli Whitney. There is not much
probability that you will be the one out OF
the hundred who achieves extraordinary
success in commercial or legal or medi cal
or literary spheres. What then? Can you
have no opportunity TO do exploits | am
| going 10 show that there are three oppor-
tunities open that are grand, thrilling, far
reaching, stupendous aud overwhelming
They are before you now. In one, IL not all
three OF them, you may do exploits. The
| three greatest things on earth to do are to
| savea man, or save u woman, or save a
.hild.
During the course OF his life almost
every man gets into an exigencv, is caught
between two fires, is ground between two
millstOnes sits on the edge ot some preci-
pice, or in some other way comes near dem.
clifton 1t may be financial or n moral
or domestic or social or a political ex..
| gency You sometimes see 1t in court
rooms a young man has got into bal
company and he has offended the law, aud
he is arraigned. All blushing and coniusel
he is in the presence of Judge and iury and
lawyers He can be sent right on in the
wrong direction. He Is feeling dissraced and
be is almost desperate
Let the district attorney overhaul him az
1 though he were an Old offender; let the
ablest attorneys at the bar refuse to say
word for him. because he cannot afford a
considerable fee; let the Judge give no op-
portunity for presenting the mitigating
circumstances, hurry up the case aud hustle
him up to Auburn or Sing Sing. II he live
seventy years, for seventy years he will be
a criminal, and each decade OF his lfo
will be blacker than its predecessor. In tho
interregnums Of prison life he can get no
work, and he is glad to break n window glass
or blow up a safe or play the highwayman
SO as TO get bnck within the walls where he
can get something to eat and hide himself
from the gaze Of the world.
Why don't his father come and help him?
His father is dead Why don't his mother
come and help himY She Is dead. Where
are all tee ainelioratng and salutary in.
iuences OF society3 They do not touch
him. Why did not some one long ago in
the case understand that there was an on
portunity for the exploit which would be
famous in heaven a quadrillion Of years
after the earth has become scattered ashes
in the last whirlwindY Why did not the
district attorney take that young man into
his private office and say: "My son, | see
that you are the victim Of circumstances.
This Is your first crime, You are sorry.
will bring the person you wronged into
your presence and YOU will apologize and
mako all the reparatIon YOU can, and / will
| give YOU another chance" Or that Young
man il presented In the courtroom. and hs
has no friends present, and the Judge says
"Who is your counselg' And he answers,
"I have none" And the Judge says, .WhO
will take this young mans caseY'
And there is a dead halt and no one offers
and after awhile the Judge turns to some at.
torney. who never had good case in all his
life and never will and whose advocacy
would be enough to secure the condemna.
tion of innocence itself And the profes-
sional incou petent crawls up beside the
prisoner, helplessness tc rescue despair,
where there ought to be a struggle among
all the best men OF the profession as to who
should have the honor OF Trying 10 heip tnh'
unfortunate. How much would such an at
torney have received as his fee for such al
adyocacy9 Nothing in dollars, but mucI
every way in q happy consciousness that
would make his own life brighter, and hi!
own diving pillow sweeter, and his OWE
heaven happfer-the consciousness that he
had saved a man!
So there are commercial exigencies. A
very late spring obliterates the demand fol
spring overcoats and spring hats and sprinl
apparel OF all sorts. Hundreds OF thousand!
OF people say, at seems we are going tt
have no spring, and we shall go straight
out of winter into warm weather and w
can get along without the usual spring at
tire Or there ia no autumn weather thu
heat plunping into the cold, and the usua
clothing Which is a compromise betwee,
summer and winter is not requirei. II
Ifn.-.... L., ,ha Gala nF million