The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1891-09-09


Like MOld-SermOn by Rev. +.
Dewitt Talmags, d. d.
DR.. Talmage preached at Ocean
Grove, N. j., on Sunday. His text was
Daniel XII, so: 1.-THE people that do
know their God shall be strong and do
exploits"
Antiochus Epiphanes, the old sinner,
came down three times with his army
to desolate the Israelites, advancing
one time with hundred and two ele-
plants, swinging their trunks this way
and that, and $4,000 infantry and 5000
cavalry troops, and they were driven
back. Then, the second time, he ad-
vanced with 70, 900 armed men, and had
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 Antiochus
Epiphanes said he wanted time to con-
suit with his friends about it, and Pop
illus, one OF the Roman ambassadors,
took staff and made circle on the
ground around Antiochus Epiphanes,
and compelled him to decide before he
came out of that circle; whereupon he
lifted the siege.
Some of the Hebrews had submitted
to the invader, but some of them re-
sisted vigorously, as did Eleazor when
he had swines flesh forced into his
mouth, spit it 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 heroic
act, brave feat, great achievement
"Well," you say, II admire such things,
but there is no chance for me; mine is a
sort of humdrum life. If had an Anti
ochus Epiphanes to fight, also could
do exploits" You are right, SO far as
great wars are concerned. There will
probably be no opportunity to distin-
guish Yourself in battle. The most of
the brigadier-generals 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 the patent Office at
Washington never yielded their authors
enough money to pay for the expenses
of securing the patent. So you will
probably never be Morse or an Edison
or Humphrey Davy or an Eli Whit
ney. There is not much probability
that you will be the one out of the hun
dred to achieve extraordinary success
in commercial or legal or medical or
literary spheres. What then? Can
you have no opportunity to do exploits?
I am going to show that there are three
opportunities open that are grand,
thrilling, far-reaching, stupendous and
overwhelming They are before you
now. In one, if not all three of them,
you may do exploits. The three great
est things on earth to do are to save a
man, or save woman or save child.
During the course of his life,, almost
every man gets into an exigdpcy, il
caught between two fires, is grodnd be-
tween two millstones, sits on the edge
of some precipice, or in some other way
comes near demolition. 1t may be a
financial or moral or domestic or a
social or political exigency. You
sometimes see it in court-rooms. A
young man has got into bad company
and he has offended the law, and he is
arraigned. All blushing and confused,
he is in the presence Of judge and jury
and lawyers He can be sent right on
il the wrong direction. He-is feeling
disgraced, and he is almost desperate.
Let the district attorney overhaul
him as though he were an old offender;
let the ablest attorneys at the bar re-
fuse to say word for him because he
can not afford a considerable fee; let
the judge give no opportunity for pre-
senting the mitigating circumstances,
hurry up the case and hustle him up to
Auburn. or Sing Sing. If he live seven
ty years, for seventy years he will be
q criminal, and each decade of his life
will be blacker than its predecessor.
In the interregnums Of prison life he
can get no work, and he is glad to break
q window-glass, or blow up safe, or
play the highwaymen, so as to get back
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 him? She is
dead Where is all the ameliorating and
salutary influence of society? They
do not touch him. Why did not some
one long ago in the case understand
that there was an opportunity for the
exploit which would be famous in
Heaven a quadrillion of years after the
earth has become scattered ashes in
the last whirlwind? Why did not the
district attorney take the 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 make all the
PREPARATION you can, and will give you
another chance"
Or that young man is presented in
the court room, and he has no friends
present, and the judge says: who is
your counsel?" And he answers: Il
have none" And the judge says: "Who
will take this young mans case?' And
there is dead halt, and no one offers,
and after a while the judge turns to
some attorney, who never had good
case in all his life, and never will, and
whose advocacy would be enough to
secure the condemnation of innocence
itself And the professional incom.
petent erawls up beside the prisoner,