Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1891-09-04
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINEs sun.
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "Things Which Men and
Women May Do.'

lei XII, u.
Antiochus Epiphanes. the old sinner, came
down three times with his army to desolate
the lsraelites, 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, and they were
driven back. Then, the second time he
advanced with seventy thousand armed
men and had been again defeated. But the
third tine be laid successful siege until the
navy OF Rome came IN with the fash OF
their I0n- banIs OF oars and demanded
that the siege be lifted. And Antiochus
kplpI"nes sail he wanted tina to consult
with his friends about it. and Popilius, one
of the Roman ambassadors, took a staff
and ma e a circle the ground around
Antlo"aus Epiphanes, and compelled him to
decide he ore he came out OF that circle.
wheTeI'3On he lifted the siege Some Of the
Hebrews had submitted to the invader, but
some or them resisted valorOuslv as did
EleaZ-r VIXEN he had swine's flesh forced into
bis Inc nth. spit it out, although he knew he
must c'e tor II, and did die for it; and others,
as my text SAYS, did exploits
An exploit [ would define to be AZ heroic
act, a brave fear. a great achievement
Nv ell, )" you say, II admire such things. but
there Is DO chance for me; mine is a sort of
humdrum lite. If l had an Antiochu,
kpiphanes to fight, l also could 90 exploits"
You are right, so far great wars are
concerned. There will probably be no op-
portunlty to distinguish yourself in battles
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 a
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 medical
or literary spheres. What then? Can YOU
have no opportunity to do exploits? I am
going to show that there are three oppor-
tun1tles 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 greatest things on earth to do are to
savea man, or save u woman or save a
child.
During the course Of his life almost
every man gets into an exigencv, is caught
between two fires is ground between two
mlllstones sits on the edge Of some preci-
plce, or in some other way comes near DEM
clifton. 1t may be a financial or a moral
or domestic or social or a political ext
gency. You sometimes see it in court
rooms. A young man has got into bad
he is arraigned. All blushing and confused
he is in the presence of judge and jury and
lawyers. He can be sent right on in the
wrong direction He is feeling disgraced and
be is almost desperate.
Let the district attorney overhaul him as
though he were an old offender; let the
ablest attorneys at the bar refuse to say
word for him, because he cannot afford
considerable fee; let the judge give no OPP
portunlty for presenting the mitigating
circumstances, hurry up the and hustle
him up to Auburn or Sing Sing. If he live
seventy years, for seventy years he will be
a criminal, and each decade of his life
will be blacler than its predecessor. In the
lrterregnums of prison life he can get no
WORK, and he is glad to break a window glass
or blow up safe or play the highwayman
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
are all t e ameliorating and salutary in
tluences of society? They do not touch
him. Why did not some one long ago in
the case understand that there an OBJ
portmlty for the exploit which would be
famous In heaven q GuadrilliOn Of years
after the earth has become scattered ashes
i'll the last whirlwind? 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
make all the re?aration you can, and | will
give you another chance" Or that young
man is presented in the courtroom, and he
has no friends present, and the judge says,
"N no is your counsel" And he answers,
81 have none" And the judge says, "WhC
will take this young mans cas4?"
Ant Their is Il 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 ana never will, ana whose a tvocacy
would be enuu 9h to secure the condemns.
ton of innocence itself And the PROBES.
sIOnal incompetent CraWlS up beside the
prisoner, help!eS'neSS TO rescue despair,
where there ought to be a struggle among
all the test men Of the profession as to VIII,
sLOGlt have the honor o. trying to help tina
unfortunate. How much would sucl an at
t0-ney have received as his fee for such ar
advocacy? Nothing in dollars, but much
every way in a happy consciousness thai
wtugd make his own life brighter. and hi.
own dying pillow sweeter, and his owr
heaven happier-the consciousness that he
hal saved man!
So there are commercial exigencies
very late spring obliterates the demand for
spring Overcoats and spring hats and spring
apparel of all sorts. Hundreds of thousands
OF people say, ''It seems are going tc
have no spring, and we shall go straight
Oue OF winter into warm weather and we
can get along without the usual spring at
tire" Or there is no autumn weather, the
heat piunging into the cold, and the usual
clothing watch is a compromise between
summer and winter is not required. 1t
makes a difference in the sale OF millions
and millions of dollars OF goods, and some
oversanguine young merchant is caught
with a vast amount of unstable goods that
will never be salable again, except at prices
ru.nouSly reduced.
The Young merchant with q somewhat