The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1891-09-09
! REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUN.
DEf SERMON.
Subject: "Tkings Which Men and
Women May Do"


down three times with his army to desolate
the Israelites, advancing one time with q
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 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 consult
with his friends about it, and Popilius, one
OF the Roman ambassadors, took q 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 resisted, valorously, as did
.Eleazer when he had swine's 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 an heroic
act, brave feat, a great achievement.
well, you say, II admire such things, but
there is no chance fo- me, mine is sort of
humdrum life If 1 had an Antiochus
Epiphanes 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.
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 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
no no nf ho
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 thens Can you
have no opportunity to do exploits? am
going to show that there are three opper-
tunitieS open that are grand, thrilling, far
reaching, stupendous and 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 woman, or save
child.
During the course Of his life almost
every man gets into an exigency, is caught
between two fires, Is ground between two
millstones, sits on the edge of some preci-
pice or in some other way comes near dem
clifton. 1t may be 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
company and he has offended the law, and
be 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. BE is feeling disgraced and
be is almost desperate.
Let the district attorney overhaul him as
he oiI off lat fha
ablest attorneys at the bar refuse to say
word for him, because he cannot afford
considerable fee; let the judge give no op-
portunity for presenting the mitigating
circumstances, hurry up the case 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 blacker than its predecessor. In the
interregnums Of prison life he can get no
worS, and he is glad to break window glass
or blow up a 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?
Eis father is dead. Why don't his mother
come and help him? She is dead. Where
are all tie ameiorating and salutary in
fuerces of society? They do not touch
him. Why did not some one long ago in
portunity for the exploit which would be
famous in heaven O quadrillion OF years
after the earth has become scattered ashes
in the last whrlwind? Why did rot 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 wronSed into
your presence and you will apologize and
oil bo |
give You another chance" Or that young
man is presented in the courtroom, and he
has no friends present, and tho judge says,
"Who is your counselH' And he answers.
81 have none" And the judge says, wv no
will take this young mans case?
Ani there is a dead halt, AMI no one offers,
and after awhile the judge turns to some at
torney, who never had q good case IN all his
life and never will, and wno5e advocacy
would be enough to secure the condemn
ton of innocence itself. And the profess
sional incompetent crawls up beside the
prisoner, helpessnesS to rescue despair,
where there ought to be struggle among
all the best men of the profession as to VINO
should have the honor OF trying 10 neip toat
unfortunate How much would such an at
torney have received as his fee for suca an
advocacy? Nothing in dollars but muca
every way in q happy consciousness that
would make his own life brighter. and his
own dying pillow sweeter, and his own
heaven happier-the consciousness that ne
had saved a man.
So there are commercial exigencies. A
very late spring obliterateS the demand for
spring overcoats and spring hats and spring
apparel OF all sorts. Hundreds Of thousands
of people say, "lt seems we ara SolnS &c
have no spring, and we shall go straight
out OF winter into warm weather and we
eli nSnal
tire" Or there is no autumn weather, the
heat piuuging into the cold, and the usua
clothing which is compromise between
summer and winter is not required. Ii
makes a difference in the sale OF million,
and millions of dollars OF goods, and som:
oversaneune young merchant IS cauSh'
with vast amount Of unstable goods that
will never be Salable again, except at price
rulncusly reduced.
The Young merchant with a somewhat
limited capital is in a predicament. VIVA
shall the old merchants do as they see til
Young man in this awful crisis: Rub the::
hands and laugh and say: "Good for him
He might have known better. W hen Il,
has been in business as long as we have h
will rot load his shelves in that way ia
Ha' He will burst up before long. he ha
no business to open his store so near to our
ANYHOW" Sheriffs saie. Red taS IN tn
window: "How much is bid for these out
of-fashion spring overcoats and spring hat
or fall clothing out of date? what d
I hear in the way OF bid?" -four dol
Jars" Absurd; cannot take that bid o
four dollars apiece. Why, these coat
when first put upon the market were ofrere'
at fifteen dollars EACH an now I am Offered
only four dollars. Is that all? Five dol!:-
do hear? Going ct that! Gone at five
dollars" and he takes the whole lot
The young merchant goes home thai
night and says to his wife: well, Mary