The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1892-01-14
L FL E N E w Y EAR,
The Outlook for Eighteen Hundred
... and Ninety Two.
During the Coming Twelve Months
"ThOu Shalt Die.

BRooHLYN, N. Y, - Especial. DIR.
Talmage read several passages
relating to .antediluvian longevity,
making characteristic comment as he
read, and then preached from the
ominous words, jeremiah xviii, 16;
"Ihis year thou shalt die"
jeremiah, accustomed to saying
bold things, addresses Hannaniah in
these words. They prove true. In 60
days llannaniah had departed this
life
This is the first Sabbath ofthe year.
1t is IA time for review and tor antici-
patton. A man must be a genius at
stupi lily who does not think so. The
old Year died in giving birth to the
new, as the life OF Jane Seymour, the
English queen, departed when that OF
her son, Edward VI, dawned. The
old year was queen. The new shall
be king. The grave OF the one and
the cradle of the other are side by
side. We can hardly guess what. the
child will be. 1t is only two days old,
bit prophesy for it an eventful
future Year OF mirth and madness!
Near of pageant and confagration?
1t vii laugh; it will sing; it will groan;
1t WI lie.
Is + not q time for earnest thought?
The congratulations have been given.
The I ,tmas trees have been taken
down, or have well-nigh cast their
fr''it. The friends who came for the
holidays are gone on the rail train.
While we are looking forward to
another ~ months of intense activi-
ties, the text breaks upon us like a
=. bursting thunderbolt: "This year thou
shalt die"
The text will probably prove true
OF some OF us. The probability is
augmented by the fact that all of us
who are over 35 years of age have
gone beyond the average OF human
life. The note is more than due. It
is only by sufferance that it is not
collected. We are like debtor who
is taking the three days grace" OF
the banks. Our race started with
900 years for a lifetime. We read of
but
ONE ANTEDILUVIAN YOUTH
whose early death disappointed the
hopes OF his parents by dying at TIT
years OF age. The world then may
have been ahead of what it is now,
for men had so long time in which
to study, and invent and plan. If an
artist or philosopher has forty years
for work he makes great achieve
ments; but what must the artists and
philosophers have done who had 900
years before them? In the nearly
1000 years before the food consid-
e1ing longevity, Of the inhabitants,
there may have been nearly as many
people as there are now. The flood
was not a freshet, that washed a few
people off a plank, but disaster
thrt may have swept away one thou
sanl million. If the Atlantic ocean,
by a sudden lurch of the earth this
night should drown this hemisphere,
and the Pacific ocean, by y sudden
lurch OF the earth, should drown the
other hemisphere leaving about as
many beings as could be got in one or.
two ocean steamers, it would give
you an idea Of what the ancient flood
was.
At that time God started the race
with shorter allowance of life. The
900 years were hewn down until, in
the time Of Vespasian, q census was
taken and only 124 persons were
found 100 years old, and three or
four persons 40 years old. Now a
man who has come to 100 years of
age IS a curiosity, and we 90 miles to
see him, The vast majority OF the
race pass off before 20 years. To
every apple there are five blossoms
that never get to be apples. In the
country church the sexton rings the
bell rapidly until almost Though,
and then tolls it. For while the
bell Of our life rings right merrily; but
with some OF you the bell has begun to
toll, and the adaptedness of the text
to you is more and more probable:
"Thls year thou shalt die"
The character of our occupations
adds to the probability. Those who
are IN the professions are undergoing
A sAPPING OF THE BRAIN
ana nerve foundations. Literary
men in this country are driven with
whip and spur to their topmost speed.
Not one brainworker out OF a hun
dred observes any moderation. There
is something SO stimulating in our
climate, that if John Brown, the
essayist of Edinburgh, had lived here,
he would have broken down at IS
instead of SIS, and Charles Dickens
would have dropped at 40. There is
something in all our occupations which
predisposes to disease. live be stout
to disorders ranging from fevers to
apoplexy. If we be frail, to diseases
ranging from consumption to paral-
ysis. Printers rarely reach SO years.
Watchmakers, in making time for
others, shorten their own. Chemists
breathe death in their Laboratories s,
and potters absorb paralysis. Paint
ers fall under their own brush. Foun-
drymen take their death IN with the
filings. Shoemakers pound away
their own lives on the last. Over
driven merchants measure off their
own lives with theyard-stick Millers
Grind tboir nv, E.,oe ,,,;LL ~,