Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1892-04-30
REV. DR.. TALMAGE
The Eminent Brooklyn Divih6s Sun.
day Sermon.
Subject: Evils of IdIeness."

David aud jeremiah and Ez akel and Micah
and Solomon o. the text showed that some
time t -ey had been out on a hunting ex-
petition. Spear, lauces, swords and nets
were employed in this service. A deep pit
fall would be dig yed. In the center of it
there was some raisel ground with poe on
which lamb would be fastened, and the
wild beast not seeing til, pitfall, but only
seeing the lamb would plunge for its prey
and dash down, itself captured. Birds vera
caught in gins o. pierre Il vita arrows. The
hunters in olden time had two missions one
to Gear the land of ferocious beasts, and the
other to obtain meat for themselves and
their families. The occupation and habit of
hunters are favorite Bible simile. David
said he was hunted by his enemy like par
fridge upon the mountain. Ny text is
tuntiDg scene.
A sportsman arrayed in GARD appropri--
ate to the wild chase lets slip the bloc l.
thirsty hounds from their kennels, aud
mounting his feet horse, with a halloo and
The yell of the greyhound pack they ara
off and away, through brake and dell, over
marsh and moor, across clasms where
misstep would hu.l horse and rider to death,
p.unging into mire up to the launches or in
to swift streams up to the bit, till the game
is tracked by dripping foam and blood, and
the antlers crack ON the rocks, and the
hunter has Just time to be in at the death
chase my text represents this sportsman as
being too INDECENT to dress the game aud
prepare it for food He lets it lie in the
iooryard OF his home and become portion
FOR vermin and beaks OF prey. Thus by ons
master stroke Solomon gives picture of
lazness, when he says, The slothful man
roasteth not that which he TOOK in hunting"
The most Of hunters bava the game they
shot OF entrapped COOKED the same evening
1r the ne ri 1aV Init not with this laUuar1
Of the text Too lazy to rip off ths hide.
leo lazy to kinde the fire and put the grid
iron on the Goals.
The first picture | ever bou ght was an en-
craving OF Thorwaldsen's Autumn" The
clusters of grapes are ripe on the vine of the
homestead, and the returned hounds, pant
ing from the chase, are lying on the doorsll
and the hunter is uuslouldering the game,
while the housewife is about to take a
portion of it and prepare it for the evening
meal Unlike the person of the text she
was enough industrious to roast that WHICH
had been taken in hunting. But the world
has had many a specimen since Soiomon's
lime Ct those whose assitude and improvi.
1ence and absurdity were depicted in my
text. Tie most of those who have
made dead failure of life can look back
and see a time when a great opportunity
opened, but they did not know it.
They were not as wise as George Stephen
SOD, ''the father OF railways" who, when at
sixteen years of age he received an appoint
neut to work at a pumping engine for
twelve shillings week. cried out: Now, |
am made man for life" God gives to most
men at least one good opportunity. A great
Grecian general was met by group of beg.
CARS, and he said to them: IF you want
beasts to plow your land [ will lend you
some. If you want land | will give you
some. If you want seed to SOW your land.
will see that you get it. But will encour-
age none in idleness." So God gives to most
/ people an opportunity of extrication from
depressed circumstances. As if to create
IN us hatred for incidence, Col has
made those animals which are slug
gish to appear loathsome in our eyes,
/ while those which are feet and active he
has clothed with attractiveness.
/ The tortoise, the slotb, the snail, the croco-
lille repel us, while the deer and the gazelle
are as pleasing as they are fleet, and from
. the swift wings of innumerable birds Col
I has spared no purple or gold or jet or crim-
son or snowy whiteness. Besides all this the
Bible is constantly assaulting the vice of
azinesS. Solomon seems to order the idler
out of his sight as beyond all human instruc-
son when he says, so TO the ant, thou slug
gard; consider her ways and be wise And
Paul seems TO drive him up from his dining
4 liable before he gets through with the first
!
Sill not work. neither shall he eat"
! Now, what are the causes of laznesS and
what are its evil results? ] knew a man who
was never up to time. 1t seemed impossible
for him TO meet an engagement When he
was to be married be missed the train. His
watch seemed to take on the habits of its
owner, and was always too slow. He had a
constitutional iethargy for which he did not
I seem responsible. So Incidence often arises
from the natural temperament. l do not
know butthere is a constitutional tendency
20 this vice in every man. However active
you may generally be, have you not on some
warm spring day felt a touch of this feeling
On you, although you may have shaken it off
( as YOU would reptie2 But some are SO
powerfully tempted to this by their bodily
constitution that all the work of their life
tas leen accomplished with this lethargy
hanging on their baci, or treading on their
heels.
You sometimes behold it in childhood.
l he child moping and longing within doors
while his brothers and sisters are at play, OF
f he Join them he is behind in every race
and beaten in every game, His nerves, his
muscles, his bones are smitten with this
ralsv. He vegetables rather than lives,
Greens rather than walks, yawus rather
shan breathes The animal in his nature is
stronger than the intellectual He is gen.
erally great eater and active only when
he cannot digest what he has eaten. tire
Quires as much effort for him to walk as for
others to rum Languor and drowsiness are
his natural inheritance. he Is built for a
slow sailing vessel, a heavy hulk AMI an m
sufficient tutwatsr. Place an active man
in such a bodily structure and the latter
would he sbacken to pieces IN one day.
Every law of physiology demands that he
be supine Such one is not responsible for
this powerful tendency OF his nature. his
| great duty is resistance.
Wien I see a man fighting an unfortunate
temperament all my sympathies are aroused.
end think of Victor Hugo'S account of a
scene on a warship, where, in the midst OF a
storm at sea, n great cannon got loose, and
+ it was crashing this way and that AMI would
have DESTROYED the ship; and the chief gun
ner at the almost certain destruction OF ms
own life. rushed at it with a han1spike to
thrust between the spokes of the wheel OF the
rolling cannon, and by fortunate leverage
arrested the gun till it could be dashed fast
But that struggle did not seem so dishearten
ing as that man enters upon who attempts
to fight his natural temperament, whether i
be too fast of too SLOW, TOO nervous or to>
lymphatic God help him, for Col only can
Furthermore, Incidence is often the result
Of easy circumstances. Rough experience
in earlier life seems to be necessary In ordei
to make man active and euterprising
and those who have toilet among mountain
of trouble get the most nerve and musc
and brain Those who have become the de
liyererS of nations once had not where Il
Law their heads. Locusts and wild hone
have been the fare of many John the Bap
list while those wao had been fondlei o
fortune and pstted AMI praised have ottel
grown up lethargic.
They have none of that heroisn whici
font on a < battles L
warm SUNNI Y sun OF prosperity has weak
ened and relaxed them. Born among tn
Injuries of life, exertion has been unnecei
gary. and therefore they spend their time !
| taking it easy. They may enter into bus
ness. but they are not fitted for its applies
ton, its hardships, for its repulses, and ate
having lost the most of that which they hav
invested. go back to thorough lnaetioD. IN
costly yacht may do well enough on th
smooth, CLASSY bay, but cannot live an hou
amid chopped sea.
Another cause of incidence is severe di
couragement. There are those around |
who started life with the most sanguir
expectation. Their enterprise excited tn
remark of all compserS. But soma sudde
ana overH helming misfortune met them
and heuceforth they have been inactive
Trouble, instead OF making them more de
4 termlned, have overthrown them. The
have lost all self-reliaace. They imagine tina
+ all men and ali occurren are against them
They hang their heads whzn oncs tnel
walked upright Thsy never look you up il
the eyes. They become miSanthropic an
pronounca all man liars AL SQUIRRELS.
They 60 melauchoiic an threa ibare to their
graves. You cannot rouse them to action bJ
the most giittering OFF,.
In most cases theSa parsons aave been hon
orable and upright all their lives, for roGus
navar at diSpoufl yal t1arA is AWAY.