Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1892-01-15
REV, Or. TAlMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUM-
DAY SERMON.
SUBJECT: THE New YEAR"

TEXT: This year thou shalt die.n-Jere-
miah xviii, ID.
Jeremiah, accustomed to saying bold
things addressed Hanauiah in these words.
They proved true. In sixty days Hananiah
had departed this life.
This is the first Sabbath OF the year. Its
a time for review and for anticipation. A
man must be n genius at stupidity who does
not think now. The old year died in giving
birth to the new, as the life OF Jane Sey-
mour the English queen, departed when
that of her son, Edward VI, dawned. The
old year was queen. The new shall be a
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, but prophesy for 1t an eventful
future. Year oil mirth and madnesSl Year
OF pageant and conflagration! 1t will laugh;
it will sing; it will groan; it will die.
Is it not a time for earnest thought The
congratulations have been given. The
Christmas trees have been taken down or
have well nigh cast their fruit. The friends
who came for the holidays arc gone in the
rail train. While we are looking forward
TO another twelve months of intense activI-
ties the text breaks upon US like a bursting
thunderhead. "lhS 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 thlrty-tive
| years OF age have gon' beyond the average
| OF human life The note is more than due.
| 1t is only by sutference that 1t is not co..
ected. We are like a debtor who is TAX
| ing the three days grace OF the banks.
| Our race started with nine hundred years
| for a lifetime. We read of but one antcdi-
| luvian youth whose early death d .sappontei
the hopes of his parents by his dying at
seven hundred and seventy-Seven years OF
age. The world then may have been ahehi
/ q ,ylta at - fpr M a 1 sol "a
| in which to study and invent and plan.
IL an artist or n philosopher has forty
! years for work lie makes great achieve.
m,nt,; but what must the artists aud phil
osophtrs have done who had nine hundred
years before themy In the nearly two thou.
sand years before the food. considering tho
longevity OF the inhabitants, there may navs
been nearly rs many people as there are
now. The flood was not u treshet, that
washed a few prOple Of pan, but dis
aster that may have swept AWAY thou >aui
million IL the Atlantic Ocean by lurch
of the earth tonight should drown TIN.
hemisphere an the Pacific Ocean uy sud
den lurcE OF the earth sGOIld drown the Other
hemisphere, leaving about rs many beings as
could be got in one or two ocean steamer,
it would give y on an lea OF what tbs ancient
ayJd Va.
At that time God started the race with
shorter allowance OF life. The nine hun
cred years were hewn down until IL the
time uiN eSpaSian, a census was taken and only
one hundred aud twenty. -four persons wers
found one hunIred years old and three or
fear persons one hundred and forty years
| old. Now II man wlo has come to one hun
dred wears of a se is a curiosity, AMI We so
miles to see him The vast majority of the
race passes off before twenty years. TO every
spp'e there ara hve blossoms that never 9.t
to Ee alpies. In the country church tue
ha Ill tahA-
through and then tolls II. For awhile the
bell OF our life rings right merrily, but with
some Of YOU the bell has began 10 toll, all
the iapteiucSs OF the xt 10 you is more
and more probable, "fh.s year thou shalt
die
The character OF our occupations adds to
the u ubahi.ity Those who are IN the pro-
LESSONS are Un .crgolny a slpping of the
brain aud nerve foundations. Literary
men in this country are driven with whip
and spur to their topmoSt speed. Not one
brain worker out OF n hundred observes any
moderation. There is something 50 stimu
Iating in our Climate that II John Brown, the
essaylSt of Edinburgh, had lived here, h.
% would have broSen down at thirty-ftve in
stead Of fifty five, and Charles DicSen,
would have dropped at forty. Th.re /
T something III all our occupations which
| IrcdSposeS to disease. II We be stout
to dl,or ierS ranging from sewers L
apop,exy II we he frnl, to diseases rang
: ing from consumption to paralysis. Printer
II rarely reach fifty years. NatchnlaEers
in marking the time FOR Others, shorten then
own. Chemists breathe death III the,
laboratories, aud potters absorb paralysis
Z Painters tall under ;helr own brush Foun
II drymen take death in with the filings. Shoe
=, makers pound away their own lives on tn
Il last Overdriven merchants measure OF
= their own lives with the yardstick. Miller
1 .,Vl ii ~
dig their own graves with the trowel. An
in ali our occupations ant professions thel
are the elements Of peril.
Rapid climatic Changes threaten our live;
BY reason OF the violent hts OF the theI
mometer, within two days we live both l
G the arctic and the trop.c. The WARM sout
u win finds us with our iurs OF. The wintr
~ blast cuts through our thin apparel. I'll
D hoof the wheel, the hrearm, the assassin
[. wait their chance to put upon us the
10 Quietus. | announce it as an imposSlbilit
\, that three hundred and siXty-tive days shoul
pass and leave us all as we now nre-. In wh'
e. direction to shoot the arrow know not, an
t. SO shoot it at a venture. "Ihis year inc
re- shalt die"
-, In view of this, advise that you hay
u your temporal matters adjusted. DO n
10 leave your worldly affairs at the mercy
~ administrators. Have your receipts pro
Tn erly pasted and your letters filed, and yo'
~ books balanced. II you have trust funds
70 % zee .tai '1ey @ are liHn,s ,uIow uTR. ~ ornha
~ ~souu'su ioi' ,,re,d,,o Nv White m,
oi scraCen @ om SVut "n,t ;,,horitonc,n tS,, y Manv
re @ miohs1l me Gl my ';,',, inuv, con,natenc
c. n"n m%nso mas nSoro"tu n,va hos tbrouyh lis oN
q, o.r,ioss,pt'sP Syornari "a, divided
v, troa', ths odn,inistrotors drni, the surro rat
.; the i'wrars r and tho sharifFs / charge yo
." before many days have gone as Tar as pc
,e strn;ohs ' CO.. r' ,.rIis rea, th5u shat den
o. Sdjuis, d'iiss ior tho+ MS no '1 hsv in Christi,
d. "is'' work Isn How '"r many sabboths in the Yea
"A. Firtr.t,ro n tbs text be true of YOU
ed docs rot Etco sov ot what time YOU NAV 20, al
o5 therefore IL is unsafe to count on all OF t