Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1892-04-29
REV. DR.. TAlMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S sun
DAY SERiiON.


something like this was told me: In a hut
lived u very poor woman by the name OF
Misery. In front of her door was pear tree
which was her only resource for a living
CHRIST, the Lord, in poor garb was walking
through the earth and no one would enter.
tain Him. In vain He knocked at the door
of palaces and OF humble dwellings. Cold
and hungry and insufficiently clad, as He
was, none received Him But coming one
day to the hut OF this woman, whose name
was Misery, she received Him, and offered
Him few crusts and askel Him to warm
Himself at the handful of Goals, and she sat
up all night that the wayfarer might have
pillow TO rest on.
In the morning this divine being asked her
as He departed what she would have Him do
in the way of reward, and told her that He
owned the universe and would give her what
she asked. All she asked was that her pear
tree might be protected, and that the boys
who stole her fruit once climbing the tree,
might not be able TO get down without her
consent. So II was granted, and all who
climbed the tree were compelled to stay
there. After awhile Death came along and
told the poor woman she must go with him
But she did not want to go, for. however
poor ones lot is, no one wants to go with
Death hen she said to Death, II will 60
with you If you will first climb up into my
before / start" This he consented to do,
but having climbed into the tree he could
not again come down.
Then the troubles of the world began, for
Death did not come. The ply ysicians had no
patients, the undertakers no business law
yers no wills to make the people who waited
for inheritauccs could not get them, the Old
men stad in all the professions and occupa-
tions SO that there was no room for the
.i1N NF,,tY, a,,A hn n.th
got overcrowded, and from all the earth the
cry went up: "Oh, Tor Death, Where is
Death" Then the people came to the poor
woman AMI begged her to let Death descend
from the tree. In sympathy for the world,
she consented to let Death come down on one
con iiton. and that was that he should never
mo!est CT lSe her away. and on that c1ndi-
tion Death was allowed to come down, an
he kept his worl AMI never removed her,
and fer that reason we always have Misery
with us.
lu that allegury some one has set forth the
truth that mean 70 present on this Easter
morning, which celebrates this resurrection
Of Christ and our coming resurrection-tnat
one of the grandest and mightiest merc.es
OF The earth is cur divine permission to quit
it. S,xty-iour persons every minute step
of this planet. TGirty million people every
year board this planet. As n steamer must
ul OlI btlblt ~ ILAhtN dllJNuc. anu rs
the passengers OF a rail train must leave 1t
in order to have another company ofpasseu-
lels enter il, 50 with this world.
What would LnpACn To an ocean steamer
il q man, taxing a stateroon, should stay in
II forever; What would happen to a rail
train il one who purchases a ticket should
always occupy the sat assigned him; And
wrd. would happen TO this world if all who
care into 1t never departed from it? The
grave is as much n beneiic:ion as the cradle.
What sunk that ship in the Black Ssa few
days agor Too many passengers. What
was the matter with that steamer on the
Thames which, few years ago, went down
with GUO lives? Too many passengers, Now
this world is only a ship, which was launched
some six thousand years ago. 1t is sailing
at the rate OF many thousand miles an hour.
II is ireighted with mountains and cities
and has in its staterooms and steerage about
sixteen hundred million passengers. SO
many are coming aboard, 1t is necessary that
q sool many diSembark.
suppose that all the people that have
lived since the days of Adam an Eve were
still alive. What cluttered up place this
world would be-no elbow room-no place
to walk-no privacy-nothins to eat or
wear, or If anything were left the human
race would, like a shipwrecked crew. have
to he put on small rations, each OF us having
perhaps only biscuit day. And what
charC. would there be for the rising genera
tlonsy The men and women who started
when the world started would keep the
modern people back ana down, saying:
We are SIX thousand years old. Bow
down. History is nothing, for We are older
than history" What mercy for the hu-
man race was death Within a few years
you can get from this world all there is in
It.
After you have had fifty or sixty or sew
enty springtimes, you have seen enough
blossoms. After fifty or sixty or seventy
autumns you have seen enough OF gorgeous
foliage. After fifty or sixty or seventy
winters, YOU have seen enough snowstormS
and felt enough chills and wrapped yourself
in enough blankets. In the ordinary length
OF human life YOU have carried enough bur
dens, ami shed enough tears, and suffered
enough ir justices, aud felt enough pangs,
and been clouded by enough doubts, aud
surrounded by enough mysteries. We talk
about the shortness OF life, but il we exer-
cised good sense we would realize that life is
quite long enough
If we are the children Of God we are at a
banquet and this world is only the first
course of the food, and we ought TO be glad
that there are other and better and richer
courses of food to be handed on. We are
here in one room Of our Fathers house, but
there are rooms up stairs They are better
pictured, better upholstered, better fur
nished. Why do We want to stay in the
anteroom forever, when there are palatial
apartments waiting for our occupancy
What Il mercy that there Is a limitation to
earthly environments!
Death also makes room for improved
physical machinery. Our bodies have won.
drous powers, but they are very limited.
There are beasts that can outrun US, outlitt
us. outcarry u.s. The birds have both the
earth and air for travel, yet we must stick
to the one. In this world, which the human
race takes for its own, there are creatures
OF God that cen far surpass us in some
things. Death removes this slower and less
adroit machinery and makes room for some.
thing better. These eyes that can see half
mile will be removed for those that can
see from world to world. These ears,
which can hear sound few feet off, will
be removed for ears that can hear from
zone to zone. These feet will be removed
for powers Of locomoton swifter than the
reindeer's hoof or eagles plume OF lghtn'
ing's flash.
Then we have only five senses, and to these
we are shutup. Why only five ssensesf Why
not fifty; why not one hundred; why not d
thousandY We can have, and we will have
them, but not until this present physical
machinery is put out Of the way. Do moi
think that this body is the best that God
can do for us. God did not half try when
he contrived your bodily mechanism. Mind
you believe with all anatomsts aud with
all PSYCHOLOGISTS and with all scientists and
with the psalmist that I'VE are fearfully ant
wonderfully made" But | believe and
know that God can aud will get us better
physical equipment.
Is it possible for man to make improve
ment in almost anything and God not b
able to make improvements In man 8 physi
cal machinery Shall canal boat give wa,
10 limited express train2 Shall slow letter
give place to teegraphy, that places Sal
Francisco and New York within minute o
communication Shall thu telephone tax
the sound OF voice sixty miles aud instant
ly bring back another voice, and God, VIII