Democratic messenger., 1892-01-09


Patriarch Danger All Around u.
BROOKLYN. Jan. 3. This morning
the Tabernacle congregation. meeting
for the first Sunday service of the
new year, found the pastor dispose!
To serious reflections on the flight Of
time. The opening hymn gave the
keynote in the familiar words
My days are gliding swiftly by.
And !. IA pilgrim stranger.
Would not deiain them aS they fly
Those hours of toll aud danger.
DIR. Talmage read several passages
reEIting 10 antediuvian longevity.
making characteristic comments a-
he read. and then preached from the
ominous words. Jeremiah xviii, 10,
This year thou shalt die
jeremiah, accustomed To saying
bold things. addresses Hananiah in
these words They prove true In
sixty days Hanariah had departed
this life
This is the first Sabbath of the
year. II is time for review and for
anticipation \ man must be gen
ius ut stupidity who does not think
now The old year died III giving
birth to the new. as the life of Jane
Seymour. the English queen. dc
parted when that of her son. Edward
VI. dawned The old year was a
queen The new shall he IA king
The grave of the one and the cradle
of the other are side 10y side We
can hardly guess what the chlll will
be Ii is only two days Old. but |
prophesy for it an eventful future
Year of mirth and madness, Year
of pageant and conilagration 1t will
laugh II will sing II will groan; it
will die
/ lsit not a time for earneStthogght
/ The congratulations have been given
/ The Christmas trees have been taken
down. or have we'll nigh east Their
/ fruit. The friend. who came for the
holidays are gone III the rail train
While we are looking forward to AN
other twelve months of intense activ
& AAAtNs litN AiAA NsAhN AAlhJAA u GH INV Al
bursting thunIerhcad 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 thirty five years of age
have gone beyond the average of hu
man life The note Is more than
due. 1t is only 10y sufferance that II
is not collected Weare like debtor
who is taking the three days grace
of the banks Our race started with
nine hundred years for lifetime
We read of but one antediluvian
youth whose early death disappont-
ed the hopes of his parents 10y his
dying AT seven hundred and seventy
seven years of age The world then
may have been ahead of what II Is
now, for men had 80 long time in
which To study and invent and plan.
If an artist or n philosopher has forty
years for work. he makes great
achievements: but what must the
artists and philosophers have done
who had nine hundred years before
them!
In the nearly two thousand years
before the food. considering the
longevity of the inhabitants. there
may have been nearly IL many peo
pie as there are now The flood
was not freshet that washed a few
people off plank. but disaster that
may have swept away Il Thousand
millions If the Atlantic ocean. by a
sudden lurch of the earth tonight.
should drown this hemisphere and
the Pacific ocean. by sudden lurcl
of the earth. should drown the other
hemisphere leaving about ~ many
beings - could he got IN one or two
ocean steamers II would give you an
idea of what the ancient fool WAS
HOW LIFE WAS SHORTEN:
Al that time God started the race
with a shorter allowance of life The
nine hundred years were hewn down,
until. IN the time of NeSmlSian. il cen
sus was taken. and only one hundred
and twenty four persons were found
one hundred years old and three oi
four persons one hundred and forty
years old. Now a man who has com,
to one hundred years of age Is curi
osity and we go miles to see him
The vast majority of the race passes
off before twenty years To every
apple there are five blossoms that
never get to be apples. In the coun
try church the sexton rings the bel
rapidly until almost through. AND
then tolls it For awhile the bell OF
our life rings right merrily. but witt
some of you the bell has begun t
toll, and the adaptedness of the tex'
to you is more and more probsalc
This year thou shalt die
The character of occupation add,
to the probability. Those who ar,
in the professions are undergoing
n sapping of the brain and merry,
foundations. Literary men in thi,
country are driven with whip an,
spur to their topmost speed No
one brain worker out of hundret
observes any moderation. There il
something so stimulating in our eli
mate that if John Brown. the essay
list of Edinburgh. had lived here h,
would have broken down at thirty
five instead of fifty FIVE and Charlie
Dickens would have dr~ q ped at forty
There Is something IN All our occupa
tons which predisposes to disease
if we he stout. To disorders rangin:
from fevers Ia apopleXy; if we III
frail, To diseases ranging from con
sumption Ia paralysis.
Printers rarely reach fifty year
:....O.i.nakei,> III marslng tIc tnnt
for others. shorten their own Chem
Lsts breathe death IN their lab0ra
tories and potters absorb paralysis
Painters fall under their own brush
Foundrymen take death in with Tho