The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1892-04-20
BLESSED IS DEATH.
An Easter Sermon by Rev. DR.. r.
Dewitt Talmage.
Ono of tho Grandest and Mightlest Mer-
cdes of the Earth is Our Divine Per-
mission to Quit 1.-THE Sting of
Death Not Half So Terrible
as Many Imagine,


"Surely the bitterness of death is past"
He said:
So cried Agag, and the only objection
l have to this text is that bad man
uttered it, Nevertheless, it is true, and
in higher and better sense than in
which it was originally uttered. Years
ago legend something like this was
told me: In hut lived very poor
woman by the name of Misery. In
front of her door was pear tree, which
was her only resource for living.
Christ, the Lord, in poor garb was
walking through the earth and no one
would entertain Him. In vain He
knocked at the door Of palaces and of
humble dwellings. Cold and hungry
and insufiiciently 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 asked 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 re-
ward, 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 it was granted,
and all who climbed the tree were COM
PEELED 20 stay there. After while
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. Then she said to Death:
~ will go with you If you will first
climb up into my pear tree and bring
me down q few pears 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 mt
come. The physicians had no patients,
the undertakers no business, lawyers
no wills to make, the people who waited
for inheritances could not get them, the
old men staid in all the professions and
occupations, 80 that there was no room
for the young who were coming on, and
the earth got overcrowded, and from all
the earth the cry went up: 20, dor
DEATH Where Is Death?" Then the peo-
pie came to the poor woman and begged
her to let Death descend from the tree.
In sympathy with the world she con-
sented to let Death come down on one
condition, and that was that he should
never molest or take her away, and on
that condition Death was allowed to
come down, and he kept his word and
never removed her, and for that reason
we always have misery with us.
In that allegory some 'one has set
forth the truth that mean to prevent
on this Easter morning, which cole
brates the resurrection Of Christ and
our coming resurrection-that one of
the grandest and mightiesa mcrcies ,of
earth Is our divine permission to quitiit.
Sixty-four persons every minute step
OF this planet. Thirty million people
every year board this planet. Asa
steamer must unload before ittakes an
other cargo, as the passengers Of rail
train must leave IL in order 10 have an
other company Of passengers enter 1t,
30 withlthis world. What w0uld happen
10 an ocean steamer II n mnn, taking a
stateroons, should stay In IL forever?
What would happen to rail train II
one who purchases ticket should al
ways occupy the seat assigned himP
And what would happen to this world
II all who came into it never departed
from II? The grave Is as much bene-
.diction as the cradle. What sunk
that ship in the Black sea a few days
ago? Too many passen gers. What was
the matter with that steamer on
the Thames which, few years ago,
went down with six hundred lives. Too
many passengers Now, this world Is
only ship, which was launched some six
thousand years ago. 1t is sailing at the
rate Of many thousand miles an hour.
Itisfreighted with mountains aud cities,
and has in its staterooms and steerage
about sixteen hundred million Passen-
gers. So many are coming aboard, 1t is
necessary that good many disembarlS.
Suppose that all the people that have
lived since the days of Adam and Eve
were still alive-what a cluttered up
place this would bc-no elbow room
no place 10 walk-no privacy-nothing
to eat or wear, or II anything were left,
the human race would, like. q ship
wrecked crew, have to be put on small
rations, each Of us having, perhaps,
only biscuit n day. A.ndwh chance
would there be for the rising genera
tions? The men and women who started
when the world started would keep the
modern people back and down, saying,
"We are six thousand years old. Bow
down. History is nothing, for we are
older than history. What mercy for
the human 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 seventy springs,
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 snow storms and felt enough
chills and wrapped yourself in enough
blankets. In the ordinary length OF
human life you have carried enough
burdens, and shed enough tears, and
suffered enough injustices, and felt
enough pangs, and been clouded by
enough doubts, and surrounded by
enough mysteries. I'VE talk about the