The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1893-08-08
OLD TIMES RECALLED
BY DIR. TALMAGE IN HIS SERMON
LAST SUNDAY MORNING..
A Discourse Strong and Eloquent In Which
the Events of the Days of Old and the
Lessons They Taught

Brookly, N. Y, August 6.-(Special.)-
Rev. Dr. Talmage has chosen as the topic
for today, panorama of "reminiscences
appropriate to the season, the !ext selected
being Psalm xxx, 3: While l was mus
ing the fire burned"
Here is David, the psalmst, with the
forefinger of his right hand against his tenn
pie, the door shut against the world, en-
gagged in contemplation. And it would be
we'll for us to take the same posture often,
closing the door against the ")rld, while
we sit down in sweet solitude to contem-
plate.
In small island off the coast | once
passed a Sabbath in delightful solitude for
| had resolved that | would have on. day
of entire quiet before l entered upon au-
tumnal work. l thought to have spent the
day in laying out plans for Christian work;
but instead of that it became a day OF ten
der "Reminiscences. / reviewed my passionate;
| shook hands with an old departed friend,
whom Shall greet again when the curtains
of life are lifted. The days of my boyhood
came back and l was ten years OF age,
and | was eight, and | was tive. There
WAS but ono house on the island, ana yet
from Sabbath daybreak, when the pro
chant woke me, until the evening melted
into the bay, from shore to SHORE lhere
were ten thousand memories ana the
groves were ahum WIFI NolceH th''' ii"N
long ago ceased.
Youth is apt too much to spend All us
time in looking forward. Old age is apt
too much to spend all its time Ill looking
backward People in mid-llfe and on 'he
apex look both ways. 1t would be Wen
for us, | think, however, to Spehh more
time in our "reminiscences. by the consul
t,,tin ot nat
time looking forward. And the vast ma
iority of people live not 50 much In the
present as in the future | IND that you
mean to make Il reputatlon you HfSlh ~
establish yourself, and the advantages
that YOU expect to achieve absorb Il great
deal of your time. But j see no harm IN
this. if it does not make you discontent"d
with the present or diSquallfy you Tor eN-
listing duties. ,,
II is n useful thing sometimes to look
back, and to see the dangers we nave eS-
coned. and to see the SORROWS we have
suffered. and the trials and wanderngs of
our earthly pilgrimage, and to sum up our
pniovmentS | mean today, so faf us goa
NAV help me, to stir up your memory OF 'he
mast. so that in the review you may De "li-
couraged and humbled and urged to pray
There is a chapel in Florence with a
frnsco nv Guido 1t was covered up WIN
two inches of stuoco until our Aneric"h
and European artists went there, ana AFTER
long toll removed the covering and fetraceu
the fresco And am aware 'hal tne ilen M
ory of the past, with many Oh YOU - GA
covered IN with ten thousand oDutera'ionS'
and | propose this morning, 30 lar us ln1
l ord may help me, to take away lhe COY
an;,r that the old picture may shine out
again. -ho,f all your
mast advantages, and l want TO plnu ~
another sheaf all your past au> g hc
II is n precious harvest, ana L liu'' ~
cautious how | swing the scyIhe. ro,r
Among the greater advantages Oh your
nost life was an early home ana us sur
rr"mnaings The bad men OF the day loI
tho most part, dip their heated pASsionn
out of the boiling spring OF an unA"tP ~
ron's heart Vas concentrat ton of sin,
when we hear his mother was Abandoned
and that she made sport OF ms lhhrihl,S'
and often called him the lame brat. lie
VIM has vicious parents has to fight every
inch of his way if he would maintain ms
integrity, and at last reach the home Oh
the good in heaven. :: a..
Perhaps your early home was IN the
city. 1t may have been III the DAYS "nrn
Canal street, New York, was tar up
town. The old house in the city may
have been demolished or changed into
stores. and il seems like sacrlese TO
you-for there was more meaning ID Ih't
plain house, in that small house unan
ed cathedral Looking back tins morn
inc and see it as though it We're yeSter
dny-the sitting room, where the loEeu
ones sat by the plain lampllght, the hotheI
at the evening stand, the brothers ana
sisters. perhaps long ago gathered INTO
thp skies. then plotting mischief on the
floor or under the table; your father win
a firm voice commanding silence, that
lasted minute.
Oh, those were good days! If You
had your foot hurt your mother always
had a soothing salve to heal H. II you
were wronged in the street, yolr father
WAS always ready 10 protect you. lhe
wear was one round of frolic and mlrth.
Your greatest trouble was an April shower,
more sunshine than shower. The heart
had not been ranSacked by troubles, nor
had sickness broken it, and no 'amb had
warmer sheepfold than the home III Which
your childhood nestled.
Perhaps you were brought up in the
country You stand now today i'll memory
under the old tree You dubbed it for fruit
not wait any longer. You hear the rumbling
along over the pebbles. You step again
into the furrow whore your father III ms
ShirtSeeyes shouted to the lazy oxen. on
brighten the swallows from the rafters OF
the barn, and take just one egg. and 81
lence your conscience by saying they will
not miss it. You take Il drink again out
of the very bucket that the old we'll fetched
MP. You 90 for the cows at night, and
find them waggng their heads through the
bars. Outlines in the dusty and busy street,
you wish you We're home again on that cool
grass. or in the hall of the farmhouse,
through which there was the breath of
new-mown hay or the blossom of buck
wheat.
You may have in your windows now
beautiful plants and flowers brought from
across the seas, but not one of them strs
in your soul so much charm and memory
as the old ivy and the yellow Sunfower that
stood sentinel along the garden walk. and
the forgct-mn-nots playing hide-and-eeek mid
the long grass. The father who used to
come in sunburnt from the fields, and sit
down on the door-sill and wipe the sweat
from his brow, may have gone TO his ever
lasting rest. The mother who used to
sit at the door Il little bent over, cap and
spcctacles on. her face me!lowing with the
vicissitudes of many years. may have put
down her gray head on the pillow i'll the
valley, but forget that home You never
will.
Have you thanked God for it? Have
YOU rehearSed all these blessed reminis-
ccnccs? Oh. thank God for Il Christian
father; thank God for Il Christian mother:
thank God for an early Christian altar al
which you were taught to kneel: thank
God for an early Christian home
bring to mind ano,uer passage in