The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-03-08

the greatest opportunity for victory, be
cause there is the greatest necessity for
struggle. Read the worlds history and
know what are the thirties for good or bad.
Alexander the Great closed his career at 50.
Frederick the Great made Europe tremble
with his armies at 35 Cortez conquered
Mexico at 90 Grant fought Shiloh and
Donelson when SS Raphael died at 81.
Luther was the hero of the reformation at
IS. Sir Philip Sydney got through by SO.
The greatest deeds for God and against
him were done within the thirties, and
your greatest battles now and between
the time when you cease expressing your
age hy putting first figure ''2'' and the
time when you will ceass expressing it by
putting first a figure %" As il Is the
greatest time of the struggle. adjuTe you,
in Gods name and by Gods grace. make IL
the greatest achievement. My prayer is Tor
all those in the tremendous crisis OF the
thircies The fact is that by the way you
decide the present decade Of your history
ven decide all the following decades.
When was in Russia, | disappointed
in nor seeing the battlefield OF Borodino-
Why was there fought such battle at
that small villagas It was 20 miles from
Moscow. Why that desperate struggle in
which l25.C0O Frenchmen grappled with
leo, COO Russians. and 81, 600 dead Frenchmen
and 50. goo dead Russians were left on the
feldi II was because the fate OF Moscow,
the sacred city Of Russia, was decided there
decided 20 miles away. And let me tell
you, people of the thirCies. you are now at
the BorOdino whence viii resOund its sue
cesses or its moral disasters clear on into the
seventies Il you live to the threescore and
ten of the text
WIEN MAN KNOWS HIMSELF.
Next / aecost the fOrties. Yours Is the
decade OF discovery DO hot mean the dis
covery 81 the outside. but the discovery of
yourself. No man knows himself until he
is 40 He everest iniates or understands
himself By that tine &c has learned what
he can 10 or what he cannot do. He
thought be had commercial genius enough
to become millionaire but now he Is sat
is.iCd TO make a comfortable living. He
thought he had rhetorical power that
world bring him into the United States
senate Now he Is content if he can sue
cessfuliy argue a common case before a
petit Jury lie thought be had medical
skill that would make him a Mott or a
Crosse or a Willard Parker or "A Sims. Now
he finds his sphere is that Of a family ply
stefan, prescribing for the ordinary ailments
that afiict our race. He was sailing on in
fog and could not take reckoning. but
now IL clears up enough TO allow him 70
find out his real latitude and longitude He
has been climbing, but now he has got to
the top OF the hill and he takes a long
breath He is half way through the jour
ney at least, ami lie is in position to look
backward or forward He has more good
sense than he ever had He knows human
nature, for be has been cheated often
enough to see the bad side Ct il, and he has
met SO many gracious and kindly and
splendid souls he also knows the good side
oft. Now calm yourself Thank God for
the past and deliberately set your compass
for another voyage. You have chased
enough thist,elown. You have blown
enough soap bubbles. Yo1 have seen The
unsatisfying nature Of all earthly things.
Open a new chapter With God and the
world This decade OF the forties ought TO
eclipse all its predecessors 10 worship, in
usefulness and in happiness. Forty" is a
great word IN the Bible Gods ancient
people were 40 years IN the wilderness. Eli
judged Israel 30 years. David and Solomon
and Jeho2sh reigred 30 years. When Joseph
visited his brethren, he was 40 years old.
Oh, this mountain top OF the fOrJiesl You
have now the character you will probably
have for all time aud all eternity. God by
his grace sometimes changes a man after
the forties, but after that a man never
changes himself Tell me, men and
women who are in the fcrties, your habits
Of thought and life, and | viii tell you
what you viii forever be- ! might make
mistake once in thousand times, but not
more than in that proportion.
PRE8ONITOgY SYMPTOMS OF OLD AGE.
My sermon next accoots the fifties How
queer it looks when in writing your age you
make the first OF the two figures - F."
q his ie4 Iso r.rsrIa r-rbfoh ghor-rc hat 10
other decades have been. If young man
has soTn wild oats and he has lived to this
time, lac reaps the harvest OF il in the fiji
ties or ii by necessity ne was compelled to
Overtoil in honest directions he is called to
settle up with exacting nature some time
during the ffties Many have it so hard in
early life that they are octogenarians at 50.
Sciaticas and rheumatisms and neuralgias
and yertigOs and iDsOmnias have theirplay-
ground in the fifties. A mans hair begins
TO whiten, and. although he may have worn
spectacles before, now ne asks the optician
for No Il or No. ~ or No. 10. When he
gets cough and is almost cured, he hacks
and clears his throat good while after
ward. Oh, Sc who are in the fifties, think
Of It'll A half century OF blessing to be
thankful for. and "a half century substracted
from an existence which, in the most
marked cases of longevity, hardly ever
reaches a whole century. By this time you
ought 90 be eminent for piety. You have
been In 50 many battles you ought to be a
brave soldier You have made so many voy-
ages you ought 10 be a good sailor. So
long protected and blessed, you ought TO
have u soul full OF doxology. In Bible
times in Canaan every 80 years was by
Gods command year OF jubilee. The peo-
pie did not work that year. II property
had By misfortune SOnc ont Of ones pos
session, on the fitch year il came back to
him. IL he bad fooled it away, IL was re
turned withort a farthing to pay. II man
had been easlGved, he was In that year
emancipated. A trumpet was sounded loud
and clear and long, and it was the trumpet
OF jubilee. They shook hands, they laughed,
they congratulated What a time it WAS
that fitch year, And If under the old dis
pensation il was such a glad time, under
our new and more glorious dispensstion let
all who have come 20 the fifties hear the
trumpet OF Jubilee that now blow. That
was the allusion made by MIR. Toplady, the
great hymnoloEiso, when he wrote:
Blow sc the trumpet, blow
The gladly solemn sound.
Let all the nations know.
To eaEth's remOtcst bound.
The year Of jubilee T. come.
Return ye ransomed sinners home.
Ye who have sold for naught
Your heritage above
Shall have Il back untought-
The gi4t OF Jesus love.
The year OF jubilee has come.
Return ye rausOmed sinners home