Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1893-08-16
PAST and FUTURE.
You Mean to Do Wonderful Things,
No Doubt,
But Recall some Of the Dangers You Have
Escaped. and owen Upon the Sorrows
You Have suffered Sermon By
Ees. r. Dewitt TalmaEe.

I
Rev. DR. Talmage chose as the topic
! for Sunday panorama Of "reminiscences
/ appropriate to the season, the text Sc
/ lected being Psalm xxxix. s.. While l
/ was musing the fire burned"
Here is David. the psalmist, with the
! forehnger of his right hand against his
+ temple, the door shut against the
world, engaged in contemplation. And
/ it would be well for Us to take the
same posture often, closing the door
against the world, while we sit down
In sweet solitude TO contemplate.
| In a small island of the coast / once
/ passed sabbath in delightful solitude,
/ for / had resolved that / would have
one day of entire quiet before / en-
tered upon autumnal work ] thought
20 have spent the day in laying out
| plans for Christian work; but instead OF
that it became day Of tender retninis-
eence. reviewed my passionate;
shook hands with an old departed
| friend, whom l shall greet again when
/ the curtains of life are lifted. The
days of my boyhood came back. and /
was 10 years of age. and l was 5, and /
was 3. There was but one hoase on
the island, and yet from Sabbath day
break, when the bird chant woke me
until the evening melted into the bay.
I from shore TO shore there were ten
thousand memories, and the groves
were album with voices that had long
ago ceased.
Youth is apt too much 10 spend all its
! time in looking forward Old age is
apt too much TO spend all its time in
| looking backward. People IN mid-life
and on the apex look both ways It
would be well for us. think. however.
| TO spend more time in "reminiscences BY
! the constitution OF our nature we spend
most of the time looking forward. And
the vast majority of people live not so
much in the present as in the future. !
! find that YOU mean to make a reputa-
| ton, you mean TO establish yourself.
and the advantages that you expect &c
achieve absorb great deal OF your
time. But see no harm in this, If il
does not make You disconnected with
the present, or disqualify you for exist
/ ing duties.
| 1t is useful thing sometimes TO look
back, and to see the dangers we have
| escaped, and TO see the sorrows we
| have suffered, and the trials and wan
behring's of our earthly pilgrimage. and
to sum up our enjoyments. mean to-
day, so far as God may help me, TO stir
up your memory of the past, so that in
review you may be encouraged and
humbled, and urged TO pray.
I There is chapel in Florence with
/ fresco by Guido. 1t was covered up
/ with two inches of stucco until our
American and European artists went
there. and after long toll removed the
covering and retraccd the fresco. And
{ ! am aware that the remedy of the past
with many of you is all covered up
with 10000 deliberations, and propose
/ this morning. so far as the Lord may
, help mc, to take away the covering,
! that the old picture may shine out
ngain. want to find in one sheaf all
: your past advantages, and / want 10
! bind in another shcaf all your past adj
/ vcrsities 1t is 20 precious harvest, and
must be cautious how ! swing the
. scythc.
Among the greatest advantages OF
; your past life YEAS an early home and
! its surroundings. The bad men of the
, day, for the most part, dip their. heated
/ passions out OF the boiling spring of an
/ unhappy home. We are not surprised
D Il
IF sin, when we hear his mother was
abandoned. and that she made sport of
/ his infrmity, and often called him the
lame brat lie who has vicious parents
has TO fight every inch of his way if he
would maintain his integrity, and at
/ last reach the home of the good in
Heaven.
Perhaps your early home was in the
city. IL may have been when Canal
street, New York, was far up town.
That old house in the city may have
been demolished or changed into stores,
and it seemed like sacrilege TO you-for
there was more meaning in that plain
house, in that small house, than there
is in granted mansion or n turreted
cathedral Looking backward this
morning, you sec il as though il were
! yesterday sitting-room, where the
loved ones sat by the plain lamp light,
the mother at the evening stand. the
brothers and sisters. perhaps long ago
/ gathered into the skies, then plotting
mischief ON the floor or under the table:
your father with "a firm voice command
ing silence, that lasted half a minute.
Oh, those were good days. If you
had your foot burt your mother all
ways had a soothing sulvc 90 heal il.
/ If Won were wronged i'm the street. your
father was always ready toprotcct Won.
The year was one round of frolic and
mirth Your greatest trouble was an
. April shower. more hiuc than
shower The heart had not been ram
sacked by troubles nor had sickness
I broken 20. and no lamb had % warmer
Ehccufold than Che home i'm which your
| childhood nestled.
Perhaps you were brought mp in the
/ country lou stand now to-day i'm
mcmory under the old tree You
I dubbed SO for fruit that was not quite
/ ripe because YOU could not wait any
. longer. You hear the brook rumbling
I along over the pebbles. You steunraip
/ into thc furrow where your fa thcr. in
| his shirt sleeves. shouted 90 the lazy
oxen you brighten the swallows from
/ the r1fters of thc barn. and take just
one egg and silence your conscience bv
/ saving they will not miss &c. You take
% drink again ont of the very bucket
that the old well fetched UP. You go
Tor the cows at night and find them
. wugEing their heads through the bars.
OFT times boz the dusty and busy streets
You wish you were homo again ON that
cool grass. or iu Che hall OF The farm
house through which There was the