Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1893-03-15
FROM TWENTY TO SEVENTY.
Rev. DR.. Talmage breaches a Char
ac~teristic Sermon on Ages.
An interesting Description of Mankind at
twenty. Thirty, Forty. Fifty, sixty
and Seventy Years-Few Reach
and Multitudes Never Pass
the Seventeen Milestone.


lowing striking and characteristic SER
mon at the Brooklyn tabernacle recent
ly, the subject being From Twenty to
Seventy" The text selected was Psalm
xc, 10: The days of our years are
three-score and ten:"
The SEVENTEEN milestone of life is here
planted at the end of the journey. A
few go beyond it; multitudes never
reach it The Oldest person of modern
times expired at one hundred and sixty
nine years. A Greek, by the name of
Stravaride, lived to one hundred and
thirty-two years. An Englishman, by
the name of Thomas Parr, lived one
hundred and fifty-two years Before
the time of Moses people lived one hun
dred and fifty years, and if you go far
enough back they lived five hundred
years. Well, that was necessary. be
cause the story of the world must come
down by tradition, and it needed long
life safely to transmit the news of the
past. Ii the generations had been
short-liyed, the story would so often
have changed lips that it might have
got all astray. But after Moses began
to write it down, and parchment told
it from century TO century, it was not
necessary that people live so long in
order to authenticate the events of the
past. If, in our time, people lived only
twenty-five years, that would not affect
history, since it is put in print and is
no longer dependent on tradition.
Whatever your age, | will to-day direct
ly address you, and | shall speak to
those who are in the twenties, the
thirties, the forties. the ffties, the six
ties, and to those who are in the seven
ties and beyond.
First. then. l accost those of you who
are in the twenties You are full of
expectation. You are ambitious-that
is, if you amount to anything-for some
kind ofsuccess, commercial, or mechani-
cal, or professional, or literary, or agri-
cultural, or social or moral If find
some one in the twenties without any
sort of ambition, l feel like saying:
my friend, you have got on the wrong
planet This is not the world for you.
You are going to be in the way. Have
you made your choice of poorhouses?"
You will never be able to pay for your
cradle. Who is going to settle for your
board? There is a mis- take about the
fact that you were born at all" But
supposing you have ambition, let me
say to all the twenties, expect every
thing through divine manipulation,
and then you will get all you want or
something better. Are you looking for
wealth? Well, remember that God
controls the money markets, the har-
vests, the droughts, the caterpillars,
the l~ocusts, the sunshine, the storm,
the land, the sea, and you will get
wealth Perhaps not that which is
stored up in banks, in safe deposits. in
United States securities, in houses and
lands, but your clothing, and board and
shelter, and that is about all you can
appropriate anyhow. You cost the
Lord a great deal To feed and clothe
and shelter you for a lifetime requires
a big sum of money. and if you get
nothing more than the absolute neces-
sity, you get an enormous amount of
supply. Expect as much as you will of
anv kind of success, if you expect it
from the Lord you are safe. Depend on
any other resource and you may be
badly chagrined, but depend on God
and all will be we'll 1t is a good thing
in the crisis of life to have a man of
large mean back you up. 1t IS a great
thing to have a moneyed institution
stand behind you in your undertaking.
But it is a mightier thing to have the
God of heaven and earth your coad-
tutor. and you may nave Him. ! am so
glad that / meet you while you are in
the twenties. You are laying out your
plans, and all your life in this world
and the next for five hundred million
years of your existence will be affected
bv those plans. 1t is about s o'clock
in the morning of your life, and you are
inst starting out Which way are you
going to start? o, the twenties!
Twenty is a great word in the BIZ
BILE. Joseph wa so for twenty pieces
of silver. Samson judged Israel twenty
years Solomon gave Hiram twenty
cities. The flying roll that Zechariah
saw was twenty cubits When the
sailors of the ship on which Paul sailed
sounded the Mediterranean sea, 1t was
twenty fathoms What mighty things
have been done in the twenties. Romu-
lus founded Rome when he was
twenty. Keats finished life at twenty.
FIVE. Lafayette was a world-renowned
soldier at t~wenty-three. 0berlin ac-
eomplished his chief work by twenty
seven. Bonapartc was victor over
italy at twenty-six. Pitt was prime
minister of England at Twenty-Five
Calvin had completed his immortal
institutes by the time he was
twenty-six. Grotius was attorney gen.
eral at twenty-four. Some of the
miohtiest things for God and eternity
have been done in the twenties As
long as you can put the figure ~ be-
fore the other figure that helps de-
scribe your age, l have high hopes
about you. Look out for that figure
-. Watch its continu ance with as
much earnestness as you ever watched
anything that promised you salvation
H. .