Democratic messenger., 1893-03-11

eStoplel ON You or You might somehow
stand i'll the way They think you mus
be suppressed.
From 30 to 30 it is an especially hare
time for young doctors. young lawyers
young merchants. young farmers. young
mechanics, young ministers The strng
gle of the thirties Is for honest and help
full and rcmunerative recognition Bu
few old people know hoa tn treat young
people without patro" KIN" them ON tn,
one hand or snubbing them on the other
Oh. the thirties. Joseph stood befor,
Pharaoh at - David was 30 years OLD
when he began to reign. The height ol
solomon's temple WAS 30 cubits. Christ
entered upon his active ministry at ~
years Of age Judas sold him for II
pieces of silver.
Oh, the thirties! What a word. siig
gesiive of triumph or disaster! Your dec
adc is Tie one that will probably afford
the greatest opportunity for victory. he
cause there Is the greatest necessity foi
struggle Read the worlds history and
know what are the thirties for good OF
bad Alexander the Great closed his CT
rcer AT 81 Frederick the Great made
Europe tremblc with his armies at 81.
Cortes conquered Mexico at 80. Grant
Raphael died nj 81 Luther was the here
of the reformation at 81. Sir Philip sgd.
ney got through hy -
The greatest deeds for God and against
him were dome within the thirties, and
your greatest battles are now and be.
tween the time when you cease express.
ing vour age by putting first figure 80
and the time when you will cease ex-
pressing il by putting first Il figure ''3.
As il Is the greatest time of the struggle.
adlure YOU in God name and by God d's
grace. make il the greatest achievement.
Ny prayer Is for all those in the tremen-
dous crises Of the thirties The fact is
that by the WAY you decide the present
decade of your history you decide all the
following decades
When WAS IN Russia. was disap.
pointed i'll not seeing the battlefield of
Borodino Why WAS there fought such
Il battle III that small village: 1t was 10
ate struggle. in which la5.000 French
men grapple,i with 100. 900 Russians. and
80. 900 dead Frenchmen and - 900 dead
Russians were left on the field: Ii was
because the fate of Moscow. the sacred
city of Russia WAS decided there-de-
cided 20 miles away. And let me tell
You. people Of the thirties You are now
at the Borodino. whence will resound
its successes or its moral disasters clear
ON into the seventies if You live to the
threescore and ten of the text
AT FORTY MAN KNOWS HIS WEAKNESS.
Next | accost the forties Yours is the
decade of discovery | do not mean the
discovery of the outside. but the discov-
cry of yourself No man knows himself
until he is 40 He overestimates or un-
derestimates himself BY that time he
has learned what he can do or what he
cannot do He thought he had CONNER
cial genius enough to become million
aire, but now he is satisfied to make a
comfortable living He thought he had
rhetorical power that would bring him
into the United States senate: now he is
content if he can sUc :essfully argue a
common case before "a petit jury.
He thought he had medical skill that
would make him Mott or Crosse or a
Willard Parker or Sims; now he finds
his sphere is that of family physician,
prescribing for the ordinary ailments
that afliict our race He was sailing on
in fog and could not take reckoning,
but now ii clears up enough TO allow
him to find out his real latitude and
longitude lie has been climbing, but
now he has got to the top of the hill, and
he takes long breath He is half way
through the journey nj least, and he is
in position to look backward or for
ward He has more good sense than he
ever had He knows human nature. for
he has been cheated often enough 10 see
the bad side of it. and he has met 81
many gracious and kindly and splendid
souls he also knows the good side of it.
Now calm yourself Thank God for
the past and deliberately set your com
pass for another voyage You have
chased enough thistledown You have
blown enough soap bubbles. You have
seen the nnsatisfying nature of all earth
~ things Open new chapter with
God and the world. This decade of the
forties onghi To eclipse all its predeces-
sors in worship. i'll usefulness and in
happiness Forty is great word in
the Bible Gods ancient people were
20 years in the wilderness. Eli judged
israel 30 years. David and Solomon and
.Jehoash rrigncd 10 years. When Joseph
visited his brethren. he was 40 years old.
Oh, this mountain top of the forties,
You have now the character you will
probably have for all time and all etcr-
nifty God 10y his grace. sometimes
changes man after the foriies. but aft
er that a man never changes himself
Tell me. o men and women who are in
the forties. Your habits of thought and
life, and will tell you what YOU will
forever be might make Il mistake once
in a thousand times but not more than
in that proportion.
Ny sermon next accosts the fifties
How qucer il looks when in writing Your
age you make the first of the two figures
u -" This is the decade which shows
what the other decades have been. If Il
young man has sown wild oats and he
has lived TO ;nis time. he reaps the har-
vest Of il in the fifties. or if by necessity
he was compelled to ovcrtoil in honest
directions he is called To- settle up with
exaciiag nature some time during the
fiftics
Many have Il So hard in early life that
they are octogenarians at 30. Sciaticas
and rhcumatisms and ncuralgias and
vertiSos and inSomnlas have their play
ground III the tif,ics. \ mans hair be-
gins 10 whitcu. and. although he may
have worn spcctacles before. now he asks
the optician for No. II or NJ. II or No.
10 When he gets a cough and is almost
cured he hacks and clears his throat a
good while afterward Oh, We who are
in the iftics. think of it. y half century
of blessing 10 bc thankful for. and half
century suhiracte,l from an existence
which in the most marked eases of Ion
gcvity hardly ever reaches a whole cen
tury