The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1894-02-03
AT THE TABERNACLE.
"sHORTENED LIVES; or, a CHEERFUL
GOODlY TO i8o3"

Rev. Dr. Ialmago Chooses very Timely
Subject For Ills sermou-The Christian
Is Just Three Hundred and SiNty-fve
Miles Nearer Homo.
BROoELYN, Dee. 3l.--In the forenoon
prvice at the Brooklyn Tabernacle today
Rev DIR. Ialmage preached on the subject
Of shortened Lives; or, \ Cheerful Good
BY to ls93" The text selected was Isaiah
lvii, l. "Thc righteous is taken away from
the. evil to come
We have written for the last time at the
head of our letters and business documents
the figures 1893 With this day closes the
year la January last we celebrated its
birth Today we attend its obsequie- An
other II months have been cut out Of our
earthly continuance, and il is time for
absorbing reflection.
We all spend much time in panegyr ic of
longevity We consider it a great thing to
live to be an octogenarian. If any one dies
in youth, we say, "What pityr' DIR.
Muhlcnberg in old age said that the hymn
written in early life by his own hand no
more expressed his sentiment when it said,
would not live Away.
If one bc pleasantly circumstance, he
never wants to 20. William Cullen Bry-
ant, the great poet at 50 years of age stand
ing in my house in festal group, reading
"Thanatopsis' without spectacles, was just
a. anxious toliye as when at Is years of age
he wrote the immortal threnody. Cato
feared at so years OF age that he would not
live to learn Greek. MonaldesCo at lis
years, writing the history of his time, feared
collapse. TheOphrastus writing n book
at 50 years OF age was anxious to live to
Mt ah
years of age found life as great n desirable
ity as when he snuffed out his first politi-
clan.
Albert Barnes, 50 well prepared for the
next world, ut 20 said he would rather stay
here So it is all the way down. | suppose
that the last time Methusaleh was out of
doors in "A storm he was afraid of getting
his feet wet lest it shorten his days. In
deed | some time ago preached a sermon
on the blessings of longevity, but in this,
the last day Of 1893, and when many are
filled with sadness at the thought that an
other chapter of their life is closing, and
that they have 3G5 days less to live, pro-
pose to preach to you about the advantages
of an abbreviated earthly existence.
THE MoRGUE OF THE UNIVERSE.
If ! were an agnostic, | would say a man
is blessed in proportion to the number OF
years ut can stay on terra IIlId, BECAUSE
after that he falls Off the docks, and if he is
ever picked out Of the depths it is only &c
be set up in some morgue of the universe
to see if anybody will claim him. If
thought God made man only to last 40 OF
50 or 100 years, and then he was to 20 into
humiliation, would say his chief business
ought to be to keep alive and even in goot
weather 10 he very cautious and Ia carry
an umbrella and take overshoes and lif,
preservers and bronze armor and weapon!
of defense lest he fall Off into uothingnes
and obliteration
But, my friends you are not agnostics
You believe in Immortality aud the eterna
residence of the righteous in heaven, anC
therefore first remark that an abbreviated
earthly existence is to be desired, and is
blessing because it makes ones life WORK
very compact.
Some men go to business at o'clock il
the morning and return at in the evening
Others 20 at s o'clock and return at IL
Others 80 at 10 and return at 1. | have
friends who are ten hours day in business
others who are five hours; others who are
one hour. They all do their work we'll
They do their entire work, and then they re-
turn. Which position do you think the
most desirabe2 You say, other things be
detained in business and who can return
home the quickest is the most blessed
Now, my friends, why not carry that goot
sense into the subject of trausference from
this world? If person die in childhood, b
gets through his worl- at . o'clock in tn
morning If he die at Is years of age, h.
gets through his work at T. o'clock noon.
he die at 20 years of age, he gets through hi
work at o'clock in the afternoon. If h,
die at 80, he has to toll all the way on up t
II o'clock at night. The sooner we gel
through our work the better The harvest
all in barrack or barn, the farmer does not
sit down in the stubble field; but, shoulder
ing his scythe and taking his pitcher from
under "A tree, he makes straight line fol
the old homestead. All we want to be anx
ious about is to get our work done and well
done, the quicker the better.
MORAL DISASTER ESCAPED.
Again, there is blessing in an abbre
Waited earthly existence in the fact that
moral disaster might come upon the man il
he tarried longer A man who had beer
prominent in churches and who had beer
admired for his generosity and kindness
everywhere, for forgery was sent to stat,
prison for IS years. Twenty years before
there was no more probability of that mani
committing a commercial dishonesty than
that you will commit commercial dishon
esty. The number of men who fall init
ruin between 80 and 20 years Of age is sim
ply appalling. If they had died 30 years be
fore, it would have been better for then
and better for their families The shorte
the voyage the less chance for a cyclone.
There is a wrong theory abroad that i
ones youth be right his old age will b
right. You might as well say there is moth
ing wanting for ships safety except t.
get il fully launched on the Atlantic ocean
] have sometimes asked those who wer
schOolmates or college mates Of some grea
defrauder: What kind of a boy was he
What kind of young man was he?" am
they have said; why, he was splendi
fellow. had no idea he could ever go int
such an outrage" The fact is, the grea
temptation of life sometimes comes far O
in midlife or in old age,
The first time | crossed the Atlanti
ocean it was as smooth as millpOnd, an
! thought the sea captains and the yoyager
had slandered the old ocean, and | wrot
home an essay for II magazine on 9Th
Smile of the Sea-" but ] never afUerwar
could have written that thing for befor
we got home we got terrible shaking W
The first voyage of life may be very smooth
the last may be a euroclydon. Many wh
start life in great prosperity do not end i
in prosperity.
The great pressure of temptation come
sometimes in this direction. At about 4
years of age a mans nervous system
changes, and some one tells him he mus
take stimuants TO keep himself up, and u
takes stimulants to keep himself up, unit
the stimulants keep him down, or ma
has been going along for 30 or 40 years j.
unsuccessful business, and here is an open
ing where by one dishonorable action h
can lift himself and lift his family from al
financial embarrassment. He attempts b
leap the chasm, and he falls into it.
Then it is in after life that che gree
temptation of success comes. If "a mar
make fortune before 80 years of age hi
generally loses it before 40. The solid ant
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