Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1894-01-04

Is just Three Hundred and Sixty-fve
Miles Nearer Home.
BROOKLYN, Dec. Sin the forenoon
service at the Brooklyn Tabernacle today
Rev. DR.. Talmage preached on the subject
of Shortened Lives; or, n Cheerful Good
by to 1898" The text selected was Isaiah
lvii, l, THE 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 In January last we celebrated its
birth. Today we attend its obsequies. An
other 10 months have been cut out of our
earthly continuance, and it is time for
absorbing reflection.
We all spend much time in panegyric of
longevity. We consider it Il great thing to
live to be an octogenarian. If any one dies
in youth we say, what a pity" DR..
Muhlenberg 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.
II one be pleasantly circumstanced, he
never wants to go. William Cullen Bry-
ant, the great poet, at 50 years OF agvl, stand
ing in my house in festal group, reading
"Thanatopss' without spectacles was just
rs anxious to live as when at Is years of Hgse
he wrote the immortal thrcnody. Cato
feared at so years of age that he would not
live to learn Greek. MoualdescO at lis
years, writing the history of his time, feared
collapse Theophrastus writing book
at 90 years of age was anxious, to live to
complete it, Thurlow Weed at about 50
years of age found life as great desirable
ity as when he snufled out his first politi-
clan.
Albert Barnes, so well prepared for the
next world, at 20 said he would rather stay
here. so it is all the way down. suppose
that the last time Nethusaleh was out of
doors in n storm he was afraid of getting
his feet wet lest it shorten hi, days In
deed | some time ago preached "A sermon
on the blessings of longevity, but in this,
the last day Of 1898. and when many are
filled with sadness at the thought that an
other chapter of their life is closing, and
that they have 800 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 agnostc, would say a man
is blessed in proportion to the number of
years he can stay on terra lirma,' because
after that he falls of the docks, and if he is
ever picked out of the depths it is only to
be set up in some mOrgue of the universe
TO see if anybody will claim him. If
thought God made man only to last 30 or
80 or 100 years, and then he was to 90 into
humiliation, / would say his chief business
ought to be to keep alive and even in good
weather to be very cautious, and to carry
HI umbrella and take over.hoes and life
preservers and bronze armor and weapons
of defense lest he fail off into nothnguess
and obliteration.
But, my friends, you are not agnostios.
You believe in Immortality and the eternal
residence Of the righteous in heaven, and
therefore first remark that an abbreviated
earthly existence is TO be desired and is "A
blessing because it makes ones life work
very compact
Some men 90 to business at o'clock in
the morning and return at in the evening.
Others go at 5 o'clock and return at y.
Others go at 10 and return at 4. | have
friends who are ten hours a day in business;
others who are five hours; others who are
one hour They all do their work well.
They do their entire work, and then they re-
turn. Which position do You think the
most desirable? You say, other things be-
ing equal, the man who is the shortest time
detained in business and who can return
Now, my friends, why not carry that good
sense into the subject of transterence from
this world? If person die in childhood, he
gets through his work at 9 o'clock in the
morning If he die at - years of age, he
gets through his work at II o'clock noon. If
be die at 20 years of age, he gets through his
work at o'clock in the afternoon. If he
die at 80, he has to toll all the way on up to
II o'clock at night. The sooner we get
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 for
the old homestead. Al we want to be anX-
ions 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 if
he tarried longer \ man who had been
prominent in churches, and who had been
admired for his generosity and kindness
everywhere, for forgery was sent to state
prison for - years. Twenty years before
there was no more probability of hat mans
committing "A commercial dishonesty than
that you will commit commercial dishon
esIy The number of men who fall into
fu!n between 80 and 20 years of age is sim
}iy appalling. If they had died 80 years be
fore it would have been better for them
and better for their families. The shorter
tue voyage the less chance for a cyclone.
There is wrong theory abroad that il
ones youth be right his old age will be
right. Iou might a. well say there is moth
ing wanting for "a ships safety except t
ar II fuIIv lam he'd on 10 tlnDti. 1oaur