Connecticut western news., 1894-05-10
THE PASSING THRONG
A GREAT DAY IN THE HISTORY OF
 THE TABERNACLE.

THE TABERNACLE.
 The rwenty-hfth Anniversary of Rev. pr.
 ralmage's Brooklyn Pastorate-An Flo
 quent, Appropriate Discourse-Preachins
 to Twenty-Five Million Souls
 BROOKLYN, May 6.-This was great day in the history of the Brooklyn Tab ernacle The figures in flowers back of the platform-lS69 and 1894-indicat- ed Rev. Dr. Talmage's time of coming to Brooklyn and the present celebration and were introductory to the great meet ings in honor of Dr. Talmage's pastor. ate to take place on the following Thurs day and Friday, presided over by the mayor of the city and the ex-secretary of the navy, General Tracy, and to be par ticipated in by senators and governors and prc0inent men from north, south, east and west. The subject of the ser mon today was ''The Generations, " the text being Ecclesiastes i. 4, "One gen. eration passeth away, and another gener- ation cometh. v
 According to the longevity of people in their particular century has gener- ation been called 100 years, or 50 years, or 80 years. By common consent in our nineteenth century generation is fixed at 25 years.
 The largest procession that ever moy- ed is the procession of years, and the greatest army that ever marched is Sle army of generations. In each genera tion there are about nine frll regiments of days These Q, 125 days in each gener ation march with wonderful precision. They never break ranks. They never ground arms They never pitch tents. They never halt They are never off on furlough. They came out of the eterni- ty past, and they move on toward the eternity future. They cross rivers with out any bridge or boats. The 500 i'm mortals of the Crimea dashing into them cause no confusion. They move as rap idly at midnight as at midnoon. Their haversacks are full of good bread and bitter aloes, clusters of richest vintage and bottles of agonizing tears. With regular tread that no order of "dou- ble quick" can hasten or obstacle can slacken, their tramp is on and on and on and on while mountains crumble and pyramids die. "One generation passeth, and another generation com eth. "
 Generation.
 This is my twenty-fifth anniversary sermon-1869 and 1894. It is 25 years since assumed the Brooklyn pastorate. A whole generation has passed. Three generations we have known-that which preceded our own, that which is now at the front, and the one coming on. We are at the heels of our predecessors, and our successors are at our heels. What generation it was that preceded usl We who are now in the front regiment are the only ones competent to tell the new generation just now coming in sight who our predecessors were Biography cannot tell it. Autobiography can not tell it. Biographies are generally written by special friends of the depart ed-perhaps by wife or son or daughter and they only tell the good things The biographers of one of the first presi- dents of the United States make no rec ord of the presidents account books, now in the archives at the capitol, which I have seen, telling how much he lost or gained daily at the gaming table. The biographers of one of the early secretaries of the United States never described the scene that day wit messed when the secretary was carried dead drunk from the state apartments to his own home. Autobiography is written by the man himself, and no one would record for future times his own weaknesses and moral deficits. Those who keep diaries put down only things that read we'll. No man or woman that ever lived would dare to make full rec ord of all the thoughts and words of lifetime. We who saw and heard much of the generation marching just ahead of us are far more able than any book to describe accurately to our successors who our predecessors were. Very much like ourselves, thank you. Human na- ture in them very much like human na- ture in us. At our time of life they were very much like we now are. At the time they were in their teens they were very much like you are in your teens, and at the time they were in their twen- ties they were very much like you are in your twenties. Human nature got an awful twist under fruit tree in Eden, and though the grace of God does much to straighten things every new gener- ation has the same twist, and the same work of strengthening out has to be done over again
 Twenty-Five Years Back.
 A mother in the country districts, ex- pecting the neighbors at her table on some gala night, hadwith her own hands arranged everything in taste, and as she was about to turn from it to receive her guests saw her little child by accident upset 8 pitcher all over the white cloth and soil everything, and the mother lifted her hand to slap the child, but she suddenly remembered the time when little child herself, in her fathers house, where they had al- ways before been used to candles on the purchase of lamp, which was mat ter of rarity and pride, she took it in her hands and dropped it, crashing into pieces, and looking up in her fathers face, expecting chastisement, heard only the words, Tt is sad loss, but never yOu ulu HUI ulcSku OO uO kb.
 History repeats itself. Generations wonderfully alike. Among that gener- ation that is past, as in our own, and as it will be in the generation follow ing us, those who succeeded became the target, shot at by those who did not succeed In those times, as in ours, mans bitterest enemies were those whom he had befriended aAd helped. Hates, jealousies and revenges were just as lively in 1869 as in 1894. Hypocrisy snified and looked solemn then as now. There was just as much ayarice among the apple barrels as now among the cot ton bales and among the wheelbarrows as among tho locomotives. The tallow candles saw the same sins that are now found under the electric lights. Home spun was just as proud as is the mod ern fashion plate. Twenty-Five years yea, 25 centuries-have not changed human nature particle. say this for the encourapemant of those who think