Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1894-07-11
REV. DIR. TALMAGE
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUN.
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "Another Chance"

TE1r; "If the tree fall toward the south o.
toward the north, in the place where the
tree falleth there it shall be."-Ecclesiaste.
xi., 8.
There is n lowering hope In the minds o.
vast multitude that there will be an op
portunity in the next world to correct thu
mistakes OF this that IL we do make com.
plete shipwreck of our earthly life 1t will bt
on a shore, up which we may walk to pal
ace; that, as defendant may lose his case
in the circuit court and carry it up to the su.
preme court or court OF chdncery and get a
reversal OF Judgment in his behalf, all the
costs being thrown over on the other party,
so, if we fail in the earthly trial, we may In
the higher jurisdiction of eternity have the
Judgment of the lower court set aside all
the costs remitted, and we may be victorious
defendants forever. My object in this ser
mon is 10 show that common sense as well
rs my text declares that such an expectation
IS chimerical. You say that the impenitent
man. having got into the next world and
seeing the disaster. will. as a result of that
disaster, turn, the pain the cause OF his
reformation. But you can find 10000 in
stances in this world of men who have done
wrong, and distress overlook them sud.
denly. Did the distress heal them? No
they went right on.
That man was flung OF designations. You
must stop drinking" said the doctor, ''and
quit the fast life you nre leading or II will
destroy you" The patient suffers paroxysm
AFTER paroxysm, but under skillful medical
treatment he begins to sit up, begins to walk
about the room, begins to go to business.
And, 10, he goes back to the same groS-shop
for his morning dram, and his evening dram,
and the drains between. Flat down agaipl
Same doctor Same physical anguish! same
medical warningl Now the illness is more
protracted, the liver is more stubborn, the
stomach more irritable, and the digestive or.
gans are more rebelious. But after a while
he is out again, goes back to the dramshops
and goes the same round OF sacrilege against
his physical health.
He sees that his downward course is ruin
ing his household that his life Is a perpet-
ual perjury against his marriage vow that
that broken hearted woman is so unlike the
hopeful young wife whom he married that
her old schoolmates do not recognize her
that his sons are to be taunted for lifetime
by the fathers drunkenness; that the dau gh-
tiers are to pas. into life under the scarifica-
tion OF a disreputable ancestor. He il
drinking up their happiness, their prospects
for this life, and perhaps for the life to come.
Sometimes an appreciation of what be Is do
ing comes upon him His nervous system is
all a-tangle. From crown Of head to sole oi
foot he is one aching, rasping, crucifying,
damning torture Where is he? In hell on
earth. Does II reform him?
After awhile he has delirium tremens. with
whole jungle OF Kissing reptiles lot out on
his pillow, and his screams horri:y the
neighbors as he dashss out of his bed, cry
Ing, Take these things off mev' As he sits
pale and convalescent the doctor says
Now, I want to have q plain talk with YOU.
my dear fellow. The next attack of this
kind you have you will be beyond all meat
cal skill, and you will die" He gets better
and goes forth into the same fight again
This time medicine takes no effect. Consul
tation OF physicians agree in saying there ID
no hope. Death ends the scene
That process of inebriatiOn w,rn;py and
dissolution is going on within stones throw
OF You, going on in all the nefghborhoods of
Christendom. Pam does not correct. Suf.
ferinS does not reform. What is true in one
sense is true in all senses and will forever be
so, aud yet men are expecting in the next
world purcatorial rejuvenation. Take up
the printed reports of the prisons of the
United States, and you will find that the
vast majority of the incarcerated have been
there before, some of them tour five six
times. With 1000, 900 illustrations all work
ing the other way In this world people are
expecting that distress in the next state will
he salvatory- You cannot imagine any wors
torture In any other world than that which
some men have suffered here, and without
any salutary consequence.
Furthermore, the prospect of n reforma-
tion in the next world Is moro improbable
than n reformation here. In this world the
life started with innocence of infancy. In
the case supposed the other life will open
with all the accumulated bad habits of many
years upon him. Surely il is easier to build
a strong ship out of new timber than out OF
an old hulk that has been ground up in the
breakers. II with innocence to begin with
in this life a man does not become goilv
what prospect is there that In the next world,
starting with sin. there would be a seraph
evoluted? Surely the sculptor has more
prospect of making fine statue out OF a
block of pure white Parian marble than out
OF an old black rock scanned and cracked
with the storms of half century. Surely
upon n clean white sheet of paper it Is easier
10 write deed or will than upon sheet
OF paper all scribbled and blotted and torn
from top to bottom. Yet men seem to think
that. though the life that began here com.
paratively perfect turned out badly, the next
lie will succeed, though it starts with a dead
failure
But" says some one, "I think we ought
10 have chance in the next life. because
this life Is SO short it allows only small op-
portunity. We hardly have time to turn
around between cradle and tomb. the wood
of the one almost touching the marble OF the
other" But do you know what made the an
GENT deiuSe necessity 1t was tho longe-
vty of the antediluvians. They were worse
in the second century OF their lifetime than
In the first hundred years, and still worse In
the third century, and still worse all the way
on TO 700, 500 and 800 years, and the earth
had TO be washed and scrubbed and soaked
than a month before 1t could be made 1T for
decent people to live in.
Longevity never cures impenitency All
the pictures OF Time represent him with a
scythe to cut, but never saw any picture OF
Time with a case of medicines to heal
Seneca says that Nero for the first five years
OF his public life was set up for an example
OF clemency and kindness, but his path all
the way descended until at 6s A. D. he be-
came suicide. If 800 years did not make
nntediluvians any better, but only made
them worse, the ages OF eternity could have
no effect excep. proiongation OF deprayity.
'But," says some one, sin the future state
evil surroundings will be withdrawn and
elevated Influences substituted. and hence
eNpurgation and sublimation and glorif1ca-
tion." But the righteous, all their sins for
given. have passed on into a beatiflc state,
AMI consequently the unsaved will be left
alone. Ii cannot be expected that DIR. Dun,
who exhausted himself in teaching Hindoos
the way TO heaven, and DR.. Abeel. who gave
his lie in the evangelization OF China, and
AdOniram Judson, who toiled for the re
demPtion of Borneo, should be sent down by
some celestial missionary society to educate
thOs" who wasted all their earthly existence.
EvaDgelistic AMI missionary efforts are
ended. The entire kingdom OF the morally
bankrupt by themselves, where the
salvatory influences to come from? Can one
specked and bad apple in barrel of dis
eased apples turn the other apples good?
Can those who arc themselves down help
others up2 Can those who have themselves
failed in the business of the soul pay the
debts of their spiritual insolvents! Can a
million wrongs make one right?
PoneropoliS was city where King Philip
OF Tnracia put all the bad people of his
kingdom. If any man had opened primary
school at Poneropolis, l do not think the
parents from other cities would have sent
their children there. Instead of amendment
in the other word. all the associations. now
that the good are evolved. will be degsnera-
ting and down. You would not want 10 send
man 10 rnO.era or yellow fever hosp;t.
ior his health, and the great lazaretto OF the
h'Nt word. containing the diseased and
plague struck. will I've poor place for moral
recovery. il the surroun iings in this world
were crowded OF temptation, the surround
inSs of the next worli, after the righteous
have passed up and on. vii be 4 thousand
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