The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-05-23
REV.. DIR. TALMAGE.
1HE BROOKLYN DIvINE'S SUN.
DAY SERMON.
Subject: ssThe Generations"

Subject: ssThe Generations"
Text "One generation passeth away, and
another generation cometh. "-Ecclesiastes
Ia.
According to the longevity OF people In
their particular century has generation been
called 100 years, or fifty years, or thirty
gears. By common consent In our nineteenth
century generation Is fixed at twenty-five
years.
The largest procession that ever moved Is
the procession OF years, and the greatest
army that ever marched is the army of gene
rations. In each generation there are about
nine full regiments Of days. These 9125 days
IN each generation march with wonderful
precision. They never break ranks, They
never ground arms. They never pitch tents.
They never halt. They are never off on fur
Tough. They came out Of the eternity past,
and they move on toward the eternity future.
They cross rivers without any bridge or boats.
The 600 imnortals of the Crimea dashing into
them cause no confusion. They move as
rapidly at midnight rs 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 "double 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 cometh."
This Is my twenty-ffth anniversary ser
mon-1s69 and 1894. II Is twenty-five years
since assumed the Brooklyn pastorate. A
whole generation has passed. Three genera.
tfons we have Enown-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 US 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 can
not tell 1t. Autobiography cannot tell II.
Biographies are generally written BY special
son or daughter-and they only tell the good
things. The biographers OF one OF the first
Presidents Of the United States make no REQ
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 bio9raphers
of one Of the early Secretaries OF the United
States never described the scene that day
witnessed 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 well. No man or wo-
man that ever lived would dare to make full
record OF all the thoughts and words OF a
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 our
selves, thank you. Human nature In them
very much like human nature In us. At our
time OF life they were very much Ike 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
twenties they were very much like you are
In your twenties. Human nature got an aw-
full twist under a fruit tree in Eden, and
though the grace OF God does much to
strlghten things every new generation has
the same twist, and the same work OF
Strengthening out has to be done over again.
a mother In the country districts, expsct
ing the neighbors at her table on some gala
night, had with her own hands arranged ev-
erything In taste, and as she was about to
turn from 1t to receive her guests saw her
little child by accident upset 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
q little child herself, In her fathers house,
where they had always before been used to
candles, on the purchase Of a lamp, which
was matter OF rarity and pride, she took 1t
In her hands and dropped it, crashing into
pieces, and looking up in her fathers face.
expecting chastisement, heard only the
words, 'It Is q sad loss, but never mind
you did not mean to do It,"
History repeats itself. Generations
wonderfully alike. Among that generation
that Is past, as In our own, and as It will be
in the generation following US, those who
succeeded became the target, shot at by
those who did not SUCCEED. 1nthose times,
as In ours, mans bitterest enemies were
those whom he had befrIended and helped.
Hates, jeslousies and revenges were just as
and looked solemn then as now. There was
Just as much avarice among the apple bar
rels MS now among the cotton bales and
among the wheelbarrows as among the
locomotives. The tallow candles saw the
same Gins that are now found under the
electric lights. Homespun was Just as
proud as Is the modern fashion plate.
Twenty-Five years-yea, twenty-five centuries
have not changed human nature particle.
I say this for the encouragement OF those
who think that our times monopolize all the
denominations Of the ages.
One minute after Adam got outside OF
step after Eve left t6e gate she was Just like
v6d, o woman! All The faults md Vices are
MANY times centenarfans. Yea, the cities
sodom, Gomoffah, Pompeii, Herculaneun.
Heliopolis and ancient Memphis were as
much worse than our modern cities as you
might expect from the fact that the modern
cities have somewhat yielded to the re-
straints OF Christianity, while those ancient
cities were not limited In their abomtna-
t1ons. -''--'4'.-As's' '.s.s-s-r
Yea, that generation which passed of with
In the last twenty-five years had their be-
reavements, their temptations, their strug-
giles, their disappointments, their successes,
their failures, their gladnesses and their
griefs, like these two generations; now In
sight, that in advance and that following.
But the twenty-five years between 1869 AMI
1S94-how much they saw! How much they
discovered! How much they felt Within
that time have been performed the miracles
Of the telephone and the photograph. From
the observatories other worlds have been
seen to heave In sight. Six Presidents OF
the United States have been 1naugurated.
Transatlantic voyage abbreviated from ten
days to 81. Chicago and New York. once
three days apart, now only twenty-four
hours by rhe vestibule limited. Two addI-
tional railroads have been built to the Pacific.
France has passed from monarchy to repuo-
licanism. Many of the cities have nearly
doubled their populations. During that
generation the chief surviving heroes of the
Civil War have gone into the encampment OF
the grave. The chief physicians, attorneys,
orators, merchants, have passed of the earth
or are in retirement waiting for transition.
Other men In editorial chairs, in pulplts, in
Governors mansions, In legislative, Sena-
torial and Congressional halls.
There are not ten men or women on earth
now prominent who were prominent twenty.
five years ago. The crew OF this old snip OF
q world is all changed. Others at the helm,
,.h.-s ~, tba ..IooEout -o.hers clitn oinc the