The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-01-17
REV, DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIvINE'S SUM-
DAY SERMON.
Subject: stShortened Lives"

the era to come. Isaiah lvii. l.
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 1ts
birth. To-day we attend its obsequies. A9
other twelve months have been cut out OF
our earthly continuance. and it is time
for absorbing reflection.
We all spend much time in panecyric OF
longevity. We consider it great thing to
live to be an octogenarian. II 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 1t said )
would not live alwsv.
II one be pleasantly circumstanced. he
never wants to CO. William Cullen Bryant,
the great poet, at eighty-two years OF age,
standing in my house in festal group read
ing "Thanatopsis" without spectacles. was
Just as anxious to live as when at eighteen
years Of age he wrote theimmortal threnody.
Cato feared at eighty 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
book at ninety years OF age was anxious to
live to complete 1t. Thurlow Weed at about
eighty-six years OF age found life as great
desirability az when he snuffed out his first
politician.
Albert Barnes, 80 well prepared for the
next world, at seventy said he would rather
stay here. So 1t Is all the way down. I sup
pose that the last time Methuselah was out
OF doors in storm he was afraid OF getting
his feet wet lest 1t shorten his days. Indeed
I some time ago preached sermon on the
blessings OF longevity, but In this. the last
day Of 1898, and when many are filed with
sadness at the thought that another chapter
Of their life Is closing, and that thew have
365 days less to live, propose to preach to
you about the advantages Of an abbreviated
earthly existence.
III were an agnostic, would say man
Is blessed in proportion to the number OF
years he can stay on terra drma," because
after that he falls of the docks, and If he Is
ever picked out OF the depths 1t is only to be
set up in some morgue OF the universe to see
II anybody will claim him. If thought God
made man only to last forty or fifty or 100
years, and then he was to 60 into annih1la-
tion. would say his chief business ought to
be to keep alive and even In good weatherto
be very cautious, and to carry an umbrella
and take overshoes and life preservers and
bronze armor and weapons of defense lest he
fall off into nothingness and obliteration.
But, my friends, you are not agnostlcs.
You believe In immortality and the eternal
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 in
the morning and return at in the evening.
Others 60 at 8 o'clock and return at II.
Others 60 at 10 and return at 4. I have
friends who are ten hours day in business,
others who are five hours, others who are
Ill l@ %kaiv
they do their entire work, and then they re-
turn. Which position do you think the
most desirable2 You say, other things being
equal, the man who Is the shortest time de-
tanned in business and who can return home
the quickest is the most blessed.
Now, my friends, why not carry that good
sense into the subject of transference from
this world2 II a person die in childhood. he
gets through his work at 9 o'clock in the
morning. II he die at forty-dve years Of age,
he gets through his work at 12 o'clock noon.
II he die at seventy years Of age, ne gets
through his work at O'Clock in the after
noon. If he die at ninety, 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,
shouldering his scythe and taking his pitcher
from under tree, he makes straight line
for the old homestead. All we want ts be
anxious about Is to get our work done and
well done the quicker the better.
Again, there is blessing In an abbreviated
earthly existence in the fact that moral dis
aster might come upon the man If he tarried
longer. A man who had been prominent In
churches. and who had been admired for his
generosity and kindness everywhere, for for
gerry was sent to State prison for fifteen years.
Twenty years before there was no more prob
ability Of that mans committing commercial
dishonesty than that you will commit COM
mercial dishonesty. The number Of men who
fall into ruin between fifty and seventy years
OF age is simply appalling; # they had died
thirty years before, it would have been better
for then and better for their families. The
shorter the voyage the less chance for cy-
clone.
There ts a wrong theory abroad that II
ones youth be right, his old age will be
right. You might as well say there is moth
ing wanting for ships safety except to get
it fully launched on the Atlantic Ocean. I
have sometimes asked those who we're school
mates or college mates OF some great de-
frauder: what kind of boy was he?
What kind Of a young man was he?" and
they have said: "Why, he was q splendid
fellow. had no idea he could ever 60 into
such an outrage" The fact is the great
temptation OF life sometimes comes far on in
midlife or In old age.
The first time crossed the Atlantic Ocean
II was as smooth as o millpond, and I
thought the sea captains and voyagers had
slandered the old ocean, and wrote home
an essay for magazine on "The Smile of
the Sea, but never afterward could have
written that thing, for before we got home
we got terrible shaking up. The first voy-
age of life may be very smooth !; the last may
be euroclydon. Many who start life In
great prosperity do not end 1t in prosperity.
The great pressure OF temptation comes
sometimes in this direction: At about forty
five wears Of age a mans nervous system
changes, and some one tells him he must
take stimulants TO keep himself up until the
Btimuiants keep him down, or q man has
been going along for thirty or forty years In
unsuccessful business, and here Is an open
ing where by one dishonored action he can
lift himself and his family from all financial
embarrassment. He attempts to leap the
chasm, and no falls into il.
Then il is In after life that the great temp
cation OF success comes. II a man makes q
fortune before thirty years OF age, he gener-
ally loses it before forty. The solid and the
permanent fortunes for the most part do not
come to their climax until midlife or in old
age. The most Of the bank president have
white hair. Many of those who have been
largely successful have been full of arro-
gance or worldliness in old age. They may
not have lost their integrity, but they have
become so worldly and so selfish under the
influence OF large success that it is evident
to everybody that their success has been a
temporal calamity and eternal damage.
Concerning many people it may be said It
seems as if 1t would have been better II they
could have embarked from this life at twen-
ty or thirty years OF age. Do you know the
reason why the vast majority OF people die
before thirty-fye? 1t Is because they have
not the moral endurance for that which Is
beyond :he thirty, and merciful God will
not allow them to be put to the fearful strain.
Again, there is a blessing in an aborevi-