The free press., 1894-07-05
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIvINE'S SUM-
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "Another Chance"

tI66 Idllctu Iuerc IL SIlttil Dt. -ECcitSldStts
H., 8.
There ia lowering hope in the minds o
vast multitude that there will be an op-
portunity In the next world TO correct the
mistakes of this that IL we do make COM
plete shipwreck of our earthly life 1t will be
on a shore, up which we may walk to pal
ace that, as a defendant may lose his case
in the circuit court and carry 1t up to the su-
preme court or court OF chAncery and get a
reversal Of judgment in his behalf all the
costs being thrown over on the other party,
80, II 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
as my text declares that such nm expectation
is chimericaI. You say that the impenitent
man, having got into the next world and
seeing the disaster, will, as u 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. lyon
must stop drinking" said the doctor. sand
quit the fast life you are leading, or 1t 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 90 to business
And. To- he goes back to the same grog-shop
for his morning dram, and his evening DRAM
and the drains between. Flat down again?
Same doctor Same physical anguish Same
medical warming Now the illness is more
protracted, the liver Is mole stubborn. the
stomach more irritable, and the digestive or
gans are more rebellious. But after while
he is out again, goes back to the dramshops
and goes the same round of sacrilege against
bis physical health.
He sees that his downward course Is ruin
ing his household that his life is 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 a lifetime
by the fathers drunkenness that the daugh-
fers are to pass into life under the scarifca-
ton Of a disreputable ancestor. He is
drinking up their happiness, their prospects
for this life, and perhaps forth 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 of
foot he Is one aching, rasping, crucifyng,
damning torture. Where is he? In hell on
earth Does it reform him?
After awhile he has dellrium tremens, with
whole jungle Of Kissing reptiles let out on
lis ptilOW, anu Ills screams DOrrl-y the
neighbors as he dashes out of his bed, cry
Ing, 'Take these things Off mel' As he sits
pale and convalescent the doctor says
''Now, l want to have plain talk with YOU
my dear fellow. The next attack of this
kind you have you will be beyond all med-
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 is
no hope. Death ends the scene.
That process Of inebriation, warning and
dissolution Is going on within n stones throw
OF you, going on In all the neighborhoods of
Christendom. Pain does not correct. 5uf-
fering does not reform. What Is true In one
sense is true in all senses and will forever he
30, and yet men are expecting in the next
world purgatorial 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 four, 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
be salvatory. You cannot imagine any worse
torture In any other world than that which
some men have suffered here, and without
any salutary consequence.
furthermore the prospect OF reforma-
tion In the next world is moro improbable
than 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 mauy
years upon him. Surely it is easier to huild
strong ship out of new timber than out of
an old hulk that has been ground up in the
breakers. If with innocence to begin with
In this life man does not become godly.
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 clean white sheet OF paper 1t is easier
10 write deed or a will than upon a sheet
OF paper all scribbed and slotted 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
life will succeed, though it starts with a dead
failure.
But, says some one, 81 think we ought
TO have chance in the next life, because
this life is 80 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
cient deluge a necessity? 1t was the longe-
witty of the antediluvians. They we're 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, 800 and 900 years, and the earth
had to be washed and scrubbed and soaked
and anchored clear out of sight for more
than month before it could be made fit for
decent people TO live in.
Longevity never cures impenitency. All
the pictures OF Time represent him with n
ecythe to cut, but never saw any picture of
Time with case of medicines to heal.
Seneca says that Nero for the first five wears
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
antediluvians any better, but only made
them worse, the ages of eternity could have
no elect excep. prolongation of depravity
But, says some one, sin the future state
evil surroundings will be withdrawn and
elevated Influences substituted and hence
expurgation and sublimation and gloriflca-
ton" But the righteous, all their sins for
given, have passed on into beatiac state,
and consequently the unsaved will be- left
alone. 1t cannot be expected that DIR. Duff,
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
those who wasted all their earthly existence