The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1894-06-23
ANOTHER CHANCE.
DR.. Talmage on the Mistakes OF
This Life.
They Cannot He Corrected In the Next
WOrld-We Shall BE Judged by Our
Acts on Earth-NO Other
Chance.

Whlle on ms trip arOun world
Rev. 7. Dewitt Talmage gave out his
latest sermon through the press, talk
ing for his subject Another Chanc e."
the text being taken from Eccles. XII,
8: IF the tree fall toward the south n
toward the north, In the place where
the tree falleth there it shall be-" Fol-
lowing is the IN
There is a lowering hope in the minds
of q vas multitude hat the re will be
an opportunity in the next world to
correct the mistakes Of this; that, II
we do make complete shipwreck of our
earthly life, it will be on q shore up
which we may walk to a palace;
that, As a defendant may lose
his case in the circuit court. and
carry 1t up to the supreme court
or court of c~hancery and get a
reversal of Judgment in his behalf,
all the costs being thrown over
on the other party, so, II we fail in the
earthly trial, we may in the higher
jurisdiction of eternity have the judg-
mem of the lower court set aside, all
the costs RENTED, and we may be vic
torious defendants forever. My object
in this sermon is to show that common
sense, rs well as my text, declares that
such an expectation is chimerical. You
say that the impenitent man, having
got mi the next world and seeing the
disaster, will, as a result Of that disas-
ter, turn, the pain the cause Of his
reformation. But you can find ten
Thousand instances in this world of
men who nave done wrong and distress
overlook them suddenly. Did the dis
tress heal them? No; they wen right
on.
That man was flung of designations.
'You must stop the drinking" said the
doctor. land quit the fast life you are
leading, or it will destroy you" The
patient suffers paroxysm after par
oxyis, but, under skillful medical treat
ment, he begins to sit up, begins to
walk about the room, begins to go to
business. And 10! he goes back to the
same grog-shops for his morning dram
and his evening dram, and drains be-
tween. Flat down againl Same doc
tor! Same physical anguish. Same
medical warning.
He sees that his downward course is
running his household; hat his life is
perpetual perjury against his marriage
vow; that that broken-hearted oma
is so unlike the roseate young wife
whom he married that her old school
mates do not recognize her; that his
sons are tainted for a lifetime by the
fathers drunkenness; hat the daugh-
ters are to pass into life under the scar
ifcation of a disreputable ancestor.
He is drinking up their happiness, their
prospects for this life, and perhaps for
the life to come.
After awhile he has delirium tre-
mems, with u whole Jungle of kissing
reptiles let out on his pillow, and his
srceams horrify the neighbors as he
dashes out of bed, crying: Take these
things off mel" As he sits pale and
convalescent the doctor says: Nov l
want to have a plain talk with you,
my dear fellow. The next attack OF
this kind you have you will be beyond
all medical skill, and you will die"
same round again. This time medicine
takes no effect. Consultation Of ply
sicians agree in saying there is no hope.
Death ends the scene.
That process of inebriation, warning
and dissolution is going on within a
stones throw Of you; going on in all
the neighborhoods Of Christendom.
Pain does not correct. Suffering does
not reform. What is true in one sense
Is true in all senses, and will forever
be 80. and yet men are expecting in
the next world purgatorial rejuve'
nation.
Furthermore, the prospect Of a refor,
nation in the next world is more i'm.
, probable than a reformation here. In
8 this world the life started with limo
cence of infancy. In the case sup
c posed, the other life will open with all
n the accumulated bad habits of many
\ years upon him. Surely, it Is easier
to build a strong ship out of new tim
. Der than out of an old hulk that has beeI
y ground up in the breakers. II with in
nocence to start with in this life a man
does not become godly, what prospect,
are there that in the next world, start
ing with sin, there would be a serapl
ovoluted?
But" says some one, 81 think VIZ
y ought to have a chance in the mex
= life, because this life is so short it al
lows only small opportunity. w,
" hardly have time to turn around be
tweeh cradle and tomb, the wood o
the one almost touching the marble o
thu other." But do you know wha
made the ancient deluge "a necessity
1t was the longevity of the antedilu
VANS. They were worse In the secon'
century Of their lifetime than In til,
FIRST hundred years, and still worse II
the third century, N still worse ~
the way on to seven, eight and min
hundred years, and the earth had Il
be washed and scrubbed and soake,
and anchored clear out of sight 70
more than a month before 1t could b
made fit for decent people to live in
" Longevity never cures impenitency
All the pictures of Time represente,
him with u scythe To cut, but l neve
saw any picture of Time with IA cas-
l. of medicines to heal. Seneca says tina
,r Nero for the first five years of his pull
lie life was set up for an example @
clemency and kindness, but his pat
n all the way descended until at IS h
became a suicide.
sRuto SAWS soma one. sin the futur