Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1894-01-06
BETWEEN TWO YEA RS
REV. DR.. TALmAeE breaches Flo
oUENTLY ON SHORTENED LIVES. Z

REV. DR.. TALMAGE breaches Flo
oUEMTLY ON sHoRTENEDslIgEs. Z
Too Much Time Spent In Panegyric Of
Longevity-The Temptations ofisqccess.
Compensations of Denth-The Worth of
Clear Conscience.
BROOKLYN, Dec. 3l.-In the forenoon
service at the Brooklyn Tabernacle to-
day, Rev. DR.. Talmage preached en- the
subject of Shortened Lives; or, A Cheer
ful Goodby 20 1893" The text selected
was Isaiah lvii, i, "The righteous istaken
away from the evil to come"
We have written for the last TIME at
the head of our letters and businessdocu-
ments the figures 1898. With this day
closes the year. In January last wecelc7
brated its birth. Today we attend its
obsequies. Another 10 months have
been cut out of our earthly continuance,
and it is time for absorbing refecion.
We all spend much time in pane@ric
of longevity. We consider it great
thing to live to be an octogenarian8 IF
any one dies in youth, we say, Whist a
-pity!' DR.. Muhlenberg in old age said
that the hymn written in early life by
his own hand no more expressed his,Sen-
timent when it said, =
would not live Away.
If one be pleasantly circumstancedshe
never wants to go. William CullenBry-
ant, the great poet, at SO years ofiage,
standing in my house in festal group
reading "Thanatopsis" without specta-
Giles, was just as anxious to live as when
at IS years of age he wrote the immortal
threnody. Cato feared at so years OF age
that he would not live TO learn Greek.
Monaldesco at ll5 years, writing the his
tory of his time, feared collapse. Tie
ophrastus writing IL book at 80 years. of
age was anxious to 1.-Two to complete it.
Thurlow Weed ut about Sc years of age
found life as great y Aesirability as when
he snutfed out his FIRST politician. Z
Albert Barnes, so well prepared for. She
next world, at ~ said lie wonld ratiier
stay here. So it is al TIE way down. /
suppose that the lest zane Methuselah
was out of doors III Il storm he Mas
afraid of getting hi: feet wet lest it
shorten his days Indeed some tisae
ago preached q sermon on die blessings
of longevity, but in this. Inc last day pf
1898, and when MAN. are iilled with siyi-
ness at the thought that another chapter
of their life is closing, and that they haze
3G5 days less to live, propose to preaGh
to you about the advantages Of an alb
breviated earthly existence.
INDUSTRY INCULcATED.
If were an agnostic, would sayp
man is blessed in proportion to the nuDi-
Der of years he can stay on terra firma,".
because after that he falls off the decka
and if he is ever picked out of the deptss
it is only to be set up in some morgue Il
the universe to see if anybody will claifs
him. If I thought God made man only t
last 40 or so or 100 years, and cher be
was to go into humiliation, would say
his chief busiss orlght, to he.f 1,.l
ssriiY . aIiici UycIi III s5oUt WtdIuet Sos'e sY.
cautious, and to carry an umbrella ana
take overshoes and life preservers and
bronze armor and weapons of defense
lest he fall off into nothingness and OBJ
liberation.
But, my friends, you are not agnos-
tics. You believe in Immortality and
the eternal residence of the righteous in
heaven, and therefore first remark that
an abbreviated earthly existence is to be
desired, and is a blessing because it
makes ones life work very compact.
Some men go to business at Z o'clock
in the morning and return at Z in the
evening. Others go at s o'clock and re-
turn at 10. Others go at 10 and return
at 4. have friends who are ten hours a
DAWN business, others who are ivehours
others who are one hour. They all do
their work well-they do their entire
work, and then they return Which po-
sition do you think the most desirable?
You say, other things being equal, the
man who is the shortest time detained in
business and who can return home tho
quickest is the most blessed.
Now my friends, why not carry that
good sense into the subject of transfer
ence from this world? If person die in
childhood, he gets through his work at 0
o'clock in the morning. If he die at 40
years of age, he gets through his work at
12 o'clock noon. If lie die at 70 years
of age, he gets through his work at .
o'clock in the afternoon. fhe die at 80, 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, shoulder
ing his scythe and taking his pitcher
from under a tree, he makes a straight
line for the old homestead. All we want
to be anxious about is to get our work
done and well done; the quicker the bet
ter.
Again, there is blessing in an abbre-
waited earthly existence in the fact that
moral disaster 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 forgery was
sent to state prison for 10 years. Tween
ty years before there was no more proba-
bility of that mans committing a COM
mercial dishonesty than that you will
commit commercial dishonesty. The
number of men who fall into ruin be-
tween so and 70 gears of age is simply
appalling. If they had died 80 years be
fore, it would have been better for them
and better for their families. The short
er the voyage the less chance for cy-
clone.
PERKS OF SUCCESS.
There is wrong theory abroad thatlf
ones youth be right, his old age will be
right. You might Us well say there is
nothing venting for !. ships safety OK