Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1894-01-17
REV. DR.. TALMAGE,
THE BROOKLYN DIvINE'S SUN.
DAY SERMON.
Subject: Shortened Lives"

me Tigflle0HS IS taken ulcTy from
nle eUI to come. Isaiah lvii., l.
We have written for the last time at th,
head OF our letters and business document!
the figures 1898. With this day closes the
year In January last we celebrated il.
birth. To-day we attend its obsequies An
other twelve months have been cut out o.
our earthly continuance, and 1t is a time
for absorbing reflection.
We all spend much time In paregyric o.
longevity. We consider it a great thing "a
live to be an octogenarian. If any one dies
IN youth, we say, "What a pity' DR.
Munlenberg in old age said that the hymn
written In early life by his own hand no
more expressed his sentiment when It said
l would not live Away
II one be pleasantly circumsianced, he
never wants to go. William Cullan Bryant,
the great poet, at eighty-two yeaas of age,
standing in my house In n festal group read
ing ''Thanatopsis' without spectacles, was
just as anxious to live as when at eighteen
years Of age he wrote the immorta al threnody.
Cato feared at eighty years of age that he
would not live to learn Greek. Monadesco
at ll5 years, writing the history Of his time
feared collapse. Theophrastus writing a
book at ninety years Of age was anxious to
live TO complete it. Thurlow Weed at about
eighty-siX years of age found life az great
desirability as when he snuffed out his first
politician.
Albert Barnes. so well prepared for the
stay here. So It is all the way down. 1 sup
pose that the last time Methuselah was ont
Of doors In a storm he was afraid of gating
his feet wet lest IT shorten his days. Indeed
some time ago preached a sermon on the
blessings Of longevity, but in this the last
day of 1898 and when many are filled with
sad1ess at the thought that another chapter
OF their life is closing, and that they have
365 days less to live, propose to preach to
you about the advantages Of an abbreviated
earthly existence.
If i were an agnostic, would say man
i5 blessed In proportion to the number of
years he can stay on terra firma," because
after that he falls of the docks. and if he is
ever picked out of the depths it is only to be
set up in some morgue OF the universe to see
IL anybody will claim him. If 1 thought God
made man only TO last forty or fifty or 100
years, and then he was to 20 into annihila-
ton, would say his chief business ought to
be to keep alive and even In good weather to
De very cautious, and to carry an umbrella
and take oyershoes and life preservers and
bronze armor and weapons Of defense lest he
fall of into nothingness and obliteration-
But, my friends, you are not 8gnostics.
You believe in immortality and the eternal
residence OF the righteous in heaven, and
therefore l first remark that an abbreviated
earthly existence is TO be desired and is
blessing because it makes ones life work
very compact
Some men 90 to business at o'clock in
the morning and return at in the evening.
Others 60 at o'clock and return at u.
Others go at 10 and return at 1. 1 have
friends who are ten hours day in business,
others who are five hours, others who are
one hour. They all do their work we'll
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
seElse into the subject of transference from
this world? II a person die in childhood, he
gets through his work at O'Clock in the
morning. II he die at forty-lve years of age
he gets through his work at - o'clock noon.
II he die at seventy years OF age, he gets
through his work ar o'clock in the after
noon. II he die at ninety. he has to toll all
the way on up to IL o'clock at night. The
sooner we get through our work the better
The harvest all in bsrrack 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 to be
anxious about is 10 get our work done and
well done the quicker the better.
Again, there Is "A blessing in an abbreviated
earthly existence in the fact that moral dis
aster might come upon the man IL 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 man : committing acOmmerciaI
dishonesty than that YOU will commit com
-nercial dishonesty. The number of men who
fall into ruin between fifty and seventy years
of age is simply appalling. If they had died
thirty years before, il would have been better
for them and better for their families The
shorter the voyage the less chance for cy-
clone.
There IS a wrong theory abroad that If
ones youth he right, his old age will be
right. You might As well say there is moth
ing wanting for a ship safety except to get
it fully launched on the Atlantic Ocean. |
have sometimes asked those who were school
mates or college mates of some great de-
frauder; 'What kind Of boy was he?
What kind Of young man was hep and
they have said: why, he a splendid |
fellow. I had no idea he could ever go into
sucH an outrage" The fact is the great |
temptation of lie sometimes comes far on in |
midlife or in old age.
The first time l crossed the Atlantic Ocean
It was as smooth as a millpond. and 1 |
thought the sea captains and vOyagers had |
siandered the old ocean, and | wrote home |
an essay for magazine on "The Smile CT |
tho Sea, but never afterward could have |
written that thing, for before we got home !
We got a terrible shaking up. The first voy- |
age OF life may be very smooth the last may
he a eurOclydOn Many who start life in |
great prosperity do not end II in prosperity |
The great pressure OF temptation comes |
sometimes in this direction: At about forty |
1--we wears Of age a mans nervous system /
changes, and some one tells him he must !
take stimulant5 TO keep himself up until the !
stimulants keep him down, or a man has
been going along for thirty OF 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 he falls into it.
Then it Is in after life that the great temp
tation OF success comes. II a man makes a
fortune before thirty years of age. he geuer-
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
Hge. The most of the bank president have
white hair Many of those who have been |
largely successful have been full OF AFRO
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 il is evident !
10 everybody that their success has been
temporal calamity and eternal damage.
Concerning many people II may bs said il
-eems as if it would have been better IT they
-Ould bave embarked from this life at twen-
Y or thirty years OF age. Do you know the
reason why the vast majority of people die
before thirty-hve2 1t is because they have
not the moral endurance for that which is
beyond the thirty, and a merciful God will
NOT allow them TO be put 10 the fearful strain. |
Again, there IS a blessing in an ahhrevi-
utrd earthly existence in the fact that one |
is the sooner taken Off the defensive. As soon
a- one is old enough to take care of himself, |
ne Is put on his guard. Bolts on the door to |
,eep out the robbers. Fireproof safes to !
,eep of the flames. Life insurance and fro |
insurance against accidents Receipts lest | .
gu have TO pay a debt twice. Lileboat |
gainst shipwreck. Westinghouse airbrsak
against railroad collision. There are many
saiy to overreach you and take all vou have. {
Defense against cold, defense against heat, I
isfense against sickness, defense against the I
worlds abuse, defense all the way down to 9
ne grave, and even the tombstone sometimes /
= not a a sufficient barricade. a
II a soldier who has been on guard silver s
1g and stung with the cold. pacing up and h
.own the parapet with shOuldered musket ia I
lad when someone comes to relieve guard Il
'ui he can 90 inside the fortress, ought not r