The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1894-01-01


60 into such an outrage" The fact is
the great temptation Of life sometimes
comes far on in mid life or ia old age
The first time crosse the Atlantic
ocean it was as smooth as a mill pond
and I thought the sea captains and the
voyagers had slandered the old ocean.
and I wrote home an essay for maya
zine on THE Smile Of the Sea- but i
never afterward could have written
that thing, for before we got home we
got a terrible shaking up. The first
voyage Of life may be very smooth: the
last may BIZ euroclydon. Many who
start life in great prosperity do not end
it IN prosperity.
The great pressure of temptation
comes sometimes in this direction; at
about forty five years of age, mans
nervous system changes, and some one
tells him he must take stimulants to
keep himself up, and he takes stimu-
lants to keep himself mp, until the
sti1nulants keep him down; or a man
has been going along for thirty or
forty years in unsuccessful business,
and here is an opening where by one
dishonorahle action he can lift himself
and lift his family from all financial
EN- barrassment. He attempts to leap
the chasm and he falls into It.
Then it is in after life that the great
temptation of success comes. If a man
make a fortune before thirty years Of
age, he generally loses it before forty.
The solid and permanent fortunes for
the most 0ar5 do not come to their eli
max until ii mid-life. or in old age The
most of the bank presidents have white
hair Many of those who have been
largely successful have been cursed by
arrogance or Wor1dliness or dissipation
in old age. They may not have lost
their integrity, but they have become
SO worldly and so selfish under the in
huence of large success that it is evil
dent to every body that their success
has been a temporal calamity and an
eternal damage. Concerning many
people it may be said it seems as if it
would have been better if they could
have embarked from this life at twenty
or thirty years of age. Do you know
the reason why the vast majority of
people die before thirtv-hve2 1t is be-
cause they have not the moral endur-
ance for that which is beyond the
thirty, and a merciful God will not
allow them to be put to the fearful
strain
Again: The re is ablessiug in an abb
breviated earthly existence in the fact
that one is the sooner taken of the de-
fensive. AS soon as one is old enough
to take care Of himself he is put on his
guard Bolts on the door to keep out
the robbers. Fire-proof safes to keep
off the flames. Life insurance and
fire insurance against accident Re-
ceipts lest you have to pay a debt
twice. Lifeboat against shipwrecA-
Westinghouse air brake against rail-
road collision There are many ready
TO overreach yOu and take all you
have Defense against cold, defense
against heat. defense against sickness,
defense against the worlds abuse.
defense all the way down to the grave,
and even the tombstone sometimes is
not sufficient barricade. If a soldier
who has been on guard shiverlng and
stung with the cold, pacing up and
down the parapet with shouldered
nnuslzet, is glad when some one comes
to relieve guard and he can 60 inside
the fortress. ought not that man to
shout for JOY who can put down his
weapon Of earthly defense and GO into
the kings castle2 Who is the more
fortunate. the soldier who has to stand
guard twelve hours, or the man who
has to stand guard six hours2 We
have common sense about every thing
but religion. common sense about
world
Again: There is a blessing in an alb
breviated earthly existence in the fact
that one escapes SO many bereavements-
The longer we live the more attach
ments and the more kindred. the more
chords to be wounded or rasped or
sundered- If a man live on to seventy
or eighty years Of age, how many
graves are cleft at his feett Tn that
long reach Of time father and mother
go, brothers and sisters go, children
go, grandchildren 60. personal friends
outside the family circle whom they
had loved with a love like that Of
David and Jonathan.
Besides that, some men have nat
urai trepidation bout dissolution. and
ever and anon. during forty or fifty OF
sixty years, this horror of their disso-
luton shudders through soul and
body Now. suppose the lad goes at
10 years of age2 He escapes fifty
funerals, fifty baskets, fifty obsequies,
fifty awful wrenchings Of the heart.
1t is hard enough for us to bear their
departure, but is it not easier for AS to
bear their departure than for them to
stay and bear fifty departures Shall
we not by the grace of God rouse our
selves into a generosity Of bereavement
which will practically say, 1t is hard
enough for me to go through this be-
reavcment, but how glad / am that he
viii never have to go through it.
So i reason with myself. and SO you
will find It helpful to reason with
yourselves David lost his son Though
David was king he lay on the earth
mourning and inconsolable for some
time At this distance Of time, which
do YOU really think was the one to be