Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1894-01-11
GOOD.BY TO THE OLD YEAR

lGOVD.B1 TO The OLD 1EAb
a sEAsONABLE SERMON ny DIR
TALMAGaE.
An Abr viatcL EARTHLY Existencs
to BE A4sired-One May he Right IN
YOUTH and Wrong I'm Old Age
Consolation for the Dereaved.
Brooklyn, N. Y, Special. the fore
noon service ut the Brooklyn Tabeina.
Gle to-day Rev. DR.. Talmage preached
on the subject Of shortened Lives;
or a Cheerful Good-by to 1893" The
text selected was Isaaih lvii, /: "Thc
righteous is taken away from the evil
| 10 come.''
We have written for the last time at
the head Of our letters and business
documents the figures 1893. With this
day closes the year. In January last we
celebrated its birth. To-day we attend
It's obsequies. Another twelve months
have been cut out of our earthly con-
tinuancc, and it is time for absorbing
reflection.
We I'LL spend much time in panegyric
of longevity. We consider 1t a great
thing to live to be an octogenarian. If
any one dies in youth we say, what a
pity!" DIR. Mlhlenberg, in old age,
said that the hymn written in early life
by his own hand no more expressed his
sentiment when it said:
would not live Away.
II one be pleasantly circumstanced he
never wants to go. William Cullen
Bryant, the great poet, at 50 years Of
age. standing in my house in a festAl
group. reading "Thanatopsis" without
spectacles, was just as anxious to live
as when at. 10 years Of age he wrote the
immortal threnody. Cato feared at 80
years of age that he would not live to
learn Greek. Monaldesco at IFS years,
writing the history of his time, feared
Il collapse. Theophrastus, writing a
book at 80 years of age, was anxious
to live to complete it. Thurlow Weed
ut sc years of age, found life as great
q desirability as when he snuffed out
his first politician. Albert Barnes, so
well prepared for the next world at
20, said he would rather stay here. So
it is all the way down. I suppose that
the last time Methrlselah was out Of
doors in Il storm he was afraid Of get
ting his feet wet lest it shorten his
days. Indeed, I some time ago preached
Il sermon on the blessings of longevity,
but in this, the last day Of 1893, and
when many are filled with sadness at
the thought that another chapter of
their life is closing, and that they have
3G5 days less to live, propose to preach
to you about the advantages of an alb
breviatcd earthly existence.
If I We're an agnostic / would say
man is blessed in proportion to the
number Of years he can stay on terra
iirma," because after that he falls off
the docks, and if he is ever picked out
Of the depths 1t is only to be set up in
some morgue of the universe to see
if anybody will claim him. If I thought
God made man only to last forty or
fifty or hundred years, and then he
was to 60 into humiliation, would say
his chief business ought to be to keep
alive and even in good weather to be
very cautious, and to carry an umbrella
and to take oveshoes, and life-preserv-
ers, and bronze armor, and weapons Of
defense, lest he fall off into nothingness
and obliteration.
But, my friends, you are agnostics.
You believe in Immortality and the eter.
nal residence Of the righteous in heaven,
and, therefore, first remark that an
abbreviated earthly existence Is to be
be desired, and is a blessing because
1t makes ones life-work very compact.
Some men go to business at o'clock
in the morning and return at o'clock
in the evening. Others go at o'clock
and return at II. Others go at 10
and return at f. Ihave friends who are
ten hours day in business, others who
are five hours, others who are one
hour. They all do their work well;
they do their entire work and then
they return. Which position do you
think the most desirable? You say,
other things being equal, the man who
is the shortest time detained in bust
ness and who can return home the
quickest Is the most blessed. Now,
my friends, why not carry that good
oCAAoS AA4IO IAAC ouOJSSt VI IAauoACACuCC
from this world? If a person die in
childhood, he gets through his work at
8 o'clock in the morning. If he die at
Is years Of age he gets through his
work at IL O'clock noon. If he die at
20 years Of age he gets through his
work at S o'clock in the afternoon. If
lie die at 80 he has to toll all the way up
to IL o'clock at night. The sooner we
get through our work the better. The
harvest all in barracks or, barn, the
farmer does not sit in the stubble-ield
but shouldering his scythe and taking
his pitcher from under u 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 better.
Again: There is blessing in an alb
breviated 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 gen.
crosby and kindness everywhere, for
forgery was sent to state prison for fif-
teen wears. Twenty wears before thero