Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1894-05-07

tion Of twenty-five Million People
BRooSLYN, May 6-This was great
day in the history OF the Brooklyn
Tabernacle. The figures in flowers,
back OF the platform, 1869 and 1894, in-
dicased Rev. DR.. Talmage's time Of
coming to Brooklyn, and the present
celebration, and was Introductory 10
the great meetings in honor Of DR.. Tai
IMAGES pastorate to take place on the
following Thursday and Friday, pre-
sided over by the Mayor Of the city and
Ex-Secretary Of the Navy, General
Tracy, and to be participated in by
Senators and Governors and prominent
men from North, South, East and West.
The subject Of the sermon to-day was
The Generations, the text being Eccle-
siastes IA; "One generation paSseth
away, and another generation come'h."
According TO the longevity Of people
10 their particular century has gener-
alton been called a hundred years, or
fifty years, or thirty years. BY COM
mon consent in our nineteenth century.
generation is fixed at twenty-five
years.
This is my twenty-ffth anniversary
sermon, 1859 and 1894. IL IS twenty
five years since / assumed the Ta0er-
nacle pastOrate. A whole generation
has passed. Three generations we have
known: That which preceded our own,
that which is now at the front, and the
one coming on. We are az the heels OF
our predecessors, and our successors are
az our heels. What a generation it was
that preceded US. We who are now In
the front regiment are the only ones
competent 10 tell the new generation
Just now coming in sight who our pre-
decessors were. Biography cannot tell
il. AutOgrapby cannot tell IL. We
who saw and heard much OF the gen
GRAFTON marching Just ahead OF Us, are
far more able than any book 10 describe
accurately TO our successors who our
predecessors were. Very much like our
selves, thank you. Human nature in
them very much like human nature In
US. at our time of life they were very
much like we are now. AT the time
thew were 10 their teens they were very
much like you who are In your teens,
and at the time they were In their TWEEN
ties, they were very much like you who
are in your twentieS. Human nature
got an awful twist under q fruit tree in
Eden, and though the grace OF God
does much TO straighten things, every
new generation has the same twist, and
the same work of strengthening out has
70 be done over again.
History repeats itself. Generations
wonderfully alike. Among that genera
ton that is past, as in our own, and as
it will be in the generation following
US, those who succeeded, became the
target, shot at By those who aid not
succeed. To those times, as 10 ours,
4 MANS BITTEREsT ENEMIES
Ere those whom be had beiriended
I'd helped. Hates, jealousies and re-
venges were just as lively In 1869 as in
1894. pOcrisy SMILED and looked
solemn then as now. There was inst as
much avarice among the apple barrels
as now among the cotton bales, and
among the wheel6arrOws as among the
locomotives. The tallOW candles saw
she same sins that are now found under
the electric lights. HOme-spun was
Just as proud as is the modern fashion
plate. Twenty-Five years-yea, twenty
FIVE centuries-have not changed hui
man nature a particle. / say this for
the encouragement OF those who think
that our times mOnopOlize all the abOm-
nations OF the ages. One minute after
Adam got outside Of Paradise he was
like you, o man. One step after Eve
left the gate she was just like you, O
womanl All the faults aud vices are
many times Centenarians. Yea, the
cities Sodom, GomOrrah, Pompeii, Her
culaneum, Heliopolis and ancient Mem
phis were as much Worss than our mod
srn cities as you might expect, from the
fact that the modern cities have some
what yielded 10 the restraints Of Chris
tianity, while those ancient cities were
not limited In their abominationS.
Yea, that generation which passed
of within the last twenty-five years
had their bereavements, their tempta-
tiOns, their struggles, their disaDpOiut-
ments, their successes, their failures,
their gladnesses and their grieis, like
these two generations now in sight
that In advance and that following.
Rutth twenty-five years between 1869
and 1s94-how much they saw! How
much they discovered! How much
they felt! Within that time have been
performed the miracles Of the tele-
phone and the phonograph. From the
observatorieS other worlds have been
seen to heave in sight. Six Presidents
Of the United States nave been inaugu-
rated. Transatlantic voyage alb
breViated from ten days 70 i've and
half. Chicago and New York once
three days apart, now only twenty-four
hours by the veStibule limited. Two
additional railroads have been built
TO the Pacific France has passed
from monarchy to repuolicaniSm. Many
OF the cities have nearly doubled their
populations. During that generation
the chief surviving heroes Of the Civil |
War have gone into the ncamDment of (
the grave The chief physicians, attOr- |
neys, orators, merchants have passed of /
the earth, or are IN retirement waiting |
for transition. Other men In editorial |
chairs, In pulpltS, In Governors man /
sions, in legislative, senatorial and con-
gressiOnal halls. There are not ten men !
or women on the earth now prominent /
who were prominent twenty-five years /
ago. The crew OF this old ship OF a
world is al changed. Others at the
helm, others on the lookout" others |
climbing the ratllnes. Time is a doctor
who