Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1894-05-24
"THE GENERATIONS"
Rev. DR.. Talmage breaches His
Quarter Century Sermon.
"one Generation Passeth Away and An
other Generation Cometh.' but Human
Nature Remains Practically the
Same-Generations Wonder
fully Alike.

At the Brooklyn tabernacle recently
Rev. Dr. Talmage took for the subject
of his sermon, The Generations" the
occasion being the twenty-fiftv ami
versary of his Brooklyn pastorate. The
discourse which follows was based on
the text;
"one generation passeth away and another
generation cometh. '-Ecclesiaste ties l.
According to the longevity of people
in their particular century has gen
Grafton been called hundred years, or
fifty years, or thirty years. BY COM
mon consent in our nineteenth century
a generation is fixed at twenty-five
years.
The largest procession that ever
moved is the procession of years. and
the greatest army that ever marched is
the army of generations. In each gem
Grafton there are about nine full regi-
ments of days. These 9,l25 DAYS in
each generation march with wonderful
precision. They never break ranks.
They never ground arms. They never
pitch tents. They never halt. They
are never off on furlough They came
outof the eternity past, and they move
on toward the eternity future. They
cross rivers without any bridge or
boats. The six hundred lmmortals Of
the Crimea dashing into them cause no
confusion. They move as rapidly at
midnight as at midnoon. Their haver-
sacks are full of good bread and bitter
aloes, clusters of richest vintage and
bottles of agonizing tears. With
regular tread that no order of double
quick" can hasten, or obstacle can
slacken, their tramp is on, and
on, and on, and on, while noun
tains crumble and pyrmaids die
'One generation passeth, and another
generation eometh." This is my
twenty-fith anniversary sermon-1SG9
and 1894. 1t is twenty-five years since
I assumed the Tabernacle 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 COM
ing on, We are at the heels of our
predecessors, and our successors are at
our heels. What generation it was
AAlaA llitCCuGA us w Z VINO are HOW III
the front regiment are the only ones
competent to tell the new generation
just now coming in sight who our pre-
decessors were. Biography cannot
tell it. Autobiography cannot tell it.
Biographies are generally written By
wife, or son, or daughter, and they
only tell the good things. The biog-
raphers of enc of the first presidents
OF the United States make no record OF
the presidents account books, now in
the archives at the capitol, which !
have seen, telling how much he lost or
gained daily at the gaming table.
The biographers of one of the early |
secretaries of the United States never
described the scene that day wit |
messed when the secretary was carried |
dead drunk from the state apartments
to his own home. Autobiography il |
written by the man himself, and no |
one would record for future times his
own weaknesses and moral deficits.
Those who keep diaries put down only |
things that read we'll No man or wo-
man that ever lived would dare to
make a full record of all the thoughts |
and words of a lifetime. We who |
saw and heard much of the generation |
marching just ahead of us, are far
more able than any book to describe
accurately to our succ ossors who our
predecessors We're. Very much like
ourselves, 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
they were in their teens they were
very much like you who are in your
teens, and at the time they were in
their twenties they were very much
like you who are in your twenties.
Human nature go an awful twist under
a 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 to be done over
again. A mother in the country dis
triets expecting the neighbors at her
table on some gala night had with her
own hands arranged everything in
taste, and as she was about to turn
from il to receive her guests, saw her
little child by accident upset pitcher
all over the white cloth, and soil every
thing. and the mother lifted her hand
to slap the child, but she suddenly re-
membered the time when a little
child herself in her fathers house,
where they had always been before
used to candles, on the purchase of
lamp. which was matter OF rarity
and pride. she took it in her hands,
and dropped it crashing into pieces
and looking up in her fathers face ex-
pecting chastisement heard only the
words: TT is a sad loss but never
mind; you did not mean to do it.
History repeats itself Generations
wonderfully alike. Among the gen
Grafton that is passed, as in our own
and as it viii be in the generations
following US, those who succeeded, be
L. = H.. sN.laN