Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1894-05-11
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIvISE's sun
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "The Generations"

According to the longevity OF peOpie III
| their particular century has generation been
I called 100 years, or fifty years, or thirty
years. BY common consent in our nineteenth
century a generation IL hIed at twenty-five
years.
The largest procession that ever moved IL
the procession OF years, and the greatest
army that ever marched is the army OF gene
rations. In each generation there are about
nine full regiments OF days. These 9l25 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 on on fur
Tough. They came out of the eternity past
and they move on towardth eternity future.
They cross rivers without any bridge or boats.
The 600 lmmortals OF the Crimea dashng into
them cause no confusion. They move as
rapidly at midnight as ut midnoon. Their
haversacks are full OF gooi 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 slGcken. their tramp is on and
on and on and on while mountains crumble
AMI pyramids die. lone generation passeth,
aud another generation cOmeth."
This Ia my twenty-nfth anniversary ser
mon-ls69 and 1894. II is twenty 1--we years
since assumed the Brooklyn pastorate. A
whole generation has passed. Three genera
llOllS We nave knOWU-lndl WHICH pEtCtlbl
our own, that which Is now at the 'front.' and
the one coming on. We are at the heels OF
our predecessors, and our SUCCESSORS are at
our heels. What q generation II was that
preceded us We who are now in the front
regiment are the only ones competent to tell
the new generation Just now coming In sight
who our predecessors were. Biography can
not tell II. Autobiography cannot tell II.
Biographies are generally written by special
-. \,
son or daughter and they only tell the good
things. The biographers OF one OF tho first
Presidents OF the United States make no rec
ord OF the Pres lent'| account books. now In
the archiYes at the Capitol, which | have
seen, telling how much he lost or gained
daily at the gaming table The bioXraphers
OF one OF the early Secretaries OF the United
States never described the scene that day
witnessed when the Secretary was carried
dead drunk from the State apartments to his
own home. Autobiography Is written hy 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 well. No man or wO-
man that ever lived would dare to make full
record OF all tho thoughts and words ~ 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 10 our SUCCESSORS who
our predecessors were Very much lik" our
selves. thank YOU. Human nature In them
very much Ike human nature ia IA. Az our
time OF life they were very much like We now
are At the time they were in their teens
they were very much like yOu are IN your
teens. and ut the time they were III their
twenties they were very muSh Ike YOU are
in your twentIes. Human nature got an Rw-
tul twist under fruit tree in F. len, an
though the grace OF God does much to
strighten things every new generation has
the same twist. AMI the same work of
STRENGTHENING out has to he done over again.
! mother In the country districts. exp .rt-
/ ing the neiGhhOrs at her table on some gaia
! night had with her own hands arranged ev-
erythng in taste, and a. she was about to
| turn from ii to receive her guests saw her
little child by accident upset a pitcher all
over the white cloth and soil everything, an
the mother lifted her hand TO slap the child.
Tut she suddenly remembered the tim when
little child herself, in her fathers house.
where they had always before been used to
can Hes, on the purchase OF lamp. which
was matter Of rarity AMI pride, abe took it
in her han Is and dropped ii, crashing into
| pieces. and looking up In her fathers face.
expecting chastisement, heard only tbs
words, 1T Is II sal loss. but never mind /;
| you did not mean to DO It"
History repeats itself Generations
wonderfully alike. Among that generation
! that Is past, as In our own, and rs II will BE-
In the generation following US, those who
succeeded became the target, shot at BY
thos' who did not succeed. In those times.
as in ours mans bittercst enemies were
| those whom he had betricnded and holped.
| Hates, jealousies and reyenges were Just rs
lively in 1869 as in 1894. Hypocrisy sniffi al
and looked solemn then rs now. There was
Just MS much ayarice among the apple bar
rels As now among the cotton bales and
| among the wheelbarrOws HS among the
locomotives. The tallow candles saw the
same sins that are now FOUL under the
electric tights Homespun was just rs
| proud ~ is the modern fashion plate.
/ Twenty five years yea, twenty-five centuries
have not changed human nature particle.
| say this for the encouragement OF those
| who think that our times monopoliZe all the
denominations OF the ages.
One minute after Adam got outside OF
paradise he was just like you, o man Ono
step after Eve left the gate she was Just like
| you q woman All the faults and vices ara
many times centenarans. Yea, the cities
sodom, Gomorrah Pompeii, HersuIaneum.
Heliopolis and ancient Memphis were rs
| much worse than our modern cities "a you
| might expect from the fact that the mo lera
cities have somewhat yielded to the re-
straints OF Christianity, while those ancient
/ cities were not limited In their aDomIue-
! lions.
Yea, that generation which passed of with
In the last Twenty-Five years had their be-
! reavements their temptations their strug-
giles, their distppointments, their successes
their failures, their gludnesses and their
griefs, like these two generations now in
sight, that in advance and that following
I But the twenty-five years between 1869 an
1894-how much they saw How much they
discovered How much they felt Within
that time have been performed the miracles
OF the telephone and the monograph. From
the observatorleS other worlds have been
seen to heave In sight. Six Presidents OF
the United States have been inaugurated.
| Transatlantic voyage abbreviated from ten
days 10 81. Chicago and New York. once
three days apart. now only twenty-four
hours by the vestiOulo limited. Two addl-
tionnl railroads have been built to the Pacific.
| France has passed from monarchy to rspub.
| lieanism. Many Of the cities have nearly
doubled their populations. During that
generation the chief surviving heroes OF the
Civil War have gone into the encampment OF
the grave. The chief physicians, attorneys,
orators, merchants, have passed ofr the eIrttl
or are In retirement waiting for transition.
Other men In editorial chairs, In pulpits, in
| Governors mansions, In Legislative, S"ua-
! torinl and Congressional halls
, There are not ten men or women on earth
now prominent who were prominent twenty
five years ago. The crew OF this old ship OF
u world is all changed. Others ut the helm.
others on the "looSout, others climbing the
ratlnes. Time Is II doctor who, with potent
anodyne, has put an entire generation into
sound sleep Time, like another Cromwell,
has roughly proro yuei parliament and with
iconocasm driven nearly all the rulers ex-
cGpt ona queen from their high places. so
far as | observed that generation, for the
most part they did their best CHASTITY ex-
ceptions, but 80 far rs | knew them they did
quite well, and many OF them glorIously
well. They were born at the right time,
and they died ut tho right time. They left
the world better than they found II. We are
indebted to them for the fact that they pre-
pared the way for our coming. Eighteen