The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-07-04
REV. DIR, TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIvINE'S SUM-
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "Another Chance"

TEXT: eff the tree fall toward the south or
toward the north. in the place where the
tree falleth there 1t shall be. be."-Ecclesiastes
H., 8.
There ie lowering hope in the minds OF
a vast multitudetbat there will be an op-
portunity in the next world to correct the
mistakes Of this that If we do make COM
plete shipwreck OF our earthly life 1t will he
on shore. up which we may walk to pal
ace ; that, as defendant NAV lose his case
In the circuit court and carry It up to the gu
preme court or court OF chancery and get a
reversal OF judgment in his behalf. all the
costs being thrown over on the other party,
SO. If we fail In the earthly tri.:. we may in
the higher jurisdiction OF eternity have the
Judgment Of the lower court set aside. all
the costs remitted. and we NAV be victorious
defendants forever. My object in this SER
mon Is to show that common sense as we'll
as my text declares that such m expectation
Is chimerical. You say that the impenitent
man. having got into the next world and
seeing the disaster. will. as result Of that
disaster. turn. the pain the cause Of his
reformation. But you can find 10000 in
stances in this world Of men who have done
wrong, and distress overlook them sud-
denly. Did the distress heal them? No !:
thev went right on.
That man was flung OF designations. "You
must stop drinking" said the doctor. "and
quit the fast life you are leading, or It will
destroy YOU" The patient suffers paroxvsm
after paroxysm. but under skillful medical
treatment he begins TO sit up, begins to walk
about the room, begins to go to business.
And. 10. be goes back to the same grog-shop
for bis morning dram. and his evening dram.
and the drains between. Flat down again?
Ioo ayhS fch
medical warning! Now the illness is more
protracted. the liver Is more stubborn. the
stomach more irritable. and hedieestive Or
gans are more rebellious. But after while
he is out again. goes back to the dramshops
and goes the same round of fsacrileSe against
his physical health.
He sees that his downward course is ruin
ing his household; that his life is perpet.
ual perjury against his marriage VOW; that
that broken hearted woman is so unlike the
hopeful young wife whom he married that
her old schoolmates do not recognize her;
that his sons are to he taunted for lifetime
by the fathers drunkenness that the dauch-
ters are to pass into life Ender the scariflca-
fion of disreputable ancestor. He IS
drinking up their happiness. their prospects
for this life, and perhaps forthe life to come.
Sometimes an appreciation Of what be fs do
Ing comes upon him. His nervous system Is
all e-tanele.S From crown of head to sole OF
foot be Is one aching, rasping, crucifyin9,
damuinp torture. Where Is he? In hell on
earth. Does It reform him9
After awhile he has dellrium tremens, with
a whole jungle Of Kissing reptiles let out on
his pillow. and his screams borri:y the
neighbors as he dashes out OF his ned, cry
Ing. "Take these things off me" AS he sits
pale and convalescent the doctor says:
,," ,"Now, want to have plain talk with you,
my dear fellow. The next attack Of this
kind you have you will be beyond all medi-
cal skill, and you will dle." He gets better
and goes forth into the same fight again.
This time medicine takes no effect. Consul
tation Of physicians agree In saying there is
no hope. Death ends the scene.
That process OF inebrlation. warning and
dissolution Is going on within astone's throw
of you, going on in all the neighborhoods Of
Christendom. Pain does not correct. Suf-
fering does not reform. What Is true In one
sense is true in all senses and will forever be
so, and yet men are expecting in the next
world purga.orial rejuvenatior. Take up
the printed reports OF the prisons OF the
United States, and you viii find that the
vast majority ofthe fncarcerated have been
there before. some Of them tour. five, six
times. With 1000, 900 illustrations all work
ing the other way In this world, people are
expecting that distress In the next state will
be salvatory. You cannot imagine any worss
torture in any other world than that which
some men have suffered here, and without
any salutary consequence
Furthermore, the prospect OF q reforma-
tion In the next world Is more improbable
than reformation here. In this world the
life started with innocence Of infancy. In
the case supposed the other life will open
with all the accumulated bad habits Of many
years upon him. Surely 1t Is easier to build
strong ship out Of new timber than out OF
an old hulk that has been ground up in the
breakers. II with innocence to begin with
In this life man does not become godly,
what prospect IS there that In the next world,
starting with sin, there would be seraph
evoluted? Surely the sculptor has more
prospect of making a fine statue out OF a
block Of pure white Parian marble than out
{ OF an old black rock scanned and cracked
with the storms of half century. Surely
upon clean white sheet ofpaper 1t Is easier
TO write deed or will than upon a sheet
of paper al scribbled and blotted and torn
from top to bottom. Yet men seem to think
that. though the life that began here COM
paratively perfect turned out badly, the next
life willsucceed, though It starts with dead
failure.
"But." says some one, "I think we ought
to have chance In the next Lfe, because
, this life Is 50 short 1t allows only small op-
portunity. We hardly have time to turn
around between cradle and tomb. the wood
OF the one almost touching the marble Of the
other" But do you know what made the an
cient deluge necessity? It was the longe-
vity Of the antediluvians. They were worse
In the second century Of their lifetime than
In the first hundred years, and still worse In
thethird century, and still worse all the way
on to 700, 800 and 900 years, and the earth
had to be washed and scrubbed and soaked
and anchored clear oIt of sight for more
than Q month before it could be made fit for
decent people to live In.
Longevity never cures fmpenitercy. All
the pictures Of Time represent him with a
scythe to cut, but never saw any picture of
Time with case Of medicines to heal.
Seneca says that Nero for the first five years
Of his public life was set up tor an example
OF clemency and kindness, but his path all
the way descended until at 68 A. D. he be-
came suicide. II 800 years did not make
antediluvians any better, but only made
them worse, the ages Of eternity could have
no effect excep: prolongation Of depravity.
But" says some one, "in the future state
evil surroundings will be withdrawn and
elevated influences substituted, and hence
2 expurgatton and subllmation and gloriflca-
ton" But the righteous, all their sins for
given. have passed on into beatiflc state.
and consequently the unsaved will be left
alone. 1t cannot be expected that DR.. Duff,
who exhausted himself In teaching Hindoos
the way to heaven, and DR.. Abael. who gave
his life in the evangelization Of China, and
Adoniram Judson, who toiled for the re.
demptIon of Borneo, should be sent down by
some celestial missionary society to educate
those who wasted all their earthly existence.
,Evangelistic and missionary efforts are
ended. The entire kingdcm OF the morally
bankrupt by themselves, where are the
salvatory influences to come from? Can one
speckled and bad apple in a barrel Of dis
eased apples turn the other apples good?