Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1894-05-12
THE PASSING THR0NG
a GREAT DAY NJ THE HISTORY or
THE TABERNACLE.


-
a GREAT DAY ~ THE HISTORY or
THE TABERNACLE.
The rwensy-Gna Anniversary of Rev. DR..
r~aimaec's rroclsiyls ras,orate-An Eso-
qaen,, Appropriate D;Seourse-Prcachins
to Twenty-Five Million SOULS
BROOKLYN, May 6.-This was q great
day in the history of the Brooklyn Tab
~ernaclc. The figures in flowers back of
the platform-lSG9 and 1S94-indicat-
ed Rev. DIR. Talmage's time of coming
to Brooklyn and the present celebration
md were introductory to the great meet
ings in honor of Dr.. Talmage's pastor
ate to take place on the following Thurs
day and Friday, presided over by the
mayor of tho city and the ex-secrosary of
the navy, General Tracy, and to be par
ticipated in by senators and governors
md prominent men from north, south,
last and west. The subject of the SER
mon today was 1.-THE Generations, the
text being E~cclesiastes i, 4, "Oneg gem
Grafton passeth away, and another gener-
alton coiacth."
According to the longevity of people
in their particular century has a gener-
alton been called 100 years, or 90 years,
or 30 years. By common consent in our
nineteenth century a generation is fixed
at 20 years.
The largest procession that ever
ed is the procession Of years. and the
greatest army that ever marched is the
army of generations. In each genera
ten there are about nine full regiments
. of days. These 0, 1876 days in each gener-
alton 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 out of the eterni-
~ past, and they move on toward the
eternity future. They cross rivers with
out any bridge or boats. The 600 I'M
mortals Of the Crimea dashing into them
cause no confusion. They move as rap
idly at midnight as at midnoon. Their
h~aversacks are full of good bread and
bitter aloes, clusters of richest vintage
and bottles of agonizing tears. With a
regular tread that no order of .'dou-
bic quick can hasten or obstacle car
slacken, their tramp is on and ON and
ON and on while mountains crumble
and pyramids die. zone generation
passeth, and another generation COM
eth"
A Generation.
This is my twenty-fifth anniversary
sermon-1S69 and 1894. 1t is 25 years
since l assumed the Brooklyn 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 IL coming IL. We
are at the heels of our predecessors, and
our successors are at our heels. What a
generation it was that preceded usl We
who are now in the front regiment are
the only ones competent to tell the new
generation just now coming in sight
who u predecessors were. Biography
cannot tell it. Autobiography can
not tell it. Biographies are generally
written by special friends of the depart
ed-perhaps by wife or SON or daughter
and they only tell the good things. The
biographers Of one Of the first presi-
dents of the United States make no rec
ord Of the presidents account books,
now in the archives at the capitol,
which l have seen, telling how much
he lost OF gained daily at the gaming
table. The b~iographers Of II 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 OWL home. Autobiography is
written by the man himself, and 10 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 woman that
ever lived would dare to make full rec
ord of all the thoughts and words Of a
lifetime. We who saw and heard much
Of the generation marching Just ahead
CT us are far more able than any book
to describe accurately to Il successors
who our predecessors were. Very much
like ourselves, thank you. Human na-
ture i'll them very much like human ma
ture i'll Us. At 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 at the time they were in their TWEEN
ties they We're very much like you arc
in your twenties. Human nature got an
awful twist under a fruit tree in Eden,
and though the grace Of God does much
to straighten things every rev gener-
alton has the same twist, and the same
work of strengthening out has to be done
over again.
Twenty-Five Years Back.
A mother in the country districts, OK
pecting the rcighbcrs at her table OF
some galanight, had with her own hard.
arranged everything in taste, and as She
was about to turn from it to receive hel
guests saw her little child by accident
upset q pitcher all over the white clotl
and soil everything, and the mother
lifted her hand to slap TIE child, but
she suddenly remembered the time
when a little child herself, in hel
fathers house, where they had al
ways before been used to candles on til;
purchase Of q lamp, which was a mat
ter Of rarity and pride, she took it il
her hands and dropped it, crashing int,
pieces, and looking up in her fathers
face, expecting chastisement, heard only
the words, sit is q sad loss, but Ievel
mind; you did not mean to do it."
History repeats itself. Generation.
wonderfully alike. Among that genel
alton that is past, as in our own, anc
as it viii be in the generation follow
ing us, those who succeeded became
the target, shot at by those who did no
succeed. In those times, as III ours,
mans bitterest enemies were thos'
whom he had befriended and helped
Hates, ~jcalousies a%ndrevenges were jas
as lively in 1869 as in 1894. Hypocris,
shifted and looked solemn then as now
There was just as much ayarice anon,
the apple barrels as now among the cot
TON b11pc op1 oD1Duo tba ~h0QlharTA