The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1895-12-28
YOUNG MEN WARNED.
DR.. Talmage Gives Them Some
Timely Advice.
Lessons of Absalom's Fate-SafeguRrds Sur
rounding Youth Are Love of Home,
Respect for the Sabbath and
High Ideal OF Life.

AZ u ihtC TIiO III NhStituSou INeN-
T.. De Witt Talmage took the occasion
to give some timely advice to the young
men of the period. His text was Sc.
lected from II. Samuel, xviii, 30: is
the young nan Absalom safe?" DT.
Talmage said: ~
The. heart of David, the father,
was wrapped up in his boy Alb.
SALON. lie was n splendi6(b hoy, judged
by the rules Of worldly criticism. From
the crown of his hesad to the sole of his
foot there was/not n single blemish.,
The Bible spIys that he had such q
lixuriant Shock of hair that when C
a year it>Tas shorn, what was cut of
weighed over three pounds. But, not
wtthstanding all his ~brillianSv of ap.
pearance, he was n bad boy, Sad broke
his fathers heart. He was/plotting to
get the throne Of Israel. He had mar
shaled an army to overthrow his faith
er's government. The day of battle
had come. The conflict was begun.
David, the father, sat between the
gates of the palace waiting for the It'd
ings of the conflict. Oh, how rapidly
his heart beat with emotion. Two great
questions we're to be decided; the safety
of his boy, and the continuance of the
throne of Israel. After awhile,
q servant, standing on the top
of the house, looks off. and sees
some one running. lie is coming with
great speed, and the nan on top Of the
house announces the coming of the
messenger, and the father watches
and waits, and as soon as the mes.
senger from the field of battle comes
within hailing distance, the father
the esta blishmentof his throne? Does
he say: Have the armies of Israel
been victorious? Am l to continue In
my imperial authority? Have I over
thrown my enemies?" Obi no. There
is one question that springs from his
heart to the lip, and springs from the
lip into the ear of the beswested and
bedusted messenger flying from the
battlefeld-the question, us the
young man Absalom safer" When It
was told TO David, the king, that,
though his armies had been victorious,
his son had been slain, the father
turned his back upon the congratula-
tions Of the nation, and went up the
stairs Of his palace. his heart breaking
q he went, wringing his hands some
times, and then again pressing them
against his temples as though he would
press them In, crying: "Oh, Absaloml
my sonl my sonl Would God I had
died for thee, Oh, Absaloml my soni
my sonr"
My friends, the question which
David, the king, asked in regard to
his SON il the question that resounds
to-day in the hearts Of hundreds OF
parents. Yea, there are q great multi
tude of young men who know that the
question of the ext IL appropriate
when asked in regard to them. They
know the temptations by which they
are surrounded; they see so many who
started life with as good resolutions as
they have who have fallen in the path,
and they are ready to hear me ask the
question Of my text: us the young
man Absalom safe?" The fact Is that
this life is full of peril. He who un-
dertakes It without the grace of God
and . proper understanding of the con.
Hict into which he Is going. must Ger.
tainly be defeated. Just look of
upon society to-day. Look at the ship.
wreck Of men for whom fair things
were promised, and who started
life with every advantage. Look at
those who have dropped from high So
cial position, and from great fortune,
disgraced for eternity. All who sacri-
Ace their integrity come to overthrow.
Take q dishonest dollar and bury 1t in
the center of the earth, and keep all
the rocks of the mountain on top Of It;
then cover these rocks with all the
diamonds Of Golconda, and all the sill
yer Of Nevada, and all the gold Of Cali
Eornia and Australia, and put on the
top Of these all banking and moneyed
institutions, and they cannot keep
down that one dishonest dollar. That
one dishonest dollar in tho center of
the earth will begin to heave and rock
and upturn itself until 1t comes to the
resurrection Of damnation. "As the
partridge sitteth on eggs and hatcheth
them not, so he that getteth riches and
not by right shall leave them in the
midst Of his days, and at his end shall
be Q fool"
Now. what are the safeguards of
young men? The first safeguard of
which I want to speak is the love Of
home. There are those who have no
idea OF, the pleasures that concentrate
around that word ''home." Perhaps
your early abode was Swallowed with
vice or poverty. Harsh words, and
~petulence, and scowling may have deg
stroyed all the sanctity of that spot.
Love, kindness and self-saSrifice, which
have buiItthafr- affairs in so many
abodesf were strangers in your
tatheE's house. God pity you,
young man; you have never had a
| home. But a multitude In this audi.
ence can look back to o spot that they
can never forget. 1t may have been a
lowly roof, but you cannot think of II
nov without q dash of emotion. You
have seen nothing on earth that sc
stirred your soul. A stranger passing
along that place might see nothing re-
markable about it; but, obi how much
It means to you. Fresco on palace wall
does not mean SO much to you as those
rough-hewn rafters. Parks and bow
ers and trees on fashionable watering
place or country seat do not mean sc
much to you as that brook that ran IN
front of the plain farm house, and
singing under the weeping willows
The barred gateway swung open by
porter in full dress does not mean a
much to you as that swing-gate, your
sister on one side of it and you on the
other; she gone fifteen years into glory
That scene coming back to you to-day
as you swept backward and forward
on the gate, singing the songs of you
childhood.
But there are those here who hav
their second dwelling place. 1t is YOU
adopted home. That also Ia sscre
forever. There you established tn
first family altar. There your childre
were born. In that room tapped til
wing of the death angel. Under tbs
roof, when your work is done, you e.
pect to lie down and die. There
only one word in oil the language tn,
can convey your den of that place. m
that word is "home." Now, let II
say I never knew a man who W,
faithful to his early and adopted hon
who was given over at the same tin
to any gross form of wickedness.
you find more enjoyment in the elr
room, In the literary society, in the a
salon, than you do in these unpreten
ing home pleasures. you are on Il
road to ruin. Though you may be O
of from your early associates, n
though you may be separated from @