Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1896-12-03
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
Eloquent Appeal to the Higher As
pirations Of Young Men.
The Youth of the Country Challenged to
Nobility of thought and Purpose
Let High Aims be the Gov
erning Principle.

Rev. i. De W lit Idlmage delivered
she following sermon on the subject:
"Young Men Challenged to Nobility"
before his Washington congregation,
taking for his text:
And the Lord opened the eyes OF the young
nnan.-II Kings, VI, H.
One morning, in Dothan young
theological student was scared by
finding himself and Elisha the prophet,
upon whom he matted, surrounded by
. whole army of enemies. But veneer
cable Elisha vas not scared at all,
because he saw the mountains full Of
defense for him, in chariots made OF
FIRE, drawn by horses of fre-a super
natural appearance that could not be
seen with the natural eye. So the old
minister prayed that the young minis
ter might see them also, and the
prayer was answered, and the Lord
opened the eyes of the young man,
and he also saw the fiery procession,
looking somewhat, | suppose, like the
Adirondack or the Alleghanies in au-
tumnal resplendence.
Many young men, standing among
the most tremendous realities, have
their eyes half shut or entirely closed.
May God grant that my sermon may
open wide your eyes to your safety,
your opportunity, and your destiny!
A mighty defense for young man
Is good nome. Some of my hearers
look back with tender satisfaction to
their early home. 1t may have been
guide and rustic, hidden among the
hills, and architect or upholsterer
never planned or adorned it. But all
the fresco on princely walls never
looked SO enticing to you as those
rough heWn rafters. You can
think of no park or ar
Dor of trees planted on fashion
able country seat SO attrctive as the
plain brook that ran in front of the
old farm house and sang under the
weeping willows. No barred gate
way, adorned with statue of bronze,
ana swung open by obsequious porter
ia full dress, has half the glory Of the
old swing gate. Many Of you have
second dwelling place, your adopted
home, that also is sacred forever.
There your built the first family altar
There your children were born. All
those trees you planted. That room is
solemn, because once in it, over the
hot pillow, tapped the wing of death.
Under that roof you expect, when
your work is done, to lie down and
die. You try with many words to tell
the excellency of the place, but you
Fail. There is only one word in the
language that can describe your mean
ing. 1t is home.
Now, | declare it, that young man is
comparatively safe who goes out into
The world with a charm like this upon
him. The memory of parental solicit
ude, watching, planning and praying,
will be to him shield and shelter.
] never knew a man faithful both to
his early and adopted home. who at
the same time was given over to any
gross form of dissipation or wicked
ness He who seeks his enjoyment
chiefly from outside associat ton,
rather than from the more quiet
and unpreeuming pleasures of which
l have spoken, may be suspected to
be on the broad road to ruin. Absa-
lom despised his fathers house, and
you know his history of sin and his
death OF shame. II you seem unneces-
Sarily isolated from your kindred ana
former associates, is there not some
room that YOU can call your own? In
to it gather looks and PICTURES. Have
a portrait over the mantel. Make uu-
godly mIrth stand back from the
threshold. COnSecrate some spot with
the knee Of prayer By the memory
of other days, IL fathers counsel, and d
mothers love, and sisters confidence,
call it home.
Another defense for young man is
Industrious habits. Many young men,
in starting upon life in this age, eA-
pect to make their way through the
world 10y the use of their wits rather
than the toll OF their hands. y boy
now goes to the city and fails twice
before lie Is as Ole as his father WAS
when lie first saw the spires Of the
great town. Sitting III some Office,
rented al Sl,OCO il year, he is waiting
for the tank to declare Its dividend,
or goes into the market expecting
before night to be made rich 1y the
rushing up of the stocks. But luck
seemed 50 dull he resolved on
some other tack. Perhaps he bor-
drawer, and forgot TO put 1t back, or,
Tor merely the purpose of improving
his penmanshlp, makes copy plate OF
a merchants signature. Never mind;
all Is right III trade. In some dark
night there may come in his dreams
vision Of the penitcntiary; but it soon
vanishes. In Il snort time he will be
ready to reure from the busy world,
and amid his hocilS and herds Guilt
yete the domestic virtues. Then those
young men who We're his schoolma ties,
and knew no better than TO engage in
honest work, Will come with their OK
teams to draw him logs, and with
their hard hands to help heave up his
castle. This is no fancy picture. 1t is
everyday lfe. / should not wonder
II there We're some rotten beams in
mat beautiful palace. l should not
wonder if dire sickness should smite
through the young man, or if God
should pour into his cup of life a
draught that would thrill him with
unbearable agony; if his children
should become to him a living curse
making his home a pest and a dis
grace. | should not wonder if he goes
TO miserable grave, and beyond it
into the gashing of teeth. The way
of the ungodly shall perish.
My young friends, there is no way
to genuine success except through
toll, either of head or hand. At the
battle of Crecy, in 1916, the prince OF
Wales, finding himself heavily pressed
by the enemy, sent word to his father