The Penn's Grove record., 1896-11-06
DR. TALMAGE.
TIE Eminent Divine's Sunday
Discourse.
Subject "The Pageantry of the
Woods.o
Trxr We all do fade as a leai."-


Trxr we all do fade rs a leai."-
Isaiah XIV, 6.
II is so bard for US to understand religious
truth that God constantly reiterates. As the
schoolmaster takes a blackboard n puts
scholar may not only get his lesson through
the ear. but also through the ego, 30 God
takes all the truths of His Bible md draws
them ont In diagram on the natur8i world.
I Champellion, the famous Frenchmap, went
down into Egypt to study the hieroglyphies
on monuments and temples. After much
labor he deeiphered them and announced to
the learned world the result OF his inyestiga-
| tions. The wisdom, goodness and power oil
/ God are written in hieroRlyphics all over the
I earth and all over the heaven. God grant
I that we NAV have understanding enough to
deeipher them. There are Scriptural pass
ages, like my text, which need to be studied
In the very presence OF the natural world.
Those know but little OF the meaning OF
the natural world who have looked at II
| through the eyes OF others, and from book or
canvas taken their impression. There are
some faces so mobile that photographers
cannot take them, and the face OF nature has
such a flush and sparkle and life that nc hui
man description can gather them. No one
knows the pathos OF a birds voice unless he
has sat atsummer evening tide at the edge OF
n wood and listened to the cry Of the whip.
poorwlll.
There is to-day more glory in n branch
of sumac than a painter could put on a whole
forest OF naples. God hath struck into the
autumnal leaf n glance that none see but
| those who come face to lace mountain
looking upon the man. and the man looking
upon the mountain,
For several autumus l have made y tour
TO the far west, and one autumn, about this
time, saw that which / shalt never forget. 1
have seen the autumnal sketches OF CropseY
and other skillful pencils, but that week l
saw a pageant 1000 miles long. Let artist
stand buck when God stretches His canvas!
A grander spectacle was never kindled be-
fore mortal eyes. Along by the rivers, and
1 up and down the sides OF the great hills. aud
by the banks OF the lakes there was an indie
scripable mingling Of gold and orange and
crimson and saffron, now SOLDERING into drab
and maroon. now flaming into solferino and
scarlet. Here and there the trees looked as
If lust their tips had blossoned into fire. In
| the morning light the forests seemed Us IL
they had been TRANSPORTED. and in the even
ing hour they looked as II the sunset had
burst md dropped upon the leaves. In more
sequestered spots. where the frosts had been
hindered In their work, we saw the first kim
I ullflE VI lhV IAIA " SShpA IL " ~ w. SfhAH
then they rushed up from branch to branch
until the glory OF the Lord submerged the
forest. Here you would find q tree Just
making up Its mind to change, and there one
Looked as If, wounded at every pore, 1t stood
bathed in carnage. Along the banks OF Lake
Huron there were hills over which there
sesmed pouring catnraets OF fire, tossed up
and down and every whittier by the rocks.
Through some OF the rayines we saw occa-
~slonalIy a foaming stream, rs though 1t was
rushing to put out the confagratton. II at
one end OF the woods O commanding tree
would set up its crimson banner, the whole
forest prepared to follow. II Gods urn Of
colors were not INFINITE, one swamp that l
saw along the Maumse would have exhausted
It forever. Ii seemed as II the sea of divine
glory had dashed its surf to the tptop OF the
Alleghenies, and then 1t had come dripping
down to lowest leaf and deepest cavern.
Most persons preaching from this text find
! Only in 1t a vein of sadness. l find that j
have two strings to this gospel harp--a
string OF sadness and a string OF Joy In
! finite.
1--WE all do fade as a leaf"
First.-Like the foliage, we fade gradu-
ally. The leaves which week before last felt
the frost have day by day been changing in
tint and will for many days yet cling to the
bough waiting for the fist OF the wind to
strike them. Suppose you that the pictured
leaf that you hold in your hand took on its
color In an hour, or In a day, or In a weekf
No; deeper and deeper the flush, till all the
veins Gifts life now seem opened and bleed
ing away. After awhile, leaf after leaf, they
fall. Now those on the outer branches, then
those most hidden, tntil the last spark OF
the cleaning forge shall have been
quenched.
So gradually we pass away. From day to
day we hardly see the change. But the
frosts have touched US. The work Of decay
ia going on. Now a slight cold. Now q sea-
son of oyerfatfgue. Now q fever. Now q
stitch in the side. Now a neuralgia thrust.
Now a rheumatic twinge. Now a fall. Little
by little. Pain by pain. Less steady OF
limb. Sight not so clear. Ear not so alert.
After awhile we take a STAFF. Then, after
much resistance, we come to specracles. In
stead Of bounding into the vehicle, we nre
willing to be helped in. At last the octoRe-
marian falls. Forty years Of deeaying. nc
sudden change. No fierce ~cannonading OF
the batteries Of life, but a fading away
slowly-gradually. As the leaf, as the leaf
Again, like the leaf we fade, to makeroom
for others. Next years forests will be as
grandly foliaged as this. There are other
generations OF oak leaves to take the place
Of those which this autumn perish. Next
May the cradle Of the wind will rock the
young buds. The woods will be all album
with the chorus OF leafy voices. II the tree
In front Of your house, like Elijah, takes a
chariot OF fire, It's mantle will fall upon
Elisha. II, In The blast OF these antumnal
batteries, so many RANKS fall, there are re-
serve forces to take their places TO defend
the fortress of the hills. The heaters OF
gold leaf will have more gold leaf to beat.
The crown that drops to-day from the head
OF the oak will be picked up and handed
down for other kings to wear. Let the blastH
come. They only make room for other life.
So, when we go, others a k our spheres
We do not grudge the future generations
their places. We will have had our good
time. Let them come OF and have their
good time. There is no signing among these
leaves to-day because other leaves are TO fol-
low them. After a lifetime of preaching,
doctoring, selling, sewing or digging, let US
cheerfully give way for those who come on
to do the preaching, doctoring, selling. sew
ing and digging. God grant that their life
may be brighter than ours has been. AS We
get older do not let us be afironted II young
men and women crowd us a little. We vii
have had our day, and VT must let them have
their1. When our voices get cracked let us no
snarl at those who can warbie. When our
knees are stitfened, let us have patience With
those who go fleet as the deer. Because our
leaf is fading do not let us despise the I'M
frosted. Autumn must not envy the spring.
I Old men must be patient with boys. DR..
Guthrie stood up in Scotland and said
ssYou need not think | q Am old because my
hair is white. I never was so young as l an
now / look back to my childhood day
and remember when In winter nights In the
sitting room the children played the blithesI
and the gayest of all the company wer'
father and mother. Although reaching
fourscore FEARS Of age, they never got old.
Again, as with theleayes, we fade and fai
amid myriads OF others. One caGnot eounI
the number OF plunes which these frosts arr
plueking from The hills. They will strew AZ
The streama, they will DRIFT iGtO the cavern'
they will soften the wild beasts lair and I'll
the eagles eyrie.
i All the aisles OF the forest will be eovereC
with their carpe, and the steps of the hili
glow with a wealth of color and slsp'
that will DEFY the looms of Administer. VIVA
urn could hold the ashes OF all these dea'
/ leaves2 Who could count the hosts that burr
on this funeral pyFe of the lBonntains2
So we die IN concert. The clock that strike
the hour of our going will sound the geinl
OF many thousands. Keeping step with III
feet OF those who carry US out will De tn
tramp Of hundreds doing the same GRAND
Between 80 and 20 people every dayhe dow
In Greenwood. That place has over 2OO,o W
Of the dead. Isaid to the man at the gate
'Then. If there are so many here, you mus
have the largest cemetery" he said tner'
were Two Roman Catholic cemeteries In IN
aitv aach ~ pvhtch had mara fhnn this. M