The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1896-06-04
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
THE NOTED DIvINE's SUNDAY
DISCOURSE.
Subject: "Causes of Failures in
Life.''

him and shall hiss him out Of his place"
job xvii, %.
This a!lusion seems to be dramatic. The
Bible more than once makes such illusions.
Paui says: 1--WE are made Il theatre or spec
tacle TO angels and to men," 1t is evident
IRON the text that some Of the habits Of
theatregoors were known in jobs time, be-
cause he describes an actor Kissed off the
stage. The impersOnator comes on the
boards and, either through lack of study of
the part he is to take or happiness or other
lncapacity, the audience is offended and eX-
presses its disapprObatiOn and disgust by
kissing. ''Men shall clap their hands at
him aud shall hiss him out of his place."
My text suggests that each one of US is
put on the stage of this world to take some
part. What hardship and suffering and discip-
line great actors have undergone year after
year that they might be perfected In their
parts You have often read. But we. put on
the stage OF this life 10 represent charity and
1aitn and humility and lpfulneSs-What
little preparation we have made. although
We have three galleries OF spectators, earth
and heaven and hell! Have we not been
more attentive to the part taken by others
than t" the part taken by ourselves, and
While we needed to De looking at home and
concentrating on our own duty, we have
been criti'ising the other performers, and
saying. shat was tpo high" or "too low"
or 200 feeble, or 200 extravaganza" or
'tOo tame,' or 'tO0 dem0nStrative," while
we ours lives We're making a dead failure
and preparing to be ANONYMOUSLY Kissed off
the stage? Each one is assigned place, no
Supernumprares hanging around the drama
OF lie to take this or that or the other part,
as they may BE- called upon. No one can
take our place. We can lake no
other place. Neither can we put off our
cnaTIstnr. al n raj OIL
Us any one else than that which we eternally
are.
Many make a failure of their part in the
drama Of life through dissipation. They
have enough intellectual equipment and
good address and geniality uuoounded. But
they have wine closet that contains all the
forces for their social and business aud
moral overthrow. SO tar back as the year
$50, King E 1gar Of England made Il law that
the drinking cups should have pins fastened
at cerain point in the side, 50 that the in-
dulger might be reminded to stop before he
got to the bottom. But there are no pins
projecting from the sides OF the modern wine
cup or beer mug. and tho first point at
which millions stop is at the gravity bottom
OF their own grave. DR.. Sax. of France, has
discovered something which all drinkers
ought to know. He has found out that alco-
hol IN every shape. whether Of wine or
cAduiF vi pCCl Noiitu Illo Chlltu
bacillus pOtumaniB. By Il powerful micro
scope these living things are discovered, and
when you take strong drink you take them
into the stomach and then into your blood,
and getting into the crimson canals of life,
they go into every tissue Of your body, aud
your entire organism is taken possession of
by these noxious intinitesimals. When in
dellrlum tremens, man sees every form of
reptlllan life, it seems it is only these para
cit. IF l,.,Sv
not Authorization that the victim is suffer-
ing from. He only sees in the room what is
actually crawling aud rioting in his own
brain. Every time YOU take strong drink
you swallow these maggOts, and every time
the imhiber of alcohol in any shape feels YER
tgo or rheumatism or nausea it is only the
jubilee OF these maggOts. Efforts are being
made for the discovery of some germicide
that can kill the parasites of alcoholism, but
the only thing that will ever extirpate them
is abstinence from alcohol and teetotal alb
all these young men and old
America is a fruitful country. and we
raise large crops Of wheat and corn and
oats, but the largest crop we raise in this
country is the crop OF drunkards With
sickle made out of the sharp edges of the
broken glass OF bottle and demijohn they are
cut down. and there are whole swathes of
them. whole Winirows of them, and it takes
all the hospitals and penitentiaries and
SraVeyards and cemeteries to hold this har-
vest of hell. Some of you are going down
under this evil, and the never dying worm
OF alcoholism has wound around you one of
its coils, and by next New Years Dav it will
nave another coil around you, and it will af-
ter awhile put d coil around your tongue.
and coil around your brain, and a coil
around your lung, and coil around your
foot, and coil around your heart and some
day this never dying worm will, with one
spring. tighten all the coils at once, and in
the last twist of that awful convolution Won
will cry out. "Oh, my God!' and be gone.
The greatest of dramatiSts in the tragedy of
'Ihe tempest sends staggering across the
stage StephanO, the drunken butler: but
across the stage of human life strong drink
sends kingly and queenly and princelv ma
lures staggering forward against the foot
lights OF conspicuity and then staggering
back into failure till the world is Impatient
Tor their disappearance, and human and di-
abolic voices join in Kissing them off the
stage.
Others fail in the drama of life through
demonstrated selflshness. They make allthe
rivers empty into their sea, all the roads of
emolument end at their door, and thew
gather all the plumes of honor for their
brow They help no one, encourage on one.
rescue no one 'HOW big a pile of money
can Get?" and How much of the world
can absorb?' are the chief questions. They
ieel about the common people as the Turks
ieit toward the ASapl, or common soldiers,
considering them OF no use except to fill I'D
the bitches with their dead bodies while the
other troops walked over them to take the
tort. After awhile this prince of worldly sue
cess is sick The only interest society has in
his illness is the effect that his possible de-
cease may have on the money markets. At
ter awhile he dies. Great newspaper capi-
tals announce how he started with nothing
and ended with everything Although for
sake OF appearance some people put hand
kerchlefs to the eye. there is not one genuine
tear shed. The heirs sit up all night when
he lies in state, discussing what the old fell
low has probably done with his money. It
takes ali the livery stables within two
miles to furnish funeral equipages, and ali
the mourning stores are kept busy in selling
weeds OF grief. The stone cutters send in
proposals for monument. The minister at
the Obsequies reads of the resurrection.
which makes the hearers fear that if the I'm
Scrupulous tlnancier does come up in the
general rising he will try to get a corner
on tomtstOneS and graveyard fences Ali
Sood men ale glad that the moral nuisance
has been removed. The Wall street specn-
iat9rs are glad because there is more room
Tor themselves. The heirs are glad because
they get possession of the long delayed in
herltance Dropping every feather Of all his
piumes, every certificate of ali his stock.