Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1896-05-29
CAUSES OF FAILURE.
REV. Or. TALMAGE's SERMON ON
THE DRAMA OF LIFE.

mage in this discourse sets forth the
causes Of failure in life, drawing Oh q
Biblical reference to the theater for star
Ting illustration. His text was Jol
xvii, 23, "Nen shall clap their hands
at him and shall hiss him out Of hi:
place "
This allusiOn seems to be- dramatic.
The Bible more than once makes such
illusions. Paul says, 1--WE are made q
tneatof or spectacle to angels and tC
men. " 1t is evident from the text that
some Of the habits Of theater goers were
known in Jobs time, because he de-
/ scribes an actor hissed 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
incapacity, the audience isoffendcd and
expresses its disapprobation and disgust
by kissing. "Men shall clap their hands
at him and shall hiss him out Of his
place"
The Actors OF Life.
Ny text suggests that each one Of us
is put on the stage Of this world to takes
some part. What hardship and suffering
and discipline great actors have under
gone year after year that they might be
perfected in their parts you have often
read. But we, put on the stage Of this
life TO represent charity and faith and
humility and helpfulness-what little
preparation we have made, although we
have three galleries Of spectators, earth
and heaven and helll Have we not been
more attentive TO the part taken by 9th
ers than to the part taken by ourselves,
and, while we needed TO be looking at
home and concentrating on our own
duty. we have been criticising the other
performers, and saying, THAT was too
high, " or "too low" or too feeble, "
or "too extravagant, or "toO tame, or
"too demOnstrative > while we our
selves were making a dead failure and
preparing to be ANONYMOUSLY hissed of
the stage? Each one is assigned place,
no supernumeraries hanging around the
drama of life to take this or that or the
other part as they may be called upon.
No one can take our place. We can take
no other place Neither can we put of
our character; no change Of apparel can
make 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 equip
ment and good address and geniality
unbounded. But they have a wine closet
that contains all the forces for their so
cial and business and moral overthrow.
So far back as the year $50, King Edgar
of England made a law that the drink
ing cups should have pins fastened at a
certain point in the side, so that the IN
dulger might be reminded To stop before
he got 10 the bottom But there are no
pins projecting from the sides Of the
modern wine cup or beer mug, and the
first point at which millions step Is at
the gravity bottom Of their own grave.
DR.. Sax Of France has discovered some
thing which all drinkers ought TO know.
He has found out that alcohol in every
shape. whether Of wine or brandy or
beer, contains parasitic life called bacil-
lus potumanie. By powerful micro
score 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 60 into ev-
cry tissue Of your body, and your entire
organism is taken possession Of by these
noxious infnitesimals When IN delir-
ium tremens. a man sees every form OF
reptilian life it seems it Is only these
parasites Of the brain in exaggerated
size. 1t is not a hallucination that the
victim is suffering from. He only sees
in the room what is actually crawling
and rioting in his own brain. Every
time you take strong drink you swallow
these maggots, and every time the I'M
biber Of alcohol in any shape feels YER
tigo or rheumatism or nausea 1t Is only
the Jubilee Of these maggots. Efforts are
beiug made for the discovery Of some
permicide that can kill the parasites OF
alcoholism, but the only thing that VIII
ever extirpate them is abstinence from
alcohol and teetotal abstinence, to
which I would before God swear all
these young men and old.
Dangers of Strong Drink.
America is 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 demi-
John they are cut down, and there are
whole swathes Of them, whole windows
Of them. and it takes all the hospitals
and penitentiaries and grayeyards and
cemeteries to hold this harvest Of hell
Some Of you are going down under this
evil. and the never dying worm Of alco-
bolism has wound around you one OF It's
coils. and by next New Years day 1t
will have another coil around you, and
il will after awhile put coil around
vour tongue, and a coil around your
brai1. and a coil around your lung, and
a coil around your foot, and a coil
around your heart, and some day this
never dying worm will with one spring
tighten all the coils at once, and III the
last twist Of that awful convolution you
will CRY out, "Oh, my God" and be
gone. The greatest Of dramatists in the
tragedy Of 1.-THE Tempest" sends stag
gering across the stage Stephano the
drunken butler; but across the stage of
human life strong drink sends klngly
and quocnly and princely natures stag
-cering forward against the footlights OF
conspicuity and then staggering back
into failure till the world is impatient
for their disappearance, and human aud
diabolic voices join in Kissing them on
the stage.
Many also make failure in the
drama Of life through Incidence. They
are always making calculations how
little they can do for the compensations
fbev get. There are more lazy ministers,
LAWYERS. doctors, merchants, artists ana
farmers than have ever been counted
mon The community is full OF lag
cards and shirkers. ! can tell It from
the way they crawl along the street,
from their tardiness in meeting engage