Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1896-12-05
ONE HUNDRED YEARS
REV. DR.. TALMAGE breaches UPON
1.-THE DYING CENTURY,"

I'll e O1lNG ZEN Oh1.
The MarveIs of the Nineteenth Century.
The Money Power Labor and Capital.
The Great DeIiverer of Nations Vision
OF IT. John.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 20. Considering tho
time and place Of its delivery, this sermon
Of DIR. Talmage Is If absorbing and star
Ting interest. IL is not only national but
international in its significance. His sub
iect was The Dying Century, and the
text II Kings TX. /, Thus saith the Lord,
Set thine house In order, for thou shalt die
and not live. +"
No alarm bell do | ring In the uttcrance
Of this text, for in the healthy glow OF your
ccuntcnances l find cause only for cheerful
prophecy, but / shall apply the text ms
spoken in the eur OF lIezekiah, down with
had carbunclc, to the nineteenth century,
now closing. IL will take only four more
long hreaths. each year a breath, and the
century will expire. My theme Is The
Dying Century discuss IL ut an hour
when our national legislature is about to
assemble, some Of the members now here
present and Others soon To arrive from the
north, south, east and west All the public
conveyances coming this WAY will hing
important additions Of public men, So that
when on Dec :, at high noon. the yavcls Of
senate and house Of representatives shall
lift and fall the destinics Of this nation
and through it the dcstinics OF all nations
struggling to he free, will he put on solemn
and tremendous trial Amid such intcnsi-
flying circumstances stand by the veneer
4.
my text, THUS saith the Lord Set thine
house in order for thou shalt die and not
live
Zig Subject.
Eternity is too big subject for us to
understand. Some one has said ii Is n
great clock that says Tick in one cen
fury and Tack in another But we can
better understand old time, who has many
children-and they are the ccntures-and
many grandchildren-and they are tho
years With the dying nineteenth century
we shall this morning have n plain talk
telling him some of the good things he has
done, and then telling him some Of the
things no ought to adjust before he quits
this sphere and passes out To- join the
cternitics We generally wait until people
are dead before we say much in praise nf
pathetic and eloquent with things that
ought to have been said years before. We
put on cold tombstones what we ought tn
have put in the warm ears Of the living
We curse Charles Sumner while he Is liv-
ing and cudgcl him iEto spinal meningitis
and wait until in the rooms where / have
been living the last year. he puts his hand
on his heart and cries OH and Is gone
al-a
honor, DR. Sunderland. chaplain Of the
American senate, accompanying; stopping
long enough 10 allow the dead senator to
lie in state in Independence hall Phila
ielphia, and halting at Boston stHtchousc,
where not long before damnatnry rcsnlu-
tons had been passed in regard Ia him,
and then move on, amid the tnlling bells
and tho boom of minute guns, until we
bury him ut Mount Auburn and cover him
with flowers five feet deep. What "A pity
he could not have been awake at his own
funeral TO hear the gratitude 81 the nation !
What a pity that one green leaf could not
have been taken from each one Of the NOR
tuary garlands and put upon his table
while lac was yet alive at the Arlington
What a pity that out OF the great choirs
who chnntcd at his obsequics one little
girl dressed In white might not have sung
to his living ear a complimentary solo,
The postmortem expression contradictcd
| the antemortem. The nation could not
have spoken the truth both times about
Charles Sumner. Was il before or after
his deceaso II lied:
No such injustice shall he inflicted upon
this venerable nineteenth century. Before
he goes we recite in his hearing some of
the good things he has accomplished. What
an addition to the worlds intelligence he
has madei Look ut the old schoolhOuse,
with the SNOW sitting through the roof and
the filthy tin cup hanging over the water
| pail in the corner, and the little victims
on tho long benches without backs, and
the illiterate schoolmasicr with his hickory
CAD, and then look mt our modern palaces
of free schuols under men and women cul-
tured and refined to the highest excellence,
so that whereas In our childhood we had
to DO whipped To go To school, children
now cry when they cannot 90. Thank you,
venerable century, while at the same time
we thank God, What an addition to the
worlds inyentions-within our century
the cotton gin, the agricultural machines
for planting, reaping and thrashing; the
telegraph; the phonograph, capable Of
preserving n human voice from generation
to generation; the typewriter, that rcscues
/ the world from worse and worse penman-
ship, and stcnOgraphy, capturing from
the lips Of the swiftest speaker more than
| 800 words minutei Never was | Sa
ainGzed nj Il facilities Of our time ms when
= few days ago l photographed from Wash
iDgton to New York long and elaborate
manuscript, and few minutes after, 20
show its accuracy, IL was read TO me
ihrc ugh the long distance telephone. and
il was exact down 10 the last scmicclon
| and comma