Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1896-09-09
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
The Eminent Div.ne's Sunday
Discourse.
Sabject: ga Shadow ON the Harvest
Eield.'s

fell on day that he went out to his father
to the reapers. And he said unto his father.
my head. my head! And he said to a lad.
carry him to his mother. And when he had
taken him and brought him to his mother he
sat on her knees till noon, and then died. ~
II Kings iv.. 1s, 19, 20.
There Is at least one bappv home in Sbu.
nem. To the luxuriance and sp,endor of a
great house had been given the advent of
child. Even when the Angel of Life bring,
new soul TO the poor mans hut, star OF
10y snines over the manger. Infancy. with
ITS neipleesnees and innocence had passed
away. Days OF boyhood had come-days of
Iaugnter and frolic, days OF sunshine and
promise. days OF strange questions and
curiosity and quick development. 1 suppose
among all the treasures Of the house the
brightest was the boy. One day there is the
snout OF reapers heard afield. A bows
heart always bounds at tho sound of sickle
or scythe. No sooner have the harvesters
cut swath across the field than the lad
Joits them, and the swathy reapers feel
young again as they look down at that
lad, as young and beautiful as was Ruth
In the harvest fields of Bethlehem
Rieaning after the reapers, But the sun
was too hot for him. Congestion Of the brain
seized on him. see the swarthy laborers
drop their sickles; and they rush ont to see
wnat Is the matter, and they fan him and
they try to cool his brow; but all is of no
avai'; In the instant OF consciousness, he
puts his hands against his temples and cries
out: MY head! my head. And the father
SAID: Garry him to his mother" Just as any
Iather would have said: for our hand is too
rough, and our voice is too harsh. and our
loot Is too loud to doctor a sick child n
thete De In our home gentler voice ana q
gentler hand and a stiller footstep. But ALI
oi no avail. While the reapers Of Shunem
were busy In the field, there came a stronger
reaper that way, with keener scythe and for
a rcher harvest. He reaped only one sheaf.
out oh, what a golden sheaf was that! do
not want to know any more about that heart.
Dreaklng scene than what see In just thi.
one pathetic sentence: HE sat on her knees
TIL noon, and then died" Though hundreds
OF years have passed away since that boy
skipped to the harvest-1eld and then was
brought home and died on his mothers lap.
the story still thrills us. Indeed, childhood
mas charm always and everywhere. shall
its susceptibility to impression, its power
over the parental heart, and its blissful
transition from earth to heaven,
Inc child 8 beauty does not depend upon
form or feature or complexion or apparel.
Ihaf destitute one that you saw on the
street. bruised with unkindness and in rags,
mas charm about her, even under her des-
ntution You have forgotten a great many
persons whom you met, of finely cut features
and with erect posture and with faultIass
complexion. while you will always remem-
per the poor girl who, on q cold. moonlight
night, as you were passing late home, in her
thin shawl and barefoot on the pavement.
put out her hand and said: "Please to give
me a penny" All! how often we have
walked on and said: "Oh, that is nothing
but street vagabondism;" )" but after we got a
biock or two on. We stopped and said: "Ah,
tnat Is not right; and we passed UP that
same way and dropped a mite into that suf-
1erlnR nand. fhOnOh Il
OF second thought, so ashamed were we OF
our hard heartedness. With what admjra-
uon we all look upon group Of children
on the play ground or in the school, and
tariy, and say: "How beautiful" All
stiffness and dignity are gone, and
your shout is heard with theirs and
you trundle their hoop. and hy
tnelr Kite, and strike their bali. and all your
WEAKNESS and anxiety are gone as when a
yourself. That father who stands rigid and
unsympathetic amid the sportfulness of chill.
oren, ought never to have been tempted out
OF crusty and unredeemable solitariness.
inc waters leap down the rocks. but they
have not the graceful step Of childhood.
Ihe morning comes out OF the gates of the
East, throwing its silver on the lake and its
gold on the towers and its FIRE on the cloud:
out 1t Is not SO bright and beautiful as the
morning OF life! There is no light like that
which Is kindled in q child's eye, no color
axe that which blooms ON a child's cheek.
no music like the sound Of child's voice.
IT'S lace In the poorest picture redeems any
Imperfection in art. when we are weary
With foil. their little hands pull the burdens
On our back. Oh. what a dull, stale, mean
world this would be without the sportful-
ness OF children. When l find people that
90 not Ike children, Immediately doubt
tneir moral end Christian character. But
Of nf,a
how unspeakably attractive. When Samuel
begins to pray, and Timothy begins to read
the scriptures, and Joseph shows himself
lnvulnerable to temptation-how beautiful
the scene! know that parents sometimes
get nervous when their children become
pious, because they have the idea that good
snildren always die. The strange questions
about God and eternity and the dead, excite
apprehension in the parental mind rather
ihan congratulation. Indeed, there are
sOme people that seem marked for heaven
fhfs world Is too poor a garden for them to
bloom In: The hines of heaven are in the
petals. There Is something about their fore
head that makes you think that the hand of
Chr1st has been on ii, saying: LET this one
some to Me, and let it come to Me soon I"
while that one tarried in the house you felt
There was an angel In the room, and you
thought that every sickness would be the
last; and when, finally, the winds of death
y
prised than to see star come ont above the
cIond on dark night; for you had often
said to your companion: "My dear, We
shall never raise that child" But l scout
he idea that good children always die.
Samuel the pious boy, became Samuel
came minister at Ephesus. Young Daniel,
consecrated to God, became prime minister
Of all the realm, and there are in hundreds
Of the schools and families Of this country
to-day children who love God and keep HIS
commandments, and who are to be foremost
among the Christians and the philanthro-
pists and the reiorners Of the next century,
The grace of God never kills anyone A
child will be more apt to grow up with re-
ligion than 1t will be apt to grow up without
Ii. Length Of days Is promised to the right
eous. Tho religion OF Christ does not cramp
the chest or curve the spine or weaken the
nerves. There are no malarias floating up
from the river Of life. The religion OF Christ
throws over the heart and life OF a child Q
supernal beauty. ''Her ways are ways Of
pleasantness. and all her paths are peace"
pass on to consider the susceptibility Of
childhood. Men pride themselves on their
unchangeability. They will make an elabor-
ate argument to prove that they think
now just as they did twenty years ago. 1t is
charged to frailty or fraud when a man
changes his sentiments in politics or In
religion. and 1t is this determination Of soul
that SO often drives back the gospel from a
mans heart. 1t is so hard to make avarice
charitable, and fraud honest, and pride
humble, and skepticism Christian. The
sword Of Gods truth seems to glance OF
from those mailed warriors, and the helmet
seems battle-proOf against Gods battle-ax.
But childhood; how susceptible to example
and to Instruction.! You are not surprised
at the record: Abraham begat Isaac, and
Isaac begat Jacob" for when religion starti
In a family. IT is apt to go all through. Jeze
bel. murderess, you are not surprised II
and her son Jehoram attempting assassina
tion. Oh, what responsibility upon th'
parent and the teacheri Tho musicias
foucnes the keys, and the response OF those
Keys Is away OF amid the pipes and the
chords, and you wonder at the distance be-
tween the key and the chord. And so it is
In lie; II you touch a child, the result will
come back from manhood or old aga, telling
Just the tune PLAYED, whether the dirge OF u
| great sorrow or the anthem OF q great joy.