Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1897-11-05
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
INTERESTING THEME BY TIE WASH.
RcToN PREACHER.
Duties OF Men Toward Their Suffering
Brethren oT the Present Generations
Clothing OF the soul >hauid Keep Pace
With that sfthe Physical Wants af Man

Clothing ot the >out >hnuld Keep Pace
With That ofthe Physical Wants af Man
TEXT. David. after he had served his
own generation by the will % God, fell on
sleep," Acts xiii. %
THAT Is a text which has for long time
been running through my mind. sermons
have time to be born, a. well a. time to
die; cradle rs well a. a grave. David.
cowboy and stone-slinger, and Fighter aud
ear, an dramatist aud blank verse writer,
and prophet. did his best for the people Of
his time, and then went aud lay down on
the southern hill Of Jerusalem in that sound
slumber which nothing but an arrhaugelie
blast can startie. Their are about four
generations 10 century. now: but In olden-
time life was longer. and there was, per-
haps, only one generation 10 century.
Taking these facts into the calculation, |
make a rough guess and say that there
have been at least $50 generations 81 the
human family. With reference To them We
have no responsibility. We cannot teach
them, we cannot correct their mistakes we
cannot soOthe their sorrows. we cannot heal
their wounds.
Il admit that | am in sympathy with the
child whose father had suddenly died. AMI
who, in her little evening PRAYER. wanted
20 continue to pray for her father. although
he had gone into heaven and no more
l''fAf''A Alft lilNNFINs anu LOOKING ull INTO
her mothers fnre, said oh mother.
cannot leave him all out. Let me say.
Thank God that had a good father once
50 can keep him in my prayers But
the $50 generations have passed of Passed
up. Passed down. Gone forever. Then
there are generations to come after our
earthly existence has ceased: we shall not
see them: we shall not hear any OF their
voices; we will take no part in their convo-
cations, their elections their revolutions
their catastrophrS, their triumphs We
will in nowise affect the $50 generations
gone or the lS0 generations to come. But
our business is, like David, to serve our
own generation; the people now living
those whose lungs now breathe and whose
hearts now beat. Aud, mark YOU il Is not
silent procession, but moving II is
forced march, AT twenty-fOur miles day,
each hour being mile. Going with that
celebrity, it has got to be quick service on
our part or no service at all.
"Wcll, now. let US look around earnest
ly, prayerlully, in a common-sense way,
and see what we can do for our generation.
First OF all, let Us see to it that, as far as
We can, they have enough to eat. The
human body is so constituted that three
times a daya body needs food as much as
a lamp needs oil, as much rs a locomotive
needs fuel. To meet this want God has
girdled the earth with apple orchards,
orange groves, wheat fields, and oceans full
Of fish, and prairies full Of cattle And
Notwithstanding this, | will undertake to
say that the vast majority of the human
family are suffering either for lack OF food
or the right kind OF food. Our civiliza-
ton is all askew, and God only can set 1t
right. Many Of the greatest estates of to-
day have been built out of the blood and
bones of unteQuited toll.
Don't sit down at your table with five or
six courses of abundant supply and think
nothing of that family in the next street
who would take any one OF these five
courses between soup and almond nuts and
feel they were in heaven. The lack Of the
right kind of food is the cause OF much Of
the drunkenness. After drinking what
many of our grocers call coffee, sweetened
with what many cali sugar, and eating
wtTNt many OF our butchers call meat, and
chewing what many of our bakers call
bread, many of the labOrnG classes feel so
miserable they retempted 10 put into their
nasty pipes what the tobaocOnist calls to-
bacco or go into the drinking saloons for
what the rumselers call beer. Good coffee
would do much in driving out rum
Glow can we serve our generation with
enough to eat2' BY sitting down in en-
broidered slippers aud lOunging back IN an
arm chair, our mouth puckered up around
Havana of the best brand, and through
clouds of luyurant smoke reading about
political economy and the philosophy of
strikes? No. MOI BY finding out who in
this city bRs been living on gristle, and
sending them tenderloin beefstcak Seek
out some family who, through sickness or
conjunction Of misfortune have not enough
to eat. aud do for them what Christ did for
the hungry multitudes Of Asia Minor, null
tiplying the loayeS and the fishes. Let us
quit the surieiting of ourselves until we
cannot choke down another crumb of cake,
| and begin the supply OF others necessi-
ties.
1T is an awful thing to be hungry, said
the preacher. 1T Is an easy thing for US
to he in good humor with all the world
when we have no lack. But let hunger
take full possession of us, and we would all
turn into barbarianS and cannibals and
iends. Suppose that some of the energy
we are expanding in useless and unavaiing
talk about the bread question should be eX-
pended in merciful alleviations. | have
read that the battlefield on which more
troops met than on any other in the
worlds history was the battlefield OF Leip-
Sir-l6O, 900 men under Napoleon: $50, 900
men under Schwarzeberg. MOI MOI The
greatest and most terrific battle Is now be-
ing fought all the world over. 1t is the
struggle for food. The ground tone Of the
finest passage in one OF the great musical
masterpieces, the artist says, was suggest
ed to him by the cry Of the hungry popu-
lace of Vienna, as the King rode through
and they shouted: Bread! Give US bread"
And all through the great harmOnies OF
musical academy and cathedral hear the
the pathos, the ground tone, the tragedy
of uncOunted mutitudes, who, with stream
ing eyes and wan cheeks and broken hearts,
in behalf of themselves and their families,
are pleading for bread.
LET us take another look around to see
how we may serve our generation. Let us
see, as far rs possible, that they have
enough to wear
The preacher dilated upon the curse OF
drunkenness and idleness causing the
maelstrom that has swallowed down the
livelihood of those who are in rage. But
things will change, and by generosity on
the part of the crowded wardrobes, and in
iustry and sObriety on the party OF the
empty wardrobes, there will be enough for
all to wear.
"God has done His part toward the dress
ing of the human race. He grows sur
plus of wool on the sleeps back, and tiocks
roam the mountains and valleys with
burden OF warmth intended for transfer
ence to human comfort when the shuttles
of the factories reaching all the way from
Chattahoochee to the Merrimac, shall have
spun and woven it. In white letters Of
snowy fleece God has been writing for a
thousand years His wish that there might
be warmth for all nations. While others
are discussing the effect of high or low tariff,
or no tariff at all on wool, you and l had
better see if In our wardrobe we have moth
ing that we can spare for the shiverlng, or
pick out some poor lad Of the street and
take him down to clothing store and fit
him out for the winter.
again, let us look around and see how
we may serve our generation. What short
sighted mortals we would be if we were
anxious to clothe and feed only the most
insignificant part of n man, namely, his
| body, while we put forth no effort to
| clothe and feed and save his soul.