Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1897-11-06
CUT OFF IN YOUTH.
REV. DR.. TALMAGE GIVES cONSOLA-
TON TO BEREAvED PARENTS.
While He Admits Tint Long Life Is
Pleasant In Some Cases. He Shows That
1t IL often Gain TO Die Young.

| While He Admits That Long Life Is
Pleasant In Some Cases. He Shows That
1t IL Often Gain TO Die Young.
copyright, 1897, by American Press Asso-
clation.l
WASHINGTON, Oct. 31.-From an I'M
usual standpoint DR.. Talmage offers
comfort at tho loss Of children, and this
sermon must be balsam for many
wounds His text is Isaiah lvii, l, 1.-THE
righteous is taken away from tho evil to
come 7"
We all spend much timo in panegyric
of longevity We consider it great
thing to live to be an octogenarian. II
any ono dies in youth, we say, What q
pity!' DR.. Muhlenberg in old age,
said that the hymn written in early life
by his own hand, no moro expressed his
sentiment when it said:
Iwould not 1.-Two Away.
If ono DO pleasantly circumstanced
he never wants to go. William Cullen
Bryant, the great poet, at 50 years OF
age, standing in my house in festal
group, reading "Thanatopsis" without
spectacles, was just as anxious to live
as when at Is years Of age no wrote
that immortal threnody. Cato feared at
so years of age that he would not live
to learn Greek Monaldesco, at 115
years, writing the history of his time,
! feared q collapse. Theophrastus, writ
ing book at 80 years of age, was anx-
ious to live to complete it. Thurlow
Weed at about sc years of age found life
as great Il desirability as when he snuffed
out his first politician. Albert Barnes,
so we'll prepared for tho next world at
70, said he would rather stay here. So
it is all the way down. | suppose that
the last time that Mcthuselah was out
of doors in a storm he was afraid of get
ting his feet wet lest it shorten his
days
Indeed l somo timo ago preached a
sermon OH tho blessings of longevity,
but now propose to preach to you
about the blessings of an abbreviated
earthly existence Ii were an agnostic,
1 would say Il man is blessed in proper
ton to the number of years he can stay
Oh terra iirlua, because after that no
falls off tho docks, and if no is ever
picked out of tho depths it is only to
be set up in some morgue of the uni
verso to see if anybody will claim him.
If thought God made man only to last
40 or so or 100 years and then he was
! to 20 into humiliation, would say his
I chief business ought to be to keep alive
| and even in good weather to DO very
cautious and to carry an umbrella and
take overshoes and life preservers and
bronze armor and weapons of defense
lest he fall off into nothingness and
obliteration.
But, my friends, you arc not agnos-
tics You believe in Immortality and
the eternal residence OF the righteous in
heaven, and therefore l first remark
that an abbreviated earthly existence is
to be desired and is a blessing because
it makes ones life work very compact
Some men go to business at O'Clock
in tho morning and return at Z in the
evening Others go at o'clock and re-
turn at ~ Others go at 10 and return
at /. have friends who are ten hours
day in business, others who ure five
hours, others who are one hour. They
all do their work we'll They do their
entire work and then they return
Which position do you think tho most
desirable? You say, other things being
equal, the man who is the shortest time
detained i'll business and who can re-
turn home the quickest is the most
blessed.
The Quicker the Better.
Now my friends, why not carry chat
good sense into the subject of transfer
ence from this world? If person die in
childhood, he gets through his work at
0 o'clock in the morning If he die at
DO years of age, he gets through his
work at - o'clock noon. If he die at 70
years of age, he gets through his work
at o'clock III the afternoon. If he die
at 90, he has to toll all the way on up
to II o'clock at night The sooner we
get through our work the better. The
| harvest all in barrack or barn, the FARM
er does not sit down in the stubble field;
but, shouldering his scythe and taking
his pitcher from under the tree he
makes straight line for the old home
stead. All we want to be anxious about
is to get our work done and well done,
| ord tbo ouio1-nr tho bettnr
Again, there is a blessing in an alb
breviate,l earthly existence in the fact
that moral disaster might come upon
the man if he tarried longer Recently
q man who had been prominent in
churches and who had been admired for
his generosity and kindness everywhere
for forgery was sent to state prison for
Is years Twenty years ago there was
no more probability of that mans com
hitting a commercial dishonesty than
that you will commit commercial dis
honesty. The number of men who fall
into ruin between 90 and 10 years Of
age is simply appalling If they had
died 30 years before, it would have been
better for them and better Tor theil
families. The shorter the voyage the
less chance for cyclone.
There is wrong theory abroad thai
if ones youth be right his old age will
be right You might as we'll say there
is nothing wanting for ships safety
except to get it fully launched on the
Atlantic ocean. / have sometimes asked
those who were schoolmates or college
mates of some great defaulter: "What
kind of a boy was he? What kind of
young man was he?" and they have
said: why. he was a splendid fellow.
had no idea he could ever go into suct
an outrage. The fact is the great temp
tation of life sometimes comes far on IL
midlife or in old age.
LIES Experience.
The first time crossed the Atlantic
ocean it was as smooth as mill pond