Connecticut western news., 1897-11-04
CUT OFF IN YOUTH.
REV. DR. TALMAGE GIVES CONSoAA- ], TON TO BEREAvED PAREKTe.

While He Admits That Long hdfe Is Pleasant In Some Csses. He Shows That It Is Oftsn . Gain to Die Young. rcopyrisht. ss7 s3y o3y, Am American Press A''0-
 WASHINGTON, Oct S1.-From an un- usual standpoint Dr. Talmage offers comfort at the loss of children, and this sermon must be . balsam for many wounds Has text is Isaiah lvii, 1, 'The righteous is taken away from the evil to ooma''
 We aN pend much time in panegyric of longevity. We consider it great lhing to live to be an octogenarian. If any one dies In youth, we say, What pityi' Dr. Muhlenberg in old age, patd that the hymn written in early life by his own hand, no more expressed his sentiment when 1t said:
 Iwould not live alway. If one be pleasantly oircumstanced, Ae nSysf wants to go. William Cullen B9ysnt, the great poet, at S2 years of age, sanding In my house in festal 9xoup, reading ''Thanatopsis" without OsskAc3es, was just as anxious to live = whsn at 18 years of age he wrote GhaA immortal threnody. Cato feared at Q years of age that he would not live . learn Greek. Monaldesoo, at 116 ysarA writing the history of his time, 00rsd . collapse. Theophrastus, writ lnG book at 90 years of age, was anx- tcos to live to complete 1t. Thurlow We'd at about 98 years of age found life aeersAt . desirAbility az when he snuffsd out hds first politician. Albert Barnes, bowell prepared for the next world at SA satdphe would rather stay here. So tls al1 the way down. I suppose that tho last time that Methuselah was out o4 doors in storm he was afraid of get ting his feet wet lest 1t shorten his aaHA
 Indeed I some time ago preached . sssmon on the blessings of longevity, but I now propose to preach to ycu about the blessings of an abbreviated earthly existence. If were an agnostic, [ would say man is blessed in proper oion to the number of years he can stay op tern firma, because after that he tAlls on the docks. and If he is ever paoked out~of the depths 1t is only to
 
 ysEss Co see if anybody will claim him. If I thought God made man only to las % or 50 or 100 years and then he was 0 % into annihilation, would say his ohis8 business ought to be to keep alive and even in good weather to be very cautious and to carry an umbrella and take overshoes and life preservsrs and hronze armor and weapons of defense lest he fall o6 into nothtnaness and obltteration.
 But my friends. you are not agnos- ticA You believe in immortality and the eternal residence of the righteous in heaven, and therefore first remark that an abbreviated earthly existence is t0 be desired and Is blessing because it makes one's life work very compact.
 6ome men go to business at 2 o'clock In the morning and return at In the evening. Others go at 8 o'clock and re- turn 1t 1S. Others go at 10 and return At {. have friends who are ten hours . day in business, others who are 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 the most desirable? You say, other things being equal, the man who is the shortest time detained in business and who can re- turn home the quickest is the most blessed
 The Quicker the Better.
 Now, my friends, why not carry that good s6nse into the subject of transfer- Anoe from this world? If person die in childhood, he gets through his work at Q o'clock in the morning. If he die at l6 years of age, he gets through his work at 12 o'clock noon. If he die at 70 years of age, he gets through his work at 5 o'clock in the afternoon. If he die It 90, he has to toil 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 CT does not sit down in the stubble field; but shouldexing 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 ia to get our work done and we'll done, and the quicker the better.
 Again, there is blessing in an ab- breviated earthly existence in the fact that moral disaster might como upon the man if he tarried longer. Recently . 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 Ia years Twenty years ago there was no more probability of that mans com mitting 8 commercial dishonesty than that you will commit commercial dis honesty. The number of men who fall into ruin between 50 and 70 years of age is simply appalling, If they had died 30 years before, it would have been better for them and better for their familiea The shorter the voyage the Less chance for cyclone.
 There is 8 wrong theory abroad that if one's youth be right his old age will be right. You might as we'll say there h 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 boy was he? What kind of 2 young man was he?'' and they havo said; "Why, he was splendid fellow. I had no idea he could ever go into such an outrage" The fact is the great temp tation of life sometimes comes far on in midlife or in old age.
 L1fe's Experience.
 Tho first time crossed the Atlantic ocean it was as smooth as mill pond, and l thought the sea captains and the voyagers had slandered the old ocean, and wrote home an essay for mags- kine on 'The Smile of the Sea, !" but l never afterward could have written that thing, for before we got home we got 8 terrible shaking up. The first voyage Of life may be very smooth; the last may be euroclydon. Many who start life in great prosperity do not end it in pros perity.