News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1897-11-03
THE LOST CHILDREN.
PEW DR. TALMAGE'S CONsOLlNG SER
MON FOR BEREAVEO PARENTS.

he
For a Cyclone Temptation In Old Ase.
what the Lad Dying at Sixteen Is
s,ared-Generosity of Bereavement.
rCopyright. 1897, by American Press Asso-
ciaton.
WASHINGTON, Oct 3L-From an unusual
standpoint DR.. Tahmage offers comfort at
the loss of children. and this sermon must
be balsam for many wounds His text
is Isaiah lvii, l, The righteous is taken
away from the evil to come.
We all spend much time in panegyric of
longevity. We consider it q great thing
to live to be an octogenarian, If any one
dies in youth, we say, What pity!' DR..
Nuhlcuhcrgh, in Old age, said that the
hymn written in carly life by his own
hand no more expressed his sentiment
when it said:
/ would not live Away.
If one be pleasantly circumstanced, he
never wants to go William Cullen Bry,
ant the great poet at 81 years Of age
standing in my house in fcstal group
reading "ThaHatupsts' without spectacles,
was just as anxious to live rs when at Is
years Of age he wrote that immortal thrcn-
ody Cato feared at 50 years of age that
he would not live to learn Greek. Monal-
desco, at ll5 years, writing the history of
his time, feared a collapse Theophrastus,
writing 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 a desirability as when he snuffed
out his first politician. Albert Barnes, so
well prepared for the next world at 70, said
bo would g., . Is -
way down suppose that the last time
that Methuselah was out of doors in "a
storm he was afraid of getting his feet
wet lest it shorten his days.
Indeed l some time ago preached ser
mon on the blessings of longevity, but |
now propose to preach to you about the
blessings of an abbreviated earthly exist
ence. If were an agnostic, l would say
a man is blessed in proportion to the num-
Der of years he can stay on terra frma, be-
cause after that he falls off the docks, and
If he is ever picked out Of the depths it is
only to be set up in some morgue of the
universe to see if anybody will claim him.
If l thought God made man only to last
40 or 30 or 100 years and then he was to
go into humiliation, | would say his chief
business ought to be to keep alive and
even in good weather to be very cautious
and to carry an umbrella and take over
shoes and life preseryers and bronze an
NOR and weapons of defense lest he fall off
into nothingpess and obliteration
The ('dicIs Eeturn Home.
But, my friends, you are not agnOstiCs
You believe in immortality and the eternal
residence of the righteous in heaven, and
therefore first remark that an abbreviat-
ed earthly existence is to be desired and is
a blessing because it makes ones life
work very compact
Some men go to business at 7 o'clock in
the morning and return at in the even
ing. Others go at O'Clock and return at
IL. Others go at ~ and return at 4.
have friends who are ten hours a day in
business others who are five hours, 9TH
ers who are one hour. They all do their
work well. 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 return home the quickest is the
most blessed.
Now, my friends, why not carry that
BOOd SC1SC lllUO UuC SuDJGCu VI UTduSlCI6uCG
from this world? If a person die in child
hood, he gets through his work at 8 o clock
in the morning If he die at As years of
age, he gets through his work at IL clock
noon. If he die at 70 years of age, he gets
through his work at o'clock in the after
noon. If he die at 80, he has to toll all
the way on up to II o'clock at night. The
sooner we get through our work the bet
ter. The harvest all in barrack or barn
the farmer does not sit down in the stub
BILE 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,
and the quicker the better
Saved From the Cyclone, Perhaps.
Again, there is blessing in an abbrcvi.
ated earthly existence in the fact that
moral disaster might come 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 Is years Twenty years
ago there was no more probability of that
mans committing a commercial dishOn
esty than that you will commit CONNER
cial dishonesty The number of men who
fall into ruin between so and 70 years Of
age is simply appalling. If they had dice
80 years before it would have been better
for them and better for their families
The shorter the voyage the less chance fol
d cyclone.
There is wrong theory abroad that /
ones youth be right his old age will b.
right You might as well say there il
nothing wanting for ships safety excep
to get it fully launched on the Atlantis
ocean. l have sometimes asked those whit
were schoolmates or college mates of SOM
great defaulter: What kind of a boy wa
her What kind of young man was hep
And they have said why, he was a splen
did fellow. | had no idea he could ever Z,
into such an outrage. The fact is tn
great temptation Of life sometimes come
far on in midlife or in old age.
The first time | crossed the Atlantis
ocean it was as smooth mill pond, AM
thought the sea captains and the voyager
had slandered the old ocean, and | wrot
home an essay for a magazine on 'Th
Smile of the Sea, but never afterwart
could have written that thing, for befor
we got home we got terrible shaking up
The first voyage of life may be YER
smooth. The last may be euroclydon
Many who start life in great prosperity d
not end it in prosperity.
The great pressure of temptation come
sometimes in this direction At about 4
years Of age man nervous system
changes and some one tells him he mus
take stimulanto to keep himself up, an