Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1898-11-18
DIVINE DIRECTION.
FOLLOW GODS GUIDANCE, SAYS THE
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.


WASHINGTON, Nov. l3.-To all those
who feel they have no especial mis-
sion in the world, this sermon of DR.
Talmage will como as a cheering rev
elation; text, John xviii, 81, "To rhis
this end was born"
After PLATE had suicided, tradition
rays that bis body was thrown into the
| Tiber, and such storms ensued on and
about that river that his body was TAX
en- out and thrown into the RhOue, and
similar disturbances swept that river
and lis banks Then the body was taken
ont aud moved to Lausanne, and put in
a deeper pool, which Immediately be-
came the center Of similar atmospheric
and aqueous disturbances Though these
are fanciful and false traditions, they
show the execratiOn with which the
world looked upon PLATE It was be-
fore this man when he was in full life
and power that Christ was arraigned as
in court Of oyer and terminer. PLATE
said to his prisoner, "Art thou a king,
/ then?' and Jesus answered, ITO this
end was / born. Sure enough, al
though all earth and hell arose to keep
him down, he is today empalaced en-
throned and coroneted king Of earth
and king Of heaven That is what he
came for, and that is what be accom-
plished.
BY the time a child reaches ten years
Of age the parents begin to discover
that chid's destiny but by the time ne
or she reaches fifteen years Of age the
question is on the child's lips; "What
shall do? What am l going TO be:
What was l made for?' II is a sensible
and righteous question, and the youth
ought to keep asking it until it is so
fully answered that the young man. or
Young woman, can say with as much
truth as its author though on less ex.
pansive scale, ITO this end was /
born
There is too much divine skill shown
in the physical. mental and moral con
stitution Of the ordinary human being
to suppose that he was constructed
without any divine purpose. If you
take mo out on son vast plain and
show me pillared {, PIE surmountad
by a dome like ST Ptar's, and having
a floor Of precious stones and arches
that must have taxed the brain of the
greatest craftsman to design and walls
scrolled ard nlched and paneled and
walnscoted and painted, and should
ak YOU what this building was put up
for and You answered. For nothing
at all " how could believe you: And
It is impossible for me 10 believe that
any ordinary human being who has in
his muscular. nervous and cerebral or
panization mere wonders than Christie
pher Wren lifted in st Paul's or
Phidias ever chiseled on the Acropolis
and built in such way that 1t shall
last long after st. Paul's cathedral Il
rs much a ruin as the Parthenon-that
such q bong was constructed for no
purpOse and to execute no mission and
without any divine intention toward
some end The otJect Of this sermon Is
to help you to find ont what you are
made tor and help you find your sphere
and assist you into that condition where
you can say with certainty and EN-
phasis and enthusiasm aud triumph.
'To this end was born.
Selecting an Occupation.
First. 1 discharge you from all re.
snonability for most Of your environ
ments You are not responsible for your
parentage or grandparentage Yen are
not Responsible for any Of the cranks
that may have lived in your ancestral
line and who 100 years before you were
born may have lived a style Of life that
more or less affects You today You are
not responsible for the fact that youi
| temperament issanguine OF melanchollc
or bilious or lymphatic or nervous
Neither are you responsible for the
place of your nativity, whether among
the granite hills Of New England or the
cotton plantations Of Louisiana or on
tho banks Of the Clyde OF the DneipeI
or the Shannon or the Seine Neither
are You responsible for the religion
taught in your fathers house, or the
! irrehgion. Do not bother yourself about
what you cannot help or about clrcum'
stances that you did not decree
Take things as they are and decide
the question so that you shall be able
safely to say. ITO this end was | born.
How will you decide it: By direct ap
plication to the only Being in the uni
verse who is competent to tell you-tht
Lord Almighty Do you know the rea
son why he is the only one who can tell
Because he can see everything between
your cradle and your grave though the
grave be so years off, and besides tha
he is the only Being who can see wha
mas been happening in the last 900 year
in your ancestral line and for thou
sands of years clear back to Adam, anC
there is not one person in all that an
cestral line of 5000 years but has some
how affected your character. and ever
old Adam himself will sometimes turi
up in your disposition The only belhi
who can take all things thai pertain t
YOU into consideration Is Cod ana ne j
the one YOU can ask Life is so shof
we have no time to experiment with oo
9 cupations and professions The reasoi
{ we have so many dead failures IS tina
o parents decided for children what the.
G shall do. or children themselves
: wrought on by some whim or fancy, de
I eide for themselves, without any III
q ploration of divine guidance so w
i. have now in pulpits men making ser
!. mons who ought TO be IN blacksmitl
c shops making plowshares. and we haV
in the law those who instead OF ruinini
I the cases of their clients ought to o
g pounding shoe lasts, and doctors wn
G are the worst hindrances TO their pa
G tients convalescence. aud artists tryinl
u 10 paint landscapes who ought 10 D
e whitewashlng board fences while tner
:. > are others making bricks who ought U
be remodeling constitutions or showing
nlanes who ought to be transtormihl
hteratures Ask God about what worlu
! " business you shall undertake unu
a.. n N alTnfAI