The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1898-04-27
LIGHTIN THE CLOUDS
DR.. TALMAGE SAYS WE MUST LOOK
FOR SUNSHINE.


Mans Best Heritage-views of Heaven.
rCopyright, 1898. by American Press t-sso-
ciation.l
WAsn1NGToN, April 24.-Thls sermon
of DR.. Talmage will have tendency to
take the gloom out of many lives and
stir up a spirit Of healthful ant!clpa'
ton: text, Job xxxvii, 2l, land now
men see not the bright light which is
in the clouds.
Wind east. Barometer falling. Storm
signals out. Ship reefng maintopsall'
Awnings taken in. Prophecies of foul
weather everywhere. The clouds con-
eregate around the sun, prosposlng TO
abolish him. But after awhile he assalls
the flanks of the clouds with flying ar
p tillery Of light and here and there IS
sign of clearing weather. Many do net
observe it. Many DO not realize 1t.
land now men see not the bright light
which is in the clouds" In other
words, there are hundred men looking
for storm where there is one man LOOK
ing for sunshine My object will be to
get You and myself into the delightful
habit Of making the best Of everything.
You may have wondered at the sta
tistics that in India, in the year 1919,
there were over $4,000 people slain by
wild beasts, and that in the year 1876
there were in India over 1000 people
DESTROYED by wild animals. But there
is monster in our own land which Is
year by year destroying more than that.
It is the old bear of melancholy, ano
with gospel weapons l propose to chase
it back to it's midnight caverns. | mean
10 do two sums-a sum IN subtraction
and sum in additional subtraction
from your days of depression and al ad-
dition to your days of JOY. If God VIII
help re, will compel you to see the
bright light that there'is i'll the clouds
and compel you to make the best Of ev-
erything.
In the first place, you ought to make
the very best of all your financial mis-
fortunes. During the panic few years
ago YOU all lost money. Some OF you
lost it in most unaccountable ways. For
the question, "How many thousands OF
dollars shall I put aside this year, You
substituted the question, "How shall l
pav my butcher and baker and clothier
and landlord" You had the sensation
of rowing hard with two oars and yet
all the time going down stream.
A Destroying Power.
You did not say much about 1t be-
cause it was net polite to speak much
of financial embarrassment, but your
wife knew. Less variety OF wardrobe,
more economy at the table, self denial
in art and tapestry. Compression; re-
trenchment. Who did not feel the ne
cessity OF it: My friend, did you make
the best of this? Are you aware Of how
narrow an escape you made? Suppose
You had reached the fortune toward
which you were rapidly going? What
then? You would have been as proud as
Lucifer.
How few men have succeeded largely
in financial sense and yet maintained
their simplicity and religious consecra-
N>>'
There are glorious exceptions, but the
general rule is that in proportion as a
man gets we'll off fer this world he gets
poorly off for the next. He loses his
sense of dependence on God. He gets a
distaste for prayer meetings. With
plenty of bank stocks and plenty of gov
ernment securities, what does that man
know of the prayer, "Give me this day
nv daily bread?' How few men largely
successful in this world are bringing
souls to Christ, or showing self denial
for others or are eminent for piety: You
can count them all upon your eight lin
gers and two thumbs.
Cne of the old covetous souls, when
he was sick and sick unto death, used
to have basin brought in-a basin fill
ed with gold-and his only amusement
and the only relief he got for his in
famed hands was running them down
through the gold and turning it up III
the basin. Oh, what infatuation and
what destroying power money has for
many a man! Now, you We're sailing at
80 knots the hour toward these vortlces
of worldliness-what mercy 1t was,
that honest defalcation! The same di,
vine hand that crushed your storehouse,
your bank, yoar Office, your insurance
company, lifted you out Of destruction.
The day you honestly suspended IN busl'
ness made your fortune for eternity.
"Oh," you say, - could get along
very we'll myself, but | am so disap'
pointed that l cannot leave competence
fer my children" My brother, the same
financial misfortune that is going tc
save your soul will save your children.
With the anticipation Of large fortune,
how much industry would your chill
dren have, without which habit OF IN
dustry there is no safety? The young
man would say: "Well, there's no neeo
of my working. My father will soon
step out, and then I'll have just what
want" You cannot hide from him how
much you are worth. You think you are
hiding it. He knows all about it. Ht
can tell you almost to dollar. Perhap!
ne has been to the county office anc
searched the records cf deeds and mort
cages, and he has added 1t all up, anc
he has made All estimate of how long
ycu will probably stay IN this worlc
and is not as much worried about your
rheumatism and shortness of breath a!
you are. The only fortune worth any
thing that you can give your child il
the fortune you put in his head anc
heart. Of all the young men who start
ed life with S40 1000 capital how many
turned out we'll? do not know half 6
dozen.
The Best Inheritance.
The best inheritance young lnal
can have is the feeling that be has tt
fight his own battle and that life is ;
struggle into which he must throw
body, mind aud soul or be disgracetully
worsted. Where are the burial places c:
the men who started life with fortune
Some of them IL the peters field, some