Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1898-03-10
SERMONS OF THE DAY.
RELIGIOUS TOPICS DISCUSSED BY
PROMINENT AMERICAN MINISTER'S.

Herald's Competitive Series-Dr. Tai
mage breaches q Sermon to sisters.
TEXT: "Thev cast four anchors out OF the
stern."-Acts xvii, ~.
The symbolism OF tho text is striking and
suggestive. Many lives have been ship
wrecked for the need OF anchors holding
them to steadfastness. However deep we
may feel the waters to be through which we
are sailing, we are often nearer the shoals
and reefs than Is imagined.
The first anchor which should be thrownS
out is hxedness OF purpose. The inner
most secret Of successful lives is in the
concentration OF power along certain de-
do,' and the world will ever do him rev.
erence. DR.. Hudson Taylor says, "This
one thing I do" and China is opened as
never before to higher ideals and larger
visions of life. The Earl Of Shaftesbury
says, "This one thing I do,'' and he goes
down to the Holborn viaduct, in London,
and the kootblacks and hucksters and
street arabs and costermongers are trans
formed. The great names In art, in science,
in philosophy and in finance are always
identified with pain and purpose. Life is
power, but power undirected Is lost. Only
constant striking on the same spot makes
an impression. Purpose connects and
unifies our months and years and makes Of
them all but parts of single whole. Each
day ought to be q link tempered and
welded into the chain of completed life.
Three-fourths of mems failures may be
attributed to the lack of purpose. The
house can scarcely be constructed without
plan; how much less can a human life be
fashioned without conception Of what
it will be when finished? Plan must precede
construction; the ideal before the realiza-
ton, the purpose before the accomplish
ment. Only the man who aims will strike
the mark. Turn your life into a definite
channel; let it not cover too much terri
tory, for it is the deeply flowing stream
which cuts away the distractions and at
last reaches the sea, while the stream
which spreads itself in shallowness goes
silently into the swamp-land and its life
is ended. The analysis of every completed
life reveals a central point about which
energy and emotion and devotion cluster
themselves.
But purpose to exert its influence must
be accompanied by perseverance, so cast
out the second anchor. Here is a vast diff
ference between the aim and the accom-
plishment Perseverance is the bending
ofthe bow to send the shaft at the target
and the bow is the will. 81 will fight it
out on this line If it takes all summer"
Says the great general. That is the spirit
which conquers. No sooner have our plans
been Grated or our purpose fixed than cir
cumstances and difficulties seem to con-
spire to defeat and ruin them. Many a man
has seen his star in the east, but only here
and there has one been possessed Of the
unbeaten path until it led him to his treas
ure. 1t is blood earnestness which tells.
The man who Is ever unconscious of defeat
is he who some day will plant his standard
upon the enemies ramparts and win the
day. He who holds on in the face of the
storm, in spite of discouragements, calmly
suffering temporary delays, is he who final
ly secures his crown and his reward. Shall
we complain of difficulties when a thou
sand fingers are pointing at wonderful
l.. ..,,,o L.
mendous obstacles? Helen Kellar, without
light, without hearing, without language,
presses on until she passes the entrance
examinatifqs to Harvard University. John
Bunyan, the drunken tinker Of Bedford,
rises to the authorship OF "Pilgrim's Prog
ress." 1t is half-heartedness which fails,
but the "doing with thy might" which sue
ceeds. Before determined will and
passionate ''evotion men will stand aside
and let you pass-they cannot help it; diff
culties will yanish-they cannot withstand
you; obstruction will be crushed-ther
puny strength deserts them.
Then, in order to make perseverance
possible, anchor the third, faith in ones
self. Too often the estimate OF our power
falls far short of what it really is. Emer-
sons word "Trust thyself," carries with 1t
true philosophy, for one may not achieve
until there is firm belief in ones own
soul. II we rate our ideal at 100 and our
power at fifty the accomplishment will be
but one-half. The great crime men COM
NIT against themselves is not in overjudg-
ing, but in underjudging. My self-set
limitations determine the extent of my
achievement. And what right has nan,
born in the image of God, with unknown
and undeveloped powers standing before
hidden future, to measure and to circum-
scribe his capabilities and to limit his pos
sibilities of success in the construction Of
life? Only God may measure man. for only
God knows the height the individual may
reach. Men who to-day are almost meas
ureless in their Intellectual sweep are they
who have not dared with compass and rule
to set their bounds. This is not conceit,
but a respect for the untouched, undreamed
OF potency OF your own soul. So then,
believe not only In your ideal, but in the
possibility of realizing It.
Aud then the fourth anchor. faith in God.
We may imagine Paul as the last anchor Is
brown out calling to the sailors, "Men,
it hold?" and the answer coming back,
the rope Is taut; we do not see the
down below the waves, but the
rholds." All! that is the blessed ex-
cot life; this anchor always grasps
/ rock, the unseen rock of God!
ruects man with Omnipotence.
a, ,eonductor which places ut our
di Yine grace and power. This is
stimeRy OF every child of faith. 81
o allthings through Him." This is
over not our own which may be ap-
priated. And there are times when the
ETY. of the whole life depends upen this
.chor. The anchor of purpose may be
islodged and flung high upon the shore by
form and tempest; the anchor of perse-
erance may be worn away by the fretting
ide and the cutting sands, the anchor OF
faith may snap in Twain in some fearful
crisis when the strain is great and the heart
is sick, but awav down below the crashing
pillows OF passion and temptation rests
the anchor of faith embedded in the heart
Of God. So let US live with noble purpose
worthy the patient endeavor and unfalter-
ing devotion we bestow upon it, mindful OF
our own undiscovered re1olrces and hold
ing fast to the might of God
Rev. CHARLES ATWOOD CAMPBELL
FIRST Presbyterian Church, Providence. r. T
FOR GIRLS.
Rev. DR.. Talmage breaches Directly to
the Sisters.