Virginia gazette. [volume] (Williamsburg, Va.) 1893-192?, 1898-11-26
REV. DR.. TALMAGB.
THE EMINENT DIvINE's SUNDAY
DISCOURSE.


Follow Gods Guidance
TExr: "To this end was born."--John
XVIII. 81.
After PLATE had suicidel. tradition says
that his body was thrown into the Tiber.
and such storms ensued on and about that
river that his body was taken out ami
thrown into the Hhone. and similar Dis
turbances swept that river and its banks.
Then the body was taken out and moved 10
Lausanne, and put In n deeper pool. which
Immediately became the centre OF similar
atmospheric and aqueous disturbances
Though these are fRnciful and false
traditions. they show the execration with
which the world looked upon PLATE II
was before this man when he was In fGN
life and power that Christ was arraigned
as in court OF oyer and terminer PLATE
said 10 HIS prisoner. Art thou king.
them" and Jesus answered, To this end !
was born" Sure enough, although all
earth and hell arose 70 keep Him down.
He Is to-day empalaced. enthroned and
coroueted King of earth aud King OF
heaven That is what Re came Tor, and
that is what He accomplished.
By the time = child reaches ten years Of
age the parents begin 90 discover that
childs destiny. but by the time he or she
reaches fifteen YEAR, OF age the question
is on the chnd's lips. What shall J dof
what am 1 going 20 he' What was I made
for." IL g. a sensible and righteous ques-
tion. and the youth ought 20 Keep asking
u
young man. or yOuac woman. can say
with as much truth a. its author. though
on less expansive scale TO this end was
L horn"
There il too much divine skill shown IN
the physical. mental and moral cOnstitu-
tion Of the ordinary human being TO sup
pose that he was constructed without any
divine purpose. II you take me ont OF
some vast plain and show ms a pulared
temple surmouated by a dome Ike 81.
rar4A hnrr Of r.r.n Ion.
stones and arches that must have taken the
brain OF the greatest craftsman 90 design
aud walls scrolled and niched and raneled
aud wainscoted and painted. and l should
ask YOU what this building was put up for
and You answered. "tOr nothing al all.
how could believe you2 And IL Is impOs-
sible for me- 70 believe that any ordinary
human being who mas ia his muscular
nervous and cerebral organization more
wonders than Christopher Wren lifted I'm
st. Paul's, or phidias ever chiseled on the
AcrCpolis and built in such a way that 1;
shall last long after -. Pauls Cathedral 4:
as much a ruin as tho Parthenon-thal
such being was constructed for no other
purpose and 20 execute no mission and
without any divine intention toward some
end The object OF this sermon l. 20 helT
you nnd out what you are made for and
help you find your sphere and assist yOs
into that condition where You can say with
certainty and emphasis and enthusiasm
and triumph. "To this end was born"
First. l discharge you from all response
bility for most OF your environments. You
are not responsible for your parentage Of
grsndparentage. You are not responsible
for any Of the cranks that may have uveg
IN your ancestral line and who. 100 year
before YOU were born. may have liv-i
style OF life that more or less affects vol
to-day. You are not responsible sor thl
fact that your temperament ~ sanguine o
melancholic or bilious or lymphatic o.
nervous. Neither are you responsible To-
the place OF your nativity, whether amoRl
the granite hills OF New England or tn
cotton plantations OF Louisiana or on th'
banks Of the CLYDE or the Dnciper or thl
shannon or the Seine. Neither are yOt
responsible for the religion taught in you
fathers house. or the irreligion. Do no
bother yourself about what you can
not help or about circumstances that yOl
did not decree.
Take things as they arc and decide tn
question so that you shall he able safely {,
say. To this end was / born How vii
you decide it, By direct application Z
the only Being in the universe who is com
Petent 10 tell you-the Lord Almighty. d
You know the reason why He i the 0nl,
one who can tell2 Because He can sc
everything between your cradle and YOU
grave, though the grave be eightyeear
OF. and besides that he Is the Onl
Being who can sea what has bee
happening in tho last 500 years 8
your ancestral line. and for thousand
OF years clear back TO Adam an
there is not one person in all that ance.
tral line OF COCO years but has somehow al
fected your character, and even Old Adal
himself will sometimes turn up in your 81,
position. The only Being who can tax
all things that pertain 10 you into consiC
GRAFTON is God. and he is the one YOU ca
ask. Life is 40 short we have no time I
experiment with occupations and profe.
sious- The reason we have 50 many dea
failures is that parents decided for chi
dren what they shall do. or chill dren then
selves, wrought on by some whfm or fame
decide for themselves, without any in
2ioration OF divine guidance. SO we ha,
now IN pulp!ts men making sermons WI
= ought TO be in blacksmith shops maxim
plowshares, and we have In the law tho.
who instead OF running the cases OF the
clients ought 20 be pounding shoe last
and doctors who are the worst hindranc
- their patients convalescence. and a
lists trying TO paint landscapes who ouG
TO be withdrawing board fences, wh
there are others making bricks who Ouc
TO be rem odeling constitutions or shoVi
planes who ought 10 be Transforming lits
lures. Ask God about what worldly bu
ness you shall undertake until you are
positive you can in eaEnsstness smite 20
hand on your plow handle. or your c
ponter's bench. or your Blackstone Go
mentaries." or your medical dictionary.
your DR.. Dicks "Didactic TheoiOgy." 81
ing. For this end was born" There
children VINO early develop natural a ~
ties for certain styles OF work. When
father OF the astronomer Forbes was go
70 London be asked his children w
present he should bring each one OF The
The boy who was TO be an astronomer CT
out. Bring me telescopei"
And there are children whom yon find
by tbe1nselves drawing Oh their states
on paper. ships, or houses. or birds.
you know they Ars to be craftsmen or are
tects OF some kind. And You find 9th
IA 80. Il