The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1898-09-07

DR.. Tslmsge Points Out the Lesson Of the
Life Of David-Service Which Suffering
Humanity Now Needs-A Blissful Awak-
ening.
{Copyright. 1898, by American Press Asso-
ciation.l
WASHINGTON, Sept. An this dis
course DR.. Talmage changes our life
time from a meaningless generality to
practical helpfulness to the people now
living; text, Acts xiii, sc, David,
after he had served his own generation
by the will Of God, fell Oh sleep"
That is text which has for a long
time been running through my mind.
Sermons have time to be born as Well
as time to die, cradle as well as
grave. David, cowboy and stone singer
and fighter and dramatist and blank
verse writer and prophet, did his best
for the people of his time, and then
went and laid down on the southern
hill of Jerusalem in that sound slum-
Der which nothing but an archangelic
blast can startle. David, after he had
served his own generation by the will
of God, fell on sleep" 1t was his own
generation that he had served-that is,
the people living at the time he lived.
And have you ever thought that our re-
sponsibilities are chiefly with the peo-
pie now walking abreast of us? There
are about four generations to a century
now, but in olden time life was longer,
and there was perhaps only one genera
tion to a century. Taking these facts
into the calculation. make a rough
guess and say that there have been at
least $50 generations of the human fam
lily. With reference to them we have
no responsibility. We cannot teach
them, we cannot correct their mistakes,
we cannot soothe their sorrows, we can
not heal their wounds. Their sepulchers
are deaf and dumb to anything we might
say to them. The last regiment of that
great army has passed out Of sight. We
might halloo as loud as we could, not
one of them would avert his head to
see what we wanted. admit that am
in sympathy with the child whose IA
ther had suddenly died, and who III her
little evening prayer wanted to con-
tinue to pray for her father, although
he had gone into heaven, and no more
needed her prayers, and, looking up into
her mothers face, said: "Oh, mother,
l cannot leave him all out. Let me say,
thank God that had good father
once, so / can keep him in my prayers. "
But the $50 generations have passed
off. Passed up. Passed down. Gone for
ever. Then there are generations to
come after our earthly existence has
ceased. We shall not see them. We
shall not hear any of their voices. We
will take no part in their convocatlons,
their elections. their revolutions, their
catastrophies, their triumphs. We will
in nowise affect the $50 generations
gone or the $50 generations to come,
except as from the galleries of heaven
the former generations look down
and rejoice at our victories, or as
we may by our behavior start infu-
ences, good or bad, that shall roll on
through the advancing ages. But our
business is, like David, to serve our
own generation, the people now living,
those whose lungs now breathe and
whose hearts now beat, and mark you,
it is not silent procession, but moving.
1t is "forced march" at 24 miles a
day, each hour being a mile. Going
with that celebrity, it has got to be a
quick service on our part or no service
at all. We not only cannot teach the
$50 generations past and will not see
the $50 generations to come, but this
generation now on the stage will soon
be off, and we ourselves will he Oh
with them. The fact is that you and
will have to start very soon for oul
work or it will be ironical and sarcastic
for any one after our exit to say of US,
as it was said of David, After he hao
served his own generation by the Will
of God he fell on sleep"
Our Own Generation.
Well, now, let US look around ear
nestly, prayerfully, in common sense
way and see what We can do for oul