The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1898-09-09
IN OUR GENERATION,
GLORIOUS REWARDS OF WORKING
FOR OUR FELLOW MEN.

DR.. TaImage Points Ont the Lesson of the
Life of David-Service Which Suffe ring
Humanity Now Needs-A Blissful Awak.
ening.
Gopyrght, 1898, by American Press Asso-
ciation.l
WASHINGTON, Sept An this dis
course DR.. Talmage changes our life
time from meaningless generality to
practical helpfulness to the people now
living; text, Acts xiii, SO, David,
after he had served his own generation
by the will of God, fell on Sleep
That is text which has for long
time been running through my mind.
Sermons have time to be born as we'll
as time to die, cradle as we'll as a
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 bat 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 century
now, but i'll olden time life was longer,
and there was perhaps only one genera
ton to a century. Taking these facts
into the calculation. l make 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
Their had suddenly died, and who in 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,
cannot leave him all out. Let me say,
thank God that l had a good father
once, so l 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 convocations, |
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 oar .
business is, like David, to serve our
OWE generation, the people now living,
those whose lungs now breathe and .
whore hearts now beat, and mark you,
it is not silent procession, out moving.
1t is forced march" at ~ 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 be off
with them. The fact is that you and
will have to start very soon for our
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 had
served his own generation by the will
of God he fell on sleep.
Our Own Generation.
Well, now, let us lock around ear
nestly, prayerfully, i'll a common sense
way and see what we can do for our
own generation. First Of all, let us see
to it that as far as we can, they bave
enough to eat The human body is so
that three times a day the
body needs food as much as a lamp
needs oil, as much as a locomotive
needs fuel. To meet this want God has
gi1dled the earth with apple orchards,
groves, wheatfelds and oceans
full of fish and prairies full Of cattle,
and Notwithstanding this 1 will under
take to say that the vast majority of
the human family are now suffering
either for lack of food OF the right kind
of food. Our civilization is all askew,
and God only can set it right, Many of
the greatest estates of today have been
built out of the blood and bones of I'M
requited toll In olden times, for the
building of forts and towers the inhab-
itants of Ispahan had to contribute TO-
900 skulls and Bagdad 80, 900 human
skulls, and that number of people were
to furnish the skulls. But
these two contributions added together
made only 100, 600 skulls, while into
the tower of the world wealth and
pomp have been wrought the skeletons
Of uncounted numbers of the half fed
of the earth-millions of