Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-01-05

Or. TALMAGE PROPOSES A NEW WAY
TO MEASURE IT.

Thc Test .IoGc of Estimating Life Is
by TIE Good one Why Accomplish.
Ncrc worldly Pleasures Bring No
REM Joy--A New Years Greeting.
copyright, 1895 by american Press Asso-
CiatiOnl
, WASHINGTON, Jan. 1-Appropriato to
, the exit of one year and tho entrance of
another year arc tho practical suggestions
. which Or Talmage puts In this DISCOURSE
which propose different mode of mcasur-
ing time from that ordinarily cmployed
text, Genesis Xvii, 8, How old art thou"
Tho Egyptian capital was the focus of
the world IS wealth. In ships and bnrgos
thcrc had been brought to it from India
franLinccnse and cinnamon and ivory and
diamonds; from tho north, marble and
iron; from Syria, purple and silk; from
|, Greece, some Of the finest horses of the
world and some Of the most brilliant
chariots, and from ali the earth that which
could best please the eye and charm tho
car and crafty tho taste. There were tom
pies ailano with red sandstone entered
Ivy the catcvays that were guarded by
pillars bcwildcring with hicroglyphcs and
wound with bralCn serICnts and adorned
with winged crcaturVs-thcir eyes ard
bcas and pinions glittcrine with precious
} stones. There were marble columns bloom
!, ing into white flower beds There woro
stone pillars, ut the top bursting into the
shape of tho lotus when in fun bloom.
Along the avenues, lined with sphinx
and fame ana ohclisk, there were princes
who came in gorgcously upholstered
palanquins, carried by servants in scarlet
or elsewhere drawn b. vehicles the snow
"a. /
Gashirg AT full run On the floors Of mo-
sale tho glOrics Of Pharaoh were spelled
out in lcttc's uf porphyry and beryl and
flame. There were ornaments twisted from
the wood Of taiuarisk, embossed with sill
) Yer breaking into foam. There were foot
\ stools madc out of u single precious stCtc.
< There were beds fashioned out of n crouch
. ed lion in bronze. There were chairs spot
ted with the sleek hides of lcopnrds. There
wern sofas footed with the claws Of wild
hoasts and armed with the bcaks Of birds
As You stand on tho level beach of the sea
on summer day and look either way,
and there are miles of breakers, white
! with the ocean foam, dashng shCreward,
( so it seemed ~ if the sen Of the world
pomp and wealth in the Egyptian capital
( for miles and miles flung itself up into
white breakers of marble temple, mauso
leum and obolisk.
1t was to this capital and the palace Of
Pharaoh that Jacob, the plain shepherd,
came to meet his son Joseph, who had be-
, come primo minister, in the royal apart
ment. Pharaoh and Jacob mat, dignity
and rusticity, the gracctulnoss of the court
ard the plain manners of the field Tho
- king, wanting to make the old country
man at case and seeing how white his
s beard is and how feeble his step, looks ia
military into his face and says to the aged
man, "How old art thou"
Ways of McnSurinr Ti;,.e,
Last night the gate Of eternity opened
to let in, amid the great throng of depart
ed centuries, the soul of the dying year
Under the twelfth stroke of the bra2on
hammer Of the city clock the patriarch fell
dead, and the stars of the night were the
funeral torches 1t is most fortunate that
on this road of life there are so many milo
stones, on which we can read just how
fast we are going toward the journey 5
I end feel that it is not an inappropriate
question that | ask today when | look
I into your faces and say, rs Pharaoh did to
I Jacob, the patriarch, GLOW old art thou"
People VINO are truthful on every other
subject lie about their ages. so that do
Y not solicit from you any literal response
to the question have asked. l would put
r no one under temptations; but l simply
want this morning to see by what rod it is
: We are measuring our earthly existence.
There is Il right way and IA wrong way of
measuring our earthly existence. There is
u right way and q wrong way of moasur-
ing "a door, or wall, or an arch, or IA tow
c CT. and so there is right way and n wrong
way of measuring our earthly existence.
: II is with reference to this higher meaning
: 7 va tis ir1 with tho
= stupendous question of the text, and ask,
"HoW old art thou?'
c There are many who estimate tiuir llfC
by mere worldly qualification. When Lord
Dundas was wished "A happy new year, he
said, 1T will have to be - happier ycaI
than the past, for hadn't one happy mo
monU in all the Il months that have
gune.' But that has not been tho expert
,nce of most Of US We have found tina,
though the world is blasted with sin it !.
. very bright and beautiful place to reside
I'm. We have had joys innumcrable. There
!, 10 hostility between the gospel and til,
=. mcrrimonts and the festivities Of life.
do not think that we fully enough appro
cigte the worldly pleasures God gives us
When you recount your CnjoylNCnts, yOr
do not 90 far enough back Why do yot
not go hacl; 10 the time when you were ar
infant in your mothers arms, looking III
into the heaven of her smile; to those day,
when YOU filled the house with the uprual
Ct hoisterous merrimont; when you shout
ed as you pitched the ball on tho play
ground; when, on the cold, sharp wintc
night, mutllcd up, on skates you shot owe
the resembling ice Of tho pondy Have you
forgotten all those good days that the Lore
gave you? We're you never bOyy Ner
you mover q girl? Between those time
and this how many mercics the Lord ha
Z bestowed upon you'll How many joys hay,
bTeathcd up 10 you from the flowers an;
shone down to you from the stars, unC
chantod to you with the voice of soarin!
bird and tunblug cascade and booming
ga and thunders that with bayoncts of fir
charged down the mountain side, Joy
joy Joy! II there is any one who has
-,, eight to the enjOymcnts Of the 77,,cid it
= the Christian, for God has given him
q lease of everything in the promise, "Al
: are yours" But | have to tell you that
man who estimates his life on earth b.
mere worldly qualification is IA most I'm
llr wise man. Cur life is not to be "A game q
lst chess 1t is not "a dance in lighted hall
g.; to quick music. 1t is not the froth Of a
III ale pitcher. 1t Is not the settings Of
wine cup. 1t is not banquet, with in
ia toyicatiun and roistcring, 1t is the tlls
,rr step on ladder that mounts into tt
M skies, or tho first step on road tina