The Penn's Grove record., 1899-05-12
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON,
.+-fE
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.

eubJect' Looking Backward"-It is Well
TO review the Past and Arouse the
soul TO "Reminiscences of Danger Es-
capped and Sorrows Suffered.
TEXT; While l was musing, the fire
burned. "-Psalms xxx, 8.
Here is David, tho psalmist, with the
forohnger Of his right hand against his
temple and the door shut against the world;
engaged In contemplation, And ii would
pc well Tor US to take the SAND posture
oiteh, whlle we cit down in sweet solitude
to contemplate.
III a small island of the coast OF Nova
Scotia | once passed a Sabbath In delight
ful solitude, for l had resolved that would
nave one day OF entire quiet before I en-
tered upon autumnal work. l thought to
nave spent the day in laying out plans for
christian WORK, but instead OF that 1t be.
came q day OF tender reminiscence. l re.
viewed my passionate, | shook hands with
an old departed friend, whom I shall greet
again when tho curtains OF life are lifted.
The days OF my boyhood came back, and I
was ten years Of age, and / was eight, and
l was five, There was but one house on
the Island, and yet from Sabbath daybreak,
when the bird chant woke me, until the
evening melted into the Bay Of Fuhdy, from
shore to shore there were ten thousand
memories, and the groves we're a-hum with
voices That had long ago ceased.
Youth Is apt too much to spend all its
time in looking forward. Old age is apt
too much to spend all its time In looking
backward. People in lmidlife and on the
apex look both ways. It would be well for
us, l think, however, to spend more time
In "Reminiscences. By the constitution of
our nature we spend most of the time look
Ing forward. And the vast majority of peo-
pic live not so much In the present rs In the
future. l find that you mean to make a
reputation, you mean to establish yourself,
n the advantages that you expect to
achieve absorb a great deal Of your time.
Butt see no harm in this II It does not make
vol discontinued with the present OF dis
qualify you for existing duties, 1t Is a use
ful thing sometimes to look back, and to see
the dangers we have escaped, and to see the
sorrows we have suffered, and the trials
and wandHrings of our earthly pilgrimage,
ana to sum up our enjoyments. l mean, so
far as God may help me, TO stir up your
memory of the past, so that in the review
you may be encouraged and humbled and
urged to pray. -.,
Among tho greatest advantages OF your
past life were an early home and its sur
roundlngs, The bad men of the day; for
the most part, dip their heated passions
out OF the boiling spring Of an unhappy
nome. We are not surprised to find tnat
~ IOh . bVu1l was Il concentration Oh Sill
when we hear his mother was abandoned
ana that she made sport of his infrmity
and often called him "the lame brat" He
who has vicious parents has to fight every
inch OF his way IL lie would maintain his
integrity and at last reach the home OF the
good in heaven, Perhaps your early home
was In n city. 1t may have been when
Pennsylvania avenue, Washington, was
residential as now It is cop reial, and
Canal street, New York, " up town.
That old house in the ciH have been
demolished or chang" } stores, and 1t
seemed like sacrilego oyou--for there was
more meaning in that small house than
there is in a granite mansion or a turreted
cathedral. Looking back, you see It as
though it were yesterday-the sitting
room, where the loved one sat by the plain
lamp light, the mother at the evening
stand, the brothers and sistery perhaps
long ago gathered into the skies, then
plotting mischief on the floor or under the
table; your father with firm voice COM
manding a silence that lasted half a minute.
Perhaps you were brour { up in the
country. You stand now to-day in men,
cry under the old tree. You dubbed 1t for
fruit that was not quite ripe, because you
couldn't wait any longer. You hear the
brook rumbllng along over the pebbles.
You step again into the furrow where your
father in his shirt sleeves shouted to the
my OACus IOu LlHultu Lut ShlIlOWS lTOm
the rafters OF the barn and take Just one
egg and silence your Conscience by saying
they will not miss it. You tuke u drink
again out of the very bucket that the old
well fetched up. You go for the COWS at
night and find them pushing their heads
through the bars. Outlines In the dusty
and busy streets you wish you were
home again on that cool grass, or in the
rag carpeted hall ofthe farmhouse, through
which there came the breath of new mown
hay or the blossom Of ~buckwheat.
You may have In your windows now
beautiful plants and flowers brought from
across the seas, but not one OF them stirs
in your soul so much charm and memory
rs the old ivy and the yellow sunfower
that stood sentinel along the garden walk
and the forget-ne-nots playing hide and
seek mid the long grass. The father who
used to come In sunburned from the field
and sit down on the doorsill and wipe the
sweat from his brow may have gone to his
everlasting rest. The mother who used to
sit at the door Il little bent over, cap and
spectacles on her face mellOwing with the
vicissitudes of many years, may have put
down her gray head on the pillow in the
valley, but forget that home you never
will. Have you thanked God for it2 Have
you rehearsed all these blessed reminis-
eences? Oh, thank God for a Christian
fatheri Thank God for q Christian moth
tT1 IuHUk dOu lOT III tullN CIiloltuu ulluT
at which you were taught to kneell Thank
God for an early Christian hOmel
L bring to mind another passage In the
history Of your life. The day came when
you set up your own household. The days
passed along in quiet blessedness. You
twain sat at the table morning and night
and talked over your plans for the future.
The most Insignificant affair IN your life
became the subject OF mutual consultation
and advertisement. You were SO happy
you felt you never could be any happier.
One day a dark cloud lowered over your
dwelling, and 1t got darker and darker,
but out of that cloud the shining messen-
ger of God descended to incarnate an i'm
mortal sp rit. Two little feet started on
an eternal journey, and you were to lead
them, a gem to flash in heavens %coronet,
and you to polish it; eternal ages OF light
and darkness watching the starting out of
a newly created creature. You rejoiced
and you trembled at the responsibility that
in YOU possession an immortal treasure
was placed. You prayed and r%ejolced and
wept and wondered; you were earnest in
supplicatton that you might lead 1t through
life into the kingdom Of God. There was a
tremor in your earnestness. There was Il
double interest about that home. There
was an additional interest why you should
stay there and be faithful, and when in Il
few months your house was nlled with the
music OF the chllds husuleI YOU were
struck through with the fact that you had
"A stupendous mission.
Have you kept that VOW Have you
neglected any of these duties2 Is your
home as much to you as it used to be7
Have those anticipations been grati1ed?
God help you in your solemn reminis-
cence, and let His mercy fall upon your
soul ii your kindness has been III requ iredl
God have mercy on the parent on the
wrinkles of whose face is written the story
of a child's sini God have mercy on the
nanAhnr uuhn In MIMI 10 her ntnar |