Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1899-01-18
SERMONS OF THE DAY

the Flight Of Time''-Life Should Not
BE Wholly = Span Of Years-rhe Curss
of Wealth-The True Gauge.
! TEXT: "How old art thou?"-Genesi.
Xviii, 8.
The Egyptian capital was the focus o,
the worlds wealth. In ships nnd barges
there had been brought to It from India
frankfncense and cinnamon and ivory and
diamonds; from the 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 char
lots, and from all the earth that which
could best please the eye and charm the
ear and crafty the taste. There were tenn.
Piles afiame with red sandstone, entered by
the gateways that were guarded by pillars
bewildering with hieroglyphics and wound
with brazen serpents and adorned with
winged creatures. their eyes and beaks
and pinions glittering with precious stones;
white flower beds; there were stone pillars,
at the top bursting into the shape of the
lotus when In full bloom.
Along the avenues, lined with sphinx
and fame and obelisk, there were princes
| who came in gorgeously upholstered
let or elsewhere drawn by vehicles, the
snow-white horses, golden-bitted and
six abreast, dashing at full run. On Soors
OF mosaic the glories OF Pharaoh were
spelled out in letters Of porphyry and
beryl and flame. There were ornaments
twisted from the wood of tamarisk, en-
bossed with silver breaking into foam.
There were footstools made out OF a single
precious stone. There were beds fashioned
out of crouched lion in bronze. There
were chairs spotted with the sleek hides of
leopards. There were sofas footed with
the claws of wild beasts and armed with
the beaks OF birds. As you stand on the
level beach of the sea on a summer day
and look either way, and there are miles
of breakers, white with the ocean foam,
dashing shoreward, so 1t seemed as II the
sea Of the worlds pomp and wealth in the
Egyptian capital for miles and miles flung
itself up into white breakers OF marble
temple, mausoleum and obelisk.
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 prime minister in the royal apart
mont. Pharaoh and Jacob met dignity
and rustfcity, the gracefnlness of the court
and the plain manners OF the field. The
king, wanting to make the old country man
at ease and seeing how white his beard Is
and how feeble his step, looks Familiarity
| into his face and says to the aged man;
How old art thou?"
On New Years night the gate of eternity
opened to let in amid the great throng OF
departed centuries the soul of the dying
year. Under the twelfth stroke of the
brazen hammer of the city clock thd
patriarch fell dead, and the stars of tho
night we're the funeral torches. 1t is most
fortunate that on this road OF life there are
so many miIestones, on which we can read
just how fast We are going toward the
journeys end. l feel that 1t is not an in.
appropriate question that 1 ask to-day
when I look into your faces and say, AZ
Pharaoh did to Jacob, the patriarch, How
old art thou?"
People who are truthful on every othcr
subject lie about their ages, so that I dc
not solicit from you any literal response to
the question have asked. Iwould put NO
one under temptation, but I simply want
this morning to see by what rod it is we
ara meaanfiRg ou;sss<f r y sxt-te---.-' ,--
2ing Sool OF a wan, Of n arch. r or Of tower
and so there is a right way and a wrong
way Of measuring our earthly existence.
1t Is with reference to this higher meaning
| that confront you this morning with the
stupendous question of the text and ask
How old art thou?"
There are many who estimate their life
by mere worldly qualification. When Lord
Dundas was wished a Happy New Year, he
| said, 81. will have to be a happier year than
! the past, for I hadn't one happy moment
| In all the twelve months that have gone"
But that has not been the experience Of
most Of US. We have found that though
! the world is blasted with sin 1t is a very
bright and beautiful place to reside in.
We have had joys innumerable. There is
no hostility between the gospel and the
merriments and the festivities Of life. do
not think that We fully enough appreciats
the worldly pleasures God gives US. When
you recount your enjoyments you do not
! go back to the time when you were an In
FAINT in your mothers arms, looking up into
the heaven of her smile; tothose days when
you filled the house with the uproar Of bois-
| ferrous merriment; when you shouted as
you pitched the ball on the playgrou nd;
1 vuha ha nfOhf
muffied up, on skates YOU shot out over the
resounding ice Of the pond? Have you for
gotten all those good days that the Lord
| gave you? We're you never boy? Were
| you never a girl? Between those times and
| this how many mercies the Lord has be-
slowed upon youi How many joys have
breathed up to you from the flowers and
| shone down to you from the stars and
chanted to you with the voice OF soaring
| bird and tumbling cascade and booming
sea and thunders that with bayonets Of fire
charged down the mountain side! Joyl Joyl
| Joy! II there Is any one who has right to
the enjoyments Of the world. It II the
Christian. for God has given him lease Of
everything in the promise. "All are yours." :"
But have to tell you that man who esti-
mates his life on earth by mere worldly
qualification is q most unwise man. Our
life is not to be a game Of chess. 1t is not
dance in lighted hall. to quick music. 1t
! Is not the froth OF an ale pitcher. 1t Is not
the settings of q wine cup. 1t is not a ban-
| auet, with intoxication and roistering. 1t
| is the first step on a ladder that mounts in
to the skies or the first step on road that
| plunges into a horrible abyss. "How old
art thou?" Toward what destiny are YOU
tending and how fast are you getting on
| toward it?
Again, 1 remark that there are many who
rows and misfortunes. Through a great
many of your lives the plow-share hath
| gone very deep, turning up terrible fur
row You have been betrayed and mis-
represented, and set upon. and slapped OF
impertinence and pounded of misfortune.
| The brightest life must have its shadows
| and the smoothest path its thorns. On the
happiest brood the hawk pounces. No es-
cape from trouble OF some kind. While
| glorious John Milton was losing his eye
1t. While Sheridan's comedy was being en-
acted in Drury Lane theater, London,
his enemy sat growing ut 1t In
the stage box. While Bishop Cooper
was surrounded by the favor oil
learned men his wife took his lexicon man
uscript. the result Of long life OF anx iety
| and toll, and threw 1t into the fire. Mis-
| fortune, trial, vexation for almost every
| onel Pope, applauded OF all the world,
| has a stoop in the shoulder that annoys
him so much that he has tunnel dug, SC
| that he may go unobserved from garden to
! grotto and from 9rotto to garden. Cane
| the famous Spanish artist, is Disguised
with the crucifix that the priest holds be
| fore him because it is such a poor speci
| men of sculpture, and SO, sometime.
through taste, and sometimes through
learned menace, and sometimes through
physical distresses-aye In 10000 ways
| troubles come to harass and annoy.
Again, 1 remark that there are many peo
ple who estimate their life on earth by thu
| amount of money they have accumulated
They say, "The year 1866 or 1870 or 1879
| was wasted" Why? made no money
! Now. il is all cant and insiDcerity to tel
/ against money, as though 1t had no value
1t may represent refinement and education
and ten thousand blessed surroundings. h
is the spreading OF the table that feeds the
chiidren's hunger. 1t is the lighting of tht
furnace that keeps you warm. 1t is the
making of the bed on which you rest from
care and anxiety. 1t Is the carrying OF yor