The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1899-02-10
WHAT WE LIVE FOR
d.. Talmage breaches On What Our
lives S1om1 BE.
The object of Our Existence Down
10 the Ind should lie Action
Paradise II only for
the Workers.

WASHINGTON. Nov. IS. - To all those
VINO feel chat they have no esl,c.al
mission i'm the world. tnis sermon OF
DE- Tamagr viii come as a cheering
revelation: text. John xviii. 81: TO
this end was born
After Plate has suicided. tradition
saws that his body was thrown into the
Tiber. and such storms ensued on and
about that river that bis body was
taken out and thrown into The Rhone
and slmilar disturbances swept that
river and IT'S banks. Then the body was
taken out and moved TO Lausanne, and
Iut into q deeper pool, which immedl-
mcly became the center Of similar at
mosphcric and aqueous Disturbances.
Though these are fanciful and false
traditions. they show the eXecration
with which the world looked upon
PLATE. 1t was before this man, when
lie was I'm full life and power. that Christ
was arraigncd as I'm the court of oyer
rnd termiuer. PLATE said 10 his prison
er. cart thou a king, thcnY and
Jesus answered. ITO this end was
born" Sure enough. although all earth
and hell arose TO keep him down. he is
to-day cmpalaced. onthroned and coro-
reted king Of earth and king of Heav-
en-. That is what he came for and that
is what he accomplished.
BY the time a child reaches ten years
Of age the parents begin 20 discover
that child's destiny, but by the time he
or she reaches Is years Of age. the ques-
ton is on the child's lips: What shall
! do? What am going to be? What
was made for?" 1t is a sensible and
righteous question. and the youth ought
10 keep asking il until il is SO fully an
swered that the young man or young
woman can say with as much truth as
its author. though on a less expansive
scale: ITO this end was born"
There is too much divine skill shown
j.. the physical, mental and Itoral con-
siitution of the ordinary human being
10 suppose that he was constructed
without any divine purpose. If you
take me out on some vast plain and
show me a pilared temple surmounted
by dome like ST. Peters anoAaving
floor Of precious stones and arches that
must have taxed the brains of the great
est draughtsman 20 design, ard walls
scrolled and niched and paneied and
wainscoted and painted. and 1 should
lsk you what this building was pat up
for and you answered For nothing at
sll." how could believe you? And tits
impossible for me 20 believe that any
ordinary human being who has in his
muscular. nervous and cerebral orlani-
zation more wonders than Christopher
Wren lifted in ST. Paul's, or Phidias
ever chiseled on the AcropOlis. and built
in such a way that II shall last long
after ST. Paul's cathedral is as mnch a
ruin as the ParthcnOn-that such n be-
ing was constructed for no purpose and
10 execute no mission, and without any
divine intention toward some end. The
object Of this sermon is to help y'u TO
find out what you are made for and help
You find your sphere and assist youinto
that condition where you can say with
certainty and emphasis and enthusi-
Gsm and triumph: ITO this end was 1
born"
First. I discharge you from all re-
sponsibiiity for most Of your environ
ments. You are not responsible for
your parentage or your grandparents
age. You are not responsible for any
Of the cranks that may have lived in
your ancestral line and who a hundred
years before you were born may have
lved a style of life that more OF less
effects you to-day. You are not re-
spousible for the fact that your temper
ament is sanguine, or melancholic. or
bilious, OF lymphatic. or nervous.
Neither are you responsible foi the
place Of your nativity. whether among
the granite hills Of New England. or the
cotton plantations Of Louisiana. OF on
the banks of The Clyde. or the Dneiper,
or the Shannon. or the Seine. Neither
are YOU responsible for the religion
taught in your fathers house. or the ir-
religion Do not bother yourself about
what YOU cannot help or about circum-
stances that YOU did not decree.
Take things as they are and decide
the question so that you shall be able
safely TO say: "To this end was
born" How will you decide il? by
direct application 10 the only Being
in the universe who is competent TO
tell you--the Lord Almighty. Do you
knew the reason why He is the only
one who can tell? Because lie can see
everything between your cradle and
your grave, though the grave be 50
years off And besides that lie is the
only Being who can see what has been
happening in the last 500 years in your
ancestral line, and for thousands Of
years clear back to Adam, and there
Is not one person in all that ancestral
line of 6C0O years but has somehow
affected your character and even old
Adam himself viii sometimes turn up
I'm your disposition. The only Being
who can take all things that pertain
10 you into consideration is God. and
lie is the one you can ask. Life is so
short we have no time 10 experiment
with occupations and professions. The
reason we have so many dead failures
is that parents decide for children
what they shall do or children them
selves. wrought on by some whim or
fancy. decide for themselves, without
any imploration of Divine guidance.
So we have now in pulpits men maxi
ing sermons who ought TO be in black
smith shops making plowshares. and
we have in the law those who instead
Of running the cases Of their clients