The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1899-02-09
Is THE YEARS GO BY
pr. Talmage breaches a Sermon
Suitable to New Years.
=. p,onoses n New Way of MeasuF-
tag Earthly Existerce-From
the Text "How Old Art
Thou"

Anpropriate to the exit OF one year
~ the entrance of another year are
~ nractical suggestions which DR.. Tai
mare puts in this discourse, which pro-
80 q different mode of measuring
IN, from that ordinarily employed;
t.rt. Genesis 47:s: "How old art thou 2"
The Egyptian capital was the focus
!, the worlds wealth. In ships and
barpes there had been brought to it
f,nm India frankincense and cinnamon
and ivory and diamonds; from the
roth marble and iron; from Syria,
uurple and silk; from Greece, some of
Ire finest horses of the world and some
II the most brilliant chariots, and from
III the earth that which could best
plesse the eye and charm the ear and
eratify the taste. There were temples
sAame with red sandstone, entered by
The eateways that were guarded by
pi,lars bewildering with hieroglyphics
and wound with brazen serpents and
adorned with winged creatures-their
eyes and beaks and pinions glittering
Nth precious stones. There were mar
ble columns blooming into white flower
beds. There were stone pillars, at the
iop bursting into the shape of the To-
ms when in full bloom.
Along the avenues, lined with sphinx
snd fame and obelisk there were
princes who came in gorgeously uphol-
stered palanquins, carried by servants
IL scarlet or elsewhere drawn by We
hicles, the snow white horses, golden
hiited and six abreast, dashing at full
run. On the floors of mosaic the glo-
sies Of Pharaoh were spelled out in let
|ters Of porphyry and beryl and flame.
There were ornaments twisted from
The wood of tamarisk, embossed with
sAilrer breaking into foam. There were
tootstools made out of a single precious
stone. There were beds fashioned out
sof crouched lion in bronze. There
we're chairs spotted with the sleek hides
sf 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
1 summer day and look either way,
md there are miles of breakers, white
With the ocean foam, dashing shore
ward, so it seemed as if the sea of the
worlds pomp and wealth in the Egyp-
fisn capital for miles and miles flung
ttseh up into white breakers of marble
temple. mansoleum and obelisk.
Il was to this capital and the palace
1t Pharaoh that Jacob. the plain shep-
herd, came to meet his son Joseph, who
had become prime minister, in the roy
department.. Pharaoh and Jacob met,
aignity and rusticity, the gracefulness
ef the court and the plain manners Of
fhe field. The king, wanting to make
the old countryman at ease and see
lng how white his beard is and how
feeble his step, looks familiarly into
his face and says to the aged man:
How old art thou?''
Last night the gate of eternity opened
n let in, amid the great throng of de-
parted centuries, the soul of the dying
gtar. Under the twelfth stroke of the
tnzen hammer of the city clock the
fatfiarch fell dead, and the stars of the
tlght were the funeral torches It is
Mcst fortunate that on this road of life
Aeere are SO many milestones, on which
Ee can adtjust how fast we are going
toward the journeys end. feel that ii
= not an inappropriate question that ]
~ to-day when I look into your faces
and say, as Pharaoh did to Jacob, tsc
patriarch: How old art thou?"
People who are truthful on every
ether subject lie about their ages, 60
nat do not solicit from you any IL
efai response to the question I have
ssked. would put no one under temp
astion; but l simply want this morning
v see by what rod it is we are measur-
aeg our earthly existence. There is a
right way and wrong way of measur-
sag our earthly existence. There is 4
asnt way and wrong way of measur-
.ns door, or wall, or an arch, or a
over, and so there is right way and
wrong way of measuring our earthly
= sAstence. 1t is with reference to this
1lgher meaning that con front you this
a.olning with the stupendous question
s. the text. and ask: "How old art
tAou?"
lnere are many who estimate their
se ~ " mere worldly qualification.
.saen Lord Dundas was wished happy
.eW year, he said: ut will have to be a
Asppler year than the past, for i1adn't
Sae aappy moment in all the 12 months
'.sst !. have gone" But that has not be IN
experience of most of US. We have
ano that though the world is blasted
~ ~.sn SIN It is very bright and beauti-
is pace to reside in. We have had
- innumerable. There is no hostility
ssMsen the Gospel and the mer1 iments
~ sne festivities of life. do not think
- We fully enough appreciate the
sI'oly pleasures God gives us. When
q. recount your enjoyments, you d.
eo iar enough back. Why do yeu
y g back to the time when you were
I. sntant In your mothers arms, look
81 Yp into the Heaven of her smile; to
sss oays when you filled the house
- tne uproar of boisterous merri-
Wnen you shouted = yenpitched