The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1899-01-18
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.


Of wealth-The True Gauge.
TEXT: "How old art thou?"-Genesis
Xvii, 8. ....
The Egyptian capital was the focus Of
the worlds wealth. In ships and barges
there had been brought to 1t from India
frankincense and cinnamonu and ivory and
diamonds; from the north, marble and
iron; from Syria, purple and silk; from
Greece, come 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
pies afame 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;
there were marble columns blooming into
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
palanquins, carried by servants in scar
let or elsewhere drawn by vehicles, the
snow-white horses, golden-bitted and
six abreast, dashing at full run. On foors
OF mosaic the glories of4Pharaoh were
spelled out In letters Of porphyry. and
beryl and fame. There were ornaments
twisted from the wood OF tamarisk. en-
bossed with silver breaking into foam.
There were footstools made out Of O 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 summer day
and look either way, and there are miles
OF breakers, white with the ocean foam,
dashing shoreward, so It 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
It 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
ment. Pharaoh and Jacob met, dignity
and rusticity, 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 familiarly'
into his face and says to the aged man,
"HoT old art thou2"
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 the
patriarch fell dead, and" the stars of the
night were the funeral torches. It Is most
fortunate that on this road OF life there are
so many milestones, on which We can read
just how fast we are going toward the
Journeys end. I feel that 1t is not an in
when I look into your faces and say, as
Pharaoh did to Jacob, the patriarch, Hoy
old art thou?"
People who are truthful on every other
subject lie about their ages, 80 that do
not solicit from you any literal response to
tie question have asked. Iwould put no
one under temptation, but simply want
this m morning to see by what rod It is we
are measuring our earthly existence. There
is right way and wrong way OF measur-i
ing door, or q wal, or an arch, or tower,
and 80 there Is right way and wrong
way of measuring our earthly existence.
It Is with reference to this higher meaning
that confront you this morning with the
stupendous question Of the text and ask,
"How old art theu?"
There are many who estimate their life
by mere worldly qualification. When Lord
Dundas was wished Happy New Year, he
said, II: will have to be happier year than
the past, for hadn't one happy moment
But that has not been the experience OF
most of US. We have found that though
the world Is blasted With sin It Is q 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 appreciate
the worldly pleasures God gives us.'HWhen
you recount your enjoyments you do not
FAINT in your mothers arms, looking up into
the heaven Of her smile; tothose days when
you filed the house with the uproar OF bols-
ferrous merriment; when you shouted as
you pitched the ball on the playground;
when on the cold, sharp winter night,
muf1ed up, on skates you shot out over the
resouuding ice Of the pond2 Have you for
gotten all those good days that the Lord
gave you? We're you never boyp Were
you never girl2 Between those times and
this how many mercles the Lord hos be-
slowed upon you! 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 fre
charged down the mountain side!fJoyl JoYl
Joyl If there Is any one who las right to
the epjoYments Of the world, 1t Is the
Christian, for God has given him lease Of
everything IN the promise. Cali areyours."
But have to tell you that man who estt-
mates his life on earth by mere worldly
qualification Is most unwise man. Our
life Is not to be game OF chess. It is not
is not the froth OF an ale pitcher. 1t Is not
the settings Of wine cup. 1t Is not ban
quet, with intoxication and roistering. It
Is the first step on ladder that mounts in
to the skies or the first step on road that
plunges into horrible abyss. "How old
art thou" Toward what destiny are you
tending and how fast are you getting on
toward It?
Again, remark that there are many who
estimate their life on earth by their sor-
rows and misfortunes. Through great
many Of your lives the plow-share hath
gone very deep, turning up terrible fur
represented, and set upon, and slapped OF
impertinence, aud 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
sight he heard that Salmasius WAS glad OF
1t. While Sheridan's comedy was being en-
acted in Drury Lane theater, London,
his enemy sat growing at 1t In
the stage box. While Bishop Cooper
was surrounded by the favor OF
learned men his wife took his lexicon man
uscript, the result of a long life OF anxiety
and toll, and threw it into the fire. Mis-
fortune, trial, yexation for almost every
one! Pope, applauded Of all the world,
has a stoop In the shoulder that annoys
him so much that he has n tunnel dug, so
that he may 20 unobserved from'garden to
grotto and from grotto to garden. Cane,
the famous Spanish artist, Is disgusted
with the crucifix that the priest holds be- |
fore him because 1t is such poor speci- |
men Of sculpture, and so, sometimes
through taste, and sometimes through |
.n.l tirnao thrnn 0h |