The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1899-04-07
AS THE YEARS GO BY
DR.. Talmage breaches a Sermon
Suitable to New Years.
lie Proposes q New Way Of Mensur-
ing Earthly EAistence-From
the Text "How OId Art
Thou"

N
I Appropriate to the exit of one veal
+ and the entrance OF another year ar,
ihe practical suggestions which Dr. Tai
/ mage puts in This discourse. which pro
pose different mode of measuring
time from that ordinarily employed;
text Genesis AIS: "llow old art thou ?'
The Egyptian capital was The focus
OF the worlds wealth. In ships and
barges there had been brought TO fl
from India frankincense and cinnamon
and ivory and diamonds; from the
rorth marble and iron; from Syria,
purple and silk; from Greece. some of
the finest horses of the world and some
of the most brilliant chariots. and from
all the earth that which could best
please the eye and charm the ear and
crafty the taste. There were temples
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 mar
bic columns blooming into white flower
beds. There were stone pillars. at the
,op bursting into the shape of the To-
/ tus when in full bloom.
Along the avenues, lined with sphinx
and fame and obelisk there were
princes who came i'm gorgeously uphol-
stored palanquins carried by servants
I'm scarlet or elsewhere drawn by We
hicles. the snow white horses. golden
bitted and six abreast. dashing al full
run. On the floors OF mosaic the gio-
ries of Pharaoh were spelled out i'm let
ters of porphyry and beryl and flame
There were ornaments twisted from
The wood of tamarisk. embossed with
silver breaking into foam. There were
footstools made out of a single precious
stone. There were beds fashioned out |
of a crouched lion i'm 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 shore
ward so it seemed as if the sea Of the
worlds pomp and wealth in the Egyp-
tan capital for miles and miles flung
itself up into white breakers of marble
temple. mausoleum and obelsk.
1t was tolthis capital and the palace
of Pharaoh that Jacob. the plain shep-
herd, came to meet his son Joseph. who
lad become prime minister, in the roy
al apartment. Pharaoh and Jacob met.
dignity and rusticity. the gracefulness
of the court and the plain manners OF
The field. The king, wanting to make {
the old countryman at ease and see
ing how white his beard is and how
feeble his step, looks familiarly into
bis face and says to the aged man:
How old art thou?"
Last night the gate of eternity opened
to let i'm, amid the great throng of de-
parted centuries, the soul Of the dying ;
year. Under the twelfth stroke Of the ]
,razen hammer Of the city clock the I
'atriarch fell dead, and the stars Of the u
light were the funeral torches H. j. /
nest fortunate that on this ROAD of life o
here are so many milestones. on which e
sc can read just how fast we are goipg d
oward the journeys end. feel thatli u
, not an inappropriate question that ] il
SIX to-day when look into your faces II
nd say. as Pharaoh did to Jacob, tSe q
atriarch: "How old art thou2" 50
People who are truthful on every u
ther subject lie about their ages, So ST
hat l do not solicit from you any l.. Ia
raj response to the question 7 hav. II
sked. ! would put no one under temp al
ition; but / simply want this morning
D see by what rod it is we are measur J.
ig our earthly existence. There is "
ght way and "A wrong way of meas ur- W
g our earthly existence There is q of
ght way and q wrong way Of measur- AZ
20 a door, or a wall. or an arci. or yt
lwcr. and so there is a right way and VI
rong way of measuring our earthly vi
,istence 1t is with reference to th.s mi
CHER meaning that confront you this ho
orning with the stupendous question 30
the text, and ask: How oh ar III
ou?" wl
Again. / remark that there are mans IN
ho estimate their life on earth 10y their Inl
rrows and misfortunes. Through IN
eat many Of your lives the plowshare
th gone very deep, turning up ter val
Die furrow. You have been betrayed no
d misrepresented and set upon and q
lpped Of imperiinence and pounded no
misfortune. The brightest life mus, mes
We its shadows and the smoothest 'or
th its thorns. On the happiest brood hal
e hawk pounces. No escape from a S
luble Of some kind. While glorious me
bn Milton was losing bis eyesighi he yo'
ard that Salmasius was glad of il. tina
bile Sheridan's comedy was being en- If
ed in Drury Lane theater, London poe
enemy sat growing at it in the if
ge box. While Bishop Cooper was wes
rounded by the favor Of learned men ing
wife took his lexicon manuscript. smi
result of q long life of anxiety and the
J. and threw il into the FIRE. Misfor. you
he, trial, vexation for almost every viii
,. Pope. applauded Of all the world. to {
a stoop in the shoulder that annoy. san'
D. so much that he has a tunnel dug 1t j,
hat he may go unobserved rom gar is Il
TO grotto and from grotto to gar tras
D.. Cano, the famous Spanish artist. mea
lisgusted with the crucifx that the ard