The Penn's Grove record., 1899-01-06
DR.. TALMAGES SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.

DIVINE.
Subject: "Dlnerent Modes of Measuring
the Flight of Time"-Llfe should Not
BE Wholly n Span of Eears-The Curse
of wea1th-The True Gauge.
TEXT; How old art th~ou?"-Genesis
Xvii, s.
The Egyptian capital was the focus Of
the worlds wealth. In ships and barges
there had been brought to il from India
frankincenso 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 aaame 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
WIZ tuAl4I III xvi StDuSll uplp4sbtlI ~
palapquins, carried by servants In scar
let or elsewhere drawn by vehicles, the
snow-white horses, Solden-bitted and
six abreast, dashing at full rum On goors
of mosaic the slcries OF Pharaoh were
spelled out in letters Of porphyry and
heryl and flame, There were ornaments
twisted from the wood Of tdIiarisk. en-
bossed with silver breaking into foam.
There were feotstools made out OF a single
precious stone. There were beds fashioned
out of a crouched lion In bronze. There
were chairs spotted with the sleek hides of
leopards. There were sofas footed with
tho claws of wild beasts and armed with
the beaks of BIRDS As you stand On the
level beach of the sea on q summer day
and look either way, and there are miles
OF breakers, white with the ocean foam,
d0shing shoreward, so it seemed as IL 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 rustieity, the graeefnlness of the court
and the plain manners of the Held. 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 thou2"
On New Years night the gate of eternity
opened to let in MD 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. 1t 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. l feel that 1t is not an in
appropriate question that / ask to-day
when look into your faces and say, as
Pharaoh did to Jacob, the patriarch, "How
old art thou?"
People who are truthful on every other
subject lie about their ages, so that / do
not solicit from you n literal response to
the question l have asked. Would put no
one under temptation. but I simply want
this morning to see by what rod 1t Is we
are measuring our earthly existence. There
is q right way and a wrong way Of measur-
ing n door, ora wall, or an arch, orr tower,
and 50 there is q right way and Il wrong
way Of measuring our earthly existence.
1t Is with reference to this higher meaning
that l confront you this morning with the
stupendous question OF tho text and ask,
How old art thou2'
There are many who estimate their life
by mere worldly qualification. When Lord
Dundas was wished a Happy New Year, he
said, ''It will have to be a happier year than
the past, for l 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 it is a very
bright and beautiful place to reside in.
We have had Joys i8numerable. There Is
no hostility between the gospel and the
merrinents and the festivities of life. do
not think that We fully enough appreciate
the worldly pleasures God gives us. When
you recount you 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; othose days when
you filled the house with the uproar Of bois-
ferrous merriment; when you shouted as
You pitched the ball on the Fairgrounds;
when on the cold, sharp winter night,
mufled 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 your We're you never q boy2 We're
you never q girl? Between those times and
this how many mercies the Lord has be-
slowed upon you'll 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 bavonets of fire
charged down the mountain sidel Joyl JoYl
Joyi II there is any one who has A right to
the enioYments of the world, it is the
Christian, for God has given him a lease OF
everything in the promise. A are yours"
But l have to tell you that q man who esti-
mates his life on earth by mere worldly
qualification Is q most unwise man. Our
life is not to be q game of chess. 1t is not
n 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
quet, with intoxicatlon and FOSTERING. 1t
is the first step on a ladder that mounts in
to the skies or the first step on a 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 it2
Again, I remark that there are many who
estimate their life on earth by their sor-
rows and misfortunes. Through a great
many OF your lives the plow-share hath
gone very deep, turning up a terrible fur
row. You have been betrayed and mis-
represented, and set upon, and slapped of
impertinenee, 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
sight he heard that Salmasius was glad OF
it. While Sheridan's comedy was being en-
acted In Drury Lane theater, London,
his enemy sat growing at it in
the stage box. While Bishop Cooper
was surrounded by the favor of
learned men his wife took his lexicon man
useript, the result of a long life of anxiety
and toll, and threw it into the iire. Mis-
fortune, trial, ~vexation for almost every
nURt pnnn unf1a,slal 90 oil %h. u-o.II