The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1899-05-13
RECALLS THE PAST.
Dr.. Talmage's Sermon Is Largely
Reminiscent.
Draws Helpful Lessons from the Ex-
pcrIenccs and vicIssitudcs of
LIfe-MemOrieS of
Home.

roll of many stirring memories ana IN
terp,ets the meaning oi lifc's vicissi-
tudcS. The text is Psalms Xxxix. 81:
"While was musing the fire burned.
Here is David, the psalmist, with the
forcnnger of his right hand against his
temple and the door Shut against the
world engaged in contemplation. And
II would be well for us to take the same
posture often while we sit down IN
sweet solitude to contemplate
In small island off the coast of Nova
Scotia | once passed Sabbath III de-
iiphtful solitude, for had resolved that
! would have one day of entire quiet be-
fore entered upon autumnal work. l
thought TO have spent the day IN laying
out plans for Christian work, but IN
stead of that il became a day of tender
"Reminiscences. reviewed my passionate;
! shook hands with an old departed
friend whom shall greet again when
the curtains OF life are lifted. The days
OF my bnyhood came back, and was
ten years Df age, and was eight, and
was five. There was but one house ON
the island. and yet from Sabbath day
break, when the bird chant woke me,
until the evening melted into the bay
of Fundy, from shore TO shore there
were ten thousand memories. and the
groves were album with voices that had
long ago ceased.
Youth is apt too much to spend all IFS
time in looking forward. Old age is apt
too much TO spend all its time in look
ing backward People in midlife and ON
the apex look both ways. 1t would be
we'll for us. ! think, however. to spend
more time in "Reminiscences. by the con
stitution Of our nature we spend most
of the time looking forward. And the
vast ma iority of people live not so much
In the present as in the future. lind
that YOU mean to make a reputation,
YOU mean to establish yourself, and the
advantages that you expect to achieve
absorb great deal Of your time. l'ut
I see no harm in this, IL ii does not make
YOU disconnected with the present or
disqualify you for existing duties. IL
is n useful thing sometimes TO look
back and to see the dangers we have es-
capcd and to see the sorrows we have
suffered and the trials and wandcrings
of our earthly pilgrimage and to sum
up our cnioyments. / mean, so far as
God may help me, to stir up your mem
ory of the past, so that in the review you
NAV be encouraged and humbled and
urged to pray.
There is chapel in Florence with a
1. C,,iI Ia I m
two inches Of stucco until our American
and European artists went there, and
after long toll removed the covering and
retraced the fresco. And ! am aware
that the memory of the past, with many
of YOU, is all covered up with oblitcra-
tions, and now propose, so far as the
Lord may help me, to take away the
covering, that the old picture may shine
out again. ] want to bind in one sheaf
oil your past advantages. and ! want to
bind in another sheaf all your past adj
versitics. 1t Is n precious harvest, and
] must he cautious how ] swing the
scythe.
Among the greatest advantages of
your past life were an early home and
its surroundings. The bad men OF the
day. for the most part, dip their heated
passions out of the boiling spring of
an unhappy home. We are not sur
priscd to find that Byron's heart was
concentration Of sin when we hear his
mother was abandoned and that she
made sport of his nfrmity and often
called him "thc lame brat" He who
has vicious parents has TO fight every
inch of his way If he would maintain
his integrity andat last reach the home
of the good in Heaven. Perhaps your
carly home was in a city. 1t may have
been when Pennsylvania avenue, Wash
ington, was residential, as now it, is
commercial, and Canal street, New
York, was far up town. That old house
in the city may have been demolished
or changed into stores, and it seemed
like sacrilege to you, for there was
more meaning in that small house than
there is ina granite mansion or Il tur-
reted cathedral. Looking back, you see
il as though it were ycstcrday--the
sitting-room, where the loved one sat
by the plain lamp light, the mother
at inc evening SlHnu, inc DTOiHtTS anu
sisters, perhaps long ago gathered into
the skies, then plotting mischief on
the floor or under the table, your fa-
Their with firm voice commanding a
silence that lasted half a minute.
Oh, those were good days. If you
had your foot hurt, your mother al
ways had soothing salve to heal it,.
fyou were wronged in the street, your
father was always ready to protect
you. The year was one round of frolc
and mirth. Your greatest trouble was
an April shower, more sunshine than
shower. The heart had not been ran
sacked by trouble, nor had sickness
broken IL, and no lamb had n warmer
sheepfold than the home in which your
childhood nestled.
Perhaps you were brought up in the
country. You stand now to-day in mem
DRY under the old tree. You dubbed it
for fruit that was not quite ripe, be-
cause you couldn't wait any longer. You
hear the brook rumbling along over
the pebbles. You step again into the
furrow where your father in his shirt
sleeves shouted TO the lazy oxen. You
brighten the swallows from the raft
ers OF the barn and take just one egg
and silence your conscience by saying
.xtIl mt mice Won fol "a N 1ri,, u