Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1899-12-30
ON THE DYING YEAR.
THEME or A THoUGHTFUL SERMON
ny DIR. CsLIscH.
ARE NEARING A NEW CENTURY.
One short Year aud the Cycle Of nm
Hundred Years VIII Have Passed
The Advances and Triumphs of the
Human Race.

| Rabbi Calisch spoke last night on inc
Dying Year" taking his text from
Pslarn xiv. and T.
He began by saying that while phiioso-
piers may insist that Time is only
dgnient Of the fantasy. We ordinary NOR
tails do recognize keenly not only It's
existence. but. at this season Of the year
| the all too rapid fight OF that fabric or
| the Imagination. For us the old man
with the scythe and glass Is figure real
enough, indeed. and though crowned with
| the snow OF age, he Is strong Of limb ana
feet of foot. and the sands in his glass
never cease to run. Yet true IL is that
Time Is an entity born Of human imagi-
nation: for who, OF what outside Oh
man. does know Of Time or record his
endless march on the roadway OF the
years? II Is true the concentric rings IN
the trunk OF a tree may denote the pas
sage Of the seasons. and the scars on It's
surface and the veins within its body
may toll Of the aeons that have passed
Ger the earth yet these things are but
the marks Of unwilling growth. For
though this terrestrial ball may, by its
annual voyage through space, measure for
man the standard Of his computations,
vet what does the earth know of the
years? And Is. the sun conscious Of the
centuries? And DO the everlasting stars
take note Of the weeks and days? It's
man only. finite, mortal perishing man,
that has thrown the chains OF calculation
over the fleeing form Of time and trapped
eternity behind the bars of passing years
THE CHANGE Is GRADUAL.
And by these self-same years does man
realize his fe@ting evanescence. Even in
his own frail body the change from one
condition TO another is 80 gradual. and |
the boundary lines between them are so !
indefinite, that he needs must make for
himself tally-stick for time and let the |
years notch thereon their unweailed pas !
sage. Thus men record and observe the |
anniversaries that occur in the narrow !
limits OF their firesides, or IN the wider |
circle Of their communal or national life. |
And especially now, as we are about to /
cross the boundary that lies between two
mishtier provinces in the empire of eter.
nifty the consciousness Of Times all pitt |
less vOitatlon comes the more leeply |
home TO US With the closing OF the week |
there viii come TO US the last day |
Of this year and with the closing Of this /
year will come the last year OF this cen ,
fury
With what profound awe does this |
thought Undue us. We are standing at |
the death-bed Of a giant. The gasp of one |
short year and the cycle Of an hun !
bred years is over. And though that year
be but the gasp Of centmy's breath, |
yet "a mortal reckoning it contains end
less potentialitios for good or i'll. In that !
uncertainty lies both our weakness and |
our strength. Our weakness rests i'm our
ignorance, our strength is founded on our
faith.
THE RACE HAS ADVANCED.
As we look over the years We will find
that in spite of mistakes and follies. in
spite OF passion, temptation, selhshness
and falsehood, the human race has adj
vanced, tardly and painfully, yet adj
vanced by the hope and the faith Of the
greatest and best among them. The years
are to man what the canvas and the
cO-ors are TO the artist. The years
stretch out as an illimitable canvas of OPP
portunty. and now rs We look, ere the
last link falls TO fill out the number of
the completed circle. we may see by the
tracings thereon that the best changes |
are not those that are the most apparent
What splendid dramas have been played |
upon tho stage Of history, bitter Tragedies
farcicial comediesi Thalia and Mel
pomene trod close upon each others heels
across those century Unsupported boards
And human passion and fury have come |
and gone, and love and nate. selnshness |
and self-denial have made their entrance |
and their exit. Pleasure and duty have |
wrestled there. and hope and fear have
struggled for possession. And midst ii
al. what uncOuntable human beings have
run their short race and now sleep with
the still more unnumbered hosts of earlier
ages It's a SOLDERING thought comes home !
to US, and bids the world to pause and
think
THE SPIRITUAL TRIUMPH
IT'S am idle boast that speaks Of |
our mechanical and material tri-
umphs. Shall we say that con-
quered steam and captive electricity
ana added comforts, aye, more enervating
luXuries. are the standards of our
progress? Can We lay claim to equal
advance in morals and spirituality? Shall !
IL be said that we. on the bOrdeTlend Of |
the twentieth century and of untold me-
chanica and material possibilities, are
not ready, morally, TO meet them? Has
our progress been only veneer Of beauty
applied externally; that we are no nobler. |
no truer. no more godlike than our |
primordial parents? Shall It be saidN that |
our progress has only been such that |
gives a fair front to falsehood. calls dis
honor by "a swoeter name. hides roguery |
under sauvity of manner. euphemzes |
lewdness. and coaks the dOings of the |
devil with the livery of Heaven?
Let rather the advances and the tri- |
umphs of the material world be but |
the chariot wherein shall ride the greater !
and grandor figure of the spiritual trl- !
umph, the triumph over SELF the con- |
quest over passion. the dominion over
bascness and sordid motive progress |
that makes for honor. for integrity, for |
peace, for the recognition of the sacred |
ness of human life, for wisdom in things |
sodly, for understanding IN the highest !
and the hottest Then. as day uttoreth |
unto day and night speaketh TO night. |
though their words be not heard of man, |
yet their melody reaching to the utter
most ends OF the earth. shall be a paean |
Of praise unto the everlasting God.
MISS BERGHs LECTURE RECITAL.