The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1900-12-29
TALMAGE SERMON.
N'NOAY's DISCOURSE By THE ABLE oI.
VINE

!
VINE.
Subject: Spirit of Unrest - 1t is tho
Cause of Much Unhappiness-Need Of
| the Church and the World Is More
stability-stop Gadding About.
Copyright 1901
WASHINGTON, ID. C.-From an unusual
text DR.. Tall..age in this discourse rebukes
the spirit of unrest which characterlzes
SO many people, and shows them the hap
pness and usefulness to be found III sta
biity; text jeremiah ii, So, "Why gaddest
thou about 50 much to change thy way
Homely is the illustration by which this
prophet of tears deplores the vacillation
of the nation to whom he wrote. Now
they wanted alliance with Egypt and now
with Assyria and now with Babylon, and
now they did not know what they wanted,
and the behavior of the nation reminded
the prophet OF a man or woman who, not sat
isied with home life, goes from place to
place gadGing about, as we say, never set
tied anywhere or in anything, and he
cries out to them why gaddest thou
about much to chanse thy way"
Well, the world has now as many gada-
bouts as it had, in Bible times, and | think
that that race of people is more numer-
GUS now than it ever was-gadabouts
among occupations, among religious theo-
ries, among churches, am )ng nelghbor-
hoods-and one of the greatest wants of
the church and the world is more stead
fastness and more hxedness of purpose.
1t wa no small question that Pharaoh
put to JacoD and his sons when he asked,
What is your occupation" Getung into
the ri~'t occupation not only decides your
temporal welfare, but may decide your
| eternal 1pStiny The reocnu ca ,papy mon
and women are dead failures il because
instead of nsking God what they ought
to be or do they, through some vain am
bition or whimsicality, decide what they
ought to be. Let me say to all young men
and young women in homes or in school
or college, do not go gadding about among
occupations and professions to find what
you are fitted for, but make humbl, and
direct appeal to God for direction
While seeking divine guidance in your
selection of lifetime sphere examine
your own temperament. The phrenologist
will tell you your mental proclivities. The
psychologist will tell you your physical
temper nent Your enemies will tell you
your weaknesses. II you are, as We say,
nervous, do 10, become a su.gecc If
you are cowardly, do not become an en-
gneer. If you are hoping for a large and
permanent income, do not seek govern
ment position. If you are naturally quick
tempered, do not become a minister of
the ospel, for while any one is dsadvan,
tagged by ungovernabe disposition there
is hardly any one who enacts such an in
congruous part as a mad minister. Can
you make a fine sketch of ship or rock
or house or face? BE an artist. Do you
find yourself hummng cadences, and do
the treble cles and the musical bars drop
from your pen easily, and can you make
tune that charms those who hear it? BE
a musician. Are you born with fondness
for argument. Be an attorney. Are
you naturally a good nurse and especially
interested in the relief of pain? Be a
physician. Are you interested in all ques
tions of traffic and in bargain making, are
you apt to be successful on mall or
large scale? BE merchant. Do you pre-
fer country life, and do you like the plow
and do you hear music in the hustle of
harvest field? Be farmer. Are you fond
of machinery, and are turning wheels to
you fascination, and can you follow with
absorbing interest a new kind of thrash
ing machine hour after hour? Be me-
chanic. If You enjoy analyzing the natural
elements md laboratory could entertain
you all day and all night, be a chemist
If you are inquistive about other worlds
and interested in all instruments that
would bring them nearer for inspection,
be an astronomer. If the grass under your
feet and the foliage over your head and
the flowers which shake their incense on
the summer air are to you the bellies let
tres of the field, be botanist.
If you have no one faculty dominant and
nothing in your make up seems to point
to this or that occupation, shut yourself
up i. your own room, get down on your
knees and reverently ask God what He
made on for and tell Him that you are
willing to do anything He wishes you to
DO. Before you leave that room you will
find out For the sake of your usefulness
and hapT mess and your temporal and
eternal welfare do not join that crowd of
people who go gadding about among bust
nesses and occupations, now trying this
and now trying that and never accom-
?llshlng anything
There are many who exhibit this frail-
ty in matters of religion. They are not
sure about anything that pertains to their
soul or their eternal destiny. Now they
are Unitarians, and now they are Uni
versalsts, and now they are Presbyteri-
ans, and now they are nothing at all. They
are not quite sure that the Bible was in
splred or if inspired whether the words
or the ideas were inspired or whether only
part of the book was inspired. They think
at one time that the story in Genesis about
the garden of Eden is a history, and the
month after they think It is an allegory
AT one time they think the book of Job
describes what really occurred, but the
next time they speak of it they call it a
drama. Now they believe all the miracles,
but at your next interview they try to
show how these scenes had nothing in
them supernatural, but can be accounted
for by natural causes. Gadding about
among religious theories and never salts
fed. III the evidence is put before them,
and Why do they not render verdict? Ii
they cannot make ~ their mind with all
the data put before them, they never will.
There are all the archaeological confrma-
tions of the Bible brought to view by the
Palestine Exploration Society" There
are the bricks of Babylon, the letter "N''
impressed upon them-"N" for Nebuchad-
nezzar, showing that he was not myth
I and the farther the shovel of the anti
quarian goes down the more is revealed
of that most wonderful city of all time.
Professor Heilprecht, of the University of
Pennsylvania, presents us tablets found
in the far East ratlfying and explaining
Scriptural passages which were before in
mystery AS the builders in Jerusalem to-
day dig for the foundation OF new uses
they turn up with their pickaxes the ashes
OF the animals that were used for burned
offerings in the temple ages ago, demon
Il. i