The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1900-11-30
THE GADABOUT EVIL.
Dr.. Talmage Deplores the Prevail
ing Spirit of Unrest.
Christian Stability the Source of USE
fuIness and Happiness-VaIue of
Fixed Spiritual Con-
ditIon.
Copyright. 1900, by Louis TIlopsch.]
Washington,

From an unusual text DR.. Talmage
in this discourse rebukes the spirit of
unrest which characterizes so many
people, ard shows them the happiness
and usefulness to be found in stability;
text, Jeremiah 2: SO: ''Why gaddest thou
about so much to change thy way?"
Homely is the illustration by which
this prophet of tears deplores the vacil-
lation 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
man or woman who, not satisfied with
home life, goes from place to place, gad-
ding about, as we say, never settled
anywhere or in anything, and he cries
out to them: ''Why gaddest thou
about so much to change thy way?"
Well, the world has now as many gad-
abouts as it had in Bible times, and l
think that that race of people is more
numerous now than it ever was. Cad
abouts among occupations, among re-
ligious theories, among churches,
among neighborhoods, and one of the
greatest wants of the church and the
world is more steadfastness and more
fiXedness of purpose.
1t was no small question that
Pharaoh put to Jacob and his sons
when he asked: "What is your occu-
pation?" Getting into the right occu-
patton not only decides your temporal
welfare, but may decide your eternal
destiny. The reason so many men and
women are dead failures is because in
stead of asking God what they ought to
be or do they, through some vain ambi-
tion 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 profess
sions to find what you are fitted for,
but make humble and direct appeal to
God for direction.
While seeking Divine guidance in
your selection of lifetime sphere eX-
anime your own temperament. The
phrenologist will tell you your mental
proclivities. The Psychologist will tell
you your physical temperament. Your
enemies will tell you your weaknesses.
If YOU are. as we say, nervous, do not
become a surgeon. If you are coward
ly, do not become an engineer. If you
are hoping for large and permanent
income. do not seek a governmental
position. II you are naturally quick
tempered, do not become minister of
the Gospel, for while anyone is disad-
vantaged by ungovernable disposition
there is hardly anyone who enacts such
an incongruous part as mad minister.
Can you make fine sketch of a ship
Do you find yourself humming ca
dences. and do the treble clef and the
musical bars drop from your pen cas-
lily, and can you make a tune that
charms those who hear it? Be musi-
clan. Are you born with a fondness
for argument? Be an attorney. Are
you naturally a good nurse and es-
pecially interested in the relief of
pain? Be a physician. Are you inter-
ested in al questions of traffic and in
bargain making? Are you apt to be
successful on a small or large scale?
Be merchant. Do you prefer country
life, and do yea like the plow, and do
you hear music in the rustic of a har
vest field? Be a farmer. Are you fond
of machinery, and are turning wheels
to you a fascination, and can you follow
with absorbing interest new kind of
thrashing machine hour after hour?
Be mechanic. If you enjoy ana.yzing
the natural elements and a la bora tory
could entertain you all day and all
night. be a chemist. If you are in
quisitive about other worlds and in
terested in all instruments that would
bring them nearer for inspection, be
an astronomer.
If you have no one faculty dom
inant and nothing in your makeup
seems to point to this or that occupa-
ton, shut yourself up in your own
room, get down on your knees and rev.
erently ask God what He made you
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. But for the sake of your
usefulness and happiness and your
temporal and eternal welfare do not
join that crowd of people who go
gadding about among business and
occupations, now trying this and now
trying that and never accomplishing
anything.
Last summer man of great genius
died. He had the talents of 20 men in
surgical directions, but he did not like
surgery, and he wanted to be
preacher. He could not preach. l
told him so. He tried it on both sides
of the sea, but he failed, because he
turned his back on that magnificent
profession of surgery. which has in
our time made such wonderful achieve
ment that it now heals broken neck
and by the x ray explores the tenn
pie of the human body as if it were
a lighted room. For 40 years he was
gadding about among the professions.
Do not initiate him. Ask God what
you ought to be, and He will tell you.
It may not be as elegant a style of
work as you would prefer. 1t may
callous and begrine your hands and
put you in suffocating atmosphere
and stand you shoulder to shoulder
with the unrefined and may leave your
overalls the opposite of aromatic, but
remember that il God calls you to do
one thing you will never be happy in
doing something else.
All the great successes have been
gained through opposition and strug
gle Charles Goodyear, the inventor,
whose name is now synonym all the
world over for fortune added to for