Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1900-12-19
SERMONS Of THE DAY
Preached BY Rev. Dr.. Taimage

Preached BY Rev. Dr.. TaImage
Subject A Way Over Jordan - The Lord
Will Send q Boat - From the Other
Shore 1t Will Como TO Transport the
Faithful to Eternal Life.
rcopyrtaht lsOai
WASHINGTON, D. C.-From an unnoticed
incident of olden time DR.. Talmage in this
discourse draws some comforting and rap
turous lessons. The text is II Samuel xix.
Is, And there went over a ferryb to
carry over the kings household"
Which of the crowd is the king? That
short man, sunburnt and in fatigue dress.
1t is David, the exiled king. He has de-
feated his enemies and is now going home
to resume his palace. Good! / always
like to see David come out ahead. But be-
tween him and his home there is the cele-
brated River Jordan, which has to be
passed. The king is accompanied to the
bank of the river by an aristocratic old
gentleman of eighty years, Barzillai by
name, who owned fine country seat at
Rogelim. Besides that, David has his fam
ily with him. But how shall they get
across the river? While they are stand
ing there l see ferryboat coming from
the other side, and as it cuts through the
water / see the faces of David and his
household brighten up at the thought of
SO soon getting home. No sooner had the
ferryboat struck the shore than David and
his family and his old friend Barzillai,
from Rogelim, get on board the boat.
Either with splashing oars at the side or
with one oar sculling at the stern of the
boat they leave the eastern bank of the
Jordan and start for the western bank
That western bank is black with crowds
of people, who are waving and shouting at
the approach of the king and his family.
The military are all out. Some of those
who have been David's worst enemies now
shout until they are hoarse at his return
No sooner had the boat struck the shore
on the western side than the earth quakesi
and the heavens ring with cheers of well
family and Barzillai from Rogelim step
ashore. King David asks his old friend
to go with him and live at the palace, but
Barzillai apologies and intimates that he
is infirm with age and too deaf to appre-
ciate the music, and has a delicate appe-
tite that would soon be cloyed with luxu-
rious living, and so he begs that David
would let him go back to his country seat.
l once heard the father of President
of the United States say that he had just
been to Washington to see his son in the
White House, and he told me of the Won
derful things that occurred there, and of
what Daniel Webster said to him, but he
declared: 81 was glad to get home. There
was too much going on there for me-" My
father, an aged man, made his last visit
at my house in Philadelphia, and after the
church service was over and we went
home some one in the house asked the
aged man how he enjoyed the service.
We'll, l enjoyed the service, but there
were too many people there for me. 1t
troubled my head very much" The fact
is that old people do not like excitement.
If King David had asked Barzillai thirty
years before to go to the palace, the prob
ability is that Barzillai would have~gone,
but not now. They kiss each other good
bye, a custom among men Oriental, but
in vogue yet where two brothers part or
an aged father and a son go away from
each other never to meet again. No won
der that their lips met as King David and
old Barzillai, at the PROV of the ferryboat,
parted forever.
This River Jordan, in all ages and
among all languages, has been the SYM
boi Of the boundary line between earth
and heaven, yet when, on former occa-
sion, preached to you about the Jordanic
passage l have no doubt that some of you
despondingly said: "The Lord might have
divided Jordan for Joshua, but not for
poor ue." Cheer up! l want to show
you that there is way over Jordan as
well as through it. My text says, And
the kings household"
All our cities are familiar with the ferry
boat. 1t goes from San Francisco to Oak
land, and from Liverpool to Brkenhead,
and twice every secular day of the week
multitudes are on the ferryboats of our
great cities, so that you will not need to
hunt up classical dictionary to find out
what l mean while 1 am speaking to you
about the passage of David and his family
across the River Jordan.
My subject, in the first place, impresses
me with the fact that when we cross over
from this world to the next the boat will
have to come from the other side. The
tribe of Judah, we are Informed, sent this
ferryboat across to get David and his
household. l stand on the eastern side of
the River Jordan, and | find no shipping
at al, but while | am standing there ]
sec a boat plowing through the river, and
as l hear the swirl of the waters, and
the boat comes 20 the eastern side of the
Jordan, and David and his family and his
old friend step on board that boat, l am
nightly impressed with the fact that
when we cross over from this world to the
next the boat will have to come from tile
opposite shore.
Every day 1 find people trying to ex-
temporize way from earth to heaven.
They gather up their good works and some
sentimental theories, and they make a
raft, and they go down. The fact is that
skepticism and infidelity never yet helped
one man to die. l invite all the ship
carpenters of worldly philosophy to come
and build one boat that can safely cross
this river. / invite them all to unite their |
skill, and Bolingbroke shall lift the stan |
chions, and Tyndall shall shape the bow !
spirit, and Spinoza shall make the main |
topgallant braces, and Renan shall go to |
tacking and wearing and boxing the ship |
All together in 10, 900 years they will never !
be able to make boat that can cross this !
Jordan. Why was it that Spinoza and |
Blount and Shaftesbury lost their souls Z! |
stream in boat of their own construc- |
ton. What miserable work they made OF
dying! Diodorus died of modification be !
cause he could not guess a conundrurd !
which had been proposed to him at /
public dinner; Ieuxis, the philosopher, |
died of mirth, laughing at a caricature |
of an aged woman, caricature made by |
his own hand; while another of their
and of their kind died saying:
Must l leave all these beautiful pic !
tures?" and then asked that he might be
bolstered up in the bed in his last mo-
ments and be shaved and painted and
rouged. OF all the unbelievers Of all ages
not one died well. Some of them sneaked
out of life, some blasphemed and raved |
and tore their bed covers to tatters. This
is the way worldly philosophy helps
man to die.
A guide at Niagara Falls said to me,
''Do you see that rock down in the rap
lds?" l said, Yes" "Well," he said,
some years ago a man got into the rap
ids and foated down until he came to
that rock, and he clutched that and held /
on. We sent FIVE lifeboats at different
times out to him, and they were all brok.
en- to splinters. After awhile we got him
some food, but he could not eat it. He