Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1900-11-30
REV, DR.. TALMAGE.
THE EMINENT DIvINE's SUNDAY
DISCOURSE.

DISCOURSE.
Subject: Spirit OF Unrest - 1t is the
Cause of Much Unhappiness-Need Of
the Church and the World is More
StabiIity-Stop Gadding About.
Copyright 1901
WASHINGTON, D. C.-From an unusual
text DIR. Talmage in this discourse rebukes
the spirit of unrest which characterizes
so MANY people, and shows them the hap
piness and usefulness tc be found in sta
bility: text, jeremiah ii, SO, "Why gaddest
thou about so much to change thy way?"
Homely is the illustration by which this
prophet of tears deplores the vacllation
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 sat-
isfied 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 so much to cnange thy way?"
We'll, 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, among neighbor-
hoods--and one of the greatest wants OF
the church and the world is more stead
fastness and more fxedness of purpose.
1t wa no small question that Pharaoh
put to Jacc) 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 destiny. The reason so many men
and women are dead failures is because
instead of asking God what they ought
to be or do they, through some vain am
btion or whimsica!ity, 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 phrenologlst
will tell you your mental proclivties. The
psychologist will tell you your physical
temper nent. Your enemies will tell you
your weaknesses. If you are, as we say,
nervous, do not become a surgeon. Ii
you are cowardly, do not become an en-
gipeer. If you are hoping for. large and
permanent income, do not seek govern
ment position. If you are naturally quick
tempered, do not become a minister of
the gospel, for while any one is disadvan-
tagged by ungovernable disposition there
is hardly any one who enacts such an in
congruous part as a mad minister. Can
you make fine sketch of ship or rock
mi cf In
find yourself hummng cadences, and do
the treble clef and the musical bars drop
from your pen easily, and can you make
tune that charms those who hear it? BE
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
physician. Are you interested in all ques-
tions of traffic and in bargain making, are
you apt to be successful on a mall or
large scale? Be merchant. Do you pre-
fer country life, and do you like the pillow,
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 a me-
chanic. If you enjoy Analysing the natural
elements ind laboratory could entertain
you all day and all night, be chemist.
If you are inqusitive 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 ever your head and
the flowers which shake their incense on
the summer air are to you the bellies let
tres of the field, be botanst.
If you have no one faculty dominant and
nothing i'll 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 arc
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 hapl 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-
plishing 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
versalists, and now they are Presbyteri-
ans, and now they are nothing at all. They
are not quite sure that the Bible was in
spired 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 history, and the
month after they think it is an allegory.
At one time they think the book of Job
4 ;hao hot lint ho
next time they speak of it they call it a
but at your next interview they try to
show how these scenes had nothing in
then supernatural, but can be accounted
for by natural causes Gadding about
among religious theories and never salts
fed. All the evidence is put before them,
and why do they not render a verdict? If
they cannot make up 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
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 ratifying 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
strating the truth of the Bible story about
the sacrifices of lambs and heifers and
pigeons. There is the history by Josephus
describing on uninspired page scenes
which the Bible depicts. On the banks of
the Dead Sea there are pieces of the very
birthstone that fell in the sulphurous
storm that destroyed Sodom and Gomor-
rah Make up your mind whether the BIZ
BILE is a glorious revelation of God or the
worst imposition of the centuries. Why go