The free state., 1900-01-20
rALMAGE SERMON.
,sRIEF SYNOPSIS OF the nIvlkF's SUN
DAY DISCOURSE
Subject: Capacity to sleep-It is the Poor
Mans sBlesslng-WOrds OF Comfort For
the Victims of Ins nsonnIa-WakefulRess
q Means of Grace,
Copyright, Louis Klop.ch. 1900. J

the Victims of ms Ins0mnIa-WakefulRess
q Means of Grace.
copyright, Louis Klopsch. 1901
WASHINGTON, d. C.-fn this discourse
| DR.. Talmage treats OF q style of disorder
not much diseoursed upon and unfolds
what must be consolation to many people;
text, Psalms lxxyll., 4, "Thou holdest mine
| eyes waking"
Sleep 1s the vacation OF the soul; it is the
| mind gore into the playground OF dreams;
| II is the relaxation OF the muscles and the
solace OF the nerves; 1t Is the hush of ac-
| tiyities; 1t is the soft curtaining OF the eyes;
1t is a trance of eight hours; 1t is calm
| ing OF the pulses; 1t is a breathing much
slower, though far deeper; it is a tempor-
ary oblivion OF all carking cares; it is the
doctor recognized by all schools of medi-
cine; 1t Is divine narcotic; 1t is a COM
| plete anRsthetie; It Is an angel OF the
night; 1t is great mercy OF God for the
human race. Lack of 1t puts patients on
the rack of torture, or In the mRdhouse, or
In the grave. D blessed sleepl No wonder
the Bible makes much OF 1t. Through sleep
so sound that surgical incision of the side
of Adam did not waken him came the best
temporal blessing ever afforded to
man-wlfelY companionship. While In
sleep on pillow OF rock Jacob
saw ladder set ur, with angels coming
|
beloved Sleep" soliloqulzed the psalmlst.
Solomon listens at the door of tired
workman and eulogizes his pillow by say
| Ing, "The sleep of a laboring man Is
sweet" Peter was calmly sleeping be-
tween the two constables that night be-
fore his expected assassination. Christ
was asleep In a boat on Galllee when
tossed in the euroclydon. The annuncla-
| tion was made to Joseph in sleep, and
death is described as only sleep and the
resurrection as glorious wakening out Of
sleep.
On the other hand, insomnia or sleep
| lesshess is an old disorder spoken OF again
and again In the Bible. Ahasuerus suf-
| Tered from 1t, and we read, ain that night
could not the king Sleep" Joseph Hall
said OF that ruler, "He that could com
mand hundred and seven and twenty
provinces could not command Sleep"
Nebuchadnezzar had insomnia, and the
| record is, ellis sleep brake from him."
! Solomon describes this trouble and says,
Neither day nor night seeth he sleep
with his eyes" Asaph was its victim, for
he complains In my text that his eyes are
open at midnight, some mysterious power
keeping the upper and lower lids from
Joining, Thou hOldest mine eyes wax
Ing"
or course there Is an uprighteous sleep,
as when Jonah, trying to escape from
| duty, slept In the sides OF the ship while
the Mediterranean was In wrath because
Of that prophetic passenger; as when
Columbus in his first voyage, exhausted
from being up many nights, gave the ship
| In charge OF the steersman and the crew,
who, leaving the management OF the ves-
sci to boys, went to sleep and allowed the
| ship to strike on the sand banks Of st.
| Thomas; as when the sentinel goes to
sleep at his post, endangerlng the whole
army; as when the sluggard, who accom-
| plishes nothing the day before he went to
sleep and will accomplish nothing the day
after he wakes, fills up Solomon's picture
Of him as he yawns out, "a :ittle sleep and
little slumber and little Il ldlng OF the
hands to Sleep" But sleep at the right
lime and amid the right circumstances,
can you imagine anything more blessed?
II sleep, according to sacred aud profane
literature, Is an emblem OF DEATH the
morning to all refreshed slumberers is
q resurrection.
Remark the first: If you have escaped
the insomnia spoken of In the text, thank
| God. Here and there one can command
| sleep, and II comes the minute he orders 1t
and departs at the minute he wishes 1t to
go, as Napoleon when he wrote: Different
affairs are arranged IN my bed as In draw
ers. When / wish to interrupt one train OF
thought close the drawer which contains
|
| another. They do not mix together or in
convenience me. 1 have never been kept
awake by an involuntary preoccupatiOn Of
mind. When l wish for repose / shut up
all the drawers, aud l am asleep. / have
always slept when wanted rest, and al
most at will" But 1 think IN most cases
we feel that sleep Is not the result OF a res
cannot purchase 1t. A great French f1nan-
cier cried out, "Alas, why is there no sleep
to be sold2"
Remark the second: Consider among the
| worst crimes the robbery OF ourselves or
others OF this mercy Of slumber. Much
| ruinous doctrine has been inculcat9d on
this subject. Thomas Moore gave poor ad-
vice when he said, "The best way to
| engthen our days Is to steal few hours
from the night" We are told that, though
they did their work at night. Copernicus
| lived to be seventy-three years Of age, and
| Galllei seventy eight years, and Herschel
eighty-four years. Yes, but the reason was
they were all star hunters, and the only
time for hunting stars Is at night. Prob
ably they slept by day. Tho Night was
made for slumber. The worst lamp stu
dent can have is "the midnight lamp"
| Lord Brougham never passed more than
four hours Of the night abed, aud lstinian,
after one hour OF sleep, would rise from
| his couch. But you are n&lLhe: q Justlnian
| nor Lord Brougham. Let not the absurd
apotheosis OF early rising induce you to
the abbrevlation OF sleep. Get up when
you are slept out unless circumstances
compel otherwise. Have no alarm clock
| making its nerve tearing racket at 4
O'Clock In the morning, unless special rea-
sons demand the forsaking OF your pillow
at that hour. Most OF the theories about
early rising we inherited from times when
people retired at or 8 o'clock In the even
| Ing. Such early retirement is impossible
In our own times for those who are taking
part In the great activities of life. There
| Is no virtue In the mere act OF early rising.
1t all depends upon what you do after you
get up. 1t would be better for the world II
some people never wakened at all.
Remark the third: All those ought to be
comforted who by overwork In right dlrec-
| tions have come to insomnia. In all occu-
pations and professions there are times
when a special draft is made upon tue ner-
voas energy. There are thousands OF men
and women who cannot sleep because they
were injured by overwork In some time OF
domestic or political or religious exigency.
Mothers who, after taking whole family
| OF children through the disorders that are
| sure to strike the nursery, have been left
physical wrecks, and one entire night of
| slumber is to them q rarity, IL not an I'M
| possibility. The attorney at law, who,
through long trial In poorly ventilated
courtroom, has stood for weeks battling
| for the rights OF widows aud orphans or
| for the life of client In whose Innocence
he is confident, though all the circum-
stances are unfavorable. In his room he
| tries the case all nlghtlon and every night
when he would like to be slumberlng. The
| physician, In time Of epidemic, worn out in
saving the lives OF whole families and fall
ing in his attempts to sleep at night be-
| tween the janGlings OF his doorbell The
| merchant who has experienced panics,
when the banks went down and Wall street
| became pandemonium and there was a
| possibility that the next day be would be
hnk irrhk I, Il