The light., 1900-01-18
TALMAGE SERMON.
! Brief SYNOPSIS or THE piYINF's SUN
DAY DISCOURSE
Subject: Capacity to sleep-It Is the Poor
MRn's Blessing-WOrds OF Comfort For
the Victims OF Observation-Disclosures
q Means of Grace.
tcopyrighs, Louis KlOpsch. isss. ,

| NAsHINGToH, ID. C.-In this discourse
DR.. Talmage treats OF style OF disorder
NOT much discoursed upon and unfoIds
what must be consolation to many people;
text, Psalms xvii, 4, "Thou holdest mine
| eyes waking"
Sleep !s the vacation OF the soul, Il Is the
mind gone into the playground OF dreamsI
1t Is the relaxation OF the muscles and the
solace OF the nerves; 1t Is the hush OF &C.
ttvities; 1t is the soft curtaIning OF the ewes;
it Is trance OF eight hours; It Is a calm.
| ing OF the pulses; 1t is a bre eatbln9 much
slower, though far deeper; 1t Is temper.
| ary oblivion OF all carking cares; 1t Is the
| doctor recognized by oil schools OF medi.
cine; 1t Is divine narcotic; it is COM
plete ansesthetic; 1t Is an angel OF the
night; 1t Is great mercy OF God for the
human race. Lack OF It puts patients on
the rack or torture, or In the madhouse, or
In the grave. 0 blessed sleepi No wonder
SO sound that surgical lnclsion OF the side
OF Adam did not waken him came the best
temporal blessing ever afforded TO
man-wifelY companionshlp. While in
sleep on pillow OF rock Jacob
saw ladder set ur, with angels coming
down and climbing. 30 "Hs glveth His
beloved sleep" sollloquized the psalmlst
solomon listens at the door OF a tired
workman and euloglzes his pillow by say.
Ing, ''The sleep of laborinS man II
| sweet" Peter was calmly sleeping be-
tween the two constables That night be.
Tore his expected assassination. Christ
was asleep In a boat on Galllee when
tossed In the euroclYdon. The annuncia-
| tion was made to Joseph in sleep, and
DEATHS 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-
%ered from 1t, and VIC 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, "His 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
| inc."
or course there Is an uprighteous sleep,
| 9s 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, endangerin1 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
1 Of In nc hd ryow mil cl md
O little slumber and little fc lding OF the
hands to Sleep" But sleep at the right
| lime and amid the right circumstances,
can you imagine anything more blessed2
II sleep, according to sacred and proiane
literature, is an emblem OF death, the
morning to all refreshed slumberers is
resurrection.
| Remark the first: II you have escaped
the insomnia spoken of In the text, thank
| God. Here and there one can command
| sleep, and 1t comes the minute he orders 1t
| and departs at the minute he wishes it 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
that subject and open that which contains
another They do not mix together or In
| convenience me. 1 have new been kept
| awake by an involuntary preoccupation Of
mind. When l wish for repose l shut up
all the drawers, aud l am asleep. have
always slept when l wanted rest, and al
most at will" But think In most cases
| we feel that sleep Is not the result OF res
olution, but direct gift from God. You
cannot purchase it. A great French hnan-
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
/ hao 9ra kal
| this subject. Thomas Moore gave poor ad-
vice when he said, "rhe best way to
| engthen our days Is to steal foW 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. The night was
made for slumber. The worst lamp a stu
dent can have Is "the midnight lamp"
Lord Brougham never passed more than
four hours of the night abed, aud jIstinlan,
| after one hour OF sleep, woIld rise from
| his couch. But you are n4iIhe. a Justinian
| nor q Lord Brougham. Let not the absurd
| apotheosis Of early rising induce you to
the abbreviation 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 9 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
| 4 o.. k1Nnw Flh
some people never wakened at all.
Remark the third: All those ought to be
comforted who by overwork In right direc-
tions have come to insomnia. In oil occu-
pations and professions there are times
when a special draft Is made upon the ner-
vous energy. There are thousands OF men
and women who cannot sleep because they
were injured by overwork in some time oil
domestic or political or religious extgency.
Mothers who, after taking whole family
OF children through the disorders that are
sure to strike the nursery, have been lett
physical wrecks, and one entire night OIL
slumber is to them rarity, IL not an In
possibility. The attorney at law, VINO,
through a long trial in poorly ventilated
courtroom, has stood for weeks battling
for the rights OF widows and orphans OF
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 night long and every night
when he would like to be slumbering. 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 a pandemonium and there was a
possibility that the next day be would be
penniless that night with no more possi-
biIlty OF gaining sleep than IL such pless-
ing had never touched our planet.
Remark the fourth: Insomnia is no sign
of divine displeasure. Martin Luther had
distressing insomnia and wrote, "When
wake up in the night, the devil immedi-