Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1900-01-18
Or.TALMAGE SERMON
'nE GREAT DIVINE'S ELOQUENT
MESSAGE,
o"nJect: New Year Tnoucl,ts-we Should
wake the Most OF Our Erief Lives
IhVdelity the Source of Much Woe
Shrlst's MatChleas Stories.
Copyright, Logi, KIopsch. lsn.l

Copyright, Louis KIopscA. l:sa.l
WAsHINGToS, D. C.-In this discourse DR..
1almayo takes the opportunity o. Offering
some very practica. and useful suggestions:
text, Psalms xc., Q. eve spend our years
as . tale that is told"
| The lsraelite5 were forty wears in tie
wilderness, and during thirty-eicht years
OF the forty nothing is recorded OF them,
ana, l suppose, no other cnigraats had n
uuiier or more unintcre4tinc time than
they had. 50 they got to telling stories
stories concerning themselves or concern
ing Others; stories about the brick kilns Of
Egypt, vhere they had toilcd in slavery:
stories about how the waters OF the Rcd
sen piled up into palisades at their cross
ing; story Of the lantern hung in the .heav-
ems TO guide them b. night; story OF ibises
destroying the reptiles Of the wilderness;
stories Of personal encounter. 1t must
have been al aIipi thing to have hadnoth-
ing to do for thirty-night years except 70
get lost every time they tried to escape
from tho Wilderness. 50 they whiled away
the time IN story telling. Indeed, there
were persons whose one business was to
narratc storiea. and they were paid Dv
such trites ns they could pick up from the
surrounding listeners. To Ach instances
our text refers when Il sayt ave spend
our years as q tale that stella"
AT this tremendous passage from tn.
year 1899 to the year 1900 it will DO us all
SSoN lIiNt oAI ~ AlFi' III - IL
story told-a good story or Il bal story. a
tragic story or a mirthful story, a wise
story or Il foolish story, 4 clean story or a
'hlthy story. Il story 81 success or n story IF
failure. We spend oar years. 4, n tale
TINT IL told"
persons lie IS q very interesting story.
My text does not depreciate - tale that is
told. We haze all Of us been entertained
by the story teller when s4ow bound III the
rail- train, or in the group Il winters night
In the farmhouse. sr gathered around IA
blazing hearth with some hunters at the
mountain inn. Indeed, il IS y p~raisewortliv
art to i'm persOnate Il good story well. If
YOU doubt the practical AMI hea.n9ul and
inspiring use Of such Il story, take down
from the library Washington Irving's
Tales Of n Travelcr'' or Nathaniel Haw-
thorne's Twice Told Tales" But as in
teresting ns any c. :heso would be the
story OF many an obscure life if the tale
were as well told. Why 10 we all like
biographies an! neutrality-suspicious. Be
cause they are stories Of eminent human
lives. But the story nf the life Of u back
w~ooGsman, OF Il man who looks stupid, Of
one about whom You never heard II word,
must be Just as thrilling on II small scale
rs on Il large scale Is Il HE Of n Cyrus, or Il
Cesar, or II 2izarro. or Mark Antony, Or
u Charlenagne.
II you get the confidence Of that very
plain man Just cOino ont ~ the back woods
and can induce him 10 give the stirring ey-
periences Of his life, he viii tell you that
which will make your blood curdle and
your hair stand on end: that night when IL
panther disputed his pathway on til e way
home; that landslide. when the mountains
seemed about to come down on his rabln;
that accident TO his household and no sur
>,geOn within lfteen miles; that long storm
THAT shut them in ald the food was ex.
'lausted; that contest at his doorway with
bandits, who thought there might be with,
In something worth taking: that ,ieatilbed,
with no one hut himself to count the liut-
ter1ng pulses.
Oh, yes, while W spend our years as Il
tale that is told " it is an interesting story
1t is the story Of an immortal, and THAI
makes it interesting. lie is launched on al
ocean of eternal years. in II voyage that
will never terminate. He is striking The
keynote OF an anthem or Il dirge ttlat Will
never come to its last bar. That is what
makes the devotional meetings Of modern
times SO much more interesting than they
used to be. They are filled not with dis
courses by laymCn on the subject Of justi
fcation and sanctilication, which lay dis
courses administer more to the Faction:
than to the edifying, but with stories o
what God has done for the soul-h0we every
thing suddenly changed; how the promise
became balsamic in times Of liberation
how he was personally helped out aAC
uelItu up anu itiItl on. -NOl1lilS GU
stand before such Il story Of personal res
cue, personal transformation, persona
Illumination. Tie mightiest and mos
skillful argument against Christianity col
lApscs under the u~nGrammatical but sin
cere statement. The atllristic professor.o
natural philosophy goes down under til,
story OF that ACCOMPLISHMENTS conversion
All that elaborate persuasion Of the OF,
folks OF the folly Of giving up active liz,
too soon means nothing as compared Wit
the simple incident sou may relate I,
them OF the fact that Benjamin Franklin
was Governor or PENNSYLVANIA ut eighty
two years OF age andthut Dandolo. Of Ven
ice. at ninety years Of age. although hi
eyesight had been destroyed through be
ing compelled by his enemies to look int
a polished metal basin under the full blaz
OF the sun until totally hlind, yet this sight
less nonagenarian leading an army to tn
successful besieGement OF ConstantinOpl
When an Old man hears OF such incidents
he puts aside his staff aud ear trumpet al
starts anew.
The New Testament suggests the powe
OF the tale that is told" Christ was I'll
most effective story teller Of all the ages
The parallels are only tales well told
Matchless stories: That of the traveller en-
UP by the thieves and the Samaritan pay
ing his board bill 1t the tavern: that OF Il
big dinner, to which the invited guest
sent in fictitious regrets; that Of the sheV
IcTu HuSWtIlDS tlGt Di'ftl vi ttlt ih>t Sltt'
aud all the rural neiGhhorS that night hell
ing him celebrate the fact tHat < Was safe j
the barnyara: that ~ the bad boy. reduce
20 the swincs'trouGh greeted home wit
such banqCetipS and jcwciry that II tUfc
the older son with jealousy and f~lsgruntl,
ment: thnt Of the Pharisee fun If bragg;
docio and the publican shifting his hrea
with a stroke that brought dow the hea'
cts in comniseration; stories about lei
rosy. about paralysis. about cata!ep>,
about droIsy. ahout ophthaimia->torit
that He - well told that they have role
down 10 the present and Wiz roll dow
through the entire future.
| heard Daniel Baker. the wanierfl
evangelist Of ni- time. preach What ! SUI
posed was a great sermon. but | reMel
Der nothing ot il except a story tina !
told, and that. | Judge from the seenir
effect, may that afternoon haye hrouSl
hundreds into the Kingdom g. God.
heard Truman Osborne preach >cVtr raj SCI
mons. but | remember nothing Of what =
said in public or private except a star
that he told. and that was. among eth
things. the means OF IL" salvation. Il
lifelong worn Of eohn i. GouGb. the srea
est temperance reforMer ~ III time, Y;
the victory Of anecdote. and vino can eyt
forget his story ~ Joel Straton tsurhiu