The age-herald., 1901-12-22

tnlnSs that take place In many llNes, dho pr. Talmage pleads for merciful inter pretation of human behavior. The text is Joshua III. 4, ''Ye have not passed this way heretofore"
 In December, 1889, waded the river Jordan, and, although the current was strong, I was able to bear up against it, but in the time of spring freshet, when the snows on Mount Lebanon melt. noth- ing but a miracle would enable any one to cross this river. It was at the dan gerous spring time that Joshua and the officers of his army uttered the words of my text to the people who were in few hours to cross the Jordan. About that crossing we say but little, because on a previous occasion we discoursed concerning that piling up of the waters into crystal barricade! We only speak of the march to the brink of the river. No stranger thing has ever occurred in all history.
 The ark of the covenant was brilliant chest of acacia wood, overlaid with gold, on the top which were two winged figures facing each other. It was five feet long and three feet wide. Poles were thrust through the rings at the side, and by these poles the ark was lifted. This splendid box was to be carried three quarters of a mile ahead of the hosts of Israel on the way to the crossing. That distance between the box and the ad- vancing thousands must be kept be- cause of reverence. There was a sane tity in that divine symbol that they must observe by keeping three-quarters of a milo ThaU wqfrh that glittering box and follow; otherwise they would lose their way and not arrive at the right place for crossing. They had never been there before, and they must be guided. For that reason Joshua utters the words of my text, "Ye have not passed this way heretofore And the subordinate officers at the head of the regiments repeated 1t, "Ye have not passed this way heretofore"
 ', at was truthfully said of the an- cient Israelites may be truthfully said of us We are making our first and last journey through this world. It is pos sible, as some of my good friends be- lieve, that this world be corrected and improved and purified and fioralized and emparadised as to climate and soil and character until 1t shall become a heaven for the ransomed, but I do not think 1t. I nave an idea that heaven Is already
  could not wait until this world is fixed up for saintly and angelic residence. Having once gone out of the world, I do not think we will come back except as ministering spirits to help those who remain in the earthly struggle or per- hsps to look at the wondrous spectacle of a burning planet.
 Travelling New Paths.
 
 are very sure that we are for the first time walking the earthly pilgrimage. 'Ye have not passed this way before" Every minute is a new minute, every hour a new hour, every century a new century. Other folk have gone over the same road we are travelling but 1t is our first trip. New appearances, new temptations, new sorrows. new joys. That Is the reason so many lose their way They meet some one on the road of life and ask for direction, and wrong direction Is given. We have all been perplexed by misdirection after asking the way to some place we wished to visit. Some one said to us, Take the first road to the right and, having gone a mile on that road take the first road on the left, and you will soon reach your destination" We took the advice, but our informer forgot a turn in the road or forgot one of the roads leading to the left, and we took the wrong road and were lost in the woods, and might came on, and we were put to great irri- tation and trouble
 The fact is, I blame no one for mak- ing lifetime mistakes. I pity them in stead of blaming them. There are so many wrong roads. but only one right one. You can not in midlife draw upon your youthful experiences for wisdom, for midlife is so entirely different from youth You can not in old age draw up- on midlife experiences, for the two stages of existence are so diverse. What is wisdom for one man to do would be fol- ly for another to undertake A man of nerve and pluck Is not qualified to ad- wise a man timid and shrinking. An achievement that would be easy for you might be impossible for me. Human advice Is ordinarily of little value. Peo- pie review their own successes or fail- ures and then tell us what Is best for us to do, not realizing that our circum- stances are different, our physical and mental and moral capacities different Most of the great mistakes that have been made have been made under human advisement
 So also, 1t may be said to every na- tion, ''Ye have not passed this way be- fore" Our own republic Is going through novel experiences. Could wisest statesmen twenty years ago have prophe- sled present conditions? Every Presi- dent, every Congress, has new crises to meet and new questions to settle. So prophecies made about conditions in this country fifty years from now may turn out as far untrue as the prophecies made fifty years ago by the greatest of Amer ican statesmen when he declared on wonder capitol hill that 1t was unwise to think of civilization or prosperity the other side of the Rocky Mountains, and according to his belief the Pacific coast would be the perpetual abode of barbar- ians and mountain lions and we must not think of annexing those forbidding regions.
 A Road of Novelty.
 Many prophecies in regard to our na- ton failed and many prophecies con- corning its future will fail because 1t is travelling a new road. Every step it takes on that road is a novelty. The opinion of a Monroe or a Jefferson in the far past is not of as much value as the opinion of our wisest men now. How could men know in 1928 what 1t would be best for this nation to do in 1901? It is belittling as we'll as unwise for our statesmen, who are quite equal to the statesmen of the past and who have in addition to the natural talents of their predecessors, attainments in knowl- edge that were impossible in any decade but our own, to depend on advice of men who have been dead three-quarters of a century. In all other things the world has advanced. Can it be that in states manship 1t has gone back and that this o,1o1ino of tho fuyauftafh ranf11rV r1nIat