Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1901-12-26
THE PROPER PLAN.
DR.. TALMAGE'S SUNDAY SERMOs.

DR.. TALMAGE'S SUNDAY SERM0S
Great Divine Argues That We Shouts
Do All The Good We Can While W.
Live.
WASHINGTON, D. C.-This discourse is
. most unusual presentation of things
that take place i'll many lives, and DR..
Talmage pleads for merciful Interpretation
OF human behavior. The text IS Joshua
fol- ;fe nave not passed this way hereto
In December, 1889, I waded the River
Jordan, and, although the current was
strong, [ was able to bear up against 1t,
but in the time of spring freshet, when
the SHOWS on Mount Lebanon melt, moth
ing but a miracle would enable any one to
cross this river. 1t was at the dangerous
s%pringtime that Joshua and the officers OF
his army uttered the words of my text to
the people who were in a few hours to
cross the Jordan. About that crossing we
say but little, because on a previous occa-
sion we discoursed concerning that plllng
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 a brilliant
chest Of acacia wood, overlaid with gold,
on the top of 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 q mile ahead Of the hosts of
Israel On the way to the crossing. That
distance between the box and the advanc-
ing thousands must be kept because of
reverence. There was a sanctity in that
divine symbol that they mist observe by
keeping tsree-quarters of a mile away.
They must watch that glittering box and
way and not arrive at the right place for
crossing. They had never been there be-
fore, and they must be guided. For that
reason Joshua utters the words of my text.
eye nave not passed this way heretofore"
And the subordinate officers at the head
of the regiments repeated it, eye have not
passed this way heretofore"
What was truthfully said of the ancient
Israelites may be truthfully said of us.
We are making our first and last journey
through this world. 1t is possible, as some
of my good friends believe, that this world
will be corrected and improved and puri-
fed and foralized and emparadised as to
climate and soil and character until it
shall become a heaven for the ransomed,
Uut L w not tuluh IL. L nave al lued IndC
heaven is already built somewhere. Our
departed friends could not wait until this
world is fixed up for staintiy 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-
haps to look at the wondrous spectacle of
a burning planet.
But, leaving that theory aside, we are
very sure that we are for the first time
walking the earthly pilgrimage. eye nave
not passed this way before" Every min
ute IS a new minute, every hour a new
hour, every century a new century. Other
folks have gone over the same road we are
travelling, but it is our first trip. New ap-
pearances, 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 nave all
been perplexed by misdirection after ask
ing the way to some place we wished to
visit. Some one said to us. eTake the first
road to the right and. having gone a mile
on that road, take the first road on the
lett, and Q will soon reach your destina-
ton" We took the advice, but our infor-
mer 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 night came on, and we were
to great irritation and trouble.
The fact is. I blame no one for making
Lifetime mistakes. l pity them instead of
blaming them. There are so MANY wrong
roads, but only one right one. You can
not IN mid'ife draw upon your youthful ex-
per1ences for wisdom. for midlife is so en-
tlrelv different from youth. You cannot
IN Old age draw upon midiife experiences.
tor the two stages of existence are so di-
verse. What is wisdom for one man to
do would be folly for another to undertake.
A man of nerve and pluck is not qualified
to advise a man timid and shrinking. An
achievement that would be easy for Won
might be impossible for me. Human al
vice Is ordinarily of little value. People
review their own successes or failures and
then tell us what is best for us to do. not
realizing that our circumstances are differ
ent, orr TEMPERAMENT is different. our
physical and mental and moral CAPACITIES
different. Most of the great mistakes
that have been made have been made IN
der human advisement.
50, also, it may be said to every nation.
.Ye have not passed this way before"
Our own republic is going through novel
experiences. Could wisest statesman.
twenty years ago have ~proDhesied present
conditions? Every President, every Con
gress, has new crises to meet and new
Questions to settle. So prophecies made
about conditions in this country fftv
years from now may turn out as far untrue
as the prophecies made fifty years AGO bv
the greatest of American statesmen. when
be declared on wonder Cap;tol hill that j.
was UnH-ise to think Of civilization or nrog.
rerlty tie other side Of TIE Rocl-v Mour+.
aims, and according to his belief the Pa
cite coast would be tie perpetual, abode Of
barharlans and mountain lions. and We
must no. think Of annexing those forbid
d;ns regions.
Many prophecies in REGARD to our nation |
tal+ed ard many prophecies concerning its
future will fail, because it is travelling a
new road Every step it takes on that
read IS a novelty. THE %oninion of a Mon
roe or a jefferson in the far past is not OF
as much value as the opinion Of our visosf |
men now. How could men know in 1902
what 1T would be best for this nation to Go |
IN 1901? 1t is be,ttling as wei as unwise |
Tor 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 krowledce
that were impossible in any decade bit |
our own, to depend on advice of men Who
have been dead three-ouarters of a CEN
fury. In al other things the world has
a~dvanced. Can it be that in statesman
ship it has gone back. and that this omen.
ing Of the twentieth century must consult
the opening Of the nineteenth century.
"ye have not passed this way before"