The Leon reporter., 1901-01-03
TALMAGE'S SERMON.

~AAAAAAO4a ~ OxJx6xOA
POINTS THE WAY TO LIFE OF
USEFULNESS.
Destiny May Be Changed By q F,hy
Spoken sentenoe-synpathy for sl.s
Troubled Like Apples of Gold In Bss-
kets of Silver.
Copyright. 1900. by Louis Klopsch. N. ~
In this discourse DR.. Talmage shows
an open door for any one who desires
TO be useful and illustrates how lit
tie thing may decide ones destiny. The
text is Proverbs XIV, II (revised YER
sion), "A word fifty spoken is like ap-
pies Of gold in baskets of silver"
A fillgree basket loaded with fruit is
put before US in the text What is or
dlnarlly translated pictures" ought to
oe baskets" Here is silver network
basket containing ripe and golden ap-
pies, pippins or rennets. You know
now such apples glow through the
openings of basket of silver network
You have seen such a basket of fruit
on many table. 1t whets the appe-
tlte as we'll as regales the vision. Solo
mon was evidently fond of apples, be-
cause he so often speaks of them.
While he writes in glowing terms of
pomegranates and figs and grapes and
mandrakes, he seems to find solace as
well as lusciousness in apples, calling
out for supply Of them when he says
in another place, Comfort me with ap
ples." Now you see the meaning CT
my text, "a word fifty spoken is like
apples Of gold in baskets of silver"
You see the wise man eulogizes just
one word. Plenty of recognition has
there been for great orations. Cicero's
arraignment of Cataline, the philippics
| OF Demosthenes, the five days argyll
ment of Edmund Burke against War
ren Hastings, Edward Irving's dis
courses on the Bible, and libraries full
of prolonged utterance, but my text
extols the power of one word when it
refers to "a word fitly spoken"
This may mean single word or
small collection of words-something
you can utter in one BREATH something
that you can compact into one SEN
tence. "a word fifty spollen"-an en-
| couraging word, kind word, timely
word, a sympathetic word, an appro-
pirate word. can pass right down
the aisle of any church and find be-
| tween pulpit and front door men whose
temporal and eternal destinies have
been decided by word.
Choosing an Occupation.
| I tell you what is a great crisis in
every mans history. 1t is the time
when he is entering an occupation or
profession. He is opposed by men in
middle life, because they do not want
any more rivals, and by some of the
aged, because they fear being crowded
off and their places being taken by
| younger men. Hear the often severe
and unfair examinations of young law
yers by old lawyers, of young doctors
by old doctors, of young ministers by
old ministers. Hear some of the old
merchants talk about the young mer-
/ SAoAIos 4loWC1S anu AduueIS duu
scales often are jealous of new trowels
and new hammers and new scales.
Then it is so difficult to get introduced.
How long time has many physician
had his sign. out before he got call
for his services, and the attorney be-
fore he got case! Who wants to risk
| the life of his family to young physi-
clan who got his diploma only last
spring and who may not know measles
from scarlatina, or to risk the obtain
ing Of a verdict for $4,000 to an at
torney who only three years ago read
the first page of Blackstone?
The Need of Courage.
There are so many men who have all
the elements of usefulness and power
except one-courage. If you can only
under God give them that you give
them everything. In illustrating that
one word show them that every man
that ever amounted to anything had
terrific struggle. Show him what ships
Decatur had to fight, and what noun
tain Hannibal had to climb, and what
a lame foot Walter Scott had to walk
on, and that the greatest poet who
| ever lived-Milton-was blind, that
one of the grandest musicians Of all the
s-Beethoven-was deaf, and that
Stewart, in some respects the greatest
merchant that America ever saw, be-
gan in his small store, dining on bread
and cheese behind the counter in a
snatched interregnum between custom
ers, he opening the store and closing
it, sweeping it out with his own broom
and being his own errand boy. Show
them that within ten minutes walk
there are stores, shops, and factories,
and homes where as brave deeds have
been done as those Of Leonidas at
Thermopylae, as those Of Horatius at
the bridge, as that of Colin Campbell
at Balaklava. Tell them what Napo-
leon said to his staff officer when that
officer declared certain military at
tempt to be impossible. Impossible!
said the great commander. "Tmpossi-
BILE is the adjective of FOOLS"
| Show them also that what is true in
worldly directions is more true in spir-
l>itual directions. Call the roll of proph-
cts, apostles and martyrs and private
Christian from the time the world be-
gan and ask them to mention one man
or woman greatly good or useful who
was not deprecated and failed and
made laughing stock. Racks and
prisons and whips and shipwrecks and