Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1901-12-26

Again, So DO Your Good Now.
WASHINGTON, d. C.-This discourse is
| most unusual presentation of things
that take place in many lives, and DR..
| Talmage pleads for merciful Interpretation
! Of human behavior. The text is Joshua
fore"
! In December, 1899, I waded the River
| Jordan, and, although the current was
strong, ! was able to bear up against it,
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
springtime 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
1 say but little, because on a previous occa-
sion 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 a brilliant
chest OF acacia wood. overlaid with gold,
figures facing each other. 1t 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 ne carried three
quarters of a mile ahead of the hosts of
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 must observe by
| keeping three-quarters of 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.
"Ye have not passed this way heretofore"
And the subordinate officers at the head
! of the regiments repeated it. "Ye have not
| passed this way heretofore"
What was truthfuly 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
/ fed and loralized and emparadised as to
climate and soil and character until it
! shall become heaven for the ransomed
but do not think it. l have an idea that
heaven is already built somewhere. Our
1 departed friends could not wait until this
world is fixed up for staintly and angelic
residence. Having once gone out of the
world. / do not think we will come back,
/ except az mnistering spirits to help those
who remain in the earthly struggle or per-
haps to look at the wondrous spectacle of
burning planet.
| buC, leaving IndC JEeOTy aSlue, we are
very sure that we are for the first time
walking the earthly pilgrimage. "Ye have
/ not passed this way before" Every min
ute Is a new minute, every hour new
! hour, every century 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 have all
been perplexed by misdirection after ask
ing the way to some place We wished to
visit Some one said to us, Take the first
road to the right and. having gone mile
on that road, take the first road on the
left, and YOU will soon reach your destina-
/ ton" We took the advice, but our infor-
mer forgot 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
put to great irritation and trouble.
The fact is, l blame no one for making
| lifetime mistakes. / pity them instead of
blaming them There are so MANY wrong
roads. but only one right one. You can
not in midlife draw upon your youthful ex-
periences for wisdom, for midlife is so en-
tirelv different from youth. You cannot
in old age draw upon midhfe experiences,
| for 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 man timid and shrinking. An
achievement that would be easy for you
might be impossible for me. Human ad-
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, our temperament is different. our
! physical and mental and moral capacities
| different. Most of the great mistakes
| that have been made have been made un-
| der human advisement.
So, also, it may be said to every nation.
"Ye have not passed this way before" J"
experiences. Could wisest statesman
twenty years ago have prophesied 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 fifty
years from now may turn out as far untrue
| as the prophecies made fifty years ago by
the greatest of American statesmen when
he declared on yonder Capitol hill that it
was unwise to think of civilization or pros
perity the other side of the Rocky Mount
aims, and according to his belief the Pa.
cfic coast would be the perpetual abode of
| barbarians and mountain lions, and We
must not think of annexing those forbid
| ding regions.
Many prophecies in regard to our nation
failed and many prophecies concerning its
future will fail because it is travelling
new road Every step it takes on that
road is a novelty. The opinion of a Mon
roe or Jefferson in the far past is not of
as much value as the opinion of our wisest
men now. How could men know in 1923
what it would be best for this nation to do
in 1901? 1t is belttling as well 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 knowledge
that were impossible in any decade but
our own, to depend on advice of men who
have been dead three-quarters of CEN
tury In all other things the world has
advanced. Can it be that in statesman
ship it has gone back. and that this open
ing of the twentieth century must consult
the opening of the nineteenth century?
aye have not passed this way before"
Yea, our entire world is on new path
way. 1t may be swinging in the same old
orbit as when by the hand Of the Al
mighty immensity was sprinkled with
worlds, but it has been rocked with earth