The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-12-17

WASHINGTON, Dec. 15.-This discourse
is a most unusual presentation of things
that take place in many lives, and DR..
Talmage pleads for merciful interpreta-
tion Of human behavior. The text is
Joshua iii, 4, Eye have not passed this
way heretofore"
In December. 1889. | 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 ut 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 say but little. because on a previous
occasion we discoursed concerning that
piling up of the waters into crystal barri-
cade. 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 fig
ures 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
SpleQOl0 DON WIS 10 De CdETIeu IuTee-
quarters of n mile ahead of the hosts of
Israel on the way 10 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 must observe by
keeping three-quarters of a mile. away.
They must watch 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 be-
fore, and they must be guided. For that
reason Joshua utters the words of M
text, "Ye have not passed this way here
tofore," and the subordinate officers at
the head of the regiment repeated it, eye
have not passed this way heretofore"
What was truthfully said of the an
cient Israelites la be truthfully said of
us. We are making our first and last
journey through this world. 1t is posi-
BILE, as some of my good friends believe,
that this world will be corrected and i'm
proved and purified and foralized and
emparadised as to climate and soil and
character until it shall become a heaven
for the ransomed, but l do not think it. I
have an idea that heaven is already built
somewhere. Our departed friends could
not wait until this world is fixed up for
sanity and angelic residence. Having
once gon out of the world, / do not think
we will come back. except as ministering
spirits to help those who remain in the
earthly struggle or perhaps to look at the
wondrous spectacle Of a burning planet.
Our First Trip.
But, leaving that theory aside, we are
\ very sure that we are for the first time
walking the earthly pilgrimage. "Ye
have not passed this way before" Every
minute is q 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 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 direc-
ton, and wrong direction is given. We
have all been p~erplexed by misdirection
after asking the way to some place we
wished to visit. Some one said to us,
flake the first road to the right and,
having gone a mile on that road, take the
first road to the left, and you will soon
reach your destination" We took the adj
vice, but our informer forgot a turn in
the road or forgot one of the roads lead
ing 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 / 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
experiences for wisdom, for midlife is so
entirely different from youth You can
not N old age draw upon midlife expert
ences, for the two stages OF existence are
to do would be folly for another to under
take. A man of nerve and pluck is not
qualified to advise q man timid and
shrinking. An achievement that would be
easy for you might be impossible for me.
Human advice is ordinarily of little val
ne. People review their own successes or
failures and then tell US what is best for
us TO do, not realizing that our circum-
stances are different, our temperament is
different, our physical and mental and
moral capacities different. Most Of the
great mistakes that have been made have
been made under human Amusement.
So. also. ii may be said to every nation,
AYe have not passed this way before"
Our own republic is going through novel
experiences. Could wisest statesmen
twenty years ago have prophesied pres
ent conditions? Every president. 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 I'M
true as the prophecies made fifty years
ago by the greatest Of American states
men when be declared on yonder Capitol
. hill that it was unwise to think Of civili-
xation or prosperity the other side OF the
4 Rocky mountains, and according to his
belief the Pacific coast would be the per
petual abode of barbarians and mountain
lions, and we must not think Of annexing
those forbidding regions.
The Worlds van
Many prophecies in regard to our ma
6on failed and many prophecies concern
ing its future will fail because it is trav-
cling 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
IS A-x- - 1902 -ha& - upr1H ho hest for