Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1902-05-23
TALMAGE
SERMON
By Rev.
FRANK DE WITT TALMAGE. DID,.
Pastor OF Jefferson Park Presby-
terrain Church, Chicago

young people against the tcnpters who
would lead them to ruin; text. Proverbs
!. 10, "My son, IL sinners entice thee,
consent thou not
No cathedral, IL matters not how
lofty the spires or how wonderful the
statuary or how may and bewildering
the architecture, awes the tourist into
reverence unless time has hallowed 1t.
Then the centuries have covered up
the crumbling walls with moss and
creeping ivy; then Westminster abbey,
with its dark. damp. dripping vaults,
has become the sepulcher of Gead kings
and queens. In the same way no man
has right to give advice or tell us
what to do unless gray hairs begin TO
fringe the forehead or he can speak
out Of his own bitter experience. 1t is
absurd for the rudy faced lad to write
an essay upon sorrow, when the only
sorrow he ever felt was the fright from
the dentist pulling his first baby teeth,
and what audience does not smile when
listening to the schoolboy's bombastic
graduation, grafton upon How 10 Win
SuccessT No reformer can have great
influence in attacking a clubroom when
he himself is so unsociable that the
hearers dislike the reformer worse than
they despise his teachings.
Every speech, every sermon. every
argument, every essay, must be backed
up by the personality OF the individual.
IT is said that when John J. Crittenden
arose to address jury and ran his
fingers through his long gray hair his
case was already half won. All Ken
tuckians knew John ]. Crittenden
would not defend client unless he
himself believed in that mans inno-
cence. You must respect the speaker
before you can respect his speech.
King Solomon wrote with authority.
he had drunk from the chalices of
pleasure. he had Quaffed TO the bitter
dregs every cup of woe. lie had seen
the ups as well as the downs of life.
He was no fanatic or adventurer. he
was the king who sat upon the richest
throne of the then known world. His
pillared halls were lined with statuary.
The fountains which played in his
gardens moistened the throats OF birds
whose ancestors once cleansed their
plumage or sang their young TO sleep in
foreign lands. His cellars were filed
with wine Of choicest vintage.
The throneroom and Judgment hall
were circled by rooms above rooms
Near by were his harems. I'm which the
king gathered a thousand wives and
concubines. AS the wit once wrote of
brigham Young, King Solomon was the
most married man that ever lived.
Not only was he great and increased
more than all that were before him in
Jerusalem, but his wisdom remained
with him. When two women claimed
n little child, Solomon ordered his ex-
ecutioner TO cut the baby I'm twain and
give half TO each. The real mother fell
on her knees and begged him 10 save
the child and IL necessary TO give II TO
her enemy. Then said Solomon: ''She
rs the true mother. Give her the child"
AS a gardener, he knew all about fiow-
ers; as an equestrian, all about horses;
Rs an architect, all about buildings. He
made the ant our teacher. AS n mer-
chant, he fingered in the busy marts
60 tell us how TO trade. Today. amid
wealth and power, within sound OF
clinking tankards of gold and rumbling
chariot wheels, the old sage writes an
eternal protest against sin, MY son. IL
sinners entice thee, consent thou not"
The importance of starting Right.
Young men dislike to be patronized.
Although willing to accost each other
in terms of familiarity. we dislike old
or people TO pat us condescendingly
upon the back. So today, as a young
man. thought you young people would
let me try TO interpret these words of
the Bible. would especially interpret
them now, because many OF you who
have come from far away are for the
first time living In great city. You
are away from home, away from IA
ther and mother Unless you start right
you will never end right 'The glory
or young men is their strength" The
way TO keep that strength is to refuse
TO allow the sinful designations to sap
the virility OF youth.
King Solomon warns the young peo-
pie against sin. because young folks
are apt to be thoughtlessly reckless
They do not want to be bad; they have
no intention Of throwing overheard all
the past teachings of probity and right;
they are naturally religious; they say
their prayers when they arise in the
morning; they say their prayers again
before going to bed at night But they
are full OF fun and animal spirits. They
laugh and sing and frolic just as a colt
capers, kitten plays with her tail and
bird flies hither and thither for the
mere pleasure OF flying. full blood
ed lad cannot keep still. He squirms
and twists and whispers and passes
notes in the schoolroom. He does about
everything that the teacher tells him
not to do. If you ask him why he does
thus. he could not answer. What
Echoolboy when out In the country has
not tried to see how near he could
skate to the airhole in the ice? What
boy has not fished when standing upon
a rolling log or has not tried to walk
across a dangerous trestle or has not
climbed steep precipice until his
brain was dizzy with vertigo? What
boy has not tried to swim across a riv-
er merely because the older boys said
he could not?
When Benedict Arnold was young
or the mill wheel and be dragged round
and round. In and out of the water,
merely to terrorize the miller, who
thought the boy was going TO die.
When healthy boy at boarding school,
did you not love to go rowing? Did
you not pull the boat so far from shore
that when the storm came up it was
almost impossible to get back?
That is the spirit with which young
people enter a large city This is the
first time you have ever been away
from home. AT the first manifestation
or sin you were shocked and Mortified.
You We're always accustomed TO sa-
cred Sabbath. You went to church
regularly. But now you find that most
or the clerks and students in the board
Ing house consider Sunday a play day
instead of holy day. time for out
door sports instead of sacred commun-
fon- Then you begin to grow hard