The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1902-01-07

WASHINGTON, JAN Din this LII.
Talmage's FIRST discourse for the new
year he speaks words Of encourage
ment to all the timid and doubling.
The text is Exodus xii. 2, This month
shall be unto you the beginning OF
months: IT shall be the first month of
the year TO you"
The last month of the old year has
passed out of sight, and the first month
of the new year has arrived. The mid
night gate last Wednesday opened. and
January entered. She deserves a bet
ter name, for she is called after Janus.
the heatt4l deity who, they supposed.
presided overoSsSrs and so might be
expected to preside at the opening OF
the year. This month was of old called
the wolf month because, through the
severity Of its weather. the hungry
wolves came down seeking food and
devouring human life. In the missals
of the middle ages January was repre-
scented as attired in white, suggestive
of the snow. and blowing the fingers,
as though suffering from the cold. and
having a bundle of wood under the
arm, suggestive Of the warmth that
must be kindled.
Yes. January is the open door of the
year, and through that door will come
what long professions, some Of them
bearing palm leaves and some myrtle,
others With garlands Of wheat and
others with cypress and mistletoe. They
are coming. and nothing can keep them
back-the events of a twelvemonth. 1t
will. / think, be one of the greatest
years of all time. 1t will abound with
blessing and disaster. National and ip-
teruational controversies of momentous
import will be settled. e. of coro-
nation and d~ethrOnement. year that
will settle Cuban and Porto Rican and
Philippine end South African and Chi
nese destinies. The anne year for
MANY 9 decade past has dug its mil
lions of graves and reared it's millions
of marriage affairs
We can expect greater events in this
year than ever before, for the worlds
population has 81 vastly increased
there are s. many more than in any
other year to laugh and weep and tri-
umph and perish. The mightier wheels
of mechanism have such wider sweep.
The fires are kindled in furnaces not
seven times but seventy times heated.
The ~velocities whirling through the air
and sailing the seas and tunneling the
mountains will make unprecedented
demonstration. Would to God that be-
fore the now opening year has closed
the earth might cease to tremble with
the last cannonade and the heavens
cease to be lighted up with any more
co~n6agration of homesteads and the
foundries that make swords be turned
into blacksmith shops for making
plowshares.
Grasp Present Opportunities.
The front door of a ~stupendous year
has opened. Before many of you there
will be twelve months of opportunity
for making the world better or worse.
happier or more miserable. Let us
pray that it may be a year that will
indicate the speedy redemption of the
hemisphere. Would to God that this
might be the year in which the three
great instruments now chiefly used for
secular purposes might be put to their
mightiest use in the worlds evangelical
tion-the telegraph. the telephone. the
photography, Electricity has sue po-
tent tongue, such strong arm. such
swift wing. such lightning foot, that
it occurs to me that it may be the angel
that st. John saw and heard in apoc-
alyptic vision when he started bac
and cried out. 81 saw another angel
flying in the midst of heaven having
the everlasting gospel to preach unto
them that dwell Oh the earth and to
every nation and kindred and tongue
end people" They were tongues of fire
that sat op the heads OF the disciples
n the P~enteccst. and why not the
world called to God by tongue Of cleo
trio fire: prepare your batteries n
make ready to put upon the wires the
world wide message Ct "whOsoever
WILL"
Furthermore. this month of January
bias the greatest height and depth of
cold. The rivers are bound in crystal
chains. The fountains that made high
est leap in the summer parks now toss
not u jet. for every drop would be a
frozen tear. The sleds craunch through
the bard snow Warmest attire the
wardrobe can afford is put on that we
may defend ourselves against the fury
of the elements. Hardest Of all the
months for the poor. let it be the seq
son OF greatest generosity on the part
of the prosperous. How much a scut-
tie of coal or a pair of shoes or a coat
or q shawl may do in Arrangement OF
suffering between the LIST of January
and the LIST of February God only
knows. Seated by our warm registers
or wrapped in furs which make US in
dependent OF the cutting January blast.
let US not forget the fireless hearth and
the thin garments and b hacking
cough and the rheumatic twinSe OF
those who through restitution end life
in winter ap agony. Suppose each one
of rs take under charge one poverty
stricken household or n disabled man
n