The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1902-03-01
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE 6Y THE NOTED
DIVINE,

sahJect: Grasp Present Opportunities a. A
; Prediction That the New Year VIII
] lie One: Of the Greatest OF ALI limo =
Prepare For the Future.
! WASHINGTON, D. Gin this, DR.. Ta.
images first discourse for the new year he
speaks words of encouragement to al the
timid and doubling. The text is Exodus
xii, 2. This month shall be unto yoa tbs
beginning of months; it ehali be the fret
month OF the year to ycu:"
The last month CT the old year has
passed out of sight, and the first month oi
the new years has arrived. The midnight
gate las. Wednesday opened and January
entered. She deserves a better name, for
she is called after Janus, the heather
deity who, they supposed, presided over
doors, and so might be expected to preside
ut the opening OF the year. This month
was CT 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 eyes January was represent
ed as attired in white, suggestive Of the
Stow, and blowing the fingers, as though
suffering from the cold, and having bun
de OF wood under the arm, suggestive OF
TIC warmth that must be kindied.
Yes, January is the open door of the
gear, and through that door viii come
what long professions, some OF them bear
with garlands Of wheat and others with
cypress and mistletoe. They are coming,
and nothing can keep them haek--.he
events Of twelvemonth. It will, think,
be one of the greatest years OF al time.
1t wil abound with blessing and disaster.
National and international controversies
Of momentohs import will be settled. Year
OF coronation and dethronement, year thai.
will settle Cuban and Porto nican and
Philippine and South African and Chinese
destinies. The tamest year for many a
decade past has dug its millions Of graves
and reared its millions OF marriage affairs.
We can expect, greater events In this
year than ever before, for the worlds pop
ulation has so vastly increased there are
go many more than in any other year 70
laugh and weep and triumph and perish.
The mightier wheels of mechanism have
such wider sweep. The fires are kind!ad
IN furnaces not seven times but seventy
times heated. The yelocities whiriing
through the air and sailing the seas az!
tunneling the mountains will make unprc-
ccdanted demonstration.
Would to God that before the now open
ing year has closed the earth might cease
to tremble with the last can1onade and
the heavens cease to be lighted up with any
more conaagration Of homesteads and the
foundrics tina: make swords be turned
into blacksmith shops for making p!ow-
shares.
The front door of stupendous year has
opened. Before many OF you there will he
twelve months of opportunity for making
the world better or worse. happier or more
miserable. Let us pray that It may re
year that will indicate the speedy rsdemp-
ton OF the hemisphere. Would Ia 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
ton = the. telegraph, the. telephone, the
phonosraph. Electricity has such poten.
such lightning foot, that it occurs to me
that it may be the angel that St. John saw
and heard in apoca,yptic vision when he
started back and cried ont, II saw aroth-
er angel flying in the midst of heaven har-
ing the everlasting gospel to preach unto
them that dwell on the earth and to every
nation and kindred and tongue and PEG
pie"
They were tongues OF fire that sat on
the heads of the disciples at the Pentecost.
and why not the world called TO God By
tongue CT electric FIRE? Prepare your bat
terics and make ready to put upoa the
wires the world wide message Of "whoso-
ever will"
Furthermore, this month CT Januarr
has tie greatest height and depth of cod.
The rivers are bound in crystal chains.
The fountains that made highest leap in
the summer parks now toss not one Jet.
Tie s.eds crannch through the hard sncw.
Warme.t attire the wardrobe can afford
Is p. en- that we may defend ourselves
against the fury OF the elements. TsrGect
81 al the months for The poor, let 1t be
the season Of greatest generosity on the
part OF the prosperous. How much scut.
tie Ct Goa! or pnir OF shoes or coat CT
between the LIST of January and the iss Of
February God only knows. Seated by our
warm registers or wrapped in furs which
make Us independent Of the cutting Janu-
airy hast, let US not forget the freies.s
heart, and the thin garments and the
hacking cough and the rheumatic t*inee
of those who through restitution find lie
in winter an agony. Suppose each one OF
us take under charge one poverty stricken
valided woman. On our way home from
sCch charity, though the wind may lie
howiing and the night tempestuoIs, I
should not wonder If we could hear voice
that was heard on Gai!ee and at the gates
Of Main ard by the pool Of Bethesda gay
ing, !nasmuch as We did it to them, !e
did it to Me-"
Oh. the might OF the cod! The erot:c
and antarctic invading the temperate zone:
The victories of the frost-as when the
Thames in 1905 became firm as any BRIDE
and the inhabitants crossed and recros&cd
on the. ice and booths and places OF tern
porary amusement were built on the hard
ened surface; as when many years ago
New York Harbor was paved with ice sa
that the people passed On foot to the I'd
joining islands. But the full story OF tn
cold will never be known. The lips whic,,
would lave told it were frozen and the
fingers that would have written it were.
benumhed. Only here and there a fact ~
pears. In 1851 the cold was so terrific that
the wo,ves entered Vienna In 1863 it was
so cold that wine was cut with hatchets
and distributed among the soldiers. IN
1884 whole forest was killed by the co,a
at Ravenna. In 763 the Black Sea was
frozen over. As we 60 further bacl, the
frosts are mightier, but as we come fur
The. worst seventies have been halted:
and the SHOWS have lost their depths, and
the thermometers announce less terrific
falls Of temperature, and the time viii
come when the year will be one long sum
ner Of foliage and bloom. While the
worlds normal condition will be reformed.
the worst climates will be corrected. You
could not have a millennium with Jan
uary blast possible,
Do not read your almanac backward.
Do not 80 out and ask the trees hung with
ic.c,es by January storm whether they