The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1902-01-10
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY The NOTED
DIVINE.
Subject: Grasp Present Opportunities - A
Prediction That the New Year Will
BE One OF the Greatest Of All Time -
Prepare For the Future.

mage's first discourse Tor the new year he
speaks words OF encouragement 10 al the
timid and doubling. The text l. Exodus
XII, >, This month shall be unto you the
beginning OF months; II shall be the trsi
month OF the year 10 you.
The last month OF the old year has
passed out OF sight and the hrst month OF
the new years has arrived. The midnight
gate last Wednesday opened and January
entered She deserves better name, for
che Is called after Janus, the heather
deity who, they supposed, presided over
doors, and so might be expected 10 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 devourng human lie. In the mlssals
OF the middle ages January was represent
ed as attired IN white, suggestive Of the
snow, and blowing the fingers, as though
suffering from the cold, and having a bun
die OF wood under the arm, suggestive OF
the warmth that must be kndled.
Yes, January Is the open door OF the
year, and through that door viii come
what long professions, some of them bear
ing 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. Ii will, l think,
De one OF luS Rltdltel years OF al A4int
n Will abound with blessing and disaster
National and international controversies
of momentous import will be settled. Year
of coronation and dethronement, year that
Will settle Cuban and Porto Rican 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 altars
We can expect greater events in this
Ia, haf,Va Cor. tho .t.prllfc
ulation has so vastly increased there are
so many more than in ~ other year 70
laugh and weep and triumph 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 veloclties whirlng
through the air and sailing the seas and
tunnelinc the mountains will make unpre'
cedented demonstration.
Would TO God that before the now open
ing year has closed the earth might cease
10 tremble with the last cannonade and
the heavens cease 10 be lighted up with any
more conhagration of homesteads and the
foundries that make swords be turned
into blacksmith shops for making plow'
shares.
The front door of a stupendous year has
opened Before many of you there will be
twelve months of opportunity 10 making
the world better or worse, happier or more
miserable. Let us pray that il may be a
year that will indicate the speedy redemp
tion of the hemisphere Would 20 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
phonograph. Electricity has such potent
tongue, such strong arm, such swift wing
such lightning foot that 1t occurs 10 me
that IL may be the angel that St John saw
and heard IN apOcalyptlc vision when he
started back and cried out, Il saw anoth.
er angel flying in the midst of heaven hav'
ing the everlasting gospel TO preach unto
them that dwell on the earth and 10 every
nation and kindred and tongue and peo-
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 OF electric fire? Prepare your bat.
teries and make ready TO put upon the
wires the world wide message OF whose
ever will"
Furthermore, this month of January
has the greatest height and depth OF cold
The rivers are bound in crystal chains
The fountains that made highest leap in
the summer parks now toss not one Jet
for every drop would be a frozen tear
The sleds craunch through the hard snow
Warmest attire the wardrobe can afford
is put on that we may defend ourse,ve,
against the fury OF the elements. Hardest
of all the months for the poor. let II be
the season of greatest generosity on the
part of the prosperous. How much scut'
tie of coal or a pair of shoes or n coat or a
shawl may do in assuaeement of suffering
between the lst of January and the lst OF
February God only knows. Seated by our
warm registers or wrapped IN furs which
make US independent OF the cutting Janu.
ary blast, let US not forget the hreless
hearth and the thin garments and the
hacking cough aud the rheumatic twinge
OF those who through destitution find life
in winter an agony. Suppose each one OF
Us take under charge one poverty stricken
household or one disabled man or one in
valided woman. On cur way home from
such a charity, though the wind may be
hoW,ing and the night tempestuous.
should not wonder 1t we could hear a voice
that was heard on Galilee and at the gates
of Main and by the pool OF Bethesda say
ing, "Inasmuch as ye did 1t to them, yc
did it to Me"
Oh the might OF the coldl The arctic
and antarctic invading the temperate zone!
The victories of the frOst-as when the
Thames in 1905 became firm as any bridge
and the inhabitants crossed and recrossed
on the ice and booths and places OF TEN.
porary amusement were built on the hard
ened surface; as when many years ago
New York Harbor was paved with ice 50
that the people passed on foot to the ad
joining islands But the full story of the
cold will never be known. The lips which
would have told it were frozen and the
fingers that would have written II were
benumbed Only here and there a fact ap.
pears. In 1851 the cold was so terrific that
the wolves entered Vienna In ll6S IT was
so cold that wine was cut with hatchets
and distributed among the soldiers In
1894 q whole forest was killed by the cold
at Rayenna. In 163 the Black Sea was
frozen over As we go further back the
frosts are mightley. but as we come fur
ther down the frosts lessen.
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 will
come when The year viii be one long sum.
meT o. foliage and bloom. While the
worlds normal condition Will he 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 20 out and ask the trees hung with
icicles by January storm whether they
Will ever again blossom IN May and leaf
IN June. We are moving toward the
worlds redemption. The frozen tears VIII
melt, the river Of g'adness will resume It's
flow. the crOcus viii come up az the edge
OF the sn0wlank, the morning star VIII
open the door for the day. and the armies
OF the world viii ground arms al around
the world
The January Of frost viii be abolished,
and the balm and radiance OF a divine at
mo phere viii hil the nations. ii you do
not see 10 and hear IL for yourself / think
az the utmost v0ur grandchildren VIII see
and hear IT, The heavens will take part