The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1902-02-21
OR.TAL1AdE'S sERnON
The Eminent Dlvine's SUNDAY
Discourse.

WASHINGTON, ID. C.-From an unusual
standpoint DIR. Talmoge in this discourse
looks at the duties and trials which be-
long to the different decades of human
iiei text, Psalms xc, 10, "Ihe days OF our
years are threcscore years and ten"
The SEVENTEEN milestone of life is here
planted as at the end of the journey. a
few 90 beyond IL. Multitudes never reach
it. The oldest person Of modern times ex.
PRED at 1853 years. A Greek of the name
CT Stravoride lived to l32 years. An Eng.
lishman of the name Of Thomas Parr lived
l52 years. Before the time of Moses pea-
pie lived 100 years, and if YOU go lat
enough back they lived 900 years. Well
that was necessary, because the story OF
the world must come down by tradition
and it needed long life safely 10 transmit
the news of the past. If the generations
haG been short lived the story would so
often have changed lips that it might have
got all astray. But after Moses began TO
write it down and parchment tod IL from
century to century it was not necessary
that people live so long in order to au-
thentlcate the events the past. III in
our time people lived only twenty-five
years, that would not affect history, since
1t is put in print and is no longer depend
ent on tradition. Whatever your age, /
will to-day directly address you. and 1
shall speak to those who are in the TWEEN.
ties, the thirties, the forties, the fifties.
the sixties and to those who are in the
seventies and beyond.
First, then, / accost those of you who
are in the twentie5. You are full of OK
pectation. You are ambitious-that is.
if you amount to anything-for some kind
of success, commercial or mechanical or
professional or literary or agricultural or
social or moral. If find some one in the
twenties without any sort of ambition, l
feel like saying, "Aly friend, you have got
on the wrong planet. This is not The
world for you. You are going TO be in
the way. Have you made your choice Of
poorhouses? You will never be able to
pay for your cradle Who is going to set
tie for your board? There is = mistake
about the fact that you were born at all"
But, supposing you have ambition, let
me say to all the twenties, expect every
thing through divine manipulation, and
then you viii get all you want and some.
thing better. Are you looking for wealth?
Well, remember that God controls the
money markets, the harvests, the droughts,
the caterpillars, the locusts, the sunshine,
the storm, the land, the sea, and vow will
get wealth Perhaps not that which is
stored up in the banks, in safe deposits,
in United States securities, in houses and
lands, but your clothing and board and
shelter, and that is about all you can APP
! propriate anyhow You cost the Lord a
great deal. 10 feed and clothe aud shelter
you for lifetime requires a big sum of
money, and if you get nothing more than
the absolute necessities you get an enor-
nous amount of supply. Expect as much
as you will Of any kind of success. if you
expect it from the Lord you are safe. De
pend on any other resource, and you may
be badly chagrined, but depend on God
and all will be we'll 1t is a good thing in
the crisis Of life to have a man of large
means back you up. 1t is a great thing
to have a moneyed institution stand be-
hind you in your undertaking. But it is a
mightier thing to have the God of heaven
and earth your coadjutor, and you may
have Him. | am so glad that met you
while you arc in the twenties. You are
laying out your plans, and all your life
in this world and the next for 500 million
years of your existence will be affected by
those plans. 1t is about o'clock in the
morning of your life, and you are just
starting out. Which way are you going
to start? Oh, the twenties!
Twenty" is a great word in the Bible.
Joseph was sold for twenty pieces of sill
yer; Samson judged Israel twenty years;
Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities; the
flying roll that Zechariah saw was twenty
cubits; when the sailors of the ship on
which Paul sailed sounded the Mediterra-
mean Sea, it was twenty fathOms. What
mighty things have been done in the
twenties! Romulus founded Rome when
he was twenty; Keats finished life at
twenty-five. Lafayette was a world re-
nowned soldier at twenty-three; Oberln
accomplished his chief work at twenty
seven; Bonaparte was victor over Italy at
tvs g
England at twenty-five; Calvin had COM
pleted his immortal Institutes" by the
time he was twenty-siX; Grotius was at
torney general at twenty-four Some of
the mightiest things for God and eternity
have teen done in the twenties. As long
as you can put the figure before the
other figure that helps describe your age l
have high hopes about him. Look out for
that figure 2. Watch its continuance with
as much earnestness as you ever watched
anything that promised you salvation or
threatened you demolition. What a criti-
cal time-the twenties.
While they continue you decide your
occupation and the principles by which
you will be guided you make your most
abiding friendships; you arrange your home
life: you fix your habits Lord God AL
mighty, for Jesus Christ's sake, have
mercy on all the men and women in the
twenties!
Next accost those in the thirties. You
are at an age when you find what tough
thing it is to get recognized and estab-
lished in your occupation or profession.
Ten years ago you thought all that was
necessary for success was to put on your
shutter the sign of physician or dentist or
| attorney or broker or agent and you would
| have plenty of business. How many hours
you sat and waited for business, and
waited in vain, three persons only know
God, your wife and yourself. In CONNER
cial life you have not had the promotion
and the increase IN salary you anticipated,
| or the place you expected to occupy in the
firm has not been vacated. The produce
of the farm with which you expected to
/ support yourself and those depending on