The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-12-06
DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
BY THE REV. FRANK DE WITT rALMAeE. D. D.

l captions are very rare. They are as ex- l ceptonal as the man who has always l lived bad life and a the last moment is l converted by deathbed repentance and l who is thereby able to fall, when the 1 clock is striking r. into the outstretched arms of a loving Christ. Most trees-in- deed, it might be said practically all trees ] when they die fall in the direction in | which they have grown About the tree s trunk and above the trees branches and
 underneath the trees roots are the great ever influencing laws of specific gravity. If tree leans little to the right it al-
 most invariably falls to the right; if to the left it falls to the left.
 Swiftness of Death.
 When man comes to die. as a rule,
 the only thing he can do is to die When the messenger comes, he has not any in- clination to think about anything else but dying. If the fatal disease gnaws at
 the vitals for many months and perhaps years. the doctors and nurses and loved ones conceal the truth from the patient for fear of depressing him. Or death
 comes like a stroke of lightning out of
 clear sky. It comes. as it did to my
 father. one moment clear-brained and on
 preaching tour. the next upon a death- bed and unable to speak a word. It comes, as 1t came to Robert G. Ingersoll, a dig ziness. a fainting fit. and he is gone. It comes by an accident. as it came to that young man on the night he was attending a religious meeting. The minister urged and entreated him to make a decision for Christ, but he refused. You must make
 up your mind one way or the other
 Then answered the young man. "if I must. I refuse Christ for tonight" That night on his way home. while riding on | horseback his brains were dashed out by an overhanging bough.
 Death often comes suddenly-as a thief, as a watch in the night. man dies as tree falls. He dies as he has lived. Among all the Bible records there is but one exception to this rule. The pages of the Bible contain only one account of deathbed repentance. oh said young man in my Pittsburg church, q am so sorry you said there are no deathbed re- pentances." No" answered an elder, 'he never said that. He said that though you might want to repent upon your deathbed in all probability you will have
 no time to repent. You will have only
 time to die You might repent if you would. but you will not Deathbed re-
 pentances are as exceptional among the human race as 1t Is for a tree in the for est untouched by human hand to fall In
 different direction from the way 1t has
 grown "Ee that is unjust shall be un- ' still. He that Is righteous shall be right eous still. He that is holy shall be holy stll' fallen log symboizes it.
 The undylng Fruit.
 The fallen tree is dead tree, the in- fuence of whose past life never dies
 Trees have an earthly mission. They are
 mighty factors in the planets daily life In the celebration of Arbor day by the
 schools and educational institutions it would be appropriate. although it is not especially enjoined by statute, to couple | with study of trees lessons on our birds and the great importance of their protec- | tion. The young people cannot have too | great an appreciation of nature or too i keen q sense of the relation between her | many beauties and utilities. Atmospheric <, changes are more or less influenced by l trees Droughts and freshets are often
 caused by the lack of trees Many coun- 1 tries of the far east have been absolutely | ruined by the ruthless destruction of the | forests. From an inhabitable country | they have been changed into great wastes 1 of arid deserts. So the influence of hu- | man life like that of a tree. never dies | It's good or evil lives on and on, long after the human tree has fallen. Earthly demise would not be appalling | if when man died the bad he did while
 upon the earth should die with him. But the trouble is that the bad lives on as well as the good. The wonderful book of Eugene Sue called "The Wandering Jew
 is founded upon a well known Roman legend. It runs that when Christ had