The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-01-11
|. HICAGO. January 4.-In the open
 , ing discourse of the new year

ing discourse of the new veal
 Pastor Talmage appeals to tho higher nature of his auditors and shows them how they may make the year ont replete with triumphant spiritual achieve ment. His text is Proverbs K, Il, "ThC years of thy life shall be increased"
 Happy new year! I bring to you the gospel salutation. l bring it to you with smile upon the lip, with joy yelling ur in the heart. I bring 1t to you because hope 1t Is to be the best and the most momentous of all your life.
 l am going to be a gospel prophet this morning. I am not only going to tell you that this new year Is to be the best year of your life, but 1t is also going to be a precursor of many other useful years. am going to say to you, as Solomon said of old, that on account of this coming year consecrated to God your earthly lon gevty shall be heightened. "The years of thy life shall be increased"
 Charles Dickens wrote a famous book entitled Great Expectations" But the English writer did not have as much right to use that caption for his novel as l have for this sermon. As Christ said to the blind men, According to your faith, so be 1t unto you" My faith in infinite. Never since I was born have I had great CT faith in the power of Christ to save and bless than at the present time. Therefore, on account of my belief in the power of Jesus Christ that he can and will save your soul during the coming year, l know that this Is to be the most important year of your life.
 My great expectations for your spirit. ual welfare and your consecration of the new year are not only founded upon tho faith of an earnest band of scores ant scores of praying men and women who are Loyalty seeking your good This band Is composed of your friends and youl loved ones It Is an all conquering bant which shall soon, aye think today cap. ture your soul for Jesus Christ We have read what Garibadi did for Italian free. dom. What had he to offer his followers Nothing but hunger and pain eSld wounds and exile. But above all these privations Garibaldi lifted the standard of liberty and the young men flocked to his side by the hundreds and the thousands. It may not be an easy task to capture your sin full heart for Christ. But the gospel prize is so great that the earnest band of workers surrounding me, like the Italian patriots, are willing to go through any privations If they can only bring you a repentant sinner to the foot or the cross. We have read what Toussaint L'Ouver- ture did for Haitian freedom. Wendell Phillips In his famous oratfon declared that this southern leader was a greater man than Washington, Napoleon, Caesar, than Alexander the Great. But all the conquests by which the South American leader and his little band of followers were able to throw off the European tyr armies are as nothing in eternal results when compared to some of the glorious spiritual victories which shall be won dur ing this opening year for Christ-to be won by this band of earnest praying workers who are surrounding me at the present time. So on this first Sunday, 1903, we give you fair warning that In the name of Jesus Christ we are about to move upon your sinful heart We are about to capture your whole life for Jesus Christ.
 Some New Year Resolves.
 Now, as a gospel transf ormation is soon to take place in your life, I am going to tell today some of the new resolves by which this opening year Is to inspire your life. I am about to tell you here and now how you are going Ito forget those things that are behind and reach forth unto those things that are before and press to- ward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God In Christ Jesus.
 To overcome your evil passions and to live as your redeemed father and mother want you to live is to be one of your chief desires for the ensuing year. There was a great change in your life when the old folks died. You may have long ago be- come a grown-up man and been away from home five, ten, or even fifteen years, before you received the fatal telegram from your sister: Come home at once. Mother Is dying" Yet not until that time did you wilifulIy let yourself go into the maelstrom of sin. Not until that time Nl you say in a sinful sense; Well, 1t doeN Even if do wrong and become dissipated not matter much what becomes of me. Mother is now dead, and father is dead. they will not hear of it." For a few years after your mothers death your old est sister tried to take your mothers place. Every Sunday night she would write to you just as your mother did. But, somehow, though her letters were newsy and bright and told you how the old neighbors were getting on, her mes- sages did not ring in your heart like mothers letters. They did not so often plead with you to be good boy and say your prayers and read your Bible and live for Christ. They did not begin with the sacred words, My dear boy" She always called you her boy, though you had long ago been able to stand In an election booth and declare your choice for the presidency of the United States. But somehow during the past few months the teachings of the old homestead have been pressing down upon you with mighty power. Man, you are tired of sin. You are tired of yourself. You might feel a little better if you could only put your head in her lap and have good cry. But you can't. Do you know what Is the matter? I think your dead parents are pleading with you and for you now, just the same as they did of old.
 The psalmists tells us that God keeps the tears of his loved ones in a bottle. Last week God lifted one of the parental tears which were shed over you cradle. He placed the sparkling treasure upon the white wing of an angel of mercy and cried Go. angel, and drop that tear upon that young mans head and annont him with the Spirits power" Last night God sent another white winged messenger with another tear out of his bottle, shed by your father on the day you joined the church. One white-winged angel after another did as they were told. They all dropped those parental tears upon your head and heart. Discouraged man. today weared of the sinful world, as you sit there with the tears running down your Ia Il. IL