Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1903-01-03
TALMAGE
SERMON
BY Rev.
FRANK DE WITT TALMAGE. DID,.
Pastor Of Jefferson Park Preehy-
terrain Onureh, Chicago

day Of the year. Rev. +. De Witt Tai
mage shows IN how many characteris-
tics the Biblical comparison Of life to
the creations Of the novelist's genius Is
justified The text Is Psalm &c, 8,
1--WE spend our years as a tale that is
told"
How the years are flying away! Hen
~ Clay once stood upon the top OF the
Allegheny mountains in an attitude OF
listening. When some one asked him
to what he was listening, the great Ken
lucky statesman in his deep. powerful,
resonant, oratorical voice answered, Il
am listening to the mighty tramp Of the
coming generatlons!" Today we may
not have an imaginative ear keen
enough to hear the thunderous echoes.
Of the moving feet which shall walk
this earth two centuries or thousand
years hence. but we can now hear the
pattering feet Of the multltudes or
school children. We may hear, too, the
rumbllng OF the hearses, which shall
sooner or later carry out our dead bod
les to the newly dug graves. We hear
the jnexorable warning that in a few
years or perhaps even in the coming
year OF 1908 we shall look upon the ris-
ing sun for the last time. Then olr
bedrooms. where we have often slept
and laughed and cried, shall be called
the chambers Of death. Dear old year
Of 1902! II seemed only yesterday that
we welcomed thee into the world. In a
few days. with thy snow whito hair
and shriveled form and pallid cheek
and trembling limb, we shall have to
carry thee out and lay thee away until
we meet thy eondemning or approving
face at the judgment seat Of heaven.
The inspired psalmst, considering
the passing of an earthly life, uses a
beautiful simIle. Moses, to whom the
psalm IL ascribed. was not only a great
legislator and a powerful leader. but a
poet. He not only opened a path
across the Red sea with his rod, but he
cut sure path into the gratitude and
affection of all good men and women
by the sharp point Of his pen. Thus
the ancient author. who was pioneer
in the making OF books, compared the
earthly existence Of every human life
ito a tale that is told" The seconds
are the letters. The minutes are the
words. The hours are the sentences.
The days are the paragraphs. The
weeks are the pages. The months are
the chapters. The years are the books.
The whole number of-different books
of the human story Of life, like the five
different books of Victor Huko's great
novel, lies Miserables." are bound to-
gether in one big volume, with slat
from the .dle to serve for one cover
and a tombstone used for the other
cover. May God help me on this last
Sabbath of the dying year to interpret
Alright how I'VE spend our years as
tale that Is told"
The beginning of the Tale.
Every tale. whether fictitious or no.
has a bright or a sad beginning. In al
most the first words which the narrator
speaks he introduces his listeners to the
hero or the heroine. Sometimes he rocks
that hero's cradle down among the
plantations Of Louisiana or Georgia,
sometimes among the SHOWS Of the New
England bills or In II palscs Of Europe,
where the prince or princess was born.
But. though many heroes and heroines
| - q at. al h0V hc6 MnhQD-
py childhood Influences. ! do not be-
Eeye II was thus with us. The bright
est passages OF the tale of life" when
applied to our own biographies are to
be found for the most part In those first
days which we spent in the old home
stead. We never had those huge mon
sters. the sons OF Tartarus and Terra,
to storm our nurseries,; we never bad
murderous guardian, King Richard,
to incarcers;e US In q dungeon or a
fendish Mnrtha Of Goethe's Faust"
for a nurse. Our infantile playground
WAS more Ike the Delectable mountains
of Bunyan's "PIlgrim's Progress"
Therefore, as most Of our lives have
started amid such purified surround
inys. Il is no more than right to expect
that our stories Of life should be pure
and true and noble tales.
But. alas. no sooner were we born
and grown into young manhood and
vomanhood than the current OF our
lives led US away from the purities OF
our youthful home circle. They led
US into the haunts Of sin and into the
cold, damp. dark caverns Of selishness
You know there are books numbered
among the masterpieces Of literature
which you, as a wise parent would
not allow in your home. You say to
your wife: "'Chlde Harold may be
the most wonderful portraiture LORD
Byron ever wrote, but It Is character
Of sin and Infamy. 1t is a character
glowing with poetic Imagination, but
a character with the worm that never
dies sucking at its heart. Our chill
dren should not be allowed to read ita
pages" There are stories which are
not fitted for public ears. Our biogra'
phies cannot be told to the world at
sarge. The beautiful ancient ballad OF
"The Marriage Of Sir Gawain" de-
scribes how the cavalier OF old took
to himself in marriage a hideous wom-
an called the "loathly lady" merely be-
cause no one else would marry her.
As soon as the "loathly lady" was we'd
ded she Immediately changed into a
bride Of the most winsome loveliness,
because-so goes the story-that mar
rage ring was able 10 enchain malig-
nant enchanter who had been cursing
her life heretofore. AlaR "The Mar
riage Of Sir Gawain" has been reversed
N many Of our lives. Most Of US came
forth fair and beautiful from a Chris
tan mothers nursery. Fair and beau
tiful though we once were, we accept
ed for our guide the profered hand oil
sin. Then In the sight OF God and al
heaven we became, like the "loathiJ
lady" aceursed by the evil past II
| tit .~o bad Nvad Ma matter how