The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-01-08
DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
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 espeoially to those who are striving for the worlds betterment, a New Years message of hope and encouragement. The text Is Eeelesiastes Ri, 1, He that ob- serveth the wind shall not sow.'
 What U change there is In our way of keeping the holidays from that of olden times Tho old fashioned Now Years and the old fashioned Christmas and tho old fashioned Thanksgiving day | were as different from their successors es the poke bonnets and hoop skirts and powdered ourls of colonial days were dif- fereut from the masterpieces of the mil- liners and dressmakers and hair dressers of modern times. We talk of the tri- umph of the locomotive and the tele- graph in annihilating distance, but l am not sure that they have not done more to separate the memDers Of famliles' The greeting that now comes by wire from a son on the other side of the world in former times was brought by the son himself, who seldom went more than a days coach ride from the oid homestead Then fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, cousins and grand- children could all gather under the same roof Then presents did not have to be done up in packages and sent days ahead across the continents or seas in order to arrive at their destination In time for the holidays. But each brother and sis ter, each child and parent, could deliver the Christmas gifts with a smile and seal the holiday good wishes with loving kiss.
 Some of us can remember the good old times when New Years day was day of hospitality, dedicated to the renewal of old acquaintanceships by custom now almost fallen into desuetude. That was the ancient custom of the Dutch settlers of New York and the modern cus- | tom of our own fathers and mothers and older brothers and sisters of making and receiving calls the first day of the new year. The good spirit of the new year seemed to say to all fathers and husbands and brothers and sons: "Go forth and find out now many friends you 1 have in the world. Go forth and renew l your old acquaintances. Go forth and ] encourage each home for the coming l struggle of the new year." Then wives and mothers and daughters fin the early l eighties kept open house. Then New Years day in New York and Brooklyn ] brought such scenes as were witnessed 200 years ago, when the daughters of the Netherlands welcomed their friends to the ancient mansions of the Battery of i New Amsterdam. Every dining room was filled with tempting viands. Every where on every street went the men folks | calling Happy New Yearp' Thus in many troubled home came courage and 1 love and faith in God and man on ae- count of those friendly New Year sala- tations.
 A New Years greeting is the sermon of this morning. In the same kindly l spirit in which friends used to come to my mothers home and wish her Happy New Year and with tender "reminiscences of the past and cheerful wishes for the future make the day a 1 joyous and hopeful one, l come to you this New Years Sabbath day. But in- stead of wishing you Happy New Year" in the brusque, happy go-lucky way in which friend used to salute l friend upon the street l am going, as your pastor, to have heart to heart talk with you I am going to have you first tell all your troubles and fears, and then I shall say: Friend, for the past twelve months you have been looking on the dark side of life. You have been in- dulging too much in gloomy anticipations and anxieties You do not seem to be will ing to enter the battle of 1905 with a brave heart and a cheerful countenance. What is the matter2" Then you will point out to me all the dark clouds that are hanging upon the edge of your hor- izon, and you will tell me why this New Years day is to you a "blue Sunday | Then I shall try. by the help of God, to scatter those dark clouds and change your new year timidities of doubt into new year certainties of gospel hope
 Hope For Discouraged.
 "Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me- Iss... slx.yn hnxH been defeated so often in the struggle of life that my backbone is gone. l have | been like a sea captain who has been wrecked again and again until at last he feels that every threatening storm means a foundered ship. l am like mer- chant who has been caught in three or four great panics and again and again. | through no fault of his own, has had his fortune swept away. He is timid about making new venture. I am like moth- CT who has buried four or five of her babies and has only one left. Each time | the baby coughs or catches cold or has a fever the mother is almost beside her | self with fear lest she might lose her only remaining child. It Is well enough for some people with bright eyes to an- ticipate the joys of a coming year. But as for me, I have had so many misfor tunes that l have only half a heart for
 
 next twelve months.'
 | My brother, 1 am not surprised at your l tmidity. It makes a great deal of diff ference how a man fools around machin- cry If he has lost an arm or a leg or l a finger, as some have done by being | reckless. 1t makes a great deal of diff ference how one reads the signs of the times" after he has had his fortune swept away by a destroying wind. Some weeks ago in one of my pastoral calls I saw a beautifully pathetic picture en- titled After the Tornado" The scene | was evidently paced in one of the wild ernesses of the west. young man in the overalls and the wooden shoes of a poor farmer stood upon the edge of a field with his poor young wife and a couple of children clinging to her poor dress. They were looking, yes, out of the saddest of eyes. Why? They were looking at a magnificent field of wheat 1 that a few days ago was almost ready to l be harvested. But that wheat by the storm was battered down and crushed | into all sorts of shapes. like the waves of the sea tumbling upon the beach, They were looking at the wreck of a whole year of work. They were looking into the bloodshot eyes and the red tongues of a hungry pack of wolves | about to be unleashed by starvation which soon would be growing and snarl- ing about their doors during the coming winter. An, yes, it makes great deal years labor before and after a destroy t...~