The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-11-04
 DIR. TALMAGf'S SERMON
  FRANK DE WITT TALMAeE, D. D.

lHiS DenumDlng way our evil habits at- feet us. We say. "Tomorrow we will change Now, just one more glass. one more carousal" But each intoxicating cup, each debauch, each yielding to sin, renders us more and more helpless to fight sin. My brother, if you do not con- quer your evil habits today you will not conquer them tomorrow. If you cannot put out a spark today you cannot quench the great contiagration. If you do not step on the smoldering fuse you cannot snuff out gunpowder magazine after the explosive has reached it. Now is the time for you to get your emancipa- ton from that destroying, debasing, evil habit-now now, nowl Oh, the import ance of that infinite word now!
 But this gospel motto gives a seathng rebuke to the visionary seeker after hap piness as well as to those who drowsily mutter to their sins and evil habits, "Oh, let me rest upon my bed of sin a little while longer, and then l shall bestr my self and do what l ought to do." It bitterly denounces those fault finders who always repine at the present and have their eyes focused upon the dubious blessings of the future. Yet some people never see beautiful sailboat unless it is shining on the edge of a distant horizon, nor happy home unless it belongs to a neighbor nor smell a sweet perfume unless it is waited to them from the vis- ionary gardens which shall bloom five or ten years hence
 The journey of life might be compared to summer camping trip. There is an old proverb which says, You never know people alright unless you eat with them at the morning breakfast table" But l tell you that the breakfast table may prove deceptive in reference to your ac- quaintanoes true characteristics, but a camping trip-never There the true na- If a f11ar by all as an open book Now, on an average camping trip some people are like bees-they can find honey wherever they may fly They are like song birds they can sing, no matter where you place them. They are like sunbeams-they will sparkle and dance, no matter whether they are up in the mountains or down in the valleys. Everything they eat is the most appetizing of all foods. Every per- son they meet is a kind person. No travellers pass them upon the road but they stop to chat and joke with them Theirs beds of pine needles are the soft est. The water that leaps out of the brooks is the purest. The sunsets and the sunrises are the most glorious They laugh and play and make merry every day of their lives. And during all of their next winters work they never tire Of telling the pleasant incidents of the past summers trips.
 Chronic Grumbler.
 But, though all the members of your camping party pass over the same roads and meet the same difficulties, there is nearly always one member who does noth- ing but grumble. Like an owl who never sees well unless the darkness envelops him, this fault finder sees nothing but midnight He is always droning a drge He srumbles at the heat and grumbles at the cold. He grumbles about the ants that get into his food box, and grumbles about the people he meets, and grnmbles about everything. If he is up in the mountains, then he wants to be oown m the valleys. If he is down by the seashore, then he cannot sleep be- cause the waves keep up such an everlast- ing moaning If you go to him and say NOW, So-and-so. do you ever expect to be happy in life?' he will answer: "Oh yes. l expect to be happy when l get rid of my present troubles But you surely would not expect me to be happy amid all my present annoyanees" Now mark you, my friend, these people of a camping party breathe exactly the same air, drink the same water meet the same people, camp under the same trees, and yet four of them will find nothing but blessings and the fifth nothing but trou- bles Such is the greater journey called i life. There always are pleasure finders on the journey, There are grumblers there, too.
 Now, my fault finding friend if you l find today filled with troubles you will ] also find the burdens of tomorrow await ing you when you awake In your bed 1 The joys and the happiness of life are not to be decided by what a man has, but by the condition of his own heart If you do not learn to be happy today and if you consistently postpone your l happiness you will be miserable as long as you live, and there is no exception to l the rule. If you are not happy in a hum 1 ble home you would never be happy in a palace. If you are not happy as a clerk you will not be happy as an employer. l If you are not happy as a young girl you will not be happy as woman This llv- ing in the joys of the future is all non- sense. It is the will-o' thewisp guiding ] it's deluded followers not Into the gar i dens of the gods" but into the quagmires l and the swamps, where every step you take will make you sink deeper and deeper 1 into the mud of the Slough of De- 1 spond.'
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