Decatur Democrat, Volume 43, Number 11, Decatur, Adams County, 25 May 1899 — Page 6

BOOKING BACKWARD. CR. TALMAGE SAYS IT IS WELL TO REVIEW THE PAST. He Would Arouse the Soul to Remlniseence of Danger! Escaped ansi Sorrow. Saflered— Old Memories Have a Purifying Influence. [Copyright. Lot's Klopsch. ISS».] Washington’. May —This sermon of Dr. Talmage calls the roll of many stirring n>ei.j ri“~ and interprets the meaning cf life's vicissitudes. The test is Psalms xxxix. 3. ‘ While I was musing. the fire burned.” Here is David, the psalmist, with the forefinger of his right hand against his temple and the d; r shut against the world, engagedin contemplation. Anl it would be well f r us to take the same posture often, while we sit down in sweet so litude to contemplate. In a small island off the coast cf Neva Scotia I once pa-s-1 a Sabbath in delightful solitude, for I had res. Ived that I would have cne day of entire quiet before I entered upon autumnal work. I thought to have spent the day in laying out plans for Christian work, bnt instead cf that it became a day of tender reminiscence. I reviewed my pastorate: I shook hands with an old departed friend, whom I shall greet again when the curtains of life are lifted. The days of my boyhood came back, and I was 10 years f age. and I was 8, and I was 5. There was but one house on the island, and yet from Sabbath daybreak, when the bird chant woke me. until the evening melted into | the bay of Fundy. from shore to shore there were ten thousand memories, and the groves were a-hum with voices that had long ago ceased. Youth is apt too much to spend all its time in looking forward. Old age is apt too much to spend all its time in looking backward. People in midlife and on the apex look both ways. It would be well for us. I think, however, to spend more time in reminiscence. By the constitution cf onr nature we spend most of the time looking f .rward. And the vast majority of people live net sc much in the present as in the future. I find that you mean to make a reputation. you mean to establish yourself, and the advantages that you expect to achieve absorbs great deal of your time But I see no barm in this if it does not make yon discontented with the present or disqualify you for existing duties It is a useful thing sometimes to look back, and to see the dangers we have escaped. anl to see the sorr ws we have suffered, and the trials and wanderings of our earthly pilgrimage, and to sum up cur enjoyments. I mean, so far as God may help me. to stir up your memory cf the past, so that in the review you may be encouraged and humbled and urged to pray A Preeion* Harvest. There is a chapel in Florence with a fresco by Guido It was covered up with two inches cf stucco until our American and European artists went !h c re and after l.ng tril removed the covering and retraced t fresco. And 1 am aware that the memory of the past, with many of you. is all covered up with obliterations, and I now propose, eo far as the Lord may help me. to take away the covering, that the old picture may shine out again. I want to bind in one sheaf all your past advantages, and I want to bind in another sheaf al] your past adversities. It is a precious harvest. and I must be cautious how I swing the scythe. Among the greatest advantages of your past life were an early home and its surroundings. The bad men of the day, for the most part, dip their heated passions out of the boiling spring cf an unhappy home. We are not surprised to find that Byron’s heart was a con centration cf sin when we bear his mother was abandoned and that she made sport of his infirmity and often called him “the lame brat” He who has vicious parents has to fight every inch of his way if he would maintain his integrity and at last reach the home of the good in heaven. Perhaps your early home was in a city It may have been when Pennsylvania avenue. Washington. was residential as now it is commercial, and Canal street. New York, was far up town. That old bouse in the city may have been demolished or changed into stores, and it seemed like sacrilege to you—for there was more meaning in that small house than there is in a granite mansion or a turreted cathedral. Looking back, you see it as though it were yesterday—the sitting r om, where the loved cne eat by the plain lamp light the mother at the evening stand, the brothers and sisters pierbaps long ago gathered into the skies, then plotting mischief < n the floor or under the table; your father with firm voice commanding a silence that lasted half a minute. Happy Days Gone By.

Oh, those were good days! If you had your foot hurt, your mother always had a soothing salve to heal it If you were wronged in the street, your father was always ready to protect you. The year was one round of frolic and mirth Your greatest trouble was an April I shower, more sunshine than shower The heart had not been ransacked by trouble, nor had sickness broken it. and \ no lamb had a warmer sheepfold than the home in which your childhood nestled. Perhaps you were brought up in the country. You stand now today in memory under the old tree. You clubbed it for fruit that was not quite ripe, because you couldn’t wait any longer. You hear the brook rumbling along over the pebbles You step again into the furrow where your father in his shirt sleeves shouted to the lazy oxen. You frighten the swallows from the ' rafters of the tarn and take just one egg and silence your conscience by saying they will not miss it. You take a drink again out of the very bucket that the old well fetched up. Yen go far the cows at night and find them pushing

their head:- through the bars. Ofttimss in the dusty and busy streets yon wish y. were home again n that cool grass, or in the rag carpeted hall of the fannh< use. through which there came the breath of new mown hay or the blossom of ruckwheat. You may have in your windows new beautiful plants and fl*, wers brought from across the seas, but n t one cf them stirs in your soul so much charm and memory as the old ivy and the yellow sunflower that stood sentinel along the garden walk and the forgetmenots placing hid“ and seek mid the long grass. The father who used to come in sunburned from the field and sit d wn on the doersiil and wipe the sweat from bis i r w may have gene t his everlasting rest. The mother who used to sit at the door a little bent over, cap and spectacles on, her face mellowing with the vicissitudes of many years, may have put down her gray head on the pillow in the valley, but forget that home you never will. Have you thanked God for it’ Have you rehearsed all these blessed reminiscences? Oh. thank God for a Christian father: Thank G d f. r a Christian mother: Thank God for an early Christian altar at which yon were taught t- kneel: Tbang God for an early Christian home! A Great Mission. I bring to mind another passage in the history of your life. The day came when you set up your own household. The days passed along in quiet blessedness. You twain sat at the table morning and night and talked over your plans fi r the future. The most insignificant affair in your life became the subject of mutual consultation and advertisement You were so happy you felt you never could be any happier. One day a dark cloud hovered over your dwelling, and it get darker and darker bnt cut cf that cloud the shining messenger of God descended to incarnate an immortal spirit Two little feet started on an eternal journey, and you were to lead them, a gem to flash in heaven s coronet, and you to polish it; eternal ages of light and darkness watching the starting out of a newly created creature. You rejoiced and yon trembled at the responsibility that in your possession an immortal treasure was placed. You prayed and rejoiced and wept and wondered; you were earnest in supplication that yon might lead it through life into the kingdom cf God. There was a tremor in your earnestness There was a double interest about that home There was an additional interest why yen should stay there and be faithful, and when in a few months your house was filled with the music of the child's laughter you were struck through with the fact that you had a stupendous missi' n. Have you kept that vow? Have you neglected any ,f these duties? Is your home as much to you as it used to be? Have those anticipat: ns been gratified? God help you in your solemn reminiscence, and let bis mercy fall upon your soul if your kindness has been ill requited: Gd have mercy on the parent on the wrinkles of whose face is written the st. rv cf a child .- ?in . ■< 1 have mercy on the mother who. in addition to her other pangs, has the pang of a child's iniquity: Oh, there are many, many sad sounds in this sad world, but the saddest sound that is ever heard is the breaking of a mother’s heart! Sweet Memories. I find another point in your life history. You found one day yon were in the wrong read. You could not sleep at night There was just cne word that seemed to seb through your banking bouse, or through your office, or your shop, or your bedroom, and that word was “eternity.” Yon said; “I’m not ready for it Ob. God. have mercy!” The Lord heard. Peace came to your heart In the breath of the bill and in the waterfall's dash you heard the voice cf God's love. The clouds and the trees bailed you with gladness. You came into the house of God You remember how your band trembled as you took up the cup cf the communion. You remember the old minister who consecrated it. and you remember the church officials who carried it through the aisle Y'ou remember the oid people who at the close cf the service took your hand in theirs in congratulating sympathy, as much as to say. “Welcome home, you lost prodigal!" And, though those hands be all withered away, that communion Sabbath is resurrected today It is resurrected with all its prayers and songs and tears and sermons and transfiguration. Have you kept th, se vows’; Have you been a backslider? God help you. This day kneel at the foot of mercy and start again for heaven. Start now as yon started then. 1 rouse your soul by that reminiscence. Bnt I must n t spend any more ol my time in going over the advantages of your life. I just put them in one great sheaf, and I call them up in you: memory with one loud harvest song such as the reapers sing Praise the

Lord, ye blood bought immortals on earth: Praise the Lord, ye crowned spirits of heaven! But some of you have not always had a smooth life. Some of you are now in the shadow Others had their troubles years ago; you are a mere wreck cf what you once were. I meet gather up the sorrows of your past life, but bow shall Ido it? You say that is impossi ble. as you have had so many troubles and adversities. Then I will just take two—the first trouble and the last trouble. As when you are walking along the street, and there has been music in the distance, you unconsciously find yourselves keeping step to the music, when you started life your very life was a musical time beat. The air wafull of joy and hilarity; with the bright, clear oar yon made the boat skip. Y’ou went on, and life grew brighter, until, after awhile, suddenly a voice from heaven said. “Halt!” and quick as the sunshine you halted, you grew pale, you confronted your first sorrow. Y’ou bad no idea that the flush on your child's cheek was an unhealthy flush. You eaid it cannot be anything serious

Death in slippered feet walked round i about the cradle. Y'cu did not bear the tread, but after awhile the truth flash•ed on vou. You walked the floor. Ob. ' if you could, with your strong, stout I band, have wrenched that child from ’ the destroyer! You went tc year r • m I and you said; “God, save icy child! ' Ged, save my child The wot id seem|ed going cut in darkness. Yen said, I ; can't bear it. I can t bear it. You felt ' as if you could not put the i-rng lashes I over the bright eyes, never t -e them ' again sparkle. If you could have taken that little on in your arms, and with : it leap d the grave, how gladly you i would have done it: If you could let ' tout pr< pertv £<?. ycur nsc? go. jour i land and year storehouse go. b- w giadi lv you would have allowed them to de- ■ part if yon could only have kept that i one treasure! Gati n Consolation. Bnt cne day there came up a chill ! blast that swept through the bedr - >m. nd - ■ ■ lights and there was darkness—thick. murky impenetrate, .huddering darkens. But God did net leave yc n there. Mercy spoke. As yen t. k r.p the bitter cup to pat it to y nr lips God said. “Let it pass." and forthwith, as by the bam: of angels, another cup was put into your hands. It was the cup of Ged s c nsolati' n. And as y< □ have s -.metimes lifted the bead of a wounded soldier and poured wine into his lips, so God puts his left arm under your bead and with his right hand he p nrs into ycur lips the wine of his c mfort and h:consolation, and yen looked at the empty cradle and looked at your br ken heart, and you looked at th- Lord’s chastisement, and yon said. "Even so Father, for so it seemeth good in thy sight.” Ab, it was your first trouble. How did yon get over it? G I comforted yen. You have been a better man ever since. Y’ou have been a better woman ever since. In the jar of the c; sing gate of the sepulcher yen heard the clanging of the opening gateof heaven, and yon felt an irresistible drawing heavenward. You have been spiritually better ever since that night wb-n tc; little one for the last time put its arms aronnd your neck and said “G o d night, papa! Good night, mamma Meet me in heaven!” But I must come to ycur latest s rrow. What was it? Perhaps it was sickness. The child’s tread • n the sta:: or the tick of the watch on the stand disturbed you. Through the long weary days you counted the figures in the carpet or the flowers in the wall paper Oh, the weariness of exhaustion : Oh. the burning pangs! Would God it were morning! Would God it were night was your frequent cry. Bnt you are better, or perhaps even well. Have you thanked God that today you can come out in the fresh air: that you are in your place to hear God s name, and to sing God's praise, and t-’> implore God's help, and to ask God s forgiveness? Bless the Lord who bealeth all our diseases and redeemeth our lives from destruction 1 Tcari Wiped Away. Perhaps ycur last sorrow was a financial embarrassment. I congratulate some of you on your lucrative profession or occupation, on ornate apparel, on a commodious residence—everything you put your bands on seems to turn tc gold. But there are others cf you whe are like the ship on which Paul sailed where two seas met, and you are broken by the violence of the waves. By an unadvised indorsement, or by a conjunction of unforeseen events, or by fire or storm, era senseless panic, you have been flung headlong, and where you once dispensed great charities n .w you have hard work to win your daily bread Have you forgotten to thank God for your days of prosperity, and that through your trials some of you have made investment- which will continue after the last bank cf this world has exploded, and the silver‘and gold are molten in the fires of a burning world? Have you. amid all your losses and discouragements, forgot that there was bread on your table this morning, and that there shall be a shelter for your head from the storm, and there is air for your lungs, and blood for your heart, and light for your eye. and a glad and glorious and triumphant religion for your soul ?

Perhaps yenr last trouble was a bereavement That heart which in childhood was your refuge, the parental heart, and which has been a source ol ; the quickest sympathy ever since, has suddenly become silent forever. And now sometimes, whenever in sudden annoyance and without deliberation you say. “I will go and tell mother.” the thought flashes on you. “I have nc mother. ” Or the father, with voice less tender, but with heart as loving, watchful of all your ways, exultant over your success without saying much, although the old people do talk it over by themselves. his trembling hand on that staff which you now keep as a family relic, his memory embalmed in grateful hearts —is taken away forever. Or there was your companion in life, sharer of your joys and sorrows taken, leaving the heart an old ruin, where the il! winds blow over a wide wilderness of desolation, the sands of the desert driving across the place which once bloomed like the garden of God. And Abraham mourns for Sarah at the cave of Machpelah. As you were moving along your path in life, suddenly, right before you, was an open grave. People looked down, and they saw it was only a few feet deep and a few feet wide, but to you it was a cavern down which went all your hopes and all your expectations. Bat cheer up in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Comforter. He is not going to forsake you. Did the Lord take that child out of your arms! Why. be is going to shelter it better than you could. He is going to array it in a white robe and palm blanch and have it all ready to greet you at your coming home. Blessed the broken heart that Jesus heals! Blessed the importunate cry that Jesus compassionates

Blessed the weeping eye from which the r s- ; -i • ; J -sus wi: s away the tear! Glorious Eternity. | Some years ago I was sailing down the St. J bn river, which is the Rhine and the Hudson commingled in cne scene of r-eauty an l grandeur, and while I w?< • u th-’ <?• k f the steamer a genm pointed out to me the places of interest, and be said: All this is interval land, and it is the riches: land in i a N Bruns X, va Scotia.” “What,” said I "do von mean by interval land ?' " “Well. he said, “tb.s land is submerged for a part f the year; spring freshets ci-me down, and all these plains are overflowed with the water, and the water leaves a rich dep sit. and when the wa-t--rs are c- ne th-.- Harvest spring- up. and there is a richer harvest than I f els-where.' And I instantly _ ■ “It is not the heights of the . chur .fi. and it is n t the heights cf this world that are the scene of the greatest ~r , sperity. but the s< ul over which the fl. ds cf scre w have gone, the soul over which th-: freshets of tribulation have torn their way. that yields the ’-’ ' ’’ “ ' ■ larges: harvest f r time and the richest harvest fcr eternity. ” Bless God that vour s* ul is interval land: There is one more point of absorbing reminiscence, and that is the last hour ! t’f iife. when we have to look ever all cur pa-t existence. What a moment that will be! I place Napoleon’s dying remini? -nee on St. H-dena ■ -eside Mrs. Judscn'sdving reminiscence in the hart. r of St. Helena, the same island. 20 years after Napoleon's dying reminiscence was on-cf delirium—“Tete d'armee" —“Head of the army. ” Mrs. Jud- - n’s dying r- miniscence. as she came acme from her missionary toil and her life of seif sacrifice for God. dying in the cabin of the ship in the barber of -- H-'.-ni was. “I always did 1 ve the Lori J- .s Chr.sv And then the hist siys she fell int. a- und sleep f ran h;ur and woke amid the songs if angeis. I place the dying reminiscence i Augustus Cte<ar against the dving reminiscence of the apostle Paul. Th- dying reminiscence of Augustus - :’ ndants "Have I played my part well on the -t ge f life ” and they answered in the affirmative, and he said. “Why, then, don't v u applaud me?” The dying r “Jiinis-isnee f Paul the apostle was, "I have f :ugbt a g:od fight, I have finished mv course. I have kept the faith : henceforth there is laid up for me a crown cf righteousness, which the Lord, th- 1 right us Judge, will give me in that day. and net to me only, but to all them that love his appearing.” Augustus Csesar died amid pomp and great surroundings. Paul uttered bis dying reminiscence I king up through the wall of a dungeon. God grant that our dying pillow may be the closing cf a useful life and the opening of a glcrious eternity. I.ndlow'i Victory Over Shatter. General William Ludlow, who is achieving high fame as the first American governor of Havana, owes his present command to a personal victory he gained over General Shafter in the first days of the Santiago campaign. He had long ago attained a fine record as a topographical engineer, and was one of the first regular army officers to seek service in Cuba. With a scarcely dried commission of brigadier general of volunteers in his pocket he hastened to General Shafter.

Seeing that General Shafter already had a competent engineer on his staff. General Ludlow applied for command of a brigade on the fighting line, and mentioned the First brigade of the Sec ond division General Shafter looked up in surprise and exclaimed “I thought j you were an engineer!” “So I am.” replied General Ludlow, “also an artillerist, or cavalry officer, or an infantry officer, at the will of my superiors, like every trained soldier.” General Shafter began parleying, and General Ludlow, in the mildest manner possible, insisted, morning after morning. until he received it. After the ter rible battle of El Caney he was promoted to be a major general.—Philadelphia I Saturday Evening Post. Wanted Riley’* Autosrapb. The Philadelphia Record says: “The ■ strength of the fad for autographs was strikingly shown yesterday, when scores ' of clerks and customers besieged James Whitcomb Riley while he was modestly making s<,me book purchases in a large department store. “As soon as the Hoosier poet was > sighted near the latest book counter the news quickly went the rounds of the clerks, and within a half hour Mr. Riley had obligingly signed his name to 100 cards Cust mers who were at tb>-, book stalls at the time or were attracted thither also to- k advantage of the opportunity and secured the signature of' the poet. “To one of the clerks Mr. Riley said that on the average he receives 200 let-1 ten a day asking for his autograph and many more personal requests while on his tours. When not in a humor for ' composition the poet, as a mental di- I version, occupies himself in signing i the thousands of cards which he yearly receives.” The Dutch Queen. Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands dislikes to be called “the little queen.” She thinks the phrase reflects upon her kingdom, as she is 5 feet 1% inches in height The queen of Spain is only 5 feet 5 2-5 inches; the empress ; of Russia. 5 feet 2% inches; the empress of Germany and Queen Victoria still smaller. Aside from her height, the young Dutch queen is also of the best build. Her 21 L. inch waist measure and 42 inch bust give an admirable proportion. Her powers of endurance were weil tested on coronation day, when for six long hours she wore the ceremonial mantle of red velvet trimmed with ermine, a weight of not less than 3U pounds, and showed no marked symptom of fatigue.

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