Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 December 1895 — TALMAGE'S SERMON. [ARTICLE]

TALMAGE'S SERMON.

SERMON DELIVERED IN WASH- , INGTON LAST SUNDAY. Beware of the Special Allurements of j the Season—Parents Should Make j Home Attractive —Arm the Young i Against Temptations—Rum Horrors. The Opening Winter. Last Sunday Dr. Talma ge chose as the I subject' of his sermon "The Opening 1 Winter." Although the cold comes ear- j lier or later, according to the latitude, this sermon is sooner or later as appropriate everywhere as it is in ashingtou. j The text selected will be found in Titus iii., 12, "1 have determined there to winter.” Paul was not independent of the seasons. He.sent for his overcoat to Tro.ts on a memorable occasion. And now in the text he is making arrangements for the approaching cold weather auJ makes an appointment with Titus to meet him at Necropolis, saying, “I ha'.e determined there to winter.” Welj, this is the Bth day of December and tbe second Sabbath of winter. We have had a few shrill, sharp blasts already, forerunners of whole regiments of storms and tempests. No one here needs to be told that we are in the opening gates of the winter. This season is not only a test of one's physical endurance, but in our great cities is-a test of moral character. A vast number of people have by one winter of dissipation been destroy si, and forever. Seated in our homes on ; some stormy night, the winds howiing j outside, we imagine the shipping helpless- ! ly driven on the coast, but any winter | night, if our ears were good enough, we could hear the crash of a thousand moral shipwrecks. There are many people who came to the cities on the Ist of September who will be blasted by the Ist of March. At this season of the year temptations are especially rampant. Now that the long winter evenings have come, there are many who will employ them in high pursuits, intelligent socialities, in Christian work, in the strengthening and ennobling of moral character, and this winter to many of you will be the brightest and the best of ulf your lives, and in anticipation T“congfatulate you. But to others it may not have such effect, and I charge you, my beloved, look out where you spend your winter nights. Evil Allurements. In the first place, I have to remark that at this season of the year the evil allurements are especially busy. There is not very much temptation for- u man to plunge in on a hot night amid blaring gaslights and to breathe the fetid air of an assemblage, but in the cold nights satan gathers a great harvest. At such times the grogshops in one night make more than in four or five nights in summer. At such times the playbills of low places of entertainment seem especially attractive, and the acting is especially impressive and the applause especially bewitching. Many a man who has kept right all the rest of the year will be capsized now, and though last autumn lie came from the country, and there was luster in the eye, and there were roses in the cheek and elasticity in the step, by the time the spring hour has come you will pass him in the street and say to your friends: “What’s the matter with that man? How differently he looks from what he looked last September!” Slam of one winter’s dissipation. At this time of the year there are many entertainments. If we rightly employ them and they are of the right kind, they enlarge our socialities, allow us to make important acquaintances, build tip in our morals and help up in a thousand ways. I can scarcely think of anything bettor than good neighborhood. But there are those entertainments from which others will come besoiled in character. There are those who by the springtime will be broken down in health, and, though at the opening of the season their prospects were bright, at the close of the season they will be in the hands of the doctors or sleeping in the cemetery. The certificate of death will be made out, and the physician, to save the feelings of the family, will call the disease by a Latin name. But the doctor knows, and everybody knows, they died of too mnny levees. Away with all these wine drinking convivialities. How dare you, the father of a family, tempt the appetites of the young people? Perhaps at the enterment, to save the feelings of the minister or some other weak temperance man, you leave the decanter in a side room, and only a few .people ore invited there to partake, but it is easy enough to know when you come out by the glare of your eye and the stench of your breath that you have been serving the devil.

Practice Self Control. Men simetimes excuse themselves and nay after late suppers it is necessary to take some sort of stimulant to aid digestion. My plain opinion is that if you have no more self control than to stuff yourself until your digestive organs refuse their office yon had better not call yourself a man, but class yourself among the beasts that perish. At this season of the year the Young Men’s Christians Associations of the land send out circulars asking tho pastors to speak a word on this subject, and so I sound in your ear the words, of the Lord God Almighty, “Woe unto him that putteth the bottle to his neighbor’s lips.” Rejoice that you have come to the glad winter months that remind you of the times when in your childhood you were shone on by the face of father, mother, brothers, sisters, some of them, alas! no more to meet you with a “Happy New Year,” or a “Merry Christmas.” But again and again have we seen on New Year's day the sons of some of the best families drunk, and young men have excused themselves by the fact that the wine cup has been offered by the ladies, and again and again it has been found out that a lady’s hand has kindled the young man’s thirst for strong drink, and long, after all the attractions of the holiday have passed that same woman crouches in her rags„and her desolation, and her woe under the uplifted hand of the drunken monster to whom she had passed the fascinating cup on New Year’s day. If we want to go to ruin, let us go alone and not take others with us. Can we not sacrifice our feelings if need be? When the good ship London went down, the captain was told that he might escape in one of the lifeboats. “No,” he replied, “I’ll go down with the passengers.” All tiie world applauded his heroism. And can we not sacrifice our tastes and our appetites for the rescue of others? Surely it is not a very great sacrifice. Oh, mix not with the innocent beverage of the holiday the poison of adders! Mix not with the white sugar of the cup the snow of this awful leprosy! Mar not the clatter of the cutlery of the festal occasion with the clank of a madman’s chain! Pass down the street and look into the pawnbroker’s window. Elegant watch, elegant furs, elegant flute, elegant shoes, elegant scarf, elegant books, elegant mementoes. You sometimes see people with pleased countenances looking into such a window. When I look into a pawnbroker’s window, it seems to me as if I had looked into the window of hell! To whom did that watth belong? To a drunkard. To whom did those furs belong? To a drunkard’s wife. To whom did those shoes belong? To a drunkard’s child. I take the three brazen balls at the doorway of a pawnbroker’s shop and I clank them together, sounding the knell of the

drunkard’s soul. A pawnbroker’s shop f is only one of the eddies in the great tor- ! rent of municipal drunkenness. “Oh,” ) says some one, “I don’t patronize such i things. I have destroyed no yonng uny» 1 by such influences. I only take ale, an i it i will take a great amount of ale to iatoxi- i cate.” Yes, but I tell you there is not a j drunkard in America that did net begin ; with ale. Three X’s — I do not know what j they mean. Three X’s on the screwer’s dray, three X's on the door of i three X’s on the side of the bottle. Three j X’s. I asked a man. He co’4;d not tell. I asked another what is the meaning of j the three X's. He could not tell me. Then I made up my mind that the three 1 X's were an allegory, and that they meant j thirty heartbreaks, thirty agonies, thirty j broken up households, thirty prospects of a drunkard’s grave, thirty ways to perdition. Three X’s. If I were going to i write a story, the first chapter 1 would call “Three X’s” ami the last chapter I would call “The Pawnbroker’s Shop.” Oh, beware of your influence. Curse of Modern Society. The winter season is especially full of temptation, because of the long evenings allowing such full swing for evil indulgences. You can scarcely expect a young man to go into his room and sit there from 7 to 11 o’clock in the evening reading Motley's “Dutch Republic” or John Foster’s essays. It would be a very beautiful thing for him to do, but he will not do it. The most of our young men are busy in offices, in factories, in banking houses, in stores, in shops, and when evening comes they want the fresh air and they want sightseeing, and they must have it, they will have it, and they ought to have it. Most of the men here assembled will have three or four evenings of leisure on the winter nights. After tea, the man puts on his hat and coat, and he goes out. One form of allurement says, “Come in here.” Satan says: “It is best for yon to go in. Y’ou ought not to be so green. By this time you ought to have seen everything.” And the temptations .shall be mighty in dull times such as we have had, hut which, I believe, are gone, for 1 hear all over the land the prophecy of great prosperity, and the railroad men and the merchants, they all tell me of the days of prosperity they think are coming, and in many departments they have already come, and they are going to come in all departments, but those dull times through which we have passed have destroyed a great many men. The question of a livelihood is with a vast multitude the great question. There are young men who expected before this to set up their household, but they have been disappointed in the gains they have made. They cannot support themselves —how can they support others? And to the curse of modern society the theory is abroad that a man must not marry until he has achieved a fortune, when the twain ought to start at the foot of the hill and together climb to the top. That is the old fashioned way, and that will be the new fashioned way if society is ever redeemed. But during the hard times, the dull times, so many men were discouraged, 'so many men had nothing to do —they could get nothing to do —a pirate bore down on the ship when the sails were down and the vessel was making no headway. People say they want more time to think. The trouble is too many people have had too much time to think, and if our merchants had not had their minds diverted many of them would long before this have been within the four walls of an insane asylum. These long winter evenings, be careful where you spend them. This winter will decide the temporal and eternal destiny of hundreds of men in this audience. Unattractive Homes. Then the winter has especial temptations in the fact that many homes are peculiarly unattractive at this season. In the summer months the young man can sit out on the steps, or he can have a bouquet in the vase on the mantel, or, the evenings being so short, soon after gaslight he wants to retire anyhow. But there are many parents who do not understand how to make the long winter evenings attractive to their children. ■ It is amazing to me that so many old people do not understand young people. To hear some of these parents talk you would think they had never themselves been young and had been born with spectacles on. Oh, it is dolorous for young people to sit in the house from 7 to 11 o’clock at night and to hear parents groan about their ailments and the nothingness of this world. The nothingness of this world? How dare you talk such blasphemy? It took God six days to make this world, and he has allowed 6,000 years to hang upon his holy heart, and this world has shone on you and blessed you and caressed you for these fifty or seventy years, and yet you dare talk about the nothingness of this world! Why, it is a magnificent world. Ido not believe in the whole universe there is a world equal to it except it be heaven. You cannot expect your children to stay in the house these long winter evenings to. hear you denounce this star lighted, sun warmed, shower baptized, flower strewn, angel watched, God inhabited planet. Oh, make your home bright! Bring in the violin or the picture. It does not require a great salary, or a big house, or chased silver, or gorgeous upholstery to make a happy home. All that is wanted is a father’s heart, a mother’s heart, in sympathy with young folks. I have known a man with S7OO salary, and he had no other income, but he had a home so happy and bright that, though the sons have gone out and won large fortunes and the daughters have gone out into splendid spheres and become princesses of society, they can never think of that early home without tears of emotion. It was to them the vestibule of heaven, and all their mansions now, and all their palaces now, cannot make them forget that early place. Make your homes happy. You go around your house growling about your rheumatisms and acting the lugubrious, and your sons will go into the world and plunge into dissipation. They, will have their own rheumatisms affer awhile. Do not forestall their misfortunes. You were young once, and you.had your bright and joyous times. Now let the young folks have a good time. I stood in front of a house and I said to the owner of the house, “This is a splendid tree.” He said in a whining tone, “Yes, but it will fade.” I walked round his garden and said, “This is a glorious garden you have.” “Yes,” he said, “but it will perish.” Then he said to my little child, whom I was leading along, “Come and kiss me.” The child protested and turned away. He said, “Oh, the perversity of human nature!” Who would want to kiss him? 1 was not surprised to find out that his only son had become a vagabond. You may groan people out of decency, but you can never groan them into it, and I declare in the presence of these men and women of common sense that it is a most important thing for you to make your homes bright if you want your sous and daughters to turn out well. Arm Against Temptation. Alas, that old people so much misunderstand young folks! There was a great Sunday school anniversary, and there were thousands of children present. Indeed all the Sunday schools of the town were in the building, and it was very uproarious and*full of disturbance, and the presiding officer on the occasion came forward and in a very loud tone shouted, “Silence!” and the more noise the presiding officer made the more noise the children made. Some one else rose on the platform and came forward and with more stentorian voice shouted “Silence!” and the uproar rose jto greater height

ind tt did seem as if there would be almost a riot and the police have to bo called in when old Dr. Beaman, his hair white as the driven snow, said, “Let me try my hand.” So he came forward witfc a slow step to the front of the platform, and when the children saw the venerable man and the white hair they thought they would hush np that instant and hear what the old man had to say. He said: "Boys, 1 want to make a bargain with you. If you will be still now while I speak, when you get to be as old as I am I will be as still as a mouse." There was not another whisper that afternoon. He was as much a boy as any of them. Oh, in these approaching holidays let us turn back our natures to what they were years ago and be boys again and girls again and make all our homes happy. God will hold you responsible for the influence you now exert, and it will be v£ry bright and very pleasant if some winter night when we are sleeping under the blankets of snow our children shall ride along in the merry party, and hushing a moment into solemnity look off and say, “There sleep the best father and mother that ever made a happy new year.” Arm yourself against these temptations of December, January and February. Temptations will come to you in the form of an angel of light. I know that the poets represent satan ns horned and hoofed. If I were a poet and I were going to picture satan, I would represent him as a human being, with manners polished to the last perfection, hair falling in graceful ringlets, eyes a little bloodshot, but floating in bewitching languor, hand soft and diamonded, foot exquisitely shaped, voice mellow as a flute, breath perfumed as though nothing had ever touched the lips but balm of a thousand flowers, conversation facile, carefully toned and Frenchy. But I would have the heart incased with the scales of a monster, and have it stuffed with all pride and beastliness of desire and hypocrisy and death, and then 1 would have it touched with the rod of disenehautment until the eyes became the cold orbs of the adder, and to the lip should come the foam of raging intoxication, and to the foot the spring of the panther, and to the soft hand the change that would make it the clammy hand of the wasted skeleton, and then I would suddenly have the heart break out in unquenchable flames, and the affected lisp of the tongue become tlie hiss of the worm that never dies. But until disenchanted, ringleted and diamonded and flute voiced, and conversation facile, carefully toned and Frenchy. Engage in High Pursuits. Oh, wliat a beautiful thing it is to see a young man standing up amis these temptations of city life incorrupt while hundreds are falling. I will tell your history. You will move in respectable circles all your days, and some day a friend of your father will meet you and say: “Good morning. Glad to see you. Y’ou seem to be prospering. You look like your father for all the world. I thought you would turn out well when I used to hold you on my knee. If you ever want any help or any advice, come to me. As long as I remember your father I’ll remember you. Good morning.” That will be the history of huudreds of these young men. How do I know it? I know it by the way you start. But here’s a young man who takes the opposite route. Voices of sin charm him away. He reads bad books, mingles in bad society. Thu glow has gone from his cheek, and tho sparkle from his eye, and the purity from his soul. Down he goes, little by little. The people who saw him whew he came to town while yet hovered over his head the blessing of a pure mother’s prayer, and there was on his lips the dew of a pure sister’s kiss, now us they see him pass cry, “What an awful wreck!” Cheek bruised in grogshop fight. Eye bleared with dissipation. Lip swollen with indulgences. Be careful what you say so him; for a trifle he would take your life. Lower down, lower down, until, outcast of God and man, he lies in the asylum, a blotch of loathsomeness and pain. One moment he calls for God, and then he calls for mm. He prays; he curses; he laughs ns a fiend lnughs, then bites his nails into the quick, then puts his hnnd through the hair hanging around his head like the mane of a wild beast, then shivers until the cot shakes with unutterably terror, then with his fists fights back the devils or clutches for serpents that seem to wind around him their awful folds, then asks for water which is instantly consumed on his cracked lips. Some morning the surgeon going his rounds will find him dead. Do not try to comb out or brush back the matted locks. Straighten out the limbs, wrap them in a sheet, put him in a box and let two men carry him down to the wagon at the door. With a piece of chalk write on top of the box the name of the destroyer and the destroyed. Who is it? It is you .Oman, if, yielding to the temptations of a dissipated life, you go out and perish. There :i a way that seemeth bright and fair :nd beautiful to a man, but the end i thereof is death. Employ these long nights of December, January and February in high pursuits; in intelligent socialities, in innocent amusements, in Christian work. Do not waste this winter, for soon you will have seen your last snow shower and have gone up into the companionship of him whose raiment is white as snow, whiter than any fuller on earth could whiten it. For all Christian hearts the winter nights of earth will end, in the June morning of heaven. The river of life from under the throne never freezes over. The foliage of life's fair tree is never frost-bitten. The festivities, the hilarities, tl;e family greetings of earthly Christmas times will give way to larger reunion and brighter lights and sweeter garlands and mightier joy in the great holiday of heaven.