DR. TALMAGE'S SERMON. Dementia Dramatized. “ And ho changed his behavior before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittio fall down upon his beard."”—1 Sam. 21: 13 There is one scene in the life of David that you may not have pondered. You ave seon him with a harp playihg the devil out of Saul ; with a sling, smash- ing the skull of Goliath ; with a sword, hacking to pieces the Philistines; with % sceptre, ruling a vast realm ; with a psalm, gathering all nations into dox- plogy ; but in my text, you have David playing the fool. ing, cognito an ong the Gathites, gin to suspect who he is, and say: wonder if this is not the warrior David ? It looks like him. the man about whom they used to make reeling now on one foot and now on the other, used to sing: tens of thousands?” Yes, it much like David, Itis David.” o escape their hands, PRETENDS TO BI DEMENTED, said within himself: **If I act zily then of course these people will injure me. No one would be David, He cra not 80 im man, one day, while these Gathites are watching David with in- creased suspicion, they see him stand- ing by the door running his hands meaninglessly up and down the panels scrabbling on the door as though he would climb up, his mouth wide open, or like an infant I suppose the eo streets threw he sober people of the town : is is not fair. Do you not » that he has lost 2 Do not touch this madman David escaped ; but WHAT AN EXHIBITION he made of himself before all the ages ! There was a majesty in King Lear's madness after Regan and Goueril, his daughters, had persuaded him to banish their sister Cordelia, and all the friends of the drama have been thrilled with that spectacle. The craziness of Me; Merrilies was weird and imposing, and is the most telling passage in Walter Scott's ¢* Guy Manuering.’’ There t the insani made the ble that the world uy wy i ‘ This } his reason ~0 + fascination abou ty of between the ‘God moves in any His wonders to p viants His footst was nothing grat nothing majestic, me about this simulation or f David. Instead of trustin the lord, as he had on other occasions, he gathers before him a vast audience « oli generations that were to come, an standing on that conspicuous stage ¢ in the presence Of all 1 he impersonates THE SLAVERING IDIOT fF f i story, he ages, And he changed his behavior befor them, and feigned himsalf mad in thei and scrabbled at the door of the and let his spittle fall beard.’ Taking the behavior of David ggestion, I wish to tell you bh of the wise, and the brave, regal sometimes play the fool n the first place, I remark, that men as badly play the fool as this of the text, who in any crisis of | , their case out of the hand of God. David, this acted as though banda HANGS, oate iryyn | oh WAS, GPUs aa many 1 and re case, there jicament, What a behavior, when this brave man stood up in front of the giant te: eet in height, and this time, when 1} lebased himself, and bedraggled h Tis #l i a a we put them in God's hand, and they stay there a little while ; and then we go and get them again, and bring them back. A vessel comes in from a foreign port. As it comes near the harbor it sees a pilot floating about. It hailes the pilot. The pilot comes on board, and he says: ‘‘Now, captain, you have had a stormy passage. Go down and sleep, and I will take the vessel into New York harbor.” After awhile the cap- tain begins to think: ‘*Am I right in trusting this vessel to that pilot? 1 guess 1'11 go up and see.” So he comes to the pilot and says: “Don’t you that rock # Don’t you see those heaud- lands? You will wreck the ship. Let me lay hold the helm for awhile for myself, and then I'll trust to you.” and says see The pilot becomes angry, “1 will either take care ol not. If you want to, I wil boat.” Now we say to the take my , take my Je Thou my guide We go for a little wake up, and say. wrong. O Lord, these rocks, i let us be God says: **You go and I will take charge of this vessel, take it the harbor.” 4 (rod, life along my pilot.” are driving art going on 10 int PHILO) and business to be « Herbert, the 4 osophized about unforted, great himself, this hilosophiz ‘*Infelicisstmu v, they are happiness, the Gathites, the hero, the fool. e great criges of life, takes his case it of the hand of God. I'he life of the most insignificant man 1 this house is too vast for aay human wnagement, One time, returning from ¢ West, I very easily got on the loco- olive In the one case he played talked with the engineer ; but com- r on toward the Allegheny Moun- ams, I thought I would like to sit on ocomotive as it came down from he mountains amid that most wonder- ful seenery on this continent, I asked wineer if I might ride, but he rteously denied grade is so steep and so winding and so wrilous, that he’must not have any one he et . attention when eye and hand and foot and brain must be concentred, ready for the most sudden emergency. Well, my friends, life is so steep and so per- rious and so exposed to sudden suprises, none but the Lord Almighty can cuide and engineer it, and our disasters come from the fact that #homt » “at WE WANT TO GET UP AND HELP. the Lord to manage the train, Keep off the engine! Be willing to let God pull you where He wants to pull you, You have no right for an instant to surrender your sanity and manhood as David surrendered his. Put your trust in God, and He will take you through and over the mountains, I stood on the beach, looking off upon the sea; and there was a strong wind blowing, and 1 noticed that some of the vessels were going that way, and other vessels were going another way, I said to myself: ** How is it that the same wind sends one vessel in one di- rection and another vessel in another direction ¥' I found out, by looking, hat it was the difference in THE WAY THEY HAD THE SAILS SET. And so does trouble come on this world, some men it drives into the harbor of heaven, and other men it drives on the rocks, It depends upon the way you have your sails set, All the Atlantic and Pacific oceans of surging sorrows canpot sink a soul that has asked for God's pillotage. The difficulty is, that whew we have misfortunes of any kind, MOMENTOUS ( he small questions and try these great questions, nstead of discussing whether the serpent in Eden was figur- ative or literal, whether the Mediterra- nean fish did or did not swallow the recreant prophet, whether this and that, and the other thing is right or wrong, come and discuss one question: ‘‘How get rid of my sins and win heaven ?'' That the you, Yea, there have who have actually lost their is been souls be- because they could not sun rose--the light appearing in verse 3 of Genesis, and the sun appear- ing not until verse 16-—and because they do not know how the sun could stand still without upsetting the universe, and because they had decided upon the theory of natural selection. A German philosopher in dying had for his chief sorrow that he had not devoted his case, Oh when your immortality is in peril, why quipple? Quit these non- essentials, my dear brother. In the these matters of the immortal soul, that you do not play the fool, What is that man doing over Bowling Green, New York ? is going in for a ticket for a transatlan- tic voyage. Hoe is QUARRELLIMG WITH THE CLERK about the spots—the red spots on the ticket—and he is quarrelling about the peculiar signature of the Jiuosident of the steamship company, and he is quar- relling about the manner of the clerk who bands him the ticket, How long has he been standing there? Three weeks, Meanwhile, perhaps, twenty steamers have gone out of port, and I hear the shriek of the steam-tug that could take him to the last vessel that could bear him to his engagement in London, Still he stands in Bowling Green discussing the ticket. What do you say in rd to that man? You say he is a fool. Well, in that very way are many men acting in regard to the matters of the soul. They are cavilling about the Atonement, the red spot on the ticket—.about the character of the minister whe hands them the ticket—about whether it has a divine in or human signatare, and meanwhile, all their opportunities for heaven are sail- ing out of the harbor, and I hear the last tap of the bell announcing their last chance to heaven, Go aboard ! Do not waste any more time in higg- ling and carping and eriticising and wondering, and, inthe presence of an astounded heaven, playing the fool, I go still futher, and say to you that those men play the fool who undertake to PAY ETERNITY TIME, How little care do we bestow upon railroad depot where we stop twenty minutes to dine, We dash in. and again, We do net FOR face of the hunger, we pay our money, caterer, and we put the depot compared are bound? world way to a and yet how many igh we had con on our hat and take train. What is that with the place for which we Now, my friends, this stopping-place on oul place in is the of us sit down as the to the final de pot, when our stop- ping here is as compared with our stop { i 1 rit 1 viniite ' twenty minutes t« t+) 4 wile there as 18 hours---vea, as one hundreth with twelve part of a pal thousand million vears ! Would Spain sell iba for i t? Would England ’ W second ed ei] of whea dia for a ton of coal? ell us all her picture y ool-bhov's sketch 7 world's applau » garlands of God. byl h TAS { how many there are i Christianity seems are ashamed of Chris take the hardships ships—of His religion | them, for long after the crash world's demolition they shall find in all these years they were | their backs upon the palaces of heaven, scrabbling on the door of this world’s | treasure house, the saliva of a ten lunacy on their lips—horribly and over- whelmingly playing the fool. Once more, 1 say to you that men piay the fool who, while they ad- mit the righteousness of religion, down for future attendance. Do know how many times THE and £5, wi ¢ of turnin Llrman ic those get it YOu sow" occurs in the Bible? Over two hun dred times, One of the shortest words | in the Bible, and yet one of the grandest { in meaning and ramifications. When does the Bible say is the time to re- pent? Now. When does the Bible isay that God will forgive? Now. | When does God say is the only safe time | to attend to the matters of the soul? Now. But that word “Now” melts away as easily as a snowflake in the evening rain. Where is the “Now” of the dead of last year 7? the ‘‘now of the death of last month ? the ‘‘now’’ of the death of last week ? the ‘‘now’’ of the death of yesterday ? Time picked it up { In its beak and flew away with it, Swammerdam and other naturalists tell us there are insects which within the space of one minute are born, fulfil their mission, celebrate their nuptials, and die; but this wonderful * now” is more short-lived than they. It is a flash, a stroke, a glance, Its cradle is its grave, If men catch it at all, it is with quick clutch, Millions of men have lost their soul immortal be- cause they did not understand the mo- mentum and the ponderosity of that one word, All the strategic powers of hell are exerted in trying to subtract from the energy and emphasis of that word. Ihey say it is only a word of three letters, while there is a better word of eight letters—*‘to-morrow.’’ They say, “Throw away that small ‘Word and take this other grand one," and so men say, “Give us ‘to-morrow’ and take away from us ‘now; ’ and between those two words is THE APPIAN WAY OF DEATH, and a great multitude throng that road, inating and slhawine sank other hos. WORD tening on swifter and swifter to die, For how much would you walk the edge of the roof of your house? For how much would you come out on the and wave your cap? You say. “No money could induce me to do it.” And yet you stand to-day with one other foot lifted, not knowing where wing the calculate, no And yet no arithmetic lightning cleave, tells us that unless a man has a heart he cannot get into heaven; and some of vou are not seeking for that new heart In Mexico sometimes the suddenly man opens, and a to-day, the vou appalling distance. But, oh, if at feet, there should chasms of the lost world, would fling yourself back and and cry, “God Youn open how hold BAYEe me lay my brother, mit} Some of us ma) ive a longer and some of us may Ii shorter time ; | ort that we all stand THE at future, 1 1 8 vrest 1 nit longest, Ii . at the ON DOOR-SILL The next step the Will your exit from ti of God cannot undo The doors { hich disposes on by fire ; but who hat there was a pyromar ortal nature, and that any struck through with o> have a 1 to consume the soul ’ cannot nsent ur souls, i bd ould be 80 Sam Allerton was a cattle buyer and shipper of the practical sort up to a few years ago. He drove the cattle him- self, rode with them down East on the cattle-trains, and when the steers ‘‘got down’ got into the cars himself and got them up. He was always the vig- orous, pushing, democratic person that his neck and shoulders and dress and talk show him to be still, the richest and | that very rich country twenty-five years | ago. | now, these pretty heiresses to banker Thompson's fortune were surrounded by all the beaux of that quarter, oldest girl. He was at this disadvan- tage himself, that he breeches on the outside, tucked on the inside of his bootlegs. He paid a good deal more atlention to business than to society, and was off buying hogs while the sleek young men of that important village were paying their addresses in their best “‘store clothes,” Perhaps Allerton never would have captured Banker Thompson's handsome daughter, if there had not been a parly arranged for one night at the banker's house. Everybody was there in a buggy. The dancing over, it was part of the programme that each beau should take his lady for a moon- light ride in the buggy that was hitched to the fence outside. When Allerton came to look for old Thompson's pret tiest daughter he couldn’t find her, She had playfully taken her place in anoth- er buggy. That cut the young cattle- man to the quick, and without a word to Youd, 1 got mto his wagon and drove off, He kept going until he got to Peoria, The very next day that retty Thompson girl sailed off with fer father to find . It wasn't five minutes after she'd found him before he'd forgiven her; and not five minutes more before they were engaged to be marriad SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON. (Gen. 2% 10.22) LESSON PLAN, Tori TE QUARTER: Begin- | nings, (GOLDEN TEXT FOR THE QUARTER | defore the mountains were brought | or even thou hadst I OF formed the | it~ | 3 ing to everlasting, thon art God.--Psa, 90: 2. LessoN Toric The Deginning of | {i Lesson Outline: £2 {3 GOLDEN TEXT! in this place. Gen, 28: 16, Dany HoMe READING: M. 28: 10-22, of fuller disclosures, ‘John 3: 1-17. Heavenly truths, John 14: 1-14. The heavenly Way. 2 Kings helpers Rev, lor rl ¥ enly glories, Heaven's Nearnass, va 10-12, | God's Grace, va, 15.11 Men's Advancetnent Surely the va Lo (xen, Heavy enly Heav- (:o’s grace, Human conse- | Rom. §: i Fn: rr——— A — LESSON ANALYSIS. I. HEAVEN'S NE . The Sleepor : AILNESS, down in that place | . he open- | b 33: 15,16). me down shall be sw II. The Ladder if y the city II. The Angels of God rmounted by the L II. GOD'S GRACE. I. By Manifesting Himself: Behold, the Lord stood above it (13). ¢} i toll me aeudd Yatad r ; - 5 And God appeared unto Jacod again clared him II. By Promising Blessings : shall be as the d earth (14). I will make thy earth me unto 1 Matt, Thy seed 18d i £5 1 seed as the dust tne. 30 (ren, 19. if revit ess Assuring Protection : Behold, I am with ti keep th 1060, will ee 10). Fear not, for 1 206 : 24). When thou paseest through the walters, I will be with thee (Isa. 43 : 2). Lo, Iam with you alway (Matt, 28: 20), Himself hath said, I will In no wise fail thee (Heb, 13: 5). 1. *The Lord stood above it.” 1 To manifest his personality; (2) To show his accessibility ; (3) To utter his messages; (4) To cheer his chu. “Behold, I am with thee.” (1) The fact of God's presence; (2) The objects of God’s presence; (3) The evidences of God's presence. —{1) The exalted guest; (2) The lowly entertainer. “I will not leave thee.” Though thy doubts be many; Though thy deserts be small. III, MAN'S ADVANCEMENT. £ am with thee (Gen. \ { Surely the Lord is in this place (16), The Lord he is God; the Tord he is God (1 Kings 18: 39). Let us follow on to know tha Lord | (Hos, 6: 3) This is life eternal that they should know thee (John 17: 8) Grow in the grace and knowledge of | our Lord (2 Pet. 3: 18), IL. In Serving the Lord. Then shall the Lord be my God (21). Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord (Gen, 4: 26), Nay; but we will serve the Lord (Josh, 24: 21). The child grew and waxed strong in spirit (Luke 1: 80), Wo all....are transformed same image (2 Cor, 3: 18). IIL In Giving to the Lord. 1 Wh surely give the tenth unto thee 22). Give a portion to seven, yea, even unto eight (Eccl, 11: 2), Feely yo received, freely give (Mate, : 8). It is ts blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20: 35). See that ye abound in this grace also 2 Cor. 8: 7). . “The Lord is in this place; and I knew it not.” (1) A great spiritual into the opportunity; (2) A gross spiritual aT) The blessed One © present; (2) The needy one ignorant. 2. ‘“This is the gate of heaven.” (1) To whom opened; (2) By whom opened: (3) To what opened. —(1; A gateway from earth; (2) A gateway to glory. 3 “Then shall the Lord be my God”? { Atheism discarded; (2) Polythelsm discarded; (3) Idolatry discarded’ (4) Thelsin accepted, ———— LESSON BIBLE BEADING. HEAVEN'S IBILITY. 28; 10-1 Hel ACCES Indicated at Beth-el (Gen, Indicated in the temple service Heb, 11 19, 20 The father: and the Abimele . wealth the env Aint HICL y of the ] over tl Isaac's Y jelding in ved to Bees Abimele been made | T ’ of W Is ~ mel § i1834C and contlras i elder, 1 attraclivenes 100 him present sensu 1 * _— . ATI prefieraine VW «ll ovment is pr of God { a close-fisted, secretiv with unatiractive traits, unfailing readiness to of the future, if the between the present and the.n. ’ th g wy en r the days to © fait ves him the pre-emi i i f his unlovely ways, slighting « a disadvantage, good traits amd qualities, wives from amon notwithstanding Esau marries two desirous from an Rebekah Jacob shall a wife her Kindred Paddanaram. Hittites were one of the mighty peoples who for a time contended for the world’s mastery, as over against the Egvptians, on the one hand, and the Assyrians on the other. Until within a few years, the Hittites were hardly known of outside of the Bible record; This makes 1 seek ill in East in various he Esau’s from him the which Jacob prizes and which Esau despises. Inspired by his Jacob deceives his father into giving to him the benefits of prophetic blessing, which the patriarch has intended for Esau, This so enraged Esau that he seeks Jacob's life: and it is to evade-the anger of Esau that Jacob, by his mother’s advice, starts out on the journey with which this lesson opens, The time of th's Jesson is supposed to be about B. C, 1760, —— A A“ Oh, Low small a portion of earth will hold us when we are dead, who ambi- tiously seek after the whole world while we are living. If we hope for what we are not likely to , we act and think in van and make life a greater dream an shadow than It really is. 1f we could read the secret history of our enemies we should find in each man’s life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility. As all seal without discretion is an offering without oyes, which was God forbidden, so, likewise, all zeal is a blind offering, which God wall never accept. An old writer says, ‘‘all discourage- ment is from the " 1 wish every Christian would take this to heart, and never forget it, We must fly from dis- couragement as we would from mun. 1 tas r advaniage oi takes 0 purchase Jacob
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers