— —— s———— REV. DR. TALMAGE, THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUN- DAY SEILMON. ' oh ———— Subject: “Our Own Generation.” Text: “David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep.” — Acts xiii., 46, That is a text which has for a long time been running through my mind, but not un- til now has it been fully revealed to me. Sermons have a time to be born as well as a time to die, a cradle as well as a grave, David, cowboy and stone-slinger and fighter and czar and dramatist and blank verse writer and prophet, did his best for the people of his time and then went and laid down on the sonthern hill of Jerusalem in that sound slumber which nothing but an archaugelic blast can startle. “David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep.” It was his own generation that he had served; that is, the people living at the time he lived. And have you ever thought that our responsibilities are chiefly with the people now walking abreast of us! There are about four generations to a century now, but in olden time life was longer and there was, perhaps, only one generation to a cen- tury. Taking theso facts into the calculation, I make a rough guess and say that there have been at least one hundred and eighty generations of the human family, With reference to them we have no responsibility. We cannot teach them, we cannot correct their mistakes, we cannot soothe their sor- rows, we cannot heal thelr wounds. Their sepulchers are deaf and dumb to anything we might say to them. The last regiment of that great army has passed out of sight, We might halloo as loud as we could, not one of them would avert his head to see what we wantad. 1 admit that I am in sympathy with the child whose father had suddenly died and | | who in her little evening prayer wanted to | continue to pray for her father, although he i few years officers of government go through bad gone into heaven and no more needed ber prayers, and looking up mother's face said: “OO, mother, 1 can. not leave him all out. let me say, *Thank Ged that I had a good father once, and so 1 can keep him in my pray- ers.” But the one hundred and eighty gen- erations have passed off. Passed up. Passed down. Gone forever. Then there are gener ations to come aftor our earthly existence has ceased, perhaps a hundred and eighty geperations gre, Jethaps a thousand gener- ations more. We shall not see them, we shall not hear any of their voices, we will take no rt in their convocations, their elections, heir revolutions, their catastrophes, their triumphs. We will in no wise affect the one hundred and eighty generations gone, or the one hundred and eighty generations to come, except as from the galleries of heaven the into her | {| accuracy is reached | fifteen people, then there | former generations look down and rejoice at | BE J our victories, or as we may by our behavior start influences, good or bad, that shall roll on through the advancing ages. But our busi- 1 am glad to know that the time is coming, God hasten it, round world will sit down it will be only a question and vension, or betwesn partridge and quail on toast, and out of wpoons made out of Nevada silver or California gold the pastries will drop on tongues thrilling with thankfulness because they have full enough, 1 have no idea God is going to let the human race stay in its present prodicament, If the world winds up as it now js it will be an awful failure of a world, The barren laces will be irrigated. The pomologists, helped of God, will urge on the fruits. The hotavists, in. spired of the Lord, will help on the gardens. he raisers of stock will send enough ani. mals fit for human food to the markets, and the last earthquake that rendz the world will upset a banqueting table at which are seated the entire human race, Meanwhile, suppose that some of the (»ar~y we are ex- pending in uselogs and unavaiung talk about the bread question should bé expended in merciful alleviations. 1 have read that the battle fleld on which more troops met than on any other in the world’s history was the battle field of Leip- sic, 100,000 men under Napoleon, 00.0 men under Sobwarseherg, | No, no, The reatest and most terrific battle is now be- ng fought all the world over. It is the struggle for food. The grognd tone of the finest passage in one of great musical masterpieces, the artist says, was suggested to him by the cry of the bungry populace of Vienna as the King rode through and the shouted: “Bread. Give us bread!" And all through the great harmonies of mu- gical academy and cathedral I hear the pathos, the ground tone, the tragedy of un- counted multitudes, who with streaming eyes and wan checks and broken heartsdn behalf of themselves and their families, are pleading for bread. let us take another look around to see how we may serve our generation. Jot us soo as far as possible that they have enough to wear, God looks on the human race and knows just how many inbabitants the world bas The statistics of the world’s population are carefully taken in civilized lands, and every full table, and when sary family in the at na between lamb the land and count how many people there are in the United States or Eagland and great But when people tell us how many inhabitants there are in Asia or Africa; at best it must be a wild guess. Yet God knows the exact number of people on our planet and he has made enough apparel for each, and if there be fifteen hundred mil. lion, fifteen thousand, fifteen hundred and enough apparel for fifteen hundred million, Mion thousand, fifteen hundred and fifteen. Not slouch ap- parel, not ragged apparel, not insufficient apparel, but appropriate : apparel At least two suits for every being on the earth, a summer suit and a winter sult. A good pair of shoes for every livin mortal. A good coat, a good hat or a go bonnet and a good shawl, and a complete masculine or a feminine outfit of apparel. A wardrobe for all nations adapled to all {| climes, and not a string or a button, or a pin pess is, like David, to serve our owngeneration, | the people now living, those whose lungs now breathe and whose hearts now beat. And mark you, it is not a silent procession, but moving. Itisa “forced march” at twenty- four miles a day, each hour being a mile Going with that celerity, it has got to be a quick service on our part, or no service at all.k. We not only cannot teach the one hundred and eighty genera tions past and will not see the one hundred generations to come, but this generation now on the stage will soon be off and we ourselves will be off withthe. The fact is that you and I will have to start very soon for our work or it will be ironical and sarcastic for any one after our exit to say of us, as it was said of David, “after he had served his own generation by the will of God, be fell on sleep.” Well, now, let us look around earnestly, prayerfully and in a common sense way and see what we can do for our own generation. First of all lot us see to it that, as far as we can, they have enough to eat The human body is so constituted that three times a day the body needs food as much as a lamp needs oil, as much as a locomotive needs fuel To meet this want God bas girdled the earth with apple orchards, orange groves, wheat flalds and oceans full of fish and prairies full of cattle, And not- withstanding this, I will undertake to say that the vast majority of the human family are suffering either for lack of food or the right kind of food. Our civilization is all ew on this subject and God only can set it right, | of | know how { from Many of the greatest estates of to-day have | been built out of the blood and bones of un- requited toil. In olden times, for the buiid- ing of forts and towers, the inhabitants of Ispahan had to contribute 70,000 human or a hook or an eye wanting. But, alas! where are the good clothes for three-fourths the human rmce! The other one fourth have appropriated them. The fact is, there neods to be and will be a redistri bution. Not by anarchistic violence. If outlawry had its way, it would rend and tear and diminish until instead of three fourths of the world not properly attired, four-fourths would be in rags. I let you the redistribution will take piace. By generosity on the part of those who have a surplus and increased in- dustry on the part of those suffering from deficit. Not all, but the large majority of cases of poverty in this country are a result of idleness or drunkenness, either on the part of the present sulerers or their ancestors In most cases the rum jug is the mael strom that has pb ond | down the livell hood of those who are in rags Bas things will change, and by generosity on the part of the crowded wardrobes, and industry and sobriety on the part of the empty ward- robes there will be enough for all to wear, God has done His part toward the dressing of the human race He grows a sur plus of wool on the sheep's back, and flocks roam the mountains and valleys with a burden of warmth intended for transference to human comfort, when the shiutties of the factories reaching all the way the Chattahoochee to the Merrimac shall bave spun and woven it. And here come forth the Rocky Mountain goat and the cash mere and the beaver. Here are the merino sheep, their origin traced back to the flocks of Abrahamic and Davidic times, In white let. | i ters of snowy fleece, God has bem writing fora | thousand years His wish that thors mignt be warmth for all nations. While others are | discussing the effect of high or low tariff or skulls, and Bagdad 90,000 human skulle, and | that number of people were slain so as to furnish the skulls But thew two contribu tions added together made only 160,000 skulls, while into the tower of the world's wealth and pomp and magnificence have | been wrought the skeletons of umcounted | numbers of the hall fed populations of the earth, millions of skulls, Don't sit down at your table with five or six courses of abundant supply and think nothing of that family in the next street who would take any one of those five conrses be. tween soup and almond nuts and feel they were in heaven. The lack of the right kind of food is the cause of much of the drunk- enness, After drinking what many of our grocers call coffee, sweetened with what many call sugar, and eating what many of our butchers call meat, and chewing what many of onr bakers call bread, many of the Jabormg classes feel so miserable they are tempted to t what the tobacconist calls tebacco, | snows and so much frost on the window pane | no tariff at all on wool, you and [ had better soe if in our wardrobes we have nothing that we can spare for the shivering, or pick out some poor lad of the take him down to a clothing fit him out for the winter. store and Don't think that God has forgotten to send ice and | snow, because of this wonderfully mild Janu- ary and February. Woshall yet have deep that in the morning you cannot see through it: and whole flocks of blizzards, for God | long ago 3sclared that winter as well as sum- into their nasty pipes | or | go into the drinking saloons for what the | rum sellers call beer, Good coffee would do | ouch in driving out bad ram. Adulteration | of food has got to be an evil against which | all the health officers and all the doctors and all the ministers and all the reformers and all the Curistians neel to set them. selves in battle array our generation with enough to cat! By sit- ting down in embroidered slippers and loung- ing back in an arm-chair, our puck- ered up around a Havana of the best brand, and through clouds of luxuriant smokes read- about political economy and the philos- Inga of strikes! Aoi No By finding pas who in Brook! s been living on the latte and sending them a tenderloin Beek out some family who through sickness or conjunction of misfortune have not enough to eat and do for at Christ did for the hungry multitudes of Asia Minor, muitiply- ing the loaves aod the fished { the surfeiting of ourselves until we cannot choke down another crumb of cake and be- . gin the supply of others’ necessitios. We often see on a small scale a rocklessness bed and machine Lf and w 80 Keon ; rod po Bn slong lest amining the implement he cut Br yo sot 3 7 a turned the crank a tha unfortunats harde nti! ha who | ‘navigation, and in Jocom tion ! ‘and machinery, mer shall not cease, and between this and the | spring crocus we may all have reason to ory out with the pealmist: **Who can stand be- fore this cold ™ Again, jet us look around and see how we may serve our generation. What short sighted mortals we would be if we were anxious to clothe and feed only the moet in. sigmificant part of a man, namely, his body, while we put forth no effort to clothe and feed and save his soul. Time is a little piece broken off a great eternity. What are we doing for the souls of this present generation! fot me say it is a generation worth saving. Most magnificent men and women are in it. We make a great ado about the improvements in axl in art We remark what wonders | lof telegraph, and telephone, and stethoscope. How can we serve | | fifty Jeonge ¥ What improvement is electric light over a tallow candle! But all these improvements are insignificant compared with the improve ment in the human race. In olden times, once in a while, a great and good man or woman would come up and thé world has made a great fuss about it ever since, but now they are so numerous we scarcely speak about them. We put a halo about the peo- ple of the past, bat [ think if the times de manded them it would be found we have now living in this year 189 fifty Martin Luthers, 'ashingtons, fifty Lady Hunt- ingtons, fi tlizabeth Frys. During our | leivil war more splendid warriors in North and iBouth were develope l in four years than the (whole world develops in the previous wen. ty years I challenge the four thousand vars before the flood and the eighteen cen- ries after the flood, to show me the equal of charity on a large sale of George Peabody, This generation of men and women Is more worth saving than any of the one hundred and eighty g ations that have 3 But where shall we begin ith our. solves, That is the pillar from which we must start. Prescott, the blind historian, tolls us bow Pizarro saved his army for right when Shay were about deserting itn his sword south side is victory : on the north side Pana- . on the south tide Pera with The sword dividing line ain and ruin and on and usefulness and i BPH street and iH] i ASS. beh Ving ds wt on: What, without a tear! Yes, believe! Thats all, Believe what! That Josus died to save you from sin and death and hell, Will you? Do you! You have Something makes me think you have New light has come into your countenances, Weal- como! Welcoma! Hail! Hail! Saved yourselves, how are you going to save others! ly testimony. Tell it to your fam- ily, Toll it to your business associates. Tell it everywhere, Wo will susoesbiuliy Jreash no more religion and will successfully talk no more religion than we ourselves have. The most of thas which you do to benefit the souls of this generation, you will effect through your own behavior. Go wrong, and that will induce others to go wrong. Go right, and that will induce others to go right, When ths great centennjal exhibition wns being held in Philadelphia, the gues- tion came up among the directors as to whether Shey could keep the ex- position open on Hundays, when a director, who was a man of the world, from Nevada, arose and said, his voice trembling with emotion and tears running down his cheeks: “1 feel like a returned prodigal. Twenty yoars ago I went West and into a region where we had no Sabbath, but to-day old memories come back to me, and re- member what my glorified mother taught me about keeping Sunday, and I seen to © hear her volee again and feel as 1 did when every evening 1 knelt by her side in prayer, Gentlemen, 1 vote for the observancs of the Christian Sabbath.” And he carried everything by storm, and when the question was put. ‘Shall we open the exhibition on Sabbath?” it was almost unanimous, “No,” “No.” What one man can do if he does right, boldly right, emphatic- ally right. What if we could get this whole genera- tion saved! These people who are living with us the same year and amid the same stupendous events and flying toward the fu- tare swiftor than eagles to their prey. We cannot stop. They cannot stop. We think we can stop, We say, “Come now, my friend, let us stop and discuss this subject,” ht we do not stop. The year does not stop, the day does not stop, the hour does not stop. The year js a gr at wheel and there is a band on that wheel that keeps it revolv- ing, and as that wheel turns, it turns three hundred and sixty-five wheels turn twenty - | four smaller wheels, which are the hours, and these twenty-four smaller wheels turn sixty | | smaller wheels, which are the min- { utes, and these sixty smaller wheels turn | sixty more smalier wheels, which are the | seconds, and they keep rolling, rolling, roil- {1ng, mounting, mounting, mounting, and | swiftening, swiftening, swiftening. Oh, God! if our generation {is going like ithat and we are going with them, | waken us to the short but tremendous { opportunity. I confess to you that my | one wish is to serve this generation, not to ! antagonizs it not to damage it, not to rule it, but to serve it. I would like to do something toward helping unstrap its load, to stop its tears, to balsam its wounds and to induce it to put foot on the upward 7 md that has at its terminus, acc’amation rapturous and gates peariine, and gariands amaranth | ine and fountains rainbowed and dominions enthroned and coroneted, for 1 cannot forget that lullaby in the closing words of my text ‘David. after he had served his own genera- tion by the will of God, fell on slesp.” And what a lovely sleep it was! Unfilial Absalom did not trouble it, Ambitious Ado nijah did not worry it Persocuting Saul | did not harrow it. Exile did not fill it with nightmare Since sa rel headed boy amid his father's flocks at night, be bad not had lpuch a good sleep. At sevenly years of age he lay down to He bas bad | many a troubled in the caverns of Adullam palace at | the time his enemies were attempting his capture But this was a peaceful sleep, a calm sleep, a restful sleep, & glorious sleep After he served his generation by the will of God, he tell on sie Oh, what a good thing ix sleep after a bard day's work! It takes all the aching out of the head and all the weariness out of the Hmbs and all the smarting out of the eyes. From it we rise in | the morning and it is a new world. And if | we, like David, serve our geners- tion, wo will at life's close have most desira’ de and refreshing sleep. In it will vanish our Inst fatigue of body, our | last worriment of mind, our last sorrow of soa]. To the Christian's body that was hot with raging fevers so that the attendants must by sheer force keep on the blankets, it will be the seep. To those who are thin blooded and shivering with agues, it will be the warm sleep To those who, because of physical disorders, wore terrified with night visions, it will be the dreamiess sleep. To nurses and | doctors and mothers who were wakened al- | most every hour of the night by those to | whom they ministered, or over whom they | watched, it will be the undisturbed sleep. | To those who could not get to bed till late at night and must rise early in the morning an before getting rested, it will be the Jong sleep, Away with all your gloomy talk about de- | parture from this world, If we have served | cur generation it will not be putting out into the breakers, it will not be the fight with the King of Terrors; it will be going to sleep, | A friend writing me from lilinois says that Rev. Dr. Wingate President of Wake Forest College, North Carolina, {after a most useful life, found his last {day on earth his happiest day, and | that in his last moments he seomed to be Pere | sonally talking with Christ, as friend with | friend, saying: “Oh, how delightful itis. | mew You would be with me when the time came, and 1 knew it would be sweet, but | did not know it would be as sweet as it I” | The fact was be had served his it or cool | : hundred and sixty-five smaller wheels, wilich i | are the days, and then each of these three Binal and him of the halting sun over Ajalon. And those two walking arm in arm must be John and Paul, the one so gentle and the other so mighey, And those two with the robes as brilliant as though made out of the cooled off flames of martyrdom, must be John Huss and Hugh Latimer, But 1 must not look any longer at those ens of beavty, but examine this bulidin n which 1 have just awakened. 1 look ou of the window this way and that and up and down, and I find it Is a mension of immense size in which 1 am stopping, All its windows of and its colonnades of porphyry and alabaster. Why 1 won- der if this fs not the house of “many mansions” of which I wed to read?! Its, itis, There must be many of my kindred and friends in this very man- sion, Hark! whose are those volces, whose are those bounding feet! 1 open the door and ses, and lo! they are coming through all the corridors and ue and down all the stairs, our long absent kindred, Why, there is father, there is mother, there are the children. All wellagain. All young again. All of us togeth~ er again, And us we embrace each other with the cry: “Never more to part] never more to part!” the arches,the alcoves, the hallways echo and ro-echo the words: “Never maore to part. Never more to part.” Then our glorified friends say: “Come out with us and soe heaven.” { them skipping { down the ivory | meet, coming up, beside us, stairway. one © we start And we the Kings of ancient Israel, somewhat small of stature, | but baving & countenance radiant with a | | thousand victories. And as all are making | obeisance to this great one of heaven I cry | out: Whe is be" and the answer comes: Hu is the greatest of all the Kings of | {srael. sleep. SABBATH SCHOOL, | INTERNATIONAL LESSON FOR FEBRUARY 17. » | Lesson Text: “The Timid Woman's Touch," Mark v., 25-84--Golden Text: Mark 5, 836-Commen-~ tary on the Lesson After healing the man or men of Oadara, | who were so afflicted by the demons, He, at | the urgent request of the people, left them | | and recrossed the sea to His own city, Caper. nanm (Matt ix, 1), where Luke vill, 40, says that the Joe gladly received Him, for they were all waiting for Him, Christian workers learn from this that whether teachers or preachers, if they speak the trath faithfully, and in some quarters it | Is not received, there are other places where they are waiting for it 2, “A certain woman had an sme of blood twelve years Jesus was at this time on the way to the house of Jalrus, a ruler of the synagogue, to bring back to life his daughter, a Httle girl twelve years of age who was dying when the father left howe (La vill, 45; with Jairus a great crowd followed and thronged Him, and this poor aflictal woman among the rest. It mattered not whether, as in the case of this woman, the life (for the life of the flesh is in the blood, Lev, xvii, 11 was slowly but surely ebbing away; or whether, as in the case of the little girl, the life had clean gone; whether it had just gone, or been gone a few bours uke wil, 13, or some days (John xi, 35; it mattered not to the Prince of Life, for in Him is life, and a word from Him is sufficient in either case. It mattersd not whether the afftiction had lasted twelve, or toons, or thirtyeight or forty years (Lake xifl., 11; John v., 5: Acts iv, 25) His power was more than sullicient in either cane, Now as to life and health that amounts to anything, we have it not until we receive Jesus Christ; Jot every teacher and scholar ponder carefully that marvelous verse com- posed of words of one syllable which almost any little child can read and remember: “He that hath the Bon hath the life: be that hath not the Son of God bath not the life” (I Jobn v., 12 RV.) 2, “Had suffered many things, * * * had spent all, * * * was nothing bettered, but rather grow worse.” Many physicians much suffering, money all gone, given up ail, all the time growing worse, no hope, pire bolpless, unclean, undone; what a yitiab or “He giveth power to the faint and to thom *hat bave no might He increaseth | strength.” (ea xi, 99 improving ever 0 little under some one of these many yuicians, the probability is that she might not have come to Jesus, but her com failure to find help anywhere oso Jed to Jesus. The Jeast reliance upon ourselves may hinder us from coming to Jesus for salvation, or being saved may hinder Him from working mus to will and to do of His good pleasure. 21. When had hoard of Jesar” Some body's testimony bad reached her, perhaps several had been necessary | gogue with the unclean spiri son, the sick of the palsy | It is to me a great mystery how ven, and eration in | the gospel ministry and by the willof God he | fell on sleep. When in Africa, Majwara, the servant, looked iuto the tent of | stepped back, not wishing to disturb him in yer, | found him in the same posture, and stepped i back again, but after a while went in and touched him, and lo! the great traveler had | finished his last journey and be had died in the grandest and mightiest wture a man ever takes—on his knees, He und served bis generation by warolling scroll of a continent, and by the will of God foll on sleep. Grimshaw, the avangelist, onde po as sure of glory as if 1 were in it, heaven.” Haw succesful ovangsiism Ly the will of God, he fel! on wlewp, In the museum of Greenwich Hospital, relics of Bir John Franklin, who had his discovery Ly the will of God, he fell on sloop. h H il H 2 si ih 2 £ i i avid Ldv- i ingstone and found him on bis knees, he | and some time after went in and | the | given unto them this great salva fo | Jie there: but can there le a cold fire or a Will the reader answer to God ms: Do you know of any ome to | A that | Jhom Jou have ever gladly testifies Jesus i | there those in the church or Sunday school | our influence has brought there! and when asked how he felt in his last moments, | “As happy ax | tan be on earth | 1 have nothing to do but to step out of this bed into | served Lis generation in | England, there is a fragment of a book that | was found in the Arctic regions sm'd the | 99 shou id or voting yaiok remeyis and i AE results to 4 ; Jesus Immediately knowing * * Tn tia knows And, some of | them bounding abead of us and some of | It is David, who after he had served | | his generation by the will of God, fell on | Let all | as Heand His disciples went | case and yot just the one for Jesus, | If she had teen | ark i, ii, Jobm ! testimony of some of these I not like to conclude that where | and gratefui testimony either spooch that there is no real | touch but his clothes, I shall a ADVANCE IN PRICE. wag Homer on can be had now NATIONAL SHEET METAL ROOFWING CO., 510 Eam Twentieth Wi. New York City. VASELINE PREPARATIONS, Vi of pol ape heir will send freo by Et jh NE ey a em ce A DAY! A Wy Tis | PHILADELPHIA, PA. ORTHERN PACIFIC. LOW PRICE RAILROAD LANDS v sal MILLIONS of A Dikota, Mont LER, nH, hi ge ng 2.1 Rl BALEM IRON WORKS SALEM, WN, O. S$ YOUR FARM FOR SALE ©: TH, If #0 address Cord & Wazant, 28 Droadwas, X,Y, _PEERLESS DYES A2020% THIS MEANS YOU. This Beautiful $128.00 Organ Positively Qliven Away. J of To fhe first petuct MDALDE Us 1 jor fine J] - ie PIL VEALIES Eye Restorer RESTORES SBIGET At all Druggists, EYE RESTORER CO., - ALBANY. N. Y. Needs, 10 packaty on 41 ER | AR tthe wo w v o their eode o nding grains or k yest gress a 0 1, TE eR ba A rar 2 -h rite ay a4 tal note, & y order Of rewistered etter not compete with Arms wling oid trashy steds st cui rates. Wo sell only he ren iainly, EN chetn un ane gue ‘ separate pleos of paper, vostel card thls pager ane © - i = COASIT gin 4 a i oo on ga CASE H STEN-WINDING ] 0: prANSND B WATCHES 4 RINGS SIVIN FREE TO SUBSCRIBERS. + GIVEN FREE T0 SUBSCRIBERS, © F 1 - . LEER Eo HHL EEITRSN EST Hil Reet anus samy . CUT THIS OUT AND SECURE A CLUB. IT WILL NOT APPEAR Make Your Chickens Earn Money. ' They will, if you handle them properly, and to teach you we are now putting forth a 100-PAGE BOOK FOR 25 CENTS. It embodies the axperience of a practioal man laboring for 25 years among Poultry as a business—not as a diversion, but far the purpose of making dollars and cents. He made a success, and there ls no reason why you should not jf you will profit by his labors—and the price of a few egge will give you this intelligence. Even if you have room for only a few hens you should know how to MAKE TH PAY. This book will show you. Among hundreds of other points about the Poultry Yard it teaches:
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers