| OCR Text |
Show i DON'T INVITE S0BB0W. SUFFICIENT UNTO THE DAY IS THE EVIL THEREOF. Dr. Ta I mu co Prraclu-n m I'ovrerful Sermon Ser-mon uii the iii-nuity (.f Borrowing I Trouble It Us U'reoLrtl Many ft Life. The Lord Will Look Out for Vuu. BitooKi.TN, Aug. 10. Dr. Talmage has returned from his western tour reiavigo-ratd reiavigo-ratd In health and cheered by the hearty and enthusiastic greetings he has received In the numerous cities bo has visited. Thousands of persons who have read his sermons in their local newspapers have struggled to get within sound of his voice wherever he has spoken. His sermon this week is on the very common and foolish habit of borrowing trouble, and his text is Matthew vi, 34, "Sufficient unto the day Is the evil thereof." The life of every man, woman and child is as closely under tbe divine care as though such person were the only man, woman or child. There are no accidents. As there is a law of storms in the natural world, so there is a law of trouble, a law of disaster, a law of misfortune; but the majority ma-jority of the troubles of life are imaginary, and the most of those anticipated never come. At any rate, there is no cause of complaint against God. See how much he hath done to make thee happy; his sunshine sun-shine filling the earth with glory, making rainbow for the storm and halo for the mountain, greenness for the moss, saffron for the cloud and crystal for the billow, and procession of bannered name through the opening gates of the morning, chaffinches chaf-finches to sing, rivers to glitter, seas to chant, and springs to blossom, and overpowering over-powering all other sounds with its song, aud overarching all other splendor with its triumph, covering up all other beauty with I its garlands, and outtlashing all other thrones with Its dominion deliverance for ; a lost world through tbe Great Redeemer. wring out more gall Into the bitterness? Are we such champions that, having won the belt in former encounters, we Ciin go forth tochalienge nil the tuture Here are bu-oiuess men jusi able to manage man-age n tf airs as they now are They can pay their rent, and im-tt their notes, au'l man age uffairH am they now are, lnH what if there should come a panic! Go tomorrow and write on your daybook, on your ledger, uii your money safe, "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." Uo not worry ubuul notes that are far from due. Do noi pile up on your count ing dusk the financial anxieties of the next twenty years. The God w ho ha-H taken care of your worldly occupation, guarding your store from the torch of the incendiary and the key of the burglar, will be as faithful in Ibtll as in 1881. God's hand is mightier than the machinations of etock gamblers, or. the plots of political demagogues, or the red right arm of revolution, and the darkness will fly and the storm fall dead at his feet. So there are persons in feeble health, and they are worried about the future. They make out very well now, but hey are bothering themselves about future pleuri sies and rheumatisms and neuralgias and fevers. Their eyesight is feeble, and they are worried lest they entirely lose it. Their hearing is indistinct, aud they are alarmed lest they become entirely deaf. They felt chilly today, and are expecting an uttack of typoid. They have been troubled for weeks with some perplexing malady, and dread becoming lifelong invalids. Take care of your health now and trust God for the future. He not guilty of the blasphemy of asking him to take care of you while you sleep with your windows tight down, or eat chicken salad at 11 o'clock at night, or sit down on a cake of ice to cool off. Be pru-, pru-, deut and then be confident. Some of the , sickest people have been the most useful. ! It was no with Payson, who died deaths daily, and Robert Hall, who used to stop in the midst of his sermon aud lie down ou the pulpit sofu to rest, and then go on agaiu. Theodore Frelinghuysen had a great horror of dying till the time came, and then went peacefuHy. Take care of the present and let the future look out for l aiscourse oi ice sin oi uorrowiug trouble. trou-ble. First, such a habit of mind and heart is wrong, because it puts one into a despondency des-pondency that ill fits him for duty. I planted two rose bushes in my garden. The one thrived beautifully, the other perished. per-ished. 1 found the dead one on the shady side of the house. Our dispositions, like our plants, need snnshine. Expectancy of repulse is the cause of many secular and religious failures. Fear of bankruptcy has up lorn many a fine business and sent the man dodging among the note shavers. Fear of slander and abuse has often invited all tbe long beaked vultures of scorn and backbiting. Many of the misfortunes of life, like hyenas, flee if you courageously meet them. FORCE HAPPINESS TO COME. How poorly prepared for religious duty is a man who sits down under the gloom of expected misfortunel If he pray, he says, "I do not think 1 shall be answered." If he give, he says, "I expect they will steal the money." Helen Chalmers told me that her father, Thomas Chalmers, in I the darkest hour of the history of the Free Church of Scotland, and when the woes of 1 the land seemed to weigh upon his heart, said to the children, "Come, let us go out t and play ball or fly kite," and the only dif-licultyin dif-licultyin the play was that the children i could not keep up with their father. The McCheyues and the Summerflelds of the church who did the most good, cultivated sunlight. Away with the horrorsl they distill poison; they dig graves, and if they , could climb so high, they would drown the rejoicings of heaven with sobs and wailing. You will have nothing but misfortune in the future if you sedulously watch for it. How shall a man catch the right kind of fish if he arranges his line and hook and bait to catch lizards and water BerpentsF Hunt for bats aud hawks and bats and hawks you will find. Hunt for robin redbreasts aud you will And robin redbreasts. One night an eagle aud an owl got into fierce battle; the eagle unused to the night was uo match fur an owl, which is most at home iu the darkness, and the king of the air fell helpless; but the morning rose, and with it rose the eagle; and the owls and the night hawks and the bats came a second sec-ond time to the combat; now, the eagle, in the sunlight, with a stroke of his talons and a great cry, cleared the air, and bis enemies, with torn feathers and splashed with blood, tumbled into the thickets. Ye are the children of light. In tbe night of despondency you will have no chance against your enemies that flock up from beneath, but, trusting in God and standing stand-ing iu the sunshine of the promises, you ItseiL oumcieuL unto one uay is tne evn thereof." ROBS US OF WUAT STRENGTH WE EJAVE. Again, the habit of borrowing misfortune misfor-tune is wrong because it unfits us for it when it actually does come. We cannot always have smooth sailing. Life's path will sometimes tumble among declivities and mount a steep and be thorn pierced. Judas will kiss our cheek and then sell us for thirty pieces of silver. Human scorn will try to crucify us between two thieves. We will hear the iron gate of thesepulcher creak and grind as it shuts in our kindred. But we cannot get ready for these things by forebodings. They who fight imaginary woes will come, out of breath, into conflict with the armed disasters of the future. Their ammunition will have been wasted long before they come under the guns of real misfortune. Boys in attempting to jump a wall sometimes go so far back in order to get impetus that when they come up they are exhausted; aud these long races in order to get spring enough to vault trouble bring us up at last to the dreadful reality with our strength gone. Finally, the habit of borrowing trouble , is wrong because it is unbelief. God has promised to take care of us. The Bible .blooms with assurances. Your hunger will be fed; your sickness will be alleviated; allevi-ated; your Borrows will be healed. God will sandal your feet and smooth your path, aud along by frowning crag and opeuing grave sound the voices of victory and good cheer. The summer clouds that seem thunder charged really carry in their bosom harvests of wheat, and shocks of corn, and vineyards purpling for the wine press. The wrathful wave will kiss the feet of the great storm walker. Our great Joshua will command, and above your soul tbe sun of prosperity will standstill. Bleak und wave struck Patmos shall have apocalyptic vision, and you shall bear the cry of the elders, and the sweep of wings, and trumpets of salvation, and the voice of Hallelujah unto God forever. PLACE VOUH TRUST IN OOD. Your way may wind along dangerous bridle paths and amid wolf's howl and the scream of the vulture, but the way still winds upward till auyela guard it, and trees of life overarch it, and thrones line it, and crystalline fountains leap on it, and the pathway ends at gates that are pearl, and streets that are gold, and temples that are always open, and hills that quake with perpetual song, and a city mingling forever for-ever Sabbath aud jubilee and triumph and coronation. Let picture chant her siren song, 'Tis not the song for mo: Tn -.vn.-nim' It will lorn flr lonr- For thin is btuvea's deorco. . But there's a bo an the ransomed sing. To Jesus, their exalted kind, With Joyful heart and tongue. Oh, thal'ti Lhu soui; for met Courage, my brother! The father does not give to his bou at school enough mouey ' to last him several years, but, as the bills for tuition and board aud clothing and books come in, pays them. So God will not give you grace all at once for the future, but will meet all your exigencies as they come. Through earnest prayer, trust him. Put everything in God's hand, aud leave it there. Large interest money to pay will soon eat up a farm, a store, an estate, and the interest ou borrowed troubles will swamp anybody. "Sufficient unto the day Is the evil thereof." shall "renew your youth like the eagle." THERE MiE BLESSINGS A-PLENTY. Again, thir habit of borrowing trouble Is wrong because it has a teudency to make us overlook present blessing. To slake man's thirst, the rock is cleft, and cool waters leap Into his brimming cup. To feed his hunger the fields bow down with betiding wheat, aud the cattle come down with full udders from the clover pastures pas-tures to give him milk, and the orchards yellow and ripen, casting their juicy fruits into his lap. Alasl that amid such exuberance exuber-ance of blessing man should growl as though he were a soldier on half rations, or a sailor on short allowance; that a man should stand neck deep in harvests looking look-ing forward to famiuo; that one should-feel should-feel the strong pulses of health marching witli regular tread thr6ughall the avenues of . life aud yet tremble at the expected assault as-sault of sickness; that a man should sit in his pleasant home, fearful that ruthless waut will-some day rattle the broken window win-dow sash with tempest, and sweep the coals from the hearth, and pour hunger into the bread tray; that a man fed by bim who owns till the harvests should expect ex-pect to starve; that one whom God loves and surrounds with benediction, and attends at-tends with angelic escort, and hovers over with more than motherly fondness, should bo looking for a heritage of tearsl Has God been hard with thee that thou shouldst be forebodiugl1 Has he stinted thy board? Has be covered thee with ragsf lias he spread traps for thy feet, aud galled thy cup, aud rasped thy soul, and wrecked thee with storm, and thundered upon thee with a life full of calamity? If your father or brother come into your bank where gold and silver are lying about you do not watch them, for you know they are honest; but If an entire stranger come by the safe you keep your eye on him, for you do not know his desigus. So some men treat God; not as a father, but a stranger, and act suspiciously toward hiryis though thoy wro afraid he would r" " -jmcthlng. THANK OOD FOR YOU HAVE. It is high' t-lmVyoii legan to thank God for your present blessing. Thank him for your childreu, happy, buoyant and bounding. bound-ing. Praise him for your home, with Its fountain of song and laughter. Adore him for morning light aud evening shadow. Praise him for fresh, cool water bubbling from the rock, leaping in the cascade, soaring soar-ing in the mist, falling in the shower, dashing dash-ing against the rock and clapping Its hands iu tin- tempest. Love him for the grass that cushions the earth, and the clouds that curtain tho sky, and the foliage that waves in the forest. Thank him for a Bible Bi-ble to read, and a cross to gaze upon, aud a Saviour to deliver. Many Christians think it a bad sign to ' be jubilant, and their work of self exam-; exam-; inntiou is a hewing down of their brighter ! experiences. Like a boy with a new jack-knife, jack-knife, hacking everything he comes across, o their self examination is a religious cutting cut-ting to pieces of the greenest thiDgs they can lay their bauds on. They Imagine they are doing God's service when they are going at tout borrowing trouble, and borrowing bor-rowing it at thirty per cent., which is al ways a sure precursor of bankruptcy. Again, the habit of borrowing trouble is wrong because the present ia sufficiently sufficient-ly taxed with trial. God sees that we all need a certain antouut of trouble, aud bo he apportions it for all tho days and years of our life. Alas tor the policy of gathering gather-ing it all up for one day or yearl Cruel thing to put upon the back of one camel all the cargo intended for the entire caravan. cara-van. I never look at my memorandum book to see what engagements and duties are far ahead. Let every week bear its owu burdens. WITT BRING NF.W SORROWS? The shadows of today are thick enough, why implore the presence of other ehsd-owkt ehsd-owkt The cup is already distasteful, why halloo to disasters fftf dhjtant to. w mc |