Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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I TALMAGE SERMON X By Rev. TRANK DE WITT TALMAGE. D.D.. Pastor of Jefferson Park Presby terian Ohurch, Chicago Chicago, Oct. 5.—In this sermon the preacher draws a broad distinction be tween right and wrong ambition and points out the duty of all to grasp op portunities as they come within our reach. The text is Galatians vi, 10, “As we have therefore opportunity, let ub do good unto all men.” “Do circumstances make the man or man the circumstances?” is the theme of a never ending discussion. Some people are intense in their advocacy of the first half of this question. They believe that no gn at temporal achieve ment is possible unless that success is the outgrowth of a fortuitous combina tion of favorable circumstances. At the present time they point, by way of illustration, to the career of the presi dent of the United States and assert that the present incumbent would not have reached his exalted position had not the unseen fates singled him out as one of their most favored children. It was a tidal wave of municipal re form, over which he had practically no control, that bore him, a comparatively unknown young man, into a police commissioner's chair* of New York city; it was the result of the Spanish-Amcr- ican war, which he did nothing to bring about, that made him governor of New York state; it was a conspiracy of the politicians to politically mummi fy and embalm his presidential aspira tions that shelved him. much against his will, in the vice presidential chair, an> then it was an assassin’s bullet thj t opened for him almost immediate ly the front door of the White House. Thus the believers in the doctrine t’ at “circumstances make men” de clare that in four short years a star- t ing series of events, unexampled in i ae his* iry of our nation, changed a oung assistant secretary of the navy department into the executive head of the mightiest nation in the world. On the other hand, those who hold the op posite view and answer in the negative the question, “Do circumstances make the man?” which has been debated in every college literary society of the land, contend that the president owes his elevation to his virile force, unim peachable character, intense convic tions and never yielding grit. They declare that no power on earth could ever have kept him an underling. They atlirm that these characteristic qualities would have forced him to the front no matter in what clime he might have lived or to what flag he might have owed his allegia nee. These two in terpretations of such a we ll known ca reer to a greater or less extent may be applied to the worldly success of al most every man who has attained emi nence in public affairs. But though high temporal achieve ment can be reached only by a few, my text distinctly implies that great spir itual usefulness and great opportuni ties to serve mankind are attainable by every true Christian. Therefore in j bleth thing, even in a game, unlesa he gave himself up to a rigid course of prepara tion. So for three long years I used to sleep and eat and exercise during the day. Then alone in the quietude of the long hours of the night, when the whole world was asleep, I was solving the different problems of the chessboard. At last by this work I so perfected my memory that blindfolded I have met ten and fifteen different players at the same time. I have car ried all these different games in my head at once and won them all.” The opportunity for great success in any department of life never comes except to him who has equipped himself by a rigid course of preparation and inex orable training. The Chrlatinn'M Preparation. This premise being true, it is essen tial that the Christian should conse crate his life to Christ in order to be prepared for the great opportunities of Christian service. It is very impor tant for you and me to live close to Christ, to feel the touch of Christ's anointing hands upon our hearts, to feel the touch of his loving lips on our cheeks, the touch of his anointing foot upon our feet, before we can go forth successfully on our mission of Chris tian service. Many failures in the Christian life can be traced directly to this lack of spiritual preparation. Fail ing such preparation, we cannot rec ognize our opportunity when it comes. An ancient sculptor once chiseled the statue of the mythological goddess called “Opportunity” with a veiled face. He said. “The reason I covered Opportunity's face was because so few are able to recognize her when she stands by their side.” The sculptor was wrong in part as well as right in part. He should have blinded the eyes of the onlooker rather than the farsee- ing eyes of the mythological goddess. The chief reason W’hy some of us do not see the sweet faced Pauline mes sengers, which we may call the Oppor tunities of Christian service, is because most of us are spiritually blinded by our past sins, because most of us are not willing by prayer and earnest com munion with God to make the spiritual preparation that is necessary to fit us aright for gospel work. But more than mere equipment is necessary. Great opportunities are willing to bless those only who are ready to sacrifice and, if need be, to die for the cause those opportunities represent. There is a wide difference between being mentally, physically and ' spiritually equipped to meet a great opportunity and being willing to make the sacrifice that is essential for the J success of that cause after the oppor- i tunity has arrived. Dilate was mentally and spiritually able to realize the na ture of the opportunity of his position. | He knew that Jesus was guiltless. He saw clearly and distinctly what he ought to do, but Pilate was not ready to sacrifice for Christ his political ca reer as governor of Judaea. Therefore Pilate, who saw his opportunity, em braced it not, but shrank from it. Thomas Cranmer, when the days of persecution came, saw what his oppor tunity was for true service for Christ, but in order to escape the fires of mar tyrdom he testified falsely concerning his belief in his Lord and Master, and when he was finally led to the stake, in spite of his recantation, he gave this as his valedictory to the world: “Now I come to the great thing that trou- my conscience more than any this sermon I would analyze and dis cuss and emphasize the one Pauline word, “opportunity!” With letters of fire I would burn that one word deeply into every Christian heart. I would have all know that all the great op portunities for doing fcood to our fel low men come to the true Christian in the same manner in which the op portunity for great temporal fame came to a Roosevelt, a McKinley, a Lincoln, a Grant, a Lee, an Ericsson, a Morse, a Watt, a Harvey, a James Y. Simpson, a Washington, a Fred erick the Great or a Charlemagne. other thing that I ever said or did, and that is the setting abroad of writings contrary to the truth that I thought in my heart, and, forasmuch as my hand offended in writing contrary to my heart, therefore my hand shall first be punished. If 1 may come to the fire, it shall first be burned.” And his tory declares that when the fires of martyrdom were kindled about Thomas Cranmer, in atonement for his past sins and his failure to live up to his opportunity, the dying prelate thrust his right hand into the leaping flames and saw it wither away. So there are many men who are mentally equipped Hotv 0|»|»ortunHI«*» Com*. .......j ...w. ^. lu . Great opportunities are willing to., for great opportunities of Christian lie honored service who might alsd be spiritually knock at the door of only the honored few who have previously made great preparations to greet and to embrace them. They are not friendless and helpless waifs of the street. They are not social outcasts who have to beg a place whereon to lay their heads. They are not fugitives from justice who are fleeing the convict’s cell or the hang man's noose. They are august mes sengers. who are particular under what roof they lodge and at what table they sit down and eat. Thus we find, by tracing history, that though all men who have prepared themselves for suc cess in a certain line of work do not necessarily get the opportunity to achieve that success, yet in no case do we find the swift footed travelers call ed “great opportunities” dwelling in the home of one who has not the men- forth tal and moral capacity to welcome and entertain them. Almost every great man of history has declared that the result of bis life’s work was not due to mere haphazard chance, but to years of work, yeara of preparation and often years of Incon spicuous toil. Read the autobiography of James Marion Sims, the surgeon whose discoveries have alleviated the Bufferings of multitudes of the human race. He worked for years and years in bis peculiar department of surgery before the opportunity of fame and success came. He worked in obscurity and in poverty. He worked until bis own health broke down and he feared be must die. Read the testimony of Thomas A. Edison. Did the opportu nity come and knock at bis laborato ry by mere haphazard chance? No! Thomas ▲. Edison distinctly and em phatically declares that be never made any great invention without the hard est kind of mental tolL One of the greatest chess players of the world gave me the same testimony In reference to bis past life. He said: *1 came to the conclusion that no mas could make a great success at any- spiritually equipped for those same opportunities were they not unwilling to make the sacrifice which true consecration de mands. They are unwilling to do for Christ that which they know they ought to do. Make (be Sncrlflee. Christ’s disciples today often shrink from making the same kind of sacrifice for Christian service which Richard Fuller made when a young man. At t’ it time he was the most promising junior member of the South Carolina bar. He was the pride of the city and the future hope of the state. But, be ing converted, he immediately turned his hack on political preferment, re nounced public life and declared that he would consecrate his life tbence- to the gospel ministry. Ills friends tried to dissuade him. Hon. William E. Preston, Mr. Calhoun’s col league in the United States senate, went to his home to plead with him. Then young Fuller turned and said: “Preston, I was living a selfish life, eager only to win success and have a great name among men. Religion nev er entered my thoughts, and I was neg ligent of all duty to God. Suddenly my eyes were opened. I discovered God’s great love to me. I saw that Jesus Christ had left heaven and come to earth and died to win my love. This act has so impressed me that, as a man of honor. I can do nothing else but love him in return and give my whole Ilfs to bis service. Preston, does it seem to you that I am acting irrationally?” “No. Fuller,” exclaimed Senator Pres ton; “you are right You are the ra tional man, and we are the irrational, because most of us do not live up to our Christian opportunities. We do not do for Christ what we well know we ought to do.” The grandest oppor tunities of Christian service demand the complete and voluntary surrender of our whole lives to Jesus Christ They demand the same kind of voluo tary sacrifice which Gaidbaldl made in the cause of Italian freedom. They demand the same kind of sacrifice Co lumbus made when he went from court to court begging money to buy u few ships that he might prove his theory that the world was round. They need the same kind of voluntary sacrifice that Luther made, that Savonarola made, that John Knox made, that Lat imer made and Ridley made, all of whom were ready to lay down their lives for the cause of Christ. Great opportunities often come in unexpected places at unexpected times to those whom they wish to honor. General U. S. Grant began his “Mem oirs of the Civil War” with these sol emn words: “Man proposes, but God disposes.” Man plans, but the Infinite is continually changing the plans of the finite. Man hopes, but God often builds an entirely different superstruc ture upon the foundations of those de sires than that which we architectur ally designed. Samuel F. B. Morse, the inventor of telegraphic communi cation. started life as au artist He spent many years abroad in the study of the old masters. He was the found er and the first president of New York's National Academy of Design. But in October, 1832, when he was forty-one years of age and returning from his ar tistic studies in Europe, he entered in to conversation one day with a fellow passenger on board the packet ship Sully. This conversation, which was about the properties of the electro mag net, led Samuel F. B. Morse then and there to consecrate the rest of his life to the establishment of electric com munication between the distant parts of the world. So the opportunities for Christian usefulness may come in un expected ways and at unexpected times. Inexpei-ted Opportnnitlea. Great opportunities for Christian use fulness may come to you in an unex pected way, as they came to a Chris tian lady who was one day riding along the streets of Richmond. There in the gutter lay a young man stupidly drunk. She stopped her carriage and bade her coachman lift him in. She took that young man to her home. She cared for him and started him out again in life. By her Christian exam ple of love she started him forth in his great career, until William Wirt’s name became that of one of the fore most Americans of his day. They may come to you in au unexpected way, as they came to Stephen Merritt during business hours, when, by the grace of God, he wgs instrumental in starting John G. Woolley out on his career of reform. They may come to you as they are daily corning, in unexpected ways, to thousands of lawyers and merchants and ministers and doctors and wives and mothers and servants and clerks. Therefore, as our oppor tunities for doing Christian service are coming in so many different and un expected ways, we should always be on the lookout for them. We should always be ready to grasp them and to turn them to account at any cost, even of life itself. Great opportunities always love com pany and rarely travel alone. They are apt to be gregarious in their hab its. Like troubles, they swim in schools. They travel in herds. They fly in flocks. Like the leader of a flock of sheep, each great opportunity seems to he the bellwether of a whole flock of other opportunities. Like the key log in a river jam, it seems to he the precursor and sets free a whole river ful of other opportunities. John J. Ingalls tried to convey the idea that it we would only seize the one great opportunity of our life that opportunity would lead us on from power to power and from success to success. He tried to teach this lesson in his poem called “Opportunity.” Let me read to you from its magnificent passages: Master of human destinies am I! Fame, love and fortune,on my footsteps wait; Cities and fields I walk! I penetrate Deserts and seas remote, and, passing by Hovel and mart and palace, soon or late I knock unbidden once at every gate! If sleeping, wake; if feasting, rise before I turn away. It is the hour of fate. And they who follow me reach every state Mortals desire and conquer every foe Save death, but those who doubt or hesi tate. Condemned to failure, penury and woe, Seek me in rain and uselessly implore, I answer not, and I return no more! As John J. Ingalls taught that the great opportunities of temporal suc cess are the central magnets about which other great opportunities are apt to revolve, so every great spiritual opportunity, if rightly improved, will be the forerunner of others. God, from one opportunity of Christian useful ness, rightly served, will lead you on to another, to another and another, even as our martyr President William McKinley year by year was steadily promoted for his public services until at last he received the highest honor Ids countrj - men could confer upon him and won worldwide sympathy by the tragic close of a life laid down in the service of the American people whom he loved and so faithfully served. The Wmrnimm of Paul. But there is a negative side of warn ing in my text as well as a positive side of exhortation. John J. Ingalls In his wonderful poem teaches the same two lessons in a temporal sense that Paul incdlcates in a spiritual sense. The negative warning which is implied in my text goes practically like this: “As we therefore have op portunity do good unto all men, for if you do not a neglected opportunity is an Ul used opportunity. And an op portunity for doing good once gone is gone forever.” My father used to love to picture lost opportunities as a flock of last year’s migrating birds, which when gone cannot be brought back. I remember well bow he once stood in the Brooklyn talternacle crying with s loud voice to the lost opportunities these words: “Come back. O ye past opportunities! Come back! Come back!*’ Then in an almost inaudible whisper he said: “I hear no flutter of any wings. I fear my voice has not carried far enough—yea, I fear these lost opportunities for doing good will never, never come back.” The old Ro mans used to believe that Opportunity was a messenger who had a lock of hair growing upon her forehead and that the rest of her head was bald. They also believed she had wings upon her feet and that she could fly swifter than the winds. They believed that if Op portunity was not grasped by the fore head she could uot be caught again, because her wings could outspeed even the flight of a meteor. The Latin sym bol is a good one. It Is better than that of the flight of migrating birds. Sometimes the migrating birds of last year do return and nest again in the old orchards where they once raised their young, but great opportunities for doing good to others once gone are gone forever. Others may come, but never those that are past; never, never, never! Momentous is the fact that the past opportunities for doing good will never come back. There is many a man here who would be willing to cut off his right arm if he could only bring back some of them. I once read of a father who in anger drove his son out of his home. The boy, on account of the father’s bitterness, plunged into a life of sin. A few years later he was dying in one of the London tenements. Just before his last breath was drawn he told the city missionary who he was and why he was dying. Then he sent to his irate parent these farewell words: “Tell father that I could have died happy if he only had been willing to forgive me. Ask him to forgive me even if I am dead.” The missionary, as soon as he had closed the dead boy’s eyes, went to the rich father’s home. When he first met the pi.w.it and said, “I have come from your boy,” the fa ther’s rage knew no bounds. lie ex claimed in anger: “Don't talk to me about my sou. I never want to see his face again while he is alive.” But when the missionary said, “You will never see you boy's face again while he is alive—he is dead,” the father broke down and sobbed like a child. He then said that he did want his boy back. And when he heard the dying message his remorse was greater than he could bear. All the remainder of his earthly life that father kept brood ing and regretting the severity of his treatment of his child. But ids sorrow was useless. He could uot bring back his dead boy. He could never undo the past wrong. His opportunity was gone and gone forever. The Ever Preaent Opportunity. Mr. Moody in one of his sermons de scribed how a wayward son who had broken his mother’s heart went back one dark night to the homestead. Aft er roaming around the place where he had spent his childhood he went out to the village graveyard. There, in the darkness of the night, he felt around the family plot until he found a new made grave. There he lay fiat upon the mound of earth, moaning and call ing to the dead mother that he wanted her to forgive him. But her ears could not hear nor her lips speak. The way ward hoy, who had killed her, had lost his opportunity in this world to receive her forgiveness. Oh, my friends, as this Pauline word “opportunity” means so much, will you not beware how you misuse it, how you ill treat it, how you spurn the chances for Christian useful ness which God is ready to give to all his children and specially to them who will love and obey him? But I bethink myself that, as a pas tor, I have today an infinite opportu nity which may never come to me again. I have an opportunity to pre sent Jesus Christ to some young man or woman here who is not a member of the Christian church, as were the frieuds to whom Paul wrote his Gala tian letter. My brother or sister, I want you to come into the fellowship of the Lord Jesus Christ so that you may have a part in these gospel oppor tunities. I plead with you earnestly that you will confess Jesus Christ to day and become one of his disciples, even though no one may have spoken to you of religion for many years. You were brought up in a Christian home, but when that home was broken up on account of your parents’ death you drifted away from the church and from the teachings you learned at your mother’s knee. You have not been to a church service for years. It may be because you were coolly treat ed In one of the large city churches when you first came to town. But last night when you were alone in 3’our room you took down the old fam ily album. Perhaps that was the first time you had looked at the hook for mouths. Then you became homesick for the old scenes of your childhood. Then you opened some of your dear mother’s letters, now yellow from age. As you read them the tears came to your eyes, yet you are a man now or a matured woman, but the tears came nevertheless. And last night before you went to bed you prayed Just as you used to do when a child. That is the reason you are in church this morning. That is the reason your heart is softened. That is the reason I press home the gospel to your heart that I may start you forth in Jesus’ name to Christian service. The oppor tunity for the salvation of your aoul may never come so near to you again as just at this moment Brother, ais- ter, let me improve thia opportunity by presenting you to the Lord Jesus. For your dear loved ones’ sakes who are now among the redeemed will yon take Jesus now and become bis true and loving disciple? Will yon not here and now make this simple, earnest prayer, which a young man, sick of sin, made a few years ago in a large religious meeting: "Lord, take me as I am and make me what I ought to be?” Now is your opportunity for sal vation. Nowl Now! Now! (Copyright 1*02, by Louis Klopsch.] ANY CHURCH or parson age or institution supported by vol untary contribution will be given a liberal quantity of the Longman & Martinez Paints whenever they paint. Note :-This has been our custom for twenty-seven years; any building not satisfactorily painted will be re painted at our expense; about one gallon of Lit seed Oil to be added to every gallon of the paint to make ready for use; it’s mixed in two minutes, and cost of the paint thereby made less in price than any other. Yearly product over one mil lion gallons. Smith Hardware Com- paji •*, Sole Agents. B honest. Dishone-ty seldom makes one rich, and when it dots riches are a curse. Tht-re is no such things as dishonest success. The reason why Hancock’s Liquid i Sulphur should be in every houre. it is indorsed and presorioed by th*- , leading physicians, for such diseases as Eczema, Pimples, Ringworm, Sait Rheum, Dandruff, Diohtheria, Sore Threat. Cuts, Bur.is. Op* n Sores, and all blood and skin troubles. No i home should be without it. For sale by the Cherokee Drug Co. Trust to nothing but God and hard work. Inscribe on your banner: “Buck is a fool; Pluck is a hero.” No danger of consumption if you use Foley’s Honey and Tar to cure that stubborn cough. Cherokee Drug Co. The elevation of the Pennsylvania railroad track in Chicago will con sume 9,000 tons of steel. “ 1 Stood in a Drauubt •with my coat off and caught this wretched cold,” says the sufferer. He need not pay a heavy penalty if he follow his act of folly with an act of wisdom. Soak the feet in hot water with a few teaspoonsful of Perry Davis’ Pain-Killer in it. Take a teaspoon* ful of Pain Killer in hot sweetened water at bed time and Vie thankful for so simple and speedy a way to break up a cold. There is but one Painkiller, Perry Davis’. BANNER 8A LYE the most healing salve in the world. Final Discharge, When a woman says her acquain tance’s new bonnet is 4 just horrid,” the chances are that she will have one exactly like it in the course of a week or so. HronchitU forTwentjr Vears. Mrs. Minerva Smith, of Danville, III., writes: “I had bronchitis for twenty years and never got relief un til I used Foley’s Honey and Tar which >* a sure cure.” Contains no opiates. Cherokee Drug Co. Enter into the business or trade which you like best, and for which nature se-uot 1 to havo fitted you, pro vided it is honorable. ‘‘Watch The Kidneys.’ “When they are affected, life is in danger,” says Dr. Abernethy, the great English physician. Foley’s Kidney Gure makes sound kidneys. Cherokee Drug Co. Don’t Ty to begin at the top. Be gin ao the bottom, and you will have a ebaree to rise, and will be surer of reaching toe top some time. Notice is hereby given that 1 will apply to | lion. J. E. Webster, 1’ro bate Judge for Cher- | oku: County, S. C., at his office at the court j house oq Friday, October 17th, 1902, at M | o'clock a. m. for final settlement and dis- : charge a- administrator of the estate of J, i Henry Gault, deceased. All persons holding claims against said es- | tate will present them on or before said date j or be forever barred.] J. F.a Jefferies, Clerk and Administrator of said estate. I I Pub. Sept 19-20. Oct. >10. One Minute Gougn Cura For Coughs, Colds and Croup. Stops the Cout;li and Works off the Cold. Luxarive Broroo (Quinine Tablets cure a cold in one day. No cure, no jay. Price 2"> cents With some $40,000,000 in the New York bank abov*- the legal reserve, there is no immediate fear of financial trisgeucy. Foley’s Honey and Tar cures coughs aud colds and prevents pneu* monie. Tcko no «ub® f i’uteu. C-.er- okee Drug Co. Foley’s Honey and Tar ures colds, prevents pneumonia. — ■■'■■■■ ' . _ * The Bottom Knocked Out TN ORDER TO MAKE ROOM for new goods we will sell our entire stock of Dry Goods, Notions, Hats and Shoes at aud below cost. Also our larire and well assorted stock of Ladies’ aud Gents’ Fur nishing Goods. $5,000 WORTH of goods to l>e sold at a sacrifice. We must and will sell without regard to cost. Call arid inspect our stock before buying. Green Bros. &, Go. FOR saranxs Up-to-Date Job Print- ing, call at the LEDGER Office. Gaffney, S. C. PLANT WHEAT I USE FERTILIZERS — WOE BY—fc. The Virgioia-Carolina Chemical Companif, ^Manufacture -of F'ertfllzerv on . ^BSW1VU.B SttntSB at he ibuil. THE VIBflNU-CABOLDU GNEMCJU. COMPANY, vQMUSnat £ € * ATLANTA, Q/t. ■ FOR BILIOUSNESS The liver reu.t be gently stirred eo thst the bile will be thrown off la the right channel; the system at the same time should be Invigorate^ by a tonic that Nature'’may begin her work and complete the cure. P AMOK'S LIVER PILLS Jk/yiHOTONIG PELLETS Form tbe modem mild power cure that completely doe* (be work, without ebock or injury to any part at tbs eystem. Booklet* and sample* free of any dealer, or complete treatment, Twenty-Dve Done*, 23c. BROWN MFC. CO. NEW YORK AND OREENEVILLE. TENN, For sale by Cherokee Di u# Company.