MERSURI P110WUM 1 837 ILLE MU STARTES NUNUMI SCIENTIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARY VERITAS OF MICH OF THE intanintitiinitesi QUAERIS CIRCUMSPICES PENINSULAM AMOENA SINAN IS UMUMTAHUNNIUM Mu n inni BX 4г 25 996 A LIFE ALL POWERFUL FOR GOOD IN MEMORIAM . The Late Rev . T . De Witt Talmage . TALMAGE DURING EARLY YEARS AT BROOKLYN . THE AUTHENTIC LIFE T . DEWITT TALMAGE THE GREATLY BELOVED DIVINE BY REV . JOHN RUSK , Ph . D . Author of " Life of Queen Victoria , " * * Four Thousand Years Ago , ” etc . WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY REV . RUSSELL H . CONWELL , D . D . Author of “ Lives of the Presidents , ” “ Life of Bayard Taylor , " " Life of James A . Garfield , " " Life of Spurgeon , " " Acres of Diamonds , " etc . , etc . A NARRATIVE OF HIS LIFE AND DEEDS , SUFFERING AND DEATH , TOGETHER WITH HIS ANCESTRY , YOUTH EDUCATION , HIS STRUGGLES AS A YOUNG AND UNKNOWN MINISTER , HIS RISE TO FAME , AIS HOME LIFE , HIS TRIUMPHANT TRIP AROUND THE WORLD , ETC . , ETC . INCLUDING EXTRACTS FROM HIS MOST ELOQUENT SERMONS AND LECTURES AND TRIBUTES ON HIS LIFE FROM THE WORLD ' S GREATEST MEN AND A EULOGY BY JOHN FRANKLIN TALMAGE Exquisitely Illustrated with Engraving ' s from Original Photographs COPYRIGHT 1902 BY L . G . STAHL . ALL RIGHTS RESERVED . 6 0127 159. PREFACE . Thomas DeWitt Talmage , preacher and man , was eloquent in deed and speech . For seventy years he lived , and his life was to great purpose . Reared as a sturdy farmer ' s boy in the heart of New Jersey , God ' s sunshine was ever upon his head and in his heart . Educated for the legal profession , he ceased to follow Blackstone that he might scatter the gospels to all the peoples of the world . Far greater was his success than he or anyone else anticipated . But it came not without the struggles that come to all . From an unknown preacher , he rose to the distinction of the foremost pulpit orator of the world . Revivifying a Brooklyn church that was in its death - throes , he drew within the sound of his voice countless thou sands . Church after church he built , that all who cared might hear . Dr . Talmage ' s greatness , it is generally conceded , can be ascribed to his power as an orator . Coupled with this he had the talent of sim ple and trenchant interpretation of the scriptures . He was a Christian of the old school , if that expression may be employed . He did not run Reclars 5 - 9 . 36 gan much to new thought , higher criticism or creed reform . He clung tenaciously to a plain , pure programme of every - day morals and right living . He found enough noble texts in the Bible to supply him with inspiration . He was a magnificent lecturer . Some of his flights of oratory are remembered as being of surpassing impressiveness and picturesque ness . He drew lessons from everything . He talked to a purpose , but at the same time he garnished his sentences with beauty , and his voice , appearance and fire combined to enthrall and uplift the hearer . Bounded not by church walls nor the confines of any nation , his 274196 PREFACE congregation became as wide as the knowledge of printing . His ser mons , distributed in every hamlet of America by the religious and secular press , were spread broadcast in England and , translated into many languages , were read in every land . Thrilling multitudes as a lecturer , he traveled throughout his native land and made a triumphal tour CI around the world . Everywhere he waswas heaped with honors and attentions . Ministering with all his strength to the famine - stricken people of another land , he won the praise of humanity and throughout the length and breadth of the world was a living influence for God and the right . CONTENTS . PAGE Eulogy by John Franklin Talmage . 13 Introduction by Russell H . Conwell , LL . D . 21 CHAPTER I . DEATH OF THE GREAT PREACHER . His last struggle for life — After a painful illness the eloquent divine passes away at his Washington home - Scenes surrounding his deathbed - His last words He met death as he had lived , fearlessly and with abiding faith . 25 CHAPTER II . HIS LAST ILLNESS - IN THE SHADOW OF DEATH . The trip to Mexico with his wife and doctor for his health - His illness grows serious — The race for home - A forced rest at New Orleans follows bad news at San Antonio - Home at last and gradual loss of strength - How he kept those about him hopeful to the last . CHAPTER III . BIRTHPLACE AND BOYHOOD . Early influences - His life upon the farm - His parents of good stock - Schoolboy days and deeds — College days — A student of Blackstone n e .. .. .. , 39 CHAPTER IV . THE MINISTRY GAINS A NEW RECRUIT AND THE LAW LOSES AN APPRENTICE . After much discussion young Talmage quits the law and studies for the ministry Gets his first church - Struggles of a young pastor - Accepts a call to a larger church - Moves again and breaks away from old forms in preaching - His fame grows . 44 CHAPTER V . HIS ELOQUENCE SAVES A DYING CHURCH . Young minister accepts call to Brooklyn Church - Fame and fortune burst upon him - Thousands come to hear him - Builds the first tabernacle - His sermons attract wide attention - Becomes a rival of Henry Ward Beecher - Eloquence captures the press , religious and secular . 10 CONTENTS CHAPTER VI . TRIUMPHS OVER PURSUING FIRE FIEND . First tabernacle destroyed by Alames and is rebuilt - Ardor and eloquence win PAO3 Fire destroys second tabernacle - More magnificent edifice erected by persist ent pastor - Wonderful church and pulpit of the great divine . CHAPTER VII . CELEBRATES A SILVER JUBILEE . Wonderful demonstration marks completion of quarter of a century of preaching in Brooklyn - Affair takes on international character - Three days of praise and glorificatior - Miraculous escape of thousands from disaster - - Great build . ing destroyed just as last of jubilee celebrants were leaving - Flames burn roof over Dr . Talmage ' s head . 71 CHAPTER VIII . TALMAGE ' S VISIT TO THE HOLY LAND . The noted divine goes to Palestine - Main object is to write a life of Christ - He preaches on Mars ' Hill - Baptism in the River Jordan . 79 CHAPTER IX . TRIUMPHANT TOUR OF THE WORLD . Overland to the Pacific - Wonders of Australia - Record - breaking crowds to hear the great preacher - Pompeii , Athens and Rome each receive a visit - Is enter tained by the Czar of Russia - Succors the Russian poor . 86 CHAPTER X . TALMAGE AND KING EDWARD ' S DOMAIN . The great preacher known almost as well in England as in his own country , Tremendous success in Great Britain both as lecturer and preacher - His reminiscences of that country . 95 CHAPTER XI . SERMONS REACH TWENTY MILLION PERSONS A WEEK . Unusual eloquence of his pulpit utterances attract attention of press , religious and secular - Published in America - Great Britain finds them attractive - Trans lated into many languages , they reach the eyes and hearts of continentals all over Europe . 104 CHAPTER XII . BECOMES PASTOR IN PRESIDENT CLEVELAND ' S CHURCH - HIS WASHINGTON LIFE . His abandonment of Brooklyn for Washington a surprise - Acceptance of call to First Presbyterian Church of Capital City unexpected - Preaches at first with CONTENTS 11 PAGE out salary arrangement - Wanted to be in center of government and politics of nation alary . arangement. - wanted to be in center of e . 125 CHAPTER XIII . FAMILY LIFE FILLED WITH JOY AND TRAGEDY . Young married life blighted by death of wife by drowning — Marries happily a second time - Death again takes his mate — Third wife a talented woman who is a social favorite in Washington and elsewhere - Charming home life - An interesting family . 133 CHAPTER XIV . A WONDERFUL ANSWER TO PRAYER . Dr . Talmage on how his family became ministers — His mother the godliest per son he ever knew - Believe women to be naturally better than men - Pays many beautiful tributes to womanhood . 141 CHAPTER XV . A STAR UPON THE LECTURE PLATFORM . Addressed some of the greatest audiences ever assembled Broke all records Some reminiscences - Lectured in every important town in America . 152 CHAPTER XVI . PERSONALITY OF THE MAN AND POWER OF HIS INFLUENCE . Manner a winning one - Had a sunny disposition and bright smile - Was wonder - . fully magnetic - Appealed to the masses — Influenced thousands of lives for the better . 176 CHAPTER XVII . ANECDOTES , SCENES AND INCIDENTS . Tales illustrating the character of the great preacher - Some of the incidents in his career that changed his after life - Great episodes in his life history Anecdotes innumerable told of and by the illustrious divine . 193 CHAPTER XVIII . A PROLIFIC WRITER , HIS WORK AS AN AUTHOR . Dr . Talmage a great worker - Wrote much for the religious press _ Was widely interviewed - Author of many books . 211 CHAPTER XIX . TALMAGE ' S VIEWS ON WOMEN . Noted divine wrote much of and for womankind - Woman the queen of the home - The curiosity of Eve - Influence of woman for good - Views on the reading of novels . 223 12 CONTENTS CHAPTER XX . TALMAGE ON EVERY - DAY AFFAIRS . The great divine took for his subjects many incidents of every - day life - The PAGE influence of clubs — What he thought of health resorts — Views on the tobacco habit - Social dissipations , theatres , etc . 236 CHAPTER XXI . FUNERAL OF T . DE WITT TALMAGE . Impressive services in two cities — Washington and Brooklyn pay tribute to the great divine - President Roosevelt sends a wreath of flowers - - Life - long friends praise the work of the dead . 268 CHAPTER XXII . TRIBUTES FROM PRESS AND PULPIT . Words of praise from the great leaders of the world — What eminent ministers and editors say of the inost eloquent of preachers - - All unite in according Tal mage a wonderful instrument for good . 282 FAMOUS SERMONS AND LECTURES . Mending the Bible . 295 The Ferry Boat over the Jordan . Ordinary People . Noontide of Life . The Secret Out . Ananias and Sapphira .