Sharp County record., 1888-07-12
TALMAGES SERMON.I
The Value of Mans Soul Compared
With that of the World.
The Difference to be Measured by the
Inestimable Price Paid for the
Former in the Sacrifice
Upon Calvary.

GLOSS and Gain" was the subject chosen
BY Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage for recent
sermon in Brooklyn Tabernacle His text
was:
What shall it profit man, If he shall gain
the whole world, and lose his own soulH-Mark
viii, 36,
lam accustomed, Sabbath by Sabbath,
to stand before an audience of bargain
makers. There may be men in all occu-
pations sitting before me, yet the vast ma
jority of them, am very well aware, are
engaged from Monday morning to Satur-
day night in the store. In many OF the
families of my congregation, across the
breakfast table and the tea table, are dis
cussed questions of loss and gain. You
are every day asking yourself: "What is
the value of this? What is the value OF
thatw You would not think of giving
something of greater value for that which
is of lesser value. You would not
think of selling that which costs
you ten dollars for five dollars,
If you had property that was
worth fifteen thousand dollars, you would
not sell it for four thousand dollars. You
are intelligent in all matters of bargain
making. Are you as wise n the things
that pertain to the matters of the soulF
Christ adapted his instructions to the cir
cumstances Of those to whom he spoke
/ When he talked to fishermen, he spoke of
the Gospel net. When he talked to the
farmers he said: "a sower went forth to
! SOW" When he talked to the shepherds
he told the parable of the lost sheep And
am I not right, when, speaking this morn
| ing to an audience of bargain makers,
that address them in the words of my
text, asking:
What shall it profit man, II he shall gain
the who world and lose his own soulH
propose, as far as possible, to estimate
and compare the value Of two properties
First, have to say that the world is a
very grand property Its flowers are
Gods thoughts in bloom. Its rocks are
Gods thoughts in stone. Its dew drops
are Cots thoughts in pearl. This world
Is Gods child-a wayward child, indeed;
It has wandered off through the heavens.
But about 1888 years ago, one Christmas
night, God sent out sister world to call
that wanderer back, and it hing over
Bethlehem only long enough to get the
promise Of the wanderers return; and
now that lost world with soft feet Of
light, comes treading back through the
heavens. The hills, how beautiful they bill
low up the edge of the wave white with
Al. - f11
rainbow, the arched bridge on which
Heaven and earth come and talk to each
other in tears, after the torn is over!
"Oh," you say, "take my SOUL give me
that world! am willing to take it in ex-
change. am ready now for the bargain.
1t is so beautiful a world, so sweet world,
SO grand a worldW
But let us look more minutely into the
value of this world. You will not buy
property unless you can get good title
to it. After you have looked at the prop
erty and found out that it suits yoLk Sn.a nj
he examines the book of deeds, and the
book of mortgages, and the book of judg-
ments, and the book of liens, and he de-
cides whether the title is good before you
will have any thing to do with 1t. Ihere
might be a splendid property, and IN
every way exactly suited to your want;
but if you can not get a good title, you
will not take it. Now, l am here
this morning to say that it is
impossible to get a good title to this
world. If I settle down upon It, IN the
very year / so settle down upon 1t as
permanent possession, may be driven
AWAY from it. Aye, in five minutes after
I give up my soul for the world may have
to part with the world; and what kind OF
a title do you call that? There is only one
wav in which can hold an earthly pos
session. and that is through the senses
In courts of law, if you want to get a
man off property you must serve upon
him q writ of ejectment, giving him cer-
tain time to vacate the premises; but
when death comes to us and serves writ
of eiectment, he does not give US one Sec
ond of forewarning. He says:
''Off of this place! You have no right
anv longer in the possession" We might
cry out:
81 gave you one hundred thousand dol
lars for that property;" the plea would be
of no avail. We might say:
"We have a warranty deed for that
property" the plea would be OF no avail.
We might say: =,
"We have lien on that store house,"
that would do us no good. Deaths blind,
and he can not see a seal, and can not
read an indenture. SO that, first and last,
| ! want to tell you that when you propose
that l give up my soul for the world, you
can not give me the first item OF title.
Having examined the title Of q proper
tv, your next question is about insurance.
| You would not be silly enough to buy a
large warehouse that could not possibly
be insured. You would not have any
thing to do with such a property. Now, |
ask YOU what assurance can you give me
that this world is not going to be burned
up? Absolutely none. Biologists tell us
that it is already on fire; that the heart OF
the world is one great living coal; that it
is lust like ship on fire at sea, the flames
not bursting out because the matches are
kept down. And yet you propose to palm
off on me, in return for my soul, world
for which, in the first place, you give no
title, and in the second place, for which
YOU can give no insurance. "Oh," you
saw, ''the water of the oceans will wash
over all the land and put out the fire."
Oh no. There are infammable elements
in the water, hydrogen and oxygen. Call
off the hydrogen and the Atlantic and the
/ Mould bIaza lit-a heaDc nj