National Republican., 1888-05-07
TALNACE ON VALUES.
n II IMPOSSIBLE 10 GET \ GOOD
TITLE no THE WORLD.
\ Sum In Gospel Arithmetic which ~
Bchoovcs Every Man to Cipher
uut-Thc Title to Eternal Happi-

PHooNLYN, May G.-Thc Rev. r. Dewitt Tai
mage. u. d., announced as the subject of the
sermon this morning, "Loss and CAIN and
his text was, what shall 1t profit n man If he
shall gain the whole world and lose his own
soul Mark, viii: 80.
lam accustomed, sabbath by sabbath, TO
stand before an audience of bargannakers
There may be men In all occupations sitting
before me, yet the vast majority Of them, am
very well aware, are engaged from Monday
morning. TO saturday night In the store. In
many Of the families of my. congregation
across the breakfast table. and the tea table
are are eyepy aY nEnS yoe S iSi an" il HG e
value of thisy What Is the value of thaty You
would not think Of giving something Of greater
would not think of selling that which costs
You $40 for So. If you had property that
was worth $4,000. You, would not sci II for
bargan.making. Are you MS wise In the
things that pertain to the matters Of the soul,
Christ adapted his instructions to the circnm-
stances of those TO whom lie spoke. When
He talked TO fishermen, lie spoke of the Cos.
pel net When lie talked to farmers, He said;
"a lower Went forth to & SOW When He talked
sheep. And am ! not right when speaking
this morning TO an audience made up of bar.
Of my text, asking % What % shall i 1T profit Td" a
lose his own soulg"
propose. as far as possible to estimate
First, have TO say that the world is very
Rgng pr%1pebTtty 10 btSyo Its 9wsTs y%Crs ARE G0ds %
thoughts IN stone; It's dewdrops are Gods
thoug hts in pearl. This worlds Gods schild-a
hayward, child indeed; II has wandered of
through the heavens. But about 1888 years
ago, one Christmas night God sent out sis.
ter world TO call that wanderer back, and IL
hung over Bethlehem only long enough to
get the promise of the wanderers return, and
now that lost world, with soft feet of light,
,r3 G9ineS treadlng back through the heavens.
edge Of tile wave white with foam Of croeeuses
How beautiful the rainbow, the arched bridge
ON which heaven and earth come and talk to
How niinble the feet of the lamp-lighters
that in a few minutes set all the dome OF the
night ablaze with brackets, OF, fire. How
I, beautiful the spring, with bridal blossoms in
her hair wonder who It is that beats time
How gently the harcbell tolls its fragrance on
the air. There may be Tander worlds,
SMt tu W9ds bdi E EargGr worlds than th
menSityi "oh, You say, take my soul! give I've
change. am ready now for the bargain. 1t
Is so beautiful g world so sweet a world, so
But let us look more mnutely into the
value of this world. You will not buy prop.
AtiteEyou Raye looked at the property and
torney to the public office, and he examines
The, book of deeds, and the book of mortgages,
and the book Of judgments, and the book Of
good before you will have anything to do with
IT, There might be, a splendid property, and
in every way exactly suited tc. your want;
not take il, Now, am here this morning to
Hy ~, that hat, i is Impossible to get good title to
mancnt possession. | may be driven away
from it; .Ay,,in five minutes after give up
m s %ora GT anG Mf wSa kn@ % aS @ YAH
that There is only one way IN which ! can
hold an earthly, possession, and that Is through
eye, but the eye may be blotted out; all cap
tiyating sounds through the ear, but my ear
may be deafened; all lusciousness of fruits and
yiands through my taste, but my taste may
be destroyed: all appreciation of culture and
of art through my mind, but may lose my
mind. What frai hold, then, I have upon
In courts Of, law, If YOU want to get man
of ejectinent, giving him certain time to va
us and serves writ Of ejectment, he does not
give us one second of forewarning. He says:
9 Of this paes You hye s no right any
~ gave you a hundred thousand d9llars. for
for sde RS5 sas Ths Plea wCa be
Of no avail. We might say, I'VE have lien
on that storehouse." That would do us no
Seal and cannot read an indenture. So that,
first and last. want to tell you that when you
propose that give up my soul for the world
you cannot give me the first item of title.
Having examined the title of property,
your next question is about insurance. You
would not be silly, enough to buy large ware
You would not % have IAN anything to do o. with such
a property. Now, ask you what assurance
can you give me that this world is not going
gists tell us that 1t Is already on fire; that the
that it is just 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, a world for
which, in the, first place. You give no title, and
no insurpce:, "oh, You say, the water of
the seears will wash over all the land and put
~SyE the fire, oh, no. There are inaammable
.nents, in the water, hydrogen and oxygen.
] off the hydrogen, and then the Atlantic
4Pacif1 oceans would blaze, like heaps Of
htSins. fou want me to take this world,
~ which you can give no possible insurance.
through the, sky and have found out that there
turtles, that have disappeared. At first they
looked just like other worlds. Then they got
deeply red-.they were on fire. Then they. got
ashen,. showing they were burned down. Then
they disappeared, showing that even the ashes
were scattered. And II the geologist be right
IN his prophecy, then our % world Is to go IN the
my soul for IL. All. no; II Is o world that Is
burning now! Suppose you biJught an nsur-
ance agent TO look at your property for the
while he stood In front of the house he should
say: THAT house is on fire now in the base.
ment." you could not get, an insurance upon
IL. Yet you talk about this world as If II We're
safe investment, as though you cou ID get
some Insurance upon 1t, when down in the
basement II Is on fire.
with which everybody who has taken II as a
possession has had trouble Now, ! knowl a
large reach of land that Is not built @ on ask
body who has had anything to do with that
property got into trouble about i. 1t Is Just
90 Wth Is TCTa everybody that has had
Byr6nS Did lie not sell his immortal soul for
satRed @ Nth Inc siss wSs %as aas the he
says:
''DraQk every cup of Joy
Heard every trump of fame;
Drank early, deeply drank,
, Drank draughts which common millions might
Then died of, thirst because there was no more
TO drink"
oh, yes; he had trouble with it, and so did
Napoleon, After conQuerlng nations by the
force of the sword, he lies down TO die, his
entire possession the military boots that lie
insisted on having upon his feet while he was
dying. So IL has been with men who had bet
ter ambition. Thackeray, one of the most
genial and lovable souls, after lie had Won the
applause OF all intelligent lands through his
wonderful genius, sits down In a restaurant IN
Paris, looks TO the other end Of the room, and
wonders whose that forlorn and wretched
face Is; rising up after while, he finds that II
Is Thackeray IN the mirror oh, yes; this
world Is cheat, Talk about a man gaining
the world Who ever gained half of the
worldS Who ever owned hemisphere Who
ever gained continents Who ever owned
Aslay Who eyer gained q city' Who eyel
worldl No man ever gained It, or the hun
dred.thousandth part of It.. YOu are demand
f,f, ia, tI,n I,,,