New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1888-05-16

\ y IL
| Yet you talk about this world as though it
were safe investment, as though you could
| get some insurance upon it, when down in
| the basement it is on fire.
| remark. als,, nat this world is a prop.
erty with which everybody who has taken it
| as a possession has had trouble. Now,
know large reach of land thatis not built
on. ask what is the n after, and they re-
| ply that eyerybodf who h IS la ANYTHING to
| 90 with that prof. erty got into trouble about
it. 1t Is Just 50 with tlis world; everybody
that has had anything 10 do with it as pos
session has been in perplexity How was 1t
| with Lord Byron? Did he not sell his i'm.
m rial soul for the pur rose of getting the
world? Was he satisfied with the posse>-
slon2 Alas! alas tie poem graphically de.
| scrlbes his case when its saws:
Drank 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 tc
drink.
Oh, yes, he had trouble with it;and so did
| Napoleon. After conquerng nations by the
force of the sword, he lies down to die, his
entire possession the military boots that he
insisted on having on his feet while he was
dying. So it has been with men who had
better ambition. 1hacke:ay, one Of the
most genial and ovab.e souls, after he 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; TiSins up after awhile
he finds that it is Thackeray in the mirror.
| Oh, yes. this world is cheat. Talk about
man galnn the world Who ever gained
huff of the world? Who ever owned a
nem1:phere9 Who ever gained continent?
! Who ever owned Brooklyn? Talk about
gaining the world! No man ever gained it,
or the hunured-t housandth part OF it. You
are demanding tlat [ sell my soul, not for
the word, but for fragment OF it. Here is
man VINO has b I'd large estate for forty OF
| fifty years. He lies down to die. You say:
''That man is wol til millions and millions of
| dollars Is he? You call up q surveyor,
with lis compass and chains. and you say:
"There is a roperty extending three miles
in one direction and three miles in another
direction" Is that the way to measure that
mans property? No! You do rot want any
surveyor with his compass and chains. That
Is not the way you want to m assure that
mans property now. 1T is an undertaken
that you need, WHO will come and put his
finger in his vest pocket and take out tape
line, and he will measure five feet nine
inches one way and two feet and half the
other way. That is the mans property. Oh,
no; forgot; notso much as that, for he does
not own even the place in which he lies in
the cemetery. The deed to that belongs to
the executors and the heirs. Oh, what
property you propose to give me for my soul
If you sell bill of goods, you go into the
counting~room and say to your partner: 'sDo
you think that man is good for this bill? Can
he give proper security? Will he meet this
paymentw Now, when you are offered this
world as possession want you to test the
matter. 1 d. not want you to go into this
bargain blindly. l want you to ask about
OH fhl j,,Si ohn11t yxr1,o
men have ever had any trouble with it, about
whether you can'keep it, about whether you
can get all, or the ten thousanhth, or one
hundred tlouSandth part of it.
There is the world now. / shall say no
more about 1t. Make up your mind for
yourself, as l shall, before God, have to
make up my mind for myself, about the
value Of this world. | cannot afford to make
mistake for my soul, and you cannot afford
to make mistake for your soul.
Now, let us look at the other property
the soul. We cannot make bargain with.
out seeing the comparative value. The soul!
How shall estimate the value of it? Well,
by its exquisite organization. 1t is the most
wonderful piece of mechanism ever put to-
gether. Machinery is of value in proportion
as it is mighty and silent at the same time.
You look at the ems zine and the machinery
in the Philadelphia mint, and. as you see it
pertorming'lts wonderful work, you will be
surprised to find how silently it goes. Ma
chinery that roars and tears soon destroy it.
self; but silent machinery is often most eff
fectlve. Now, SO it is with the soul of man,
with all its tremendous faculties-it moves
in silence. Judgment, without any racket,
lifting Its scales; memory, without any noise,
bringing down all its treasures; conscience
taking It's judgment seat without any excite
ment; the understanding and the will all
doing their work. Velocity, majesty, might;
but silence-silence. You listen at the door
of your heart. You can hear no sound. The
soul is all quiet. 1t is so delicate an lnstrll-
ment that no human hand can touch 1t.
You break a bone, and with splinters and
bandaGes the surgeon sets it; the eyes be.
comes nflamed. the apothecary's wash cools
it /; but soul off the track. unbalanced, no hui
man power can readiust it. With one sweep
of its wing it circles the universe, and over
vaults the throne OF God. Why, IN the hour
Of death the sou! is so mighty 1t throws aside
the body as though it were a toy. It drives
back medical skill as impotent. 1t breaks
through the circle Of loved ones who stand
around the dying couch. With one leap it
springs beyond star and moon and sun and
chasms of immensely. Oh, it is IL soul SUI
perior to all material things! No fire can
consume it; no floods can drown it; no rocks
can crush 1t; no walls can impede it; no
time can exhaust it. 1t wants no bridge on
which to cross chasm. 1t wants no plum
met with which to sound a depth A soul
so mighty, so swift so silent, must be price
less soul.
l calculate the value of the soul, also, by
its capacity for happiness. How much Joy
it can get in this would out of friendships,
out of books, out of clouds, out Of the sea, out
Of the flowers, out of ten thousand things;
and yet all the JOY it has here does not test
its capacity. You are in concert before the
curtain hoists, and you hear the instruments
preparing-the sharp snap of the broken
string, the scrapng cf the bow across the
viol. "There is music in that" you say. 1t
is only getting ready for the music. And all
the enjoymentsao t the soul Sin this world, the
enjoyment we think is real enjoyment. Is
only preparative; it is only anticlpative; it
is only the first stages of the thing it is only
the entrance, the beginning of that which
shall be the orchestral harmoniesIand splen-
doris Of the redeemed.
You cannot test the full power of the soul
for happiness in this worii. How muc
power the soul has here to find en- oyment in
friendships but oh tie grand erfriends ups
Tor the soul In tie skies How sweet the TOW
ers he!e, but how much WeeJer they will be
there. | do not think that when flowers d e
on earth they die forever ] think that the
fragrance of the flowers is the spirit being
waited away lnto'glory. God says there are
palm trees IN heaven and fruits in heaven.
II So why not the spirits ofthe dead flowers?