Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1890-03-13
DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
SAIL THAT A MAN HATH WILL HE
GIVE FOR MS LIFE"
A Discourse for the People Who Would
Like to 1.-Two Their Lives Over Again
False Reasoning which Could but Result
In Disappointment

The Rev. I. De Witt Talmape presched
in the Academy of Music on the morn
ing of Sunday, March 8, to an overflow
ing congregation. After expounding
appropriate passages of Scripture he
announced his subject to be: Would
You Like t. Live Your Life Over Again?"
His text was Job ii, 4: ~All that a man
hath will he give for his life" He said:
That Is untrue. The Lord did not say
II, but Satan said it to the Lord, when
the evil one wanted Job still more af-
hicted. The record is:. So went Satan
forth from the presence of the Lord and
smote Job with sore boils." And Satan
has been the authorof all eruptive disease
since then, and he hopes by poisoning
the blood to poison the soul. But the
result of the diaboIical experiment
which left Job victor proved the ralsity
of the Satanic remark-"All that a man
hath will he give for his life" Many a
captain who has stood on the bridge of
the steamer till his passengers got off
and he drowned; many an engineer who
has kept his hand on the throttle valve
or his foot on the brake until the most
of the train was saved while he went
down to death through the open draw
bridge; many o fireman who plunged
into a blazing house to get q sleeping
child out, sacrificing his life in the at
tempt, and thousands of martyrs who
submitted to fiery stake and knife of
massacre and headsman's ak and guillo-
tine rather than surrender principle,
proving that in many case my text
was not true. when it saws: "AH that a
man hath will he give for his life."
But Satan's falsehood was built on o
truth. Life is very precious, and if We
would not give up all there are many
things that we would surrender rather
than surrender it. We see how precious
life is from the fact that we. do every
thing to prolong it. Hence all sanitary
regulations, all study of hygiene, all
fear of draughts, all waterproofs, all
doctors, all medicines, all struggle in
crisis of accident. An admiral of the
British navy was court martialed for
turning his ship around in time of dam
ger and so damaging the ship. It was
proved against him. But when his time
came to be heard he said: Gentlemen,
I did turn the ship around and admit it
was damaged, but do you want to know
why turned it? There was man over
board, and wanted to save him, and 1
did save him, and i consider the life of
one sailor worth all the vessels of the
British navy" No wonder he was vim
dicated. Life indeed is very precious.
Yea, there are those who deem lie SO
precious they would like to- repeat it.
They would like to try it again. They
would like to go back from seventy to
sixty, from sixty to fifty, from fifty to
70 81. %
to twenty. purpose for very practical
and useful purposes, as will appear be-
fore get through, to discuss the ques-
tion we have all asked of others, and
others have again and again asked US
would you like to live your life over
again2
right fearing man is satisfied with his
past life. We have all made so many
mistakes. stumbled into so many blum
ders, said SO many things that ought not
have been said and done SO many things
that ought not to have been done, that
we can suggest at least ninety five per
cent. of improvement. Now would it
not be grand if the good Lord would
say to you: You can go back and try it
over again. Twill by word turn your
hair to brown or black or golden, and
smooth all the wrinkles out of your
temple and cheek, and take the bend out
of your shoulders, and extirpate the
stiffness from the joint and the rheuma-
tic twinge from the foot, and you shall
be twenty-one years of age and just
what you were when you reached that
point before" If the proposition were
made think many thousands would ac-
cept it. That feeling caused the ancient
search for what was called the Fountain
of Youth, the waters of which taken
would turn the hair of the octogenarian
into the curly locks of boy, and how
ever old person who drank at that
fountain he would be young again. The
island was said to belong to the group
of the Bahamas, but lay far out in the
ocean. The great Spanish explorer,
Juan Ponce de Leon, fellow voyager
with Columbus, have NO doubt felt that
If he could discover the Fountain of
Youth he would do as much ss his friend
had done in discovering America. 80
he put out in 1912 from Porto Rico and
cruised about among the Bahamas in
search of that fountain. I am glad he
did not find it. There is no such foun-
tain. But if there were and its waters
were bottled up and sent abroad at
thousand dollars bottle, the demand
would be greater than the supply, and
many man who has come through
life of uselessness, and perhaps sin, to
old age would be shaking up the potent
liquid, and if he were directed to take
only teaspoonful after each meal would
be SO anxious to make sure work he
would take tablespoonful, and if di-
rected to take a tablespoonful would
take glassful. But some of you would
have to go back further than to twenty
one years of age to make fair start, for
there are many who manage to get all
wrong before that period. Yea, in order
to get a fair start some would have to go
back to the father and mother and get
them corrected; yea, to the grandfather
and gran dmother and have their life
corrected, for some Of you are suffering
from bad hereditary influences which
started hundred years ago. Well, If
your grandfather lived his life over
again and your father lived his life over
again and you lived your life over again,
what q cluttered up place this world
would be, place flled with miserable
attempts at repairs. begin to think
that it is better for each generation to
have only one chance and then for them
to pass off and give another generation
q chance.
Beside that, if we were permitted to
live life over again, it would be stale
and stupid experience. The zest and
spur and enthusiasm OF life come from
the fact that we have never been along
this road before, and everything is new,
and we are alert for what may appear at
the next turn Of the road. Suppose
vou n man in mid. life nv old 90 wara