Sharp County record., 1890-05-22
A PERTINENT QUESTION,
An Interesting Sermon by Rev. T.
Dewitt Talmage.
As We Can Not Live Our Lives Over
Again, Let Us Atone for the Past
by Rcdoublcd Holiness
and Industry.

The following sermon was delivered
in the Brooklyn Academy OF Music by
Rev T. Dewitt Talmage on the sub
iect: "Would You Like to Live Your
Life Over Again" His text was:
All that man hath will he give for his
life.-Job H., (.
That is untrue. The Lord did not say
1t, but Satan said it to the Lord, when
tho eyil one wanted Job still more al
hicted. The record is: $50 went Satan
forth from the presence Of the Lord ana
smote job with sore boils." And Satan
has been the author of all eruptive dis
eases since then, and he hopes by poiS-
oning the blood to poison the soul. But
the result of the diabolical experiment
which left Job victor proved the ialSity
of the satanic remark:
All that a man hath will he give for his lie
Many a captain has stood on the
bridge of the steamer till his paSscn-
gers got off and he drowned; many an
engineer has kept his hand on the throt-
tie valve or his foot on the brake until
the most Of the train was saved, Whlie
he went down to death through the open
draw bridge; many a fireman has
plunged into a blazing house to get a
sleeping child out, sacrificing his own
life in the attempt, and thousands OF
MARTYRS have submitted to fiery stake
and knife of massacre and headsman'S
axe and guillotinc rather than surren-
der principle, proving that in many
case nv text was not true, when 1t says:
All that a man hath will he give for his llte'
But Satan's falsehood was built on
truth. Life is very precious, and II we
would not give up all there are many
things 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 regu-
lations, all study of hygiene, all fear oi
drafts, all water-proofs, all DOCTORS all
medicines, all struggle in crisis of acci-
dent. An Admiral of the British navy
was court-martaled for turning his ship
around in time of danger and 50 damag-
ing the ship. 1t was proved against
him. But when his time came to be
heard he said:
Gentlemen, / did turn the ship around
and admit that it was damaged, but do
YOU want to know why | turned 1t?
There was man overheard, and l
wanted to save him, and Ibid save him,
and | consider the life of one sailor
worth all the vessels of the British
navy"
No wonder he was vindicated. Life
is indeed very precious. Yes, there are
those who deem life so precious they
would like to try it again They would
like togo back from seventy to sixty
from sixty to fifty, from fifty to forty,
from forty to thirty, from thifty to twen'
ty. purpose for very practical and
useful purposes, as will appear before
get through, to discuss the Question
we have all asked of Others and Others
have again and again asked of us, would
you like to live your life over again?
The fact is that no intelligent and
right-fearing man is satisfied with his
past life. We have all made so many mis-
takes, stumbled into so many blunders,
said so many things that ought not to
have been said, and done so many things !
that ought not to have been done, that
we can suggest at least ninety-tive 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. | will 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 rheumatic 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 accept 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 octogonarian into the
curly locks of boy, and however old a
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 oAt in the ocean.
The great Spanish explorer, Juan Ponce
dc Leon, fellow voyager with Columbus
| have no doubt felt that if he could
discover that Fountain Of Youth ne
would do as much as his friend had done
IN discovering America. So he put OUT
n 1912 from Porto Rico and crulsed
,bout among the Bahamas in search Oh
his fountain. / am glad he did not nh'
t.
There is no such fountain, butlt there
we're and it's waters were bottled up ana
,ant abroad at one thousand dollars
,ottle. the demand would be greater
han the supply, and many man VINO
,as come through life of uselessness'
md perhaps sin, TO old age would be
shaking up the potent liquid, and II he
wore directed to to take only tea
snoonful after each meal would be so
apxious to make sure work he would
take a tablespoonful, and II directed TO
take tablespoonful would take glass
ful. But some of you wound hare to 60
hack further than to twenty-one years
of ape to make fair start for there are