The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1891-08-26
:. REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINES SUM-
DAL SERMON.
Subject: "A Poor Investments
preached ut Topeka. Kan,

money. y."-1Selan ILL.,, D.
The Lords people had gone headlong into
sin, and as punishment they had been car
ried captive to Babylon. They found that
,iniquity did not pay. Cyrus seized Babylon
and felt so sorry for these poor captiyes that,
them go home. So that, literally my te1t
was fulfilled. "Ye have sold yourselves for
naught; and ye shall be redeemed without
money"
There is enough Gospel in this text for
fifty sermons. There are persons here who
have, like the people Of the text, sold out.
Nou do not seem to belong either to your
selves or to God. The title deeds have been
passed over to the world, the flesh. and the
devil" but the purchaser never paid up.
"Ye have sold yourselves for naught."
When a man passes himself over to the
world he expects to get some adequate COM
pensation. He has heard the great things
that the world does for a man, and he be-
lieves it. He wants two hundred and fifty
thousand dollars That will be horses and
houses, and summer resort and jolly COM
panionship. To get it he parts with his
physical health by overwork. He parts
with his conscience. He parts with much
domestic enjoyment. He parts with oppor'
tunities for literary culture. He parts with
his soul. And so he makes over his entire
nature to the world
He does it in four installments. He pays
down the first installment and one-fourth Of
bis nature is gone. He pays down the second
tnstallment, and one-half of his nature is
gone. He pays down the third installment,
and three-quarters of his nature are gone,
and after many years have gone by he pays
down the fourth installment, and 10! his en-
tire nature is gone. Then he comes up to the
world and says: "Good morning. l have
Holi 70 ba / ia
over to you my body, my mind and my soul,
and have come now to collect the two hun.
dred and fifty thous md dollars" 1.-TWO
hundred and fifty thousand dollars% says
the world. "What do you mean" "Well,"
you say, II come to collect the money you
owe me, and 1 expect you to fulfill your part
of the contract" But" says the world, II
have failed am bankrupt. 1 cannot pos
Ebly pay that debt. I have not for long
say, give me back the goods" "Oh, no."
says the world, ''they are all gone cannot
give them back to you" And there you
stand on the confines of eternity, your spirit
ual character gone, staggering under the
consideration that You have sold yourself
for naught."
tell you the world is liar. 1t does not
keep its promises. 1t is q cheat, and it
aeeces everything it can put its hands on.
1t is a bogus world. 1t is a six-thousaud-
year-old swindle. Even if it pays the two
hundred and fifty thousand dollars for
which you contracted, it pays them In bonds
that will not be worth anything in little
while Just as man may pay down ten
thousand dollars in hard cash and get for it
worthless scrip-so the world passes over to
you the two hundred and fifty thousand
dollars in that shape which will not be worth
afarthing to you thousandth part Of Sec
ond after you are dead. "Oh," you say, lit
will help to bury me, anyhow" Oh, my
brother you need not worry about that.
The world will bury you soon enough from
sanitary considerations.
Post Inortem emoluments are Of no use to
you. The treasures of this world will not
pass current in the future world, and If all
the wealth of the Bank of England were put
In the pocket of your shroud and you in the
midst of the Jordan of death were asked to
pay three cents for your ferriage, you could
not do it. There comes moment in your
existence beyond which all earthly values
fail, and many a man has wakened up In
such a time to find that he has sold out for
eternity and has nothing to show for it. l
should as soon think Of going to Chatham
street to buy silk pocket handkerchief with
no cotton in them, as to go to this world ex-
pecting to find any permanent happiness. 1t
has every put his trust in it.
History tells us o. one who resolved that
he would have all his senses gratifed at ons
and the same time, and he expended thou
sands of dollars on each sense. He entered
room, and there were the first musicians OF
the land pleasing his ear, and there were fine
pictures fascinating his eye, and there were
costly aromatics regaling his nostrils, and
there were the richest meats and wines and
;<, II v1a fha
and there was soft couch Of sinful indul-
gence on which he reclined, and the man de-
clared afterward that he would give ten
times what he had given if he could have one
week of such enjoyment, even though he lost
his soul by It'll All! that was the rub! He
did lose his soul by it! Cyrus the con0ueror
thought for little while that he vas max
ing fine thing out Of this world, and yet
before he came to his grave he wrote OUT
this pitiful epitaph for his monument: u
am Cyrus. I occupied the Persian empire.
I was king over Asia. Begrudge me not
this monument" But the world in after
years plowed up his sepulcher.
I The world clapped its hands and stamped
Its feet in honor Of Charles Lamb; but what
does he sayg II walk up and down, think.
ing am happy, but feeling | am not" Call
the roll. and be quick a5outit Samuel
Sonnson, Ine learned. happy No. Ian
afraid shall some day get crazy. Will
lam Hazlitt, the great essayst! Happy;
mo. have been for two hours aui hall
going up and down Paternoster row with a
volcano in my breast" Snollet, the witty
author! Happy? mo. Lam SICK of pr MS,
end blame, and wish to God that / hal
such circumstances arouni me that | could
throw my pen into oblivion" Buchanan,
the world renowned writer, exilel fro hi:
own country, appealing to Henry VIII for
protection! Happy! 'No. Over noun
tains covered with snow, and through val
leys flooded with rain, | come a fugitive"
Moliere, the popular dramatic author! Hap-
Py? mo. That wretch OF an actor Just
now recited four of my lines without the
proper accent and gesture. To have the
children of my brain so hung, drawn and
quartered tortureS me like a con iemnei
spirit"
l went to see a worliliny die. As wen.
into the hall saw its foor was tessellat l.,
and its wall was picture gallery. | foua /
his death chamber adorned with tapestry
until it seeme1 as if the clouds OF tn, Ssttir |,
sun had settled in tae room. The man hal
given forty years to the worli-his wit, his
time. his genius, his talent, his soul. Did the
world come in to stand by his deathbsI an |
clearing off the vials Of bitter Medicine, pat
down any compensation? Ga. no! The world
does not like sick and dying paople, and
leaves them In the lurch. 1t ruined this
man and then left him. He had magnii-
cent funeral. All the ministers wore scaris
and there were forty-three carriages i'll a
row; but the departed man appreciated not
the obsequies.
want to persuade my al lienc, that this
world is poor investment; that it does not
pay ninety per cent of satisfaction, nor
eighty per cent, nor twenty per cent, nor
two per cent, nor one; that it gives no solac,
when dead babe lies on your lap; that it
gives no peace when conscience rings its