The Penn's Grove record., 1891-08-21
REV. DIR. TALMAGR.
The Brooklyn Divine's Sunday
Sermon.
Subject: "a Poor Investment"
preached at Topeka, Kan.)

Preached at Topeka, Kan.)
TEXT: "Ye have sold yourselves for
naught,; and ne shall be redeemed pithoui
Dtonep.n-Isaiah lii, !.
sin, and as q punishment they had been car
ried captive to Babylon. They found that
infquity did not pay. Cyrus seized Babylon
and felt 50 sorry for these poor ~captives that,
without a dollar Of compensation, he let
them 60 home, So that literally, my text
nanght, and 70 shall be redeemed without
money"
There is enough Gospel in this text for
City sermons. There are persons here who
have, like the people of the text, sold out.
You do not seem to belong either to YOUR
selves or to God. TIL title deeds AVE been
passed over to the world, the flesh. and the
devil" but the purchaser never paid up.
"Ye have sold yourselves for naught."
When q man passes himself over to the
world he expects to get some adequate COM
~penataon. He has heard the great things
hat the world does for a man, and he be-
heves II. He wants two hundred and fifty
thousand dollars. That will be horses and
houses, and q summer resort and jolly COM
p~anionship. To get 1t 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 1t in four installments. He pays
down the first installment, and one-fourth OF
lis nature II gone. He pays down the second
fnstallment. and one-half Of his nature is
gone. He pays down the third f~nstallment.
and three-quarters Of his nature are gone,
and after many years have gone by he pays
down the fourth installment, and 1ol his en-
tire nature Ii gone. Then he comes up to the
world and says. 'saood morning. / nave
delivered to you the goods. 1 lave passed
over TO you my body, my mind and my soul,
dred and fifty thousand dollars" Two
hundred and fifty thousand dollarsY' says
the world. "What do you meanr' "Well,n
you say, II come to collect the money you
owe mi, and l expect You to fulfill your part
of the contract" but" says the world. II
have failed. am bankrupt. Icannot pos
s sins s psS : ssss sss : Il. have sw VT a0y To e t tSes
say, give me back the goods" stOh. no."
says the world, '.they are all gone. l cannot
give them back to you.n 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.n
1 tell you the world is a liar. It does not
keep its promises. 1t Is q cheat, and it
feeces everything It can put It's hands on.
1t ia q bogus world. II Is . six-thousand-
year-old swindle. Even II it pays the two
hundred and fifty thousand dollars for
which you contracted, 1t pays them fl bonds
that viii not be worth anything in q little
while. Just as . man may pay down ten
thousand dollars in hard cash and get for 10
WORTHLESS scrip-so the world passes over to
you the two hundred and fifty thousand
dollars In that shape which will not be worth
sfarthing to you q thousandth part Of a sec
ond after You are dead. oh you say, 1T
hrotherl you need not worry about that.
Ths world win bury you soon enough from
sanitary considerations.
Post mortem emoluments are of no use to
you Tbs treasures Of this world will not
pass currsnt in the future world, n II all
in ths pockst Of your shroud q you In the
midst Of the Jordan Of death were asked to
pay thrss cent? for your fsrriage. you could
o do Il. There comes o moment in your
existsncs beyond which all earthly values
fail, and many . mar has waksned up in
such . time to find that he has sold out for
etsrnity and has nothing to o for It. I
should a. soon think Of going to Chatham
street TO buy silk pocket handkerchisfs with
no cotton 10 them, - to 60 to this world ex-
pecttng to find any permanent happiness. 1t
has deceived and deluded every man who
hae every put his trust In u.
History tails y. Of ons who resolved that
be would have al his senses gratided at one
and the same time and he expended thou
. Of dollars on each sense. He entered q
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 n~ostrils, and
there were the richest meats and wines and
fruits and CONNECTIONS pleasing the appetite.
and there was q 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 il he could have n
week Of such enjoyment. even though he lost
his soul by i'll Ali that was the rubi he
did lose his soul by It'll Cyrus the conqueror
thought for q little while that he was max
ing q dne thing out Of this world, and yet
before he came to his grave he wrote out
this pitful epitaph for his monument: II
am Cyrus. ] occupied the Persian empire.
this monument.s But the world in after
years plowed up his sepulcher.
The world clapped its hands and stamped
tsfoet in honor Of Charles Lamb; but what
does he sayf II walk up and down, think
ing 1 am happy, but feeling / am not Call
ths roll, and be quick about it. Samuel
johnson, the learnedi Happy sNo. lam
afraid | shall some day get crazy. Will
lam Haslitt. the great sssayistl Happy
AVE- O@Ch " AASAto 6l0 q HAIL
going up and down Paternoster row with a
volcano In my breast" Smollet the witty
authori Happyi HNo. am sick of praise
and blame and I wish to God that l had
such circumstances arouud me that I could
throw ~ pen into s oblivion Buchanan.
own country, appealing to Henry VIII for
protectioni Happyf mo. Over noun
tafns covered with snow, and through val
lsys flooded with rain, I come a fugitive"
Moltere the popular dramatic authorl Hap
PVT mo. That wretch of an actor just
now recited four Of my lines without the
proper accent and gesture. To havs the
children Of my brain 80 hung, drawn aud
quartered tortures me like a condemned
spirit"
I went to see a wording die. As I went
into the hall I saw its floor was tessellated.
and its wall was . picture gallery. l found
his death lambs adorned with tapestry
until 1t seemed as IL the clouds of the setting
sun had settled in the room. The man had
given forty years to the worl1-his wit. his
time. his genius, his talent, his soul. Did the
world come in to stand by his deathbed and
clearing of the walls Of bitter medicine, put
down any compensation Oh. no The world
does not like sick and dying people, and
leaves them In the lurch. II ruined this
man and then left him. He had a magnid-
cent funeral. All the ministers wore scarfs.
and there were forty-three carriages In a
row; but the departed man appreciated not
want to persuade my audience that this
world Is q 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 solace
gives no peace when conscience rings its
alarm; that 1t gives no explanation In the
day Of dire trouble; and at the time of your
decease 1t takes hold Of the pillow case and