The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1894-07-27

BRcoELyN, July 22--ReV DR. Tai
mage. who is now touring in Australian
cities. has chosen a. the subject for
to-day's sermon through the press:
Worth Living" the text being taken
from Lamen tations II 80. Where
fore doth = living man complaint
II we leave to the evolutionists to
guess where we came from and to the
theologians to prophecy where we
are going to. we still have left for con-
sidera ton the important fact that we
are here There may be some doubt
about where the river rises and some
doubt where the river empties. but
there can be no doubt about the fact
that we are sailing on it So am nos
surprised that every body asks the
question. lis life vor th lfving2'
Solomon in his unhappy moments
says it is not Vanity, ''vexation Of
spirit - mo good" are his estimate.
The fact is that Solomon was at one
time polyQamist and that sOured his
disposition. One wife makes a man
happy; more than one makes him
wretched- But Solomon was converted
from polygamy to monogamy, and the
last words he ever wrote. as far as we
can read them, were the words 'moun-
tains of spicea-'' But Jeremiah says
in my text life is worth living
In a book supposed to be dolefu1.
and Iugu brious, and sepulchral and
entitled "Lamen ia tiOns." he plainly
intimates that the blessing of merely
living is so great and grand blessing
that though a man have piled on him
all MIST rtunes and disasters he has
no right TO complain. he author OF
my text cries out in startling intona-
4
''WherefOre does q living man COM
Plain2" A diversity of opinion in our
time az well as in olden time. Here is
a young man of light hair, and blue
eyes. and sound digestion, and gener-
Gus salary, and happily afaanced, and
on the way to become a partner in q
commercial firm of which he is an i'm
portant clerk Ask him whether life
is worth living. He will laugh in
your face and say: Yes, yes, yesl''
Here is a man who has come to the
fortiea He 10 at the tip-top of the hill
Of life. Every step has been a STUN
bic and q bruise. The people he
trusted have turned out deserters. and
the money he has honestly made he
has been cheated out of. His nerves
are out of tune He has poor appe-
tite, and all the food he does eat
climbing up the hill of life have been
to him like elm bing the Matterhorn,
and there are forty miles vet to 60
down. and descent is always more
dangerous than ascent Ask him
whether life is worth living and he
will draw1 out in shivering and 1ugu-
briOus and appalling negative, NO.
no. nol''
How are we to decide this matter
righteously and intelligently? You
will find the same man vacillating,
oscilIating in his opinion from dejec-
ton to exuberance. and If he be
very mercuria1 in his tempe rament it
will depend very much upon which
way the wind blows If the wind
blow from the northwest and you ask
him, he will say, .'Yes;" and if it blow
from the northeast and you ask him.
he will say, No" How are we then
to get the question righteously an
swered2 Suppose we call all nations
toge Their in great convention on
eastern or western he misphere. ana let
all those who are in the affirmative
say Aye and all those who are in
the negative say No" While there
would be hundreds of thousands who
would answer in the affirmative.
there would be more millions who
would answer in the negative. and be-
cause of the greater number who have
sorrow and misfortune and trouble the
Noes would have it The answer 1
shall give will be different from either
and it will commend itself to all who
hear me this day as the right answer.
II you ask me rs life W rth living?"
] answer, il all depends upon the KIM
of life you live.
In the first place, I remark. that a
life Of mere money getting is always a
failure, because you will never get as
much as you want The poorest peo-
pie in this country are the richest.
and next to them those who are half
as rich. There is not a scissors grind
er on the streets Of New York or
BROOKLYN who is so anxious to make
money as these men who have piled
mp fortunes year after year in store
houses. In government securities. in
tenement houses, in whole city blocks
You ought to see them jump when
they hear the fire bell ring. You
ought to see them in their excitement
when some bank explodes- You ought
to see their agitation when there is
proposed q reformation IN the tariff
Their nerves trem5le like harp
strings. but no music in the vibration
They read the reports from Wall
street in the morning with concern
ment that threatens paralysis or apo
plexy. or, more probably. they have .
eleRra phi or . telephone in their
own house, 50 they catch every
breath of change in the money mar
kst The disease Of accumulation
has eaten INTO them-eaten into their
hearts, into their lungs, into their
spleen, into their lives. into their
Jones