The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1897-09-22

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Eternity.
In his sermon last Sunday Ee7. ir..a.-
mage discussed <uhiect vi,at '2aa. a-,.
never more timely than now w3ca tAesIT";.
Gle for power, position, wealth anu AaE.i-
ness is 50 absorbing The text : lanes y,
II, What IS your BE:
five leave 10 the cvo1EtlenISt to guess
where we came from and to The theoio2laAs
TO prophesy where We are going 10 wes,+ii
have left for consideration the Important
fact that we are here. There may be Some
doubt about where the river rises 81" some
doubt about where the river en!?tieS, but
there can be doub, ahoU; the fac; taat We are
sailing on it. So an not surprised that
everybody asks the question. rs life worth
living
Solomon in his unhappy roments says i
is not. Vanity 'vexGtion Of sm1.,
mo good" are his estimate. The fac; Is
that Solomon was at one tine 2 a?olygamisr
and that soured his disposition. one vie
makes man happy. More than cae MAKES
him wretched. But Solomon was conTe1ie-
frcm polygamy TO monosacy, &ns> TIE .}s,
words he ever wrote, as far Is we car rea@
them, were the words mountains ct specs.
But jeremiah SAYS life IS worth living. ina
book supposed to be dolefH( snc -usUarie,ts :
and sepulchral and entitled ''Lame0tailoLS
he plainly intimases thatthe blessing G; mere
ly living is 50 great ana grand q g.essl1g
that though a man have Q:Ieu On A.lH q.
misfortunes and disasters ne has ho r's!s.
to complain. The ancient prophet cries 0IIs
in startling intonation 10 al lands ana 10 an
centuries, Wherefore doth living man
A diversity of opinion in our time as well
as in olden time. Here Is young man os
light hair and blue eyes and sound digestion
and generous salary and happily ataanced
and on the way to become partner n q
commercial fr,l of which he IS an important
clerk Ask him whether life is worth living.
He will laugh in your face and say. eS,
yes, yes Here is a man who has come 10
the forties. He is al the tiptoQ OF the hl.l
of life. Every step has been aStumb!e and
bruise. The people he trusted have turned
out deserters, and the money he has honest
" made he has been cheated out OF. HIS
nerves are out of tune. He has poor appe-
tite and the food he does eat does not assiu!l-
late. Forty miles climbing up the hill q
life have been to him ike climbing the Mat
terhorn, and there are forty miles yet to 90
down, snd descent is always more dangerous
than ascent. Ask him whether life IS worth
living, and he will drawl OFT in shi7eElaS
and lugubrious and appalling negative, .'No,
no, non'
HOW are we to decide this matter right
eously and intelligently? You viii find tae
same man vacilIating, osciilatins IN his op!2-
ion from detection to exuberance, and L ne
be very mercurial in his temperament X VII.
depend very much on which way the wind
blows, If the wind blow from the north
west 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 answered.
Suppose we call all nations together II q
great convention on eastern or western hem
isphere and let all those who are IN the &ttr-
NATIVE say ssAye," and all those who are a
the negative say 'sNo' While there would
be hundreds of thousands who would answer
in the affirmative, there would be more NIL
lions who would answer in the negative, anu
because Of the greater number who nave soT
row and misfortune and trouble the "Accs
would have It. The answer l shall give Will
be different from either, and yeti: Will com
mend itself to all who hear me this day as the
right answer. If you ask ne, ''ls life worth
Evins?" answer ..It al depends upon the
kind Of life you i've
In the 6rst place, remark that a life Of
mere money getting is always q failure be-
cause YOU viii never get as much as you
want The poorest people in this country
are thenillionaires. There is not scissors
grinder on the streets Of New York or BROOK
lyn who IS so anxious to make money as
these men who have piled up fortunes year
after year in storehouses, II government Sc
curit;es, in tenement houses, IN Whote cI'y
blocks. You ought to see them jump TheE
they hear the FIRE bell ring. You ought 10
Sc them in their excitement when a oanA
explodes. You ought 10 see their agitation
when there is proposed q reformation IN the
tariff. Their nerves tremble like harp strings
but no music in the vibration. Iaey READ
the reports from Wall street in the morning
with concernment that threatens paralysis
or apoplexy, or, more probably, they have
telegraph or telephone in their own house,
SO they catch every breath OF change ID the
money market. The disease Of accumuia-
ton has eaten into tbem-eaten into their
heart, into their lungs, into their spleen,
into their liver, into their bones.
Chemists have sometimes analyzed tie hu-
man body, andthey say it is SO much mag
mes;a, so much lime, SO much chlorate OF
potassium. If some Christian chemist would
anaiyze one of these financial behemoths, ke
would find he is made up Of copper aud gold
and silver and zinc and lead and coal and
iron. That is net life worth living. There
are too many earthquakes IN It. 100 many
agonies in it, too many perdltions n Il,
They build their castles, snd they open their
picture galleries, and they summon prima
donnas, and they offer every inducement for
happiness to come and live there, b;,t ha?pl-
ness will not come. They send tootm2ned
and postilioned equipage 10 bring her. She
will not ride to their door. They send prince
ly escort She Will not take their arm. They
make their gateways triumphal arches. She
will not ride under them. They set so.'
den throne before golden plate. She turns
away from the banquet. They call 10 heI
from upholstered balcony. She Will NOT lis
ten. Mark you, this is the failure OF those
who have had large accumulation.
And then you must take into consideration
that the vast majority Of those who make the
dominant idea of life money getting fall faI
short of affiuence. 1t IS estimated that on }
about TWO out ofa hundred business men
have any thing worthy the name Of success
Awho spends his life with the one dominan
idea of financial accumulation spends II
not worth living.
So the idea Of worldly approval. If tha
be dominant in mans liie he IS miserable
Every four years the two most unfortunate
men in this country are the two men nOmI
mated for the presidency. The reservoirs G
abuse and diatribe and malesict;on gr2dUaii
FL up, gallon above gallon, hcgshead a3v'
hogshead, and about midsummer tAeSeatwt
reservoirs will be b-imm;lg full, ard . aost
will be attached to each one, and il VIA rl2y