The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1897-10-21
WHAT is YOUR LIFE2
Rev. DR.. Talmage Gives Some Sage
and Christian Advice.
a Life Devoted to Mere Money Getting
FaIls Far short of Being Success
full, and Can Never be
Truly Harpy One.


Witt Talmage indicates how to live a
life that is worth living. 1t is based
on the text:
What is your life:-James iv., II.
II we leave to the evolutionists to
guess where we came from and to the
theologians to prophesy where we are
poinp to. we still have left for consid-
Grafton the important fact that we are
here. There may be some doubt about
where the river rises, and some doubt
about where the river empties, but
there can be no doubt about the fact
that we are sailing on it. So l am not
surprised that everybody asks the
question: rs life worth living?"
Solomon. in his unhappy moment,
saws it is not. VANITY "'vexation of
spirit" mo good, are his estimates.
The fact is that Solomon was at one
time polygamist, and that soured his
disposition. Ole wife makes man
happy; more than one makes him
wrrtehed But Solomon was converted
from polygamy to monogamy, and the
last words he ever wrote, SO far as we
can read them, were the words ''moun-
tains of spices" But jeremiah says
life is worth living. In book sup
posed to be doleful. and lugubriOus,
and sepulchral, and entitled "Lamen-
tations," he plainly intlmates that the
blessing Of merely living is SO great
and grand blessing that though a
man have piled on him all misfortunes
and disasters, he has no right to COM
plain. The ancient prophet cries out
In startling intonation to all lands and
to all centuries. "Wherefore doth
living man complain?'
A diversity of opinion in our time as
well rs in olden time. Here is
young man of light hair and blue eyes
and sound digestion, and generous sal
ary. and happily affianced, and on the
way to become a partner in a CONNER
cia firm of which he is an important
clerk. Ask him whether life is worth
living. lie will laugh in your face and
say: "Yes, yes, yes!' Here is a man
who has come to the 40s. He is at the
tip-top of the hill of life. Every step
has been a stumble and bruise. The
people he trusted have turned out de-
serters, and the money he has honestly
made he has been cheated out of. His
nerves are out of tune. He has poor
appetite, and the food he does eat
does not assimilate. Forty miles
: eilnbipp nm fha hi1 re l;f, lo-o Loo-
TO him like climbing the Matterhorn,
and there are forty miles yet to go
down, and descent is always more
dangerous than ascent. Ask him
whether life is worth living, and he
Will drawl out in shivering and lugu-
orlous and appalling negative: mo,
no, nor
How are we to decide this matter
rightly and intetligcntly? You will
ma The same man vacillating, oscii-
iatlns in his opinion from detection to
exuoerance, and if he be very mercurial
N ms temperament it will depend very
much ON which way the wind blows.
the wind blow from the northwest,
and you ask him, he will say, Yes"
sna II 1t blow from the northeast, and
you ask him, he will say, No" How
are we, then, to get tn. question right
eoasiy answered? Suppose we call
~ nations together in IA great conven-
uoh On eastern Or western hemi-
sphere, and let all those who are
n TIE affirmative say Aye" and all
s muse Who are in the negative say
40 While there would be hundreds
VI thousands who would answer in the
aaifmatlve, there would be more mil
isons VINO would answer in the mega
i've and, because of the greater num-
: yer VINO have sorrow, and misfortune,
ana trouble, the Noes" would have it.
ine answer | shall give will be differ
ent irom either, and yet it will COM
Mend ltseif to all who hear me this day
she right answer. If you ask me,
s lie worth living?' | answer. it all
1epends upon the kind CT life you live.
~ the first place, l remark that a
:. As u mere money-getting is always a
4auure, because you will never get as
luen as you want. The poorest peo-
e, p,e ~ TINS country are the millionaires.
aaere is not a scissors grinder on the
streets OF New York or Brooklyn who
% anxious to make money as these
msn VINO have piled up fortunes year
4ser year in storehouses. in govern
securities, in tenement houses,
= whole city blocks You ought
see them jump when they
asar the lire bells ring. You ought
= see them in their excitement
aAea a bank explodes. You ought to
&c enelr agitation when there is pro-
no gsseu reformation of the tariff.
=. sar nerves tremble like harp strings,
no music in the vibration. They
lev tue reports from Wall street in the
s1hing with concernment that
leaeens paralysis or apoplexv. or,
l0re probably, they have telegraph
1iephone in their own house, so
= ey catch every breath of change in
- money market. The disease of ac-
;s.l a,atlon has eaten into them-eaten
,hs: - eneir heart, into their lungs, into
bones. o ''ei' liver INTO 'helr
nv. 7. .ae Idea Of worldly approval. If
ss.e ssoe dominant in mans life he is
sss.e. s.ssaoie. Every toar years the two
IT saiertnaa.a MN In this country