The times., 1897-09-13
Rev. DR.. Talmage Discusses the
Supreme Ethical Question.
1T DEPENDS ON THE LIFE
The Eloquent Preacher Is Greeted
After His Vacation by an Immense
CoDgregatipn-A Keen Satire on
the Composition of Society
Graphic Pictures.


for the first time since the close of his
vacation. The crowd was like that which
assembled in the church when DR.. Tai
mage preached his first sermon there
after being called as co-pastor. There was
besides a great overflow.
The preachers subject and text We're as
follows:
Subject: Is Life Worth Living? Text:
Lamentations Wherefore doth
living man complaint"
DR.. Taimage. opening The discourse, said.
with cheeriest salutation l greet you
after the summer absence, and after ride
of thousands OF miles through richest
harvest fields and at a time when the
agricultural and metallic forces have united
TO assure under God the grandest pros
perity that this country has ever seen.
1t is easy at such a time to take cheer
ful view OF life, but we ought always to
be in the thankful and appreciative mood
suggested by my text. This morning 1
propose TO discuss a question which all
ask, and which all at some tine try TO
answer: rs life worth living?'
Solomon. in his unhappy moments, sa US
IL is not. Vanity 'veXatlon OF spirit,
no good, are his estimate jeremiah, in
a book supposed TO be doleful, and lugu-
brious, and sepulchral, and entitled La
meptatious,' plainly fntimates that the
blessing sr merely living is so great and
grand blessing, that though man have
piled on him ali misfortuneS ana disasters
he has no right TO complain, and cries out
TO all centuries, Wherefore doth a living
man complaint.
"A diversity OF opinion has existed ON
this subject in our time as Well as iTI
olden time.
How are We to decide this matter
righteousiy and intelhgently? You win
find the same man vacillating, oscIliating
in his opinion from detection To exuber-
ance, and if he be very mercunal in his
temperament. it will depend very much
upon which way the wind blows. II
the wind blow from the northwest and
rou GSk him, he VIII say Yes and il it
blow from the northeast and you ask him,
he viii say No. How are We then to
get the question righteouSiy answered.
Suppose we call all nations together in
great convention on Eastern or Western
hemisphere, and let 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 ans wer
in the negative, and because of the
greater number who have sorrow and
misfort11c and trouble, the noes would
have il. The answer l shall give will be
different from either, and get it VIII cons
mend Itself to all who hear me this cay
as the right answer If sou ask me Is
life worth Hving2' l answer, it all de-
pends upon the kind Of life You live
In the first place, l remark that q
life OF mere money getting is always q
failure, because you Will never get as
much a. you want. The disease of &C
emulation has eaten into the financial
behenoths eaten into their heart, into
their lungs, into their spleen, into their
liver, into their bones.
IF some Christian chemist would an
aIyze one Cf these he would find he is
made up of copper, and gold, and silver
and zinc and lead, and coal, and iron
That s not life worth living. There
are too many earthquakes in it, too many
agonles III it, too many perditions in it.
1T is estimated that only about two
out Of q hundred business men have any
thing worthy the name of success. a
man who spends his life with the one
dominant idea OF financial accumulation
spends life not Worth living"
Speaking OF political ambition, DR.. Tai
mage said:
in summer time the nominations are
made. Inc reservoirs OF abuse, and dia-
tribe, and maIediction gradually fill up.
gallon above gallon, hOgshead above hogs
head, until these reservoirs are brimming
fUI!, and g hose is attached to each one,
ana it IS played on these nominees, and
they have to stand it and take the abuse,
ana tie falsehood, and the carica ture, and
tile auathema, and the caterwauling. and
the filth, and they are rolled in it and
rolled over and over in it, until they are
ohoked, and submerged. aud strangulated
and at every sign of returning conscious
ness they are barked at by all the hounds
or political parties from ocean TO ocean.
| But what You see In the matter of high
| political preferment you see in every com
munity in the struggle for what is called
| social position, in which good morals and
| intelligence are necessary, but wealth, OF
the show of wealth, is absolutely indis
pensable. There are men today as notori
! Gus for their IbertinisIn as the night i.
| famous for its darkness who move In
| what IS called high social position. There
are many out-and-out rakes in American
society whose names are mentioned among
| the distinguished guests at the great
| leveeS. They have annexed all the known
/ vices. and are longing for other worlds OF
diabolisIn u conquer. Good morals are
not necessary III many Of the exalted cir
cles Of 'ociety.
Neither is intelligence necessary. YoI
find in that realm men who would not
know an adverb from an ad jective if they
met il hundred times a day, and who
| could not write a letter of acceptance OF
regrets without the aid Of a secretary
There are thousands today In society
who are ANXIOUS to keep in it. There are
thousands in this realm who are nervous
for fear they will fall out Of it, and there
are changes going on every year, and every
month, and every hour which involve heart
breaks that are never reported
a life Of sin, life Of pride, life OF
| indulgence, a life of woTldIiness, If,
devoted TO the world, the flesh, and the
devil is failure, dead failure, an infinite
failure. I care not how many presents you
send to that cradle, or how many garlands
You send tc that grave, you need TO put
! right under the name On the tombstone thi.
| inscription: Better for that man if h,
had never been born.'
'ButI stall show YOU life that is worth
living. A young man says: 1 am here.
am not responsible for my ancestry; other.