The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1898-08-13
ONE LIFE rs ENOUGH.
Dr.. Talmage Says 1t Is a Mistake
to Wish to Live 1t Over.
IT Would he a Lonely and Cad Pilgrimage,
and He Who Would flake 1t .
Domestic Nuisance-Aton-
Ing for the Past.

opportunities so that more oppor-
tunities than we enjoy in life do not
seem desirable. The text is:
All that man hath will he give for his life.
job H., l.
That is untrue. The Lord did not
say it, but Satan said it to the Lord
when the evil one wanted Job still
more afflicted. The record is: 80
went Satan forth from the presence of
the Lord, and smote Job with sore
boils." And Satan has been the author
of all eruptive disease since then, and
he hopes by poisoning the blood to
poison the soul But the result of the
diabolical experiment which left Job
victor proved the falsity of the Satanic
remark: "All that man hath will he
give for his life." Many a captain who
has stood on the bridge of the steamer
till his passengers got off and he
drowned; many an engineer who has
kept his hand on the throttle valve or
his foot on the brake, until the most
of the train was saved, while he went
down to death through the open draw
bridge; many fireman who plunged
into blazing house to get sleeping
child out, the fireman sacrificing his
life in the attempt, and the thousand
of martyrs who submitted to fiery
stake and knife of massacre and head
mans ak and guillotine rather than
surrender principle, proving that in
many case my text was not true when
it says. "All that man hath will he
give for his life"
But Satan's falsehood was built on a
truth. Life is very precious, and if we
would not give up ALL there are manv
ehlngs we would surrender rather than
surrender it. We see how precious life
is from the fact that we do everything
to prolong it. Hence all sanitary regu-
lations, all study of hygiene, all fear OF
draughts, all waterproofs, all doctors,
all medicines, all struggle in crisis or
accident. An admiral of the British
navy was court martialed for turning
his ship around in time of danger, and
SO damaging the ship. 1t was proved
aginst him. But when his time came
to be heard he said: Gentleman,
did turn the ship around, and admit
that it was damaged, but do you want
to know why turned it? There was
man overheard, and | wanted to save
him, and / did save him, and | con-
slider the life of one sailor worth all
the vessels of the British navy" No
wonder he was indicated. Life is in
deed very precious. Yea, there are
those who deem life SO precious they
would like to repeat it; they would
like to try it over again. They would
like to go back from 70 to 60, from &c
to 50. from so to 40, from 40 to 30, from
30 to 90 propose for very practical
and useful purposes, as Will appear be-
fore l get through, to discuss the ques'
ton we have all asked of others, and
others have again and again asked Of
us: Would you like to live your life
over again?
The fact is that no intelligent and
right minded man is satisfied with his
past life. However successful your
life may have been, you are not salts
fed with it. What is success? ASK
that question of hundred differen
men, and they will give hundred diff
ferent answers. One man will say
success is million dollars" another
will say: Success is worldwide pub
licity;" another will say: Success il
gaining that which you started for.
But as it is free country, l give my
own definition. and say: Success il
fulfilling the particular mission upor
which YOU were sent, whether to write
a constitution, or invent new style O
wheelbarrow, or take care of sicl
child" Do what God calls you to do
and you are success, whether yo,
leave million dollars at death or ar
buried at public expense, whether i
takes fifteen pages of an encyclopedi;
to tell the wonderful things you hav'
done, or your name is never printe'
but once, and that in the death column
But whatever your success has been
you aie not satisfied with your life.
We have all made so many mistakes
stumbled into so many blunders, salt
so many things that ought not to hav,
been said, and done SO many thing
that ought not to have been done tina
we can suggest at least IS per cent. o
improvement. Now, would it not b
grand if the good Lord would say t.
YOU: "You can go back and try i
over again. | will, by word, turf
your hair to black, or brown, o
golden, and smooth all che wrinkle
out of your temple or cheek, and TAX
the bend out of your shoulders, ant
extirpate the stiffness from the joint
and the rheumatic twinge from tn
foot, and you shall be 81 years of age
and just what you were when yo'
reached that point before" If tn
proposition were made / think man
thousands would accept it.
That feeling caused the ancien
search for what was called the Foun
tain of Youth, the waters of which
taken, would turn the hair of the oc
togenarian into the curly locks of
boy, and however old person VIII
drank at that fountain, he would
young again. The island was said t
belong to the group of Bahamas, bu
Law far out in the ocean. The grea
Spanish explorer, Juan Ponce de Leon
fellow-voyager of Columbus, have n
doubt, felt that if he could discove
that Fountain of Youth, he would d
asmuch as his friend had done in dis
covering America, So he put out il
1912 from Porto Rico and cruised abou
among the Bahamas in search of tina
fountain. l am glad he did not fin
:, Thara iS No such fountain But