The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-07-26
FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH,
REV. DIR. TALMAGE SAYS WE DC
NOT NEED REMUNERATION.
One Life Is Enough to Live on Earth.
No Man Is Satisfied. no Matter How
Great His Success--He Shows How
Unpleasant IL Would be TO Live Life
Over Again.
1893, by American Press Asso-
ciation.1

Dnpleasant IL OuId De TO Live Life
Over Again.
copyright, 1893. by American Press Asso-
ciation.l
This discourse OF Dr.. TalmaSe extols
our present opportunities SO that more
opportunities than we enjoy in this life
DO not seem desirable; the text, Job ii, a,
All that a man hath will he give for
his life"
That is untrue. The Lord did not say
1t, but Satan said it to the Lord when
the evil one wanted JOB still more a1lict-
ed. 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 sa-
tanic remark, "All that a man hath will
ne give for his life" Many a captain who
mas stood on the bridge of the steamer
till his passengers got off and he drown
ed; 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 drawbridge; many a
fireman who plunged into an open house
to get a sleeping Child out, the fireman
sacrificing his life in the attempt, and
the thousands of martyrs who submitted
to fiery stake and knife of massacre and
surrender principle, proving that In
many a case my text was not true when
it says, All that a man hath will he
give for his life"
But satan's falsehood was built on a
truth. Life is very precious, and II we
would not give up all, there are many
things we would surrender rather tnan
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
drafts, all Waterproofs, all doctors, all
medicines, all struggle in crisis or accl-
dent. An admiral of the British navy
was court martialed for turning his snip
around in time of danger and so damae-
ing the ship. 1t was proved against
him. But when his time came to be
heard he said: Gentlemen, 1 did turn
the ship around and admit that it was
damaged, but do you want to know why
I turned it? There was a man overheard;
and l wanted to save him and L DID
save him, and ] consider the life of one
sailor worth all the vessels of the British
navy No wonder he was indicated.
Life is indeed very precious. Yea, there
are those who deem life so precious they
would like to repeat II; they Wouid IKE
to try it over again. They would like to
go back from 70 to 60. from 60 to so, from
90 to 40. from 40 to 80 and from 80 to 20.
7 propose, for very practical and useful
purposes, as will appear before i get
through, to discuss the question we have
all asked of others and others have
again and again asked of us, Would you
like to live your life over gain?
NO MAN SATISFIED.
The fact is that no intelligent and
right feeling man is satisfied with his
past life. However successful your life
may have been, you are not satisfied
with it. What is success? Ask that
question of a hundred different men, and
they will give a hundred different an
swers; One man will say, Success is
s., 900, 0OO;' another will say, Success is
worldwide publicity another will say,
Success is gaining that which you start
ed for" But as it is a free country /
give my own definition, and say Success
is fulfilling the particular mission upon
which you were sent, whether to write a
constitution or invent a new style of
WheelbarrOW or take care of a sick
child Do what God calls. you to do,
and you are a success, whether you
leave s., 200, 900 at death or are buried at
public expense, whether it takes fifteen
pages of an encyclopedia to tell the Won
derful things you have done or your name
Is never printed but once, and that in
the death column. BUT whatsoever your
success has been you are not satisfied
with your life.
We have all made so many mistakes,
stumbled into so many blunders, said so
many things that ought not to have been
said and done so many things that ought
not to have been done that we can sug-
Now, would it be grand if the Lord
would say to you: You can go back
and try it over again. I will, by a word,
turn your hair to black. or brown, or
golden, and smooth all the wrinkles out
of your temple or cheek, and take the
bend out of your shoulders, and eXtir-
pate the stiffness from the joint, and the
rheumatic twinge from the foot, and you
shall be Il years of age and just what
you were when you reached that point
before" If the proposition were made, l
think many thousands would accept it.
That feeling caused the ancient search
fir what was called the fountain of youth,
the waters of which, taken would turn
the hair of the octogenarian into the
curly locks of Il boy, and, however old
Il person who drank at that fountain. he
would be young again. The island was
said to belong to the group of Bahamas,
but lay far out in the ocean. The great
Spanish explorer. Juan Ponce de Leon,
fellow VOyager of Jun I have no
doubt felt that if he could discover that
fountain of youth he would do as much
as his friend had done in discovering
America. SO he put out in 1912 from
Porto Rico and cruised about among the
Bahamas in search of that fountain. I
am glad he did not find it. There is no
snoh fountain. But il there were, and it's
waters were bottled up and sent abroad
at $1,000 n bottle, the demand would be
greater than the supply. and many a man
who has come through life of uselessness
and perhaps sin to old age would be
shaking up the potent LIQUID. and if he
were directed to take only a teaspoonful
after each meal would be so anxious
to make sure work he would take a table
spoonful. and if directed to take a table
spoonful would take a glassful.
STALE AMI TUPID
But some of you would have TO go back
farther than y years of age to make a
falr start, Tor there are many who man
age to get all wrong before that period.
Yea, in order to get a fair start. some
would have to so back to the father and
mother and get them corrected, yea. to
the grandfather and grandmother, and
have their life corrected, for some of you
are suffering from bad hereditary intu-
ences which started 100 years ago. Well.
if your grandfather lived his life over
again, and your father lived his five over
again, what a cluttered up place this
world would be-a place filled with mis-
cradle attempts at repairs. I begin to
think that it is better for each genera
ton to have only one chance. and then
for them to pass off and give another
generation a chance. Besides that. If we
were permitted to live life over again,
it would be a stale and stupid experience.
The Zest and spur and enthusiasm of life
come from the fact that We have never
been along this road before and every
thing is new and we are alert for what
may appear at the next turn of tle road.
Suppose you, a man of middle or old age.
were. with your present feelings and
large a~ttainments. put back into the
Thirt;es or the twenties or in the teens.
what a nuisance you would be to Others