Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1898-07-25

In the following discourse Rev. T.
Dewitt Talmage extols our present
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 IL, 4
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: $50
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: Cali that man hath will he
give for his life" Many captain who
has stood on the bridge of the steamer
till his passengers got off and he
drowned; many an engineer who mas
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 a fireman who plunged
into blazing house to get a sleeping
child out, the fireman sacrlhclng MS
life in the attempt, and the Thousand
of martyrs who submitted to merry
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 saws: Cali that man hath will he
give for his life"
But Satan's falsehood was built on
truth. Life is very precious, and II we
would not give up all, there are MANY
things 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
a man overheard, and [ wanted to save
him. and | did save him, and l 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 20 to 60, from so
to so, from so to 40, from 40 to 30, from
80 to 90 propose for very practical
and useful purposes, as will appear be-
fore [ 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 a hundred different
men, and they will give hundred diff
ferent answers. One man will say:
Success is million dollars;" another
will say: Success is worldwide pub
licitv;' another will say: Success is
gaining that which you started for. !"
But as it is free country, l give my
own definition. and say: Success is
fulfilling the particular mission upon
which YOU were sent, whether to write
a constitution, or invent new style of
wheelbarrow or take care of sick
child" Do what God calls you to do,
and YOU are a success, whether you
leave a million dollars at death or are
buried at public expense, whether it
takes fifteen pages of an encyclopedia
to tell the wonderful things you have
done, or your name is never printed
but once, and that in the death column.
But whatever your success has been,
YOU ale 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 suggest at least IS per cent. of
Improvement. Now, would it not be
OrdnQ IL UDe SOOO hOIu WOuAu say w
you: ''You can go back and try it
over again. L will, by 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
extirpate the stiffness from the joint,
and the rheumatic twinge from the
foot, and you shall be 81 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 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 who
drank at that fountain, he would be
young again. The island was said to
belong to the group of Bahamas, but
Law far out in the ocean. The great