Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1898-07-21
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
ONE LIFE ENOUGH" LAST
SUNDAYS SUBJECT.
From Job, Chapter 1T, Verse =, ms Fol-
lows: "An That "a Man Hath Will He
Give For His Lifc"-Taisehoods Built
on Truths.

That is untrue. The Lord did not say
1t, but Satan said 1t to the Lord when
the evil one wanted Job still more at
hicted. The record is: $50 went Sa-
tan forth from the presence Of the Lord
and smote Job with sore boils." And
Satan has been the author OF all erup-
tive 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 prov
ed the falsity of the Satanic remark:
"All that a 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 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 a fireman who plunged
into a blazing house to get 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 head
mans axe and guillotine rather than
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
truth. Life is very precious, and 4
we would not give up all, there are
many things we would surrender rath-
er than surrender ii. We see how pre-
cious life is from the fact that we do
everything to prolong it. Hence all
sanitary regulations. all study of hy-
giene, all fear of draughts, all water
proofs, all doctors, all medicines, all
struggle in crisis of accident. An ad-
miral of the British Navy was court
martialed for turning his ship around
; in time of danger, and so damaging the
, ship. It was proved against him. But
when his time came to be heard he
said: Gentlemen, | did turn the ship
around; and admit that ii was dam
aged, but do you want to know why
turned It? There was man overheard
and l wanted to save him, and l did
t save him, and / consider the life Of
one sailor worth all the vessels of the
British Navy" No wonder he was
, vindicated. Life is indeed very pre-
cious. Yea, there are those who deem
| life so precious they would like to re-
} peat it, they would like to try it over
| again. They would like to go back
| from seventy to sixty, from sixty -
J fifty, from fifty to forty, from forty to
, thirty, and from thirty to twenty.
| propose, for very practical and useful
, purposes, as will appear before / 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
again?
, The fact is, that no intelligent and
J 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 hundred different
! answers. One man will say. Success
; is million dollars" another will say,
, Success is worldwide publicity" an
other will say, Success is gaining that
. which you started for" But as ii IS
] free country l give my own defini-
, ton, and say, Success is fulfilling the
particular mission upon which you
were sent, whether to write a constitu-
ton, or invent a new style OF wheel
! barrow, or take care of a sick child"
Do what God calls you to do, and you
are success, whether you leave
million dollars at death or are buried
! at public expense. whether it takes
fifteen pages Of an encyclopedia to tell
I the wonderful things you have done,
J or your name is never printed but
once, and that in the death column.
. But whatever your success has been,
you are not satisfied with your life.
We have all made so many mistakes,
stumbled into so many blunders, sad
? 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 95 per cent OF
: Improvement. Now, would it not be
t grand If the good Lord would say to
J you: You can go back and try 1t over
) again. / 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 ont
J Of your shoulders, and extirpate the
stiffness from the joint, and the rheu-
} matte twinge from the foot, and you
? shall be twenty-one years OF age, and
, just what you were when you reached
J that point before If the proposition
were made | think many thousands
would accept 1t.
That feeling caused the ancien.
search for what was called the Fouu-
J tain of Youth, the waters of which,
5 taken, would turn the hair of the octo-
genarian into the curly locks of boy,
] and however old a person who drank
: at that fountain. he would be young
: again. The Island was said to belong
J to the group OF Bahamas. but lay far
out in the ocean. The great Spanish
explorer, Juan Ponce de Leon, fellow
voyager Of Columbus, have no doubt,
] felt that If he could discover that Foun-
tain Of Youth he would do as much
2 as his friend had done in discovering