The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1898-08-05
TALMAeE'S SERMON,
"All that a man hath will he give 70,

"All that q 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 n wanted Job still more af-
ficted. 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 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 proved
the falsity of the Satanic remark: "All
that a man hath will he give for his
ufe." Many a captain who has stood on
the bridge Of the steamer till his pas
sengers 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 q blazing
house to get a sleeping child out, the
fireman sacrificing his life in the at
tempt, and the thousands Of martyrs
who submitted to fiery stake and knife
OF massacre and headman's ak and
guillotine rather than surrender prin-
ciple, 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 if we
would not give up all, there are many
things we o surrender rather than
surrender 1t. We see our 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 w~aterproofs, all doctors,
| ALI m0NicinQo oil otr,1ou1o IN orsciC ~.
accident.
ONE PRECIOUS LIFE.
An admiral Of the British navy was
court martialed for turning his ship
around in time of danger, and so dam
aging the ship. 1t was proved against
him.. But when his time came to be
heard he said: Gentlemen, 1 did turn
damaged, but do you a to know
why I turned it? There was a man
overheard, and I wanted to save him,
and l did save him, and I consider the
life of one sailor worth all the vessels
Of the British navy"
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,
n they will give 100 different
One man will say, Success is 81, OO8,-
900; another will say, Success is world
wide publicity" another will say, ''Suc-
cess IS gaining that which you starteu
for" But as it is a free country I give
my own definition, n 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 a k care of a sick
child" Do what God calls o to do,
and you are a success, whether you
leave 81, 900, 900 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
are not satisfied with your life.
WOULD TRY 1T AGAIN.
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 80 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
grand If the good Lord would say to
you: You can go back and try it over
again. l will, by a word, turn you hair
to black, or brown, OF 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 rheu-
matte twinge from the foot, and you
shall be 81 Of age and just what
you were you reached that point
before. If the proposition were made
I think many thousands would ac-
cept it.
But some of you would have to go
back further than to 81 years Of age to
make a fair start, for there are many
who manage to get all wrong before
that period. Yea, in order to get a fair
start, some would have to go back to
the father and mother and get them
corrected; yea, to the grandfather and
grandmother, and hav their life cor
rected, for some of you are suffering
from bad hereditary influences which
started 100 years ago Well, if your
grandfather lived his life " again,
and your father lived his life owe
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,
itw ould be a stale and stupid exepri-
ence. The zest and spur n enthusi-
asm Of life come from the fact that we
have never been along this road before,
and everything Is new, and we are alert
for what may appear at the next turn
of the road. ~G3 4Gtf5Fultu5 EH
AN EMPTY PRIVILEGE.
Suppose you, a man Of mid-life Or
old age, were, with your present feel
ings and large attainments, put back
into the thirties, or the twenties, or in
the teens, what a nuisance, 0 would
be to others, and what an unhappiness
to yourself! Your contemporaries
would not want you, and you would
not want them. Things that in your
previous journey of life stirred your
healthful ambition, or gave you pleas
urable surprise, or led you into happy
Interrogation. would only call forth