The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1900-08-24

erty; the plea would be OF no avail
We might say: 1--WE have a lien on
that storehouse;" that would do us
no good. Death is blind, and he can
not see a seal and cannot read an in
denture. So that, first and last, l want
to tell you that when you propose
that l give up my soul for the world
| you cannot give me the first item of
title.
Having examined the title of a
property, your next question is about
insurance. You would not be silly
enough to buy large warehouse that
could not possibly be insured. You
would not have anything to do with
such a property. Now, | ask you
what assurance can you give me that
up? Absolutely none. Biologists tell
us that it is already on fire; that
the heart of the world is one great
living coal; that it is just like a ship
on fire at sea, the flames not bursting
out because the matches are kept
down. And yet you propose to palm
off on me, in return for my soul, a
world for which, in the first place,
you give no title, in the second place,
for which you can give no insurance.
"Oh," you say, ''the water of the
oceans will wash over all the land and
put out the fire" Oh, no. There are
infammable elements in the water,
hydrogen and oxygen. Call off the
hydrogen, and then the Atlantic and
Pacific oceans would blaze like heaps
of shavings. You want me to take
this world, for which you can give
no possible insurance.
Here is a man who has had a large
estate for 90 or so years. He lies
down to die. You say: THAT man is
worth millions and millions of dol
lars" Is he? You call up a survey
or, with his compass and chains, and
you say: There is a property extend
ing three miles in one direction and
three miles in another direction" Is
that the way to measure that mans
property? No! You do not want any
surveyor, with compass and chains.
That is not the way to measure that
mans property now. 1t is an under
taker you need, who will come and
put his finger in his vest pocket and
take out a tapeline, and he will meas
ure five feet nine inches one way and
21a feet the other way. That is the
mans property. Oh, no; l forgot;
not so much as that, for he does not
own even the place in which he lies
in the cemetery. The deed to that
belongs to the executors and heirs.
Oh, what a property you propose to
give me for my soul! If you sell a
bill of goods you go into the counting
room and say to your partner: DO
you think that man is good for this
bill? Can he give proper security? :?
VIII he meet this payment?" Now,
when you are offered this world as a
possession want you to test the mat
ter. do not want you to go into this
bargain blindly. l want you to ask
about the title, about the insurance,
about whether men have ever had any
trouble with it, about whether you
can get all or the ten-thousandth part
or one hundred-thousandth part of it.
There is the world now. l shall say
no more about it. Make up your mind
for yourself, as ! shall before God
have to make up my mind for myself
about the value of this world. I can
not afford to make mistake for my
soul, and you cannot afford to make
a mistake for your soul.
Now let us look at the other property
the soul. We cannot make bargain
without seeing the comparative value.
The soul! How shall l estimate the
value of it? Well, by its exquisite or
ganization. 1t is the most wonder
full piece of mechanism ever put to-
gether. Machinery is of value in pro-
portion as it is mighty and silent at
the same time. You look at the engine
and the machinery in the Philadelphia
mint, and as you see it performing G
it's wonderful work you will be sur
prised to find how silently it goes. Ma
chinery that roars and tears soon de-
stroys itself; but silent machinery is
often most effective. Now, so it is with
the soul of man, with all it's tremendous
faculties; it moves in silence. Judg-
ment, without any racket, lifting its
scales; memory, without any noise,
bringing down all its treasures; con-
science taking its judgment seat with
out any excitement; the understand
ing and the will all doing their work
velocity, majesty, might, but silence,
silence. You listen at the door of your
heart. You can hear no sound. The
soul is quiet. 1t is so delicate an in
strument that no human hand can
touch it. You break a bone, and with
splinters and bandages the surgeon
sets it; the eye becomes infiamed, the
apothecary's wash cools it; but a soul
off the track, unbalanced, no human
power can readjust it. With one sweep
of its wing it encircles the universe and
overvaults the throne of God. Why,
in the hour of death the soul is so
mighty it throws aside the body as
though it were a toy. 1t drives back
medical skill as impotent. 1t breaks
through the circle of loved ones who
stand around the dying couch. With
one leap it springs beyond star and
moon and sun and chasms of immensi-
ty. 1t is superior to all material things!
No fire can consume it; no foods can
drown it; no rocks can crush it; no
walls can impede it; no time can ex-
haust it. 1t wants no bridge on which
to cross a chasm. 1t wants no plum
met with which to sound a depth. A
soul so mighty, so swift, so silent, must
be priceless soul.
1 calculate the value of the soul also
by its capacity for happiness. How
much joy it can get in this world out
of friendships, out of books, out of
clouds, out of the sea, out of flowers,
out of ten thousand things, and yet all
the JOY it has here does not test its ca
pacity. You are in a concert before the