The Penn's Grove record., 1900-08-24

Copyright 1sOu.l
WASHINGTON, d. c. From Berlin,
where he preached in the American church
J to a congregation comprising many OF his
c~ountrymen who are travelling through
Europe, DIR. Talmage sends this discourse,
in which, by original methods, he calcu-
lates spiritual values and urges higher APP
probation of things religious. The text
is Mark viii, 36: "What shall it profit a
man if he shall gain the whole world and
lose his W soul?"
Men of all OCCUPATIONS are to be found
in the assemblies of the house of God, but
in these days of extensive business opera
tions a large proportion are engaged from
Monday morning to Saturday night in bar
gain making. In many of the families
across the breakfast table and the tea
table are discussed questions of loss and
gain. You are every day asking yourself:
What is the value of this? What is the
value of that?" You would not think of
giving something of greater value for that
which is of lesser value. You would not
think of selling that which cost you $40
for SIS. If you had a property that was
worth $1,000, 0 would not sell it for
$4,000. You are intelligent in all matters
of bargain making. Are you as wise in
the things that pertain to the matters of
the soul? Christ adapted His ~instruc-
tions to the circumstances of those to
whom He spoke. When He talked to
fishermen, He spoke of the gospel net.
When He talked to the farmers, He said:
"a sower went forth to SOW" When He
talked to the shepherds. He told the para
BILE of the lost sheep. And am / not right
when speaking to an audience made up Of
bargain makers that I address them in the
words of my text, asking, "What shall it
profit a mar if he shall gain the whole
world and lose hic own coT1I ~
/ propose, as far as possible, to estimate
and compare the value of the two proper
ties.
First, I have to say that the world is a
very grand property. Its flowers are
Gods thoughts in bloom. Its. rocks are
Gods thoughts in stone. Its dewdrops
are Gods thoughts in pearl. This world
is Gods cnild-a hayward child, indeed;
it has. wandered off through the heavens.
night. God sent out a sister world to call
that wanderer back, and it hung over
Bethlehem only long enough to get the
promise of the wanderers return, and
now that lost world, with soft feet of
light, comes treading back through the
heavens. The hills, how beautiful they
billow up, the edge of the wave white
with the foam of crocuses! How beautiful
the rainbow, the arched bridge on which
nav IN SOulO III Odlh W CQCl
other in tears after the storm is over!
How nimble the feet of lamplighters that
in a few minutes set all the dome of the
night ablaze with brackets of fire! How
bright the oar of the saffron cloud that
rows across the deep sea of heaven! How
beautiful the spring, with bridal blossoms
in her hair! l wonder who it is that beats
chestra. How gently the harebell tolls it's
fragrance on the air. There may be
grander worlds, larrer worlds than this,
but | think that this is a most exquisite
world-a mignonette on the bosom of i'm
mensity! "Oh," you say, take my soul;
give me that world! I am willing to take
it in exchange. I am ready now for the
bargain. 1t is so beautiful a world, SO
sweet q world, SO grand a world!".
But let us look more infinitely into the
value of this world. You will not buy
property unless you can get a good title to
it. After you have looked at the property
and found out that it suits you you send
an attorney to the public office, and he
examines the book Of deeds and the book
of mortgages and the book of judgments
and the book Of liens, and he decides
whether the title is good before you will
have anything to do with it. There might
be a splendid property and in every way
exactly suited to your want, but if you
cannot get a good title you will not take
it. Now, | am here to say that it is i'm
possible to get a good title to this world.
Ii l settle down upon it, in the very year
l so settle down upon it as a permaIfent
possession, [ may be driven away fromsit.
Aye, in five minutes afterward I give up
my soul for the world | may have to part
with the world, ana what kind of a title
in which / can hold an earthly possession,
and that is through the senses. Ali beau
tiful sights through the eye, but the eye
may be blotLed out; all captivating sounds
through the ear, but my ear may be deaf
ened; all lusciousness of fruits and viands
through my taste, hut my taste may be de-
stroyed; all appreciation of culture and of
art through my mind, but l may lose my
mind. What a frail hold, then, | have
upon any earthly possession!
In courts of law, if you want to get a
man off a property you must serve upon
him a writ of ejectment, giving him a GER
tain time to vacate the premises, but
when death comes to us and serves a writ
of ejectment he does not give us one Sec
ond of forewarning. He says: "Off of this
place! You have no right any longer to
the possession" We might cry out, II
gave you 100000 for that property" the
plea would be of no avail. We might say,
w have a warrantee deed for that prop
erty;" the plea would be of no avail.
We might say, "We have a lien on that
s~torehouse;" that would do us no good.
Death is blind, and he cannot see a seal
and cannot read an indenture. So that,
when you propose that l give up my soul
first and last, I want to tell you that
Tor 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
wolrId NOT ho cs1lv onnvr1 ~ 1,,v n 1cr~o
warehouse that could not possibly be in
sured. You would not have anything to
do with such a property. Now, / ask you
what assurance can you give me chat this
world Is not going to be burned up?
Absolutely o 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, and, 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 inaammable elements
in the water, hydrogen and oxygen. Call
off the hydrogen, and then the Atlantic
and the Pacific oceans would blaze like
heaps of shavings. You want me to take
this world, for which you can give no pos
sible insurance.
Astronomers have swept their telescopes
through the sky and have found out that
there have been fifteen worlds, in the last
two centuries, that nave disappeared. At
first they looked just like other worlds.
Then they got deeply red-they were on
fire.. Then they got ashen, showing they
were burned down. Then they dIsap-
peared, showing that even the ashes were
scattered. And, if the geoiogist be right
in his prophecy, then our world is to 60 in
the same way. And yet you want me to
exchange my sou tor 1T. All, no; it is a
world mat is burning now. Suppose you
brought an insurance agent to look at
your property for the purpose of giving
you a policy upon it and while he stood
in front of the house he should say, THAT
house is on fire now in the basement
you could not get any insurance upon it.
Yet you talk about this world as though
it were a safe investment, as though you
could get some insurance upon it, when
down in the basement it is on fire.
Here is a man who has had a large es-
tate for forty or fifty years. He lies down
to die. You say: "That man is worth
millions and millions of dollars" Is he?
Won oa1 nm a ct,rvovov. with his non,,oo 80