Connecticut western news., 1902-05-08
TALMAGE SERMON -. By Rev. FRANK DE WITT TALMAGE. DID,, Pastor of Jefferson Park Presby-
 terian Church, Chicago

Chicago, May An this sermon, preached by the Rev. Frank De Witt Talmage in Jefferson Park Presbyte- rian church, the supreme folly of bar tering away ones eternal welfare in exchange for wealth, ambition and pleasure or whatever else the world can give is convincingly shown. The text is Mark viii, 36, What shall it profit man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soulP'
 Almost tmagnif1centtext. especially easy of interpretation at the present time. This is pre-eminently commercial age. Everywhere man Is struggling after the mighty dollar. Capital strives to beat down every obstacle, that its rivers of gold may grow into oceans. Prove to a man who has money that by cer- tain investment he can make more money, and there is no trouble to per suade him to invest. Why does real estate speculator buy land? To make money. When examining a piece of property, he says to himself: "If buy, shall be able to sell at an advanced price? Is this suburban region going to
  out here? Shall the future residents have easy access to the city? Shall be able to make enough out of my bar gain to warrant the output of cutting this farm up into streets and building lots-enough to pay my taxes in the meantimeP' The merchantman's chief thought is to decrease his expenses and thereby increase his profits. To have the maximum of returns for the mini- mum of output he sends his buyers to Europe There they can buy the cheap est. He has wires strung round the store so he can dispense with his cash girls. He pays promptly for his goods to avail himself of the discount. To woo more trade he has his delivery wagons stationed in the neighboring towns. His customers are thus ac- commodated. They do not have to carry their bundles home.
 To increase the profits and decrease expenses the large corporations are be- ing formed There are the steel trust, the oil trust, the tin can trust, the sug- ar trust, the tobacco trust, the coal trust, the flour trust, the meat trust. A trust is primarily formed to regulate the selling prices; but, secondarily, trust is formed to lessen the cost of production.
 A Community of Interests.
 Thirty or forty men in the same line of business come together. They say to each other: What is the good of trying to financially cut each others threats? Why not have community of interests? Instead of having many different offices we can have one big central office. Instead of having thirty or forty different presidents and secre- taries and treasurers and cashiers and superintendents and general managers we can have each department under single head. If we are in. the brick business, we can have the brickyard which Is nearest to the site of the pro- posed building make the bricks and thus save expense of carriage" The tie which binds the leaders of a great corporation Is not one of sentiment. but one of profit. Christ, in my text, talks to his auditors as though they were a collection of business men. He practically says: Before you settle the question of your eternal destiny l want you to enter into some gospel mathematics. I want you to put down upon piece of paper all the riches of the world. Place there the value of the gold of countless mines and of the cat tie on a thousand hills. Place there the value of the palaces of kings and queens. The value of the great commercial interests of the world. Put all these values down. Add the figures up. Then from that aggregation of numbers subtract the value of your immortal soul and behold what you have left"
 Mathematics cannot lie. Two and two always make four Ten times ten make 100. Twelve divided by four always gives three. Five from five leaves nothing. Come, let us try to solve the greatest of all problems, "What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soulr
 He who solves this gospel problem must realize that he can only get life interest in the world and not title deed In perpetuity. Every would be purchaser of home is very careful about the title deed. When a man Is about to buy house, he has his own lawyer go to the county building and look up the records. The attorney traces the history of that land from owner back to owner until he comes to the original settler who bought the land from the government or the In dians. If there is any flaw In any deed, the would be buyer refuses to purchase. He says to himself: q nm afraid that I might be involved in fu- ture litigations. My children may have this property taken from them after I am dead. I will not buy. The title is not perfect" Within a short dis tance of my old Brooklyn home there was a tract of land which was called Jackson's hollow. 1t was in the very center of the city. We'll paved streets ran through 1t. The drainage pipes were all there. The city grew. The houses were built up for miles and miles beyond this location. Jackson's hollow was uninhabited for fifty years, except by a few poor families, who had erected shanties. These poor fam flies were squatters. We boys would play ball in those vacant lots. Jack sons hollow, in it's status, existed be- cause there was a flaw in the title to the land. No man would build there a house until he was positive about his ownership. A few years ago the civil courts rendered favorable decision concerning the title deeds. Then the masons and the carpenters came in swarms. Jackson's hollow disappeared forever from public view.
 A Life Interest I'm the World.
 But" says some one, ito possess life interest in the world means a very great deal. Think of owning all the money stored away in the vaults of the United States treasury! Think of possessing the royal jewels of England and Germany and Russia and Snaint