Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1908-02-06
Caln,aSe
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talinaee. d. d.

Los Angeles, Cal, Feb 2--In this
sermon the preacher describes the no.
blest OF passions. the pursuit Of which
he assures us will bring to us more
satisfaction and enduring happiness
than anything else on earth The text
is Proverbs xi, 80, "He that winneth
souls is wise"
Every man wants to make the most
out Of his life. As the blossom changes
to the bud and the bud opens into the
flower, so man wants the latest buds
of his better life TO mature and ripen
and then spread their leaves far and
wide that he may scatter their fra
GRANGE everywhere. The heart is not
silent tomb filled only with the de-
composing corpses OF dead memories.
1t is n great hall In which nyriads Of
voices are chanting in chorus. And all
these voices are sounding a clarion call
to the higher life, which God bids all
his children live.
OF course man does not always obey
these calls to the higher life The
spirit may be willing, but the flesh is
very weak. This means in plain Eng
lish that our good intentions are often
like the seed Christ described in the
gospel Of Mark: "And some fell by the
wayside, and the fowls came and de-
voured it up. And some fell on stony
ground, where it had not much earth.
and Immediately it sprang up. because
It had no depth Of earth, but when the
sun was up 1t was scorchcd and be-
cause 1t had no root 1t withered AWAY.
And some fell among thorns. and the
thorns grew up and choked It," In
other words our good intentions, like
the good seed In the hand Of the sower,
are in our hearts, but no sooner are
they planted than the thorns Of temp.
tation rise up and choke them, and in
stead Of our lives becoming flower
garden they are nothing but barren
waste. But that does not disprove the
fact which have already asserted
namely, that our hearts are great mu-
sic halls in which myriads Of voices
united in chorus are sounding forth
the clarion calls for us to lead the bet
ter life.
Soul Winning Versus Gold.
King Solomon in my text tells us
how we can make good use Of our
lives. He says: Soul winning is the
greatest of all work open to us on
earth. 1t is better than seeking gold.
1t is better than seeking fame 1t is
better than having high political posi-.
lions. Its returns overtop those of all
other mental and physical and spirit
ual endeavors. No matter what your
IN
the grandest, the best and the happiest
work on earth is the work of bringing
men and women to the cross" HE
that winneth souls is wise" or. to put
this truism in another way. Solomon is
saying mo matter what man may
be accomplishing. If he is not soul
winner for Christ he is missing the
greatest opportunity Of his life"
And this assertion is the more amaz-
Ing because we find It in the book Of
Proverbs OF all the writer's Of the
two Testaments there is not one who
represents worldly wisdom in its clear
est type as did King Solomon. A man
may not believe in the rest Of the BIZ
BILE. but he must believe in the truth Of
most of these proverbs. Indeed, it has
been asserted that Solomon could not
have written the book Of Proverbs, but
must have collected the proverbs OF
many lands and combined them in one
book. And yet right in the midst OF
advice he wrote these words Of my
text: "He that winneth souls is wise. y
Let us study for little while why the
occupation OF soul winning Is the
greatest and the most important and
the happiest business in which any
man can engage.
In the first place. when Christian
wins a soul for Christ he deals with
the only part Of a man that is innor
tai. He deals with the only part OF &
man that will never die. The soul i.
that unweighable. unanalyzable some
thing in the human body which dwell'
in the flesh. but which springs out o.
the flesh when that flesh dies. AND
then, taking upon itself the pinions o
immortality. it flies away to anothe
realm, another world. another place o
existence, where 1t lives and continues
to live after the worlds themselve
shall be no more. The soul will neve
die.
The Soul tho Vital Part.
Now II the soul is the only part o
man that is going to live on through
the coming ages the wisest act OF ou
lives must be to put the chief empha
dis OF our work upon that part of mai
which alone has immortal life. Yo
surely are not going to expcnd al
your energies Of mind upon the phys
zeal body, which at most can live onl
few years, while the soul is going t
live forever. You may say you Low
the body, and so you do. But 20
merely love the body because the sou
Is in it. When the soul is gone. the
that body will soon become a mass G
decomposition. was talking abeu
this matter the other day to frien
of mine who bad lately lost his mott
or. Her body, according to her e.
pressed wish, was cremated Her asi
es only few days before had bee
brought home and deposited IN
bronze urn on the parlor table. "Tha
Is uncanny," said. that fine, stron
woman like your mother should +
brought home little handful Of asl