Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-10-22

MI ouHQdy last evening LUX ds
the theme for his discourse What
profit hath a man of all his labor
which he taketh under the sun,
and after telling at some length the
story of SoloRan who asked and
answered the question, he contin-
ued by saying:
What profit hath a man of all
his labor which he taketh under the
sum-
What does a man get out of life
if he only lives for what this life
can give him? What benefit is il
TO a man if he simply lives for the
qualification Of his desires in this
life?
Soloman takes another fancy.
He had servants born in his house.
He had great possessions of great
cattle and he gathered gold and
silver. He had men singers and
women singers. the delights of the
sons of men, musical instruments
OF all kinds and he withheld his
heart not from any joy. If there
was anything he wanted, he got it.
He didn't restrain himself from
any desire or ambition in life and
he probably became an art collector
and he fed on the beautiful and the
artistic and the esthetic and an
tique. He had fine paintings and
old china and Persian rugs and
tapestry, and connoisseurs Of art
ransacked the markets of the world
to buy the most costly bric-a-brac
and everything that would tickle
the fancy and please the eve May
he he dug up an old bedstead that
Noah had in the ark and had it
there
And while his singing men and
singing women we're warbling and
while his musicians were playing,
and while he is lying voluptuous
on a princely couch. he seems TO
float in the air and he drinks to
the very full of all the delights and
pleasures. suddenly he is almost
dying from disappointment sfor all
of these don't crafty. for God new
er made a heart so small and weaZ-
ened as to be satisfied with the
greatest that the world could give.
God made for himself a place in
your heart and all the gold and all
the silver and all the honor and
glory and all the pleasures and lus'
and all the qualification never will
satisfy a human heart if God AL
mighty isn't in It.
Old Solomon went down the line.
II there was anything he wanted,
he got it and when he got through
he said. 1T is all vanity. it is all a
puff of wind, bubble for a mo-
ment."
What profit hath a man of all
his labors which he taketh under
the SUM-"
So this wise and honorable and
great king, he drinks from one
golden cup after another and
dashes them all away, not one sat
isles him.
All Want to Be Satisfied.
Every man and woman wants to
be satisfied. Every man or woman
is more or less hungry for some
thing the world cannot give
Every man and woman is cropping
after something they don't possess
but which their nature Graves and
calls after. There are men here.
I'll bet my life. who have been do
ing that all their days. They have
tried everything. there is nothing
they haven't gone to, for they have
climbed the heights and they have
fathOmed the depths of human
thought. of invention, and of in
diligence; they have climbed high
in glory, in honor and fame and
passed every extreme point and
danger that could be suggested or
imagined to the mind
And so you are on the verge of
the grave All of il has only
brought you just that much nearer
the coffin. All your past is a mem
DRY. all your future is unknown. If
you are honest, l don't care who
you are If you are honest although
your hair is gray; if you are hon
est, although your face is pimpled;
II you are honest, although your
eyes are dim: if you are honest, al
though you're hobbling on the
crutches of decrepitude, your body
is worn out, you've spent yourself
for nought, sold out. body, mind
and soul. oh, what a folly. what
a tragedy, what failure, what a
fool,
To give up and sell out for the
world,
If you had the moral manhood
and the moral womanhood you'd
stagger out of the hell of your
transgressions and your wasted
and misspent life and you'd join
with old Solomon in saying. IT'S
all vanity, it's only a bubble, moth
ing to IT! Nothing to it,"
Now Solomon tried it, so why
play the fool. I'd like to know?
Why not straighten yourself and
walk like one who bears the marks
Of the crimson cross of Jesus
Christ? l tell you. you wes'e made
for greater heights than some of
you have ever climbed. You were
never made for the dust and the
mire and the filth and the slums
and the quagmires of degeuera-
ton and infamy. Why lie there and
let hell march over you? Why be
a plaything, a football for the dew
lis and for fends. | want to know,
when you can be a son of God. or
daughter of God and face the morn