Rensselaer Republican, Volume 20, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 May 1888 — LOSS AND GAIN. [ARTICLE]

LOSS AND GAIN.

The Value oi a Soul aa Applied to the Hereafter. T|i« World in All Its Beauty Can Not be Despised, but That Which Comes Later • Should b«> Prepared For—A Narrow Span Between This World and the Beyond. Rev. Dr. Talmage preached at the Brooklyn Tabernacle last Bunday. Subject, “Loes and Gain.” Text, Mark viii.,36: “What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose hii own soul?” He said; I am accustomed,Sabbath by Sabbath, to stand before an audience of bargainmakers. There may be men in all occupation s sitting before me, yet the vast majority of them, I am very well aware, are engaged from Monday morning to Saturday night in the store. In many i of the families of my congregation acrose the breakfast table and the tea table are discussed questions of loss and gain. You are every day asking yours ?lf: “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 oi lesser value. You would not think of selling that which cost you $lO for $5. If you had 8 property that was worth $15,000 you 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 instructions to the circumstances of these to whom He spoke. When He talked to fishermen He spoke of the Gospel net. When He talked to the farmers He raid: “A sower went forth to tow.” When He talked to the shepherds He told the parable of the lost sheep.. And am I not right when speaking this morning to an audience made up of bargain-makers, that I address them in the words of my text I propose, as far as pcsfible, to estimate and compare the value of two properties.

Firs I’, 1 ’, I have to say that the world is a very grand property. Its flowers are Goa’s thoughts in bloom, its rocks are God’s tnoughts in stone. Its dewdrops are God’s thoughts in pearl. This world is God’s child—a way ward child indeed: it has wandered; off ’ through the heavens. But about eighteen hundred and eightv-eight y ears ago, one Christmas night, God sent out a Eister world to call that wanderer back, and it hung over Bethlehem only long enough to get the promise of the wanderer’s return, and now that lost world, with soft feet of light, comes treading back through the heavens. The hil s, how beautiful they billow up, the edge of the wave white with the foam of crocusss! How beautiful the rainbow, the arched bridge on which heaven and earth come and talk to each other in tears, after the storm is over! How nimble the feet of the lamplighten 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 blorsoms in her hair! I wonder who it is that beats time on a June morning for the bird orchestra. How gently the hair-bell tolls its fragrance on the air! There maybe grander worlds, swarthier worlds, larger worlds than this; but I think that this is a most exquisite world—a mignonette on the bosom of immensity! But let us look minutely 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 suite 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 any thing to do with it. There might be a splendid property, and in every way exactly suited to your want, but if you can not gst a good title you will not take it Nowj l am lfenj thte moraliig to My" that it is impossible to get a good title to this world. If I sett'e down upon it, in the very year I so settle down upon it in a permanent possession I may be driven away from it. Ay, in five minutes after I give up my soul for the world I mav have to part with ihe world- and what kind of a title do you call that? Tnere is only one way in which I can hold an earthly possession, and that is through the senses. All beautiful sights through the eye, but the eye may be blotted out; all captivating sounds through the ear. but my ear may be deafened; all lusciousness of fruits and viands through my tiste, but my taste may be destroyed; all appreciation of culture and ait through my mind, but I may lose my mind. What a trail hold, then, I have upon any earthly possession. ■„

In courts of law, if yon want to get a man off a property you must serve upon him a writ of ejectment, giving him a certain time to vacate the premises; but when Death comes to us and serves a writ of ejectment he does not give us one second of forewarning. He says. “Off this place! You have no right any' longer in the possession.” We might cry out: “I gave you SIOO,OOO for that property.” The plea would be of no avail. We might say: “We have a lien on that store-house.” That would do ns no good. Death is blind, and be can not see a seal and can not read an indenture. So that, first and last, I want to tell you when you propose that I give up my soul for the world you can not 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 a large warehouse that could not possibly be insured. You would not have anything to do with such a property. Now, I ask you what assurance can you give me that this world is not going to be burned up? Absolutely none. Geologists 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 hatches are kept- down. And-yet-you propose to palm off on me, in retnrn for my sou l , a give no title, and, in the second place, tor which you can give no insurance. “Oh!” yon say, “the water of theocean will wash over all the laid and put out the fire,” There'are inflammable 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 ydti can give no pouible insurance. Astronomers have swept their telescopes through the sky and hake found out that there have been thirteen Worlds ia the last two centuries that halve 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 disappeared, showing that even the ashes were scattered. And if the geologist be right in his propnesy then our world is to go in the s ime way. And yet you want me to exchange my soul for it. Ah, no; it is a world that 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'be stood in front of the house he should say. “That house is on fire 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 Set some insurance upon it, when down i the basemeat it is on fire. I remark, also, that this world is a property, with which everybody who has taken it as a possession has had trouble. Now, I know a large reach of land that is not built on. I ask what is ihe matter, and they reply that everybody who has had anything to do with that property got into trouble about it It is just so with this world; everybody that ha» had anything to do with it, as a possession, has been in perplexity. How was it with Lord Byron? Did he not sell his immortal soul for the purpose of getting the world? Was he satisfied with the possession? Alar! alasl He had trouble with it, and so did Napoleon. After conquering nations by the force of the sword he lies down to die, his entire possession the military boots that he insisted upon having upon his feet while he was dying. So he has been with men who had better ambition. Thackeray, one of the most genial and lovable souls, after he had won the apElause of all intelligent lands through is wonderful genius sits down in a restaurant in Paris, looks to the other end of the room and wonders whose that forlorn and wretched face is. Rising up after awhile he finds that it is Thackeray in the mirror. Oh, yes, this world is a cheat. Ta'king about a man training the world! Who ever gained half of the world? Who ever owned a hemisphere? Who ever gained a continent? Who ever owned Asia? Who evergaineda city? Who ever owned Brooklyn? Talk about gaining the woild! No man ever gained it, or the hundred thousandth part of it. You are demanding that I sell my soul, not for the world, but for a fragment of it. Here is a man who has had a large estate for forty o’- fifty years. He lies down to die. You say: “That man is worth millions and millions of dollars.” Is he? You call up a surveyor, with the compass and chains, and you say: “There is a property extending three miles in one direction and three miles in another direction. Is that the way to measure that man’s property. No! You do not want any surveyor, with his compass and chains. That is not the way you want to measure that man’s property now. It is au undertaker that you need, who will come and put his finger in his vest-pocket and take-out a tape-fine, W ure five feet nine inches one way, and two feet and a half the other way. That is the man’s i ropertv. Oh, no. I forgot; not so much as that, for he does not own even theplace in which he lies in the cemetery. Tne deed to that belongs to the executors and the heirs. Oh, what a property you propose to give me for my soul! If you sell a bill ot goods you go info the counting-room and say to your partner: “Do you think that man is good for this bill? Can he give proper security? Will he meet this payment?” Now, when you are offered this world as a possession, I want you to test the matter. Ido not want you to go into this bargain blindly. I want you to ask about the title, about the insurance, about whether men have ever had any trouble with it, about whether you can keep it, afidut whether you can get all, or the ten thousandth, or onehundred thousandth part of it. There is the world now. I shall say no more about it. Make up your mind for yourself, as I shall, before God, have to make upmy mind for myself, about the value of this world. 1 cannot afford to make a 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 a bargain without seeing the comparative value. The soul! How shall I estimate the value of it? Well, by its exquisite organization. It is the most wonderful Siece of mechanism ever put together. Eacbinery is of value in proportion as it is mighty and silent at the same time. You look at the engire and the machinery in the Philadelpha Mint, and, as you see it performing its wonderful work, you will be surprised to find how silently it goes. Machinery that roars and tears soon destroys itself, but silent machinery is often most effective? Now, so it is with the soul of man, with all its tremendous faculties —it moves in silence. Judgment, without any racket, lifting its scales; memory, without any noise, bringing down all its treasures; conscience taking its judgment seat without any excitement; the understanding 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 all quiet It is so delicate an instrument that no human hand ran touch it You break a bone and with splinters and bandages the surgeon sets it; the eye becomes inflamed, the apothecary’s wash cools it; but a soul off the track unbalanced, no human power can readj net it With one sweep of its wing it circles 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. It drives back medical skill as impotent. It 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 immensity. Oh, it is a so superior to all material things! No fire can consume it; no flood can drown it; no rocks can crush’ Ityho’ walls Can imZ pede it; no time can exhaust it It wants no bridge on which to cross a chasm. It wants no plummet with which to sound a depth;--A sottleomigbty,-so swift, so silent, must be a priceless soul. ——™ I calculate the value of the soul, also, by its capacity for happiness. How much joy it can get in this world out of friendship, out of books, out of clouds, out of the sea, out of flowers,out of ten

thousand things; and yet all the jov It has here does not tost its capacity. You are in a concert before the curtain hoists and you hear the instruments preparing —the sharp snap of the broken string, the scraping of the bow across the viol. “Tbdre is no music in that,” you say. It is only getting ready for the music. And all the enjoyment of the soul in this world, the enjoyment we think is real enjoyment, is only preparative; it is only anticipative; it is only the first stages of the thing; it is only the entrance, the beginning of what sha'l be the orcheatral harmonies and splendors .of the redeemed. You can not test the full power of the soul for happiness in th.s world. How much power the Bon! has here to find enjoyment in friendships; but oh! the grander friendships lor the soul in the skies! how sweet the flowers here, but uow much sweeter they will be there! I do not think that when flowers die on earth they die forever. I think that the fragrance of the flowers is the spirit being wafted away into glory. God says there are palm trees in heaven and fruits in heaven. If so. why not the spirits of the dead flowers? In the sunny valleys of heaven shall not the marigold creep? On the hills of heaven will not the amaranth bloom? On the amethystine walls of heaven will not the jasmine climb? “My beloved is come down in his garden to gather lilies.” No flowers in heaven? Where, then, do thev get their garlands for the brows of the righteous? I calculate further the value of the soul by the price that has been paid for it. In St. Petersburg there is a diamond that the Government paid $200,000 for. "Well,” you say, "it must have been very valuable, or the Government would not have paid $200,000 for it.” I want to s?e,what my soul is worth, and what your soul is worth, by seeing what has bet n paid for it—for that immortal soul! The richest blood that was ever shed, the deepest groan that was ever uttered, all the gr’efs of eaith compressed into one tear, all the sufferings of earth gathered into on a rapier of paia and struck through His holy heart. Does it not imply tremendous value. I argue, also, the value of the soul from the home that his been fitted up for it in the future. One would have thought a street of adamant would have done. No; it is a street of gold. One would have thought that a wall of granite would have done. No, it is the flame of sardonyx mingling with the green of emerald. One would have thought that an occasional doxology would have done. No,-it ha perpetual song. If the eges of heaven marched in a straight line, some days the last regiment, perhaps, might pass out of sighl; but no, the ages of heaven do not march in a straight line, but in a circle around the throne of God, forever, forever, tramp, trampl A soul so bought, so equipped, so provided for, must be a priceless soul, a majeslic soul, a tremendous soul. Now you have seen the two properties—the world, the soul. One perishable, the other immortal. One unsatisfying, the other capable of ever-increasing felicity. Will you trade? Will you trade even? Remember, it is the only investment you can make. If a man sell a bill of goods worth $5,000, and he is cheated out of it, he may get $5,000 somewhere else; but a man who invesis his soul invests all. Losing that, he loses all. Saving that, he sayes all. In the light of my text, it seems to me as if you were this morning offering, vour soul to the highest bidder; and I hear you say: "What is bid for it. my deathless spirit? What is bid for it?” Satan says: “I’ll bid the world.” You say: ‘ Begone! that is no equivalent. St 11 my soul for the world? No! Begone!” Buttheir is some one else in the audience not so wise as that. He save: “What is bid for my immortalsoul?” Satan savs: “I’ll bid the world.” “The world? Go ng at that, going at that, going! Gone!” Gone forever! “Well, there are a great many people in the house who say : “I will not sell my soul for the world. I find the world is an unsatisfying portion.” What,then, will yon do with your soul? Some one whispers here: “I will give my soul to Christ.” Will you? That is the wisest resolution you ever made. Will you give it to Christ? When? To-morrow? No; now. I congratulate you ii you have come to such a decision. Ob, if this morning the eternal Spirit of God would come down upon this audience, and show you the vanity of this world, and the immense importance of Christ’s religion, and the infinite value of your own immortal sou's, what a house this would be! what an hour this would be! what a moment this would be! Do you know that He was paid an infinite price for it? Do you know that He is worthy of it? Will you give it to him now? God help you this morning rightly to cipher oat this sum in gospel arithmetic: “What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?”