American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1864-01-13
aseli0ionE 5ltpartment.
seIecteH i1r tNe LItlHtn
How to Enjoy This Life.

| cess. lt comes to all men, ," teaching us
that denying ungodlihess and worldly
lusts, we should live soberly, righteously,
and godly in this present world" What
picty requires is the right use of your
senses, appetites, and emotions, and of
those objects in the world which pleasur-
ably excite them. The godly are they
Hot USE this tgorld as Nor ABUSING It,"
Even the dreaded SELF del1id which re-
ligion enjoins is not directed against the
lawful xse of things that are lawful, but
against that powerful tendency to selG-in-
/ diligence which is the black brand on dc
prayed human nature, and the source Of
thosemighty conflicts between flesh &spir-
/ it, through whicHTyory earnest soul must
pass that would clteer the gate Of. eternal
/ life. But as Orpheus with his Tyre charm
ed the grim monarch of Hades into sub
mission to his wishes, so picy in a good
auShoart throws a spell Of power over
his appctite5 and passions thereby bring
/ ing the carnal tendency Of his nature IN
/ to subjection to the law of righteousness.
Let us view him in contrast with the
worldling at this point.
The worIiling yield'to the cravings Of
his deprayed nature, and INDUCES his
sensations and emotions more than is eth
er right or healthy; the pious mind con-
qucrs it, and PESTS satisfied with lawful
and healthfuI pleasures. The wording
seeks sensible pleasures as the prime aim
Of his existence the pious man accepts
them as the reasoning Of duty and stim-
ulant to it's performance. The worl.ling
3. fulfus the lusts Of the flesh, and plung-
es into divers worldly lusts," such as
gluttony, drunkenness, revolings, vain
amusomcnts, .coyotousness, and the like ;
the pious man "crucifos the flesh with
it's affections and lusts," keeps his body
under, and brings it into subiection" to
.tho law Of " temperance in all things. -
/ The wording 50 INDUCES himself as to
incurguH in his pleasures; the pious man
accepts such pleasure only as is consis-
tent with the preservation Of a pure con-
science and a mind al peace with Cod
In a word the wmllling is the devoted
slave of his appotitos and passions; the
pious man is their wise master and lord.
Which, then, think you, is likely to de-
rive the most pleasure from them through
a lifetime? Their master or their slave?
TO solve this problem you need only
consider carefully what has been already
stated, that the pious man keeps the law Of
his physical mental and moral constitu-
ton in all his pleasures, while tho world
ling indulges himself without regard to
those laws. Now, most assuredly, noman
can, on the whole, extract more pleasure
from his sensations and emotions by yio-
/ latiug their laws than can be obtained from
their lawful use. If lie can, then God has
so constituted men as to make disobcdi-
ence more productive of happiness than
obedience, which cannot be true. IL he
cannot, then religious life, instead Of de-
priying you Of all sensible pleasures, is
likely to afford you more enjoyment Of
earthly things than a sinful and unholy
one and to verify the saying Of the Mas
ter: Seek first Tie hilgs2om Of GoD and
| lis righteousness, and aU these Hilys strait
be od3e7 ,mto yoa." lie that koepoth
the law, happy is he
There is an old fable which will further
illustrate the difference between the-pidus
and The wording with respect to their
enjoyment Of this life 1t describes 4 bee
finding a Jar of sweot-moats in garden.
Fors.sing the flowers, it plunged into the
jar Of sweets and gave itsolfup to their en-
ioyment. Despising the tedious toll Of its
follow-beos among the flowers it clung to
It's abundance end eat tosatiety CIoyed at
length, it sought to. quit its pleasure
house and retire to its hive. But It's legs
were buried in the sweets. Flapping its
wings to escape, they too became immw-
ed in the luscious miro. Struggling still
harder, it sunk deeper, and finally found
death, where so lately it found nothing but
delight.
That silly bee is a fitting type Of the
worldling, for like he plunges into pleas
ures of appetite, sensation, or passion, and
voraciously deyours, while the good man
cautiously sips. Like The bee, too, he
may crowd more enjoyment into brief
space of time than the good man can OBJ
tain from lawful moderation But mari,
the result. The excess of his indulgence
clogs his appetites; he is then afflicted
with the nausea Of safety. Disgust dead
ems the raptures of desire. Exhaustion
succeeds the excitement of passion. The
vital forces having been too layishly ex-
] handed hacoma ipeu unicient to imnarf