Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1879-02-01
From the Lutheran Visitor.
The Object of Human Life.
RY REV. J. p. sMELTzER, d. d.

Walk in wisdom, redeeming the time.
Gal. iv. D.
The grand object of life is presented
in the Scriptural requirement to "love
God supremely, and to love his neigh
Dor as himself" This requirement is
intuitivc. 1t implies that man should
attain ''to the true moral manhood and
to the accomplishment of the true moral
task" These duties, regulating the con-
duct of a being, endowed with such
wonderful powers as mau, are the grand
objects of his life and has been stated
by a modern writer, thus:
Thou shalt love thyself as bearing the
image Of God.
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
Thou shalt love God with all thy heart.
1t is true, that disappointments, loss
es, bereavements, cares, Affections and
sorrows, in their ten thousand shapes,
travel with man down the beaten path
of life to the grave. They are before
him, and be rushes forth to overtake
them. They are behind him, and they
press forward to overtake him. They
cross and recross his pathway through
life. He finds them as thorns among
the roses he would pluck by the way.
His happiest moments, holiest enjoy
ments, highest hopes, are mingled with
them. Sometimes ali adventurous NOR
tai, bending the energies of mind and
body to the accomplishing of some de-
sired end, toiling day and night, look
ing forward with confident hope to the
realization of his fond desires, is COM
PEELED to relinquish his cherished
schemes, when fever, accident, or some
other messenger of death calls him to
eternity. The young, naturally, look
forward to long life of comparative
joy, peace and prosperity. They build
airy castles Of magnificent dimensions
They imagine that earth and heaven,
men and angels, will assist them in real
izing their fond desires. These bright
pictures are just before them in the path
of lite, but when they stretch the hand
to receive, a sad bereavement, the hec-
tic flush, political disturbance, a sad
disaster, or some dreaded enemy of hu-
man life has stepped between them and
their desires. Notwithstanding these
cares and disappointments, life has its
important objects to obtain, and man
should walk in wisdom's ways.
View humanity as it exists; reflect
upon the various pursuits of men; see
the suffering of innocent children, or
the distress of fond parents; con.em-
Plate the covetousness, avarice, extor-
tion, jealousy, wrong-doing, canker-
worms of the body polite, gnawing its
very vitals; see the formality, bigotry,
delusion, ,fanaticism and hypocrisy among
those protesting Christianity; think Of
the damning sins of the midnight hour,
never to be known until the day of
Judgment; reflect upon the wars, rapine,
blood, and murder, which has crimsoned
the pages of history; and then ask.
Does the human race accomplish the
grand object of human existencea
Some spend their lives in amassing
wealth. 10 all human appearance this
seems to be the object for which they
were created. They bend all the ener-
gies of their minds, all the powers of
their bodies, to the acquiring of gold.
Money, to them, is the grand object for
which life and labor should be devoted.
They are faithful deyotees to the shrine
of Mammon. The comforts of life must
be rejected, because they are too expen-
siye; the health of the body impaired,
because its protection would cost mon
ey; the light Of the mind darkened, be-
cause avarice and covetousness are
gloomy clouds over-spreading mans
mental sky. Is money-making the great
object of life No doubt wealth is a
power, and under the control of Chris
tian intelligence may become the means
of accomplishing good, for God has
given to humanity the power of acquis-
itiveness for the noble purpose of glori-
flying his Maker. Bat wealth is curse.
To seek gold for the purpose of count
ing it, is degrading. Il engenders sell
ishness, that unhalIowed principle en-