The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1884-12-10

living: 1.-The world aDoundS Win Won
ders, also with victims. In man is more
wretchedness than in all other animals put
together. Man loves life, yet he knows he
must die; spends his existence in diffusing
the miseries he has suffered, cutting the
throats of his fellow creatures for pay,
cheating and being cheated. The bulk of
mankind are nothing more than crowd
of wretches, equally criminal, greatly un-
fortunate. wish had never been BORN"
And it was the pen of the youthful Byron
that wrote:
"My days are In tho yellow leaf
The flower, the fruits of love nre gone;
Che worm, the canker and the grief
Are mine alone.'
The life Of worldly men, therefore, even
themselves being judges, is a weariness
and vexation. The play is not worth the
candle. They find life's sorrows and pains
real and sharp and lasting; while its joys
are feeting and empty and wearisome; its
fruits are apples of Sodom, its honors are
bubbles, and its praises envenomed batter
les. Men call the proud happy, but they
are not; they may seem to have more than
heart can wish, but there is u gnawing
worm at the root Of their joy, and their
bones are full of the sins of their youth.
"If men with SOULS" said Robertson, "live
only to eat and drink and be amused, isitany
wonder If life be darkened with despond-
encyY" Their infdelity denies God and
Heaven their selishness arms the hand Of
every man against them; their lusts fill
their bodies with disease, and their sins
SOW thorns in their pillows. Their lives
may begin in a childish innocence and
hopefulness, fresh and fair "as the morn
ing spread upon the mountains" but the
afternoon of life will be dark and drear,
and their night come down with black
clouds, lurid lightning, whelming floods,
and gusts of tempest. The worldling may
become palled, cloyed and nauseated with
with the world, until like Tithonus, he en-
vies
"The happy men that have tho power TO die
And grassy barrows of the happier dead"
Satisfied with life he cannot be. He eats
and hungers still; he drinks and is yet
more athirst, for husks are not food, and
brine is not drink OF one of the worlds
most splendid geniuses IL was written:
"He drank Of every cup of joy, heard eve-
ry triumph Of fame, drank early, drank
deeply, drank draughts that might have
quenched common millions-then died Of
thirst, because there was no more to
drink"
II. But lie Is 1orth liring, Il h be spent
for lies true ends.
The worth of life lies in the proper use
of its powers and opportunities. Hence,
while its value continually depreciates to
the wording, to the man Of God 1t be-
comes ever more sacred and precious.
Life to the sinner may become a bane,
but TO the godly II is boon. The days Of
a Christian are like the books Of the Sibyl
of greater value the fewer that remain.
There are three great ends, for which II
life be spent, IL will be found well worth
living.
Wisely does the catechism teach "Man's
chief and highest end is to glorify God,
and fully to enjoy him forever" The soul
was made for God, as well as by Him; its
highest happiness, as well as its duty, lies
In serving, obeying and pleasing Him; 1t
ness of His loving favor; Gods smile Is
the sunshine of the soul. "As the hart
panteth after the water brooks, so panteth
my soul after Thee, o God" The wicked
are without God in the world; "God Is not
in all their thoughts" hence their days are
spent without hope, and their lives are lit
tie worth. "But," says Canon Farrar, "let
L,,N th.sill
through the deafened ears; let but one ray
fash upon the blinded eyes; one hand hold
TO US one green and healing leaf from the
tree of life, and how all is changedl How
can we thank God for our creation, preser-
vation and all the blessings Of this life."
No human life spent in promoting the
glory of God ever yet became stale and un-
profitable. No life which was thus em-
ployed ever sank so low as TO be accounted
despicable or worthless. No life spent in
pursuing such an aim ever clogs or satl-
ates; the earnest servant OF God knows
nothing Of ennui. The furtherance OF the
Divine glory is ,an end which gives zest
and relish 10 the dullest life; seasoned
with this salt the most insipid and monot-
onous routine becomes full Of SAVIOR and In
terest. The soul who keeps that precept:
"Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory OF
God" lives It's largest, fullest and divinest
life. All service, however humble, all en-
deavor, however arduous, all experience,
however painful, is thus consecrated and
ennobled.
"a servant with this clause,
Makes drudgcry divine,
Who sweeps a room rs for Thy laws,
Makes that aud the action fine."
Tho circumstances of godly men are
often as hard, and their experiences as
bitter as those of other men, yet do they
prize life for its opportunities Of holy
service, and seek TO glorify God even in
the furnace OF affiiction. As Spurgeon re-
lates of himself: AZ remember once be-
ing very, very Ill, and man who had no
godllness, but who was full Of wicked wit,
accosted me thus: All, you see, whom
the Lord loveth He chasteneth." ." Yes"
/ said, IL am suffering greatly Well,"
said he, with n sneer, I" can do very well
without such love, so long as get of such
chastisement." burst into tears, and my
very soul boiled over as 1 cried: II the
Lord were TO grind me to powder / would
accept II at His hands, so that | might but
have His love! II is you who need TO be
pitied, for sound as your health may be,
and merry Us you look, you are a poor
I ....4,..o ag,,,a ,,o,, hava ,,niaaad tho anlv