The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1884-12-10
PULPIT UTTERANCES.
Tho Old Familiar Question. els
Life Worth Living?
Shall We Make Life an Amlction to BE
Endured, or n Blessing to BE En-
Ioyed?-Answers to vexinR
Questions.


The following discourse was recently
preached at Ballston Spa, N. Y, by Rev.
T. C. Hanna:
''For he that win love life, and see good
days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and
his lips that t6ey speak no guile & Let him Ss
and ensue it, Peter, IT,; fO-1.
Whether or not life be worth living may
not seem at first glance a very practical
inquiry, since we can not well help our
selves whether it be or not. Nevertheless,
this is one of the burning questions which
persistently obtrude upon the minds Of
men. The laboring and heavy laden ask
it as they stretch their aching limbs for
nights brief repose, and as they are
reused unrested for each new days toll;
the sorrowing and carew orn ask it as each
passing day distills some new bitterness
into their cup and plows deeper the fur
rows in their brows and hearts; the sick
and languishing ask it when disease fills
all their nerves with pain and forbids in
diligence in any of the pleasures of life;
the victims of oppression and outrage ask
it when they cry out of great wrong, and
there is none to deliver them: the forlorn
and the despairing ask IL when they stand
In decrepit age, surrounded by the graves
of their friends and the wreck OF their
hopes g.H
'The few lurid mornings that dawn on them
Are enough for life's woes, full enough for its
cheer"
HInfdels and materialists ask it when,
having ruled God out of the universe, they
leave life without an author, purpose or
motive; and even the gluttonous and
voluptuous lovers of pleasure ask it when
having exhausted the worlds delights they
become blase in mid life, and suffer the dis
gust of safety.
All yes, there is no denying It, very
many, both of the bad and the good, have
called the value OF life in question, and
have longed for the rest OF the grave
Taking occasion by the sorrows of life,
Satan has shrouded even the minds of
Gods people with melancholy, and whis-
pered to the bitter in soul,
"Thou art so stepped in misery,
Surely twere better not to bel'
"Wherefore," said Job, "is light given to
him that is In misery, and life unto the
bitter in soul; which long for death, but
IL cometh not; and dig for it more than for
hid treasures; which rejoice exceedingly,
and are glad, when they can find the
grave" at is enough" said Elijah, as he
cast himself down beneath the broom-tree
of the wilderness; snow, o Lord, take
away my life; for 1 am not better than my
fathers"
In entering upon brief consideration of
this vexed question, remark:
L. LUeis not uorth the RUiRg ifn BE- spent
selfshly and sinfally.
No man, whether pauper or king, can
get the good of life, II he lives solely for
himself. Sel6shness Injuries self. The
sinner wrongs his own soul. In self-seek-
ing the Prodigal soon lost all, and began
10 be in want. Sin gives pleasure, but It's
sweets arc envenomed; in the bottom Of
the cup there lies coled an adder, in the
basket of figs there Is hidden an asp, un-
der the flowers there is hidden sword |
Scent. per cent. we pay for every vicious
Israel proved to the full that life of sin
is bitterness and vanity. He tested every
form of sinful pleasure. and spent the
RESOURCES of n kingdom in self-gratifica-
ton. but In return he gained only a
nausea of hfel "And whatsoever mine
ewes desired 1 kept not from them, I with
held not INV heart from any ioy; for my
heart reioiced in all NV labor: and this
was my portion of all my labor. Then 1
looked on all the works that nv hands
had wrought, and on the labor that I had
labored TO do; aud, behold, all was vanity
and vexation of spirit, and there was no
profit under the sum- "Therefore, l
hated life; because the work that Is
wrought under the sun is prieyous unto
me. for all is vanity and yexation of
spirit"
Heathenism has ever set the lightest and
most trifi ng value upon human life. The
stole made business of enduring IL, and
the epicure of enjoying 1t. The philosopher,
asked when he had been happiest, replied
"That night when slept so soundly that 1
did not oven dream.v And the poet said:
"The best thing Of all was never 10 have
been born, and the next best to die as soon
as possible" Almost in the words Of Ec-
clesiastes: "Wherefore praised the dead
which are already dead more then the liv-
ing which are yet alive.n How hateful life
often grows TO the heather may be judged