The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1886-12-02
LIFE WORTH LIVING.


Make Our Lives Better.
1t is not new thing for men to de-
bate over the value of life; they have
been debating the question ever since
the dawn of thought But the question
rs usually put in such way as TO rem
der it unanswerable, except by sturdy
faith in Gods government. Whether
human life in the aggrr gate pays Is a
question equivalent to the question
whether God is good and his govern
ment moral. Let faith answer that
question, since total knowledge is not
within our reach. and we can not reason
about an aggregate of facts which are
only partially Known. Some Gives are
worth living and some are rot worth
living; but every man mag make his
life worth living, or degrade it to the
point ~hero-aII value has passed out of
it. To make life wortb Diving is the
most arduozS enterprise IL the world.
The entire significance of life lies in q
stateElent of that kind
The people whose lives are not worth
living are all about us. They impose an
imTaensc,. TASK on the nobler portion of
the race; but there is p gracious conf
peRsatiDn for This in the fact that effort
TO save othersdiTectly contributes to say
ing dlirSelHes. Still the burdens which
good men. and women bear on account
OF tEc'worthless living of people about
them, seems sometimes to be almost TN
endurable. To be aslave of duty is not
necessarily hard. But there are duties,
and duties: and those duties which come
tc us from the mean and base living of
people abaut us-Often in our own
hUIsehOlds-are the hardest life requires
of men. Still, a good man or a good
woman can live life of service to
wicked or useless human beings, and
count it all Joy 10 surrender themselves,
as their Master did, to living and dying
Igr men who refuse to he
saved. 1t has been often re
marked that no life except that
of Jesus was ever so full of pain and
trouble rs that of st. Paul, and yet that
his life was a constant rejoicing and
triumph. Many 4 man has in him
mature which can be subjected 10
Christ's law only by that kind of sacri-
flee which the service of sinful
men involves The head-strong, self
sufficient Saul became Paul, who
coul say 81 have finished my
course" only by and through the eX-
traOrdinary paiHfulness and huEniia-
ton of his labors. He sought no easier.
He knew that to be ''crucifed with
Christ" was his road to eternal glory.
The lives which are not worth living
are easily recognized. 4 dishonest life
is not worth living, and the average of
those who live II end life emptv-handed.
They cheat others every day, and are
themselves cheated out of the fruits of
their rascality; but if a dishonest life led
invariably to fur hands and the most
bounteous plenty, and all joys which
plenty by itself can give, dishonest
life would still be failure. for such "a
life must be destitute of all the moral
and spiritual ingatherings and accumu-
latiOns which, whether they recognize
it or not, men are always seeking. The
external wealth dishonesty gotten I'M
perfectly balances the inward poverty
which a habit of dishonest gett NO has
created. The man has been all his life
growing poor in every thing which can
be counted as worth in living A dissl-
pated life is not worth living. DiSsipa-
ton has a worse moral reaction than
dishonesty. 1t is a slow but deadly
poison TO the whole inner nature lis
effects may not obtrusively appear,
but in the end of such life if
will be found like tree
whose substance has been burned
OUt, leaving nothing but poor bark to
hide the ruins VITA II. \ cowardly life
is not worth living. We refer to
moral coward;ce. TO those forms eff
poltroOnery in which men skulk away
fr,lm plain and imperative duties. and
and vail their faces with bland hvpo-
crisy. The special evil in life of this !
sort is that it killed ,self-respect 1t is |
an aTful thing to Know YOU are mean,
are base, Care ignoble; that you have
no hGnor or fidelity or courage in you.
Whatever gains come in external ap- |
pearaEce TO coEardly soul are !
tremendously out-balaReed by the losses |
of such living. In the end of It the man |
despiseS himself, and he who has reach |
ed that state of feeling about himself |
knows that his life is not worth living.
The great enterprise of the world is
to make our personal living worthy and !
valuable to ourselves, to our fellow |
men, to Almighty God. All brave en-
deavor. AL noble self-sacrifee, all pa
tiences dEstfy aud faithfulness lead up
to lifeafokth living. Such a life iSnot
built up Sn$a moment in a day, or Il
decade. n. is built slowly; but no build
ing in the. universe stands more secure.
1t will Revsrffalls no earthquake can
shake it, Icsaek it, or topple it over.
1t is Gods building" 1t is built for
and in the building of it no
man can fail to be happy. Divine provi-
deRce has so ordered in that patient con-
tiEsance in well-doing shall pour into
the soul perpetual stream of satisfac-
tion, delight and JOY.
Let Is stop inquiring whether life Is