The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1895-08-22
A Human Life.

astes, l., 2.
No, not all is vanity. A great
many things which you think very
desira BILE are a mere puff of vanity;
but many other things are quite
worth working for, and fully repay
you for your labor. The subject is
an important one, for such man as
Solomon would hardly have made
such a remark unless there was a
truth in it. We-ean sit down togeth
er and find mutual profit in a care
full inquiry as to the special matters
to which the wise man referred.
Solomon would scarcely be regard
ed in these days as a conservative
man. He lived a double life, one of
which was spent in physical pleasure,
while the other was devoted to in
tellectual pursuits. His course could
hardly be approved Ivy our modern
public opinion, and the pleasures
which he rather boastingly INDUCED
in were such as the gentlemen of our
times never refer to except in the
confessional.
fhe upshot of his wide experience
in gratifying bis appetites is that
they furnished him with no lasting
matter every man in every age will
agree with him. The testimony,
when it is honestly given, is univer-
sol and unanimous. No man can
live on the physical plane and feel
that he has lived WE'LL This sense of
unrest, this loss of self respect, this
burning regret when memory recalls
such a past, which all men suffer
from, are simply evidence of the
natural grandeur and dignity of the
soul. In other words, they prove
that no one can be really happy who
makes his body rather than his soul
his master, ministeriDg to the one
and ignoring the other.
just as the physical functions
rebel when they are misused, and the
resultant suffering is a reminder that
you have broken certain laws, SO
the spirit rebels when appetite or
passion is rampant, and the remoree
which follows is Gods way of telling
you that you have struck the wrong
trail and are climbing the wrong
hill. The universe is SO made that
no one can live for himself alone, can
live selfishly and meanly without
making for himself a little hell in
which the worm dieth not and the
fire is not queDched-untilt that mode
OF life is changed for q better.
1t is not true, however, that the
acquisiti II of wealth is vanity, pro-
The Church is too apt to tell you
that this worldliness is sinful and
that the other wordliness alone is
beneficial. We were placed here to
do a great work, and as long as we
are in the world we ought to do that
work with willing hands and an am
bilious heart. There is as much con-
secration to be found in a business
life as there is in a monastic life.
And there is as much herOism required
to do business on correct and ire
proachable lines as there is il going
to foreign shore to preach the
gospel to sayages. The good men,
the men who are approved of God,
are not all found in the ministry or
in the list of church membership. A
mar in the whirl of active CONNER
,cial life may be as sanity as the
ascetic who lives in a cave and spends
his time in meditation and prayer.
But if you recognize nothing ex-
cept this world, if you are so alb
sorbed in it's pursuits that you catch
no glimpse of heaven and do not
shape your ends with reference to a
future, then the time will surely
come when you will ask yourself if,
after all, it pays you to live for forty
or fifty years and then be snuffed out
like candle. The appetites of the
body will be stated some time, and
an appalling dissa tisfaction will
creep over your mind. You will be
like a harp that is out of tune or
whose strings are broken, and you
will cry out in bitterness of spirit,
"Vanity OF vanities; all is vanityp'
Ifyou could hear the wall of human
beings who have drunk the draught
of pleasure until only the dregs are
left, if you could hear the moan OF
disappoint ment which comes from
| the lives of thousands wrecked,
you would tremble with pity. You
cannot live q low life and have a
sweet taste in your mouth. God
| must abdicate before that miracle
can occur. Never yet did mean
| thought or deed produce pleasant
dreams; and If you suffer because
you have INDUCED in either it is
simply thunderous command to
| mend your ways, aud the thunder
will continue until you see your
mistake and rectify it, Some people
will tell you that this suffering is
Gods wrath working punishment in
your soul; but, on the contrary, it is
Gods pity for your wantonness. and
| your own punishment of yourself for
being self wiled and self-indulgent.
Live for your soul, not for your
| body, because the body will go back
to the dust alter awhile, but the soul
will remain. Have due regard for
| your better, your immortal self; and
| you can do that just as we'll as a
business man as you can do it as an
ecclesiastic. Sell and buy; dream OF
wealth and acquire it if you can;
provide with all shrewdness and
economy for your family; surround
yourself if possible with comforts
| and luxuries. There is nothing in
the Christian religion which forbids
you to DO these things. But from
day to day be man, with work
| that covers the present and hope
that reaches out to the future. Then
you can face death without a tremor
and be certain of happy immortal.
| ty. You will thank God for beauti-
full life and step into heaven to be
welcomed by the angels.
In Baltimore Thursday Mrs. Bet