The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1895-06-10
PLEASURES OF LIFE.
Rev. DIR. Lord Talks OF the Festival
Side of Human Nature.

Side of Human Nature.
At yesterdays morning service in the First
Congregational Church, DR.. Lord talked OF
the pleasures in life. and of their necessity TO
both tho community and the individual. An
abstract OF his sermon il as follows:
Wo often hear IL said that this 10 very
busy world growing buster every day, and
that we must work hard IL we would live
well. Doubtless that is true, but 1t is equally
true that we must live heartily, happily, II
wo would do the best work.
You come into a great city, say by one OF
the great railroad lines, and the first thing
you notice IL this element Of business At the
very outskirts Of tho city the long lines Of
freight cars In the railroad yards are elo-
quent OF tho attractive power of a commercial
center: they are gathered here from all over
the country, so the inscriptions along their
sides tell you. Lumber from the North, cot
ton from the South, grain from the West, for
eign merchandise from the seaports Of the
East.
You go out into the nearer streets. There Is
the constant rattle and roar OF loaded trucks
and wagons passing to and fro. Further on,
closer TO the heart OF the city, you begin TO
mingle with an ever increasing multitude OF
men-now il is the expression on human faces
that attracts your attenton-eager absorbed,
anxious. or determined. each man set in the
direction of his own immediate pressing
affairs.
Here is the same message, but is this the
only one? Il the only word 10 which the
modern city gives voice the word OF Industry
Il the only distinction. the important dis
tinction between one city and another, simply
that OF greater or less business2
from the instant impressions Of eyes and
ears. Put one city beside another in thought,
and a new element Of comparison begins to
declare itself, an element which becomes more
and more prominent as the influence OF any
particularly powerful community is tested by
greater and greater remoteness of time and
place.
Think, for instance, of the most remote for
us-the conditions Of life in some of the cities
whose fullest activity and prosperity was
reached and passed in ancient days. Babylon,
Athens, Rome. Tyre. Capua, the very names
suggest TO you another characteristic which
goes into the spirit of a city to influence the
world. and to determine the world : judgment
concerning itself long after the substance of
the city. its walls and towers are crumbled
into decay, and the voice of its people is
hushed in silence And that other character
istic is tho quality of its pleasure, the use of
its hours of leisure.
II may not be true, although i think that il
is true, that lowering in the standard OF
enjoyment is a cause of civic and national de-
cay and death. but certainly such a lowering
is an unmistakable sign of decay and death.
We should do well then 10 watch that way,
but where concerning ancient days We watch
merely TO compare and Judge, concerning our
own day and the conditions that surround us
we strengthen and improve.
The world of nature and of society is as full
Of opportunities OF great and noble pleasure
as Of great and noble work. and both are from
God; both work and pleasure are insured, If
they arc not used TO lift instead of 10 degrade
US. The kingdom of heaven is at one point
like a man going into far country, who left
his vineyards 10 his servants and demanded
Of them faithful work; but at another point
il is like a man who out of his own Joy. set
aside day of festival and asked his neigh.
bors to rejoice with him.
a noted Boston merchant Of a generation or
two ago, Theodore Lyman, used to say: "We
have land, enterprise, industry, wealth,
everything in America; all we want is more
happiness. Our intelligence and virtue might
be made to grow under the proper pursuit of
happiness"
While we are pretty sure to give thorough
preparation, careful judgment, TO our bust
ness, wo are apt TO take our pleasures at hap
hazard on any level when they chance TO
meet us, and 90 leave others to the mercy of
the same chance.
The duty Of knowing how to enjoy ourselves
in high and satisfying ways; how to enter
into Gods meaning Of JOY; how to look at life
brightly in order 20 help other people 10 en-
10y themselvos-that shall be the aim of the
message bring to you this morning; the way
TO the kingdom Of heaven through the festival
side Of human experience.
know how frequently we excuse ourselves
by saying that the necessity for work pre-
cludes us from the higher kinds Of pleasure
we very rarely think Of Offering the same ex-
cuse in the face OF the lower pleasures. But
Il is not true that this excuse is put forward
very often by those who have TO work hardest.
The fact Is, IL is not our work that interferes
with our lifting the pleasures Of our life TO a
higher level. IL is our stubborn, unrogulated,
unrcasoning desire for the lower and the de-
basing pleasures. The contest Is not between