The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1897-05-29
SERMON.
KEEPING THE BALANCE IN LIFE
BY REV. RODNEY F. JoHNNoT,

ng promise of the life which now is and
of that which is to come. II Tim. iv. rs.
On summers morning of 1859, a
great crowd of people could be seen
lining both banks of that mighty
chasm which yawns below the Falls
of Niagara and which has been worn
into the solid rock by the coursing of
the great river during untold ages.
Across this chasm, so deep that one
is made dizzy to look down into it as
he leans over the edge of the preci-
pice, stretched single wire cable, so
small that the eye could scarcely fol-
low it. Over this slender bridge
swaying and swinging in the wind,
midway as it were between heaven
and earth, with the depths above it
and below, the noted rope-walker
Blondin was to pass, bearing another
man upon his shoulders and balanc-
ing himself only by a slender pole.
Amid the breathless suspense of the
assembled thousands the feat was &C
complished.
1t was a rash and fool hardy act;
yet one must admire the GOODNESS of
head and the steadiness of nerve and
muscle which would enable one to
keep his balance, when single ounce
of weight too much on either side
would hurl two human lives to destruc-
ton. The secret of his success lay in
his ability to keep perfect equipoise
of body on dangerous and slender
footing.
No less important is to know how to
keep the perfect balance in the af-
fairs of life. In this equipose of char
acter, in pursuing this uiam mediana
of life, deviating to no rash extremes,
lies the secret of much, not only of
business success but of the highest
usefulness and happiness. In our
relation to work and play. to activity
and rest, to service and freedom, to
duty and pleasure, to devotion to our
own interests and devotion to the
interests of others; in our relation to
the ideal and the real, to the life that
which now is and to that which is to
come, we must keep true balance,
else we shall plunge into the depths
of vagaries which will destroy our
usefulness and mayhap our life.
To consideration of some of these
perplexing relations let us turn.
The Modern Rush of Life.
In our modern rush of life one fact
is becoming most strikinglY appar-
ent; that in the midst of life we have
no time to really live. Life is becom-
ing q mad race for success, for
achievement, for realizing ambitions,
in which one misses the true goal of
life. The end of life is not enjoy
ment; but one misses it's meaning
who does not enjoy it. Life is not
means to something else; it is an end
in itself; it is not for work, nor for
play; not for joy, nor for sorrow, as
ends, but it is in itself the end to
which work and rest, duty and pleas
ure are to minister. Life is for the
living; to be lived fully, richly. until
one has abundant life. 1t needs sor-
row and pain for its proper discipline;
but enjoyment for its abiding full
ness.
In carrying this idea into life there
is great need to keep the balance.
We are not to think that life is for
mere pleasure, sort of holiday ex
cursion in which we can thoughtlessly
dance away the hours, free from all
cares and responsibility. 1t is not to
be devoted to mere frivolity and
gaiety; we must recognize the call
and claim of duty. We must accept
the responsibilities and shoulder the
burdens of life manfully, heroically.
Justice demands that we be not
shirkers, shifting our own proper load
to the backs of those who have their
own sufficient burdens.
~ slept to dream that life is beauty;
woke to find that life is duty"
writes the poet. OF the two views,
the later is the truer; but it is not
wholly true. Life should be both
duty and beauty. Out of our duty
we are to find enjoyment and to min
gle pleasure with duty. He is wise
man who can keep the true balance
here.
Between work and play, too, there
must be right balancing. Here in
America it seems to be quite a COM
mon thought that life is for work, for
achievement; man is looked on as a
machine whose business is to turn off
so much work. But work is valuable
not for itself but only as it maintains
or enriches life.
A generation ago we heard much
of the crime of human slavery: refer
ring to the slavery of black men at
the south. Today we are told of the