The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-06-24
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among young people than is necessary.
1t is never too soon to begin acquiring
the faculty of foresight. From the fork
in the roads at which we stand tonight
two ways open before US; let US cast our
eyes along each and discover the end to
which each leads. Christ says one leads
| to destruction; the other leads to life
Now We do not have to wait for the next
world. nor use our Imagination to find
out the issues of these ways. To say the
end of the wide gate and broad way is
| destruction is not the dictum of a rigid
and stern system Of theology, but an
unacceptable inference from everyday ex-
perience. All along this broad avenue we
see Destruction written in large let
tiers by those who have passed this way
before US. Only sometimes destruction is
spelled disappointment, defeat useless
ness. This way is the way of destruction
of ambition. destruction Of high ideals,
defeat of noble plans and purposes; the
way of futile effort. 1t is broad and
easy; the way of compromise, the con-
venient path. All of which finally &C
complishes the complete destruction of
all that is worthy the name life That
the narrow gate and straitened way
leads unto life is no mere doctrine of
Puritan theology, but an experience that
every one may know. The life to which
this path leads is not found at the end
simply but it, too, is discovered all along
the way. It is the fuller life, the more
abundant life, the life Of achievement,
of conquest and victory, of success and
supremacy. On this path high ideals are
followed, noble plans and purposes full
filed; and the JOY of a healthy soul
realized Thus these two ways stand
marked before us.
Now wa Dofipa that ne chief charac-
teristic of the way unto life is its mar
rowness. The gate is narrow and the
road confined. And this is characters
tic that doesn't appeal to US. We all re-
bel against q strait-jacket sort of exist
ence- There is no special delight in feel
ing restrained. Freedom is the cry. Yet
it is impossible to get away from the
fact that the way 10 life. to the abun-
dant life, is a way OF narrowness and
restriction. In athletics the way to
achievement and success is narrow and
strait (e. g, the training for weeks, the
practice daily, the sacrifice OF everything
else).
In study the way to supremacy is mar
row. BY hard, constant effort the end Is
reached. In mastering language one
may be able to prepare each days reci-
tation fairly well by use of pony or
''trot," but one will never have a grasp
Of the language by that method; 1t Is
slipshod and lazy, the method OF the
broad and easy way that leads to defeat
There is only one way to reach success
in study and that is by the narrow way
of hard. earnest, sacrificing effort 1t is
so in everything else. No victory of his
tory was ever won without concentrated,
earnest effort Alexander the Great re-
duced the whole known world to his rule
only by constant, untiring pursuit Of his
great purpose. The successes that have
been accomplished in the world of inven-
ton and discovery have been reached
through the narrow way alone. The
story of Christopher Columbus is familiar
to US ALL Possessed with the conviction
that the earth was round, he spent all
his energy, time and fortune to demon
strate this fact Temporary defeat was
as nothing to him, the sacrifice OF all
things was Joy, If only he might prove
his theory. Through this narrow way
the greatest discovery of history was &C
complished. Along this same difficult
path walked all the great inventors OF
the world. Caxton with his first print
ing press; Stevens with his first steam
engine: Fulton with his first steamboat;
Morse with his first electric telegraph,
and a host OF others proclaim the mar
row way the only path to triumph.