The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1902-06-23
REAL RECREATION RESTS
IN SPIRITUAL RENEWAL.
Summer Season Suggests Thought
for the Reverend s. c.
Eby's Sermon.

At the Church OF the Divine Humanity
yesterday morning the Reverend S. c. Ely
preached on mans need of natural rest and
his capacity for spiritual renewal. His text
was Isaih xl. u. But they that wait upon
the Lord shall renew their strength He
said, in part:
The rational man who has earnest sense
of the meaning of life has little use for
mere amusement or diversion on its own
account Entertainment as al end in itself
easily slides into dissipation. Its proper
place Is as a means 10 mans natural re-
cuperatton. Lies genuine zest is in useful
work. with its changeful pursuing and
achieving. But the resources of mind and
body are limited. and ceaseless work
means exhaustion and premature decay.
Hence recreation Is a rational and religious
DUTY It's purpose is to enable the strained
faculties to unbend in spontaneous delight.
and to allow them afterwards to return
with vigor and interest to the business of
the world.
The question as to what amusements
or rtcreative pursuits are valid and help
ful is easily answered when this principle
wholesome that leave the taste for high
ideals unimpaired and the power for work
undiminished. Even in this natural pursuit
of recreation CT mental and physical fac
ulties it may be said that one is waiting on
the Lord. For the laws OF nature are Gods
ways of blessing men, and he waits upon
ways.
But the Lord has much more to give
to men and women than any mere strength
of body or mind. Neither the wo k mar the
play of the world measures the orbit of hu-
man JOY and sorrow. The Scriptures al
ways deal with man as a spiritual being.
capable of pains and pleasures far trans
cending his external sensibilities. His out
ward experiences are but a mere effigy Of
his inward conflicts and triumDhs. Into
this inner life of the soul he is not intro
duced by natural generation. but by the
mystic birth of new affections and heavenly
thoughts. The new life means that man
his Father in heaven Hence the interests
Of the spiritual LIE are not ermane to
the passions and prejudices OF our earth
SThe gospel never dreams that TIE world
will be friendly to the inward sovereignty
of him whose kingdom was not of thls
flesh is weak. The force of heredity inpels
to self-seeking. The pressure of environ
ment constrains to worldly satisfactions.
mental suggestions of earth and hell
wither all native innocence and heavenly
freshness. All low-born things conspire to
make man contented with being something
OF his creative Fethef in heaven. Where
fore 1t IS only by a very valid gift of the
Lords spirit that any man overcomes in
the souls work and warfare. Not by might,
Lord
sphere of nature. Health and prosperity
and progressivenoss are naturally the in
neElIdnce Oh tnoSe VINO Keep close 10 ma
lures laws. and the good things of the
soul in similar manner come only to those
who wait for spiritual b~enisons in the lines
of Providential activity.
mo character was ever transformed by
Chance or jugglery, or wish. or imagining.
The constitution of the mind is a real thing
and psychic tendencies and influences ave
potent forces. The way to build W the
soul in all beautiful and virile qualities is
to form habits that are solid and clean
ways of l.fe. to walk in the commandments
of God, to breathe the wide atmosphPre Of
to habituate the minds to lofty stand
ards. to aspire to heavenly ideals. to shun
the evil of the nour. and TO be assidious in
doing good to the fellow-man.
These are the common means of grace
He who thus waits on the Lord will have
an innuX of heavenly suggestiveness and
stimulus that will make him prac-
tically strong in the face of all that dis
courages and depresses. New Logic and new
Illustrations come in the enforcement of the
gospel message. but the old-fashioned truth
remains that all life and strength belong
to God. and that he gives of his own 10
all his weak and needy children in the
measure that they seek his bounty. 1t is
no mere holiday rest that can satisfy our
weary hearts. We need the spiritual vivac-
ity and vigor that come only from COM
merce with the Lord of hosts They that
walt upon the Lord shall renew their
strength; they shall mount up with wings
as eagles; they shall run and not be weary;
and they shall walk and not faint"