Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1903-04-11
PLEA FOR SIMPLE LIFE
Sunday Sermon BY t!ie Rev. 2.. uCn:ld
s. Mackay.
II is tn: Day OF III. Piipit 10 So,Ei "a.s.
Ing Mute in pesarj 10 M,derh
Z t-.veglle. in !iyn,.


street. Sunday morning. the minister. the
Rev. DIR. Donald Sage Mackay. presented
strong sermon ON "A Plea for the Simple
Lie. The text was from Matthew vi:
Sl-32: Take no thought saying. What
shall we eat: or What shall we drink: or
Wherewithal shall we be clothed? For
your heavenly Father knoweth." DIR.
Mackav said:
Just loo years ago. in 1903. William
Wordsworth. the great English poet. then
young man and comparatively unknown.
wrote a sonnet entitled PLAIN Living and
High Thinking" Ii is so significant that
quote i in full:
. 20 friend; know 70; which way must
! comfort. being as am opprest
: 10 think that how our life is only drest
For show; mean handiwork OF craftsman.
cook,
Or groom! We must run gGttering like
brook
In the open sunshine or We are unb,est,
The weaithiest man among Us Is the hest,
No grandeur now IN nature or ~ book
Delights US. Rapinc. avarice. expense
This is ido!atry. and these sc adore.
Plain living and high thinking are no
more
Hhe homely beauty OF the good old cause .
j. gone-aur PEI q. orr simple innocence.
And pure religion, breathing household
laws
The remarkable thing about these lines
is that although describing the fo,lies of
100 years ago. they are exactly applicable
to the conditions O. lie TODAY. What
Wordsworth criticised so iorcefully in 1868
is still prevalent in 1898. In spite OF the
Wanted progress OF the nineteenth cen.
fury. Notwithstanding the enormous adj
vance IN every sphere of human activity,
II Is sad commentary on our civilization
that to-ccv we are lust as much the slaves
~ 0aNesn seNN. So
when the last century still was Young
l need scarcely remind you how power
fully this same criticism of our over-elabor-
ated life has been set forth in that remark.
able little book by Charles Wagner, The
Simple Life" Everybody is reading it and
admiring IT. but not every one. ] fear. is
ready TO accept its teaching. Wagner is
Protestant pastor in Paris, a man of keen
sensibiliiy. prose poet. 4 shrewd philoso-
pher and trenchant critic. In this latest
book OF his. The Simple Life" he has put
forward p.ea to his fellow Parisians pre-
cisely as Wordsworth did to his contempt.
raries n century ago. Like Wordsworth.
wagner sees IN the elaboration and com
p!exity OF modern lilo not merely a menace
10 the stability q. the state. hut TO the in
teilectual and spiritual life of the individ-
uais who compose the state. Nowhere,
surely, Is ahis complex life OF luxurious
Pressure seeking extravaganza so visible
as IN this metropolis of the New World.
Everywhere the drags are of. and the
wheels OF commerce and society are run
ming wild. When the stoppage will come.
as come II must or how il, will come. no
one can tell. but that this career of extrav-
agance in living which New York has been
following. especially Tor the past five wears.
Is bound to end IN catastrophe. moral and
social. unless sanctifed common sense in
terposes, II needs no prophet to predict.
Already the shrewd hard-headed men in
VOL ss..a- . he.
danger from the commercial standpoint.
They tell Us that the limit OF over-capital-
cation and heads:rong speculation is
reached. and the reaction. unless II comes
gradually and under proper control. will,
smell panic from the Atlantic to the Pacific
How true that may be a commercial pre-
diction do not know: but from the stand
point OF religion. in the interests OF moral
ity, the evil results of this overelaborated
mode OF living. common even among the
poor as well a the rich, are already with
us. One does not require the vision Of
seer Ia recognize them.
Ii Is IN the face OF such conditions that
the pripit OF to-day. If ii be brave ard true
to its duty. is called upon TO sound forth
warning note. Il is indeed a thankless task
for the preacher. He must say things. es.
pecially in pulpit such IS this. that will
cut sharply the feelings, ii not the con.
sciences. OF those whom he addresses Ner-
ertheless. because there Is still residuum
OF good sense even in the most extrava.
CANT of us, ] venture this Leatcn SUNDAY
morning. IN fhe name OF Jesus Christ, to
bring before you this plea for plain living
and high thinking"
My first remark is an obvious inference
Plain living i an absolute condition Of high
thinking. Strenuous thinking cannot come
from pampered living. There can be no
Ilte Of worthy thought where existence Is
loaded down with the vugarities of luxury
Thought. which IS the life OF the soul, not
only deteriorates. ii dies when we make
the cares of the body the be-all and the
end-all OF oar days. The two most Hitter
ate classes IN society today are the ahject
poor. who by necessity must think of the
needs of the body and. therefore. can
think OF nothing else, and the Idle rich
who by choice devote every hour OF the day
to the trivial problem OF what they shall
cat and what they shall drink and where
withal they shall he clothed. THE body it
is says Bossuet. the great French preach
er. IN one of MS sermons. which drags us
down IRON the ioi;ier Levels OF thought
which chains Us to the earth when we
ought 10 be breathing the pure air OF
heaven So it i that to-day we are put
ting an undue emphasis upon the merely
outward life We are celebrating the mere
framework o! the picture. ornamenting the
gilced trapplncs. indifferent 10 the essen
tia!s which alone give lasting beauty 10
life and character.
W nat are some az the causes o. this over
elaboration IN the material comforts OF life:
Primarily. there Is the passion for luxury
ltsest. We arc today essentially luxur-
Gus race. The ri;iful thing is that we are
proud of y. We boast abou; our luxury
as something that lifts us above other ma
tons. Iou meet neople. for example. who
go abroad, and when they return what is
the burden OF their conversation? Not to
tell you o: beautiful scenes OF nature which
they have visited. tiut 10 complain that
having gone abroad confessedly for change.
they did not find anyt h;ng exactly the same
, and lust comfortable rs at their own
hreside. They cTiticise the temperature OF
TIC houses ard wildly describe 10 you the
bo'rors OF shiverIng IN 4 tempe, ature a lit
re below the fever hea; in which they live
home. They !enounce the cooking and
mplain because II an altitude of 800 feet
the Alps they did not find the delcacies
ich they were able to enjoy six months
pre- the season in their own New York
e.. We may smile at such things and
IS this craving for luxury that is de.
tive OF high thinking II produces a
II imbeciliiy which is unable to ap-
2 those truths which give dignity 10
add strength 10 character.
IS luxury: II Emy he defined as
er IS costly ard saperhuous. And it
tins craving ,lr wba: j costly and
Gus thas Is making this city 4 hot
Ytravagancc.
rse, 10: everything is snperfluous
costly. Luxury i 10 be distin.
ON COOL taste. ard !: is certainly
,ouniHsndo! With high art There
when thing once regarded as
io-t.T r;shtly looked upon a.
Mss Is .I bee lslyt. life has ada