The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1903-06-05


Of heaven Is itself like-not q mneml-but
feast He was the enemy of every bur.
den which CALLED the nccls OF men and lie.
irauded them Of their rightfu happiness
Doubtless many an hour IN the intervals
Of work His soul was soothed by the lyric
JOY OF nature-bv the gentle starlight. bv
the song Of birds by those Syrian fields
carpeted with unrivaed flowers. bv the
choral glee OF Young children on the hill
sides and around their homes
But my brethren. what. think you
would the Christ have said 20 people who
had come to nut pleasure before CODY lie
who said MY meat is to do the will ct
Him that sent Me and to finish His work"
md again, "The Son of Man came not to
De ministered unto, but 10 minister and 20
rive His life a ransom for many" lie who
'ound the deepest satisfaction in life IN
doing His duty and revealing Gods prin-
,iples and love as the redemption Of man
xind-how must this Christ think Of those
who neglect their divinest duties for the
little, teasing divertng amusements, the
little Weddings TO the spirit OF sloth and
idleness which so frequently fill human
lives. What is your occupation was
asked young Frenchman some years ago.
His renly wrs "Je m'amuse Ell amuse my.
self. That was only a frank admission OF
what is the only business OF great many
lives.
Some time ago I went TO call at house
where there were several young men. To
one or two Of them I bore a message from
| God which | am entirely sure it was worth
their while to hear. And having failed
repeatedly TO find them in, 7 took n mother
| into my confidence and spoke Of my diff
/ Guilty. eyes" she said. "thev are so full Of
engagements outside of work hours that
| they seem to have no time to think Of any
| thing else but pleasure. II is continuous
| round and while thev are at home they are
| so utterly tired out that they rest"
How many does that simple dissertation
! TT? But what is the unshot of it? Why.
| this while life slips rapidly away God and
eternal relations are wholly crowded out.
| The Young man subsists unon two diets-a
diet Of hard work and diet OF hard play.
| And the motive in thc work iG to get the
means to play. while the motive in recrea-
ton is often chiefly to get the health with
which to work and earn. But what a sell
fish circle that describes. How narrow and
poor and shallow is the Young man who
prizes only his capacity to labor and his an,
petite for p,ayl Who so lightly values al
those diviner elements of his being Ms TO be
willing tn make no provision for their ru,-
turel Lovers Of pleasure rather than low
ers Of God" It is terrible epitaph upon
rs, whether living or dead: "They wor-
SHIPPED and served !he creation more than
the Creator, who is blessed forever. Where
fore Cod oave them up 10 their own hearts
lusts." These are words to make us stop
and think
have often Noticed that it IS apt to be
the case that it. is precisely those voung
men foc whom God has done most who are
ATTEST to break away from Him and live
the most selfish lives There ere noble eX-
eeptions to the rule, which shine like bea.
Cons, from Moses to Phillips Brooks. But
too often the privileged life Incomes a
worldly life and does not tell in the king
dom of righteousness. Generally the love
Of pleasure in some form has in such lives.
likes the weeds in your garden, rooted ouS
the love ard service OF God.
Men and women, we should try TO see
life in its Wilderness. A great manv peo-
PIE have too little laughter too little rec
Teation in their lives. They would be
wholesomer minded, freer in sDirit, If they
could get oftPner out of their dark pas
sapas and rigid grooves There are more OF
such people than wa think and they miss
great deal that God puts within their
reach in His many sided world. But there
are thousands of others who make them
selves imbecile by the headlong pursuit of
mere pleasure. They never read, theY
never think, they let their minds go, they
forqet that they possess souls. but snerd
their seasons in things that give them a lit
tie passing physical pieasure-in eating for
the sake Of eating, and dress and getting
themselves talked about, in contriving to
have their names in some society organ,
till these things come to be the absorbing
thirsts of life What is not sacrificed by
these giddv people on the altar of their
social ambition? Where does not this sell
, tishness, this love of voluptuouS pleasure,
this hard determination to force life 70
yield them bodily comfort. even If Gods
and natures laws must be broken to do so
. where does not this spirit lead?
And how ready are our leaders Of onin-
ion, sometimes. speaking great swelling
words of vanity and sophstry, TO ridicule
whisperings Of an educated and reverent
conscience and to revise for the softer age
the statutes of nature and of God!
Now these are some of the phenomena.
What is the remedy? First this: Put
Measure in it's true pace-as the divine
Master did. If You look upon amusement
as the one great satisfaction of life YOU
simply invert the intended order, and in
+. the end are not satisfied Our deepest
want is the great inner reconciliation. We
: may he diverted, we may for a while es-
, cane from ourselves, but we shall never be
satisfied until the soul is at one with God.
, A'brilliant writer, the author of "Our.
/, selves and the Universe" reminds us that
men called Napoleon the urampsa be "
Talma might play before him but
: the conqueror extracted no gayety from
the performance. That is the nemesis of
self. When, on the contrary. the soul his
found its true life. the simplest things will
serve, A man then learns the hearts
2 laugh"
: To make men happy, my friends. we
y must not first feed them with pleasures OF
!. the senses The primal condition Of han.
!. piness is that they be true to God and ia
= each other. "The soul cannot laugh its
: own laugh till God has filed it," Tn that
relation there are the unfailing wellspring,
Z of pleasure "In Thy nresence is fulness OF
10Y; at Thy right hand there are pleasures
n forever more" "These things have spo