The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1903-05-14

foand the deepest satisfaction in life III
doing His duty and revealing Gods prin-
ciplcs and love as the redemption OF man
kind-how must this Christ think OF those
who neglect their divincst duties for the
little, teasing, diverting amusements, the
little Weddings to the spirit OF sloth and
idIeness which 50 frequently nj n human nan
lives. What Is your occupat'on! was
asked young Frenchman some years ago.
His rep,y was ''Je m'amuse-l amuse my.
SELF That was only 4 frank admission OF
what is the on. y business or great many
lives.
Some time ago I went to call at house
where there were several young men,. 10
one or two OF them | bore message from
God which am entirely sure 1t was worth
their while to hear. And. having failed
repeatedly to find them in, took mother
into my confidence and spoke of my d.tti.
Guilty. YES" she said they are so full of
engagements outside of work hours that
they seem to have no time to think OF any
thing else but pleasure. 1t is continuous
round, and while they are at home they are
so utterly tired out that they rest.
How many does that simple description
fit? But what is the upshot of it? Why,
this, while life slips rapidly away God and
eternal relations are wholly crowded out.
The young man subsIsts upon two diets-a
diet of hard work and diet OF hard play.
And the motive in the work Is 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 sci.
fish circle that describes! How narrow and
poor and shallow is the young man who
prizes only his capacity to labor and his ap.
petite for play! Who so lightly values al!
those dviner elements of his being as TO be
willing to make no provision Tor tier cul'
ture, Lovers OF pleasure rather than low
ers of God" 1t is a terrible ep!taph upon
US. whether living or dead: They wor-
SHIPPED and served the creation more than
the Creator, who is blessed forever. Where:
fore God gave them up to their own hearts
lusts." These arc words to make Us stop
and think.
| have often noticed that it is apt to be
the case that it ia precisely those young
men for whom God has done most who are
aptest to break away from Him and live
the most selfish lives. There arc noble ex-
ceptiCns to the rule, which shine like bea-
coas. from Moses to Phillips Brooks. But
too often the privileged life Incomes
worldly life and does not tell in the king
dom OF righteousness. Generally the love
OF Measure in some form has in such lives,
likes the weeds in your garden, rooted out
the love and service OF God.
Men ard women, we should try to see
lie in its who,eness. A great many peo.
PIE have too little laughter, too little rec
reation in their lives. They would be
could get ofterer out of their dark pas.
sages and rigid groSIes. There are more oi
such peop,e than we think. and they PASS
great deal that God puts within their
reach in His many sided word But there
are thousands of others who make tlcn:.
selves imbeci,e by the head.ong pursuit I'll
mere pleasure. They never read, they
never think, they let their minds go, they
forget that they possess sous, but speni
their seasons in things that give them -
tie passing physical pleasure-in eating :or
the sake OF eating, and dress and getting
themselves talked about, in contriving to
have their names in some society org.a,
till these things come 10 be the absorih:s
thirsts of life What is not sacrificed -
these giddy peop,e on the altar OF thcls
social ambition? Where does not this gel.
fishness. this love Of voluptuoas pleasure.
this hard determination TO force life %
yield them bodily comfort, even il Gods
and natures laws must be broken 20 do so
where does not this spirit lead?
And how ready are our leaders CT orin'
ion, sometimes, speaking great swcliins
words of vanity and sophistry, to ridicule
whisperings of al educated and revcrent
conscience and to revise for the softer age
the statutes OF nature and of God
Now these are some Of the pneEoE'cns.
d p'easure in its true place-as the divine
Master did. Ii 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 be diverted, we may for while cs-
cape from ourselves, but we shall never hc
satisfied until the soul is at one with God.
A brilliant writer, the author OF Our
selves and the Universe reminds us tina:
"men called Napoleon the unamusab.e.'
Talma might play before him out
the conuueror extracted no gayety from
the performance. That is the nemesis of
sell. When. on the contrary the soul has
found its true life. the simplest things vii!
serve A man then learns the hearts
laugh"
To make men happy, my friends, we
must not first feed them with pleasures OF
the senses. The primal condition OF hap
piness is that they be true to God and to
each other. The soul cannot laugh its
own laugh till God has filed it, In that
relation there are the unfailing wellsprings:
of pleasure I'm Thy presence is fu.ness OF
Joy; at lly rlgnt n2nQ tnSre are Pleasures
forever more" "Thsse things have spo-
ken unto you that My JOY might remain in
you and that your JOY might be full
When we know that satisfaction of dwell
ing in God and having God dwell in u.s. we
have a security against inordinatc lower de-
sires OF every kind. One did not have to
warn Washington against wasting his time,
or Gounod or Beethoven against making
discords.
Then we should have a care to retain. as
far as may be, the freedom, the mobility.
the wholesome interest in the rightful
amusements of others. especially Of young
er persons, which will keep Us in touch
with them.
If ouc diversions and amusements grow
on the same stem as our religion; il they
are part of one organic unity. there will be
no trouble about their regulation. There
will creep in them no poison of wilful law
breaking, no grimace OF an uneasy, con-
science stricken soul trying to escape from
itself, no waste of time and faculty, no
hunger for vulgar display. Being in the Sc
cret OF God, we shall have entered into the
secret of the child's heart. and live in SEN
sib.e relations with every part OF Gods
great world.
The lasting pleasures of life are not the
heeting pleasures of the senses, but those
OF the mind. the soul, the spirit, the pleas
urc which comes from a cultivated intellect,
.n,,pJ I'd ,nhlo +h,n1-;nr