Newport daily independent., 1903-04-08
THE AIM OF LIFE.
First Thing to Consider in Life h the End of H--A P1radoXicaI
 Truth


 The first thing to consider in life, says Rev. w. l.. Watkinson, is the end of it, it's highest and ultimate design. Looking into the future is ever slgh of superiority Forethought marks the difference between the child and the man. The child takes no distant views. he thinks only of immediate qualification; confectionery IS more to him now than an estate Tn reVef- sion; he prefers sparrow in the hand to all the singing birds of Europe and all the gorgeous birds of the orient in the bush of tomorrow; on the con- trary, the man looks into distant years and regulates his present conduct by remote considerations. This looking into the future marks the difference between the savage and the civilized. The barbarian thinks only of imme- diate fighting and feasting; if you were to require him to work to-day or to ab- stain from feasting, with the promise of large advantage in years time, he would not understand you-the say- age is the being without future; but, on the other hand, the civilized man recognizes the future, lives in the flu ture, is always making sacrifices for the future. This habit of considering the remote often marks the difference between the superior and the inferior classes of civilized society. We look far and wide for the reason why cer- tain classes are wealthy and com fortable while others are unsuccess- ful and destitute; but is not the in~ equality often accounted for by the fact that some men think of the fu- ture, live for it, restrain and deny themselves for it, while men of an other type eat and drink to-day and starve tomorrow?
 "Wherefore praise we famous men,
 From whose bays we borrow
 They that put aside to-day
 All the joys of their to-day,
 And with toll of their to-day
 Bought for us tomorrow"
 The highest type of men, the high est of all, are the men who fix their eye on the ultimate end of life, on it's last and highest design, on it's abiding consequence. He who lives rational and noble life is ever reminding him. self of the supreme purpose for which he lives and he is prepared to make sacrifices to-day that he may find him. self honorable and safe in the great future If life is to prove satisfactory we must from its very beginning con- template its end and aim. No life can be true and successful that is lived haphazard. lived from hand to month, lived at random, disjointed, purpose less. Firth says: "An artist must see his picture finished in his minds eye before he begins it CT he will never be an artist at all" So, in our ideal, in our minds eye, we must see our life finished as we begin it, or we shall never be successful in the art of living The painter cannot go on aimlessly smudging the canvas, adding enc blotch of color to another and yet turn out worthy picture; the organist cannot by striking notes in wild and dreamy improvisation build up any great music; the preacher cannot take text and by a series of unrelated reflections develop an effective dis course. These workers know well enough that clear conception of the end of their work is essential from its beginning and that they must regulate the whole effort by the final purpose. So it must be with each of us; we must know the object of life, it's true goal, it's plan and programme, its law and prize; and we must be prepared for diligence and sacrifice so that we may work the glorious thing out worthily and successfully.