The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1905-12-06
Where Shall We Find Tappineesf

Vanity of vanities; all is VANITY.
Ecclesiastes, j., 9.
Fear God and keep His command.
ments, for this is the whole duty OF
man.-Ecclesiastes, xii, 13.
These are the opening and closing
words of one of the most remarkable
books of the Old Testament. The
book is not only melancholy, but also
pessimistic, written by the wealthiest,
wisest'mal of, ancient times. Without
taking the time to review the history
of King Solomon, the acknowledged
author of these words, we, may say
that probably no man. was ever more
favorably circumstanced for testing
the power OF mere earthly things to
confer happiness on the soul.
He had great wealth, position, power,
learning, fame-all those things ordin.
ari.y regarded as essential to happi-
ness. And yet he describes himself as
the unhappiest of mortals. The world
came to him with its best, and he knew
and appreciated, too, what was best IN
that which he sought, and yet he cried,
"Vanity~ s.
Nor are we to understand that the
things to which: he gave himself with
such passionate devotion were all i'm
proper or useless. Some,of them were
highly improper. but others, in their
own place, were of great Importance
| and value. To be rich, to be learned,
| to be powerful, were in themselves
ambitions not to be ignored. His quest
for happiness in itself was not to- be,
despised. His passion for pleasure was
wholly legitimate, but the principle or
method of it's qualification was erron-
| eous; consequently, he was doomed 10
disappointment.
Solomon failed to realize that happi-
ness is O thing of the soul, and that the
soul is infinitely greater than any or all
of the things CT the world, and carries
q potency Of seemingly infinite deyel-
opment. Toward. the end Of his. check
cred and embittered career he realized
his mistake and made the discovery
that the spiritual TRANSCRIPTS the ma
terial; that only as the human SOU
seeks to live in the fear-which really
means the fayor-of God and keeps
His commandments car the soul pos
sess triumphant peace anG oVerfoWlng
10y.
The closing words of the foregoing
paragraph are among the tritest utter
ances of the modern preacher. But
they need to be repeated over and over
again to the weary, disappointed, de-
jected multitudes of pleasure seekers
of our day. As old Froissart said, we
take our pleasures too sadly, aye, TOO
jcnorantly. Not work, not religion,
but enjoyment is the business of the
hour, That much of it is frivolous
and harmful makes. little difference;
people will be friyolously and pernlc-
iously happy rather than not be happy
at all. If happiness cannot be OBTAINED
in q wholesome and helpful way 1t Will
be sought in ways that injure and de-
moralize. And this passion for 'happl-
ness is q God created instinct. 1t e1'
lists lust as truly in the bosom OF the
ascetic as in the bosom OF the So
called man of pleasure.
But the way in which happiness IS
found-that is the question. One man,
AS q wording, finds it in agree
able sentiments and sensations;" an
other. as a patriot, in dying for ms
country; another, as a martyr, at tne
burning stake, in his witness for the
truth. But do not. these men illustrate
for us the great psychological fact that
human happiness varies according TO
the different stages in the evolution OF
the soul? Differing in their concep-
| tons of happiness, they are one IN
this. that happiness is essentially a
good. The difference is in the lind OF
6appiness and the kind of good.
The trouble with Solomon and all
other men who have sought happiness
as he did has been their failure to en-.
ter this clearer, upper region, where all
lower pleasures are sublimated into
holier, diviner forms. Other men have
been stripped Of all outer good, OF
every comfort of the body and of every
endowment of the senses, but they have
entered into joys so sublime, so tram
scendant. that all other pleasures be-
come insignificant in comparison.-Rev.
William C. Stinson, D. D., Blooming
dale Reformed Church, Manhattan, IN
The New York Sunday Herald.