Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-09

The d'lt. The material life must not be
deSpi,sd. We capnot help it ;rat we live in
mortll bodies for time We d:d not bring
ourselves into being and We dare nos end
that hc.us by our own choice
There is much connected with the ma
terial lie mat is both lawful and delight
We honor God ~ 50 using what Re has
made. Beauty = physical. We may enjoy
it if only we do not become idolators.
The fruits, flowers, trees and fields of ma
ture are legitimate source of enjoyment
We dishonor God when We go through life
with heads bowed down like a bulrush.
There is sense therefore. in which the
material life may be a daily delight. The
flowers put on their gay colors; the sky is
blue ny DAY and brilliant by night; the
mountains are majestic and the sea awful
in its strength. We can walk the earth, de-
lighting in these things, in beauty, in song,
In rational amusement. in appetite under
restraint. I'm friends, In home. In the limo
cence of childhood. in Old age. in whatever
belongs to the life of man ON this earth.
The temptation is for the religious people
to decry this world to look on every mo-
ton of the natural life as under a curse.
That is a CHASTITY view of life. Surely there
is time for other things-time for the life
we live in the body. time TO eat, sleep, walk,
swim climb mountains. talk to friends,
read our daily paper; for all these things
are part of life.
Look also at the mental part of our
life. We are rising in the scale. Dirt may
be under our feet, but heaven is over our
heads
Dust thou art to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the SOUL
We speak of the superiority of mind over
matter by which we mean that the noblest
things are invisible. God made us with
minds. We are to use them as we use all
else that comes from Him. The scholars
have no monopoly of the rare pleasure of
thinking. One of the most learned men of
last century was blacksmith. A German
shoemaker heads the list of philosophers
A railsplittter was the greatest of all the
men ever In the White House. One need
not go TO university TO be educated It
Is liberal education to live In Washington
TO use our national library, to meet the
thinkers. statesmen diplomats, artists and
educators who are on every street in the
city. Our life Is dependent on this intellec-
tual element for its best satisfactions The
Bible says: LAS man thinketh, so is he
What rare companions are our books! They
never answer back. They do not irritate.
When We have taken out of them all they
hold 1t is still all in them for some one else.
Charles Wagner came to set US all thinking
about the Simple Life. We knew all about
1t beforehand. He made us know that we
knew it, The children soon learn the fes-
cination of this thinking life They live in
the fairy tales. Then come the more seri-
Gus stories the novels, history, CONVERSE
ton, newspapers, all stimulating intellec-
tual activity.
We used to be told that the reading OF
novels was hurtful. So is the drinking of
water. We must use judgment and a filter.
3. Then we come to the moral factor in
life. We understand that every man is a
moral being. He may do immoral things.
but he knows that they are immoral. and
thus is rebuked by his own moral sense.
We have senses with which to know the
material world. II requires body to know
the physical bodies outside of u.s. So the
moral sense in us makes us certain that
there is One who appoints these distinctions
between good and evil, who fixed in the
soul OF man the ability TO know good from
evil We have left the material life far be-
beneath. We have risen beyond the merely
intellectual. The moral view of life gives It
mission. 1t makes every person say with
the Master: ITO this end was born
That will hold for all life. Even the
lower forms of animal life find a special
place and end. How much more must it
be true of the higher life of man made in
the image Of God. Yet many forms Of hui