Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1906-07-20
FROM THE GOLDEN BOOKS
The sensualIst, the Eplcurlan, the AS
celtic and Christ.
LFrom "Ecce Homo. u

IFrom "Ecce Homo. "
There are two principal ways TO rebuke
lawless sensualists it Is most important
to consider whether Christs method coin
cides with either of them. The first IS
to admit the sensualist to be right in his
end, but charge him with clumsiness in
his choice of means. Pleasure is a deli
cate plant, and cannot be cultivated with
out much study and practice. Any excess
Of II is followed by a reaction of disgust
and by a dminutiOn in the power of en-
pertaining it. II you would live in the
constant enjoyment OF It, you must care
fully ascertain how large dose it will
be safe to take at time, and then you
must drill yourself by a constant disci-
pline never 10 exceed that dose. =. We
must tell the sensualist not that he loves
pleasure too much, but that he ought to
love it more, that he ought TO seek it
more exclusively. and not 10 suffer him
self to be cheated by the mere external
semblance and counterfeit Of it,
Among the indispensable conditions of
pleasure virtue may very well be reck
oned. 1t is perfectly open to an epicu-
rean philosopher to declare all other in
struments of pleasure to be imperative
and useless compared with or Independent
of virtue, The practical objection to
Epecurianism is not so much that IT
makes pleasure the sumnum bonum,
as that il recommends us to keep this
summum bonum always in view.
There are some things that can only be
gained by renouncing them. To use a
familiar illustrat tom 1t is easy to breathe
evenly so long as you do not think about
1t; but as soon as you try, 1t is impos-
| sible Simplicity Of character cannot be
produced by thinking of it; rather, the
more you think of IT, the farther you
travel into the opposite extreme of self
| consciousness. The grace of humility is
! not to be won by constantly comparing
yourself with others and catalogng your
! deficiencies; this method is more likely TO
! issue in hypocritical self-conceit. Now
| a practical survey of life seems to show
j that pleasure in its largest sense--a true
and deep enjoyment Of life-is also not
to be gained artihcially Epicurean-
ism popularized inevitably turns to vice
no skill in the preachers of it will avail
for a moment to prevent the obscene
transformation.
When Christ said; Fret not yourself
about your life what We shall eat, nor
about your body what We shall put on" he
did not so on to say: Remember fol
what end food and clothing are intended
remember that they are only the applian-
ces Of pleasure, and make II your object
TO gain pleasure not through these means
only, but by every means within your
reach, including moral virtue" But he
proposes another object altogether THE
kingdom of God and his righteousness"
There is another way In which It has
been common to argue with the sensualst
1t has been said that the sensualist makes
pleasure his object and forgets that maj
Possesses a soul as well as body. :. Tit
interests OF the body are not worth con
sidering; the man should occupy himsel
with thosa Of the soul-that is, with th'
acquisition Of knowledge, self-suficienc!
and virtue. But :. II the body is L
be made subservient to soul, experience
abundantly shows that the soul does no
advance its own interests by maltreatinl
its slave Discipline and coercion ma,
sometimes be necessary, but the soul lose