The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1907-01-18

life, and may have 1t abundantly.
st. John 1910.
Looking for definition of life.
could think of none better than that
given by Mr. Herbert Spencer wher
he says that it Is the continuous ad.
justment of internal relations to ex.
ternal relations. When the organs OF
the body perform their proper func'
tons, and the man breathes and eats
and sleeps we say of him that he Is
alive. When he ceases to do all that
we speak of him as being dead. When
a man reads and thinks and reasons
we speak of him as being mentally
alive. But when he drifts from SEN
sation to sensation. never habituating
himself to any consistent process OF
thinking we say that he is intellectual-
ly dead. And when a man by praying
and trusting, by hoping and loving
broadens and deepens his nature we
say of him that he is spiritually alive
When he fails to do this; when in the
place of trust there is unbelief, in the
place of hope there is a pessimistiC
outlook on the future, in the place OF
love there is selfishness we say of him
that though he may be physically q
Hercules, and mentally Lord Bacon
or an Erasmus, spiritually he is dead
1t was this last type of man whom
Jesus had in mind when he said, / am
come that they may have life, and may
have it abundantly.
"a mans life consistent not in the
abundance of the things which he pos
sesseth." 1t consists in something
that isN behind all that. The tree puts
forth its blossoms, but the blossoms
are not its life. Pluck off the petals
and the tree still lives. Reaching down
through the ground are the roots but
they are not the life, for hundred
perfectly formed roots may thread the
earth and the tree be dead
Let the tree give itself unreservedly
to the earth, and open every pore to
the atmosphere and sunshine, and be-
cause the tree is doing this it is full
filling the law of its being; and draws
unto itself the sap through which
pulses that subtle principle which we
call life. Let man fulfill the law OF
his being in something the same way;
let him become rooted in the humanity
about him: and then open his nature
to those deep unseen spirit forces OF
the world, and into his nature will
flow that subtle principle of divine life
in such abundance that these words oil
Jesus will no longer be to him a mys-
terry.
Human problems can be solved only
through human personality Therefore
desire to ask this question, What is
worth while? and answer it in the light
of Jesus life on earth. Christ never
attempted to settle human problems by
means of abstract thought. He always
settled them through his own expert
ence. We know therefore, that be-
fore he ever uttered the words of our
text to himself, through himself he
had determined the things in human
life and experience that We're really
worth while. And he had come tC
make known to the world the princi-
pie by which that special kind of life
might be wrought out by all. He could
not give that life to other men, but
he could show them the way in which
1t might be won. AS you cannot give
your health to another, but can tell
him the way in which you gained
health; as you cannot make over the
culture of your mind to your friends
but can put them in the way of OBJ
tanning the same breadth of training
for themselves; so Jesus when he said
My peace shall be with you, My JOY
shall be in you, My life | will give tC
you meant that he would lead them
into those ways in which they might
win for themselves the peace, the joy
the life. Not that his name was to be
the spiritual charm by which we should
claim salvation; but that his way OF
living was the way by which we were
to work out our own salvation. Truth
turning itself into life, and life in its
turn bringing larger revelations OF
truth. Winning for himself life that
was abundant, Christ declares that II
is forever possible for other men who
are willing to follow in his way, and
feed themselves upon the truth which
nurtured him to win that same abun-
dant richness of life. We should find
a value, then, in inquiring somewhat
carefully into the way in which Jesus
won the abundant life.
The first thing to ask about a mans
life is his idea of it; and when we look
back to that unique character of oul
Lord we are impressed at once with
that peculiar outlook which he had
Even as a boy of twelve we see him
consulting with the Jewish doctors;
and saying to his parents, Wist ye not
that ! must be about my fathers bust
ness? And long years afterward, at
the close of his ministry, we hear him
saying, / have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. The oak is
clothed with its foliage, but first there
is the tsrong fiber of its stem. The
fragrant rose is bedded in its setting
of briars. 1t is not until the strings
of your violin are tense that the ear
is charmed with the harmony We
know at once that he whose first pub
lie work was wrought at the wedding
feast in Cana had no contemptuous
estimate of pleasure. How fully he
believed in 1t, and how completely he
gave himself to the mere social joys
OF his people are indicated by his own
words, THE Son of Man Is come eat
ing and drinking, and we say, Behold
a gluttonous man and wine bibber. a
friend of publicans and sinners
There were the foliage. the fragrance
and the harmony OF Jesus life; but
behind 1t there were the oaken fiber
of purpose, the sharp briars OF self
sacrifice, and the tensely strung lines
OF discipline. He whose life is given
over to the search for pleasure; and he