The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1907-12-04
THE PULPIT.
A BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON BY
DR.. CHARLES EDWARD LOCKE.
Subject: Crime of Unhappiness.

Locke returned to his pulpit in the
Hanson Place Methodist Episcopal
Church Sunday. DR.. Locke's subject
was THE Crime of Unhappiness; or,
Where Happiness May be Found"
His, text was Isaiah 1910: "They
shall obtain joy and gladness, and
sorrow and signing shall flee away"
DR.. Locke said in the course of his
sermon:
1t is u duty to be happy, it is u
right to be happy. The philosophers
stone, which can transform all the
dross Of life into purest joys, is hope.
The tabled fountain which will in
sure eternal youth and beauty is con-
tentment. True happiness is not only
a duty and a right, but it is a pos
sible possession; it is the sure prize
of those who seek Alright.
The rapt prophet Isaiah boldly
foretells the time when the people
shall obtain JOY and gladness, and
sorrow and signing shall flee away"
and Everlasting JOY shall be upon
their heads" The radiant promises
Of the Word of God are not to torture
and to tantalize mankind into woes
and %slaveries more abject, but are
intended to awaken our 1ethargic
natures and somnolent consciences
that we may be aroused to claim our
high and holy and happy estate. I'm
happiness Is a crime against God and
our fellows, as we'll as against our
selves.
There is an intricate and exquisite
conspiracy in the universe to make
men happy. There are carnivals of
beauty, panoramas of splendor, ora
torios of music, laughing waters,
dancing sunbeams, singing birds,
chanting seas, delicious fruits and
enchanting flowers. Nature Is not
cruel, health is contagious, there is a
survival Of the fittest. THE COM
mon course Of things is in favor Of
happiness; happiness is the rule, mis-
cry the exception
AS God made the sun to shine and
the flowers to bloom and the seas
to ebb and flow, so He made mar to
be happy. IF any man is unhappy"
said a wise man, this must be his
own fault, for God made all men to
be happy" The very law Of our
being is happiness. A crime is an
offence against the laws Of God and
man; unhappiness Is such an offence;
hence a crime.
Happiness may be discovered in
life's activities-in unremitting en-
deavor, not in the buster and haste
| which enervate and defeat, but in the
constant use of our capacities. In
rest and atrophy occur when ener-
-soa o-1 o11o-nl 70 hnnnDon CT onont
AN aimless life is always an unhappy
life. Leisure and rest have exquisite
| flavor where they are the punctuation
| points of duties faithfully discharged
and ambitions steadily realized. Ac-
tivity defes infrmity, and octogena-
| rians like John Wesley and John
Whittier, Gladstone and Pope Leo
| XIII hold old age at bay while they
elaborate the closing achievements of
eventful careers. The benevolently
inclined young lady who cut off the
tail of the pollywog to hasten the
stages of it's evolution wept in dis
may when she found she had ended
! the life of the little dismembered
| creature. 1t needed the labor of get
ting rid of its tail to develop strength
for the responsibilities of its promo
| ton. If there are stunted growths
and ~undeveloped lives among the
| youth Of these prosperous decades,
may it not be that our educational
and domestic methods are affordins
too much assistance, or ease, or lux
ury to these little human pollywogs?
Every faculty Of u being is made
more robust by constant and sensible
activity. To be able to bring things
to pass conduces to true happiness.
What real Joy is stored away in a
| good book Study may be found an
| unfailing source Of pleasure. The
| culture Of the mind brings forth the
| flower and the fragrance and the
! fruitage of u Intellectual natures
| Truth invigorates; it makes buoyant
and youthful. Truth is never old
never discordant. Then. too, what
| perennial fountains of sparkling hap
piness are music and art and poetry,
| And what shall be said about nature?
If people would be happy, they must
| get out of doors. God made the
| heavens, but man made the houses
| Many houses are devices of Satan to
shut man away from his God. All
| nature is redolent of divinity. 1t is
| hard for a naturalist to be an IN
| believer. Some great nature students
! have despised creeds, but 1t was be-
cause their great God was too mighty
| to be bounded and measured by mans
%dialectical tape line or foot rule. Let
us get out of doors. God, music,
| might and men are out Of doors, and
if we would be happy we must asso,
| ciate much with the world outside:
| for we have a divine commission tc
| subdue the earth. The flower in
| the GRAINED wall" has yet many beau
| tiful lessons to the thoughtful Visi'
tor. Like the story Of Edward Row
land Sill, let US fling open the win
dows of our grim towns and let in
the gust of sunshine and the sum.
mer scent of rose, and be sure thai
the window sill stands open and shall
never be shut again!"
Exquisite happiness is found in
life's true friendships. The widow
of Schumann says that whenever she
was to play in public any of her hus-
bands music, she would read over
and over again the dear love letters
he had written her during his life
All true love is divine, and what we
| call human love Is really divine love,
and is one of our earthly faculties
which is the sure prophecy Of the
| estate of infnity to which we are
going, as it is the token Of the in
finite heart from which we have
sprung. No man can be truly happy
who does not love or is not truly
| loved. The greatest of these is love!
Happiness is always found in ser
| vice. He who would be happy
among you as we'll as The who would
| be chief among you, must be the SER
want of ALL" When the old French
nobility chose as their motto, NO