Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1907-11-21
e He PULPIT.
A BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON BY
DR.. CHARLES EDWARD LOCKE.
"
Subject: Crime of Unhappiness.

Brooklyn, N. Y.-Dr. Charles E.
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 35:10: "They
shall obtain Joy and gladness, and
sorrow and signing shall fee away"
DR.. Locke said in the course of his
sermon:
It is our duty to be happy, it is our
right to be happy. The philosophers
stone, which can transform all the
dross of life into purest joys, is hope.
The fabled fountain which will in
sure eternal youth and beauty is con-
tentment. True happiness is not only
a duty and right, but it is pos
sible possession; it is the sure prize
ofa 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
natures and somnolent consciences
that we may be aroused to claim our
high and holy and happy estate. I'm
happiness is crime against ,God and
our fellows, as well as against our
selves.
There is an intricate and exquisite
conspiracy in the universe to make
J 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
T 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 man to
be happy. IF any man is unhappy"
said 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.
| ldppluSSS may US O1SCOVCfOu Ill
Hfe's activities-in unremitting en-
deavor, not in the buster and haste
which enervate and defeat, but in the
| constant use of our capacities. I'm
rest and atrophy occur when ener-
| gies are allowed to become stagnant.
| 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 defies infirmity, 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 its evolution wept in dis
may when she found she had ended
the Iffe OF the little dismembered
creature. It needed the labor of get
/ ting rid of its tail to develop strength
| for the responsibilities of its promo
ton. II there are stunted growths
and undeveloped lives among the
| youth OF these PROSPEROUS decades.