The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-01-14


through the ground are the roots; but
they are not the life, for a 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 it's being; and draws
unto itself the sap through which
pulses that subtle principle which we
call life. Let a 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 Of
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 were really
worth while. And he had come to
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
it 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 L will give to
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 it's
turn bringing larger revelations of
truth. Winning for himself a life that
I
is forever possible for other men who
are willing to follow in his way, and
feed themselves upon the truth which
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 mans
"a 10 n dpQ of nd
back to that unique character of our
Lord we are impressed at once with
that peculiar outlook which he had
upon life in all it's varied relations.
Even as a boy of twelve we see him
with the Jewish doctors;
and saying to his parents, Visit We not
that | must be about my fathers bust
ness? And long years afterward, at
the close of his ministry, we hear him
saying, l have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. The oak is
clothed with it's foliage, but first there
IS the tsrong fiber of its stem. The I
fragrant rose is bedded in it's setting
IF briars. 1t is not until the strings
IF your violin are tense that the ear
S charmed with the harmony. We I
know at once that he whose first pub
ic work was wrought at the wedding t
east in Cana had no contemptuous c
of pleasure. How fully he
believed in it, and how. completely he I
rave himself to the mere social joys c
Il his people are indicated by his own
words. THE Son of Man is come eat /
ng and drinking, and We say, Behold S
gluttonous man and wine bibber, a
riend OF publicans and sinners. e
There were the foliage, the fragrance
nd the harmony of Jesus life; but
,ehind it there were the oaken fiber
f purpose, the sharp briars of self
acrifice, and the tensely strung lines
f discipline. He whose life is given
yer to the search for pleasure; and he
whose life is so earnest that it is stript
f its foliage, and void of it's fragrance, [
nd robbed of it's harmony-we feel II
hat both of these lives are builded 4
fter wrong pattern. The two things p
hould be blended. Our work what 5
Yer it may be, the background, and
ur pleasures the lights that play up
n it. Life is first of all a field for
york: and whether we ever do 1t or
ot l think it is not fanciful to say d
hat in the mind of God there is a
York for each one of US to do. Our
bject, and our only one until We find
!, is to determine that special work S
:
s: and then. blunder though we may,
o it Just as the background Of
icture serves to enhance the effect of q
hose parts that catch the we, so does u
ne background of the work which a II
ian does serve to enhance the pleas II
res which he enjoys. / am convinced g
hat the way in which Jesus won the O
bundant life, and the way in which II
very other man must win 1t, is to s.
lake his work as the great deep ocean 81
f his life. and let his pleasures be as Ii
ne waves that take their form from II
he nature of the pressure of tnat q
cean. q
1t often is said that life is made up la
{ Joy and sorrow. Strictly speaking c.
{ course. this is not true; but 1t Is 81
rue that the emotions very largely
II our lives. when the numbness II
ONES up to my heart" said Socrates, OF
then 1 shall depart" All literatuEe. 81
> one has pointed out, will be found W
, be that part of human thought that j
; wrought out in the name of the IL