The Washington herald., 1908-04-12

time 20 weep and time to laugh a time 20
1ourn and time to dancs.-EccL. iiia.
There have been many systems of ma
terialistie philosophy Robert Louis Ste
venson bounded them from Job to Car
lyle; but after Job. with his rather pessi-
mistic doctrines, came Ecclesiastes sur
named The Preacher" who. Of all the
proffots, has been taken little account
OF, and largely because his whole doc
trine was that Of pessimism.
One minute he would preach about the
value Of human labor; the next minute
he would cry that all human labor must
be vain, because the man who performed
the labor could not profit by IT but must
perforee leave It's results to those who
came after
And yet, such IS the predominance of
the instinct Of optimism IN the human
heart that even this austere preacher
could not avoid the conclusion that man
was put on earth to live his life: to do
the work that was set for him IN the
world; to do # uneompainingly, honestly,
and energetically, and 20 do it in its
proper season.
There is world Of wisdom. which we
Of later age need to acquire, In the
dictnm Of this ancient prophet. There is
nothing more needed than that We should
do the things we have TO do in life ac-
cording to the appointed season There
Is a time to weep, and time 10 laugh:
time TO mourn and a time to dance.
and II We try to fight against tnis, and
TO subdue our natural Instincts for the
sake OF the silly conventions that the
world has made for itself. it is only nat
ural that we should suffer.
The prophet goes on with his appar-
emily p' p'ssimlstie doctrine until he comes
70 whers he declares that
know hat there is no good IN them, but for
man 70 re'5ee and 70 do good in his life
And that. I think, Is the conclusion TO
which all pessimistic philosophers must
arrive, II they be but honest with them
selves. The things of which Ecclesiastes
speaks IN the text I have quoted, are the
things that belong TO a man himself. the
things he cannot help. Let him weep if
he Is sorrowful: let him laugh If he Is
glad: let him dance if he is joyful, and
mourn If he has lost a friend, but the
MAN thing is that man Should feel and
know the JOY Of life, and. filed With the
knowledge Of Gods beneacence. should
resolve to rejoice daily and hourly. and to
do good from morn 10 night.
OF course, the question OF doing good is
a large one. Some think they are doing
good when they give away large sums
OF money TO the various religious causes
which are always begging; others deem
they are doing good when they are not
doing III; but the truth is that a man
cannot do good until he does the best
That IN him lies, expresses himself 10 the
FULLEST as he was meant to do, as he was
put on earth to do. There have been ex-
tremists who have declared that the man
who was an active thief was better. and
had more of the grace Of God in him.
titan the man who WAS merely a c0Wardly
idler. but whether this advanced view be
correct or not, at least il may be ad-
mltted that the man who does not strive
even In wrong direction-cannOt hope
to reach the kingdom OF heaven
There is a time. as Ecclesiastes said,
for everything. but above ali for the
man who hopes for a happy future In the
world TO come, there must be the time for
work. for
Tine flies; II Is bis melancholy task
To bring, and bear away. delusFe hopcs
And 90 reproduce the trouble he DESTROYS.
But. while his blindness thus Is occlr4ed
Discerning M0Ttal. Dc thou serve the will
Of Tines eternal Master and that peace
Which the world wants she'll Be for thee Confirmed