The Yale expositor., 1909-06-11

lectual side and its spiritual side, and
believe that it would not pay you in
planning your life to ignore either one
of these aspects, even though by so do
ing you were to gain the whole world
Let us take up first the physical side
of life. Would it profit you if you
were to gain the whole world and for.
felt your physical life? | do not think
that it would | do not believe that it
would pay to forfeit life for anything
that this world can give TO us.
You, as young people are blessed
with bodily strength, with physical
vigor, with nervous energy, and with
the capacity for enjoying all that these
blessings can bring you. Would it pay
you to forfeit these that thereby you
might gain whatever is your diseratum
in life?
Suppose, for instance, that you desir.
ed above all else to accumulate
wealth You apply yourself diligently
to business You disregard the laws
of health by working far into the night.
| Even when at last you return to your
homes you still plan and lay out the
| work for another day. You take no
vacations and even the Sabbath is
spent as are the other days of the week.
|
alton or of rest.
At last by such unremitting toll, by
getting without spending, by sacriic
| ing all else to your one aim, you attain
| your ideal-yOu are a man of wealth,
perhaps of millions. But in your
struggle YOU have lost your health
Your nerves long abused at last have
| turned and you are a nervous wreck.
Your stomach, too, refuses to digest
the food that you eat and though in
years you are still young man, and
from the standpoint of the world in
the position to enjoy the fruits of your
labor you speedily decline and in few
months die. Is this picture over
drawn? Alas. 1t is all too true.
Every year hundreds of men die from
the pressure of overwork. At their
| funerals the clergyman doubtless voices
the wonder of their friends at the mYs-
terious Providence that has cut short
| their careers at their Zeniths. There is
no mysterious Providence about it. 1t
was the natural result of lives lived in
absolute disregard of Gods law con.
corning our physical natures. These
men staked their lives against the
world. They gained the world but
they lost their lives. Did it pay?
| would speak to you concerning an
other side of your life. 1t is the social
side. | think as we grow older we
shall realize more and more the value
of the friendships we have made. Love
will mean more and more TO us as
we advance in years and learn that
| from our fellow-men can we receive
| that which money cannot buy nor pos
ition command. We read in the Word of
God that sit is not good for man to
| live alone" and | am sure that we each
one realizes how empty would be our
lives were il not for those who are near
and dear unto us. Then as we ask
ourselves the question "What doth it
profit man if he gain the whole world
and forfeit his life" let us think of
that heart life, that life which is made
up of sweet intercourse with those who
are our friends, those whom we love
and in whose love we find heart, peace
and contentment. Would it pay us to
sacrifice this portion of life that we
may gain wealth, position or power. |
do not believe that it would. There
come times in every life when the
strongest of hearts quail. When the
soul of man crieth out that it is not
sufficient unto itself. When, unless
there be the strong arm of a friend to
lean upon, life will exceed in bitterness
even death itself.
We all desire friends but when we
are engrossed in making our way i'm
the world it is all too easy to put this off
until some more convenient season.
James Whitcomb Riley has expressed
tendancy in the words
''Afterwhlle-and one intends
To be gentler TO his frends,-
10 walk with them In the hush
OF still evenings, DER the plush
OF home-leading fields, and stand
Long at parting, hand In hand;
One, I'm time, will Joy to take
New resolves for some ones sake,
And wear then the look that lies
Clear and pure in other eyes
He will soothe and reconcile
His own conscience-afterwhile.'
But that "afterwhile" may never
come and it becomes us to cultivate
friendships all along through our lives.
There is also the intellectual side of
life TO be considered. Man is different
from the rest of the animal world in
that he has mind and a soul. We
will first think of the mind. | have
known men, who because of physical
weakness, were unable TO enjoy life
from that standpoint, yet because of
their intellectual power they were to a
surprisingly large degree, men of large
ness and men of power. They lived in
good books. With such writers as
Stoddard and Burton Holmes they
travelled round and round the world
Indeed IL would have been difficult to
speak of country or people with
whom they were not conversant. They
read history too and compelled every
age to minister to their intellectual life.
Contrasted with these we find those
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