Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1911-08-01
LOVERS OF PLEASURE MORE THAN LOVERS OF COD
By BISHOP W. A. cANDLER.

The dedication OF self Is the substance
of all sin against God. For this rea-
son Christ makes self-denial the first
step In christian life: "If any man will
come after me, let him deny himself"
Matthew xvi:2D. Just in proportion to
the appeal which any sin makes to self
In that measure Is 1t powerful and peril
Gus. Covetousness, for example, which
Is In its most common manifestation the
love of money, Is sort OF condensa-
ton OF all sins, because money answer
eth all things" (Ecclesiastes KID, and
thereby promises every sort OF gratifica-
ton of self. In like manner the love or
pleasure Is most pertlous: II enthrones
self and dethrones God as scarcely any
other form of life Accordingly we md
the Scriptures Astounding In denuncta-
tons OF q pleasure-seeking spirit and In
warnings against the perils to the soul
which such a spirit brings.
Let US attend to some OF these Scrip
tural utteranoes. In that most ancient
book OF Job we find this passage de-
scriptive OF the lives of such as devote
themselves to pleasure; They send
forth their little ones as flock. and
their children dance They take the tim
~
sound OF the lutte. They spend their
days In mirth. and In a-moment so down
to the grave. Therefore they say unto
God, Depart from US; for we desire not
the knowledge of thy ways. What is the
Almighty that we should serve Hmm and
what should we have, II we pray unto
Hmm" Dob xi:11-16). Here we find
type of pleasure-loving life ending In
atheism and the denial OF the value OF
prayer. Such was the case then, and 1t
is so now. The most goddess and prayer
less people in the earth are they who
are pursuing pleasure all the time. The
thought of God can not be entertained
with comfort by such people; hence, as
in Jobs time, they say unto God, De-
part from u.s."
st. James gives US to understand that
many unanswered prayers arise from the
love of pleasure: I'VE ask and receive
not, because ye ask amiss, that We may
consume it upon your pleasures. The
King James Version of the Scriptures
weakens the idea of this passage by US
ing a stronger word than pleasures,
translating the Greek word for pleas
ures' with the term '1usts''; but the bet
ter rendering is pleasures. Selfish
prayers must be. and ought to be, fu-
tile; and men and women who make a
business of selfish pleasure, become In
capable of any other sort of prayers,
to fill for them their orders at COM
mand.
In the parable of The Sewer Jesus
enumerates ''the pleasures OF this life"
among the horns which choke the words
of truth In the hearts of them who hear
Gods messages to men. duke viii:14).
Along with 'blasphemers", truce
breakers, "false-accusers'', traitors,
and boosters, st. Paul enumerates Tow
ers of pleasure more than lovers of Cod.
To some this may seem to be an unjust
classification, but a little reflection will
suffice to show that the apostle is most
accurate In putting pleasure-lovers In this
class. The cruelest people known to the
pages of history have been those who
followed lives of pleasure From their de-
mands came the gladiatorial shows Of
ancient Rome. The fashionable classes Of
Rome who gave themselves over to lives
of amusement became so greedy for such
sports that they demanded large sums OF
money to purchase Wild beasts and glad
iators for the bloody scenes OF the arena.
The brutal bull-hghts OF Spain originated
In the same way. and the more brutal
contests OF the prize-fight in our country
spring from the same source. In like
selves christian, create the demand for
the 'theater in which they are obliged
to know thousands of souls OF actors and
actresses are destroyed, being lost to all
virtue, in order to make a diversion for
indolent pleasure-seekers. These men and
women are Mortified by stories of cam
nibals who devour human bodies, but for
amusement they devour thousands Of
souls without a pang of conscience snit-
ing them for their sin. They would not
have their own daughters or sisters adopt
stage-life, but they support the institu-
tion in which hundreds of the daughters
and sisters of others are destroyed. Thus
heartless do pleasure-lovers become ST.
Paul rightly says of them that at last
they are found wanting in natural at
lection"
Again st. Paul says, "She that liveth
in pleasure Is dead while she liveth". 1t
must be so: for If self-denial Ia the law of
life, self-indulgence must be the law of
death. The word the Apostle uses for
pleasure in that text implies a life OF
effeminacy and wasteful extravaganza
a kind of life which some account most
to be admired and least to be feared.