The Penn's Grove record., 1916-02-11
UPWARD, ONWARD
Mans Destiny viii Not Allow the
Possibility of a Back
ward Step.

come from! Where are we going!
These are three questions we are all
bound to ask, but the answer may
never come. All the perplexing prob
lens of religion and philosophy are in
volved in these three questions. As a
rule we are concerned with the Mean
ing Of Life" as it applies to ourselves,
whereas it has to do with the realiza-
ton Of the kingdom; it is social and
not individual, cooperative and not
competitive. Tolstoy wrote: 1.-THE
meaning of life comprehensive to mar
is the establishment of the kingdom of
God upon earth; that is, in replacing
the egoistic, hate-inspired, violent, ir-
rational organization of society, by q
loving, fraternal one."
Mans birthright is happiness. All
natural instincts are on that side, but
the difficulty is how to obtain it. If it
be the qualification of the animal in
%stincts, 1t is easily and readily OBJ
tanned; but, thank God, man is some
thing infinitely more than the animal.
l have met men and women of every
position, from the casual laborer to
the ar%istocrat, and 1 have seen them
try to obtain happiness and miss it.
l have seen the man satisfy his mere
animal instincts. l have seen the rich
satiated with sensations, and they
are the tragedies of life and happi-
ness; the meaning is unknown. They
have had the momentary tickling of a
n0EUa ond fhnr h41I UYL- -
such fools? We see the failure of 9TH
ers, and yet we fail to be wise. We
have been duped by the i~nterpreta-
ton Of happiness as pleasure" as
something objective. That is, some
thing brought to us, instead Of some.
thing born within us, peace, rest, free
dom and therefore joy.
Evolution Always.
Tolstoy is right when he says, Here
Is no object" What he means is that
there is nothing which you can place
as final, the attainable. The highest
art of life is evolutionary, to go on
and on and yet still to see the posi-
bility of advance. "The end, a~ttainable
only in eternity, which is placed be-
fore man, is inaccessible to him; but
the direction toward 1t is attainable."
This is the glory Of Christianity; you
die in harness, you never come up to
the goal. The Sermon on the Mount is
impracticable, SO the cynics say. Yes,
and they are right, and therein is the
most eloquent testimony. You are al
ways going on and on You mount
one peak and you are charmed with
the scenery, but beyond there are
other mountains, higher still, to call
and f~ascinate with yet more glorious
scenery. This is mans destiny, to go
forward.
Our greatest temptation is to rush
and hurry, to be impatient of our prog
ress, to be bitterly disappointed about
our failures, but all great things are
achieved by evolution. My friend, the
artist, Mr.. Frederick Shields, the last
of the pre-Raphaelite school, told me
there were four virtues taught in the
New Testament-Faith, Hope, Love
and P~atience-and 1 have come to be
lieye he was right, and the last is
often the most difficult to practice, and
hen accomplished will often be found
to be the key of the others. The great
est men and ONE of the world have
just been the quiet ones" The west
ern world has accomplished much. but
its greatest inspirations have come
from the quietude Of eastern mysti-
cism.
Sign That Work Is Not Right.
The only way to increase life is to
give, o must work; if you do not fec.
the increase of love and vitality, know
then that your work is lot right. l am
quite aware Of the awful monotony of
some of the work you have to do to
earn bread and butter, but though a
machine may imprison your hands,
nothing can make a slave of your
mind; keep that free and, believe me.
you can do great things if you think
purely and enthusiastically. This war is
surely teaching US the value of living
for others, and although you may have
doubts about many of the doctrines of
religion, the human and divine mean
ing of the atonement is just living to
make other people happy. You must
do good to be good, piety without serv-
ice is a fraud; use your gifts, your
time, your soul, and then you will
grow and understand that life is not a
pond, but a flowing river. The call is
to our best. l know it sounds prosaic.
but the mechanic, the clerk, the serv-
ant girl can only fulfill the will of God
by doing their best. Many people are
waiting for something big to do and
neglecting the plain duty that lies
close at hand. Cultivate the home
patch, and then, and then only, will
you understand the meaning of life