Show DISCIPLINE OF JOY IS NEEDED L Interesting Sermon Delivered by the Rev Dr W WM WM V VM M Paden CHURCHES JOIN IN SERVICE PREACHER TELLS OF USES OF ABUNDANCE IN LIFE Union Thanksgiving services were held at the First Congregational and Phillips Congregational churches by the churches of the central and eastern parts of ot the city respectively both services at 11 being well at attended attended attended tended The Rev W M Paden D D preached the sermon at the First Con Congregational Congregational Congregational church his subject being The Discipline of Joy Taking his text from I know how to be abased and I know also aso how to abound Dr Paden said in part There are two very Insistent teach teachers ers era in the school of life One we call pleasure the other pain Bentham would have us believe that they are our masters we their slaves We Ve pre prefer for far to think of them as our tutors our servants ours to use To learn how to use them is to make the most of life I St Paul says I have learned I know how He had taken a full course out of both tutors He knew how to be abased and also aIso als how to abound He had not only passed examinations In Inthe inthe Inthe the school of want but also In the school of ot enough and to spare We need both courses of discipline We have heard much of the uses of adversity let vs turn our thoughts towards the uses of ease or abundance We Ye have good reasons aside from the I day for speaking of tho the uses of pleas peas pleasure pleasure ure urea First we have more opportunity to use the discipline of joy than we have to use the discipline of sorrow In say saying saying ing log this we need not deny that our vantage ground has cost and may yet et cost blood and anguish that is as sure as it is that we live But it is also true that through it all we have like the rich young oung man come into great possessions and that the lines have fall fail fallen fallen failen en in pleasant places Pleasure in Abundance All AH we need for use ue is Is the fact that be the pains of life on the increase or decrease there is also pleasure in abundance abundance abundance dance and that as we have had use for forthe forthe forthe the discipline of sorrow we have also alo alouse use ue for the discipline of joy For It ItIs ItIs itIs Is quite safe to say that the saddest of ofus ofus ofus us have or can have more of the joy of life than the best of us know just how to put to good use If we need to learn leani how to be in want we also need to know how to abound A second reason tor for attention to the second half of our text is that it is hard harder er to make wise use of or plenty than it itis itis itis is to make wise wlee use of want You think not To the law and the testimony testimony testimony mony The New Testament is explicit not only in its warnings against the tho love of riches but against the perils which go o with the very possession of them How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of heaven The rich man whatever the nature of oC his abundance is tempted to trust in his riches In the parable of the the thorns are not sore tribulations but the tares of world and the deceit deceitfulness deceitfulness deceitfulness of riches In the parable of the Great Supper the excuses are not Im sick of oC a wasting fever worn out with mv nn days work or Imprisoned for debt but Ive Ie bought a piece of ground of five yoke of oxen or Ive married a wife and therefore I cannot come comeIn comeIn comeIn In each instance these men are hin hindered hindered hindered dered by abundance rather than want by their opportunities rather than by their limitations They know how to abound Others less strenuous are like the rich fool who said Soul take thine ease thou hast much goods laid up for many man years eat drink and be mer merry merry ry 1 Such live on the possessions they should put to unselfish uses they be become become become come parasites of their own abundance In the end they tIley are possessed possesse by that which they the should possess Such mis misuse misue use Ulle of ease comfort opportunity or abundance is not confined to those who are rich In gold The quest for pain for its own sake is like the pursuit of pleas pleasure pleasure ure for its own sake at once an abuse of good raw material and a fools er errand errand errand rand I Epicurean Epi urean Abuses Pleasure A As the ascetic despises the pleasures plea ures of ot life the epicurean abuses them He looks upon them not as a means but butas butas butas as the end and becomes a mere pleas pleasure ure urn seeker For the majority of us the Valley of Humiliation is safer than the Delectable Delectable Delectable able Mountains Adam was no safer in paradise with all ail its happiness than we may be In the outside world Noah was safer during the flood than after it David DavidH the shepherd boy worked more securely than David Davia the king The primary duty of the man who Abounds is gratitude We Ye need the spirit of him who said both riches and honor come from thee and In thine hand it Is Isto isto to t make great and to give strength unto all Now therefore our God we thank thee and praise thy glorious name Such gratitud begets reverence or humility Who am I and what is this people that we should have enough and anel to spare yea good measure pressed down and running over all our abundance abundance dance lance is from thee The Tho goodness of God may lead to repentance Indeed the grace of God Gods Is s the supreme appeal of his love Hi Hl who knows how tc tv abound can say How good God has been to me the very ver thought of it chastens sobers sub subdues subdues subdues dues me I am not worthy of ot the least of oC all his meries merdes Wealth Without Peril There s one wealth which has no peril one of If life Ute which cannot the more abundant life lICe of ot Christ We Va rC cannot have too much of his spirit we wa cannot make too much of the riches of his grace For grace is a name namo for the energy of ot love hove as it goes out towards the undeserving This is isa Isa isa a dispensation of grace The whole world is full of it Where sin abounds grace does much more abound Such grace is not a sentiment but an ener energy energy energy gy and may work in us W Id will and do with all the power of the love of Christ In whom we have redemption according to the riches of ot his grace wherein he hath bath abounded toward us Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for lor his wonderful works towards the children of ot men menThe menThe menThe The churches represented at this service were the First Presbyterian First Congregational Westminster Presbyterian and Central Christian Music for the service was furnished by Tracy Y Cannon organist of ot the First Congregational church and the church quartet The opening prayer was of ot offered offered by Dr Short and the scripture reading was by the Rev Charles Cur Curtis Curtis Curtis McIntyre Prayer was offered by bythe byth the th Rev Rov a C C Neal and the Rev R v A S Talbot pronounced the benediction |