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Show J J M'CALAUREATE ADDRESS FOR Jraduating Class of Wasatch Acad- imy May, 10, 1920. "I'icastiro As The Goal Of Life." BY THEADORE D. MARTIN "Soul, Thou hast much goods laid ip for many years; take thine ease, at drink and be merry." Yg'J know the story from which hesc words are taken. The story vas told by Christ. lie mentioned 10 names, but he may have had in nind one of his friends or possibly nany of his intimate acquaintances f whom this was a type. At any ate we may believe that he was a nan who had started life under dif-icultie-s in the midst of privation .nd poverty. His life was a constant tri"i7gle for existence, for the very lecessities of life. About him he lad seen men living in ease and uxury. They had many friends, he iad few.- They could jnvite their riends to feast and banquets. He I iad nothing to share with his riends. This thought cut to the 1 uick and made him miserable and n the midst of his misery he re-I re-I olved, "I'll show them I can make l noney myself. Some ,day I, too, 1 ill enjoy the comforts of luxury nd then I will feast and banquet i y friends." For years he worked long and ard, sparing neither time not trength, spending no more of his icome than the bare necessities of ;fe demanded. His efforts were regarded. re-garded. His investments proved I rofitable. His friends brought 1 Drth plentifully and while he was , et in the prime of life his ambition 'as realized. He had enough and 5 spare, and with exultant joy he lid to his soul, "Soul, Thou hast luch good laid up for many years; ike thine, ease, eat, drink and be lerry." ,' "Thou fool, this night thy soul hall be required of thee." Christ ' ondeme'd the man. You and I con-dim con-dim him instinctively, but 'upon 'hat grounds? Because he longed or ease? Because he . was now appy since he had enough to eat nd drink and to share with his ' riends? Must we as Christains re- i ounce all pleasures or this life? lust we, if we are true to our ideal, ve in privation and destitution, :iut aft from the world, in denying I urselves all pleasures? Upon what rounds did Christ condemn so se-( se-( erly the man of whom we have been peaking? Upon what grounds do e condemn him? These are practical questions, hey bring before us a problem hich has confronted Christians , nee the time of Christ and which mfronts them today. What can- .itutes the ideal of Christain life? i it a life of negation and abegation, life of sacrifice and sorrow or is a life of positive expression, a fe of fullness, a life of joy? ' From the early ages there have , sen men, and they are not all dead ;t, who have insisted that theChris-an theChris-an life is a life of self denial, a life fed apart from the joys and pleas-es pleas-es of the world. They have preach- , the doctrine that the true Chris-,n Chris-,n must flee the world, the flesh id the devil. They built dark mon-iteries mon-iteries with cold cloisters in which 6 ley might find protection from the I" sniptations of the pleasures of the orld. It was this view of the Chris- I an life which led Simon Stylities to . imb the stone pillar and to live lere perched on the top of it, ex-Dsed ex-Dsed to the hot rays of the sun y day and the chilling winds of the Ight, sustaining life with small por-, por-, ons of food drawn up at the end a string. These are extreme cases, to be '" jre. Few of us advocate them to- II ay, but there still lurkes within us - jjeling that somehow or othetr 6 lirlKtlnnitv nnrl nleasnre arfi nnnna- ed to each other, but are they realty? real-ty? What do we mean by pleasure? Did you ever try to define the term? It is easy to say that pleasure is enjoyment en-joyment or happiness but such a de-fination de-fination is merely the substitution of other terms which are just as difficult to explain or define . May we not rather define pleasure as satisfaction, satisfaction of desires, of wants or of needs? Surely satisfaction is the basis of pleasure. Does anyone ever have pleasure without having satisfaction? satis-faction? If now, we define pleasure as satisfaction satis-faction is it wrong for us as individuals indivi-duals to seek pleasure or satisfaction? satisfac-tion? Scientists tell us that to seek satisfaction is an instinct, primary and fundamental, a very part of our natures. We eat to satisfy our need for food. We sleep to satisfy our lesire for rest. We have regard for our personal appearance in order to .satisfy our desire to have approval of our friends. We attetnd religious services on Sunday in order to satisfy our desire to feel that we have done C'Ur duty. Even the monks who live in monasteries choose that life in order to satisfy their sense of duty. Even old Stylities climbed the stone pillar and live there perched on the top of it in order that he might have the pleasure of feeling that he had done his duty. As a matter of fact, it is not true that the desire for satisfaction, satis-faction, the desire for pleasure is the dominant motive' in all our lives? I realize full well that this is a dangerous doctrine. Everywhere, these days we hear people critizing the young people of today because they are so constantly seeking pleasure. pleas-ure. One can hardly pick up a modern mod-ern magazine without finding an article arti-cle which censures the present day tendency to live for pleasure and to live for pleasure alone. Surely it is unusual for one to siri?gest not only that pleasure is a worthy ideal in life but that pleasure and religion have much in common. Yet if it be the fact that the desire for pleasure is a natural instinct, a part of our very natures are we right in maintaining that religion and pleasure are antag.-onistic antag.-onistic and hostile? Should we not rather admit the fact that' the desire for pleasure is a natuural and proper ideal and work out for ourselves a solution of the problem presented by the apparent conflict. The more I study this problem the more convinced I become that religion re-ligion and pleasure are not only com-" patible but that life is most religious which seeks pleasure most successfully. success-fully. An old proverb used to say "If you will be good you will be happy" but I believe that if you will be most happy you will be good. This is an unusual position, I realize full well and you may be shocked by it. Yet there are some very ancient and very reliable authorities whose testimony may be cited in support of it. "Bless the Lord, my soul and , all that is within me bless His Holy 'name." Does this sound like a doleful dole-ful and solomn religion? "Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say ' rejoice". . This is the refrain which runs through St. Paul's letter. Does It sound like a sad and unpleasant religion? Yet the Psalmist, - King David, and the Apostle Paul are certainly cer-tainly reliable authorities on matters of religion. Jesus Christ Himself, said, "I am coming that ye might have life and have it more abundantly" abundant-ly" Surely abundance of life is not gained by taking from life all of its pleasures, abundance comes not by subtraction but by addition and multiplication . Abundance of life, fullness of life comes only through full enjoyment of its beauties, its blessings, its pleasures. God made this world beautiful in order that we might enjoy it. God gave us good Jligestions in order that we might enjoy good food. God gave us the canacitv of friendship in order that i we might enjoy our friends. God gave us minds in order that we might enjoy intellectual pursuits. God gave us souls in order that we might enjoy spiritual values. When Christ said "I am come that ye might have life and have it more abundantly." He was revealing re-vealing Gods will because God wants us to enjoy the fullness of life. The pursuit of happiness is no vain search. The pursuit of happiness happi-ness is no futile race. The pursuit I of happiness is the most serious task ,which comes within the reach of any I human being and living of a life of jreal pleasure, is livirig a life of real religion. "Thou fool this night thy soul shall be required of thee" Christ con-demmed con-demmed our friend the fool. But he condemmed him not because he sought pleasure as his ideal of life, but because he was so easily pleased, so easily satisfied. Ease, food and drink .these were the height of his ambitions the sum total of his ideal. The very beasts of the field need rest and food and drink. These are common com-mon necessities of life. Christ condemmed con-demmed him not because he desired pleasure but because he desired only those things which satisfy the physical physi-cal needs. "Christ condemmed him because he forgot that he nad a mind! Christ condemmed him because be-cause he forgot he had a soul! Christ condemmed him becamse he had become so engrossed in the affairs af-fairs of this world that he had forgotten for-gotten that he was more than a beast. His whole thought was far bodily ease his innermost desire, ihis higest ambition am-bition was for the satisfaction of his physical nature. You and I human beings are different dif-ferent from the beasts of the field. In our physical we resemble them but in our spiritual natures we resemble re-semble God. We are beastly or de-vine de-vine according to the natures which I predominates, and controls our lives. We do not censure animals because they seek for physical ease and the satisfaction of bodily appetites, but we do censure men whose ambitions rise no higher than their bodies. The body is no inconsequential element of a man's nature, its needs, its ap-peites, ap-peites, its passions are natural and God given. - They cannot be and they should not be ignored or neglected. ne-glected. They have their place and their function hut they must be regulated re-gulated and controlled. While .the body may be the basis of life it is not the whole of life. It is at best a means, 'an instrument for the attainment at-tainment of higher ends. Man, by virtue of is intillect, is of a higher order than the lower animals. By the exercise of his God given power he is able to order and ! control his physiccal appetites and passions in such a way as to secure the highest degree of efficiency. By means of it he is able to discover and decipher the laws of nature, and with these secrets in his possession, to subjugate and! utilize the tremendous tremen-dous forces which would otherwise threaten and harrass him. But it is not by virtue of his intellect in-tellect alone that man is superior to the beasts of the fi fid. God created man in his own image and $uade him " a little lower than the angels." In man there is a spark of divinity, a soul, a spirit, call it what you will, a divine quality or element or power which renders him the highest order of living things, the crowning work of God's creation. Man's nature is three fold, physical physi-cal mental and spiritual. Each part or aspect is important and fundamental funda-mental in its place but it is by virtue of his spiritual nature that man is man and not beast. This three fold division of human nature has been recognized explicitly by the Young Mens Christian Association. Asso-ciation. The emblem of this organization organ-ization is an equalateral triangle no one side of which is printed the word " Body," on another side the word "Mind" and on the third side the word "Spirit." In the program of the organization gymnasiam and athletic exercises are provided for physical development, educational courses for training of the intellect and religious meetings and Bible classes for quickening and nourishing nourish-ing the spiritual nature. According to the testimony of Christ himself He came that we might have life and have it more abundantly. Fullness of life is the ideal of Christianity. Fullness of life involves the satisfaction of the three phases of our nature, the physical, phy-sical, the intellectual and the spiritual. spirit-ual. None must be neglected but each must be regulated according to its value and importance. Th danger dan-ger to our world today is not that men will accept pleasure as their ideal of life, but that men will be .satisfied with pleasure of the lower orders. The search for satisfaction of the physical nature ni'Ust not be allowed to degenerate into licent-iousess licent-iousess and gluttony. The search for intellectual satisfactions must not be allowed to transform us into creatures crea-tures whose minds, "debauched with learning," are unable to apprehend the higher values of life. 'My soul thirstith for God, for the living God." Thus expressed the psalmist his hunger, his' desire for all that is highest and best. The danger of the world today is what Dr Henry Churchhill Kirg has called "The Peril of the Lesser God." Setting iiuman beingi, soi-3 (if th-j - tlvi'ng God, we som.' MDM forget that we are more than mere animals, and like the fool of our text we aim only at the lesser gjods, we choose as our ideals only thoje pleasures which arc of the lower order. Pleasure and religion are not incompatible. Pleasure Pleas-ure is not pnly .a natural but it is a proper ideal. The struggle for the highest pleasure is real re-Mgion. re-Mgion. Sin lies not in the desire for pleasure, but in the choosing of those pleasures which are less worthy. |
