The Chief End of Life # 3

The Chief End of Live # 3

The chief object of life must be something IMPORTANT. As a rational creature a man could not be justified in setting up a mere trifle as the end and purpose of existence. It marks a low and abject state of mind, or at any rate, great childishness of taste, to allow the thoughts feelings and aspirations, to be attracted, as to their center, to a mere triviality. God has given to man noble faculties, and to see them all devoted to to some mere petty trifle, as their supreme aim - is a sad and a humiliating spectacle! We are anxious that both you and ourselves should be living for something worthy of our nature, something congruous to our powers of intellect, will, heart, memory, and conscience; something that shall make us conscious we are not living below ourselves. And where can we find anything that answers to this so well as piety, salvation, eternal life? This is not only really to live for immortality, but is the only way to do so in the fullest sense of the term. Literature, science, philosophy, and the arts, in this relation, must all yield to religion. This is to have fellowship with "the goodly fellowship of the prophets, the glorious company of the apostles, and the noble army of martyrs;" this is to enter into bonds with the holy of every age, country, and church; yes, it is to rise into "the fellowship of the Father, and of His Son Jesus Christ."

The chief object of life must be something which is in harmony with God's chief end in placing us in this world. God has placed us here; He has an end in doing so; and nothing ought to be our chief end but what is consonant with His. To neglect this is to wage perpetual war with the Divine will; and we know who has said, "Woe be to him who contends with his Maker." Would you engage in such a conflict? Would you run contrary to His will, and let your schemes be ever in opposition to His? What a fearful reflection for any one to make, "I am opposing God by my mode of life!" On the contrary, how ennobling and comforting the thought, "I am of one mind with my Maker!" No man can say this who is not making true religion his great business, and living for the salvation of his soul; for this is God's chief end in sending us into this world. 

That which we select as the chief object of life must be something ATTAINABLE. In setting out upon the pursuit of any object, much more our supreme one, we should ascertain that it is within our reach, and one which we may hope, by taking proper steps, and using proper diligence, to obtain. It is a grievous sight to behold a person following some mere vision of imagination, bestowing immense labor and wealth, and absorbing nearly all his time, in the pursuit of an object, which everybody besides himself clearly sees in beyond his attainment."Poor man," we exclaim, "he is beating the air, running after shadows, aiming at impossibilities." But this cannot be affirmed of true religion and salvation; all the duties and privileges of the one, all the glories and the felicities of the other, are within your reach. It is the transcendent excellence of true religion to be of all things the most valuable in its nature, and at the same time the most certain of attainment by all who seek it earnestly, perseveringly, and scripturally. The uncertainties and disappointments incident to other matters, are not experienced in regard to this. The language of Christ is, "Ask, and you shall receive; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." Luther said he loved the Bible on account of those pronouns "mine" and "yours". He might have added, and because of those verbs "will" and "shall." In other matters there is only possibility or probability; but here there is certainty. You may succeed in business, you will succeed in religion.

The one thing then must, as to its importance, be commensurate with our whole existence. How strictly does this apply to true piety. It will be the guide of our youth, the comfort of our manhood, and the staff of our old age. If we succeed in life, it will preserve us from the snares of prosperity; and if we fail, it will be our solace in adversity. Should we be exposed to the temptations of bad company, it will be our shield; or, if we should dwell much alone, it will be he comforter of our solitude. It will guild us in the choice of a companion for life, sweeten the cup of marital happiness, survive the severance of every earthly tie. It will refresh us with its cooling shade amidst the heat and burden of life's busy day, be the evening star of our declining years, and our lamp in the dark valley of the shadow of death, and then rise with us as our eternal portion in the realms of immortality. Like its Divine author, "It is the same yesterday, today, and forever."

Whatever is the supreme end of life, it must be in harmony with, and not in opposition to the secondary and subordinate ends of life. Duties cannot clash, obligations cannot be in antagonism. It can be no man's duty to do two things which are at that time directly and necessarily opposed to each other. There are situations and circumstances in which, what in other circumstances would be a duty, ceases to be any longer such, because of the presence of an object of life, which prevents us from seeking even lesser ones in themselves legitimate and proper. It is somewhat repulsive to see a person absorbed in an object, by the nature of which, as well as by the time devoted to it he is unfitted for, and disinclined to, the pursuit of anything else. The claims of his own personal interests, of his family, of his country, of his race, are all superseded and forgotten in the paramount demands of that one all engrossing pursuit. By that one pursuit he has unfitted himself for, and detached himself from, everything else. This cannot be right.

If true religion were indeed what too many of the votaries of superstition represent it - a gloomy seclusion in monasteries, convents, and hermitages, where every tie that binds us to this world is severed -  it could not be of God, nor would it be the supreme end of life. But this is not Christianity. There is not a single legitimate end of life which is in the smallest degree interfered with by this high and sacred business. No man is made the worse citizen master, servant, husband, father, son, or brother - at attending to this momentous subject. True religion assists, instead of hindering, every lawful interest that man has on earth. It sheds a benignant smile upon all his proper pursuits, and stretches out a helping hand to assist him in carrying them forward. "Godliness is profitable for all things, having the promise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come." The beautiful allegory of Solomon will be found true. "Wisdom [true religion] is more precious than rubies; and all the things you can desire are not to be compared with her. Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand, riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who lay hold upon her; and happy is everyone who retains her."

That which is selected as the chief end of life, should amply reward the labor of pursuit. It should not when realized, lead the possessor in a tone, and with feelings of bitter disappointment, to exclaim, "And is this all?" To spend life with no reward at all, or with no adequate reward, is exceedingly to be dreaded and deprecated. It is a loss and a sacrifice for which there can be no compensation. Now, whatever may be said of the inadequacy of any other object of human pursuit to remunerate the anxiety and labor of acquiring it, no such imputation belongs to this. It is the supreme good. True religion is its own reward. We ourselves, from whom this address goes forth, can testify this. If we were ever under the delusion that piety is inimical to happiness, we have long since found by experience that piety is true happiness. This has been alleged only by those who have never tried it by personal experience; we have tried both sides, the pleasures of the world, and the pleasures of piety; and have found that between them there is all the difference that lies between mere passing amusement and true happiness.

~John Angell James~

(continued with # 4)