Proverbs 25:16 Have you found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for you, lest you be filled therewith, and vomit it. It is a mistaken notion that religion is a melancholy business, and the enemy of pleasure. Christianity is supposed to be synonymous with inanity, and to impose a weariness alike on flesh and spirit that stifles the freedom, represses the elasticity, and dulls the brightness which are the natural and precious heritage of youth. But this is as false as the devil who coined it. I stand here as the messenger of God, as the champion of pleasure, the advocate of hilarity, the apostle of enjoyment, the prophet of light-heartedness. Pleasure is a necessity of our nature. The goodness of God has made bountiful provision for full satisfaction and delight. The body is endowed with senses capable of exquisite sensations of delight. When you talk of the melancholy of religion you become the Pharisaic boaster, and not I. You thank your God that you are not as other men. If the intellect seeks pleasure in the study of the physical universe, does the Christian philosopher discover less to charm his mind than do his scientific comrades of less assured belief? But ours is a triple manhood. There is the moral and spiritual man. Surely there is honey in doing right; there is pleasure in goodness and truth. As to the honey of life to be found in a good conscience, in doing right, in walking uprightly, according to the universally recognised laws of morality, surely the Christian has a better chance than the ordinary man. What does religion allow, or rather enjoin, in the way of pleasant recreations? 1. They must do me no harm; neither enfeeble my body, rob my brain of its vital energy, or disturb my inward sense of right. 2. They must recreate my body; brace it up, and leave me readier for after-service. 3. They must refresh my mind; not make it sluggish, heavy, depressed, and ill at ease. 4. They must cheer my heart — in their present influence, in their results, and in their memory. (J. Jackson Wray.) Parallel Verses KJV: Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it.WEB: Have you found honey? Eat as much as is sufficient for you, lest you eat too much, and vomit it. |
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