JULY 1, 1912 



419 



(0)QDD° [rQoODi]® 



A. I. Root 



Even Christ pleased not himself. — Romans 15: 3. 



Even the Son of man came not to be ministered 

 unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom 

 for many.- — Mark 10:45. 



The character of our Lord Jesus Christ 

 stands out clear and sharp as differing from 

 that of any merely human being who ever 

 lived. As described in our text, "he pleased 

 not himself." In fact, the more we study 

 the account of the life he spent here on 

 earth, the more we are impressed with the 

 fact that he never used his wondrous pow- 

 er in any way for his own personal benefit. 

 He never thought of self. Even when wea- 

 ried by days of busy toil he never seemed 

 to think of either rest or refresliment. The 

 accounts we have of his taking food, or 

 most of them, seem to be incidents where 

 he taught some lessons by the partaking of 

 food. He once convinced his followers, after 

 his resun'eetion, that he was still flesh and 

 blood by eating with them. When thirsty 

 after a long travel, and he met the Samari- 

 tan woman at the well, he apparently for- 

 got his thirst in leading her up and out of 

 her wretched condition so that she might 

 partake of that "living water;" and when 

 his disciples, after they had brought food 

 and urged him to partake, he replied, "I 

 have meat to eat that ye know not of." 



This whole matter was brought vividly 

 to my mind by an address delivered by the 

 Rev. Joseph Clark, in Columbus, at the 

 Congregational State conference a few days 

 ago. In his excellent and soul-stirring ad- 

 dress he said something like this : 



"My little girl came to me a few days ago 

 and propounded the question, 'Papa, can 

 we be happy always?' " 



He said he studied over the matter a 

 while before he answered a question of so 

 much moment. After a little reflection he 

 replied : 



"Yes, my daughter, we can be happy al- 

 ways." 



But immediately she propounded a ques- 

 tion of still deeper and of more vital mo- 

 ment. It was this: 



"Papa, I am not always happy. What 

 is the trouble?" 



Before answering her he meditated again 

 — perhaps more deeply than he did before ; 

 but he finally replied : 



"My daughter, if we are always busy in 

 trying to make somebody else happy, we 

 shall be happy; and it is the only way to 

 live and get real happiness." 



Now, my good friends, you who read 

 these Home papers, let me put the question 



to you — are you always happy? Suppose 

 I should ask all of my readers who are al- 

 ways happy to raise their right hand. How 

 many hands would I see? Suppose I should 

 ask again, "How many of you are happy a 

 part of the time?" I hope every hand will 

 go up. But if I should ask, "Is there one 

 among you all who is never happy?" may 

 Cod forbid that there should be even one 

 such person! When a poor child of hu- 

 manity says he is never happy, he is coming 

 pretty close to the terrible suicide mania 

 that is now cursing our world of people 

 more or less. Perhaps there are some among 

 you who are seldom happy. My good friend, 

 the trouble is surely, as Dr. Clark put it, 

 because you have been seeking happiness 

 from a selfish j^oint of view. You have got 

 it into your head that the world owes you 

 "happiness," or, say, that it owes you a liv- 

 ing, whereas the world really owes you 

 nothing; but you owe to the world a big 

 lot. "Not to be ministered unto, but to 

 minister." 



Some of you may turn around and ask 

 the question, "Mr. Root, are you always 

 happy?" I answer frankly, "No, I am not 

 always happy; but when doing my duty, 

 working honestly and unselfishly for the 

 great sea of humanity around me, there is 

 an undercurrent of happiness that is sel- 

 dom or never very much interrupted or dis- 

 turbed." 



I can always thank God for having given 

 me a human life to live ; and whatever trials 

 or temptations or disappointments and per- 

 plexities meet me, I can, thank God, say 

 honestly and devoutly, "I know that my Re- 

 deemer liveth." 



I have told you in former Home papers 

 how that little prayer, "Lord, help," often 

 lifts me up out of darkness and into the 

 light; and when a contrary and stubborn 

 spirit seems to get possession of me, I in- 

 voluntarily breathe that celebrated prayer 

 of David, after he had sinned and fallen — 

 "Create in me a clean heart, God, and re- 

 new a right spirit within me." 



Now, we have been discussing so far, at 

 least mostly, our spiritual experiences. I 

 find that, as I grow older, and, in fact, all 

 through my life, to be happy and enjoy life 

 I must take care of my physical body. Of 

 late I can not stand office work or reading 

 papers and magazines much more than an 

 hour at a time. I have, hanging up right 

 handy, near the back door a very light and 

 bright shining hoe. Whenever I am done 



