will ignore the desirability and the
duty of judiciously providing the means for a reasonable degree of
comfort and self-respect, with a surplus for the furtherance of human
welfare in general, and the relief of misfortune and suffering. Thrift
is a virtue; greed is a vice. Reasonable possession is a commendable and
necessary object. The unrestrained avarice that today is making cowards
of us all is an unmeasured curse, a world-wide disgrace that threatens
civilization.

In considering ends of life we cannot ignore those who consider
happiness as adequate. Perhaps there are few who formulate this, but
there are many who seem to give it practical assent. They apparently
conform their lives to this butterfly estimate, and, in the absence of
any other purpose, rest satisfied. Happiness is indeed a desirable
condition, and in the highest sense, where it borders on blessedness,
may be fairly termed "the end and aim of being." But on the lower
stretches of the senses, where it becomes mere enjoyment or pleasure,
largely concerned with amusement and self-indulgence of various sorts,
it becomes parasitic, robbing life of its strength and flavor and
preventing its development and full growth. It is insidious in its
deterioration and omnivorous in its appetite. It tends to habits that
undermine and to the appropriation of a preponderating share of the
valueless things of life. The danger is in the unrestrained appetite, in
intemperance that becomes habit. Pleasure is exhausting of both purse
and mind. We naturally crave pleasant experiences, and we need a certain
amount of relaxation. The danger is in overindulgence and indigestion
resulting in spiritual invalidism. Let us take life sanely, accepting
pleasures gratefully but moderately.

But what _is_ best in life? Why, life itself. Life is opportunity. Here
it is, around us, offered to us. We are free to take what we can or what
we like. We have the great privilege of choice, and life's ministry to
us depends on what we take and what we leave.

We are providentially assigned our place, whatever it is, but in no
fixed sense of its being final and unalterable. The only obligation
implied is that of acceptance until it can be bettered.

Our moral responsibility is limited to our opportunity, and the vital
question is the use we make of it. The great fact of life is that we are
spiritual beings. Religion has to do with soul existence and is the
field of its development. It is c