Pleasure and Pain

Annie M. Knott

The psalmist gives us this assurance respecting our heavenly Father, "At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." It need hardly be said that the pursuit of pleasure begins for mortals in earliest childhood, and coincident with this pursuit come endless disappointments and sorrows, for the human sense of pleasure seldom rises above the plane of sense satisfaction, and is therefore bounded by materiality, concerning which the master Christian said, "The flesh profiteth nothing." This only means, however, that we should seek until we find the pleasures divinely provided and promised, which neither deceive nor disappoint.

In the book of Proverbs we read, "Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. . . Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace." Our revered Leader, Mrs. Eddy, has done more than any one since the time of Christ Jesus to point the way to true pleasure, and she has done this by showing the utter fallacy and delusiveness of belief in the pleasure sought in any wise through the material senses. It cannot be denied that those who become addicted to the drink habit do so in almost every instance because they are on a quest for pleasure, although some would say that their intention is to drown their sorrows in the intoxicating glass. The one who has never fallen into this particular form of error might at once see the delusiveness of it, but he might not see that until he seeks pleasure in God's way, and sees it to be inseparable from the true concept of man as God's image and likeness, he has not gone very far along the way to salvation from false belief, and should not censure the one who is enslaved in the manner that he condemns.

Mrs. Eddy's method of dealing with this phase of error—with every phase of it, indeed—is no less loving than thorough. She declares that the healing of the inebriate must come through the understanding "that there is no real pleasure in sin" (Science and Health, p. 404), and she adds, "Arouse the sinner to this new and true view of sin, show him that sin confers no pleasure, and this knowledge strengthens his moral courage and increases his ability to master evil and to love good." Our Master, who always went down to the depths in his teaching, has this to say respecting those to whom the good seed of Truth is brought, but who fail to bring forth fruit therefrom: "That which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection." This is a sad picture of the disappointing search for satisfaction in any material condition, and it was doubtless because of the sorrows ensuing therefrom that in the early Christian centuries many turned their backs upon the world, and sought peace, if not pleasure, in seclusion and solitude.

Throughout all Christian history, however, there have been some sincere seekers who had at least glimpses of the vital things which never disappoint, and so we find these words in a hymn,—

In thy service pain is pleasure,
With thy favor loss is gain.

This is coming very near to the heart of things, for whenever we are willing to seek good at any cost, the pleasure of this ennobling quest begins to grow upon us, until at length it unfolds into the certainty of possession. In Hebrews we read that Moses, who in his early manhood was surrounded with the splendor of the Egyptian court, turned his back upon it, "choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season." His pleasure, his joy, like that of the Master, was to be found in the glorious work of emancipating the human race from its enslavement to evil of every sort, and the writer of this epistle to the Hebrews gives us a wonderful lesson when he counsels us to "run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross."

The human sense of pleasure needs the transforming power of Spirit to cleanse it from the falsities of mortal belief, and as this is accomplished the desire for pleasure is changed into the consciousness of pure joy; and all the while new energies are being unfolded which make joy possible in every experience. The sooner we make our choice the better for us, because, as we read on page 390 of Science and Health, "Truth will at length compel us all to exchange the pleasures and pains of sense for the joys of Soul."

Annie M. Knott.

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Among the Churches

September 15, 1917

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