p. 151 | THE GREATEST PLEASURE by Dudley Marvin Canright

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 25, 1868

THE GREATEST PLEASURE.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

There is pleasure in sin, in gratifying one's appetite and passions; but it lasts only a moment. Then it brings shame, repentance, and sorrow, which more than balance the pleasure felt. There is pleasure in seeking riches, in seeking honor, in seeking knowledge; but sadness, fears, and disappointment, go with it. It is the universal testimony of all, that in these is only to be found “vanity and vexation of spirit.” Is there, then, no real pleasure in this world? Yes, there is. My own experience, confirmed by thousands of testimonies on record, is, that the greatest pleasure is to be found in doing others good. When I have sacrificed my own ease, or time, or means, to help others who were needy, I have experienced such deep pleasure, such real, lasting satisfaction, as I never found in anything else. Jesus truly said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

The heart that is all shut up to self, has never tasted the sweetest cup that man ever drank. Come, my coldhearted, selfish, covetous, complaining, brother or sister, open your heart and let in some of the Spirit of Jesus, “who went about doing good,” and go and do likewise, and this will seem like a new world to you. Try it. D. M. CANRIGHT.