Pleasure | AdventAI

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Jul 18, 1878

Pleasure.

PLEASURE is eagerly sought for by all, but more especially by the young. Webster defines pleasure to be, "The gratification of the senses or of mind; agreeable sensations or emotions; the excitement, relish, or happiness produced by the enjoyment or the expectation of good; opposed to pain. We receive pleasure from the indulgence of the appetite; from the view of a beautiful landscape; from the harmony of sounds; from the expectation of seeing an absent friend; from the prospect of gain or success of any kind. Pleasure, bodily and mental, carnal and spiritual, constitutes the whole of positive happiness, as pain constitutes the whole of misery."

According to the definition, we may derive pleasure from various sources. We may feel pleasure by means that end in misery; or we may derive pleasure from that which is not pleasurable at the present moment. When the sensation of pleasure is caused by unlawful means, the pleasure is unlawful; if derived by means that are injurious to health, it is a violation of the laws of nature, and is therefore sinful.

As God has made man capable of enjoying pleasure, he intends man to be happy; and as he created man capable of excitement, he intended man to be excited, and to receive pleasure from excitement. But he did not intend us to destroy our physical and mental powers by pleasurable excitement. There is a very close connection between the body and the mind; hence we may destroy the mind by excessive physical excitement, or we may destroy the body by excessive mental excitement; in either case a grievous sin is committed; hence the command to be temperate in all things.

Some seek pleasure in drinking strong drink. By first contracting the appetite, they create a taste for strong drink. Then it gives pleasure to drink; but it is pleasure followed by pain, and regret, and the truly wise will shun the pleasure of the cup as a baleful enemy.

Pleasure received from beholding a beautiful landscape is innocent, and therefore may be indulged. Pleasure derived from the harmony of sound is not only innocent, but it is profitable, elevating and purifying. A person could hardly become coarse, morose, or disagreeable under the pleasure derived from good sacred music.

Pleasure is also derived from the expectation of future good. Then, that we may enjoy lasting pleasure, we should place before us the highest and most enduring good, and ever live in expectation of it. But what is that future good? Some suppose that it exists in large possessions of worldly goods; hence they direct all their energies to the acquisition of wealth, and they experience pleasure in the hope of success. But how many thousands fail, and their pleasure dies with their disappointed hopes; and even those who succeed learn by sad experience that > "This world can never give > The bliss for which we sigh."

There is before us a fountain of future good that is higher, purer, and more enduring than aught that earth can give. That future good is laid up in heaven. Moth cannot corrupt it; thieves cannot break through and steal it; the unending ages of eternity cannot waste it. It is incorruptible, undefiled, and it fadeth not away.

Reader, if you would enjoy real pleasure, live in full expectation of heavenly bliss; and that this expectation may be well grounded, hear the sayings of Christ, and do them. Thus you build upon a rock that cannot be moved. All your earthly friends may disappoint you, but Jesus will take you up. All your worldly prospects may fail, but heaven remains sure; mortal life itself may expire, but you shall enjoy eternal life, where all is pleasure forevermore.