Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1850-01-22
Morality and Piety.

One of the first difficulties besetung the
anxious mind, which is possessed OF sui
ficient intelligence to require q reason Tor
the faith that is in it, is TO reconcile TIE
vague sense of what created by dawn
inc religious experience, with It's OLD no"
tions of a good life and right character
Along with large part of the world, II
had hitherto supposed religion to consist
in the faithful discharge of moral ob'lga-
tions, of visible duties; in the pracuce OF
truth and honesty in careful abstinence
from hurilul lusts and from injuries TO
others. Now it finds very little Satlsiac-
ton in the contemplation OF lis past iIdeII-
tv. Somehow, the respectable and un-
blamed life it has thus far lived, solid and
substantial as it once appeared, seems, TO
its new vision, full of gaps and IOoP-hoLes;
4 wall erected without cement, insecure,
insufficient to hold itself up, TO say moth
inc of supporting anything else. 1t be-
gins to see how small part OF the whole
man, the whole character is covered by
the ordinary requirements OF social mo-
ralitv: how small part Of life transplres
10 the view of others, or touches others
in wav to affect their judgments OF the
actor. Growing suspicious OF other 5
praise or esteem, as any true test OF per-
sonal worth, it becomes jealous Of seIt-Iove
as A Judge most subject to bribery. Thus
induced, it examines and probes It's own
virtues. First, it subjects its wcll-rePuted
or selfcompIaccnt qualities to the tests OF
the old standard. Having always rccog-
nized sound morality as Indispensable,
it arraigns itself at the bar. Honestly
tried by its peers-the men of morality
it discovers, what each Of the jurors, un-
der similar cross-eXaminatOns, would find
out TO be true of himself, that the very
moral excelIencieS on which it had plumed
itself, are mainly hollow; that It's truth is
most partial It's honesty more cOnven-
tional than absolute that Its difficult vlr-
tues have their root no deeper than self
interest, whilst its easy ones are only
forms Of natural felicity OF temperament
1t cannot stand the test Of It's own rule
All. would that the world would con
sent TO measure itself truly by what ii IS
always supporting itself, against the dc,
mands of religion, by quoting with tuIi
acuuiescence, that mere morality,
which religion so blamcs it for conlennng
itself with, were it carried out faithfully,
would leave piety very little room for com
plant. But the truth is, it cannot be car
ried out. The reason why morality Is
stigmati zed as "mere," Is, because dis
co lected from the source Of absolute
strength and goodness, it is necessarily
onlv an imitation, a skilIful veneerlng OF
the perishable and rude substance OF the
character, with a polished and fragrant
superlicies of goodness. When morality
is sound 10 the core, 1t Is Plety under an
other form, love Of absolute goodness, OF
virtue for its own sake, of truth and JUS
tice, as essentially obligatory and beautI-
Gul, is the very essence OF plety. How
far il is possible for such a spirit TO exist
without the direction and guidance OF Je-
sus Christ, without the knowledge OF
personal God, without that experience
which comes into the soul through the re-
generating influences of the Gospel, II IS
not necessary to settle as an abstract ques-
ton. As a practical question, II can be
soon despatched. The morality OF the
world. as a rule, is hollow and unreal; ; 1t
is decencv. scIf-nterest, cOmPuIson, iml-
tatlon, conformity. The essence OF true
morality, the love of absolute truth and
goodness, and the practice that follows IT,
is what exists, as the rule, only under the
form of Christian piety. And precisely
what the Gospel of Christ does for US
that which constitutes It's special beneiac-
ton. is, that by lis illumination of the con
science, its application of powerful mo-
tues and sanctions TO the heart by lis
hopes and fears, its threatenlngs and prom
ises. by the holy and exalted intelligence
10 which il introduces US, and the grand
and awful facts it discIOses, it drives or
wins the soul TO q sense OF the necessity
of an absolute devotion 10 truth and duty
total and thorough giving up OF The
whole being, without reserve, equiyoca-
ton, or prernce. 10 an absolute standard
of right This is but heather morality IN
its essential result; but attained through
Christian methods, and connected with
ChristiaA knowledge, tits Christian Plety.
To love goodness with the whole soul. Is
the salvation of the heather; to love God
with the whole soul, is the salvation OF the
Christian. Morality in its essence, and
piety in lis essence, are one. II is only