Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1859-10-01

no man who does not need to acquire the
principle of the Christian life, to make him
more loving and lovely. The heart given
to the Father, the hand given to the broth
er, the life given to both-truly this makes
man admirable ! Can we resist loving
him 7
If the instructive judgments of men co.
incide with and uphold the Christian stand.
ard of loveiness, so do they go further,
and reveal to us what the character of
that transformation must be which Christ
works in the heart and life. 1t is not e.
nough that a deed be benefcient in its re.
suits to secure my homage and admiration.
| must see that the heart out of which ii
came was generous heart-that heart
was moved by hearty sympathy and uncal.
culating beuevolence. / must see no selfish
end consulted, no reluctant bending to q
sense of obligation, no hard yielding to q
conviction of duty. 1t must be spontane-
ous--an outburst Of noble, generous life.
This my Judgment tells me is admirable,
and only this Now Christianity never
works its perfect work in the heart until
the outgoing of this heart are Of this char.
acter. l am not bound to admire, and /
cannot admire, man who protesting to be
moved by Christian motives, manifests his
life by deeds of benevolence that start in q
sense of Christian duty and Christian ob.
legation. The Christian life must be as un.
calculating and as spontaneous as the nat
ural life, before its expression can touch my
admiration by its quality.
Tie true heart is just as unerring
in its judgment of what constitutes true
Christianity as true humanity. Before it
will yield its tribute of admiration and Of
fection to him who does a deed of good, it
demands that, in either case, there shall
be no consideration of any kind. 1t de-
mands that Christianity shall be as sponta-
neouS and chivalrous as humanity, and il
knows that when it is not, it is not the
genuine article. Obligation implies the
idea of justice. The fulilment of it is the
payment Of debt. Duty is thing ra-
tionaly apprehended and intellectually
measured. Unselfsh benevoence-na
or acquired by the possessions of the Chris
tian lile--blossoms with spontaneous beau
ty, and it is that which we love and which
God loves.
So the secret of being loved is in being
lovely, and the secret of being lovely is in
being unselfsb No man liveth to himself,
and no man was made to live to himself
He was born with desire for the good will
of others, and with the fact, (veiled, per
haps, in many instances looking him il
the face, that it is impossible to get it with
ont the REIMBURSEMENT Of selfshness as th,
ruling motive Of his life. The truth il
that the curse of selfshness is upon pretty
much all our life. 1t blackcns and defile'
everything. We have not popular men
enough to fill decently the Offices Of gov
ernment. They are SO few that they are
not only the subjects of envy to many, but
Of suspicion. The world is so mean that
unless it happen to know an unselfish man
personally, it hears of his good deeds only
to inquire what and how much he expects
to make by them. Isnot this unpopuIarity
of the human race with itself rather humil-
iatingH Knowing the fact and the reason
Of it, let us try to inaugurate better con-
dition of things.