Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1859-07-23


ion grow mainly out Of this bondage Con-
sstency is clung to with almost an insane
tenacity. 1t is more important in this bond.
age that course Of action should be con-
sistent with mans past life than with
truth and justice. A mans past elevated
as the highest standard of his present and
his future. He pledges himself against
progress by making his present character
aud his past course the law of his life. He
clings to the institutions, the opinions, the
policy aud the sentiments in which he has
cast his life and when these are gone, or
are superseded, he clings to their names,
and so walks in vain show" If a party
dies, it does not die to him because if he
were to admit the fact or the idea, of its
death, he would doubt his own nfallbility.
If an institution falls, he will not ucknowl-
edge it, for it will make hole in a reputa-
ton which he considers compacted and
complete. No man who progresses can be
consistent with himself Maturity cannot
be consistent with immaturity. All the
consistency God requires of any man, or
approves in any man, is consistency with
the best light of thepresent Let the dead
bury it's dead. II is only God himself who
has even the right to be consistent with His
past life.
The worthy young men who read these
words are dreaming Of the attainment of
character which shall give them not only
reputation-not only praise-but weight
in the world. If this be your prime object,
young man, you are likely to take the wrong
course and make wreck of Yourself. Let
me tell you that if you do right, your char
acter will take care of itself, no less than
your reputation. Serve God and your gen.
Grafton well, leave the consideration of your
character and yourself behind, seek to be
consistent with the highest life you have,
be not afraid to change your opinions or
your course on anything if you think you
are wrong, and God and your generation
will take care Of you. As oon as it is seen
that you are unselish, and that you are
free to act rightly and justly with relation
to whatever comes before you, place in
the world will be made for you, and work
will be given you to do. Do not be dis
heartened if you make enemies, for if you
are really good power in the world you
will be sure to make them. | do not say
that a man who has enemies is necessarily
good man, but do say that no man
can be a good power in the world without
making them.
There are hundred things that l could
mention, more valuable than reputation
Self.respect is one of these; q conscience
void of offense is another; the reformation
and the progress of those around you are
others; and Gods approval is another
Maintain your self-respect; keep a spotess
conscience; and do good to all around you
with supreme reference to Him in whom
you live, and your character will grow
BEAUTIFULLY, without a thought given to it.
The moment the preservation of your char
acter and reputation becomes the great Oh
ject Of your life,-the moment that you be-
gin to arrange your life with reference to a
character already achieved-that moment
you will cease to grow, and pass to your
place among the harmless fossils that occu-
py the ornamental inches Of society.
The Influence Of enemies upon a really
sound character is always healthful. A GER
tain degree of recognition and praise does
any man good; but the unusual effect of a
great deal of it is debilitating. 1t spoils
the child, and weakens the preacher, and
enervates the orator. 1t Injuries the char
acter of almost every man. Praise is very
sweet, but the soul cannot thrive upon a
diet Of sugar any more than the body. A
man who receives a great deal of praise,
and drinks it in with genuine appetite, soon
comes to regard it with an unhealthy greed
He wants it from everybody, wants it all
the time, labors to get it, and is dsappoint-
ed and uneasy if he does not get it. II is
well for every man, therefore, to have ene-
mics, to hear what they say about him,
and to experience the weight Of their Op-
position. Enemies drive the soul home to
its motives, rouse its finest energies, compact
its character, render it watchful Of the is
sues of its life, keep it strained up to its
work, and help to eliminate from it selfish
considerations. There hardly ever lived a
reformer who might not have been strang-
led and sienced at the ontset of his career
by praise. Thank God for the enmity that
developed into giants the reformers of our
own and of past times May He in mercy
forbid that any of the young aud noble
hearts now yearning for the good work Of
the world be spoiled by too much praise
and too few enemies
A character once worthily won is to be
preserved in precisely the same way that it
is won. A character is easily tarnished,
and good name easily lost; but neither is
to be preserved by making it the supreme
object of attention Here it becomes ne
cessary to keep broad distinction between
reputation and character. for one may be
destroyed by slauder, while the other can
never be harmed save by its possessor.-
The malice of others may tarnish a good
name-may load it with suspicions-may
accociate it with gross scandal--may black
en- it beyond the reach of total recovery
but the character can receive no injury
save by the involuntary act aud choice OF
its owner. A man in order to retain his
reputation may be required, not unfrequent
ly, to compromise his character; and 10 or.
der to keep his character pure may bC
obliged to compromise his reputation
Character is as much more valuable thar
reputation as it is more valuable than it
its own name.
Reputation is in no mans keeping Yol
and cannot determine what other mel
shall think of us and Say about us. w,
can only determine what they ought t
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