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

as ourselves. wrapped within this word
unSelfSbaeSS, in its full and glorious meaning,
lies the central principle of Christianity,
and from it always unfolds the true Chris
tian life. When God sits supremely on
the throne of u human heart-I say su-
premely-then sefshness is obliterated.
and the individual becomes small and insig-
niicant in the presence of the great broth
erhood.
l suppose it may be stated as q general
ly admitted truth that mankind are not
popular. In other words, the race is not
held in very high estimation by itself. If
this were not so, David's declaration that
all men were liars was not so very hasty
after all for, if there be habit every
where and in all times prevalent, it is the
habit Of detraction. Mankind are pretty
universally unpopular, or universally malig-
nant, for they have very bad reputation
among themselves. l think there is some
cause for all this hard talk about men
which the most of us indulge in and that
though many uncharitable things may be
said, the unjust things are not so plenty
/ think that this selfshness of which we
have been talking is very common-in fact
that very few Of us lay claim to any great
degree Of freedom from it, l think that
one great reason why we do not love our
neighbors better, and why our neighbors
do not love us better, is that they and we
are not altogether lovable. | think that
the great bar to quicker and higher de-
velopment of our social life is the contempt
we feel for one another's selfshness. If all
my neighbors were free hearted, generous,
magnanimous, unselfsh men, should love
them all as l may happen to love one of
them who manfests the possession Of these
qualities and if | were the posSessor of
the qualities which l most admire in others,
| should be sure that all my neighbors who
know me would love me-
Christianity, starting in Gods father
hood, bids US love our brotherhood. If
we love Him, we shall love His children,
however widely straying and however un-
amiable, simply because they are members
of the same family with ourselves. We
are nowhere commanded to love the devil
and his angels, because they do not belong
to our family. But Christianity does not
demand that we shall admire an unlovely
man, and choose him as a companion, and
be happy in his society. 1t does not de-
mand that L give him good name while
l seek to do him good, or conspire to hold
him popular while 1 strive to make him
better. 1t does not bid me smother my
antipathies so far as to ignore his selfish
ness, to accept him as a grateful object
OF my affections. can love him so far
as to wish him WELL to labor for his well
fare, and to rejoice in his improvement !;
can love him in such manner as to be
grateful for all the good he receives and
achieves ; but, so long as selfshnesS is dom
inant in his heart and life, am not requir-
ed to delight in him, and could not if
we're. The heart leaps to receive worthy
love and will not be counseled
The secret of the worlds unlovlneSs
abides in its selfshness. This statement
true in the largest sense, is equally true in
its most limited application. The reason
why men are not popular with their fellows
is, that their fellows fail to find in them
generous, uncalculasing impulses - open
hearts, free hands, and demonstrative good
will. l have no doubt that this statement
will come to many minds either as new
and strange revelation of truth, or as o
proposition which their overweening self
love will compel them to quarrel with. l
know there are men who are conscious of
not being generally loved, and yet, who,
having strong desires to be loved, are at a
loss to account for their own unpopularity
If they accept this doctrine, they can find
the way to win what they desire If they
reject it, as a thing which wounds their
self-love and offends them, they can have
the privilege of being despised while they
live. God has made seliShnesS unlovable,
and shaped the universal human heart to
despise it, and He has made unselfshness
so lovable that we cannot withhold from it
our admiration.
Here comes in the power of Christianity
as the transformer of character, and the
agent Of those changes in the human heart
and life which make men not only lovely to
each other, but to God Himself To my
mind, there is no stronger evidence of the
truth and divine authenticity of Christian
ity than the direct blow with which it hits
the nail of human selfshness on the head
There is no other system Of religion which
does this. There is no curative scheme of
humuu puHosOpuy WHICH eHeu aIteulpJS Iuls
transformation. No outside plan of refor-
nation, even when it has recognized selfish,
ness as the root Of human evil has been
able to present motives of sufficient power
to work the necessary regeneration. I'm
der the influence of Christianity, l have
seen selfish men become large hearted and
generous and have witnessed the outgoing
of their lives into deeds of practiced good
will have never seen this change wrought
by any other system of religion, nor by
any form of human philosophy. All 9th
er systems and schemes fail to supply the
vital principle of true life and an admira-
BILE character. They are systems of schemes
of policy, and plans of rewards and punish
ments, built upon what is good in humani-
ty. They never contemplate the subver-
sion of the central principle of Selfshness
in the heart, and the substitution of the
principle of benevolence.
AS a student of human nature, and an
observer of the forces brought TO bear upon
it, am compelled to give this tribute to
Christianity. There is either in it com
bination of powerful motives, nationally to
be apprehended and voluntarily to be adopt
ed or q new principle of life which, infused