Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1860-02-08
s. 1860. NUM-
happiness, it is voluntary or enforced lazt-

ness.
When persons of edueation, of great re-
sources, of great Imagination, of great
affection, of great thinking power, of an
active, restless nature, who have nothing
to do; who are too rich to be obliged to
work; who are placed in a high position in
society, where there is nothing offered with
which they can properly occupy their mind;
who stay at home great deal, and are
rolling, and rolling, and rolling their feel
ings over a great deal-when such persons
come to me, my first thought is ''GOd help
you." If the Lord in his providence would
only take away their property, so that they
would be forced to labor; so that they
would be obliged to go out to work us girls
do; so that they would have to go out and
wash for "A living, they would he as happy
us saints by the time they had washed
year.
You shall find that as soon As persons
who have great mental power reach ~ pO-
sition in society which forbids their doing
anything or being anything, they will fall
into morbid state of mind. A man that
has nothing to do, and does nothing, can
not be helped; and never look upon any
cases as more hopeless than these. new
er despair of helping anybody more than ]
do of helping those OF this class who come
to me with mental troubles. To attempt
to remove their difficulties would be as if
IL farmer should undertake to keep his grass
clear of spider-webs. Every night will be
spun what every morning he may sweep
off: aud he will find Il million insects will
Outvie all his broom diligence. And you
can get the troubles out of the mind of
person who has nothing to do inst about
as efFectually as this. IfyOu get them out
one day, the next day it will be filled again.
The fact is, aIl the faculties are spiders
spinning webs all through the mind. They
have nothing to do but to make mischief
in themselves. The only prescription in
such cases, is this: Go to work. Do sOmc-
thing. Be something.
Scventhly; | will mention group of
causes which may be called bad religious
scIf-managemcnt. a great many persons
as to keep it healthy, and great many
persons do not know how to manage their
mind so that that shall be healthy. First.
under this head, will mention religious
imitation, which almost invariably results
in false characters, and Ottentimes makes
most miSchievOus work. Men are, not un-
frequently, brought to great suffering by
striving to be what others are-by looking
at experiences foreign to their nature, and
endcavoring to reproduce them. Men
think that if religion is the work of God,
IS Is IllS SttIuS al ChSI DOAS' AOu hNS
we'll say that if flowers are the work of
God, flowers arc the same everywhere. In
point of fact, they are alike nowhere
they are varied endlessly. And there is
nothing truer than that every mans re-
ligiOn is relative to what he is by his re-
ligiOus organization, and to that state to
which he has been brought by his educa-
ton and his relationships in life. All
man can do, healthfully, is to say, elbow
shall take this disposition of mine, made
up, as it is, of various conflicting elements,
and Oblige it to conform to the law of God,
which is love and benevolence2 How shall
do that?" Every man must answer this
question for himself.
think life is like n voyage. Suppose
there should start out from your harbOr,
for the purpose of crossing the ocean, a
yacht, slOOp, n schooner, hermaphro-
dite, IL fuII-rigged brig, bark, n ship, and
man-of-war. They are all going to make
voyage. Now then, suppose that the
yacht should look at the man-Of-war, as
she moved down the bay, with all her
canvass out, and say, "HOw can get such
sails upon me as that great and noble ship
has upon herr? Every man would say,
"a yacht must sail like u yacht, slOOp
like sloOp, IL schooner like schooner,
brig like brig, and ship like ship
Each vessel must make the voyage with its
own hull and sails, and not copy those of
any other" Now God has given every
man hull with which to make the voy
age of life, and he has rugged every man
according to the circumstance in which he
has lived; and to be Christian you are
not to attempt to make yourself like this
man or that man, but to take yourself
whatever you are, and endeavOr to serve
God, and live in obedience to his laws
NH
will, in ninety-nine cases out of hundred,
only lead to miscarriages, and doubt, and
depression of mind.