Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1861-04-20

/ W P"'"'''' NVhSclOuS, all the while, tina
they nre not so good as they are thought
to be, Tney are not hlpocriles they
have never Intended to deceive anybody
they have never peretcnde1 to be whnt
they are not but people believe in them
without limit. A person who has this
power OF attracting the confidence of mer
has forced upon him an immense responsi
bility. 10 say nothing Of his duty TO him.
self and his God, he owes it to his race to
lie, or 70 e'one, os good as Re see ms. 1t
is essentially crime against humanity for
one who draws the hearts of men to him
easily to do anything which will tend to
depreclate their estimate of his character.
A man should carry life thus extrava.
gantly over-estimated as he would carry
cup OF wine-careful that none he spilled,
and careful that no impurity fall into it.
II is q great blessing to be loved and re.
spected--nay to be admired for admirable
qnalities-and when men are generous e.
uough to pay in advance for excellence.
they shonld never be cheated in the amount
aud quality of the article. -.-
There il such thing as honor among
men, there is such things as medesty,
truth and integrity. They are qualities
that belong 10 humanity, irrespective of re-
ligiOn and OF Christian culture. There are
men so true to their niger natures that |
would trust them with my name, my gold,
my children, my oil. without doubt. i
am proud to claim kinship with such men.
They confer dignity upon the race of which
! am member. | am glad to take their
bands in mine. Suppose one of these-for
such things have been-should deceive me.
aud | should discover that my name had
been abused, my gold wasted or stolen. and
my children ruined by this man /; could I
ever trust again Should not be humli.
ated Should not feel disgraced Should
| ever be willing to let another man into my
heart Should not doubt whether there
are, indeed, such things as honor and mod.
esly and truth and integrity in the world,
and thus doubting, would not the strongest
defenses of my own virtne be thrown DOWN.
The truth is that no man can do an unmanly
thing without inficting an injury on the
whole human race. No man can say i
will do as / choose, and it will be nobody S
business Every mans sin is every ybody'S
busins IS, literally. Every sin shakes mems
confidence in men, aud becomes, whatever
its origin, the enemy of mankind and all
mankind have a right TO make common
cause ih'ts extermnution . III
once heard a careless fellow say that
he 'professed nothing and lived up to it )
but profess nothing does not exouerate
q man at all, so far as relates to the per
sonul maintenance of honor, purity aud
truth. The man who would excuse u lapse
from virtue, or any obIiquty of condhet,
on the ground't that he did not profess any
thing, simply announces TO me the execra-
bic proposition that every man has kind or
degree of right to be rascal until he
pledges himself TO be Something better.
There are altogether too many men in the
world who are keeping themselves easy
with the thought that if they are not very
good r4Iey never pretended or prOfeSsed 10
be, e,-aS if this failure publicly to pronounce
themselves on the side Of the highest NOR.
aIity were sufficient apology for minor
uelinqueucieS 1T seems TO be a poultice
Of poppies 10 some sensilively iUdamed con-
Sciences that, whatever they may have
done, they have never broken promises vol.
UNFAIRLY made to do rghl-as If there were
"a release from the obligation TO do right in
failing to make the promise If it will
help man to do right, publ ely to profess
TO do right. and do good 10 other men by
placing his influence on the right side, then
the first duty u man owes to his race is to
make this declaration. But l1wilf NOT lin
'gerhere, because my words have led me to
the discussion ofllhe Obligations Of those
Who have profession Of Christianity, and
taken upon themselves the VOWS Chris
uau cliurch.membe'>hip.
When man joins Christian church,
he becomes related to that church in the
Same way that mature makes him related
TO Immunity sThe reputation of the church
is placed in his Keeping, lie cannot do
an unchristian thing without injury TO the
CHURCH, or without depreciasing in the eyes
OF the world every other member. Think
what a blowis inflicted upon The church of
Jesus Christ by such scaudalous immorali.
lies as some of lis most prominent mem
bers have been guilty Oily forgeries and
aduteres aud drunkenness These cases
are not common, but when they occur they
are blows under which the church reels.
The outside world looks on and scoffs I:
'Aha That's yonr Christianity, is it?' %
declare that do not know of posi-
ton that more strongly appeals to mans
personal honor than that OF IN mbershlp in
a Christian church, Even ii man in
such position should say Within himself !:
This costs nure than it comes to, | love
ms vices more lhau 1--we the master whose
name profess, Either openly or secretly
| will give rein TO my appetites and pas
sions'-he should be arrested by the con.
sideration that he proposes TO do that
which will wound the feelings, aud degrade
the position, aud ijnre the influence, OF
thousands of the hest men and women in
the world that he proposes to inhiet an
irreparnble injury upon cause which has
never injured hIm, and whose office 1t is to
save him aud all mankind. Perhaps he is
SO weak, and temptation il SO strong, that
he feels, in ahe stress Of his trial, that he
can .aifurd to perjure his own soul but II
.he does, be hus no right 70 wound others,
Better eight The devil until the animal With
in US LleedS at every yein-until il dies, II
that must be-than Offend one OF these
little oues.' A man who viii join a church,
aud then lead an unchristian life, not only
demonstrates before the world his iiypocri-
,sy, but he voluntarily undertakes 10 prove
that bal has na Dprsonal honor ut An honor