Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1866-12-18
NUMBER XVI.
Moral and Religious.
Sermon addressed to Young men

IOr the IOllOW1ng abstract OF the sermon deliy-
cred, on Thanksgiving Day, November the
in Richmond, by DR.. Hopson from Romans
18th chapter, 7th verse: auR
For no one of us liyeth to himself, and no
man dieth to himself"
The Doctor read the proclamation of the
President, and gave abundant and satisfactory
reasons for observing the day as one of graft
tude and praise to Almighty God for his abun-
dant mercies and goodness to us as people
a goodness cropping out even amid our desola-
ton, impoverishment, and political disfranchise-
ment. uE
In his address to young men, he said that the
whole of any man history was his birth, his
death, and the smiles and tears, the griefS and
joys, the triumphs and defeats, the prosperity
and adversely, the bitter and the sweet, that
distinguished the intermediate state; that it
was blessed thing to be born in land of polit-
ical liberty, where all the rights of religious
conscience were; that it was a blessed thing to
die at home, in possession of our senses, and in
the presence of friends yet the main thing was
to hve right. eA8
He then asked the question, s'For what
should man live p and he answered it bysay
ing that, the purpose of life was three-fold-to
cultivate ones deathless spirit, to do good in
the world, and to glorify God. That in his
conception and classification the spirit consisted
of mind, heart, and conscience that we had
many educated minds in art, in science, and in
letters but that the great need of the age
and times was the education of the heart and
conscience, ,-and upon this as leading to life
spent in the doing of good and in the glorifca-
tion of God the speaker founded his remarks
lie said 1--WE can educate vine, horse, and
man, but mean more than this. / want
educated physicians, merchants, and mechanics
properly disciplined and thoroughly trained with
reference to their avocations, as to a knowledge
and full understanding of the duties thereof;
training higher and farther reaching than this
not the education of a man as lawyer,
physician, preacher or teacher, baker or a
barber-but the education of man as man
that, whatever may be his calling, or the posi-
ton in which his calling places him, his mind
may be richly stored with an understanding of
his duty, his heart inclining him to do it, and
his conscience giving him neither rest nor quiet
until he performs it in the right place and in
the right way. In word, faithfully and we'll
The education for which contend is catholic
in its nature, its application, and its adapted
ness-contemplating thorough outftting of
every man in his own walk of oflite-enlightenin
him In regard to his relations to the Church,
the family, and State-in regard to the obliga-
tions growing out of those relations, and teach
ing his conscience to feel that he cannot be an
honest man in the sight of Heaven or Earth
unless he perform his duty with unscrupulous
care and undertaking fidelity.
The man who hammers the iron, the mechanic
who builds the locomotive, and the engineer
that runs it, should act equally in the light and
under the power OF conscience, remembering
that the neglect of either to execute his work
properly, or to do his duty faithfully, may not
only endanger, but actually destroy the lives of
thousands of his feLow-men
A like moral responsibility rests upon the
common laborer that mixes the mortar, the
mechanic that lays the brick in the wall, and
the architect that undertakes the erection of
building; and should be felt and acted upon by
them all.
This thought was further illustrated by special
allusion to the felictous state of things that
would exist if the physician, the lawyer, the
political. the merchant and the minister Of the
Gospel, too, in addition to their intellectual
competency and qualifications were under the
control of an educated heart brimful of human
love and sympathy, and under the power of
conscience that would teach them that they
best promoted their own interests and happiness
In acting with wise reference to the good of
others, and with an eye single to the glory of
God.
The Doctor then alluded to the fact that the
young men around him were to be the future
mechanics, politlcals, voters, &c. that he could
wish from the bottom of his heart that they
were all profoundly educated in mind, refined
in their tastes and manners but such an edu-
cation only qualified one to be potent for mis-
chief unless the heart shared in the educational
attainments. Better that the mind be left q
blank, devoid of any mental picture whatever,
than to have it cultivated at the expense of the
heart. Better to live and die in the bliss of
ignorance, than to have the mind expanded into
intellect while the heart is left wilderness, In
which noXious weeds may vegetate, and the
thorn and the thistle unheeded grow. A mind
of gigantic structure and magnificent proportion,
IN either man or woman, commands my adj
miration and overwhelms me with its might
ness, but if associated with an unregenerate, an
unweeded heart, it is at best great desert,
magnificent and grand, but black and dismal
no oasis, no green spot to relieve the cherries
vision, not even
'tOne rose of the wilderness left on its stalk
To mark where a garden had BEEN"
Grand, indeed, such a mind is; but it is the
grandeur of the mountain peak covered withits
eternal snow, brilliant and dazzling, but dreary
and cold. No genial sunshine meits into good
for man. Such minds are both grand and
beautiful, but they are like whitened sepulchres
intellectually beautiful in their exterior
finish, but inwardly they are full of dead mems
bones. They are like the apples that grow on
the shores of Jordan dead sea-without they
are fair to look upon, within they are but dust
and ashes 1t is well to excel in knowledge, II
taste, and in manners; but better than this,
than that, than all, is to be pure in heart for
''the pure in heart shall see God ~
In continuation of the discourse he exhorted
his hearers to give up their lives to high and
useful purpose-tO be each one hero devoted
to the doing of good THAT the doing ofgood
is the proper purpose of human life, and he
only lives whose life is measured by the good
he had done.''
1--WE live in deeds, not years ; in thoughts, not
breath;
In feelings not in figures ON a dial
We should count time by heart throbs--
He lives most, who thinks most, feels noblest,
acts the best"
In conclusion, he expressed for the young
men to whom the address was delivered the
wish that each one of you may perform faithful
ly and well his allotted work In your allotted
time-that living, you may be usefuland happy,
and that dying, you may sink into the bosom
of mother earth like one
Who folds the drapery of his couch about him
And lies down to pleasant Dreams"
The church was crowded to overfowing, and
the discourse, of more than an hour in length,
was listened to by marked and undivided at
tention. 4a
Frederick the Great, in surveying one even
ing some of the advanced posts of his camp,
discovered soldier endeavoring to pass the
sentinel His majesty stopped him and insisted