American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1866-07-18
VOLUME 8.
Communications.
r the Gtizel
Diligence a Duty.

spiritual good, is not always that in whicl
he takes most delight Man is by nature
inclined to put off those duties which
have a more immediate reference to his
welfare, aud indulge in sluggish, in
glorious ease, and roll as a sweet morse
under his tongue, a poison which viii
contaminate his noble powers. .-
Sound vigorous truths, like medicine
are not always palatable, yet like it when
permitted to exert thei, legitimate effects
they purify and renovate our natures.
1t is only by receiving and practic.D2
sound wholesome truths, that our corrupt
natures become changed.
The Bible has survived the lapse Of
centuries, and it has, since the history Of
Adams fall, borne on its pages this repul-
sive, yet wholesome doctrine, it IS mans
duty to be diligent, and nature as well as
natures God proclaims this truth with an
audible voice
Man is naturally disposed to treat dill
gence as general necessity, and not as an
absolute duty. But that which necessity
binds us to do, Is, of course, duty; dill.
igence is duty because it is necessity.
God has arranged the course of nature
with design that man should labor
hence it becomes duty.
1t is law of onr being that we only
reap il comparison as we SOW He that
soweth sparingly shall reap also sparing-
iy"
No man yet has ever accumulated a
great fortune, become distinguished
statesman, a profound scholar, or arrived
at eminence or distinction in any way
but by diligently improving his time, tai.
ents, and means. Yet because every pur-
suit in life requires labor to insure sue
cess, we are not therefore to conclude that
diligence is general necessity. Since the.
time in which Adam was driven from the
sweets of Paradise to fiud home in the
cold and cheeress world, this has been
the iaw of our being.
" In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou
cat bread, /" is a command just as binding
on us now, as when personally addressed
to our first parents, And since the dec
laration Of these words, all that has ever
been brought about has been by labor,
either mental or physical. Active labor
has always fed and clothed man, has con
structed dwellings for him, and surroun.
ded him with all the comforts and luxu-
rics of Life. BY well disciplined and
constant labor, this world might be trans.
formed into paradise; and every home
be the seat Of. peace, plenty, case and
happiness and all the blessings ol re-
ligious and social character would teen
through the land, finding no spot so mis-
cradle in which they had not dwelling.
Let the husbandmen but lay down his
implements for at least a score of years,
and heed not the injunction Sin the sweat
of thy brow shalt thou cat bread" let
our schools and colleges be closed, let
there be no voice heard from the sacred
desk, and what must be the result?
How Indignantly would nature and ma
lures God spurn such course. Misery
and wretcheduess would reign through
out the land Stupidity and moral dark
ness would overhang the world ruin and
desolation would be legibly written on ev-
cry thing; and, in truth, the very found
ations of nature turned, out of course
~ went by the field OF the slothful, and
10, it was all grown over with thorns, and
nettles had covered the face thereof, and
the stone wall thereof was broken down
Mans physical nature is strengthened
and improved by constant exercise, but
is dwaried and enfeebled by inaction.-
The mind acts in harmony with the body
and as the body becomes stupiied anC
dwarfed, the mind loses its rigor and
force. Itis as impossible to rear strong
vigorous mind in puny sluggish frame
as to expect puny stalk to bear full
golden ear.
As time rushes by, on the might of it
wings, numbering each succeeding day
with the things that were, it never fail
to leave behind it traces of many thing
performed, Progress is legibly writer
on the entire face of nature.
Every thing earthly teaches the lessor
that IL as mans duty TO be diligent TIL,
most delicate blade of grass is constant,
pushing toward its tiny stature tn,
meanest insect never ceases fitting abou
hither and thither in quest of food. An,
as the eastern horizon is tinged with tn
bright rays Of the approaching sun, tn
birds render the very air vocal with thei
matin songs, and not until his last ray
have gilded the western hills, do the
cease to warble forth their lays. Th
brook, the rivulet, river, ocean, aud tn
ever active life within them, are in con
slant motion.
The earth never stays his course aroun
the sun, who Is constantly g.addening Il