Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1867-01-22
PAST AND FuTuRR

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Dr.. johnson says that all that causes
the past and the future to exert an in
~creasing influence over our lives, so as
to break up the power of the present,
raises q man in the scale Of being. To
q very great extent this is true. Any
fair review of q year will show any one
how much and how often he has been
led astray by the fascination, or rather
by the tyranny, of the passing moment.
Present appetites, objects, passions,
pleasures, with clamorous voice, de-
mand authority to control our actions,
and the qualification Of an hour is pur-
chased BY the regret Of life. This is
not alone 30 with the drunkard, the
glutton, or the s~ensualist, but in a
refined manner and less degree it is the
common fault and weakness Of all.
Esau sold his birthright for a mess Of
pottage, as the fast young merchant
does now, and even an Apostle had to
confess that when he would do good
evil was present. 1t is this power Of the
present in time and place which holds
the, masses in complete subsection, so
that the love Of immediate qualification
and the fear Of present Inconvenience
are the two great powers that keep
most men in the worst of slavery. 1t is
so in business, where men constantly
suffer themselves to be cornered again
and again by the same circumstances,
and shift difficulties by momentary e1-
pedients; and it is still more so in plea
sures, where the fashions, customs and
opinions Of the hour rule and carry all
away. To win the admiration and re.
gard Of those surrounding, how many
untruths arc told, calm vows broken
and future suferings entailedl We
build some of our houses with such
comforts and ~conveniences that our
families hate to leave them for fear Of
the momentary chill, and their constitu-
lions are ruined. So long as everything
looks smooth, easy, pleasant, beautiful,
We hate to break in upon the delusion
with . single thought Of the future or
Of the outside. ''G
The philanthropist who claims, with
Jeremy Benthsm, for the greatest good
Of the greatest number, is always APP
plauded. But it is the greatest good Of
Of the longest period, as well as the great
est number, that is the truest test Of
what is fitting and right. Much that
cannot be determined by the day-book
is settled BY the ledger, and the annual
balance-sheet for our happiness at any
future period is just as valuable as our
present enjoyment.
There is q certain combatiye energy
in the nature of the best and strongest
men that does much to resist and con-
quer this dominion Of the present. Men
love TO assert their freedom, and hence
there il no vice nor luxury but some
make vows Of reformation from it, and
Ay OF even into the opposite and most
unnatural extremes. Stoicism becomes
natural as the counterpart of epicurean-
ism. In an age Of general licentious-
ness there arise men and women who
mako vows of celebacy; and where the
masses are sunk in indulgence, the few
will live in the deserts or caves or on
pillars.
Habit is O much safer check on the
~encroschment of %momentary impulse
tina. is, where once good habits have
been formed. They render resistance
easy. But then the danger is that habit
Itself may have become corruptly en-
shaved into compliance to the present,
and render the work of resistance doubly
hard.
Moral reflection, have ever been Of the
highest service where they do not come
too late.