Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1868-10-29
USES OF r I


The tempest and the thunderbolt have
their place and purpose in the arrange
ment of nature as surely us the bright
warm sun and the clear sky. So moral
evil is not nm accident but while it ag-
itates the depths Of society, it is yet in
the economy of Divine Governmen
made subservient to good. Moral evil
springs from the defective exercise OF
those faculties which, as they were orig
inally planted and balanced in the ma
ture of man, we're good. The Ancient
Philosophy made the observance OF the
golden mean to be the essence OF all
virtue, and q course the extremely OPP
posite Of many great sins may be just a.
far from the right rs the extreme Of in
diligence. Thus, while idolatry is
wrong, its extreme opposite indifference,
to all worship, is equally culpable ; and
while stubbornness is to be condemned,
the Elasticity which renders n man as
easily turned from virtue rs from vice,
is ever more ~despicsble. So the excess
Of a virtue is often a sin. The venera.
tive disposition which prompts men to
revere goodness and worship God is the
noblest faculty Of the soul, and most
e~levates him above the brute; but,
cherished exclusively and excessively,
it has produced a gloomy asceticism
most pernicious to society. Self-respect,
| commendable and essential 10 a manly
character, when carried to excess, pro-
duces pride and haughtiness and self
love, which is necessary to an existence,
INDUCED to an extreme produces selfish
ness. Relaxation, useful and ueedful
in itself, when urrestrained, produces
idleness ; and busy industry, so valua-
BILE to all, may, if too closely followed,
endanger life and health. In the sam
manner, much Of the error in the world
is the abuse of some truth. The most
subtle sophistry is not the most bare
faced and complete departure from
truth, but that statement which, con-
veyiug n false impression, has yet in
other respects the nearest possible ap-
proach to veracity. Almost every err
ror, widespread and popular, is the dis
tortion of some truth, and the widest
scheme that imagination ever eugen-
dered has som reality in its founda.
ton.
While in the moral nature Of man
there is not a feature which can be
spared, without destroying the harmony
Of the whole, yet there is NJ element
that, distorted or averted from its har-
monious action with the others, may
not rend in pieces his whole moral frame
work. 1t is generally taken for granted
that all tho elements of nature, however
useless or hurtful they may appear, will
prove necessary and good in creation
somewhere ; and it is a fair and reason
able inference hat the elements from
which moral evil is deduced are all in
themselves good, were framed for pur-
poses of good, and are capable of pro-
ducing good. Every element of true
humanity will prove beneficial to the
world at large, just as the lightning,
though it may kill the rash man who
draws it down upon him, clears the air
which millions breathe. Could we to-
day Danish from mans nature all those
elements from which he could contrive
to bring about his own ruin, the world
would be worse off than before, because
we should have rooted out the princi-
pies Of all the highest virtues, the most
original properties of that nature which
is intended to reflect Deity in every
feature and expression.
While these considerations may right
fully comfort and encourage all who
look sorrowfully and, perhaps, despair
ingly, on the evil around them, they
cannot, if rightfully viewed, lead any
to think lightly Of the evil of sin be-
cause 1t may be overruled for higher
good. Fire warns him who uses it, but
none the less burns him who abuses it /;
and there is death in prussic acid,
though extracted from the peach. Let
none break down the walls between
virtue and vice, or tamper with the dis
tinction between right and wrong.
Nothing is more certain than that each
individual will reap the legitimate fruits
of his own conduct, though the effects
of it upon the world at large may be
differently shown.