The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-12-05
Wees and Their Penalties.


Whoever has q vice has vulnerable
place in the wall Of his moral defence. He
may be strong at all other points, unknown,
but at the place in which vice fills the
facade where virtue ought to be, he Is
open To successful attack. ...
lie who has vice has weak point to
himself, perhaps, but we'll known to all who
know him well, and best known to his enc
mics. Those who intend an attack study
weaknesses in their adversary. They recon-
noiter day 10y day and year by year, until en-
tirely familiar with the weakness and wholly
conyersant with all its demoralizing effects.
When there are weaknesses OF character
they are the least guarded. The one of
vulnerable character feels strength IN the
point where he is most open to attack.
The coward calls attention to his defect by
buster and bTavado. The drunkard boasts
of lis self control. The suspicious and
Jealous pretend unusual confidence. The
rash and impetuous boast OF their judg-
ment and GOODNESS. That wherein man
deems himself strong, he disdains to guard
and watch. Cautions are wasted, TOR van
ity makes him deaf and blind. Self-confi-
deuce is not safety except for those who
trust to what is sound, tried, solid, true.
He who stands must not be too sure, for
he may fall. Whatever heed he takes will
be we'll and wisely taken, whether against
his lesser enemy, or against hlmse1, MS
greater enemy. ,,..
Vices grow weak by numbers. The idle
ness Of the drunkard is intensified by his
inebriety, which is made I'LL the more dis
gustine BY his Incidence. Every vice
Strengthens all other vices. Virtues stand
in serried rank, strong, disciplined, and
mutually strengthening vices are loose,
disorderly, contentious throng, each making
| the others worse, and all combining against
the Dossessor.. He whose passions, OF what
ever kind, overcome his reason, will see his
vices in the guise of virtues. Al! ms sins
will be wanton, and his follies will be GRIM
inal, His moral sight will darken with his
mental vision. His Wickedness will clasp
hands with his follies-the blind leading the
blind towards crime and calamity.
There are misfortunes for which the suf-
ferer cannot blame himself, nor charge
them Justly to any combination OF his own
vices or defects. But these are few In COM
parison with those which flow from his in
trinsic faults or his habitual follies. Whe-
ther his ruling vice be smbitlon, or aVarlce,
or self-indulgence, or vanity. or cruelty, OF
inconstancy, or fear. or dishonesty, or sell
fishness, when he comes TO take denDerate
and sorroWful review of his life's history he
will be able to trace the most of his suffer-
ING. the worst of his failures, the most
serious of his blunders, to his Leading vice
or to the combined influence Of his several
vices. He will then see clearly what ne
NAV have seen dimly or suspected often
before. that vice IS a defect of moral
vision, distolting all persons, objects, and
facts. and making his own apparent rela-
ton with them widely different from what
it may have seemed. He will feel, what
Iprecepts could never teach him, that vice
takes the senses captive.
A character intertwined and commlngled
with events and circumstances becomes q
study too complicated for easy comprehen-
sion. The study Is still more difficult when
| it is attempted to separate from the whole
character any isolated trait Of virtue or
vice. Diverse qualities blend one with an
other in infinite and innumerable modihca-
tions. Yet every. character has its Keynote,
which gives tone to all the rest-a virtue OF
a vice, dominant procliyity to good, OF
evil. There is no study for 1ntroverted
thought and determination more Interest,
ing or more profitable than the calm and
deliberate calculation of all the i'll effects OF
a leading and besetting sin, which Will De
found the fruitful cause Of all the worst
evils and misfortunes, which Its possessol
has experienced. 4@ - ~ - s. - 81. tss